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THE HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA. 
 
THE HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA 
 
 FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE 
 CHRISTIAN ERA. 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 
 REV. JAMES HOUGH, M.A., F.C.P.S. 
 
 INCUMBENT OF HAM: 
 LATE CHAPLAIN TO THE HONOURABLE EAST INDL\. COMPANY AT MADRAS, 
 
 EDITED BY HIS SON, 
 
 REV. T. G. P. HOUGH, M.A. 
 
 INCUMBENT OF HAM. 
 
 VOL. V. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONARY HOUSE, 
 
 SALISBURY SQUARE ; 
 
 JAMES NISBET & CO., BERNERS STREET. 
 MDCCCLX. 
 
\\5-s- 
 
 EDINBURGH : PRINTED BY JOHN GREIG & SON. 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 
 As many years have been suffered to elapse since the 
 death of my late revered father in 1847, it is in some 
 measure necessary to explain the cause of the delay 
 which has occurred in the publication of this fifth and 
 concluding volume of his history, which was left by 
 him in MS. ready for the press. In the year 1843 
 he presented to the Church Missionary Society the 
 copyright of the entire Work, as well of those portions 
 of it which had already appeared, as of those which 
 were then in progress. Consequently, upon his death, 
 the MS. of this fifth volume, the only part unpublished, 
 was sent to the Society's house. It was judged advis- 
 able to publish it by subscription, but the Committee 
 very properly felt that they would not be justified in 
 incurring any risk, and that they could not proceed 
 in the matter until the number of subscribers should 
 be sufficient to cover the expense. Many names were 
 received, but not enough to justify the Society in 
 going forward with the publication. Upon inquiry, 
 it was found that there were many who would have 
 
 512453 
 
11 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 given in their names, had they been aware of the above 
 arrangement ; and that there were also several other 
 friends of missions, who were continually asking for 
 the Work, and expressing themselves anxious for its 
 appearance. The author's family have therefore re- 
 solved to take the responsibility upon themselves, 
 feeling it to be a solemn trust devolved upon them. 
 But although the publication is thus undertaken by 
 them, I am anxious, speaking in their name, to repeat 
 that the Work is the sole property of the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society, and that the entire profits arising 
 from its sale, as well as those accruing from the former 
 four volumes,, will be added, according to the author's 
 expressed wish, to the Disabled Missionaries' Fund. 
 
 After so long an interval since the appearance of 
 the former four volumes, it may be well to give here 
 a very brief summary of their contents : 
 
 Vols. I. and II. contain an account of the introduc- 
 tion of Christianity into India, from the commencement 
 of the Christian era ; together with the history of the 
 Syrian and Roman Churches there. 
 
 Yols. III. and IV. detail the history of all Pro- 
 testant churches in the East, from their commence- 
 ment : viz., of the Dutch Mission in Ceylon, in the 
 seventeenth century ; of the first Protestant Mission 
 on the continent of India, by the Danes, 1706 ; of the 
 co-operation of England, and of its first Missions there, 
 by the " Christian Knowledge Society," and by the 
 "Church Missionary Society ;" and of the Moravian 
 and other Protestant Missions, to the commencement 
 of the episcopate of the first Bishop of Calcutta, in 
 1816. 
 
 This Fifth Volume, in detailing later events, will be 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. Ill 
 
 found, perhaps, more interesting to the general reader, 
 and is a valuable compendium of the histories of all 
 the various Missionary Societies, which began the 
 work of evangelisation in India during this century. 
 It describes the period during which India was in- 
 cluded in one diocese, giving the labours of its first 
 four bishops, and closing with the appointment of the 
 late lamented Bishop WILSON to Calcutta, when Madras 
 and Bombay were constituted separate sees. It con- 
 tains a minute and faithful account of the progress of 
 the several Missions of the Christian Knowledge, 
 Church Missionary, and Propagation Societies ; also 
 of those of the American, the Baptist, the London 
 Missionary, and the Wesleyan Societies, and of the 
 establishment of the Scottish Missions. Of all these 
 the Author wrote, "it will be seen that for piety, 
 enlightened zeal, and devotion to the work of impart- 
 ing the Gospel of the grace of God to the heathen, 
 they have never been surpassed since the Apostles' 
 days ; while their measure of success was greater than 
 could reasonably have been anticipated, considering 
 the paucity of their numbers, and the limited extent 
 of the means at their disposal." 
 
 Although the present volume is strictly a continua- 
 tion of the former history, it is sufficiently independent 
 of the foregoing portions of the Work, to enable the 
 general reader to peruse it without any diminution of 
 interest, or sense of incompleteness. 
 
 The Author's original intention was, that his history 
 should close with the death of Bishop Heber ; but, 
 owing to the urgent request of the late lamented 
 Bishop of Calcutta, he extended the period so as to 
 include the episcopates of Bishops James and Turner. 
 
TV BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 Of the last esteemed Prelate, who died at Calcutta in 
 July 1831, no memoir has been published ; so that 
 additional interest will be felt to attach to the present 
 sketch, though necessarily brief, of his laborious epis- 
 copate. The account of the first four Bishops of India, 
 is confined to the discharge of their public episcopal 
 duties ; but it is impossible to read the record without 
 deep thankfulness to the great Head of the Church, 
 for having raised up such men, at so critical a period, 
 to preside over the church in India. Nor can any 
 fail to admire the genuine missionary spirit which 
 animated these Christian Prelates. The narrative of 
 their labours is suggestive of that given by the in- 
 spired penman, of the work of the first Apostolic 
 Missionaries of the Christian Church, journeying 
 "from city to city," preaching Christ " among the 
 heathen," "confirming the souls of the disciples," 
 " exhorting them to continue in the Faith," and " or- 
 daining them elders in every church." 
 
 This history is also of special value as indicating the 
 honour which God has always put upon the preaching 
 of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, as His divinely 
 appointed instrument for the conversion of sinners of 
 every latitude, to Himself. Romanists, and chiefly 
 Jesuists, taking advantage of a general want of infor- 
 mation on the subject, have described Protestant 
 Missions in contemptuous terms. English readers 
 will now have an opportunity, by means of the present 
 Work, compiled chiefly from the original reports and 
 correspondence of the Dutch, Danish, German, and 
 English missionaries, to judge for themselves, of the 
 comparative merits of the Romish and Protestant 
 Missions in India. And while the former Volumes will 
 
OF THE AUTHOR, V 
 
 serve to disabuse the public mind, which has too long 
 been imposed upon by these misrepresentations, this 
 last Volume will present, for future Missionaries, an ex- 
 ample of faith and patience, zeal and discretion, in their 
 various labours and difficulties, worthy of all imitation ; 
 whether we regard the spirit that sustained them, or 
 the blessing that rested on their work, it will be seen 
 that " the Lord was with them of a truth." 
 
 The present Volume includes the period spent in 
 India by its revered author, who was one of that 
 holy and honoured band, who, constrained by the love 
 of Christ, united to the official duties of a chaplain, 
 the loving labours of a Missionary. The principal 
 portion of his Indian life was passed in the Province 
 of Tinnevelly, in South India, where, during his 
 residence at Palamcottah, he was enabled, by "the 
 good hand of his God upon him," both to revive the 
 work of "the Christian Knowledge Society," and to 
 introduce the " Church Missionary Society," by laying 
 the foundations of that Mission, which has since be- 
 come the brightest spot in the whole Mission- field, 
 so that it now presents the most perfect picture, in all 
 its parts, of a native Church, and has, at length, most 
 convincingly solved the problem of the expediency and 
 possibility of a native pastorate. In publishing this 
 posthumous Volume, a brief sketch of his personal 
 labours, during his residence in India, may be here 
 appropriately introduced, for in the following pages, 
 the tale has been told with such singular humility, and 
 in the form of quotations from Reports made by him- 
 self, to the two Societies, in those years during which 
 their Missions were placed under his sole charge, that 
 it is scarcely possible to form a just estimate of the diffi- 
 
VI BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 culties with which he had to contend, and the pro- 
 minent position he was called to occupy. 
 
 On the 14th of August 1814, the Rev. James Hough 
 was ordained by the Bishop of Carlisle to the curacy 
 of Grinsdale in Cumberland. His attention appears to 
 have been first directed to the cause of missions by 
 hearing,, a long time before his ordination,, one of the 
 anniversary sermons of the Church Missionary Society, 
 and so ardent was the desire then kindled in his heart 
 to devote himself to the work of the evangelization of 
 the heathen, that, as he said, his ' ' heart panted to pro- 
 claim the Gospel of redeeming love to the inhabitants 
 of India." Soon after his entrance into the ministry, 
 the way was unexpectedly opened for the accomplish- 
 ment of his desire. In 1815, he met at Scaleby Castle 
 the late Rev. Charles Simeon, of Cambridge, through 
 whom he received the offer of a chaplaincy to India. 
 This event is recorded in two letters, 1 written at the 
 j , time by that devoted man to the Rev. X Thomason. 
 
 In July 1815, he wrote : " Four pious ministers 
 are just sent out to you in India, as I before told you ; 
 and I am in expectation of sending you immediately 
 three more, besides a teacher for schoolmasters. The 
 three I have all ready, and the last I hope to secure." 
 In these three Mr Hough is included. 
 
 Again, in March 1816 : " Within this year and a 
 half I shall have sent you about a dozen : to Bengal, 
 poor Mr Crosthwaite ; to Bombay, Mr Carr, and, I hope, 
 Mr Robinson ; to Madras, Messrs Harper, Jackson, 
 Malkin, Hough, Church, Traill ; to Bencoolen, Mr 
 Winter ; to St Helena, Mr Vernon." Most of these 
 
 1 Memoirs of the Eev. Charles Simeon, 1st Ed., pp. 415, 427. 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. Vll 
 
 names will be recognised in the following pages of this 
 history. 
 
 In August 1816, Mr and Mrs Hough landed at 
 Madras, where they were welcomed by the Rev. Mar- 
 maduke Thompson, and other tried friends of mission- 
 ary work. Among these, Mr and Mrs Strachan, who 
 hospitably entertained them till the following October, 
 when Mr Hough received his appointment as the first 
 military chaplain to Palamcottah, in the Tinnevelly 
 district, to which station he at once set out, and reached 
 Nov. 2. " Upon our arrival," he wrote, " we met with 
 a hearty reception from the commandant, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Trotter, who is a man of God, a Cornelius 
 indeed, and gives every encouragement and support in 
 his power to the native Christians in Tinnevelly." Mr 
 Hough's official duties resembled those of all other 
 military cantonments. But these were not sufficient 
 to occupy his whole time ; nor could the activity of 
 his energetic spirit rest satisfied with the performance 
 of only such routine work as his present position re- 
 quired. Whilst assiduously devoted to the spiritual 
 oversight of those who were placed under his minis- 
 terial charge, he was unceasing in his efforts to do 
 good to all others who happened to be brought within 
 the sphere of his influence. He frequently applied 
 for and received grants of books from the Correspond- 
 ing Committees, in Madras, of the Society for Promot- 
 ing Christian Knowledge, the Church Missionary 
 Society, and the British and Foreign Bible Society, 
 by which means he was enabled to distribute many 
 Bibles, Testaments, Prayer-Books, and religious pub- 
 lications. But even these were insufficient for his 
 purpose. For his letters to England at this period 
 
Vlll BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 abound in most earnest entreaties to his friends to 
 send supplies of such books. In one he writes : 
 
 " My own congregation are soon supplied, but par- 
 ties of soldiers are frequently passing here, and I 
 endeavour to lead the poor fellows to f drink of the 
 brook by the way.' There are two detachments here 
 at present, of near fifty men. They have taken eighteen 
 books of me Testaments, Prayer-Books, Catechisms, 
 &c., &c., and are quite clamorous for more, but my 
 stock is nearly exhausted. I had not a Bible to give 
 them, and was really tempted to take one I had put 
 in the church in order to comply with the earnest 
 solicitations of a hungry Serjeant. This is eloquence 
 enough for all that know the value of an immortal soul, 
 and of the precious blood shed to redeem it. Since I 
 have been here, I have distributed the word of God in 
 English, Portuguese, Persic, Arabic, Hindostanee, 
 Gentoo, and Tamul, and many, many encouraging 
 and interesting circumstances have occurred." The 
 benefit of these distributions among the natives is re- 
 corded on p. 362 of this vol. ; but in his journal there 
 are several similar instances among English soldiers. 
 He writes again : " A party of Europeans is halting 
 here to-day. Poor fellows ! some expressed themselves 
 very thankful for what was said to them, and begged 
 hard for Testaments and Prayer-Books, which all who 
 desired have received. When we drove out this even- 
 ing we saw them scattered about with the books in 
 their hands." And again : ' ' A soldier and his wife 
 came to beg a Prayer-Book. He is a Eoman Catholic, 
 and unable to read ; but his wife, he said, was a Pro- 
 testant, and would read it to him. He added, there 
 was so much confusion in the camp as to who should 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. ix 
 
 have the books I sent the night before, that he thought 
 he would come quietly and ask for one. My dear wife 
 wrote his name in a Prayer- Book, and gave it to him. 
 It is quite delightful to witness these poor men's 
 anxiety to possess a Testament, or any religious book, 
 for the European soldiers in India are generally a dis- 
 grace to the Christian religion." Mr Hough was also 
 constantly visited by Roman Catholics, who had been 
 reading the Scriptures or books he had given them. 
 The following entry occurs : " I have heard to-day 
 that a young Roman Catholic of Tinnevelly, who has 
 often been to me with a string of questions, went to 
 his priest and said, ' These Protestants say many 
 things, and they prove all they say from Scripture. 
 How do you answer them ?' ' That is a dangerous 
 way/ said the priest, ' take care how you walk therein.' 
 The young man was abashed by this reply, and left 
 his spiritual guide. may he never rest until he meet 
 with one more able and willing to lead him in the way 
 to heaven marked down in the word of God !" 
 
 A flourishing branch of the British and Foreign 
 Bible Society was at this time founded by him at 
 Palamcottah, which was liberally supported by the 
 English residents, so that in one year 609 rupees 
 were paid in as their contribution to the Rev. C. 
 Church, the Secretary of the Society in Madras. 
 
 Simultaneously with these exertions, no sooner had 
 he entered upon his duties as chaplain, than he began 
 to devise plans for the temporal and spiritual benefit of 
 the surrounding heathen, as well as those connected in 
 any way with the Company's service, as those who were 
 at a distance from the station. The district in which 
 he was now located, had formerly been visited by the 
 
X BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 venerable Swartz, and he found there the remains of 
 what had been commenced by that devoted servant of 
 God. His attention was, in the first place, directed to 
 the reorganisation of such schools as had been estab- 
 lished in former years, but which, from want of proper 
 oversight, had fallen into an inefficient state, and to 
 the establishment of such others as the necessities of 
 the case seemed to require. Feeling that it would 
 be impossible to secure permanence for the work which 
 he was now commencing, unless he could secure some 
 land upon which suitable premises might be erected, 
 and the whole vested in the hands of some missionary 
 body, he set himself to obtain, and after very great 
 difficulties, raised by the prejudices of the natives, suc- 
 ceeded in purchasing a piece of land adjoining his own 
 house and compound, upon which he at once built two 
 school-houses, one English, and one Tamul. The 
 house, land, and schools, afterwards became the pro- 
 perty of the Church Missionary Society, and have to 
 the present day continued to be the principal station 
 of that Society's Tinnevelly Mission. Early in 1817, 
 at the request of the Madras Committee of the Society 
 for Promoting Christian Knowledge, under whose 
 auspices the Mission work of Swartz had been prose- 
 cuted, he visited all the neighbouring villages of native 
 Christians throughout Tinnevelly, the particulars of 
 which visit are detailed in a former volume. Upon 
 the condition of the schools in general, his Ke- 
 port states, " They are in a very indifferent state, as 
 there are no schoolmasters on the establishment. 
 They are entrusted to the care of catechists, who, from 
 some cause or other, are seldom found attentive to 
 their charge. The system of education adopted, does 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. XI 
 
 not appear to differ from the common country mode 
 of teaching. Very few of the schools possess a single 
 book. They are consequently obliged to use such 
 cadjan writings and stories as they can get,, and I need 
 not remark to the Committee of what sad materials, 
 in a moral point of view, these are mainly composed." 
 Mr Hough's first care was to train and place over each 
 school' a suitable master, and to keep each supplied 
 with Christian books, which he received in answer to 
 his application from the Christian Knowledge Society. 
 His journal makes mention of later visits made by 
 him to all these schools, together with the examina- 
 tion of them, which he then conducted ; it gives also 
 the quarterly record of the state of each school, the 
 names of the masters, the number of the scholars, with 
 the caste of each boy, as children of different castes 
 were all mixed together, the names of the books, 
 all Christian, which were used with the Bible, and 
 many valuable directions for the management of all. 
 In this volume will be found the commencement of 
 the important work of female education, although the 
 establishment by him of the first Girls' School in 
 Tinnevelly, provoked considerable opposition. 
 
 In testimony to the good effected by the English 
 school established by him, expressly for the education 
 of the Company's native servants, the following ex- 
 tract is of great value, taken from his examination 
 before a Select Committee of the House of Commons, 
 in 1832, appointed to inquire into the state of Chris- 
 tianity in India, preparatory to the renewal of the 
 Hon. East India Company's Charter, which is pub- 
 lished and added as an appendix to his " Vindication 
 of Protestant Missions :" 
 
XII BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 " Several of the officers in the courts at Tinnevelly 
 were educated in our English school ; and the officers, 
 so educated, were found to be much more efficient than 
 those who had been left to pick up their education at 
 such native schools as they could find. I made a 
 point of introducing the Scriptures, and Christian cate- 
 chism, and formularies into these schools ; and re- 
 quired all the pupils, whether Brahmins or Mussul- 
 mans, or whatever were their caste, to write me daily 
 an exercise on some part of the Scriptures ; which 
 they did, and made great progress in this way. Now, 
 from the favourable result of my own experiment, I 
 take on myself to recommend to the Government the 
 establishment of a similar school at all their stations ; 
 and I should particularly urge the importance of 
 placing these schools under the care of the resident 
 chaplain, or of a missionary, who has more time to 
 devote to the education of youth than any other of 
 the Company's servants can be supposed to have. I 
 should beg to suggest that the Christians who are 
 found competent to fill the offices of government, 
 should be placed on a level with the Mahomedans and 
 the Hindoos, and admitted to all offices for which 
 they may be qualified." 
 
 Mr Hough found the native churches and congrega- 
 tions sympathising with the schools, and giving simi- 
 lar indications of a want of adequate supervision. No 
 missionary had resided in the district since the death 
 of Jcenicke in 1800, and no missionary had been there 
 for ten years, the last visit having been that of Gerike 
 in 1806. Mr Hough describes a chapel in the Fort 
 of Palamcottah, built by the widow of a Brahmin, 
 and a substantial church at Mothelloor ; the other 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. Xlll 
 
 places of worship were composed of mud walls, thatched 
 with palmyra leaves. Here and there a Tamul Tes- 
 tament was preserved in a chapel, but very rarely was 
 such a treasure found in the possession of an indivi- 
 dual. He found a catechist, Visuvarsernarden, offi- 
 ciating as the native priest, at a village called Nazareth, 
 and Abraham, who had been a pupil of Swartz, and 
 admitted to Lutheran orders at Mothelloor. In the 
 whole Tinnevelly district, 3100 native Christians are 
 reported, scattered in no less than 63 different places. 
 In this, and his after itinerating journeys, Mr Hough 
 placed Bibles and Prayer-Books in all the churches, 
 and instructed the catechists in the use of the Book 
 of Common Prayer, so as to qualify them for con- 
 ducting the public worship of the congregation ac- 
 cording to the ritual of our Church. In the account 
 of one of these tours, the following notice appears : 
 " Six catechists were next seated round me, each 
 with his new liturgy, and went through the directions 
 I have drawn up for their instruction in the use of 
 the Book of Common Prayer." . 
 
 Only a brief sketch is given in the following pages 
 of the scenes which were witnessed wherever he went, 
 visiting the villages and preaching the gospel. The 
 people flocked to meet him when they heard of his 
 approach, and gathered round to listen to his words. 
 A passage of Scripture was read by a catechist, and 
 then Mr Hough expounded it, catechised the people 
 upon it, united with them in prayer, and closed with 
 the benediction. In his private journ^tf, a record is 
 preserved of the passage of Scripture read in each vil- 
 lage, together with some of the questions put, and the 
 answers given upon these occasions. The account 
 
XIV BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 thus given in this revival of Christianity in Tinnevelly, 
 closely resembles the descriptions, which we are now 
 receiving, of the itinerating labours of some of the 
 missionaries of the Church Missionary Society in South 
 India ; and the knowledge of the way in which it has 
 pleased God so wonderfully to own and prosper the 
 work begun in 1816, should stir every friend of mis- 
 sions to increased prayerfulness, and should fill him 
 with a confident faith that prayer will not be suffered 
 to go unanswered, but that God will grant yet further 
 revivals of His own work of which, indeed, in the 
 present day we have cheering intimations in the 
 remote villages of Northern Tinnevelly and will 
 " open the windows of heaven, and pour us out a 
 blessing, that there shall not be room enough to re- 
 ceive it." 
 
 As the result of these extended labours, school after 
 school was established in new localities, the number of 
 inquirers after truth rapidly multiplied, and the wants 
 of the people increased far beyond the supply which 
 he was able to procure from the grants of the Chris- 
 tian Knowledge Society and his own limited resources. 
 As therefore the Committee of the Christian Know- 
 ledge Society informed him, that it was not in their 
 power to increase their grant, he was compelled to 
 apply for assistance to the Corresponding Committee 
 of the Church Missionary Society at Madras. The 
 introduction by him oft he Church Missionary Society 
 into the district of Tinnevelly, is described by himself 
 in this volume. 1 How, in this act, he was guided by 
 a single eye to God's glory and the salvation of souls, 
 
 1 Chap. vii. page 355. 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. XV 
 
 is apparent from a sentence in his journal,, recorded a 
 few months later,, when tidings reached him that 
 some at home were displeased, and regarded with 
 dislike and jealousy the introduction of what they 
 regarded as a rival society. "It is distressing to 
 read the unkind and jealous opposition that is raised 
 at home, to the Church Missionary Society, by pro- 
 fessed friends of the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge. But I shall not suffer my mind to be 
 affected, nor shall I relax my exertions in favour 
 of that Society, in consequence of the hostility of its 
 members to a kindred association. I came to India to 
 promote the glory of the Lord, and the saving know- 
 ledge of Christ in the earth ; and, in pursuit of this 
 object, it falls in my way to further the designs of 
 both these societies, and ' Whatsoever my hand findeth 
 to do/ I purpose to attempt ' with all my might.' 
 The District Committee of the Christian Knowledge 
 Society at Madras invited me to become a correspond- 
 ing member, and I accepted the invitation." 
 
 His truly catholic spirit could co-operate with 
 all who were ready to proclaim " the grace of 
 God" in its purity; "the love of Christ constrain- 
 ing" him, he could not stand by and see souls perish, 
 while men might be disputing by what particular 
 machinery the work should be attempted ; but his 
 heart was so full of pity for the perishing heathen, 
 that his chief anxiety was not for the elevation of one 
 society above another, but for the exaltation of Christ, 
 in which glorious work he regarded the two societies 
 as handmaidens ; and so long as nothing but " the 
 truth as it is in Jesus" was proclaimed, he could say, 
 with the great apostolic missionary to the Gentiles, 
 
 
XVI BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 " Christ is preached,, and I therein do rejoice ; yea, 
 and will rejoice." 
 
 The two societies worked harmoniously together ; 
 and not only did Mr Hough take charge of the mis- 
 sions of both, but, after his departure, the Church 
 Missionary Society Missionaries continued to super- 
 intend the whole work, until the Christian Know- 
 ledge Society's Missions were delivered over to the 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the 
 first missionary of the latter society was sent there in 
 1829. 
 
 Mention has already been made of Mr Hough's 
 desire to provide a properly trained master for each 
 school ; and, in connection with this, it must here be 
 added, that in consequence of the revival and exten- 
 sion of religious inquiry, applications for catechists 
 were constantly made to him from distant villages. 
 These cries for help were responded to as far as cir- 
 cumstances would allow ; but, in order to provide a 
 supply of efficient men for both of these important 
 posts, he established the first " Seminaries of the 
 Church Missionary Society, in Tinnevelly, for edu- 
 cating schoolmasters and candidates for the priest- 
 hood." One of these was at Palamcottah, in 1818^ 
 and another at Nazareth in 1819. These wise plans 
 laid the foundation of those institutions which have 
 since prepared so many native labourers, and have 
 materially assisted, with God's blessing, in training 
 that indigenous native pastorate, which is now one 
 striking feature in the South Indian Church in advance 
 of all other Christian missions. 
 
 We have lived to see the successful results of these 
 labours. In the " Church Missionary Record" for last 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. XV11 
 
 March, will be found an account of an ordination held 
 in the previous December by the Bishop of Madras, at 
 which no less than thirteen Tamul candidates were 
 ordained five as presbyters and eight as deacons in 
 the rising Tinnevelly Church. Of these, all but one, 
 of the Gospel Propagation Society, belonged to the 
 Church Missionary Society. Almost all of these were 
 educated and trained in these seminaries founded by 
 Mr Hough, and some were known to him as boys, 
 from amongst whom one especially may be singled 
 out Kev. Seenivasagam as being the author of an 
 affecting letter which follows, written by him upon 
 hearing of the death of his friend and benefactor. 
 This blessed effect of these seminaries is the accom- 
 plishment of the high expectations formed of them 
 by their founder, for the following entry appears 
 in his journal for 1820 : " Held an interesting 
 discourse with the elder seminarists this morning 
 after prayers. How the heart glows with love for 
 these boys, who, as we hope, will one day become 
 the burning lights of this benighted land. Europeans 
 can never do so much by their personal labours ; 
 for, with the exception of mental ability and energy, 
 .the climate and everything else is against them. We 
 ought to be thankful for such a machine for evange- 
 lising India, and at once to set it in motion." 
 
 The general work of regulating and superintending 
 these schools and missions increased so rapidly upon 
 him, that he was at length compelled to apply to the 
 Church Missionary Society Committee for the appoint- 
 ment of one or more missionaries ; and accordingly, in 
 1820, the Rev. Messrs Rhenius and Schmid were sent 
 
 >m Madras to Palamcottah. 
 I 
 
XVlll BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 In December 1820, he travelled to the south of 
 India, on an exploratory visit to the Church Missionary 
 Society's mission in Travancore, where he met the 
 Rev. Messrs Fenn, Bailey, and Baker, and was greatly 
 cheered by their brotherly and Christian spirit. Two 
 other visits were subsequently paid by him in 1825 
 and 1826. Of this mission he speaks in the following 
 pages from personal knowledge. During these tours 
 he also visited the Syrian churches, whose liturgies 
 are given in a former volume, and had many and 
 interesting interviews with the Metropolitan Mar 
 Dionysius. 
 
 In his examination before a select committee of the 
 House of Commons in 1832, referred to above, he 
 bears his testimony to the progress of the College at 
 Cotym, under Mr Fenn, as also to the state of the 
 Syrian churches. The following extract in allusion 
 to his last visit records the extent of his travel along 
 the south-western coast, and the additional good which 
 he was in that direction instrumental in effecting. 
 
 " Between Cape Comorin and Cannanore are there, 
 to your knowledge, any British settlement possessing 
 churches, but possessing no chaplain or minister ? 
 Yes ; at Tellicherry there was a spacious church : for- 
 merly a chaplain was appointed to that station, but 
 he was withdrawn some time ago eight or ten years 
 ago ; and while I was there in 1826, the British in- 
 habitants and native Christians of Tellicherry were 
 accustomed to assemble in the church on Sunday for 
 divine worship. When it was in a dilapidated state, 
 they requested the Government to repair it, but find- 
 ing that there was then no chaplain at the station, 
 they sent orders to pull it down : being on the spot 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. XIX 
 
 at the time, I ventured to interpose, and represented 
 to the Government at Madras the advantages of the 
 church to the present inhabitants, and requested them 
 to allow it to be repaired. Upon this representation, 
 Sir Thomas Munro acceded to the request ; and it 
 was put into a state of repair, and continues there to 
 this day." 
 
 But though thus abundant in labours, he found 
 time also for other work. Feeling how great was the 
 need of suitable books in Tamul for distribution 
 amongst the natives, and for use in the schools, he 
 set himself diligently to the difficult task of translation. 
 He translated into Tamul several little books and 
 tracts, and composed others in the same language. 
 He wrote also, in English and Tamul, a valuable tract 
 explanatory of the second chapter of Daniel, which 
 was greatly prized by the natives, and is mentioned 
 in the following letter from Rev. John Devasagayam ; 
 also a dialogue between a Protestant and a Roman 
 Catholic ; and a course of school lectures on Genesis, 
 from Sellon's Abridgement. During this period he 
 also prepared the substance of another work, which 
 was not published until 1832. It is entitled, " The 
 Missionary Vade Mecum ; containing information and 
 suggestions for the use of Missionaries, Missionary 
 Candidates, and Committees." There breathes through- 
 out it a spirit of deep piety, and it is so distinguished 
 for sound judgment and practical wisdom, as to make 
 it an invaluable guide and companion in Missionary 
 work. 
 
 The time had now arrived when he was to be with- 
 drawn from the scenes of such ardent and self-denying 
 labours. In March 1821 he received his appointment 
 
XX BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 as garrison chaplain to the larger European station of 
 Poonamallee, a military cantonment about fifteen 
 miles from Madras. So deep and mutual were the 
 feelings of attachment between himself and his charge 
 at Palamcottah and its neighbourhood, that the 
 separation could not take place without sincere and 
 painful regrets. His description of the effect produced 
 upon his own mind by this sorrowful occasion closes 
 with these affecting words : "I must leave you to 
 imagine the parting scene between us and the country 
 priest,, catechists, schoolmasters, seminarists, and 
 others, for I cannot describe it. may the Lord 
 strengthen the hands of his servants who succeed to 
 my post ; water the seed they sow, and produce 
 therefrom an abundant increase of souls to the 
 Redeemer, and of glory to his own most holy name ! 
 For ever will I bless and praise him for enabling me 
 to make a small beginning ; and my prayers shall 
 never cease to ascend for blessings on the work. To 
 Him be the glory. Amen." 
 
 To the very last he cherished the remembrance of 
 the mission at Tinnevelly with the tenderest and most 
 prayerful solicitude, and thankfully marked its rapid 
 progress. They who were present with him cannot 
 forget the earnest petitions he offered up in its behalf 
 only two days before his death. There were also 
 individual native priests and catechists well known to 
 him, some of whom he had left there as boys in the 
 schools which he was enabled to establish, and with 
 some of whom he continued occasionally to correspond, 
 as they wrote to ask for his fatherly counsel and 
 guidance. The two following letters, which were in 
 answer to one written to their authors by his family, 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. XXI 
 
 conveying to them his last prayer for them, will serve 
 to shew the grateful affection with which his name is 
 cherished amongst them. 
 
 The first is from the Rev. John Devasagayam, 
 formerly a pupil of Dr John of Tranquebar, who was 
 personally known to Mr Hough. He was ordained 
 deacon by Bishop Turner, as recorded in page 406, 
 and priest by Bishop Corrie in Trinity Church, built 
 by the Rev. C. Rhenius, in 1826, on the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society's premises, which were originally pur- 
 chased by Mr Hough, at Palamcottah. At the present 
 time, both the son and son-in-law of this excellent 
 man are ordained, and are labouring with him in his 
 ministerial work. 
 
 September 6. 1849. 
 
 EESPECTED AND DEAR MA'M, I just read your Christian affection- 
 ate letter. I feel myself inexpressibly happy to hear from the 
 dear children of our ever valued and now sainted Hough Ayyer. 
 I just gave your letter to my son-in-law to be translated into Tamul, 
 to be read to the catechists, readers, and schoolmasters. We know 
 how deeply the welfare of our nation in particular was at the heart 
 of your dear father. He has surely met many souls in heaven, and 
 will still meet those to whom his prayers and labours have been 
 blessed. We shall soon see them ourselves, and enjoy inexpressible 
 happiness. I was employed at Tranquebar inspecting the Free 
 Schools of our Society, when your father landed there on his way 
 to visit Tanjore and Trichinoply. When I came to Tinnevelly 
 in 1832, 1 found in several churches a table in Tamul, prepared by 
 your father for the catechists, to teach them how to use the common 
 prayer-book on Sundays and other days. I think I saw the first 
 copy written by your father's own hand in Mothelloor church. 
 
 I do not know if you are informed of. the village called 
 Houghayyerpuram. Out of gratitude to Mr Hough, the Christians 
 about thirty years ago gave his name to it. You will thus easily 
 see how well his dear name is preserved by our people. It is the 
 custom of this place. So we have villages called Tuckerpuram, 
 
XX11 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 Pholayyerpuram, &c., &c. My elderly catechist, Moses, tells me 
 that he knew Mr Hough very well when he was twelve years old. 
 Mr Hough used to visit their congregation, preach, and administer 
 holy ordinances to the people. Your late dear father prepared a 
 number of books for the native Christians, more especially the 
 heathen youths instructed in English. One, a very interesting 
 pamphlet, called " Prophecy of Daniel the Prophet." It is pub- 
 lished in English and Tamul, and is very useful to those who 
 study the same, and English. My boarding boys and girls, in 
 particular, use this book children supported in my school by 
 friends in England. 
 
 I feel myself very thankful that you have been so kind to com- 
 municate to me the very interesting particulars of your dear 
 father. I beg you to accept the cordial respect of Mrs John and 
 all my children, and myself, and present the same to your dear 
 brothers and sisters. Commending me, my family, and work, to 
 your affectionate prayer. 
 
 I remain, respected Ma'm, your obedient Servant, 
 
 JOHN DEVASAGAYAM. 
 
 The second is from the Rev. Seenivasagayam 
 who, as referred to above, was admitted to priest's 
 orders in December 1859 by the Bishop of Madras. 
 
 SUVESESHAPURM, Sept. 15. 1849. 
 
 KESPECTED MADAM, The Eev. John Devasagayam, missionary 
 at Kadatchepuram, has been so kind as to send me a Tamul tran- 
 slation of your kind letter, which you wrote to him. We, indeed, 
 deeply regret to hear of the death of the Kev. Mr Hough. But we 
 are especially comforted, when we read the words he pronounced 
 at the time of his death, and we firmly hope, if we are the 
 followers of Christ, and firmly believe Grod like him, we shall have 
 the happiness of meeting our amiable pastor in the heavenly 
 Canaan. 
 
 T, Seenivasagam Pillay, though I have been born of Christian 
 parents, while I was at the age of eleven, I was instructed first by 
 your father about Christianity. Moreover, your father established 
 many schools in different places, in order that the Word of G-od 
 may be propagated throughout Southern India, and evidently made 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. XX111 
 
 known the light of the gospel to those places which are covered by 
 ignorance and folly. In those times, Mansillamunia Pillay (my 
 eldest brother), was appointed as head master, and I was monitor 
 under him. The seed which your dear father had sown grew, and 
 now produces fruit abundantly in this region, and the Lord made 
 his words effectual in us, and granted his grace that we may pro- 
 claim the word of salvation to our fellow-countrymen. We, and 
 others who had received the privilege of instruction from your 
 father, remembered him very often. At last we (the three brothers) 
 wrote a letter to him, in order to know the health of your dear 
 father, and sent it through the Rev. G-. Pettitt, who intended at 
 that time to proceed to England. But we waited for a long time 
 to receive an answer from him, and now we are thankful that our 
 dear pastor has departed this life with peace and joy. 
 
 Respected Madam, We pray to G-od always to bless you, and 
 your brothers and sisters, and all other benefactors and superiors. 
 We beg you also to pray for us, that we might serve God until the 
 time of our death, and keep us from the pollution of the world, 
 that we may also enter into the heavenly Canaan. 
 
 We are, respected Madam, Yours very obediently, 
 
 SEENIVASAGUM PILLAY. 
 
 On his way to Madras, Mr Hough visited the 
 Missions of Tranquebar, Tanjore, and Trichinopoly, 
 "Almost consecrated ground to the Missionary/' he 
 writes, after describing the spots where laboured, and 
 now rest, the mortal remains of the earliest Mission- 
 aries to South India. He also mentions his inter- 
 course with John Devasagayam at Tranquebar, and 
 adds, " The Tinnevelly Mission of the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society may be considered as a germ of this, 
 for it was hither I sent our first Tamul master, to be 
 instructed in Dr John's system of education ; and we 
 have always conducted our schools on the same plan." 
 
 Whilst he was thus energetically pursuing his 
 labours, and was abundantly prospered in his exer- 
 
XXIV BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 tions, it is very beautiful and instructive to observe 
 his genuine humility. The following letter, though 
 strictly of a private nature, I cannot forbear to publish 
 as being illustrative of his character. It is written to 
 a relative in England, November 22, 1819, and records 
 his feelings upon reading the life of Henry Martyn, 
 which he had just received : 
 
 "I have just been reading the account of dear 
 Martyn's leaving England ; and it revived, for the 
 time, all the painful feelings that disturbed my own 
 mind on the like occassion. But his trials were the 
 greater, for he had no tender partner of his grief, no 
 fond companion, such as / had, to compensate for the 
 sacrifice of all his much loved friends. He left them 
 with the resolution of quitting them for ever, whereas 
 I indulged the hope of seeing you all again. But, oh, 
 what a heavenly, what a devoted spirit did he breathe ! 
 To possess his humility, his absorption in the love and 
 majesty of God, his ardent thirst for the salvation of 
 the heathen, were surely enough to support the soul 
 under the heaviest trials ; and hence he rose triumph- 
 ant. In zeal for the honour of God and the salvation of 
 men, at what a distance do I stand from this apos- 
 tolic brother ; no wonder, therefore, that my internal 
 grace and support are so eclipsed by his, The more I 
 read of him, the more am I abashed and ashamed at 
 having written, even to you, my beloved sister, any- 
 thing of what I have done. Were I to record, as I 
 ought, whatever I have left undone, you also would 
 be ashamed of me, and think I had been little more 
 than a cumberer of the ground. for grace to gird 
 up the loins of my mind, to RUN the race that is set 
 before me, to make full proof of my ministry, so 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. XXV 
 
 that, notwithstanding my past inactivity, I may yet 
 prove a labourer that need not be ashamed !" 
 
 In 18j(l, Mr Hough settled at Poonamallee, having * 
 left Palamcottah, the central point of the Tinnevelly 
 Mission, which contained at the time of his withdrawal, 
 thirteen schools, two English, and eleven Tamul. He 
 entered with his characteristic devotion upon the duties 
 of his new station. The capacious barracks were capa- 
 ble of containing one thousand men, and attached to 
 them was a large military hospital, in which, especially 
 amongst the invalid soldiers, his labours were most 
 assiduous, and, in many cases, were greatly blessed. 
 He soon opened an English school for the children of 
 British prisoners. To this he also added a Tamul 
 school, and finding that there were some native 
 Christians scattered about in the neighbourhood, he 
 employed a catechist to seek them out, " wandering," 
 in his own words, "in the midst of idolatry and 
 wickedness, as sheep having no shepherd." These 
 were speedily gathered together, and, with others 
 brought through his instrumentality to the faith of 
 the Gospel, were formed into a congregation, for 
 whom, before the end of the year, by means of sub- 
 scriptions which he had raised, he erected a small 
 church. 
 
 At this time, he also performed a Missionary excur- 
 sion round the environs of Madras, in company with 
 two Missionaries the Rev. Messrs Barenbruck and 
 Eidsdale, his object being to exdeavour to extend the 
 limits of the Madras Mission. 
 
 As he had already done at Palamcottah, so also 
 now at Poonamallee, he founded an Auxiliary of the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society. 
 
XXVI BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 During the whole of this period he was also devot- 
 ing his time and energies to literary studies. Before he 
 left Palamcottah, he had received an application from 
 the Bible Society,, to undertake a fresh translation of 
 the New Testament into Tamul, and had just com- 
 menced it, when his new appointment was received. 
 As soon, therefore, as he was settled at Poonamallee, 
 he entered upon this sacred task. In conjunction with 
 this, he was also engaged in the arrangement of a 
 Tamul Dictionary, which, he remarked, " is more in- 
 teresting to my moonshee, than the translation of 
 Scripture." The delight which he experienced in this 
 branch of labour, as well as the indefatigable zeal with 
 which he pursued it, is best expressed by himself : 
 "The translation of the Scriptures is a work, the 
 pleasure of which, I could never have anticipated, as it 
 leads me to examine every word, and even point, of the 
 sacred text, and consult different authorities and criti- 
 cisms on the sacred volume ; and, in proportion to the 
 research, am repaid for the labour. This, together with 
 the Dictionary, employs me from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M., 
 with the exception of the dinner hour." This constant 
 strain upon mind and body, was more than any con- 
 stitution, native or European, could long endure. 
 His moonshee, after a few months of such application, 
 was unable to proceed, and a second was appointed to 
 divide his labour ; and at last, in January 1822, fre- 
 quent giddiness, and a severe liver-attack, told how 
 sorely Mr Hough's powers had been overtaxed. Thus, 
 " to his power, yea, and beyond his power, he was will- 
 ing of himself," to " spend and be spent" in his blessed 
 Master's cause ; until, at length obliged to seek rest, 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. XXV11 
 
 by returning for a time to Europe. He had now been 
 at Poonamallee only nine months, and it is cause for 
 great thankfulness to observe how much God was 
 pleased to enable him to accomplish in so brief a space 
 of time, his garrison and hospital duties, constant 
 preaching, two schools, English and Tamul, opened, 
 a small native church erected, his Tamul Dictionary 
 in a forward state, and the translation of the following 
 portions of Scripture completed, viz., the whole of 
 St Luke's gospel, six and a half chapters of the Acts, 
 and three and a half of the epistle to the Eomans. 
 What a bright example of love, zeal, and self-denial, 
 did God thus make his servant to those who should 
 come after him ; and how graciously did He own and 
 honour such labours undertaken for His sake ! 
 
 After an absence of two years, Mr Hough returned 
 to India in 1824. Upon his arrival, he was appointed 
 to St George's Church, in Madras, in which charge he 
 continued during the brief remainder of his stay in 
 India. In this year he wrote and published his ela- 
 borate and masterly " Reply to the Letters of the 
 Abbe Dubois on the state of Christianity in India." 
 
 But it soon became apparent that the powers of his 
 constitution had been already too seriously impaired, 
 to allow of his continuing much longer his residence 
 in India. Failing health soon obliged him to retire 
 to the Neilgherry Mountains, with the hope that their 
 peculiar salubrity of climate might effect his restora- 
 tion. But such was not the will of God. His work 
 in India was done ; and after a residence of a little 
 more than a year in the hills, in 1826 he finally left 
 the land he so dearly loved, and returned to Europe. 
 
 From this time he devoted himself to pastoral work 
 
XXV1U BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 at home, in the different ministerial spheres to which he 
 was successively appointed. But, even then, India had 
 a large share of both his labours and his prayers. He 
 was a regular and valued member of both the general 
 and corresponding Committees of the Church Mission- 
 ary Society, whose weekly and monthly meetings he 
 regularly attended, as also those of the Translation 
 Committee of the Christian Knowledge Society, of 
 which also he was a member. 
 
 In 1829, he published in one volume a series of 
 letters which originally appeared in the Bengal Hur- 
 karu, entitled " Letters on the Climate, Inhabitants, 
 Productions, &c., of the Neilgherries, or Blue Mountains 
 of Coimbatoor, South India." Having derived great 
 benefit from his brief sojourn there, he was anxious 
 to draw the attention of Europeans, and of the Govern- 
 ment especially in India, to the singular healthiness 
 of that hill- residence, which was then but little known, 
 and therefore imperfectly appreciated. 
 
 In 1837 appeared a course of lectures, delivered in 
 Moorfields Chapel, London, by that well known 
 Romish advocate, Dr Wiseman. Statements were 
 therein made so contrary to truth, and so defamatory 
 of Protestant Missions, that the Committee of the 
 Church Missionary Society applied to Mr Hough to 
 reply to these misstatements, rightly judging that the 
 task could not be consigned to better hands than of 
 him, who had already so successfully refuted the errors 
 and exposed the misrepresentations of another Jesuit 
 emissary from Rome, the Abbe Dubois. Mr Hough 
 according published his work, " The Protestant Mis- 
 sions vindicated against the aspersions of the Rev. N. 
 Wiseman, D.D., involving the Protestant Religion." 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. XXIX 
 
 Many of those best qualified to judge have long ago 
 testified their approval and admiration of the spirit 
 and ability wkh which the duty thus assigned him has 
 been discharged. 
 
 The last ten years of his life were devoted with per- 
 severing diligence, laborious research, and unwearied 
 study, to the preparation of his last great work, " The 
 History of Christianity in India," four volumes of 
 which he lived to publish, and the fifth and last, now 
 offered to the Christian Church, was left by him in 
 manuscript. Of its importance and value, every 
 reader to whom the Mission cause is dear, will easily 
 judge for himself. The entire work, as has been al- 
 ready stated, was presented by its author to the Church 
 Missionary Society. No words can describe better 
 than his own the disinterestedness of his motives and 
 views, both in undertaking the work, and in wishing 
 that the Church Missionary Society should enjoy the 
 profits of it : " It has long been my wish to contri- 
 bute something to our Disabled Missionaries' Fund, 
 and I have been pleasing myself with the thought of 
 appropriating to this object the proceeds of my History. 
 My primary object in composing this work, which has 
 cost me ten years of hard labour and anxiety, was to 
 put the Church in possession of authentic information 
 to meet the Papists' vauntings of their own Missions, 
 and their attempt to depreciate those of the Protestants. 
 I hope the public will think that this has been done, 
 however imperfectly : and it will make me happy in- 
 deed, to find that some pecuniary advantage has ac- 
 crued from the publication for our Society's Disabled 
 Missionaries. May the Lord vouchsafe to accept this 
 humble offering, and to Him be the praise !" 
 
XXX BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 His last parochial charge was the incumbency of 
 Ham, Surrey, to which he was appointed in 1832, and 
 in which he spent the closing sixteen years of his life. 
 Of the manner of his discharge of his duties, both as 
 an evangelist and a pastor, his former life is the best 
 guarantee ; and it is as unnecessary, as it would be 
 improper, for me to attempt a description. The best 
 records are to be found in the respect and affection 
 with which his memory is still cherished, in the deep 
 sorrow which gathered such a crowd round his grave, 
 and made the time of his burial a day of mourning in 
 his parish ; and above all, in those seals to his ministry, 
 who, united with his spiritual children from India, 
 will be his " joy and crown of rejoicing" " in the pre- 
 sence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming." 
 
 Owing to the precarious state of his health, he had 
 been sent to winter at Hastings, and there, on 2d of 
 November 1847, full of calm peace and joy, he entered 
 into rest, realising in his own happy experience the 
 truth of the last words which he quoted, " Kept by 
 the power of God through faith unto salvation." 
 
 More I fear to add, lest filial devotion should seem 
 to exaggerate, and I should appear to transgress the 
 bounds of soberness and truth ; though I am also con- 
 scious that this very scruple has deterred me from 
 writing so freely as the subject would have warranted, 
 and even required, and thus full justice has not been 
 done to the character and services of one whom God 
 condescended, by his grace, signally to honour and 
 bless. I have deeply felt, that a son's is not the hand 
 to rear a monument to a father's memory. But I pre- 
 sent this tribute to the Christian Church as furnishing 
 a bright example to others, not for the purpose of 
 
OF THE AUTHOR. XXXI 
 
 lauding and exalting a beloved and sainted parent. 
 And in so doing I act under the sanction of, and in 
 accordance with, his own sentiments. For shortly 
 before his death, upon a wish being expressed to him 
 that he had drawn up for his family a separate account 
 of what God had done by him, he said, " Oh ! how 
 mean and worthless will the best we have done for 
 the Saviour appear, when we have joined that bright 
 company around the throne. It is not our doing, it 
 is all Christ, and his Spirit working in us." And then, 
 after a pause, he added, " Yet it is well to record what 
 they who have finished their earthly course have been 
 enabled to do for Christ, that their example. may stir 
 others up, and cheer others on in the heavenly race, 
 who are still left to labour here below." 
 
 With our praises to God for having given grace to this 
 "wise master builder" thus to lay "the foundation," 
 let us mingle our prayers to the great Head of the 
 Church, that he will raise up and equip many others to 
 " build thereon," filling them " with the Spirit of God, 
 in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge," 
 (Exod. xxxi. 3), that so they may rear with "lively 
 stones" the hearts of the faithful in every land such 
 a temple as shall prove the " habitation of God through 
 the Spirit" (Eph. ii. 2). 
 
 THOMAS a. P. HOUGH. 
 
 HAM PAKSONAGE, July 1860. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. V. 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EPISCOPATK OF DR THOMAS FANSHAW MIDDLETON, FIRST BISHOP OK CALCUTTA. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. The Bishop's arrival at Calcutta 1 
 
 2. His first appearance in the pulpit 2 
 
 3. His anomalous relation to his Clergy 3 
 
 4. Arrangement of the Archdeaconries 6 
 
 5. Attention to the Calcutta Schools 6 
 
 6. Christian Knowledge Society Calcutta Committee ... 7 
 
 7. Madras Committee 8 
 
 8. Bishop's views on the conversion of the natives .... 8 
 
 9. First confirmation and visitation 11 
 
 10. Bishop proceeds to Madras 12 
 
 11. Proceedings of the District Committee 12 
 
 12. Consecration of St George's Church 13 
 
 13. Confirmation and Visitation 13 
 
 14. Vepery Mission 13 
 
 15 Bishop proceeds southward . . . .... . .14 
 
 16. Cuddalore Chillumbrum Tranquebar Tanjore Trichinopoly 15 
 
 17. Bishop's comparative view of Romanists and Protestants . 19 
 
 18. Palamcottah Arambooly Pass 20 
 
 19. Government treatment of Native Christians ..... 21 
 
 20. Quilon Cochin Bombay 22 
 
 21. Christian Knowledge Society's Committee . . . 23 
 
 22. Proceedings at Bombay 24 
 
 23. Character of Romanists - . . ' . .25 
 
 24. Goa Cannanore Cochin . . . . . . 26 
 
XXXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 25. Interview with the Syrian Metran 28 
 
 26. Visit to the Syrian Churches 28 
 
 27. AHepie Columbo 30 
 
 28. Progress of Christianity in Ceylon ,32 
 
 29. Bishop preaches at Columbo . . . . . . . .33 
 
 30. Bishop returns to Calcutta 34 
 
 31. Measures for the improvement of the church establishment . . 36 
 
 32. Difficulty with reference to the missionary clergy .... 36 
 
 33. Impediments in the Bishop's path 39 
 
 34. Indications of a favourable movement 40 
 
 35. Measures for native education 41 
 
 36. Project of a collegiate establishment 42 
 
 37. Royal Letter for the object 44 
 
 38. Review of the Gospel Propagation Society 44 
 
 39. Grant from the Christian Knowledge Society 46 
 
 40. Grant from the Church Missionary Society 46 
 
 41. Bishop's second visitation 46 
 
 42. Second visit to Madras 49 
 
 43. The Christian Knowledge Society's Missions 60 
 
 44. Bishop's visit to Penang 52 
 
 45. Relief of the Tranquebar Mission 53 
 
 46. Foundation of St James' Church and Schools, Calcutta ... 54 
 
 47. Death of the Archdeacon of Madras and the Governor of Penang . 55 
 
 48. Bishop's standard of Missionary character 56 
 
 49. Evils of a superficial knowledge among the natives ... 57 
 50 English Liturgy in Cingalese and Tamul 58 
 
 51. Converted soldier at Meerut 60 
 
 52. Improvement in the free school .61 
 
 53. Grant of land for the college 62 
 
 54. Plan and estimate of the building 63 
 
 55. Bishop's preparatory discourse 64 
 
 56. Lays the foundation-stone 64 
 
 57. Second visitation at Bombay 67 
 
 58. Bishop suffers from his exertions 68 
 
 59. Visit to Cochin 69 
 
 60. Conversion of a Romish Vicar Apostolic . . 70 
 
 61. Bishop's interview with the Syrian Metran 71 
 
 62. 'Columbo now under the Bishop's jurisdiction .... 75 
 
 63. Ordination of Mr Armour 77 
 
 64. Not authorised to ordain a native . . . . . .78 
 
 65. European prejudices against East Indians . . : . .80 
 
 66. School of Industry at Point de Galle . . . . -81 
 
 67. Arrival of a principal and a professor 82 
 
 68. Account of Ram Mohun Roy 83 
 
 69. Grant from the Bible Society to the College 87 
 
 70. Third visitation at Calcutta . 88 
 
CONTENTS. XXXV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 71. Bishop's incessant occupation 88 
 
 72. Encouraging aspect of the missionaiy field 89 
 
 73. Bishop urgent for missionary aid . 90 
 
 74. English missionaries required .91 
 
 75. Church Missionary Society's annual grant of 1000 to the College 93 
 
 76. Bishop's sickness and death 94 
 
 77. His funeral .... 98 
 
 78. Review of his character and proceedings 98 
 
 79. Good result from his exertion 102 
 
 80. Public testimony to his worth 105 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY IN BOMBAY, 1816-1820. 
 
 1. Success of Archdeacon Barnes's exertions 107 
 
 2. Increase of chaplains 108 
 
 3. First supply of bonks from the S. P. C. K 108 
 
 4. The effects of war 109 
 
 5. First schools for natives by the Education Society . . . .110 
 
 6. Extension of territory, and increase of military force . . .111 
 
 7. First Scotch church built 113 
 
 8. Churches erected at various stations 114 
 
 9. Visitation of Bishop Middleton Chaplains increased . . .114 
 
 10. Visitation of Bishop Heber Gospel Propagation and Church Mis- 
 
 sionary Societies established ....... 115 
 
 11. New schools of the Education Society built at Bycullah . . 116 
 
 12. The Native Education Society formed 117 
 
 13. Government support of regimental schools Military Asylum esta- 
 
 blished 1]8 
 
 14. Retirement of Arch. Barnes 118 
 
 Conclusion 119 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE SOUTH INDIA MISSIONS, 
 
 1817-1826. 
 
 1. Revival of the Vepery Mission . . . ." . .121 
 
 2. Printing the Tamul Liturgy 123 
 
XXXVI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3. Account of the mission property ...... 123 
 
 4. Arrival of three missionaries 124 
 
 5. Improvement in the schools and congregation .... 125 
 
 6. A new church erected . . . 127 
 
 7. View of the mission in 1826 128 
 
 8. Revival at Cuddalore under the Rev. C. Church .... 129 
 
 9. Declines again on his removal 130 
 
 10. Arrival of a missionary at Tanjore 131 
 
 11. State of the Mission 131 
 
 12. Death of M. Pohle at Trichinopoly 133 
 
 13. Arrival of a successor . . . . = . . . .134 
 
 14. Christians at Coimbatoor . 135 
 
 15. State of the Palamcottah mission in 1819 136 
 
 16. Measures for its improvement ....... 140 
 
 17. Its progress in 1821 . 141 
 
 18. State of the Negapatam mission ....... 143 
 
 19. Native education in Bengal . . . , . . . 144 
 
 20. Native education at Bombay and Columbo ...... 146 
 
 21. Transfer of the missions to Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 
 in Foreign Parts 147 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BAPTIST MISSION IN BENGAL AND THE EAST, FROM 1817 TO 1820. 
 
 1. Separation of the Serampore Mission from the Baptist Society . 150 
 
 2. Arrival of missionaries at Calcutta 152 
 
 3. Operations extended in the schools 153 
 
 4. Generosity of a convert 154 
 
 5. Piety of a convert 154 
 
 6. New chapel at Calcutta and Dum-Dum 155 
 
 7. Apostasy of a missionary . . . 155 
 
 8. Brahmins begin to oppose the Gospel 156 
 
 9. Accession and loss of several labourers 157 
 
 10. Effect of a devoted missionary's death 159 
 
 11. Success at Howrah .... 160 
 
 12. Fallacy of a Jesuits assertions respecting the progress of Christianity 
 
 in India .... 161 
 
 13- New missionaries arrive; their occupations . . . 162 
 
 14 Summary of the progress at Calcutta .... . 163 
 
 15. Success at Cutwa and Beerbhoom ...-.. 164 
 
CONTENTS. XXXV11 
 
 PAGE 
 
 16. Description of the converts 166 
 
 17. Operations at Moorshedabad 166 
 
 18. Mr Chamberlain at Monghyr 168 
 
 19. Conversion and death of a Brahmin 169 
 
 20. Also of a Hindoo devotee 169 
 
 21. Death of Mr Chamberlain 171 
 
 22. Mrs Chamberlain in charge of the station 172 
 
 23. Arrival of a missionary promising commencement of his labours . 172 
 
 24. Kemarkable conversions at Digah 173 
 
 25. The missionary's death exertions of his widow .... 175 
 
 26. Arrival of another missionary 176 
 
 27. Labours in the province of Orissa . 176 
 
 28. Schools at Agimere . .177 
 
 29. Mission in Ceylon 179. 
 
 30. Establishment of a college at Serampore 181 
 
 31. Commencement of the studies 184 
 
 32. Chartered by the King of Denmark 186 
 
 33. Progress of general education 186 
 
 34. Establishment of useful institutions 187 
 
 35. A Pastoral Letter to the congregations 187 
 
 36. Instances of conversion 188 
 
 37. Satisfactory deaths of converts 188 
 
 38. Death of several members of the mission 189 
 
 39. Mr Ward's preparation for death 190 
 
 40. Summary of his varied labours 191 
 
 41. Accession to the mission means of usefulness 192 
 
 42. State of the congregation a Christian village .... 193 
 
 43. Progress at Jessore 194 
 
 44. Progress among the Romanists and others at Dacca . . . 195 
 
 45. Conversion of a Jewish family 196 
 
 46. Progress of general education 196 
 
 47. Instruction given to Bengalee teachers 198 
 
 48. General thirst for knowledge 198 
 
 49. Chittagong murder of the missionary 200 
 
 50. Death of his successor 201 
 
 51. Varied progress and trials at the station 202 
 
 52. Station formed in Arracan 204 
 
 53. Malda relinquished 205 
 
 54. Dinagepore assiduity and generosity of Mr Fernandez . . 205 
 
 55. Awakening at Benares 207 
 
 56. Commencement at Futtyghur and Muttra 208 
 
 57. Excesses of superstition at Allahabad 209 
 
 58. The missionary's perseverance 212 
 
 59. Visits to Cawnpore 212 
 
 60. Promising commencement at Delhi . . - . . . . 213 
 
 61. Native professions to be received with caution .... 216 
 
XXXV111 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 62. Total of converts unknown 216 
 
 63. Number of labourers hitherto employed 217 
 
 64. Progress of translations of the Scriptures 218 
 
 65. Vindication of their character , 220 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSION TO BURMAH, 1817-1826. 
 
 1. Some account of the character and customs of the Burmese . . 223 
 
 2. Encouraging commencement of the mission 227 
 
 3. Beginning of the missionaries' troubles 227 
 
 4. Missionaries dispersed 230 
 
 5. They are reassembled 231 
 
 6. Two missionaries from America 232 
 
 7. Commencement of public worship 232 
 
 8. Favourable impression on the natives 233 
 
 9. The first Burmese convert 234 
 
 10. The next two converts 235 
 
 11. Death of the king of Ava 235 
 
 12. Unfavourable change in the mission ...... 236 
 
 13. Missionaries' reception at the court of Ava 237 
 
 14. Their return to Rangoon ........ 239 
 
 15. Fidelity of the converts 240 
 
 16. Mr Judson remains at Rangoon ....... 240 
 
 17. Progress of the Gospel 241 
 
 18. Satisfactory character of the converts 242 
 
 19. Arrival of a missionary physician 243 
 
 20. He is summoned to the court of Ava 243 
 
 21. Favourably received by the king 244 
 
 22. Mr Judson returns to Rangoon 245 
 
 23. Translation of the Scriptures 245 
 
 24. Arrival of another missionary . 247 
 
 25. State of the female converts 248 
 
 26. Mr and Mrs Judson proceed to Ava 249 
 
 27. Burmans' designs against the East India Company's territories . 249 
 
 28. Arrival of a British fleet at Rangoon 250 
 
 29. Imprisonment and sufferings of the Europeans .... 250 
 
 30. Sufferings of the missionaries and others at Ava .... 252 
 
 31. Their deliverance, and return to Rangoon 262 
 
 32. A new station formed at Amherst 262 
 
 33. Mrs Judson's death . 263 
 
CONTENTS. XXXIX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 34. Admiration of the English at the court of A va .... 264 
 
 35. Dr Price's proceedings at Ava 264 
 
 36. Conclusion . 265 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN NORTH INDIA, 1817-1826. 
 
 1. Rev. D. Corrie's return 267 
 
 2. Baptizes a native convert 268 
 
 3. Appointed Archdeacon of Calcutta 269 
 
 4. A missionary appointed to the Female Asylum .... 270 
 
 5. Extension of education 271 
 
 6. Establishment at Mirzapore . . . . . . . . 272 
 
 7. A central school opened 273 
 
 8. Female education 274 
 
 9. Opening of the first schools . . 276 
 
 10. Their rapid increase 279 
 
 11. Need of teachers 281 
 
 12. Ladies' Society for Female Education 281 
 
 13. Public examination of the schools 282 
 
 14. A central school established 284 
 
 15. The missionaries' preaching 285 
 
 16. Several converts 286 
 
 17. The mission press 287 
 
 18. Church Missionary Association and Auxiliary Society . . . 289 
 
 19. Schools and church at Agra 290 
 
 20. Abdool Messeeh ordained 293 
 
 21. His death 293 
 
 22. Chunar . . . . ' 295 
 
 23. A missionary joins the station 296 
 
 24. Mr Bowley's intercourse with the natives 297 
 
 25. His ordination ; increase of his flock 298 
 
 26. Schools Translations 299 
 
 27. Church at Buxar 300 
 
 28. Opening at Titalya 301 
 
 29. Station suspended . 303 
 
 30. Establishment at Burdwan 304 
 
 31. Arrival of three missionaries 307 
 
 32. Improvement in the schools 307 
 
 33. Female schools . . .309 
 
 34. Opening of a church and three chapels 309 
 
 35. Schools at Culna , 310 
 
xl CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 36. Native flock at Meerut 311 
 
 37. Community of Saadhs at Delhi 314 
 
 38. Success amongst them 316 
 
 39. Jay Narain's school at Benares 317 
 
 40. Jay Narain's death 321 
 
 41. His son fulfils his intentions 322 
 
 42. Progress of the school 323 
 
 43. Schools in the neighbourhood 324 
 
 44. Congregation of natives 325 
 
 45. Exertions in the neighbourhood 325 
 
 46. Gorruckpore station 326 
 
 47. Cawnpore and other stations 327 
 
 48. Summary of the mission . . 327 
 
 OHAPTEE VII. 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN SOUTH INDIA, 1817-1826. 
 
