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PRINCETOX, N. J.
The SteDhen Collins Donation.
BV 3705 .M3 S3 1851
Sargent, John, 1780-1833
Memoir of the Rev. Henry
Martyn
^^
MEMOIR
OF THE
EEY. HENRY MARTIN, B.D,
LATE FELLOW OF ST. JOHN S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND CHAPLAIN
TO THE HONORABLE EAST INDIA COMPANT.
v/--
^ A
NEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
No. 285 BROADWAY.
1851.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the yenr 1832,
By Perkins & Marvin,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maesachusetts.
CONTENTS.
Preface to the American Edition, .... . . . . v
Advertisement to the London Edition,. xi
Preface to the tenth London Edition, xiii
Lhtroductory Essay, * . . xv
CHAPTER L
Early life of Henry Martyn — His successful academical career, ... 61
CHAPTER H.
His advancement in piety — Colleg-e employments — Decides on becom'
ing a Missionary — His ordination, * ... 75
CHAPTER HI.
Commencement of his Ministerial labors — Collegiate duties — Applies
for a Chaplainship under the East India Company — Visits Corn-
wall— His sufferings on leaving England, 102
CHAPTER IV.
Departure from England — Occurrences during his Voyage — at St. Sal-
vador— and at the Cape of Good Hope*— Arrives at Madras — and
at Calcutta, 149
CHAPTER V.
Mr. Martyn's arrival at Calcutta.— Residence at Aldeen — Preaches at
Calcutta — Is appointed to Dinapore — Leaves Calcutta— Journal of
his voyage up the Hoogley and Ganges, i ....... . 193
CHAPTER VI.
Mr. Martyn is fixed at Dinapore — Commences his Ministry — ^Transla-
tions—Disputes with his Moonshee and Pundit — Difficulties respect-
ing the Schools — His happiness in the work of Translation, . . . 220
CHAPTER VIL
Mr. Martyn receives intelligence of the death of his eldest Sisters-
Letters to his friends — Is removed to Cawnpore — Hears of the
death of his youngest Sister — Determines to visit Arabia and
Persia — Leaves Cawnpore for Calcutta — Departs for Arabia, . . 256
IV
CHAPTER VIII.
Mr. Martyn leaves Bengal for Shiraz — Occurrences during his journey
—Arrives at Shiraz — Commences a New Translation— Discussions
with the Persian Moollahs, 306
CHAPTER IX.
First Public Discussion at Shiraz — Mr. Martyn replies to a Defence of
Mohammedanism — ^Interview with the head of the Soofies— Visits
Persepolis — Translations — Discussions, 334
CHAPTER X.
Mr. Martyn leaves Shiraz in order to lay before the king his Transla-
tion of the New Testament — Arrives at the camp— Is not admitted
to an audience — Proceeds to Tebriz — Severe Illness, . » . . . 376
CHAPTER XL
Mr. Martyn commences his journey honr>ewards, by way of Constanti-
nople— Visits Echmiadzin — Suffers from fever— Dies at Tocat, in
Persia — View of his Character — Conclusion, ..... . . 396
APPENDIX.
Note A. Rev. William Carey, D. D 426
B. Dr. Vanderkemp, 427
C. Christian Frederick Swartz, 428
D. The Hegira, 430
E. Rev. David Brown, 431
F. East India Company, 433
G. Nathaniel Sabat, 434
H. Rev. T. T. Thomason, i 436
I. Mr. Martyn's Sermon, 436
J. Missions at Bombay, 437
K. Shiraz, 438
L. Soofeeism, 439
M. Martyn's Controversial Tracts, 440
N. Ruins of Persepolis, . 443
O. Translation of a letter from his Persian Majesty to Sir Gore
Ouseley, Bart 444
P. Armenians, 445
Q. Visit of the American Missionaries, 446
R. Abdool Messeeh, 460
S. Results of the Visit of Martyn to Persia, 463
ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
Eleven editions of the following Memoir have been
published in England, and eight or nine in this country.
In an abridged form, also, it has been widely circulated
as a Sabbath school book. One edition, at least, has
been published in the French language. The tenth and
eleventh English editions contain a number of passages
from the private journal of Martyn, which were not
mserted in any previous edition. They will be found in
xhis volume. In the Appendix, we have collected such
dotes and observations, particularly in regard to Persia,
ind the effects of Mr. Martyn's residence in that country,
IS we thought would give additional value to the volume.
5uch notes as the American Editor is responsible for, are
narked E. In the course of the year 1830, the Rev.
Messrs. Eli Smith, and H. G. O. Dwight, American
missionaries, in their tour through Western Asia, visited
the grave of Martyn, in the Armenian cemetery at Tocat,
and kindly copied for us the inscription placed on his
tombstone, which we here insert. The philanthropic
Englishman, who caused the erection of the monument,
was Claudius James Rich, Esq. the former distinguished
English resident at Bagdad. The author has mistaken
the (Christian name of Martyn. The letter g, in Gugli
I *
elmo is the Italian form. Berisse is the ancient name of
Tocat.
REV. VIR.
GUG. MARTINO,
SACER. AC. MISS. ANGLO
QUEM IN PATR. REDI.
DOMINUS
HIC BERIS^ AD SB. VOC
PIUM D. FIDEL Q. SER.
A. D. MDCCCXII.
HUNC LAP. CON SAC.
C. J. R.
A. D. MDCCCXIII.
We give the inscription without abbreviation.
Reverendo Viro, Guglielmo [Henrico] Martino, Sacerdoti ac Mis*
sionario, Anglo, quem, in Patriam rediturura, DoaiiNUS hie, Berisse,
ad suam beatudinem vocavit, pium, doctum, fidelemque servum,
A. D. MDCCCXII. Hunc lapidem consecravit sacrum C. J. R.
A. D. MDCCCXIII.
Since the first edition of this Memoir was issued, we
have had the pleasure of receiving letters from the Rev.
Messrs. Smith and Dwight, extracts from which we here
insert.
" It would be gratifying to me," says Mr. Smith," to add the little
stock of testimony to Marty n's usefulness in Persia in my possession,
but my health will allow me to say but a word. It happened to be
my lot to be attended by the same physician inTebriz, who attended
upon him when he was sick at the same place and of the same dis-
ease. The physician, and all who mentioned his name, spoke in the
highest terms of his character as a Christian, a companion, and a
scholar.
'' One anecdote was related to us, strikingly illustrative of that
Christian independence which formed so decided a trait in his char-
acter. The ambassador, at whose house he was in the habit of
performing divine service on the Sabbath, sent to him one Sabbath
morning that he wished it to be omitted that day, as he intended to
call upon the prince. Martyn immediately returned an answer, that
earthly princes could be seen any day, but the Sovereign into whose
presence it was the duty of his office to conduct him, had appointed
that day for their audience.
'' We were pleased to find the work upon which his heart was so
much set, the Persian New Testament, approved of, and finding its
way even into remote parts. We were assured by a gentleman, who
is the best Persian scholar among the English in Persia, that it is
faithful to the original and in good Persian. The British and Foreign
Bible Society have recently printed it in type of an acceptable form,
and it is slowly getting into circulation among the better educated
classes in Tebriz. Not only is it not objected to by the people, or
their moollahs, but they profess to entertain the greatest respect for
it as the word of God. A countryman of ours, (another Ledyard.)
who had already travelled several years in Cabul, Candahar, the
Penjab, and other regions on the Indus, on leaving Tebriz, just
before we arrived, for more extensive researches in the same part of
the world, put three copies of Marty n's Testament, (all that he could
carry, as he travelled on foot,) and a few religious tracts, in his
pocket, hoping to exchange them for old Greek manuscripts, which
he had occasionally seen there, and supposed to be relics of the
Greek colony of Bactria. One of the pilgrims, who were leaving
Tebriz for Mecca when we arrived, obtained of Mr, a copy of
Martyn's Testament to carry with him on his pilgrimage. May it
prove that on his way he found Jesus Christ to be the chief corner
stone, and was washed from his sins in his blood, so as no longer to
trust in the stone of the Kaaba, or seek purification from the water of
Zemzem. It is delightful to see the work of such a man, and that
work a translation of the word of God, penetrating, even by single
copies, into such a centre of superstition as Mecca, and such a region
of robbery and ignorance as the Upper Indus ; both almost equally
inaccessible."
The preceding letter was dated at Malta, Oct. 11,
1831. That of Mr. Dwight, an extract from which fol-
lows, bears date Oct. 12, 1831.
" With regard to the disease which carried the beloved Martyn to
the grave, it is the general opinion of the English at Tebriz, includ-
ing the physician who attended him while there, that it was the
intermittent fever ; and with this opinion I am now strongly inclined
to concur. The extreme debility to which this disease sometimes
reduces the constitution, I most painfully witnessed in the case of
brother Smith; and the physician above alluded to told me, that
while Martyn was at his house, he was at one time reduced very
Vlll
low, so as to be considered in a very critical state. Before he left
Tebriz, he appeared to be quite restored, but, from his own brief
journal, it is evident, that this disease speedily returned, and clung
to him to the last, as far as his own account goes, and this with
every circumstance calculated to aggravate the disease. Dr. C
says, that, in a letter written to him by Martyn after he left Tebriz,
Ik- states, that, in riding through the bazars of that city, on his way
out to commence his journey, he saw some very fine grapes, and,
' thinking,' says he, ' that a spliced rope is stronger than one that
has never been broken, I ventured to eat of them freely.' To this
lie attributed his relapse.
" One of the tracts vv^hich Martyn wrote while in Persia, and
circulated in manuscript, contained twelve questions to Moham-
medans concerning their faith, with a declaration that if any of
them would furnish satisfactory answers, he would himself em-
brace their religion. When the Mohammedans first read this tract,
they began to triumph exceedingly, with the confident expectation
that a satisfactory answer would be given, and that thus their pow-
erful antagonist would be ensnared. The tract was sent around the
country to all the distinguished moollahs, but none was found who
dared attempt a reply, and the result was likely to prove so injurious
to the Mohammedan cause, that the chief moojtahid wrote to the king
on the subject, and a decree was secretly promulgated, ordering the
seizure of all the tracts, and forbidding their perusal on pain of
death ! The present acting ambassador at Tebriz told us that he had
tried in vain, in every part of Persia, to procure a copy of that tract.
" I beg leave to state a few facts illustrative of the private char-
acter of Martyn, which I obtained from the physician, already
frequently noticed, in whose house Martyn resided while at Tebriz.
He remarked that, in conversation, Martyn was a most captivating
man ; full of animation and sprightliness, and ever glowing with
pious zeal. Every body who was in his company five minutes, not
only felt his superiority, but loved him. The Persians were in the
habit of visiting him daily while he was in Tebriz, when he was
well enough to receive them, and he always conversed with them in
riie most pleasant manner, and generally with effect. They were
lidrdly ever able to reply to him at the time, and they would gener-
ally tell him that they would think of his arguments, and bring him
an answer at some future day. They would frequently give him
written replies to his arguments, and immediately afterwards come
and beg him to return to them their manuscripts, as they were not
satisfied with them themselves, and at the same time promising to
do better the next time, which time never came.
" Martyn never lost his relish for philological studies. When he
was recovering- from the effects of his fever at Tebriz, though
still weak, he used to employ himself in making short translations
from one language into another, in comparing the grammars of dif-
ferent languages, &c. &c. One day Dr. C , finding him thus
employed, told him he was afraid he would fatigue himself by such
constant mental application. ' O no,' said he ; ' occupation is a
great relief to me. Nothing fatigues me so much as to be obliged
to lie on that couch all the day unemployed.'
" We were once walking through the bazars in Tebriz, when we
saw a number of books for sale in one of the stalls. The vendor
was a Mohammedan ; and we were interested to notice, among the
first books that he brought forv/ard, a copy of Martyn' s translatio7i of
the JVew Testament. An English gentleman in Tebriz, who is in the
habit of distributing copies of the Testament, and tracts in the dif-
ferent languages of the country, informed us that he had almost
daily application for the Persian Testament, and his stock was
exhausted, so that he could no longer meet the demand. One day,
while we were there, a Mohammedan merchant, who had distributed
some tracts at this gentleman's request, called and requested a copy
of the Testament. Mr. gave him one, but, knowing that he
had been trying to prejudice the minds of the people against the
tracts, at the same time that he circulated them, charged him not to
speak evil of that book, as it is the word of God. The Mohammedan,
holding the Testament in his hand, asked, * Is this the gospel ?'
Mr. replying in the affirmative, he said, ' Then I regard it as
sacredly as I do the Koran, and I can never put it below here,
pointing to his girdle, '■ or dare to speak disrespectfully of it.' The
Mohammedans, you know, all profess to receive the gospel on the
authority of the Koran, but they generally declare our copies of this
sacred book corrupted, chiefly on account of the doctrines of the
Trinity and the divinity of Christ."
In this third enlarged edition of the Life of Martyn, no
material alterations have been made. A few verbal and
literal errors have been corrected, particularly in the spell-
ing of the proper names, in the last part of the volume.
B. B. E.
Boston, July, 1833.
ADVERTISEMENT
Before the reader proceeds to the perusal of the fol-
lowing Memoir, it may be proper to inform him, that the
first and second parts of it have been chiefly selected from
various journals, which Mr. Marty n was in the habit of
keeping, for his own private use ; and which, beginning
with the year 1803, comprehend a period of eight years.
The third part is extracted from an account which he
drew up of his visit to Shiraz in Persia ; in which some
occasional observations on the state of his own mind and
feelings are interspersed. It is termed ' a Narrative ' by
Mr. Marty n : and it was probably his intention to have
enlarged it, for the use of the public, had his life been
spared, or perhaps to have communicated it, nearly in its
original shape, to his intimate friends. From the style
and manner of it, at least, it may be presumed not to
have been exclusively intended, as the journals above-
mentioned evidently were, for his own recollection and
benefit. The greater part of the last-mentioned papers
were upon the point of being destroyed by the writer on
his undertaking his voyage to Persia ; but happily he was
prevailed upon by the Rev. D. Corrie to confide them
under a seal to his care, and by him they were transmitted
from India to the Rev. C. Simeon and J. Thornton,
Esq., Mr. Martyn's executors, in the year 1814. * The
Narrative/ which was sent, by Mr. Morier, from Con-
xu
stantinople, came into their hands in the following year.
Such are the materials from which I have compiled the
present Memoir, — throughout the whole of which I have
endeavored as much as possible to let Mr. Martyn speak
for himself, and thus to exhibit a genuine picture of his
own mind.
In making a selection from a mass of such valuable
matter, it has been my anxious wish and sincere prayer,
that it might prove subservient to the interests of true
religion. One principal object with me has been, to
render it beneficial to those disinterested ministers of the
Gospel, who, " with the Bible in their hand, and their
Saviour in their hearts," devote themselves to the great
cause for which Mr. Martyn lived and died : and, truly,
if the example here delineated should excite any of those
servants of Christ to similar exertion, or if it should
animate and encourage them, amidst the multiplied dif-
ficulties of their arduous course, my labor will receive an
eminent and abundant recompense.
J. S.
PREFACE
TO THE TENTH LONDON EDITION.
In a Tenth Edition it certainly is tardy — at any
period it probably would have been fruitless — to attempt
the counteraction of an impression not uncommon with
the reader; — that the subject of this work was of a gloomy
temperament, and that his religion assumed a despondhig
character. Late, however, as the declaration is, — ineftec-
tual as perhaps it will be, — I am anxious to testify, from
intimate personal knowledge, that this opinion is founded
in complete misconception. Few persons, if any, known
to me, have equalled him in the enjoyment of " that peace
which passeth all understanding," — few have possessed
so animating and abiding an expectation of life and im-
mortality. Those who are disposed to question this
statement, from the strain of deep self-abasement which
he perpetually adopts, — do in my judgment convert what
is a substantial proof of the assertion, into an ill-founded
ohjection. Such at all events was the fact : I
can appeal to many living witnesses ; they can confirm
what is advanced ; they also with me can aver, that
Henry Martyn was not less cheerful as a companion, than
he was warm-hearted and constant as a friend.
Those who imagine that a smile scarcely ever played
upon his countenance, — that his manner was cold and
forbidding, would have been startled at hearing his hearty
2
XIV
laugh, whicli fiiill sounds in my eyrs^ and in seeing little
children climbing his knees, affording him a pleasure as
great as they themselves received. That his natural
temper was more irritable than I supposed, is plain from
the story of the knife, p. 6G, which I at first disbelieved,
but have since ascertained to be true. Of the tender-
ness of his heart — in addition to the evidences before
given, there is a touching one, p. 300, which, whilst his
" beloved Persis" was yet amongst us, could not so well
be published. For the previous non-insertion of that
golden passage, p. 271, I have only one excuse, — the dis-
tracting richness of his voluminous journals. Many
masses of ore, and not mere filings, are still necessarily
left behind. I will only add that I cannot enough deplore
the unaccountable loss of the introduction to that sermon
preached by him on ship-board, on the awful subject of
eternal punishment. The preference it expresses for
other topics of discourse, — the reluctance it avows in
bringing forward the painful one then under considera-
tion,— the motives it exhibits — love and concern for those
whom he addressed, — would convince those who may
have suspected him of harshness, that if on this occasion
he " used the lancet, it was not till he had concealed it
in the sponge." In the absence of the document itself,
my testimony, I hope, to the above effect, will not be dis-
credited.
J. S.
LavingtoHj April 12, 1830.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
In taking up the biography of such a man as
Henry Martyn, it is important to inquire, What are
the benefits which we expect to derive from its pe-
rusal ? What is the voice which comes from these
pages, and which should enter our hearts? Many,
doubtless, read the book as they would a fictitious
narrative, without analysis, and without reflection.
A momentary impression of the exalted worth of
Martyn's character is produced, to mingle with former
associations still more ambiguous and shadowy. The
mind is not enlightened. The heart is not deeply im-
pressed. No resolutions, in the strength of the Lord
Jesus, are formed, to follow in the steps of him who
is now with the spirits of the just made perfect. In
this way, one of the most precious means of grace is
squandered. We are left in the darkness and damp-
ness of earth, while we have seen our brother ascend-
ing from earth to heaven.
Of the multiplied religious biographies of the present
day, some are adapted to produce a deep and abiding
effect ; and it is surely worthy of serious inquiry, Why
do they not gi-eatly increase the piety of individual
XVI
Christians, and the spiritual power of the Church ?
Why is not the whole body of behevers allured to that
world, whither so many Enochs and Elijahs have led
the way ?
One of the principal answers to these inquiries is,
neglect of prayer. How can a Canaanite enter into the
temple of the Lord ? How can a heathen find admission
into the holy of holies ? How can a worldly man sym-
pathize with the joys and sorrows of an eminent Chris-
tian? He cannot go up with him to the mount of
blessedness, nor descend into the valley of humiliation,
because his feelings are so sensual, and his views so
gross and narrow. When we read the memoirs of
Pearce or Martyn, we should recollect that it is a spirit-
ual work. In deep seriousness, we should look to God
for that blessing without which our labor will be in vain.
We should earnestly beseech him so to enlighten our
path, and strengthen our resolution, that we may discern
and follow the things which were excellent in His ser-
vant. The divine Spirit alone can form and nourish
within us holy purposes. The man who does not pray
frequently and fervently, must expect that all the im-
pressions which he shall receive, will be evanescent and
fruitless.
Another cause of the failure of biographical works to
produce their appropriate results is, that we put them in
the place of the Scriptures, When we are deeply in-
terested in a human production, the temptation to under-
value and neglect the Bible is very great. We turn
from the all-absorbing pages of the memoir to the
Psalms and Evangelists, with indifference or strong
reluctance. But we cannot derive from any book
much spiritual benefit, unless we give the Scriptures
jlvu
the first place. We may well estimate the value of
a book, according to the relish which it gives us for
the Bible. On this point, we must exercise the
strictest vigilance. We ought instantly to renounce
the book, whatever it may be, which leads us to slight
the sacred volume, and not to return to it, till
the pearl of great price is supreme in our affections,
as well as in the decisions of our judgment. No pro-
duction of man, however enchanting its descriptions,
or rich its ideas, or spiritual its piety, can, for a mo-
ment, compare with the " thoughts of heaven." The
Bible furnishes us with rules of judgment for all other
books, and helps us to examine them in the clear light
of truth, and with those affections of heart, which will
enable us to derive from them the greatest benefit.
Another fact of frequent occurrence is inattention
to the springs of action, by which the subject of the
memoir was influenced. We look at the effects, but
not at the cause ; at the results, but not at the process.
We are willing to partake of the joy, but not of the
conflict. We observe expressions of firm trust in
God, of sweet reliance on the Saviour, of longing
desires for heavenly happiness, and we wish that
we could feel thus, and w^e almost think that we
do. But we are deceived. We have not that
state of heart from which those desires and aspirations
flowed. We have not gone through the preparatory
discipline. Consequently, we soon relapse to our
former coldness and indifference. But let us not
look at the bright results only. Let us gaze on these
servants of Christ, while, with bleeding hands, and
weary steps, and palpitating heart, they are making
their way through the enemy's country. We skould
i>*
XV111
look on Henry Marty n, not only while en Tabor be-
holding the visions of God, or ascending from Tocat
to his mansion in glory, but at Henry Marty n pros-
trating himself in his closet, struggling with temptation
in the college-hall, quitting Cambridge, and closing
his eyes forever upon literary distinction, and family
friendship, and native country.
We do not look enough at the sober realities of the
case. Our feelings and our imagination being strongly
excited, we pant to follow Howard to his dungeons,
and Clarkson to the holds of his slave-ship, and
Martyn to his couch of lowly sleep on the plains of
Asia. But are we willing to be philanthropists on a
small scale ? Are we willing to relieve the distress in
our own neio-hborhood ? If we are not willino; to do
good in our own country, there is little reason to hope
that we should be if transported to Shiraz or Bombay.
Martyn had visited the sick in an obscure village of
England, and had instructed sailors on ship-board,
before he vindicated the deity of the Son of God in
presence of the wise men of the East. English
prisoners had felt the effects of Howard's compas-
sion, before his footsteps were seen or his name
known in other lands. It may be that God does not
require us to be Howards or Martyns, Wilberforces or
Buchanans. We are not called to carry bread to the
inmates of a prison, nor the gospel to lands of pa-
ganism. But he does require of us to do good in our
appropriate sphere, and to the extent of our ability.
We are not to be disheartened, because we cannot at-
tain to the same high distinctions in benevolent effort as
some of our more dfted fellow Christians. We ouo-ht
to read a biography, in order that we may transfer the
XIX
faith and hope, the humihty and the zeal, the unshrink-
ing firmness, and the undying love of the individual in
question, to our own bosoms, and to our own employ-
ment. In an important sense, we may be Howards
every where. Circumstances are ever varying. ^
P)"inciples are always the same.
To no memoir will the preceding remarks more
strikingly apply, than to that of Martyn. We have
long thought that it is one of the most delightful and
finished specimens of biography in the language. Mr.
Sargent has executed his task with great judgment and
ability. Many memoirs have the radical defect, that
they are not the record of the life of the professed
subject only, but of the biographer, and of his friends.
Their connection with him is not left to be infeired by
the faithfulness of the dehneation, but it is apparent
and prominent every where. But Mr. Sargent has
left us to contemplate the lovely picture of Martyn's
virtues, as expressed in his own simple and affecting
language. The compiler does not digress to give a
treatise on a branch of ethics, or a lecture in church
history, or a discourse upon Sunday schools ; but he
goes on uninterruptedly with the great purpose of his
narrative. If he makes an occasional remark, it is in
the fine taste of the scholar, and with the seriousness
of a Christian minister. He had, tridy, committed
to him a most important trust, for the deeds of Henry
Martyn are more than a matter of history. They are
engraven on the hearts of thousands in every quarter
of the earth. They furnish the frequent illustration
for the Christian journalist, and the radiant example
for the Christian preacher. Mothers, as they have
laid their infant sons to rest, have breathed the fervent
XX
aspiration that the mantle of the beloved Martyn might
fall on them. In the college-hall, his name has kin
died in the bosom of many a scholar, the irrepressible
desire to tread in his steps. Unless we are altogether
mistaken, the influence of this memoir has but just
commenced. Future and millennial ages will read
with delight the story of this missionary of the cross.
In comprehensiveness of plans, and fervency of desire,
for the promotion of human happiness, Martyn was
altogether in advance of his age. His name will be
cherished in sweeter remembrance, when men have
more love and devotedness to his Lord and Re-
deemer.
One consideration in support of this remark is, that
Mr. Martyn possessed eminent learning in connection
with eminent piety. His thorough education gave him
a character wherever he went. His name was a
very humble one, and his family was scarcely known
out of Cornwall. He had no powerful titled friends
to commend him to public confidence. But it was
known that he was an indefatigable scholar. He was
known as the man who never lost an hour. This fact
allayed prejudice, conciliated esteem, and opened
before him spheres of usefulness, which a man of im-
perfect education would not have discovered, or would
have in vain tried to enter.
His severe mental discipline was also of high im-
portance, as an auxiliary to his studies. It enabled
him to seize the great principles of a subject, to reject
decisively unimportant circumstances, and to bring the
whole force of his mind upon that which was essential
and enduring. When he applied himself to the study
of a foreign language, he could comprehend its gram-
XXI
matical structure, and its principles. He did not
waste his time in pursuing philological trifles. The
study of the Principia had girded his mental constitu-
tion with energy, and enabled him to grapple in argu-
ment with the wily Mohammedan, and to unravel the
sophistry of the captious Moolah.
His education also gave him confidence in his own
ability. He had been tried in the severe ordeal of
college-competition. Those excrescences of char-
acter, which are a hinderance and mortification to an
undisciplined mind, he had cut off or worn away.
That self-possession, which is the result of a disciplined
mind, supplied him with the power of accomplishing
his purpose, when unexpected difficulties were gath-
ering around him. His mental powers were trained
to obey. Whether he was reasoning with a Catholic
friar, or debating with a Brahmin, or sharpening his
logical acumen with the imaginative Soofie, he was
collected, firm, ready. In patience he possessed his
mind as well as his heart.
A still more important benefit resulting from his
mental discipline was, his increased ability to control
his affections, to practise the self-denial of the gospel,
and to attain to the full measure of his Christian call-
ing. Before he commenced the practice of daily
meditation on some selected, scriptural topic, he had
acquired the power of close and concentrated atten-
tion. He entered on the Christian warfare with signal
advantages. He could bring a cultivated intellect to
the contemplation of spiritual and abstract truth. In
resisting the temptations of eastern manners, and the
softness of eastern climates, his Cambridge studies
were of inestimable service. Martyn's scholarship
XXll
has been ol' eminent utility in increasing the mfluence
of his example. We know that he is sincere, when he
speaks of his determination to count all things loss
for Christ's sake. He has estimated the value of the
sacrifice which he makes. Like Justin Martyr, he
has visited the schools of science, and been crowned
with their laurels, but he has returned dissatisfied.
The spoils which he has gathered in Greek and Ro-
man fields, he gladly lays down at the cross of his
Redeemer. This memoir has been read by mul-
titudes to whom its spiritual excellences presented no
attractions. They were won to the perusal of the
volume, by the proofs of scholarship, and the charms
of taste and genius, which are apparent on every
page. Here is a noble instance of the union of knowl-
edge and religion, of the compatibility of eminent
attainments in both. Here is the modesty of true
science, and the humility of true Christianity.
The harmonious cultivation of the moral and intel-
lectual powders, is a practical subject of very great im-
portance. Ardent zeal and undoubted sincerity, in a
religious profession, are sometimes associated with
palpable ignorance, or an apparently conscientious
opposition to the pursuits of taste and genius. On
the other hand, distinguished attainments in knowl-
edge are not seldom witnessed with a feeble faith and
languishing religious hopes. But eminent scholarship
is perfectly compatible with the possession of the most
distinguishing graces of the Christian. Who ever
possessed more of the humility and self-denial of the
gospel, than Boerhaave, Buchanan, Martyn, Pascal ?
The way to attain this united power of holiness and
knowledge is very simple. Make it your supreme
XXlil
object, every where, and in every thing, to Hve for
the glory of God in the salvation of men. This will
induce you, first of all, to secure for yourself a good
hope through grace. It will make you most consci-
entious in the employment of time. It will lead you
to estimate very highly the exalted endowments of
reason which God has given you, and cause you to
acquire those habits of self-denial, which are alike
important in mental and moral discipline. You will
so feel your obligations to the Saviour, as to wish to
serve him in the highest exercise of your understand-
ing. You will feel that you are to glorify him with
all your mind, as well as with all your heart.
In Martyn's histoiy, we see the value of tenderness
of conscience, as a constituent part of true piety. In
many Christians, who, in the main, appear to be sin-
cere, this feature is sadly wanting. Their conscience
does not testify against them in respect to a thousand
failures in duty, or the commission of a multitude of
what they call trivial errors. They have little Chris-
tian delicacy of feeling, and little nice perception of
right and wrong. But Martyn had an instinctive
shrinking from the least touch of defilement. He fol-
lowed his heart through all its windings, and probed it
to its deepest recesses. The least wandering of un-
holy desire, the slightest aberration from rigid pro-
priety, was brought to the bar of his conscience, and
confessed in bitterness of soul to God. If he indulged
himself in unnecessary relaxation, if he failed through
carelessness to circulate a tract, if he postponed any
duty on account of the self-denial attending it, his
soul was filled with remorse and sorrow. He ab-
horred himself on account of those sins, which
XXIV
other Christians regard as invial, or wholly overlook.
Like Paul, he made the most unremitted effort to bring
every thought into subjection to Christ, and to have
a conscience void of offence both towards God and
towards man. In this respect, how full of instruction
is his biography ! Every page reveals to us the cause
of his holy and sometimes exulting joy. Martyn Uvea
so that he could pray. His conscience did not harass
him as he approached the mercy seat. On the con-
trary, it aided him in his supplications to God, because
it testified to his sincerity, and bore witness with his
spirit that he w^as a child of God. He did not exhibit
that mournful spectacle of a religion, unfit either for
earth or heaven, — its subject too enlightened to com-
mit sin with impunity, but constantly falling under its
power, and not renewed unto a repentance of life, and
joy, and peace.
But, if we would enjoy the hope of the gospel, we
must have the conscience of the gospel. We must
look well to our small faults, and minor duties. We
must seek for an enlightened and tender conscience, as
one of the most unequivocal proofs of our high calling.
Perfection of Christian character does not consist in
doing two or three splendid actions in the course
of our life, but in the faithful and conscientious per-
formance of hourly and common duties.
Another fact which furnishes impressive practical
instruction is, the extent of the sacrifices to which
Martyn submitted for Christ's sake. Perhaps there is
no instance of self-renunciation so entire, since the
days of early martyrdom. Martyn had a constitu-
tional temperament peculiarly susceptible of emotion.
Scenes and events which would not ruffle the equa-
XXV
nimity of others, awakened in him the most poignant
pleasm'e or pain. One of the principal charms in hisi
character was, his exquisite sensibility to joy and to
sorrow. Buchanan and other missionaries have been
called to pass through the same scenes essentially, but
they had souls of a firmer texture. This should be
recollected, when we see Marty n leaving Cambridge,
sailing along the coast of Cornwall, encountering the
sneers of depraved soldiers and seamen, or the scorn
of Persian philosophers.
Martyn w^as a scholar. His enthusiasm in literary
pursuits was genuine and ardent, and his prospects of
honorable literary distinction at Cambridge, very
bright. He had been with Newton through the
heavens, with Butler in the profound depths of the
Analogy, and with Xenophon in his inimitable Retreat
of the Ten Thousand. But he brought his philosophy
and poetry, his history and his languages, and laid
them at the feet of his Saviour. He gathered the
fairest flowers of literature, and strowed them on the
ascent to Calvary.
No man loved his country more than Martyn.
None could sympathize more sincerely in those treas-
ured associations which will forever endear the land
of WiclifFe and Cranmer, Hampden and Sidney, to all
English hearts. The ties which bound him to the hills
and glens of Cornwall, were of the most cherished char-
acter. How he regarded his brothers and sisters, the
memoir testifies in a thousand places. In far distant
lands, oppressed with cares, and w^eak in body, he
poured out intercessions, night and day, for those
whom he had loved at his father's fireside. His sor-
row at their death, the pen of a Pliny mi<^'' *, ncII de-
3
XXVI
scribe. But he renounced a slill stronger aflecti'on.
An individual of distinguished wonh, with whom it had
been happiness for him to have lived in any part of
the world, he left in England, to see her no more, on
this side the grave. It was, indeed, a renunciation
of all w^hich is dear to the heart of man, and a cutting
in sunder of those cords which are entwined around
the innermost soul. Brother, scholar, companion, all
were merged in the exalted philanthropy, which filled
his soul. He looked upon the perishing millions of
India, and felt that there was his brother, and sister,
and mother. Mark the result, — a hundred, fold more
in this present time. The Saviour was with his ser-
vant on the coast of Cornwall, and on the stormy sea.
He calmed his burning brow on the sands of Arabia,
The everlasting arms of a Brother and Friend were
underneath him, when pale and sinking in death.
Like the beloved disciple, Martyn reposed on the
bosom of his Saviour, and spoke to him in prayer as
a present help. He confided all his hopes and cares
on the faithfulness of his Lord. He renounced all for
Christ, and found it to be unspeakable gain. This
was the secret of those joys, which were full of glory.
He loved the Father and the Son, and they came
unto him and made their abode with him. He emptied
himself of earthly hopes, and was filled with all the
fulness of God. His union to Christ was vital, in-
vigorating, endless.
Rarely has Christianity obtained a more signal
triumph. Look at Henry Martyn in the first years
of his colleo^e life, and at the same man at Portsmouth
on the eve of embarkation for India. Violent passions
had been changed into meekness itself. Perhaps the
XXVll
slate of mind, which is most adverse to the spirit of
the gospel, is that of an ambitious scholar. Literary
ambition, in its appropriate sense, is a compound of
envy, jealousy, pride and meanness. Its name is
legion ; its presence in the soul, misery ; its conse-
quences, ruin to the best feelings of the heart, and
to the precious interests of an immortal being. No
wonder that Marty n exclaimed, after conducting a
public examination, "How much pride and ostenta-
tious display of learning was visible in my conduct ! — •
how that detestable spirit follows me, whatever I do !"
But, by the grace of God, this insidious and many-
sbaped evil was subdued. When we behold the
lowly Henry Martyn, in Persia, surrounded by captious
and insulting philosophers, like the Saviour in the
Jewish synagogue, and see him copying so closely
the meekness and gentleness of his great model, and
compare it with the lofty, intellectual spirit of the
Cambridge scholar, we are compelled to stop and
admire the riches of that sovereign grace, which lays
low every thing that exalteth itself against God.
Nothing in the records of the human race presents a
more striking instance of the true sublime, than the
sight of a gifted youth, surrounded by admirbg friends,
impetuous in his passions, pressing on to the loftiest
heights of mortal ambition, suddenly changed, sitting at
the feet of Jesus, forsaking home and native land,
visiting the most degraded tribes, and pouring out his
life as a sacrifice to their eternal well being. Here is
the glorious gospel of the blessed God.
Before closing these introductory observations, we
wish to devote a few pages to a rapid review of those
XXVlll
philanthropic efforts, which Martyn and his coadjutors
so honorably commenced. We love to watch the
progress of that Star in the East, of which Buchanan,
and Schwartz, and Brown, and Martyn, were the
heralds and harbingers. The best eulogy, which
can be written of them, is to point to Ceylon,
to the plains of Travancore, and to the garden of
Shiraz.
One consideration of great interest is, that large
portions of the earth have been faithfully explored.
In past ages, want of accurate knowledge of the
real condition of mankind, was a main cause of the
apathy which prevailed in respect to their moral con-
dition. Immense portions of Africa and Asia were
almost as unknown, at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, a., the whole of America was at the com-
mencement of the fifteenth. This fact still constitutes
one of the most powerful obstacles to the diffusion of
Christianity. In many cases, in which we have re-
ceived information, it has been mingled with prejudices,
and obscured by misapprehension, or wilful mis-state-
ment ; or it has not been communicated in that simple,
engaging form, necessary to secure a permanent in-
terest in the countries described. Nevertheless, a
great work has been accomplished. Since Columbus
visited these shores, the ardor for geographical dis-
covery has never ceased. Many victims have fallen,
but new adventurers have filled up the vacated ranks.
In reference to the northern portions of the American
continent, we have the affecting narratives of the Unit-
ed Brethren, and the graphic journals of Parry and
Franklin. Dr. Henderson has given us a delightful
view of Iceland, and has shown that it is very far from
XXIX
being the ultima Thule of civilization. We have
many detached notices of great interest and value,
respecting some portions of Spanish America. We
greatly need, however, a Christian Humboldt, who
will unite accurate observation, philosophic analysis, a
love of free and Christian institutions, and a good
knowledge of history. An able exposition of the state
of Central and Southern America — the distinctive
features of its papacy and its paganism, the oppressions
of its Indian and African population, the great as-
pects of its present political revolutions, and the best
methods of introducing the lights of science and Chris-
tianity, would be an undertaking of inestimable value.
Of the condition of the cradle of African slavery— the
West Indies — the efforts of the philanthropists of
Britain, have furnished us true, horribly true, recitals.
May the day of their redemption, which draweth near,
be as life from the dead to all the surrounding shores.
We can hardly need better information, touching the
islands of the Pacific, than that which is given by the
judicious pen of Ellis, and the classic one of Stewart.
South Africa, in former times, was well described by
the considerate Barrow. The noble Researches of
Dr. Philip record a melancholy page in the history
of human guilt, while their publication was the
means of leading to one of the most signal triumphs
in the records of philanthropy. A great variety
of valuable information, regarding Central and North-
ern Africa, has been communicated by Bruce, Salt,
Park, Clapperton, Denham, Caille, Richard and
John Lander, and the various missionary voyagers and
travellers. The discoveries of the two Landers are
likely to constitute a new era in the redemption of
3*
x\\
Africa. By solving the great problem of African
geography, they may be the means of crowding into
the next ten years, so far as Central and Western
Africa are concerned, more of knowledge and im-
provement than the whole continent has received for
a century. Mill, Monro, Buchanan, Ward, Sir Wil-
liam Jones, Heber, and various British residents and
missionaries, have given us ample and most interesting
information, in all diversities of form, in reference to
the great peninsula of Hindoostan. The American
Baptist missionaries, and several gentlemen connected
with the East India Company's forces, have commu-
nicated many valuable facts concerning Birmah, and
that portion of India, which is beyond the Ganges.
The islands of the Indian Archipelago are yet, for the
^most part, shrouded in darkness. Japan, China, and
the vast central regions of Asia, can hardly be con-
sidered as discovered land. A w^all of prejudice, and
exclusive feeling, firmer than rocks of granite, leaves
us still in doubt, whether China contains more than
one third, or less than one fourth of the human race.
In the travels of Porter, Burckhardt, Frazer, Clarke,
Malcolm, Carne, Morier, Leigh, Ouseley, Chateau-
briand, Jowett, and in the journals of the American
and English missionaries, we have interesting delin-
eations of the condition of Western Asia. In fidel-
ity of narration, and in freedom from prejudice, no
traveller has exceeded the celebrated Carsten Niebuhr.
Greece has been described by Walsh, Emerson, Leake,
Miller, Howe, Hartley, and many others ; nowhere with
more candor and accuracy than in Mr. Anderson's Ob-
servations upon the Peloponnesus and the Greek Isl-
ands. On the whole, we derive great encouragement
from the discoveries of the last fifty years. Before tlie
earth will be renovated, the intellectual and moral con-
dition of its inhabitants must be fully known. Igno-
rance is the parent of apathy. Accurate knowledge is
the precursor of earnest effort.
Another fact worthy of consideration is, that an im-
mense population, in some parts of the world, is
crowded together in small territories. China Proper
contains, at the lowest estimate, one hundred and
forty-six millions of inhabitants, or about twelve hun-
dred to a square mile. The most densely populated
portion of the United States is Massachusetts, which
has hardly eighty to a square mile. Japan, Birmah,
Siam, many portions of Hindoostan, and of Africa,
present large masses of human beings in very confined
districts of country. This will doubtless contribute
essentially to the rapid diffusion of Christianity. One
reason why Christian missions cannot count a larger
number of converts to Christ is, that a great amount
of effort has been expended upon regions almost deso-
late, or upon thinly scattered and wandering tribes.
What can be done by acting on masses of human
beings, has been shown in the missions of the United
Brethren in the West Indies, and in some of the dis-
tricts of Southern India. China contains more than one
fifth of the human race. All this mighty population
speak substantially the same language. They are
moulded by common sympathies and associations.
Vast multitudes of them look back to a common origin,
and forward to a common destiny. Consequently, when
the gospel is fairly introduced, it will, probably, effect
great and speedy changes.
It is a gratifying fact, that the religion of Moham-
XXXll
med is on the decline. The attachment to its ob-
servances partakes more of political than of religious
feeling. In Persia, especially, a free-thinking and
irreligious spirit prevails to a great extent. Soofeeism,
under various modifications, but in general a system
of gross self-indulgence, and of universal skepticism,
has long been gaining ground, and the interested zeal
of the Moollahs alone maintains the falling religion of
the Arabian impostor. His followers have been di-
vided, ever since his death, into two great parties, the
Sunnites, or orthodox Mussulmans, who acknowledge
the authority of the first four Caliphs, — and the Shiites,
who maintain the divine right of All, as the successor
of Mohammed. The difference between the sects is
at once rancorous and irreconcilable. Names, which
are never mentioned but with blessings by one, are
hourly cursed by the other. In consequence, a por-
tion of that hatred, which would be otherwise ex-
pended upon the Christian, is employed upon each
other. It is a great point gained, when the integrity
of a false religion is broken. The Persians, who
belong to the Shiite party, are much more tolerant
and open to conviction, than they would be, were it
not for the existence of the Sunnites. In Persia,
Christians are regarded with much less aversion than
in other Mohammedan countries. Martyn would not
have stood forth an undaunted confessor of the Chris-
tian faith, in any city in which the unity of the Mo-
hammedan doctrines is preserved, except at the ex-
pense of his life. Another sect of Mohammedans in
Persia, called the " Ashugh Aref," are not distin-
guished for learning, but for the great multitude of the
common people, whom they have attached to their
XXXlll
interests. They do not observe the laws of the
prophet, nor show the least sign of fear or shame in
committing the most notorious enormities. Stimulated
by an ardent curiosity, they eagerly seek an acquaint-
ance with the religious opinions of different nations.
The Bible, disseminated by Martyn, Wolfe, and
others, has excited within them a laudable desire for
inquiry into the truths of Christianity. They fre-
quently devote themselves to the perusal of the New
Testament, and give various constructions to such
passages as are considered obscure and difficult.
They earnestly desire an entire version of the Scrip-
tures in their own language. " A great number of
the people of Shiraz," says an Armenian traveller,
in 1829, " have come to a right sense of the mental
darkness by which they are surrounded, and manifest
great desire to walk in that luminous path, which leads
to God and salvation. Though the Mohammedan
law forbids the followers of the Koran to read religious
books of a different creed, yet the Persians of Shiraz
pay very little attention to the interdiction of their
legislator." A Mohammedan of eminent literary at-
tainments, and who is held in high estimation by his
countrymen, has rendered into Persian some portions
of the Old Testament, and has offered to undertake a
complete translation. All these circumstances, taken
together, furnish encouragement to hope that the fabric
of Mohammedan imposture will soon fall, and that its
deluded votaries will not emerge from its gloom and
corruption into a heartless skepticism, but into the
liberty of the True Prophet.
A Christian power has, at length, gained a footing
on the Barbarv coast. A toleration of relia-ion at
xxxiv
Al (Tiers is already a matter of stipulation, and it seems
highly probable that the other Barbary States will be
compelled gradually to adopt a more enlightened
course than they have hitherto pursued. The French
conquests in Africa will, doubtless, be rendered sub-
servient to the reviving of Christianity in those long
afflicted regions. The British and Foreign Bible So-
ciety is making progress in translating the Scriptures
into the Berber language — the vernacular tongue of the
native tribes in immediate contact with the territory
of Algiers. Missionaries are preparing in Paris for
those regions ; and two gentlemen, who are proceed-
ing under the British Geographical Society to explore
the Algerine rivers, have been furnished by the Society,
at their own request, with copies of the Arabic Scrip-
tures. Under the patronage of an enlightened gov-
ernment, the physical and moral condition of all
Northern Africa will be faithfully explored. Those
fine countries, capable of supporting sixty millions of
inhabitants, but which have now scarcely one sixth
of that number, wdll again become " the jewel of the
empire," the abodes of civilization and of the Chris-
tian faith. On her eastern borders, Turkey is con-
stantly weakened by the terrible ravages of the cholera
and the plague,— the ministers of God's fierce wrath.
At Smyrna, we hear of more than five thousand persons
dying within the compass of a week ; at Mecca, of not
less than forty-five thousand deaths in one month ; at
Bagdad, that not a bouse escaped the plague — that an
inundation of the Tigris then follow^ed, w^iich swept
away many of the inhabitants — and, to close this
dreadful array of divine inflictions, after twenty-five
thousand human beings, out of eiirhtv tlionsand. had
been hurried into eternity, a war, bloody and tierce,
succeeded. Within five years past, millions in Turkey
have fallen into an untimely grave, and populous cities
have been left to mourn in desolation. The Turks
are foreboding their own downfall, and are looking to
the Asiatic shore as a retreat from the fury of the
conquerors — to that shore where death in other forms
is ready to meet them. Though the wretched inhab-
itants of these countries are visited with dire calamity,
^' yet they continue to blaspheme the name of God,
which hath power over these plagues, and they repent
not to give him glory.'' " The European Turk,"
says a late traveller, " is a lion, not asleep, but dying,
and, after a few fierce convulsions, will not rise again."
The neighboring powers are constantly gaining
strength. On one side is Russia, "terrible as her
own winter ;" on another, Austria, with an annual
revenue of sixty millions of dollars. Not far away is
France, cutting off the shackles of monarchical and
papal despotism. All over the Mediterranean are the
fleets of Britain, on whose dominions the sun never
sets. The Christian philanthropy of England and the
United States is awaking new life along the banks of
the Eurotas, and digging on Grecian soil the wells
of salvation. When the wisdom and the faith, the
patience and the immortal hopes of Christianity, are
united to the native energy, the enthusiasm, the thrill-
ing recollections of the Greek, w^e may expect that
the cross will accomplish a speedy triumph over the
waning Islam power. Italy too, " the mother of
abomination," is beginning to feel that she stands on
slippery places. The same light, which reveals the
dark features of the Mohammedan imposture; will
XXX VI
surely lay o])en the corruptions of " the mystery of
iniquity." The reign of civil and religious freedom
is alike and essentially opposed to both of them. The
same grave of ignominy and oblivion awaits them. In
some of the countries of Italy, a constantly increasing
attention is given to the education of the lower classes
— a measure full of promise towards the ultimate re-
demption of that fair land from the dominion of popery.
The abominations of this " master-piece of the prince
of darkness," as Richard Cecil called it, have been ex-
plored almost simultaneously on the continent, in Ire-
land, and in the United States. Papacy cannot bear the
light. Individuals in that communion do, doubtless,
attain salvation. But the Roman Catholic religion, as
a whole, and in its constituent parts, is radically de-
fective. It is not a religion for the human mind. It
is adapted to the external senses, and to an inflamed
imagination. It will shrink away forever from that
intellectual and moral light, which is beginning to beam
on the earth. A few years since, this religion, with
its splendid ritual and powerful hierarchy, was domi-
nant in France. It is not so now. All the support
which the French constitution gives to that commun-
ion, is contained in the declaration, that the Roman
Catholic religion is the religion of a majority of
Frenchmen. The usurped and exclusive dominion
of papacy, in that beautiful country, is at an end. In
most of the recent discussions on this subject, both in
Europe and America, there is no disposition manifested
to lay upon the Catholic any civil pains and disabilities.
He is met with kind feeling, on the open field of argu-
ment, and is summoned to assert his political rights,
while the absurdity of his religious belief is exposed
XXXV 11
A circumstance of great interest, is the recent
providential distribution of political power. Though
but a small proportion of the population of the globe
bear the Christian name, yet nearly one half are under
Christian governments, and in some measure sub-
jected to wholesome laws. Beneath the dominion of
the heathen and Mohammedan powers there is a
population of about three hundred and fifty millions.
The Christian governments comprise a population of
almost four hundred millions, of which the Protestant
States embrace about two hundred millions, the Ro-
man Catholic one hundred and forty millions, and the
Greek Church the remainder. Upwards of one hun-
dred and fifty millions, which is more than a sixth
part of the human race, considerably greater than the
population of the ancient Roman empire, exceeding
all the subjects of the Roman Pontiff, and nearly
twice the population of all the Mohammedan nations,
are under the sway of the British empire. A century
sinc^, the population of Britain was scarcely thirteen
millions. Her authority now extends over two thirds
of the globe in reference to longitude ; and it is liter-
ally true that the sun never sets upon her possessions ;
for within this vast range, various places have noon
and midnight at the same time. Stretching also from
the arctic circle to the thirty-third degree of south
latitude, the four seasons are experienced within her
dominions at the same time. The conquests of her
merchants in Asia begin where those of Alexander
terminated, and where the Roman terminus never
reached. Britain has under her control, in Asia, a
larger population than exists on the whole continents
of Africa and America united. What an amazing in-
4
WXMil
fluence on the destinies of the whole human race will
be exerted by a little island, enjoying the lights of
learning and of Christianity. If she has the disposi-
tion, how many times, and in how many forms, she
may reduplicate herself. How many Hales and
Joneses may she place on her thousand tribunals of
justice. How many Wilberforces, of incorruptible in-
tegrity, to lift their voice in her senates. How many
Corries, and Martyns, and Hebers, and Turners, and
Marsdens, to traverse her sunny plains, carrying with
them the unsearchable riches. All which is valuable
in the British constitution, all which is " virtuous in
British manners, all w^hich is noble in the Saxon spirit,
may be transferred to other nations of the globe, and
may bear new harvests on the banks of the Indus.
Britain has, what was Alexander's last desire, a sight
of the Indian Sea, She has quiet possession of w^hat
he scarcely beheld — ^the land of elephants, of diamonds,
of fragrant spices. Who does not bless God for this
merciful arrangement in his providence ? Who can
estimate its results ? Under the protection of a Chris-
tian government, more than one hundred and fifty
ordained missionaries are now preaching peace through
Christ, to the millions who are far off.
The aspect of England herself is, in many re-
spects, full of promise. The number of evangelical
and heavenly-minded men, among the clergy of the
establishment, has greatly increased within a few
years. At one period, John Newton was almost the
only minister of the church, in the diocese of London,
who faithfully declared the doctrines of grace. White-
field and Wesley, in the commencement of their
career, were nearly single-handed in resisting the tor-
XXXIX
rent of formality and worldly-mindedness, which was
desolating the land. A gradual divine influence has
also been enjoyed among the people. Many, within
the church, and among the ranks of dissenters, have
experienced the renovating power of the Holy Spirit.
As a natural effect, there has been an increase of
unanimity among the followers of the Saviour. In
the efficiency of benevolent effort, Great Britain has
set a noble example. A little one has become a
thousand, and a small one a strong nation. What
Sicily was to the Romans, in respect to temporal sub-
sistence, having been the granary of the empire, Great
Britain is, in respect to spiritual subsistence, to the
whole earth. In the promptitude and power with
which she has adopted the American temperance pre-
cedent, she has shown true greatness of soul, and
clearness and tenderness of conscience. In efforts for
the well-being of Africa, and for the utter extinction
of slavery, she has long stood foremost in the Christian
world. Knowledge is also penetrating the remotest
recesses of the country. Several important associa-
tions are doing very much to enlighten those whom
poverty and superstition have long held in degrading
vassalage. Now that the great measure, which
for many months agitated the British nation, is ac-
complished, and is become a part of the constitution
of the land, we may confidently hope that moral and
religious reform, will be vigorously commenced and
prosecuted.
Another auspicious circumstance is found in the
rapidly growing power of the United States of
America. To every benevolent man, it must be a
matter for sincere gratitude to God, that if any portion
xl
of the world Is to be filled with a population in dense-
ness unequalled in the annals of the human race, that
portion is to be these United States. Who would
wish to see the papal countries of Europe, or the re-
gions of Central Asia, or Africa, or the plains of
Southern America, filling up, actually or prospectively,
with a large increase in the number of their inhabit-
ants? On the supposition that the ill-constituted gov-
ernments, and the corrupt religions, in those countries,
are soon to fall and disappear, yet years must elapse
before the general mind will be emancipated. The
habits of a people cannot be changed in a day. The
soul, which has long been fettered and muffled, cannot,
in a moment, recover its freedom. But this country
has started in her career with simal advantages. The
true principles of civil and religious liberty were early
established, and have been widely diffused. No servile
habits, worn into the soul by long usage, here exist.
It is true that this population, " which is spreading its
roots to the river, and its branches to the sea," may
be a curse, instead of a blessing — may become an
enormous engine of mischief to the whole continent.
If there is to be an unequalled energy in doing good,
there may also be in doing evil. But we hope better
things. No nation on earth has so rich a legacy in
the prayers and noble sacrifices of its founders. None
has witnessed more signal manifestations of the good-
ness of the Great Being who presides over the des-
tinies of the nations. None is partaking so largely in
the mercy of the Son and Spirit of God. Upon the
United States and upon Great Britain rest the hopes
of the world. May they fulfil their high destiny.
For a number of years past, the friends of humanity
have combined their efforts in voluntary associations.
" A new influence," remarks Mr. James Douglas, " is
arising, which is sufficiently able to supply the de-
ficiencies of government, in attaining ends which they
cannot reach, and in affording aids over which they
have no control — the power of voluntary association.
There is no object to which this power cannot adapt
itself; no resources which it may not ultimately com-
mand;— and a few individuals, if the public mind is
gradually prepared to favor them, can lay the founda-
tion of undertakings, which would have baffled the
might of those who reared the pyramids ; and the few
who can divine the tendency of the age before it is
obvious to others, and perceive in which direction the
tide of public opinion is setting in, may avail them-
selves of the current, and concentrate every breath
that is favorable to their course. The power of vol-
untary association, though scarcely tried as yet, is of
largest promise for the future ; and when extended
upon «. great scale, is the influence most removed from
the shock of accidents, and the decay of earthly things,
renewing its youth with renewed generations, and be-
coming immortal through the perpetuity of its kind."
The church, as a body, has never felt her power and
her accountableness. It is individuals, who have pre-
served her from a total amalgamation with the world.
It is individuals, who are now the quickening leaven in
the great mass. It is the combination of individuals,
which is planting her banners in the territories of pa-
ganism. These associations have the power not only
of calling into life the energies of the church, but of
sustaining and of increasing them. They are not the
gourds of a night, nor the flowers of a morning. They
4 *
xlii
are based on principles in the soul of man. They
rest on the immutable love of freedom in the human
heart. Their increased extension and vigor is an
auspicious omen of a better day to come.
One of the main instruments of voluntary associa-
tions is the PRESS. The means of diffusing the light
of science and of Christianity, in this way, are great
almost beyond calculation. About sixty presses are
constantly employed at various missionary stations.
In Christian countries, a large number are vigorously
co-operating in the diffusion of valuable knowledge.
By means of the press, the overgrown, idolatrous
systems of Southern Asia are under^nining. The
natives of India have begun to read to an extent never
before known. This naturally leads them to compare
their own systems of religion and morals with that con
tained in the Scriptures. The most difficult languages
of the East have been mastered. Two independent
versions of the Scriptures in Chinese have excited the
admiration of the literary world. *
The tendency of the benevolence of this age is
another auspicious circumstance. It is searching,
comprehensive and elevating. It expends its chief
anxieties among the lower classes of society in Chris-
tian and pagan lands. While it brings angels down, it
raises mortals to the skies. It is unlocking the prison
of the human mind. It is breaking in sunder the bars
of prejudice and of exclusive feeling. It is calling
forth powerful sympathies in favor of that great pros-
trate multitude of human beings, who have hitherto
had a subterranean existence. It is bringing men to
act on the simple truth, that God has made of one
blood all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the
xliii
earth. It is tearing up by the roots the senseless sys-
tems of BufFon, and Karnes, and Monboddo, and put-
ting in their place, common sense, and fact, and
Scripture. It regards the household servant, the
manacled slave, the Pariah, the Seapoy, the Savoyard,
not as mere beasts of burden, but as brothers and
sisters, children of a common Father, and bound to a
common destiny. And while this benevolence is
breaking up the unnatural distinctions of society, it is
cementing society by the peace and love which it is
breathinsj through it.
The number of enlightened Christians is also in-
creasing. We mean by enlightened Christians, men,
whose hearts and views embrace the whole world, who
look beyond the technicalities of a sect, and the ter-
ritories of a denomination, and comprehend in their
compassionate regards the entire race of man. There
are manifestly advances, in this respect, every year.
Various publications are appearing and becoming more
and more popular, which proceed on the fact that men
universally have sympathies and feelings in common,
and that they are divided into but two great classes —
the friends and the enemies of the doctrines of the
gospel. The works of Mr. James Douglas, of Scot-
land, and the masterly productions of the author of the
Natural History of Enthusiasm, are only precursors,
we hope, of a rich harvest. Would that the noble
sentiments which they contain were engraven deep
on the heart of every Christian.
The same fact is shown in the gradual amelioration
of public opinion on general subjects. The law of
nations, or the habits of feeling and action among
nations, has long been at variance, in many particulars,
xllv
with the law of conscience aiid of God. Forty years
ago, the slave trade was publicly advocated on the
ground of intrinsic right and justice. But it is not
necessary, now, to lay the principle of this traffic along-
side of the law of nature, to see how oblique and dis-
torted it is. Its features are known afar oft'. The
law of nations is coming to harmonize with the law of
God. It is interesting to read, for this purpose, the
general history of Europe for the last one hundred
years. In all the mighty conflicts of opinion, in all the
scenes of tumult and blood, you can see a silent index
gradually coming round to the right point. Nothing
is more evident than that the conscience of the civilized
world is becoming more and more wakeful and sensitive.
The unexampled excitement of the general mind is
not altogether ominous of evil. There is much of an
awakened sensibility on moral subjects, which will
never more slumber. In the United States, an inroad
has been made on the dominions of vice such as has
not been known in modern times. The voluntary
abstinence of half a million of men from a deadly,
though flattering poison, is prophetic of greater things
yet to come. A single vice is not often subdued alone.
The moral sense will discern others, and every fresh
victory gives additional power for a new attack.
The encouragements, from the actual success which
has attended the efibrts to difflise the gospel in Chris-
tian and pagan lands, within the last forty years, are
ample.
The whole number of missionary stations, in heathen
countries, is more than six hundred. The number of
missionaries is above seven hundred, and of assistants
of all descriptions, three thousand. At least five
xlv
millions of dollars have been contributed in the United
States alone, within the last thirty-five years, for the
diffusion of Christianity. Fifty' thousand converts
from paganism are now members of the various
mission churches. The schools collect three hundred
and fifty thousand children for the purposes of instruc-
tion. The number, who have externally and formally
renounced idolatry, does not fall short of five hundred
thousand. Four millions of adults have had, to some
extent, the gospel of Christ preached to them. There
are fifty missionary printing establishments, and nearly
as many colleges and higher seminaries. On a low
estimate, five thousand individuals in a year, for several
years past, at the various missionary stations, have pro-
fessed their faith in the Redeemer of men, and the pro-
portion is constantly increasing. About two thousand
individuals are employed and regularly commissioned,
by the various Missionary Societies, in publishing the
gospel in the destitute places in Christian lands.
The whole number of Bible Societies, in Christendom,
is about four thousand five hundred ; of Bibles or parts
of the Bible distributed, not far from eleven millions, in
one hundred and sixty languages. From one hundred
and seventy to one hundred and eighty millions of
Tracts have been circulated by various Tract and
Book Societies. The number of children and youth,
habitually studying the Scriptures, on the Sabbath, in
associations, is about two millions.
We are now prepared briefly to consider the means
which must yet be adopted, or more vigorously pur-
sued, in the great work of diffusing Christianity
through the world.
xlri
It seems to be of primary importance, that Chris-
tians should early identify their own happiness^ and
their own existence] with this enterprise.
The grand impediment to the world's salvation is
in Christians. In view of the deplorable condition of
immense numbers of the human family, the hearts of
Christians, were they properly affected, would melt in
pity, their eyes would flow down in rivers of waters,
their hands would be opened wide. But within them
is a selfishness which paralyzes all the sensibilities of
the soul — a darkness like that of Egypt — a wall of
prejudice and exclusive feeling, through which no
light from God's word or providence penetrates. The
real impediment is not so much in the overgrown and
enormous capital which is employed in iniquitous
undertakings ; nor in the leagued hostility of raonarchs
and great men ; nor in the forms of heathenism existing
for ages, entwined around all the affections of the soul ;
nor in the bloody, exterminating spirit of Moham-
medanism; nor in the master work of the prince of
darkness, papacy — ^it is not in one, or all of these.
It mainly lies in the apathy of Christians, Had they
the love to the Saviour which the early Christians pos-
sessed, with half the property which they now have,
they would speedily evangelize the whole earth. It is
not in the want of means. It is in the want of a will.
When Christians shall act systematically and con-
scientiously— when they shall bring their young children
to the altar of the Lord, and devote them to his
service, as thoroughly as young Hannibal was set apart
for the subversion of Rome- — when they shall feel that
a Christian profession has a meaning to the full extent
of the language in which it is expressed — when they
xlvii
shall throw themselves, with all which appertains to
them, into one great effort, for the world's redemption
— then we may confidently expect that the kingdoms
of this world will speedily become the kingdoms of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is, unquestionably, the
solemn duty of all who stand at the door of the Chris-
tian church, to make a spirit of practical benevolence
a most essential test of discipleship.
Intimately connected with the preceding remark is
the consideration that the deplorable spiritual condition
of the heathen ought to he far more deeply and exten-
sively realized.
The human mind cannot be excited to great and
persevering effort, unless the danger be pressing, or
the object to be accomplished momentous. It is not
necessary that we charge the pagan nations with an
indiscriminate participation of all which is horrible, or
with an entire destitution of all which is lovely and
of good report. There are pearls in the darkest waters
of the ocean. There are traces of an original glory,
and of an immortal destiny, in all men. But the
heathen, with exceptions too insignificant to mention,
do not like to retain God in their knowledge, and
therefore God has given them over to a reprobate mind.
The great truths, which are so eloquently enforced in
the first chapter of Romans, ought to be pondered and
deeply felt by every Christian. That the heathen are
in a guilty and perishing state, the providence of God,
through a.11 past time, has given testimony entirely
accordant to that of Scripture. We have need to ad-
vert only to a few facts, or to a single country. We
might select Persia, as a fair specimen. It is certainly
in advance of almost all Mohammedan countries, in
xlviii
knowledge and virtue. "With a good government,
and a good religion," says Mr. Martyn, "the Persians
would be an interesting and happy people." But what
is their condition ; not according to the reports of mis-
sionaries only, but from the representations of intelli-
gent travellers, who have visited that country, without
any special bias in favor of Christianity ?
" The falsehood of the Persians," says Sir John
Malcolm, " is proverbial. The first lessons which their
children learn, from the example of those they love,
is to practise deceit. The oaths, which they con-
stantly use to attest their sincerity, are only proofs of
their want of it. If a stranger should evince suspicion,
they sometimes exclaim, ' Believe me, for though I
am a Persian, I speak the truth.' " Chardin says,
" That two very contrary habits are commonly found
united in the Persians ; that of incessantly praising
God and speaking of His perfections, and that of utter-
ing imprecations and obscene language. Persons of
all ranks are infected with this low vice. They are
liars to excess. They will speak, swear, bear witness
falsely, on the slightest inducement. There are ex-
ceptions to this rule of general depravity, but the more
intercourse one has with this people, the more one
finds such exceptions to be extremely limited."
Major Scott Waring remarks, " That the manners
of the Persians are formed, in a great degree, on the
principles of Lord Chesterfield ; they conceive it to
be their duty to please ; and to effect this, they forget
all sentiments of honor, and of good faith. They are
excellent companions, but detestable characters. They
seldom hesitate alluding to crimes which are abhorred
in every civiHzed community."
xlix
Most abundant testimonies might be added, were it
necessary, in support of the same melancholy fact in
reference to the whole pagan and Mohammedan world.
By e\^ery consideration derived from the guilt and
sufferings of our perishing fellow men, we are bound
to send them the gospel. It is not a matter to be set
aside. The case is plain, urgent, imperative.
Another point, of considerable importance, is the
employment of more efficient means, to bring before
Christians the actual state of the uncvangelized por^
tions of the world.
Should all, who minister at the altar, present to their
congregations, at stated periods, without reference to
any specific mode of benevolent effort, the necessities
of the heathen, their character in the sight of God, and
their inevitable destiny unless they have the gospel;
should they develope the principles of the case, and
illustrate them by facts ; the consequences would,
doubtless, be most salutary.
A measure, of not a little importance, is the employ-
ment of men, high in public estimation, to visit other
portions of the world, both pagan and Christian. No
one can have observed, without pleasure, the effects of
recent international visits and missionary tours. It
would enable the individuals enofa-red to labor after
o o
their return with fresh interest, and with greatly in-
creased power. To the degraded tribes of men, they
would be witnesses of the practical tendency of
Christianity. Their age and weight of character
would command greater respect and confidence, than
the presence of the youthful missionary. The friends
of Christ, also, in all Christian nations, would be
brought to labor with more entire hanrrsnv. Before
the universal diffusion of Christianity, believers of
every name and of every land must feel and act as
the hosts of the conquering Alexander did — different
tongues, one commander — different ensigns, one ob-
ject— all marching against Babylon.
Another consideration, of great importance, is the
union of an enlarged philanthropy , and of a ivarm
attachment to the Christian doctrines.
Men are ever separating what God has joined to-
gether. One class of religionists maintain a high,
orthodox belief, while in an efficient practical Chris-
tianity they are sadly wanting. They are orthodox
to no purpose. They forget to do good and to com-
municate. On the other hand, multitudes are benevo-
lent they know not why. They are borne along on
the strong current of a general philanthropy they know
not whither. Benevolence in them is not an ever-
living principle. They do not go forth to their labor,
sustained and cheered by the vital doctrines of Chris-
tianity. There is, doubtless, very much beneficence
which is built on a sandy foundation. It will not stand
the test of the last day. It could not stand the test of
an enlightened conscience. Were the conversion of
the w^orld mainly depending on this casual, uncertain
charity, the great work would never be accomplished.
We need that which will stand the floods of tempta-
tion, and the fires of persecution, which will hold on to
its object unshrinkingly, in the most unexpected and
terrible reverses of Providence.
Of all men in the world, the conductors of our
benevolent institutions should look well to this point,
that they be rooted and grounded in the faith. They
nryrh\ t'^ '^luu: to th^ fimdamen*a! doctrines of Chr?*^-
tianity. They are employed on the outposts of their
religion. It is their great business to excite men to
action. But let them be careful to do this on the
principles of the gospel. Let them beware of sepa-
rating feeling from principle. While our philanthropic
plans are pushed forward with greater and greater zeal,
let the depravity of man, the electing love and holy
sovereignty of God, justification by faith alone, through
the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, simple de-
pendence on the grace of the Holy Spirit, with their
kindred truths, be preached, with greater and greater
boldness and power. Let them be shown to be the
foundation of all holy action. In the din of prepara-
tion for the battle of the great day of God Almighty,
let these truths be upward and prominent. They
are the heavy ordnance — ^the sure and unfailing
dependence.
The power of the Christian ministry needs to he
greatly increased.
To accomplish this object, the union of the highest
attainments in piety and knowledge is indispensable.
This should be borne in mind by every aspirant to the
sacred office. When tempted to intermit or abridge
his efforts in the acquisition of learning, or to grow
weary in the pursuit of holiness, he should feel that,
whatever other Christians do, there is no middle
ground for him. He is to bring to his great work the
utmost capabilities of his mind and his heart. In
mental and moral discipline, he is to press on to the
farthest limits of conquest. There is no Rubicon at
which to stop, no Alpine snow^s to stay his progress.
This is not the age of the world to proclaim a
divorce between science and piety. Every opening
Hi
leaf, in the volume of God's providence, shows, vyith
greater, distinctness, the necessity of the highest attain-
ments in all who minister at the altar. The effusion
of the Divine Spirit in this country, so abundant as
almost to constitute a new era in the history of redeem-
ing love, speaks with a very intelligible voice on this
subject. When crowds are pressing on the narrow
road to Life, there is required in the guides the most
intense wakefulness, the most ample experience,
When mien of taste and genius, in great numbers, are
bowing at the cross of Christ, the public dispensers of
religious truth should show them, by example and
precept, that Christianity opens boundless fields of
knowledge, and is adapted to the intellect of man in
its highest developements. Say not that simple piety
is sufficient. The hght and grace of the Holy Spirit
comes pure from His throne, but on earth it passes
through a thousand imperfect and polluted channels.
Besides, the grand corrupter and deceiver is peculiarly
alert and efficient at such a time as this. Prudence,
foresight, wisdom, eminent knowledge, and eminent
piety, are of inconceivable importance in the Christian
ministry. The church needs Whitefields and Ten-
nents, but she also needs, pre-eminently, such men as
Jonathan Dickinson and Jonathan Edwards — fervent
piety, in union with consummate judgment and exalted
intellect.
Indeed, every voice which comes from the provi-
dence, or the Spirit, or the word of God, every inti-
mation of the signs of the times, every note which
reaches us from past or future ages, from lands of
light or darkness, from the Christian records, or the
Jewish econoniy, from earth and heaven, proclaims ip
liii
most emphatic terms, that the redemption of this lost
earth is intimately and essentially connected with a
HOLY AND LEARNED MINISTRY. Tliosc who are Con-
cerned in preparing men for the sacred office, stand,
like the apocalyptic angel, in the sun, in the very
centre and focus of those means which are to reno-
vate this world. Let them look well to their high
calling. Let them stand fast on those great principles
which have borne the test of most abundant experi-
ence. Let them labor indefatigably to keep the public
opinion pure on this subject. Let them not be shaken
from their purpose by the breath of any popular
excitement. Let all the youthful ministers of Christ,
who have had the advantages of a thorough education,
show the value of the systems under which they have
been trained, by their practical habits, their good sense,
their ardent piety, their unshrinking self-denial.
The union of all real Christians in feeling and
effort, is a point of unspeakable interest.
Said the beloved Martyn, " Let me never fancy that
I have zeal till my heart overflows with love to every
man living." The enemies of the church of Christ,
who are now engaged in various forms in opposing her
interests, are to be regarded w4th the deepest com-
passion rather than with any other feeling. They are
not, even the worst of them, to be looked upon as out-
casts from the favor of God and man. Now is the
time, especially, when Christians are called upon
to exhibit One of the most characteristic features of
their faith, love to enemies, heartfelt compassion for
lost and dying men.
How much need, also, of that heavenly charity,
which seeketh not her own, in all the movements of
liv
the various Religious Denominations. As the limits
of the unevangehzed world grow narrower, there will
be greater and greater danger of interference and
collision. A difference of opinion on a particular sub-
ject may be followed by great and permanent injury,
on account of the feeling which it originated, and
which may last and perpetuate its mischiefs, long after
the circumstances of its origin are forgotien. The
spirit of this world may be carried into those very
plans and measures, which are designed to banish sin
and contention from the earth. Jealousies may be
enkindled, former and forgotten injuries revived, and
permanent and rancorous hostility may be the mournful
result.
Allowing different denominations to entertain diverse
sentiments in regard to the lesser matters, yet there is
common ground on which to stand ; there are certain
objects to be accomplished by co-operation ; there is a
broader horizon than the circumference of one state or
one country. There is high land on which faith
can stand, and ample and glorious visions for her eye,
over and beyond the lesser objects unnoticed at her
feet.
The time is doubtless approaching when Christians,
throughout the world, will effect a far greater degree
of union of effort.
What insuperable obstacle now exists for a closer
union in the plans of Bible Societies ; in efforts to
procure the abolition of slavery ; in measures designed
to pour light on the abominations of Papacy ? For
instance, in regard to this latter object, let an Associa-
tion be formed in London, with a Branch at New
York, whose object shall be to collect and diffuse all
Iv
possible information. Let them establish a press, and
place such a man at the head of it as was Robert
Hall, with his comprehensive and sagacious intellect,
with his bland and Christian spirit, with his voice
strong enough to be heard throughout two continents,
and we might anticipate the most auspicious results.
We might at least predict a closer union of Protestants
— ^the complete reformation, the perfect protestation^
of all who profess to dissent from the Romish faith.
But to accomplish any thing like such a union of
feeling and action, the Spirit must be poured out from
on high. A sentiment, deep, universal, which has its
source in heaven, must pervade all the branches of the
Christian church, that they have a common interest;
that this world is to be reclaimed to sacred and per-
manent peace, by the gospel of peace ; that no
weapons of earthly temper are to be used, and that
the might to accomplish, and the glory of the accom-
plishment, belong to the Ruler of the universe.
The more abundant influence of the Holy Spirit is
emphatically the one thing to be desired.
The visible appearance of God among men has
ceased. The harp of the prophet is no longer tuned,
and the voice of one crying in the wilderness is no
more heard. Jesus is now glorified, and the Spirit,
the great object of his glorification, is poured out from
on high. The resources of charity have been accumu-
lating- The Word of Life has been widely circulated.
But life is needed. Through all these resources and
means of good, the breath of the Spirit which quickens
is wanted.
And the Spirit is now given, if it may be so termed,
hi
in large measures. Upon the American colleges it
has descended, and filled the hearts of multitudes of
gifted youth with love to God and love to man, causing
them to Uve, not unto themselves, but unto Him who
redeemed them with his own blood. There is great
joy also in many cities, and the name of the Lord
Jesus is magnified. What but the inspiration which is
from on high moved the hearts of the Sandwich
Islanders to renounce idolatry before a missionary
was sent to their shores ? What but the same heav-
enly influence has led multitudes, in the United States
and in Britain, to abjure, simultaneously, and conscien-
tiously, and forever, a long-cherished, but accursed,
poison?
But more abundant supplication must be preferred
to the throne of heavenly grace. In reference to this
one thing— the descent of the Holy Spirit — the church
ought to be in that state of longing, anxious expec-
tation which existed previous to the advent of the
Saviour. This is now the Hope of Israel- — this is the
Desire of the nations, to which all eyes should be
turned. Let then the way of the Lord be prepared.
Let there be a deep feeling of want. Let all engaged
in the work of the Lord cherish an habitual sense of
their unworthiness, and of their deep guilt. Let them
do as Isaiah did, when he Jiad a view of the Eternal
Majesty. Let them feel as John felt, when admitted
to the visions of his Saviour. Then let them plead
with God, as a man pleadeth with his friend, that He
would hearken and do, and defer not for His own
sake, and for His city, and for His people, which are
called by His name, — and another Pentecost will be
IvH
experienced, and there will be great joy, not in the
conversion of a city, but in the regeneration of a
world.
The Christians of this age ought to feel the amaz-
ing responsibility under which they act. The disci-
ples, who lived in the first and second centuries, were
charged with duties, which were new in the history of
man. It was a high privilege to live in the sixteenth
century. The men who landed at Plymouth, two
hundred years ago, felt that the interests of an un-
known posterity were depending on their energy and
faith. The year 1620 will be forever an era in the
progress of human events — a strongly-illuminated point
in the records of man's existence on earth. But the
men of this generation have come to a period of far
gi'eater interest. Not the empire of the Caesars, simply,
is to be planted with the seeds of Christian truth. No
undiscovered continent is to be filled with the abodes
of free and civilized man. The field is the world, —
the means, a combination of moral influence, which is
to link together not the tribes of a single empire, but
the hearts of multitudes over all the world, — the object,
to purify thoroughly the great mass of human senti-
ment ; lo unite heaven and earth, — ■the promised aid,
the same Power which laid the pillars of the sky, — the
results, glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth.
A new series of ages is commencing. Now is the
spring-time of the world. This is the period for
noble thoughts and noble deeds. The minds of men
are every where preparing for a great change. Heaven
is opening wide her gates. Hell is moved from
Iviii
beneath. Who will not link his influence and his des*-
tiny to the cause of man and of God ? Who will dare
shrink from his duty now ? Who is ready to meet the
heavy curse of all coming time, for unfaithfulness to
his trust ? Who is ready to meet the burning indigna-
tion of the Almighty? Such a question, as is now
presented to the Christian world, never agitated the
minds of men. On its decision is hanging the destiny,
not of the kingdoms of Europe, nor of the thrones of
Asia, but of multitudes whom no man can number.
MEMOIR
REV. HENRY MARTYN, B. D
Kkt. II S
MEMOIR
CHAPTER I.
EAIO-Y LIFE OF HENRY MARTYN. HIS
SUCCESSFUL ACADEMICAL CAREER.
It has been well observed, by one* who took a profound
view of human nature, that there are three very different
orbits in which great men move and shine ; and that each
sphere of greatness has its respective admirers. There
are those, who, as heroes, fill the world with their exploits ;
they are greeted by the acclamations of the multitude;
they are ennobled whilst living, and their names descend
with lustre to posterity. Others there are, who, by the
brilliancy of their imagination or the vigor of their
intellect, attain to honor of a purer and a higher kind;
the fame of these is confined to a more select number ;
for all have not a discriminating sense of their merit. A
third description remains, distinct from both of the former,
r,iid {C "^re exalted than either ; whose excellence con-
sists in a renunciation of themselves and a compassionate
love for mankind. In this order the Saviour of the world
was pleased to appear ; and those persons obtain the higli-
est rank in it, who, by his grace, are enabled most closely
to imitate his example.
* Pascal.
6
Qi -MEMOIR OF
Henry Martyn, the subject of this Memoir, was born
at Truro, in the county of Cornwall, on the 18th of
February, 1781, and appears, with his family in general,
to have inherited a weak constitution ; as, of many chil-
dren, four only, two sons and two daughters, survived
their father, Mr. John Martyn, and all of these, within a
short period, followed him to the grave. Of these, Henry
was the third. His father was originally in a very humble
situation of life, having been a laborer in the mines of
Gwenap, the place of his nativity. With no education
but such as a country reading school afforded, he was
compelled to engage, for his daily support, in an employ-
ment, which, dreary and unhealthy as it was, offered some
advantages, of which he most meritoriously availed him-
self. The miners, it seems, are in the habit of working
and resting alternately every four hours ; and the periods
of relaxation from manual labor, they frequently devote to
mental improvement. In these intervals of cessation from
toil, John Martyn acquired a complete knowledge of arith-
metic, and also some acquaintance with mathematics ;
and no sooner had he gathered these valuable and sub-
stantial fruits of persevering diligence, in a soil most un-
friendly to their growth, than he was raised from a state
of poverty and depression to one of comparative ease and
comfort. Being admitted to the office of Mr. Daniel, a
merchant of Truro, he lived there as chief clerk, very re-
spectably, enjoying considerably more than a competency.
At the grammar school in this town, the master of which
was the Rev. Cornelius Cardew, D. D. a gentleman of
learning and talents, Henry was placed by his father in
Midsummer, 1788, being then between seve> ..ud eigM
years of age. Of his childhood, previous to this period, ,
little or nothing can be ascertained ; but those who knew
him considered him to be a boy of promising abilities.
Upon his first entering the school. Dr. Cardew observes,
that "he did not fail to answer the expectations which
had been formed of him : his proficiency in the classics
KENKY MARTY.N. G3
exceeded that of most of his school-fellows; yet there
were boys who made a more rapid progress ; not perhaps
that their abilities were superior, but their application was
greater; for he was of a lively, cheerful temper, and, as I
have been told by those who sat near him, appeared to be
the idlest among them ; being frequently known to go up
to his lesson with little or no preparation, — as if he had
learned it by intuition."
In all schools there are boys, it is well known, who,
from natural softness of spirit, inferiority in point of bodily
strength, or an unusual thirst for literary acquirements,
become much secluded from the rest ; and such boys are
generally exposed to the ridicule and oppression of their
associates. Henry Martyn, though not at that time emi-
nently studious, was one of this class; he seldom joined
the other boys in their pastimes, in which he was not an
adept; and he often suffered from the tyranny of those
older and stronger than himself.
" Little Harry Martyn," (for by that name he usually
went,) says one of his earliest friends and companions,
*' was in a manner proverbial among his school-fellows for
a peculiar tenderness and inoffensiveness of spirit, which
exposed him to the ill offices of many overbearing boys ;
and as there was at times some peevishness in his manner
when attacked, he was often unkindly treated. That he
might receive assistance in his lessons, he was placed near
one of tlie upper boys, with whom he contracted a friend-
ship whicli lasted through life, and whose imagination
readily recalls the position in which he used to sit, the
thankful expression of his affectionate countenance, when
he happened to be helped out of some difficulty, and a
thousand other little incidents of his boyish days." — Be-
sides assistinor him in his exercises, his friend, it is added,
has • . •
ad often the happiness of rescuing him from the grasp
oppressors, and has never seen more feeling gratitude
. /need than was shown by him on those occasions."
^^At this school, under the same excellent tuition, Henry
0.4 Mr.Moui OF 1
remained till he was between fourteen and fifteen years of 1
age; at which period he was induced to offer himself as
a candidate for a vacant scholarship at Corpus Christi
College, Oxford. Young as he was, he went there alone,
without any interest in the University, and with only a
single letter to one of the tutors ; and while there, he ac-
quitted himself so well, though strongly and ably opposed,
that in the opinion of some of the examiners, he ought to
have been elected. How often is the hand of God seen
in frustrating our fondest designs ! Had success attended
him, the whole circumstances of his after-life would have
been varied; and however his temporal interests might
have been promoted, his spiritual interests would probably
have sustained a proportionate loss.
It was with sensations of this kind that he himself,
many years afterwards, reverted to this disappointment.
'* In the autumn of 1795," he says, in an account prefix-
ed to his private Journal of the year 1803, " my father,
at the persuasion of many of his friends, sent me to
Oxford, to be a candidate for the vacant scholarship at
Corpus Christi. I entered at no college, but had rooms
at Exeter College, by the interest of Mr. Cole, the Sub-
Rector. I passed the examination, I believe, tolerably
well ; but was unsuccessful, having every reason to think
that the decision was impartial. Had I remained, and
become a member of the University at that time, as 1
should have done in case of success, the profligate ac-
quaintances I had there, would have introduced me to
scenes of debauchery, in which I must, in all probability,
from my extreme youth, have sunk forever."
After this repulse, Henry returned home, and continued
to attend Dr. Cardew's school till June, 1797. That he
had made no inconsiderable progress there, was evi-^p* * ""
from the very creditable examination he passed at Oxftj
and in the two years subsequent to this, he must f^^*
greatly augmented his fund of classical knowledge ; ^C"
it seems not to have been till after he had commenced ^^
HE.NRY MARTYN. 65
academical career, that his superiority of talent was fully
discovered. The signal success of that friend who had
been his guide and protector at school, led him, in the
spring of this year, to direct his views towards the Univer-
sity of Cambridge, which he probably preferred to that of
Oxford, because he hoped there to profit by the advice
and assistance to which he was already so much indebted.
Whatever might be the cause of this preference, it cer-
tainly did not arise from any predilection for mathematics :
for he confesses that, in the autumn before he went to
Cambridge, instead of the study of Euclid and Algebra,
one part of the day was dedicated to his favorite employ-
ment of shooting, and the other to reading, for the most
part, Travels, and Lord Chesterfield's Letters ; — "attrib-
uting to a want of taste for mathematics, what ought to
have been ascribed to idleness ; and having his mind in a
roving, dissatisfied, restless condition, seeking his chief
pleasure in reading and in human praise."
His residence at St. John's College, where his name
had been previously entered in the summer, commenced
in the month of October, 1797; and it may tend to show
how little can be determined from first attempts, to relate
that Henry Martyn began his mathematical pursuits by
attempting to commit the propositions of Euclid to memory.
The endeavor may be considered as a proof of the confi-
dence he himself entertained in the retentive powers of his
mind ; but it certainly did not supply an auspicious omen
of future excellence.
On his introduction to the University, happily for him,
the friend of his ' boyish days ' became the counsellor of
his riper years ; nor was this most important act of friend-
ship either lost upon him at the time, or obliterated from
^j his memory in after-life. "During the first term," he
has recorded in his Journal, " I was kept a good deal in
idleness by some of my new acquaintances, but the kind
attention of K was a principal means of my preserva-
tion from excess." That his time was far from being
6*
(JO MEMOIR or
wholly misemployed, between October and Christmas, is
evident from the place he obtained in the first class at the
public examination of his college in December ; a cir-
cumstance which, joined to the extreme desire he had to
gratify his father, encouraged and excited him to study
with increased alacrity ; and as the fruit of this application,
at the next public examination in the summer, he reached
the second station in the first class ; a point of elevation
which " flattered his pride not a little."
The tenor of Henry Martyn's life, during this and the
succeeding year, would, in the eye of the world, be con-
sidered to have been amiable and commendable. He
was outwardly moral ; was with little exception unwearied
in application ; and exhibited marks of no ordinary talent.
One exception to this statement is to be found in an irri-
tability of temper, increased, if not engendered by the
treatment he had met with at school. These ebullitions
of passion had, on one occasion, nearly proved fatal to a
friend, — the late excellent Mr. Cotterill (afterwards min-
ister of St. Paul's Church, Sheflield). He barely escaped
the point of a knife, which, thrown by the hand of Henry
Martyn, most providentially missed him, and was left
trembling in the wall. If, from this unsubdued impetuosity
of temper, we pass to his avowed and fixed principles, —
these, as might well be expected, evince him to have been
living at this time ' without God in the world.' The con-
sideration that God chiefly regards the motives of our
actions, — a consideration so momentous, and so essential
to the character of a real Christian, — appears as yet never
to have entered his mind : and even when it did, as was
the case at this time, it rested there as a theoretic notion,
which was never meant to be reduced to practice. His
own account of himself is very striking. Speaking ov..
June, 1799, he says, *'K (the friend alluded to be-
fore) attempted to persuade me that I ought to attend to
reading, not for the praise of men, but for the glory of
God. This seemed strange to me, but reasonable. 1
HENRY MARTYN. (J7
resolved, therefore, to maintain this opinion thenceforth ,
but never designed, that I remember, that it should ajfcct
my conduct J' What a decisive mark this of an unrenewed
mind ! — what an affecting proof that light may break in
upon the understanding, whilst there is not so much as the
dawn of it on the heart !
Providentially for Henry Martyn, he had not only the
great blessing of possessing a religious friend at College,
but he possessed likewise the happiness of having a sister
in Cornwall, who was a Christian of a meek, heavenly,
and affectionate spirit : to whom, as well as to the rest of
his relations there, he paid a visit in the summer of the
year 1799, carrying with him no small degree of acadcsmi-
cal honor, though not all that he had fondly and ambi-
tiously expected. He had lost the prize for themes in his
College, and was only second again in the first class at
the public examination, when he had hoped to have been
first ; — a " double disappointment," to use his own words,
" which nettled him to the quick." It may be well sup-
posed, that to a sister, such as we have described, her
brother's spiritual welfare would be a most serious and
anxious concern ; and that she oflen conversed with him
on the subject of religion, we learn from his own declara-
tion. " I went home this summer, and was frequently
addressed by my dear sister on the subject of religion ;
but the sound of the Gospel conveyed in the admonition
of a sister, was grating to my ears." The first result of
her tender exhortations and earnest endeavors was very
discouraging : a violent conflict took place in her brother's
mind, between his conviction of the truth of what she
urged, and his love of the world ; and for the present, the
latter prevailed. Yet sisters, similarly circumstanced,
^^y learn from this case, not merely their duty, but also,
from the final result, the success they may anticipate — in
the faithful discharge of it. " I think," he observes,
when afterwards reviewing this period with a spirit truly
broken and contrite, " I do not remember a time in which
GS MEilOlll OF
the wickedness of my heart rose to a greater height than
during my stay at home. The consummate selfishness
and exquisite irritability of my mind were displayed in
rage, malice, and envy ; in pride, and vain glory, and
contempt of all ; in the harshest language to my sister,
and even to my father, if he happened to differ from my
mind and will. O what an example of patience and mild-
ness was he ! I love to think of his excellent qualities, and
it is frequently the anguish of my heart, that I ever could
be so base and wicked as to pain him by the slightest
neglect. O my God and Father, why is not my heart
doubly agonized at the remembrance of all my great
transgressions against thee ever since I have known thee
as such ! — I left my sister and father in October, and him
I saw no more. I promised my sister that I would read
the Bible for myself, but on being settled at College,
Newton engaged all my thoughts."
At length, however, it pleased God to convince Henry,
by a most affecting visitation of his providence, that there
was a knowledge far more important to him than any
human science ; and to lead him, whilst contemplating
the heavens by the light of astronomy, to devote himself
to His service, who, having made those heavens, and hav-
ing left them for man's salvation, is now again exalted to
the right hand of God, as his Mediator and Advocate. —
The sudden and heart-rending intelligence of the death
of his father, was the proximate, though doubtless not the
efficient cause of his receiving these con\'ictions. How
poignant were his sufferings under this affliction may be
seen in the account he himself has left of it : — from
whence it is evident that it was a season, not only of
j severe but of sanctified sorrow ; a seed time of tears.
I promising that harvest of holiness, peace, and joy, wRk;..
/ succeeded it.
" At the examination at Christmas, 1799," he writes,
" I was first, and the account of it pleased my father pro-
digiously, who, I was told, was in great health and spirits
HENRY 3IARTYN
ti9
Wliat then was my consternation, when, in January, I
received from my brother an account of his death ! But
while I mourned the loss of an earthly parent, the angels
in heaven were rejoicing at my being lo soon to find a
heavenly one. As I had no taste at this time for my
usual studies, I took up my Bible, thinking that the con-
sideration of religion was rather suitable to this solemn
time ; nevertheless I often took up other books to engage
my attention, and should have continued to do so, had
not K advised me to make this time an occasion of
serious reflection. I began with the Acts, as being the
most amusing ; and, whilst I was entertained with the
narrative, I found myself insensibly led to inquire more
attentively into the doctrines of the Apostles. These cor-
responded nearly enough with the few notio is J had re-
ceived in my early youth. I believe, on the first night
after, I began to pray from a precomposed form, in which
I thanked God in general, for having sent Christ into the
world. But though I prayed for pardon, I had little sense
of my own sinfulness ; nevertheless, I begr.ii to consider
myself a religious man. The first time after this that .1
went to chapel, I saw, with some degree of surprise at my
former inattention, that in the Magnificat there was a
great degree of joy expressed at the coming of Christ,
which I thought but reasonable. K had lent me
Doddridge's Rise and Progress. The first part of which
I could not bear to read, because it appeared to make
religion consist too much in humiliation ; and my proud
and wicked heart would not bear to be brought down into
the dust. And K , to whom I mentioned the gloom
which I felt, after reading the first part of Doddridge,
reprobated it strongly. — Alas! did bethink that we can
go along the way that leadeth unto life, without entering
in at the * strait gate V "
It was not long after H^nry had been called to endure
this gracious, though grievous, chastening from above,
that the public exercises commenced in the University;
70 MEMOIR OF
and although his greatest stimulus to exertion was removed
by the loss of his father, whom it was his most anxious
desire still to please, he again devoted himself to his
mathematical studies with unwearied diligence. That
spiritual danger exists in an intense application of the
mind to these studies, he was so deeply sensible at a later
period of his life, as, on a review of this particular time,
most gratefully to acknowledge, that " the mercy of God
prevented the extinction of that spark of grace which his
Spirit had kindled." At the moment of his exposure to
this peril, he was less conscious of it : but we may perceive
from the following letter to his youngest sister, that he
was not wholly devoid of circumspection on this head.
Having shortly, and with much simplicity, announced that
his name stood first upon the list at the College examina-
tion of the summer of the year 1800, he thus expresses
himself: "What a blessing it is for me, that I have such
a sister as you, my dear S , who have been so instru-
mental in keeping me in the right way I When I consider
how little human assistance you have had, and the great
knowledge to which you have attained on the subject of
religion, — especially observing the extreme ignorance of
the most wise and learned of this world, — I think this is
itself a proof of the wonderful influence of the Holy Ghost
on the mind of well disposed persons. It is certainly by
"\the Spirit alone that we can have the will, or power, or
knowledge, or confidence to pray ; and by Him alone we
come unto the Father through Jesus Christ. ' Through
Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father*
How I rejoice to find that we disagreed only about words !
I did not doubt, as you suppose, at all about that joy
which true believers feel. Can there be any one subject,
any one source of cheerfulness and joy, at all to be com-
pared with the heavenly serenity and comfort which such
a person must find, in holding communion with his God
and Saviour in prayer, — in addressing God as his Father,
and, more than all, in the transporting hope, of being pre-
HENRY MARTYN. 71
served unto everlasting life, and of singing praises to his
Redeemer when time shall be no more ? Oh ! I do in-
deed feel this state of mind at times ; but at other times I
feel quite humbled at finding myself so cold and hard-
hearted. That reluctance to prayer, that unwillingness
to come unto God, who is the fountain of all good, when
reason and experience tell us that with him only true
pleasure is to be found, seem to be ov.ing to Satanic in-
fluence. Though I think my employment hi life gives
me peculiar advantages, in some respects, vvith regard to
religious knowledge ; yet with regard to having a practical
sense of things on the mind, it is by far the worst of any.
For the laborer as he drives on his plough, and the weaver
as he works at his loom, may have his thoughts entirely
disengaged from his work, and may think with advantage
upon any religious subject. But the nature of our studies
requires such a deep abstraction of the mind from all
things, as to render it completely incapable of any thing
else, and that during many hours of the day. — With re-
spect to the dealings of the Almighty with me, you have
heard in general the chief of my account ; as I am
brought to a sense of things gradually, there is nothing
peculiarly striking in it to particularize. After the death
of our father, you know I was extremely low-spirited ;
and, like most other people, began to consider seriously,
without any particular determination, that invisible world
to which he was gone, and to which I must one day go.
Yet I still read the Bible unenlightened ; and said a
prayer or two, rather through terror of a superior power
than from any other cause. Soon, however, I began to
attend more diligently to the words of our Saviour in the
New Testament, and to devour them with delight; —
when the offers of mercy and forgiveness were made so
freely, I supplicated to be made partaker of the covenant
of grace with eagerness and hope : — and thanks be to the
ever-blessed Trinity for not leaving me without comfort.
Throughout the whole, however, even when the light of
7j> MEMOIR OF
divine truth was beginning to dawn on my mind, I was
not under that great terror of future punishment, which I
now see plainly I had every reason to feci : I look back
now upon that course of wickedness which, like a gulf
of destructi )i;, yawned to swallow me up, with a trembling
delight, mixed with shame at having lived so long in
ignorance, and error, and blindness. 1 could say much
more, my dear S , but I have no more room. I have
only to express my acquiescence in most of your opinions,
and to join with you in gratitude to God for his mercies
to us : may he preserve you, and me, and all of us, to the
day of the Lord !"
