LETTERS TO LYDIA
‘Beloved Persis’
By Barbara Eaton
Hypatia Publications (01736 366597, http://www.hypatia-trust.org.uk)
410 pages. £12.50
ISBN1 872229 54 9
Henry Martyn was converted while studying at Cambridge, and influenced by the great evangelical preacher Charles Simeon. Originally determined to go to India as a missionary, he was compelled by family responsibilities to accept the post of chaplain with the East India Company. He left in 1805.
‘I have nothing to do here, but to labour as a stranger, and, by secret prayer and outward exertion, do as much as possible for the Church of Christ and my own soul till my eyes close in death’, he wrote on the voyage. Within a few short years he became one of the most significant Bible translators in Asia. He served at military posts, but also established schools and translated the New Testament into Urdu, Persian and Arabic. In 1811 he went to Persia, where he engaged in significant debates with Islamic scholars. He died, aged just 31, in 1812. His journal became a spiritual classic; his life and writing inspired many to commit themselves to mission.
