FROM CALCUTTA TO CEYLON, BOMBAY, AND ARABIA
Two motives made Henry Martyn eager to leave India for a time, and to
cease the strain on his fast-ebbing strength, caused by incessant
preaching and speaking: he desired to prolong his life, but to prolong
it only till he should give the Mohammedans of Arabia and Persia the
Word of God in their own tongues. After his first, almost fatal,
attack at Dinapore, Corrie, who had gone to help him in his duties,
wrote to 'the Patriarch,' as they called Mr. Brown, at Aldeen: 'He
wishes to be spared on account of the translations, but with great
earnestness said, "I wish to have my whole soul swallowed up in the
will of God."' Two years after, Corrie wrote to England from Cawnpore:
'He is going to try sea air. May God render it effectual to his
restoration. His life is beyond all price to us. You know what a
profound scholar he is, and all his acquirements are dedicated to the
service of Christ. If ever man, since St. Paul, could use these words,
he may, _One thing I do_. But the length of his life will depend on
his desisting from public duties.' To Martyn himself, when at last he
had left Cawnpore, Corrie wrote: 'If you will not take rest, dear
brother, come away back;' informing him, at the same time, that he had
returned to a Colonel, whom he had married, 1,600 rupees, he and
Martyn having resolved to decline all fees for marrying and burying in
India, where such were a stumbling-block in the way of morality and
religion, constituted as Anglo-Indian society was at that time.
When he was leaving Cawnpore, Henry Martyn was about to destroy what
he called 'a number of memorandums.' These afterwards proved to be his
_Journals_ from January 1803 to 1811, some of which were written in
Latin, and some in Greek, for greater secrecy. Corrie remonstrated
with him, and persuaded him to seal them up and leave them in his
hands. Lord Minto, the Governor-General, and General Hewett, the
Commander-in-chief, after receiving a statement of Martyn's object,
gave their sanction to his spending his sick-leave in Persia and
Syria. At first the only ship he could find bound for Bombay, _en
route_ to the Persian Gulf, was one of the native buggalows which
carried the coasting trade in the days before the British India Steam
Navigation Company had begun to develop the commerce of the Indian
Ocean all along East Africa, Southern Asia, the Spice Islands, and
Australasia. But he wrote to Corrie:
The captain of the ship after many excuses has at last refused
to take me, on the ground that I might try to convert the Arab
sailors, and so cause a mutiny in the ship. So I am quite out of
heart, and more than half disposed to go to the right about, and
come back to Cawnpore.
His uncompromising earnestness as a witness for Christ was well known.
Fortunately, a month after, the Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone
'was proceeding to take the residency of Poona,' and Martyn secured a
passage in the same ship, the Hummoody, an Arab coaster belonging to
a Muscat merchant, and manned by his Abyssinian slave as Nakhoda.
His last message to Calcutta, on the evening of the first Sunday of
the year 1811, was on _The one thing needful_. Next morning he quietly
went on board Mr. Elphinstone's pinnace 'without taking leave of my
two dear friends in Calcutta.' As they dropped down the Hoogli,
anchoring for two nights in its treacherous waters, his henceforth
brief entries in his _Journal_ are these: '8th. Conversation with Mr.
Elphinstone, and disputes with his Persian moulvi, left me weak and in
pain. 9th. Reached the ship at Saugur, and began to try my strength
with the Arab sailors.' He found that the country-born captain,
Kinsay, had been brought up by Schwartz, and he obtained from him much
information regarding the habits and the rule of the Lutheran apostle
of Southern India. This is new:
It was said that Schwartz had a warning given him of his death.
One clear moonlight night he saw a light, and heard a voice
which said to him, 'Follow me.' He got up and went to the door;
here the vision vanished. The next day he sent for Dr. Anderson
and said, 'An old tree must fall.' On the doctor's perceiving
there was nothing the matter with him, Schwartz asked him
whether he observed any disorder in his intellect; to which the
doctor replied, 'No.' He and General Floyd (now in Ireland),
another friend of Schwartz, came and stayed with him. The next
fifteen days he was continually engaged in devotion, and
attended no more to the school: on the last day he died in his
chair.
Henry Martyn was well fitted by culture and training to appreciate the
society of such statesmen and thinkers as Mountstuart Elphinstone,
Sir John Malcolm, Sir James Mackintosh, and Jonathan Duncan, who in
their turn delighted in his society during the next five weeks. Of the
first he wrote to Corrie: 'His agreeable manners and classical
acquirements made me think myself fortunate indeed in having such a
companion, and I found his company the most agreeable circumstance in
my voyage.' They walked together in the cinnamon groves of Ceylon,
when the ship touched at Colombo; together they talked of the work of
Xavier as they skirted Cape Comorin, and observed Portuguese churches
every two or three miles, with a row of huts on each side. 'Perhaps,'
he wrote in his _Journal_, 'many of these poor people, with all the
incumbrances of Popery, are moving towards the kingdom of heaven.'
