We have another proof of the reality of religion, and the truth of the Divine promises, in the manner in which Martyn was enabled to persist in his object, in circumstances which would have induced any other person, than a Christian, to abandon it in despair. There he stood almost alone, surrounded by idolaters and Mohammedans, who ridiculed his attempts to enlighten them; and were not moved by all his arguments for the religion of Christ. The English who were settled there, were engaged in trade: and it was a great object with them, that the natives should be kept ignorant, that they might be more easily managed in business concerns. Of course, they would not countenance the plans of Mr. Martyn, and scarcely treated him with respect. So solitary was he, amidst persons so different in feeling from himself, that happening to meet a poor Jew from Babylon, he said he “felt all the tenderness of a kinsman towards him, and found himself, as it were, at home with an Asiatic, who acknowledged the God of Abraham.” Another source of consolation, known only to the true follower of Christ, is thus intimated by him: “O how shall I sufficiently praise my God, that here in this solitude, with people enough, indeed, but without a saint, I yet feel fellowship with all those who, in every place, call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I see myself travelling on with them, and I hope I shall worship with them in His courts above!”
Notwithstanding these obstacles, such was his conviction of the truth of the gospel, and that it was his duty to persevere, that the time passed away rapidly. The nature of the support and consolations, which he received, may be judged of from his own expressions, such as these:
“I felt more, entirely withdrawn from the world, than for a long time past: what a dark atheistical state do I generally live in! Alas! that this creation should so engross my mind, and the author of it be so slightly and coldly regarded. I found myself, at this time, truly a stranger and a pilgrim in the world; and I did suppose that not a wish remained for any thing here. The experience of my heart was delightful. I enjoyed a peace that passeth all understanding; no desire remained, but that this peace might be confirmed and increased. O why should any thing draw away my attention, whilst Thou art ever near, and ever accessible through the Son of Thy love? O why do I not always walk with God, forgetful of a vain and perishable world? Amazing patience! He bears with this faithless, foolish heart, and suffers me to come, laden with sins, to receive new pardon, new grace, every day. Why does not such love make me hate those sins which grieve him, and hide him from my sight? I sometimes make vain resolutions, in my own strength, that I will think of God. Reason, and scripture, and experience, teach me that such a life is happiness and holiness; that by ‘beholding his glory,’ I should be changed ‘into his image, from glory to glory,’ and be freed from those anxieties which make me unhappy: and that, every motive to duty being strong, obedience would be easy.”
He established, at his own expense, five schools for the children of the natives, in Dinapore, and some neighbouring places. We suppose that these schools were intended to enable the children to read and write their own language, and to receive instruction in the Christian religion, so that they might not grow up in ignorance and idolatry like their parents. There are two great reasons why this course is, in all cases, the most proper. First, because, if the mind is enlightened by education, it is hard to persuade a person to believe in superstitions. And the second reason is, that almost all the feelings and beliefs that men have, are the same that have been impressed on them in youth, and have been established in some degree by the power of habit. It is, therefore, of the highest importance, that the earliest habits of a child should be good; and that its instructions should be in the truth; for, in almost all cases, such a child will, by the blessing of God, retain his good habits and instructions, and have them, at length, eternally fixed by religion. This is the sense of the saying of Solomon—“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
We find the following reflections in Martyn’s diary of the 1st of January, 1807:
“Seven years have passed away since I was first called of God. Before the conclusion of another seven years, how probable is it, that these hands will have mouldered into dust! But be it so: my soul, through grace, hath received the assurance of eternal life, and I see the days of my pilgrimage shortening, without a wish to add to their number. But O, may I be stirred up to a faithful discharge of my high and awful work; and, laying aside, as much as may be, all carnal cares and studies, may I give myself to this ‘one thing.’ The last has been a year to be remembered by me, because the Lord has brought me safely to India, and permitted me to begin, in one sense, my missionary work. My trials in it have been very few: every thing has turned out better than I expected; loving-kindness and tender-mercies, have attended me at every step: therefore, here will I sing his praise. I have been an unprofitable servant but the Lord hath not cut me off: I have been wayward and perverse, yet he has brought me further on the way to Zion: here, then, with seven-fold gratitude and affection, would I stop and devote myself to the blissful service of my adorable Lord. May he continue his patience, his grace, his direction, his spiritual influences, and I shall at last surely come off conqueror! May he speedily open my mouth, to make known the mysteries of the gospel, and in great mercy grant that the heathen may receive it and live!”
In February 1807, Mr. Martyn finished the translation of the Episcopal Prayer-book into the Hindoostanee; and on Sunday, March 15th, used it in public worship for the first time, concluding with a short address in that language. About this time, he also completed his translation and explanation of the Parables of our Saviour, which he intended, principally, for the use of the schools, but postponed for a while, lest it should excite so much prejudice as to break up the schools entirely. Every Sunday, he held divine service at seven in the morning for the English people, and at two in the afternoon for the natives; after which he visited the sick in the hospital, and held a prayer-meeting at his own house in the evening, for some soldiers of the army, who were willing to attend. These plans were pursued under much discouragement; the following is the diary of one Sunday:
“The English service, at seven in the morning. I preached on Luke xxii. 22. As is always the case when I preach about Christ, a spiritual influence was diffused over my soul. The rest of the morning, till dinner time, I spent, not unprofitably, in reading scripture, and David Brainerd, and in prayer. That dear saint of God, David Brainerd, is truly a man after my own heart. Although I cannot go half-way with him in spirituality and devotion, I cordially unite with him in such of his holy breathings as I have attained unto. How sweet and wise, like him and the saints of old, to pass through this world as a serious and considerate stranger. I have had more of this temper to-day than of late, and every duty has been in harmony with my spirit. The service in Hindoostanee was at two o’clock. The number of women not above one hundred. I expounded chapter iii. of St. Matthew. Notwithstanding the general apathy with which they seemed to receive every thing, there were two or three who, I was sure, understood and felt something. But, beside the women, not a single creature, European or native, was present. Yet true spirituality, with all its want of attraction for the carnal heart, did prevail over the splendid shows of Greece and Rome, and shall again here. A man at the hospital much refreshed me, by observing, that if I made an acquisition of but one convert in my whole life, it would be a rich reward; and that I was taking the only possible way to this end.”
There were, however, some of the officers, who evinced serious feelings; and one was brought to embrace the offers of salvation. Martyn longed for the time when he should be qualified to go into the midst of the Hindoos with the gospel. “O,” said he, in a letter to Mr. Corrie, missionary at another station, “that the time were come that I should be able to carry the war into the enemy’s territory. It will be a severe trial to the flesh, my dear brother, for us both;—but it is sufficient for the disciple to be as his master, and the servant as his Lord. We shall be ‘accounted as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things.’ But glory be to God, if we shall be accounted worthy to suffer shame for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
His journal of a trip to Monghir, about a hundred miles distant, shows the distress he felt, because his zeal was not greater, and because he was not so holy and spiritual as he desired to be. He had, no doubt, just reasons for lamenting many neglected opportunities for doing good, and for deploring the many wanderings of his heart from God; but we are not to understand that he was outwardly wicked or careless, when he speaks of his condition in such strong language.