How cheering to his sister must it have been to receive,
at a moment of deep sorrow, such a communication as
tliis, indicating a state of mind not thoroughly instructed,
indeed, in the mystery of faith, but fully alive to the su-
preme importance of religion ! How salutary to his own
mind to have possessed so near a relation, to whom he
could thus freely open the workings of his heart! But
the chief cause, under God, of his stability at this season
in those religious principles which, by divine grace, he
had adopted, was evidently that constant attendance
which he now commenced on the ministry of the Rev.
Charles Simeon, at Trinity Church in Cambridge ; under
whose truly pastoral instructions, he himself declares that
he *' gradually acquired more knowledge in divine
things."
In the retrospect which Henry afterwards took of this
part of his life, he seems sometimes ready to suspect a
v/ant of growth, and almost a want of vitality in his reli-
gion ; but though there may have been some ground for
the former of these suspicions, there certainly was none,
whatever his humility may have suggested, for the latter.
" I can only account," he says, " for my being stationary
so long, by the intenseness with which I pursued my
studies, in which I was so absorbed, that the time I gave
to them seemed not to be a portion of my existence.
HENRY MARTiN. 73
That in which I now see I was lamentably deficient, ivas '
a humble and contrite spirit, in which I should have per-
ceived more clearly the excellency of Christ. The eager-
ness, too, with which I looked forward to the approachuig
examination for degrees, too clearly betrayed a heart not
dead to the world."
That a public examination for a degree in the University
must be a time of painful solicitude to those about to pass
through it, is obvious : — especially when great expecta-
tions have been raised, and worldly prospects are likely to
be seriously affected by the event. From Henry Martyn
much was expected ; and had he altogether failed, his
temporal interests would have materially suffered. Nor
was he naturally insensible to those perturbations which
are apt to arise in a youthful and ambitious breatt. It
happened, however (as he was frequently known to as-
sert), that upon entering the Senate House, — in which
a larger than the usual proportion of able young men were
his competitors, — his mind was singularly composed and
tranquillized, by the recollection of a sermon which he
had heard not long before on the text — " Seekest thou
great things for thyself? — seek them not, saith the Lord."
He thus became divested of that extreme anxiety about
success, which, by harassing his spirit, must have impeded
the free exercise of his powers. His decided superiority
iu mathematics therefore soon appeared, — and the highest
academical honor, that of " Senior Wrangler," was award-
ed to him, in January, 1801, at which period he had not
completed the twentieth year of his age. Nor is it any
disparagement to that honor, or to those who conferred it
on him, to record that it was attended in this instance
with that sense of disappointment and dissatisfaction to
uhich all earthly blessings are subject. His description
of his own feelings on this occasion is very remarkable —
" 1 obtained my highest wishes, but was surprised to find
that I had grasped a shadow." So impossible is it fur |
earthly distinctions, though awarded for successful exer-
7
74 MEMOIR OF MARTYN.
tions of the intellect, to fill and satisfy the mind, espe-
cially after it has tasted " the good word of God, and the
powers of the world to come." So certain is it, that he
who drinks of the water of the well of this life must thirst
again, and that it is the water which springs up to t'?v.r-
lasting life which alone afibrds never-failing refreshment.
CHAPTER II.
HIS ADVANCEMENT IN PIETY COLLEGE EMPLOYMENTS
DECIDES ON BECOMING A MISSIONARY HIS
ORDINATION.
Having thus attained that station of remarkable merit
and eminence, upon which his eye from the first had been
fixed, and for which he had toiled with such astonishing
diligence, as to be designated in his college as " the man
who had not lost an hour," and having received likewise
the first of two prizes given annually to the best proficients
in Mathematics, amongst those bachelors who have just
taken their degree, — in the month of March, Henry again
visited Cornwall, where, amidst the joyful greetings and
congratulations of all his friends, his youngest sister was
alone dejected, not witnessing in him that progress in
Christian knowledge which she had been fondly led to
anticipate.
Nor ought we to attribute this wholly to that ardency of
affection, which might dispose her to indulge in sanguine
and somewhat unreasonable expectations. Those who
know what human nature is, even after it has been re-
newed by the Spirit of God, will not deny that it is more
than possible that her brother's zeal might have somewhat
relaxed in the bright sunshine of academical honor : and
certain it is that his standard of duty, though superior to
that of the world, was at this time far from reaching that
76 MEMOIR OF
degree of elevation which it afterwards attained. Who
can wonder, then, that a person tremblingly alive to his
best interests, should not be wholly free from apprehen-
sion, and should be continually urging on his conscience
the solemn sanctions of the Gospel, entreating him to aim
at nothing less than Christian perfection ?
Returning to Cambridge in the summer of this year, he
passed the season of vacation most profitably : constrained,
happily, to be jmtrh alone, he employed his solitary
hours in frequent communion with his own heart, and
with that gracious Lord who once blessed Isaac and Na-
thaniel in their secret devotions, and who did not withhold
a blessing from his. *• God," he observes, " was pleased
to bless the solitude and retirement I enjoyed this summer,
to my improvement : and not until then had I ever
experienced any real pleasure in religion. I was more
convinced of sin than ever, more earnest in fleeing to
Jesus for refuge, and more desirous of the renewal of my
nature."
It was during this vacation also that an intimate ac-
quaintance conmienced, as much distinguished by a truly
parental regard on the one hand, as it was by a grateful,
reverential, and filial atfection on the other. Having long
listened with no small degree of pleasm-e and profit to Mr.
Simeon, as a preacher, Henry now began to enjoy the
happiness of an admission to the most friendly and unre-
served intercourse with him, and was in the habit of soli-
citing and receiving, on all important occasions, his coun-
sel and encouragement. By Mr. Simeon's kindness it
was that he was now made known to several young men,
with some of whom he formed the most enduring of all
attachments, — a Christian friendship ; and it was from his
conversation and example also, that he imbibed his first
impressions of the transcendent excellence of the Christian
ministry ; from which it was but a short step, to resolve
upon devoting himself to that sacred calling : — for until
now he had an intention of applying to the law, " chiefly,"
HENRY MARTYIS. 77
he confesses, *^ because he could not consent to be poor
for Christ's sake."
The great advancement which he had made in genuine
piety at this period, from intercourse with real Christians,
and above all from secret communion with his God, is
discernible in the following extracts from two letters — the
first dated September 15, 1801, and addressed to his ear-
liest friend ; — the second written a few days afterwards,
to his youngest sister. '' That you may be enabled to do
the will of your heavenly Father, shall be, you may be
assured, my constant prayer at the throne of grace ; and
this, as well from the desire of promoting the edification
of Christ's body upon earth, as from motives of private
gratitude. You have been the instrument in the hands
of Providence of bringing me to a serious sense of things :
for at the time of my lather's death, I was using such
methods of alleviating my sorrow, as I almost shudder to
recollect. But, blessed be God, I have now experience.!
that Christ is * the power of God, and the wisdom of
God.' What a blessing is the Gospel ! No heart ca:i
( onceive its excellency, but that which has been renewed
by divine grace."
" I have lately," he writes in the second letter, '- been
witness to a scene of distress. P , in this town, witli
whom I have been little acquainted, and who had lived t )
the full extent of his income, is now dying, and his
family will be left perfectly destitute. 1 called yesterda;
to know whether lie was still alive, and found his wife i 1
a greater agony than you can conceive. She was wring-
ing her hands, and crying out to me, * O pray for his
soul !' — and then again recollecting her own helpless con-
dition, and telling me of her Vvretchediiess in being turne 1
out upon the world without house or home. It was i 1
vain to point to heaven ; the heart, distracted and over-
whelmed with worldly sorrov^, finds it hard to look to Gol.
— Since writing this, I have been to call on tiie daughter ;
of F , who had removed to another !h>u6x% l>ecau8r,
78 MEMOIR OF
from the violence of their grief, they incommoded the sick
man. Thither I went to visit them, with my head and
lieart full of the subject I was come upon ; and was sur-
prised to find them cheerful, and thunderstruck to see a
Gownsman reading a play to them. A play ! — when their
father was lying in the agonies of death. What a species
of consolation ! I rebuked him so sharply, and, I am
afraid, so intemperately, that a quarrel will perhaps ensue.
" But it is time that I should take some notice of your
letter : when we consider the misery and darkness of the
unregenerate world, oh ! with how much reason should
we burst out into thanksgiving to God, who has called us
in his mercy through Christ Jesus ! What are we, that
we should thus be made objects of distinguishing grace \
Who, then, that reflects upon the rock from which he was
hewn, but must rejoice to give himself entirely and with-
out reserve to God, to be sanctified by his Spirit ? The
soul that has truly experienced tlie love of God, will not
stay meanly inquiring how much he shall do, and thus
limit his service ; but will be earnestly seeking more and
more to know the will of our heavenly Father, that
he may be enabled to do it. O may we be both thus
minded ! may we experience Christ to be our all in all,
not only as our Redeemer, but as the fountain of grace.
Those passages of the word of God which you have quoted
on this head, are indeed awakeniiig ; may they teach us
to breathe after holiness, to be more and more dead to the
world, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ. We
are lights in the world ; how needful, then, that our tem-
pers and lives should manifest our high and heavenly
calling ! Let us, as we do, provoke one another to good
works, not doubting but that God will bless our feeble
endeavors to his glory.
" I have to bless him for another mercy I have received
in addition to the multitude of which I am so unworthy,
in his having ^iven me a friend indeed, one who ha.s
ina'^'" tri-Kli I'^oM* <]-/: rnT"?"!^ idvan"'^'"- in v^F'cri^n nr- rnv=o}.r.
HENRY MARTYN. 79
We took our degrees together, but Mr. Simeon introduced
us to each other. I do not wonder much at the back
wardness you complain of before , having never beer.
in much company. But the Christian heart is ever over-
flowing with good-will to the rest of mankind ; and thi:-
temper will produce the truest politeness, of which the
affected grimace of ungodly men is but the shadow. Be-
sidesj the confusion felt in company arises in general from
\;^nity : therefore, when this is removed, why should we
fear to speak before the whole world?
" The Gownsman I mentioned, so far from being of-
fended, has been thanking me for what I said, and is so
seriously impressed with the awful circumstances of death,
that I am in hopes it may be the foundation of a lasting
change."
It will be highly pleasing to the reader to know, that
the anticipation with which the above letter concludes
was verified. Mr. Martyn had afterwards the happiness
of laboring in India together with that very person who
had been reproved by him, and who, from the divine
blessing accompanying that reproof, was then first led to
appreciate the value of the Gospel.
From this time to that of proposing himself for admission
to a fellowship in his college, Mr. Martyn's engagements
consisted chiefly in instructing some pupils, and in pre-
paring himself for the examination, which was to take
place previous to the election in the month of March,
1802, — when he was chosen fellow of St. John's ; soon
after obtaining which situation, as honorable to the society
in the appointment, as it was gratifying to himself, he em-
ployed some of his leisure hours, as he expresses it, in
writing for one of the prizes which are given to those who
have been last admitted Bachelors of Arts : and though
there were men of great classical celebrity among those
who contested the palm with him, the first prize was
assigned to him for the best Latin prose composition ; a
distinction the more remarkaWe, as, fi-om his entrance
<^0 MExMOIR OF
into the University, he had directed an unceasing and
almost undivided attention to Mathematics Having thus
added another honor to those for which he had before
been so signally distinguished, Mr. Marty n departed from
Cambridge, on a visit to his relations in Cornwall ; —
making a circuit on foot through Wenlock;, Liverpool,
and the vale of Langollen. Of this tour (on which he
was first attended by one of his friends), he has Jeft a
Journal, briefly and hastily written, from which a few
extracts, illustrative of his character, may prove not
uninteresting.
"July 9, 1802. — We walked into Wenlock, along a
most romantic road. My mind during these three days
has been less distracted than I expected ; and I have had,
at times, a very cheering sense of the presence of my God.
'' July 17. — I went on board a little sloop, and began
to beat down the Mersey. The Mersey is here more than
four miles broad, and the wind now increasing almost to a
storm, the ship v/as a scene of confusion. One wave
broke over us, and wetted me completely through. I
think there was some danger, though the composure I
felt did not arise, I fear, so much from a sense of my
acceptance with God, as from thinking the danger not to
be great. I had still sufficiently near views of death to
be uneasy at considering how slothful I had been in doing
the Lord's work, and what little meetness I possessed for
the kingdom of glory. Learn then, O my soul, to be
always ready for the coming of the Lord ; that no disqui-
eting fear may arise to perplex thee in that awful hour.
" July 23. — Holywell. Found myself very low and
melancholy. If this arises from solitude, I have little
pleasure to expect from my future tour. I deserve to be
miserable, and I wish to be so, if ever I seek my pleas-
ure in anything but God.
"July 25. — Carewys. I did not go to church this
morning, as the service was in Welch ; but went through
the church service at home^: — in the evening read Isaiah.
IIENIIY .MAirrvN. 81
" July 29. — Aber. Walked two miles into the country
to see a waterfall. I followed the course of the stream,
which soon brought me to it. The water falls three times
from the top : — the last fall appeared to be about seventy
feet. While lingering about here, I was put into great
terror by some huge stones rolling down the hill behind
me. They were thrown down by some persons above,
who could not approach near enough to the precipice to
see me below. The slipperiness of the rocks, on which
the spring is continually falling, put me in danger.
" The beautiful and retired situation of the inn at Aber.
which commands an extensive view of the sea, made me
unwilling to leave the house. However, I set off at eleven,
and paced leisurely to Bangor. It was a remarkably
clear day. The sun shone on every object around me,
and the sea breeze tempered the air. I felt happy at the
sight, and could not help being struck with the beauty of
the creation and the goodness of the God of nature.
"July 31. — Bethgelert. The descent, after ascending
Snowdon, was easy enough, but I cannot describe the
horror of the ascent. The deep darkness of the night,
the howling of the wind in the chasms of the rocks, the
violence of the rain, and the sullen silence of the guide,
who was sometimes so far back that I could hardly see
him, all conspired to make the whole appear a dream.
" — Pont Aberglasslen. I met a poor Welch pedlar,
with a bundle of hats on his back, who, on my inquiring
the distance to Tan-y-Bwlch, told me he was going thither.
He went by the old road, which is two miles nearer. It
passes over the most dreary, uncultivated hills I ever saw,
where there is scarcely any mark of human industry.
The road in most places is overgrown with grass. — The
poor man had walked from Carnarvon that day, with an
enormous bundle ; and pointed with a sorrowful look to
his head ; and indeed he did look very ill ; he was however
very cheerful : what difference in this man's temper and
my own ! The difference was humbling to myself: when
S5J MEMOIR OF
shall I learn * in whatever state I am, therewith to be
content !'
" August 5. — My walk for ten miles was similar to that
of the preceding evening, only still more beautiful, for the
Dovey widened continually, and the opposite hills were
covered with wood : at last, the river fell into the sea, and
the view was then fine indeed ; the weather was serene,
and the sea unruffled. I felt little fatigue ; and so my
thoughts were turned to God. But if I cannot be thankful
to him, and be sensible of his presence in seasons of
fatigue, how can I distinguish the working of the Spirit
from the ebullitions of animal joy V
It is in scenes and seasons of solitude and relaxation,
such as those here described, that the true bias of the
mind is apt to discover itself; in which point of view the
above account is important ; for, short as it is, it evinces
an habitual devotedness to the fear of God, and great
spirituality in the affections.
This tour terminated in bringing Mr. Martyn to the
bosom of his family ; and days more delightful than those
which he then spent, he never saw in this world. The
affectionate reception he met with from his friends ; the
pious conversation he held with his sister on the things
dearest to his heart; his sacred retirements; and the
happy necessity imposed upon him of almost exclusively
studying the word of God, — all conspired to promote his
felicity. These hours left for a long lime " a fragrancy
upon his mind, and the remembrance of them was sweet,"
" As my sister and myself," he remarks, " were im-
proved in our attainments, we tasted much agreeable
intercourse. I did not stay much at Truro, on account of
my brother's family of children ; but at Woodbery, with my
brother-in-law, I passed some of the sweetest moments of
my life. The deep solitude of the place favored medita
tion ; and the romantic scenery around supplied great
external sources of pleasure. For want of other books, I
was obliged to read my Bible almost exclusively; and
HENRY MARTVX. a*J
from this I derived great spirituality of mind, compared
v;ith what I had felt before."
In the beginning of October, 1802, all these tranquil
and domestic joys were exchanged for the severer engage-
ments of the University ; and the conclusion of this year
constituted a memorable era in Mr. Marty n's life. We
have already seen him becoming the servant of Christ,
dedicating himself to the ministry of the Gospel, experi-
encing the consolations of real religion, exhibiting its
genuine fruits : we are now to behold him in a yet higher
character, and giving the most exalted proofs of faith and
Jove.
God, who has appointed different orders and degrees in
iiis church, and who assigns to all the members of it their
respective stations, was at this time pleased, by the al-
mighty and gracious influence of his Spirit, to call the
subject of this Memoir to a work demanding the most
painful sacri, .,es and the most arduous exertions, — that of
a Christian Missionary. The immediate cause of his de-
termination to undertake this office, was hearing the Rev.
Mr. Simeon remark on the benefit which had resulted
from the services of a single missionary * in India ; his at-
tention was thus arrested, and his thoughts occupied with
the vast importance of the subject. Soon after which,
perusing the life of David Brainerd, who preached with
apostolical zeal and success to the North American In-
dians, and who finished a course of self-denying labors for
his Redeemer, with unspeakable joy, at the early age of
thirty-two, his soul was filled with a holy emulation of that
extraordinary man : and, after deep consideration and
fervent prayer, he was at length fixed in a resolution to
imitate his example. Nor let it be conceived that Fio
could adopt this resolution without the severest conflict in
his mind : for he was endued with the truest sensibility of
heart, and was susceptible of the warmest and tenderest
* Dr. Carey. See Appendix A.
84 MEiMOlR OF
attachments. No one could exceed him in love for his
country, or in affection for his friends; and few could
surpass him in an exquisite relish for the various and re-
fined enjoyments of a social and literary life. How then
could it fail of being a moment of extreme anguish, when
he came to the deliberate resolution of leaving for ever all
he held dear upon earth 1 But he was fully satisfied that
the glory of that Saviour, who loved him and gave him-
self for him, would be promoted by his going forth to
preach to the heathen : he considered their pitiable and
perilous condition ; he thought on the value of their im-
mortal souls ; he remembered the last solemn injunction
of his Lord, ' Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost ;' — an injunction never revoked, and commensurate
with that most encouraging promise, ' Lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world.' Actuated by
these motives, he offered himself in the capacity of a mis-
sionary to the Society for Missions to Africa and the
East;* and from that time stood prepared, with a child-
like simplicity of spirit, and an unshaken constancy of
soul, to go to any part of tlie world, whither it might be
deemed expedient to send him.
The following letter to his youngest sister, written not
long afler the adoption of a resolution so self-denying in
its character, and more particularly some passages copi-
ously extracted from his private Journal, will strikingly
exhibit the varied exercises of his mind at this interesting
and most trying juncture. From these it will be seen that
he steadily contemplated the sacrifices he must make, and
the difficulties he might encounter ;— that though some-
times cast down, he was yet upheld in the prospect of his
great work, by Him who had call^ him to it; — that his
notions of the character of a missionary were elevated, —
* It is now called " The Church Missionary Society for Afirica
and the East," and eminently deserves the cordial support of eveiy
member of the Church of Englanci.
his supplications for grace and mercy incessant, — his ex-
aminations of his own heart, deep, and sober, and search-
ing ; — in one word, that he was a man of God, eminently
endued w'ith ' the spirit of power, of love, and of a sound
mind.'
" I received your letter yesterday, and thank God for
the concern you manifest for my spiritual welfare. O that
we may love each other more in the Lord. The passages
you bring from the word of God, were appropriate to my
case, particularly those from the first Epistle of St. Peter,
and that to the Ephesians ; though 1 do not seem to have
given you a right view of my state. The dejection 1
sometimes labor under seems not to arise from doubts of
my acceptance with God, though it tends to produce
them ; nor from desponding views of my own backward-
ness in the divine life, for I am more prone to self-depend-
ence and conceit ; but from the prospect of the dijicul-
ties I have to encounter in the whole of my future life.
The thought that I must be unceasingly employed in the
same kind of work, amongst poor ignorant people, is what
my proud spirit revolts at. To be obliged to submit to a
thousand uncomfortable things that must happen to me,
whether as a minister or a missionary, is what the flesh
cannot endure. At these times I feel neither love to God
nor love to man, and in proportion as these graces of the
Spirit languish, my besetting sins — pride, and discontent,
and unwillingness for every duty — make me miserable.
" You will best enter into my views by considering
those texts which serve to recall me to a right aspect of
things. I have not that coldness in prayer you would ex-
pect, but generally find myself strengthened in faith and
humility and love after it : but the impression is so short !
I am at this time enabled to give myself, body, soul, and
spirit, to God, and perceive it to be my most reasonable
fiervice. How it may be when the trial comes, I know
not, yet I will trust and not be afraid. In order to do
his will cheerfully, I want love for the souls of men ; to
8
86 ME.MOiiJ or
svffer it, I want humility : let these be the subjects of
your supplications for me. I am thankful to God that
you are so free from anxiety and care : we cannot but
with praise acknowledge his goodness. What does it sig-
nify whether we be rich or poor, if we are sons of God ]
How unconscious are they of their real greatness, and
will be so till they find themselves in glory ! When we
contemplate our everlasting inheritance, it seems too good
to be true ; yet it is no more than is due to the kindred
of * God manifest in the flesh.'
" A journey I took last week into Norfolk seems to
have contributed greatly to my health. The attention
and admiration shown me are great and very dangerous.
The praises of men do not now, indeed, flatter my vanity
as they formerly did ; I rather feel pain, through anticipa-
tion of their consequences : but they tend to produce, im-
perceptibly, a self-esteem and hardness of heart. How
awful and awakening a consideration is it, that God judg-
"eth not as man judgeth ! Our character before him is
precisely as it was, before or after any change of external
circumstances. Men may applaud or revile, and make a
man think differently of himself; but He judgeth of a
man according to his secret walk. How difficult is the
work of self-examination ! Even to state to you, imper-
fectly, my own mind, I found to be no easy matter. Nay,
St. Paul says, ' I judge not my own self, for he that judg-
eth me is the Lord.' That is, though he was not con-
scious of any allowed sin, yet he was not thereby justified,
for God might perceive something of which he was not
aware. How needful, then, the prayer of the Psalmist,
' Search me, O God, and try my heart, and see if there
be any evil way in me.' May God be with you, and bless
you, and uphold you with the right hand of his righteous-
ness ; and let us seek to love ; for ' he that dwelleth in
love, dwelleth in God, for God is love.' "
In a Journal replete with sentiments of most ardent
piety, we meet with the following reflections, recorded in
HENRY MARTYN. ^7
the interval between the latter end of the year 1802, the
time when he first resolved to serve Christ as a missionary,
and the autumn of the year 1808, when he was admitted
into Holy Orders.
But let us hear his reasons for keeping such a record of
the state of his mind : — " I am convinced that Christian
experience is not a delusion ; — whether mine is so or not
will be seen at the last day ; — and my object in making
this Journal, is to accustom myself to self-examination,
and to give my experience a visible form, so as to leave a
stronger impression on the memory, and thus to improve
my soul in holiness ; for the review of such a lasting tes-
timony will serve the double purpose of conviction and
consolation."
Divided as Christians are in judgment respecting the
general utility of a religious diary, there can be but one
opinion amongst them respecting the uncommon excel-
lence of the following observations.
" Since I have endeavored to divest myself of every
consideration independent of religion, I see the difficulty
of maintaining a liveliness in devotion for any considerable
time together ; — nevertheless, as I shall have to pass the
greater part of my future life, after leaving England, with
no other source of happiness than reading, meditation, and
prayer, I think it right to be gradually mortifying myself
to every species of worldly pleasure." — " In all my past
life, I have fixed on some desirable ends, at different dis-
tances, the attainment of which was to furnish me with
happiness. But now, in seasons of unbelief, nothing seems
to 110 before me but one vast uninteresting wilderness, and
heaven appearing but dimly at the end. Oh ! how does
this show the necessity of living by faith ! What a shame
that I cannot make the doing of God's will my ever de-
lightful object ; and the prize of my high calling the mark
after which I press !"
** I was under disquiet at the prospect of my future
work, encompassed, as it appeared, with difficulties ; but
88 MEMOIR or
I trusted I was under the guidance of infinite wisdom, and
on that I could rest. Mr. Johnson, who had returned
from a mission, observed that the crosses to be endured
were far greater than could be conceived : but * none of
these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto
me, so that I might finish my course with joy.' Had some
disheartening thoughts at night, at the prospect of being
stripped of every earthly comfort ; but who is it that mak-
eth my comforts to be a source of enjoyment ? Cannot
the same hand make cold and hunger and nakedness and
peril to be a train of ministering angels conducting me to
glory?" — "O my soul, compare thyself with St. Paul, and
with the example and precepts of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Was it not his meat and drink to do the will of his heav-
enly Father ?"
" Finished the account of Dr. Vanderkemp,* and longed
to be sent to China. But I may reasonably doubt the
reality of every gracious affection, they are so like the
morning cloud, and transient as the early dew. If I had
the true love of souls, I should long and labor for those
around me, and afterwards for the conversion of the
Heathen."
" I had distressing thoughts about the little prospect of
happiness in my future life. Though God has not de-
signed man to be a solitary being, yet surely the child of
God would delight to pour out his soul for whole days
together before God. Stir up my soul to lay hold on
Thee, and remove from me the cloud of ignorance and
sin that hides from me the glory of Jehovah, the excel-
lency of my God." " I found Butler's Analogy usjs^j^;! in
encouraging me to self-denial, by the representation he
gives of this life, as a state of discipline for a better,"
*' Since adopting the Gospel as the ground of my hope and
the rule of my life, I feel the force of the argument drawn
from its exalted morality. In so large a work as the Bible,
* See Appendix B.
HENRY MARTYN. ^s,
by so many writers, in such different ages, never to meet
with any thing puerile or inconsistent with their own views
of the Deity, is a circumstance unparalleled in any other
book." — " Respecting what is called the experience of
Christians, it is certain that we have no reason, from
the mere contemplation of the operations of our own
minds, to ascribe them to an extrinsic agent, because they
arise from their proper causes, and are directed to their
proper ends. The truth or falsehood of pretences to the
experience of divine agency, must depend on the truth or
falsehood of Scripture ; that warrants us sufficiently, — for
it informs us that it is ' God that worketh in us, both to
will and to do, of his good pleasure ; which passage,
while it asserts the reality of God's influence, points out
also the manner of his acting, for he works in us to will
before he works in us to do. This effectually guards
against fanaticism, for no one will pretend that he can
ever put his finger on those mysterious springs which move
the will, or knows what they be ; and therefore he cannot
say, noio God is exerting his influence. He may reason-
ably, indeed, and ought to, ascribe every good thought to
God, but still every good thing in him is but the effect of
something preceding his first perception, therefore is pos-
terior to the moving cause, which must hence be for-
ever concealed from the immediate knowledge of man."
*' H came, and we resumed our exercises of reading
and prayer. Though it be true that the more strict our
obedience is, the more evidently does the imperfection of
it appear, yet I think it reasonable to be thankful that I
have received grace to stir one single step this day towards
the kingdom of heaven." — " After my prayers, my mind
seems touched with humility and love, but the impression
decays so soon ! Resolved for the future to use more
watchfulness in reading and prayer." — " My prayers have
been frequent of late, but I cannot realize the presence of
the Almighty God : I have not enjoyed communion with
him, or else there would not be such strangeness in my
8*
90 MEMOIR OF
heart towards the world to come." " In my walk oiit,
and during the remainder of the day, the sense of my own
weakness and worthlessness called me to watchfulness,
and dependence on the grace of Christ." — " My soul
rather benumbed than humble and contrite ; tired with
watchfulness, though so short and so feeble" — *' sudden
flashes of faint affection to-day, which raised self-satisfac-
tion, but no abiding humiliation." — " Talked with much
contemptuous severity about conformity to the world ;
alas ! all that is done in this way had better be left un-
done." " This was a day when I could only by transient
glimpses perceive that all things were ' loss, for the excel-
lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.' "
" I am not conscious of any particular backsliding from
God ; I think my prayers have been more earnest ; yet
the views of my own heart have produced, not humility,
but discontent, I suppose because they are grating to
pride." — " What is the state of my own soul before God ?
I believe that it is right in principle : I desire no other
portion but God : but I pass so many hours as if there
were no God at all. I live far below the hope, comfort,
and holiness of the Gospel : but be not slothful, O my
soul ; — look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith.
For whom was grace intended, if not for me? Are not
the promises made to me ? Is not my Maker in earnest,
when he declareth that he willeth my sanctification, and
hath laid help on one that is mighty 1 I will therefore
have no confidence in the flesh, but will rejoice in the
Lord, and the joy of the Lord shall be my strength. May
I receive from above a pure, a humble, a benevolent, a
heavenly mind !"
" Rose at half past five, and walked a little before
chapel, in a happy frame of mind. Endeavored to main-
tain affectionate thoughts of God as my Father, on awak-
ing in the morning. Setting a watch over my first
thoughts, and endeavoring to make them humble and de-
vout, I find to be an excellent preparation for prayer, and
HENRY MARTYN. 91
for a right spirit during the day. I was in a happy frame
most of the day ; towards the evening, from seeking to
maintain this right state by my own strength, instead of
giving it permanency by faith in Jesus, I grew tired and
very insensible to most things. At chapel the sacred mel-
ody wafted my soul to heaven ; the blessedness of heaven
appeared so sweet, that the very possibility of losing it
appeared terrible, and raised a little disquiet with my joy.
After all, I had rather live in an humble and dependent
spirit ; for then, perceiving underneath me the everlasting
arms, I can enjoy my security."—" Amid the joyous affec-
tions of this day, I quickly forgot my own worthlessness
and helplessness, and thus, looking off from Jesus, found
myself standing on slippery ground. But oh ! the happi-
ness of that state, where pride shall never intrude, to make
our joys an occasion of sorrow."
" Rose at six, and passed the morning in great tran-
quillity. Learnt by heart some of the first three chapters
of Revelations. This is to me the most searching and
alarming part of the Bible ; yet now with humble hope I
trusted, that the censures of my Lord did not belong to
me : except that those words, — Rev. ii. 3, — ' For my
name's sake thou hast labored and hast not fainted,' were
far too high a testimony for me to think of appropriating
to myself; nevertheless I besought the Lord, that what-
ever I had been, I might now be perfect and complete in
all the will of God." — " Men frequently admire me, and I
am pleased ; but I abhor the pleasure I feel ; oh ! did
they but know that my root is rottenness !" — " Heard Pro-
fessor Farish preach at Trinity Church, on Luke xii. 4, 5,
and was deeply impressed with the reasonableness and
necessity of the fear of God. Felt it to be a light matter to
be judged of man's judgment ; why have I not awful appre-
hensions of the glorious Being at all times ? The partic-
ular promise — ' him that overcometh will I make a pillar
in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out ' —
dwelt a long time in my mind, and diffused an affectionate
92 MEMOIR OF
reverence of God." — " I see a great work before me now,
namely the subduing and mortifying of my perverted will
What am I, that I should dare to do my own will, even if
I were not a sinner ! but now how plain, how reasonable,
to have the love of Christ constraining me to be his faith-
ful, willing servant, cheerfully taking up the cross he shall
appoint me." — '' Read some of Amos with Lowth. The
reading of the Prophets is to me one of the most delightful
employments. One cannot but be charmed with the
beauty of the imagery, while they never fail to inspire me
with awful thoughts of God and of his hatred of sin. — The
reading of Baxter's Saint's Rest determined me to live
more in heavenly meditation." — '* Walked by moonlight,
and found it a sweet relief to my mind to think of God and
consider my ways before him. I was strongly impressed
with the vanity of the w^orld, and could not help wonder-
ing at the imperceptible operation of grace, which had
enabled me to resign the expectation of happiness from
it." — '' How frequently has my heart been refreshed, by
the descriptions in the Scriptures of the future glory of the
Church, and the happiness of man hereafter !" — " I felt
the force of Baxter's observation, that if an angel had ap-
pointed to meet me, I should be full of awe ; — how much
more when I am about to meet God !" " In my usual
prayer at noon, besought God to give me a heart to do his
will." — " For poor I interceded most earnestly, even
with tears."
That one thus eminently watchful and holy, who
"counted all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord," should speak of him-
self in the strongest terms of self-condemnation, will ap-
pear incongruous to those only who forget that the prophet,
who uttered in the presence of Jehovah the words of
submissive devotion, *' Here am I, send me," exclaimed
at the same time, in the lowly language of contrition,
" Wo is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean
lips;" and that it was when the Laodiceans ceased to
HEiNRY MARTYN. 93
know that they were " wretched, and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked," that they became defective in zeal
for the glory of their Saviour. Whoever considers tliat
tenderness of conscience is found always in an exact pro-
portion to fervent desires after an entire conformity to the
divine image, will be prepared to expect, and pleased to
peruse, such humble confessions and sacred aspirations as
Mr. Martyn's, which seem to bring us back to the days
of Ephraim the Syrian and St. Augustine. — " The essence
of evangelical humiliation," observes a celebrated writer*
on the religious affections, " consists in such humility as
becomes a creature under a dispensation of grace, con-
sisting in a mean esteem of himself, as nothing, and as
altogether contemptible and odious, attended with a morti-
fication of a disposition to exalt himself, and a free renun-
ciation of his own glory. — He that has much grace, appre-
hends, much more than others, that great height to which
his love ought to ascend, and he sees better than others
how little a way he has risen towards that height, and,
therefore, estimating his love by the whole height of his
duty, it appears astonishingly little and low in his eyes. —
It most demonstratively appears that true grace is of that
nature, that the more a person has of it, with remaining
corruption, the less does his goodness and holiness appear,
in proportion, not only to his past deformity, but to his
present deformity, in the sin that now appears in his heart
and in the abominable defects of his highest affections and
brightest experience." — What better comment can be
found on these profoundly scriptural remarks of a divine
who stood singularly high in Mr, Martyn's estimation,
than the self abasing acknowledgments which follow ?
"What a sink of corruption is the heart! and yet I
can go from day to day in self-seeking and self-pleasing.
Lord! show me myself, as nothing but wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores, and teach me to live by faith
* Jonathan Edwards.
94 iMEJIOlll OF
on Christ my all." — **I fear the exemption from assaults,
either external or internal, is either in itself a bad symptom
of self-ignorance, or leads to pride and self-seeking. Re-
veal to me the evil of my heart, O thou heart-searching
God."
*'I feel a sad strangeness between God and my soul,
from careless, unbelieving prayer ; I am afraid the work of
grace is but shallow. I pray, but look not for an answer
from above ; but while I consider, at the times of prayer,
every grace as coming from God, yet, in the general tenor
of my course, I seem to lay the greater stress on my own
endeavors, heedless of the strength of Christ."-—" How
much better it is to have a peaceful sense of my own
wretchedness, and a humble waiting upon God for sancti-
fying grace, than to talk much and appear to be somebody
in religion !"
" O my God ! who seest me write, and recordest in the
book of thy remembrance more faithfully, my sins and
backslidings ; bring down my soul to repent in dust and
ashes for my waste of time, carnal complacency, and self,
sufficiency. I would desire to devote myself anew to thee
in Christ ; though I fear I hardly know what it means, so
great, in reality, is my ignorance of myself"
" Short and superficial in prayer this morning, and there
undoubtedly is the evil. Read Lowth ; — Learnt the 15th of
John ; and endeavored faintly to be drawing nigh unto God.
Read Brainerd's Journal in the afternoon. At Mr. Sim-
eon's church this evening, my mind was wandering and
ftupid. His sermon was very impressive, on Rev. iii. 2.
Thanks to God that, though my graces are declining, and
my corruptions increasing, I am not unwilling to be re-
claimed. For with all this evil in my heart, I would not.
could not, choose any other than God for my portion."—
"At dear Mr. Simeon's rooms I perceived that I had given
him pain by inattention to his kind instructions. Base
wretch that I am, that by carelessness and unmortified
pride, I should thus ungratefully repay his unexampled
IlEiNRY MAllTYN. 95
kindness. But if the sense of ingratitude to man be thus
painful, what ought I not to feel in reference to God, that
good and holy Being, whose sparing mercy keeps me out
of hell, though I daily dishonor Christ, and grieve his holy
Spirit ! But, O my soul ! it is awful to trifle in religion :
Confession is not repentance, neither is the knowledge of
sin, contrition." — " Hearing I was to meet two men who
were not serious, I felt pride, contempt, and discontent,
to be the torment of my heart." — " Condemned myself for
not exerting myself in doing good to man, by visiting the
sick, &,c. Certainly every grace must be in exercise, if
we would enjoy the communion of the perfect God. ' I
am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and be thou per-
fect.' Every wheel of the chariot must be in motion to
gain the race."
'* I found a want of the presence of God from the fear of
having acted against the suggestion of conscience, in in-
dulging myself with reading the amusing account of Dr.
Vanderkemp, instead of applying to the severer duties of
the morning. God be merciful to me a sinner !
" Was in a composed state, but security led to pride.
On my looking up to God, for pardon of it and for deliver-
ance from it, I feel overwhelmed with guilt. How fast
does piide ripen the soul for hell !" — ''Retained the manna
of past experience till it putrefied in my hand." — "How
utterly forgetful have I been this day of the need of
Christ's grace, of my own poverty and vileness ! Let me
then remember, that all apparent joy in God, without hu-
mility, is a mere delusion of Satan." — " This is my birth-
day, and I am ashamed to review the past : Lord Jesus,
watch over me in the deceitful calm ! Let me beware of
the lethargy, lest it terminate in death. I desire on this
day to renew my vows to the Lord, and O that every suc-
ceeding year of my life may be more devoted to His glory
than the last."
" I thought that my fretfulness, and other marks of an
unsubdued spirit, arose from a sense of my corruption, and
90 MEMOIR OF
a secret dependence on my own powers for a cure. Were
I to bring the maladies of my soul to the great Physician,
in simple reliance on his grace, I should with many other
benefits, receive a cure of that bane of my peace, disap-
pointed arrogance, which proudly seeks for good where it
can never be found. In every disease of the soul, let me
charge myself with the blame, and Christ with the cure of
it, so shall I be humbled and Christ glorified." — " I do
not doubt but tliat I belong to God, yet I am afraid to re-
joice in that relation. I do not live in the sense of my
own helplessness, and therefore do not perceive that my
security is not in myself, but in Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever." — " I found that the omis-
sion of my journal had been attended with bad etFects. O
wretched man that I am ! If God's word did not une-
quivocally declare the desperate wickedness of the heart,
I should sink down in despair. Nothing but infinite grace
can save me. But that which most grieves me, is, that I
am not more humbled at the contemplation of myself."
" When I look back on every day, I may say I have
lost it. So much time misspent ; so many opportunities
lost, of doing good, by spreading the knowledge of the
truth by conversation, or by example ; so little zeal for
God, or love to man ; so much vanity, and levity, and
pride, and selfishness, that I may well tremble at the world
of iniquity within. If ever I am saved it must be by
grace. May God give me a humble, contrite, childlike,
affectionate spirit, and a willingness to forego my ease
continually for his service." —
"What is my journal, but a transcript of my follies?
what else is the usual state of my mind but weakness,
vanity, and sin? O that I could meditate constantly upon
divine things ; that the world and its poor concerns might
no more distract my heart from God. But how little do I
know or experience of the power of Christ ! Truly I find
my proneness to sin, and that generally prevailing igno-
rance of my mind by which all motives to diligence and
HENRY MARTYN. 97
love are made to disappear, to be my misery. Now there-
fore I desire to become a fool, that I may be wise : ' the
meek will he guide in judgment.' "
" I felt humbled at the remembrance of misspent hours,
and while this frame of mind continued, all the powers of
my soul were perceptibly refreshed. The last three chap-
ters of St. John were peculiarly sweet, and I longed to
love. Mr. Simeon preached on John xv. 12; 'This is
my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have
loved you.' I saw my utter want of such a love as he de-
scribed it : so disinterested, sympathizing, beneficent, and
self-denying. Resolved to make the acquisition of it the
daily subje'ct of my future endeavors."—'' I cared not
what was the state of pleasure or pain in my heart, so
that I knew its depth of iniquity, and could be poor and
contrite in spirit ; but it is hard and stubborn and igno-
rant." "Pride shows itself every hour of every day;
what long and undisturbed possession does self-compla-
cency hold of my heart! what plans, and dreams, and
visions of futurity fill my imagination, in which self is the
prominent object !" — " In my intercourse with some of my
dear fiiends, the workings of pride were but too plainly
marked in my outward demeanor ;— on looking up to God
for pardon for it, and deliverance from it, I felt over-
whelmed with guilt.— I was unwilling to resume my stud-
ies, while so much seemed to remain to be done in my
own heart Read Hopkins's Sermon on true Happiness,
and analyzed it. The obedience required in it terrified
me at first, but afterwards I could adore God that he had
required me to be perfectly holy. I thought that I could
cheerfully do his will, though the world, the flesh, and the
devil should rise up against me ; I desired to be filled with
the fruits of righteousness, particularly with humility and
love for the poor of Christ's flock."
'' Drev/ near to the Lord in prayer, but was rather ele-
vated than humbled afterwards. At Mr. Simeon's was
deeply impressed with his sermon on Eccles. viii. 11. It
9
98 MEMOIR OF
was a complete picture of the human heart ; and when he
came to say, that they sinned habitually, deliberately, and
without remorse, I could scarcely believe I was so vile a
wretch as I then saw myself to be. It was a most solemn
discourse." — "The less we do, the more we value it;
how poor, and mean, and pitiful would many even of
present Christians esteem my life ! Dear Saviour, I de-
sire to be no more lukewarm, but to walk nigh to God, to
be dead to the world, and longing for the coming of Christ."
'' I read Hebrew, and the Greek of the Epistle to the
Hebrews. This Epistle is not only not most uninterest-
ing, as it formerly was, but is now the sweetest portion of
the Holy Scripture I know ; partly, I suppose, because I
can look up to Jesus as my High Priest, though I may
very often doubt whether I am interested in him : Yet O
how free is his love to the chief of sinners !" — " How
many of my days are lost, if their worth is to be measured
by the standard of prevailing heavenly-mindedness ! I
want, above all things, a willingness to be despised. What
but the humbling influence of the Spirit, showing me my
vileness and desperate wickedness, can ever produce such
an habitual temper !"
" Mr. Simeon's sermon this evening, on 2 Chron. xxxii.
31, discovered to me my corruption and vileness more
than any sermon I had ever heard." " Oh ! that I had a
more piercing sense of the divine presence ! How much
sin in the purest services ! If I were sitting in heavenly
places with Christ, or rather with my thoughts habitually
there, how would every duty, but especially this of social
prayer, become easy. Memoria tua sancta, et dulcedo
tua beatissima possideat animam meam, atque in invisi-
bilium amorem rapiat illam."*
" This day was set apart for a public fast. I prayed
rather more than two hours, chiefly with confession of my
* '• May the sacred remembrance of thee, and of thy most blessed
delight, possess my soul, and bear it away in the love of unset^n
HLISRY MARTYN.
own sins, those of my family, and the church : alas ! so
much was required to be said on the first head, that I
should have been at no loss to have dwelt upon it the
whole day."—" Suffered sleepiness to prevent my reading
to my servant : it is hurtful to my conscience to let slight
excuses for an omission of duty prevail." — "O what
cause for shame and self-abhorrence arises from the review
of every day : — in morning prayer, as usual of late, my
soul longed to leave its corruptions, to think of Christ and
live by him. I labored to represent to myself powerful
considerations, to stir up my slothful heart to activity,
particularly that which respects giving instruction to, and
praying with, people. I set before myself the infinite
mercy of being out of hell, — of being permitted to do the
will of God, — of the love of Christ, which was so disinter-
ested,—how he passed his life in going about doing good,
— how those men who were truly great, the blessed apos-
tles, did the same, — how the holy angels would delight to
be employed on errands of mercy. A ray of light seems
to break upon my mind for a moment, and discovers the
folly and ignorance of this sinful heart; but it quickly
returns to its former hardness. My will is to sit all day
reading, not making any effort to think, but letting the
book fill the mind with a succession of notions ; and when
the time comes for reading the Scripture and praying,
then it recoils. When an opportunity offers of speaking
for the good of others, or assisting a poor person, then
it makes a thousand foolish excuses. It would rather go
on wrapt in self, and leave the world to perish. Ah!
what a heart is mine ! The indistinctness of my view of
its desperate wickedness is terrible to me, that is, when I
am capable of feeling any terror. But now, my soul ! rise
from earth and hell, — shall Satan lead me captive at his
will, when Christ ever liveth to make intercession for the
vilest worm 1 O thou ! whose I am by creation, preser-
vation, redemption, no longer my own, but his who lived
and died and rose again, once more would I resign this
100 MEMOIR OF
body and soul, mean and worthless as they are, to the
blessed disposal of thy holy will ! — May I have a heart to
love God and his people, the flesh being crucified ! May
grace abound, where sin has abounded much! May I
cheerfully and joyfully resign my ease and life in the ser-
vice of Jesus, to whom I owe so much ! May it be sweet
to me to proclaim to sinners like myself the blessed effi-
cacy of my Saviour's blood ! May he make me faithful
unto death ! The greatest enemy I dread is the pride of
my own heart. Through pride reigning, I should forget
to know a broken spirit : then would come on unbelief, —
weakness, — apostacy." — " If it is a mercy that I am out
of hell, what account should I make of the glorious work
of the ministry, to which I am to be called, who am not
worthy to be trodden under foot of men."
Thus having attained to a degree of self-knowledge
and spirituality equally rare, and being thoroughly in-
structed how '* he ought to behave himself in the church
of God, — the church of the living God, — the pillar and
ground of the truth," — Mr, Martyn prepared for the solemn
rite of his ordination, which was administered at Ely on
Sunday, Oct. 22, 1803 : ' Blessed is the man whom Thou
choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee, that he may
dwell in thy courts ;' Psalm Ixv. 4. This blessing surely
rested in an eminent degree on Mr. Martyn : for what a
contrast does his approach to the altar on this occasion
exhibit to that of those, who presumptuously intrude into
the sacred office, ' seeking their own things, and not the
things of Jesus Christ,' Truly might he affirm, that he
was " inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to take upon
him that office and ministration, to serve God by promot-
ing his glory, and edifying his people ;" and truly did he
resolve to " give himself continually to prayer and to the
ministry of the word." Yet his self-abasement was as
usual conspicuous, and he bewailed having presented him-
self for admission into the ministry of the Lord Jesus, "in
so much ignorance and unholiness ;" and at the same
HENRY MARl YN. 101
time poured out his prayer, that he might have "grace
to fulfil those promises which he had made before God
and the people," The awful weight of ordination vows
was impressed on no one's mind more deeply than on his ;
— the thought of his responsibility would have overwhelmed
him, had he not been supported by remembering that the
treasure of the Gospel was placed ' in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power might be of God and not
of man.' That which was the comfort of Polycarp as a
Bishop, was his consolation as a Deacon, — that he who
was constituted an oversee?- of the church, was himself
overlooked by Jesus Christ, — and that in the discharge of
his office as pastor of the flock, he was ever under the
gracious superintendence of that great and good Shepherd
who ' laid down his life for the sheep.'
A circumstance which occurred at this time shows how
seriously his mind was affected. From a constitutional
delicacy and reserve, no one had naturally a greater re-
luctance than Mr. Martyn to obtrude himself on the
notice of others in the way of admonition ; it was a task
from which his feelings recoiled. Observing, however,
with pain and sorrow, one of the candidates for ordination,
in an apparently careless and unconcerned state, he took
an opportunity, though the party was not personally
known to him, of admonishing him privately on the sub-
ject : and in what a strain such a man would speak at
such a moment, may more easily be conceived than ex-
pressed. A deep conviction of the necessity of reproving
others, and not suffering sin to remain in them, often in-
duced Mr. Martyn to do violence to the retiring tender-
ness of his disposition. He felt reproof to be " a duty of
unlimited extent and almost insuperable difficulty " — but,
said he, " the way to know when to address men, and
when to abstain, is to love ;" and, as love is most genuine
when the heart is most abased, he resolved not to reprove
others, where he could conscientiously be silent, except
he experienced at the time a peculiar contrition of spirit.
9*
CHAPTER III.
COMMENCEMENT OF HIS MINISTERIAL LABORS COLLEGI-
ATE DUTIES APPLIES FOR A CHAPLAINSHIP UNDER
THE EAST INDIA COMPANY— VISITS CORNWALL HIS
SUFFERINGS ON LEAVING ENGLAND.
The exercise of his pastoral function Mr. Martyn com-
menced as curate of the Rev. C. Simeon, in the Church
of the Holy Trinity in Cambridge ; undertaking likewise
the charge of the parish of Lolworth, a small village at no
great distance from the University. There it was, on the
Sunday after his ordination, that he preached his first ser-
mon, on the following words : ' If a man die, shall he live
again? — all the days of my appointed time will I wait,
till my change come;' Job xiv. 14. After delivej-ing his
second sermon at which place, on the succeeding Sunday,
an incident occurred on his way home, which he recorded
in his Journal, and which could not well be effaced from
his remembrance. An old man, who had been one of his
auditors, walked by the side of his horse for a considerable
time, warning him to reflect, that if any souls perished
through his negligence, their blood would be required at
his hand. He exhorted him to show his hearers that they
were perishing sinners; to be much engaged in secret
prayer ; and to labor after an entire departure from him-
self to Christ. "From what he said on the last head
^observes Mr. Martyn), it was clear that I had but little
experience; but I lifted up my heart afterwards to the
MEMOIR OF MARTIN. 1(J3;
Lord, that I might be fully instructed in righteousness. "i*t*:
So meekly and thankfully did this young minister listen
to the affectionate counsel of an old disciple.
On Thursday, Nov. 10, he preached for the first time
at Trinity Church, to a numerous and earnestly attentive
congregation, upon part of that address of Jesus to the:
woman of Samaria : — ' If thou knewest the gift of God, and
who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, thou
wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee
living water,' John iv. 10 : when it was his fervent desire
and prayer to enter fully into the solemn spirit of those
well-known lines,
^' Fd preach as though I ne'er should preach again j
I'd preach as dying unto dying men."
Nor could words characterize more justly the usual straia
of his preaching : for whether the congregation he ad-
dressed were great or small, learned and refined, or poor
and ignorant, he spake as one who had a message to them
from God, and who was impressed with the consideration,
that both he and they must shortly stand before the Judge
of quick and dead.
The burdens and difficulties of his sacred employments
lay heavily at first on Mr. Martyn's mind, and considerably
depressed his spirits ; but he endeavored, he writes in a
letter to his earliest friend, to keep in view *' the unreason-
ableness of his discontent (who was a brand plucked
out of the fire), and the glorious blessedness of the minis-
terial work." At times, he confesses, he was tried with a
*' sinful dislike of his parochial duty" — and seemed fre-
quently *' as a stone speaking to stones" — and he laments
that "want of private devotional reading, and shortness of
prayer, through incessant sermon-making, had produced
much strangeness between God and his soul." — " Every
time," he remarked, "that I open the Scriptures, my
thoughts are about a sermon or exposition, so that even in
private I seem to be reading in public." Young minis-
104 MEMOIR OF
ters, — those especially who are placed in extensive spheres
of action, — are not ignorant of the temptations of which
Mr. Martyn here complains ; — and to them it must be a
consolation to be assured, that the same trials were not
unknown to one of the most devoted and most faithful of
their brethren.
Added to those duties which had now become his pecu-
liar care, and in which, notwithstanding some momentary
depressions, he continued steadfast and unmovable, always
abounding in his work, — an office of another kind devolved
on him towards the close of the year 1803 ; that of one
of the public examiners in his College : and if it were too
much to say, that an examination in the classics at St.
John's has rarely been conducted more to the credit of the
society, or to the advantage of the students, or to the
honor of the examiner ; certainly it would not be declaring^
too much to aver, that never sijnce the foundation of the
College has one been held in a more Christian spirit, and
in a more strict accordance with that extensive apostolical
injunction — ' Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all
in the name of the Lord Jesus.' The vigilance with
which Mr. Martyn prepared for this duty, and the humility
with which he speaks of himself when engaged in the
execution of it, show that his Christianity was of the
highest proof
*' I read Mitford's History of Greece, as I am to be clas-
sical examiner. To keep my thoughts from wandering
away to take pleasure in these studies, required more
watchfulness and earnestness in prayer than I can account
for. But earnest ejaculation was effectual to make me
return to the word of God with some delight. ' The car-
nal mind is enmity against God,' — and so I find it. I was
obliged to reason with myself, and to force open my eyes,
that I might see the excellency of divine things. Did I
delight in reading the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks,
and shall not my soul glory in the knowledge of God, who
created the Greeks, and the vast countries over which thev
HENRY MARTYN. 1^
passed 1 I examined in Butler's Analogy, and in Xeno-
phon ; how much pride and ostentatious display of learning
was visible in my conduct! — how that detestable spirit
follows me, whatever I do !"
It was customary with Mr. Marty n, at the commence-
ment of a new year, to take a solemn review of the time
past, and to contemplate his future prospects. In the
review of his journal of the year 1803, he judged that he
had dedicated too much time to public ministrations, and
too little to private communion with God. Yet he trusted
that he had grown in grace, inasmuch as the bent of his
desires was towards God, more than when he first thought
of becoming a Missionary. " In heavenly contemplation
and abstraction of mind," he adds, " my attainments have
fallen far short of my expectation ; but in a sense of my
own worthlessness and guilt, and in a consequent subjuga-
tion of the will, and in a disposition for labor and active
exertion, I am inclined to think myself gaining ground.
My soul approves thoroughly the life of God, and my one
only desire is to be entirely devoted to him ; and O may I
live very near to him in the ensuing year, and follow the
steps of Christ and his holy saints. I have resigned, in
profession, the riches, the honors, and the comforts of this
world : and I think also it is a resignation of the heart."
Then, after having set apart a day for fasting and prayer,
he besought God '' for understanding and strength, to fit
him for a long life of warfare and constant self-denial ;
and that he might see clearly why he was placed here,
how short the time was, and how excellent to labor for
souls, and, above all,,..to feel his desert of hell." He
prayed also for grace, to ''enlighten him in the dark sea-
sons of trouble and desponding faith; that he might not
shrink from cold and hunger, and painful labor, but might
follow the Lamb whithersoever he went." His soul longed
for perfection, but he " feared that he had not yet learned
the secret of happiness, — a poor and contrite spirit."
In the early part of the year 1804, Mr. Martyn s ex-
^?jb MEMOIR OF
pectations of becoming a IMissionary were considerably
damped by the very trying event of his losing all his slen-
der patrimony ; a loss rendered more severe to him by the
circumstance of his younger sister being involved in the
same calamity. His designs of leaving England were, in
consequence of this disaster, likely to be frustrated : for
his pecuniary resources were cut off, and it appeared to
him scarcely justifiable to leave his sister in actual dis-
tress, when his presence in England might alleviate or
remove it. In order, therefore, that he might consult
some of his friends in this emergency, at the end of June
he left Cambridge for London.
The situation of a Chaplain to the East India Company
had long appeared to many of those who took a lively in-
terest in him and his work, to be peculiarly eligible, as
offering singular facilities for missionary exertions among
millions of idolaters. The pecuniary advantages of the
appointment were a" first wholly out of their contemplation ;
and for himself, when it was intimated to him that there
was some expectation of his leaving England in the capa-
city of Chaplain to the East India Company — his private
journal contains this remarkable reflection : — " 77ie pros-
pect of this worMs happiness gave me rather pain than
pleasure, which convinced me that I had been running
away from the world rather than overcoming itJ^ That
unexpected change which had now taken place in Mr.
Martyn's circumstances caused an increased anxiety
amongst his friends to procure, if possible, the appoint-
ment which before they had deemed so desirable ; and
they were not without hopes of seeing the Mission Church
at Calcutta placed under his pastoral superintendence.
Insuperable obstacles, however, interfered with this ar-
r; ngement, and " a veil was thus cast over his future
proceedings. "
The patience which Mr. Martyn manifested under this
dsappointment was as edifying and extraordinary, as the
watchfulness which he exercised over his mind during his
HENRY MARTVN. 107
visit to London, lest scenes so different from those at
Cambridge, should prove to him a source of distraction
and dissipation. He speaks at this time of returning on
one occasion to his room, after having been much abroad
and making many visits, ** unable to remain in an unholy,
dissipated state, and seeking God earnestly in prayer."
Whilst waiting at the India House, he employed that time
— *' for which," he says, ** he would have given anything
at Cambridge," in private ejaculatory prayer, and in re-
peating passages from the word of God ; — and yet, though
he ever aimed at an entire abstraction from the vanities
of the world, he hesitated not to allow himself the full en-
joyment of rational and refined gratifications : his obser-
vations on this head are well worth recording : " Since I
have known God in a saving manner," he remarks,
" painting, poetry, and music, have had charms unknown
to me before. I have received what I suppose is a taste
for them; for religion has refined my mind, and made it.
susceptible of impressions from the sublime and beautiful.
O how religion secures the heightened enjoyment of those
pleasures which keep so many from God, by their becom-
ing a source of pride!"
Unable at present to discern the cloud which should
conduct him on his way, Mr. Marty n resumed his minis-
terial functions at Cambridge with ardor, but with a heavy
heart. The affairs of his family, affecting, as they did,
his own destination as well as his sister's happiness, were
no light pressure upon his spirits; in any other point of
view, they would scarcely have raised a sigh, and certainly
would not greatly have disturbed his composure. But
when " most oppressed," he was enabled to find comfort
in reflecting, that '* even such a condition was infinitely
preferable to that of those, whose minds were discontented
in the pursuits of dangerous trifles."
The words of the wise man, that " the day of death is
better than the day of one's birt'i," can apply only to
those who practically discern, in the light of the Scriptures,
108 MEMOIR OF
the great end of their existence. This subject was ever
in Mr. Martyn's contemplation ; and that he might more
closely consider the object for which he was created, he
never failed in making a particular commemoration of the
anniversary of his birth. " Twenty-three years have
elapsed" (he wrote on the 18th of February, 1804)
" since I saw the light ; — only four of which have been
professedly given to God ; — much has been left undone ; —
much remains to be done as a Christian and minister ; yet
my past experience of the long-suffering of God, leaves me
no doubt of being carried on all the way. I feel that my
heart is wholly for heaven, and the world mainly behind
my back. Praised be the Lord for his mercy and pa-
tience ! The number of my days is fixed in his purpose :
— O may I ' glorify him on earth, and finish the work he
has given me to do.' "
That his heart was " wholly for heaven," is evinced by
the following reflection on a conversation in the hall of St.
John's : — " At dinner they were talking of stones falling
from the moon. My imagination began to ascend among
the shining worlds hung in the midst of space, and to
glance from one to another, and my heart bounded at the
thought that I was going a much surer way to behold the
glories of the Creator hereafter, than by giving up my
time to speculations about them."
In the interval which passed between the months of
February and June, he was found earnestly laboring in
the service of his divine Master. He preached animating
and awakening discourses : he excited societies of private
Christians to "watch, quit themselves as men, and be
strong :" he visited many of the poor, the afflicted, and
the dying : he warned numbers of the careless and prof-
ligate : — in a word, he did the work of an Evangelist.
Often did he redeem time from study, from recreation,
and from the intercourse of friends, that, like his Re-
deemer, he might enter the abodes of misery, either to
arouse the unthinking slumberer, or to administer conso-
HENRY MARTYN, J 09
lation to the dejected penitent. Many an hour did he
pass in an hospital or an alms-house ; — and often, after a
day of labor and fatigue, when wearied almost to the ex-
tremity of endurance, he would read and pray with the
servant who had the care of his rooms; thus making it his
meat and drink, his rest as well as his labor, to do the
will of his heavenly Father, in conformity to the example
of Christ :
'• His care was fixed ;
To fill his odorous lamp with deeds of light,
And hope that reaps not shame."
The delight he experienced on hearing that benefit
resulted from his exertions, proved to him an ample recom-
pense for every sacrifice of time, comfort, or convenience ;
and it was equalled only by the humility with which he
received such cheering intelligence. " I was encour-
aged " (he observes, on receiving a communication of this
nature) '' and refreshed beyond description, and I could
only cheerfully and gratefully offer up myself to God's
service : but it was at the same time a check to my pride
to reflect, that though God might in his sovereignty bless
his word by my mouth, I was not on that account the less
sinful in my ministrations." On another occasion, with
touching simplicity and true lowliness, he writes, after
meeting some of his flock in the way so strongly and ably
recommended by the present Bishop of Chester,* — *' I
spoke for twenty minutes on ' Thy will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.' — When shall I pour out of a fufl heart
these blessed and divine truths which drop from these lips
of clay ! An old woman, at the conclusion, said, ' The
Lord Almighty bless you !" This unexpected benediction
encouraged me much."
The incalculable value of habits of self-denial seems
never to have been more deeply impressed upon the mind
* Rev. J. B. Sumner, D. D., a distinguished writer on the Evi-
dences of Christianity, and an excellent prelate. E.
10
110 MEx\IOIR OF
of Mr. Martyn than at this time. — " A despicable indul-
gence in lying in bed," he says, " gave me such a view
of the softness of my character, that I resolved, on my
knees, to live a life of more self-denial : the tone and
vigor of my mind rose rapidly : all those duties from
which I usually shrink^ seemed recreations. I collected
all the passages from the four Gospels that had any refer-
ence to this subject ; — it is one on which I need to preach
to myself, and mean to preach to others. Whenever I can
say, ' Thy will be done,' ' teach me to do thy will, O God,
for thou art my God ;' it is like throwing ballast out of an
air-balloon ; my soul ascends immediately, and light and
happiness shine around me." Such was his thirst after
this Christian temper ! such his enjoyment of its blessed-
ness!
At the beginning of the present year, Mr. Martyn was
apprehensive, as we have seen, of having bestowed too much
time on public duties ; and too little on those which are
private and personal. He was fully persuaded that, in
order to take heed effectually to his ministry, he must, in
obedience to the apostolic injunction, ' take heed' primarily
* to himself;' and this, in fact, was his settled course and
practice. He would sometimes set apart seasons for
humiliation and prayer, and would frequently spend whole
evenings in devotion. Of the Bible he could ever affirm
* Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it.
' The word of Christ dwelt richly in him in all wisdom.'
Large portions of it did he commit to memory, repeating
them during his solitary walks, at those times when he
was not expressly meditating on some scriptural subject
which was his general custom ; and so deep was his ven
eration for the word of God, that when a suspicion arose
in his mind, that any other book he might be studying was
about to gain an undue influence over his affections, he
instantly laid it aside, nor would he resume it till he had
felt and realized the paramount excellence of the divine
oracles^: he could not rest satisfied till all those lesser
HENRY MARTYN. m
lights, which were beginning to dazzle him, had disap-
peared before the effulgence of the Scriptures.
How much he loved secret prayer, and how vigilantly
he engaged in the exercise of it, may be seen in the sub-
joined remarks on that subject : — " I felt the need of
setting apart a day for the restoration of my soul by solemn
prayer : my views of eternity are become dim and tran-
sient. I could live forever in prayer, if I could always
speak to God. I sought to pause, and to consider what I
wanted, and to look up with fear and faith, and I found
the benefit ; for my soul was soon composed to that devout
sobriety which I knew by its sweetness to be its proper
frame. — I was engaged in prayer in the manner I like,
deep seriousness ; at the end of it, I felt great fear of for-
getting the presence of God, and of leaving him as soon
as I should leave the posture of devotion. I was led
through the mists of unbelief, and spake to God as one
that was true ; and rejoiced exceedingly that he was holy
and faithful. I endeavored to consider myself as being
alone on the earth with him, and that greatly promoted my
approach to his presence. My prayer for a meek and
holy sobriety was granted ! O how sweet the dawn of
heaven!"
Nor was Mr. Martyn less diligent and fervent in the yet
higher branch of Christian worship, — thanksgiving. — " Let
me praise God," he would say, " for having turned me
from a life of wo to the enjoyment of peace and hope.
The work is real. I can no more doubt it than I can
doubt my existence ,' the whole current of my desires is
altered, — I am walking quite another way, though I am
incessantly stumbling in that way." " I had a most blessed
view of God and divine things ; — O how great is his excel-
lency ! I find my heart pained for want of words to praise
him according to his excellent greatness ; I looked forward
to complete conformity to him, as the great end of my
existence, and my assurance was full. I said, almost with
tears, * Who shall separate us from the love of Christ V "
1 12 MEMOIR OF
It has been well observed,* that " we may judge, by
our regard for the Sabbath, whether eternity will be forced
upon us." The application of this rule, as it respects Mr.
Martyn, will discover a singular meetness in him for the
inheritance of the saints in light. His Sabbaths were
Sabbaths indeed, — the antepast, often, of that rest which
is everlasting.
Let us hear his own description of his happiness at
some of those sacred times : — " Before setting out to go to
Lolworth, I endeavored to cast away all those contemptible
prejudices and dislikes which I often feel, and on the road
experienced a sweet sense of the divine presence, and
happy meditation on God and his truths. I was thinking
of the love of Christ, and of his unparalleled humility, and
that to him belonged all the glory, as having truly merited
it. I felt quite devoted to God and assured of his love :
I did not doubt of having been apprehended by Christ
(for the purpose, I hope, of preaching his Gospel), and
during the service my heart was full of love and joy."
" At church, this morning, my heart was overflowing with
love and joy : during the sermon, which was an exhorta-
tion to diligence, a sense of my unprofitableness depressed
me. But in my ride to Lolworth, I enjoyed sweet de-
light:— every breeze seemed to breathe love into my
heart; and while I surveyed the landscape, I looked for-
ward to the days when all nations should come to the
mountain of the Lord's house."
By those who forget the history of our Lord's life, it
might be conceived, that one so blameless and harmless
as Mr. Martyn, so poor in spirit, and pure in heart, would
pass on his way unassailed by calumny or unkindness.
But those who draw their anticipations from the Scripture,
will not ' marvel' that he should be called to endure unjust
insinuations and aspersions, when his whole life was de-
voted to the welfare of his fellow creatures. Yet, ' when
* Adam's Private Thoughts.
HExNRY MARTIN. 113
reviled he reviled not again, but committed himself to him
that judgeth righteously.' "Is not this sweet, O my
soul," he exclaimed under a trial of this kind, " to have
a holy God to appeal to and converse with, though all the
world should turn their backs?" And it should be re-
marked here, that his patience under the severe and un-
merited censures of others was not that which is sometimes
mistaken for it, the indifference of apathy, or the super-
ciliousness of contempt ; the one was as abhorrent to his
nature, as the other was to the principles of his religion.
Censorious tongues were to him as they were to David,
" Spears and arrows and sharp swords :" so far from being
callous to any attempts to wound his character and his
peace, he acknowledges that obloquy was a trying exercise
of his Christian temper, and he considered the dispensa-
tion as "wholesome," because "to be despised by men
affected him very deeply." ' But the name of the Lord
is a strong tower : — the righteous runneth into it, and is
safe.' " Conscious," said he, " that I did not deserve
the censures that were cast upon me, I committed myself
to God, and in him may I abide, till the indignation be
overpast !"
Those, however, who maligned and traduced Mr. Mar-
tyn's character, wounded his spirit far less than those who
either scoffed at his high and self-denying designs of use-
fulness, or, from worldly motives, discouraged him from
attempting their accomplishment. No one could be more
ready than he to consider the fittest means for compassing
the ends he had in view ; and to weigh beforehand the
difficulties attending the life of a Missionary, however
favored by external circumstances. But objections of a
contemptuous kind, or those arguments which founded
themselves on an ignorance of the very spirit of the Gos-
pel, painfully affected his mind. His reflections, after a
long discourse with a person who had addressed him with
the kindest intentions, but with a judgment unenlightened
by that wisdom which is from above, are worth preserv-
10*
114 MEMOIR OF
ing : — ** All our conversation on the subject of religion
ended in nothing. He was convinced that he was right,
and all the texts I produced were, according to him, op-
plicahle only to the times of the Apostles. How am I
constrained to adore God's sovereign mercy ! My soul,
dost thou not esteem all things but dung and dross for
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord 1
Yea, did not gratitude constrain me, — did not duty and
fear of destruction, — yet surely the excellency of the ser-
vice of Christ, would constrain me to lay down a thousand
lives in the prosecution of it." When called to encounter
the ridicule of those who, not knowing the hope of Christ's
calling, nor the riches of the glory of his inheritance in
the saints, nor the exceeding greatness of his power
towards those who believe, despised all labors of love
amongst the heathen as wild and visionary ; the Lord
helped him to keep his ground, and to bear his testimony.
"With my Bible in my hand, and Christ at my right
hand," said he, "I can do all things: what though the
whole world believe not, God abideth true, and my hope in
him shall be steadfast."
In the latter part of the spring of this year, he had the
singular satisfaction of being introduced to a personal
acquaintance with one of a kindred spirit with himself, —
the late Henry Kirke White. Rare genius, and, above all,
sterling piety, could not fail of being greatly admired and
highly prized by Mr. Martyn; he consequently took the
liveliest interest in behalf of that extraordinary young
man; and used his utmost endeavors to facilitate his
entrance upon that course at College, which afterwards
proved so brilliant and so transient.
The duties of a public examiner in St. John's were
now, in the month of June, for the second time consigned
to Mr. Martyn : — the subjects for examination being, one
of them from the Classics, the other, Locke's Treatise on
the Understanding. To those who embark in metaphysi-
cal disquisitions, it will serve as a matter of caution, — and
HEiNRY MARTYN. 115
to those who are harassed with distressing thoughts, it
may administer consolation, — ^to recite, in Mr. Martyn's
own words, the exquisite mental sufferings he endured,
after allowing his mind a range of too unlimited a nature
in these abstract questions. " My soul," he writes, " was
filled with greater misery and horror than I ever before ex-
perienced.— I know not how to describe my feelings, or how
I got into them ; — hut it was after metaphysical inquiries
into the nature and end of my being, and in what consists
the happiness of my soul. I was afraid to leave off pray-
ing, and went to bed earnestly recommending my soul to
Christ." " I tremble," said he, on the succeeding day,
"to enter on these inquiries, lest my beclouded reason
should lead me to the brink of hell. But I know by ex-
perience that the spirit of submission, and a sense of the
authority of God, is the only state in which I can ever be
happy : and precisely in proportion as I depart from that
state of things, 1 am unhappy. And so strong is this sen-
timent, that were it not my hope that I should one day
wholly submit to God, and descend to my right place, I
would not wish to exist another moment. My trust is,
that God will, according to the riches of his grace in
Christ Jesus, enable a poor worm, who groans under
pride, to advance steadily and humbly to his end, and
preserve him from those dreadful thoughts which almost
overwhelm the soul." Thus, when in danger of being
"spoiled by philosophy," was his soul "upheld by the
free Spirit of a faithful God."
It now appeared to be past a doubt, that Mr. Martyn
would succeed in obtaining a Chaplainship in the service
of the East India Company; and that in the ensuing
spring, he would be summoned to leave the shores of his
native country forever. In July, therefore, he re-visited
those scenes which were endeared to him by numberless
early associations, and enlivened by the presence of many
whom he admired and loved. And here it is due to the
lit) MEMOIR OF
full illustration of his Christian character to mention, that
it was not merely the ties of family or friendship which
bound him to Cornwall ; others there were of a tenderer
if not stronger kind : for he had conceived a deeply-fixed
attachment for one, of whom less ought not, and more
cannot be said, than that she was worthy of him : an
attachment which, — whether he thought, as he afterwards
did, that it should be encouraged, or as he now did, that,
from peculiar circumstances, it ought to be repressed, —
equally exhibits him as a man of God, whose affections
were set upon things above, and not on things on the
earth.
As this was the first time he had been in Cornwall
since his ordination, and the last time he expected ever
to visit it, he was extremely anxious to testify the grace
of God in his public ministry, whenever he had an oppor-
tunity. Such, however, was the prejudice excited against
his religious principles, that his labors were almost en-
tirely confined to two churches under the care of his
brother-in-law. There he frequently preached, and there
both his sisters heard him, the youngest with much delight,
the eldest with a most gratifying appearance of having been
seriously impressed by what fell from his lips. '' I found,"
said he, " that she had been deeply affected, and from her
conversation I received great satisfaction : — in the even-
ing, I walked by the water-side till late, having my heart
full of praise to God for having given me such hopes of
my sister."
To the churches where he preached, the common people
crowded in numbers. At Kenwyn, — where he addressed
them from 2 Cor. v. 20, 21, ' Now then we are ambassa-
dors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us ;
we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
For he hath made him to be sin for us ; who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him ;'
—the church was so full, that many were compelled to
stand on the outside, and many obliged to go away. How
HENRY MART VN. 1 1 ;
acceptable he was to those who loved and valued the Gos-
pel, may be easily conceived ; yet such was his vigilance of
mind and tenderness of conscience, that " their commen-
dations occasioned him some pain,'' inasmuch as " they
tended to fan the flame of vanity." The Christian, espe-
cially the Christian minister, has to pass through good
report and evil report ; — and praise is a severer test of
the strength of his principles than dispraise. Mr. Martyn
ever found it so ; and he experienced himself, as well as
exemplified to others, the truth of those words of wisdom —
*' as the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold, so
is a man to his praise;" Prov. xxvii. 21.
In the private and more retired duties of his calling, he
was now, as usual, most unremitting in his attention :
these, in fact, were to him the most delightful parts of his
vocation. Happier would he have esteemed it, as far as
his personal feelings were concerned, to kneel, as he did
frequently with his youngest sister, beside the beds of the
sick and dying, than to have had the largest churches in
his native country, thronged with multitudes attentive to
hear him : he was of the spirit of that Redeemer, who
sought to be hid whilst he went about doing good.
His habits of reading and prayer, and particularly those
of divine meditation, were in no degree relaxed during his
visit, and the less so, because he acknowledged that " he
felt an increased difiiculty of living in communion with
God, M'here so many remembered him a different charac-
ter." The solitude of the spot where he resided was
happily fitted for contemplation : — " The scene," he wrote,
in a letter to a friend from Lamorran, '* is such as is fre-
quently to be met with in this part of Cornwall. Below
the house is an arm of the sea, flowing between the hills,
which are covered with wood. By the side of this water
I walk in general in the evening, out of the reach of all
sound but the rippling of the waves and the whistling
of the curlew." In these pensive and solitary walks, the
great sacrifices he was about to make, could not but force
J 18 MEMOIR OF
themselves frequently upon his mind, and raise the silent
and involuntary sigh : but we may be well assured, that
" in the multitude of the thoughts which he had in his
heart, God's comforts refreshed his soul."
At length, after having withstood in Cornwall, as well
as at Cambridge, the arguments of those who " at all
events would have detained him in England," — arguments
of which he confesses that '' some were not without
weight," — he prepared to leave that part of his native
country which was peculiarly dear to his feeling and
affectionate heart.
The separations of Christians from each other, in this
world of mutability, afflictive as they ever must be, have
their peculiar alleviations : they know that Christ " fills
all things ;" — and they have the blissful expectation of an
endless re-union in that world of glory whither they are
hastening.
Mr. Marty n, with respect to several from whom he was
now to part, could fully indulge in these animated antici-
pations : but he could not as it respected all. The follow-
ing is a mournful record of a final interview, overclouded
by the gloom of an almost hopeless sorrow. " M
rode with me part of the way, but kept the conversation
on general subjects. If I brought him by force to religion,
he spoke with the most astonishing apathy on the subject.
His cold, deliberate superiority to every thing but argu-
ment, convinced me not merely that he was not only fully
convinced, as he said, but that he was rooted in infidelity.
Nothing remained for me but to pray for him. Though
he parted from me probably to see me no more, he said
nothing that could betray the existence of any passions in
him. O cursed infidelity, that fi-eezes the heart's blood
here, as well as destroys the soul hereafter ! I could only
adore the sovereign grace of God, which distinguished me
from him, though every thing was alike in us. We have
been intimate from our infancy ; and have had the same
plans and pursuits, and nearly the same condition : but
HENRY MARTYN. 119
the one is taken and the other is left. I, through mercy,
find my only joy and delight in the knowledge of Christ ;
and he in denying the truth of religion altogether."
By another farewell which he has also depicted, he
could not be otherwise than very deeply affected : but the
sorrow was of a character very dissimilar to the last.
"Rode before E , with L , to an old man five
miles off. Our conversation was such as becometh saints,
but it was too pleasant for me. I sighed at the thought
of losing their company. When we arrived, the old man
was out, but his sister, a blind woman of seventy, was
confined to her bed, without any comfortable hope. L
and myself said every thing we could to cheer her, and
then I prayed. When the old man arrived, we formed a
little circle before the door, under the trees, and he con-
versed with his young hearers concerning the things of
God. I then read Psalm Ixxxiv. Our ride home was
delightful, our hearts being all devoutly disposed; only
mine was unhappy. Parted with L forever in this
life, with a sort of uncertain pain which I knew would
increase to greater violence."
These forebodings were but too soon realized. On the
evening of that day, and for many succeeding days, his
mental agony was extreme ; — yet he could speak to God,
as one who knew the great conflict within him ; he was
convinced, that as God willed his happiness, he was pro-
viding for it eventually by that bitter separation : he re-
solved through grace to be his, though it should be through
much tribulation : he experienced sweetly and solemnly
the excellence of serving him faithfully, and of following
Christ and his Apostles : he meditated with great joy on
the end of this world, and enjoyed the thought of walking,
as he now does, with her from whom he was then removed,
in the realms of glory.
But Mr. Martyn had not filled up the measure of his
sufferings, having not yet bid adieu to his sisters. With
the eldest he spent one melancholy evening in exhort-
120 MEMOIR OF
ing her for the last time, and endeavoring to comfort
her; and on the succeeding day he took leave of the
youngest : *' they parted as if to meet no more," and,
overwhelmed with inexpressible grief, could find no con-
solation but in mutually commending each other to the
grace of God in prayer.
Thus turning his back, like Abraham of old, on his
kindred and his country, and looking for that city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, — Mr.
Martyn departed from Cornwall.
At Plymouth, whither he proceeded, he passed a Sab-
bath in a heavenly serenity of spirit, and in the full exer-
cise of that faith which is * the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen.' There he preached
twice ; on Dan. v. 22, 23 : — ' And thou, his son, O Bel-
shazzar, hast not humbled thy heart, though thou knewest
all this : but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of
heaven ; and they have brought the vessels of his house
before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy
concubines, have drunk wine in them : and thou hast
praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood,
and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know : and the
God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy
ways, hast thou not glorified :' and on Rev. xxii. 17 : —
'And the Spirit and the bride say, Come : And let him
that heareth say. Come : And let him that is athirst
come : and whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely.' — " His soul longed," he said, " for the eternal
world, and he could see nothing on earth for which he
would wish to live another hour." At this place an inci-
dent occurred indicative as well of his extraordinary
humility, as of that extreme temerity of judgment, in which
those who make a loud, though, in the main, a genuine,
profession of religion, are too apt to indulge. Having
expounded the Scriptures, and prayed with many who
assembled to listen to his parting words, he discovered
that there were some present who ventured to express a
HENRY MARTYN. 121
doubt of the reality of his religion. One person in par-
ticular openly avowed his apprehensions concerning him ;
— so that his heart was wounded : yet, observed this meek
and lowly man of God, *' I was thankful to God for ad-
monishing me, and my gratitude to the man was, I think,
unfeigned." Such was his recorded comment at the
time : — and it is noted afterwards in his journal, that this
very person was especially remembered by him in his
prayers.
From Plymouth, where his sorrow was painfully re-
neAved, by being separated from a family nearly related
and greatly endeared to him, he proceeded to London ;
during which journey he sought, according to his settled
custom, to render his conversation profitable to his fellow-
travellers : and in one instance on this occasion, his
attempts were not, it may be hoped, unattended with suc-
cess. He had for his companion a young French officer
on his parole ; — a Protestant, who had been accustomed,
he found, to attend to morning and evening prayer, and to
read his Bible, which he had unfortunately lost when he
was taken prisoner. But his views of the Gospel appear-
ing to Mr. Martyn very defective; he explained to him
*'his state by nature ; his condemnation by the law; the
necessity of regeneration ; and of free salvation by Christ;
and the promise of the Spirit." The young man paid
much attention to these admonitions, and expressed great
affection for his adviser; who afterwards presented him
jvith a French Testament, and corresponded with him on
those important topics which he had set before him.
Change of place and circumstances did not prevent Mr.
Martyn from communion with that Lord and Saviour,
who is everywhere, and who was with him whithersoever
he went. On this journey, when leaving Bath early in
the morning, '* he found his soul ascending to God with
divine sweetness. Nothing seemed desirable but to glorify
Him : all creatures were as nothing." Towards the
evening, as they drew near London, he was delightfully
11
122 MEMOIR OF
engaged in meditation on the latter part of the second
chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, *' contemplating
the building as it was rising, and as it would be when
finished." *' O the transcendent glory," said he, " of this
temple of souls, lively stones, perfect in all its parts, the
purchase and the work of God."
On the 18th of September, we find Mr. Martyn again
quietly settled at Cambridge ; — from whence his youngest
sister received a letter from him, of which the following is
an extract; and so excellent, surely, is the spirit which
pervades it, that tears of thankfulness for possessing such
a brother, must have mingled themselves with those which
she could not but shed abundantly on account of his
departure.
" We should consider it as a sign for good, my dearest
S , when the Lord reveals to us the almost desperate
corruption of our hearts. For, if he causes us to groan
under it, as an insupportable burden, he will, we may
hope, in his own time, give us deliverance. The pride
which I see dwelling in my own heart, producing there
the most obstinate hardness, I can truly say my soul
abhors. I see it to be unreasonable, I feel it to be tor-
menting. When I sometimes offer up supplications, with
strong crying to God, to bring down my spirit into the
dust, I endeavor calmly to contemplate the infinite majesty
of the most high God, and my own meanness and wicked-
ness. Or else I quietly tell the Lord, who knows the
heart, that I would give him all the glory of every thing if
I could. But the most effectual way I have ever found,
is to lead away my thoughts from myself and my own
concerns, by praying for all my friends ; for the church,
the world, the nation ; and, especially, by beseeching, that
God would glorify his own great name, by converting all
nations to the obedience of faith ; — also by praying that
he would put more abundant honor on those Christians
whom h^ f^eem? to have honored especially, and whom we
HENRY MARTYN. 123
see to be manifestly our superiors. This is at least a
positive act of humility, and it is certain that not only will
a good principle produce a good act, but the act will in-
crease the principle. But even after doing all this, there
will often arise a certain self-complacency which has need
to be checked ; and in conversation with Christian friends,
we should be careful, I think, how self is introduced.
Unless we think that good will be done, self should be
kept in the back ground and mortified. We are bound
to be servants of all, ministering to their pleasure as far
as will be to their profit. We are to 'look not at our
own things, but at the things of others.' Be assured, my
dear S , that, night and day, making mention of you
in my prayers, I desire of God to give you to see the
depth of pride and iniquity in your heart, yet not to be
discouraged at the sight of it; that you may perceive
yourself deserving to be cast out with abhorrence from
God's presence, and then may walk in continual poverty
of spirit and the simplicity of a little child. Pray, too,
that I may know something of humility. Blessed grace !
how it smooths the furrows of care, and gilds the dark
paths of life! It will make us kind, tender-hearted,
affable, and enable us to do more for God and the Gospel
than the most fervent zeal without it.
" I am here without a companion ; — at first the change
from the agreeable society in Cornwall, as also from that
which I enjoyed at Plymouth, was very irksome ; — but it
is good for me !"
His journal at this period contains many observations
accordant with the last sentence in this letter : his mind
naturally often recurred with fond and mournful recollec-
tions to Cornwall. But he endeavored to check such
thoughts as savoring "too much of earthliness and dis-
content !" — knowing that " he ought to be happy, wherever
God had placed him ;" and " being sure that the exchange
he was soon to make, of College for a stormy ocean, and
124 MEMOIR OF
the burning plains of India, would not be very pleasant
to the flesh."
The happiness Mr. IVIartyn enjoyed in prosecuting his
ministerial vocation, received at this time a wonderful
increase : whilst sitffering the will of God with the meek
resignation of faith, he was enabled to do it with all the
delightful fervency of love. " Blessed be God," he found
reason to say, with exceeding joy and gratitude, '^ I feel
myself to he his minister. This thought, which I can
hardly describe^ came, in the morning, after reading
Brainerd. I wish for no service but the service of God ; —
to labor for souls on earth, and to do his will in heaven."
As far as the external duties of his office ^vere concerned,
only this variation occurred ; — he became extremely dili-
gent in the humble, but most important work of catechiz-
ing children ; giving sometimes a great part of his evenings
to the task, and leaving the society he most valued for the
sake of it. He determined likewise upon preaching more
frequently extempore (for he had already at times
adopted the practice) ; partly from thinking it upon the
whole more profitable to himself, as well as to the congre-
gation ; and partly from the desire of devoting the time
spent in writing sermons to other purposes. He by no
means, however, renounced these compositions. On the
contrary, he enjoined it upon himself as a rule, never to
pass a week without writing a sermon.
In visiting his flock, and thus ' preaching from house
to house,' Mr. Martyn's perseverance kept pace with the
heightened pleasure and satisfaction he experienced in his
divine calling : happy, however, as he was, in this work
of labor and love, the sympathies of his heart were pain-
fully and powerfully called forth by many a scene of ex-
treme misery, and his holy sensibilities were yet more
acutely excited by the vice and profligacy he perpetually
witnessed. The following are some of several scenes of
wretchedness with which he was conversant : — " In
prayer I found my soul composed to a blessed and serious
HExNRY MARTYN. 125
view of eternity. Visited the hospital, and read the llth
chapter of John there, with a poor man, in whose room at
the workhouse I was struck with the misery that presented
itself He was lying, in his clothes and hat, upon the
bed, dying ; his wife was cleaning the room as if nothing
was the matter ; and on the threshold was the daughter,
about thirty years old, who had been delirious thirteen
years. Her mother said, that the poor creature sometimes
talked of religion : so I asked her, several times, before I
could arrest her attention, who came into the world to
save sinners? After several wild looks, she hastily an-
swered, " Christ," and then talked on as before. The
dying man was almost insensible to anything I could say.
He had formerly been a respectable innkeeper in the
town; but the extravagance of a son brought him to
poverty, and his daughter, who foresaw it, to insanity." —
" In the afternoon, I enjoyed solemn thoughts in prayer-
and visited several people ; amongst them one poor peni-
tent, with whom I had prayed the day before. The desires
she expressed amidst her tears were, that God would
change her heart, and forgive her, and take her to his
mercy. If it was his will, she wished to leave this world.
But what, if she should live ? I asked her : she said, she
could not say she should not sin, as she was constantly
liable ; but rather tlian return to her former ways, she
would be cut in pieces. I was much affected with pity,
and preached the gospel of peace with great delight to
her." At another time, when a friend had given him a
lamentable account of the gross misconduct of a woman
who had made a profession of religion, '' the considera-
tion," he remarked, " quite swallowed up my other
thoughts, and brought me to a tender grief and godly sor-
row. I went to church, ruminating on it, and could
almost say, ' Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, ber-
cause men keep not thy law.' O that I could feel more
sensibly the dishonor done to God, and to his Christ, and
to his Gospel ; and the ruin she is bringing on her own
11 *
126 MEMOIR OF
soul." And, on hearing, the same day, of the death of
one wliom he had remembered in innocence, and in the
bloom of health and beauty ; and who died after a very
short career of vice, the account was too much for him.
*'My heart," said he, " was ready to burst. When I
thought of the man who had seduced her; and then of
many in the University, who had behaved with extraordi-
nary effrontery at church, my soul groaned within me.
0 my God, it is enough ; — hasten, O hasten the day when
1 shall leave the world to come to Thee ; when I shall no
more be vexed, and astonished, and pained, at the uni-
versal wickedness of this lost earth. But here would 1
abide my time ; and spend and be spent for the salvation
of any poor soul ; and lie down at the feet of sinners, and
beseech them not to plunge into an eternity of torment."
How * honorable' and what a delight the Sabbath was
to Mr. Martyn, we have already seen ; it might be called
with him " a kind of transfiguration-day, when his gar-
ments shone with peculiar lustre."* Can it be deemed
irrelevant, then, to advert again to the state of his mind,
as delineated by himself, during some of those sacred
seasons at this period 1
" Sept. 30. — " My mind, this morning, easily ascended
to God, in peaceful solemnity. I succeeded in finding
access to God and being alone with him. Could I but
enjoy this life of faith more steadily, how much should I
* grow in grace,' and be renewed in the spirit of my mind !
At such seasons of fellowship with the Father and his Son
Jesus Christ, when the world and self, and eternity, are
nearly in their right places, not only are my views of duty
clear and comprehensive, but the proper motives have a
more constraining influence."
Oct. 28. — " This has been in general a happy day. In
the morning, through grace, I was enabled by prayer to
maintain a calm recollection of myself, — and what was
* Gilpin's Monument of Parental Affection.
HElNRY MAHTYN. 127
better, of the presence of my dear Redeemer. From
the church I walked to our garden, where I vvas above an
hour, I trust with Christ, speaking to him chiefly of my
future life in his service. I determined on entire devot-
edness, though with trembling ; for the flesh dreads cru-
cifixion. But should I fear pain, when Christ was so
agonized for me ? No, — come what will, I am deter-
mined, through God, to be a fellow-worker with Christ.
I recollected, with comfort, that I was speaking to the
great Creator, who can make such a poor, weak worm as
myself ' more than conqueror.' At church I found, by
the attention of the people, that the fervor of my spirit
yesterday had been conveyed into my sermon. I came to
my rooms rejoicing to be alone again, and to hold com-
munion with Godi"
Dec. 9. — " This has been in general a sweet and bless-
ed day, — a foretaste of my eternal Sabbath. Preached
on the third commandment : in the afternoon on the tenth.
Rode back to Cambridge, feeling quite willing to go
any where or suffer any thing for God. Preached in
Trinity church, on Ezek, xxxiii. IL * Say unto them, —
As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the
death of the wicked : but that the wicked turn from his
way and live : turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; for
why will ye die, O house of Israel ?' It was pleasant to
me to think of being alone again with God."
The year 1804 closed with Mr. Martyn's being a third
time selected as one of the examiners in St. John's. In
fulfilling which office, he speaks of his " soul drawing
near to God, whilst in the hall ; and of a sacred impres-
sion being upon his mind during the examination."—
*^ Several of the poetical images in Virgil," in which he
had been examining, " especially those taken from nature,
together with the sight of the moon rising over the ven-
erable wall, and sending its light through the painted
glass, turned away his thoughts from present things, and
raised them to God. His soul was stirred up to renewed
128 MEMOIR OF
resolutions to live a life of entire independence of earthly
comforts ; though he felt that the flesh was very weak."
The last day of the year found him *' rejoicing at the
lapse of time, but sorrowing at his unprofitableness."
" So closes," he remarks, " the easy part of my life ; en-
riched by every earthly comfort, and caressed by friends,
I may scarcely be said to have experienced trouble ; but
now, farewell ease, if I might presume to conjecture. O
Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit 1 Thou hast re-
deemed me, thou God of truth 1 may I be saved by thy
grace, and be sanctified to do thy will, now, and to all
eternity, through Jesus Christ." His reflections on the
following day, the first of that year which was his last in
England, carry with them a peculiar interest, as well
from their intrinsic excellence, as from the circumstances
under which they were indited,
Jan. 1, 1805. — " Hitherto hath the Lord helped me.
It is now about five years since God stopped me in the ca-
reer of worldliness, and turned me from the paths of sin : —
three years and a half since I turned to the Lord with all
my heart : — and a little more than two years since he ena-
bled me to devote myself to his service as a missionary.
My progress of late has become slower than it had been :
yet I can truly say, that in the course of this time, every
successive year, every successive week, has been happier
than the former. From many dangerous snares hath the
Lord preserved me r in spite of all my inward rebellion,
he hath carried on his work in my heart ; and in spite of
all my unbelieving fears, he hath given me a hope full of
immortality ; — ' he hath set my foot on a rock, and estab-
lished my goings, and hath put a new song in my mouth,
even praises to my God.' It is the beginning of a critical
year to me : yet I feel little apprehension. The same
grace and long-suffering, the same wisdom and power,
that have brought me so far, will bring me on, though it
be through fire and water, to a goodly heritage. I see no
business in life but the work of Christ, neither do I desire
HENRY MAUTY.S. 129
any employment to all eternity but his service. I am a
sinner saved by grace. Every day's experience convmces
me of this truth. My daily sins and constant corruption,
leave me no hope but that which is founded on God s
mercy in Christ. His Spirit, I trust, is imparted and ,3
renewing my nature; as I desire much, though I have
attained but little. Now to God, the Father Son, and
Holy Ghost, would I solemnly renew my self-dedication
to be his servant forever."
Towards the end of January, a sudden summons to
leave EnMand in ten days caused some perturbation in
Mr. Marryn's spirits. Short, however, as the notice was,
he would instantly have complied with it, had he been in
Priest's orders, which legally he could not be till the 18th
of February, when he completed his twenty-fourth year.
, The solemn and most impressive rite of admission to
the functions and privileges of a Presbyter of the Church
of Endand, was administered to him, who had well per-
formed the office of a Deacon," at St. James's Chapel
London, in the month of March: after which he received
the decree of Bachelor of Divinity, conferred upon him by
mandate from the University ; when nothing remained to
detain him any longer at Cambridge.
4t the thoughts ofhis departure, he confesses that the
flesh betrayed its weakness, but he did not regret having
resigned the world ; life, he knew, was but a short journey,
-a'little day : and then, if faithful unto death, his gracious
reward would begin. Happily for him, such was the
divine goodness and mercy, that he was, at this moment
more than ever persuaded of his being tru y called of God
,0 preach the Gospel to the heathen. "I rejoice to say
(he wrote to his youngest sister), that I never had so clear
a conviction of my call as at present,-as far as respects
the inward impression. Never did I see so much he
exceeding excellency, and glory, and sweetness of the
work, nor had so much the favorable testimony 0/ ">y «^^"
conscience, nor perceived so plainly the smile of God. 1
130 MEMOIR OF
am constrained to say, — What am I, or what is my father's
house, that I should be made willing ; — what am I, that I
should be so happy, so honored ?" In his journal, likewise,
he expresses himself to the same effect : ** I felt more
persuaded of my call than ever ; there was scarcely the
shadow of a doubt left ; — rejoice, O my soul, — thou shall
be the servant of God in this life, and in the next, for all
the boundless ages of eternity."