Together the two visited old Goa, the ecclesiastical capital, its
convents and churches. The year after their visit the Goa Inquisition,
one of the cruellest of its branches since its foundation, was
suppressed. Henry Martyn's letters to Lydia Grenfell best describe his
experiences and impressions:
TO LYDIA GRENFELL
At Sea, Coast of Malabar: February 4, 1811.
The last letter I wrote to you, my dearest Lydia, was dated
November 1810. I continued in Calcutta to the end of the year,
preaching once a week, and reading the Word in some happy little
companies, with whom I enjoyed that sweet communion which all in
this vale of tears have reason to be thankful for, but
especially those whose lot is cast in a heathen land. On
New-year's day, at Mr. Brown's urgent request, I preached a
sermon for the Bible Society, recommending an immediate
attention to the state of the native Christians. At the time I
left Calcutta they talked of forming an auxiliary society.
Leaving Calcutta was so much like leaving England, that I went
on board my boat without giving them notice, and so escaped the
pain of bidding them farewell. In two days I met my ship at the
mouth of the river, and we put to sea immediately. Our ship is
commanded by a pupil of Schwartz, and manned by Arabians,
Abyssinians, and others. One of my fellow-passengers is Mr.
Elphinstone, who was lately ambassador at the court of the King
of Cabul, and is now going to be resident at Poona, the capital
of the Mahratta empire. So the group is rather interesting, and
I am happy to say not averse to religious instruction; I mean
the Europeans. As for the Asiatics, they are in language,
customs, and religion, as far removed from us as if they were
inhabitants of another planet. I speak a little Arabic sometimes
to the sailors, but their contempt of the Gospel, and attachment
to their own superstition, make their conversion appear
impossible. How stupendous that power which can make these
people the followers of the Lamb, when they so nearly resemble
Satan in pride and wickedness! The first part of the voyage I
was without employment, and almost without thought, suffering as
usual so much from sea sickness, that I had not spirits to do
anything but sit upon the poop, surveying the wide waste of
waters blue. This continued all down the Bay of Bengal. At
length in the neighbourhood of Ceylon we found smooth water, and
came to an anchor off Colombo, the principal station in the
island. The captain having proposed to his passengers that they
should go ashore and refresh themselves with a walk in the
cinnamon gardens, Mr. Elphinstone and myself availed ourselves
of the offer, and went off to inhale the cinnamon breeze. The
walk was delightful. The huts of the natives, who are (in that
neighbourhood at least) most of them Protestants, are built in
thick groves of cocoanut-tree, with openings here and there,
discovering the sea. Everything bore the appearance of
contentment. I contemplated them with delight, and was almost
glad that I could not speak with them, lest further acquaintance
should have dissipated the pleasing ideas their appearance gave
birth to. In the gardens I cut off a piece of the bark for you.
It will not be so fragrant as that which is properly prepared;
but it will not have lost its fine smell, I hope, when it
reaches you.
At Captain Rodney's, the Chief Secretary to Government, we met a
good part of the European society of Colombo. The party was like
most mixed parties in England, where much is said that need not
be remembered. The next day we stretched across the Gulf of
Manaar, and soon came in sight of Cape Comorin, the great
promontory of India. At a distance the green waves seemed to
wash the foot of the mountain, but on a nearer approach little
churches were seen, apparently on the beach, with a row of
little huts on each side. Was it these maritime situations that
recalled to my mind Perran church and town in the way to Gurlyn;
or that my thoughts wander too often on the beach to the east of
Lamorran? You do not tell me whether you ever walk there, and
imagine the billows that break at your feet to have made their
way from India. But why should I wish to know? Had I observed
silence on that day and thenceforward, I should have spared you
much trouble, and myself much pain. Yet I am far from regretting
that I spoke, since I am persuaded that all things will work
together for good. I sometimes try to put such a number of
things together as shall produce the greatest happiness
possible, and I find that even in imagination I cannot satisfy
myself. I set myself to see what is that 'good for the sons of
men, which they should do under heaven all the days of their
life,' and I find that paradise is not here. Many things are
delightful, some things are almost all one could wish; but yet
in all beauty there is deformity, in the most perfect something
wanting, and there is no hope of its ever being otherwise.
'That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which
is wanting cannot be numbered.' So that the expectation of
happiness on earth seems chimerical to the last degree. In my
schemes of happiness I place myself of course with you, blessed
with great success in the ministry, and seeing all India turning
to the Lord. Yet it is evident that with these joys there would
be mingled many sorrows. The care of all the churches was a
burden to the mighty mind of St. Paul. As for what we should be
together, I judge of it from our friends. Are they quite beyond
the vexations of common life? I think not--still I do not say
that it is a question whether they gained or lost by marrying.
