I hold in my hand an album adorned with pictures of missionaries, my brethren and sisters, the ambassadors of the King. On one of the first pages is "the tomb of Henry Martyn," given me by Dr. Van Lennep, who had just visited the sacred spot and described it vividly. When I turn the pages of my album and come to this, I pause with reverence and the overflowings of deep and tender emotion, and my mind adds other pictures, both terrestrial and celestial, to the one upon the page.

This biography of Henry Martyn, the linguist, scholar and missionary to India and Persia in the 19th century, presents the facts of his life as objectively as possible. The text draws on Henry's journals and letters as well as the work of contemporary biographers.

Henry Martyn was born in Cornwall in 1781. Following a brilliant academic career at Cambridge University, he was ordained in 1803 as curate to Charles Simeon. He was not accepted by the Church Missionary Society, however, and was disappointed again when his proposal of marriage was rejected. In 1805, he sailed to Calcutta, India, as chaplain to the East India Company. His outstanding linguistic gifts enabled him to translate he New Testament into Hindustani. He nearly died in 1809 due to incipient tuberculosis; but the Lord spared him, and he traveled to Shiraz, Persia (modern-day Iran), the following year. He completed Arabic and Persian translations of the New Testament while there. He died in 1812 while traveling back to England. He was buried in Tokat, Armenia. His journals were returned to England and remain classics of devotional literature.

April 21, 1806, the nine months' journey is complete, and they land at Madras. Mr. Martyn gives first impressions and description of the natives, ending in these words: "In general, one thought naturally occurred: the conversion of their poor souls. I am willing, I trust, through grace, to pass my life among them if by any means these poor people may be brought to God. The sight of men, women and children, all idolaters, makes me shudder as if in the dominions of the prince of darkness. Hearing the hymn, 'Before Jehovah's awful throne, ' it excited a train of affecting thoughts in my mind."

Arguably the most influential missionary biography of the 19th century, Sargent's study of Henry Martyn (1781-1812) tells how he put the work of evangelism and Bible translation in India before the prizes his brilliant Cambridge career had opened to him.

Excerpt from Life of Henry Martyn: Missionary to India and Persia, 1781 to 1812 I hold in my hand an album adorned with pictures of missionaries, my brethren and sisters, the ambassadors of the King. On one of the first pages is "the tomb of Henry Martyn," given me by Dr. Van Lennep, who had just visited the sacred spot and described it vividly. When I turn the pages of my album and come to this, I pause with reverence and the overflowings of deep and tender emotion, and my mind adds other pictures, both terrestrial and celestial, to the one upon the page. My own missionary life as the companion of him whom Dr. Perkins called "the later Henry Martyn," was spent in Henry Martyn's Persia. They were alike I think in many things, these two Persian evangelists, and also in their deaths. When they passed out of the Tabriz gate, journeying homeward after a course of illness in the fated city, for each it was a quick ascent, a painful translation, to the heavenly city with abundant entrance and the Master's "well done" - in heaven; and on earth, a foreign grave taking possession for Christ, as the Nestorians reverently say, with "white stones still speaking out." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.