FOR THE LOVE OF INDIA
The Story of Henry Martyn
By Jim Cromarty . Evangelical Press. 384 pages. £9.95
ISBN 0 85234 598 4
He died of tuberculosis at the age of 31, in a distant land, after an enormous contribution to the gospel. This alone surely makes Henry Martyn deserving of attention.
If you want an extremely readable life of this missionary translator, in a book which is delightfully presented, you have it here. Ideal for all ages.
Henry Martyn served as chaplain, employed by the East India Company. Many sacrifices were made before he set sail for India. He left behind the great love of his life Lydia Grenfell, who wasn’t prepared to accompany him. His experiences of verbal persecution, in the form of scorn and mockery, began the day he boarded ship, and lasted throughout his short life in India and Persia.
The voyage was made almost unbearable throughout by sea sickness. Cromarty depicts, with great vividness, many exhausting and fever ridden journeys by mule, in temperatures well over 100 degrees. It soon becomes evident that the tuberculosis, which took his mother and two sisters, was beginning to make its claim on Martyn’s life. But on he went, to incredible lengths. In spite of all this, his saintliness and close walk with God shone through, and his brilliant intellect enabled him to give to the people of India, Persia and Arabia the Scriptures in their own language.
Martyn said he wanted to ‘burn out for God’‚ words which are not often heard in a sophisticated Christian society. As we read, may some of the fire be caught by us.
Margaret McNabb,
Littleworth Evangelical Church, Stafford
