eath
of our father you know I was extremely low spirited, and like most
other people began to consider seriously without any particular
determination, that invisible world to which he was gone and to which
I must one day go. Soon I began to attend more diligently to the words
of our Savior in the New Testament, and to devour them with delight,
when the offers of mercy and forgiveness were made so freely; I
supplicated to be made partaker of the covenant of grace with
eagerness and hope, and thanks be to the ever-blessed Trinity for not
leaving me without comfort!" How cheering to his sister it must have
been to receive at a moment of deep sorrow such a communication as
this! How salutary to his own mind to have possessed so near a
relation to whom he could thus freely open the workings of his heart.
At this time he also received great benefit from attendance on the
faithful ministry of Rev. Charles Simeon, under whose pastoral
instructions he himself declares that he "gradually acquired more
knowledge in divine things." With this excellent man he had the most
friendly and unreserved intercourse. Mr. Martyn received his first
impressions of the transcendent excellence of the Christian ministry
of Mr. Simeon, from which it was but a short step to choose this
calling for his own, for until now he had intended to devote himself
to the law "chiefly," he confesses, "because he could not consent to
be poor for Christ's sake."

In January, 1801, the highest academical honor, that of "senior
wrangler," was awarded to him before the completion of his twentieth
year. His description of his feelings on this occasion is remarkable:
"I obtained my highest wishes, but was surprised to find that I had
grasped a shadow." So impossible it is for earthly distinction to fill
and satisfy the mind.

In March, 1802, after another rigid examination, Mr. Martyn was chosen
Fellow of St. Johns, a situation honorable to the society and
gratifying to himself. Soon after he obtained first prize for best
Latin prose composition over many competitors of classical celebrity,
and this was the more remarkable, as his studies had been almost
entirely in mathematics.

Henry Martyn's attention was called to the great cause of Foreign
Missions by some remarks of Rev. Mr. Simeon on the work of Carey in
India, but more particularly by reading the memoir of David Brainerd,
who preached with apostolic zeal and success to the North American
Indians, and who