Henry Martyn: Bible Translator and Missionary

Some years ago I heard a sermon in which there was an illustration from the life of Henry Martyn. I had never heard of Henry Martyn and was naturally curious to know more about this man. So I bought two books about Henry Martyn to learn what I could of this missionary. A few days ago I finished reading one of those books again. The book is called "For the Love of India" and it is written by Jim Cromarty. I think it would be a blessing and an encouragement for every Christian to know something of the life of this godly man. So this post about his life will hopefully whet your appetite to learn more.

    Henry Martyn was born on February 18, 1781 in the town of Truro, which is located in southern England. His father was converted during the revivals that came through the preaching of John Wesley and George Whitefield, which changed much of  England. His family was somewhat well to do, so that Henry was able to go to university. Henry was not an athletic boy, in fact he was often sick. But his mind was keen and brilliant. He was skilled in math and language. This produced a great pride in his heart so that all he wanted to do was to make a name for himself. But the Lord began to work on his heart through the death of his father, the counsel and prayers of friends, and the preaching of Rev. Charles Simeon, an evangelical minister. When he was about nineteen, he experienced the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Henry Martyn was a new man in Christ. He had formerly wanted to study law, but now he desired to be ordained as a minister in the church of England so he could go to India as a missionary. In order to prepare himself he became a curate or assistant to Rev. Charles Simeon, so that he might gain experience in preaching and pastoral ministry. At this time he applied to become a chaplain to the East India Company which controlled most of India. Through some influential friends he was able to get a position. On August 10, 1805, Henry Martyn left for India.

     All missions work requires sacrifice and it was no different in Henry's case. He could have had a comfortable job teaching at university or pastoring some important church, but his heart was set on the lost people in the Far East. He also left behind a girl he loved. This girl whose name was Lydia considered Henry a friend, but did not share the same love as he had for her. Yet Henry thought when he left that when he arrived in India, she would join him and become his wife. In fact he did propose to her a few times, but she never said yes. They did continue to write letters till the end of his life.

 Henry Martyn was a Calvinist in a church that often had nominal attendees and clergy who only wanted to hear moralistic sermons. This difference was a source of much hostility from others in the church of England. While his theology was good, his preaching was not as good. He was an intelligent man, but his sermons were often too difficult for others to understand. He did work hard on improving both his delivery and his manner of preaching. Both his theology and his preaching style caused him much trouble, especially on his voyage to India. He was responsible for the spiritual health of the people aboard the ship. But through out this long voyage, he was met with indifference, contempt, and scorn from those on board. Yet in spite of this, he continue to warn, reprove, and teach those on board. Almost 10 month later with a number of stops, he arrived in India. William Carey was in India at this time as well and Henry spent some time with him and his friends. Soon Henry received his first post. He was to be a chaplain to some 400 British troops at Dinapore. While he did his duties to care for the spiritual welfare of these soldiers, he was also translating the Bible and other religious literature into Hindustani and starting a school for the local Indian people. While most Europeans disliked the Indians and cared little for them, Henry worked among them, teaching them to read and preaching the gospel to them. Like his time on the ship, Henry was disliked by the soldiers he worked among for his gospel preaching and tough stance on sin. He often was a lonely man, with few other Christians to fellowship with. Later on however while he was stationed in Cawnpore, there were a handful of Christians soldiers who spent time with him in worship and fellowship.

Translation work was the main focus of Henry. He loved languages and grammar like some people love their favorite sport's team. His great skill in translating produced  very clear and accurate translations. After learning the languages of the area, he set out to produce a Bible in the language of the people of India. Five years after he came to India,with the help of a few others, he had produced the New Testament, Genesis, and 'The Book of Common Prayer' in Hindustani. He also started to translate the New Testament into Arabic and Persian, since those two languages were spoken in that area. But Henry's health was not very good. His labors, the heat, and his weak body made him a sickly man. In 1810, he decided to go back to England for a rest and hopefully to marry Lydia. On his way home, he planned to travel through Persia and Arabia so that he could learn the languages better and thus produce more accurate translations of the Arabic and Persian New Testaments. He stayed in the city of Shiraz for about a year where he completed the translation of the Persian New Testament along with the Psalms. During his stay in Shiraz, Henry often debated with the Muslims. He wrote tracts explaining the errors of Islam and the truth of the gospel. As you might expect, he endured mush hostility here among the Muslims as he had before among the British.

Henry Martyn pushed himself in spite of his sickness to finish his translation work and to preach the gospel. Sometimes he made foolish decisions which harmed his health, like traveling in the hottest time of year. While at times his health improved, his condition grew worse and worse. On his long journey home to England, he traveled though extreme heat with dangers on every side. Accommodations were regularly poor. These conditions are bad for a healthy man, but for a sick man like Henry, they are fatal. On October 16 1812 in Tokat, Henry Martyn died at the age of 31.

Henry Martyn had a passion to see sinners worshiping the Lord Jesus. He never saw anyone converted through his preaching or teaching. But who knows how many were blessed through his translations? Henry kept a journal of his daily activities and his spiritual progress. This journal and the biographies that were written by his friends have been a blessing to many Christians as well. Many can thank the Lord God for the gifts He gave to Henry. He was a man who lived close to his Savior. His godliness was evident to all and left a great impression on them. He lived and breathed the gospel in all areas of his life. His love for his Redeemer compelled him to sacrifice much to bring the good news to a people living in darkness.