A remarkable spirit of supplication, likewise, was in
this hour of need poured out upon him ; and the sure
word of prophecy, predicting the glory of the latter times,
was as the dawning of the day and the rising of the day-
star in his heart. " I could not," he remarks, *' help
reflecting on the almost supernatural fervor and deep de-
votion which came upon me, whilst I declared that I had
rightfully no other business each day but to do God's work
as a servant, constantly regarding his pleasure." '* My
thoughts were full of what God would do for his own glory,
in the conversion of multitudes to himself in the latter
day. I did not wish to think about myself in any respect,
but found it a precious privilege to stand by, a silent
admirer of God's doings."
To be removed forever from many dear friends, and
from a congregation who " esteemed him very highly in
love for his work's sake," would have greatly afflicted one
of far less affection than that which animated the breast
of Mr. Martyn. As for him, his sufferings on this occa-
sion were most severe. Those of his flock, likewise, were
no less so : they would willingly have renewed the touch-
ing scene once beheld at Miletus, " sorrowing as they did
for the words that he spake, that they should see his face
no more." One old man, — to adduce no other instance
of their undissembled regard and poignant regret, — could
not refrain from coming to him, that he might commend
him solemnly to God in prayer. And when he delivered
hiv farewell discourse in Trinity Church, on these words,
(? Sam. vii. 27, 29,) ' For thou, O Lord of Hosts, God of
HENRY MARTYN. 13|,
Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build
thee an house; therefore hath thy servant found in his
heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord
God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou
hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: therefore
now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant,
that it may continue forever before thee : for thou, O Lord
God, hast spoken it : and with thy blessing let the house
of thy servant be blessed forever ;' — the whole assembly
was dissolved in grief; — thus testifying, by their tears,
that their attachment to him was equalled only by their
admiration of his character.
On the third of April, the day after he had preached
his valedictory sermon, Mr. Martyn quitted forever the
place which had been *' the dear abode of his youth," — in
which he had obtained no moderate portion of honor and
reputation, — and in which, had he deemed it right to re-
main, he might have acquired that ample share of emolu-
ment, which talents such as his never fail to secure. At
such a moment, he v7ouId have been glad to have been left
to uninterrupted meditation ; but many young students
happened to accompany him on his journey, and he
thought it his duty to enter into religious conversation
with them for their benefit. — " At intervals, however,"
said he, ''I meditated and prayed, — the coldness and in-
gratitude of my wicked heart made me feel loathsome to
myself; and I loaged but for one thing, which was, to be
delivered from all my iniquity."
The day after his arrival in London, other natural feel-
ings were called into exercise ; feelings which it is the
design of the Gospel to moderate, but not to suppress.
Some hymns, sung in the evening worship of the family
into v/hich he was most hospitably received, recalling
Cambridge to his remembrance, affected him even to
tears; and as he dwelt with melancholy pleasure on its
past delights, all his dear Christian friends in it seemed
doubly interesting.
132 ' MEMOIR OF
During the two months Mr. Martyn was resident in
London, he considered that he could not better employ his
time, than by devoting it to the attainment of the Hindoos-
tanee language ; and having the advantage of being assist-
ed by a gentleman eminently competent to direct him,* he
was incessant in his endeavors to obtain that necessary
qualification for an Indian Missionary. In order, also,
that he might correct some defects in his speech, he at the
same time deemed it incumbent on him to attend several
lectures on pronunciation : for nothing did he disdain,
which, tending to make his ministry more acceptable,
might conduce to the glory of God. In the delivery of
the great message committed to him as an ambassador of
Christ, he was at this time by no means remiss. During
the short period of his abode in London, he often preached ;
occupying the pulpit, principally, at St. John's Chapel,
Bedford Row, then under the care of the late Rev. Rich-
ard Cecil ; from whose holy example and faithful advice
Mr. Martyn conceived himself to have derived the most
substantial and lasting benefit. Nor was he without
another high gratification and privilege ; — that of being
introduced to the aged and venerable Mr. Newton, who,
expecting soon to be ' gathered to his people,' rejoiced to
give this young minister, about to proceed on his sublime
embassy of love, his paternal counsel and benediction.
An intercourse with such men as Mr. Newton and Mr.
Cecil, was more than a compensation to Mr. Martyn for
his detention in London, and for the uneasiness of that
period of uncertainty and delay, which is almost as oppres-
sive to the spirit as the moment of actual departure. But
if he received unmingled satisfaction and abiding profit
from the conversation he enjoyed with those eminent
Christians, there were others with whom he conferred,
who, ' seeming to be somewhat, in conference added noth-
ing to him,' but, on the contrary, occasioned him no small
* Mr. Gilchrist.
HENRY MARTYN. J33
measure of disquietude. Once, indeed, these very persons
were in the habit of manifesting great cordiality towards
him : but now they began to slight him, and in his presence
Avere continually raising disparaging comparisons between
him and certain preachers, whose theological sentiments,
if not erroneous, were at least far too exclusive ; and whose
strain of doctrine, in Mr. Martyn's judgment, was more
calculated to produce ill-grounded confidence, than right-
eousness and true holiness. Interviews of this kind he
endured rather than enjoyed : they are to be ranked
amongst his trials, and not placed on the side of his com-
forts.
The subject of his union, likewise, with that excellent
y person (lately consigned to her grave) on whom his affec-
tions were so unalterably fixed, became at this time\a
matter of consideration and discussion amongst some of
his more intimate friends : and their difference of opinion
respecting the propriety of the measure, should it ever be^
practicable, caused no small tumult and anguish in his
heart.
On the other hand, there were two events, the prospect
of which was of the most cheering complexion ; — the one,
the satisfactory marriage of his youngest sister, — the other,
a hope of being soon followed to India by two of his friends,
who, strengthened, if not excited, by his example, declared
their willingness to go forth and labor with him in that
distant vineyard.
But as it may administer much profitable as well as
encouraging matter for reflection, to those who may here-
afler tread in the footsteps of Mr. Martyn, his journal shall
speak for him at some length during the interval between
his quitting Cambridge and preparing to sail from Eng-
land.
April 10. — " Walked out to buy books, and strove to be
diligent in thinking of my subject. When I got into the
spirit of it, Christ appeared at times inexpressibly precious
to me."
134 MEMOIR OF
April 14. — Sunday. " I felt very unconcerned about
men's opinions, both before and after sermon. Before it,
I could solemnly appeal to God, and found comfort and
pleasure in doing so, — that I desired his glory alone, — that
I detested the thought of seeking my own praise, or taking
pleasure in hearing it. The rest of the evening I con-
tinued in a very ardent frame : but, in private, I w^as taught
by former experience to labor after a calm and sober de-
votedness to God, and that my fervor might show itself in
a steady course of action. My soul felt growing in holi-
ness nigh unto the blessed God, with my understanding,
will, and affections turned towards him. Surely many of
the children of God have been praying for me to-day
May the Lord return their* prayers tenfold into their own
bosoms."
April 15. — " O may God confirm my feeble resolutions !
/^hat have I to do but to labor, and pray, and fast, and
/Vatch, for the salvation of my own soul, and those of the
heathen world. Ten thousand times more than ever do I
feel devoteJ to that precious work. O, gladly shall this
base blood be shed, every drop of it, if India can be bene-
fited in oiic of her children ; — if but one of those children
of God Almighty might be brought home to his duty."
April 16. — " How careful should I and all be, in our
ministry, not to break the bruised reed ! Alas ! do I think
that a schoolboy, a raw academic, should be likely to lead
the hearts of men? — what a knowledge of men, and ac-
quaintance with the Scriptures, what communion with
God, and study of my own heart, ought to prepare me for
the awful work of a messenger from God on the business
of the soul !"
April 22. — " I do not wish for any heaven upon earth
besides that of preaching the precious Gospel of Jesus
Christ to immortal souls. May these weak desires increase
and strengthen with every difficulty."
April 27. — " My constant unprofitableness seemed to
bar my approach to God. But I considered that for all
HENRY MARTYN. 135
that was past, the blood of Christ would atone ; and that
for the future, God would that moment give me grace to
perform my duty."
May 7. — ** Went in the evening to hear . He was
on the same subject as usual, but without variety. I con-
fess I was dissatisfied ; not only because I could fix on
nothing that could edify me, but because I could not but
think that there was nothing to offend or detect carnal
professors."
May 9. — " O my soul, when wilt thou live consistently ?
When shall I walk steadily with God? When shall I
hold heaven constantly in view ? How time glides away, —
how is death approaching, — how soon must I give up my
account, — how are souls perishing, — how does their bloQl^
call out to us to labor, and watch, and pray for them that
remain !"
May 16. — ** I w^ent down with Captain M tjto Dept-\
ford : passing through an Inn which was close to the \
water-side, I came at once, to my great surprise, close to
the Indiaman before I was aware of it. The sudden siorht
of the water and of the ship affected me almost to tears.
My emotions were mixed, — partly of jay, and partly of
trembling apprehensions of my being now so soon to go
away."
May 18. — " Happening to look over some of my fare-
well sermons at Cambridge, I was affected to tears."
May 22. — " Heard Mr. Crowther preach. At first Iv^
could not enter into those humiliating views which I knew \ '
I ought to have ; but by stirring up myself to attend, and/ •
to mix faith with wliat he said, and by turning every sen-j
tence into a petition, I got great good in my soul."
May 24. — " I felt, more than I ever had done, the
shame attending poverty ; nothing but the remembrance
that I was not to blame, supported me : whatever comes
to me in the way of Providence is and must be for my
good. Dined at , where I could plainly see I was
scarcely a welcome guest : the neglect of me was too
/
] 'SQ MEMOIR OF
plain to be unnoticed. The weakness of my human
nature would have expressed itself, had I not looked up
to God, and prayed for a sight of my desert of the scorn
of men. The conversation amongst these high professors
was of course about . One said to me, ' his sermons
are not ^ne and eloquent, but spiritual ;' — alluding to the
first of mine which he had heard."
May 80. — " Read Brainerd. I feel my heart knit to
this dear man, and really rejoice to think of meeting him
in heaven."
June 1. — "Memory has been at work to unnerve my
soul : but reason and honor, and love to Christ and souls
shall prevail. Amen. God help me."
• June 2. — Whitsunday. " My dear Redeemer is a
fountain of life to my soul. With resignation and peace
,«3an I look forward to a life of labor and entire seclusion
from earthly comforts, while Jesus thus stands near me,
changing me into his own image."
June 6. — " God's interference in supporting me con-
tinually, appears to me like a miracle."
June 7. — " I have not felt such heart-rending pain
since I parted with L in Cornwall. But the Lord
brought me to consider the folly and wickedness of all
this. I could not help saying, — Go, Hindoos, — go on in
your misery, — let Satan still reign over you ; for he that
was appointed to labor among you, is consulting his ease.
— No, thouglit I, — earth and hell shall never keep me
back from my work. I am cast down, but not destroyed.
I began to consider why I was so uneasy, — 'Cast thy
care upon him, for he careth for you.' ' In every thing
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your
requests be made known to God ;' — these promises were
sweetly fulfilled, before long, to me."
June 8. — " My heart was sometimes ready to break
with agony. At other times, I was visited by a few
moments of sublime and enraptured joy. Such is
the conflict. Why have my friends mentioned this
HENRY MARTYN. 137
subject ? It has torn open old wounds, and I am again
bleeding."
June 13. — " Had I a more tender sense of mercy, I
should have delighted to write on the subject I had cho-
sen. Yet it is very sweet to be desiring such a state. 1
would wish, like Mary, to lie weeping at the feet of
Jesus."
June 15. — " Shed tears to-night at the thoughts of my
departure. I thought of the roaring seas, which would
soon be rolling between me and all that is dear to me
upon earth."
June 23. — " The grief of the Miss C s, at the de-
parture of their brother for India, called forth some of my
natural feelings. Had I been going from necessity, it
would almost break my heart. But I go, from choice,
into a part of the vineyard where my dearest friend wil^
be present. On the subject of the mission, I seemed as-
sisted to unfold my heart unto the Lord, and to pray for
his mighty protection in the fiery trial which is about to
try me."
June 25. — " I heard something about Svvartz to-day,
which struck me much; — his simple mode of living."
June 28. — " Was much struck and affected with the
words of a Hottentot woman, quoted in Mr. Biddulph's
sermon. How happy and honored am I, in being suffet^ed
to be a Missionary !"
July 4. — *' Mr. Cecil showed me a letter in Swartz's
own hand-writing.* Its contents were of a very experi-
mental nature, — applicable to my case. The life of faith
in Jesus is what I want. My soul might almost burst
with astonishment at its own wickedness! but, at the
* It is in vain to wish that very large extracts from Mr. Swartz's
Correspondence with the Society for promoting Christian Knowl-
edge were published : much of which would doubtless be found
"applicable to the case" of Christians in general, and of Ministers
and Missionaries in particular. It is said that the whole is either
lost or burnt. — See Appendix C.
12*
138 MExMOIR OF
same time, trusting to mercy, rise and go, and try to make
men happy. The Lord go with me ! Let my right hand
forget her cunning, if I remember not Jerusalem above
my chief joy."
After delivering a sermon to the congregation at St.
John's, upon Acts xx. 32 ; ' And now, brethren, I com-
mend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is
able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance
among all them that are sanctified,' — on the 8th of July,
Mr. Martyn left London for Portsmouth : and such was
the acuteness of his feelings during this journey, that he
fainted and fell into a convulsion fit, at the inn at which
he slept on the road ; a painful intimation to those friends
who were with him, of the poignancy of that grief which
he endeavored as much as possible to repress and conceal.
The next morning, however, he was sufficiently recovered
to proceed, and was much refreshed in his spirit at the
sight of many of his brethren, at Portsmouth, who had
come (several from a considerable distance) that they
might affectionately accompany him to the ship. Among
these was one whose presence afforded him an unexpected
happiness. " To be obliged to give up all hopes of your
accompanying me to Portsmouth," (he had written a
short time before to Mr. Simeon,) '' is a greater disap-
pointment than I can well describe. Having been led to
expect it, I seem to experience a painful privation. How-
ever, you will not now have the pain of observing in your
brother a conversation and spirit unsuitable to the impor-
tant work on which he is going. Yet this I believe, that
though I have little affection towards heavenly things, I
have less towards every thing earthly." From Mr.
Simeon he learnt, to his exceeding comfort, that his
flock at Cambridge intended, on the day of his depart-
ure, as far as it could be ascertained, to give them
selves to fasting and prayer ; — and at his hands he receiv
ed, with peculiar gratification, a silver compass, sent by
HENRY MARTYN. 139
them as a memorial of their unfeigned affection; for
which the following letter is expressive of his acknowl-
edgments : —
Portsmouth, July 11, 1805.
** My dearest Brethren,
" I write you in great haste, to thank you most af-
fectionately for the token of your love, which our dear
brother and minister has given me from you. O may my
God richly recompense you for your great affection ! May
he reward your prayers for me, by pouring tenfold bless-
ings into your own bosoms ! May he bless you with all
spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus ! At the command of
God, as I believe, I shall, in a few hours, embark for
those regions where your little present may be of use to
me, in guiding my way through the trackless desert. I
pray that the word of God, which is your compass, may,
through the Spirit, direct your path through the wilderness
of this world, and bring you in safety to the better country
above. I beg your prayers, and assure you of mine. Re-
member me sometimes at your social meetings, and par-
ticularly at that which you hold on the Sabbath morning.
Pray not only for my sinful soul, — that I may be kept
faithful unto death ; — but especially for the souls of the
poor heathen. Whether I live or die, let Christ be mag-
nified by the in-gathering of multitudes to himself I have
many trials awaiting me, and so have you; but that cove-
nant of grace in which we are interested, provides for the
weakest, and secures our everlasting welfare. — Farewell,
dear brethren ! May God long continue to you the in-
valuable labors of your beloved minister; and may you,
with the blessing of his ministry, grow, day by day, in all
spirituality and humility of mind ; till God, in his mercy,
shall call you, each in his own time, to the eternal enjoy-
ment of his glory."
The few days Mr. Martyn remained at Portsmouth,
140 ME3I()IK OF
were spent in conversing with his brethren on the things
pertaining to the kingdom of God ; and in social supplica-
tion and thanksgiving. His prayer, on the day he ex-
pected finally to quit the shores of England, will not easily
be forgotten by those * who bowed their knees together
with him to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ;'
it ascended to the ' lofty One,' from the lowest depths of
humiliation, and breathed the most entire devotedness of
body, soul, and spirit, to his service. His whole demeanor,
indeed, could not fail of tenderly affecting, as well as
indelibly impressing, their hearts and minds. — One of
those then present, v/ho little thought that the task he
now so inadequately attempts to execute would ever be
assigned him, well remembers his own sensations on that
most trying, and yet triumphant occasion : and how com-
pletely every thought within him was absorbed in admira-
tion of the astonishing grace bestowed on his friend, and
in bitter regret at being deprived of his society. Nor let
it be surmised that the fondness of friendship has ex-
aggerated the sacrifices Mr. Martyn was then enduring.
A chaplainship in the East India Company, to many pre-
sents advantages highly valued and eagerly sought ; — but
considered as a pecuniary provision, it could have no
attractions for Mr. Martyn. To him a curacy in Corn-
wall would have been far preferable : and at Cambridge,
such was his academical fame, that ample emolument was
certain. In our estimate, too, of his privations, we should
remember, that whilst motives not to be disparaged,
carried many with him, far from the happy land of their
nativity, — -the principles which actuated him were purely
spiritual. They also had hopes of a return ; their eyes
might one day sparkle with joy on the shores where then
they were suffused with sorrow. Mr. Martyn had no
such anticipations : before him the horizon was dark
around, — not a streak of light was visible. He went
forth to preach the Gospel to the heathen, and it was his
fixed resolution to live and die amongst them. When he
HENRY MARTYN. 14 X
left England, he left it wholly for Christ's sake, and he
left it forever.
On the 17th of July, 1805, the Union East Indiaman,
which was to convey Mr. Marty n to Calcutta, sailed from
Portsmouth in company with a large fleet, under the com-
mand of Captain Byng ; and two days afterwards came to
an anchor in the port of Falmouth. An extract of a letter
written from this place to Mr. Simeon, feelingly depicts
Mr. Martyn's sensations, when, on awaking on the morn-
ing of the 17th, it rushed upon his mind, that his voyage
was really commenced : — " It was a very painful moment
to me when I awoke, on the morning after you left us,
and found the fleet actually sailing down the channel.
Though it was what I had anxiously been looking for-
ward to so long, yet the consideration of being parted
forever from my friends, almost overcame me. My feel-
ings were those of a man who should suddenly be told,
that every friend he had in the world was dead. It was
only by prayer for them that I could be comforted ; and
this was indeed a refreshment to my soul, because by
meeting them at the throne of grace, I seemed to be again
in their society."
The arrival of the fleet at Falmouth was an event
wholly unforeseen by Mr. Martyn, who was somewhat
agitated "at the singularity of the providence of God, in
thus leading him once more into the bosom of all his
friends." "May the Lord," said he, "glorify himself in
this and in every other dispensation !" — How trying this
dispensation was to him, it will not require many quota-
tions from his journal to demonstrate. From these it will
be evident, that, delightful as it was to him once more to
land upon the shores where he had sported gaily in his
infancy, and meditated divinely in maturer age, it would
have been far happier for him had a storm in the night
hurried him past his beloved Cornwall. But God, who
]|42 MEMOIR OF
doeth all things well, manifestly intended to strengthen
his faith, by putting it to a severe exercise.
July 29. — " I was much engaged at intervals, in learn-
ing the hymn, 'The God of Abraham praise;' as often
as I could use the language of it with any truth, my heart
was a little at ease.
' The God of Abraham praise,
At whose supreme command
From earth I rise, and seek the joys
At his right hand.
I all on earth forsake,
Its wisdom, fame, and power;
And him my only portion make,
My shield and tower.'
" There was something peculiarly solemn and atfecting
to me in this hymn, and particularly at this time. The
truth of the sentiments I knew well enough. But, alas !
I felt that the state of mind expressed in it was above
mine at the time ; and I felt loath to forsake all on earth."
*' Not being able to reach the ship, I slept at a little
public house on the road, where I lay down in the most
acute mental misery ; and rose the next morning disturbed
and unre freshed. The morning was beautifully serene, but
on account of the tempest within, that very circumstance
was disgusting to me. A dark and stormy day would
have been more in unison with my feelings."
"I went on board in extreme anguish, and found an
opportunity in the sloop by which I passed to the ship, to
cry, with brokenness of spirit, to the Lord. The words,
* Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My
way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over
from my God,' were brought to my mind with such force,
that I burst 'nto a flood of tears ; and felt much relieved
in my soul, by the thought that God was thus compassion-
ate, and the blessed Lord Jesus a merciful and compas-
HEPOIY MARTYN. 143
sionate High Priest, who condescended to sympathize with
me. In the afternoon, it pleased God to give me a holy
and blessed season in prayer, in which my soul recovered
much of its wonted peace." Thus did God, in answer to
prayer, in some measure refresh his soul. An attempt,
also, which he made to comfort another person in the ship
with him, served to invigorate his own drooping spirit.
" They stood together," as he represents it, '' looking
anxiously at the raging sea, and sighed to think of the
happy societies of God's people, who (as it was the Sabbath
day) were then joining in sweet communion in public
worship. But the topics of conversation which Mr.
Martyn endeavored to bring before his disconsolate com-
pahion, had a happy re-action on his own mind : whilst
cheering him, he was cheered himself: — " The blessed
Spirit of God applied the blood of Jesus to cleanse away
his sin, and restore him to comfort:" and at night he
could commit himself to rest, " tossed," as he expresses it,
_" by the roaring surge, but composed and peaceful with
the everlasting arms underneath him."
During his detention for about three weeks at Falmouth,
he preached several times in the ship, as well as on shore :
and amongst other texts, he addressed his hearers from
that most appropriate one, ' Jesus came and spake unto
them, saying. All power is given unto me in heaven and
on earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptiz-
ing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you : and lo ! I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.'
Matt, xxviii. 18, 20. A sermon from Mr. Martyn on those
words of Scripture, was well calculated to produce a pow-
erful effect on the minds of his audience : for what more
striking comment upon the passage could there be, than
the very circumstance of his appearing amongst them,
upon his apostolical labor of love ?
On the 10th of August, the signal was made for the
144 MEMOIR OF
ships to sail, at which time, having been deceived by the
information communicated to him concerning the contin-
uance of the fleet in port, Mr. Martyn was absent at the
distance of twenty miles in the country. The express
announcing this mistake, was like a thunderstroke to him ;
but, by making all possible despatch, he contrived to reach
the Union just in time. That ship, as if by the appoint-
ment of Providence, had met with an accident in clearing
out of the harbor, which impeded her progress, whilst
almost all the others were under way. The commander,
as he passed, expressed his displeasure at her delay ; but
Mr. Martyn discovered the high and gracious hand of God
in this event, and *' blessed him for having thus saved his
poor creature from shame and trouble." '' So delusive,"
to adopt his own reflections, '' are schemes of pleasure !
At nine in the morning, I was sitting at ease with the
person dearest to me upon earth, intending to go out with
her afterwards to see different views ; to visit some persons
with her, and preach on the morrow : four hours only
elapsed, and I was under sail from England."
The anxiety Mr. Martyn had felt to reach his ship, and
the joy he experienced at having effected his object, for a
time absorbed other and more sorrowful considerations:
but when left a little at leisure, his spirits, as he acknowl-
edges, began to sink. " He seemed backward, also, to
draw near to God ; and though, when he did so, he found
relief, he was still slow to flee to the refuge of his weary
soul."
Unhappily for him, during the whole of the 10th, and
for the greater part of the succeeding day, Cornwall was
still in sight : and who is there, endued with the sensibili-
ties of our common nature, but must have been subjected
to the most painful emotions, whilst slowly passing for the
last time along a coast, where every object which caught
the eye, — every headland, — every building, — every wood,
served to remind him of endearments that were passed,
and of pleasures never to be renewed 1
HENRY MARTYN. 145
That Apostle, who professed that he was * ready, not to
be bound only, but to die at Jerusalem, for the name of the
Lord Jesus,' exclaimed also, — ' What mean ye to weep, and
to break my heart V And he, too, when sailing to Rome,
along the * sea of Cilicia,' may well be supposed to have
looked mournfully towards the region of his nativity, and
to have thought with pain on Tarsus.
But Mr. Martyn's own hand shall portray his feelings.- —
Sunday, August 11. "I rose dejected, and extremely
weak in body. After simply crying to God for mercy and
assistance, I preached on Heb. ix. 16 : — ' But now they
desire a better country, that is, an heavenly : wherefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath
prepared for them a city.' On repeating the text a second
time, I could scarcely refrain from bursting into tears.
For the Mount and St. Hilary spire and trees were just
discernible by the naked eye at the time I began my ser-
mon, by saying, * that now the shores of England were
receding fast from our view, and that we had taken a long,
arid, to many of us, an everlasting farewell,' &c. We had
niade little way during the night, and in the morning I
was pleased to find that we were in Mount's Bay, midway
between the Land's-end and the Lizard; and I was often
with my glass recalling those beloved scenes ; till after tea,
when, on ascending the poop, I found that they had dis-
appeared : but this did not prevent my praying for all on
shore. Amidst the extreme gloom of my mind this day, I
found great pleasure, at seasons of prayer, in interceding
earnestly for my beloved friends all over England."
The dejection of mind of which Mr. Martyn here speaks,
and which returned the next day with an overpowering
influence, was evidently combined with, and augmented
by, much bodily infirmity ; and no doubt would have been
alleviated by the sympathizing intercourse of a companion
in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus
Christ. The original injunction given to the seventy, was
given by him who knew what was in man, and who there-
13
146 MEMOIR OF
fore sent them * tico and tivo before his face into every
city,' — for ' two are better than one, because they have a
good reward for their labor : for if they fall, the one will
lift up his fellow : but wo to him that is alone when he
falleth, for he hath not another to help him up,' — Eccles.
iv. 9, 10.
'* England had disappeared, and with it, ail my peace."
" The pains of memory were all I felt. Would I go back?
O no ! — But how can I be supported ? My faith fails. I
find, by experience, that 1 am weak as water. O my dear
friends in England ! when we spoke with exultation of the
mission to the heathen, whilst in the midst of health, and
joy, and hope; what an imperfect idea did we form of the
sufferings by which it must be accomplished !" Such were
the complainings of his spirit, overwhelmed within him.
Yet there were moments when he could " realize the
realms of glory," and when " all earthly things died away
in insignificance."
On the 14th of August, the fleet came to an anchor in
the Cove of Cork : and there, in a spiritual sense, Mr.
Martyn found that ' haven where he would be :' — there he
discovered that ' heaviness may endure for a night, but joy
Cometh in the morning ;' and he who before had felt ' poor
and needy, with his heart wounded Avithin him,' could then
say, ' I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth ;'
* thanks be to God, which causeth us always to triumph in
Christ ;' 2 Cor. ii. 14. — " After a long and blessed season
in prayer, I felt," he says, " the spirit of adoption drawing
me very near to God, and giving me the full assurance of
his love. My fervent prayer was, that I might be more
deeply and habitually convinced of his unchanging, ever-
lasting love, and that my whole soul might be altogether in
Christ. I scarcely knew how to express the desires of my
heart. I wanted to be all in Christ, and to have Christ for
my ' all in all ;' — to be encircled in his everlasting arms,
and to be swallowed up altogether in his fullness. I wished
for no created good, or for men to know my experience
HENRY MARTYN. 147
but to be one with thee, and live for thee, O God, my
Saviour and Lord. O may it be my con^:tant care to live
free from the spirit of bondage, at all times having access
to the Father. This I feel should be the state of the
Christian ; perfect reconciliation with God, and a perfect
appropriation of him in all his endearing attributes, accord-
ing to all that he has promised — it is this that shall bear
me safely through the storm." — What is this, but the hap-
piness intended by the Psalmist, when he breaks forth in
those words of sublimity and rapture ; * Blessed are the
people which know the joyful sound ; they shall walk, O
Lord, in the light of thy countenance : in thy name shall
they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they
be exalted.' Psalm Ixxxix. 15, 16.
At Cork, Mr. Martyn endeavored to procure an admis-
sion to a pulpit in the city, as well as to preach to the
convicts going out with the fleet to Botany Bay, but was
unsuccessful in both these attempts. On board his own
ship, he regularly read prayers, and preached once every
Sabbath, lamenting that the captain would not permit the
performance of more than one service. This being the
case, his usefulness in the ship depended much, he con-
ceived, on his private ministrations. Scarcely a day, there-
fore, passed, without his going between the decks ; where,
after assembling all who were willing to attend, he read to
them some religious book, upon which he commented as
he went on. " Some attended fixedly, — others are looking
another way, — some women are employed about their chil-
dren, attending for a little while, and then heedless ; some
rising up and going away, — others taking their place ; and
numbers, especially of those who have been upon watch,
strewed all along upon the deck fast asleep,— one or two
from the upper decks looking down and listening ;" such
is the picture he draws of his congregation below. The
situation of things above, when he performed his weekly
duty on the Sabbath, was not, according to his own state-
ment, more encouraging. There, the opposition of some,
J 48 MEMOIR OF MARTYN.
and the inattention of others, put his meekness and pa-
tience very strongly to the test. ** The passengers," as he
describes it, " were inattentive, — the officers, many of them
sat drinking ; so that he could overhear their noise ; and
the captain was with them. His own soul was serious,
and undisturbed by the irreverence of the hearers, and he
thought that he could have poured it out in prayer, with-
out restraint, in defiance of their scornful gaze." — "How
melancholy and humiliating," he could not help adding,
** is this mode of public ordinances on ship-board, com-
pared with the respect and joy with which the multitudes
come up to hear my brethren on shore : but this prepares
me for preaching amongst the heedless Gentiles."
CHAPTER IV.
DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND— OCCURRENCES DURING HIS
VOYAGE AT ST. SALVADOR AND AT THE CAPE OP
GOOD HOPE ARRIVES AT MADRAS— ^-AND AT CAL-
CUTTA.
On the 31st of August, after having been detained above
a fortnight in the Cove of Cork, the fleet, consisting of
fifty transports, five men of war, and tlie Indiamen, put to
sea ; and now again Mr, Martyn suffered much both in
body and mind ; he became languid and feverish, — -his
nights were sleepless; and his mental conflict was ex-
tremely sharp. " My anguish, at times," he says, " was
inexpressible, when I awoke from my disturbed dreams,
to find myself actually on my way, with a long sea rolling
between me and all I held dear in this life." *' To de-
scribe the variety of perplexing, heart-rending, agonizing
thoughts which passed through my mind, and which,
united with the weakness and languor of my body, served
to depress me into t„he depths of misery, would be impos-
sible. The bodily suffering would be nothing, did not
Satan improve his advantage in representing the happi-
ness and ease of the life I had left. However, God did
not leave me quite alone, poor and miserable as I was.
I was helped to recollect several things in Scripture which
encouraged me to hold on. Such as, ' If we suffer with
him, we shall also reign with him ;' — the examples, like-
wise, of Moses, Abraham, and St. Paul ; of our blessed
13 *
J 50 MEMOIR OF
Lord himself, and of his saints at the present moment. 1
repeated the farewelJ discourse of St. Paul, and endeav-
ored to think how he would act in my situation. I
thought of all God's people looking out after me with ex-
pectation : following me with their wishes and prayers.
I thought of the holy angels, some of whom, perhaps,
were guarding me on my way : and of God and of Christ,
approving my course and mission. * Who will go for me ?
— Here am I, — send me ' T thought of the millions of
precious souls that now and in future ages might be bene-
fited." By such considerations as these, — by prayer, — by
reciting Scripture, — by praying over it, — by casting him-
self simply upon Christ, — and by looking upon pain and
suffering as his daily portion (which thought wonderfully
served to tranquillize his mind), — Mr. Martyn was carried
through a season of great tribulation, in which he might
almost have adopted the words of the Psalmist, ' Thou
hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
Thine indignation lieth hard upon me, and thou hast
afflicted me with all thy waves ;" Psalm Ixxxviii. 6, 7.
But it is an inspired declaration, that ' they that ivait on
the Lord shall renew their strength : they shall mount up
with wings as eagles ; they shall run and not be weary ;
they shall walk and not faint :' nor was it long before he
could affix his seal to the truth of this testimony. "In
prayer," he says shortly after this, " I soon launched
sweetly into eternity, and found joy unspeakable in think-
ing of my future rest, and of the boundless love and joy I
should ever taste in Christ's beloved presence hereafter.
I found no difficulty in stirring myself up to the contem-
plation of heaven, — my soul through grace realized it,
and I delighted to dwell by faith on those blissful scenes."
Shortly after the fleet had sailed from Ireland, a tre-
mendous storm arose ; and though it was the first that
Mr. Martyn had ever witnessed, his mind was kept, dur-
ing a night of general anxiety and consternation, in per-
fect Vf^^'C.^. " He Inv. ende'iivoriBcr tio vealiz*^ V^'^ -^pr-^r'v
HENRY MARTYN. 15]
appearance before God in judgment ; — not indeed without
sorrowful convictions of his sinfulness, and supplications
for mercy in the name of Jesus, but with a full confidence
in the willingness of God to receive him ; and a desire to
depart." But he was chiefly led "to think of the many
poor souls in the ship, and to pray that they might have a
longer time for repentance, and that the terrors of that
night might be of lasting benefit." In the morning, when
the vessel was going under bare poles, the sea covered
with so thick a mist from the spray and rain, that nothing
could be seen but the tops of the nearest waves, which
seemed to be running over the windward side of the ship,
— he seized the opportunity of pointing out the way of
salvation to one of the passengers, who appeared much
terrified ; and most willingly, had circumstances permitted,
would he have preached to tiie whole ship's company,
warning them to flee from the wrath to come, and to lay
hold on eternal life.' The Sunday following, he read the
thanksgiving prayer after a storm.
Mr. Martyn's voyage, before this alarming tempest, had
been far from expeditious. Seven wearisome weeks had
he passed, without having proceeded farther than the lati-
tude of the Lizard. The wind now began to carry him
forward, and about the end of the month of September, he
reached Madeira :
His journal, during the interval between the subsiding
of the storm and his arrival at Porto Santo, contains these
admirable reflections :
Sept. 9. — "My chief concern was, that this season of
peace might be improved : when the Lord gave David
rest from all his enemies round about, then he began to
think of building a temple to the Lord. Passed many
sweet hours of the evening in reading ; — found a rich
feast in reading Hooker's Sermons : the doctrines of grace
are a cordial to me. We are now in latitude 46°, long.
12°. The sea, which I am looking on from the port-hole,
is comparatively smooth, yet it exhibits the moon-beams
152 MEMOIR OF
only in broken reflections. It is thus an emblem of my
heart ; no longer tossed with tempestuous passions, it has
subsided a little : but still the mild beams of the Spirit fall
on an undulating surface ; but the time of perfect rest
approaches."
Sept. 10.— "Endeavored to consider what should be
my study and preparation for the mission ; but could
devise no particular plan, but to search the Scriptures,
what are God's promises respecting the spread of the
Gospel, and of the means by which it shall be accom-
plished. Long seasons of prayer in behalf of the heathen,
I am sure are necessary; — Isaiah Ixii. I began Isaiah,
and learnt by heart the promises scattered through the
first twelve chapters, hoping it may prove profitable mat-
ter for meditation as well as prayer. Read the Pilgrim's
Progress, below, amidst the greatest noise and interruption.
Notwithstanding the clamor, I felt as if I could preach to
a million of noisy persons with unconquerable boldness.
We have been becalmed the whole day. I fear my soul
has been much in the same state: but I would not that
it should be so any longer."
Sept. 13. — "In my walk, my attention was engaged
by the appearance of mutiny amongst the men. Last
night, the ship's crew and the soldiers refused their al-
lowance, and this morning, when they piped to dinner,
they gave three cheers. After some time, a seaman was
fixed on as the ringleader ; and from his behavior, I was
not sorry to hear the captain order him to be put into
irons. As it was a sorrowful and humiliating thing to
me, I retired to pray for them and myself. In the after-
noon, I read as usual, and found two occasions of speaking
in reference to the mutinous murmurs."
Sept. 14. — " Found great pleasure and profit in Milner's
Church History. I love to converse, as it were, with those
holy bishops and martyrs, with whom I hope, through
grace, to spend a happy eternity."
Sept. 15. — Sunday. " ' He that testifieth these things
HExNKV MAKTYiN. X53
saith, Behold — I come quickly — Amen— even so — conic
quickly, Lord Jesus !' Happy John ! though shut out
from society and the ordinances of grace; happy wast
thou in thy solitude, when by it thou wast induced thus
gladly to welcome the Lord's words, and repeat them with
a prayer. Read and preached on Acts xiii. 38, 39. In
the latter part, when I was led to speak, without prepara-
tion, on the all-sufficiency of Christ to save sinners, who
came to him with all their sins without delay, I was car-
ried away with a divine aid, to speak with freedom and
energy : my soul was refreshed, and I retired, seeing
reason to be thankful. The weather was fair and calm,
inviting the mind to tranquillity and praise : the ship just
moved upon the face of the troubled ocean. I went below
in hopes of reading Baxter's Call to the Unconverted : but
there was no getting down, as they were taking out water :
so I sat with the seamen on the gun-deck. As I walked
in the evening at sun-set, I thought with pleasure, but a
few more suns, and I shall be where my sun shall no more
go down. Read Isaiah the rest of the evening ; sometimes
liappy, but at other times tired, and desiring to take up
some other religious book : — but I saw it an important duty
to check this slighting of the word of God."
Sept. 16. — '' Two things were much in my mind this
morning in prayer ; the necessity of entering more deeply
into my own heart, and laboring after humiliation, and,
for that reason, setting apart times for fasting : as also to
devote times for solemn prayer for fitness in the ministry ;
especially love for souls ; and for the effiision of the Spirit
on heathen lands ; according to God's command. M
coming in, said that many had become more hostile than
ever; saying, they should come up to prayers, because
they believed I was sincere; but not to the sermon, as I
did nothing but preach about hell ; I hope this portends
good. Prevented reading below from the same cause as
on Sunday."
Sept. 17. — ''It began to blow hard again; — the calm-
154 MEMOIR OF
ness and pleasure with which I contemplated death, made
nm rather fear that I did not fear it enough. Read below
with the soldiers."
Sept. 18. — " Rose ill, and continued so all the day.
Tried to encourage myself in the Lord. Looking at the
sea, my soul was enabled to rejoice in the great maker of
it as my God."
Sept. 19. — " Was assisted this morning to pray for two
hours, principally in regard to God's promises respecting
the spread of the Gospel. — Read Hindoostanee and Mil-
ner ; — found the men forbidden to go below, so I know
not how they are to be instructed ; may the Lord open a
way ! — The weather is calm and sultry, — my frame re-
laxed to a painful degree, — I am led to seek a quiet, meek
submission to every thing that shall befall me. Oh ! this
blessed frame, would that it may continue ! I feel it to
be the right disposition of a creature ; approving of every
thing, because it is God's doing."
Sept. 20. — My soul was blessed with a sacred and holy
reverence in the work of God this morning : it was the
sentiment of serious love, such as I should always wish to
maintain. To behold God in his glory, and worship him
for what he is in himself, I should believe, is the bliss of
heaven. Exercised myself in Hindoostanee : — Read the
Pilgrim's Progress to a few below deck : continued to
delight in the prospect of preaching in India. The exam-
ple of the Christians of the early ages has been a source
of sweet reflection to me frequently to-day ; the holy love
and devout meditations of Augustine and Ambrose I de-
light to think of"
Sept. 2L — *' I seemed uneasy at the thoughts of calling
forth the hatred of the people to-morrow, by preaching to
them unpleasant truths."
Sept. 22. — Sunday. '* Was more tried by the fear of
man, than I ever have been since God has called me to
the ministry. The threats and opposition of. these men
made me unwillinir to set before them the truths which
HENRY iMARTYN. 155
they hated : yet I had no species of hesitation ahout doiii'T
it. They had let me know that if I would preach a ser-
mon like one of Blair's, they should be glad to hear it, but
they would not attend if so much of hell was preached.
This morning, again, Capt. said, " Mr. Martyn must
not damn us to-day, or none will come again." I was a
little disturbed ; but Luke x. and above all our Lord's last
address to his disciples, John xiv. 16, strengthened me,
and I took for my text Psalm ix. 17, ' The wicked shall
be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.'
The officers were all behind my back, in order to have
an opportunity of retiring in case of dislike. B at-
tended the whole time. H , as soon as he heard the
text, went back and said he would hear no more about
hell ; so he employed himself in feeding the geese.
said I had shut him up in hell, and the universal cry was,
*• We are all to be damned." However, God, I trust, bless-
ed the sermon to the good of many. Some of the cadets,
and many of the soldiers, were in tears. I felt an ardor
and vehemence in some parts which are unusual with me.
After service, walked the deck with Mrs. ; she spoke
with so much simplicity and amiable humility, that I was
full of joy and adoration to God for a sheep brought home
to his fold. In the afternoon went below, intending to
read to them at the hatchway, but there was not one of
them; so I could get nothing to do among the poor
soldiers."
Sept. 23. — '' We are just to the south of all Europe, and
I bid adieu to it forever, without a wish of ever revisiting
it, and still less with any desire of taking up my rest in
the strange land to which I am going. Ah ! no, — fare-
well, perishing world ! ' To me to live' shall be ' Christ.'
I have nothing to do here, but to labor as a stranger, and
by secret prayer and outward exertion, do as much as
possible for the Church of Christ and my own soul, till
my eyes close in death, and my soul wings its way to a
156 MEMOIR OF
brighter world. Strengthen me, O God my Saviour ; that,
whether living or dying, I may be thine."
Sept. 24. — "The determination with which I went to
bed last night, of devoting this day to prayer arid fastingi
I was enabled to put into execution." '
Sept. 25.— -''Most of the morhing employed in Hin-
doostariee. — Read the Pilgrim's Progress and Baxter below.
Had a long conversation with one of the Lascars."
Sept. 27. — " The oaths I heard on deck moved my in-
dignation : but I recollected the words of the Macedonian
in the dream, 'Come over and h^lp us.' 'Probably there
was no one in Macedon that felt his need of help, but the
Holy Spirit put it in this engaging wiy, because they did
request as much by their silent misery! So I thought that
evei-y oath they swore, was a call on me to help them. In
the afternoon, I was told that I could not go below, as
there had been fires lighted to air the deck. Went, by
way of changing the scene, in a boat, to the Sarah Chris-
tiana, about three miles off. It was a novel thing to be
in a little boat in the midst of the great ocean. The
nearest main land, Africa, was three hundred and fifty
miles distant. I reflected without pain that England was
eleven hundred miles offl"
Sept. 28. — " My thoughts were much engaged, as well
as those about me, with the prospect of going on shore.
They were doing nothing else for hours, but looking out
with their glasses for land. After dinner, on coming oiit,
T saw the majestic heights of Porto Santo, distant about
five or six leagues. Again I was disappointed of going
below, from the same cause as before. Was diverted from
my proper work by looking at a Portuguese grammar. So
astonishing is the weakness of my heart, that every trifle
has power to draw me from that communion with God
which my better will chooses, as my best and beloved por-
tion. O for the steady ' abiding under the shadow of the
Almighty :' and as the days pass on, and bring me nearer
HESRV iMARTYiN. 1.^7
to the end of the things which are seen, so let me be more
and niore quickened, to be ready for the unseen world."
' By faith I see the land
With peace and plenty blest :
A land of sacred liberty
And endless rest.'
Mr. Martyn's diligence in his humble and despised
ministratiotis amongst the soldiers in the ship with him,
will not have escaped the attention of those who have
read the above extracts. It will have been remarked,
that there were not many days in which he remitted this
work. Nor was his labor confined to the soldiers : their
officers were addressed by him with equal earnestness, on
every fair and favorable opportunity. With some he had
frequent religious conversations. The cadets, also, he
endeavored to "allure to brighter worlds;" and to show
that he had also their welfare in this world at heart, he
offered gratuitously to instruct in mathematics as many
as chose to come to him ; an offer which several accepted :
and as if this were not erlough to occupy his time, he
undertook also to read French with another passenger,
who was desirous of improvement in that language. He
was willing to 'become all things to all men, that he
might by all means gain some.' How far it were wise
in him to preach upon the awful subject of eternal misery
immediately after an injunction to abstain from such a
topic, is a question which may admit of a diversity of
sentiment. Certain, however, it is, that men may be told,
'even weeping, that their end is destruction;' and the
temper by which Mr. Martyn was invariably character-
ized, leaves no room to doubt that his conduct in this
instance was influenced by an imperious sense of duty,
and by the tender overflowings of love.
The sight of a foreign land, where superstition held
•her dark and undisputed sway, naturally excited a new
train of sensations in Mr. Martvn's mind, which he thus
14
158 MEMOIR OF
communicated, from Funchal, to a near relation at Fal-
mouth. *' Yesterday morning we came to an anchor at
this place. The craggy mountains, at the foot of which
Funchal is situated, make a most grand and picturesque
appearance. On entering the town, I was struck with
the conviction of being in a foreign country. Every thing
was different ; — the houses, even the poorest, all regular
and stately, — everywhere groves of orange and lemon
trees, — the countenances, and dress, and manners of the
people different from those I had been used to, — black-
skirted Catholic priests, and nun-like women, with beads
and a crucifix, passing in all directions. How would St.
Paul have sighed in passing through this town, so wholly
given up to idolatry ! I went to the great church, where
they were performing high mass, and was perfectly daz-
zled with the golden splendor of the place. But all the
external aids of devotion lost their usual effect upon me,
while I contemplated the endless multitude of mounte-
bank tricks the priests were exhibiting. Is it possible,
thought I, that this should be a Christian church ! There
was no appearance of attention, excepting in one poor
African woman, who was crossing herself repeatedly,
with the utmost expression of contrition in her counte-
nance. Perhaps, said I to her in my mind, we shall meet
in heaven.''
After remaining four days at Funchal, the fleet put to
sea, information having been previously imparted to the
army, that their object was the capture of the Cape of
Good Hope, and that, accordingly, they might expect, ere
long, to meet an enemy on the field of battle.
Intelligence of this nature served to quicken that ac-
tivity and zeal, which in Mr. Martyn had not hitherto
been either sluggish or supine. He was therefore per-
petually visiting, or attempting to visit, that part of his
flock which was so soon to be exposed to the perils of
warfare. " I entreated them even with tears," said he,
"out of fervent love for their souls, and I could have
HENRY MARTYiN. 159
poured away my life to have persuaded them to return to
God." — By a sentence in Milner's Church History, —
" To believe, to suffer, and to love, was the primitive /
taste," — he states that his mind, at this time, was very
deeply impressed ; observing that *' no uninspired sen-
tence ever affected him so much." It was, in fact, an
epitome of his own life, conversation, and spirit : a lively
exemplification of which is to be found in the manner in
which, during this part of the voyage, he strove against
an extreme and oppressive languor of body, which tended
to impede his present labors, and threatened to impair his
future efficiency. — " The extreme weakness and languor
of my body made me fear I should never be used as a
preacher in India : but what," said he, " means this
anxiety ? Is it not of God that I am led into outward
difficulties, that my faith may be tried ? Suppose you are
obliged to return, or that you never see India, but wither y
and die here, what is that to you ? Do the will of God
where you are, and leave the rest to him." — *' I found
great satisfaction in reflecting, that my hourly wisdom
was, not to repine, or to look for a change ; but to con-
sider, what is my duty in existing circumstances, and then
to do it, in dependence upon grace." So deeply was his
soul imbued with the "primitive taste," and so entirely
did it accord with that wise maxim of such universal but
difficult application —
*' Tu tua fac cures — castera mitte Deo."**
The voyage from Porto Santo to St. Salvador was ac-
complished in little more than five weeks ; during which
the special providence of God watched over Mr. Martyn
and those who sailed with him. Soon after crossing the
line, on the 30th of October, the Union, in which he
sailed, passed in the night within a very short distance of
a dangerous reef of rocks, which proved destructive to
* Take care to do your duty ; leave the rest to God,
i^ MEMOIR OF
twe Other vessels. The reef lay exactly across the truck
of the Union ; and had not the second mate, who was on
Watch, called up the captain and the first mate as soon as
danger was discovered, they would inevitably have been
wrecked : their escape was considered as almost miracu-
lous; Pieces of the ships that were dashed against the
rocks floated by them, and many of those who had been
cast on the reef were seen making signals for assistance.
The anxiety on board the Union respecting these un-
happy persons was intense : happily they were all saved,
with the exception of three officers, one of whom lost his
life in endeavoring to secure a large sum of money : leav-
ing the vessel too soon, he sunk tO rise no more ; and, as
it was supposed, was devoured by the sharks which sur-
rounded the ships in great numbers. Nor was this the
only peril which the Union escaped : on the coast of South
America she incurred a similar risk. " O how sweet," re-
marked Mr. Martyn, " to perceive such repeated instances
of God's guardian care !" — During this part of the voy-
age, the novel sight of the flying fish beginning to attract
attention, Mr. Martyn's mind, ever fertile in topics of hu-
miliation, could discover " a resemblance to his own soul
in these poor little creatures; who rose to a little height;
and then, in a minute or two, when their fins were dry,
dropped into the waves." Others, doubtless, would have
chosen for him a far different similitude, and would have
sought it rather in the eagle soaring into the fields of light,
or in the dove of the poet,
" When at length she springs
To smoother flight, and shoots upon her wings." — Dryden.
"I find (Mr. Martyn wrote on his arrival at St. Salva-
dor, to a friend in England) that neither distance or time
can separate the hearts which are united in the fellowship
of the Gospel as well as by mutual esteem. Mere earthly
aflTections are weakened by time and absence ; but Chris-
tian love grows stronger as the day of salvation approaches.
HENRY MARTIN. 161
Already a watery waste of four thousand miles lies be-
tween me and England : but because I have you in my
heart, and make mention of you without ceasing in my
prayers, you seem yet scarcely out of sight.'
To anotiier friend he wrote : —
" Though a long sea is already rolling betwixt us, yet I
scarcely seem to have lost sight of you, or of my dear friends
at Cambridge. The hymns we sing, being chiefly taken
from your collection, daily bring to my remembrance the
happy days when I went with the multitude to the house
of God, with the voice of joy and praise. Those seasons
are gone by ; but I comfort myself with thinking that they
will quickly be renewed in a better country, when we
come to dwell together in the mansions of our Father's
house."
The description of St. Salvador, and the events con-
nected with Mr. Martyn's stay there, we have thus re-
corded at some length : —
Nov. 12. — " The coast was beautiful, with much ro-
mantic scenery. The town exactly resembled Funchal,
but was rather more cheerful. The objects in the street
were strong negro-men slaves, carrying very heavy casks
on a pole, with a sort of unpleasant note ; — negro-women
carrying fish, fruit, &c. — a few palanquins, which are
drawn by two mules. The things exposed to sale w^re
turtles, bananas, oranges, limes, papaws, water-meloiis,
tamarinds and fustick wood. I walked up the hill in
order to get into the country, and observed a man stand-
ing by the way-side, holding out for the people's saluta-
tion, a silver embossed piece of plate of a small oval si^i^e,
and repeating some words about St. Antonio. Some
kissed it ; others took off* their hats ; but the man himself
seemed to ridicule their folly. They were performing
14*
162 MEMOIR OF
mass in one church ; it was not so splendid as that of
Madeira ; many of the priests were negroes. I soon
reached the suburbs, on the outside of which was a bat-
tery which commanded a view of the whole bay, and re-
peated the hymn, ' O'er the gloomy hills of darkness. '
What happy missionary shall be sent to bear the name of
Christ to these western regions ! When shall this beauti-
ful country be delivered from idolatry and spurious Chris-
tianity ! Crosses there are in abundance ; but when shall
the doctrine of the cross be held up ! I continued my
walk in quest of a wood, or some trees where I might sit
down ; but all was appropriated : no tree was to be ap-
proached except through an enclosure. At last I came to a
magnificent porch, before a garden gate, which was open ;
1 walked in, but finding the vista led straight to the house,
I turned to the right, and found myself in a grove of cocoa-
nut trees, orange trees, and several strange- fruit trees ;
under them was nothing but rose-trees, but no verdure on
the ground : oranges were strewed like apples in an
orchard. Perceiving that I was observed by the slaves,
I came up to the house, and was directed by them to an
old man sitting under a tree, apparently insensible from
illness. I spoke to him in French and in English ; but
he took no notice. Presently a young man and a young
lady appeared, to whom I spoke in French, and was very
politely desired to sit down at a little table, which was
standing under a large space before the house like a
veranda. They brought me oranges, and a small reel
acid fruit, the name of which I asked, but cannot recol
lect. The young man sat opposite conversing abou
Cambridge ; he had been educated in a Portuguese Uni
versity. Almost immediately on finding I was of Cam
bridge, he invited me to come when I liked to his house
A slave, after bringing the fruit, was sent to gather three
roses for me : the master then walked with me round the
garden, and showed me among the rest the coflfee-plant :
HENRY MARTYN. 163
when I left him, he repeated his invitation. THus did the
Lord give his servant favor in the eyes of Antonio Joseph
Corre."
Nov. 13. — " This morning there was a great storm of
thunder, lightning, and rain, which awoke me. — I got up
and prayed. — Oh ! when the last great thunder echoes
from pole to pole, I shall be in earnest, if not before."
Nov. 14. — '^ Sennor Antonio received me with the same
cordiality : he begged me to dine with him. I was cu-
rious and attentive to observe the difference between the
Portuguese manners and ours : there were but two plates
laid on the table, and the dinner consisted of a great num-
ber of small mixed dishes, following one another in quick
succession ; but none of them very palatable. In the cool
of the evening, we walked out to see his plantation ; here
every thing possessed the charm of novelty. The grounds
included two hills, and a valley between them. The hills
were covered with cocoa-nut trees, bananas, mangoes,
orange and lemon trees, olives, coffee, chocolate, and
cotton plants, &-c. In the valley was a large plantation
of a shrub or a tree, bearing a cluster of small berries,
which he desired me to taste ; I did, and found it wasj
pepper. It had lately been introduced from Batavia, and
answered very well. It grows on a stem about the thick-
ness of a finger, to the height of about seven feet, and is
supported by a stick, which, at that height, has another
across it for the branches to spread upon. Slaves were
walking about the grounds ; watering the trees, and turn-
ing up the earth : the soil appeared very dry and loose.
At night I returned to the ship in one of the country
boats ; which are canoes made of a tree hollowed out, and
paddled by three men."
Nov. 18. — " Went ashore at six o'clock, and found that
Sennor Antonio had been waiting for me two hours. It
being too late to go into the country, I staid at his house
till dinner. He kept me too much in his company, but I
found intervals for retirement. In a cooi and shady part
164 MEMOIR OF
of the garden, near some water, I sat and sang^ — * O'er the
gloomy hills of darkness.' I could read and pray aloud,
as there was no fear of any one understanding me. In
the afternoon, we went in a palanquin to visit his father.
Reading the eighty-fourth Psalm, ' O how amiable are
thy tabernacles,' this morning in the shade, — the day when
I read it last under the trees with L , was brought
forcibly to my remembrance, and produced some degree
of melancholy. Of this I was thinking all the way I was
carried : and the train of reflections into which I was led,
drew off my attention from the present scene. We visited
in our way a monastery of Carmelites : in the church
belonging to it, my friend Antonio knelt some time, and
crossed himself: I was surprised, but said nothing. At
his father's house, I was described to them as one who
knew every thing,— -Arabic, Persian, Greek, &lc. ; and all
stared at me as if I had dropped from the skies. The
father, Sennor Dominigo, spoke a little Latin. A priest
came in, and as it was the first time I had been in com-
pany with one, I spoke to him in I^atin, but he blushed,
and said that he did not speak it. I was very sorry I had
undesignedly put him to pain. Had a great deal of con-
versation with Antonio, afterwards, on England and on
religion. He had formed such an idea of England, that
he had resolved to send his son to be educated there. A
slave in my bed-room washed my feet. I w^s struck with
the degree of abasement expressed in the act, and as he
held the foot in the towel, with his head bowed down to-
wards it, I remembered the condescension of the blessed
Lord. May I have grace to follow such humility !"
Nov. 19. — " Early after breakfast, went in a palanquin
to Sennor Dominigo's, and from thence with him two or
three miles into the country : at intervals I got out and
walked. I was gratified with the sight of what I wanted
to see ; namely, some part of the country in its original
state, covered with wood ; it was hilly, but not mountain-
ous. The luxuriance was so rank, that the whole space,
HEiNRY MARTYN. 165
even to the tops of the trees, was filled with long stringy
shrubs and weeds, so as to make them impervious, and
opaque. The road was made by cutting away the earth
on the side of the hill, so that there were woods above and
-below us. The object of our walk was to see a pepper
plantation, made in a valley, on a perfect level. The
symmetry of the trees was what charmed my Portuguese
friend ; but to me, who was seeking the wild features of
America, it was just what I did not want. The person
who showed us the grounds, was one that had been a major
in the Portuguese army, and had retired on a pension.
The border consisted of pine-apples, planted between each
tree ; the interior was set with lemon-trees, here and there,
between the pepper-plants. We were shown the root of
the Mandioc, called by us tapioca; it was like a large
horse-radish ; the mill for grinding it was extreniely simple ;
.a horizontal wheel, turned by horses, put in motion a
vertical one ; on the circumference of which was a thin
brazen plate, furnished on the inside like a nutmeg-grater;
a slave held the root to the wheel, which grated it away,
and threw it in the form of a moist paste into a receptacle
below : it is then dried in pans, and used as a farina with
meat. At Sennor Antonio's, a plate of tapioca was at-
tached to each of our plates. Some of the pepper was
nearly ripe, and of a reddish appearance ; when gathered,
which it is in April, it is dried in the sun. In our way to
the old major's house, we came to a small church, on an
eminence, on a plot of ground surrounded by a wall, which
was for the purpose of burying the dead from a neighbor-
ing hospital, erected for those afflicted with a cutaneous
disorder called a morphee. What this is I could not learn,
as I saw none of the patients. The major had apartments
at the hospital, of which he was inspector. In the church,
all three knelt and crossed themselves as usual. I said
nothing ; but upon this a conversation began among them,
chiefly from Sennor Antonio's mentioning to them my
objection. The major spoke with a vehemence which
166 MEMOIR OF
would have become a better cause: Antonio acted as
interpreter. By constant appeal to the Scriptures, on every
subject, I gave immediate answers. The old man con-
cluded the conversation by saying, that he was sure I read
the Scriptures, and therefore would embrace me, which he
did after the manner of the country. Sennor Antonio
told me plainly, at last, what I had long been expectmg to
hear, that the prejudices of education were strong, and
operated to keep his father bigoted ; but that, for himself,
he had nothing to do with saints ; in secret he adored God
alone. I could have wished more ; it was the confession
rather of a liberal than a religious mind. Soon after there
was a procession of priests carrying the sacrament to the
house of a person just departing ; they both knelt, and
continued till it had past. Sennor Antonio said, that he
* conformed to the custom of the country in trifles.' I
thought of Naaman and his god Rimmon. I did not,
however, think it right to push the matter too suddenly ;
but told him, in general, how the English Reformers were
led to prison and to flames, rather than conform ; and that,
if I had been born a Portuguese, I would rather be im-
prisoned and burnt, than conform to idolatry. — At the
same time I talked to him of the doctrines of the * new
birth,' &,c. but he did not seem to pay much attention.
Sennor Dominigo asked me if the soldiers had a minister
to attend them in their dying moments, to instruct and to
administer consolation. For the first time I felt that I had
the worst of the argument, and hardly knew what to say
to explain such neglect among the Protestants. He shrug-
ged up his shoulders with horror at such a religion. We
were then shown the hospital erected by the Prince of
Portugal : it was a noble building, far superior to that at
Haslar. In the garden, each person, alternately, gathered
a sprig or fragrant leaf for me. The person who showed
it to us, was a chevalier of some order. In the ch.ipei
Sennor Antonio knelt ; but always looked on me smiling,
and said, " c'est le coutume du pays." I left him in order
HENRY MARTYN. 167
to get on board ; but finding, as I went along, a chapel
open, I went in to see the pictures ; all of which contained,
as a prominent figure, a ft-iar of some order. In one,
some people in flames were laying hold of the twisted rope
which was pendant from his waist ; how apt the image, if
Jesus Christ were in the room of the friar ! At this time
a friar, dressed identically as the one in the picture, moved
slowly along; I followed him through the cloisters and
addressed him in Latin. He was a little surprised ; but
replied. He told me that the chapel belonged to a mon-
astery of Franciscan friars. In a cloister which led
round the second floor of the building he stopped ; and by
this time we were able to understand each other exceed-
ingly well. I then asked him to prove from Scripture the
doctrine of purgatory, of image- worship, the supremacy of
the Pope, and transubstantiation. His arguments were
exceedingly weak, and the Lord furnished me with an
answer to them all. During our conversation, two or three
more friars assembled round, and joined in the dispute.
I confuted all their errors as plainly as possible, from the
word of God ; and they had nothing to reply, but did not
seem disconcerted. A whole troop of others, passing in
procession in the opposite cloister below, beckoned to them
to retire ; which they did, taking me along with them to a
cell, — two before, and one on each side. As we passed
along the passage, one asked me whether I was a Chris-
tian. When we had all reached the cell, and sat down,
I asked for a Bible, and the dispute was renewed. I found
that they considered their errors as not tenable on Scrip-
ture ground ; and appealed to the authority of the church.
I told them that this church was, by their confession, acting
against the law of God ; and was therefore not the church
of God : I also referred them to the last words in the
Revelations. They seemed most surprised at my knowl-
edge of Scripture. When they were silent, and had
nothing to say, I was afraid the business would end here
without good ; and so I said, — * you who profess to teach
1G8 MEMOIR OF
the way oi truth, how can you dare, before God, tb let the
people go on in idolatrous practices, which you know to b6
contrary to the word of God V They looked very grave.
The one who spoke French, and also the best Latin, grew
very angry during their dispute; and talked of the Scrip-
turarum interpretes — ^pii sapi€ntissimique viri Augustinus,
Bernardus,* &c. ; 'but,' said I, 'they were not inspired. '
■ Yes,' he said. But here he was corrected by the rest.
As this man seemed in earnest (the rest were sometimes
grave and sometimes laughing), I asked him why he had
assumed the cowl of a friar ; — he answered, ' ut me ab-
straherem a vanitate rerum mundanarum et meipsum sanc-
tum faciam ad gloriam Dei.' t He spoke wuth great im-
pression and earnestness, and seemed the most sincere of
any. They were acquainted with logic, and argued ac-
cording to rule. He began by saying, ' nullam salutem
esse extra ecclesiam Catholicam, axioma est ;' ' concedo, *
said I,-^' sed extra Romanam salus esse potest. ' — ' Mi-
nime,' they all cried out. ' Quare,' said I, ' proba,' J
but they could not. At last I went away, as the sun had
set, and they all attended me through the long dark pas-
sages. I almost trembled at the situation and company I
was in, but they were exceedingly polite, and begged to
know when I M'as coming ashore again, that they might
expect me. I had staid so long, that after waiting for
hours at the different quays, no boat returned ; and I was
obliged to return to Sennor Antonio's, from whom I re-
ceived an affectionate welcome. His wife and slaves, who
seemed to be admitted to the utmost familiarity, delighted
* Interpreters of Scripture — the pious and most learned men, Au-
gustine, Bernard, &c.
t That I might withdraw m3'^self from the vanity of earthly things,
and devote myself to the glory of God.
t '' That there is no salvation out of the Catholic Church, is an
axiom." " Granted," I replied, " but there is salvation out of the
Romish church." " By no means," they all cried out. " Why,"
said I, " prove it."
HENRY MARTYN. jgg
to Stand around me, and teach me the Portuguese names
of things."
Nov. 21. — " Went on shore and breakfasted with Sennor
Antonio. After dinner, while he slept, I had some time
for reading, &,c. In the evening, he and his wife and
a female slave played at cards. I sat at the table, learn-
ing Hindoostanee roots."
Nov. 23. — "In the afternoon took leave of my kind
friends Sennor and Sennora Corre, They and the rest
came out to the garden gate, and continued looking, till
the winding of the road hid me from their sight. The
poor slave Raymond, who had attended me and carried
my things, burst into a flood of tears, as we left the door ;
and when I parted from him he was going to kiss my
feet ; but I shook hands with hhn, much affected by such
extraordinary kindness, in people to whom I had been a
total stranger till within a few days. What shall I ren-
der unto the Lord for all his mercies ! — In my way to the
quay, I met a young friar of the order of St. Augustine.
He understood me enough to conduct me part of the way
to the convent of the Franciscans; till he met with a
young priest, to whom he consigned me. With him I had
a dispute in Latin. Vv^hen I said that in no part of Scrip-
ture was it commanded to worship the Virgin ; he colored,
and said in a low tone, ' verum est.'* At the monastery,
I met with my old friends the same four friars. After
regaling me with sweetmeats* they renewed the dispute.
We parted with mutual lamentations over one another ; I
telling them they were in an awful error; they smiling
at my obstinacy, and mourning over my lost condition.
I went away in no small dejection, that the gospel should
have so little effect, or rather none at ail. This was by
no means diminished when I came to the boat It was
the commemoration of the Hegira ;t and our Mohammedan
* It is true.
\ Or the flight of Mohammed from Mecca. A. D. Q,IQ. See
ApjTendix D, E,
170 MEMOIR OF
rowers, dressed in white, were singing hymns, all the
way, to the honor of Mohammed. Here was another
abomination. B sat beside me, and we had a long
conversation, and for some time went on very welL I
cleared away error, as I thought, very fast ; and when the
time was come, I stated in a few words the Gospel. The
reply was, that ' 1 was not speaking to the purpose ;
that for his part, he could not see what more could be
necessary, than simply to tell mankind that they must be
sober and honest.' I turned away, and, with a deep
sigh, cried to God to interfere in behalf of his Gospel : for
in the course of one hour, I had seen three shocking ex-
amples of the reign and pov»'er of the devil, in the form of
Popish and Mohammedan delusion, and that of the natu-
ral man. I never felt so strongly what a nothing I am.
All my clear arguments are good for nothing ; — unless the
Lord stretch out his hand, I speak to stones. I felt, how-
ever, no way discouraged ; but only saw the necessity of
dependence on God."
After little more than a fortnight, the fleet sailed;
whilst many a grateful recollection filled the breast, and
many a fervent prayer ascended from the heart of Mr.
Martyn, in behalf of Sennor and Sennora Corre : — from
them he had received signal kindness and hospitality ; —
and it might not perhaps be too much to observe, that
" not forgetful to entertain strangers, they had entertained
an angel unawares." " I have been with my friend An-
tonio," said he, " as a way-faring man that tarrieth but
for a night; yet hath the Lord put it into his heart to
send me on after a goodly sort. And now we prosecute
our voyage : a few more passages, and I shall find myself
in the scene of my ministry: a few more changes and
journeys, and I am in eternity."
As the time approached for the soldiers to take the
field, Mr. Martyn's anxiety for their eternal welfare in-
creased; and as a proof of it, he set apart a day for fast-
ing, humiliation, and intercession for them, as well as for
HENRY MARTYN. 171
all who were in the ship. But he did not intercede for
them, he observed, as being himself righteous, but chose
rather to humble himself with them as a sinner ; earnestly
crying to God in contrition and abasement of soul. At
this solemn juncture, he began to read and expound to
his auditors the holy Scriptures exclusively ; and after
some consideration respecting the propriety of such a step,
he determined not to suffer them to part without prayer to
the Lord, as well as singing his praises. Such a proce-
dure, he was well aware, would put the faith of his hearers,
as well as his own, in some measure, to a strong and
severe test. Above, obloquy and contempt might be ex-
pected ; below, noise and clamor and scoffs. He never-
theless persisted in his purpose, resolving, as the line of
duty seemed to be clear, to pursue it steadily, and calmly
to commit all consequences to God. " To kneel in
prayer," he remarked in a letter to a friend, " before a
considerable number of lookers-on, some working, others
scoffing, was a painful cross to my poor people at first.
But they received strength according to their day : and
now the song of us all is, ' Thou hast prepared a table
before me in the presence of my enemies.' "
The unhealthy state of the ship's company from dysen-
tery, at this period of the voyage, was another call on
Mr. Martyn's pastoral assiduity; a call to which he
evinced no backwardness to attend. Often was he to be
found by the beds of the sick, administering to them
every temporal and spiritual comfort ; till at length he
was himself seized by that contagious disorder. His
illness was not of long duration, but was such as to make
him think seriously of death, and employ himself in the
most solemn self-examination. On which occasion, he
had so much delight and joy in the consideration of
heaven, and of his assured title to it, that he was more
desirous of dying than living : not th'at it was any one
thing that he had done (he remarks), that gave him sub-
stantial reason for thinking himself in Christ : — it was the
172 MEiMOIR OF
bent of his affections and inclinations towards God, and
the taste he had for holy pleasures and holy employments,
which convinced him that he was born of God.
No sooner had he recovered from this attack, than he
was again at his post, — kneeling beside the hammocks of
the dying. And amongst those who then required, and
received his faithful offices, was the captain of the ship,
whose illness, though of a different kind from the prevail-
ing one, was highly dangerous, and quickly terminated in
his dissolution.
And now as the year Vv^as drawing to a close, and the
last Sabbath of it was come ; Mr. Martyn addressed his
hearers from 2 Pet. iii. 11; — ''Seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought
ye to be, in all holy conversation and godliness ;" in ref-
erence to their having left England, — to their having
passed through so many perils,— to their being, many ot
them, about to meet an enemy in the field, — and to the
death of the captain. His own mind, which could not
but be in an exceedingly serious frame, was also in a
state of the purest joy, and most perfect peace. " Sepa-
rated," said he, " from my friends and country forever,
there is nothing to distract me from hearing * the voice
of my beloved,' and coming away from this world, and
walking with him in love, amidst the flowers that perfume
the air of paradise, and the harmony of the happy, happy
saints who are singing his praise. Thus hath the Lord
brought me to the conclusion of the year ; and though I
have broken his statutes, and not kept his command-
ments ; yet he hath not utterly taken away his loving
kindness, nor sufiered his truth to fail. I thought, at the
beginning of the year, that I should have been in India
at this time, if I should have escaped all the dangers of
the climate. These dangers are yet to come ; but 1 can
leave all cheerfully to God. If I am weary of any thing,
it is of my life of sinfulness. I want a life of more devo-
tion and holiness ; and yet am so vain, as to be expecting
HENRY MART YN.
173
the end without the means. I am so far from regretting
that I ever came on this delightful work, were I to choose
for myself, I could scarcely find a situation more agree-
able to my taste. On, therefore, let me go, and perse-
vere steadily in this blessed undertaking; through the
grace of God dying daily to the opinions of men, and
aiming, with a more single eye, at the glory of the ever-
lasting God."
On the 2nd of January, 1806, whilst Mr. Martyn was
in the act of commending his flock to God in prayer, the
high lands of the Cape became visible, at eighty miles
distance : and doubtless they were not seen without excit-
ing the strongest emotions in many hearts : numbers were
soon there to assemble, who should meet no more till all
nations were gathered before the tribunal of Christ.
On the 3rd the fleet anchored, and the signal was in-
stantly given for the soldiers to prepare to land. But how
then was Mr. Marty n's holy and affectionate soul grieved,
to witness the dreadful levity concerning death which
ahnost universally prevailed ! " It was," said he, " a
melancholy scene. I could speak to none of my people
but to Corporal B , and ; I said also to Serjeant
G , ' It is noic high time to be decided in religion.'
He replied with a sigh. Poor Corporal B and the
others gave me a last affecting look after they were in the
boats. I retired to pray, and found delightful access to
God, and freedom in prayer for the poor soldiers." The
Indiamen being then ordered to get under weigh, and the
men of war drawn up close to the shore, a landing was
effected, and soon after seven the next day, as Mr. Martyn
describes it, *' a most tremendous fire of artillery began
behind a mountain abreast of the ships. It seemed as if
the mountain itself was torn by intestine convulsions.
The smoke arose from a lesser eminence on the right of
the hill; and, on the top of it, troops were seen marching
down the further declivity. Then came such a long-drawn
15*
174 MEMOIR OF
fire of musketry, that I could not conceive any thing like
it. We all shuudered at considering what a multitude of
souls must be passing into eternity. The poor ladies were
in a dreadful condition ; every peal seemed to go through
their hearts. I have just been endeavoring to do what 1
can to keep up their spirits. The sound is now retiring ;
and the enemy are seen retreating along the low ground
on the right side towards the town."
With the hope of being useful to the v/ounded and dying
in the field of battle, Mr. Martyn, after this period of
torturing suspense, went on shore ; and in the following
letter to Mr. Simeon, he states what he endured whilst
engaged in that disinterested errand of love and mercy.
" Union, Table Bay, Jan. 7, 1806.
** I embraced the opportunity of getting to the wounded
men, soon after my landing. A party of the coynpany's
troops were ordered to repair to the field of battle, to bring
away the wounded, under the command of Major ,
whom I knew. By his permission, I attached myself to
them, and marched six miles over a soft burning sand,
till we reached the fatal spot. We found several but
slightly hurt : and these we left for a while, after seeing
their wounds dressed by a surgeon. A little onward were
three mortally wounded. One of them, on being asked,
* where he was struck,' opened his shirt and showed a
wound in his left breast. The blood which he was spit-
ting showed that he had been shot through the lungs. As
I spread my great coat over him, by the surgeon's desire,
who passed on without attempting to save him, I spoke of
the blessed Gospel, and besought him to look to Jesus
Christ for salvation. He was surprised, but could not
speak ; and I was obliged to leave him, in order to reach
the troops, from whom the officers, out of regard to my
safety, would not allow me to be separated. Among sev-
eral others, some wounded, and some dead, was Captain
; who was shot by a rifleman. We all stopped for a
HENRY MARTYN. I75
while, to gaze, in pensive silence, on his pale body : and
then passed on to witness more proofs of the sin and mis-
ery of fallen man. Descending into the plain, where the
main body of each army had met, I saw some of the oQth,
one of whom, a corporal, who sometimes had sung with us,
told me that none of the 59th were killed, and none of
the officers wounded. Some farm-houses, which had been
in the rear of the enemy's army, had been converted into
an hospital for the wounded, whom they were bringing
from all quarters. The surgeon told me that there were
already in the houses two hundred, some of whom were
Dutch. A more ghastly spectacle than that which pre-
sented itself here I could not have conceived. They were
ranged without and within the house, in rows, covered
with gore. Indeed it was the blood which they had not had
time to wash off that made their appearance mpre dread-
ful than the reality : for few of their wounds were mortal.
The confusion was very great; and sentries and officers
were so strict in their duty, that I had no fit opportunity
of speaking to any of them, except a Dutch captain, with
whom I conversed in French. After this, I walked out
again with the surgeon to the field, and saw several of the
enemy's wounded. A Hottentot, who had had his thigh
broken by a ball, was lying in extreme agony, biting
the dust, and uttering horrid imprecations upon the Dutch.
I told him that he ought to pray for his enemies; and after
telling the poor wretched man of the gospel, I begged him
to pray to Jesus Christ. But our conversation was soon
interrupted : for, in the absence of the surgeon, who was
gone back for his instruments, a Highland soldier came
up, and challenged me with the words, 'Who are you ?'
* An Englishm in.' ' No,' said he, * you are French,' and
began to present his piece. As I saw that he was rather
intoxicated, and did not know but that he might actually
fire out of mere wantonness, I sprang up towards him, and
told him, that if he doubted my word, he might take me
as his prisoner to the English camp, — but that I certainly
176 iMEMOIR OF
was an English clergyman. This pacified hinij and he
behaved with great respect. The surgeon, on examining
the wound, said the man must die, and sp left him. At
length, I found an opportunity of returning, as I much
wished, in order to recover from distraction of mind, and
to give free scope to reflection. I lay down on the border
of a clump of shrubs or bushes, with the field of battle in
view ; and there lifted up my soul to God. Mournful as
the scene was, I yet thanked God that he had brought me
to see a specimen, though a terrible one, of what men by
nature are. May the remembrance of this day ever excite
me to pray and labor more for the propagation of the Gos-
pel of peace. Then shall men love one another : Nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war any more. The Blue Mountains, to the east-
ward, which formed the boundary of the prospects, were a
cheering contrast to what was immediately before me ; for
there I conceived my beloved and honored feilow-serv ants,
companions in the kingdom and patience of i Jesus Christy*
to be passing the days of their pilgrimage, far from the
world, imparting the truths of the precious Gospel to be-
nighted souls. May I receive grace to be a follower of
their faith and patience ; and do you pray, my brother, as
I know that you do, that I may have a heart more warm,
and a zeal more ardent in this glorious cause. I marched
back the same evening, with the troops. The surf on the
shore was very high, but through mercy, we escaped that
danger. But when we came to our ship's station, we
found that she was gone ; having got under weigh some
hours before. The sea ran high. Our men were almost
spent, and I was very faint with hunger; but after a long
struggle, we reached the; Indiaman about midnight."
For the detail of the events which succeeded this most
* Missionaries of the United Brethren at Grcenekloof and Gna-
denthal, and tho55e belonging to the Lohdon Missionary Society at
Bethelsdorp.
HEN RY MARTYN. I77
distressing day, and the incidents which occurred during
his continuance at the Cape, we refer to the journal.
January 9th. — " Came on board early this morning. I
was so sleepy and languid, I could do little or nothing,
and at niglit was so oppressed with a sense of my unprofit-
ableness,— selfishness, — neglect of duty, — ^that I felt shut
out from God. I spread the matter before God, who knew
the state of my case ; — still I was wretched from the bond-
age of corruption, which seemed to chain me down to
earth. Lying down in my bed, my wretchedness was
brought to my mind, and would have overwhelmed me,
were it not for the blood of Jesus Christ. There was very
little firing to-day. In the afternoon a flag of truce was
observed."
January 10. — "I have been, through the mercy of God,
in a more happy frame than for this week past. Medita-
tion on Psalm ciii. 1 — 5, was much blest to me. Oh !
what happiness and benefit to my soul have I lost by neg-
lecting to praise God. About five the commodore fired a
gun, which was instantly answered by all the men-of-war.
On looking out for the cause, we saw the British flag flying
on the Dutch Fort. Pleasing as the cessation of warfare
was, I felt considerable pain at the enemy's being obliged
to give up their fort and town, and every thing else, as a
conquered people, to the will of their victor. I hate the
cruel pride and arrogance that makes men boast over a
conquered foe. And every observation of this sort which
I hear cuts me to the very heart ; whether from nature or
from grace I do not know ; but I had rather be trampled
upon than be the trampler. I could find it more agreeable
to my own feelings to go and weep with the relatives of
the men v.'hom the English have killed, than to rejoice at
the laurels they have v. on. I had a happy season in
prayer. No outward scene seemed to have power to dis-
tract my thoughts. I prayed that the capture of the Cape
might be ordered to the advancement of Christ's kingdom ;
and that England, whilst she sent the thunder of her arms
178 JHEMOlll OF
to the distant regions of the globe, might not be proud and
ungodly at home ; but might show herself great indeed,
by sending forth the ministers of her church to diffuse the
Gospel of peace."
January 12. — Sunday. "Very unlike a Sabbath-day;
the whole morning, till dinner-time, was taken up in work-
ing the ship from her place to a station nearer the shore.
There were so few hands on board, that I was obliged to
take my place at the capstan. The wind now blows a
hurricane over Table Mountain. I feel myself a guilty
creature. Hide not thy face from me, O God."
January 13. — " Went on shore to Cape Town, and took
lodgings. Walked about the Company's gardens, and
General Jansen's, whose family I saw. I felt much for
the unfortunate females. Afterwards saw the Menagerie.
A lion and lioness, amongst the beasts, and the ostrich,
led my thoughts very strongly to admire and glorify the
power of the great Creator. ' Wilt thou hunt the prey
for the lion?' I felt my insignificance, — but for a ran-
somed child, the strong hand of God can control all created
power, — sweet and happy is it to have ' the everlasting
arms underneath us.' From the first moment I arrived, I
had been anxiously inquiring about Dr. Vanderkemp. I
heard at last, to my no small delight, that he was now in
Cape Town. But it was long before I could find him.
At length I did. He was standing outside of the house,
silently looking up at the stars. A great number of black
people were sitting around. On my introducing myself,
he led me in, and called for Mr. Read. I was beyond
measure delighted at the happiness of seeing him too.
The circumstance of meeting with these beloved and
highly-honored brethren, so filled me with joy and grati-
tude for the goodness of God's providence, that I hardly
knew what to do."
January 14. — " Continued walking with Mr. Read till
late. He gave me a variety of curious information respect-
inor the mission. He told me of his marvellous success
HENRY MART Y.N. i79
amongst the heathen, — How he had heard them amono-st
the bushes pouring out their hearts to God. At all this
my ' soul did magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoiced in
God my Saviour.' Now that I am in a land where
the Spirit of God appears, as in the ancient days, as
in the generation of old, let a double portion of that
Spirit rest upon this unworthy head, that I ma> go forth
to my work 'rejoicing like a strong man to run my
race.'"
January 15. — " Rose early, and obtained a serene and
tender spirit from God."
January 16. — " Walked with brother Read, and was
so charmed with his spiritual behavior, that I fancied
myself in company with David Brainerd. Sat at night in
the open air, with Table Mountain before me, and
endeavored to meditate on Isaiah xi. 2."
January 17. — "Had some fervor in prayer for that
blessed charity, described 1 Cor. xiii. Walked with Read
and continued to increase in love to him ; we met in our
walk Vanderlinger, who had been on a mission to the
Griquas."
January 18. — '* Having spoken in an unchristian spirit
to a dcc-r friend this morning, I retired in great grief to
consider again 1 Cor. xiii. and Eph. iv. 5. I found my
soul melted in prayer. Oh I when shall I learn humility !
Cecil dined and walked with me ; — not finding the mission-
aries at home I returned and read Prideaux : after a short
prayer I found my soul blest with a most serene and tran-
quil sweetness ; my thoughts seemed far from earth, and
fixed on heavenly things."
January 19.— Sunday. " The S. E. blew a hurricane all
day ; so I could not get to the Pitt, Botany Bay ship, as I
had promised. I read prayers to most of the cadets and
passengers in one of the parlors of the house, and expound-
ed part of iv. and v. of Ephesians.— Visited the hospital
with brother Read, and then went to a church lately built
for the mstruction of slaves. There were about one hun-
ISO MEMOIR OF
dred, sent from fifty different families. A black, who was
employed in lighting the candles, was pointed out to me
as one who was to go as a missionary to Madagascar."
January 20. — " Walking home I asked Dr. Vander-
kemp if he had ever repented of his undertaking. No,
said the old man, smiling ; and I would not excliange my
work for a kingdom. Read told me of some of his trials ;
— he has often been so reduced, for want of clothes, as
scarcely to have any to cover him. The reasonings of his
mind were ; — I am here, Lord, in thy service ; — why am
1 left in this state? It seemed to be suggested to him, —
If thou wilt be my servant, be contented to fare in this
way ; — if not, go and fare better. His mind was thus sat-
isfied to remain God's missionary, with ail its concomitant
hardships. At night, my sinful soul enjoyed a most reviv-
ing season in prayer,— I rejoiced greatly in the Lord, and
pleaded with fervor for the interests of his church."
January 2L— "I sent to the governor to offer my ser-
vices on Sunday next at the church : — he sent an immediate
answer, that he could not avail liimself of my offer, but
assigned no reason. I was a little hurt, but my soul
enjoyed sweet repose in God."
January 22.^ — " Went with Read to visit the hospital
where the wounded English were."
January 23. — "Went on board, the S. E. blowing most
violently ; I did not think the boat could live it out ; — but,
through the mercy of God, we shipped but one sea, and
reached the ship i?i safety. Ohl may I love and serve
him with all my soul, till I reach the blissful shore where
storms and dangers shall be known no more."
January 24. — "I came ashore and walked with Lieu-
tenant F , and was much pleased with the sentiments
he expressed ; and with much affectionate regard for his
welfare, I suggested to him some advice. At night, the
Lord helped me to plead long and earnestly for the ingath-
ering of the heathen."
January 25. — " Employed in meditations on a sermon for
HENRY MAIITYN. ^c^j
to-morrow; — sat with Dr. Vanderkemp, conversing on
metaphysics and divinity. Blesserd with especial awfuhiess
in prayer at night."
January 26. — Sunday. ** Had service in the house ;
expounded on 2 Cor. v. with such dulness, that I felt the
greatest shame before God. Walked near the sea, and
talked to some French prisoners; — went with Read to
the hospital, and left some Testaments. Dear Dr. Van-
derkemp gave me a Syriac Testament as a remembrance
of him."
January 27. — " Preached at the hospital. — Many were
in tears."
January 28. — '' I went this morning in a wagon drawn
by eight horses, to Constantia, with a party of fellow-pas-
sengers, and three officers of the 66th, but it was no party
of pleasure to me. I was disgusted at the conversation,
which was trifling to the last degree. The farmer was
very civil, and gave me some of the celebrated wine.
The road was over a plain covered with beautiful shrubs ;
— ^there being no house there that was public, we went
•to one two miles off: — here I walked on the heath alone,
seeking after God. Walked with brother Read hi the
gardenSy and continued to have much conversation on the
mission ; on our conversion ; and on the work of grace in
the heart. How profitable and heart-enlivening is con-
versation on experimental religion, when carried on with-
out pride or display of great experience! Preached at
the hospital. In my walk home by the sea-side, I sighed
on thinking of L , with whom I had stood on the
shore before coming away, and of the long seas that were
rolling between us; but felt cheerful and strong in spirit
to fulfil the word of God."
January 30. — " Rose at five, and began to ascend
Table Mountain at six, Avith S and M . I went
on chiefly alone. I thought of the Christian life, — what
uphill work it is, — and yet there are streams flowing down
16
182 MEMOIR OF
from the top just as there was water coming down by the
Kloof, by which we ascended. Towards the top it was
very steep, but the hope of being soon at the summit, en-
couraged me to ascend very lightly. As the Kloof opened,
a beautiful flame-colored flower appeared in a little green
hollow, waving in the breeze. It seemed to be an em-
blem of the beauty and peacefulness of heaven, as it shall
open upon the weary soul when its journey is finished,
and the struggles of the death-bed are over. We walked
up and down the whole length, which might be between
two and three miles, and one might be said to look round
the world from this promontory. I felt a solemn awe at
the grand prospect, — from which there was neither noise
nor small objects to draw off my attention. — I reflected,
especially when looking at the immense expanse of sea on
the east, which was to carry me to India, on the certainty
that the name of Christ should at some period resound
from shore to shore. I felt commanded to wait in silence,
and see how God would bring his promises to pass. We
began to descend at half-past two. Whilst sitting to rest
myself towards night, I began to reflect with death-like
despondency on my friendless condition. Not that I
wanted any of the comforts of life, but I wanted those
kind friends who loved me, and in whose company I used
to find such delight after my fatigues. And then, re-
membering that I should never see them more, I felt one
of those keen pangs of misery that occasionally shoot
across my breast. It seemed like a dream, that I had
actually undergone banishment from them for life; or
rather like a dream, that I had ever hoped to share the
enjoyments of social life. But, at this time, I solemnly
renewed my self-dedication to God, praying that I might
receive grace to spend my days for his service, in con-
tinued suffering, and separation from all I held most dear
in this life. Amen. How vain and transitory are those
pleasures which the worldliness of my heart will ever be
HENRY MARTYN. jgg
magnifying into real good ! — The rest of the evening, I
felt weaned from the world and all its concerns, with some-
what of a melancholy tranquillity."
Jan. 31. — "From great fatigue of body, was in
doubt about going to the hospital, and very unwilling to
go. However, I went, and preached with more freedom
than ever I had done there. Having some conversation
with Colonel H , I asked him ' whether, if the wound
he had received in the late engagement had been mortal,
his profaneness would have recurred with any pleasure to
his mind on a death-bed.' He made some attempts at
palliation, — though in great confusion ; but bore the ad-
monition very patiently."
February 1. — " As yesterday evening, so to-day, I was
happy with God."
February 2. — Sunday. " The purser of the William
Pitt told me they were too busy to have service. Thus
have these men contrived to prevent the word of God from
being preached to the poor women, each Sunday as it
came."
February 4. — " Read the Scriptures without a relish
for them ; and God's presence withdrawn. How dark
and wretched this state of the soul !"
February 5. — " Rose early ; walked out discouraged
at the small progress I make in the eastern languages
My state of bodily and mental indolence were becoming
so alarming, that I struggled hard against both, crying
to God for strength. Notwithstanding the reluctance in
my own heart, I went to the hospital and preached on
Matt. xi. 28; from this time I enjoyed peace and happi-
ness. Dr. Vanderkemp called to take leave. I accompa-
nied him and brother Smith out of the town, with their
two wagons. The dear old man showed much affection,
and gave me advice, and a blessing at parting. While
we were standing to take leave, Koster, a Dutch mis-
sionary, was just entering the town with his bundle,
having been driven from his place of residence. Brother
184 MEMOIR OF
Read also, appeared from another quarter, though we
thought he liad gone to sea. These, with Yons,* and
myself, made six missionaries, who, in a few minutes, all
parted again."
In the commencement of the voyage from the Cape,
which took place not many days after this short but most
nteresting meeting, Mr. Martyn's patience was exercised,
is before, by the tediousness of the passage, — by sick-
aess, — and by languor. But whether tossed on that
stormy sea which roars around the Cape, or becalmed in
she midst of the Indian ocean, or enfeebled by the recur-
rence of illness or extreme relaxation, he received all
with the meekest resignation, as the special appointment
of his God.
The violent and increasing opposition he experienced
from many of the more intelligent part of the passengers,
and the discouraging inattention he too often perceived
amongst the other class of his hearers, caused him to
" grieve on their account, and to humble himself before
God." " I go down," he says, " and stand in the midst
of a few, without their taking the slightest notice of me :
Lord, it is for thy sake I suffer such slights, — let me per-
severe notwithstanding." But though he mourned on
their account, " he w^as contented to be left without fruit,
if such were the will of God." Conscious of having de-
livered his message faithfully, and trusting that, with
respect to both descriptions of his auditors, he had com-
mended himself to their consciences, if he had not reached
their hearts, his own peace of mind was not affected : and
he affirms, that he was " as happy as he could be without
more grace ; enjoying peaceful thoughts, tender recol-
lections, and happy prospects." How could he fail of
pleasantness and peace, when this was the genuine ex-
pression of the sentiments of his soul, — "I am born for
God only. Christ is nearer to me than father, or mother,
* Probably the missionary destined for Madagascar.
Iir:iNK\ M.ARTYN. ji^,-;
or sister, — a nearer relation, a more .aflectionate friend;
and I rejoice to follow him, and to love him. Blessed Jesus !
thou art all I want,— a forerunner to me in all I ever shall
go through, as a Christian, a minister, or a missionary."
The sickness with which the ship's company had been
affected before reaching the Cape, prevailed now more
extensively than ever. Many fell a sacrifice to the disor-
der; and amongst others a devout soldier, with whom
Mr. Martyn had often united in prayer and praise, and
had often conversed on the things of eternity. It was a
mournful satisfaction to him to attend his Christian brother
in his last illness, and afterwards to commit his body to
the deep, in certain expectation that the ' sea should give
up her dead,' and he with him should enter into the joy
of their Lord. " Thus," he says, " is my brother gone ; —
he, with whom I have conversed on divine things, and
sung, and prayed, is entered into that glory of which we
used to discourse. To his multiplied sorrows upon earth,
he has bid an everlasting adieu. May I follow his faith
and patience, till, with him, I inherit the promises."
Falling in with the trade-winds, the fleet made rapid
progress towards India ; and whilst the breezes wafted
Mr. Martyn towards the destined scene of his labors,
many a sigh did he continue to breathe under a sense of
his own sinfulness and weakness; and many a petition
did he pour forth for the people to whom he was sent.
He felt it " good and suitable to walk through this world
overwhelmed with contrition and love; — receiving with
grateful contentment every painful dispensation, because
not worthy to enjoy the light of this v/orld," — praying
that '' God would glorify himself by the gifts and graces
of all his creatures, and make him take his place at the
bottom of them, imnoticed, unknown, and forgotten." —
" Oh! when the Spirit is pleased," said he, "to show his
creature but a few scattered specimens of his ungodly
days, — yea, of his godly ones, — how universally and des-
16*
186 MEMOIR OF
perately wicked doth he appear ! Oh ! that I knew how
to be duly abased ! What shall I think of myself in com-
parison of others? How ought I to kiss the very dust
beneath their feet, from a consciousness of my inferiority :
and in my thoughts of God, and his dealings with me,
how ought I to be wrapped up in constant astonishment." —
Then, after setting apart a day for fasting and humilia-
tion, he began to pray for the setting up of God's king-
dom in the world, especially in India; and had such en-
ergy and delight in prayer as he never had before experi-
enced. '* My whole soul," he said, "wrestled with God.
I knew not how to leave off crying to him to fulfil his
promises ; — chiefly pleading his own glorious power. I
do not know that any thing would be a heaven to me, but
the service of Christ, and the enjoyment of his presence.
O how sweet is life when spent in his service ! I am
going upon a work immediately according to the mind of
Christ; and my glorious Lord, whose power is uncon-
trollable, can easily open a way for his feeble follower
through the thickest of the ranks of his enemies. And
now, on let me go, smiling at my foes ; how small are
human obstacles, before this mighty Lord ! How easy is
it for God to effect his purposes in a moment ! What are
inveterate prejudices when once the Lord shall set to his
hand ! In prayer, I had a most precious view of Christ,
as a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. O how
sweet was it to pray to him ! I hardly knew how to con-
template with praise enough, his adorable excellencies.
Who can show forth all his praise ? I can conceive it to
be a theme long enough for eternity. I want no other
happiness, — no other heaven." With such holy, humble,
and heavenly sentiments as these did Mr. Martyn ap-
proach the shores of Hindoostan ; and, going, as he was,
into the vineyard of S. Bartholomew and Pantenus, of
Ziegenbalg and Swartz, it was in their spirit that he pre-
pared to enter upon his labors.
HENRY MARTYR. X87
On the Good Friday* shortly preceding his arrival in
India, which he passed in prayer and fasting, he repre-
sents himself as enjoying, throughout, a most blessed and
serene view of Christ. The word of God was very sweet
to him, whilst reading the account of the sufferings and
death of Jesus. He was entirely withdrawn from all other
concerns, and felt his soul cleavmg to Christ, his Saviour,
in tender seriousness ; — thankful that such days had been
set apart by the church. " In praying that God would no
longer delay exerting his power in the conversion of the
eastern nations, I felt emboldened," he observes, " to
employ the most familiar petitions, by Isa. Ixii. 6, 7.
Blessed be God for those words ! They are like a cordial
to my spirits : because, if the Lord is not pleased by me,
or during my lifetime, to call the Gentiles, — yet he is not
offended at my being urgent with him, that the kingdom
of God may come."