Their affections will live when ours (I should rather say mine)
are dead. Perhaps it may not be the effect of celibacy; but I
certainly begin to feel a wonderful indifference to all but
myself. From so seldom seeing a creature that cares for me, and
never one that depends at all upon me, I begin to look round
upon men with reciprocal apathy. It sometimes calls itself
deadness to the world, but I much fear that it is deadness of
heart. I am exempt from worldly cares myself, and therefore do
not feel for others. Having got out of the stream into still
water, I go round and round in my own little circle. This
supposed deterioration you will ascribe to my humility;
therefore I add that Mr. Brown could not help remarking the
difference between what I am and what I was, and observed on
seeing my picture, which was taken at Calcutta for Mr. Simeon,
and is thought a striking likeness, that it was not Martyn that
arrived in India, but Martyn the recluse.
_February 10._--To-day my affections seem to have revived a
little. I have been often deceived in times past, and
erroneously called animal spirits joy in the Holy Ghost. Yet I
trust that I can say with truth, 'To them who believe, He is
precious!' Yes, Thou art precious to my soul, my transport and
my trust. No thought now is so sweet as that which those words
suggest--'_In Christ_.' Our destinies thus inseparably united
with those of the Son of God, what is too great to be expected?
All things are yours, for ye are Christ's! We may ask what we
will, and it shall be given to us. Now, why do I ever lose sight
of Him, or fancy myself without Him, or try to do anything
without Him? Break off a branch from a tree, and how long will
it be before it withers? To-day, my beloved sister, I rejoice in
you before the Lord, I rejoice in you as a member of the mystic
body, I pray that your prayers for one who is unworthy of your
remembrance may be heard, and bring down tenfold blessings on
yourself. How good is the Lord in giving me grace to rejoice
with His chosen all over the earth; even with those who are at
this moment going up with the voice of joy and praise, to tread
His courts and sing His praise. There is not an object about me
but is depressing. Yet my heart expands with delight at the
presence of a gracious God, and the assurance that my separation
from His people is only temporary.
On the 7th we landed at Goa, the capital of the Portuguese
possessions in the East. I reckoned much on my visit to Goa,
expecting, from its being the residence of the archbishop and
many ecclesiastics, that I should obtain such information about
the Christians in India as would render it superfluous to make
inquiries elsewhere, but I was much disappointed. Perhaps it was
owing to our being accompanied by several officers, English and
Portuguese, that the archbishop and his principal agents would
not be seen; but so it was, that I scarcely met with a man who
could make himself intelligible. We are shown what strangers are
usually shown, the churches and monasteries, but I wanted to
contemplate man, the only thing on earth almost that possesses
any interest for me. I beheld the stupendous magnificence of
their noble churches without emotion, except to regret that the
Gospel was not preached in them. In one of the monasteries we
saw the tomb of Francis Xavier, the Apostle of India, most
richly ornamented, as well as the room in which it stands, with
paintings and figures in bronze, done in Italy. The friar who
showed us the tomb, happening to speak of the grace of God in
the heart, without which, said he, as he held the sacramental
wafer, the body of Christ profits nothing. I began a
conversation with him, which, however, came to nothing.
We visited among many other places the convent of nuns. After a
long altercation with the lady porter we were admitted to the
antechamber, in which was the grate, a window with iron bars,
behind which the poor prisoners make their appearance. While my
companions were purchasing their trinkets I was employed in
examining their countenances, which I did with great attention.
In what possible way, thought I, can you support existence, if
you do not find your happiness in God? They all looked ill and
discontented, those at least whose countenances expressed
anything. One sat by reading, as if nothing were going on. I
asked to see the book, and it was handed through the grate.
Finding that it was a Latin prayer-book, I wrote in Latin
something about the love of the world, which seclusion from it
would not remove. The Inquisition is still existing at Goa. We
were not admitted as far as Dr. Buchanan was, to the Hall of
Examination, and that because he printed something against the
inquisitors which came to their knowledge. The priest in waiting
acknowledged that they had some prisoners within the walls, and
defended the practice of imprisoning and chastising offenders,
on the ground of its being conformed to the custom of the
Primitive Church. We were told that when the officers of the
Inquisition touch an individual, and beckon him away, he dares
not resist; if he does not come out again, no one must ask about
him; if he does, he must not tell what was done to him.
_February 18._--(Bombay.) Thus far I am brought in safety. On
this day I complete my thirtieth year. 'Here I raise my
Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help I'm come.' 27th. It is sweet to
reflect that we shall at last reach our home. I am here amongst
men who are indeed aliens to the commonwealth of Israel and
without God in the world. I hear many of those amongst whom I
live bring idle objections against religion, such as I have
answered a hundred times. How insensible are men of the world to
all that God is doing! How unconscious of His purposes
concerning His Church! How incapable, seemingly, of
comprehending the existence of it! I feel the meaning of St.