 1. Arrival of missionaries at Madras 329 
 
 2. Mr Rhenius makes a tour visits the Jains . 329 
 
 3. Progress of schools 331 
 
 4. Erection of the mission church, Black Town 334 
 
 5. Arrival of more missionaries ........ 337 
 
 6. Baptism of a Brahmin and other converts 338 
 
 7. Increase of schools Seminary established 341 
 
 8. C. M. S. associations formed 345 
 
 9. Printing press 345 
 
 10. Poonamallee Trippasoor . 346 
 
 11. Tranquebar 347 
 
 12. Chillambarum 349 
 
 13. Mr Schnarre's death 350 
 
 14. John Devasagayam takes temporary charge of the station . . 351 
 
 15. Head-quarters of the mission removed to Mayaveram . . . 352 
 
 16. Tinnevelly Schools established Aid from the Church Missionary 
 
 Society .... 354 
 
 17. Rev. J. Hough's report, as given by the Society A seminary 
 
 opened 355 
 
 18. Arrival of its first missionaries at Palamcottah .... 361 
 
 19. Progress of the seminary 362 
 
 20. Progress of the mission Female education 364 
 
 21. Baptism of converts 367 
 
 22. Aspersions answered 371 
 
 23. Testimony of the S. P. C. K 373 
 
CONTENTS. xli 
 
 PAGE 
 
 24. Travancore Revs. Bailey and Fenn at Cotym .... 373 
 
 25. Mr Fenn's tour through Travancore and Cochin .... 375 
 
 26. Mission work at Cotym 379 
 
 27. Scriptures translated into Malay nlim Arrival of printing press, &c. 382 
 
 28. Progress of translations 384 
 
 29. Account of the Syrian Church 385 
 
 30. College and schools at Cotym 387 
 
 31. Arrival of Rev. J. W. Doran 389 
 
 32. Schools for the Syrians 390 
 
 33. Female school 391 
 
 34. Visits of Bishop Middleton and Rev. W. H. Mill to the Syrians 393 
 
 35. Death of Mar Dionysius 395 
 
 36. Allepie 399 
 
 37. Success of the mission 400 
 
 38. Cochin Labours among the Jews 404 
 
 39. Success of Mr Ridsdale's exertions 405 
 
 40. Nellore 406 
 
 41. Masulipatam 406 
 
 42. Tellicherry , 407 
 
 43. Cannanore . 408 
 
 44. Coimbatoor 410 
 
 45. Chittoor Rev. H. Harper commences a mission work . . .411 
 
 46. Mr D acre's exertions for the natives 411 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN WESTERN INDIA, 1818-1826. 
 
 1. Arrival of the first missionary 417 
 
 2. Schools opened 418 
 
 3. Translation of the Liturgy . . . . . . . , . 418 
 
 4. Extension of mission work northwards Female education . . 419 
 
 5. Church Missionary Association formed 420 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN CEYLON, 1817-1826. 
 
 1. Arrival of four missionaries 421 
 
 2. Kandy 422 
 
xlii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3. Government grant of land mission buildings erected . . . 424 
 
 4. Protestant burial-ground opened 425 
 
 5. Missionary encouragements 426 
 
 6. Cotta Grant of ground schools built 427 
 
 7. Printing department 429 
 
 8. Baddagme Character of the inhabitants 430 
 
 9. Schools built 431 
 
 10. Boarding-school established 431 
 
 11. Missionaries' course of ministry 432 
 
 12. Grant of land Church, mission-houses, and schools built . . 435 
 
 13. Missionaries' healths fail Arrival of Mr Trimnell . . .437 
 
 14. Nellore Schools opened 438 
 
 15. Effects of the ravages of cholera 439 
 
 16. A seminary commenced 440 
 
 17. Church and mission buildings erected on ground granted by Govern- 
 
 ment . 441 
 
 CHAPTEK X. 
 
 WESLEYAN MISSION IN CEYLON, 1817-1826. 
 
 1. Missionaries obtain native assistants 444 
 
 2. A seminary opened 445 
 
 3. New Testament and Liturgy printed 447 
 
 4. Negombo Schools established 448 
 
 5. Kornegalle Land from Government for mission premises . . 449 
 
 6. Caltura Point de Galle Matura 450 
 
 7. Schools Ministry 451 
 
 8. Batticaloa Trincomalee 463 
 
 9. Jaffna Service held by a Portuguese lady 454 
 
 10. Point Pedro . 455 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 WESLEYAN MISSION IN SOUTH INDIA, 1817-1822. 
 
 2. Progress of mission work in Madras and the neighbourhood . . 457 
 
 2. Negapatam 458 
 
 3. Bangalore 459 
 
 4. Bombay A mission commenced 460 
 
CONTENTS. xliii 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AMERICAN MISSION IN BOMBAY, 1817-1826. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Progress of the mission Cordiality of the Jews .... 462 
 
 2. A chapel built 463 
 
 3. Conversion of a Mahomedan 465 
 
 4. Schools prosper continued on Sunday 466 
 
 5. Female and boarding schools begun 468 
 
 6. The press employed by the Christian Knowledge %nd other Societies 469 
 
 7. Mahratta translation of the Scriptures 470 
 
 8. Death of Gordon Hall, founder of the mission 471 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AMERICAN MISSION IN CEYLON, 1816-1826. 
 
 1. The mission commenced at Tillipally and Batticotta Assisted by 
 
 Government with lands and buildings . . . . 473 
 
 2. The stations increased to six around Jaffnapatam .... 475 
 
 3. A revival 475 
 
 4. Male, female, and boarding schools ....... 477 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN NORTH INDIA, 1817-1826. 
 
 1. A mission formed at Calcutta 483 
 
 2. Tally Gunge given up to the S. P. C. K 484 
 
 3. Chapels built at Dhurrumtollah and other stations . . . 485 
 
 4. Schools for the young and adults 486 
 
 5. Printing press 487 
 
 6. Schools at Chinsurah School Book and Calcutta School Societies 487 
 
 7. Chinsurah restored to the Dutch, but schools continue to be sup- 
 
 ported by the British Government . 489 
 
 8. Mission schools opened 489 
 
 9. Mission commenced at Benares 491 
 
 10. Report of the mission 493 
 
xllV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN SOUTH INDIA, 1817-1826. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Madras Account of the first native convert 496 
 
 2. Missionaries engaged in English services 501 
 
 3. A central school established 502 
 
 4. Vizagapatam Teloogoo translation of the Scriptures . . . 503 
 
 5. South Travancore Nagracoil 506 
 
 6. Mission at Combacdhum ........ 510 
 
 7. Schools A seminary 512 
 
 8. Union with the Church missionaries in forming a tract association 514 
 
 9. Quilon ... 515 
 
 10. Belhary Baptism of the first converts ..... 516 
 
 11. Translation of the Scriptures into Canarese 518 
 
 12. Bible, missionary, and tract association Schools .... 518 
 
 13. Bangalore Exertions of Major Mackworth 520 
 
 14. Converts from among Romanists and natives .... 521 
 
 15. Belgaum The missionary employed as chaplain by Government . 523 
 
 16. Baptism of Brahmins 524 
 
 17. Benefits of the missionary's tour and labours .... 525 
 
 18. Cuddapah Mission station commenced Various translations into 
 
 Teloogoo 526 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN WESTERN INDIA, 18171826. 
 
 1. The missionaries preach to English as well as natives . . . 529 
 
 2. At length succeed in establishing schools 530 
 
 3. Translation of the Scriptures and other books into Guzerattee . 531 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SCOTTISH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN WESTERN INDIA, 1823-1826. 
 
 1. Commenced by Mr Mitchell Success of schools in neighbouring 
 
 villages 533 
 
 2. Arrival of four more missionaries 534 
 
 3. Scriptures in Mahratta supplied by the Bible and Christian Know- 
 
 ledge Societies' associations 536 
 
CONTENTS. 
 CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 
 EPISCOPATE OF DB REGINALD HEBER, SECOND BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Appointment of Rev. R. Heber to the See of Calcutta . . 537 
 
 2. Arrival in India 538 
 
 3. Examines the state of education 539 
 
 4. Bishop's College 540 
 
 5. Liceses Church missionaries . . . . . . . . 540 
 
 6. The first ordination of a native 542 
 
 7. Confirmation Visitation of the clergy ...... 544 
 
 8. Embarks for the Upper Provinces 545 
 
 9. Death of his chaplain 546 
 
 10. Destitute state of religion 548 
 
 11. Church and school at Benares . . . . . . 651 
 
 12. Mission at Chunar 553 
 
 13. Allahabad Proceeds by land Cawnpore 655 
 
 14. Kingdom of Oude 556 
 
 15. Enters the Upper Provinces ........ 557 
 
 16. Himalaya mountains 558 
 
 17. Meerut Delhi Agra 560 
 
 18. Central India 563 
 
 19. Baroda Kairah Broach Surat 564 
 
 20. Arrival and exertions at Bombay 665 
 
 21. Visitation of Ceylon 569 
 
 22. Return to Calcutta . 576 
 
 23. Embarks for Madras 578 
 
 24. Proceeds to South India . . . 580 
 
 25. Mayaveram Combaconum 582 
 
 26. Tanjore Trichinopoly 582 
 
 27. The Bishop's death 585 
 
 28. Public demonstrations of sorrow ... .... 587 
 
 29. Expediency of dividing the diocese 589 
 
 30. Comparison of Middleton and Heber ...... 589 
 
 31. Estimate of Heber's character 590 
 
 CHAPTEK XIX. 
 
 EPISCOPATE OF DR JOHN THOMAS JAMES, THIRD BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 
 
 1. Appointment of Eev. J. T. James His consecration Lands at the 
 
 Cape of Good Hope 593 
 
 2. Confirmation Proposes the erection of a church .... 695 
 
xlvi CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3. Arrives at Calcutta 595 
 
 4. Visits Bishop's College Consecrates the Chapel and settles business 
 
 connected with the College 596 
 
 5. Divides Calcutta into church districts 598 
 
 6. Chaplains appointed surrogates 598 
 
 7. Consecrates the church in Fort William Confirmations Advocates 
 
 female education 598 
 
 8. Deplores the exclusion of the Bible from the colleges in Calcutta . 599 
 
 9. Missionary views 599 
 
 10. Visitation Addresses the missionaries in his charge . . . 600 
 
 11. Ordination 602 
 
 12. Supports the Bible Society .602 
 
 13. His health begins to suffer 603 
 
 14. Commences his visitation north, but obliged to return . . . 604 
 
 15. Resigns his bishopric Sails for Penang Dies on the voyage . 606 
 
 16. Testimonies borne to his life and character , 607 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 EPISCOPATE OF DR JOHN MATTHIAS TURNER, FOURTH BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 
 
 1. Circumstances which induced Dr Turner to accept the bishopric . 609 
 
 2. Interviews with Missionary Societies 610 
 
 3. Holds a confirmation at the Cape, and establishes a Sunday school . 612 
 
 4. Conveys the proposal from Government to arrange an ecclesiastical 
 
 establishment there . 612 
 
 5. Proceeds to Calcutta Meeting of the S. P. C. K. Visitation . 614 
 
 6. Archdeacon and Mrs Corrie become residents at the palace . .615 
 
 7. The Bishop's estimation of his character Various societies estab- 
 
 lished in Calcutta 616 
 
 8. Three churches built Bishop promotes the observance of the Lord's 
 
 day 617 
 
 9. Proposes measures for the benefit of India 620 
 
 10. Zealous for an efficient ecclesiastical establishment .... 622 
 
 11. Proposes the extension of the benefits of Bishop's College . . 623 
 
 12. Ordination A central school established at Howrah . . . 624 
 
 13. Support of the Church Missionary Society 625 
 
 14. Calcutta High School established 625 
 
 15. Infant School established and maintained by the Bishop Erection 
 
 of a new chapel at the Free School 629 
 
 16. Visits the Hindoo college The Archdeacon shews the evil effects of 
 
 education without religion . . . . . . . . 630 
 
CONTENTS. xlvii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 17. District charitable society formed 633 
 
 18. Visitation south Madras confirmations 634 
 
 19. Visits the S. P. C. K. establishment 634 
 
 20. Also the C. M. S. establishment Ordains two of its catechists . 635 
 
 21. Bishop visits Tripassoor, Bangalore, Seringapatam The Neil- 
 
 gherries 636 
 
 22. Bombay Ceylon Cotta Kandy Baddagame .... 637 
 
 23. Testimony to the work of the C. M. S 641 
 
 24. Report of the S. P. C. K. versions 641 
 
 25. Bishop's declining health His view of the state of religion generally 642 
 
 26. His illness Death 643 
 
 27. His character drawn by Archdeacon Corrie 645 
 
 28. Effect in England of the news of his death 647 
 
 27. Concluding remarks 649 
 
 APPENDIX ,653 
 
 
A HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA. 
 
 BOOK XIII. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EPISCOPATE OF DR THOMAS FANSHAW MIDDLETON, FIRST 
 BISHOP OF CALCUTTA 
 
 1 . THE appointment of Dr Thomas Fanshaw Mid- The 
 dleton to the Bishopric of Calcutta was mentioned ^mUt 
 above. 1 On the first mention of an Episcopal Calcutta. 
 Establishment for India, a strong prejudice against 
 it had been excited in the country ; and at the time 
 of the Bishop's arrival, a great jealousy of this 
 new dignity, no doubt, prevailed among the higher 
 powers. It was not, then, much to be wondered 
 at, that his public reception, as appears from his 
 first letters from Calcutta, somewhat disappointed 
 his expectations. The apparent inattention, how- 
 ever, which he remarked, may be accounted for, in 
 some degree, by the absence of the Governor-Gene- 
 
 1 Book x., chap. 1, sect. 34. See Appendix A of this VoL 
 This chapter is drawn up chiefly from Le Bas's Life of Bishop 
 Middleton. 
 
 VOL. V. A 
 
2 : HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, ral, the Earl of Moira, who was in the upper pro- 
 
 vinces, engaged in carrying on the Nepaulese war. 
 
 There was an uncertainty also, on the part of the 
 acting authorities in Council, of the Bishop's exact 
 position in the order of precedency, and, conse- 
 quently, of the honours with which he should be 
 saluted. (C But whatever might be his public recep- 
 tion, his private welcome," his biographer well ob- 
 serves, " was all that he could desire." He found 
 even in those who did not see the necessity of 
 sending out a Bishop, a disposition, now that he had 
 actually arrived, to do him honour ; a ready con- 
 sent that he should have a house and a suitable 
 income appointed him : and representations to this 
 effect were promptly sent home. 
 
 His first 2. But gratifying to the Bishop above all, was 
 ancetn the the manifestation of public feeling towards him, 
 pulpit. through the whole society, on occasion of his first 
 sermon in Calcutta. He had landed on the 28th 
 of November, but deferred preaching till Christmas 
 day following ; and next day he thus described the 
 service and its effect to a friend in England : 
 " Yesterday (Christmas day) I made my first ap- 
 pearance in the pulpit ; the church was filled long 
 before the service began ; 1300 persons were pre- 
 sent : I preached to them from Luke xi. 10, 11, 
 on the need of a Saviour, and the true notion of 
 Him whom God hath sent us ; concluding with 
 some reflections arising out of the new relation in 
 which I stand towards the people of India. I was 
 heard with mute attention for fifty-five minutes. 
 I told them that I came to India, as Titus went to 
 Crete, ' to set in order the things that are wanting ;' 
 and that in the primitive ages, ' Episcopacy was at 
 once the bond of unity and the safeguard of truth.' 
 From the sermon we proceeded," (as was usual in 
 Calcutta on Christmas day), " to make a collection 
 for the poor, and raised 750, and afterwards to 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 3 
 
 the Sacrament, which I administered to upwards 
 of 160 persons, including the judges, the council,, 
 general officers/' &c., &c. All parties were, as he ex- 
 pressed it, " abundantly well satisfied" the friends 
 of religion, especially, rejoicing in the noble confes- 
 sion he had made of his principles and of his mo- 
 tives, in undertaking the responsible situation which 
 he was called to fill. 1 
 
 3. Sitting down to contemplate his situation, and His ano- 
 to make arrangements for the adjustment and super- Ration to 
 intendence of the English Church in India, the his Clergy. 
 Bishop soon found himself environed with unex- 
 pected and complicated difficulties. One source of 
 perplexity arose from the imperfection which he 
 now discovered in his Letters Patent. These Let- 
 ters, it appears from his own account, 2 were sub- 
 mitted to him in England in the rough draft, with 
 a view, doubtless, to any corrections or additions 
 that he might wish to suggest ; and he did not fail, 
 he says, to inquire into the object and true con- 
 struction of every part of them, before he returned 
 them to His Majesty's Government, One thing, 
 however, of primary importance, he now found that 
 he had not sufficiently adverted to, the peculiar 
 institution of the clergy over whom he was to pre- 
 side. This might easily have been ascertained, 
 through the Board of Control or the East India 
 House, and it is not a little remarkable, that it 
 appears wholly to have escaped his attention. From 
 this inadvertence, the Letters Patent, formed simply 
 on a view of the ecclesiastical system at home, were 
 found to be, in some important particulars, inappli- 
 cable and invalid in India. They authorised him 
 to exercise full ecclesiastical power over all chap- 
 lains and ministers of the Church of England within 
 
 1 Memoirs of Eev. T. Thoraason, p. 239. 
 
 2 Le Bas's Life, vol. i. p. 437. 
 
i HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, his diocese, to whom he was directed to grant 
 L licences to officiate. In India, however, there was 
 no occasion for the exercise of either branch of the 
 Episcopal function institution or licensing. The 
 only clergy he found there were the Company's 
 chaplains, who had come out, not on the mere 
 nomination of the Court of Directors, but under the 
 express sanction of the heads of the Church of Eng- 
 land, the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop 
 of London, on the presentation of the same testimo- 
 nials as are required for institution to a benefice ; T 
 and in India, they received their appointments to 
 particular stations on the uncontrolled authority of 
 the respective local governments. Their " licence 
 to officiate" then rested on an authority antecedent 
 and paramount to his own, and their stations, or 
 cures, on the sole will of the chief secular powers. 
 This anomalous state of things, anomalous with 
 relation to the constitution of the Church at home, 
 which, it would seem, might easily have been pro- 
 vided for in England, while the Letters Patent were 
 yet in the rough draft, was found to be impractica- 
 
 1 The following is the form of approval : 
 These are to certify, to all whom it doth or may concern, that 
 the Court of Directors of the East India Company have ap- 
 pointed The Keverend to he an Assistant 
 Chaplain on the Establishment. In witness whereof, 
 I have hereunto set my hand, at the East India House in Lon- 
 don, this day of , in the year of our Lord, 
 one thousand eight hundred and forty 
 
 (Signed) Secretary. 
 
 Extract of the Charter granted to the East India Company, 
 
 dated 5th Sept. 1698. 
 
 " And, moreover, that no Minister shall be sent by the Com- 
 panv to the East Indies, or other parts within the limits afore- 
 said, until he shall have been first approved of by the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, or Bishop of London, for the time being." 
 I approve the above appointment. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 
 
 ble in India, and it caused the Bishop much em- 
 barrassment. He promptly addressed the Supreme 
 Government on the subject, forcibly representing 
 the unpleasantness of his position under such a 
 limitation of his authority as a continuance of the 
 present system of patronage must involve. The 
 question was reserved for the Governor- General, 
 who, on his return to Calcutta some months after, 
 coinciding entirely with the Bishop's views, passed 
 an order in Council, " that the nomination of chap- 
 lains of the United Church of England and Ireland 
 to particular stations should hereafter originate with 
 his Lordship ; and he was requested to communicate 
 accordingly to the local governments of the respec- 
 tive presidencies, all such arrangements as he might 
 think proper to make," The acquiescence of the 
 other governments, however, did not follow so readily. 
 They appealed against the resolution of the Su- 
 preme Government ; and the Court of Directors, 
 finally, having decreed, " that the privilege of ori- 
 ginating the appointment of each chaplain to a 
 particular station, would be an encroachment on 
 the patronage of Government, sent out a peremp- 
 tory despatch, calling on the Supreme Government 
 to rescind its resolution, and deciding that the 
 appointment of the chaplains to particular sta- 
 tions proceed in all cases as heretofore." It was 
 natural for the Bishop to feel disappointed at this 
 decision. He was not only denied thereby the 
 power of distinguishing by preferment those of 
 his clergy who might appear to deserve it, but he 
 was not permitted even to select those whom he 
 might deem the most suitable for the pulpit of 
 his own cathedral. Nevertheless, it must be ac- 
 knowledged, that his authority over the chaplains 
 does not appear to have been more circumscribed 
 than that of Bishops in England over the beneficed 
 clergy. 
 
ries. 
 
 6 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 4. But the Bishop did not wait for this despatch 
 
 from home before he commenced the duties assigned 
 
 men^of " ^ ^ ^e Supreme Government. The arduous 
 the Arch- nature of those duties may be imagined, from the 
 deacon- state of European society, from the character of 
 the natives and their superstitions, disclosed in the 
 foregoing pages, and also from the immense extent 
 of his diocese. Nothing could well be more bewil- 
 dering than the prospect presented to him by the 
 whole state of religion in all its divisions and varie- 
 ties. He saw spread out before him a field of 
 labour, which he afterwards aptly compared to a 
 vast extent of seemingly impenetrable jungle, of 
 which he was to commence the clearing almost 
 without human aid : but in reliance on Divine help 
 he lost no time in entering on the work. 
 
 His attention was first given to the regulation 
 of the three archdeaconries. Having nominated 
 fit persons in each to act as registrars, and sent to 
 them the necessary official documents, he next gave 
 institution to the archdeacons, those of Madras and 
 Bombay by commission, in consequence of their 
 distance from Calcutta. He assigned to each his 
 place and duties in the principal church of his pre- 
 sidency. He also framed such regulations as he 
 thought calculated to facilitate the transactions of 
 business at Madras and Bombay, and directed that 
 all official correspondence between the clergy and 
 their respective governments should pass through 
 the hands of the archdeacons. 
 
 Attention 5. Another of the earliest objects of his care was 
 Calcutta the state of the schools and first of the free 
 Schools, school at Calcutta, an institution of noble capacities, 
 but at that time in lamentable need of reform. He 
 assumed the office of patron, established monthly 
 meetings of its governors, placed it under the super- 
 intendence of a master from the National Society in 
 England, and projected annual examinations of the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. I 
 
 scholars, at which he presided in person, and dis- 
 tributed the prizes with his own hand. Many of 
 the public functionaries attended on those occa- 
 sions at the Bishop's request, and encouraged both 
 teachers and scholars by their presence. Under 
 these regulations the establishment was speedily 
 brought to such a state of credit and efficiency, that 
 a native was induced to express his approbation of 
 it in the form of a donation of five hundred rupees. 
 The orphan school, also, for seven hundred East 
 Indian children, was another institution which expe- 
 rienced the benefit of the Bishop's early protection, 
 and he undertook, at the Governor-General's request, 
 to superintend it in the character of visitor. 
 
 6. Seeing the great want of religious books of all Christian 
 descriptions for the European and Anglo-Indian fo^ety 
 communities, as well as of elementary books for Calcutta 
 the various schools, the Bishop proposed the for- 
 mation of a Diocesan Committee of the Christian 
 Knowledge Society, with a view to supply these 
 necessities. His design had some impediments to 
 encounter at the outset, from those chiefly who with 
 little or no knowledge of the Society, were disin- 
 clined to any new religious movement. To meet 
 this, the old difficulty, he printed and circulated a 
 short account of the Society, which with some other 
 cautious preliminaries, proved so successful, that he 
 had the satisfaction of seeing a Committee in May 
 1815, which, under his prudent management, went 
 on so prosperously, that toward the end of the fol- 
 lowing month, June 26th, he wrote, " We are re- 
 mitting to London about 650, two-thirds of which 
 will be returned in books, one-third being the pro- 
 perty of the parent Society. Our immediate ob- 
 ject when we receive our books, will be to supply 
 barracks, cantonments, schools, andhospitals, with 
 bibles, prayer-books, and useful tracts. We have 
 a prodigious field before us, and may accomplish 
 
8 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, incalculable good without looking beyond the Euro- 
 
 L peans." 1 
 
 Madras 7. A copy of the resolutions of this committee 
 
 tee" 111 having been forwarded to the Archdeacons of Ma- 
 dras and Bombay, with a request to them to take 
 such measures as they might deem expedient to 
 form a district committee in their respective arch- 
 deaconries, the archdeacon of Bombay advised, from 
 some special local causes, a deferring of any pro- 
 ceedings, till the Bishop's arrival on his visitation, 
 which was then contemplated with much desire. 
 But in Madras he had the satisfaction of finding his 
 call promptly responded to. A meeting called by 
 the archdeacon at his own house, was attended by 
 the chief judge, and others of the most distinguished 
 members of the Presidency, and though some ad- 
 dress was here found necessary to meet similar 
 objections as in Calcutta, a somewhat numerous 
 and most respectable committee was instantly 
 formed. 
 
 Bishop's 8. The immediate object of these committees, 
 thTcon- with that subsequently formed at Bombay, was the 
 version supply of the spiritual wants of the European and 
 natives. East Indian population, by a free cheap circulation 
 of the Bible, Prayer-books, and Tracts of the Chris- 
 tian Knowledge Society. But the Bishop was by 
 no means insensible to the claims of the natives 
 also on his Episcopal care. According to his own 
 statement to one of the chaplains from whom the 
 author received it, he had come out under such 
 special, earnest recommendation from the highest 
 civil authorities, in consequence of certain alarms, 
 which had been vented, even in Parliament, not to 
 implicate himself with missionaries, or meddle at 
 all with direct missionary work ; that it was in- 
 cumbent upon him to use the utmost caution in 
 
 1 Life of Bishop Middleton, vol. i. p. 150. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 
 
 whatever he did bearing on the natives. He soon, 
 however, saw sufficient cause to be fully satisfied of 
 the futility of pretensions of danger from any en- 
 deavour of ordinary prudence to enlighten them on 
 the subject of religion. "As to alarm among the 
 natives/' he remarked at this period, " I am not 
 aware that there can be any ground for it, unless 
 the natives objected to reform or improvement 
 among our own people. All whom I converse with 
 hold a different language. They seem almost as 
 much shocked with the little attention paid by us " 
 to such subjects as we do," 2 While, therefore, he 
 deemed it right for the present, so far to defer to 
 the wishes of persons in authority in India and at 
 home, as to abstain from all ostensible co-operation 
 in the missionary work, he could not sympathise 
 in fears that he knew to be so groundless. With 
 regard to the conversion of the natives, he declared 
 that he differed exceedingly from those who asserted 
 that the case was desperate, while he pronounced 
 it to be, on the other hand, full of blessed hope. 
 " India," he remarked, " is not the scene of British 
 glory : we have, indeed, been successful in war and 
 skilful in finance ; we have made and are making 
 the most of it ; but all these things will make a sad 
 figure in the page of the Christian historian ; we 
 have done nothing for Christianity, and have acted 
 as if we were ashamed of it ; and with some, I be- 
 lieve, that this is really the case. This feeling I 
 am labouring to subvert, and whoever subverts it 
 effectually will have laid the foundation on which 
 alone missionaries can build. If every Englishman 
 in India really wished to disseminate Christianity, 
 recommending it both by his example and his influ- 
 ence, or even not checking it, it would find its way ; 
 the people are in a state of great indifference about 
 
 2 Life of Bishop Middlcton, Vol. i. p. 152. 
 
10 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, their own religion, and they would gradually adopt 
 any other which was visibly and uniformly better ; 
 but such is not before them." In a sermon preached 
 about this time, on a thanksgiving- day for peace, 
 the Bishop took occasion to press the subject on 
 the attention of his auditors. After laying down 
 that God has not conferred empires upon nations 
 merely to gratify their avarice or ambition, and re- 
 marking on the field which was open before them 
 to Christian benevolence, he exclaimed, " Who of 
 us has not been struck with horror at the exhibi- 
 tion of the last few days P 1 What Christian has not 
 praised the Disposer of events that he is blessed 
 with a knowledge of the gospel ? How deeply has 
 he felt the truth of that declaration of his Saviour, 
 ' My yoke is easy and my burden is light ! ' With 
 what gratitude does he reflect that a full, perfect, 
 and sufficient satisfaction hath been once made for 
 the sins of the whole world ! and how ardently does 
 he wish that to all the world this saving truth were 
 known ! Then would pilgrimages, and penances, 
 and self-inflicted tortures, and all the modes of in- 
 dividual expiation cease, and men would repent and 
 be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, for the 
 remission of sins, and would worship their Maker 
 in spirit and in truth !" He then went on to re- 
 commend a much stricter system among Christians ; 
 the renunciation of immoral habits, the observance 
 of the Lord's day, &c. &c. This sermon, to the 
 surprise of some people, he was requested to print 
 at the charge of Government, and it was dispersed 
 through India with good effect. 
 
 1 The Bishop alludes here to " the most abominable of the 
 Hindoo processions," which he had witnessed two days before, 
 " wretches bleeding from self-inflicted wounds, and dancing like 
 maniacs to the sound of savage music, some with swords through 
 their arms, and others with bamboos through their tongues," 
 &c. Ibid., vol. i. pp. 159-162. 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 11 
 
 9. In July 181 5, the Bishop held his first con- First con 
 firmation at Calcutta, which, being the first ever 
 performed by an English Bishop in India, was tiun - 
 numerously attended, and conducted with a solem- 
 nity, for which Bishop Middleton was distinguished 
 on all occasions in the Church, that was deeply felt. 
 In December following, he held a visitation of his 
 clergy, which, for the same reason, being the first 
 ever held in India, attracted a considerable con- 
 course of British and other inhabitants. Of the 
 clergy, only ten could be assembled, owing to the 
 great distance of many of the clerical stations. The 
 sermon was preached by the senior chaplain ; after 
 which, the Bishop delivered his charge, as is usual 
 in England, within the communion rails a charge 
 which has been justly characterised as filled with 
 sentiments of wisdom, learning, and piety, worthy 
 to be remembered. 2 It was delivered with all his 
 peculiar, earnest impressiveness, and concluding, in 
 a manner worthy of the occasion, with the fervent 
 prayer for his clergy, that the succours of the Holy 
 Spirit might be vouchsafed both to them and him ; 
 that they might be actuated by a patient zeal for 
 the glory of God and the salvation of human souls ; 
 that each of them might habitually remember the 
 solemn account which they must one day render at 
 the judgment- seat of Christ ; and that, in that awful 
 day, they might be severally invited to enter into 
 the joy of their Lord. 3 
 
 2 A copious abstract of it is given in the Bishop's Life, vol. 
 i. pp. 164-173. 
 
 3 The Bishop also, conformably to the ancient practice of the 
 Church, prepared Articles of Inquiry, to be circulated among 
 his clergy, in order to ascertain the condition of his diocese. 
 They amounted to twenty-three, and may be seen in his Life, 
 vol. i. pp. 174-176; but they do not materially differ from 
 those usually circulated previous to an Episcopal visitation in 
 England. 
 
12 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. A few days after, on the 18th of December, 
 ! he set out by sea on his primary visitation of the 
 southern and western divisions of his immense dio- 
 cese, Madras and Bombay, accompanied by Mrs 
 Middleton and Archdeacon Loring. On this occa- 
 sion, the Governor- General directed a vessel to be 
 engaged to take him to Madras, and instructions 
 were despatched to the Governments of Madras and 
 Bombay to prepare a suitable house for him during 
 his residence in each of those settlements ; and, 
 in general, to provide for his conveyance and ac- 
 commodation throughout the course of his visita- 
 tion. 
 
 Bishop 10. The Bishop reached Madras on the evening 
 
 toMadras. ^ Christmas-day, and landed on the following 
 morning, under a salute of fifteen guns from the fort. 
 Though he had abundant reason to be satisfied with 
 his kind and hospitable reception, he, nevertheless, 
 discerned various indications which led him to 
 apprehend that he should experience here less cor- 
 dial support than he had received from the supreme 
 authority at Calcutta. Indeed, the Madras Govern- 
 ment never concurred in Lord Moira's views of the 
 Episcopal appointment and claims. 
 
 Proceed- 11. Among the early objects of his attention at 
 Strict 1 1G Madras was the district committee of the Society 
 Commit- for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the formation 
 of which we have recorded. He had the satisfac- 
 tion of finding it in a very flourishing state, having 
 been able to commence operations with books of the 
 Society derived from surplus stores in the Society's 
 depots at Yepery, and elsewhere, which also were 
 reported to have been highly appreciated, particu- 
 larly by military officers, for the use of European 
 barracks and hospitals. The members of the Com- 
 mittee amounted to about sixty, and they had 
 already remitted 240 to the parent Society in 
 England. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 13 
 
 12. On the 4th of January 1816, he consecrated Consecra- 
 St George's Church, Choultry Plain, whose foun- George?' 
 dation in September 1812,-and its opening in April Church. 
 1815, were noticed in a former chapter. The Bishop 
 
 was much struck with the elegance of the building, 
 and pronounced it a handsomer church than any 
 which he recollected to have seen in London. He 
 was assisted in its consecration by the Archdeacon 
 and seven of the clergy, a large number in those 
 days to bring together to Madras. 
 
 13. On the day following he held in it a confir- confirma- 
 mation of nearly three hundred candidates ; and yg it a nd 
 on January llth, his visitation of the clergy. Each tion. 
 
 of these services was attended, as in Calcutta, by a 
 crowded congregation, and was marked by the same 
 character of a dignified deportment and impressive 
 solemnity on the part of the Bishop, and of a deep 
 reverence and earnest attention on that of the whole 
 assembled people. His charge was the same we 
 have before remarked upon at Calcutta. 
 
 While at Madras he preached once at least every 
 Sunday, always with very marked general effect. 
 He also visited all the public institutions, especially 
 the Military Male Asylum, the birth-place of the 
 Madras system of education, so successfully intro- 
 duced into England about twenty years before by 
 the late Rev. Dr. Bell, formerly superintendent of 
 the Asylum. 
 
 14. While at Madras the Bishop availed himself Vepery 
 of the opportunity of performing a great service for 
 
 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 
 Himself an attached member of the Society, he had, 
 on taking leave of them, been particularly requested 
 to inquire into the state of all their missions in 
 South India, two of which had become to them 
 objects of great anxiety. Of these, Vepery, of which 
 much has been said in a former chapter, was at 
 hand. Visiting it, then, in this character, which 
 
14 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, he considered himself warranted to do without in- 
 fringing the missionary interdict under which he 
 came out, he found the mission in a state of great 
 declension and disorder. The missionary and people 
 were still at variance with each other. The schools 
 and the church were without order or discipline. 
 The press, formerly so valuable and effective, had 
 not been worked for a long time ; and the Society's 
 books were found accumulated as mere lumber in 
 the store-room. Of these the Bishop ordered the 
 English books to be delivered over to the District 
 Committee of the Society, for general use ; directed 
 an estimate to be made of the cost of setting the 
 press to work again ; and, having strongly admo- 
 nished both missionary and people, he commended 
 the Mission to the friendly care and supervision of 
 some friends of the committee. The missionary, 
 M. Poezold, did not long survive. Some time before 
 there had happily been an entire reconciliation with 
 his former much-injured colleague, Dr Rottler ; and 
 at his death the mission was placed in charge of 
 this excellent man, under whom it immediately 
 began to revive, and went on successfully in an 
 uninterrupted course of improvement to the end of 
 his days, 
 
 Bishop 15. The Bishop's visit at Madras on this 
 
 south eds occas i n was necessarily short, from the extent 
 
 ward. of journey before him, and the monsoon on the 
 
 opposite coast, which might impede his voyage to 
 
 Bombay. On the 31st of January he set out for 
 
 the south, with his family, escorted by a numerous 
 
 retinue, well provided with everything calculated 
 
 for his personal comfort and to do him honour in 
 
 his progress through the native provinces and 
 
 European stations which lay in his way. 
 
 This primary visitation of an English Bishop in 
 Madras was unquestionably highly favourable to 
 the cause of true religion. Looked up to with uni- 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 15 
 
 versal respect, Episcopacy, bringing with it a ful- 
 ness of the privileges of a revered national church 
 at home, was hailed as a boon to be received with 
 gratitude ; and future visitations of their diocesan 
 were contemplated by the community with desire. 
 
 16. Cuddalore, the other missionary station Cudda- 
 which had occasioned the Society great anxiety, ] 
 the Bishop found too much in the state of Vepery, 
 but without any equal advantages for its recovery. 
 Here, too, the missionary, M. Holzberg, did not 
 long survive, and this Mission remained some years 
 without the benefit of European superintendence. 
 
 His next stage, from Cuddalore to Chillumbrum, chiiinm- 
 was one of much importance, for the very decisive 
 proof which it afforded of the vanity of the pretences 
 of danger, from alarming the religious fears of the 
 natives. 1 Chillumbrum is the place of one of the 
 chief Hindoo temples in the south, containing a 
 numerous establishment of Brahmins, and being a 
 great resort annually of pilgrims. " The Bishop," 
 it is said, " afterwards learned that certain Maho- 
 medans at Madras had contrived to send before him 
 a rumour, that his excursion was .preparatory to a 
 scheme for the suppression of the Hindoo faith, and 
 for the compulsory conversion of the natives. No 
 apparent symptoms of jealousy or distrust, however, 
 were excited. A large assemblage of Brahmins and 
 others were in attendance to meet him. They pressed 
 forward with eager curiosity to look upon the high 
 priest of the Europeans, and were quite willing to 
 exhibit to him the external courts and houses of 
 their gods. They conducted him without reserve 
 
 1 At Calcutta, Madras, and wherever the Bishop went, he 
 was visited by Rajahs, Nabobs, and other natives of distinction 
 a sufficient proof of their respect for his office, and of the 
 little apprehension they entertained from his faithful discharge 
 of its duties. The English politicians seem to have been the 
 only alarmists. 
 
16 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, over their sacred premises, without seeming to ima- 
 L gine that he had any hostile or insidious designs ; 
 nor did they scruple to beg his money for the 
 repairs of their temple." 
 
 Tranque- His progress lying next through the Danish set- 
 tlement of Tranquebar, he was there received by 
 the governor, attended by all the principal inhabi- 
 tants, with the most distinguished honours. 
 
 He naturally felt more interest than ordinary in 
 this place the seat of the first Protestant Mission 
 in all India where lay the bones of Ziegenbalg 
 and Grundler, with many others who had spent 
 their lives so nobly and successfully for the evan- 
 gelisation of the people. His arrival here was most 
 opportune ; and we have seen the pecuniary aid 
 which he rendered to that mission on account of 
 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 
 The Bishop would view the dilapidated state of 
 these missions with far different feelings from those 
 with which he surveyed the ruins of ancient build- 
 ings in his way. We explore with interest the 
 fragments of edifices which time, the universal 
 consumer of material things, has brought again to 
 the ground, together with the generations of men 
 that erected and inhabited them ; but we look with 
 painful emotion on the decay of works of piety, 
 which we would fain have as permanent as the 
 necessities of man ; and a gloom is cast over their 
 ruins that can find no relief but in the retrospect 
 of the blessedness which they have been the means 
 of extending to generations now joined to the living 
 Temple above. 
 
 At Combaconurn, about twenty-three miles from 
 Tanjore, the Bishop was met by Mr Kohloff, who 
 still stood almost alone in the Tanjore Mission ; 
 but he hailed the Bishop's arrival as an omen of 
 relief at hand, for his own Mission and for the long- 
 neglected Churches of the south. On the 21st of 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 17 
 
 February the Bishop, after surveying the buildings 
 and other objects of note in the place, gladly turned 
 to join the congregation assembled at the little 
 school, consisting principally of natives, Christians 
 and Hindoos, under Mr Kohloff 's care. He wit- 
 nessed with satisfaction the performances of these 
 children, and made each of them happy by the gift 
 of a small present. He likewise left a gratuity with 
 the catechist and schoolmaster. 
 
 The Bishop now hastened on, with his new and Tanjore. 
 venerable companion, to the city of Tanjore, where 
 he and his family were hospitably entertained by 
 the Resident, Colonel Blackburn. Soon after his 
 arrival, the prime minister of the Rajah waited 
 upon him with the congratulations of his Highness, 
 and the expression of his wish to be favoured with 
 an early visit by the Bishop at the palace. The 
 Bishop returned a courteous reply, and an early 
 day was fixed for the purpose, when, accompanied 
 by the Resident and his whole staff, he repaired to 
 the palace, and was received with distinguished 
 honours. Descending from his musnud, the Rajah 
 received him at the steps of the durbar (court of 
 audience), embraced him with the warmest cor- 
 diality, and, after the customary inquiries respect- 
 ing his health, expressed the gratification with which 
 he saw the Chief of the English religious establish- 
 ment in his country and at his court. In the course 
 of conversation, his Highness dwelt with evident 
 delight on the blessings which the heavenly lessons 
 and the virtues of Swartz had showered on him and 
 his people. He spake of that venerable man still 
 under the honoured appellation of " Father," and 
 concluded by professing the warmest respect for 
 those excellent men, KohlofFand his fellow- workers, 
 who had succeeded to the labours of their inesti- 
 mable predecessor. He shewed much solicitude to 
 make the visit agreeable to the Bishop and his party, 
 
 VOL v. B 
 
18 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CH 1 AP - and speedily returned it in a style of the highest 
 eastern magnificence. 
 
 The Mission institutions principally occupied the 
 Bishop's attention at Tanjore. The Church, with 
 its goodly assemblage of Christians ; the cemetery 
 where the ashes of Swartz repose ; the schools and 
 library ; the buildings for the employment of the 
 converts ; the mission-house and adjacent village ; 
 and whatever else had been devised and executed 
 by that apostolic man, he surveyed with emotions 
 of delight ; and he afterwards spake of the whole 
 Mission as having pleased him exceedingly. 
 ^diy hin " But here, too, the Bishop was pressed for time : 
 another important Mission of the Society called for 
 a portion of his time and attention. This was the 
 Mission of the venerable Pohle, Trichinopoly, where 
 he arrived on the 28th of February ; and, after 
 inspecting the Mission, was equally satisfied with 
 the fruits of Mr Pohle's labours, though on a smaller 
 scale than those of Kohloff. 
 
 Besides the schools both for Tamul and English, 
 the Bishop recommended the establishment of a few 
 Tamul free schools in the adjacent villages for 
 Eomanist and heathen children ; the whole to be 
 placed under a resident missionary, who might 
 relieve Mr Pohle, now far advanced in years. 
 
 This being an English cantonment, the Bishop 
 remained here five days, during which time he con- 
 secrated a Church erected outside the fort for the 
 use of the troops, licensed the chaplain, and preached 
 twice on the Sunday. He also confirmed and de- 
 livered an address to one hundred and five persons, 
 mostly adults, officers of the rank of major and 
 downwards. The Bishop, anxious to promote among 
 the English everywhere a taste for serious and use- 
 ful reading, proposed to establish a library of reli- 
 gious books for the use of the station, which was 
 cordially assented to by the residents. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 19 
 
 17. After leaving Trichinopoly, the Bishop gave Bishop's 
 the following general account of what he had seen ^ vtew 
 thus far : " The Mission of the Society for Pro- p f Roman - 
 moting Christian Knowledge does us honour as p^teL 
 Christians. I have inspected the state of the Mission tams - 
 minutely, and I have conversed with several of its 
 native members, not themselves converts, but the 
 sons of converts ; they are in knowledge and man- 
 ners as much superior to their pagan neighbours as 
 an Englishman well educated is to a peasant." 1 
 
 The character of Christianity in the Romish 
 Missions, if indeed it deserves the name, presented 
 to him a perfect contrast to this picture. " It is 
 little more," he remarked, " than exchanging one 
 idol for another." " I have seen the letter of the 
 missionary Dubois ; 2 and I think it very interest- 
 ing, so far as relates to the present state of the 
 Romish Church in India. But 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. I have seen, in small 
 buildings, which I supposed, at fifty yards' distance, 
 to be swamy-houses, 3 the cross blackened and oiled 
 like a swamy, and placed at the far end of a deep 
 niche, with lamps on each side of it. The natives 
 call it the Christians swamy ; and they are right, 
 provided the persons who set up such things can 
 be called Christians. In the country through which 
 I have travelled, these things abound." 4 
 
 1 Life of Bishop Middleton, vol. i. p. 225. 
 
 2 The Abbe's letter was written this year, 1816, and circu- 
 lated in India in MS. This is one of the "Letters" pub- 
 lished in England in 1823, and frequently noticed in this 
 History. 
 
 3 Small idol temples. 
 
 4 Life of Bishop Middleton, vol. i. pp. 222, 223. 
 
20 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. This statement is abundantly corroborated in the 
 L former volumes of this history ; and the farther 
 the Bishop went to the south, the more was his 
 impression in favour of the native Protestants con- 
 firmed. 
 
 Paiam- 18, On approaching Palamcottah, the British 
 
 head -quarters in the district of Tinnevelly, being 
 encamped a few miles from the place, after describ- 
 ing several parties of natives who came to pay their 
 respects to him, he adds " But the delightful part 
 was yet to come. I have with me a writer, David, 
 who joined me at Tanjore (the son of Sattianaden, 
 whose sermon you have at the Society), and he 
 informed me that the party who stood aloof were 
 Christians who came from Palamcottah, to welcome 
 me, and to receive my blessing. I went forward to 
 meet them. They were headed by their native 
 priest and my man David. They were about thirty; 
 and they formed the most remote congregation 
 under Mr Kohloff s care. The priest, a very in- 
 teresting man, who has almost the darkest com- 
 plexion I have seen, addressed me on behalf of his 
 people ; and, in reply, I gave them a suitable exhor- 
 tation, which David interpreted with great energy, 
 and they received it with every mark of thankful- 
 ness. They then opened their Tamul prayer-books, 
 and sung a psalm of thanksgiving, quite correctly, 
 and in good time and melody. The Brahmins wit- 
 nessed the scene, and both deputations quitted the 
 camp together." 1 This party represented the body 
 of Tinnevelly Christians whom the Bishop had not 
 time to visit in their villages. He reached Palam- 
 cottah on the 22d of March, where he officiated 
 and preached in the house of the collector ; and 
 soon after pursued his journey. 
 
 1 Life of Bishop Middleton, vol. i. p. 228. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 21 
 
 On the 27th he reached the Arambooly Pass. Aram- 
 at the southern extremity of the Ghauts,, and found 
 his huts pitched on the bottom of what had once 
 been a tank, but it was then dry, and surrounded 
 by mountains of stupendous and rugged grandeur. 
 On this spot he received a deputation of Christians, 
 lately under the charge of Mr Eingeltaube, of the 
 London Missionary Society, in number about eight 
 hundred. They came from a body of Christians 
 quite distinct from those of Tinnevelly, though 
 bordering upon that district. After receiving a 
 numerous deputation from twelve neighbouring vil- 
 lages, and surveying the military works, for which 
 the place is remarkable, the Bishop passed on to 
 Travancore, but not without much painful reflection 
 on the neglect of the native Christians by the 
 government. 
 
 19. With all his deference to the feelings of the Govern- 
 public authorities, as to direct missionary inter- treatment 
 ference with the natives, he could not forbear to 
 express himself very strongly upon this subject, 
 "As to the conversion of the natives," he wrote, 
 " it is, I am convinced, quite out of the reach of 
 our Society, or any other existing, while the present 
 system continues. A sensible native told me, some 
 time since, that the English did not wish it; and 
 certainly there are many facts which countenance 
 the opinion." 
 
 And again, after describing the unexceptionable 
 character of some native Protestants, he remarks : 
 " And yet I cannot hear of more than three 
 native Christians, of any sort, who are employed 
 under Government : it would not be popular among 
 the heathen ! At Madras, they actually petitioned 
 me to recommend them as door-keepers in the 
 churches, instead of Mussulmans and Hindoos." 2 
 
 2 Ibid, pp. 222 and 225. 
 
22 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Although, under these circumstances, it was out 
 L of the Bishop's power to do much for the native 
 Christians, yet his present visit proved everywhere 
 of great importance. It gave a new impulse, both 
 to the missionaries and their flocks, who found 
 themselves no longer in the isolated condition in 
 which they had hitherto seemed to be left. They 
 now felt assured that they had a protector, to whom, 
 under God, they might confidently appeal. A visita- 
 torial power was brought to bear upon them, which 
 they regarded with great reverence ; and imme- 
 diately they were encouraged to move among their 
 neighbours with unwonted confidence and activity, 
 while the very heathen began to look upon them 
 with more respect. The various congregations under 
 the Madras Presidency contained not much less 
 than twenty thousand souls, and from this time 
 their numbers began to increase. 
 
 Qniion. 20. On the 6th of April, the Bishop reached Quilon, 
 
 the military station of the British in the kingdom 
 of Travancore, where he found a European regiment 
 quartered. It was here he had occasion to observe 
 the melancholy and humiliating fact, that the poor 
 fishermen of the Syrian community of the place 
 had the zeal to provide themselves with a church, 
 while the English were without a consecrated edifice, 
 and were compelled to convert their public apart- 
 ments into a place of worship. They had a chap- 
 lain, and the commanding officer promised the 
 Bishop that the soldiers should attend divine ser- 
 vice on the Lord's day. 
 
 Cochin. At Cochin, he found things in a most neglected 
 state. Some of the principal edifices were falling 
 into decay. The Dutch church was shut up for 
 want of a minister ; the school in the fort was de- 
 stroyed ; the children were left unbaptized ; the 
 sick were without relief for the body, or the instruc- 
 tions and the consolations of the gospel for the soul ; 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 23 
 
 and, in a word,, a total apathy pervaded the 
 European inhabitants, who were chiefly Dutch, 
 respecting education or religion. Such had been 
 the condition of this place for nearly fifteen years, 
 during which period it had been in possession of 
 the French. The Jews' town, about a mile from 
 Cochin, presented a better appearance, and the 
 Bishop was gratified with what he had an opportu- 
 nity of witnessing of their religious services, and 
 also with their Hebrew books. 
 
 While at Cochin, divine service was performed in 
 the old Dutch church, and the Supper administered 
 to forty persons by Archdeacon Loririg. It appeared 
 that this holy rite had not been administered for 
 twenty years before. Such instances of spiritual 
 destitution, we have already seen, were perpetually 
 occurring among the European inhabitants of India ; 
 and severely must it have pained the prelate's feel- 
 ings to have discovered thpm. But he was come 
 to India, as he had declared, to set things in order, 
 and he went forward confiding in the Lord for aid 
 and success. 
 
 On the 22d of April he reached Cannanore by Bombay, 
 sea, where he landed for the purpose of licensing 
 the Church, and then pursued his voyage north- 
 ward. He reached Bombay on the 14th of May, 
 and, on his landing, was received with the honours 
 due to his rank. At the Government House, the 
 Governor, Sir Evan Nepean, the Commander-in- 
 Chief, and all the members of Council, were assem- 
 bled to give him an honourable reception. 
 
 21. The establishment of a District Committee Christian 
 of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge J^T 
 had been postponed until the Bishop's arrival, and, Society's 
 for this purpose, such persons as were favourable to tee"" 
 the object were assembled on the 8th of June at his 
 house. After a brief statement of the operations of 
 the Society, arid of his general views with reference 
 
24 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 to the diffusion of Christianity in India, the parties 
 present unanimously agreed to form a Committee 
 for the same objects as those at Calcutta and Ma- 
 dras. The Governor, the members of Council, and 
 many other persons of rank and influence, enrolled 
 their names among the subscribers. In a short 
 time, a sum exceeding 200 in benefactions, and 
 150 in annual subscriptions, was contributed ; and 
 a large portion of the benefactions was soon remit- 
 ted home for the purchase of the Society's publica- 
 tions. Nor were the Committee remiss in early 
 attention to the wants of the European soldiers, 
 regimental schools, and the British seamen fre- 
 quenting the port, or in giving effect to the Bishop's 
 suggestions for advancing the honour, and extend- 
 ing the consolations of the gospel among the nume- 
 rous Europeans who are often exposed in India to a 
 state of such dangerous abandonment, 
 proceed- 22. Another object of interest to him was the 
 Bombay. Bombay Education Society, which we have already 
 described. 1 He had before accepted the office of 
 patron to this Society, and now readily attended the 
 meetings of the managing committee, and gave 
 them the aid of his suggestions and influence. 
 
 On the 7th of July he consecrated St Thomas's 
 Church, which was built, as we have seen, nearly a 
 century ago. A few days after, he consecrated the 
 cemetery also, a large spot of ground about a mile 
 and a half from the town ; at the same time, he 
 recommended the discontinuance of the practice of 
 interment within the church, the inconvenience of 
 which, especially in a tropical climate, is too ob- 
 vious to need explanation. He next held a visita- 
 tion of the clergy ; and also confirmed several young 
 persons, delivering, on each occasion, an appropriate 
 charge, in his usually impressive manner. 
 
 1 B. xii., o. 1, s. 20, established Jan. 29. 1815. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 25 
 
 Another object requiring his attention was the 
 arrangement, with the concurrence of the Govern- 
 ment, of the several distinct duties of the clergy. 
 By the Governor's desire, he also framed a table for 
 the regulation of the surplus fees ; and he urged on 
 the proper authorities an increase in the number of 
 chaplains, suggesting, at the same time, where he 
 thought they should be stationed, and where decent 
 places for divine service should be provided. On 
 this subject he wrote, at the same time, to the 
 Madras Government also, expressing his dissatisfac- 
 tion with the churches which he had seen, men- 
 tioning the stations where others were required, 
 and requesting that in future every plan of an in- 
 tended building might be first submitted to him, in 
 order that he might correct any architectural incon- 
 gruities, and suggest such improvements as would 
 give it the appearance of what it professed to be, a 
 Christian temple for the worship of the one true 
 God. He thought it must scandalise the Hindoo 
 and Mahomedan to see those who possessed the 
 resources of the country, and professed to have a 
 better faith than they, worshipping their Maker 
 in buildings not to be compared with their own 
 mosques and pagodas, and hardly discernible from 
 barracks, or, as the Bishop expressed it on another 
 occasion, in " barn-like edifices." 
 
 23. While at Bombay, the Bishop and his family Character 
 visited the celebrated caves of Elephanta, 2 and the 
 island of Salsette, where he had another opportunity 
 to hear of the amalgamation of Papal with Pagan 
 abominations ; out of a population of about 45,000 
 
 2 A description of these astonishing works is given by several 
 visitors, especially by Elphinstone, Moor, Grose, Maria Graham, 
 and others. One of the best accounts is by Wm. Erskine, Esq., 
 in the first volume of the Transactions of the Bombay Literary 
 
 Society. 
 
26 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, in the island,, there were about 8000 Romanists, 
 L who, though enrolled as Christians, and attending 
 divine worship at the Portuguese churches, were 
 yet wedded to all the absurd ceremonies of the 
 Hindoo mythology, of which they were particularly 
 observant on births, deaths, and marriages. At 
 the very time that they were in the habit of at- 
 tending a Christian sanctuary, and professedly ac- 
 knowledging Christianity, they retained in their 
 houses various implements of Hindoo idolatry, and 
 entered indiscriminately into all the pernicious 
 usages of that deplorable superstition. 
 
 The Bishop passed 'his time at Bombay in the 
 constant discharge of his high functions. He was 
 frequently in the pulpit, and his discourses appeared 
 to make a salutary impression on the congregations. 
 During his residence here of about four months, he 
 preached a series of lectures on the Liturgy, which 
 were very useful to many who had almost forgotten 
 the services of their Church. 
 
 The Bishop had much enjoyment in the society 
 of his clergy and other friends, and had the gratifi- 
 cation of finding his wishes and designs for the pro- 
 motion of religion, effectually supported by the 
 personal example and the powerful influence of the 
 Governor, of whom he writes in language of the 
 warmest esteem and admiration. 
 
 Having finished his business here, and the state 
 of the monsoon being now more favourable, he em- 
 barked on the 17th of September, in the midst of 
 the customary honours, accompanied by Arch- 
 deacon Barnes, whom he invited to join him in a 
 visit to Calcutta. The Government provided an 
 armed cruiser to convey him to Calcutta, and in- 
 structed the commander to land him on any part of 
 the Malabar coast he chose, and at Ceylon. 
 Goa. 24. On the 20th of September he landed at Goa, 
 
 where he was honourably welcomed by the Portu- 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 27 
 
 guese viceroy ; but he saw nothing of the Arch- 
 bishop, which he regretted, as that prelate had the 
 reputation of a man of great worth and respecta- 
 bility. He occupied a house which the viceroy had 
 provided for him, at the request of an officer at Bom- 
 bay, who formerly resided as British envoy at Goa. 
 Through the same friendly intervention, the Bishop 
 and his party had every possible facility afforded 
 them for visiting old Goa, with its numerous and 
 splendid churches, and other religious buildings. 
 He deemed it prudent not to desire to see the re- 
 mains of the Inquisition, but found, when too late 
 to visit them, that his scruples were unnecessary. 
 But he saw enough to fill him with mournful mus- 
 ings. It is scarcely possible to imagine a spectacle 
 more oppressive to the spirits than the old city pre- 
 sented. The magnificence of its sacred structures 
 appeared to be an object, as it were,, of perpetual 
 and bitter mockery to the surrounding solitude. 
 Deserted streets ; altars coldly served by an igno- 
 rant and indolent priesthood, a crowd of monks and 
 ecclesiastics ; the lanes which led from one church 
 to another choked up with weeds and rubbish ; 
 such was the picture of a city which might once 
 have been called " the lady of kingdoms," the mis- 
 tress of the east. This desecration is attributed to 
 several causes, but chiefly to the terrors of the 
 Inquisition, which had driven its principal traders, 
 the Arabs and the Jews, from the port. 
 
 On the 1st of October the Bishop landed once Canna- 
 more at Cannanore, where he confirmed thirty-nine nore * 
 persons, and then proceeded from the church to 
 visit and inspect the barracks, the hospital, and the 
 school. On the 3d, he re-embarked and reached 
 Cochin on the following day. The whole party, as Cochin. 
 on the former occasion, were hospitably received 
 by Captain Blacker, the British Resident at Balg- 
 hatty, an island at a short distance. Soon after his 
 
28 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, arrival, he crossed over to Mattancherry, the white 
 ' Jews' town, with a view to further inquiry respect- 
 ing both white and black Jews/ with whose account 
 of themselves he was much interested. The Dutch 
 inhabitants, who had for some time been without 
 a European pastor, presented a memorial to the 
 Bishop, soliciting the appointment of an English 
 chaplain, and offered their principal church for his 
 use. This suit he was enabled ere long to grant, 
 interview 25. The chief object which the Bishop contem- 
 s lt rfan e P^ted in his second visit to the Malabar coas^ was a 
 Metran. more minute and careful investigation of the condi- 
 tion of the Syrian church, than he had time to 
 undertake when here before. He then had an inter- 
 view with the Syrian Metran, whose name was Mar 
 Dionysius, and it was saddening to hear him speak 
 of the desolate condition of his churches, and to 
 solicit on their behalf the friendly offices of the 
 English prelate. The Metran was attended by seve- 
 ral of his clergy, bringing with them a small number 
 of Syrian books, and among them a copy of Schaafs 
 Syriac Testament, which was in use in all his con- 
 gregations. Of the Philoxenian version, he seemed 
 to know nothing, Bishop Middleton presented him 
 with a copy, 2 which he had brought for this express 
 purpose, together with an inscription in Syriac, im- 
 porting that it was presented to Mar Dionysius by 
 Mar Thomas, the first Bishop of Calcutta, on his pri- 
 mary visitation at Cochin. 
 
 visit to 26. In order to obtain the particular information 
 
 Ch rch 1 T ^ ia ^ ne desired of the actual state of these churches, 
 
 the Bishop determined to visit as many as his time 
 
 would allow. For this purpose he so arranged his 
 
 visit, as to form one northern, one eastern, and one 
 
 1 For a particular description of these people, see vol. ii. of 
 this History, book viii. chap. vi. 
 3 White's edition. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 29 
 
 southern expedition of two days each. 3 He was 
 accompanied by Archdeacon Barnes, and was every- 
 where received with entire confidence ; the catta- 
 nars and people answered all his questions freely, 
 and during the ten days that he passed among them, 
 he took ample notes of all the information which 
 he could procure. His principal meeting was with 
 twelve cattanars and four laymen, who, by direc- 
 tion of their bishops, met him at a place in his route, 
 and after a conversation which lasted for two hours 
 and a half, he felt more disposed to admire their 
 knowledge than to complain of their ignorance, 
 considering their utter want of books and education. 
 He obtained transcripts of the liturgy and formu- 
 laries 4 of their church, under the immediate inspec- 
 tion of the diocesan : and he hoped to ascertain, 
 more fully than had yet been done, what was the 
 purity in which they maintained the principles of 
 the Christian faith, and in what degree they sym- 
 bolised with the Church of England. He had 
 prepared himself for this undertaking in a manner 
 worthy of the importance of the subject, having 
 devoted a considerable portion of his time to studies 
 connected with it, and more especially to the assi- 
 duous cultivation of the Syriac language. 5 
 
 3 The principal churches visited by the Bishop were, Tri- 
 poontorah, Curringacherry, Moolentonty, Candenaad, Udiam- 
 poor, Diamper, Verapoli, Agaperumboo, Angamale, Tekkah 
 Peroor, Kotym, Allepie. 
 
 4 These were made use of in the compilation of the Syrian 
 liturgy and formularies, given in the Appendix to Vol. iv. 
 
 6 The Bishop gathered much information respecting the 
 actual state of the Syrians, which he intended to publish, when 
 he could find leisure for the purpose. But not having time to 
 arrange these materials before his death, and regarding them 
 in their undigested state, as unworthy of the public eye, he 
 directed them by his will to be destroyed, together with all his 
 
 ipublished compositions. The historical information which 
 
30 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. The best return that he could make the Syrian 
 L prelate 'and his clergy for their communications, 
 was a present of some printed copies of Syriac gos- 
 pels ; and great was the joy with which they re- 
 ceived them, and their impatience for a similar 
 supply, comprehending the whole Scriptures of the 
 Old and New Testament. These presents he ac- 
 companied with a few words of appropriate counsel. 
 At one place he expressed an earnest hope that 
 they would patiently study the Scriptures, and 
 carefully teach the children of their poor ; and 
 he generally addressed them in the language of 
 exhortation and encouragement. They uniformly 
 promised to remember his injunctions, declared their 
 readiness to hold fast their faith without wavering, 
 expressed their extreme anxiety for further guid- 
 ance and instruction, and solicited his paternal pro- 
 tection and kind offices. The impression he left 
 behind him wherever he went was very favourable ; 
 and there can be no doubt, that his intercourse 
 with this interesting people prepared the way for 
 that friendly association which was now in progress, 
 and continued for a few years, between them and 
 missionaries of the Church of England. 
 
 27. At Allepie the Bishop met with the first of 
 these missionaries, the Rev. Thomas Morton, of 
 the Church Missionary Society, whose arrival in 
 1814 has been recorded above. He appeared already 
 to have acquired considerable influence over the 
 Syrian laity in the neighbourhood ; for he had suc- 
 ceeded in procuring from them, for their cattanars, 
 a more punctual payment of fees and other dues 
 than they themselves were able to obtain. The 
 
 he collected, adds nothing to the history of the Syrian Church 
 in Malabar, given in the former two volumes of this History. 
 See the Bishop's Life, chapters ix., x., xi. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 
 
 Metran 1 also had granted him his licence to preach 
 in the Syrian churches, as soon as he should have 
 made sufficient progress in the Malayalim language ; 
 a privilege of which Bishop Middleton, however, 
 recommended a very cautious use. Experience had 
 already shewn that it was not impossible to scatter 
 discord among the Syrians ; and the ministrations 
 of a stranger not intimately familiar with their 
 peculiar idiom or modes of thinking, might very 
 seriously aggravate the evil. While, therefore, the 
 Bishop was thankful to observe that they were pre- 
 pared to look up to the Church of England for 
 instruction, and to receive favourably anything that 
 her ministers might do for them, he saw that there 
 was " danger/' as he expressed it, " lest while we 
 endeavour to instruct them, we should divide them, 
 and thus drive one half of them into the arms of 
 the Church of Home." 
 
