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James Chalmers and Henry Martyn
by Michael Carter
Michael Carter is a 2009 graduate of BSWE who wrote this paper in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the missions in history course.
The lives of missionaries James Chalmers and Henry Martyn, when analytically poised side-by-side, are found to have been quite different from one another. One was a pioneer missionary to the cannibalistic peoples of the South Pacific islands; the other, a missionary genius who spent his very short life translating the Bible into multiple languages. One might ask, “How did these men differ?” The defining characteristics of these two men’s lives will be thoroughly discussed in the pages to follow. Delve into the annals of missions – hold on tight, and enjoy the ride – this ship is headed for the remote islands of the South Pacific, and the ancient window of South Central Asia!
James Chalmers was a pioneer missionary at heart. “Bringing the gospel to unreached areas was ever his passion....”[1] It could be said of him that he had a passionate zeal for going further – for pressing ahead. “[Chalmers] wanted to evangelize where the gospel had never been preached—where he would have ‘direct contact with the heathen’…His heart was set on reaching the vast unexplored regions of New Guinea....”[2]
At a time in the South Pacific when missionaries were not looked upon highly by the native peoples (except as delicious-looking meat), this quote says differently about James. “Chalmers, known affectionately by the natives as ‘Tamate,’ was ‘the least conventional of missionaries, able to make friends with men of every type and to command their respect.’”[3]
James Chalmers was born in 1841 in Ardrishaig, Scotland. As a boy in school, James was a leader in all sports, and had a natural ambition to excel in mischievous and daring deeds.
So irrepressible was his love of fun that his mother was in constant fear when he was out of her sight. Twice was he taken home to all appearance drowned. At the age of fourteen he formed a Robin Hood Band and successfully led it to many queer exploits. When still a stripling he saved four lives from drowning.[4]
Although his parents were members of the Established Church of Scotland, James attended the United Presbyterian Sunday school. One Sunday, when James was fifteen years old, the pastor addressed the school on mission work in the Fiji Islands, and in closing said, “I wonder if there is any lad here who will yet become a missionary. Is there one who will go to the heathen and to savages and tell them of God and His love?” Chalmers said, “I will” (to himself); and on the way home he went behind a stone wall, knelt down, and vowed to serve Christ. This vow of missionary service, however, was soon forgotten. [5] It wasn’t until some years later that James came under deep conviction of the Holy Spirit, and was converted. He then remembered the vow he had made to missions; that of serving Christ with his life. From this point on, Chalmers was not a man to live a defensive Christian life. He was always active – always on the move. He immediately joined the United Presbyterian Church and became a Sunday school teacher. He devoted himself to evangelistic work. “After office hours he held meetings in houses throughout the town and neighbourhood, and was the means of awakening many. With such ardour did he pursue this kind of work that his health was injured for a time.” [6] He then decided to become a city missionary. His work as a city missionary was very rewarding, as many came to know Christ; his Bible class had 130 members; and all the services he held were well attended. Chalmers soon came into contact with the London Missionary Society, and after being accepted by them, he was sent to Cheshunt College for training. “He took enthusiastically to all kinds of mission work, visiting diligently the poor and aged, and preaching in the open air. On one occasion he courageously addressed a crowd of gin-drinking holiday-makers at the famous Rye House.” [7] It is quite obvious that James Chalmers made the most of his preparation and time of training before his departure for the field. He actively involved himself in the work of the Lord.
James Chalmers started his full-time missionary career on the island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, and ended on the island of New Guinea. Though he is known as one of the greatest nineteenth-century missionaries to New Guinea,[8] he spent the first ten years of his missionary life in the Cook Islands. The London Missionary Society sent Chalmers and his wife to Rarotonga, in the South Seas. “On the 20th of May, 1867, seventeen months after leaving London, they reached Rarotonga, and began their labours with as much courage and earnestness as if nothing had happened to hinder their journey or damp their ardour.”[9] After ten years in Rarotonga, the Chalmers left for New Guinea, via New Zealand and Sydney, Australia. James Chalmers’ entire missionary career took place between the islands of Rarotonga, and New Guinea.
James Chalmers’ philosophy of ministry centered around whole-hearted devotion to God. His life was a life of sacrifice. When Jane, his wife, became extremely ill and died on her way to Australia for medical attention, the grief he bore only seemed to motivate him to greater dedication to God’s service. “He vowed to bury his ‘sorrow in work for Christ,’ recognizing similar sacrifices native teachers had made.”[10] Chalmers was all about bringing the gospel to unreached peoples who had never heard. Since the day of his salvation, James Chalmers was set on fire for the Lord, to do the work of His ministry with a deep passion and zeal.
James Chalmers implored the use of unconventional, but effective methods of ministry. He was not one to follow the typical “missionary protocol” of the age in which he ministered.
He brought gifts to the people and freely accepted gifts from them. He gladly joined in their feasts, declining only when human flesh was being served. In an age when most missionaries were still wearing long black coats and top hats, he dressed casually and felt at ease with the native people. Although he was deficient in language skills, he made up for his weakness by a nonverbal communication of love.[11]
Chalmers was an innate explorer. He longed to make various exploratory trips into uncharted territories in New Guinea, to share the gospel with the natives. His attitude toward the people was that of a peacemaker – having hoped that his mere presence among the sundry tribal communities could have helped prevent bloodshed.