Paul's words--'Hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and
prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will,
that He would gather in one all things in Christ.' Well! let us
bless the Lord. 'All thy children shall be taught of the Lord,
and great shall be the peace of thy children.' In a few days I
expect to sail for the Gulf of Persia in one of the Company's
sloops of war.
Farewell, my beloved Lydia, and believe me to be ever yours most
affectionately,
H. MARTYN.
All through the voyage, in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, the
scholar was busy with his books, the Hebrew Old Testament, 'reading
Turkish grammar, Niebuhr's _Arabia_, making extracts from Maracci's
_Refutation of the Koran_, in general reading the Word of God with
pleasure.'
_February 10._ (Sunday.)--Somewhat of a happy Sabbath; I enjoyed
communion with the saints, though far removed from them; service
morning and night in the cabin.
_January 14_ to _17_.--When sitting on the poop Mr. Elphinstone
kindly entertained me with information about India, the politics
of which he has had such opportunities of making himself
acquainted with. The Afghans, to whom he went as ambassador, to
negotiate a treaty of alliance in case of invasion by the
French, possess a tract of country considerably larger than
Great Britain, using the Persian and Pushtu languages. Their
chief tribe is the Doorani, from which the king is elected. Shah
Zeman was dethroned by his half-brother Mahmood, governor of
Herat, who put out his eyes. Shah Zeman's younger brother
Shoujjah took up arms, and after several defeats established
himself for a time. He was on the throne when Mr. Elphinstone
visited him, but since that Mahmood has begun to dispute the
sovereignty with him. Mr. Elphinstone has been with Holkar and
Sindia a good deal. Holkar he described as a little spitfire,
his general, Meer Khan, possessed abilities; Sindia none; the
Rajah of Berar the most politic of the native powers, though the
Nizam the most powerful; the influence of residents at Nagpoor
and Hyderabad very small.
_February 17._--Mostly employed in writing the Arabic tract,
also in reading the Koran; a book of geography in Arabic, and
_Jami Abbari_ in Persian.
I would that all should adore, but especially that I myself
should lie prostrate. As for self, contemptible self, I feel
myself saying, let it be forgotten for ever; henceforth let
Christ live, let Christ reign, let Him be glorified for ever.
_February 18._--Came to anchor at Bombay. This day I finish the
30th year of my unprofitable life, an age in which Brainerd had
finished his course. He gained about a hundred savages to the
Gospel; I can scarcely number the twentieth part. If I cannot
act, and rejoice, and love with the ardour some did, oh, let me
at least be holy, and sober, and wise. I am now at the age at
which the Saviour of men began His ministry, and at which John
the Baptist called a nation to repentance. Let me now think for
myself and act with energy. Hitherto I have made my youth and
insignificance an excuse for sloth and imbecility: now let me
have a character, and act boldly for God.
_February 19._--Went on shore. Waited on the Governor, and was
kindly accommodated with a room at the Government House.
The Governor was the good Jonathan Duncan, in the last year of his
long administration and of his benevolent life. In the first decade of
the nineteenth century Bombay was a comparatively little place, but
the leaders of its English society were all remarkable men. In the
short time, even then, Bombay had become the political and social
centre of all the Asiatics and Africans, from Higher Asia, the Persian
Gulf, and Arabia, to Abyssinia, Zanzibar, and the Comoro Isles;
especially had it then begun to be what every generation since has
made it more and more, the best centre from which to direct a
Christian mission to the Mohammedans. With Poona, it is the capital of
the most subtle and unimpressionable class, the Marathi Brahmans, and
it is the point from which most widely to influence the Parsees. But
as a base of operations against Islam it has never yet been fully used
or appreciated. The late Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer preferred Aden, or
the neighbouring village of Sheikh Othman, the British door into
Arabia, of which he took possession for the Master by there laying
down his life in the ripeness of his years, his scholarship, and his
prosperity. But even in Arabia such work may be directed from Bombay.
The city, like its harbour for commerce, stands without a rival as a
missionary and civilising focus. Henry Martyn spent his weeks there in
mastering the needs of its varied races and religionists, Jewish and
Arabic, Persian and Brahman, talking with representative men of all
the cults, and striving to influence them. He kept steadily in view
his duty to the Mohammedans, writing his Arabic tract, and consulting
as to his Persian translation of the Scriptures. It was not given to
him to remain there. Dr. Taylor, whom he had joined with Brown and the
Serampore Brotherhood at Aldeen in commending to God, was hard at
work on the Malayalim New Testament, and he often visited the press to
see the sacred work in progress. It was to be the life task of the
Scottish Dr. John Wilson, twenty years after, to use Bombay as the
missionary key of the peoples who border the Indian Ocean.