 On the 1 6th of October the Bishop and his com- 
 panions embarked for Columbo, 2 the capital of 
 Ceylon ; for though that island was not then under 
 his jurisdiction being a colony of the Crown, and 
 not included in the Letters Patent of the Bishop 
 of Calcutta yet the Governor, Sir Robert Brown- 
 rigg, had invited him to pay him a visit. The 
 vessel reached Columbo on the 21st, and the Bishop 
 was received with due honours by the governor and 
 his staff. Nothing could exceed the courtesy of Sir 
 R. Brownrigg, who studied to gratify his distin- 
 
 1 A title usually given to Syrian prelates in Malabar. 
 
 8 The extent to which his bounty was made available for the 
 relief of the poor Syrians will serve to explain the cheapness 
 of provision in India. On coming away, he gave directions to 
 have rice distributed among the inhabitants of the parishes 
 which he had visited, amounting to about four or five thousand 
 people ; and for 25 they were all to be maintained for a fort- 
 night. 
 
32 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, guished guest by the exhibition of whatever was 
 
 most likely to interest him. Among the native 
 
 converts introduced to him were two remarkable 
 persons one, who was formerly a priest of Boodhu, 
 whose appearance and conversation indicated a high 
 degree of intelligence ; the other was a Mahomedan 
 convert, who appeared to derive great satisfaction 
 from a remark of the Bishop, that although Maho- 
 met professed to come with a revelation from God, 
 he had in truth made no revelation at all ; for that, 
 with the exception of what relates to Mahomet 
 himself, the Koran contains absolutely nothing 
 which deserves to be called new. The Bishop was 
 highly pleased with these specimens of the native 
 Christians of Ceylon. 
 
 Progress 28. He was gratified also to find the circum- 
 tianity'in stances of the island more favourable to the diffu- 
 Ceyion. sion of Christianity than on the continent. The 
 whole was under the immediate and absolute domi- 
 nion of the British Crown, ruled by a governor who 
 had no other desire but to promote the temporal 
 and eternal welfare of the people ; and, through his 
 paternal care, they were advancing in civilisation 
 and religion. The observance of the Lord's day 
 was enforced at Columbo even on the heathen. The 
 establishment of schools, the building of churches, 
 the circulation of books, the conversion of the 
 natives all designs, in short, for the moral and 
 intellectual improvement of the inhabitants were 
 going forward with a free course. None of the 
 apprehensions and prejudices that prevailed else- 
 where were found here to intercept the prosecution 
 of noble and benevolent enterprises. The natives 
 manifested no suspicion of their benefactor's designs, 
 and appeared to be open, cheerful, and confiding. 
 Whatever other cause may be assigned for this con- 
 fidence, it was doubtless to be attributed, in great 
 measure, to the ingenuous and liberal conduct of 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 33 
 
 the governor. The Bishop visited the Tamul schools 
 established and supported by Lady Brownrigg ; the 
 seminary for the education of the Cingalese ; the 
 Christian village of Galkrese, where the governor 
 was at that time building a church ; and the mili- 
 tary and orphan schools. 
 
 Besides the two chaplains at Columbo, the mis- 
 sionaries of various denominations Wesleyans, 
 Baptists, Independents, and Komanists all called 
 to pay their respects to the Bishop. He visited 
 the Wesleyan Mission, and found that they were 
 printing the discourses and miracles of our Lord 
 in Cingalese. They and the Papists attended the 
 service of the church. All the Protestants acted to- 
 gether with cordiality ; the governor and the clergy 
 countenanced them in their peaceful labours ; and 
 the Bishop was glad to observe, that with this en- 
 couragement, the missionary work was advancing. 
 
 2 9 . On Sunday, October 2 7th, the Bishop preached Bishop 
 in the Fort Church from Isaiah Ixii. I. 1 The mis- 
 sionaries of all denominations were present ; and 
 at the conclusion of his discourse, alluding to their 
 difference of opinion in matters not essential to sal- 
 vation, and to the toleration which they enjoyed 
 in the island, he added " My counsel, therefore, 
 is that of the Apostle, ' Take heed lest this liberty 
 of yours become a stumbling -block to them that are 
 weak. Speak the same thing ; be joined together in 
 the same mind, and the same judgment' And I offer 
 it, not from any conviction that it is already needed, 
 but in the way of prevention, and in the spirit of 
 conciliation and love." Finally, he reminded them 
 
 1 " For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusa- 
 lem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go 
 forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that 
 burneth." 
 
 VOL. V. C 
 
.34 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, that the most fatal discrepancy which a native could 
 detect would be a disagreement between the doc- 
 trines and the practice of our religion ; that the 
 righteousness of our faith must not resemble the 
 flashing of a meteor, which is gazed upon for a 
 moment, and then is lost in darkness ; that it must 
 be a pure and placid light, issuing from the sanc- 
 tuary of a heart devoted to God, and enlightened 
 by His Holy Spirit. 
 
 This friendly "counsel" seems to have been 
 received by them all in the spirit in which it was 
 offered. 
 
 Sir E. Brownrigg expressed himself anxious that 
 the island of Ceylon should be placed under the 
 Bishop's jurisdiction, which was subsequently ef- 
 fected. In the mean time he wished to establish 
 a committee of the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge. The attempt had been made some 
 time before, at the suggestion of the Bishop of 
 London ; but, from some cause or other, it failed. 
 Now, however, the governor and clergy gave reason 
 to hope that the measure would be carried. 
 
 In this manner the Bishop spent ten days at 
 Columbo, which glided pleasantly away amidst his 
 exertions for the progress of Christianity in the 
 island, the interesting objects presented to the 
 notice of himself and his party, and the attentions 
 they received. The governor and his lady parted 
 from them with reluctance, Sir Robert and all his 
 staff accompanying them to the place of embarka- 
 tion, when they once more put to sea. 
 Bishop re- 30. The Bishop arrived. safe at Calcutta, having 
 CaTcuua completed a visitation which occupied him a year, 
 and out and home together, extending to five 
 thousand miles, the most extensive visitation per- 
 haps at that time ever made by an English Bishop. 
 He looked back upon the events of the journey 
 with hope that God had blessed it with some fruits. 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 35 
 
 Everywhere he had laboured to fulfil his commis- 
 sion, to set in order the things that were wanting. 
 He had confirmed and delivered suitable exhorta- 
 tions to about one thousand persons ; he had 
 preached almost every Sunday where he found 
 churches ; and had acquired a knowledge of the 
 religious wants of his vast diocese which he could 
 not have obtained at Calcutta in a whole life. 
 "The history of such a visitation/' he remarked, 
 " would fill a volume. I have seen perhaps every- 
 thing in India which is at all important with 
 reference to Christianity." 
 
 With this accession of knowledge, he sat down 
 with increased confidence to the resumption of his 
 duties. His first object was to bring to the notice 
 of government the insufficiency of the ecclesiastical 
 establishment. The Europeans, civil and military, 
 were scattered over a vast extent of country, stretch- 
 ing from the 8th to the 28th degree of north lati- 
 tude. The number of chaplains was wholly in- 
 sufficient to satisfy the religious necessities of the 
 country. No one clergyman was within many days' 
 journey of another. In several places, even where* 
 a considerable Christian congregation might be col- 
 lected, no clerical persons were seen for many years. 
 Many of the civil servants in India might be said 
 to be almost in a state of excommunication from 
 Christian ordinances, for twenty years together, 
 with the exception of the opportunities afforded by 
 an occasional visit to the seat of Government. Not 
 only the offices for marriage and burial, but that 
 of baptism also, were continually ministered by lay 
 persons ; generally, though not always, by the 
 magistrate or commanding officer of the station. 
 Numbers of young men, who had received their 
 appointments to India at a very early age, were 
 left wholly without public religious instruction ; 
 and, consequently, were in danger of sinking, 
 
36 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, gradually and silently, into a state of virtual 
 
 ' apostasy. 
 
 Measures 31. He also exerted himself to relieve his clergy, 
 prolemSt as far as possible, of their military character, and 
 of the to protect them from the indignities to which they 
 eltabibhs were sometimes exposed. So little was the clergy- 
 ment. man's office respected or understood, and to such 
 indignities was he frequently exposed, that the 
 Bishop expressed his astonishment that respectable 
 men, as he testified most of them to be, should be 
 found to accept the appointment. But he was re- 
 solved to throw his shield over them, and he consi- 
 dered that he had a right strongly to protest against 
 any such interference with the discharge of their 
 sacred functions as was incompatible with the 
 Episcopal authority. 
 
 His interposition did not immediately produce 
 all that he desired, for he had yet much to contend 
 with at home as well as abroad. Happily, how- 
 ever, there was one at that time presiding over the 
 counsels at the East India House, Charles Grant, 
 Esq., the old and faithful friend of Christianity in 
 India, who was always desirous to counteract this 
 hostile influence, and the good effects of his interest 
 and exertions were soon apparent in the increase of 
 chaplains ; but for several years the number was 
 very inadequate to the demand. 
 
 Difficulty 32. This state of the Church in India was suffi- 
 
 J25jfl cient to fill him with anxiety ; and his embarrass- 
 
 missionary ment was rather enhanced than relieved by the 
 
 clergy. arrival of the missionaries in orders, of the Church 
 
 Missionary Society, who were continually coming out. 
 
 He anticipated their becoming in a few years what he 
 
 called " the parochial clergy." " In one place," he 
 
 stated, " the Society have lately built a neat church, 1 
 
 1 This was no doubt tho church at Chunar, which was built 
 in 1819. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 37 
 
 and appointed their minister ; and what/' he 
 remarked, " can be said against it ? Upwards 
 of two hundred Christians were without a pastor. 
 If the State will not provide for such cases, it 
 will never do to say that such persons shall not 
 receive instruction from ordained clergymen of our 
 own Church, by whomsoever sent. Other cases of 
 the same sort may be expected every day ; and 
 if the Church Missionary Society will supply or- 
 dained clergymen wherever they are wanted, the 
 company may be relieved, indeed, from a heavy 
 expense, but then what becomes of the Bishop's 
 jurisdiction ?" 
 
 This was a reasonable question, in the present 
 state of the Church in India. By the terms of the 
 last charter, these missionaries had as much right 
 in the country as those of any other Christian So- 
 ciety, they were therefore no intruders. Still it 
 must be acknowledged, that ecclesiastically they 
 occupied an anomalous position. A body of clergy 
 was located and labouring within the diocese of a 
 Bishop of their own Church, without being at all 
 amenable to his authority. He saw that the ne- 
 cessities of India justified their being sent, and 
 often acknowledged the value of their services ; 
 nevertheless, he felt apprehensive lest, in a few 
 years, there should be a Bishop in India with hardly 
 any clergy, and a number of clergy not acknow- 
 ledging Episcopal jurisdiction. As, however, he 
 had no authority to license them, he knew not how 
 to obviate this inconvenience. 
 
 His difficulties how to receive these missionaries 
 were not a little augmented by communications 
 from home, where a jealousy of the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society existed in the minds of some per- 
 sons whom he had long esteemed ; and he appears 
 to have been recommended to act towards its mis- 
 sionaries in a way which he felt, from the circum- 
 
38 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, stances of the country, and his own convictions of 
 L duty, would not be right. " If I should forbid 
 them to preach in English/' he remarked, " while 
 so many European congregations are without any 
 pastor ; it would excite horror and hatred both of my 
 person and my office. In fact, it could not be done 
 salvd conscientid." . . . " They preach where there 
 are no chaplains, and without their ministrations 
 considerable bodies of Christians would be without 
 the ordinances of religion. They are, in fact, doing 
 what our Propagation of the Gospel Society's mis- 
 sionaries were sent to do in America. And what 
 would be the effect, if the Bishop were to interfere 
 to deprive any Christian congregation of the means 
 of attending the services of the Church ? Expla- 
 nation would be impossible. It would be generally 
 believed that I was adverse to the progress of Chris- 
 tianity, whatever might be my professions." ] 
 
 The Bishop had another motive in refusing di- 
 rectly to sanction their ministrations, for he con- 
 sidered that this would be at once to acknowledge 
 them as performing authoritatively the duties of 
 parochial clergy, and that it might hence be in- 
 ferred that the Company need not send chaplains 
 to India. Nevertheless, being year after year dis- 
 appointed in his hopes of an adequate supply of 
 chaplains, he became at length convinced that the 
 time was at hand when it would be impossible 
 longer to withhold his public sanction from services 
 which came so powerfully in aid of the exigencies 
 of the Church. Licences, however, with the limita- 
 tion of their services locally to the English, which 
 the Bishop seems to have contemplated, the mis- 
 sionaries could not have accepted. Though always 
 ready to administer to their countrymen when occa- 
 
 1 Vol. i. p. 401-403. 
 
IX INDIA : BOOK XIII. 39 
 
 sion served, yet their proper duty was to the hea- 
 then and Mahomedans, for whose conversion they 
 were expressly sent to India. The nature of their 
 office, therefore, required that they should be left 
 at liberty to preach from village to village, in the 
 highways, and at places of public resort. To have 
 consented to be confined to any locality, and espe- 
 cially to English services, would have defeated the 
 object of the Society from which they received their 
 commission. It should be remembered, however, 
 that Bishop Middleton was called to the onerous 
 task of clearing the ground, and laying the founda- 
 tion of the Church of England in India ; and who 
 can be surprised that he sought to avail himself of 
 every person and every opportunity to accomplish 
 this single design ? 
 
 33. The Bishop met with great discouragements 
 in the pursuit of several objects which he deemed 
 of much importance to the respectability and effi- Bis jjp' s 
 ciency of the new ecclesiastical establishment. He 
 had made an ineffectual application for official re- 
 sidencies for the archdeacons, for a marriage act 
 for India, for authority to ordain East Indians, and 
 others born in the country, with some other points 
 of minor importance, But of all the propositions 
 which his experience and observation prompted him 
 to submit to the authorities at home, not one had 
 met with their approbation and support. These 
 disappointments were enough to shake the firmest 
 determination, and cool the most ardent spirit. 
 To a sanguine, anxious, and discerning mind, like 
 that of Bishop Middleton, they were peculiarly pain- 
 ful. "The difficulties and mortifications which I 
 have to encounter," he complained, " are sometimes 
 almost too much for me." He then dwells upon 
 the affliction of seeing clearly how every thing 
 might prosper in the cause of the gospel, and of wit- 
 nessing, at the same time, the multitude of adverse 
 
40 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, circumstances, which though, perhaps, in some 
 
 L measure accidental and undesigned, yet seemed to 
 
 be united, as in a sort of conspiracy, to crush in its 
 
 infancy the church over which he watched, and 
 
 laboured to cherish. 
 
 indica- 34. The resistance he met with, however, seems 
 
 favourable on ^y * nave stimulated him to greater exertion in 
 move- the cause of religion. On the 8th of August he laid 
 the first stone of a church to be erected at Dum- 
 Dum, near Calcutta, the principal station of the 
 European artillery. He was encouraged also with 
 the assurance that other churches were likely to be 
 built in the more important stations of the Bengal 
 presidency, where they were so much required. 
 The revival of religion commenced under Marquis 
 Wellesley's administration, received a fresh impulse ; 
 the churches at Calcutta were better attended ; 
 men's recollections of the ordinances of religion in 
 their fatherland, which with many had too long 
 been dormant, began to revive ; at the weekly ser- 
 vices during Lent, the Bishop brought together the 
 children of eleven schools in the neighbourhood, 
 amounting to three hundred and fifty-four, to be 
 catechised in the cathedral, and the assemblage of 
 so many young persons for such a purpose, gave 
 an additional interest to the usual solemnities of 
 the season. 
 
 About this time, the Bishop's mind was power- 
 fully drawn toward the native population. Hitherto, 
 for reasons already stated, he had refrained from 
 all ostensible co-operation in measures for their con- 
 version. But he now began to feel his obligations 
 as a Christian Bishop press too heavily upon him, 
 to be held back from this sacred duty by the opi- 
 nions or prejudices of others. Amid his various 
 anxieties and labours, he derived great encourage- 
 ment from the change which time and circum- 
 stances appeared to be working in the native mind, 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 4 
 
 and also, from the reflection that, on the whole, a 
 mighty, though in some respects irregular, move- 
 ment was perceptible, whose ultimate tendency was 
 towards the establishment of Christianity, and the 
 overthrow of the foul and gigantic idolatries of Hin- 
 dostan. 
 
 35. One of the Bishop's first plans for giving a Measures 
 right direction to this movement, was the esta- eduction 
 blishment of schools for native children throughout 
 the presidency of Bengal. To this object the Bishop 
 proposed to apply a portion of the money placed at 
 his disposal by the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge. Accordingly he convened a meeting 
 of the Diocesan Committee, when it was agreed 
 provisionally to establish native schools, and to 
 invite the liberal contributions of the public to carry 
 the design into effect to the widest extent. 1 Bene- 
 factions immediately began to flow in, and soon 
 amounted to twelve thousand seven hundred and 
 five sicca rupees, and the annual subscriptions to 
 four thousand one hundred and twenty-seven, 
 The Governor-General ordered the payment of one 
 thousand out of the charitable fund at his disposal. 
 A school-room was soon erected, on ground pre- 
 sented by a native, in a populous situation, and 
 eighty scholars were received. A second school- 
 room was begun in another populous neighbour- 
 hood, on land granted by Government ; and a 
 school having been recently established by the 
 Church Missionary Society within the district 
 which the Diocesan Committee had proposed as 
 the scene of their first labours, they thankfully 
 accepted from the Corresponding Committee of that 
 Society, the offer of a transfer of their school at 
 
 1 For further details see the Report of the Diocesan Com- 
 mittee for 1819 ; the S. P. C. K. Report, 1820 ; the Missionary 
 Register 1819, pp. 83, 84, 525; 1820, pp. 36, 530, 531. 
 
42 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, the expense incurred in its erection : the number 
 
 __J of children under daily instruction in this school, 
 
 was about one hundred and thirty. 
 
 With a view to the further extension of this sys- 
 tem, a select class of the Bengalee scholars at the 
 Calcutta Free School were, on the recommendation 
 of the Bishop, put in training as teachers. It was 
 also determined to establish a school for the chil- 
 dren of poor native Christians, of whom many were 
 brought up in a state of utter ignorance/ 
 Project of 36. The Bishop was greatly encouraged in these 
 giate esta- proceedings by a despatch from the Society for Pro- 
 biishment. pagatmg the Gospel in Foreign Parts, received in 
 September 1 818, informing him, that on the recom 
 mendation of the President, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, the Society had unanimously agreed, 
 that the time was at length arrived for its exer- 
 tions to be extended to India, and had resolved to 
 place five thousand pounds at his disposal, as the 
 most ready means of entering on its operations in 
 the east. 
 
 For some time past, at the proposal of Mr 
 Kohloff of Tanjore, the Bishop had contemplated 
 the establishment of a superior seminary for the 
 education of missionaries' sons for the ministry. 
 There were at that time several children of the 
 Christian Knowledge Society's missionaries ready 
 for such an establishment, and under their minis- 
 trations, the whole body of native Christians in 
 South India might, in a very few years, be trans- 
 ferred into the bosom of the church. In his recent 
 visitation, the Bishop had seen that the Portuguese, 
 by means of their colleges at Goa and Verapoli, 
 had diffused their religion into every corner of the 
 country ; and he would fain have followed their ex- 
 
 Life of JBishop Middleton, vol. ii. chap xvii. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 
 
 ample, but the institution of a missionary college 
 was so far beyond the means at his disposal, that 
 he dismissed it as an impracticable notion. The 
 Propagation Society's liberality, however, instantly 
 led him to reconsider the project, and in acknow- 
 ledging their grant, he proposed to apply it to the 
 founding of a missionary college, explained its 
 necessity, and drew up a plan of such an establish- 
 ment as he considered the exigencies of the country 
 required. 2 
 
 He deemed it very important that this college 
 should be maintained on a liberal scale, be placed 
 in connection with the Church, and fixed at the 
 seat of the supreme government ; and that students 
 should be sent to it from the other presidencies, so 
 that it might become a seminary from which mis- 
 sionaries could be prepared for all parts of India ; 
 for it should be remembered, that at that time, the 
 whole of India constituted one diocese. Such is an 
 outline of the Bishop's plan, 3 and from this period 
 it seems to have been the central object of all his 
 designs for the advancement of Christianity in 
 India. " In the event of its success," he remarked, 
 " the Church would be placed on a pre-eminence in 
 the work of conversion, and would have a noble 
 
 2 The objects which he proposed to accomplish were : 
 
 1. The instruction of native and other Christian youth in the 
 doctrines and discipline of the Church, in order to their becom- 
 ing preachers, catechists, and schoolmasters. 
 
 2. Teaching the elements of useful knowledge and the Eng- 
 lish language to Mussulmans or Hindoos, having no object in 
 such attainments beyond secular advantage. 
 
 3. For translating the Scriptures, the Liturgy, and moral and 
 religious tracts. 
 
 4. For the reception of English missionaries to be sent out 
 by the Society, on their first arrival in India. 
 
 3 The Bishop's letter, together with the details of his plan, is 
 given entire in his Life, vol. ii. chap. xvii. 
 
44 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, establishment for the propagation of the gospel, 
 . such as no other Protestant Church had yet pos- 
 
 sessed." 
 
 This communication reached England in May 
 1819, and it awakened in the members of the Board 
 of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign 
 Parts the most lively interest ; and they gave it their 
 unanimous and cordial support. Three thousand 
 copies of the letter were printed and distributed 
 among the members of the Society, and measures 
 were taken for carrying into effect the proposed 
 design. 
 
 Let y terfor ^ Ding's Letter, authorising collections 
 
 the object, throughout the country in furtherance of the So- 
 ciety's objects, was granted, February 10th 1819 ; 
 but not issued until after the receipt and adoption 
 of the Bishop's proposal, and the publication of his 
 letter. The Board had previously circulated an 
 address to the clergy, and to the members of the 
 Church generally, stating the origin and previous 
 operations of the Society, and explaining their rea- 
 sons for entering upon this new sphere of labour, 
 in terms according with the Primate's recommenda- 
 tion of the subject to their consideration. In con- 
 clusion, they made a strong appeal to the sympa- 
 thies of the Christian public in behalf of India, the 
 present revenue of the Society being pledged for 
 other purposes, to which they had been so long, 
 and so usefully appropriated. 
 
 Review of 38. About the same time, the Eev. Josiah Pratt, 
 projmgT- 61 Secretary to the Church Missionary Society, pub- 
 tion . lished a work, entitled " PROPAGANDA," which ex- 
 hibited a lucid view of the past labours of the Pro- 
 pagation Society. To this publication the Bishop 
 of Calcutta bore honourable testimony. " I really 
 think the Society," he remarked, " and therefore 
 the Church, owes a great deal to this publication, 
 though I dislike the title of it. I have put it into 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 45 
 
 circulation as much as possible : and people are 
 perfectly amazed that they never heard of a Society 
 which has done so much. It is one of the most 
 interesting exposes I ever read ; and Mr Pratt has 
 done us essential service. Mr Hawtayne, 1 by my 
 desire, drew up a short account of the Society for 
 Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, taken from 
 the Propaganda, and sent it to the Government 
 Gazette, to prepare the way for fuller details here- 
 after." 2 
 
 The Society's Address, and the Propaganda of 
 Mr Pratt, prepared the way for the King's and the 
 Bishop's Letters, 3 and the appeal to the public was 
 responded to in a manner that surpassed the ex- 
 pectations of the most sanguine. The contributions 
 amounted to about fifty thousand pounds, a much 
 larger sum than the Society had ever before real- 
 ised from a Royal Letter. This was no doubtful 
 indication of the general interest now awakened iri 
 the Church in favour of missionary objects, and it 
 gave hope of brighter prospects for the colonies of 
 Great Britain. The whole sum now collected was 
 applied to the Propagation of the Gospel in India. 4 
 
 1 The Bishop's chaplain. The Propaganda was published 
 anonymously, but the Bishop was right in the author. 
 3 Life of Bishop Middleton, vol. ii. p. 121. 
 
 3 The Royal Letter was in the usual form, with the insertion 
 of this special clause : " That, induced by a -variety of favour- 
 able circumstances, the Society are desirous of extending the 
 range of their labours, and of using their utmost endeavours to 
 diffuse the light of the gospel, and permanently to establish 
 the Christian faith, in such parts of the continent and islands 
 of Asia as are under our protection and authority ; but that, 
 owing to the state of their funds, which are altogether unequal 
 to the expenses of such an undertaking, they are unable, with- 
 out further assistance from our good subjects, to proceed in the 
 execution of their designs." 
 
 4 Gospel Propagation Society's Reports, 1819, 1820, 1821. 
 
46 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 39. A copy of the Bishop's Letter being com- 
 L municated, by the Propagation Society, to the 
 Grant Society for Promoting Knowledge, at a general 
 Christian meeting of this Society, it was resolved, on the 
 Know- .recommendation of their East India Committee, to 
 Society, grant the sum of five thousand pounds in aid of the 
 
 Bishop's design. 1 
 
 Grant 40. The Church Missionary Society also, at its 
 
 Church 6 monthly Committee in July 1819, after expressing 
 Mission- its gratification at the zeal and promptitude with 
 Society, which the above Societies had adopted the Bishop 
 of Calcutta's plan for establishing a mission college 
 near Calcutta, and declaring its desire to co-oper- 
 ate in the same great and common cause, resolved 
 to make a like grant of five thousand pounds for 
 the same purpose 
 
 "The Committee had the advantage, on this occa- 
 sion, of acting under the counsel of a chairman, 
 Charles Grant, Esq., who was, perhaps, of all men 
 the most competent, from long experience and 
 practical knowledge, united to comprehension of 
 mind and elevation of principle, to advise concern- 
 ing the true interests of India. They had also the 
 benefit of hearing from Lieut. -Col. John Munro, 
 late Resident at the Court of Travancore, and from 
 John Herbert Harrington, Esq., late Chief Judge in 
 Bengal, both just returned from India, the most 
 decided expression of the probability of good likely 
 to result from the Bishop of Calcutta's plan, if ade- 
 quately supported." 2 
 
 Bishop's 41. While the Church at home was thus prepar- 
 vlsSation. m g to enable the Bishop to accomplish this great 
 design for India, he was performing a second visit- 
 ation of his diocese. Early in February 1819, he 
 
 1 S. P. C. K. Reports, 1819, 1820. 
 
 2 Society's Report 1819 ; Missionary Register 1819, p. 317, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 47 
 
 again assembled his clergy at Calcutta,, and deli- 
 vered to them a charge, in which, laying aside all 
 reserve, he fully and distinctly exhibited his deli- 
 berate sentiments respecting missionary labours, 
 and shewed how admirably he was qualified to 
 illustrate that important subject by his knowledge 
 of ecclesiastical antiquity. He told them that they 
 would but ill understand the extent of their sacred 
 obligations if they contemplated, without any emo- 
 tions of zeal, the prospect of moral and spiritual 
 good to the people who surrounded them ; that it 
 became every day more difficult to detach the sub- 
 ject of missionary labours from discussions relating 
 to the duties of the clergy in India. The concern 
 that was so deeply felt for the condition of the 
 heathen was, he said, highly honourable to their 
 country, and, at the same time, peculiar to the 
 Christian religion ; for that Paganism but rarely 
 sought for proselytes, and by Islamism conversion 
 seemed to be valued chiefly as an instrument of 
 conquest. Then, after expressing regret that the 
 missionary zeal, which was prompted by the benign 
 spirit of the gospel, was not always so happily 
 regulated as to produce the highest degree of good, 
 he shewed that this failure was to be attributed to 
 a departure from the spirit and unity of the primi- 
 tive ages. By the first preachers of the gospel, the 
 diffusion of their religion was evidently identified 
 with the expansion of the Catholic Church. To 
 begin with the apostles : missionaries they were, 
 indeed, in the most illustrious acceptation of the 
 word, going forth in the power and spirit of Christ, . 
 and establishing churches whose members should 
 know of no separation but that of place. And 
 then there were evangelists, who were likewise 
 missionaries in the strictest sense. Their office 
 was to preach Christ to those who had never heard 
 of His Name, and to deliver to them the divine 
 
48 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, gospels. Another ancient provision for the exten- 
 L sion of the gospel was the appointment of catecliists. 
 As the evangelists were sent among distant nations, 
 to whom the name of Christ was possibly unknown, 
 the catechists were to bring into the fold of Christ 
 the heathen who resided in the neighbourhood of 
 any Christian Church. The conversion of these 
 was an object contemplated in every Christian 
 establishment. All who expressed a desire to be- 
 come acquainted with the Christian doctrines, were 
 considered as standing in a certain avowed and 
 public relation to the Church. Catechisms were 
 compiled expressly for their use ; and the catechu- 
 mens were allowed to be present in the church 
 during the sermon, and while certain prayers were 
 offered for their illumination. Whatever the esti- 
 mate, he remarked, which modern laxity may fix on 
 regulations like these, they still shew what was the 
 spirit of that system under which our faith was 
 disseminated, and on which manifestly rested the 
 approbation and the blessing of God. 
 
 Then, after enlarging on the advantage of union 
 among Christians, especially when labouring in the 
 midst of the heathen, and also noticing the recent 
 proceedings in England, in behalf of Christianity in 
 India, he encouraged his clergy to endeavour to 
 rise to the level of duty which their Church at 
 home now manifestly expected of them. He so- 
 lemnly exhorted them to personal holiness, and to 
 pastoral fidelity, setting before them an awful re- 
 presentation of the guilt incurred by a forgetfulness 
 of these sacred responsibilities. That the effect of 
 these admonitions might not be lost in their gene- 
 rality, he proceeded to insist on various details of 
 clerical duty ; and concluded by earnestly charging 
 them to take heed to the ministry which they had 
 received of the Lord, that they might fulfil it. 
 Even a small body of clergy, animated by the views 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 49 
 
 and principles which he had displayed, could never 
 be without influence in any region of the civilized 
 world. They would possess an efficiency not, in- 
 deed, properly their own, but rather to be regarded 
 as the operation of the Holy Spirit, acting in and 
 through them. 
 
 He then concluded this admirable address in 
 these impressive words : " Commending you, 
 therefore, to his guidance in all things, I pray that 
 we may be able to render true and faithful service 
 to the great Head of the Church ; and that, having 
 contributed in our stations to promote His glory 
 on earth, we may, in life's last retrospect, give 
 praise unto Him, and, with no reliance but on His 
 merits, hope to be received to mercy." 
 
 42. A few days after this visitation, on the 12th Second 
 of February, the Bishop embarked with his family 
 on his second visitation to Madras, 1 which he 
 reached on the 27th. He arrived at a time of 
 mournful interest, Mrs Elliott, the Governor's lady, 
 dying on the evening of the day on which he 
 landed. The Bishop buried her the following 
 evening ; and, on the next Sunday, after preaching 
 and administering the Lord's Supper at St George's 
 in the morning, he preached a funeral sermon for 
 her in the evening, at the church in the Fort, 
 where she was interred. While at Madras, he 
 preached to a numerous congregation every Sunday, 
 and sometimes twice. On the 23d of March, he 
 confirmed three hundred and seventeen persons, 
 
 1 It will be remembered that, on his primary visitation, the 
 Governor-General had directed the governments of Madras and 
 Bombay to defray his expenses. But orders had since arrived 
 from the Court of Directors, fixing the sum to be allowed him 
 at 10,000 rupees, about 1000 sterling, 011 his visiting those 
 presidencies. A vessel also was to be provided, at the public 
 expense, for his conveyance, and a suitable house at each pre- 
 sidency furnished for his reception. 
 
 VOL. V. D 
 
50 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, being about forty-five more than on the former 
 
 occasion, After describing the solemnity of the 
 
 service, and the manifest improvement in the de- 
 meanour of the congregation, the Bishop remarked 
 " Scenes like these, especially in this country, 
 have a benign effect even upon those who are not 
 immediately concerned in them ; and certainly the 
 increasing attention among our own people to the 
 ordinances and duties of religion, has a tendency to 
 recommend Christianity, and is not unobserved by 
 the natives." 
 
 Two days after he held his visitation of the 
 clergy, to whom he delivered the same charge as at 
 Calcutta, of which an abstract has just been given. 
 He also consecrated a church and burial-grounds ; 
 and inspected the Male asylum, and its mode of 
 instruction, but found that Dr Bell's system, which 
 originated here, was nearly lost. He, therefore, 
 recommended that an English master should be 
 sent for, to restore it to its former state of efficiency. 
 dan ChliS " ^* Since hi 8 f rmer visitation, the Bishop had 
 Know- maintained a constant and unreserved communica- 
 ^ on w * tn tne Madras District Committee on the 
 affairs of the southern missions, and had given a 
 sanction to their measures which his authority 
 alone could impart. This gave life and spirit to 
 their exertions, and enabled them to suggest mea- 
 sures for the improvement and welfare of the mis- 
 sions, which, when' approved by the Bishop, came 
 recommended to the Society at home by the weight 
 of his deliberate judgment. During his present 
 visit, he directed and invigorated the Committee's 
 operations ; he exerted himself, with good hope of 
 success, to bring the Yepery press to more than its 
 former activity. He likewise visited the Vepery 
 mission, where he held a conference with the native 
 Christians of considerable length, upon some im- 
 proprieties of conduct which yet remained to be 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 51 
 
 corrected ; and not long after, through the exer- 
 tions of the missionary, Dr Rottler, the objection- 
 able practices were abandoned, and harmony was 
 restored to the congregation. 
 
 While memorializing the Madras government 
 on the subject of an augmentation in the number 
 of chaplains, he also urged the necessity of a church 
 at Vepery. 1 He likewise despatched the Christian 
 Knowledge Society an account of the present state 
 of this mission, accompanied with an urgent repre- 
 sentation of the necessity for an increase of mis- 
 sionaries. In 1818 the Society had sent out a 
 Lutheran clergyman, the Rev. John George Philip 
 Sperschneider, to supply the place of the lamented 
 Jacobi at Tanjore ; and this year two more mis- 
 sionaries of the same church arrived, the Rev. 
 Daniel Rosen, to occupy the station at Trichino- 
 poly, recently vacated by the death of Mr Pohle, 
 and the Rev. L. P. Haubroe, 2 to assist the vener- 
 able Dr Rottler at Vepery. But the Society had 
 still only five missionaries for all their stations, 
 two of whom, Rottler and Kohlhoff, were feeling the 
 infirmities of age ; whereas, the Bishop stated, that 
 not fewer than seven effective European mission- 
 aries were required in order to the due discharge 
 of the duties of the several stations ; and that the 
 Society should therefore have not less than eight 
 missionaries in its service, that the supernumerary 
 might be ready to render occasional assistance 
 whenever wanted. He adverted also to the inade- 
 quacy of the missionaries' salaries ; and, on his 
 
 1 It is gratifying to know that this application for a church 
 was not in vain : one was built at Vepery not long after, partly 
 by a donation of 2000 from the Society for Promoting Chris- 
 tian Knowledge, and partly by a grant from the East India 
 Company. 
 
 3 S.P.C. K. Reports, 1818, 1819, 1820. 
 
52 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, recommendation,, the Society increased to one hun- 
 ' dred and eighty pounds per annum,, and to two 
 hundred pounds for Mr Kohlhoff and the Vepery 
 missionaries. 
 
 Bishop's 44 1 The Bishop had several invitations up the 
 Benang. country, but denied himself the pleasure of accept- 
 ing them, as he wished to visit Penang, Prince of 
 Wales's Island, in the Straits of Malacca. He em- 
 barked at Madras about the middle of April, and 
 after a somewhat perilous passage across the Bay 
 of Bengal, reached Penang in safety. Here he was 
 heartily welcomed by the Governor, Colonel Ban- 
 nerman, and other members of the East India Com- 
 pany's establishment, which was small, and the 
 whole European population consisted of no more 
 than seventeen or eighteen families. They had 
 recently built a church, which he consecrated. He 
 preached, also, and confirmed twenty- six persons, 
 a considerable proportion of so small a society. 
 He had likewise the satisfaction of establishing a 
 District Committee of the Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge, for though he expected that 
 the field of action at this post would for the present 
 be very limited, yet he considered that it might 
 eventually be a matter of some importance to have 
 gained a footing for the Society so far to the 
 eastward. There were many Komanists scattered 
 among the neighbouring islands, which might fa- 
 vour the Committee's operations in that direction. 1 
 At Penang, the Bishop met with Sir Thomas Stam- 
 ford Raffles, Lieutenant- Governor of Bencoolen, a 
 man of great activity and influence in those parts ; 
 and as he promised his cordial co-operation with the 
 
 1 During the Bishop's visit to Penang, the Eoman Bishop of 
 Siam came on visitation to the island, where he had a numerous 
 flock : but it does not appear that the two prelates ever met. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 5 
 
 Committee, it was formed to unite Bencoolen with 
 Penang. 
 
 On the last Sunday of his visit, which he pro- 
 longed to eighteen days, he preached an impressive 
 sermon, 2 encouraging his audience to persevere in 
 the good work which they had so well begun. 
 Then after expressing the great improbability of 
 his ever again being able to visit them, and so be 
 an eye-witness of their progress, he concluded with 
 an affectionate admonition to continue stedfast in 
 faith and love, and a special invitation to the table 
 of the Lord. 
 
 Nearly the whole congregation, thirty persons, 
 then received the communion at his hands an 
 appropriate pastoral farewell to a Christian flock in 
 the midst of these remote isles of the ocean, whom 
 he could never expect to see again. After thus 
 endeavouring to build up this little church in right- 
 eousness and peace, he bade them farewell, and 
 they saw his face no more. 
 
 45. He had originally intended to proceed hence Relief ot 
 on his visitation to Bombay and Ceylon, but the queiSr an 
 season favourable for such a voyage was now pass- Mission, 
 ing away ; he was anxious also, for various rea- 
 sons, to return home. After another passage 
 attended with fatigue and imminent danger, he 
 arrived at Calcutta towards the end of May, and 
 found, as he expected, a great accumulation of 
 business requiring immediate attention. 
 
 One of the first objects to which he attended was 
 a design of great usefulness and importance. We 
 
 2 His text was, Philippians i. 27, <( Only let your conversa- 
 tion be as becometb the gospel of Christ : that whether I come 
 and see you, or else be absent, I may bear of your affairs, that 
 ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for 
 the faith of the gospel." 
 
 This sermon the Bishop printed, at the Governor's request, 
 for distribution among the residents at Penang. 
 
54 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 have seen the relief that he afforded to the Tran- 
 quebar missionaries out of the sum placed at his 
 disposal by the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge. He also circulated in Calcutta an 
 account of the distressed state of their mission, and 
 subscriptions were soon raised for its relief to the 
 amount of four thousand and fifty sicca rupees. 
 Out of this sum he continued to make remittances 
 to Tranquebar, as occasion required, for about 
 thirteen months ; after which, upon the mission- 
 aries reporting an amendment in their circum- 
 stances, he suspended his remittances until they 
 should again be applied for. In the mean time, at 
 his suggestion, the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge obtained information from the Bishop 
 of Zealand, that the Government of Denmark had 
 at length resolved to re-establish the ancient re- 
 sources of the mission, and to place it in future 
 beyond the need of casual support in India. 
 Founda- 46. When the Bishop received this intelligence, 
 james f ' St ne ^ ia( ^ m hand a balance of the contributions 
 Church which he received for the mission, amounting to 
 Schools, nearly three hundred pounds, which he proposed 
 Calcutta, to refund to the contributors ; but they declined 
 receiving it, and left it at the Bishop's disposal for 
 charitable purposes. Not long before, an officer, a 
 Captain Henry Oake, had left a legacy of five hun- 
 dred pounds, for the use and benefit of the Chris- 
 tian poor of Calcutta, in any way the Bishop might 
 deem most eligible and proper. With these sums 
 he proposed to build a school in the midst of the 
 poorest Christian population of Calcutta, consisting 
 chiefly of East Indians, a class of inhabitants who 
 were rapidly increasing in numbers and importance. 
 A friend, hearing of the Bishop's intention, pro- 
 mised him one or two hundred pounds more, if 
 wanted for his building. Encouraged by this libe- 
 rality, the prelate extended his design to the erection 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 55 
 
 of a church also for the same class of inhabitants, 
 who, by their distance from the existing churches, 
 and by the appropriation of the sittings there, 
 were unhappily shut out from the exercise of pub- 
 lic worship ; while the want of regular schools for 
 their instruction, either left them in total ignor- 
 ance, or else exposed them to the danger of imbib- 
 ing principles of hostility to the Government, and 
 of alienation from the Church of their fathers. 
 The Bishop was strongly impressed with the con- 
 viction, that the progress of Christianity in India, 
 especially among this class of persons, in connec- 
 tion with order and submission to lawful authority, 
 as taught in the Church of England, would be 
 among the firmest safeguards of the British power, 
 He, consequently, felt it incumbent upon him to 
 make a forcible appeal to the Marquis of Hastings 
 in behalf of these people ; aad he suggested to his 
 lordship a plan for erecting, in the suburbs, a free 
 church expressly for their accommodation, the 
 sittings of which should be entirely free, and also 
 a charity school for their education, upon the prin- 
 ciples of the National Society in England. To 
 both these proposals the Governor- General imme- 
 diately gave his cordial and effective support. By 
 an order of Government, a sufficient portion of land 
 was granted for the site of a church and churchyard 
 in the eastern suburbs of Calcutta ; and another 
 spot adjoining was conveyed to the Bishop and his 
 successors for ever, by a formal deed of gift, for 
 the purpose of erecting thereon a charity school, 
 for the benefit of the same class of persons. The 
 building of the school was soon commenced, and in 
 the following year, the Bishop had the satisfaction Death of 
 of laying the foundation-stone of the church. Such the Arch- 
 was the origin of St James' Church and School. Madras 
 
 47. While interesting himself in these important 
 works, two melancholy events occurred which gave 
 
56 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, a severe shock to his spirits, struggling as they 
 L were against the oppression of accumulating respon- 
 sibilities. Three months had scarcely elapsed since 
 he returned from his visitation to Madras and 
 Penang, when tidings reached him of the death of 
 the two persons with whom he had most inter- 
 course at those places, Archdeacon Mousley of 
 Madras, and Governor Bannerman of Penang. He 
 felt these blows severely, having a great regard for 
 both those gentlemen, and looking chiefly to them 
 to carry out his plans for the promoting of Chris- 
 tianity at their respective stations. In a country 
 where good and useful undertakings had not yet 
 acquired the permanency of system, but were 
 wholly dependent on the activity and influence of 
 individuals, such losses are calculated to discourage 
 the survivors ; and it requires strong faith in the 
 promises and power of God to counteract their ten- 
 dency to produce a feeling of despondency. In 
 India such interruptions to religious and benevolent 
 works are perpetually occurring, in consequence of 
 the fluctuating state of society, as well from fre- 
 quent and sudden deaths, as from various other 
 causes ; and there the divine admonition specially 
 applies with accumulated force, " Whatsoever thy 
 hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ; for 
 there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor 
 wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest P" 1 
 Bishop's 48. The Bishop's standard of missionary qualifi- 
 ca tions and character was high, and may serve to 
 cha- guide those who have the appointment of mission- 
 aries to the heathen. " We must have able in- 
 struments," he remarked, "with heads full of sense, 
 and hearts full of zeal. Weak men will be abso- 
 lutely good for nothing : of course, I mean not 
 merely those whose weakness is very obvious, but 
 
 1 Ecclesiastes ix. 10. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 57 
 
 men who cannot deliberate, and observe, and adapt 
 measures to circumstances. They should also have 
 some literary talent : they will be required to learn 
 languages, to compose elementary treatises, and to 
 translate the Scriptures. But still all the good 
 sense in the world, and talents the most powerful, 
 will do nothing without an inextinguishable ardour 
 in this holy cause. They must account it gain, though 
 at any cost, to be the means of bringing over men to 
 Christ. All their talents, and all their understand- 
 ing, must converge, as it were, to that one point ; 
 it must be the focus of all their deliberations, and 
 endeavours, and desires ; and I would venture to 
 suggest, that a little excess on the side of zeal 
 should be no disqualification. We must all of us, 
 more or less, be animated by a missionary spirit." 2 
 Such were the men that he especially desired to 
 have for the masters and professors of his projected 
 college ; and though an equal measure of abilities 
 and acquirements might not be required in less 
 commanding stations, yet the same zeal and de- 
 votedness to the cause of Christ is indispensable in 
 every department of missionary work. 
 
 49. The Bishop's view of the insufficiency, and Evils of a 
 dangerous tendency indeed, of mere secular know- ^nowfedge 
 ledge for the natives, is drawn with equal wisdom, among the 
 He remarks " A great deal, in truth, is going on 
 here in the minds of the people ; but knowledge, or 
 at least a smattering of every thing, is, I suspect, 
 making a much more rapid progress than religion. I 
 expect that, in a few years, we shall be overrun with 
 small philosophers and politicians ; and then, if 
 the country is in danger of being lost, the blame 
 will be laid upon Christianity, which will be wholly 
 unconcerned in the mischief, and is the only thing 
 
 ! The italics in this paragraph are the Bishop's own, vol. ii. 
 pp. 97, 98. 
 
58 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, which could have averted it. People here argue 
 ' as if mere secular knowledge will lead to Christi- 
 anity, as a matter of course. I do not collect any 
 such result either from Scripture or experience, 
 it leads much more naturally to something else. 
 A Hindoo deist was asked the other day, if he did 
 not wish the English out of the country ? His 
 answer was, ' I wished you out of it twenty years 
 ago you did nothing for us ; but as you are going 
 on now, I wish you to stay twenty years longer, 
 and then the sooner you are gone the better.' 
 However, I hope that Christianity will yet be dif- 
 fused in time to prevent the evils which superficial 
 knowledge must ever produce unaccompanied with 
 religious restraint." : 
 
 English 50. When the Bishop left Ceylon, in 1816, he 
 clSese 1 carr i e( ^ away a Tamul translation of the Liturgy 
 and & in manuscript, made by Christian David, to be 
 printed at Calcutta. It was now finished, and soon 
 ready for distribution, at the expense of the Go- 
 vernor, Sir R. Brownrigg, as a parting boon on 
 leaving Ceylon. 2 The Bishop also engaged W. 
 Tolfrey, Esq., to translate the Liturgy into Cin- 
 galese. Upon the lamented death of that gentleman, 
 the work was continued by Mr Armour, and it was 
 now in the press. To these was afterwards added 
 the Indo-Portuguese translation ; and then the 
 Book of Common Prayer was intelligible to all the 
 inhabitants of Ceylon, 3 with the exception of a few 
 
 1 Life of Bishop Middleton, vol. ii. pp. 108, 109. 
 
 2 This work was noticed in the Christian Knowledge So- 
 ciety's Keport for 1816. It was neatly bound, and cost Sir R. 
 Brownrigg 300. 
 
 3 The following testimony to the value of these three ver- 
 sions, and also to the use of the Liturgy in Ceylon, was given 
 by a Wesleyan missionary, Rev. E. Newstead, at the anniver- 
 sary of the Prayer-Book and Homily Society in 1825: 
 
 " The Book of Common Prayer in the Indo-Portuguese, 
 
IN INDIA: BOOK xm. 59 
 
 of the wild tribes in the interior, who were in a 
 state of barbarism. 
 
 which this Society has engaged to print, will be the third edi- 
 tion of the entire volume, which has been given to the people, 
 in the different languages of Ceylon, through the efforts of 
 Christian beneficence. 
 
 " For the first of these, which is in Tamul, we are indebted 
 to the munificence of Sir Robert Brownrigg, who patronised a 
 translation made by the Eev. Christian David (formerly a pupil 
 of the venerable Swartz, and now a minister of the Established 
 Church), printed it at his own expense, and presented it to the 
 various congregations of native Christians to whom that lan- 
 guage is vernacular. 
 
 " The second, which is in Cingalese, and done by the Eev. 
 Andrew Armour, also a minister of the Established Church, we 
 owe to the bounty of the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge. But long before the execution of this work, we 
 [the Wesleyan missionaries in Ceylon] had been obliged to 
 print, for the use of our own native congregations, a selection 
 from the Liturgy, translated into Cingalese by one of our 
 missionaries ; containing the Morning and Evening Services, 
 and the leading Offices of the Church: without this selec- 
 tion I know not how we should have succeeded in our public 
 worship. 
 
 " This selection, it is right to say, has been of most efficient 
 service in producing, under the blessing of God, order, regu- 
 larity, and decorum in our formerly heathen, and consequently 
 undisciplined, assemblies. The use of this selection is still 
 essential ; as the entire volume, being in the quarto size, is 
 unfit for general circulation. Four large editions of the selec- 
 tion have been called for, and have been printed at the expense 
 of the Wesleyan Society, for the use of our native schools and 
 congregations. In these schools, our admirable Liturgy takes 
 a very prominent part ; every one of our school-rooms being, in 
 fact, a place of worship, where, every Sabbath-day, our Liturgy 
 is read, and where every child is taught to repeat the various 
 responses. Our schoolmasters are never suffered to open or to 
 close a school, without first invoking the blessing of God, in a 
 form of prayer, with which we furnish them, if they be inca- 
 pable of it without one : they then uniformly read a portion of 
 God's holy word, and recite with the children in regular re- 
 sponse that sublime hymn the Te Deum. In this way thou- 
 sands of Cingalese children are every day taught at once to 
 revere the institutions of Christianity, and to trample on the 
 follies of idolatry." Missionary Eegistcr, 182o, p. 257. 
 
60 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. The Tamul of Ceylon is so much degenerated 
 1 from that of the peninsula, as to constitute almost 
 another language. The numerous Christian con- 
 gregations in South India required therefore a ver- 
 sion of the Liturgy in their own purer dialect, and 
 a translation for their use had recently been 
 finished by Dr Rottler, and published at Madras. 
 This important work derived great benefit from 
 the frequent corrections of the Tamul translator to 
 Government, Richard Clark, Esq., the able and in- 
 defatigable secretary to the district committee, to 
 whose learning and liberality throughout its pro- 
 gress the translator acknowledged his great obliga- 
 tions. The Government of Madras contributed 
 two hundred pounds towards its publication ; the 
 Bishop forty ; and the Christian Knowledge So- 
 ciety provided the paper, and defrayed nearly all 
 the remaining expense. The book was a handsome 
 quarto volume, neatly printed and bound. 
 Converted 51. A circumstance occurred in the autumn of 
 Meerut at ^is year, which may serve to shew the prejudices 
 which the clergy had to encounter in their endea- 
 vours to convert the natives, and the protection 
 they enjoyed under Episcopal jurisdiction against 
 military interference in the discharge of their 
 sacred functions. The Rev. Henry Fisher, chap- 
 lain at Meerut, a large military cantonment, near 
 Delhi, besides the zealous discharge of his imme- 
 diate duties, attended to the religious instruction 
 of the native inhabitants. Among his converts 
 there was a Naik, or corporal, in a native regi- 
 ment, whose conversion seems to have excited the 
 jealousy of the commanding officer of his corps, 
 who complained of it to the commander-in-chief at 
 Calcutta. The affair was represented in such 
 exaggerated terms, that it seemed to be calculated 
 to produce apprehension for the consequences 
 among the native troops. The Governor- General, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 61 
 
 therefore, instead of submitting the matter to the 
 military authorities, as heretofore, referred it offi- 
 cially to the Bishop, who called upon Mr Fisher 
 for an explanation of the case. This gentleman, 
 after adverting to his exertions for the religious 
 instruction of the natives around him, and to the 
 spirit of inquiry awakened among them, and the 
 conversion of several, proceeded to describe the 
 case in question. The man had for some time, 
 and under various circumstances, shewn a decided 
 predilection for Christianity, availed himself of 
 every opportunity to improve his knowledge of 
 the gospel, and at last earnestly requested Mr 
 Fisher to baptize him. As soon as his intention 
 became known, the Brahmins of the corps took the 
 alarm, and tried every means they could devise to 
 turn him from his purpose. Some of the slan- 
 derous reports raised against him caused the officers 
 to institute a court of inquiry into his conduct, 
 when he was not only acquitted of blame, but 
 proved to have conducted himself as a good sol- 
 dier, and to have behaved in all other respects in 
 an exemplary manner. All seem to have been 
 satisfied but the commanding officer, whose report 
 of the case to government had led to this reference 
 to the chaplain. His ingenuous explanation the 
 Bishop highly approved ; and from this time both 
 Mr Fisher and the man ceased to be molested : 
 while here again it was seen that the clergy and 
 the native Christians had now an official protec- 
 tor ; and the Bishop gained another step in ad- 
 vance against the resistance still offered to his 
 jurisdiction by some of the military authorities. 1 
 
 52. We have seen the neglected state in which 
 the Bishop found the Free school at Calcutta, and 
 the measures he introduced for its amelioration ; school 
 
 1 Life, vol. ii. pp. 113-118. 
 
62 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, and now, in September 1819, he began to reap the 
 
 L_ fruit of his labours. The improvement in its funds 
 
 enabled the Committee to increase the number of 
 children from three to four hundred, who were 
 wholly maintained, and the Bishop now pronounced 
 it " one of the finest institutions out of England," 
 He looked forward with hope, that some of the 
 boys, several of whom were wholly European, 
 would prove excellent schoolmasters, to be educated 
 in his college. Then, after describing the education 
 they would receive, he adds, that they^would be 
 such schoolmasters as India did not then possess. 
 Grant of 53. In this prospect he was encouraged by a 
 r communication from the Gospel Propagation So- 
 ciety in 1820, stating their approval of his plan for 
 the college ; informing him that they had applied 
 to the Vice-Chancellors of Oxford and Cambridge 
 for persons properly qualified for the professorships ; 
 requesting him to lose no time in laying the founda- 
 tion ; assuring him of their entire confidence in his 
 judgment ; and encouraging him with the promise 
 of funds to any reasonable amount which might be 
 required. On the receipt of this despatch, he pro- 
 ceeded with the execution of his design. Govern- 
 ment made him a grant of 1 twenty acres of land 
 for the site on the western bank of the river, within 
 three miles of the capital, and adjoining the Botanic 
 Garden. It was described as resembling an Eng- 
 lish park, and directly opposite the magnificent 
 villas of Garden Eeach. The ground was firm and 
 dry, the spot well chosen, and the deed of grant 
 was " executed to the Society for Propagating the 
 Gospel in Foreign Parts, and their successors for 
 ever." " If it please God to preserve me," the 
 Bishop wrote, " amidst so many dangers, till the 
 
 1 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Report 1820, 
 pp. 94, 95. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 63 
 
 college is well established, I hardly know what 
 more I shall have to desire on this side the grave. 
 The other morning I walked over the ground with- 
 out any companion, and while I heard at a distance 
 the woodman's axe at the root of the trees, I could 
 not help musing on what, if God bless the design, 
 will be the future studies and glories of the place, 
 when the founder, perhaps within its walls, is 
 mingling with the dust." 
 
 54. The Bishop was now deeply engaged in de- P1 * n and f 
 
 -, . ,, f. J . . estimate of 
 
 signs and estimates, and in all the endless variety the 
 of details unadvoidably incident to such an under- in &- 
 taking. The whole plan and arrangement of the 
 intended edifice were designed by himself, his chap- 
 lain, Mr Hawtayne, assisting in the selection of the 
 ornaments. The style of architecture which he 
 adopted was the collegiate Gothic. The building, 
 when completed, occupied three sides of a qua- 
 drangle, each one hundred and fifty feet in length, 
 but not joined at the angles. The southern side 
 was open towards the river, thus exhibiting the 
 entire building as the most conspicuous object from 
 the opposite bank. The northern side was com- 
 posed of a central tower sixty-five feet high, thirty 
 feet deep, from east to west, and twenty-four feet 
 deep from north to south. The western side of 
 this tower was occupied by a building of equal 
 depth, but whose height was only forty feet, and 
 its length sixty feet. The ground floor of this 
 building was the hall, and the upper floor the 
 library of the college. The eastern side of the 
 central tower was occupied by the chapel, of the 
 same dimensions with the preceding, but in every 
 other respect altogether dissimilar ; being, of 
 course, a single compartment with an arched roof. 
 The ground floor of the central tower formed an 
 entrance both to the chapel and the hall ; the first 
 floor was the vestibule of the library, which com- 
 

 64 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, municated also with the organ-loft of the chapel ; 
 L the second floor was the council-room, or visitor's 
 chamber, and it opened upon the terraced roof of 
 the library. The eastern and western sides of the 
 quadrangle, extending from north to south, were 
 allotted to the residence of professors, pupils, and 
 domiciliaries. 1 The building was estimated at ten 
 thousand pounds, but it was not completed for less 
 than thirteen thousand. 
 
 B re h a?a- **** Wh en ^ ne preparatory arrangements for the 
 torydis- college were completed, on the 3d of December 
 1820, being Advent Sunday, the Bishop preached 
 an appropriate discourse, from Ephesians iii. 10 : 
 " To the intent that now, unto principalities and 
 powers in heavenly places, might be (made) known 
 by the church the manifold wisdom of God." After 
 shewing that the divine wisdom herein contem- 
 plated, is that which is displayed in the scheme of 
 man's redemption ; explaining why it should be 
 proclaimed to the heathen ; and stating that the 
 church is the channel for the diffusion of this wis- 
 dom through the world ; he concluded with an 
 energetic appeal, calling the attention of the public 
 to the nature of the proposed institution. 
 Lays the 56. On the 15th of the same month, at an early 
 nour i* 1 ^ ne morning, the Bishop proceeded to the 
 college ground for the purpose of laying the founda- 
 tion-stone. He was accompanied by three members 
 of council, the Archdeacon and clergy, and a nu- 
 merous assemblage of ladies and gentlemen, civil- 
 ians and military. The Bishop opened the service 
 with a prayer, for a blessing on the work, and for 
 divine guidance and support to all connected with 
 the institution. He then offered up a thanksgiving 
 
 1 Gospel Propagation Society's Report 1821, pp. 140-151. 
 C. Lushington's History of Calcutta Institutions, pp. 111,112. 
 Bp. Middleton's Life, vol. ii. pp. 162, 163. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 65 
 
 for the work thus begun, and closed with a prayer 
 for all in authority ; for the Church of England, its 
 members and ministers, and " for all who might be 
 called and sent to preach to the heathen ;" con- 
 cluding with the Lord's Prayer. 
 
 A Latin inscription/ engraved upon a brass 
 
 2 The following is a copy of the inscription : 
 
 " INDIVIDILE . ET . BENEDICTS . TRINITATI . GLORIA 
 
 COLLEGII . MISSIONARIT 
 SOCIETATIS . DE . PROPAGANDO . APUD . EXTEROS 
 
 EVANGELIO 
 EPISCOPALIS . AUTEM . NUNCUPANDI . PRIMUM . LAPIDEM 
 
 POSUIT 
 
 THOMAS . FANSHAW . EPISCOPUS . CALCUTTENSIS 
 PRECIBUS . ADJUVANTS . ARCHIDIACONO 
 
 C^ETEROQUE . CLERO 
 RESPONDENTS . ET . FAVENTE . CORONA . DIE . XV . DEC^SM. 
 
 ANNO . SALUTIS . MDCCCXX 
 BRITANNIARUM . REGIS . GEORGII . IV . PRIMO 
 
 PRINCEPS . ILLE . AUGUSTISSIMUS 
 
 QUUM . REGENTIS . MUNERE . FUNGERETUR . LITERAS 
 
 SOC1ETATI . BENIGNE . CONCESSIT 
 
 QUIBUS . PIORUM . ELEEMOSYNAS 
 
 PER . ANGLIAM . UNIVERSAM . PETERE . LICERET 
 
 HOS . IN . USUS . EROGANDAS 
 
 IN . EOSDEM . VIR . NOBILISSIMUS 
 
 FRANCISCUS . MARCHIO . DE . HASTINGS 
 
 REBUS . INDICIS . FELICITER , PR^EPOSITUS 
 
 AGRI . SEXAGINTA . BIGAS . BENGALENSES 
 
 AD . RIPAM . GANGETIS . PROPE . CALCUTTAM 
 
 NOMINE . CCEETAS . HONORABILIS . MERCATORUM 
 
 ANGLICORUM 
 
 CHARTULIS . ASSIGNAVIT 
 
 SOCIETAS . VERO . DE . PROMOVENDA 
 
 DOCTRINA . CHRISTIANA . PARTICEPS . CONSIL1I . FACTA 
 GRANDEM . EST . LARG1TA . PECUNIAM 
 
 ILLA . ITIDEM . MISSION ARIA 
 
 CUI . NOMEX . AB . ECCLESIA . DUCTUM 
 
 NE . TALI . TANTOQUE . DEESSET . INCEPTO 
 
 PAR . MUNUS . ULTRO . DETUL1T 
 
 CHRISTI . NON . SINE . NUMINE 
 
 LJSTA . H.EC . NUISSE . PRIMORDIA 
 
 CREDANT . AGNOSCANT . POSTERI . AMEN." 
 
 Life of Bp. Middleton, vol. ii., Appendix, pp. 400, et seq. 
 VOL. V. E 
 
66 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, plate, was then read by the Bishop's chaplain ; 
 L after which the plate was deposited, and the stone 
 laid by the Bishop, assisted by the architect, Mr 
 Jones, the Bishop pronouncing " In the name of 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God, 
 blessed for ever, I lay this, the foundation-stone of 
 the Episcopal Mission College of the Incorporated 
 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
 Parts, to be commonly called and known as Bishop's 
 College near Calcutta." 
 
 The Bishop then proceeded "0 Father Almighty, 
 through whose aid we have now commenced this 
 work of charity, we bless Thee that we have lived 
 to this day. O prosper the work to its conclusion ; 
 and grant, that so many of us, as Thy providence 
 may preserve to witness its solemn dedication, may 
 join together in heart and in spirit in praising Thy 
 name, and in adoring Thy mercy, and in supplicat- 
 ing Thy favour to this house evermore, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord ! Amen ! " 
 
 He then dismissed the assembly with his blessing. 
 
 Thus concluded this imposing service. Every 
 one present seemed to be animated by the scene ; 
 but the prelate's feelings, as may be easily ima- 
 gined, surpassed them all. It has been remarked, 
 that, to persons not present on the occasion, lan- 
 guage can convey but a faint conception of the 
 delight pourtrayed in his features when he had 
 completed this impressive ceremony when he had 
 accomplished the object in which his heart had so 
 long been interested, As he received the congratu- 
 lations of his surrounding friends, his eye beamed 
 with joy and grateful exultation, while in his whole 
 countenance shone forth the natural benignity of 
 his disposition. 1 
 
 1 History of Calcutta Institutions, pp. 109, 110. Mr Lush- 
 ington, the author, was Secretary to Government at the time. 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 67 
 
 57. The Bishop now began to prepare for his Second 
 second visitation to Bombay : and on the 15th of atBom- n 
 January 1821 embarked for that presidency, where bay- 
 he arrived February 27th, and was received with 
 the usual honours, and with kind attentions from 
 the public authorities and most distinguished in- 
 dividuals at the place. 
 
