tihraxy of t:he Cbeological ^tminaxy 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 
 Dr. Francis Landy Pat ton 
 
 BV 2060 .G73 1845 
 Grant, Anthony, 1806-1883. 
 The past and prospective 
 extension of the gospel by 
 
THE PAST AND PROSPECTIVE EXTENSION 
 OF THE GOSPEL 
 BY MISSIONS TO THE HEATHEN: /<^^'^^"' '"'^ 
 
 MAR :: n914 
 
 CONSIDERED IN 
 
 EIGHT LECTURES, 
 
 DELIVERED DEFORE 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OE OXFORD, 
 
 IN THE YEAR M DCCC XLIII. 
 
 AT THE LECTUKE FOUNDED BY JOHN BAMPTON, M.A. 
 CANON OF SALISBURY. 
 
 ANTHONY GRANT, D.C.L. 
 
 VICAR OF ROMFORD, ESSEX, AND LATE FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON, 
 
 ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE; 
 AND J. H. PARKER, OXFORD. 
 
 1845. 
 
" VULGARES ANIM^ CONSTITUTAM FXCLESIAM CONSERVARE 
 
 QUEUNT; SED ALIQUAM DE NOVO ERIGERE, UT REMPUBLICAM, 
 
 TANTUM HEROUM EST." 
 
 Vit. Ant. JValcEi in I'll, elect. Vir p. C4S. 
 
 LONDON: II. CLAY, IMUNTEU, BIII:AD STIlKtT UILL. 
 
TO 
 THE RIGHT REVEREND 
 
 THE BISHOPS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 
 
 IN THE COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES OF GREAT BRITAIN, 
 
 WHO OCCUPY 
 
 THE FOREMOST POSTS IN THE BATTLE-FIELD OF THE CHURCH, 
 
 TO CONFRONT HEATHENISM, 
 
 AND PLANT 
 
 THE CHRISTIANITY OF FUTURE KINGDOMS, 
 
 THIS \' O L U M E 
 
 IS INSCRIBED. 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 FKOM 
 
 THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 EEV. JOHN BAMPTON, 
 
 CANON OF SALISBURY. 
 
 " I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates 
 
 " to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the 
 " University of Oxford for ever, to have and to hold 
 " all and singular the said Lands or Estates upon trust, 
 " and to the intents and purposes hereinafter mentioned ; 
 " that is to say, I will and appoint that the Vice-Chan- 
 *' cellor of the University of Oxford for the time being 
 ** shall take and receive all the rents, issues, and profits 
 " thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, and necessary 
 " deductions made) that he pay all the remainder to the 
 " endowment of eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, to be 
 " established for ever in the said University, and to be 
 " performed in the manner following : 
 
 " I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday 
 " in Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the 
 " Heads of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room 
 " adjoining to the Printing- House, between the hours 
 " of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon, to 
 " preach eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, the year 
 " following, at St. ISIary's in Oxford, between the com- 
 *' mencement of the last month in Lent Term, and the 
 ^' end of the third week in Act Term. 
 
Vi liXTRACT FROM MR. BAMPTON's WILL. 
 
 " Also I dii'cct and appoint, that the eight Divinity 
 " Lecture Sermons shall be preached upon either of 
 " the following Subjects — to confirm and establish the 
 " Christian Faith, and to confute all heretics and schis- 
 *' matics — upon the divine authority of the holy Scrip- 
 " tures — upon the authority of the writings of the 
 " primitive Fathers, as to the faith and practice of the 
 " primitive Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord 
 " and Saviour Jesus Christ — upon the Divinity of the 
 " Holy Ghost — upon the Articles of the Christian Faith 
 " as comprehended in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. 
 
 " Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight 
 *' Divinity Lecture Sermons shall be always printed, 
 " within two months after they are preached, and one 
 *•' copy shall be given to the Chancellor of the Univer- 
 " sity, and one copy to the Head of every College, and 
 *' one copy to the Mayor of the city of Oxford, and one 
 *' copy to be put into the Bodleian Library ; and the 
 *' expence of printing them shall be paid out of the 
 " revenue of the Land or Estates G;iven for establishing 
 *' the Divinity Lecture Sermons ; and the Preacher 
 " shall not be paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, 
 " before they arc printed. 
 
 " Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be 
 " qualified to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, 
 " imlcss he hath taken the degree of Master of Arts at 
 " least, in one of the two Universities of Oxford or 
 " Cambridge ; and that the same person shall never 
 " preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons twice." 
 
PlIEFACE. 
 
 The following Lectures, though deli- 
 vered before a learned audience, are 
 composed in a popular form, and are 
 designed to convey to as many as take 
 an interest in the subject, a general view 
 of the extension of the Gospel among the 
 heathen, and to elicit those principles by 
 which it has been, and may be, accom- 
 plished most successfully, and in accord- 
 ance with the purpose of God. For a 
 long period, until later years, Missionary 
 enterprises were, in the minds of many 
 members of our Church, identified with 
 a certain cast of religious opinion and 
 character, which caused offence to sober- 
 minded Christians, while the work itself 
 was discredited by others, because it was 
 
VIU PREFACE. 
 
 disconnected from the authority and direc- 
 tion of the Church. Tlie cause that was 
 thus enterprised, was, however, hased upon 
 truth and christian duty, and therefore it 
 gained a hearing, and lias made its way. 
 But the interest that was created in its 
 behalf, and which has now for many years 
 been advancing at an accelerated ratio, 
 and constitutes one of the encouraging 
 signs that mark our times, awakened, 
 also, in the minds of reflecting Christians, 
 a conviction that something beyond 
 the principles of action upon which 
 this *' work of Christ" has been under- 
 taken, w^as imperatively needed for its 
 due accomplishment. It began to be felt 
 that there was no unity of design, no 
 steadiness of operation in the plans that 
 w^ere adopted ; that different Societies, and 
 individuals, had their favourite schemes, or 
 spheres of action, and were frequently set 
 in rivalry against each other ; that the 
 methods by which this great duty was ad- 
 vocated at home, and conducted abroad, 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 were not such as could compass the various 
 forms and vast systems of Paganism which 
 were to be disphiced : some great let and 
 hindrance seemed to be thwarting the irre- 
 gular, uncombined efforts that were made ; 
 sounds of dissension, sometimes of misgiv- 
 ing, came from abroad ; and no commen- 
 surate success was seen to follow on the 
 amount of expenditure and activity that 
 was devoted to the work. 
 
 These thoughts, together with the taunt 
 which was frequently repeated, that, since 
 its separation from Rome, reformed Chris- 
 tendom had lost its expansive power, 
 gave rise to a consideration of the sub- 
 ject. It naturally occurred to examine 
 the truth of the statement, to reflect upon 
 the cause of it, as far as it was well- 
 grounded, to turn to Scripture and past 
 experience, and discover wherein the defect 
 lay. And here it was perceived that the 
 subject had not been treated of in our 
 books of theology, that no specific rules 
 had been laid down, nor organization pro- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 vided for the execution of this great func- 
 tion of the Church, the evangehzing of the 
 heathen. On referring to the pubHcations 
 that were constantly issuing from the press, 
 it was found that, instead of supplying the 
 want of information that was felt, they 
 served only to increase a sense of it. It 
 was impossible, on reading them, not to be 
 struck with the narrowness and unfairness 
 with which most of them were written. 
 On the one hand, Roman Catholics clearly 
 did injustice to the missionary efforts of 
 Protestants ; while, on the other hand, the 
 treatises and writings of many Protestants 
 seemed composed under the impression 
 that no such thing as Koman Catholic 
 missions existed ; that, at least before the 
 Reformation, the design of evangelizing 
 the world was a thing unheard of; that it 
 had been reserved for this age almost to 
 commence the work, for which a new 
 theory of missions, new methods, and 
 machinery, and system of action were to 
 be provided. 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 A sense, then, of the insufficiency and 
 faultiness of the recent modes of conduct- 
 ing missionary enterprises ; — the absence 
 of a work, accessible to ordinary readers, 
 which offered a general view, past and 
 present, of these operations ; — a pressing 
 conviction that the Son of God had pro- 
 vided a means for executing His last com- 
 mand, and the great purpose of His 
 Redeeming Sacrifice ; — a recollection of 
 those two great triumphs of the Church, 
 over Roman civilization, and mediaeval 
 barbarism; — the wonderful expansion of 
 the Empire of Great Britain, whereby, 
 through her colonies, she is brought into 
 contact with almost the entire heathen 
 world ; — the great national responsibility 
 which lies upon her, and upon the Church 
 within her borders, to discern God's Hand 
 in this conjuncture and to execute His 
 will ; — these considerations pointed out 
 the subject as one that opened a field 
 of solemn enquiry and reflection, that 
 deserved and demanded attention, and 
 
XU PREFACE. 
 
 would soon thrust itself upon the notice 
 of the Church, — one that might suitably 
 be l)rought before, as it was sure to 
 engage the interest of, a body of the 
 youth of England in one of our Univer- 
 sities, destined to occupy, ere long, the 
 most important posts in the Church 
 and State, and to exercise a vast influ- 
 ence on the future interests of our 
 country. In undertaking this task I was 
 not unconscious — I am, at its conclusion, 
 more than ever conscious — of its eno-ross- 
 ing importance, and of the difficulty of 
 executing it at all worthily ; I was con- 
 scious that it would be scarcely possible 
 to avoid giving offence ; that it is, at all 
 times, an ungracious task to run counter 
 to received methods of action, especially 
 when directed towards a good object ; 
 and that, just now, to recall men's 
 minds to ancient modes of thinking and 
 acting is regarded, by a great number, 
 with peculiar suspicion. Under this im- 
 pression, I can hardly expect to escape 
 
PREFACE. XIU 
 
 misconstruction and censure, though I 
 venture to hope that some deUberate and 
 serious attention will, at least, be drawn 
 to the subject which is treated of, and to 
 the points of principle and pressing duty 
 that are involved in it. 
 
 For the purpose, however, of removing, 
 as much as may be, all cause for objection, 
 it may be permitted to make a few 
 remarks on one or two heads on which 
 misconception might arise. 
 
 First, I would observe that, in noticing 
 the later missionary proceedings, subse- 
 quent to the Reformation, priority in 
 point of time has determined the order in 
 which they have been reviewed. 
 
 Next, let it be borne in mind that it 
 formed no part of the design of these 
 Lectures to detail the operations of indi- 
 vidual Societies. It is quite possible that 
 some particular missions of interest may 
 be found to have been unnoticed, and that 
 a charge of unfairness may be alleged in 
 consequence. But, be it remembered, it 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 was clearly impracticable to embody the 
 substance of Reports in a Lecture ; nor 
 was it my object to detail the successes 
 of this or that Association, but to examine 
 the principles upon which missions in 
 general were conducted, and to adduce 
 such instances as miffht illustrate what 
 was advanced. 
 
 Thirdly, in consequence of a suggestion 
 which has been made, that the competency 
 of the Abbe Dubois, (whose letters are 
 quoted in Lecture V.) as a Roman Catholic 
 authority, might be disputed, I feel bound 
 to state the simple grounds upon which I 
 deem that his evidence cannot fairly be 
 questioned. In the first place, I find that 
 his statements, on the subject of missions, 
 are referred to as indisputable by one of 
 the most able and zealous Roman Catholic 
 apologists.^ Secondly, considerable por- 
 tions of the very letters from which I 
 quote (omitting, of course, the unfavour- 
 
 ' Dr. Wiseman, On the Principal Doctrines and Practices of the 
 Catholic Church, Lect. VII. pp. 223, 224. 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 able representations) are published in the 
 " Annales cle la Propagation de la Foi," and 
 the name of M. Dubois, as the source of 
 the information, is expressly given " pour 
 donner a notre recit I'appui d'une autorite 
 recommandable." ^ Thirdly, on his return 
 from India he was appointed Director of 
 the Seminary of Missions in Paris, ^ which 
 office of trust, I believe, he now holds. 
 And lastly, the material part of the state- 
 ments for which he is quoted is confirmed 
 by other evidence. 
 
 Once more; I am aware that, amid the 
 pressing needs by which the Church of 
 England is surrounded, and its energies 
 are taxed, even at home, and by our own 
 countrymen, it may be thought a ques- 
 tionable wisdom to press the duty of 
 labouring for its extension abroad. With- 
 out repeating any argument advanced in 
 the Lectures, I would venture, on this 
 point, to urge two considerations. — In the 
 
 • Annales, vol. iii. p. 49. - Ibid. vol. i. No. VI. p. 30. 
 
XVI PREFACE. 
 
 first place, it is no longer a question 
 whether the heathen shall be left to them- 
 selves. Our colonies are already planted in 
 the midst of them; they are our fellow- 
 subjects ; we must, as a nation, exercise an 
 untold influence upon them ; already the 
 tendency of an unhallowed influence has 
 been witnessed in two fearful results, — 
 the extermination of whole races, and a 
 dark scepticism in many of those heathen 
 who have learnt to cast off* their native 
 superstitions. Therefore must the Church 
 extend herself with the extension of our 
 Empire, even to prevent our country from 
 becoming a curse to the pagan world, even, 
 also, to save our own countrymen from 
 lapsing into a state of apostate infidelity, 
 more fatal than pagan darkness. The duty 
 is no longer one of option, but of necessity, 
 simply to check a national sin, and to pre- 
 serve ourselves. And besides this, even 
 supposing it were, under any circum- 
 stances, desirable, yet it is no longer 
 possible, to hinder the Gospel from being 
 
PREFACE. XV 11 
 
 made known anions; the heathen nations 
 which border upon our colonies. If the 
 Church do not propagate the Gospel, other 
 self-appointed teachers will. And although 
 Christianity, however made known, would 
 be a gain to the heathen, yet we cannot 
 shut our eyes to the ills likely to arise 
 from its being planted by uncommissioned 
 and rival bodies. They will multiply their 
 private opinions and divisions among their 
 pagan converts and in our colonies, they 
 will spread their dissocialising principles 
 which, whether developed in the form of 
 independence in religion, or republicanism 
 in politics, are destructive of the national 
 life of kingdoms ; elements of disturbance 
 will ever be agitating these infant settle- 
 ments, the effects of w^hich will be felt in 
 their reflux upon the mother country ; so 
 that, setting aside the grounds of religious ob- 
 ligation, merely on national considerations, 
 the Church cannot choose but meet this 
 newly-risen but ever-growing evil, and, carry- 
 ing her divine system into foreign settle- 
 h 
 
XVlll PREFACE. 
 
 merits, secure the Christianity and the true 
 social organization of these future nations. 
 How this great demand may be met, — 
 how the Church shall discharge, at all 
 adequately, this immense duty, — what 
 forms of agency she shall call forth from 
 her expansive system, — what portions of 
 her ancient organization she shall revive 
 to grapple with this great emergency, are 
 questions which it belongs to the wisdom 
 of our spiritual rulers, and to no private 
 individual, to weiii;h and determine. But 
 I would observe further, that, together 
 with these larger questions, there are 
 several wants in the detail and machinery 
 of our missions, affecting the treatment 
 and instruction of converts, which it was 
 felt unfitting to introduce in the body of 
 a discourse, but which require to be sup- 
 plied, and for which no specific pro- 
 vision has hitherto been made. Among 
 these occurs, primarily, the necessity of 
 an Office for Catechumens, or the par- 
 tially-instructed heathen, for whom ''the 
 
PREFACE. XIX 
 
 Order of Common Prayer," however beau- 
 tifully constructed for a Christian and 
 civilized community, must be obviously 
 unsuited.' Then a course of authorized 
 catechetical teaching for hearers and neo- 
 phytes, — rules and means of discipline for 
 the lapsed, — forms of exclusion and recon- 
 ciliation, — directions for the treatment of 
 polygamist converts, — these and several 
 other points, which the practical experi- 
 ence of missionaries makes known, need 
 to be considered and regulated ; while the 
 settlement of them is rendered the more 
 difficult and the more indispensable by 
 the sad state of schism, and by the rival 
 communities which are found existino; in 
 the very face of the heathen. 
 
 ' It appears that siicli a variation from the received form of 
 pubhc worship, as is suggested, Avas not unknown in the early 
 Church. Indeed, under certain limitations, each Bishop possessed 
 the liberty of "forming his own Liturgy in what method and 
 words he thought proper, only keeping to the analogy of faith 
 and sound doctrine." The svibstance of the " one form of worship 
 throughout the Church" was preserved in each Liturgy, it was 
 adapted only to the peculiar wants ofparticular Dioceses; and pro- 
 tection from any abuse of this liberty, by which the faith might be 
 endangered, was secured by the accountability of each Bishop to the 
 whole synod of Bishops. — Bingham, Antiq. Book II. ch.v. sect. 2. 
 
 b 2 
 
XX PREFACE. 
 
 In every quarter, the evil results into 
 which the recent methods employed in 
 the conversion of the heathen have begun 
 to work themselves, naturally direct the 
 eyes of thoughtful members of the Church 
 towards the resumption by her of that apo- 
 stolic function which she is commissioned 
 to exercise, and towards the enlargement 
 and application of her divine polity, by 
 which these evils may be remedied, and the 
 Gospel sped on its way. And though I 
 speak thus unreservedly, I do so with the 
 deep feeling that, whatever thoughts or 
 hopes any individual may entertain on this 
 subject, yet his present duty, superseding 
 any private conviction, is zealously to give 
 effect to such counsels as our spiritual 
 rulers may devise, and to advance the work 
 by such means as they shall recommend; 
 otherwise, so great a discomfiture, and such 
 a disastrous blow to the Christianity of our 
 foreign dependencies, and to the conversion 
 of the heathen who encompass them, will 
 immediately ensue, as perhaps no future 
 
PREFACE. XXI 
 
 efforts will be ever able to repair. In any 
 revival of principles, or of forgotten forms 
 of polity or truth, it must necessarily be, 
 that, for a time, our practice should fall 
 short of our theory ; and should any feel 
 that they are called upon to acquiesce, 
 somewhat reluctantly, in this law, they 
 may reflect that they will be acquiescing 
 also in a line of duty, which, hke every 
 other, will be charged with blessing to 
 those who walk therein. 
 
 No one, perhaps, can take leave of a 
 work in which he has been, for a season, 
 engaged and engrossed, without a wish to 
 say somewhat of the circumstances attend- 
 ing its performance. All, however, that 
 I would desire to remark concerning it, 
 is, that it has been accomplished in the 
 midst of many other duties, and that 
 1 have had very frequently to lament the 
 want of books which I was debarred from 
 the means of obtaining, or have been able 
 to obtain only with delay and difficulty. 
 I am bound, however, to express my 
 
XXll PREFACE. 
 
 thanks to many individuals, and some 
 public bodies, for the free use of many 
 works which are continually referred to in 
 these pages. 
 
 Having thus completed my task, I com- 
 mend it to the spiritual rulers of the 
 Church in this land and its dependencies, 
 in the humble hope that it may subserve 
 their counsels in the execution of that 
 apostolic office of the Church of which it 
 treats ; that it may lead some to reflect and 
 inquire into the principles upon which this 
 and all other great works for Christianizing 
 the world should be conducted; and be 
 accepted of HIM whose glory it is 
 huml)ly designed to advance. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 The Gospel contrasted, in its adaptation to iallen human 
 kind, with all other religious systems. — Enjoined to be preached 
 throughout the world. — Reflections on the part hitherto taken 
 by the Church of England, as a body, in this work. 
 
 Inquiry into the predicted prevalence of the Christian 
 Faith. — The Old Testament prophecies examined ; — and the 
 New. — No universal acceptance promised before the end the 
 world. 
 
 Motives for engaging in the conversion of the heathen. — 
 Its effect on the future conflict of the Church with Antichrist. 
 — The command of Christ. — The debt of Charity. — The debt 
 of Justice. — Reflex spiritual benefits p. 1 — 34 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 THE GENERAL CONDITIONS AND ACTUAL HINDRANCES IN 
 EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 
 
 Subject stated. — The laborious progress of the Gospel in 
 accordance with Scripture, and all previous probability. — 
 Retarded, in its early propagation, by persecution, heresies, 
 judgments. 
 
 Disadvantages of the early Church contrasted with those of 
 the later. — 1. Weakness of its first promulgators. — 2. Their 
 
XXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 illitei'ate condition. — 3. Without honour in tlieir orvn crmntry. 
 — 4. The Church disconnected from the civil power. 
 
 Disadvantages of the later Church. — § 1. Character of pre- 
 sent superstitions among the heathen, and of the civilization 
 built upon them. — § 2. Viciousness of Christians among the 
 heathen. — § 3. Want of unity at home and abroad. 
 
 P. 35—07 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 Twofold view of the Gospel. — Not simply a spiritual in- 
 fluence, but a spiritual and visible institution. 
 
 Argument from analogy ; from the needs of man ; from 
 what is required for the transmission of the Truth ; from God's 
 earlier dealings with mankind. This institution provided in 
 the Church. 
 
 Its expansion, as a body, contemplated in the prophecies 
 of the Old Testament ; — and of the New. — Effected by com- 
 missoned men, in Apostolic and later times : — the methods 
 employed being, the teaching of the Church, followed and 
 confirmed by, the written Word of God ; not the latter apart 
 from the former. — Indications of this process in the Scrip- 
 tures themselves. — This twofold means adapted to man's 
 moral and intellectual nature; — his social and individual life. 
 
 Individual energy not paralyzed by being subordinated to 
 the authority of the Church p. G8— 99 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Review of last Lecture, and subject stated. — Two periods 
 to be considered. 
 
 Sketch of the actual extension of the Cliurch for the first 
 four centuries. — Sketch of its extension in the second period, 
 up to the loth century, among the Gothic tribes, and the 
 
CONTENTS. XXV 
 
 Sclavonic. — Sketch of the Nestorian missions in the East, and 
 their discomfiture. 
 
 Causes and means of the advance of the Gospel in the two 
 periods. 
 
 First period; — 1. State of the Pagan religion. 2. Perse- 
 cutions. 3. Miracles. 4. Direct missionary efforts. 
 
 Second period ; — 1. Pomp of ceremonial. 2. Introduction 
 of learning and the arts. 3. Monastic institutions. 4. In- 
 fluence of rulers, &c. 
 
 Reflections upon these events. 
 
 1. The providence and invisible presence of God recognised 
 in them. 2. Contrast of the methods used in the two periods. 
 3. The visible system of the Churcli. 4. The evanescence of 
 the Nestorians, and of the Arianizing tribes . p. 100 — 137 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 Sketch of the movement at the Reformation. — Missions of 
 Rome, and chiefly of the Jesuits, reviewed. — India and Fr. 
 Xavier. — Japan. — China. — Tonkin and Cochin China. — 
 Paraguay. —Africa. — Abyssinia. — Present revived efforts. 
 
 Character of these missions. — The causes of success and of 
 failure, the same. — -Vicious accommodation ; the Malabar and 
 Chinese rites. — Indiscriminate Baptism and half-paganized 
 Christianity. Results witnessed in the low character of the 
 converts; — and in the quarrels and dissensions of religious 
 orders. — On the other hand, a wise instrumentality in many 
 respects employed. 
 
 Two powerful principles operating in the enterprises of 
 Roman Catholic missionaries : the spirit of obedience ; and 
 the exhibition of the Church to the heathen as a suffering 
 bodv P. 138—181 
 
XXVI COiNTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Expansion a note of the Church. — Causes which checked 
 missionary enterprise in the Church of England immediately 
 after the Reformation. — Projects in the 17th century. — The 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1701. — Dutch 
 Missions. — Moravians. — The formation of voluntary associ- 
 ations. 
 
 Sketch of results of these desultory labours : — In India ; 
 Diocese of Madras and Calcutta. — Anglo-American missions. 
 — Moravians in South America, and Greenland. — The West 
 Indies. — Moravians in Africa. — Missions in South Sea Islands. 
 — New Zealand. 
 
 Reflections on this review. 
 
 Successes indisputable. — Inadequacy of result traceable, in 
 the Church, to recent commencement, paucity of missionaries, 
 want of discipline. — Yet attributable, in separatist bodies, to 
 faulty methods of proceeding, rejection of all authority of the 
 Church, and many concomitant errors. — The divine power of 
 the Church evidenced where applied. ... p. 182 — 224 
 
 LECTURE VIT. 
 
 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS OF THE CHURCH OF 
 ENGLAND MISSIONS. 
 
 Human agency in the propagation of the Gospel. — Sketch 
 of the threefold division of Paganism. — Principles needed for 
 the conduct of missions. 
 
 I. The Church to act as a body. — How neglected, and 
 supplanted by private associations. — Similarity of these asso- 
 ciations, in some vicious results, with the order of Jesuits : 
 — 1. In the neglect of Episcopal authority ; 2. Inconsequent 
 dissensions; 3. In inability to coalesce with civil authority; 
 4. In faulty internalism of doctrine ; •>. In the tendency to 
 
CONTENTS. XXVll 
 
 secularity; 6. In exaggeration of their labours. — This principle 
 of acting as a body to be applied abroad. 
 
 II. Diversified means of action ; adapted to different states 
 of civilization, and in different climes; such as, § 1. Intellec- 
 tual acquirements among the civilized Hindoos; § 2. Know- 
 ledge of mechanical arts among uncivilized tribes ; § 3. 
 Knowledge of vernacular languages. — Distribution of labour 
 required ; — and a missionary Seminary for training labourers. 
 — Need of catechetical schools for the higher class amono^ the 
 heathen ; and asylums for orphans, destitute converts, and for 
 rearing a native ministry. 
 
 Recent effort of the Church towards combined action, by the 
 extension of the Episcopate in the colonies . . p. 225 — 261 
 
 LECTURE VIIL 
 
 THE PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS OF OUR MISSIONARY 
 ENTERPRISES. 
 
 One further requisite in our missionary operations ; a Code 
 of missionary instructions : 
 
 1. To determine the method of dealing with the heathen 
 mind and prejudices. 2. To lay down the order in which the 
 Christian verities should be communicated. 3. To settle 
 points in the practical treatment of converts. 
 
 Review of the subject ; prospects and encouragements. — 
 Probability of success drawn, I. From the past progress of the 
 Gospel, and from its surniounting every kind of obstacle. 
 II. From the aspect of Pagan nations. III. From the present 
 conjunctvire of favourable circumstances, resembling former 
 periods of religious movement. 
 
 The duty of the Church of England as designed to be a 
 Missionary Church. The dignity of missionary labour. 
 
 p. 262—296 
 
 APPENDIX p. 299—416 
 
 Declaration of the Archbishop and Bishops p. 416 — 420 
 
" ET TU LEVA OCULOS QUOSDAM CONSIDEUATIOXIS TUiE, ET VIDE 
 
 REGICNES, SI NON SUNT MAGIS SICC^ AD IGNEM, QUAM ALB^ AD 
 
 MESSEM. . . . NOXNE SI EXIS, ET CERNIS ISTA, PUDEBIT OTIOSAM 
 
 JACERE SECURIMj PUDEBIT SIXE CAUSA FALCEM APOSTOLICAJI 
 
 ACCEPISSE ? " 
 
 Bernard, de Cotisld. lib. ii. cap. vi. sect. 12. 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED EXTENSION 
 OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 Malachi I. 11. 
 
 FOR FROM THE RISIXG OF THE SUN EVEN UNTO THE GOING 
 DOWN OF THE SAME MY NAME SHALL BE GREAT AMONG THE 
 GENTILES ; AND IN EVERY PLACE INCENSE SHALL BE OFFERED 
 UNTO MY NAME, AND A PURE OFFERING : FOR MY NAME SHALL 
 BE GREAT AMONG THE HEATHEN, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS. 
 
 These words form a portion of that splendid train 
 of prophecy upon which the Jews built their hopes 
 of future and universal triumph. The season came 
 when it began to be fulfilled, and yet they were 
 unable to discern it. It began to be fulfilled, and, 
 indeed, was deemed by some to have met an ade- 
 quate fulfilment when the Gospel of Christ made 
 its early and rapid progress over the face of the 
 civilized world. ^ For so the early Christians, 
 when they witnessed " the forces of the Gentiles " 
 
 ' St. Chrysostom conceived that the prophecy (Matt. xxiv. 14) 
 was fulfilled before the destruction of Jerusalem : on yap Travraxov 
 (Krjpv^dr] Tore, ciKovcrov rl (prjcriv o ElauXos' tov 'EvayyeXiov tov 
 Krjpv)(6€VT09 Iv TrdfTJ] TJi KTicTii TTj vno TOV ovpavov. o Kai peyiarov 
 ai^punv rfjs tov XpLcrrov dvvapLeas' on ev HKoai 7) Kal roLuKovTa 
 
 B 
 
2 TIIK UNIVERSALITY AND PRKDICTED [Lect. 
 
 coming into tlic fold of Christ, recognised the 
 power and faithfuhiess of God in the accom- 
 pUshment of this His proplietic promise, and gave 
 praise thns, in their devotions, to His great name : 
 " Giving thanks through Him to Thee, together 
 with Him and the Holy Ghost, we present this 
 reasonable and unbloody w^orship which is offered 
 to Thee, Lord, by all nations, from the rising to 
 the setting of the sun, from the north unto the 
 south. For thy name is great among all nations, 
 and in every place incense, sacrifice, and oblations 
 are offered to it/'' 
 
 But it is not on the fact, whether the inspired 
 prediction respecting the universal spread of the 
 kingdom of God had, or has, met Avitli a corre- 
 sponding fulfilment, that I ^^'ouUl now dwell. The 
 point whicli deserves oiu- attention is, that of the 
 
 (iXoif erecri tu nepara ttJs oiKoti/xei'77? Knre\a[3ev o Xoyo?. Ilomil. 
 LXXV. in Matt. 
 
 It was an argument, too, of the Donatists, when the promised 
 diffusion of the Chiu'ch was urged against their pretensions, to 
 I'eply, that this had been accomplished, but that the Faith had 
 ])erished in all the world except their own body. " Et ista, 
 inqiiiunt, credimus, et completa esse conjitenmr ; at pontea orbis 
 /errarum apostafavit, et sola remansit Donati communio." August, 
 contr. Donat. Epist. cap. xiii. vol. ix. p. 3G1. Edit. Bened. 
 
 ' Liturgia S. Marci ad init. The Latin translation is, " Per 
 queni Tibi, cum Ipso, et Spiritu Snncto, gratias agentes, offerimus 
 rationabilem et incruentara Xarpeiav seu oblationem hanc, quani 
 ofl'erunt Tibi, Domine, omncs (ientes ab ortu St)lis usque ad occa- 
 suni, a septentrione ad meridiem, (^uia magnum nomen Tuuin 
 in omnibus gentibus, et in omni loco incensum offcrtur nomini 
 Tuo sancto et sacrificium et oblatio." — La Bigne's Bibiioih. Patr. 
 vol. vi. p. 21. Paris, L'iSi). 
 
I.] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 3 
 
 adequacij and tendency of the Gospel to gain an 
 nniversal snpremacy over the hnman mincl, and its 
 adaptation to mankind at large. In these respects 
 it presents no less an evidence of its divine power 
 than a contrast to every form of religion that has 
 ever gathered votaries to itself among the nations 
 of the world. It addi'esses itself not to this or that 
 people, or condition of thought, or social state, or 
 political organization, but to fallen human nature ; 
 and therefore it is designed of God to be universal ; 
 and the Church as the depositary of this remedial 
 scheme, the channel of its spiritual blessings, is 
 evermore to expand, until the " saving health " 
 which it conveys is made " known to all nations," 
 and the kingdom of God shall come. 
 
 This universality and expansiveness of the Faith 
 and Church of Christ place the Gospel, as was just 
 remarked, in striking contrast with all other religions 
 of the earth. Consider, in a few words, and in illus- 
 tration of what is said, that divine system which it 
 pleased God to make know^n to the Jews in prepa- 
 ration for the advent of His Son. It bore written 
 on its law the marks of being only a preparatory 
 and therefore temporary and imperfect system. 
 Its types and prophecies could supply no resting- 
 place to the mind of the spiritual Israelite ; they 
 pointed, and were understood to point, to something- 
 further — " the bringing in of a better hope."' The 
 
 ' Ilel). vii. 19. 
 
 b2 
 
4 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lkct. 
 
 iiitertcxiurc of religious witli civil and political 
 ordinances, while it was calculated to bind the nation 
 together in one people, and preserve its distinctive- 
 ness, demonstrated at the same time that the former 
 were applicable to that people and polity alone. 
 And this was evidenced still more clearly in that 
 portion of the law which required the yearly wor- 
 ship at Jerusalem,' and fixed the one material temple 
 as the place wherein alone the sacrifice for the 
 atonement of sins coidd be offered ; so that, when 
 this should be destroyed, and the land be left 
 desolate, there would remain no longer any availing 
 sacrifice for the pardon of transgression. 
 
 And all other religious systems have borne the 
 same marks of local adaptation, and consequently 
 of their inadequacy to become universal, having 
 rather grown out of the condition and circum- 
 stances of individual nations, than possessing a 
 power to fashion and mould the soul of man to 
 themselves. They have been characterised, either 
 by being based on traditional recollections, or by a 
 mixture Avith political institutions, or by such an 
 amount of imperfection and falsity, as to show at 
 once that they were calculated only for men d\\'cll- 
 ing in particular climes, or in a certain state of 
 civilization or condition of mind. 
 
 In none of these, however debased or revolting, 
 
 ' Sec Kusebius, Denionstratio Evaiii;-. lib. i. cap. iii., where this, 
 among other argunieiifs on this point, is adiliiced. 
 
I.] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 5 
 
 has there been an absence of all Truth. ReHcs 
 of the primaeval Tradition, witnessed to, and 
 kept ahve by the unwritten Law in man's heart, 
 have been scattered over the whole earth, and have 
 taken root in certain soils ; and round these frag- 
 ments of Truth the various idolatries and super- 
 stitions have gathered as a shell, modified by, and 
 in turn again modifying, the character of the people 
 among whom each system has prevailed. Observe, 
 for instance, the peculiar nationality that pervaded 
 and distinguished the polytheistic systems of Greece 
 and Rome. The intellectual taste of the Greek soon 
 gave birth to the elegant mythology, and the visible 
 forms of beauty in which his deities were imper- 
 sonated ; he deified the graces and qualities of mind, 
 and consecrated his amusements, his games, the 
 drama, and the arts, by dedicating them to religion. 
 Amongst the Romans, on the contrary, the whole 
 fabric of their social being, and eminently of their 
 religion, partook of the masculine character which 
 Avas stamped on their political system. They deified, 
 not the powers of mind, but the social and civil vir- 
 tues -^ they consecrated not their amusements, but 
 their triumphs, and all the "circumstance " of war.^ 
 
 ' Temples were dedicated to Honour, Virtue, Concord, Piety, 
 Peace, &c. &c. The Comitia and Capitol were reckoned temples. 
 — Liv. iii. 17, 18; vi. 4. 
 
 ^ In the middle of the camp were placed the altar and the 
 standards, which are called by Tacitus " propria legioniim 
 numina " (Ann. ii. 17), and "bellorum Dii " (Hist. iii. 10) ; which 
 Avere objects of adoration (Suet. Calig. v.), and by which the sol- 
 diers swore. — Liv. xxvi. 48. 
 
6 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PKEDICTED [Lect. 
 
 Foreign religions Avere forbidden,' as interfering with 
 tlic laws and constitution of the republic. The in- 
 troduction of them was punished, not as impiety, 
 but as treason. Hence there could exist neither 
 the hiclination nor the possibility of propagating 
 such systems as these. It was not toleration that 
 checked the endeavour to extend them among sub- 
 ject provinces, but the consciousness of the con- 
 (picrors that they had nothing to offer ; nothing but 
 what the citizens of an African or Asiatic state had 
 already equally good, and more suited to them, of 
 their own.^ And it would have been simply im- 
 politic to distiurb their prejudices on a point on 
 which they could not better them. Compare, again, 
 with each of these systems, the mystical abstractions 
 into which relio-ious thought was subtilized in the 
 mythologies of the East ; and as we see how they 
 found a natural home in the dreamy inactivity of 
 the oriental character, we must perceive also how 
 impossible it would have been to engraft them 
 on the intellectual and stirring activity of the 
 
 1 Cic. de Leg. II. c. viii. " nequc nisi Romani Dii, neu quo 
 
 alio more quam patrio colei'entur." Liv. iv. .30. See also the 
 advice of Maecenas to Augustus. Dio Cassius, lii. '36. Thus 
 the refusal to sacrifice to the Gods was considered an act of high 
 treason (crimen majestatis). TertuUian, Apol. xxix. 
 
 - Celsus considered it an impossibility, and a weakness to sup- 
 pose it, that the inhabitants of all nations could be united in one 
 religion. El yap 8rj (he is quoted as saying) oTopre tls tva crr/x- 
 (j)povrjaai vopov rov^ rrjv '\(Tiav Kni TwpciTrt]i> Kcil Aifivrjp kcitoi- 
 Kovvras 'EXX»;!/aj re kuI ^ap^dpovs (ixp^ TTfpaTav vtvop-qptvovs. — 
 abvvaTov tcivto vopiuas tivai 67rt0cpet ort, o tovto oloptvoi oi8ev 
 ov8ev. — Origen contr. Celsum, 72, Edit. Bened. Paris, p. 79.'). 
 
I.] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 7 
 
 Greek, or the strong practical vigour of the Roman 
 mind. 
 
 And this is even more conspicuously discernible 
 in the ruder forms of religious worship. Just in 
 proportion as a nation has receded further from the 
 light of traditional truth and civilization, it has ever 
 been broken up into separate tribes. The state of 
 barbarism is one of social disunion. So also the 
 tendency of error is to multiply its forms, to disso- 
 cialize and split up the worship of the human heart 
 into endless superstitions, which vary and take their 
 specific character either from some local peculiarity, 
 or from the mental condition of its votaries. The 
 senseless worship of the Fetiche bears the impress 
 of that moral degradation which has settled, as a 
 curse, upon the tribes of Africa. The frequent 
 ablutions of the Hindoo, the adoration he pays 
 to the sacred waters of the Jumna or Ganges, limit 
 his superstition to the sultry clime of Hindostan. 
 The very forms of his idols correspond with the 
 monstrous growth which belongs to that prolific 
 region. The divinities of Egypt could find none 
 to do them honom- beyond the slimy banks of the 
 Nile, which was their birth-place. The dark legen- 
 dary tale, the savage feast and song, by which the 
 pirates of Scandinavia " maddened themselves to 
 rage" for carnage, beseemed the inhabitants of those 
 northern wilds ; while the more refined worship 
 of Eastern Asia, the gilded decorations and graceful 
 offerings of flowers and incense which the Chinese 
 
8 THE UNIVERSALITY AND rREJ)ICTED [Lect, 
 
 votary presents at the shrine of Confucius or 
 Ihukllia, if they indicate the liigher civiUzation, 
 betoken, hkewise, the feebleness and timidity of 
 the oriental character. 
 
 View however, in contrast with these varying 
 and ever-multiplying shapes of error, the Gospel of 
 Jesus Christ. It asserts its divine origin by the 
 very universality of the message it contains, and by 
 its tendency to unity. It is for man — for man in 
 that one character in which there is no difference 
 between tribe and tribe, viz. in his fallen estate, as 
 sinfid, and as needing reconciliation with his Maker. 
 If the evil was comprehensive, the remedy which it 
 has provided is equally comprehensive ; and in the 
 character of the truths that it reveals, it addresses 
 itself to every part and function of the soul of man. 
 The wants that drive the savage to his incantations 
 and sorceries, or bow him before his shapeless idol, 
 — the doubts that pei'})lexed and multiplied the 
 schools of philosophy, — the simple truths, moral 
 and theological, that kept alive the knowledge of 
 the One God among the Jews, — are all recognised, 
 harmonized, and developed. Each power and affec- 
 tion of man finds therein an object on which to 
 engage itself, — the means of its exercise and sanc- 
 tification. The Gospel meets him in his most 
 abject state, and, presenting its one object of faith, 
 leads him forth from the })rison-house of slavish 
 fear and wasting passion, providing for and keep- 
 ing pace with his civilization, and cherishing withip 
 
I.] EXTENSION OE THE GOSPEL. 9 
 
 him liis true life, from its earliest germ to its last 
 and fullest matm-ity. It supplies him with a new 
 tie of brotherhood ; maintaining and consolidating 
 national existence, while it unites in one fraternity, 
 and on equal terms, all ranks and all tribes of the 
 earth. Thus, in the person of the Divine Re- 
 deemer, " the second Adam," the dispersed races of 
 the world are gathered together, and in Him the 
 type is set forth of man in the unity and sanctity 
 of his redeemed and regenerate nature. 
 
 And therefore to one thus recognising the reve- 
 lation of God to man for his recovery, it can be no 
 strange thing to find that it was designed for uni- 
 versal acceptation. Such was its Divine Author's 
 injunction ; and this it was which roused the 
 jealousy of its first persecutors. The Church, the 
 new spiritual kingdom which he established, was 
 to " be fruitful and midtiply," It was to spread 
 into all lands, and gather within its limits all 
 nations, and tribes, and languages. This was the 
 purpose announced before by successive prophecies, 
 and finally enforced in the command which the 
 Son of God, as he quitted this earth, charged upon 
 His disciples, "Go ye into all the world, and preach 
 the Gospel to every creature."' 
 
 This command, for the accomplishment of which 
 " the whole creation groaneth," and the ulterior 
 purposes of God are waiting in expectation, remains 
 
 1 Mark xvi. 15. 
 
10 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect. 
 
 still unrepealed, still unfulfilled.' Why does it 
 remain so ? what is the purpose of God respecting 
 it? what means has He provided for its conn)le- 
 tion? what part is man to bear in evangelizing 
 the world? what efforts have been made and are 
 making, and with what success ? what are the 
 causes of failure? what are our duties, om' encou- 
 ragements, and prospects, in the discharge of this 
 pressing obligation, as a branch of Christ's holy 
 Church, and as a nation? These are questions 
 opening a wide field of dee}) and practical interest, 
 and bringing under review thej'^rt.s/ and j^rospective 
 cxtenHlon of the Gospel, and the missionary functions 
 of the Church, as the commissioned converter of the 
 Heathen. 
 
 This is the topic which, as God shall give me the 
 power, I shall venture to bring before you in the 
 following Lectures. No one can surely witness the 
 surprising spirit, and almost restless interest that 
 has evinced itself on this subject, pervading and 
 stirring the whole mass of the community, without 
 
 1 In order to escape the argument drawn from this command 
 in favour of a perpetual apostolic ministry, — viz. that, since it 
 clearly could not be accomplished by the Apostles themselves, 
 unless " immortality on earth was a part of the gift bestowed on 
 them," therefore the succession of an apostolic ministry was im- 
 plied in the command, — in order to escape this strong presump- 
 tion, it was contended that the command was actually fulfilled 
 by the Apostles ; that they actually did jjreach the Gospel to every 
 creature — even in America. The absurd argument is stated and 
 refuted in Witsius's Treatises, L'J and 14, De Evang. in Amcr. pre- 
 dicando. — ^Soe note in Rose's Commission and Duly of the {'Icrgy, 
 p. l.j. I'aljric. Lux Evang. cap. xlvii. 
 
L] EXTENSION 01' THE GOSPEL. 11 
 
 feeling how near a place it has in the sympathies 
 of every Christian heart, and without the solemn 
 thought that our Heavenly Master is preparing the 
 way for events which shall mark a fresh sera in His 
 Church. That He has, in His eternal counsels, a 
 design to be accomplished, none can doubt; the 
 book of the prophecy has yet to be fulfilled, before 
 it is sealed up. Three hundred years have scarcely 
 elapsed, since it may be said that in the East and 
 West a new world was discovered and brought 
 into contact with Christian Europe. The nations 
 by which the supremacy of the sea and the means of 
 foreign intercourse were then possessed, have sunk 
 into feebleness. They visited these lands of fabled 
 magnificence, and enriched themselves with the 
 plunder; and they have passed away. But God 
 has now made England the Empress of the Sea ; 
 territories more numerous than the fleets of Spain 
 and Portugal ever visited have fallen under her 
 supremacy; her navies sweep the seas, and her 
 commerce cii'culates through every land ; — with an 
 empire extending over a seventh part of the world's 
 inhabitants, and more than a seventh part of the 
 earth's surface,^ though the least among the nations, 
 
 ' The following Table is published by the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel : — 
 
 Population of the whole world 800,000,000 
 
 British subjects, one-seventh part 123,000,000 
 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Land area of the globe 50,000,000 
 
 Total British territory 8,100,000 
 
12 THE UNIVERSALITY AND TREDICTED [Lect. 
 
 slic luis surpassed them uU in the wide spread of her 
 infiiienee, and the amount of her responsibihty ; and 
 in all this we cannot but feel that the finger of God, 
 and the day of her visitation, is upon her; and, if 
 power and opportunity, and concurrent providences, 
 are indications of God's will, that this nation and 
 Church are specially set to urge on their course 
 the prophetic events which seem to be gathering 
 towards their fulfilment, to hasten and usher in the 
 day of the Lord, and " make straight in the desert 
 a highway for our God." 
 
 And w^e are led at once to ask, what part in so 
 great a transaction the Church has hitherto shown 
 a readiness to discharge. This empire has not been 
 the growth of a day : — for two hundred years, 
 savages and pagans have been brought within the 
 ranges of its enterprise and influence. And Ave 
 must with shame at once confess, that the wdiole 
 of that period exhibits nearly a blank page of indo- 
 lence or indifference. For above a hundred years, 
 the utmost that was done was to maintain some- 
 thing like an establishment of Christianity by a few 
 priests, in our American colonies ; again, chaplains 
 were thinly scattered, with our garrisons and fac- 
 tories, along the coasts of the vast Indian continent, 
 and Hned the border of the dark masses of heathen- 
 ism, without an effort, without the means, to in- 
 vade and enlighten them." A few heathen, a small 
 
 ' Appendix, No. I. On the condition ol' tlie C'burcli in the 
 Colonics in past years. 
 
I.]i EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 13 
 
 remnant, or rather a first-fruits, brought immedi- 
 ately under the control of European masters, were 
 gathered in ; and these should indeed have been 
 thankfully hailed as the first large drops that por- 
 tend a coming shower to fertilize the whole ground ; 
 but nothing beyond this seems to have been aimed 
 at. It was left to other and smaller states to 
 make a first essay on paganism. Denmarlv, among 
 reformed nations, established the first mission in 
 Hindostan ; and it must ])g again acknowledged 
 with shame, that whatever more cheering con- 
 quests have been gained in subsequent times in 
 India, have been effected by German missionaries,' 
 aided with British money. In vain through that 
 long period, though province was added yearly 
 to province, and treasures, deemed inexhaustible, 
 poured into our land, and kindled our cupidity, 
 and worldly men flocked anew to the prey, — ■ 
 though many conquering names were emblazoned 
 on the rolls of warlike achievement, in vain do we 
 look for one name in the annals of our Chiu-ch 
 shining with the lustrous title of " apostle to the 
 heathen." And yet during that time the mis- 
 
 1 By far the ablest Protestant missionaries in connexion with 
 the Church of England have, throughout, been not Germans only, 
 but Lutherans. Such were the venerable Schwartz and Schultze, 
 in the last century. Mr. Rhenius, again, who was very instru- 
 mental in the religious movement at Tinnevelly, was a Lutheran ; 
 and so is Mr. Dcerr, to whose zeal the late results at Krishnaghur 
 are in large measure to be attributed. In 1842 the number of 
 Lutheran ministers on the list of the Church Missionary Society 
 amounted to twelve ; and to judge from the names of those in its 
 employ, above forty are either Germans, or of German extraction. 
 
14 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect. 
 
 sionaries of the Cliiircli of Rome were following in 
 the track of war and commerce, and spreading 
 themselves in all lands wherever Spanish arms 
 opened the way, or ships of trade would bear 
 them; and if their almost miraculous records of 
 the conversion of the heathen do not present the 
 genuine conquests of a pure Christianity, they at 
 least suggest what pure Christianity might have 
 achieved, — they at least exhibit glorious instances 
 of what men of devoted spirits and apostolic zeal 
 did attempt and suffer. And, in later days, sects 
 that have seceded from the Church, have com- 
 bined in associations for the same end, and have 
 multiplied means and societies, till throughout the 
 vast continents of the East and West, and the mul- 
 titudinous islands of the South, their emissaries are 
 scattering the word of God, and instructing savages 
 in the truths of the Gospel. It must indeed be 
 thankfully acknowledged that, at the same time 
 with this later movement, a Missionary Society,' 
 conducted by members of the Chm'ch, was organ- 
 ized for the conversion of the heathen ; and the 
 success with which God has blessed this effort will 
 be mentioned in its place ; still it was not the 
 Church that thus acted ; nor was any commission 
 entrusted to the Society to act in its name. The 
 Church itself, as a hotly, as the ordained minister of 
 
 • Originally called the Socielij for Missions to Africa and the 
 East; but in 1812 its designation was cliangcd to Tke Church 
 Missionarij Sorird/ for Africa anil the F.asl. 
 
I.J EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 15 
 
 the heathen, has not acted. Though it acknow- 
 ledged and exercised the duties of edifying the 
 Hock at home, and educating the young of its 
 communion, yet it has not, in its coi'porate capa- 
 city, claimed the heathen for its inheritance, and 
 been, as it were, in travail till they were horn 
 again ; it has not been careful to press this duty 
 upon the state, nor to urge it from its pulpits, nor 
 infuse the missionary spirit into its members, till 
 the feeling had penetrated its very being, and cir- 
 culated as blood through its whole system, and 
 become a function of its daily life and action. 
 Causes, indeed, may be assigned, and will be here- 
 after assigned, to account, in some way, for this 
 seeming indifference, the absence of this sign of 
 an apostle in a branch of Christ's Church ; but 
 the fact must be acknowledged, most humbly and 
 moiu-nfully. And therefore we may the more joy 
 at the sympathy which " now at the last hath 
 flom'ished again " in behalf of a world lying in 
 wickedness ; at the keen sense that is now felt of 
 the duty and the responsibility wdiich is fastened 
 upon the Church by its Great Head and Saviour, 
 to go forth and visit the dark places of the earth, 
 to expand and enlarge its borders, and gather 
 within the curtains of its tabernacle tribes of every 
 tongue and every hue, to adorn the supper-chamber 
 of the Lamb. 
 
 Such a duty being recognised, it would be an 
 useless task to repeat, even for the purpose of 
 
10 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lkct. 
 
 refuting, tlie many objections which have from time 
 to time been entertained against any such proceed- 
 ings. Some of them were m'ged, no doubt, from a 
 worldly jealousy ; some from a cold indifFereuce to 
 the divine connnaud ; some, too, from a conscious- 
 ness that it was not such an individual work as 
 it was commonly represented to be by its advocates. 
 Many, it may be supposed, shrunk from so vast a 
 duty, who woidd yet have owned and welcomed it, 
 had it been undertaken, and explained, and m'ged 
 as an obligation and responsibility adhering to the 
 Church at large. But yet a question may arise, 
 which has engaged the thoughts of many, as 
 to the amount of success which seems promised 
 l)y the Word of God to crown the performance 
 of this duty. Por, unreasonable as it is, yet the 
 zeal and interest, with which the work has been 
 engaged in by many have been made to depend, 
 not on the plain duty, but on some specific 
 prospect of a triumphant result which they think 
 they see assured by the word of prophecy, and for 
 the; hastening and consummation of which they 
 labour. 
 
 Now it is not for the purpose of dispelling any 
 })rightcr hope, which at least carries with it the 
 benefit of supplying an immediate incentive to 
 action, that I would inquire into the justice of tliat 
 expectation wdiich calcidates on the universal spread 
 of the kingdom of Christ over the whole earth, as 
 the result of any present efiVjrt in the i)ropagation 
 
I] EXTENSION OE THE GOSPEL. 17 
 
 of the Taith :' but it is for the purpose of freeing 
 the subject of missionary exertions from the charge 
 of dreamy enthusiasm, as being connected Avith 
 anticipations which are controverted by many, and 
 distrusted by more. Besides which, the zeal that 
 rests on an insecure foundation, is necessarily itself 
 insecure. And is it not a part of our trial, an 
 exercise and strengthening of our faith, to act upon 
 a sense of present duty irrespectively of a definite 
 and foreseen result ? This is the discipline of 
 God's moral government in our daily course of 
 conduct ; thus He tries us ; — not bribing our obe- 
 dience by immediate gratification, but setting only 
 His general laws and promises before us, throwing 
 in, perhaps, a thousand disappointments between 
 any act and its final though certain recompense, — 
 and thus teaching us to repose, for our strength 
 and confidence, on the principle of ascertained duty. 
 For the purpose, then, of educing rather a guide, 
 than a motive, of action, I would proceed to con- 
 sider what prospects are opened in the Word of 
 God in regard to the future fortunes and extension 
 of the Church of Christ. 
 
 It is clear, on the first glance at the prophecies 
 of the Old Testament, that scenes of glory and 
 boundless triumph are described as ordained in the 
 latter days for the kingdom of the promised Mes- 
 siah. A few of these glowing predictions Avill 
 
 ' See Appendix, No. II. On the opinion of the earliei- Fathers 
 respecting the predicted spread of the Gospel. 
 
 C 
 
IS THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect. 
 
 recall others to our mind ; as when it is declared 
 that " the mountain of the Lord's house shall be 
 established in the top of the mountains, and shall 
 be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow 
 iiuto it." " The abundance of the sea shall be con- 
 verted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall 
 come unto thee." " I will save my people from 
 the east country, and from the west country ; and 
 I Avill bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst 
 of Jerusalem." " Violence shall no more be heard 
 in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy 
 borders ; but thou slialt call thy walls Salvation, 
 and thy gates Praise." " For the earth shall be 
 filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, 
 as the waters cover the sea."' 
 
 The thought at once arises, upon reading such 
 passages as these, — /totv, or w//en may we hope that 
 they will be realized? Have they already been 
 accomplished, or are they in course of accomplish- 
 ment? May we look forward to the time when, 
 under the present dispensation of things, and as a 
 result of existing causes, the whole earth will be 
 christianized, and the kingdoms of the world be- 
 come in truth the kingdoms of Christ ? 
 
 Now, before an answer is given to such inquiries, 
 nmch more before it is given (as is commonly done) 
 in the attirmative, it is needful to set before the 
 mind clearly what it is that is anticipated ; whether 
 
 ' Isa. ii. '_>; Ix. 5. Zecli. viii. 7, 8. Isa. Ix. 18. llab. ii. 14. 
 
I.] 
 
 EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 19 
 
 it is indeed a literal fulfilment of these and like 
 predictions; whether not only every nation, but 
 every individual within each nation, shall receive 
 the Gospel, and this, not in word, but in truth ; so 
 that the opposition of Satan shall be broken, and a 
 universal reign of joy and peace be spread over all 
 lands and in all hearts. 
 
 That hereafter, m the restitution, of all things, and 
 in the Church triumphant, such will be the case, 
 cannot be doubted. But as regards the condition of 
 the visible Church on earth, we must bear in mind, 
 that no such scene of glory is contemplated in the 
 New Testament, either by our Blessed Lord or His 
 Apostles. Nay, is it not the contrary ? Though 
 ushered in as bringing " peace on earth," was not the 
 Gospel declared to be sent as " a sword ?" Though 
 the Lord of Life came to triumph over, and subdue 
 all things under His feet, yet He lived on earth only 
 as a man of sorrows. And so it is with the Church. 
 Whatever be its final destiny, no glowing scene of 
 peace and purity, before the end of all things, is 
 promised ; but frequent forebodings of departure 
 from the faith, corruptions, and wTestlings with 
 the world and Satan, and persecutions ; these 
 deepening as the solemn drama of God's counsels 
 draAvs to a close ; so that it is asked, when the Son 
 of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth ?"^ 
 
 ^ Luke xviii. 8. Compare with this 2 Tim. iii. 1 — 4, and 2 Pelcr 
 iii. 3 ; likewise the refereuces in p. 23, note L 
 
 c 2 
 
20 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect 
 
 Besides this, tlicrc is an entire absence in the 
 New Testament of any ground for supposing, that 
 there will be any supernatural inteiTuption of those 
 laws by which the Church of Christ, and the moral 
 natm'e of man, are now governed. On the contrary, 
 frequent parables' of our Lord lead us to conclude 
 that there will be going on to the end of the world 
 the same conflict of the kingdom of Christ with the 
 powers of evil ; the same alternations of advancing 
 and receding light ; the same victory and defeat, 
 throughout the period of the mortal struggle that 
 is carrying on, AAhethcr on the broad surface of 
 the world by the Church militant, or by the indi- 
 vidual Christian on the narrow stage of his own 
 heart. In this sense, " since the fathers fell asleep, 
 all things continue as they were from the begin- 
 ning." The fortunes of the Church may vary, and 
 the Avork it has to do will certainly advance ; yet it 
 will be without any change in those conditions of 
 sj)iritual Being according to which the kingdom of 
 Christ is ordered, and the Gospel has to win its 
 tardy way against the reluctant will of man, and 
 the manifold obstructions of evil. 
 
 And surely by nothing less than such an especial 
 interference of God, amounting to a suspension of 
 His own laws, can we su})pose that the universal 
 conversion of the world could be effected, — that 
 every natural heart could be disarmed of its oppo- 
 
 > Mark iv. 26. Matt. xiii. 24. 
 
I] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 21 
 
 sition to Christ, the swelhiigs of passion be at 
 once overborne and quelled, the world be stripped 
 of its fascinations, the power of Satan be broken, 
 and scenes of nnendangered peace and joy possess 
 the compass of the earth. 
 
 Nor yet, on the other hand, will anything short of 
 this be a worthy and real fulfilment of such pro- 
 phecies. It would seem derogatory to God's word 
 to suppose that such a doubtful sway of the Gospel 
 as exists at present in Christian countries, though 
 extended over the whole world, could be an ade- 
 quate realization of that vision which the Holy 
 Ghost revealed to the eyes of His inspired servants. 
 And therefore we are constrained to look to some 
 future period for the completion of this Divine 
 counsel. Then it will be altogeilier fulfilled ; noio 
 it will be but partially. For we need not exclude 
 even a present and partial fulfilment from bearing a 
 part in the predicted scheme. The purpose of God 
 runs through a long period of accomplishment, by 
 a series of events falling at last into its one great 
 consummation. The word of prophecy communi- 
 cates His design viewed as a whole and as oue, 
 from fnst to last, gathered into one object of sight, 
 the end anticipated in the beginning. And this 
 beginning is dependent on human agency ; it may 
 be marred, thwarted, delayed, by man's wilfulness, 
 or folly, or neglect ; and so the prophecy will seem 
 but ill to correspond with this its imperfect realiza- 
 tion ; but " at the end it shall speak, and not lie ; 
 
22 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect. 
 
 though it tarry, wait for it, becausu it will surely 
 conic, it will not tarry." 
 
 Thus it was that, on the preaching to tlie Gentiles 
 by St. Peter, and when " a people " began to be 
 gathered unto the Lord from among them, St. 
 James recognised in these first-fruits of the Gospel 
 an agreement with the w-ords of insj)iration, which 
 foretold that " all the Gentiles should seek after 
 the Lord." ' Thus, too, St. Chrysostom considered 
 that the prediction of the Gospel being preached to 
 all nations, was fulfilled by the Apostles before the 
 overthrow of Jerusalem." And so avc may perceive 
 an accomplishment of the sublime prophecies of the 
 Old Testament, even in the present triumphs of 
 Christ's spiritual kingdom, as being an earnest of 
 the heavenly glory in which it will finally issue. 
 
 But in endeavouring to ascertain the predicted 
 fortunes and extension of the Church, we must 
 rather turn our eyes from these elder prophecies to 
 those which are found in the New Testament, and 
 accordino; to which the earlier Fathers were led to 
 form their expectations of the future. And here 
 we are met by two main ideas. The first is, the 
 prediction of the great falling off and apostasy 
 which is to mark the last times, and which will 
 have reached its crisis and been fully developed 
 in the Man of Sin, ' when " the Lord shall consume 
 
 1 Acts XV. 17. - See page I, note 1. 
 
 :> llorsley, Serni. III. V\'itli this order of events corres])Oiuls 
 the ])r()])liccy of Coa; and Miia:oj5 (in Iv/ckiel) being dcMh-oyed 
 
I.] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 23 
 
 liini with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy him 
 with tlie brightness of His coming." The second 
 is, the announcement that " this Gospel of the king- 
 dom shall be preached in all the world /or a witness 
 to all nations ; and then shall the end come." ^ That 
 neither of these announcements has met Avitli an 
 adequate fulfilment, whatever foreshadowings have 
 from time to time prefigured them, or however they 
 may have seemed, at intervals, to be very nigh at 
 hand, can hardly be doubted ; and so closely are 
 they both connected with the second coming of our 
 Lord, that each of them has at all times attracted 
 the expectant gaze of those Avho have been looking 
 out for that solemn event. 
 
 It is to be observed, too, that the position of 
 this latter prediction of our Lord, in the awful 
 sayings with which it is accompanied, leads us to 
 conclude, that a more earnest and vigorous effort 
 to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation among all 
 nations will be the immediate harbinger" of that 
 dark season of apostasy and sharp persecution 
 which will shut in the declining day of the Church 
 on earth, — to be relieved only by the brightness of 
 her Lord's approach. And, during this season, a 
 sifting of the nations, a dissolution of every system 
 
 just before the vision of the Temple (chaps, xxxviii. xxxix.), -which 
 seems a counterpart of the similar prophecy of Gog and Magog, 
 just before the linal resurrection, in R,ev. xx. 
 
 1 Matt. xxiv. 11. 
 
 * Thus Origen, in Matt. Comm. sect. 39, torn. iii. p. 8,58. Ed. 
 Ben. (quoted in Appendix II.) 
 
24 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PllEDICTElJ [Lect. 
 
 into its elements of truth or ungodliness/ and a 
 ranging of them on the side of Antichrist or 
 Christ will be witnessed, — so that once again, as 
 at first in the wilderness, the great enemy of man 
 and the Son of God will be, as it wxre, confronted 
 for a last conflict. St. Augustine records it^ as 
 being a conviction ever present in the discourses 
 and hearts of the faithful, that through the preach- 
 ing of Elias, or of those coming in his spirit and 
 power, during the brief l)ut sifting tribulation of 
 those days, the tribes of Israel wdll be summoned 
 from their dispersion and blindness, and own their 
 rejected Saviour. And St. Paul ^ strikingly con- 
 nects this glorious event with a larger gathering in 
 of the Gentiles. May it not be that, in the shaking 
 
 ^ August, de Civit. Dei, cap. viii. " Sicut enim fatendum est, 
 multorum refrigescere charitatem cum abundat iniquitas, et inu- 
 sitatis maximisque persecutionibus atque fallaciis diaboli jam 
 soluti, eos qui in libro Vitas scripti non sunt, esse multos cessuros ; 
 ita cogitandum est, non solum quos bones fideles illud tcmpus 
 inveniet, sed nonnullos etiam qui foris adliuc erunt, adjuvante 
 Dei gratia, per considerationem Scripturarum, in quibus et alia 
 et finis ipse praenunciatus est quem venire jam sentiunt, ad cre- 
 dendum quod non credebant futures esse firmiores." 
 
 " De Civit. Dei, cap. xxix. " Per liunc Eliam, magnum mii-a- 
 bilenique prophetam, exposita sibi lege, ultimo tempore, ante 
 judicium, Judasos in Christum verum, id est, in Christum nostrum 
 esse credituros, celeberrimum est in sermoiiibus cordihusque Jidelium." 
 — Cf, Justin M. Dial, cum Tryph. p. 2G8, Edit. Paris, 1G15 ; also 
 Gregor. M. Moral, lib. ix. cap. 3. 
 
 A similar opinion is expressed by Jerome, on Malachi iv., Avho 
 however conceives, under £l/as, " omnem Prophctarum chorum '' 
 to be understood, «lio shall convert the Jews, " ante(iuam veniet 
 dies judicii." 
 
 ^ Rom. xi. 1, 2. 
 
I.] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 25 
 
 of the nations, and tlie trying and dissolving of all 
 false systems as by fire, the sight of the ancient 
 people of God tnrning to theii' Messiah through- 
 out all lands, will be a signal to many among the 
 heathen tribes to fulfil in spirit the prediction of 
 Zechariah,' so that " they shall lay hold of the skirt 
 of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with 
 you, for we have heard that the Lord is with 
 you?" 
 
 Thus, then, the gathering in of the Gentiles, and 
 of the elect of God, will be accomplished ; and so 
 much at least the clear word of God seems to have 
 revealed for our edification. And let it not be 
 thought that, in excluding from his anticipations a 
 prospect of millenary glory, to be vouchsafed in 
 recompense to present exertion, we rob the Chris- 
 tian of a main inducement to endure toil, and 
 sacrifice, and it may be disappointment, in preach- 
 ing abroad the Gospel of Christ. It formed no 
 part of the motives which urged the men of God, 
 who issued from our shores in the seventh and 
 eighth centuries, to go and convert, and die in 
 converting, the Pagan hordes that possessed the 
 forests of Germany. Nor if we review those in- 
 ducements that remain, and some of which press 
 with peculiar force on our own age and nation, 
 shall we find aught wanting to make us bend our- 
 selves with more deliberate zeal to the discharge ot 
 this binding duty. 
 
 ' Zecli. viii. 2IJ. 
 
26 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect. 
 
 Let mc cU'aw, then, a first motive to the per- 
 forinaiice of it, from the very consideration that 
 has been entered into of the prospective destinies 
 of the Chm'ch. The preaching of the Gospel in all 
 lands is to precede, nay, is to usher in and attend 
 the last contest between righteousness and un- 
 righteousness, between the Prince of this world and 
 the Lord of Life, — and thus prepare the way for 
 the coming of Christ in judgment. Now, surely 
 such revelations of God are made for the strength- 
 ening of Christian faith, and in order to give direc- 
 tion and energy to Christian eflbrts. And however 
 difficult it may be to solve the problem of man's 
 free agency working concurrently with the eternal 
 counsels of God, — or to determine how far the 
 latter may be made to depend on the mode or 
 degree in which the former is exerted ; yet that 
 they do depend upon, and are modified in some way 
 by it, the history of God with his chosen people 
 sufficiently testifies ; nay, it is imjjlied in the very 
 injunction to pray for the approach and the speedy 
 realization of events, " the times and seasons" of 
 which arc in the hands of the Father. We are 
 l)idden to pray that His "kingdom" may " come;" 
 we beseech Him that He Avill " hasten it," and 
 " shorily accomplish the inmiber of" His " elect." 
 Therefore, looking forward to the consummation of 
 all things, to the trial which the Church is to endure, 
 and the final trium])h which will be achieved in its 
 behalf, the present conduct of Christians is charged 
 
I.] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 27 
 
 with the most solemn, tliough perhaps remote, 
 issues. The final result, indeed, is not, cannot 
 be, doubtful ; but a conflict is to precede it, uncer- 
 tain in its duration, its intensity, and the character 
 of its termination. May it not be that the glory of 
 Christ is delayed indefinitely, and a longer period 
 accorded to the rule of Satan, because the Gospel 
 is not yet fully preached ? May it not be that the 
 souls "under the altar" prolong their weary plaint; 
 that the present groans of all creation deepen 
 around us ; and that the morning star still lingers 
 beneath the horizon, because some nation, which 
 we delay to call, has yet to be born anew, some 
 heathen souls have yet to be added to the fold of 
 Christ ? May it not be (considering the influence 
 of man on man) that in the war of the powers of 
 heaven and earth, the numbers of those who shall 
 be marshalled on the one side or the other, of those 
 who shall bear the mark of the beast, or the seal of 
 Christ, AAdll be determined by the previous faith- 
 fulness or unfaithfulness of His Church in the 
 extension of His kingdom ? Nay, if it be not too 
 bold a word, may it not be that, while generation 
 after generation is passing away, bowing before 
 senseless idols, and plunging more hopelessly into 
 the snares of the destroyer, the very number 
 of those who shall sit down with their Lord in 
 heaven fails of its completion ? Whatever we may 
 judge of these specific results, still it is only in con- 
 sistency with the analogy of God's moral dealings. 
 
28 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect. 
 
 that such issues, most solemn, it may be most dis- 
 tant, should be intimately bound up with present 
 determinations and actions. The consequences of 
 a single deed, the neglect of one opportunity, may 
 be felt in its vibrations even at the utmost verge of 
 time, and the fate of futm*e generations hang upon 
 the decision of the present. And therefore we 
 cannot contemplate the predicted fortunes of the 
 Church, without seeing how strong an obligation 
 rests upon each age to give effect to the implied 
 charge of Christ, when He said that " this Gospel 
 of the kingdom shall" first " be preached in all the 
 world for a witness to all nations ; and then shall the 
 end come!' 
 
 And other motives may constrain us to the same 
 duty. The command of Christ Himself, explicit, 
 unlimited either in time or extent, might be urged 
 as alone sufficient to bind it upon the Church in all 
 ages, as constituting the highest of all obligations. 
 But without dwelling upon what has already been 
 alluded to, we may observe that the exjmnsivcness 
 of the Chm-ch is truly noted as among the tokens 
 of its life. The light that cannot spread itself 
 abroad is no true light. And the Church was con- 
 stituted for this end, to give shine unto the world. 
 Thus it lives in activity, it is gifted with power, — 
 the power as of fire, or the wind, which exist only 
 in motion ; and its life is made manifest, according 
 as it extends abroad the holy influences with which 
 it is endowed. The immediate residt of that power 
 
I.] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 29 
 
 with which Christ was invested on His rising from 
 the grave, was the transference to His Apostles of 
 the authority to evangeUze the world : "All power 
 is given unto me in heaven and in earth : Go ye, 
 therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them." 
 It was to be exerted to the end of time ; and upon 
 the exertion of it the blessing of His continued pre- 
 sence was made to depend ; for He added imme- 
 diately, " And lo ! I am with you alway, even 
 unto the end of the world." How shall the 
 Chiurch^ or any portion of the ChmTh, show that it 
 has succeeded to this commission, and to the 
 power that is engaged for its execution, but by its 
 wide-spread toils and conquests ? And is it not 
 true that it is this very want of expansiveness 
 that has been unceasingly objected to us? And 
 how, till almost yesterday, have we been able to 
 reply to the imputation? Wliere have we been 
 able to point to the Church, breaking forth as by 
 an inward energy, I will not say wherever a rude 
 hut, or dark form, on the shore of some far-off isle 
 betokened the presence of a soid that might be 
 saved, but even where the arms of the nation 
 had opened a free and secure entrance in among 
 whole tribes and millions of the heathen? And 
 now, if ever, w^e need to show that we have this 
 token of life ; that we have received the commis- 
 sion, and possess the energy to execute it, to go 
 and convert ; that oui- Church is not merely of one 
 age, or one people, whose whole vitality has been 
 
30 THE UNIVERSALITY AND rREDICTEI) [Lect. 
 
 exhausted within these narrow hniits ; but that 
 it is for every chnie and age, can master human 
 nature, can fasliion, according to one heavenly 
 model, all minds and dispositions, savage and civi- 
 lized, without destroying the distinctive featm^s of 
 their individual character. 
 
 And to this work, too, the debt of chariiy binds 
 us, and the voices of the multitudinous heathen. 
 Two-thirds of the human race yet lie in darkness, 
 and still present to the eye of faith a portion of that 
 vast field which the omniscient eye of Christ sm'- 
 veyed, when he bade His disciples " pray the Lord 
 of the harvest that he would send labourers into his 
 harvest." Shall it be said that they have the law 
 of nature, and that, ignorant of any higher, they 
 Avill be judged by no higher, and so may be left 
 \vith their God ? But thus felt not their heavenly 
 Redeemer, when He laid down His life for them, 
 and commanded his disciples to go and call them 
 to salvation, that He might " see of the travail of 
 his soul." Besides which, can they stand by the 
 law of nature ? Can they with unaided strength 
 Avalk even by that, and meet their Judge ? Is it 
 not the case that even their conscience becomes 
 defiled, that they ever retrograde and deteriorate ; 
 that infanticide,^ and treachery, and moral abomina- 
 tions, indicate the powerlessness of this law to con- 
 
 ' 'Phis wiis i'ully borne out in the " Evidence on Al)origines," 
 civeii beibro the Committee of the House of Conunons in 1833 
 and 1835. In China, according to Barrow, the nuniber of exposed 
 
I.] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 31 
 
 trol tlie corrupt passions of human nature, which 
 is destitute of strength, because destitute of Christ ? 
 So that not even thus can we be reheved of the con- 
 viction, that, while we withhokl our hand, we are 
 neglecting our Lord's command, and that, in leaving 
 the heathen to themselves, we leave them to perish. 
 
 It is a debt of charity with every Christian 
 people. But with us it is a debt of justice too. 
 For, more than any nation, we have been brought 
 into contact with the tribes of the Pagan world ; in 
 our commerce and colonization we have visited 
 every coast, with a charge indeed to bless, but — 
 must we not confess it ? — in reality to curse. What 
 has been the history of om^ extended empire ? The 
 numberless tribes that once swarmed over the 
 northern continent of America are almost wasted 
 from under the sun before men of one blood with 
 ourselves, and theii' names are scarce known. And 
 never was there a more pathetic appeal than that 
 of the Indian chief, who, in a review of his nation's 
 wrongs, found the plea for rejecting the white man's 
 religion.' 
 
 And how is it with Eastern India ? Long was 
 it thought that the empire could be held only by 
 a denial of our Lord; and the Hindoo learnt to 
 
 infants, in Pekin alone, after deducting more than one-half for 
 natural deaths, amounts to four thousand a year. In some pro- 
 vmces not one in three is suflPered to live. Abeel's China, p. 109. 
 ' In 1805 a council was held by the chiefs and warriors of the 
 Senecas, at the request of a Missionary, when the speech alluded 
 to was made. It is given at length iu Howitt's Colonization and 
 Christianity, pp. 397-401. 
 
32 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect. 
 
 deem tliat we had no religion/ and that no " con- 
 siderable modes of faith existed among men, except 
 the two which divide the population of Hindostan." 
 We planted settlements on the African coast, but it 
 is written in our laws" that it was " only for the en- 
 couragement, protection, and defence of the slave- 
 trade." And the traffic consumed and blighted 
 the natives with a moral pestilence. Among 
 the chiefs and people, wherever it prevailed, " the 
 conmionest charities of life," almost " the last 
 glimmerings of civilization disappeared, and the 
 unrestrained passions of men obtained a fell ascen- 
 dency."^ We are peopling another continent with 
 our criminals, and have made the place dreadfid to 
 Christian thought ; and twenty years have been 
 sufficient for the " extermination of nearly a whole 
 race of aborigines."' And these things convert the 
 debt of charity into a debt of justice. The nations 
 of the earth demand some recompense of us ; and 
 England owes a debt of penitence and restitution. 
 And how shall it be paid, but by the Church lifting 
 up her voice, and stirring the nation to its duty, by 
 letting it have no rest imtil she be enabled to bear 
 the healing balm of the Gospel to the afflicted tribes; 
 
 ^ Bishop Middleton's Charge to the Clergy at Calcutta. (Ser- 
 mons, p. 233.) 
 
 ^ In an Act of Parliament passed 23 Geo. II. (c. 31), quoted in 
 Mr. Trew's Letter to the Bishop of London, p, 8. (The reference 
 as given in the former edition, and copied from Mr. Trew, has 
 been found to be erroneous. It is here corrected.) 
 
 ^ Trew's Letter, p. 18. 
 
 * Catholic Missions in Australia, by Dr. Ulhithorne, p. 47. Sec 
 also Evidence on Aborigines, pp. 2.53, 2.51. 
 
I.] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 33 
 
 till slie stand between the dead and the living, and 
 the plague be stayed. 
 
 And if God in His mercy stir up in us this spirit 
 of penitence, and love, and zeal, — that spirit Avhicli 
 once made this country the isle of saints, — how 
 great may we believe will be the reflected blessing 
 with which He will recompense the work ! The 
 spirit that undertakes the duty, and makes the 
 sacrifice, will not be borne abroad and then given 
 to the winds, but will be wafted back again, and 
 distil as dew to refresh and revive the Church. Is 
 it not ever thus, that compliance with known duty 
 is blessed with an increase of spiritual power ? And 
 thus the sight of the Church flourishing in some 
 distant land among tribes converted, civilized, dis- 
 ciphned, united, will bear witness to the grace, still 
 dwelling within it. Its power will be seen. This 
 token of its life will silence many a taunt, awaken, 
 perhaps, many a tenderer regard ; " turn the hearts 
 of the fathers unto the children," and convince 
 gainsayers "that God is with" us "of a truth." 
 The faith of many shall wax strong ; and piety 
 will burn brighter in the individual breast that 
 has learned to sympathize in the salvation of the 
 heathen. And the examples of " men who have 
 hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ," will call forth a kindred spuit of sacrifice 
 at home. They will chide the slumberer and self- 
 indulgent. They will plead the cause of Christ 
 with us. As we follow them, as it were, into the 
 
 D 
 
34 EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. [Lect. I. 
 
 very dominion of Satan, and stand in the face of 
 the great enemy of Christ, surely our animosities 
 will be laid aside, — our spirits, now estranged by 
 jealousies, will be drawn together, — our work at 
 home will be consolidated and sanctified, — and our 
 Church may shine forth, as it did in darker and less 
 prosperous days, a light to the heathen, a mother 
 of churches, and a glory of all Christendom. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 THE GENERAL CONDITIONS AND ACTUAL HIN- 
 DRANCES IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 
 
 Mark IV. 2G— 28. 
 
 so IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AS IF A MAN SHOULD CAST SEED 
 INTO THE GROUND, AND SHOULD SLEEP, AND RISE NIGHT AND 
 DAY, AND THE SEED SHOULD SPRING AND GROW UP, HE 
 KNOWETH NOT HOW : FOR THE EARTH BRINGETH FORTH FRUIT 
 OF HERSELF ; FIRST THE BLADE, THEN THE EAR, AFTER THAT 
 THE FULL CORN IN THE EAR. 
 
 When, in the former Lecture, the iiniversahty of 
 the Gospel was spoken of, the expression was 
 used in reference to the adaptation which it bore 
 to human natiu-e at large, under all its varying 
 peculiarities, individual, local, or social, over the 
 earth. But using the word theologically, as de- 
 noting the actual extension of it by the Church, it 
 must be received in a limited signification. For 
 neither the promise of its Divine Author, nor any 
 probabihty, woidd lead us to expect that it would 
 be in all places at all times, nor in all places at any 
 one time ; but in some place at all times, and in all 
 places at some time ; — in a word, that, it shall never 
 fail from the earth, and shall at some period or 
 
36 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 other be preached over the Avholc world, hcfore the 
 end come.^ 
 
 Such being, as it were, the hmits Avhich bound 
 the extension and universahty of tlie Churcli, I 
 propose to consider the conditions which attend 
 its progress within these hmits, as they may be 
 deduced from Holy Writ, or from previous proba- 
 bility, and as they are illustrated by past experience; 
 and then to compare, in this respect, the early and 
 present circumstances of the Churcli. 
 
 For such considerations as these "will have a two- 
 fold effect ; they may tend to solve the difficulty 
 which some have certainly felt at the very partial 
 success which has yet been granted to the triumphs 
 of Divine Truth ; and they may, at the same time, 
 offer a sufficient reply to the objections that have 
 been advanced against missionary projects, as 
 though they were an impracticable day-dream, 
 which the present state of the w^orld would prevent 
 from ever being realized ; and wdiich, in as far as 
 they have hitherto met with any measure of success, 
 have owed that success only to miraculous inter- 
 position, or to a very peculiar conjuncture of favour- 
 able circumstances. 
 
 Now a fair view of what was all along to be 
 expected, will go far to dissipate such misconcep- 
 tions. It will sliow^ that the obstructions which 
 have stayed the spread of the Gospel, are in accord- 
 
 ' Sec Field on the Clnireli, l)0(>k ii. cli. S. 
 
II.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSrEL. 37 
 
 ancc with all previous probability ; and that not- 
 withstanding, throughout, the Divine counsels have 
 been, and are being, fulfilled. It will be perceived 
 that a balance of advantage and disadvantage be- 
 longs to each age ; while, from a contemplation of 
 the peculiar circumstances that distinguish any one 
 period from others, the means requisite for meeting 
 them will be more readily supplied, and the angel 
 who is gone forth bearing the everlasting Gospel 
 will be sped in his course. 
 
 The text, then, in one image, describes generally 
 the growth of the kingdom of Christ in the world. 
 Divine in its origin, — planted by the Divine hand, 
 and miraculously aided in its first increase, — it was 
 thenceforth left to be propagated by human means ; 
 subject, therefore, to the vicissitudes, and the various 
 fortunes, and the reverses, which dependence on such 
 instrumentality was sure to entail on it, in its con- 
 flict with the powers of evil. 
 
 And what is generally implied in the text is 
 borne out by the analogy of all other parts of Scrip- 
 ture. It supposes, throughout, a gradual and pain- 
 fully-earned extension of the Gospel of Christ. It 
 supposes the gift of blessings, and then the loss of 
 them upon unfaithfulness. It supposes, in fact, not 
 merely an execution of the will of God, but a trial 
 of man. The statement is old, and need be only 
 incidental. But reflect on the one uniform idea in 
 St. Paul's epistles, of suffering being the portion of 
 the Christian, and of the body of Christ, which was 
 
38 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 to exhibit in itself the counterpart of its Lord's his- 
 tory, as though seeming reverse were the previous 
 condition of success, and defeat of victory; — then 
 the inroads of Satan on the dominion of the Lord, 
 and the apostasy of man ; — then the actual with- 
 drawal of light once vouchsafed, from the corrupt 
 Asiatic churches -. — and from these facts we are led 
 to the conviction, that we are to look for no mere 
 shining down of Divine light from heaven, before 
 which all darkness is to disappear, no peaceable 
 increase of it to the perfect day, in the spread of 
 the Gospel ; but that there is to be a stniggle, a 
 constant and painfully-sustained struggle ; that, 
 inch by inch, the arena of the world is to be con- 
 tested ; man is to suffer in it, and Christ be glori- 
 fied through it ; and so the kingdoms of the world 
 are to be wrenched from the grasp of Satan. Such 
 is the stern picture set before man of the work he 
 has to be engaged in. There is a bright side, on 
 which faith may gaze at times ; but, in its aspect 
 towards the world, the Chm'ch is militant, going 
 forth on a crusade against evil, striving for victory, 
 earning it gradually, partially, and by sufiering, 
 and frequently, to human eye, by accident. And is 
 not this in exact analogy with God's providential 
 dealings with His elect Chm-ch of old ? The history 
 of the Jews, from the patriarchal days, was pre- 
 paratory to the appearance of the Messiah, as the 
 history of the Chiu'ch is preparatory to His second 
 advent. Consider, then, the long jieriocl flint was 
 
II.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 39 
 
 permitted to elapse before the fulness of tlie time 
 was come ; how slowly the human mind was 
 matured for receiving the Divine revelation, and 
 after a retrogression of the whole race of man 
 into an almost hopeless degradation ; hoAv imper- 
 fectly, as it Avoiild seem, the knowledge of the 
 true God was diffused by the captivity, or by 
 the commercial enterprizes of the Jews, or by the 
 dispersion of the sacred writings ; how various 
 were the fortunes of that people, falling into sin, 
 punished, almost extinguished ; and how the coun- 
 sels of God appear to have been hindered thereby. 
 If we reflect on this, we shall cease to wonder 
 that a similar delay, and tardy fulfilment of the 
 Divine pm^poses, should attend the execution of 
 that greater and more glorious scheme, which, if it 
 has a larger portion of the Divine power going 
 with it, as it certainly has, yet has a more stu- 
 pendous work to accomplish, and is subject, like 
 its precursor, to the variations, and all the coun- 
 tervailing influences which the sinfulness and 
 obstinacy of man, and the power of evil, can tlirow 
 in its way. 
 
 Such, then, are the expectations which an inspec- 
 tion of the word of God would suggest respecting 
 the conditions which will attend the extension of 
 the kingdom of Christ on earth. 
 
 Nor is the argument from previous probability 
 different. It is easy to suppose, that, on the com- 
 munication to man of a scheme of salvation, it would 
 
40 CONDITIONS AND IIINDllANCES [Lect. 
 
 be made known at once, and fully, so as for aU men 
 to sec it, and share in it ; and this may correspond 
 with the notion of that unmeaning and undis- 
 criminating beneficence, which is sometimes attri- 
 buted to the Almighty God at the expense of His 
 justice and holiness. But viewing that scheme as 
 it is, as provided for moral and rational beings, who 
 may therefore reject or corrupt it, and so hinder it 
 in its success ; as calculated, indeed, to exalt man 
 to the highest state of moral elevation of which 
 human nature is capable, but having, for that 
 purpose, to dispel ignorance, overcome prejudice, 
 humanize barbarism, and subdue a reluctant will ; 
 we shall not be surprised at its not winning its way 
 with the speed of light through the unresisting 
 atnios})here, but shall be prepared for many re- 
 verses, for a slow and hesitating progress, and 
 l)ut partial results. It is well known that, among 
 the secondary causes by which the historian of 
 Rome's Decline and FalP woidd account for the 
 surprising diffusion of the Gospel in the three 
 iirst centuries, is numbered " the doctrine of a 
 future life;" which, as filling up a void in the 
 human heart, it is supposed, would naturally re- 
 commend the system that revealed it. Were this, 
 indeed, the sum of the Christian faith, its ready 
 acceptance woidd not be dithcult to account for. 
 But Christianity is something very different from 
 
 ' (iibbon. vol. i. \j. .jofi, 4to edit. 
 
II.] 
 
 IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 41 
 
 this one doctrine extracted from its compreliensive 
 scheme. Does it follow, that, because this one 
 heavenly truth, then first sanctioned by the word 
 of God, met with a kindred response in the hearts 
 of men, therefore the faith of Christ, as a whole, 
 with all its solemn demands, and humbling power, 
 would command the acquiescence and willing ac- 
 ceptance of mankind ? To suppose this, would be 
 to suppose either human nature, or the doctrine of 
 the Cross, very different from what they were when 
 St. Paul, as he passed from city to city, found one 
 or two, — a Lydia, a Timothy, or a Dionysius, — a few 
 here and there, ready to receive the Divine seed; 
 but the mass reject him, and, at the instigation of 
 the Jews, persecute him, and stone him. The 
 Gospel is, in truth, antagonistic to human nature. 
 It has no language to flatter the natural man. It 
 is not a mere offer of peace. Nor is it a mere pas- 
 sive system, to be gazed at and admired, or rejected, 
 at will. But it went forth to call men to repent- 
 ance. It declared war against sin and eiTor. It 
 professed to "wrestle" with "principalities and 
 powers," and "the prince of this world;" and the 
 Church, its witness and prophet, made her account 
 to suffer as she bore testimony to the truth. And 
 thus the prediction of our Lord was fulfilled, who 
 declared that He came to send a sword upon the 
 earth. Wielding the sword of the Spirit, the Church 
 awoke the sword of man's hatred and opposition 
 against herself. Thus striving and struggling, she 
 
42 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 planted tlic seed in sorrow. Yet was this nothing 
 more tlian what all probability Avonld have led us 
 to anticipate, from a just appreciation of human 
 nature on the one hand, and of the Gospel, as its 
 rectifier and restorer, on the other. 
 
 Holy Scripture, then, and reasonable probability 
 concur in supposing a laborious, and therefore 
 merely gradual, extension of the Gospel of Christ ; 
 — and that the natural reluctance of man, and the 
 real existing power of evil, would oppose, from age 
 to age, many hindrances, varying in character with 
 various countries and periods of the world's history, 
 to its successful propagation. 
 
 For a confirmation of this same truth we have but 
 to turn to the page of history, and see, even during 
 the period of the most rapid extension of the 
 Gospel, how many and manifold have been the 
 antagonist powers that have been set in array to 
 check its progress. The natural opposition such 
 as a contemptuous philosophy would ])resent to a 
 simple assertion of the truth, or sensuality would 
 offer to reasonings " on righteousness, temperance, 
 and judgment to come," may be passed by. Tt 
 was not long before the civil power, the imperial 
 majesty of Rome, bent itself to crush the rising sect, 
 which, gathered into distinct societies, yet forming 
 parts of a new khigdom, threatened to overturn the 
 national Polytheism, and, with it, the frame of 
 civil society. Bound up as the two Avcre together, 
 it was impossible for the Christians to escape the 
 
II.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 43 
 
 suspicion of disaffection to the State.' For two cen- 
 tui'ies and a half, sometimes the maUce, or the fear, — 
 sometimes even the pious zeal of heathen emperors, 
 aimed at extirpating the obnoxious body. Nor was 
 it the arm of authority alone that was stretched out 
 against Christians, but individual hatred, and in- 
 terest, and popular superstition and fury,^ sought to 
 gratify their several passions by the slaughter of the 
 servants of Christ. It was not till the middle of 
 the third centuiy that the free enjoyment of their 
 religion was accorded to the Christians;^ while 
 every reverse of fortune, a flood, or pestilence, or 
 drought, provoked the rage of the populace against 
 the Clu-istians, as having called down the anger of 
 the gods in judgment on their atheism.* These 
 sanguinary acts failed, indeed, in their object of 
 extirpating the hated or dreaded religion ; still they 
 naturally, for a time, at least, checked its progress. 
 For it is not the general law that persecution only 
 promotes what it would suppress. The success of 
 
 ^ See Moslieirn de Rebus Christ. Sec. I. § xxvii. " The 
 Christians (says Neander, Hist. Christ, p. 86) Avere called, irre- 
 ligiosi in Caesares, hostes Caisarum, hostes populi Romani." 
 
 ^ Eusehius, H. E. lib. iii. cap. 32 ; who refers, in cap. So, to 
 Tertullian's Apology, and Pliny's application to Trajan. Also 
 INIosheim de Rebus Christ, pp. 571, 913, and Dodwell de Paucit. 
 Mart. c. cix. 
 
 ^ By the edict of Gallienus, a.d. 259. It is given by Eusebius, 
 H. E. lib. vii. cap. 13. Neander remarks, that Christianity was 
 now, for the first time, reckoned a "religio licita ;" p. 143. 
 
 * Dodwell de Paucit. Mart. c. xxxiv. See the edict of Marcus 
 Aurelius in Eusebius, H. E. lib. iv. cap. 13. aJpe roiis dSeov^, was 
 the common cry of the populace. Euseb. H. E. lib. iv. cap. 15. 
 
44 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [I.ect. 
 
 the Persian persecution, when, on the restoration of 
 tlie old dynasty, Christianity was obliterated, and 
 the religion of the Zenda established in its place ;' 
 the extirpation of this, again, by the sword of 
 Mahomet" foiu' centuries later; the power which 
 availed to crush the rising spirit of reformation in 
 Spain ; ^ and, again, the tale of Moravian suffering,* 
 are sufficient to prove, that persecution needs only 
 to be carried on Avitli adequate vigour and perse- 
 verance to effect its deadly purpose. 
 