The friend of Mountstuart Elphinstone and guest of the Governor, Henry
Martyn was welcomed by the literary society of the city, which at that
time was unrivalled in the East. It is fortunate that we thus obtain
an impartial estimate of his personal character and scholarship from
such men as Elphinstone, Mackintosh, and Malcolm. In their journals
and letters, written with all the frankness of private friendship, we
see the consistent and ever-watchful saint, but at the same time the
lively talker, the brilliant scholar, and, above all, the genial
companion and even merry comrade. Since he had left Cambridge Henry
Martyn had not enjoyed society like this, able to appreciate his
many-sided gifts, and to call forth his natural joyfulness. In Bombay
we see him at his best all round as man, scholar, saint, and
missionary.
In Sir T.E. Colebrooke's Life of that most eminent Indian statesman who
twice refused the crown of the Governor-General,[39] we find Mountstuart
Elphinstone writing thus to his friend Strachey: 'We have in Mr. Martyn
an excellent scholar, and one of the mildest, cheerfullest, and
pleasantest men I ever saw. He is extremely religious, and disputes
about the faith with the Nakhoda, but talks on all subjects, sacred and
profane, and makes others laugh as heartily as he could do if he were an
infidel. We have people who speak twenty-five languages (not apiece) in
the ship.' Again, in his Journal of July 10, 1811, Elphinstone has this
entry: 'Mr. Martyn has proved a far better companion than I reckoned on,
though my expectations were high. His zeal is unabated, but it is not
troublesome, and he does not press disputes and investigate creeds. He
is familiar with Greek and Latin, understands French and Italian, speaks
Persian and Arabic, has translated the Scriptures into Hindustani, and
is translating the Old Testament from Hebrew. He was an eminent
mathematician even at Cambridge, and, what is of more consequence, he is
a man of good sense and taste, and simple in his manners and character,
and cheerful in his conversation.' He who, in the close intimacy of
shipboard life in the tropics, could win that eulogy from a critic so
lofty and so experienced, must have been at once more human and more
perfect than his secret _Journal_, taken alone, has led its readers to
believe possible.
Sir John Malcolm, fresh from his second mission to Persia, was writing
his great _History of Persia_ in the quiet of Parell and Malabar Hill,
with the help of the invaluable criticism of Sir James Mackintosh,
whom he described to his brother Gilbert as 'a very extraordinary
man.' Malcolm introduced Mackintosh and Elphinstone to each other, and
Elphinstone lost not a day in taking Martyn to call on the Recorder.
Although the distinguished Scots Highlander, who had become the
admiring friend of Robert Hall when they were fellow students at
Aberdeen University, was in full sympathy with missionary enthusiasm,
and condemned the intolerance of the East India Company,[40] Martyn
and he did not at first 'cotton' to each other. The former wrote thus
of him:
_1811, February 22._--Talked a good deal with the Governor about
my intended journey.
_February 23._--Went with him to his residence in the country,
and at night met a large party, amongst whom were Sir J.
Mackintosh and General Malcolm: with Sir James I had some
conversation on different subjects; he was by no means equal to
my expectations.
Mackintosh's account of their first interview was this:
_February 24._ (Sunday.)--Elphinstone introduced me to a young
clergyman called Martyn, come round from Bengal on his way to
Bussora, partly for health and partly to improve his Arabic, as
he is translating the Scriptures into that language. He seems to
be a mild and benevolent enthusiast--a sort of character with
which I am always half in love. We had the novelty of grace
before and after dinner, all the company standing.
Again, a week after:
_March 1._--Mr. Martyn, the saint from Calcutta, called here. He
is a man of acuteness and learning; his meekness is excessive,
and gives a disagreeable impression of effort to conceal the
passions of human nature.
Both had the Celtic fire, but Sir James Mackintosh had not lived with
Sabat. Another month passed, and the two were learning to appreciate
each other.
Padre Martyn, the saint, dined here in the evening; it was a
very considerably more pleasant evening than usual; he is a mild
and ingenious man. We had two or three hours' good discussion on
grammar and metaphysics.
Henry Martyn's growing appreciation of Mackintosh is seen in this
later passage in his _Journal_:
_1811, March 1._--Called on Sir J. Mackintosh, and found his
conversation, as it is generally said to be, very instructive
and entertaining. He thought that the world would be soon
Europeanised, in order that the Gospel might spread over the
world. He observed that caste was broken down in Egypt, and the
Oriental world made Greek by the successors of Alexander, in
order to make way for the religion of Christ. He thought that
little was to be apprehended, and little hoped for, from the
exertions of missionaries. Called at General Malcolm's, and
though I did not find him at home, was very well rewarded for my
trouble in getting to his house, by the company of Mr. ----,
lately from R. Dined at Farish's with a party of some very
amiable and well-behaved young men. What a remarkable difference
between the old inhabitants of India and the new-comers. This is
owing to the number of religious families in England.