 Here the Bishop remained six weeks ; four of 
 which occurring in Lent, he preached a course of 
 lectures on Fridays appropriate to the season ; and 
 on Sundays he preached on the Lord's Prayer. He 
 was generally in the pulpit on Sunday evening also. 
 He held likewise a visitation and confirmation, 
 delivering, as usual, a charge on the former, and 
 an address on the latter occasion. The district 
 committee he found in a prosperous and efficient 
 state. An order had recently been received from 
 the local government for an annual supply of reli- 
 gious books, to the amount of one hundred pounds, 
 for the use of the army and marine. It was pro- 
 posed to translate some of the Society's tracts into 
 the native languages, both for general circulation 
 and the use of the schools. 
 
 The Bishop was greatly pleased with the Bom- 
 bay Education Society, to which he was a liberal 
 benefactor. The central schools had been placed 
 under an able master and mistress from the National 
 Society in London ; and at this time there were 
 maintained nearly one hundred boys and fifty girls, 
 besides receiving a great number in the daily schools. 
 Such was the general interest excited in favour of 
 the establishment, that the annual contributions 
 from individuals exceeded eighteen thousand rupees. 2 
 
 2 About 2000 sterling. The variation in the value of the 
 rupee at different periods will appear, in several parts of this 
 work, from the difference in the amount in English money. 
 During the last twenty-eight years the value of the rupee has 
 fluctuated from Is. 9d. to 2s. 6d. 
 
G8 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Tlie Bishop publicly examined the children, in 
 
 L_ presence of the commander- in-chief, the members 
 
 of council, and a numerous assemblage of the prin- 
 cipal persons at the presidency ; and after express- 
 ing himself highly gratified at the manner in which 
 they had acquitted themselves, he distributed with 
 his own hand the usual books and medals awarded 
 to those who had made the greatest proficiency. 
 On the Sunday following he preached for the Society 
 at St Thomas's Church, when the collection amounted 
 to thirteen hundred rupees. 
 
 Srs P ^' "^ u ^ these incessant occupations seriously 
 
 from bis told upon his physical powers. Of his frequent 
 exertions, preaching here, he remarked " The exertion is 
 considerable in such a climate, especially in the 
 evening, when the heat is increased by the blaze 
 of two or three hundred candles." His own account 
 of his last few days at Bombay will serve as a speci- 
 men of his labours. On the 31st of March, he 
 wrote " I am now within two or three days of 
 my departure, and am fairly tired out. Yesterday 
 I consecrated a burying-ground at some distance, 
 and amidst intense heat. Immediately on my 
 return, I was engaged for some hours on business 
 with the archdeacons and the registrar ; and in the 
 evening, Friday, I preached. I have more business 
 this morning ; and in the afternoon, must go to 
 consecrate another burying-ground. To-morrow is 
 Sunday ; on Monday another burying-ground, with 
 preparations for departure." 
 
 He now began to feel the pressure of business, 
 together with the influence of the climate, making 
 inroads upon his physical powers ; for though he 
 shewed no inclination to spare himself, yet he 
 found that he could not go through fatigue as here- 
 tofore. Indeed, his correspondence about this time 
 was tinged with a melancholy arising from the 
 anxious solicitude of his office, which became deeper 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 69 
 
 as the weight of years and difficulties increased 
 upon him. Rarely, indeed, were such extensive 
 responsibilities and onerous duties ever before laid 
 upon one man. 
 
 59. On the 10th of April he put to sea again, visit to 
 the commander-in-chief, with his staff and numer- 
 ous friends, accompanying him to the pier. 1 On 
 the 19th he landed at Cochin. Shortly after his 
 last visit to this place, in consequence of a petition 
 which he forwarded to the Madras government 
 from the principal Dutch inhabitants, accompanied 
 by his own recommendation of its prayer to their 
 favourable consideration, a chaplain, the Rev. Walter 
 Williams, was appointed to the station. He was 
 welcomed by all the Protestant inhabitants, who 
 fitted up the large Dutch church, that had long 
 been neglected, for divine worship, and encouraged 
 his proposal to establish a free school. The Rajah 
 of Cochin liberally subscribed towards this institu- 
 tion, and even placed under the chaplain's super- 
 intendence a native poor-house which his highness 
 had established, assigning him for such a service a 
 salary of one hundred rupees a month. But Mr 
 Williams was much interrupted in his work by 
 severe sickness. The government soon transferred 
 him to a station where the demand for his services 
 was more urgent ; and he died not long after his 
 removal. No one had since been appointed to supply 
 his place ; 2 but the Church Missionary Society had 
 
 1 While at Bombay, the Bishop took great interest in the 
 history, character, and customs of the Parsees, disciples of 
 Zoroaster, and worshippers of fire. They amounted to about 
 thirteen thousand, and were much respected in the place. A 
 particular account of their sacred books and religion may be 
 seen in the second volume of the " Transactions of the Literary 
 Society of Bombay," written by William Erskine, Esq. 
 
 2 No chaplain has since been appointed to Cochin. 
 
70 HISTOKY OF CHKISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, stationed a missionary there, the Rev. Thomas 
 
 L Dawson, who also, in 1818, was compelled by sick- 
 
 ness to leave India and return to Europe. After 
 
 his departure, missionaries at Allepie and Cotym, 
 
 of the same Society, paid such attention to the 
 
 wants of the place as their own immediate duties 
 
 would permit, visiting it weekly in succession. In 
 
 a short time they succeeded in opening a school at 
 
 Jew Town for the children of that little community, 
 
 and a Malayalim school in the Fort for the heathen 
 
 children ; they had also taken measures to increase 
 
 the number of such schools. Such was the state 
 
 in which Bishop Middleton now found this station. 
 
 Conver- 60. When last here he visited the Romish Vicar 
 
 Romish* Apostolic of Yerapoli, in the neighbourhood, who 
 
 A iS ost P oiic not * on a ^ er a kj ure d tne errors of his Church, and 
 studied the principles of the Church of England. l 
 This man's conversion and subsequent marriage 
 made a great stir, and it was expected that others 
 would follow his example. Verapoli is a station of 
 great importance to the Roman Church, being the 
 residence of a Bishop and Vicar Apostolic, and 
 having a college for the education of priests for the 
 Roman and Roma- Syrian Churches in Malabar. No 
 wonder then that the conversion of this dignitary 
 created some consternation at Rome ; and the 
 activity of Protestant missionaries in the country, 
 from Allepie to Nagracoil, at the southern extremity 
 of the mountains, where the London Missionary 
 Society had a flourishing station, could not but 
 increase the Pope's alarm. Accordingly, a new 
 Bishop, with a reinforcement of priests, was sent 
 out, and, in 1819, the Bishop thus notices the cir- 
 cumstance : "I see in the Christian Observer, 
 that the Pope is sending out an Irishman, the Rev. 
 
 Life of Bishop Middleton, vol. i. p. 422. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 71 
 
 Miles Prendergast, to be Bishop of Malabar, with 
 twenty missionary priests ! This is a master stroke 
 of policy. An Irishman and an Englishman are, 
 in this point of view, the same thing. We are the 
 dominant power ; and an English Popish Bishop 
 will do more for the Church of Rome than a dozen 
 Portuguese." 
 
 61. Bishop Middlet on's principal object in call- Bishop's 
 ing at Cochin at this time was to learn what truth 
 there might be in a report which had reached him 
 of an attempt, on the part of some English clergy- 
 men, to interfere with the Syrian Church. Since 
 his last visit, three ordained missionaries of the 
 Church Missionary Society, Rev. Benjamin Bailey, 
 Rev. Joseph Fenn, and Rev. Henry Baker, had 
 been stationed at Cotym, in order to carry out the 
 comprehensive and benevolent designs of Colonel 
 Munro, Resident of Travancore, for the benefit of 
 the Syrian community ; but these gentlemen, it 
 was asserted, purposed to introduce the English 
 Liturgy, and sought an approximation of the 
 Syrian Church to the doctrine and discipline of 
 the Church of England. 2 In order to ascertain 
 whether there were any grounds for this allega- 
 tion, the Bishop desired an interview with Mar 
 
 2 This report was, perhaps, raised in consequence of the Kev. 
 B. Bailey having translated the English Liturgy into Malay- 
 alim, and using it in the performance of divine service in that 
 language. This was the best method he could have used of 
 enabling them to understand the character of the Church of 
 England, and of putting in their hands the means of correcting 
 what the most scrupulous Protestant must allow needed correc- 
 tion in their own public services. (Vide Translation of Syriac 
 Liturgy, Appendix, vol. iv.) The author attended on one of 
 these occasions, in December 1820, when about 10 Cattanars 
 and 150 Syrians were present. The head Malpan of the col- 
 lege officiated as clerk, expressed his admiration of the prayers, 
 and would allow no one else to read the responses. All this 
 was done with the Metran's entire concurrence. 
 
72 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Dionysius, one of the Syrian Metrans, who resided 
 L in the college at Cotym, which was under the 
 missionaries' superintendence. Accordingly, he 
 sent a special messenger to the Metran, with a 
 boat to convey him, requesting that he would meet 
 him at Cochin. The Metran, however, expressed 
 great reluctance to go, being unwilling to leave his 
 diocese, and having no place in the immediate 
 vicinity of Cochin where he and his retinue could 
 take up their abode. There had been, indeed, a 
 Syrian church there, but it was now in ruins ; and 
 for the Metran to have occupied any part of it, 
 would not have accorded with the views enter- 
 tained by the church of the dignity of his office. 
 It must be confessed, also, that he thought it be- 
 neath his dignity for him, a prelate of " an elder 
 church," as he remarked, to wait upon " the Eng- 
 lish Bishop." These feelings he expressed to the 
 missionaries, who had great difficulty in overcom- 
 ing his objections. At last, upon their urgently 
 entreating it, he consented to go, provided one of 
 them would accompany him as interpreter. It 
 was accordingly agreed that Mr Fenn should go 
 with him. On their reaching Cochin, Mr Fenn 
 waited upon Bishop Middleton, to inform him of 
 the Metran' s arrival. The Bishop appointed the 
 next day to see the Metran, but said that he must 
 request Mr Fenn not to attend, as he had an in- 
 terpreter of his own, and that he wished for a pri- 
 vate interview. Dionysius assented, not without 
 hesitation, and he afterwards gratuitously commu- 
 nicated what had passed. The Bishop's questions 
 bore chiefly on the missionaries' policy towards the 
 Syrian Church whether they interfered with its 
 internal affairs whether they introduced any 
 changes whether they made proselytes whether 
 they baptized any heathen, and received them into 
 their own church. To all this the Metran replied 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 73 
 
 in the negative. The conference lasted two hours, 
 and the Bishop expressed himself perfectly satisfied 
 with the explanations which he had received. 
 
 Dionysius then told the Bishop that he had some 
 matters which he wished to communicate to him, 
 but that he could not consent to do this through 
 any other medium than the English clergyman who 
 had accompanied him, Accordingly, Mr Fenn was 
 called in, and the Bishop shewed that his appre- 
 hensions were removed, by receiving him more cor- 
 dially than before. The Metran then laid open 
 the difficult position of his church at that juncture, 
 in consequence of the collision which had occurred 
 between himself and the Komish authorities, and 
 the hostility of the local government. The Bishop 
 listened to hirn with much interest and kindness, 
 but, of course, he could not interfere to redress 
 these grievances ; and when the Metran had done, 
 the two prelates parted with expressions of friend- 
 ship. After the Metran was gone, the Bishop 
 frankly acknowledged to Mr Fenn that he had 
 heard many injurious reports of the missionaries' 
 proceedings of their interference and proselytism, 
 and endeavours to plant their own church in Tra- 
 vancore ; but that, after the most careful in- 
 vestigation, he was rejoiced to find them wholly 
 unfounded. He then took him warmly by the 
 hand, clasping it between both his own, and say- 
 ing, " I commend this interesting church to your 
 
 care." 
 
 The Bishop, in his own report of his interview 
 with the Metran, stated, " He told me that they," 
 the missionaries, " had not begun to print at the 
 Syrian college. I told him that we would have a 
 
 1 This account is given on the authority of Mr Fenn ; and 
 the result of the interview, as here stated, is confirmed by the 
 brief report of it in the Bishop's Life, vol. ii. pp. 205, 206. 
 
74 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Syrian press at the college at Calcutta,, if he would 
 L send me one of his clergy to assist me. He smiled, 
 and said he did not think any of them could be 
 prevailed upon to go to such a distance : they were 
 very unwilling to quit their parishes for more than 
 a day at a time. However, I think I shall get one 
 of them over." l 
 
 We cannot pass on without bidding the reader 
 mark the difference between the conduct of Menezes, 
 Archbishop of Goa, in 1598 and 1599, and that of 
 Bishop Middleton, towards this ancient church. 
 The former came to it with the wiles of a deceiver 
 and the rod of an oppressor ; the latter came with 
 the words of truth in his mouth, and the olive- 
 branch of peace in his hand. Archbishop Menezes 
 destroyed all the copies of the Syriac Scriptures 
 that he could find, together with her formularies, 
 history, and every ancient record he could find, for 
 the purpose of obliterating every vestige of her 
 identity with the Church of Antioch, and forcing 
 her into communion with Home. Bishop Middle- 
 ton, on the contrary, deprecated any alteration in 
 the Syrian Church brought about by foreign inter- 
 ference, or any conformity of it even with the 
 Church of England, to the loss or injury of its own 
 distinctive peculiarity. He admired its wonderful 
 preservation, though he deplored its grievous errors 
 and sad degradation. He wished it to be the Church 
 of Travancore ; and that it might be more worthy 
 to occupy that position, and become the centre of 
 light to the heathen around, it was the purpose of 
 his heart to furnish it with an ample supply of the 
 Syriac Scriptures, and other means for the refor- 
 mation of itself. Whether of these two prelates 
 acted more in accordance with the character of a 
 Christian bishop, let the reader judge. 
 
 1 Life of Bishop Middleton, vol. ii. p. 206, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 75 
 
 62. The Bishop next prosecuted his voyage to Coiumbo 
 Ceylon,, where he was welcomed by the new go- JjJ 
 vernor, Sir Edward Barnes, and the British resi- ? h p' s . 
 dents, as their diocesan., the island, on the J uon! 1C 
 recommendation of Sir Robert Brownrigg, and 
 with the Bishop's concurrence, having been re- 
 cently annexed to the See of Calcutta, with a resi- 
 dent archdeacon. The government chaplain, the 
 Honourable and Reverend T. J. Twistleton, was 
 the first archdeacon ; and the Crown reserved for 
 itself the future appointments to that dignity. The 
 government was authorised to defray the expenses 
 incurred by the Bishop during his stay in the 
 island, in the discharge of his Episcopal functions ; 
 but not a single rupee was placed at his own dis- 
 posal. In consenting, therefore, to take upon his 
 already overcharged mind the care of an island in 
 itself too large for one diocese, he was to reap no 
 personal advantage whatever, either in the form of 
 patronage or money. As to an adequate indemni- 
 fication for much additional trouble and responsi- 
 bility, he neither expected nor desired it. But he 
 did hope that a small annual salary, of about five 
 hundred pounds a-year, would have been allowed, 
 to enable him to stand prominent in the building 
 of churches, schools, and other works of charity, 
 without which the cause of Christianity must suffer 
 any where, in the very person who was sent to 
 promote it. Whereas, he was merely invested with 
 jurisdiction in Ceylon, as in India, without any in- 
 fluence, or any visible means of doing good in the 
 island ; and his only compensation for all this in- 
 crease of labour and anxiety was the hope of 
 advancing the cause of Christianity among the in- 
 habitants, by conferring upon them the advantages 
 of the Episcopal functions. The evil resulting from 
 such an arrangement was, indeed, on the Bishop's 
 forcibly representing it to the government at home, 
 
76 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 partially remedied, by the grant of three hundred 
 pounds to be placed at his disposal, for religious 
 and charitable purposes at the time of his Epis- 
 copal visitations. This sum he now received, but 
 it was very inadequate to the calls upon his 
 bounty ; and when it became known that he had 
 this money to distribute, it gave rise to demands 
 upon him utterly beyond his means to supply. 1 
 
 During his present visit he held a visitation and 
 confirmation, and three consecrations of churches 
 and burying-grounds. He preached also several 
 times. The district committee had become lan- 
 guid during his long absence, but he found no 
 difficulty in reforming it, and invigorating its pro- 
 ceedings. He presented to the fund to be raised 
 for translating the Society's tracts, the three hun- 
 dred pounds placed by Government at his disposal, 
 and undertook to write to the Society for a press. 
 He was careful also to explain the objects and ad- 
 vantages of his college, with reference to Ceylon, 
 in such a manner as to secure the patronage and 
 support of those who were able to assist him. He 
 looked also into the state of the school ; and, which 
 he considered of most consequence, he collected 
 a body of information respecting the ecclesiastical 
 affairs, which would furnish matter for a paper to 
 be addressed to the British Government. In all 
 these proceedings the governor cordially co-ope- 
 rated with him, and attended every solemnity in 
 which the prelate was engaged a matter of great 
 importance with respect to the natives, who, when 
 
 1 The Dutch descendants, many of whom were of the most 
 respectable rank, but now in a state of extreme poverty and 
 want, supposing that the sum might be intended for charitable 
 relief, came in hundreds to the Bishop's residence one morning, 
 presenting a painful scene of misery ; they could scarcely be 
 made sensible of their mistake, and were waiting at the door 
 till the night came on. Life. vol. ii. pp. 217, 218. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 77 
 
 inclined to Christianity, are greatly encouraged by 
 the example of their rulers : and even those who 
 have no mind to change their own religion, have a 
 much higher respect for those of their superiors 
 who attend to their religious duties than for those 
 who neglect them. 
 
 63. The most interesting occurrence at this visi- Ordina- 
 tation was the ordination of Mr Armour. This 
 person we have seen came to Ceylon originally as 
 a private soldier, and was in 1810 raised, for his 
 abilities and good conduct, to the office of a 
 preacher to the natives. 2 His translation of the 
 prayer-book into Cingalese we have noticed already. 
 He also undertook, after the death of Mr Tolfrey 
 in 1817, to assist in carrying on the translation of 
 the Scriptures into the same language, which that 
 gentleman had left unfinished. 3 Besides under- 
 standing Cingalese, Tamul, Dutch, and Portuguese, 
 he had acquired a tolerable knowledge of French 
 and Latin, and a little acquaintance with Greek. 
 For some time past it had been the desire of his 
 heart to obtain ordination in the Church of Eng- 
 land, and he sought to avail himself of the present 
 opportunity to seek its accomplishment. Having 
 stated his case to the Bishop, and laid his journal 
 before him, he explained his motive in taking 
 upon himself to preach the Gospel ; encouraged 
 by the governor and chaplains, he said, that his 
 
 2 Book xii. chap. iv. sec. 16. 
 
 3 On the death of Mr Tolfrey, a Committee was formed to 
 carry on the translation, consisting of Mr Armour, Mr Chater 
 of the Baptist, and Mr Clough of the Wesleyan Mission, with 
 two learned Cingalese natives, and the two Wesleyan converts, 
 Peter Panditta and George Nadoris. Their version was com- 
 pleted in 1823, and, after a strict examination by competent 
 judges, was highly approved and published. Nevertheless, the 
 translators subjected it to a more extensive revision, in order 
 that a second edition might issue from the press in a form still 
 better suited for general circulation. 
 
78 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, ministry had been exercised among thousands who 
 *' must otherwise have been left wholly destitute of 
 religious instruction or pastoral care. The Bishop 
 listened to his story with the profouiidest interest, 
 and even compared his labours, sufferings, and pri- 
 vations with those of St Paul, for, assuredly, like 
 the great Apostle of the Gentiles, he was in jour- 
 neyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, 
 in perils ~by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in 
 weariness and painfulness, in deaths oft, in watch- 
 ings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often 
 besides that which daily pressed upon his heart, 
 the care of thousands, who were to be taught in 
 rugged forests and pestilential jungles. Having 
 been associated with missionaries of different per- 
 suasions, especially in the work of translation, they 
 had frequently and urgently invited him to join 
 their respective communions ; but seeing no reason 
 to forsake the church of his fathers, to which he 
 was conscientiously attached, he declined their 
 solicitations : and the Bishop, after a close exami- 
 nation into his religious views, his personal charac- 
 ter, and his motives for seeking ordination in the 
 Church, was fully satisfied. His whole soul seemed 
 to be devoted to the service of God, and his Chris- 
 tian demeanour had won for him the cordial esteem 
 of all ranks of men. His literary pretensions also 
 were of no ordinary standard ; the Bishop, there- 
 fore, felt that there could be no reasonable objection 
 to comply with his earnest wishes, and, without 
 further hesitation, admitted him to deacon's orders. 
 Notautho- 64. There was another candidate for ordination, 
 ordaina Christian David, the young man who accompanied 
 native. the Bishop from Tanjore to the south in 1816, and 
 of whose Tamul translation of the Liturgy we have 
 just spoken. 1 He was stationed at Jaffna, where, 
 
 1 Sec. 50. 
 
IN INDIA t BOOK XIII. 79 
 
 acting under the authority of the government, he 
 preached and administered the sacraments,, though 
 without even Lutheran ordination. He was con- 
 scious of the irregularity of these proceedings, and 
 earnestly desired to remedy it ; and gladly would 
 the Bishop have complied with his request to be 
 ordained,, had he been at liberty to follow the dic- 
 tates of his own judgment. He was satisfied with 
 Christian David's character and qualifications for 
 the ministry among his own countrymen, nor had 
 he any doubt that he would make a good mission- 
 ary ; and he even expressed his belief, that no man 
 had laboured more faithfully in the Christian cause. 
 Still, he was restricted, by the terms of his patent, 
 from ordaining any persons ~born in India ; and 
 though in Ceylon, a king's colony, he might be 
 thought more free to act in this matter than in the 
 Company's territories, the inhabitants of that island 
 being, of whatever description, the kings loving 
 subjects, yet the powers given him in the Ceylon 
 patent were limited to those which he received by 
 the patent for India. He felt, therefore, that he 
 was not authorised to depart from the terms of the 
 original patent, until it should be explained and 
 settled as he desired. " Till that is done," he re- 
 marked, " my condition is very distressing. My 
 task under any circumstances cannot be a very easy 
 one ; but, as it is, I am labouring in chains, and 
 wasting my strength and life for comparatively no- 
 thing" " The Church is now made to appear to 
 reject the well-disposed : for a Bishop, who cannot 
 ordain at his discretion, is something new and inex- 
 plicable." Such, however, was the case ; and, under 
 these circumstances, he deemed it right, though 
 painful to his own feelings, to decline ordaining 
 Christian David. " He was, however, poor man," 
 the Bishop feelingly remarked, " sadly disappointed 
 and hurt, to my great concern." He recommended 
 
80 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, him afterwards to the favourable notice of the 
 L Christian Knowledge Society, and was glad to learn 
 that they had sent him a donation ; but he could 
 not recommend them to employ him without some 
 kind of ordination, and it was not expedient that 
 he should receive Lutheran orders for the purpose, 
 so long as any hope remained of the removal of the 
 present restrictions. 1 
 
 European 65. After passing between five and six weeks 
 against 06 * pleasantly and usefully at Columbo, the Bishop, 
 accompanied by Archdeacon Twistleton, set out for 
 Point de Galle, seventy-five miles to the south, 
 where he had arranged again to embark. In his 
 first day's journey he visited a small church recently 
 built, which was served by a Cingalese minister, 
 under singular circumstances. The father of this 
 person was onein the highest rank of the ancient 
 nobility of the sland, bearing the title of " Mode- 
 lien of the King's Gate ;" and, though still retain- 
 ing his original condition as a Budhist, he sent his 
 son, with a cousin, to England for education. The 
 young man was placed at Exeter College, Oxford, 
 and in due time ordained by the Bishop of London 1 
 for the colonies. Having married a respectable 
 English gentlewoman, he returned to Columbo, 
 where of necessity he lived apart from his own 
 family, who continued heathens. After having en- 
 joyed for so long a period free intercourse with the 
 best society in England, he was cruelly disappointed 
 at finding himself excluded from it on his return to 
 his native country. The Bishop exerted all his 
 influence in his favour, and invited him to his own 
 
 1 We have already seen the failure of the Bishop's endea- 
 vours to have these restrictions removed ; and he now sent home 
 another strong representation on the subject, which was ulti- 
 mately successful, as we shall see, but not in time to relieve his 
 anxious mind. 
 
 2 Dr Hawley, present Archbishop of Canterbury. (1846.) 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 81 
 
 table ; but it does not appear that any of the Eng- 
 lish residents were induced, by his truly Christian 
 example, to lay aside their prejudices against peo- 
 ple of colour, or even to suspend them in the pre- 
 sent interesting case. But his ministrations would 
 not be the less acceptable to the Great Head of the 
 church, in the humble post which he was content 
 to occupy. 3 
 
 66. The Bishop being detained a few days at School ot 
 Point de Galle, by contrary winds, visited a large at PofnT 
 establishment of boys and girls in the neighbour- de Galle - 
 hood, formed by a benevolent lady, Mrs Gibson, 
 the wife of an English agent at that station. The 
 children in this asylum were orphans, whose 
 parents had perished by the road-side during a 
 severe famine some years before, leaving their 
 children in a state of misery and want which 
 warmly interested the feelings of this humane lady, 
 and called her benevolence into active exercise. 
 Having rescued the children from starvation, she 
 continued to feed and clothe them, and formed 
 them into two separate schools, which she superin- 
 tended herself with unremitting assiduity. The 
 boys were taught trades, and some were already 
 tolerable carpenters, tailors, and shoemakers. The 
 
 3 The author knew a gentleman in India under similar cir- 
 cumstances. He was educated at a public school in England, 
 the nephew of a dignitary of the Church, and a well-informed 
 man. At Palamcottah, he was freely admitted into the hest 
 society ; but he would not have enjoyed this immunity at Ma- 
 dras, or a less retired station ; and so strongly did he feel the 
 exclusion, that rather than have his children, by a native 
 mother, exposed to a similar indignity, he actually had them 
 brought up as heathens, knowing that as such they would be more 
 respected. This was a dreadful alternative, and proved that he 
 knew little of Christianity but the name. The fact, however, 
 ought to make Englishmen in India reconsider the prejudices 
 that are calculated so deeply to wound an educated mind, and 
 to drive one devoid of religious principle to such desperation. 
 
 VOL. V. F 
 
82 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, girls learned lace-making and needle-work. The 
 L English and Cingalese languages, religious and 
 moral lessons,, were daily taught, and on Sundays 
 the children attended divine service in the Fort. 
 This little Christian establishment was another 
 oasis to refresh the Bishop on his way through 
 these regions of moral wilderness. He was glad 
 to find that the government encouraged the estab- 
 lishment by a monthly donation of one hundred 
 rix-dollars ; while he himself presented to it a 
 handsome contribution, and his lady ordered some 
 of the girls' work to be sent after her to Calcutta. 
 
 On the whole, the Bishop was well pleased with 
 this visit to Ceylon. Though spiritual and practical 
 religion was in its infancy, yet he saw enough to 
 encourage hope, and felt a special interest in the 
 prospect presented to him by the numerous body 
 of native Christians, and especially those un- 
 der Mr Armour's pastoral care. 1 So desirous was 
 he to encourage the good work already begun in 
 several quarters, that he expressed a wish to reside, 
 if possible, in Ceylon one year in three, and with 
 this view had almost decided on purchasing a resi- 
 dence in the island ; but he did not live to accom- 
 plish his intention. 
 
 Arrival of 67. The Bishop returned to Calcutta in June, 
 
 anTa pro- wnere ne na ^ the satisfaction of finding the princi - 
 
 fessor. pal and a professor for the college awaiting his 
 
 arrival. The principal was the Rev. William Hodge 
 
 Mill, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and the 
 
 professor, the Rev. Just Henry Alt, of Pembroke 
 
 1 At this time, the Church Missionary Society had six mis- 
 sionaries in Ceylon (22d Eeport, pp. 172, etseq.), and the author 
 learns from one of them, Eev. W. Ward, that those who had 
 the opportunity, paid their respects to the Bishop, both at his 
 public visitation at Columbo, and at his private residence ; but 
 he felt the same difficulty here as on the continent, in publicly 
 recognising them as his clergy. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 83 
 
 College, in the same university, who had both 
 offered their services, on the application of the 
 Gospel Propagation Society, to the English univer- 
 sities. At a special meeting of the Society, on the 
 23d of June 1820, they received their appoint- 
 ments, and sailed shortly after for Calcutta, where 
 they arrived in the following February. The Bishop 
 was highly satisfied with both these appointments ; 
 but he could not yet set them to work, as he had 
 not received back the statutes which he had drawn 
 up for the administration of the college, and sub- 
 mitted to the Gospel Propagation Society for ap- 
 proval. The college buildings also were not yet 
 ready for their occupation ; and under these cir- 
 cumstances, and knowing that when his duties were 
 once begun, they would prevent his travelling at 
 any time far from home, Principal Mill proposed to 
 improve the present season of leisure, by visiting 
 the other presidencies. He conceived that the 
 personal inspection of the several tribes of native 
 Christians in other parts of the peninsula would 
 serve many useful purposes in the future progress 
 of his labours, and, with the Bishop's concurrence, 
 he left Calcutta in October, in prosecution of this 
 design. 2 
 
 68. About this time, the Bishop was made Account 
 anxious by the formidable opposition beginning to 5viohim 
 be arrayed, by certain natives, against the progress Roy. 
 of genuine Christianity in Bengal. In 1815, shortly 
 after his arrival, he received a visit from a Brahmin, 
 who afterwards became well known in England, 
 Ram Mohun Roy. This man avowed that he had 
 
 2 Mr Mill's letter to the Gospel Propagation Society, giving 
 an account of this tour, is published in the Appendix to Bishop 
 Middleton's Life, No. IV. Copious extracts from this interest- 
 ing document are also given in the Missionary Register for 
 September 1823. 
 
84 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, renounced idolatry, together with some hundreds 
 ' of his countrymen, and was seeking a knowledge 
 of the Christian religion. " At present/' the Bishop 
 remarked, " he has got no further than Socinianism, 
 and was actually about to form a ' Unitarian So- 
 ciety' if I had not dissuaded him. But he has 
 called it ' The Friendly Society.' Our next con- 
 ference is to be on the divinity of Christ/' &C. 1 He 
 continued occasionally to visit the Bishop, who, at 
 one time, entertained hopes of his conversion, and 
 pleased himself with the prospect of one day bap- 
 tizing him. But these expectations were totally 
 disappointed on the Brahmin's publication of his 
 sceptical notions, which destroyed all the prelate's 
 confidence in his sincerity. In 1817, he thus de- 
 scribed his downward course : " As to Ram Mohun 
 Roy, I fear he is not, and never will be, even a So- 
 cinian ! He seems, at present, to be as pure a deist 
 as ever breathed. He has, indeed, renounced idol- 
 atry, as forming no part of the religion of nature ; 
 but not one here supposed him near being a Chris- 
 tian after he had written his book ; it was before 
 he was an author, and when he would talk for hours 
 together upon the beauty of our religion, and the 
 truth of the Gospel. He afterwards fell into bad 
 hands ; and I see as little chance of his being a 
 Christian, as of my becoming a Hindoo. He is, at 
 this moment, the chief talker among the philosop/iers 
 here ; and is much too well pleased with himself to 
 receive the doctrines of Christ. They would only 
 degrade him." 2 
 
 Besides the pamphlet of this man, to which the 
 Bishop alludes, purporting to give an account of his 
 sentiments, he published several other works ; and 
 at a later period^ in 1822, the Rev. Principal Mill 
 
 1 Life, vol. i. p. 178. 2 Ibid., pp. 420, 421. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 85 
 
 gave the following statement 3 of the progress of his 
 mischievous attempts to overturn the foundations 
 of the Christian faith : " From being an adversary 
 of the Brahmins, his brethren, on their own ancient 
 principles, and endeavouring to restore on the autho- 
 rity of SOME PART of the Vedas and their commenta- 
 tors, the primeval tradition of the Divine Unity, and 
 to expose the evil of idolatry, of bloody and obscene 
 rites, &c., he has latterly turned to profess himself a 
 Christian ; but it is such a Christianity, as, being un- 
 accompanied with any submission of mind to its au- 
 thority as a supernatural revelation, leaves us no 
 reason to applaud the change. A work published by 
 him some time since, under the very welcome and just 
 title, ' The Precepts of Jesus the Guide to Happi- 
 ness and Peace/ was an artful attempt, in exhibit- 
 ing all the discourses of Christ which represented 
 practice as the sum and substance of his religion, to 
 set the MORALITY of the Gospel against its MYSTERIES ; 
 studiously omitting all those discourses which joined 
 the two inseparably together. The work, if divested 
 of its insidious short preface, was perhaps calculated 
 to do good, being composed of passages from the 
 gospels only ; but when the Baptists of Serampore 
 directly attacked the publication, he issued forth 
 what he termed, e A Defence of the Precepts of 
 Jesus,' being an elaborate tract against the doctrine 
 of the Trinity, with that of the Incarnation and 
 Sacrifice of our Saviour. This treatise, certainly 
 not entirely his own and, if report speaks truly, 
 dictated by one who had separated from the Bap- 
 tists, and has since opened a Unitarian Meeting- 
 house at Calcutta 4 is conspicuous for nothing so 
 
 3 In his letter to the Gospel Propagation Society mentioned 
 above. 
 
 4 The lamentable circumstance here alluded to will be ex- 
 plained in the next chapter on the Baptist Mission. 
 
86 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, much as the presumptuous vanity of its nominal 
 
 1_ author ; its affectation of western learning, and 
 
 attempts at Greek and Hebrew criticisms, are to 
 the last degree contemptible ; and what there is in 
 it to deserve notice, is borrowed from the long-con- 
 futed supporters of the same impiety in England. 
 Whatever mischief may be apprehended from this 
 publication (which, like his other publications, is 
 not deficient either in style or plausibility of man- 
 ner) among the malignantly-disposed who will not 
 inquire further, or among those of the Mahomedan 
 superstition who with their strong prejudices against 
 the characteristic mystery of Christianity are yet 
 half convinced by its evidences, there are yet satis- 
 factory appearances that the Antichristian apos- 
 tasy which it supports will not gain ground, among 
 the Christians of this place ; and the rock upon 
 which the church is built will remain here, as in 
 the whole world, unshaken." 
 
 Bishop Middleton could not remain an uncon- 
 cerned spectator of such a movement as this. His 
 soul was too full of the one grand purpose of his 
 mission not to be painfully apprehensive of the 
 consequences to the interests of truth. How firm 
 soever his confidence in God, he could not but 
 tremble for those weak in the faith, nor fail to 
 deplore the cause it would give to the enemy to 
 blaspheme. As the appointed head and guardian 
 of the Church in India, he deemed it his duty 
 publicly to take up the question ; but he was con- 
 vinced that he must enter into it thoroughly, for 
 that a slight answer to the pernicious works pub- 
 lished by these heresiarchs would be worse than 
 nothing. It required a volume, and for this he soon 
 began to collect materials ; but his numerous avoca- 
 tions prevented the completion of his projected work. 1 
 
 1 A fragment of the Bishop's MSS., all that was preserved 
 
IN IXDIA I BOOK A HI. 87 
 
 69. In the year 1820 the British and Foreign Grant 
 Bible Society resolved to place the sum of five Bible 'so- 
 thousand pounds at the Bishop's disposal, to be cietytothe 
 applied, at his discretion, in the Mission College, 
 in furtherance of translations of the Scriptures into 
 the native languages of India. He received in- 
 telligence of this grant while at Columbo, and im- 
 mediately acknowledged it by letter to Lord Teign- 
 mouth, the President of the Society. 2 After his 
 return to Calcutta, he took into consideration the 
 
 from the flames after bis decease, is published in his Life, 
 App. No. iii. pp. 407 et seq. The perusal of this document can- 
 not but cause the deeper regret for the loss of the remainder, 
 and that he did not live to publish the whole. 
 
 2 The following is the Bishop's letter : 
 
 " Columbo, 15th May 1821. 
 
 " MY LORD I have been honoured with your Lordship's 
 letter of the 10th July 1820, which has been sent after me on 
 ray visitation, enclosing a vote of the Committee of the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society, of the sum of 5000, to be appro- 
 priated to that department of labour, in the Mission College 
 near Calcutta, which relates to versions of the Holy Scriptures 
 in the native languages of India, and to be drawn for as I may 
 require it. I beg leave to acknowledge the distinguished 
 liberality of this proceeding ; at the same time it may be proper 
 to apprise your Lordship that a considerable period may yet 
 elapse before the College will be enabled to avail itself of the 
 Committee's grant : the building, though in progress, will not 
 probably be completed till the next year is far advanced ; and 
 the work of translation, of the Holy Scriptures at least, will not, 
 I conceive, be undertaken until the persons connected with the 
 establishment shall have attained an intimate acquaintance 
 with some of the native languages, and even then will not pro-t 
 ceed with very great rapidity. 
 
 " I would further be permitted to thank your Lordship for 
 the obliging manner in which your Lordship has done me the 
 honour to make the communication, and for the good wishes 
 which attend it. 
 
 " I have the honour, my Lord, to be, with the highest 
 respect, your Lordship's most obedient servant, 
 
 " T. F. CALCTTTA." 
 
88 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. b es t way of appropriating the money, and con- 
 
 eluded that it could not be better employed than 
 
 in bringing within the sphere of the college all the 
 ability and talent that could be obtained. But 
 nothing could be done for the present, owing to 
 the incomplete state of the college, as explained in 
 the Bishop's letter to Lord Teignmouth, 
 Third visi- fQ^ Q n the 17th of December 1821, he held his 
 Calcutta', third visitation at Calcutta, when he delivered a 
 charge to his clergy of considerable length, and 
 increased interest and importance, embracing his 
 own views, now enlarged by extensive observation, 
 of missionary enterprize as connected, in India, 
 with the duties and exertions of the clergy. After 
 a devout acknowledgment of the mercy of Provi- 
 dence in permitting him to meet his clergy for the 
 third time, notwithstanding the ordinary havoc 
 made by the climate, and even amidst the wide 
 devastations of an epidemic disease the cholera 
 morbus, he proceeded to call their attention to the 
 peculiarities which at that time marked the con- 
 dition of the Christian ministry in India, never 
 wholly unmixed with missionary interest. 1 
 Bishop's 71 The day after this visitation the Bishop held 
 o"cupa* a confirmation, when he gave a long address to 
 tion - the candidates. On the following day he went to 
 Dum-Dum, seven miles distant ; and there held 
 another confirmation, repeating his address. On 
 the 20th he gave full seven hours to the examina- 
 tion of the boys at the Free school. On Christmas 
 day he preached to one thousand and fifty-five 
 persons for in those days it was the practice in 
 Calcutta to count the congregation and had a 
 large attendance at the sacrament. The people, 
 
 1 The substance of this charge is given in the Bishop's Life, 
 vol. ii. chap. 25, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 89 
 
 even among the educated classes, seemed to have 
 some superstitious notion about Christmas ; for 
 many shewed themselves at church on that day 
 who never came again till the return of the anni- 
 versary. The Bishop preached also on New Year's 
 day to a smaller congregation. With this incessant 
 occupation in his public duties, he had no time for 
 the indulgence of repose in the interval. His table 
 was generally at this time almost covered with 
 letters on business, which he was often obliged to 
 let stand over for want of time to attend to them ; 
 and some of them were upon matters of a very 
 troublesome and embarrassing kind. In the midst 
 of so much work, it is not surprising to find him 
 remarking to a friend, that he had indeed but 
 little time for reading. 
 
 72. But he allowed nothing to interfere with the Encourag- 
 
 j i -i ^ , j i ing aspect 
 
 attention he deemed it necessary to give to the O f the mis- 
 cause of Christianity among the natives ; and it was 
 a source of great satisfaction to him to find that 
 the designs to which he could give his unreserved 
 sanction were in a state of prosperity and promise. 
 On the 7th of January 1822 he presided at the 
 Diocesan Committee of the Christian Knowledge 
 Society, to settle the last year's report, in which 
 he saw much to encourage him. They were print- 
 ing the parables, miracles, and discourses of our 
 Saviour in three different native characters two 
 thousand copies of each, eighteen thousand in the 
 whole; also a translation of "Sellon's Abridgment," 
 in two native characters. At Madras, likewise, he 
 was rejoiced to learn, from their first report, pub- 
 lished last year, that the press was "going on 
 admirably; never perhaps so well, even in the 
 golden days of the mission." Adverting to this 
 report, he remarked " It was much wanted ; but 
 they are very modest. They have done a great 
 deal, of which they are not ostentatious;' " I cut 
 
90 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, out from a Madras paper, and enclose, an account 
 
 ! of the schools at Vepery. What a change in the 
 
 state of that mission since the days of Poezold ! I 
 think it probable, that if you had not had a district 
 committee at Madras, your whole missionary estab- 
 lishment would by this time have been dissolved." 
 " I lately wrote to the Vepery missionaries a letter 
 of encouragement and thanks. I hope to be able 
 to go to Madras this spring. There is a great deal 
 to do there ; and so, indeed, there is almost every- 
 where." 
 
 Bishop 73. These statements he immediately followed 
 
 mSion^ry up by an urgent application for a powerful rein- 
 aid - forcement to the missionary strength of that station, 
 
 and by a fresh inculcation of his favourite position, 
 that no operations on a dwarfish scale ever escape 
 disregard, and even contempt, in India ; a country 
 where all the various denominations of Christianity 
 appeared to be engaged in an emulous prosecution 
 of their respective designs. Adverting to his recent 
 communications to the Society for Promoting Chris- 
 tian Knowledge, he remarked " I fear they will 
 think I am no preacher of economy ; which, in 
 truth, I am not. They cannot act in this country 
 on a narrow scale ; they have all the world for their 
 rivals, and I am anxious to maintain their efficiency." 
 The Calcutta Free School, also described above, 1 
 continued to give him unqualified satisfaction ; so 
 unwearied was his attention to its progress, that 
 during six years he had not been absent once from 
 the monthlymeetings of the governors, which he first 
 suggested, except when upon his visitations. And 
 at this period he pronounced the establishment 
 " one of the best bulwarks of Christianity in the 
 country." 
 
 1 Section 52. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 91 
 
 74. In March 1822,, he addressed an interesting English 
 letter to the Society for Promoting Christian Know- S on - 
 ledge, offering some useful suggestions for the supply required. 
 of future labourers for their missions. "I am sorry/' 
 he remarked, " that you still find any difficulty in 
 procuring missionaries ; I cannot account for it. I 
 think, however, it may be advisable to look out for 
 young men in England, to be brought up as clergy- 
 men, and ordained under the act for the colonies. 
 This act affords the Society a facility much wanted 
 some years since ; and though the Danes and Ger- 
 mans are often very laborious and able men, still 
 your missions, I apprehend, should, under the 
 present establishment, be really from the Church 
 of England. There are many reasons some of 
 them obvious, and others more remote which 
 prompt me to this suggestion, though, I believe, I 
 have offered it before. I rejoice, therefore, to find 
 that Mr Falcke has been ordained by the Bishop of 
 London, and very glad shall I be to hear of his 
 arrival at Madras." " I would take leave to sug- 
 gest that more missionaries must be sent out by 
 the Society ; or it will be impossible, amidst the 
 great number of missionaries now sent out to India, 
 and the manifest preference which is given, in the 
 choice of stations, to those at which Christian con- 
 gregations are already formed, to maintain the 
 ground so honourably gained by our Society in for- 
 mer times. When Mr Falcke arrives, your mis- 
 sionaries in the south of India will be still only six." 
 Then, after naming them, he adds " Supposing 
 either of these, or any one of the number, to make 
 a vacancy, without having a successor at hand, very 
 serious inconvenience must be sustained, and I 
 could not provide a remedy." 
 
 " My hope and earnest recommendation is, that 
 the Society, who have so munificently contributed to 
 the erection of the college, will found therein five 
 
92 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, scholarships, to be filled up always according to the 
 L statutes, in which I have suggested a reservation 
 in favour of the sons of missionaries the very 
 idea of the college is to favour the missionary 
 designs of the Church." Then after stating that 
 six thousand pounds " would certainly for ever 
 endow in the college five scholarships and a Tamul 
 teacher/' he proceeds " This would not, I admit, 
 relieve the Society entirely from the necessity of 
 selecting missionaries at home. I hardly contem- 
 plate such a change in the state of things as to 
 make the aid of European talent and energy super- 
 fluous, but it would greatly reduce the demand. 
 The sons of missionaries from Europe would, if 
 well educated in the college, be quite as good as 
 Europeans." "Your having always five students 
 in the college will give you a command of agents, 
 both missionaries, catechists, and schoolmasters, 
 such as in due time, and with the Divine blessing, 
 will infuse new vigour into your missionary sys- 
 tem, and, above all things, contribute to its per- 
 manency ; and I should even suggest my convic- 
 tion that you cannot, in the altered state of things, 
 long go on upon the present plan. I should remark, 
 that there are two other boys a son of Mr Kohlhoff, 
 and of the late Mr Horst, both of them your mis- 
 sionaries whose views are directed to the college, 
 and respecting whom Mr Kohlhoff writes to me with 
 very great interest. It will be a boon to your 
 missionaries, and an encouragement to them, to 
 know that their sons, if suitable in point of dis- 
 position and talents, will be received into such an 
 asylum, and be enabled to carry on, with every 
 advantage, the pious labours of their fathers." 1 
 
 1 Vol. ii. pp. 294, 299. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 93 
 
 75. In the month of June the Bishop notices a church 
 munificent offer from the Church Missionary So- ^ s S1( 
 ciety, who, in November 1821, had crowned their Society's 
 generous benefaction of five thousand pounds J^t of 
 towards the erection of the college, by a farther 
 vote of one thousand pounds for the use of the 
 college for the year 1822 ; the Committee in Lon- 
 don, by their Secretary, Rev. Josiah Pratt, adding 
 the expression of their confident expectation, that 
 an annual repetition of the same grant would be 
 obtained from the liberality and resources of the 
 Society. In communicating this vote, the Society 
 requested permission to educate students at the col- 
 lege at their own cost, professing an earnest desire 
 to place all their ordained missionaries under the 
 Bishop's direction. 2 The Bishop, though deeply 
 sensible of the Society's liberality, yet felt himself 
 under the necessity of declining it for the present, 
 until the college statutes, which he was anxiously 
 expecting from England, with the sanction of the 
 Society for Propagating the Gospel, should first be 
 examined by himself, as well as the Church Mis- 
 sionary Committee, since otherwise it would be im- 
 possible to know, he said, whether the grant could 
 consistently be made or received. 3 
 
 2 Missionary Kegister, 1821, p. 449 ; Church Missionary Ke- 
 port 1822, p. 107. 
 
 3 Though the Bishop did not consider himself at liberty im- 
 mediately to comply with all that the Society proposed concern- 
 ing their missionaries, yet he saw that it would not long be 
 possible to resist their wish. The following is an extract from 
 the Bishop's letter to the Church Missionary Society, dated 
 May 29. 1822 : 
 
 "It is gratifying to me to believe that the design of the col-, 
 lege continues to be approved, when its plan of operations has 
 been somewhat more developed. This second munificent vote 
 of your Society affords strong evidence to that effect ; and I 
 would not be thought to be insensible of their distinguished 
 liberality, if I forbear to consider this gift definitely as a part 
 
94 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 76. But we are now abruptly brought to the 
 close, the lamented close of this important career 
 Bishop's of the first Protestant Bishop in India, just as the 
 fruit of his exertions seemed to be ready for him to 
 gather. The following are the circumstances con- 
 nected with his last days. On the Monday preced- 
 ing his death, he received the clergy, as was his 
 custom, at dinner. In the early part of that even- 
 ing, he was severely agitated by some information 
 respecting certain proceedings which had been in- 
 stituted against him in the supreme court, by one 
 of his own clergy, on whom he had been under the 
 necessity of inflicting censure. This depression, 
 however, he soon shook oif, and became unusually 
 cheerful and animated, and exhibited, with much ap- 
 pearance of satisfaction, some improvements which 
 he had recently made in his residence. For some 
 time past he had been very anxious about the slow 
 progress and increasing expenditure of the college 
 buildings, owing to the death of the original archi- 
 tect, and the little attention which the gentleman 
 who undertook to carry on the work could give to 
 it, in consequence of his numerous engagements 
 
 of the college resources, till the system under which the insti- 
 tution will be administered, shall have been completely settled 
 and clearly understood. That system, as I conclude, will be 
 sufficiently detailed in the college statutes. Your Society 
 express their desire to educate students in the college. I can- 
 not, therefore, consistently with correct feeling, though no stipu- 
 lation is attached to the grant, proceed to appropriate it, until it 
 shall be known with certainty that their wishes on this head may 
 be justified, and what will be finally the conditions of admission. 
 You may, however, be assured, that a copy of the statutes shall be 
 forwarded for your information, whenever they shall be received 
 from England ; and I have reason to expect them very soon." 
 These statutes, which did not reach India till after his death, 
 met the wishes of all friends of union, by opening the college 
 indifferently to all societies of the united church. Gospel Pro- 
 pagation Society's Report 1822, p. 168 ; Bishop's Life, vol. li. 
 pp. 311, 312. 
 
IN IXDIA : BOOK XIII. 95 
 
 upon government buildings. These circumstances 
 made the Bishop's visits to the spot more frequent 
 than heretofore, with a view to accelerate the pro- 
 gress of the work ; and on the day after the violent 
 agitation of his feelings just mentioned, Tuesday, 
 July 2d, he persisted in visiting the college, at an 
 early hour in the afternoon, in spite of the remon- 
 strances of his physician, who strongly represented 
 the danger of the proceeding. All that could be 
 obtained from him was a promise that he never 
 would venture thither again at that period of the 
 day ; little thinking that he was about to place his 
 last footsteps on that favourite and delightful spot. 
 On the same day, he received a visit from Mr 
 Bay ley, the Chief Secretary to Government, who 
 found him, to all appearance, in perfect health, 
 and with whom he conversed, in a tone of great 
 animation, respecting the various means of diffus- 
 ing knowledge and truth throughout India his 
 own plans and intentions, if Providence should spare 
 his life, his past cares and anxieties, and his future 
 hopes and prospects. 
 
 On the Wednesday he was occupied for eight 
 hours together in writing to government respecting 
 the proceedings in the supreme court above alluded 
 to. He then declared that he was quite exhausted, 
 and proposed to Mrs Middleton that she should 
 accompany him in the carriage before the sun was 
 gone down. They had not proceeded far, when, 
 turning a corner, the oblique beams of the sun, 
 which are always dangerous, and especially at the 
 damp and sickly season of the year, shone full 
 upon him. This slight cause, acting upon a shat- 
 tered frame of nerves, was sufficient to produce 
 fatal effects. He immediately declared that he was 
 struck by the sun, adding that he was sure he 
 should suffer from it. The carnage immediately 
 returned home. Severe pain in the head soon came 
 
HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 on, and in the course of the evening the symptoms 
 became aggravated to an alarming degree, when 
 nothing could allay the restless eagerness of his 
 mind. He laboured under the impression that a 
 load of business lay upon him, and was with great 
 difficulty prevented from rising from his bed to 
 write. Hitherto he had refused to see the physi- 
 cian ; but he became so much worse on the follow- 
 ing day, Thursday, that he allowed him to be sent 
 for. The fever seemed at first to yield to the 
 remedies used ; on Sunday, he desired to be prayed 
 for in the cathedral ; and on Monday, the appear- 
 ances of amendment were such as even to give hopes 
 that the danger was passing away, and " that a 
 favourable crisis was at had ; but these hopes were 
 delusive. Under them, indeed, the physician ven- 
 tured to leave him : but he had not been gone long 
 before the favourable anticipations of his friends 
 were dissipated by an alarming accession of fever 
 and irritability, which came on towards the even- 
 ing. He then quitted his library, and walked in- 
 cessantly up and down his drawing-room, in a state 
 of the most appalling agitation. About nine o'clock, 
 his chaplain, Mr Hawtayne, was admitted to see 
 him, and was inexpressibly shocked to find him on 
 his couch, in a state, to all appearance, of violent 
 delirium, his thoughts wandering, his articulation 
 gone, his faculties, in short, a melancholy wreck. 
 The archdeacon was now sent for, whom he knew, 
 and made strong attempts to speak to him, but was 
 unintelligible. The Rev. Daniel Corrie, senior chap- 
 lain, the physician, and another friend, were also 
 present, and united in prayer, commending the dy- 
 ing prelate and his afflicted wife to the God of their 
 salvation. The severity of the conflict, as though in 
 answer to their supplications,now appeared wholly to 
 abate. A smile of unspeakable serenity and peace 
 was spread over the sufferer's features, and, in a few 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 97 
 
 minutes, he gently expired. Such was the tran- 
 quillity of the last moment, that it was not marked 
 by a single struggle, or even a movement. He 
 breathed his last at eleven o'clock on Monday night, 
 July 8th, 1822. 1 At sunrise on the following 
 morning, the tolling of the cathedral bell announced 
 to the community of Calcutta the loss of their chief 
 pastor ; and the mournful event was communicated 
 to the public, in a Government Gazette extraordi- 
 nary, by command of the Governor- General in Coun- 
 cil, in terms as honourable to the Board whence it 
 emanated, as to the memory of the deceased prelate. 2 
 
 1 The fever of which the Bishop died is said to be of rare oc- 
 currence. Though known to the medical profession, its cause 
 and cure have hitherto escaped research. Under the restless 
 anxiety which it causes, the patient, though conscious of every- 
 thing that passes, loses all control of his mind. Life, vol. ii. 
 pp. 320-322. Missionary Kegister 1822, pp. 513-515. 
 
 2 The following is a copy of this document : 
 
 11 CALCUTTA GOVERNMENT G-AZETTE EXTRAORDINARY. 
 
 " Fort William, July 10. 1822. 
 
 " With sentiments of the deepest concern, the Governor-Ge- 
 neral in Council notifies to the public, the demise, on the night 
 of Monday last, of the Eight Kev. the Lord Bishop of Calcutta. 
 
 " His Excellency in Council, adverting to the unaffected 
 piety, the enlarged benevolence, and the acknowledged modera- 
 tion of the late Bishop, conceives that he only anticipates the 
 eager and unanimous feeling of all classes of the Christian 
 inhabitants of this city, when he announces his desire, that 
 every practicable degree of respect and veneration should be 
 manifested, on this most distressing occasion, to the memory of 
 this excellent and lamented prelate. 
 
 " His Excellency in Council is pleased, therefore, to request 
 that the principal officers of government, both civil and mili- 
 tary, will attend at the melancholy ceremony of the Bishop's 
 interment ; and that every other public demonstration of atten- 
 tion and respect, consistent with the occasion, be observed on 
 the day appointed for the funeral. 
 
 " By command of his Excellency the most noble the Gover- 
 nor-General in Council, 
 
 " C. LUSHINGTON, 
 
 "Acting Chief Secretary to the Government." 
 VOL. V. G 
 
98 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 77. Friday evening, July 12th, was fixed upon 
 
 __^ for the solemnity of the funeral, which was con- 
 
 Hishme- ducted in a manner conformable to the wishes ex- 
 pressed by the Government, and, at the same time, 
 consistent with that simplicity which the deceased 
 had himself enjoined. The funeral procession was 
 long, and moved amidst every public demonstration 
 of sorrow, the whole Christian inhabitants uniting 
 to pay this last tribute of respect to the remains of 
 their departed Bishop. Minute-guns were discharged 
 from the ramparts of Fort William from the moment 
 of the departure of the procession till its arrival at 
 the cathedral, which was hung with black and 
 lighted, and crowded with a mute audience. The 
 entrance of the corpse was marked by a solemn 
 dirge from the organ. The proper psalm was read 
 by the archdeacon, and the lesson by Mr Corrie ; 
 after which was sung Handel's anthem, " When the 
 ear heard him, then it blessed him ; and when the 
 eye saw him, then it gave witness to him. His body 
 is buried in peace, but his name liveth for evermore." 
 The body was then lowered into the grave within 
 the communion rails, while the archdeacon con- 
 cluded the solemn service. On the following Sun- 
 day, the archdeacon in the morning, and the Eev. 
 J. Parson in the evening, in the pulpit of the ca- 
 thedral, paid a just and impressive tribute of respect 
 to the memory of their late diocesan, which seemed 
 to leave a deep impression on the hearts of the 
 Christian community of Calcutta. 
 
 Review of 78. We must not close this brief narrative of the 
 hischa- e pi SCO p a te of the first Protestant bishop in India, 
 
 i 1*1 ~ii* 
 
 proceed- without a few remarks on his character and nis 
 exertions for the promotion of Christianity through- 
 out his vast diocese. We think enough has been 
 said to illustrate the actual benefit of Episcopacy in 
 India, and to shew how completely the first incum- 
 bent of the See carried out what he from the first 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 99 
 
 proclaimed to be his primary object in undertaking 
 the responsible office " To set in order things that 
 were wanting." What the disorders were,, his hin- 
 drances and success in his work,, have been suffi- 
 ciently explained to prove that his episcopate was 
 a benefit to the country to be contemplated with 
 satisfaction. We have seen how peculiarly he was 
 fitted to lead the way, and commence the work of 
 the ecclesiastical establishment in the Company's 
 dominions an establishment, it should be remem- 
 bered, that was contemplated with great jealousy 
 by the Court of Directors at home, and by most of 
 the authorities in India. It required, therefore, 
 peculiar qualifications in the first bishop ; and these 
 Dr Middleton possessed in an eminent degree. In 
 his very person and manner he commanded respect. 
 Possessing a fine open countenance, an eye beaming 
 with intelligence, there was a dignity in his appear- 
 ance and address which became one in authority. 
 His talents and learning were of a very high order. 1 
 Eminent among scholars, he was well known as a 
 divine, and was extensively versed in ecclesiastical 
 history and Christian antiquities, qualifications of 
 great importance in the work assigned him, of 
 almost constructing a church establishment. In 
 this arduous undertaking he was encouraged by the 
 liberality of the Church at home, and the implicit 
 confidence of the highest ecclesiastical authorities. 
 
 It must be confessed that he did not meet with 
 equal countenance in India. We have seen that he 
 was actually thwarted in many things ; not from 
 any personal objection to him, though he often felt 
 
 1 The work by which he is best known in the: department of 
 sacred literature, is his critical " Dissertation on the G-reek 
 Article." The last and best edition of this elaborate production 
 was published in 1841, edited by the late Kev. Hugh James 
 Rose. 
 
100 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, it vexatious, and sometimes thought it ungenerous. 
 But it was evidently the fruits of the original pre- 
 judice against the institution of an Indian episco- 
 pacy. In justice, however, to all parties, we admit, 
 some of his impediments are, undoubtedly, to be 
 attributed to the imperfect definition of his powers 
 in his Letters Patent. These letters were commu- 
 nicated to him, indeed, in England, by the Govern- 
 ment, for his remarks, and were much considered 
 by him before he left home. But, unacquainted 
 with the Society and circumstances of India, some 
 things, the omission of which he soon began to feel 
 after his arrival, could hardly be expected to have 
 occurred to his mind before. But enough notice, 
 perhaps, has been taken above of these obstructions 
 in his path, and after his decease the most import- 
 ant of them were removed. 
 
 In the estimate formed of his character, his con- 
 stitutional susceptibility does not appear always to 
 have been duly considered. His best friends could 
 not be blind to this infirmity, and one of them, 1 
 after remarking upon his learning, sound divinity, 
 zeal, and piety, has the candour to add :e His only 
 fault was something of a high carriage in his public 
 demeanour, which gave an unfavourable impression 
 to many who will scarcely believe him to have had 
 all those kind and benevolent feelings which I 
 always found on more intimate acquaintance." This 
 may account for the incidental remark of another 
 gentleman, who, describing, as we have seen, the 
 benignity which shone forth in his whole counte- 
 nance at the laying of the foundation-stone of his 
 college, added, that " a mistaken idea of his situation 
 too frequently led him to repress " this disposition, 
 
 1 Archdeacon Barnes, of Bombay. The Bishop's Life, vol. ii. 
 p. 343. Abundant confirmation of this testimony may be seen 
 in the Life, especially in ch. xxviii. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 101 
 
 "and created prejudices, which every other act of his 
 life contradicted." 2 It is not improbable that some 
 of the opposition he met with arose from this cause. 
 Men were accustomed to subjection to civil and 
 military authority ; but it was quite a new thing 
 for them to render to an ecclesiastical ruler the de- 
 ference to which he was entitled : and anything 
 repulsive in his manner would naturally tend to 
 confirm them in their resistance. But before his 
 death he became better known, and, in conse- 
 quence, was more generally respected. 
 
 His public ministrations could not fail, with the 
 Divine blessing, gradually to produce this favourable 
 impression. As a preacher, he seemed to be admi- 
 rably adapted to his audience. The composition of 
 his sermons and his style of delivery were peculiarly 
 calculated to excite attention and keep it awake ; 
 while they left an impression on the mind, and 
 conciliated a regard for religion and religious ordi- 
 nances in a very eminent degree. His visitation 
 charges also, as well as his sermons, were weighty, 
 always bearing evidence of study and pains, never 
 hurried or superficial. His mode of performing the 
 services of the Church, and especially in administer- 
 ing the rite of confirmation, was solemn and im- 
 pressive. He drew large and attentive congrega- 
 tions, and his words seemed to be deeply felt. 
 
 All his measures for establishing and perpetuating 
 the great purpose for which he was commissioned, 
 displayed wisdom and prudence, and were such, in 
 some respects, as no one of less personal weight and 
 influence could as easily have accomplished, if at all. 
 In his exertions to reduce the Church establishment 
 into order, and to bring it out to view in a way to 
 command attention, and to cause it to be respected 
 
 Lushington's Hist, of Calcutta Institutions, p 110. 
 
102 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, as it had never yet been in India, he soon led to 
 the increased efficiency of the whole clerical depart- 
 ment. By his perseverance he obtained the build- 
 ing of churches where most required, and a consi- 
 derable increase of chaplains. His careful attention 
 to schools ; his promptitude in establishing every- 
 where committees of the Christian Knowledge 
 Society, through which were obtained large sup- 
 plies of Bibles, Prayer-Books, and religious tracts ; 
 and, lastly, his great work of " Bishop's College," 
 for the founding and endowment of which he excited 
 a zeal throughout England hitherto unequalled in 
 any similar design ; his perseverance in these, and 
 in all the great and good works which he undertook, 
 was worthy of admiration. 
 
 Good re- 79. The effect of his exertions and influence on 
 wi'egw* tne society of Calcutta was soon apparent. As 
 tion. early as 1817, little more than two years after his 
 arrival, one of the chaplains, returning to Bengal 
 after an absence of nearly the same period, remarked, 
 that he perceived, even then, a most astonishing 
 alteration in the public mind and the state of man- 
 ners at Calcutta. 1 The Bishop himself, shortly be- 
 fore his death, noticed the rapidly increasing de- 
 mand for religious publications ; so much so, that, 
 whereas seven years before, books of this descrip- 
 tion seldom found their way to India, they were 
 now become a profitable article of merchandise. 2 
 After his decease, a gentleman holding a high offi- 
 cial situation at Calcutta, bore the following testi- 
 mony to the improvement effected during Bishop 
 Middleton's incumbency : " His chief attention, in 
 the first instance, was judiciously given to the claims 
 and wants of those amongst us who were, or called 
 themselves, Christians. He preached frequently ; 
 
 1 Life, vol. ii. p. 198. 2 Ibid, pp. 244, 300. 301, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 103 
 
 arid his discourses, which were always clear, forci- 
 ble, and eloquent, were, I am satisfied, productive 
 of much real good. A beneficial change has certainly 
 taken place in our society, of late years, and, in my 
 opinion, that change is mainly ascribable to the Bi- 
 shop" 3 His way was well prepared, indeed, as we 
 have seen, by other zealous men ; especially during 
 the government of Marquis Wellesley, under whose 
 patronage and example a general religious improve- 
 ment was commenced, which may be regarded as 
 an epoch in the history of Protestantism in India. 
 Under Bishop Middleton, this good work was ad- 
 vanced very extensively, not in Bengal only, but 
 throughout his vast diocese. 
 