 Then, again, it is enough to allude to the various 
 forms of unbelief and heresy, which successively 
 sprang up, to recognise in them another and still 
 more formidable obstruction to the extension of the 
 Gospel. The appearance of the Christian faith 
 seems to have been the signal for error not merely 
 to multiply its forms, but to shape itself into 
 system, and so try, if not to supplant, at least to 
 rival the Divine revelation. Judaism, unable to 
 oppose it, allied itself to Platonism, and formed a 
 theosophic })hilosophy ; — then Paganism sought for 
 support by a similar alliance ; then every form of 
 Oriental mysticism coalesced with each and all of 
 these ; as if they separately came forth, and then 
 set themselves in conjunction, to dispute with the 
 
 ' A.I). 220. See Gibbon, di. viii. ; and Appendix, No. III. 
 
 - Or rather of Abubeker, the first caliph, A. D. 632. Giljbon, 
 ell. li. vol. V. 285. Ilallam's Middle Ages, vol. ii. pp. 107, 108. 
 
 ^ M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Spahi, its Progress, 
 and Suppression. 
 
 ' JI(»hnes' History of the United Brethren, vol. i. p. 10.'>, &c. 
 
II.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 45 
 
 Gospel tlic empire over the liuman mind. From 
 the earliest period, too, sprung those more injm'ious 
 forms of error which introduced division and per- 
 plexity within the very sanctuary of the Chmxh ; 
 and which, in proportion as they approached more 
 nearly to the truth, w^ere more insidious and influ- 
 ential. It is mere sophistry to assert that such 
 perversions of the truth, however much they " dis- 
 tm-bed the peace and frequently disgraced the 
 name of religion, yet contributed to assist rather 
 than retard the progress of the Gospel :"^ for what- 
 ever benefit may have been educed from the evil, 
 by the good providence of God, yet, as regards at 
 least the extension of the Gospel, their influence was 
 prejudicial 
 
 Allow that the existence of heresies and false 
 systems led to a more explicit and complete deve- 
 lopment of the faith ; that the Chm^ch was thereby 
 consolidated ; that by the learning of the Christians 
 being called forth, the attention of the educated was 
 secured : still such results aflected the Church only 
 internally, and woifld have the eflect of contracting 
 its compass by throwing ofl" from it all that was 
 heterogeneous. And externally these dissensions 
 were calculated only to repel. To the casual observer, 
 or even more anxious inquirer, the difference of 
 sentiment, and the consequent disunion that was 
 seen to exist, would convey the notion that no such 
 
 ^ Gibbon, cli. xv. p. 551. 
 
46 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 thing as definite truth existed. The unbeliever 
 would naturally confound one system with another, 
 just as in the earliest days the Christians Avere con- 
 founded with the Jews by the Romans ; ' and the 
 errors and vices of heretics would be attributed to 
 the Church herself." And a still more harmful 
 effect of such dissensions would be to fix the 
 thoughts of Christians on their own differences, 
 and to prevent their sympathy and zeal from 
 directing itself towards the unconverted, and exert- 
 ing itself upon the mass of pagan darkness and sin 
 which encompassed the Chm'ch on every side. To 
 what other cause than this can we refer the fact of 
 the feeble efforts made to evangelize the heathen, 
 from the third to the sixth centuries ; or the torpor 
 which seemed to rest for several centuries on a 
 large portion of the Eastern Church, that fruitful 
 
 ' See a Treatise by Damann, " De Cliristianis ad Trajanum 
 usque a Caisaribus et Senatu Romano pi'O Cultoribus Religionis 
 Mosaicae semper babitis." Helmsh. 1790. 
 
 ^ The vices and magical practices of the Gnostics were imputed 
 to the Chi'istians, and were frequently the cause of the odium 
 which fell upon them. Thus Eusebius remarks, ro'is dnla-Tois 
 idvfCTi noXXTjv iTape\€iv Kara rov deiov \oyov 8va(pri^uis Trepiovtriav, 
 Tijs (^ avTcap (pjjixTjs els ti]V tov ttovtos Xpicmavav edvovs 8ia(3o\TJv 
 KaTaxeofj.hr]s. H. E. lib. iv. 7. So Irena^us adv. Ihcres. lib. i. 
 cap. XXV. " Ad detractionem divini ecclesise nominis, quemad- 
 modum et gentes, a Satana pra^missi svmt (e.q. Carpocratiani) 
 iiti secundum alium modum, qua^ sunt illorum audientes liomines, 
 et putantes nos omnes tales esse, avcrtant aures suas a pra^conio 
 veritalis." Thus the arrival of Valentinus and iMarcion at liome, 
 in 142, was a cause of the renewal of the sullerings of Christians, 
 which gave rise to the first Apology of Justin Martyr. — Burton* 
 Eccl. Hist. ii. p. 110. 
 
IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 4? 
 
 source of dissension ; so that, wliile barbarian 
 Europe was gradually converted to the faith, there 
 issued from it but one mission, and that in a late 
 age, to evangelize the pagan tribes which pressed 
 upon its frontier.' 
 
 Again, we cannot fail to reckon among the hin- 
 drances which actually checked the free diffusion 
 of the Christian faith among the nations, those suc- 
 cessive judgments with which it pleased God to 
 visit the degenerating and distracted nations of 
 Europe, Asia, and Africa. 
 
 It is surely a most just view that would regard 
 the frequent invasions of the various northern hordes, 
 which pom-ed themselves for three centuries over 
 the fertile plains of the old Roman dominion, as sent 
 in judgment, and yet in mercy too, on the enervated 
 
 • This remark applies to what has been since more peculiarly 
 called the Greek Church, whose parentage was claimed by the 
 Chazares, Moravians, and Bulgarians, alone among the barbarian 
 nations which overran Europe. The names of Cyril and Metho- 
 dius, who converted these tribes in the ninth century, are the 
 only ones which shine in the missionary annals of that branch of 
 the Church after the fifth century. The other portion of the 
 Eastern Church, if, indeed, it may be reckoned such, since it was 
 so largely impregnated with heresy, the Syrian or Nestorian, will 
 be spoken of in Lect. IV. Blumhardt expresses a similar opinion, 
 Etabl. du Christ, vol. iv. p. 65 — " Depuis plusieurs siecles I'Eglise 
 Grecque, dechiree par des dissensions intestines, n'avait rien fait 
 pour les paiens ; elle deperissait au milieu des disputes theolo- 
 giques et du culte des ceremonies . . . de sorte que cette eglise 
 etait a la fois devancee, en Occident par celle de Rome, et en 
 Orient par sa rivale, celle des Nestoriens, qui couvrait I'Asie de ses 
 missions, tandis que le siege de Constantinople laissait depuis 
 des siecles, jusqu'aux portes memes de cette capitale, des nations 
 paiennes croupir dans leur idolatrie." 
 
48 CONUlTIOxNS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 and effete nations of the West, — a visible chastise- 
 ment on their moral degradation ; and yet, as we 
 may conclude, the really shortest method of saving 
 mankind from the most hopeless of barbarisms, an 
 exhausted civilization. Nor had the Chiu-ch been 
 free from the contagion that infected the atmosphere. 
 It alone, indeed, offered any resistance to the gravi- 
 tating tone of thought and feeling, that marked the 
 decline of spirit that prevailed ; — it alone for a season 
 supplied a bond of union which held together for 
 a short time longer the already crumbling mass of 
 Roman dominion ; — but on every side signs of cor- 
 ruption, and seemingly approaching dissolution, 
 betrayed themselves. In the East, wide-spread dis- 
 sensions; in the North and South, among the British 
 and African Churches, such a depravation of morals 
 as to amount almost to a relapse into paganism ; so 
 that not Christian historians alone, but even the 
 very barbarians themselves, professed that the scourge 
 which visited the West, was inflicted by the just 
 and corrective vengeance of the Almighty.' 
 
 In the same point of view must we regard the 
 subsequent rise and wonderful progress of the 
 Mahometan power, which broke with amazing fury 
 over the Eastern and African Churches, when they 
 ivere sunk to their lowest point of depression ; but 
 which carried with it into Europe the seeds of future 
 intellectual,^ and, under God, even moral recovery. 
 
 •* See Ajjpendix, No. IV. 
 
 ^ Sec Foi'ster's Mabomelunisin Unveiled, vol. ii. sect. 13 
 
II.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 49 
 
 We may venture to trace the providential dealings 
 of God with His Church in these phenomena in 
 the world's history. Even in the uprooting of Chris- 
 tianity in some places, and of all Roman civilization' 
 we may recognise a provision being made for the 
 ready and effectual propagation of the Faith ; but 
 it was by a process which seemed like throwing the 
 Avorld back into its infancy again, which thoroughly 
 tested the life of the Chm'ch, and cast before it the 
 elements of social existence, to be gathered up and 
 reconstructed. And in its toil through the long night 
 of darkness that set in, we see, indeed, the presence 
 of that creative power which makes all things new ; 
 but we find too, in the prevailing barbarism,^ such 
 an amount of obstacle, as rendered any rapid or 
 universal expansion of Christianity impossible, with- 
 out some niu'acidous interference in the ordering of 
 God's dealings with His creatures. 
 
 Such obstructions, for the sins and unworthiness 
 of man, and from no defect in the faithfulness of 
 God's promises, were permitted, in the earlier periods 
 of the propagation of the Chm-ch of Christ, to check 
 its progress. Under them it may seem to have 
 receded for a time, yet only to make in the end a 
 more vigorous spring. Their existence, in some 
 form or other, is a necessary result of the moral 
 laws by which man is governed. They have never 
 ceased, nor will they, till the consummation of all 
 
 ' Routb, Rell. Sacraj, ii. p. 487. 
 E 
 
50 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 things. And thei'ofore, such being the conditions 
 under which any extension of the Gospel is to be 
 expected, let me proceed to take a review of the 
 present in comparison with the earlier periods ; 
 and to contrast such hindrances as may be felt, 
 or anticipated now, with those which have already 
 been met and surmounted. 
 
 The revolution that has passed over the face of 
 Christian Europe, and of the world, has totally 
 altered the relations in which the Church of Christ 
 stands in regard to the heathen. Europe, which 
 was the battle-field in which the kingdom of God 
 for thirteen centuries struggled for ascendency, has 
 become Christianized, and thence the Church now 
 has to look forth on the distant nations of the earth 
 as from the centre and citadel of civilization, and to 
 devise means for bringing the farthest lands under 
 the dominion of the Cross. 
 
 1. This reflection alone suggests the almost exact 
 contrariety between the circimistances imder which 
 the Gospel is to be preached now, and those which 
 existed on its earlier pronnilgation. It is, indeed, 
 necessary to distinguish the period which preceded 
 the establishment of Christianity in the Roman 
 Empire, from that A\hich followed it, but the con- 
 trast of the present period with each of these remains 
 equally marked and instructive. — Consider the 
 Apostles and first preachers of the word, going 
 forth among the pohshed nations of the earth; 
 reflect on the condition of the cities which they 
 
II.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 51 
 
 visited, the firm hold wliicli Paganism had on the 
 people, the splendour with which it was arrayed, 
 its sumptuous temples, and gorgeous processions, 
 the iRiniberless associations, historiciil and political, 
 with Avhicli it was bound up; then contemplate 
 the position and character of the simple teacher of 
 the Gospel of Salvation ; and as far as human eye 
 can see, there is the appearance only of w^eakness 
 and simplicity, opposed to the whole force of worldly 
 power, authority, and learning. Or take a later 
 period. All this array in which Paganism w\as 
 enthroned has passed away ; in the room of it the 
 antagonist of Christianity is seen in the dense masses 
 of brute force that overspread the land. Still the 
 aspect of Christians remains one only of weakness, 
 or even of suffering. Christians were scattered about 
 defenceless ; they began to assemble themselves 
 in religious houses, for piety or for safety ; — and 
 then w^as first seen the striking sight of men, dead 
 to this Avorld, retiring,^ sometimes alone, sometimes 
 with a few associates, to solitary rocks or forests, 
 and awing their barbarous concpierors into reverence, 
 by their very austerity and sanctity. But noio the 
 whole scene is again changed: " the stone" has be- 
 come ' ' a great mountain ; ' ' worldly power, and all the 
 
 ^ Such were Severin on the banks of the Danube, in the fifth 
 century ; Erroul in the forest of Ouche in Normandy, Cohimban 
 in the solitude of Wasgau, Sigebert at St. Gothard, in the sixth 
 century, &e. &c. See Sarins, Vitse Patr. ; and Mabillon, Acta 
 Sanct. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 weight of learning and influence, are on the side of 
 the Gospel ; Christians are the in^'aders and con- 
 querors, and encircle heathenism with the arma- 
 ments, and with the violence too, of war ; and the 
 contest now, is that of Truth advancing with a 
 resistless weight of temporal might and enlighten- 
 ment on its side, against a Paganism, in some parts 
 rude and unlettered, and everywhere debilitated 
 and powerless. 
 
 2. Or again ; what had the earlier servants of 
 Christ to offer, wherewith to attract the superstitious 
 Greek or Roman, but that one blessing, (above all 
 blessings, indeed, but which has nothing in itself to 
 engage or conciliate the worldly mind,) the soul's 
 salvation? Civilization had already reached its 
 highest pitch ; and to become a Christian, was to 
 retrograde from the heights of polished and cultivated 
 life, and to join a poor and despised sect,^ whose 
 doctrines seemed to denounce the glory which the 
 men of this world had learnt to look upon with 
 pride. It was somewhat difterent, indeed, in the 
 subsequent period, when, in the AATCck of civilization, 
 all the relics of refinement, of knowledge, or of art, 
 were deposited with the Christians : still these were 
 
 ' The mean quality of its adherents was the constant charge of 
 the opponents of Christianity, such as Celsus, Julian, Porphyry. 
 See Mosheim dc Rebus Christ. &c. Sec. I. § xxi. ; also (Jibbou, 
 ch. XX. p. 613. 
 
 Mr. Milman remarks, (Hist. Christ, ii. p. 2r)I, note,) that "the 
 strength of Christianity lay in the middle, perhaps the mercantile, 
 classes." But he is speaking of the third century. 
 
II.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 53 
 
 few and slight, confined to tlie simpler manual arts, 
 rarely witnessed beyond the precincts of the convent, 
 and so unlikely to di-aw attention ; few and scanty 
 at least, compared with the almost miraculous 
 achievements of modern skill, which, even in its less 
 elaborate forms, the savage deems to be super- 
 natural; so that in Mahomedan Africa, where 
 even now the faith of the Prophet makes rapid 
 progress, he will string fragments of the written 
 Koran round his neck as an amulet.' And if, in the 
 period mentioned, the superiority in skill and know- 
 ledge, which the Christian possessed, was not with- 
 out its effect in conciliating the barbarian mind, 
 we may calculate how powerful an engine is pos- 
 sessed by the European nations, to whom the pro- 
 mulgation of the Gospel is now entrusted, in the 
 gifts and refinements of civilization, wherewith to 
 Avin the attention of the heathen to the higher gift 
 of eternal life. 
 
 3. There is, moreover, what might almost be 
 called a geographical contrariety between the cir- 
 cumstances of the earlier and the present period. 
 The Christians of the first centuries sprang up and 
 
 ' This circumstance was mentioned by a native of Western 
 Africa. On the reverence which the Africans have for superior 
 learning, Mr. Laird speaks : " In the interior, in every village 
 where Mohammedanism is professed, the children crowd to learn 
 scraps of the Koran." — Buxton's Slave Trade, p. 487. Curious 
 instances of the wonder excited in the savage mind by witnessing 
 the process of writing, and reading, are given by Mr. Williams, in 
 the Evidence on Aborigines ; and by Capt. Gardiner, in the 
 account of his interview with Dingarn, in the Zooloo countrv. 
 
54 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 lived in the midst of the Paganism which they 
 soiiglit to convert; their "abode," their "going out," 
 and "coming in" were known ; the circumstances 
 of their obscure birth and their feeble condition 
 would make them, like their Divine Master, to be 
 despised; and, as prophets, they would have no 
 honour in their own country. Even the latest of 
 the imperial enemies of the Gospel ceased not to 
 taunt the Clu-istians with the earthly humiliation of 
 their Redeemer. ' But now the missionary presents 
 himself to the heathen as one coming from a far land, 
 from regions beneath another sun ; one wliom the 
 providence of God has directed thither ; his character 
 is associated with no thought of personal inferiority, 
 but carries witli it the whole Aveight of European 
 civilization ; he is the representative of a national 
 faith, and consequently is invested with all tlie 
 moral influence A\hicli these circumstances exercise, 
 and that rightfully, over the mind and imagination 
 of man. 
 
 4. And this leads to a further and important 
 reflection. Consider the condition of affairs before 
 the Church was connected with the empire under 
 Constantino ; or, at a later period, before it alhed 
 
 ' Julian passed an edict that Cliristians should be called TaXtXuioi. 
 Greg. Naz. Orat. I. in Julian, (cjuoted by Fabric. Lux. Evang. p. oOG.) 
 'J'lieodoret relates, that Libanius, the friend of Julian, inquired, in 
 derision of a Christian, shortly before the Emperor's death, ti 
 770161 o rov TfKTovos vlos ; This scolf was answered by what 
 resembled a prediction : yXcoacroKOfiov, (({)r], 6 tov ttovtos Kara- 
 a-Kfva^et. 8iJniovpyos, ov (tv kco/i<uSco«/ TtKTovoi v'lov 7rpo(Trjyop{V(7as. 
 Eccl. Hist. lib. iii. cap. xviii. Ilalio. 17G1). 
 
II.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSrEL. 55 
 
 itself to those rude forms of social existence into 
 which, after their first inroad, the barbarian tribes 
 settled themselves in the West ; and we see that, 
 though the preachers of the Gospel could announce 
 its truths as fraudit with indimdual blessino;s, and 
 though they could exhibit the Church as a spiritual 
 institution, designed to knit man to man in fresh 
 and universal relationship, by uniting him to God, 
 yet they could point to this kingdom as existing 
 only a})art from the great system of national 
 organization into which it has pleased God that 
 the families of man should be parcelled out. De- 
 signed, as the Church undoubtedly was, to amal- 
 gamate with all nations, to call out, perfect, and 
 sanctify in each, its true national life, yet its power 
 to effect this could not be witnessed, while the 
 nations, as such, were still alien from the faith ; 
 and therefore we cannot be surprised, that, as the 
 new kingdom of Christ exhibited itself, Avitli its 
 bonds of union, its laws, and discipline, and unity 
 of action, it excited the jealousy and suspicion of 
 the rulers of the world. They thought they saw in 
 it a rival commonwealth. The suspicion of em- 
 perors was directed against it as a treasonable 
 society. And although, in later days, too, the 
 preaching of the Gospel, unaccompanied by the 
 true impersonation of it in the Church, has given 
 rise to the like accusation of interference with the 
 civil rule of the nation, yet no such difficulty need 
 attend the missionary from om- land. While seeking 
 
56 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 to draw to tlic faith those to whom authority 
 among the heathen nations is conmiitted, he will 
 shoAv that the Chm'ch interferes not with the civil 
 rule ; that these are co-ordinate powers ; that the 
 former will sanctify the latter; — calling upon the 
 state, indeed, to rule as the delegate of God, and 
 for the advancement of His kingdom, but, on the 
 other hand, herself teaching men to see the autho- 
 rity of God impersonated in the civil government ; — 
 preserving the distinctiveness of national life and 
 character, even while she declares that this life is 
 drawn from Christ's universal kingdom. 
 
 Such, then, are some of the marked differences 
 attending the extension of the Gospel in the pre- 
 sent, compared with the earlier, period of its history. 
 It will be seen at once, that they imply a different 
 mode of action to be pm'sued ; that the advantages 
 are altogether in favour of the present period ; and 
 that what before were hindrances, are tmiied into 
 powerful secondary aids in the conversion of the 
 heathen. 
 
 And this is undoubtedly the case. Yet a little 
 consideration will show, that these advantages are 
 connected with a mere worldly ascendency ; ])owcr- 
 ful, indeed, if blessed of God, but carrying with 
 them, frequently, concurrent difficulties. It may be 
 that all this worldly power has not been directed 
 towards the accomplishment of God's pm'poses ; it 
 may be that all this civilization has only hardened 
 men's hearts ; it may be that the force of national 
 
IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 57 
 
 influence has been bent on national aggrandize- 
 ment, and not on the interests of God's kingdom ; 
 it may be that the riches, and the power, and a 
 fearful energy for good or for ill, but not the 
 ChristianUy of the nation, has been exhibited in 
 the sight of the heathen : and if this be the case, 
 we cannot indulge the cheerful hopes and pro- 
 spects which the possession of such superiority 
 might otherwise encom-age. And besides this, 
 we may perceive, even in the state of the heathen 
 world, and of Christianity in relation to it, peculiar 
 hindrances to the successful advancement of the 
 kingdom of Christ, from which the earlier periods 
 of its propagation were exempt. 
 
 § 1. It is to be observed, then, that the form of 
 religion with which the Gospel, in its first promul- 
 gation, had to contend, was mostly an unsys- 
 tematized Polytheism, which had little or no hold 
 on the religious affections of the people, was sup- 
 ported by no external evidence, had no religious 
 books professing to be a revelation from heaven, 
 (for the Sibylline writings, being of a political 
 character, form no exception,) possessed no fixed 
 creed, nor sacerdotal order, and was disunited from 
 moral duty. In a word, it was, in reality, no reli- 
 gion;' but was rather a worship. And just the 
 same thing may be observed of the idolatries of the 
 
 1 " Con9oit-on une religion sans dogmes, une religion sans 
 morale, nne religion sans culte ? Ce seroit concevoir une contra- 
 diction raanifestc. Pour former une religion il laut done que les 
 
58 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 barbarian nations who were afterwards converted 
 to the Cliristian faith, and who generally shared 
 in the rude warlike superstitions, consisting of a 
 few savage rites and legendary tales, which cliarac- 
 terised the northern tribes. 
 
 Now it is clear that any floating and faljulons 
 system of such a character, could offer, of itself, but 
 a feeble resistance to the Christian faith, with its 
 divine oracles, and transmitted creeds, and divinely 
 ordered ministry, and pure morality. Hence it was 
 that the triumphs of the Gospel were achieved 
 over the heathen. For Judaism, supported as it 
 was by the elder word of God, presented so strong 
 a barrier against it, that Justin Martyr says, " Chris- 
 tianity found more, and more faithful, converts 
 among the heathen, than among the Jews."' Hence, 
 too, the first repulse and defeat which tlie Church 
 met with was in the East, from the revived creed of 
 Zoroaster, which could at least offer an appeal to 
 its sacred books. Whereas, therefore, the Gospel, 
 on its first propagation, was brought into contact 
 merely with a fabulous idolatry ; Avith a set of 
 vague, uncertain conjectures on those awful realities 
 respecting the soul, after a kno\vledge of wliich the 
 
 dogTTies, la moi-ale, ct Ic cnlte, unis ensemble, et depend.nns I'lin 
 de I'autre, fasscnt un tout indissoluble." — De la Mennais, Kssai 
 sur rindilTerence, &rc. iii. p. 11,'!. 
 
 Leibnitz is quoted by tbis aullior, as a])plyinir tliis lest to 
 Paganism, in liis " Kemarcjiu' surlc Systcme de M. Bayle," torn. i. 
 pref. London, 1720. 
 
 " Apol. I.e. 5:3. 
 
II.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 59 
 
 nature of man unceasingly yearns ; now, on the 
 other hand, it finds all the heathen Avorld, except 
 one-fifth, ranged under the well-compacted reli- 
 gious systems of the East, — those of Mahomet, 
 or of Brahm, and of Buddha ; systems which no 
 longer leave their votaries in doubt and hesita- 
 tion, but present, in the first instance, such an 
 admixture of truth with imposture, that it may 
 be regarded rather as a Clmstian heresy' than 
 a heathen superstition ; in the two latter, such a 
 gigantic mass of professed revelations, embracing 
 the various fields of religion, science, and morals, 
 as to oppress the mind of the votary by its own 
 vastness ;■ interwoven, as it is, with the whole range 
 of social and domestic duty, appealing for its 
 authority to an almost incalculable antiquity, and 
 rivetted together by a rigid and despotic institu- 
 tion of caste. 
 
 So that, comparing the present aspect of Pagan- 
 ism with that which it presented to Christianity, 
 both in the carhest and in the second period 
 of its propagation, we discover these contrasts : 
 as compared with the former period, there is a 
 contrast between the highly-intellectual civilization, 
 but undefined mythology, of Greece and Rome, 
 and the imperfect civilization, but vast and com- 
 pact mythology, of the present nations of the 
 
 ^ De la Meiinais, vol. iii. 25, who refers to Leibnitz, Nicole, Sir 
 \V. Jones, &:c. 
 
 ^ See UufF, on India, and Indian Missions, cL. ii. 
 
60 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 East : — as coiiipared with the latter period, a con- 
 trast between this same imperfect civiHzation of 
 the Pagan East, and the rude imlettercd barba- 
 risms of Europe, on the breaking up of the Roman 
 empire. 
 
 It is clear that, in tlie former contrast, the dis- 
 advantage lies strongly on the side of the ])resent 
 prospects of Christianity ; and in the latter con- 
 trast, Pagan civilization (such as now exists) 
 would seem to present a greater obstacle, than 
 Pagan barbarism, to the reception of the Christian 
 faith. 
 
 On this point, however, I would further explain 
 myself. 
 
 We have learnt to think that all blessings are 
 comprehended in civilization, and that all good is 
 excluded by the want of it. But with regard to 
 the comparative advantage or disadvantage which 
 it presents to the propagation of the Truth, the 
 difficulty of the question, such as it is, seems to 
 have arisen from a misconception of the term. 
 There is, indeed, a moral civilization, consisting of 
 the culture of the social instincts, and the powers 
 of conscience, which must commonly precede even 
 an inclination to receive the Truth; and where these 
 are dead or dissipated in a savage wildness of 
 character, an effectual obstacle is offered to the 
 inculcation of the Gospel. But there is, too, a 
 mere intellectual civilization, wliicli, either spring- 
 ing iVoni worldly shrewdness, or based upon a 
 
II.] TN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. ()1 
 
 corrupt religious system, opposes an equally im- 
 penetrable barrier to the Gospel. So that, while we 
 do require the existence of the former (which Chris- 
 tianity, and the exhibition of Christian life by the 
 Church, are best calculated to call forth) for the 
 reception of the faith of Christ, we must rather depre- 
 cate the latter as a hindrance to the same result, in 
 consequence of the greater defect of moral prepara- 
 tion. We cannot doubt whether it be easier to arrest 
 the attention, to affect the imagination, to move the 
 feelings with a sense of personal misery, to waken 
 the moral sentiments, and so prepare the ground 
 for the reception of the Divine seed, in a savage, 
 though rude and unenlightened, or in a heathen 
 whose mind and moral nature have been distorted 
 and hardened by a vicious civilization. Modern 
 experience may be appealed to for a decision. 
 Take the Protestant missions, in which conversions 
 far more numerous and more satisfactory have of 
 later days been made among the negroes of Africa, 
 and the natives of Greenland, or New Zealand, 
 than among the more refined natives of Asia.' 
 And therefore we must see in the present face 
 of the larger portion of the heathen world, a more 
 
 1 See Lect. VI. for these comparative results. Mr. Beecham, 
 in his evidence (on Aboriu:ines, p. 133) before the House of Com- 
 mons, remarks : " I do not liesitate to say, that, so far as our 
 experience goes, we find that many of the most ignorant and 
 imcultivated heathen tribes receive the Gospel more readily than 
 the inhabitants of India." 
 
G2 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 formidable liindraiicc to the diffusion of tlie truth, 
 than was presented to the earUer Church of Christ 
 on the downfall of the Roman enn)ire.' 
 
 § 2. But there are obstructions of another kind, 
 in Avhich a melancholy contrast is offered by the 
 present, compared with the early age of Chris- 
 tianity. Nothing, we may venture to say, of a 
 secondary nature, not miracles, nor learning, nor 
 individual authority, so moved the heart of the 
 Pagan worshipper to a reception of the Gospel, on 
 its first promulgation, as the purity of Christian 
 lives, the constancy of Christian faith. We have on 
 our lips the multiplied testimonies of the earlier 
 writers to this ; the fact has grown into a proverb, — 
 it has been urged by the philosophic inquirer, as one 
 special cause of the success of the Gospel." " Noii 
 magna loquimur, sed vivimus,"^ was the answer by 
 which sceptical reasonings were met ; and it told 
 more irresistibly than the most laboured apology. 
 It was one note of the Church — its sanctity. Just 
 as it lost this, it lost its vigour ; till God visited it 
 with judgment, and then again men went forth 
 lifting up this ensign to the heathen, who saw in 
 it the power of God, and worshipped. 
 
 ' Appendix, No. V. 
 
 ' (iiljbon, cli. XV. It would be superfluous to illustnite a point 
 so uufiucstionablc. 
 
 ' ov yap 'Koyois hiaiivrjfxovcvovcnv, uWa Trpa^en ayu6(\i sTTiSfi- 
 Kvvov(Tiv. — Athcnag;oras, Lcgat. pro Christ, sect. ii. 
 
11.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 63 
 
 It is an ungracious task to repeat the miserable 
 tale of Em-opean crime, but upon it lies the awful 
 guilt of checking the Gospel in its career, of closing 
 the door against its entering in among the heathen. 
 The fu^st acquaintance of savage tribes with Chris- 
 tians has been formed with men, whose hateful 
 vices have made them appear the very emissaries of 
 evil. Can we wonder that they should think it far 
 better to worship before an idol, though stained 
 with blood, — much more, to offer a bloodless sacri- 
 fice of fruits and flowers before the Great Spirit, the 
 belief in whom has a power over their conscience, — 
 than to embrace the creed of men, however advanced 
 in arts, and in the devilish power of "breaking 
 down and subduing all things," who would seem 
 to draw from it only a sanction for crime ? If the 
 Gospel was first sped on its Avay by the manifold 
 graces of " the new man" formed in its converts, 
 then there is no longer any mystery in the present 
 difficulties of missionaries ; we can understand why, 
 though tribes reject the Christian faith, and waste 
 away before the European, in America and Australia, 
 yet they still flourish and have gathered round the 
 Cross, amid the frosts and snows of Labrador and 
 Greenland, whose barren wastes ofl'er no tempting 
 prize to hire Christian avarice to then* shores ; and 
 we cannot wonder at the earnest but saddening 
 testimony of one who had labom'ed among the 
 heathen, that, in attempting to introduce Cliristianity 
 among a people, he would rather by far go to an 
 
64 CONDITIONS AND lUNDllANCES [Lkct. 
 
 island where they had never seen an European,' than 
 where European influence had been experienced. 
 
 § 3. And once more; 1 would shortly refer to a 
 peculiar difficulty which now hesets the course of 
 the Gospel, and from which it was free on its first 
 promulgation; viz. the want of unity. How in- 
 separable it is from the one idea of a " kingdom," 
 under which the Gospel is presented in the Holy 
 Scriptures, — how great an efficacy^ was attached to 
 it by the first Christian w^riters — how the greatest 
 triumphs of the Gospel w^ere effected wdiile theChm'ch 
 wore but one aspect before the heathen, — all this is 
 at once admitted, and leads us to apprehend, that 
 a large portion of the sterility of our missions may 
 be attributed to that discord which Christianity 
 exhibits in the very sight of the unbehever. 
 
 It may perhaps be said that disunions existed in 
 early times ; and this indeed was so : yet it may be 
 observed that they existed during the period when 
 no great extension of the limits of the Church 
 occmTcd; the points of difference, moreover, were 
 internal, they did not affect the really practical 
 questions of the existence and character of the 
 Church and its Sacraments, and therefore woidd 
 not attract the notice of the heathen; " and, even in 
 those differences, the same tenets, however erroneous, 
 Avere for the most part maintained in the same 
 district, so as to exhibit to the neighbouring tribes 
 
 ' Sec Evidence on Aborigines, p. 277. 
 
 ^ St. (-y|)riiin(I)eUni). Eccl.§ f),) calls it "sacramcntum miitatis." 
 
II.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 05 
 
 the appearance of imity."' Far different this from 
 the aspect which Christianity must present, where, 
 as happens, eleven separate societies are congregated 
 in the same place to extend the GospeL" Consider 
 only the effect of this : must there not arise a 
 strong presumption in the mind of an unbeliever, 
 against the Divine origin of that doctrine, or system, 
 which cannot be clearly ascertained, or on which its 
 upholders cannot unite ? For unity is the law of 
 truth : that after which the understanding laboiu-s, 
 and to which every enlargement of knowledge 
 points. It is that towards which, also, the perfec- 
 tion of society tends. ^ For evil dissociates and 
 separates, and holiness unites, because it di'aws to 
 God ; so that unity becomes the evidence of the 
 presence of God, disunion a witness to the presence 
 of evil. And these instructive truths are recognised 
 
 ' Bishop Middleton's Charge to the Clergy of Calcutta, Sermons, 
 p. 220. See Appendix, No. VI. 
 
 2 At the Cape of Good Hope, the following Missionary Associa- 
 tions ai-e represented as having stations ; viz. Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel ; Scottish Missionary Society ; United 
 Brethren ; French Protestant Mission; German Missionary Society; 
 London Missionary Society; Wesleyan Missionary Society ; Bap- 
 tist Missionary Society ; American Board of Missions ; Rhenish 
 Missionary Society; Paris Missionary Society. No account is 
 taken here of the Roman Catholics, who, according to the " An- 
 nales de La Foi," have one Bishop and four Priests at the Cape. 
 On the practical effect of such disunion, see Appendix, No. VII. 
 
 * M. Guizot somewhere remarks, that " no sociehj can be com- 
 pletely savage or iniquitous." All society therefore implies the 
 presence of a certain amount of good, and just as more or less 
 good prevails, the society is more or less perfect; so that unity> 
 which is the perfection of society, is a test of prevailing goodness. 
 
 F 
 
66 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect. 
 
 by heathen iniiuls, whieh arc repelled instead of 
 attracted, Avlienever there is wanting the one great 
 evidence Avliich Christ Himself appointed whereby 
 the Avoi'ld should know that the Father had sent Him. 
 
 And what has been the effect of dissension at home, 
 but to weaken exertion, to dissipate, where concen- 
 tration is most needful for success ? It has intro- 
 duced, too, a peculiar perplexity in determining 
 where fresh missions may be established ; how to 
 observe those missionary rules which the Apostle 
 enjoined on himself, — " not to extend himself beyond 
 his measure," not to " preach where Christ is 
 already preached," nor " to build on another man's 
 foundation." It is a difficulty, indeed, Avhich neither 
 the Romanist nor the sectarian feels ; but they 
 escape it only by destroying the true idea of the 
 Church altogether ; the one by breaking it up into 
 congregational sections, the other, by making it 
 coextensive only with allegiance to Rome ; and thus 
 claiming, each of them, the whole world as his own 
 share and portion. And this disunion has operated, 
 too, even to the hiding altogether of the truth, 
 that there is one Body. j\Icn have shi'unk from 
 avowing a principle which was denied by fact, and 
 which they therefore felt to be an unreality ; they 
 have been neglectful of those means Avhereby alone 
 the oneness and the permanency of the body can 
 be maintained, and man knit too;ether in one com- 
 munion with his felloAv-man and Avitli God. 
 
 Diflicultics and hindrances such as these cannot 
 
II.] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 67 
 
 but present themselves to the mmd as it reviews the 
 circmiistances under which the work of God is to 
 be done, — circumstances, taken one by one, almost 
 in direct contrariety to those which marked the first 
 promulgation of the Gospel, yet only forming a part 
 of those general conditions under which it is destined 
 to make its way. — " The servant is not greater than 
 his Lord." If the Lord of Life " came unto His 
 own, and His own received Him not," we need 
 not be surprised if His kingdom of grace, left to 
 estabhsh its dominion amidst strangers and aliens, 
 has met with rejections : we need not be surprised 
 at past delays and reverses, nor at present obstruc- 
 tions. Yet should they serve as a special call of God, 
 bidding us to examine whence they arise. There 
 are no hindrances that can really avail to check the 
 Gospel, but those which come from within the 
 Church of Christ. Persecution only served to 
 scatter the seed wider ; invasion concentrated and 
 gathered the light into a stronger focus ; judgments 
 pruned the tree, and made it more fruitful; as the 
 Chm'cli seemed to be impaired in one direction, it 
 broke forth the more vigorously in another. And 
 so neither now will any such visitations prevail to 
 check the course of the Gospel, if only the true 
 means be faithfully exerted for its extension. And, 
 therefore, it becomes a subject of immediate and 
 deep concern, to ascertain what that agency is 
 which God has ordained for the execution of this 
 His work. 
 
 F 2 
 
LECTURE III. 
 
 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR THE EXTENSION OF 
 THE GOSPEL. 
 
 Ephes. III. 10. 
 
 TO THE INTENT THAT NOW UNTO THE PRINCIPALITIES AND 
 POWERS IN HEAVENLY PLACES MIGHT BE KNOWN' BY THE 
 CHURCH THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD. 
 
 To ascertain the fiill meaning of these words, it is 
 needful to take them in connexion with those whicli 
 occur in the verse but one preceding, and u})on 
 which they depend. St. Paul ihere refers to his 
 call to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles ; " Unto 
 me," he says, " who am less than the least of all 
 saints, is this grace given, that I should preach 
 among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ;" and the purpose or intent for Avhich he 
 was so commissioned is contained in the text. So 
 that the Apostle here declares two things ; that his 
 preaching the name of Christ to the pagan world 
 
 ' i.e. '■'■ mujlit he made Imoum," yvapicrBj] hid Tijs iKKXrjaiai : "lit 
 hmolcscat prhicipa/ibux, ^x. per Ecclesiam.'' — Vulg. " Nota fiat 
 prineipibiis, c^r. per Ecclesiam." — Comment. S. Ambros. Append. Op. 
 vol. iv. 282. Ed. IJcikmL 
 
Lect. Iir.J THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 69 
 
 was subordinate to a fiu'tlier object, namely, tlie 
 makino; known the manifold wisdom of God to the 
 heavenly hierarchy ; and that the instrument for 
 effecting this was the Church.^ 
 
 Now this declaration of St. Paid, may seem to 
 conclude the question which I propose to bring 
 before you ; viz. the means ordained of God for 
 extending the Gospel in its full and complete 
 design : yet I shall ventm'e to enter into it at some 
 length, both because of the importance of acting in 
 accordance with His orderings to secure the bless- 
 ins: annexed to them, and because much of the 
 failure and sterility that has attended the propaga- 
 tion of the faith seems traceable to the neglect of 
 these divine appointments. 
 
 A little consideration will show that the character 
 of the means adopted for the extension of the 
 Gospel, will depend upon the view taken of the 
 Gospel itself, in its design and effect. It may 
 be viewed solely as a spiritual influence imparted 
 directly by the Holy Spirit to the individual soid, 
 whereby it receives the Divine truth, is converted 
 and saved. To one thus viewing the purpose 
 of the Gospel, it will appear that the chief part 
 to be taken by man in the conversion of others, 
 consists in setting before them, by any and by 
 every means, the truth as it is in Jesus ; that 
 
 1 " But whence," says St. Chrysostora, " hath tins been made 
 manifest to the angels ? By the Church."-— IloraU. in loc. Theo- 
 doret intei'prets it, Sta r^s irepl rijv eKKki^triav olKovofilas. — Inter- 
 pret, in loc. 
 
70 THE ORDAINED MEANS TOR [Lect. 
 
 it belongs to each one, as lie has received so to 
 impart to others ; and that the zeal and earnestness 
 by which ho is moved to engage in this work, are 
 the only credentials required for his authority to do 
 so. It win, under this view, be the duty of all to 
 labour for the salvation of souls, on the great law 
 that Christians live not to themselves. In order to 
 gi\e greater efficiency to this design, numbers will 
 combine together; but, in carrying on the work, 
 there will be no authority recognised as appointed 
 of God, as especially commissioned by Him to dis- 
 pense the gifts, to speak with the voice, and to send 
 in the name of Christ.' 
 
 But if Christianity be not solely a spiritual influ- 
 ence on the soul of man, Ijut rather a spiritual yet 
 visible institution, in wMch souls are gathered to 
 the Lord, and nourished to eternal life, then Chris- 
 tians will view themselves, not as mere individuals, 
 but as members of a body too ; then the Gospel is 
 no longer to be propagated as a naked abstraction 
 of truth, but in connexion with a system; then the 
 Holy Spirit will work His gracious ends through 
 specific means, ordained indeed of God, but yet 
 administered by man. 
 
 And now, in proceeding to establish this latter 
 position, I shall be pardoned if I am only asserting 
 principles with which the niiiuls of most here pre- 
 sent arc famihar, but which are not sufficiently 
 
 ' See x\ppeiKlix, Nu. VIII. 
 
Ill] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 71 
 
 recognised nor acted on abroad, and wliicli really 
 lie at the bottom of the subject I have in hand ; 
 and upon the bringing ont and vigorous acting 
 npoii which, our hopes depend, of carrying the 
 work of God onward, and seeing the Lord of Life 
 confessed and adored by a heathen world. 
 
 Let me observe then, first, how entirely in con- 
 sistency with the deahngs of God it is, that all 
 inward, spiritual power should be closely allied to 
 some outward form or system, and conveyed 
 through it to man. Is it not thus that the hidden 
 laAvs of nature work under a veil; that we know 
 nothing of them but in their outward development, 
 in which we recognise their presence? Is it not 
 the case in the providential dealing of God, most 
 mysterious as it is, that upon some outward event, 
 some accident, perhaps some bodily injury, happen- 
 ing to an individual, a moral revolution is made to 
 depend, not to one being only, but, it may be, to a 
 whole generation, nay, even to the entire human 
 race ? And so closely are these two connected, the 
 seen and the unseen, so much do they act and react 
 the one upon the other, that we cannot draw the 
 line between them, nor mark where the functions of 
 the one cease, and those of the other begin. But 
 we see how this condition of things harmonizes 
 with the twofold nature of man ; how there is in 
 the one man just the same interdependence between 
 what is outward and what is inward ; how the 
 inward movement ever tends towards an outward 
 
72 TJIE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect. 
 
 development ; how it gains accuracy, precision, and 
 strength from it ; and how it is confirmed into a 
 habit by the constant repetition of the external act. 
 Was not this the source of the Psalmist's earnest 
 exclamation, " I am fearfully and wonderfully 
 made;"' — not in body merely, but in spirit more; 
 and most in the conjunction of the two ? 
 
 A presumption to the same effect may be drawn 
 further from considering what the natirre of man 
 would seem to demand for itself, and what provi- 
 sion has been actually made for it in the dispensa- 
 tions of God. As a moral being, he has not been 
 left alone on the earth ; but for his improvement he 
 is united to a system of moral relationship and 
 mutual dependence. He is at once, on his birth, 
 placed in a relationship to others as a son ; he is 
 linked to a family. And all mankind are thus 
 clustered into groups, in which each one finds him- 
 self, prior to any consent of his own, tied to a cer- 
 tain rule and system, from which he cannot break 
 himself without sin, and on compliance with Avhich 
 his happiness depends. Within this system his 
 moral nature is trained and disciplined; and pro- 
 bably a stamp is affixed to it, which not all tlie 
 vicissitudes of after years can altogether efface. 
 
 And further we may remark, that in order to 
 the perpetuation and transmission of principles, or 
 religious truths, it seems necessary that these 
 should be embodied in certain institutions and 
 outward forms, and conveyed throuuh a deiinite 
 
III.] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 73 
 
 channel. Thus, laAvs have ever been connected 
 with a settled mode of administration ; religious 
 tenets have been joined to external ceremonies and 
 rites, and transmitted l)y a separate order, as well 
 as preserved in writing. And we may observe that 
 just in proportion as either of these provisions has 
 been neglected, the religion has varied, or died 
 away. It has varied, because the notions sought to 
 be. conveyed have not been truly transmitted from 
 mind to mind, but have been modified either by 
 the different aspects in which individuals have 
 viewed them, or by the shifting character of suc- 
 ceeding ages ; and thus having lost all identity and 
 permanency, they have quickly disappeared. And 
 the great check to this is to be found in the doc- 
 trines being transmitted in an appointed channel, 
 with a fixed test by which they may be tried, and 
 embodied in a system of outward observances, of 
 ceremony, or of worship. 
 
 These few remarks have been introduced, as 
 oflering a presumption, drawn from the analogy of 
 God's general dealings, and from the facts of man's 
 experience, that the Gospel, though spiritual in its 
 nature, would yet be communicated through a 
 certain external and visible system ; 1st, for con- 
 veying the spiritual blessings which it has to 
 bestow ; 2dly, for educating man as a social being ; 
 3dly, for perpetuating and extending the truth. ^ 
 
 ' A passage of Hooker's is to the point : E. P. Rook V. Ixxvi. 
 § 9. " Our foiirtli proposition set down was, that religion, with- 
 
74 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect. 
 
 If \vc look for a further corroboration of this pre- 
 sumption, tlie only instances bearing immediately on 
 the point, from which we can ascertain the will and 
 purpose of God, are to be foimd in His actual deal- 
 ings with the fathers of the human race, — with the 
 Chiu'ch, under the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensa- 
 tions. In both these cases, the revelation was im- 
 parted in connexion, at least, with a system : ' it was 
 committed for its perpetuation not to man as an 
 individual, but as associated according to God's 
 ordinance. In the former, the earliest and divinely 
 instituted appointment of domestic life was taken, 
 and consecrated as a shrine for preserving and 
 transmitting the treasure of Divine truth : the head 
 of the family was the priest of tlie Lord, the ruler 
 of His household. In the Mosaic dispensation the 
 association was still further extended, and made 
 to embrace a civil pohty; but strictly, as will 
 be allowed, the covenant of God with man was 
 
 out the help of a spiritual ministry, is unable to plant itself; the 
 fruits thereof not possible to grow of their own accord. If it did, 
 I could easily declare how all things which arc of Ciod, He hath, 
 hy wonderful wisdom, sodered, as it ^\ere, together, with the 
 glue of mutual assistance ; appointing the lowest to receive from 
 the nearest what the influence of the highest yieldeth. And 
 therefore the Church being the most absolute of all Ilis works, 
 Avas in reason to be ordered also with like harmony, that what 
 lie workcth might, no less in grace than in nature, be efl'ected by 
 hands and instruments duly subordinated to the power of Ilis 
 spirit." — Vol. ii. p. 579. Ed. Keble. 
 
 ' See Bishop Bilson's " Perpetual Government of Christ's 
 Church." Ch. i. and ii. ; On the " Domestical Discipline of the 
 Church before the I.aw of Moses ; " and " The National Regiment 
 ol' the Chnrch under the Law." 
 
III.] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPRL. 75 
 
 entrusted to a visible society ; within it, and as 
 sharing in the privileges conveyed through it, the 
 individual partook of the promised blessings of 
 God, and under it was educated in the knowledge 
 and service of Jehovah. He was not a solitary 
 being, but one of a body, and to him, as such, 
 pertained "the adoption, and the glory, and the 
 covenants."' 
 
 And, therefore, in all these considerations, we 
 have evident proof of the manner in which God 
 does communicate His gifts to man ; and if it be 
 found that in a fresh dispensation the same analogy 
 is observed — that it does not consist of a mere 
 revelation of Divine truth, nor of spiritual gifts 
 imparted immediately to the soul, but of both of 
 these in connexion with a visible institution, and 
 with certain ordinances as signs and vehicles for 
 the perpetuation and conveyance of His gifts — we 
 shall be prepared to recognise such a dispensation 
 as entirely in accordance with the usual dealings of 
 God, and with the actual dealings of man.^ 
 
 And such an institution is presented to us 
 under the Gospel, in the Church. Surely it is not 
 a valid argument against this ordinance of God, to 
 urge, that, as contrasted with all previous dispen- 
 sations, the Gospel is a spiritual system, and 
 
 * Rom. ix. 4. 
 
 ^ This is very forcibly put by the present Bishop of Calcutta, 
 in his late Charge of 1842-1843, p. 26; "Man, being as he is, 
 must have a Church. Christianity without order and authority is 
 a dream, an enthusiasm, a desolation." 
 
76 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect. 
 
 therefore is to be distinguislied from them by the 
 absence of any such external organization. Eor is 
 not this to set things spiritual and things visible in 
 opposition, as incompatible one with another? 
 And is there not some such notion latent in the 
 minds of those who think that they are vindicating 
 what is spiritual, in proportion as they carefidly 
 exclude everything external? Yet no such opposition 
 is set before us in God's word ; nay, rather in the 
 reality of a splrlhud hod//, which is revealed to the 
 Christian as a part of the wonderful working of 
 Christ, and in the mysterious truth of the Incarna- 
 tion, in the union of the heavenly and the earthly, 
 the contrary is set before us as one object of oiu- 
 devout admiration. Spiritualities may be linked 
 to things visible and tangible, and be dependent 
 on them for their conveyance. So that, while we 
 disallow the tenet of the Romanists, Avho would 
 confound the two, we equally reject the error of 
 those who would dissociale the two. We maintain 
 their union against the one class, who woidd 
 carnalize the spiritual gift of God, on the plea of 
 making it real ; and against the other, who would 
 idealize it, on the plea of keeping it spiritual. 
 
 And holy Scripture bears on its front that God 
 has ordained such a \'isible system, a holy society, 
 the Churcli ; to Avhich are entrusted the oracles of 
 trutli, and the means of grace. Prophecy, and tlie 
 New Testament, the teaching and tlie acting of the 
 Apostles, and the consent of })rimitive ages, concur 
 
Ill] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 77 
 
 in SO representing the new covenant. But as tins 
 fact is urged with a view to a fui'thcr point, viz. 
 that to this body the function of preaching and 
 propagating the Gospel is committed, those passages 
 will chiefly be adduced in corroboration which illus- 
 trate this position. 
 
 For if we turn to the prophetic writings, it will 
 be seen at once that the word of God does not 
 represent the future believers of the Gospel as a 
 number of individuals, or as a combination volun- 
 tarily formed; but the terms by which they are 
 designated, convey the idea of some one single 
 object or person.' Thus the Church is spoken of 
 by the Psalmist as " the king's daughter;" in the 
 Canticles as a "bride;" by the Prophets as a 
 "mountain," or as a habitation and resort of man, 
 as " the Lord's house," "the city Jerusalem;" and 
 she is prophesied of as resembling the four great 
 empires which were to precede, and then give Avay 
 to her sway. Surely snch language seems pur- 
 posely nsed to bring before the mind the idea of 
 the corporate body of the Church, rather than of its 
 separate members. So, also, every increase or exten- 
 sion of the Church is represented by one of two 
 ideas, which yet seem still to exclude the thought 
 of a mere union of independent parts, i.e. either by 
 an accretion from without to a fixed centre, or by the 
 expansion of the body as from a centre. Thus, on 
 the one hand, "nations" are said to "flow unto 
 
 ' See Barrow, Unity of the Cluircli, Works, vol. vii. G28. 
 
78 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect. 
 
 it; " " many people slmll " go up " to the house of 
 the God of Jacob." ' On the other hand, her 
 extension from within is tlms described : " Enlaro:e 
 the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth 
 the curtains of thine habitations . . . For thou shalt 
 break forth on the right liand and on the left ; 
 and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make 
 the desolate cities to be inhabited."^ In the same 
 way she is spoken of as "a joyful mother of 
 children,"^ as "the barren" that did "not bear,"* 
 but whose " children " shall say in her " ears. The 
 place is too strait for me : give place to me that 
 I may dwell." ^ 
 
 Examine next the New Testament, and the lan- 
 guage is still the same. It will strike any one who 
 considers the point, how much more prominent is 
 the idea of the Church as a body, than tliat of the 
 individual. The very phrase, " the kingdom of 
 heaven," and " of God," which was the first an- 
 nouncement of the Gospel made by John the Baptist, 
 and by our Lord Himself, and the various images 
 under which it is typified in the Parables, all repre- 
 sent the Gospel dispensation as a system to be 
 planted on the earth, the character and fortunes of 
 which are indicated as of a person. To this, and 
 not to individuals, is indcfectibility promised ; with 
 those whom our Lord called, and commissioned to 
 
 ' Isa. ii. 2, 3. ^ JgJ^ i;^. 9, 3. •■' Psa. cxiii. 9. 
 
 * Isa. liv 1. ' Jsa. xlix. L'O. 
 
III.] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 79 
 
 represent Him, and bear rule in His kingdom, He 
 left the promise to be present with them " even 
 unto the end of the world." To them the com- 
 mand was given, " Go ye and teach all nations."^ 
 
 And in the Acts of the Apostles, and the apo- 
 stolic Epistles, wherein w^e must look for the realiza- 
 tion of this idea, and for the. growth of the Church, 
 we find the same twofold representation that has 
 been traced in the prophecies. First, a society is 
 set up, and is increased by addition, gathering 
 round the Apostles as a centre. The converts, being 
 baptized, " continued in the Apostles' fellowship ; " 
 they were "added to the Church daily;" and were 
 thus spoken of as in a " state of salvation."' In 
 other places they are spoken of as being " added to 
 the Lord."^ Throughout the Epistles they are 
 reminded that there is " one body," constituted in 
 a certain way, endow^ed with a peculiar ministry, 
 for the very purpose, first, of " perfecting saints ; " 
 next, of preserving oneness of faith, and purity of 
 doctrine.* Into this body they were all baptized. 
 They had " come unto Mount Sion . . . . the 
 heavenly Jerusalem .... the church of the first- 
 born .... and to Jesus," ^ The great subject set 
 forth is " the increase of the body,"*^ the "edifying 
 of the Church."' Again, it is the depository of the 
 faith, being " the pillar and ground of the truth. "^ 
 
 1 Matt, xxviii. 19. ^ crus^ofxevoL. Acts ii. 47. 
 
 3 Acts V. 14. * Eph. iv. 11—13. 
 
 5 Heb. xii. 22, 23. « Ephes. iv. 16. 
 
 ' 1 Cor. xiv. 5, 12. M Tim. iii. 15. 
 
80 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect- 
 
 Wc must be struclv by tlic prominence given licre 
 and elsewhere to the idea of the body, and how 
 httle, in comparison, the thought of the individual, 
 apart from it, is contemplated. 
 
 Again ; as the idea of the propagation of the 
 Gospel is represented, in such passages as the fore- 
 going, by believers being joined to the body, so 
 likewise it is exhibited by the body being extended; 
 by offshoots from it being planted in distant parts, 
 as colonies from a mother country. Wherever the 
 Gospel took root, there a Church Avas formed — Avas 
 formed, not round a doctrine, but round a com- 
 missioned teacher ; either Presbyters were ordained,^ 
 or one of the Apostolic company, as Silas and 
 Timothy at Berea, was left behind to organize the 
 society.^ And over a ChiuTh thus formed by himself, 
 St. Paul retained an authority hij virtue of hh ajjo.stle- 
 sJiij): for it is very observable that, in his discussion 
 with the Corinthians, by whom he had been set at 
 nought, his aim was, not to establish on indepen- 
 dent groimds his claim to visit, to rebuke, to set 
 things in order, to })unisli — -but merely to establish 
 
 ' Thus Clemens Rom. states that the Apostles acted ; Kara 
 Ywpaj ovv Ka\ TroXets Ki]pv(T(TovTes KaBiO-Tiivov rat arrapx^s avTcov, 
 boKiiidaavres tw IIi'ei'/xaTi, ei? (^ttictki'ittovs kcu Slokovovs tuu fXfX- 
 \6vTix>v TTifTTCuetv. Ep. I. xlii. 
 
 - " There is scarce any instance in the New 'J'estament," 
 (observes Archbishop Potter,) " of their (tlic Apostles) ordaining 
 ministers at the fimt time of their coming to any place, unless 
 perhaps at Ephesns, Avhere St. Paul, having been resident almost 
 three years together, had sufTicient time to prove the fitness of 
 his converts for the ministry."— On Cluirch (lovornmcnt, ch. iii. 
 
in.] THE EXTENSION OP THE GOSPEL. 81 
 
 his apostlesliip, as though this office, once proved to 
 be vested in himself, carried witli it tlie autho- 
 rity he sought to exercise.' 
 
 Thus, then, tlie Gospel was spread by the propa- 
 gation of the Church ; each fresh seed, so planted, 
 carrying within itself, though in germ, the perfect 
 organization of the parent tree from wdiich it 
 sprang. But now a further question arises re- 
 specting the instrumentality used in the execution 
 of this work ; by whom the duty was undertaken ; 
 by what means converts were gained. And first, it 
 w ill appear, the commission to preach the Gospel was 
 imparted by the Church itself, from whence apostolic 
 men went forth. It was not an act merely of indi- 
 vidual zeal (though this, of course, was most needful, 
 and was. a grace of the Holy Spirit), but of an 
 authoritative commission also.^ The Apostles that 
 were at Jerusalem sent Peter and John, to confer a 
 spiritual gift on the disciples at Samaria." The 
 same occurred when the Apostles and Elders, with 
 the whole Church, sent chosen men to Antioch.^ 
 Not even did St. Paul enter upon his apostleship to 
 the Gentiles, without being separated and sent 
 thereunto by the Church.^ He specially commends 
 the brother'^ (probably St. Luke) to the Corinthians, 
 
 1 Comp. 2 Cor. x. 8; 1 Cor. ix. 1, xii. 28, iv. 21, xvi. 1, xi. 34. 
 
 - See Appendix, No. IX. =* Acts viii. 14. * Acts xv. 22. 
 
 ^ The strong argument derivable from this instance of St. Paul, 
 is insisted upon by Dr. Hey, Book IV. Art. 23, sect. 22, quoted 
 by Rose, Commission, &c. p. 58. 
 
 " 2 Cor. viii. 18. ov o 'iiraivo^ Iv rw ivayyiK'i(:d — not for li-r'dhuj, 
 but preachhuj the Gospel, as in ch. x. 14. Hammond, in loc. 
 
 G 
 
82 THE ORDAINED MEANS EOll [Lect. 
 
 US chosen' of the cliurclics to travel and prcacli 
 with him ; and the other brethren as "messengers," 
 ihe soil of the churches.^ Moreover, it is to be 
 remarked, that the very language of Scripture bears 
 witness to the same truth of the office of preaching 
 the Gospel belonging to men authoritatively com- 
 missioned thereunto. To proclaim the Gospel to 
 unconverted men is usually designated by a single 
 word {KT^pvTTeLv) ; and it is to be observed that 
 both this word and the kindred expression " to 
 evangelize " {evajyeXi^eaOai), when employed to 
 denote the same act, arc applied in the New Testa- 
 ment solely to apostles, or men authoritatively 
 commissioned to the office;' 
 
 This consideration will serve to illustrate, also, 
 the anxiety which St. Paul manifests in all his 
 writings, to assert that he was not acting as an 
 individual stirred by his personal zeal for the sal- 
 vation of souls, and for the glory of Christ, but 
 that he Avas acting in consequence of his divine 
 commission. He commences seven of his epistles 
 by urging that he was an apostle, not by the will of 
 man, but by "the commandment," "the will" of God. 
 In the remarkable expression which he uses in his 
 first epistle to Timothy, that he was " ordained a 
 preacher and an apostle,"' he adds a solemn asseve- 
 ration ("T speak the truth in Christ ; I lie uot,") in 
 
 ' xf'poToi";'f^fts- 2 Cor. viii. 19. On the use of this word, see 
 A])])endix, No. X. 
 
 - imoaToKoi eKKXr](Ti.MV, 2 Cor. viii. 215, 
 
 ■' See Appendix, No. XI. ' 1 Tim. ii. 7. 
 
III.] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. S3 
 
 confirmation of his being thus appointed " a 
 herakl" of the Gospel. And that it was a part of 
 the apostohc commission is further confirmed, hy 
 observing that, in the instructions which the same 
 Apostle gives to Timothy, he charges him, in addi- 
 tion to the duties towards those within the Church, 
 such as "teaching," "reproving," "exhorting," 
 likewise "to preach" or herald abroad "the word 
 to them that were without."^ 
 
 Such, then, is the argument which holy Scrip- 
 ture supplies in proof, not only of the Church 
 being the institution of Christ — a visible body, 
 endowed with invisible privileges, — but that to it, as 
 a body under apostolic rule, is entrusted the com- 
 mission to propagate the Gospel by means of its 
 appointed ministers and heralds; and that it was by 
 the extension of itself, of its own divinely-con- 
 stituted system, and by the dispensation of its ordi- 
 nances, that the internal gift was conveyed, as through 
 channels from a fountain-head, to the heathen. 
 
 Nor were these rules neglected in the ages 
 next succeeding the apostolic times. It was not 
 deemed that individual earnestness was an adequate 
 vocation for the high work of being an evangelist 
 to the nations ; nor was it deemed that the autho- 
 rity to send lay in any number of associated indi- 
 viduals, however zealous for the honour of Christ, 
 
 ' Comp. 1 Tim. vi. 2, and 2 Tim. iv. 2. For the diiference be- 
 tween Krjpvaaa and SiSuctkw — Xoyoy and StSa;^?), see Appendix, 
 (in the preceding page,) No. XI. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect. 
 
 ]3ut tliat it rested witli the Clnircli, commonly with 
 the bishops bordering on the waste hinds of liea- 
 thenism, to send' wherever a famine for the word, 
 or an opportunity for comnumicating it, was found 
 to exist. Instances in support of this will occur, 
 when we come to review^ the progress of the Gos})el 
 in the subsequent periods of the history of the 
 Church. But the testimony of Eusebius is too 
 remarkable to be omitted, who speaks of evan- 
 gelists,^ called also the disci})les of the Apostles, as 
 appointed to preach Christ to those who had not 
 heard His name, and to deliver to them the 
 Gospel.^ And witness to the observance of the 
 same rule is further borne by one, not a strenuous 
 supporter of apostolic authority, who, in his com- 
 mentary on the affairs of Christians,' writes, that 
 " it was certainly the custom, in early days, for 
 
 ' For corroboration and instances of this statement, see Appen- 
 dix, No. XII. 
 
 - Although it is uncertain (as Archbishop Potter observes, 
 ch. iii.) what the exact nature of this office was, yet (as Hooker 
 remarks, referring to this passage of Eusebius, E.P. V. Ixxviii.) in 
 after days they were Presbyters who were sent abroad, and " pain- 
 fully preached Christ ... to them who as yetliad never heard the 
 doctrine of faith." It is unaccountable how S(;hleusner could have 
 interpreted eOay-yeXtcTTal as those, " qui ad varios Christianorum 
 cd'tus mittebantur, et ab alio ad alium migrantes, non tam prima; 
 Doctrinje rudimenta tradebant, (juam institutionem apostolorum 
 contiimare solebant." And this he says, quoting this passiage of 
 Eusebius, and the comment of Theodoret on Ephes. iv. 11, in 
 which the latter says of evangelists, (Keivoi nfouovTes fKJ^pvTTov. 
 This last word might have decided the nature of their office. 
 
 3 Hist. Eccl. iii. 37. See Appendix, No. XIII. 
 
 * Mosheim de Rebus Christ. Stec. Prim. p. 176. " Sic nemi)e 
 consuetudo antiijuorum tcmporum I'ercbat, iit (|ui ex cirtu 
 
III.] THE EXTENSION OP THE GOSPEL. 85 
 
 such members of any Clmrcli as desired to imitate 
 the example of the Apostles, and to extend the 
 limits of the kingdom of Christ, to apply to the 
 Bishop for his licence, and to enter on his travels 
 with his sanction." And further concurrent tes- 
 timony establishes the rule, on the Gospel being 
 planted in any new district, of a Bishop being 
 straightway sent to preside over and direct the 
 rising Clim-ch ; ' and in order that all might be pre- 
 served in due harmony and unity, the council of 
 Chalcedon specially provided' for the consecration 
 of bishops in foreign parts, and the subordination of 
 the Churches to the patriarchate of Constantinople. 
 
 Such being the agenU in dispensing the word of 
 life to the heathen, it follows next to determine by 
 what methods it was administered, and converts in- 
 structed and edified in the way of Christian truth and 
 
 quodiim thristiano Apostolos iraitari, atque fines regni Cbi-isti 
 proferre volebant, facultatem proficiscendi ab Episcopo peterent, 
 ct ejus verbis iter suum facerent." And he adds, " Et sexcenti 
 sunt veterum ante Constantinum scriptorum loci, ex quibus elucet, 
 nefas prima Cbristianarum rerum aitate fiiisse, gerere aliquid et 
 suscipere ad religionem pertinens, Episcopo vel ignaro vel dis- 
 sentiente." 
 
 ' This has been fully illustrated already in Appendix, No. XII. ; 
 for in the instances there adduced, the missionaries were consecrated 
 as bishops. It is needless to mention how universal this rule was 
 in later ages. The following passage, however, in Thomassin is 
 curious : — " With respect to new colonies of Christians and new 
 bishoprics, the councils of Africa had decreed (Concil. Afric. 86 — 88) 
 that he should be bishop of each Church and people, who gained the 
 same to the Catholic unity, and retained it undisturbed for three 
 years." — Vet. et Nov. Discipl. parti, lib. i. cap. Iv. § 13. Latin edit. 
 
 - Can. xxviii. Beveridge, Pandect, vol. i. p. 145. See Appen- 
 dix, No. XIV. 
 
86 THE ORDAINED MEANS l-'Oll [Lect. 
 
 perfection. It would seem, incleecl, altogether in 
 accordance with reason, — since the commission had 
 been given to a certain body to preach the Gos})el to 
 all nations, and to teach them to observe all things 
 whatsoever the redeeming Son of God had com- 
 manded, — that these messengers of the Lord should, 
 then and for evermore, fulfil their commission by im- 
 parting the truth as they had received it from the 
 mouth of their Lord, and that they should commit it 
 to others to do the same. It is altogether in accord- 
 ance with reason, and with the good providence of a 
 merciful God, that, to preserve the truth so entrusted 
 to man from being either lost, or mutilated, or 
 corrupted, or overlaid with human inventions, it 
 should be committed to writing; that thus there 
 should remain an unchanging standard of its purity. 
 Moreover, it would be altogether in accordance 
 with the dictates of wisdom, that, in imparting 
 the doctrines of a faith which neither the will nor 
 the understanding would naturally embrace, it 
 should be conmiunicated in such a Avay and by 
 such measure, as those to whom it Avas preached 
 were able to bear, and as Avould be likely to secure 
 their assent. 
 
 A twofold method of im})arting the truth, then, 
 naturally presents itself in the authoritative teach- 
 ing of the Church, and in the written Avord of 
 God.^ Surely it could be only through an extreme 
 
 ' Some very valu.alilc remarks on tliis point occur in Hose's 
 Commission and Unties of the Clergy, p. lu, uitli note. 
 
Ill] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 87 
 
 elevation of the one ordinance of God, and de])re- 
 ciation of the other, and by the mind of man then 
 rushing violently from one extreme to the opposite, 
 that there should be either a supposed opposition 
 between the two, or a doubt as to the functions of 
 each, and the order in which they should be exer- 
 cised ; that either the teaching of the Church should 
 be separated from the use and study of the sacred 
 oracles of God, or that the Scriptures should 
 be presented to convey the truth, without the 
 aid and introductory teaching of the Church. And 
 yet it is the latter method that has been so largely 
 and so unceasingly pursued by certain advocates of 
 the Bible, as to cause it to be identified with the 
 whole principle adopted by Protestants for propaga- 
 ting the truth.' And the sacred Scriptures have by 
 millions been dispersed in foreign lands among the 
 uninitiated, the uncatechized, nay the very heathen, 
 
 ^ Thus Dr. Wiseman, (Lect. VI. on the Doctrines and Practices 
 of the Catholic Church, p. 198,) speaks of "the attempts made to 
 preach the Gospel on the Protestant principle, that the Bible 
 alone is sufficient ; " and quotes General Hislop, as stating that 
 "these missionaries think that this distribution of the Gospels in 
 Chinese, Sanscrit, &c. is sufficient to obtain their purpose." 
 Again he writes, (p. 206,) " If the distribution of the Bible be the 
 appointed way of conversion," &c. ; representing, as he conceives, 
 the Protestant method. See also Annales de la Propagation de la 
 Foi, vol. ii. p. ,354. It need hardly be added, that no such principle 
 is recognised by the Church of England. 
 
 How entirely, however, this is the principle of some Protestants' 
 may be judged from the following astoundmg sentence : " China 
 is open to the distribution of books ; the myriads inhabiting the 
 maritime provinces are ready to receive the word of life, ami the 
 lever that shall move this inoral world is undonhtcdlij — mctal-tijpe 
 printing!" — Medhurst's China, p. 575. 
 
88 THE ORUAIxVEI) MEANS FOR [Lect. 
 
 and those of the baser sort/ as if they carried with 
 them a kind of sacramental efficacy to imscale the 
 eyes, and enlighten the hearts of those who read 
 the deep and wonderful oracles of God ; as if no 
 preparatory teaching were needful for apprehending 
 them ; as if the word of God, wdiich is compared to 
 seed cast into the ground, were certainly the written, 
 and not the preached word; as if there were no 
 danger in leaving unlearned souls unwarned, to 
 profane and jeer at the revelations of the Holy 
 Spirit of the Most High. 
 
 But, in truth, how is it ? How do we learn, even 
 from the very Scriptures themselves, not only respect- 
 ing the method there pointed out by the mind of 
 the Spirit for extending the Gospel, but respecting 
 that actually employed by the inspired servants of 
 our Lord ? Where is there any blessing promised 
 on the distribution of the word of God ? Without 
 denying i\\Q jjossibilU^ of any one, however plunged 
 ill ignorance, yet if stirred by the Spirit of God to 
 search the living word, being able by the same 
 Spirit to gather out the saving truths of salvation ; 
 still neither is this the way in wliich provision was 
 made for dispensing the Gospel to the world, nor has 
 it any scriptural or reasonable probability in favom* 
 of its success. Surely in trusting to this, we must 
 be shutting our eyes to the moral hindrances, fre- 
 ({ueiitly the intellectual difficulties, that beset the 
 
 ' Sec China and its Prospects, by Mcdluirst, pp. 395, 400, 450. 
 
III.] THE EXTENSION OE THE GOSrEL. S9 
 
 avenues by whicli truth can enter in, and take 
 possession of tlie soul ; and be relying on some 
 miraculous interposition to give success to our 
 intentions. By what means was the Gospel ap- 
 pointed to be propagated, and how in fact was it 
 propagated ? By preaching : living witnesses went 
 forth, and besought, and pleaded, and warned, and 
 suffered. They showed it was a real thing that had 
 possessed their own souls, that made them no longer 
 dear to their ownselves, and could fill them, even to 
 self-forgetfulness, Avith the burning zeal of bringing 
 others to Christ. Christian men preached, and 
 resisted unto blood ; and heathen men saw, and 
 heard, and believed. Christ's servants came as 
 ambassadors with a message ; they came to draw 
 men together into a new society, under one Head, 
 not merely through a mental acquiescence in certain 
 doctrines, but by a real union with the incarnate 
 and invisible God, through visible ordinances, im- 
 parted on the reception of that holy Faith which 
 they were commissioned to preach. To this method 
 all historical records of the propagation of the Gospel 
 bear witness, and it is illustrated by the well-known 
 and striking passage of Irenseus, who wrote, that 
 " many natives of barbarians, without paper and 
 ink, had, through the Holy Spirit, the words of 
 salvation written in their hearts."' 
 
 Moreover, various considerations woidd lead us 
 to the conclusion, that the perfect exhibition of the 
 
 ' Adv. Heeres. III. cap. iv. 
 
90 THE OllDAINKD MEANS FOR [Lect. 
 
 truth of God as contained in tlic holy Scriptures, 
 was preceded by initiatory, and jjrobaljly more 
 formal instruction. Indications of this in the Scrip- 
 tures themselves are not wanting, in the "faithful 
 sayings," and " traditions," of which the converts 
 were reminded, and which, in the latter instance^ at 
 least, were represented as a concurrent mode of 
 instruction with the epistle which the Apostle was 
 then writing. Some creed or summary was un- 
 doubtedly used as the test of a correct faith ; Avhich 
 was professed l)y the candidates of Holy Baptism, 
 and which existed before the Scriptures were com- 
 pleted.^ 
 
 And this supposition is further borne out by the 
 very structure of the sacred writings themselves, 
 especially of the Epistles, which were actually 
 addressed, and bear the mark of being adai)ted to 
 those who had already been instructed in the prin- 
 
 ' 2 Thess. ii. 15. 
 
 ^ "Therefore the Church had a summary and symbol of Chris- 
 tianity, as I said before, about twelve years before any hook of the 
 New Testament was written, and about sixty-six before the wliole 
 was written ; and this of God's own makinc," ; and which was even 
 aj^reed on when many books of the New Testament were not yet 
 a<!;reed on." — Baxter's Catholic Theology, Introduction, 167.'), i'ol. 
 See Wordsworth's Institutes, vol. i. p. 272. 
 
 He refers to the Appendix to his Rei'ormcd Pastor, for authori- 
 ties for the a^eement of the ancient Creeds " ever professed at 
 baptism from their (the Apostles') days." 
 
 In his Catechizing of Families, is tlie following : " And infal- 
 lible tradition assures us, that accordingly, ever since the Apostles' 
 days, before anj' adults were baptized, they were catechized, and 
 brought to understand and pi'ofess these same articles of faith." — 
 Christ. Inst. vol. i. 27 !. 
 
III.] THE EXTENSION OE THE GOSPEL. 91 
 
 ciples of tlic Christian faith. They are composed 
 in an nnsystematic manner, especially ill-suited to 
 minds unacquainted with the outlines of that doc- 
 trine which they treat of ; fimdamental tenets and 
 inferences are mixed together; and many portions 
 of them arc designed to supplement, or correct, or 
 limit Avhat had been before communicated. Nor 
 were the sacred ^viitings intended to supersede, 
 even afterwards, other concurrent and authoritative 
 teaching; since, at a later period, when the apo- 
 stolic Epistles were nearly all composed, and were 
 probably in circulation, a succession of ministers was 
 still provided for the very purpose of "teaching."' 
 
 And the facts recorded in holy Scriptm-e tend to 
 confirm what is here maintained; as when Philip 
 was sent to instruct the Ethiopian, even while 
 studying those very Scriptures which, when under- 
 stood, w^ere "able to make" him "wise unto salva- 
 tion." The Bereans are praised for searching the 
 oracles of God, but it was after theij Jiad been 
 instructed, and hi order "to see whether these 
 things were so;" it was to prove, not originally to 
 find Old, the truth. And, in reality, this process is 
 only in accordance with the method pursued in the 
 communication of all knowledge ; in imparting 
 which, a teacher, speaking with authority, and 
 claiming the confidence of the instructed, is a 
 condition upon which alone it can be received. 
 
 ' As appears I'rom the First Epistle to TimotLy. 
 
92 THE OllDAlNEl) MEANS FOR [Lect. 
 
 And, moreover, is not the proecss of instruction 
 that of first communicating the general principles, 
 and then testing these principles by an appeal to 
 facts and experience, and thus illustrating and 
 ai)plying them? So is it with religious teaching. 
 We may recognise in the creeds, the sunnnary and 
 principles of the faith to be first imparted — milk 
 provided for babes ; we may recognise in the 
 Scriptures the wider field of facts and experience 
 in which those principles are tested, explained, 
 exemplified, drawn out into rules, and proved ; 
 and urged upon the belief of the Christian with 
 every variety of illustration, and touching instance, 
 and appeal to the afi'ections. And in the Church 
 we may recognise such a teacher as is needed to 
 communicate these first principles ; to stand by 
 and remove difficulties ; to satisfy inquiries, and 
 solve doubts ; to speak with authoritative voice, 
 as commissioned to teach, and so aw^aken and 
 engage the faith of the instructed, until afterwards, 
 when " the senses are exercised to discern both 
 good and evil," they are able to " prove all things," 
 and "hold fast that which is good." 
 
 Thus, then, we may conclude, that in the Church 
 sending her children, preaching by them the re- 
 ceived faith, appealing to the written w^ord as a 
 record of the truth and a proof of her teaching, 
 gathering men into the fold of Christ, and rearing 
 them by her discipline, are contained the appointed 
 means entrusted to man for the extension of the 
 
III.j THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 93 
 
 Gospel.' Surely the very failure^ tliat lias atteiuled 
 the mere dispersion of the sacred Scriptures among 
 heathen nations, might satisfy us that it was not 
 designed that the Gospel should thus win its 
 triumphs. The causes of the eagerness which has 
 sometimes been evinced by natives of pagan coun- 
 tries along the coasts and rivers of India and 
 China, and the Asiatic isles, to obtain the sacred 
 volume, cannot be traced to a thirst for the word 
 of life, but to the secular purposes, the unhallowed 
 uses, to which the holy word of God, left in their 
 hands, has been turned, and which are absolutely 
 shocking to any Christian feeling.^ 
 
 But view this great gift of God in connexion 
 with the system in which it was designed to dis- 
 charge its special office, and how w^onderfid a 
 means is ordained to meet all the wants of man, — 
 
 ' Waterland, (Tract on Justification, Works, vol. ix. p, 435,} 
 speaking of the Christian covenant, says, " According to the 
 natural order of precedency, the authorized minister is first in 
 consideration ; (Rom. x. 13 — 15 ; Tit. i. 3,) the word next ; then 
 hearing and believing ; after that, baptism, and therein the first 
 solemn reception of justification." — Cited by Rose, Commission, 
 &c. p. 14. 
 
 2 See Lect. VI. It is to be observed that, in the cases there 
 mentioned, some missionaries were engaged in preaching 
 besides, so that even the few conversions that occurred cannot be 
 attributed to the dispersion of the Scriptures alone. 
 
 ^ Even Mr. Medhurst says that " the anxiety to obtain books 
 must not in the least be ascribed to any knowledge of, or relish 
 for their contents," p. 403. Painful instances of the profanation 
 of the word of God by indiscriminate distribution, are given in 
 a note to Dr. Wiseman's Lect. VI. ut supra; and in Rev. W.J. 
 Humphrey's Letter to Rev. H. Cottrill, at Madras, in the Corre- 
 spondence lately published by the former gentleman. 
 
94 TJTK ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect. 
 
 to affect, and call out and sanctify liis whole 
 nature, moral and intellectual. It is not ordinarily 
 through the understanding that religious faith gains 
 an entrance into the soul ; it may be weakened, in- 
 deed, and it may be confirmed through the intellect, 
 but not newly awakened. It is commonly throngh 
 the moral affections and sympathies that faith is first 
 kindled ; and thus " with the heart man believeth 
 unto righteousness." It would seem that previous 
 culture of the moral nature is needful foi' the full 
 exercise, certainly for the right direction and co- 
 operation, of all the other faculties; and we may 
 notice how^ entirely in accordance with this law it 
 is, that in the orderings of God so large a period 
 has been allotted, in the commencement of man's 
 life, to childliood, which is the especial season for 
 moral training, and this in connexion with the 
 closest sympathies of our nature ; in preparation, as 
 it were, for the other faculties, as they expand, to 
 discharge their allotted functions powerfully and 
 harmoniously. And in the same way it is, that the 
 Church provides for the education of her cliildren, 
 not merely laying before them the truth, however 
 testified to and su})portcd by an irresistible weight 
 of evidence ; but presenting herself as a teacher, 
 bearing Avith her a personality, and addressing her- 
 self to the w\ants and weaknesses, and the finer 
 affections of man's nature ; thus winning the con- 
 fidence of those whom she would lead to salvation, 
 by the exhiljition of goodness, long-suffering, and 
 
III.] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 95 
 
 patience ; offering to guide and protect, and bring- 
 near to God in that society which He has planted 
 upon earth ; and then instructing and enhghtening 
 the mind hj knowledge, and by opening before it 
 the Avhole counsel of God. 
 
 Thus, through the pow^erful inw^orking of God's 
 Holy Spirit, the " new man" is "put on," "created 
 in righteousness and true holiness," and " re- 
 newed in knowledge after the image of Him that 
 created him." 
 
 Nor are the means thus provided for extending 
 the kingdom of God upon earth less adapted to 
 meet and form the character of man in that twofold 
 estate in which he is placed as an individual and as 
 a social being. It w\is to reveal to him his true con- 
 dition, and to perfect him in each of these respects, 
 that the Son of God became man. We may re- 
 cognise a provision made for impressing upon each 
 Christian soul its own personal responsibility before 
 God ; the sense that it stands alone in His sight ; 
 that not a mere blind acquiescence in autho- 
 rity, but a conscious and reasonable conviction of 
 duty, is the groundwork of obedience to Him ; — ■ 
 we recognise the means of bringing it, as it were, 
 before its Maker, to hear His voice, and read those 
 words by which it must be ruled now, and jndged 
 hereafter, — in the free use of the holy Scriptures, 
 and in the charge to study and meditate upon 
 them, — which belonged not to the latter days of the 
 Church alone, 1)ut marked the earlier progress of 
 
96 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect. 
 
 the Gospel, when, as is testified by St. Chiyso- 
 stom and St. Augustine,^ the inspired writings were 
 translated into the native tongue of almost every 
 people among whom the Chnrch Avas propagated. 
 
 And if man were only an individual, — did not the 
 perfection of his moral natiu'e materially depend on 
 his being bound together with his fellow-men, and 
 with God Himself in "one body and one Spuit," — 
 this would be enough. But it is necessary for the cor- 
 rection of his passions, for the restraint of an luu'iily 
 will, for calling forth the higher feelings of dutiful- 
 ness and reverence, for the exercise of the charities 
 of life, that he should be joined to a body, and 
 placed under authority. And this Body God has 
 provided, in which a new brotherhood is created, 
 not based upon the calculation of nnitual benefit, 
 but upon that relation into which mankind are 
 brought one with another and with God in Christ. 
 
 Within that Body the true social life of man is 
 called out. The sympathies that form the bond of 
 domestic and national existence receive a larger 
 expansion ; and gather Avithin their circle all who 
 share in that nature which God has redeemed, and 
 
 ' St. Chn'sostom, Horn. II. in Joliann. vol. viii. p. 10. Edit. 
 Belied. Koi 2u/)ot, /cat Aiyvnriot, koi 'ifSol, Koi Ilepcrai, Koi AldioTTfi, 
 Kai fivpia (repa edurj (Is ttjv avrmv fiera^aXovTes yXcoTTai' to napa 
 rovTov (sc. S. Jobiinu.) elaaxdiVTa, 'ipaBov av6panoi- fiapfiapoi 
 (jiiKotTocjif'iv. 
 
 St. Aiigustinc de Doctr. Clirist. lib. ii. sect. G. " Ex quo factuin 
 est ut ctiam Scriptura diviiia, qua tantis morbis Immaiianim 
 voluntatum subvenitur, ab ima lingua profccta, qua opportune 
 potuit per orbem terrarum disseminari, per varias interprctum 
 linguas longc lateque diffusa innotesceret gentibus ad salutem." 
 
in.] THE EXTENSION OF THE COSPEL. 1)7 
 
 sanctilied, and glorified in Plimself, by bearing it. 
 Within it, all those inequalities of life and circum- 
 stances which foster so largely the pride, and dis- 
 content, and envy, and all the evil passions of the 
 heart, are made to disappear; for human distinctions 
 find no place in that spiritual kingdom, in which 
 the weak things are chosen before the strong, 
 " where there is neither Greek nor Jew, .... Bar- 
 barian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all 
 and in all." 
 
 And if such be the plan by which God has ordained 
 that the Gospel should be spread al^road ; if to the 
 Church is committed the solemn charge of convertins: 
 the nations, and presenting them to her Lord and 
 Master; if she alone seems endowed with the 
 power of grappling with human nature ; and if past 
 experience has shown that in her, as its home and 
 sanctuary, the Gospel was preserved, and borne over 
 that deluge of barbarism which overspread Europe, 
 and uprooted every thing beside in its com*se ; — we 
 must expect that by the same agency alone can the 
 heathen world be gained over to the Redeemer. 
 
 We cannot expect God's blessing in so great 
 a work to rest on desultory and unauthorized 
 methods, to which the promise neither of success 
 nor perpetuity is engaged. 
 
 And shall it be said that, by thus insisting upon 
 the one appointed means for doing the work of 
 God on earth, which is indeed His Chm*ch, we 
 tend to paralyze individual exertion, or to damp the 
 
 n 
 
98 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR ♦ [Lect. 
 
 zeal of many ? Surely tins result can never follow. 
 It never has been so, whenever a sense of duty has 
 been appealed to by an authority whose claim to 
 demand it has been recognised. Those have not 
 commonly been the most slow to make sacrifice of 
 themselves, and to devote their energies to a groat 
 end, who have been summoned to do so by a po"wer 
 which has been to them as the voice of God. Nay, 
 while God's Spirit dwells in the hearts of His 
 people, there Avill be many who neSd nothing more 
 to call forth the free surrender of themselves to His 
 service, than the certainty of being right and in the 
 way of duty; and who will have all their energy 
 quickened thereby. For the secret of that moral 
 strength, that composure, and confidence, Avhicli 
 ever belongs to obedience, lies in the consciousness 
 that Ave are not following our own will, but the will 
 of God, however made known to us. It is free from 
 distraction, for its Avay is clear ; it can bear reverse 
 or disappointment, for it looks not to success for 
 the warranty of its acting. And if this spirit be 
 appealed to, individual exertion will not be wanting. 
 The trial has not been uijule. Though the Church 
 has indeed pleaded and exhorted, yet she has not 
 used a parent's right, and demanded the service of 
 her children on the gromid of that loyalty and obe- 
 dience which are her due. And we, on our part, 
 have lost too much a sense of the allegiance we owe 
 to her ; we have not looked to her for guidance, nor 
 shown our readiness to obey ; we have been acthig 
 
in.] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 90 
 
 as individuals, and therefore tlie work has kin- 
 guished in our hands. But let the ancient spirit 
 of faith revive, and surely the Cluu'ch, recognised 
 in her true character, will be powerful again, as she 
 ever has been, in enlisting zeal, and drawing forth 
 self-sacrifice in her service — the service of Christ, 
 and for the salvation of souls ; and she will be seen 
 going forth irresistible in her beauty and might, 
 and bringing, by the power of Divine truth, all 
 nations into subjection to her Lord and Saviour. 
 
 H '^ 
 
LECTURE IV. 
 
 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL BEFORE THE 
 REFORMATION. 
 
 Psalm LXXII. 9, 10. 
 
 they that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him ; 
 and his enemies shall lick the dust. the kings of tarshish 
 and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of sheba 
 and seba shall offer gifts. 
 
 The purpose of the last Lecture was to elicit from 
 reasonable probability, from the revealed will of 
 God, and from apostolic practice, those general 
 principles by which the effort to extend the Gospel 
 of Clu-ist should be guided. These principles, and 
 the facts in which they are involved, are as fol- 
 lows : — That the Church, as the visible institution 
 of Clu-ist, is the divinely ordained instrument for the 
 conversion of the world; — That Christianity was 
 propagated, in the apostolic age, through the en- 
 largement of the Church, either by additions from 
 without, or by the expansion of it from within ; — 
 That it belongs to commissioned teachers to preach 
 the word of life to the heathen, and that the 
 
Lect IV.] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 101 
 
 authority to send is derived from the Lord Himself 
 to those who bear apostoHc rule iu His Chm-ch ; — 
 That the method whereby the conversion of unbe- 
 lievers was effected was not the mere distribution 
 of the written word, to which the promise of suc- 
 cess in this work is not engaged,' but the preach- 
 ing of the Gospel by living witnesses ; — And, 
 lastly, that the place held by the holy Scriptm^es in 
 the economy of instructing the heathen mind, is 
 that of proving and confirming the previous ele- 
 mentary teaching of the Church, conveyed through 
 its formidaries, and the oral expositions of its mes- 
 sengers. 
 
 Such being the groundwork on which the theory 
 of missions is built, I proceed now to a review of 
 the progress of the Gospel throughout the world, in 
 reference, more "or less directly, to the principles here 
 laid doAvn ; and to ascertain the various secondary 
 means that have been used in seeming the success 
 that has been achieved. Let it be premised, how- 
 ever, that these secondary means have not been 
 employed with any uniform or systematic precision, 
 but have varied Avith the varying condition of 
 Clnristianity, and the circumstances under which 
 it has been extended ; and, further, that neither 
 externally has the Church advanced with unre- 
 ceding step, nor internally has it preserved an 
 
 ' " And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not 
 heard? and how shall they hear without <i preacher? and how 
 shall they preach except they be sent?" — Rom. x. 14, 15. 
 
102 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect. 
 
 uiK'liaiigiug character, but has won its way irregularly 
 and imperfectly, in various degrees, through un- 
 looked-for contingencies, sometimes by doubtful 
 expedients, and after many reverses ; in a word, by 
 that laborious process to Avhich all moral advance- 
 ment is subject, as being the product of a conflict 
 between the powers of light and darkness, and as 
 dependent on human instrumentality. 
 
 The present review, as far as it can be taken in 
 a single lecture, will embrace the ages Avhich pre- 
 ceded that great movement, intellectual, political, 
 and religious, which exhibited itself in the sixteenth 
 century. It is felt that a period of vast extent is 
 embraced ; and of course nothing more can be clone 
 than to sketch the outline of the empire of the 
 Church, as it contracted or expanded its limits, 
 and then to note the various means by which its 
 sway was acquired and retained. It is felt, also, 
 that the character of this period is as diversified 
 as it is vast ; that, during it, the nations of Europe 
 and of the East presented every form of poli- 
 tical existence, between well-compacted govern- 
 ment and complete social disorganization ; and 
 that the human mind passed through every stage, 
 from the highest intellectual culture to the most 
 illiterate barbarism ; so that, during these ages, 
 we witness the Church in conflict with every oppo- 
 sition which the powers of the world could set in 
 array against it, to check its progress ; and hence, 
 assuming different aspects at different periods. 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 103 
 
 varying with the character of the nation, or the 
 degree of civihzation with which it was brought 
 into contact. Yet the struggles which it sustained, 
 while they put it to the severest test, only served 
 to draw forth its resources, and prove its power to 
 cope with human nature under every form, to 
 subdue, and mould it anew, to reorganise society, 
 infuse into it fresh life, and carry it onward through 
 each stage of its advancement. 
 
 In taking such a glance at these ages as is here 
 proposed, it will be convenient to divide them into 
 two portions, placing the line of separation at the 
 decree of Theodosius, which, at the close of the 
 fourth century, banished Paganism from the Roman 
 empire.' And, in truth, this forms a natural divi- 
 sion in treating of the propagation of the faith ; 
 since it was not till after that event that missionary 
 efforts, properly so called, may be said to have com- 
 menced ; while the condition of the Church, and of 
 the nations among whom she preached, and the 
 means employed for their conversion, became then 
 altogether different from what they had been before 
 Christianity took permanent possession of the throne 
 of the Caesars. The plan, then, will be, to trace 
 out the gradual extension of the Gospel during 
 these two periods, and then to consider the various 
 means by which its successes were acquired, and 
 the lessons which may be derived from the review, 
 
 ' A. D. 392. Cod. Tlieod. c. xii. Baron. Annal. vol. viii. 
 p. 115. 
 
104 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Llct. 
 
