Latest revision as of 15:24, 10 March 2025

WiS tribute

With Christ

On Friday, February 24, our esteemed brother Dr. E.A. Martin, Servant of Christ, and for 20 years Editor of WORDS in SEASON passed peacefully into the presence of the Lord Jesus at 7:15 P.M. On the previous Wednesday evening he took a hemorrhage and gradually grew weaker until the end came. The Lord gently hushed His faithful and honorable servant to sleep, as a mother would her child.

The services were held from the home of the Misses Copp, West Medford, Mass., where he and his wife resided since re­ turning from California. After the opening hymn No. 279 (Believers Hymn Book) was sung, Charles R. Keller offered prayer. J.F. Pearson spoke from Acts 20, 22-24., and 2 Tim. 4, 5-8., W. P. Douglas spoke from Psalm 37, 35-37; and after closing with prayer hymn No. 272 was sung. Hugh Thorpe took the service at the grave.

Christians from assemblies in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Canada at­tended the services. He was carried to his burial by Bren. J. Dickson, McCullough, Reager, Thorpe, Pearson and Keller. His wife survives him. She was his constant companion, and lovingly and patiently cared for him through all his illness.

Birth and Boyhood Days

Dr. Edwin A. Martin was born January 22nd, 1863, in Bruce Co., Ontario, Canada, on a farm near the village of Paisley, When he was nine years of age the family moved to Huron County, near Brussels, so that his early life was spent on a farm. His parents were Presbyterians and had a very profound belief in, and respect for the Word of God. A chapter was read every morning followed by prayer, the ten children all being present when at home. All were sent faithfully to the Sunday school, yet not one of the twelve in the house at that time was saved.

His Conversion

Dr. Martin was saved at the age of 18 years while attending high school at St. Marys, Ont., Canada. The chain of circumstances that led to his salvation was as follows: His eldest brother William not being in very good health decided to go to Kansas. On arriving there he hired with a farmer by the name of Thomas Broadfoot, who was a faithful man, and in fellowship with the Christians in those parts. Through his influence interest was awakened and William was saved.

In the fall he returned home bringing with him the "strange" doctrine that one might know now that his sins were forgiven, and that he was eternally saved. The discussions and searchings that this caused led one after another to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their own Saviour until all in the family were saved. We give the Doctor's conversion here in his own language. "The first 18 years of my life were spent in emptiness and folly. My first serious thoughts of eternity were caused when my eldest brother was led to Christ. He brought me in contact with the word of God as the guide of God's people.

My brother spoke to me personally about the finished work of Christ: gave me tracts, and books to read. It was while reading one of these books, "Mackintosh's Notes on Exodus," that I was led to Christ. The Israelites were sinners under cruel bondage to Pharoah, the king of Egypt. But they also needed redemption by blood from the plague of God that rested upon the firstborn whether Israelite or Egyptian.

God had said "I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the first born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment, I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you when I smite the land of Egypt." Ex. 12:12-13. By faith I saw Jesus as the spotless Lamb of God dying for my sins on Calvary's Cross, and my soul entered into joyful rest and peace, and for the first time in my life I praised God for the gift of His Son.

"As soon as my all I ventured upon the atoning Blood, The Holy Spirit entered, and I was born of God." That was for me the "Beginning of months." God was leading me forth by the right way, the way that leads up to the Celestial city. "Memorable day that in which Christ was revealed to my soul. Can I ever forget it? Did I ever experience anything like it before? I have had somewhat similar experiences since but nothing like it before. I used to try to believe, and try to make others believe that perhaps I was trusting the Lord Jesus Christ before the day of which I speak, but I am ashamed of my foolishness.

My trust previous to that day was but the trust of an unbeliever, which touched not my heart, nor moved my affections toward the Christ of God. And shall I call that faith of God's elect which leaves the soul still dead to the love of God? Shall I call that believing with the heart which leaves the heart still unmoved toward God? No, no. The day when by faith I applied the blood of the Lamb to my door post and lintel, as I sat beneath a tree reading the twelfth of Exodus, my whole heart was filled with such a sense of God's love, as made me to weep tears of sorrow, and of joy;

Tears of joy as I thought of God's love in giving up His Son to bear my curse, and to purge away my sins, to save me from Hell, to fit me for the enjoy­ment of God's presence; that was the day when I first knew the grace of God IN TRUTH. And now many years have come and gone; years of college life, years of business life, years of preaching Christ, and though there has been shade as well as sunshine I am proving more and more the unchanging character of the love of God who not only SAVES but KEEPS that which is committed unto him against that day. This knowledge of the grace of God is but the beginning of true knowledge."