 With regard to the conversion of the natives, we 
 have seen the caution with which he at first thought 
 proper to proceed, as well as the change which had 
 gradually taken place in his mind on this question ; 
 and in his last charge, delivered in 1821, it is evi- 
 dent that he thought the time was come for more 
 general and ostensible efforts in their behalf, both 
 on his own part and that of his clergy. The service 
 which he rendered to the missionary cause is elo- 
 quently described in a sermon delivered, on occasion 
 of his decease, by one of the chaplains, Rev. Joseph 
 Parson, at Calcutta. The preacher remarked ' ( It 
 was not his lot, indeed, to commence the work 
 among us ; nor can it well often be, under our 
 economy of the Church, the lot of bishops ; they 
 must usually rather complete and organise than, 
 like apostles, be the first to go forth on the grand 
 errand." The preacher then, after enlarging in 
 appropriate terms on the labours of the three zeal- 
 ous chaplains who opened and prepared the Bishop's 
 way, thus proceeds "To advance under God the 
 
 Life, vol. ii. p. 341, 342. 
 
104 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, good work of Brown, Martyn, and Buchanan, the 
 L Bishop has appositely given to the cause of missions 
 the identical sort of sanction which it wanted. It 
 wanted political countenance and the reputation of 
 sound learning. Judged dangerous in its apparent 
 disregard of political cares, it was judged of dis- 
 putable orthodoxy in point of doctrine. In the 
 Church it had been supposed to characterise a party. 
 Stability and ballast appeared to be wanting to this 
 ark upon the waters. Old institutions for the pur- 
 pose did comparatively nothing toward it : the 
 government of England had not expressed itself 
 favourably on the subject, beyond an ancient indi- 
 cation or two, grown obsolete. The universities, 
 as such, sent forth no men in the cause ; it was 
 prosecuted but collaterally, and by individual efforts ; 
 no provision existed, humanly speaking, for the 
 continuance of missionary exertions in the Church. 
 Our departed Bishop has conferred upon the mis- 
 sionary cause, according to his predilections as to 
 the mode of it, every attestation, aid, and honour, 
 which it could expect to receive from him. Instead 
 of a dangerous project, he has, with reason, said, 
 that it, or nothing, must prove our safety in these 
 possessions that it were preposterous to suppose 
 ourselves established here for any purpose except 
 to make known the Son of God to a people igno- 
 rant of him. He gave the missionary cause his 
 heart. During life he employed on the Mission 
 College all his elaborateness and accuracy of atten- 
 tion ; in death he has bequeathed to it the choice 
 of his books ; he has also bequeathed a part of what 
 expresses the heart of man, his money ; lastly, 
 he had bequeathed to it, if it should please God, 
 his very bones ; he had looked to it, as Jacob to 
 the Holy Land, saying, There they shall bury me ! " 
 Such were the labours of Bishop Middleton, and 
 such their fruits. Great was the work which he 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 105 
 
 accomplished, under God, in the advancement of 
 pure religion and true Protestantism ; admirably 
 was he calculated to prepare the way for others, 
 who should succeed him, to follow out what he had 
 so well begun ; and vast is the debt of public grati- 
 tude and veneration due to the first Protestant 
 Bishop in India. 
 
 80. Nor were the public slow to acknowledge Public tes- 
 this claim. As soon as the tidings of his death 
 reached England, great was the sensation produced 
 in the minds of all persons who had at heart the 
 interests of Christianity in India. The two socie- 
 ties with which he stood immediately connected 
 the Christian Knowledge Society, and the Gospel 
 Propagation Society took the lead in the expres- 
 sion of sorrow which was generally felt. Two special 
 meetings of the former society were held, with the 
 view of adopting such measures as might best mani- 
 fest the regard with which the members cherished 
 the memory of the deceased prelate. 
 
 At the first of these meetings, the Bishop of 
 London in the chair, it was resolved that the sum 
 of ,6000 should be appropriated to the founding 
 of five scholarships in the Bishop's College at Cal- 
 cutta, to be denominated "Bishop Middleton's 
 Scholarships ; " and that a subscription should be 
 opened among the members of the Society for the 
 erection of a monument to the memory of the 
 Bishop, no member to contribute to this object more 
 than the amount of his annual subscription to the 
 Society. 1 
 
 The second meeting was called to consider a 
 communication from the Society for the Propagation 
 of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury in the chair ; when it was resolved, 
 
 S. P. O.K. Keport 182: 
 
106 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. on ne suggestion of that Society, that the sub- 
 scription to the monument should be open to its 
 members. 
 
 When these proceedings became known in India,, 
 a subscription, which had been raised there by the 
 personal friends of Bishop Middleton, was forwarded 
 to the Bishop of London, to be added to the amount 
 collected among the deceased prelate's friends in 
 England, for the purpose of providing a suitable 
 monument to be sent out to Calcutta, and placed 
 in the Cathedral. 1 
 
 But his most durable monument was raised by 
 himself his College, which is thus eloquently de- 
 scribed by his accomplished successor: " One 
 monument he has left behind of the zeal which 
 prompted, the wisdom which planned, and the 
 munificence which largely contributed to it, which 
 must long preserve his name in the grateful recol- 
 lection of the Indian Church ; and which bids fair, 
 under Divine protection, to become a greater bless- 
 ing to these extensive lands than any they have 
 received from their foreign lords since the gate was 
 first opened by the Portuguese to the commerce 
 and conquest of Asia." 2 
 
 1 Lushiiigton's History of Calcutta Institutions, p. 110, note. 
 
 2 Bishop Heber's Primary Charge at Calcutta. Bishop Mid 
 dleton's Life, vol ii. p. 335. 
 
JN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 107 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY IN BOMBAY, 1816 1820. 
 
 1. IN the last volume we have recorded the low state Success of 
 of religion at Bombay ; 3 also the arrival of Arch- B^nes's 
 deacon Barnes, and his exertions for the moral exertions. 
 improvement and religious instruction of the com- 
 munity, which were attended, through God's grace, 
 with a measure of success which, perhaps, he had 
 hardly ventured to anticipate. In Lent 1816, he 
 delivered a course of lectures, which were as well 
 attended as could, perhaps, be reasonably expected, 
 considering how long the inhabitants had been 
 unaccustomed to the services of the Church. Bishop 
 Middleton's visitation of Bombay this year very 
 materially strengthened the Archdeacon's hands. 
 We have given a full account of his official exer- 
 tions, his frequent appearance in the pulpit, his 
 formation of a district committee of the Society 
 for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, and 
 his attention to the educational establishments of 
 the presidency, together with other measures for 
 the religious improvement of the community brought 
 to his notice. 4 He left Bombay, having secured 
 the respect and esteem of all classes, and allayed 
 
 :{ Book xii. eh. i. See App. B. of this volume. 
 1 Hook xiii. chap i. 
 
108 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, any alarm which might have existed in the minds 
 IL of some persons respecting the appointment of an 
 
 ecclesiastical establishment, 
 increase 2. The Bishop's representation of the paucity of 
 
 of chap- IT- -in ! f iv 
 
 lains. chaplains, and the necessity of increasing their 
 number,, was not disregarded. In 1817 the Court 
 of Directors increased their number to nine, and 
 efforts were made by Government, also by the local 
 authorities at the stations throughout the presi- 
 dency, to have Divine service regularly conducted 
 on Sundays. Indeed, at all the principal stations, 
 civil and military, public worship and observance 
 of the Lord's day began to be seriously regarded. 
 The European hospitals and regimental schools 
 were now visited by the clergy ; schools were estab- 
 lished at Surat and Tannah in connection with the 
 Education Society, under the superintendence of 
 chaplains, and a leaven of Christianity was mani- 
 festly diffused abroad. 
 
 First sup- 3. Hitherto there was an utter dearth of reli- 
 book s f gious books. At the shops were to be found merely 
 from the y uc h miscellaneous works as had been purchased 
 at the sales of persons deceased, or who had retired 
 from the country, or such as the officers of ships 
 brought out on speculation, amongst which, as a 
 ready sale was of course the object, there were 
 only few of a religious character. They did not 
 suit the market of Bombay, any more than those 
 of Calcutta and Madras two years before ; but this 
 year the first supply of books was received from 
 the Society for the Propagation of Christian Know- 
 ledge, and they soon began to create a demand for 
 works of a religious character. While this activity 
 was beginning to prevail in diffusing the means of 
 religious instruction among all classes of Europeans, 
 the duty of communicating the knowledge of Chris- 
 tianity among the natives also began to be admitted. 
 But members of Government, and others holding 
 
IN INDIA: BOOK xin. 109 
 
 stations of responsibility,, felt restrained from tak- 
 ing any part in direct missionary efforts. 
 
 One instance of the result of these exertions is 
 sufficiently singular to be not undeserving of notice. 
 An old pensioner, a man of piety and of a little 
 education, possessed a Bible and Prayer- Book, and 
 a volume of Hoole's translation of Tasso's Jerusa- 
 lem Delivered. The old man gave a spiritual 
 signification to all that could at all bear it in Tasso ; 
 but a few numbers of Missionary Registers having 
 been lent to him, he read them with great eager- 
 ness, and remarked, that what he had read in Tasso 
 was imaginary, but in these little books was an 
 account of the actual progress of the real gospel of 
 Christ. The old man died, there was reason to 
 hope, in the faith of the Saviour. 
 
 4. Towards the close of 1817 and in 1818, the The effects 
 military stations were thrown into an unsettled ofwar< 
 state by the breaking out of the Pindarree and 
 Mahratta wars, in the Deckhan and Central India, 
 which called away the great body of the troops to 
 the field. But the chaplains remained at their sta- 
 tions, carrying on their work among the troops that 
 remained behind, and the families of those who 
 were called to the scene of action. The anxiety 
 that prevailed, both for the issue of the campaign, 
 and also for the safety of individuals engaged in it, 
 seems to have produced a salutary effect upon many 
 who were left at home. The increased attention 
 at public worship, at Bombay and all the principal 
 stations, was manifest, the natives were less em- 
 ployed in their several trades on the Lord's day 
 than heretofore ; and there was a more general de- 
 mand for Bibles and religious books. During this 
 season of anxiety, the cholera made its first appear- 
 ance at the presidency with great severity, which 
 naturally increased the general consternation. 
 
 Archdeacon Barnes and the other clergy urged 
 
110 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 First 
 
 schools for 
 natives by 
 the Edu- 
 cation 
 Society. 
 
 from the pulpit the necessity of seeking Divine pro- 
 tection against the pestilence, and there can be no 
 doubt that it tended to confirm the religious impres- 
 sion already begun. At the time, at least, an air 
 of solemnity was spread over all classes of society, 
 and we may surely hope that some were drawn 
 nearer to the Lord in confidence and prayer. 
 
 5. This year, 1818, the Archdeacon and others 
 began to urge the importance of giving instruction 
 to the native population. The immediate result 
 was, the opening of two or three schools in Bombay 
 in connection with the Education Society, in which 
 both the native and English languages were taught. 
 In the English department European teachers were 
 employed, and the same Christian books were intro- 
 duced as were used in the schools of the Education 
 Society. Nor was the slightest objection raised to 
 them. Indeed many native boys attended the 
 schools. Proposals for native education were pub- 
 lished in Persian, Hindostanee, and Goozerattee, 
 and were distributed among natives of influence, 
 inviting their co-operation in the work. But they 
 do not appear to have immediately acceded to the 
 proposal. 
 
 About this time a decided proof was given of the 
 general improvement in religious sentiment and 
 feeling already produced by the means used for the 
 diffusion of Christian knowledge. 1 
 
 1 " Some of the officers of government had been for many 
 years, and still were, required to attend at some of the great 
 native festivals at Surat, as the Cocoa-nut day and the Ende : 
 one of the last having occurred on a Sunday, in which some of 
 the civil officers and a detachment of European artillery with an 
 officer were required to attend to celebrate the festival, and to 
 fire a salute at the very time when the other members of the 
 Christian community were assembled for public worship. The 
 festival of throwing the cocoa-nut into the river occurred this 
 year also upon a Sunday. The hour for throwing the nut into 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 
 
 6. The importance of the improved state of the Extension 
 public mind towards religion was considerably en- 
 
 the river was not during the time of public worship still the 
 authorities were very desirous of not desecrating their Sabbath 
 by taking a part in the service, for the Cocoa-nut day was a 
 great gala day, nearly the whole population of Surat were out 
 upon the banks of the river or in boats upon the river, which 
 presented a most animating scene; and there was much amuse- 
 ment going on in pelting with the wood apple, in which the 
 younger Europeans took a part. This year the festival having 
 fallen upon a Sunday, the authorities were anxious if possible 
 to put it off ; but not being able to do so, every individual, 
 civil, military, and naval, in their private capacity, did what 
 they could ; no party was given on the banks of the river, no 
 wood apple was allowed to be brought within the castle, or on 
 board the Hon. Company's cruizer; but when the time for 
 the ceremony arrived, the principal civil officers, attended by 
 one or two officially, went to the place, threw the cocoa-nut into 
 the river, and very soon withdrew. The natives themselves 
 were struck with this circumstance, and it was explained to 
 them, that this marked difference in merely doing what was 
 thus officially required of them, was out of regard to the Chris- 
 tian's sacred day. 
 
 " A representation of the case was made to government by the 
 chaplain of Surat, which was cordially supported by the arch- 
 deacon, in which, after pointing out the grievance of requiring 
 Christians not only to profane their Sabbath, but, as in the case 
 of the Ende, to leave the worship of God in order to attend to 
 that of Mohamed the letter concludes with stating the part 
 taken by the chief in the festival of the Cocoa-nut as fol- 
 lows : ' Viewing the ceremony performed by the chief on the 
 Cocoa-nut day in a correct light, it is nothing less than mak- 
 ing an offering to propitiate the marine deity. The chief 
 stands with the cocoa-nut in his hands, accompanied with 
 flowers, rice, and water of the Ganges, whilst a Brahmin offers 
 up a prayer, and when the prayer is concluded, and the tide at 
 a certain height, he (the chief) throws the offering into the 
 river. The chief, it will be readily admitted, never views all 
 this as anything more than an idle ceremony, but in the eye 
 of every Hindoo present it is regarded as a sacred offering to 
 the Deity ; and however unwilling we may be thus to look 
 upon it, it is nothing less than an offering made to a strange 
 god ; the prayers and the whole ceremony speak for themselves/ 
 Government was also informed that the chief authorities had 
 
 increase of 
 military 
 
112 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, hancpd by the extension of the sphere of operation 
 which occurred at this period. During the year 
 1819, in consequence of the result of the Mahratta 
 war, the whole of the Mahratta country, lately be- 
 longing to the Paishwah, fell into the hands of 
 government ; and the principal part of the force 
 was required for its protection, and a regular civil 
 establishment was rendered necessary for its man- 
 agement. With this extension of territory, such 
 ecclesiastical arrangements were made as the pau- 
 city of chaplains on the establishment would admit, 
 and the civil and military who occupied the country 
 seemed to keep pace with those at the old stations 
 in their advancement in religious knowledge. The 
 Bombay troops not being adequate to the protec- 
 tion of the whole Mahratta territory, a regiment 
 from Bengal, H. M. 67th, was transferred to that 
 presidency, and it brought an accession to the reli- 
 gious portion of the army. It had been under the 
 instruction of the Rev. H. Martyn and the Rev. H. 
 Fisher, the fruits of whose labours still remained. 
 The officer whose duty it was to visit the picquets 
 in the evening, while riding on his way, had his 
 attention suddenly arrested by a sound of men 
 
 expressed a desire that orders might be issued relieving Euro- 
 peans from taking any part in the native festivals, when these 
 required them to violate the positive institutions of the Chris- 
 tian religion. The archdeacon, in forwarding this letter to 
 government, says he would not believe any arguments could be 
 wanting to induce government to give such directions, not only 
 as will relieve their servants from attending native ceremonies 
 upon the Sunday, but on all occasions, and that such directions 
 shall be given ' as will for the future relieve the British inhabi- 
 tants from the necessity of ever attending on any ceremonies of 
 pagan worship.' Upon this the government directed, that when 
 the native festivals should happen to occur on the Christian 
 Sabbath, the attendance of the public authorities will in future 
 be dispensed with." Notes from Bp. Carr. 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 113 
 
 singing. He immediately perceived that it was 
 not the common singing of conviviality, for he 
 could distinguish the tune to be that of a psalm or 
 hymn. He followed the sound till he came to a 
 small tent, in which he found a number of men 
 sitting round a lamp. The singing concluded, one 
 of them read a chapter in the Bible, and another 
 offered prayer to God for his blessing. This was 
 a very unusual sight in a camp in the very heart 
 of India ; and, no doubt, during their unsettled 
 state in their long marches, without the regular 
 means of divine worship and religious instruction, 
 these social meetings would be of much comfort 
 and encouragement to the men. 1 
 
 7. This year, April 1819, the newly built Scotch First 
 Church was opened. In 1815, the members of the chim-h 
 Kirk of Scotland in the Company's service had built - 
 received a chaplain, Rev. James Clow ; but hitherto 
 
 1 A singular and painful event befel one of those men. Two 
 or three companies of H. M. 67th Regiment were ordered into 
 Khandish, and passed through Surat on their march ; amongst 
 them were three or four of the religious men, who made them- 
 selves known to the chaplain, and during their stay came to him 
 two or three times for religious instruction. On their departure 
 they were supplied with a few books, and amongst others, a 
 copy of Mason's Pilgrim's Progress was lent to them. The 
 man to whom this book was more especially lent, after their 
 arrival in Khandish, became unsteady, was drawn aside, and for 
 some weeks, or even more, lived in sin. It pleased God, how- 
 ever, to restore him, after which he kept much to himself, and 
 was in the practice of retiring into the surrounding jungle to 
 read, and, as was supposed, for devotion. On one occasion he 
 took with him the Pilgrim's Progress ; the evening came and 
 he was missing, nor could he anywhere be found. In a day or 
 two some of his clothes and the Pilgrim's Progress were found at 
 some little distance in the jungle, and there was no doubt that 
 the poor man had been killed by a tiger ; a few weeks after- 
 wards the book, having been rebound, was sent to the chaplain 
 who had lent it, with a letter from one of the man's comrades, 
 stating the painful circumstances of his loss. 
 
 VOL. V. H 
 
114 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 Churches 
 erected at 
 various 
 stations. 
 
 Visitation 
 of Bishop 
 Middleton. 
 Chaplains 
 increased. 
 
 divine service had been performed, first in a mess- 
 room, and afterwards in the supreme court-house. 
 Before long, however, measures were taken for the 
 erection of a church, which was now completed and 
 opened with the usual services, and elders of the 
 church were regularly appointed. In 1823, a se- 
 cond chaplain arrived, and the members of the 
 Church of Scotland seemed to keep pace in their 
 improvement with those of the Church of England. 
 
 8. Hitherto all religious services of the Estab- 
 lished Church, out of the island of Bombay, had 
 been conducted either in barracks, mess-rooms, or 
 in the open air, But proposals were submitted to 
 the Government for the erection of churches at the 
 principal stations, Surat, Poonah, and Kairah ; and 
 in 1820 the foundation-stone of a new church was 
 laid at Surat. Arrangements were also made to 
 secure the ordinances of religion to the smaller sta- 
 tions, by appointing chaplains at convenient dis- 
 tances to visit some of them monthly ; and their 
 ministrations were in general highly appreciated. 
 
 9. In March of this year, Bishop Middleton made 
 his second visitation, which he did not extend be- 
 yond Bombay. He approved of the churches pro- 
 posed to be erected, and the first stone of that at 
 Poonah was laid on Trinity Sunday, June 17th, 
 with Masonic ceremonies, with prayer for the Divine 
 blessing on the work, offered up by the chaplain, 
 Rev. T, Robinson. In 1822, a church was opened 
 at Mattoongah, the head- quarters of the Honour- 
 able East India Company's Artillery in Bombay. 
 The church at Surat was also opened, the Christian 
 inhabitants having purchased a suitable organ by 
 subscription ; the foundation-stone of a new church 
 was likewise laid at Kairah. In 1823, the new 
 church at Poonah was opened, and in consequence 
 of the large and increasing body of Europeans at 
 the station, a second chaplain was appointed, the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 115 
 
 number of chaplains having been augmented to 
 thirteen, and was shortly after increased to fifteen. 
 This year, the European crews of the Honourable 
 Company and merchant vessels in the harbour were 
 provided with Christian instruction, and means of 
 grace, by one of the chaplains of St Thomas's 
 Church conducting public worship on one of the 
 cruisers on the afternoon of Sunday. 
 
 10. In 1825, Bishop Heber held his visitation of visitation 
 Bombay. His official proceedings will be recorded Heber h P 
 in the account of his episcopate. Upon Whitsun- Gospel 
 day, in his sermon at St Thomas's Church, he ^ n P an<T 
 brought the subject of missions, and the duty of church 
 
 , ,1 *t n A- 01 Mission- 
 
 Supporting them, before the congregation. Such aiySocie- 
 
 was the impression his arguments and eloquence tjesestab- 
 
 iii ji p n -i n r* hshed. 
 
 produced, that, on the following day, the Governor, 
 the judges of the Supreme Court, members of the 
 Council, and other influential persons, attended a 
 meeting he had convened, and joined him in the 
 formation of a Committee of the Society for Propa- 
 gating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. This was the 
 first occasion on which members of the Government 
 had come prominently forward as private indivi- 
 duals in favour of direct missionary efforts. This 
 measure was a manifest proof of the great change 
 in public feeling on the subject of missions, and it 
 was generally acknowledged to be the duty of 
 Christians, in their private capacity, to seek the 
 conversion of India. On leaving Bombay, Bishop 
 Heber left a favourable impression behind. His 
 ability and amiable conduct, and instructive con- 
 versation, had the effect of removing prejudices 
 against missionary efforts, and his sermons were 
 listened to with attention and profit. This was 
 followed by the formation of an auxiliary Church 
 Missionary Society, under the patronage of the Hon. 
 Sir C. H. Chambers, puisne judge of the Supreme 
 Court. He presided over the first meeting, and 
 
116 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, continued to take a lively interest in the concerns 
 '__ of the Society during, the three years that he sur- 
 vived the formation of the auxiliary. The influ- 
 ence of this excellent man was always exerted in 
 favour of religion,, and his quiet and exemplary 
 conduct in private life recommended it to those 
 with whom he associated. 
 
 New 11. By this time the schools of the Education 
 
 theEduca- Society had so much increased, and a legacy left 
 tion So- by a Mrs Boyd several years before, for the educa- 
 al^cuji 1 tion of Protestant children, which, by the removal 
 lah. of legal difficulties, was now available, having accu- 
 
 mulated to a large amount, the Committee deemed 
 it necessary that the Society should possess build- 
 ings of their own, sufficiently spacious and suitable, 
 in order to be able to comply with the increasing 
 applications made to them in behalf of Christians 
 of both sexes ; and especially for such as would 
 now have a claim for admission in consequence of 
 the additional establishment of the Military Asy- 
 lum. 1 A grant was obtained from Government of 
 a suitable piece of ground at Bycullah, about three 
 miles' from the Fort. While Bishop Heber was at 
 Bombay, the foundation-stone of the new Boys' 
 School was laid by the Governor, assisted by the 
 Archdeacon ; and that of the Girls' School, by Lady 
 West and Lady Chambers, in presence of a large 
 portion of the European residents. The Bishop 
 implored the Divine blessing upon the work, and 
 warmly congratulated the European community on 
 the existence and beneficial labours of the Society, 
 At the close of 1826, the buildings were completed, 
 and the two schools were removed into them. The 
 beneficial influence of these schools was, and still 
 continues to be, felt in different circles, sending forth 
 
 1 Society's Keport for 1825. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 117 
 
 many pupils for the department of surveyor, medi- 
 cal establishment, and the various trades. It has 
 also raised up an intelligent and well-principled 
 class of females, capable of becoming companions 
 to their European husbands, who were settled at 
 different stations of the presidency. It appeared 
 that, during eleven years of its existence, six hun- 
 dred children of both sexes had been admitted into 
 schools, of whom two hundred and seventy-one 
 were now in the establishment ; and so liberally 
 had the Institution been supported by the commu- 
 nity, that 80,000 rupees had been saved out of the 
 contributions ; which sum was expended on new 
 buildings. 
 
 NATIVE EDUCATION. 
 
 12. The native department of education was The 
 separated, in 1820, from the Education Society, Education 
 and a new Society formed, first with the view of Society 
 providing native school-books ; and, secondly, for 
 improving the native schools already existing, and 
 opening others, to be entirely under the manage- 
 ment of a Society of respectable natives joined to 
 this Society, and a Committee was elected, consist- 
 ing both of European and native members. Such 
 was the origin of what afterwards became " The 
 Native Education Society." 2 It was greatly to be 
 regretted that these schools were not provided with 
 religious instruction ; but all works relating to their 
 own religion were superseded by books on general 
 history, and different branches of science, which, 
 it was hoped, would tend to elevate, if not to purify 
 the mind. The experience of Bengal native schools, 
 however, has proved this to be a hazardous expe- 
 riment. 
 
 2 It is called the Elphinstone Institution. 
 
118 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 13. We will conclude the subject of education 
 IL with the notice, that considerable assistance was 
 Govern- afforded by Government to the support of regi- 
 e rTof Up ~ mental schools there was scarcely a regiment 
 regimental without its school. A military asylum was also 
 Mmtary established in 1820, to which soldiers and non- 
 Asyium commissioned officers subscribed, according to a 
 fteted. graduated scale. This establishment was to pro- 
 vide for the education of their children, who were 
 left orphans, by admission into the schools raised 
 at Bycullah. 
 
 Retire- 14. At the close of this year, the church of 
 
 Arch. f Bombay lost the principal agent in these proceed- 
 Bames. ings, by the retirement of Archdeacon Barnes. At 
 the visitation of Bishop Heber he preached the 
 sermon, when he took occasion to give the first 
 public intimation of his intention to return to 
 Europe. And now, after having held the arch- 
 deaconry for eleven years, he left Bombay, carry- 
 ing with him the esteem of the Government, of the 
 clergy over whom he presided, and of the Christian 
 community of the presidency. To his care and 
 judgment were ascribed, under the Divine blessing, 
 the various improvements made in the ecclesiastical 
 establishment, and the number of new churches 
 erected, and the provision made in nearly every 
 station for the regular conducting of public worship. 
 To his judicious and persevering efforts were justly 
 attributed the formation and maintenance of the 
 Bombay Education Society, and from it, the first 
 efforts for introducing improvement into the edu- 
 cation of natives. No wonder, therefore, that the 
 loss of such a director was deeply regretted ; but his 
 works remained, and have continued to promote the 
 moral and religious improvement of the presidency. 1 
 
 Dr Carr, formerly chaplain, afterwards Bishop of Bombay, 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 119 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 To what is this extensive change to be attri- 
 buted within the space of ten years ? It was not 
 the result of any individual's exertion made in- 
 strumental in awakening attention to religion. The 
 work went on in a quiet, unobtrusive way, under 
 a diligent use of the appointed means of grace. 
 The diffusion of Bibles and religious books, the 
 frequent arrival from Europe of young men reli- 
 
 furnisbed the author with extensive notes, containing valuable 
 information on the past history of Bombay, which were accom- 
 panied with the following interesting letter : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR I now forward to you the remainder of the 
 notes respecting Bombay. I feel they are very meagre ; but 
 although I have carefully gone over the correspondence, and 
 newspapers of the period over which the notes extend, nothing 
 of any moment has been omitted ; indeed, much that is put 
 down is of little consequence beyond the stations to which it 
 relates. It is difficult to give a history of a period in which so 
 very few facts are to be found ; such as they are, they have 
 been noted down. It is, however, very certain, that between 
 the years 1815 and 1826, a very great change had taken place 
 in the Christian community of the Bombay presidency. In 
 the former year there were not more than about six persons in 
 the whole period who were paying serious attention to religion ; 
 whereas, about the year 1826, although the number of stations 
 had greatly increased, and the European population also (for 
 during this interval the Mahratta war had placed the whole of 
 the Deckhan, with parts of G-oozerat, in our possession), yet 
 there was scarcely a station in which there was not one or more 
 individuals really in earnest upon the subject of religion ; and, 
 in one or two of the largest stations, there were several such 
 persons. Indeed, considerable interest was felt upon the sub- 
 ject, and for the extension of the gospel amongst the heathen. 
 A question has often arisen in my mind, By what means was 
 this change brought about ? There was no popular minister in 
 the presidency, nor any particular season of distress, which had 
 roused the attention to eternal things. The cholera was flying 
 about, but we had become in a measure used to it. The causes 
 
120 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, giously educated, whose example and conversation 
 had a salutary influence on their companions. 
 Officers who received the truth were diligent in 
 endeavours to prevail upon their brother officers 
 and other companions to follow their example, 
 and, through God's assistance, often prevailed. 
 The profession of religion soon ceased to be a sub- 
 ject of reproach. 
 
 which have occurred to me were there arrived an increased 
 number of young persons who had received a truly Christian 
 education ; some who, from their arrival, attended to religion ; 
 the quiet intercourse of such persons with their brother-officers , 
 to whom they spoke of religion as opportunities presented them- 
 selves. The same quiet intercourse of chaplains, missionaries, 
 and the provision of Christian books, seem to have been the 
 different means blessed of God for bringing about the change ; 
 the means by which piety was cherished in the hearts of indi- 
 viduals, whose attention had been awakened, were the means 
 of public worship at nearly all the stations, which the increased 
 number of chaplains afforded. The different serious persons 
 had no ordinances of religion (except in Bombay, Surat, and 
 the Deckhan, for the last two years) beyond what our Church 
 afforded ; and her services were diligently attended, and were 
 valued, by such persons. The orderly and Christian piety of 
 that day was much nourished by our Church services, and 
 many were greatly indebted to them who had not duly con- 
 sidered their great value for edification. The value of these 
 regular ordinances in this respect was very great ; and much 
 thankfulness is due to God, who had at this time disposed the 
 Honourable Court to increase the number of chaplains and 
 churches. Trusting that your work may receive the Divine 
 blessing, 
 
 " Believe me, my Dear Sir, very sincerely yours, 
 
 " T. BOMBAY." 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 121 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SOCIETY FOE PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE SOUTH 
 INDIA MISSIONS, 1817-1826. 
 
 VEPERY. 
 
 1. IN the first chapter was mentioned the re- Revival 
 vival of the Vepery mission, after the death of M. yepeV 
 Poezold, under the care of Dr Rottler, also the dis- mission. 
 tribution of the Society's English books found laid 
 up in store. 1 The Madras District Committee were 
 soon actively engaged in the English department 
 of the Society's operations. Depots for the sale 
 and circulation of Bibles, Prayer-Books, and reli- 
 gious works, were established at the chaplain's 
 principal stations ; and in several cantonments, 
 which were without chaplains, the officers took 
 charge of the books, and manifested an interest in 
 disposing of them among the troops which they 
 had never evinced before. 
 
 But our immediate province is, to describe the 
 state of the Society's missions for the heathen. 
 On the death of Poezold, the Madras District Com- 
 mittee, at the request of the two surviving mis- 
 sionaries, Kohlhoff and Pohle, took charge of the 
 Vepery mission. They immediately requested Dr 
 
 Chap. i. sect. 14. 
 
122 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Eottler to resume the spiritual superintendence of 
 EIL the establishment, and then directed their atten- 
 tion to its temporal affairs, which they found in 
 great disorder. Besides the English Bibles and 
 other religious works, " lying in storeroom, un- 
 packed, or heaped up, and in danger of destruction 
 by white ants," there was a considerable num- 
 ber of dictionaries, grammars, and other works in 
 Tamul and English, printed at the Society's mis- 
 sion press. A portion of these were immediately 
 bound, and prepared for sale ; which was the more 
 readily effected, and at a trifling expense, as the 
 mission stores contained a large supply of binding 
 materials of every description, as well as a binding 
 press, which only required to be set up. By these 
 means the Committee were soon enabled to furnish 
 the native schools and congregations with the 
 books which they had for a long time much re- 
 quired. So shamefully had the mission been 
 neglected ! 
 
 The Committee's next object was to set up the 
 printing-press, which had not been worked for a 
 long time ; though there was a very large stock of 
 type, ink, and paper on hand. The types had to 
 be recast, and after some delay in consequence of 
 this, and other preparations required, two presses 
 were set up in the beginning of the year 1820, and 
 the stores were made available for printing various 
 useful works on subjects of religion and education. 
 In the first year of its re- establishment, the press 
 issued about four thousand books and tracts. In 
 1824 an edition of the Tamul Bible was reprinted 
 at the mission press, under the superintendence of 
 the Society's missionaries, and the work was exe- 
 cuted in a very handsome manner. 1 
 
 S. P. C. K. JReport 1825, p. 56. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 123 
 
 2. Before the presses were set to work, the Printin 
 stores, on the application of Dr Bottler, were ap- 
 propriated to the printing of his Tamul translation 
 
 of the Book of Common Prayer. This work he 
 commenced at the instance and for the use of the 
 Church Missionary Society, before he took charge 
 of the Vepery mission, and completed it after his 
 services were engaged by the Society for Promot- 
 ing Christian Knowledge. He acknowledges, that 
 throughout the progress of the work, his thanks 
 were eminently due to the learning and liberality 
 of Richard Clarke, Esq., Tamul Translator to 
 Government, and Secretary to the Madras District 
 Committee, by whose frequent corrections it was 
 much improved. The book is described as " a very 
 handsome volume in quarto, neatly printed and 
 bound '"' Dr Rottler repaid the Society for the 
 assistance afforded him with two hundred and 
 thirty-seven copies of the work, which, with one 
 hundred and twenty-five copies, placed at their dis- 
 posal by the Government of Fort St George, were 
 appropriated first to supply the wants of the So- 
 ciety's missions, and then to individuals or esta- 
 blishments not dependent on the Society. 
 
 3. An account has been given in a former volume Account 
 of a considerable legacy bequeathed to this and the mission 
 Negapatam mission by M. Gericke ; 3 and on inves- property. 
 tigation of the receipts and disbursements, the Com- 
 mittee found that the annual expenditure of the 
 
 two missions was nearly met by the permanent 
 
 2 S. P. C. K. Eeport 1819, p. 130. First Report of the Ma- 
 dras District Committee. The profits of this work Dr Rottler 
 appropriated to the Vepery mission and the Church Missionary 
 
 Society. 
 
 ;i Vol. iii. p. 468. " A fund which was sufficient to keep it 
 up as it stoocl at his death." 
 
124 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, income of their funded property. 1 Thus, with due 
 
 L care and management, it appeared that the income 
 
 arising from the property bequeathed by M. Gericke 
 would be sufficient for the support of the institu- 
 tion. The principal buildings and land ostensibly 
 the property of the mission, were the church, the 
 mission-house, the burial-ground and garden ad- 
 joining, the houses occupied by the schoolmasters, 
 several houses that were rented, and a piece of 
 ground with a plantation of cocoa-nut trees, which 
 was expected to yield an annual income of one 
 hundred pagodas. 2 There were also about nine hun- 
 dred volumes in the library, many of which, 
 however, were worm-eaten and otherwise much 
 damaged. Add to these the communion plate and 
 church furniture, and we have a full account of the 
 mission property at this period In the year 1821, 
 the funds were reported to be much improved, 
 under Dr Rottler's administration, notwithstanding 
 the great expense of repairs and alterations. The 
 result of this investigation was very promising, and 
 the committee were encouraged to hope that they 
 should soon be able to restore the mission to full 
 vigour and efficiency. 
 
 Amvai 4. The premises which required it were imme- 
 missio 6 n- diately repaired ; and the Committee applied for 
 aries. ^ wo missionaries to be sent without delay, to 
 enable them to carry their plans into effect. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the 18th of June 1819, two arrived, 
 Revs. Laurence Peter Haubroe and David Rosen, 
 who were strongly recommended to the Society by 
 the Bishop of Zealand, by whom they were ordained 
 
 1 Annual expenses, Pagodas 1197 
 Annual interest of property, 1140 13 70 
 
 Deficiency, 56 31 10 about 22, 15s. 
 
 2 40 sterling. 
 
IN INDIA: BOOK xin. 125 
 
 for this mission. But only one,, M. Haubroe, could 
 be spared for Vepery, 3 and he proved a valuable 
 colleague to Dr Rottler, who was now far advanced 
 in years. Another missionary, the Rev. E. A. G. 
 Falcke, arrived not long after, but he did not sur- 
 vive long enough to enter upon his labours. 4 His 
 death is thus spoken of by the Board of Missions : 
 " He was a man of Christian simplicity of cha- 
 racter ; and his humane disposition, sober piety, 
 and laborious habits peculiarly fitted him for the 
 service of the mission, in that branch of its labours 
 which is connected with native schools. His loss, 
 therefore, is peculiarly to be deplored at the present 
 moment ; but the Society humbly trusts that new 
 labourers will be raised up to supply his place, and 
 to gather in the fruit which is evidently ripening 
 for the harvest," 
 
 5. Under M. Haubroe's able and active super- 
 intendence, the mission soon began to assume 
 another aspect. The increase in the schools was and con 
 such as to call for a larger building ; it was there- 
 fore determined to erect one capable of accommo- 
 dating two hundred children. This spacious room 
 was divided into two parts, the larger being appro- 
 priated to the Tamul scholars, and the smaller to 
 the English and Portuguese. At the close of 1819, 
 they contained together one hundred and fifty chil- 
 dren, 5 which went on gradually increasing until the 
 schoolroom was filled. Other schools were soon 
 
 3 S. P. C. K.Keport 1821, pp. 130-132. 
 
 4 Ibid. 1824, p. 41 ; 1825, p. 55. 
 
 In the English school there were Boys, 41 
 
 Girls, 17 
 
 58 
 In the Tamul school, Boys 63 
 
 Girls, 29 
 
 92 
 
 150 
 
126 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, established in the neighbourhood, and one as far 
 IIL off as St Thomas's Mount. The National System 
 was adopted in the schools, which at the close of 
 1821 contained nearly three hundred scholars. 
 Of a public Examination held, Dec. 22. 1821, 
 the Madras Government Gazette thus reports : 
 "The children were all remarkably clean and 
 healthy ; their rapid progress and orderly behaviour 
 reflected the highest credit on their venerable pastor, 
 the Rev. Dr Rottler, and his indefatigable coadjutor 
 the Rev. M. Haubroe. The revival of this late 
 neglected institution, with the great improvements in 
 the system of tuition and the increase of the school, 
 cannot fail to prove a blessing to the populous 
 neighbourhood in which it is situated." 
 
 The report, given in the same journal, of a pub- 
 lic examination of the schools in December 1824, 
 will shew the progress which the scholars had 
 made : " The children acquitted themselves with 
 great credit, shewing a readiness in replying to 
 questions on the subject of their lessons, a correct- 
 ness in reading, and a quickness and accuracy in 
 their arithmetical exercises, which evinced at once 
 the aptness of the scholars, and the diligence and 
 exertions of the teachers." 
 
 Subsequent reports speak of their growing im- 
 provement. Their numbers were now increased to 
 about four hundred, nearly one-third being girls. 
 There were forty- one heathen children, and the 
 remainder were Christians, belonging, with the ex- 
 ception of a few Romanists, to the Vepery congre- 
 gation. Of the English pupils, sixteen were entirely 
 maintained from the mission funds, the others were 
 day-scholars. 1 
 
 The improvement of the congregation also was 
 
 1 S. P. C. K. Report 1824, p. 43. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 127 
 
 equally satisfactory. Upon Dr Rottler's taking 
 charge of the mission, the people became more 
 regular in their attendance on Divine worship, and 
 conversions from Romanism and Paganism soon 
 began again to take place. In 1821 the numbers 
 had so considerably increased, that it became neces- 
 sary to enlarge the church. 
 
 6. The building, however, soon proving insuffi- A new 
 cient, Bishop Middleton strongly urged on the erected. 
 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge the 
 erection of a new church. In recommending this 
 measure, he thus spoke of the rapid progress of the 
 Vepery mission : 
 
 " These increasing demands on your funds arise 
 out of the highly nourishing state of your mission- 
 ary concerns in that quarter. I question, indeed, 
 whether in the history of Christian missions from 
 any Church, it will be found to have been sur- 
 passed. The congregation and schools, which were 
 lately in so distressed a condition, have increased 
 three or four fold." 
 
 Accordingly, in August 1823, it was deter- 
 mined to build a church large enough to accommo- 
 date one thousand persons. The foundation-stone 
 was laid December 8th of the same year, with the 
 usual ceremony, when, besides a numerous attend- 
 ance of persons of the first respectability, there 
 were present one hundred boys and seventy girls 
 of the English schools, and eighty boys and forty 
 girls of the Tamul. The Gothic style of architec- 
 ture was adopted ; and it was estimated that the 
 building would cost three thousand four hundred 
 pounds, towards which the Society had already 
 advanced two thousand pounds, and the govern- 
 ment of Madras consented to make up the deficiency. 
 The church was completed in 1825, and it was 
 generally admired as a great ornament to the neigh- 
 bourhood, being almost the only specimen of the 
 
128 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 ni P ' Gothic order in the country, except the chapel of 
 Bishop's College, near Calcutta. At its opening, 
 many prayers were offered that it might prove an 
 extensive blessing to the surrounding inhabitants. 1 
 tb^Mif- ^' Such was the general state and prospect of 
 sion in the Yepery mission at this period, when transferred, 
 with the other missions of the Society, as will soon 
 be noticed, to the Society for Propagating the 
 Gospel in Foreign Parts. Bishop Heber's view of 
 the state of this mission, in March 1826, is thus 
 given by his private chaplain, the Rev. Thomas 
 Robinson. "At Yepery the Bishop visited the 
 missionary establishment, examined all the schools, 
 and addressed the children and other Christians who 
 were present. His Lordship's sentiments respect- 
 ing the general conduct of that mission, and his 
 admiration of the order and arrangement that pre- 
 vailed there, under those venerable and excellent 
 men, Dr Bottler and Mr Haubroe, who preside over 
 it, were publicly expressed at a meeting of the 
 district committee, previously to his departure from 
 Madras. He had at that time, though he had 
 visited several native congregations in the north 
 of India and Ceylon, seen nothing that gave him 
 so much pleasure, or that appeared to him so full 
 of hope." 2 The congregations of native Christians 
 in the neighbourhood of Madras, which were esti- 
 mated upon good authority at twenty thousand 
 souls, owed their existence, in great measure, to 
 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge ; 
 and the appearance of their villages, when con- 
 trasted with that of the Pagan towns by which 
 they were surrounded, presented a most affecting 
 proof of the good that had been actually accom- 
 
 1 S. P. C. K. Keports 1824-1827. 
 
 2 Ibid. Report 1822, p. 22. S. P. G. F. P. Report 1827, p. 53 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 129 
 
 plished, and proved an encouragement to the mis- 
 sionaries to persevere in their labours." 3 
 
 CUDDALORE. 
 
 8. This station remained about ten years in the Q^dTiore 
 same condition in which the Rev. Marmaduke under the 6 
 Thompson had left it in 1808. M. Holzberg, in- g^c. 
 deed,, of whose conduct Bishop Middleton received 
 a more favourable report,, was permitted to return ; 
 but his health was too much impaired to permit of 
 his entering upon any active service. 4 The mission 
 was reduced to a very low state/ when, in Sep- 
 tember 1817, it began to revive under the care of 
 an active chaplain, the Rev. Charles Church. He 
 had the charge of about twenty Europeans, and 
 between forty and fifty European pensioners who 
 had been disabled in the Company's service. Among 
 these he laboured with assiduity and success. Of 
 his efforts for the native population, many thou- 
 sands of whom were around him, he wrote a few 
 months after he had been at the station : 
 
 " I have opened two schools for them, in which 
 are now about 120 boys. In one school, English is 
 taught ; in the other Tamul. These schools are 
 chiefly under the superintendence of a native Chris- 
 tian, a Tamulcan, of high caste. He has been much 
 delighted with my coming to Cuddalore, and has 
 been indefatigable in getting forward the schools. 
 Though a Christian, his conduct is such that he is 
 much respected by the natives, and hence becomes 
 a very useful man to me. Thus privileged, and, 
 I may say, blessed, on every side, how thankful 
 should I be ! " 
 
 3 S. P. C. K. Keport 1825, pp. 46, 47. 4 Ibid. Keport 1818. 
 5 First Report of Madras District Committee, pp. 52, 53. 
 VOL. V. I 
 
130 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. These schools Mr Church supported at his own 
 L expense. Of the scholars, he says 
 
 " They all seem anxious to learn, and thankful 
 for the opportunity afforded them." 
 
 Hence it appears how soon he had obtained the 
 confidence and esteem of the natives ; for until this 
 point is gained, they are very backward in attend- 
 ing schools instituted by an European in which the 
 Scriptures are read ; but when they feel persuaded 
 that he is a good man, and has no object in view 
 but their advantage, their prejudices give way, and 
 they receive his instructions with little or no 
 scruple. 
 
 Before Mr Church had been twelve months at 
 Cuddalore, he had the satisfaction of witnessing a 
 striking improvement not only in some of the 
 Europeans, all of whom now attended Divine service 
 on Sunday, and many at a Wednesday-evening 
 service, but also in the pensioners. His schools, 
 too, continued to flourish, and he began to feel at 
 home and to take pleasure in the study of Tamul. 
 
 How warmly he anticipated the pleasure of 
 preaching to the people in their own tongue, will 
 be seen from the following extract : 
 
 " I have made some progress in the native lan- 
 guage. I have read St John's Gospel in it, and 
 am now busy with the Acts of the Apostles. What 
 if I should be able to declare to the heathen in 
 their own tongue the wonderful things of God !" 
 Declines 9. But while his prospects of success were thus 
 hf s 4l re- n brightening, he was appointed to Vizagapatam, a 
 movai. regular station, for a chaplain, which had now 
 become vacant. Thus were his labours interrupted, 
 and his designs for the natives, so judiciously and 
 successfully commenced, in danger of proving abor- 
 tive, while his knowledge of Tamul would be of no 
 service at his new station ; yet he could say 
 " After labouring more than a year at the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 131 
 
 Tamul, and reading in it the chief part of the New 
 Testament, I must begin with the Teloogoo. This 
 is somewhat discouraging ; but the will of the Lord 
 be done." 1 
 
 After this little is recorded of Cuddalore during 
 the present decade. M. Holzberg died in 1825 ; 
 but the congregation and schools were kept to- 
 gether by an occasional visit from M. Haubroe, of 
 Vepery. When the station came under the stated 
 care of the Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel in Foreign Parts, it soon began again to 
 revive ; but it was some time before they had a 
 missionary to take sole charge of the schools. 
 
 TANJORE. 
 
 10. M. Kohlhoff still continued in sole charge Arrival <>t 
 of this mission. The Rev. Henry Baker, of the 
 Church Missionary Society, who was destined for 
 Travancore, was permitted, at the request of the 
 Madras District Committee of the Christian Know- 
 ledge Society, to assist M. Kohlhoff for a few 
 months, until the arrival of a colleague from Europe, 
 in March 1819, the Rev. J. G. P. Sperschneider. 
 In the year preceding, the three senior catechists 
 received Lutheran orders Pakiyanaden, Nulla- 
 tambi, and Wisuwarsanarden the last being sent 
 to Combaconum, and subsequently to Tinnevelly. 
 With this additional aid the usual business of the 
 mission proceeded without interruption ; but no 
 incident worthy of special notice is recorded for 
 some years. 
 
 11 The proposed transfer of the country con- state 
 gregations of the Tranquebar mission to the Chris- Mission. 
 tian Knowledge Society, mentioned in a former 
 
 Missionary Eegister 1824, pp. 202, 203. 
 
132 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, chapter/ being acceded to, the Tanjore mission 
 
 L_ received an addition of nearly two thousand souls. 
 
 Messrs KohlhofF and Sperschneider expressed their 
 satisfaction at this arrangement, but added 
 
 " Yet when we rejoice with our fellow-labourers, 
 in seeing at once the field of missionary labours so 
 much extended, we cannot conceal the apprehen- 
 sion that our strength will be unequal to the exer- 
 tion required. The congregations already belong- 
 ing to the mission are so numerous, and many of 
 them at such distance from Tanjore, that the exer- 
 tions of even the missionaries would find full em- 
 ployment, especially as we have lost the assistance 
 of an able native priest, and Palamcottah is still 
 dependent on our care." 
 
 At these stations, which now amounted to four- 
 teen, there were eleven schools, containing two 
 hundred and sixty- six scholars, of whom fifty- four 
 were girls. In 1823 the missionaries remarked 
 
 " The number of heathens and Roman Catholics 
 added to the congregations during these four years 
 is small indeed ; but, considering the difficulties 
 and disadvantages under which the Christians of 
 that part of the country in particular labour, it is 
 an increase deserving notice. We found those con- 
 gregations where schools were established, usually 
 in a much better state than those where there were 
 none ; so that it would seem very desirable to have 
 a school establishment in each of them. To the 
 catechists, it is impossible to attend the children ; 
 they being obliged to go often fifteen miles in order 
 to see the Christians of their district. Should the 
 inhabitants, however, Christian as well as heathen, 
 see their children freely instructed and improving 
 in useful knowledge, it would undoubtedly contri- 
 
 1 Book x. c. ii. s. 14. 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 133 
 
 bute greatly to endear to them our holy religion, 
 and prepare their minds for the faithful labours of 
 the catechist." 
 
 At some of the stations the poor Christians had 
 suffered much oppression from their heathen mas- 
 ters, in being prevented from attending divine 
 worship on Sundays by compulsive labour, and in 
 being obliged to frequent heathenish feasts and 
 draw the cars of the idols. The late collector of 
 Tanjore, Charles Harris, Esq., issued, when re- 
 quested, an order for their relief. The missionaries 
 state 
 
 " A renewal of this order would be highly bene- 
 ficial. Many heathens, who, by the ill-treatment 
 and oppression which Christians usually met with, 
 have been hitherto frightened from embracing 
 Christianity, would be thereby encouraged." 2 
 
 Thus the business of the mission went on quietly 
 to the end of the decade, without anything further 
 worthy of remark. No reports of the annual in- 
 crease in the congregations and schools had been 
 sent home for some time ; and the funds at the 
 missionaries' disposal being already appropriated, 
 they were unable to augment their establishment 
 of catechists so as to increase their operations 
 beyond their present limits. 3 
 
 TRICHINOPOLY. 
 
 12. On the 28th of January 1818, M. Pohle, the M ^ 
 senior missionary of the Society, was called to his at Trictn 
 rest. His death was greatly lamented, both on 
 
 2 S. P. C. K. Reports 1822-1825. In the Appendix (p. 103) 
 of the Eeport for 1825, is given the missionaries' last return at 
 this period. 
 
 3 The author is now writing from his private journal written 
 on the spot in 1821, when on a visit to this and the neighbour- 
 ing missions. 
 
134 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, account of his experience, and also because there 
 IIL was no missionary of the Society at the time whose 
 services were available to succeed to his labours. 
 He had been anxious to receive favourable accounts 
 of missionaries being sent out to their assistance ; 
 and before his departure, the thought of leaving 
 the world without seeing his mission provided with 
 an able and faithful labourer deeply afflicted his 
 mind. M. Kohlhoff undertook to visit the station 
 until the arrival of a successor ; and, in the mean 
 time, he placed the native congregation and schools 
 under the care of a country priest, with the local 
 catechists and schoolmasters ; and the temporal 
 concerns of the charitable institutions he committed 
 to the care of Mrs Pohle, who had been accustomed 
 to this service for many years. The funded pro- 
 perty of the mission amounted to twenty- two thou- 
 sand rupees. The interest of this money, with the 
 rent of a house at Warriore, the property of the 
 mission, and a monthly collection at the church, 
 formed the available funds, which were appropriated 
 to the education and support of eleven children of 
 European extraction, to the payment of the salaries 
 of the mission servants, and to the repairs of the 
 church and other buildings. There were two houses 
 adjoining the church, one of which Mrs Pohle 
 continued to occupy. 1 
 
 Arrival of 13. The chaplain of Trichinopoly, the Rev. H. 
 C. Banks, rendered assistance to the mission until 
 the arrival of a missionary, Rev. David Rosen, 
 mentioned above, in January 1820. M. Rosen 
 found its institutions requiring immediate atten- 
 tion. The two English and Tamul schools did not 
 contain quite ninety scholars. The Portuguese 
 
 1 S. P. C. K. Beport 1818, pp. 165-7. Madras District Com- 
 mittee's 1st Report, pp. 33, 66. 
 
 a succes- 
 sor. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 135 
 
 and Tamul congregations amounted to four hun- 
 dred and forty-five ; and the communicants to one 
 hundred and thirty-two. In 1821, the author 
 visited this station, which he found in the same 
 state. There is scarcely any account published of 
 the mission until the year 1826, when M. Rosen 
 continued to occupy it, and the congregation had 
 increased to near five hundred ; but the schools 
 were very little improved. 
 
 14. But though so little information is given of Christians 
 the operations at this station during the present 
 decade, the catechists were not inactive in the 
 country round, and in some directions they pro- 
 ceeded to a considerable extent. The congrega- 
 tions at Madura and Dindigul have been frequently 
 mentioned in a former chapter, and the converts 
 were dispersed far and wide through the country. 
 One instance may be given, which came to the 
 author's knowledge. In 1825, being at Coimba- 
 toor, about one hundred miles west of Trichinopoly, 
 he was informed that at Pollachy, about thirty 
 miles to the south, a native Christian, of great re- 
 spectability, was residing with his family, without 
 another Christian near them. He was the tasildar, 
 the highest revenue officer of the taluk. The au- 
 thor paid him a visit, and, after a long conversa- 
 tion, had reason to think him possessed of true 
 faith, and of love to the Saviour, The following 
 account of his visit is copied from his journal, 
 written after his return to Coimbatoor : " The 
 gentleman under whom he is placed informs me 
 that he is a most faithful servant, and that his 
 taluk forms an exception to every other in the col- 
 lectorate ; for that, when he visits the other taluks, 
 he hears innumerable complaints against the tasil- 
 dars, and other officers under them ; but here, all 
 is harmony and satisfaction. At his last visit he 
 heard not a single complaint. The good man has 
 
136 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, been attacked with fever, caught in the perform- 
 IIL ance of his duty in unhealthy parts of his taluk, 
 but is now recovered, though greatly reduced. It 
 was indeed encouraging to hear him describe his 
 views and feelings under his affliction, and his in- 
 ward enjoyment while taking the blessed sacra- 
 ment, which I administered to himself and his family, 
 eight persons. There is every reason to believe 
 this man to be another triumph of the gospel in 
 this benighted land." 1 Such cases, incidentally 
 discovered, encourage the hope, indeed, warrant 
 the conclusion, that much more was effected by 
 means of the earlier missionaries and their cate- 
 chists than appears on the face of their reports. 
 
 PALAMCOTTAH. 
 
 state of 15. The appointment of the author as chaplain 
 cottah ar " of this station in 1816, and the state of the mission 
 Mission in a t that time, have already been recorded. 2 The 
 report in which he communicated this information 
 to the Madras District Committee was written in 
 September 1818. In the following year he made 
 a tour of those parts of the district where the Chris- 
 tians resided ; and as his report of this visitation 
 was published by the Madras Committee, he will 
 transcribe it in this place. It is dated September 
 2. 1819 : 
 
 " Having just returned from a visit to the Pro- 
 testant churches in the district, I hasten to report 
 their present condition. 
 
 1 In his reply to the Abbe Dubois, in 1824, the author gave 
 a similar instance of native piety in a Protestant, whom, in 
 1821, he found at Combaconum, midway between Trichinopoly 
 and Tanjore. He was the English interpreter of the Court at 
 that station, and he, with his family, adorned his religion in the 
 midst of idolaters. Reply, pp. 203-206. 
 
 2 Vol. iv., B. x. c. 4. See App. C. of this Volume. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 137 
 
 " There is a church at every station ; but,, with 
 only two exceptions., they are built with raw brick 
 and covered with palmyra leaves. The ground, on 
 which these churches stand, was given to the mis- 
 sion by the Nabob's government, nearly twenty 
 years ago ; and most of the buildings were erected 
 at the same time. Those which I have seen are 
 in very good repair, and it requires but a small sum 
 annually to keep them so. 
 
 " The mission has received an important acces- 
 sion, since the last Report, in another native priest, 
 named Wisuwarsanarden. He seems to be a man of 
 respectable abilities and genuine piety ; and the 
 discourse, which I heard him preach to his own 
 congregation, would have done credit to a minister 
 possessed of the advantage of a superior education 
 to that which he has received. He is stationed at 
 a village called, by the Christians, Nazareth, about 
 twenty miles to the south of this ; and Abraham, 
 the other country priest, is at Mothelloor, a few 
 miles further. 
 
 " If I may judge from appearances, during my 
 short stay among the people of these two villages, 
 they are much attached to their priests, as are the 
 Christians of the surrounding country ; and, I 
 am persuaded, they only require to be well sup- 
 ported and encouraged, to prove of the most essen- 
 tial service to the congregations entrusted to their 
 care. 
 
 " Even from my hasty visit, the joy diffused 
 through all classes was indescribable ; and the peo- 
 ple flocked in from the neighbouring villages, in 
 every direction. On catechising such as were in- 
 troduced to me as the principal people, I found 
 them much better taught in their religion than I 
 had anticipated ; and, considering the space of time 
 that they have been without a missionary, it was 
 highly gratifying and encouraging to find the 
 
138 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, benign and peaceable genius of Christianity still 
 L keeping them at unity among themselves. 
 
 " The two villages named above consists entirely 
 of Protestants, nor is there an idol or heathen tem- 
 ple any where to be seen ; while the stillness that 
 prevailed, contrasted with the tumult of heathen 
 abodes, seemed to invest these favoured spots with 
 a degree of sanctity, and made one forget, for the 
 moment, that they were in the midst of a pagan land. 
 
 " One of the priests led me to a part of the vil- 
 lage, where was seated, under the shade of cocoa- 
 nut trees, a considerable company of women spin- 
 ning cotton, and singing Lutheran hymns to the 
 motion of their wheels. 
 
 " After service, a great part of the congregation 
 shewed no disposition to disperse ; and, seating 
 themselves around the door, sung their hymns to 
 a late hour. There were two old men among the 
 group, who were converted to the Christian faith 
 by your missionary Jsenicke, about twenty years 
 ago, and they sung to me several hymns which he 
 had taught them ; what they sung or said was not 
 so intelligible, indeed, as the language of younger 
 men ; but you will readily imagine them to have 
 been among the most interesting of the company. 
 
 " I state these, perhaps trifling particulars, to 
 shew that there appears to be something more than 
 the bare name of Christianity here ; and that the 
 enemies of missionary exertions mistake in assert- 
 ing, as many have asserted, that there is not a 
 genuine convert to Christianity among the native 
 Protestants. No, Sir, if the Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge had no other fruit of their 
 cares, their exertions, or their expenditures for 
 ' the Promoting of Christian Knowledge' in India 
 to produce, they might point triumphantly to these 
 two villages, in proof that their labour has not been 
 in vain. I have seldom witnessed so much religion 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 139 
 
 in a town in England, as is conspicuous here ; and 
 some heathen in the neighbourhood of one of the 
 villages told me candidly, that it was a very quiet 
 and good place. 
 
 " I spoke with the priests of the Tamul liturgy 
 that you propose sending hither ; and recommended 
 them to adopt it in all the churches, in room of the 
 German form of worship now in use ; and they 
 readily acceded to the proposition. I concluded this 
 to be the wish of the Committee, from their sending 
 five-and-twenty copies of the work ; but if I have 
 misconceived their intention, I beg they will let me 
 know in time, to prevent any alterations being made. 
 
 " By the statement of baptisms, &c., during the 
 last year, the Committee will perceive that the 
 mission continues to spread. 
 
 Children baptized, . . 117 
 
 Converts from heathenism, 52 
 
 169 
 Deceased, . 115 
 
 Total increase for the year 1818, 54 
 Marriages, 34 Communicants, 127. 
 
 " In communicating this report of the present 
 state of the Society's mission in this remote corner 
 of the Indian continent, I feel that I have not done 
 justice to the subject ; but am especially persuaded, 
 that it is not possible for me to convey the impres- 
 sion, that the sight of so many native Christians 
 congregated together must impart to every bene- 
 volent mind ; and I could not help wishing, whilst 
 among these interesting people, that the Commit- 
 tee were present to witness the scene." 1 
 
 1 S P.C. K. Eeport 1819, Appen. pp. 161-164; 1821, pp. 
 120-124. Madras Dis. Com. 1st Eeport, pp. 53 et seq. Life 
 of Bp. MiJdleton, vol. ii. pp. 125 et seq. Memoirs of Swartz, 
 vol. ii. pp. 484 et seq. 
 
140 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 16. This letter concluded with the following sug- 
 [IL gestions for the improvement of the mission : 
 Measures That a school should be established in the princi- 
 improve- P a l villages ; that a good supply of books should be 
 ment. gent for the schools and all classes of the congrega- 
 tions ; and that a missionary should be appointed 
 to the station as soon as one could be procured. 
 These suggestions being approved by the Dis- 
 trict Committee and the Bishop of Calcutta, the 
 books required were sent immediately ; forty rupees 
 a month were granted for school purposes, from 
 the 1st of May 1820 ; and the Bishop wrote home 
 in urgent terms for a missionary to be sent out 
 without delay. 
 
 Previous to this, the Madras Corresponding Com- 
 mittee of the Church Missionary Society had 
 granted permission to establish schools on their 
 account throughout the district. Seven of the 
 schools opened in consequence of this grant, were 
 at stations occupied by the Christian Knowledge 
 Society, to whom they were immediately trans- 
 ferred, with the consent of the Madras Correspond- 
 ing Committee. Two more were opened shortly 
 after, and the whole contained together nearly 
 three hundred children. Two of these schools were 
 for girls, which, after much persuasion, the Chris- 
 tians at Mothelloor and Nazareth permitted to be 
 opened. 
 
 In a visit to the churches in 1820, the distribu- 
 tion of books, the assembling of the congregations 
 for public worship, and the establishment of schools, 
 seemed to revive the poor people's spirits, and 
 their heathen neighbours began to look upon them 
 with more respect than when they supposed them 
 to be left to themselves. One object of this journey 
 was to teach the priests and catechists the use of 
 the Tamul Liturgy, for which purpose they were 
 assembled together, and the author went through 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 141 
 
 it with them, each taking a copy of instruction 
 which he had drawn up, in Tamul, for the use of 
 the whole book. They seemed at once highly to 
 appreciate the work, and it proved of great ser- 
 vice to the churches. 
 
