bout doing it.
They said they would not come if so much hell was preached, but I took
for my text, 'The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations
that forget God.' The officers were all behind my back in order to
have an opportunity of retiring in case of dislike. H., as soon as he
heard the text, went back and said he would hear no more about hell;
so he employed himself in feeding the geese. However, God I trust
blessed the sermon to the good of many; some of the cadets and many of
the soldiers were in tears. I felt an ardor and vehemence in some
parts which are unusual with me. After service walked the deck with
Mrs. ----; she spoke with so much simplicity and amiable humility that
I was full of joy and admiration to God for a sheep brought home to
His fold. In the afternoon went below intending to read to them at the
hatchway, but there was not one of them, so I could get nothing to do
among the poor soldiers."

What a picture revealing Henry Martyn's character!--the contrasting
attributes of sternness and gentleness, his martyrlike determination
to do his whole duty at any cost to himself from suffering and insult,
the keen shrinking of a nature so refined and sensitive from
coarseness and abuse, undeviating yet uncompromising, bringing to our
thoughts the Divine Exemplar. I pass by the incidents of the voyage,
including mutiny, sickness and death, romantic stay at St. Salvador,
battles at the Cape of Good Hope, etc., eloquently and vividly
recorded.

The Friday preceding his arrival in India he spends "in praying that
God would no longer delay exerting his power in the conversion of the
eastern nations. I felt emboldened" he says, "to employ the most
familiar petitions by Is. xii. 6, 7, 'Keep not silence; give him no
rest,' etc. Blessed be God for those words! They are like a cordial to
my spirits, because if the Lord is not pleased by me or during my
lifetime to call the Gentiles, yet He is not offended at my being
urgent with Him that the kingdom of God may come."

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 shudde