College Days

After finishing high school he took up the study of Dentistry and was graduated from the Royal College of Dental Surgeons in Toronto, Can­ada, in 1886. He first opened a dental office at Brussels, and it was here while practicing his profession that he first commenced preaching the gospel in schoolhouses, halls, and private homes as opportunity afforded. At the age of twenty-six he entered the Dental College at Baltimore, Md., and was graduated with highest honors, being gold medalist of his class. He then entered the medical classes and was graduated in medi­cine in 1892, subsequently specializing on the eye, ear, nose, and throat. Shortly afterwards he engaged in dental work at Fort Scott, Kansas.

The Lord's Work

His first experience in preaching the gospel was in backwoods schoolhouses in Canada and later on in Northern Michigan in company with Mr. Mauger who had a real love for the souls of men. In 1894 he left the office in Fort Scott, Kans., to join James Erskine in tent work. Our brother Erskine states as follows: "My first meeting and acquaintance with Dr. Martin took place over 36 years ago in Bush City, Kansas. One day a saved traveling salesman for the late C.J. Baker visited Dr. Martin in his office. The Doctor said to this brother, 'I wish I knew where I could go for some meetings.'

The salesman re­plied, 'Why don't you go to Bush City some fifty miles away Brother Erskine is all alone there operating a tent.' In a few days the Doctor came along and though strangers to each other we soon became friends. Bush City was a small place, with about a dozen houses, but many came in from the surrounding country districts, There was some opposition to the meetings. Often rocks were thrown at the tent and the ropes were cut, but the Lord was pleased to give us to see a little blessing.

At the close of the season, when we were taking down the tent a Doctor in the village .and a ringleader of the opposers, said to us, 'Gentlemen, I don't profess to believe any of it, but what you men have been preaching commends itself to me better than anything I ever heard.' Later we had meetings around Garnett, Kansas. We were privileged to entertain Dr. Martin in our home for some time, and his quiet godly way commended itself to all. He had been raised in a different school from me, and likely I had said some things that were trying to him.

After our meetings were over at night we would discuss many things. After rising one morning he broke down and cried and said: 'Brother Erskine, I want to thank you for all you have said to me.' I could not tell you now who was broken the most, or who cried the most. I think this knit our hearts so that we were closer friends than ever before. Later on I was going at it in tent work alone at Fort Scott, Kansas. Brother Martin joined me there, coming from Texas, and I was very pleased to see him.

Although the weather was extremely hot and tried our spirits, yet, as nearly as I can remember, about eight or ten were baptized. Two brethren lived in the country and remembered the Lord in the home. A hall was secured in the town and the meetings continued for a time. Some still remain and go on in the old paths. A bond was formed in those days between us which has grown stronger and sweeter as the days go by."

From this time on Dr. Martin gave up his practice and devoted his life to evangelistic work. This was a step that he never regretted as is evidenced· by the fol­lowing extracts from letters written many years later, "Well, I am almost 65 years of age. I do not know how God could have possibly given me a happier life than what he has. I have not one regret for turning away from medicine and dentistry." On another occasion he wrote that he really could not have been better cared for if he had been engaged in a good medical practice; that he had never been stinted in any way, and was able to pass on to others from his God given sup­plies, to those laboring in new fields, and beginners not so well known.

After spending some time with the late James White he joined the late T.D.W. Muir in Detroit, Mich., where he had a happy and fruitful season. He then visited the small assemblies in Standish, Stirling, Bay City, and Saginaw, Mich.

His Faithful Life and Service

In 1901 he was married to Miss F. C. Copp (sister of Mrs. Wm. Matthews) and they began housekeeping in Providence, R.I., and soon made Pawtucket their home assembly where they spent many happy years. He was also in happy fellowship with the neighboring assemblies, and usually had a tent pitched in some new locality each summer. Of his years in connection with the Pawtucket assembly Brother James Crawford writes: "I hardly know how to begin to give anything like a real adequate account of the godly and consistent life of our beloved and esteemed brother in the Lord, Dr. Martin, in and around these parts for about 30 years or more that some of us have known him. He has labored for the glory of God in and around Providence and Pawtucket, R.I., preaching the gospel and building up the Lord's dear people for many years in tent work and in halls.

He has been honored by God in leading many souls to Christ and quite a number of them living to the glory of God in the Pawtucket assembly and elsewhere, to the present day. Some also have been taken home to heaven. He always maintained a real godly care for the assembly of the Lord's people at Paw­tucket all the years he was with us. When his health began to fail he moved to Worcester, Mass. His loss to. the Pawtucket assembly has been great; his prayers, counsel, and ministry were much appreciated by the Lord's people in the assembly, and even at the present time we are feeling very much the loss of our beloved brother. Many of us here feel we have sustained a great loss and are much the poorer.