 The lirst four centuries have commonly been con- 
 sidered those in which the Gosj)cl made its most 
 rapid and most extended conquests. It has been 
 thought that, during them, the Church of Christ 
 was carried forward by the supernatural im})ulse 
 which it received on the day of Pentecost, and of 
 which the last vibrations were felt, and expired at 
 the verge of that period ; — that afterwards, if it was 
 not wholly arrested in its course, yet it expanded 
 itself further only languidly and slowly, by natural 
 or doubtful means, and that for centuries it lost all 
 its pristine vigour and purity. There is perhaps 
 just enough of truth in such a statement to account 
 for the general impression ; but certainly as regards 
 the territorial extension of the Chm'ch, it is far from 
 correct. For history would not lead us to conclude, 
 either that the actual boundaries of the Clnu-cli 
 continued progressively to enlarge themselves 
 during the first four centuries, or that, at the close 
 of them, the tide of its rising waters was stayed by 
 any barrier, or any cessation of the invisible power 
 that had first set them in motion. That it did 
 indeed increase and nudtiply, according to the 
 blessing bestowed upon it, so as to gather con- 
 stantly fresh children into its bosom, is most 
 true ; not however, commonly, by puslhng its lines 
 further into the domains of darkness, but rather by 
 iilhug up and occupying more completely the 
 ground already ac([uired. If we may give credit 
 ti) the ti'aditious that have been prest-i'ved of tlic 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. ] 05 
 
 apostolic labours/ we may believe that, on tlie 
 death of the last of the Apostles, the preaching of 
 the Gospel had reached nearly the fiiU extent of 
 the territory which was possessed for the first four 
 centuries. Intimations of this occur in the 
 Epistles ; and we should be led to suppose it 
 probable, from the fact, that, at the period last 
 named, the knowledge of the Gospel appears to 
 have extended very little beyond the limits of the 
 Roman empire. And that, 'witldn those limits, the 
 seeds of divine truth should have been very early 
 and widely scattered, is what Ave might reasonably 
 expect, from the constant communication that Avas 
 kept up between one part of the empire and an- 
 other, — from the connexion of the Jews dispersed 
 throughout all the world with Jerusalem, — from 
 the intercourse which bound the distant colonies 
 and provinces of Rome to the capital and the 
 metropolitan cities, such as Alexandria, Antioch, 
 Ephesus, and Corinth, in which the first preachers 
 of the Gospel took up their abode, where they 
 
 ^ Euseb. H. E. iii. 1. For the labours of eacb of the Apostles, 
 see a summary in Fabr. Lux Evang. cap. v. pp. 95 — 114. The 
 fact of St. Peter having preached at Babj'lon in Assyria (1 Ep. 
 V. 13), though a point of much discussion in which controversy 
 has mixed itself, is maintained by good authority. See Lardner, 
 XVII. p. 239. Little doubt can exist that the Gospel was carried 
 to that district in the first century. Respecting the visit of 
 St. Paul to Spain, Prof. Burton (Eccles. Hist. i.f281) quotes Epi- 
 phaniiis, Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Jerome, in favour of the 
 Apostle having preached there ; and so these two points may be 
 considered the limits, in the east and west, which the Gospel 
 reached in the apostolic age. 
 
106 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSrEL. [Lect. 
 
 established the centre points of their system, and 
 from whence they penetrated into the surrounding 
 districts. Very early, then, in most of the larger 
 cities throughout the Roman dominions, and even 
 in the frontier garrisons that skirted the territory 
 of the barbarians, the Cross had been set u}) ; and 
 though the number of those who embraced the 
 faith of Him who had died thereon was but small, 
 still there the Gospel had been " preached /or a tvit- 
 ness ;" and we need not hesitate to give a hteral 
 meaning to the words of the Apostle, when he 
 said, " Their sound went into all the earth, 
 their words unto the ends of the world." ' 
 During the three centuries that followed the 
 apostolic age, the Gospel was still confined Avithin 
 nearly the same limits which it reached at first, 
 viz. Britain, the Rhine, the Danube, the Caspian 
 Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the bounds of })ro- 
 consular Africa; and those who succeeded the 
 Apostles were rather engaged in assailing the 
 idolatry with which they were immediately con- 
 fronted in defenchng the faith, witnessing unto the 
 death a good confession, and increasing and con- 
 solidating the churches already planted, than in 
 penetrating into regions yet miexplored. 
 
 But at the close of the fourth century a new 
 order of things arose for the Church, — fresh labours 
 and trials, widely different from those in which 
 it had hitherto been engaged. The Roman 
 
 ' Rom. X. 18. 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 107 
 
 empire was noAV shaking and crumbling from its 
 inherent social decay, and from the assaults of the 
 northern tribes, Avhicli gathered, like birds of prey, 
 round the dying body. Hitherto the Gospel had 
 contended with civilization, with a popular and 
 systematized religion, with intellect, with well- 
 ordered government ; it had made its way pas- 
 sively, by gradually spreading its influence through 
 the mass in which it had been hid to leaven it ; for 
 a time, too, it had delayed the breaking up of the 
 Roman polity by the new life it had infused into 
 the hearts of man, and the fresh bonds of union 
 which it had created. But now the Chm'ch looked 
 out, and saw lawless force coming down as a flood, 
 threatening to bear away before it all law and civili- 
 zation, and the very landmark of social existence, — • 
 and it had to arm itself for the conflict. Civilized 
 paganism had faUen before the power of the Chris- 
 tian faith : its philosophy and mythology had been 
 searched and exposed by the bm'ning light of the 
 truth, and had melted away as under some powerful 
 solvent ; but now there was altogether a different 
 enemy which the Church had to meet, in an 
 unlettered barbarism ; marked by characteristic 
 virtues,' indeed, but also by untamed passions ; 
 boasting itself in its wild independence, unre- 
 strained by any fixed law or social order, and 
 finding only a stimulant to deeds of lawless enter- 
 prise and rapine in the savage idolatry under which 
 
 ' Salvian cle Gub. Dei, p. 261. See Lect. II. Appendix, No. IV. 
 
108 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lkct. 
 
 the powers of nature were adored. For two cen- 
 turies, countless hordes were poured forth from the 
 central plains of Asia ; one after the other they 
 took up their position in the most fertile countries 
 of Europe, and enclosed within them the Church of 
 God, which, stripped now of the worldly defence by 
 Avhich it has been strengthened in its later con- 
 quests over Roman paganism, was thrown u[)on 
 its inherent vital energy and spiritual resom'ces. 
 Worldly power had, indeed, failed to arrest the 
 progress of the impetuous hosts ; and it was a new 
 sight for mankind to gaze on, to see the Church of 
 God, armed only by the force of truth and the invi- 
 sible presence of the Most High, brought into close 
 contact with the savage wildness of human nature. 
 The world seemed fallen back into the days of its 
 infancy ; and in such a field it is that we ha\'e to 
 watch the progress of the Gospel softening, human- 
 izing, converting, civilizing. Every form of un- 
 civilized life, of savage habit, of deep-seated 
 prejudice, of victorious insolence, was brought 
 before it, and, by turns, in the course of succeed- 
 ing ages, was controlled and brought into subjec- 
 tion. By what means tliis wonderful regeneration, 
 under the combined providence and grace of God, 
 was effected, will be noted in its j)lace. 
 
 At present I would merely note the dircciion in 
 which the Church of Christ enlarged itself. For it 
 is altogether a partial view, to conceive that its 
 expansion was thenceforth stayed. On the con- 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 109 
 
 trary, it seems rather to have taken to itself a more 
 vigorous resolve, and to have risen, as if conscious 
 of its power, to invade the dark masses of ignorance 
 and violence that encompassed it. Cheerless, in- 
 deed, was the commencement of the seventh cen- 
 tury, and gloomy the scene on which the first 
 Gregory closed his eyes;' the barbarous hosts 
 still pressing the Roman empire on the north, 
 and the Arabian impostor breaking forth from his 
 sultry sands, as the avenger of the Lord, scatter- 
 ing the flock from field to field, and obliterating 
 the once flourishing churches in the East, and along 
 the African coast. And yet at that very time it was 
 that a spiiit of missionary enterprise arose, and 
 chiefly from the North ; from the monasteries of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, men went forth glowing 
 with the desire of bringing the Gothic tribes 
 within the fold of Christ. It seems as if a special 
 impulse was imparted to them ; for ceaselessly, we 
 are told, in the ear of one of the earliest adven- 
 turers, St. Columban, sounded the words of our 
 blessed Saviom*, " If any man will come after me, let 
 
 > In the general misery inflicted by the inroads of the barba- 
 rians, he recognised the signs of the approaching end. Thus, in 
 one of his letters, (lib. vii. ep. xxvii.) he says, " De vicinis nrhi- 
 bus strages nobis mortalitatis quotidie nuncupantur. Africa 
 autum qualiter mortalitate et languoribus vastatur, quauto 
 viciniores estis, tanto credo quod subtilius cognovistis. De 
 oriente vero qui veniunt graviores desolationes nunciant. In his 
 itaque omnibus, quia, appropinquante fine mundi, generalem per- 
 cussionem esse cognoscimus, afiligi nimis de propriis molestiis 
 non debemus." — Vita S. Greg. Mag. Acta Sanct. Ssec. Prim, 
 p. 46P. 
 
110 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect. 
 
 liini deny himself, and take np his cross and follow 
 me," ' Along the banks of the Rhine, in the Black 
 Forest, in Bavaria, and Thnringia, the Church ex- 
 tended itself" by the labours of men thus devoted ; 
 among whom shine the names of Fridolin, St. Gall, 
 Rupert, St. Eustasius, Willibrord, and, above all, 
 St. Boniface, as apostles of the German nations.'' 
 
 And thus, from the end of the sixth to the ninth 
 century, the progress of the Gospel continued, 
 with varied success, among the Gothic tribes. After 
 that period, in the tenth century, the field of mis- 
 sionary labour extended itself still further towards 
 the East. Beyond the limits already named, amid 
 the barren table-lands of Sclavonia and Sarmatia, 
 shut in by the Elbe and the Oural mountains, were 
 gathered the wandering tribes distinguished by the 
 name of Sclaves, who presented a still more hope- 
 less task to Christian zeal. Uncontrolled by any 
 government or law, deeming even the formation of 
 villages an infringement of liberty,^ guided only by 
 traditionary custom, they were dispersed throughout 
 the forests and plains of that wide district, clus- 
 tered in family groups, with no unity either of 
 national existence, or of habit, or even of religion. 
 A vague superstition, consisting of a rude worship 
 
 ' Blumliardt, Etablissement du Christianisme, ii. p. 318. No 
 reference is given. The exact circumstance, as related by Blum- 
 liardt, is not in the life of St. Columban,by Jonas, his pupil, con- 
 tained in Surius, vol. vi. Something similar is, hoAvever, mentioned 
 in pp. 530 and 531. 
 
 2 Appendix, No. XV. •'' Ibid. No. XVI. 
 
 ■' Iilumhardt, Etabl. du Christianisme, iv. pp. 1 K 15. 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. Ill 
 
 of Nature's powers, with stated sacrifices, and the 
 duaUstic notion of the East, derived from contact 
 with the Scythian tribes,^ possessed their minds 
 with a sense of rehgious awe ; but, throughout the 
 whole race, even the idea of the immortahty of the soul 
 had become extinct.- One social virtue, however, had 
 the force of law amongst them ; and the obligation 
 to hospitality afforded an opening for the strangers 
 of the West to gain an entrance among these other- 
 wise unapproachable hordes.^ Partly and in the first 
 instance, from the Greek Church, by the two apo- 
 stles of Poland and Prussia, Cyril and Methodius ;^ 
 afterwards and more perfectly, by emissaries from 
 the Latin Church ; in various ways, and at various 
 intervals, the Gospel was propagated in these coun- 
 tries from the tenth to the sixteenth centuries ; and 
 during the same period, by missionaries chiefly 
 from the monastery of Neiif-Corbie on the banks 
 of the Weser, and from the British Isles, the terri- 
 tories of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden'^ were 
 
 ' Blumliardt, Etabl. du Cliristi<anisine, iv. p. 6. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 8. 3 Ibid. p. 15. 
 
 * In tlie ninth centurj^ 
 
 '^ Anscliar, the apostle of Denmark and Sweden, A. D. 826, and 
 Gislemar, who followed him to Denmark, were sent from Neuf- 
 Corbie. Missionaries were brought by Ilakon, king of Norway, 
 into his dominions, (an. 938.) Christianity was not, however, 
 permanently introduced before the reign of Olaf I., who was 
 accompanied from England by John Sigurd, (an. 993.) Olaf II. 
 afterwards requested missionaries from England of Kanute, 
 upon which, Sigfrid (first Bishop of Wexia), Gomkill, and others, 
 were sent into Norway, (an. 1019). The chief source of informa- 
 tion on these missions is contained in the Hist. Eccles. of Adam 
 Bremensis. 
 
112 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lf.ct. 
 
 brought within the pale of the Christian Church. 
 And thus, by the end of the thirteenth century, 
 paganism may be said to have been well-nigh 
 banished from the limits of Europe. 
 
 By such steps, with a continual yet laborious 
 progress, the Church w^as planted and took root 
 throughout the European continent ; nor except in 
 the Turkish dominions, has it since suffered any 
 permanent reverse, or been despoiled of any portion 
 of its inheritance. 
 
 Far different, however, WTre its fortunes in the 
 East dming a portion of the interval that has been 
 thus slightly sketched. For above four centuries 
 from its first promulgation, the sound of the 
 Gospel appears to have been confined within the 
 Indus,^ but from that period, a most rapid exten- 
 sion of Christianity, heretical, indeed, yet in its 
 degree influential, ensued, and was followed by as 
 rapid a decline. Led by individual zeal, or dis- 
 persed by persecution, or attracted by the enter- 
 prise of Arabian commerce,^ the Nestorians spread 
 themselves over the plains of Ilindostan, Tartary, 
 Mongolia, and China,'' planting churches through- 
 out the wide domain ; and for six centuries kept 
 
 ' Appendix, No. XVII, 
 
 ^ Assemanni, Bibl. Orient, torn. iii. p. Ixxxi. ; and Biihlen, Das 
 alte Indien, p. 381, who cites Cosmas Indi(;opleustes (himself' a 
 Nestorian) as saying, that he found a Cliristian congregation at 
 Taprobane and Mahibar in A. u. ooO, under a bishop, consecrated 
 in Persia. 
 
 ' Assemanni, ul sup. 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 113 
 
 possession of the territory. The well-known monu- 
 ment discovered in the se^^enteenth century, by the 
 Jesuits in China/ and the intercourse between 
 Alexander III. and the famous Prester John, in the 
 twelfth century,' indicate the wide-spread influence 
 wdiicli Christianity possessed, externally at least, 
 over the nations of Eastern Asia.^ But neither did 
 the earlier labours of the Nestorians, nor those of 
 the Latin Church directed to the same quarter,* 
 secure a lasting triumph. It is in melancholy con- 
 trast with the vigorous life wherewith the Church 
 of the West resisted and subdued its barbarian 
 invaders, that we find the Eastern Churches gra- 
 dually fade away and finally disappear before the 
 invasions of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane. As 
 
 1 An account of this monnment found in Siganfu, A. D. 1625, 
 and recording the establishment of Christianity in China between 
 A.D. 636 and 781, is given in Assemanni, p. cxxxviii ; and its 
 genuineness discussed in Mosheira, Hist. Tartar, p. 9. See Mr. 
 Mihiian's note, Gibbon, viii. p. 347. It should be added that 
 Bbhlen disputes the genuineness of this record ; but the alterna- 
 tive of supposing that the Jesuits forged a document, setting 
 forth Nestorian doctrines and enterprise, is too improbable to be 
 readily adopted. 
 
 - Assemanni, p. D. who quotes from the original letter in Pagi, 
 dated 1177. 
 
 3 " The extent to which Nestorianism prevailed among the 
 Tartar tribes, is one of the most curious questions of Oriental 
 history." — Mihnan's Gibbon, viii. 346, note. Connected witli this 
 is the still more interesting question of the influence which it had 
 on the Buddhism or Lamaism of those districts, and \vill be 
 alluded to in Lect. VIII. 
 
 * The first of these missions from the Roman Church Mas 
 estabhshed by Nicolas III. in 1278. Monte Corvino and bis com- 
 panions entered Tartary in 1289. Assem. p. Dxxvii. 
 
 I 
 
114 Tin; EXTKNSION OF TJIK GOSPEL [Lect. 
 
 though they liad never taken a firm root in 
 the soil, they were swept away by the storm 
 which had before in the same way desolated the 
 fakest portions of Western Asia and Africa, and 
 Christianity was again (hiven in upon its centre 
 in Europe ; yet surely only to await the time 
 when the tide will again roll back with more 
 powerful effect upon those mighty and imposing 
 empires. 
 
 Such a sketch, though necessarily general, may 
 suffice to delineate the character of that missionary 
 field in which Christianity made its territorial advance 
 on the wastes of Paganism, during fifteen centuries. 
 And we pass at once to a more important and 
 interesting review, when we proceed to consider the 
 various methods by which it was extended, l)y what 
 characteristics its expansion was marked, by what 
 means it was maintained. 
 
 Bearing in mind the division of the periods 
 before observed, we shall have to compare, and in 
 some points to contrast, the one with the other. 
 YoY the different forms of Paganism A\hich they 
 severally presented, demanded of the Church the 
 employment of different instruments and modes of 
 action in order to grapj)lc with them. And thus 
 its office in these successive periods may seem to 
 have been represented in the commission given in 
 our blessed Saviour's parable to the servants sent 
 to bring guests into the supper of their Lord; 
 soiiu! it has simply "bidden," others it has 
 
IV.] EEFORE THE REFORMATION. 115 
 
 "brought in," some it has, as it were, " compelled 
 to come in."' 
 
 I. Consider then the first period of its expansion. 
 It has been already remarked, that, after the first 
 century, the labours of those commissioned to 
 penetrate distant lands with the Gospel, were for a 
 time comparatively suspended. And this will 
 account for the very scanty records that are left us 
 of the propagation of the Gospel among heathen 
 nations during that period. Still, within the Roman 
 dominions, vast accessions were constantly gained 
 to the Church, and we may discover many causes 
 and means, though some of them were only inci- 
 dental or indirect, to which the extension of the 
 Faith may be attributed. 
 
 1. It was but an incidental, though providential, 
 cause of the advance of the Gospel, that the very 
 circumstances of the times, especially towards the 
 close of the empire of the West, secretly yet power- 
 fully drew the minds of men to the reception of 
 revealed truth. The old pagan religion was ex- 
 hausted ; it had sought alHance with philosophy, 
 and been maintained by force, but it was felt to 
 have no power even over the mass. Times of 
 trouble were hastening on, and va,rious signs gave 
 no uncertain warning of the breaking up of the 
 empire. The vicious lives of a long train of emperors, 
 the consequent general corruption that prevailed, 
 
 ^ Luke xiv. IG — 23. This a})plication of the parable is made in 
 Thomas a Jesii, De Proc. Salut. omii. Gent. p. 123. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect. 
 
 and tlic tlircateiiing ruinoiirs of war on the frontier, 
 forced the more serious to reflect and look for some 
 refuge from the coming storm. And nothing in 
 the civil state of the empire offered any ground of 
 repose, or trust, or union, or stability. The Clau'ch 
 alone possessed all these. ^ There men were beheld 
 bound together by common interests and visible 
 unity, elevated by a strong faith, strengthened by 
 a mysterious power, acting with all the devotion of 
 youth, and suffering for religion with a spirit 
 resembling the patriotism of the days of the re- 
 public ; and thither the thoughtful and the earnest- 
 minded were naturally drawn to find their support 
 and peace. 
 
 2. Among the indirect means by which the seed 
 of the Divine word was scattered abroad, nnist be 
 reckoned the persecutions which drove the Chris- 
 tians, sometimes in banishment, sometimes in re- 
 treat, among the tribes that lay u]nm the frontier. 
 In the same manner, among the colonists that 
 settled in distant parts, or among the legions that 
 were garrisoned on the border of the empire, or 
 among the captives- who were carried away in the 
 [)redatory incursions of the Goths, were found some 
 of the faithful, who bore with them, and not unfre- 
 
 ' A remark to this elTect occurs in Bliimliardt, vol. i. p. 211. 
 
 '■' Among the captives from Cappadocia, in the reign of Valerian, 
 were the progenitors of Ulphilas, afterwards consecrated first 
 bishop of the Gotlis by Euscbius and other bishops. I'hiloslorg. 
 i 1, 1',. Ill), ii. cap. V. The Gospel was introduced into Georgia iu the 
 same way. Rufinu-;, p. 22''i. Sec Gibbon, vol. iii. p. .'528. 
 
IV.j BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 117 
 
 quently conimiinicatecl to their captors, the know- 
 ledge of Christianity. 
 
 3. At the same time, there were more direct 
 influences in operation to win over the uncon- 
 verted. Tlie supernatural endowments of the 
 Church, (though less effectual in convincing the 
 unbeliever than is commonly supposed,) were yet 
 powerful in arresting the attention of the beholder, 
 and in nerving the faith and patience of the con- 
 verted. Others were Avon by the moral miracles of 
 enduring fortitude and patient suffering, wherewith 
 the Christians cheerfully witnessed unto the death, 
 for the name of the Lord Jesus. Then, again, hi 
 an age and among a people of philosopliy, another 
 means of reconunending the faith, or at least of 
 removing obstacles from its progress, was provided 
 in the Apologies which, from time to time, vin- 
 dicated the tenets and the conduct of Christians, 
 and in the treatises in which the arguments, either 
 of the scoffing or the philosophizing assailant of 
 Christianity, were met and refuted. 
 
 So that generally, in reference to this period, we 
 are led to remark, first, that after the age of the 
 Apostles, the advance of the Gospel was effected, 
 not by a wider aggression upon the heathen world, 
 but by organizing, strengthening, and gradually 
 enlarging the Churches already planted ; and 
 secondly, that in its conflict with civilization of 
 the highest class, and with well-compacted govern- 
 ment, the position of the Church was mainly 
 
118 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. [Lect. 
 
 defensive. It held its ground, and spoke, when 
 challenged, Avith no faltering voice. It stood, and 
 "gave place, no, not for an hour," but was per- 
 secuted and suffered, and rejoiced to " bear about 
 in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." Like 
 Israel of old, it w^as content to " stand still, and 
 see the salvation of the Lord ;" and thus it gained 
 its moral triumphs and final supremacy. 
 
 4. And yet some notices are not wanting of a 
 direct advance upon ilations among whom the Lord 
 Jesus had not been named, and of the means 
 whereby fresh converts were added to the Church. 
 Panttenus was sent to bear the Gospel among the 
 Indians ; Frumentius was commissioned by Atha- 
 nasius to preach to the Ethiopians ; missionaries 
 and bishops were from time to time appointed 
 among the Goths, Scythians, and Saracens.^ Evan- 
 gelists, again, were licensed and sent from Churches 
 already settled, to declare the word of life to the 
 neighbouring pagans, and to prepare the ground 
 for pastors, or a fixed and local ministry, being 
 placed among theni.^ Further, in the provision of 
 catechists, we discover another appointment for 
 gathering the contiguous heathen into the fold of 
 Christ. Teachers of the })riestly order were com- 
 missioned to this particular office.^ Catechisms 
 
 ' For a fuller statement respecting these events, see Lcct. III. 
 Appendix, No. XII. 
 
 ^ Sec the passage of Ikisebius <|note(l i-ect. III. Ai)pcnclix, 
 No. XIII. 
 
 ^ Bingham's Autiii. I>. iii. eh. X. sect. 1. See DodwcH's Dissertat. 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 119 
 
 were compiled for the use of the catechumens/ 
 who, together with the hearers, were admitted to 
 attend sermons / a special part of the church was 
 allotted, to tliem,^ and prayers were offered for their 
 illumination/ Buildings adjoining the churches 
 were set apart for the reception and instruction of 
 the newly converted / and a fixed course of disci- 
 pline was appointed for them preparatory to their 
 reception to holy baptism.*^ Then, again, in the care 
 taken that no clergy should be ordained without a 
 local charge / in the provision, that the bishop 
 should be present at the founding of a fresh church/ 
 in the subordination of bishops of distant parts to 
 the metropolitan see / in all these things we may 
 certainly recognise thus much, — that the gathering 
 in of the heathen was a care of the early Church ; 
 that it was conducted on a fixed system, and 
 
 C\prian. De Presbyteris Doctoribvis. " His" (sc. Catecliu- 
 menis) Avrites Thomas a Jesu, "Presbyter probata3 vitae et doc- 
 trinaj constituatur Catechista." — P. 872. 
 
 ' Bingham, b. x. ch. i. sect. 6. 
 
 - Palmer's Orig. Liturg, vol. ii. p. 66. 
 
 ^ Bingham, b. ^dii. ch. iv. sect. 3. 
 
 * Palmer, tit sup, likewise Chrysost. Horn. II. in 2 Cor. ch. i. 
 
 ^ Thomas a Jesu, De Proct. Salut. omn. Gent. p. 872, who quotes 
 S. Clem. (Rom.) Recognit. lib. ii. in fin. (apud Cotelerii ^Patr. 
 Apost. torn. i. p. 524.) Also S. Basil, Serm. I. de Bapt. p. 2. See 
 Bingham's Antiquit. b. viii. ch. vii. sect. 12. 
 
 ^ Bingham, b. x. ch. ii. 
 
 ^ Bingham, b. iv. ch. vi. sect. 2. 
 
 ^ Bingham, b. viii. ch. ix. sect. 5. 
 
 ^ Concil. Chalcedon, Can. xxviii. Several of the points in the 
 above page are noticed by Bp.Middleton, in his Charge at Calcutta. 
 (Sermons, p. 219.) 
 
120 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEI- [Lfxt- 
 
 ever in subjection to the idea of the divinely - 
 appointed authority of the one body and Church 
 of Christ. 
 
 II. And now, in (juitting this period, and 
 passing to a review of the secondary means l)y 
 which the extension of the Gospel was effected 
 during the dreary ages of charkness, and vio- 
 lence, and disorganization that succeeded, an 
 entirely new field opens to our contemplation. 
 The period of miraculous interposition is pass- 
 ing away ; the seed of the kingdom of God has 
 become a tree ; and the Gospel is left now to 
 spread itself by such methods as the providence 
 of God may offer, or Christian wisdom suggest. 
 The conflict with civilization and organized society 
 had ceased, and the conflict was noAv begun 
 vi^ith barbarism and social disorder. The world 
 was almost broken up into its ])rima?val ele- 
 ments ; and there Avas one power alone on earth 
 able to reassemble the shapeless masses, and 
 reduce them into order and harmony. The great 
 work that the Church undertook was to chris- 
 tianize and civilize the barbarian hosts ; and it 
 was evident at once, that these were not to be 
 affected cither by direct appeals to the intellect, 
 or by exhibitions of meekness and enduring 
 patience, which would only wear the. appearance, 
 in their eyes, of weakness and timidity, and 
 excite contempt. The pecidiar characteristic of 
 the Germanic tribes was a rude personal inde- 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 121 
 
 pendence ; ' their virtues were tliose of the indi- 
 vidual ; they whoUy wanted social order, and those 
 principles on which civil existence depends. On 
 this account we shall perceive, first of all, that 
 the means adopted for their conversion and civi- 
 lization w^ere aggressive and bold ; and, secondly, 
 that they were such as peculiarly to set forth 
 the social life of Christians, controlled by an un- 
 seen spiritual power, by which the rude warriors 
 were most likely to be attracted, since it exhibited 
 what they most needed. Hence, together with the 
 sixth century, — that period when thick darkness 
 threatened to extinguish the light of the Gospel, — 
 the first systematic attempt was made by mission- 
 aries for the conversion of the Pagans. Sometimes 
 a solitary Christian, harassed by despair, and by 
 the sights that daily met his eyes," and in the hope 
 of reclaiming some one soul from the powder of 
 Satan, w^ould seek a retreat in the clefts of the 
 rock, or on some barren height,^ and draw around 
 
 ' M. Guizot remarks, " Nous devons aux Gerniains le sentiment 
 energique de la liberte individuelle, de I'mdividualite humaine. 
 Or, dans un etat d'extreme grossierete et d'ignoi-ance, ce senti- 
 ment, c'est Tegoisme dans tonte sa briitalite, dans tout son inso- 
 ciabilite. I)u c'lnquieme au huUteme siecle, il en elait a ce point 
 parmi les Germains." — Cours d'Histoire, Le9on iii. p. 20. 
 
 - Thus Honoratus fled from the Paganism wliicli shocked him at 
 home, and founded the convent at Lerins, A. D. 400 — 420. Vita 
 Honorati. S. Hilarii Op. ad Jin. 
 
 ^ Vita S. Martini Turon., a Sulpicio Severo. cap. x. Vita S. 
 Galli, cap. ii. Acta Sanct. Sa^c. II. " Ibi oratorium in honorem 
 B. Petri Apostoli construentes, mansiunculas in quibus commane- 
 rent, fecerunt. Illisque ibi conversantibus, et ipsum locum cxco- 
 
122 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect. 
 
 him a small community of men won by his austere 
 sanctity, and lay the rudiments of a future Church. 
 At other times, after the pattern of the first Apo- 
 stles, twelve men of devoted minds would throw 
 themselves into the forests or plains that bordered 
 the Rhine or Danube ; ' and form a Christian society 
 which grew into a religious house ; and from 
 thence commenced that continuous ao^orression on 
 the hordes of Germany and Sarmatia, Avhich ended 
 in their subjugation to the law and discipline of 
 Christ. 
 
 It cannot be denied that one means whereby the 
 minds of the barbarians Avere aflfected, w^as, by 
 dazzling their senses, and working on their imagin- 
 ation. Hence, with this period, the pomp of cere- 
 monial in religion was largely increased ; expressive 
 signs and symbols were unsparingly used, and 
 frequently abused ; spectacles were multiplied in 
 accommodation to the coarse taste and intellect of 
 the age, which were thereby at least impressed with 
 an idea of power, and a sense of respect for Him 
 in whose honour they were displayed. 
 
 Purer, and, as the result proved, far more effec- 
 tual methods were adopted for the conversion of 
 the heathen, in the introduction amongst them of 
 
 lentibus, multi non solum de tiTnere Burginuliorum, sod ctiam 
 Francorum, aniore vit:u laudabilis ad ipsos conflucrunt." 
 
 ' Thus Columban entered (laiil. Vita Columb. in Acta Sanct. 
 Saec. II. p. 7. Willibrord among the Frisones, and Rupert in 
 Bavaria, were each accompanied by twelve. — Blunihardt, vol. ii. 
 pp. 404, 426. 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 123 
 
 the elements of learning and of the practical arts, the 
 reduction of their language to written characters,' 
 the translation of the Scriptures into the native 
 tongue, the instruction and training of the young 
 in the habits of civilized life. 
 
 And for the instrument by which these were 
 applied, — the most efficacious instrument, because 
 the most systematic, in softening and winning the 
 pagans, — we must refer to the institution of mo- 
 nastic houses and seminaries, which soon rose up 
 wherever an anchorite or missionary fixed his 
 dwelling.^ 
 
 We are, perhaps, too apt to judge of these insti- 
 tutions by their issue, and by the aspect they wore 
 when, in their decline, they were brought into contact 
 with an increase of knowledge, and under a searching 
 and no friendly inquisition. But it is impossible to 
 overrate the blessed effects, which, under the special 
 guidance of God, they were the means of producing, 
 
 ' It seems, tlirougbout, to have been the peculiar province of 
 missionaries to introduce the seeds of literature among heathen 
 and barbarian nations. Thus, writing was introduced, in the 
 fourth century, among the Armenians, by Isaac, Bishop of 
 Armenia. Ulphilas reduced the language of the Goths to written 
 characters. In the ninth century Cyril did the same among the 
 Bulgarians and Moravians, and gave them a translation of the 
 Scriptures. Xa^ier commanded Father Henriquez to reduce the 
 Malabar language to a grammar. Life by Dryden, b. iv. p. 228. 
 In later days this same work has been continued, especially in 
 the islands of the south Pacific and in New Zealand. 
 
 ^ Between the years 600 and 700, seventy-three monasteries 
 were founded on the Benedictine rule. Erroul, or Ebrulphus, who 
 preached in Normandy, circ. 596, founded fifteen. — .\cta Sanct. 
 Saec. I. p. 338, and II., ad fin. where a list is given. 
 
124 TJIE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEI; [Lect. 
 
 in keeping alive and diffusing tlic liglit of Christian 
 truth, during these ages of ignorance and social 
 disorder. For they presented to the eyes of men 
 the kingdom of Christ, as a visible body and form 
 of society ; they exhibited that society held together 
 by a spiritual rule ; men's hearts and consciences 
 controlled l)y an invisible influence, and by faith in 
 an unseen power, which enabled them to overcome 
 themselves, live in obedience and peace, and be 
 active in religious service. They at once asserted 
 and embodied the existence of a spiritual authority^ 
 apart from, and far above, the reach of temporal 
 power. Within them Christians of more pious and 
 thouffhtfid hearts souo;ht a home secure from the 
 storms of the world around ; mind was brought 
 into contact with mind ; all that remained of 
 learning and philosophy found there a sanctuary, 
 and, bv heiim allied to relio-ion, was saved, and 
 became its handmaid in civilizing and convert- 
 ing. The solemn and stated ceremonial, and un- 
 ceasing round of services, impressed the pagan mind 
 with the reality of vmsccn things, and formed a 
 powerful contrast with the savage sacrifices offered 
 to those beings whom superstition had invented. 
 
 Besides this, the inmates were not mere solita- 
 ries ; but the numerous brotherhood found their 
 allotted tasks in the practice of all the arts,^ the 
 
 ' Guizot, Civilization of Europe, p. \f>7, Tranal. Oxlbrd, 1S;58. 
 
 ^ An account of the manual labour practised in monasteries, is 
 given in the preface to Acta Sanct. Ssbc. I. § ix. cap. cxiii. The 
 same is strictly enjoined in Reg, Ixvi. of St. Benedict's Rule. 
 
IV.] BErOUE THE REFOIUIATIOX. 125 
 
 production of manufactures, the education of youth, 
 the copying of the Scriptures, the cultivation of 
 learning, and the active offices of charity. It could 
 not be, too, but that the holy austerity they exhi- 
 bited, the spirit of obedience, the power of the 
 Christian faith, the blessings of civilized life, should 
 .attract the unsettled tribes amongst whom the con- 
 vents rose, and to whom they became the present 
 dispensers of light, as indeed they contained in 
 germ the civilized advancement of subsequent ages.' 
 Within them, moreover, was found an asylum for 
 the oppressed and injured, for orphans, for redeemed 
 slaves,^ for helpless infirmity. AVithin them, schools 
 were formed for the instruction of the young, and 
 of the newly converted ; — here was nursed the 
 spirit of Christian enterprise, and native missionaries 
 Avere trained and sent forth, sometimes into the 
 surrounding country, sometimes into distant lands, 
 to bear the knowledge of the Redeemer. — Thus 
 were gathered together all the main instruments 
 for evangelizing a heathen country ; hence, under 
 God, tribes were converted, and the kingdom of 
 Christ extended ; until what religious men founded 
 in piety, princes afterwards established on worldly 
 policy, for the civilization of their dominions, 
 
 ^ The character of these convents is eloquently and impartially 
 set forward by Fleury, Discours III. Sur THistoire Eccles. sect. 
 xxii. &c. vol, xiii. p, 26, 4to, 1713. 
 
 - Life of St. Eligius by Neander. See Appendix, No. XVIII. 
 Thus Anschar, the apostle of Denmark, redeemed some native 
 slaves in Jutland to educate as missionaries. — Blumhardt, vol. iii. 
 p. 22.3. 
 
12G THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect. 
 
 It would be easy to note other secondary causes 
 wliich tended towards the same end ; but these are 
 such, as either cannot be approved, or are to be 
 attributed rather to the course of God's providence, 
 than to any definite design of man for extending 
 the Gospel. 
 
 The impulse being once given, — the influence of 
 rulers, the benefits of civilized life, the respect for 
 men of religion, all conduced to sway many who 
 would otherwise have been unmoved to embrace 
 the Christian faith. Then the coercive measures 
 adopted by those who had the might, as by Charle- 
 magne in Saxony, Olaf in Sweden,' the Teutonic 
 knights in Lithuania," established indeed the Gospel, 
 but by means which the Gospel does not recognise.^ 
 Further, the influence of the Crusades, which were 
 the offspring of a rising spirit of chivah'ous devotion, 
 and formed the crisis of the contest between the 
 Cross and the Crescent, — the frequent pilgrimages to 
 Rome and Jerusalem, — the commercial enterprises 
 conducted chiefly by land, were all overruled of God 
 for the propagation of the Faith, and, with it, for the 
 progress of the human race. 
 
 ' The doings of'Olaf'Tryggvason, are related in Snorro, I listeria 
 Regum Norvegicorum, vol. i. p. vi. 
 
 ^ For the exploits of the Teiitonie knights (the oH'spring of the 
 Crusaders) against the pagan enemies ol' Christianity, see Villers, 
 Essai sur la lief, de Luther, p. 293, note. 
 
 ^ A series of " Dubia" as to the extent of compulsion or per- 
 suasion which may lawfully be employed, in order to draw heatliens 
 to the ackn(r,vledgment of the truth, are discussed in the fifth book 
 of Thomas ii Jcsu, De I'roct. Salut. onin, Cient. j)p. 201 — 229. 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 127 
 
 And now, having surveyed the two periods, we 
 may hasten to such reflections as seem to arise 
 from the review. 
 
 First, let me be permitted to remark, that no pious 
 mind can rise from the contemplation of the varied 
 course which the Church has run, can reflect on its 
 marvellous and repeated conflicts, dangers, and 
 manifold triumphs, without being impressed with 
 the perfect conviction of the Almighty power that 
 was working through it, guiding, protecting, pro- 
 spering, it. We need not turn again to its miraculous 
 rise, nor pause to ascertain the power or the weak- 
 ness of those secondary causes which tended to aid 
 it in its advance : the bare fact and acknowledgment 
 of these being hut secondary, their obvious inade- 
 quacy to account for the result witnessed,^ throw the 
 thoughts back on the first impefling cause which 
 set it on its course, and to which its conquests and 
 permanency are due. We may note the dispositions 
 of an overruling Providence in the times and seasons 
 at which some of the most eventful catastrophes of 
 its history occurred ; we may recognise them in the 
 delay of that dark night, which followed on Rome's 
 downfal, till the Church had taken root, had proved 
 its strength, had fixed its creed, had consolidated 
 its system, had gathered to itself all that remained 
 of vigour and goodness in the corrupted empire of 
 the West. We may observe them too, in the fact, 
 how (jradually the desolating inroads of the invading 
 
 ' See Appendix, No. XIX. 
 
12S THE EXTENSION OF TJIE GOSPEL [Lfxt. 
 
 hosts were made ; how wave after wave succeeded 
 at intervals, with respite enough given for the 
 first to spend itself and be quiescent, before a 
 second billow rose and broke. Thus time was allowed 
 for the Church to rally its powers ; — one tribe Avas 
 in part converted, or at least softened, before 
 another made its onset ; and this, meeting, even on 
 the frontier, the influence of Christianity, was, in a 
 degree, disarmed of hostility before it reached the 
 centre and citadel of the faitli. Again, we may 
 observe the providence of God in the constant 
 eduction of good out of evil, even out of events that 
 threatened destruction to the Cluistian name. That 
 great scourge, the barbarian invasions, forms no 
 exception ; for we may believe that these were 
 designed for the recovery of the enervated nations 
 of the AVest -. tlic infusion amongst whom of the 
 stronger virtues of a vigorous morality, good faith, 
 chastity, hospitality, and a sense of personal inde- 
 pendence, which characterized tlie rude and warlike 
 tribes of the North, may be regarded as the only 
 possible means of saving them from a worse state of 
 moral slavery and degeneracy, against wliich the 
 Chm*ch had perhaps hopelessly striven. 
 
 The same thing is y(!t more evident in those 
 hindrances which beset the calm progress of the 
 Cospel, such as the trials Avhich cliecked it from 
 without : for as, in the case of the protomartyr, the 
 })ersecuti()n of the Jews drove the Christians u})on 
 llie l{()iii;iiis, so, afterwards, tlu' persecutions of tlie 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 129 
 
 Romans drove them upon the barljarians, and the 
 persecution of the barbarians drove the emissaries 
 of the faith into convents and rcHgious asylums, 
 which became the very centres of hght and mis- 
 sionary zeal, the citadels of truth and civilization. 
 
 Throughout we may recognise, in the extension 
 of the Gospel, a divine control going with it, 
 shaping and sanctifying all things, all events, all 
 influences, as means of its enlargement and exalta- 
 tion. And yet this does not exclude that inward 
 invisible power with which, from time to time, it 
 wrought mysteriously on the consciences and hearts 
 of men, and by an almost miraculous effect awed 
 them into subjection. 
 
 It was a sight that mio;ht have kindled the 
 coldest faith, to witness, in the person of the 
 Roman Bishop, an aged, feeble man, with no out- 
 ward strength or protection, go forth to the camp 
 of Attila; and, when with authority he spoke of 
 the mercy of Christ, to see that victorious chieftain, 
 appalled and subdued by his saintly presence, tiu'n 
 his savage hordes back again from their promised 
 spoil, at the pleading of the servant of God.' Sm'ely 
 there was present more than a human influence, 
 when, during the very pillage of the imperial city, 
 the spoiler dared not lay his hand on the sacred 
 vessels which a holy maid surrendered as her only 
 treasure ; but, amid the carnage and destruction 
 
 ' A.D. 452. See Gibbon, vol. iii. p. 425, 4to edit. 
 K 
 
130 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. [Lect. 
 
 wliicli raged around, reverently bore them, in 
 sacred procession, and with the chaimt of hynms, 
 to the sanctuary of the Christian temple.' Well 
 might Augustine exclaim on these events, " Who- 
 ever sees not that this is due to the influence of the 
 name of Christ, and of Christian times, is blind ; — 
 whoever sees, yet praises not, is thankless ; — who- 
 ever strives with him who giveth praise, is mad. 
 Let none in his wisdom trace it to the natural 
 workings of the barbarians. He was there, awing, 
 curbing, miraculously controlling their savage and 
 relentless minds, — He who had so long before fore- 
 told by his prophet, ' I will visit their offences 
 with the rod, and their sin with scourges ; never- 
 theless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take 
 from him.' "^ Well, too, may the Christian reve^ 
 rently recognise in them the presence of the same 
 mysterious Power which struck to the ground those 
 Avho came out to lay hands on the Lord of Life. 
 And while the infideP thought he could account for 
 the secret influence that went with the Gospel, and 
 for its success, by the prevalence of sorcery; and 
 the persecutor, Julian/ by the unity and compact- 
 
 ' Gibbon, vol. iii. p. 237. 
 
 ^ Ps.. Ixxxviii. 32, 33. Aug. de Civit. Dei, cap. vii. Bluniliardt, 
 vol. i. p. 164. 
 
 •■* Celsiis, quoted by Ncandcr, Hist, of Christ, llel. p. 01. 
 Transl. by Rose. 
 
 ■• Sozomcn remarks, v. Ifj, that Julian, perceiving tov Xpiaria- 
 
 VUTfXOU Tr]V (TVCTTaariV 'e)(f^V fK TOV IBiov Koi TVJS TToXiTflas TCOV avTOV 
 fl(TlUl'TO)l', Slfl/0fl7"0 TTUl'TaX'j TOVS ' KXXlJVlKOVi I'flOl'S' T// TTlipaCTKevf] 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFOUMATION. 131 
 
 ness of its external system, and sacerdotal authority ; 
 the Christian saw, and still sees, in instances such 
 as these, the power of Christ dwelhng in His 
 Church, which forms its hidden life, and encircles 
 it, as a wall of fire, to protect it from its foes. 
 
 2. But in reference more particularly to the 
 secondary means by which the Gospel was ex- 
 tended, and which it is mainly our object to 
 examine, it occurs at once to observe the widely 
 different aspect which is presented in the mode of 
 its propagation in the two periods which have 
 been revicAved. The former was distinguished 
 by a miraculous agency and the absence of tem- 
 poral aid; the latter by a large employment of 
 secondary appliances ; — in the former, the Church 
 was rather defensive ; in the latter, aggressive. 
 Further, the means which were used in the ad- 
 vancement of the faith in the two periods were of a 
 different order : — an appeal to the intellect, and 
 reason, and conscience, marking the one; the in- 
 fluence of civilization, the other. In the former, 
 the Gospel was wholly antagonistic to Paganism, it 
 offered no compromise, but renounced all heathen 
 principles and practices ; in the latter, being an 
 age of barbarism, a certain accommodation to 
 ignorance, and adoption of heathen practices was 
 admitted, to win over the prejudices of the uncon- 
 
 Ku\ '■fi rd^fi T7JS 'S.pKTTiavav QprjUKfias biaKo<jp.(lv, k. t. A. : and then 
 follou s a letter from Julian to Arsacius, the priest of Galatia, on 
 the sulyect. 
 
132 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. [Lect. 
 
 vci'tcd.' Pcrliaps as a result of these clifFercnces, 
 we have to note, tliat, whereas in the first period 
 conversions were individual, in the latter they were 
 national : — in the former, the course of Christianity 
 was from the lower up to the higher ; in the latter, 
 princes were addressed first,^ and then the people. 
 And it must be added, that, if the consequence of 
 this latter process was to extend the Gospel wide, 
 and to plant it among nations, to the blessing of 
 future generations, yet, at the time, the conver- 
 sions were much less genuine and real than those 
 which marked the earlier period of Christianity, 
 the age of earnest faith and suffering devotion. 
 
 3. But, throughout these periods, it is to be 
 observed, the Gospel was presented to the hea- 
 then as a system, in the form of a visible body, 
 within which, as it were, Christ was to be found, 
 and in Ilim the new life of their Avhole being 
 acquii'ed. The fact of its advance having been 
 
 ' See the instructions of Gregory to Augustine, Bede, i. cli. 30, 
 in wliich the sacritlce of oxen, &c. was to be allowed to the Saxon 
 converts, only m liononr of Christ, instead of to tlieir demons. 
 
 ^ Boniface, in his twelfth letter (to Bishop Daniel, first bishop 
 of Winchester), quoted by ISeander, AUgemeine Geschichte, vol. 
 iii. p. 1 00, says, " Sine patrocinio Principis Francorum nee popu- 
 lum regere nee presbyteros vel diaconos monachos, vel ancillas 
 Dei regere possum, vel ipsos Paganorum ritus, et sacrilcgia idolo- 
 rum in Germania sivc illius mandato et timore prohibere valeo." 
 P'ather Bouhours, in the Life of Xavicr (Dryden's transl., book 
 vi. p. 48.')) remarks, that " the most efficacious means of conver- 
 sion," (a means, surely, too much neglected by ourselves,) " used 
 by Xavier was this ; he endeavoured to gain to God those persons 
 tliat were most considerable, cither for their dignity, or by their 
 birth." 
 
IV.] BEFORE THE REFOEMATION. 133 
 
 attributed, as has been remarked, to such a cause 
 as this, is enough to prove how large an element its 
 external system formed in its character, and how 
 forcibly the minds of unbelievers were affected by 
 it. In the earlier period, though less discernible 
 by the outward eye, its visible constitution was 
 in reality all the more forcibly realized by the 
 faithful ; for oppression and contempt only gathered 
 them the more closely together, and made them 
 more deeply conscious, from the sympathy which 
 each felt for the other, and from the intercommunion 
 of distant churches, that they were the family of 
 God, and that to belong to Christ was to belong to 
 a fixed, and this a suffering, body. But the same 
 idea was again clearly exhibited, when the Church 
 expanded itself, and penetrated among the hosts of 
 the barbarians. The men who went forth on that 
 mission ever carried and presented to the heathen 
 the idea of the body of Christ : — they asserted it 
 in their creed ; they showed it in the communities 
 which they formed ; in the asylum they opened to 
 those who were converted ; in the jurisdiction they 
 at once established by the consecration of a bishop 
 in every newly-gained district ; in the discipline 
 which they observed ; in the intercourse which they 
 kept up, not only with one another, but with the 
 mother Church from which they came, and, in 
 later days, with the see of Rome. It is not the 
 place to comment on the despotic dominion which 
 that Church at length usurped, and by which, 
 
134 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lixt. 
 
 instead of exhibiting, it destroyed the true id(,'a of 
 the Church of Christ ; yet we must admit that the 
 fact of such a power having been estabhshed, 
 proves at least the prevalence of a conviction that 
 Christianity was a system, that Christians were a 
 body, and that unity was a token of that body ; — 
 and further, a dispassionate judgment will conclude 
 that such a power, usurped as it was, yet became 
 a channel of God's providences to the world ; 
 that it was still the means whereby the idea of a 
 spiritual rule on earth was tangibly impressed on 
 minds which would have been unaffected by the 
 purer and simpler garb which the Gospel wore in 
 primitive ages ; that it did overcome the cruelty 
 and tyranny of monarchs, before which weaker 
 or less compacted bodies might have fallen ; did 
 frequently check the career of guilty power, and 
 uphold the cause of justice and of virtue. 
 
 4. There is still another lesson of striking 
 significance, which a general glance at the ex- 
 tension of the Gospel, in its ebb and flow over the 
 surface of the world during these ages, impresses 
 upon the mind. It is, that the permanency of the 
 Church has been indissolubly connected with tlic 
 maintenance of the essential verities of the Christian 
 faith. And fm'ther, together with the loss of these, 
 there seems ever to have passed away also all 
 power and energy to give life and stability, not to 
 the Church alone, but even to the institutions of 
 social and national existence. Is not tliis mourn- 
 
IV.3 BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 135 
 
 fiilly recorded in the history of a large portion of 
 the Eastern Church? For centuries it was the 
 source of successive heresies touching the very 
 centre of the Christian faith, — and it fell in conse- 
 quence, almost irrecoverably, as a helpless prey, 
 before the arms of the false Prophet. Wliat, again, 
 was the fate of the Nestorian bodies which were 
 dispersed over the still further East? For a few 
 centuries they prevailed, and multiplied Chm'ches 
 among the swarming tribes of Asia ; yet, as though 
 they had " no root in themselves," when the heat of 
 trial fell upon them, they disappeared " as the grass 
 upon the housetops, . . . wherewith the mower filleth 
 not his hand ; nor he that bindeth sheaves his 
 bosom." ' Or contemplate, again, the fortunes of 
 Arianism in the West. For a time, like most systems 
 of plausible error, it spread rapidly and widely, yet 
 unhealthfully. It gained the earlier barbarian 
 hordes ; it possessed itself of the greater portion 
 of the West. But less than a century was enough 
 to see its rise and decline ; and, more than this, — 
 as if it carried with it the principle of death, — as 
 if it withered what it touched, and imparted its own 
 evanescence to those communities that embraced its 
 blasphemies, — it is a most striking lesson, that not 
 one of the tribes who became Arian has preserved 
 its name among the nations of the earth. Other 
 tribes from the East, smaller and weaker than they, 
 embracing the true faith, have been permitted to 
 
 ' Psalm cxxix. 6, 7. 
 
136 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [LkcT. 
 
 preserve the memorial of tlieir name in the 
 Em'opean kingdoms which they severally formed, 
 but of the former no record remains — they are not 
 written among the nations.' 
 
 And do we ask how is this? Certainly, if a 
 nation's life, its unity, and strength, are to be 
 traced to its religious faith, the answer is not diffi- 
 cult. For heresy has no inherent vitality; its 
 principle is disunion ; it confesses no transmitted 
 creed; it breaks itself oif from communion with 
 past ages ; it loses sight of the authority, and, 
 therefore, the idea of the Church; it is ever 
 distracted, for it appeals alone to individual con- 
 viction ; it acknowledges no allegiance to what has 
 gone before, and therefore cannot claim any to itself ; 
 it cannot impart (for itself is a stranger to it) the 
 high temper of faith and obedience, which, as it 
 forms the Christian's life, is the life of nations also. 
 And therefore it is changeful and transitoiy ; and 
 nations that have embraced it have lost the prin- 
 ciple, the source, of stability, and the blessing 
 of God. Therefore, too, on the other hand, has 
 the Church prevailed and remained.^ It has 
 guarded its transmitted creed, and authority, and 
 system ; and hence has secured its strength. And 
 while it preserves the purity of the faith, not the 
 
 ' Appendix, No. XX. 
 
 ■^ Rufinus was able to slate, that, up to his time, no lieresy had 
 taiu'ii its rise from Rome, or I'rDni any of the Western Churches. 
 — In Symbol. Apost. § o. 
 
IV.] BErORE THE REFORMATION. 137 
 
 command and promise of its Saviour alone, but the 
 experience of past ages, the visible blessing of 
 God, the nations tliat through successive centuries 
 were brought into subjection to the Cross of 
 Christ, — these may assure us, that, if we are 
 " zealous," and " repent, and do the first works/' 
 if Ave but stir up the gift which He hath given, 
 power shall not be wanting to " make Jerusalem a 
 praise," " the joy of the whole earth !" 
 
LECTUllE V. 
 
 MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 John XVIII. .%. 
 
 MV KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD. 
 
 The sixteenth century, the period at Avhich I closed 
 the foregoing review of the extension of the Gospel, 
 witnessed not merely a resuscitation of the hinnan 
 mind, but a remodelling of the whole state of 
 society. The elements of previous disorder began 
 to be reduced to harmony ; principles of truth, 
 which had been entertained before as but indistinct 
 guesses, were acknowledged, and fixed, by being 
 brought into action ; rights w^erc recognised ; power 
 was consolidated ; old things seemed to be passing 
 away, and a new destiny to unfold itself to the 
 nations of Euro})c. The full effects of the great 
 movement which then took place are still unrealized ; 
 and probably, neither the beneficial results, nor the 
 vicious developments of the principles then put in 
 motion, can yet be a])])rcci!it(^{l. It was the crisis 
 towards Avliich the unsettlement of [)receding ccn- 
 
Lect. v.] MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION. 139 
 
 turies, with theii- contests, discordant systems, and 
 irregular strivings after truth and peace, had been 
 gradually but surely tending : and now, on a sudden, 
 there was a stirring among the nations ; not in one 
 direction only, but in every department of individual 
 activity and social existence, a new system arose, 
 with new manifestations of power, as though some 
 fresh forms of creation had been thrown up from the 
 depths of the earth. Fresh energies were put forth, 
 and struck boldly forward over a boundless untried 
 sea ; and in art and science, as in the material 
 globe, a new world was discovered in recompence to 
 the ''ventures of faith." And although it was in 
 the calling forth of individual powers, that the 
 peculiar character of the period was evinced, yet its 
 wonderfid effects were seen no less in the recasting 
 of those principles by which the civil condition of 
 mankind is regulated. There was a fixing and 
 settling of political relations in the internal govern- 
 ment of nations ; and a balancing of power, too, in 
 their external policy, as they began to recognise 
 their mutual obligations, interests, and independ- 
 ence : and whereas almost every preceding century, 
 from the downfal of the Western empire, had 
 witnessed some devastating inroad of warlike tribes 
 from the East, a curb now seemed placed on 
 these outbursts of lawless violence, and the nations 
 settled down in peace. It was the age of coloniza- 
 tion, too, which is probably destined to become, in 
 the providence of God, the main instrument for 
 
140 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 furthering His purposes in the extension of the 
 kingdom of Christ. 
 
 But of all the events that occurred at tliat event- 
 ful })eriod, the lleformation in religion was the 
 greatest ; its effects have Ijcen the most lasting 
 and influential, even as religion afiects the deepest 
 springs of human action : and while it was itself the 
 product of preceding causes, it has become largely a 
 moving cause in all succeeding results. Yet on this 
 point it is not intended to say more, than that, with 
 the Eeformation and that stirruig of men's hearts 
 and minds which accompanied it, a new impulse 
 was given to the efforts, never discontinued indeed, 
 but of late ages languidly carried on, to extend the 
 faith of Christ : and both in the East and in the 
 West a fair field lay open to the zeal and enter- 
 prize of the soldiers of the Cross. At this tinie, 
 however, the Church of Rome, which conunaiuled 
 the influence of the great maritime powers, was 
 alone in a condition to undertake the task with 
 juiy vigour ; and within that CIuutIi it was un- 
 dertaken most largely, — so hu'gely as almost to 
 occu[)y the whole field of vision, — by that extra- 
 ordinary company, which rose u]) specially to contend 
 with the lleformation, viz. the Jesuits; wdiose sub- 
 sequent failures, and enormous vices, are found in 
 strange union with as much heroic self-sacrifice, as 
 much purity and singleness of purpose, as was ever 
 devoted to any cause that has been prosecuted upon 
 tlie eai'lli. 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 141 
 
 I proceed, therefore, to sketch shortly the efforts 
 made in the earHer portion of this period, by the 
 Church of Rome, towards the extension of Chris- 
 tianity among the heathen, and those which are 
 made by the same body at the present time ; — and 
 this with the view of ascertaining, not merely the 
 success that has attended these efforts, but the 
 strength and weakness of those methods and princi- 
 ples on which they have been conducted. 
 
 And in doing this, I shall best approve myself to 
 your judgments if I avoid both the spirit and the 
 argument which has been adopted by writers of the 
 Church of Rome when treating on these subjects. 
 One object seems uppermost in their mind — to 
 depreciate, to decry, to exhibit a cold malicious 
 pleasure in underrating, all that has been done, 
 or is doing, by others than themselves.' Fresh 
 schemes have of late been devised by that Church, 
 avowedly to imitate and oppose the exertions of 
 some Protestant bodies -^ while not in our own 
 country alone, but in our colonies, a precise, studied, 
 and untiring effort is making to enter into a contest 
 
 1 See the Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, e. g. vol. iii. 
 pp. 1 — 48, especially 61, No.LXXXII.p. 211, &c. Comp. Dr. Wise- 
 man's sixth Lecture, the extreme unfairness of which, as an account 
 of Protestant Missions, must at once strike any one acquainted at 
 all with the subject. A glaring instance of this will be noticed in 
 Lect. VI. 
 
 - " C'est I'Angleterre," (says a writer in the Annales, vol. i. 
 No. VI. p. 92, note,) " qui a fourni I'idee modele de I'Association de 
 la Propagation de la Foi. La Societe des Anabaptistes a forme pour 
 ses Missions des Societes," &c. &c. See also vol. ii. p. 72, where 
 this Association is called a " contrepoids" to the Bible Society. 
 
142 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 with our own braiicli of the Church Catliohc' And 
 it has been thought poUtic, if not ingenuous, even 
 in otiicial documents, so to represent the missionary 
 Labours of other bodies, (defective in many respects 
 as we fully allow thein to be,) as if no success had 
 attended theu* steps, — as if the converts thus brought 
 to a confession of Christ were composed merely of 
 apostates from the Church of Rome, were of ill 
 characters, and swayed by mercenary motives. - 
 With this representation is contrasted, of course, a 
 specious exhibition of the missions of Rome ; an 
 ostentatious parade of numbers is made; and the 
 Divine sanction to that Church and system is 
 thence inferred. But neither will this argument 
 be allowed any more than the spirit by which it 
 is advanced and maintained. Numbers are no 
 test of truth ; numbers may be gained by error,^ 
 even more readily than by the severity of a sound 
 faith; and although expansiveness is one mark of 
 the true Church, yet permanency is a surer one. 
 Nor, whatever wisdom we may willingly recognise, 
 and desire to imitate, in the methods and manage- 
 
 ' A Tabic, which I regret I am not at liberty to make further 
 use of, has been drawn uj) from the; Reports of the Annales, 
 showing that the extension of missions of the Church of Rome, 
 for the last several years, has been remarkably and uniformly in 
 tlie direction of the English Colonies, and where the Church of 
 England exists. 
 
 - Annales, vol. iii. pp. (JO, Gl, with the note. Dr. AViseman's 
 Lect. VII. p. 221, note. 
 
 ^ Thus Archbishop Laud argued against Fisher, Conference, 
 p. 2.'>I. Oxford, is;!!). 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 143 
 
 ment adopted by the Chiu'cli of Rome, and in its 
 enterprise too ; — however we may sympathize, 
 wherever, within its own hmits, it has conveyed 
 the grace and hght of the Gospel to the savage 
 heart, tmiiing it from idols " to serve the living and 
 true God," — can we do else than repudiate them, 
 when we find these methods unjustifiable and pro- 
 fane, and subversive of the true idea and constitu- 
 tion of Christ's Church ; when we find the converts 
 lapsing into apostasy, or falling back into an idola- 
 trous or half-paganized Christianity ; — nor need we 
 be greatly moved by the taunt at the popular arts, 
 by which, in too many cases, the missionary cause 
 has been advocated and its funds recruited, even 
 within our own Chiu:ch, when we find their place 
 supplied, in the Roman system, by indulgences dis- 
 pensed and accurately proportioned to the prayers 
 and contributions of the subscribers.' 
 
 ' The following is a transcript of the indulgences granted by 
 various popes to the members of the Institution. They are 
 " applicable," it is stated, " to the souls in purgatory." 
 
 " I. A Plenary Indulgence on the festival of the Finding of the 
 Holy Cross ; the anniversary of the first establishment of the 
 institution at Lyons in the year 1822; on the festival of Saint 
 Francis Xavier, patron of the Institution ; and, once a month, on 
 any day, at the choice of each subscriber, provided he says every 
 day within the month the appointed prayers" ..." The indulgence 
 attached to the two festivals of the Finding of the Holy Cross and 
 of Saint Francis Xavier, may, upon the prescribed condition, be 
 gained, at the choice of each subscriber, either on the day of the 
 festival, or on any day within their octaves, or on the day to which 
 their celebration shall be attached by the bishop." 
 
 " 2. An Indulgence of a hundred days, each time that the pre- 
 scril)ed prayers, with at least a contrite heart, will be repeated, or 
 
144 MISSIONS SINCE [Lkct. 
 
 The object, then, before me, is merely this ; to 
 trace the broader lines along which the Faith has 
 been extended within the last three centuries by 
 missionaries of the Church of Rome ; in which the 
 statements of their own advocates will be gene- 
 rally followed, though it is absolutely necessary to 
 receive them with hesitation ; and then (what more 
 especially applies to the pm-pose I have in hand) to 
 comment on the methods and principles by which 
 those successes have been obtained. 
 
 I begin, then, with India : and it is an edifying 
 fact to observe, that not even the first intercourse 
 with that unexplored continent was attempted with- 
 out a thought for its conversion ; and that the 
 earliest baptisms were administered by the con- 
 fessor of Vasco di Gama.' For several years the 
 ground was occupied by Franciscans and Capuchins, 
 but no memorial of their success is transmitted. 
 And so it continued, till India was visited, in 1542, 
 by that valiant soldier of the Cross, Francis Xavier. 
 The injustice done to this apostolic missionary by 
 the fables with which his history is deformed,^ ren- 
 ders it difficult to appreciate his mode of action, or 
 
 a donation made to the 7nission.<i, or any other pious or charitable 
 work performed." 
 
 ' MiUar's Propagation of Cliristianity, vol. ii. p. .^oO. 
 
 ^ Among the many works which record his achievements is one 
 with the title of " Xavier Thanmaturgus," containing, it need 
 scarcely be said, a tissue of the most extravagant fables. On 
 the subject of the miracles attributed to him, see Appendix, 
 No. XXI. 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 145 
 
 the amount of his success : but the heroic faith 
 with which he threw himself among the idolatrous 
 tribes ; the quenchless love of souls with which he 
 was consumed ; the incalculable labours and endu- 
 rances which render his story almost a romance of 
 chivalry ; the entire spirit of self-sacrifice with 
 which he devoted himself to his one object ; his 
 zeal in preaching and tending the sick ; and, with 
 all this, the earnest piety and watchfulness over his 
 o\Yn heart which breathe in his letters, and the 
 wisdom with which he directed the missionary 
 efforts of his coadjutors ; offer all that we can 
 desire or conceive in the })ersonal character of a 
 servant of God charged with the commission to 
 preach among the heathen " repentance towards 
 God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ."^ 
 
 ^ In reading the letters of Fr. Xavier, and those of the later 
 Jesuit missionaries in the Lettres Edifiantes, &c. it is impossible 
 not to be struck with the great detei'ioration of tone and conduct 
 which appears in the later missionaries compared witli their great 
 leader. E. g. — Xavier ever openly professed himself an Euro- 
 pean ; — he strictly enjoined subjection to episcopal authority; 
 — he commanded the missionaries to abstain from worldly 
 occiipations ; — he makes no mention of the performance of 
 miracles ; — he is silent on the subject of his own great suf- 
 ferings. 
 
 Compai-e, on each of these points, the behaviour of the later 
 missionaries, which will be noticed in these Lectures : — their con- 
 cealment of their being Europeans, and the false behaviour thence 
 resulting; — their impatience of episcopal control; — their traflRc 
 and mercenary pursuits ; — the frequent accounts of miraculous 
 performance; — the enlargement on their own sufferings which 
 occurs in their writings; — and we shall at once see that a ncAV 
 system, not that of Xavier, had sprung up, which in the end 
 marred the vrork he so successfully began. 
 
 L 
 
146 MISSIONS SINCK [Lect. 
 
 Twice lie traversed the provinces of Soutlierii 
 India ; twice crossed the sea from Cape Coniorin 
 to China, and even to Japan ; thirty kingdoms 
 became subject to the faitli ; — in the space of eleven 
 years he passed over three times the circuit of the 
 globe, till his name acted as a spell on the minds 
 of men throughout the Indian Seas. His own 
 accounts present us with notices of the marvellous 
 conversions which he effected. In one month he 
 baptized, according to his own statement, ten 
 thousand idolaters ;' the whole kingdom of Tra- 
 vancore was gained over to the faith ;- Ceylon, we 
 are told, end)raced Christianity f other islands fol- 
 lowed in the train ; and the converts in Japan, 
 within a century, are estimated variously between 
 one and two millions.^ It may be, that these 
 statements are somewhat exaggerated ; still, at ;uiy 
 rate, a sensible impression was made on the hea- 
 thenism of Eastern Asia. But now, turning our 
 eyes from the past to the present, and sm'v eying 
 the actual condition of districts where once many 
 churches were nund)crcd, we are forced to conclude 
 that there must liavc been some grievous defect in 
 the methods employed for the conversion of the 
 natives, or at least for the perpetuity of the faith 
 
 ' Lettres de Fr. Xavicr, vol. i. Lettre XLV. Edit, lirussols, 
 1838. In Letter XIV. j). 196, he writes, " souvent j'ai l)iiptise 
 en un seul jour, des bourt;;ades entiercs." 
 
 ^ Life by Father Bouhours, translated by l^rydcn, pp. Ill, 115. 
 
 ^ Annales de la Foi, vol.iii.p. 53. 
 
 * Annales, vol. iii. ]\ 50, — " I!nviroii deux millions." 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 147 
 
 among them. On Xavier's death, the missions 
 seem to have languished ; till, sixty years later, one 
 of the same fraternity set himself to re-establish 
 them. By this time the tendencies of the prin- 
 ciples adopted by the Jesuits began to work them- 
 selves out, and a system of accommodation, and of 
 unscrupulous expedients, was employed by Robert 
 a Nobili,' which ended in those disgraceful contests 
 which exhibited Order in bitter conflict with Order, 
 Pope opposed to Pope, and the Jesuits in turn set 
 against the decrees of the Sovereign Pontiff", and 
 against episcopal authority, to the scandal and 
 injmy of the Christian faith. From the time of 
 the bull of Benedict XIV. (1744), the missions 
 declined r whatever number of converts w^ere 
 reckoned at that period, they at once decreased; 
 and we have the unquestionable authority of a 
 Roman Catholic missionary for stating that, in the 
 space of about seventy years from this event, they 
 were reduced to one-third of the previous number, 
 in the extensive districts of the Marawa, Madura, 
 the Carnatic, and Mysore.^ 
 
 The names of Xavier and Japan demand next a 
 
 ^ This missionary, called also Robert de Nobilibus, was related 
 to Pope Marcellus II. and nepliew to Cardinal Bellarmine. — See 
 Letti'es Edifiantes, vol. x. p. 72. 
 
 ^ The bull " Omnium Solicitudinem." See Letters on tlie State 
 o Christianity in India, by the Abbe Dubois, p. 11. As I shall 
 have to cite this author on several occasions, I would refer to 
 the Preface for the reasons Avhy bis authority cannot fairly be 
 questioned even l)y Roman Catholics. 
 
 ^ Dubois, p. 7. 
 
 l2 
 
148 MISSIONS SINCE [Lf.ct. 
 
 mention of the eventful tale of the Christianity of 
 that kingdom, coinciding as it does with the general 
 outhne which the course of the Roman missions 
 exhibits. If w^e follow the account of Xavier's 
 labours, and those of his immediate successors, the 
 conversions effected throughout the provinces of 
 this island were almost miraculous. How they 
 were effected I do not at present inquire. IMany 
 circumstances there were of a secondary and tem- 
 poral character Avhich gained the favour of the 
 kings, and aided the efforts of the missionaries.' 
 Yet certainly these, too, evhiced a patient and 
 courageous zeal, which won the blessing of God, and 
 
 ' Mosheim states these to be ; 1st. The teachinp: of bountiful- 
 ness to the poor, which contrasted strong;ly with the severity and 
 cruelty of the Bonzes. 2d. The iireat simihxrity between the 
 Itomish rites and those prevaiUng among the Japanese, od. The 
 interest of the several maritime princes who wished to draw to 
 themselves the commerce of the Portuguese. Vol. ii. p. 2(54, 
 London, 1838. Similar reasons are adduced by Arnoldus Mon- 
 tanus, in the Atlas Japanensis, pp. 219 — 252. The corresponding 
 religious practices, as stated by these two writers, consist in — the 
 existence of a sovereign Pontifl", called the Dayro ; the system of 
 penances; saying prayers by beads; the worship of departed 
 saints ; processions ; prayers for the dead ; auricular confession ; 
 nu'nerous monasteries ; and consequently the observance of 
 celibacy. However this analogy (which is discoverable in Thibet 
 and Siam, as well as Japan) is to be accounted for, I will only 
 add, that the solution oflered by Dr. Wiseman, in his eleventh 
 Lecture on Science and Revealed Religion, in which he su])poses 
 these Eastern religious ])ractices to be an imitation of the Roman 
 (Catholic worship, w ill not at all meet the case ; for many of them 
 arc much more ancient than the intercourse between the Church 
 of Rome and the East. Riihlcn, in his work, Das alte lndien» 
 notices many of the same resemblances; and the subject will be 
 again referred to in Lect. VII L 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 149 
 
 secured a large portion of the result of their labours. 
 The triumph, however, was but short : within a 
 century the number of converts who received the 
 Gospel rose to above a million ; a persecution was 
 commenced in 1613, as cruel perhaps as was ever 
 stirred by the powder of evil against the Church of 
 Christ; — -thousands of Christians met, with unwaver- 
 ing constancy, the fire of martyrdom ; — but with its 
 flames the light of the Christian faith expired, and 
 pagan darkness has continued since to brood more 
 deeply over the land. 
 
 The dying wish of the great a})ostle of the Indies 
 was to set his foot within the spell-encircled limits 
 of the Chinese empire. He saw it only, and expired. 
 But his vow did not pass away and perish ; it Avas 
 caught, as a descending mantle, by others of a 
 kindred spirit. Aljout twenty years after his death,* 
 Matthew Rogier arrived in China, and was soon 
 followed by his coadjutor Ricci — men of energy, 
 wxll-versed in literature, science, and the practical 
 arts, and devoted to the one object of evangelizing 
 that vast empire. From this period, the end of the 
 sixteenth century, the Church spread itself wonder- 
 fully, and with but few reverses, throughout the 
 Chinese provinces, up to the beginning of the eight- 
 eenth century ; numbering imperial converts among 
 the faithful, so that the Gospel was " manifest in all 
 
 ^ 1579. A sketch of tliese events may befoundinMosheiin, and 
 GutzIafF's Plistory of China, chap, xix., and are iUustrated in the 
 Lettres Edif. vols. xvi. — xxiv. 
 
150 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 tlic palace, and in all otlier places." Their skill in 
 mathematics, their diplomatic address, and nnwearied 
 industry, recommended the Jesuit missionaries to 
 the highest and most influential stations in the 
 empire ; the education of the heir to that vast 
 dominion was entrusted to them ; the mission was 
 encouraged by the French monarch ; and the coun- 
 tenance given to the Christian Faith at the close of 
 the seventeenth century,' seemed to throw open the 
 door wide for gathering that imposing empire within 
 the fold of Christ. But at this point, as in the 
 countries already named, when the swelling tide 
 seemed ready to overflow the land, a check and reverse 
 came ; — the corrupt practices of the Jesuits excited 
 the opposition of the Franciscans and Dominicans ; 
 — the disputes and animosities between the Orders 
 roused the suspicion of the Chinese rulers ; — per- 
 secution commenced ;' — the missions thenceforth 
 declined, and for the last century have been feebly 
 maintained. It is certain, however, that a remnant 
 still exists in the empire, though chiefly of the 
 lowest class. ^ Missionaries from among the Laza- 
 rists,"* and agents of the Propaganda, occupy the 
 field, scattered about under an interdict, and fre- 
 
 1 The emperor Kang-lie was educated by Sch.aal; and in 1G92 
 issued an edict in favour of the missionaries, lei|;alizing the preach- 
 ing of the Christian faith in his empire. Preface to voL xvi. 
 Lcttres Edifiantes, p. xiii. 
 
 2 1736. 
 
 ^ Macartney's Mission to China, h\ Sir G. Stauntcni, vol.ii. p. 159. 
 Medhurst's China, p. 243. 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 151 
 
 quently meeting their flocks by stealth. Converts, 
 estimated at the number of 200,000, are said still 
 to remain, though this is but one-fifth of the number 
 which the Jesuits, on their expulsion, bequeathed to 
 their successors.' 
 
 The neighbouring kingdoms of Tonkin and 
 Cochin-China form probably the most interesting 
 of all the missions of Rome. These and the con- 
 tiguous country of Siam are distributed into five 
 Vicariates, and contain, according to late reports, 
 above 400,000 Christians.^ Again, I omit for the 
 present the methods by which these numbers are 
 swelled, but which correspond with the system 
 which has generally been adopted. It is impossible 
 to read, unmoved, the statements transmitted by 
 the missionaries from this district, in which, of late 
 years, both the fmy of the first pagan persecutions 
 under Nero or Diocletian seems to have revived, and 
 a similar constancy with that of the earliest Chris- 
 tians, to have been evinced by some of the European 
 priests, and even by native converts, — men who 
 " have not counted their lives dear unto them," but 
 in dungeons, or by the more merciful sword, have 
 won the crown of martyrdom. 
 
 But we turn now to the West ; for both worlds 
 opened at the same period before the enterprize of 
 Europe, and specially of the two maritime powers, 
 
 ^ Annales de la Foi, vol. ii. p. 245. 
 
 ^ Etat general des Missions, vol. xii. Annales, 
 
152 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 Spain and Portugal. The tale of the invasion and 
 subjugation of Central and Southern America is 
 written in blood. Yet into these districts, among 
 the uncivilized aborigines, the Church of Rome 
 sent forth its emissaries : — and althouu-h their 
 operations differed widely in character from those 
 pursued in the East, yet the course of the missions 
 in both hemispheres tallies as regards their rapid 
 success and as rapid declension. For above a cen- 
 tury and a half the Reductions of Paraguay formed 
 a spiritual republic in the heart of the Spanish and 
 Portuguese dominions. A hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand Indians were reclaimed from their wandcrim? 
 life,' grouped into families, instructed and provided 
 for in common as children of a household. Look- 
 ing solely at the methods used for their conversion, 
 we cannot but admire the skill and wisdom by 
 which the natives were won over and humanized ; 
 and we may find, in their general outline, a com- 
 plete exhibition of those means by which savage 
 tribes may at the first be civilized, and brought 
 under the influence of Christianity.^ We must, in 
 common Christian sympathy, recognise in these 
 labours, a noble attempt to rescue the natives 
 from the corrupting and exterminating influence of 
 European avarice and civilization : — but two faults 
 beset them. First, it was not the Church that 
 was planted among the natives of Paraguay, but a 
 
 ' Prichard's Researches, vol. ii. p. 181, note. 
 ^ See Appendix, No. XXII. 
 
v.] THE REFORMxVTION. 153 
 
 principality of Jesuits : " episcopal superintendence 
 was carefully avoided ; - and therefore we cannot 
 but view these families of converts as destitute, in 
 a measure, of the divine rule of the Catholic 
 Church, and in that degree socially weakened. 
 And, secondly, the Christianity that was embraced 
 consisted chiefly of an external adherence to a 
 system of forms, and deeply superstitious worship :^ 
 the Indians were treated as children, and the 
 treatment was defended on the ground of their 
 being but in a state of pupilage; and therefore 
 when the rule of the Jesuits was removed,^ the 
 system that had been established at once fell. 
 
 The Jesuits had laboured for a century and a 
 half; and yet, at the close, the natives had acquired. 
 
 ' They separated themselves from national authority ; — thus, 
 they told the natives of Parana and Uraguai, "que le Roi d'Espagne 
 n'avoit point de pouvoir siir eux." Reciieil des Decrets Apostoliques 
 et des Ordonnances du Roi de Portugal, Avertissement, p. 14. 
 The contests between the Jesuits and the Crown of Portugal are 
 detailed in the Relation Abregee concernant la Republique que 
 les Religieux (nommes) Jesuites ont etabli dans les pays et 
 domains outre mer ; also in Principaux Abus que les Religieux 
 de la Compagnie de Jesus ont commis pour usurper les Etats de 
 TAmcrique Portuguaise et Espagnole, published by Joseph I. 
 King of Portugal, in 1757. 
 
 ^ Southey's History of Brazil, vol. ii. The Jesuits claimed to 
 be subject to their superior, and not to the bishop, who had his 
 seat at Assumption. Bernardin de Cardenas, a bishop, for at- 
 tempting to restrain the Jesuits, was driven by them from his 
 episcopal town in 1644. The same occurred in 1646. — Recueil 
 des Decrets, &c. 14. 
 
 ^ In proof of this it is sufficient to refer to the Lettres Edif. 
 &c. vol. ix. on Paraguay. 
 
 * 1757. 
 
154 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 under their special instruction, so little strength of 
 character, so little of the principles of social life, 
 that they were unable to maintain their existence. 
 Like the original tribes of North and Central 
 America, whole races wasted away : and their past 
 history is like some by-gone vision, the disappear- 
 ance of which proves that it was baseless. And 
 what has followed ? We may learn from the present 
 state of Mexico, that if Christianity can be said to 
 have overspread the once flonrishing colonies of Spain 
 and Portugal, yet it was such as gave but " a name 
 to live," and bequeathed but a doubtful benefit.' 
 " A change of name," says a traveller, " a change 
 of form and garb of the idols, new symbols, altered 
 ceremonials, another race of priests, has been effected 
 for the Indians. . . . The whole system of the 
 aboriginal religious hierarchy bears a singular resem- 
 blance to that which took its place under the 
 domination of Spain. . . . They retain their super- 
 stitions, talismans, and charms ; . . . but as to any 
 change of heart and purpose, a knowledge of the 
 true God as a Spirit, who is to be worshipped in 
 spirit and in truth, a sense of their degrtidcd and 
 fallen state as men, and an acquaintance with the 
 truths of the Gospel, its application to their iiidivi- 
 
 ' Reign of de Francia in Paraguay, from 1819 to 1825, by J. R. 
 Rengger. After speaking of the system of the Jesuits, he adds, 
 " the descendants of these Neophytes have scarcely any advan- 
 tage over the savage Indians ; and yet, surely, one hundred and 
 fifty years of instruction ought to have left some traces behind 
 it."— P. 5,5. 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 155 
 
 dual state, and its influence on their lives and cha- 
 racters, they are as blind and ignorant as their 
 forefathers.' 
 
 We have to trace likewise a similar effort directed 
 towards the hitherto inaccessible regions of Africa ; 
 an effort conducted in the same way, meeting with 
 the same success, and the same discomfiture. The 
 conquests of the Portuguese on the Western coast 
 opened the course of the Congo to Christian enter- 
 prize ; and hither, in the seventeenth century, the 
 see of Rome sent missionaries of the strictest reli- 
 gious order, the Capuchins,^ to bring the dark 
 tribes which inhabit that kingdom to the faith. The 
 kings of powerful states, and with them their sub- 
 jects, were led to profess the Gospel. Zingha, a 
 queen of vast influence, and of a cruel and intrepid 
 character, was baptized; but it becomes a mere 
 mockery of the solemn work of conversion to God, 
 to regard the reception of the idolatrous natives 
 into the Church, as more than an unmeaning and 
 profane ceremony.^ And though for two hundred 
 years these efforts were continued, yet, since then, 
 the spirit that set them in action has died away, 
 and the name of these Western tribes, as well as 
 
 * Latrobe's Mexico, p. 166. 
 
 ^ Fifteen Capuchins were sent by Alexander VII. in 1666, and 
 otliers by Innocent XI. in 1682. See Pinkerton's Voyages, 
 Africa. 
 
 * Murray's Discoveries in Africa, pp. 80, 81. See Appendix, 
 No. XXIII. 
 
15G MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 that of Sierra Leouc, is expunged IVoiii the hst of 
 the missions of Home.' 
 
 It would be only to repeat a similar tale, were 
 I to recount the labours of the same unwearied 
 propagators of the faith, to bring the ancient 
 Church of Abyssinia into subjection to the Roman 
 see. YoT nearly a century the Jesuits directed 
 their versatile powers against its mild and pastoral 
 inhabitants ; but the spirit of those who recollected 
 that the conversion of their forefathers had been 
 the care of the great Athanasius, rose against the 
 schismatical intrusion ; they were content to endure, 
 even unto death, the persecution which was stirred, 
 through the influence of these stranger missionaries, 
 against them ; until, by the middle of the seven- 
 teenth century," the name of the Jesuits, and the 
 authority of the Roman see, were finally banished 
 from the precincts of this primitive, though fallen 
 Church. 
 
 Such is a sketch of the more marked efforts to 
 extend the faith, which have issued from the 
 Church of Rome, since the period when universal 
 Europe was roused to new deeds of enterprizc and 
 social advancement. And, of late years, a fresh, 
 
 ^ An establishment, under the bishop of Ani;-ola, exists in tlic 
 Portuguese possessions on the coasts ; but all attempts upon the 
 native tribes in the interior seem to have ceased. See Annalcs, 
 vol. xii. p. ;M(). 
 
 ^ IG.'J'i. The account of this violent attempt of the Jesuits, 
 and their faihire, is given in Geddes's History of the Church of 
 Ethiopia, and in Millar's Propagation of the Gospel, vol. ii. 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 157 
 
 but far more questionable zeal, — for it is charac- 
 terised by a spirit of rivalry, — has evhiced itself; 
 and Rome is making revived efforts to extend its 
 spiritual SAvay. While it had kings and princes for 
 its niu-siug fathers, it was content to follow in the 
 train of colonization, to laud and excite the zeal of 
 governments in the })ropagation of the faith ; but 
 its later conduct is marked by a disregard and a 
 contempt of this obligation of the state towards its 
 colonies ; it claims an universal sovereignty ; and 
 uow, wherever the English arms have opened a 
 way, or the English Church has extended its fos- 
 tering care, there Home rears a rival altar, and 
 numbers itself with the sects. Thus, in Austra- 
 lia,' and more recently in New Zealand, — within a 
 few months in Tasmania, — even already, as is said, 
 in the recently-acquired territory of China, — the 
 standard of the Roman see has been raised, its 
 authority is inculcated, with its attendant corrup- 
 tions, to the destruction of the unity of the 
 Church. To judge from the accounts, however, 
 that have been received, the numbers of its native 
 converts in the countries alluded to are but small -^ 
 nor is there ground for anticipating much success 
 to its labours, when it is found in opposition to 
 
 ' See Appendix, No. XXIV. for tlie jiiyt and manly protest of 
 tlie prelate of this diocese against the intrusion, into his see, of an 
 archbishop appointed by the pope. The step he has taken is one in- 
 volving a most important principle, which he has promptly asserted. 
 
 2 The bishop of New Zealand, in a letter, dated July 29, 1842, 
 remarks of Koi-arika, the head quarters of the French bishop 
 (Pompallier), " I have been unable to ascertain the slightest 
 
158 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 tlic rightful niul divine authority of a national 
 episcopate. 
 
 It Avould be impossible, in the body of a dis- 
 course, to enter more minutely into the details of 
 the various missions thus generally sketched ; nor 
 into a statistical account of those now existing in 
 China, India, and the South Pacific Isles, the chief 
 scenes of the present labours of Rome in the exten- 
 sion of the Gospel. The review of them, even as 
 thus exhibited, opens a Avide field of solemn and 
 interesting reflection. It suggests, at the very 
 outset, a thought that Avill strike every observer. 
 We see, together with the awakening spirit of 
 Europe, missionary enterprize throwing itself into 
 the different quarters of the globe ; following in 
 the track of armies, sharing in the hazards of dis- 
 covery, and keeping pace with the eagerness of 
 commercial activity. We find men gifted A\itli 
 every power that can conciliate or sway mankind, 
 going, as on a crusade, against newly-discovered 
 Paganism, supported by monarchs, armed with an 
 intense spiritual power ; and it would seem as if 
 the sceptre of Satan was at once about to fall 
 before the Cross and the Spirit of Christ. The 
 sickle was thrust boldly into the whitening harvest, 
 and a large return seemed at first to reward the 
 labourer's toil. But almost universally, just when 
 
 foiiiulation for the bishop's statement of many thousand converls 
 \\ii\\\\'^ joined liini. J lis converts, as i'ar as 1 can learn, are not 
 uumerous." 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 159 
 
 success was reaching the full realization of hope, it 
 was checked, and reverse began ; the swelling 
 waters abated, and flowed within narrower chan- 
 nels; and the conviction is forced upon the mind 
 that permanency does not belong to the means 
 then adopted for propagating the faith ; that there 
 was latent in them the seed of decay, which re- 
 quired only time, and a trial sufficiently prolonged, 
 for its development.^ 
 
 Successive progress and decline has been the 
 confessed condition of the Roman missions ;" and 
 the point for our further consideration is, to what 
 causes may that success and decline be referred? 
 We should be led to expect that there must have 
 been in the methods employed an admixture of 
 truth and error, of what is earthly with what is 
 divine ; and probably that the means of immediate 
 success were the cause of subsequent failure. If 
 in any degree we can ascertain these causes, they 
 will at least present us with lessons of no common 
 interest and value. 
 
 And now, it seems on reflection, that as far as 
 secondary means are concerned, we may, in a large 
 
 ^ In addition to tlie instances mentioned, it may be observed, 
 tliat the island of Movo, in the Indian Archipelago, was num- 
 bered among the triumphs ofFr. Xavier; Thomas a Jesu, p. 109; 
 also, life of Xavier, translated by Dryden, p. 177; but of this 
 island it is stated in the Annales de la Foi, " la trace (de I'evan- 
 gile) en est entierement effacee." — Vol. i. p. 18. 
 
 ^ Thus, at least, it is confessed, in India, " Telle est, en abrege, 
 I'esquisse de la naissance, des jwogres, et du declin de la Religion 
 Chretienne dans ITnde." — Annales, vol. iii. p. 58. 
 
IfiO MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 (Icgroo, trace the solution of the whole question 
 to the very constitution of the bodies by which 
 those labours were mainly conducted. The religious 
 fraternities, especially the company of Jesuits, w^ere 
 the great agents in these missionary enterprizes ; 
 and the only light in which we can view these 
 bodies, is that of voluntary associations. Though 
 sanctioned by pontifical authority, they were yet 
 independent in their operations, and became societies 
 within, and yet distinct from, the Church. They 
 imposed their own vows, exacted allegiance to fresh 
 authority, formed and wielded a distinct machinery 
 for engaging in special labours. It is well known 
 how complete and unquestioning a surrender is 
 made by the members of the society above-named 
 to the head of their order.' Hence naturally arose 
 the desire of aG;2;randizement for their own bodv f 
 hence the love of power : submission to the Church 
 and to its rules was lost sight of,'^ or subordinated 
 to the attainment of a particular design ; and with 
 
 ' Constitution. Jesuit. .31. " Supcriorem (quicunque ille sit) 
 loco Chvisti Domini nostri ajjnoscentes .... ol)ecliant." This is 
 enlarged on in the Kpistle of Ijiuutms Loyola to the order. See 
 Epistolic Generaluim ad Fratres Soc. Jesu. Antwerp, 163.5, Ep. !• 
 
 ^ See Tractatns de Missionibus, by Rovcnius, Archbishop of 
 Philippi, and Vicar Apostolic, p. 49, Paris, 162r). The evils of the 
 religious orders in missions, are pointed out with nuu'h calmness 
 and truth in this small treatise. The writer was assailed for it 
 by some of the orders; but was defended and vindicated by 
 Camillus Csesar, censor of publications at Rome. 
 
 ^ This was complained of in a letter to Po])e Innocent X. from 
 .John de Palafox, bishop of Angelopolis, in 1649, who remarks of 
 the Jesuits, " liCur gouvernemont ne sc conduit point par les 
 regies de I'Eglisc Calholique, mais suivant les maximcs d'une 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. IGl 
 
 the loss of tliis temper, flowed in the whole tide 
 of evil conduct and fatal result which followed. 
 Amazing zeal, and heroic devotion and energy, 
 were enlisted in the labours that were undertaken ; 
 but in the prosecution of them, maxims and expe- 
 dients most questionable and culpable were adopted, 
 fixed principles of moral obligation were evaded, a 
 pliancy and accommodation the most varied were 
 resorted to, and every means of human influence 
 was employed to ensure visible and present success. 
 And visible and present success followed ; but in the 
 main they were human devices and unauthorized 
 expedients that were used in obtaining it, and there- 
 fore, after a period of wonderful eflect, and romantic 
 achievement, failure and discomfiture ensued. 
 
 And this I have to trace out in the efforts that 
 were directed towards the conversion of the heathen 
 world. And the first thing to be noted, is the 
 principle of alluring the minds of the heathen by 
 an adaptation of the Gospel, and of the w^orship of 
 God, to pagan practices and prejudices. The least 
 olijectionable form of this is discerned in the large 
 nse of pictm-es, and images, and amulets, and even 
 the sale of consecrated corn by which the converts 
 were frequently attracted.' Tor the last religious 
 
 dii'ection cachee qui ne sont sue que des Superieurs." — Recueil des 
 Decrets Apostoliques, &c. vol. i. p. 258. 
 
 ' See Lettres de Fr. Xavier, Lettre LXXIV. vol. ii. p. 175, Edit. 
 Brussels, 1838; Lettres Edif". vol. xxii. p. 413, and Atlas Japa- 
 neusis, p. 247. 
 