"We bear the torch that flaming

fell from the hands of those

who gave their lives proclaiming 

that Jesus died and rose

Our is the same commission

the same glad message ours

fired by the same ambition

to Thee we yield our power."

From the song 'Facing a Task Unfinished'

By Frank Houghton and Keith and Kristyn Getty

-Brad

Bunyan's "Holy War"

We just finished listening to "The Holy War"  by John Bunyan. Since this book was a blessing to me, I want  to encourage you to read or listen to the entire book. This allegorical book was written in 1682. It is lesser known than Bunyan's more famous book, "Pilgrim's Progress." But "The Holy War" is just as rich in spiritual truth, if not more so. Both these books have more solid theology than 99% of the books in your local Christian bookstore. "The Holy War" teaches many great truths of scripture such as, the fall and corruption of man, the work of the law and the gospel, the use of the conscience, forgiveness and redemption, sanctification and glorification. This book is almost a treatise on sanctification for you will learn about the putting to death of sin, resisting temptation, and how to grow in holiness. Many more truths from the Bible are found in this book under the guise of this allegorical story, which can't all be related here.

A summary of the book is as follows: King Shaddai built a city called Mansoul in the country called Universe. All things are well and good until Diabolus shows up. By using deception, he convinces the town of Mansoul to let him in to the city so he can rule over them instead of Shaddai and his son Emmanuel. Diabolus corrupts the town of Mansoul in every possible way. When Shaddai hears of it, he sends some of his army to take the town back. While this attack does some good, the city is even more set on rebellion than before. So Emmanuel is sent with an army to take the town. This attack is successful. Diabolus is humiliated and banished from town. In a marvelous act of grace, Emmanuel pardons the town and begins to reign over them. But there is a problem, for among the natural inhabitants of Mansoul, there are Diabolonians. These are men inside Mansoul who are Diabolus' people seeking to bring Mansoul back under the bondage of Diabolus. All is well between Emmanuel and Mansoul until the people start to listen to the wicked ideas of some Diabolonians. Then Emmanuel leaves his Mansoul for a time. Diabolus hearing of Mansoul's low condition, raises an army to take back Mansoul. Poor Mansoul! She is attacked from without by Diabolus and from within by the Diabolonians. So the rest of the book records this great struggle; the ending of which I will not tell you as I hope you will find out by reading the book.

The Holy War is worth the effort to read. It is a little tedious at times and the language is old and archaic (I am an Old English Only when it comes to these books; no modern updates for me), but plod on. Digging for diamonds takes hard work, but it is worth the effort. Glorious truths are illustrated in new and fresh ways. There are countless illustrations that can be used to color your sermons, Bible lessons, and conversation. And if you ever hear me teach, you will understand all the references I make to "The Holy War" and "Pilgrim's Progress" and then I won't have to explain them. So take the time to read or listen (it is an audio book) to "The Holy War" and then read "Pilgrim's Progress" while you are on a roll.

-Brad

In honor of this John Bunyan themed post, We are giving away a CD. It is called "Pilgrim's Praise" by Judy Rogers and Craig Pitman. It has a number of songs based on "Pilgrim's Progress." You can find out more about Judy Rogers at her website. If you want the CD, leave a comment below and we'll draw someone's name at random in a few days.

The Credits

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you would know that most of the posts are expositions of verses from Proverbs. Most of my blog posts come out of my morning devotions as I work verse by verse though the Bible. Well, on November 4 I finished Proverbs. I started on February 18th of this year. Studying through Proverbs was a great blessing to me and yet I feel there is so much more I could have learned from the book. I hope you have enjoyed the proverbs I have written about and that you also have been blessed by this book. I also hope that these posts have interested you in studying Proverbs some more on your own. I want to share with you a few resources that have helped me to  better understand  the book of Proverbs.

The first book is by Dan Phillips called God's Wisdom in Proverbs. This is an amazing book. He goes through different themes found in Proverbs such as parenting and marriage. He explains how to understand the book and the importance of the fear of the Lord in Proverbs. He even explains how to teach or preach the book of Proverbs. This is man is a skilled expositor. This book would help your study immensely.

The second book is by John Kitchen. It is a commentary on Proverbs in the Mentor series commentaries. This book is a gem. He goes verse by verse through the entire book, which is rare among Proverb's commentaries. There is a good blend of scholarly explanation plus devotional application. He explains the Hebrew to help understand the text but also takes the truth which is taught and applies it to our every day life. This is not a high and dry theological work. This book was my go-to-book on Proverbs. It was a great help to me.

Lastly I used Matthew Henry's commentary once in a while. On a rare occasion I turned to Matthew Poole's commentary. These were at times helpful. John Macarthur's study notes were also useful at times.

I will be working through the next wisdom book which is Ecclesiastes. So this book will be the focus of the blog for the next while. May God bless His word to our souls. To God, who alone is wise, be the glory.

-Brad