_March 4._--Dined at General Malcolm's, who gave me a Chaldee
missal. Captain Stewart, who had accompanied him as his
secretary into Persia, gave me much information about the
learned men of Ispahan.
_March 8._--Spent the first part of the day at General
Malcolm's, who gave me letters of introduction and some queries
respecting the wandering tribes of Persia.
The reference to young Mr. Farish, is to one who afterwards became
interim Governor of Bombay, and the friend of John Wilson, and who,
because he taught a class in the Sunday School that used to meet in
the Town Hall, was for the time an object of suspicion and attack by
the Parsees and Hindus, on the baptism of Dhanjibhai Naoroji, the
first Parsee to put on Christ.[41]
On Malcolm, according to Sir John Kaye, his biographer,[42] the young
Christian hero appears to have made a more favourable impression than
on Mackintosh. Perhaps the habitual cheerfulness of his manner
communicated itself to the 'saint from Calcutta,' of whom he wrote to
Sir Gore Ouseley, the British ambassador, that he was likely to add to
the hilarity of his party.
He requested me to give him a line to the Governor of Bushire,
which I did, as well as one to Mahomed Nebbee Khan. But I warned
him not to move from Bushire without your previous sanction. His
intention is, I believe, to go by Shiraz, Ispahan, and
Kermanshah to Baghdad, and to endeavour on that route to
discover some ancient copies of the Gospel, which he and many
other saints are persuaded lie hid in the mountains of Persia.
Mr. Martyn also expects to improve himself as an Oriental
scholar; he is already an excellent one. His knowledge of Arabic
is superior to that of any Englishman in India. He is altogether
a very learned and cheerful man, but a great enthusiast in his
holy calling. He has, however, assured me, and begged I would
mention it to you, that he has no thought of preaching to the
Persians, or of entering into any theological controversies, but
means to confine himself to two objects--a research after old
Gospels, and the endeavour to qualify himself for giving a
correct version of the Scriptures into Arabic and Persian, on
the plan proposed by the Bible Society.
I have not hesitated to tell him that I thought you would
require that he should act with great caution, and not allow his
zeal to run away with him. He declares he will not, and he is a
man of that character that I must believe. I am satisfied that
if you ever see him, you will be pleased with him. He will give
you grace before and after dinner, and admonish such of your
party as take the Lord's name in vain; but his good sense and
great learning will delight you, whilst his constant
cheerfulness will add to the hilarity of your party.
In such social intercourse in the evening, in constant interviews and
discussions with Jews and Mohammedans, Parsees and Hindus, during the
day, and in frequent preaching for the chaplains, the weeks passed all
too rapidly. A ropemaker who had just arrived from London called on
him. 'He understood from my preaching that he might open his heart to
me. We conversed and prayed together.' Against this and the communion
with young Farish and his fellows, we must set the action of those
whom he thus describes in a letter to Corrie:
_1811, February 26._--Peacefully preaching the Word of life to a
people daily edified is the nearest approach to heaven below.
But to move from place to place, hurried away without having
time to do good, is vexatious to the spirit as well as harassing
to the body. Hearing last Saturday that some sons of Belial,
members of the Bapre Hunt,[43] intended to have a great race the
following day, I informed Mr. Duncan, at whose house I was
staying, and recommended the interference of the secular arm. He
accordingly sent to forbid it. The messengers of the Bapre Hunt
were exceedingly exasperated; some came to church expecting to
hear a sermon against hunting, but I merely preached to them on
'the one thing needful.' Finding nothing to lay hold of, they
had the race on Monday, and ran _Hypocrite_ against _Martha_ and
_Mary_.
His last message to India, from the 'faithful saying' of 1 Timothy i.
15, was misunderstood and resented, as his first sermon in Calcutta
had been in similar circumstances.
_March 24._ (Sunday).--Speaking on the evidence of its truth, I
mentioned its constant efficacy in collecting the multitude, and
commanding their attention, which moral discourses never did.
This was considered as a reflection on the ministers of Bombay,
which distressed me not a little.
Henry Martyn was granted a passage to Arabia and Persia in the
Benares, Captain Sealey, one of the ships of the old Indian Navy,
ordered to cruise along with the Prince of Wales in the Persian Gulf.
