HENRY MARTYN: CONFESSOR OF THE FAITH, by Constance E. Padwick. London: Student Christian Movement, 32 Russell Square, W.C. 1. Price 5s net.
This is the first of a series of biographies of famous missionaries which the Student Christian Movement publication department is issuing. Who has ever read Henry Martyn’s life without being moved to the very depths of his being? There is something deeply moving in seeing this brilliant young student, with gifts of mind of the very highest order, leaving the peace and comforts that these great intellectual gifts were sure to procure for him at home, and laying the treasures of his mind at the feet of Christ to carry the tidings of His name to the darkened hearts of India. With a constitution as delicate as the tenderest plant, he endured hardships that seem incredible. His soul was aflame with love to Christ, and whether in the company of the great or lowly, the uniform testimony was that for once they had met with a saint. The story of his long, last, sad journey to Persia with his translation of the New Testament into Persian, and then the homeward journey towards England by this weak and dying man is full of pathos. Henry Martyn never saw his beloved England after he left in 1805. He died at Tokat, in Asia Minor, 1816. The story of this remarkable life is told in a very interesting way by Miss Constance Padwick. Our author is the fortunate possessor of a literary style of distinction. At the same time we feel that the fascinating story she has to tell would have lost nothing if it were stripped of some of its literary embellishments.