On the 19th of April, Ceylon was discovered, which
Mr. Martyn describes as presenting a long range of hills,
running north and south, broken in a picturesque manner,
though not lofty, with low lands between the hills and sea,
covered with trees : and whilst the breezes from the island
regaled his senses by their soothing and refreshing fra-
grancy, his mind was filled with a train of delightful
anticipations; — he was thinking of the time when the
name of Jesus should be as ointment poured forth, in
temples raised by Cingalese amidst their cinnamon
groves ; — and when supplications should there ascend,
like clouds of incense, through the merits of the Re-
deemer.
The Sunday after this, presuming that it would be the
* Good Friday is the Friday before Easter, and is so called on
account of the blessed effects of the sufferings and death of Christ
on the cross, which are on this day commemorated. Easter Sunday
is the great church festival, and celebrates the resurrection of
Chnst from the dead. E.
188 MEMOIR OF
last, Mr. Martyri addressed the ship's company in a fare
well discourse. The occasion, it might have been con-
ceived, was such as to preclude any disposition to ridicule,
even in men preeminently disposed to scoffing and con-
tempt. But those who had reviled him at first, continued
to revile him to the very last. *' It pained me," he re-
marked, " that they should give a ridiculous turn to any-
thing on so afTecting an occasion as that of parting for-
ever in this life. But such is the unthankful office of a
minister. Yet I desire to take the ridicule of men with
all meekness and charity, looking forward to another world
for approbation and reward."
And now, after a wearisome interval of above nine
months from the time of his leaving Portsmouth, the land
which Mr. Martyn had so ardently longed to behold, ap-
peared: on the 21st of April, 1806, "his eyes were grati-
fied with the sight of India."
April 22. — ''At sunrise we anchored," he says, "in
Madras roads. Several doolbashes or interpreters came
on board, dressed in white muslin. I went ashore in one
of the country boats, made very high in order to weather
the surf; with the boards throughout sewed together very
coarsely with straw, and the interstices filled with it. On
shore I was surrounded by an immense crowd of coolies,
I suppose two hundred, v/ho caught up one box after
another, and were going off in different directions, so that
T was obliged to run instantly, and stop them ; and having
with some difficulty got my things together, I went to the
custom-house, attended by four coolies, a doolbashee, an
umbrella-carrier, and a boy, or waiting-man ; all of whom
attached themselves to me, without at all consulting me on
the occasion. Nothing as yet struck me as remarkable in
the country, for the novelty of it had been anticipated in
what I had seen at St. Salvador. The number of black
people was immense, and the crowd of servants so great,
that one would suppose they thought themselves made for
the service of the Eno;]ish. The eleg-ance of their man-
HENRY MARTYN. Ig9
ners I was much taken with ; but, in general, one thought
naturally occurred ; the conversion of their poor souls. I
felt a solemn sort of melancholy at the sight of such multi-
tudes of idolaters. While the turbaned Asiatics waited
upon us at dinner, about a dozen of them, I could not help
feeling as if we had got into their places. But now, that
I am actually treading Indian ground, let me bless and
adore my own God for doing so much for me ; and oh !
if I live, let me have come hither for some purpose."
April 26. — " Towards night, I walked out with Samees,
my servant, in a pensive mood; and went through his na-
tive village, Chindaput. — Here all was Indian ; — no vestige
of anything European. It consisted of about two hundred
houses, — those in the main street connected, and those on
either side of the street separated from one another by
little winding paths. Every thing presented the appear-
ance of wretchedness. I thought of my future labors
among them with some despondency ; yet I am willing, I
trust, through grace, to pass my days among them, if by
any means these poor people may be brought to God.
The sight of men, women, and children, all idolaters,
makes me shudder, as if in the dominions of the prince of
darkness. I fancy the frown of God is visible ; — there is
something peculiarly awful in the stillness that prevails.
Whether it is the relaxing influence of the climate, or
what, I do not know; but there is every thing here to
depress the spirits, — all nature droops."
April 27, — Sunday. " Enjoyed some solemn moments
this morning. This is my first Sabbath in India. May
all the time I pass in it be a Sabbath of heavenly rest and
blessedness to my soul! Preached on Luke x. 41, 42;
there was attention. After dinner went to Black Town
to Mr. Loveless' s chapel. I sat in the air at the door,
enjoying the blessed sound of the Gospel on an Indian
shore, and joining with much comfort in the song of
divine praise."
April 28.—*' Had much conversation with Dr. Kerr.
190 MEMOIR OF
At night the Portuguese children sung ' Before Jehovah's
awful throne,' very sweetly : it excited a train of affecting
thoughts in my mind. ' Wide as the world is thy com-
mand, ' — and therefore it is easy for thee to spread abroad
thy holy name. But oh, how gross the darkness here !
The veil of the covering cast over all nations seems thicker
here : the fiends of darkness seem to sit in sullen repose
in this land."
April 30. — "Walked by moonlight, reflecting on the
mission. My soul was at first sore tried with desponding
thoughts ; but God wonderfully assisted me to trust him for
the wisdom of his dispensations. Truly, therefore, will I
say again, * Who art thou, O great mountain ; before Ze-
rubbabel thou shalt become a plain.' How easy for God
to do it ; and it shall be done in due time : and even if 1
never should see a native converted, God may design hy
my patience and continuance in the work to encourage
future missionaries. — But what surprises me is the change
of views I have here from what I had in England. — There,
my heart expanded with hope and joy at the prospect of
the speedy conversion of the heathen ! but here, the sight
of the apparent impossibility requires a strong faith to
support the spirits."
After being detained a short time at Madras, the fleet
sailed for the Hoogley ; during which voyage Mr. Martyn
again suffered, indescribably, from the relaxation of his
frame. He rose in the morning with the deepest melan-
choly, and seemed, as he expressed it, left without a mO'
tive. " He looked forward to an idle, worthless life, spent
in India to no purpose. Exertion seemed to him like
death, — indeed, absolutely impossible." But it pleased
God at length to give him deliverance, by enabling him to
exercise faith, and to remember that, as a sinner saved,
he was bound to evince the most fervent gratitude to
God.
The great Pagoda of Juggernaut., now becoming dis-
tinctly visible, was a sight sufficient to rouse Mr. Martyn
HENRY MARTYN. 191
from almost any depths of depression, either of body or
mind. Contemplating that horrid altar of impurity and
blood, his soul was excited to sentiments of the strongest
commiseration for the children of wretched India, "who
had erected such a monument of her shame on tJie coast ;
and whose heathenism stared the stranger in the face."
Leaving Juggernaut behind, a tremendous hurricane,
such as is often experienced in those latitudes, descended
on the fleet ; and in an instant every sail of the Union was
rent in pieces. All was uproar in the ship ; nor was there
any resource but to run before the gale ; which, had they
been further on their way, must have driven them upon
some sand-banks at the mouth of the Hoogley.* Inces-
sant lightning rendered the scene still more dreadful.
When nature began to shrink at the fear of dissolution,
Mr. Martyn was much reconciled, he says, to it, by such
thoughts as these. — " What have I here ? Is it not better
to go, and to be with Jesus, and to be free from this body
of sin and death ? But for the sake of the poor uncon-
verted souls in the ship," he adds, *' I prayed earnestly for
her preservation."
To this danger, from which Mr. Martyn was mercifully
delivered, another of a yet more formidable nature suc-
ceeded, when he had entered the mouth of the Hoogley,
and was rejoicing in the happy termination of an eventful
voyage.
On the I4th of May, the Union struck on a sand-bank
near the diamond harbor, where her situation was awfully
dangerous; for night came on and the wind increased.
The vessel was considered by the captain as lost, and all
the passengers were in the utmost terror. Mr. Martyn
"retired for prayer, and found his soul in peace:" nor
was the fervent prayer of this righteous man ineffectual.
After continuing in extreme peril for two hours, the ship
* The Hoogley is one of the channels, through which the Ganges
discharges its %\^ters into the ocean. E.
192 MEMOIR OF MARTYN.
very unexpectedly floated into deep water. Thus being
jet more deeply convinced that in God and in his hand
were all his ways, and having his heart humbled in thank-
fulness to him as the author of all his mercies, Mr.
Martyn arrived at Calcutta; from whence he thus dis-
closed the sentiments of his heart to a beloved Christian
friend : —
" My long and wearisome voyage is concluded, and I
am at last arrived in the country in which I am to spend
my days in the work of the Lord. Scarcely can I believe
myself to be so happy as to be actually in India ; yet this
hath God wrought. Through changing climates, and
tempestuous seas, he has brought on his feeble worm to
the field of action ; and will, I trust, speedily equip me
for my work. I am now very far from you all, and, as
often as I look around and view the Indian scenery, I
sigh to think of the distance that separates us. Time,
indeed, and reflection, have, under God, contributed to
make the separation less painful ; yet still my thoughts
recur with unceasing fondness to former friendships, and
make the duty of intercession for you a happy privilege.
Day and night I do not cease to pray for you, and I am
willing to hope that you also remember me daily at the
throne of grace. Let us not, by any means, forget one
another ; nor lose sight of the day of our next meeting.
We have little to do with the business of this world.
Place and time have not that importance in our views
that they have in those of others ; and therefore neither
changes of situation nor lapse of years should weaken our
Christian attachment. I see it to be my business to fulfil
as a hireling my day; and then to leave the world.
Amen. We shall meet in happier regions. I believe
that those connections, and comforts, and friendships,
which I have heretofore so desired, though they are the
sweetest earthly blessings, are earthly still."
CHAPTER V.
SIR. MARTYN's arrival at CALCUTTA RESIDENCE AT
ALDEEN PREACHES AT CALCUTTA IS APPOINTED TO
DINAPORE LEAVES CALCUTTA ^JOURNAL OF HIS VOY-
AGE UP THE HOOGLEY AND GANGES.
For many years supplications had incessantly ascended
up to heaven from Christians in India, for the spiritual
prosperity of that benighted land ; and for a considerable
time a stated weekly meeting had been held at Calcutta,
on the recommendation of Dr. Buchanan and Mr. Brown,*
for the express purpose of beseeching the Lord to send
forth laborers into those fields which were white unto the
harvest. What a manifest answer to these petitions was
the appearance of Mr. Martyn amongst those who had
been thus offering up their prayers! One of these, f a
name dear to all who admire zeal, integrity, liberality, and
an entire consecration of the brightest talents to the cause
of Christian philanthropy, was now about to commence
his researches into the state of religion amongst the Syrian
Christians: and the ship which conveyed him on that
interesting errand, left the mouth of the Hoogley as the
Union entered it. To him, doubtless, the sight of Mr.
Martyn would have seemed an answer to prayer, demand-
ing the warmest thanksgiving : the voice of a Christian
missionary would have been sweeter in his ears than even
* See Appendix E. i Dr. Buchanan.
17
194 MEMOIR OF
those sounds which he afterwards heard in Travancore,
from the bells amongst the hills, and which reminded him
of another country.
At Aldeen, near Calcutta, the residence of the Rev.
David Brown, Mr. Martyn was received and welcomed
with all that cordiality of affection which characterizes the
genuine servants of the Lord Jesus. Finding in him a
spirit eminently congenial with his own, he gladly became
one of his dear family, as he expresses it, and his days
passed delightfully. In order that he might enjoy as much
retirement as he deemed necessary, Mr. Brown prepared
a pagoda for his habitation ; which was situate on the
edge of the river, at no great distance from the house.
There the vaulted roof was so changed from its original
destination, as often to reecho the voice of prayer and the
songs of praise : and Mr. Martyn triumphed and rejoiced
" that the place where once devils were worshipped, was
now become a Christian oratory."
Soon after his being fixed at Aldeen, his affectionate
friends there became seriously alarmed at an attack of
fever which he experienced. His illness was of some con-
tinuance, and in it he was assaulted by a temptation more
dangerous than uncommon, — a temptation to look to him-
self for some qualification w4th which to approach the
Saviour, — for something to warrant his confidence in him,
and hope of acceptance from him. Searching for evi-
dences for the purpose of ascertaining whether we are in
Christ, widely differs from searching for them to warrant
a boldness of access to Christ : for this we require no evi-
dence ; but need only the passport of faith, and the plea
of our own wretchedness : and as it is the design of our
great adversary (such is his subtlety) to lead us to deny
the evidences of faith altogether, — so it is his purpose to
betray us into a legal and mistaken use of them. We
find Mr. Martyn at this time expressing himself thus : " I
could derive no comfort from reflecting on my past life.
Indeed, exactly in proportion as I looked for evidences of
HENRY MARTYN. 195
grace, I lost that brokenness of spirit which I wished to
retain, and could not lie with simplicity at the foot of the
cross. I really thought that I was departing this life. I
began to pray as on the verge of eternity : and the Lord
was pleased to break my hard heart. I lay, in tears, in-
terceding for the unfortunate natives of this country ;
thinking with myself that the most despicable soodar of
India was of as much value in the sight of God as the king
of Great Britain."
So pleasantly and sweetly, after his recovery, did the
current of Mr. Martyn's days pass on at Aldeen and Cal-
cutta, that he began to fear lest the agreeable society he
met with there should induce a softness of mind, and an
indisposition to solitude and bold exertion. Of this society
he remarks, " I felt sometimes melancholy at the thought
that I should soon be deprived of it. But alas ! why do I
regret it? Sweet is human friendship, — sweet is the
communion of saints, — but sweeter far is fellowship with
God on earth, and the enjoyment of the society of his
saints in heaven."
The city of Calcutta was a place so evidently suited to
that order of talent with which Mr. Martyn was endowed,
that it is not to be wondered that the solicitations of his
Christian friends there should pour in upon him at this
time, with the view of persuading him to continue amongst
them, in a sphere which they considered so well adapted
for the exercise of his ministry. But it was truly said of
him by one* now before the throne with him in the world
of light, — that " he had a spirit to follow the steps of Brai-
nerd and Swartz ;" and " to be prevented from going to >
the heathen," he himself remarked on this occasion,
" would almost have broken his heart."
In the vicinity of Aldeen, indeed, he witnessed, with
horror, the cruel rites and debasing idolatries of heathen-
ism. The blaze of a funeral pile caused him one day to
* Dr. Buchanan, — Chrfetian Researches.
100 IME3iUlil OF
hasten to endeavor, if possible, to rescue an unfortunate
female, v/ho was consumed, however, before he could
reach the spot. In a dark wood at no great distance from
Serampore, he heard the sound of the cymbals and drums,
summoning the poor natives to the worship of devils ; —
sounds which pierced his heart. And before a black
image, placed in a pagoda, with lights burning around it,
he beheld his fellow creatures prostrating themselves, with
their foreheads to the earth ; — a sight which he contem-
plated with an overwhelming compassion, whilst " he
shivered," he says, " as if standing as it were in the
neighborhood of hell."
Scenes so affecting as these might have pleaded with
him effectually in favor of the proposition of his friends,
had he not remembered, that all these things happened at
no great distance from Aldeen, Serampore, and Calcutta, —
from whence many a holy man of God had already come
forth, and would again come forth, crying out to the
wretched idolaters, " Why do ye such things" — " behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
Detained, as Mr. Martyn unavoidably was, at this time,
from what he considered his especial employment, he
applied himself more ardently than ever to the acquisition
of Hindoostanee, availing himself of the assistance of a
Cashmirian Brahmin, whom he wearied with his unceasing
assiduity. He was also instant in preaching the Gospel to
his countrymen, both in the Mission Church, and in the
New Church, in Calcutta.
His first discourse in the New Church, on 1 Cor. i. 23,
24, occasioned a great sensation ; of a kind very different,
indeed, from that which he heartily desired, but still one
which, from the treatment to which he had been accustomed
on board the ship, he was not unprepared to expect.
The plain exhibition of the doctrines of the Gospel was
exceedingly offensive to many of his hearers. Nor did
the ferment thus excited subside quickly, as it often does,
into pity or contempt. He had the pain, very shortly after,
HENRY MARTYN.
197
of being personally attacked from the pulpit oy some of his
brethren, whose zeal hurried them into the violation not
only of an express canon of the Church, but of the yet
higher law of Christian charity; and led them to make an
intemperate attack upon him, and upon many of the truths
of the Gospel. Even when he was himself present in
church, Mr. spoke with sufficient plainness of him
and of his doctrines, calling them inconsistent, extravagant,
and absurd ; drawing a vast variety of false inferences from
them, and thence arguing against them; declaring, for
instance, that to affirm repentance to be the gift of God,
and to teach that nature is wholly corrupt, was to drive
men to despair : — and that to suppose the righteousness of
Christ sufficient to justify, is to make it unnecessary to
have any of our own. Though compelled to listen to such
downright heresies ; — to hear himself described as knowing
neither what he said, nor whereof he affirmed, — and as
aiming only to gratify self-sufficiency, pride, and uncharita-
bleness, — " I rejoiced," said this meek and holy man, " to
receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper afterwards : —
as the solemnities of that blessed ordinance sweetly tended
to soothe any asperity of mind ; and I think that I admin-
istered the cup to and , with sincere good will."
When exposed to a similar invective from another preacher,
who commenced a public opposition to him, by denouncing
his last sermon, in particular, as a rhapsody, — as unin-
telligible jargon, — as an enigma ; — declaring that the
Epistles of St. Paul were addressed to heathens alone, and
that if the Apostle could look down from heaven, and see
what use was made of his words to distress and agitate
the minds of men, he would grieve at such perversions ;
and who, in addition to this, pointedly addressed Mr.
Martyn, and charged him with the guilt of distressing and
destroying those for whom Christ died, — with taking away
their only hope, and driving them to mopishness, melan-
choly, and despair, — and finally, with depriving them of
the only consolation they could have on a death-bed ; — he
198 MEMOIR OF
again observes, " we received the sacrament of the Lord's
supper, and I was glad of the blessed ordinance, as it
tended much to compose my mind, and to soften it in
compassion and love towards all mankind."
But if Mr. Martyn had abundant reason to be grieved
and pained at the conduct of some of his brethren at Cal-
cutta, he had no small satisfaction in the wise and tempe-
rate line pursued by another chaplain, in this season of
doubtful and distressing disputation ; who, perceiving that
the doctrines of the church of England were becoming a
matter of warm and general controversy, adopted the ad-
mirable plan of simply reading the Homilies to the congre-
gation ; — thus leaving the Church to speak authoritatively
for herself; and affording to all classes an opportunity of
deciding which of the parties was most in accordance with
her incomparable formularies, — Mr. Martyn or his opposers.
" Mr. ," he says, " to the great satisfaction of all
serious people, after stating the diversity of opinion which
had lately prevailed in the pulpit, began to read a Homily
by way of sermon :" and again, " at the New Church, I
read, and Mr. preached the second and third parts of
the ' Homily on Salvation.' The clear exhibition of divine
truth which was thus presented, was very rejoicing to our
hearts."
-- Attached as Mr. Martyn was to the Church of England,
he was far from either the apathy or the jealousy in which
too many are apt to indulge, respecting the interests of
other Christian communities. Very decidedly did he dif-
fer in some important points from the Baptists. But it
was with the sincerest grief that he heard, during his
abode at Aldeen, of an order issued by the government
(though it proved afterwards that he was misinformed) to
prevent their preaching and distributing tracts. So per-
plexed and excited was he by the intelligence, that it even
deprived him of sleep ; and he spoke afterwards with so
much vehemence against the measures of government,
as, upon reflection, to afford him matter of self-condemna-
tion. "I know not/' he said, '•' \vh;U jnaiiiier of ;-pi;Jt I
am of ; I fancy it is all zeal for God; but what a false-
hood is this? I am severe against a governor, not making
allowances for what he knows. Oh ! does it become me
to be judging others? Did Jesus canvass the proceedmgs
of government in the spirit of one of this world ? I pray
to be preserved from ever falling into this snare again.
May I, with poverty of spirit, go on my way ; and never
again trouble myself with what does not belong to me !
I trust I shall be able to distinguish between zeal and
self-will. Let me never fancy I have zeal, till my heart
overflows with love to every man living."
On the 13th of September, 1806, Mr. Martyn received
his appointment to Dinapore; by which time, notwith-
standing all his vigilance, the comforts of the life he had
been leading had so far won upon him, that he suffered
much at the thoughts of his removal. "It is an awful
and an arduous thing," said he, " to root out every affec-
tion for earthly things, so as to live for another world. I
was astonished at the attachment I felt for earthly things.
The happiness of invisible and eternal things seemed
something like a dream ; the faint remains of what I had
formerly known. In great melancholy, I determined be-
fore God, to leave this wretched world once more; but
my soul was greatly cast down. The affections were
entwined around something or other here ; so that it ap-
peared like death to be torn from it." So far, however,
was he from yielding to selfishness or sloth, that, as the
day of his departure drew near, he stirred himself up to
the consideration of the greatness of his calling, and pant-
ed to begin his work.
At the beginning of October, Mr. Martyn prepared to
leave that Christian family, in the bosom of which he
had received such unremitted kindness; but not before
he had welcomed the joyful arrival of two fellow-laborers
from England ; who, following; his bright track, and imi-
tating his self-denying example, had turned their backs
200 MEMOIR OF
on the beloved land of their nativity. This was an in-
expressible joy to his heart. " I went down" (he says in
his journal) "to Calcutta, where we had the happiness
of meeting our dear brethren. I rode out with them in
the evening, and passed most of the time in conversing
about European friends." And when, afterwards, he
heard one of them (Mr. Corrie*) preach, he thus ex-
presses himself : "God be praised for another witness to
his truth. O may abundant grace and gifts rest on my
beloved brother, that the works of God may show them-
selves forth in him." By these various circumstances,
together with the letters which at the same time he re-
ceived from those to whom he was so attached in England,
his affections of love and joy were excited to such a de-
gree, as to prove almost too much for his frame. •
A few days before he left Aldeen, several of Mr. Mar-
tyn's friends came together to his pagoda, in order that
they might unite with him in imploring a blessing on his
intended labors. Such a meeting could not fail of being
highly interesting, and it was not the less so from a recol-
lection of the place in which they were assembled— -a
Christian congregation, in a building which once had been
an idol temple, seemed to supply a consolatory pledge, as
well as a significant emblem, of what all earnestly prayed
for, and confidently anticipated, for poor idolatrous India.
" My soul," said Mr. Martyn, "never yet had such divine
enjoyment. I felt a desire to break from the body,
and join the high praises of the saints above. May I go
*in the strength of this, many days.* — Amen. 'My soul
doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God
my Saviour.' How sweet to walk with Jesus,— to love
* The Rev. Daniel Corrie, an Archdeacon of the English Church.
An efficient coadjutor in every plan for the improvement of British
India. Very frequent and honorable mention is made of him in the
works of Bishop Heber. He has been recently engaged in some
preparatory measures for the establishment of a College at Calcutta
to be open indiscriminately to students of all denominations. E.
HENRY MARTYN. 2qj
him, — and to die for Iiim ! ' Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life : and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever.' " And again, the next
day, he says, " The blessed God has again visited my soul
in his power, and all that was within me blessed his holy
name. I found my heaven begun on earth. No work so
sweet as that of praying and living wholly to the service
of God."
On the 15th of October, after taking leave of the Church
at Calcutta in a farewell discourse, and of the family at
Aldeen in an exposition at morning worship, Mr. Martyn
entered his budgerow,* which was to convey him to Dina-
pore;t and sailed up the Ganges, accompanied by his
brethren, Mr. Brown, Mr. Corrie, and Mr. Parsons.
Mr. Marshman,} seeing them pass by the Mission House,
could not resist joining the party ; and after going a little
way, left them with prayer. At night, Mr. Martyn prayed
with his brethren in the vessel; and the next day they
devoted the whole morning to religious exercises. " How
sweet is prayer," said he, " to my soul at this time ! I
seem as if I could never be tired, not only of spiritual joys,
but of spiritual employments, since these are now the
same."
The day after, the weather becoming tempestuous, his
brethren sorrowfully and reluctantly left him to prosecute
his voyage alone. Before they parted, however, they
spent the whole morning (to use his own words) in a
divine ordinance, in which each of them read a portion of
Scripture, and all of them sang and prayed. " Mr.
* A budgerow is •• a travelling boat constructed like a pleasure
barge. Some have cabins fourteen feet wide, and proportionably
long, and draw from four to five feet of water. From seventeen to
twenty miles a day is the greatest distance a large budgerow can be
towed against the stream during the fair season." — Rennet..
f No missionary station is now maintained at this place. E.
t One of the Baptist Missionaries.
202 MEMOIR OF
Brown's passage, chosen from the 1st of Joshua, was very
suitable," said Mr. Martyn, ' Have I not sent thee V —
" Let this be an answer to my fears, O my Lord, and an
assurance that I am in thy work ; and that therefore I
shall not go forth at my own charges, or fight any enemies
but thine. It was a very affecting season to me : but in
prayer I was far from a state of seriousness and affection."
" I was left alone," he writes, October 17, in his jour-
nal, '* for the first time with none but natives. The
wind and rain became so violent,* that the men let the
budgerow stay upon shore the whole day ; and in conse-
quence of beating on the ground, it leaked so much that
the meii were obliged to be in my cabin to bale her. Read
with the Moonshee one of the tracts which he had himself
translated from the Bengalee into verse. Perceiving him
to be alarmed at the violence of the waves beatinor against
the boat, I began to talk to him about religion. He began
by saying, ' May God be our protector,' — this was a favor-
able beginning. The hurricane abated before midnight,
through mercy."
Oct. 18. — '' Reading hard all day ; — wrote out a list of
the errata in one of the tracts, and read Sanscrit grammar.
In the evening, walked along the bank with my gun, and
fired at some wild fowl, which the servants ate. At night,
r(3ad part of a Nagree tract with the Moonshee. Learnt
some Arabic roots. Felt an occasional depression of
spirits ; but prayer instantly removed it ; so that, in general,
I was near to God, and happy."
Oct. 19. — Sunday. " The first solitary Sabbath spent
amongst the heathen : but my soul not forsaken of God.
The prayers of my dear friends were instant for me this
* The North-westers are the most formidable enemies that are
to be met with in this inland navigation. — whole fleets of trading
boats have been sunk by them almost instantaneously. But it is in
the great rivers alone, when increased in width, that they are the
most formida])le." — Rr.NNr.i..
IlENRV 3]AliTV.X. '2{):^
day, I well perceive : and a great part of my prayer was
occupied in delightfid intercession for them. The ac-
count of the fall of man, in the third chapter of Genesis,
and of his restoration by Christ, was unspeakably affecting
to my souL Indeed, every thing I read seemed to be car-
ried home to my soul with ineffable sweetness and power
by the Spirit ; and all that was within me blessed his holy
name. In the afternoon, sent to the Moonshee, that he
might hear the Gospel read, or read it himself. Began
St. Mark ; — but our conversation, turning from Christianity
to Mohammedanism, became deadening to my spirit. Our
course to-day was along the eastern bank ; which seems
to have been lately the bed of the river, and is bare of
trees for a considerable distance from the water. The
western bank is covered with wood. In my evening walk,
saw three skeletons."
Oct. 20. — " Employed all the day in translating the first
chapter of the Acts into Hindoostanee. I did it with
some care ; and wrote it ail out in the Persian character ;
yet still I am surprised I do so little. In my morning
walk, shot a bird with a beautiful plumage, called a Cule-
an; and, in the evening, a large bird, called a Minca. —
Putting my gun into the boat, I v/alked into the village
where the boat stopped for the night ; and found the wor-
shippers of Cali by the sound of their drums and cymbals.
I did not think of speaking to them, on account of their
being Bengalees. But, being invited by the Brahmins to
walk in, I entered within the railing, and asked a few
questions about the idol. The Brahmin, who spoke bad
Hindoostanee, disputed with great heat, and his tongue
ran faster than I could follow ; and the people, who were
about one hundred, shouted applause. But I continued
to ask my questions, without making any remarks upon
the answers. I asked, among other things, whether what
I had heard of Vishnu and Brahma was true ; which he
confessed. I forebore to press him with the consequences,
which he seemed to feel ; and then I told him what was
204 MEMOIR OF
my belief. — The man grew quite mild, and said it was
chula hat (good words) ; and asked me seriously, at last,
what I thought — ' was idol-worship true or false V I felt
it a matter of thankfulness that I could make known the
truth of God, though but a stammerer ; and tliat I had
declared it in the presence of the devil. And this also I
learnt, that the power of gentleness is irresistible. I never
was more astonished than at the change in deportment
of this hot-headed Brahmin. Read the Sanscrit grammar
till bed-time."*
Oct. 21. — "Morning at Sanscrit, without gaining any
ground. Afternoon, with my Moonshee, correcting Acts
i. ; and felt a little discouraged at finding I still wrote so
incorrectly: though much pleased at this great apparent
desire of having it perfectly accurate. Though not joyful
in my spirit, as when my friends left me, I feel my God to
be an all-satisfying portion ; and find no want of friends.
Read Genesis and Luke ; — at night in the Septuagint and
Hindoostanee. Came-to at a desert place on the western
bank."
Oct. 22. — " Shot a bird somewhat larger than a wood-
cock, but like it in taste ; and a snipe. — The Musalchee,
who attended me, seeing an old man who had caught some
fish, made a requisition of them. The old man understood
the Musalchee's meaning better than I did ; for he began
to entreat me, saying, ' he was a poor man,' and was
quite overjoyed to find that I had not given an order to
plunder him, but meant to pay. I then recollected what
Mr. Brown told me, of the custom the servants have of
making requisitions from the natives in the name of their
English masters. Alas ! poor natives, — how accustomed
they are to injustice ! They cannot believe their English
masters to be better than their Mohammedan ones."
* The Sanscrit is the common source of the languages of the
Hindoos. The principal derivations from it are the Cashmirian,
Mahratta, Telinga, Tamul, and Hindoostanee. E.
HENRY MARTYN. 205
" A Brahmin of my own age was performing his devo-
tions to Gunga early this morning, when I was going to
prayer. My soul was struck with the sovereignty of God,
who, out of pure grace, had made such a difference in all
the external circumstances of our lives. O let not that
man's earnestness rise up in judgment against me at the
last day. — In the afternoon they were performing the
ceremony of throwing the effigies of Cali, collected from
several villages, into the river. In addition to the usual
music, there were trumpets. The objects of worship,
which were figures in relief on the sector of a circle of
about one hundred and twenty degrees, most gorgeously
bedecked with tinsel, were kept under a little awning in
their respective boats. As the budgerow passed through
the boats, they turned so as to present the front of their
goddess to me ; and, at the same time, blew a blast with
their trumpet, evidently intending to gratify me with a
sight of what appeared to them so fine. Had their em-
ployment been less impious, I should have returned the
compliment by looking ; but 1 turned away. Yet I felt no
tenderness of grief; nor in the morning did I feel anything
dke due thankfulness for God's electing mercy, in making
me thus to differ from the Brahmins. I have daily and
hourly proofs of my corruption : for when does my heart
come up to what my half-enlightened understanding ap-
proves? Yet I intend, through grace, to continue praying
to the end for their poor precious souls, and that the king-
dom of God may be set up here."
" Came-to on the eastern bank, below a village called
Ahgadeep. Wherever I walked, the women fled at the
sight of me. Some men were sitting under the shed
dedicated to their goddess ; and a lamp was burning in
her place. A conversation soon began ; but there was no
one who could speak Hindoostanee ; so all I could say
was by the medium of my Mussulman Musalchee. They
said that they only did as others did; and that, if they
were wrong, then all Bengal was wrong. I felt love for
18
20G .MEMOIR OF
their souls, and longed for utterance to declare unto those
poor simple people the holy Gospel. I think that when
my mouth is opened, I shall preach to them day and night.
I feel that they are my brethren in the flesh ; — precisely
on a level with myself."
" In the morning upon Sanscrit, though still quite in the
dark. Afternoon with the Moonshee."
Oct. 23. — " The tow-rope broke, and we were hurried
down the stream with great rapidity ; the stream running
seven miles an hour. We ran foul of several large boats ;
and I expected we should go to pieces. The people of the
other boats would not afford the least help ; so the Mangee
and his assistant jumped overboard with a rope, and suc-
ceeded in getting ashore, but were unable to stop her till
she ran foul of another, which was made fast. Came-to
at night on the eastern bank. A delightful season to me,
on account of the serenity of my mind, and of my happy
and solemn reflections on the grace of my God towards
his poor creature."
" I thought at night more than usual of my dear L .
But the more I exaggerate these ideal joys, the more do T
treasure up subjects of wo. O what vanity has God written
upon all things under the sun!" — '* As I returned late, I
passed between the river and a party of jackals; they
kept at a little distance tiU we were passed."
October 25. — "Passed the morning in writing out of the
rules of Sundhi. Had a very solemn season of prayer, by
the favor of God, over some of the chapters of Genesis ;
but especially at the conclusion of the 119th Psalm. O
that these holy resolutions and pious breathings were en-
tirely my own ! Adored be the never-failing mercy of
God ! He has made my happiness to depend, not on the
uncertain connections of this life, but upon his own most
blessed self, — a portion that never faileth. — Came-to on
the eastern bank. The opposite side was very romantic;
— adorned with a stately range of very high forest trees,
whose deep, dark shade seemed impenetrable to the light. —
HENRY MARTYN, 207
In my evening walk enjoyed great solemnity of feeling, in
the view of the world as a mere wilderness, through which
the children of God are passing to a better country. It was
a comforting and a solemn thought, and was unspeakably
interesting to me at the time, — that God knew whereabouts
his people were in the wilderness, and was supplying them
with just what they wanted."
'' On my return towards the boat, I saw a wild-boar, of
a very large size, galloping parallel to the river. I had not
a gun with me, or I might have killed him, as he was
within reach of a fusee ball. — In my budgerow found great
delight in Hart's Hymns at night."
October 26. — Sunday. " Passed this Lord's day with
great comfort, and much solemnity of soul. Glory to God
for his grace ! Reading the Scriptures and prayer took
up the first part of the day. Almost every chapter I read
was blest to my soul, — particularly the last chapter of
Isaiah : ' It shall come, that I will gather all nations and
tongues ; and they shall come, and see my glory,' &:-c.
Rejoice, my soul, in the sure promises of Jehovah. How
happy am I, when, in preparing for the work of declaring
his glory among the Gentiles, I think, that many of the
Lord's saints have been this day remembering their un-
worthy friend. I felt as if I could never be tired with
prayer. In the afternoon, read one of Gibert's French
Sermons, — Bates on Death, — and some of the Nagree
Gospels. In the evening, we came-to on the eastern bank.
I walked into a neighboring village, with some tracts. The
children ran away in great terror ; and though there were
some men here and there, I found no opportunity or en-
couragement to try if there were any that could speak
Hindoostanee : however, I felt vexed with myself for not
taking more pains to do them good. Alas! while Satan is
destroying their souls, does it become the servants of God
to be lukewarm? — At night, read the third and fourth
chapters of the Acts ; and lost much time and spirituality
by indulging ideas of schemes about the gospel, which
208 MEMOIR OF
had more of romance and pride in them than of wisdom
and humiliation."
Oct. 27. — " Arrived at Berhampore. In the evening,
walked out to see the cantonments at the hospital, iiT^hich
there were one hundred and fifty European soldiers sick.
I was talking to a man, said to be dying, when a surgeon
entered. I went up, and made some apology for entering
the hospital. It was my old school-fellow and townsman,
. The remainder of the evening he spent with
me in my budgerow. He pressed me much to stay longer
with him, which I refused; but afterwards, on reflection,
I thought it my duty to stay a little longer ; thinking I
might have an opportunity of preaching to the soldiers."
Oct. 2S.-pr" Rose very early, and was at the hospital at
day-light. Waited there a long time, wandering up and
down the wards, in hopes of inducing the men to get up
and assemble ; but it was in vain. I left three books with
them ; and went away amidst the sneers and titters of the
common soldiers. Certainly it is one of the greatest crosses
I am called to bear, to take pains to make people hear
me. It is such a struggle between a sense of propriety
and modesty, on the one hand ; and a sense of duty, on
the other ; that I find nothing equal to it. I could force
my way anywhere, in order to introduce a brother minis-
ter : but for myself, I act with hesitation and pain. Mr.
promised to ask the head surgeon's permission for
me to preach, and appointed the hour at which I should
come. I went there; but, after waiting two hours, was
told that the surgeon was gone without being spoken to, —
and many other excuses were made. So, as it was now
the heat of the day, I saw it was of no use to make any
more attempts; and therefore I went on my way. At
night, from mere thoughtlessness, went on shore without
tracts, and lost a better opportunity than I have yet had of
distributing them among the people. My soul was dread-
fully wounded at the recollection of it ; and, O, may the
conviction of my wickedness rest upon my soul all my
HENRY MARTYN. 209
days ! How many souls will rise up in judgment against
me at the last day, God only knows. The Lord forgive
my guilty soul, — deliver me from bloodrguiltiness, — and
make me to remember for what purpose I came hither !"
Oct. 29. — " Passed Cossim Buzar and Moorshedabad,
in the middle of the day ; and so my resolutions of repair-
ing my past negligence were defeated, for we stopped at
night where there was not a house. I talked with a party
of boatmen ; and begged them to take a tract ; but I
could not prevail upon them. Though they were Rajemahl
people, I could scarcely understand them, or they me, at
all. I am grieved, and disappointed, and ashamed, at
my extraordinary backwardness in the language; but I
hope not to be discouraged. Employed the whole day in
translating Acts, chap. ii. and correcting it with my
Moonshee."
Oct. 30. — "Employed the whole day, as yesterday,
aibout the same chapter. Read also the Ramayuna, and
Sale's Introduction to the Koran. My views enlarge
rapidly respecting the state of things among the Hindoos
and Mohammedans, — My soul was in a most awful state of
impression ; Satan was at work, and my soul found safety
only in holding by God as a child clings to the neck of its
mother. Thanks be to God that I have the witness in
myself ' The anointing, which ye have received of him,
abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you,
but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things,' 6lc.
O how refreshing and supporting to my soul was tJie holi-
ness of the word of God; — sweeter than the sweetest
promise, at this time, was the constant and manifest ten-
dency of the word, to lead men to holiness and the deepest
seriousness. What a contrast is it to the mock majesty
of the Koran, and the trifling indecent stuff of the Rama-
yuna. My whole soul seems, at present, engrossed in the
work of being the messenger of truth; and, at every sea-
son of prayer, I found a peculiar tenderness in praying for
those unenlightened people."
18*
210 MEMOIR OF
Oct. 31. — " Passed a very populous village called Jun-
gipore."
" Stopped at gight again in a desert place. — Employed
as yesterday. My Moonshee said, ' How can you prove
this book (putting his hand on the Gospel), to be the
word of God V I took him to walk with me on the shore,
that we might discuss the matter : and the result of our
conversation was, that I discovered that the Mussulmen
allow the Gospel to be, in general, the command of God,
though the words of it are not His as the words of the
Koran are ; and contend that the actual words of God
given to Jesus were burnt by the Jews : — that they also
admit the New Testament to have been in force till the
coming of Mohammed. When I quoted some passages
which proved the Christian dispensation to be the final
one, he allowed it to be inconsistent with the divinity of
the Koran, but said, 'then those words of the Gospel must
be false.' The man argued and asked his questions
seemingly in earnest; and another new impression was
left upon my mind ; namely, that these men are not fools,
and that all ingenuity and clearness of reasoning are not
confined to England and Europe. I seem to feel that
these descendants of Ham are as dear to God as the
haughty sons of Japheth : I feel, too, more at home with
the Scriptures than ever : every thing I see gives light to,
and receives it from, the Scriptures. I seem transported
back to the ancient times of the Israelites and the
Apostles."
*' My spirit felt composed, after the dispute, by simply
looking to God as one who had engaged to support his
own cause : and I saw it to be my part to pursue my way
through the wilderness of this world, looking only to that
redemption which daily draweth nigh. The same thoughts
continued through the evening. I reflected, while look-
ing at the stream gliding by, the smooth current of which
showed its motion only by the moon shining upon it, —
that all are alike carried down the stream of time, — that
HENRY MARTYN. 211
in a few years there will be another generation of Hin-
doos, Mussulmen, and English in this country : and we
are now but just speaking to each other as we are passing
along. How should this consideration quell the tumult of
anger and impatience, when I cannot convince men. —
0 how feeble an instrument must a creature so short-
sighted be. How necessary is it that God should be con-
tinually raising up new instruments ; and how easily can :
he do it; — ' the government is on his shoulders,' Jesus
is able to bear the weight of it ; therefore we need not be ;^^
oppressed with care or fear : but a missionary is apt to
fancy himself an Atlas."
November 1. — "Employed all day in translating the
third chapter of the Acts. Came-to at a place where there
was no house. For the first time since arriving in Bengal,
saw some hills appearing in the N. W."
Nov. 2. — Sunday. " My mind was greatly oppressed,
that I had done and was doing nothing in the way of dis-
tributing tracts. To free my conscience from the charge
of unprofitableness and neglect, I wished to go ashore in
the middle of the day, wherever I thought I might meet
people ; but did not land till we came-to on the bank of
the Ganges, which we entered just before sunset. Hills
appeared from S. W. to N. W. Some of these were the
Rajemahl hills. Walking on shore, I met with a very
large party ; and entering into conversation, I asked if
any of them could read. One young man, who seemed
superior in rank to the rest, said he could, and accordingly
read some of the only Nagree tract that I had. I then
addressed myself boldly to them, and told them of the
Gospel. When speaking of the inefficacy of the religious
practices of the Hindoos, I mentioned as an example, the
repetition of the name of Ram. The young man assented
to this; and said, 'Of what use is it?' As he seemed to
be of a pensive turn, and said this with marks of disgust,
1 gave him a Nagree Testament ; — the first I have given.
May God's blessing go along with it, and cause the eyes
212 MEMOIR OF
of multitudes to be opened ! The men said they sliould
be glad to receive tracts ; so I sent them back a consider-
able number by the young man. The idea of printing
the parables, in proper order, with a short explanation
subjoined to each, for the purpose of distribution, and as
school books, suggested itself to me to-night, and delighted
me prodigiously."
Nov. 3. — " Crossed the river, in order to get to Chandry.
But the wind growing very strong, we were obliged to
come-to by a sand-bank. Began my work by writing a few
remarks on one of the parables. Finished ' Sale's Pre-
liminary Discourse to the Koran,' and read the Ramayuna.
Arrived at Chandry, and found and ; walked
with them over some of the ruins of Gour ; a mosque,
which was still standing entire, was indeed worth seeing.
We observed several monkeys, and the print of a tiger's
foot.
Nov. 4.—" After officiating at morning worship, I went
up with my friends in a boat to Gomalty ; stopping by the
way to visit one of their schools at Mirdypore,* which much
delighted me. The little boys, seated cross-legged on the
ground all around the room, read some of the New Testa-
ment to us. While they displayed their powers of read-
ing, their fathers and mothers crowded in great numbers
round the doors."
Nov. 5. — " Received letters from Mr. Brown, Corrie,
and Parsons, which much revived me. At evening wor-
ship, discoursed from Isaiah Ixiii. 1. My soul contmued
sweetly engaged with God ; though the praises of the peo-
ple of Calcutta were in some degree an interruption of
that sweet peace, which is only to be found in being nothing
before God."
Nov. 7. — " This morning, after speaking on Acts xx.
32, 1 took my leave ; and with Mr. went in palan-
* Here aj-e thirteen or fourteen village schools, and in conse-
quence a marked progress in civilization.
IIENIIY MARTYN. 213
quins to Massamgung. Frequently cast down to-day.
From want of diligent employment, my thoughts had time
to wander in search of some earthly good ; but I found that
recollection of what I deserved at the hands of God restored
me to greater peace."
. Nov. 8. — " Early this morning, reached Rajemahl, and
walked to view the remains of its ancient splendor. Gave
a tract or two to a Brahmin ; but the Dak Moonshee, a
Mussulman, when he received one of the Hindoostanee
tracts, and found what it was, was greatly alarmed : and
after many awkward apologies, returned it, saying that ' a
man who had his legs in two different boats, was in danger
of sinking between them.' Went on, much discouraged
at the suspicion and rebuffs I met with, — or YRiher pained ;
for I feel not the less determined to use every effort to give
the people the Gospel. Oh ! that the Lord would pour out
upon them a spirit of deep concern for their souls ! In a
walk, at Rajemahl, met some of the hill people. Wrote
down from their mouth some of the names of things. From
their appearance, they seemed connected with the Hotten-
tots and Chinese. Passed the day in correcting Acts,
chap. iii. with the Moonshee. At night walked with Mr.
G. into a village, where we met with some more of the hill
people. With .one of them, who was a Manghee, or chief
of one of the hills, I had some conversation in Hindoos-
tanee ; and told him that wicked men after death, go to
a place of fire ; and good men, above, to God. The for-
mer struck him exceedingly. He asked again, ' What ?
do they go to a place of great pain and fire V These peo-
ple, he said, sa(§rifice oxen, goats, pigeons, &lc. I asked
him if he knew what this was for, and then explained the
design of sacrifices ; and told him of the great Sacrifice, —
but he did not seem to understand me, and appeared pen-
sive after hearing that wicked men go to hell. He asked
us, with great kindness, to have some of his wild honey ;
which was the only thing he had to offer. How surprising
IS the universal prevalence of sacrifices ! This circumstance
214 MEMOIR OF
will, perhaps, be made use of for the universal conversion
of the nations. How desirable that some missionary should
go among these people ! — No prejudices ; — none of the
detestable pride and self-righteousness of their neighbors in
the plains."
Nov. 9. — " Passed the Sabbath rather uncomfortably.
With Mr. , I read several portions of the sacred
Scriptures, and prayed in the afternoon. We reached
Sichigully, a point where the Rajemahl hills jut out into
the Ganges. It was a romantic spot. We went ashore,
and ascended an eminence to look at the ruins of a
mosque. The grave, and room over it, of a Mussulman
warrior, killed in battle, were in perfect preservation ; and
lamps are still lighted there every night. We saw a few
more of the hill people ; one of whom had a bow and
arrows ; they were in a hurry to be gone ; and went off,
men, women, and children, into their native woods. As
I was entering the boat, I happened to touch with my
stick the brass pot of one of the Hindoos, in which rice
was boiling. So defiled were we in their sight, that the
pollution passed from my hand, through the stick and the
brass, to the meat. He rose and threw it all away. —
We read together at night an excellent sermon on 2
Cor. V. 1."
Nov. 10. — " Employed almost all the day in finishing the
correction of the third of the Acts, with my Moonshee ;
and in writing on some of the parables. Went on the
north side of the river, and set Mr. G ashore ; walked
with him to a nulla, expecting to find his boat : but it not
being there, we were obliged to walk back by night.
Happily we procured a torch in a village near, and were
thus preserved from the wild buffaloes, whose recent foot-
steps in the path gave us no small alarm. I am constantly
preserved through the good providence of the Lord. Em-
ployed in lessons of Persian, writing and reading Ra-
m ay una."
Nov. 11. — ''This morning, after prayer, Mr. G
HENRY MARTYN. 215
took his leave. I returned to my work without interrup-
tion, and with no small delight. The thought occurred
to my mind very strongly, — how much have I to learn of
divine things, — if the Lord will be pleased to teach me.
I want above all, a meek, serious, resigned, Christ-like
spirit. May I have grace to live above every human
motive ; simply with God, and to God ; and not swayed,
especially in the missionary work, by the opinions of peo-
ple not acquainted with the state of things, whose judg-
ment may be contrary to my own. But it is a matter of
no small difficulty to keep one's eye from wandering to
the church in Calcutta, and in England."
Nov. 12. — *' Employed all the day in translating, in
which work the time passes away pleasantly and rapidly.
The cold mornings and evenings begin to be very severe.
Though the thermometer was only down to 61°, I should
have been glad of a fire. It was 81° in the middle of the
day. We passed this day out of Bengal into Bahar,"
Nov. 13. — " This morning we passed Colgong. I went
ashore, and had a long conversation with two men. As I
approached more and more to religion, they were the
more astonished ; and when I mentioned the day of judg-
ment, they looked at each other in the utmost wonder,
with a look that expressed, ' how should he know anything
about that!' I felt some satisfaction in finding myself
pretty well understood in what I said : but they could not
read : and no people came near us, and so I had the grief
of leaving this place without supplying it with one ray of
light. I was much burdened with a consciousness of
blood-guiltiness ; and though I cannot doubt of my pardon
by the blood of Christ, how dreadful the reflection, that
any should perish who might have been saved by my exer-
tions. Looking round this country, and reflecting upon
its state, is enough to overwhelm the mind of a minister
or missionary. When once my mouth is opened, how
shall I ever dare to be silent ! Employed as yesterday.
At night met some boatmen on the bank, and a Fakir
210 MEfllOlR OF
with them ; I talked a good deal, and some things they
understood. The Fakir's words I could scarcely under-
stand. As he said he could read, and promised to read a
Testament, I gave him one, and several tracts."
Nov. 14. — " Employed in writing out the parables.
Walked through a poor village in the evening, where there
were none but women and children, who all ran away
when they saw me, except one poor old woman who was
ill, and begged. Though she spoke clearly enough, I
could scarcely understand one of her words, so that I have
quite a new language to learn. When she received half
a rupee, she was mute with astonishment for a time, and
at last said, Ckula (good). The name of the place was
Nuckanpour."
Nov. 15. — " Morning spent on the parables. After-
wards with the Moonshee, correcting Acts iv. The boat
stopping in the afternoon a short time, I went into a vil-
lage ; and finding a genteel looking Hindoo, smoking his
hookah, I sat down with him, and a few people gathered
round. But the old man, who had been a soldier, talked
so incessantly about his campaigns, that I found no good
would come if I did not interrupt him, and introduce reli-
gion. From having been much with the English, he had
more enlarged views than most of the Hindoos, and talked
like a Mussulman, — that all were of one cast before God, —
that there would be a day of judgment,— and that there
was only one God. When I endeavored to make him
comprehend the nature of the death of Christ, he merely
said, ' ah ! that is your shaster,' — so never was any effort
more ineffectual. In the bazaar, I stood and asked if any
one could read Nagree. There was only one who could,
and he took a tract : about ten others were taken also. I
suffered greatly from dejection most of the evening. But
the Lord graciously came in the time of need and sup-
ported my sinking faith. * The Lord reigneth,' and the
people shall ' remember and turn to the Lord.' "
Nov. 16. — Sunday. "Generally in a solemn, tender
HENRY MARTYN. 217
spirit. Spent the first half of the day in reading the
Scriptures and prayer. Many a word was brought home
with abundance of consolation to my soul. ' Though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they
comfort me.' When do the sheep find the happiness of
having a shepherd so much as when they are walking
through a dark shadow? While Jesus lets me see his * rod
and staff,' I am comforted. In the afternoon, read some
French sermons. Walked in the evening to a poor village,
where I only produced terror. One man, whom I at last
met, told me that none could read in the village but a
Brahmin ; and he was gone to another town I left two
tracts for him, and told the man to be sure to give them to
him when he came back. The man was in no small
alarm at this, but asked only where I got them. Dis-
tressed at times, — I fear that I am not acting faithfully in
warning those around me. But the shortest way to peace
is, to pray for a broken heart and submissive spirit : by
these means, my mind brightened up. At night, was
deeply affected about my two dear sisters; and felt the
bowels of affection yearn over them : who knows what
they have been suffering all this while ? For my poor elder
sister, I interceded that she might be saved."
Nov. 17. — *' Early this morning they set me ashore to
see a hot spring. A great number of Brahmins and Fakirs
were there. Not being able to understand them, I gave
away tracts. Many followed me to the budgerow, where
I gave away more tracts and some Testaments. Arrived
at Monghir about noon. In the evening some came to me
for books; and, among them, those who had travelled from
the spring, having heard the report that I was giving away
copies of the Ramayuna. They would not believe me
when I told them that it was not the Ramayuna ; I gavr
them six or eight more. In the morning tried to translate
with the Moonshee one of the Nagree papers."
Nov. 18. — •* A man followed the budgerow along the
19
218 MEMOIR OF
walls of the fort ; and finding an opportunity, got on board
with another, begging for a book, — not believing but that
it was the Ramayuna. As I hesitated, having given as
many as I could spare for one place, he prostrated himself
to the earth, and placed his forehead in the dust ; at which
I felt an indescribable horror. I gave them each a Testa-
ment. Employed in writing out the parables, and trans-
lating. In the evening met with two villagers, and finding
they could read, I brought them to the boat, and gave them
each a Testament, and some tracts."
Nov. 19. — " Employed in translating the parables, all
the day. Finished the first book of the Ramayuna.
Came-to at a desert place on the north side ; where, in my
walk, I met with a man with whom I conversed ; but we
could understand each other but very little. To a boy
with him, who could read, I gave some tracts. Felt ex-
traordinarily wearied with my labor these two or three last
days; and should have been glad of some refreshing
conversation."
Nov. 20 — 22. — " Employments, — the same, throughout
these three days : — finished the sixth of Acts, Stopped
each night at sand-banks."
Nov. 23. — Sunday. " Spent the day comfortably and
solemnly, in reading and prayer ; but my conscience was
grievously wounded in the evening, at the recollection of
having omitted opportunities of leaving the word of God
at a place. Yet will I adore the blessed Spirit, — that he
departs not, nor sufi'ers my conscience to be benumbed.
What a wretched life shall I lead, if I do not exert myself
from morning to night in a place, where, through whole
territories, I seem to be the only light."
Nov. 24. — " Employed in writing on a parable all day.
In my evening walk, finding an old Brahmin at work in
the fields, I began to ask him ' how he, a Brahmin, was
obliged to work.' He concluded his answer by saying,
that we English had robbed them of their country. He
was, for a considerable time, very violent ; but another
HENRY MARTYN. 219
Brahmin, in some fright, coming up, made all up, as he
thought, by speaking of the brave English, &lc. When I
began to talk to them of the day of judgment, heaven and
hell, they seemed surprised and pleased, and gave great
attention. But I have never had reason to believe, that
the attention of the people to anything I have to say is
more than respect for a * Sahib.' They never ask a ques-
tion about it, and probably do not understand one half,
even when my sentences are correct. The disaffection of
the people gave rise, afterwards, to many reflections in my
mind on what may be my future sufferings in this country :
but, in proportion to the apparent causes of depression, did
my faith and triumph in the Lord seem to rise. Come
what will, — let me only be found in the path of duty, and
nothing shall be wrong. Be my sufferings what they may,
they cannot equal those of my Lord, nor probably even
those of the Apostles and early martyrs. They ' through
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, out of
weakness were made strong,' &c. and why shall not I
hope that I too, who am indeed ' like one born out of due
time,' shall receive strength according to my day?"
Nov. 25. — " Reached Patna this afternoon ; — walked
about this scene of my future ministry, with a spirit almost
overwhelmed at the sight of the immense multitudes.
There was a Rajah sitting at the door of his tent, by the
water-side. Came to the budgerow at night ill with a
headache, and still more weak and feeble in faith. Pain
in the head continued acute all night."
Nov. 26. — " The multitudes at the water-side prodigious.
Arrived, in the afternoon, at Dinapore ; but did not go on
shore. Employed in translating and writing on the para-
bles. My spirit this evening was sweetly elevated beyond
the people and the concerns of this world, while meditating
on the words, ' I am the Ahnighty God : walk before me
and be thou perfect.' "
CHAPTER VI.
MR. MARTYN IS FIXED AT DINAPORE COMMENCES HIS
MINISTRY TRANSLATIONS DISPUTES WITH HIS MOON-
SHEE AND PUNDIT DIFFICULTIES RESPECTING THE
SCHOOLS HIS HAPPINESS IN THE WORK OF TRANSLA-
TION.
On reaching Dinapore, which, for a considerable time,
was to be his permanent residence, Mr. Martyn's immedi-
ate objects were threefold : to establish native schools, —
to attain such readiness in speaking Hindoostanee, as
might enable him to preach in that language the Gospel of
the grace of God, — and to prepare translations of the
Scriptures and religious tracts for dispersion. We have
already seen that the idea of translating the parables, ac-
companied by some remarks upon them, had occupied his
mind during his voyage up the Ganges. At Dinapore he
continued to engage in this employment with the same
earnestness. Of Hindoostanee he already knew enough
to translate with grammatical accuracy ; and his Moonshee
was at hand to suggest the proper idiom, and, what in
that language is so difficult, the just and exact collocation
of the words in the sentences. The obstacles which he
had to overcome in acquiring the languages of the country,
he represents as formidable. Passing out of Bengal into
Bahar, he found that he had to acquaint himself with the
Baharree as well as the Hindoostanee ; and the Baharree
had its various dialects. '* I am low-spirited,'' he said
MEMOIR OF MARTYN. 221
soon after reaching Dinapore, "about my work; I seem
to be at a stand, not knowing what course to take."
From the Pundit whom he employed he learned, — though
the statement was probably exaggerated, — that every four
cos (miles) the language changes ; and by the specimens
he gave of a sentence in the dialects across the water at
Gyah, and some other places, they appeared to differ so
much, that a book in the dialect of one district, would be
unintelligible to the people of another. As the best mode
of acquiring a knowledge of the various oriental tongues,
the study of Sanscrit was recommended to him by his
Pundit, and with what spirit he labored in this and other
pursuits may be seen from his account of the work of a
single day.
•' Morning with the Pundit, occupied in Sanscrit. In
the afternoon, hearing a parable in the Bahar dialect.
Continued till late at night writing on the parables. My
soul much impressed with the immeasurable importance
of my work, and the wickedness and cruelty of wasting a
moment, when so many nations are, as it were, waiting
while I do my work. Felt eager for the morning to come
again, that I might resume my work."
The difficulties of various kinds which presented them-
selves to Mr. Martyn, could not fail of being a source of
pain to him, in proportion to his fervent anxiety to benefit
all around him. But it was his privilege and consolation to
remember that he was in His hands, in whom are " hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," and " with
whom all things are possible." Had he not sought and
found refuge in the omnipotence of Christ, soon would he
have sunk into despondency. To those who have not
elevated their views above the feeble efforts of human
agency, the conversion of the heathen cannot but appear
to exceed the limits of possibility. Mr. Martyn, who in
England had met with many such disputers of this world,
found that India was by no means destitute of them. A
conversation into which he was led with one of these
19*
222 xMEMOlR OF
characters, was painfully trying to him ; " but in the mul-
titude of my troubled thoughts," he said, " I still saw
that there is ' strong consolation in the hope set before
us,' Let me labor for fifty years, midst scorn, and with-
out seeing one soul converted, — still it shall not be worse
for my soul in eternity, nor even worse for it in time
' Though the heathen rage,' and the English peopi
' imagine a vain thing,' the Lord Jesus, who controls all
events, is my friend, — my master, — my God, — my all.
On this rock of ages, on which I feel my foot to rest,
* my head is lifted up above all mine enemies round abou
me,^ and I sing, * yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.' "
From much of the society Mr. Martyn found at Dina
pore, he received more discomfort than disappointment ; —
some there were, indeed, who treated him from the first
with the utmost kindness; — who afterwards became his
joy, and who one day will assuredly be his crown of re-
joicing. But before that happy change in them was ef-
fected by the power of divine grace, he found none to
whom he could fully and freely unbosom himself With
what gladness and thankfulness, therefore, did he welcome
the arrival of letters from his beloved Christian friends at
Calcutta and in England. He speaks of being exceed-
ingly comforted, on returning home after a melancholy
walk, and finding letters from Mr. Brown and Mr. Corrie,
and from two of his friends in England, who were as dear
to him as he was to them. " How sweet," he said, after
perusing these memorials of affection, " are the delights
of Christian friendship; and what must heaven be, where^
there are none but humble, kind, and holy children of _
God. Such a society would of itself be a heaven to me ;
after what I feel at the ways of worldly people here."
Nor was it only by the neglect, levity, and profaneness of
many of his countrymen, where he was stationed, that
Mr. Martyn was pained and grieved : his meek and
tender spirit was hurt likewise at the manner in which
he conceived himself to be regarded by the natives : by
HENRY MARTYN. 2*23
the anger and contempt with whicli muhitudes of them
eyed him in his palanquin at Patna, he was particularly
affected ; observing, " Here every native I meet is an
enemy to me because I am an Englishman. England
appears almost a heaven upon earth, because there one is
not viewed as an unjust intruder. But oh ! the heaven of
my God,— the * general assembly of the first-born, the
spirits of just men made perfect,' and Jesus ! O let me,
for a little moment, labor and suffer reproach."
The observations he was compelled to hear from his
Moonshee and Pundit, often present a curious and affect-
ing display of Pagan and Mohammedan ignorance.*
**Upon showing," he writes, ''the Moonshee the first
part of John iii. he instantly caught at those words of our
Lord, in which he first describes himself as having come
down from heaven, and then calls himself *the Son of
Man vvhich is zn heaven.' He said that this was what
the philosophers called * nickal,' or impossible, — even for
God to make a thing to be in two different places at the
same time/ I eicplained to him, as soon as his heat was
a little subsided, that the difficulty was not s6 much in
conceiving how the Son of Man could be, at the same
time, in two different places, as in comprehending that
union of the two natures in him, which made this possible.
I told him that I could not explain this union; but showed
him the design and wisdom of God in effecting our re-
demption by this method. I was much at a loss for words,
but I believe that he collected my meaning, and received
some information which he did not possess before,"
In another place he says, *' On reading some parts of
the epistles of St. John to my Moonshee, he seemed to
* Many of these observations, as well as those made by the Per-
sians with whom Mr. Marty n entered into religious discussion, can-
not fail of giving pain to a Christian heart ; but missionaries ought
to be apprised of the nature of those weapons with which Chris-
tianity is assailed by Infidels. For their sakes much is inserted
which otherwise had doubtless far better have been omitted.
224 MEMOIR OF
view them with great contempt : so far above the wisdom
of the world is their divine simplicity ! The Moonshee
told me, at night, that when the Pundit came to the part
about the angels * separating the evil from the good ;' he
said, with some surprise, that there was no such thing in
his Shaster ; but that, at the end of the world, the sun
would come so near, as first to burn all the men, then the
mountains, then the debtas (inferior gods), then the
waters : then God, reducing himself to the size of a
thumb-nail, would swim on the leaf of a peepul tree."
The commencement of Mr. Martyn's ministry amongst
the Europeans of Dinapore, was not of such a kind as
either to gratify or encourage him. At first he read
prayers to the soldiers at the barracks from the drum-
head, and as there were no seats provided, was desired
to omit his sermon.
Arrangements being afterwards made for the perform-
ance of divine service with somewhat of that order and
decency which becomes its celebration, the resident fami-
lies at Dinapore assembled on the Sabbath, and attended
Mr. Martyn's ministry. By many of these, offence was
taken at his not reading to them a written sermon, and it
was intimated to him by letter, that it was their wish that
he should desist from extempore preaching. At such an
interference on the part of his flock, he confesses that he
was at first roused into anger and displeasure ; — he could
not but think that the people committed to his charge,
had forgotten the relation which subsisted between him
and them, in dictating to him the mode in which they
thought proper to be addressed : on mature reflection,
however, he resolved upon compliance for the sake of
conciliation : — saying that, *' he would give them a folio
sermon-book, if they would receive the word of God on
that account."
Whilst the flock at Dinapore were thus overstepping
the limits of respect and propriety, Mr. Martyn was in-
formed that one of his brethren at Calcutta was about to
HENRY MARTYN. 225
transgress the rules of Christian charity very grievously,
by publishing one of those pulpit invectives which had
been fulminated against him on his arrival at Calcutta.
Such an act in a brother chaplain would, in some minds,
have excited vindictive feelings. In his, the chief excite-
ment was a discomposure, arising from an apprehension,
that he might be compelled to undertake a public refuta-
tion of this attack on his doctrine ;— an undertaking which
would consume much of that precious time which he
wished wholly to devote to his missionary work.
Thus terminated the year 1806; — on the last day of
which Mr, Martyn appears to have been much engaged in
prayer and profitable meditation on the lapse of time :
feeling communion with the saints of God in the world,
whose minds were turned to the consideration of those
awful things which cannot but be suggested to a reflect-
ing mind by a year irrecoverably past.
On the first day of the year 1807, Mr. Martyn was led
to the following reflection, from whence we perceive, that
it is the work of the self-same Spirit to convince the soul
of sin ; to constrain it to unreserved obedience ; and to
fill it with unutterable consolation.
" Seven years have passed away since I was first called
of God. Before the conclusion of another seven years,
how probable is it that these hands will have mouldered
into dust ! But be it so : my soul through grace hath
received the assurance of eternal life, and I see the days
of my pilgrimage shortening without a wish to add to their
number. But O may I be stirred up to a faithful discharge
of my high and awful work ; and, laying aside, as much
as may be, all carnal cares and studies, may I give myself
to this ' one thing.' The last has been a year to be remem-
bered by me, because the Lord has brought me safely to
India, and permitted me to begin, in one sense, my mis-
sionary work. My trials in it have been very few ; every
thing has turned out better than I expected : loving kind-
226 MEMOiri OF
ness and tender mercies have attended me at every step :
therefore here will I sing his praise. I have been an un-
profitable servant, but the Lord hath not cut me off: I
have been wayward and perverse, yet he has brought me
further on the way to Zion : here, then, with seven-fold
gratitude and affection, would I stop and devote myself to
the blissful service of my adorable Lord. May he continue
his patience, his grace, his direction, his spiritual influ-
ences, and I shall at last surely come off conqueror ! May
he speedily open my mouth, to make known the mysteries
of the Gospel, and in great mercy grant that the heathen
may receive it and live !"
The commencement of the new year was devoted by
Mr. Martyn to the work which was still before him, of
translating and commenting on the parables, as well as to
the attainment of the Sanscrit. Sustained by the hope of
future usefulness, he experienced much pleasure, not only
in urging his toilsome way through the rudiments of that
language, but even when he appeared, notwithstanding
every exertion, to be making no sensible progress in it.
" Employed," he says, one day in the month of January,
1807,- — " morning and evening in Sanscrit grammar, and
in the afternoon, in translating the parables. Though I
scarcely stirred in Sanscrit, yet by keeping myself steady
to the work, I had much comfort in my soul, and this day,
like all others, fled swiftly away."
To these employments he added another also, — the
translation into Hindoostanee of those parts of the Book
of Common Prayer, which are most frequently used. This
project, when it first occurred to him, so arrested his mind,
that he instantly began to translate, and proceeded as far
as the end of the Te Deum : fearing, however, as it was the
Sabbath, that such an employment might not be in perfect
harmony with the sacred solemnity of that day, inasmuch
as it was not strictly of a devotional kind, he desisted from
making further progress ; — so deep was his reverence for a
divine appointment; — so jealous his fear of offending his
HEiNRV MAllTYN. 2'27
God ! After passing, therefore, the remainder of the day
in reading the Holy Scriptures, and singing praises to the
Lord, he closed it with these reflections: — *'0 how shall
I sufficiently praise my God, that here in this solitude,
with people enough, indeed, but without a saint, I yet feel
fellowship with all those who, in every place, call on the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I see myself travelling
on with them, and I hope I shall worship with them in his
courts above !"
These peculiar studies, as well as the conversations
which Mr. Martyn frequently had with the natives (for
which purpose he went about without his palanquin), were
regarded by many with a mixture of jealousy, fear, and
contempt. Did he so much as speak to a native, — it was
enough to excite wonder and alarm : nor is this a matter
of surprise, when we consider, that all love for the soul,
and all fear of God, are as certainly absent and inoperative
in worldly characters, as the love of pleasure and the fear
of man are present and predominant. And if, in ordinary
circumstances, such a line of conduct as Mr. Martyn
adopted in India, was calculated to awaken the apprehen-
sions of those who lived chiefly for this world ; — at this
particular juncture, it was more likely to be attended with
these effects. For just at this time, the settlement was
thrown into some consternation by hearing of the sudden
arrival of twelve thousand Mahrattas in the neighbor-
hood:— of which event the alarmists at Dinapore might
be ready to take advantage, and endeavor in some way or
other to connect it with Mr. Martyn's plans for the con-
version of the natives to Christianity. These troops,
however, had other objects than those which the wakeful
fears of some might have assigned them; their destination
being simply to attend one of their chiefs on a pilgrimage
to Benares.
Religious discussions between Mr. Martyn, his Moon-
shee, and Pundit, were almost of daily occurrence, and as
228 MEMOIR OF
they serve to throw some light on his character, as well as
on that of those with whom a missionary must be conver-
sant in India, it may be useful again to refer to what his
journals contain on this head.
" Long disputes with the Moonshee on the enjoyments
of heaven ; I felt some mortification at not having a com-
mand of language. There are a variety of lesser argu-
ments, the force of which consists in their being brought
together in rapid succession in conversation : which noth-
ing but a command of words can enable one to effect.
However, I was enabled to tell the Moonshee one thing ; —
that my chief enjoyment, even now on earth, was the en-
joyment of God's presence, and a growing conformity to
him ; and therefore, I asked, what motives could the
promise of houris, ghilmans, green meadows, and eating
and drinking in paradise afford me. My soul sweetly
blessed the Lord in secret, that this testimony was
true ; and O what a change must have been wrought
in me."
Jan. 16. — " Employed on the Sanscrit ; — in the after-
noon, collecting idiomatic phrases for the parables. Fin-
ished the first epistle of St. John with the Moonshee. I
asked him what he thought of those passages which so
strongly express the doctrine of the Trinity, and of the
divinity of Christ : he said he never would believe it : be-
cause the Koran declared it to be sinful to say that God
had any son. I told him that he ought to pray that God
would teach him what the truth really is. He said he
had no occasion to pray on this subject, as the word of
God was express. I asked him whether some doubt ought
not to arise in his mind, whether the Koran is the word of
God. He grew angry ; and I felt hurt and vexed. I
should have done better to have left the words of the cha}>
ter with him, without saying any thing. I went also too
far with the Pundit, in arguing against his superstition ;
for he also grew angry. If any qualification seems neces-
sary to a missionary in India, — it is wisdom, — operating
HENRY MARTYN. 229
in the regulation of the temper, and the due improvement
of opportunities."
" Dictating to-day the explanation of a parable to the
Moonshee, I had occasion to give the proofs of the cor-
ruption of human nature ; and drew the conclusion that,
hence, till our hearts are changed, we are abominable in
the sight of God, and our own works, however useful to
men, are worthless in his sight. I think I never saw
such a striking instance of the truth grappling with human
nature ; he seemed like a fish when he first finds that the
hook has hold of him ; he was in a dreadful rage, and
endeavored to escape from the convictions these truths
produced; but seemingly in vain. At last, recovering
himself, he said he had a question to ask ; which was, —
what would become of children, if the dispositions they
were born with rendered them odious in the sight of God ?
I gave him the best answer I could : but he considered it
nothing, because founded on Scripture ; and said, with
great contempt, that this was mere matter of faith, llvs
same sort of thing as when the Hindoos believed the ^.uh-
sense of their Shasters."
How delightful must it have been to Mr. Martyn to
turn, as he did at this time, from controversies with these
unbelievers, to the enjoyment of Christian converse and
communion with his beloved friend and brother, Mr.
Corrie ; who, towards the end of January, visited him, on
his way to his station at Chunar. Many a happy hour did
these servants of Jesus Christ then pass, in fellowship with
one another ; for truly their fellowship was with the Father,
and with his Son Jesus Christ. With one accord they
oflen fell at the feet of their Redeemer in supplication and
thanksgiving; — they read his holy word; they rejoiced
together in its promises; — they spake to one another of
the glory of Christ's kingdom ; and talked of his power ;
and they parted, sorrowfully indeed, yet earnestly desiring
each to be employed in his proper work. "Our com.-
munion," said Mr. Martvn, respecting this interview,
20
230 MEMOIR or
" has been refreshing ; at least to me ; and the Lord has
sanctified our meeting by his presence and his gracious
influences."
With respect to the Europeans, amongst whom Mr.
Martyn ministered, he had much reason to be gratified
with the reception he met with from those whom he at-
tended in the hospital : but he had equal cause to be
dissatisfied and grieved with the behavior which he wit-
nessed, too generally, in the houses of the wealthy. Can
we be surprised, therefore, that he should prefer, as he
did, the house of mourning, to that of feasting ? In
vain did he endeavor, amongst the upper ranks, to in-
troduce religious topics in conversation. " I spoke,"
he said, after visiting some of these, " several times about
religion to them ; but the manner in which it was re-
ceived damped all further attempt. ' Who hath believed
our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed V
How awful does the thought sometimes appear to me, that
almost the whole world are united against God and his
Christ. O thou injured Sovereign ! O Lord, how long
will it be ere thou plead thine own cause, and make bare
thine arm in the sight of the nations ? Let me in patience
possess my soul ; and though iniquity abound, may I never
wax cold, but be brought safely through all this darkness
and danger to a happier world ! To thousands my word
will, perhaps, prove a ' savor of death unto death.' Let
me, nevertheless, go on steadily in the path which the
Lord hath marked out; perhaps some poor soul may be
converted by what he shall hear from me ; or, if not, I
shall have done my work." In such society, as might be
expected, he found his desires and endeavors for the con-
version of the heathen invariably discountenanced and
oj)posed. Having, on one occasion, referred to the Com-
pany's charter,* as not only permitting, but even enjoin-
* For an account of the East India Company's charter, see Ap-
pendix F. E.
HENRY MARTYN. 231
ing the communication of religious instruction to the na-
tives,— coldness and distance, on the part of those he was
visiting, were the immediate consequences of his observa-
tions. But his " soul could rejoice in God, that if men
were unkind, it was for Christ's sake ; and he felt deter-
mined to go on with vigor; though the whole world of
wretched men should oppose."
With respect to the conversion of the natives to the
nominal profession of Christianity, in Mr. Martyn's opin-
ion, the difficulty was by no means great. He was sur-
prised at the laxity of principle which seemed to prevail
among them, and could well perceive that the idea of em-
bracing the religion of the English was very pleasant to
the Pundit, and to other Hindoos. But he did not fail to
explain to them, " that it was no object of his to make
them ' Feringees,' in the sense in which they understood
it ; and assured them that if all the Brahmins and Rajahs
of the country would come to him for baptism, he would
not baptize them, except he believed that they repented,
and would renounce the world."
With the condition of the natives in a moral point of
view, Mr, Martyn had but too much reason to be shocked
and affected : and he was sometimes called upon to inter-
fere, and that with some personal hazard, to prevent acts
of the greatest turpitude and injustice among them. " My
Surdar," he says, " was imprisoned by an unjust Cotwal.
I sent word for him to give nothing for his release ; and
not to fear : the Cotwal was afraid, and let the man go,
and ceased his claim upon his relations. This has been
a long and iniquitous business. I felt quite thankful that
the Lord had thus shown himself the father of the father-
less. I could hardly believe such barefaced oppression.
How much has the Gospel done in producing sentiments
of justice and equity in all ranks of people in Christendom!
— The poor people here seem unable to comprehend it."
" ," he adds, "developed a system of villany carried
on in the country, through the supineness of , Avhich
232 MEx\10IR OF
astonished and grieved me beyond measure. I determined
to go to myself, and tell him what I had heard ; but
thought it prudent to defer it till after my distant journey
to Buxar ; in which the Cotwal, who is the head of a gang
of robbers, with which the whole country is swarming,
might easily procure my assassination ; if, by getting him
turned out, I should provoke him. I thought it, however,
a duty I owe to God, to him, to the poor oppressed natives,
and to my country, to exert myself in this business ; and
I felt authorized to risk my life."
The journey to Buxar, during which, Mr. Martyn feared
that, without prudence, he might possibly become a victim
to the sudden revenge of one, whose daily oppressions
caused many to weep without a comforter, — was taken on
the 16th of February : and it may surprise those, who are
not aware of the very slender proportion of chaplains then
allotted to our empire in India, to be informed that he
travelled seventy miles for the purpose of performing part
of his pastoral duty in the celebration of a marriage. But
before we attend him on this journey, let us notice his
abstraction from the world ; his sacred peace ; his holy
aspirations; his deep contrition at this period: — "I felt
more entirely withdrawn from the world, than for a long
time past : what a dark atheistical state do I generally live
in! Alas! that this creation should so engross my mind,
and the author of it be so slightly and coldly regarded. I
found myself, at this time, truly a stranger and a pilgrim
in the world ; and I did suppose that not a wish remained
for anything here. The experience of my heart was de-
lightful. I enjoyed a peace that passeth all understanding ;
no desire remained, but that this peace might be confirmed
and increased. O why should anything draw away my
attention, whilst Thou art ever near and ever accessible
through the Son of Thy love ? O why do I not always
walk with God, forgetful of a vain and perishable world ?
Amazing patience ! He bears with this faithless, foolish
heart, and suffers me to come, laden with sins, to receive
HENRY MARTVN. 333
new pardon, new grace, every day. Why does not such
love make me hate those sins which grieve him, and hide
him from my sight ? I sometimes make vain resohitions,
in my own strength, that I will think of God, Reason,
and Scripture, and experience, teach me that such a life is
happiness and holiness ; that by ' beholding his glory,' I
should be changed ' into his image, from glory to glory,'
and be freed from those anxieties which make me unhappy ;
and that, every motive to duty being strong, obedience
would be easy."
Of his journey to Buxar, Mr. Martyn has left the follow-
ing account. February 16. — " Rose very early, and accu-
mulated work for my Moonshee in my absence. Made
my will, and left it with . At half-past three, set off
in a palanquin, and in four hours reached the Soane.
From thence travelled all night, and at nine next morning
reached Buxar. Being unable to sleep, I arrived so sick
and unwell, as to be convinced of the unprofitableness of
travelling by night in this country. By reading some of
the epistle to the Ephesians before it grew dark, and medi-
tating upon it afterwards, my time passed agreeably ; and
I thought with delight of the time when I should be able
to adopt the Apostle's words with respect to the heathen
around me. After breakfast I lay down, and endeavored
in vain to get sleep. I was much assisted in conversation
with the family after dinner, when we conversed much on
religious subjects ; and I had as good an opportunity as I
could have wished, of explaining the nature of the Gospel,
and offering considerations for embracing it. I retired to
rest with my heart full of joy, at being thus assisted to pass
the time profitably."
Feb. 18. — "My birth-day,— twenty-six. — With all the
numerous occasions for deep humiliation, I have cause for
praise, in recollecting the promising openings and impor-
tant changes which have occurred since my last birth-day.
The Lord, in love, make me wax stronger and stronger ! —
Walked, after breakfast, to a pagoda within the fort at
20*
234 MEMOIR OF
Buxar, where a Brahmin read and expounded. It was a
scene, I suppose, descriptive of the ancient times of Hindoo
glory. The Brahmin sat under the shade of a large ban-
yan near the pagoda ; his hair and beard were white, and
his head most gracefully crowned with a garland of flowers.
A servant of the Rajah sat on his right hand, at right
angles; and the venerable man then sung the Sanscrit
verses of the Huribuns, and explained them to him with-
out turning his head, but only his eyes, which had a very
dignified effect. I waited for the first pause to ask some
questions, which led to a long conversation : and this ended
by my attempting to give them a history of redemption.
The Rajah's servant was a very modest, pensive man, but
did not seem to understand what I said so well as the old
Brahmin, who expressed his surprise and pleasure, as well
as the other, at finding a Sahib who cared anything about
religion. I afterwards sent a copy of the Nagree Gospels
to the servant, desiring that it might be given to the Rajah,
if he would accept it. In the evening I married and ad-
ministered the sacrament to and at their own
desire."
Feb. 19. — *' Rose at four and left Buxar, and at nine in
the evening reached Dinapore in safety ; — blessed be
God ! — May my life, thus preserved by unceasing Provi-
dence, be his willing sacrifice."
The scene Mr. Martyn witnessed in the pagoda at
Buxar, was succeeded, soon after his return to Dinapore,
by another which he describes as still more interesting.
"A poor Jew from Babylon came to me begging. He
was tall, but stooping from weakness, and his countenance
strongly marked with grief When, at his first arrival, I
asked him if he was a Mussulman, he said in a low and
pensive tone of voice, — No! an Isralee. Alas! poor
people, still full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy
God ! I felt all the tenderness of a kinsman towards him,
and found myself, as it were, at home with an Asiatic who
acknowledged the God of Abraham. The passage in
HENRY MARTYN. 235
Isaiah ix. 5, 6, he rendered as meaning the Almighty
God."
The state of the schools, five of which, at his own ex-
pense solely, Mr. Martyn had instituted in and about
Dinapore, now began to occasion him some anxiety. An
alarm was spread that it was his intention to seize upon all
the children, and, in some compulsory manner, make them
Christians. The school at Patna, in consequence, sud-
denly sunk in number, from forty children to eight : and
at Dinapore, a spot of ground which had been fixed upon
for the erection of a school-room, could not be obtained
from the Zemindar. In this perplexity Mr. Martyn lost
no time in ascertaining what a soothing, and at the same
time sincere, explanation of his sentiments might effect ;
and for this purpose he went to Patna. There, in addi-
tion to his present perplexities, he had the severe pain of
beholding a servant of the Company, — a man advanced in
years and occupying a situation of great respectability, —
living in a state of dar-^g apostasy from the Christian
faith, and openly professing his preference for Moham-
medanism. He had even built a mosque of his own ;
which at this season, being the Mohurrun, was adorned
with flags ; and being illuminated at night, proclaimed the
shame of the offender. It will readily be supposed that
Mr. Martyn did not fail to sound a warning voice in the
ears of this miserable apostate : — he charged him to " re-
member whence he was fallen," — and exhorted him to
consider, that '' the Son of God had died for sinners."
At the school at Patna, neither children nor teacher
were to be found ; — all, as if struck by a panic, had ab-
sented themselves. The people, however, quickly gath-
ered in crowds, and to them Mr. Martyn declared, that his
intentions had been misunderstood; when, such was the
effect of temperate reasonings and mild expostulations,
that all apprehensions were removed almost as quickly as
they had been excited ; — and in a few days the children
came as usual to the schools of Patna and Dinapore.
230 MEMOIR OF
By February 24, a work was completed by Mr. Martyn,
which, had he effected nothing else, would have proved
that he had not lived in vain, — the translation of the book
of Common Prayer into Hindoostanee ; and on Sunday,
March 15, he commenced the performance of divine wor-
ship in the vernacular language of India, concluding with
an exhortation from the Scripture, in the same tongue.
The spectacle was as novel as it was gratifying, — to behold
two hundred women, Portuguese, Roman Catholics, and
Mohammedans, crowding to attend the service of the
Church of England, which had lost nothing, doubtless, of
its beautiful simplicity and devout solemnity, in being
clothed with an oriental dress.
Toward the latter end of the month of March, another
useful work was also brought to a conclusion, — that of a
" Commentary on the Parables." — *' The little book of the
Parables," — Mr. Martyn wrote to Mr. Corrie at this time,
" is finished, through the blessing of God : I cannot say
that I am very well pleased on the re-perusal of it : but
yet, containing, as it does, such large portions of the word
of God, I ought not to doubt its accomplishing that which
He pleaseth."
" Talking to the Moonshee," — he says in his Journal, —
of the probable effects of that work, " he cut me to the
very heart by his contemptuous reflections on the Gospel ; —
saying that, after the present generation was passed away,
a race of fools might perhaps arise, who would try to be-
lieve, that God could be a man, and man God, and who
would say that this is the word of God. One advantage I
may derive from his bitterness and disrespect, is, that I
shall be surprised at no appearances of the same temper in
others in future. May my Lord enable me to maintain an
invincible spirit of love ! — How sweet that glorious day,
when Jesus Christ shall reign ! Death at several times of
this day appeared infinitely sweet in this view of it, — that
I shall then go to behold the glory of Christ."
Mr. Martyn's duties on the Sabbath had now increased ;
HENRY MARTIN. 237
— consisting of one service at seven in the morning to the
Europeans, another at two ni the afternoon to the Hindoos,
and an attendance at the hospital : after which, in the
evening, he ministered privately at his own rooms to those
soldiers who were most seriously impressed with a sense of
divine things. From the following statement we may see
and appreciate his exertions. — " The English service, at
seven in the morning. I preached on Luke xxii. 22. As
is always the case when I preach about Christ, a spiritual
influence was diffused over my soul. The rest of the
morning, till dinner time, I spent not unprofitably in read-
ing Scripture and David Brainerd, and in prayer. That
dear saint of God, David Brainerd, is truly a man after my
own heart. Although I cannot go half-way with him in
spirituality and devotion, I cordially unite with him in such
of his holy breathings as I have attained unto. How sweet
and wise, like him and the saints of old, to pass through
this world as a serious and considerate stranger. I have
had more of this temper to-day than of late, and every duty
has been in harmony with my spirit. The service in Hin-
doostanee was at two o'clock. The number of women not
above one hundred. I expounded chap. iii. of St. Mat-
thew. Notwithstanding the general apathy with which
they seemed to receive every thing, there were two or three
who, I was sure, understood and felt something. But,
beside them, not a single creature, European or native, was
present. Yet true spirituality, with all its want of attrac-
tion for the carnal heart, did prevail over the splendid
shows of Greece and Rome, and shall again here. A man
at the hospital much refreshed me, by observing, that if I
made an acquisition of but one convert in my whole life,
it would be a rich reward ; and that I was taking the only
possible way to this end. This man's remark was much
more sensible than 's yesterday, who, it seems, had
full information of my schools, &c. and said that I should
make no proselytes. ' Thy judgments are far above out of
their sight.' How positively they speak, as if there was
238 MEMOIR OF
no God who could influence the heart. At night, B ,
and S , came, and we had the usual service."
With those soldiers who attended Mr. Martyn always
on the evening of the Sabbath, and often on some other
evenings of the week, he enjoyed true spiritual commu-
nion. Their number was at first very small, amounting
at the most to five; sometimes, indeed, only one could
attend, but with him he would gladly unite in prayer and
praise, and in reading the Scriptures ; and the promise of
the Redeemer's gracious presence was verified, to their
abundant consolation.
Over some few of the officers stationed at Dinapore he
now began to rejoice, with that joy which those faithful
ministers alone can estimate, who, after much earnest
preaching and admonition, and after many prayers and
tears, at length perceive a fruitful result of their anxious
endeavors to win souls and glorify their Lord. One of
these, " who from the first," to use Mr. Martyn's own
words, '* had treated him with the kindness of a father,"
at this time excited expectations, which soon ripened into
a delightful certainty, that he had turned with full purpose
of heart to his Redeemer. But if Mr. Martyn's happiness
was great, in witnessing this effect of the divine blessing
on his mijiistry ; so also was his anxiety, lest this new
convert should relapse, and walk again according to the
course of this world ; and he began, for the first time, he
said, in reference to him, to enter into the spirit of the
Apostle's words, — " Now we live, if ye stand fast in the
Lord."
To those ministerial duties in which he was now
engaged, Mr. Martyn considered that in prudence he
ought, for the present, to confine himself; — had he given
way at once to the strong and full-flowing tide of his zeal
and love, it would immediately have carried him, with the
Bible in his hand, into the streets of Patna ; though to
have commenced his ministry in that idolatrous city,
would, as he confesses to Mr. Corrie, have cost him much.
HE3NRY MARTYN. 239
He wrote to Mr. C. in these ardent and energetic terms,
— " O that the time were come that I should be able to
carry the war into the enemy's territory. It will be a
severe trial to the flesh, my dear brother, for us both ; —
but it is sufficient for the disciple to be as his master, and
the servant as his lord. We shall be ' accounted as the
filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things.' But
glory be to God, if we shall be accounted worthy to suffer
shame for the name of the Lord Jesus. The cause we
undertake is, if possible, more odious and contemptible
in the eyes of the people of this country than it was in the
primitive times : and that because of the misconduct of
the Roman Catholic missionaries, in administering bap-
tism to people without repentance. It is no more than
natural that ' Christian' should be a name of execration,
to those who know no more of Christianity than what they
have hitherto observed in this country."
To that unrestrained intercourse by letter, which Mr.
Martyn held weekly with Mr. Corrie, he was indebted for
much of the purest felicity of his life. Such a friend,
stationed near him in such a country, he ranked amongst
the richest blessings showered down upon him from on
high. For, if we except his other brethren in India, with
whom he statedly corresponded every quarter, and often
also at other times, and never but with great delight, — he
had no one like-minded, who would naturally care for the
souls of the heathen : Mr. Corrie was of one heart with
himself
An interruption of this correspondence, which now
took place, painful as it was in itself to Mr. Martyn, was
more so with respect to its cause. The military station
at Chunar is considered more adverse to the constitution
of an European than almost any other in India ; and the
heat, which in the month of March raised the thermome-
ter at Dinapore to 92^ in the shade, at Chunar was still
more oppressively intense. Mr. Corrie's health began in
consequence to be seriously affected, and many apprehen
240 MEMOIR OF
sions for his most valuable life, forced themselves upon
the mind of Mr. Martyn.
The following extract of a letter written upon this oc-
casion, shows Mr. Martyn's anxiety for his friend, and
evinces also how fully he was alive to the necessity of sub-
jecting the impetuosity of zeal to the discriminating cor-
rection of wisdom. " If there is nothing on the rock of
Chunar which occasions your frequent illness, I am sure
I am not one to advise you to leave the flock. But if
there is, — as I have much reason to believe, — then the
mere loss of your services to the few people there, is, I
think, not sufficient reason for hazarding your life, in
which the interests of millions of others are immediately
involved. — Consider, you bring a fixed habit of body with
you, and must humor it as much as possible, at first.
When, after the experience of a year or two, you know
what you can bear, go, if you please, to the extent of your
powers. It is not agreeable to the pride and self-right-
eous parts of our nature, to be conferring with flesh and
blood : nature, under a religious form, would rather
squander away life and strength, as David Brainerd did.
You know that I regard him as one ' the latchet of
whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose ;' and yet, con-
sidering the palpable impropriety of his attempting to do
what he did, when he ought to have been in medical
hands, — and not being able to ascribe it to folly, in such
a sensible man, — I feel disposed, perhaps from motives of
censoriousness, to ascribe it to the desire of gaining his
own good opinion." — Then, proceeding to the subject
which lay so near both their hearts, — the conversion of
the heathen, — he thus concludes : " I long to hear of a
Christian school established at Benares : it will be like
the ark of God brought into the house of Dagon. But do
not be in a hurry : let your character become known, and
you may do anything. If nothing else comes of our
schools, one thing I feel assured of, — that the children
will grow up ashamed of the idolatry and other customs of
HENRY MARTYN. 24^
their country. But surely the general conversion of the
natives is not far off : — the poverty of the Brahmins makes
them less anxious for the continuance of the present
system, from which they gain but little. But the transla-
tion of the Scriptures is the grand point. I trust we shall
have the heavenly pleasure of dispersing the Scriptures
together through the interior. Oh! the happiness and
honor of being the children of God, the ministers of
Christ !"
Mr. Martyn's own health, as well as that of his friend,
was reduced at this time to a weak and languid state.
To the debilitating effects of the heated atmosphere, this
was in part, perhaps, to be attributed ; but it was certainly
increased, if not induced, by his too severe abstinence-
Most strictly did he observe the holy seasons set apart by
the Church for fasting and prayer : — but the illness under
which he now labored, was so evidently aggravated, if not
occasioned, by abstinence, that he became convinced that
the exercise of fasting was so injurious to his health as to
be improper, in the degree and frequency in which he had
been accustomed to use it.
In this sickness, however, — though an extreme languor
accompanied it, — he was not only patient but active. On
the Sabbath he would by no means desist from his work.
— '* I was assisted," he says, " to go through the usual
ministrations without pain. In the morning I preached
on Psalm xvi. 8, 10, and administered the Lord's supper
with rather more solemnity and feeling than I usually
have. The rest of the morning I could do little but lie
down. In the afternoon I found, I suppose, two hundred
women, and expounded again at considerable length. Read
the Pilgrim's Progress at the hospital. In exposition with
the soldiers I found great enlargement."
In proof of that wretchedness and ignorance in the na-
tives, which so excited Mr. Martyn's compassion for them,
we may adduce two instances with which he himself has
furnished us ; — in the cases of a Brahmin, and a Ranee, or
21
242 MEMOIR OF
native princess, though, perhaps, the Brahmin may be
considered as only avowing sentiments too common amongst
many who are yet called Christians, and have the book of
God in their hands. " A Brahmin," he says, *' visiting my
Pundit, copied out the parable in which the ten command-
ments were written, with a determination to put them all
accurately into practice, in order to be united with God. —
He had, however, an observation to make, and a question
to ask. ' There was nothing,' he said, ' commanded to
be done, only things to be abstained from ; and if he should
be taken ill in the bazaar, or while laughing, and die ; and,
through fear of transgressing the third commandment,
should not mention the name of God, should he go to
heaven'?" — " The Ranee of Daoudnagur, to whom I had
sent a copy of the Gospels by the Pundit, returned her
compliments, and desired to know what must be done for
obtaining benefit from the book ; whether prayer, or
making a salam (a bow) to if? I sent her word that she
must seek divine instruction by secret prayer, and I also
added some other advice."
Little as there was that was promising in either of these
characters, there was yet more appearance of what might
be thought hopeful in them, than in Mr. Martyn's Moon-
shee and Pundit, whom he still continued to labor inces-
santly, though unsuccessfully, to convince of their awful
errors.
" My faith," he complains again, " is tried by many
things; especially by disputes with the Moonshee and
the Pundit. The Moonshee shows remarkable con-
tempt for the doctrine of the Trinity. 'It shov/s
God to be weak,' he says, ' if he is obliged to have a
fellow. God was not obliged to become man, for if we
had all perished, he would have suffered no loss. And
as to pardon, and the difficulty of it, I pardon my servant
very easily, and there is an end. As to the Jewish Scrip-
tures, how do I know but they were altered by themselves ?
They were wicked enough to do it, ju.st as they made a
HENRY MARTYN. 243
calf.' — In all these things I answered so fully that he
had nothing to reply." " In the afternoon I had a long
argument again with the Pundit. He, too, wanted to
degrade the person of Jesus, and said that neither Brahma,
Vishnu, nor Seib were so low as to be born of a woman ;
and that every sect wished to exalt its teacher, and so the
Christians did Jesus."
March 14. — "The quotations which I collected from
Scripture this day, in treating on the parable of the in-
considerate king, in order to illustrate the idea of the suf-
ferings to which Christians are exposed, seemed to offend
both the Moonshee and the Pundit very much. In con-
sidering the text — ' the time cometh when he that killeth
you shall think he doeth God service,' — he defended the
practice of putting infidels to death, and the certainty of
salvation to Moslems dying in battle with the infidels;
and said that it was no more strange than for a magistrate
to have power to put an offender to death. He took oc-
casion also to say, that both the New Testament, as we
gave it, and the church service also, were stuffed with
blasphemies. With the benighted Pundit I had a long
conversation, as he seemed to be more in earnest than I
had yet seen him. He asked whether by receiving the
Gospel he should see God in a visible shape ; — because,
he said, he had seen Sargoon the deity made visible : this
he affirmed with great gravity and earnestness. At night
I lost time and temper in disputing with the Moonshee,
respecting the lawfulness of putting men to death for blas-
phemy. He began by cavilling at the Lord's Prayer, and
ridiculing it ; particularly the expression, * hallowed be
thy name,' — as if the name of the deity was not already
holy. He said that ' prayer was not a duty amongst the
Mohammedans ; that reading the Numaz was merely the
praise of God ; and that as when a servant, after doing
his master's duty well, thought it a favorable opportunity
for asking a favor, so the Moslem, after doing his duty,
might ask of God riches or a son ; or, if he pleased, pa-
/
2 14 MEMOIR OF
tience in affliction.' This then is Mohammedanism, to
murder as infidels the children of God, and to live without
prayer."