James Chalmers’ ministry as missionary and explorer in the South Seas lasted just over twenty years. Having spent ten years in the “preparatory” stage of his missionary career on the island of Rarotonga, Chalmers was restlessly moved toward the desire of reaching the unreached peoples of New Guinea. He and his wife, Jane, moved to New Guinea without the interruption of a furlough. In fact, Chalmers refrained from taking any furlough at all until he had spent nearly twenty years in the South Seas!
The total amount of time James Chalmers spent in the field from the day he set sail for Rarotonga, to the day he was killed-in-action, was just over twenty years.
Though James Chalmers passed through a torrent of difficulties, problems and/or persecutions, his mind was set “…on things above, not on things on the earth.”[12] Even on the ship John Williams, the Chalmers experienced hardship. Their voyage from London to Rarotonga became an eighteen month journey. Chalmers and his wife were catapulted into real-life missions with successive harrowing accounts of torrential weather; multiple near-shipwrecks; and “common” difficulties encountered on long voyages of that era. Chalmers not only endured the death of his first wife, Jane; but the death of his second wife as well. Both wives died of jungle fever, not having had the proper medicine available to cure the deadly disease. Though these deaths would seem to have had a negative impact on the life and ministry of James Chalmers, the opposite is true. His sorrow for the loss of their lives only magnified his zeal for reaching the lost.[13] Scanning over a lifetime of hardships, one would find Chalmers death to have been the most notably horrific.
He and a young colleague, Oliver Tomkins, were on an exploratory trip along the coast of New Guinea in the Fly River region, an area known for ferocious cannibals. The men went ashore; …a search party went in and came out with the grisly news. Chalmers and Tomkins had been clubbed to death, chopped into pieces, cooked and eaten before the search party even arrived. It was a shocking incident that stunned the Christian world, but one that Chalmers himself had always been prepared to endure.[14]
James Chalmers led a life “marred” with sacrifice and self-denial, which is un-picturesque in the modern Christian’s view of life purpose; but had its own bounty of heavenly rewards.
The measured success of the life of James Chalmers’ according to Almighty God lay with the thought – he has done My will, not his own; and according to man, the list of particulars is very long.
He had a way with people that few other missionaries could match…It was this attitude [of love] that “won the heart of Robert Louis Stevenson, and turned him from a hater of missionaries into a steadfast support of their work…” …Within five years after he came [to New Guinea] he could find “no cannibal ovens, no feasts, no human flesh, no desire for skulls” in the region in which he worked. Instead, the heathen temples were packed out for gospel services—sometimes continuing all through the night. The natives that Chalmers worked with genuinely loved him and were not hesitant to express their feelings openly.[15]
James Chalmers turned the heart of a nation, the ways of a barbaric people, and the lives of Christians around the world.
Opposite the shadow of the afore-studied James Chalmers, pioneer missionary / adventuresome explorer, stands one Henry Martyn, highly educated missionary / Bible translator extremist; whose short, abrupt missionary career contrasts the longevity of Chalmers’. Though the two lived at the opposite poles of the same century and vast differences may be assessed from the correlation of their lives, one similarity takes root – both men were consumed with an unquenchable passion for performing the will of God in their lives. In the continuation of this writing, take note as to the differences in God’s men. Though the disparities may be many, the truth remains that both men were vessels formed from the very hand of the Potter. While different in certain aspects, both vessels served the same purpose in the use of their Maker.
Henry Martyn was a bold, zealous Christian missionary who wanted nothing short of offering God the greatest amount of glory he could possibly bestow. Martyn was very strong-willed. Ingrained in his personality was the trait of determination. He is quoted as having said at the approximate age of twenty-six, “Now, let me burn out for God.”[16] Though he fell in love soon after he had determinably chosen a life of celibacy, he decided not to be deterred from God’s will for his life. He obeyed God fully, even to the extent of leaving his “love,” and sailing for India. One would be hard-pressed, in this epoch, to find a missionary, much less a Christian even, of the same caliber as the Henry Martyn of old.
Henry Martyn was unarguably primed for his particular window of missionary work. Born as a young child in 1781, Henry grew up in the town of Cornwall, England. Martyn’s keen merchant father was aware of his son’s talents, and supplied for his gifted nature. He enjoyed schooling thoroughly, and after finishing his formal training, Martyn went on to Cambridge, where he graduated with top honors in mathematics. Though he turned his back on God during his youthful stage, he was compelled to turn to God through a series of events that occurred during the latter part of his college years.
The death of his father, the prayers of his sister, the counsel of a saintly minister, and the written words of David Brainerd united to bring him into submission to God, and only then did he begin contemplating foreign missions. David Brainerd’s sacrificial example and William Carey’s pioneering efforts in India were a powerful source of inspiration, and soon foreign missions became his single objective.[17]
Martyn spent many hours each day in prayer and devotion to God. “Let me [Martyn] forget the world and be swallowed up in a desire to glorify God.”[18] Before he ever stepped foot on foreign soil as a full-time missionary, Henry Martyn practiced certain neglected doctrines such as sacrifice and self-denial. The bulk of Martyn’s pre-field experience could be summed up with two ideals – continual learning (education), and whole-hearted devotion to God (worship).