 The following is a striking instance of the recrimination to 
 
 M 
 
162 MISSIONS SINCE • [Lect. 
 
 instinct tliat lingers in the human breast is that of 
 a superstitious trust in magical virtue, with which, 
 as in the Fetiches of Africa, the fears of the savage 
 will invest the commonest, and even the most 
 loathsome objects. To this feeling the Jesuit mis- 
 sionaries largely addressed themselves ; and we may 
 see at once the extreme danger that was thereby 
 incurred, of only supplanting one kind of idolatry 
 by another. How far this njsult followed will 
 be illustrated presently. But a much more vicious 
 form of this principle soon exhibited itself, — 
 one which we might have discredited, had it 
 not been established on evidence that cannot be 
 gainsaycd. It w^as that w^hicli was employed first 
 by Robert a Nobili, when he and his colleagues 
 represented themselves as European Brahmins, 
 adopted ' the manners, dress, and superstitious rites 
 of that caste, bore the cord of dignity, and the very 
 
 which Roman Catliolic missionaries are exposed in arguing with 
 idolaters. It is related by a missionary in the Annales de la Foi, 
 No. XIV. p. 285, English transl. " ' If there is but one God,' said 
 I, addressing one of them, who appeared better informed than the 
 others, ' what is the meaning of so many figui'es in stone, wood, 
 and clay, which are to be seen at every step on the roads .' ' 
 Instead of answering nie, lie xltowed me a crucijix that was on the 
 table, and asked me \\ hat was the signification of that image . . 
 I contented myself with tolling him, that the crucifix was only a 
 sign which reminded ns of what our Lord suffered for us. ' AVith 
 us,' said he, ' all those figures of stone and clay are only signs.' " 
 — " The answer," adds the missionary, " was subtle, but not 
 grounded in fact." 
 
 ' For the whole account of these practices, see Norbert, 
 Memoires Ilistoriques, vol. i. p. 13, &c. See also Lcttres Kdif. 
 vol. X. pp. I(i, G2; and Annales, vol. iii. p. 51. 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 103 
 
 mark of idolatry on their forehead,' and pro- 
 claimed themselves to the Hindoos as having ema- 
 nated from their deity. Hence followed the forgery 
 of a deed purporting to authenticate their story ;- 
 and at a later period that of a Veda, which was 
 exhibited as the Christian's Veda, to be classed with 
 the sacred books of the Hindoos.^ It is altogether 
 shocking to think of the deceptions that were thus 
 unscrupulously practised; as when Lainez pro- 
 claimed a false decree of the pope to sanction the 
 well-known rites of Malabar, which had been con- 
 demned.* Parallel and contemporaneous with these 
 acts, were the controversies respecting the adoption 
 of the practices and language of the Chinese idola- 
 tries.^ The worship of ancestors and the appro- 
 priation of a term to the Deity which is constantly 
 
 1 Dubois, pp. 5, 6. 
 
 ^ Mosheim, vol. ii. p. 2.54, London, 1838, note, wbo quotes 
 Jouvenci, Histoire des Jesuites ; and Norbert, Mem. Hist, sur les 
 Missions des Malab. torn. ii. p. 145. 
 
 ' A Dissertation by Mr. Ellis on tbis fraud is contained in tbe 
 Asiatic Researcbes, vol. xiv. See Appendix, No. XXV. 
 
 * Norbert, vol. i. p. 213. Cardinal de Journon bad, in 1704, 
 issued decrees condemnatory of tbe Malabar rites, Avbicb decrees 
 were confirmed by Pope Clement XI. in 1711. Lainez, Bishop of 
 St. Thome, who arrived in India at this latter date, backed by a 
 Jesuit priest named Bouchet, solemnly declared that the Pope 
 bad, by word, sanctioned the practice of the condemned cere- 
 monies. Clement afterwards issued a bi'ief, exposing tbe false- 
 hood of this statement, which brief is given in Norbert, vol. i. 
 p. 238. 
 
 5 The Constitutions of Clement XI. in 1715, "Ex ilia die," and 
 of Benedict XIV. in 1742, " Ex quo singular!," on the subject of 
 these rites, are recited in Norbert, Part iii. pp. 37 — 45. See Ap- 
 pendix, No. XXVI. 
 
 M 2 
 
]G4 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 represented as conveying to the Chinese mind 
 merely the idea of a material first cause, were freely 
 allowed and defended ; and, in justification, it was 
 maintained that the same acts, though idolatrous 
 in idolaters, ceased to be so in Christians :' and 
 thus, by a sophistical refinement, which involved a 
 practical falsehood, the outward religious act Avas 
 disjoined from the inward, and a mere intention of 
 the mind was substituted, in the worship of God, 
 for the homage both of " body and spirit which 
 are His." 
 
 Hence arose, as a part of the same system, a 
 mode of acting, effective })erhaps at the moment, 
 but fatal in the end. By the assumption of Brah- 
 minical caste, the missionaries were led to despise 
 the lower castes ; they refused to eat in the houses 
 of Pariahs, or to administer to them the last rites 
 of the Church of Rome, and forbad their communi- 
 cating at the same altar with converts of a higher 
 grade. ^ The sacrament of Baptism, as we should 
 expect, was profaned, by imparting it to the hea- 
 then with no sufficient conversion in heart, or even 
 
 ' Norbort, vol. i. p. -109. The principle maintained by the 
 Jesuits was — " On pent permettre quelcpie cliose de superstitieux, 
 afin de parvenir a quelque bonne fin, pourvu que I'intention de 
 cehii qui opere ne soit pas de faireun acte superstitieux." " Sous 
 ce faux pretexte," adds the writer, " ces Peres out toujours pre- 
 tendu que les rits Chinois etoient innocens, quoiqvi'ils soient 
 evidemment faux et superstitieux." 
 
 ^ Nnrl)ert, vol. i. pp. 8, 9. So far from caste Ijcinrr opjxjsed, it 
 was viewed as coincident with the institution of the tribes of 
 Israel. Lettres Edif. vol. xi. p. 11). 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 165 
 
 in creed.* Himdreds in a day, whole villages at 
 a time, received that holy rite, not in India 
 alone, but in Africa : and even a Pontifical decree 
 was needed to check the administration of holy 
 Baptism to candidates who professed a Chris- 
 tianity still tainted with Paganism.^ Past events, 
 I am aware, are chiefly alluded to here; — still, 
 though a more careful method seems generally 
 adopted in heathen lands, there is enough even now 
 to make any one distrust the character of such 
 conversions as are said to be effected.^ Oflicial 
 statements refer, ^\dth seeming satisfaction, to bap- 
 tism being clandestinely administered to Pagan chil- 
 dren ;* and we are led to ask. Can the impartation 
 
 ' In proof of this assertion, see the striking evidence borne in 
 passages from Joseph Acosta (a Roman Catholic missionary) in 
 Appendix, No. XXVII. For general confirmatory instances of what 
 is mentioned in the next sentence, see Lettres de Fr. Xa\aer, xiv. 
 p. 196 ; Lettres Edif vol xi. p. 93 ; Annales de la Foi, vol. xii. 
 pp. 154, 155; Lettres Edif. vol. xvii. p. 1G6, vvhei-e no provision 
 seems made for the education of the exposed children baptized in 
 multitudes. Some children were seized by force, and baptized at 
 Goa, by order of the viceroy. Lettres Edif. vol. x. p. 70. The 
 practice in Africa has been referred to in jj. 155, note 3. 
 
 2 By Alexander VII. Norbert, vol. i. p. 566. 
 
 ^ No notice is here taken of the barbarous conduct pursued, for 
 the conversion of the Mahometans and other natives on the 
 Malabar coast, by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. Mr. 
 Forster justly calls it " a deteriorated revival of the holy wars." 
 I omit, too, the mention of the Inquisition of Goa ; but surely 
 the recollection of these things might have prevented many an 
 idle taunt against Protestant converts as " rice Christians." See 
 Mahomedanism Unveiled, vol. ii. pp. 240, 241 : the Roman Ca- 
 tholic testimony of D. Garcias de Silva Figueroa, is quoted in the 
 notes to the volume. 
 
 * Annales, vol xii. p. 165. 
 
IGG MISSIONS SINCE [Lect, 
 
 of siicli a gift be justifiable, when no provision 
 is made for cherishing it, and keeping it ahve ? 
 Parents are even bribed to allow their offspring to 
 receive the awful privilege of being joined to Christ's 
 Boclyj^ which has been conferred in some years on 
 forty thousand children. And other accounts })re- 
 sent us with the fact of adults receiving in sickness 
 the same gift, on the first manifestation of an 
 awakened mind ) the doubtfid character of which, 
 as indicating a conversion of heart, is well known 
 to all conversant with the cure of souls." Even 
 now, the Christianity resulting from such a system 
 as this w^ars all the guise of Paganism. For, hear 
 a missionary of the Roman Chm-cli thus speak of 
 India : — " The Hindoo pageantry is chiefly seen 
 in the festivals celebrated by the native Christians. 
 These processions in the streets, always performed 
 at night-time, have indeed been to me, at all times, 
 a subject of shame. Accompanied with hundreds 
 of trumpets, and all the discordant noisy music of 
 the country, with numberless torches and fireworks, 
 the statue of the saint })laced on a car which is 
 charged with garlands and flowers, and other gaudy 
 ornaments, the car slowly dragged by a multitude, 
 
 ' Annalcs, vol. i. No. II. p. 71. 
 
 2 Annalcs, vol. x. pp. 17!>, 180 ; vol i. No. VI. p. 79. Compare 
 vol. ii. p. 176, and for tlie superstitious state of mind still linger- 
 ing in one already baptized, vol. x. p. 170. In this latter case, a 
 ■woman iiKjuired ^vhether she ought to carry her child on her 
 shoulders, since her hack had been tapu-cd in baptism : this, says 
 the missionary, is " une preuve que la religion n'est pas senle- 
 mcnt a la surface, mais qu'cUc a penetre jusqu'au fond des ca-urs !" 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. " 1G7 
 
 shouting all along the march, the congregation sur- 
 rounding it all in confusion, several of them dancing 
 or playing with small sticks, or with naked swords ; 
 all shouting or conversing with one another, with- 
 out any one exhibiting the least sign of respect or 
 devotion : such is the mode in which Hindoo 
 Christians in the inland country celebrate their 
 festivals."^ 
 
 With such statements as these before us, sadden- 
 ing as they are even to refer to, we cannot wonder 
 if many are attracted to a worship so little differing 
 fi'om their own : and, beyond a doubt, a consider- 
 able portion of the success which has been obtained 
 is to be referred to those methods, Avhich must 
 shock every one who contrasts such mere pageantry 
 with the adoration of Him, who is a Spirit, and is 
 to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. We cannot 
 expect such expedients as these to prevail in the 
 end; they can neither lead the heathen to a genuine 
 reception of the faith, nor secure them in the main- 
 tenance of it whenever the season of trial comes. 
 
 And in illustrating both these points, I would 
 content myself with referring to the authorities 
 akeacly cited. " Can any one be surprised," says a 
 Capuchin missionary, in the middle of the eight- 
 eenth century, " if Christians of this description, 
 and formed according to a spirit so far removed 
 from the precepts of the Gospel, should show so 
 
 ' Dubois, pp. 69, 70. 
 
168 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 little attachment to tlu; faith, or firmness in adher- 
 ing to it ; if the attraction of base interest, if the 
 fear of the slightest persecution, should have suffi- 
 cient power over these mercenary and half-pagan 
 souls, to induce them to return to idolatry?"* Nor 
 is the assertion of the Abbo Dubois, durini^ this 
 century, less sorrowfnl. " It would be some con- 
 solation," he says, " if at least a due proportion of 
 them" (viz. the neophytes) " were real and un- 
 feigned Christians. But, alas ! this is very far 
 from being the case; the by far greater number 
 exhibit nothing but a vain })hantom, an empty 
 shade of Christianity. In fact, during a period of 
 twenty-five years that I have familiarly conversed 
 with them, lived among them as their spiritual 
 teacher and spiritual guide, I would hardly dare to 
 affirm that I have met anywhere a sincere Christian."^ 
 Again he adds : " Among them are to be found 
 some who believed themselves possessed, and who 
 turned Christians, after being assured that, on 
 receiving baptism, the imclcan spirit would leave 
 them, and never return ;'' and I will declare it with 
 shame and confusion, that I do not remember any 
 one who may be said to have received Christianity 
 from conviction, and through (|uite disinterested 
 motives."^ After such evidence as this, wc cannot 
 
 • Norbcrt, vol. i p. 53. ' P. G3. 
 
 •'' Instances of what is here mentioned by M. Dubois abound in 
 the Lettres EdiC, and arc recordctl witii lull salisfarticni. 
 
 * P. l.'M. 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 1G9 
 
 doubt til at of Bishop Middletoii, on the same 
 subject, who writes: "As to such converts as 
 are made by the Church of Rome, I question 
 whether they might not as well retain the name, 
 with the ignorance, of Pagans ; ' or of Bishop 
 Heber, who found them as ignorant of the 
 commonest truths of Christianity as the Hindoos ; 
 and wdiose remark is thus fully verified, that 
 " they belong to a lower caste, and, in point of 
 knowledge and morality, are said to be extremely 
 inferior."^ 
 
 And, further, as to the other point, the stability 
 and constancy of such conversions ; — evidence is 
 supplied on this head, by the melancholy defections 
 that have frequently characterised the missions of 
 the Roman Chm*ch. Though it has been urged in 
 their behalf, that the converts have peculiarly mani- 
 fested an independence of secular support and en- 
 couragement, and a primitive constancy under the 
 severest trials, yet facts do not seem to substantiate 
 either part of this assertion. It is observable that 
 the striking success and failure that marked these 
 missions synchronized with the ascendency and 
 decline of the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, the 
 two great colonizing powers in the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries, and the liberal and earnest 
 supporters of the Roman see. Again, the transfer 
 
 1 Life by Lc Bas, vol. i. p. 222. 
 
 - Journal, vol. iii. p. 460. See Dubois, p. 101. 
 
170 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 of Cevlon to the Dutch in 1055' was attended 
 by a general defection of the Roman converts; 
 and though it is not intended to assert either 
 the wisdom or the piety of the measures which the 
 government adopted towards that country in regard 
 to rehgion, yet the fact shows, at least, the insta- 
 bility of the previous conversion of the natives. 
 Or, take the melancholy tales, established by the 
 undoubted testimony of missionaries of the Chiu"ch 
 of Rome, of the apostasies that have unchristianized 
 whole districts during the terrors of persecution. In 
 170P the indiscreet zeal of the Jesuit missionaries 
 in the destruction of idols had drawn down upon 
 the Christians throughout Tanjore the revenge of 
 the native powers. The converts were condemned 
 to the prisons, where, throughout the whole circuit 
 of the province, scarcely one endured to bear the 
 Cross, but multitudes denied the sacred Name into 
 which they had been baptized. Again, at a later 
 period, (1784,)"'' the tyrant of Mysore resolved to 
 enforce the creed of the false Prophet throughout 
 his dominions, and directed his first assaults against 
 the hated Christians. Sixty thousand were seized, 
 and ordered to su])uiit to the rite of circumcision; 
 and of that vast multitude not one "had the courage 
 to confess his faith, and become a martyr to his 
 
 ' At this period, Roman Catholic authority informs us, tliat 
 scarcely a trace of Paganism remained in the island. Annales, 
 vol. iii. p. ."jS. 
 
 ■^ Norl>ert, vol. i. p. 71, &c. 
 
 ^ Dubois, p. 74. 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 171 
 
 religion." " So general a defection," writes the 
 missionary of the Roman Church, " so dastardly an 
 apostasy, is 1 believe unexampled in the annals of 
 Christianity." 
 
 It would be unfeeling and unwarrantable to make 
 light of trials so severe as these ; yet such defections 
 do at least show that there must have been a want 
 of depth and constancy in the faith of Christians, 
 who so universally failed in the hour of fiery trial, 
 and this, too, not in the very infancy of the propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel, but after the lapse of two 
 centuries from its introduction into the country. 
 Yet truth requires that they should be brought 
 forward, in order to illustrate the fact, that the 
 methods whereby the great, the astonishing successes 
 of the Jesuit missions were gained, could not secure 
 permanency. The subsequent reverses showed how 
 large a portion of the harvest was but as " chaff 
 which the wind scatteretli away from the face of the 
 earth," and that in a great measure both the success 
 and the failure are to be attributed to the same 
 causes, the same vicious principles of conduct. 
 
 For, from the faulty methods adopted in gaining 
 converts, arose the scandalous quarrels which threw, 
 not the East alone, but Em^ope into excitement, 
 and raised a storm of crimination and apology, the 
 sounds of which have scarcely yet died away. Three 
 papal decrees' were insufficient wholly to suppress 
 
 ' By Innocent X. in 1G45, confirming the decree of the Con- 
 gregation de Propaganda, at the end of Letlres des MM. des 
 
172 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 the corrupt practices which had disfigured the Chris- 
 tianity imparted by the missionaries ; and Avhich 
 were not discontinued until after the papal legate 
 had been persecuted/ and a system of evasion 
 pursued which threw discredit on the Christian 
 name ; — until the intercommunion between one 
 order and another had been broken off, and a Jesuit 
 bishop had renounced communion with his frater- 
 nity;^ — until the decision of the Chinese emperor 
 had been obtained by the missionaries and opposed 
 to the decrees of the pope, and practical unity and 
 Church authority had been altogether destroyed. 
 It was not difficult to foresee the end of such events; 
 the hated order was expelled from almost every 
 country where their missions had existed, from 
 Japan, China, Abyssinia, Paraguay; and with the 
 cessation of the repudiated practices they had used, 
 the missions declined, and seemed robbed of their 
 secret power. We may accurately trace the cause 
 of failure to the suppression of these practices, 
 from which so large a portion of the previous success 
 resulted ; and it is satisfactory to observe, that the 
 failure loas owing to such parts of the system as 
 were of human device, of worldly and culpable 
 
 Miss. Ktranp;. p. 102; by Clement Xl. in 171') ; and Benedict XIV. 
 in 1712 and 1711. — Norbert, vol. ii. Part iii. p. ;57. 
 
 ' Clement XI. exconniiunicated the Bishop of Macao, by a 
 bull, on account of the injurious treatment of the Cardinal de 
 Tournon, in 171 1. —Norbert, vol. i. p. 199. The conduct of the 
 Jesuits towards this prelate is related in Ilistoire Abregee des 
 Jesuites, Paris, 1820, torn. ii. p. 100. 
 
 ^ Norbert, Pref. p. ii. and pp. 242, 2SG, vol.i. 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 173 
 
 policy. God's word did not fail ; the truth (as far 
 as it was preached) did " not return void ;" the 
 worship of the Church (in so far as the Catholic ele- 
 ment was retained) was not ineffectual in attracting 
 the religious affections of men ; — but the admixture 
 of profane rites, the corruption of the true faith, 
 brought with them disaster and disappointment. This 
 is testified by papal missionaries ; it was urged again 
 and again, that Christianity would sustain a severe 
 shock if these practices were discontinued;' the 
 cause of conversion was made to rest upon them ; — 
 they ceased, and Christianity did decline. Even now 
 it is distinctly urged that two of the main hindrances 
 to the reception of the Gospel are, — in China, " the 
 Avorship of ancestors,"^ — in India, the unhallowed 
 system of caste ■} both of these customs were unright- 
 eously conceded by the Jesuits, and converts were 
 
 ' Grimaldi, visitor of the Jesuits in China, in his letter to the 
 Pope, in 1700, urged, " That if the Chinese Christiaris are forbid 
 the use of the ceremonies, whicli are practised in reference to 
 Confucius, and their deceased parents, the Christian religion runs 
 the hazard, on the first accusation, of being banished out of the 
 empire of China." Quoted in Appendix XXII. to Penrose's Bamp- 
 ton Lectures. This apprehension is noticed in the Constitution 
 of Benedict XIV. ad. fin. See Norhert, vol. ii. Part iii. p. 74. The 
 vicious practices of Robert a Nobili are urged as the only means 
 of converting the Indians, in a letter from the Jesuit, Pere Pierre 
 Martin, Lettres Edif. vol. x. p. 72. The discontinuance of these 
 practices, and the discovery of the missionaries as Europeans, are 
 advanced as the cause of conversions ceasing. Annales de la 
 Foi, vol. iii. p. 57. 
 
 ^ Annales, vol. ii. p. 2 15. 
 
 ' Dubois, p. 81. — The same thing is strongly urged by Indian 
 prelates of the Church of England. See Bishop of Madras's letter, 
 on Caste, in Report of S. P. G. for 1842, p. cxxii. 
 
174 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 gained ; they were forbidden, and conversions 
 ceased : and therefore we may fairly trace to such 
 unworthy and worse than " legal" compliances, both 
 the rapid success that attended these missionary 
 enterprizes, and their subsequent discomfiture. 
 
 That these causes both of success and failure are 
 much less active now, is at once allowed, — and with 
 the mitigation of the corrupt system, a smaller 
 measm'e of success has been realized. But while 
 an impartial judgment must lead every one reflecting 
 on these things to repudiate such methods in the 
 propagation of the Gospel, and at the same time to 
 see, that to these and not to God's blessing pecu- 
 liarly bestowed upon one branch of the Churcli, the 
 boasted results of its missionary labours are in a 
 large degree to be attributed ; we may yet acknow- 
 ledge and admire the earnest zeal, and self-devotion, 
 and perseverance, which have characterised the men 
 by whom these exertions were made. We may 
 recognise, too, a spirit and discretion in much of the 
 instrumentality that is provided for making them, 
 which we may do well to imitate. In the European 
 seminaries for the training of missionaries,^ and the 
 acquisition of foreign languages, — in the numerous 
 body which commonly accompanies each mission,- — 
 
 ' Pope (Jrei^Dry XIII. loundcd twenty-tliree such seminaries. 
 Thomas a Jcsu de Couvcrs. omii. Gent. p. 111. Clement XI. by 
 hull dated 1707, ordained that seminaries should he attached to 
 the principal monasteries. 
 
 ^ Within the last two years, Dr. Poldinir returned to Sydney, 
 New South Wales, with the title of " Arehhislioj)," and was 
 attended hy twenty young priests. 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 175 
 
 in the establisliment of sanctuaries and religions 
 houses for the reception of Catechumens, and. the 
 education of orphans, and native childi-en,' — in the 
 preparation of elementary forms of instruction,- — 
 in the community of living, and austerity of habits 
 frequently adopted, we must perceive at once, modes 
 of proceeding which in some countries, as in the 
 East, seem actually needed to ensure any large 
 success, and which the purest Christian wisdom 
 must approve. 
 
 Nor can it be denied, notwithstanding the vicious 
 principles which have so largely infected many, and 
 those the most important missions of the Roman 
 Church, that yet a power, and that of no common 
 kind, has been evinced in the prosecution of these 
 enterprizes. There has been a vigour and earnest- 
 ness exhibited by those who have laboured in that 
 ennobling service, which can be traced to no ordinary 
 motive ; and the success that has been obtained in 
 many countries, and the constancy that has been at 
 times displayed by the converts under trying cir- 
 cumstances, indicate a source of influence over the 
 heathen mind, which cannot be traced to those 
 
 ' For these various mstitutions, see Aiinales, vol. i. No. IV. 
 p. 29. vol. ii. p. 194. and No. LXXXIII. p. 282 ; Lettres de Fr. 
 Xavier, Lettre XI. p. 176, and CXIV. p. 403. 
 
 ^ See the instructions for catechizing given by Fr. Xavier to the 
 catechists in India, Letter LIII. The method, not the substance 
 of the recommendations is, of course, the point to be observed. 
 Also Letter XC. p. 125, Brussels Edit. His mode of conducting 
 public service on Sunday is contained in Letter XIV. See 
 Appendix, No. XXVIII. 
 
176 MISSIONS SINCE [LEct. 
 
 causes to which a large portion of the supposed 
 conversions may he referred. Before dismissing 
 the suV)ject, then, I would advert to two of those 
 principles from which this power may seem to have 
 sprung, and which it cannot but be edifying and 
 instructive to contemplate. 
 
 It certainly is a matter of admiration to note the 
 devotion with which, at all times, men endowed 
 with the highest gifts have been ready, in the 
 communion of Rome, to consecrate themselves to 
 these enterprizes. And whence has this sprung? 
 Whence has it arisen, that men have not been 
 wanting to bear living witness among the heathen 
 to the reality of the faith which they profess, and to 
 hazard all in preaching it? Whence has arisen 
 that self-surrender, and s})irit of confidence which 
 has distinguished them,^ and which of all moral 
 qualities has perhaps the most efficacy in persuading 
 and influencing the minds of others? There is 
 one source to which we may refer it, — the spirit of 
 obedience. For what is the one condition of attain- 
 ing the highest excellence ? Is it not the acting in 
 conformity with an external law ? Is it not to be 
 found in looking out from self for the apjjrehension 
 
 ' E. g. — for to nniltii)ly instances uould be useless : Lettres 
 Edif. vol. xvii. p. 4:50, " L'unique grace que je vous demande, 
 c'est de me donner tout ce qu'il y aura de plus penible, et de plus 
 mortifiant dans la mission," S:c. &c. Another writes, " J'aurois 
 souhaite que vous ne m'eussiez pas laisse le clioix, d'aller en 
 Tune ou en I'autre des deux missions ; mais que vous m'eussiez 
 determine. Je n'ai quitte la France ([ue pour obcir ;i Dieii,' 
 &c. &c. 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 177 
 
 of truth, and in shaping the individual will to a 
 supreme will authoritatively made known to us ? 
 Is it not true that the noblest and most heroic 
 achievements have been prompted by some impulse, 
 real or supposed, impressing the soul from without, 
 and awakening a responsive inward conviction, 
 against which the will dares not rebel? Hence 
 arises a readiness to engage in great services, — 
 hence a true confidenee, and unflinching steadfast- 
 ness, freedom from the doubts that at times harass 
 the mind which reposes on its own decision ; — and 
 more than all, perhaps, the comfort and sustaining 
 power which spring from the performance of duty. 
 It was this strength of an obedient will, this alle- 
 giance to recognised rule, that nerved the devotion of 
 those whose footsteps were over the whole world, 
 pressing the deserts of Tartary and the sands of 
 Africa. It is this temper that actuates their fol- 
 lowers now in the same career. And to the same 
 obedience, not capriciously vowed to self-chosen 
 authority, but reposed in the Church and in her 
 commission to send, we must look for a revival of a 
 similar spu'it of faith and devotion, which, on her 
 summons to arise and execute the great work, 
 which her supreme Head has commanded her to 
 accomplish, will enable men to suffer the loss of all 
 things, that the name of the Lord Jesus may be 
 glorified among the heathen. 
 
 And lastly ; it was but the working of the same 
 principle, which led to that powerful influence 
 
 N 
 
178 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 wliicli was undoubtedly exerted in winning many a 
 soul from its vain idolatries, viz. the exhibition of 
 the Church before the heathen as of a body called 
 to suffer for Christ's sake. AVe may deem the self- 
 vowed poverty, wdiich distinguishes some religious 
 fraternities, to be over-strained, and even opposed to 
 the spirit of the Gospel ; we may believe, too, that it is 
 needful to array the Church of Christ in the influence 
 which belongs to station, that so it may gain access 
 to the high places, and to the great of this world. 
 Still, among the most solemn and affecting truths 
 which are written in the Gospel, is that of Christians 
 suffering, and winning others by suffering, — " bear- 
 ing about the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the 
 life also of Jesus may be made manifest." 
 
 It is not a subject of mere surmise, but of uniform 
 experience, that the endurances of Christians, the 
 self-sacrifice they have evinced for the sake of 
 winning soids, have prevailed more in gaining con- 
 verts throughout all ages, than the arguments of 
 reason, or the calculations of temporal benefit. The 
 weak things of the world have been the strong 
 things of Christ. Nor can we wonder at this. It is 
 when thus exhibited that the Gospel appears in its 
 true character. It shows itself as bearing the 
 remedy for man's Avants, — as sympathizing with the 
 sorrowful and destitute, — as the comforter under 
 earthly privation, — as supplying a compensation for 
 the inequalities of this life, — as having a blessing 
 ii-respective of outward lot, nay, belonging peculiarly 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 179 
 
 to those who are in want and weariness, — as estab- 
 lishing a kingdom " not of this workl." It was 
 this character,' which the most eminent of those 
 whose labours have been reviewed, undoubtedly 
 presented to the heathen, and as by a natural 
 attraction won to themselves the sympathies of 
 men. We wonder, we justly wonder, how it was 
 that, in some lands, in -Japan for instance," though 
 the acquaintance of the converts with .the truths 
 of Christ's Gospel was certainly very imperfect 
 and corrupt, yet in the horn- of persecution, 
 ]nany, nay hundreds, were found willing to shed 
 their blood for the faith, and to yield their bodies 
 to be burned. It was, they had been instructed 
 that to this lot they were called in Christ, should 
 God so order it ; that if they suffered, they should 
 "also reign with him."^ Therefore no strange 
 thing seemed to happen to them ; they had em- 
 braced the Cross ; they were prepared to find 
 it sharp, — to find it, in the end, the instrument 
 of their own death. This expectation kept them 
 steadfast. In the suffering members of His Chm-ch, 
 
 ^ See a noble speech of Fr. Xavier's, in Dryden's Life, p. 174. 
 " If I should happen to die by their hands, who knows but all of 
 them mi2:ht receive the faith? For it is most certain that, since 
 the primitive times of the Church, the seed of the Gospel has 
 made a larger increase in the fields of paganism, by the blood of 
 martyrs, than by the sweat of missionaries," &rc. &c. 
 
 ^ The account of the terrible persecution in this island, is 
 detailed in the Atlas Japonensis, by Arnoldus Moutanus. And 
 for a curious instance of the way in which young converts were 
 inured to pain and suffering, sec Appendix, No. XXIX. 
 
 ' 2 Tim. ii. 12. 
 
ISO MISSIONS SINCE [Lkct. 
 
 they had seen Christ as He was m the flesh, " a 
 man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;" tliey 
 had seen Him pierced and His broAV encircled 
 with a crown of thorns, and so they were enabled 
 to endure and "rejoice in tribulation." The 
 patient fortitude of those who had come and 
 preached the Gospel to them, and who went about 
 frequently not having where to lay their heads, in 
 sickness and weariness, in poverty and pain, attracted 
 the heathens' heart, and taught them to suffer too. 
 For is there not a hidden charm, a mysterious 
 virtue, in exhibiting to the world, through the 
 medium of the members of His suffering Body, 
 the image of Christ crucified? Was not this the 
 secret of nuich of their moral power, whose 
 almost miraculous cftbrts have gained them the 
 name of apostles among the heathen ? And wher- 
 ever we see this willing devotion, must wc not 
 do it honour? Nay, nnist it not lead us, if we 
 would profit by the conviction, most hundjiy to ask, 
 however unworthy any individual may be to do so. 
 Where is this spirit amongst us ? We have seen 
 men of zeal, and simplicity, and power, and truth, 
 (and we may bless their memories,) issue from our 
 Church, and from this University, to cany the word 
 of life among distant idolaters ; but hardly has 
 this feature, this peculiar feature, of Christ's pre- 
 sence been lifted up as an ensign before the heathen, 
 — His suffering. Hardly has there hvvn that spirit 
 which reckons tlie <xo'uvj: forth to die with Ciirist its 
 
v.] THE REFORMATION. 181 
 
 noblest service, and suffering for Him its highest 
 glory. Yet if the Church of England is to he the 
 instrument of subduing and drawing the souls of 
 heathen to Christ, her faithful members must learn 
 of her this spirit. Among the many things which 
 we may desire, this is among the chiefest. And, 
 certainly, if God deal mercifully with this His 
 Church; if He design her to be the instrument 
 in accomplishing those great deeds, which are open- 
 ing before us to be done, He will in His own 
 time raise fit instruments, and stir the hearts of 
 men of high aims and holy ambition, to place 
 themselves at her service, to go wherever she bids 
 and reap wherever a harvest is to be gathered in. 
 For surely here the great law of vicarious suffering 
 finds most largely its application. It is a law of 
 our very natural being, — it forms the essence of 
 real Christian charity, — it shone forth as the basis 
 of atoning Love in the great work of Salvation : and, 
 therefore, in communicating this Redemption to 
 his fellow-man, in being a fellow-worker with his 
 Lord, man must be content to labour under the 
 overshadowing influence of tlie Cross of suffering, — 
 must himself suffer if he would bless, — and "lose 
 his" own "life" that the life of others may be 
 found. 
 
LECTURE V[. 
 
 MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION. 
 
 Part IL 
 
 Matt. V. 14, 15. 
 
 YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. A CITY THAT IS SET ON A HILL 
 CANNOT BE HID. NEITHER DO MEN LIGHT A CANDLE, AND PUT 
 IT UNDER A BUSHEL, BUT ON A CANDLESTICK ; AND IT GIVETH 
 LIGHT UNTO ALL THAT ARE IN THE HOUSE. 
 
 As universality is a property of the Gospel, so (if 
 the distinction may be made) expansiveness is a 
 token of the Church of Christ : and for this reason 
 the image of light and of a candle is so commonly 
 used in Scriptm'e to represent, as in the text, both 
 the one and the other. So that thus much we must 
 conclude respecting any portion of the Church ; if, 
 after due trial, it fail of diffusing its light abroad, 
 a light that may be recognised and felt, then, so far 
 forth, it is without the mark of being of that One 
 Body which Christ has instituted and endowed with 
 power for this purpose ; it is deficient in the con- 
 ditions and requirements needful for fidfilling the 
 command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach 
 
Lect. VI.] MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION. 183 
 
 the Gospel to every creature," and for claiming 
 tlie promise which is certainly attached to the 
 execution of this duty. 
 
 Acknowledging this principle, and applying it to 
 the subject before us, we now turn from the review 
 last made of the missions of the Church of Rome, 
 to similar efforts made since the Reformation, 
 first, by the Church of England, and secondly, by 
 various bodies into which reformed Christendom 
 has been broken up and crumbled. 
 
 For, as is well known, among the many taunts 
 directed equally against all who have })rotested 
 against the corruption and usurpation of Rome, 
 this is one, viz. that Christianity, as professed by 
 them, has lost its expansive power; that it is pent 
 up within just those limits, to which, by the first 
 convulsive effort that cast aside the Papal yoke, it was 
 borne ; that, since then, it has even receded ; that 
 tlie attempts made to bear it among the heathen, 
 and gather them within the Chm'ch, have been 
 abortive, and have utterly failed. Again, it is 
 urged, that this is owing not to want of endeavour, 
 nor to want of means, but to what is called the 
 Protestant Rule of Faith ; while such successes as 
 are acknowledged (and but very few are noticed) 
 are attributed to merely secondary causes, such as 
 the use of force, or the influence of civilization, or 
 the support of the civil power.' 
 
 ^ Annales, vol. ii. p. 63, note. Dr.Wisoman's.Lectnres, Lect. vi. 
 p. 193. In regard to the last-named point, the very review that 
 
184 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 Sucli a c'liarge, if substantiated, would Ix' most 
 serious, and the truth of it will be tested in the 
 present Lecture. We may say at the outset, how- 
 ever, that, in its sweeping indiscriminate censure, it 
 is untenable. We may maintain, in the first place, 
 that even the defective and frequently unwise efforts 
 of unauthorized bodies to extend the Gospel, have 
 not been without some fruit bearing witness to 
 their acceptance of God ; secondly, that the ste- 
 rility which, on the whole, we must confess, has 
 attended the missionary labours connected with our 
 Church, is not traced, nor traceable, to a supposed 
 Rule of Eaith above alluded to, but is explicable on 
 other grounds ; — and lastly, that the method com- 
 monly adduced as the practical working of that 
 Rule, viz. the indiscriminate distribution of the 
 Bible, is not adopted, or recognised, by the Church, 
 nor is it that u})on which she expects the blessing 
 of God to descend in converting the nations of the 
 heathen to the faith. 
 
 Before entering on the details which I shall have 
 to set before you, a few words must be said on the 
 startling fact, Avliich might seem to furnish ground 
 
 has been taken Avill sbow that Roman Catholic missions always 
 received the ijreatest support from tlie irovcrnment of the coun- 
 tries from wliich tliey issued, such as Portuijal, Spain, and France ; 
 and iiave been largely indebted for their success to this circum- 
 stance ; while it is equally indisputalde that Protestant govern- 
 ments, as such, have generally neglected to assist, nay, have, in 
 some cases, (as will appear,) discountenanced the efforts of mis- 
 sionaries. 'I'he causes of this opposite conduct might be readily- 
 traced, and would deserve consideration. 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 185 
 
 for tlic charge that has been mentioned, that it 
 was not till after a long interval that any attempt 
 was made, or anxiety evinced, by the Reformed 
 Church of England, for the extension of the 
 Gospel and the salvation of the heathen. This note 
 of an Apostolic Church seemed indeed, for a time, 
 to be wanting to us. Day after day, in its 
 evening hymn, the prayer was offered as a witness 
 against succeeding generations, that God would 
 make known His way upon eartli, His " saving 
 health -unto all nations." And still generations 
 passed away, and no heart nor hand seemed 
 stirred to the work. We cannot help asking 
 why it has been so, and endeavouring to ascer- 
 tain the cause of so humbling a fact. And on 
 a retrospect, there are many circumstances which 
 go, if not to justify, at least to explain it. The 
 outbreak of the Reformation isolated the English 
 Church and the reformed continental bodies from 
 the vast system with which they had been bound 
 up. They were thrown suddenly on their own 
 resoiu-ces. Numberless duties })ressed upon them 
 at once, of which they were unable to compass the 
 range, or provide the means necessary for their 
 discharge. They had to create anew, to build up, 
 to fix their principles, define their rights, and 
 ascertain the relations in which they stood to one 
 another and to the temporal pow^r. And yet they 
 had not entirely mastered their own or one another's 
 principles. The sympathy and union which had 
 
186 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 been strong enough for them to break from Rome, 
 was not sufficiently close to enable them to re- 
 construct, and to ch-aw out, a system of their own ; 
 to develop it on defined laws of action, with unity 
 of conduct and of object. Two principles seem 
 mainly to have predominated in the measures 
 adopted by the reformers of our Church ; and these 
 they were diligent in carrying out, — the Christian 
 life of the nation on the one hand, and of the 
 individual on the other ; with these alone they were 
 occupied, and by these their views, for the time, 
 were bounded. Their own immediate difficulties, 
 too, soon engaged their thoughts. When the 
 depths of society are once broken up, it is not until 
 after a long lapse of time, and many heavings to 
 and fro, that they can settle down again in peace 
 and order. Thus internal strifes and gainsayings, 
 hostilities from without fomented by Rome, and 
 perplexities from within, exhausted the energies of 
 Christian men during the reigns of Elizabeth and 
 James ; and for 150 years no definite attempt was 
 encouraged for extending the Church into the dis- 
 tant wilderness of the world. Thoughts, indeed, 
 and crude proposals Avere entertained from time to 
 time, but they serve only to bear witness to the 
 state of unripeness in which Christians found them- 
 selves to enter upon so high a work of evangelical 
 duty and enterprise. In 155C, a body of preachers 
 issued from Geneva, under the joint direction of 
 Calvin and the French mhiister Coligni, for the 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 187 
 
 purpose of establishing their system of Christianity 
 on the continent of Brazil, and among the savage 
 natives.' But the expedition was marked by a 
 signal and distressing failure. Again, a scheme to 
 rival the Roman Propaganda was devised by 
 Cromwell, but was never realized.^ Nor in our 
 Church was the spirit of missionary enterprize dead, 
 though it lay dormant for a while, or burnt feebly 
 in the secret aspirations of individuals. The influ- 
 ence and energy of the truly noble Robert Boyle 
 were exerted for the propagation of the Gospel in 
 India and America, which object he aided by his 
 munificence ;^ but still nothing systematic was 
 attempted. Again, a kindred philosophic mind in 
 Bishop Berkeley bent its powers towards the con- 
 version of the American Indians ; and the fairest 
 scheme that was ever devised for the execution of 
 this purpose was prepaj:ed by him, and urged by 
 his own personal devotion and toil, but it met with 
 coldness and repulse, and it fell.'* 
 
 Still, even prior to the last event, the close of the 
 sixteenth century saw an onward move towards the 
 
 ' Brown's History of Missions, vol. i. pp. 3 — 9. 
 
 2 Burnet's History of liis Own Time, vol. i. p. 132. Oxford, 1823. 
 See Appendix, No. XXX. 
 
 ^ He was at the expense of publisliing the four Gospels and 
 the Acts of the Apostles, in the Malay language, which were 
 printed at Oxford in 1677 ; and he left at his death, the sum of 
 5400^. for the propagation of Christianity among infidel and unen- 
 lightened nations. — Brown, vol. ii. p. 714. 
 
 * See Proposal for converting the savage Americans to Chris- 
 tianity. Berkeley's Works, 4to. vol. ii.p. 421 ; and Brown, vol.ii. 
 p. 715. 
 
188 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 resumption, by the Cliurcli, of this neglected func- 
 tion, in the formation of " the Society for thePro})a- 
 tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." It partook, 
 however, of the character just assigned to the prin- 
 ciples on which religious men generally acted, and 
 within which their views wx^re narrowed. Por al- 
 though it contemplated the diffusion of Christianity 
 in all those parts of the world in which any colony 
 or factory of Great Britain had been established, yet 
 the salvation of the heathen Avas only in a secondary 
 degree its concern. It Avas defensive, and Avas 
 rather engaged in Christianizing a temporal domi- 
 nion, than in extending the kingdom of Christ. 
 Yet it claims our thankful regard, since, for a cen- 
 tury, in conjunction with the kindred Institution 
 " for Promoting Christian Knowledge," it bore 
 witness in our land, when none else did, that tlic 
 Church had a thought for the heathen ; and, of 
 later days, through the wond(;rful extension of our 
 colonial empire, its sphere of action has expanded, 
 and reaches to almost every portion of the Pagan 
 world. 
 
 Of the same national character were the missions 
 established l)y the Dutch during the seventeenth 
 century, in Ceylon and the islands of the Indian 
 seas, Java, Ainboyna, and Formosa, in Avliich they 
 had })lanted colonies. The Holy Scriptures were 
 dispersed with zeal, and a considerable number 
 of the natives were gained over ; but in each of 
 the llu-ee latter ishnuls Jhc mission ceased with 
 
VI.] THE REFOIIMATION. 189 
 
 the temporal dominion of the Dutch, and Chris- 
 tianity seems to have disappeared from them, or to 
 exist only in a state of great corruption.' Again, 
 in 1705, Frederic IV. of Denmark was moved to 
 found a mission on the coast of Coromandel, and 
 afterwards, in 1721, at the instigation of that 
 zealous and enterprizing missionary, Hans Egede, 
 on the shores of Greenland. The latter of these is 
 rendered eminent by the sufferings of the first mis- 
 sionaries, and by the devoted continuance of their 
 labours by the Moravians, who have at least shown, 
 by their powder over the rude natives of these inhos- 
 pitable climes, that no condition of human nature 
 is beyond the reach of the transforming power of 
 the Gospel. The former is signalized by the suc- 
 cesses of Ziegenbalg, Schultze, and Schwartz, whose 
 labours, inherited and extended by Societies acting 
 W'ithin our own Church, opened one of the most 
 hopeful fields in the East for the propagation of 
 the faith. 
 
 But amidst the growing consciousness of obliga- 
 tion towards the heathen, the Moravians (in 1731) 
 rose up to exhibit a pattern of devotion and godly 
 enterprize which no subsequent efforts have at all 
 equalled. Regard them either in their spirit of self- 
 sacrifice, or in their well-concerted plans and 
 system of action, and they not only show what a 
 
 > Brown, vol. i. pp. 26, ,30, 31. 
 
190 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect,, 
 
 vigorous and faithful resolve can effect, but illus- 
 trate the causes of their own success, and of om* 
 failure. Driven by persecution from Moravia, and 
 hunted into mountain-caves, and forests, where 
 they held their nightly assemblies by stealth, the 
 diminished and suffering band sought at last in 
 Saxony a refuge from Papal persecution. But 
 scarcely had they secured a resting-place, when this 
 body of six hundred exiles, with the first returning 
 sense of safety, cast their thoughts towards the 
 heathen world ; and though a mere handful in 
 numbers, yet with the spirit of men banded for 
 daring and righteous deeds, they formed the heroic 
 design, and vowed the execution of it before God, 
 of bearing the Gospel to the savage and perishing 
 tribes in Greenland and the West Indies, of whose 
 condition report had brought a mournful rumour to 
 their ears. And so, literally with "neither bread 
 nor scrip," they went fortli on their pilgrimage ; 
 and incredible as it sounds, within ten years they 
 had established missions in the islands of the West 
 Indies, in South America, Surinam, Greenland, 
 among the North American tribes, in Lapland, 
 Tartary, Algiers, Guinea, the Cape of Good Hope, 
 Ceylon.' Tlieir success will be mentioned presently. 
 In some districts, indeed, the Avork failed in their 
 hands: yet in others, the field of their operations 
 
 ' Missions of the IJiiitCLl Brethren, Introduclion. 
 
VI.] THE KEFORMATION. 191 
 
 has been enlarged ; and we might well feel shame 
 if we withheld our sympathy from men who still 
 burn with the same spirit, still toil in the same 
 harvest-field of souls. In the West Indies, North 
 and South America, Labrador, Greenland, and 
 South Africa, they now maintain fifty-eight missions, 
 tended by 262 labourers ; and though the number 
 of their body is said not much to exceed 10,000, 
 they yet reckon above 57,000 among the heathen, 
 who are either converted, or are receiving at then' 
 hands instruction in the Gospel.^ 
 
 These were the preparations for a more general 
 movement, chiefly among the Protestant bodies in 
 this land. In 1792, the "Baptist Missionary 
 Society" was formed, and was followed three years 
 later by the "London Society" for the same piu-pose, 
 conducted chiefly by the Independents. In the 
 following year the Scotch Association was instituted ; 
 and in 1800, several individuals within the Church 
 originated the present "Church Missionary Society" 
 for Christianizing the heathen in Africa and the 
 East. In 1817, again, the Wesleyan Association 
 was consolidated : and, besides these various bodies, 
 several others, many of them in America, and most 
 of minor importance, have been formed, and pursue 
 the same ol)ject, each carrying its peculiar principles 
 and tenets among Europeans and natives in dif- 
 ferent parts of the globe. 
 
 ' R( port for 1841, p. 53. 
 
192 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 Alul A\'liat success lias attended these sadly 
 desultory- and conflicting efforts to extend the 
 Gospel, and bring mankind into obedience to 
 Christ? It is indeed a melancholy reflection, 
 that, from onr shores, Christianity should go 
 forth, not in one shape, but in shapes as mul- 
 tifarious as individual conviction and zeal can 
 make them, — that all our dissensions should he 
 ])ropagated and reproduced among the heathen ; 
 that the gift of God, designed to be the healer 
 of the nations, the harbinger and source of peace, 
 should become the spring of strife and debate ; 
 that the pagan mind, just awakening to the 
 truth, should have that truth presented to it in 
 manifold forms, and when disposed to look out 
 from itself to receive the counsel of God, should 
 sometimes be throAvn back on its own judgment 
 to choose which system it will embrace. Chris- 
 tianity suffers by all this ; it nuist suffer ; we 
 must be prepared for failures ; we nuist be 
 prepared for enemies to confomid together the 
 operations of all these associations, Avhether within 
 or without the Church ; to impute the faults of 
 each to all, and attribute the fadurcs of any 
 portion of them to a general Avithholding of 
 God's blessing from any missionary labovu's thus 
 undertaken and directed. Ijct me again repeat, 
 that were this indeed true, there would be deep 
 cause for alarm. In proceeding, therefore, to re- 
 view such successes as seem unquestionable, and 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 193 
 
 in which we cannot but recognise God's blessing 
 upon laboiu-s undertaken for His sake, let me 
 endeavour to point out the causes of comparative 
 failure, with such tokens for good as may appear, — 
 and so to open the way for the eduction of such 
 principles as the facts seem to illustrate, which 
 may exhibit the laws of God's dealing in the exten- 
 sion of the Gospel, and may guide and encourage 
 His Church in the prosecution of its appointed 
 work. 
 
 I tiu"n then at once to the wide field of India; 
 the scene of much discouragement and much hope. 
 Above a century has elapsed since the first Danish 
 missionary set foot on its soil, and confronted that 
 monstrous and shapeless mass of superstition by 
 which it is overshadowed. It was indeed an 
 unequal contest. Two or three strangers were 
 stationed at Tranquebar, on the outskirts of that 
 vast continent,' powerless and defenceless, to assail 
 a mighty and organized system of two thousand 
 years' diu-ation. Almost from the moment of their 
 entering in, incessant wars devastated every pro- 
 vince. Christians, who should have been living 
 epistles of Christ, and have preached Him by their 
 lives, showed themselves the servants of sin rather 
 than of God. Christian governments discounte- 
 nanced Christianity, and attached civil incapacities 
 
 ' Ziegenbalg and Plutcho Avere sent by Frederic IV. king 
 of Denmark, in 1705. — Niecampii Historia Miss, in Ind. Orient. 
 p. 3. 
 
 
 
194 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 to converted heathens ;* and even in later years, the 
 first AngUcan bishop was by stealth inducted into 
 his spiritual domain,^ through a faithless fear of 
 offending heathen prejudice. Such was, and has 
 been, the paralyzing discouragement against Avhich 
 the Gospel has had to make its Avay. Yet, in a 
 considerable degree, it has advanced. We may 
 turn to the days of Schwartz. That sterling and 
 devoted man of God was engaged for nearly half a 
 century^ in preaching the Gospel, and is said to 
 have converted seven thousand natives.* Consider- 
 ing the scantiness of the means at his command, 
 we might be quite content with the knowledge that, 
 at his death, he left behind him this spiritual off- 
 spring in the field of his missionary labour. But 
 since then, dming the present century, that field 
 
 ' Exlract frinn Rcgulat'i07is of the Madras Government, 1816: — 
 " The Zilla Judges shall recommend to the Provincial Courts the 
 persons whom they may deem fit for the odice of District Moonsif ; 
 Ijut no person shall be authorized to ofliciate as a District Moon- 
 sif, without the previous sanction of the Provincial Court, nor 
 unless lie be of the Hindoo or Mahometan persuasion." (Heber's 
 Journal, vol. iii. p. 463, note.) The Bishop likewise relates, — 
 " About twenty people were present ; one, the ' naick,' or corpo- 
 ral, whom, in consequence of his embracing Christianity, Govern- 
 ment very absurdly, not to say wickedly, disgraced, by removing 
 him from his regiment, though they still allow him his pay." — 
 Voh ii. p. 280. 
 
 2 Le Bas's Life of Middleton, vol.i. p. 76. 
 
 ' His missionary labours extended from 1750 to 1798. 
 
 * In one year of his active ministry (1775), it is stated that at 
 two of the stations which he superintended, Tranquebar and 
 Trichinopoly, the increase of members in the congregation, includ- 
 ing tlie children of converts and proselytes from the Roman Ca- 
 tholics, amounted (o 627. Brown's Hist. vol. i. p. 192. 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 195 
 
 has greatly enlarged itself, and it may be said, that 
 the " little one" has " become a thousand." The 
 missions then established by him have been con- 
 tinned by societies in this country, and have largely 
 increased.' It is well known that Bishop Heber 
 computed the number of converts in Southern 
 India, in 1820, at 15,000.^ This calculation has 
 been disputed, and has been broadly stigmatized as 
 being " very much too great." ^ Yet the only evi- 
 dence adduced in disproof of it, is the fact of the 
 Bishop having confirmed fifty natives at one station, 
 and fifteen at another ! And as a very unfair 
 representation is based upon this calculation, I 
 must be permitted to say at once that instead of 
 being " very much too great," it was certainly not 
 above, and, in all probability, much below the 
 actual number. I forbear to trouble you here with 
 the exact details in support of this assertion.'^ I 
 will content myself with saying, that official returns, 
 made two years before, represented the converts in 
 connexion with the Church as exceeding the com- 
 putation of Bishop Heber, which is moreover con- 
 firmed by collateral evidence ; and, further, that had 
 the missions of other bodies been included, the cal- 
 culation of Protestant converts, even at that period, 
 should have been raised at the least to 23,000, the 
 
 ' In 1812, on the coast of Coromandel alone, they were reckoned 
 (includmg children) at 16,000. Brown, vol. i. p. 230. 
 - Journal, vol. iii. p. 4G0. 
 ' Wiseman's Lectures, VI. p. 17'5. 
 * See, however, Appendix, No. XXXI. 
 
 o 2 
 
196 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 number certified three years before, in Parliamentary 
 evidence, by a missionary, as the result of his personal 
 knowledge. And since those days, the progress has 
 been decisive. Tinnevelly became, in 1828, the 
 scene of a considerable movement, and many heathen 
 were led to receive the Gospel. Let me refer to 
 recent events. The difficulty in obtaining reports 
 of the older missions of Tanjore and Trichinopoly, 
 prevents the possibility of any accurate statement 
 being made respecting them.' At Vepery, however, 
 a mission founded by Sclmltze, in 1728, and sup- 
 ported by the Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel in Foreign Parts, twenty-two native adults 
 
 ' No one, who has not tried it, can imagine the difficult}' of arriving 
 at exact cpnclusions in regard to missionary successes, as detailed 
 in Reports, partly from defective returns, partly from unsystematic 
 and diversified modes of classifying the individuals under instruc- 
 tion. E.g. In the Reports of the Church Missionary Society, which 
 are the fullest, the common classification of the natives, in con- 
 nexion with the missions, is into " communicants" and " attendants 
 on public worship ;" but Avbethcr any, or how many of the latter 
 are baptized, there are no means of guessing ; for besides, or 
 amongst these latter, some are mentioned as "inquirers," "can- 
 didates for baptism," " hearers," but whether these are all in the 
 same class, or liow they are to be reckoned, is uncertain. Instances 
 of all these titles occur in the Forty-first Report. Of course other 
 Societies have another classification. It is very much to be wished 
 that some such certain division were adopted as prevailed in early 
 days, into baptized, catechumens, hearers ; we might then know 
 in what state the converts mentioned in the Reports might be 
 understood to be. The Moravians approach most neai-ly to the 
 original system ; thoy distribute their members into the " bap- 
 tized," " candidates for baptism," (catechumeni), and " new 
 people," (audieutes) ; they have likewise a subordinate class of 
 " excluded," corresponding exactly with the f^oiBni^xivoi, or 
 pa-nitentes. Sec Ijingham, b. x. ch. ii. sect. 2. 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 197 
 
 were baptized in IS 38.' The Bishop of Madras, 
 in his visitation, two years ago, (1841,) speaks of 
 meeting with whole Christian villages in the Tin- 
 nevelly district.^ He states that lately 3000 had 
 been added to the Chnrch ■,^ and that in four stations 
 alone he had confirmed 1500 native converts.'^ 
 Without mentioning the Dissenting Associations, — 
 (one of which, liowever,is said to have 10,000 natives 
 under instriictioji in the Province of Travancore,^) — ■ 
 take only these facts, together with the statement, 
 that in connexion with the Church Missionary So- 
 ciety there are nearly 7000 baptized converts, and 
 above 19,000 receiving more or less instruction;'' 
 and we must conclude, that a wide and effectual 
 door has been opened in Southern India for the 
 Gospel of Jesus Christ. We may believe, as the 
 prelate of that diocese assm'es us, that " the Gospel 
 is as surely there as it is in England, and may be 
 preached there, with as saving effect to tens of thou- 
 sands, as it is already preached to thousands." '' 
 
 This is no insulated instance. In the northern 
 province of Bengal, a stirring of men's hearts to the 
 
 1 Report of tlie Missionaries of the S. P. G. ]\Iadras, 1839. 
 
 2 Charge, quoted in S. P. G. Quarterly Paper, No. XIX. p. 10. 
 
 3 Report of S. P. G. 1842, p. 117. 
 
 * In 1842. The four stations were in the Tinnevelly district, 
 Report, C, M. S. 1842, p. 70. 
 
 ^ On the authority of the Secretary of the London Missionary 
 Society. 
 
 6 Communicated by the Secretary of the C. INI. S. The Report 
 was made up to the 31st of December, 1841. 
 
 7 Letter in Report of S. P. G., 1841, p. 154. 
 
198 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 reception of the Gospel, similar to that witnessed in 
 Southern India, — perhaps more extraordinary from 
 the obscurity in which its origin is veiled — is 
 preparing the way for larger results. At Barhipfir 
 and Ki'ishnaglmr, both of them missions in connexion 
 with the Church, whole villages seem to awake almost 
 simultaneously, and demand to be instructed in the 
 truth, and to put on Christ in Baptism. At Barhi- 
 pur, but few signs of any spread of the Gospel 
 showed themselves before the accession of the Rev. 
 C. E. Driberg, as a resident missionary, in 1835. 
 From that time, converts have been gathered into 
 the Church; in 1838, the number of the baptized 
 amounted to 131 ; of catechmnens, to 235. Three 
 years later, (in 1841,) there were, of baptized, 472, 
 of catechumens, 517; so that a congregation of 
 nearly 1000 was collected, exclusive of many 
 (above 200,) who were inquiring after " this way," 
 and of such unworthy catechumens as were excom- 
 municate.' And recent reports confirm the ex- 
 pectation of increase.^ At Krishnaghur, it would 
 seem as if the seed scattered on the ground by 
 
 ^ Report of ]lev. Professor Street in S. P. G. Kcport, IS 12, p. Ixx. 
 
 ^ Bishop of Calcutta's Charge for 1812 : " In tlic villages of the 
 Propagation Society about Jangeraand Barhipiir, 1200 have been 
 admitted to holy baptism, who, with 1300 catechumens, constitute 
 a body of 2500 under Christian instruction ; of these, .370 were 
 candidates for confirmation when I visited the station last Feb- 
 ruary." — P. 18. An accurate return, made up to July 1813, and 
 recently received, states the number of converts to have consider- 
 ably increased. At Barhipur, the baptized amount to G27, the 
 catechumens to GOG. The increase in the neighbouring stations is 
 equally large. 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION, 199 
 
 missionaries, accustomed forty years back to travel 
 tlirougli the district, had suddenly taken root and 
 sprung up, — as if the leaven secretly hidden had 
 begun to ferment through the whole lump. A few- 
 pilgrims, as it were, came first for instruction ; these 
 carried the tidings back to their native villages ; 
 and shortly after, messengers from forty and sixty 
 miles distant flocked to see what was " come to pass 
 there in these days." In one year, (1S39,) on the 
 visits of the Archdeacon and the Bishop of Calcutta, 
 980 heathen were baptized, which increased the 
 number of converts to 1420 ; in the year following, 
 (1840,) the baptized were again increased to 2000 ; 
 and 3000 more were preparing for the laver of 
 regeneration.^ 
 
 Here, then, are certainly converts of no amljiguous 
 character ; not influenced by interest, or by alliance 
 with Europeans, — not outcasts from Hindooism, or 
 from the Roman communion, but, through the con- 
 current causes of inward conviction and the ofter of 
 the Truth, stirred by God's grace to seek and receive 
 salvation in Christ ; — not hastily baptized, but after 
 patient instruction ; — and not ineffectually sealed 
 with the spirit of grace, since in the hour of trial 
 wdiicli has come upon them even already, neither the 
 spoiling of their goods, nor oppression, nor much 
 personal suff'ering, has prevailed on them to deny 
 
 ' See the Bishop of Calcutta's Letters to the Earl of Chichester^ 
 President of the C. M. S., published separately by the Society, 
 and the Society's Report for 1840—1841, p. 64. 
 
200 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 their profession, or grow weary of His service who 
 bought them with His own blood.' 
 
 From hence I now turn to the Western hemi- 
 sphere, with the view of ascertaining what success 
 has been vouchsafed to the missionary enterprizes 
 undertaken amongst the more or less savage and 
 idolatrous aborigines of its vast continent. It 
 seems indeed as if some curse rested on the natives 
 of North and South America, since tril^e after tribe 
 has faded away, till they are now almost extinct, 
 before the scourge of European aggression. And 
 certainly we must charge it largely to the avaricious 
 system of plunder and cruelty that marked the 
 earlier European intercourse with that new Avovld, 
 that its unhappy tribes have presented no perma- 
 nent fruit of the labours that would, and alone 
 could, have blessed and preserved them. Even 
 from the first there were not wanting, among the 
 emigrants to North America, men dcsu'ous of 
 
 ^ Letter from the Bisliop of Calcutta, quoted in C. M. S. Report, 
 ]841 — 1842, p. 00. "A fierce persecution has begun to show 
 itself in many parts of the mission, chielly about Anunda I5as, 
 and Baht Gatchee, which has occasioned great anxiety to tlie 
 missionaries. An inquirer of only a fortnight's standing, yet 
 accounted as a Cliristian, was so beaten in one of these assaults, 
 that he died of the injuries he received." Yet it was during 
 these scenes that the number of converts and catechumens still 
 increased, p. 58. 
 
 The Bishop of Madras records likeA\ isc of (he Tinnevelly mis- 
 sion, that, " a persecution had been stirred up against the Chris- 
 tians, so that the missionaries were obliged to guard their houses ; 
 yet not one baptized native has been known to i'all auay." — 
 S. P. G. Report, 1812, p. c.wi. 
 
VL] THE EEFOUMATION. 201 
 
 imparting tlie gift of the Gospel to tlie savage 
 yet noble tribes of Indians who possessed its forests 
 and fertile valleys. From the middle of the seven- 
 teenth to the same period in the eighteenth 
 centmy, the labours of Elliot, the two Mayhews, 
 and David Brainerd, fully proved how much the 
 disinterested and self-denying devotion of men bent 
 on doing God's work could gain on the simple and 
 reverent affections of those uncivihzed natives. 
 The metliod pursued by Elliot seems to have been, 
 while he instructed the Indians in the knowledge of 
 the Great Spirit, to introduce among them the arts 
 of civilization,' and to collect them into villages ; 
 and in the space of about twenty-five years, he had 
 formed fourteen of these settlements.^ A similar 
 success attended the other missionaries ; and it is 
 remarkable how readily the natives seem, in some 
 instances, to have laid aside their more evil and 
 pernicious customs, under the influence of the 
 higher knowledge which they perceived in their 
 instructors. We have to observe, however, in 
 regard to their success, first, that no intercourse 
 existed at this time between the natives and the colo- 
 nists, so that the former were kept free from the 
 contamination of European vice;^ and secondly, that 
 the whole benefit that was imparted depended solely 
 on the individual teacher: — no means oi perpetuating 
 
 ' Brown, vol. i. p. 37. 
 ^ Ibid. vol. i. p. 44. 
 
 ^ As was the case with the first Roman Catholic missions, the 
 success of which, as has been noticed, was so remarkable. 
 
202 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 liis work was })rovidcd, so that, on the removal of 
 each labourer, tlie converts declined,^ and almost 
 every trace of then' former Christianity disappeared. 
 A similar but more organized mode of conversion 
 was adopted in South America, by that devoted and 
 simple body of men already named, the Moravians. 
 I'he first settlements of these missionaries in Berbice 
 and Surinam, in 1738, resembled the Reductions of 
 the Jesuits in Paraguay. The missionaries, shun- 
 ning the contact of the ungodly Euro])eans, threw 
 themselves among the Indians, conversed with them, 
 taught them the mechanical arts," and gathered 
 them into small settlements. After a short period, 
 wherever the missionaries presented themselves, the 
 savages would collect in circles round these servants 
 of Christ, and listen with the deepest silence and 
 interest to the lessons of salvation. In the space 
 of eight years, 3G7 natives were baptized.^ The 
 jealousy of Europeans, joined to the insmTections 
 among the slave negroes, drove the missionaries 
 from station to station, and scattered their flocks. 
 The missions, however, notwithstanding many re- 
 verses, are still maintained among the free negroes, 
 into whose hands the territory has passed, and 
 above 7000 converts, either baptized or catechu- 
 mens, are reckoned among tlie fruits of these 
 Christian labours."* 
 
 ■ See Appendix, No. XXXII. 
 
 2 Missions of the United Brctlircii, p. 271-'. 
 
 •■' Ibid. 
 
 ' Report of Moravian Missions, 1811, pp. 52,;').'}. 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 203 
 
 A like inetliod was pursued by the same body in 
 their missions amidst the desolate regions of Green- 
 land and Labrador. These were among the very 
 earliest efforts of this remarkable brotherhood to 
 reclaim the heathen from their state of degradation ; 
 and they still flourish, and present a very beautiful 
 contrast, — even in the existence of the natives under 
 the beneficent direction of Christian men, — to the 
 process of extermination which has swept away neigh- 
 bouring tribes in their intercourse with European 
 colonists. They offer, too, an instructive lesson in 
 the evidence which they bear to the power of Chris- 
 tianity, not lowered and debased by amalgamation 
 with Pagan customs, but in its naked simplicity, 
 to move and elevate minds even of the lowest 
 stamp. No experiment coidd be more complete than 
 that made among the Greenlanders and Esquimaux; 
 and we have a witness that the God of all grace 
 has not withheld a blessing from the zeal of His 
 servants, who have sought to do Him honour, in the 
 simple worship that even now, together with our own 
 more solemn sacrifice, rises week after week to our 
 common Saviour, from the lips of 3000 converts 
 among the snow-huts of the Northern wilds. ^ 
 
 Nor has the degraded race of Ham been ex- 
 cluded from "a place and a name" within the 
 walls of the house of God ; but throughout nearly 
 the whole extent of the Avestern coast of Africa, and 
 on the borders of its unexplored interior, some 
 
 ' See Missions of the United Brethren, and the Report for 1841. 
 
204 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 "sons of tlio stranger" have been "joined to tlie 
 Lord," Hateful as has been the mass of guilt and 
 of misery entailed by the traffic in slaves, yet one 
 benefit at least has, by God's mercy, been educed 
 from it. Many of its unhappy victims have been 
 brought into contact with Christian truth, and born 
 again in their bonds. The result of Christian 
 instruction, not from our Church alone, but from 
 many Protestant sects, has been witnessed in the 
 very general conversion of the vast slave population 
 in the British West Indies. And to nothing else 
 but the controlling and softening power of the 
 Gospel, even upon the negro mind, can we attri- 
 bute the striking scene that Avas exhibited on the 
 emancipation of that long-enslaved race ; when, in 
 the words of the Bishop to whose oversight they 
 were subject, " 800,000 human beings lay down at 
 night as slaves, and rose again in the morning free 
 as ourselves." And yet there was no outburst of 
 public feeling, " no gathering that affected the civil 
 peace. There was a gathering, indeed, but it was 
 a gathering together of old and young in the house 
 of the common Father of all." Among the multi- 
 tude whom the Bishop addressed on that day, 
 "were thousands," he adds, "of my African brethren 
 joining with their European brother in offering up 
 their prayers and thanksgivings to the Father, the 
 Kedeemer, and Sanctifier of all."^ 
 
 ' Account of the Emancipation of the Negroes as stated l)y llie 
 Bisliop of Barbados; (Rioted in the S. 1'. (".. (Quarterly Paper, 
 No. XIX. p. 7. 
 
\'I.] THE REFORMATION. 205 
 
 This great effect, I am aware, may be largely 
 attributed by some to tlie power of example, to 
 removal from native idolatry, and to incorporation 
 into European modes of social life. And therefore, 
 to show that the work of conversion has proceeded 
 even without these collateral aids, I would refer 
 briefly to the success that has rewarded the toil of 
 the Moravians, amid the glens and barren plains of 
 Southern Africa, among the Caffres, Hottentots, 
 and Fingoos. The mission was commenced in 
 these wild tracts in 1736, but the jealousy of the 
 Dutch Government caused its suspension after six 
 years, and for half a century the small congregation 
 was entirely deserted by Christian instructors. It 
 was revived, however, in 1792 ; and to exhibit the 
 progress that has been made since that period, 
 I would observe that in 1816, in two stations only, 
 congregations of Hottentots were collected to the 
 number of above 1500 souls ;' and if we compare 
 this statement with later returns, the increase has 
 been marked and decisive. The number of stations 
 has been increased to seven ; — nearly 5000 heathen 
 have been gathered into congregations, of whom 
 about three-fourths are baptized. A zealous 
 labourer in this work, shortly before his death, 
 had to report, that in one station, and within one 
 year, above 130 had been received to holy baptism, 
 and was enabled to cheer his dying hour with the 
 
 ' See Missions of tlie United Brethren, p. 419. 
 
206 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 prospect of ii wider extension of the Gos})cl of 
 grace.' 
 
 But I cannot dismiss this review without some 
 notice of the extensive movement w^hich has of late 
 occurred in the islands of the South Pacific. Since 
 the year 179G, the London Missionary Society has 
 maintained a considerable numloer of teachers in 
 the groups of the Society Islands, for the conversion 
 of the natives. Throughout a long period their 
 labours met wdth no success." Of later years, how- 
 ever, chiefly through the enterprize of one man of 
 much energy and singleness of purpose, — well cal- 
 culated too, by his skill in the manual arts, to 
 attract the mind of the savage, — wdiole clusters of 
 islands, and many thousand natives, have at once 
 cast away their idols, and embraced the Gospel. 
 Immediately after one island had been gained, and 
 the benefits derived from the adoption of civilized 
 habits, and from the mcrcifid doctrines of Christi- 
 anity,'' had been witnessed, it appears that others 
 followed in the train. But the very readiness with 
 which the Gospel has been received would make us 
 fear that it can be held at present but insecurely, 
 or in a very imperfect form. Indeed, we learn from 
 the evidence of missionaries, that the conversions 
 
 ' Report of Missions of the United Brethren, 1811, p. 27. 
 
 - " For sixteen years," writes Mr. Williams, " notwithstanding 
 the untiring zeal, the incessant journeys, and the faithful exliorta- 
 tions of these devoted men, no spirit of interest or inquiry 
 appeared; no solitary instance of conversion took place." Mis- 
 sionary i:nterprizes, p. 13. ^ Ibid. pp. 185, 189, 190. 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 207 
 
 which have been recorded very commonly followed 
 on defeat, or on the apprehension of defeat, in 
 battle,' or upon sickness, when the help of idols was 
 found to be vain,^ or were largely dependent on the 
 influence of chiefs.^ In such circumstances as these 
 Ave recognise the natural — and, as history shows 
 them to have been, the usual — causes by which 
 sudden and extensive movements have been effected 
 amono- savage tribes. Thus it was that manv of the 
 simultaneous conversions of numbers were produced 
 in the missions of the sixth and seventh centuries, 
 to which these present proceedings bear a stronger 
 resemblance than those in the other countries which 
 have been noticed, as regards the condition of the 
 heathen, the position of the missionaries, and the 
 effects which have been witnessed. But any such 
 sudden impulse cannot be implicitly relied on ; the real 
 character and value of such conversions can be tested 
 only by time, and by the result exhibited in the 
 
 ' Missionary Enterprizes, p. 185. Mr. Williams observes, "It is 
 a very remarkable fact, that in no island of importance has Christi- 
 anity been introduced without a war ; but it is right to observe, 
 that in every instance, the heathens have been the aggressors." 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 72. See also Polynesia, by Bishop Russell, p. 39.". 
 The author, in a note, quotes a passage from Williams's Mis- 
 sionary Enterprizes, p. 281, in which it is said, "The reader 
 will remember that it was when Pomare was ill, his people pro- 
 posed to destroy the images of Oro, presuming that the god was 
 either malignant or powerless." In the eighth edition of Mr. 
 Williams's work, this sentence is omitted, though the context 
 remains the same. 
 
 ^ Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. p. 88, quoted in Polynesia, 
 pp. 386, 387. 
 
208 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 future character of a nation.' Already, in the Society 
 and Georgian Isles, relapses have occurred to a griev- 
 ous extent.^ In truth, among uncivilized tribes, 
 commonly capricious in their temper, easily at- 
 tracted, and as easily passing from one feeling to its 
 opposite, the difficulty is not to induce them to 
 accept a new faith, but to keep them in it.^ And 
 when we consider the rapid method in which con- 
 versions were effected, how the missions seemed 
 to depend on the influence and authority of indi- 
 viduals, how they were committed at once to native 
 catechists, with no fixed superintendence, no definite 
 
 ' The charges brought by some voyagers against the converts 
 in these islands, and against the conduct of the missionaries, are too 
 well known to need repetition. They may be found in Kotzebue 
 (Voyage round the World, 1830) ; Captain Bccchey (Narrative of 
 a Voyage to the Pacific); and the Edinburgh Review, No. LI II. 
 p. 217; and are quoted in Bishop Russell's Polynesia, j)p. l\o, 
 114, 394. The latter writer quotes also, to the same purpose, 
 from an unpublished Journal, p. 404, &c. The ])robable truth is, 
 that both the missionaries and the travellers have drawn rather 
 partial portraits from the view of the natives presented to each. 
 Still we cannot but tliink it likely, that some such evil results to 
 the native character as are charged, should arise from the extreme 
 rigour of some of the laws imposed on their converts by the 
 missionaries; such as the prohibition of fire, even to dress their 
 meals, on Sunday, attendance at public worship required five times 
 in the day, the discontinuance of several masculine amusements, 
 which are mentioned also l)y Lord Byron (Voyage of II. M. S. 
 Blonde, p. 1 US). 
 
 - Report of London Missionary Society, 1842, p. 3. 
 
 •'' " Cum enim sint (Barbari) leves corde, facile crcdunt, non 
 fidem concipientes ex Deo, facile quoqueidretractantinconstantes 
 et leves." (Joseph. Acosta de Proc. Ind. Sal. p. 250.) Thus in 
 the very first year of Brainerd's preaching, the Indians readily 
 abolished their idolatrous sacrifices and heathenish dances, and 
 even drunkenness was checked. Brown, vol. i. p. 91. 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 209 
 
 worship, nor provision for succession in the minis- 
 try, — while we thankfully welcome whatever im- 
 provement has resulted to the islands, — we cannot 
 but feel that the ground is but broken up, that no 
 means exist for its effectual culture ; nor can we 
 discern the presence of any power sufficient to cope 
 with the advancing influence of the Romanists, 
 supported, as it now is, by the protection of the 
 civil government. 
 
 A more solid, and no less marked advance of the 
 Gospel has been effected in a mission which, from 
 the hopes and anticipations which are centred on 
 that new country and its rising Church, must 
 engage all our sympathies, — the mission of New 
 Zealand. A more strikino- instance it has not 
 been permitted to later generations to witness, 
 than was exhibited on this field, of the conver- 
 sion of nearly a whole nation. In 1814, the 
 Church Missionary Society first commenced its 
 labours in these islands, but for fifteen years no 
 native was affected by the word of life, which was 
 wholly checked in its course, chiefly through the 
 savage opposition of one notorious marauder.' The 
 fact of the natives being scattered about in tribes 
 under separate chiefs^ was another source of hin- 
 drance, not only from the perpetual jealousies and 
 
 ' Evidence on Aborigines, p. 219. 
 
 ^ Blumliardt, speaking of the Sclavi being broken up into small 
 tribes, remarks with great truth, "I'histoire entiere nous moutre 
 que cette circonstance a toujours ete defavorable aux progres de 
 I'Evangile, et la mission Chretienne a toujours trouve une entree 
 plus facile chezles peuples sourais a un meme sceptre." Vol.iv. p.G. 
 
 P 
 
2U) MISSIONS SI^'CE [Lkct. 
 
 wars to -wliicli it gave rise, but from the ab- 
 sence of any such influence as was found to aid 
 the reception of the Gospel in the Society and 
 Sandwich groups, where the several islands were 
 subject to one king or ruler. I'rom the period of 
 1829, the gathering in of the heathen has been 
 gradual and decisive. We may probably trace the 
 more favourable reception which the missionaries 
 then began to experience, to the conviction of the 
 natives, that they were come to settle among them 
 for beneficent purposes ; ^ in their own expressive 
 language, they found they were come " to break 
 their clubs in two ; to blunt the points of their 
 spears ; to make this tribe and that tribe love one 
 another, and sit down as brothers and friends ;"' 
 and hence they listened to their teaching. Thus 
 converts were gained ; the inhuman practices which 
 before distinguished this savage race were discon- 
 tinued. With a surprising facility they gave them- 
 selves to instruction, and " to thousands of our 
 fellow-creatures in that distant quarter of the earth 
 God gave a new heart and a new spirit."'' During 
 the year 1841, the increase of those who were 
 under instruction, including baptized and hearers, 
 advanced from 29,000 to 35,000.' Distant tribes 
 are constantly being wakened to a desire to become 
 Christians, and send for a teacher to come and 
 instruct them. And thus, in calling individual 
 
 • Russell's Polynesia, p. M2. - Ibid. p. liiiC). 
 
 ^ Bishop of New Zealand's Thanks;j;ivin;jj Sermon, p. !). 
 
 * Church Missionary Report, 1842. 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 211 
 
 souls out of darkness, and instructing them in the 
 principles of the Christian faith, in guiding men in 
 habits of civilization and morality, the special work 
 which it is competent to Christians, as individuals, 
 to accomplish, has been effected, and has been 
 abundantly blessed of God. But to consoUdaie this 
 work, to carry it on, to develop the germ of 
 Christian life in converts, to knit them together 
 into a body, and lead them forward on settled 
 methods of discipline and instruction, to draw out 
 their true social life ; for all this some higher and 
 more complete system is needed, and that system is 
 to be found in the perfect organization of the Church. 
 And therefore we may look with cheerful thoughts 
 tow^ards this new colony ; we may thankfully 
 admire the Providence of God in having, at such a 
 conjuncture, moved the hearts of our spiritual rulers 
 to send a Chief Pastor to what his own fervent 
 devotion regarded as " a land of Promise, a goodly 
 heritage;" one who views himself and his fellows 
 as guided by the Holy Spirit to plant, through 
 Him, " a new branch of Christ's universal Church 
 in the midst of a race of native Christians ; to be 
 the prop and stay round which their early faith 
 might entwine its branches, that it might grow 
 with their growth, and strengthen with their in- 
 crease of strength." • 
 
 The foregoing is but a sketch of those labours 
 
 Bishop of New Zealand's Sermon, p. 11. On the Churcli in 
 New Zealand, see Appendix, No. XXXIII. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect, 
 
 which of late years, and of late years alone, have 
 been engaged in for the propagation of the Gospel, 
 partly by the Church, and partly by various Protes- 
 tant bodies. Many reflections and some instructive 
 lessons seem to arise from the review. 
 
 And first, we must feel convinced, that, desultory 
 and iniorganizcd as these labours have been, yet it 
 would be denying the grace of God, and closing our 
 eyes against His mercifid workings, to doubt that a 
 blessing, — and one cpiite as large as the character of 
 the means employed would justify us in expecting, — 
 has been bestowed upon them. Savages have been 
 reclaimed and drawn from their altars of blood, to 
 bow before the Cross of Christ their Saviour ; their 
 idols have been cast " to the moles and to the 
 bats." Men of fierce passions, whose glory it was 
 to drain the blood of an enemy, have become 
 tender and forgiving ; intractable and wild, have 
 learned to " dwell in ])eaceable habitations, and in 
 sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places." " The 
 wilderness has become a fruitful field, under the 
 hands of men who have but lately learned from the 
 Gospel to love the arts of peace."' Men have torn 
 themselves from home and kindred, and rent the 
 dearest ties, and borne a mother's bitter imprecation, 
 and counted all things but loss, that they might 
 win Christ.- On the fertile plains of Hindostan, 
 
 ' Bishop of New Zciland's Sevmon, p. 10. 
 
 ^ See the very Jiireeting statement of a Hindoo convert quittinti: 
 his home, in Dr. Duff's spoccli on The Church t)r Sconar.il's 
 India Mission, 1S;35, ]). 21. 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 213 
 
 and the bleak shores of Greenland, amid the islands 
 of the Southern Pacific, and the arid wastes of 
 Africa, the sound of the Gospel has been heard; 
 and, whatever we may think of the fulness or 
 sufficiency with which it has been set forth before 
 the heathen mind, yet of a surety we have seen 
 the civilized and thoughtful Brahmin, — the island- 
 savage, — the half-humanized Esquimaux, and Hot- 
 tentot, transformed in mind and heart, under the 
 power of the word of God, casting off their former 
 prejudices and stormy passions and palsy of soul, 
 and rising into new life under the healing shadow 
 of the Cross of Christ. I might adduce, were it 
 suitable, instances, and these touching ones, in 
 which the power of God has beyond doubt been 
 exhibited in the actings of a vigorous and venturing 
 faith, in the control of passions, which before it had 
 been deemed a virtue to gratify ; in the spirit of 
 self-sacrifice which has enabled the young convert 
 to forsake mother and brethren, and all that he had, 
 to foUow Christ. These are signs of Christ's king- 
 dom, and they are before our eyes, and we dare 
 not deny them. The w^ord of God is active, and 
 does not fail, does " not return void," but is 
 prospering " in the thing whereunto it is sent." 
 
 But have not these efforts been marked largely 
 also by failure, or by results incommensurate with 
 the amount of labour and resources that have been 
 expended upon them? This too must be freely 
 acknowledged. The earlier missions of the English 
 
214 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 in America seemed to fail on tlic removal of each 
 zealous missionary.^ Those of the Dutcli in the 
 Indian islands ceased and became obliterated, with 
 the cessation of the civil authority which upheld 
 them. In many districts where the jMoravians had 
 commenced the work of evangelizing the natives, in 
 Lapland, Ceylon, Persia, and among the Kalmuc 
 Tartars, no trace of their operations any longer 
 remains." The attempts of Protestant bodies to 
 evangelize China, and the neighbouring kingdoms, 
 have signally failed. We must confess that hitherto 
 no widely spread impression has been made on 
 British India; that the older missions of Tran- 
 quebar and Tanjore appear for a time to have 
 lanQ-uished ; that others are carried on but fceblv ; 
 so that we may not wonder at the doid)ts that have 
 been expressed by casual observers, as to any 
 advance of the faith of the Cross on the strongholds 
 of Hindoo superstition. An attempt was made to 
 gain an entrance among the Zooloo race, l)ut it 
 failed. Compare the visible results obtained, with 
 the multiplied machinery, urgency of appeal, and 
 vast expenditure, with which the missions are 
 prosecuted, and it must be owned they are greatly 
 disproportionate. And hence arises a question of 
 deep interest, — to what causes may these failiu'es 
 and this inadequacy of success be traced ? 
 
 There are those who will at once reply, that they 
 
 ' See a former Appendix, No. XXXII, 
 
 ^ Missions of United Brethren, pp. 437 — 151!. 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 215 
 
 are to be traced alone to the so-called Protestant 
 principle, whicli admits of no other sanction and 
 authority in religion, but the Holy Scriptures. I 
 trust that what has been already adduced is suf- 
 ficient to show, that notwithstanding this principle, 
 supposing it to exist, successes have, nevertheless, 
 been obtained ; for undoubtedly, (to repeat one 
 instance,) the ]\Ioravians, the most devoted and 
 fruitful among Protestant missionaries, seem, in 
 the tone of their language, to symbolize with those 
 by whom such a rule is supposed to be accepted. 
 And further, I would observe, that no such objec- 
 tion can apply to the Church of England, even 
 though the conduct of some of its members, or of 
 associations formed within it, may have given cause 
 for the charge ; for it has never asserted nor acted 
 upon any such principle, but claims an authority in 
 matters of faith and discipline. And certainly 
 there are many causes by which the apparent un- 
 productiveness of its missionary exertions may be 
 readily and satisfactorily explained. Consider how 
 recently these efforts have been commenced, which 
 yet, by God's mercy, are being strengthened and 
 multiplied. Consider how long a period is com- 
 monly needed for maturing a system, (and without 
 system all effort is useless,) on which operations, 
 large and varied, and pregnant with new and 
 difficult conjunctures, are to be conducted. Then 
 reflect on the paucity of missionaries by which so 
 great a work has been enterprized ; some thirty, scat- 
 
216 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 tered through Northern India, with its 70,000,000 
 heathen ;' ten allotted to the diocese of Bombay -^ 
 four located among a population of 000,000 in 
 Tanjore.^ This latter district is named, because 
 it has been selected as an instance of om* dis- 
 comfiture ; and yet here it is that the missionaries 
 complain that they can do no more than minister to 
 the converts already gained, that " many hundreds 
 of villages are never visited," that, " instead of 
 eighty or one hundred converts from heathenism, 
 with which the labours of Schwartz were annually 
 blessed, we have seldom more than five or six to 
 bring forward as the fruit of our labours. And this 
 is not owing to any opposition to the Gospel on the 
 part of the heathen, but simply to the fact, that they 
 have not the Gospel preached to them at all."' T 
 coidd cite passages from Bishop Heber^ and the 
 present Bishop of Madras,*^ to the same point, were 
 it required ; but the fact will not be disputed by 
 any one conversant with the subject. The hesita- 
 tion commonly shown in administering Holy Bap- 
 tism, protracted at times to a probation of several 
 
 ' Since this \v<as written, the Bisliop of Calcutta's Charge states 
 that there are now thirty- seven clergy iu his diocese. In 1838 
 there were only twenty-nine. Of course the East India Com- 
 pany's chaplains are not included ; for their services are devoted 
 to Europeans. 
 
 2 i. e. four on the S. P. G. list, and six on the C. M. S. list. Re- 
 ports, 1812. 
 
 •' KohlofF's Report, in Madras Report for 1S;58, p. 61. 
 
 ' Il)id. p. G2. 
 
 '•' Journal, vol. iii. p. 01. 
 
 « Reports. V. C. 1811, p. cliv. 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 217 
 
 years, ^ tlie care with wliicli the faith and the worship 
 of Christ are protected from any contamination or 
 admixtnre with Pagan superstitions,^ diminish the 
 number of those who might otherwise be gained to 
 swell the amount of success. It nmst be admitted, 
 too, that through the lack of discipline which 
 Henry Martyn^ lamented, not only are converts 
 deprived of the guidance and instruction which is 
 needed for their growth in grace, but the Church is 
 stripped of those signs of power and holiness, 
 wdiereby it might testify to the heathen that it 
 is indeed the city of God upon earth. These 
 remarks, confined to India, might more or less be 
 extended to the missions in various lands ; and 
 other hindrances already alluded to might be 
 added ; but surely these are, of themselves, fully 
 adequate to account for such scantiness of success, 
 and so slow an advance of the Gospel of grace, as 
 we have to deplore. 
 
 But beyond a doubt, when we reflect on the pro- 
 ceedings of other bodies, there do appear inherent 
 faults in the method of their operations, to which 
 we cannot but attribute the want of permanency, 
 and in many cases the very scanty fruit that has 
 resulted from their labours. They have acted on 
 the persuasion of the Holy Scriptures being the 
 
 ^ An instance of baptism delayed for fonr years occurs in 
 C. M. S. Report for 1842, p. 73. 
 
 ^ As in the observance of caste, wliicli converts are required to 
 renounce. 
 
 3 Memoirs, p. 287. 
 
218 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 chief instrument of conversion, and therefore, in the 
 most extensive scene where this principle has been 
 apphed, a most extensive failure has followed. 
 Dr. Morrison arrived at Canton in 1807, and at 
 once set himself to the translation, into Chinese, 
 of the sacred Scriptures, with other religious writ- 
 ings. From the commencement of his work up to 
 1838, a prodigious dispersion was made of the 
 word of God, and of religious tracts. Some mis- 
 sionaries were joined with him, and were stationed 
 at Penang, Singapore, and Malacca, to aid the 
 work of distribution by preaching. The narrative 
 of one of them records, at the last-named period, 
 that, at Macao and Canton, in twenty-one years, 
 ten had " entered the Church;"^ at Penang, after 
 sixteen years, thirteen had been baptized;" at 
 Singapore, which mission was conunenced at the 
 same date with the last, three natives had been 
 baptized " in course of time," as the fruit of these 
 labours." At Malacca a somewhat different system 
 was pm'sued ; for a seminary and school were insti- 
 tuted, besides an establishment for printing, and a 
 Chinese convert was joined to several missionaries 
 for the purpose of preaching. Here, however, after 
 twenty-two years' labour, as near as can be col- 
 lected, about sixty had been baptized.^ During 
 this period, in all the ncighbom-ing districts an 
 
 ' Mcdhurst's Ciiina, p. 27(). ^ II)ul. pp. 32')— .'327. 
 
 "' Ibid. p. 328. ' Ibid, cli. xii. tlirougbotit. 
 
VI.] THE RErOllMATION. 219 
 
 almost incredible distribution of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures and otlier writings had been accomplished, 
 aided with vast funds, and zeal, to give a fair trial 
 to the great experiment ; and such is the result. 
 We may observe, also, that not here alone, but in 
 other fields in which missionaries, connected with 
 these sects, have been engaged, their proceedings 
 are marked by a rejection of any authority as exist- 
 ing in the Church ; nay, they profess to teach only 
 certain doctrines, and repudiate the idea of propa- 
 gating the Gospel in connexion with, and through 
 an ordained system.' And, still further, as a 
 necessary consequence of this principle, their opera- 
 tions have been characterised by a faulty and feeble 
 Individualism, both in the means employed, and in 
 the result sought to be obtained. The being joined 
 to Christ is made to consist solely in the acceptance 
 of certain truths, and in the inward experience of 
 their power. Hence, personal conviction is alone 
 regarded ; spiritual emotions, and not the concm*- 
 rence of the will in an external deiinite creed and 
 law of holiness, are viewed as the test of conver- 
 sion ; the being united to a body, and the reception 
 of a gift on being baptized into it, is lost sight of. 
 Hence missions have declined because resting solely 
 
 ' It is declared to be a fundamental principle of tlie London 
 Missionary Society, that " its design is not to send Presbyte- 
 rianism, Independency, Episcopacy, or any other form of Church 
 
 order and government, but the glorious Gospel of the 
 
 blessed God, to the heathen." 
 
220 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect. 
 
 on personal labours ; hence lias sprung the relapse 
 of converts through their being left destitute of due 
 aids to their faith; hence has arisen the inability to 
 consoHdate and give permanency to the work of 
 conversion in a people, and to transmit it, un- 
 changed, to posterity. 
 
 There is a work, indeed, (as has been already 
 urged and illustrated,) in which individual Chris- 
 tians, as such, may engage, and produce an im- 
 mediate result. They may prepare the way, may 
 affect men as indiinch((ds, may waken their con- 
 science, may call them from idols, may break up 
 the fallow ground, may humanize and civilize ; 
 luit to build up the House of God, to feed the 
 flock of Christ, to unite in one, to provide for 
 future generations ; for these high ends, (and 
 without these permanency cannot be secured,) the 
 appointed ordinance of God in His Church is 
 needed, with its solemn round of homily and 
 litany, fast and festival, the inculcation of its 
 creeds, the controlling influence of its disci})line 
 and godly rule. 
 
 For a time, then, (uid among uncivilized tribes, 
 labours such as those just mentioned may succeed ; 
 but they can do so only u[) to a certain pohit. 
 They are wholly insuiii("i(Mit, when uumlx-i's have 
 received the Gospel, to form them into a })cople, 
 being destitute of those true princi})les on which 
 social existence depends. And therefore they have 
 proved altogether inefficacious in extending the 
 
VI] THE REFORMATION. 221 
 
 Gospel among nations advanced in civilization and 
 possessed of an organized religions system, like the 
 empires of the East. This is strikingly illustrated 
 by a tabular statement, drawn up in a most impar- 
 tial spirit, in order to exhibit the success attending 
 the labours of several missionary societies in India. 
 In this table the number of the baptized is specified, 
 both in some missionary districts connected with 
 the Church of England, and in others of several 
 denominations of Protestants, And the result is 
 as folloAvs. Thirty-three stations are named ; in 
 fourteen of these, which belong to our Clmrch, 
 the number of baptized is above G400 ; while in 
 the nineteen remaining stations, connected with 
 Protestant Dissenters, the number amounts to 
 but 692.' 
 
