Henry Martyn

Every now and then, I have thought it would be a good idea to present short biographical sketches of key Christian figures who contributed greatly to the growth of the Church. As we read over what God did through them, we are encouraged, admonished, challenged, and inspired to imitate them in the same way that Paul told believers to imitate him (c.f. 1 Cor. 4:16, Phil. 3:17). Hebrews 13:7 also reminds us to imitate the faith of our leaders who spoke the Word of God to us, and in a way this can be true of those who are dead yet speak to us through their writings and examples. It is not their strength or their holiness that sets them apart, but rather the grace and power of God who chose them according to His good pleasure to extend the boundaries of His Kingdom so that He might be greatly glorified.


Henry Martyn is not a particularly well-known figure among most Protestants today, the fact of which I find deplorable. A native of Cornwall in southwest England, he lived from 1781 to 1812, and was one of the "Evangelical Anglicans" in the Church of England, associating with such better-known figures as John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace, and William Wilberforce, who led the fight in Parliament to abolish the slave trade (the recent movie titled after Newton's song has Wilberforce as its main character). As such, in a denomination largely characterized by ritualism and nominalism, his presence was a breath of fresh gospel air to whomever he came in contact with.


Martyn was a model student, attending Cambridge University and becoming "Senior Wrangler," the highest-ranked person in his class in the mathematics department. As such, he was seriously considering going into the field of law, but when he became acquainted with the minister Charles Simeon and heard about the great missionary need overseas, especially in India, his heart was convicted. Martyn therefore resolved to go into the ministry and enlisted as a chaplain in the British East India Company. During this time, he began to keep a journal of his daily activities and his spiritual life, and was greatly influenced by David Brainerd, a missionary to Native Americans in America during the 1740's (whose diary was published by the famous preacher Jonathan Edwards after Brainerd's death). There was, however, not a little impediment in the road to overseas missionary service for him: He fell in love. The lady's name was Lydia Grenfell, and though she was a few years older than him, her devotion to God was no less fervent. However, despite this severe conflict between love and service to the Lord, Martyn was able to press on with his desire to go to India and Lydia did express some interest in joining him there.

In 1805, Henry Martyn set sail for India and had a most eventful trip. He landed in Brazil, shared the gospel with some of the Catholic priests there, was a spectator of a battle at Cape Town in Africa between the British and the Dutch (the wars of Europe with Napoleon were beginning to rage at this time), and held services for largely unresponsive sailors and military personnel on board his ship. Once he arrived at Calcutta, he met William Carey, a Baptist shoemaker turned Bible Translator who is often called "the Father of Modern Missions." Martyn had an exceptional aptitude in linguistic skill, and so he planned to translate the Bible into the Hindustani language as well as serve his chaplaincy duties. Upon reaching India, Martyn wrote the memorable line in his journal, "Now let me burn out for God!"

During his time in India, from 1806 to 1811, Henry Martyn stayed at two stations, Dinapur and Kanpur (Cawnpore). The work of translation was slow and difficult, since Martyn had to deal with often quarrelsome and opinionated Hindu pundits (religious experts) and munshis (secretaries). He needed them, however, since they knew the language well and were able to assist him in the laborious work.





















Artist rendering of Martyn translating with the aid of his munshi (the spelling was different back then)

Martyn kept corresponding with Lydia, whom he now seriously hoped to marry. However, everything came to naught when Lydia's mother refused to let her daughter go to such a faraway and strange place like India. Brokenhearted, they nevertheless continued writing to each other, but now only in the name of friendship.

The climate of India is severe, with seasons of oppressive heat and torrential rain. Martyn, whose health was never top-notch, often suffered greatly, but continued to persevere. He finished translating the New Testament into Hindustani, and also completed a version in the Persian (Iranian) language. However, upon further inquiry with other Persians, he discovered that the Persian translation was horrendously defective. Martyn thus intended to travel to Persia, and then to Arabia, to correct his translation and work on newer ones.

From Calcutta, he sailed to Bombay, then to the Persian Coast, and made a difficult overland journey to the city of Shiraz. For many months, he stayed there, perfecting the Persian translation and engaging in ceaseless debates and disputes with leading Shi'a Islamic scholars and mystic Sufi gurus. Since Martyn was the first missionary in hundreds of years to enter this land, he was constantly the object of constant inquiry. Nevertheless, he conducted himself
admirably and bravefully.