"The conversation with the Pundit was more serious
than it has yet been : and I find that seriousness in the
declaration of the truths of the Gospel, is likely to have
more power than the clearest argument conveyed in a
trifling spirit. — I told him, that now he had heard the
word of Christ, he would not be tried at the last day by
the same law as the other Brahmins and Hindoos who had
never heard it, but in the same manner as myself and
other Christians ; and that I feared, therefore, that he was
in great danger. He said, as usual, that there were many
ways to God ; but I replied that there was no other Saviour
than Christ, because no other had bought men with his
blood, and suffered their punishment for them. This effec-
tually silenced him on that head : he then said that ' he
had a house and children, and that to preserve them he
must retain the favor of the world ; that he and his friends
despised idol-worship, but that the world would call him
wicked if he forsook the service of the gods.'"
" My Pundit grieved me, by showing that he knew no
more of the way of salvation than before. Alas! how
poor and contemptible are all my efforts for God, — if efforts
they can be called. He observed, that ' there was nothing
express in the book about the way of salvation, or as to
what one must do to be saved,' — the legalist's question in
every land."
" My Pundit observed, that I had said that forgiveness
would not be given for repentance only ; whereas, in the
third parable, in chap. xv. of St. Luke, the repentant sin-
ner was received at once. How could this be ? For his
part, he would rest his hope on the parables, in preference
to the other statements. How strange is the reluctance
which men have to depend on the righteousness of another !
He affirmed, that he was keeping all the commandments
of God. But when I charged him with worshipping the
HENRY MARTYN. 245
sun at his morning devotions, he confessed it; and said
that it was not forbidden in the ten commandments. I
then read him the passages relating to the worship of the
host of heaven, but he could see no harm in this species of
worship more than in making his salam to any other supe-
rior. With respect to the Sabbath, he said that he had
always kept that day by fasting, and that all Hindoos did
the same : but that no reason was given in the Shaster why
it was holy."
" Talking with the Moonshee on the old subjects, — the
divinity of Christ, Mohammed's challenge, &lc., — he did
not know of the system of the Mohammedan doctors, that
one passage abrogates another : but said that if I could
produce two commandments undeniably opposite, he would
throw away the book, and seek a new religion. Respect-
ing the promise of Mohammed, that they who die fighting
for Islam should certainly go to heaven, I said that my
objection was, that the person thus dying might be full of
envy, &lc., — and could such a person go to God? In an-
swer to this, he denied that the sins of the heart were sins
at all : and I could say nothing to convince him that they
were. To refute what he had said at some former times
about Mussulmen not remaining in hell for ever, I applied
our Saviour's parable of the servant beaten with many
stripes ; and asked him, ' if I had two servants, one of
whom knew my will, and the other did not, and both com-
mitted the same fault, — which was the more culpable?'
He answered — ' I suppose he who knew his master's will. '
I replied, ' yet according to you the enlightened Mussul-
men are to come out of hell, while Jews and Christians,
for the same sin, are to remain there for ever,' He had
not a word to reply ; but said he could give no answer,
' uglee,' but only ' nuglee,' — contradicting it on the au-
thority of the Koran. He spoke of the ineifectual en-
deavors of men to root out Islamism, as a proof of its being
from God ; and objected to Christianity because there were
no difficulties in it ; — devotion only once a week, — prayer
21*
246 MEMOIR OF
or no prayer, just when or where we pleased, — eating with
or without washing, — and that, in general, it was a life of
carelessness with us."
Toward the middle of the month of April, another sum-
mons, similar to that which had carried Mr. Martyn to
Buxar, called him from his studies and labors at Dinapore,
to Monghir. Not long before he undertook this expedi-
tion, we find him thus expressing himself, after an exam-
ination into the state of his heart before God. " My mind
much as usual, not tried by any violent assault of sin or
Satan ; but the daily cause of grief and shame, and indeed
the root of all sin, is forgetfulness of God. I perceive not
in what state I have been, till I come to pray." " Enjoyed
a greater stability of faith in the divine Redeemer. May
he make his servant steady, brave, and vigilant in his ser-
vice!" "Satan assaults me in various ways: some of his
temptations, respecting the person of my Lord, were dread-
fully severe : but he triumphed not a moment. I am taught
by these things to see what would become of me if God
should withdraw his mighty hand. Is there any depth
into which Satan would not plunge me ?"
*' My soul is sometimes tried with the abounding of
iniquity, and wounded by infidel thoughts. But my Re-
deemer has risen triumphant, and will not suffer his feeble
servant to be tempted above what I am able to bear."
" If there is one thing that refreshes my soul above all
others, it is, that I shall behold the Redeemer gloriously
triumphant, at the winding-up of all things. O thou in-
jured Sovereign, how long dost thou bear this ingratitude
from wicked mankind !"
" Still permitted to find sweet refuge in the presence of
my Lord, from infidelity, and from the proud world, and
the vanities of time."
" In prayer had an affecting sense of my shameful in-
gratitude. Had I behaved thus to an earthly benefactor,
shownig so little regard for his company, and his approba-
tion,— how should I abhor myself, and be abhorred by all :
HENRY MARTYN. g»47
O what a God is our God! How astonishingly rich, in
grace, bearing all with unceasing patience, and doing
nothing but crowning his sinful creature with loving-kind-
ness and tender mercies."
*' This is the day on which 1 left Cambridge. My
thoughts frequently recurred, with many tender recollec-
tions, to that seat of my beloved brethren, and I again
wandered in spirit amongst the trees on the banks of the
Cam."
''Employed in writing a sermon, and translating ; but
heavenly things become less familiar to my mind whilst I
am so employed without intermission. Yet the whole de-
sire of my heart is towards spiritual enjoyment O when
shall body, soul, and spirit, be all duly employed for God !"
" Dull and poor as my miserable soul is, and thinking
very little about heaven ; yet for aught else that is in this
world, existence is scarcely worth having. The world
seems as empty as air."
On the 18th of April, Mr. Martyn commenced his
voyage of nearly a hundred miles to Monghir.* The fol-
lowing is an extract from his journal during the eight days
that were consumed, in thus leaving his station to marry ^
€ouple, and in returning afterwards to Dinapore.
" After finishing the correction of the parables, I left
Dinapore to go to Monghir, Spent the evening at Patna
with Mr. G , in talking on literary subjects : but my
soul was overwhelmed with a sense of my guilt in not
striving to lead the conversation to something that might
be for his spiritual good. My general backwardness to
speak on spiritual subjects before the unconverted, made
me groan in spirit at such unfeelingness and unbelief.
May the remembrance of what I am made to suffer for
these neglects be one reason for greater zeal and love in
the time to come."
* Monghir is 259 miles fiom Calcutta. There are now 35 comi-
municants of the Baptist Mission. E.
248 MEMOIR OF
April 19th. — " A melancholy Lord's day ! In the morn-
ing, at the appointed hour, I found some solemnity and
tenderness; the whole desire of my soul seemed to be, that
all the ministers in India might be eminently holy ; and
that there might be no remains of that levity or indolence,
in any of us, which I found in myself The rest of the
day passed heavily ; for a hurricane of hot wind fastened
us on a sand-bank, for twelve hours ; while the dust was
suffocating, and the heat increased the sickness which was
produced by the tossing of the boat, and I frequently fell
asleep over my work. However, the more I felt tempted
to impatience and unhappiness, the more the Lord helped
me to strive against it, and to look to the fulness of Jesus
Christ. Several hymns, particularly
" There is a fountain filled with blood,'*
were very sweet to me. After all the acquisitions of hu-
man science, what is there to be compared with the knowl-
edge of Christ, and him crucified 1 — Read much of the
Scripture history of Saul, and the predictions in the latter
end of the Revelation. Read also Marshall on Sanctifi-
cation, Gibert^s Sermons, and Thomas a Kempis."
April 20. — '* A day very little better. I could scarcely
keep myself alive, and was much tried by evil temper.
Employed in writing to , and Mr. ; but all I did
was without energy; the long-wished for night came at
last, and my feeble body found rest and restoration in
sleep."
April 21. — " Again the love and mercy of the Lord
restored me to health and spirits. Began to write a
sermon on walking in Christ, and found my soul benefited
by meditation on the subject. In the afternoon went on
with translations. Arrived at sunset at Monghir."
April 23. — " Spent the day at 's. Found two or
three opportunities to speak to him about his soul.
threw out some infidel sentiments, which gave me an op-
HENRY MARTYN. 2l|9
portunity of speaking. But to none of the rest was I able
to say anything. Alas ! in what a state are mankind
everywhere ; living without God in the world. Married
to ."
April 23.—" After baptizing a child of 's, I left
Monghir, and got on twenty-three miles toward Dinapore :
very sorrowful in mind, both from the recollection of
having done nothing for the perishing souls I have been
amongst ; and from finding myself so unqualified to write
on a spiritual subject, which I had undertaken. Alas !
the ignorance and carnality of my miserable soul ! how
contemptible must it be in the sight of God.
April 24. — " Still cast down at my utter inability to
write anything profitable on this subject ; and at my exe-
crable pride and ease of heart. O that I could weep in
the dust, with shame and sorrow, for my wickedness and
folly ! Yet thanks are due to the Lord for showing me,
in this way, how much my heart has been neglected of
late. I see by this, how great are the temptations of a
missionary to neglect his own soul. Apparently outwardly
employed for God, my heart has been growing more hard
and proud. Let me be taught that the first great business
on earth is to obtain the sanctification of my own soul ; so
shall I be rendered more capable also of performing the
duties of the ministry, whether amongst the Europeans or
heathen, in a holy and solemn manner. Oh ! how I detest
that levity to which I am so subject ! How cruel and un-
feeling is it ! — God is my witness that I would rather, from
this day forward, weep day and night, for the danger of
immortal souls. But my wickedness seems to take such
hold of me, that I cannot escape ; and my only refuge is
to commit my soul, with all its corruption, into the hands
of Christ, to be sanctified and saved by His almighty
grace. For what can I do with myself; my heart is so
thoroughly corrupt that I cannot keep myself one moment
from sin. — Finished the Koran to-day, and considered with
250 MEMOIR OF
myself, why I rejected it as an imposition, and the reasons
appeared clear and convincing."
"The budgerow struck with such violence against a
sand-bank, that a poor Mohammedan boy, falling with all
the rest, broke his arm. We did all that we could, but
the cries of the poor boy went through my heart. At
night a tremendous north-wester came on, but the Lord
kept us in safety."
April 25. — " The morning employed, with little success,
on the same subject. I still find it too spiritual for my
carnal heart. My mind distressed with doubts whether I
shall make the people observe the Sabbath, by causing
them to lie by : but on considering, that they would not
think it a favor, but on the contrary, a vexation, — that they
could not sanctify it, — and that I had not given the mangee
notice before setting out, I resolved to go on ; though I
felt by no means easy. Before setting out again, I hope
to make up my mind satisfactorily on this subject."
April 26. — " In prayer, at the appointed hour, I felt
solemnity of mind, and an earnest desire that the Lord
would pour out a double portion of his Spirit upon us his
ministers in India; that every one of us may be eminent
in holiness and ministerial gifts. If I were to judge for
myself, I should fear that God had forsaken his church ;
for I am most awfully deficient in the knowledge and ex-
perience requisite for a minister; but my dear brother
Corrie, thanks be to God, is a man of a better spirit: —
may he grow more and more in grace, and continue to be
an example to us ! Passed the day in reading and prayer,
such as my prayers are. My soul struggled with corrup-
tion, yet I found the merit and grace of Jesus all-sufficient,
and all-supporting. Though my guilt .seemed like moun-
tains, I considered it as no reason for departing from
Christ, but rather for clinging to him more closely. Thus
I got through the day, cast down, but not destroyed. The
account of David's fall affected me more tenderlv than ever
HENRY MARTYN. 251
it did, and I could not help weeping over the fall of that
man of God. — Began Scott's Essays, and was surprised
indeed at the originality and vigor of the sentiments and~
language. At eight arrived at Patna."
, April 27. — " Left Patna and arrived at Dinapore. The
concourse of people in that great city was a solemn admo-
nition to me to be diligent in study and prayer. Thousands
of intelligent people together : — no Sabbath, — no word of
God, — no one to give them advice : — how inscrutable the
ways of God!"
Mr. Martyn had no sooner returned to Dinapore, than
he heard, to his sorrow and surprise, that the Ranee,
to v»^hom he had sent a Testament, together with some
advice upon the subject of religion, — was about to despatch
a messenger to him, to request a letter of recommendation
to one of the judges, before whom she had a cause pending
in which her dominions were at stake. *' I felt hurt," he
says, " at considering how lovv^ a sovereign princess must
have fallen to make such a request; but lost no time in
apprising her, that our laws were perfectly distinct from
the divine laws ; and that, therefore, this was no affair of
mine, as she seemed to suppose it to be."
In Mr. Martyn's schools, so much progress had now
been made, that it became necessary to determine what
books should be placed in the hands of the children who
could read. To give them at first the book of the parables
which he had prepared for their use, would, it was feared,
awaken suspicion in the breasts of their parents ; who had
already shown much jealousy respecting his designs. He
therefore deemed it the wisest measure to permit them to
use one of the Hindoo books, after having had it previously
read to him. It was a book which, if it did no good,
could, he thought, do no harm ; as it was an old Hinduwee
poem, on an Avatar of Vishnu, which it was impossible
for the children to understand.
His judgment on this question, — one of some difhculty
and embarrassment, — is thus given in a letter to Mr.
252 MEMOIR OF
Corrie. " Your schools flourish; — blessed be God ! The
Dinapore school is resorted to from all quarters, even from
the other side of the river. The Bankipore school is also
going on well. I do not institute more till I see the
Christian books introduced. The more schools the more
noise, and the more inquiry; and the greater suspicion
of its being of a political nature. Besides, if all the
schools were to come to a demur together, I fear their
deciding against us : but if one or two schools, with much
thought about it, comply with our wishes, it will be a pre-
cedent and example to others. I think you should not
dictate which of their books should be given ; but only
reserve the power of rejecting, amongst those which they
propose. I bless God that you are brought to act with
me on a broad and cautious plan : but I trust our motto
will be, 'constant, though cautious;' — never ceasing to
keep our attention steadily fixed on the state of things ;
and being swift to embrace every opportunity."
Amidst many causes of discouragement, — from the in-
attention of the women who attended his expositions on
the Sabbath, — the general profanation of that holy day by
Europeans, notwithstanding his solemn and repeated re-
monstrances,— and the vacillating conduct of some of his
flock, whom he had hoped to have seen stronger and
bolder in their Master's cause, — a letter from a young
officer, desiring, at this time, an acquaintance with Mr.
Martyn, on a religious account, was to him a source of
the most cheering delight. And yet, even before the
receipt of it, he could bless God, that he " felt impregna-
ble to any discouragement." "It was not," said he,
"that I was indifferent, or that I saw some encouraging
circumstances ; — but I was made to reflect, that I was the
servant of God in these things, and that he would surely
bring his purposes to pass, in some way or other."
In addition to Mr. Martyn's studies in Sanscrit, Per-
sian, and Hindoo Uanee, we find him now sedulously em-
ployed in reading Leland against the deistical writers;
HEiNRY MARTYN. 253
and thence drawing out arguments against the Koran.
But being fearful lest, in the midst of these pursuits, his
spirit should decline as to more important points, he thus
speaks : — '' May my soul, in prayer, never rest satisfied
without the enjoyment of God ! — May all my thoughts be
fixed on him ! May I sit so loose to every employment
here, that I may be able, at a moment's warning, to take
my departure for another world! May I be taught to
remember that all other studies are merely subservient to
the great work of ministering holy things to immortal
souls ! May the most holy works of the ministry, and
those which require most devotedness of soul, be the most
dear to my heart !"
Mr. Martyn, whilst thus occupied, was called to the
decision of a practical question of greater moment and
difficulty, than that respecting the introduction of books
into the schools ; — application having been made to him
for baptism by one of the native women. This request,
as the candidate manifested no signs of penitence or faith,
and could by no means be made to comprehend that any
thing further was necessary to constitute a Christian than
to say the Lord's Prayer, — he found himself compelled to
refuse. *' The party," he writes, ''went away in great
distress, and I felt much for them; but the Lord, I trust,
will not suffer me to listen to my own feelings, and pro-
fane his holy ordinances." That this point had been a
matter of anxious consideration with him, we learn from
a letter to Mr. Corrie. " Your account of a native woman
whom you baptized, came in season for me ; I have been
subjected to similar perplexities : but I think no one could
refuse baptism in the case you mention. The woman
who is now making the same petition here, promises to
marry, and comes frequently for instruction; but her
heart is not touched with any tender sense of sin, or of
her need of mercy. Yet if there be no scandal in her
life ; and she profess her belief in those points on which
candidates are interrogated in the baptismal service, may
•32
254 MEMOIR OF
I lawfully refuse? I cannot tell what to do; but I seem
almost resolved not to administer the ordinance, till con-
vinced in my own mind of the true repentance of the
person. The eventual benefit will be great, if we both
steadily adhere to this purpose; they will see that our
Christians and those of the Papists are different : and will
be led to investigate w^hat it is which, in our opinion, is
wanted." The determination to reject those candidates
for admission into the Church of England, who were
manifestly ignorant of the spirit of Christianity, though
convinced of the truth of it, — was fully adopted by Mr.
Marty n, after mature consideration ; and the decision w^as
doubtless agreeable to the word of God, and to the prac-
tice of the primitive times.
Much time, as we have already seen, had been devoted
by Mr. Martyn to the translation of the Scriptures into
Hindoostanee ; both before and after he quitted Calcutta.
To these exertions for the honor and glory of God, a new
stimulus was added, in the month of June in this year,
by a proposal from the Rev. David Brown, that he would
engage more directly in that important work ; in which
he had already proceeded to the end of the Acts of the
Apostles : and also, that he would superintend the trans-
lation of the Scriptures into Persian. This proposal he
eagerly, yet diffidently, accepted ; — and, animated by the
expectation of beholding his labors brought to a successful
termination, he prosecuted them with a delight commen-
surate with his ardent diligence.
" The time fled imperceptibly," he observes, " while so
delightfully engaged in the translations; the days seemed
to have passed like a moment. Blessed be God for some
improvement in the languages! May every thing be for
edification in the church ! What do I not owe to the
Lord, for permitting me to take part in a translation of his
word : — never did I see such wonder and wisdom and
love in the blessed book, as since I have been obliged to
study every expression ; and it is a delightful reflection,
HENRY MARTYN. 055
that death cannot deprive us of the pleasure of studying
its mysteries."
*' All day on the translations : — employed a good while
at night in considering a difficult passage ; and being
much enlightened respecting it, I went to bed full of
astonishment at the wonder of God's word : never before
did I see anything of the beauty of the language and the
importance of the thoughts as I do now. I felt happy that
I should never be finally separated from the contemplation
of them, or of the things about which they are written.
Knowledge shall vanish away, but it shall be because per-
fection shall come. Then shall I see as I am seen, and
know as I am known."
" What a source of perpetual delight have I in the
precious book of God ! O that my heart were more
spiritual, to keep pace with my understanding ; and that
I could feel as I know ! May my root and foundation be
deep in love, and may I be able to 'comprehend, with all
saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth
knowledge !' And may I be filled with all the fulness of
God 1" He adds, in his accustomed spirit of incessant
watchfulness, — " May the Lord, in mercy to my soul, save
me from setting up an idol of any sort in his place ; as I
do by preferring even a work professedly done for him, to
communion with him. How obstinate is the reluctance
of the natural heart to love God ! But, O my soul, be not
deceived ; thy chief work upon earth is, to obtain sancti-
fication, and to walk with God. ' To obey is better than
sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.' Let me
learn from this, that to follow the direct injunctions of
God, as to my own soul, is more my duty, than to be
engaged in other works, under pretence of doing him
service."
CHAPTER VII.
MR. MARTYN RECEIVES INTELLIGENCE OF THE DEATH
OP HIS ELDEST SISTER LETTERS TO HIS FRIENDS
IS REMOVED TO CAWNPORE HEARS OF THE DEATH
OF HIS YOUNGEST SISTER DETERMINES TO VISIT
ARABIA AND PERSIA LEAVES CAWNPORE FOR CALCUT-
TA DEPARTS FOR ARABIA.
Scarcely had Mr. Martyn girded up his loins with the
great and heavenly design of completing a version of the
Scriptures in Hindoostanee, and of superintending one in
the Persian tongue, — when the sovereign, wise, and
infinite love of his God summoned him to endure an afflic-
tion, more grievous than any which had befallen him since
those first bitter tears which he shed at the death of his
father. Apprehensions of the loss of his eldest sister had
been excited in his mind, by some expressions she herself
had dropped in a letter, which reached him a few weeks
before he received the fatal intelligence that she was no
more. A period of torturing suspense terminated in one
of inexpressible sorrow. But " blessed is the man whom
thou chastenest, O Lord." Gleams of this blessedness
shone forth from the cloud of that dark dispensation with
which Mr. Martyn was now visited. " O my heart, my
heart," he exclaimed, " is it, can it be true, that she has
been lying so many months in the cold grave! Would
that I could always remember it, or always forget it ; —
but to think for a moment of other things, and then to
MEMOIR OF MARTYN. 257
feel the remembrance of it coming, as if for the first time,
rends my heart asunder. When I look round upon the
creation, and think that her eyes see it not, but have
closed upon it for ever, — that I lie down in my bed, but
that she has lain down in her grave, — oh ! is it possible ?
I wonder to find myself still in life ; — that the same tie
which united us in life has not brought death at the same
moment to both. O great and gracious God ! what should
I do without thee ! But now thou art manifesting thyself
as the God of all consolation to my soul : — never was I so
near thee : — I stand on the brink, and long to take my
flight. There is not a thing in the world for which I
could wish to live, except the hope that it may please God
to appoint me some work. And how shall my soul ever
be thankful enough to thee, O thou most incomprehensibly
glorious Saviour Jesus ! O what hast thou done to alleviate
the sorrows of life ! and how great has been the mercy
of God towards my family, in saving us all! How dreadful
would be the separation of relations in death, were it not
for Jesus !"
Mr. Martyn's mind, under this painful deprivation, was
exceedingly comforted by a sure and certain hope, as it
respected her for whom he mourned. That delightful
expectation of meeting her in glory, which he has now
realized, was one powerful support to his heart, then over-
whelmed within him : for the letter which contained the
account of his loss, happily lefi: him no room to doubt
of his sister's eternal gain ; and that, through the grave
and gate of death, she had passed into the consumma-
tion of bliss, in the eternal and everlasting kingdom of
Christ.
" The European letter," he wrote to Mr. Brown, " con-
tained the intelligence of the death of my eldest sister.
A few lines received from herself about three weeks ago,
gave me some melancholy forebodings of her danger.
But though the Lord thus compassionately prepared me
for this affliction, I hardly knew how to bear it. We were
22*
258 MEMOIR OF
more united in affection to each other, than to any of our
relations: and now she is gone, I am left to fulfil as a
hireling my day, and then I shall follow her. She had
been many years under some conviction of her sins, but
not till her last illness had she sought in earnest for sal-
vation. Some weeks before her death, she felt the burden
of sin, and cried earnestly for pardon and deliverance;
and continued in the diligent use of the appointed means
of grace. Two days before her death, — when no imme-
diate danger was apprehended, — my youngest sister visited
her ; and was surprised and delighted at the change which
had taken place. Her convictions of sin were deep, and
her views clear ; her only fear was on account of her
own unworthiness. She asked, with many tears, whether
there v/as mercy for one who had been so great a sinner ;
— though in the eyes of the world she had been an ex-
emplary wife and mother ; — and said that she believed the
Lord would have mercy upon her, because she knew he
had wrought on her mind by His Spirit. Two days after
this conversation, she suddenly and unexpectedly left this
world of wo, while her sister was visiting a dying friend
at a distance. This, you will tell me, is precious consola-
tion ; indeed, I am constrained to acknowledge, that I
could hardly ask for greater; for I had already parted
with her for ever in this life : and, in parting, all I wished
for, was, to hear of her being converted to God ; and, if it
was his will, taken away, in due time, from the evil to
come ; and brought to glory before me. Yet human
nature bleeds ; — her departure has left this world a fright-
ful blank to me ; and I feel not the smallest wish to live,
except there be some work assigned for me to do in the
church of God."
Acutely as Mr. Martyn suffered, such importance did
he attach to those studies which had in view the manifes-
tation of the Gospel to regions ' sitting in darkness and the
shadow of death,' that he omitted the prosecution of them,
at this period, only for a single day. It was a duty, he
HENRY MARTYN. 259
thought incumbent on him, to return to his work as soon
as possible, however heavily his mind might be burdened ;
but his expressions many days afterwards declare into
what depths of grief he was sunk. ** My heart," said he,
" is still oppressed, but it is not ' a sorrow that worketh
death.' Though nature weeps at being deprived of all
hopes of ever seeing this dear companion on earth, faith
is thereby brought the more into exercise. How sweet
to feel dead to all below ; to live only for eternity ; to for-
get the short interval that lies between us and the spiritual
world ; and to live always seriously. — The seriousness
which this sorrow produces, is indescribably precious ; O
that I could always retain it, when these impressions shall
be worn away ! — My studies have been the Arabic gram-
mar, and Persian; — writing Luke for the women, and
dictating 1 Peter i. to my Moonshee. Finished the Gulistan
of Sadi, and began it again in order to mark all the
phrases which may be of use in the translation of the
Scriptures."
One fruit of Mr. Martyn's prayers, and result of his
prudence, was, the successful introduction into his schools,
shortly after this, of the Sermon on the Mount ; and on
the 2lst of September, he had the exquisite joy of hearing
the poor heathen boys reading the words of the Lord
Jesus. ' A wise man's heart,' saith Solomon, ' discerneth
both time and judgment.' It was in this spirit of patient
and dependent wisdom, that Mr. Martyn had acted re-
specting the schools ; and it was the same rare temper of
mind which prevailed on him still to abstain from preach-
ing publicly to the natives : again and again did he burn
to begin his ministry in Patna ; — but again and again did
he feel deeply the importance of not being precipitate.
It was not, however, without much difficulty, that he
checked the ardor of his zeal. He was determined to see
what the institution of schools and the quiet distribution
of the Scriptures would effect ; and was convinced that
public preaching at Jirst was incompatible with his plan
260 MEMOIR OF
of procedure ; whereas it was clear that a way would thus
be opened for preaching, of which object he never lost
sight. It was this which made him resist the solicitations
of those friends who would have detained him at Calcutta ;
and this it was which now occasioned him to decline a
very pressing invitation from Mr. Brown, urging him to
take the Mission Church at the Presidency. Dinapore
was in the midst of the heathen ; and Dinapore, further,
was a scene of tranquil retirement. These two considera-
tions caused Mr. Martyn to refuse to comply with the
very earnest desire of one whom he entirely esteemed and
loved. " If ever I am fixed at Calcutta," he wrote in
reply, " I have done with the natives ; for notwithstanding
previous determinations, the churches and people at Cal-
cutta are enough to employ twenty ministers. This is
one reason for my apparently unconquerable aversion to
being fixed there. The happiness of being near and with
you and your dear family, would not be a compensation for
this disappointment ; and having said this, I know of no
stronger method of expressing my dislike to the measure.
If God commands it, I trust I shall have grace to obey :
but let me beseech you all to take no step towards it ; for
I shall resist it as long as I can with a safe conscience."
" I am happier here in this remote land," he wrote in
his journal, "where I hear so seldom of what happens in
the world, than in England, where there are so many
calls to look at ' the things that are seen.' How sweet
the retirement in which I here live. The precious word
is now my only study, in the work of translation. Though
in a manner buried to the world, — neither seeing nor
seen by Europeans, — the time flows on here with great
rapidity : it seems as if life would be gone before any
thing is done, or even before anything is begun. I some-
times rejoice that I am not twenty-seven years of age ;
and that, unless God should order it otherwise, I may
double the number, in constant and successful labor. If
not, God has many, many more instruments at command ;
HENRY MARTYN. 261
and I shall not cease from my happiness, and scarcely
from my work, by departing into another world. Oh !
what shall separate us from the love of Christ ! Neither
death nor life, I am persuaded. Oh ! let me feel my
security, that I may be, as it were, already in heaven;
that I may do all my work as the angels do theirs ; and
oh ! let me be ready for every work ! — be ready to leave
this delightful solitude, or remain in it, — to go out, or go
in — to stay, or depart, just as the Lord shall appoint.
Lord, let me have no will of my own ; nor consider my
true happiness as depending in the smallest degree on any
thing that can befall my outward man ; but as consisting
altogether in conformity to God's will. May I have Christ
here with me in this world ; not substituting imagination
in the place of faith ; but seeing outward things as they
really are, and thus obtaining a radical conviction of their
vanity.
Mr. Martyn's spirits being much depressed by his
recent affliction, an invitation, or rather entreaty, so
strongly pressed upon him by one who had a great share
in his affection and esteem, — but which called, as he con-
ceived, for a direct and firm rejection, — could not but be
a matter of some disquiet to him. He had not, however,
the additional pain of witnessing the slightest variation in
his friend's attachment ; a circumstance which does not
always occur on similar occasions : for the fondness even
of Christian friendship will sometimes suffer an interrup-
tion from a disagreement respecting favorite projects and
designs.
To this perturbation of mind, comparatively light, a very
severe disappointment from another quarter succeeded — a
disappointment intended, doubtless, like his other troubles,
for the augmentation of his faith. Such strong represen-
tations had been made, by those whose judgment he highly
valued, respecting the dreariness of a distant station in
India, and the evils of solitude ; that he had deemed it
agreeable to the will of God to make an overture of
^-
262 MEMOIR OF
marriage to her, for whom time had increased, rather than
diminished, his affection. This overture, for reasons which
afterwards commended themselves to Mr. Martyn's own
judgment, was now declined ; on which occasion, suffering
sharply as a man, but most meekly as a Christian, he said,
" The Lord sanctify this ; and since this last desire of my
heart is also withheld, may I turn away for ever from the
world, and henceforth live forgetful of all but God. With
thee, O my God, is no disappointment. I shall never
have to regret that I have loved thee too well. Thou hast
said, ' delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee
the desires of thy heart.' "
"At first I was more grieved," he wrote some time
afterwards, " at the loss of my gourd, than for all the
perishing Ninevehs around me : but now my earthly woes
and earthly attachments seem to be absorbing in the vast
concern of communicating the Gospel to these nations.
After this last lesson from God, on the vanity of the crea-
ture, I feel desirous to be nothing, — to have nothing, — to
ask for nothing, but what he gives."
Providentially for Mr. Martyn's comfort, his thoughts
were much occupied, just after the receipt of this letter,
by the arrival of his coadjutors in the work of translation :
— one of them, Mirzaof Benares, was well known in India
as an eminent Hindoostanee scholar ; the other, Sabat the
Arabian, since but too well known, both in India and
England, by his rejection of that faith, which he then
appeared to profess in sincerity and truth. In the latter
of these Mr. Martyn confidently trusted that he had found
a Christian brother. Nor were these hopes respecting
Sabat's religious character more sanguine than both in
reason and charity he might fairly have entertained. Of
his abilities a most favorable report had been made by
Dr. Kerr, of Madras ; who represented him as a man of
good family in Arabia, — as having been employed as an
expounder of Mohammedan law at Masulipatam, — and as
being well skilled in the literature of his country. With
HENRY MARTYN. 263
respect to the reality of his belief in Christianity ; although
Mr. Martyn immediately discovered in him an unsubdued
Arab spirit, and witnessed, with pain, many deflections
from that temper and conduct which he himself so emi-
nently exemplified, — yet he could not but ' believe all
things, and hope all things,' even while he continued to
suffer much from him, and for a length of time, with
unparalleled forbearance and kindness. How could he
allow himself to cherish any doubt, when he beheld the
tears he shed in prayer, and listened to the confessions he
made of his sinfulness, and to the professions he uttered of
his willingness to correct whatever was reprehensible in
his behavior ! No sooner had he arrived at Dinapore,
than he opened to Mr. Martyn the state of his mind ;
declaring, with seeming contrition, that the constant sin
he found in his heart filled him with fear. " If the spirit
of Christ is given to believers, why," said he, " am I thus,
after three years' believing ? I determine every day to
keep Christ crucified in sight; but soon I forget to
think of him ! I can rejoice when I think of God's love
in Christ : but then I am like a sheep that feeds happily
whilst he looks only at the pasturage before him, but when
he looks behind and sees the lion, he cannot eat." " His
life," he avowed, " was of no value to him ; the experience
he had had of the instability of the world had weaned him
from it; his heart was like a looking-glass, fit for nothing
except to be given to the glass-maker to be moulded anew."
Can we wonder, concerning one who uttered, with ap-
parent sincerity and much earnestness, sentiments such as
these, — that Mr. Martyn should observe to Mr. Brown,
who had sent him from Calcutta to Dinapore, that "not
to esteem him a monument of grace, and to love him, is
impossible." And truly, notwithstanding all that time
has since developed, who will not hesitate in attributing
to Sabat the guilt of a systematic and well-concerted
tissue of hypocrisy ; and prefer to conclude that his judg-
ment was at that time enlightened, and his heart in some
264 MEMOIR OB'
measure impressed with a sense of what he believed?
Very soon, indeed, was Mr. Martyn called to rejoice over
this Mohammedan convert with great fear and trembling ;
for scarcely had he reached Dinapore, Avhen the violence
of his temper began to manifest itself The first Sunday
after his arrival, on coming to church, conceiving that all
due respect was not shown him, he would not wait till
service began, but abruptly left the church and returned
home; yet on Mr. Martyn's expostulations on his turn-
ing his back upon the house of God, on account of an
insult which was unintended, — he instantly confessed,
with seeming humiliation, that he had two dispositions ; the
one, his old one, which was a soldier's, and the other a
Christian's.
Many other signs of an unhumbled spirit in Sabat gave
rise to differences which were singularly distressing to a
man of such meekness as Mr. Martyn. Even before the
conclusion of that year, which when Sabat* entered under
Mr. Martyn's roof was drawing to a close, he was so grieved
at his spirit, that he could find relief only in prayer for him.
Yet, however disquieted he might, and could not but be, at
what he was called hourly to witness, in one brought into
such near contact with him, and bearing the name of a
Christian brother, — his own mind nevertheless enjoyed a
large measure of ' that perfect peace' in which those are
kept whose minds are stayed on God. He was continually
" rejoicing in the solid ground of Jesus' imputed right-
eousness ;" the greatness, the magnificence, the wisdom
of which, filled his mind ; he was continually thinking,
" Oh ! how is every hour lost that is not spent in the love
and contemplation of God, my God. O send out thy light
and thy truth, that I may live always sincerely, always-
affectionately, towards Thee !" " To live without sin, I
cannot expect in this world ; but to desire to live without
it, may be the experience of every moment." And he
* See Appendix G.
HENRY MARTYN. 265
closed the year like him who, at the end of a psalm of
holy and joyful aspirations, exclaims, ' I have gone astray
like a lost sheep,' in the following strain of brokenness of
spirit and abasement of soul : *' I seem to myself permitted
to exist only through the inconceivable compassion of God.
When T think of my shameful incapacity for the ministry,
arising from my own neglect, I see reason to tremble,
though I cannot weep. I feel willing to be a neglected
outcast, unfit to be made useful to others, provided my dear
brethren are prosperous in their ministry."
In the midst of various weighty employments, and of
much tribulation, Mr. Martyn passed into the year 1808;
on the first day of which, he thus reverted to his past life :
*' Few or no changes have occurred in the course of the
last year. I have been more settled than for many years
past. The events which have taken place, most nearly
interesting to myself, are my sister's death, and my disap-
pointment about L ; — on both these afflictions I have
seen love inscribed, and that is enough. What I think I
want, it is better still to want : but I am often wearied
with this world of wo. I set my affections on the crea-
ture, and am then torn from it ; and from various other
causes, particularly the prevalence of sin in my heart, I
am often so full of melancholy, that I hardly know what
to do for relief Sometimes I say, ' O that I had wings
like a dove, then would I flee away and be at rest;' at
other times, in my sorrow about the creature, I have no
wish left for my heavenly rest. It is the grace and favor
of God that have saved me hitherto : my ignorance, way-
wardness and wickedness would long since have plunged
me into misery ; but there seems to be a mighty exertion
of mercy and grace upon my sinful nature, every day, to
keep me from perishing at last. My attainments in the
divine life, in this last year, seem to be none at all ; I
appear, on the contrary, to be more self-willed and perverse ;
and more like many of my countrymen, in arrogance and
a domineering spirit over the natives. The Lord save me
23
266 MEMOIR OF
from my wickedness! Henceforth let my soul, humbly
depending upon the grace of Christ, perfect holiness in the
fear of God, and show towards all, whether Europeans or
natives, the mind that was in Christ Jesus."
In the beginning of this year, Mr. Martyn's situation at
Dinapore Avas rendered far less agreeable than heretofore,
—much as he loved retirement,- — by the removal of the
only family with whom he lived upon terms of Christian
intimacy ; a family for whom he had no com.mon affection;
to whom he had been the means of first imparting serious
impressions; whom he had exhorted, watched over, and
prayed for, and whom he unceasingly followed with his
intercessions, when he could no longer reach them with
his exhortations. " The departure of ," he writes,
*' seemed to leave me without human comfort; my regard
for them has increased very much of late; I have seen
marks of grace more evidently. It is painful to be de-
prived of them just at this time : yet the Lord knoweth
them that are his, and will keep them, through faith, unto
eternal salvation." The following is an extract of a letter
to Mrs. on this occasion.
" Dinapore, January 8, 1808.
** Your departure has left the Arab and me in such
gloom, that 1 cannot yet find in his society a supply for
yours. I still continue, therefore, one of your camp-
followers ; often every day accompanying you in my
thoughts as you travel along ; and I now despatch some
china-paper, to overtake you, and assure you once more
of my good wishes and prayers. After leaving you on
Monday, I crossed the river and solemnized the nuptials
of , without the intervention of anything untoward.
Next morning, at Patna, I walki^d out in hopes of having
one more sight of the battalion and my friends in it. But
some of the slow-moving baggage hackeries only, in the
rear, showed where you had passed. The nearness of
your second day's camp was a strong temptation to add
HENRY MARTYN. 267
myself again to your number ; and it might have been
easily accomplished ; but the pain of repeated farewells
deterred me from going. So I set my face towards
Dinapore again; and now, as often as I traverse, in my
evening walk, the spot where tl^ pale grass marks your
former abode ; and as often as I bring out the Koran from
the book-room, without taking up the Hebrew for you, I
join with Sabat in regretting that 'the faithful is gone.'
But only continue to deserve the name, my dear friends,
and we shall sorrow the less at your departure. Cleave
to him, in duty, — in affection, — in bearing his reproach, —
and we are never separated. If I am so happy as to hear
good tidings of you, and that you grow in faith and love,
I shall be contented. Friendship must not selfishly
repine at a separation appointed by God. Yesterday a
letter came from P , who says that trials are awaiting
you ; — that your gay friends will oppose, &c. — but enter
Burhampore armed with strong resolutions, and depending
on the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and you will stand
firm."
This separation affected him the more sensibly, because
it was not in every family at that station that he met with
a kind, much less a cordial, reception. '' I called," says
he, "on the 15th of January, on one of the Dinapore
families ; and felt my pride rise at the uncivil manner in
which I was received. I was disposed at first to deter-
mine never to visit the house again, but I remembered the
words, — 'Overcome evil with good.' " :■
So much as Mr. Martyn was concerned for the salvation
of the heathen, it will readily be surmised that the state of
the Native Christians, — sunk as they were into a condition
of equal ignorance and wickedness with the heathen,^—
would excite his peculiar sympathy and anxiety. Their
lamentable case was never forgotten by him. At the
commencement of the present year, especially, it lay so
near his heart, that he resolved to ascertain what might
w/
MEMOIR OF
be effected at Patna in behalf of those wretched people,
who * had a name to live, but were dead.' Without loss
of time, therefore, he made an offer to the Roman Catho-
lics there, of preaching to them on Sundays; — but the
proposal was rejected. Had it been accepted, he pro-
posed to have made it the ground-work of a more exten-
sive publication of the Gospel to the inhabitants at large.
"Millions perishing," he said, much affected at the
reflection, " in the neighborhood of one who can preach
the Gospel to them ! how wonderful ! I trust the Lord will
soon open a great and effectual door. Oh ! for faith,
zeal, courage, love !"
In consequence of the state of the weather at this
season of the year, the public celebration of divine service
on the Sabbath was suspended for a considerable time at
Dinapore; a circumstance as painful to Mr. Marty n, as it
was pleasing to the careless and worldly part of his con-
gregation. Upon the serious inconvenience, and yet more
serious detriment to the spiritual interest, of his flock,
arising from the want of a church, he had already pre-
sented a memorial to the governor-general ; and orders to
provide a proper place for public worship had been issued :
nothing effectual, however, was yet done ; and Mr. Mar-
tyn's love for the souls intrusted to him, not allowing him
to bear the thought of their being scattered for a length
of time, as sheep without a shepherd : — he came to the
resolution of opening his own house, as a place in which
the people might assemble in this emergency. About the
middle of February he writes, " As many of tlie European
regiment as were effective were accommodated under my
roof; — and, praised be God, we had the public ordinances
once more. My text was from Isaiah, iv. 5. * The Lord
will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and
upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and
the shining of a flaming fire by night : for upon all the
glory shall be a defence.' In the afternoon, I waited for
the women, but not one came : perhaps, by some mistake,
HEiNRY MARTYN. 2(J9
notice had not been given them. At the hospital, and
with the men at night, I was engaged, as usual, in prayer :
— my soul panted after the living God, but it remained
tied and bound with corruption. I felt as if I could have
given the world to be brought to be alone with God ; and
the promise that ' this is the will of God, even our sancti-
fication,' — was the right hand that upheld me while I
followed after him. When low in spirits, through an un-
willingness to take up the cross, I found myself more
resigned in endeavoring to realize the thought which had
often composed me in my trials on board the ship, —
namely, that I was born to suffer ; — that suffering is my
appointed daily portion; let this reconcile me to every
thing ! To have a will of my own, not agreeable to God's,
is a most tremendous wickedness. I own it is so, for a
few moments : but, Lord, write it on my heart ! In perfect
meekness and resignation, let me take whatever befalls me
in the path of duty, and never dare to think of being
dissatisfied."
As far as it respected Mr. Martyn's health, a temporary
interruption of his ministerial duty would have proved a
favorable occurrence : he was beginning again to suffer
from some severe pains in the chest, which first attacked
him in the autumn of the preceding year. Desiring to be
as " a flame of fire in the service of his God, and panting
for the full employment of every day," the early morning,
as well as the closing evening, found him engaged in his
delightful labors ; but he perceived that the body could
not keep pace with the soul, in this career of unceasing
activity : '' the earthly tabernacle weighed down the spirit,
whilst musing upon many things," and compelled him, tor
a while at least, to moderate the vehemence of these exer-
tions. By the month of March, however, the great work,
for which myriads in the ages yet to come will gratefully
remember and revere the name of Martyn, — the Version
of the New Testament in Hindoostanee, — was brought to a
completion ; nor, — if we consider how much time he had
23*
270 MEMOIR OF
spent upon it, evei since he arrived at Calcutta, and how
laboriously he prosecuted it, after Mr. Brown had sum-
moned him to direct all his efforts to that end, — can it be
affirmed that it was hurried to a conclusion with a heed-
less and blameable precipitancy.
" 'Twas not the hasty product of a day ;
But the well-ripened fruit of wise delay."
: **It is a real refreshment to my spirit," Mr. Martyn re-
marks to Mr. Corrie, just at the moment of sending off
the first page of the Testament to Calcutta, in the be^
ginning of April, "to take up my pen to write to you.
Such a week of labor I believe I never passed, not ex-
cepting even thie last week before going into the Senate^
House. I have read and corrected the manuscript copies
of my Hindoostanee Testament so often that my eyes
ache. The heat is terrible, often at 98° ; the nights in-
supportable." Such was his energy in a climate tending
to beguile him into ease and indolence; so entirely
*' whatsoever he had to do," did he "do it with all his
might."
Throughout the remainder of the year 1808, till his re-
moval to Cawnpore, Mr. Martyn's life flowed on in the
same tranquil course of usefulness and uniformity. He
was occupied in revising the sheets of the Hindoostanee
version of the New Testament, which he had completed ; —
he superintended the Persian translation confided to Sa-
bat;— he gave himself to the study of Arabic, that he
might be qualified to take part with Sabat in another
version of the New Testament into that tongue ; — he con-
tinued also to minister to the Europeans and the natives
at the hospital; — and he daily received the more religious
part of his flock at his own house whilst his health per-
mitted. A serious attack, similar to that which he ex-
perienced on his journey to Portsmouth, occurred towards
the end of the summer, and was productive of the follow-
HENRY MARTYN. 271
ing efTusion, bearing a preeminent impress of the Spirit
of God, No one, surely, ever touched a string more in
unison with the harps of angels and saints in light, than
he who wrote thus on the evening of a day expected to
be his last.
"I little thought to have had my faith brought to a
trial so soon. This morning, while getting up, I found a
pain in the centre of my body, which increased to such a
degree, that fever and vertigo came on, and I fainted.
The dreadful sensation was like what I once felt in Eng-
land, but by no means so violent or long continued ; — ^^as
then, also, I was alone. After recovering my senses, and
lying in pain which made me almost breathless, I turned
my thoughts to God; and oh! praise to his grace and
iovcj I felt no fear; — but I prayed earnestly that I might
have a little relief to set my house in order and make my
will. I also thought with pain of leaving the Persian
Gospels unfinished. By means of some ether, the Lord
gave me ease, and I made my will. The day was spent
in great weakness, but my heart was often filled with the
sweetest peace and gratitude for the precious things God
hath done for me."
" I found delight at night in considering, from the be-
ginning, all that God had done in crieation, providence,
and grace, for my soul. O God oflove, how shall I praise
Thee! happiness, bliss forever, lies before me. Thou
hast brought me upon this stage of life to see what sin
and misery are; — myself, alas! most deeply partaking in
both. But the days and the works of my former state,
fraught with danger and with death, are no more; and
the God of benevolence and love hath opened to me
brighter prospects. Thine I am ; ' My beloved is mine,
and I am his;' and now I want none but Thee. I am
alone with Thee in this world ; and when I put off this
mortal tabernacle, I shall still be with Thee, whatever
that unknovv^n change may be; and 1 shall be before
Thee, not to receive honor, but to ascribe praise. Yes 1
272 MEMOIR OF
I shall then have power to express my feelings ; I shall
then, without intermission, see and love ; and no cloud of
sorrow overcast my mind. I shall then sing, in worthy,
everlasting strains, the praises of that divine Redeemer,
whose works of love now reach beyond my conception,"
From the even tenor of his life at this period, it cannot
be expected that incidents of a very striking nature should
arise ; yet the description which he himself has given of it
in the following extracts, drawn chiefly from a free and
frequent correspondence with his endeared friends and
brethren, the Rev. David Brown and the Rev. Daniel
Corrie, will not be wholly devoid of interest to those who
have hitherto watched him, with love and admiration, on
his way to heaven.
" April 16, 1808.
" This day I have received yours of the 8th : like the
rest of your letters, it set my thoughts on full gallop, from
which I can hardly recover my breath. Sabat's letter I
hesitate to give him, lest it should make him unhappy
again. He is at this moment more quiet and Christian in
his deportment than I have yet seen him. Arabic now
employs my few moments of leisure. In consequence of
reading the Koran with Sabat, audibly, and drinking no
wine, the slander has gone forth amongst the Christians
at Patna, — that the Dinapore Padre has turned Mus-
sulman."
" To the Rev. D. Brown.''
'^April 26, 1808.
" This day I sent off a chapter of Hindoostanee, of St.
Matthew. The name I design for my work is, — Benoni,
the son of my affliction: for through great tribulation will
it come out. Sabat has kept me much upon the fret this
week : when he had reached the ninth chapter, the idea
seized him, that Mirza might receive some honor from
his inspecting the work. He stopped immediately ; and.
Bay what I will, he determines not to give me the smallest
help in correcting the Hindoostanee."
" To the Rev. D. Brown."
HENR if MARTYN. 273
" May 9th, 1808.
" Sabat, having one of his head-aches, leaves me at
liberty to take a complete sheet. This week has passed,
as usual, in comparing the Persian and Greek ; yet we
are advanced no further than the end of the 15th of Mat-
thew. Notwithstanding the vexation and disappointment
Sabat has occasioned me, I have enjoyed a more peace-
able week than ever since his arrival. I do not know how
you find the heat, but here it is dreadful : in one person's
quarters yesterday it was at 102° : perhaps it was on that
account that scarcely any women came. Another reason
I assign is, that I rebuked one of them last Sunday, yet
very gently, for talking and laughing in the church before
I came ; so yesterday they showed their displeasure by not
coming at all. I spoke to them on the parable of the
great supper : the old woman, who is always so exem-
plary in her attention, shed many tears : I have some-
times endeavored to speak to her, but she declines con-
versation. I feel interested about her, there is so much
sorrow and meekness depicted in her countenance ; but
she always crosses herself after the service is over. Yes-
terday, for the first time, I baptized a child in Hindoos-
tanee. My Europeans, this week, have not attended very
well ; — fifteen only, instead of twenty-five ; some of them,
indeed, are in the hospital ; and the hospital is a town of
itself; — how shall I ever be faithful to them all?"
" To the Rev. D. Corrie:'
'^ May 31, 1808.
*' Yours of the 24th instant arrived to-day, and relieved
me from much anxiety respecting your own health. Still
you do not say whether the Hindoostanee sheets have ar-
rived. I do not wonder at your inquiring about the Per-
sian. To-day we finish comparing St. Matthew with the
Greek, if it may be called a comparison ; for, partly owing
to the errors of the scribe, rendering whole verses unin-
telligible ; — and partly on account of Sabat's anxiety to
preserve the rhythm, which often requires the change of a
274 MEMOIR OF
whole sentence for a single word, — it is a new translation.
We have labored hard at it to-day ; from six in the morning
till four in the afternoon."
" To the. Rev. D. Brown."
'' June 6, 1808.
" To-day we have completed the Persian of St. Mat-
thew, and to-morrow it is to be sent off to be printed.
Sabat desired me to kneel down to bless God for the
happy event, and we joined in praise of ' the Father of
Lights.' It is a superb performance in every respect.
Sabat is prodigiously proud of it ; I wish some mistakes
may not be found in it, to put him to shame. Among the
events of the last week is the earthquake ; we were just
reading the passage of the 24th of Matthew, on * earth-
quakes in divers places,' when I felt my chair shake under
me ; then some pieces of the plaster fell ; on which I
sprang up and ran out :— the doors had still a tremulous
motion. The edition of the Gospel must be announced as
* printed at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible
Society.' "
" To the Rev. D. Corrie."
" June 7, 1808.
" This day we have sent the Persian of St. Matthew.
Sabat is not a little proud of it. Your design of announc-
ing the translation, as printed at the expense of the British
and Foreign Bible Society, I highly approve ; I wish to see
honor put upon so godlike an institution. Mirza returned
yesterday, and again there are symptoms of disquiet in
Sabat. Pray for us."
'• To the Rev. D. Bro2cn.''
'• BanUpore, June 23, 180S.
'* I groan at the wickedness and infidelity of men, and
seem to stretch my neck every way to espy a righteous
man. All at Dinapore treat the Gospel with contempt ;
here there is nothing but infidelity. I am but just arrived,
and am grieved to find in my old friend less proofs
of real acquaintance v.ith the Gospel than I used to hope.
HENRY MARTYN. 275
On my way here I called on Col. , and advised him
to marry or separate ; — the alternative I am ever insisting
on. As soon as I arrived, Mr. — -- — informed me that the
reason why no one came to hear me, was, ' that I preached
faith without works, and that little sins are as bad as great
ones,' and that thus I tempted them to become great sin-
ners. A young civilian, who some time ago came to me
desiring satisfaction on the evidences of Christianity, and
to whom I spoke very freely, and with some regard, as I
could not doubt his sincerity, now holds me up to ridicule.
Thus, through evil report, we go on. Oh! my brother !
how happy I feel, that all have not forsaken Christ; that
I am not left alone even in India. ' Cast thy burden on
the Lord, and he shall sustain thee,' is the text I carry
about w ith me, and I can recommend it to any body as an
infallible preservative from the fever of anxiety."
" To the Rev. D. Corrie:'
« June 2C, 1808.
*' The day after I wrote to you from Bankipore, I called
on the Nawaub, Babir Ali Khan, celebrated for his sense
and liberality. I staid two hours with him, conversing in
Persian, but badly. He began the theological discussion
by requesting me to explain necessity and free-will ; I in-
stantly pleaded ignorance. He gave his own opinion ; on
which I asked him for his proofs of the religion of Mo-
hammed. His first argument was the eloquence of the
Koran, but he at last acknowledged that this was insuffi-
cient. I then brought forward a passage or two in the
Koran, containing sentiments manifestly false and foolish :
he flourished a good deal, but concluded by saying, that I
must wait till I could speak Persian better, and had read
their logic. His whole manner, look, authority, and
copiousness, reminded me constantly of Dr. . This
was the first visit, and I returned highly delighted with
his sense, candor, and politeness. Two days after I went
to breakfast with him, and conversed with him in Hin-
doostanee. He inquired what were the principles of the
276 MEMOIR OF
Christian religion ; I began with the atonement, the
divinity of Christ, the corruption of human nature, the
necessity of regeneration, and a holy life. He seems to
wish to acquire information, but discovers no spiritual de-
sire after the truth. So much for this Mussulman lord :
now for Antichrist in another shape, — the Popish Padre,
Julius Caesar. I asked him whether the doctrine I had
heard from the Franciscan brethren in America was his ;
— Extra JSccksiam Romanam salus non esse potest ? He
said that it was a question on which disputations were
constantly held at Rome. By some means we got upon
the additions made to the Commandments by the Church
of Rome ; he said that Christianity without Councils was
a city without walls ; and that Luther, Calvin, &lc. had
made additions ; all which I denied, and showed him the
last verses in the Revelation. Upon the whole, our con-
versation seemed without benefit."
<' To the Rev. D. Corrie."
" July 2, 1808.
**My work is very delightful in itself, but it is doubly
so by securing me so much of your correspondence. My
eyes seized your beloved hand-writing with more eager-
ness than even if the letter had been from Europe. I re-
joice with you and praise God for one Gospel in Persian.
With elegance enough to attract the careless and please
the fastidious, — it contains enough of Eternal Life to save
the reader's soul ; therefore, if we do no more, we are
happy that something is done. We are safe with the Hin-
doostanee : it wants but little correction, and in case of
my death, could be easily prepared by any one. I am
anxious to hear of the new plans you are about to propose
to me : let them not be in the way of recreation ; my only
exertion — and that, through indolence, is small — is to keep
my heart rightly disposed to minister to my congrega-
tion at night. I shrink from the idea of Sanscrit : the
two or three months I spent in striving to penetrate
its unwieldy grammar were more painful to me, than any
HENRY MARTYN. 277
since the sorrowful days when I first began to learn
Greek."
" To the Rev. D. Browne
" July 4, 1808.
•* I have received no letter fi-om you this week. When
Sunday came, and no letter arrived from you, I began to
entertain the romantic notion that perhaps my brother
himself would come and preach for me at night. I am
now on my way to Patna by water. The Italian Padre
came to Dinapore again on Saturday, but did not call upon
me : the men sent him a letter, to which he replied in
French, that he lamented he could not speak their lan-
guage, but should remember them in his prayers, and
spoke of them as brethren in Christ. When he came into
the barracks, the Catholics crowded round him by hun-
dreds, and in a tone of triumph pointed out his dress — that
of a Franciscan friar — to the Protestants, contrasting it
with that of a Clergyman of the Church of England,
booted and spurred, and ready for a hunt. The Catholics
in this regiment amount to a full thousand, — the Protest-
ants are scarcely discernible. Who would think that we
should have to combat Antichrist again at this day 1 I
feel my spirit roused to preach against Popery with all the
zeal of Luther. How small and unimportant are the
hair-splitting disputes of the blessed people at home, com-
pared with the formidable agents of the devil with whom
we have to combat here ! There are four casts of people
in India : the first, heathen ; the second, Mohammedans ;
the third, papists; the fourth, infidels. Now I trust that
you and I are sent to fight this four-faced devil, and by
the help of the Lord Jesus, whom we serve, we will. I
was rather apprehensive yesterday that my female hearers
would have forsaken me ; but they came as usual, and the
words, ' Search the Scriptures,' occurring in the chapter
of the day, I took occasion to point out to them the wick-
edness of the church of Rome, in forbidding the use of the
Scriptures."
" To the Rev. D. Carrier
24
a7S MEMOIR OF '
"Jw^T/ll, 1808. '
" A loquacious Brahmin having interrupted us in our
work, I leave him to Sabat, and turn my thoughts with
more pleasure Chunar-ward. My last letter left me at
Patna. The Catholic Padre, Julius Csesar, had gone to
Dinapore that very day, to say mass ; but at Babir Ali's I
met with a very agreeable Armenian Padre, named Mar-
tin, who kept my tongue employed nearly the whole of the
day. I tried him once or twice in spiritual things, but on
these he had nothing to say. His dress was a little black
cassock, exactly such as we wear, or ought to wear : the
top of his head was shaved like the Franciscans. 1 am
almost ashamed of my secular appearance before these
very venerable and appropriate figures. — The Catholics in
the regiment are a thousand strong, and are disposed to
be malicious : they respect me, however, and cannot help
thinking that I have been taught by Roman Catholics, or
have been in some way connected with them : at the hos-
pital, the greater number kept themselves aloof My so-
ciety, this week, has occasioned me great trouble ; one man
was the occasion of it : still his professions, and earnest-
ness not to be excluded, make it difficult to know how to
deal with him. Certainly there is infinitely better disci-
pline in the Romish church than in ours, and if ever I
were to be the pastor of native Christians, I should en-
deavor to govern with equal strictness. My female hear-
ers do not give me half such encouragement as yours ;
probably because I do not take such pains with them ; yet
there is no trouble I would spare, if I knew how to reach
their minds. They were only fourteen yesterday. I
spoke to them on the text, ' Lord, to whom shall we go.?
thou hast the words of eternal life.' To whom shall we
go? — To the Padre, — to the Virgin Mary, — to the Saints,
— to the world, — to works, — to repentance ? No : to Christ."
" To the Rev. D. Corrie."
" July 18, 1808.
" I mentioned to you that I had spoken very plainly to
HE^iRY MAH'rV.X. 279
the women last Sunday on the delusions of the Papists :
yesterday only seven came. I ascribed it to what I had
said , but to-day Sabat tells me that they pour contempt
upon it all. Sabat, instead of comforting and encouraging
me in my disappointments and trials, aggravates my pain
by contemptuous expressions of the perfect inutility of con-
tinuing to teach them. He may spare his sarcastic re-
marks, as I suppose that after another Sunday none at all
will come. I find no relief but in prayer : to God I can
tell all my griefs, and find comfort. Last Tuesday the
Padre, Julius Caesar, came and staid with me four hours.
We argued with great vehemence : when I found that he
had nothing to say in defence of the adoration of the Vir-
gin Mary and the saints, I solemnly charged him and his
church with the sin of idolatry ; — he started, and said that
if I had uttered such a sentiment in Italy, I should have
been burned. He certainly seems sincere; and at one
time he lifted up his eyes, and prayed that I might not
convert him, and that God would never suffer the Protest-
ant religion to enter Italy. His main argument against
me was, the disorder and impiety prevalent among the
Protestants, whom he had had an opportunity of observing
in Geneva and Leghorn. This disputation has brought us
to be quite familiar in our acquaintance : he looked over
all my books, and found a French one called ' The
Crimes of the Popes ;' which he desired to have ; but re-
collected afterwards that his coadjutor might see it. I
feel a regard for him : he is a serious and unassuming
young man."
" To the Rev. D. CorrieJ'
"Jlugust 1,1808.
" One day this week, on getting up in the morning, I
was attacked with a very serious illness. I thought I was
leaving this world of sorrow ; and, praised be the God of
grace, I felt no fear. The rest of the day I was filled with
sweet peace of mind, and had near access to God in
prayer. What a debt of love and praise do we owe !
280 MEMOIR OF
Yesterday I attempted to examine the women who attend-
ed (in number about thirty) in Christian knowledge : they
were very shy, and said that they could say no prayers
but in Portuguese. It appears that they were highly in-
censed, and went away, saying to Joseph, ' We know a
great deal more than your Padre himself.' The services
much weakened me, after my late attack."
*^ To the Rev. D. Corrie.''
" Jugtist 8, 1808.
" I called on the Commander-in-chief here on Saturday
morning, and was received very graciously. I told him
that it was a duty we owed to God as a nation, to erect
churches ; and asked whether Lord Minto was disposed to
go on with it ; to which he replied in the affirmative. I
enlarged on the shame I felt in my disputes with the
Popish Padres, as often as they threw out reflections on
the utter disregard of the Protestants to religion. Julius,
the Padre, has been here twice this week, but staid only
a very short time. He began to assert, with very great
vehemence, the necessity of an infallible judge, in order
to settle all disputes on religion ; and mentioned how
much he had been agitated by his last dispute with me ;
he could do nothing but walk about that night; — yet
looked up to God and became tranquil. The men are
fast dying in the hospital, yet they would rather be sent to
Patna for some holy oil, than hear the word of eternal
life. — Two or three of my evening hearers are in the hos-
pital ; one is prepared to die : blessed sight ! The Per-
sian of St. Mark is to be sent to-morrow, and five chapters
of Luke, corrected. There is no news from down the
stream ; but always glad tidings for us from the world
above."
" To the Rev. D. Corrie."
" August 15, 1808.
" Glad am I that we are likely to meet so soon ; may it
be * in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of peace.'
Last week Mohammed Babir, the Mohammedan lord, and
HENRY iMARTYN. 281
Padre Martino, spent three days here. Little, I am sorry
to say, has been done. Sabat did not appear to advan-
tage : instead of speaking about the Gospel to Babir, he
was reciting poetry, particularly his own ; and seemed
more anxious to gain admirers than converts. We did,
however, at last converse about religion ; but Mohammed
confessed himself an infidel, and required proof for the
truth of any religion. Sabat was not prepared for this, so
I attempted to speak to Babir upon the nature of probable
evidence : but he did not understand me : so this came to
nothing. One day we sat down to dinner before Sabat
came, and, to our great astonishment, he rebuked us, with
much wrath and pride. With all Babir's gentleness, he
rebuked him in his turn, and told him that the Persians
and English knew how to behave, but the Arabs did not.
Babir was so lavish in his compliments to us all, that it
was difficult to get at his real sentiments ; but he pr.-vised
Sabat's Persian translation to the stars ; which I was glad
to hear. As for the poor Padre, with an exterior so im-
posing that you would think St. Peter himself was present,
he knows nothing at all. I tried him on spiritual things
again and again : — but he could say nothing. Alas ! how
fallen from what their fathers were ! When shall the
churches of Asia recover their ancient glory ? You will
see the Nabob and Padre soon, I hope. Last Tuesday
we sent oif the Persian of St. Mark."
" To the Rev. D. Corrie."
" September 9, 1808.
*' Corrie is here, and likely to remain, to my joy. You
will have some happy hours together, I doubt not : with all
your cares and trials, you claim all the consolation we can
give ; and you shall have more than that, if we can obtain
anything for you by our prayers. Corrie will bring you
but a poor account of my congregation : I am much neg-
lected on all sides, and without the work of translation I
should fear that my presence in India were useless."
" To the Rev. D. Brown:'
24*
282 MEMOIR OF
.. " October, 1808.
-.£.*.* I deserve your reproof for not having written to you
oftener ; and I am pained at the anxiety I have thought-
lessly occasioned you. I console myself, however, by
reflecting that a letter must have reached you a few
weeks after you sent your last. I am sorry that I have
not good accounts to give of my health ; yet no danger is
to be apprehended. My services on the Lord's day
always leave me a pain in the chest, and such a great
degree of general relaxation, that I seldom recover it till
Tuesday. A few days ago I was attacked with a fever,
which, by the mercy of God, lasted but two days. I am
now well, but must be more careful for the future. In
this debilitating climate the mortal tabernacle is frail in-
deed : my mind seems as vigorous as ever, but my deli-
cate frame soon calls for relaxation ; and I must give it,
though unwillingly ; for such glorious fields for exertion
open all around, that I could with pleasure be employed
from morning to night. ; It seems a providential circum-
stance, that the work at present assigned me is that of
translation ; for had I gone through the villages, preach-
ing, as my intention led me to do, I fear that by this time
I should have been in a deep decline. In my last I gave
you a general idea of my employments. The society still
meet every night at my quarters, and though we have lost
many by death, others are raised up in their room ; one
officer, a Lieutenant, is also given to me ; and he is not
only a brother beloved, but a constant companion and
nurse ; so you must feel no apprehension that I should be
left alone in sickness ; neither on any other account should
you be uneasy. You know that we must meet no more
in this life : therefore since we are, as I trust, both chil-
dren of God by faith in Jesus Christ, it becomes a matter
of less consequence when we leave this earth. Of the
spread of the Gospel in India I can say little, because 1
hear nothing. Adieu, my dearest sister : let us live in
constant prayer, for ourselves, and for the church."
To his Sister.
HENRY MARTYN. 283
" October 19, 1808.
" I have just come out of my chapel, where, with my
little flock, I have once more resumed my duties. The
infrequency of my appearance among them of late has
thinned them considerably ; and this effect, which I fore-
saw, is one of the most painful and lamentable conse-
quences of my withdrawing from them ; but it is unavoid-
able if I wish to prolong my life. My danger is from the
Jungs ; though none of you seem to apprehend it. One
complete service at church does more to consume my
strength and spirits than six days of the hardest study, or
^Dodily labor. Pray for me, my dear brother, that I may
neither be rash nor indolent."
" To the Rev. D. Corrie."
" October 2i,180S.
" You mention a letter enclosed, but none came. The
intelligence, however, intended to be conveyed by it, met
my delighted eyes. Thomason* is coming ! This is good.
Praise be to the Lord of the harvest, for sending out la-
borers! Behold how the prayers of the society at Cal-
cutta have been heard. I hope they will continue their
supplication; for we want more yet, and it may please
God yet further to bless us. You cannot leave Calcutta
by the middle of November, and must therefore apply for
one month's extension of leave. But you are unwilling to
leave your flock ; and I do not wonder, as I have seen
my sheep grievously dispersed during my absence. Un-
certain when I may come amongst them, they seldom
come at all, except the ten or twelve who meet one
another. My morning congregation increases as the cold
weather advances, and yesterday there seemed to be a
considerable impression. I spoke in a low tone of voice,
and therefore did not feel much fatigue ; — after the Hin-
doostanee service I was very weak ; but at night tolerably
strong again. On the whole, my expectations of life re-
* See Appendix H
284 MEMOIR OF
turn. May the days thus prolonged be entirely His who
continues them ! and may my work not only move on de-
lightfully, but with a more devout and serious spirit!
You are too many happy brethren together for me to
mention all : suffice it to say that my heart is with you,
and daily prays for blessings upon you all."
*' To the Rev. D. Corned
The early part of the year 1809, produced no variation
in the life of Mr. Martyn, until the month of April; when
he was removed from his station at Dinapore, to C awn-
pore. The following extracts are selected from the con-
tinuation of his correspondence with Mr. Corrie, in the
interval which passed between the end of the year 1808.
and the termination of his ministry at Dinapore.
" January 10, 1809
" Your letter from Buxar found me in much the same
spiritual state as you describe yourself to be in ; though
your description, no doubt, belongs more properly to me.
I no longer hesitate to ascribe my stupor and formality to
its right cause, — unwatcHfulness in worldly company. I
thought that any temptation arising from the society of
the people of the world, at least of such as we have had,
was not worthy of notice; but I find myself mistaken.
The frequent occasions of being among them of late, have
proved a snare to my corrupt heart. Instead of returning
with a more elastic spring to severe duties, as I expected,
my heart wants more idleness, more dissipation. David
Brainerd in the wilderness, — what a contrast to Henry
Martyn ! But God be thanked that a start now and then
interrupts the slumber. I hope to be up and about my
Master's business ; to cast off the works of darkness, and
to be spiritually minded, which alone is life and peace.
But what a dangerous country it is that we are in ; hot
w^eather or cold, all is softness and luxury ; all a conspiracy
to lull us to sleep in the lap of pleasure. While we pass
HENRY MARTYN. 285
over this enchanted ground, call, brother, ever and anon,
and ask, ' Is all well V We are shepherds keeping watch
over our flocks by night: if we fall asleep, what is to be-
come of them V J
•'•' January 30, 1809.
" I have been seized with a sudden desire for reading
Hebrew, chiefly from a wish of seeing language in its
simplest and purest state. It is my belief that language
is from God ; and that therefore, as in his other works,
so in this, the principles must be extremely simple. My
present labor is to find a reason for there being but two
tenses in Hebrew. I have read, or rather devoured, the
first four chapters in the Hebrew Bible, in order to account
for the apparently strange use of these two tenses, and
am making hypotheses every moment ; when I walk, and
when I awake in the night. One thing I have found,
which is, that there are but two tenses in English and
in Persian. / ivill go : — in that sentence the principal
verb is / will, which is the present tense. / would have
gone : — the principal verb is, / loould or / willed. Should,
also, is a preterite, namely, shalled from to shall. An-
other thing I observe is, that both in Persian and in
English the preterite is formed in the same way, viz. by
the addition of ed ; porsum, porsedum, — ask, asked. I
should not wonder if, in the Saxon, or some other ancient
northern language, from which the English comes, it is
askcdum. Thus you have a letter of philology. If I
make any other great discoveries, and have nothing better
to write about, I shall take the liberty of communicating
them. Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter.
— but this, I trust, is not my maxim. 'IVhatsoever ye do,
do all to the glory of God,^ is much better."
" February 13, 1809.
" Last Friday, we had the happiness and honor of finish
ing the four Gospels in Persian. The same evening I
made some discovery respecting the Hebrew verb; but
286 MEMOIR OF
was unfortunately so much delighted, that I could not
sleep ; in consequence of which I have had a head-ache
ever since. Thus even intellectual joys are followed by
sorrow : not so spiritual ones. I pray continually that
order may be preserved in my heart; that I may esteem
and delight most in that work, which is really most
estimable and delightful, — the work of Christ and his
apostles. When this is in any measure the case, it is
surprising how clear and orderly the thoughts are on other
subjects. I am still a good deal in the dark respecting
the objects of my pursuit ; but have so far an insight, that
I read both Hebrew and Arabic, with increasing pleasure
and satisfaction."
" February 29, 1809.
*' Your attack proves the necessity of diminishing your
Sabbath services. I scarcely know how this week has
passed, nor can I call to mind the circumstances of one
single day ; — so absorbed have I been in my new pursuit.
I remember, however, that during one night I did not
sleep a wink. Knowing what would be the consequence
the next day, I struggled hard, and turned every way,
that my mind might be diverted from what was before it;
— but all in vain. One discovery succeeded another, in
Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek, so rapidly, that I was some-
times almost in ecstasy ; — but after all, I have moved but
a step; you may scold me if you please, — but I am
helpless. I do not turn to this study of myself, but it
turns to me, and draws me away almost irresistibly. Still
I perceive it to be a mark of a fallen nature to be so
carried away by a pleasure merely intellectual ; and,
therefore, while I pray for the gifts of His Spirit, I feel
the necessity of being still more earnest for His grace.
y * Whether there be tongues, they shall cease ; whether
r there be knowledge, it shall vanish away ;' — but ' Charity
never faileth.' Yesterday my mind was mercifully kept
free the whole day : and I ministered without distraction,
and moreover without fatigue. I do not know when I
HENRY MARTYN. 287
have found myself so strong. The state of the air affects
me more than anything else. — On Saturday, I completed
my twenty-eighth year. Shall I live to see another birth-
day ? — it will be better to suppose not. I have not read
Faber yet ; but it seems evident to me that the Xlth of /^'
Daniel, almost the whole of it, refers to future time. But
as the time of accomplishing the Scriptures draws on,
knowledge shall increase. In solemn expectation we
must wait, to see how our God will come. How interest-
ing are his doings ! We feel already some of that rapture
wherewith they sing above, ' Great and wonderful are thy
works, Lord God almighty ! just and true are thy ways,
thou king of saints !' "
" March 3, 1809.
*'I did not write to you last week, because I was em-
ployed night and day, on Monday and Tuesday, with
Sabat, in correcting some sheets for the press. I begin
my letter, now, immediately on receiving yours of last
week. The account of your complaint, as you may sup-
pose, grieves me exceedingly; not because I think that I
shall outlive you, but because your useful labors must be re-
duced to one quarter of their present amount ; and that
you may perhaps be obliged to take a voyage to Europe,
v/hich involves loss of time and money. But, O brother
beloved ! what is life or death? Nothing, to the believer in
Jesus. ' He that believeth, though he were dead, yet shall
he live : and he that liveth, and believeth in me, shall
never die.' The first and most natural effect of sickness, VA
as I have often found, is to cloud and terrify the mind.
The attention of the soul is arrested by the idea of soon
appearing in a new world ; and a sense of guilt is felt,
before faith is exercised in a Redeemer : and for a time
this will predominate; for the same faith that would
overcome fear in health, must be considerably strengthened
to have the same ascendency in sickness. I trust you
will long live to do the work of your Lord Jesus. My
discoveries are all at an end. I am just where I was ; —
288 MEMOIR OF
in perfect darkness, and tired of the pursuit. It is, how-
ever, likely that I shall be constantly speculating on the
subject. My thirst after knovvledore is very strong ; but I
^ pray continually that the Spirit of God may hold the reins ;
that I may mind the work of God above all things ; and
consider all things else as merely occasional."
" March 13, 1809.
" How delightful is it to me, at this moment, to com-
mune with a dear brother, who ' is not of the world, as the
Lord was not of the world.' I am just come from the mess
of the . This morning the regiment was reviewed,
and I, among the staff,* was invited to a public dejeune
and dinner. As I had no pretence for not going, I went.
Yesterday our new place of worship was opened. It is a
room eighty-one feet long, with a very large verandah. It
will be a noble church ; but I fear will diminish somewhat
of my strength. My text was, 'In all places where I
record my name, I will come unto thee and bless thee.'
O may the promise be fulfilled to us !"
At Cawnpore the hand of friendship and hospitality was
stretched out to welcome Mr. Martyn ; and to afford him
those attentions which, after a wearisome and perilous
journey, were not only most gratifying to his feelings, but
almost indispensable to the preservation of his life. From
the pen of the ladyf of that friend who then received
him, — a pen which has been often and happily employed
in the sacred cause for which Mr. Martyn lived and
labored, — we have the following account of his arrival at
the new station to which he was appointed.
" The month of April, in the upper provinces of Hin-
doostan, is one of the most dreadful months for travelling
throughout the year; indeed, no European, at that time,
can remove from place to place, but at the hazard of his
* Mr. Martyn was Military Chaplain. t Mrs. Sherwood.
HENRY MARTYN. 289
life. But Mr. Martyn had that anxiety to be in the work
which his heavenly Father had given him to do, that,
notwithstanding the violent heat, he travelled from Chunar
to Cawnpore, the space of about four hundred miles. At
that time, as I well remember, the air was as hot and dry
as that which I have sometimes felt near the mouth of a
large oven ; — no friendly cloud or verdant carpet of grass
to relieve the eye from the strong glare of the rays of the
sun, pouring on the sandy plains of the Ganges. Thus
Mr. Martyn travelled, journeying night and day, and
arrived at Cawnpore in such a state, that he fainted away
as soon as he entered the house. When we charged him
with the rashness of hazarding his life in this manner, he
always pleaded his anxiety to get to the great work. He
remained with us ten days, suffering considerably at times
from fever and pain in the chest."
Mr. Martyn's own account of this dreadful and most
distressing journey, is thus briefly detailed to Mr. Corrie.
" Cawnpore^ May 1, 1809.
*' The entrance to this place is through plains of im-
measurable extent, covered with burning sand. The place
itself I have not yet been able to see, nor shall, I suppose,
till the rains : at present it is involved in a thick cloud of
dust. So much for exordium. Let me take up my narra-
tive from Mirzupore, from whence I wrote you a note. I
reached Tarra about noon. Next day, at noon, reached
Allahabad, and was hospitably received by Mr. G ; at
night dined with him at the Judge's, and met twenty-six
people. From Allahabad to Cawnpore how shall I de-
scribe what I suffered ! Two days and two nights was I
travelling without intermission. Expecting to arrive early
on Saturday morning, I took no provision for that day.
Thus I lay in my palanquin, faint, with a head-ache,
neither awake nor asleep, between dead and alive, — the
wind blowing flames. The bearers were so unable to
bear up, that we were six hours coming the last six ko$
515
290 MEMOIR OF
(twelve miles). However, with all these frightful circum-
stances, I was brought, in mercy, through. It was too
late on Saturday to think of giving notice of my arrival,
that we might have service ; indeed I was myself too
weak. Even now the motion of the palanquin is not out
of my brain, nor the heat out of my blood."
Mr. Martyn's removal from Dinapore to Cawnpore was
to him, in many respects, a very unpleasant arrangement.
He was several hundred miles farther distant from Cal-
cutta; and was far more widely separated than before
from his friend Mr. Corrie : he had new acquaintances to
form at> his new abode; and, after having with much
difficulty procured the erection of a church at Dinapore,
he was transported to a spot where none of the con-
veniences, much less the decencies and solemnities of
public worship, were visible. We find him, soon after he
arrived there, preaching to a thousand soldiers, drawn up
in a hollow square, when the heat was so great, although
the sun had not risen, that many actually dropped down.
Unable to support it. What must such services as these
have been, to a minister too faithful and zealous to seek
refuge in indolent formality, and already weakened in
health by former ministrations. He complained, — if in-
deed he might ever be said to complain, — of an attack of
fever soon after the commencement of these services ; and
there can be little doubt that they contributed very ma-
terially to undermine his constitution. No time, indeed,
was lost by him, on this occasion, as before, in remon-
strating upon this subject; and his remonstrances pro-
cured a promise that a church should be built. This
expectation, however, was not fulfilled until his health was
too much shaken to profit by its accomplishment.
At Cawnpore Mr. Martyn's ministerial duties varied
little from those which had occupied him at Dinapore.
Prayers and a sermon with the regiment at the dawn of
the morning ; the same service at the liouse of the general
HENRY MARTYN. 291
of the station, at eleven o'clock ; attendance at the hos-
pital ; and in the evening, that part of his work which
was the most grateful and refreshing to his spirit, though
performed under the pressure of much bodily fatigue, — an
exposition to the more devout part of his flock, with prayer
and thanksgiving, — made up the ordinary portion of his
labors.
The love of philology, — in which science he fondly
hoped to effect discoveries conducive to the elucidation of
difficulties in the Scriptures, — followed him from Dinapore
to his new residence; and so haunted his mind, that,
whether at home or abroad, whether by day or by night,
he could not divest himself of it. For many successive
days did he intensely pursue this study, and for many
sleepless nights did this study pursue him. At length he
thought that he had ascertained the meaning of almost all
the Hebrew letters : by degrees, however, he became less
ardent in these inquiries; either from questioning the
truth of those axioms which he had laid down, or from
finding their inutility after he had established them.
These abstruse speculations, together with duties of a
more important character, one of the chief of which was
the superintendence of the Arabic translation of the New
Testament, now begun and carried on conjointly with a
new Persian version, were soon interrupted, and for a time
suspended, by a summons he received to Lucknow, for the
purpose of celebrating a marriage, and by a similar call
to Pretabjush. Concerning the latter he thus writes to
Mr. Simeon, lamenting the inconvenience to which he
was exposed by such distant demands upon his services.
"Just after the last ship from Europe arrived, and I was
hourly expecting my letters, I was summoned to a distant
station to marry a couple, and did not return till three
weeks after. It was a great disappointment to be thus
suddenly sent to roam amongst jungles and jackalls, when
I was feasting my fancy with delightful letters from my
(riends at home ; — though Europe is no longer my home.
292 MEMOIR OF
However, my mind was soon reconciled to it, and I was
often able to recite, with some sense of their sweetness,
Mr. Newton's beautiful lines.
* In desert tracts, with Thee, my God,
How happy could I be.'
** The place to which I was called is Pretabjush, in the
territory of Oude, which is still under the government of
the Nabob. Oppression and insecurity of property seem
to have stripped the country of its inhabitants. From
Manicpore, where I left the river, to Pretabjush, a distance
of fifty miles, I saw but two or three miserable villages,
and no agriculture. The road was nothing more than a
winding footpath, through a continued wood, and that, in
consequence of the rains, was often lost. Indeed, all the
lowlands were under water, which, added to the circum-
stance of travelling by night, made the journey by no
means a pleasant one. Being detained one Lord's day at
the place, I assembled all the officers and company at the
commanding officer's bungalow, and preached the Gospel
to them. There were five and thirty officers, besides ladies,
and other Europeans. You will have an idea of the Na-
bob's country, when you are informed that last September,
a young officer, going from his station to Lucknow, was
stopped by robbers, and literally cut to pieces in his palan-
quin. Since that time, the Nabob has requested that
every English gentleman wishing to visit his capital, may
give notice of his intention to the Resident, in order that
a guard may be sent. Accordingly, a few months ago,
when I had occasion to go to Lucknow, I had a guard of
four troopers, armed with matchlocks and spears. I
thought of Nehemiah, but was far too inferior to him in
courage and faith, not to contemplate the fierce coun-
tenances of my satellites with great satisfaction."
Not long after Mr. Martyn's return from this expedi-
HENRY MARTYN. 293
tion, letters from Europe reached Cawnpore, bringing
intelligence of a similar nature with that which had over-
whelmed him in the preceding year. They contained
intimations of the dangerous illness of that sister who had
been so instrumental to his conversion to the Lord ; and
they were but too quickly followed by an account of her
death. *'0 my dearest S ," he began to write, with
a faint hope, at first, of the possibility of her receiving his
letter, *' that disease which preyed upon our mother and
dear sister, and has often shown itself in me, has, I fear,
attacked you. Although I parted from you in the ex-
pectation of never seeing you in this life ; and though I
know that you are, and have long been, prepared to go,
yet to lose my last near relation, my only sister, in nature
and grace, is a dreadful stroke." " Dearest brother," he
continued to her husband, from whom he had, in the
mean time, received a more alarming account, " I can
write no more to my sister. Even now something tells
me that I have been addressing one in the world of spirits.
But yet it is possible that I may be mistaken. No ! I
dare not hope. Your loss is greater than mine, and there-
fore it would become me to offer consolation ; — but I can-
not. I must wait till your next; and in the mean time I
will continue to pray for you, that the God of all consola-
tion may comfort you, and make us both, from this time,
live more as pilgrims and strangers upon the earth. In
the first three years after leaving my native land, I have
lost the three persons whom I most loved in it. What is
there now that I should wish to live for ? O what a bar-
ren desert, what a howling wilderness, does this world
appear. But for the service of God in his church, and the
preparation of my own soul, I do not know that I would
wish to live another day."
With a grateful tenderness, also, in the midst of this
affliction, he thus addressed Mr. Simeon : — " My ever dear
friend and brother, — I address you by your true title, for
you are a friend and brother, and more than a brother to
25*
294 MEMOIR OF
me. Your letter, though it contains much afflictive intelli-
gence, contains also much that demands my gratitude. In
the midst of judgment He remembers mercy. He has
been pleased to take away my last remaining sister (for I
have no hopes of my poor S 's recovery) ; he has re-
duced the rest of my family, but he has raised up a friend
for me and mine. Tears of gratitude mingle with those of
sorrow, whilst I think of the mercy of God, and the good-
ness of you, his instrument."
The close of the year 1809 was distinguished by the
commencement of Mr. Martyn's first public ministration
among the heathen. A crowd of mendicants, whom, to
prevent perpetual interruptions, he had appointed to meet
on a stated day, for the distribution of alms, frequently
assembled before his house in immense numbers, present-
ing an affecting spectacle of extreme wretchedness. To
this congregation he determined to preach the word of the
Saviour of all men, who is no respecter of persons. Of
his first attempt at this new species of ministration, he thus
speaks: — "I told them, after requesting their attention,
that I gave with pleasure the alms I could afford, but
wished to give them something better, namely, eternal
riches, or the knowledge of God, which was to be had
from God's word; and then producing a Hindoostanee
translation of Genesis, read the first verse, and explained
it word by word. In the beginning, when there was
nothing, no heaven, no earth, but only God, he created
without help, for his own pleasure. — But who is God?
One so great, so good, so wise, so mighty, that none can
know him as he ought to know : but yet we must know
that he knows us. When we rise up, or sit down, or go
out, he is always with us. — He created heaven and earth ;
therefore every thing in heaven, — sun, moon, and stars.
Therefore how should the sun be God ; or the moon be
God ? He created every thing on earth, therefore Ganges
also ; therefore how should Ganges be God ? Neither are
HENRY MAKTVN. .K)5
they like God. If a shoemaker make u pair of shoes, are
the shoes like him ? If a man make an image, the image
is not like man his maker. Infer secondly : if God made
the heaven and earth for you, and made the meat also for
you, will he not also feed you 1 Know also, that he that
made heaven and earth, can destroy them ; — and will do
it ; therefore, fear God, who is so great ; and love God,
who is so good." Such was the substance of his first dis-
course, the whole of which was preached sentence by
sentence, for at the end of each clause there followed ap-
plause and explanatory remarks from the wiser among
them. " I bless my God," said Mr. Martyn, " for helping
me beyond my expectations. Yet still my corrupt heart
looks forward to the next attempt with some dread."
The following Sunday he preached again to the beggars,
in number about five hundred, on the work of the first and
second day, when all he said was received with great ap-
plause. And on the last day of the year he again ad-
dressed them, their numbers amounting to above five hun-
dred and fifty ; taking for his subject, the works of the
third and fourth day. " I did not," he remarks, "succeed
so well as before ; I suppose because I had more confi-
dence in myself, and less in the Lord. I fear they did not
understand me well ; but the few sentences that were
clear, they applauded. Speaking to them of the sea and
rivers, I spoke to them again of the Ganges, that it was no
more than other rivers. God loved the Hindoos, — but he
loved other people too ; and whatever river, or water, or
other good thing, he gave Hindoos, he gave other people
also : for all are alike before God. Ganges, therefore, is
not to be worshipped ; because, so far from being a God,
it is not better than other rivers. In speaking of the
earth and moon, ' as a candle in the house, so is the sun,'
I said, ' in the heavens. But would I worship a candle
in my hand V These were nice points : I felt as if tread-
ing on tender ground, and was almost disposed to blame
myself for imprudence. I thought that, amidst the silence
^-
296 MEMOIR OF
these remarks produced, I heard hisses and groans ; — but
a few Mohammedans applauded."
With these new labors of love the year 1809 terminated.
** Ten years have elapsed," observed Mr. Martyn on the
last day of it, "since I was first called of God to the fel-
lowship of the Gospel ; and ten times greater than ever
ought to be my gratitude to the tender mercy of my God,
for all that he has done for me. The ways of wisdom
appear more sweet and reasonable than ever, and the
world more insipid and vexatious. The chief thing I have
to mourn over, is my want of more power and fervor in
secret prayer, especially when attempting to plead for the
heathen. Warmth does not increase with me in proportion
to my light."
To the temporal and spiritual necessities of those
wretched beings who statedly assembled before his house,
Mr. Martyn continued to minister assiduously in the early
part of the year 1810; nor did he cease to do so, whilst
his health permitted, during the remainder of his residence
at Cawnpore. The satisfaction of seeing their numbers
increase, sometimes amounting to as many as eight hun-
dred persons, was exceeded by the more solid gratification
of witnessing in them a growing attention to the instruc-
tions he delivered. By degrees tumultuous applauses were
succeeded by pertinent remarks, or were lost in a serious
and pensive silence. On one occasion particularly, the
apparent effect produced by his discourse was highly en-
couraging. An extraordinary impression was made on his
Mohammedan and pagan auditory, whom he had been
addressing on the awful subject of the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah, with equal simplicity and solemnity.
*' After finishing," he observes, " the narrative of the fall
of Sodom, I said, without further preparation, ' Do you,
too, repent of your sins, and turn to God?' It was this
simple sentence that seemed to come with great power,
and prevented my proceeding for a time. ' For though
you are not like the men of Sodom, — God forbid ! — you
HENRY MARTYN. 297
are nevertheless sinners. Are there no thieves, fornicators,
railers, extortioners among you ? Be you sure that God is
angry. I say not that He will burn your town ; but that
he will burn you. Haste, therefore, out of Sodom. Sodom
is the world, which is full of sinners and sin. Come out,
therefore, from amongst them : forsake not your worldly
business, but your sinful companions. Do not be like the
world, lest you perish with them. Do not, like Lot, linger ;
say not, to-morrow we will repent, lest you never see to-
morrow,— repent to-day. Then, as Lot, seated on the hill,
beheld the flames in safety, you also, sitting on the hills of
heaven, shall behold the ruins of the world without fear.' "
In the midst of these exertions, an attack of pain in the
chest, of a severer kind than he had before experienced,
forced upon Mr. Martyn's mind the unwelcome conviction
of the necessity of some quiet and relaxation.
Upon the subject of his health, — a subject which was
becoming but too interesting and alarming to his friends
in general, — he thus wrote to Mr. Simeon, who long
before had warmly urged him to the most watchful care
and prudence. *' I read your letter of 6th July, 1809,
cautioning me against over-exertion, with the confidence
of one who had nothing to fear. This was only three
weeks ago. Since the last Lord's day your kind advice
was brought home to my mind, accompanied with painful
regret that I had not paid more attention to it. My work
last Sunday was not more than usual, but far too much for
me, I can perceive. First, service to his Majesty's 53rd
Regiment, in the open air ; then at head-quarters ; in the
afternoon, preached to eight hundred natives ; at night, to
my little flock of Europeans. Which of these can I
forego] The ministration to the natives might be in the
week : but I wish to attach the idea of holiness to the
Sunday. My evening congregation, on Sunday, is at-
tended by twice as many as in the week-day ; so how can
I let this go V
^98 MEMOIR Ol'
With what extreme reluctance Mr. Martyn ''spared
himself," we see from the above letter. The progress of
his complaint, however, compelled him to overcome this
reluctance; and to the Indian congregation, when they
next assembled, he was obliged to declare that his ill health
prevented him from addressing them ; upon which hun-
dreds of voices were heard invoking for him lono[ life and
health, and when he dispensed his alms among them, their
thankfulness seemed to know no bounds. Shortly after,
however, he ventured to finish with these mendicants the
history of Joseph, upon which he had entered ; and to
resume also the whole of his duty on the Sabbath, with
the exception of one service. And, notwithstanding his
extreme caution on that point, he administered the rite
of baptism to an old Hindoo woman, *' who, though she
knew but little, was," he said, " lowliness itself"
Whilst Mr. Martyn was thus laboring in the very fire,
sometimes yielding to the pressure of his complaint, and
affording himself a little ease and relaxation ; at others,
renewing it, either by private conversation or public ser-
vices ; providentially for the preservation of the remnant
of his health, in the beginning of June, his friend and
brother, Mr. Corrie, arrived at Cawnpore, on his journey
to his new station at Agra. This proved a most seasonable
refreshment and relief to Mr. Martyn, both in body and
mind ; for his friend, though himself in a weak state of
health, undertook, by the permission of the Commander-
in-Chief, who showed a kind consideration for Mr. Martyn
in his drooping condition, part of the duty, leaving to Mr.
Martyn only the services of preaching to the natives at
noon, and to the soldiers in the evening, in the performance
of which he persuaded himself that he ought to persevere.
How greatly his friends became alarmed at this juncture,
will appear from the following animated and .anxious letter
from Mr. Brown : — " You will know, from our inestimable
brother Corrie, my solicitude about your health. If it
could make you live longer, I would give up anv child I
have, and myself into the bargain. — May it please tlu-
adorable unsearchable Being with whom we have to do, U
lengthen your span ! — Amidst the dead and the dying
nothing can be more apparently prosperous to the churck
of God, than the overwhelmings now taking place in the
earth. Christ will find his way to the hearts of men, ana
there will be a great company to praise him. I know not
vA^y we should wish to be saved, but for this purpose ; or
why, but for this purpose, we should desire the conversion
of Heathens, Turks, and Infidels. To find them at the
feet of Jesus will be a lovely sight. Our feeble voices
cannot praise him much. We shall be glad to see them
clapping their hands and casting their crowns before him ;
for all in heaven and earth cannot sufficiently praise him.
I see no cause to wish for anything but the advancement
of that knowledge by which there is some accession of
praise to his holy and blessed name. We grasp and would
wish to gather all to Christ ; but without him we can do
nothing; He will gather to himself those that are his."
From this time till the month of September, Mr. Martyn
persisted in his ministration to the natives, taking for the
subject of several successive discourses, the ten command-
ments. On one of these occasions, he describes himself
as speaking with great ease in his body and joy in his
heart. " Blessed be God," he says, " my strength is
returning. O may I live to proclaim salvation through a
Saviour's blood." But this sunshine was soon overclouded ;
and shortly after he again relapsed.
Such was the sinking state of his health, notwithstand-
ing the seasonable and important assistance derived from
the presence of Mr. Corrie, that a removal from Cawnpore
either to make trial of the effect of a sea-voyage, or to
return for a short time to England, became now a matter
of urgent necessity. The adoption of the latter expedient
he had once determined upon, conceiving that his com-
plaint might arise from relaxation, and that a bracing air
would in that casQ be beneficial. Nor was this resolution
300 MEMOIR OF
formed without a reluctant struggle in his mind : India
held out to him the most powerful attractions; however
strongly his affections were drawn towards his native
country. That he had not forgotten one peculiarly dear
to him, is shown in the following record, breathing equally
a spirit of touching tenderness, and of meek resignation.
Sept. 22. — "Was walking with L ; — both much
affected ; and speaking on the things dearest to us both.
I awoke, and behold, it was a dream ! My mind remained
very solemn and pensive — I shed tears. The clock struck
three, and the moon was riding near her highest noon : all
was silence and solemnity, and I thought with pain of the
sixteen thousand miles between us. But good is the will
of the Lord 1 even if I see her no more."
The precise period of his departure from Cawnpore, as
well as the place of his ultimate destination, were fi.xed by
information received from Calcutta, concerning the Persian
version of the New Testament.