At that time the danger was considerable. For a century the Joasmi
Arabs, of 'the pirate coast' of Oman, had been the terror of the
Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, driving off even the early
Portuguese, and confining the Persians, then invulnerable by land, to
their own shores. The Wahabee puritans of Islam having mastered them,
they added to their own bloodthirsty love of plunder and the
slave-trade the fanaticism of Mohammed-ibn-Abdul-Wahab, the 'bestower
of blessings,' as the name signifies. The East India Company tolerated
them, retaining two or three ships of war in the Gulf for the
protection of the factories at Gombroon, Bushire, and Busrah. But, in
an evil moment, in the year 1797, the Joasmi pirates dared to seize a
British vessel. From that hour their fate was sealed, though the
process of clearing the southern coast of Asia of pirates and slavers
ended only with the accession of Queen Victoria, in the year when Aden
was added to the empire. In 1809-10 the Bombay Government expedition,
under Commodore John Wainwright, captured their stronghold of
Ras-ul-Khymah, delivered our feudatory of Muscat from their terrorism,
and gave the Gulf peace for ten years. The two ships of war which
conveyed the chaplain missionary with his message of peace to Eastern
Arabia and Persia were sent to complete the work of the Wainwright
expedition,[44] which had been summoned by Lord Minto to the conquest
of Java. Henry Martyn acted as chaplain to the forty-five sailors and
twelve artillerymen who formed the European part of the crew of the
Benares. After two days at Muscat he tells the story of his voyage:
TO LYDIA GRENFELL
Muscat: April 22, 1811.
My dearest Lydia,--I am now in Arabia Felix: to judge from the
aspect of the country it has little pretensions to the name,
unless burning barren rocks convey an idea of felicity; but
perhaps as there is a promise in reserve for the sons of Joktan,
their land may one day be blest indeed.
We sailed from Bombay on Lady-day; and on the morning of Easter
saw the land of Mekran in Persia. After another week's sail
across the mouth of the Gulf, we arrived here, and expect to
proceed up the Gulf to Bushire, as soon as we have taken in our
water. You will be happy to learn that the murderous pirates
against whom we were sent, having received notice of our
approach, are all got out of the way, so that I am no longer
liable to be shot in a battle, or to decapitation after it, if
it be lawful to judge from appearances. These pestilent
Ishmaelites indeed, whose hand is against every man's, will
escape, and the community suffer, but that selfish friendship of
which you once confessed yourself guilty, will think only of
the preservation of a friend. This last marine excursion has
been the pleasantest I ever made, as I have been able to pursue
my studies with less interruption than when ashore. My little
congregation of forty or fifty Europeans does not try my
strength on Sundays; and my two companions are men who read
their Bible every day. In addition to all these comforts, I have
to bless God for having kept me more than usually free from the
sorrowful mind. We must not always say with Watts, 'The sorrows
of the mind be banished from the place;' but if freedom from
trouble be offered us, we may choose it rather. I do not know
anything more delightful than to meet with a Christian brother,
where only strangers and foreigners were expected. This pleasure
I enjoyed just before leaving Bombay; a ropemaker who had just
come from England, understood from my sermon that I was one he
might speak to, so he came and opened his heart, and we rejoiced
together. In this ship I find another of the household of faith.
In another ship which accompanies us there are two Armenians who
do nothing but read the Testament. One of them will I hope
accompany me to Shiraz in Persia, which is his native country.
We are likely to be detained here some days, but the ship that
will carry our letters to India sails immediately, so that I can
send but one letter to England, and one to Calcutta. When will
our correspondence be established? I have been trying to effect
it these six years, and it is only yet in train. Why there was
no letter from you in those dated June and July 1810, I cannot
conjecture, except that you had not received any of mine, and
would write no more. But I am not yet without hopes that a
letter in the beloved hand will yet overtake me somewhere. My
kindest and most affectionate remembrances to all the Western
circle. Is it because he is your brother that I love George so
much? or because he is the last come into the number? The
angels love and wait upon the righteous who need no repentance;
but there is joy whenever another heir of salvation is born into
the family. Read Eph. i. I cannot wish you all these spiritual
blessings, since they already are all yours; but I pray that we
may have the spirit of wisdom and knowledge to know that they
are ours. It is a chapter I keep in mind every day in prayer. We
cannot believe too much or hope too much. Happy our eyes that
they see, and our ears that they hear.
As it may be a year or more before I shall be back, you may
direct one letter after receiving this, if it be not of a very
old date, to Bombay, all after to Bengal, as usual. Believe me
to be ever, my dearest Lydia, your most affectionate,
H. MARTYN.
_April 22._--Landed at Muscat with Lockett and walked through
the bazaar; we wished to ascend one of the hills in the
neighbourhood, but on the native guards expressing
disapprobation, we desisted.
We turn to her _Diary_ for the corresponding passage.
_1812, February 1._--Heard yesterday from,[45] and wrote to-day
to, India. My conviction of being declining in spiritual life is
deeper and deeper. I would stop and pause at what is before me.
It is no particular outward sin, but an inward loss I mourn.