Finally, once the translation was done, Martyn began the journey to the Shah of Persia to present the New Testament into his hands. As he travelled, he continued to meet with inquirers and discuss the question of Christianity. At one point, he was in a room full of Muslim clerics who demanded that he affirm the Islamic statement of faith: "God is God, and Muhammad is his prophet." Henry Martyn carefully responded, "God is God, and Jesus is the Son of God." There was such an uproar following this utterance that he barely escaped with the papers of his New Testament translation.

















The scene following Martyn's great profession of the Christian faith, as depicted by an artist.

Unfortunately, shortly after this event, Martyn collapsed due to illness and was not able to personally give the Bible to the Shah - another person went in his place. He spent a few months recuperating at Tabriz, in northwestern Persia, and decided that he needed to travel back to England to regain his health before continuing his labors. In the fall of 1812, he set forth on the difficult overland route across Turkey towards Constantinople (Istanbul). At first, the journey went pleasantly enough, but once he entered into Turkish dominions his new guides began to push him too strongly, and his health broke again. Plague was also raging in the lands between him and Constantinople, and he was forced to enter into that country. At last, taking advantage of a brief respite in this exhausting journey, Martyn found the time to pen a few last lines in his journal:

October 6. No horses being to be had, I had an unexpected repose. I sat in the orchard, and thought with sweet comfort and peace, of my God; in solitude my company, 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 any thing 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.

Ten days later, in the city of Tokat in central Turkey, Henry Martyn's faithful life came to an end, ingloriously buried among a host of plague-ridden victims. Several years later, some missionaries located his grave and erected a memorial obelisk over it. His bones remained there until, pressed by the expanding city's hunger for development, they were obliterated and the obelisk unceremoniously placed away in the recesses of the Tokat museum.

So, no discernible form of the remains of Henry Martyn can be found on this earth, but the impact of his life endures. In his time, the sorrow at his passing in England was great. The Anglican church sainted him (an act that he would have been mortified by), his friend published a biography largely based on his journals that became a spiritual classic, and dozens of missionaries were inspired to follow up on his work in India and in Iran. The effect of his ministry among the natives was not forgotten; although revival never happened, several individuals did come to faith and the remembrance of him as a "man of God" was a sweet savor for many years to a land in darkness. Above all, his translations formed the backbone of further versions of the Bible in Hindustani and Persian. It is no doubt that the present-day church in Iran, currently undergoing severe persecution from the Islamic authorities, owes much of its heritage to the labors of this frail young man who lived 200 years ago. It was God shining through him, and God alone who challenged the Indians and the Iranians with gospel truth through the courageous witness and translation work of Henry Martyn.

I strongly encourage more reading up on Henry Martyn. His journals, while sometimes overly melancholic, are still full of a rich trove of spiritual insight and riveting accounts of his dealings with the people of India and Iran. Below are some recommended resources for further exploration:

Life and Letters of Henry Martyn, by John Sargent - The pioneering work, there are many old editions that may be found in used bookstores. A friend of mine got this off Amazon after I told her about it. It uses the journals very well, but chooses to skim over Martyn's relationship to Lydia and thus does not show the full picture of him as a human being. Also available on Google Books.

For the Love of India: The Story of Henry Martyn, by Jim Cromarty (2005) - I have not read this, but on the surface it seems to be a thorough book, and may be a good modern-day perspective on Martyn.

Letters and Journals of the Rev. Henry Martyn, by Samuel Wilberforce - Also available online, I read both this and Sargent's version together. It fills in Sargent's deficiencies, showing many of Martyn's letters to Lydia.

Henry Martyn, Saint and Scholar, First Modern Missionary, by George Smith (1892) - I recently looked over this on Google Books, its main value is the excerpts from Lydia's own diary and a fuller perspective on his time period from nearly 100 years later; otherwise, it is similar to Sargent and Wilberforce.

Does your heart not feel encouraged at how God has strengthened so many people to proclaim His name across the wide world, among so many civilized and barbarous nations? That is why I offer these biographical sketches, to exhort all of us to trust in God and remember His mighty dealings and His awesome power by which He uses us poor weak vessels to perform His magnificent actions worthy of the highest praise and song. And, of course, through Jesus Christ He saved us so that we could serve Him. Let us praise Him for His glorious redemption!