 We see, then, in such methods an inherent defect, 
 an inability to take up the command of Christ, and 
 "make disciples of all nations." We see why 
 failure adheres to them as a natural result. Christ 
 has appointed a divine institution for this end, and 
 Avithout it this end cannot be accomplished. The 
 neglect of any of God's appointments in a given 
 work, must cripple its progress, and bring discomfi- 
 tm^e in due time. So far as it is conducted accord- 
 ing to His will, it may secure a blessing, and to 
 that extent confer one — but no further. Personal 
 faith, and love, and clevotedness, may carry with 
 
 ' This Table, whicli is taken from the Rev. Baptist Noel's 
 Essay on Christian Missions, is given in Appendix, No. XXXIV. 
 
222 MISSIOIS'S SINCE [Lect. 
 
 tliciii blessings to individuals ; but tlicy arc circum- 
 scribed by individual life ; they cannot transmit 
 themselves; they cannot reach beyond their measure; 
 and if they alone are trusted to for executing what 
 is to be universal and perpetual, they must fail. 
 We may thank God, then, on witnessing signs of 
 His blessing upon labours thus undertaken, where- 
 ever the Chiuch has not acted, nor brought its 
 divine commission and polity to bear upon the 
 heathen world. But we nmst not mistake these 
 labours for the power of the Church itself, nor be 
 content with such desultory, imperfect methods of 
 doing the wdll of God. The Cluu'ch has gifts and 
 energy of a wider range and influence ; its system 
 is adapted to affect, and call forth, and control, and 
 sanctify the wdiole man, in all his powers and in 
 all his relations, not individual alone, but social and 
 civil. It can address itself to the lawless and rude 
 independence of savage life, to the compacted and 
 stately fabric of w^ell-organized governments, and 
 to the refinements of civilized society. It can take 
 u}) the work where individual exertion fails. And 
 while the thought may excite shame and self- 
 reproach, still it is a consolation to feel, and to avow, 
 that if its doings have not been witnessed in con- 
 verting the pagan nations, this has arisen, not from 
 any failure in the attempt, but from the attempt 
 not having been duly made. It is consolatory 
 also to observe, that wherever this Divine system 
 has been drawn out in greater completeness and 
 
VI.] THE REFORMATION. 223 
 
 integrity, there a fresli energy has at once been seen 
 to go forth, and stir into hfe the dry bones of the 
 valley of death. We may trace the new and cheer- 
 ing aspect that has been impressed on the Indian 
 missions, and the revival of the Avork in the latter 
 days, to a larger unfolding of the powers that be- 
 long to the Church catholic. The last four years 
 have witnessed an enlargement of its borders in 
 North and South India, which, but of late, would 
 have been deemed visionary.' In other colonial 
 districts — in Australia, North America, New Zea- 
 land — a fresh energy, evidenced by the earnest 
 appeals for more labourers from amongst us, has 
 been infused by the extension of the episcopate. ' 
 Among heathen nations, Ceylon now waits for its 
 portion in the Church. In prospects such as these 
 we may thankfully rejoice and " take courage." 
 Let us receive them as tokens upon us for good. 
 Let us only the more " stand upon our watch, and 
 set us upon the tower, and watch to see what the 
 Lord will say unto us, and what we shall answer 
 
 ^ See tlie Letters and Charges of the Bishops of Calcutta and 
 Madras. 
 
 ^ Of the need felt of the perfect organization of the Church, an 
 instance is given by Mr. Schon, who accompanied the Niger expe- 
 dition, and who writes, " I have no hesitation in saying, that if 
 the Church at Sierra Leone had been blessed with the paternal 
 care of a bishop, several would ere now have been admitted to 
 holy orders." Quoted in Trew's Letter to the Bishop of London, 
 p. 53. A similar sentiment is expressed by a missionary, writing 
 from the farther districts of North America, m the Church Mis- 
 sionary Record for December, 1842, p. 299. 
 
224 MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION. [Lect. VI. 
 
 when \vc arc reproved."' Even yet our past neg- 
 lect may be done away ; and tliongli, through 
 disunion, and through the irregular zeal of others, 
 who have entered, uncalled, upon the work which 
 they found unattempted, embarrassment and diffi- 
 culty may attend our steps, — though the seed may 
 have to be sown in sorrow and amidst gainsay- 
 ings, — even yet the Lord will show that He has 
 chosen His Church to be a blessing to all people, 
 to "bear" His "name before the Gentiles, and kings, 
 and the children of Israel."^ 
 
 1 Ilubakkuk ii. I. - Acts ix. 15. 
 
LECTURE Vir. 
 
 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS OF THE 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 
 
 Luke XXII. 35, 36. 
 
 AND HE SAID U\TO THEM, WHEN I SENT YOU WITHOUT PUllSE, 
 AND SCRIP, AND SHOES, LACKED YE ANYTHING? AND THEY SAID, 
 NOTHING. THEN SAID HE UNTO THEM, BUT NOW, HE THAT HATH 
 A PURSE, LET HIM TAKE IT, AND LIKEWISE HIS SCRIP : AND HE 
 THAT HATH NO SWORD, LET HIM SELL HIS GARMENT, AND BUY 
 ONE. 
 
 The conduct of our blessed Lord towards His 
 disciples while He was on the earth, seems to 
 present a type of that method which He has observed 
 in His dealings with His Church since His ascen- 
 sion into heaven. While He was with them, His 
 fostering care was over them in a large measure ; 
 and there was, for the time, a suspension of that 
 severer ordeal wdiich they were afterwards to endure. 
 They could not, and, in His presence, needed not to 
 use those fastings which were to be their portion 
 afterwards, when He was taken away. On their 
 first commission to preach, they had gone forth 
 unprovided with the common means of support, yet 
 lacked nothing : but now He bids them, in the 
 
 a 
 
220 THE niESENT CONDITION AND AVANTS [Lect. 
 
 prospect of their coming trial, to take witli them 
 their scrip, and purse, and sword. Such too have 
 been His deahngs with the Church. For a time 
 His special power watched over and aided its 
 infancy; and, while the larger endowment of 
 spiritual gifts rested upon it, there needed not the 
 appliances of worldly help to speed it onward. But 
 since the withdrawal of these gifts the extension of 
 the Gospel has been committed to human agency, 
 and it is to be advanced by the use of all such 
 instruments and means as Christian prudence and 
 the consecration of the gifts of God to His service 
 can supply. 
 
 In the review that has been taken of the mis- 
 sionary labours of later years, my purpose has been 
 to discover those methods on the use of which their 
 success or failure have seemed to depend. For in 
 the execution of any purpose of God, the single 
 consideration on which the care and thoughtfulness 
 of those engaged in it need to be fixed, is, whether 
 the means proper for the attahnncnt of the end are 
 employed ; and difficulties last only so long as these 
 fail to be applied. Therefore, if any such discussion 
 as the present is to be more than a mere idle 
 speculation, we must necessarily direct our thoughts 
 to those points on which the efforts of the Church 
 seem to have been defective, and to the consideration 
 of how she may be enabled to rise u]) in the 
 strength of the Lord, and enter upon the vast 
 work that lies before her. 
 
VIL] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 227 
 
 And since means must be proportioned to tlie 
 object to be attained, let it be permitted, in the 
 ontset, to survey shortly the harvest-field of mis- 
 sionary labour, so as to catch, in outline at least, 
 the characteristics of its main divisions. Viewing 
 the expanse of Paganism in its broader features, it 
 presents itself under a threefold aspect. And as 
 each form of it lies more or less within defined 
 geographical limits, it will not be difficult to mark 
 off each division, and assign it to its proper district 
 on the chart of the earth. 
 
 The ancient dynasties of the East are possessed 
 generally by two vast religious systems, which meet 
 and are blended together in the Peninsula of Hin- 
 dostan. The former of these systems is that of the 
 false Prophet, which, exercising unopposed sway 
 over Western Asia, and extending along the north- 
 ern coast of Africa, offers the most formidable 
 obstruction to the faith of Christ, from the fact of 
 its being, as it is, a counterfeit of the Truth itself. 
 The great simplicity of its dogmas, proclaiming the 
 unity and spirituality of God, with the solemn 
 doctrine of a state of future reward and punish- 
 ment, and denouncing the sin of idolatry, are 
 calculated to seize hold of the mind and demand 
 tlie acquiescence of the reason. The existence of a 
 sacred record, which always, in its degree, secures 
 permanency to a creed; the pmity of its morals, 
 compared with what is recognised in Oriental super- 
 stitions ; the recollection of former grandeur, when 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 THE PKESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 Europe wjis indebted to Arabian genius for a revival 
 of its arts, and science, and learning ; and the 
 adaptation of the system, especially in its large 
 admixture of fabulous comment, to the Oriental 
 mind ; the increased civilization that has undoubt- 
 edly follow^ed in its track, and enlightened many of 
 the dark places of idolatry ; its alliance with power- 
 fid dynasties in Asia, and even in Europe; — all 
 these circumstances concur in giving a fixedness to 
 the system, and in rooting the Mahometan in his 
 faith, so as to forbid his viewing the Gospel of 
 Jesus Christ as holding any other place than that 
 allotted to it in his creed. 
 
 The second form of Paganism which, as holding 
 in subjection the hearts and understandings of one- 
 third of the human race, demands the concern of the 
 Church, is that stupendous and nuiltiform system, 
 which, from its being based on a strict Pantheism, 
 and on the doctrine of a metempsychosis, may be 
 regarded as one, though it assumes a twofold appear- 
 ance, as exhibited either in the practical Polytheism of 
 Brahminism, or in the purer Pantheism of the Budd- 
 hists. In India, the source of thought and civihza- 
 tion to the East, where it took its rise, it appears in 
 the more popular form of an Emanative system, in 
 which the one primordial essence is extended through 
 all forms of existence, shining brighter in the deities 
 than in the human soul, or inferior spirits, and is so 
 transmitted through all the manifold forms of being. 
 Erom the endless incarnations which have tluis been 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 229 
 
 evolved, there has sprung a complicated and varied 
 mythology, with a corresponding variety in the 
 rites and ceremonies which constitute the Hindoo 
 worship. Concurrently with this religious system, 
 the whole circle of knowledge, of science, physical 
 and metaphysical, of art, of law, and government, 
 of social and private duty, has been the subject of 
 express revelation, so that there is not a transaction 
 in which the Hindoo can engage for which he has 
 not, as he deems, the especial direction of heaven.' 
 In the further East, among the pastoral tribes of 
 Mongolia and Thibet, and in the isle of Ja^mn, this 
 same system, propagated under its later form of 
 Buddhism, displaced the simpler worship of the 
 elements, and of the genii presiding over them, 
 and gave rise to the religion of the Lamas and 
 the Bonzes ; while in China millions are still held 
 in subjection to its mystical creed. ^ In this vast 
 empire, however, it is brought into contact with 
 two other religious systems, which seem in some 
 degree to be modified by, or maintained concur- 
 rently with it in the minds of the population. 
 The former is that of Confucius, whose moral code 
 and materialistic tendencies are maintained chiefly 
 
 ^ A more philosophical view of the Hindoo theory than is 
 commonly given in accounts of that superstition, is to be found 
 in Dr. Duff's India and India Missions, ch. ii., and has been 
 followed in the text. 
 
 ^ This is reckoned by M. Abelllemusat (Relation des Voyages 
 Bouddhiques, Introd. p. xliii.) as the second great outbreak of 
 Buddhism, and is placed by him at about 100 B.C. 
 
230 THE rilESENT condition and wants [Lect. 
 
 by the learned. The latter is that of Lao-tsze, 
 which has degenerated into a mass of inagical 
 snperstitions, though professing originally to pay 
 honour to the Eternal Reason. But all these 
 systems are equally characterised by one pervading 
 defect. The idea of one all-powerful and perfect 
 Being is so obscured by a countless multitude of 
 divinities, or refined away amid the subtleties of 
 metaphysical abstraction, as to be practically re- 
 jected ; so that throughout the nations of the East 
 are exliil)ited in combination the seemingly contra- 
 dictory princi})les of polytheism with atheism.' 
 
 The third form of idolatry and darkness to be 
 assailed by the Gospel, is the debased superstition 
 which prevails variously among the Africans, the 
 Indians of America, and the mixed Malay and 
 Negro races of the islands of the South Pacific. 
 Among these the idea of the Great Spirit is oblite- 
 rated in proportion as the tribes are more or less 
 barbarized. Yet, commonly, the superstition is 
 rude and formless, with no creed or system of 
 worship, accompanied by cruel rites and a belief 
 in a magical virtue, and attended by a degraded 
 state of civiHzed life. It is the religion, in a 
 word, of barbarism, of the primaeval tradition 
 run to its very dregs, varying its form according 
 to the state of the savage understanding, and modi- 
 fied by local custom and peculiarities. 
 
 The thought that occurs at once, on a general 
 
 ' Mcdhurst's China, p. 211). 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 231 
 
 glance at this field of infidelity, is to note a certain 
 correspondence between its separate parts, and 
 those various states of the Pagan world with which, 
 in the earlier periods, Christianity was brought 
 into conflict. 
 
 We may observe, first, that, in one main feature, 
 the struggle of the Church in the first four cen- 
 turies is analogous to its present position with 
 regard to the systematized superstitions of the 
 East ; viz. that it is a struggle with civilization, — 
 apolitical civilization in China, as was the case in 
 Greece and Rome, — a religious civilization in India, 
 as it was in Egypt. And next, that the long and 
 laborious extension of the Gospel among the barba- 
 rous races in Germany, Scandinavia, and Russia, 
 may be viewed as in some degree identical with 
 the task to be undertaken now among the uncivi- 
 lized tribes of the heathen world. 
 
 This correspondence, — though doubtless many 
 points of difference exist, enough to modify the 
 methods of action that may be adopted, — may yet 
 be thought sufficiently real, to lead us to look to the 
 past, in addition to the experience of later days, 
 for some general principles which may serve as a 
 guide to the Church in converting the nations. 
 For, from age to age, she has drawn from her 
 armoury implements of warfare, whereby, at first, 
 though a stranger in the midst of enemies, she 
 changed the face of the civifized Roman empire ; 
 and afterwards, though a captive, subdued her bar- 
 
232 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 barian conquerors, and gained a spiritual triumph 
 over force and violence. And we must believe, — 
 since human nature, in its broader features, is the 
 same, and the counsel of God standeth fast, — that 
 if He grant her the spirit to act faithfully upon the 
 same principles, His blessing will enable her to 
 prevail, as she has prevailed. 
 
 I. And now, the first principle which I would 
 point out as signalizing the earliest efforts of the 
 Church, diuring the periods of its greatest success 
 in evangelizing the heathen, and in which it must 
 be acknoAvledged that we have been mainly defi- 
 cient in our operations both at home and abroad, 
 is that of its acting on the ever present idea of its 
 being One Body. I will not speak now of unity 
 between the vast branches of the Catholic Chiu'ch, 
 but confine myself, on this point, to the proceed- 
 ings of our own Church ; in the operations of 
 which this principle may be observed, by our 
 acting as a body, and not merely as associated 
 individuals. The dissocializing principle that has 
 characterised and formed the Protestant sects, has 
 in a degree infected the Church, and has too much 
 broken up its organization into societies, which 
 (acting with more or less of countenance from its 
 rulers) have yet framed their own rules, and pm'sued 
 their own objects by their own means; have ap- 
 pealed to the faithfid on behalf of themselves; have 
 sent emissaries to urge their own claims ; have 
 redistributed the country into fresh districts for 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 233 
 
 their own operations, disregarding the ancient 
 ecclesiastical divisions ; have called on the clergy 
 to cooperate, with no concurrence of their Bishop ; 
 thus, in many cases introducing disorder and per- 
 plexity, and charging individuals with a duty which 
 belongs to them only in subordination to divinely- 
 appointed authority. The office of carrying the 
 Gospel to the heathen, in particular, is undertaken 
 by a professedly " Lay Association," which never- 
 theless selects, appoints, and sends missionaries ; 
 superintends and directs their operations ; forms 
 new missions and relinquishes them ; and so 
 assumes an authority and responsibility which was 
 ever wont to be reposed in the chief pastors of the 
 Church.' Let it be allowed that such societies 
 have been formed with a true desire for God's 
 glory, and in defect of provision being authorita- 
 tively made for executing the proposed work; yet 
 the principle must be acknowledged to be faidty, — 
 the system anomalous in the Church of Christ. 
 Saul waited not for Samuel to sacrifice, and it 
 Avas counted for disobedience ; and though God 
 
 ' A Statement, On tlie Constitution and Practice of the Church 
 Missionary Society, with reference to its Ecclesiastical Relations, 
 was pubUshed in Appenchx II. of the Society's Thirty-ninth Re- 
 port. I cannot but think, however, that a candid judgment must 
 perceive that this statement does not satisfy either the actual 
 circumstances of the case, or the principles involved in them. It 
 is difficult to conclude either that it is competent for a lay body 
 to do such ecclesiastical acts as are mentioned in the text, or that 
 the Society does not perform them. On this point, see Appendix, 
 No. XXXV. 
 
234 THE PRESENT COXDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 may mercifully have accepted this service, for the 
 sake of the i)icty which urged it, yet it cannot 
 but entail much difficulty and misunderstand- 
 ing, as being at variance with His Divine order 
 and rule. 
 
 In expanding further this remark, I trust I may 
 not be understood as speaking in a tone of censure, 
 but only as pointing out what must at once be 
 allowed to be a defect ; and, in illustration, let me 
 revert once again to experience. 
 
 The providences of God, as well as the declara- 
 tions of His word, have clearly marked that His 
 blessing rests with the Church as a body; while 
 neglect of this appointment, independent agency, 
 schemes devised in piety, indeed, but in man's 
 wisdom, and the adoption of means seemingly 
 more lit, energetic, and apt for the work, yet 
 without Divine sanction, have led into error, have 
 succeeded, perhaps, for a time, and made (as all 
 plans pushed on by zeal ever do for a season) a 
 show of power and effect, yet in the end have failed 
 in consolidating and perpetuating their work. In- 
 stances of this have occurred in the review of past 
 missionary history. It has been illustrated in the 
 missions of Protestant bodies ; it has been shown 
 again in the very opposite, but (as happens in 
 extremes) analogous instances of the religious 
 orders of Rome, especially that of the Jesuits. 
 And it is so observable a corroboration of the 
 principle here sought to be established, that it may 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 235 
 
 be worth while to point out various ways in wliich 
 precisely the same results have sprung (even within 
 the short time they have yet existed) from the 
 religious associations of Protestants, as showed 
 themselves in the religious Societies of Rome, 
 proving an identity of principle involved in them. 
 
 1. We may trace, then, this identity most readily 
 in the tendency which manifests itself in both, to 
 act independently of the appointed government of 
 the Church by Episcopal authority. In Japan, in 
 Paraguay, in India, a marked jealousy of this 
 apostolic rule was evinced by the Jesuits ; ' even the 
 Papal decrees were disregarded when opposed to 
 their modes of action ; a persecution was raised 
 against prelates who resisted them, for they would 
 walk after their own ways, and were therefore found 
 
 ^ For instances, see Reciieil des Decrets Apostoliqucs et des 
 Ordonnances du Roi de Portugal, Avertissement, pp. 14—16 ; and 
 Histoire abregee des Jesuites, vol. ii. pp. 83 — 86. Paris, 1820. 
 Two bishops were consecrated at Rome in 1657 ; one, Bisliop of 
 Heliopolis, the other, Bishop of Berithe, to take charge of the 
 congregations in China, Cochin-China, &c. The Jesuits opposed 
 them as intruding on their ground. " lis firent savoir aux fideles 
 qu'ils n'eussent pas a reconnaitre les Eveques, ni a leur obeir." — 
 Histoire abregee, p. 9.5. For their conduct in Paraguay, see 
 Lect. V. p. 153, note 2. In 1626, a Bishop of Chalcedon was 
 appointed, with the authority of ordinary over the Roman 
 Catholics in England, and vmdertook to extend his jurisdiction 
 over the Jesuits ; but they threw such obstacles in his way that 
 he was obliged to retire. Hence arose a controversy between the 
 Jesuits and the adherents of the bishop, in which, among other 
 things, it was disputed, whether " regulars were under the jiirisdic- 
 tion of bishops." See Stillingfleet's Discourse concerning the 
 Idolatry practised in the Church of Rome. London, 1676, p. 421, 
 quoted in Bayle, art. " Knot," note (A). 
 
23G THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.' 
 
 in collision with external rule. Thus the associa- 
 tions of various Protestant bodies have necessarily cut 
 themselves off from this apostolic ordinance, with 
 which their constitution is incompatible. And even 
 within the Church, a sad evidence of this tendency 
 has been recently exhibited in the collision of a 
 Society with the Bishop of an Indian diocese, and 
 the wounds are yet unhealed.' Yet so it is, that 
 private voluntary schemes must, in their indepen- 
 dent action, naturally conflict with a controlling 
 authority, if that authority does not depend for its 
 existence on the same voluntary appointment. 
 
 2. Again, there was not a more melancholy 
 sight, than the strifes that arose between the rival 
 orders of Kome in China, in India, and throughout 
 Europe, each charging the other with departure 
 from the faith ; so that in jMalabar, a Jesuit 
 Christian was set in opposition to a Capuchin Chris- 
 tian.^ Would that we had not to lament the same 
 jealousy, marring the work of God in the same 
 unhappy field, among the various Protestant Socie- 
 ties, which, each jealous for its own honour, and 
 pushing its own schemes, are set in rivalry and 
 opposition one against the other ! ' 
 
 ' The case referred to, is that of the Rev. W. T. Ilamphrey, hitc 
 missionary of the Church Missionary Society at Mayaverani, in 
 the Uiocese of Madras. See Appendix, No. XXXVI. 
 
 - Norbert, Mem. Hist, des Missions dans les Indes Oricntalcs, 
 vol. i. p. 8. 
 
 * Thus, among the dangers attending the Krishnagliiir mission, 
 the Bishop of Calcutta names the divisions among dilferent bodies 
 of Christians. Church Missionary Society, 40th Reporl, p. 1.31. 
 
VII.j OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 237 
 
 3. A further correspondence may be remarked in 
 the inabihty which has attended both to coalesce 
 with the civil authority among the heathen. They 
 have been found, in some cases, neglecting it, and 
 thus rejecting a means appointed of God to aid in 
 the work of conversion,^ and in others, exercising 
 tyranny over it. It is needless to refer to the 
 precise and definite charges of interference Avith the 
 civil supremacy which caused the expulsion of the 
 Jesuits from many kingdoms. It is but the same 
 spirit that has exhibited itself in the uuAvise and 
 presumptuous exercise of authority that has marked 
 the conduct of Protestant emissaries among the 
 nations of the Pacific islands.^ And that it should 
 thus reappear is no strange thing ; for experience 
 proves that the temper of self-will which acts regard- 
 less of authority, is ever ready to seize upon it, even 
 unlawfully, when within its grasp. 
 
 4. We may further trace the same coincidence, 
 where perhaps we might not expect it, in a similar 
 and unreal substitution of an internal state, or 
 intention of the mind, for the entire worship of God 
 in body and soul. The true and scriptural teaching 
 
 1 Comp. Medhurst's China, p. 2.")0. 
 
 2 " They have acquired a degree of public and private impor- 
 tance, (having persuaded them [the natives] that they are the 
 necessary conductors to heaven,) which, but for the situation of 
 the islands, which secures a constant succession of foreigners for 
 the purposes of commerce, would bid fair to renew the Jesuit 
 dominion in Paraguay." Byron's Voyage to Sandwich Islands 
 pp. 146, 147 ; and Captain Beechy's Voyage to the Pacific, vol. ii. 
 p. 420 ; also Russell's Polynesia, p. 323. 
 
238 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 of the Cliurcli associates internal worship with its 
 corresponding external act, which at once em- 
 bodies, and fixes, and strengthens the inward 
 gracious temper. How this union has been violated 
 in the teaching of Protestant sects, which resolves 
 all true religion into an inward experience and 
 movement of the soul, is too well known. These 
 have discarded the outward worship. Yet just in a 
 similar way were the Jesuit missionaries found 
 maintaining that the intention of the mind by itself 
 constituted acceptable service to God, even though 
 allied to an idolatrous act. So that these have 
 sejmraled the outward from the inward ; and this, 
 too, purposely to justify a vicious permission of 
 heathen practices to their neophytes.' 
 
 5. It is but the same principle, moreover, in both 
 classes of societies, that has shown itself in the 
 tendency to become secular, and engage in the 
 acquisition of private property. In the West, and 
 in the East Indies, the emissaries of the Jesuits 
 were largely engaged in commercial pursuits ; and 
 thus wealth accrued to the order, and they were 
 ena])led to push their schemes over all the world, 
 until they became, through their secnlar transactions, 
 a scandal to Europe." And it is enough to notice 
 
 ' See Lect. V. p. IGi, note 1. 
 
 ^ On a point which has been so much the subject of discussion, 
 it will be enough to refer to sources of inlbrmation. The fact is 
 bewailed in most strong language by Josephus Acosta, de Proc 
 Ind. Sal. lib. iv. cap. xv. pp. 103, 401. See Norhert, vol. i. 
 pp. I.jT, 298. (In the latter passage the Jesuit Bishop of Melia- 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 239 
 
 a tendency towards the same results, a mixing of 
 the secular with the religious character, in the 
 conduct of missionaries of self-constituted societies. 
 It is avowed and claimed by them as among the 
 benefits of missionary enterprize, that they have 
 promoted commercial dealings, and directed them 
 among the islands of the South ;^ and in New 
 Zealand, the private specidations of missionaries 
 connected with the Church became so excessive, as 
 to bring reproach upon the mission.' Yet do not 
 these things illustrate only the natural tendencies of 
 individual associations, though formed for religious 
 purposes ? They are schemes of man's device, they 
 do not represent the spiritual society founded by 
 Christ, and therefore cannot throw themselves upon 
 the promise to that body ; they cannot follow the 
 Apostle's canon, and " give themselves wholly to 
 these things," but, having a human origin, they 
 are driven to sustain themselves by human expe- 
 dients. 
 
 pore is related to have inquired of tlie English governor of 
 Madras, in what character he would be received. " Comme un bon 
 marchand," \^as the reply.) The failure of Father La Valette at 
 Martinique, for above a million and half of livres, is related in the 
 Memoire a consulter, et Consultation pour Jean Lioncy, &c., 
 printed at Paris in 176L A " Memoire Apologetique," (in which, 
 however, the mercantile transactions of the Jesuits in Paraguay 
 are acknowledged,) occurs in Lettres Edif. vol. ix. p. 187. 
 
 ^ Evidence on Abor. p. 310. " The Great Commission," p. 238. 
 Mr. Williams seems to have engaged largely in such pursuits, and 
 on one occasion a speculation which he had entered into was 
 condemned, and his conduct censured. Life by Prout, p. 194. 
 
 2 Appendix, No. XXXVII. 
 
240 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 G. Lastly, another indication of the identity of 
 princi})le which pervades self-originated associations 
 is seen in the temptation to parade and exaggerate 
 the effects of their labours ; for, unable to appeal 
 to any special commission, they need the evidence 
 of visible success to justify and recommend their 
 proceedings. And the imputation of this untruth- 
 fulness of statement has been cast by each on the 
 other, till missionary reports have become a by-word, 
 and the whole work is distrusted. 
 
 The pernicious character of the tendencies Avhich 
 have been eniunerated will, I trust, prove that no 
 undue importance is attached to the evil which 
 besets the existence of such voluntary associations 
 witliin the Church. These ill results may exhibit 
 themselves in various degrees in various bodies, just 
 in proportion as they either practically recognise or 
 disregard e23iscopal control.' Still such bodies are 
 essentially faulty in their tendency, they usurp the 
 office assigned to the Church, and yet they are 
 incompetent to execute its work. For not being an 
 ordinance of God, they possess no corporate life, 
 
 ' It is but justice to remark that " the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the (lospel in Foreign Parts," IVom the unreserved manner 
 in which the direction of its affairs is submitted to the Bishops of 
 the Cluirch, under the constant personal superintendence of the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, and from the care with which it abstains 
 from any interference with its missionaries, who are pLiced entirely 
 under the control of the Colonial Bishop in whose Diocese they 
 oifieiate, is as free as possible from those faults to which voluntary 
 associations have a natural tendencv. 
 
VII.] OF THE CHUllCII OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 241 
 
 they are at best but an aggregate of individuals, 
 with no personahty, or responsibihty as a body, and 
 no source of unity ; they depend for existence on 
 private will and favour, and therefore can appeal to 
 no higher principle ; they cannot command the 
 allegiance or fix the affections of men. And besides 
 this, they introduce diversity of counsel and of action 
 where unity is an especial condition of success; and 
 thus, in the perplexities and difficidties which will 
 ever arise, they force upon us the conviction that 
 our missionary transactions, if any permanent 
 success is to attend them, should be conducted by 
 the constituted authority of the Church, and thus 
 claim the suffrages and alms of the faithfid. 
 
 Nor is this principle of the Church acting as one 
 body to be confined to its conduct in originating its 
 missions, but to be carried out and visibly exhibited 
 among the heathen. What has necessarily been 
 the effect of the desultory and uncombined action 
 that has been evinced at home, but a sad feebleness 
 and aimlessness of object in the dispersion of the 
 forces abroad ? Missionaries have been scattered 
 here and there, one or two amongst millions, acting 
 upon no system, representing no body, their spirits 
 exhausted under an oppressive sense of inability to 
 meet the demand upon them. And even where 
 some degree of success has followed, yet the 
 converts have been sprinkled over so wide a surface, 
 with no coherence or common life, that the results 
 have been scarcely visible. Therefnro it deserves 
 
 R 
 
242 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 our serious consideration whether we might not act 
 more cfliciontly by concentrating our labours, and 
 fixing them upon given spots where a Christian 
 community might be formed and organized ; where 
 the converts, being mutuaUy a support to one 
 another, aided by the restraints of disciphne,' and 
 removed beyond the influence of idolatrous practices 
 and associations, might exhibit a higher standard of 
 Christian advancement, and offer a more evident 
 witness to the heathen of the power and excellence 
 of the faith of Christ. 
 
 But in carrying out this design, it will seem 
 indispensable that, in planting any mission, not 
 one or two individuals be sent, but that a brother- 
 hood of clergy, under one invested with episcopal 
 authority, be associated together, and thus form 
 the germ from which a Christian Church may 
 unfold itself in its full proportions. Thus, at least, 
 in all earlier and more successful days, the apostles 
 of heathen Europe acted ; they began by centrali- 
 zation, and by setting up a Christian society. 
 Within its circle they maintained that mode of 
 life which might convince the heathen that, in 
 Christ, men were brought into a fresh relation to 
 God and to one another ; that this relationship did 
 not supersede, but sanctified and comprehended 
 within itself all other social bonds ; that, by making 
 
 * The absence of discipline amongst native converts was 
 lamented by Henry Martyn, Memoirs, p. 287. The necessity of 
 it among neophytes is strongly and justly urged by Josephus 
 Acosta, de I'rqc. Ind. S:il lib. iv. cap. xix. p. 122. 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 243 
 
 things spiritual the measure of things temporal, it 
 softened down the inequalities of life, giving dignity 
 to the weak, and humility to the strong, and so 
 miited men in a new family. Thus a visible 
 meaning was given to the language of Scripture, 
 to its pervading idea of the " Mount Sion," " the 
 heavenly Jerusalem," " the kingdom of God," the 
 "fellowship" of saints. From these central points 
 evangelists issued forth into the surrounding Pagan 
 country ; fresh wastes were recovered, and taken 
 possession of. The bounds of the Church gradu- 
 ally enlarged themselves from the primary seat of 
 occupation ; and by the concentration of power, 
 and by unity of action, means were provided for 
 regular advance, and for making a steady resistance 
 against the assaults of heathenism. 
 
 II. But if the review of the heathen world, in 
 its vast dimensions and various aspects, force upon 
 us the needfulness of a united and vigorous system 
 of operation, both at home in originating, and 
 abroad in executing, the onward advance of the 
 Gospel of Christ ; it equally establishes, that diver- 
 sity of means and of action must be employed in 
 the same work. In this respect the present con- 
 dition of Paganism offers a contrast to that which 
 belonged to it both in the earlier and middle ages 
 of the Christian era. Each of these periods had 
 its own distuiguishing character ; the aspect of the 
 heathen with whom the Church had to do was, for 
 the most part, the same. In the former period it 
 
 11 2 
 
2 [4 THE TRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lkct. 
 
 was civilized, in tlie latter it was barbarian. The 
 operations of the Church, within each, were there- 
 fore uniform. But now the heathen world presents 
 an aspect greatly diversified. On the one hand are 
 the Eastern superstitions, like the huge fortresses 
 Avhich crown the heights of India, bearing the 
 impress of a rude grandeiu% and witnessing to an 
 ancient civilization, the strongholds of a stern 
 despotism, under the shelter of which there has 
 grown up a cultivation of the arts and sciences, 
 with an advancement in social life, and, among the 
 privileged classes of natives, an extravagant but 
 abstruse philosophy, which will offer, at the least, 
 a strong inert force against the advance of Chris- 
 tianity. On the other hand are nations in all the 
 varying degrees of barbarism and gross idolatry, 
 scattered into tribes, uninstructed in the rudiments 
 of civilized life, and needing, in some cases, almost 
 to be humanized, in order to their elevation as 
 moral and immortal beings. 
 
 It is clear that a different system of treatment 
 must be adopted towards these diverse forms of 
 Paganism, in order effectually to bring them into 
 subjection to the truth. It will be required also 
 by that diversity of thought, and feeling, and cha- 
 racter, and association, wliich (to whatever cause 
 we trace it, whether climate, or habit, and a conse- 
 quent organization of the human, frame,) certainly 
 docs distini!;uisli the various races of the earth's 
 inhabitants. We recognise at once the strong 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 245 
 
 contrust which is presented in the imaginative cast 
 of the oriental mind, its fondness for abstraction 
 and dreamy thonght and symbohcal re}3resentations, 
 its mysticism and admiration of austerity, to the 
 practical and masculine character which is formed 
 in the western and northern climes, its cool intel- 
 lectual energy, its bodily activity which despises 
 indolent meditation, its proneness rather to scepti- 
 cism than superstition. And therefore this con- 
 sideration would lead us to conclude, that a dif- 
 ferent mode of address and treatment will be 
 needed towards heathen falling under the one class 
 of character from what is pursued towards the 
 other ; and that it would be impracticable to graft 
 the rational and unsymbolical form of European 
 worship on an imagination accustomed to contem- 
 plate divine things only under forms of external 
 grandem* and ceremonial. ^ 
 
 Enough, then, is said to show that diversity of 
 means needs to be employed in the propagation of 
 the faith among various races. Neither the same 
 methods of presenting the truth, nor the same 
 individuals, can meet the demands of all. Different 
 habits of thought, qualifications, resources, powers. 
 
 ^ The poverty of the external form vmder which the Gospel was 
 exhibited in India is thus spoken of by Bishop Middleton : " What 
 must the worshipper in mosque and pagoda think of men, who, 
 possessing all the resources of the country, and pretenchng to a 
 better faith, worsliip their Maker in buildings not distinguishable 
 from barracks and godorons ?" — Life by Le Bas, vol. i. p. 120. 
 
24G THE PIlESEIs^T CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 Ijodily and mental, are necessarily required for 
 each. The endowments of men fitted for so high 
 an office are partly the gifts of natnre, and partly 
 the result of long training and laborious acquisi- 
 tion. For a man successfully to address himself to 
 a Brahmin it will not be enough that he be person- 
 ally pious, and zealous, and filled with a compas- 
 sionate love of souls ; not enough for him to be 
 fluent in speech and versed in Scripture ; nor, on 
 the other hand, in addressing the savages of Africa 
 or New Zealand, is it alone needful that he possess 
 quickness of thought, be kind or prayerful, or even 
 apt at instruction. But besides and over these, 
 there needs an apparatus of means and qualifica- 
 tions adapted to the particular sphere in which he 
 is to be called into action. 
 
 Let me instance some of these (pialifications, in 
 illustration of the subject. 
 
 § 1. We learn from missionaries of the present 
 day, with what acuteness and subtlety the instructed 
 Hindoo will enter into abstruse argument — how 
 he will sift every statement of an opponent, draw 
 him off into the discussion of an aljstract question, 
 involve him in metaphysical intricacies or historical 
 doubts.' All the disputations on which years of 
 controversy have been expended, will be torn open 
 and renewed, as if objections of the kind had never 
 
 ' Church of Scothuid's India Mission, by Dr. Duil", p. 9. The 
 same thing is instanced in the life of Xavier, translated by 
 Dryden, pp. o.'Vi, 1)76. 
 
VII.] OF TIIK CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 247 
 
 before been made or answered. The Bible is 
 searched " for the express piu'pose of impugning 
 its sacred contents."' And besides this, the 
 partial introduction of European philosophy has 
 produced in India a new school of disputants. 
 Rejecting the more glaring absurdities, they yet 
 retain the principle of Pantheism, and, combining 
 with it parts of European systems, have formed 
 them into a new theosophic compound. Hence, 
 exactly the same process that took place in 
 Alexandria among the Platonists and Eclectics, 
 is adopted now by the more enlightened heathen 
 in Calcutta, and is, indeed, but a natural result 
 when philosophic paganism is being assaulted and 
 sifted by the truth.' They endeavour to strengthen 
 the former by subsidies from the latter. Adopt- 
 ing the language of a liberal philosophy, they 
 assert that " the Deity has appointed to each 
 tribe its own faith ; that he views with com- 
 placency in each particular place the mode of 
 worship respectively appointed to it ; sometimes he 
 is employed with the attendants on the Mosque, 
 sometimes he is in the Temple at the adoration of 
 idols, the friend of Mussulman and Hindoo, and 
 
 ' Missions the chief End of the Christian Church, by Dr. Duff, 
 p. 122. 
 
 ^ Ibid. p. 119. Professor Wilson, in his second Lcctvu-e, On 
 the Religious Practices and Principles of the Hindus, p. 60, 
 remarks that " the Hindus traverse the very same ground that 
 was familiarly trodden by the philosophers of Greece and Rome, 
 and pursue the same ends by the same or simihir paths." 
 
248 TJIE PKESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect, 
 
 the companion of the Christian."^ So that the 
 various forms of antagonism to the Christian faith 
 ■\\']iich once assailed it by direct opposition or by 
 false liberality, are reviving again under the auspices 
 of Hindu Eclectics or Unitarians." And it will 
 follow from hence that no common acquirements 
 or powers are needed for such an arena as this, 
 but that some missionaries, at least, must be 
 specially prepared, if they are to contend success- 
 fully with this race of subtle dialecticians. 
 
 § 2. But another class of qualifications will be 
 required under a different class of cu'cumstances. 
 Scarcely is there a greater difficulty, at times, than 
 to attract the attention, or (still more) to gain the 
 confidence of the heathen. In the first ages this 
 was achieved by the miraculous powers possessed 
 by apostolic men. The means placed in European 
 hands for accomplishing the same effect now, is the 
 superiority in arts and sciences, which strike the 
 heathen as " coming down from above." It w^as 
 by the possession of knowledge such as this that 
 the Jesuits made their wonderful advance in 
 China, and rose to the highest stations of confi- 
 
 ' Preface to the code of Hindu Law, compiled by command of 
 Warren Hastings. Professor Wilson's first Lect. p. 37. Duff, ut 
 sup. p. 120, who quotes the words. 
 
 ^ The system framed by Rammohun Roy, the late Hindu 
 Reformer, is simple Deism. A Society first formed I)y him exists 
 at Calcutta. The members meet together each Sunday for Divine 
 Service ; and an English newspaper is conducted by some of 
 them, advocating the opinions of the party " with remarkable 
 boldness and ability." — Professor Wilson's first Lect. p. 12. 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAISD MISSIONS. 249 
 
 dence, and were entrusted with the education of 
 princes. Astronomy, chemistry, the arts of survey- 
 ing, even mechanical skill, above all, the sacred art, 
 as it is deemed, of medicine, were the instruments 
 by which they secured to themselves an amount of 
 influence, which might have procured the conversion 
 of that vast empire. Among barbarous natives this 
 is the one source of concihation and power, as well 
 as an efiective instrument of their improvement. 
 The advance made in Africa by Islamism, the only 
 instance of a bloodless conquest obtained by that 
 crusading faith, has been achieved by the mysterious 
 influence of letters and science on the half-reasoning 
 mind of the negro. The practice of the commoner 
 arts first drew the savages of South America round 
 the Moravian missionaries, and, of later years, round 
 the teachers in the Pacific islands, just as cen- 
 turies before they di-ew the rude Ostrogoth to the 
 convent of Monte-Cassino, and, under the guidance 
 of St. Benedict, tamed his hardy energy by the 
 gentler occupations of peace. ^ And if any vigorous 
 and systematic effort is to be made, missionaries 
 destined for more uncivilized countries — nay, for 
 the more advanced nations, especially China, where 
 knowledge is peculiarly the source of power — need 
 
 ' Guizot, Cours d'Histoire moderne, vol. i. p. 172, quoted by 
 Blumliardt, vol. ii. p. 182. St. Benedict was the first who made 
 agi-icultural labour a part of the monastic discipline ; he himself 
 laboured, and so employed the Goths who joined his convent. 
 See Acta Sanct. Sa3c. I. praefat. No. CXIIT., and Vita S. Mauri, 
 § 13, p. 265. 
 
250 THE niESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 to be equipped witli the appliances of European 
 skill. 
 
 § 3. And further, it is clear, on the fu'st glance, 
 — and so clear as to make the neglect the more 
 strange, — that, before any effectual intercourse ^^'ith 
 nations of a foreign cUnie can be maintained, 
 familiar acquaintance with the vernacular and even 
 provincial dialects of the country will be required. 
 Years have been lost by missionaries in acquiring, 
 on the field of their labour, this prerequisite of their 
 labouring at all. However zealous and burning to 
 impart their message, they have stood among the 
 heathen with sealed lips ; or have communicated 
 broken sentences of truth, by the stammering 
 tongue of an interpreter. And when we consider 
 that the large portion of missionaries in the vast 
 field of India have sunk \mder their exhausting toils 
 within the first six or seven years of their sojourn,' 
 we must learn how indispensably needful it is that 
 such labourers as are sent should go forth acquainted, 
 in a large measure, with the language,- with the 
 habits, too, of thought, and prejiulice, and associa- 
 tion, of those to whom they are to make known tlie 
 
 1 Duff s India, &c. p. 328. 
 
 ^ In this respect, we have an instance of the care whicli tlic 
 Church of Rome bestows in providing the fittest instruments for 
 the work to be done. On the " Feast of Languages," recitations 
 are made in almost every known tongue by pupils of the Propa- 
 ganda. When Lord Macartney was sent to China, the King of 
 England begged some of the scholars from the Propaganda to 
 accompany the embassy as interpreters. They were given on 
 certain conditions, and went. — De Maistre, du Papc, p. 280. 
 
VII.] or THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 251 
 
 message of salvation, and thus be possessed of the 
 power of domg so, before both body and spirit are 
 consumed under the combined action of fatigue, 
 anxiety, and disappointment. 
 
 That such quahfications are needed wiU be at 
 once admitted ; and two inferences follow upon 
 the statement. It will be felt, first, that, in pro- 
 secuting the work of evangelizing the heathen, 
 there must needs be a distribution of offices, so 
 that each individual may be assigned, according to 
 his powers, to the field in which he is best qualified 
 to fight the Lord's battles -. — and, secondly, that, 
 in some countries, where various classes of men are 
 to be addressed, there should be a brotherhood, 
 possessing among themselves such acquirements as 
 have been named, each exercising his own gift, and 
 all cooperating towards the proposed end. It is 
 too much to expect any one, it is too cruel to allow 
 any one, to engage in the task of combining all 
 qualifications, to study, to labour, to preach, to 
 translate, to gather in, and then organize, to in- 
 struct the young, to exhibit the austere life of a 
 saint, and the physical energy of an evangelist.^ 
 
 1 There is a splendid passage in St. Chrysostom, (De Sacerdot. 
 lib. iv. § 4,) setting forth the acquirements needed by one " in- 
 structed unto the kingdom of heaven ; " which, though it may 
 seem to militate against what is here said, does not so in reality, 
 and is too beautiful to be omitted. koX Set tov ^fWovra ttjv npos 
 TTc'iuTa? iwu8ex(0'6aL na^rjv, ras airavTav el8evai Te)(vas' Kat tou avTou 
 To^oTtjv re eiVfu kch crcfifvdoi'iarrjp, Kot CTTpariMTrjv, Koi CTTparrjyov, 
 Koi TTefof , Ka\ ImTea, Koi vavjxa-)(r]v, Ka\ T€i,)^ofxaxrjv. He is speak- 
 ing of but one department of the \iork required in a missionary, 
 viz. meeting unbelievers or misbelievers in discussion. 
 
252 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND AVANTS [Lect. 
 
 We may, indeed, send men, one by one, ready to 
 attempt this and die in the attempt, and be 
 snatched off in the very first bndding of success j 
 but such conduct evinces not the tender care of a 
 parent who would husband the strength of her 
 children, nor the wise prudence of a servant who 
 would do the work of his master most successfully. 
 Had this care been felt and exercised, we should 
 not, it may be, have seen the noble spirit of Henry 
 Martyn, the one burning light in our missionary 
 enterprises, toiling in his multifarious labour, 
 exhausted and worn away in sorrow of heart under 
 it. With his rare gifts and saintly devotion, had 
 his powers been but associated with a system, and 
 directed in their due exercise, he might have been 
 spared to confront with larger success the creed of 
 the Prophet, might have risen to be an apostle to 
 Mahometans, and have nerved many a kindred 
 soul, by his example, to the same ennobling enter- 
 prize. 
 
 But, secondly, the conviction will arise that an 
 institution is demanded, wherein the soldiers of 
 Christ who give themselves to this elevating service 
 may be trained and instructed, where their powers 
 may be called out and tried, where they may learn 
 to endure hardness, and practise discipline, and 
 each have his allotted task assigned on which he 
 may concentrate his powers. It was thus, in the 
 middle ages, that seminaries were attached to the 
 religious houses, which were the citadels of Chris- 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 253 
 
 tianity. As early as at the close of the fourth 
 century, Lerms became the source of enlightenment 
 to southern France. The monastic houses at Ban- 
 gor, lona, Lindisfarne, and Neuf-Corbie, were for 
 centuries the nurseries of evangelists for northern 
 Europe ;^ and within their seminaries were trained 
 those master spirits to whom the Christianity of 
 nations is due, Columban, St. Gall, Aidan, Boni- 
 face, and Anschar.' In the sixteenth century 
 similar institutions were founded by the Chiu-ch of 
 Home, — twenty-three by one Pontiff alone,'^ — and 
 subsequently were attached to all religious houses.* 
 By these means the missionary temper of the Mora- 
 vians is kept bright and keen, whose instruction of 
 their youth is saturated with an interest for the 
 heathen. And with this lesson before us, we need 
 not inquire why so few have vowed themselves to 
 this work amongst ourselves, why this apostolic 
 service has been deemed extravagant and without 
 repute, has been consigned to the lowlier ranks of 
 life, or left to German emissaries. Seminaries such 
 as these are the chief spring of the Church's action, 
 in all its functions; and it will be a bright dawn 
 
 ^ Neander, Allgemeine Geschichte, vol. iii. p. 17. 
 
 - Columban and St. Gall were both trained at Bangor. Aidan 
 was an inmate of the monastery in Zona, and was afterwards 
 appointed to the see of Lindisfarne, which was the nursei*y of 
 evangelical labourers in the north of England. Anschar belonged 
 to the fraternity at Neuf-Corbie. 
 
 ^ By Gregory XIII. Thomas a Jesu, De Proc. omn. Gent. Sal. 
 lib. iii. cap. iii. p. 111. 
 
 * Clement XI. so ordained by decree in 1707. 
 
254 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 of iiiorc vigorous effort, — a fivsli ]i()[)c for thu 
 heathen world, — Avheii that scheme, which, at the 
 pleading and strong entreaty of prelates from the 
 southern isles/ is now being enterprized and pro- 
 jected under auspices so happy, shall be matured ; 
 and amid the imposing monuments of piety set 
 apart for God's honour and worship that surround 
 us, surely none will be more honourable than that 
 dedicated to Christ for the salvation of the 
 heathen. 
 
 But the mention of these mediaeval seminaries 
 suggests another practice of the early Church, 
 which recent experience has proved to be largely 
 needed in our advances upon civilized nations ; viz. 
 the instruction of converts, both before and after 
 their being joined to the fold of Christ. It is 
 true that numerous schools for cJiildreu are pro- 
 vided in most missionary stations." But this is 
 not sufficient : to be effectual in influencing the 
 mind of a people, instruction must be addressed 
 also to maturer intellects.^ And both of these 
 
 1 See Appendix, No. XXXVIII. 
 
 ^ It is, however, the universal confession, that but very few of 
 the children, so educated, embrace the Christian faith, owing, of 
 course, to their intercourse with their heathen relations at home. 
 See Bishop of Madras's Letter in Church Missionary Record, 
 July, 1843, p. 1(51 ; and Native Female Education, l)y K. M. Ba- 
 nerjea, p. lOG; compare also what Bishop Heber says, Journal, 
 vol. i. p. 379, and Formby's Visit to the East, p. 165. 
 
 •' This was evidenced in a letter from Mr. Tucker, secretary of 
 the Corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society 
 at Madras, cpioted at the end of Ilougli's Vindication of Protestant 
 Missions. The Madras Diocesan Inslilnlion, supported by the 
 
VIL] OF THE CIIUIICII OE ENGLAND MISSIONS. 255 
 
 objects were included in the catechetical schools of 
 antiquity. The celebrated school of Alexandria 
 needs only to be mentioned,' signalized by the 
 lectures and writings of Pantsenns, Clement, and 
 Origen, where, meeting on the connuon ground of 
 Greek philosophy, the more enlightened among the 
 inquiring heathen might be instructed, and led to 
 the acquisition of Divine truth. The thirst for 
 education and European knowledge that advances 
 with rapid progression among the nations of the 
 East demands that it shonld be met in the same 
 way. The two most remarkable conversions, in 
 Calcutta, of educated natives, one of them of the 
 highest caste, effected by means of public discus- 
 sions on natural and revealed religion, prove how 
 vast the efficacy of such schools might be in the 
 
 Society foi' the Propagation of the Gospel, seems calcuLated to 
 meet the want expressed : only Mr. Tucker proposed to add to 
 such an Institution lectures on scientific and reUgious subjects ; 
 and pointed to Dr. Duff's establishment at Calcutta as an instance 
 of what he designed. This hitter point seems well deserving of 
 attention. 
 
 ' The catechetical school of Alexandria was twofold ; the ele- 
 mentary division, or "catechumenorum schola," in which neophytes 
 were instructed in the rudiments of the Christian faith ; the higher 
 division, and later in point of establishment, called by Eusebius 
 (H.E. lib. vi. Co) TO tt)? Karr^xwewi ^ibaaKaki'iov, in which lectures 
 on theology and ethics, embracing the systems of heathen philo- 
 sophy, were delivered to more advanced Christians, and the heathen 
 who might attend. See Guerike, de Schola Alex. Catechetica, 
 cap. iii. p. 100, et seq. Prof. Burton conjectures that the " Exhorta- 
 tion to the Heathen," and the " Psedagogue" of Clement, were the 
 substance of lectures delivered by him in the Catechetical school. 
 Lect. on Eccl. Hist vol. ii. p. 200. 
 
250 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 hands of able men.' Let it be borne in mind, 
 also, that the method of educating the mass 
 must be through the well-instructed few, rather 
 than by an elementary teaching of the many." 
 Therefore should the Church take part in this 
 onward movement, if the moral regeneration of the 
 Indian people is to keep pace with its intellectual 
 advancement ; she must show that she is ready and 
 powerful to form and educate the heathen mind, to 
 remedy the defective, and therefore faulty method, 
 by which this task has hitherto been attempted. For 
 it was first essayed by colleges for the revival of 
 Plindoo and Sanskrit literature f these have since 
 given way to a mere secular education in European 
 science, apart from all religious knowledge.'* Dan- 
 gerous as such a procedm'e is at all times, what 
 result must be expected among a people in whom 
 the religious affection is manifested with peculiar 
 strength, and in whose mind all science has ever 
 been intimately blended with the dogmas of theology ? 
 To subvert these, and, in the room of the old and 
 varied fabric, to present the abstractions of philoso- 
 phy and science, will secure an immediate infidelity, 
 and probably, after a series of convulsions, and in 
 
 ' These discusyions were conducted by Dr. DulF, and a detailed 
 account of them and of the very striking results w ith which tliey 
 were blessed to the two young men alluded to, is given in the 
 Appendix to his India and Indian Missions, p. G07. 
 
 - 'J'revelyan on Education in India, j). 17. 
 
 '■' Ibid. pp. l, 5, &c. 
 
 * Duff's Vindication, &c. j). '29. India, and Indian Missions, 
 p. 608. 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 257 
 
 the absence of any substitute, will lead to a resettling 
 of the national mind upon the old superstition, the 
 abandonment of which entailed only misery and 
 ruin.' 
 
 But an institution that should meet this want 
 might subserve, too, another end. Many are the 
 touching accounts of the entire abandonment and 
 rejection to which the Hindoo is consigned on 
 apostasy from his native faith. He is at once an 
 outcast. In the first ages, probably in the house of 
 the catechumens,^ and in the middle ages, certainly, 
 within the monastic house, such, when forsaken of 
 father and mother, would have sought an asylum. 
 Here, slaves redeemed by the apostolic men who 
 first preached in Germany, found a refuge, and 
 from hence, in subsequent years, they went forth, 
 the most powerful agents in converting the heathen, 
 a body of native evangelists. All experience has 
 shown that no ordinary training and education is 
 needed to fit a native for gaining influence over the 
 minds of his fellow-countrymen, and yet the Gospel 
 cannot w^in its way without this agency. Thus, 
 while an asylum were offered to the homeless, a 
 disciplined life would be secured in connexion with 
 schools of Cluistian science ; and as these failed 
 not to acquire ascendency over the old pagan mind 
 
 1 Duff's India, &c. p. 269. 
 
 2 Recognit. S. Clement, lib. ii. ad fin. apud Cotelcrii Patr. Apost. 
 torn. i. p. 524, quoted by Thomas a Jesu, de Proc. omn. Gent. Sal. 
 p. 872, for the establishment of such an institution. He recom- 
 mends that in such a refuge the destitute should be retained, p. 908. 
 
258 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 an 11(3(1 with twice the truth that is contained in the 
 present mythologic systems of the East, so will they 
 not now fail to raise up a race of men able, not to 
 receive only, but to perpetuate the Faith of Christ, 
 and to build up a native Church in the midst of 
 their own homes and the temples of their forsaken 
 idols. 
 
 Thus I have endeavoured to point out some of 
 those wants which are felt in the conduct of our 
 missions ; and how in past ages they were wont to 
 be supplied. They have been suggested chiefly by 
 the recorded experience of men now labouring in 
 the harvest-field of souls. One more need remains 
 to be noticed, but this must be deferred. 
 
 Let me revert, in a few words, to the point from 
 which I set out. Nothina: has been said on the 
 wide subject of the unity of the whole Church 
 Catholic, the one great want of Christendom ; and 
 of this it would he presumptuous to s])eak. It is 
 indeed the condition of the word of God being 
 glorified widely, fully, speedily. As some blesshigs 
 have for many long years been undoubtedly forfeited 
 through the loss of it ; so, on this account also, the 
 exceeding honour of evangelizing the whole world, 
 is, it may be, indefinitely suspended. And for this 
 cause the work of t]ie Churcli may be, in the same 
 degree, protracted ; it may liave to go on toihng in 
 bi'oken disorder, doing its task in great trouble, in 
 fear and uncertainty, and rca})ing its fruit only 
 partially and at intervals. Upon this, however, 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 259 
 
 I venture not to dwell' Yet as regards the proee- 
 dures of our branch of the Church within itself, we 
 may direct onr desires and endeavours towards the 
 drawing out of those hidden powers which lie folded 
 up within its divine system, and which are inherent 
 in its unity. We cannot, indeed, look around us 
 without seeing a stirring and converging of men's 
 hearts towards this point ; we cannot but recognise 
 instinctive strivings after it, though it be in the 
 narrow and really baseless schemes of union by 
 which the want is sought to be supplied. We may 
 accept even these as tokens for good ; and yet only 
 the more, in patience and submission, aim at calling 
 forth those living principles of action within the 
 Church, which, directed by its spiritual rulers, as the 
 centre of its energies, may bear with them the sym- 
 pathies and willing cooperation of the whole body. 
 We may be content to bear for a time the taunt, 
 when w^e arc told that we are possessed of no uniting 
 principle, that we have lost all claim to it, all the 
 semblance of apostolic discipline ; that we have no 
 concentrated action, nor uniform system ; that our 
 powder is frittered away in independent irregular 
 doings, and rival associations ; that we neither con- 
 solidate at home, nor present a compacted front 
 
 ' For it formed the subject of the admirable Sermon of the 
 Bishop of SaUsbury, preached before the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel, and published in the Report for 1842. The 
 same topic has been since handled also by a prelate of the 
 American Church, in a Sermon entitled '' The Church upon her 
 Knees," by the Bishop of New Jersey. 
 
260 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect. 
 
 against the adversary abroad ; — we may be content 
 to be still, and, as an omen of the coming day when 
 those who bear us evil will shall be able no longer 
 to use any such proverb, may recur in grateful 
 recollection to the auspicious and moving scene, 
 when, under the shadow of one of its most ancient 
 and hallowed sanctuaries, the Church did consecrate 
 to the pastoral office, and did send forth to our 
 country's most distant dependencies, yea, to earth's 
 utmost limits, five of its chosen children, to be the 
 centres of its visible unity, the vicegerents of its 
 rule, the channels of its apostolic gifts and minis- 
 trations. ^ 
 
 Yet this is but the earnest of greater doings. 
 And only the more vigorously must we second these 
 efforts, and prepare to meet the call when labourers 
 are demanded for the whitening harvest. These 
 leadings of God's providence are surely only drawing 
 on larger results. They cannot stay. Presh success 
 will demand fresh sacrifice. And the Church at 
 home, if it is to share in the glorious enterprize, 
 must enter on the field with the Church abroad. 
 Though occupying a securer post, and further 
 removed from the scene of strife, still it is militant ; 
 it is only not in the first ranks, it must bear its 
 portion of toil. It must support, counsel, repair 
 
 ' On the feast of St. Bartholomew, 1812, the edifying sight was 
 given to the Church, of the five Bisliops of Barbados, Gibraltar, 
 Antigua, British Gviiana, and Tasmania, being consecrated in 
 Westminster Abbey. 
 
VII.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 201 
 
 losses, encourage, supply the whole armoury of 
 warfare; and this surely must be done systematically, 
 with careful earnestness, as carrying the very will 
 of Christ into effect. Por it is not merely in the 
 unity of operation and external system, but in the 
 energetic unity of a sanctified will acting in these, 
 that the strength of the Church resides, before 
 which the enemies of the Lord will give way, and 
 the gainsayers of the Truth be put to silence. 
 
LECTURE VIII. 
 
 THE PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS OF OUR 
 MISSIONARY ENTERPRIZES. 
 
 Isaiah LIX. I!). 
 
 so SHALL THEY FEAR THE NAME OF THE LORD FROM THE WEST, 
 AND HIS GLORY FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN. WHEN THE 
 ENEMY SHALL COME IN LIKE A FLOOD, THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD 
 SHALL LIFT UP A STANDARD AGAINST HIM, 
 
 The past missionary efforts of the Clmrcli, when 
 viewed in reference to the extensive and varied 
 tracts of heathenism that he before it, can be 
 deemed only as inceptive and experimental. They 
 resemble but the essays of the messengers sent 
 to make trial of the land of promise, to ascertain 
 the character of its natives, and bring back some 
 first-fruits of its produce. A more organized move- 
 ment, resolute and concentrated action, will be 
 required, to take possession of each portion of the 
 inheritance.' Some of those modes of action which 
 
 ' Tills is strongly urged in a tract entitled, " New Model of 
 Christian Missions," published in 1829, by the author of " The 
 Natural History of Enthusiasm," who may be supposed to repre- 
 sent the nonconforming Protestant bodies. He says that " the 
 
Lect.VIII.] TROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 263 
 
 seem most needed for executing what is to be done 
 have been already adverted to; and I would now 
 take up the subject, and notice the one further 
 deficiency which, as was observed, presents itself in 
 our missionary transactions. It is the want of some 
 body of instructions, for the guidance of the mis- 
 sionaries in their intercourse with the various 
 classes of heathen. 
 
 Questions must, day by day, present themselves 
 to the missionary, in which he is now thrown back 
 on his o^vn resources, skill, and judgment, either 
 for solving them or for determining his own line of 
 action, — on which, nevertheless, a wider and more 
 deliberate view of his position, of the character, 
 religious system, or prejudices of those Avitli whom 
 he is brought in contact, might supply a specific 
 rule of conduct. Some time, no doubt, is needed, 
 and considerable experience, in operations of large 
 compass, before the real difficulties that beset them 
 can be discerned, their bearings ascertained, or 
 those principles evolved upon which they may suc- 
 cessfully be met. Yet most of the cpiestions that 
 arise are now no longer new ; a vast unsorted mass 
 of information respecting them is in our hands, and 
 
 modern system of missionary exertion, taken as a whole, is funda- 
 mciilally defective, and such as can never, except miracle come to 
 its aid, achieve an extensive conquest for Christianity," p. 8. 
 And yet, surely a miracle would be no less needed to provide his 
 remedy, viz. an " universal and harmonious association" of all 
 Protestant communities. Still his evidence is important as 
 pointing out the need of one bodij to secui-e success. 
 
2C4 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 facts are ascertained sufficiently numerous to allow 
 of inductions being drawn from them, or at least a 
 judgment being expressed. Perhaps it mil be best 
 perceived how requisite is some such code of in- 
 structions, if I proceed, in illustration, to adduce 
 one or two cases on which perplexities and contra- 
 dictory views may exist, and yet on a right treat- 
 ment of which the whole success of a mission may 
 depend. 
 
 1. The first and most important is, the way in 
 which the heathen mind should be met in setting 
 before it the Gospel of Salvation. 
 
 It will appear from what has been already said, 
 that a different method will be needed in the treat- 
 ment of the civilized and the uncivilized, — of those 
 whose minds are already moulded and fashioned by 
 a definite creed and system of worship, and those 
 whose religion consists only of a blind and senseless 
 superstition, and rude idolatry. And further than 
 this ; in respect to the former, both a priori rea- 
 soning and apostolic practice would suggest, what 
 experience leads us to conclude, that the attempt to 
 produce convi(;tion sliould not be made by ad- 
 vancing at once the high and most holy doctrines 
 Avhicli lie at the centre of the Christian faith. The 
 chief argument in support of such a mode of })ro- 
 cceding has been drawn from the often-cited testi- 
 mony of the Moravian missionaries, who, in their 
 conversion of the Greenlanders, record, that it was 
 not until they preached " ' Christ and him cruci- 
 
vm.] PROsrECTS and encouragements. 265 
 
 fiecl,' loithout frst 'laying tic foundation of repent- 
 ance from dead works, and faith toioards God,'" 
 that any effect was seen to follow on their labours.' 
 And upon this, and one or two similar instances, 
 a modern theory of conversion has been built. 
 But in this case, as in all with which I am ac- 
 quainted, a long preparatory process had preceded 
 this appearance of fruit. For seven years the 
 Moravians had been instructing these savages : for 
 tAvelve years previously, the Danes had been civi- 
 lizing and teaching them;" and some result was 
 therefore reasonably at that time to be expected. 
 A similar appearance of success occurred in the 
 southern isles in a like sudden way, after years of 
 night toil, in which nothing had been taken ; yet 
 in this case there was no variation in the mode of 
 teaching, so that the change is referable to some 
 other cause. But even supposing such a mode of 
 instruction to be fitted for minds destitute of any 
 systematic creed, and sunk in much misery and 
 personal degradation, yet pursue the same method 
 with a cultivated oriental, and the doctrine Avill be 
 assailed by a searching and sifting analysis. Evi- 
 dence will be demanded, and when it is produced, 
 the facts on which it rests will be disputed, and the 
 
 ' Missions of the United Brethren, pp. 30, 31. 
 
 2 Matth. and Christ^ Stach went to Greenland in 1733, and 
 were welcomed by Hans Egede, who had been labouring there 
 since 1721. The commencement of success, mentioned above, 
 occurred in 1740. Brown's Missions, vol. i. p. 241, Missions of 
 United Brethren, pp. 12, 30. 
 
2G6 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect, 
 
 reasonings evaded ; chronology and liistory will be 
 denied, or met by some counter system of such 
 magnitude that, in comparison with it the former 
 will appear contemptible ; and the whole discus- 
 sion will probably be thrown back upon some 
 abstract question of philosophy or natural theology.^ 
 So that cither these obstacles must be previously 
 removed, or else some common principles of belief 
 be sought from which the peculiar doctrines of the 
 Christian faith may be evolved and thus recom- 
 mended to the acceptance of the disputant. 
 
 And hence arises a consideration of peculiar 
 interest. All researches upon the subject have 
 confirmed the fact, — and there could not be a more 
 engaging study than fully to verify it, — that through- 
 out the heathen world there lie scattered the seeds 
 of a primseval tradition, sometimes nearly oblite- 
 rated, or mixed with fable, sometimes overlaid by 
 a vast and extravagant mythology, or absorbed in 
 some philosophic theory ; still supplying those 
 elements of truth through wdiich the systems by 
 which they are obscured exist at all, and become 
 productive of any social benefits. Now in these 
 traditional revelations the germ of the Gospel may 
 be said to exist, as it did when they were first 
 communicated to man. And in reasoning with the 
 thoughtful and intelligent, it would seem the one 
 plan of winning the way to their conviction and 
 
 Dufl's Cburcli ol' Scotland's India INIission, p. !). 
 
VIII.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 267 
 
 acceptance of tlie Divine faith, to appeal to these 
 primal truths, and, through the expansion and full 
 development of them, to dislodge and shake off the 
 mass of error vs^ith which they are encrusted. It 
 would seem the way to conciliate prejudice, and 
 break down that posture of antagonism which the 
 mind naturally assumes, when its faith is du'cctly 
 assailed. And the slightest examination of the 
 method of instruction pursued by oiu* blessed Lord, 
 — how He dispensed to His disciples His heavenly 
 truths, each one in its season, drawing it out as 
 they were able to bear it; sometimes basing His 
 lessons on the law of nature, sometimes unfolding 
 them from the germinal principles in which they lay 
 involved in the law of Moses ; — or of the method 
 adopted by St. Paul, when he reasoned with Felix, 
 or preached to the Athenians, or expounded the 
 Scriptures to the Jews ; — or further, of the analogy 
 that may be dra\^al from the whole course of growth, 
 expansion, and gradual increase, by which the 
 revelation of the Gospel, through long prophetic 
 periods, was ushered into the world ; — all this 
 would teach us that a certain economy of instruction 
 is the ordained method for enlightening and con- 
 vincing the human mind, — that an appeal to common 
 principles of belief will more surely and effectually 
 conduce to the acknowledgment of the truth, than 
 a naked announcement of the deep things and 
 unsearchable riches of Christ. And it is deeply 
 interesting to observe how later and more accurate 
 
268 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 investigations into heathen, and especially Oriental 
 systems, have opened up these latent elements of 
 truth, these points of contact with the heathen 
 mind. The first discovery of some of these was 
 largely used by infidels of the last century as an 
 objection to Christianity, as though it were only a 
 borrowed form of Eastern mythology, a development 
 of moral truth upon this basis. For instance, the 
 doctrine of a divine Triad which more or less explicitly 
 pervades the Brahmanic, Confucian, and Buddhistic 
 systems ; ' — the existence of a mediatorial scheme, 
 through incarnations of the Deity, for the destruc- 
 tion of the enemies of man ; — the indwelling of the 
 Divine Presence in the subordinate works of His 
 creation ; — the remarkable existence, in the philoso- 
 phic system of Lao-tsze, of the three letters forming 
 the inelfable name of God;^ — the appearance, in 
 one of the Puranas, which forms the text-book for 
 the adoration of the infant Krishna, of coincidences 
 
 ' The Brahmanic and Buddhistic triad are well-known. " The 
 Confucians," says Mr. Medhurst, " speak of the three powers of 
 nature, — heaven, earth, and man; the Taouists, (followers of 
 Lao-tsze,) have some references to the 'three pure ones,' who 
 combine themselves in the essence of eternal reason." — China, 
 p. 218. " Quand les Tibetains pretent sermcnt, ils invoquent le 
 Kandja-soum (c'est-a-dire le Dieu triple ; Kandja signifiant Dieu, 
 et souni trois.) Ils discnt cependant (ju'ils n'y a qu'un Dieu, — et 
 que des autrcs, Tun est son prophete, et I'autre son Verbe, et que 
 I'union des trois dans la fornnde du serment se rapporte a uii 
 seul Dieu." Quoted from " Relation d'un Voyage dans I'Asie cen- 
 trale par Mir I'zzet-ullah, en 1812," by M. Abel Remusat, " Rela- 
 tion des Voyages Bouddhicjues," p. 12. 
 
 2 Appendix, No. XXXIX. 
 
VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 260 
 
 in doctrine and even in language, with the truths 
 of Clnistianity ; ' — the threefold hierarchy, the mo- 
 nastic institutions, the yearly period set apart for 
 abstinence and humiliation, which were found to 
 prevail in Thibet, Japan, and Siani;- — the striking 
 correspondence between the rehgion of the Lama 
 and forms of Christian worship, especially as they 
 prevail in the Church of Rome; ^ — aU these analogies, 
 while they at first startled the sensitive faith of 
 some Christians, were used as grounds of insinua- 
 tion by sceptics against the divine origin of the 
 Gospel. The argument that was thus attempted to 
 be drawn from them has, indeed, by subsequent 
 researches been completely refuted, by the discovery 
 of the intercom'se that existed between China and 
 Persia, during the Jewish captivity; of the pilgrimage 
 of the Chinese sages, at that period, to the latter 
 country,^ from whence, no doubt, was gained the 
 acquaintance with the sacred name of Jehovah; 
 of the recent origin of Lamaism, subsequent to the 
 missions of the Nestorians : ^ of the modern date of 
 
 ' Appendix, No. XL. 
 
 2 See Annales de laFoi, vol.v. pp. 111,134, for tliese coinci- 
 dences in Siam ; Bohlen, das alte Indien, p. 336, &c. for Thibet; 
 the Atlas Japanensis, by Arnoldus Montanus, p. 249, (quoted in 
 Lect. V. p. 148, note,) for Japan. 
 
 ^ Appendix, No. XLI. 
 
 * M. Remusat, Relat. des Voyages Bouddhiqucs, Tntrod, p. xlii- 
 Dr. Wiseman, (Lect. XL on Science and Revealed Relig^ion,) 
 refers to another work of M. Rerausat, Memoire surla Vie etles 
 Opinions de Lao-tseu, &c., in support of this opinion. 
 
 ^ Lamaism, that is, in its present form, which, according to 
 M. Remusat, (Relation, &t. Introd. p. xxii.) was cstabUshed in 
 
270 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 the Piu'ana alluded to (as modern probably as the 
 twelfth century of oiu- era') ; and by the reference of 
 other pomts to that prhnal traditional revelation, 
 wliich, throughout the whole world, has left traces 
 of itself even in the most degraded superstitions, 
 and by which, as well as by His providences and 
 mercies, God has not left Himself without a witness 
 among men. 
 
 But my chief object in adducing these topics has 
 not been to notice the sceptical objections that have 
 been founded on them. The researches that have 
 been made into different forms of superstition, have 
 discovered remarkable coincidences in the religions 
 of the most distant countries, which seem to establish 
 the identity of their origin in one primaeval revela- 
 tion ; and in the fragments of traditional truths, 
 which they have traced, they present so many points 
 of sympathy and contact with the heathen, of which 
 any one who aimed at leading them from their 
 error, would do well to avail himself. " It was thus 
 
 Thibet, on the third outbreak of Buddhism, in the l.'ith ceutury. 
 It cannot, however, be doubted, but that a nioditied system of 
 Lamaism pervaded these Eastern countries for centuries before 
 this period, and is identical with the Religion of Japan and Siam. 
 See the preceding Appendix, No. XLI. 
 
 ^ Prof. Wilson's Lect. on the Hindus, p. 26. 
 
 ^ Seethe " rational and ingenious" mode of persuasion recom- 
 mended by Daniel, first Bisliop of Winchester, A.D. 723, to 
 Boniface, who was preaching in Thuringia. The letter is contained 
 in Bede's Hist. Eccl. Angl. lib. v. c. 18, and is quoted by (iibbon, 
 vol. iii. p. .");51, 4to edit. See also Appendix, No. XLII. for an 
 eloquent exposition of the course of argument with whicli 
 Mahometans should be addressed. 
 
VIII.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 271 
 
 that the earlier fathers met the instructed pagan on 
 the common ground of the Greek philosophy ; and 
 the writings of Clement of Alexandria may be justly 
 viewed as of a completely missionary character. 
 And it would be of extreme service if arguments 
 founded upon these traditional truths and practices, 
 either transmitted or imported, were drawn out, and 
 a manual of instruction provided by which the mis- 
 sionary might be prepared to meet the heathen 
 disputant, and gain his confidence at the outset, — 
 or at least not be obliged, as is now not unfrequently 
 the case, to retire before a numerous assemblage in 
 discomfitm-e. 
 
 2. A second question, connected closely with 
 this, will arise, as to the order in which the Gospel 
 truths and precepts should be set before the 
 inquiring heathen, not merely to convince his 
 understanding, and obtain a hearing for Christian 
 truth, but to awaken in his heart a belief unto 
 salvation. A method seems largely to have pre- 
 vailed among many Protestants, so largely as to be 
 almost the received rule of action, to appeal at once 
 to the inward work of the Spirit upon the heart, to 
 aim at rousing the spiritual affections by urging 
 their necessity, and demanding their excitement, 
 and to make these the test of fitness for Holy 
 Baptism ; to require an experience, rather than an 
 accejjtance of the truth, a desire, rather than a 
 purpose of the will to obey/ It might without 
 
 1 Appendix, No.XLIII. 
 
272 TROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 difficulty be shown how really powerless such nn 
 attempt to force into ripeness the higher graces of 
 the Spii'it is likely to be, how subversive, too, of the 
 true character of faith, which has its basis laid in 
 the reception of specific truths, on which it gazes 
 till the inward affections of the heart are kindled 
 by them into living energy. It will be enough to 
 contrast it with the plan of teachhig recommended 
 by St. Augustine, in his Treatise on Catechizing 
 the Uninstructed, in which he sets forth the scheme 
 of Divine truth in its due proportions, in order 
 to lead the inquiring soul to the reception of 
 Christ; and throughout which he exhibits the 
 redemption of the Church, by the recital of the 
 manifold counsels or dealings of God with man, 
 and of the life and death of the Redeemer. ' In 
 accordance with this method of objective teaching 
 were the rules given, from time to time, to 
 missionaries in the middle ages, which might 
 profitably be examined.' The solemn series of 
 external truths contained in the Creed, and pro- 
 fessed ever at Baptism, confirms this mode of 
 proceeding; and an instance of its efficacy is 
 recorded in the conversion of the disputant at the 
 first Nicene Council, who, after fruitless discussions, 
 on hearing the symbol of faith recited, yielded 
 himself up to the virtue that went forth from the 
 lips of the speaker, nor could longer withstand 
 
 ' Appendix, No. XLIV. - Ajipciulix, No. XLV. 
 
vm.] PROsrECTS a?v'd encouragements. 273 
 
 God/ Nor is it a principle of slight import that is 
 involved in a point on which the acceptance or 
 rejection of the Gospel, the salvation or ruin of a 
 soul, may depend. The comprehensive works pro- 
 vided for the Roman Catholic missionaries assert 
 the need of such a code of missionary institutes, 
 to furnish with his due treasure of " things new and 
 old" the scribe which is instructed unto the king- 
 dom of heaven ;"^ but there seems „yet to be no 
 sufficient guide to which the missionary of our 
 
 ^ The narrative is related by Rufinus, Hist. Eccl. lib. x. cap. 3, and 
 is quoted by Franciscus a Breno, in the Manuale Missionariorum 
 Orientalium, torn. ii. p. 454 ..." At uno ex confessoribus Episco- 
 pis qui aderant ibi, mirae viro simplicitatis, Symbolum Fidei pro- 
 ponentC; statim arma abjecit, seque ultro felici calamitate subactum 
 asseruit. Ut enim ipse dicebat, ad eos, qui tarn subitancai 
 mutationis stupore fuerant abrepti, conversus : ' Donee,' inquit, 
 ' verbis mecum gesta res est, verbis verba opposui, et quae 
 dicebantur dicendi arte subverti: ubi vero pro verbis processit 
 virtus ex ore dicentis, non potuerunt verba resistere virtuti, nee 
 homo adversari potuit Deo.' " — So too Fr. Xavier acted : He 
 entered a pagoda where two hundred Brahmins were assembled ; 
 and asked them, on the performance of what precept their 
 deities promised future happiness ? An aged man, for the rest, 
 gave an idle answer : — " Cette reponse," writes Xavier, " me 
 troubla, et jetadans mon ame une profonde douleur, en voyant 
 jusqu'a quel point le demon aveugle les hommes, en se donnant a 
 leur imagination pour une divinite. Je le priai a mon tour de 
 m'ecouter. Alors je recitai a haute voix le symbole des Apotres, 
 et les commandemens de Dieu." Lettre XIV. vol. i. p. 205. 
 
 ^ The principal Roman Catholic treatises to which I have had 
 access, are, De Procuranda Salute omnium Gentium, by Thomas a 
 Jesu, ordiuis Carmelitarum discalceatorum, Antverpiae, 1613 ; — 
 Manuale Missionariorum Orientalium, by Franciscus a Breno 
 ordiuis Minorum strictioris Observantiae, Venetiis, 1726 ; — and 
 the treatise, De Promulgatione Evangelii apud Barbaros, by Jo- 
 sephus Acosta, Societ. Jesu, Colon. Agripp. 159G. 
 
 T 
 
274 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 communion may refer witli confidence for the 
 solution of liis doubts.' 
 
 3. And still further, the history of past inter- 
 course with the eastern nations, the controversies 
 which agitated and finally marred the Roman mis- 
 sions, must convince us that there are several points, 
 in relation to their language and religious practices, 
 which need to be examined and settled. Should it 
 please God that our Church be planted in our terri- 
 tories bordering on the Chinese empire, should an 
 entering in be obtained among that ancient nation 
 with its teeming population, the very language has 
 to be ascertained in which the God of heaven 
 and earth is to be announced. I allude, of course, 
 to the disputes on the application to Jehovah of 
 the terms used in the Confucian philosophy, the 
 " heaven" (Tien), and the " Sovereign Ruler" 
 (Xang-ti), which, as was truly asserted against the 
 Jesuit missionaries who employed them, convey at 
 the best only the notion of an invisible power, but 
 not of a Supreme God.- It appears that the 
 
 ' The admirable Essay by Bishop Wilson, of Sodor and Man, 
 on the Knowledge and Practice of Christianity, intended originally 
 for the instruction of the American Indian, is well known, and 
 contains an excellent digest of elementary teaching. 
 
 ^ Tlius Mosheim interprets the meaning of the words Tien and 
 Xang-ti. On the other hand, an authority qvioted in the Annales, 
 vol. ii. p. 244, asserts that the word Tien signifies the matei'ial 
 heaven. Gutzlaif in the same way affirms that " tlie pi'esent 
 generation understand by it the material heaven." History of 
 China, vol. ii. p. 136. The use of these words was forljiddrn, and 
 anotlier substituted in their place, by tlie bull of Clement XI. in 
 1715, in the foUowing terms: "Cum Deus optimus maximus 
 
VIII.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 275 
 
 Chinese liave no adequate term to express this idea. 
 Numberless other questions besides have arisen, 
 and must arise, as to the permission in Christians 
 of several national rites and ceremonies, on which 
 it is the more difficult to determine, since they are 
 connected with those primary moral principles on 
 which the whole framework of the Chinese polity is 
 built. ^ It is true that, in respect of language, after 
 years of contention and scandal, the foregoing terms 
 wxre rejected, and a mode of speech for declaring 
 the name of the Most High was sanctioned by the 
 see of Rome, and that a decision was pronounced 
 relative to most of the ceremonies on which con- 
 troversy had arisen ; but neither in the latter case 
 can we conclude at once that this judgment may 
 consist with a more rigorous adherence to the 
 purity of Christian doctrine and practice, nor, in 
 the former, can we think inquiry superseded, since 
 the late learned researches of M. Abel Remusat 
 inform us how far we are from appreciating the 
 real meaning of the Buddhistic writings of the 
 
 congrue apud Sinas vocabulis Europajis exprimi ueqiieat, ad 
 eumdem verum Deura significandum, vocal)ulum Tien Chu, hoc 
 est, c(eli Dominus, quod a Sineusibus missionariis et fidelibus 
 longo ac probate usu receptum esse dignoscitur, admittendum 
 esse : nomina vero Tien, caelum, et Xang-ti, sujjremus Impcrator, 
 penittis rejicienda." 
 
 ^ These other ceremonies consisted of sacrifices to Confucius, 
 oblations at the tombs of ancestors, tablets suspended in private 
 dwellings with the title "The throne of the soul of "in- 
 scribed on it, before which oflTerings were made. They are 
 mentioned in the above-named BuU, which is quoted in Norbert, 
 Mem. Histor. vol. ii. Part III. p. 4f3. 
 
276 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [LucT. 
 
 Chinese, or compreliending the terms by which 
 spiritual things are expressed ; from an ignorance 
 of which, as he remarks, the whole system has met 
 with a contempt by the missionaries which it did 
 not deserve, and wdiicli has only rooted its votaries 
 deeper in their belief.^ These are not imaginary 
 difficulties, but real questions of Christian pru- 
 dence, which cannot be evaded ; for these systems 
 must be fairly met and grasped, if they are to be 
 deposed, and if the Gospel is to take their place in 
 the mind of that remarkable nation ; the solution 
 of them is too solemn to be left to the judgment of 
 any one prelate (should such be appointed) how- 
 ever competent to entertain them ; they are not 
 mere matters of form which may be allowed to pass 
 unheeded, for they have once already been the 
 cause of discomfiture to Christianity : and from 
 being so deeply interwoven with national prejudice 
 they seem to involve more serious results than any 
 of those points of conduct, in the days of apostolic 
 Christianity, on which the intervention and judg- 
 ment of St. Paid were required. 
 
 Of a like character with this is the subject of 
 several Pagan practices in India, especially of caste, 
 the existence of which is frequently referred to as 
 the great obstacle to Christianity, and yet in regard 
 to which no systematic line of conduct has been 
 pursued. Por a long period this distinction of race 
 
 ' Relation des Voyages Bouddhujues, lutrod. p. v. See Ap- 
 pendix, No. XLVI. 
 
VIII.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 277 
 
 was treated as a civil custom, and was so recog- 
 nised by our missionaries.' In 1826, liowevQf, in 
 consequence of several disputes on the subject, the 
 interposition of Bishop Heber was demanded, 
 whose indulgence, arising from an unwillingness to 
 offend native prejudice, was soon followed by so 
 large an introduction of heathen and idolatrous 
 practices, that the purity and sincerity of the Chris- 
 tian profession were jeoparded.^ Eight years later, 
 the decision of the present Bishop of Calcutta was 
 required, and on his unqualihed condemnation of 
 these observances, as connected with their idolatries, 
 many hundreds of converts, in one district alone, 
 at once withdrew from the communion of the 
 Church.^ Now, here is a vital point undetermined 
 in the treatment of young converts, not to mention 
 other points, the decision of which may vary 
 according to individual judgment ; and while this 
 uncertainty lasts, vacillation of faith, inconsistency 
 and probably duplicity of practice, must be the 
 result. Indeed this question of caste forms a main 
 test of sincerity in following Christ. And it must 
 be observed that the difficulty of deciding it will 
 
 ' Brown's Hist, of Missions, vol. i. p. 230. Mr. Trevelyan 
 remarks, that the allowance of caste "was found to encourage 
 the prejudice it was intended to conciliate." Education in India, 
 p. 20. Hcber's Journal, vol. iii. p. 445. 
 
 - Letter from the Bishop of Calcutta. Report of the S. P. G. 
 1834— 1835, p. 183. 
 
 3 Report of Tanjore Mission for 1835. Madras, 1839, p. 25. 
 Two years after, 785 of these Soodras, who had separated, 
 retui'ned to the Church. Ibid. p. 44. 
 
278 PIIOSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 increase just as the ratio of converts increases, wliosc 
 prejudices may grow into a barrier too formidable 
 to resist ; and therefore there is all the more need 
 for a judgment being pronounced, which may meet 
 the difficulty in its incipient stage, pronounced, too, 
 by that collective apostolic voice, to which is com- 
 mitted the authority to ordain and determine the 
 ceremonies of each particular Church. 
 
 And now it is time to draw to a close ; to look 
 back upon the com-se along which I have endea- 
 voured to conduct you in these Lectures, and to 
 gather from the retrospect such reflections as it may 
 suggest. Such a review as I have been taking 
 might amply repay attention merely as a matter of 
 speculation, as the historic view of a great pheno- 
 menon, in a system of religious truth pushing its 
 way into all lands, changing the face of the world, 
 elevating the human race ; it might rivet om' 
 interest to trace this system in its anomalous 
 advance of mixed triumph and defeat, humiliation 
 and glory; sometimes resembling the march of a 
 conqueror controlling subject tribes, and sitting in 
 the high places of the earth ; sometimes the toilsome 
 joiuneyings of a pilgrim, in sorrow and lowliness 
 witnessing to the truth, and winning, through 
 suffering, the sympathy of strangers. It would be 
 still more engaging to pursue this retrospect for 
 the purpose of extracting iVoni it the evidence 
 
VIII.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 279 
 
 which it supplies to the divine authority of such a 
 system, so upheld, so powerful, to which, in augury 
 of its final and everlasting exaltation, the super- 
 stitions of the earth have, one by one, bowed down 
 and done reverence. But an intenser hold is fas- 
 tened on the mind when such a review issues in 
 the consideration of present duty and of prospective 
 results, when it leads the thoughts onward to the 
 fulfilment oi the eternal counsels of God, and fore- 
 shortens into one point of vision the future destinies 
 of the world. 
 
 And these are really the subjects upon which our 
 minds should he solemnly fixed. And as, in the 
 first moments of repose after the excitement and 
 fatigue of pursuit are over, the mind is ever wont 
 to reflect on the way that has been traversed, and 
 to contemplate the fruit of its labours, and the 
 reality of that after which it has been striving ; so 
 now the question involuntary recurs, whether 
 indeed the great subject which has been before us 
 is more than a dream, whether the extension of the 
 Gospel has a real practical bearing upon us, involv- 
 ing present exertion, and whether in making it we 
 shall be toiling for more than a shadow. 
 
 To this consideration I will direct my remain- 
 ing remarks. The impracticability of such efforts 
 has, indeed, been maintained by some ; by others a 
 rationalistic philosophy has caused them to be 
 viewed as simply an outbreak of narrow but fruit- 
 less enthusiasm ; doubtfulness as to the possibility 
 
280 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 of success, arising from tlie want of present visible 
 effect, has been allowed to dull tlic sympathies of 
 others ; therefore let the justness of these surmises 
 be tested by the criterion of facts past and present; 
 and for this end permit me first cursorily to pass 
 over the leading points which I have endeavoured 
 to illustrate. 
 
 I. It is as great a certainty as that the Son of 
 God has appeared in the flesh, that it is His will 
 and command that the Gospel of the kingdom 
 should be preached to all nations. It is to make 
 its way (so revelation declares) gradually, against 
 difficulties and hindrances, until the number of the 
 elect is made up out of many generations, out " of 
 all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues." 
 Christ has constituted the Church His Body, and 
 has commissioned, and endowed, and dwells in it, 
 to form this elect people for Himself, which, as age 
 after age passes away, is being gradually gathered 
 in and added to the invisible company of His 
 saints. And thus, from the day of Pentecost, the 
 Church has proceeded on its way. It has ever 
 advanced. No age has been wholly without some 
 fruit of its labours ; and though other systems have 
 become stationary, or exhausted, or are unable to 
 carry the human mind on to the higher degrees of 
 moral ])reeminence, yet the Church has been found 
 equal to the task ; and rent though it be, and 
 divided, yet each several portion, like Aaron's rod, 
 is still instinct with vitality, has budded, and 
 
VIII] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 281 
 
 bloomed, and yielded its fmit. During the first 
 fifteen centuries it mastered tlie continent and 
 islands of Europe. Other worlds then opened 
 before it, and, as if to meet the fresh demand, the 
 nations of the West rose up to new energy, and 
 became endued with greater intensity of thought 
 and enterprise. Since that time, but one-fifth of 
 the former period has yet elapsed, — scarce enough 
 to witness the opening of the great drama of events 
 that are to be evolved in this new era ; and there- 
 fore we need not Avonder though no great effects 
 be ah'eady discerned. Yet in truth the Church has 
 not been stayed even here. For, as has been re- 
 counted, wherever the appointed methods for doing 
 God's work have been employed, wherever zeal, 
 and truth, and piety have made the effort, there, in 
 recent days, a measure of blessing has been vouch- 
 safed to reward the toil of the labourer. 
 
 Thus an augury for the future may be drawn 
 from the actual progression that has ever marked 
 the com^se of the Church in past ages. And the 
 review may supply us with another ground of con- 
 fidence. It is but a common-place reflection, but 
 it has a reality and truth about it that will justify 
 its frequent repetition, and it is a source of encou- 
 ragement which our first fathers in the faith did 
 not possess, that this progression of the Church has 
 continued under all variety of circumstances, and 
 against all difficulties. When, at the second great 
 period of its expansion, knowledge, humanity, law, 
 
282 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 all civil institutions Avere crumbled to dust, and 
 buried under barbaric invasion, we have seen 
 Christianity survive; yea, gradually rise up with 
 new life from amidst the ruins, clear them away, 
 and reconstruct throughout the face of Europe the 
 fabric of social order ; repair the sanctuaries that 
 had been thrown down, and become the regenerator 
 of the West. It could not arrest, indeed, the 
 rushing dovrafal of exhausted and demoralized 
 civilization (for this was a judgment from God) ; 
 but it subdued and elevated barbarism, attended it 
 along its tedious course of improvement, drawing 
 out and directing each opening faculty and effort, 
 and leading on the European nations to their pre- 
 sent culminating eminence of refinement and 
 knowledge. We have found by experiment that, 
 unlike every other system, it has no local bounds, 
 is shut in by no peculiarities of climate or civil 
 advancement, but has a plastic power which can 
 adapt itself to all distinctions of race ; it draws to 
 itself all that is good in human nature, all the 
 lingering principles of truth on which error is 
 based, and represents that unity which still lies at 
 the bottom of all the diversities of religion. It 
 demands not civilization to pioneer its way, for it 
 carries all improvement with it ; it is not hindered 
 by ])reexistcnt forms of civilized life, for it can 
 appropriate to itself all that is good in them, and 
 correct the rest. Instances of all this have been 
 adduced ; sonic out of all the great families of the 
 
VIII.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 283 
 
 human race have found its sanctuary to be a home; 
 of whatever chme, or superstition, or intellectual 
 power, they have recognized the type of their ideal 
 excellence set forth in the Church of Christ ; and 
 therefore there can be nothing in the actual state 
 of nations, there is no phenomenon in human 
 nature to which it is a stranger, or for which it has 
 no charm to draw it within the circle of its own 
 mysterious influence. 
 
