Salvation for a Scholar
Henry Martyn
The plain-faced little boy with warts on his hands peered through the crowd at the aging John Wesley. He was only eight, but he could feel the brittle tenseness in the crowd. On one side of Mr. Wesley was a multitude of laboring men who had been clamoring for a raise in wages. On the other side was a squad of the Crown's soldiers sent to keep order.
How much young Henry Martyn absorbed from John Wesley's gospel of peace we do not know. But we do know that the future Apostle to Persia grew up in the world of the Wesleys.
At school, Henry did not behave as Methodist doctrine said he should. His irritability caused the older boys to bully and tease him, and when they did, he flew into a violent rage. But he survived the bullies and in 1797, when he was seventeen, he took the coach from his home in Truro village to Cambridge.
At the university, Henry Martyn was much more interested in making the top examination grades of his class than he was in the dry preaching he heard daily at the five-thirty chapel. But there was sister Sally to be reckoned with. Back home she prayed regularly for her scholarly big brother.
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After two years at Cambridge, Henry had reached his goal and stood first in his class. His father's eyes sparkled with pride upon hearing the news.
But Sally was not so glad. "Knowing the Bible is more important than knowing the mathematical theorems of Euclid," she attested.
Henry came back with a scalding remark that caused Sally to choke back the tears. But at her next opportunity she reminded him again that he should read the Bible. Reluctantly he consented.
Henry stayed at the university during the Christmas holidays of 1799. He was not eager to have Sally ask him about his promise to read the Scriptures.
The news of his father's sudden and unexpected death, coming during the holidays on January 1, jolted him to reality as Sally's reminders had not been able to do.
"I began to consider that invisible world to which my father had gone," he wrote later. "I had no taste for studies and took up my Bible, thinking that this solemn time was suitable for consideration of religion."
The young Cambridge scholar began studying the doctrines of the apostles. He added daily prayer and solemn meditation upon Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul. But doctrine and prayer did not lead him to a satisfying faith. Finally he turned to the gospels. There he heard the voice of Christ making offers of mercy and forgiveness. "I began to devour them with delight," he testified. "My heart responded, and I began praying with eagerness and hope."
There came no emotion-packed moment of dramatic conversion, but four years later he could say, "The Word is real.
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The whole current of my desires is altered. I am walking quite another way."
In 1805 — barely five years after his father's death — Henry Martyn sailed for India as chaplain for the East India Company. Meditation upon the state of the lost heathen, and upon the Journal of the saintly David Brainerd had driven him to dedicate his life to missionary service. He left behind the girl he loved because of her poor health and abandoned the opportunity of possibly becoming one of England's greatest pulpiteers.
A year after he reached Calcutta, Martyn began translating the New Testament into Hindustani. In addition, he started supervising translations into Persian and Arabic.
Henry Martyn gave only six short years to missionary work. His greatest desire was to take a Persian New Testament to the Persians. Although suffering with advanced tuberculosis, he gave the last year of his life to negotiating with Persian leaders. His last two months were spent in making a torturous journey to give his Persian Testament to the British ambassador, who in turn gave it to the Shah of Persia.
But though he was buried beneath Persian sands, Henry Martyn's dedication has lived on. His burning devotion to Christ and his compassion for pagan people have sent multitudes of youth to the mission field. Today, his letters and diary are still counted among the most treasured records of Christian discipleship.
