MEMOIR
OF THE
REV. HENRY MARTYN, B.D.
_____
MEMOIR
OF THE
REV. HENRY MARTYN, B.D.
_____
A MEMOIR
OF
THE REV. HENRY MARTYN, B.D.LATE FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
AND CHAPLAIN TO THE HONOURABLE EAST INDIA COMPANY.
BY THE REV. JOHN SARGENT, M.A.
RECTOR OF LIVINGTON.ELEVENTH EDITION, CORRECTED AND ENLARGED.
_________________________________
PRINTED FOR R.B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE:
AND SOLD BY L.B. SEELEY AND SONS,
FLEET STREET, LONDON.
MDCCCXXXI.
BEFORE the reader proceeds to the perusal of the following 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. Martyn 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. Martyn: 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 Constantinople, 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 endeavoured, 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 difficulties of their arduous course, my labour will receive an eminent and abundant recompence.
J. S.
PREFACE TO THE TENTH 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 desponding character. Late, however, as the declaration is,—ineffectual 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 immortality. 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 objection. 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 laugh, which still sounds in my ears, 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 had supposed, is plain from the story of the knife, p. 8. which I at first disbelieved, but have since ascertained to be true. Of the tenderness of his heart,—in addition to the evidences before given, there is a touching one, p. 318. 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. 279. I have only one excuse,—the distracting 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 consideration,—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 discredited.
J. S.
Lavington, April 12, 1830.
Early life of Henry Martyn - His successful academical career.
His advancement in piety - College employments - Decides on becoming a Missionary - His Ordination.
Commencement of his Ministerial labours - Collegiate Duties - Applies for a Chaplainship under the East India Company - Visits Cornwall - His sufferings on leaving England.
Departure from England - Occurrences during his Voyage - At St. Salvador - and at the Cape of Good Hope - Arrives at Madras - and at Calcutta.
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.
Mr. Martyn is fixed at Dinapore - Commences his Ministry - Translations - Disputes with his Moonshee and Pundit - Diffaculties respecting the Schools - His happiness in the work of Translation.
Mr. Martyn receives intelligence of the death of 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 Calcutta - Departs for Arabia.
Mr. Martyn leaves Bengal for Shiraz - Occurrences during his journey - Arrives at Shiraz - Commences a New Translation - Discussions with the Persian Moollahs.
First Public Discussion at Shiraz - Mr. Martyn replies to a Defence of Mahometanism - Interview with the Head of the Soofies - Visits Persepolis - Translations - Discussions.
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 audience - Proceeds to Tebriz - Severe illness.
Mr. Martyn commences his journey homewards, by way of Constantinople - Visits Ech-Miazin - Suffers from fever - Dies at Tocat in Persia - View of his Character - Conclusion.
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