 11. Or pass from these general thoughts on the 
 past triumphs of the Gospel, to the particular 
 aspect which the pagan nations now present, and 
 see if there be not in them a stirring in the elements 
 of power, which seem gathering towards some great 
 onward movement, and which must either meet in 
 discord and dissolution, or, being drawn round 
 the living centre of truth, move in harmonious 
 concert along the lines of God's providential designs. 
 The uncivihzed races of the earth, the aborigines of 
 America and the Southern islands, have been often 
 mentioned ; and it is sufficiently seen that European 
 intercourse, unsanctified, tends to their extermina- 
 tion. There is but one power on earth that can 
 save them, and that is the shelter and shield of the 
 Church of Christ. ^ By its aid they may be con- 
 verted, without it they will perish ; and it may be 
 that the Church, if it overspread their land at a 
 
 1 It is a cheering siglit to witness tlie attempt which is made in 
 New Zealand by the Bishop, to rescue the natives from the too 
 probable extinction which they would otherwise suffer from 
 colonial aggression. 
 
284 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 later period, will plant itself only over their forgotten 
 graves. But the vast African continent does not 
 appear reserved for such a destiny. Its pestilential 
 climate secures it from European aggression, and 
 the same cause would seem to shut it out from all 
 hope of being evangelized. But a wonderful con- 
 juncture of circumstance has arisen. The sons of 
 Ham in their house of bondage have learned to 
 know the God of Israel, and even now offer them- 
 selves to bear back to their native soil the knowledge 
 of His name.' Strength to endure its feverish and 
 fatal damps, and zeal to enter on such an enterprise, 
 are here united. There seems an opening of which 
 we cannot calculate the residt. Instruction may be 
 needed for the Negroes, who are themselves but 
 babes in knowledge. The spirit that is excited 
 may require to be, and must be, guided, but Africa 
 may he evangelized. Recent experiment has proved, 
 — the advance of Islamism long ago proved, — that 
 the swarming tribes of the centre desire instruction, 
 are capable of it, will receive it from their country- 
 men;" and the channel is now opened for the 
 repayment of that vast debt of justice and charity 
 which is due from Christian Europe to oppressed 
 Africa. '^ Or observe, again, the great IMahometan 
 
 ' Tre\\ 's Letter to tlie Bishop of London, pp. 15 — JS. Buxton's 
 Slave Trade, Introd. p. H . 
 
 ^ Schdn's Journal of the Niij:cr Expedition, pp. 223 — 231. 
 Buxton's Slave Trade, p. .'5.S9. 
 
 ' Letter from the Bishop of London to Sir T. F. Buxton; 
 quoted in the Friend of Africa, No. XXI. 
 
VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 285 
 
 nations. No impression has ever been made on the 
 creed of the Prophet. It may be that, Uke dispersed 
 Israel, its followers have hitherto been reserved to 
 bear some part in the eventual fm^therance of the 
 Gospel/ which has not yet been accomplished. 
 But the power on which it rests is temporal ; it has 
 trusted to the sword, and by the sword it will 
 perish. The Moslems of the East fk their gaze, as 
 if under the power of a spell, on the Turkish 
 dynasty as the centre of their hopes ;^ they look 
 there for a restoration of the Caliphate, and with it 
 of their former glory. But they fix it on a power 
 which is tottering, which is preserved only through 
 the conflicting jealousies of European states ; the 
 key-stone of the arch is ready to fall, and with its 
 fall the whole structure must be shaken into ruins. 
 Or, again, look at the condition of that vast empire 
 which the providence of God has entrusted to our 
 custody. The conversion of the Hindoos was long 
 thought impracticable ; it was opposed as impolitic. 
 
 ' See Forster's Mahoraetanism Unveiled, vol.ii. pp.3n,372. 
 Bishop Heber gives an interesting account of a Hindoo led by 
 education to forsake idolatry, to become Mahometan, and then 
 (from finding no satisfaction in his new creed,) embracing Chris- 
 tianity. Journal, vol. ii. p. 11. 
 
 * This feeling of the Indian Moslems in regard to Constantinople, 
 was expressed by many of them to A. P. Forbes, Esq. (on whose 
 authority it is stated) who was connected Avith the courts of 
 Madi'as. The occasion was a trial of a certain Moulavee, who 
 was charged with preaching sedition, and trying to excite a 
 "jihaud," or holy war, against the infidel in the town of 
 Chittore. 
 
286 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 But tlic silent course of events has worked a 
 different persuasion. Attentive observers have 
 noted that, in their civilization, the countries of the 
 East are stationary; that, though the cradle of 
 science and the arts, they have never been able to 
 rise above a certain point in the scale of improve- 
 ment. Their strength, exhausted in a precocious 
 grovrth, has failed, and is unable to put out anotlier 
 shoot. Their mythology, law, literature, all repose 
 at the same stagnant level ; and if any impulse 
 towards a higher state of intellectual vigom^ be 
 impressed from without, their system must be 
 shaken to its base. For besides this exhausted 
 aspect which Hindooism presents, later years and 
 deeper research have tended altogether to dissipate 
 the romance with which it was invested in the eyes 
 of Europeans. Not only has the absurdity of its 
 Vedantic doctrines been exposed, but its extravagant 
 systems of astronomy, and history, on which im- 
 believers were wont to expatiate, reaching back 
 into untold ages, when the world was millions of 
 years younger than at present, — even its literature 
 and sacred books have been stripped of their high 
 pretensions to antiquity, and brought within the 
 span of historical computation.' Their extent may 
 now be surveyed, their foundation measured, and 
 the power required to displace them calculated. 
 Even abeady no indistinct signs are given that 
 
 ' See Dufy's India and Indian Missions, p. 21, 
 
YllL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 287 
 
 the faith of the Hindoo is not proof against the 
 power of European knowledge. ^ Knit and bound 
 together, and equally constituting parts of the 
 same unchangeable faith, his religion and his 
 science must fall together. There is no alternative 
 between adherence to the whole mass of error and 
 total abandonment of it. And some minds have 
 already broken from it, and are wandering in the 
 twilight of their reason, struggling with infidelity, 
 or constructing a heartless philosophic creed of 
 simple Deism. ^ These are not effects at which we 
 can rejoice ; but they are indications of that process 
 which must continue ; they suggest the solemn 
 question, AVliat shall be substituted in the place of 
 that which is discarded? What shall be the 
 character of that revolution which in the end will 
 affect the whole East ? Eor India has already been 
 the source of all Oriental civilization and learning; 
 from hence issued the religious faith which spread 
 itself through Thibet, China, and the adjacent isles; 
 
 ' Native Female Education, by K. M. Banerjea, p. 125. Charge 
 by Bishop Middleton, Sermons, p. 233. 
 
 - Tracts, by Ram Mohun Roy. In reference to these. Bishop 
 Middleton writes : " Who would have believed, that any would 
 have been found among them (the natives) thus early to provoke 
 religious discussions, and openly to impugn the fundamental 
 doctrines of Christianity ? To cavil at its mysteries, to deny the 
 atonement, and to attempt to reduce the stupendous scheme of 
 Revelation to some, not all, of the divine sayings which it 
 ascribes to Christ ; teaching that these are sufficient unto salva- 
 tion; and all this with an air of research and learning borrowed 
 from our biblical criticism?" Charge to the Clergy of Calcutta, 
 Sermons, p. 234. 
 
288 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 ill the eyes of nations its soil is tlie sacred home of 
 truth ; and once again it may rise in its regenera- 
 tion to be the centre from which the streams of a 
 hoher influence shall flow throughout the furthest 
 extremities of that vast continent. 
 
 III. There is a progressive movement, then, 
 among the pagan nations. And that a wonderful 
 conjuncture is thereby presented for the advance of 
 the Church of Christ, will be made more apparent 
 if we reflect on the manifold apparatus tliat exists, 
 even in our own hands, for securing and directing 
 it. Eor it is clear that aggression on the heathen 
 nations is being vigorously made by Europe and 
 her colonics. It is the aggression of a high and 
 restless, upon an inferior and inert, civilization. It 
 is the aggression of power upon weakness, of truth 
 upon error. As surely as the tide of conquest once 
 rolled from the East to the West, so surely is it 
 flowing back (may it be more peaceably !) upon the 
 birth-place of the human race. Daily is the influence 
 of Christendom increasing. Even in point of num- 
 bers the disproportion between the Christian and 
 Pagan population of the world is daily lessening. 
 Reflect only on the gigantic power which is put forth 
 by this our country. It has already peopled oiie- 
 lialf of the American continent. Austral- Asia seems 
 Avonderfully destined to grow up under its influence 
 to be a central source of improvement to the barba- 
 rism of the South. There is scarcely a heathen 
 people with whom we arc not brought into contact. 
 
VIII.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 289 
 
 We cany the conveniences of life into the hnt of 
 tlie remotest savage. And our land is the resort of 
 strangers. They flock from under every smi to 
 learn our arts, and search out the source of our 
 earthly greatness ; and we might truly tell them 
 that all these blessings have flowed from the 
 influence of Christian truth. The language of 
 England is spreading itself with a rapidity far 
 exceeding any other. It is the tongue of half of 
 the Western hemisphere. It is become the instru- 
 ment of education in India. Our modes of thought, 
 our principles, our literatm-e, our history, are thus 
 carried into other lands ; they cannot perish there ; 
 rather, are they not pioneering a track along which 
 the Gospel may advance, when those are found who 
 are willing to proclaim it ? We cannot reflect upon 
 these elements of power, and not see in them the 
 means provided for a fresh advance of the Church 
 of Christ, — means which would scarcely have 
 been equalled in the first ages of the promulgation 
 of the Gospel, if, instead of the few fishermen of 
 Galilee, the learned and powerful of Greece and 
 Italy had been its propagators, and, instead of 
 Jerusalem, imperial Rome had been the centre of 
 its diffusion. 
 
 But though these secondary means must be 
 deemed powerless in themselves, yet tokens are 
 they, and signs of His will towards the accomplish- 
 ment of which all things surely tend. We may 
 note that, in those onward movements which have 
 
 u 
 
290 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 marked particular periods in the history of the 
 Chiu'cli of God, the hues of His providence have 
 ever run concurrently with those of His grace ; and 
 that a combination of subordinate agencies have 
 betokened " the fulness of the thue." Was it not 
 thus at the first coming of the Lord of Life ? The 
 general peace ; the intercourse between nations 
 along the highways of mihtary conveyance; ex- 
 tended colonization ; the application of the papyrus 
 to the purposes of writing ; the cumulation of the 
 Septuagint ; a common language of communication; 
 all conspu'ed to aid the promulgation of the 
 kingdom of heaven. So was it at the subsequent 
 religious crisis of the Reformation. The settling 
 down of the nations into order ; increased skill in 
 navigation, by means of the mariner's compass; fresh 
 commercial entcrprize ; emigration to a new world ; 
 the invention of printing; the translation of the 
 Sacred Scriptures ; the use of Latin as the channel 
 of thought ; these combined to urge onward that 
 fresh outbreak of revived Christianity which agitated 
 the whole of Europe. And can we close our eyes 
 against the same concurrence of means now^ concen- 
 trating their force into one mighty effort; — the 
 application of a new jjower to navigation ; the rapid 
 transit to every spot in the globe ; the founding of 
 new settlements, and of future kingdoms ; the 
 invention of arts, and discovery of new sciences ; 
 the circvdation of the word of God ; the ubiquity of 
 the English language from Quebec to Canton, from 
 
VIII.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 291 
 
 NeAV Zealand to the Himalayas ; and lastly, the 
 universal peace, so merciful and unexpected, which 
 may seem to be hushing the world into stillness, 
 and to resemble the silence that was " in heaven for 
 about the space of half an hour" at the opening of 
 the seventh seal ? Shall we discern nothino- in 
 these conjunctui'es but the chance on-drivings of a 
 restless world, aimless and uncontrolled ? Or, as it 
 watches the feverish strivings and agitations of men, 
 can the eye of faith discern no Hand weaving out 
 therefrom the web of the world's destinies, and 
 tracing upon it the legible characters of God's 
 eternal decrees ? 
 
 And God does not bestow His gifts for nought. 
 These leadings of His providence, these opportuni- 
 ties, powers, resources, this peculiar and singular 
 contact into which we are brought with the heathen, 
 what do they indicate, but that He seems to have 
 designed our Church for the special office and 
 labours of an Apostle? Nay, in past history this 
 impress seems to have been upon it. Mysteriously 
 planted by we know not whom ; assaulted, beyond 
 all other Chui'ches, by disasters in its growth ; its 
 light twice rekindled when well-nigh quenched by 
 foreign and invading paganism ; the Chm^ch of 
 this land appears to have been reserved for this end, 
 that it should be a missionary Church. On each 
 occasion this was the fruit of its preservation. It 
 was overrun by Saxons, and straightway on its 
 recovery apostoHc men went forth to convert the 
 u 2 
 
292 PROSPECTS AXD ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 Teutonic tribes. It was devastated by northern 
 pirates, its sanctuaries destroyed and monasteries 
 pillaged ; on its rescue, the conversion of Norway 
 was presented by English missionaries as a thank- 
 offering to God. Count over the array of names 
 with which the earlier lists of its saints stand embla- 
 zoned, and say if this be not its great and grand 
 characteristic' And why, at the later period of its 
 recovery, why has it been so blessed above all 
 reformed Christendom in the preservation of its 
 apostolic form, but that it might be fidly equipped 
 for fulfilling this its peculiar destiny ? — And there- 
 fore, we may justly fear that, in neglecting this duty, 
 we may be contravening God's ordained purpose, 
 and losing our special crown. There are not 
 wanting those who will bid us look at home, will 
 point to our own heathen population, to the fester- 
 ing mass of evil that is eating into the heart of our 
 social condition. And we must confess the evil ; 
 yet not the more on this account may we dare omit 
 that still pressing obligation of setting up the light 
 of Christianity in our colonies, and causing it to 
 shine upon the surrounding heathen ; otherwise, 
 founded upon no regard to God's will, those 
 colonies will turn against us, and become, as former 
 ones have become, our scourges. 
 
 We must })onder on the lesson which we may 
 read hi Portugal's history ; we nmst call to mind 
 the prophetic warning which was uttered to its 
 
 ' Appendix, No. XL VI I. 
 
VIII.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 293 
 
 monarch by liis bold and religious counsellor, who 
 reminded him that, in giving to his kingdom the 
 tei-ritories of the heathen in the East and West, in 
 enriching it with the Avealth of Mexico and Brazils, 
 God had set it on its trial, to see whether it would 
 employ these gifts in His service, and pour back 
 upon the plundered nations the true riches ; — and 
 that, if it failed, God would lay it low, for He 
 " setteth up and putteth down."' — And its king- 
 dom has been taken away and given to another. 
 We stand in its place. And we need no more 
 stirring voice than this to read to us our own 
 warning, and, it may be, to foretel our doom. 
 " Behold," it seems to speak, " the goodness and 
 the severity of God : on them which fell severity ; 
 but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his 
 goodness ; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." " 
 God's work will be done. If we undertake it not 
 willingly. He will force it on us ; He will turn upon 
 us our own evils, and scatter us abroad ; and so 
 witness we must, this mighty nation, to Christ, 
 either by our obedience, or by our punishment. 
 
 And therefore should the Church cease not to 
 raise its voice, till its teaching is throughout imbued 
 by the lesson, and entreat, and warn, till this 
 kingdom and people learn, that, not by its wealth, 
 or commerce, or colonies, but by the execution of 
 God's will, it can alone be preserved. The methods 
 by which this His will towards the heathen may 
 
 1 Appendix, No. XLVIII. ^ Rom. xi. 22. 
 
294 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. 
 
 be, for tliey have been, executed, I have endcavoui'ed 
 to trace. We have Cluist's promise, we have the 
 due organization, we have the Living Body, we liave 
 truth, and past experience. What more do we 
 need, — what, but the poming out of that new Spirit, 
 which will set all in action, and give the Church a 
 " mouth and wisdom which its adversaries shall not 
 be able to gainsay nor resist ?" It is not merely a 
 new-modelled machinery, nor multipled funds that 
 are needed ; these have ere itow been tried, and they 
 have failed : they are unable to purchase holiness 
 and zeal, and to secure the reward which is reserved 
 for these alone. It is another weapon that is 
 required for this warfare — the Spirit of God quick- 
 ening the hearts of all His people. Thus alone 
 can it be carried on. For it is no easy work to 
 plant a Church. It has ever been effected in 
 pain and sorrow ; and it was an act that bore with 
 it a solemn meaning, when Christians used to bear 
 some martyr's remains, and place them deep under 
 the foundation of the building they were about to 
 raise, to show that its permanency must be based 
 on such high deeds of suffering. The easy methods 
 which have hitherto been pursued have wrought no 
 adequate residt. We sec the fruit of them in the 
 discouragement and disap[)ointment which seems 
 to blight the incipient efforts Avhich are made at 
 home, in the strife and complaint to which they 
 tend, and the feebly-sustained existence in which 
 they issue. AVe cannot, indeed, hope to rise all at 
 
Vm.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 205 
 
 once to the full accomplisliment of the labour that 
 lies before us : the neglect of past years needs to be 
 amended ; its punishment needs to be borne ; the 
 new seed must be cast in sorrow and repentance, 
 that after-generations may reap the fruit. But 
 with the first awakening of such a reviving spirit, 
 the pressing duty, and the real dignity, of evan- 
 gelizing the heathen, will be felt in all their 
 constraining force. — Men endowed with the power, 
 will present themselves for so noble a service. It 
 will be undertaken, as it was of old, in poverty, and 
 in self-dedication to God. It will be esteemed a 
 cutting reproach, that for gain, for honour, for a 
 profession, — every profession but that of Christ's 
 service, — men will give, and sacrifice themselves, 
 their talents, their youth, their home ; that parents 
 will part with their children, and gladly send them 
 to earth's utmost limits to gather those earthly 
 benefits which perish in the using ; but grudge 
 them, and count them thrown away if devoted to 
 purposes which will exist when earth itself has 
 perished, and will make their memories blessed for 
 evermore. Men (and there are many such whom I 
 am now addressing) uncalled to any special work 
 in Christ's vineyard, will reckon among the services 
 by which they may consecrate their lives to the work 
 of God, (and they must be doing His Avork if they 
 are to rise above a base and selfish mediocrity,) this 
 one, of bearing the name of Christ to a perishing 
 world. They will consider that not merely second- 
 
29G PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.VIII. 
 
 rate powers and gifts are required for it ; ' that it is 
 not an inglorious service ; but that in it the first 
 gifts and rarest endowments of mind and body find 
 their fitting exercise, while men and angels are 
 looking on ; that in it the flower of Christ's army 
 have striven ; saints have been made perfect, 
 talents have put out their noblest energies ; genius 
 has wrought its greatest triumphs ; the Church has 
 been most edified, Christ has been most glorified, 
 and brightest crowns have been won. And those 
 crowns are not yet expended ; they are stored in 
 heaven for those who will claim them ; none has 
 yet heard the numbering of the army of martyrs, — 
 the roll is yet open, and in their ranks are places 
 yet unfilled. 
 
 ' On the qualifications of Missionaries, see Appendix, No. 
 XLIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 Lecture I. — Page 12. 
 On the Condition of the Church in the Colonies in past years. 
 
 " The total number of Clergy, both civil and military, did 
 not, there is reason to believe, in 1814, exceed thirty-two ; in 
 the proportion of fifteen for Bengal, twelve for Madras, and five 
 for Bombay. This number, small as it was, was subject to con- 
 tinual reduction, by illness, death, necessary absence, or return 
 to England. Such, e. g. w^as the amount of these casualties at 
 Bombay, on the arrival of Archdeacon Barnes in 1814, that he 
 found at that presidency only one efficient Clergyman on the 
 establishment." 
 
 " Throughout the provinces subject to the government of 
 Bombay, there was but a single church." 
 
 "Not only the offices for marriage and burial, but that of 
 Baptism also, ^vere continually ministered hy lay j^^rsons ; 
 generally, though not always, by the magistrate, or commanding 
 officer of the station." — Life of Bishop Middleton, vol. i. pp. 82, 
 83, 113. 
 
 At the same period, 1814, (it is stated in a table published in 
 a work called Propaganda,) the number of missionaries and 
 schoolmasters in Canada (whose area equals France and England 
 in extent), was twelve. In New Brunswick (equal to Scotland), 
 twenty-one. About half of these, probably, were schoolmasters. 
 
 In New South Wales, at the same date, the number of Clergy 
 was five, the population being about 14,000. — State of Pieligion 
 in New South Wales, by Mr. Justice Burton, p. 9. 
 
300 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 Of tlie feeling that was entertained by politicians towards the 
 heathen, and on the duty of attempting their conversion, many 
 instances might be adduced. In 1793, in the House of Commons, 
 a member (Mr. Campbell) " reprobated the idea of converting 
 the natives" of India. (Brown's History of Missions, vol. i. 
 p. 204.) " The allowance of missionaries," so it was urged, 
 " in that country, for the express purpose of propagating the 
 Gospel among the people, was a measure which ought to be 
 sternly resisted, as likely to bring Christianity and idolatry into 
 direct conflict, imminently dangerous to the peace and safety of 
 India." — (Le Bas' Life of Middleton, vol. i. p. 44.) A further 
 instance of the state of feeling in regard to missions, and the duty 
 and authority of the Church to advance them, is strikingly 
 exhibited in the following extracts from Major Waring's answer 
 to Dr. Buchanan's Researches : — "I do not believe that there is 
 an adversary to Christian missions in England, though many 
 may argue, with the late Sir William Jones, that inissionaries 
 of no church or sect tvill succeed in India.'" And yet of the 
 really adverse feelings existing towards them, he immediately 
 gives proof in detailing two instances of missionaries being 
 prohibited, by the civil authority, from preaching and distri- 
 buting books in Calcutta and Dacca. Pp. 48, 49. " No man 
 of prudence or common sense," he adds, '• will censure the 
 Bishops of Llandatr and St. David's, for not delivering their 
 sentiments in Parliament, knowing, as they did, that both the 
 king's ministers, and a great majority in each house, were de- 
 cidedly hostile to the institution of a system of 2^^'oselytism in 
 Indian P. o8. In accordance with these sentiments it is 
 urged, — " that the legislature alone is competent to form an 
 union between the Church of England and any other Christian 
 Church." " The Church cannot herself be an instrument in 
 giving light to the world ; parliament may, if it please, make 
 her the instrument." Pp. 52, 55. 
 
 A similar instance of the melancholy misapprehension that 
 existed, even among the Clergy in the colonies, as to the 
 authority of the Bishop and the real cliaracter of the Church, 
 is to be found in Le Bas' Life of Middleton, vol. ii. p. 119 ; 
 where it is mentioned that a Chaplain, " having obtained 
 leave of absence from his own station, and being on a visit at 
 
I.] APPENDIX. 301 
 
 another, where there was a licensed Chaplain, obtained there, 
 from the commanding officer, a sort of licence to officiate at a 
 wedding, although the licensed Chaplain remonstrated against 
 the invasion of his rights." 
 
 These extracts are made merely as indicating a tone of 
 feeling which has now happily passed away. 
 
 No. 11. 
 
 Lecture I. — Page 1 7. 
 
 On the Opinion of the earlier Fathers respecting the predicted 
 Extension of the Gospel. 
 
 The opinions commonly entertained respecting the universal 
 spread of Christianity, whereby the whole world shall be 
 evangelized before the end come, may be comprehended under 
 these two heads : first, the expectation of the Millenarians, 
 (derived from Rev. xx.) who look for a reign of peace and bliss 
 on earth, under the personal government of Christ ; — and 
 secondly, the expectation that the Gospel will gradually 
 extend itself, by the operation of already existing influences, 
 until (in some sense) " the earth shall be filled with the 
 knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." 
 
 There is, indeed, a third opinion, which, however, is scarcely 
 definite or consistent enough to be accurately described, but 
 which, while it asserts the belief of the whole world becoming 
 the inheritance of the Lord, before " the end of all things," 
 rejects, on the one hand, the notion of the millenarian, that this 
 will be effected by a miraculous manifestation of our Lord, and 
 rejects, on the other hand also, the idea that this " happy 
 reign of piety on the earth will be attained by the peaceful and 
 uninterrupted progress of the means employed, and by these 
 alone." This intermediate opinion is set forth by Dr. Harris, 
 and probably represents the tenets of a large portion of Pro- 
 testant dissenters. See " The Great Commission," pp. 1 1 7 — 12 1 . 
 
 1. In regard to the former of the above-named opinions, 
 
302 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 (that of a Millennium) much need not be said ; because, first, 
 any such opinion (viewed as a motive for missionary exertion) 
 would seem to supersede the necessity of any exertion at all, — 
 since it looks for the fulfilment of its expectations to miracu- 
 lous interposition : next, because there is no necessary con- 
 nexion between the portion of Scripture on which the doctrine 
 of the Millennium mainly depends, (viz. Rev. xx.) and those 
 which import the enlargement and final triumph of the 
 kingdom of Christ, in the prophets : lastly, because the opinion 
 does not at all prevail among divines of the Church of 
 England. It is well known that the doctrine was generally 
 held in the earlier days of Christianity, and down to the time 
 of St. Jerome (a.d. 392). Papias (a.d. IIG) is generally re- 
 ferred to, as the first who maintained the opinion, and who 
 was (in part at least) followed by Justin Martyr, Melito, 
 Bishop of Sardis (a.d. 170), Irenseus, Tertullian, and Lac- 
 tantius. It was opposed, first by Origen ; and afterwards 
 by Dionysius of Alexandria (a.d. 247), who summoned a 
 council (a.d. 262), on occasion of a book being written on the 
 subject by Nepos, Bishop of Egypt ; then by S. Jerome, and 
 S. Augustine. The last writer enters fully into an inter- 
 pretation of those passages of Scripture, on which the doctrine 
 of a Millennium was founded, in his work, De Civit. Dei, 
 lib. XX. cap. vi. — xi. 
 
 The doctrine slept from the close of the fourth, to the 
 seventeenth century ; when it was again revived, and pub- 
 lished in 1643, under the title of "The Personal Beign of 
 Christ on Earth." This treatise is examined and fully replied 
 to by Bishop Hall, in his " Revelation Revealed." The 
 theory is likewise discussed and refuted at length by Ant. 
 Wahieus, (Prof of Theology at Leyden, and Director of a 
 Missionary Seminary founded in 1612, by the Dutch East 
 India Company,) in a dissertation " De Chiliastis." 
 
 2. The second opinion is probably that which most largely 
 prevails, and it is in reference chiefly to this that the arguments 
 in the Lecture are advanced. It is remarkable how, in the 
 current theology of later years, this notion of an universal 
 diffusion of the Gospel, a conversion of the whole world, as the 
 result of the means now in operation, is expected and expressed. 
 
I.] APPENDIX. 303 
 
 It is seldom that a missionary sermon is preached in which it is 
 not at least implied. Dean Graves (on the Pentateuch, p. 434, 
 3d edit.) asserts it. It seems taken for granted in all the con- 
 cluding remarks of Mr. Forster, in his " Mahometanism Un- 
 veiled," pp. 369, 371. Mr. Davison, indeed, in his work on 
 " Prophecy," speaks more cautiously. After quoting the pas- 
 sages, " all nations shall flow unto it," (Isa. ii. 2,) and, " the 
 earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the 
 waters cover the sea," (Isa. xi. 9.) he says, " Such predictions as 
 these, if pressed to the letter, open the prospect of an unlimited 
 and universal spread of the Gospel." P. 529. 
 
 That the earlier fathers did not conceive such passages of 
 Scripture as these to declare an universal reign of the Gospel 
 throughout the earth before the end of the world, whatever ful- 
 filment they might have in the future glory of Christ, with His 
 redeemed, is apparent from such authorities as the following. 
 
 St. Chrysostom (as quoted in p. 1,) considered the prophecy 
 of the preaching of the Gospel in all the world to have been 
 fulfilled, in an adequate sense, before the taking of Jerusalem. 
 St. Jerome, in his commentary on Isa. xi., understands the 
 whole of the chapter as having reference to the period of the 
 first advent of our Lord ; opposing herein the opinion of the 
 Jews, who referred it to the end of the world, tom. iv. 158 — 
 164, Vallarsii edit. St. Cyril of Alexandria, in his Commen- 
 tary on Isaiah, (lib. ii. Orat. 1,) WTites in the same way, — 
 efXTreTrXiicrdai re (pr]a\ ti)v (rvfiTrafray tov yvuitai rov Kvpiov. ovrw re 
 elfai irXi'ipr] rfjc etc aiiTov tvirtj-jtiac, Kadcnrtp ufiiXei Kai ?/ TrXarela 
 Tt (Cat zvpvywpoq QaXactfja fiear)) tCjv 'i^iiwv vCciriov kaTiv. iCoi 6 av 
 riQ Kal TovTO dXrjdeg. ttov yap IjXwq i] irnpa Tiaiv ovk OfOfxai^trai 
 Xpt'oTOc; ^ Tzdlov dvQpioTTuyv yf.voq ovK vTroTVf.TrrcjKEy ; KUfixLei yap 
 avTio TTciv yovv, Kai izafra yXCJaaa t^o^oXoyijceTUi uvtm kutu to 
 yeypafifiu'oy. In like manner St. Basil observes, in his Com- 
 mentary on Isaiah, cap. ii. § 67, — Kal i'l'^ovati' kir' avro tvuvtci to. 
 eOvrj. Upoiwi' 6 Xoyoc yv^roTtpav tKfaivEi Ttjv irpo^riTeiav, Ti)y 
 (Tvvhpo^i]V Twv IBvwv Ti)v eaofiirrjy (.ttI t))v tiriyvwtnv tov Xpiarov 
 vTro(paiv(i)y. "H^ovui yap KXrjdiyTa ^la. tov KtjpvyfxaTOc iirl tiiv 
 TTiaTiv TiavTa to. tdyr). Kripv)(Qi](T(.TaL yap to evayyiXiov tovto tv 
 oXo) T(o Kfjcrfjio)' Kal, Etc Tvaaav Tr\v yijv i^i)Xdey 6 evayyeXiKoc 
 <p96yyog tQv aTroffroXwv. 
 
 And as such passages as these were applied to the spread of 
 
304 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 the Church that had been already witnessed,, so the writers of 
 these early ages seem not to have expected any universal ac- 
 ceptance of the Gospel before the end. St. Augustine wrote 
 two letters to Hesychius on the signs of the approaching end, 
 in which he enters upon the subject. He determines that the 
 Gospel was to be preached,/or a ivitiiess, in all lands, wdiich had 
 not, at that time, been completely done ; that the accomplish- 
 ment of this would be a sign of the coming end ; yet that the 
 result of this preaching throughout would be, not that all would 
 believe, but some only, and that the rest would be unbelieving 
 and opposed to the faithful. 
 
 For the two first statements I would refer to Epist. 197, § 4, 
 and Epist. 199, cap. xii. ; also, De Consens. Evangel, lib. ii. 
 cap. Ixxvii. and De Agon. Christian, caj). xxix. So St. Hilary 
 says, " Usque ad finem perseverantibus salus reservata est ; ac 
 turn per omnes orbis partes, viris Apostolicis dispersis, Evangelii 
 Veritas predicabitur," in Matt. xxv. 2. (xxiv. 13). — Origen, too, 
 writes, " Si vult quis temere dicere prtedicatum esse jam evan- 
 gelium regni in toto orbe in testimonium omnibus gentibus, 
 consequenter dicere poterit et quod ait, 'Tunc erit finis,' jam 
 finem venisse," in Matt. Comment, sec. 39, torn. iii. edit. 
 Bened. — St. Cyril of Jerusalem thought the prcacliing of the 
 Gospel to the whole world so nearly complete, as to show that 
 Christ Avas coming : — 'Ixek: kuI tovtu tv ar]jj.fiov. Kat K^pvyBi]- 
 fferai tovto tv evayyiXioi' rj/c fiacriXelac tv oA?; rrj olKovfxiyr], elg 
 /jKiprvpioy TTuai toIq tOye(n' icai tote i]t,u to tIXoc. Kai ayt^ov, 
 <jjQ upujuev, o KufTfiOQ ctTrnc TfjQ Ttipi \pi(7Tov cicaaKaXiac 7^£7^\^/- 
 pwTai. Catech. XV. 8, p. 227, Edit. Bened. See also, Theodoret, 
 Interpret. 2 Thess. ii. 2. 
 
 And that no universal acceptance of the Gospel would be the 
 result of this, is strongly stated by St. Augustine in these 
 words : " In quibus ergo gentibus nondum est Ecclesia, oportet 
 ut sit ; non ut omnes qui ibi fuerint, crcdant, (omnes cnim 
 gentes promissiu sunt, non omnes homines omnium gentium; non 
 enim omnium est fides;) credit itaque omnis gens in omnibus 
 qui electi sunt ante constitutionem muudi, in cantoris non credit^ 
 et credentes odit," Epist. 199, cap. xii. See also, Be Unit. 
 Eccles. § 34. To the same purpose St. Jerome says, " Signum 
 Dominici adventus est, Bvangelium in toto orbe prsedicari, ut 
 nvllus sit excusalilis" in Matt. xxiv. 14. Origen likewise, 
 
^0 APPENDIX, 305 
 
 though asserting the universal preaching of the Gospel, yet, 
 in answer to the objection of Celsus, that it was impossible for 
 all men to agree in one faith, replies that this may be so in this 
 life, but not in that to come -.—ravra ^' Uo^i jxai fieTpuoc, kcu 
 ov ixeTcirijeaKpifjovQdojyyaecjg.Trapddeadat, cid ryv KiXaov Xet,iv 
 oloj.iirov TO avjj(pporijuai roue rijp 'Aaiav, kcu Ei/jOwVr/j', (cat 
 Aifivtjy, EXXrji'dc re kuI (iapftupov(^ oIkovvtuq, u^vi-arov eli'ai.' 
 KOi TTOj^ci dXijduJg dcvruTOv fiiv to toiovtov toIq iti Iv aujuciTi. 
 ov ij.))y dcvi'arov koL a.TroXvde~i(Tii' avrov. Contr. Gels. viii. 73. 
 
 If this, then, be a true view of what we are to expect before 
 the second coming of our Lord, the prospect of an universal 
 reign of Ghristian truth and bliss, under the present dispen- 
 sation of things, is unfounded ; and, without denying a par- 
 tial fulfilment of them even now, the full realization of the 
 scenes presented in the elder prophets must be looked for in 
 another state. Whatever state that may be, I would observe 
 only further, that any question respecting a millennium is apart 
 from the point immediately under consideration, and properly 
 rests on other passages of Scripture. And should it be thought 
 that such an opinion as is here expressed respecting the spread 
 of the Gospel necessarily contradicts the idea of a millennium, 
 I would reply, that the fact of the day of judgment would 
 seem to do so no less ; for we cannot conceive how such a mil- 
 lenary state as is conceived, could exist before that event with- 
 out forestalling its sentence. This, then, is altogether a point 
 apart from the course of His dealings which God has revealed, 
 and it is one on which it will be wiser to express no opinion ; 
 only, should a season of such a character be in store, no doubt 
 it will be reconciled, though we may not be able to see how, with 
 the other revelations of God respecting the laborious preach- 
 ing and partial acceptance of the Gospel even unto the end. 
 
306 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 No. III. 
 
 Lecture II. — Page 44. 
 0)1 the Revival of Zoroastrianisin in Persia. 
 
 " Br an edict of Artaxerxes (or Ardeschir) the exercise of 
 every worship except that of Zoroaster was severely prohibited. 
 The temples of the Parthians, and the statues of their deified 
 monarchs, were thrown down with ignominy. The sword of 
 Aristotle (such was the name given by the Orientals to the 
 polytheism and philosophy of the Greeks) was easily broken ; 
 the flames of persecution soon reached the more stubborn Jews 
 and Christians ; nor did they spare the heretics of their own 
 nation and religion." — Decline and Fall of the Ptom. Emp. 
 vol. i. p. 246, 2d ed. 
 
 Gibbon, in a note on this passage, refers to Sozomen, lib. ii. 
 c. 1. (viii. ?) on the subject of this persecution. But the events 
 and the sufferings of the Christians there related refer to a later 
 period, and occurred under Sapor, son of Hormouz, in the 
 middle of the fourth century. See Rufinus, p. 339. Sozomen 
 speaks (ch. xiv.) of 1G,000 Christians having been martyred 
 under this prince. That Zoroastrianism was restored by violence 
 in the first instance is most probable, and the spirit of perse- 
 cution was continued, since Manes was put to death by Va- 
 ranes, a.d. 277 ; but no account (as Mr. Milman observes in 
 his note on Gibbon) remains of the earlier conflict. " The 
 restoration of Zoroastrianism, as the established and influential 
 religion of Persia, is perhaps the only instance of the vigorous 
 revival of a Pagan religion." — Milman's Hist. Christ, vol. ii. 
 p. 310. 
 
 It is remarkable that Sozomen (lib. ii. c. viii.) speaks of 
 Christianity as having been introduced to Persia from Arme- 
 nia. This is clearly incorrect, as it was not preached in the 
 latter country l)efore a.d. 312 ; Avhen Tiridates was converted 
 by Gregory the Illuminator ; a sketch of whose preaching is 
 given at the end of St. Chrysostom's works, vol. xii. p. 821 ; 
 ed. Veil. The faith had existed and flourished in Persia be- 
 fore this period. The earlier history of Christianity in Persia 
 is involved in much obscurity. Tradition (Martyrol. Rom. 2Sth 
 
II-] APPENDIX. 307 
 
 Oct. cited by Fabric. Lux. Evang. p. 633) assigns the first 
 preaching of the Gospel in that country to Simon the Canaanite 
 and Thaddeus. That it was conveyed thither soon after the 
 day of Pentecost we might conclude from " Parthians and 
 Medes and Elamites" having been among the number who wit- 
 nessed the wonders of that day. In a Variorum note appended 
 to the passage of Sozomen, the following words occur : — "Et 
 quidem Bardesanes, siieculi secundi scriptor, apud Euseb. lib. 
 vi. de Pra-par. Evang. cap. 8 (101) refert suo tempore Chris- 
 tianos apud Persas inveniri. Sed tamen vix compertum est, 
 quis fuerit in hac amplissima regione Christianre religionis 
 status ante Constantini Mag. tempora, qui, in Epistola ad Sa- 
 porem Kegem Persarum apud Eusebium de Vita Const, lib. iv. 
 cap. 8 (9 'I) Christianos ipsi commendat, ' quorum multitudine 
 nobilissima qua?que Persidis loca longe lateque esse decorata 
 asseverat." 
 
 No. IV. 
 Lecture II. — Page 48. 
 
 On the Invasion of the Vandals and Saxons.- 
 
 Of the state of the African Church an appalling account is 
 given by Salvian, of Marseilles (a. n. 480), in his work De 
 Gubernatione Dei, in which the following passage occurs: — 
 " Nam sicut in sentinam profunda3 navis colluviones omnium 
 sordium, sic in mores eorum quasi omni mundo vitia fluxerunt. 
 Nullam enim improbitatem scio, qu£e illic non redundarit, cum 
 utique etiam pagana3 ac ferrece gentes, etsi habeant specialiter 
 mala propria, non sint tamen in his omni execratione dignse. 
 Gothorum gens perfida, sed pudica est : Alamannorum impu- 
 dica, sed minus perfida : Franci mendaces, sed hospitales : 
 Saxones crudelitate efieri, sed castitate mirandi. Omnes de- 
 nique gentes habent sicut peculiaria mala, ita etiam quasdam 
 bona. In Afris pene omnibus nescio quid non malum. Si 
 accusanda est inhumanitas, inhuman! sunt. Si ebriositas, 
 ebriosi sunt. Si falsitas, falsi sunt. Si dolus, fraudulentissimi. 
 
 x2 
 
308 APPENDIX. L^Ecr. 
 
 Si cupiditas, cupidissimi. Si perfidia, perfidissimi. Impuritas 
 eorum atque blasphemia his omnibus admiscenda non sunt : 
 quia illis qua3 supra diximus malis aliarum gentium vitia, his 
 autem etiam sua ipsorum vicerunt." Pp. 2G1, 262. 
 
 In respect to the feelings of the barbarians themselves, he 
 saySj (p. 256,) " Ipsi denique fatebantur non suum esse quod 
 facerent, agi enim se divino jussu, ac per'urgeri Ex quo in- 
 telligi potest quanta sint mala nostra, ad quos vastandos atque 
 cruciandos ire barbari compelluntur inviti." The same senti- 
 ment is put into the mouth of a Persian by Herodotus, in re- 
 ference to the invasion of Xerxes ; Tavra Se Usprriwy (tv^voI 
 eTTicrrafitioi STrofieda dyayKciin] tv^eEeneroi, k. t. A. lib. ix. c. 16. 
 
 The state of the English Church is dwelt on, in the ^ame 
 tone, by Bede, who speaks of the ravages of the Saxons in the 
 sixth century as being a just judgment of God : " Accensus 
 manibus paganorum ignis Justus de sceleribus populi Dei ul- 
 tiones expetiit." — (Eccl. Hist. Gent. Angl. lib. i. c. 15.) In 
 the same way Gildas, in his " liber querulus," as it is called, 
 " de excidio Britannise," charges every amount of vice on the 
 Britons, and adds that " God to purify, as it were, His family, 
 had inflicted on it the ravages of the Saxons." — Bibl. Max. 
 tom. viii. p. 710. 
 
 No. V. 
 Lecture II. — Page 62. 
 
 On the mutual Interdependence of Christianity and Civilization. 
 
 The difficulty that has beset this subject, and the difference 
 of opinion that has been expressed upon it, have arisen very 
 much from the meaning tliat has been attached, by different 
 minds, to the word "civilization," wliich will need to be settled 
 l)efore any agreement of opinion can be come to upon it. It 
 may be thought, ptjrliaps, that this lias been accomplished by 
 M. Guizot, in his first lecture on " The history of civilization 
 in Europe ;" but, in reality, he only describes it as " the pro- 
 gress or developeraent of a people in their social life," and "the 
 
n.] APPENDIX. 309 
 
 developement of individual life, of the human mind and facul- 
 ties" (pp. 13, 15, Engl, transl.) ; and concludes that France 
 exhibits, and is the centre of it. As regards the point in ques- 
 tion, however, this description does not at all meet the diffi- 
 culty, in which we are met by conflicting opinions and seem- 
 ingly conflicting facts. 
 
 E. g. Mr. Forster, in his Mahometanism Unveiled, strongly 
 maintains that civilization must precede, or at least go hand in 
 hand with the introduction of Christianity ; and that " a high 
 state of national culture and civilization would seem essential, 
 in order to Christianity striking root, and becoming perma- 
 nently established among any people." He instances the fact, 
 that the limits of permanent Christianity have been hitherto 
 nearly commensurate with the boundaries of Greek and Roman 
 civilization, and accounts for the conversion of the barbarian 
 hordes in Europe by the fact of their having changed their 
 abode and habits, and of its having been effected finally by 
 force. Vol. ii. pp. 365 — 367. 
 
 With this opinion the late Mr. Rose, whose judgment must 
 command the deepest respect, coincides ; and his note upon the 
 subject, in the Appendix to his " Christianity always Pro- 
 gressive," (pp. 175 — 182,) contains quotations from Mr. For- 
 ster, and Bishop Law. In an examination which he subjoins, 
 of the Polynesian Researches, he justly observes, that regular 
 instruction had been going on among the natives of Tahiti and 
 the other islands for years before the conversions took place, 
 which Mr. Ellis seems to think were the work of the moment 
 at which they happened ; and he discovers in this instruction 
 " exactly such preparation as might be expected, in due time, 
 under God's blessing, to produce the desired effect." 
 
 On the other hand, — with one voice, the missionaries and 
 others who were examined before the House of Commons, 
 expressed their conviction that it is " neither necessary nor 
 advantageous for civilization to precede Christianity;" (Mr. 
 Ellis's Evidence, p. 174 ; see also, pp. 187, 250), — that in 
 Christianizing a country, Christianity must precede the attempt 
 to civilize ; " You cannot get a barbarous people to attend to 
 any civilizing process, or aspire to any European habit, till 
 
310 APPENDIX, [Lect. 
 
 you give them Christian principle." — (Williams's Evidence, 
 p. 294.) They instance the introduction of Christianity among 
 the North Americans by the labours of Elliott, Brainerd, and 
 others, — and into Greenland by the Moravians, " wliere they 
 had not been preceded by any civilizing process, and where the 
 most decided results followed." [Tliis statement, however, is 
 scarcely true in fact. Both Elliott and Brainerd did civilize 
 while they tried to convert. See Brown's Missions, pp. 37, 43, 
 134. And in Greenland, fifteen years of preparatory instruc- 
 tion preceded the ingathering of any fruit by the Moravians.] 
 
 Such are the opposite opinions. And it must be owned, 
 too, that there are facts which seem to favour both views. E. g. 
 It is quite true that the civilized portion of Europe received 
 the Gospel earlier and more easily than those countries occu- 
 pied by the barbaric hordes. Coustantine inured such of the 
 tribes as were under his sway to the habits of civilized life, 
 in order to their being christianized. In many parts of Europe, 
 such as Sweden and Norway, a century of missionary labour 
 passed before any impression was made on the hardy and 
 savage natives. So that civilization would seem necessary for 
 the reception of Christianity. — On the other hand, later ex- 
 perience has certainly shown that it is far more difficult to 
 aifect the civilized nations of the East, India, and China, than 
 the uncivilized natives of the Southern isles, or on the conti- 
 nent of America; so that, on this representation, a more ad- 
 vanced stage of civilization would seem disadvantageous to the 
 reception of Christianity. 
 
 These seemingly conflicting facts, and the conclusions drawn 
 from them, might surely be reconciled by observing, that a 
 different idea is attached to civilization when either the one 
 class of cases or the other is considered.' There is a moral, as 
 
 ' It is quite strange to note the paradoxical statements into wliich the 
 adherents of the civilization or non-civilization system have been drawn, by 
 having one idea ofcivilization before their mind. E.f/. Bishop Law (Theory 
 of Religion, p. 33,) observes that "The improvement of the natural faculties, 
 and the cultivation and refinement of natural genius, are necessary to the 
 reception of Christianity." (It occurs at once upon this to suggest, that we 
 ought then to find the Chinese more prepared than other nations to embrace 
 Christianity; whereas, notwithstanding their advancement, they do ofller a 
 
II.] APPENDIX. 311 
 
 well as an intellectual or secular, civilization. Where there is 
 merely the latter, it will by no means aid the work of conver- 
 sion ; on the contrary, it may coexist, as in China and 
 India, with so much either moral darkness, or adherence to a 
 monstrous superstition, as to offer a complete barrier to an 
 entering in of the Faith. And we may find the same thing 
 illustrated among ourselves. On the other hand, some civi- 
 lization must precede the conversion of savages ; but then it is 
 a moral civilization, a reclaiming from wandering habits, and 
 brutalizing practices. They must be humanized, and this is a 
 moral civilization. And thus it has been that savages, living 
 in a state of dissocialized barbarism, have been at first most 
 difiicult to convert ; and they have been converted, as in 
 Paraguay, North America, Greenland, and South Africa, by 
 first gathering them into settlements, and introducing among 
 them civilized habits. In reply then to any general question 
 as to the necessity of civilization preceding the reception of 
 Christianity, it may be said, that, as far as some degree of 
 moral advancement is meant by the word, it is necessary ; as 
 far as mere skill in arts, or intellectual acuteness are meant, 
 these not only do not of themselves, apart from concurrent 
 moral improvement, render conversion more easy, but may be 
 so allied to moral unfitness, as to be an actual hindrance to it. 
 Should it be said that, admitting the former statement, yet 
 
 peculiar resistance to the Gospel. In anticipation, as it were, of this, the au- 
 thor proceeds at once,) " The extreme absurdities, and childish ignorance of 
 the Chinese in many things, testify that thU is not their case, notwithstanding 
 the fine things which have been said of them, and therefore accounts for their 
 not receiving the Gospel." Surely it is nothing better than a paradox to 
 assert, that the Gospel is not received by the Chinese because they are not 
 yet civilized enough. — On the other hand, Mr. Beecham, in maintaining 
 that " Christianity must precede civilization," that " Christianity is the 
 parent of civilization," and " that true civilization cannot be produced 
 without it," seems met by the possible suggestion that surely Greece and 
 Rome possessed some degree of true civilization ; but no, — he replies, 
 I cannot conclude that the civilization of the classic heathen was anything 
 better than a splendid barbarism." — Evidence on Aborig. pp. 122, 123. A 
 theory is indeed a hard taskmaster when it drives one to such a conclusion, 
 in spite of the sublime writings of antiquity, and the high characters 
 which shine in its history. 
 
312 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 Christianity is the only means of securing this moral advance- 
 ment, and therefore it must be the first point of the wedge 
 that enters, — this I should deny, and maintain that every 
 religion, in as far as it has any remnant of truth in it, (and 
 all have some lying at the bottom,) may improve and prepare 
 the way for the Gospel, and does improve in proportion as the 
 light is followed and obeyed. But this is another question, 
 and not directly connected with the point here treated of I 
 would observe only further, that in practice both parties ap- 
 proximate much more nearly on this point, and that it is 
 chiefly in their theory, and in the after-interpretation of facts, 
 that they differ. 
 
 No. VI. 
 
 Lecture II. — Page 60. 
 
 Extract from Bishop Middletoiis Charge to the Clergij of 
 Calcutta and Madras, in 1819. 
 
 The following passage, in which Bishop Middlcton proceeds 
 to illustrate what has been quoted, is too valuable not to be 
 added ; and I transcribe it the more readily, as the volume in 
 which it occurs is now scarce. 
 
 " The history of Montanism, of Donatism, and even of 
 Arianism, though the latter two did not appear till the begin- 
 ning of the fourth century, will furnish more or less an 
 illustration of these remarks : and probably it may be true; 
 that controversies upon any point had then less hold upon 
 ordinary minds, when as yet men were not led by the enjoyment 
 of political freedom to confound the maintenance of theological 
 opinions with the exercise of civil rights. But what would 
 have been the case, if in any of the provinces in which a 
 ministry was already exercised by persons duly commissioned 
 and ordained, and the Catholic doctrines were taught, what 
 would have been the consequence if teachers had appeared, 
 impugning the form of Church Government till then uni- 
 versally received, and promulgating new opinions as to the 
 
II.] APPENDIX. 313 
 
 sacrament by which men are admitted to the Christian cove- 
 nant ? Though we cannot estimate amidst varying circum- 
 stances the force of the resistance which such obstacles might 
 have opposed to the progress of the Gospel, we may venture 
 to affirm that more pernicious questions could not have been 
 agitated in a heathen land : under what form of Church govern- 
 ment Christian societies shall live ; what is the authority of 
 their teachers, and whence derived ; and whether infants can, 
 or cannot, be brought to Christ, are practical controversies, if 
 any are practical, and they necessarily produce a diversity and 
 a collision, which the heathen (I speak it of my own know- 
 ledge) do not fail to observe. It is indeed, in this point of 
 view, and not merely for the sake of instituting a comparison 
 between primitive and modern missions, that I have adverted 
 to the subject ; and on this head, if we have any interest in 
 Christian proceedings connected with this country, there is 
 somewhat to regret." — Sermons, pp. 220, 221. 
 
 No. VII. 
 
 Lecture II. — Page 65. 
 
 The effect of Disunion in hinder iiig the Gospel. 
 
 This did not escape the sagacity of Voltaire, who, in his 
 Essai sur les Moeurs, (tom. i. cap. iv.) has these words : " Le 
 plus grand obstacle a nos succes religieux dans I'lnde, c'est 
 la difference des opinions qui divisient nos missionaires," &c. 
 
 The following more recent testimonies, from all quarters, 
 confirm the same observation, which is, day by day, pressed 
 more forcibly on the attention of all interested in the success 
 of missions. Bishop Middleton, in a letter to Mr. Courtenay, 
 dated April 25th, 1817, observes, " While writing this letter, 
 I have heard from a Brahmin at Benares, who is quite dis- 
 gusted with idolatry, and has, with several others, made some 
 progress in the knowledge of Christianity. But he tells 
 me that they have had among them not only Protestants 
 (meaning the Church of England), but Roman Catholics, and 
 recently Baptists, and that their ways are quite different ; 
 
314 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 ' hy tvhicli,'' he says, in his imperfect English, ' the poor Hin- 
 doos is in a great confusion ! ' " — Life by Le Bas, voh i. p. 410. 
 In the flimous speech of a North American Indian, of the 
 Seneca tribe, to a missionary in 1805, the following remon- 
 strance occurs : — " Brother, you say there is but one way to 
 worship the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do 
 you white people differ so much about it? why not all agree, 
 as you can all read the hooh ?" — Ilowitt's Christianity and 
 Colonization, p. 399. 
 
 A Roman Catholic missionary thus writes in the Annalcs 
 de la Foi, vol. iii. p. 63, note : — " Dans les derniers annees que 
 j'ai passees dans I'lnde, toutes les fois que j'ai enterpris de 
 parler a des Indiens d'embrasser le Christianismo, j'ai 
 presque toujours re^u cette reponse . . . . ' Vous, missionaires 
 Catholiques, vous nous dites que la verite est de votre cote, et 
 que vos antagonistes, les missionaires protestans, sont dans 
 I'erreur : cos derniers, venus long-temps apres vous, nous 
 disent le contraire .... Vous, Catholiques, vous nous tirez 
 d'un cote ; vous, protestans, vous nous tirez de I'autre. Dans 
 cette position, quel parti voulez-vous que nous prenions, nous, 
 pauvres ignorans, qui ne connaissons rien, ou presque rien, du 
 sujet de vos disputes? Commencez done par vous accorder 
 entre vous, et vous viendrez cnsuite nous precher vos 
 dogmes.' " 
 
 " One great cause," (writes Rev. Krishna Mohana Banerjea,) 
 " which has occasioned the short-comings alluded to, and 
 proved such a drawback upon educational and other agencies 
 of the Missionary Societies, is the want of union, and conse- 
 quently of strength in the Church." — On Female Education in 
 India, p. 138. 
 
 And, lastly, in the introduction to his recent Charge, the 
 Bishop of Madras has the following pithy remark : — 
 
 " To those amongst us, if such there be, who think agitation 
 better adapted than quietness, peace, and love, to promote the 
 Gospel in the East, I would coiumend for their most serious 
 consideration a remark made lately to one of our missionaiy 
 clergy by a shrewd Maliometan, to whom he was sjieaking of 
 tlic claims of Christianity as ' worthy of all men to be 
 received;' 'First settle among yourselves wluit is the trutli, 
 
II.] APPENDIX. • 315 
 
 and who of you lias the truth, and then perhaps we will listen 
 to you as its ministers.' " P. 12. 
 
 The following observations on the conduct of missions, since 
 they touch especially upon the point here illustrated, are 
 extracted from the private correspondence of a gentleman in 
 India, who has considerable opportunities of watching the pro- 
 gress of our missions, and are worthy of at tentive consideration. 
 
 " As to the method of conducting missionary operations, there 
 should be several well-trained men always in and out among 
 the people of each district. These men should live together at 
 the head-quarters of the mission, but go and live out in the vil- 
 lages from time to time, and by turns. The present class of 
 native readers should be utterly abolished ; the services of the 
 Church should not be performed (as is now done) by unordained 
 catechists, and even by these readers ; there should be some 
 one with chief authority in each mission ; and some one over all 
 the missions, who shall repeatedly visit them and confer with the 
 men employed in them. But after all, as long as there are two 
 Church societies missionarizing with different rules, on differ- 
 ent plans, giving different salaries, &c. Arc one may at- 
 tempt what one may in the way suggested, and it will come to 
 nothing, or very little. Bishop Middleton mentions an anec- 
 dote in which a poor Hindoo states himself to be in great con- 
 fusion owing to the conflicting teaching of the Church, the 
 Roman Catholics and the Anabaptists. Now, whilst some may 
 really feel this perplexity, others, who wish for an excuse, turn 
 it to account. The father of a lad whom I saved some time 
 since from pursuit, and put beyond the reach of his persecutors, 
 pleaded very earnestly with me for his restoration. Why should 
 not his son continue a Hindoo, and keep his father's faith 1 
 why should the missionaries try to turn people from Hindoo- 
 ism, and not leave them as free in that faith as the Roman 
 Catholics in theirs ? The Roman Catholics thought one thing 
 and we thought another (he said), and why should not he him- 
 self think a third % This is how the thing presents itself to a 
 Hindoo mind. By the way, I shall never forget the scene I 
 had with that man, though it was short ; his deep distress at 
 his son's becoming a Christian, and how he urged the duty of 
 children to obey their parents. ... I understand he never now 
 
310 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 alludes to his son, looking on him as dead (as lie once said) since 
 his bajUisvi; — a remarkable involuntary comment on what the 
 Apostle says to the baptized. 
 
 " To return ; the escape from the present state of things never 
 can be entire. Dissent, v/e know, will continue ; and its mani- 
 festation of itself among the heathen in antagonism to the 
 Church, we may well suppose to be part of their probation. 
 This will do, after a sort, to explain its permission, but not, 
 of course, to excuse it, or warrant any sanction of it on the part 
 of Church people. I question whether any but those who have 
 come into contact with it as missionaries can realize its evil in 
 a missionary form to the Heathen. A priori, anything seems 
 a gain compared with heathenism ; and I am not prepared to 
 deny this, excepting always atheism, if there be such a thing. 
 What is the common theory ? it is this ; that though one for- 
 bid not the Dissenters beforehand, it is on the supposition that 
 where they have made converts, these, on the coming of an 
 apostolical ministry, will yield to it, and embrace it as the 
 more perfect way. Yet this is a theory which leaves out of sight 
 the fact that the teachers in this case have acted not only in- 
 dependently of the Church, and of necessity, but knowingly 
 and designedly against the Church, the recognition of which 
 by their followers is as certainly followed by excommunication 
 as a relapse into idolatrous practices. 
 
 " To take up another point. The missionaries should be 
 men of fewer wants than those one now has ; . . . the ability 
 ' to endure hardness' in a practical way, unthought of now-a- 
 days, seems to me indispensable for those who will throw their 
 whole energies into this work. Missionaries have told me that 
 the idea which the natives have of them is that they merely 
 work for their pay, and they have met with the notion that the 
 more converts a man has, the better he is off, or sometlujig like 
 it. This, of course, has its root in the inconceivable sordidness 
 of the Hindoo character, wliich would not yield perhaps to the 
 evidence of one who should carry his devotion to sucli a pitch 
 as to seem to be beside himself for the Gospel's sake. Until, 
 however, some have gone thus far like Xavier, one perhaps is 
 not Avarranted to say that zeal has had its fair trial." 
 
Ill] APPENDIX. 317 
 
 No. VIII. 
 
 Lecture III. — Page 70. 
 On the Theory of Missions. 
 
 In the text I have endeavoured to give a fair representation 
 of the theory maintained by non-conformist Protestants ; which 
 is more fully put forth in Dr. Harris's " Great Commission," 
 than in any other writing which I have seen. It occupies above 
 160 pages, and seems to be summed up in the following propo- 
 sitions ; " that Christ, as the Head of the Church on earth, au- 
 thoritatively requires that each individual Christian surrender 
 himself, and live supremely for the conversion of others ; that 
 these unite in particular societies for the conversion of greater 
 numbers still ; that all these societies, in every land, combine 
 in sympathy and purpose for the salvation of the entire race," 
 pp. 110, 111. This theory, it is argued, "was prefigured by 
 former dispensations ; it was substantially realized in the per- 
 son of Christ ; it is called for by the office and energy of the 
 Holy Spirit ; our Lord prescribed it ; his primitive Churches 
 either practically exemplified it, or were authoritatively ex- 
 horted to do so." P. 94. 
 
 The first proposition of the former quotation is of course fully 
 admitted. As regards the two following, the question only is, 
 whether Christ has not ordained a Society for this very end. 
 This is the point at issue, and therefore the reply to these pro- 
 positions and to the affirmations in the latter quotation, will be 
 found in the Lecture. I would only remark further, that justice 
 is not done to the points which are attempted to be proved in the 
 work above quoted, in consequence of the loose declamatory 
 style in which it is written, and which has all the character of 
 hai'anguing, rather than of calmly discussing a serious subject. 
 
 The opposite theory is that of the Romanists, who represent 
 the authority to send missionaries and to convert the heathen, 
 as centering in the Pope. It is enunciated by Thomas a Jesu, 
 in his work, De Procuranda Salute omnium Gentium, lib. ii, 
 cap. 1, in the following proposition : "Ad Romanum Ponti- 
 
318 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 ficem tanquam ad summum Ecclesiic Pastorcm, Petriquc in 
 Apostolatu successorem, pertinere, prnBdicatores pro fide propa- 
 ganda mittere in universum orbem." ' The passages by which 
 this proposition is maintained, are those commonly adduced 
 from Holy Scripture, and from the Fathers, in support of the 
 tenet of the supremacy of St. Peter, and of the Pope as his 
 successor. Other chapters follow, asserting the fact that the 
 Gospel was propagated through all the world, in Europe, Asia, 
 the East and West Indies by the Pope. 
 
 Now, as regards the latter point, which, as a matter of au- 
 thoritative practice in the early Church, is very important, this 
 being a question of fact, is of course subject to proof In re- 
 futation, therefore, of the assertion, instances of the distinct 
 authority of separate Bishops in converting the heathen with- 
 in reach of their operations, as the practice of the early 
 Church, will be given in Appendix, No. XII. — In addition, how- 
 ever, it is satisfactory to quote Roman Catholic authority, 
 which confirms the position, that, for the first six centuries, 
 and until the supremacy of the Pope was established, the work 
 of converting the heathen was not confined to the Bishop of 
 Rome, either in point of fact, or of right and authority, — 
 but belonged to all Bishops, and specially to those bordering 
 upon districts of heathenism. Thus Fleury remarks, " Ceux 
 qui entreprenoient d'y travailler (en Allemagne) prenoient tou- 
 jours leur mission du Pape ; au lieu que, en j^i'^iniers temps, 
 cluiqice Eveque se croyoit en droit de prcolier aux I njideles de son 
 voisinage.'''' Discours III. de Fleury, sect. xxiv. vol. xiii. Hist. 
 Eccles. 1713, 4to, p. 31. 
 
 Thomassin also, in his elaborate work, " Vetus et Nova 
 Ecclesipo Disciplina," makes just the same admission. The 
 subject is treated in Part I. lib. i. cap. liv. and Iv. p. 412, et 
 seq. 4to, edit. 1786, Latin. The substance of these chapters 
 has been already translated and quoted by Dr. Pusey, in the 
 Appendix to his Sermon entitled, "The Church the Converter of 
 the Heathen," in which the following passages will be found : — 
 
 ' See also a chapter upon tlie same subject in the Tractatus de Mission- 
 ibus, by Rovenius, p. l(i, in wliich, liowever, nothing dillerent Ironi wliat is 
 urged by Tlionias ;i Jesu is adduced. 
 
III.] APPENDIX. 319 
 
 " We cannot doubt that the Apostles, and the Bishops of 
 the apostolic times, who, for the most part, confined themselves 
 to the chief cities of the empire, and the metropolis of each 
 province, both themselves founded new Bishoprics (as so many 
 citadels of the Christian empire) in those cities, where a new 
 Church was gathered, and left the like power to their succes- 
 sors. For all being Apostles, and leaving a more abundant 
 portion of apostolic power (as has been said) to those who 
 should be Bishops of the Metropolis, they transmitted to them 
 the same power of founding new Churches, and new Bishoprics. 
 
 " With regard to new colonies of Christians, and new 
 Bishoprics, the councils of Africa had decreed, that he should 
 be Bishop of each Church and people who gained the same to 
 the Catholic unity, and retained it undisturbed for three years. 
 They had permitted also any Bishops to gain and unite to their 
 own Church places which were neglected by their own Bishops, 
 after six months' warning. Whence you will readily under- 
 stand, that those Bishops who were on the confines of the 
 Church and the heathen, had far more right to enlarge their 
 own Dioceses and Metropoles by subduing the barbarians to 
 themselves and to Christ. So Pope Gregory protested to 
 Theodoric and Theodebert, kings of the Franks, that he had 
 only sent missionaries and Bishops to England, because the 
 Gallician Bishops neglected this rich and neighbouring harvest. 
 ' It reached us that the English nation, through the mercy of 
 God, long to be converted to the Christian Faith, but that your 
 priests, close at hand, neglect it, and omit to kindle their long- 
 ings by exhortations.' And in the letter to Queen Brumeheld : 
 ' We give you to know that it reached us that the English 
 nation wished to be made Christian, but the priests who are 
 close at hand, have not a pastoral anxiety towards them.' 
 
 " In a long series of time, and consequent revolution of 
 things, it came to pass, that the right of erecting a new 
 Bishopric should rest with the Roman Pontifi^ alone. Not that he 
 reserved this right to himself, so as to augment his own juris- 
 diction at the expense of that of the Bishops, but either that 
 other Bishops were somewhat negligent in extending the 
 bounds of the Christian empire, or that they paid this mark 
 of respect to the first See, or that princes trusted the Pontiff 
 
320 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 more, or that the people applied more to the seat of St. Peter, 
 or that the Pontiff was more kindled with the fire of faith ; or 
 it may be, that it was so ordered by the Divine counsels, by 
 the disposal of that same Spirit of Christ, who forming the 
 Church, and giving it a head, and giving strength to that 
 head, and bidding him ' strengthen his brethren,' the very 
 chiefest members of His Body, did in the very infancy of the 
 Church, when so large a multitude was added to the Church 
 by two discourses of Peter, foresignify what was to be 
 expected as to its future growth, chiefly through the influence 
 and love of that head. Hence it may have been, that all this 
 power came to the successors of Peter, ivhich was 7iot reserved 
 to them hy any icritten law, until the practice of several cen- 
 turies had made it theirs. It is quite certain, that neither 
 Gregory the Great, nor Sergius II. or III. nor Zacharius, ever 
 reserved this right to themselves ; and yet they almost alone 
 exercised it. So it ever is in human affairs, that offices at 
 length devolve as a right to him to whom others for a long 
 time leave them to be exercised. If equals gain rights by 
 prescription, how much more superiors ! Such is the inoffen- 
 sive and guileless way, whereby most rights have been de- 
 volved and become prescriptive, neither Pontiffs nor Bishops 
 intending it, but custom insensibly establishing it immovably. 
 Thus both in civil and ecclesiastical government, many things 
 take place unintended, and unperceived, which when they 
 have come to pass, no one can undo." 
 
 With this candid statement (the translator adds) it can 
 only be looked upon as a sort of apology, that he conjectures, 
 that what took place in the middle ages may be an evidence 
 or exhibition of what took place in the first; thereby, however, 
 conceding the more forcil)ly, that for the first centuries there 
 Avas no direct historical evidence, as indeed all that there is, 
 goes (as he remarks) the other way. 
 
 In opposition, then, to the two theories which have been here 
 mentioned, the argument contained in these Lectures asserts the 
 authority of the Church, through its several apostolic rulers, 
 against the independent agency of individuals on the one hand^ 
 and the concentrated supremacy of the Pope, on the other. It 
 
III-J APPENDIX. 321 
 
 is maintained also, that the heathen within, or bordering upon, 
 each diocese, are the especial charge of the Bishop presiding 
 over that diocese ; and that, in regard to the several branches 
 of the Church Catholic, each Church has priinarili/ its sphere 
 of more immediate action assigned to it in those countries 
 with which it is brought into closer communication and contact 
 by national and political relationship; and that, within this 
 sphere, its authority should be respected by other Churches. 
 Let it be observed only, that asserting such a right as this is 
 acknowledging an obligation. 
 
 No. IX. 
 Lecture IIL — Page SI. 
 
 0)1 some Passages of fScrijyture adduced in Favour of inde- 
 pendent Missionary/ Exertion. 
 
 The passages of Scripture adduced, in a small work entitled 
 The Missionary Church, p. 59, by Mr. Stowell, (an Inde- 
 pendent Minister, it is believed,) in support of the theory of 
 the Gospel being extended by voluntary individual agency, 
 and by the " mutual faith and charity of the primitive 
 Churches," are the following : Acts viii. 4 ; 1 Thess. i. 8 ; 
 3 John 6, 7, 8. But a very slight notice of these will show 
 how incapable they are of supporting any such argument. 
 
 In the first instance, — on the death of Stephen, it is said, 
 01 UEV ovv CiiafTirapii'TtQ Cir)Xdoi', Evuyy£\il,6^ii'0i, k.t.X. In 
 the following Appendix, No. X. it will be shown that no direct 
 promulgation of the Gospel to the heathen is here implied. 
 In addition to which, it was not the Church at Jerusalem that 
 was thus scattered abroad and extended the Gospel. 
 
 The second instance is, 1 Thess. i. 8. " For from you 
 sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia 
 and Achaia, but in every place your faith to Godward is spread 
 abroad." This passage, as the context shows, implies merely 
 
 Y 
 
332 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 that, by the example which the converts exhibited of Christian 
 conduct, the word of God was noised abroad and made way. 
 
 Again, the last passage (3 John 6, 7, 8,) seems to have even 
 less in it to bear out any theory of either individual or com- 
 bined voluntary proceedings. " Which have borne witness of 
 thy charity before the Church : whom if thou bring forward on 
 their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well: because 
 that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the 
 Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we might 
 be fellow-helpers to the truth." Who the brethren were that 
 went forth is not mentioned, whether they were sent or other- 
 wise, — by any Church, or by the Apostles themselves. 
 
 In speaking of the Apostleship, Blumhardt uses the following 
 argument. He says that " this sacred commission indicated 
 itself in some sensible way;" and that "in general an Apostle 
 was recognised by his works, rather than by the manner of his 
 nomination. (2 Cor. xii. 12, &c.) That is the principle, at 
 least," (he adds,) " from which the Apostle Paul seems to start 
 in all his discussions on this subject." Vol. i. p. 8. Not so, 
 certainly : for St. Paul commences his epistles ordinarily by 
 urging his Apostleship on the ground of his being called 
 " through the will of God," and " by the commandment of 
 Jesus Christ." This is the point he starts from, and to which 
 he refers in proof of his Apostleship, as when he says, 
 (1 Cor. ix. 1,) "Am I not an Apostle? Am I not free? 
 Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord ?" And the signs 
 which he mentions are the fruits of his Apostleship, and of the 
 grace accompanying it. 
 
 No. X. 
 
 Lectuke III. — Page 82. 
 
 On the Use of the Word ■^eifw-oi'i'idei^. 
 
 The controversy on the word ■ytiporovtlv turns upon the 
 question whether it is to be understood as signifying, to elect 
 by suffrage, by holding up of the hand, — or, to ordain by the 
 
Ill] APPENDIX. 323 
 
 imposition of hands. The discussion is fully entered into in 
 Bishop Bilson's " Perpetual Government of Christ's Church/' 
 pp. Ill — 125, Oxford, 1842; the substance of which is as 
 follows : " There can be no question, but, as among the profane 
 Grecians, ytiporovtiv did signify to lift up the hand in token of 
 liking, because that was their manner in yielding their consent ; 
 so, amongst all ecclesiastical writers, -^^ziporovfiv is to lay 
 hands on another man's head, which the Church of Christ used 
 in calling and ai^proving her Bishops and Presbyters, to whom 
 she committed the care of souls." And he proves very satisfac- 
 torily that, in their Christian usage, ytipoTovia and y^iipoQi.aia 
 were synonymous. An argument on the same point may be 
 found in Mr. Rose's Commission and Duties of the Clergy, 
 p. b'o, note, in which he remarks : — "That it meant a desig- 
 nation to an office by the Apostles, must, I think, be allowed, 
 (see Hoadley's Brief Defence of Episcopacy, c. iii. pp. 204 — 
 206 ;) and when we remember the positive evidence existing 
 as to the method in which that designation was made on other 
 occasions, I hardly think we go beyond the mark in affixing 
 to the word a sense descriptive of that method, and certainly 
 belonging to the word a little later." — He observes also, with 
 great truth, that, whatever is the meaning of the word 
 yiipoTovibi (in Acts xiv. 23), it applies to Paul and Barnabas, 
 and not to the 'peoiiile. Suicer gives two meanings to the word 
 ■)(e.ipoTovia, as signifying, 1. election, or form of suffrage ; — 
 2. ordination ; and quotes the following words from S. Chry- 
 sostom, TOVTO >/ ■^eipoTOi'la KaXtlrac >/ x^'P ^'^i-i^^i-'^uL tov avcpoc. 
 The purpose of the learned note of Hammond, on Acts xiv. 23, 
 is to the same effect, showing that ■)^eipoTovia has, no doubt, 
 first, a general meaning, corresponding with KaQiarav, but 
 that, secondly, it was used in a Christian and restricted sense, 
 in which it was the same as yeipodtcria. 
 
 Y 'J 
 
3.24 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 No. XT. 
 
 Lecture III. — Pag;c 82. 
 
 * 
 
 0)1 the Expressions KijpvrrEii', ehu-yyeXi^EaOai, d'c. as denoting 
 the act of one author itativelt/ comviissioned. 
 
 The note of Hammond on Acts viii. t and .5, will give the 
 general outline of the argument here advanced, and may first 
 be quoted : — 
 
 " Some difference may perhaps be here observed between 
 E'uayytKiL,uiJLiroi riiy Xoyov, (ver. 4,) and eu'ipvaae -ur \piaTOV 
 (ver. ;"»); but this not in respect of the matter of their preach- 
 ing, but of the manner of it, and of the qualifications of the 
 persons that did it. The latter of these, Krjpvaaeiv, to 2)t'each 
 Christ, doth generally signify a public, solemn, proclaiming of 
 Him, as when a Kijpvt,, herald or cryer, doth, pro officio, by 
 way of office, proclaim anything ; but evayytXil^taQai imports 
 no more than telling it, malcing it knoivn, as good news is pub- 
 lished without the voice of an lierald, or cryer, by all that have 
 heard, to all they meet with : and although in one respect, 
 (that of proclaiming anew what was not known before,) this 
 Ki]pv(7(jeiv, to preacli, and tvayytki'QtaQai, to tell glad tidings, 
 do agree, yet i)i this other respect they differ sometimes. Not 
 that (.vayytXiCtaduL is never used of that public, authorita- 
 tive proclaiming ; for it is sometimes vised of the Apostles, 
 (Acts V. 42, XV. 35,) and the Avord fua-yytXtcrrz/c. evangelist, 
 is the name of an office in tlie Apostles' times, and then, when- 
 soever it was done by way of office either apostolical, or by 
 mission from them, it is evident that EvuyyE\il,E(jdaL and 
 Kvipvaativ are in all respects the same ; but I say that 
 sometimes, and particularly in this place, fuayyfXt'^to-Oai may 
 belong to whatsoever publishing of the Gospel of Christ, and by 
 whomsoever, that is, by those who have no calling to it." 
 
 To this passage 1 would add, that, in respect of the word 
 KJ]pvTTEir, 1 find, on examining the passages in the New Testa- 
 ment in Avhich it occurs, that it denotes an authoritative 
 
III.] APPENDIX. 325 
 
 proclamation of the Gospel, 2>>'o officio, either by the Apostles 
 themselves, or by men commissioned by them to this office. 
 The only passage, which might seem to form an exception to 
 this rule, is (Philip, i. 15,) where St. Paul complains of some 
 Christians " preaching" [Kr)pva(jovreQ) Christ " of contention," 
 " in pretence," or " by occasion." The interpretation set upon 
 this passage by Mr. Keble, in his Sermon on Primitive Tradi- 
 tion, Appendix A. will probably be in the reader's mind ; viz. 
 that it was not any " formal preaching" that was here com- 
 plained of by the Apostle, but that the word Kr]pv<rmii' is used 
 merely in " a secondary sense," as denoting " the pains taken 
 by adversaries to spread the report of the Apostle's imprison- 
 ment," whereby they became, in a certain sense, " heralds of 
 Christ." — But to this I would add, further, that, even suppos- 
 ing some formal preaching to have been denoted here, yet the 
 Apostle specially complains of it ; he might rejoice at the good 
 effect which God permitted to arise from it, still he complains 
 of the act, as being done in rivalry {cl epir) to him. Now this 
 could not be by duly commissioned men, — therefore it was ir- 
 regular preaching; the very point of the Apostle's complaint 
 is that his adversaries were contumaciously performing an ajjo- 
 slolic function : so that the passage only confirms the argument 
 that the word Kr]pv-Ttiv implies this. 
 
 In respect to the word evayytXilitaQai, it is true that it does, 
 at times, mean only " telling good newsf but this meaning is 
 more rare than the expression used by Hammond would im- 
 ply ; it generally means official lyroclamation, and then is al- 
 ways applied to men acting by direct commission. I discover 
 only two passages in the Acts and the Epistles, in which the 
 word is applied to uncommissioned people publishing the glad 
 tidings, — viz. Acts viii. 4, and xi. 20 ; and these refer to the 
 same occasion, when those who were scattered on the death of 
 Stephen went publishing the news of the Gospel. On com- 
 paring these passages, it will be seen at once that the expres- 
 sion tvayyi\LL,(JHEV0L tov Xuyov is identical with XoXovvteq tov 
 \6yov (xi. 19) ; so that it means (as was most natural) that 
 those who were dispersed, men and women, published the glad 
 tidings " by conversation" with those they met, and by pri- 
 vate intercourse. This interpretation is adopted by Bishop 
 
326 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 J. B. Sumner, in his Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, who 
 observes, on the two passages, that what is translated " preach- 
 ing" does not mean " by a direct commission ;" but " implies 
 conversation rather than Y)Mic preaching." 
 
 It is worth observing, in connexion with this topic, that the 
 act of preaching to the unconverted, and to the converted, is 
 designated by different expressions ; — in the former case, it is 
 expressed by Krjpvr-u), or iv ay yeKi Co iiai ; in the latter, by 
 cicdcTKU), or liaXEyonai ; and these are always kept distinct. 
 This is clearly marked in Acts v. 42, and xv. 35, in both of 
 which places the Apostles are spoken of as lilaaKovTeq koX 
 evayyE\iC6jXf.voi, — which words are not tautologous, but imply 
 the double office of teaching the converted, and preaching to 
 the unconverted. See also how St. Paul's instruction to the 
 converts at Troas is expressed (Acts xx. 7), and at Ephesus 
 (xx. 20). The distinction is apt to be overlooked from the in- 
 discriminate use of the word " preaching" in our version. The 
 same difference may also be frequently observed between \6yoc, 
 and ^ica-)(ri or dicaaKaXia, as Hammond observes on Matt. ix. 
 35, note I; " the first, without the Church, to unbelievers ; the 
 second, within it, to those that were already converted to the 
 faith." — This is illustrated by 1 Tim. v. 17, where kottimi'tsq 
 iv Xoyw icui li^auKuXia denotes the distinction. So in 2 Tim. 
 iv. 2, Krjpvt,or ror Xuyov literally means, " proclaim the Gospel 
 to unbelievers." 
 
 This distinction receives further illustration from a note by 
 Mosheim, on 1 Tim. v. 17, '^ De rebus ant. Const, temp." cap. 
 xxxviii. p. 12G, in which he remarks on the difference between 
 those who preached to the unconverted, and those who in- 
 structed or exhorted Christian people. After observing that 
 KOTTidii) either by itself, or in conjunction with iv Xoyo), or 
 eV Kvpicj, is never to be understood as meaning the ordinary 
 instruction of Christians, and quoting Rom. xvi. 12, and 
 1 Cor. iv. 12, he proceeds, " Sunt alii prteter hos loci, quos ut 
 ordine proferam nil opus est, in quibus laborare aut simpli- 
 citer, aut explicatione ([uadam adjecta positum, non significat 
 Ckristianos ertidire, sed popidos vera; religionis nescios ejus 
 cognitione imbuere. Igitur non stulto prorsus ct imperite 
 verba S. Pauli ad Timothcum, de quibus agimus, inter- 
 
III.] APPENDIX. 327 
 
 pretabitur, qui statuet, TrperrftvrefwvQ KOTriMiTa^ iv Xoyo) kcu cii- 
 Cao-/.n\/fi' illos esse qui amplificandi^ studebant ecclesise, atque 
 Judreos, Deorumque cultores ab erroribus avocare et ad Chris- 
 tum adducere nitebantur, non eos, qui Christianos cultus di- 
 vini causa congregates docebant et monebant," p. 127. He 
 proceeds to argue (maintaining his own theory on this point,) 
 that St. Paul distributed presbyters into three classes, the la- 
 borantes, or t^oTriwrTag, the 2yrceside7ites, or Trpotora/Litrouc, and the 
 exhortcmtes, or rovdirovi'Tac, and then adds, " ex quo apparetj 
 qui laborare dicuntur Apostolo diversos fuisse ab illis, qui po- 
 pulo congregato fidem explicabant et officia vita) interpreta- 
 bantur, sou monebant." 
 
 No. XII. 
 
 Lecture III. — Page 84. 
 
 Instances of Missionaries sent to the Heathen, in earlier Times, 
 by the neighhouring Bishops. 
 
 The tradition is well known, which records that Irenteus 
 was sent by Polycarp into Gaul, (circ. a.d. 160 ;) it is added 
 also, that Pothinus received a similar commission, (Greg. 
 Turon. Hist. Franc, i. 27, 29. See Cave's Lives of the Fathers, 
 p. 162.) Gregory Thaumaturgus, again, was summoned and 
 commissioned by Phoedimus, Bishop of Amasea, which bordered 
 upon the paganized city of Neo-Csesarea, to undertake that 
 mission, a.d. 240. (Greg. Nyssen. Vita Greg. Thaumat. p. 975, 
 — quoted by Cave, p. 271-2.) — Afterwards, Panta?nus was sent 
 to the East " as for as the Indians," (Euseb. H. E. v. 10,) 
 Jerome adds, "by Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria." (Cat. 
 Script. Eccles. cap. xxxvi.) Athanasius sent Fruraentius to 
 Abyssinia, (Theod. Eccl. Hist. lib. i. cap. xxii.) Unilas was 
 sent among the Goths, by S. Chrysostom;" (Ep. xiv. torn. iii. 
 
 I It will be observed that Mosheini is intent on drawiiig a distinctioa 
 between kottmui and j'oufieTeo), which will account ior his overlooking in 
 these words the same distinction between \6yos and StSacwaAta. 
 
 ^ His words are, Ovvi\as 6 imcTKuiros oOavfxaaios iKiivos, ov irpcirji' ex^^po- 
 r6vr]aa icat iVe/uil/a us roTOiav, ttoWo, ical ixeyaKn KaTopduaas iKOLni]Qri. 
 
328 APrKNDlX. [Lect. 
 
 p. GOO, Ed. Ben.) who also, hearing that a tribe of Scythians 
 were desirous of instruction, sent to Leontius, Bishop of Ancyra, 
 requesting him to send missionaries. Theodoret says he saw 
 the letters. (Eccl. Hist. lib. v. cap. xxxi.) Moses Saracenus 
 was sent to Alexandria to be consecrated Bishop of the Sara- 
 cens, since the queen (Maira) iwiaKOTrov rov oIkhov iQvovQ i]-ti 
 \a.(iuv. (Socrates, iv. cap. xxxvi.) At a later period, according 
 to Cyril the monk, in his life of Euthymius the Great, Juvenal, 
 Bishop of Jerusalem, '•' sent Peter to preside over the Saracen 
 converts, — and thus Peter was ordained the first Bishop of 
 those who dwelt in Palestine." (Surius, Vit. Patr. Jan. 30.) 
 These last words are reconciled with the preceding sentence, 
 by understanding that the latter converts were a different tribe 
 of Saracens from that over which Maira ruled. Moses was 
 sent about a. d. 377, just before the death of Valens ; Peter, 
 later than a. d. 407. 
 
 In regard to the missions of a later date, it is well known 
 that an argument against Episcopal authority and jurisdiction 
 has been drawn from the supposed custom of the monastic 
 houses in the media3val centuries, within which missionaries 
 are represented as being " ordained and sent to preach." This 
 argument has been adduced by Selden, Prsefat. ad decem Scrip- 
 tores ; — Baxter, on Episcopacy ; — and Jamieson, Historical 
 Account of the ancient Culdees, in support of the Presbyterian 
 form of Church Government. One of the chief passages on which 
 the argument is built, is that which occurs in Bede, where he 
 relates the circumstance of Aidan's being ordained and sent to 
 preach the Gospel in the north of England. He is speaking of 
 the monastery of Ily, or lona, in which Aidan resided, and 
 mentions that, on Aidan's speech, all eyes were fixed on him as 
 one worthy of the episcopate, — " sicque ilium ordiiiantes ad 
 pnedicandum miserunt." (Bed. Hist. lib. iii. cap. v. quoted in 
 Bishop Russell's Hist, of the Church in Scotland, vcd. i. p. 18.) 
 
 It may be well, then, here to transcribe the following pas- 
 sages from Bishop Lloyd's Historical Account of Church 
 Government in Great Britain, (London, 1684, p. 102, Arc.) in 
 which the custom of the monastic houses, in this respect, is 
 learnedly and conclusively set forth. 
 
 "When by this monastic education any one was made fit to 
 
III.] APPENDIX. 329 
 
 take orders, in the judgment of them that were his superiors 
 in that place, then he was to he ordained; but by whom'? By 
 his superiors in the monastery ? It must be so, if they had the 
 power of ordination. And so, indeed, our adversaries would 
 have it, that the abbot and liis senior monks did ordain those 
 that were sent out of their monastery ; and that, not only into 
 the lower orders, but into the order of l)ishop ; as they show us 
 in the example of Aidan, and his successors. But this is so 
 far from being true, that I dare challenge our adversaries to 
 show any instance where the abbot and monks, without a 
 bishop among them, ordained so much as one single presbyter. 
 I shall show, on the contrary, by many instances, that as it 
 was necessary to have orders conferred in the monasteries 
 (without which there could be no administration of sacra- 
 ments), so bishops Avere held necessary on this very account, 
 that they might confer orders on those that Avere judged fit to 
 be ordained in the monasteries." 
 
 Then, after proceeding to speak of the exemption from ordi- 
 nary episcopal jurisdiction, Avhich some monasteries enjoyed, 
 he adds : — 
 
 " The most ancient privileges of this kind that I have ob- 
 served in the Western Church, were those that were enjoyed 
 by the African monasteries. They were, for one while, so 
 exempt that' the bishop, in Avhose diocese they were, had 
 nothing to do with them, except Avhen they themselves were 
 joleased to make use of his assistance. 
 
 " About the year of Christ 500, we find" that they might 
 choose what bishop they pleased, in the whole province, to 
 ordain and do other episcopal acts in their monastery. It 
 appears^ that Avhomsoever they chose they were tied to ; he 
 was their bishop as long as he lived ; but when he died they 
 were not tied to his successor, but might choose either him or 
 any other whom they pleased. For (as they pleaded in the 
 council of Carthage) they Avere^ not under any bishop, out of 
 duty, but out of choice, except only the Archbishop of 
 Carthage, who AA'as their primate. AfterAvards they Avere 
 
 ' Concil. Edit. Labbe, torn. iv. col. 1(J49 aiul 17S5. B. 
 
 2 lb. col. 1646. D. E, ^ i]j. 4 i^. col. 178.5. B. 
 
330 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 confined to tlie bishop of the diocese ; so that lie,' and no 
 other, when they desired it, might ordain any whoni they 
 chose out of their number, or miglit give confirnuition, or 
 might consecrate a new oratory. And it is expressed by what 
 pattern this was done,^ that it was in like manner as the 
 monastery of Lerin, in France (now S. Honore), was confined 
 to the bishop of the diocese. 
 
 " In France and Spain, how this matter was ordered, it 
 appears in the canons of their councils of Agde^ and Lerida. * 
 There was none to be ordained in any monastery but by the 
 bishop, in whose diocese it was. But then it must be at the 
 desire of the abbot, or at least with his leave, and not other- 
 wise. But besides, we find that some greater monasteries had 
 bishops in them of their own, who were elected by the abbot 
 and monks, and were ordained by the adjacent bishops, to the 
 end that they might preach and do episcopal offices in their 
 monasteries. Of this kind we have examples' in ^. Martin's^ 
 near Tours, and the monastery of St. Denis, near Paris, which 
 had such bishops in them from ancient times ; and we have an 
 account of their successions for some ages. The like we have 
 of the Bishops that were in St. Colomb's monastery at Hy, of 
 Avhom there is mention in the Ulster Annals." So that in 
 either case, of exempt or not exempt monasteries, there were 
 bishops to be had for the ordaining of monks ; and no pretence 
 to have it done by the abbot, that was no bishop, though his 
 leave or consent Avas needful to the ordination." 
 
 1 Concil. Edit. Labbe, toni. iv. 17S5. B. -' lb. col. 161-9. A.B. 
 
 3 Concil. Agath. c. 27. ■* Concil. Herd. c. 3. 
 
 '' Acta SS. Ord. Benedict. Seculoviii. in prcf. pp. xx. xxi. 
 
 " Usher dc primord. p. 701. 
 
III.] APPENDIX. 331 
 
 No. XIII. 
 
 Lecture III. — Page 84. 
 
 Extract from Euseblus II. E. lib. iii. c. 37, on Evangelists 
 being sent to 'preach the Gospel. 
 
 Kat aWoL 6 £7rt tovtoiq TrXeiovc eyrutpH^ovro kutci TOvaCe, riiv 
 TrptoTTfv Tul,LV tT]q T(jjv a.Tvo(TT('i\o)v ETTtj^orreg ciaCoyj]Q' oi kui cite 
 TTjXiKiJJi'Ce vi'Tec ciaTrpe-aelQ i.iadi]Tai, tovq /caret Tcavra tvttuv twv 
 £KK\i)<ntJiy 7rpo(ca-a/3Xr;0£j'rac vtto -wj^ uTrotr-oXwi' dei.ic\tovc 
 irrtoKodofiovi', avL,ot'TeQ eiQ irXiov to Ki'ipvyna, KOt ra aiOTi'ipia 
 (nripfxara rrjg twv ovpavojy jjacnXeiag Qva irdaav tig irXdroQ 
 
 ETTl^TTHpOVTEQ r>/V OlKOVflti'TfV. Kat yup C») TrXElOTOt TWV TOTE 
 
 fiaQr]TiJ}V (T<podpoTEpo) (piXorofiac spwri irpuQ rov Oeiov Xoyov T})y 
 ■ilv)(riv TrXrjTTOHEVoi, tijv awriipioi' irpoTtpov d-K EiiXiipovv TrapuKE- 
 Xevuii; ei'^eeVt vifiovTEQ rac ovaiaq. "ETretra ce. aTvncrjfiiac 
 (TTeXXofiEt'oi, Epyov etteteXovv EvayysXi(TTwt', roTg etl irajnrav 
 dvr]ic6oiQ Tov TJjg TriffTEOjg Xoyov Krjpvrrtiv tov Xpiarov (f)tXoTif.iov- 
 fXEVOi, Kai Tijy Twy Qtiiov EvayyEXiioy Trapadidorai ypcKpyr. 
 
