Henry Martyn

Henry Martyn was born on February 18, 1781, in Truro, Cornwall, England. His father was a mine clerk and a man of modest means. Henry was a frail child, but he was quick and a good student. He entered St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1797, and in 1801 he graduated as senior wrangler, the top mathematician of his year. It was the highest honor at the university. He was a man of great promise, and he could have had a distinguished career.

While at Cambridge, he came under the influence of Charles Simeon, the vicar of Holy Trinity Church, who guided him to a living faith in Christ. He was moved by the biography of David Brainerd and by reports of William Carey's work in India. He felt called to be a missionary. He had hoped to go with a mission society, but he lacked the funds. In 1805, he obtained a post as a chaplain with the East India Company, which allowed him to go to India. He sailed in 1805 and arrived in Calcutta in 1806.

He served as a chaplain at Dinapore and Cawnpore, where he ministered to the British soldiers and officials. He also began to learn the languages of India. He studied Hindustani, Persian and Arabic with great diligence. He preached to the Indians and held schools for children. He translated the New Testament into Urdu, which was completed in 1808, and he worked on versions in Persian and Arabic. He spent days in prayer and study and wore himself out. He was not strong, and the heat and hard work took their toll.

He was a man who lived with deep spiritual intensity. His journal and letters reveal his struggles with pride, with discouragement and with his love for a young woman in England, Lydia Grenfell, whom he could not marry. She declined to go to India with him, and he felt the loss deeply. He said that he was resolved to live for God alone. He was a lonely man, and his health continued to decline.

In 1810, he was advised to leave India for his health and to travel to Persia, where he could complete his translation of the New Testament into Persian. He went to Shiraz, in the south of Persia, and stayed for about a year. He argued with Muslim scholars about the claims of Christ, and he worked with a Persian helper on his translation. He presented a copy of the New Testament to the Shah in 1812. The translation was a great accomplishment.

He set out to return to England by an overland route through Turkey. He was already very ill with fever and with a lung disease. The journey was hard, and he reached the town of Tokat, in northern Turkey, in a state of exhaustion. He died there on October 16, 1812, at the age of thirty-one. He was alone and in the hands of strangers. His grave in Tokat is still honored by Christians.

He had served in the East for less than seven years, but his translations were used for decades. His journal, published after his death, inspired many to go to the mission field. His life shows how a brilliant mind may be spent for the sake of the gospel, and it reminds us that a short life, fully given, can have a long reach.