PREFACE. We have often apologized for the sameness of our annual Prefaces; nor do we know how to remedy this defect; for, in a Periodical Work, it seems indispensably necessary to acknowledge the kindness of Readers and Correspondents-more especially is that the duty of the conductors of a work of this description, which has continued to be so extensively acceptable and useful, during the course of eight and twenty years. When looking back to the commencement, and tracing the gradual progress of the Work, we feel satisfied that there has been no dereliction of principle, nor any material deviation from our original plan-unless it be in one instance-In the earliest volumes of the Evangelical Magazine, our readers will sometimes find no Religious Intelligence,-or at most a single page, or less; whereas now this forms the most prominent and interesting feature of our work, and frequently occupies half our pages, or even more; and is, after all, scarcely sufficient to furnish even an outline of the zealous and diversified labours of those benevolent individuals and societies, which are engaged in the great work of propagating truth and righteousness throughout the world. We have always maintained that a Missionary spirit is the true spirit of the Gospel; and, that in proportion to the exertions which are made to promote Foreign Missions, will be the zeal to extend the knowledge of the Gospel in our own country. An event of the last year has abundantly confirmed this, in the establishment of a Home Missionary Society,' and in the renewed zeal with which our Ministers, in the several counties of England, have engaged in itinerant labours. Connected with this subject, there is another event which affords peculiar satisfaction-the exertions which * have been made to enlighten and impress that most useful and important class of our country-the British Seamen. It has often been intimated, that English Sailors should be employed in conveying Missionaries and Bibles around the globe; and should it please God to convert considerable numbers of this hitherto neglected class of society, who can tell but that many of them may themselves become practical missionaries?and that men who have formerly been proverbial for profaneness, may be the happy instruments of bearing the Name they once blasphemed to the Gentile nations? Something like this has already taken place among the British Soldiery in India, and we hope will abound yet more and more. Another observable circumstance is, that at the same period in which a Missionary spirit has been enkindled, a holy zeal has been excited in favour of the diffusion of the Sacred Book, and of Universal Education. To no country, scarcely, can a missionary now repair, but a Bible in the language of that country is already provided, or is in a state of preparation; and to render the scheme complete, a simple system of School Instruction is formed, which promises, ere long, to render Education literally Universal. The extension of that inestimable blessing to the neglected and degraded Females of India, is a new and God-like attempt, urged with great force by the Rev. Mr. WARD and others, to whose representations and entreaties we are happy to afford the amplest circulation. May the blessing of Heaven crown every benevolent design of our times with success; and continue to render this Magazine a powerful stimulus to exertion, a source of pure gratification to the religious Public, and the occasion of much thanksgiving to God our Saviour! EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE AND MISSIONARY CHRONICLE. JANUARY, 1820. MEMOIR OF THE REV. HENRY MARTYN, B.D. LATE CHAPLAIN TO THE HON. EAST INDIA COMPANY, AND MISSIONARY TO INDIA AND PERSIA. AMONG the stars which glit- raised himself from a humble and ter in the firmament of the church, few will be found of brighter lustre than that man of God, whose Memorial we now present to our readers. To the friends of mankind at large, who long for the conversion of the heathen, and admire the heroic zeal of able and faithful missionaries, the name of Henry Martyn will ever be dear ; and it will stand prominent in the records of Christian fame, with the venerable names of Zeigenbald, and Eliot, and Mayhew, and Brainerd, and Swartz, and Vanderkemp; and will serve, we doubt not, to kindle a flame of missionary zeal in the breast of many a British youth, and many a pious scholar, who will pant to imitate the example of Henry Martyn.* HENRY MARTYN was born at Truro, in Cornwall, on the 18th of February, 1781. He was the third son of Mr. John Martyn, who laborious situation in life to a state of comparative ease and comfort. Henry, when between seven and eight years of age, was placed at the Grammar School of the town, under the care of Dr. Cardew, when his proficiency in the classics was considerable. In the autumn of 1795, when he was about fourteen, his father sent him to Oxford to be a candidate for the vacant schollarship in Corpus Christi College, but he proved unsuccessful. returned to school and continued there till the summer of 1797. He then went to reside at Cambridge, having entered at St. John's College. In the December following, he obtained a place in the first class, and at the next public examination in the summer, he reached the second station in that class-a point of elevation which flattered his pride not a little. He To the eye of the world, every part of Mr. Martyn's conduct appeared amiable and commendable; but he seems to have been all this time totally ignorant of spiritual things; but, happily for him, he had not only a religious friend at College, but an eminently pious and affectionate sister in Cornwall. When he visited her and his other relations in 1799, she frequently * We cannot boast of originality in this brief Memoir. It is chiefly an Abstract from Memoirs of the Rev. Henry Martyn, B. D.' &c. written, as we understand, by the Rev. Mr. Sargent, to which we beg leave to refer our readers, many of whom we trust will be induced by this slight sketch, to resort to the original work, which will amply repay the purchase and the perusal. See a Review of this work in our Magazine for addressed him on the subject of last August. religion, but her admonitions were eligion, XXVIII. not very grateful to him; à conflict, however, took place in his mind between his conviction of the truth of what she urged, and his own love of the world; he even resented the efforts of his father and sister with harsh language; he promised, indeed, to read the Bible for himself, but on returning to college, Newton and the mathematics engrossed all