 No. XIV. 
 
 Lecture III. — Page 85. 
 
 Ext ract from the Council of Chalcedon, Canon 28. 
 
 The hundred and fifty Bishops of the Council of Constanti- 
 nople, ra ttra TTjoetr/jfta dirivEifxav rw -j;e viaq Pwfurjg dyiiordru) 
 Opoi'M, EvXoyujr KpivavTEQ, Tj/J' (jaaiXEia kcu crvyKXijru) rii^irjOE'ifrat' 
 ttoXlu, teal rwv 'iirujv diroXavovcrav TrpEffjjaiwi' rrj irpEapwEpa JDciai- 
 Xi^L 'PojfiYj, Kcd £v Toig iKKXT](Tta(7TiKo7e WQ EKEiyrjv fxEyaXvvEaQai 
 TrpdyjiacTi, CEVTEpav fXET EKEiyr]v vitdp'^ovaar. Kai ware Tovgrijc 
 nov7tK?/c Kui TiJQ Aaiai'ijg /cat rijc Opc^iKiKijc dioiKiiaEOjg yujjrpoTro- 
 
 XiTUQ [XOVOVC, ETL CE KCU TOVQ EV To'lQ flapficipLKolq ETTKTKOTTOVQ TWl' 
 
 TrpoEiptJUEi'cji' cioiK)'i(TEUjy -^EipOToyt'icrdaL vtto tov ivpotiprij.iErov 
 dyiwTUTOu Oporov Tijr /caret KiorcTTUi'TivovnoXiy dyibJTurrjr ekkXij- 
 
332 APPENDIX. [Lf.ct. 
 
 ff/ac" crjXaC)) tKuarov {.uj-poTToXiTOU twi' ■n-poeiptjiieicji' cwiuiaeuiu 
 uerd tCjv tTiq eTTup-^iar etvKTKOTrcjy j^eiporovovi'Toc tovq Trjg Eirapy^iac 
 EiriffKOTrovQ, (caSwc Tolr deioiij Karoai ciriyopevrai' ■^eipoToriladai 
 is, K'aSwc fipr/rat rovi; fajvpoTroXtrar ruJi' Trpoeipr/fxti'wy CioiKi]ae(i)v 
 iraph Tov KwyfT-auTivovTroXeioc; up'^^ifKitTKoirov, \pt](pi(TiJ.aTtov rrv^i- 
 ^wi'wv caret to iQoQ yero^Eroji', cai £7r' avruv dia<pepoiJ.ei(>)t'. 
 
 No. XV. 
 
 Lecture IV. — Page 110. 
 
 The Extension, of the Gospel in Europe hetween the Eiffh and 
 Fourteenth Centuries. 
 
 CENTURY. 
 
 5th .... Among the Burgundians, Scotcli, and Irish, Franks (under 
 Clovis, King of France, 49 ].) 
 
 6th .... Among the Picts, Heruli (on the ])anube), Abasgi. 
 
 7th .... Among the Lombards, West-Saxons, East-Angles, JMiddie- 
 Angles, Treveri ; in Franconia, Switzerland, Westphalia, 
 Friesland, Thuringia. 
 
 Sth .... In Thuringia, Ilessia, Bavaria, Westphalia, and among the 
 Vencdi. 
 
 f)th .... In Saxony, Denmark, Sweden, Bohemia and Moravia, 
 Hungary. 
 
 ]Oth .... In Norway, Poland, Russia, Normandy. 
 
 llth .... More perl'cctlv in SwediMi and Denmark, Ilimgary, Bulgaria. 
 
 I'itit .... In Livonia, Ponierania. 
 
 13th & llth. In Prussia, (by the Teutonic Knights,) Lithuania. 
 
 Tlie preceding table is designed to mark generally tlie 
 course of the expansion of the Gospel. The " Ltix Evangelii," 
 tl'c. of Fabricius contains references to works respecting the 
 conversion of almost every country named. 
 
IV.] 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 333 
 
 In Mr. Turner's " History of the Anglo-Saxons" the follow- 
 ing tabular statement is given, " as a conjectural but probable 
 representation of the progressive increase of the number of 
 Christians in the world." 
 
 1st Century . . . 
 
 500,000 
 
 10th Century . 
 
 . . 50,000,000 
 
 2d „ ... 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 11th „ 
 
 
 . . 70,000,000 
 
 3d „ ... 
 
 5,000,000 
 
 12th ,, 
 
 
 . . 80,000,000 
 
 4th „ ... 
 
 10,000,000 
 
 13th „ 
 
 
 . . 75,000,000 
 
 5.h „ . . . . 
 
 15,000,000 
 
 Hth „ 
 
 
 . . 80,000,000 
 
 (ilh „ ... 
 
 20,000,000 
 
 15th „ 
 
 
 . . 100,000,000 
 
 7lh „ ... 
 
 25,000,000 
 
 IGth „ 
 
 
 . . 125,000,000 
 
 Sth „ . . . . 
 
 30,000,000 ' 
 
 17ih ,, 
 
 
 . . 155,000,000 
 
 !)th „ ... 
 
 40,000,000 
 
 ISth ,, 
 
 
 . . 200,000,000 
 
 (Ferussac 
 
 . Bull. Univers. 
 
 Georj. p. 4, 
 
 Jan. 
 
 1827.) 
 
 " But I think," he adds, " in this nineteenth century, the 
 real number of the Christian population of the world is nearer 
 to three hundred millions, and is visibly much increasing, 
 from the missionary spirit and exertions which are now dis- 
 tinguishing the chief Protestant nations in the world. The 
 Jews, from the number which I have observed in every part of 
 the globe, are between six and eight millions ; the Mahometans 
 not above eighty millions ; and the Pagans, in the four 
 quarters of the earth, do not exceed six hundred millions." — 
 Vol. iii. p. 484, note, Gfh Edit. 
 
 Neander, in his " Allgemeine Geschicte," presents, in a 
 tabular form, the expansion and contraction of the Church for a 
 series of ages. From this table I have extracted the state- 
 ment which follows, exhibiting the condition of the Church, in 
 its increase or diminution, between the fifth and ninth centuries. 
 It will be seen that the table is not very full, and that several 
 of the events have dates affixed to them which do not corre- 
 spond with those assigned by other writers. On this account I 
 have prefixed another column, in which I have suppled several 
 dates omitted in Neander's list, and added others, in which he 
 differs from the commonly received chronology. 
 
334 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 [Lect. 
 
 The column headed N designates the list of dates us given by 
 Neander. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 N 
 
 A.D. 
 
 EXPANSION. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 CONTRACTION. 
 
 430 
 
 
 Among the Burgun- 
 dians. 
 
 
 
 450—482 
 
 
 By Severinus, in the 
 S. East of Germany ; 
 afterwards among 
 the Franks. (Chil- 
 debert's law against 
 idol worship, 554.) 
 
 In Nubia and Abys- 
 sinia. 
 
 circ. 
 450 
 
 Anglo-Saxons op- 
 press the Chris- 
 tian Britons. 
 
 »432 
 ''546-597 
 
 570 
 
 565 
 
 Among the Picts, " Ni- 
 nian, and '' Columba. 
 
 Goar on the Rhine. 
 Wulflach near Treves. 
 
 circ. 
 531 
 
 Restoration of Hea- 
 thenism in Hesse 
 and Thuringia. 
 
 '596-604 
 
 616 
 605 
 
 In Kent, under Ethel- 
 bert, by '^ Augustine. 
 
 
 
 ''605 
 
 579 
 
 ''Laurentius (after 579) 
 
 
 
 556—610 
 611 
 
 610 
 
 In France and Lom- 
 bardy, Columban and 
 Magnoald. 
 
 In Bavaria, Eustatius, 
 Agil. 
 
 Among the 
 Swiss — Swabian na- 
 tions, Gallus. 
 
 610 
 
 Rise of Mahome- 
 tanism, oppression 
 of Christians by i 
 Chosroes Parviz, 
 King of Persia. 
 
 610 
 
 
 In Essex, under Sa- 
 bareth, Mellitus. 
 
 016 
 
 Eadbald, Kent, idol 
 worshipper. ]\Iel- 
 litus driven out of 
 
 Born 588 
 
 635 
 659 
 
 650 
 
 In China, Olopuen ? 
 
 Eligius. Bishop of 
 Tournay. 
 
 In Brabant, Livin.i 
 
 
 Essex. 
 Heathenism prevails 
 in Sussex. 
 
 634—709 
 
 1 The de 
 
 In Sussex, Wilfrid. 
 
 
 A.D. C33. 
 
 ath of Livin is placed by soit 
 
 le writers at 
 
IV.] 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 335 
 
 A.D. 
 
 N 
 
 A.D. 
 
 626—675 
 
 679 
 
 500—538 
 
 
 612 
 
 
 685— 088 
 
 
 "649 
 
 
 '626 
 
 
 '717 
 
 
 ■^658 -738 
 
 739 
 
 694 
 
 
 695—713 
 
 
 Died 720 
 
 
 
 680—755 
 
 
 755 
 
 700—776 
 
 781 
 
 7443 
 
 779 
 
 782—803 
 
 
 EXPANSION. 
 
 Among the Frisians, 
 Amandus. 
 
 In Alsace, & Switzer- 
 land, Fridolin.' 
 
 In Brisgau,Thrudpert. 
 
 In Frankiscan, (East- 
 ern Franks,)Kyllena. 
 
 In Bavaria, under 
 Theodo I., by "Em- 
 meran, under Theo- 
 do II., by *Rudbert- 
 and ' Corbinian. 
 
 Among the Frisians, 
 byWigibert. ''Wil- 
 librord, Bishop of 
 Utrecht. 
 
 The Brothers Ilen- 
 wald. 
 
 Among the Boruch- 
 tuarians, Siiidbert. 
 
 Wulfram of Sens. 
 
 Boniface, in Friesland, 
 Thuringia, Hesse, & 
 Bavaria. 
 
 In Friesland, Eoban. 
 
 Gregory [of Utrecht]. 
 
 In Hesse, Abbot 
 Sturm. 
 
 Conversion by vio- 
 lence among the 
 Saxons. 
 
 7th & 8th 
 century. 
 
 719 
 
 circ. 
 
 779 
 
 CONTRACTION. 
 
 Deeds of violence 
 by the conquer- 
 ing Mahometans 
 against the Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 Resistance of the 
 Frisians under 
 Radbod. 
 
 The Dukes promote 
 heathenism in 
 Thuringia. 
 
 The Saxons lay 
 waste the Chris- 
 tian institutions. 
 
 1 This is clearly misplaced. Fridolin was at least a century earlier than the place 
 
 he occupies in Neander's list. 
 
 2 Great uncertainty exists as to the date of Rupert ; while some writers, such as 
 
 Canisius, place it as given in the table, Mabillon assigns it a century later. 
 
 3 Founded the convent of Fulda, a.d. 744; died a.d. 779. 
 
336 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 [Lect. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 N 
 
 A.D. 
 809 
 
 EXPANSION. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 CONTRACTION. 
 
 
 Amonij the Frisians, 
 Liudger. 
 
 782—803 
 
 Opposition of the 
 Saxons to Christi- 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 anity. 
 The Saxons pro- 
 mote heathenism 
 among the Pranks. 
 
 
 
 
 782—785 
 
 Wittekind's rebel- 
 lion. 
 
 798 
 
 
 Among the Avares, 
 Arno of Salzburg. 
 
 
 The Christians in 
 Spain oppressed 
 by the Saracens. 
 
 
 778—820 
 
 Timothy, Xestorian 
 Patriarch in Syria, 
 founds Missions for 
 China and the East 
 Indies. 
 
 Kardag, Jabdallahah, 
 DanieL 
 
 circ. 
 820 
 
 Resistance of the 
 SchiTonian tribes 
 to Christianity. 
 
 Xo. XVI. 
 
 Lecture IV. — Pajre 110. 
 
 A Li<i of some of the more eminent Misdonaries in Xorthern 
 Europe, between the Fifth and Eleventh Centuries. 
 
 NAME. 
 
 SCEN'E OF LaBOCR. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 SorRCE OF Information. 
 
 Martin of Tours. 
 
 Gaul. ,316—397 
 
 Sulpicius Severus. 
 
 Honoratus. 
 
 Gaul. 
 
 400 Hilary of Aries. 
 
 Patrick. 
 
 Ireland. 
 
 430—4701 Joeelin. Usher. Antiq. 
 \ cap. xvii. 
 
 Severin. 
 
 Noricum.or Aus- | 4.50 Vita S. Sev. .\cta Sane. 
 
 
 tna. 
 
 
 1 
 
IV. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 337 
 
 Name. 
 
 Scene of Labour. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 Source of Information-. 
 
 Eomanus and Lu- 
 
 Jura. 
 
 450 
 
 Greg. Turon. Vita^ Patr. 
 
 picinus. 
 
 
 
 cap. i. 
 
 Benedict. 
 
 Goths. 
 
 480—543 
 
 Acta Sanct. Saec. I. 
 
 Fridolin. 
 
 Allemanni. 
 Black Forest. 
 
 500 
 
 Vita a Berthero Seck- 
 ingensi Monacho. cf. 
 Acta Sanct. tom. i. 
 Index S.S. prseterm. 
 
 Medard. 
 
 Flanders. 
 
 530 
 
 Gregor. Turon. de 
 Glor. Confess. 
 
 Remigius. 
 
 Francs. 
 
 533 
 
 Vita a Hincmar. Su- 
 rius, tom. i. 
 
 Seine. 
 
 Burgundy. 
 
 500— GOO 
 
 Greg. Turon. de Glor. 
 Confess, cap. 88. Gours 
 d'Hist. Mod. tom. ii. 
 p. 176. 
 
 Columba, or Co- 
 lumb-kill. 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 .521—597 
 
 Acta Sanct. Ben. Sjcc. I. 
 
 Erroul. 
 
 Normandy. 
 
 547 
 
 Acta Sanct. Ben. Sac. I. 
 
 Columban. 
 
 Vosges. Lom- 
 bards. 
 
 55G— G16 
 
 Vita a Jonas, in Surius 
 Vitse Patrura and Bede 
 Vit. Columb. 
 
 Eligius. 
 
 Francs. 
 
 588—659 
 
 GalliaChristiana. tom.ix. 
 Surius, tom. vi. 
 
 Augustin. 
 
 Anglo-Saxons. 
 
 597 
 
 Bede. 
 
 Eustasius. 
 
 Bavaria. 
 
 Gil 
 
 Vita fi .Jonas. Acta Sanct. 
 Sa3C. IL 
 
 Gallus. 
 
 Switzerland. 
 
 627 
 
 Vita a Walfrid Strabo. 
 Acta Sanct. Sa2c. II. 
 
 Livin. 
 
 Brabant. 
 
 633 
 
 Vita Auctore Bonifacio. 
 Acta Sanct. Saec. II. 
 
 Aidan. 
 
 Anglo-Saxons. 
 
 635 
 
 Bede. 
 
 Gear. 
 
 Rhine. Treves. 
 
 570 
 
 Acta Sanct. Ssec. II. 
 
 Rupert and 
 Trudpert. 
 
 On the Rhine, 
 and Bavaria and 
 Black Forest. 
 
 600—626 
 
 Canisii Lection, pt. iii. 
 
 Kilian. 
 
 Thuringia. 
 
 685 
 
 Acta Sanct. Secc. II. 
 
338 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 [Lect. 
 
 Scene of Labouk. 
 
 Willibrord and 
 eleven Compa- 
 nions. 
 
 Winfrid, or Boni- 
 face. 
 
 Sturm. 
 
 Gregory of 
 Utrecht. 
 
 Liafwin, or Lebn- 
 inus. 
 
 Willehad. 
 
 Arno of Salz- 
 boui-of. 
 
 Liudger. 
 
 Ebbo,Archbishop 
 of Rheims. 
 
 Anschar. 
 
 Gantbert. 
 
 Kimbcrt. 
 
 John Siffurd. 
 
 Thuringia and 
 Frisons. 
 
 Germany. 
 
 Hesse and Thu- 
 ringia. 
 
 On the Ems. 
 
 Saxons. 
 Frisons. Saxons. 
 
 Avares. 
 
 Frisians. 
 Jutland. 
 
 Danes & Swedes. 
 
 Swedes. 
 Swedes. 
 
 G92 
 
 680—755 
 
 circ. 
 744 
 
 700- 
 
 '76 
 
 Source of Ini'okmation. 
 
 Norway. 
 
 Sigfrid and G rim- Norway, 
 kill. 
 
 ■98 
 
 809 
 
 822—851 
 
 823—865 
 
 832 
 
 844 
 
 903 
 1019 
 
 Alcuin.Vit.Willib. Em- 
 mii Hist. Frisonum, 
 p. 52. Surius, tom. vi. 
 
 VitaaWillebaldo. Acta 
 Sanct. Sffic. IH. p. 2. 
 Histoire Gen. des Au- 
 teurs Sacres par Ceil- 
 lier, tom. xviii. 
 
 Vita ab Aigile. Acta 
 Sanct. Ben. tom. iii. pt. 
 ii. Hist, des Aut. Eccl. 
 par Ceillier, tom. xviii. 
 
 Vita a Liudger, his pupil. 
 Acta Sanct. Ben. tom. 
 iii. pt. ii. 
 
 Surius, tom. vi. 
 
 ]\Ionumenta Gerinaniae 
 Historica, p. 378. Vita 
 ab Anscliario. Surius, 
 tom. vi. 
 
 Canisii Lection, a Bas- 
 nage, tom. iii. pt. ii. 
 p. 449. 
 
 Acta Sanct. Ben. Sjcc.IV. 
 
 Hist, des Aut. Eccles. 
 par Ceillier, tom. xviii. 
 
 Vita a Eimberto, in 
 Scriptor. Rer. Dan. 
 No. 30, and Ceillier, 
 Hist, des Aut. Eccl. 
 tom. xix. 
 
 Adam Bremen. Hist. 
 Eccl. and Vita An- 
 scharii a Rimberto. 
 
 Adam Bremen. Hist. 
 Eccl. and Ceillier, Hist, 
 des Aut. Eccl. tom. xix. 
 
 Adam Brem. lib. ii 
 
IV.] APPENDIX. 339 
 
 No. XVII. 
 
 Lecture IV. — Page 112. - 
 
 On. the Preaching of the Gospel in India. 
 
 The statement in the text is made in the persuasion that the 
 Gospel was not preached in India Proper, either by vSt. Thomas 
 the Apostle, or by Pantasnus. The foi-mer tradition is scarcely 
 now maintained, and arose from a confusion of the Apostle with 
 either a Manichsean, or an Armenian merchant Avho bore that 
 name. (La Croze, Christianisme des Indes, i. pp. 57 — 70, 
 cited by Gibbon, ch. xlvii.) The question of Pantrenus having 
 conveyed the Gospel beyond the Indus depends on the locality 
 given to the term " India," whither he was sent to preach. Mr. 
 Hough, in his late work on Christianity in India, is almost 
 alone among later writers in supposing that the East Indies 
 are meant. But, without entering on a discussion of the 
 evidence, he states nothing to invalidate the conclusion (from 
 the same facts) drawn by Mosheim (De Rebus Christ, p. 20G); 
 by Bohlen (Das alte Indien, p. 379); by Prof Burton (Lect. on 
 Eccl. Hist. ii. p. 204); and by Blumhardt (Etabl. du Christian- 
 isme, i. p. 301); who consider that by the term India, a district 
 of Arabia Felix, or Ethiopia, was designated. Neander leaves 
 the question open, (Hist, of Christ. BeL p. 7G.) On the 
 opinion expressed in the Lecture, the following note may be 
 qiioted from Mr. Milmans ed. of Gibbon, vol. viii. p. 3-52. 
 " The St. Thome Christians," the editor remarks, " had excited 
 a great interest in the ardent mind of the admirable Bishop 
 Heber .... The arguments of his friend and coadjutor Mr. 
 Robinson, have not convinced' me that the Christianity of 
 India is older than the Nestorian dispersion." 
 
 Z Z 
 
340 APPENDIX. [Lkct. 
 
 No. XVIII. 
 
 Lecture IV. — Pago 125. 
 
 Extract from the Life of Eli;/ius, ii/- the Denhii'iirdigheUeu of 
 Neander, vol. iii. 
 
 " When he had heard that a vessel of slaves had arrived, 
 captives of Roman, Gallic, British or Moorish descent, particu- 
 larly of Saxon, who were driven in large bands, like cattle, he 
 hastened to the spot and purchased the freedom of as many as 
 an hundred at a time. If gold were Avanting, he gave not only 
 his small jewels, but even needful portions of his garments, 
 and spared even part of his daily food. He then went with 
 them to the King, and procured certificates of their freedom ; 
 after which, he offered them their choice, — cither to return 
 free to their own country, in which case he gave tliem money 
 for the journey, — or to remain with him, not as servants, but 
 as free brethren, — or to become monks, in whicli case lie pro- 
 cured them a good reception in a cloister." 
 
 No. XIX. 
 
 Lecture IV. — Page 127. 
 
 Oil the inadequaci/ of Scco/ulari/ Canses to account for the 
 'rapid Groivth of the Cliurclt. 
 
 The impression, which it is clearly the purpose of the author 
 of Rome's Decline and Fall to leave on the mind, by the enume- 
 ration of the five causes which he adduces to account for the 
 rapid growth of the Church, is all the more likely to be con- 
 veyed, from the fact of these causes being urged merely as 
 secondary. Although no reflecting and well-principled mind 
 could be affected by the insidious representations made in the 
 famous chapter in which the subject is treated, yet the real 
 
IV.] APPENDIX. 841 
 
 weakness of the causes ■which Gibbon mentions, even as aiding 
 the propagation of the Church, may not be apparent to all. I 
 therefore extract the following passage, which contains the siun- 
 mary of a small work of Sir David Dalrymple (Lord Hales), 
 entitled. An Enquiry into the Secondary Causes which Mr. 
 Gibbon has assigned for the rapid Growth of Christianity, pp. 
 332—3.38 ; in which the writer has, with considerable acuteness, 
 examined the strength of the arguments adduced by the 
 historian. 
 
 " All that now remains is to recapitulate, briefly, the five 
 secondary causes, which, in the judgment of Mr. Gibbon, ' so 
 efficaciously assisted the growth of the Christian religion.' His 
 first proposition, as we have seen, is, that Christianity became 
 victorious over the established religions of the earth, by its 
 very doctrine, and by the ruling providence of its great Author; 
 and his last, of a like import, is, that Christianity is the truth. 
 Between his first and his last propositions there are no doubt 
 many dissertations, digressions, inferences and hints, not alto- 
 gether consistent with his avowed principles. 
 
 " I. The first secondary cause of the rapid growth of the 
 Christian religion is said to have been, 'the inflexible and 
 intolerant zeal of the Christians,' — a zeal, when unsupported 
 and even repressed by secular power, of all things the most 
 likely to check instead of accelerating the growth of 
 Christianity. 
 
 "II. ' The doctrine of a future life, improved by every ad- 
 ditional circumstance which could give weight or efficacy to that 
 important truth.' — This, however, must have been a primary, 
 and not secondary, cause of the rapid growth of Christianity ; 
 for, if Ave may credit St. Paul, ' Christ has abolished death, and 
 has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.' 
 '• III. ' The supernatural gifts ascribed to the Christians.' — 
 This, if understood of miraculous powers really exercised, ought 
 to be ranked among the primary causes of the rapid growth of 
 Christianity ; if understood of ' lying wonders,' it is hard to say 
 why the Pagans, who had fictitious miracles of their own, 
 should have rejected them, and adopted what, in the present 
 argument, must be considered as fables, the invention of a 
 hated and persecuted sect. 
 
342 APl'ENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 " IV. ' The virtues of the primitive Christians.' — Mr. Gibbon 
 admits, not only that they were virtuous, but also that they 
 were more virtuous than their heathen contemporaries. But 
 what made them to differ from others? Let us answer, till we 
 are better informed, ' The grace of God tliat bringeth salvation, 
 hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness 
 and worldlylusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, 
 in this present world ; looking for that blessed hope, and the ap- 
 pearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ ; who 
 gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, 
 and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.' 
 So, if the virtues of the primitive Christians did contribute, in 
 some measure, to the rapid growth of Christianity, we must 
 ascribe such effects, not to any secondary cause, but to the 
 primitive cause of those virtues, the grace of God. 
 
 "V. ' The union and the discipline of the Christian republic' 
 — This indeed would have strengthened the Church, if not 
 augmented the number of believers ; but between the apostolic 
 times and the accession of Constantine, the Christians were not 
 so studious as became them, in preserving ' the unity of the 
 Spirit in the bond of peace,' neither was discipline, at all times, 
 regularly and prudently maintained among them. 
 
 " Thus it appears that the things which Mr. (iibbon con- 
 sidered as secondary, or human causes efficaciously promoting 
 the Christian religion, either tended to retard its progress, or 
 were the manifest operations of the wisdom or power of God." 
 
 No. XX. 
 
 Lectuke IV. — Page 13(J. 
 Uh Ilia evanescent Power of the Avian Tribes. 
 
 Blumhardt, amongst other writers, has noticed the fact which 
 is observed in the text, and which is borne out by history. The 
 earlier tribes who received the Arian faith, during its short 
 ascendency, were, as Gibbon remarks, (vol. iii. p. o3l,) the 
 
IV.] APPENDIX. 343 
 
 Ostrogoths in Pannonia and Italy, — the Visigoths in Southern 
 France and Eastern Spain, — the Suevi in Gallicia and Portugal, 
 — the Burgundians in Southern France, — the Heruli in Polish 
 Germany, — the Vandals in Africa. It will be observed at once, 
 that none of these tribes established a kingdom which has per- 
 petuated the name of its founders. They were absorbed, as it 
 seems, by the old Roman population, or invaded and subdued by 
 other tribes, and then assumed the original name of the country, 
 or of their new conquerors. The name of the Burgundians has, 
 indeed, been retained in a small portion of the territory once 
 held by them, but their dominion ceased at a very early date 
 in their history; they were subdued by the sons of Clovis, and 
 received the orthodox faith from the Franks, in 532. (Gibbon, 
 vol. iii. p. 572.) '-'It lasted," observes Malte-Brun, (Geographic 
 Universelle, livr. xv.) " only from 414 to 536." At a conference 
 at Lyons in 499, by order of the King of Burgundy, in order to 
 settle the religious disputes of the two parties, Gundobald 
 reproached the orthodox bishops with allowing the King of 
 the Franks to invade his territory. " The answer of Avitus, 
 Bishop of Vienna, who spoke in the name of his brethren, was 
 delivered with the voice and countenance of an angel. ' We 
 are ignorant of the motives and intentions of the King of the 
 Franks, but Ave are taught by Scripture, that the kingdoms 
 which abandon the divine law are frequently subverted; and 
 that enemies will arise on every side, against those who have 
 made God their enemy. Return with thy people to the law 
 of God, and He will give peace and security to thy dominions.'" 
 (Gibbon, vol. iii. p. 570.) 
 
 On the other hand, it will be observed that the Angles, the 
 Saxons, the Franks, the Allemanni, and even the Lombards, 
 transmitted their name to kingdoms founded by them, and have 
 preserved their distinctiveness even to this day. Of the latter, 
 Malte-Brun observes, without any reference to the reflection 
 which is here illustrated: " Le royaume de Lombardie fut 
 conc^uis par Charlemagne (774), mais il fut long-temjjs comme 
 un etat a part ; aussi le nom de la Lombardie a maintenu jusqu'a 
 nos jours sou ancienne celebrite." — Geog. Univ.livr. xv. p. 145. 
 
344 APPENDIX. [Lect 
 
 No. XXL 
 
 Lecture V. — Page 144. 
 Oil Uie Miracles attributed to Francis Xavier. 
 
 As to the abstract question, whether miraculous powers still 
 reside in the Church, and whether at any particular time, in 
 later ages, God has vouchsafed this evidence of the truth to any 
 of Ilis servants, it would be presumption to state any positive 
 d prio)'i opinion. It is a question of evidence; and by this the 
 several alleged instances of such Divine interposition must be 
 tried. In reference, then, to the miracles which are alleged to 
 have been wrought by "the apostle of India," and with which 
 his history is commonly crowded, it will be enough to advance 
 the following considerations, which would certainly lead us to 
 entertain the accounts of them with hesitation. 
 
 We may observe, first, that there is no allusion to his having 
 possessed any such power in the letters of Pr. Xavier himself 
 On the contrary, in cases where we might, perhaps, have ex- 
 pected divine assistance to have been miraculously accorded, 
 as when he was unable to address the natives of a country 
 through ignorance of their language, he ])ewails his inability, 
 and sets himself to supply the deficiency. 
 
 In the next place, it is expressly stated by his biographer, 
 that, when questioned upon the subject, he disclaimed the gift 
 of working miracles. The writer implies that Xavier per- 
 ceived not his possession of this endowment, owing to his 
 humility. But surely no one could be ignorant of his ex- 
 ercising so great a power, if he possessed it; and to disown it 
 would be a false humility, and by no means in accordance with 
 the example of St. Paul. The following passage occurs in the 
 Life of St. Francis Xavier, by Drydcn. (Works, hy Sir W. 
 Scott, vol. xvi. pp. 4t)9, r>00.) 
 
 " As for those miracles which he continvuilly wrought, they 
 passed, in his opinion, as the effects of innocence in children, or 
 for the fruits of faith in sick persons. And when, at the sight of 
 a miraculous performance, the people were, at any time, about 
 
V-] APPENDIX. 345 
 
 to give him particular honours, he ran to hide himself in the 
 thickest of a forest ; or, when he could not steal away, he 
 entered so for into the knowledge of himself, that he stood 
 secure from the least temptation to vain-glory. It even 
 seemed that the low opinion which he had of his own worth in 
 some sort blinded him, in relation to the wonders which he 
 wrought, so that he perceived not they were miracles. 
 
 " It was the common talk of Goa that he had raised the dead 
 on the coast of Fishery. After his return to Goa, .James 
 Prorba and Cozmo Annez, his two intimate friends, requested 
 him to inform them, for God's further glory, how these matters 
 went ; and particularly they inquired concerning the child 
 who was drowned in the well. The holy man, at this request, 
 hung down his head, and blushed exceedingly. When he had 
 recovered somewhat of his bashfulness, 'Jesus '' said he, 'what, 
 I to raise the dead ! Can you believe these things of such a 
 wretch as I am V After which, modestly smiling, he went on, 
 ' Alas, poor sinner that I am ! they set before me a child, whom 
 they reported to be dead, and who perhaps was not ; I com- 
 manded him, in the name of God, to arise ; he arose, indeed, 
 and there was the miracle !' " 
 
 Thirdly, Josephus Acosta, in his work De Proraulgatione 
 Evangelii apud Barbaros, has a chapter expressly on the absence 
 of miraculous powers, at that period, in preaching the Gosjjel. 
 Acosta was a .Jesuit missionary, and had laboured for seventeen 
 years in the West Indies and South America, and was proba- 
 bly a contemporary of Fr. Xavier, since he dedicated his work 
 to Philip II. of Spain in 1588. It is true, in another place, he 
 ' speaks of miracles reported to have been performed by Xavier ; 
 not, however, as bearing testimony to the reality of them ; 
 whereas his general statement upon the point is as follows : — 
 " Multus vero, inter ha^c, illud quasrere et admirari non 
 temere solere animadverti, quid sit quod, nostra setate, in jyrcv- 
 dicatione evangelii cqyud novas gentes, miraculonmi ilia vis non 
 cernatur quam Christus suis 2')romisit, qureque ad confirmanda 
 superhumana dogmata singulariter efficax est." .... In ac- 
 counting for this fact, he adduces the v.'ords of St. Augustine 
 on the inscrutability of the divine call, and proceeds as fol- 
 lows : — " ' Ha^c autem vocatio, qua; sive in singulis hominibus, 
 sive in populis, atqne in ipso genere humano per temporum 
 
346 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 opportuiiitatem operatur, altix; et profundtc ordinationis est.' 
 (Augustin. lib. de div. qutcst. octoginta-tribus, Qua;st. 68, 
 toni. vi. p. 55. Ed. Ben.) Populum Israel sibi caruin, initio de 
 servitute iEgypti, Pharaone toties profiigato, ingentibus pro- 
 digiis eripuit : eundem populum louge post de captivitate 
 Babylonica patrios restituit, non ita magnis operibus perpe- 
 tratis .... Proinde Hieremias loquitur, ' Ecce dies veniunt, 
 dicit Dominus, et non dicetur ultra, Yivit Dominus, qui eduxit 
 filios Israel de terra iEgypti ; sed, Vivit Dominus, qui eduxit 
 filios Israel de terra Aquilonis, et de universis terris ad quas 
 cjecerameos.' (xxiii. 7-8.) Cui rei non dissimile mihi videtur, 
 <{u6d ecclesiam suam olim in ipsis evangelii cunabulis, mul- 
 torum signorum et variorum cliarisraatum copia congregaverit, 
 eandem modo de gentibus non minus mirabiliter mirabilium 
 parcitate colligit, diversa tempora, secundum altissimas sapi- 
 ential sure leges, diversis rationibus adminis trans." Acosta 
 then advances some reasons for the difference existing between 
 the earlier and the later ages of the Christian church in respect 
 of the possession of miraculous powei-s. " They were neces- 
 sary then,'" he says, " on account of the people, to whom the 
 gospel was preached, measuring all things by their reason ; 
 and the unskilled illiterate preachers of the gospel would have 
 had no authority with them, unless what they said had been 
 recommended by the visible testimony of God in their favour." 
 " Ita religio Christiana, ubi humana priosidia prorsus aberant, 
 divinis est fundata miraculis." But now (he goes on) the case 
 is quite otherwise. Those to whom the gospel is preached are 
 inferior in all respects ; and those who preach it present it with 
 the weight of antiquity, of numbers, and with all other means 
 of persuasion on their side. The argument of miracles (he 
 adds, quoting the sentiment of St. Chrysostom on 1 Cor. ii. 5) 
 is perpetual, extending through all ages; the witness they 
 bear to the truth of a doctrine is equally strong in a subse- 
 quent age as in the age in which they are performed. " Non 
 ergo fides, jam satis fundata miraculis, novis indiget confir- 
 mari, (juin potius utilius esse asscrit siguis nunc carere, 
 quoniam majorismeriti sit." 
 
 The great means of producing conviction (ho. concludes) is 
 holiness of life. For miracles (as is urged by St. Clirysostom, 
 Honi. vi. in 1 Cor.) increase the ill-will and opinion of bad 
 
v.] APPENDIX. 347 
 
 men ; but purity of life closes the moutli of Satan. This is 
 confirmed by St. Paul's words (2 Cor. xii. 12), where he says 
 that " the signs of an apostle Avere wrought among you in all 
 patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." " Here 
 observe how Paul places patience before miracles, as an evi- 
 dence of his apostleship ; as he does also in 1 Thess. ii., where 
 he urges the purity of his life as an unanswerable evidence of 
 the truth which he preached." See also lib. v. cap. xxii. p. 509. 
 
 Lastly, it was just at the same period, also, that Melchior 
 Canus (Bishop of the Canaries, and a prominent character in 
 the Council of Trent) thus reprobated the departure from 
 veracity which characterised the narratives of the lives of 
 saints by the Roman Catholics : — 
 
 " Dolenter hoc dico potius quam contumeliose, multo a 
 Laertio severius vitas philosophorum scriptas, quam a Chris- 
 tianis vitas sanctorum ; longeque incorruptius et integriiis 
 Suetonium res Ctesarum exposuisse, quam exposuerint Catho- 
 lici, non res dico imperatorum, sed martyrum, virginum, et 
 
 confessorum Nostri plerique vel afFectibus inserviunt, 
 
 vel de industria quoque ita multa confingunt, ut eorum me 
 nimirum non solum pudeat, sed ttedeat." — Loc. Theol. lib. xi. 
 c. 6, pp. 333, 334. Ed. Colon. Agrip. 1585. 
 
 No. XXII. 
 
 Lecture V.^ — Page 152. 
 
 System of the Jesuits in Paraguay. 
 
 The following sketch of the system adopted by the Jesuits in 
 Paraguay, is taken from the Lettres Edifiantes, vols. viii. and ix. 
 
 The first object of these missionaries was to withdraw the 
 natives from their wandering mode of life, " and make them 
 reasonable creatures before attempting to make them Chris- 
 tians." For this purpose they followed them into their vast 
 forests, and, as soon as, by their preaching and example, they 
 had obtained sufficient influence over them, they induced 
 
348 APPENDIX. [Lkct. 
 
 them to fix in settlements where they might be subjected to 
 Christian instruction and discipline.' 
 
 Usually, two missionaries wei-e sent out together, accom- 
 panied by several neophytes. If after hearing their preaching, 
 the natives expressed a desire to become Christians, the infants 
 were baptized at once, the adults invited to the settlements 
 for previous instruction.^ Here they were affectionately re-' 
 ceived and lodged ; and these converted natives became, in 
 their turn, active agents in inducing othez's of their fellow- 
 countrymen to join them. ^ 
 
 Plan of Sdtleminits or Reductions. 
 
 A supply of cattle, footl, utensils, and seeds, sufficient for 
 immediate use, also a few workmen to give instruction, were 
 procured from the neighbouring Spanish towns.* A certain 
 portion of land, thirty or forty leagues in circumference, 
 according to the number of settlers, was marked out for each 
 lleduction. ^ As soon as one was full, another was formed, to 
 the support of which the earlier ones contributed. A church 
 and mission-house were the first buildings raised ; these were 
 placed in a central position, and the streets were arranged in 
 parallel lines, so as to be easily overlooked from the mission- 
 house.*^ 
 
 The ground produced three harvests, of which the first was 
 allotted to the natives; the second laid up for the widows, 
 orphans, and poor, and for charity beyond the mission ; the 
 third was assigned to the missionaries, and the maintenance of 
 the church, church-offices, choir, ctc.^ Three Jesuit brothers 
 superintended the temporal concerns of the settlement : one 
 acted as physician, tending the sick and preparing medicines ; 
 the two others managed the distribution of the food. After 
 harvest, the corn was all laid by in pul)lic granaries, and deli- 
 vered out once a month to the chiefs of the districts or quarters 
 into which the Reduction was divided, these again distributed 
 it among the families of the district according to the numbers 
 in each; meat was-distributcd in the same manner daily. ^ In 
 
 ' Vol. viii. 391, 392. - Vol. ix. pp. 62, 7i, 121'. ^ Vol.vili. p. 392. 
 1 Vol. viii. p. 392. ' Vol. viii. p. 393. ^ Vol. i.\. p. 38G. 
 
 !■ Vol. ix. pp. 20,5, 206. « Vol. viii. pp. 397—399. 
 
V.J APPENDIX. 349 
 
 order to maintain discipline, an Elder was appointed to watch 
 the conduct of the adults, and their regularity in attending the 
 church services ; and a subordinate one was placed over the 
 children.' No spirituous liquors or games of chance were per- 
 mitted. - 
 
 Mode of Instruction. 
 
 Two missionaries were placed in each Reduction ; one to 
 remain stationary, the other to go out and make converts in 
 the vicinity.'' 
 
 At break of day, the church bell was sounded to summon 
 the people to morning prayer ; this was followed by the cele- 
 bration of mass, after which they retired to their several occu- 
 pations, and reassembled at sunset, when the evening prayer 
 was followed by the recital of the Chaplet. 
 
 All the children between seven or eight and twelve years 
 of age were required to attend schools, where the boys were in- 
 structed in reading and writing, the Catechism, the prayers of 
 the Church, and the duties of Christianity. The girls learned 
 reading, the prayers and Catechism, knitting, sewing, and 
 other work suited to their sex. At eight o'clock in the morn- 
 ing they were all taken to church for morning prayer and ca- 
 techizing, and to hear mass ; after which they returned to the 
 schools. During Advent and Lent, there was public catechiz- 
 ing, twice a week in the church, and as this could not contain 
 all the population, three or four missionaries were sent, ac- 
 companied by a troop of children, three times a week, to recite 
 the Catechism in different quarters of the Reduction ; it was 
 followed by an " act of contrition." 
 
 On Sundays and festivals, high-mass was performed three 
 times, at six, seven, and nine, in the morning ; each mass was 
 accompanied by preaching. 
 
 In addition to this system of polity, which resembled that 
 of a large family, it appears that certain fraternities, of the 
 Scapulary, the Rosary, and the Holy Sacrament, were esta- 
 blished among the inhabitants for religious purposes.'' These 
 associations, however, seem nothing peculiar to the mission, 
 
 » Vol. viii. pp. SSS, 389. - Vol. ix. p. 226. ■' Vol. ix. p. C8. 
 
 i Vol. viii. p. 384— 3S(). 
 
350 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 but to resemble the various fraternities existing among Ro- 
 man Catholics in Europe ; doubtless they were not ■without 
 effect in fixing the volatile minds of the half-educated converts, 
 to Avhich also tlie pompous and superstitious ceremonies, not 
 sparingly used, may have likewise tended ; but the services 
 connected with them Avere mixed up with grievous supersti- 
 tion, if not idolatry. 
 
 No. XXIIL 
 Lecture V. — Pacre lo5. 
 
 Proce(;d'ings of Roman Calholic Missionaries on ilie Coast of 
 Africa. 
 
 " The missionaries on their way found the roads thronged 
 Avith persons coming to be baptized. Whole villages flocked 
 to them at once, so that they were often obliged to spend days 
 on the road, for the purpose of admitting these numerous con- 
 verts within the 'pale of the Church. At length they arrived 
 at Congo Battu, the largest town in the province, and the 
 theatre of a considerable trade. Here, too, they found their 
 ministrations in such request, that they could scarcely find 
 time for sleep or food. After nearly the whole city and neigh- 
 bourhood had been baptized, they made a somewhat mortifying 
 discovery. One part of the ceremony, according to the Rom- 
 ish ritual, consists in placing salt upon the mouth ; which 
 circumstance, as salt is here scarce, and an object of luxury, pro- 
 bably aided the alacrity with which the natives came to be 
 baptized. As the fathers ac([uired a knowledge of the lan- 
 guage, they discovered that the sole idea that the natives at- 
 tached to the rite, was the eating of this small (juantity of salt. 
 Curia manrjua, " to cat salt," was, in their language, tlie tenn 
 for being baptized ; nor did the efforts to change either their 
 language or their ideas upon the subject prove very successful." 
 — Murray's Discoveries in Africa, pp. 80, 81. 
 
v.] APPENDIX. 351 
 
 No. XXIV. 
 
 Lecture V. — Page 157. 
 
 The Bishop of Australia's Protest; and Remar'ks on Papal 
 Intrusion into Colonial Dioceses of the Church of England. 
 
 " 5n tijC name of CSotr. Bnun. By this public Instru- 
 ment be it declared and made known to all, that in the year 
 of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty -three, ac- 
 cording to the course and reckoning of the Church of England? 
 on Saturday, the twenty-fifth of March, being the festival of 
 the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at or near the 
 hour of eleven in the forenoon, before the commencement of the 
 morning service for the day, in the Vestry adjoining and per- 
 taining to the Church of St. James the Apostle, in the city of 
 Sydney, and colony of New South Wales, in the presence of 
 me, James Norton, Notary Public, and Registrar of the Dio- 
 cese of Australia, lawfully constituted according to Letters Pa- 
 tent of his late Majesty King William the Fourth, and in pre- 
 sence also of the witnesses whose names are hereinafter recited, 
 the Right Reverend Father in God, William Grant, by divine 
 permission Bishop of Australia, did personally put in and ex- 
 hibit a certain written protest, and did then and there openly 
 and publicly protest, and otherwise also did profess and do in 
 such manner and according as was more fully contained in a 
 certain parchment schedule which he held in his hands, and 
 publicly read : of which schedule the purport is here inserted, 
 and is as follows without any addition or omission whatever. 
 
 " ' 1\\ t|)C name of CGotl. .^men. We WHUam Grant, 
 by Divine permission Bishop and Pastor of Australia, do Pro- 
 test puhlicly and explicitly, on behalf of ourselves and our suc- 
 cessors. Bishops of Australia, and on behalf of the clergy and 
 all the faithful of the same Chxirch and Diocese, and also on 
 behalf of William by Divine providence Lord Archbisho}) of 
 Canterbury, Primate of all England and Metropolitan, and 
 his successors, that the Bishop of Borne has not any right or 
 authority according to the laws of God, and the canonical Or- 
 der of the Church, to institute any episcojml or arcJiiepiscopal 
 
352 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 See or Sees within the limits of the Diocese of Australia and 
 Province of Canterbury aforesaid. And We do hereby ptib- 
 lichj, explicitly and deliberately 2)rotest against, dissent from, 
 and contradict, any and every act of episcopal or metropolitan 
 authority done or to be done, at any time, or by any person 
 vihatever, by virtue (f any right or title derived from any as- 
 sumed jurisdiction, poicer, superiority, pre-eminence or autho- 
 rity of the said Bishop} of Borne enabling him to instittde any 
 episcopal See or Sees ivith inthe Diocese and Province hereinbefore 
 named.'' 
 
 " All and singular the foregoing acts and declarations were 
 had and done as they are above written and recited in the year, 
 month, day, hour, and place aforesaid ; there being then and 
 there present, (having been specially invited and summoned as 
 witnesses in the premises,) the Rev. Robert Allwood, the Rev. 
 Henry Ilodgkinson Bobart,the Rev. William Branwhite Clarke, 
 the Rev. Tliomas Steele, the Rev. Henry Tarlton Stiles, and the 
 Rev. William Horatio Walsh. 
 
 [l. s.] (Signed) " James Norton, 
 
 " Registrar, ami Notary Public." 
 
 Nor has the schismatic tendency of the Church of Rome, 
 evinced in this case of Australia, ceased here. More recently, 
 as is remarked in the text, a Bishop has been sent by the Pope 
 to Hobart Town, subsequently to the appointment of the Bishop 
 of Tasmania. A more glaring and pointed instance of the same 
 aggressive temper has been exhibited in Upper Canada. To- 
 ronto has been now, for some years, erected into a See of the 
 Church of England, and the present Bishop was consecrated in 
 1839. At this time, and in 1843 (as appears by the Catholic 
 Directory), there was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Kingstown^ 
 with a Coadjutor. Recently, however, on the death of the Bishop 
 of Kingstown, M. Power has been appointed Bishop of Toronto, 
 by which all ecclesiastical rule and unity are set at defiance. 
 
 It may not be out of place to contrast witli acts such as these 
 the rule and practice of antiquity ; and for this purpose I tran- 
 scribe the following passage from Bingham, (Antic^. book ii. chap, 
 xiii. sect. 1 .) " Another rule generally observed by the Church, 
 was, that in one city there should be but oncBishop, though it was 
 
^'•] APPENDIX. 353 
 
 large enough to admit of many presbyters." ..." When Nova- 
 tian got himself ordained bishop of Rome, in opposition to 
 Cornelius, he was generally condemned, over the whole world, 
 as tmnsgressing the rule of the Catholic Church. Cyprian' de- 
 livers it as a maxim on this occasion, ' That there ought to be 
 but one bishop in a church at a time, and one judge as the vice- 
 gerent of Christ.' ' Therefore,' he says,^ ' Novatian was no 
 bishop, since there could not be a second after the first ; but he 
 Avas an adulterer, and a foreigner, and an ambitious usurper of 
 another man's church, w^ho had been regularly ordained before 
 him.' And so he Avas told not only by Cyprian,^ but a whole 
 African council at once ; who, in return to Novatian's commu- 
 nicatory letter, which (according to custom) he wrote to them 
 upon his ordination, sent him this j^lain and positive answer : 
 ' That he was an alien, and that none of them could communi- 
 cate w^th him, who had attempted to erect a profane altar 
 against Cornelius the true bishop.' " 
 
 In confirmation of this rule and practice of antiquity, in the 
 following ages, Bingham refers to Chrysostom, Jerome, Pseudo- 
 Hieron., Hilary, Pacian, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret; 
 and adds, that " the Council of Nice repeats and confirms this 
 ancient rule : for, in the eighth canon, which speaks of the 
 Novatian bishops that return to the Catholic Church, it is said 
 that any bishop may admit them to officiate as presbyters in the 
 city, or as chorejnscojyi in the country, but not as city bishops, 
 for this reason, 'ira fir] tv ri] iroXei cvo eV/ctk-ottoi wut.' 
 
 The violation, then, of ecclesiastical order in the facts men- 
 tioned, proves too clearly the justice of the Bishop of Australia's 
 remarks, in a communication which he has recently sent home, 
 and which lead one to perceive that the Colonies will soon 
 become a battle-field, where the contest with the revived and 
 usurping spirit of Piome will have to be fought. Noticing his 
 recent Protest, the Bishop remarks : " It is not necessary that 
 I should enter into any extended observations upon those 
 
 1 Cypr Epist. 55, al. 59, ad Cornel, p. 129. 
 
 2 Ibid. Epist. 52, al. 55, ad Antonian. p. 104. " Cum post primum 
 secundus esse non possit, quisquis post ununi, qui solu.s esse debeat, fictus 
 est, noiijam seciindus ille, sed niillus est." 
 
 3 Ibid. Ep. 67, al. 68, ad Stepb. p. 177. 
 
 A A 
 
354 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 documents, which will speak for themselves. The effect on the 
 mind of our fellow-churchmen has been decidedly beneficial: 
 and I trust will still work for good in keeping their thoughts 
 fixed upon the question, and leading them to inquire and reflect. 
 The efforts making by the Roman Catholics are scarcely to he 
 conceived by those at a distance ; and there is much going on 
 which is not meant immediately to meet the public notice. 
 Dr. Folding introduced eight or ten additional priests, on his 
 return from Europe : some of them Irish, others foreigners; 
 and his resources are very great. I am not in any degree 
 shaken in my confidence as to our own cause; but in means 
 of action I labour under very serious deficiencies." 
 
 In another letter, dated May 17, 1843, he says: "Whatever 
 the final result may be, I trust that the position which I have 
 taken is that which becomes the Church of England, and will 
 always furnish a point for us to fall back upon in that extended 
 contest which all the signs of the times foreshow is about to 
 arise in this colony between our Church and that of Rome." 
 
 A further instance of the antagonism shown by the Roman 
 Catholics in the colonies to the Church of England, is mentioned 
 in a letter from a gentleman in New Zealand, and who is in a 
 position to have personal knowledge of the fact related. 
 " Another point," he writes, " which they have taken up in a 
 much more unscrupulous manner, is the collection at the 
 offertory, which the Bishop has introduced. They represent 
 it as selling the Sacrament; a remarkable instance of Jesuitical 
 versatility, when we think how they extract the last half- 
 crown out of the poor people in Ireland. But here it is quite 
 a free-will offering; no one is forced to give; it is not made a 
 condition of communicating ; and as the Bishop feels his 
 position such a right one, he will persevere through good report 
 and evil report." 
 
V] APPENDIX. 355 
 
 No. XXV. 
 
 Lecture V. — Page 163. 
 
 On the Practices of Robert de Nohili, at Madura. 
 
 The passage, in which Mosheim states the facts mentioned in 
 the text, is as follows (vol. ii. London, 1838, p. 254, note): — 
 " Nobili, who was looked upon by the Jesuits as the chief 
 apostle of the Indians after Francois Xavier, took incredible 
 pains to acquire a knowledge of the religion, customs, and 
 language of Madura, sufficient for the purposes of his ministry. 
 But this was not all ; for, to stop the mouths of his opposers, and 
 particularly of those who treated his character of Brachman as 
 an imposture, he produced an old, dirty parchment, in which he 
 had forged, in the ancient Indian characters, a deed, showing 
 that the Brachmans of Piome were of much older date than those 
 of India, and that the Jesuits of Rome descended in a direct 
 line from the god Brama. Nay, Father Jouvenci, a learned 
 Jesuit, tells us, in the History of his Order, something yet more 
 remarkable; even that Robert de Nobili, when the authenticity 
 of his smoky parchment was called in question by some Indian 
 unbelievers, declared upon oath, before the assembly of Brach- 
 mans of Madura, that he (Nobili) derived really and truly his 
 origin from the god Brama. Is it not astonishing that this 
 reverend Father should acknowledge, is it not monstrous that 
 he should applaud, as a piece of pious ingenuity, this detest- 
 able instance of perjury and fraud"? See Jouvenci, Histoire 
 des Jesuites; Norbert, Memoires Historiques sur les Missions 
 des Malab. torn. ii. p. 145." 
 
 In respect to theforged composition entitled the Ezour-Vedam, 
 a long dissertation on the subject may be found in the Asiatic 
 Researches, vol. xiv. pp. 1 — 55, by Mr. Ellis. It appears that 
 the existence of this writing was discovered by Sir Alexander 
 Johnson, the chief justice of the island of Ceylon, who had 
 " received a commission to draw up a code of laws for the 
 natives, and therefore was anxious to consult the best Indian 
 works." A printed copy of the Ezour-Vedam was sent by him 
 AA 2 
 
350 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 to ^Ir. Ellis, which led to the inquiries made by the latter into 
 the genuineness of the composition. A French translation of 
 the work was printed at Paris, in 1778 ; it was said, by Voltaire, 
 to have been made by the " grand priest of the island of Cher- 
 ingham, in the province of Arcot." Voltaire himself, as well as 
 M. Anquetil du Perron, who was possessed of a profound know- 
 ledge of India, its language, and religion, considered the writing 
 to be an authentic work, a Commentary on the Vedam. Mr. 
 Ellis accurOitely examined the document, and the result is given 
 in his Dissertation, in which he attributes the composition of the 
 Ezour-Vedam, and the other Pseudo-Vedas, to Pvobert de Nobili. 
 The point of view in which he regarded the former writing, at 
 least, may be learnt from the manner in which he commences 
 his Treatise, remarking that he is about " to give an account 
 of an instance of literary forgery, or rather— as the object of 
 the author or authors was certainly not literary distinction — 
 of religious imposition, without parallel." 
 
 I do not find it stated in what light this composition was 
 intended to be viewed by Hindoos. The fact however of such a 
 titlebeing assigned to the fabrication, — the intermixture of some 
 Vedantic fables with the argument contained in it, — the trans- 
 lation from the Sanscrit being attributed to a Braman, " le grand 
 pretre de I'isle de Cheringham," — afford conclusive evidence 
 that it was designed for the reception of the Hindoos, as of the 
 same authority, and from the same source, as their four Vedas. 
 Mr. Hough says, that the forgery did impose on some Brahmins, 
 and for many years was received as an authentic work. Yet 
 it is clear that the object of it was to recommend Christianity; 
 so that, probably, the representation of it, in the text, as " the 
 Christians' Veda," will describe the intention of those who com- 
 posed it; — and thus it forms a part of that unscrupulous system 
 of deception, which Robert de Nobili and his companions prac- 
 tised, in representing themselves and their Veda as of Brahnuinic 
 origin; — with what kind of success the result may inform us. 
 
 It has been already stated that Voltaire considered the work 
 as genuine, and, in tlie language of Dr. Wiseman, (Lectures on 
 Science and Revealed Religion, p. 408, London, 1842,) "he 
 pounced upon it, as a proof that the doctrines of Christianity 
 were borrowed from the heathens; and pronounced it a work of 
 
v.] APPENDIX. 357 
 
 immense antiquity." The use which the latter writer proceeds 
 to make of this fact is strange. After recounting the discovery 
 of the real authorship by Mr. Ellis, he adduces the circum- 
 stance as one among many instances of the way in which the 
 advance of modern science has tended to remove the objections 
 against Christianity. This is, indeed, profiting by one's own 
 wrong : — it required considerable hardihood, in a Roman 
 Catholic Apologist, even to refer to the detection of this reli- 
 gious imposition, but still more to convert it into an evidence 
 for the truth of Christianity. 
 
 No. XXVL 
 
 Lecture V. — Page 1G3. 
 
 The Conduct of the General of the Order- of Jesuits in re- 
 ference to the Chinese Rites. 
 
 It appears that a piece of duplicity parallel to that of 
 Lainez in India was exhibited by Tamburini, the General of 
 the Jesuits, in reference to the Bull of Clement XI., which 
 condemned the Chinese rites recognised by the Jesuit mis- 
 sionaries. The following circumstance is related in the 
 Histoire generale de la Naissance et des Progres de la Com- 
 pagnie de Jesus, vol. iii. p. 4-3 : — 
 
 " Clement XL ayant rendu, le premier Octobre, 1710, un 
 decret^ confirmatif de la Bulle de 1704 sur les ceremonies de la 
 Chine, et du mandement que le Cardinal de Tournon avoit 
 donne pour I'execution de cette Bulle, I'assesseur iutima ce 
 nouveau decret aux generaux d'ordres dont les sujets etoient 
 employes dans les missions. Tamburini, general des Jesuites, 
 fit reponse, qu'il alloit faire tout son possible pour que les 
 ordres du Pape fussent executes avec j^onctualite. L'annee 
 suivante, les procureurs des provinces de la societe etans 
 
 ' On trouve ce decret, la lettre de I'assesseur aux generaux d'ordres, 
 etleur reponse, par laquelle ils s'engagent a la faire esaminer, a la tin des 
 Memoires deMM. des Missions etrangeres. 
 
358 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 assembles a Rome, il fut arrete entre eux, quo, pour former la 
 bouche a ceux qui noircissoient la societe, et la calomnioient, 
 le general presenteroit au Pape une declaration' des plus 
 claires sur cet objet. II la presenta, signee de lui, de ses 
 quatres assistans, et des vingt-trois procureurs ; et il faut con- 
 venir qu'on ne peut concevoir de protestation plus formelle de 
 se soumettre aux decrets de Clement XT. sur les ceremonies 
 Chinoises^ sans aucnne contradiction, tergiversation, delai, &c. 
 Et cependant dans le meme terns le General Tamburini ecrivoit 
 au P. Grimaldi, visiteur des PP. Jesuites a la Chine, et un 
 des plus furieux persecuteurs du Cardinal de Tournon, de 
 prendre un nouveau courage et de se ranimer dans la 
 vieillesse pour defendre les rits Chinois ; que le nouveau 
 decret du Pape les favorise." 
 
 No. XXVII. 
 
 Lecture V. — Page 165. 
 
 On the Haste, and absence of preparatory Fitness with ivhich 
 Baptism was administered hy Roman Catholic Missionaries. 
 
 The following passages, on this point, occur in Jos. Acosta, 
 De Promulgatione Evangelii apud Barbaros : — 
 
 " Quis vero non doleat baptismo plerosque adultos initio 
 passim, et nostro tempore non raro ante perfundi, quam Chris- 
 tianam catechesin vel mediocriter teneant ; neque an vitoe 
 flagitiosa; et superstitiosie penitentia tangantur, neque vero 
 
 ' Cette declaration fut d'abord iinprimee par ordre de la Societe, en- 
 suite elle reparut en 1712, avec des observations qui sont aussi r^impri- 
 niues k la fin du sixieme volume des Anecdotes sur la Chine. On la trouve, 
 mais sans ces observations, dans les Reflexions d'un Portugais sur le me- 
 morial du general qui ont paru en 1758, p. 291 et suiv. 
 
 * On trouve k la tete du sixieme volume dns Anecdotes sur la Chine, unc 
 autre declaration, ou Memorial, que le meme general prescnta a Inno- 
 cent XIII. en 172'1', ct les Reflexions sur ce Memorial faites par un mis- 
 sionaire pour en rclever les fourberies. 
 
v.] APPENDIX. 359 
 
 id ipsurn quod accipiunt an veliut acciperc, satis coustet 1" — 
 Lib. vi. cap. ii. p. .520. 
 
 Again, '' Quam ecclesiie veterem discipliuam," (viz. candi- 
 dates coming to baptism duly prepared,) " ita in hoc novo orbe 
 negiectam intuemur, ut nusquam contra evangelii dignitatem 
 magis irreligiose et contra hominum salutem magis perniciose 
 peccatum esse intelligamus. Dum enim quoquo modo, per fas 
 et nefas, per dolum et vim, gentes barbaras Christianas efficere 
 properant homines imperiti aut improbi, nihil aliud agunt, 
 quam ut evangelium ludibrio exponant, et fidei temere sus- 
 
 ceptae desertores certissimo exitio afficiant Quam 
 
 qujBstionem" (viz. as to the validity of baptism thus admi- 
 nistered) " ne quis otiosam putet, sciat apud nos esse fre- 
 quentem in iis, priesertim jEthiopibus servis, qui ex Cabonerbe 
 asportantur. Hos enim si convenias an Christiani jam sint, 
 audies non raro, sese, ciim essent impuberes, simul ciim aliis 
 pluribus in navi aut littore deprehensos baptizatos esse, cum 
 certe, quid secum ageretur, ignorarent, nisi quod multi simul 
 a clerico aut milite quopiam, aqua aspergebantur, et exinde 
 Christianos se fieri audiebant." — Lib. vi. cap. iii. pp. 022-3. 
 
 No. XXVIII. 
 
 Lectuee V. — Page 175. 
 
 Method of conducting Religious Service with his Neophytes 
 ado2ited hy Fr. Xavier. 
 
 It may be interesting to see how this surprising missionary 
 adapted himself to those with whom he had to do; and, there- 
 fore, the following passage, describing his proceedings on a 
 Sunday, is translated from one of his letters (xiv.), to indicate 
 the method which he pursued : — 
 
 " On Sunday I collected in the church the men and Avomen, 
 with the boys and girls: all cheerfully came, all animated 
 equally with a desire of receiving instruction. I then 
 
360 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 commenced, in the name of the blessed Trinity, by reciting, in 
 a clear and audible voice, and in the Malay tongue, the Lord's 
 Prayer, the Salutation of the Angel, and the Apostles' Creed. 
 All repeated these after me, and found great pleasure in it. I 
 repeated once again the Creed by myself, and dwelt upon each 
 article separately ; I then demanded of all the people indi- 
 vidually whether they unhesitatingly believed all that their 
 lips had just pronounced, when each crossing his hands on his 
 breast replied in the affirmative. 
 
 " After the explanation of the Creed, I turn to the Deca- 
 logue, in order to show them that the whole Christian law is 
 contained in these ten commandments, which all ai-e bound 
 
 punctually to obey The astonishment, both of the 
 
 neophytes and the pagans, is great when they perceive the 
 sanctity of the Christian law, and its perfect conformity with 
 reason. I next repeat with them the Pater and the Ave, and 
 after each article of the Creed, set in verse, we begin again the 
 Pater and Ave. After having sung the first article of faith, I 
 give out in the language of the country this canticle : ' Jesus, 
 Son of the living Grod, cause that we may believe perfectly 
 this first article of our faith ; to obtain which grace we offer 
 to thee this prayer, which thou thyself hast taught us.' 
 
 " After the second article we sing another canticle : ' Holy 
 Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, obtain for us from thy 
 dear Son the grace to believe this article of faith without 
 doubting.' In this manner we pass in review all the articles 
 of the Creed. 
 
 " To inculcate the Decalogue, this is my method : "We sing, 
 as before, the first commandment, ' Thou shalt love one God 
 alone,' ttc, and then make this prayer, 'Jesus Christ, Son of 
 the living God, grant that we may love thee above all things!' 
 We immediately add the Lord's Prayer ; then sing altogether a 
 couplet out of a canticle thus arranged : ' Holy Mary, mother of 
 Jesus Christ, obtain for us of thy Son that we may carefully 
 observe this first commandment.' This couplet, sung thus, 
 is followed by the angelic salutation. This is the order we 
 pursue with each of the commandments, intercalating them 
 with various canticles. This is what I accustom them to ask of 
 God, and then I make them understand tliat when they shall 
 
V.l APPENDIX. 361 
 
 have obtained all these graces from heaven, they will obtain, also, 
 all other things more freely than they can ask them. 
 
 " I require all the catechumens preparing for baptism to 
 repeat the form of general confession, both together and singly. 
 It is of these that I most particularly demand after each article 
 of the Creed whether they believe it firmly. On their reply in 
 the affirmative, it is my custom to address to them a discourse 
 in the Malay tongue, in which I set before them briefly the 
 chief points of Christian doctrine necessary for salvation. It 
 is after having thus prepared them, that I confer on them the 
 sacrament of baptism. I conclude my instructions by the 
 Salve Regina, to obtain the aid and protection of the Holy 
 Virgin." 
 
 This course of instruction and devotional exercise was pro- 
 bably in addition to a more solemn and fixed office to be used 
 with the baptized : but it would seem that such a method of 
 religious service, based upon a purer faith than is here exhi- 
 bited, might be calculated to arrest the attention of heathen 
 converts, and by the intermixture of instruction and devotion, 
 might lead them to " pray with the spirit" and " with the uu- 
 derstandine:" also. 
 
 No. XXIX. 
 
 Lecture V. — Page 179. 
 
 Japanese Cliihlren trained to suffering for the Faith. 
 
 " Now the Japanners harden their children against a cruel 
 death, not with instructing them in the Gospel, but by terri- 
 fying them with umisual cruelties ; which Hazart witnesseth^ 
 relating, that Johannes Catonneme, a nobleman in the king- 
 dom of Deva, had a son aged seven years, whom he daily in- 
 structed to be constant. I will set down Hazart's own words 
 concerning it. A little before Catonneme was taken prisoner, 
 he said to his son, ' If it were so that you saw the executioners 
 coming, would you sufter yourself to be burnt alive, or deny 
 your Faith V Whereupon the child asked, ' Father, what 
 
362 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 would you do V To which lie replied, ' I would suffer myself 
 to be burned.' Whereon the youth agixin made answer, ' So 
 will I too.' Then said his father, ' Come hither, I am resolved 
 to try if you will be as constant as you say : take and hold 
 this coal in your hand, till I command you to throw it away.' 
 The child immediately opening his hand, the father laid a 
 glowing coal in the same. The youth held it fast, without 
 showing any concern thereat, notwithstanding his hand was 
 burnt to the bone, yet he threw it not away till his father 
 gave order. When they asked him, if the fire liad not hurt 
 him, he made answer, ' Any one that is ready to burn alive as 
 I am, must not make any scruple to hold a burning coal in their 
 hand, for so short a time as I have done.' And who can find 
 more of the aged Japanners, in any observation kept by the 
 Jesuits themselves, that they either said or did more, whilst 
 they were under the executioner's hands, than to hold a cru- 
 cifix, and the picture of the Virgin Mary, repeating the usual 
 prayer, — ' Jesus Maria f " Atlas Japannensis, by Arnoldus 
 Montanus, p. 263. 
 
 No. XXX. 
 
 Lecture VI. — Page 187. 
 
 Missionavi/ Scheme projected b)/ Cronuvell. 
 
 " Stoupe told me of a great design Cromwell had intended 
 to begin his kingship with, if he had assumed it ; he resolved 
 to set up a council for the Protestant religion, in opposition to 
 the congregation De proyKUjanda Fide at Rome. lie intended it 
 should consist of seven counsellors, and four secretaries for 
 different provinces. These were, the first, France, SAvitzer- 
 land, and the Valleys ; the Palatinate and the other Calvinists 
 were the second ; Germany, the north, and Turkey were the 
 third ; and the East and West Indies were the fourth. The 
 secretaries were to have 500/. salary apiece, and to keep a cor- 
 respondence everywhere, to know the state of religion all over 
 the world, tliat so all good designs miojit be by tlieir means 
 
VI.] APPENDIX. 363 
 
 protected and assisted. Stoupe was to have the first province. 
 They were to have a fund of 10,000/. a year, at their disposal 
 for ordinary emergencies, but to be farther supplied as occa- 
 sions should require it. Chelsea college was to be made up 
 for them, which was then an old decayed building, that had been 
 at first raised to be a college, for writers of controversy. I 
 thought it was not fit to let such a project as this be quite 
 lost ; it was certainly a noble one : but how far he would 
 have pursued it, must be left to conjecture." Burnet's Hist, 
 of His own Times, vol. i. p. 132. 
 
 No. XXXI. 
 
 Lecture VI. — Page 195. 
 
 The Statement of Bishop Heher reqyectmg the Protestant 
 Missions in Southern India, in 1826. 
 
 The words which Bishop Heber used in 1826, and which 
 are quoted by Dr. Wiseman, are these : — " The number is gra- 
 dually increasing, and there are now, in the South of India, 
 about two hundred protestant congregations, the number of 
 which has been sometimes vaguely stated at 40,000. I doubt 
 whether they reach 15,000 ; but even thi^, all things consi- 
 dered, is certainly a great number." (Journal, vol. iii. p. 460.) 
 Dr. Wiseman's comment upon the passage is, " And certainly 
 it is a great number, and, I have no hesitation in saying, very 
 much too great ; as I shall at once proceed to show you. 
 (Lect. vi. p. 175.) To fulfil this announcement, he refers to 
 the missions founded by Schwartz, as if the Bishop were speak- 
 ing of these alone, whereas he did speak of " the South of 
 India." Within this sphere of operation, he then selects three 
 facts : viz. that the Bishop confirmed fifty natives at Tanjore, 
 and eleven at Trichinopoly ; and that, in a set of villages ivhich 
 formed but " one ciixle" in the Tanjore mission, the number 
 of Christians returned in 1823, was 1328. " So that," adds 
 Dr. Wiseman, " the number first stated at forty thousand, then 
 at fifteen thousand, is, by the report of the missionaries them- 
 
364 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 selves, reduced to thirteen hundred and twenty-eight !" Thus, 
 then, though Bishop Heber spoke of the Protestant Christians 
 in the whole of Southern India, Dr. Wiseman attempts to re- 
 fute his calculation by computing the number of Christians 
 in two missions only,— and then limits his computation to 
 one circle only in one of these missmis. And so, by this pro- 
 cess, and by adducing .three insulated facts, he has "no hesi- 
 tation in saying," that Bishop Heber's computation was "very 
 much too great." 
 
 This is an instance of the fairness with which the missions 
 of the Church of England and other Protestants are examined. 
 — Now what is the state of the case 1 
 
 It may perhaps be urged that this able writer was unable 
 to discover any other traces of converts in connexion with these 
 Indian missions. And in reply, I observe, that in the ve7y 
 same page of his Journal in which Bishop Heber mentions the 
 fact of his confirming the natives alluded to, at Tanjore, he 
 adds, that he " pronounced the benediction on above 1300 
 natives" on the evening of Easter-day. " This however," he 
 subjoins, "is onli/ in the citt/ of Tanjore. There are scattered 
 congregations, to the number of many thousand Protestant 
 Christians, in all the neighbouring cities and villages ; and the 
 wicker-bound graves, each distinguished by a little cross of 
 cane, of the poor people by the road side, arc enough to tell 
 even the most careless traveller, that the country is, in a great 
 measure. Christian." It is hardly possible to conceive that 
 Dr. Wiseman had not read this. 
 
 So here there were several thousand Christians, besides the 
 1300 in the city of Tanjore, in this one mission. But besides, 
 I find that, in this same year, 1826, in one village congrega- 
 tion, in the Tinnevelly mission, ninety-nine natives were bap- 
 tized by a native priest, named Nanapragasam. ' Further, in 
 1824, official statements were, sent in to Archdeacon Robinson, 
 (an account of which he has kindly furnished mo with) of the 
 several missions of the S.P.G. which give the number of con- 
 verts, in charge of that Society alone, at about 82G0. Even 
 at ail earlier period than this, in 1S2(), a similar return was 
 
 ' Madras Committee Kepoit, p. 302, to (lie S.P.C.K. 
 
^'^■] APPENDIX. 305 
 
 made of the misssions conducted by the C.M.S. ; and in one of 
 these missions, at Tinnevelly, tlie converts were stated at 7500 ; 
 and there were other stations which might have been added. 
 
 Here then, again, without adducing more, returns, not em- 
 bracing the whole even of the Church of England missions, 
 present a number above the calculation of Bishop Ileber. 
 And it is to be observed that in the very same Report of the 
 S.P.C.K. (for 1825), from which Dr. Wiseman extracted the 
 partial statement of Mr. KohlofF, it is said that " the congre- 
 gations of native Christians in the neighbourhood of Madras," 
 (probably including the whole Southern district,) were " esti- 
 mated upon good authority at 20,000 souls. "^ This surely 
 might have led to at least a more candid inquiry. — Lastly, 
 however, in reference to this point, Mr. Hough, in his Evidence 
 before the House of Commons, in 1832, stated that he had 
 " had occasion about eight years previous (1824), to calculate 
 the number of converts made by the different Protestant mis- 
 sionaries in India; they then amounted, as near as I can 
 calculate the number, to 23,000." 
 
 I have only to observe, further, that Bishop Heber, in his 
 moderate computation of 15,000, included not only the whole 
 southern district of India, as I have stated, but also, probably, 
 the converts of all Protestant bodies ; so that, if these were 
 added to the numbers I have already given, his calculation 
 might have been put considerably higher. 
 
 No. XXXII. 
 
 Lecture VI. — Page 202. 
 
 On the Declension o/ the early Anglo-American Missions. 
 
 Elliot commenced his mission to the Indians, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Boston, in 1G4G ; in 1674, " the number of toAvns 
 inhabited by praying Indians, as they were called, had increased 
 to no fewer than fourteen, to all of which Mr. Elliot appears, in 
 
 ' Report of S.P.C.K. 1S25, pp.46, 47. 
 
366 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 a greater or less degree, to have extended liis labours.'" He 
 died in 1G90, and thirty years after his death, in 1721, " the 
 Church formed by him was totally extinct."" David Brainerd 
 entered on his labours, as missionary to the Indians in New 
 Jersey, in 1743 ; he died in 1747, and was succeeded by his 
 brother, John Brainerd. Yet, notwithstanding this, in 1774 
 (twenty-seven years after his death), the latter complained to 
 Mr. Rankin, that the converts had sadly declined, " that some 
 were dead ; others had grown careless and lukewarm ; and 
 many had wandered back among their pagan countrymen, 
 several of Avhom had even returned to their idolatrous prac- 
 tices. Some also had yielded to the love of spirituous liquors, 
 from which they seemed once completely weaned. Thus, ' the 
 gold had become dim, and the most fine gold was changed.'"^ 
 It is added, that, though this picture may be overcharged, yet 
 " his representation was by no means without foundation." In 
 17GG, Mr. Kirkland proceeded as missionary to the Oneida 
 Indians ; and the account given of his mission in 1785 is very 
 cheerful ; a real seriousness in many, and a remarkable refor- 
 mation of manners is described. * " But this fair prospect," 
 it is added, " was afterwards overcast ; religion declined 
 among them, and even sunk to a very low ebb."^ In 1790, 
 Dr. Morse and Belknap were sent to in([uire into the state of 
 the mission, when they reported that the race had been cor- 
 rupted by intermarriage with European settlers, and, " that 
 the greater part of them appeared to have nothing of Chris- 
 tianity but the name."*' The case was the same with the 
 missions tended by the Mayhews.' In some of the cases 
 mentioned, the declension of the missions is to be attributed 
 in part to the intermixture of the natives with settlers ; yet 
 it is e<][ually clear that the relapse into their former habits, on 
 the removal of the zealous missionaries who first converted 
 them to Christianity, proves tlie inadequacy of enterprises 
 conducted merely by individuals, apart from such a divinely- 
 ordered system as is provided in the Church, to transmit the 
 benefit they first impart, and secure perpetuity in the work of 
 converting the heathen. 
 
 ^ Brown's Missions, vol. i. p. IK - Ihiil. ]). -IS. •' Ibid. p. l'"f>- 
 •' Ibid. p. 117. Mhil p. M-8. '■ Ilntl. ■ Ibid. pp. (iO, CI. 
 
VI.] APPENDIX. 367 
 
 No. XXXIII. 
 
 Lecture VI. — Page 211. 
 The Church in N'eiv Zealand. 
 
 The interest felt in behalf of the rising Church in New- 
 Zealand, and the prospects which are opening of its being- 
 established firmly under the auspices of the Bishop of that 
 diocese, make me very thankful to be able to state some of 
 those wise and comprehensive principles upon which the 
 Bishop proposes to lay the foundation of the Church system. 
 They are extracted partly from some of his private letters, 
 which I have been allowed, by the kindness of one of his 
 friends, to refer to, and partly from the letters of others. 
 
 Hitherto, the several Clergy supported by the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society have been located in difterent parts of the 
 island with Catechists, but under no general system or direc- 
 tion ; and it appears that the executive, and frequently the 
 legislative, duties of the mission have been entrusted to four 
 Committees, in which Catechists had an equal vote with the 
 Clergy, and outnumbered them. The inconveniences which 
 began to be felt from such a system, in which nothing like the 
 true constitution of the Church was visible, made the more 
 reflecting among the missionaries hail with thankfulness the 
 appointment of a lawful head to the flock of Christ. 
 
 The following are some of the plans which are laid down by 
 the prelate, to whose wise administration that portion of 
 Christ's Church has been committed : — 
 
 I. He purposes to keep himself free from any political con- 
 nexion with the state. His words are : " I have no political 
 connexion with the state. I am not, and never intend to be, a 
 member of the Council ; a post which I never desired, and now 
 see the strongest reasons for determining studiously to avoid. 
 The power of creating Archdeacons will enable me to have a 
 responsible adviser at each principal town, to whom I shall 
 be able to give such assistance as my periodical visits will 
 allow. I have already begun upon the plan which I wish to 
 pursue, by establishing the practice of collecting at the 
 
368 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 offertory from the whole congregation for Church purposes, to 
 form a fund for the extension of the Church, to he under the 
 direction of myself, the Archdeacon of the district, the Clergy- 
 men of the parishes, and laymen associated with them on my 
 appointment." 
 
 " This plan is the more necessary, because I have thought it 
 my duty to decline accepting assistance from the State here, 
 upon the terms of its Church Act, which is a copy of the New 
 South Wales Act, and professes only to give its assistance to 
 tlie Church as one of the many denominations of Christians : 
 at the same time hampering the churches so assisted with a 
 Board of Trustees, and other unecclesiastical machinery, which 
 has already been proved injurious to the Church in Sydney, by 
 the trusts devolving upon persons indiflFerent or hostile to its 
 interests. I have therefore felt obliged to assume a position of 
 entire independence, offering to buy whatever land might be 
 required for the Church, rather than submit to restrictions of 
 which 1 cannot approve : one good effect of which has already 
 appeared in the appropriation of burial-grounds. I have 
 obtained a conveyance of two grounds of eight acres each, to 
 be consecrated for the burial of the dead, according to the 
 usage of the Church of England, vested in myself as trustee, 
 instead of being mixed up with a general 'protestant' ceme- 
 tery for all denominations. Other sects will now have their 
 own grounds to provide as they please." 
 
 II. Institutions for the protection and improvement of the 
 natives. 
 
 The protection of the natives has been entrusted to trustees, 
 of which the Bishop is one ; and the plans proposed for the 
 benefit of the natives, either visiting or residing in the towns, 
 are as follows : — 
 
 1. To build in every town an hostelry for the natives wlio 
 come to trade, on a plan similar to an alms-house in England, 
 with a small chapel for their daily worship, and convenient 
 boxes and cupboards for their goods. In time, Ave may have 
 a Clergyman to live in the midst of them. At present the 
 poor creatures are encamped, with nothing but a bit of canvass 
 to shelter them from the rain and wind. 
 
 2. To found, at a convenient distance IVum tlie cliicf tribes, 
 
VI.] APPENDIX. 309 
 
 a boarding-school, upon the general plan of the Norwood Insti- 
 tution, where religious instruction, and all good and useful 
 arts and habits, may be taught from the earliest age. The 
 children to be fed, taught, and clothed from the produce of the 
 native reserves, and afterwards put out into life, according to 
 their abilities and bent of mind." 
 
 Again, the Bishop says in reference to this subject, " We 
 are on the point of forming native institutions, comprising all 
 the requisites for a large boarding-school, for scholars of all ages, 
 infants' school, boys and girls' school, workshops, dormitories, 
 hall and chapel; also a hospital for adult natives, a dwelling for 
 a clerical superintendent, and accommodation for assistants." 
 
 " We shall be called upon immediately," he says in another 
 place, " to form institutions for the effectual training of the 
 native children from the earliest childhood : that they may 
 become habituated from the first to English customs, learn the 
 English language, and be instructed as well in the principles 
 of true religion, as in all the useful arts, which may fit them 
 to take their place among the English settlers, without dis- 
 tinction of persons. It is such an opening as has never before 
 been gi-anted to the leaders of any new colony." 
 
 Such institutions as these seem exactly in accordance with 
 those which the Church always fostered for the Christianizing 
 of the pagan population, not merely in the more barbarous times 
 of the later empire, but in the earlier days of Christianity ; and 
 have all the advantage of the .Jesuit Reductions in Paraguay, 
 without the grievous ill which arose from the too exclusive and 
 almost scholastic control by which they were regulated, and 
 which left the natives in the end only as children. 
 
 III. A Collegiate Institution, to comprise a seminary of a 
 higher order for the candidates for Holy Orders, and a school 
 for younger pupils. It is proposed to conduct it on a coenobitic 
 plan ; the whole community to dine together in one hall, with 
 the Bishop at their head; which, among other advantages, 
 Avill enable him to entertain strangers, which could never be 
 adequately done in a private establishment. 
 
 IV. Collegiate parsonages in various parts of the diocese, 
 for the residence of an Archdeacon, Priest, and Deacon, within 
 the same precincts. 
 
 B B 
 
370 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 Since the above was written, the Bishop has earned several of 
 his plans into execution : the College, and the Collegiate School, 
 have been opened; and his unwearied apostolic labours are 
 producing a visible effect, as is witnessed in the following 
 sentence from the letter of Mr. Spencer, an American, and a 
 student for Holy Orders at the Waimate College : — "The public 
 confidence which the Bishop enjoys is almost incredible. His 
 sterling principles bear down all other authority, and he is 
 looked upon as a man calculated to establish an order of things 
 in these islands, which will promote the greatest political and 
 moral ffood." 
 
 No. XXXIV. 
 
 Lecture VI. — Page 221. 
 
 Table of several Missionary Stations in India. 
 
 In reference to the subjoined Table, is is to be observed that 
 it is not given as representing the whole results of missionary 
 labours in India; on the contrary, some stations are omitted, 
 and it is clear that, in several of those mentioned, the returns 
 are evidently defective. In some, e. g. a number of communi- 
 cants is set down, but no hajAized. It may be well to say, that, 
 in these cases, the number of communicants has been taken for 
 that of the baptized, in the result of the table given in the text. 
 The numbers set down under the head of " hearers" have not 
 been included, for it is clearly impossible to guess in what 
 religious state these may be supposed to be, and can afford no 
 criterion of conversion as thus stated. But though the table 
 is by no means understood as being complete, still the result 
 presented by it, as far as it goes, affords confirmation, of a 
 striking character, to the argument advanced in the text. It 
 occurs at p. 237 of the Rev. Baptist Noel's Essay. 
 
VI.] 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 371 
 
 NORTH INDIA. 
 
 Society. 
 
 Station. 
 
 Communi- 
 cants. 
 
 Baptized. 
 
 Hearers. 
 
 Baptist 
 
 Calcutta . . 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 Church Missionary . 
 
 Calcutta . . 
 
 — 
 
 476 
 
 — 
 
 Soc. Prop. Gospel . . 
 
 Tallygunge . 
 
 80 
 
 200 
 
 700 
 
 Soc. Prop. Gospel . . 
 
 Jangera . . 
 
 — 
 
 29 
 
 — 
 
 Soc. Prop. Gospel . . 
 
 Barhipur . . 
 
 • — 
 
 20 
 
 — 
 
 Baptist 
 
 Seebpore . . 
 
 54 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Baptist 
 
 Cutwa . . . 
 
 35 
 
 110 
 
 — 
 
 Baptist 
 
 Monghyr . . 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 — 
 
 Church Missionary . 
 
 Burdwan 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Church Missionary . 
 
 Buxar . . . 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 25 
 
 Church Missionary . 
 
 Benares . . 
 
 12 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Benares . . 
 
 18 
 
 36 
 
 — 
 
 Church Missionary . 
 
 Goruckpore . 
 
 — 
 
 150 
 
 200 
 
 Soc. Prop. Gospel . . 
 
 Cawnpore . . 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 SOUTH INDIA. 
 
 Baptist 
 
 Khari . . . 
 
 
 
 
 450 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Vizagapatam. 
 
 40 
 
 — 
 
 50 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Cuddapah . . 
 
 32 
 
 98 
 
 1.32 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Vepery . . 
 
 35 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Tripassore . 
 
 15 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Soc. Prop. Gospel . . 
 
 Vepery . . 
 
 156 
 
 — 
 
 200 
 
 Soc. Prop. Gospel . . 
 
 Tan j ore . . 
 
 — 
 
 3211 
 
 — 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Chittoor . . 
 
 10 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Belgaum . . 
 
 15 
 
 — 
 
 100 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Bellary . . 
 
 32 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 London IMissionary . 
 
 Bangalore . . 
 
 20 
 
 — 
 
 100 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Salem . . . 
 
 32 
 
 — 
 
 150 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Combaconum. 
 
 25 
 
 — 
 
 200 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Coinibatore . 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 80 
 
 Church Missionary . 
 
 Allepie . . 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 Church Missionary . 
 
 Cochin . . 
 
 150 
 
 — 
 
 — ■ 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Neyoor . . 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 6,000 
 
 London Missionary . 
 
 Nagercoil . . 
 
 127 
 
 — 
 
 5,423 
 
 Church Missionary . 
 
 Tinnevelly . 
 
 ■ 
 
 2029 
 
 10,286 
 
 B B Z 
 
373 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 Xo. XXXV. 
 
 Lecture VII.— Page 233. 
 
 On the Practice and Principles of the Church Missionari/ 
 Society, as explained in Ap>pendix II. to the Thirty-niidh 
 Report. 
 
 The operations of this Society hold so prominent a place in 
 the missionary transactions connected with the Church, and in 
 the interest of a vast body of her members, that it must neces- 
 sarily attract to itself the careful attention of those who are 
 interested in missions. Hence a }nore particular jiotice than 
 would otherwise be desirable in a work designed to present a 
 general view of missions, has been given to it; and justice can 
 hardly be done to what is stated in the body of the Lecture, nor, 
 probably, to the Society, without explaining a little more fully 
 what appears to be anomalous in its constitution. This I would 
 do at once freely and dispassionately. It can hardly be esteemed 
 a reproach to a Sofciety to find that, being originated within the 
 last fifty years, during Avliich ecclesiastical principles were so 
 little brought prominently forward, its transactions have not 
 Ijeen conducted in accordance with those principles, and that, 
 in the exertion of a zeal for the conversion of the heathen, for 
 the due perfonnance of which no authoritative provision had 
 been made, it has " stretched " itself " beyond its measure." 
 But now that a more systematic movement of the Church is so 
 urgently required, it cannot but be deemed a matter of the first 
 importance to see a Society, influential as this is, brought into 
 entire unison with the principles and polity of that Church 
 Avitli which it identifies its operations. 
 
 The point on which I would remark, is that brought for- 
 ward in the following extract from the Appendix alluded to, 
 in which the principles and practice of the Society are profes- 
 sedly set forth in reference to one ecclesiastical function, that, 
 namely, of " Mission." 
 
 " 111. The Third general head of the Society's proceed- 
 ings is, The sending fokth, to pauticulak Stations, 
 
VII.J APPENDIX. 373 
 
 THK Missionaries thus ordained, or other Clergymen 
 WHO have been previously ordained. 
 
 " Now, here an objection against the Society has been 
 founded on the use of the term ' sending forth :' — it 
 sounds like an exercise of ecclesiastical power. But, 
 ecclesiastically speaking, the Bishop of London ' sends 
 forth' every missionary ordained by him. The law of the 
 land has sanctioned the two Archbishops and the Bishop 
 of London in ordaining persons to officiate abroad. The 
 Secretary of the Church Missionary Society requests, by 
 letter, the Bishop of London to ordain, in conformity 
 with the provisions of the Act of Parliament, such and 
 such persons, whom the Society is willing to support in 
 some foreign station. The Bishop, by the imposition of 
 hands, gives them authority to preach the Gospel, with a 
 view to their foreign location. — In the case of persons 
 already in Holy Orders, who mjiy join the Society, they 
 may be said to go forth by their own voluntary act ; but 
 their Letters of Orders, given by a Bishop of our 
 Church, are their mission and commission, ecclesiastically 
 speaking. 
 
 " Hence, to call the acts of the Church Missionary 
 Society — in selecting the station, paying the passage- 
 money, and agreeing to provide the missionary's salary — to 
 call these acts a sending forth of preachers, in an eccle- 
 siastical sense, is to confound names with things, and 
 to lose sight of all true Church principles." 
 The objection here alluded to, does, indeed, at once present 
 itself in reflecting upon the proceedings of the Society ; and 
 the reply which is put forward to it, in the passage quoted, is 
 drawn partly from the acts of the Society, and partly from the 
 nature of the ecclesiastical function of "■ mission" which it is 
 charged with assuming. 
 
 1. First, then, in reference to the acts of the Society. They 
 are stated to consist of applying to " the Bishop of London to 
 ordain such persons as the Society is willing to support 
 abroad," — "selecting the station," — "paying the passage- 
 money," — and " agreeing to provide the missionary's salary." 
 Now it is not asserted that these acts, taken simply by them- 
 
374 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 selves, constitute any ecclesiastical function ; but is this in 
 reality a fair statement of the acts of the Society 1 Is there not 
 a studious omission of those points which might be objected 
 to 1 For, in truth, what has been, and what is the practice of 
 the Society ? It determines in what new field the Grospel shall 
 be preached ; it selects a missionary ; it ajypoints him to his 
 sphere of action; it limits his ministerial functions; it super- 
 intends the proceedings of the mission, or assigns the super- 
 intendence of them to a Committee ; it relinquishes a mission 
 at will.— I am speaking chiefly of missions in countries in which 
 no Bishop resides ; and the following extracts from the 
 Society's Reports are adduced to prove what is stated. 
 
 " You have been appointed as missionaries to the Island 
 of Ceylon. For many years the Society has had it in con- 
 templation to send missionaries thither." Instructions 
 to the Rev. Brethren, Lambrick, Mayor, Ward and 
 Knight. Eighteenth Report, p. 178. 
 
 " The Committee are now commencing a mission in 
 South-Easterh Africa." Instructions to the Rev. Francis 
 Owen, &c. Thirty-seventh Report, p. 71. 
 
 " You, Mr. Dixon, and Mr. and Mrs. Farrar, have been 
 appointed by the Committee to strengthen the mission at 
 Bombay." Instructions to Rev. Messrs. Dixon and Farrar. 
 Twenty-ninth Report, p. 1.52. 
 
 " For Ceylon, the Committee are, at present, able to 
 appoint but one additional missionary." Instructions, kc. 
 Twentietli Report, pp. 231, 230. 
 
 " During your temporary stay at Port Natal, the Com- 
 mittee will not disapprove of your ministering to the Eng- 
 lish residing there ; but without undertaking a regular 
 pastoral charge, or forming a permanent engagement with 
 them." Instructions to the Rev. Fr. Owen. Thirty- 
 seventh Report, p. 73. 
 
 " In the three Presidencies in India, the Committee 
 have long had the advantage of corresponding Committees, 
 to superintend and conduct the general proceedings of 
 the Society's mission .... These local Committees repre- 
 sent the Society, and act with its authority." Twenty- 
 ninth Report. Instructions to Missionaries, p. 152. 
 