His Work as Editor

Mr. David Suiter of Philadelphia, Pa., began a magazine called WORDS IN SEASON, but finding that he had not sufficient time to edit it, and attend to his daily duties at the same time, he desired someone to take it off his hands. Our brethren Donald Munro, John Smith and others urged Dr. Martin to take it; this he did in 1911. At that time the subscription list was very small but the Lord gave it favor with His people, and the subscription list mounted rapidly and became quite large.

It reaches not only America but many parts of Europe, also China, Japan, Africa, India, Assyria, Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the world. The editing and publishing of WORDS in SEASON he found to be a happy service and continued it for twenty years until failing health compelled him to pass the responsibility over to Mr. Charles R. Keller, editor of the AMERICAN PIONEER.

On account of his health he left the east with his wife and settled in Monrovia, Calif., later returned east to Boston, Mass. He once stated, "At the close of an active life in the service of the Lord Jesus, I can speak well of Him, who has more than fulfilled His promises in meeting all my need through the continued kindness of His people. For the en­couragement of young preachers, I can say that He has never put a work on my shoulders that He has not given me the means to carry it on."

His Principles

An incident that occurred when he was graduated from the Dental College illustrates his staunch adherence to God's Word, both in his private and public life, and his life-long care to ever preserve a good conscience under all circumstances. On being informed that the usual banquet tendered the graduating class would be held on a certain evening, and that as high honor man he would certainly be expected to attend, his reply to them was that he was a Christian and that God's word to him was to let the time past of his life suffice to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings and abominable idolatries (1 Pet 4-3) and that he would not be there, and he was not.

Dr. Martin never courted honors nor would he yield one hair's breadth of truth for the sake of popularity. He ever sought to maintain God's truth in later years without fear or favor. The Lord brought him through many different experiences in his earlier years, but once he got a grip of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, as he apprehended it, he never swerved from it to the end of his days. He was an invaluable man at conferences, his ministry being of such a nature as to give a spiritual tone to the meetings, and to strengthen and build up character in the individual life of the Christian. Well might we exclaim like the Psalmist, "Help Lord for the godly man ceaseth; the faithful fail from among the children of men."

Faith

This is one of the last articles written by the late Dr. E.A. Martin.

"Faith believes what God says. Eyewitnesses are not required to make sure any statement from the lips of God. The strange thing was that God usually told the patriarchs that He was going to do things that they had never seen done. He prefaced other mighty acts by His creation "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear," Heb. 11:2. He who believes that statement is ready to believe that God can do any work of power by His Word alone.

We are not told what words He spoke to Abel, but we know that God's words put Abel into motion, and that his offering the lamb gave him a righteous standing before God. God became more real to him than his own brother; more real to him than his own very life which he sacrificed rather than turn from his doctrine.

God told Noah that He was going to send the flood, and how to make the Ark to preserve his family and the creatures. No such thing had ever been known before, but faith put him in motion. He obeyed God and built the Ark. God remem­bered Noah and every living thing that was with him in the Ark.

God told Abraham that he should have a seed when he was past age. In due time Isaac was born. Later, God told him to offer Isaac up on Mount Moriah. Faith enabled him to do what never had been done before. He bound -Isaac on the altar, but God stayed his hand, and he offered a lamb in place of his son.

God spoke to Moses and he refused the honors of Egypt for the reproach of Christ. Faith setting him in motion contrary to nature. Through faith he established the Passover sprink­ling the blood on the lintel and door post, lest He that de­stroyed the first-born should touch them. God spoke to him and made him the leader of the past dispensation. This Pass­over of Moses was so important that it was kept in its time by every godly Israelite.

Faith is not confined to the Old Testament saints. The New Testament is as really God's word as any word. He spoke to the patriarchs. Christians are New Testament men who are put in motion by the words of the New Testament. There are those in our midst who have conversions to tell, i.e., the experience of becoming personally acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen them seek the waters of baptism be­cause God's voice has reached their consciences through His word, telling them that they are dead, buried and risen in Christ, to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6). They gather to the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone owning His Name as their only gathering center and His word as their only author­ity (Matt. 18: 20).

They keep the Lord's Supper every first day of the week (if possible) according to Luke 22:19-20. They believe that God has spoken these words just as plainly as He ever spoke in the Old Testament. Those who preach the gospel do so without Manse or salary according to the Word of God in Mark 16:15. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." God knows those who are men of faith in this dispensation, and in due time will make them manifest to all."

Sources

• Words in Season (WiS): 1933-4