825
MARTIN
he incessantly painted pictures in a style whicli was considered " sublime" by the same sort of people who thought Montgomery's Satan and Pollok's Course of Time equal to Paradise Lost. The principal of these productions are Bels/iazzar's Feast (1821) ; Creation (1824) ; The Deluge (182G) ; The Fall of Nineveh (1828) ; Pandemonium (1841) ; Morning and Evening (1844) ; The Last Man (1850). He died at Douglas, Isle of INIan, Feb. 0, 1854. — Chambers, Cyclop, s. v. See Autotdog- raphg of John Martin in the AthencBUm (1854).
Martin, John Nicholas, a distinguished minis- ter of the Lutheran Cluirch, was born in the duchy of Deux Fonts, or Zweibriicken, in Khenish Bavaria, and came to this country about the middle of the 18th cen- tury, in company with a Lutheran colony, as their spir- itual teacher. They landed in Philadelphia with the intention of settling permanently on tlie rich soil of Pennsylvania, but, as the land they desired could not be procured, they passed on to the valley of the Shenan- doah, whither many of the German emigrants had al- ready been attracted; but the congregation to which Mr. Martin ministered finally determined to locate in South Carolina, in a district between the Broad and Sa- hida rivers, a favorite spot with the (Jermans of that day in the South. The German popidation in this re- gion increased fast, and Lutheran churches were estab- lished on both sides of the rivers. Here IMartin re- mained for many years, all the time olficiating in his vernacular German. In 1776 he took charge of the Lutheran Church in Charleston. This was his last field of labor. Many reminiscences of his life and services during this eventful period of our country's history are still preserved. The American Revolution interrupted the peaceful course of his ministry, and exposed him to various annoyances and trials. His naturally ardent temiicrament, as well as his love of liberty, led him to espouse tlie cause of the American colonies with great zeal and patriotic devotion. He was closely watched by the enemy; and when it was ascertained that he would not pray for the king, and that his ministrations were not favorable to the royal cause, his pulpit labors were interdicted, he was put under arrest, and a guard placed over him. Subsequently his property was con- fiscated, and he driven from the city. He remained in the interior of the state until the conclusion of the war. On his return in 1783, although aged and his phj'sical vigor gone, his congregation still clung to him. They urged him to resume his pastoral relations ; but he min- istered to them only until a regular pastor could be procured for them from German}'. In 1787 he was re- leased from further service, with a vote of thanks for the fidelity with which he had ministered to the spiritual interests of his people. He now retired to his little farm near the city. His physical as weU as mental powers gradually failed him, and he closed his honored and useful life July 27, 1795, illustrating in his death the principles which through a long life he had advocated. Mr. IMartin was faithfully devoted to his work, and ex- ceedingly useful as a minister of the Gospel. He pos- sessed an integrity that no considerations of personal interest or expediency could seduce from the straight line of duty. He was a man of great courage and deci- sion, firm and persistent in the maintenance of his prin- ciples, witli an energy of will and a zeal which no dis- couragements coidd repress and no faihu-e abate. In the vindication of what he believed was the truth, he was prepared for any emergency. Tlie people appre- ciated his sagacity, and relied on his clear, practical judgment. He steadfastly devoted himself to their in- terests. It was the constant burden of his heart and the earnest purpose of his life to honor Christ in the salvation of souls. He M'as regarded by the community in which he lived as a great blessing. His death was considered a public calamity. (M. L. S.)
Martin, Margaret Max-well, a lady Methodist noted as a writer, was born at Dumfries, Scotland, in
1807, emigrated to America, and was married in 1836 to the Rev. William Martin, a Methodist divine. She has published Methodism, or Chridianity in Earnest, and other religious works.
Martin Mar-Prelate, Controversy of. About 1580, the year tif the Armada, there appeared in Eng- land a number of tracts — "a series of scurrilous libels in which the queen, the bishops, and the rest of the con- forming clergy, were assailed with every kind of con- tumely" (Hardwick, Ch. Hist. p. 25C) — written probably by some radicals of the Puritan camp when the contro- versy between the Church and the Puritans was wax- ing hot. Marsden says " there is some reason to believe that the whole was a contrivance of the Jesuits." The charge against the latter is based, however, only upon supposition, and deserves no encouragement. The pub- lic printing-presses being at the time shut agamst the Puritans, all their printing had to be done secretly, and it is therefore difficult to determine the origin of the " Martin Mar-Prelate" tracts. The Puritan divines Udal and Penry, on their trials, were charged with the au- thorship, or \vith a wilfid knowledge of the authors ; but they refused to make any revelations, and the real a.u- thorship of these once dreaded and proscribed, but now ludicrous lampoons, remains a mystery. Their titles and contents are given somewhat in detail by Neale, Hist, of the Pui-ituns (Harpers' edit, i, 190 sq.). They were reprinted as I'uritan Disc. Tracts (Lond. 1843). See also Maskell, Hist, of the Martin Mar-Pi-elate Contro- versg (Lond. 1845) ; Marsden, Eai'lg Pu7-itans, p. 198 sq. ; id. Hist, of Christian Churches and Sects, i, 131 ; Hunt, Religious Thought of England, i, 72. (J. H. W.)