 17. In the following year the author was re- its pro- 
 moved, by Government, to a larger European sta- 8 m 
 tion in the neighbourhood of Madras ; and two or 
 three extracts from his last report to the District 
 Committee, dated Palamcottah, March 1. 1821, 
 will suffice to shew the continued progress of this 
 mission : 
 
 The baptisms for the year 1850 were two hun- 
 dred and sixty -seven. The communicants were 
 increased to two hundred and forty-five. Five new 
 schools had been opened, and the whole fifteen 
 contained nearly four hundred children. Upwards 
 of three hundred books had been distributed among 
 the churches this year, but they were greatly in 
 want of the whole Bible, of which only one copy 
 had yet been sent for the priest. Several more 
 copies were now applied for, as many of the people 
 were very intelligent, and desirous of studying the 
 whole Scriptures. 
 
 After entering into various statistics, which it 
 is unnecessary to repeat, the report concludes with 
 an earnest recommendation of the mission to the 
 Committee's special attention, adding, "I am thank- 
 ful to learn that a missionary is expected for this 
 district ; but think me not extravagant when I 
 say, that one is not enough to attend to the seven- 
 and- twenty churches already established, much 
 less to cherish the infant congregations rising up 
 in several quarters. The fifteen schools also will 
 employ a considerable portion of the time of any 
 person, and leave him but little to devote to the 
 adults. The country priest is most anxious for a 
 missionary, for he but too justly anticipates the 
 
142 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, repetition of molestations from the heathen, when 
 * IU> there shall again be no gentlemen on the spot to 
 whom he can look up for protection. I trust., how- 
 ever, that he will not be kept long in suspense, and 
 that one, if not two, will soon arrive to dissipate 
 his fears, and strengthen his hands to labour. For 
 a native, he is a valuable man ; but he cannot be 
 expected to do more than preserve things in statu 
 quo until supported by a European." 1 
 
 A few days after the date of this letter, the 
 author quitted this interesting and promising scene 
 of labour. The day before his departure, he re- 
 ceived an application from a village a few miles 
 off, to baptize the whole of its inhabitants. As 
 there was no time to comply with their request, 
 
 1 The following statement will shew the increase of the con- 
 gregations during the last four years : 
 
 1817. 1818. 1819. 1820. Total. 
 
 Christian children baptized, 98 117 104 119 
 
 Heathen baptized, 25 52 34 122 
 Converts from Popery, . 13 
 
 136 169 142 267 = 714 
 
 About this time, the Madras Government desired the collector 
 of Tinnevelly to ascertain what land the Christian Knowledge 
 Society had registered in the district. The author was applied 
 to for the information required, and it may he useful to put on 
 record here the result of his investigation. He examined the 
 deeds of sale of seventeen plots of ground, which were purchased 
 between October 1791 and October 1810, by the missionaries 
 Jenicke", Kingletaube, Kohlhoff, and Horst, and by the priest 
 Sattianaden ; and one by Mr Sawyer, the benevolent inhabitant 
 of Palamcottah mentioned above (Book x. chap, iv.), which 
 was named after him, Sawyerpooram. These grounds were 
 accurately described in the deeds, which were regularly wit- 
 nessed ; but only two of them, Bethany and Kylausapooram, 
 purchased by Sattianaden, were in the name of the mission, 
 without specifying what mission. The rest were in the names 
 of the parties by whom they were purchased ; and none of them 
 were registered, as they were bought before the regular 'estab- 
 lishment of the English court in the district. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 143 
 
 the country priest, Wisuwarsanarden, was directed 
 to go and examine them, and to give them what 
 instruction they might require preparatory to their 
 baptism. From this time to the end of the decade, 
 no report of this mission appears to have been sent 
 home ; and some years elapsed before the Society 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts 
 were able to send a missionary to this distant 
 station. 
 
 NEGAPATAM. 
 
 18. The bequest of M. Gericke, mentioned above, state of 
 towards the support of the missionary establish- patam 6sa ~ 
 ment at this station, continuing to be paid by his 
 executors, under the superintendence of the Rev. 
 Dr Coemmerer of Tranquebar, the Madras District 
 Committee wrote to that gentleman, in 1818, to 
 ascertain the present state of the mission. After 
 briefly recapitulating the information already given 
 in this History, 2 he stated that the clerk, Mr 
 Younker, performed divine service every Sunday 
 in the Portuguese language, and read the English 
 prayers in the afternoon ; that a catechist per- 
 formed the service at the same time of the day in 
 Tamul ; that Mr Younker was authorised to bap- 
 tize, to marry, and to bury the dead of the native 
 Christians ; that he himself went to Negapatam 
 once or twice a year to administer the Lord's 
 Supper, and to visit the schools ; that the congre- 
 gations, Dutch, Portuguese, and Tamul, amounted 
 to two hundred and sixty, but that these numbers 
 were decreasing, either by casualties, or by re- 
 movals to other quarters in search of livelihood ; 
 and that the school contained sixty children, who 
 
 Book viii. chap. ii. sects. 4-7. 
 
144 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, were taught English and Tamul by the clerk and a 
 IIL catechist. 1 
 
 Such was the state of this establishment in the 
 year 1818 ; and, as the Society had no one to 
 appoint over it, the accounts did not improve dur- 
 ing the remainder of this decade. In publishing, 
 in 1821, the information which they had collected 
 respecting their South India missions, the Madras 
 District Committee, after stating that these mis- 
 sions had gradually fallen into decay from want of 
 proper superintendence, and expressing their con- 
 viction that they might yet be preserved, thus close 
 their report : " Let us then conclude with the 
 prayer that God may continue to bless the under- 
 taking we have in hand, and that this remote branch 
 of the venerable Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge may be supported in proportion to the 
 importance of its object." 
 
 Native 19. In the other archdeaconries the district 
 
 ?n Bengal, committees, besides their extensive distribution of 
 religious books in English, were now actively pro- 
 moting native education. We have seen with what 
 interest Bishop Middleton encouraged the estab- 
 lishment of schools at Calcutta ; 2 and by the year 
 1826 the Society's schools in that district were in- 
 creased to sixteen, in which twelve hundred and 
 eighty native boys were receiving a Christian edu- 
 cation. The Kev. Thomas Robinson, secretary to 
 the Calcutta Committee, 3 thus described their pro- 
 gress at this period : " I can assure the Society 
 that their native schools in Bengal hold out most 
 encouraging prospects of success in converting the 
 heathen to our holy faith, I have visited these 
 seminaries, and am satisfied that no human means 
 
 1 First Report of the Madras District Committee, pp. 68-71. 
 
 2 B. xiii. c. 1, s. 35. 
 
 3 Subsequently Archdeacon of Madras. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 145 
 
 can be so effectual in sapping the foundations of 
 idolatry as they are. The work may not imme- 
 diately be followed by brilliant results, but there 
 can be no doubt of the ultimate effect. Prejudice 
 and alarm are rapidly subsiding, and difficulties 
 which, a few years ago, presented a formidable bar- 
 rier, are now unknown. We are at liberty to intro- 
 duce the Scriptures and other religious books with- 
 out a murmur. The word of God is taught daily, 
 the Lord's prayer is committed to memory, while 
 treatises, calculated to convey useful knowledge, 
 are received and learnt with avidity. We entertain 
 a well-grounded hope that some of the native 
 teachers are themselves impressed with the truth 
 of our religion, and though they are at present 
 afraid to confess Christ openly, we look forward to 
 no distant day when their faith will triumph over 
 their fear of reproach and temporal degradation. A 
 beginning has been made among the female part of 
 the community on a limited scale, for want of funds 
 to extend it. We require nothing but pecuniary re- 
 sources and missionaries, to assemble the whole 
 youthful population of our Indian villages, wher- 
 ever a tree can afford its shade, or a thatched roof 
 give shelter." 4 
 
 4 S. P. C. K. Report 1827, pp. 28, 29. An instance occurred, 
 in 1817, of the freedom of the native mind from apprehension 
 in the use of Christian books. The wealthy Hindoos of Cal- 
 cutta established a college, the superintendent of which was a 
 military officer, the only Englishman connected with the estab- 
 lishment. As no grammar, or other school-book, could be found, 
 into which the subject of religion did not enter, the superin- 
 tendent was obliged to adopt the books used in English schools. 
 But, to avoid all appearance of seeking to make converts, he 
 tore out, or pasted over, the passages which related to Chris- 
 tianity. This was observed by the managers, who were all 
 Hindoos of wealth and consequence ; when one of them wrote 
 to the superintendent the following note : 
 
 " I have looked over the accompanying two books, and found 
 VOL. V. K 
 
146 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. These schools were at present superintended by 
 
 IIL the missionaries residing in Bishops College ; and 
 
 as the number of missionaries increased, and new 
 
 stations were occupied, new schools followed in 
 
 their train. 
 
 Native 20. At Bombay the District Committee conti- 
 
 fttBombay nued to lend their cordial support to the Education 
 and Co- Society, resolving to supply gratuitously all schools, 
 any way connected with that Society, with such 
 books and tracts as they possessed. The number 
 of scholars in these schools in 1818 exceeded six 
 hundred. 1 Hitherto they appear to have been 
 taught principally the English language ; but in 
 1820 the District Committee, finding that they 
 were not yet able to fulfil " their anxious wish to 
 take some steps for the institution of native schools 
 under their own superintendence," recommended 
 the Education Society to take up the education of 
 natives in their own languages, as a separate branch 
 of the institution. In this proposal the Education 
 Society fully concurred, and soon afterwards adopted 
 some resolutions for providing suitable school-books 
 in the native languages and for the general im- 
 provement of native schools. 2 No time was lost in 
 carrying these resolutions into effect ; in 1824 the 
 scholars in the schools of all descriptions were 
 twelve hundred ; 3 and a considerable increase of 
 the children in the native schools was reported for 
 
 nothing to be struck out ; but felt very much for the passages 
 pasted over, and consequently beg of you not to spoil any other 
 books in a similar way, as the boys, whose parents are averse to 
 allow them to read whatever alludes to the Christian religion, 
 may leave out the same." Life of Bp. Middleton, vol. i. pp. 
 391, 392. 
 
 1 S. P. C. K. Report 1819, pp. 103, 104. Bombay Dis. Com. 
 Second Eeport for January 1820. 
 
 2 S. P. C. K. Report 1823, p. 84. 3 Ibid. 1825, p. 67. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 147 
 
 1826, without the exact number being stated. 4 
 School-books also were sufficiently supplied, and 
 the prospect presented great encouragement to pro- 
 ceed. 
 
 Similar plans were adopted for the archdeaconry 
 of Colurnbo, where the distribution of books, and 
 the education of all classes, proceeded with great 
 activity. 
 
 21. In the year 1824, at a general meeting of Transfer of 
 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, sio^to" 
 holden on the 1st March, the Board, having taken f h e ci p^ f ^ r 
 into consideration the present state of their East g ationo P f a ~ 
 Indian missions, and being; desirous of adopting the Gospel 
 
 p -! nr n , i IT m Foreign 
 
 measures tor providing more effectually than could parts, 
 be done by the Society, for the extension of mis- 
 sionary objects in British India, referred it to the 
 Standing Committee, to consider the expediency of 
 transferring the management and superintendence 
 of the missions to the Incorporated Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The 
 Standing Committee, after mature deliberation, ac- 
 ceded to the proposal ; and the following are the 
 principal reasons which they assigned for the adop- 
 tion of this measure. The Society, notwithstanding 
 the success of its missions in South India, felt un- 
 able to extend its care, as was desired, to the whole 
 of Hindostan. In the improved facilities at length 
 afforded by the erection of the See of Calcutta, for 
 the extension of missionary operations, it was con- 
 sidered advisable to be ready to improve the first 
 opportunity of promoting Christian Knowledge 
 upon a larger scale. The Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel had founded and endowed a 
 mission college at Calcutta, which was already in 
 active operation. Missionary stations were selected ; 
 
 4 S. P. C. K. "Report 1827, p. 32. 
 
148 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. European missionaries and native catechists and 
 fIL teachers were engaged ; others were under educa- 
 tion in the college ; translations of Scripture and 
 various works in the Oriental languages were be- 
 gun ; and the Institution, even in this early stage, 
 might, it was thought, fairly be considered the 
 greatest Protestant establishment that had been 
 formed for the conversion of the East. For these 
 reasons, it was determined to place the South India 
 missions under the care of the Incorporated Society. 
 And this Society expressing their readiness to un- 
 dertake the important trust, it was unanimously 
 resolved, at a general meeting of the Christian 
 Knowledge Society holden on the 7th of June, 
 " that the management and superintendence of the 
 SOCIETY'S missions in Southern India be transferred 
 to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
 Foreign Parts." 
 
 At the same time, the Board resolved to devote 
 their undivided attention to the support of its dio- 
 cesan and district committees in the East ; and 
 through them to disperse the Scriptures, the Li- 
 turgy, and other religious books, among the inhabi- 
 tants of every class, and to contribute to the main- 
 tenance of schools, both for the European and native 
 population. It also undertook to continue the pay- 
 ment of the salaries of the present missionaries 
 during their lives, in consideration of their long and 
 faithful services. 1 
 
 When the Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel entered upon this important trust, it had 
 three missionaries connected with Bishop's College, 
 Calcutta, besides the principal, two professors, and 
 a printer. In 1825 another missionary was sent, 
 who was followed by two more in 1827. A district 
 
 S. P. C. K. Reports 1825, 1826, 1827. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 149 
 
 committee was formed in each archdeaconry to 
 superintend the Society's operations ; and the wis- 
 dom of these measures soon appeared in the revival 
 of the old Southern Missions, and the establisment 
 of new missions in other parts of India. 2 
 
 2 S. P. G. F. P. Reports 1825, 1826, 1827. It will give some 
 idea of the activity of the Society to state, that in eighteen 
 years from this time, they had 
 
 In the diocese of Calcutta, a Principal and three Pro- 
 fessors at Bishop's College, . 4 
 Missionaries, ... 8 
 Madras, a Head Master and an Act- 
 ing Superintendent at Vepery, . 2 
 Missionaries, . . .23 
 Bombay Missionaries, . . 3 
 Ceylon Missionaries, ... 3 
 
 43 
 
 These missionaries occupied 32 stations. S. P. G-. F. P. Re- 
 port 1844. 
 
150 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BAPTIST MISSION IN BENGAL AND THE EAST, FROM 
 1817 TO 1826. 
 
 Separa- 1. PREVIOUS to entering upon the Baptist mission- 
 Seranfpore ar J operations of the present decade, notice may 
 Mission be taken of an alteration made about this period 
 Baptist 6 in the management of the mission. In 1818 the 
 Society. Society published a " Circular Letter/' explanatory 
 of the circumstances which led to this change. 
 After adverting to the formation of the family 
 union at Serampore in 1799, which was noticed in 
 this History at the time, 1 the letter went on to 
 state, that the brethren had adhered so conscien- 
 tiously to the terms of this compact, that, although 
 their receipts individually had far exceeded the 
 amount of contributions for the mission sent out 
 from England, their families had derived no pecu- 
 niary advantage from their united income. The 
 whole had constituted one common fund, which, 
 after supplying their own necessities, had been con- 
 secrated to the service of God in the propagation 
 of the Gospel around. By the blessing of Divine 
 Providence on their exertions, they had been able 
 hitherto, not only to support themselves and their 
 
 Book ix. c. xx. s. 17. See Appendix D of this vol. 
 
IN INDIA t BOOK XIII. 151 
 
 families, but also to expend large sums of money 
 upon the great object for which alone they desired 
 to live. 
 
 A considerable part of the funds derived from 
 their personal exertions was employed in the pur- 
 chase and enlargement of the premises at Seram- 
 pore on which they resided. These premises, to- 
 gether with the mission property upon them, were 
 now valued at about seven thousand pounds. Con- 
 sidering the uncertain tenure of European life in 
 India, together with their own increasing years, 
 the Serampore brethren began seriously to antici- 
 pate the period when they would be called to rest 
 from their labours, and were desirous of securing 
 the permanent appropriation of their property to 
 the propagation of the gospel among the heathen. 
 For this purpose they constituted themselves a 
 distinct Society, denominated "The Baptist Mis- 
 sion at Serampore ; " and in September 1817 they 
 executed a deed, whereby the said property was 
 declared to be held in trust by themselves, and 
 such persons, and such only, as they should there- 
 after associate with them in the trust. It was 
 distinctly stated, that the said parties were to hold 
 the property " IN TRUST for propagating the Gospel 
 in India, agreeably to the original design and insti- 
 tution of the said Baptist Missionary Society." 
 
 The Society at home, deprecating any apparent 
 want of union between themselves and the mis- 
 sionaries at Serampore, did not immediately ac- 
 quiesce in all that was proposed. They consented, 
 indeed, to resign everything at Serampore to the 
 sole management of the senior brethren ; but they 
 objected to this division of interests, as tending to 
 shake the public confidence, and to injure the cause 
 which both parties had so much at heart. During 
 the whole of the present decade negotiations were 
 going on between them, with a view to obviate the 
 
152 
 
 Arrival of 
 mission- 
 aries at 
 Calcutta. 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 inconvenience apprehended from their separation ; 
 but they ended in the adoption of the arrangements 
 which the missionaries desired. Though the parent 
 Society did not approve of the measure to which 
 they saw they had no alternative but to assent, 
 yet they still maintained a cordiality of feeling 
 towards their brethren, continued to report their 
 proceedings with undiminished interest, and subse- 
 quently relieved them of five or six stations which 
 they were unable to maintain. Thus did they shew 
 the sincerity of their prayer, that it might please 
 God to overrule the event, " however undesirable 
 in itself, to the furtherance of the Gospel of His 
 Son." 1 
 
 As the stations of the Baptist mission mentioned 
 in the last decade were now divided between that 
 Society and the Serampore mission, in the present 
 account of them we shall depart from the order 
 hitherto followed, and take each division separately, 
 commencing with that of the parent Society. 
 
 2. Calcutta. The brethren at this important 
 station, Yates and Eustace Carey, were variously 
 
 1 A full account of the circumstances which led to this sepa- 
 ration is given in the Baptist Missionary Society's Eeport for 
 1827, and in Appendix I. See also Missionary Register for 
 1819, p. 68. As the Baptist and Serampore missions "were 
 happily re-united in 1838, it is deemed unnecessary to dwell 
 longer on the subject in this place. Persons who may desire 
 to enter more into the details, may consult the Society's Report 
 referred to above, and that for 1838 ; also the Missionary 
 Herald for January and June, and the Missionary Register for 
 February and December, of the same year. The Missionary 
 Herald just mentioned is a periodical commenced by the Baptist 
 Society in 1819, and published monthly. It contains intelli- 
 gence at large of their own proceedings and operations, and 
 briefly records the principal transactions of other similar insti- 
 tutions. The present chapter is drawn up chiefly from this 
 work, arid the Society's annual reports. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 153 
 
 employed ; but the conversions were not so nume- 
 rous in 1817 as in some former years. In the 
 autumn of 1816 they were joined by a Mr Randall, 
 who was sent out to superintend the manufacture 
 of paper for the use of the mission, but he was 
 spared to them little more than two years. In 1817 
 a Mr Penny arrived, with instructions to attend 
 especially to the organization and increase of schools 
 011 the British system of education. In 1818 he 
 was followed by two more missionaries from Eng- 
 land, Messrs Adam and Pearce. The former was 
 destined for Surat, but finding, on his arrival, that 
 much uncertainty existed respecting that distant 
 station, and no other for the present appearing 
 more eligible, he remained at Calcutta, preparing 
 for future work, as circumstances might require 
 his attention. Mr Pearce presided over the print- 
 ing department. 
 
 3. This station being thus strengthened, Mr E. ^g a e " x 
 Carey resigned the co-pastorship of the English tended 
 services for the purpose of devoting himself exclu- 
 sively to the heathen population in and around 
 Calcutta. In these exertions all the brethren 
 shared, in some degree, as soon as they had acquired 
 a sufficient acquaintance with the language ; and 
 in order to extend and facilitate them as much as 
 possible, several large sheds, covered with mats, 
 were erected in different parts of the city, in which 
 they preached. They next took up a position at 
 Doorgapore, a distant part of Calcutta, where they 
 erected a dwelling-house after the fashion of the 
 country, and a neat place of worship, which stood 
 by the road- side, in the very heart of the native 
 population. There the missionaries resided in 
 succession, for six months at a time. By these 
 means they came into immediate contact with the 
 natives, and their preaching soon appeared to be 
 attended with the desired effect. 
 
154 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 4. In accomplishing their objects,, they were 
 IV ' much assisted by the contributions of pious indivi- 
 Genero- duals. One instance, in the case of a very humble 
 convert* individual, deserves to be particularly recorded. 
 A Portuguese woman, who had lately renounced 
 the errors of Romanism and embraced the Pro- 
 testant faith, was desirous of devoting to the cause 
 of God a sum of money which she had saved when 
 in service. Accordingly she proposed to the breth- 
 ren to rent a piece of ground, and erect on it a 
 Bengalee place of worship at her own expense. 
 Being satisfied as to the integrity of her motive, 
 they encouraged her to fulfil her desires ; and when 
 the house was finished, she wrote to Mr Carey in a 
 strain of simple piety and humility, expressing her- 
 self thankful for having been permitted to accom- 
 plish the work, and intreating him to ascribe it to 
 the Lord, who had put the wish into her heart and 
 enabled her to complete it. This chapel being 
 found too distant from the road to attract the na- 
 tives, was subsequently taken down and rebuilt in 
 a more eligible situation, towards the expense of 
 which this liberal woman cheerfully contributed. 
 Piety of a 5, The brethren witnessed also another gratify- 
 ing instance of Christian faith and piety, in a native 
 woman whom they had recently baptized. Being 
 taken ill, Mr Pearce visited her, and asked her, 
 " Well, how is the soul ? your body I see is very 
 weak." She replied, " All is well, I have no fear 
 of death ; Jesus Christ has suffered for me, all my 
 trust is in him." Thinking she might be thirsty, 
 the missionary asked her if she wanted water. 
 She said, " I have living water within, which my 
 Saviour has given me, the same as was given to 
 the woman of Samaria. You know you read the 
 chapter to us the other day." While the haughty 
 Brahmins were violently opposed to the instruction 
 of the native females, this is one among the proofs 
 
 convert. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 155 
 
 vouchsafed to the brethren, that the poor, the 
 prostrate Hindoo women, were not despised by Him 
 who hath respect unto the lowly, and calleth the 
 things which are not, as though they were. 
 
 They now occupied seven stations in and about 
 Calcutta ; but their success among the heathen did 
 not yet answer their expectations. In this respect 
 they were still called to exercise the patience of 
 hope. Many instances occur in their journals af 
 persons of various descriptions, who appeared, for 
 a tune, to listen with serious concern to the doc- 
 trines of the Gospel, professed their intention to 
 renounce idolatry and embrace the religion of 
 Jesus, but who soon went back again, and walked 
 no more with them. While these disappointments 
 afflicted their hearts, God did not leave them with- 
 out encouragement from such instances of genuine 
 piety as we have just recorded. 
 
 6. The brethren devoted much attention to the New 
 European troops, and in 1821 a large chapel was Calcutta? 
 opened in Calcutta for English worship, the erec- ^ d Dum - 
 tion of which cost about three thousand poftnds, 
 nearly the whole being contributed on the spot. At 
 Dum-Dum, a military station, on the opposite side 
 
 of the river to Serampore, their labours had met 
 with some interruption ; but this year they were 
 resumed under so much encouragement, that here 
 also they erected a new place of worship. 
 
 7. Notwithstanding the liberality of the British Apostasy 
 
 public in India, the growing establishments at Cal- / * 
 cutta and other stations increased the demands 
 upon the Society's funds to an extent for which 
 they were unprepared : and in order to meet these 
 demands, they found it necessary to suspend the 
 sending out new missionaries for the present. A 
 painful alternative, and the anxiety it occasioned 
 them was aggravated by the loss of one of their 
 missionaries at Calcutta under peculiarly distress- 
 
156 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, ing circumstances. This was Mr William Adam, 
 IV ' who had opened his career with great promise. 
 His journals had evinced an ability in his inter- 
 course with the natives, and an energy in the pro- 
 secution of his work, which had already awakened 
 hopes of his becoming a most useful labourer :J but 
 these hopes were too soon blasted by his apostasy 
 from the faith. He embraced opinions denying 
 the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and became 
 an avowed Unitarian, separated from the Society, 
 and choosing still to remain in India, connected 
 himself with the wealthy native before mentioned, 
 Ram Mohun Roy, who had adopted the same 
 heresy, and was taking great pains to poison the 
 truth with his pernicious doctrine. Associated 
 with this man, William Adam now became as 
 industrious in propagating infidelity, as he had at 
 first promised to be in disseminating the Gospel of 
 Christ. This was an affliction indeed to the breth- 
 ren, even as to the primitive Christians was the 
 conduct of those "false teachers" who, we read, 
 privily brought " in damnable heresies, even deny- 
 ing the Lord that bought them." 2 Ram Mohun 
 Roy was ably answered from the pulpit and the 
 press by Dr Marshman and Mr Yates ; but still his 
 opinions continued to spread in India, especially 
 among the natives who had knowledge enough to 
 discover the absurdity of their old idolatries, but not 
 light enough to embrace the truth as it is in Jesus. 3 
 
 ^ 18 ^' l ^^ ie Brahmins also were now beginning to bestir 
 
 oppose the 
 Gospel. 
 
 1 Bap. Miss. Soc. Keports 1820 and 1822. Periodical Ac- 
 counts relative to the Serampore Mission, p. ii. Missionary 
 Herald and Missionary Register for the same period, 1821 and 
 1823. 2 2 Pet. ii. 1. 
 
 3 Dr Marshman published an able reply to Ram Mohun Roy. 
 Mr Yates's answer appeared in the form of a volume of essays 
 on the peculiar doctrines of the gospel. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 157 
 
 themselves in a new way in defence of their super- 
 stitions, which the people were forsaking. The 
 activity of the mission press, which, in the year 
 1821 alone, had produced nearly seventy thousand 
 tracts and school-books, provoked those priests of 
 idolatry to adopt a similar expedient on behalf of 
 their own system. They accordingly established 
 a periodical work this year, entitled, " The Brah- 
 minical Magazine, or, the Missionary and Brah- 
 min." In this work they shewed much ignorance of 
 the Gospel, and published many misrepresentations 
 of the motives of those whom they attacked. All 
 this, however, the brethren even hailed with joy, 
 as calculated to stimulate the native apathy, and 
 beneficially to provoke a spirit of inquiry and inves- 
 tigation hitherto foreign to the Hindoo character. 
 
 In an extensive town up the country, two of the 
 missionaries visited Nuddea, the great seat of 
 Hindoo literature in Bengal, where they distributed 
 a number of tracts in the Sanscrit language. In 
 any other form they would have been rejected with 
 contempt ; whereas now they were acceptable to 
 the learned. While, however, some received them 
 freely, they awakened the apprehensions of others ; 
 and this contributed to call forth the efforts which 
 the Brahmins were beginning to make to impede 
 their progress. 
 
 9. While the missionaries were mourning over Accession 
 their fallen brother, and were disappointed of that several 8 C 
 aid from home on the continuance of which they labourers. 
 doubtless calculated, they were encouraged by ac- 
 cessions to their number equally unexpected. A 
 Mr Statham was raised up for them in the country, 
 a person of undoubted piety and good abilities. 4 
 
 4 An account of the previous history of this gentleman, 
 drawn up by himself, was inserted in the Missionary Herald for 
 September 1821. 
 
158 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. After having preached, under their sanction, for 
 iv. some time, with considerable acceptance, they in- 
 vited him to become one of their body. A Brah- 
 min also of respectable family, named Anunda, was 
 baptized about this period, in whom they greatly 
 rejoiced. From his relatives he encountered vio- 
 lent opposition, but his constancy remained un- 
 shaken, and his whole demeanour was eminently 
 consistent. After a time he was regularly employed 
 in preaching, and gave hope of becoming a useful 
 minister of the Gospel to his countrymen. In this, 
 however, they were disappointed, as in the follow- 
 ing year he was taken from them by cholera mor- 
 bus. It was a singular coincidence, that about the 
 same time the aged Krishnoo also died ; and thus 
 the first and the last of the native converts finished 
 their course nearly together. Both died in full 
 hope of eternal life. Towards the close of the year 
 1821, they were joined by a Mr Harle, who began 
 his missionary career with great zeal and ability. 
 But he had scarcely started on the course before he 
 reached the goal. He died in August of the follow- 
 ing year, with these encouraging words upon his 
 lips, " All is well." l 
 
 Among the converts in 1822, there were several 
 members of a Romish family, whom God had mer- 
 cifully brought out of the darkness and superstition 
 in which they had been brought up. In the follow- 
 
 1 In November and December 1821, Mr Harle and Anunda 
 accompanied Mr Townley and Gorachund on a missionary ex- 
 cursion to Jungypore. Mr Harle kept a journal of their pro- 
 ceedings, which is published in the Appendix No. iii. to the 
 Report of the Baptist Missionary Society for 1823. This is a 
 valuable document, and it tends to shew how great a loss the 
 missionaries sustained by the death of these two young assist- 
 ants. In the Missionary Herald were published at the time 
 some interesting particulars relating to them both. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 159 
 
 ing year an aged member of the same idolatrous 
 church appears to have been reclaimed from igno- 
 rance and sin, under the instruction of Paunchoo, 
 one of the Hindoo teachers. Upon this conver- 
 sion the missionaries remark " It was indeed an 
 interesting sight to see a Hindoo instructing one 
 who always called himself a Christian." Another 
 of the converts this year was a Brahmin, of that 
 high order called Koolin, whose profession of Chris- 
 tianity excited great astonishment among his coun- 
 trymen, as it was evidently opposed to his tem- 
 poral interests. 
 
 10. The missionaries were greatly impeded in f^ted fa 
 their work by sickness; and, in 1824, Mr E. Carey Mission- 
 was induced on this account to return to Europe. 
 In the following year Mr Lawson died, exemplify- 
 ing to the last the firm supports and joyful triumphs 
 of that Gospel which he had long dispensed with 
 faithfulness and affection to others. His loss was 
 generally deplored by persons of piety in Calcutta. 
 He had charge of the flock in the Circular Koad; 
 and his affectionate admonitions to some of the 
 young people, and the solemnity with which they 
 were delivered, proved effectual to their conversion. 
 Others were impressed and turned unto God by 
 means of his funeral sermon, preached by Mr Yates ; 
 so that, during the year that followed his decease, 
 about thirty persons, from the age of thirteen to 
 twenty, were added to this congregation. Some of 
 them were Portuguese, who spoke Bengalee, and 
 afterwards became very useful among the heathen, 
 both by their example and faithful addresses. When 
 we read of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon 
 the little flock bereft of their pastor, we may surely 
 say that he died as the patriarchs, leaving a bless- 
 ing behind him. 
 
 While the providence of God was thus diminish- 
 ing the missionary strength in Calcutta, He raised 
 
160 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, up, as heretofore,, others on the spot to fill up the 
 
 L ranks as they were thinned. Among these are 
 
 named Mr Scott, a pious young man, who was engaged 
 to assist Mr Pearce in the printing-office ; a Mr 
 Kirkpatrick, who was brought up in the Benevolent 
 Institution, and had discovered such an aptitude 
 and inclination to the work, that he was engaged 
 as a missionary ; and a Mr Fenwick, who had long 
 approved himself a man of Christian zeal, and was 
 now employed on behalf of the Society to itinerate 
 among the heathen. He spoke with fluency the 
 Bengalee and Hindostanee, and his journals proved 
 that he possessed the far higher qualifications of 
 an enlightened understanding and a devotional 
 spirit. Besides these, several natives were called 
 to teach their countrymen the way of life. 
 H u ow?ah at 1L Mr Statham, who joined the mission in 1821, 
 was stationed at Howrah, a populous village on 
 the opposite side of the river from Calcutta, where 
 his labours were very successful. Two chapels and 
 a school-room were erected in the course of three 
 years under his superintendence. The chapels were 
 well attended, and the school soon contained sixty 
 boys. Among the converts under his instruction 
 he mentions a Mussulman Moonshee, whose baptism 
 occasioned great surprise among that class of natives, 
 and led to much inquiry. Another instance may 
 be given, in addition to what has already been 
 adduced, to prove the value of the Bengalee Bible. 
 A poor old woman, whom this missionary visited 
 in sickness, was waiting, calm and resigned, the 
 hour of her deliverance from suffering. On his 
 asking her how she felt in the prospect of entering 
 the eternal world, she said, " It will be a happy 
 change for me." He inquired the grounds of her 
 hope ; when she clasped her Bengalee Bible, which 
 lay by her cot, and said, " I find Christ here 
 Christ in my heart, and Christ in heaven. He died 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 161 
 
 for poor sinners like me ; I know He is able to save 
 me ; I believe He will." She then prayed with so 
 much fervour, that her teacher could not refrain 
 from crying out, " that my latter end may be 
 like hers." 
 
 12. At Howrah, Mr Statham had favourable Fallacy of 
 opportunities of observing the progress of the operations 
 native mind ; and shortly after the publication of respecting 
 the Letters on the State of Christianity in India, grew of 
 by the Jesuit missionary, the Abbe Dubois, he hns- 
 remarked on that work, that its statements were 
 so glaringly false and invidious, that even the foes 
 of missions, residing on the spot, were obliged to 
 palliate and apologize for them ; and he expressed 
 his persuasion that the real cause of such opposition 
 was the probable success of missionary efforts ; 
 adding " There is, and none can deny it, who 
 knows anything of these matters, a far greater 
 prospect of the establishment of the Redeemer's 
 kingdom among the Hindoos than ever presented 
 itself before. I well remember the time when, if I 
 offered a tract or a gospel to a rich Baboo, he would 
 reject it in scorn ; and now the same character is 
 continually inquiring for more books. Not two years 
 ago female education was looked upon by the rich 
 natives as a thing derogatory to their caste ; now 
 they are desirous to get female teachers for their 
 wives and daughters. I recollect, when in Sulkea 
 Bazaar, the natives would not let myself, and the 
 native with me, get a place to preach in. Now, 
 they say, ' Come often tell us more about these 
 things.' I have, at this moment, thirty-six boys, 
 the sons of natives of good estate, reading the 
 Scriptures in my verandah, who, some time ago, 
 were afraid to touch a book. Depend on it, that 
 the Lord is fulfilling his promises quicker than our 
 thoughts surmise. I would not anticipate too great 
 things, but I do humbly trust that your hearts will 
 
 VOL v. L 
 
162 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, be soon refreshed by intelligence of the most pleas- 
 
 1_ ing description. Only pray let us pray for 
 
 the outpouring of the Holy Spirit ! " J 
 New mis- 13. While thus zealously occupied. Mr Statham's 
 
 Sionaries -, -1,11 -IT i i nrn i 
 
 arrive; health began to decline; and, in 1826, he was 
 their pc- obliged to intermit his labours for a time. and. 
 
 cupations. . f - r . ... .-, 
 
 together with Mr Yates, seek, by revisiting their 
 native land, a renewal of that vigour which long- 
 continued exertions had materially impaired. In 
 1825 two new missionaries, Messrs James Thomson 
 and George Pearce, arrived from England. The 
 latter took charge of the station at Howrah during 
 Mr Statham's absence ; and having made consider- 
 able proficiency in Bengalee before he quitted Eng- 
 land, he was soon able to enter upon his work. 
 His companion also, Mr Thomas, had at the same 
 time acquired a knowledge of Hindostanee, 2 which 
 enabled him to devote his attention to the Maho- 
 medan population at Calcutta, who were computed 
 at ten thousand souls, without any missionary ex- 
 pressly engaged for their benefit. Besides the out- 
 stations of Calcutta, in that city itself there were, 
 on an average, at this period, not less than twenty 
 native services held every week in the bungalow 
 chapels described above ; and frequently the whole 
 day was spent in them, either in conducting public 
 worship, or conversing familiarly, during the inter- 
 
 1 This was written in 1824, the year after the publication of 
 the Abb6 Dubois's Letters, which called forth similar testimonies 
 from seyeral missionaries in this and the two following 3 r ears. 
 Baptist Missionary Report 1825, pp. 14, 15. See also the 
 periodicals mentioned at the beginning of this chapter ; also, 
 Mr Towriley's "Answer," arid the author's "Reply" to the 
 Abb6 Dubois. 
 
 2 They studied these languages in England, with the assist- 
 ance of the Language Institution, which was formed about 
 this time, with the design of qualifying missionaries to enter 
 more speedily on their work. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 163 
 
 mediate hours, with those who remained for that 
 purpose. 3 In the general work of the mission, two 
 American brethren, Messrs Wade and Boardman, 
 had, for some time past, made themselves useful ; 
 but they proceeded about this time to Burmah, the 
 station for which they were originally destined. 
 Their place at Calcutta was supplied by Mr Robin- 
 son, who had returned from Sumatra, and took 
 charge of the congregation in Lai Bazaar. 
 
 14. The reports and missionaries' journals dur- Summary 
 ing the present decade shew the gradual and steady ^res** 
 progress of the Benevolent Institution, female edu- Calcutta. 
 cation, the printing press, and other departments 
 of the mission. In the last report, 4 the printing 
 office is described as becoming more and more im- 
 portant as a means of diffusing intellectual, moral, 
 and religious truth. Besides many thousand tracts 
 and school books, in various languages, and other 
 miscellaneous works of a larger size, there had 
 issued from it a commentary on the Romans, in 
 Bengalee, by Mr E. Carey ; and a work on geo- 
 graphy, with other small publications, in the same 
 language, by Mr Pearce ; a harmony of the Gospels 
 in Hindostanee, a new translation of the Psalms, 
 and an epitome of Natural History, with various 
 other works, in Bengalee, by Mr Yates. About 
 seventy persons were employed, in various capaci- 
 ties, in the office, among whom were several native 
 Christians, who were thus enabled to support them- 
 selves by their own labour. A service was held 
 for the benefit of all the office servants, heathen as 
 well as Christian, two or three times a week, which, 
 it was reasonably hoped, might lead many of them 
 
 3 Report of the Calcutta Auxiliary Baptist Missionary Society 
 for 1826. 
 
 4 See the Society's Report for 1827, which contains an account 
 of the mission to the close of the preceding year. 
 
161 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, to an acquaintance with the truth of the Gospel, 
 lv ' and eventually, under the Divine blessing, to an 
 experience of its power. The state of the schools, 
 the number of communicants, the desire expressed 
 by natives for books and instruction, the encourage- 
 ment now given to the mission by the European 
 Society, who, not long ago, had frowned upon it 
 all tended to shew that the labour bestowed upon 
 the metropolis of India had not been in vain in the 
 Lord. 
 
 Success at 15. Cutwa was still occupied by Mr William 
 Cutwaai i j arev ^ w ho employed his native assistants in itinera- 
 bhoom. ting, and he was much encouraged by the prospect 
 now before him. In the course of 1819 he bap- 
 tized thirteen persons, and several others were ex- 
 pected to follow their example. On the other 
 hand, he lost a valuable native assistant this year, 
 who had been for several years employed very use- 
 fully in preaching the Gospel. His name was 
 Gour ; and to the excellency of his character, the 
 following honourable testimony was borne : " He 
 was highly esteemed by those who knew him, both 
 natives and Europeans ; his walk and conversation 
 uniformly recommended the Gospel, and his end 
 was peace." 
 
 Mr Carey's sphere of labour extended as far as 
 Beerbhoom, about sixty miles from Cutwa, where 
 the greater part of his flock resided. Owing to his 
 other engagements, delicate state of health, and 
 limited funds, it was with difficulty that he could 
 make one journey a year to this distant post. In 
 1818 he was joined by a Mr Hart from Calcutta, 
 who took up his abode in Beerbhoom, and reported 
 the favourable account which he received of the 
 native Christians from the magistrate of the sta- 
 tion. That gentleman represented them as con- 
 ducting themselves in all respects in a manner 
 "consistent with their being Christians indeed." 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 165 
 
 Among several new inquirers, a Brahmin brought 
 to Mr Hart his idols and shasters. and was subse- 
 quently baptized at Serampore. But in the follow- 
 ing year this post was again without a resident 
 missionary, Mr Hart, who entered upon the work 
 with so much assiduity, having left and returned to 
 Calcutta. There is no reason to doubt that the 
 cause of his departure was satisfactory ; but he left 
 Mr Carey under some discouragement, arising from 
 his personal inability to attend to that distant flock. 
 He was materially assisted, however, by his itiner- 
 ants, and few stations have afforded more pleasing 
 evidence of the advantage of employing pious na- 
 tives of good ability in the service of the Gospel, 
 when aided and directed by the judgment of an 
 European missionary. With their assistance Mr 
 Carey w r as able to maintain divine worship in differ- 
 ent places every day of the week, and he had rea- 
 son to believe that all who attended these services, 
 whether baptized or candidates for baptism, well 
 understood the leading doctrines of the Gospel. 
 The journals of the native teachers furnish many 
 pleasing indications of their talents and piety. 1 
 
 Mrs Carey established a female school in 1821, 
 which was suspended in the following year, on 
 account of the death of the mistress, whose place it 
 was found impossible to supply. A subsequent 
 attempt to revive it proved also unsuccessful. But 
 this important department of missionary work was 
 now beginning to attract favourable notice in the 
 upper classes of society ; and there was reason to 
 hope that all obstacles to its progress would soon 
 be removed. 
 
 In 1823 the district of Beerbhoom was supplied 
 by a Mr Hampton, who joined the mission a few 
 
 1 Several of these journals are given in the Missionary Herald. 
 
166 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 Descrip- 
 tion of the 
 converts. 
 
 Opera- 
 tions at 
 Moor- 
 shedebad. 
 
 years before, and had since been usefully employed 
 in its service. Here he began well, and it was now 
 deemed advisable to make this a separate station. 
 But this young man also, like Mr Hart, soon relin- 
 quished the post, when a gentleman on the spot 
 took temporary charge of the missions. In 1825 
 he was relieved by a Mr Williamson from Seram- 
 pore. This missionary fixed his residence at Soora, 
 and entered on his work with so much zeal and 
 ability, that Mr Carey was at last encouraged to 
 hope that this important post would be well occu- 
 pied. 
 
 16. Mr Carey had now been fourteen years at 
 Cutwa ; and in the midst of many trials, the mea- 
 sure of success vouchsafed to his exertions was suffi- 
 cient to console him for sufferings and disappoint- 
 ments. During his residence in this district, he 
 had baptized one hundred converts, of whom he 
 gave the following candid description : " I have 
 great reason to hope that the majority are, indeed, 
 members of our Lord and Master ; some are gone 
 to their rest, and a few have left us. I must say, 
 that I often have a great deal of trouble with 
 them, which has sometimes discouraged and dis- 
 tressed me beyond measure. But when I reflect 
 upon what they have to encounter, what tempta- 
 tions to overcome, what prejudices to lay aside, that 
 they have not had a religious education, and even 
 now have no books to direct them ; I do not much 
 wonder at their giving us pain at times. By de- 
 grees, as knowledge increases, I hope all these evils 
 will be much lessened." 
 
 17. Moorshedebad. This station was formed by 
 Mr Bicketts in 1816 ; but sickness compelled him 
 to relinquish it two years after, just as his progress 
 encouraged him to hope that he should soon collect 
 a congregation there. Mr Sutton entered into his 
 labours, and soon began to reap some fruit from 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 167 
 
 the seed he had sown. The hearers soon in- 
 creased from about forty to one hundred and fifty ; 
 he met witii great encouragement also in the esta- 
 blishment of schools. His native assistants, Kureem 
 and Bhoondgur, diligently preached the Gospel in 
 the streets and bazaars, and wherever they could 
 gain access. On one occasion, preaching near the 
 palace of the Nabob, some of his servants com- 
 plained to their sovereign that these men wished 
 to destroy their caste ! The Nabob replied that 
 they were mistaken ; their object was to instruct 
 them in the pure worship of God. Hence, it would 
 appear, that a conviction of the excellence of their 
 design sometimes prevailed even among those who, 
 like this Nabob, had never heard the voice of a 
 missionary. 
 
 Mr Sutton gave an emphatic description of the 
 inveteracy of the Hindoos' prejudices, and of the 
 power of that superstition which chained them 
 down in misery and guilt. " Idolatry/' he said, 
 " appears to rust the springs of human intellect, 
 and destroy its energy. Nothing is more common 
 than to hear the Hindoo say, that there is no occa- 
 sion for him to think about salvation, his gooroo 
 (teacher) will do that for him. If we speak to the 
 gooroo, he will answer, there is no occasion for him 
 to think ; the charms he gives his disciples he has 
 received from his fathers, and they from their gods. 
 Thus the blind lead the blind, and if God does not 
 infuse a spirit of inquiry amongst them, both must 
 perish. The description of Isaiah may justly be ap- 
 plied to a Hindoo, * He feedeth on ashes : a deceived 
 heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver 
 his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right 
 hand ?' ' Tsa. xliv. 20. 
 
 Mr Sutton' s labours varied with the calls of 
 those around him. Amongst other natives, some 
 Mahomedans visited him, and their apparent 
 
168 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, anxiety for instruction gave him hopes that they 
 IV ' were sincere. Though he saw little immediate 
 fruit from his exertions,, yet his zeal dM not relax 
 on that account. He undertook several journeys 
 to a considerable distance from Moorshedebad ; 
 and while at home he embraced every opportunity 
 to bear testimony for God in the streets and markets 
 of that populous city. Besides his missionary 
 duties, he attended regularly at Berhampore, an Eu- 
 ropean station ten miles off,, where his services 
 were very acceptable, and not without profit. 
 Wherever he went he distributed large quantities 
 of tracts ; and in 1821 his schools contained about 
 two hundred children. 
 
 But he was suddenly interrupted in this promis- 
 ing career. In 1822, sickness obliged him to retire 
 for a season ; and in the same year he was deprived 
 of his head assistant, Kureem, who died at Seram- 
 pore. The account of this native Christian's last 
 illness, given by Mr Ward, shewed that he had not 
 received " the grace of God in vain." He was 
 happy, declared that Christ was his only hope, and 
 that his sole wish was for heaven. He departed 
 in peace on a Sabbath morning, to enjoy a better 
 Sabbath above. 
 
 In a few months Mr Sutton was able to resume 
 his duties, and he gave pleasing accounts of the 
 success of his ministry at Berhampore, and his per- 
 severing efforts to impress Divine truth upon the 
 minds of the heathen ; but the hopes raised by 
 these communications were soon clouded by tidings 
 of an alarming relapse, which compelled him to 
 embark for Europe, as his only hope of recovery. 
 He left Moorshedebad in 1823, and the Society 
 had not been able, at the close of the decade, to 
 send another missionary to occupy his place. 
 
 18. MonghijY. Mr Chamberlain still maintained 
 his post here, notwithstanding repeated attacks of 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 169 
 
 sickness. His two assistants were of special ser- 
 vice to him, when obliged to suspend his labours. 
 An extract from one of his letters will convey an 
 idea of his work, and of the zest with which he 
 returned to it on the recovery of his health. In 
 1820, after describing his translation of the Scrip- 
 tures as that part of the work which afforded him 
 peculiar satisfaction, he added, " I am engaged 
 four times a- week in our European congregation, 
 and seven or eight times in the native language 
 among the native brethren, servants, and others. 
 In a bazaar I have been able to preach to the 
 people, who crowd to hear, a few times ; but I 
 must take prudential care now, as a little overdoing 
 might undo me altogether." 
 
 19. One of his assistants was a Brahmin, named Conver- 
 Hingham Misser, who, on embracing Christianity, Jeathofa 
 was renounced by all his family. In 1820, his Brahmin, 
 wife and one of his sons returned to him, the rest 
 
 of the children choosing rather to be orphans than 
 to associate with Christians. To this they were 
 urged by the enemies of the gospel, who were en- 
 raged at their mother's return to her husband. 
 Hingham was removed by death, after four years 
 of useful service, when most honourable testimony 
 was borne to his moral and religious character, as 
 well as to his diligence. 
 
 20. Another remarkable conversion at Monghyr Also of a 
 is worthy of record here. The man's name was devotee. 
 Brindabund. He first heard the gospel at a large 
 
 fair, where he was observed to pay great attention 
 the whole day ; sometimes to laugh, and at others 
 to weep. At night he came to Mr Chamberlain, 
 and said, in allusion to the custom of presenting 
 flowers, " I have a flower (meaning his heart) 
 which I wish to give to some one who is worthy 
 of it. I have for many years travelled about the 
 country to find such a person, but in vain. I have 
 
170 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, been to Juggernaut, but there I saw only a piece 
 of wood : THAT was not worthy of it ; but, to-day, 
 I have found One that is, and He shall have it : 
 Jesus Christ is worthy of my flower ! " 
 
 He had been for many years a religious mendi- 
 cant. His hair had been suffered to grow so as 
 almost to conceal his eyes ; but he now cut it off, 
 and shaved his beard ; and, in short, from being 
 an idle devotee, became an industrious old man ; 
 for he was then, it was supposed, about seventy- 
 five years of age. He now preached the gospel to 
 his idolatrous countrymen, and the last five years 
 of his life were spent in entire devotedness to God. 
 When able to leave his house, which was at Mon- 
 ghyr, he was engaged from morning till night in 
 reading the Scriptures, and talking to the people. 
 He loved the Saviour : His cause lay near his 
 heart. Often, when so weak as in appearance 
 to be scarcely able to stir, he would not stay at 
 home, and when recommended to do so, he would 
 reply, " Oh ! what do I live for ?" While able, 
 he took considerable journeys, walking sometimes 
 from twenty to thirty miles a-day ; and after 
 taking some refreshment, would converse with 
 his companions in a lively and edifying manner 
 till midnight. His spirituality of mind indeed was 
 great. 
 
 He suffered much during the last few weeks of 
 his life, but was always happy, longing to depart 
 and to be with Christ. When asked, the day be- 
 fore he died, if he would take any thing, he said, 
 " No ;" and putting his hand on a part of the Scrip- 
 tures which lay near him, said, " This is my meat, 
 and drink, and medicine." The neighbours, as was 
 their custom, came round him ; he got up and sat 
 at his door, where he repeated from memory, for 
 he was mighty in the Scriptures, some portions of 
 the word of God, and prayed, though he was then 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 171 
 
 able to utter only a few words at a time. The next 
 day he entered into the joy of his Lord. 
 
 21. Mr Chamberlain was so much affected at the Death of 
 death of Brindabund, that it is supposed to have 
 accelerated the termination of his own life. At 
 the grave of this convert he addressed those present 
 in Hindostanee ; and in the evening preached a 
 funeral sermon in English., from John xi. 11, " Our 
 friend Lazarus sleepeth." At the close of the ser- 
 vice he administered the Lord's Supper. All the 
 week after he continued to grow worse. The next 
 Sabbath he made another attempt to preach, and 
 this was the closing scene of his public labours. 
 He was now reduced so low, that a sea-voyage was 
 deemed the only expedient that promised a hope 
 of rallying. In consenting to try it, he gave an- 
 other proof of the disinterested spirit which he had 
 uniformly shewn throughout his missionary career. 
 Though in a state requiring the watchful atten- 
 tion of a tender nurse, yet he would not allow his 
 wife to accompany him, knowing how useful she 
 was to the mission, which he was leaving without 
 any other human guide. We hardly know whether 
 the more to admire this self-denial in the hus- 
 band or the wife. Both have left an edifying ex- 
 ample of the sacrifice of the tenderest personal feel- 
 ing in the service of their Master. 
 
 He embarked in November 1821 without any of 
 his friends, and was confined to his cabin, where 
 he languished about three weeks, and then expired. 
 On the morning of the 6th of December, he was 
 found dead in his bed by the young man who at- 
 tended him. In this solitude on the mighty deep 
 ended the days of one of whom it has been justly 
 said, that for nearly twenty years he made full 
 proof of his ministry in India. He was eminent 
 for decision of character, for an inflexible adherence 
 to truth and for such an ardent attachment to the 
 
172 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, missionary work as led him often to exert himself 
 IV ' beyond what his frame could well sustain. As a 
 preacher to the natives, he was most impressive ; 
 and his translation of the New Testament into the 
 Brij Basha dialect, which was printed at Serampore 
 after his death, was said to exhibit ample proof of 
 his high proficiency as an Oriental scholar. In the 
 different stations which he successively occupied, 
 not a few appeared to have derived eternal benefit 
 from his instructions. 1 
 
 MrsCham- 22. After the departure' of her husband, Mrs 
 charge of Chamberlain remained at Monghyr, where she 
 the sta- afforded an edifying instance of the benefit which 
 may result from the exertions of a Christian woman, 
 whose heart is devoted to the cause of Christ. 
 Under her direction, the three native itinerants 
 persevered in their labours. The services of the 
 mission chapel and the superintendence of its six 
 schools proceeded with regularity ; three Hindoo 
 women, who ascribed their serious impressions to 
 Mr Chamberlain's ministry, proposed themselves 
 for baptism ; and on the whole the prospect of the 
 station was such as to induce the Society to take 
 immediate measures to provide it with another mis- 
 sionary. 
 
 Arrival of 23. Accordingly, one, a Mr Leslie, was set apart 
 
 ^mission- f or Monghyr. He sailed soon after his appoint- 
 
 mising ment, and arrived in 1824. He found the state of 
 
 meniTof ce " ^ e church and schools highly encouraging ; and 
 
 his la- having studied Hindostanee on the voyage, he was 
 
 enabled to begin addressing the natives about six 
 
 months after his arrival. Such, in a word, were 
 
 the hopeful appearances presented to him, that at 
 
 the close of the year he remarked, " Religion ap- 
 
 1 See a Memoir of Mr Chamberlain by Mr Yates. Also the 
 tribute to his memory in the Baptist Society's Report for 1822. 
 The Missionary Records, 154-157. 
 
IN INDIA: BOOK xin. 173 
 
 pears to be spreading among the natives in a way 
 that both astonishes and delights us." 
 
 The favourable anticipations hereby awakened 
 were soon, in a measure, realised. In the follow- 
 ing year nine members were added to the congre- 
 gation,, some of whom formed striking instances of 
 the power of Divine grace in renewing those who 
 seemed the least likely to yield to its influence. 
 There were thirteen schools now in operation, the 
 number having been increased at the request of 
 Mahomedan parents, who at last consented to allow 
 their children to read those Christian books, the 
 use of which heretofore was an effectual bar to their 
 entering the schools. An alteration equally favour- 
 able took place in the general conduct of the native 
 population. The readers who itinerated among 
 them were heard with serious attention, instead of 
 the vulgar abuse which they had formerly received. 
 The congregation was increased, at the close of 
 1826, to thirty-five members, but it is not stated 
 what proportion of this number were natives. The 
 schools continued to prosper ; and there was reason 
 to hope that, under the Divine blessing, the mission 
 work at Monghyr, and in its neighbourhood, w r ould 
 still grow and prevail. 
 
 24. Digdh. Messrs Moore and Rowe continued Remark- 
 to occupy this post, and to labour with acceptance versions "at 
 among the troops at Dinapore. In 1819, they pro- 
 cured the discharge from the army of a religious 
 yo^ng man, named Stewart, who assisted Mr Rowe 
 in his school, and made such progress in Hindos- 
 tanee as to encourage the hope of his becoming a 
 useful labourer among the heathen of this province. 
 But in the following year God was pleased to nip 
 this hope in the bud by removing him to his rest. 
 The two native assistants met with little success 
 among their countrymen ; though the testimony 
 borne to the truth of the Gospel by several who 
 
174 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, died before they were baptized, shewed that the 
 IV> labour bestowed upon the heathen was not lost. 
 Several inquirers excited attention, and Mr Rowe 
 mentions one, in the service of a native rajah resid- 
 ing in a bungalow belonging to the Society, who 
 read the Hindostanee Testament, and acknowledged 
 that every line carried conviction home to his heart. 
 At another time he said, " I have read the Shasters 
 and the Koran, they contain a great deal of unrea- 
 sonable stuff ; but," putting his hand on the New 
 Testament, he emphatically exclaimed, " This is 
 truth ! " This man was accustomed to collect four 
 or five others around him, and read the Gospel to 
 them. At first he met with much ridicule, and 
 afterwards persecution from the Brahmins and 
 others in the rajah's service, which he endured with 
 so much patience, that the missionaries were in- 
 duced to think that his mind had undergone the 
 change which he avowed. The rajah having quitted 
 Digah, this man was separated from his instructor. 
 He, however, took his Testament with him, though 
 his enemies declared that he should never see his 
 relations unless he renounced his new sentiments, 
 or promised that he would never make them known. 
 " Thus," said Mr Rowe, " the Gospel may make its 
 way into the hearts of some, where they have no 
 living preacher." 
 
 The missionary mentions a yet more interesting 
 case of an individual who died at this station in 
 1822. His name was Ram Kisoon, from the city 
 of Lucknow, where for years he had been endea- 
 vouring to impart to his countrymen the truths he 
 had learned on a previous visit to Digah. Re- 
 moving at length to this place, he proposed himself 
 as a candidate for baptism ; but previous to its 
 administration he was attacked by cholera morbus, 
 which carried him off in a few hours. His dying 
 prayer was this : " Lord, I am a great sinner. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 175 
 
 Save me from wrath. Thou art gracious, thou art 
 able. None but thee, Lord Jesus Christ. Save 
 me from destruction. Save me from the power of 
 sin and Satan." Seeing his wife and some of his 
 children weeping, he said to them, "Forbear to 
 weep, for I am going to my Lord and Saviour ;" 
 and shortly after he expired. May we not say of 
 such a one, though unbaptized, "Is not this a 
 brand plucked out of the fire ?" (Zech. iii. 2.) 
 
 25. Not long after this, Mr Rowe baptized five ^ a mi ?" 
 converts ; but while the prospect was thus bright- death 8 
 ening before him, he was called to rest. He died 
 in October 1823, after nearly twenty years of active 
 service in India. As Mr Moore had previously left 
 Digah, the care of the station devolved on Mrs 
 Eowe, who had been eminently useful in the school 
 department, and was very competent to counsel 
 and direct the native teachers. The schools 
 flourished under her care, and were soon increased 
 to seven, containing one hundred and sixty-four 
 boys, and one hundred and twenty girls. In her 
 female orphan asylum she had two teachers who 
 had been baptized by her husband. Speaking of 
 these two women, she gave the following proof of 
 the effect of Christian education, in raising the In- 
 dian female from her state of depression and ser- 
 vitude : 
 
 " These women appear to great advantage, con- 
 trasted with those who have never attempted to 
 gain instruction. I was much struck with this 
 circumstance while observing the difference between 
 the situation of one of these schoolmistresses and 
 that of one of the neighbours. She appears in her 
 house with all the independence of an European 
 woman, while her neighbour is kept in the greatest 
 degree of servile subjection. The husband of the 
 latter considers himself so immaculate, that if his 
 own wife were to touch the food he was about to 
 
176 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. eat. it would be rendered unfit for his use ; and 
 
 TV 
 
 '_ she is so deplorably ignorant as to think this, in 
 
 reality, the case." 
 
 A noth al r f ^' ^ U8 > ^ke Mrs Chamberlain at Monghyr, 
 mission^ did this devout widow continue to perform the post 
 ar y* of a missionary till the year 1826,, when the cir- 
 
 cumstances of her fatherless children, and her own 
 declining health, induced her to return to England ; 
 she did not, however, quit her post before a mis- 
 sionary had arrived to take her place. Mr Burton, 
 the missionary at Sebolga in Sumatra, being obliged 
 to quit that island in 1825, repaired to Calcutta, 
 and soon after proceeded to relieve Mrs Howe of 
 the charge of the mission at Digah. He found the 
 schools in a satisfactory state, but the native con- 
 gregation was reduced very low, by the departure 
 of several members to other places. The two 
 itinerants were constantly engaged among their 
 countrymen, at fairs and other places of public re- 
 sort, besides regularly preaching at six places, 
 including Patna, every Lord's day. Mr Burton 
 found, however, that they were too defective in 
 judgment to be left alone. While acquiring the 
 language, he preached to the troops at Dinapore, 
 and superintended the schools ; but he was soon 
 deprived of the help of his indefatigable wife, who 
 was taken from him after a short illness in April 
 1826. The female schools were now unavoidably 
 discontinued ; but these trials seem only to have 
 increased the missionary's diligence, arid both the 
 native congregation and the boys' schools soon began 
 to assume a more promising aspect under his care. 
 Labours 27. Midnapore, a town in the province of Orissa 
 province ^^ ca P^al ? the province of Midnapore. This is 
 ot Orissa. a town of considerable population, through which 
 multitudes of pilgrims pass on their way to the 
 temple of Juggernaut. In 1819 Mr D'Cruz, from 
 Calcutta, was stationed here, with a good prospect 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. . 177 
 
 of usefulness. He did not confine himself to this 
 spot, but visited various parts of the province of 
 Orissa, preaching and distributing books wherever 
 he went. In 1818 he discovered a village between 
 Serampore and Midnapore, the inhabitants of which 
 had formerly been proselyted to the Christian reli- 
 gion by a Romish priest, but, having never seen the 
 Scriptures, they were nearly as ignorant as their 
 heathen neighbours. They had merely thrown off 
 caste, and substituted the worship of the Virgin 
 Mary and the saints for that of Doorga, and the 
 other Hindoo deities. These poor men received the 
 word with gladness, and after Mr D'Cruz's de- 
 parture, sent a messenger to Serampore to request 
 that a place of worship might be erected in their 
 village. 
 
 In 1822 Mr D'Cruz baptized four persons at Mid- 
 napore ; and many others were induced to ask him 
 about the way of salvation. In the following year 
 he baptized nine, of whom six were Hindoos, one 
 Mahomedan, and two Romanists. But as these 
 were all, in the course of providence, removed from 
 that neighbourhood, and he began to experience 
 many discouragements, he removed to another sta- 
 tion. 
 
 28. Agimere. In 1819, Mr Jabez Carey being Schools at 
 obliged to quit Amboyna, returned to Calcutta, and A s imere - 
 proceeded shortly after to Agimere, the capital of 
 the province of that name, which had lately been 
 added to the British territory. It was about one 
 thousand and thirty miles from Calcutta. In his 
 attempts to establish schools, he feared that he 
 should have to contend with strong objections and 
 inveterate superstition, without any one on the spot 
 to countenance and support him. Accordingly, his 
 earlier accounts of the inhabitants were discourag- 
 ing ; but subsequently he gave a more favourable 
 report of his prospects among them, differing 
 
 VOL. v. M 
 
178 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 materially from his first impression. " The Hin- 
 doos here," he wrote,, " are very different from 
 those in Bengal, and have fewer prejudices. They 
 care very little about their idols. Some begin to 
 doubt of the truth of their own religion, and to 
 have a better opinion of ours. Of the burning of 
 widows, an instance is scarcely known to take 
 place once in twenty years. I shall in future travel 
 with more comfort and ease, as I have made sure 
 of a house in every village which I visit. I can- 
 not tell you how much gratified I am at the wil- 
 lingness of the natives to assist me in every thing. 
 They begin to lose their prejudices, and to become 
 warm friends to the schools." 
 