The version which had first been made in that language,
two Gospels of which had been printed, had been con-
sidered, on further inspection and more mature consider-
ation, to require too many amendments to admit of its
immediate publication. It was accordingly returned to
the translator, who, under the superintendence of Mr.
Martyn, bestowed so much pains and attention upon it, as
to render it a new, and it was hoped, a sound and accu-
rate work. By those, however, who were considered
competent judges at Calcutta, it was still deemed unfit for
general circulation, inasmuch as it was thought to abound
in Arabic idioms, and to be written in a style, pleasing
indeed to the learned, but not sufficiently level to the
capacities of the mass of common readers.
At this decision, Mr. Martyn was as keenly disappointed
as he was delighted at the complete success of the Hin-
doostanee version, which, on the minutest and most rigorous
revision was pronounced to be idiomatic and plain. But
HENRY MARTYN. 301
meeting the disappointment with that spirit and elasticity
of mind, which is the result of lively faith, he instantly
resolved, — after committing his way to God in prayer, and
consulting his friends, Mr. Corrie and Mr. Brown, on the
subject, — to go into Arabia and Persia, for the purpose of
collecting the opinions of learned natives, with respect to
the Persian translation, which had been rejected, as well
as of the Arabic version, which was yet incomplete, though
nearly finished.
Mr. Brown's reply, on this purpose being communicated
to him, is too characteristic, both of himself and of Mr,
Marty n, to be omitted. '' But can I then," said he,
** bring myself to cut the string and let you go? I con-
fess I could not, if your bodily frame were strong, and
promised to last for half a century. But as you burn with
the intenseness and rapid blaze of heated phosphorus,
why should we not make the most of you ? Your flame
may last as long, and perhaps longer, in Arabia, than in
India. Where should the phoenix build her odoriferous
nest, but in the land prophetically called ' the blessed V —
and where shall we ever expect, but from that country, the
true Comforter to come to the nations of the east? I
contemplate your New Testament, springing up, as it
were, from dust and ashes, but beautiful ' as the wings of
a dove, covered with silver, and her feathers like yellow
gold.' "
Towards the end of September, therefore, Mr. Martyn
put himself in readiness to leave Cawnpore ; and on his
preaching for the last time to the natives, and giving them
an account of the life, the miracles, the death, and the
resurrection of Jesus, as well as a summary of his heavenly
doctrine; — exhorting them to believe in him; and taking
them to record that he had declared to them the glad
tidings of the Gospel ; — it was but too apparent that they
would never again hear those sounds of wisdom and mercy
from his lips. On the opening of the new church, also,
where he preached to his own countrymen, — amidst the
26
302 aiEMOiH (.>i
happiness and thankfulness Vvhich abounded at seeing
" a temple of God erected, and a door opened for the
service of the Almighty, in a place, where, from the
foundation of the world, the tabernacle of the true
God had never stood," — a mournful foreboding could not
be suppressed, that he, who had been the cause of its
erection, and who now ministered in it for the first time,
in the beauty of holiness, would minister there no more.
They beheld him as standing on the verge of the eternal
world, and ready to take a splendid flight. ' My father,
my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof,'
were the sentiments with which many gazed on him. One
of his auditors on this solemn occasion,* describes, in the
following words, the feelings of many others, in depicting
her own : — " He began in a weak and faint voice, being
at that time in a very bad state of health : but, gathering
strength as he proceeded, he seemed as one inspired from
on high. Never was an audience more affected. The
next day this holy and heavenly man left Cawnpore, and
the society of many who sincerely loved and admired him.
He left us with little hope of seeing him again, until, by
the mercy of our Saviour, we meet with him in our
Father's house."
On the first day of October, the day following the de-
livery of this affecting discourse, after fervently uniting in
prayer with his beloved friend and brother Mr. Corrie,
with whom he was not again to meet and worship until
separation shall cease for ever, and prayer be changed into
endless hallelujahs, — Mr. Martyn departed from Cawnpore
for Mr. Brown's residence at Aldeen, which he safely
reached on the evening of the last day of the month. In
his voyage down the Ganges, nothing of particular mo-
ment occurred, except that he visited the remains of his
flock of the 67th at Gazeepore, " where," said he, " sad
was the sight ; — many of the most hopeful were ashamed
* Mrs. Sherwood.
IIENRV IMARTViN. 303
to look me in the face, and sorrow appeared in the faces
of those who had remained faithful. — About nine of these
came to me in my boat, where we sung the hymn which
begins, * Come, ye that love the Lord ;' after which I
spoke to, and prayed with them, earnestly and affection-
ately, if ever I did in my life." This painful interview
was succeeded by another, not uninteresting, with Anto-
nio, a monk, at Boglipore. " We sat in the evening,"
Mr. Marty n writes, " under a shed on the banks of the
river, and began to dispute in Latin, about the church.
He grew a little angry, and I do not know what might
have been the end of it ; but the church-bells rang for ves-
pers, and terminated the controversy. The church is in
his garden ; a very neat building, hung round with some
little mean enorravincrs. A lio-ht was burning in the chan-
eel, and an image of the Virgin, behind a curtain, as
usual, was over the table. Antonio did not fail to bow to
the image ; but he did it in a way which showed that he
was ashamed of himself; at least, so I thought. He read
some passages from the Hindoostanee Gospels, which I
was surprised to find so well done. I begged him to go
on with the Epistles. He had translated also the Missal,
equally well done. He showed me the four Gospels in
Persian, very poorly done. I rejoiced unfeignedly at see-
ing so much done, though he followeth not with us. The
Lord bless his labors ; and while he watereth others, may
he be watered himself!"
Restored, after an absence of four years, to an mter-
course with his friends, who, on beholding his pallid coun-
tenance and enfeebled frame, knew not whether most to
mourn or to rejoice, Mr. Martyn partook largely of that
pure and refined happiness, which is peculiar to one of his
vivid feelings and heavenly affections, in that society
where they that " fear the Lord speak often one to an-
other, and the Lord hearkens and hears, and a book of
remembrance is written before him for them that fear the
304 MEMOIR OF
Lord, and think upon his name." The following letter to
Mr. Simeon expresses the heartfelt sentiments of one of
those friends,* to whom India in general, and Calcutta in
particular, stand so greatly indebted, — after an interview
chequered alternately by the varying lights and shades of
joy and distress. " This bright and lovely jewel first
gratified our eyes on Saturday last. He is on his way to
Arabia, where he is going in pursuit of health and knowl-
edge. You know his genius, and what gigantic strides
he takes in every thing. He has some great plan in his
mind; of which I am no competent judge ; but as far as
I do understand it, the object is far too grand for one
short life, and much beyond his feeble and exhausted
frame. Feeble it is indeed ! how fallen and changed !
His complaint lies in his lungs, and appears to be an in-
cipient consumption. But let us hope that the sea-air may
revive him ; and that change of place and pursuit may do
him essential service, and continue his life many years.
In all other respects, he is exactly the same as he was ;
he shines in all the dignity of love ; and seems to carry
about him such a heavenly majesty, as impresses the mind
beyond description. But if he talks much, though in a
low voice, — he sinks, and you -are reminded of his being
* dust and ashes.' "
So infirm was the state of Mr. Martyn's health, that the
indulgence of conversation with his friends soon produced
a recurrence of those symptoms which had occasioned
alarm at Cawnpore ; and yet, notwithstanding this, he
preached every Sabbath at Calcutta, with one exception
only, until he finally left it. Animated with the zeal of
that Apostle who at Troas continued his discourse until
midnight, he could not refrain from lifting up his voice,
weak as it was, in divine warnings and invitations, in a
place where something seemed to intimate that he should
never again declare God's judgments against the impeni-
* The Rev. Mr. Thomason.
HEiNRY MARTYN. 305
tent, nor invite the weary and heavy-laden to Jesus Christ
for rest.
*' I now pass," said Mr. Martyn on the first day of the
year 1811, " from India to Arabia, not knowing the things
that shall befal me there, but assured that an ever-faithful
God and Saviour will be with me in all places whitherso-
ever I go. May he guide me and protect me, and after
prospering me in the thing whereunto I go, bring me back
again to my delightful work in India. I am perhaps leav-
ing it to see it no more ; — but the will of God be done ;
my times are in his hand, and he will cut them as short as
shall be most for my good ; and with this assurance, I feel
that nothing need interrupt my work or my peace."
On the 7th day of January, after having preached a
sermon on the anniversary of the Calcutta Bible Society,
which was afterwards printed, and entitled, " Christian
India; or, an Appeal on behalf of nine hundred thousand
Christians in India who want the Bible ;"* and after hav-
ing, for the last time, addressed the inhabitants of Calcutta,
from the text of Scripture, " But one thing is needful," —
Mr. Martyn departed forever from those shores, on which
he had fondly and fully purposed to spend all his days.
* For a brief analysis of this sermon, see Appendix I.
26*
CHAPTER VIII.
MR. MARTYN LEAVES BENGAL FOR SHIRAZ OCCURRENCES
DURING HIS JOURNEY ARRIVES AT SHIRAZ COM-
MENCES A NEW TRANSLATION DISCUSSIONS WITH THE
PERSIAN MOOLLAHS.
In the former periods of Mr. Martyn's life, we have seen
in him the successful candidate for academical distinc-
tions,— the faithful and laborious Pastor, — the self-denying
and devoted Missionary, — the indefatigable Translator of
the Scriptures, — the Preacher of the Gospel to the hea-
then. In this, the last and shortest portion of the con-
tracted term of his earthly existence, we are called to con-
template his character in a new and yet more striking
»ight, and shall have occasion to admire in him the erect
and courageous spirit of the Christian confessor.
The occurrences which transpired between his depart-
ure from the mouth of the Hoogley and his arrival at Shi-
raz, occupy a period of five months. They are partly re-
corded in the following extracts from his private journal,
and partly related in a letter to Mr. Corrie, from Shiraz.
" Bay of Bengal, January, 1811
'' I took a passage in the ship Ahmoody, Captain Kin-
say, bound to Bombay. One of my fellow-passengers was
the Honorable Mr. Elphinstone, who was proceeding to
take the Residency of Poonah. His agreeabJe manners
and classical acquirements made me think myself fortunate
MEMOIR OF MARTVN. 3()7
indeed in having such a companion, and I found his com-
pany the most agreeable circumstance in my voyage."
" Our Captain was a pupil of Swartz, of whom he com-
municated many interesting particulars. — Swartz, with
KolhofFand Jcenicke, kept a school for half-caste children,
about a mile and a half from Tanjore ; but went every
night to the Tanjore church, to meet about sixty or sev-
enty of the king's regiment, who assembled for devotional
purposes : after which he officiated to their wives and
children in Portuguese. At the school Swartz used to
read, in the morning, out of the German " Meditation for
every day in the year ;" at night, he had family prayer.
Joenicke taught geography ; KolhofF, writing and arithme-
tic.— They had also masters in Persian and Malabar."
" At the time when the present Rajah was in danger of
his life from the usurper of his uncle's throne, Swartz
used to sleep in the same room with him. This was suffi-
cient protection, " for (said the Captain) Swartz was con-
sidered by the natives as something more than mortal."
The old Rajah, at his death, committed his nephew to
Swartz."
" All down the Bay of Bengal I could do nothing but
sit listless on the poop, viewing the wide waste of water ;
— a sight that would have been beautiful, had I been
well."
" On the 18th, we came in sight of the Island of Cey-
lon."
*' In my Hebrew researches I scarcely ever felt so dis-
couraged. All the knowledge I thought I had acquired
became uncertain, and consequently I was unhappy. It
was in vain that I reflected that thousands liva and die
happy, without such knowledge as I am in search of"
Jan. 20. — Sunday. — " Had divine service in the cabin
in the morning, but waited in vain for what I call a proper
opportunity of introducing family prayer. When shall I
have done with this pernicious delicacy, which would
rather yield up souls than suffer a wound itself?"
308 MEMOIR OF
Jan. 22. — " Came to an anchor off Columbo. In the
afternoon, went on shore with Mr. Elphinstone, and
walked to a cinnamon garden. The road all along was
beautiful ; tall groves of cocoa-nut trees on each side, with
the tents of the natives among them, opened here and
there, and gave a view of the sea. The Cingalese who
accompanied us, told the natives who saw us, that we
were Protestant Christians. On our way back, we saw
a party of Cingalese Christians returning home from a
church-yard, where they had been burying a corpse. I
crossed over to them, and found their Catechist, who,
however, spoke too little English to give me any informa-
tion."
Jan. 23. — " Sailed from Ceylon across the Gulf of Ma-
naar, where there is generally a swell, but which we found
smooth. Having passed Cape Comorin, and come into
smooth water, I proposed having family prayer every night
in the cabin ; — and no objection was made. Spoke a ship
to-day which was conveying pilgrims from Manilla to
Jidda. The first object discernible under the high moun-
tains at Cape Comorin was a church. As we passed
along the shore, churches appeared every two or three
miles, with a row of huts on each side. These churches
are like the meeting-houses in England, with a porch at
the west end. Perhaps many of these poor people, with
all the incumbrances of Popery, are moving towards the
kingdom of heaven."
Jan. 26. — *' Anchored off Allepie. Learned that there
were here about two hundred Christians, Portuguese, be-
sides the fishermen cast. The church was a temporary
erection ; but a stone edifice is to be raised on the spot.
The Portuguese Padre resides at another church about
three miles off."
Jan. 27 to 31. — "Generally unwell. In prayer, my
views of my Saviour have been inexpressibly consolatory.
How glorious the privilege that we exist but in him; with-
out him I lose the principle of life, and am left to the
HENRY MARTYN. 309
power of native corruption, — a rotten branch, a dead
thing* that none can make use of. This mass of corrup-
tion, when it meets the Lord, changes its nature, and live?
throughout, and is regarded by God as a member of
Christ's body. This is my bhss, that Christ is all. Up
held by him, I smile at death. It is no longer a question
about my own worthiness. I glory in God, through our
Lord Jesus Christ."
Feb. 7. — " Arrived at Goa. Spent the evening at Mr.
's, to whom I had letters of recommendation. The
next day I went up, with Mr. Elphinstone and others, to
Old Goa, where we were shown the convents and churches.
At the convent of the Nuns, observing one reading, I
asked to see the book. It was handed through the grate,
and as it was a Latin prayer-book, I wrote in it something
about having the world in the heart, though flying from it
to a convent. I tried to converse with two or three half-
native monks, but they knew so little Latin, that I could
not gain much from them : and the Portuguese Padres
seemed to know still less. After visiting the tomb of
Francis Xavier, we went to the Inquisition : but we were
not admitted beyond the anti-chamber. The priest we
found there (a secular) conversed a little on the subject,
and said ihat it was the ancient practice, that if any spoke
against religion, they were conducted thither and chas-
tised : that there were some prisoners there under examin-
ation at that time. No one dares resist the officers of
the Inquisition ; the moment they touch a man, he sur-
renders himself Colonel , who is writing an account
of the Portuguese in this settlement, told me that the pop-
ulation of the Portuguese territory was two hundred and
sixty thousand; of whom two hundred thousand, he did
not doubt, were Christians."
Feb. 17. — Sunday. — " A tempestuous sea throwing us
all into disorder, we had no service."
Feb. 18. — " Anchored at Bombay. — This day I finished
the thirtieth year of my unprofitable life ; the age at which
310 MEMOIR OF
David Brainerd finished his course. I am now at the age
at which the Saviour of men began his ministry ; — -'and at
which John the Baptist called a nation to repentance.
Let me now think for myself, and act with energy. Hith-
erto I have made my youth and insignificance an excuse
for sloth and imbecility : now let me have a character,
and act boldly for God."
Feb. 19. — *' Went on shore. Waited on the Governor,
and was kindly accommodated with a room at the Govern-
ment-house."
Feb. 21. — " Talked to the Governor about what we had
been doing at Bengal, and begged that he would interest
himself, and procure us all the information he could about
the native Christians : this he promised to do. At Bom-
bay,* there are twenty thousand Christians ; at Salsette,
twenty-one thousand ; and at this place there are forty-
one thousand, using the Mahratta language."
Feb. 22. — " At the Courier press I saw the Malayalim
New Testament in print, as far as the eleventh of John."
Feb. 24. — '* Preached at the Bombay church."
March 5. — " Feeroz, a Parsee, who is considered the
most learned man here, called to converse about religion.
He spoke Persian, and seemed familiar with Arabic. He
began with saying that no one religion had more evi-
dences of its truth than another, for that all the miracles of
the respective founders depended upon tradition. This I
denied. He acknowledged that the writer of the Zenda-
vesta was not contemporary with Zoroaster. After dis-
puting and raising objections, he was left without an
answer, but continued to cavil. * Why,' said he, * did the
Magi see the star in the east, and none else ? from what
part of the east did they come ? and how was it possible
that their king should come to Jerusalem in seven days V
The last piece of information he had from the Armenians.
I asked him ' Whether he had any thoughts of changing
' For an account of the Missions at Bombay, see Appendix J.
HENRY MARTYN. 3U
-his religion?' He replied, with a contemptuous smile,
* No : every man is safe in his own religion/ I asked
him, 'What sinners must do to obtain pardon?' * Repent,'
said he. I asked, ' Would repentance satisfy a creditor
or a judge V ' Why, is it not said in the Gospel,' rejoined
he, 'that we must repent?' I replied, 'It cannot be
proved from the Gospel, that repentance alone is sufficient,
or good works, or both.' ' Where, then, is the glory of
salvation?' he said. I replied, "In the atonement of
Christ.' 'All this,' said he, ' I know : but so the Mo-
hammedans say, that Hosyn was an atonement for the
sins of men.' He then began to criticise the translations
which he saw on the table, and wondered why they were
not made in such Persian as was now in use. He looked
at the beginning of the eighth of Romans, in the Chris-
tian Knowledge Society's Arabic Testament, but could
gather no meaning at all from it."
,^^arch 6. — " Feeroz called again, and gave me some
account of his own people. He said that they considered
the terms Magi and Guebr as terms of reproach, and that
their proper name was Musdyasni; that no books were
written in their most ancient language, namely the Pahla-
vee, but Zoroaster's twenty-one ; of these twenty-one, only
two remain. He showed me a part of a poem which he is
writing ; the subject is the conquest of India by the Eng-
lish ; the title, Georgiad. He is certainly an ingenious
man, and possesses one of the most agreeable qualities a
disputant can possess, which is, patience : he never inter-
rupted me ; and if I rudely interrupted him, he was silent
in a moment."
March 7. — " Mohammed Jan, a very young man, son of
Mehdee Ali Kahn, Lord Wellesley's Envoy to Persia,
called. I should not have thought him worth arguing
with, he seemed such a boy : but his fluency in Persian
pleased me so much, that I was glad to hear him speak ;
he was, besides, familiar with all the arguments the
Mouluwees usually bring forward ; moreover, I thought
312 MEMOIR OF
that perhaps his youthful mind might be more open to
conviction than that of the hoary Moollahs."
March 9. — " Visited the Elephanta Island."
March 10. — Sunday. — " This morning Feeroz called
before church. He said that their order of priesthood
consisted in the descendants of Zoroaster, and were called
Mobid ; that four times a month they assembled, viz. the
6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th; strangers were not allowed to
see the sacred fire, ' though,' said the old man signifi
cantly, ' I think there is nothing unlawful in it, but the
common people do.' He began to profess himself a Deist.
* In our religion,' said he, ' they believe as Zoroaster
taught ; that the heavens and earth were made ; but I
believe no such thing.'"
March 16. — '* Walked at night with a respectable Jew
of Bussorah, whose name was Ezra: he knew next to
nothing."
March 25.—" Embarked on board the Benares, Cap-
tain Sealy ; who, in company with the Prince of Wales,
Captain Hepburn, was ordered to cruise in the Persian
Gulf, against the Arab pirates. We got under weigh
immediately, and were outside the land before night."
March 31. — "The European part of the ship's crew,
consisting of forty-five sailors and twelve artillerymen,
were assembled on the quarter-deck to hear divine service.
I wondered to see so many of the seamen inattentive;
but 1 afterwards found that most of them were foreigners,
French, Spanish, Portuguese, &c. We had prayers in
the cabin every night. In the afternoon I used to read to
a sick man below, and two or three others would come
to hear."
April 14. — Easter Sunday. — "Came in sight of the
Persian coast, near Tiz, in Meehran."
April 21. — "Anchored at Muscat, in Arabia."
April 23. — " Went on shore with the Captain to the
Indian broker's, at whose house we met the Vizier, by
appointment. There was an unimportant conference, at
HENRY MARTYN. 3I3
which I assisted as interpreter. The Sultan was a few
miles off, figliting with the Wechabites."
April 24. — " Went with our English party, two Arme-
nians, and an Arab soldier, to see a garden ; there was
nothing very wonderful in the garden, but a little green in
this frightful wilderness was, no doubt, to the Arab a
great curiosity. His African slave argued with me for
Mohammed, and did not know how to let me go, he was
so interested in the business."
April 25.— " The Arab soldier and his slave came on
board to take leave. They asked to see the Gospel. The
instant I gave them a copy in Arabic, the poor boy began
to read, and carried it off as a great prize, which I hope
he will find it to be. This night we warped out of the
Cove, and gpt under weigh. I had not had a night's rest
from the day we entered it."
April 26.—" Came in sight of the Persian shore again."
April 2S.— Sunday.— " At anchor in Jasques Bay, which
the artillery officer surveyed. Captain Hepburn brought
his crew to church. Went on board his ship to see two
Armenian young men ; who informed me of the conver-
sion of Mirza Ishmael, son of Shehool Islam, of Isfahan,
who was gone to Bombay for baptism."
May 7. — " Finished a work, on which I have been en-
gaged for a fortnight;— a new arrangement of all the
Hebrew roots, classing them according to the last letter,
the last but one, &c."
May 20. — " After a troublesome north-wester, we have
now a fair wind, carrying us gently to Bushire."
May 22.—'' Landed at Bushire."
In his journey from Bushire to Shiraz, it was not merely
the ordinary inconveniences of travelling in Persia, which
Mr. Martyn had to combat. So intense was the heat of
the sun in the month of June, as to endanger his life ; a
peril of which he had no previous apprehension : though
with so nrreit an object before him, lie would have been
314 MEMOIR OF
warranted in knowingly incurring great danger towards
the attainment of his purpose.
Seventeen days elapsed, after landing at Bushire, be-
fore he reached Shiraz ; of these, eight were consumed in
preparation for travelling, and the remainder in accom-
plishing his journey. The whole period is embraced, and
the very interesting events of it are recorded, in the fol-
lowing letter to Mr. Corrie.
*' A few days after my letter to you from Muscat, we
sailed for the Gulf, and continued cruising a month,
generally in sight of Persia or Arabia, sometimes of both.
On the 22d of May, we landed at Bushire, and took up
our lodgings with Mr. . We are now in a new situa-
tion. Mrs. and her sister, both Armenians, spoke
nothing but Persian at table ; the servants and children
the same. One day a party of Armenian ladies came to
kiss my hand, — the usual mark of respect shown to their
own priests ; I was engaged at the time, but they begged to
have it explained that they had not been deficient in their
duty. The Armenian priest was as dull as they usually
are. He sent for me, one Sunday evening, to come to
church; though he was ministering when I entered, he
came out, and brought me within the rails of the altar ;
and at the time of incense, censed me four times, while
the others were honored with only one fling of the censer :
this the old man begged me afterwards to notice. But
though his civility was well meant, I could hardly prevail
upon myself to thank him for it. It was due, he said to
a Padre ; thus we provide for the honor of our own order,
not contented with that degree of respect which really
belongs to us. Walking afterwards with him by the sea-
shore, I tried to engage him in a conversation respecting
the awful importance of our office ; but nothing could be
more vapid and inane than his remarks.
" One day we called on the governor, a Persian Khan :
he was very particular in his attentions, seated me on his
HENRY MARTYN. 3(5
own seat, and then sat by my side. After the usual
salutations and inquiries, the caiean (or hookah) was in-
troduced ; then coffee in china cups placed within silver
ones, then caiean, then some rose-water syrup, then caiean.
As there were long intervals, often, in which nought was
heard but the gurgling of the caiean, I looked round with
some anxiety for something to discourse upon, and ob-
serving the windows to be of stained glass, I began to
question him about the art of coloring glass, observing
that the modern Europeans were inferior to the ancient
in the manufacture of that article. He expressed his sur-
prise that Europeans, who were so skilful in making
watches, should fail in any handicraft work. I could not
help recollecting the Emperor of China's sarcastic remark
on the Europeans and their arts, and therefore dropped
the subject. On his caiean, — I called it hookah at first,
but he did not understand me, — I noticed several little
paintings of the Virgin and Child, and asked him whether
such things were not unlawful among the Mohammedans 1
He answered very coolly, ' Yes ;' as much as to say,
*What then?' I lamented that the Eastern Christians
should use such things in their churches. He repeated
the words of a good man, who was found fault with for
having an image before him while at prayer : ' God is
nearer to me than that image, so that I do not see it.'
We then talked of the ancient Caliphs of Bagdad ; their
magnificence, regard for learning, &/C. This man, I
afterwards found, is, like most of the other grandees of the
east, a murderer. He was appointed to the Government
of Bushire, in the place of Arab Shekh, in whose family
it had been for many years. The Persian, dreading the
resentment of the other Arab families, invited the heads
of them to a feast. After they had regaled themselves a
little, he proposed to them to take off their swords, as they
were all friends together : they did so, a signal was given,
and a band of ruflians murdered them all immediately.
The Governor rode oif with a body of troops to their vil-
;31G JME.niOlll OF
lages, and murdered or secured their wives and children.
This was about two years and a half ago.
" Abdallah Aga, a Turk, who expects to be Pacha of
Bagdad, called to examine us in Arabic; he is a great
Arabic scholar himself, and came to see how much we
knew ; or rather, if the truth were known, to show how
much he himself knew. There was lately a conspiracy
at Bagdad, to murder the Pacha. He was desired to add
his name, which he did by compulsion, but secured him-
self from putting his seal to it, pretending he had lost it :
this saved him. All the conspirators were discovered and
put to death ; he escaped with his life, but was obliged to
fly to Bushire.
" On the 30th of May, our Persian dresses were ready,
and we set out for Shiraz. The Persian dress consists of,
first, stockings and shoes in one, next, a pair of large blue
trowsers, or else a pair of huge red boots ; then the shirt,
then the tunic, and above it the coat, both of chintz, and
a great coat. I have here described my own dress, most
of which I have on at this moment. On the head is worn
an enormous cone, made of the skin of the black Tartar
sheep, with the wool on. If to this description of my
dress I add, that my beard and mustachios have been
suffered to vegetate undisturbed ever since I left India, —
that I am sitting on a Persian carpet, in a room without
tables or chairs, — and that I bury my hand in the pillau,
without waiting for spoon or plate, — you will give me credit
for being already an accomplished Oriental.
*' At ten o'clock, on the 30th, our cafila began to move.
It consisted chiefly of mules, with a few horses. I wished
to have a mule, but the muleteer favored me with his own
pouey ; this animal had a bell fastened to its neck. To
jtdd solemnity to the scene, a Bombay trumpeter, who
v.as going up to join the embassy, was directed to blow a
blast as we moved off the ground ; but whether it w as
that the trumpeter was not an adept in the science, or
that his instrument was out of order, the crazy sounds
HENRY flIARTYN. 3I7
that saluted our ears had a ludicrous effect. At last, after
some jostling, mutual recriminations, and recalcitrating of
the steeds, we each found our places, and moved out of
the gate of the city in good order. The Resident ac-
companied us a little way, and then left us to pursue our
journey over the plain. It was a fine moonlight night,
the scene new, and perfectly oriental, and nothing pre-
vented me from indulging my own reflections. I felt a
little melancholy, but commended myself anew to God,
and felt assured of his blessing, presence, and protection.
As the night advanced, the cafila grew quiet ; on a sud-
den one of the muleteers began to sing, and sang in a
voice so plaintive, that it was impossible not to have one's
attention arrested. Every voice was hushed. As you are
a Persian scholar, I write down the whole, with a trans-
lation:—
* Think not that e'er my heart could dwell
Contented far from thee :
How can the fresh-caught nightingale
Enjoy tranquillity ?
O then forsake thy friend for nought
That slanderous tongues can say :
The heart that fixeth where it ought,
No power can rend away.'
" Thus far my journey was agreeable : now for miseries.
At sunrise we came to our ground at Ahmede, six para-
sangs, and pitched our little tent under a tree : it was the
only shelter we could get. At first, the heat was not
greater than we had felt in India, but it soon became so
intense as to be quite alarming. When the thermometer
was above 112°, fever heat, I began to lose my strength
fast ; at last it became quite intolerable. I wrapped my-
self up in a blanket and all the warm covering I could get,
to defend myself fi'om the external air ; by which means
the moisture was kept a little longer upon the body, and
not so speedily evaporated as when the skin was exposed :
27 *
318 MEMOIR OF
one of my companions followed my example, and found
the benefit of it. But the thermometer still rising, and
the moisture of the body being quite exhausted, I grew
restless, and thought I should have lost my senses. The
thermometer at last stood at 126° : in this state I com-
posed myself, and concluded that though I might hold out
a day or two, death was inevitable. Capt. , who sat
it out, continued to tell the hour and height of the ther-
mometer : and with what pleasure did we hear of its sink-
ing to 120°, 118°, &c. At last the fierce sun retired,
and I crept out, more dead than alive. It was then a dif-
ficulty how I could proceed on my journey ; for besides
the immediate effects of the heat, I had no opportunity of
making up for the last night's want of sleep, and had eaten
nothing. However, while they were loading the mules 1
got an hour's sleep, and set out, the muleteer leading my
horse, and Zachariah, my servant, an Armenian, of Isfa-
han, doing all in his power to encourage me. The cool
air of the night restored me wonderfully, so that I arrived
at our next munzel with no other derangement than that
occasioned by want of sleep. Expecting another such day
as the former, we began to make preparation the instant
we arrived on the ground. I got a tattie made of the
branches of the date-tree, and a Persian peasant to water
it ; by this means the thermometer did not rise higher
than 114°. But what completely secured me from the
heat was a large wet towel, which I wrapped round my
head and body, muffling up the lower part in clothes.
How could I but be grateful to a gracious Providence, for
giving me so simple a defence against what, I am per-
suaded, would have destroyed my life that day. We took
care not to go without nourishment, as we had done ; the
neighboring village supplied us with curds and milk. At
sunset, rising up to go out, a scorpion fell upon my clothes ;
not seeing where it fell, I did not know what it was ; but
Capt. pointing it out, gave the alarm, and I struck it
off, and he killed it. The night before we found a black
HENRY MARTYN. 319
scorpion in our tent : this made us rather uneasy ; so that,
though the cafila did not start till midnight, we got no
sleep, fearing we might be visited by another scorpion.
*' The next morning we arived at the foot of the moun-
tains, at a place where we seemed to have discovered one
of nature's ulcers, A strong suffocating smell of naphtha
announced something more than ordinary foul in the
neighborhood. We saw a river ; — what flowed in it, it
seemed difficult to say, whether it were water or green
oil ; it scarcely moved, and the stones which it laved, it
left of a greyish color, as if its foul touch had given them
the leprosy. Our place of encampment this day was a
grove of date-trees, where the atmosphere, at sunrise, was
ten times hotter than the ambient air. I threw myself
down on the burning ground, and slept: when the tent
came up, I awoke, as usual, in a burning fever. All this
day, I had recourse to the wet towel, which kept me alive,
but would allow of no sleep. It was a sorrowful Sabbath;
but Capt. read a few hymns, in which I found great
consolation. At nine in the evening we decamped. The
ground and air were so insufferably hot, that I could not
travel without a wet towel round my face and neck. This
night, for the first time, we began to ascend the moun-
tains. The road often passed so close to the edge of the
tremendous precipices, that one false step of the horse
would have plunged his rider into inevitable destruction.
In such circumstances, I found it useless to attempt guid-
ing the animal, and therefore gave him the rein. These
poor animals are so used to journies of this sort, that they
generally step sure. There was nothing to mark the road,
but the rocks being a little more worn in one place than
in another. Sometimes, my horse, which led the way, as
being the muleteer's, stopped, as if to consider about the
way : for myself, I could not guess, at such times, where
the road lay, but he always found it. The sublime scenery
would have impressed me much, in other circumstances;
but my sleepiness and fatigue rendered me insensible to
320 MEMOIR OF
every thing around me. At last we emerged superas ad
auras* not on the top of a mountain, to go down again, —
but to a plain or upper world At the pass, where a cleft
in the mountain admitted us into the plain, was a station
of Rahdars. While they were examining the muleteer's
passports, ^c. time was given for the rest of the cafila to
come up, and I got a little sleep for a few minutes. We
rode briskly over the plain, breathing a purer air, and
soon came in sight of a fair edifice, built by the king of
the country for the refreshment of pilgrims. In this cara-
vansera we took up our abode for the day. It was more
calculated for eastern than European travellers, having no
means of keeping out of the air and light. We found the
thermometer at 110°. At the passes we met a man trav-
elling down to Bushire with a load of ice, which he will-
ingly disposed of to us. The next night we ascended
another range of mountains, and passed over a plain,^
where the cold was so piercing, that with all the clothes
we could muster, we were shivering. At the end of this
plain, we entered a dark valley, contained by two ranges
of hills converging to one another. The muleteer gave
notice he saw robbers. It proved to be a false alarm ; but
the place was fitted to be a retreat for robbers ; there being
on each side caves and fastnesses from which they might
have killed every man of us. After ascending another
mountain, we descended by a very long and circuitous
route into an extensive valley, where we were exposed to
the sun till eight o'clock. Whether from the sun, or from
continued want of sleep, I could not, on my arrival at
Carzeroon, compose myself to sleep ; there seemed to be
a fire within my head, my skin like a cinder, and the
pulse violent. Through the day it was again too hot to
sleep ; though the place we occupied was a sort of sum-
mer-house, in a garden of cypress trees, exceedingly well
fitted up with mats and colored glass. Had the cafila
* To open air.
HENRY MAKTYN. 321
gone on that night, I could not have accompanied it ; but
it halted here a day ; by which means I got a sort of
night's rest, though I awoke twenty times to dip my burn-
ing hand in water. Though Carzeroon is the second
greatest town in Fars, we could get nothing but bread,
milk,* and eggs, and those with difficulty. The Governor,
who is under great obligations to the English, heard of
our arrival, but sent no message."
June 5. — "At ten we left Carzeroon, and ascended a
mountain : we then descended from it, on the other side,
into a beautiful valley, where the opening dawn discovered
to us ripe fields of wheat and barley, with the green oak,
here and there, in the midst of it. We were reminded of
an autumnal morning in England. Thermometer, 62°."
June 6. — "Half way up the Peergan mountain we
found a caravansera. There being no village in the
neighborhood, we had brought supplies from Carzeroon.
My servant Zachary got a fall from his mule this morning,
which much bruised him ; he looked very sorrowful, and
had lost much of his garrulity. Zachary had become re-
markable throughout the cafila for making speeches ; he
had something to say to all people, and on all occasions."
June 7. — " Left the caravansera at one, this morning,
and continued to ascend. The hours we were permitted
to rest, the musquitoes had effectually prevented me from
using ; so that I never felt more miserable and disordered ;
the cold was very severe ; for fear of falling off, from sleep
and numbness, I walked a good part of the way. — We
pitched our tent in the vale of Dustarjan, near a crystal
stream, on the banks of which we observed the clover and
golden cup : the whole valley was one green field, in
which large herds orcattle were browsing. The tempera-
ture was about that of spring in England. Here a few
hours' sleep recovered me, in some degree, from the stu-
pidity in which I had been for some days. I awoke with
a light heart, and said, ' He knoweth our frame, and re-
membereth we are dust. He redeemeth our life from de-
3*22 MEMOIR OF
struction, and crowneth us with loving-kiiidness and ten-
der mercies. He maketh us to lie down in the green pas-
tures, and leadeth us beside the still waters.' And when
we have left this vale of tears, there is no more sorrow,
nor sighing, nor any more pain. ' The sun shall not light
upon thee, nor any heat : but the Lamb shall lead thee to
living fountams of waters.' "
June 8. — " Went on to a caravansera, three parasangs,
where we passed the day. At night set out upon our last
march for Shiraz,* Sleepiness, my old companion and
enemy, again overtook me. 1 was in perpetual danger of
falling off my horse, till at last I pushed on to a considera-
ble distance beyond the cafila, planted my back against a
wall, and slept I know not how long ; till the good mu-
leteer came up and gently waked me.
" In the morning of the 9th we found ourselves in the
plain of Shiraz. We put up at first in a garden, but are
now at JafRer Ali Khan's."
Arrived at the celebrated seat of Persian literature, Mr.
Martyn, having ascertained the general correctness of the
opinion delivered at Calcutta, respecting the translation of
the New Testament by Sabat, immediately commenced
another version in the Persian language. An able and
willing assistant, in this arduous and important work, pre-
sented himself in the person of Mirza Seid Ali Khan, the
brother-in-law of his host, Jaffier Ali Khan. His coadju-
tor, he soon discovered, was one of a numerous and in-
creasing religious community, whose tenets, — if that term
be not inapplicable to anything of so fluctuating and in-
definite a nature as their sentiments, — appear to consist in
a refined mysticism of the most latitudinarian complexion ;
a quality, be it remembered, entirely opposite to the exclu-
sive character and inflexible spirit of Christianity ; and
which, pervading, as it does so completely, the system of
* For a description of Shiraz see Appendix K.
HENRY MARTYN. 323
Soofeism,* sufficiently accounts for its toleration under a
Mohammedan despotism, of a purer and more absolute
kind than exists even in the Turkish dominions.
In Jaffier Ali Khan, a Mohammedan of rank and con-
sequence, to whom Mr. Martyn had letters of recommen-
dation^ he found a singular urbanity of manners, united to a
temper of more solid and substantial excellence, — a kind-
ness of disposition, ever fertile in expedients conducive to
the comfort and convenience of his guest. There was in
him also, as well as in his brother-in-law, what was still
more gratifying, an entire absence of bigotry and prejudice ;
and on all occasions he was ready to invite, rather than
decline, the freest interchange of opinion on religious topics.
The work for which Mr. Martyn had come to Shiraz,
was commenced on the 17th of June, little more than a
week after his reaching that city. It was preceded by a
very pleasing interview with two priests of the Mohamme-
dan faith, of which we have this account. — "In the even-
ing, Seid Ali came, with two Moollahs, disciples of his
uncle Mirza Ibraheem, and with them I had a very long
and temperate discussion. One of them read the begin-
ning of St. John, in the Arabic, and inquired very particu-
larly into our opinions respecting the person of Christ;
and when he was informed that we did not consider his
human nature eternal, nor his mother divine, seemed quite
satisfied, and remarked to the others, ' how much misappre-
hension is removed when people come to an explanation.' "
As Mr. Martyn was himself an object of attention and
curiosity in Shiraz, and the New Testament itself was
wholly new to his coadjutor, he was not suffered to pro-
ceed with his work without many interruptions. " Seid
Ali," he writes, June 17, " began translating the Gospel
of John with me. We were interrupted by the entrance
of two very majestic personages, one of whom was the
great grandson of Nadir Shah. The uncle of the present
See Appendix L.
;i-24 MEMOIR ui'
king used to wait behind his ffither's table. He is now a
prisoner here, subsisting on a pension."
June 18. — " At the request of our host, v/ho is always
planning something for our amusement, we passed the day
at a house built half-way up one of the hills which sur-
round the town. A little rivulet, issuing from the rock,
fertilizes a few yards of ground, which bear, in conse-
quence, a cypress or two, sweet-briar, jessamine, and
pinks. Here, instead of a quiet retreat, we found a num-
ber of noisy, idle fellows, who were gambling all day, and
as loquacious as the men who occupy an alehouse bench.
The Persians have certainly a most passionate regard for
water ; I suppose because they have so little of it. There
was nothing at all in this place worth climbing so high for,
except the little rivulet."
June 22. — " The prince's secretary, who is considered
to be the best prose-writer in Shiraz, called upon us. One
of his friends wanted to talk about Soofeism. They be-
lieve, they know not what. It is mere vanity that makes
them profess this mysticism. He thought to excite my
wonder by telling me, that I, and every created thing, was
God. I asked how this was consistent with his religion ?
He then mentioned the words from the Koran, 'God can
be with another thing only by pervading it.' Either from
curiosity, or to amuse themselves at an Indian's expense,
they called in an Indian Moonshee, who had come with us
from Bengal, and requested him to recite some of his
poetry. Thus I had an opportunity of witnessing this
exhibition of Eastern folly. After a few modest apologies,
the Indian grew bold, and struck off a few stanzas. The
Persians affected to admire them, though it was easy to see
that they were laughing at his pronunciation and foreign
idiom. However, they condescended to recite, in their
turn, a line or two of their own composition ; and before
they went away, wrote dov/n a stanza or two of the In-
dian's, to signify that they were worth preserving."
June 26. — " Two young m.en from the college, full of
HENRY MARTVJN. 325
zeal and logic, came this morning, to try me with hard
questions, such as. Whether being be one or two ? What
is the state and form of disembodied spirits? and other
foolish and unlearned questions, ministering strife ; on all
which I declined wasting my breath. At last, one of them,
who was about twenty years of age, discovered the true
cause of his coming, by asking me bluntly, to bring a
proof for the religion of Christ. ' You allow the divine
mission of Christ,' said I, ' why need I prove it V Not
being able to draw me into an argument, they said what
they wished to say, namely, ' that I had no other proof for
the miracles of Christ than they had for those of Moham-
med ; which is tradition.' ' Softly,' said I, ' you will be
pleased to observe a difference between your books and
ours. When, by tradition, we have reached our several
books, our narrators were eye-witnesses ; yours are not,
nor nearly so.' In consequence of the interruption these
lads gave me, for they talked a long time with great intem-
perance, I did little to-day.
" In the evening, Seid Ali asked me ' the cause of evil V
I said, ' I know nothing about it.' He thought he could
tell me ; so I let him reason on, till he soon found he knew
as little about the matter as myself. He wanted to prove
that there was no real difference between good and evil, —
that it was only apparent. I observed that this difference,
if only apparent, w^as the cause of a great deal of real
misery.
" While correcting the fifth of John, he was not a little
surprised at finding such an account as that of an angel
coming down and troubling the waters. When he found
that I had no way of explaining it, but was obliged to un-
derstand it literally, he laughed, as if saying, 'there are
other fools in the world besides Mohammedans.' I tried
to lessen his contempt and incredulity by saying, that
* the first inquiry was, — is the book from God V ' Oh ! to
be sure ;' said he, ' it is written in the Bible ; we must
believe it.' I asked him ' whether there was anything
28
326 MEMOIR OF
contrary to reason in the narrative ? whether it was not
even possible that the salubrious powers of other springs
were owing to the descent of an angel V Lastly, I ob-
served, ' that all natural agents might be called the angels
of God.' ' This,' said he, ' was consonant to their opin-
ions ; and that when they spoke of the angel of the winds,
the angel of death, 6lc., nothing more was meant than the
cause of the winds, &c.' "
June 27. — " Before I had taken my breakfast, the
younger of the youths came, and forced me into a con-
versation. As soon as he heard the word ' Father,' in
the translation, used for ' God,' he laughed, and went
away. Soon after, two men came in, and spoke violently
for hours. Seid Ali, and a respectable Mouluwee, whom
he brought to introduce to me, took up the cudgels against
them, and said that ' the onus probandi rested with them,
not with me.' Zachariah told me this morning, that 1
was the town talk ; that it was asserted that I was come
to Shiraz to be a Mussulman, and should then bring five
thousand men to Shiraz, under pretence of making them
Mussulmen, but in reality to take the city."
June 28. — " The poor boy, while writing how one of
the servants of the high-priest struck the Lord on the face,
stopped, and said, ' Sir, did not his hand dry up?' "
June 30. — Sunday. — " Preached to the Ambassador's
suite on the ' faithful saying.' In the evening baptized
his child."
July 1. — " A party of Armenians came, and said, among
other things, that the Mohammedans would be glad to be
under our English government. Formerly they despised
and hated the Feringees, but now they began to say,
* What harm do they do? they take no man's wife, — no
man's property.'
" Abdoolghunee, the Jew Mohammedan, came to prove
that he had found Mohammed in the Pentateuch. Among
other strange things, he said that the Edomites meant the
Europeans, and that Mount Sion was in Europe. After-
HENRY MARTYN. 327
wards Seid Ali asked me to tell him in confidence, why I
believed no prophet could come after Christ. I chose to
begin with the atonement, and wished to show, that it
was of such a nature, that salvation by another was im-
possible. ' You talk,' said he, ' of the atonement, but I
do not see it anywhere in the Gospels.' After citing two
passages from the Gospels, I read the third chapter of
Romans, and the fifty-third of Isaiah. With the latter he
was much struck. He asked many more questions, the
scope of which was, that though Islam might not be true,
he might still remain in it, and be saved by the Gospel.
I said, ' you deny the divinity of Christ.' — ' I see no diffi-
culty in that,' said he. ' You do not observe the insti-
tutions of Christ, — Baptism and the Lord's Supper.' —
' These,' said he, * are mere emblems, and if a man have
the reality, what need of emblems V * Christ,' said I,
' foresaw that the reality would not be so constantly per-
ceived without them, and therefore enjoined them.' He
said that ' in his childhood he used to cry while hearing
about the sufferings of Christ,' and he wept while men-
tioning it."
The 3d of July was distinguished by a conversation kept
up between Mr. Martyn and two Moollahs, one of whom
displayed a very different spirit from that which had
actuated those ministers of the Mohammedan religion who
first visited him. " The Jewish Moollah Abdoolghunee,
with Moollah Abulhasan," he writes, " came prepared for a
stiff disputation, and accordingly the altercation was most
violent. Jafl!ier Ali Khan, and Mirza Seid Ali were
present, with many others. The Jew began by asking,
whether we believed that Jesus suffered ? I referred him
to the 9th of Daniel, ' Messiah shall be cut off, but not for
himself I begged him to show who was the Messiah, of
whom Daniel spoke, if it was not Jesus.
'* At Abulhasan's request, he began to give his reasons
for believing that Mohammed was foretold in the Old
328 31EM01K OF
Testament. The Jew wanted to show that when it is
said, ' Moses went out, and the twelve princes with him,'
the meaninof is that Moses had twelve religious Khaleefs,
just like Mohammed. I explained to the Mussulman,
that they were not for religious affairs, but worldly, — de-
ciding causes, &.c. ; — and that religious services were con-
fined to one tribe.
" He proceeded to Deut. xviii. 18, ' The Lord will
raise from among their brethren.' ' Brethren,' he said,
' must mean some other than Jews. That Moses and
Jesus were not alike. Moses gave a law before he went :
Jesus did not; his disciples made one for him; whereas
Mohammed left a book himself. That Moses was a
warrior ; that Christ was not ; but that Mohammed was.'
I replied — ' that the words of God, ' from among their
brethren,' Moses explained by those, 'from among thee;'
and that this excludes the possibility of Mohammed being
meant.' After they were gone, I found Lev. xxv. 46,
which supplies a complete answer. In reply to the ob-
jection that Moses and Christ were not alike, I said,
' that in respect of the prophetic office, there was such
a likeness as did not exist between any other two proph-
ets;— in that each brought a new law, and each was a
3Iediator.'
" The Jews next read the sixty-first of Isaiah, and
commented. I then read the same chapter, and observed,
that Christ had cited one of the passages for himself.
' The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' &c. This they at-
tended to, because Christ had said so ; but as for Peter's
appropriating the passage in Deuteronomy to Christ (Acts
iii.) they made no account of it. So ignorant are they of
the nature of revelation.
" When we were separating, the Moollah Abulhasan
gravely asked me, whether, if I saw proof of Mohammed's
miracles, I would believe, and act as one who sought the
truth V I told him, ' I wished for nothing but the truth.'
He then said, ' we must have an umpire.' ' But where,'
HENRY MAR'IVN. ^399
s.iid I, ' shall we find an impartial one V ' He must be a
Jew,' said one. 'Well then,' added another, Met Ab-
doolghunee be the man.' Tlie apostate Jew swore, by the
four sacred books, that he would give ' just judgment.' I
could not conceal my indignation at such a ridiculous pro-
posal, and said to the Jew, ' You impartial ! As a Mo-
hammedan, you ought to speak well of Christ ; but it is
easy to see that, like your brethren, you hate Jesus as
bitterly as ever.' He was quite alarmed at this charge
before the Mohammedans, by whom he has long been con-
sidered as no true Mohammedan : and, in the most gentle
manner possible, he assured me, that ' none could have a
greater respect for Jesus, than he had ; and that, possibly^
in the text in Deuteronomy, Jesus might be meant as well
as Mohammed,'
" At the end of this vehement controversy, when they
were most of them gone, 1 said to Seid Ali, ' that I had
thought, whatever others did, he would not have denied
me common justice.' He took me aside, and said to me
very earnestly, ' You did not understand me. Abulkasan
is my enemy : nothing does he want so much as to bring
me into danger ; I must therefore show some little regard
for the religion.' He told me, that Mirza Ibrahim, the
preceptor of all the Moollahs, was now writing a book in
defence of Mohammedanism, and that it was to this that
Abulhasan alluded, as that which was to silence me for-
ever."
July 4. — " Seid Ali having informed the Jew that I had
found an answer to his argument from Genesis xiv. he
came to know u'hat it was, and staid the whole morning,
asking an infinity of questions. He showed himself ex-
tremely well read in the Hebrew Bible and Koran, quoting
both with the utmost readiness. He argued a little for the
Koran, but very coldly. He concluded by saying, ' he
must come to me every day ; and either make me a Mus-
sulman, or become himself a Christian.' "
The progress of the translation gave rise to the following
28*
330 MEMOIR OF
affecting discourse between Seid Ali and Mr. Martyn.
" Seid Ali, while perusing the twelfth of John, observed, —
' How he loved these twelve persons !' ' Yes,' said I ;
* and all those who believe on Him through their word.'
After our work was done, he began to say, ' From my
childhood I have been in search of a religion, and am still
undecided. Till now, I never had an opportunity of con-
versing with those of another religion : the English I have
met in Persia have generally been soldiers, or men occu-
pied with the world.' To some remarks I made about the
necessity of having the mind made up upon such a subject,
considering the shortness of our stay here, he seemed cor-
dially to assent, and shed tears. I recommended prayer,
and the consideration of that text, ' If any man will do
his will, he shall know of the doctrine ;' — and spoke as
, having found it verified in my own experience ; — that when
/ I could once say before God, ' What wilt thou have me to
do V — I found peace. I then went through all the differ-
ent states of my mind at the time I was called to the
knowledge of the Gospel. He listened with great interest,
and said, — ' You must not regard the loss of so much time
as you give me, because it does me good.' "
The situation of those whose forefathers crucified the
Lord of glory, is ever pitiable to a Christian mind : but
how much more are the Jews entitled to compassion, when
groaning under the iron rod of oppression on the one hand,
and tempted on the other to exchange their own religion
for a base imposture, upon the basest considerations. Who
can read the following account of their condition at Shiraz,
without sighing over the depth of their temporal and spirit-
ual degradation !
July 5. — " The Jew came again, with another Jew, both
Mussulmen. The prince gives every Jew, on conversion,
an honorary dress ; so they are turning Mohammedans
every day. A young man, son of the old Jew, asked, —
* How it could be supposed that God would leave so many
nations so long in darkness, — if Islam be an error?' The
HENRY MARTYx\. 331
father sat with great complacency, to see how I could get
over this. I asked, * Why God for four thousand years,
made himself known to their nation only, and left all the
rest in darkness V — They were silent.
" The old man, forgetting he was a Mussulman, asked
again, — * If Jesus was the Messiah, why did not the fiery
wrath of God break out against them, as it did formerly
for every small offence V ' But first,' said he, ' what do
you think of God's severity to the Jews at other times V
I said, ' If my son do anything wrong, I punish him ; but
with the thieves and murderers out of doors, I have noth-
ing to do.' This affected the old man ; and his son recol-
lected many passages in the Bible appropriate to this sen-
timent, and said, — ' Yes, they were indeed a chosen gen-
eration.' I proceeded — *But did not the wrath of God
break out against you at the death of Christ, in a more
dreadful manner than ever it did V They mentioned the
captivity. ' But what,' said I, * was the captivity ? it lasted
but seventy years. But now seventeen hundred years
have passed away ; and have you a King ? or a Temple ?
Are you not mean and despised everywhere V They seem-
ed to feel this, and nodded assent.
" During this conversation, I said, — ' God has raised up
a great prophet from the midst of you, and now you are
gone after a stranger, of a nation who v/ere always your
enemies. You acknowledge Jesus, indeed ; but it is only
for fear of the sword of the Ishmaelite.' They wondered
why the Christians should love them more than they do the
Mohammedans, as I told them we did ; and pretended
to argue against it, as unreasonable ; evidently from a
wish to hear me repeat a truth which was so agreeable
to them."
On the morning of the 6th, Mr. Martyn, ever anxious to
pay all due reverence to ' the powers that be,' presented
himself, with the Ambassador and suite, before Prince
Abbas Mirza : He thus describes the ceremony. " Early
332 MEMOIR OF
tliis morning, I went with the Ambassador and his suite to
court, wearing, agreeable to costume, a pair of red cloth
stockings with green, high-heeled shoes. When we en-
tered the great court of the palace, a hundred fountains
began to play. The Prince appeared at the opposite side,
in his talar, or hall of audience, seated on the ground.
Here our first bow was made. When we came in sight of
him, we bowed a second time, and entered the room. He
did not rise, nor take notice of any but the Ambassador,
with whom he conversed at the distance of the breadth of
the room. Two of his ministers stood in front of the hall,
outside ; the Ambassador's Mihmander and the Master of
the Ceremonies, within, at the door. We sat down in
order, in a line with the Ambassador, with our hats on. I
never saw a more sweet and engaging countenance than
the Prince's; there was such an appearance of good
nature and humility in all his demeanor, that I could
scarcely bring myself to believe that he would be guilty of
anything cruel or tyrannical."
The Jewish Mooliah, who, a few days before, had
attempted to support a heresy which he himself did not
believe, revisited Mr. Martyn, accompanied by one of his
brethren who had apostatized. These were followed, on
the same day, by two other visitors, one of whom was a
man of great consequence, and of equal courtesy. — " The
Jew came again," he says, " with one of his apostate
brethren from Bagdad. As he was boasting to Seid Ali,
that he had gained one hundred Jews to Islam, I could not
help saying, I will tell you how Jews are made Moham-
medans. First, the Prince gives them a dress ; secondly, —
here the old man colored, and, interrupting me, began to
urge, that it was not with the hope of any worldly ad-
vantage.
" His object to-day was, to prove that the passages in
the Old Testament, which we applied to Jesus, did not
belong to him. I referred him to the 16th Psalm. He
said, ' that none of the prophets saw corruption.' He did
. HEiMiy xMARTiN. 333
not recollect the miracle wrought by the bones of Elisha ;
neither did I at the time.
"Mohammed Shareef Khan, one of the most renowned
of the Persian generals, having served the present royal
family for four generations, called to see me, out of respect
to general Malcolm. An Armenian priest also, on his way
from Bussorah to Isfahan : he was as ignorant as the rest
of his brethren. To my surprise I found he was of the
Latin Church, and read the service in Latin ; though he
confessed he knew nothing about the language."
Mr. Martyn, unwilling to lose any opportunity (if it were
the will of God) of benefiting the inhabitants of Shiraz,
was never inaccessible to them. Strict as he was in the
observance of the Sabbath, he admitted them even on that
day to speak with him, for he had learnt the import cf
those words, " I will have mercy and not sacrifice." In
consequence, however, of his removal, in the middle of the
month of July, to a garden in the suburbs of the city,
where his kind host had pitched a tent for him, to relieve
the tedium of confinement within the walls of Shiraz, — he
prosecuted the work before him uninterruptedly. " Living
amidst clusters of grapes, by the side of a clear stream,"
as he describes it, and frequently sitting under the shade
of an orange-tree, which Jaffier Ali Khan delighted to
point out to visitors, he passed many a tranquil hour, and
enjoyed many a Sabbath of holy rest and divine refresh-
ment. Of one of these Sabbaths, he thus writes, July
14. — " The first Sabbath morning I have had to myself
this long time, and I spent it with comfort and profit.
Read Isaiah chiefly ; and hymns, which, as usual, brought 'ff"
to my remembrance the children of God in all parts of the
earth ; remembered, especially, dear , as he desired
me, on this his birth-day."
CHAPTER IX.
FIRST PUBLIC DISCUSSION AT SHIRAZ MR. MARTYN RE-
PLIES TO A DEFENCE OF MOHAMMEDANISM INTERVIEW
WITH THE HEAD OF THE SOOFIES VISITS PERSEPOLIS
TRANSLATIONS DISCUSSIONS.
The day following this happy, though solitary Sabbath,
formed a contrast to its peaceful and sacred serenity ; —
being the day of Mr. Martyn's first public controversy with
the Mohammedans.
After some hesitation and demur, the Moojtuhid, or
Professor of Mohammedan Law, consented to a discussion
upon religious topics. He was a man of great consequence
in Shiraz, being the last authority in the decision of all
matters connected with his profession ; so that a contest
with him, as it respected rank, prejudice, popularity, and
reputation for learning, was manifestly an unequal one.
Mr. Martyn, however, fearlessly engaged in it, knowing in
whom he had believed.
The subjoined is the account he has left of this idisputa-
tion, — if such indeed it can be called ; — for the Professor,
it seems, could not so far forget his official dignity, as to
dispute fairly and temperately; — he preferred the easier
task of dogmatising magisterially.
'' He first ascertained from Seid Ali," says Mr. Martyn,
" that I did not want demonstration, but admitted that the
prophets had been sent. So, being a little easy at this
MEMOIR OF MARTYN. 335
assurance, he invited us to dinner. About eight o'clock
at night, we went, and, after passing along many an avenue,
we entered a fine court, where was a pond, and, by the side
of it, a platform, eight feet high, covered with carpets.
Here sat the Moojtuhid in state, with a considerable num-
ber of his learned friends, — among the rest, I perceived
the Jew. One was at his prayers. I was never more dis-
gusted at the mockery of this kind of prayer. He went
through the evolutions with great exactness, and pretended
to be unmoved at the noise and chit-chat of persons on
each side of him. The Professor seated Seid Ali on his
right hand, and me on his left. Every thing around bore
the appearance of opulence and ease ; and the swarthy
obesity of the little personage himself, led me to suppose
that he had paid more attention to cooking than to science.
But when he began to speak, I saw reason enough for his
being so much admired. The substance of his speech was
flimsy enough ; but he spoke with uncommon fluency and
clearness, and with a manner confident and imposing. He
talked for a full hour about the soul ; its being distinct from
the body ; superior to the brutes, 6lc. ; about God ; his
unity, invisibility, and other obvious and acknowledged
truths. After this followed another discourse. At length,
after clearing his way for miles around, he" said, Uhat phi-
losophers Imd proved, that a single being could produce but
a single being ; — that the first thing God had created was
Wisdom, — a being perfectly one with him ; after that, the
souls of men, and the seventh heaven ; and so on, till he
produced matter, which is merely passive.' He illustrated
the theory, by comparing all being to a circle ; at one ex-
tremity of the diameter is God, at the opposite extremity of
the diameter is matter, than which nothing in the world is
meaner. Rising from thence, the highest stage of matter
is connected with the lowest stage of vegetation; the
highest of the vegetable world, with the lowest of the
animal ; and so on, till we approach the point from which
all proceeded. ' But,' said he, ' you will observe, that next
336 MEMOIR OF
to God, something ought to be, which is equal to God; for
since it is equally near, it possesses equal dignity. What
this is, philosophers are not agreed upon. You,' said he,
' say it is Christ ; but we, that it is the Spirit of the
Prophets. All this is what the philosophers have proved,
independently of any particular religion.' I rather ima-
gined that it was the invention of some ancient Oriental
Christian, to make the doctrine of the Trinity appear more
reasonable. There were a hundred things in the Profes-
eor's harangue that might have been excepted against, as
mere dreams supported by no evidence : but I had no
inclination to call in question dogmas, on the truth or
falsehood of which nothing in religion depended.
" He was speaking, at one time, about the angels ; and
asserted that man was superior to them ; and that no being
greater than man could be created. Here the Jew re-
minded me of a passage in the Bible, quoting something
in Hebrew. I was a little surprised, and was just about
to ask, where he found anything in the Bible to support
such a doctrine ; when the Moojtuhid, not thinking it
worth while to pay any attention to what the Jew said,
continued his discourse. At last the Jew grew impatient,
and, finding an opportunity of speaking, said to me, 'Why
do you not speak ? — Why do not you bring forward your
objections'?' The Professor, at the close of one of his
long speeches, said to me, ' You see how much there is to
be said on these subjects , several visits will be necessary ;
we must come to the point by degrees.' Perceiving how
much he dreaded a close discussion, I did not mean to
hurry him, but let him talk on, not expecting we should
have anything about Mohammedanism the first night.
But at the instigation of the Jew, 1 said, ' Sir, you see
that Abdoolghunee is anxious that you should say some-
thing about Islam.' — He was much displeased at being
brought so prematurely to the weak point, but could not
decline accepting so direct a challenge. ' Well,' said he
to me, ' I must ask you a few questions. — Why do you
HENRY MARTYN. 337
believe in Christ?' I replied, 'That is not the question.
I am at liberty to say, that I do not believe in any reli-
gion ; that I am a plain man, seeking the way of salva-
tion ; that it was, moreover, quite unnecessary to prove the
truth of Christ to Mohammedans, because they allowed it.'
* No such thing,' said he. ' The Jesus we acknowledge,
is he who was a prophet, a mere servant of God, and one
who bore testimony to Mohammed ; not your Jesus, whom
you call God,' said he, with a contemptuous smile. He
then enumerated the persons who had spoken of the mira-
cles of Mohammed, and told a long story about Salmon,
the Persian, who had come to Mohammed. I asked
* whether this Salmon had written an account of the mira-
cles he had seen V He confessed that he had not. ' Nor,'
said I, ' have you a single witness to the miracles of Mo-
hammed.' He then tried to show, that though they had
not, there was still sufficient evidence. ' For,' said he,
' suppose five hundred persons should say that they heard
some particular thing of a hundred persons who were with
Mohammed, — would that be sufficient evidence or notf
* Whether it be or not,' said I, ' you have no such evidence
as that, nor anything like it; but if you have, as they are
something like witnesses,* we must proceed to examine
them, and see whether their testimony deserves credit.'
"After this, the Koran was mentioned ; but as the com-
pany began to thin, and the great man had not a sufficient
audience before whom to display his eloquence, the dis-
pute was not so brisk. He did not, indeed, seem to think
it worth while to notice my objections. He mentioned a
well-known sentence in the Koran, as being inimitable.
I produced another sentence, and begged to know why it
was inferior to the Koranic one. He declined saying why,
under pretence that it required such a knowledge of rheto-
ric in order to understand his proofs, as I probably did not
possess. A scholar afterwards came to Seid Ali, with
twenty reasons for preferring Mohammed's sentence to
mine."
29
338 :.i£3iojR OF
^' It was midnight when dinner, or rather supper, waa
brought in : it was a sullen meal. The great man was
silent ; and I was sleepy, Seid Ali, however, had not had
enough. While burying his hand in the dish of the Pro-
fessor, he softly mentioned some more of my objections.
He was so vexed, that he scarcely answered anything ;
but, after supper, told a very long story, all reflecting upon
me. He described a grand assembly of Christians, Jews,
Guebres, and Sabians (for they generally do us the honor
of stringing us with the other three), before Iman Ruza.
The Christians were of course defeated and silenced. It
was a remark of the Iman's, in which the Professor acqui-
esced, ' That it is quite useless for Mohammedans and
Christians to argue together, as they had different lan-
guages and different histories.' To the last I said noth-
ing ; but to the former replied by relating the fable of the
lion and man, which amused Seid Ali so much, that he
laughed out before the great man, and all the way home."
So universal a spirit of inquiry had been excited in the
city of Shiraz, by Mr. Martyn's frequent disputations, as
well as by the notoriety of his being engaged in a transla-
tion of the New Testament into Persian, that the Precep-
tor of all the Moollalis began greatly to ' fear whereunto
this would grow.' On the 26th of July, therefore, an
Arabic defence of Mohammedanism made its appearance
from his pen. A considerable time had been spent in its
preparation ; and on seeing the light, it obtained the credit
of surpassing all former treatises upon Islam.
This work, as far as a judgment of it can be formed
from a translation discovered amongst Mr. Martyn's papers,
is written with much temper and moderation, and with as
much candor as is consistent with that degree of subtilty
which is indispensable in an apology for so glaring an im-
posture as Mohammedanism.
The chief Moollah begins by declaring his desire to
avoid all altercation and wrangling; and expresses his
HENRY MAllTYN. 339
hope that God would guide into the right way those whom
he chose. He then endeavors, in the body of the work,
to show the superiority of the single perpetual miracle of
the Koran, addressed to the understanding, above the
variety of miracles wrought by Moses and by Christ,
which were originally addressed only to the senses ; and
that these, from lapse of time, become every day less and
less powerful in their influence. And he concludes with
the following address to Mr. Martyn : —
" Thus behold, then, O thou that art wise, and con-
sider with the eye of justice, since thou hast no excuse to
offer to God. Thou hast wished to see the truth of mira-
cles. We desire you to look at the great Koran : that is
an everlasting miracle.
" This was finished by Ibraheem ben al Hosyn, after
the evening of the second day of the week, the 23d of the
month lemadi, the second in the year 1223 of the Hegira
of the Prophet. On him who fled be a thousand saluta-
tions !"
This work, Mr. Martyn immediately set himself to re-
fute, in dependence on his Saviour to ' give him a wisdom
which his adversaries should not be able to gainsay.' His
answer was divided into two parts ; the first was princi-
pally devoted to an attack upon Mohammedanism; the
second was intended to display the evidences and estab-
lish the authority of the Christian faith. It was written
in Persian, and from a translation of the first part, which
has been found, we perceive that Mr. Martyn, 'having
such hope, used great plainness of speech ;' whilst at the
same time he treated his opponent with meekness and
courtesy.
After replying to the various arguments of Mirza Ibra-
heem, Mr. Martyn shows why men are bound to reject
Mohammedanism; — that Mohammed was foretold by no
prophet ; — that he worked no miracles ; — that he spread
his religion by means merely human, and framed his pre-
340 MEMOIR OF
cepts and promises to gratify men's sensuality, both here
and hereafter ; — that he was most ambitious, both for him-
self and his family ; — that his Koran is full of gross ab-
surdities and palpable contradictions; — that it contains a
method of salvation wholly inefficacious, which Mr. Mar-
tyn contrasted with the glorious and efficacious way of
salvation held out in the Gospel, through the divine atone-
ment of Jesus Christ. He concludes by addressing Mirza
Ibraheem in these words : —
" I beg you to view these things with the eye of impar-
tiality. If the evidence be indeed convincing, mind not
the contempt of the ignorant, nor even death itself; — for
the vain world is passing away like the wind of the desert.
" If you do not see the evidence to be sufficient, my
prayer is that God may guide you ; so that you, who have
been a guide to men in the way you thought right, may
now both see the truth, and call men to God through
Jesus Christ, ' who hath loved us, and washed us from our
sins in his blood.' His glory and dominion be ever-
lasting !"* ^
Reverting to the journal, we meet with the following
statements illustrative of the Persian character, and de-
scriptive of the genius of Soofeism. From these, also, we
discover, that, notwithstanding individuals were to be
found in Shiraz, who professed Mohammedanism without
having imbibed the spirit of cruelty and extermination
which belongs to it, Mr. Martyn was nevertheless exposed
to personal danger there, and subject to much contempt
and many insults.
July 29. — " Mirza Ibraheem declared publicly before
all his disciples, ' that if I really confuted his arguments,
* The Rev. S. Lee, Professor of Hebrew, in the University of
(/ambridge, England, has translated the Replies of Mr. Martyn, in
this important controversy, and furnished various interesting mat-
ter in reference to the questions in dispute. For a brief analysis of
the subject, see Appendix M. E.
HENRY MARTYN. 341
he should be bound in conscience to become a Christian.'
Alas! from such a declaration I have little hope. His
general good character, for uprightness and unbounded
kindness to the poor, would be a much stronger reason
with me for believing that he may perhaps be a Cor-
nelius."
Aug. 2. — *' Much against his will, Mirza Ibraheem was
obliged to go to his brother, who is Governor of some
town, thirty-eight parasangs off. To the last moment, he
continued talking with his nephew, on the subject of his
book, and begged that in case of his detention, my reply
might be sent to him."
Aug. 7. — '' My friends talked as usual, much about
what they call Divine Love ; but I do not very well com-
prehend what they mean. They love not the holy God,
but the God of their own imagination ; — a God who will
let them do as they please.
" I often remind Seid Ali of one defect in his system,
which is, that there is no one to stand between his sins
and God. Knowing what I allude to, he says, ' Well, if
the death of Christ intervene, no harm ; Soofeism can ad-
mil this too.' "
Aug. 14. — " Returned to the city in a fever, which con-
tinued all the next day, until the evening."
Aug. 15. — " Jani Khan, in rank corresponding to one
of our Scotch dukes, as he is the head of all the military
tribes of Persia, and chief of his own tribe, which consists
of twenty thousand families, called on Jaffier Ali Khan,
with a message from the king. He asked me a great
number of questions, and disputed a little. ' I suppose,'
said he, « you consider us all as Infidels V ' Yes,' replied
I, ' the whole of you.' He was mightily pleased with my
frankness, and mentioned it when he was going away."
Aug. 22. — " The copyist having shown my answer to a
Moodurris, called MooUah Acber, he wrote on the margin
with great acrimony, but little sense. Seid Ali having
shown his remarks in some companies, they begged him
342 MEMOIR OF
not to show them to me, for fear I should disgjace them
all through the folly of one man."
Aug. 23. — " Ruza Cooli Mirza, the great grandson of
Nadir Shah, and Aga Mohammed Hasan, called. The
Prince's nephew, hearing of my attack on Mohammed,
observed that * the proper answer to it was the sword ; ' /
but the Prince confessed that he began to have his doubts.
On his inquiring what were the laws of Christianity, —
meaning the number of times of prayer, the different
washings, &lc., — I said that we had two commandments,
* Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and all thy soul, and all thy strength ; and thy neighbor
as thyself.' He asked, ' what could be better?' and con-
tinued praising them.
'' The Moollah Aga Mohammed Hasan, himself a
Moodurris, and a very sensible, candid man, asked a good
deal about the European philosophy ; particularly what
we did in metaphysics : — for instance, ' how, or in what
sense the body of Christ ascended into heaven?' He
talked of free-will and fate, and reasoned high, and at
last reconciled them according to the doctrines of the
Soofies, by saying, that ' as all being is an emanation of
the Deity, the will of every being is only the. will of the
Deity ; so that therefore, in fact, free-will and fate are the
same.' He has nothing to find fault with in Christianity,
except the Divinity of Christ. It is this doctrine that
exposes me to the contempt of the learned Mohammedans,
in whom it is difficult to say whether pride or ignorance
predominates. Their sneers are more difficult to bear
than the brickbats which the boys sometimes throw at
me : however, both are an honor of which I am not
worthy. How many times in the day have I occasion to
repeat the words,
' If on my face, for thy dear name,
Shame and reproaches be ;
All hail, reproach, and welcome, shame,
If thou remember me.'
HENRY MARTYN. 343
** The more they wish me to give up this one point, —
the Divinity of Christ, — the more I seem to feel the ne-
cessity of it, and rejoice and glory in it. Indeed, I trust
I would sooner give up my life than surrender it."
The following account of an interview to which Mr.
Martyn was admitted, with the head of the sect of the
Soofies, will interest those whose thoughts are turned
towards the state of religion in the East : a large propor-
tion of the people of Shiraz, it is computed, are either the
secret or avowed disciples of Mirza Abulcasim. When-
ever ' a great and effectual door ' is opened for Christianity,
* there are many adversaries.' It is otherwise with a de-
lusion congenial to the ' desires of the flesh and of the
mind' in fallen man. Such a system the god of this
world is concerned to uphold rather than oppose.
** In the evening we went to pay a long-promised visit
to Mirza Abulcasim, one of the most renowned Soofies
in all Persia. We found several persons sitting in an
open court, in which a few greens and flowers were placed ;
the master was in a corner. He was a very fresh looking
old man, with a silver beard. I was surprised to observe
the downcast and sorrowful looks of the assembly, and
still more at the silence which reigned. After sitting
some time in expectation, and being not at all disposed to
waste my time in sitting there, I said softly to Seid Ali,
* What is this V He said, ' It is the custom here, to think
much and speak little.' ' May I ask the master a ques-
tion V said I. With some hesitation he consented to let
me : so I begged Jaffier Ali to inquire, ' Which is the
way to be happy V
*'This he did in his own manner: he began by ob-
serving, that ' there was a great deal of misery in the
world, and that the learned shared as largely in it as the
rest ; that I wished, therefore, to know what we must do
to escape it.' The master replied, that ' for his part,
he did not know, but that it was usually said that the
344 MEMOIR OF
subjugation of the passions was the shortest way to hap-
piness.'
" After a considerable pause, I ventured to ask ' what
were his feelings in the prospect of death ; — hope, or fear,
or neither V * Neither,' said he, and that * pleasure and
pain were both alike.' I then perceived that the Stoics
were Greek Soofies. I asked, ' whether he had attained
this apathy?' He said, *No.' 'Why do you think it
attainable?' He could not tell. * Why do you think that
pleasure and pain are not the same?' said Seid Ali,
taking his master's part. ' Because,' said I, ' I have the
evidence of my senses for it. And you also act as if
there was a difference. Why do you eat, but that you
fear pain V These silent sages sat unmoved,
"One of the disciples is the son of the Moojtuhid, who,
greatly to the vexation of his father, is entirely devoted to
the Soofie Doctor. He attended his calean with the ut-
most humility. On observing the pensive countenance of
the young man, and knowing something of his history
from Seid Ali, how he had left all to find happiness in the
contemplation of God, I longed to make known the glad
tidings of a Saviour, and thanked God, on coming away,
that I was not left ignorant of the Gospel. I could not
help being a little pleasant on Seid Ali, afterwards, for
his admiration of this silent instructor. ' There you sit,'
said I, ' immersed in thought, full of anxiety and care,
and will not take the trouble to ask whether God has said
anything or not. No : that is too easy and direct a way
of coming at the truth. I compare you to spiders, who
weave their house of defence out of their own bowels ; or
to a set of people who are groping for a light in broad
day.' "
» Mr. Martyn's mathematical acquirements were to him
I invaluable, inasmuch as they gave him that habit of patient
J and persevering study, which was sanctified in the appli-
! cation of his powers to the highest ends and purposes.
HENRY MARTYN. 345
There were also occasions in which this and other sci-
ences were of service to the cause he had at heart, by pro-
curing for him that attention and respect, which learning
ever secures in countries where the light of civilization
shines, even though but faintly and imperfectly. Of this
we have an instance in the following account.
Aug. 26. — *' Waited this morning on Mohammed Nubee
Khan, late ambassador at Calcutta, and now prime minis-
ter of Fars. There were a vast number of clients in his
court, with whom he transacted business while chatting
with us. Amongst the others who came and sat with us,
was my tetric adversary, — Aga Acber, who came for the
very purpose of presenting the minister with a little book
he had written in answer to mine. After presenting it in
due form, he sat down, and told me he meant to bring me
a copy that day, — a promise which he did not perform,
through Seid Ali's persuasion, who told him it was a per-
formance that would do him no credit. Aga Acber gave
me a hint respecting its contents, namely, that there were
four answers to my objections to Mohammedans using the
sword.
"He then, without any ceremony, began to question
me, before the company, (there were more than fifty in
the hall, and crowds in front, all listening), about the
European philosophy ; and brought objections against the
world's motion, with as much spleen as if he had an estate
which he was afraid would run away from him. As it
was a visit of mere ceremony, I was not a little surprised,
and looked at the minister, to know if it would not be a
breach of good manners to dispute at such a time ; but it
seemed there was nothing contrary to custom, as he rather
expected my answer. I explained our system to Aga
Acber ; but there were many things not to be understood
without diagrams ; so a scribe in waiting was ordered to
produce his implements, and I was obliged to show him,
first, the sections of the cone, and how a body revolves in
an ellipse round the sun in one focus, &c. He knew
346 MEMOIR OF
nothing of mathematics, as I suspected, so it was soon
found useless to proceed ; — he comprehended nothing.
" On my return, Jaffier Ali Khan and Mirza Seid Ali
requested me to explain to them my proofs. I did my
best ; but there were so many things they were obliged to
take for granted, that all my endeavors were to little pur-
pose. So much Mirza Seid Ali comprehended, that the
hypothesis of a force varying inversely as the square of
the distance, was sufficient to account for every phenome-
non ; and that therefore, according to the rules of philoso-
phy, a more complex hypothesis was not to be admitted.
This he had sense enough to see."
There is something so estimable in the character of
Mr. Marty n's opponent, Mirza Ibraheem, that it will not
fail to secure the attention of the reader, in perusing the
subjoined relation of the effect produced on his mind by
Mr. Martyn's defence of Christianity and attack upon
Mohammedanism.
Aug. 29. — " Mirza Ibraheem begins to inquire about
the Gospel. The objections he made were such as these :
How sins could be atoned for before they were committed ?
Whether, as Jesus died for all men, all would necessarily
be saved ? If faith be the condition of salvation, would
wicked Christians be saved, provided they believe? I
was pleased to see, from the nature of the objections, that
he was considering the subject. To this last objection, I
remarked, that to those who felt themselves sinners, and
came to God for mercy, through Christ, God would give
his Holy Spirit, which would progressively sanctify them
in heart and life."
Aug. 30. — " Mirza Ibraheem praises my answer, es-
pecially the first part."
Mr. Martyn's mind, we have had frequent occasion to
notice, closed as it was against trifling vanities, was ever
open and alive to many of those subjects which arrest the
nttPTition, and interest the curiosity of men of science and
HENRY MARTYN. 347
research, and which form one great source of intellectual
gratification. Whilst the moral depravity of Shiraz chiefly
occupied his thoughts and excited his commiseration, he
could also find a mournful pleasure in musing over the
fallen grandeur of Persepolis.
He has left the following observations and reflections,
on visiting these celebrated remains of antiquity.
•' I procured two horsemen, as guards, from the minis-
ter, and set off* about two hours before sunset. At a sta-
tion of Rahdars we fed the horses, and then continued
our course, through a most dismal country, till midnight,
when we entered a vast plain, and, two or three hours be-
fore day, crossed the Araxes, by a bridge of three arches,
and, coming in sight of the ruins, waited for the day. I
laid down upon the bare ground, but it was too cold
to sleep.
"When the sun rose, we entered. My guards and
servant had not the smallest curiosity to see ruins, and
therefore the moment they mounted the terrace they laid
down and fell asleep. These people cannot imagine why
the Europeans come to see these ruins. One of them said
to me, 'A nice place. Sahib ; good air and a fine garden ;
you may carry brandy, and drink there at leisure.' Thus
he united, as he thought, the two ingredients of human
happiness, — the European enjoyment of drinking, and the
Persian one of straight walks, cypress-trees, and muddy
water in a square cistern. One of my guards was con-
tinually reminding me, on my way thither, that it was un-
inhabited. Finding me still persist, he imagined that my
object must be to do something in secret; and accord-
ingly, after I had satisfied my curiosity, and was coming
away, he plainly asked me whether I had been drinking ;
— observing, perhaps, my eyes, which were red with cold
and want of sleep. When I gravely told them that drunk-
enness was as great a sin with us as with them, they
altered their tone, and said that wine was not only unlaw-
ful, but odious and filthy.
348 MEMOIR OF
"After traversing these celebrated ruins, I must say,
that I felt a little disappointed ; they did not at all answer
my expectation. The architecture of the ancient Persians
seems to be much more akin to that of their clumsy neigh-
bors the Indians, than to that of the Greeks. I saw no
appearance of grand design anywhere. The chapiters of
the columns were almost as long as the shafts ; — though
they are not so represented in Niebuhr's plate ; — and the
mean little passages into the square court, or room, or
whatever it was, make it very evident that the taste of the
Orientals was the same three thousand years ago as it
is now.
" But it was impossible not to recollect that here Alex-
ander and his Greeks passed and repassed ; — here . they
sat, and sung, and revelled : now all is silence ; — genera-
tion on generation lie mingled with the dust of their
mouldering edifices : —
' Alike the busy and the gay.
But flutter in life's busy day,
In fortune's varying colors drest.'
" From the ruins I rode off to a neighboring village,
the head-man of which, at the minister's order, paid me
every attention. At sunset, we set out on our return,
and lost our way. As I particularly remarked where we
entered the plains, I pointed out the track, which after-
wards proved to be right ; but my opinion was overruled,
and we galloped further and further away. Meeting, at
last, with some villagers, who were passing the night at
their threshing-floor in the field, we were set right. They
then conceived so high an idea of my geographical skill,
that, as soon as we recrossed the Araxes, they begged me
to point out the Keblah to them, as they wanted to pray.
After setting their faces towards Mecca, as nearly as I
could, I went and sat down on the margin near the bridge,
where the water, falling over some fragments of the bridge
under the arches, produced a roar, which, contrasted
liExNRY iVlARTVN. 349
with the stillness all around, had a grand effect. Here I
thought again of the multitudes who had once pursued
their labors and pleasures on its banks. Twenty-one
centuries have passed away since they lived : how short,
in comparison, must be the remainder of my days. What
a momentary duration is the life of man ! Lahitur et
lahetur in omne voluhilis cBvum* may be affirmed of the
river ; but men pass away as soon as they begin to exist.
Well, let the moments pass —
* They'll waft us sooner o'er
This life's tempestuous sea,
And land us on the peaceful shore
Of blest Eternity. 't
" The Mohammedans having finished their prayers^
I mounted my horse, and pursued my way over the plain.
We arrived at the station of the Rahdars so early, that we
should have been at Shiraz before the gates were opened,
so we halted. I put my head into a poor corner of the
caravansera, and slept soundly upon the hard stone, till
the rising sun bid us continue our course.
"One of my guards was a pensive, romantic sort of a
man, as far as eastern men can be romantic ; that is, he
is constantly reciting love-verses. He often broke a long
silence by a sudden question of this sort : * Sir, what is
the chief good of life?' I replied, 'The love of God.'
* What next ? ' ' The love of man.' ' That is,' said he,
* to have men love us, or to love them ? ' ' To love them.'
He did not seem to agree with me. Another time he
asked, 'Who were the worst people in the world?' I said,
' Those who know their duty, and do not practise it.' At
the house where I was entertained, they asked me the
question which the Lord once asked, ' What think ye of
* It flows and will continue to flow forever,
t For some interesting particulars in regard to Persepolis,
Appendix N. I
30
350 MEMOIli OI>'
Christ ? ' I generally tell them at first, what they expect
to hear, ' The Son of God ;' but this time I said, * The
same as you say, — the word of God.' ' Was he a prophet ? '
* Yes, in some sense, he was a prophet ; but, what it
chiefly concerns us to know, — he was an atonement for
the sins of men.' Not understanding this, they made no
reply. They next asked, 'What did I think of the soul?
was it out of the body or in the body ? ' I supposed the
latter. ' No,' they said, ' it was neither the one nor the
other ; but next to it, and the mover of the body.' "
The details Mr. Martyn gives of the fast of Ramazan,
which he witnessed on his return to Shiraz, whilst they
show that he was far from being an inobservant spectator
of what was passing around him, afford a striking view of
the interior of Mohammedanism. We plainly discover
i from them that a love for particular popular preachers, — a
i fiery zeal in religion, — a vehement excitation of the ani-
; mal feelings, as well as rigid austerities, — are false cri-
terions of genuine piety ; for we see all these in their full
, perfection amongst the real followers of the Crescent, as
j well as amongst the pretended" disciples of the Cross.
Sept. 20. — "First day of the fast of Ramazan. — All the
family have been up in the night, to take an unseasonable
meal, in order to fortify themselves for the abstinence of
the day. It was curious to observe the effects of the fast
in the house. The master was scolding and beating his
servants ; they equally peevish and insolent ; and the beg-
gars more than ordinarily importunate and clamorous.
At noon, all the city went to the grand Mosque. My host
came back with an account of new vexations there. He
was chatting with a friend, near the door, when a great
preacher, Hagi Mirza, arrived, with hundreds of followers.
* Why do you not say your prayers ? ' said the new comers
to the two friends. ' We have finished,' said they. ' Well,'
said the other, ' if you cannot pray a second time with us,
you had better move out of the way.' Rather than join
HENRY MARTYN. 351
such turbulent zealots, they retired. The reason of this
unceremonious address was, that these loving disciples
had a desire to pray all in a row with their master, which,
it seems, is the custom. There is no public service in the
Mosque ; every man there prays for himself.
" Coming out of the Mosque, some servants of the
Prince, for their amusement, pushed a person against a
poor man's stall, on which were some things for sale, a few
European and Indian articles, also some valuable Warsaw
plates, which were thrown down and broken. The ser-
vants went off without making compensation. No cazi
will hear a complaint against the Prince's servants,
" Hagi Mohammed Hasan preaches every day during
the Ramazan. He takes a verse from the Koran, or more
frequently tells stories about the Imans. If the ritual of
the Christian churches, their good forms, and every thing
they have, is a mere shadow, without the power of truth ;
what must all this Mohammedan stuff be 1 and yet how
impossible is it to convince the people of the world,
whether Christian or Mohammedan, that what they call
religion, is merely a thing of their own, having no con-
nection with God and his kingdom. This subject has
been much on my mind of late. How senseless the zeal
of churchmen against dissenters, and of dissenters against
the church ! The kingdom of God is neither meat nor
drink, nor anything perishable ; but righteousness, and
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
" Mirza Ibraheem never goes to the Mosque ; but he is
so much respected, that nothing is said : they conclude
that he is employed in devotion at home. Some of his
disciples said to Seid Ali, before him, ' Now the Ramazan
is come, you should read the Koran and leave the Gospel.'
* No,' said his uncle, ' he is employed in a good work ; let
him go on with it.' The old man continues to inquire
with interest about the Gospel, and is impatient for his
nephew to explain the evidences of Christianity, which I
have drawn up."
352 MEMOIR OF
Sept. 22. — Sunday. — "My friends returned from the
Mosque, full of indignation at what they had witnessed
there. The former governor of Bushire complained to the
vizier, in the Mosque, that some of his servants had treated
him brutally. The vizier, instead of attending to his com-
plaint, ordered them to do their work a second time ; which
they did, kicking and beating him with their slippers, in
the most ignominious way, before all the Mosque. This
unhappy people groan under the tyranny of their gov-
iernors ; yet nothing subdues or tames them. Happy Eu-
rope ! how has God favored the sons of Japheth, by caus-
ing them to embrace the Gospel. How dignified are all
/ the nations of Europe compared with this nation ! Yet
j the people are clever and intelligent, and more calculated
1 to become great and powerful than any of the nations of
I the East, had they a good government, and the Christian
/religion."
Sept. 29.—" The Soofie, son of the Moojtuhid, with
some others, came to see me. For fifteen years he was a
devout Mohammedan ; visited the sacred places, and said
many prayers. Finding no benefit from austerities, he
threw up Mohammedanism altogether, and attached him-
self to the Soofie master.
" I asked him, what his object was, all that time? He
said, ' he did not know, but he was unhappy.' I began to
explain to him the Gospel ; but he cavilled at it as much
as any bigoted Mohammedan could do, and would not hear
of there being any distinction between Creator and crea-
ture. In the midst of our conversation, the sun went
down, and the company vanished, for the purpose of taking
an immediate repast.
" Aga Baba was also for many years a zealous Moham-
medan, often passing whole nights in prayer. His father,
who had at first encouraged his religious propensities,
I found them at last so troublesome, that he was obliged to
leave the house, not being able to get sleep for the noise
his son made in prayer. Finding, after many years, that
HENRY MARTYN. 353
he was growing more and more proud and contemptuous,
he could ascribe it to nothing but his prayers, and there-
fore, from purely conscientious motives, left them off.
" Jaffier Ali Khan was also once a great sayer of prayers,
and regularly passed every afternoon, for fourteen years, in
cursing the worshippers of Omar, according to the pre-
scribed form ; but perceiving that these zealous maledic-
tions brought no blessing to himself, he left them off, and
now just prays for form's sake. His wife says her prayers
regularly five times a day, and is always up before sunrise \
for the first prayer.
" Mirza Seid Ali seems sometimes coming round to
Christianity against Soofeism. The Soofies believe in no
prophet, and do not consider Moses to be equal to Mirza
Abulcasim. ' Could they be brought,' Seid Ali says, ' to
believe that there has been a prophet, they would embrace
Christianity.' And what would be gained by such con-
verts ? ' Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power.' It will be ' an afflicted and poor people,' that
shall call upon the name of the Lord, and such the Soofies
are not : professing themselves to be wise, they have he-/
come fools."
Oct. 1. — " Thousands every day assemble at the Mosque ;
it is quite a lounge with them. Each, as soon as he has
said his prayers, sits down and talks to his friend. The
multitude press to hear Hagi Mohammed Hasan. One
day they thronged him so much that he made some error
in his prostrations. This put him into such a passion, that
he wished that Omar's curse might come upon him if he
preached to them again. However, a day or two after, he
thought better of it. This preacher is famous for letting
out his money for interest ; and therefore, in spite of his
eloquence, he is not very popular. About two years ago,
Shekh Jaffier came here and preached, — ' The Persians
are all murderers ! adulterers ! ' ' What does the Shekh
mean ? ' said his followers. ' Why,' said he, ' the Per-
30*
354 MEMOIR OF
sians take usury ; and he that does that, is worse than a
murderer or adulterer.' "
Oct. 7. — " I was surprised by a visit from the great
Soofie doctor, who, while most of the people were asleep,
came to me for some wine. I plied him with questions
innumerable ; but he returned nothing but incoherent
answers, and sometimes no answer at all. Having laid
aside his turban, he put on his night-cap, and soon fell
asleep upon the carpet. Whilst he lay there, his disciples
came, but would not believe, when I told them who was
there, till they came and saw the sage asleep. When he
awoke, they came in, and seated themselves at the greatest
possible distance, and were all as still as if in a church.
" The real state of this man seems to be despair, and it
is well if it do not end in madness. I preached to him the
kingdom of God : mentioning particularly how I had found
peace from the Son of God and the Spirit of God : through
the first, forgiveness; through the second, sanctification.
He said it was good, but said it with the same unconcern
with which he admits all manner of things, however con-
tradictory. Poor soul ! he is sadly bewildered.
"At a garden called Shah Chiragh, in which is the
tomb of the brother of one of the Imans, who was killed
on the spot, a miracle is wrought every Ramazan. The
Mootuwulli, or proprietor of the garden, in whose family it
has been for ages, finds its supposed sanctity abundantly
profitable, as he is said to make <£2,000 a-year of it. To
keep alive the zeal of the people, who make their offerings
there every day, he procures a villager, who is at first sick,
and crying to Ali for help ; and then, on the appointed
day, recovers. This year a man was recovered of the
palsy, and our servants came in quite full of it. Though
this farce is played ofi* every year, the simpletons are never
undeceived. Presents of sheep, fowls, sweetmeats, money,
flowed in upon the Mootuwulli, who skilfully turned all to
the best advantage. Those who wished to see the man's
HENRY MARTYN. 355
face, were to pay so much ; those who were anxious to
touch him, were to pay so much more ; and so on.
*' On two days in the Ramazan, tragedies were acted at
our house, in the women's court. Two or three men,
dressed in the Khan's court-robes, spouted and sung for an
hour, before an immense concourse of women, all veiled.
The subject on the first day was the death of Mohammed ;
on the second, that of Iman Hosyn."
Oct. 18. — " The Ramazan ended, or ought to have
ended, but the moon disappointed them. The Moollahs
not having seen the new moon, would not allow the fast to
be over, and the people were, in consequence, all in confu-
sion; for not having eaten in the night, they were not at
all disposed to go through the day fasting. At last some
witnesses appeared, who vowed that they had seen the
silver bow. These were from the Prince ; but the Mool-
lahs refused to admit them till seventy-two of the same kind
bore the same testimony. This was no great number for
a Prince to produce ; so the seventy-two appeared, and the
feast was proclaimed."
Towards the end of November, great progress having
been made in the Persian translation of the New Testa-
ment, Mr. Martyn ordered two splendid copies of it to be
prepared, designing to present the one to the king of Per-
sia, and the other to the Prince Abbas Mirza, his son. It
being now also his fixed intention to pass the winter at
Shiraz, he resolved to commence another eminently useful,
and, to him, most delightful, work, — a version of the
Psalms of David, into Persian, from the original Hebrew.
The divine Songs of Zion became thus the subject of his
critical examination, close meditation, and frequent prayer ;
and whilst engaged in this sacred employment, often did
he find his soul elevated, and his spirit refreshed in a
' strange land."
The events of the last month of the year stand thus
recorded in his Journal.
356 MEMOIR OF
Dec. 3. — " Attended the lecture of Aga Mohammed
Hasan. He read and commented on three books of meta-
physics, and at intervals conversed with me. Amongst
other things we discussed the cause of the ascent of a light
body in a fluid. Our argument came at last to this, — that
if one particle of fluid were on another, it would, from its
gravity, move ever horizontally off", in order to be nearer
the centre. ' If,' said he, ' a body can move towards the
centre only directly, how do you account for its falling
down an inclined plane 1 ' I began to explain the com-
position and resolution of forces ; but some disciples com-
ing, he could not stay to hear what I had to say, but went
on with his lecture. At one time he asked me some ques-
tions about genera and species."
Dec. 6. — " Aga Boozorg and his disciple, Aga Ali, a
Mede, came and sat many hours. The former, from love
to the Gospel, as he said, had desired a friend at Isfahan
to send him Luke's Gospel, translated from the Arabic.
He asked me about the Trinity, and said that, ' for him-
self, he had no objection to the doctrine.' So say all the
Soofies, but they will only concede to Jesus a nature which
they conceive to belong to all the prophets, and all the
illuminated. He stated his sentiments ; I asked for rea-
sons, but asked in vain. ' Proofs,' he said, ' were cob-
webs,— a breath destroyed them : nothing but a divine
teacher could make known the mystery.' Aga Ali, in
order to prove to me that proofs were nothing, adduced the
instance of Matthew the publican, who rose at the call of
Christ, without seeing a miracle. They are fond of pro-
ducing what they know of the Gospel, in confirmation of
their mystic themes. The atonement they would not hear
of, because the Mohammedans pretended, in the same way,
that Hosyn was sacrificed for the sins of men. Thus
Satan has contrived Mohammedanism with more craft than
at first appears ; for the impostor of Mecca, by making
common cause with the prophets of God, has taken care,
that if any forsake him, they shall at the same time forsake
HENRY MAIITYN. 357
the messengers of God ; of v/hom they know nothing but
just what he tells them, — which is far enough from the
truth."