Henry Martyn was directed by God to the mission fields of ancient South Central Asia – India and Persia. Martyn was first directed to the country of India as a chaplain for the famous East India Company. He is recognized as having been the most famous of the East India Company’s chaplains. At the time, missionaries were not readily accepted into the country of India. One way the missionary societies “smuggled” the missionaries in, was through the chaplaincy program of the East India Company. The obstinate East India Company was oblivious to the influx of missionaries through this avenue. Martyn’s missionary career was short-lived on the field; however, his effect on that part of the world was of the extreme nature. After only four years in India, his rapidly deteriorating health forced him to take a voyage in hopes of regaining normal conditions. His journey took him to Persia, where he spent the remaining two years of his life.
Henry Martyn’s philosophy of ministry was most likely patterned greatly after his hero, David Brainerd. The following quote from Martyn sheds some insight—“I thought of David Brainerd and ardently desired his devotedness to God. I feel my heart knit to this dear man. I long to be like him. Let me forget the world and be swallowed up in a desire to glorify God.”[19] Henry Martyn realized his physical ministry was worthless without endued power from on High. He relied on God completely, and trusted in
Him for everything. Outside of devoted worship to God, everything Martyn lived for was to bring Him glory. It may be assumed that Henry Martyn’s ministry was to God first, and others second.
Henry Martyn was an innate genius who was handcrafted by God to fulfill the need of Bible translation. Upon his arrival in India in 1806, Martyn met up with William Carey and the other missionaries that had been working in Serampore at the time. They all immediately noted his extreme brilliance, and encouraged him to get involved in Bible translation work. “As a chaplain, his main responsibilities were to the employees and families of the East India Company; but his heart was in missions, and he was thrilled With the opportunity of making the New Testament available to millions of Asians.”[20] For the four years he was in India he preached to both Europeans and Indians, and established schools; during which he translated the New Testament into Hindustani, Persian, and Arabic.
Henry Martyn arrived in India when he was approximately twenty-five years of age, placing his entire missionary career between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-one. Unlike the previously studied missionary James Chalmers, whose missionary career among native islanders lasted more than twenty years, Martyn’s span of missionary activity was a brief six-year period. Though short, this six-year breath of history was extremely productive! After having been only four years inside the country of India, Martyn’s three different linguistical translations of the New Testament were complete. Two more years in the region of Persia confirmed his two translations of Arabic and Persian, and prepared them for the press.
Though his life was short-lived, Henry Martyn faced his share of difficulties, problems and persecution. For him, it was only a matter of time. As a devout Christian, Martyn understood the biblical doctrines of self-denial and sacrifice. He also understood that being a Christian meant enduring hardships, and being an active warrior in the midst of spiritual warfare. Perhaps the greatest of afflictions against missionary Martyn, was the deterioration of his health in the latter part of his ministry. His arduous labors in such a short span of time, coupled with the climactic extremities of Central India drove Martyn to the sea voyage of attempted recovery. He was not through yet, however. His voyage to Persia was not only about recovery, for he used the time in Persia to perfect his Persian and Arabic translations of the New Testament.[21] Having thoroughly finished the two translations in less than two years in Persia, he died at the age of thirty-one. His work for God’s divine purpose was finished.
The success of Henry Martyn’s life work and purpose has shaken the foundations of the world, and prepared the way for past and present missionaries. To the audience of the natural man, six years is an absurdly impossible amount of time for the accomplishment of the nature of Martyn’s achievements. However, to the spiritual man, all praise, honor, and glory is freely given to the One who made Henry Martyn a success at all. The translations of Hindustani, Arabic, and Persian New Testaments have shaken the foundations of the world in that region. Because of Martyn’s work, missionaries that have come after him have benefited greatly! Because of him, Christians in the South Central Asian region have had the Bible translated into their mother tongue! Just as the life of David Brainerd spurred Henry Martyn on to live a passionate life for Christ, Martyn’s life has done the same for many others after him! The legacy of Henry Martyn lives on with a new horizon of zealously passionate missions.
Two men – two eras – two locales; one God – one purpose – one plan. God has designed each and every born-again believer with a specific purpose to fit into His ultimate plan. He created James Chalmers with certain abilities, talents, and gifts that differ greatly from those of Henry Martyn. Through the study of these two sold-out missionaries, the author wishes his readers to note the way God employs His children to do His service in different aspects, and to accept their individual role in His divine plan for their lives.
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[1] Ruth A. Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), p. 219.
[4] William Robson, James Chalmers Missionary & Explorer (London: S.W. Partridge & Co., 1887), p. 14.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Bible. King James Version.
Mish, Frederick C., ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1994.
Robson, William. James Chalmers Missionary & Explorer. London: S.W. Partridge & Co., 1887.
Tucker, Ruth A. From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983.
Michael Carter
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