 On the establishment of these schools, the 
 Governor-General, the Marquis of Hastings, granted 
 six thousand rupees towards the expense of organis- 
 ing them, and to meet the expenses of Mr Carey's 
 journey to this remote station : and on fin ding that 
 he had expended four thousand rupees above this 
 amount, his lordship ordered that sum to be re- 
 funded to him, and granted three hundred rupees 
 monthly toward the support of the schools, with a 
 view to their being augmented. 
 
 In 1823 there were seven schools in Agimere 
 and other places, containing two hundred and sixty- 
 one scholars ; and in the following year, he re- 
 ported a small increase. Several of the pupils 
 could read well, and many had left the schools 
 with an education suited to their circumstances, 
 while others had readily presented themselves to 
 fill up their places. This is the last report received 
 from Mr Carey in the present decade. 
 
 Several stations occupied for a short time it was 
 found desirable during this decade to relinquish 
 for the present. These were, Silhet, Guyah, Fur- 
 ruckabad, Jungipore, Soojunpore, and Surat. The 
 services of the missionaries and native assistants 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 179 
 
 were transferred to places where there was better 
 promise of success. A similar report is to be made 
 of the eastern islands,, where little had been accom- 
 plished, except in the work of translation,, and the 
 Society's missionaries at the present date were all 
 removed. 
 
 29. Ceylon is not included in this unfavourable ^ Ss 1 i o n n in 
 report. Mr Chater continued to occupy the station ey 
 at Coluinbo ; Mr Siers was at Hanwell, a village 
 about twenty miles from Coluinbo, on the road to 
 Kandy ; and in 1818 a third missionary, Mr Grif- 
 fiths, arrived from England, and was stationed at 
 Point de Galle. But his health rapidly declining, 
 he returned to Europe in 1819, and his place was 
 not supplied during the remainder of this decade. 
 
 At Columbo Mr Chater persevered under many 
 trials of his faith. In 1820, when his prospects 
 seemed to brighten, it pleased God to deprive him 
 of his wife, who died at St Helena, on the voyage 
 homeward, leaving a numerous family. On receiv- 
 ing these mournful tidings, the father's heart natu- 
 rally yearned towards his nine children, now in 
 England, and his first thought was to join them, in 
 order to make arrangements for their future provi- 
 sion. But hearing that the Lord had raised up 
 friends to watch over them, he remained at his 
 post, where the work was growing on his hands. 
 At Columbo and in the neighbourhood he had three 
 places of worship under his care, where the Gospel 
 was preached in English, Cingalese, and Portuguese. 
 In 1822 his schools had increased to seven, con- 
 taining two hundred and forty pupils. No restric- 
 tions were imposed by the parents on the kind of 
 instruction to be given, and the sacred Scriptures 
 were as constantly taught in them as in Christian 
 schools. Though the number of scholars fluctuated, 
 from sickness and other causes, yet these schools 
 were a great benefit to the neighbourhood. 
 
180 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Hitherto the converts were very few. In 1824 
 the missionary speaks of eight persons as forming 
 his little flock, but it does not appear whether they 
 were natives or Europeans. In 1826 he reports 
 a considerable increase in their number, but again 
 without describing to what class they belonged. 
 Natives were employed to read the Scriptures to 
 their countrymen, which began to awaken their 
 attention . 
 
 At Han well 1 a native congregation was formed, 
 under the teaching of Mr Siers, with tw r o native 
 assistants. In 1820 he baptized three natives, and 
 erected, in the following year, a small place of 
 worship. He had, besides, two schools ; and though 
 he saw the Gospel make slow progress, yet appear- 
 ances were sufficiently promising to encourage him 
 to persevere. In 1826 several additions were made 
 to this flock ; and, among the converts, there was 
 a youth, named Carolis, who became a useful assis- 
 tant in the mission, A circumstance occurred about 
 this time, at a village called Ooggalla, nearer 
 Columbo, which shewed that the benefit of Mr 
 Sier's instructions was not confined to the spot 
 where he resided. The Mohandiram, the native 
 headman of the place, one of whose sons had been 
 baptized at Han well, was himself, together with 
 his wife and another son, induced to embrace the 
 Gospel. When baptized, he publicly assigned in- 
 telligent and scriptural reasons for renouncing the 
 errors in which he had been brought up. The sub- 
 sequent conduct of this family well accorded with 
 their Christian profession ; and their conversion 
 awakened considerable interest in the neighbour- 
 hoodmany inhabitants now beginning to inquire 
 what these things meant. This year Mr Siers 
 
 1 Sometimes spelt Hangwell. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 181 
 
 removed from Hanwell, his services being required 
 at Columbo ; but he left Carolis in charge of that 
 post., Mr Chater paying it an occasional visit. 
 
 30. Serampore 2 The senior missionaries., Messrs ^^5^" 
 Carey, Marshman, and Ward, were still diligently college at 
 occupied in their respective departments, and sup- Se m - 
 plying the means of active exertion at the distant 
 stations. At an early period of the present decade 
 they undertook a great work, the establishment of 
 a native college at Serampore. Their primary 
 object was to train up a native Christian ministry. 
 Of the numerous itinerants already employed, very 
 few were properly qualified for their important 
 duties. It was proposed, therefore, to select the 
 most pious and able youths in their schools, and 
 give them an education that should prepare them, 
 with God's help, to cope alike with the subtilty of 
 the Brahmin, and the blind superstition of the 
 vulgar. To those already employed in preaching, 
 who resided at convenient distances, opportunity 
 was to be given to extend their biblical and other 
 knowledge ; and it was expected that the establish- 
 ment would eminently conduce to the gradual im- 
 provement of the Oriental translations of Scripture, 
 by means of some of the young men whom they 
 should educate for the ministry. The missionaries 
 proposed to educate a second class of Christian 
 youths for the public service and other employ- 
 ments. These were to be the sons of natives, 
 reduced to indigence by the loss of property and 
 caste upon their embracing the Gospel. When the 
 education of these children was completed, they 
 would be competent to fill respectable situations, 
 and so be placed in circumstances to contribute 
 towards their parents' support. 
 
 2 For fuller particulars of this station, and those connected 
 with it, see " Periodical Accounts of the Serampore Mission." 
 
182 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. It was proposed also to admit European and 
 IV> native pupils to the benefits of this seminary, pro- 
 vided they supported themselves, and became in 
 no way burdensome to the institution. The at- 
 tendance of heathen or Mahomedan students upon 
 the biblical and Christian lectures was to be optional, 
 as there was no intention to do violence to their 
 religious prejudices, The secular education here 
 afforded would expand their views, and tend to 
 improve their character ; and the happiest results 
 might be anticipated for India, from different situa- 
 tions of responsibility in the country being filled 
 by men who should be trained in this establishment 
 for the public service. To fill the various stations 
 in the native courts, there were required for Bengal 
 alone nearly a thousand persons. The importance 
 of these posts being occupied by men of education 
 and legal science must be too obvious to every 
 considerate mind to require further explanation. 
 
 The studies were to consist of English, Hebrew, 
 and Greek ; also Sanscrit, Arabic, Chinese, and 
 such other Oriental languages as might be found 
 desirable. Lectures were to be delivered on astro- 
 nomy and other branches of mathematics, medicine, 
 jurisprudence, ethics, and theology. In a country 
 where false and absurd notions of these sciences 
 prevail, and the most extravagant theories are in- 
 corporated with the religion of the people, the 
 importance of inculcating right views on the various 
 branches of knowledge comprised in this scheme 
 cannot be too highly appreciated. 
 
 The plan 1 of this seminary receiving the sanction 
 and patronage of the Governor- General of India, 
 
 1 The fourth plan of this college submitted to the public was 
 published in the Appendix to the Baptist Missionary Society's 
 Report for 1819, pp. 54, &c. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 183 
 
 and the Governor of Serampore, and the public 
 having contributed largely towards its establish- 
 ment, a suitable spot of ground was purchased for 
 the erection of the college buildings, on the banks 
 of the river Hoogly, exactly opposite the Governor- 
 General's villa. Additions were subsequently made 
 to the first purchase ; and in a short time the 
 premises were increased to more than thirty begas, 
 or about ten English acres, forming nearly a square. 
 This unexpected accession of ground enabled the 
 missionaries considerably to enlarge the original 
 plan of the college . Accordingly they determined 
 to complete the buildings on a scale adapted to 
 accommodate nearly four hundred students . There 
 were also a chapel, library, rooms for the museum 
 for philosophical apparatus, and the accommodation 
 of the various classes ; commodious habitations for 
 four European professors ; a spacious hall for the 
 annual examinations, and every other erection 
 which such an establishment required . These build- 
 ings were expected to cost not less than ten thou- 
 sand pounds sterling ; and the Serampore brethren 
 made themselves responsible for the whole expense 
 of the erection. The Baptist Society, however, 
 and the munificence of the British public in India, 
 materially relieved them of this burden . 
 
 On forming their plan, the committee 2 appointed 
 to direct its execution addressed his Danish Ma- 
 jesty, entreating permission to erect the college in 
 his Majesty's settlement of Fredericksnagore. The 
 King not only granted them permission to estab- 
 lish the institution, and to conduct it indepen- 
 dently of the constituted authorities at Serampore, 
 
 | The Committee consisted of the Hon. Colonel Kreetirig, 
 Governor of Serampore, Drs Carey and Marshman, and Messrs 
 W. Ward and J. C. Marshman. 
 
184 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, but also presented to the three senior missionaries 
 
 IV> the royal building and premises to the north-west 
 
 of the missionary premises, containing more than 
 
 three acres, the rent of which was to be applied to 
 
 the support of the college. 
 
 Com- 31. While the buildings were in progress, a com- 
 
 ment 6 of mencement was made in the instruction of youth, 
 the stu- the students on the foundation being lodged in the 
 neighbourhood. In 1819, there were thirty-seven 
 scholars ; and at a public examination, conducted 
 by Dr Carey, their proficiency was found to be very 
 satisfactory. Among the spectators about thirty 
 learned Hindoos, mostly Brahmins, from all parts 
 of the country, and speaking different languages, 
 were seen standing round the examiner an inte- 
 resting spectacle, at the first examination of a 
 seminary designed for the diffusion of light and 
 happiness throughout the continent of India. In 
 the next report, the number of pupils was increased 
 to forty- five, of whom the greater part belonged 
 to native Christian families. They were frequently 
 examined, and received prizes according to their 
 proficiency. 
 
 The superiority of their plan of instruction was 
 soon apparent to all who watched the progress of 
 the students. In the study of Sanscrit, for ex- 
 ample, they acquired this language in about half 
 the time generally devoted by native youth to this 
 preliminary branch of Indian philology. One 
 cause of this improvement was the great redemp- 
 tion of time which was obtained, by disregarding 
 all those notions relative to certain days and sea- 
 sons being ominous to study, which rob the natives 
 of nearly one-third of the year. The advantage of 
 thus shortening the period devoted to this intro- 
 ductory course, is sufficiently obvious. As the 
 institution advanced, the proficiency in other 
 branches of education was equally satisfactory. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 185 
 
 An establisment of this magnitude, in a land of 
 ignorance, prejudice, and juvenile superstition, was 
 an exotic in an ungenial clime, and could not be 
 expected to advance forthwith to maturity. Effi- 
 cient instructors were to be brought from Europe. 
 In 1821, Mr John Mack went from England to 
 undertake the duties of the scientific department. 
 He took out with him an astronomical clock, and 
 other instruments requisite for an observatory. A 
 classical professor was obtained from the mission- 
 ary institution at Basle, Mr John Godfrey Al- 
 brecht ; but he died three months after his arrival, 
 and by this melancholy event the missionaries were 
 deprived of a coadjutor of much promise. Shortly 
 after, a Mr Swan, from the University of Edin- 
 burgh, went out as theological professor ; and a 
 Mr Williamson became the English teacher. This 
 gentleman was a native of Scotland, who went out 
 to India in the medical profession ; but having 
 there learned the value of the gospel for himself, 
 he relinquished all other pursuits to engage in 
 making it known to others. As a teacher of Eng- 
 lish, and in his own profession, he proved a valu- 
 able acquisition to the college. Professors of the 
 native languages and laws were procured with- 
 out difficulty. But, notwithstanding the aid 
 afforded them by these instructors, the mission- 
 aries continued to devote a great portion of their 
 time to the college, and their personal superin- 
 tendence contributed materially to promote its 
 efficiency. 
 
 The progress of the students was communicated 
 to the public in the Eeports of their periodical 
 examinations. Their number at the close of the 
 decade was about fifty, of whom eight were Brah- 
 mins, one Mahomedan, and the remainder chiefly 
 Christians. Their general proficiency was such as 
 to prove already the advantage of the institution. 
 
186 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. For example, it was stated in the Sixth Report, 
 IV ' that the head student had made great progress in 
 Sanscrit ; and that the next five had evinced such 
 an acquaintance with Sanscrit grammar,, during a 
 long and close scrutiny, as would have done honour 
 to the pundits themselves. 
 
 Chartered 32. In the year 1826, Dr Marshman, having 
 Kin^of proceeded to England, visited Copenhagen, for the 
 Denmark purpose of obtaining from the Danish Government 
 a royal charter of incorporation for the college, and 
 satisfactorily accomplished his object. By this 
 privilege, the college possessed the power of confer- 
 ring literary and honorary degrees, and the pro- 
 perty was immutably secured for the objects con- 
 templated in its establishment. 
 
 Progress 33. But the other departments of this mission 
 were not neglected for the sake of the college^ im- 
 portant as its business was justly considered. The 
 general work of education still went on, under the 
 superintendence of Dr Marshman's eldest son, 
 Mr John Marshman. The numerous schools de- 
 scribed in the last decade now contained about ten 
 thousand children. In the year 1820, the breth- 
 ren deemed it advisable to make some alterations 
 in their plan, and to aim rather at increasing the 
 efficiency of the schools existing among the natives, 
 than at multiplying their number. 
 
 Female education also was steadily advancing. 
 In Serampore and its neighbourhood there were 
 twelve schools, containing about three hundred 
 girls, who were all instructed in Christianity, by 
 reading books in which its doctrines and precepts 
 were explained. The Christian girls read the 
 Scriptures also, and learned several catechisms and 
 hymns, besides being instructed orally in the prin- 
 ciples of religion. As with the boys' schools, so 
 with these, the brethren did not contemplate open- 
 ing any new schools for the present, owing to the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 187 
 
 difficulty of superintending more. These twelve 
 were scattered through all the accessible parts in 
 the neighbourhood of Serampore ; and it was in- 
 tended, as much as possible, to increase the num- 
 bers in each school, and to make gradual but sure 
 advances in the system of instruction. 1 
 
 34. While proceeding with their extensive and Estabiish- 
 diversified labours, the brethren endeavoured to {^/f^ 
 promote the temporal welfare of those around stitutions. 
 them, hoping to prove thereby that " godliness is 
 profitable unto all things, having promise of the 
 
 life that now is," as well as " of that which is to 
 come," (1 Tim. iv. 8). With a view to counteract 
 the spirit of thoughtless improvidence, so general 
 in their neighbourhood, they established a Savings 
 Bank at Serampore, on a plan which received uni- 
 versal approbation. Not long after, Dr Carey in- 
 stituted an Agricultural and Horticultural Society, 
 of which the Governor- General accepted the pa- 
 tronage. Several of the most opulent natives 
 joined it ; and Dr Carey expressed the hope that 
 it would ultimately be of great benefit to the coun- 
 try, and contribute to prepare its inhabitants for 
 the time when " they shall beat their swords into 
 plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks," 
 (Isa. ii. 4). 2 
 
 35. But while thus engaged in devising new A Pastoral 
 modes of doing good, they attended with equal 
 diligence to those more spiritual labours which 
 
 -* ^ 
 
 constitute the peculiar and noblest employment of 
 
 1 An interesting Article, " On Female Education in India," 
 was published in The Friend of India, No. V., May 1822. 
 The Friend of India is a periodical Keview, published at Se- 
 rampore. A newspaper has since been published at Serampore 
 bearing the same title. 
 
 2 Dr Carey's Prospectus of this Society may be seen in the fie- 
 port of the Baptist Missionary Society for 1821, A pp. No. II. 
 
 tions. 
 
188 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Instances 
 of conver- 
 sion. 
 
 Satisfac- 
 
 verts. 
 
 the Christian missionary. In January 1820, they 
 addressed a " Pastoral Letter " " to the Churches 
 of Christ which " had " been raised up amidst the 
 heathen in India." This affectionate Address con- 
 tains much valuable instruction, and is said to 
 have been the means of diffusing a spirit of Chris- 
 tian zeal among all the members of their congrega- 
 tion. Under the influence of this impression, an 
 Auxiliary Missionary Society was formed, for the 
 purpose of spreading the gospel more widely around 
 them ; and five young men offered themselves, 
 gratuitously, to engage in these useful labours. 2 
 
 36. Among the converts about this time, men- 
 tion is made of a Hindoo ascetic, who had main- 
 tained a vow of silence for four years y living among 
 the wild beasts in the Sunderbunds. His atten- 
 tion was first arrested by the perusal of a Bengalee 
 tract ; and he was led on by the instruction re- 
 ceived from the brethren, until they thought him 
 ready for baptism. They mention also, in the 
 same report, the conversion of the door-keeper of 
 their new college ; also a pundit of the Mug na- 
 tion, whose simple account of the manner in which 
 Divine truth entered his mind was particularly 
 pleasing. The increase of native Christians was 
 now becoming more rapid than at any former 
 period of the mission, and the whole face of so- 
 ciety, European as well as native, was assuming 
 an improved aspect. 
 
 37, In the year 1822, several of the native Chris- 
 tians were removed, and among them the venerable 
 Krishnoo, who, for more than twenty years, had 
 been engaged in shewing to his countrymen the 
 
 1 Report of the Baptist Missionary Society for 1821, App. 
 No. I. 
 
 2 Ibid., No. III. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 189 
 
 way of salvation. It is satisfactory to know, that 
 in the solemn hour of dissolution, these disciples of 
 the Lord Jesus evinced that composure and tran- 
 quil reliance upon a crucified Saviour, which are the 
 genuine fruits of evangelical principle. A mission- 
 ary wrote " I myself witnessed the last moments 
 of Krishnoo, and heard his aged and quivering lips 
 speak of the preciousness of Christ. In this we 
 cannot but admire the Divine goodness, and consi- 
 der the strong consolation and heavenly maturity 
 which this first Hindoo disciple attained, as an ear- 
 nest of what God will do for India." The brief 
 notices repeatedly published 3 of other natives also, 
 male and female, who died at this station, exhi- 
 bited the genuine influence of the Gospel of Christ, 
 and formed a refreshing contrast to the tales of 
 horror and of blood, which characterize the Brah- 
 minical superstition. 
 
 38. But while death was thus thinning the ranks Death of 
 of this little band of Christian soldiers, others were members 
 pressing forward to occupy the vacant places, and of . th . e 
 
 .i i ,1 i r/-^i TAT mission. 
 
 join themselves to the people of God. In the same 
 year, Mr Felix Carey, eldest son of Dr Carey, the 
 eldest daughter of Dr Marshman, and several 
 junior members of the mission families, were re- 
 moved to their rest. In the year 1 823, the brethren 
 were called to mourn over the loss of Mr Ward, 
 with whom for four and twenty years they had been 
 closely united in affection and toil. This was an 
 unexpected blow. At the beginning of the week 
 he attended a prayer meeting in Calcutta, when 
 every one who saw him remarked how well and 
 how cheerful he looked ; but before the week closed 
 
 3 In the Missionary Herald. An interesting account of 
 Krishna Pall, a native preacher at Serampore, given by himself, 
 in a letter to a friend in England, was published after his de- 
 cease, in the Appendix to the Society's Report for 1823. No. 1. 
 
190 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, he had finished his course, and entered into the 
 
 TT7" 
 
 joy of his Lord. His complaint was the cholera 
 morbus, which seized him on the 6th of March,, 
 and carried him off on the following day. The 
 disease was so violent and rapid that it incapaci- 
 tated him for conversation, so that he spoke but 
 little as death drew near. He had returned from 
 a visit to England not long before, having been 
 mercifully preserved in all his journeyings by land 
 and by sea ; and now he was taken away as in a 
 moment from the bosom of his family, a few hours 
 after he had been in the full enjoyment of health 
 and strength. How mysterious are the ways of 
 God ! Clouds and darkness are round about him : 
 "He holdeth back the face of his throne, and 
 spreadeth his cloud upon it," (Job xxvi. 9). But 
 his people must even then bow with silent and 
 adoring submission before him, acknowledging that 
 the Judge of all the earth doeth right. Great in- 
 deed was the shock ; and the event affected not 
 only the missionaries at Serampore, but all persons, 
 at home and abroad, who were watching with in- 
 terest the progress of Christianity in India, For 
 the name of William Ward, as a pious, humble, 
 and devoted missionary, had long been embalmed 
 in the hearts of Christians of all denominations, 
 and his loss was deeply and very generally deplored. 
 But this dispensation read an important lesson to 
 the Church of Christ. While the Lord appeared to 
 be preparing the minds of the heathen for a more 
 general reception of the Gospel, he removed one of. 
 his most effective agents in the work, to teach his 
 people to " cease from man, whose breath is in his 
 nostrils " (Isa. ii. 22) ; and to look only unto him 
 for the agency and the issue. 
 
 Mr Ward's 39. Though this stroke came suddenly as a 
 SoTfor" thunderbolt upon the missionaries, the Lord had 
 death. prepared his servant to depart. At the prayer 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 191 
 
 meeting which he attended at Calcutta on the 
 Monday before his death, he had used the follow- 
 ing expression, indicative of great humility, an 
 ardent desire for the salvation of the heathen, and 
 a mind ready, if such were God's will, to leave the 
 work to others : " Lord, if thou seest me unfit 
 for the carrying on of thy cause, and that it is in- 
 jured by my coldness and want of spirituality, oh 
 remove me, and put others more worthy in my 
 room ! But let thy kingdom come, and thy will 
 be done on earth, whoever be the instruments !" 
 He little knew when he uttered this prayer how 
 nearly his work was done. Yet that was no mat- 
 ter. Death found him with his lamp burning, his 
 loins girded, and he himself waiting the coming of 
 his Lord. And of such it is written " Blessed 
 are the dead which die in the Lord, from hence- 
 forth : yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from 
 their labours ; and their works do follow them," 
 (Rev. xiv. 13.) 
 
 40. Mr Ward was permitted to complete a course Summary 
 of more than twenty- three years in the service of ^^ 
 the mission ; and in his own, the printing depart- labours. 
 ment, he brought through the press twenty First 
 Versions of the New, and six of the Old Testament, 
 besides new editions of various former versions. 
 Several stations were founded and congregations 
 formed under his immediate superintendence ; and, 
 by the Lord's blessing on his instructions and ex- 
 ample, a spirit like his own was infused into the 
 ministering and itinerating brethren who laboured 
 at those stations. His literary exertions also were 
 of no secondary order. Besides assisting in the 
 translation of the Scriptures, and composing seve- 
 ral useful works, he compiled a work entitled, " A 
 View of the History, Literature, and Mythology of 
 the Hindoos," a work of great research, in four 
 volumes, and forming a durable testimony to the 
 
192 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 Accession 
 to the 
 mission 
 means of 
 usefulness. 
 
 writer's industry and ability. In a word,, he left 
 behind him such an example of holy diligence, of 
 disinterested activity, of humility and comprehen- 
 siveness of mind, as will rank him among the 
 richest benefactors of Hindoostan, and cause his 
 memory to yield a fragrant savour to the praise of 
 the Redeemer's grace, when India shall become the 
 inheritance of the Lord. 1 
 
 41. Though the death of Mr Ward was severely 
 felt, yet the general aspect of this mission was en- 
 couraging. Mr Williamson's accession about this 
 ^ me ^ anc [ ]^ s appointment in the college, has been 
 mentioned, A Mr Buckingham also joined the 
 mission about the same period. This young man 
 received his first religious instruction under Mr 
 Ward, and he now became a useful assistant in the 
 work. Several other additions are reported in the 
 same year, and the efforts used by the various 
 native preachers were more regular and extensive 
 than heretofore. Besides visiting the villages 
 around, three small chapels were lately erected in 
 the town of Serampore, Tracts were distributed 
 
 1 One of his colleagues, Dr Marshman, preached his funeral 
 sermon, and published with it a memoir of his departed friend. 
 In the memoir he thus describes Mr Ward's diligent improve- 
 ment of his time : " Of this we need no other proof than he 
 gave in his (recent) voyage to Europe and America, which occu- 
 pied only two years and nine months, from his leaving India to 
 his return thither. But, in this period, although he traversed 
 England and Scotland, and great part of America, preaching in' 
 nearly every town, and sometimes almost every day, he found 
 time to write his ' Reflections on the Word of God/ which was 
 brought through the press just before his death, to prepare for 
 the press a third edition of his ' View of the Hindoos/ and to 
 put to press his ' Farewell Letters' (alas ! truly such to most to 
 whom they are addressed) ; besides a variety of smaller works 
 intended to serve the cause of religion and humanity." Vide 
 Miss. Herald for August 1823, et seq. Also, Miss. Register for 
 April 1824. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK X11I. 193 
 
 to a great extent, no less than eight thousand 
 having been given away at one festival. Various 
 means were employed to promote the edification 
 and usefulness of the native converts at large. Once 
 a week they assembled for improvement in Scrip- 
 tural knowledge, when they were encouraged to 
 express their own sentiments on passages of the 
 sacred volume chosen by themselves, and the Com- 
 mentary of the Rev. Thomas Scott, which had been 
 translated for their use, was read to them in Ben- 
 galee. One proof of the good effect of these exer- 
 cises was the establishment of a Native Missionary 
 Society, managed almost entirely by themselves ; 
 which was followed by the publication of a small 
 monthly work in Bengalee, entitled, " The Increase 
 of Christ's Kingdom ;" and such was now the ex- 
 tent of the native Christian public in Bengal, that 
 the sale of this publication, though at a very low 
 price, nearly covered the expenses. 
 
 42. At the close of this decade, the native Chris- ***_ 
 tian population, nominally residing in the city of gregation 
 Serampore, amounted to one hundred and fifty j~^ vil _ ri 
 individuals. To provide for their edification, regu- 
 lar seasons of worship were appointed on the Lord's 
 day, and throughout the week. A native Chris- 
 tian village was established about this time, for the 
 purpose of promoting the general comfort of the 
 converts, and also facilitating the communication 
 of religious instruction to them. This village stood 
 a very short way from Serampore, on an open and 
 elevated spot of ground, and it consisted of thirteen 
 houses, with a small chapel in the centre. A native 
 teacher resided there, who conducted daily worship 
 in the chapel, and in other ways laboured to build 
 up the people under his charge in their " most holy 
 faith." One of the missionaries also occasionally of- 
 ficiated in this village, which was soon enlarged by 
 the removal thither of several families from the town. 
 
 VOL. v. N 
 
194 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 c HA p In the year 1825, the following stations, in con- 
 
 L_ nection with the Serampore mission, were placed 
 
 under the superintendence of the College. The 
 parent .Society in England, however, still contri- 
 buted liberally towards their support, and in a 
 short time was induced to resume the charge of 
 several of them, when found to press too heavily 
 upon the Serampore funds. 
 
 T^Jessore ^' ^ essore - Mr Thomas was still in charge of 
 this post. He resided at Sahebgunj, the civil 
 station of the district, and was assisted by four 
 natives, who made monthly excursions through 
 this populous country. The journal of a single 
 month enumerates nearly one hundred villages 
 visited in this manner. The result was, that much 
 inquiry was excited respecting the doctrines that 
 were taught. Among his numerous visitors from 
 all parts, Mr Thomas mentions, in 1818, a Maho- 
 medan of considerable influence ; also some Roman- 
 ists from Hasnabad, a distance of five days' jour- 
 ney, who complained to him that their priest prayed 
 in a language they did not understand, and ex- 
 pressed a desire to see a proper missionary among 
 them. In the following year five heathen were 
 publicly baptized ; seven others declared their con- 
 viction that Jesus is truly the Saviour of men ; 
 and, in 1820, a whole village was reported to have 
 expressed their desire to renounce idolatry and 
 embrace Christianity. 
 
 In order to avoid many acts of injustice and 
 oppression, to which the native Christians were 
 exposed from the heathen landholders and magis- 
 trates, a new village was formed, about sixteen 
 miles north of Sahebgunj, called Christianpore, 
 and nearly half the congregation soon took up 
 their residence there. But the experiment did not 
 answer, and in three or four years the village was 
 given up. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 195 
 
 In this district four schools were erected and 
 endowed by the resident English and the native 
 landholders, which were to be supplied with masters 
 from the college at Serampore. Though Mr Thomas 
 had many trials to contend with, yet he persevered, 
 with his native assistants, now increased to six, in 
 traversing the district, which was described, in the 
 Serampore Report for 1823, as "one of the best 
 cultivated fields in Bengal." At the close of the 
 decade the native Christians amounted to about 
 one hundred ; but as they inhabited several villages 
 in different directions, and some at great distances, 
 the exact number could not be ascertained. 1 
 
 44. Dacca. The first attempt to plant the Gospel Progress 
 at this station, made in 1810, proved unsuccessful; SSSfcts 
 but a Christian friend residing there continued to and others 
 exert himself for the benefit of his heathen neigh- atDacca - 
 bours ; and, at his instance, two native preachers 
 were sent thither. They arrived in May 1817, 
 and laboured both in and round Dacca with success. 
 There were Armenian and Greek Christians at 
 Dacca, who rejoiced in these labours. One of these 
 preachers was named Ram-prusad, and about forty 
 persons, Christian and heathen, assembled to hear 
 his first sermon. Some wept, 'all listened with 
 attention, and afterwards declared their hearty 
 approval of what he had taught. The Greek priest, 
 in particular, expressed lively joy at hearing, for 
 the first time, a converted Hindoo " preach Jesus 
 Christ according to the Scripture." "I have seen," 
 said he, " an idolater preaching Jesus Christ in a 
 manner which has not only amazed me, but has 
 
 1 In 1824, an attempt was made to form a station at Mymun- 
 sing, the chief town of a district east of Jessore ; but no report 
 of the progress was received during the remainder of this 
 decade. 
 
196 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 charmed my heart. I have, therefore, been blessed 
 to-day." 
 
 In several neighbouring villages inhabited by 
 Romish proselytes, scarcely less ignorant than their 
 heathen brethren, the preaching of the Saviour was 
 heard with avidity ; but for some time the priests 
 frustrated every effort to give them religious in- 
 struction. A young man and his wife had to 
 encounter much severe persecution on account of 
 their attachment to the Gospel ; but they perse- 
 vered. An opening was soon after presented in 
 one of these villages of Romanists, where the people 
 had shaken off the yoke of the priest because of 
 his oppression. On the whole, the prospect in this 
 neighbourhood was highly encouraging. 
 
 sioiof a ^* ^ *^ ew anc ^ ki s wife were baptized here at 
 Jewish the close of 1817. The man's name was Solomon, 
 family. jj e mac [ e g re at progress in the study of the Bible, 
 and grew in grace and in love to the Lord Jesus . 
 He soon began also to feel deeply interested for 
 the salvation of his benighted brethren of the seed 
 of Abraham. Some time after his conversion he 
 removed to Serampore, where his meek spirit and 
 steady walk, and his labours among the natives, 
 greatly endeared him to the brethren. 
 Progress 4 Q In 1 8 1 9, Mr wen Leonard j oined this station, 
 education, where his exertions were eminently successful, while 
 his conduct soon gained for him the esteem of the 
 chief inhabitants of the city. He found Ram- 
 prusad a faithful and affectionate helper. As 
 Dacca is very conveniently situated, having water 
 communication with all the east of Bengal, he 
 proposed to establish here a general depOt for books 
 and tracts designed for circulation through that 
 extensive and populous district. This arrangement 
 afforded great facilities for the diffusion of Chris- 
 tian knowledge. 
 
 Mr Leonard's attention was specially directed to 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 197 
 
 the establishment of schools for the natives. Soon 
 after his arrival he established an Auxiliary School 
 Society, which was encouraged both by the Euro- 
 pean gentlemen at the station and many of the 
 leading natives. This plan was attended with an 
 encouraging effect. In about four years the Ben- 
 galee schools were increased to seventeen, which 
 were kept up in such a manner that they gave 
 seventy- six scholars each as the average attend- 
 ance, the whole number amounting to thirteen 
 hundred and two. The examination of the schools, 
 at different periods, afforded the liveliest satisfac- 
 tion to their benefactors. "Many of the boys," 
 said Mr Leonard, on one of these occasions, " had 
 to come nearly three miles fasting ; they were 
 collected before eight o'clock, and were detained 
 till three in the afternoon ; yet the only regret that 
 appeared on any of their countenances arose from 
 not being favoured with an opportunity of reading 
 before the Committee ; whilst those who were so 
 happy as to obtain a hearing, could scarcely be 
 persuaded to leave off, and* in the end went away 
 in triumph." 
 
 A Persian School was opened for respectable 
 Mahomedans, but it was attended by Hindoos also. 
 The greater part of the scholars were young men 
 of respectable connections and abilities ; they were 
 not, however, always very docile. In this school 
 the Rev. Henry Martyn's version of the New Tes- 
 tament was constantly used. In the Scriptural 
 readings and general conversation, the pupils 
 sometimes manifested great inflexibility ; and 
 occasionally Mr Leonard found it necessary to 
 reprove some whom he detected scoffing. The 
 objections most deeply rooted in the minds of both 
 classes related to the Divinity of the Saviour, and 
 the doctrine of God's taking upon him human 
 nature. However, by attention, and discipline 
 
198 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, mildly yet firmly administered, they were brought 
 IV " in time to pay more serious regard to what they 
 were taught. 
 
 The Scriptures were read in all these schools. 
 In some of them their introduction at first created 
 alarm,, but this, ere long, subsided ; indeed, the 
 gradual disappearance of opposition to the Bible 
 in the different schools for natives at other stations 
 also, and maintained by different Societies, was now 
 among the most pleasing and animating features 
 of improvement . 
 
 instruc- 47. Mr Leonard was under the necessity of em- 
 toB?n Ven pl vm g Bengalee teachers in his schools, and he 
 gaiee devoted to their improvement, and to other natives 
 teachers. w j lo cnose ^o accompany them, four days in the 
 month. When assembled, every man was furnished 
 with a Bengalee Bible, in which he read a portion 
 in turn, and then put what questions he desired to 
 have answered on difficult passages. When all 
 present had read, such part as appeared to have 
 excited particular attention was selected for further 
 comment, and closed With a suitable application. 
 After the address, desultory conversation circu- 
 lated, chiefly upon the comparative merits of Chris- 
 tianity, Hindooism, and Mahomedanism . Every 
 individual was at full liberty to offer his opinion, 
 and to defend it so far as he might think it tenable. 
 Care was taken to observe the best temper through- 
 out ; however opposed to each other in opinion, 
 all parted good friends ; and there was reason to 
 hope that they anticipated the next meeting with 
 pleasure. 
 
 General 4g. While the Bengalee masters were themselves 
 
 know- f r thus instructed in the Scriptures which they had 
 
 led s e - to teach their pupils to read, Mr Leonard visited 
 
 the schools on appointed days for the purpose of 
 
 explaining them. On these occasions the natives 
 
 often crowded into the room, when he embraced 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 199 
 
 the opportunity to draw their special attention to 
 the Word of Life. There was no lack of attentive 
 hearers, and he sometimes continued these addresses 
 till darkness compelled him to close the pleasing 
 work. At the conclusion he distributed a number 
 of the gospels or tracts which the pupils had read 
 at the time. 
 
 All this shews that a desire for information was 
 not confined to the youth training in the schools. 
 Of this fact another instance is given. At the cele- 
 bration of one of the Hindoos' idolatrous festivals, 
 when it was computed that nearly two hundred 
 thousand persons were assembled, some members 
 of Mr Leonard's family, he being absent at the time, 
 ventured to commence the distribution of tracts, 
 which does not appear to have been attempted on 
 such an occasion before. No sooner was this known, 
 than thousands assembled about the gate, filled the 
 garden and the house, and would not depart till 
 each had received a book. The distribution occu- 
 pied five successive days, on the first of which alone 
 more than three thousand individuals were supplied. 
 They came to the festival of a stone, and carried 
 away the bread of life. 
 
 Besides the numerous native schools, one was 
 established for indigent Christian children, the 
 descendants of Greeks, Armenians, and Romanists. 
 This school was supported from the funds of the 
 Benevolent Institution at Calcutta, and it proved 
 of great value to the place, as it rendered many 
 youths valuable members of society, who, without 
 the instruction there given, would have been wan- 
 dering in the streets in vice and wretchedness. 
 At one examination, thirty-seven of these boys 
 exhibited great improvement, which was an ample 
 remuneration for the pains and money expended 
 upon them. 
 
 In 1824 one of the Armenian youths embraced 
 
200 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Chitta- 
 gong 
 murder of 
 the mis- 
 sionary. 
 
 the pure faith of the Bible. The piety and general 
 information of this young man, besides his accurate 
 acquaintance with the Persian and Turkish lan- 
 guages, encouraged the hope that God designed him 
 for future usefulness in his vineyard. 
 
 In 1825, the hands of Mr Leonard were strength- 
 ened by the accession of Mr D'Cruz from Seram- 
 pore. Mrs Peacock also, the widow of a deceased 
 missionary, joined him, to take charge of the female 
 schools. This year the brethren held several inter- 
 views with a singular sect of Hindoos, called Suttya 
 Gooroos, who had renounced idols, and professed to 
 approve Christianity, of which, through the me- 
 dium of the Scriptures in their own language, 
 they had acquired considerable knowledge. While 
 this unusual circumstance awakened hope in Mr 
 Leonard's mind, he was encouraged in his exertions 
 for the young, by pleasing evidence that two of his 
 pupils had died in the faith of Christ. 1 Not much 
 impression, however, seemed to be made on the 
 adult population, notwithstanding his great exer- 
 tions. Nevertheless, though as yet he counted but 
 few conversions, he was sowing seed abundantly 
 for a future harvest, whoever might be appointed 
 to reap the fruit of his labours. 
 
 49. Chittagong. We have seen with what 
 promise Mr De Bruyn commenced his labours 
 among the people called Mugs, on the borders of 
 this station : but the hopes lighted up by his suc- 
 cess, were soon overcast by a calamity little antici- 
 pated. Among the persons who came to him for 
 instruction was a young man, born at Rangoon, 
 whose father was a Frenchman, and his mother a 
 
 1 Obituaries of the two youths here mentioned were written 
 by Mr Leonard, and printed in the Missionary Herald for March 
 1826, and in the Missionary Register for August of the same 
 year. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 201 
 
 Burmese. Being a youth of fair abilities and in 
 needy circumstances,, Mr De Bruyn took him into 
 his house, treated him as his own son, and instructed 
 him with great care, with a view to his employ- 
 ment in the propagation of the Gospel among his 
 countrymen. His conduct, however, was such as 
 to cause De Bruyn no little uneasiness ; and having 
 on one occasion reproved him with more than usual 
 severity, the lad seized a knife and plunged it into 
 his benefactor's side. The wound proved mortal ; 
 after languishing about twenty-four hours, the 
 sufferer expired ; not, however, before he had writ- 
 ten to the judge of the district, extenuating the 
 rash deed of his murderer, and entreating that he 
 might not be punished. To the brethren at Seram- 
 pore this was a heavy blow, and it was felt the 
 more severely, as they had no suitable person at 
 liberty to take charge of this promising station. 
 In a few weeks, however, their sorrow was some- 
 what mitigated, by the intelligence that the con- 
 verted Mugs kept together, though bereaved of 
 their teacher, and that some of them had travelled 
 as fax as Dacca, several days' journey, to enjoy the 
 ordinances of the Gospel. This encouraging token 
 of their sincerity made the Society more anxious to 
 provide them with a pastor. 
 
 50. In the mean time, they were assembled to- Death of 
 gether by a young man, one of the first converts his suc ~ 
 of De Bruyn, a Portuguese, named J. Reveiro, who 
 now used his best ability to supply the place 
 vacated by the lamented death of his instructor. 
 In 1818, he was joined by Mr Peacock, from the 
 Benevolent Institution at Calcutta, where he had 
 acquired an experience in teaching that peculiarly 
 qualified him for the establishment of schools at 
 Chittagong. Soon after his arrival, he gave a satis- 
 factory report of the converts, describing them as 
 a far superior race to the Bengalese, and express- 
 
202 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, ing himself greatly pleased with their apparent 
 
 honesty and manliness. Early in the following 
 
 year Mr Ward visited the place, when he baptized 
 seven converts, which raised the number to one 
 hundred. This little community had many diffi- 
 culties to contend with, and much persecution to 
 endure ; but the Lord vouchsafed unto them grace 
 to meet these trials, and to hold fast their integrity. 
 In 1820, Mr Peacock visited Calcutta ; but when 
 on the eve of returning to his station, he was 
 attacked by fever, of which he died after eight 
 days' illness. This missionary 1 began*his career in 
 life in the navy, but subsequently left that profes- 
 sion, and became a superintendent of some indigo 
 factories in Jessore. Upon his conversion from a 
 life of ungodliness, he renounced all his temporal 
 prospects, and devoted himself to the service of the 
 heathen. The first principal scene of his labours 
 among them was at Agra, where he was associated 
 with Mr Chamberlain. 2 In 1816, he removed to 
 Calcutta, in order to assist in the management of 
 the Benevolent Institution, 3 His assiduity, and 
 the ability he evinced for the work of instruction, 
 pointed him out as a suitable person for Chitta- 
 gong, where he was enabled to organise the schools, 
 but not spared long enough to see the effect of his 
 plans. His premature removal, as we in our ignor- 
 ance of the Almighty's designs are wont to speak, 
 was one of those mysterious dispensations of pro- 
 vidence with which the history of Christian mis- 
 sions abounds. 
 
 Varied 51. The hand, however, which removed one 
 
 andhtSSs labourer, soon raised up another, in the person of a 
 at the M r Johannes, who was educated in the Benevolent 
 
 station. 
 
 1 Period. Ace. vol. iv. p. 80. 2 Ibid. pp. 271, &c., 416, &c. 
 3 Ibtd. vol. vi. p. 218. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 203 
 
 Institution. He had been for some time connected 
 with the mission,, and shewn himself competent to 
 conduct the educational department : it was, there- 
 fore, proposed to him to go to Chittagong, to which 
 he acceded, and sailed for that distant station 
 within a week after Mr Peacock's death. He was 
 joined, in 1821, by a Mr Colman, an American 
 missionary, who, with his colleague, had been 
 obliged to leave Rangoon. But he was removed 
 by death shortly after his arrival at Chittagong, 
 when the care of the congregation devolved on a 
 Mr Fink, formerly of the Lai Bazaar. Chapel at 
 Calcutta. It consisted of about one hundred and 
 fifty members, among whom was manifest a spirit 
 of earnest and serious inquiry after Divine truth. 
 They resided in five villages, and were attended by 
 six native assistants. The schools, containing one 
 hundred and thirty pupils, remained under the 
 care of Mr Johannes, and there was reason to hope 
 that the truth was conveyed to the hearts of some 
 of the parents, who assembled in the school on the 
 Lord's day. 
 
 In 1824, this bright prospect was darkened by a 
 disastrous war which broke out between the British 
 and Burmese Governments. The greater part of 
 the congregation was dispersed, and Mr Johannes 
 was obliged for a season to discontinue the schools. 
 In the following year, however, on the conclusion 
 of peace, he was able to reopen them, and in a 
 short time, the Benevolent Institution, which he 
 established, contained one hundred and forty scho- 
 lars, principally Portuguese, who were abandoned at 
 Chittagong. An interesting society was formed of 
 these youths, for prayer and mutual edification on 
 religious subjects. By these exercises they were 
 drawn from the dark and miserable thraldom of 
 Popery, and become spiritual worshippers of the 
 living and true God. Mr Johannes performed the 
 
204 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, duties of a missionary also, preaching every Sab- 
 IV ' bath both in English and Bengalee, and proclaim- 
 ing the Gospel in the surrounding country. 
 station 52. Arracan. This province was ceded to the 
 
 Arracan in British on the conclusion of peace with the Bur- 
 mese ; and as the Mug converts at Chittagong 
 were originally refugees from Arracan, they now 
 returned thither in a body, with their pastor, Mr 
 Fink, at their head, and four native teachers. 1 
 Land was granted for the establishment of the 
 mission in the island of Ahyab, which is eligibly 
 situated at the mouth of the Arracan river ; but 
 there was much to be done before the missionary 
 could take up his abode on this island. For the 
 present, therefore, he resided at an easy distance 
 from the colony, which he frequently visited, and 
 placed a native assistant there, where about forty 
 Christians were settled, the remainder being dis- 
 tributed in the town of Arracan, and two or 
 three other places. Mr Fink provided a boat, with 
 which the other three native teachers visited several 
 places at considerable distances from their home, 
 spreading the Gospel abroad, and hitherto they met 
 with no unkind treatment from their countrymen, 
 when thus engaged. 1 The Arracanese, like the 
 Burmans, have no prejudices of caste to exclude 
 them from Christians, and but a limited number of 
 objects of idolatrous regard to oppose to the sim- 
 plicity of the Gospel. 
 
 Simple as these details may be deemed, it is not 
 easy to estimate the importance of this station. 
 
 1 It is worthy of remark, for the benefit of the example, that 
 these four native teachers were supported by the contributions 
 of two associations of young gentlemen in Glasgow, who to- 
 gether sent 40 a-year for this purpose to the Serampore Mis- 
 sionary Society. Bap. Society's Report 1827, p. 39. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 205 
 
 In a way most unexpected, a new and easy access 
 was obtained into the Biirman Empire ; and, from 
 the relative position of that country to China, it 
 seemed not at all improbable that ere long the ex- 
 tensive frontier of that vast and populous region 
 might be laid open to the gospel. 
 
 53. Malda (or English Bazaar) was still under Maidare- 
 the care of the faithful Krishnoo. 2 Though begin- 
 
 ning to feel the infirmities of age, being near sixty, 
 yet the vigour of his mind was little abated, and 
 he made excursions, as his physical strength per- 
 mitted, into surrounding villages. Although Mal- 
 da was one of the first places in Bengal where 
 the gospel was preached, yet it had hitherto met 
 with a less favourable reception there than in many 
 places where it was introduced much more re- 
 cently. This is, doubtless, to be attributed to the 
 want of a European missionary. Krishnoo had 
 laboured diligently for about twenty years, but he 
 had reaped little fruit from his exertions ; and ex- 
 perience has proved in other parts also, that native 
 talent was employed to most advantage when aided 
 and directed by a European missionary, and under 
 his protection. On Krishnoo's removal, therefore, 
 as no missionary was available at present for this 
 station, nor any one competent to supply his place, 
 it was relinquished. 
 
 54. Dinagepore still remained under the super- Dinage- 
 intendence of Mr Fernandez, assisted by a native ^duit 
 teacher, named Nidhiram, who joined him in 1818, and gene- 
 and is described as a good and useful man, and 
 much interested in the cause of the Saviour. A 
 considerable improvement in the people was appa- 
 rent soon after his arrival ; and the gospel con- 
 tinued for several years to advance at this place, 
 
 Sometimes called Kristna and Krishna. 
 
206 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 with little variation in the circumstances attending 
 it. In 1821, Mr Fernandez mentions, as one proof 
 of the decline of idolatry in this neighbourhood, 
 that many large temples, built by the former rajahs, 
 were hastening to ruin, and that the pecuniary 
 allowance allotted for their support by the native 
 government had been materially reduced, and was 
 annually decreasing 
 
 In 1823, the baptized members amounted to 
 ninety, and nearly the same number, who were 
 connected with them by relationship and other- 
 wise, had renounced caste, and were in the habit 
 of assembling for religious worship. This year Mr 
 Fernandez established a paper manufactory, for the 
 employment of these people, and also an excellent 
 school for their instruction. Several youths were 
 sent from this place to be educated for the native 
 ministry in the college at Serampore. Besides the 
 regular services on the Lord's day, religious in- 
 struction was given to the flock every evening ; 
 and the benefits accruing were so apparent, as to 
 attract the notice and commendation of those who 
 had no connection with the missionary cause. 
 
 In 1825, a whole family, consisting of eight 
 members, renounced caste, and seven other per- 
 sons, were baptized. In the following year there 
 were twelve baptisms. The flock was now about 
 equally divided between Dinagepore and Sadamhb, 
 residing at each place upon premises belonging to 
 Mr Fernandez. This generous friend bore the ex- 
 penses of the mission, with the exception of what 
 a few gentlemen on the spot contributed towards 
 the support of his schools. He had maintained 
 his post here nearly thirty years, and the Lord 
 had vouchsafed to bless his labours. Dr Carey, in 
 1820, briefly adverting to this station, remarked, 
 that more had " been baptized here than at any 
 other place in connection with the Society ;" an 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 207 
 
 encouraging example for other Christians to use 
 the means that God may have entrusted to them 
 for the salvation of mankind. 
 
 55. Benares. The occupation of this post by Mr Awaken- 
 William Smith in 1816, and the promising com- Benares. 
 mencement of his labours, have already been men- 
 tioned. His thorough knowledge of Hindostanee 
 made him very acceptable to the people. Within 
 the first year of his residence, one Brahmin, as we 
 have seen, was converted under his instructions ; 
 in 1818, there was another among those who were 
 reclaimed from idolatry, and baptized. The atten- 
 tion excited here by the introduction of the Gospel 
 was great ; several Brahmins avowed their convic- 
 tion of its truth ; and one ventured to predict that 
 in eighty years the worship of Gunga would van- 
 ish, the chains of caste be dissolved, and that all 
 would have the true knowledge of God, and be- 
 come Christians. Several, however, who gladly 
 received the word, and seemed for a while disposed 
 to make any sacrifice for the sake of the gospel, 
 became intimidated by the threats and insults of 
 their former companions, and desisted from further 
 attendance. 
 
 Nevertheless, the general aspect of affairs at this 
 place was promising. In the establishment of 
 schools, Mr Smith was greatly encouraged by a 
 rich native, resident on the spot, Jay Narain, 1 who 
 subscribed liberally towards their support. These 
 schools were soon in a flourishing state, and the 
 boys were said already to read the Scriptures with 
 delight. One youth, of the Romish Church, joined 
 the congregation, and some others expressed them- 
 selves desirous of following his example. 
 
 1 Jay Narain subsequently established a school, which he 
 placed in connection with the C. M. Society. 
 
208 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP 
 IV. 
 
 Com- 
 mence- 
 ment at 
 Ib'uttyghur 
 and Mut- 
 tra. 
 
 In 1821, a Mr Richards joined this station, and 
 while there proved a useful colleague to Mr Smith; 
 but he was transferred before long to another post. 
 There were also several native teachers, among 
 whom was one of the Brahminy converts just 
 mentioned, named Ram-dass, who was so much 
 respected by the European inhabitants of the city, 
 that they subscribed, almost without solicitation, 
 a thousand rupees to assist him in erecting a small 
 place of worship. The congregation, however, 
 fluctuated, and most of those who had been bap- 
 tized removed to other places. At the close of the 
 decade, Mr Smith was left with only one assistant. 
 He continued, however, to prosecute his work 
 without intermission, both in public and private. 
 Besides three services on the Lord's day, he was 
 usually engaged every morning in the week preach- 
 ing, either in a house or school, or at the different 
 ghats on the river side, where congregations of all 
 classes were obtained, and the Divine word ap- 
 peared to fasten strongly on the minds of several 
 individuals. He had the satisfaction of observing 
 that voluntary drownings in the Ganges were be- 
 come less frequent than formerly ; and* from an 
 anecdote in his journal, it would appear that, even 
 in this holy city, and among the Brahmins too, 
 idols were falling into disrepute. One day he 
 asked a Brahmin why they took no notice of some 
 stone gods that he saw lying under a wall ? The 
 man answered, " We worshipped them several 
 years ; but, not deriving any benefit from them, 
 we laid them aside, knowing that they are but 
 stones, and are not able to do good or evil." 
 
 56. Mr Richards, on leaving Benares, proceeded 
 to Futtyghur, 1 near Furruckabad, in the province 
 
 Sometimes spelt Futtehghur or Fataghar. 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 209 
 
 of Agra, where he had great facilities for dispers- 
 ing the Scriptures, and was enabled to gather a 
 little flock around him ; but he was prevented by 
 illness from making any active exertion. Dis- 
 couraged by his apparent want of success, though 
 his labours were by no means in vain, he removed 
 to Muttra, 2 in the same province, a place of high 
 repute among the Hindoos, as the scene of the 
 birth and early adventures of their god, Krishna, 
 Being the centre of attraction to Hindoos from all 
 quarters, it was an eligible place for a mission, 
 and his arrival and preaching awakened attention, 
 especially among the Brahmins, several of whom 
 remained with him for instruction Some of them 
 gave up caste, and, from their conduct, he was in- 
 duced to hope that they would soon be ready for 
 baptism. 
 
 57. Allahabad. The removal of Mr Mackintosh Excesses 
 and Nriput-Sing to this station^ was mentioned in 
 the last decade, as well as the promising commence- 
 ment of their labours ; but the expectations thereby 
 encouraged were not yet realised. This is in great 
 measure accounted for by the prevalence of self- 
 destruction and superstition, for which the place 
 was notorious. In January 1818, Nriput-Sing wit- 
 nessed one of those cruel and revolting scenes so 
 frequently exhibited here. Two Mahratta women 
 consigned themselves to the Ganges, after worship- 
 ping the river, in the presence of an immense crowd 
 of people. Nriput spoke to them, and in the most 
 feeling manner pointed out the absurdity and the 
 delusion of the intended sacrifice, as a means of ob- 
 taining salvation. He faithfully warned the spec- 
 tators, also, of the horrid nature of this self-murder, 
 and assured them that all who were concerned in it 
 
 " Also Mathura. 
 VOL. v. 
 
210 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, would draw on themselves the just vengeance of 
 
 '_ the Almighty. Regardless of all his arguments and 
 
 warnings, however, the two females went into a 
 boat with three women of the same caste ; who, 
 without evincing any feeling, deliberately tied two 
 large pots filled with water round the waist of each, 
 and thus helped them to sink I 1 
 
 Mr Mackintosh also mentions the case of a de- 
 votee, whose looks were grim and dreadful, having 
 his face blackened ; a human skull, with the upper 
 jaw and teeth attached to it, hung before him, sus- 
 pended by an iron chain round his neck. His 
 ankles were environed with a heavy iron chain ; 
 he was stark naked, and his body much emaciated. 
 The missionary, being informed that this man was 
 desirous of seeing him, paid him a visit, and found 
 him worshipping fire, which he advised him to 
 throw away. After remarking upon his appear- 
 
 1 The following instance, as described by a spectator of the 
 scene, is thus given by Mr Ward : " Sixteen females, accom- 
 panied by as many priests, went in boats on the river opposite 
 Allahabad, and proceeded to the spot where the Ganges and the 
 Jumna, two sacred rivers, unite their purifying streams. Each 
 victim had a large earthen pan slung over her shoulders. She 
 descended over the side of the boat into the river, and was then 
 held up by a priest, till she had filled the pans from the river, 
 when the priest let go his hold, and the pans dragged her to the 
 bottom. And thus died, amidst the applauses of the spectators, 
 and assisted by the priests of the country, sixteen females, as a 
 single offering to the demon of destruction. They died under 
 the firm persuasion that this was the direct way to heaven. 
 The priests enjoyed the scene, and spoke of it to their friends 
 as a pleasant morning gambol. We have here no weepers ; no 
 remonstrants; no youth interposing to save them to society. 
 They go down to the bottom as loose stones which have no ad- 
 hesion to the quarry, as creatures for which society has no use. 
 Fearful as one such instance is, how appalling is the fact, that 
 these immolations are so common as to excite very little anxiety; 
 indeed, at Allahabad, and beyond that city, they are scarcely 
 mentioned." Missionary Eecords, India, pp. 151-153. 
 
IN" INDIA : BOOK XIII. 211 
 
 ance, he inquired what was the object of his wor- 
 ship. He said, " Four things air, water, earth, 
 and fire ; and that he should mingle in these four 
 elements after death." The missionary replied, 
 ' Then it appears you have no future prospects. 
 But why do you go through such penances when 
 you believe you are to be annihilated, and to have 
 no existence after this life ? Surely you are taken 
 in the snares of Satan, deceiving your own soul, 
 and feeding upon ambition, that men may fall 
 down at your feet and worship you as a god ; and, 
 because this flatters you, therefore you go through 
 such penances." The only answer he gave to this 
 faithful rebuke was, that he had been in this state 
 twelve years, and meant to continue in it till death 
 set him free. 
 
 The state of these deluded and unhappy crea- 
 tures was, at this time, rendered peculiarly affect- 
 ing, by a dreadful disease, which had for some 
 months been raging among them, and which, in 
 the wide range of its infection, is supposed to have 
 swept away not less than a million of victims to an 
 untimely grave. " God has been pleased," says 
 Mr Mackintosh, " to send the axe into this part of 
 the country, and numbers are daily hewn down by 
 the stroke of death. The Brahmins are busily em- 
 ployed in imposing upon the inhabitants, by exact- 
 ing offerings to appease the goddess Kalee ; and a 
 man is frequently sent through the streets, to ex- 
 cite attention by beating a drum, and to enjoin the 
 populace to present offerings of rice, cowries, or 
 flour, in order to obtain a removal of the plague. 
 And the drowning of Hindoos at the junction of the 
 two rivers is so common, that no one seems inclined 
 to prevent these shocking instances of self-murder." 2 
 
 2 Missionary Records, pp. 153-155. 
 
212 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 58. Such were the difficulties that the mission- 
 
 '__ aries had to contend with, and they serve to ac- 
 
 The mis- count for the slow progress of the Gospel where 
 pereeve- they prevailed. At Allahabad the success was very 
 ranee. partial indeed. The most honourable testimony is 
 borne to the diligence of the missionary and his 
 native assistants, but hitherto they met with little 
 to encourage them. In 1825 the prospect appeared 
 to brighten, but it was like a gleam of sunshine in 
 a wintry day, soon to give place to the coldness 
 and darkness of night. Mr Mackintosh was com- 
 forted by the liberality and attention of some Eu- 
 ropeans in the neighbourhood, but it seems doubtful 
 whether at the close of the decade he had one native 
 in communion. The strength given to this labourer 
 to hold fast his plough in such a soil, is not less 
 worthy of admiration than the grace poured out 
 upon the field that we see whitening to the harvest. 
 
 visits to 59. Cawnpore. In March 1818, Nriput-Sino; was 
 Cawnpore. .1 . i ~2r i ji > f* 
 
 sent thither, about a months journey from Allaha- 
 bad, being invited by some Christians on the spot. 
 The state of religion among these friends was pleas- 
 ing ; and he was encouraged by the great attention 
 which the natives seemed to pay to the instructions 
 that he occasionally gave them ; but, as there was 
 no missionary available for the station, little was 
 done there for the present. 1 
 
 1 Missionary Herald, December 1820. An instance of the 
 familiar and apposite manner in which the native Christian 
 teachers introduce the truths of revelation, occurs in the diary 
 of Nriput-Sing for November 1818. " Tn the beginning of the 
 month I went to Gold Ghat, and there saw a pundit at worship, 
 with a number of small stone images before him. I asked him 
 what he sold there ? ' What do you want?' replied he, ( No- 
 thing in particular/ answered I, ' except a small stone to make 
 a weight for my scales, and one of these stones you have 
 here will just answer/ ' Do you call these stones ?' said he, 
 'they are my gods. What countryman are you?' 'Of this 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 213 
 
 60. Delhi. Mr Thompson,, after labouring a few Promising 
 years at Patna, removed to Delhi early in the pre- 
 sent decade. Soon after his arrival in this impe- 
 rial city, the cholera morbus began its awful 
 ravages in the place, sweeping away, among the 
 first victims, five of the royal family, besides mul- 
 titudes of inferior rank, without distinction of age, 
 caste, or constitution. Mr Thompson was deeply 
 affected at the sight. " My soul hourly weeps/' 
 he said, " for the miseries of this people, but, alas ! 
 of what avail is it ? I mourn alike for their unbe- 
 lief and hardness of heart, that they will not make 
 Jehovah, my God, their refuge. The dead alone 
 seem to feel the stroke ; the living lay it not to 
 heart ; therefore it is that such dreadful judgments 
 cannot be improved by the servants of God to the 
 spiritual advantage of this sinful, this unhappy 
 people." 
 
 He persevered, however, in his public addresses 
 to them, though but few came to hear. He met 
 with some Afghans, supposed to be descended from 
 the ten tribes of Israel, among whom he distributed 
 the Gospel. Some of them, when leaving Delhi, 
 repeatedly solicited him to accompany them, assur- 
 ing him that their countrymen would be very 
 anxious to possess and search the writings of in- 
 spiration. This request could not have been made 
 to one more inclined to comply with it. In his 
 exertions at Patna we have seen how well he was 
 adapted to itinerate from place to place ; he still 
 
 country,' said I, ' nor can I believe what you say concerning 
 these stones, for I can tell you better things out of this book, 
 and shew you where to find the true God, who is a Spirit, and 
 who will have men to worship Him in spirit and in truth/ The 
 above discourse drew a great crowd together, who paid much 
 attention for about an hour/' May we not hope that some 
 individuals in this crowd went away impressed with the convic- 
 tion " that an idol is nothing in the world," (1 Cor. viii. 4) ? 
 
214 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, continued to travel about, preaching and distri- 
 IV> buting the Gospel everywhere ; and he declared, 
 not long after this, that his heart was set on visit- 
 ing Bootan, Nepaul, and the nations to the west 
 of Hindoostan ; but at this time he was called to 
 Serampore, and could not, therefore, contemplate 
 for the present so long a tour in the opposite direc- 
 tion. 
 
 Not long after his return to Delhi, in 1823, he 
 was cheered by an event which created a great 
 sensation in that populous city. An aged Brah- 
 min, held in the highest estimation among his 
 neighbours for his attainments in Sanscrit litera- 
 ture, after hearing the Gospel for some time, pub- 
 licly renounced idolatry ; and, notwithstanding all 
 the efforts made, both to allure and terrify him 
 from his purpose, openly professed his faith in 
 Christ, and was baptized in the presence of many 
 spectators. . On this occurrence the Serampore 
 missionaries remark : " This renunciation of Hin- 
 dooism by an aged Brahmin, eminent for his know- 
 ledge of the shasters, and the sacred language of 
 the Hindoos, being in that part of the country quite 
 a new thing, has procured much attention to the 
 doctrines of the Gospel. It seems to shew, among 
 other things, the safety with which Christianity 
 may be promulgated in the darkest parts of India. 
 All the threatened opposition to this man's open 
 profession of Christianity ended in a few expres- 
 sions of personal dislike from his old acquaintance, 
 on account of the course he had taken, and his 
 having tacitly condemned them and all their reli- 
 gious observances, by nobly daring to follow his 
 own convictions of the truth. For all this, how- 
 ever, he was prepared, and by sustaining the whole 
 in the spirit of genuine Christianity, he in a great 
 measure disarmed the resentment of his neighbours 
 and acquaintance. So completely quiet were they 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 215 
 
 indeed in the expression of their dislike, that, at 
 the time of his baptism, the attention of the lowest 
 person in the native police was not officially called 
 to the transaction." 
 
 In the following year five more were baptized, 
 among whom was another Brahmin. The influence 
 of these examples appears to have made a favour- 
 able impression in the place, as the congregations 
 soon became more numerous, though the converts 
 were yet a little flock. Besides the schools for 
 boys, a commencement was made in the work of 
 female education, which is always a token of the 
 decline of native prejudice against the introduction 
 of the Gospel. 
 