Every word of Henry Martyn's _Journal_ regarding Arabia is precious,
alike in the light of his attempt to give its people the Word of God
in their own tongue, and of the long delayed and too brief efforts of
his successors, Ion Keith-Falconer in Yemen in 1887, and Bishop French
in Muscat in 1891. To David Brown, all unknowing of his death, he
wrote on April 23:
I left India on Lady-day, looked at Persia on Easter Sunday, and
seven days after found myself in Arabia Felix. In a small cove,
surrounded by bare rocks, heated through, out of the reach of
air as well as wind, lies the good ship Benares, in the great
cabin of which, stretched on a couch, lie I. But though weak I
am well--relaxed but not disordered. Praise to His grace who
fulfils to me a promise which I have scarcely a right to
claim--'I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither
thou goest.'
Last night I went ashore for the first time with Captain
Lockett; we walked through the bazaar and up the hill, but saw
nothing but what was Indian or worse. The Imam or Sultan is
about thirty miles off, fighting, it is said, for his kingdom,
with the Wahabees.
You will be happy to learn that the pirates whom we were to
scourge are got out of our way, so that I may now hope to get
safe through the Gulf without being made to witness the bloody
scenes of war.
_April 24._--Went with one English party and two Armenians and
an Arab who served as guard and guide, to see a remarkable pass
about a mile from the town, and a garden planted by a Hindu in a
little valley beyond. There was nothing to see, only the little
bit of green in this wilderness seemed to the Arab a great
curiosity. I conversed a good deal with him, but particularly
with his African slave, who was very intelligent about religion.
The latter knew as much about his religion as most mountaineers,
and withal was so interested, that he would not cease from his
argument till I left the shore.
To Corrie he wrote on the same day:
The Imam of Muscat murdered his uncle, and sits on the throne in
the place of his elder brother, who is here a cipher. Last
night the Captain went ashore to a council of state, to consider
the relations subsisting between the Government of Bombay and
these mighty chieftains. I attended as interpreter. The
Company's agent is an old Hindu who could not get off his bed.
An old man in whom pride and stupidity seemed to contend for
empire sat opposite to him. This was the Wazeer. Between them
sat I, opposite to me the Captain. The Wazeer uttered something
in Arabic, not one word of which could I understand. The old
Hindu explained in Persian, for he has almost forgot his Hindi,
and I to the Captain in English. We are all impatient to get
away from this place.
To the last he was busy with his Arabic translation of Scripture. The
ships of war crossed and recrossed the Gulf from shore to shore,
surveying its coasts and islands in the heat of May, tempered by a
north-wester which tossed them about. On May 6 he wrote in his
_Journal_:
Much cast down through a sinful propensity, which I little
thought was in me at all, till occasion manifested its
existence.
On the 19th:
Preached to the ship's company on John iii. 3. My thoughts so
much on Lydia, whose old letter I had been reading the day
before, that I had a sense of guilt for having neglected the
proper duties of the day.
_May 20._--We have now a fair wind, carrying us gently to
Bushire.
_May 22._--Finished the syllabus of Ecclesiastical History which
I have been making all the voyage, and extracts from Mosheim
concerning the Eastern Church.
On May 21, 1811, Henry Martyn at last reached Persian soil.
Landed at Bushire this morning in good health; how unceasing are
the mercies of the Lord; blessed be His goodness; may He still
preserve me from danger, and, above all, make my journey a
source of future good to this kingdom of Persia, into which I am
now come. We were hospitably received by the acting Resident. In
the evening I walked out by the sea-side to recollect myself, to
review the past, and look forward to the future.
Suffering the will of God is as necessary a part of spiritual
discipline as doing, and much more trying.
But he landed still with the desire 'to go to Arabia circuitously by
way of Persia,' a course which he declared to be rendered necessary by
the advanced state of the season. The people of Arabia were first in
his heart.
FOOTNOTES:
[39] In two volumes (John Murray), 1884, see p. 231, vol. i.
[40] _Memoirs_, edited by his son, second edition, London (Moxon),
1836. See vol. ii. pp. 86, 268.
[41] _The Life of John Wilson, D.D., F.R.S._ (John Murray), 2nd edit.,
p. 137.
[42] _Life and Correspondence_, vol. ii. p. 65 (Smith, Elder & Co.),
1856.
[43] _Bap·re_ = 'O Father!' the exclamation of Hindus when in surprise
or grief; hence a noise or row; hence a Bobbery-pack or hunt is the
Anglo-Indian for a pack of hounds of different breeds, or no breed,
wherewith young officers hunt jackals or the like. See the late
Colonel Sir Henry Yule's _Hobson-Jobson, or Anglo-Indian Glossary_
(John Murray), 1886.
[44] C.R. Low's _History of the Indian Navy_, chapter x. vol. i.
(Richard Bentley), 1877.
[45] By letter written April 22 or June 23, 1811.