Dec. 8. — " The Soohes breakfasted with me. Aga
Boozorg talked dogmatically about the unity of all being,
and quoted large portions from the Munari of Mouluwee
Room. Another part of the conversation was about India.
The Soofies consider all the Brahmins as philosophers of
the same school with themselves. One of them asked me
gravely, ' whether I had met with any in whom was the
Holy Ghost V This, he supposed, was the only way of ex-
pressing what they meant by being enlightened."
Dec. 12. — "Letters, at last, from India. Mirza Seid
Ali was curious to know in what way we corresponded,
and made me read Mr. Brown's letter to me, and mine to
Corrie. He took care to let his friends know that we
wrote nothing about our own affairs : it was all about
translations, and the cause of Christ : with this he was
delighted."
Dec. 16.—" In translating 2 Cor. i. 22, ' Who hath
given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts,'*he was much
struck when it was explained to him. ' O that I had it,'
said he ; ' have you received it V I told him that, as I
had no doubt of my acceptance through Christ, I concluded
that I had. Once before, on the words, ' Who are saved,'
he expressed his surprise at the confidence with which
Christians spoke of salvation. On 1 Cor. xi. he observed,
that the doctrine of the resurrection of the body was un-
reasonable ; but that as the Mohammedans understood it,
it was impossible ; on which account the Soofies rejected
it."
Christmas-day. — " I made a great feast for the Russians
and Armenians ; and, at Jaffier Ali Khan's request, in-
vited the Soofie Master, with his disciples. I hoped there
would be some conversation on .the occasion of our meet-
ing, and indeed Mirza Seid Ali did make some attempts,
and explained to the old man the meaning of the Lord's
358 MEaioiii OF
Supper ; but the sage maintaining his usual silence, the
subject was dropped.
'' I expressed my satisfaction at seeing them assembled
on such an occasion, and my hope that they would re-
member the day in succeeding years ; and that, though
they would never see me again in the succeeding years,
they would not forget that I had brought them the Gospel.
The old man coldly replied that ' God would guide those
whom he chose.' Most of the time they continued was
before dinner ; the moment that was despatched, they rose
up and went away. The custom is, to sit five or six hours
before dinner, and at great men's houses singers attend."
Dec. 27. — *' Carapet invited me this evening to his wed-
ding; but just before the guests were to have assembled,
the Darogha's servants seized his father-in-law, and carried
him away to be bastinadoed, or else to pay five hundred
piastres. It seems he had given a bond to that amount,
never to sell wine to Mohammedans ; and yesterday he was
detected in the act. Jaffier Ali Khan wrote, in my name,
to the Vizier, to request his release. The Vizier replied,
that Caraper, for my sake, should not be molested ; but
that the other man had forfeited his money, and, in evi-
dence sent his bond. Finding that it was not a piece of
villany on the part of the government, as I had appre-
hended, I declined having anything to do in the business;
the law might take its course. But Jaffier Ali Khan beg-
ged as a favor, of the servant of the Vizier, who had for-
merly been a servant of his, to represent the matter in such
a light to his master as to excite his compassion. After he
was gone away, the Armenians came in great numbers, and
begged I would procure the pardon of the poor man, and
had obtained a promise from me to this eflTect ; when the
servant came back with the poor Greek, and said that the
Vizier had released him and forgiven him the forfeit for
my sake. The Armenians were in ecstasies of joy, and
did not know how enough to express their gratitude to me,
thouffh it was rather due to Jaffier Ali Khan. I was una-
HENRY MARTYN. 359
ble to attend the wedding, from a cough, which made it
unsafe to be out at night. They sat up all night, accord-
ing to the Armenian custom, eating and drinking, and about
two hours before day, went to church, where the marriage
was solemnized : the feasting continues two days longer.
" On the strength of the narrow escape the Greek had
experienced, some of the Vizier's servants came, the day
after, to feast themselves at his expense. They first called
for a calean, which was brought them ; then for the wine
he had promised them, though he had promised none.
This unfortunate people have been visited almost like the
Jews. When will the Lord pity them ! An Armenian, if
he gets a new coat, makes the sleeves of patches, as he
will be sure to have it taken from him if it looks new.
Carapet was insulted, for being a little better dressed than
they thought a Christian ought to be."
Dec. 31. — " The accounts of the desolations of war
during the last year, which I have been reading in some
Indian newspapers, make the world appear more gloomy
than ever. How many souls hurried into eternity unpre-
pared. How many thousands of widows and orphans left
to mourn ! But admire, my soul, the matchless power of
God, that out of this ruin he has prepared for himself an in-
heritance. At last the scene shall change, and I shall find
myself in a world where all is love."
The early part of the year 1812, that year in which Mr.
Martyn "rested from his labors," and " found himself in a
world where all was love," was ushered in by him in the
following strain of singular pathos and piety :
"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 de-
860 MEMOIR OF
gree 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 1 then
attached to my life and labors. 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 re-
lieved only by reflecting, that we have a city whose builder
and maker is God. The least of His works it is refresh-
ing to look at. A dried leaf, or a straw, makes me feel my-
self 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."
In the succeeding portion of Mr. Martyn's Journal, we
are presented with a statement, from which it is scarcely
possible not to infer that the civil government of Persia is in
a condition of extreme weakness and wretchedness.
Jan. 15. — '' I went with Jaffier Ali Khan, to see the
College. It is almost in ruins, not having been repaired
these two hundred years. It contains sixty or seventy sets
of rooms, in many of which we observed teachers and
scholars giving and hearing lectures. It was formerly
richly endowed ; but the rapacity of the kings has stripped
it of every thing ; only a small stipend is now allowed to
the principal teachers. Near it is an octagonal caravan-
sera, where goods were formerly exposed to sale, and a tax
levied, which was appropriated to the College ; but this is
nearly gone. The best way of laying out money at this
time is to build a caravansera, for merchants to lodge their
goods in, and expose them to sale. In this way they make
HENRY MARTYN. 361
about fifteen per cent. ; but these warehouses are heavily
taxed by government.
*' We called on several people ; among the rest, on Mirza
Abulcasim Kalantar, a man of large landed property, who
was very courteous. Conversation, as usual, about the
happiness of India and England.
" We called on Aga Boozorg, an old man of ninety,
whose house, or rather college, is a kind of asylum ; for he
is so venerated, that even the Vizier dare not drag an of-
fender thence. A poor ragged fellow came while we were
there, and said that the Vizier had sent him. ' Go and tell
the Vizier,' said he, *to knock his head against the pave-
ment, and not send such messengers to me.'
" A poor blind man whom we met begging, the Khan
pointed out to me, as one who formerly was a general, and
one of Kureen Khan's family ; but, by a change of dynasty,
had lost his eyes. Nobody took any notice of him."
Who can read some of the ensuing remarks without
discovering how abundantly those words of our Saviour
were verified in Mr. Martyn — '* neither pray I for these
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word : That they all may be one, as thou. Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us,
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." John
xvii. 20, 21.
Jan. 16. — " Mirza Seid Ali told me accidentally, to-day,
of a distich made by his friend Mirza Koochut, at Teheran
in honor of a victory obtained by Prince Abbas Mirza over
the Russians. The sentiment was, that he had killed so
many of the Christians, that Christ, from the fourth heaven,
took hold of Mohammed's skirt to entreat him to desist.
I was cut to the soul at this blasphemy. In prayer I could
think of nothing else but that great day when the Son of
God shall come in the clouds of heaven, taking vengeance
on them that know not God, and convincing men of all
their hard speeches which they have spoken against him.
31
/^
363 MEMOIR OF
" Mirza Seid Ali perceived that I was considerably dis-
ordered, and was sorry for having repeated the verse ; but
asked what it was that was so offensive ? I told him that
' I could not endure existence if Jesus was not glorified ; —
it would be hell to me, if he were to be always thus dis-
honored.' He was astonished, and again asked, why ?
' If any one pluck out your eyes,' I replied, * there is no
saying why you feel pain ; — it is feeling. It is because I
am one with Christ that I am thus dreadfully wounded/
On his again apologizing, I told him that ' I rejoiced at
what had happened, inasmuch as it made me feel nearer
the Lord than ever. It is when the head or heart is struck,
that every member feels its membership.' This conversa-
tion took place while we were translating. In the evening,
he mentioned the circumstance of a young man's being
murdered, — a fine athletic youth, whom I had often seen
in the garden. Some acquaintance of his, in a slight
quarrel, had plunged a dagger in his breast. Observing
me look sorrowful, he asked why. ' Because,' said I, * he
was cut ofT in his sins, and had no time to repent.' ' It is
just in that way,' said he, ' that I should like to die ; not
dragging out a miserable existence on a sick bed, but
transported at once into another state.' I observed that
' It was not desirable to be hurried into the immediate
presence of God.' ' Do you think,' said he, * that there is
any difference between the presence of God here or there V
*■ Indeed, I do,' said I. ' Here we see through a glass,
darkly ; but there face to face.' He then entered into some
metaphysical Soofie disputation about the identity of sin and
holiness, heaven and hell ; to all which I made no reply."
The subjoined conversation, into which Mr. Martyn was
led, exhibits the ignorance of the natural man, and the
knowledge of the spiritual man, in striking contrast.
. Jan. 18. — " Aga Ali, of Media, came, and with him
and Mirza Ali I had a long and warm discussion about
the essentials of Christianity. The Mede seeing us at
work upon the Epistles, said, ' he should be glad to read
HENRY MARTIIV. 353
them; as for the Gospels, they were nothing but tales,
which were of no use to him ; for instance,' said he, ' if
Christ raised four hundred dead to life, what is that to
meV I said, 'It certainly was of importance, for his
works were a reason for our depending upon his words.'
* What did he say,' asked he, ' that was not known before?
the love of God, humility, — who does not know these
things ? ' ' Were these things,' said I, ' known before
Christ, either among Greeks or Romans, with all their
philosophy?' They averred that the Hindoo book Juh
contained precepts of this kind. I questioned its anti-
quity ; ' but however that may be,' I added, * Christ came
not to teach, so much as to die ; the truths I spoke of, as
confirmed by his miracles, were those relating to his per-
son, such as, ' Come unto me, all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' Here Mirza Seid
Ali told him that I had professed to have no doubt of my
salvation. He asked what I meant? I told him 'that
though sin still remained, I was assured that it should not
regain dominion ; and that I should never come into con-
demnation, but was accepted in the beloved.' Not a little
surprised, he asked Mirza Seid Ali whether he compre-
hended this ? * No,' said he, ' nor Mirza Ibraheem, to
whom I mentioned it.' The Mede again turning to me,
asked, ' how do you know this ? how do you know you
have experienced the second birth?' ' Because,' said I,
* we have the Spirit of the Father ; what he wishes, we
wish ; what he hates, we hate.' Here he began to be a
little more calm and less contentious, and mildly asked,
how I had obtained this peace of mind ; ' Was it merely
those books?' said he, taking up some of our sheets. I
told him ' These books, with prayer.' * What was the
beginning of it,' said he, ' the society of some friends ? ' I
related to him my religious history, the substance of which
was, that I took my Bible before God, in prayer, and
prayed for forgiveness through Christ, assurance of it
through his Spirit, and grace to obey his commandments.
364 MEMOIR OF
They then both asked whether the same benefit would be
conferred on them? 'Yes,' said I, 'for so the Apostles
preached, that all who were baptized in his name should
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.' ' Can you assure me,'
said Mirza Seid Ali, ' that the Spirit will be given to me ;
if so, I will be baptized immediately.' * Who am I, that 1
should be surety,' — I replied ; — ' I bring you this message
from God, that he who, despairing of himself, rests for
righteousness on the Son of God, shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost ; and to this I can add my testimony, if
that be worth anything, that I have found the promise
fulfilled in myself But if, after baptism, you should not
find it so in you, accuse not the Gospel of falsehood ; — it
is possible that your faith might not be sincere ; indeed,
so fully am I persuaded that you do not believe on the
Son of God, that if you w^ere to entreat ever so earnestly
for baptism, I should not dare to administer it at this time,
when you have shown so many signs of an unhumbled
heart.' ' What ! would you have me believe,' said he,
* as a child?' ^' Yes,' said I. 'True,' said he, 'I think
that is the only way.' Aga Ali said no more but ' Cer-
tainly he is a good man ! ' "
Shortly after this discussion, Mr. Martyn states himself
to have attended a public exhibition of a religious kind.
The reason why he did not repeat his attendance, whether
well grounded or not, is at least a proof that patriotic feel-
ings in his mind were not- extinguished by Christianity.
Jan. 23. — " Put on my English dress, and went to the
Vizier's to see part of the tragedy of Hosyn's death, which
tliey contrive to spin out so as to make it last the first ten
dr^ys of the Mohurrin. All the apparatus consisted of a
\q\v boards for a stage, two tables, and a pulpit, under an
innnense awning, in the court where the company were
assembled. The d?'a??iatis perso7im were Uvo ; the daugh-
ter of Hosyn, whose part was performed by a boy, and a
messenger ; they both read their parts. Every now and
then, loud sobs were heard all over the court. After this.
HEiMlY MARTYN. 365
several feats of activity were exhibited before the altar,
where the Vizier sat with the Moollahs. I was appointed
to a seat, where, indeed, I saw as much as I wanted, but
which, I afterwards perceived, was not the place of honor.
As I trust I am far enough from desiring the chief seats
in the synagogues, there was nothing in this that could
offend me ; but I do not think it right to let him have an-
other opportunity of showing a slight to my country in my
person."
Those who know not what it is to pass a dreary season
of long seclusion from Christian society, surrounded by
those who are immersed in all wickedness, can form but
an inadequate idea of the sacrifices to which Mr. Martyn
submitted, in continuing so great a length of time at Shi-
raz : yet we may in some measure see what he endured,
from the expression of sentiments such as these : —
Feb. 2. — " From what I suffer in this city, I can under-
stand 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.' "
Feb. 3. — " A packet arrived from India, without a sin-
gle letter for me. It was some disappointment to me ; but
let me be satisfied with my God, and if I cannot have the
comfort of hearing from my friends, let me return with
thankfulness to his word, which is a treasure of which
none envy me the possession, and where I can find what
will more than compensate for the loss of earthly enjoy-
ments. Resignation to the will of God is a lesson which
I must learn, and which I trust he is teaching me."
What an influence a departure from the precepts of the
Gospel has upon the determination of the judgment with
31*
366 MEMOIR OF
respect to its doctrines, appears from the representation
Mr. Martyn gi\es of the conduct of Mirza Seid Ali, at this
period.
Feb. 4. — " Mirza Seid Ali, who has been enjoying him-
self in dissipation and idleness these two days, returned
full of evil and opposition to the Gospel.
" Alluding to some remarks he had made, ' I suppose,'
said he, ' you think it is sinful to sport with the characters
of holy men.' * I have no objection,' I replied, ' to hear
your sentiments ; but I cannot bear to hear anything spo-
ken disrespectfully of the Lord Jesus; and yet there is
not one of your Soofies but has said something against
him.' ' You never heard me speak lightly of Jesus/ he
replied, 'No, there is something so awfully pure about
him, that nothing can be said.' "
Recovering somewhat of a more serious spirit, Seid Ali
joined with Aga Boozorg, whom Mr. Martyn describes as
one of the most magisterial of the Soofies, in a conversa-
tion in which a real desire for religious information seems
to have been indicated. The day on which it took place
was almost entirely consumed in discussions with a variety
of visitors, respecting the Scriptures ; it concluded with a
very pleasing confession on the part of Seid Ali.
Feb. 9. — " Aga Boozorg came. After much conversa-
tion, he said, 'Prove to me, from the beginning, that
Christianity is the way : how will you proceed? what do
you say must be done ? ' 'If you would not believe a
person who wrought a miracle before you,' said I, ' I have
nothing to say ; I cannot proceed a step.' ' I will grant
you,' said Seid Ali, ' that Christ was the Son of God, and
more than that.' ' That you despair of yourself, and are
willing to trust in him alone for salvation ? ' ' Yes.'
'And are ready to confess Christ before men, and act
conformably to his word ? ' ' Yes : what else must I do? '
* Be baptized in the name of Christ.' ' And what shall I
gain ? ' ' The gift of the Holy Ghost. The end of faith
is salvation in the world to come ; but even here you shall
HENRY MARTVN. 3(57
have the Spirit to purify your heart, and to give you the
assurance of everlasting happiness,' Thus Aga Boozorg
had the opportunity of hearing those strange things from
my own mouth, of which he had been told by his disciple
the Mede. ' You can say, too,' said he, ' that you have
received the Spirit?' I told them, I believed I had ; ' for,
notwithstanding all my sins, the bent of ray heart was to j
God, in a way it never was before; and that, according to'
my present feelings, I could not be happy if God was not
glorified, and if I had not the enjoyment of his presence,
for which I felt that I was now educating.' Aga Boozorg',
shed tears.
" A Russian officer coming in at the time, the subject
of religion was dropped, except that while speaking of the
convicts of Calcutta, whom I had seen at the gaol, Mirza
Seid Ali asked me, how I addressed them 1 I told him
that I cautioned them against despair, assured them that
they might come at the eleventh hour, that it was never
too late for mercy, if they came to God through Christ.
*' After this came Aga Ali, the Mede, to hear, as he
said, some of the sentences of Paul. Mirza Seid Ali had
told them, ' that if they had read nothing but the Gospels,
they knew nothing of the religion of Christ.' The sheet
I happened to have by me was the one containing the
fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters of the second Epistle to
the Corinthians, which Aga Ali read out.
" At this time the company had increased considerably.
I desired Aga Ali to notice particularly the latter part of
the fifth chapter, ' God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto himself He then read it a second time, but
they saw not its glory ; however, they spoke in high terms
of the pith and solidity of Paul's sentences.
" They were evidently on the watch for anything that
tallied with their own sentiments. Upon the passage —
* Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord
Jesus,' the Mede observed, ' Do you not see that Jesus
was in Paul, and that Paul was only another name for
368 MEMOIR OF
Jesus ? ' And the text, * Whether we be beside ourselves,
it is to God; and whether we be sober, it is for your
sakes,' they interpreted thus : — ' We are absorbed in the
contemplation of God ; and when we recover, it is to in*
struct you/
" Walking afterwards with Mirza Seid Ah, he told me
how much one of my remarks had affected him, namely,
that he had no humility. He had been talking about
simplicity and humility, as characteristic of the Soofies.
* Humility 1 ' I said to him, ' if you were humble, you
would not dispute in this manner ; you would be like a
child.' He did not open his mouth afterwards, but to say,
* True ; I have no humility.' In evident distress, he ob-
served, 'The truth is, we are in a state of compound
ignorance ; — ignorant, yet ignorant of our ignorance.' "
On the last birth-day Mr. Martyn lived to conmiemorate,
we find him speaking in affecting terms with respect to
his privations as a missionary; yet expressing himself
with ardent and humble gratitude, as a believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Feb. 8. — "While walking in the garden, in some dis-
order from vexation, two Mussulmen Jews came up, and
asked me what would become of them in another world ?
the Mohammedans were right in their way, they supposed,
and we in ours ; but what must they expect ? After
rectifying their mistake as to the Mohammedans, I men-
tioned two or three reasons for believing that we are right :
such as their dispersion, and the cessation of sacrifices,
immediately on the appearance of Jesus. ' True, true,*
they said, with great feeling and seriousness; indeed, they
seemed disposed to yield assent to anything I said. They
confessed they had become Mohammedans only on com-
pulsion : and that Abdoolghunee wished to go to Bagdad,
thinking he might throw off the mask there with safety, —
but asked, what I thought ? I said that the governor was
a Mohammedan. ' Did I think Syria safer ? ' ' The safest
HENRY MARTYN. 369
place in the east,' I said, ' was India.' Feelings of pity
for God's ancient people, and having the awful importance
of eternal things impressed on my mind by the seriousness
of their inquiries as to what would become of them, re-
lieved me from the pressure of my comparatively insignifi-
cant distresses. I, a poor Gentile, blest, honored, and
loved ; secured forever by the everlasting covenant, whilst
the children of the kingdom are still lying in outward dark-
ness ! Well does it become me to be thankful.
" This is my birth-day, on which I complete my thirty-
first year. The Persian New Testament has been begun,
and I may say, finished in it, as only the last eight chap-
ters of the Revelations remain. Such a painful year I
never passed ; owing to the privations I have been called
to, on the one hand, and the spectacle before me of human
depravity on the other. But I hope that I have not come
to this seat of Satan in vain. The word of God has found
its way into Persia, and it is not in Satan's power to oppose
its progress, if the Lord hath sent it."
The eifect upon the natural conscience of a plain and
solemn declaration of the awful truths of Scripture, may
be seen in the case of one of Mr. Martyn's visitors, who
to great libertinism of practice added extreme latitudinari-
anism of principle.
February 23. — " Aga Neeser came, and talked most
captiously and irrelevantly against all revealed religion.
Three years ago he had thrown off the shackles of Mo-
hammed, and advised me to do the same with my yoke.
I told him that I preferred my yoke to his freedom. He
was for sending me naked into a wilderness ; but I would
rather be a child under the restraints of a parent, who
would provide me with food and clothing, and be my pro-
tector and guide. To every thing I said, he had but one
answer. 'God is the sole agent; — sin and holiness, hap-
piness and misery, cause and effect, are all perfectly one.'
Finding him determined to amuse himself in this way, I
370 JMEMOIll OF
said, ' These things will do very well for tiie present,
while reclining in gardens and smoking caleans ; but not
for a dying hour. How many years of life remain ? You
are about thirty, perhaps thirty more remain. How swiftly
have the last thirty passed : how soon will the next thirty
be gone : and then we shall see. If you are right, I lose
nothing ; if I am right, you lose your soul. Leaving out
the consideration of all religion, it is probable that the
next world may be akin to this, and our relation to both
not dissimilar. But here we see that childhood is a prepa-
ration for manhood, and that neglect of the proper em-
ployments of childhood entails miseries in riper years,'
The thought of death and of separation from his pleasures,
made him serious ; or perhaps, he thought it useless to press
me with any more of his dogmas."
On the 24th of February, 1812, the last sheet of the
Persian New Testament was completed. " I have many
mercies," said the author of this great work, on bringing
it to a termination, " for which to thank the Lord, and
this is not the least. Now may that Spirit who gave the
word, and called me, I trust, to be an interpreter of it,
graciously and powerfully apply it to the hearts of sinners,
even to the gathering an elect people from amongst the
long-estranged Persians ! "
The version of the Psalms in Persian, " a sweet employ-
ment," as Mr. Martyn terms it, and which, to use his own
language, " caused six weary moons, that waxed and wan-
ed since its commencement, to pass unnoticed," was finish-
ed by the middle of the month of March.
Mr. Martyn had now been resident for the space of ten
months at Shiraz, during the whole of which time he had
been almost incessantly engaged, as we have seen, in en-
deavoring^ to reclaim the wretched race of infidels around
him from the error of their ways. So far was he from
shrinking from any fair opportunity of confessing Christ
before men, that he gladly embraced, and boldly sought
HENRY MARTYN. 37I
out, every occasion of avowing " whose he was, and whom
he served," Nor was this conduct in him the fruit of a
contentious spirit ; it was the genume offspring of that
heavenly charity, which *' rejoicing in the truth," is ever
ready " to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to
the saints." No one could have a more deep-rooted
antipathy to controversy, at all times, and with all persons,
than Mr. Martyn : a paramount regard to what was indis-
pensably due to the cause of his Redeemer alone could in-
duce him to engage in it.
One public argument he had already held with the chief
professor of Mohammedan law; a second disputation, of
a similar, but far more decided character, he was led to en-
ter into, at this time, with Mirza Ibraheem. The scene
of this discussion was a court in the palace of one of the
Persian princes, where a numerous body of Moollahs were
collected, with Mirza Ibraheem at their head. In this
assembly, Mr. Martyn stood up as the single advocate of
the Christian faith. Fearing God, like Micaiah the son
of Imlah, he feared not man. In the midst, therefore, of
a Mohammedan conclave, he proclaimed and maintained
that prime and fundamental article of true religion, the di-
vinity of the Son of God.
" On the 23d," Mr. Martyn writes, " I called on the
Vizier, and afterwards on the secretary of the Kermanshah
prince. In the court where he received me, Mirza Ibra-
heem was lecturing. Finding myself so near my old and
respectable antagonist, I expressed a wish to see him ; on
which Jaffier Ali Khan went up to ascertain if my visit
would be agreeable. The master consented, but some of
the disciples demurred. At last, one of them observing
that ' by the blessing of God on the master's conversation,
I might possibly be converted,' it was agreed that I should
be invited to ascend. Then it became a question, where
I ought to sit. Below all, would not be respectful to a
stranger ; but above all the Moollahs, could not be toler-
ated. I entered, and was surprised at the numbers. The
372 MEMOIR OF
room was lined with MooUahs, on both sides, and at the
top. I was about to sit down at the door, but I was beck-
oned to an empty place near the top, opposite to the mas-
ter, who, after the usual compliments, without further
ceremony, asked me, ' what we meant by calling Christ,
God ? ' War being thus unequivocally declared, I had
nothing to do but to stand upon the defensive. Mirza
Ibraheem argued temperately enough, but of the rest,
some were very violent and clamorous. The former asked,
* if Christ had ever called himself God ; — was he the
Creator or a creature 1 ' I replied, * The Creator.'
The Moollahs looked at one another. Such a confession
had never before been heard among these Mohammedan
doctors.
" One Moollah wanted to controvert some of my illus-
trations, by interrogating me about the personality of Christ.
To all his questions I replied by requesting the same in-
formation respecting his own person.
" To another who was rather contemptuous and violent,
I said, ' If you do not approve of our doctrine, will you be
so good as to say, what God is, according to you, that I
may worship a proper object ? ' One said, ' The author of
the universe.' ' I can form no idea from these words,'
said I, ' but of a workman at work upon a vast number of
materials. Is that a correct notion ? ' Another said, ' One
who came of himself into being.' ' So then he came,' I
replied ; — ' he came out of one place into another ; and
before he came he was not. Is this an abstract and re-
fined notion ? ' After this no one asked me any more
questions ; and for fear the dispute should be renewed,
Jaffier Ali Khan carried me away."
After making this intrepid and memorable confession of
the divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in which
he might be described as —
" Faithful found
Among" the faithless ; faithful only he :
HENRY MARTYxN. 373
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
His loyalty he kept, his zeal, his love" —
Mr. Martyn continued only a short time at Shiraz.
From his own hand we have this brief account of that
interesting period which immediately preceded his de-
parture.
" Mirza Seid Ali never now argues against the truth,
nor makes any remarks but of a serious kind. He speaks
of his dislike to some of the Soofies, on account of their
falsehood and drunken habits. This approach to the love
of morality is the best sign of a change for the better
which I have yet seen in him. As often as he produces
the New Testament, which he always does when any of
his friends come, his brother and cousin ridicule him ; but
he tells them that, supposing no other, benefit to have been
derived, it is certainly something better to have gained all
this information about the religion of Christians, than to
have loitered away the year in the garden."
April 27. — " Four Moollahs, of Mirza Ibraheem's school,
came to dispute against European philosophy and European
religion.
" Mirza Seid Ali requested, at Mirza Ibraheem's de-
sire, to know where we got our notions concerning the
Holy Spirit? He, for his part, did not remember any
passage in the New Testament which bore upon the sub-
ject. I referred them to the second chapter of the first
Epistle to the Corinthians."
May 19. — ''Passed some days at Jaflier Ali Khan's
garden, with Mirza Seid Ali, Aga Baba, and Shekh Abul-
hasan, reading, at their request, the Old Testament his-
tories. Their attention to the word, and their love and
attention to me, seemed to increase as the time of my de-
parture approached.
" Aga Baba, who had been reading St. Matthew, related
very circumstantially to the company, the particulars of
the death of Christ. The bed of roses on which we sat,
and the notes of the nightingales warbling around us,
32
374 MEMOIR OF 3JARTYN.
were not so sweet to me, as this discourse from the Per-
sian.
" Telling Mirza Seid Ali, one day, that I wished to re-
turn to the city in the evening, to be alone, and at leisure
for prayer, — he said with seriousness, ' though a man had
no other religious society, I suppose he may, with the aid
of the Bible, live alone with God ? ' This solitude will, in
one respect, be his own state soon ; — may he find it the
medium of God's gracious communications to his soul !
He asked in what way God ought to be addressed : I told
him, as a father, with respectful love ; and added some other
exhortations on the subject of prayer."
May 11. — "Aga Baba came to bid me farewell, which
he did in the best and most solemn way, by asking, as a
final question, whether, independently of external evi-
dences, I had any internal proofs of the doctrine of Christ? '
I answered, ' Yes, undoubtedly : the change from what I
once was, is a sufficient evidence to me.' At last he took
his leave, in great sorrow, and, what is better, apparently in
great solicitude about his soul.
" The rest of the day I continued with Mirza Seid Ali,
giving him instructions what to do with the New Testa-
ment in case of my decease, and exhorting him, as far as
his confession allowed me, to stand fast. He had made
many a good resolution respecting his besetting sins. I
hope, as well as pray, that some lasting effects may be seen
at Shiraz, from the word of God left among them."
CHAPTER X.
MR. MARTYN LEAVES SHIRAZ IN ORDER TO LAY BEFORE
THE KING HIS TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
ARRIVES AT THE CAMP IS NOT ADMITTED TO AN AUDI-
ENCE PROCEEDS TO TEBRIZ SEVERE ILLNESS.
On the evening of the 24th of May, one year after enter-
ing Persia, Mr. Martyn left Shiraz, in company with an
English clergyman, with the intention of laying before the
king his translation of the New Testament ; but finding
that, without a letter of introduction from the British am-
bassador, he could not, consistently with established usage,
be admitted into the royal presence, he determined to pro-
ceed to Tebriz, where, at that time. Sir Gore Ouseley, his
Britannic majesty's minister, resided.
His journey from Shiraz to Tebriz was not accomplished
in less than eight weeks, including one week spent at Is-
fahan, and a few days at the king's camp ; and the latter
part of it was a time of great and unforeseen suffering to
him. Had he known to what peril his life would be sub-
jected, he doubtless would have deemed his object of too
insufficient a magnitude to justify his exposing himself to
so much danger.
" A little before sunset," Mr. Martyn writes, " I left the
city, and at ten o'clock at night the cafila started. Thus
ended my stay at Shiraz. No year of my life was ever
spent more usefully, though such a long separation from
my friends was often a severe trial. Our journey to Per-
376 MEMUIR OF
sepolis was performed in ten hours. I had a fall from my
horse, owing to the saddle coming off, but a gracious Provi-
dence preserved me from harm."
May 12. — " Staid at Futihabad, a village about a para-
sang from the ruins."
May 13. — " At three in the morning, we pursued our
way, and at eight reached a village at the north-eastern
extremity of the plain of Persepolis. Remained all day at
the caravansera, correcting the Prince's copy."
May 14. — *' Continued our journey through two ridges of
mountains to Imanzadu: no cultivation to be seen any
where, nor scarcely any natural vegetable production, ex-
cept the broom and hawthorn. The weather was rather
tempestuous, with cold gusts of wind and rain.
" The inhabitants of the village, this being the Imanza-
du's tomb, do no work, and pay no tax ; but are maintain-
ed by the surrounding villages, and the casual offerings
of visitors to the tomb. The caravansera being in ruins,
we staid all this rainy day at a private house, where we
were visited by people who came to be cured of their dis-
tempers."
May 1-5. — " From the top of a mountain, just behind
Imanzadu, we descended into a vast plain, entirely unin-
habited, except where the skirts of it were spotted with
the black tents of the wanderinor tribes. Crossintr the
plain obliquely, we passed over a mountain into another
plain, where was the same scene of desolation. After a
journey of ten parasangs, arrived, at two in the afternoon,
at the caravansera Khooshee Zar, which being in ruins, let
in the wind upon us, at night, in all directions."
" On rising, on the morning of the 16th, we found a
hoar frost, and ice in the pools. The excessive cold at
this place is accounted for, by its being the highest land
between the Persian gulf and the Caspian sea. The bag-
gage not having come up, we were obliged to pass an-
other day in this uncomfortable neighborhood, where
nothing was to be procured for ourselves or our horses;
HENRY JVIARTYN. 377
the scarcity of rain this year having left the ground desti-
tute of verdure, and the poor village near us having nothing
to sell."
May 17. — ''Our way to day lay along the same plain;
on the left was a ridge of hills covered with snow. Enter-
ing another plain, into which the former led, we reached
a caravansera, near a small walled village, called Dih
Serdoo."
May IS. — " After a journey of much the same length,
over uneven ground, where the view was much obstructed,
we arrived at a caravansera, in a great cleft, which divides
Fars from Irak."
May 19. — " Moved forward six parasangs, to a private
bouse at Mujrood. The plain, as usual, uninhabited; but
we passed one village."
May 20. — " Continued our march, over the same plain,
to Comesha, four parasangs."
May 21. — " To Mygar, five parasangs. — Finished the
revision of the Prince's copy. At eleven at night we start-
ed for Isfahan, where we arrived soon after sunrise on the
22d, and were accommodated in one of the king's palaces.
Found my old Shiraz scribe here, and corrected with him
the Prince's copy."
May 23. — " Called on the Armenian bishops at Julfa,
and met Matteus. He is certainly vastly superior to any
Armenian I have yet seen. We went, next, to the Italian
missionary, Joseph Carabiciate, a native of Aleppo, but
educated at Rome. He spoke Latin ; was very sprightly,
considering his age, which was sixty-six, but discovered
no sort of inclination to talk about religion. Until lately,
he had been supported by the Propaganda ; but, weary, at
last, of exercising his functions without remuneration, and
even without the necessary provision, he talked of return-
ing to Aleppo."
May 24. — Sunday. — "Went early this morning to the
Armenian church attached to the episcopal residence.
Within the rails were two out of the four bishops, and
32*
378 MEMOIR OF
Other ecclesiastics : but in the body of the church, only
three people. Most of the Armenians at Julfa, which is
now reduced to five hundred houses, attended at their re-
spective parish churches, of which there are twelve, served
by twenty priests. After their pageantry was over, and
we were satisfied with processions, ringnig of bells, waving
of colors, and other ceremonies, which were so numerous
as entirely to remove all semblance of spiritual worship,
we were condemned to witness a repetition of the same
mockery at the Italian's church, at his request. I could
not stand it out ; but those who did, observed, that the
priest ate and drank all the consecrated elements himself,
and gave none to the few poor women who composed his
congregation, and who, the Armenians said, had been
hired for the occasion. In our way back, we called at
the convent of Armenian nuns, a company of ignorant old
women, who screamed out something in the church, which
they called a welcome anthem. I tried to converse with
the abbess, through Matteus, and was not much surprised
to find her utterly without information, when the bishops
liave so little. I wished to learn Matteus's sentiments on
the subject of monachism. Though his defence of it
showed that he was not strong in his belief of its utility, I
was grieved to see that he did not perceive how far the
Christian way of sanctification differed from these human
devices to attain that object. I talked to him a good deal
about the office of the Holy Spirit, but he did not, while
assenting, seem to feel its importance. Before returning
to Isfahan, we sat a short time in the garden, with the
bishops. They, poor things ! had nothing to say, and
could scarcely speak Persian ; so that all the conversation
was between me and Matteus. At my request he brought
what he had of the Holy Scriptures, in Persian and Arabic.
They were Wheloi's Persian Gospels, and an Arabic ver-
sion of the Gospels, printed at Rome. I tried in vain to
bring him to any profitable discussion ; with more sense
than his brethren, he is not more advanced in spiritual
HENRY MARTYN. 379
knowledge. Returned much disappointed. Julfa had
formerly twenty bishops, and about one hundred clergy,
with twenty-four churches. All the Armenians can read,
and have the New Testament ; but family prayer is not
known. They may go every day to church prayers. Mat-
teus preaches every Sunday, he says, and this day expound-
ed the first of John, which was the Gospel for the day."
May 26. — " The Armenian bishops and three priests
came to return our visit. Matteus brought with him a
copy of the Gospels, Armenian and Persian, done by
Joannes, the late bishop here ; who, he says, was a good
scholar, and wrote on the divinity of Christ."
At the end of the month of May, Mr. Martyn departed
from Isfahan, and thus describes a route in which the ex-
tremes of lovely fertility and sterile desolation seem to have
been united.
June 1. — " Continued winding through the mountains
to Caroo, situated in a deep dell. Here were trees, green
corn-fields, and running streams ; it was the first place I
have seen in Asia which exhibited anything of the scenery
of England."
June 2. — '' Soon after midnight we mounted our horses.
It was a mild moonlight night, and a nightingale filled the
whole valley with his notes. Our way was along lanes,
over which the wood on each side formed a canopy, and a
murmuring rivulet accompanied us, till it was lost in a lake.
At day-light we emerged into the plain of Cashan, which
seems to be a part of the Great Salt Desert. On our arri-
val at the king's garden, where we intended to put up, we
were at first refused admittance, but an application to the
governor was soon attended to. We saw, here, huge
snowy mountains on the north-east beyond Tehran."
June 5. — " Reached Kom ; the country uniformly de-
solate.
" The chief Moojtuhid in all Persia being a resident of
this city, I sent to know if a visit would be agreeable to
ySO MEMOIK OF
him. His reply was, that if I had any business with him,
I might come ; but if otherwise, his age and infirmities
must be his excuse. Intending to travel a double stage,
started soon after sunset; and, on
June 6. — " Crossed the desert, which we had been
skirting from the day we came in sight of Cashan. After
travelling ten parasangs, reached the caravansera of Hour
Sultania. Here, first, we seemed to be approaching the
Tartar regions."
June 7. — " Arrived at a caravansera, with villages in
the neighborhood, seven parasangs. A large party gath-
ered about me in the evening, and from asking questions
about Europe, proceeded, as usual, to interrogate me con-
cerning Christ. They continued about me till I mounted
my horse, and rode from amongst them, to proseeute my
journey."
June 8. — '' Arrived, two hours before day-break, at the
walls of Tehran. I spread my bed upon the high road,
and slept till the gates were open ; then entered the city,
and took up my abode at the ambassador's house."
As no muleteers could be procured at Tehran to proceed
to Tebriz, it was considered advisable that Mr. Martyn
should travel alone to the king's camp, for the purpose of
seeing Mirza Shufi, the premier, or Ameenoddoula, and
soliciting his assistance in obtaining for him an introduc-
tion to the king; for he was "anxious to lose no time in
presenting his book." So, "leaving the city," he says,
"just before the gates were shut, and giving the cattle
their feed outside the walls, I went on, and travelled all
night, till sunrise, when I arrived at the caravansera, close
to the king's camp at Carach. I lost no time in forward-
ing Jaffier Ali Khan's letter to the premier, who sent to
desire that I would come to him. I found him lying ill in
the verandah of the king's tent of audience. Near him
were sitting two persons, who, I was afterwards informed,
were Mirza Khanter, and Mirza Abdoolwahab ; the latter
HEiNRY MARTIN. 381
being a secretary of state, and a great admirer of the
Soofie sage. They took very little notice, not rising when
1 sat down, as is their custom to all who sit with them ;
nor offering me calean. The two secretaries, on learning
my object in coming, began a conversation with me, on
religion and metaphysics, which lasted two hours. As they
were both well-educated, gentlemanly men, the discussion
was temperate, and, I hope, useful. What I remember of
it was as follows : ' Do you consider the New Testament
as the word spoken by God V ' The sense from God, but
the expression from the different writers of it.' Here the
premier asked how many languages I understood ; whether
I spoke French ; where I was educated ; whether I un-
derstood astronomy and geography: and then observed to
the others, that I spoke good Persian ; to which they as-
sented. They resumed, — * We want to know what your
learned men think about the state of the soul after death,
till the resurrection.' I mentioned the different opinions.
* But how, think you, does the spirit exist without a body V
' Tell me,' said I, ' how the angels exist, and I will tell
you.' ' In what sense do you believe the resurrection of
the body ? that every particle buried shall rise V I men-
tioned the Scripture metaphor of the wheat dying and
rising, with which the Soofie secretary appeared much
pleased. ' What are the principles of your religion V
' They are all centred in Jesus ; not in his precepts, but
in himself.' 'What are your opinions concerning Christ?
was he a prophet created V ' His manhood was created ;
his Godhead, of course, was not.' ' Now we much wish
to hear what are your notions on that extraordinary subject,
the Trinity V I explained them, and began with observing,
that the doctrine was by no means so extraordinary as at
first sight it appeared to be ; and then brought forward the
illustration from the words, ' the Image of the invisible
God.' 'Have you read the Koran?' 'Yes.' ' Is it not
a miracle?' 'Prove it to be so.' The Soofie said, as if
from me, ' The Arabs say it is inimitably elegant ; how do I,
362 MEMOTIl OF
who am a Persian, know it to be so?' * What do you say
to the division of the moon V * That there is no sufficient
evidence for it.' ' What superior evidence have you for
the miracles of Christ V I was about to answer, when the
Soofie, not thinking it would be satisfactory, said, rather
dogmatically, that no religion could be proved demonstra-
tively. I said that ' If such a degree of probable evidence
was adduced, as we acted upon in common life, we should
be inexcusable in rejecting it.'
" On the top of the caravansera, at sunset, I had a con-
versation of a different kind, on these subjects. A man,
seated on his rug, asked me what I walked up and down
for, and told me to come and sit with him on his carpet.
I did so, and found him to be a plain Mohammedan, that
is, a compound of bigotry and ignorance. Every thing I
said went for nothing. I knew nothing at all about the
Gospel. He had talked with Armenian preachers, and
therefore knew more about the matter than myself. They
had told him, that the story of Jesus and Mary in the Ko-
ran was exactly true ; this he took to be an acknowledg-
ment that the book was from God. Thinking it worth
while to see the state of the middling rank of Moham-
medans, I let him talk away. He supposed that the Mo-
hammedans had formerly taken all Europe, and that we
still paid tribute for being permitted to live. That the
mother of Mehdi was the daughter of Simon Peter or
Plato ; he could not tell which, but rather thought it was
Constantine, emperor of Rome. He could not understand
how Europe should be on one side of Persia, and India on
the other. Such geographical difficulties are not to be
wondered at in such a poor fellow, though he had travelled
as a merchant a good deal, — when the Moollahs, and
probably even the ministers of state, do not know the rela-
tive situation of the provinces of their own kingdom.
"• This man was very angry at my presuming to ask why
he was a Mohammedan. Finding me at last more disposed
to hear than to speak, he began to think that his discourse
HENRY MARTYN. 393
had made some impression upon me ; and, with eyes spark-
ling with hopes of a conquest, told me, with great affec-
tion, what I should do to set a knowledore of the truth.
' Drink,' said he, ' no wine for three days ; pray, accord-
ing to your own form, for divine direction, — and depend
upon it you will find it.' 'But supposing,' said 1, 'that I
have no such doubts in my mind, as to feel my need of
divine direction in this particular; what then?' 'Why
then,' said he, looking grimly, ' I have nothing more to say
to you ; and so, good night.' "
The third day after the above conversations, Mr. Martyn
was called to a severer trial of his faith and patience than
any to which he had yet been exposed. Several of the
most intemperate Moollahs set themselves in array against
him, and contended with him in behalf of Mohammedan-
ism, in the presence of the prime minister of the kingdom.
There it was demanded of him that he should deny that
Saviour who had bought him with his blood : but he
'' witnessed a good confession," and fearlessly acknow-
ledged Jesus as his Lord.
June 12, — "I attended the Vizier's levee, where there
was a most intemperate and clamorous controversy kept
up for an hour or two ; eight or ten on one side, and I on
the other. Amongst them were two Moollahs, the most
ignorant of any I have yet met with in either Persia or
India. It would be impossible to enumerate all the ab-
surd things they said. Their vulgarity, in interrupting
me in the middle of a speech ; their utter ignorance of
the nature of an argument ; their impudent assertions
about the law and the gospel, neither of which they had
ever seen in their lives, moved my indignation a little. T
v?ished, and I said it would have been well, if Mirza
Abdoolwahab had been there ; I should th«fi have had a
man of sense to argue with. The Vizier, who set us
going at first, joined in it latterly, and said, ' You had
better say, Grod is God, and Mohammed is the prophet
5g4 MEMOIR OF
of God.' 1 said, 'God is God,' but added, instead of
* Mohammed is the prophet of God/ ' and Jesus is the
Son of God." They had no sooner heard this, which I
had avoided bringing forward till then, than they all ex-
claimed in contempt and anger, ' He is neither born nor
begets,' and rose up, as if they would have torn me in
pieces. One of them said, ' What will you say when your
tongue is burnt out for this blasphemy V
" One of them felt for me a little, and tried to soften
the severity of this speech. My book, which I had brought,
expecting to present it to the king, lay before Mirza Shufi.
As they all rose up, after him, to go, some to the king,
and some away, I was afraid they would trample upon the
book ; so I went in among them to take it up, and wrap-
ped it in a towel before them ; while they looked at it and
me with supreme contempt.
*' Thus I walked away alone to my tent, to pass the rest
of the day in heat and dirt. What have I done, thought I,
to merit all this scorn? Nothing, I trust, but bearing
testimony to Jesus. I thought over these things in prayer,
and found that peace which Christ hath promised to his
disciples : —
' If on my face, for thy dear name,' &c.
" To complete the trials of the day, a message came
from the Vizier, in the evening, to say, that it was the
custom of the king not to see any Englishman, unless pre-
sented by the ambassador, or accredited by a letter from
him ; and that I must therefore wait till the king reached
Sultania, where the ambassador would be."
After this " day of rebuke and blasphemy," — when that
divine promise was eminently fulfilled towards Mr. Martyn,
" thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from
the pride of man ; thou shalt keep them secretly in thy
pavilion from the strife of tongues ;" — when, having heard
the " slander of many," and being made " a reproach
HENRY flIARTYN. 385
amongst all his enemies," he could nevertheless exclaim
with the Psalmist, " O how great is thy goodness, which
thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast
wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of
men," — he turned his back upon the king's camp, having
been Joined by his companion from Tehran, and prosecu-
ted his journey towards Tebriz.
June 13. — " Disappointed," he writes, ''of my object in
coming to the camp, I lost no time in leaving it, and pro-
ceeded in company with Mr. C , who had just joined
me from Tehran, towards Casbin ; intending there to wait
the result of an application to the ambassador. Started at
eleven, and travelled till eleven next morning, having
gone ten parasangs, or forty miles, to Cluishlag. The
country all along was well watered and cultivated. The
mules being too much tired to proceed, we passed the day
at the village ; indeed we all wanted rest. As I sat down
in the dust, on a shady side of a walled village by which
we passed, and surveyed the plains over which our road
lay, I sighed at the thought of my dear friends in India
and England ; of the vast regions I must traverse before
I can get to either, and of the various and unexpected
hindrances which present themselves to my going forward !
I comfort myself with the hope that my God has some-
thing for me to do, by thus delaying my exit."
June 16. — "Continued at the village, in consequence
of an illness with which Mr. C was attacked ; but at
night we moved forward, and after travelling seven para-
sangs over the same fine plain, reached Casbin."
June 17. — " In the caravansera there, they were col-
lecting straw, &c. for the king, whom they expected in
ten days. On this plea, they refused to allow us to un-
load there."
June 18. — " Endeavored to get a muleteer to go to the
ambassador, but could agree with none, so I determined
to stay at Casbin. I had at first intended to go on to
Sultania, there to wait for the king."
33
;586
MEMOIR OF
Jane 20. — *' Left this place, not a little disgusted at the
reception we had met with there. One parasang off, we
stopped at a village to get something for breakfast. One
of the people there asked a good many questions about
our religion. It was such an unusual thing to be travelling
coolly, in the middle of the day, in the east, that it pro-
duced a new train of ideas : indeed I thought of nothing
but of my dear friends in England, and of the days when,
in weather like this, I walked with them, * taking sweet
counsel.' While passing over the plain, mostly on foot,
I had them all in my mind, and bore them upon my heart
in prayer. The north wind from the Caspian, I suppose,
blowing through some clouds which rested on the moun-
tains on our right, made the air excessively cold."
" Arrived, between twelve and one o'clock, at Scab
Dulir, where a villager gave us his house; and though
the room we were in was so constructed as scarcely to
admit the light, we had need of all our skins to keep us
warm."
June 21. — " On account of the coolness of the weather,
we did not think it necessary to start till seven o'clock,
after breakfast. Arrived at the village of Aber at four in
the afternoon, having taken the shortest route. Till we
reached the high and frequented road, all was barrenness ;
but from thence we found a good deal of cultivation, as
also all the way from Casbin ; near which city the vineyards
were all open to the road ; there was not so much as a
fence."
June 22. — ** Left Sangla at a quarter past five in the
morning, and at a quarter past ten reached Sultania.
The weather was perfectly cool and agreeable, and all
around were the pastures of the wilderness. We met with
the usual insulting treatment at the caravansera, where
the king's servants had got possession of a good room,
built for the reception of the better order of guests ; — they
seemed to delight in the opportunity of humbling an
European. Sultania is still but a village ; yet the Zengan
HENRY MARTYxN. 387
prince has quartered himself and all his attendants, with
their horses, on this poor little village. All along the road
where the king is expected, the people are patiently wait-
ing, as for some dreadful disaster : — plague, pestilence, or /
famine, are nothing to the misery of being subject to the
violence and extortion of this rabble soldiery. One of our
servants, who himself had formerly been a soldier in the \
king's camp, said, that the troops were raised from the j
wandering tribes, and from the cities. Those from the I
tribes are paid by the king, the others by the cities. Sons -v
of the chiefs of the tribes, and, indeed, of all in important \
governments, are detained at court as hostages."
June 24. — *' Left Sultania at half-past three. Saw some
water-tortoises on the edge of the little stream which water-
ed the vale. Continued our course to Zengan, a walled city,
distant from Sultania six parasangs. Here we found, in
the caravansera, large bales of cotton brought by mer-
chants from Tehran, intended for Turkey. There were
also two Tartar merchants, natives of Astrachan, who had
brought iron and tea for sale. They wished to know
whether we wanted tea of Cathay. I was curious to know
something about the countries they had visited ; but they
spoke nothing but Turkish, without which language a per-
son may travel to very little purpose in these parts : Persian
is quite a foreign language."
June 25. — "■ After a restless night, rose so ill with a
fever that I could not go on. My companion, Mr. C ,
was nearly in the same state. We touched nothing all
day."
June 26. — *' After such another night, I had deter-
mined to go on, but Mr. C declared himself unable to
stir ; so here we dragged through another miserable day.
What added to our distress was, that we were in danger,
if detained here another day or two, of being absolutely in
want of the necessaries of life before reaching Tebriz.
We made repeated applications to the monied people, but
none would advance a piastre. Where are the people
388 MEMOIII OF
who flew forth to meet General Malcohii with their purses
and their lives ? — Another generation is risen up, ' who
know not Joseph.' Providentially a poor muleteer, arriv-
ing from Tebriz, became security for us, and thus we ob-
tained five tomans. This was a heaven-send ; and we lay
do'.vn quietly, free from apprehensions of being obliged to
go a fatiguing journey of eight or ten hours, without a
liouse or village in the way, in our present weak and re-
duced state. We had jiow eaten nothing for two days.
My niind was much disordered from head-ache and giddi-
ness, from which I was seldom free ; but my heart, I trust,
was with Christ and his saints. To live much longer in
this world of sickness and pain, seemed no way desirable ;
the most favorite prospects of my heart seemed very poor
and childish ; and cheerfully would I have exchanged them
all for the unfading inheritance."
June 27. — "My Armenian servant was attacked in the
same way. The rest did not get me the things that I
wanted, so that I passed the third day in the same exhaust-
ed state ; my head, too, was tortured with shocking pains,
such as, together with the horror I felt at being exposed to
the sun, showed me plainly to what to ascribe my sickness.
Towards evening, two more of our servants were attack-
ed in the same way, and lay groaning from pains in the
head."
June 28. — " All were much recovered, but in the after-
noon I again relapsed. During a high fever, Mr. C
read to me, in bed, the Epistle to the Ephesians, and I
never felt the consolations of that divine revelation of mys-
teries more sensibly and solemnly. Rain in the night pre-
vented our setting off."
June 29. — "My ague and fever returned, with such a
head-ache, that I was almost frantic. Again and again I
.said to myself, ' Let patience have her perfect work ;' and
kept pleading the promises, ' When thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee,' &lc. ; and the Lord did
not withhold his presence. I endeavored to repel all the
HENRY MARTYN. 3S9
disordered thoughts that the fever occasioned, and to keep
in mind that all was friendly ; a friendly Lord presiding ;
and nothing exercising me but what would show itself at
last friendly. A violent perspiration at last relieved the
acute pain in my head, and my heart rejoiced ; but as
soon as that was over, the exhaustion it occasioned, added
to the fatigue from the pain, left me in as low a state of
depression as ever I was in, I seemed about to sink into
a long fainting fit, and I almost wished it ; but at this mo-
ment, a little after midnight, I was summoned to mount
my horse, and set out, rather dead than alive. We moved
on six parasangs. We had a thunder-storm with hail."
July 1. — " A long and tiresome march to Sarehund :
in seven parasangs there was no village. They had
nothing to sell but buttermilk and bread ; but a servant of
Abbas Mirza, happening to be at the same caravansera,
sent us some flesh of a mountain-cow, which he had shot
the day before. All day I had scarcely the right recollec-
tion of myself, from the violence of the ague. We have
now reached the end of the level ground, which we have
had all the way from Tehran, and are approaching the
boundaries of Parthia and Media; a most natural boundary
it is, as the two ridges of mountains we have had on the
left and right, come round and form a barrier."
July 2. — " At two in the morning we set out. I hardly
know when I have been so disordered. I had little or no
recollection of things, and what I did remember, at times,
of happy scenes in India or England, served only to em-
bitter my present situation. Soon after removing into the
air, I was seized with a violent ague, and in this state I
went on till sunrise. At three parasangs and a half, we
found a fine caravansera, apparently very little used, as the
grass was grov/ing in the court. There was nothing all
round but the barren rocks, which generally roughen the
country before the mountain rears its height. Such an
edifice, in such a situation, was cheering. Soon after, we
came to a river, over which was a high bridge ; I sat
33*
390 MEMOIR OF
down in the shade under it, with two camel-drivers. The
cafila, as it happened, forded the river, and passed on,
without my perceiving it. Mr. C , seeing no signs of
me, returned, and after looking about for some time, es-
pied my horse grazing ; he concluded immediately that
the horse had flung me from the bridge into the river, and
was almost ready to give me up for lost. My speedy
appearance from under the bridge relieved his terror and
anxiety. The pass was a mere nothing to those at Bu-
shire; in fact it was no part of the mountain we climbed,
but only a few hills. In a natural opening in the moun-
tains, on the other side, was a river, with most of its bed
dry ; and over it a bridge of many arches, — which led us
to an un walled village, surrounded by cornfields, which we
reached at ten o'clock. Half the people still continue
ill ; for myself, I am, through God's infinite mercy, recov-
ering."
July 3. — " Started at three, full three hours after we
ought, and, as was to be expected, we all got ill again,
from being exposed to the sun six hours ; for we did not
get to our ground, Turcoman, till eleven o'clock. It was
a poor village among the hills, over which our whole way
lay, from Mianu. Ascending one, and descending another,
was the whole of the variety, so that I do not know when
we have had a more tiresome day."
July 4. — " I so far prevailed as to get the cafila into
motion at midnight. Lost our way in the night, but arriv-
ing at a village were set right again. At eight came to
Kilk caravansera, but not stopping there, went on to a vil-
lage, where we arrived at half-past nine. The baggage
not coming up till long after, we got no breakfast till one
o'clock. In consequence of all these things, — want of
sleep, want of refreshment, and exposure to the sun, — I was
presently in a high fever ; which raged so furiously all the
day, that I was nearly delirious, and it was some time be-
fore I could get the right recollection of myself I almost
despaired, and do now, of getting alive through this unfor-
HENRY MARTYN. 39X
tunate journey. Last night I felt remarkably well, calm,
and composed, and sat reflecting on my heavenly rest,
with more sweetness of soul, abstraction from the world,
and solemn views of God, than I have had for a long time.
Oh ! for such sacred hours ! This short and painful life
would scarcely be felt, could I live thus at heaven's gate.
It being impossible to continue my journey in my present
state, and one of the servants also being so ill that he
could not move with safety, we determined to halt one day
at the village, and sent on a messenger to Sir Gore, at
Tebriz, informing him of our approach."
July 5. — " Slept all day, and at sunset prepared to pro-
ceed ail the way to Tebriz, or at least to Seid Abad; but
we did not set out till one in the morning. I was again
dreadfully disordered with head-ache and fever. We got
into a wretched hovel, where the raging fever almost de-
prived me of reason. In the cool of the evening we set
out to go to Seid Abad, distant about three parasangs.
When the cafila arrived near Seid Abad, it was a dark
night, about eleven o'clock, and not one of the party knew
where it was, nor could we discover it by the barking of
the dogs, the usual sign. Once we heard the bark, and
made sure of having attained our object ; but found only
some shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night.
These boors showed us which road to take, which we soon
found end in nothing ; so returning, we tried to induce
one of them to serve as a guide, with the promise of any
sum of money he required, — but all in vain. The only
thing that remained to be done was to lie down on the
spot, and wait patiently for the day : which I did, and
caught such a cold, as, with all our other exposures, con-
summated my disorders. As soon as it was day, we found
our way to the village, where Dr. was waiting for us.
Not being able to stay for us, he went on to Tebriz, and
we as far as Wasmuch, where he promised to procure for
us a fine upper room furnished ; but when we arrived,
they denied that there was any such place ; at last, after
393 ME3IOIR OF
an hour's threatening, we got admittance to it. An hour
before break of day I left it, in hopes of reaching Tebriz
before sunrise. Some of the people seemed to feel com-
passion for me, and asked me if I was not very ill. At
last I reached the gate, and feebly asked for a man to
show me the way to the ambassador's."
By a fever of nearly two months' continuance, which,
during the greater portion of that period, raged with unre-
mitting severity, Mr. Martyn was defeated in his intention
of presenting in person his translation of the New Testa-
ment to the king of Persia and to the prince his son. His
disappointment, however, on this occasion was greatly
diminished by the kindness of Sir Gore Ouseley, who,
together with his lady, was tenderly and assiduously atten-
tive to Mr. Martyn throughout the whole of his illness;
and who, in order that nothing might be wanting condu-
cive to the favorable acceptance of the New Testament by
the king, promised himself to present it at court.*
The idea of returning to England, which first occurred
to Mr. Martyn at Cawnpore, was, as we have seen, in-
stantly abandoned by him, on its appearing to be the
divine will that he should visit Persia. After accomplish-
ing his great object in that country, the general state of
his health seeming to him to render the measure requisite,
he reverted to his original intention ; in the prosecution of
which he was confirmed by his long illness at Tebriz,
which had been induced by exposure to a heated atmos-
phere.
Happy would it have been, speaking after the manner
of men, had he been less precipitate in putting his design
in execution; but, on the tenth day after his recovery, he
* Sir Gore Ouseley, according to his promise, laid the New Tes
Lament before the king, who publicly expressed his approbation of
the work. He also carried the MS. to St. Petersburg, where, un
der his superintendence, it was printed and put into circulation.
See Appendix O.
HENRY MARTYN. 393
commenced his journey. What he felt when deprived of
health, and what were his sensations when in a consider-
able degree restored to it, may be seen in extracts from
two letters, the one addressed to Mr. Simeon, from the
bed of suffering; the other sent to a friend exceedingly
beloved by him in Cornwall.
"I would not pain your heart," he said, in the first,
*' but we who are in Jesus have the privilege of viewing
life and death as nearly the same, since both are ours; and
I thank a gracious Lord that sickness never came at a time
when I was more free from apparent reasons for living.
Nothing, seemingly, remains for me to do, but to follow
the rest of my family to the tomb."
"It has pleased God," he wrote in the second, "to
restore me to life and health again : not that I have yet
recovered my former strength, but I consider myself suffi-
ciently restored to prosecute my journey. My daily prayer
is, that my late chastisement may have its intended effect,
and make me, all the rest of my days, more humble and
less self-confident. Self-confidence has often let me down
fearful lengths; and would, without God's gracious inter-
ference, prove my endless perdition. I seem to be made
to feel this evil of my heart, more than any other, at this
time. In prayer, or when I write or converse on the sub-
ject, Christ appears to me my life and strength ; but at
other times, I am thoughtless and bold, as if I had all life
and strength in myself Such neglects on our part are a
diminution of our joys; but the Covenant! the Covenant
stands fast with Him for his people evermore. I mentioned
my conversing sometimes on divine subjects. In these I
am sometimes led on by the Soofie Persians, and tell them
all I know of the very recesses of the sanctuary. But to
give an account of all my discussions with these mystic
philosophers must be reserved to the time of our meeting.
Do 1 dream ! that I venture to think and write of such an
event as that ? Is it possible that we shall ever meet again
394 MEMOIR OF MARTYN.
below ? Though it is possible, I dare not indulge such a
pleasing hope.
*' In three days I intend setting my horse's head towards
Constantinople, distant about one thousand three hundred
miles. Nothing, I think, will occasion any further deten-
tion here, if I can procure servants who know both Per-
sian and Turkish. Ignorant as I am of Turkish, should I
be taken ill on the road, my case would be pitiable indeed.
The ambassador and his suite are still here ; his and Lady
Ouseley's attentions to me during my illness, have been
unremitted. The Prince Abbas Mirza, the wisest of the
king's sons, and heir to the throne, was here some time
after my arrival. I much wished to present a copy of the
Persian New Testament to him, but I could not rise from
my bed. The book, however, will be given him by the
ambassador. Public curiosity about the Gospel, now, for
the first time in the memory of the modern Persians, intro-
duced into the country, is a good deal excited here and at
Shiraz, and in other places; so that, upon the whole, I am
thankful for having been led hither, and detained ; though
my residence in this country has been attended with many
unpleasant circumstances. The way of the kings of the
east '\^ preparing : thus much may be said with safety, but
little more. The Persians will also probably take the lead
in the march to Zion."
CHAPTER XI.
MR, MARTYN COMMENCES HIS JOURNET HOMEWARDS, BY
WAY OF CONSTANTINOPLE VISITS ECHMIADZIN SUF-
FERS FROM FEVER DIES, AT TOCAT, IN PERSIA VIEW
OF HIS CHARACTER CONCLUSION.
With such feeble hopes of reaching England, Mr. Martyn
commenced a journey which was the most painful, and at
the same time the most joyful one he ever undertook. The
miseries he endured in it were intense ; but it ended in
heaven.
Sept. 2. — " All things being ready," he says, " I set out
on my long journey of one thousand three hundred miles,
carrying letters from Sir G. Ouseley, for the governors of
Erivan, Cars, and Erzeroom, and the ambassador at Con-
stantinople. My party consisted of two Armenian ser-
vants, Antoine the groom, and Sergius, who was to accom-
pany me all the way to Constantinople, he professing to
speak Persian and Turkish, and to be qualified to act as
my interpreter; but his knowledge of the former I soon
found to be rather scanty. These were mounted, and two
other horses carried my luggage ; my Mihmander had also
Chappar* horses ; and I rode my own ; there was also a
man on foot, to bring back the cattle. As we passed
through the bazars of Tebriz, I saw quantities of the finest
* Mr. Martyn, through the friendly interference of the ambassa-
dor, travelled with what are termed Chappar Horses; for an ac-
count of which soe Bnrdrrs Oriental Customs, p. 260.
396 MEMOIR OF
fruit displayed on every stand. At sunset we left the
western gate of Tebriz behind us. The horses proved to
be sorry animals ; one sunk so often under his load, that
we were six hours going what the Mihmander called two
parasangs, but which was undoubtedly three or four. It
was midnight before we arrived at Sangla, a village in the
middle of the plain of Tebriz. There they procured me
a place in the Zabit's house. I slept till after sunrise of
the third, and did not choose to proceed at such an hour :
so I passed most of the day in my room. At three in the
afternoon proceeded towards Solian. My health being
again restored, through infinite and unbounded mercy, I
was able to look round the creation with calm delight.
The plain of Tebriz, towards the west and south-west,
stretches away to an immense distance, and is bounded in
these directions by mountains so remote, as to appear, from
their soft blue, to blend with the skies. The baggage
having been sent on before, I ambled on with my Mih-
mander, looking all around me, and especially towards the
distant hills, with gratitude and joy. Oh ! it is necessary
to have been confined to a bed of sickness, to know the
delight of moving freely through the works of God, with
the senses left at liberty to enjoy their proper objects. My
attendant not being very conversant v.^ith Persian, we rode
silently along ; for my part I could not have enjoyed any
companion so much as I did my own feelings. At sunset
we reached Sofian, a village with gardens, at the north-
west end of the plain ; which is usually the first stage from
Tebriz. The Zabit was in his corn-field, under a little
tent, inspecting his laborers, who were cutting the straw
fine, so as to be fit to be eaten by cattle ; this was done by
drawing over it a cylinder armed with blades of a triangu-
lar form, placed in different planes, so that their vertices
should coincide in the cylinder.
" The Zabit paid me no attention, but sent a man to
show me a place to sleep in, who took me to one with only
three wnJls. I demanded another with four, and was ac-
HENRY MARTYN. ;j97
cordingly conducted to a weaver's, where, notwithstanding
the musquitoes and other vermin, I passed the night com-
fortably enough. On my offering money, the Mihmander
interfered, and said that if it were known that I had given
money, he should be ruined ; and added, — ' they, indeed,
dare not take it ;' but this I did not find to be the case."
Sept. 4. — " At sunrise mounted my horse, and proceed-
ed north-west, through a pass in. the mountains, towards
Merend. By the way, I sat down by the brook, and
there ate my bread and raisins, and drank of the crystal
stream ; but either the coldness of this unusual breakfast,
or the riding after it, did not at all agree with me. The
heat oppressed me much, and the road seemed intoler-
ably tedious ; at last we got out from among the moun-
tains, and saw the village of Merend, in a fine valley on
the right. It was about eleven o'clock when we reach-
ed it. As the Mihmander could not immediately find
a place to put me in, we had a complete view of this
village. They stared at my European dress, but no dis-
respect was shown. I was deposited, at last, with
Khan, who was seated in a place with three walls. Not
at all disposed to pass the day in company, as well as
exposed, I asked for another room ; on which I was shown
to the stable, where there was a little place partitioned off,
but so as to admit a view of the horses. The smell of the
stable, though not in general disagreeable to me, was so
strong, that I was quite unwell, and strangely dispirited
and melancholy. Immediately after dinner, I fell fast
asleep, and slept four hours; after which I rose and
ordered them to prepare for the next journey. The
horses being changed here, it was some time before they
were brought, but by exerting myself, we moved off by
midnip-ht. It was a most mild and delio-htful night, and
the pure air, after the smell of the stable, was quite
reviving. For once, also, I travelled all the way withou'i
being sleepy ; and beguiled the hours of the night, b}
34
308 MEMOIR OF
thinking of the 14th Psalm, — especially the connection of
the last three verses with the preceding."
Sept. 5. — " In five hoars we were just on the hills which
face the pass out of the valley of Merend, and in four hours
and a half more, emerged from between the two ridges of
mountains, into the valley of Gurjur. Gurjur is eight
parasangs from Merend, and our course to it was nearly
due north. This long march was far from being a
fatiguing one. The air, the road, and my spirits were
good. Here I was well accommodated, but had to mourn
over my impatient temper towards my servants ; there is
nothing that disturbs my peace so much. How much
more noble and godlike to bear with calmness, and observe
with pity, rather than anger, the failings and offences of
others. O that T may, through grace, be enabled to recol-
lect myself in the time of temptation ! O that the Spirit of
God may check my folly, and, at such times, bring the low-
ly Saviour to my view."
Sept. 6. — " Soon after twelve we started with fresh
horses, and came to the Aras, or Araxes, distant two
parasangs, and about as broad as the Isis, with a current
as strong as that of the Ganges. The ferry-boat being on
the other side, I lay down to sleep till it came, but observ-
ing my servants do the same, I was obliged to get up and
exert myself It dawned, however, before we got over.
The boat was a huge fabric in the form of a rhombus.
The ferryman had only a stick to push with ; an oar, I
dare say, he had never seen or heard of, and many of my
train had probably never floated before ; — so alien is a
Persian from everything that belongs to shipping. We
landed safely on the other side in about two minutes.
We were four hours in reaching Nakhchevan, and for half
an hour more I was led from street to street, till at last I
was lodged in a wash-house belonging to a great man, a
corner of which was cleaned out for me. It was near
noon, and my baggage was not arrived ; so that I was
HENRY MARTYN. 399
obliged to go without my breakfast ; which was hard, after
a ride for four hours in the sun. The baggage was delayed
so long, that I began to fear; at last, however, it arriv-
ed. All the afternoon I slept, and at sunset arose, and
continued wakeful till midnight, when I roused my people,
and with fresh horses set out again. We travelled till sun-
rise. I scarcely perceived that we had been moving, — a
Hebrew word in the IGth Psalm having led me gradually
into speculations on the eighth conjugation of the Arabic
verb. I am glad my philological curiosity is revived, as
my mind will be less liable to idleness."
Sept. 7. — " Arrived at Khoik, a poor village distant five
and a half parasangs from Nakhchevan, nearly west. I
should have mentioned, that on descending into the plain
of Nakhchevan, my attention was arrested by the appear-
ance of a hoary mountain, opposite to us at the other end,
rising so high above the rest that they sunk into insignifi-
cance. It was truly sublime, and the interest it excited
was not lessened, when, on inquiring its name, I was told
it was Agri, or Ararat. Thus I saw two remarkable objects
in one day, — the Araxes, and Ararat. At four in the af-
ternoon we set out for Sharoor. The evening was pleas-
ant ; the ground over which we passed was full of rich cul-
tivation and verdure, watered by many a stream, and con-
taining forty villages, most of them with the usual appen-
dage of gardens. To add to the scene, the great Ararat
was on our left. On the peak of that hill the whole church
was once contained : it has now spread far and wide, even
to the ends of the earth, but the ancient vicinity of it knows
it no more. I fancied many a spot where Noah, perhaps,
offered his sacrifices ; and the promise of God, ' that seed-
time and harvest should not cease,' appeared to me to be
more exactly fulfilled in the agreeable plain in which it
was spoken than elsewhere, as I had not seen such fertility
in any part of the Shah's dominions. Here the blessed
saint landed in a new world ; so may I, safe in Christ, out-
400 MEMOIR OF
ride the storm of life, and land at last on one of the ever
lasting hills!
" Night coming on, we lost our way, and got intercepted
b}' some deep ravines, into one of which the horse that
carried my trunks sunk so deep, that the water got into
one of them, wetted the linen, and spoiled some books.
Finding it in vain to attempt gaining our munzil, we went
to another village, where, after a long delay, two aged men
with silver beards opened their house to us. Though it
was near midnight, I had a fire lighted to dry my books,
took some coffee, and sunk into deep sleep ; from which
awaking at the earliest dawn of
" Sept. 8. — I roused the people, and had a delightful
ride of one parasang to Sharoor, distant four parasangs
from Khoik. Here I was accommodated by the great
man with a stable, or winter room, for they build it in
such a strange vicinity, in order to have it warm in winter
At present, while the weather is still hot, the smell is at
times overpowering. At eleven at night we moved off,
with fresh horses, for Duwala ; but though we had guides
in abundance, we were not able to extricate ourselves from
the ravines with which this village is surrounded. Procur-
ing another man from a village we happened to wander
into, we at last made our way, through grass and mire, to
the pass, which led us to a country as dry as the one we
had left was wet. Ararat was now quite near : at the foot
of it is Duwala, six parasangs from Nakhchevan, where we
arrived at seven in the morning of
" Sept. 9. — As I had been thinking all night of a He-
brew letter, I perceived little of the tediousness of the way.
I tried also some difficulties in the I6th Psalm, without
being able to master them. All day on the 15th and IGth
Psalm, and gained some light into the difficulties. The
villagers not bringing the horses in time, we were not able
to go on at night ; but I was not much concerned, as I
thereby gained some rest."
HENRY MARTYN. 40]
Sept. 10. — " All day at the village, writing down notes
on the 15th and 16th Psalm. Moved at midnight and ar-
rived early in the morning at Erivan."
Sept. 11. — " I alighted at Hosyn Khan, the governor's
palace, as it may be called, for he seems to live in a style
equal to that of a prince. Indeed, commanding a fortress
on the frontier, within six hours of the Russians, he is in-
trusted with a considerable force, and is nearly indepen-
dent of the Shah. After sleeping two hours, I was sum-
moned to his presence. He at first took no notice of me,
but continued reading his Koran, it being the Mohurrun.
After a compliment or two he resumed his devotions. The
next ceremony was to exchange a rich shawl dress for a
still richer pelisse, on pretence of its being cold. The
next display was to call for his physician, who, after respect-
fully feeling his pulse, stood on one side : this was to show
that he had a domestic physician. His servants were most
richly clad. My letter from the ambassador, which till
now had lain neglected on the ground, was opened and
read by a Moonshee. He heard with great interest what
Sir Gore had written about the translation of the Gospels.
After this he was very kind and attentive, and sent for
Lieutenant M of the engineers, who was stationed,
with two Serjeants, at this fort. In the afternoon, the
governor sent for me again in private. A fountain, in a
basin of white marble, was playing before him, and in it
water grapes and melons were cooling ; two time-pieces
were before him, to show the approach of the time of
lawful repast: below the window, at a great depth, ran a
broad and rapid stream, over rocks and stones, under a
bridge of two arches, producing an agreeable murmur : on
the other side of the river were gardens, and a rich plain ;
and directly in front, Ararat. He was now entirely free
from ceremony, but too much fatigued to converse. I
tried to begin a religious discussion, by observing that ' he
was in one paradise now, and was in quest of another
hereafter,' but this remark produced no effect. He order-
34*
402 MEMOIR OF
ed for me a Mihmander, a guard and four horses, with
which a Turk had just come from Cars. Lieut. M
dined and passed the rest of the evening with us."
Sept. 12. — " The horses not being ready for me accord-
ing to my order, I rode alone, and found my way to Ech-
miadzin (or Three Churches), two and a half parasangs
distant. Directing my course to the largest church, I
found it enclosed by some other buildings and a wall.
Within the entrance, I found a large court, with monks,
cowled and gowned, moving about. On seeing my Arme-
nian letters, they brought me to the patriarch's lodge,
where I found two bishops, one of whom was Nerses, at
breakfast on pilaws, kubebs, wine, arrack, &lc. and Sera-
fino with them. As he spoke English, French, and Ital-
ian, I had no difficulty in communicating with my hosts.
After breakfast, Serafino showed me the room appointed
for me, and sat down and told me his story. His proper
name, in Armenian, is Serope ; he was born at Erzeroom,
of Armenian Roman Catholic parents. His father dying
when he was young, his mother intrusted him to the care
of the missionaries, to be carried to Rome to be educated.
There he studied eight years, and became perfectly Eu-
ropeanized. At eighteen or twenty he left Rome, and
repaired to Mount Libanus, where he was ordained ;
and there his eyes were opened to the falsehood of the
Pope's pretensions. After this he served the Armenian
church at Erzeroom, and then at Cars, after which he
went to Bagdad. Receiving at this time an invitation
from the patriarch at Echmiadzin, to join their body, he
consented, on condition that he should not be considered
as a common monk ; and accordingly he is regarded with
that deference which his talents and superior information
demand. He is exerting himself to extend his influence
in the monastery, for the purpose of executing some plans
he has formed for the improvement of the Armenians.
The monastery, and consequently the whole of the Arme-
nians, are under the direction of Nerses, one of the
HENRY MARTYN. 403
bishops : for the patriarch Ephraim is a mere cypher, and
passes most of his time in bed. About three years ago,
Nerses succeeded in forming a synod for the management
of the business of the church, consisting of eight bishops,
in which, of course, he is all-powerful. The patriarch is
elected by twelve bishops. One member alone of the
synod is a man of any ability, and he sometimes ventures
to differ from Nerses. The object which Serope has at
heart, is a college, to teach the Armenian youth logic,
rhetoric, and the other sciences. The expediency of this
is acknowledged, but they cannot agree about the place
where the college should be. Serope, considering the
danger to which the cathedral seat is exposed, from its
situation between Russia, Persia, and Turkey, is for
building it at Tiflis. Nerses, on the contrary, consider-
ing that Echmiadzin is the spot appointed by heaven,
according to a vision of Gregory, for the cathedral seat,
and so sanctified, is for having it there. The errors and
superstitions of his people were the subject of Serope's
conversation the whole morning, and seemed to be the
occasion of real grief to him. He intended, he said, after
a few more months' trial of what he could do here, to retire
to India, and then write and print some works in Arme-
nian, tending to enlighten the people with regard to reli-
gion, in order to introduce a reform. I said all I could to
encourage him in such a blessed work; promising him
every aid from the English, and proving to him, from the
example of Luther and the other European Reformers,
that, however arduous the work might seem, God would
surely be with him to help him. I mentioned the awful
neglect of the Armenian clergy, in never preaching ; as
thereby the glad tidings of a Saviour were never pro-
claimed. He made no reply to this, but that, ' it was to
be lamented, as the people were never called away from
vice.' When the bell rang for Vespers, we went together
to the great church. The ecclesiastics, consisting of ten
404 ME5I01K OF
bishops and other monks, with the choristers, were drawn
up in a semicircle fronting the altar, for a view of which
the church door was left open. Serope fell into his place,
and went through a few of the ceremonies ; he then took
me into the church, never ceasing to remark upon the
ignorance and superstition of the people. Some of his
Catholic prejudices against Luther seemed to remain.
The monks dined together in the hall at eleven ; at night
each sups in his own room. Serope, Nerses, and two or
three others, form a party themselves, and seldom dine in
the hall ; where coarseness, both of meals and manners, too
much prevails."
Sept. 13 — " I asked Serope about the 16th Psalm in the
Armenian version ; he translated it into correct Latin.
In the afternoon I waited on the Patriarch ; it was a visit
of great ceremony. He Vv^as reclining on a sort of throne,
placed in the middle of the room. All stood, except the
two senior bishops ; a chair was set for me on the other
side, close to the patriarch ; at my right hand stood Serope,
to interpret. The patriarch had a dignified, rather
than a venerable appearance. His conversation con-
sisted in protestations of sincere attachment, in expres-
sions of his hopes of deliverance from the Mohammedan
yoke, and inquiries about my translations of the Scrip-
tures ; and he begged me to consider myself as at home
in the monastery. Indeed, their attention and kindness
are unbounded : Nerses and Serope anticipate my every
wish. I told the patriarch, that I was so happy in being
here, that, did duty permit, I could almost be willing
to become a monk with them. He smiled, and fearing,
perhaps, that I was in earnest, said, that they had quite
enough. Their number is a hundred, I think. The
church was immensely rich till about ten years ago; when,
by quarrels between two contending patriarchs, one of
whom is still in the monastery in disgrace, most of their
money was expended in referring their disputes to the
IIENRIf MARTYN. 405
Mohammedans as arbitrators. There is no difficulty,
however, in replenishing their coffers : their merchants in
India are entirely at their command."
Sept. 15. — " Spent the day in preparing, with Serope,
for the mode of travelling in Turkey. All my heavy and
expensive preparations at Tebriz prove to be incumbrances,
which must be left behind : my trunks were exchanged for
bags; and my portable table and chair, several books,
large supplies of sugar, &lc., were condemned to be left
behind. My humble equipments were considered as too
mean for an English gentleman ; so Serope gave me an
English bridle and saddle. The roads in Turkey being
much more infested with robbers than those of Persia, a
sword was brought for me. My Armenian servant,
Sergius, was also to be armed with a gun and sword, but
it was determined that he was unfit for the journey ; so a
brave and trusty man of the monastery, named Melcora,
was appointed in his stead, and he had arms of his own ; —
he speaks nothing but Turkish."
Sept. 16. — " I conversed again with Seropa on his
projected reformation. As he v/as invited to Echmiadzin
for the purpose of educating the Armenian youth for the
ministry, he has a right to dictate in all that concerns that
matter. His objection to Echmiadzin is, that from mid-
night to sunrise all the members of the monastery must
attend prayers ; this requires all to be in bed immediately
after sunset. The monks are chiefly from the neighbor-
hood of Erivan, and were originally singing-boys; into
such hands is this rich and powerful foundation fallen.
They have no vows upon them but those of celibacy."
The hospitable and benevolent conduct of the interest-
ing society at Echmiadzin,* made a deep impression upon
the feeling mind of their guest ; — received by them as a
* For the interest the Armenians excite in a missionary point of
view, see Dr. Buchanan's Christian Researches. Also Appendix P.
406 MEMOIR OF
brother, he left them with sentiments of fraternal regard,
and no doubt his heart swelled with grateful recollections
of peculiar strength, when the kindness he had experienced
in the bosom of an Armenian monastery, was brought into
contrast with that Mohammedan inhospitality and cruelty,
to which in a short time he was subjected.
'' At six in the morning of September 17," Mr. Martyn
writes, " accompanied by Serope, one bishop, the secretary,
and several servants of the monastery, I left Echmiadzin.
My party now consisted of two men from the governor of
Erivan, a Mihmander, and a guard ; my servant Sergius,
for whom the monks interceded, as he had some business
at Constantinople ; one trusty servant from the monastery,
Melcom, who carried my money ; and two baggage-horses
with their owners. The monks soon returned, and we
pursued our way over the plain of Ararat. At twelve
o'clock reached Q,uila Gazki, about six parasangs from
Echmiadzin. The Mihmander rode on, and got a good
place for me."
Sept. 18. — "^ Rose with the dawn, in hopes of going this
stage before breakfast, but the horses were not ready. I
set off at eight, fearing no sun, though I found it at times
very oppressive when there was no wind. At the end of
three hours we left the plain of Ararat, the last of the
plains of modern Persia in this quarter. Meeting here
with the Araxes again, I undressed and plunged into the
stream. While hastening forward with the trusty Melcom,
to rejoin my party, we were overtaken by a spearman, with
a lance of formidable length : I did not think it likely that
one man would venture to attack two, both armed ; but
the spot was a noted one for robbers, and very well calcu-
lated, by its solitariness, for deeds of privacy ; however,
he was friendly enough. He had, however, nearly done
me a mischief. On the bank of the river we sprung a
covey of partridges : instantly he laid his lance under him
across the horse's back, and fired a horse-pistol at them.
His horse, starting at the report, came upon mine, with the
HENRY MAIITYN. 4Q
point of the spear directly towards me, so that I thought a
wound for myself or horse was inevitable ; but the spear
passed under my horse. We were to have gone to Hagi-
Buhirem, but finding the head-man of it at a village a few
furlongs nearer, we stopped there. We found him in a
shed outside the walls, reading his Koran, with his sword,
gun, and pistol by his side. He was a good-natured
farmer-looking man, and spoke in Persian. He chanted
the Arabic with great readiness, and asked me, whether I
knew what that book was. ' Nothing less than the great
Koran !' "
Sept. 19. — " Left the village at seven in the morning,
and as the stage was reputed to be very dangerous, owing
to the vicinity of the famous Cara Beg, my Mihmander
took three armed men from the village in addition to the
one we brought from Erivan. We continued going along,
through the pass, two or three parasangs, and crossed the
Araxes three times. We then ascended the mountains on
the north, by a road, if not so steep, yet as long and
difficult, as any of the cotuls of Bushire. On the top we
found table-land, along which we moved many a tedious
mile, expecting every minute that we should have a view
of a fine champaign country below; but dale followed
dale, apparently in endless succession, and though at such
a height, there was very little air to relieve the heat, and
nothing to be seen but barren rocks. One part, however
must be excepted, where the prospect opened to the north,
and we had a view of the Russian territory ; so that we
saw at once, Persia, Russia, and Turkey. At leno-th we
came to an Armenian village, situated in a hollow of these
mountains, on a declivity. The village presented a singu-
lar appearance, being filled with conical piles of peat, for
they have no fire-w^ood. Around, there was a great deal
of cultivation, chiefly corn. Most of the low land from
Tebriz to this place is planted with cotton, palma Christi,
and rice. This is the first village in Turkey ; not a Per-
sian cap was to be seen ; the respectable people wore a
408 xMEMOIR OF
red Turkish cap. The great man of the village paid me
a visit; he was a young Mussulman, and took care of all
my Mussulman attendants ; but he left me and my Arme-
\/ nians where he found us, at the house of an Armenian,
without offering his services. I was rather uncomfortably
lodged, my room being a thoroughfare for horses, cows,
buffaloes, and sheep. Almost all the village came to look
at me. The name of this village is Fiwick ; it is distant
six parasangs from the last; but we were eight hours
accomplishing it, and a cafila would have been twelve.
We arrived at three o'clock ; — both horses and men much
fatigued."
Sept. 20. — '^ From day-break to sunrise I walked, then
breakfasted, and set out. Our course lay north, over a
mountain ; and here danger Vv^as apprehended ; it was,
indeed, dismally solitary all around. The appearance of
an old castle on the top of a crag was the first occasion
on which our guard got their pieces ready, and one rode
forward to reconnoitre : but all there was as silent as the
grave. At last, after travelling five hours, we saw some
men ; our guard again took their places in front. Our
fears were soon removed by seeing carts and oxen. Not
so the opposite party ; for my baggage was so small, as
not to be easily perceived. They halted, therefore, at the
bottom, towards which we were both descending, and
those of them who had guns, advanced in front and
hailed us. We answered peaceably; but they, still
distrusting us, as we advanced nearel cocked their
pieces : soon, however, we came to a parley. They were
Armenians, bringing wood from Cars to their village in
the mountain : they were hardy, fine young men, and
some old men who were with them were particularly
venerable. The dangerous spots being passed through,
my party began to sport with their horses; — galloping
across the path, brandishing their spears or sticks ; they
darted them just at the moment of wheeling round their
horses, as if that motion gave them an advantage. It
HENRY 3IARTYN. 4()y
struck me that this, probably, was the mode of lighting of
the ancient Parthians, which made them so terrible in
flight. Presently after these gambols, the appearance of
some poor countrymen with their carts put into their
heads another kind of sport; for knowing, from the ill
fame of the spot, that we should easily be taken for rob-
bers, four of them galloped forward, and by the time we
reached them, one of the carters was opening a bag to
give them something. I was, of course, very much dis-
pleased, and made signs to him not to do it. I then told
them all, as we quietly pursued our course, that such kind
of sport was not allowed in England : they said it was the
Persian custom. We arrived at length at Ghanikew,
having ridden six hours and a half without intermission.
The Mihmander was for changing his route continually,
either from real or pretended fear. One of Cara Beg's
men saw me at the village last night, and as he would
probably get intelligence of my intended route, it was
desirable to elude him. But after all, we went the short-
est way, through the midst of danger, if there was any,
and a gracious Providence kept all mischief at a distance.
Ghanikew is only two parasangs from Cars, but I stopped
there, as I saw it was more agreeable to the people;
besides which, I wished to have a ride before breakfast.
I was lodged in a stable-room, but very much at my ease,
as none of the people of the village could come at me
without passing through the house."
Sept. 21. — "Rode into Cars. Its appearance is quite
European, not only at a distance, but within. The
houses all of stone; streets with carts passing; some
of the houses open to the street; the fort on an un-
commonly high rock; such a burying-ground I never
saw; — there must be thousands of grave-stones. The
Mihmander carried me directly to the governor, who,
having just finished his breakfast, was, of course, asleep,
and could not be disturbed ; but his head-man carried me
to an Armenian's house, with orders to live at free quarters
35
410 MEaiOlR OF
there. Tlie room at the Armenian's was an excellent one,
up stairs, facing the street, fort, and river, with a bow
containing five windows, under which were cushions. As
soon as the pacha was visible, the chief Armenian of Cars,
to whom I had a letter from bishop Nerses, his relation,
waited upon him on my business. On looking over my
letters of recommendation from Sir Gore Ouseley, I found
there was none for Abdalla, the pacha of Cars; how-
ever, the letter to the governor of Erivan secured all I
wanted. He sent to say I was welcome ; that if I liked
to stay a few days, he should be happy ; but that if I was
determined to go on to-morrow% the necessary horses, and
ten men for a guard, were all ready. As no wish was
expressed of seeing me, I was of course silent upon that
subject."
Sept. 22. — " Promises were made tliat everything
should be ready at sunrise ; but it was half-past nine
before we started, and no guard present but the Tartar.
He presently began to show his nature, by flogging the
baggage-horse with his long whip, as one who was not
disposed to allow loitering; but one of the poor beasts
presently fell with his load, at full length, over a piece of
timber lying in the road. While this was setting to
rights, the people gathered about me, and seemed more
engaged with my Russian boots than with any other part
of my dress. We moved south-west, and after five hours
and a half reached Joula. The Tartar rode forward, and
got the coffee-room at the post-house ready. The coffee-
room has one side raised and covered with cushions, and
on the opposite side cushions on the ground ; the rest
of the room was left with bare stones and timbers. As
the wind blew very cold yesterday, and I had caught cold,
the Tartar ordered a great fire to be made. In this room
I should have been very much to my satisfaction, had not
the Tartar taken part of the same bench ; and many
other people made use of it as a public room. They were
continually consulting my watch, to know how near the
HENRY MARTVN. 41]
hour of eating approached. It was evident that the Tartar
was the great man here : he took the best place for him-
self; a dinner of four or five dishes was laid before him,
When I asked for eggs, they brought me rotten ones ; for but-
ter, they brought me ghee. The idle people of the village
came all night and smoked till morning. It was very cold,
there being a hoar frost."
Sept. 23. — " Our way to-day lay through a forest of firs;
and the variety of prospect it afforded, of hill and dale,
wood and lawn, was beautiful and romantic. No mark of
human workmanship was any where visible for miles, ex-
cept where some trees had fallen by the stroke of the
woodman. We saw, at last, a few huts in the thickest
clumps, which was all we saw of the Curds, for fear of
whom I was attended by ten armed horsemen. We fright-
ened a company of villagers again to-day. They were
bringing wood and grass from the forest, and, on seeing us,
drew up. One of our party advanced and fired : such a
rash piece of sport I thought must have been followed
by serious mischief, but all passed off very well. With
the forest I was delighted ; the clear streams in the valleys,;
the lofty trees crowning the summit of the hills, the smooth^
paths winding away and losing themselves in the dark^,
woods, and, above all, the solitude that reigned through- '
out, composed a scene which tended to harmonize and
solemnize the mind. What displays of taste and magni-
ficence are found occasionally on this ruined earth ! |
Nothing was wanting to-day but the absence of the I
Turks ; to avoid the sight and sound of whom I rode on. '
Afler a ride of nine hours and a half we reached Mijingerd,
in the territory of Erzeroom ; and having resolved not to be
annoyed in the same way as last night, I lefl the Tartar
in the undisturbed possession of the post-house, and took
up my quarters at an Armenian's ; where, in the stable-
room, I expected to be left alone ; but a Georgian young
man, on his way from Echmiadzin, going on pilgrimage
to Moosh, where John the Baptist is supposed to be buried,
413 iMEMOlR OF
presumed on his assiduous attentions to me, and contrived
to get a place for himself in the same room."
Sept. 24. — " A long and sultry march over many a hill
and vale. In the way, two hours from the last stage, is a
hot spring : the water fills a pool, having four porches.
The porches instantly reminded i.ie of Bethesda's pool :
they were semicircular arches, about six feet deep, in-
tended, seemingly, for shelter from the sun. In them, all
the party undressed and bathed. The Tartar, to enjoy
himself more perfectly, had his calean to smoke while up
to his chin in water. We saw nothing else on the road
to-day, but a large and opulent family of Armenians, men,
women, and children, in carts and carriages, returning
from a pilgrimage to Moosh. After eleven hours and a
half, including the hour spent at the warm spring, we were
overtaken by the dusk; so the Tartar brought us to
Oghoomra, where I was placed in an Armenian's stable-
room."
Sept. 25. — " Went round to Hassan Kulaah, where we
changed horses. I was surprised to see so strong a fort
and so large a town. From thence we were five hours
and a half reaching the entrance of Erzeroom. All was
busy and moving in the streets and shops ; — crowds pass-
ing along. Those who caught a sight of us were at a loss
to define me. My Persian attendants, and the lower part
of my dress, made me appear Persian ; but the rest of the
dress was new, for those only who had travelled knew it
to be European. They were not disposed, I thought, to
be civil ; but the two persons who preceded us kept all in
order. I felt myself in a Turkish town ; the red cap, and
stateliness, and rich dress, and variety of turbans, was
realized as I had seen it in pictures. There are here
four thousand Armenian families, and but one church :
there are scarcely any Catholics, and they have no
church."
Sept. 29. — " Left Erzeroom, with a Tartar and his son,
at two in the afternoon. We moved to a villaore, where T
HENRY MARTYN. 4J3
was attacked .with fever and ague : the Tartar's son was
also taken ill, and obliged to return."
Sept. 30. — "Travelled first to Ash Kulaah, where we
changed horses, and from thence to Purnugaban, where
we halted for the night. I took nothing all day but tea,
and was rather better ; but headache and loss of appetite
depressed my spirits ; yet my soul rests in him who is ' as
an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast,' which, though
not seen, keeps me fast."
Oct. 1. — " Marched over a mountainous tract : we
were out from seven in the morning till eight at night.
After sitting a little by the fire, I was near fainting from
sickness. My depression of spirits led me to the throne of
grace, as a sinful, abject worm. When I thought of my-
self and my transgressions, I could find no text so cheer-
ing as, ' My ways are not as your ways.' From the men
who accompanied Sir William Ouseley to Constantinople,
I learned that the plague was raging at Constantinople,
and thousands dying every day. One of the Persians
had died of it. They added, that the inhabitants of Tocat
were flying from their town from the same cause. Thus I
am passing inevitably into imminent danger. O Lord, thy
will be done ! Living or dying, remember me."
Oct. 2. — " Some hours before day, I sent to tell the
Tartar I was ready, but Hassan Aga was for once riveted
to his bed. However, at eight, having got strong horses,
he set off at a great rate, and over the level ground he
made us gallop, as fast as the horses would go, to Chiftlick,
where we arrived at sunset. I was lodged, at my request,
in the stables of the post-house, not liking the scrutinizing
impudence of the fellows who frequent the coffee-room.
As soon as it began to grow a little cold, the ague came
on, and then the fever : after which I had a sleep, which
let me know too plainly the disorder of my frame. In the
night, Hassan sent to summon me away, but I was quite
unable to move. Finding me still in bed at the dawn, he
began to storm furiously at mv detaining him so long; but
35*
414 MEMOIR OF
1 quietly let liim spend his ire, ate my bseakfast com-
posedly, and set out at eiglit. He seemed determined to
make up for the delay, for we flew over hill and dale to
Sheheran, where he changed horses. From thence we
travelled all the rest of the day and all night; it rained
most of the time. Soon after sunset the ague came on
again, which, in my wet state, was very trying; I hardly
knew how to keep my life in me. About that time there
was a village at hand ; but Hassan had no mercy. At
one in the morning, we found two men under a wain, with
a good fire ; they could not keep the rain out, but their
fire was acceptable. I dried my lower extremities, allayed
the fever by drinking a good deal of water, and went on.
