of another. Being advised to learn Sanscrit, he took up
this language with great zeal. The commencement of Mr. Martyn's
ministry amongst the Europeans of Singapore was not of such a kind as
to either gratify or encourage him. At first he read prayers to the
soldiers at the barracks from the drumhead, and as there were no seats
provided, was desired to omit the sermon. Afterwards more decent
arrangements being made, the families came in; but taking offense at
his evangelical plainness, they asked that he should desist from
extempore preaching. These European members of his flock were jealous
and angry at his constant efforts for the salvation of the heathen
natives. They thought it much beneath the dignity of an English
chaplain to care for these degraded souls. Some of Mr. Martyn's duties
as chaplain were exceedingly onerous. On several occasions he was
summoned to distant places involving long and dangerous journeys to
perform a marriage ceremony. On these journeys he suffered severely,
and they were a great draft upon his very delicate health; always weak
and languid, and often alarmingly disordered. Yet through all he
continued to labor incessantly. Every Sabbath he held at least four
services: at 7 for Europeans; at 2 for Hindoos, about two hundred in
attendance; in the afternoon at the hospital; in the evening in his
own room for the soldiers. In his household were two natives who
assisted in his studies and translations, the Moonshee and the Pundit,
with whom he held long disputes and with whom he labored daily, though
unsuccessfully, to bring them to faith in Christ. He says,
"translating the epistle of St. John with the Moonshee, I asked him
what he thought of those passages which so strongly express the
doctrines of the Trinity and of the divinity of Christ. He said he
never would believe it, because the Koran declared it sinful to say
that God had any Son. I told him that he ought to pray that God would
teach him what the truth really is. He said he had no occasion on this
subject, as the word of God was express. I asked him whether some
doubt ought not to arise in his mind whether the Koran is the word of
God. He grew angry, and I felt hurt and vexed. I should have done
better to have left the words of the chapter with him without saying
anything. I went also too far with the Pundit in arguing against his
superstition, for he also grew angry." If any qualification seems
necessary to a missionary in India it i