his thoughts. Soon, however, an afflicting event roused him to serious consideration; he received in the January following the unexpected and heart-rending intelligence of the death of his father. He took up his Bible; he perused the Acts, and was insensibly led to inquire into the doctrine of the Apostles; he began to pray, and read Doddridge's Rise and Progress; but it was chiefly by attendance on the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Simeon, and the Lord's blessing thereon, that he acquired the true knowledge of the gospel. Soon after this he endured a season of painful solicitude; he was to pass a public examination for a degree; when his decided superiority in mathematics was acknowledged, and the highest academical honor was adjudged to him before he had completed his twentieth year. In the following summer he spent much of his time at Cambridge alone; when God was pleased greatly to bless, for his spiritual improvement, his solitude and retirement; and then it was that he began to experience the pure and exalted pleasures of evangelical religion. It was at this period also, that he enjoyed the friendship of Mr. Simeon, and of the young Christian friends to whom he was introduced by him. Now he imbibed his first conceptions of the transcendent excellence of the Christian ministry above all other professions, and fully resolved to devote himself to it. In the month of March, 1802, he was chosen Fellow of St. John's, after which he again visited his sister and friends, with whom he spent some of the sweetest hours of his life. In October, 1802, he returned to the University, when, by the conversation of Mr. Simeon, he turned his thoughts towards the office of a Christian missionary; and having read, with deep attention, the life of that apostolical man of God, David Brainerd, of America, he formed the resolution to imitate his example. This resolution, indeed, was not formed without the severest conflict in his nind; for he was endued with the truest sensibility of heart, and was susceptible of the warmest and tenderest attachments. But he was fully satisfied that the glory of the Redeemer would be promoted by his going forth to preach to the heathen; he considered their pitiable and perilous condition, and he remembered the last injunction of his Lord, go and teach all nations.' Actuated by these motives, he offered his services to the Church Missionary Society; and from that time stood prepared, with a childlike simplicity of spirit, and an unshaken constancy of soul, to go to any part of the world, whither it might be deemed by the society expedient to send him. On Sunday, Oct. 22, 1803, after much solemn preparation, Mr. Martyn was ordained deacon at Ely; and truly might he, on that serious occasion, affirm, that he was inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to assume the sacred function. He commenced his ministry, as Curate to Mr. Simeon, in Trinity Church, and preached his first sermon, on the Sunday after his ordination, on Job xiv. 14. 'If a man die, shall he live again,' &c. Mr. M. also undertook the charge of Lolworth, a small village in the neighbourhood of Cambridge. Having received an appointment as one of the Chaplains to the Hon. East India Company, and having been ordained priest, in London, he took leave of his native country and embarked for India, on board the Union, Sept. 10, 1805. His feelings on this occasion were indescribable. During the voyage he preached once every Sunday, (oftener was not permitted) and took much pains in the instruction of the crew and the soldiers. On the 3d of Jan. 1806, the fleet anchored in the Bay of the Cape of Good Hope, the army disembarked, and the colony was taken possession of by the English. While at Cape Town, Mr. Martyn enjoyed the inexpressible pleasure of conversing with Dr. Vanderkemp and Mr. Read, of whom he writes in his journals with great delight. Here also he ascended Table Mountain. 'I felt,' said he, a solemn awe at the grand prospect, from which there was neither noise nor small objects to draw off my attention. I reflected, especially when looking at the immense expanse of sea on the east, which was to carry me to India, on the certainty that the name of Christ should, at some future period, resound from shore to shore. I felt commanded to wait in silence, and see how God would bring his promise to pass.' Early in February, Mr. Martyn proceeded towards India, and on the 22d of April anchored in Madras roads. Here he had the pleasure of conversing with Dr. Kerr, Mr. Loveless, and others. After being detained a short time at Madras, the fleet sailed for Calcutta. On passing the great Pagoda of Juggernaut, which was distinctly visible from sea, his soul was excited to sentiments of the deepest commisseration for the children of wretched India, who had erected such a monument of her shame on the coast, and whose heathenism stared the stranger to his face.' A tremendous storm shortly ensued, and the danger was great; but the ship was mercifully preserved, and Mr. M. soon arrived at Calcutta. Writing to a friend, he says, 'I am at last arrived in the country where I am to spend my days in the work of the Lord. Scarcely can I believe myself to be so happy as to be actually in India; yet this hath God wrought!!!! Mr. Martyn's arrival in India was an occasion of much delight and thankfulness to Dr. Buchanan, Mr. Brown, and other pious persons, who had long been praying that the Lord would send forth more labourers into that part of his vineyard. Mr. M. received a cordial welcome at the house of Mr. Brown, at Aldeen, near Calcutta ; but his friends were soon alarmed at a severe attack of fever which he experienced; he was, however, mercifully restored, and enjoyed much pleasure in the society of his Christian brethren; yet the sight of the cruel rites and debasing idolatries of heathenism around him, excited his grief and horror: to use his own expression, he shivered as if standing in the neighbourhood of hell.* He was frequently called to preach in Calcutta, to which great city his talents were peculiarly fitted; but his heart was set upon the conversion of the heathen; he had a spirit to follow the steps of Brainerd and Swartz,' and to have been prevented, by any other engagement, from going to the heathen, would almost have broken his heart.' In September he received his appointment, as chaplain, to Dinapore*, and in the close of that month prepared to leave the family *Dinapore is a town in the province of Bahar, on the south bank of the Ganges, near Patna. Here are extensive cantonments for a brigade of troops. |