VII.] APPENDIX. 375 
 
 It is to be observed that these instructions were given in 
 reference to India, in 1829, when a Bishop presided over that 
 Diocese. 
 
 " With respect to the location of each of you, upon 
 your arrival at Sierra Leone, the Committee would leave 
 it to the Local Committee to decide where your services, 
 Brothers Denton and Ehemann, may be most advantage- 
 ously employed." Instructions to West Africa Mission- 
 aries, 1843, p. 23. 
 
 " In the last Report, it was anticipated that the Society 
 might be obliged, after all its efforts, to withdraw its mis- 
 sion from Rio Pongus. The Committee grieve to state 
 that the fury of the slave-trade .... has rendered that 
 measure unavoidable." Report, Eighteenth year, p. 179. 
 The same was the case in regard to Zooloo, in Report for 
 1840 ; and to Jamaica, in Report for 1842. 
 
 Lastly ; 
 
 " The Committee have the satisfaction of sending forth 
 another company of Christian labourers, to missions 
 where their labours are greatly needed." Instructions to 
 Missionaries, Twenty-ninth Report, p. 149. 
 
 " The Committee now send you forth to your labours, 
 in the name of our common Lord and Saviour." In- 
 structions to Missionaries. Twenty-fifth Report, p. 211. 
 
 Upon these extracts it occurs to ask, Are the acts of the 
 Society fairly represented by the statement that they consist 
 " in selecting the station, paying the passage-money, and 
 agreeing to provide the missionary's salary ?" — -What is the 
 meaning of language, if authority to " send" is not assumed 
 in what is quoted i — Are not ecclesiastical acts comprised in 
 the authority here asserted ? 
 
 2. The reply made in the Appendix to these latter questions 
 is contained in the principle enunciated in regard to " mission," 
 — viz. that, " ecclesiastically speaking, the Bishop of London 
 ' sends forth' every missionary ordained by him. The law of 
 the land has sanctioned the two Archbishops and the Bishop of 
 London ordaining persons to officiate abroad." Still, though 
 
37G ArrENDix. [Lect. 
 
 tlie Bisliop of London does ordain, liow does he give mission ? 
 He is not supposed to perform any other act than to ordain ; — 
 does he give mission simply in virtue of his ordination, or in 
 virtue of the Act of Parliament which sanctions his ordaining 1 
 It cannot be the latter, for there are some missionaries employed 
 by the Society not ordained by the Bishop of London, — nay 
 there are some Lutheran ministers, — and in these cases the 
 Society professes that " their letters of orders are their mission 
 and commission.'''' So that, I conclude, it is meant that, in all 
 cases, — since clearly the Act of Parliament is not necessary for 
 mission, — ordination confers mission ami commission. 
 
 Now this principle is entirely untenable. Mission always 
 was in earlier days, and is in our Church, a separate ecclesias- 
 tical act, apart from, and subsequent to, ordination. Without 
 multiplying authorities, the distinction is made in Chrysostom's 
 words, in reference to Unilas, the missionary to the Groths, ov 
 ix^ipoToi'Tjaa kui £7r£yu;//f». It was expressly provided, in early 
 days, that no one should be ordained, aVoXtAvyueVwc, without 
 appointment to a special charge, for which a licence was 
 given. See Dodwell's Dissertat. Cyprian. De Presbyteris Doc- 
 toribus ; and Bingham's Antiq. book ii. ch. iii. sect. 2. In our 
 own Church too, before an ordained person can officiate in a 
 given charge, he needs licence or institution from the Bishop. 
 This is set forth by Heylin : " When a clerk is to be admitted 
 
 into any benefice" the Bishop "doth institute him into 
 
 the said benefice, according to the laws and canons ; commit- 
 ting to him the care and government of the souls of all the 
 parishioners therein For though the priest or presby- 
 ter by his ordination hath authority to preach the word of 
 God in the congregation, yet it is with this limitation, ' If he 
 shall be so appointed,'' (see the form of Ordering of Priests,) that 
 is to say, is sufficiently licensed thereunto, and not otherwise." 
 Heylin's Cyprianus Anglicanus, Introd. § x. p. 8. London, 1668. 
 
 In canonical language, as ordination confers authority to 
 minister generally, so mission "jurisdictionem trihnit," and 
 corresponds with our licence or institution, the a/i/xiintment 
 to a particular sphere of ministerial labour. 
 
 Perhaps it may be here replied, that this is recognised by the 
 Society, whicli requires its missionaries to receive a licence 
 
VII.] APPENDIX. 377 
 
 from the Bishop in whose diocese he officiates, as in India. So 
 far is well. Let it be observed however, that (allowing in these 
 cases the licence to confer mission) mission is distinct from 
 ordination, — and that therefore the principle set up in the 
 Appendix of the Society is not in accordance with ecclesias- 
 tical principle. Allow, then, that licence confers mission, and 
 that in foreign dioceses the Society's missionaries receive 
 licence and mission ; — then the question recurs, tvho has given 
 or does give mission to its missionaries in countries where no 
 English Bishop is apj^ointed 1 Not the Bishop of London, for 
 he only ordains them, if he happen to do so ; he certainly gives 
 no licence, does not " appoint," does not superintend, cannot 
 recall. Either they are without mission, or the Society assum>es 
 it. And certainly, in the plain language which it uses, and 
 in the authority which (if words have a meaning) it asserts 
 thereby, it does assume it. 
 
 I am not inquiring here in whom the authority to " send," 
 in lands not included in a diocese, should be vested • — this only 
 is clear, it cannot be in a lay voluntary association. I am 
 aware, too, that there may be some obscurity on this point, in 
 our present ecclesiastical arrangements ; but as dispassionate 
 a judgment as 1 can give to the question convinces me that 
 the Society does assume an ecclesiastical function which cannot 
 belong to it ; and that it must, in the end, entail confusion 
 on itself And certainly it cannot be thought satisfactory that 
 a question like this should be dismissed merely with the remark 
 with which the portion of the Appendix, above quoted, ends, 
 viz. that " to call these acts a sending forth of preachers, in 
 an ecclesiastical sense, is to confound names with things, and 
 to lose sight of all true Church principles." 
 
 That the point I have here pressed is not a mere theory, but 
 one which is felt in its practical bearings by those engaged in 
 the work of propagating the Gospel, is evidenced by the fol- 
 lowing extract from a private letter of one whose high po- 
 sition, as well as strong practical sense and experience, give a 
 weight to his opinion, which I trust will excuse the liberty I 
 take in publishing it without his express sanction. 
 
378 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 " My distinct persuasion is, that it belioves the Church to 
 be per se, or acting by means of actual ecclesiastics specially 
 commissioned by her to that object, the channel by which 
 aspirants to the Colonial ministry are introduced and sent 
 forth upon their mission. I would have all Bishops, Priests, 
 and Deacons, of all Colonial Churches, attracted towards some 
 such common centre within the Church itself; because our 
 Societies, however noble, munificent, and serviceable, in their 
 operations, yet in their constitution (being voluntary associa- 
 tions, and composed in a great proportion of lay-men and 
 ivomen) are not, and cannot be, equally satisfactory, so as to 
 give the full ecclesiastical character to the ordained missionaries 
 Avhom they send forth. Leaving the collection of pecuniary 
 means to them, and rendering them all thanks, and all grati- 
 tude, and honour, for the abundant liberality with which they 
 have ministered, and yet do minister, to the necessities of these 
 distant branches of the Church, I should yet rejoice to see 
 them placed in communication with an institution p^{re^?/ 
 ecclesiastical, under the direction of which it should be under- 
 stood that every thing pertaining to clerical preparation is to 
 be conducted. I see, and have reason to know, that the esta- 
 blishment of such an order in the case of the Roman Church, 
 and the want of it in ours, does contribute, among other 
 causes, to give their priesthood a notion of their being more 
 truly commissioned by the Church ; and to employ that notion 
 as an engine for confirming their own estimation, and for 
 depreciating ours." 
 
 No. XXXVI. 
 
 Lectukk YII. — Page 'I'M). 
 
 The Bishop of Madras and the Church Jlissionary Society in 
 reference to the Case of the Eev. W. T. Humphrey. 
 
 A STATEMENT of this transaction is published in the Society's 
 Keport for 1842 — 1843, Appendix. Without entering into the 
 special merits of the case, the leading facts, and the general 
 questions which arose out of them, are as follows : — 
 
VII.] APPENDIX. 379 
 
 In consequence of a letter expressing certain opinions, and 
 addressed by Mr. Humphrey to the Secretary of the Madras 
 Coi'responding Committee, that body resolved, as " their deli- 
 berate judgment, that the maintenance of such principles as 
 the Rev. Mr. Humphrey has now distinctly avowed, necessarily 
 disqualifies any person from labouring in connexion with a 
 Missionary Society of the Church of England." This resolu- 
 lution was passed without any previous consultation with the 
 Bishop of Madras, in whose diocese, and under whose licence, 
 Mr. Humphrey was officiating. This censure was so far con- 
 firmed at home, as for the Parent Committee to resolve, " That 
 the Committee fully concur in opinion with the Correspond- 
 ing Committee, that the maintenance of such principles as 
 Mr. Humphrey has distinctly avowed, necessarily disqualifies 
 him from labouring in connexion with this Society." And the 
 Committee proposed to supply another missionary in the room 
 of Mr. Humphrey at Mayaveram. 
 
 The general question which arose out of this proceeding 
 was (as stated by the Bishop of Madras), " Has any Committee 
 of a Society which claims to he considered as a Society of the 
 members of the Church of England, any power to pass a 
 sentence, which virtually amounts to a deprivation from his 
 cure, on any Clergyman, without reference to his Diocesan T' 
 " The sentence (he adds) is a virtual deprivation." 
 
 Without any specific reply to the question, the Committee of 
 the Church Missionary Society advanced and maintained the 
 following principle : that the right of " the Committee to 
 withdraw the salary of a licensed missionary, without the 
 Bishop's concurrence," " has ever been regarded as one of the 
 established principles of the Society."' 
 
 In consequence of these proceedings, the Bishop of Madras 
 refused to grant any fresh licences to missionaries nominated 
 by the Society. It is understood, however, that since the 
 ' It seems, however, from Appendix II. to Report 1839, that the Com- 
 mittee claim to themselves confidence that they will not exercise this right 
 of withdrawing the salary from a licensed missionary, " without reason suf- 
 ficient to prove to the licensing Bishop the necessity of the proceeding." 
 The question upon this arises, who is to judge of the sufficiency of the reason, 
 which the Committee, perhaps, thinks ought to prove the necessity of the 
 proceeding to the Bishop, but which may not ? This point is undetermined. 
 
380 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 Lecture to which this is appended was written, a conuiiunica- 
 tion has been made to the Bishop of Madras by the Committee, 
 of such a nature as to induce his Lordship to consent to grant 
 fresh licences to the Society's missionaries. But it appears 
 that the points above mentioned remain yet unsettled. 
 
 Here, then, is one of those cases which must occur from the 
 very nature of such voluntary associations ; one of those " mis- 
 understandings " which '• have sometimes arisen between the 
 representatives of the Society abroad, and ecclesiastical autho- 
 rities.'" The Society seems, indeed, to reconcile itself to such 
 difficulties and conflicts with authority, by the statement 
 " that missionary operations are new and anomalous in the 
 system of the Church of England : and that it is not always 
 easy to draw a definite line between the two provinces which 
 belong respectively to the Bishop and the Committee." Hence 
 has arisen a plea for mutual confidence, the Committee placing 
 confidence in the Bishops, the Bishops placing confidence in 
 the Committee ! Who has assigned, it may be asked, any 
 province, such as is claimed, to the Committee ? And are 
 missionary proceedings indeed so wholly new and anomalous an 
 operation in the Church of Christ, that the very first princi- 
 ples respecting them need to be settled, even the extent of a 
 Bishop's authority in his own diocese ■? Is it not rather that 
 this new assumption of power has arisen, within fifty years, 
 in voluntary associations, which comes into collision with the 
 ecclesiastical rule of the Church, and causes " perplexities " 
 and " misunderstandings %" 
 
 Other " misunderstandings," it seems, have arisen, and un- 
 doubtedly will arise, while jealousy of episcopal aiithority is 
 entertained by any association of members of the Church of 
 England. The Bishop of Calcutta, who appears to have been 
 met with difficulties of this nature in his diocese, from lay 
 committees, has expressed this feeling so forcibly, in his Cliarge 
 of 1838, that I transcribe passages from it, as well as from the 
 pages of a writer of a previous date, and whose discernment 
 upon this subject is only the more striking. 
 
 " And here I am led to advert," observes the Bishop of Cal- 
 cutta, " to a question of detail respecting the machinery of our 
 ' Appendix II. Kepcrt for 18o9. 
 
VII.] APPENDIX. 381 
 
 missions, -which will require much consideration : I allude to 
 the relations of the ordained and licensed missionary with his 
 diocesan, and with the lay committees, who dispense the mission 
 funds of the Societies at home. It is to be expected that many 
 questions should arise in so anomalous a case, the chief danger 
 of which is, that, simple as they are at first, they may tend, if 
 not amicably arranged, to generate divisions amongst ourselves, 
 and in our own Church, and lead ultimately to the most serious 
 obstruction of spiritual good." 
 
 " I informed the reverend missionaries that they were as 
 much entitled to my tenderest care and protection, and acted 
 as much under my licence, as any other of the Clergy ; and that 
 such licence implied at the least two things — an approbation 
 of the sphere in which they were to labour, and a cognizance 
 of their proceedings subsequently in the discharge of their 
 spiritual functions. The principle thus laid down has been 
 since, after much discussion, fully admitted and recognised by 
 the Church Missionary Committee here and at home, and the 
 question has thus been narrowed to such cases, in the applica- 
 tion of the rule, as become the occasion of doubt and uneasiness. 
 These, however embarrassing for a time, will, I trust, ulti- 
 mately be adjusted. 
 
 " As to my own impression of the case, I can only say, that 
 I stand now precisely where 1 did four years back. The mere 
 recognition of a principle will be of course of little benefit, if 
 the practical use of it is declined. I know the price at which 
 I make this avowal in these evil days of our Church's rebuke — 
 and friend as I am, and have been, of this excellent Society 
 from its formation. But I hope to be enabled cheerfully to 
 go ' through evil report and through good report,' after the 
 example of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, on this and on 
 all occasions of duty ; and most especially when the interests 
 of my reverend brethren are concerned. For I consider the 
 dignity, peace of mind, and usefulness of the Clergy in our 
 missions, to be involved in their being preserved as much as 
 possible independent of all control in their spiritual functions, 
 except that which springs from their own ordination vows, the 
 order of the Church, and the paternal superintendence of the 
 Bishop. I speak of spiritual regimen only. With temporal 
 
383 APPENDIX. [LiiCT. 
 
 matters, and whatever may come under the head of lay patron- 
 age, — I repeat what I stated in my primary Charge — I never, 
 in any way, interfere. 
 
 " I may be wrong ; but I consider some of the best interests 
 of my reverend brethren as especially dependent on my fidelity 
 in this question. I regard the topic as one of the grand 
 principles which constitute the .distinction between an episcopal 
 and a non-episcopal polity. That I should lay so much weight 
 upon it, may perhaps seem strange to those who are unversed in 
 ecclesiastical proceedings ; but to those who are in the least 
 acquainted with them, it will appear at once in its true magni- 
 tude — every thing, in fact, turns upon it, as I think. I have 
 always understood, and long observation confirms me in the 
 opinion, that lay government in spiritual matters tends ulti- 
 mately to hamper ministers in the discharge of their duties, to 
 lower their doctrine and spirit, and insensibly to make them 
 the creatures of the people. I have no fears on these subjects 
 at present. But I look forward ; and I confess I can scarcely 
 conceive of a greater evil, in the long lapse of time, than for 
 ordained Presbyters in our Church to bo placed in circum- 
 stances to lead them to court the changing pleasure, prejudices, 
 and cast of religious sentiment of a number of lay gentlemen 
 who happen to have obtained a majority of voices in the com- 
 mittee which hold the funds of their sacred cause. 
 
 " Such a state of things has hitherto been unknown in the 
 Church of England ; nor can I be a party for recognising it, 
 until I am better advised." ' Charge to the Clergy of Calcutta, 
 July 6, 1838, pp. 43—47. 
 
 Mr. A. Knox, in writing to Mr. Jcbb, July, 1814, reports 
 the following as part of a conversation held with Dean Graves 
 on the subject of the missionary movement at that time going 
 on in Ireland. 
 
 "My answer was, 'that the Church of England would not be 
 served by a dereliction, from whatever plausible motives, of its 
 essential principle : that it was an essential of the Church of 
 
 * " It would be most ungrateful in lue not to state iiere, that in the 
 Committee of the Calcutta Diocesan Society for Propagating the Gospel 
 in Foreign Parts, I have met with nothing, since I have been in India, 
 but cordial and zealous cooperation." 
 
VII.] APPENDIX. 383 
 
 England, that, whatever was done in its name, should be done 
 regularly and responsibly, under the authority of its chiefs, and 
 harmonically with its organization. But this I observed could 
 not be the case with missions voluntarily undertaken, by un- 
 accredited individuals. This would be the work not of the 
 Church, but of self-directed, irresponsible agents : if indivi- 
 duals,' I added, ' would act in this way, let them do it, and let 
 those whose conscience impels them, unite in the undertaking 
 if they will. But let no one talk of serving tlie Establishment 
 by exertions irreconcilable with its essential principles, nor call 
 that a Church mission, which the Church could not recognise 
 without self-contradiction. In a word, a Bishop of the Anglican 
 Church is now to be established in the East ; he will of course 
 be the regular superintendent of all ecclesiastical movements in 
 that quarter ; through him therefore alone would it seem that 
 a Church of England mission could now be set on foot, or, if 
 set on foot, could be conducted with consistency or safety.' " 
 Thirty Years' Correspondence between Mr. A. Knox and Bishop 
 Jebb, vol. ii. p. 187. 
 
 No. XXXVII. 
 
 Lecture VII. — Page 239. 
 
 The 'purclime of Lands hy Missiotmries in New Zealand. 
 
 The following statements and list, on this subject, are taken 
 from DiefFenbach's New Zealand. London: Murray. 1843. 
 The author went out as naturalist to the New Zealand Company. 
 
 " Many of the older missionaries," he says, " have become 
 landed proprietors ; and many, by other pursuits, such as 
 trading with the produce of their garden or stock, have become 
 wealthy men." 
 
 " The acquisition of land by these individuals is the reason 
 why the whole body has been so much abused, although the 
 fault lay only with a few." Vol. ii. p. 165. 
 
 " Eleven missionaries, the only ones who had given in their 
 claims to the land-commissioners when I left New Zealand^ 
 claimed 90,219 acres ! and four others had not yet submitted 
 their claims, which I doubt will be equally large. Some of 
 
384 APPENDIX. [Lkct. 
 
 these persons are now retiring on their propert}', and their sons 
 have become so independent as to refuse lucrative situations 
 under government." P. 166. 
 
 He then gives a table of the purchases made by the mission- 
 aries, with the prices given for the land, from which the follow- 
 ing is extracted. I observe that nine of the names are still on 
 the list of the Church Missionary Society ; but it is not quite 
 correct to speak of the individuals as missionaries, since but 
 three of them seem to be in orders ; the remainder labour as 
 catechists or assistants. 
 
 ACRES. 
 
 J. Davis 5,000 
 
 Joseph Mattliews .... 2,500 Catecliist. 
 
 Richard Alatthews .... -3,000 Catecliist. 
 
 Richard Taylor unknown. Missionary. 
 
 William White 12,403 
 
 Henry Williams 11,000 Missionary. 
 
 William Willianis .... 890 Missionary. 
 
 Charles ]5aker C,230 Catechist. 
 
 William Fail-hum .... 40,400 Catechist. 
 
 James Kemp 9,976 Catechist. 
 
 John King 5,000 Catechist. 
 
 96, .399 
 
 The price which is stated to have been given by these pur- 
 chasers for the above tracts of land, is 3102/. Os. Sd. 
 
 There is reason to fear that the above statement is not exag- 
 gerated ; and it bears out the evidence given before the House 
 of Commons by Mr. Flatt, and which is quoted by the Rev. 
 S. Robins, in his first pamphlet on the subject. 
 
 The Society has been exposed to much remark, in consequence 
 of its conduct in reference to these transactions. But with 
 this point I am not immediately concerned, the facts being all 
 that is needed for my argument. I would observe, however, 
 that the Society does not seem to have examined, censured, and 
 checked the evil as it should have done. Since the two state- 
 ments, which appeared in the Appendix to the Report for 1840, 
 no notice has been publicly taken of it : nor does it appear 
 whether the missionaries do not still retain the lands thus 
 acquired. This must cause grief to any friend of missions, 
 since a handle is thus ffivcn to the enemies of the Church, of" 
 
VII.] APPENDIX. 385 
 
 which they are not slow to avail themselves. The use which 
 the Roman Catholics, even now, make of these circumstances 
 may be learnt from the following passage in a recent letter 
 from a gentleman in New Zealand, who writes thus : — " The 
 natives are very apprehensive about the alienation of their 
 land. One of the chiefs, inclined, to popery — or, rather, who 
 had given ear to the popish priests — had a conference with the 
 Bishop the other day, and in a striking way spoke of their 
 feelings, and of the advantage which the papists took of it. 
 They saw large tracts of land bought ; with their free-will 
 indeed, but when the immediate temptation was over, they 
 thought what was to become of their children. ' We felt 
 ourselves,' said they, 'on ajish's back,' i.e. ousted from the 
 land. ' We saw the missionaries buying large tracts for their 
 families, and then the Picopos came in, aggravating the evil, 
 and contrasting with it the fact that they had no families 
 to provide for, and neither owned nor wished to acquire a foot 
 of land.' Portuntitely the Bishop is in the same position." 
 
 No. XXXVIIL 
 
 Lecture VII. — Page 254. 
 
 A Missionary Seminary the Nursery of Evangelists to the 
 Heathen. 
 
 The immense extent of the colonial possessions and depen- 
 dencies of Great Britain, the rapidly increasing population 
 within them, and the contact into which, through them, we are 
 brought with almost the entire heathen world, open before the 
 Church a field of labour, and create a demand upon her energies 
 altogether unexampled, and one u'hich must be met. Through- 
 out the wide extent of India, and especially from the continent 
 and islands of the South Seas, a demand is made for more 
 labourers. The following is an extract from a letter ef the 
 
 c c 
 
386 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 Bishop of Australia, in which he states the pressing need, 
 and a proposal for meeting it : — 
 
 " I will now turn," he says, " to a subject, which formed the 
 occupation of many of the hours which we (himself and the 
 Bishop of New Zealand) passed in converse together ... I mean 
 the human resources, upon which we can rely, for sending 
 labourers (competent both in numbers and ability) into those 
 vast, and as yet uncultured portions of the vineyard, over which 
 we are respectively set in charge. It is this question which, 
 above all others, has come home to the hearts of both ; because 
 Ave cannot but be sensible, that, whatever our humble personal 
 efforts may be, we cannot hope to work effectually the work of 
 Him who sent us, unless aided by a sufficient number of men 
 duly qualified to serve God in His Church. The Bishop of New 
 Zealand has with him three excellent and superior persons ; 
 and he was surprised and delighted to meet with a number of 
 Clergymen here, who, in point of private worth, professional 
 ability, and correct principles (I say it with unfeigned thank- 
 fulness), would maintain the credit of any church upon earth. 
 But the question which arises upon our thoughts, and which 
 formed, as I have said, the subject of many serious conversa- 
 tions, is this, — ' IIoio is a suppli/ of such men to he kept up ? ' 
 The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts 
 has, through the special goodness of Providence, done wonders. 
 But there appears to be at this time considerable difficulty on 
 their part in maintaining the requisite supply; and that diffi- 
 culty, it is to be feared, is likely rather to increase ; especially 
 as, in the contemplation of the Bishop of New Zealand, and of 
 myself, our establishment here (strengthened, we hope, ere long 
 by the foundation of the see of Tasmania) is but a preliminary 
 to a wide extension of the Church over the vast expanse of the 
 Pacific. The conclusion at which we arrived, was in favour of 
 erecting, under the immediate eye of each, a School of Divinity, 
 in which promising young men (from eighteen to twenty-three) 
 might be trained in the knowledge of the duties of their profes- 
 sion, as well as initiated into the practical discharge of them. 
 By means of such institutions, in addition to what the Society 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel may be able to accomplish for 
 us, we trust that the Church may be supplied with a due succes- 
 
VII.] APPENDIX. 387 
 
 sion of men qualified rightly to divide tlic word of trutli. The 
 Bishop of New Zealand has already certain funds and resources 
 applicable to that object, and will unquestionably proceed to 
 make the experiment now under consideration, with the few 
 youths who have accompanied him. In what manner I might 
 hope to lay a similar foundation here, shall be afterwards stated. 
 " Now I am anxious to dLrect your thoughts to the mode in 
 which duly qualified aspirants to the ministerial charge may 
 be found out, and forwarded hither, to be placed under our 
 course of instruction. It seems to me that the large public 
 schools, aided by occasional contributions from the smaller 
 foundations, or from private establishments, are quite sufficient 
 to supply the needs of the several professions in England ; and 
 I presume that in those schools, if a boy shows a good dispo- 
 sition and talents, either by exhibitions and scholarships, or 
 in some other way, the means are generally provided for main- 
 taining him at the University, so that his acquirements shall 
 not be lost. But in the smaller schools, I am no less persuaded, 
 there are hundreds every year doomed to inaction and obscurity, 
 or to some unworthy use of their abilities, who, if they were 
 systematically sought out and assisted very moderately, would 
 supply exactly the description of persons that we should rejoice 
 to have sent out to us to be trained as colonial clergymen ; 
 such, I mean, as at the age of seventeen or eighteen are really 
 ripe and good scholars, whose hearts are full of pious veneration 
 for those seminaries of sound learning, parts of the Church itself, 
 in which their early proficiency has been acquired, and whose 
 longing desire it is, to devote themselves to the service of that 
 Church, under whose shade they have grown up. The i\Qoq 
 among them is exactly such as we should wish to have to work 
 upon ; and you will seldom, if ever, find it implanted, except 
 in those who have been brought up from early youth in asso- 
 ciation with the institutions of the Church." 
 
 The Bishop here instances himself as one, who but for an 
 unexpected legacy, just as he was leaving King's School, at 
 Canterbury, — would have been excluded from the ministry, 
 through inability to maintain himself at either of the univer- 
 sities, and then goes on to say : — 
 
 " Assuming, then, that there are such persons, it would be a 
 
388 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 matter for prudential consideration, whether the object pro- 
 posed could be best attained by assisting them through an 
 English university course, or by sending them to pass four or 
 five years in an establishment here, under the immediate super- 
 intendence, inspection, and control of the Bishop of the colony. 
 No special recommendation of the former course (that of a home 
 education) occurs to my thoughts, excepting the superiority of 
 advantage in point of scholarship which it must confer : but this 
 would not appear to me deserving of so much consideration, as 
 to be set in opposition to numerous benefits attached to their 
 being trained in an episcopal seminary here (from eighteen to 
 twenty-three), and so being habituated to the duties of their 
 future station ; while their characters and capacities would be 
 unfolding themselves to the knowledge of him, who would 
 afterwards have to direct their services, and under whom they 
 would be trained and disciplined to act. It is my firm con- 
 viction that without such an institution we camiot reasonably 
 hope to make the impression required upon the mass of indif- 
 ference, and even of worse characteristics, which new colonies 
 must necessarily, I fear, present." 
 
 In consequence of this representation, the project has been 
 originated, and submitted to the private consideration of the 
 Bishops of the Church, for the establishment of a seminary 
 for educating and training young men as a missionary Clergy 
 in the colonies and among the heathen. In a matter of 
 such importance, it Avould be manifestly wrong to forestall 
 the decision of our Spiritual Rulers ; the following, however, 
 naturally present themselves as leading features in such an 
 institution : — 
 
 Instruction in theology, ecclesiastical history, and the clas- 
 sics. — Languages. — Accjuaintance with heathen, especially the 
 Eastern, superstitions. — A sound knowledge of medicine, and 
 the more ordinary operations of surgery. — For those destined 
 for the more uncivilized heathen, a knowledge of the mechanical 
 arts. — In preparation for their work, there would be manifestly 
 needed habits of constant devotion, a simple and frugal mode of 
 life, and a course of discipline which might inure these future 
 labourers to " endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ." 
 
 Sliould an opportunity ever occur of establishing a mission 
 
VII.] APPENDIX. 389 
 
 in China, it would, no doubt, be borne in mind how great an 
 influence is acquired among that people by the possession 
 of superior attainments, especially the sciences, and higher 
 branches of art. 
 
 The very critical period which seems coming on in respect 
 to our Colonies, leaves scarcely a hope of the obligations which 
 press upon us being discharged without a timely supply of men 
 thus equipped for the contest ; for all accounts represent the 
 operations of the Church in the Colonies as a contest with 
 Romanism, and those forms of irreligion which belong to an 
 unorganized state of society. 
 
 And further, besides the supply of men of our own country 
 as missionaries, it would be worth consideration whether the 
 opportunity might not be offered, in such an institution, for 
 the instruction of natives who visit our shores from all lands, 
 who frequently come for instruction, who are commonly en- 
 trusted to chance teachers, and are exposed to the influence of 
 strange bodies, — but who might be brought within the bene- 
 ficial influence of the Church, be educated, and perhaps return 
 missionaries to their own countrymen. 
 
 It can scarcely be needful to refer to the facts which prove 
 how such institutions have ever been the nurseries of evan- 
 gelists, and how the Christianity of Europe is indebted to them. 
 It is not improbable that our Capitular bodies were in their 
 origin established largely for the purpose of converting the 
 neighbourhood surrounding the cathedral. At any rate this 
 is stated by Stillingfleet on one of the uses of these bodies. 
 Indeed this learned writer treats largely of their institution 
 and use, in a passage which has been quoted so frequently as 
 to preclude the necessity of repetition.' 
 
 To come, however, to later times ; at the beginning of the 
 seventeenth century, when the commercial intercourse of the 
 Dutch with the East Indies was so great, a missionary seminary 
 was formed at Leyden, in 1612, for the purpose of providing 
 missionaries for the East and the West. It was projected by 
 
 1 Disc, of the true Antiq. of London. Stillingaeet's Eccl. Cases, vol. 
 ii. pp. 549—559 ; quoted in the " Past and Prospective Benefits of Cathe- 
 dral Establishments," by Dr. Pusey, p. 133, ed. 2 ; and Appendix to " The 
 Church the Converter of the Heathen," p. 96. 
 
390 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 Anton. Walajus, Professor of Theology at Leyden, ■who was 
 also the first Principal of the Institution. An account of the 
 necessity and the form of this seminary is given in the works 
 of this author, vol. ii. p. 437, in a tract, headed, Necessitas ac 
 forma erigendi Collegii seu Seminarii Indici. 
 
 Some of the rules are so worthy consideration, that I extract 
 the following passages. After detailing the character of those 
 to be elected, and the duties of the Regent or Principal, he 
 treats of the education and training of the scholars in these 
 words : — 
 
 " Exercitia quoque nonnulla inter eos domi suse instituet, 
 per qua? in iisdem studiis magis ac magis proficere possint ; 
 qualia sunt S. Scripturas lectiones atque explicationes, repe- 
 titiones locorum Catecheticorum, disputationes, declamationes, 
 ac propositiones, iis horis atque eo modo, quern ipse convenien- 
 tissimum pro numero atque profectu eorum judicabit. 
 
 " Singulariter etiam, quavis occasione data, zelus propa- 
 ganda3 religionis Christianse in iis erit excitandus. Scriptural 
 atque Ecclesiastical liistoriaD in eum finem nonnunquam pro- 
 ducendiie, atque aliae rationes a Dei singulari cura ac beuedic- 
 tione erga eos, qui tanto operi fideliter se accingunt. 
 
 " Ad pietatis exercitia externa, abstinentiam, tolerantiam, 
 preces, jejunia, pauperum et afflictorum visitationes, a?gro- 
 torum consolationes, &c. peculiariter quoque erunt adhortandi, 
 et qui jam provectiores sunt in iis nonnunquam exercendi. 
 
 " Quemadmodum vero propter confluxum hominum diversi 
 generis et religionis inter nostrates, adversus libertinos, pa- 
 pistas, atque alias sectas diligenter muniri debent : ita et 
 propter infidclium diversa genera, qua) in India reperiuntur, 
 adversus Judiicos, Mahumetanos, et Gentiles specialiter quoque 
 instruendi sunt, ut argumenta firmissima qupc falsitatem et 
 supcrstitionem eorum convincunt, illis in promptu sint, et 
 Veritas fidei nostrae adversus eos ab iisdem defendi possit. Ad 
 quem finem iis proponenda erunt quse ab idoneis scriptoribus, 
 Plessoeo, atque aliis, de hac re sunt scriptis consignata. 
 
 " In eundem finem utile erit eis quoque ostendere, qua? de 
 natura illarum regionum, et gentium iugenio, ac de modo cum 
 iis agendi ab aliis sunt observata. 
 
 " Prudentia; item nonnulla prn?cepta iis dari convenit, ante- 
 
VIL] APPENDIX. 391 
 
 quam liinc discedant, turn quomodo inter nostros, turn quomodo 
 inter infideles se gerere debeant. Quomodo rudiores, quomodo 
 doctiores et argutiis nitentes aggredi. Et unde adversus hsec 
 diversa hominum genera iis exordiendum, ut disputationibus 
 nou nccessariis a rebus necessariis }ion absterreantur aut 
 alienentur ; quemadmodum illius methodi exempla in Scrip- 
 turis frequenter occurrunt. 
 
 " Ubi vero Collegium hoc suam formam acceperit, consultum 
 insuper erit, ut uno aut altero ante discessum anno, in lingua 
 illis regionibus usitatissima nonnihil instruantur, ttc." 
 
 Towards the close of the same century, it seems that the 
 minds of many distinguished members of the English Church 
 were turned to the same object. In Robert Boyle's Works 
 (vol. V. p. 586), there is contained a letter from Dr. Hyde, 
 Canon of Christ Church, dated 1677, in which he proposed 
 that one of the halls in Oxford should be set apart as a mis- 
 sionary college, with the name of Collegium de Propaganda 
 Fide. How far this proposal was carried is not mentioned. 
 
 Some years later, a.d. 1695, Dean Prideaux made a similar 
 proposition to Archbishop Tenison ; and " accompanied his 
 proposal with 100^." Among his recommendations it was 
 suggested : — 
 
 " That a seminary be erected in England to breed up persons 
 to supply this mission (to India) for the future ; and that they 
 therein be instructed not only in all parts of good learning to 
 Avithstand the opposition of the popish priests, but also in the 
 Indian, Malabar, and Sanscrit languages. 
 
 " That the choice of those to be bred up in this seminary, 
 be made up of poor boys out of the hospitals in London or 
 elsewhere, whose fortunes can give them no temptations, when 
 educated for this employment, to refuse to undertake it ; and 
 that care be taken to elect for this purpose such only whose 
 temper, parts, and inclination, may promise them to be most 
 capable of being fit for it ; or else I would propose much 
 rather, 
 
 " That, after this matter hath received some settlements and 
 progress, the persons to be bred up here for this employment be 
 brought from India, which will have these two conveniences ; 
 first. That the languages of the country from whence they come 
 
392 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 will not be to learn : and secondly, That, when they are bred 
 up, there will be no such danger of their miscarrying, when 
 they come thither again into their native country, as the 
 English are liable unto on their going hence to so hot a 
 climate." Life, pp. 162-3, quoted by Dr. Pusey, in Appendix 
 to The Church the Converter of the Heathen. 
 
 Lastly, in a letter from the Rev. W. Stevenson, chaplain at 
 Fort St. George, to the Secretary of S. P. C. K. dated 1710, a 
 similar proposal occurs. 
 
 " Besides this fund for expenses, it were to be wished that 
 there were colleges erected in Europe for training up mission- 
 aries, and teaching the languages that are necessary for them, 
 namely, the Malabar, the Gentoo, Moorish, and Portuguese 
 tongues ; in each of which they might be somewhat instructed 
 before they come abroad ; but chiefly in the Malabarian and 
 Portuguese, which is the lingua franca used throughout the 
 coast of Coromandel. 
 
 " From such seminaries the mission must be supplied from 
 time to time with at least eight well qualified missionaries to 
 reside in India ; and if a greater number could be sent out, 
 they might be very usefully employed in so great a harvest as 
 here offers itself" 
 
 He urges the necessity of having some one empowered to 
 ordain gentile proselytes to the ministry, and adds the follow- 
 ing useful suggestion : — 
 
 " To prevent all disputes about religion, and further the 
 propagation of it among the natives, it will be necessary that 
 not only a short abstract of the Christian doctrine, but likewise 
 a larger Catechism, containing all proper (especially practical) 
 instruction, be composed by some judicious members of the 
 Society in Europe, for the use of the mission." Abstract of 
 Reports of S. P. C. K. pp. 20, 21. 
 
VIIL] APrENDIX. 393 
 
 No. XXXIX. 
 
 Lecture VIII. — Page 268. 
 
 Notice of a Divine Triad in the System of Lao-tsze. 
 
 TiiE following concise account of this remarkable feature in 
 the system of Lao-tsze, a Chinese philosopher of the sixth century 
 before the Christian era, and a contemporary with Confucius, 
 is extracted from Dr. Wiseman's Lectures on Science and 
 Revealed Religion, Lect. XL p. 402. His reference is also 
 added. The system of Lao-tsze presents many coincidences 
 with that of the Platonic school of the West : — 
 
 " The doctrine of a Trinity is too clearly expounded in his 
 (Lao-tsze) writings to be misunderstood; but in one passage it 
 is expressed in terms of a most interesting character. 
 
 " ' That for which you look, and which you see not, is called 
 I; that towards which you listen, yet hear not, is called Hi (the 
 letter H) ; what your hand seeks, and yet feels not, is called Wei 
 (the letter V). These three are inscrutable, and being united, 
 form only one. Of them the superior is not more bright, nor 
 the inferior more obscure .... This is what is called form with- 
 out form, image without image, an indefinable Being ! Precede 
 it, and ye find not its beginning ; follow it, and ye discover not 
 its end." 
 
 " It is not necessary to comment at any length upon this 
 extraordinary passage, which obviously contains the same doc- 
 trine which I have quoted from other works. I need only 
 remark, with Abel Remusat, that the extraordinary name given 
 to this Triune essence is composed of the three letters I H V ; 
 for the syllables expressed in the Chinese have no meaning in 
 that language, and are, consequently, representative of the mere 
 letters. It is, therefore, a foreign name, and we shall seek for 
 it in vain anywhere except among the Jews. Their ineffable 
 name, as it was called, which we pronounce Jehovah, is to be 
 met, variously distorted, in the mysteries of many heathen 
 
 ' Abel Remusat, Menioire sur la Vie et les Opinions de Lao-tseu, 
 Paris, p. 40. 
 
394 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 nations; but in none less disfigured than in this passage of a 
 Chinese philosopher. Indeed, it could not have l^een possibly 
 expressed in his language in any manner more closely approach- 
 ing to the original." 
 
 No. XL. 
 
 Lecture YIII. — Page 260. 
 
 Coincidences between some of tlie Hindu Writings and Portions 
 of Revealed Truth. 
 
 On this point I am happy to be able to cite the Avords of 
 A. P. Forbes, Esq., who, in a communication with which he 
 favoured me, speaking of the worshippers of Krishna called 
 " the Bluktahs," remarks, " Their system is to be found 
 in the celebrated Bhagavad Gita, a work of the tenth cen- 
 tury, which has been translated into English by Wilkins, and 
 into Latin by Aug. V. Schlegel. The moral sentiments in 
 it are higher than in many of the other Indian systems ; the 
 religion is more spiritual, with less dependence on human ex- 
 ertions, and less pride of human intellect ; while some of the 
 distinctive doctrines of Christianity are plainly alluded to. 
 Thus, remission of sin and tlie effects of faith seem to have 
 suggested what occurs in Canto IX. v. 30 ; — ' Si vol adniodum 
 facinorosus me colat cultu non aliorsum distracto, is probus 
 sestimandus est, is utique recte conipositus. Brevi evadit pius, 
 ct ad perpetuam tranquillitatem pervcnit. Confide, Kuntidis 
 nate, baud quisquam mei cultor pessum datur.' (Schlegel's 
 translation.) Again, what our Saviour says in the Gospel of 
 St. John of our imity in Ilim seems a coincidence too striking 
 to be accidental with what immediately precedes the last quota- 
 tion. ' At qui me colunt religiose ii insunt mihi, et ego iis 
 insinii,' (Scldogel,) a passage which in (lie original is even more 
 
^"^"•] APPENDIX. 395 
 
 remarkable. I could show many other passages of a similar 
 nature, and think that the subject would boar an investigation 
 pushed further through some of the other modern Hindu 
 philosophers." 
 
 No. XLL 
 
 Lecture VIII. — Page 269. 
 
 The ResemUance of Lamahm to Fofms of Worshij) in the 
 Church of Rome. 
 
 BoHLEN, in his treatise (Das alte Indien) examines, Avith 
 some minuteness, the various points of resemblance between 
 the Buddhistic forms of religion and those prevalent in the 
 Church of Rome ; and concludes, from a variety of testimonies, 
 the greater antiquity of each of these among the Buddhists. As 
 the main features in which this resemblance exists have been 
 already enumerated, (in the note, Lect. V. p. 148,) as they are 
 practised in Japan, it may be sufficient here to remark, that the 
 same are found in all the countries where this religion prevails ; 
 that which peculiarly distinguishes the Lamaism of Thibet 
 being simply the fact, that when that system was first autho- 
 ritatively established there, after the invasion of Gengis-Khan, 
 by the grandson of that conqueror, this prince annexed the 
 temporal government of the province to the spiritual, in the 
 person of Delai-Lama. This circumstance, which took place 
 in the thirteenth century, Dr. Wiseman makes use of to explain 
 the similarity which he freely acknowledges, and argues as if 
 the whole system had then first arisen. His sentiments are 
 expressed in the following extract : — 
 
 " Another instance of the advantage which the progress of 
 oriental historical research may bring to matters of religious in- 
 terest, is afforded us by the light lately thrown upon the religious 
 
390 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 worship of Thibet. When Europe first became acquainted with 
 this worship, it was impossible not to be struck with the analo- 
 gies it presented to the religious rites of Christians. The 
 hierarchy of the Lamas, their monastic institutes, their churches 
 and ceremonies, resemble ours with such minuteness that some 
 connexion between the two seemed necessarily to have existed. 
 The early missionaries were satisfied with considering Lamaisni 
 as a sort of degenerate Christianity, and as a remnant of those 
 Syrian sects which once had penetrated into those remote parts 
 of Asia."' 
 
 Speaking of a Chinese work recently translated. Dr. Wiseman 
 adds, " From this document we learn that Gengis-Khan over- 
 ran that country, and established a government which comprised 
 Thibet and its dependencies. The Emperor Khoubilai, seeing 
 the difficulty of governing this distant country, devised a method 
 for rendering it submissive which was conformable to the 
 usages of the people. He divided the country of the Thou-pho 
 into provinces and districts ; appointed officers of different de- 
 grees, and subjected them to the authority of the Ti-szu (pre- 
 ceptor of the emperor). At that time Bhachbah, or Pagba, a 
 native of Sarghia, in Thibet, held this office. At the age of 
 seven years he had read all the sacred books, and comprehended 
 their most sublime ideas, for which reason he was called the 
 Spiritual Child. In 1260 he received the title of King of the 
 Great and Precious Laiv, and a seal of oriental jasper. 
 Besides these, he was invested with the dignity of Chief of the 
 Yellow Religion ! " 
 
 " At the time when the Buddhist patriarchs fijst established 
 themselves in Thibet, that country was in immediate contact 
 with Christianity. Not only had the Nestorians ecclesiastical 
 settlements in Tartary, but Italian and French religious men 
 visited the court of the Khans, charged with important missions 
 from the Pope and St. Lewis of France. They carried with 
 them church ornaments and altars, to make, if possible, a favour- 
 able impression on the minds of the natives. For this end they 
 celebrated their worship in presence of the Tartar princes, by 
 
 ' .\bel Remusat, Aper^u d'un Mcmoire intitule Ileeherches Chronolo- 
 giques sur I'Origine de la Hiorarchie Lamaique, icprinlcd in the Melanges 
 Asiatiques. Paris-, 1825, vol. i. p. 129. 
 
VIII.] APPENDIX. 397 
 
 whom they were permitted to erect chapels within the precincts 
 of the royal palaces. An Italian archbishop, sent by Clement V., 
 established his see in the capital, and erected a church, to which 
 the faithful were summoned by the sound of three bells, and 
 where they beheld many sacred pictures, painted on the walls." ' 
 
 " Surrounded by the celebration of such ceremonies, hearing 
 from the ambassadors and missionaries of the West accounts of 
 the worship and hierarchy of their countries, it is no wonder 
 that the religion of the Lamas, just beginning to assume splen- 
 dour and pomp, should have adopted institutions and practices 
 already familiar to them, and already admired by those whom 
 they wished to gain. The coincidence of time and place, the 
 previous non-existence of that sacred monarchy, amply demon- 
 strates that the religion of Thibet is but an attempted imitation 
 of ours." Lectures on Science and Revealed Religion, Lect. 
 XL pp. 412—415. 
 
 Were it in Thibet alone that this resemblance obtained, the 
 explanation here given might be admitted as satisfactory. 
 Abel Remusat, however, to whom Dr. Wiseman principally 
 refers, divides the historical existence of the Buddhistic system 
 into three periods, as follows : — 
 
 First Period. — Early Patriarchs in India, from Shakya- 
 Mouni' till the translation of the seat of the religion to China ^ 
 in the fifth century of our era. 
 
 Second Period. — Masters of doctrine for eight centuries, a 
 period of confusion and darkness. 
 
 Third Period. — Grand Lamas from the thirteenth century 
 until now.^ 
 
 The voyage of Fa-hi-an (which Abel Remusat has translated) 
 was undertaken in the fifth century, with the express view of 
 ascertaining the state of the Buddhist religion in the various 
 countries where it then prevailed, and especially in those parts 
 
 ' Abel Remusat, p. 138. 
 
 2 The date of this personage, the principal incarnation of Buddha, is 
 very variously given by different writers. Abel Remusat places it at about 
 1000 B.C. 
 
 3 Buddhism was first carried into China about 217 b.c. by a Samaneen, 
 who was accompanied by eighteen monks. 
 
 ^ Voyages Bouddhiques. Introd. p. xi. ^ 
 
398 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 where it first arose. The account there given of this system 
 corresponds very much with the late Lamaism, or " reformed 
 Buddhism," of Tliibet. The following are among the practices 
 especially noticed as having then been long established. 
 
 Monasteries,' of which the numbers were immense, and in 
 which celibacy was practised; the monks adopted religious 
 names ;- refectories were used for meals, which were commenced 
 at a given signal, and at which silence and great order were 
 prescribed ; processions of images were used, these figures being 
 highly adorned;^ relics of saints and gods were venerated ;"• an 
 unknown dialect was employed in the-sacred books, and as the 
 language of religion;^ and a belief was held of a purifying 
 process, by bodily suffering after death.'' 
 
 Bohlen likewise examines the antiquity of these and other 
 customs, which he traces to a period decidedly earlier than the 
 Christian era, particularly noticing the use of monasteries,' the 
 practice of the celibate,** the use of rosaries" for numbering 
 prayers, the tonsure,'" fasting," and the veneration of relics,'" 
 which he considers proved to have existed among the Buddhists 
 before they could have been communicated from the West. 
 
 The adoration of the goddess Maya, the virgin mother of 
 Buddha, appears to be of very great antiquity. The following 
 extract will show the conclusion at which Bohlen arrived after 
 careful examination of this system, and of the antiquity of its 
 origin. 
 
 "The first missionaries, after some residence in Thibet, were 
 perfectly confounded by the exact counterfeit of their own 
 ceremonies; and the fathers Grecher and Maffei adopt the 
 language used by some old writers of the Church, when unable 
 to deny the priority of certain heathen customs, and say that 
 ' in Thibet, where no Cliristian had penetrated, the devil 
 imitated the Catholic Church.' 
 
 " Some, in the confidence that succeeding travellers would 
 mistake the followers of the Lama for Christians, were dishonest 
 
 ^ The first erection of religious houses is attributed to Wou-ya, 833 B.C. 
 Voyages Bouddhiques, p. 67. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 2. 3 Ibid. p. 1(). ^ Ibid. p. 28. 5 Ibid. p. 15. 6 Ibid. p. 8 k 
 ? Das alte ludieii, pp. 334-5. « Ibid. p.3H. » Ibid p. 339. 
 '" Il)id. p. 333. " Ibid. p. 312 '-• Ibid. p. 31-7. 
 
VIII.] APPENDIX. 399 
 
 enough to say they had converted thousands. The greater 
 number of those who have written on the subject hohl to the 
 belief that this system is a corrupted Christianity of the earliest 
 age. Staublin has made this the subject of a treatise, wherein 
 he concludes that although the resemblance both in doctrines 
 and customs is very strong, yet it does not appear historically 
 true that Lamaism has been derived from Christianity, though 
 probably the latter has exercised much influence over the pre- 
 existing Lamaism. For myself, I believe the prior develop- 
 ment of the tuJiole system to be historically proved ; and 
 conclude with Kleucher that there is an essential principle of 
 hierarchy which produces everywhere a similar development of 
 external form, as we may perceive by observing the strong 
 resemblance between modern Judaism, Lamaism, and Chris- 
 tianity, as also the hierarchies of Mexico and Muscovy, which 
 closely resemble that of Thibet." ^ 
 
 At the same time it is right to add, that until further re- 
 searches have made us more fully acquainted with the history 
 and the religious systems of the East, it is not safe to pronounce 
 any decided opinion upon these coincidences, or those more 
 important ones relating to great doctrinal truths noticed in the 
 two preceding appendices. To whatever cause these latter may 
 be traceable, — whether to the influence of Christianity at some 
 earlier period, — to intercourse with the descendants of Abraham, 
 — to the remains of primaeval tradition, — or to an innate belief 
 and divine idea, impressed on the heart of man, — they may 
 surely, and should be, used by the Christian missionary to draw 
 the followers of this system to the right knowledge of Him 
 whom now they ignorantly and superstitiously worship. 
 
 ' Das alte Indien, pp. 349, 350. 
 
400 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 No. XLII. 
 Lecture VIII. — Page 270. 
 
 " Let us now suppose the Christian missionary, after the 
 example bequeathed by the Apostle of the Gentiles, who, in 
 his inspired teaching, everywhere availed himself of the pre- 
 existing lights ; who preached to the Greeks, from the imperfect 
 notions of some of their own poets, the true doctrine of the 
 Godhead ; — after this best example, let us suppose the Christian 
 missionary to inculcate and enforce, from the concessions made 
 to his hand by Mahometan philosophy, the Catholic mystery of 
 the Trinity; to take Mahometans on their own ground — and 
 while, by a skilful exposition of the Hayetian doctrine of 
 Christ's non-eternal deity, and created Godhead, he demonstrated 
 the absurdity of pausing here, — to prove, from the Teachings 
 forth of philosophy which had led them thus far, the reason- 
 ableness and the necessity of going still further; to show that 
 the offices and attributes assigned by Mahomet himself to 
 Jesus Christ, are inconsistent and incompatible with any 
 theory, save that of his supreme and eternal Godhead; that 
 none other than the supreme and eternal God can judge the 
 world ; that He alone who made the human heart, is competent 
 to search into its secrets ; that a created Creator is a contra- 
 diction in terms; that a participation in both natures, the 
 human and the divine, is, to say the least, credible of Him, 
 who holds the acknowUdged place and office of Mediator and 
 Intercessor between God and man; — suppose these, and similar 
 positions, plainly deducible from the Koran and its commen- 
 tators, once brought clearly and conclusively to elucidate the 
 authoritative declarations of Scripture, by men whose zeal shall 
 shine forth on the benighted East, sustained by extensive 
 knowledge, and tempered by a wise discretion, while their walk 
 among men forms that best of commentaries, a living one, on 
 the truth and power of these doctrines; — suppose episcopal 
 Christianity, in a word, one day taught and exemplified in Asia, 
 as it was originally tauglit and exemplified in the Apostolic 
 times ; and who, tliat reflects on the whole providential 
 
VIII.] APPENDIX. 101 
 
 history and relationship of tlie two religions, can doubt the 
 eventual result throughout the Mahometan world 1 " Forster's 
 Mahometanism Unveiled, vol. i. pp. 399, 400. 
 
 No. XLIIL 
 
 Lecture VIII. — Page 271. 
 
 Preparation of Heathen Converts for Holy Baptism. 
 
 A SPECIMEN of what is referred to in the text is supplied by 
 Mr. Medhurst, who was " sent out by the London Missionary 
 Society, to labour for the benefit of China," and who presents, 
 in the following extract, " the substance of the questions pro- 
 posed to the candidates at the time of their baptism." China 
 and its Prospects, p. 322. 
 
 " Why do you wish to receive Christian baptism? — Because 
 I feel myself to be a great sinner, and now desire to repent of 
 my sins that I may obtain forgiveness. 
 
 " Bo you think that baptism alone is able to save your soul ? 
 — JSfo ; but I believe that Jesus Christ, who commanded be- 
 lievers to be baptized, is able to save me. 
 
 " What has Jesus Christ done for you ? — He suffered and 
 died, to atone for my sins and procure my salvation. 
 
 " Bo you wish to follow the doctrine of Christ, in preference 
 to that of the Chinese sages 1 — / do, because I believe that Christ 
 alone can guide me to hap2nness and heaven. 
 
 " Can you truly say that you have forsaken the vain super- 
 stitions of your countrymen 1 — / have hitherto foolishly ivor- 
 shipped idols, but now I desire to ivorship the living and true 
 God only. 
 
 " Bo you feel that you are a great sinner, and deserving of 
 eternal %)unishmerd 1 — / know that I am a sinner, and that 
 I ought to suffer the p>unishment due to sin. 
 
 " Bo you think that any good performance of your oion will 
 be sufficient to save you ? — All I can do rvill be tvholly insnffi- 
 
 r> D 
 
402 APPENDIX, [Lect. 
 
 dent to save me, and I I'tray for salvation through the merits of 
 Christ alone. 
 
 " Is it with the view of advancing your worldly interests that 
 you wish to he baptized 1 — No ; my sole reason for desiring 
 baptism is, that I may become a disciple of Jestis Christ.''' 
 
 Surely, the meagre and unsatisfactory character of these 
 questions as the test of that "faith" and "repentance" which 
 are to be promised at the holy rite of baptism is most apparent. 
 In what great verities of the Christian faith is belief here 
 engaged 1 Where is there the profession of a settled will and 
 purpose, through Divine grace, to keep God's commandments 1 
 Actually, on the first head, there seems mention of nothing but 
 that " Jesus Christ is able to save me." And on the second, 
 there are but the shallow expressions of " I hiow I am a sinner," 
 " I desire to repent of my sins," " I wish to follow the doctrine 
 of Christ." There is no mention of belief in God the Father, 
 none in God the Holy Ghost ; no assertion of repentance be- 
 yond — I know, or feel, that I am a sinner ; no engagement to 
 obey beyond — I wish, or desire, to do so. 
 
 Contrast, then, with these, the solemn questions which, in 
 substance, the Church has ever proposed to her catechumens 
 at baptism, and which I venture, even here, to transcribe, if 
 haply the words should chance to meet the eye of any one 
 ignorant of her divine system : — 
 
 " Question. Dost thou renounce the devil and all his works, 
 the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all the covetous 
 desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that 
 thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them ? 
 
 " Answer. I renounce them all. 
 
 " Question. Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty, 
 Maker of heaven and earth ? 
 
 " And in Jesus Christ his only-begotten Son our Lord '] 
 And that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost ; born of the 
 Virgin Mary ; that he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was 
 crucified, dead, and buried ; that he went down into hell, and 
 also did rise again the third day ; that he ascended into heaven, 
 and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty ; 
 and from thence he shall come again at the end of the world, 
 to judge the quick and the dead 1 
 
Vlir.] APPENDIX. 403 
 
 " And dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost ; the holy Ca- 
 tholic Church ; the communion of saints ; the remission of 
 sins ; the resurrection of the flesh ; and everlasting life after 
 death ? 
 
 " Answer. All this I stedfastly believe. 
 
 " Question. Wilt thou be baptized in this faith ? 
 
 " Answer. That is my desire. 
 
 " Question. Wilt thou then obediently keep God's holy will 
 and commandments, and walk in the same ail the days of thy 
 life? 
 
 " Answer. I will endeavour so to do, God being my helper." 
 
 Similar to this was the mode of questioning employed in all 
 the early churches of the East and West. Thus, at Constanti- 
 nople the question was asked of the candidates, " dmrd^uirde 
 rw 'Earav^ ;" and it was answered, " aVera^ctjuEQa." Again, 
 after the solemn profession of faith as above, it was asked, 
 " avyerd^airde rw Xpiorw;" and again it was replied, " (rvrera^d- 
 jjEda." See Palmer's Orig. Liturg. ii. pp. 178, 183. 
 
 No. XLIV. 
 
 Lecture VIII. — Page 272. 
 St. Augustine''s Treatise, Be Catechizandis Rudibus. 
 
 This treatise is peculiarly valuable, as containing a concise, 
 and more than commonly systematic, course of instruction, by 
 which Augustine recommended that those who wished to be- 
 come Christians should be initiated in the doctrines of the 
 Christian faith. It was written, indeed, as a kind of directory 
 for catechizing, at the request of a deacon of Carthage. 
 
 For this purpose he gives two specimens, one longer and the 
 other shorter, of the mode of catechizing and instructing a 
 person of plain understanding, who might be disposed to become 
 a convert to Christianity. I put down the heads of the topics 
 advanced, in the order in which they occur, that the leading 
 
 T)D 2 
 
404 APPENDIX. [I^ECT. 
 
 idea which runs throughout, and the skill with which a train of 
 evidence is worked in with the other instructions, may be the 
 more clearly perceived. 
 
 After an inquiry into the motives of the catechumen in pro- 
 fessing his desire to become a Christian, the line of argument 
 and of instruction is as follows, commencing at sect. 24 of the 
 treatise : — 
 
 " The absence of rest in all worldly pursuits, and the 
 worthiness of the motive for desiring to become a Chris- 
 tian, viz. in order to obtain eternal rest. 
 
 " This rest is typified by God's resting after the crea- 
 tion of all things through the Word, Jesus Christ. Man 
 lost this rest by the Fall, and recovers it through the 
 coming of the Son of God in the flesh. 
 
 " Man created, and placed in paradise ; then he fell. 
 The character of God not injured thereby, nor by so many 
 choosing wickedness ; since there are two kingdoms from 
 the beginning, one of saints, the other of the wicked — 
 mixed here, but to be separated hereafter. 
 
 " In the ark, ' the sacrament of the deluge,' was typified 
 the Church. 
 
 " Concerning Abraham and the Jewish people, in whom 
 was typified the Church of Christ. 
 
 " The Israelites in Egypt ; the exodus through the Red 
 Sea a type of baptism, as the Paschal Lamb was of the 
 atonement. 
 
 " The law given to Moses ; which contained types of 
 spiritual things belonging to Christ and the Church. 
 
 " The establishment of the Jews in Jerusalem, in which 
 is signified the free city, the heavenly Jerusalem. In 
 David also was prefigured our true King, Christ. 
 
 " The captivity of the Jews in Babylon, a type of the 
 Church in bondage to the kings of this world. 
 
 " The state of the Jews after the captivity, led by pro- 
 phecy to look for Christ. 
 
 " The six periods of the world. The sixtli now exist- 
 ing for the recovery of man. 
 
 " In the New Testament tlic spiritual life of man 
 
Vin.] APPENDIX. 405 
 
 delineated. The hutory of the human life of Jesus Christ, 
 an example of contempt for worldly things. 
 
 " His ascension and the gift of the Holy Ghost, that 
 his disciples might be able to fulfil his law. 
 
 " The conversion of the Jews, and the early unworldly 
 state of the Church. 
 
 " St. Paul preached to the Gentiles, and founded 
 churches among them ; whence persecution arose against 
 the Church. 
 
 " The Church is spread, and pruned by persecutions 
 and heresies. 
 
 " Since these things have turned out true, other decla- 
 rations of God will also, such as the future judgment. 
 
 " An exhortation to trust in Christ, on the ground of 
 the resurrection ; 
 
 " And of the future life. 
 
 " An exhortation to avoid the temptations of Satan, who 
 tempts through not Pagans only, but Christians, heretics^, 
 and schismatics, and especially the depraved and ungodly ; 
 
 " And to cling to the good." 
 
 The catechumen, on professing belief in these things, is to 
 receive initiation (sacramentum salis), the nature of the visible 
 signs of invisible and divine things being explained to him. 
 
 The shorter Address. 
 
 " Present things are transitory and lead to death. But 
 God has rescued men from it by giving his Son to save 
 them from Adam's fall. 
 
 " All things that happen in the Church were foretold. 
 It was signified at the deluge, by the ark (sacramentum 
 Ecclesiae). The chosen people foretold to Abraham, and 
 were formed. Christ was foretold to that people. His 
 birth ; His crucifixion ; His resurrection ; Plis ascension ; 
 the descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles ; all w^hich 
 has happened. It was foretold, by prophets and Jesus 
 Christ, that His Church should spread through the world, 
 through the sufferings of martyrs, as we see ; that heresies 
 and schisms should arise, which has happened. Hence 
 
406 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 faith is confirmed as to what is to come, viz. the judg- 
 ment, and the resurrection of the body. 
 
 " An exhortation to beware of temptations from Pagans, 
 and heretics, and the wicked, and to seek the society of the 
 good." 
 
 It can be scarcely needful to observe, upon reading this line 
 of address, how, in dealing with an uninstructed but intelligent 
 heathen, the external facts both of God's Providence and grace 
 are dwelt upon ; how a summary of the Creed, as detailing our 
 blessed Lord's history, is intermixed with the argument ; and 
 how the idea of the Church, the city of God, is brought out as 
 the visible witness of God's having visited the earth. Hence 
 proceeds the whole course of exhortation to godliness. 
 
 No. XLV. 
 
 Lecture VIIL— Page 272. 
 
 Method of hisiructing Converts 171 the Middle Ages. 
 
 The following are instances of the course of instruction 
 adopted by missionaries, in which it will be observed how 
 the external facts of revealed truth were primarily brought 
 forward. 
 
 The first passage is extracted from Mr. Turner's History of 
 the Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. pp. 486, 487, Gth edit. 
 
 " We have an intimation " (he says) " of the plan of instruc- 
 tion which they (the missionaries) adopted for the change of 
 the pagan mind, in the following judicious directions of Alcuiu 
 for a progressive information : — 
 
 " ' This order should be pursued in teacliing mature persons : 
 
 " ' First, They should be instructed in the immortality of 
 the soul ; in the future life; in its retribution of good and evil; 
 and in the eternal duration of both conditions. 
 
 " ' Second, They should then be informed for wliat sins and 
 crimes they will have to suffer witli the devil everlasting 
 
VIII.] APPENDIX. 407 
 
 punishments ; and for what good and beneficial deeds they will 
 enjoy unceasing glory with Christ. 
 
 " ' Third, The faith of the Holy Trinity is then to be most 
 diligently taught ; and the coming of our Saviour into the world 
 for the salvation of the human race. Afterwards, impress the 
 mystery of His passion ; the truth of His resurrection ; His 
 glorious ascension ; His future advent to judge all nations ; 
 and the resurrection of our bodies. 
 
 " ' Thus prepared and strengthened, the man may be bap- 
 tized.' " ' 
 
 Similar to these topics are those advanced by Boniface, 
 Bishop of Rome, in a letter to Edwin, King of England, a. d. 
 625, in order to persuade him to embrace the Christian faith. 
 After the first salutation, he proceeds : — 
 
 " Supernje igitur Majestatis dementia, qure cuncta solo 
 verbo prasceptionis sua? condidit et creavit, coelum videlicet et 
 terram, mare, et omnia qua3 in eis sunt, dispositis ordinibus, 
 quibus subsisterent, coseterni Verbi sui consilio, et Sancti 
 Spiritus unitate dispensans, hominem ad imaginem et simili- 
 tudinem suam ex limo terras plasmatum constituit, eique tan- 
 tam prsemii prajrogativam indulsit, ut eum cunctis prteponeret, 
 atque servato termino prseceptionis, a^ternitatis subsistentia 
 prajmuniret. Hunc ergo Deum, Patrem, et Filium, et Spiri- 
 tum Sanctum, quod est individua Trinitas, ab ortu solis usque 
 ad occasum, humanum genus, quippe ut Creatorem omnium 
 atque Factorem suum, salutifera confessione fidei veneratur et 
 colit ; cui etiam summitates imperii rerumque potestates sub- 
 missse sunt, quia ejus dispositione omnium prselatio regnorum 
 conceditur. Ejus ergo bonitatis misericordia totius creaturae 
 sua) dilatanda3 subdi etiam in extremitate terras positarum 
 gentium corda frigida, Sancti Spiritus fervore in sui quoque 
 agnitione, mirabiliter est dignata succendere." 
 
 In conclusion, he sums up as follows : — " Accedite ergo ad 
 agnitionem ejus qui vos creavit, qui in vobis vitaj insufflavit 
 spiritum, qui pro vestra redemptione Filium suum unigenitum 
 misit, ut vos ab originali peccato eriperet, et ereptos de potes- 
 tate nequitiaj diabolicse ccelestibus praamiis muneraret. Sus- 
 
 ' Alcuin, Op. |). 1484. 
 
408 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 cipite verba prredicatorum et Evangelium Dei, quod vobis 
 aiinunciant ; quatenus credentes, sicut siupius dictum est, in 
 Deum Patrem Omnipotentenij et in Jesuiii Christum ejus 
 Filium, et Spiritum Sanctum, et inseparabilem Trinitatem, 
 fugatis daemoniorum sensibus, expulsaque a vobis solicitatione 
 venenosi et deceptibilis hostis, per aquam et Spiritum Sanctum 
 renati, ei, cui credideritis, in splendore glorioe sempiterna3 
 cohabitare, ejus opitulante munificentia, valeatis." Beda?, 
 Hist. Eccl. b. ii. c. xi. 
 
 A similar course of instruction is mentioned in Blumhardt, 
 (vol. iv. p. 218, extracted, as it appears, from the Annahs dc 
 rilistoire Russe, by Nestor, a monk of the convent of Kiew? 
 who lived 1056 — 11 IG,) as that adopted by a missionary of 
 the Greek Church, who was sent to convert Wladimir, King of 
 Russia, A.D. 987. The points on which he dwelt were "The 
 creation of the world, — the fall of man, — the deluge, — the 
 elect people of God, — the coming of the Saviour, — the divine 
 doctrine which He left in the world, — the eternal joys of the 
 just, — the eternal misery of the unbelievers." 
 
 Directions as to the orcZer in which the doctrines of the Chris- 
 tian faith are to be set before catechumens are given, likeAvise, 
 by Thomas a Jesu (p. 877), and by Franciscus a Brcno (part ii. 
 p. 4G 4). Additions to the pure faith are, as was to be expected, 
 found in these latter writers ; but it may be worthy of con- 
 sideration whether similar instructions, as to the order in which 
 the verities of the Christian faith should be brought before the 
 heathen mind, might not be useful to our missionaries. 
 
 It will, it is earnestly hoped, be perceived at once, that what- 
 ever difference may be discerned between such a mode of pro- 
 ceeding as is here, or in the text, alluded to, and that pursued 
 in any other course of teaching, refers only to the waij in which 
 " Christ is preached." There are many who are too apt to 
 charge those who do not adopt their tvay of setting forth the 
 truth, with not preaching Christ. Surely, to bring the fiiith of 
 " Him crucified " home to the hearts of unbelievers is the one 
 object of all missionary teaching : and though one attempt this 
 primarily by a direct, appeal to internal conviction, and by the 
 inculcation of the more sacred mysteries of our faitli, and 
 anotlicr attempt it by tiiat method which seems authorized by 
 
VIIL] APPENDIX. 409 
 
 Scripture, and to have been adopted by the Apostles and by 
 the most devoted missionaries, viz. by such preliminary teaching 
 as may be needed, and especially by an exhiliition of the 
 external doctrines of the Mth ; yet in the end aimed at there 
 is no difference, it exists in the metltod. 
 
 No. XLVI. 
 
 Lecture VIII. — Page 27G. 
 
 Extract from Abel de Remusat on the Language of the Budd- 
 histic Writings in China. 
 
 " Trop souvent elles (les idees) sont rendues par des ex- 
 pressions qui ne correspondent a aucune des notres, qui se 
 groupent d'une maniere differente, et qui sont autant de meta- 
 phores prises d'objets materiels ou sensibles autres que ceux 
 qui ont servi a former notre langage figure. Le vide pour 
 Yesprif, Yignorance pour la matiere, Yajyparence pour le corjis, 
 les cinq racines pour nos organes, les cinq 2^oussieres pour nos 
 sens, les cinq amas pour nos facultes, et une infinite d'autres 
 termes du meme genre, doivent etre pris dans une acception 
 si eloignee du cercle ordinaire de nos idees, que long-temps 
 elle a pu echapper a I'intelligence la plus exacte des textes. 
 Ce u'est rien en pareil cas, que d'entendre les radicaux, quand 
 il reste encore a savoir quel sens abstrait ou detourne on a 
 attache, soit par caprice, soit par convention, a tel ou tel 
 derive. 
 
 '• Pour ne s'etre arrete qu'a la signification litterale et sou- 
 vent absurde de ces expressions, on n'a pas su demeler, dans 
 I'appreciation du systeme bouddhique, I'idee d'une double 
 cause de tout ce qui existe, et Ton a prononce que la loi de 
 Bouddha etait une loi de neant, que s'y conformer, c'est ad- 
 mettre le neant comme principe le I'etre, et les etres comme 
 n'ayant qu'une existence illusoire. Un tel enonce, et la rigueur 
 des consequences qu'il entrainc etait un avertissement (jui 
 
410 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 aurait du engager a cherclier quelque autre interpretation 
 moins clirecte, mais plus raisonnable. On aurait ete conduit 
 alors a faire sortir de ce langage enigmatique un ensemble 
 rationnel d'idees oppose presque en tout point au nihiUsme 
 systematique que Ton avait reconnu de prime abord." 
 
 " Cependant il faut en convenir, tout cette antique sagesse 
 des Indiens est comme ensevelie dans une idolatrie tellement 
 etrange, que Ton a pu etre detourne par la de I'examen plus 
 approfondi dont elle meritait d'etre I'objet. Quels enseigne- 
 ments esperer d'une doctrine entachee d'autant d'extravagance 
 et de deraison 1 A vrai dire, les recits bizarres, les inventions 
 ridicules, les conceptions fantastiques qui y abondent, etaient 
 peu faits pour attenuer en rien I'opinion defavorable qu'on 
 s'en etait formee. Aussi les missionaires, qui ne la jugerent 
 digne d'aucune refutation serieuse, I'ont ils rejetee presque 
 sans I'examen. L'un d'eux la declare ' le comble de la malice 
 reduite en quintessence.' " Relation des Voyages Bouddliiques, 
 Introd. pp. iv. v. 
 
 No. XLVII. 
 
 Lecture VIII.— Page 292. 
 Missionaries from the British Isles in the Middle Ages. 
 
 The following list will illustrate what is said in the text, 
 and exhibit the missionary spirit which prevailed in the 
 earlier Church of England. It will be noted that the two 
 periods when it most largely flourished were the seventh and 
 eighth and the eleventh centuries, on the recovery of the 
 Church from the desolating effects of the Saxon and Danish 
 invasions. 
 
 With the exception of the two Ewalds, tlie list is confined to 
 those born and educated in the British Isles, and who became 
 missionaries in foreign countries ; so that those shining lights 
 who were engaged in converting the Anglo-Saxons, such as 
 Aidan, Cedd, and Ninian, are not included. The date affixed 
 
VIII.] 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 411 
 
 to the names (with the exception of some of the last), is that 
 of their death, which makes many seem to belong to the eighth 
 century, whose labours commenced in the seventh. 
 
 NAMES. 
 
 A.D. 
 
 COUNTRY. 
 
 SCENE OF LABOUR. 
 
 Fridolin . . 
 
 538 
 
 Scotland or Ire- 
 
 Black Forest and Swit- 
 
 
 
 land. 
 
 zerland. 
 
 Columban&12 
 
 616 
 
 Ireland. . . . 
 
 Vosges and Lombardy. 
 
 companions. 
 
 
 
 
 Livin . . . 
 
 63.3 
 
 Ireland. . . . 
 
 Flanders. 
 
 Gallus . . . 
 
 646 
 
 Ireland. . . . 
 
 Switzerland. 
 
 Killian . . . 
 
 688 
 
 Ireland. . . . 
 
 Artois and Thuringia. 
 
 Two Ewalds . 
 
 695 
 
 Ireland (educated 
 
 in.) 
 Ireland .... 
 
 Saxony. 
 
 Disen . . . 
 
 700 
 
 France and Germany. 
 
 Swidbert . . 
 
 713 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Northern Germany. 
 
 Plechelm . . 
 
 732 
 
 Northumbria . . 
 
 Lower Germany. 
 
 Willebrord . 
 
 738 
 
 Northumbria . . 
 
 Frisians. 
 
 Adalbert . . 
 
 740 
 
 Northumberland. 
 
 Lower Germany. 
 
 Werenfrid . . 
 
 740 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Germany. 
 
 Wigbert . . 
 
 747 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Germany. 
 
 Burkard . . 
 
 752 
 
 Wessex . . . 
 
 Bishop of Wurtzburg. 
 
 Boniface . . 
 
 755 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Germany. 
 
 Winnebald . 
 
 760 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Germany. ; 
 
 Lebuinus . . 
 
 772 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Saxons. 
 
 Lull us . . . 
 
 788 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Germany. 
 
 Willebald . . 
 
 790 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Germany. 
 
 Willehad . . 
 
 791 
 
 Northumbria . . 
 
 Saxony. 
 
 Sigurd 2 . . 
 
 993' 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Norway. 
 
 Gotebald . . 
 
 10041 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Sweden. 
 
 Sigfrid' . . 
 
 1010—1067 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Sweden and Norway. 
 
 GrimkiU . . 
 
 1019' 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Norway. 
 
 Rodolph . . 
 
 1019' 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Norway. 
 
 Bernhardt . . 
 
 1019' 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Norway. 
 
 Wolfrid . . 
 
 1028 
 
 England . . . 
 
 Sweden. 
 
 1 Cornmenced thei 
 
 r mission. 2 
 
 BaptizedOlof of Swede 
 
 11 in 1001. 3BishopofWexia. 
 
412 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 [Lect. 
 
 It is very striking to observe how, just at the same periods 
 at which this spirit of missionary enterprise was exhibited in 
 the British Isles, a similar zeal was manifested in the consoli- 
 dation and extension of the Church at home by the erection 
 of dioceses in England. The following list will show that 
 almost all the bishoprics owe their origin to one of these two 
 periods : — 
 
 St. Asaph 547 
 
 Canterl)ury 596 
 
 Wells 
 
 llocliester 
 
 Winchester .... 
 Lichfield and Coventry . 
 
 Worcester 
 
 Hereford 
 
 Durham 
 
 Sodor and Man 
 
 604 
 634 
 650 
 650 
 679 
 680 
 691 
 
 898 
 
 Exeter 1050 
 
 Sherborne, transferred to 
 
 Salisbury 1056 
 
 York (Achbishupric) . . . 1067 
 Dorcliester, transferred to 
 
 Lincoln 1070 
 
 Chichester 1071 
 
 Thetford, transferred to 
 
 Norwich 1088 
 
 Bath and Wells .... 1088 
 
 Ely 1109 
 
 Carlisle 1123 
 
 London and Llandaff were instituted at an earlier period. 
 The five others were founded on the suppression of the 
 monasteries by Henry VIII. 
 
 No. XL VIII. 
 
 Lecture VIII.— Page 293. 
 
 Extract from a Sermon by Vieyra he fore John III. Kimj of 
 Portur/al, on the Missions to Brazil. 
 
 Vieyra was confessor to John III. and occupied a higli 
 station in the court of Portugal, where his raidc, talents, and 
 reputation for virtue opened to him the path to the highest 
 honours in the state ; the personal attachment borne him by 
 the king was so strong tliat lie used every tueans of command, 
 persuasion, and stratagem to induce him to remain at court; but 
 the zeal with which Vieyra had devoted himself to the service 
 of the newly-con(iuered savages of Brazil was not to be 
 
VIIL] APPENDIX. 413 
 
 quenched, and a passage in one of his sermons, contained in the 
 following extract from Southey's History of Brazil, Part II. 
 pp. 495-6, will show the earnestness with which he urged 
 before his monarch the responsibility towards the natives, 
 which the acquisition of his new territory entailed upon him. 
 
 "His (Vieyra's) next object was to establish a ^ Junta das 
 Missoens,' or missionary board, who should at all times watch 
 over the interest of the missions." 
 
 "He touched upon this subject in a sermon preached before 
 the court .... and wound up the discourse thus : — ' At this 
 moment innumerable souls are perishing in Africa, innumerable 
 souls in Asia, innumerable souls in America, for whom I come 
 to solicit help . . . and all through our fault and our negligence. 
 Verily there is not a more pious kingdom than Portugal, and 
 yet I can neither understand our humanity, nor our faith, nor 
 our devotion. For the souls which are in purgatory, there are 
 so many brotherhoods, so many associations, so many expenses, 
 so many solicitors {Procur adores), so many who plead for them 
 day and night; and the poor souls who are going to hell have 
 none of these 1 The souls in purgatory, though they are suffer- 
 ing, are secure of heaven at last; those who live and die in 
 heathenism have not merely heaven doubtful, but hell and con- 
 demnation certain, and yet none to assist them ! Is not this, 
 then, the greatest work of compassion? Why therefore is there 
 no brotherhood ; why therefore is there no association ; why 
 therefore is there no junta; why therefore is there no solicitor 
 for these poor souls T Then addressing himself alternately to 
 the crucifix and to the king there present, he proceeded, 
 'Lord, are not all these souls redeemed with your blood? .... 
 Sire, are not all these souls redeemed with the blood of Christ? 
 Lord, have you not given the conversion of these souls in charge 
 to the kings and kingdom of Portugal ? . . . Sire, are not these 
 souls given in charge with this kingdom by God to your 
 majesty? Lord, is it well that these souls should be lost, and 
 go to hell against your desire? . . . Sire, is it well that these 
 souls should be lost, and go to hell through our fault ? I do not 
 expect this either from the Divine or the human Majesty? Now, 
 when there are so many boards for the affliirs of the world, let 
 there be a board also for the affairs of souls, for they are worth 
 
414 APPENDIX. [Lect. 
 
 more than all the world. Let us all be undeceived ! by liow 
 much the more the business of the salvation of souls shall 
 proceed, so much better will the affairs of the world proceed also. 
 The deviP offered all the kingdoms of the world for the per- 
 dition of one soul; and Christ, because he acted for the salvation 
 of souls, is at this day Lord of all the kingdoms of the world. 
 Thus it will happen to us also, and thus I promise in the name 
 of God. Let me sanctify the words of the devil, and place them 
 in the mouth of Christ. He showed him all the kingdoms of 
 the world. . . God is showing us all the kingdoms of the New 
 World, which in his bounty he gave us, and of which through 
 our fault they have taken from us so great a part ; and pointing 
 to Africa, to Asia, and to America, he says, ' All these will I 
 give thee if thou wilt fall do\vn and worship me ! ' . . . Kingdom 
 of Portugal, I promise thee the restoration of all the kingdoms 
 which paid thee tribute once, and the conquest of many other 
 and more opulent ones in this New World, if thou, whom I have 
 chosen for this end, will make them believe in me, and worship 
 me, — if thou wilt fall down and worship me. This I promise 
 from the goodness of God, — this I hope from the great zeal and 
 charity of his Majesty, — this I trust in from the Christianity of 
 all his ministers. And if we shall labour for the souls of others, 
 this means, which is so much for God's service, will be most 
 efficacious towards obtaining the service of our own, in this life 
 with great increase of grace, and in the next with the reward 
 of glory." Sermoens, tom, ii. pp. 83 — 85. 
 
 No. XLIX. 
 
 Lecture VIIL— Page 290. 
 
 On the Qualifications required in Missionaries. 
 
 The high (jualifications, bodily and mental, recjuirod in a 
 missionary, especially among Orientals, are set fortli with his 
 
 ' Allu'liiig to the text of the day. 
 
VIIL] APPENDIX. 415 
 
 usual earnestness, by Fr. Xavier, in the following among other 
 passages : — 
 
 "Je pense qu'il est de toute necessite d'envoyer ici des 
 hommes d'un merits superieur, doues d'une vertu a toute 
 epreuve et d'une science peu commune, pour les diriger ensuite 
 vers les academies japonaises. En voici la raison: c'est que 
 tons les lettres et tous ceux qui se piquent de sagesse et de 
 j)rudence, lorsqu'on leur fait toucher au doigt leurs erreurs, se 
 retranchent derriere le grand nombre d'hommes savants dont 
 leurs pays, disent-ils, est abondamment pourvu, et qui, apres 
 avoir beaucoup lu, ont passe leur vie dans de profondes medita- 
 tions. II feut done opposer maitres a maitres, il faut commenccr 
 par subjuguer ceux-ci par la voie du raisonnement, et les mettre 
 de notre cote, puisque leur seul retranchement est de nier ce 
 que nous affirmons; de maniere qu'apres les avoir soumis, on 
 entrainera facilement ceux qui ne s'appuient que sur leur 
 autorite. II faut done pour cette mission, des hommes egale- 
 ment savants et vertueux. 
 
 " Une Constance inebranlable, une patience a toute epreuve, 
 une humilite profonde, qui est le comble de toutes les vertus, 
 doivent etre I'apanage de ceux qu'on veut opposer a ces dispu- 
 teurs et surtout aux bonzes." 
 
 " Les choses etant ainsi, on conceit aisement qu'il faut dans 
 ce pays des hommes de genie, d'excellents dialecticiens, doues 
 en meme temps de cette eloquence qui sait descendre et se 
 mettre de niveau avec le peuple qui I'ecoute ; il faut des hommes 
 prompts a poursuivre leurs adversaires lorsqu'ils fuient, et a les 
 ramener sur le champ de bataille lorsqu'ils s'egarent ; qui aient 
 le talent d'arracher au mensonge le masque de la verite dont il 
 se couvre, de mettre a decouvert la hideuse nudite des sophismes, 
 de faire toucher et palper aux sens les plus grossiers I'inco- 
 herence des dogmes dictes par I'esprit d'imposture, faire voir 
 comment ils se contredirent, se choquent et se heurtent entre 
 eux. Voila ce qui couvre les bonzes de confusion et ce qui les 
 atterre, comme aussi lorsqu'on les saisit et qu'on les enveloppe 
 dans un raisonnement fort serre dont ils ne peuvent rompre la 
 chaine. A ces hautes qualites de I'ame, il faut aj outer une 
 robuste constitution propre a supporter la rigueur des hivers. . . 
 L'experience semble avoir demontre que les hommes nes sous 
 
410 APPENDIX. [Lkct. VIII. 
 
 un climat froid, soiit generalement plus adr< its et plus inge- 
 nieux." Lettres de Fr. Xavier, torn. ii. pp. 229 — 232. 
 
 The notion that men of second-rate powers and general 
 qualifications are adequate for tlic purposes of sustaining, or, 
 perhaps, rearing, the Church in the colonies is thus met by the 
 Bishop of Australia, in one of his Ltters: — 
 
 " What do you think can be done by a merely prtss«6^e man 
 going into a parish here, (or in New Zealand,) where a congre- 
 gation has to be formed, ah initio, where there exists no feeling 
 of love or veneration ready to his purpose, but it must be 
 kindled by the earnestness and ability of the teacher? You 
 know what the Bishop of New Zealand's acquirements are, and 
 in what spirit he has gone forth. Well, be assured that his zeal 
 and talents wall not be more than adequate to fulfil the purposes 
 of that holy undertaking, (t is not to be expected that we can 
 have all his equals in those respects; but they must be tales if 
 not ipquales; that is, they must have zeal and talents like his, 
 though of a subordinate character." 
 
 I CANNOT close this volume more appropriately tlian with the 
 following document, which, as bearing the signatures of the 
 united bench of Bishops, has the weight of an act of the 
 Church. It is the more important, since it is the first movement 
 of the kind that has been witnessed of later years ; — and it is to 
 be earnestly hoped that both the princijilc that is asserted m it, 
 and the authority with wliich it is put forth, will so move the 
 members of the Church of England, that by their willing offer- 
 ings, they will enable their )Spiritual llulers to carry into their 
 full effect the proposals which tliey have herein published. It 
 needs only to be added, that, in consequence of this Declaration, 
 the important Colonies of New Zealand, the British jiossessions 
 in the Mediterranean, and Tasmania, have been blessed with the 
 perfect form and polity of the Church amongst them. 
 
APPENDIX. 417 
 
 declaration of t\)t glrcpisljops antr 33isIjops. 
 
 At a Meeting of Archbishops and Bishops, held at 
 Lambeth, on the Tuesday in Whitsnn week, 1841, the 
 following Declaration was agreed to by all present : — 
 
 We, the undersigned Archbishops and Bishops of the United 
 Church of England and Ireland, contemplate with deep concern 
 the insufficient provision which has been hitherto made for the 
 spiritual care of the members of our National Church residing 
 in the British Colonies, and in distant parts of the world, 
 esjjecially as it regards the want of a systematic superintendence 
 of the Clergy, and the absence of those ordinances, the adminis- 
 tration of which is committed to the episcopal Order. We 
 therefore hold it to be our duty, in compliance with the Resolu- 
 tions of a Meeting convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 on the 27th of April last, to undertake the charge of the Fund 
 for the Endowment of additional Bishoprics in the Colonies, and 
 to become responsible for its application. 
 
 On due consideration of the relative claims of those Depen- 
 dencies of the Empire which require our assistance, we are of 
 opinion, that the immediate erection of Bishoprics is much to 
 be desired in the following places : — 
 
 NEW ZEALAND. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
 
 THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN VAN DIEMEN's LAND. 
 
 THE MEDITERRANEAN. CEYLON. 
 
 NEW BRUNSWICK. 
 
 E E 
 
418 APPENDIX. 
 
 Wlien competent provision sliall liave heen made for the 
 endowment of these Bishoprics, regard must be had to the 
 claims of 
 
 SIERRA LEONE. WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 
 
 BRITISH GUIANA. NORTHERN INDIA. 
 
 SOUTH AUSTRALIA. SOUTHERN INDIA. 
 PORT PHILLIP, 
 
 In the first instance, we propose that an Episcopal See be 
 established at the seat of government in New Zealand, offers 
 having been already made which appear to obviate all difficulty 
 as to endowment. 
 
 Our next object will be to make a similar provision for the 
 congregations of our own communion, established in the islands 
 of the Mediterranean, and in the countries bordering upon that 
 sea ; and it is evident that the position of Malta is such as will 
 render it the most convenient point of communication with 
 them, as well as with the Bishops of the ancient Churches of 
 the East, to whom our Church has been for many centuries 
 known only by name. 
 
 We propose, therefore, that a See be fixed at Valetta,' the 
 residence of the English Government, and that its jurisdiction 
 extend to all the Clergy of our Church residing within the 
 limits above specified. In this city, through the munificence 
 of Her Majesty the Queen Dowager, a Church is in course of 
 erection, which, when completed, will form a suitable Cathedral. 
 
 Our attention will then be directed to the countries named 
 in the foregoing lists, without binding ourselves to the exact 
 order therein f)llowed, or precluding ourselves from granting 
 assistance to any place where means may be found for tlie 
 earlier endowment of a Bishopric. 
 
 In no case shall we proceed without the concurrence of Her 
 Majesty's Government; and we think it expedient to appoint a 
 Standing Committee, consisting of 
 
 ' The Standing Committee of Bishops lias reeommciulcd tliat the See 
 be founded at Gibraltar. 
 
APPENDIX. 419 
 
 THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, 
 THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, 
 THE ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH, 
 THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN, 
 THE BISHOP OF LONDON, 
 THE BISHOP OF DURHAM, 
 THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER, 
 THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN, 
 THE BISHOP OF ROCHESTER, 
 
 with full powers to confer with the Ministers of the Crown, and 
 to arrange measures in concert with them, for the erection of 
 Bishoprics in the places above enumerated. 
 
 We appoint as our Treasurers, the Hon. Mr. Justice Cole- 
 ridge, the Venerable Archdeacon Hale, and W. E. Gladstone, 
 Esq. M.P. ; and as Honorary Secretary, the Rev. Ernest 
 Hawkins. 
 
 For the attainment of these most desirable objects, a sum of 
 money will be recjuired, large as to its actual amount, but small 
 when conpared with the means which this country possesses, 
 by the bounty of Divine Providence, for advancing the glory of 
 Grod and the welfare of mankind. Under a deep feeling of the 
 sacredness and importance of this great work, and in the hope 
 that Almighty God may graciously dispose the hearts of his 
 servants to a corresponding measure of liberality, we earnestly 
 commend it to the good will, the assistance, and the prayers of 
 all the Members of our Church. 
 
 W. CANTUAR. J. ELY. 
 
 J. G. ARMAGH. E. SARUM. 
 
 C. J. LONDON. ' E. NORWICH. 
 
 E. DUNELM. T. HEREFORD. 
 
 C. WINTON. J. LICHFIELD. 
 
 C. BANGOR. C. ST. DAVID's. 
 
 G. ROCHESTER. P. N. CHICHESTER. 
 
 E. LLANDAFF. R. DERRY & RAPHOE. 
 
 J. H. GLOUCESTER & BRISTOL. T. V. SODOR & MAN. 
 
420 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 We, the undersigned, desire to express our concurrence in 
 the foresroing declaration : — 
 
 E. EBOR. 
 
 BD. DUBLIN. 
 
 GEO. H. BATH & AVELLS. 
 
 W. ST. ASAPH. 
 
 J. LINCOLN. 
 
 H. CARLISLE. 
 
 J, B. CHESTER. 
 
 R. OXFORD, 
 
 H. EXETER. 
 
 C. T. RIPON, 
 
 G. PETERBOROUGH. 
 
 11. WORCESTER. 
 
 GEORGE KILMORE. 
 
 C. KILDARE. 
 ROBT. P. CLOGHER, 
 J. ELPHIN. 
 
 R, OSSOllY & FERNS. 
 
 JAMES DROJIORE. 
 
 RD. DOWN &, CONNOR. 
 
 S. CORK. 
 
 EDMOND LIMERICK. 
 
 STEPHEN CASHEL. 
 
 LUDLOW KILLALOE & 
 
 CLONFERT. 
 THOMAS TUAM. 
 CHARLES MEATH. 
 
 LONDON: PRINTED BY R. CLAY, IIRKAD STREET HILL. 
 
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