We had a little rain, but the night was pitchy dark, so that
I could not see the road under my horse's feet. However,
God being mercifully pleased to alleviate my bodily suffer-
ing, I went on contentedly to the menzil, where we ar-
rived at break of day. After sleeping three or four hours,
I was visited by an Armenian merchant, for whom I had
a letter. Hassan was in great fear of being arrested
here ; the governor of the city had vowed to make an
example of him for riding to death a horse belonging to a
man of this place. He begged that I would shelter him in
case of danger ; his being claimed by an Englishman, he
said, would be a sufficient security. I found, however,
that I had no occasion to interfere. He hurried me away
from this place without delay, and galloped furiously
towards a village, which, he said, was four hours distant ;
which was all I could undertake in my present weak state ;
but village afler village did he pass, till night coming on,
and no signs of another, I suspected that he was carrying
me on to the menzil ; so I got off my horse, and sat upon
the ground, and told him, ' I neither could nor would go
any further.' He stormed, but I was immovable; till, a
hght appearing at a distance, I mounted my horse and
made towards it, leaving him to follow or not, as he
pleased. He brought in the party, but would not exert
HENRY MAR^YN. 415
himself to get a place for me. They brought me to an
open verandah, but Sergius told them I wanted a place in
which to be alone. This seemed very ofTensive to them ;
* And why must he be alone ]' they asked ; ascribing this
desire of mine to pride, I suppose. Tempted, at last, by
money, they brought me to a stable-room, and Hassan and
a number of others planted themselves there with me.
My fever here increased to a violent degree, the heat in
my eyes and forehead was so great, that the fire almost
made me frantic. I entreated that it might be put out, or
that I might be carried out of doors. Neither was attended
to : my servant, who, from my sitting in that strange way
on the ground, believed me delirious, was deaf to all I said.
At last I pushed my head in among the luggage, and lodged
it on the damp ground, and slept"
Oct 5. — " Preserving mercy made me see the light of
another morning. The sleep had refreshed me, but I was
feeble and shaken ; yet the merciless Hassan hurried me
off. The menzil, however, not being distant, I reached it
without much difficulty, I expected to have found it
another strong fort at the end of the pass ; but it is a poor
little village within the jaws of the mountains. I was
pretty well lodged, and felt tolerably well till a little after
sunset, when the ague came on with a violence I had
never before experienced : I felt as if in a palsy ; my teeth
chattering, and my whole frame violently shaken. Aga
Hosyn and another Persian, on their way here from
Constantinople, going to Abbas Mirza, whom I had just
before been visiting, came hastily to render me assistance
if they could. These Persians appear quite brotherly after v
the Turks. While they pitied me, Hassan sat in perfect
indifference, ruminating on the further delay this was
likely to occasion. The cold fit, after continuing two or
three hours, was followed by a fever, which lasted the
whole night, and prevented sleep."
Oct. 6. — '* No horses being to be had, I had an unex-
pected repose. I sat in the orchard, and thought, with
416 MEMOIR OF
sweet comfort and peace, of my God; in solitude, my com
pany, my friend and comforter. Oh ! when shall time give
place to eternity ! When shall appear that new heaven
and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness ! There,
there shall in no wise enter in anything that defileth : none
of that wickedness which has made men worse than
wild beasts, — none of those corruptions which add still
more to the miseries of mortality, shall be seen or heard of
any more :" —
Scarcely had Mr. Martyn breathed these aspirations
after that state of blissful purity, for which he had attained
such a measure of meetness, — when he was called to
exchange a condition of pain, weakness, and suffering,
for that everlasting " rest which remaineth for the people
of God."
At Tocat, on the 16th of October, 1812, either falling
a sacrifice to the plague, which then raged there, or, sink-
ing under that disorder which, when he penned his last
words, had so greatly reduced him, he surrendered his soul
into the hands of his Redeemer.*
The peculiar circumstances as well as the particular
period of his death, could not fail of greatly aggravating
the affliction of his friends, — who, amidst anxious hopes
and fears, were expecting his arrival either in India or
England. He had not completed the thirty-second year
of a life of eminent activity and usefulness, and he died
whilst hastening towards his native country, that, havmg
there repaired his shattered health, he might again devote
it to the glory of Christ, amongst the nations of the East.
There was something, also, deeply affecting in the con-
sideration, that where he sunk into his grave, men were
strangers to him and to his God. No friendly hand was
* Mr. Martyn, as it has since been supposed with great probabili-
ty, died of the plague. We have inserted in the Notes, Appendix
Q., some interesting letters written on the spot, by the Rev. Eli
Smith andH. G. O. Dwight, Americaji missionaries. E.
HENRY MARTIN. 4 [7
Stretched out, — no sympathizing voice heard at that time,
when the tender offices of Christian affection are so
soothing and so delightful ; — no human bosom was there,
on which Mr. Martyn could recline his head in the hour of
languishing. Pauciorihus lacrymis compositus es* — was
a sentiment to which the feelings of nature and friendship
responded ; yet the painful reflection could not be admit-
ted,— In novissimd luce desideravere aliquid ocuU tui.f
The Saviour, doubtless, was with His servant in his last
conflict, and he with Him the instant it terminated.
So richly was the mind of Mr. Martyn endowed by the
God of nature and of grace, that at no period could his
death fail to be a subject of common lamentation to those
who valued the interests of the church of Christ.
" He was in our hearts," observed one of his friends in
India,! " ^^'^ honored him ; — we loved him ; — we thanked
God for him ; — we prayed for his longer continuance
amongst us ; — we rejoiced in the good he was doing : —
we are sadly bereaved! Where such fervent piety, and
extensive knowledge, and vigorous understanding, and
classical taste, and unwearied application, were all united,
what might not have been expected ? I cannot dwell
upon the subject without feeling very sad. I stand upon
the walls of Jerusalem, and see the lamentable breach that
has been made in them ; — but it is the Lord ; — he gave,
and he hath taken away."
"Mr. Pvlartyn," remarks another of his friends,§ in de-
scribing more particularly his intellectual endowments, —
" combined in himself certain valuable but distinct quali-
ties, seldom found together in the same individual. The
easy triumphs of a rapid genius over first difficulties never
* With few tears thou art laid to rest.
t In thy last moments thine eyes desired something on which to
rest.
t The late Rev. Mr. Thomason.
§ The Rev. C. J. Hoare. Archdeacon of Winchester.
418 JMEMOIII OF
left him satisfied with present attainments. His mind,
which naturally ranged over a wide field of human knowl-
edge, lost nothing of depth in its expansiveness. He was
one of those few persons whose reasoning faculty does not
suffer from their imagination, nor their imagination fi-om
their reasoning faculty ; both, in him, were fully exercised,
and were of a very high order. His mathematical acqui-
sitions clearly left him without a rival of his own age ; and
yet, to have known only the employments of his more free
and unfettered moments, would have led to the conclu-
sion that poetry and the classics were his predominant
passion."
But the radiance of these talents, excellent as they
were, was lost in the brightness of those Christian graces,
by which he " shone as a light in the world, holding forth
the word of life." In his faith there was a singular, a
child-like simplicity : — great, consequently, was its energy,
both in obeying Christ, and in sutfering for his name's
sake ! By this, he could behold blossoms upon the rod,
even when it was apparently dead ; and in those events
which, like the captain of the Lord's host seen by Joshua,
presented at first a hostile aspect, — he could discern a
favorable and a friendly countenance. Having listened to
that tender and overwhelming interrogation of his Saviour,
" Lovest thou me ?" his love was fervently exercised
towards God and man, at all times, and in all places!
For it was not like llie land-spring, which runs violently
for a season, and then ceases ; but resembled the fountain
which fiows v/ith a perennial stream from the recesses of
the rock. His fear of God and tenderness of conscience,
and v,atchfulness over his own heart, could scarcely be
surpassed in this state of sinful infirmity. But it was his
humility that was most remarkable : — this might be con-
sidered as the warp of which the entire texture of his
piety was composed ; and with this his other Christian
graces were so intimately blended, as to beautify and
adorn his whole demeanor. Tt was, in truth, the accord-
HENRY 3iAR'i YN. 419
ance and consent of various Christian attainments in Mr.
Martyn, which were so striking. The symmetry of his
stature in Christ, was as surprising as its height. That
communion which he held with his God, and which caused
his face to shine, was ever chastened, like the patriarch's
of old, by the most awful reverence. The nearer the
access with which he was favored, the more deeply did he
feel that he was but " sinful dust and ashes." No dis-
cordance could he discover between peace and penitence ;
no opposition between joy in God, and utter abasement
before him ; and truly in this, as in every other respect,
Jiad he thoroughly imbibed the spirit of his own church ;
which, in the midst of one of her sublimest hymns of
praise, leads her members to prostrate themselves before
their Redeemer in these words of humiliation, *' Thou
that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy
upon us."
To be zealous without love ; or to have that which is
miscalled charity, without decision of character, is neither
difficult nor uncommon. Mr. Martyn's zeal was tempered
with love, and his love invigorated by zeal. He combin-
ed, also, ardor with prudence ; gravity with cheerfulness ;
abstraction from the world with an enjoyment of its lawful
gratifications. His extreme tenderness of conscience was
devoid of scrupulosity ; his activity in good works was
joined to habits of serious contemplation ; his religious
affections, which were highly spiritualized, exceeded not
the limits of the most cautious sobriety, and were so far
from impairing his natural affections, that they raised and
purified them.
Many sincere servants of Christ labor to attain heaven,
but possess not any joyful hope of reaching it ; — many
vain hypocrites are confident of their salvation, without
striving to enter in at the strait gate. ¥/ith the apostle,
Mr. Martyn could say, " We are always confident ; —
wherefore we labor," &c. Together with an assurance of
his final and everlasting felicity, he had a dread of declen-
420 MEMOIR OI'
sion, and a fear of " losing the things he had wrought."
He knew that the way to heaven was narrow, from the
entrance to the end of it; but he was persuaded that Christ
was with him, walking in the way, and that he would never
leave him nor forsake him.
As these extraordinary, and seemingly contradictory,
qualities, were not imparted to him but by the Spirit of
God, so they were not strengthened and matured but in
the diligent use of the ordinary means of grace. Prayer
and the Holy Scriptures were those wells of salvation, out
of which he drew daily the living water. Truly did he
' pray always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
and watch thereunto with all perseverance.' Being ' trans-
formed by the renewing of his mind,' he was also ever
' proving what was that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God.'
The Sabbath, that sacred portion of time, set apart foi
holy purposes in paradise itself, was so employed by him,
as to prove frequently a paradise to his soul on earth ; and
as certainly prepared him for an endless state of spiritual
enjoyment hereafter.
By ' daily weighing the Scriptures,' with prayer, he
'waxed riper and riper in his ministry,' in the execution
of which divine office there was in him an astonishing
determination of soul for the glory of his Saviour, who
' allowed him to be put in trust with the Gospel.' Of the
exceeding privileges of his holy function, and of its awful
responsibility, he had the most vivid impression ; and such
was his jealousy of omitting any duty connected with it,
that he deemed the work of translating the Scriptures
themselves no justifiable plea for inattention to any of its
more immediate and direct engagements. Reviewing
frequently his ordination vows, in that affecting service in
which they were originally made, he became more and
more anxious to promote tlie honor of his Redeemer, by
preaching bis Gospel. Tliis, indeed, v/as the great end
for which existence seemf d desirable in his eves : to effect
HENRY MARTYN. 421
which he spent much thne in preparing his discourses for
the pulpit ; investigating the subject before him with pro-
found meditation, and perpetual supplication to the Father
of Lights. Utilis lectio — utilis eriiditio — scd magis unctio
necessaria, quippe qucB docet de omnibus^ — were the sen-
timents of his heart. When, therefore, he stood up and
addressed his hearers on the entire depravity of man, — on
the justification of the soul by faith in Jesus Christ, — on
the regenerating and progressively sanctifying influences
of the Spirit ; — when ' knowing the terrors of the Lord,'
he persuaded them to accept the offers of salvation ; — or
when he besought them, by the mercies of God, to present
their bodies to Him, as a living sacrifice, — he spake ' with
uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, with sound words that
could not be condemned ;' and none who knew their souls
to be guilty, helpless, accountable, immortal, could listen
to his preaching unmoved. In the delivery of his dis-
courses, his natural manner was not good ; there being a
defect in his enunciation ; this, however, was more than
compensated by the solemnity, affection, and earnestness
of his address. It should be added, also, that as practical
subjects were discussed by him with constant reference to
the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel ; so likewise all doctri-
nal points were declared practically, with a view to self-
application, rather than to disquisition. No one, as it re-
garded all doctrine, could enter more completely into the
spirit of those words, both for himself and others : — Malo
sentire compunctionem qudm scire ejus definitione7n.f
With an intense anxiety to save souls, Mr. Martyn had
an implicit reliance on that grace which alone can make
men wise unto salvation. He was deeply conscious that it
is * God that giveth the increase ;' and when he did not
see, or thought he did not see, that increase, he meekly
* St. Bernard. — Reading is useful, learning is useful, but unction
is far more necessary, because it gives instruction in regard to all
points.
t I had rather feel compunction than know how to define it.
36
\/
42-2 MEMOIR OF
submitted to the divine will, and patiently continued in
well doing. At such times, also, more particularly, would
he turn, with joyful thankfulness, to the contemplation of
^the successful labors of his brethren in the ministry ; for
he had no mean and unholy envy respecting them ; nor
had he what is so often allied to it, an arrogant or
domineering temper towards his flock. His ambition was
to be a helper of their joy ; he had no desire to have
dominion over their faith. Too much had he of that
beautiful part of a minister's character, a spirit which
would sympathize with the poor and afflicted amongst his
people, to court the appellation of Rabbi, or dogmatize
with the air of a master in Israel. He was one of those
little ones, of whom Christ affirms that whosoever receiveth
them, receiveth him. To no one, indeed, w^ould he give
occasion to despise him ; but all the dignity to which he
aspired was to be their servant, among whom he labored
for Jesus' sake. *' A more perfect character," says one
who bore the burden and heat of the day with him in
India,* " I never met with, nor expect to see on earth.
During the four years we were fellow laborers in this coun-
try, I had no less than six opportunities of enjoying his com-
pany ; and every opportunity only increased my love and
veneration for him."
With respect to his labors, his own ' works praise him in
the gates,' far above all human commendation.
By him, and by his means, part of the Liturgy of the
Church of England, the Parables and the whole of the
New Testament, were translated into Hindoostanee, — a
language spoken from Delhi to Cape Comorin, and in-
telligible to many millions of immortal souls. By him,
and by his means, also, the Psalms of David and the New
Testament were rendered into Persian, the vernacular
language of two hundred thousand who bear the Christian
name, and known over one fourth of the habitable globe.
* The Rev. D. Corrie, Archdeacon of Calcutta.
HENRY 31A11TVN. 423
By him, also, the imposture of the prophet of Mecca was
boldly exposed, and the truths of Christianity openly vin-
dicated in the very heart and centre of a Mohammedan
empire.
If success be demanded, it is replied, that this is not the
inquiry with Him * of whom are all things,' either in this
world, or in that which is to come. With Him the question
is this : — What has been aimed at 1 what has been intended
in singleness of heart ?
God, however, has not left Mr. Martyn without witness,
in the hearts of those who heard him in Europe and in
Asia. Above forty adults and twenty children of the
Hindoos have received Christian baptism, — all of whom,
with the exception of a single individual, were converted
by the instrumentality of one man,* who was himself the
fruit of Mr. Martyn's ministry at Cawnpore. At Shiraz
a sensation has been excited, which, it is trusted, will not
readily subside ; and some Mohammedans of consequence
there have declared their conviction of the truth of Chris-
tianity ; — a conviction which Mr. Martyn was the means
of imparting to their minds.t But when it is considered,
that the Persian and Hindoostanee Scriptures are in wide
and extensive circulation, who can ascertain the conse-
quences which may have already followed, or foresee what
may hereafter accrue, from their dispersion ? In this re-
spect it is not perhaps too much to apply to Mr. Martyn
those words, which once had an impious application ; —
" Ex quo nunc etiam per magnos didita gentes,
Dulcia permulcent animos solatia vitcs." — LucREX.t
Nor is the example which he has left behind him to be
* Abdool Messeeh. See Appendix R.
t For some interesting notices of the effect of Mr. Martyn's la-
bors in Persia, see Appendix S.
X From whom even now the sweet solaces of life diffused through
iniffhty nations, soothe the passions of men.
424 MEMOIR or MAIITYN.
laid out of our account in estimating the effects of his holy
and devoted life. He doubtless forsook all for Christ ; he
loved not his life unto the death. He followed the steps
of Zeigenbalg in the old world, and of Brainerd in the
new ; and whilst he walks with them in white, — for he is
worthy, — he speaks by his example, to us who are still on
our warfare and pilgrimage upon earth. For surely as
long as England shall be celebrated for that pure and
apostolical church, of which he was so great an ornament;
as long as India shall prize that which is more precious to
her than all her gems and gold ; — the name of the subject
of this memoir, as a translator of the Scriptures and of the
Liturgy, will not wholly be forgotten ; and whilst some
shall delight to gaze upon the splendid sepulchre of Xavier,
and others choose rather to ponder over the granite stone
which covers all that was mortal of Swartz ; there Avill not
be wanting those who will think of the humble and unfre-
quented grave of Henry Martyn, and be led to imitate
those works of mercy, which have followed him into the
world of liffht and love.
APPENDIX.
[ A. p. 83. ]
Rev. William Carey, D. D.
Dr. Caret never enjoyed the benefits of an early educa-
tion. Bred to a laborious mechanical employment, he was
compelled to struggle against numerous and severe adversities
in attaining that distinguished sphere of usefulness in which he
has long moved. In 1787, he was ordained to the work of the
ministry, in the Baptist Church, at Moulton, England. Before
this time, the wretched condition of the heathen nations had
excited his warm sympathy, and had prompted him to seek an
acquaintance with the geography, population and religion of
the various nations of the earth. He had, also, acquired con-
siderable knowledge of various languages. At the meeting
of the Baptist Convention, in Nottingham, in 1792, Mr. Carey
preached a sermon from Isaiah liv. 2, 3, and took up what he
conceived to be the spirit of the text, in two exhortations,
EXPECT GREAT THINGS *, ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS. This WaS
an earnest and powerful appeal. In October, 1792, the "Par-
ticular Baptist Society, for Propagating the Gospel among the
Heathen," was formed. On the 20th of March, 1793, Mr.
Carey and Mr. John Thomas were solemnly designated as
missionaries to the heathen. They set sail for India on the
13th of June. In consequence of the failure of the investment
which was taken out for their immediate support, Mr. Carey
and his family were left entirely destitute. In this extremity,
he took the superintendence of an indigo factory at Mudna-
batty, and declined receiving any further assistance from
36*
42G APPExNDIX.
England, though his circumstances afterwards induced him to
apply for aid. In the mean time, in conjunction with his
brethren, lie gave himself to the work of translations with
great diligence. In 1805, 1,000 guineas were sent from Eng-
land towards defraying the cost of the translations at Seram-
pore. An equal sum was given by the friends of the object in
the United States.
Dr. Carey is now [1832] about 73 years old. Mr. Leslie, a
Baptist missionary, thus describes his appearance : —
" Dr. Carey is a very equable and cheerful old man. Next
to his translations, botany is his grand study. He has col-
lected every plant and tree in his garden, that will possibly
grow in India, — and is so scientific, withal, as to call every
thing by its classical name. We had the pleasure of hearing
him preach from Romans vii. 13, when he gave us an excellent
sermon. In manner he is very animated, and in style very
methodical. Indeed, he carries method into every thing he
does : classification is his grand hohhy : and wherever any-
thing can be classified, there you find Dr. Carey ; not only
does he arrange the roots of plants and words, but visit his
dwelling, and you find he has fitted and classified shelves full
of minerals, stones, shells, and cages full of birds. He is of
very easy access and great familiarity. His attachments are
strong, and extend not merely to persons but places. Some
time ago, so much of the house in which he had lived fell
down, that he had to leave it — at which he wept bitterly. One
morning, he was relating to us an anecdote of the excellent
John Thornton, at the remembrance of whom, tears filled his
eyes. It is an affecting sight to see the venerable man
weep."
Though some critics have endeavored to undervalue the
translations at Serampore, yet by the most accomplished
judges, a meed of strong approbation has been aAvarded. Dr.
Marsh, the learned Bishop of Peterborough, says, that " the
missionaries are best qualified to complete what they have so
nobly and successfully begun." Bishop Heber says, that it
is impossible not to respect and admire them. Translations
of the whole Bible have long been completed in several of the
more important languages of India ; and the word of life is
now becoming, by the instrumentality of these venerable men,
tbe wisdom of God to tbe salvation of manv. E.
APPENDIX. 427
[ B. p. 88. ]
Dr. Vanderkemp.
Dr. Vanderkemp was a native of Holland. He studied at
the universities of Leyden and Edinburgh ; and having, in his
youth, chosen the army for his profession, he attained the rank
of captain of horse. After being sixteen years in the service of
the Prince of Orange, and having attained the highest promotion
within his reach, a personal misunderstandin^^j^ith the Prince,
with whom he was intimate, induced him tdteesign his com-
mission, and to make choice of another profession. He obtain-
ed the degree of M. D. at Edinburgh, and established himself
at Middleburgh, Holland, as a physician. His higif reputation
procured him an extensive practice. On the breaking out of
the French revolution, he was appointed surgeon-general of
the forces of the Prince of Orange. The writings which he
has left, show him to have been an accomplished scholar, and
his attainments in science appear to have been equal to his
acquirements in literature. But he had, unhappily, imbibed
all the infidel errors of the German philosophy. A dreadful
domestic calamity — the upsetting of a boat, by which his own
life was placed in the greatest jeopardy, and his wife and child
were drowned — was the means of producing an entire change
in his sentiments and conduct. A desire to be nseful to his
fellow creatures took full possession of his mind. An address
published by the directors of the London Missionary Society
induced him to olFer himself as a missionary. He was ad-
vanced in years, had retired from the duties of his profession,
and was possessed of a good property. He sailed for South
Africa in December, 1798. He here labored Avith great energy
and intelligence till December 7, 1811, when he was called up to
the joy of his Lord. When asked, on his dying bed, what was
the state of his mind, his emphatic reply was, " All is well."
Is it light or dark with you ? " Light ! " " He was certainly,"
says the Rev. Dr. Philip, from whose researches the preceding
facts are taken, " one of the most extraordinary characters of
his age. He could read and write in sixteen different lan-
guages. He had also great metaphysical acuteness. When
428 APPENDIX.
between fifty and sixty years of age, he could master the first
principles of any language to which he applied himself, in the
course of three or four months. His knowledge of natural
history and of mathematics would have enabled him to have
done honor to a professorship in any branch of those sciences
in any of the universities of Europe. To his missionary work,
he brought courage, zeal, incorruptible integrity, and great
weight of character."
[ C. p. 137. ]
Christian Frederick Sivartz.
SwARTZ was born in Sonnenburg, in Brandenburg, Germany,
Oct. 26, 1726. His mother, on her death-bed, declared, that
she had devoted her son to the Lord, and exacted a promise
from her husband and her father, that they would not oppose
his inclinations, if he should be disposed to study divinity.
When he was eight years of age, Swartz often sought after
solitude, and found much comfort in pouring out his heart to
God ; and when he had done anything wrong, he was not able
to rest till he had implored pardoning mercy. In 1746, he
travelled to Halle, where he attended on the instructions of
the University. Here he became established in the faith of
the Lord Jesus, and earnestly desired to give himself, soul and
body, to the service of his Saviour.
About that time, preparations were making to print the
Tamul, at Halle, and young Sivartz was selected to learn the
language. The pains he took induced Professor Francke
to propose to him the Avork of a missionary. He obeyed the
call. Having obtained his father's consent, he was sent to
India, under the sanction of t])e Danish Mission College. He
arrived at Tranquebar, on the 30th of July, 1750. Here he la-
bored, for some years, v.-ith his colleagues. In 1766, a new
mission was established at Trichinopoly, over which Mr.
Swartz was called to preside. In 1772, Mr. S. visited Tan-
jore, and had several interesting conversations on the subject
of religion, particularly with the king, in the presence of the
APPENDIX. 42<J
Brahmins. The heathen were now becoming very inquisitive
in regard to Christianity. With all ranks of people this man
of God was accustomed to converse freely, and many were
brought to embrace the truth. He took unwearied pains with
his assistant catechists. He daily assembled all who were not on
stations too far distant, and instructed them how to explain the
truths of Christianity, in a mild and winning manner, joining
with them in prayer. In the evening, they returned and gave
an account of their labors. In 1779, he performed a noble
service in behalf of the government, by visiting Hyder Ally,
long the formidable enemy of the English. Mr. Swartz re-
mained three months in the country, performed his mission to
the acceptance of his employers, and declared to many individ-
uals the knowledge of the Saviour.
Mr. Swartz died on the 13th of February, 1798, in the
seventy-second year of his age. All classes and ranks of
men joined in the most unaffected sorrow at his death. The
native prince called him " the father, the friend, the protector,
the guide of his youth, the great and good man." The Court
of Directors of the East India Company erected a beautiful
marble monument to his memory, on which they recorded, in
most emphatic and affecting language, their sense of his trans-
cendent worth. In this expression of high veneration for his
character, the Madras government most cordially concurred.
In the midst of a bloody and vindictive war with the Carnatic,
Hyder Ally sent orders to his officers " to permit the venerable
Father Swartz to pass unmolested, and show him respect and
kindness, for he is a holy man, and means no harm to my gov-
ernment."
The fruits of his labors were most ample and encouraging.
India, in all coming time, will have occasion to remember him
as one of her greatest benefactors. By means of the mission
of Swartz and his associates, Dr. Carey estimated that more
than 40,000 individuals were converted to the Christian faith ;
Dr. Buchanan reckoned them at 80,000. In these interesting
regions there has recently been a wonderful revival of religion.
In January, 1829, in the single district of Tinnevelly, more
than 20,000 individuals had renounced heathenism. E.
430 APPENDIX.
[ D. p. 169. ]
The flight of Mohammed forms the Mohammedan era, called
the Hegira, and took place on Friday, the 16th day of July,
A. D. 622. The following are some of the circumstances.
The death of Abu Taleb, the uncle of Mohammed, -who had
protected his person, while he had opposed his principles, left
him completely exposed to the designs of his persecutors ;
and his uncle's successor being a declared enemy of the fami-
ly, an attempt was made to exterminate the rising sect, by
taking away the life of its founder. The plot having been
divulged, Mohammed, and his friend, Abu Beker, made their
escape during the night, while the devoted i\.li, in the green
robe of the prophet, took his place on his bed, and awaited,
but appeased, the wrath of the murderers. The two fugitives,
after concealing themselves three days in a cave, made their
way, in a perilous journey, along the coast, to Koba in the
vicinity of Medina; and on the following day the impostor
was carried into that city in triumph, by 500 of its richest
inhabitants, who had before this time become his devoted
admirers. Here he assumed the sacerdotal and regal office ;
and proclaimed his authority by a new revelation from heaven,
granting liberty of conscience, or rather exemption from de-
struction, only on the condition of a heavy pecuniary tribute.
He stimulated the courage of his followers, by preaching the
strictest predestinarianism, and assuring every man of infalli-
ble safety till his appointed and unavoidable hour. He excited
their cupidity by directing that the spoil, with the exception
of one fifth, should be faithfully distributed among the soldiers.
He gratified their sensuality, by giving up to their possession
the female captives ; and he roused their religious enthusiasm,
by the assurance of a martyr's crown to every individual who
should fall in battle. In this way he established his religion
of imposture, lust, and blood.
In chronology and liistory, as well as in all documents, the
Mohammedans use months of thirty and twenty-nine days,
alternately, making the year thus to consist of 354 days :
eleven times in thirty years, one day is added to the last
month, making 355 days in that year. The year in common
reckoning is purely lunar, consisting of twelve months, each
APPENDIX. 431
month commencing with the appearance of the new moon,
without any intercalation to bring the commencement of each
year to the same season.* E.
[ E. p. 193. ]
Rev. David Browu.
Thk Rev. David Brown was born in Yorkshire, England, in
1763. From his early youth he was distinguished for a reli-
gious turn of mind, an amiable disposition, and a thirst for
knowledge. He resided for some time under the tuition
of an excellent friend at Scarborough. He was afterwards
removed to the grammar school at Hull, under the care of
the Rev. Joseph Milner. Mr. Milner became much attached
to his pupil ; and while that good man lived, Mr. Brown con-
tinued to consult the judgment, and confide in the experience
and piety of his tutor. Mr. Brown proceeded to the Univer-
sity of Cambridge, and was entered at Magdalen College,
■where he prosecuted the usual studies preparatory to enter-
ing into the church. The following extract was found among
the papers of Mr. Brown, after his decease. " Thy goodness,
like the sun, dawned on my early days : a godly grandfather,
who poured out prayers for me ; parents, who attended to the
instructions given them by the ministers of God ; mercies all
flowing from my God."
In February, 1785, he v/as invited to take charge of an
orphan asylum in Bengal. He was at first disinclined to lis-
ten to the proposal, deeming it to be his duty to finish his
regular studies ; but on the advice of his friends, he concluded
to accept the invitation. Mr. Brown was ordained by the
Bishop of LlandafF in February, 1785. The Society for Pro-
moting Christian Knowledge elected him a corresponding
member, and recommended him to the Directors of the East
India Company, who with great liberality advanced 300 guineas
for his outfit. Mr. Brown sailed for India, on the 15th of
^ See the New Edinburgii EncyciopEeciia on the life of Moliamrned ; and
the Introduction to the Companion for the Britis'n Ahnanac, 1830.
432 APPENDIX.
November, 1785. In June, 1786, he arrived at Calcutta, and
immediately took up his residence at the Orphan Establish-
ment. He very soon commenced efforts for a mission to the
natives, and for translating the Scriptures. In 1787, Mr.
Charles Grant purchased a mission church of the Christian
Knowledge Society, and Mr. Brown undertook, in addition to
his other duties, to officiate in it. He, however, soon left the
Orphan Establishment. He continued to apply himself assidu-
ously to the study of the native languages, Avith the view of
translating them. In 1800, Mr. Brown was appointed Provost
of the college of Fort William — a situation which he con-
tinued to hold till the college was reduced. The following
extract of a letter to an early friend will show the spirit by
which he was actuated. "Jesus Christ, and him crucified,
has been my almost only theme, since I entered the ministry ;
and I have witnessed the power of the name of Jesus on the
hearts of several in this country, some of whom sleep in him."
It was the peculiar office of Mr. Brown, in the college, to
teach the Christian religion to the junior servants of the
company. Mr. Brown was not a popular preacher, but he was
remarkable for a deeply serious and impressive manner. On
the reduction of the college in 1806, Mr. Brown saw a new
sphere of usefulness in the formation of the Bible and Church
Missionary Societies. He considered the rising of the Bible
Society in Britain as forming a grand era in the history of
Christianity. Early in 1812, he was attacked by the severe
illness which terminated his eminently useful life, on the 14th
of June, and in the forty-ninth year of his age. He manifested
the most entire resignation to the will of God, and breathed
his soul calmly into the hands of his Redeemer. The rever-
ence and esteem, in which the character of Mr. Brown was
held, was strikingly manifested on his death. A funeral ser-
mon was preached at each of the churches. His record is on
high. His name is added to that illustrious constellation of
martyrs, of whom India and the world were not worthy. E.
APPENDIX. 433
[ F. p. 230. ]
East India Company.
The first East India Company was chartered by the Crown,
in 1600. It became a joint stock association in 1612. In
course of time, private traders, questioning the legality of a
charter not confirmed by Parliament, ventured to interfere
with their commerce, and exposed them, towards the end of
the seventeenth century, to the losses attendant on a formi-
dable competition. In 1701, the charter having expired, the
public saw the unusual occurrence of two joint stock compa-
nies pursuing the same branch of commerce. In 1708, they
were consolidated into one company, under their present name ;
and in 1711, the competition of private traders Avas finally re-
moved. Soon after the middle of the last century, this com-
pany gradually augmented their dividend from 6 to 10 per
cent. In 1677, Government laying claim to their territorial
revenue, as the property of the Crown, the Company bargained
for its retention by agreeing to pay Government the sum
of £400,000 a year. The most flattering accounts of their
finances were exhibited ; but unfortunately their debts still con-
tinued on the increase. Great disorders prevailed in the
management of their India affairs ; and the expense of a war
with Hyder Ally reduced them to the necessity of applying
to Government for aid. Since that time, various wars, together
with the disadvantages attending a joint stock company, have
gone far to reduce their affairs into a situation, in which most
companies have been obliged to make their exit. Government,
appreciating the utility of many of their institutions in India,
as well as desirous of avoiding a shock to public credit, have
conducted the business with much delicate attention to the
Company. The internal administration of India, and the China
trade, have been left in their possession.
The present charter was given in 7813; and it will expire
in 1833. The proprietors of East India stock consist of about
3,000 persons. A proprietor of £1,000 stock is entitled to one
vote ; of £2,000 to two votes ; of £3,000 to three votes ; of
£10,000 and upwards, to four votes. The value of their ex-
ports to Cluna, in 1829, was £863,494, The gross produce of
37
434 APPENDIX.
the tea sold was £4,254,000. From 1814 to 1826, there were
sent out to India, 3,174 cadets ; in 1828, 77 writers, 357 cadets,
and 59 assistant surgeons. Lord William C. Bentinck is Gov-
ernor General of India; Earl of Dalhousie, Commander in
Chief; Sir Charles Grey, Chief Justice ; Daniel Wilson, D. D.,
Bishop of Calcutta.
The time for the renewal of the charter, in 1834, is anticipat-
ed with great interest, by the friends of India, as opening the
way for the introduction of more extensive religious privileges
to the inhabitants of those populous regions. E.
[ G. p. 264. ]
Nathaniel Sabat.
In consequence of the account given by Dr. Buchanan
and others, great interest was excited in the Christian world,
in behalf of Sabat, and the noble Abdallah, his former com-
panion, who witnessed a good confession, and laid down his
life for the name of the Lord Jesus. The fears entertained
by Mr. Martyn in regard to Sabat were mournfully realized.
In the beginning of 1816, he publicly abjured Christianity,
and wrote in defence of Mohammedanism. In this book,
he declared that he became a convert only to comprehend
and expose the doctrines of Christianity, interspersing through
the pages of his work, intemperate abuse of many respectable
gentlemen who had been his benefactors. He immediately
left Calcutta, visited Ava and Pegu, and a short time af-
terwards, was found to have taken up his residence in an
obscure quarter of Penang. There, if we can believe his
own declarations, he began to feel great compunction and re-
morse of conscience. In the Penang Gazette, of March 9th,
1816, he had the effrontery to avow himself a true believer
in Christianity ! notwithstanding his book in favor of Moham-
medanism. From other sources it was understood that he
testified extraordinary devotion as a Soonee, the sect of Mo-
hammedans of which he was an original member. The re-
nown of his apostasy sc on destroyed the friendly connections
which he had formed on his first appearance, and in every
APPENDIX. 435
place of sojourn he became finally despised and neglected.
His last days were wretched in the extreme. It seems that
the reigning prince of Aclieen was dethroned. Sabat, in
attempting to join himself to the fortunes of the fallen king,
fell into the hands of the usurper, who, having kept him, and a
companion of his, in prison for six months, ordered them to be
tied up in a sack filled with heavy stones, and thrown into the
sea. Other accounts state that Sabat joined the usurper, and,
having been discovered in a scheme to overthrow the new
authority in favor of himself, he was punished with the horrible
death already mentioned. E.
[ H. p. 283. ]
Rev. T. T. Thomason.
Mr. Thomason was born at Devenport, England, June 7th,
1774. When he was thirteen years of age, the devotion of
his mind to religious pursuits began to appear, by his refusing
to accompany a friend to a place of fashionable amusement.
He entered at Magdalen College, Cambridge, in 1792. He
here obtained the Norrisian prize three successive times, and
was elected Tutor and Fellow of Queen's College. In 1798,
he married Elizabeth Fawcett, youngest daughter of J. Faw-
cett, Esq. In 1808, he accepted a chaplaincy in Bengal.
He immediately took charge of the Mission Church, Calcutta.
He became a distinguished linguist, especially in Hebrew,
Arabic, and Oordoo. On account of the illness of Mrs. T., he
was induced to set his face towards England, in 1826. In
one month after embarkation, his excellent wife died. To
him, this scene was one of great anguish. On his arrival in
England, he took charge for two years of Trinity Church,
Cheltenham. Unable, however, to prosecute in England his
favorite work of translation, he determined to return to India.
He left England in June, 1828, and arrived at Calcutta the
November following. His health had been in a declining
state from the time he left India in 1826. On his arrival in
Calcutta he was able to preach but twice. His sufferings
were greatly mitigated by the unremitted kindness of the indi-
436 APPENDIX.
vidual whom he had married a short time before he left
England.
After a brief residence at Barrackpore, he proceeded, in
April, 1829, to the Isle of France. His disorder gained upon
him till the 22d of June, when it put a period to his sufferings,
and he entered into rest. His sickness, though unto death,
was for the glory of God, and the Son of God was glorified
thereby. In suffering the most excruciating pain, he would
comfort himself with the thought, that he should soon be where
the weary are at rest. The names of few men will be record-
ed in the annals of India, who have conferred greater benefits
upon it, than Mr. Thomason ; and the Christian philanthropist,
when surveying the widely extended territories of this vast
continent, and reflecting over those who have counted not
their lives dear unto themselves, that they might plant the
standard of the cross amid the countless myriads of fallen but
immortal spirits who inhabit it, will at once associate in his
mind, with Kiernander, Swartz, Brown, Buchanan, Martyn and
Heber, the name of Thomason, as a no less true friend to the
cause of his Redeemer. E.
[ I. p. 305. ]
Mr MartyvLS Sermon.
The text on which this interesting sermon is founded, is
Galatians vi. 10. " As we have therefore opportunity, let us
do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the
household of faith." Mr. Martyn first remarks on the impor-
tance of doing good unto all men. Charity begins at home,
but it does not end there ; it looks at the universal church.
It regards the dying body indeed, but it spends its chief anxie-
ty on the immortal spirit. He then states the truly catholic
principles on which the British and Foreign Bible Society is
conducted. He then proceeds to consider the importance of
domg good to the household of faith — to the numerous native
Christians of India. These are arranged into four divisions.
The Portuguese, of whom there are about 50,000. The Tan-
jore Christians, converted chiefly by the instrumentality of
APPENDIX. 437
Swartz ; they are in number about 12,000, and speak the Ta-
mul. They are all Protestants, and can all read. The third
class are the Christians who speak the Malayalim, or Malabar
language ; of these there are not fewer than 200,000, about
half of whom are Roman Catholics. The last class are the
native Christians of Ceylon, the Cingalese, of whom there are
342,000 Protestants, and an equal number of Catholics.
" Asia," says Mr. Marty n, "must be our care ; or if not iVsia,
India, at least, must look to none but us. Honor calls, as well
as duty. Let us make haste, and anticipate the supplies from
tlie mother country, and thus prove to our friends, and the
worldj, that England need never be ashamed of her sons in In-
dia." " The generals and admirals of England have caused the
thunder of her power to be heard throughout the earth ; now
her ministers of religion perform their part, and endeavor to
fulfil the high destinies of heaven in favor of their country.
They called on their fellow citizens to cheer the desponding
nations with the book of the promises of eternal life. The
summons was obeyed. It is now time that ive should step
forward. Shall every toAvn and hamlet in England engage
in the glorious cause, and the mighty empire of India do
nothing ?" " There are no less than 900,000 Christians close
at hand, and many of whom are fast relapsing into idolatry.".
"Imagine the sad situation of a sick or dying Christian, who
has just heard enough of eternity to be afraid of death, and
not enough of a Saviour to look beyond it with hope. O pity
his distress, you that have hearts to feel. You that know that
you must one day die, O give unto him, what may comfort him
in a dving hour." E.
[ J. p. 310. ]
3Iissions at Bombay.
Bombay is the third of the British Presidencies in India;
about], 300 miles, travelling distance, west of Calcutta. Popu-
lation of the island, about 200,000 ; of the countries ki which
the Mahratta language is spoken, about 12,000,000. The city,
Bombay, is the capital of the Presidency of the same name.
37 *
438 APPENDIX.
The missions of the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, in this place, were commenced in 1813.
Several excellent men have here laid down their lives for the
sake of the Gospel. No very marked, palpable results, have
yet attended the publication of the truths of Christianity. There
is, however, abundant encouragement to labor. Much good
seed has been sown, yet to spring up and bear rich harvests.
x\fter twelve years residence in Bombay, Mr. Gordon Hall
declared it to be his conviction, that the facilities for employing
the appointed means of salvation among the people had multi-
plied tenfold since his arrival in 1813. The number of mis-
sionaries is six, of female helpers six. Rev. George W. Boggs
and his wife lately sailed from Salem, Mass., to join the mis-
sion. At the last information, there were seventeen free schools
for boys, and eighteen for girls, comprising more than 1000 boys
and 500 girls. Seventy-eight of the boys had Mohammedan
parents, and one hundred and thirty were of Jewish origin
The whole amount of printing executed at Bombay, from April,
1817, to the close of 1830, was about 10,000,000 of pages.
Several of the natives have joined the church, and others are
in an inquiring state of mind. Within the Presidency of Bom-
bay there are missionary stations, connected with five different
Societies in Great Britain and America.
[ K. p. 322. ]
Shiraz.
The valley of Shiraz is twenty-four miles in length, and
twelve in breadth, bounded on each side by hills of no great
height, which are entirely bare of vegetation. Shiraz, though
surrounded with gardens, no longer presents an imposing
aspect. There is not a single dome or minaret standing.
Most of its public structures, once very numerous, are in a
state of ruin or of neglect. Of the colleges comprised within
the city, amounting, as it is said, to forty, several are totally
abandoned, and the others are but thinly attended. The
Bazar is the glory of Shiraz, and is unequalled throughout
the empire. It is a spacious, lofty street, covered by a hand-
APPEN1>I5C. 4^S3
s<Me viJtiilted roof, and is said to contain 1,500 shops. Shiraz
has a population of about 19,000 souls. This city possesses
within its precincts the remains of sixty tombs. They are
mostly small edifices of brick or clay, of mean appearance,
some of them sun-ounded with domes. The tomb of Hafiz,
the Persian poet, is the most distinguished. The people of
Shiraz regard themselves as the prime of the Persians, esteem-
ing their language as the most pure, and their pronunciation
as the most correct. ' Our Sheeraz is superior to Isfahan,' is
the often cited line of Hafiz. The city is still styled, on coins,
the Gate of Science ; but its learned men are no more. There
are in the city a number of ingenious mechanics, particularly
in all kinds of enamel work, in gold and silver, &c. E.
I i.. p. 323. ]
Soofeeism.
TiiE Sbofefes appear to be (says the Christian Observer) just
what Mr. Martyn has described them to be — a body of mystic
latitudinarians. Their rise seems to be nearly co-existent with
Mohammedanism itself; and in the first instance, their enthu-
siastic zeal was one of the instruments by which the conquests
of this false religion were achieved. But their contempt of
many of the tenets of Mohammedanism, their dislike to its
forms, their pretence to a distinct communion with the Deity,
their mystical indifference to all opinions, their philosophical
Pyrrhonism, will render them, if they should ever be brought
vigorously to co-operate, most formidable antagonists to that
spurious faith. The Soofeeism of Persia is evidently the Ideal-
ism of the Eastern and Western countries of the Avorld. It is
to be found, under various modifications, in the most splendid
philosophical theories of Greece and Rome, in the system of
the Indian Vyasa, in the mystical writings of France and Ger-
many. In Persia, it is associated with much enthusiasm, much
self-indulgence, gross sensuality, incredible vanity, and uni-
versal skepticism. It has been properly termed the belief of
the imagination, and is consequently susceptible of all the
forms and emotions which that creative and intemperate
440 APPENDIX.
faculty is qualified to communicate. Soofeeism is no religio**
It unsettles the existing belief every where. It has had a
rapid spread in Persia.
There are, perhaps, 200,000 individuals attached to the doc-
trines of Soofeeism in Persia. It is supposed to be derived
from aotpoi, or the Arabic word saqf^ clean, or soof, wool, from
the nature of the garment worn by its adherents, E.
[ M. p. 340. ]
Marti/n's Controversial Tracts.
In the year 1824, the Rev. S. Lee, now Professor of Hebrew
in the University of Cambridge, published a volume of very in-
teresting Tracts, on the Mohammedan controversy. We have
been gratified and instructed by the perusal of this volume ;
we will now furnish a short analysis of it. Professor Lee, in
a preface of one hundred and twenty-seven pages, gives an
historical sketch of the controversy, previously to the days of
Mr. Martyn.
In 1596, the Jesuit missionary Xavier published a book on
the subject, which he entitled, " A mirror, showing the truth,"
written in Persian, and presented to the Emperor Jahangir.
The work is divided into five chapters. Chapter I. is mainly
occupied on the doctrines of Natural Religion, closing with a
statement by which a true revelation may be distinguished
from all pretended ones. Chapters II. and III. on the doc-
trines of Christianity, giving the proof of the authenticity of
the Christian Revelation, intermingled with some Popish
legends. Chapter IV. comparison of the precepts of the Gos-
pel, and those of Mohammedanism. Chapter V. treats of va-
rious miscellaneous topics.
Professor Lee says, that Xavier was evidently a man of con-
siderable ability, but that he trusted much more to his own
ingenuity than to the plain, unsophisticated declarations of the
Holy Scriptures. This book was replied to, in a duodecimo of
350 pages, by Ahmed Ibn Zain Elabidin Elalooi, entitled " The
divine rays in refutation of Christian error." It bears date
1621. The author attempts to prove that Mohammed is the
APPENDIX. 441
Paraclete promised by Christ, and that Christians disobey
Christ in rejecting Mohammed. He also tries to prove that
Moses foretold the coming of Mohammed. The miracles of
the Gospel are then compared with those of the Koran. Va-
rious alleged discrepancies between the Gospels and the
Pentateuch are pointed out; also the inconsistencies of the
different writers of the New Testament are triumphantly
adduced. He consequently attempts to prove that our Gos-
pels do not give a true account of Jesus Christ. The union
of the two natures in Christ is an insuperable difficulty. He
declares it to be inconsistent, unreasonable, &c., trying to prove
its absurdity by metaphysical arguments. Then the character
and miracles of Mohammed are enlarged upon.
In 1631, a reply to the Mohammedan writer was furnished
at Rome, in a quarto of 557 pages, by Guadagnolo, Professor
of Arabic. It went over the ground of Xavier, and answered
the objections of his opponent. Various other works on the
controversy have been published.
While Mr. Martyn was in Persia, Mirza Ibrahim, the Pre-
ceptor of all the MooUahs, wrote a book in defence of Mo-
hammedanism, which appeared in July, 1811. The principal
argument of the Mohammedan Doctor, in defence of his sys-
tem, is the miracle of the Koran ; mankind being unable to pro-
duce anything like it. He asserts that the miracles of Moham-
med are conversant about subjects purely intellectual, while
those of Moses and Jesus had respect only to objects of sense.
The superiority of the former is, of course, inferred. After
stating various other considerations, he closes by referring Mr.
Martyn to the illustrious Koran, observing that God has left
him without excuse, in respect to the prophetic mission of Mo-
hammed.
Mr. Martyn replied in three Tracts. In the first, he discusses
the nature of miracles, in which is shown the groundlessness
of the assertion that the Koran is a standing miracle, that it
cannot be equalled, &c.
In the second Tract, Mr. Martyn attacks Mohammedanism
directly, proving its worthlessness from the depraved charac-
ter and selfishness of its author, from the nature of its rewards,
the contradictions of the Koran, &c. He contrasts with it
the pure and heavenly, and sanctifying doctrines of the Gos-
pel. It closes in a very characteristic manner. " It is now
442 APPENDIX.
the prayer of the humble Henry Martyn, that these things
may be considered with impartiality. If they become the
means of producing- conviction, let not the fear of death or
punishment operate for a moment to the contrary ; but let this
conviction have its legitimate effect ; for the world, we know,
passes away like the wind of the desert. But if what is here
stated does not produce conviction, my prayer is, that God
himself may instruct you ; that, as hitherto ye have held what
you believed to be the truth, ye may now become teachers of
that which is really so ; and that he may grant you to be the
means of bringing others to the knowledge of the same, through
Jesus Christ, who has loved us, and washed us from our sins
in his own blood ; to whom be the power and the glory, forever,
Amen."
Mr. Martyn's third Tract is on the vanity of the Soofee sys-
tem, and on the truth of the religion of Moses and Jesus. It
is mainly occupied on the consideration of the question, How
can man, corrupt and fallen, be restored to the image and
favor of his Creator ? This brings into view the main points of
difference between Christianity and Mohammedanism.
In the course of this controversy, one Aga Acber sent forth
a pamphlet, in reply to Mr. Martyn, of 140 pages. It is, says
Professor Lee, of the most trifling and ludicrous description.
Some months after the death of Mr. Martyn, another rejoin-
der was published by Mirza Mohammed of Hamadan — a man
at the head of the Soofees, or mystics of Persia, of good
moral character and high in favor at Court. His piece covers
90 pages of closely written 8vo. The style is correct and ele-
gant, while the arguments arc weak and futile, though much
superior to those of Aga Acber.
The closing part of the book, amounting to 130 pages, is oc-
cupied by Professor Lee, in some excellent observations upon
the question in dispute. He has followed a different line of
argument from that pursued by Mr. Martyn, and, we think, with
great success. In the first place, he shows that the principles
by v/hich evidence has been estimated in the Mohammedan
Tracts, are not calculated to ascertain the truth in questions
relating to religion. And in the second place, he proposes
others, upon which reliance may be placed. Thirdly, he shows
that the Old and New Testament books are mainly the same
as they originally were : that is, no wilful corruption has ever
APPENDIX. 443
taken place in them, either affecting any point of doctrine, oi
article of history. In the fourth place, the inquiry is made
Whether revelation affords the criteria by which any one lay
ing- claim to a divine mission, may be known. And, if so
Whether Mohammed's character answers the requirements of
such criteria. In the fifth place, the author proceeds to as-
certain from revelation, What is the real character of man,
What the word of God has laid down as necessary for his ob-
servance, and, For what end that has been done. In the last
place, some general remarks are made. E.
[ N. p. 349. ]
Ruins of Persepolis.
The ruins of Persepolis are situated on the plain of Merdasht,
one of the most fertile in Persia, to the left of the road leading
from Isfahan to Shiraz. Let the reader figure to himself the
side of a mountain of the hardest marble, presenting an
unequal area or platform, 1,200 feet in length, and 1,600 feet
in depth, cut perpendicularly, and surrounded with a wall
faced with marble, 4,000 feet in circumference. On this ter-
race are porticoes, columns, walls, flights of steps, all of mar-
ble, without any apparent mixture of stone ; edifices vying in
dimensions, and in the majesty of their details, with the most
perfect works of antiquity extant ; aqueducts hewn out of the
solid rock ; lastly, a mountain cut perpendicularly throughout
its whole length, and forming its eastern wall. Such ^vas, in
past ages, the general appearance of the temple of Persepolis.
But it is now changed. Earthquakes have altered the face of
it ; the hand of man has overthrown what they spared ; the
eye now discovers nothing but fragments of walls, detached
door-ways, columns partly in ruins, the ground strowed with
fragments of shafts, capitals, and blocks of marble ; while
heaps of sand and dust are daily covering more and more of
these structures. The mosque, the caravanserai, and the
dwelling of the Persian, are decorated with their spoils. The
names of the Mussulman conqueror, and the European travel-
ler, are placed beside those inscriptions, the origin, significa-
444 APPENDIX.
tion, and wedge-shaped characters of which, will continue to
exercise the sagacity of the learned. Sufficient remains are
yet left, to prove tliat the Persians had carried architecture to
a high degree of perfection long before the Greeks. The
figures which adorn the surface of all the walls, bespeak an
able and experienced hand. Their number throughout the
whole of the ruins is estimated at about 1,300. The oriental
historians do not agree respecting the founder of these mag-
nificent structures. Mr. Morier,in his second journey through
Persia, visited these celebrated ruins, and, to his great delight,
found " a row of figures highly preserved, the details of Avhose
faces, hair, dresses, arms, and general character, seemed but
as the work of yesterday. The faces of the figures to the
right of the staircase, which leads to the great hall of columns,
are mutilated, which must be attributed to the bigotry of the
first Mussulmans who invaded Persia; those of the newly-
discovered figures are quite perfect, which shows that they
must have been covered before the Saracen invasion." E.
[ O. p. 392. ]
Translation of a Letter from his Persian Majesty to Sir
Gore Ouseley^ Bart.
"In the name of the Almighty God, whose glory is most
excellent.
" It is our august command, that the dignified and excellent,
our trusty, faithful, and loyal well wisher. Sir Gore Ouseley,
Baronei, his Britannic Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary
(after being honored and exalted with the expressions of our
highest regard and consideration), should know, that the copy
of the Gospel, which v/as translated into Persian, by the
learned exertions of the late Rev. Henry Martyn, and which
has been presented to us by your Excellency, on the part of
the high, dignified, learned and enlightened Society of Chris-
tians, united for the purpose of spreading abroad the Holy
Books of tlie religion of Jesus (upon whom, and upon all
Prophets, be peace and blessings !), has reached us, and has
proved highly acceptable to our august mind.
APPENDIX. 445
" In truth, through the learned and unremitting exertions of
the Rev. Henry Martyn, it has been translated in a style most
befitting sacred books ; that is, in an easy and simple diction.
Formerly, the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John, were known in Persia; but now the whole of the New
Testament is completed in a most excellent manner : and this
circumstance has been an additional source of pleasure to our
enlightened and august mind. Even the four Evangelists,
which were known in this country, had never been before ex-
plained in so clear and luminous a manner. We therefore
have been particularly delighted with this copious and com-
plete translation. Please the most merciful God, we shall
command the select servants, who are admitted to our presence,
to read to us the above-mentioned Book from the beginning to
the end, that we may, in the most minute manner, hear and
comprehend its contents.
" Your excellency v/ill be pleased to rejoice the hearts of
the above-mentioned dignified, learned, and enlightened So-
ciety with assurances of our highest regard and approbation ;
and to inform those excellent individuals, who are so virtuous-
ly engaged in disseminating and making known the true mean
ing and intent of the holy Gospel, and other points in sacred
books, that they are deservedly honored with our royal favor.
Your excellency must consider yourself as bound to fulfil this
royal request. Given in Rebialavil, 1229.
(Sealed.) FATEH ALI SHAH KA.TAR."
[ P. p. 405. ]
Armenians.
Between Syria and the British possessions in the East
Indies, there is a vast tract of country, of the actual religious
condition of which comparatively very little is known. If we
except a small portion of Roman Catholic Greek influence in
the more western parts of this immense region, it Avill be found
to be occupied, so far as Christianity is concerned, by Arme-
nians, Jacobite Syrians, and Nestorians, more or less scantily
distributed among the native Mohammedan population. ^
38
446 aJ'PKNDIX.
The Armenian charcli holds the opinion of the Mono-
phosytes, concerning- the incarnation of Jesus Christ ; in such
a manner, however, as to differ from the Jacobites, with whom
they do not hold communion. They are governed by their
Patriarchs. The chief, whose diocese comprehends the greater
Armenia, resides at Echmiadzin. The second resides at Cis,
a city of Cilicia. There is a third, residing at Aghtamar, but
who is looked upon by the other Armenians as the enemy of
their church. Besides these, there are other Prelates dignified
with the title of Patriarch, although not fully of the same rank ;
those, namely, of Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Caminiec in
Poland.* ' E.
[ Q. p. 416. ]
Visit of the American Missionaries.
The Rev. Eli Smith, and Harrison G. O. Dwight, left
Malta, in the beginning of the year 1830, for an exploring
tour into Armenia, and other portions of Western Asia.
They sailed to Smyrna, thence proceeded to Constantinople,
and thence to Tocat, the scene of the last sufferings of Henry
Martyn. While there, Mr. Smith wrote a letter to the Rev.
Rufus Anderson, one of the Secretaries of the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in company with
whom he travelled in Greece, during the previous year. The
following letter, dated Tocat, June 1, 1830, will be found to
contain some interesting notices of Martyn.
" x'Vfter several days of unavoidable delay in obtaining the
necessary passports and other documents at Constantinople,
we left that place on the morning of the 21st ult., and yester-
day, at noon, reached this city, having rode about five hundred
miles ; i. e. nearly fifty miles a day on an average. Our route
has led us through Nicomedia, Boli, and Amasia. From
the excessive heat that prevailed at Constantinople for a
short time before our departure, we expected to suffer much
* See Jowett's Researches j A vdall's History of Armenia, &c.
APPEiNDlX. 447
the first feAv days. But a kind Providence shrouded the sun
in clouds for three days, so that we enjoyed our ride much
through the rich plains and verdant forests of Bithynia.
Then we crossed the high and beautiful plain of Boli, and the
still higher table lands which border on Paphligonia, where
we found as cool and as pure an air, as that which, you re-
member, so much delighted us, the last summer, in Arcadia,
and hastened on at the rate of CO miles a day with little fatigue.
Since reaching the tributaries of the Halys, and thus far in
Pontus, the heat at mid-day has been almost insupportable ; and
yesterday before we stopped, it reached the temperature of
100° of Fahrenheit. But, by lying by at mid-day, and riding
ail night, we have reached this place without having our health
seriously affected. Indeed, we are astonished at the com-
parative ease with which we have ejffected so rapid a journey,
in a foreign climate, and in this inhospitable country, where
the only accommodations at night are a filthy khan, and where
hardly anything but the poorest food can be found ; and often
have we made mention of the goodness of God, v/ho has thus
borne us up under fatigue, and brought us safely on our way.
We have special reason to be thankful that his providence has
placed us under the guidance of so good a Tartar. The best
food, the best accommodations, and the best horses, thjit were
to be had, have always been at our command.
" Had I time, I would with pleasure describe to you all the
interesting and important observations we have made ; but as
I am limited in that respect, I will pass on to this place, so
intimately associated in the mind of every friend of missions
with the name of Martyn. We have to-day visited the grave
of that excellent and devoted missionary. From the manner
in which his death is mentioned in his Memoir, we had
anticipated some difficulty in finding even the place of his
burial. But here we found that any one could tell us that,
and were immediately directed to the principal Armenian
cemetery around the church of Carsun Manunk, (or Carasoon
Manoog, forty children,) at the north-east extremity of the
town. Here the priest showed his tomb-stone, which is dis-
tinguished from those of the Armenians around, only by a
Latin inscription.*
* This inscription^ with a translation, is inserted in the Preface.
448 APPENDIX.
" We had expected to obtain some information respecting
his death from the parish priest who buried him ; but he is
dead, and the present incumbent could only refer us to two
Armenian merchants, of whom he said some English gentle-
men, who copied the inscription a year ago, had made in-
quiries. These gentlemen, however, we found on inquiry,
knew no more tlian that he probably died in the post-house.
We found the post-master to be a careless old Turk, little dis-
posed to trouble himself with answering our inquiries, though
he probably might have given us information had he been dis-
posed, as, although the person who was then post-master has
since died, he was then the clerk of the establishment. He
professed to recollect only that he arrived sick, that some
Armenians administered to him medicine, that he died after
four or five days, that the Tartar with whom he travelled took
his trunk on to Constantinople, and that, a year or two after,
an Englishman, whom he supposed to be his brother, passed
along and erected a monument on his grave. Whether he
died in the post-house, and of the plague, which Avas then
raging, he knew not. On leaving him, we were referred to
another Armenian merchant, as probably able to give us in-
formation. We found that he had not seen Martyn himself,
but that his cousin had attended upon him in his sickness.
This cousin, however, is now dead, and the merchant himself
could only inform us that, as the plague was then raging so
terribly, that hundreds died in a day, it Avas not probable that
any Armenian would admit him into his house, and ho must
have died in the post-house, and very probably of the plague.
A year after, an English traveller from Bagdad wrote the in-
scription, and left money to erect the monument, with a person
whom he appointed to see that it was done. This is all the
information we have been able to obtain respecting the death
of Martyn. Scanty as it is, we have taken no small interest in
collecting it.^'
" Little did I think, when, reading the life of that excellent
man in my senior year in college, I was first inclined to a
missionary's life, that Providence would ever put it in my
way to visit his tomb. Would that, now I have been permitted
this melancholy pleasure, and am about to retrace his steps
* See the Preface to this edition.
APPENDIX. 449
towards the country where he has left behind him such a
name for lioliness of character, I might be endued with more
of his spirit, so that, if my life be prolonged, it may be as use-
fully spent as his, or, if death await me, I may be as well pre-
pared for it as he was.
" The safety of our road beyond this place seems rather more
uncertain than we had been led to anticipate at Constanti-
nople, though we have no serious apprehensions. Between
here and Siwas, which is about twenty hours distant, there
are collected some six or eight thousand disbanded soldiers,
who have turned robbers, and the neighboring authorities are
collecting troops to march against them. They are, however,
so far from our road, that we shall probably see nothing of
them. Notwithstanding all the inquiries we have made, we
have yet been unable to learn whether the Russians have
left, or are leaving, Erzeroom, and are somewhat afraid of
arriving there about the time when the change of authorities
takes place, and where there will, of course, be disorder for
some time. The road by way of Trebizond is so bad, and
the danger from robbers between there and Erzeroom occa-
sionally so considerable, that we are hesitating whether to
go to that place. Should we not, we hope to obtain all neces-
sary information respecting it, here and at Erzeroom."
The foregoing letter was originally published in the Mis-
sionary Herald. In the same work we find extracts from
three letters, written, subsequently to the above, by Messrs.
Smith and D wight, to Jeremiah Evarts, Esq. late Correspond-
ing Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions. They de-
scribe the journey from Tocat to Erzeroom— from Erzeroom
to Tiflis— and from Tiflis to Shousha. Though long, we think
they will be read with interest.— The first letter is dated at
Erzeroom, June 16, 1830.
" Since leaving Tocat we have been obliged to travel more
moderately, both on account of the mountainous roads, and
also because of the difficulty in procuring horses, in the latter
part of our route. We have passed through a variety of
climates, in our passage over mountains, and valleys, and
plains ;— the thermometer sometimes varying 40°, within eight
or nine hours. We have ridden in the burning heat of the
38*
450 APPENDIX
sun with the temperature of 100°, and we have shivered under
an atmosphere of 40°. We have passed immense bodies of
snow, lying on elevations but little above us, and some banks
almost in our very path, and that within only a few days past.
Indeed the snow is still lying on the mountains around Erze-
room, some of which came as lately as yesterday. When we
arrived within about 40 miles of this place, we found our horses,
which we had ridden for two days, so fatigued that we could
go with them no farther, and the regular posts broken up by
the invasion of the Russians, so that it was impossible to pro-
cure other horses. Our only "alternative was to take the
rudely constructed carts of this country, drawn by oxen, and
in these we came within about four miles of this place, where
we found horses for ourselves, leaving our baggage to come
on in the carts. We arrived here on the 13th inst. making
our whole passage from Constantinople, a distance of about
800 miles, in twenty-three days, including the delay of four
days on the road,
" You will understand from what we have stated concerning
our route, that we did not pass through Trebizond. This
part of our plan we relinquished for the following reasons :
1. As far as we could learn, there is but one road that is now
travelled between this place and Trebizond, and that would
take us about 200 miles, in going and returning, out of our
way. 2. The road is extremely mountainous, and sometimes,
at this season, parts of it are almost imp&.ssable on account of
the snow, and moreover it is infested with robbers. 3. We
had heard that the Russians were about leaving Erzeroom,
and we thought it very desirable that we should arrive here
before that event, as there would probably be some disturb-
ances after they left, and before the Turkish authority is fully
re-established. Although it is a disappointment to us not to
visit Trebizond, still, since we arrived at Erzeroom, we are
confirmed in the opinion, that it was wise not to go there. We
hope to collect here considerable information with regard to
that place.
" We have found since we arrived within the pashalic of
Erzeroom, that a very important revolution is taking place in
the circumstances of the Armenians here. How it will affect
our object remains yet to be known. You are aware that
during the late war between Russia and Turkey, a very con-
APPENDIX. 451
siderable part of this pashalic fell into the hands of the Rus-
sians. Wherever they have gone, they have taken a census
of the Armenian population, and encouraged the Armenians
to migrate to their territories. We cannot learn from any
authentic source exactly the terms on which the Russians
propose to receive them ; but we have been told that they offer
land, both for rent and purchase, at a much cheaper rate than
that for which the Armenians can procure it in Turkey ; and
that they promise the Armenians that their taxes shall be the
same Avith the other Russian citizens, which is about one half
of what they pay in Turkey. In consequence of these en-
couragements, nearly all the Armenians have actually gone
from Erzeroom, and we have been told that very many have
gone and are going from the different villages. The whole
number cannot be ascertained until affairs here are more
settled. We have heard the Armenian population of this city,
previous to their departure, estimated at from 15,000 to 30,000.
They had a school of six or seven hundred scholars, which is
now, of course, broken up. Their bishop and their priests are
gone, and their shops, which were numerous, are closed. It
is truly melancholy to pass through that part of the bazars
lately occupied by the Armenians, and see here and there a
solitary Turk, in the midst of long rows of stalls entirely
deserted. The presence of the Russians here gives some
appearance of life to the city, but when they are gone, it will
be desolate indeed. The Turks themselves evidently dread
the effect on this portion of their country, and the departure
of the Armenians is the constant theme of their conversation.
They have good reason for their fears, for they are almost
entirely dependent on this class of their subjects for the culti-
vation of their soil, and the transaction of their mercantile
business.
" These circumstances will very much shorten our stay in
this place. The Russians leave here to-morrow, and if possi-
ble, we shall go at the same time. We intend first to visit
Kars, to the vicinity of which place, we understand, most of
the Armenians have gone. From Kars, we may go to Ech-
miadzin and Erivan, and thence to Tiflis, if the Lord will ;
though we cannot yet decide with certainty which will be the
best route. We feel constrained to acknowledge the good-
ness of God in preserving our health, and in giving us strength
452 APPENDIX.
to pursue our fatiguing journey. We now feel much better
prepared to prosecute our tour, than when we started. We
feel greatly encouraged by the prosperity that has attended
all our movements, and strengthened in the belief that we are
laboring in a cause which God approves and will ultimately
make to triumph. If adverse circumstances should occur,
which we may most reasonably expect, Ave hope the Lord will
give us grace to say, ' Thy will be done.'
) 55
The next letter was written at Tiflis, in Georgia, Aug. 4.
" We did not leave Erzeroom so soon as we expected, on
account of the difficulty we had in procuring horses. We
remained four or five days a.fter the Russians had evacuated
the place ; and contrary to our expectation, every thing was
perfectly quiet in the city. As soon as the Russians were
gone, a crier went through the streets, proclaiming that if any
one should injure a rayah [a Christian subject], his goods
would be confiscated and his life would be in danger.
" Between Erzeroom and Kars we passed very large num-
bers of Armenians, emigrating to Russia. Their furniture
was conveyed in carts drawn by oxen, while they themselves,
not excepting women and children, travelled for the most
part on foot. In general they appeared wretchedly poor, and
no doubt they will suffer very much, for a year or two, from
the want of the necessaries of life. They are most of them
going to settle in the vicinity of Akhaltsikhe. From all that
we could learn, we suppose that, at least, 40,000 souls have
left the pashalic of Erzeroom alone.
" From Kars we hoped to be able to go directly to Echmi
adzin, but we found that no horses could be procured there,
except those belonging to the Russian posts, and taking them
we must come first to this place. Besides, we ascertained
that by going through Echmiadzin and Erivan to Tiflis, we
should have two quarantines to pas.^, which would very much
lengthen our stay in this part of our route. We therefore
took Cossack horses, kindly offered to us by the commandant
of Kars, and came directly to this place, after spending four-
teen days quarantine at Gerger. Tiflis is only about one
day's journey beyond the limits of ancient Armenia, in this
direction ; and at this moment, the largest part of its popula-
APPENDIX. 453
tion are Armenians. Besides, a very considerable part of the
population of the whole of Georgia and the adjacent Russian
provinces are also Armenians, and this number, as we have
stated, has been recently very much increased by emigration
from Turkey. By coming here we have an opportunity of
witnessing the character of Armenians, when formed under
another government than that of Turkey. We may also form
an opinion as to the treatment missionaries among the Arme-
nians would probably receive from the Russian government ;
while at the same time, we shall be able to learn much more
accurately than we could otherwise have done, the character,
condition, &c. of the mountain tribes of Georgia, mentioned
in our instructions ; and also the progress and influence of the
German colonies in these parts. Tiflis is a very important
place for trade, and it is likely to become much more so,
in future years. Its present population is between 30,000
and 40,000, and probably 25,000 of these are Armenians.
We have become acquainted with an Armenian bishop here,
who was formerly a papist, and educated at Rome, a man of
considerable intelligence, and one from whom we have gath-
ered many important facts, in reference to the subject of our
inquiries. We are also indebted for much information to an
Armenian resident here, formerly a professor of the Armenian
language in Paris. Both these men expressed very liberal
views on the subject of education, and also of religion ; and
the latter spoke with much approbation of the efforts of the
German missionaries at Shousha, and said he wished to see
the education of Armenians in the hands of such men, and he
thought the government would be favorable. The French
consul of this place, also, has been very polite to us, and freely
communicated the results of his inquiries and observation dur-
ing a residence of several years in Tiflis, a part of which time
has been spent in the different provinces.
" There is a German colony in the immediate vicinity of
Tiflis, and several others at a little distance. The Germans
are cultivators of the soil, and as far as we can learn, are
doing very well. In each colony a church is erected at the
expense of the Russian government, and a pastor is procured
from Basle, who also is supported by government. We have
had considerable intercourse with the Rev. Mr. Saltet, pastor
of the church at Tiflis, and he appears like a truly good man.
454 APPENDIX.
On the last Sabbath we attended his public exercise, and it
was truly delightful to visit once more the house of God, and
listen to the proclamation of the Gospel, although the services
were to us in an unknown tongue. Nothing has so strongly
reminded us of home, as to see the assembling of this con-
gregation at the ringing of a bell. Each individual came in
a neat and tidy dress, with a psalm book in his hand, and
throughout the exercises there was a respectful and serious
attention. It cannot but be regarded as a peculiar providence,
that tliese people Avere induced to leave their native land,
and come to this distance, and settle down among nations in
many respects uncivilized and barbarous ; and their influence
cannot fail to be salutary, bringing with them, as they do, the
arts of civilization and the privileges of religion. Most of
them came from superstitious views, but although they were
deluded, still the Lord had no doubt wise designs in bringing
them here. We find that the Lesgies, the Circassians, Osse-
tians, and other mountaineer tribes of the Caucasus are still
in a disturbed and unsubdued state ; and the Russians are
now preparing to make war upon them in the autumn, at which
time they will probably put a final end to their outrages. It
is our intention to leave here for Shousha in a day or two and
thence to go to Erivan and Echmiadzin.
" As there is a direct post route from here to St. Peters-
burg, Ave avail ourselves of this favorable means of conveying
our letters. The post leaves Tiflis for the capital every Aveek,
and the ordinary passage is fifteen days. We are still in
good health, and have much to say of the goodness of God
towards us. To him may all our services be consecrated."
The third letter is dated at Shousha, October 1.
" After receiving our letter from Tiflis, dated August 4th,
you Avill probably be surprised that Ave have since been able
to make no farther progress in our journey, than to this place.
The reason has been our oAvn ill health, and dangerous epi-
demical or contagious diseases in the places to Avhich Ave Avish
to go. We informed you from Tiflis of the ravages of the
cholera morbus at Tebriz. At that time Ave kneAv of its
existence in no other place, except in the region of Bakou, on
the Caspian. We therefore concluded, after finishing our
APPENDIX, 455
business at Tiflis, to proceed as far as Shousha, -where we
should find a place convenient, both on account of its healthy-
situation in the mountains, and the society of the German
missionaries stationed there, for waiting until health should
be restored to Tebriz. The road we were to take, is about
six days of constant travelling- in length ; it leads, almost the
whole distance, through the level and sultry valley of the
Cyrus ; and though the soil is in general fertile, and very
M^ell watered, it passes near not one inhabited spot, except the
town of Ganjeh, capital of a small province about half way,
and two German colonies in its vicinity. In order, therefore,
to defend us from the scorching sun, and to carry our provis-
ions more conveniently, as well as to avoid the fatigue of
riding on horseback, we hired a large covered German wagon,
from a colony in the vicinity, to carry us as far as Hellenen-
dorf, near Ganjeh, where we expected to exchange it for
another similar conveyance. We left Tiflis on Thursday, the
5th of August. The next day we learned that a dreadful dis-
ease had broken out at Ganjeh, which was carrying off in a
few hours almost all whom it attacked. Our informants knew
not its name, but from their description we were sure it could
be no other than the cholera or the plague. To go to Hel-
lenendorf now became impossible, as the only road would
lead us through the midst of the disease. No alternative was
therefore left us but to turn aside to Anenfeld, another
colony near the ruins of Shamkor, where we had been warned
not to stop on account of its unhealthy situation. Since its
settlement three fourths of its inhabitants have died, and now
almost all were absent in the mountains to avoid disease. As
we arrived on Saturday evening, however, we were obliged
to spend the Sabbath, and did not get away till Monday after-
noon. On account of the quarantines to which the disease
at Ganjeh would subject those who went in that direction,
we found the greatest difficulty in procuring a wagon to
carry us no farther than Korek Chai, one stage beyond Gan-
jeh ; this arrangement, however, was of much importance, as
we could thus avoid going directly through Ganjeh, as we
should have been obliged to do, had we gone by post. From
Korek Chai, we took post horses, and arrived at Shousha on
Friday, having been just eight days on the road. But these
eight days had; done more to undermine our health, than all
456 APPENDIX.
the rest of our journey from Malta. The morning after we
left Tiflis, our dragoman (who was likewise our only servant),
in consequence of fatigue from helping us lift at the Avagon
wheels and subsequently unload all our baggage, in order to
enable the horses to draw the v/agon through the mud, was
seized with a fever, Avhich continued without intermission till
Sunday afternoon. Our own health continued good till we
left Anenfeld. But we had hardly proceeded a mile from that
colony, before one, and shortly after the other, was seized with
a fever which was accompanied with much pain and debility.
We attributed this to the bad wind which prevailed, more
than to anything else. From Shamkor there stretches off
towards the south-east a broad plain, uninterrupted by a single
hill as far as the eye can reach, and presenting a horizon like
the sea. Along the banks of the Cyrus, which runs in that
direction, are extensive rice plantations, and beyond it is the
province of Shirwan, noted for its sickly atmosphere. The
wind, which blows from these regions every day, on the morn-
ing of the day we left the colony, brought with it a heavy fog
from the rice plantations, and then became so sultry, debilitat-
ing, and oppressive, that we seemed almost to perceive the
pestilential vapors with which it was charged. It continued
thus for two days, and no doubt contributed to produce and
prolong our illness. Our wagoner had promised to conduct us
by a road which should not lead us through Ganjeh. But to
our great surprise he brought us, between 8 and 9 at night,
almost within a stone's cast of that place to sleep. We have
since learned that it Avas the cholera that was then raging
there. Hundreds had already died of it, and in the colony of
Hellenendorf, more than fifty had been attacked.
" Added to our actual illness, and apprehensions from the
dangerous disease, then so near us, our accommodations for
the night were not the most comfortable. With the exception
of two nights at Anenfeld, and one at Korek Chai, Ave invari-
ably, during this ride, slept on the ground in the open air, and
more than once the middle of the road Avas the best spot we
could find. Such Avas the case this night ; and so, throAving
our cloaks over us, we lay down by our wagon wheels until
morning. We then Avent on to the post at Korek Chai, but
our fever had risen so high that we could proceed no farther.
A Russian post-house is not a very inviting place. It con-
APPEiNDtX. 457
sists, in these provinces, generally of a walled enclosure,
within which is a stable for horses, and a few apartments for
Cossacks. The traveller can rarely find any food, or any con-
veniences whatever, unless it be an empty room. The lodg-
ings of the Cossacks at this post were cabins under ground,
and that which we occupied was filled with myriads and
myriads of musquetoes which tormented us all day and all
night. By the blessing of God, however, upon the medicines
we took, we arose the next morning, free from fever, and were
able to go on our way. So weak were we still, that we could
hardly ride from one post to another. We had no appetite
for food, and had we been disposed to eat, dry bread was
almost the only food we had. We seem to have been kept up
during the remaining two days and a half of our journey, only
by the special interposition of Providence in our behalf,
exposed as we were to the heat of the mid-day sun, and the
damps of the midnight air, during the prevalence of an epi-
demic of which such exposures are peculiarly the predisposing
causes. Our morning ride generally continued till near noon,
and our evening ride till near midnight. And one night after
entering the mountains, where the wind blew cold and piercing,
our lodging place was an open scaffold, ten or twelve feet
from the ground, erected by the cossacks as the only refuge
they could find from the musquetoes. It was not to be ex-
pected that our exposures and fatigue would be attended by
no bad consequences. We were hardly surprised, therefore,
when, a few days after our arrival, we were all seized with
either the intermittent or remittent fever. A kind Providence,
however, blessed the means we used, and every case soon
yielded to the medicines we took. Still we have not all of us
yet recovered sufficient strength to journey. Indeed, we have
not gone out of the missionary premises but once since we
arrived.
" We have never ceased to be thankful to God, who brought
us to Shousha, even though our journey was attended with
some danger and disease. For before we reached here, the
cholera morbus broke out at Tiflis, and has raged there, so
that up to the last accounts, according to credible report, not
far from ten thousand have died. When there, we supposed
the population, according to the best estimates we could
obtain, to be less than forty thousand. Nearly one fourth
39
458 APPENDIX.
have since been swept into eternity ! And had we been there,
we should, very likely, have been among the number. For
some time after we reached Shousha, it was surrounded and
threatened by the disease on every side, and still defended
from it. The inhabitants were much alarmed. The Arme-
nians had special prayers, and the Tartars went in solemn
mourning- procession, with banners flying, their heads uncover-
ed, and crying with clamorous vociferations upon God, to their
grave-yards, to weep and pray there. The Russian authori-
ties were also alarmed, and adopted precautionary measures ;
one of which was a law that no one should go out without
first taking a drink of brandy — a law which we think it would
be difficult to execute in the United States.
" On one side the disease advanced to Nakhchewan, on this
side of the Araxes. In another direction it attacked villages,
within an hour or two of Shousha. Its ravages were felt at
Bakou, Shamakhy, Kooba and Derbend. And we even hear
that it is at Astrakhan, and along the frontiers north of the
Caucasus. Within a feAv days it has made its appearance in
Shousha, and now a few die of it daily. But it assumes here
a comparatively mild form, and appears to excite but little
alarm. We have been looking forward to the first cool
weather to put a stop to it, but it seems not to be so easily
affected by a Ioav temperature as we had supposed. At
Reshd, where it made its first appearance, it broke out in the
winter.
" Thus you see, that liad our own health been good, there
has yet been no time when we could with safety have proceed-
ed on our journey. In Nakhchewan, through which we should
go in order to take Echmiadzin in our route, the disease still
rages violently. At Tebriz the cholera has indeed ceased,
but the plague has broken out, which is a still greater hin-
drance to travelling, and not so likely soon to disappear. How
forcibly the reflection strikes one, that God is pouring out
upon these countries the vials of his wrath. War, cholear
and plague follow each other in quick succession, and hurry
their thousands into the grave. And still the survivors repent
not. Though stricken till " the whole head is sick, and the
whole heart faint," they revolt more and more. Oh ! for a
prophet's voice, to interpret to them the meaning of their afflic-
tions, and to teach them how to turn the wrath of Heaven into
APPENDIX. 45g
clemency and mercy ! — We have not been able to learn that
the cholera has ever prevailed here as an epidemic, but once
before. That was in the year 1823. Then it prevailed only
in the vicinity of the Caspian, and did not advance up the
Cyrus so far as Ganjeh.
" Though our delay here has been long, yet, except for the
consideration that it will prolong our journey on the whole,
we are far from being dissatisfied with it. We have been
able to gather much information from the brethren here,
relating to the objects of our tour, which we hope in due time
to transmit to you. The experiment they are making, of car-
rying forward missionary operations within the Russian terri-
tories, is a very important one, and the result of it is yet ex-
tremely uncertain. The first object of the missionaries in
coming to these countries, was to labor among the Mohamme-
dans,— both Tartars and Persians. They, however, found the
Armenians so destitute of schools and instruction of every kind,
and so deplorably ignorant of the word of God, that they re-
solved to divide their efforts and appropriate a part only to the
Mohammedans, and a part to the Armenians. Tliey commenced
a regular system of operations only about three years ago. Of
the five brethren who were then here, three devoted their labors
to the former class, and two to the latter. Two schools have
been opened in Shousha for the Armenians, under the super-
intendence of the missionaries, and when we arrived, one of
them contained 60 scholars, and the other 30. They have
since been discontinued on account of the sickness in the
tov.^n. The brethren are also in the habit of making missionary
tours, both in this province and in the adjacent ones, for the
purpose of distributing tracts and books among the Armeni-
ans and Tartars, and also of publishing to them the Gospel,
both in private and in public, in the bazars, as the providence
of God gives them opportunities. These efforts have not been
without some precious fruits among the Armenians, and their
general influence certainly encourages their continuance. The
missionary press has hitherto printed only in Armenian ; they
are expecting, however, soon, a fount of types for printing in
Turkish. At present there are but three brethren here —
Dittrich, Zaremba and Ilohenacker, besides the printer. Of
the other two, one is in Bagdad, studying the Arabic, and the
other is now on his return from Petersburg. Zaremba is at
460 APPENDIX.
present very low of the cholera — almost all hopes of his recov-
ery are extinguished. He has just returned from Tiflis,
where he was during the raging of that disease. He is a
dear brother, and his loss will be severely felt. We cannot
but hope in God, that he may yet be raised.* We have uni-
formly received the kindest treatment from the brethren here
during our protracted stay, and it has truly been a resting
place in our pilgrimage, both temporally and spiritually. We
hope the providence of God will soon open the way, so that
we may proceed on our journey, but we desire to say, ' The will
of the Lord be done !' "
[ R. p. 423. ]
Ahdool Messeeh.
His family name was Shekh Salih, and his connections
were very respectable people. He was some time master of
jewels to the court of Oude, an appointment of higher estima-
tion in eastern palaces than in those of Europe, and the holder
of which has always a high salary. He had been instructed
by his father in both Persian and iVrabic. He was also a good
Hindoostanee scholar. In 1810, he visited Cawnpore, while
Mr. Marty n was chaplain of that station. From his lips, Ab-
dool heard the truths of the Gospel. The impression produced
on his mind, proved deep and lasting. He was baptized in the
Old Church, Calcutta, by the Rev. David Brown, on Whit-
sunday, 1811, by the name of Abdool Messeeh. In 1812, he was
engaged as a catechist of the Church Missionary Society, and
accompanied Mr. Corrie, their Chaplain at Agra, to that sta-
tion. Between the teacher and pupil commenced a friendship
of the most endeared kind. After having been employed
about eight years as a catechist, he Avas ordained by the Lu-
theran missionaries. After his ordination he was permitted to
pass unmolested, and was treated with respect in private. He
visited the princip>al cities in those regions, and by the sim-
plicity and uprightness of his conduct, and the lively and
The missionary recovered his health, L.
APPENDIX. 461
interesting manner, in which, on every occasion, he introduced
the subject of religion, he excited much attention. In De-
cember, 1825, he received episcopal ordination at the hands of
Bishop Heber.
Abdool Messeeh immediately after went to Lucknow^
where he resided, with the exception of a visit to Cawnpore,
till his death, which happened on the 4th of March, 1827,
occasioned by mortification proceeding from a neglected car-
buncle. He expressed himself perfectly resigned, and that
death had no fears for him ; for that our Saviour had deprived
death of its sting. The Resident, with other friends, kindly
attended the funeral, and read the burial service at the grave.
A monument has been erected to his memory, v/ith an inscrip-
tion both in Persian and English. Bishop Heber thus remarks
about his appearance and character. "He is a very fine old
man, with a magnificent gray beard, and of m.uch more gen-
tlemanly manners than any Christian native Avliom I have seen
He is every way fit for Holy Orders, and is a most sincere
Christian, quite free, so far as I could observe, from all conceit
and enthusiasm. His long eastern dress, his long gray beard,
and his calm resigned countenance, give him already, almost
the air of an apostle." E.
[ S. p. 423. ]
Results of the visit of Martyn to Persia.
Towards the close of his residence in Shiraz, Mr. Martyn
seems to have been treated with increased deference and
respect. The impression made upon the inhabitants, by his
humility, his patience and resignation, and his evident sin-
cerity and disinterestedness, is stated by Mr. Morier to have
been very powerful. The missionary, Wolfe, said, that he
had kindled a light in Persia, which would never go out. Sir
Robert Ker Porter bears a similar testimony. " On leaving
its walls," he remarks, "the apostle of Christianity found no
cause for shaking off the dust of his feet against the Moham-
medan city. The inhabitants had received, cherished and lis-
39*
462 APPKNDIX.
tened to him ; and he departed thence amid the blessings and
tears of many a Persian friend."
The Asiatic Journal, for March, 1830, contains an interesting
article, under the title of " An adventure at Shiraz." Who the
author of it is we do not know. It contains, we think, strong
internal evidence of its genuineness. We cannot forbear
making a quotation.
Having received an invitation to dine (or rather sup) with
a Persian party in the city, I went, and found a number of
guests assembled. The conversation was varied — grave and
gay ; chiefly of the latter complexion. Poetry was often the
subject: sometimes philosophy, and sometimes politics, pre-
vailed. Among the topics discussed, religion was one. There
are so many sects in Persia, especially if we include the free-
thinking classes, that the questions which grow out of such
a discussion constitute no trifling resource for conversation.
I Avas called upon, though with perfect good-breeding and
politeness, to give an account of the tenets of our faith ; and
I confess myself sometimes embarrassed by the pointed queries
of my companions. Among the guests was a person who took
but little part in the conversation, and who appeared to be
intimate with none but the master of the house. He was a
man below tlie middle age, of a serious countenance and mild
deportment : they called him Mohammed Rahem. I thought
that he frequently observed me with great attention, and
watched every word I uttered, es])ecially when tlie subject
of religion Avas discussing. Once, Avhen I expressed myself
with some levity, this individual fixed his eyes upon me
with such a peculiar expression of surprise, regret and re-
proof, that I was struck to the very soul, and felt a strange
mysterious wonder who this person could be. I nsked private-
ly one of the party, who told me that ho had been educated for
a Moollah, but had never ofiiciated ; and that he was a man
of considerable learning, and much respected ; but lived re-
tired, and seldom visited even his most intimate friends. My
informant added, that his only inducement to join the party
had been the expectation of meeting an Englishman ; as he
was much attached to the English nation, and had studied our
language and learning.
This information increased my curiosity ; which I deter-
mined to seek an opportunity of gratifying, by conversing with
the object of it. A few days afterAvard, I called upon Moham-
med Rahem, and found him reading a volume of Cowper's
Poems ! This circumstance led to an immediate discussion
of the merits of English poetry, and European literature in
general. I was perfectly astonished at the clear and accurate
conceptions which he had formed upon these subjects, and at
the precision with which he expressed himself in English. We
discoursed on these and congenial topics for nearly two hours ;
till, at length, I ventured to sound his opinions on the subject
of religion.
" You are a Moollah, I am informed."
"No," said he ; "I was educated at a Madrussa (College),
but I have never felt an inclination to be one of the priest-
hood."
"The exposition of your Religious Volume," I rejoined,
" demands a pretty close application to study : before a person
can be qualified to teach the doctrines of the Koran, I under-
stand he must thoroughly examine and digest volumes of com-
ments, which ascertain the sense of the text and the applica-
tion of its injunctions. This is a laborious preparation, if a
man be disposed conscientiously to fulfil his important func-
tions." As he made no remark, I continued : " Our Scriptures
are their own expositors. We are solicitous only that they
should be read : and, although some particular passages
are not without difficulties, arising from the inherent obscurity
of language, the faults of translation, or the errors of copyists,
yet it is our boast, that the authority of our Holy Scriptures is
confirmed by the perspicuity and simplicity of their style, as
well as precepts."
I was surprised that he made no reply to these observations.
At the hazard of being deemed importunate, I proceeded to
panegyrize the leading principles of Christianity, more par-
ticularly in respect to their moral and practical character ;
and happened, among other reflections, to suggest, that, as no
other concern was of so much importance to the human race
as religion, and as only one faith could be the right, the sub-
ject admitted not of being regarded as indifferent, though too
many did so regard it.
464 APPENDIX.
"Do not YOU esteem it so ?" he asked.
" Certainly not," I replied.
" Then your indifference at the table of our friend Meerza
Reeza, when the topic of religion was under consideration,
was merely assumed, out of complaisance to Mussulmans, I
presume ?"
I remembered the occasion to which he alluded ; and recog-
nized in his countenance the same expression, compounded
half of pity, half of surprise, which it then exhibited. I owned
that I had acted inconsistently, perhaps incautiously and im-
prudently : but I made the best defence I could ; and disavow-
ed, in the most solemn manner, any premeditated design to
contemn the religion which I profess.
*' I am heartily glad I was deceived," he said ; " for sincerity
in religion is our paramount duty. What we are, we should
never be ashamed of appearing to be."
" Are you a sincere Mussulman, then .^" I boldly asked.
An internal struggle seemed, for an instant, to agitate hia
visage : at length he answered mildly, " No."
" You are not a skeptic or freethinker ?"
" No ; indeed I am not."
"What are you, then? — Be you sincere. — Are you a Chris
tian ?"
"I am," he replied.
I should vainly endeavor to describe the astonishment which
seized me at this declaration. I surveyed Mohammed Rahem,
at first, with a look which, judging from its reflection from his
benign countenance, must have betokened suspicion, or even
contempt. The consideration that he could have no motive
to deceive me in this disclosure, which was of infinitely great-
er seriousness to himself than to me, speedily restored me to
recollection, and banished every sentiment but joy. I could
not refrain from pressing silently his hand to my iieart.
He was not unmoved at this transport ; but he betrayed no
unmanly emotions. He told me that I had possessed myself
of a secret, which, in spite of his opinion that it was the duty
of every one to wear his religion openly, he had hitherto con-
cealed, except from a few who participated in his own senti-
ments.
" And whence came this happy change ?" I asked.
APPENDIX. 455
" I will tell you that likewise," he replied. " In the year
1223 (of the Hegira), there came to this city an Englishman,
who tauglit the religion of Christ with a boldness hitherto
unparalleled in Persia, in the midst of much scorn and ill-
treatment from our Moollahs, as well as the rabble. He was
a beardless youth, and evidently enfeebled by disease. He
dwelt among us for more than a year. I was then a decided
enemy to Infidels, as the Christians are termed by the follow-
ers of Mohammed ; and I visited tliis teacher of the despised
sect with the declared object of treating him with scorn, and
exposing his doctrines to contempt. Although I persevered
for some time in this behavior toward him, I found that every
interview not only increased my respect for the individual, but
diminished my confidence in the faith in which I was educated.
His extreme forbearance toward the violence of his opponents,
the calm and yet convincing manner in which he exposed
the fallacies and sophistries by which he was assailed, for
he spoke Persian excellently, gradually inclined me to listen
to his arguments, to inquire dispassionately into the subject
of them, and finally to read a Tract which he had written in
reply to a defence of Islamism by our chief Moollahs. Need
I detain you longer ? The result of my examination was
a conviction that the young disputant was right. Shame, or
rather fear, withheld me from avowing this opinion. I even
avoided the society of the Christian teacher, though he re-
mained in the city so long. Just before he quitted Shiraz,
I could not refrain from paying him a farewell visit. Our
conversation — the memory of it will never fade from the
tablet of my mind — sealed my conversion. He gave me a
book — it has ever been my constant companion — the study of
it has formed my most delightful occupation — its contents have
often consoled me."
Upon this he put into my hands a copy of the New Testa-
ment in Persian. On one of the blank leaves was v/ritten —
" There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth — Henry
Martyn."
Upon looking into the Memoir of Mr. Martyn, by Mr. Sar-
gent, one of the most delightful pieces of Biography in our
language, I cannot perceive therein any allusion to Mohammed
Rahem ; unless he be one of the young men who came from
466 APPENDIX.
the College, " full of zeal and logic," to try him with hard
questions.
The following lines appeared a few years since, m a reli-
gious periodical.
Alone, and dying, hadst thou not a friend
O'er thy low couch in anxious hope to bend.
Watch thy last conflict, catch thy parting sigh,
Press the faint hand, and close the expiring eye ?
Wast thou alone ? was not the Saviour there ;
And the lone stranger his peculiar care ?
Yes, he was with thee ; thy Redeemer shed
His rays of glory round thy humble head ; •
His Spirit led thee as thou journey'dst on,
His eye beheld thee from the eternal throne.
Thine the meek temper, thine the lowly mind,
The heart obedient and the will resigned ;
Prudence, that never slept, love uncontrolled,
And holy zeal, unconquerably bold.
Not the disciple favored of his Lord,
Spread Avith more fervor tidings of his word ;
Not the apostle to the Gentile world,
The Saviour's banner with more joy unfurled.
Than thy rapt spirit hailed the dawning day.
That shed on Pagan night the Gospel ray ;
Saw Bethlehem's star arise in Persia's plains.
Heard hymns of triumph peal — " Messiah reigns ;"
Beheld the Saviour's ensign raised on high.
Viewed the bent knee, and marked the uplifted eye ;
Mohammed's conquests wither in the tomb.
And truth's bright rays succeed to error's gloom.
And when thy failing steps to Tocat strayed ;
When the weak frame refused to lend its aid ;
And the soul, anxious to begin its flight,
Sought to adore in uncreated light;
Though no loved eye was there to pour the tear,
O'er thy wrecked hopes, thy meteor-like career, —
Wast thou alone ? — when Heaven to tliee displayed
The croT^'n of glory, that could never fade ;
APPENDIX. 467
When Seraph spirits tended as thou slept,
And hymns of Zion soothed thee as thou wept?
Wast thou alone ? — when God himself was there,
Heard every sigh, and answered every prayer ?
No : — As to Calvary oft thou turn'dst thine eyes.
And, more than conqueror, saw'st thy Lord arise ;
Saw'st that the grave, the power of death and hell,
Against the eternal Son could not prevail ;
With dauntless steps the vale of death thou trod,
And found thy home in heaven, thy rest in God.
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11
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12
Date Due
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