 61. Mr Thompson embraced every opportunity Native 
 to preach to the heathen. For this purpose he was SSns^to be 
 continually frequenting the head-quarters of dif- received 
 ferent Hindoo sects, attending the scenes of their Caution, 
 religious festivals and other places of great resort, 
 both in and around the city, and at various dis- 
 tances from his abode. His conversations with 
 Brahmins and others on these occasions were some- 
 times highly interesting and instructive ; and they 
 shew that these exertions had at least the effect 
 of exciting attention to the great truths of revela- 
 tion. The statement made by one respectable 
 native for himself may be regarded as descriptive 
 of a numerous class of his countrymen, thus par- 
 tially informed. " I say truly," said he to Mr 
 Thompson, " I have a love for the things contained 
 in your books, but I have little faith yet ; when I 
 have more, I will say more to you." 
 
 It must be confessed, however, that such accounts 
 are read with mingled feelings. Knowing the 
 duplicity of the Hindoos, it is hard to tell when 
 to give them credit for sincerity in making similar 
 avowals ; and even when there is reason to think 
 them sincere in the expression of what they feel, 
 
216 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 Total of 
 converts 
 unknown. 
 
 we are still in doubt whether any benefit has 
 accrued to their souls from the limited knowledge 
 of the Gospel which has convinced them of its truth. 
 Conviction is not conversion : the Gospel is light, 
 and, like the sun, carries with* it its own evidence. 
 Those, therefore, to whom it has been preached, 
 especially if they have understood enough of it to 
 admire its doctrines and precepts, are brought under 
 a fearful responsibility if they do not embrace it to 
 the saving of their souls. Before the end of all 
 things, foretold by the Saviour, shall come, ( ' this 
 Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the 
 world for a witness unto all nations." 1 The mis- 
 sionary, therefore, has done his duty when he has 
 preached this Gospel. But as in every former age, 
 so in this, the preacher is to one " the savour of 
 death unto death ; " to another, " the savour of life 
 unto life." 2 What our Lord said of the unbelieving 
 Jews is true of all persons that obey not their con- 
 victions, " This is the condemnation, that light is 
 come into the world, and men loved darkness rather 
 than light, because their deeds were evil." 3 Unless, 
 therefore, we know that those who seemed to ap- 
 prove the Gospel, acknowledged its truth, or even 
 received it with joy, shew that they have sincerely 
 embraced it, by bringing forth the fruit thereof, 
 the hope lighted up by their profession is darkened 
 by doubt of the issue. 
 
 62. It would have been satisfactory to know the 
 number of natives baptized by the missionaries at 
 all these places ; but as the stations increased, and 
 their journeys extended over so wide a surface, 
 they seem to have found it impracticable to continue 
 the Notitia which they kept during the earlier period 
 of the mission. The congregations were nowhere 
 
 Matt. xxiv. 14. 
 
 3 2 Cor. ii. 16. 
 
 1 John iii. 19. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 217 
 
 large, the converts being distributed through nume- 
 rous heathen villages for the sake of subsistence ; 
 but we seldom read of a case of apostasy to the 
 idolatries of their neighbours ; while the testimony 
 borne to their general consistency, and to the 
 devoted piety of individuals, through life and in 
 death, was frequent and disinterested, and there- 
 fore the more satisfactory. The instances given in 
 the foregoing pages will suffice to corroborate this 
 statement. If the country occupied was not con- 
 verted to Christianity, it was already salted with 
 Christians ; 4 and the seed was sown abundantly, 
 and continued to be sown, for a future harvest. 
 
 63. When contemplating these operations, we Number of 
 shall be the more surprised at their magnitude if Sherto^ 
 we consider the paucity of labourers by whom they employed. 
 were carried on. The mission had existed thirty- 
 three years, during which period not more than forty 
 missionaries had been sent from Europe. Some of 
 them did not live to enter upon their labours, and 
 eighteen were now living, besides two professors, at 
 the Serampore College. It pleased God also to 
 raise up about thirty missionaries in India, either 
 European or born in the country, the greater part 
 of whom still survived, and were usefully employed. 
 It is not always stated in the Society's Reports to 
 what classes they belonged, but they were generally 
 Indo-Britons, trained up in the mission schools, or 
 converted under the missionaries' teaching. The 
 useful part they acted in the several departments 
 of missionary labour presents a satisfactory view 
 of the importance of this class of the Indian popu- 
 lation, of the state of religion among them, and of 
 their capabilities for the best work. The number 
 of native teachers cannot be ascertained, but the 
 
 4 Matt. v. 1 3. 
 
218 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, names of about fifty are mentioned, in the mis- 
 IV ' sionaries' journals and correspondence, as distin- 
 guished for their piety, abilities, and exertions. 
 These numbers were very disproportionate to the 
 field they had to cultivate ; and while we admire 
 the energy which led them to occupy so wide a 
 sphere, it may serve to account for the paucity of 
 converts compared with the numerous inhabitants 
 of the country. 1 
 
 Progress 54. The progress of education and other depart- 
 tions a of la ments of the general work has been given above 
 the Scrip- i n the account of the different stations. The ope- 
 rations of their press have been reserved for the 
 conclusion of this chapter ; but their great work, 
 the translation of the Scriptures, may be noticed 
 here. At the close of the last decade, it was stated 
 that the entire Bible in the extensive languages of 
 India, the New Testament in five languages, and 
 portions of the sacred volume in seventeen more, 
 had been published by the Serampore missionaries, 
 also that they had printed the JNew Testament in 
 seven other languages for the Bible Society. They 
 were likewise making preparations for translating 
 and publishing the Scriptures in several mose of the 
 Indian dialects, some of which they had accom- 
 plished, others were in progress, and several which 
 they did not then contemplate, had been translated 
 by others and published at the Serampore press. 
 The following are the languages added, during the 
 present decade, to those formerly given : 
 
 The Guzurattee, Oojein, Bundelkundee, Konouj 
 or Kanhukoobja, Jumboo, Koshul, Bhutaneer, Pali 
 or Magudha, Cingalese, Maldivian, Malay, Muni- 
 
 1 The Burman mission being now under the care of the 
 American Baptist Board of Missions, will be given in a separate 
 chapter. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 219 
 
 poora. 2 The number of volumes containing the 
 whole or portions of the Scriptures in the oriental 
 languages, published at the Serampore press at the 
 close of the year 1826, amounted to one hundred 
 and eighty-one thousand and sixty-five. 3 
 
 We cannot close this brief notice of the transla- 
 tions published at Serampore, better than with the 
 tribute paid to the abilities and industry of the 
 brethren by the learned author of " The Critical 
 Study of the Scriptures." He remarks, " In con- 
 cluding the preceding notice of the versions, exe- 
 cuted principally by the learned Baptist mission- 
 aries, and at their press, it is impossible not to 
 recognise the hand of God, who has raised up and 
 qualified them for the arduous task to which they 
 have devoted their time, money, and labour : for 
 though they have been nobly assisted by subscrip- 
 tions and grants from Europe ; 4 yet it ought not 
 to be forgotten, that they have largely contributed 
 to defray the expenses of translating and printing 
 out of those profits, which their extraordinary 
 acquirements have enabled them to realise. They 
 have translated and printed the whole sacred Scrip- 
 tures in five of the languages of India ; the whole 
 New Testament in fifteen others ; in six other lan- 
 guages it is more than half printed, and in ten 
 others considerable progress has been made in the 
 
 3 Specimens of these languages are given in the Eighth Me- 
 moir of the Translations. 
 
 3 At the close of 1832 the total had increased to two hun- 
 dred and twelve thousand five hundred and sixty-five volumes. 
 Vide Tenth Memoir of Translations, &c., pp. 58-61. 
 
 4 Liberal as these contributions were, they did not always 
 keep pace with the demand ; and it appears that at one time, 
 fourteen of the translations at first undertaken were discon- 
 tinued, principally through the inadequacy of funds to meet the 
 expenses. Seventh Memoir of Translations 1820, pp. 12, 13. 
 Baptist Society's Report 1822, pp. 5, 6. 
 
220 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, work of translation. And these vast undertakings 
 
 L have been accomplished within the short space of 
 
 thirty years, since the commencement of their 
 first version (the New Testament in Bengalee). 
 When we consider the experience which they have 
 gained the number of learned natives whom they 
 have trained up and accustomed to the work of 
 translation the assistance which is to be derived 
 from our countrymen in various parts of India,, who 
 are acquainted with any of its dialects, and the 
 advantages now enjoyed for printing at a moderate 
 expense, we may reasonably indulge the hope that, 
 in the course of a few years more, the word of life 
 will be extant in all the different languages and 
 dialects of India." l 
 Vmdica- 65. But these works were not always indeed 
 
 tion of . ,-, -, c7 J 
 
 their cha- with equal candour, koine persons were unreason- 
 racter. a ki e enough to expect, or uncandid enough to pre- 
 tend to expect, the first translations to be perfect. 
 We have seen in the last decade, that the brethren 
 acknowledged their imperfection, and that they 
 used every means they could command to secure 
 accuracy in the first and every subsequent edition. 2 
 
 1 Home's " Introduction to the Critical Study of the Scrip- 
 tures," vol. ii. p. 284. 
 
 2 In August 1818, they published an advtirtisement in the 
 " Friend of India/' soliciting assistance for the accomplishment 
 of this object, from such oriental scholars as might be able to 
 afford it. In 1820, Mr Ward wrote a letter to a friend in Edin- 
 burgh, which was published in the Society's Eeport for the 
 same year, Appendix I., in which he completely vindicated the 
 translations and other works of himself and his brethren, against 
 the aspersions that had been heaped upon them. But it is un- 
 necessary, for the satisfaction of the ingenuous mind, to add 
 anything on this head to the evidence adduced in the last 
 chapter of this mission, sections 38 and 39. The subject has been 
 largely discussed, in all its bearings, in numerous pamphlets, 
 and in almost all the religious periodicals, from 1820 to 1826 ; 
 and the substance of the whole is given in the text of the pre- 
 sent and the former chapter of this History. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 221 
 
 Yet with all their defects, proofs have been fre- 
 quently adduced above that they were intelligible, 
 and often made useful even to the heathen ; while 
 to the Christians and children in their schools, they 
 were especially serviceable. In the Ninth Memoir 
 respecting the " Translations and Editions of the 
 Sacred Scriptures/' published in 1823, is given a 
 collection of testimonies to the accuracy of several 
 versions, from persons in India the most competent 
 to judge, a both European and native. One of the 
 collection will suffice here. We take the first, and 
 it is a fair specimen of the whole. It is from the 
 chief Pundit in the Supreme Court of Fort William. 
 " This translation of the Scriptures which has been 
 made into the Sanscrit language, will be understood 
 with ease by all who really understand the San- 
 scrit language." A similar character is given in 
 the same Memoir of twenty other versions. In the 
 journals of missionaries of different societies, we 
 frequently meet with practical evidence to the same 
 effect, gathered incidentally from their intercourse 
 with natives of all castes : and it is hard to imagine 
 an unprejudiced mind rising from the investigation 
 of all this testimony, and yet continuing to speak 
 disparagingly of works so attested. 
 
 The translation and publication of religious tracts 
 continued to advance, as already seen above, through 
 the present decade ; also the publication of gram- 
 mars and other elementary works, in several lan- 
 guages, for the use of the schools. Some works of 
 oriental literature were published at the Serampore 
 press, translated or edited by the missionaries, or 
 the members of their families. Some of these had 
 no immediate bearing on the progress of Christianity 
 in India ; yet while the works on European sciences 
 tended to enlarge and civilise the native mind, 
 those of Hindoo literature were serviceable to Euro- 
 
222 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 c ?v P * P eans i n the study of the languages, religion, and 
 _ customs of the country. 
 
 It may not be thought out of place to relate here the end of 
 Earn Mohun Boy, who created so lamentable an interruption to 
 the progress of the Grospel in Bengal. In 1831, he made a 
 voyage to England on business for the Kajah of Delhi. In 
 this country he moved among the middle and higher classes of 
 society, and every where awakened interest by his abilities 
 and urbanity. He professed to receive the Scriptures as of 
 authority to regulate his belief and conduct, yet rejected the 
 doctrines of Christ's divinity and atonement, and also the sanctifi- 
 cation of the Holy Spirit. He held personal merit to be the 
 sole ground of expecting future happiness. He died in Eng- 
 land in 1833, holding these opinions to the last. (Missionary 
 Eegister 1831, pp. 206, 207; 1833, p. 472). 
 
 In this melancholy case we have another proof of the insuffi- 
 ciency of the best informed mind to compass the simple doc- 
 trines of revelation, unaided by Divine grace, and it should 
 move us the more earnestly to seek, on behalf of the heathen, 
 that regenerating influence, which alone can prepare their 
 understandings for the humble and thankful reception of the 
 saving truths of the Gospel. (Section 7.) 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 223 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSION TO BURMAH, 1817-1826. 
 
 1. THE commencement of this mission, in 1807, 
 by the Serampore missionaries, and its subsequent the cha- 
 transfer to the American Baptist Society, have customs 
 already been recorded. 1 The eventful chapter on of the 
 which we are now entering may be appropriately 
 opened with a brief account of the singular people 
 and their customs who inhabit the kingdom of 
 Burmah. 
 
 The Burmans are Boodhists, or a nation of athe- 
 ists. They believe that existence involves in itself 
 the principles of misery and destruction ; conse- 
 quently, that there is no eternal God. The whole 
 universe, they say, is only destruction and repro- 
 duction. It therefore becomes a wise man to raise 
 his desires above all things that exist, and aspire 
 to Nigban, the state in which there is no exist- 
 ence. Eewards and punishments follow merito- 
 rious and sinful acts, agreeably to the nature of 
 things. Gaudaama, their last boodh, or deity, in 
 
 1 B. xi. c. ii. s. 22. Messrs Chater and Felix Carey began 
 the mission work in Burmah, and were joined in 1813 by Mr 
 Judson, who had visited Serampore on his way. He was fol- 
 lowed by other missionaries from America in 1816, and the 
 American Baptist Convention undertook this mission. 
 
224 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, consequence of meritorious acts,, arrived at that 
 
 '__ state of perfection which made him deserving of 
 
 annihilation., which they esteem the supreme good. 
 His instructions are still in force, and will continue 
 till the appearance of the next deity, who is sup- 
 posed now to exist somewhere in embryo, and who, 
 when he appears, as the most perfect of all beings, 
 will introduce a new dispensation. 
 
 In the empire of Burmah, it is the practice to pay 
 very extraordinary honours to a white elephant, 
 which is considered peculiarly sacred, lodged near 
 the palace, and attended with great devotion, even 
 by the monarch himself. The following account 
 of this singular custom ought to inspire deep com- 
 miseration for a whole empire sunk in such asto- 
 nishing stupidity, as thus to honour and reverence 
 a mere unconscious brute ! 
 
 " The residence of the white elephant is con- 
 tiguous to the royal palace, with which it is con- 
 nected by a long open gallery, supported by 
 numerous rows of pillars. At the further end of 
 this gallery, a lofty curtain of black velvet, richly 
 embossed with gold, conceals the animal from the 
 eyes of the vulgar. Before this curtain the pre- 
 sents intended to be offered to him, consisting of 
 gold and silver muslins, broad cloths, otto of roses, 
 rose-water, Benares brocades, tea, &c. &c., were 
 displayed on carpets. After we had been made to 
 wait a short time, as is usual at the audiences of 
 the Burmese princes, the curtain was drawn up, 
 and discovered the august beast, of a small size, 
 the colour of sand, and very innocently playing 
 with his trunk, unconscious of the glory by which 
 he was surrounded ; the Burmans, at the same 
 time, bowing their heads to the ground. The 
 dwelling of the white elephant is a lofty hall, 
 richly gilt from top to bottom, both inside and 
 outside, and supported by sixty-four pillars, thirty- 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK X II f. 225 
 
 six of which are also richly gilt. His two fore- 
 feet were fastened by a thick silver chain to one 
 of these pillars, his hind legs being secured by 
 ropes. His bedding consisted of a thick straw 
 mattrass, covered with the finest blue cloth, over 
 which was spread another of softer materials, 
 covered with crimson silk. The animal has a re- 
 gular household, consisting of a woonghee, or chief 
 minister ; moondduk, or secretary of state ; sere- 
 ghee, or inferior secretary ; nakaun, or obtainer of 
 intelligence ; and other inferior ministers, who 
 were all present to receive us. Besides these, he 
 has other officers, who transact the business of 
 several estates that he possesses in various parts 
 of the country ; and an establishment of one thou- 
 sand men, including guards, servants, and other 
 attendants. His trappings are of extreme magni- 
 ficence, being all of gold, and the richest gold cloth, 
 thickly studded with large diamonds, pearls, sap- 
 phires, rubies, and other precious stones. His 
 betel box, spitting pot, and bangles, and the ves- 
 sels out of which he eats and drinks, are likewise 
 of gold, and inlaid with numerous precious stones. 
 On the curtain being drawn up, we were desired 
 to imitate the Burmese in their prostrations ; com- 
 pliance, however, was not insisted on. The white 
 elephant appeared to me to be a diseased animal, 
 whose colour had been changed by a species of 
 leprosy. 
 
 " These honours are said to be paid to the white 
 elephant, on account of an animal of this descrip- 
 tion being the last stage of many millions of trans- 
 migrations through which a soul passes previous to 
 entering Nigban, or Paradise ; or, according to the 
 Burmese doctrine, previous to her being absorbed 
 into the Divine essence, or rather altogether anni- 
 hilated. One of the king's titles is Lord of the 
 White, Red, and Mottled Elephants ; and, I am 
 
 VOL. v. p 
 
226 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, informed, the same distinction is shewn to those of 
 
 \T 
 
 L. the first mentioned colours by the Siamese. 
 
 " An elephant, termed red, was kept in a veran- 
 dah of the white elephant's residence ; but I could 
 perceive, in his colour, little differing from that of 
 any other. The king was in the habit of paying 
 his respects to the white elephant every morning, 
 and of attending when he was taken to the river 
 to be washed, and he paid this beast the same ho- 
 nours as he received from his household." ] 
 
 The Burmans are a lively, industrious, and ener- 
 getic race, and farther advanced in civilisation than 
 most of the eastern nations. They are frank and 
 candid, and destitute of the pusillanimity which 
 characterises the Hindoos, and that revengeful 
 malignity which is a leading trait in the Malay 
 character. The passion of jealousy, which prompts 
 most eastern nations to immure their women and 
 surround them with guards, seems to have little 
 influence on the minds of the Burmans ; for their 
 wives and daughters have as free intercourse with 
 the other sex, as the rules of European society ad- 
 mit. The Burmans are extremely fond both of 
 poetry and music ; and their language has been 
 highly cultivated in composition, for they have 
 numerous works in religion, history, and science, 
 some of them written in the most flowing and 
 beautiful style ; and much ingenuity is manifested 
 in the construction of their stories. Some of their 
 men are powerful logicians, and take delight in 
 investigating new subjects. 
 
 All the boys in the empire are taught by the 
 priests, who are dependent for their support on the 
 contributions of the people ; but no attention is 
 
 1 From a travelling journal, quoted in the Missionary Re- 
 cord, vol. ii. pp. 139-141. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 227 
 
 given to female education, excepting in a few in- 
 stances in the higher classes of society, 
 
 2. Such were the people whose conversion to Encourag- 
 the faith of Christ was undertaken by Baptist mis- ^f n ^ m " 
 sionaries from America. At the close of the decade mentofthe 
 of the Baptist mission at Serampore ending in 1816, mission - 
 we left Messrs Judson and Hough living in retire- 
 ment in Burmah, and diligently employed in pre- 
 paring for future operations. Mr Judson had already 
 completed a summary of the Christian religion in 
 Burmese, which he published as a tract, besides a 
 grammar and dictionary of the same language. He 
 
 had also made great progress in the translation of 
 the Scriptures ; and in 1817, when the Gospel of 
 St Matthew was finished, Mr Hough commenced 
 printing an edition of eight hundred copies, as 
 introductory to a larger edition of the whole Testa- 
 ment. Mrs Judson also made herself very useful 
 in the mission,, and was in the habit of meeting 
 between twenty and thirty females every Sunday, 
 to read and converse with them about the " new 
 religion," as they called Christianity. Four or five 
 children, who were under instruction, had com- 
 mitted the catechism to memory, and often re- 
 peated it to each other. 2 
 
 3. When beginning from this promising com- Beginning 
 
 -. . , \ . f , of the mis- 
 
 mencement to feel encouraged in their work, they sionaries' 
 were suddenly checked by the serious illness of Mr trouble s- 
 Judson, whose head and general health were much 
 
 2 Besides the Baptist Society's Reports and the Missionary 
 Herald, together with the Missionary Register, used in the last 
 chapter, we now refer to the Reports of the American Baptist 
 Board of Foreign Missions, and the American Baptist Magazine ; 
 to Mrs Judson's Account of the Burman Mission, and the New 
 York Missionary Herald ; to Dr Brown's History of Missions, 
 vol. ii. pp. 620, &c. ; and the Missionary Records, vol. ii. 
 c- vi. 
 
228 HISTORY or CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, affected by close application to study. The subtle 
 v ' and atheistical people around him also contributed 
 to increase his sufferings by their perverse disputa- 
 tions. The Burmese, however barbarous in their 
 general manners, were proud of their intellectual 
 skill, and they harassed him unceasingly with 
 metaphysical discussions on the person and abstract 
 nature of God. 1 At length, needing rest for his 
 body and mind, and finding none among this cavil- 
 ling people, he determined to leave home for a 
 short season, in hopes of returning to his work 
 with renovated strength. Accordingly he em- 
 barked for Chittagong, for the twofold purpose of 
 recruiting his health and endeavouring to prevail 
 upon one of the Arracanese converts to return with 
 him, and assist in communicating the Gospel to 
 the Burmans. 
 
 The time of his absence was " a dark period," as 
 Mrs Judson expressed it, " when the Burman mis- 
 sion seemed on the very verge of destruction ; " 
 but it pleased God mercifully to avert the peril, 
 not, however, without calling this admirable woman 
 to trials of heroic fortitude, which do honour to her 
 sex. For nearly three months she had received 
 no tidings of her husband, when a native boat 
 arrived, twelve days from Chittagong, bringing the 
 
 1 An anecdote may be related here to shew how acutely Mr 
 Judson felt this part of his trial. On one occasion, while resid- 
 ing with the Kev. Mr Thompson at Madras, and still suffering 
 much in his head, after conversing with his host about the 
 Burmese, he became fretted by the remembrance of their con- 
 duct, and exclaimed, with tears starting to his eyes, " Oh ! I 
 would give the world for one new argument for the Being of 
 God." (Mrs Judson's account, p. 130.) In referring to this 
 circumstance, Mr Thompson remarks to the author, " It was a 
 most affecting sight. Poor fellow ! he seemed almost over- 
 whelmed." 
 
 3 Account, p. 112. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 229 
 
 distressing intelligence that neither Mr Judson, 
 nor the vessel on which he sailed, had been heard 
 of at that port. 
 
 Mrs Judson' s anxiety on the receipt of these 
 tidings may well be imagined ; but she was not 
 left long in silence to distress herself with conjec- 
 turing what had befallen her husband ; for two 
 or three days after, an order was issued for the 
 banishment of all Portuguese priests from the 
 country ; and Mr Hough received a command, 
 couched in the most menacing language, to appear 
 immediately at the Court-House and give an account 
 of himself, under a pretended suspicion that he 
 was one of them. For two days he had been sub- 
 jected to a most harassing inquisition ; when, on the 
 third day, being Sunday, another message was 
 received from the Court-House for his attendance, 
 in the hope, as it afterwards appeared, of extorting 
 money from him . Mrs Judson nowadvised an appeal 
 to the Viceroy himself ; and Mr Hough, not being 
 sufficiently acquainted with the language to allow 
 of his going in person, she, in defiance of all cus- 
 tom and etiquette of the Court, resolved herself to 
 venture on the perilous undertaking. Taking with 
 her a petition, drawn up in the names of the 
 mission family, in which they complained espe- 
 cially of the intrusion upon them on their " sacred 
 day," she boldly presented herself before the Vice- 
 roy, in company with Mr Hough. Extraordinary 
 as was the appearance of a female at his Court, 
 no sooner did she catch his eye, than he called her 
 to come in and make known her request. On 
 hearing her petition read, he sharply expressed 
 his displeasure, to the very officer who had been 
 the chief agent in their annoyance, at the delay 
 which had been made in Mr Hough's examination. 
 He also gave a written order that he should not 
 be called on his " sacred day;" and when it was 
 
230 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 known that he was not a Portuguese priest, the 
 Viceroy gave command that he should be molested 
 no more. 
 
 Mission- 4. About this time the cholera morbus began to 
 ra e among the natives, which was a fresh cause 
 of trouble to the mission family, soon, however, to 
 be succeeded by one surpassing ail that had gone 
 before. A misunderstanding having arisen between 
 the British and Burman Governments, and a report 
 being spread abroad that the English were coming 
 to invade the country, the Burman authorities, 
 together with the whole population, became greatly 
 excited. All Rangoon was thrown into a savage 
 state of tumult ; no European life was safe. Im- 
 mediately the vessels on the coast got under weigh, 
 and when one only was left, Mr Hough, who had 
 for some time been desirous to quit, prevailed with 
 Mrs Judson to embark with him and his family 
 for Bengal. But she yielded to his entreaties with 
 great reluctance. Scarcely could she persuade her- 
 self, even now, that the cause was sufficient to 
 warrant her flight from a station to which she could 
 not doubt that God in his providence had called 
 her. Still she clung, too, to the hope that her 
 husband might return, and was agonized to think 
 what his distress of mind would be to find her gone 
 and the mission wholly forsaken. Nevertheless, if 
 it were right to go, this was the only oppor- 
 tunity of escape that remained. The danger of 
 continuing she saw was appalling; at last she gave 
 way, yielded to her friends' solicitations, and went 
 on board with them. The vessel was some days 
 in going down the river ; and when on the point 
 of putting out to sea, the captain and officers ascer- 
 tained that it was in a dangerous state, in conse- 
 quence of having been improperly loaded, and must 
 be detained a day or two in the place where they 
 then lay. Instantly did she resolve to return ; and 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 231 
 
 her companions still holding their determination 
 to flee,, this noble-minded woman,, strong in faith 
 and conjugal devotion, went back alone to her 
 solitary abode in the mission-house, trusting in the 
 shadow of the most High, in the midst of a people 
 at all times difficult to dwell amongst, but now 
 specially dangerous, in consequence of their being 
 infuriated against all of European complexion. She 
 found on the premises some of the mission servants, 
 who welcomed her with joy ; and in the assurance 
 of God's protection, she felt a peace of mind which 
 the dangers that encompassed her could not disturb. 
 
 5. Her faith, and hope, and love, were, through They are 
 Divine mercy, speedily requited. In a few days 
 Mr and Mrs Hough returned to the mission- 
 house, as the ship would not be able to proceed on 
 her voyage, it was found, for some weeks ; and in 
 the short compass of eight days more, she received 
 the joyful intelligence that Mr Judson had arrived 
 at the mouth of the river. The correctness of her 
 apprehension what his feelings would be to find her 
 gone on his arrival, was now confirmed. When 
 the pilot came on board the vessel, he was over- 
 whelmed with the intelligence, that on account of 
 the dangerous situation of affairs, the mission had 
 been broken up, and that they had all taken pas- 
 sage for Bengal. 1 To his great relief, however, he 
 shortly after received more correct information, 
 and as soon as wind and tide would permit, they 
 proceeded up the river, and his devoted wife had 
 the inexpressible happiness of embracing him again. 
 They had now been separated eight months, during 
 which time both had passed through severe trials, 
 the greatest of which was their anxiety for each 
 other. The vessel in which Mr Judson sailed for 
 
 Account, p. 130. 
 
232 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Chittagong not being able, through contrary winds, 
 to reach that port, they were tossed about in the 
 Bay of Bengal for three months, when they made 
 for Masulipatam. Mr Judson then left the vessel 
 and proceeded to Madras, hoping to find a passage 
 home from thence ; but this was the first he could 
 secure, and in the joy of their meeting, the remem- 
 brance of their past sufferings served to enhance 
 their gratitude to God for their present deliver- 
 ance. Painful as was the trial of their protracted 
 separation, it was a kind Providence which com- 
 pelled him to so long a cessation from his work. 
 We have seen how he was distracted by the dis- 
 putations of the Burmese, and such was his state at 
 Madras, that, but for this constraint mercifully laid 
 upon him, there can be little doubt that his mind 
 would soon have been gone, past hope of recovery. 
 TWO mis- 6. A few weeks after Mr Judson's return, in 
 fJonT nes September 1818, two young missionaries arrived 
 America, from America, named Edward W. Wheelock and 
 James Colman. Mr Wheelock was unable from 
 the state of his health to enter upon his work, and 
 in a few months he was taken from them. He 
 had suffered much on the voyage, and a week after 
 his arrival he was attacked with an illness which 
 soon reduced him to a low state. Every means at 
 hand was used for his recovery, but without avail ; 
 and it was at last deemed advisable to try the 
 effect of a voyage to Bengal ; but he came to an 
 untimely end before the vessel reached Calcutta. 
 Com- 7. In the year 1819 Mr Hough proceeded to 
 
 mento'f Serampore, leaving Messrs Judson and Colman in 
 public charge of the mission. In the spring of this year 
 
 worship. P -i i -I / 
 
 a piece of ground was purchased, and a place of 
 worship, called a zayat, was erected near the mis- 
 sion-house, by the public road side. Mr Judson 
 had already been accustomed to assemble his do- 
 mestics daily for family devotion, and also to 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 233 
 
 expound the Gospel to the natives, from the time 
 that he could make himself understood ; but on 
 April 4th the building of the zayat being sufficiently 
 advanced for the purpose, he performed public wor- 
 ship for the first time. He had previously con- 
 structed what he calls " the skeleton of a Burman 
 Liturgy/' 1 filling up such parts as were more imme- 
 diately required, which he found of great use in 
 conducting the public service. The attendance 
 was small, and much disorder and inattention pre- 
 vailed, which was attributed to the novelty of the 
 scene. Here Mr Judson had daily opportunity of 
 conversing with the people in front of the zayat, 
 and of declaring to them the glad tidings of salva- 
 tion. Mrs Judson also resumed her meetings with 
 the females, which had been given up, from the 
 scattered state of the Burmans around them, at a 
 time of peculiar difficulty. Mr and Mrs Colman 
 were occupied in acquiring the language. 
 
 8. These exertions were not lost. They soon Favour 
 began to see the word of God taking effect. For ^ll^n ' 
 some time the Burmans had supposed that the mis- n the 
 sionaries came amongst them merely to obtain natlves< 
 their wisdom, in order to return to their native 
 country and communicate it to others ; but seeing, 
 after having acquired their language, that instead 
 of leaving them, they built a place of public wor- 
 ship, and that Mr Judson spent almost all his time 
 in preaching the " New Keligion," they changed 
 their minds, believed that they were come to do 
 
 1 In a private letter to Rev. Marmaduke Thompson, Chaplain 
 at Madras, dated from Rangoon, July 31. 1819. He had made 
 the acquaintance of this gentleman during his visit to Madras, 
 and finding in him a cordial friend to his mission, he main- 
 tained a correspondence with him, describing his progress and 
 trials. The author is now writing from Mr Judson's second 
 letter, lent to him by Mr Thompson, with other original docu- 
 ments, for the present History. 
 
234 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, them good, and acknowledged that it must be a 
 L_ singular religion, and worthy of attention to pro- 
 duce such effects. 
 
 The first 9. l n the month of June, they had the happiness 
 of receiving their first Burmese convert. His name 
 was Moung Nau, and he was about thirty-five 
 years old. This man was among the most constant 
 of the hearers at the zayat, and had now resided 
 with the mission family some time, that he might 
 be in the way of constant instruction. At length, 
 on the 6th of June, he wrote the following letter 
 to Mr Judson, in which he avowed his conversion 
 to the faith of Christ, and requested to be bap- 
 tized : 
 
 " I, Moung Nau, the constant recipient of your 
 excellent favour, approach your feet. Whereas 
 my Lords three have come to the country of Bur- 
 mah, not for the purpose of trade, but to preach 
 the religion of Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal 
 God, I, having heard and understood, am, with a 
 joyful mind, filled with love. 
 
 " I believe that the Divine Son, Jesus Christ, 
 suffered death, in the place of men, to atone for 
 their sins. Like a heavy laden man, I feel my 
 sins are very many. The punishment of my sins 
 I deserve to suffer. Since it is so, do you, sirs, 
 consider, that I, taking refuge in the merit of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and receiving baptism in order 
 to become his disciple, shall dwell, one with your- 
 selves, a band of brothers, in the happiness of 
 heaven, and (therefore) grant me the ordinance of 
 baptism. 
 
 " It is through the grace of Jesus Christ, that 
 you, sirs, have come, by ship, from one country and 
 continent to another, and that we have met to- 
 gether. I pray my Lords three, that a suitable 
 day may be appointed, and that I may receive the 
 ordinance of baptism. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 235 
 
 " Moreover, as it is only since I met with you, 
 sirs, that I have known about the eternal God, I 
 venture to pray, that you will still unfold to me 
 the religion of God, that my old disposition may 
 be destroyed, and my new disposition improved." 
 
 Besides the terms of this letter, which proceeded 
 entirely from himself, he gave, in his uniform con- 
 duct, satisfactory evidence of having embraced the 
 truth in sincerity ; and on the following Sunday 
 Mr Judson administered to him the ordinance of 
 baptism. After his admission into the communion 
 of the church, he continued to manifest an excel- 
 lent spirit, and to give great and increasing satis- 
 faction to his teacher. The missionaries subse- 
 quently employed him as a copyist, with a view to 
 the enlargement of his mind, in order to qualify him 
 for the service of the Gospel among his countrymen. 
 
 10. The baptism of Moung Nau took place a The next 
 short time before the sixth anniversary of this ^g 0011 " 
 mission, and was followed in November by that of 
 
 two other Burmans. The name of one was Moung 
 Byaay. This man, with his family, had lived near 
 the missionaries for some time, regularly attended 
 Divine worship, was a remarkably moral character, 
 and, though fifty years old, had taken the trouble 
 of learning to read. The name of the other was 
 Moung Thahlah. He was a clever person, had 
 read much more than the generality of his coun- 
 trymen, and had been for some time under the 
 missionaries' instruction. These two men, giving 
 in very interesting accounts of their state of mind, 
 applied for baptism, which was administered to 
 them on November 7th. A few days after, the 
 three converts, of their own accord, held the first 
 Burman prayer meeting at the zayat. 
 
 11. At this time the brethren stood in need of Death of 
 the encouragement which these first-fruits of their 
 labours afforded them ; so mercifully did the Lord 
 
236 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, prepare them for the trials that were at hand. 
 
 L_ Some months before, the old king of Ava had died, 
 
 and his eldest grandson, the declared heir- appa- 
 rent, succeeded him on the throne. His accession 
 was, as usual, attended with much bloodshed at 
 Ava, and a change of the local governments 
 throughout the empire ; and the missionaries lived 
 in continual apprehension of the consequences to 
 their little band. The former king was hostile to 
 the priests of Buddhu, and frequently manifested 
 his feelings by such acts of persecution, as kept 
 that religion in a low and declining state, which may 
 account for the little molestation hitherto offered 
 to the promulgation of the gospel ; but the hopes 
 of the priests and their adherents now revived, 
 and every discovery of the new king's disposition 
 tended to restore the religious establishment of the 
 country to its former privileges and rank. 
 Unfavour- 12. This alteration of affairs soon extended to 
 chlno-e Rangoon, and the missionaries were not long in 
 in the feeling its unfavourable effect on their work. Be- 
 sid es their three converts, they had received some 
 inquirers, who gave hope of their sincerity. One 
 of these was a young man of learning and influ- 
 ence, and a teacher of considerable distinction. 
 His name was Moung Shway-guang, and on his 
 first acquaintance with the missionaries he ap- 
 peared to be half deist and half sceptic, and for a 
 long time engaged in disputation with them. At 
 length, however, he avowed himself convinced of 
 the truth of the gospel, and became so attentive 
 to it, that the enemies of the " new religion " ac- 
 cused him before the viceroy of having embraced 
 heretical sentiments. The principal informant was 
 the head of ecclesiastical affairs in Rangoon ; and 
 upon the viceroy directing further inquiry to be 
 made into the allegation, the young man, taking 
 alarm, went to his chief opponent, made his peace 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 237 
 
 with him,, and discontinued his public attendance 
 on the missionaries, though continuing to visit 
 them in private. Others also who had resorted to 
 them now grew alarmed,, and the zayat became 
 almost deserted. But the three converts remained 
 faithful,, though it was generally expected that the 
 labours of the brethren would soon be proscribed 
 by authority from the government. 
 
 13. Under these circumstances,, they resolved to Mission- 
 proceed to the court of Ava, lay their missionary 
 designs before the throne, and solicit toleration for 
 the Christian religion. Accordingly, they left Ran- 
 goon in December ; and, after toiling up the river 
 Irrawaddy three hundred and fifty miles, in almost 
 continual danger from the daring robbers who in- 
 fest it, they reached Ava on the 25th of January 
 1820. On their arrival they proceeded to the 
 house of an officer whom they had known when 
 viceroy of Rangoon, and through him obtained 
 admission to the royal presence. Knowing that 
 the king was not to be approached without a pre- 
 sent, they had prepared one appropriate to their 
 character, the BIBLE, in six volumes, covered with 
 golden leaf, in Burman style, each volume being 
 enclosed in a rich envelope. They were intro- 
 duced by Moung Zah, the private minister of state, 
 and found the king surrounded by splendours ex- 
 ceeding their expectation. The spacious extent of 
 the hall of audience, the number and magnitude of 
 the pillars, the height of the dome, which was 
 completely covered with gold, presented a grand 
 and imposing spectacle. As the king was passing 
 through the hall, he stopped when he came to the 
 missionaries, who were kneeling, and asked, 
 " Who are these ?" " The teachers, great king," 
 Mr Judson replied. " What ! you speak Burman 
 the priests that I heard of last night ? When 
 did you arrive ? Are you teachers of religion ? 
 
238 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 \ 
 
 CHAP. Are you like the Portuguese priest ? Are you 
 
 L_ married ? Why do you dress so ?" These and 
 
 similar questions being answered, apparently to 
 his satisfaction, he sat down on an elevated seat, 
 his hand resting on the hilt of a sword, in a sheath 
 of gold, which he had carried in his hand, and his 
 eyes intently fixed on the brethren. 
 
 Moung Zah now read their petition aloud, and 
 when ended, the king himself deliberately read it 
 through, and gave it back to the minister, who 
 then put into his hand a tract, which the mission- 
 aries had requested him to present. As the king 
 looked on it, their hearts rose to God on this eja- 
 culation, for a display of His grace " Oh ! have 
 mercy on Burmah ! have mercy on her king ! " 
 He held the tract long enough to read the first 
 two sentences, which asserted that there is One 
 Eternal God, who is independent of the incidents 
 of mortality, and that, beside Him, there is no 
 God. He then dashed it to the ground, and with 
 it fell the missionaries' hope. Moung Zah made 
 another attempt to conciliate him, by unfolding 
 one of the volumes of their present, and displaying 
 its beauty, but he took no notice of it ; and after 
 a few minutes the minister interpreted his royal 
 master's will in the following terms : " Why do 
 you ask for such permission ? Have not the Por- 
 tuguese, the English, the Mussulmans, and people 
 of all other religions, full liberty to practise and 
 worship according to their own customs ? In re- 
 gard to the objects of your petition, his majesty 
 gives no order. In regard to your sacred books, 
 his majesty has no use for them ; take them away." 
 After a temporary revival of their hopes, the mis- 
 sionaries found that the policy of the Burman go- 
 vernment, in regard to the toleration of any foreign 
 religion, is precisely the same as that of the Chi- 
 nese ; that it is quite out of the question, whether 
 
IN INDIA: BOOK xm. 239 
 
 any of the subjects of the emperor, who embrace a 
 religion different from his own,, will be exempt 
 from punishment ; and that they, in presenting a 
 petition to that effect, were thought to have been 
 guilty of a most egregious mistake, an unpardon- 
 able offence. 
 
 Something was at last said about Mr Colman's 
 skill in medicine, when the king once more opened 
 his mouth, and said, " Let them proceed to the 
 residence of my physician, the Portuguese priest ; 
 let him examine whether they can be useful to me 
 in that line, and report accordingly." 
 
 They were immediately hurried away to the said 
 physician, who very speedily ascertained that they 
 were in possession of no wonderful secret, which 
 would secure the emperor from all disease, and 
 make him live for ever. It afterwards transpired 
 that this medical inquisitor gave a very false re- 
 port of them, asserting that they were a sect of 
 Zandees, a race that had been very obnoxious to 
 former emperors. 
 
 14. The brethren returned to their boat ex- Their re - 
 hausted in body and mind, and immediately bent Rangoon, 
 their course homeward. They reached Rangoon 
 on the 18th of February, and began to think of 
 abandoning the mission ; for, though permitted to 
 retain their religion, toleration to foreigners being 
 the law of the empire, yet death was threatened to 
 every Burman who should leave the religion of his 
 fathers. It seemed hopeless, therefore, to labour 
 any longer for the conversion of a people in the face 
 of such danger ; but this apprehension shewed their 
 want of faith in the power of Divine grace to for- 
 tify the soul against all fear of man. They found 
 the three baptized converts unmoved by any threat- 
 ened danger. They gave them a full account of 
 their reception at the capital, apprehending that 
 when they saw their teachers driven away in dis- 
 
240 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, grace from the presence of their monarch, they 
 IV ' would have little zeal for a cause thus proscribed 
 and persecuted ; but they were mistaken. All of 
 them appeared firmer than ever in their attach- 
 ment to the Gospel, and vied with each other in 
 trying to explain away difficulties, and to convince 
 their teachers that the cause was not yet desperate. 
 Fidelity of 15. < < But whither are the teachers going?" the 
 verts. on poor men anxiously inquired. The brethren as- 
 sured them, in reply, that it was their intention 
 never to desert Burmah ; explained to them the 
 circumstances of Chittagong, whither they proposed 
 to retreat till the Lord should remove their present 
 dangers ; and then, in their turn, asked the con- 
 verts what they would do during their absence ? 
 Two of them proposed to bear them company. The 
 third, Moung Byaay, remained silent and thought- 
 ful ; at last he said, that as no Burman woman was 
 allowed to leave the country, on his wife's account 
 he could not follow them ; but, continued he, with 
 some pathos, " If I must be left here alone, I shall 
 remain performing the duties of Jesus Christ's reli- 
 gion ; I shall think of no other." This interview 
 rejoiced the missionaries' hearts, and filled them 
 with gratitude to God for the grace manifested in 
 these converts. 
 
 MrJudson 16. Moung Byaay, however, could neither eat 
 n r sleep at the thoughts of losing his teachers, and 
 came to them again four days after, accompanied 
 by his brother-in-law, who was also an inquirer 
 after truth, to entreat them not to go. He told 
 them that he had been round among those who 
 lived near them, and found some who even then 
 were examining the new religion ; and expressed 
 his conviction that, if they staid a few months 
 longer, till eight or ten disciples were made, and 
 then appointed one to be the teacher of the rest, 
 the religion would spread of itself, though they 
 
 * 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII, 241 
 
 should leave the country. " The emperor himself 
 cannot stop it/' he exclaimed. How satisfactory, 
 how beautiful,, this disciple's simple faith in the 
 power of the Gospel ! And it proved as encour- 
 aging as beautiful to the missionaries. Moung 
 Byaay was joined in these entreaties and assurances 
 by Moung Nau, who came in while he was speak- 
 ing ; and the missionaries, moved to tears by their 
 importunity, promised that they should not be for- 
 saken. It was, therefore, determined that Mr Col- 
 man should proceed to Chittagong, and that Mr 
 Judson should remain. 
 
 17. Private worship was now resumed in the Progress 
 zayat, the front doors being closed to avoid the Gospel, 
 observation of enemies, who watched for an oppor- 
 tunity to accuse any natives who might attend. 
 Inquirers increased, notwithstanding surrounding 
 difficulties, or sufferings in prospect, and five per- 
 sons were ere long baptized. Among these was the 
 principal woman in Mrs Judson's female company, 
 and Moung Shway-gnong, the celebrated teacher, 
 who had before forsaken the public ministrations of 
 the Gospel through fear of its enemies. The mis- 
 sionaries had met with him on their way home 
 from Ava, and remonstrated with him on the incon- 
 sistency of his conduct. They thought, however, 
 notwithstanding, that his mind was improved, and 
 could not but indulge the hope that he would one 
 day become more stedfast in the faith. That day 
 had now arrived. When he presented himself again 
 to Mr Judson, at Eangoon, he described the diffi- 
 culties that encompassed him with so much feeling, 
 and with such evident consciousness of his own 
 weakness, that the missionary was disarmed ; his 
 heart was wrung with pity, and he sincerely sym- 
 pathised with him in his mental trials. He com- 
 forted, and instructed him ; he prayed with him ; 
 till at length, through the Holy Spirit's application 
 
 VOL. v. Q 
 
242 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, of the word to his soul, his pride of intellect was 
 v> humbled, his fear of the world overcome, and he was 
 baptized in the faith of the Lord Jesus. For a 
 short time after his conversion he assisted Mr Jud- 
 son in the revision of those parts of the New Tes- 
 tament which were not yet published ; but the 
 opponents of the Gospel did not long leave him 
 unmolested, and he soon found it necessary to flee 
 for his life. At present he took up his abode about 
 one hundred miles from Kangoon ; and, having 
 previously furnished himself with tracts and por- 
 tions of Scripture, he fearlessly employed himself 
 in disseminating his new religion, and excited no 
 little commotion among the inhabitants of the place. 
 The accusation and flight of Moung Shway- 
 gnong produced much alarm among the converts 
 and inquirers, the former attending divine worship 
 as privately as possible, while the latter almost en- 
 tirely withdrew. Mr Judson was now obliged to 
 shut up the zayat, and appropriate a room pre- 
 viously occupied by Mr Colman to the purpose of 
 religious instruction. The alarm, however, gradu- 
 ally subsided ; several more of the Burmans were 
 baptized, until at length their little church consisted 
 of no fewer than ten persons. Baptism was gene- 
 rally administered at night, in order to avoid pub- 
 licity ; and, except in their own private circle, it 
 was scarcely known that a single individual had 
 renounced Budhism, and been initiated into the 
 faith of Christ. On the 3d of July, the first Chris- 
 tian marriage was performed between persons of 
 pure Burman extraction. 
 
 Satisfac- 18. The little flock had now reached the state 
 
 racier of which Moung Byaay had expressed a wish that it 
 
 vert C n " m ight attain before their teacher left them ; and 
 
 Mrs Judson's precarious state of health induced 
 
 him, in July 1821, to take her to Bengal for the 
 
 benefit of medical advice. In the following Janu- 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 243 
 
 ary they returned, and found all the converts firm, 
 and the prospect hopeful. Mr Hough and his 
 family returned in the same month from Serampore. 
 In the month of March,, another Burman was bap- 
 tized ; while the viceroy shewed no disposition to 
 interfere with the mission ; and even defeated the 
 efforts of some of the priests to injure Moung 
 Shway-gnong. This man seemed now established 
 in the faith, and was still employed in revising the 
 New Testament ; and in this work Mr Judson de- 
 scribed him as " so particular and thorough/' that 
 they got on very slowly, " not more than ten verses 
 a day," he wrote, " though he is with me from nine 
 in the morning till sunset." 
 
 In the same journal Mr Judson gave this en- 
 couraging account of his little flock : " We had 
 the most pleasing assembly yesterday at worship 
 that I can recollect ; ten disciples, five hopeful in- 
 quirers, respectable people, and others, to the 
 amount of about twenty-five adults in all, exhibited 
 a spectacle which would have seemed, two years 
 ago, a perfect miracle." 
 
 19. A short time before the period which we Arrival of 
 have reached, a young physician, Dr Price, with ^ n ^~ y 
 his wife, had arrived from America for this mis- physician, 
 sion ; but Mrs Price did not long survive the heat 
 
 of the climate. Mrs Judson's health also again 
 declining, she embarked for Calcutta, and sailed 
 thence for Europe. 
 
 20. An important change now took place in the Hew sum- 
 circumstances of the mission. The brethren were 
 informed that the king had sometimes inquired 
 
 about the "American teachers," in a way to awaken 
 hope that another application might be more suc- 
 cessful than the first had proved. Eeports of Dr 
 Price's medical and surgical skill had reached his 
 majesty's ears ; in consequence of which an order 
 was despatched from Ava, requiring his attendance 
 
244 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, at the palace. Mr Judson thought it not right to 
 v ' let him go alone, yet the improving state of the 
 mission rendered his absence from Rangoon at this 
 time somewhat difficult. On the 21st of August 
 1822, he baptized his eighteenth convert. Two 
 more candidates for baptism remained, but one was 
 deterred by the fear of Government, the other by 
 fear of her husband. There were other inquirers 
 of great promise ; and Mr Judson esteemed it, on 
 the whole, one of the most interesting fields of 
 labour ever opened to a missionary. He naturally 
 felt, therefore, reluctant to leave it, though for a 
 short season; but duty seemed to call him to 
 Ava. 
 
 Favour- 21. Accordingly, leaving the mission in charge 
 ceive^by of Mr Hough, he set out, with Dr Price, on the 
 the king, ^gth of August, and reached the capital on the 
 27th of September. As soon as the king was in- 
 formed of their arrival, he ordered them to be im- 
 mediately introduced ; and as they entered, he 
 inquired, with apparent impatience, which was the 
 doctor ? When they were seated, he interrogated 
 Dr Price as to his skill in curing diseased eyes, 
 cutting out wens, setting broken bones, besides 
 many things to which his skill did not extend. 
 His medicines were then called for, and all his 
 stock inspected. His surgical instruments were 
 much admired. After looking at them, the king 
 sent for his own, one case of which being unlike 
 Dr Price's, he immediately gave it into his hands, 
 which was considered as equivalent to commanding 
 him in future to make the capital his place of 
 residence. The king and his courtiers seemed to 
 have been greatly amused with his galvanic pile. 
 
 But though the doctor met with so gracious a 
 reception, Mr Judson, who accompanied him, when- 
 ever called to the presence of the king, was not 
 noticed by his majesty for a few days. At last the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 245 
 
 king said to him, "And you in black, what are 
 you ? a medical man too ? " "Not a medical 
 man, but a teacher of religion, your majesty." The 
 king then asked him if any had embraced his reli- 
 gion ; to which he replied in the affirmative. His 
 majesty then put many questions to him on reli- 
 gion, geography, and astronomy. After Mr Jud- 
 son left the king, he held further conversations 
 with a royal secretary and other persons about the 
 court ; and upon the close of his last visit to the 
 palace, he observes "Thanks be to God for the 
 encouragement of this day ! The monarch of the 
 empire has distinctly understood that some of his 
 subjects have embraced the Christian religion, and 
 his wrath has been restrained." 
 
 22. The brethren's hopes for the mission were 
 now raised high indeed, and for a while all smiled 
 upon them at Ava They were desired to look out 
 a place there for themselves, with a promise from 
 his majesty to build them a habitation. A piece 
 of ground was secured for them, on the other side 
 of the river, opposite the palace ; and Mr Judson 
 was allowed to go back to Rangoon, on the under- 
 standing that he was to return and settle with Dr 
 Price at the capital. 
 
 23. After spending about four months there, Mr Transia 
 Judson left on the 23d of January 1823, and 
 reached Rangoon on February 2d. After his arrival 
 
 he occupied himself in completing his version of 
 the New Testament, which he accomplished some 
 time before midsummer. He had made some pro- 
 gress in the Old Testament also ; but finding it 
 requisite to suspend this work, in the speedy pros- 
 pect of returning to settle at Ava, he prepared an 
 epitome of the Old Testament, the reception of 
 which amply rewarded his labour in compiling 
 it, as it was read with eagerness and profit by 
 the converts. These he found stedfast in the 
 
246 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 faith, 1 but no addition had been made to their 
 number during his absence. 
 
 1 In the early stage of the different missions described in this 
 History, a specimen of the sentiments of one or more of the 
 first converts has heen given in their own words. Afterwards 
 their letters and compositions have become too numerous to 
 be noticed with more than a passing remark, though some of 
 them have been of equal interest, and as a.bly written. We 
 now give a specimen from one of the earliest converts at 
 Rangoon. It is a translation of a letter written by Moung 
 Shwa-ba to the Eev Dr Baldwin, and translated from the 
 Burman original : " Sept. 23, 1823. Shwa-ba, an inhabitant of 
 Rangoon, a town of Burmah, one who adheres to the religion 
 of Christ, and has been baptized ; who meditates on the im- 
 measurable, incalculable nature of the Divine splendour and glory 
 of the Invisible, even the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father, 
 and takes refuge in the wisdom, and power, and glory of God ; 
 affectionately addresses the great teacher Baldwin, a superin- 
 tendent of missionary affairs in the city of Boston, of America. 
 
 "BELOVED ELDER BROTHER Though in the present state, 
 the places of our residence are very far apart, and we have 
 never met ; yet by means of letters, and of the words of teacher 
 Judson, who has told me of you, I love you, and wish to send 
 you this letter. When the time arrives in which we shall 
 wholly put on Christ Him, in loving whom we cannot tire, 
 and in praising whom we can find no end, and shall be adorned 
 with those ornaments, which the Lord will dispense to us out 
 of the heavenly treasure-house that he has prepared, then we 
 shall love one another more perfectly than we do now. 
 
 " Formerly I was in the habit of concealing my sins, that 
 they might not appear ; but now I am convinced that I cannot 
 conceal my sins from the Lord, who sees and knows all things ; 
 and that I cannot atone for them, nor obtain atonement from 
 my former objects of worship. And, accordingly, I count my- 
 self to have lost all, under the elements of the world, and 
 through the grace of the faith of Christ only to have gained 
 the spiritual graces and rewards pertaining to eternity, which 
 cannot be lost. Therefore, I have no ground for boasting, 
 pride, fashion, and self- exaltation. And without desiring the 
 praise of men, or seeking my own will, I wish to do the will of 
 God the Father. The members of the body, dead in trespasses 
 and sins, displeasing to God, I desire to make instruments of 
 righteousness, not following the will of the flesh. Worldly de- 
 sire and heavenly desire being contrary the one tothe other, 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 247 
 
 24. Early in December 1823, Mrs Judson re- Arrival of 
 turned to Rangoon, accompanied by a new mis- missi^n- 
 
 and the desire of visible things counteracting the desire of in- 
 visible things, I am as a dead man. However, he quickens the 
 dead. He awakens those that sleep. He lifts up those that 
 fall. He opens blind eyes. He perforates deaf ears. He 
 lights a lamp in the great house of darkness. He relieves the 
 wretched. He feeds the hungry. The words of such a Bene- 
 factor, if we reject, we must die for ever, and come to everlast- 
 ing destruction. Which circumstance considering, and medi- 
 tating also on sickness, old age, and death, incident to the 
 present state of mutability, I kneel and prostrate myself, and 
 pray before God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has 
 made an atonement for our sins, that he may have mercy upon 
 me, and pardon my sins, and make me holy, and give me a re- 
 penting, believing, and loving mind. 
 
 " Formerly, I trusted in my own merits ; but now, through 
 the preaching and instruction of teacher Judson, I trust in the 
 merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. The teacher, therefore, is the 
 tree ; we are the blossoms and fruit. He has laboured to par- 
 take of the fruit, and now the tree begins to bear. The bread 
 of life he has given, and we eat. The water of the brook which 
 flows from the top of Mount Calvary, for the cleansing of all 
 filth, he has brought, and made us bathe and drink. The bread 
 of which we eat will yet ferment and rise. The water which 
 we drink and bathe in is the water of an unfailing spring ; and 
 many will yet drink and bathe therein. Then all things will 
 be regenerated and changed. Now we are strangers and pil- 
 grims ; and it is my desire, without adhering to the things of 
 this world, but longing for my native abode, to consider and 
 inquire how long I must labour here ; to whom I ought to shew 
 the light which I have obtained ; when I ought to put it up r 
 and when disclose it. 
 
 " The inhabitants of this country of Burmah, being in the 
 evil practice of forbidden lust, erroneous worship, and false 
 speech, deride the religion of Christ. However, that we may 
 bear patiently derision and persecution, and death, for the sake 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, pray for us. I do thus pray. For, 
 elder brother, I have to bear the threatening of my own bro- 
 ther, and my brother-in-law, who say, ' We will beat, and 
 bruise, and pound you ; we will bring you into great difficulty ; 
 you associate with false people ; you keep a false religion, and 
 you speak false words.' However, their false religion is the 
 religion of death. The doctrine of the cross is the religion of 
 
248 
 
 EIISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP; 
 
 V. 
 
 State of 
 the female 
 converts. 
 
 sionary, Mr Jonathan Wade, and his wife. Mr 
 Judson had not heard of his wife for thirteen 
 months, through the failure of her letters ; and on 
 the very day of her arrival he had abandoned all 
 hope of seeing her again. His feelings, therefore, 
 on her return we leave to be imagined. They 
 must have been a counterpart of her own emotions 
 on his unexpected arrival, after an absence from 
 her of eight months, as recorded in the present 
 chapter. Such instances of a merciful termination 
 to the trial of faith, tend greatly to encourage the 
 Lord's servants to hold fast their confidence in his 
 love, when threatened with tribulation in the path 
 of duty. 
 
 25. Mrs Judson was happy in her meeting with 
 the female converts, some of whom she described 
 as an honour to their Christian profession ; and she 
 wrote of one, the second woman who was baptized, 
 that she had died, in the triumphs of hope, a few 
 months before, assuring those who stood around her 
 that she should soon be in the presence of Christ. 
 This one instance of the power of Divine grace 
 Mrs Judson considered more than a compensation 
 for all their days of darkness and distress, formerly 
 
 life, of love, of faith. I am a servant of faith. Formerly I 
 was a servant of Satan, now I am a servant of Christ. And a 
 good servant cannot but follow his Master. Moreover, the 
 Divine promises must be accomplished. 
 
 " In this country of Burmah are many strayed sheep. Teacher 
 Judson, pitying them, has come to gather them together, and to 
 feed them in love. Some will not listen, but run away. Some 
 do listen, and adhere to him ; and that our numbers may in- 
 crease, we meet together, and pray to the Proprietor of the 
 sheep. 
 
 " Thus I, Moung Shwa-ba, a disciple of teacher Judson, in 
 Eangoon, write and send this letter to the great teacher Bald- 
 win, who lives in Boston, America." Missionary Records, vol. 
 ii. ch. vi. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 249 
 
 spent in preparation for their work. It appears 
 that Burman females are not in the same degraded 
 state as those in Hindoostan, a very large propor- 
 tion of them being taught to read ; and,, in Janu- 
 ary 1824,, the missionaries opened a free school, 
 which contained nine boys and seven girls. 
 
 26. Early in the same month Mr and Mrs Ju.d- Mr and 
 son set out for Ava, which they reached,, February scmpn?' 
 19th, after a journey of six weeks. They found ceedto 
 Dr Price as comfortable in his solitude as the fa- 
 vour of the king and attention of courtiers could 
 make him. He was superintending some mechani- 
 cal arrangements, which appeared highly accepta- 
 ble to the king. His majesty reposed entire con- 
 fidence in him, and admitted him near his person. 
 
 The building lot granted to the mission, was 245 
 cubits by 140 to 170. Here Dr Price had put up 
 a bamboo house, and was now erecting a more sub- 
 stantial habitation, having a royal order for as 
 many bricks as he might want. The house was 
 nearly completed, and the king seemed gratified 
 with its situation and appearance, and expressed 
 his desire that similar houses should be built on 
 the " Golden River." He also promised similar 
 privileges to every American or English missionary 
 who should settle at Ava. Mr and Mrs Judson 
 met with a favourable reception at court. Mrs 
 Judson's appearance, indeed, excited great curi- 
 osity, and &_ie received several tokens of his ma- 
 jesty's favour. Every thing seemed to promise 
 a successful commencement to the mission at Ava ; 
 and though under the dominion of a despotic 
 government, the missionaries felt no apprehension 
 for their personal safety. This bright prospect, ***' 
 however, was too soon overcast, and their lives against 
 were brought into imminent peril. indif ast 
 
 27. For some time past the young king of Bur- Com- 
 mah had cherished the ambitious design of invad- riSa! 61 " 
 
250 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Arrival of 
 a British 
 Fleet at 
 Rangoon. 
 
 Imprison- 
 ment and 
 sufferings 
 of the Eu- 
 ropeans. 
 
 ing Bengal ; and with this intent he had collected 
 an army of thirty thousand men,, under the com- 
 mand of his successful general,, Maha Bandoola. It 
 was reported that he had provided the general with 
 a pair of golden fetters,, designed to be worn by the 
 Governor- General of India, Marquis Hastings, when 
 he^ should be led as a captive to the "golden feet" 
 at Ava. The encroachments of the Burmese Go- 
 vernment on the Company's possessions had been 
 long a subject of complaint ; and after treating all 
 the pacific endeavours of the British to obtain re- 
 dress only with neglect, they at last made prepara- 
 tions for the invasion of Hindoostan. 
 
 28. The Bengal Government, however, resolved 
 to anticipate the blow, and so quick were they in 
 their movements, that the fleet conveying the 
 troops arrived at the mouth of the river soon after 
 the missionaries at Rangoon had heard that war 
 was declared against the Burmans. They had been 
 assured that all grievances were amicably settled ; 
 but 011 the 10th of May 1824, information came 
 that a number of ships were at the mouth of the 
 river. 
 
 29. The consternation into which the place was 
 thrown by this intelligence may be easily imagined. 
 The English gentlemen at Rangoon, together with 
 the missionaries, loaded with fetters, were imme- 
 diately thrown into prison. Most of the attendants 
 at the mission-house fled, leaving the missionaries' 
 wives, with only a few servants, and one of the 
 native converts, Moung Shwa-ba, who remained to 
 pray with and console them. In the morning, the 
 fleet was in sight of the town, and received a shot 
 from the Burmans. The English answered it with 
 two shots ; and in a few moments after they were 
 fired, most of the Burmans took what property 
 they could and fled. Each prisoner had an execu- 
 tioner placed over him, with orders to strike off his 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 251 
 
 head when the first English gun was fired : but as 
 soon as the firing commenced they were so panic 
 struck,, that they all slunk into one corner of the 
 prison, speechless, and almost breathless. The 
 next shot made the prison tremble, and the in- 
 mates expected the whole roof to fall upon them. 
 The third fire made the keepers rush to the door. 
 The prisoners used every effort to persuade them 
 to remain, but all to no purpose ; they broke open 
 the door and fled, not, however, without fastening 
 the door on the outside. In a few moments the 
 firing ceased, when the prisoners expected that the 
 troops were landing, and hoped to be soon released ; 
 but instead of this, about fifty Burmans rushed into 
 the prison, and drew them out for execution. They 
 were stripped of their upper garments, their naked 
 arms were drawn behind them, and corded as tight 
 as the strength of one man would permit, and in 
 this state they were almost literally carried through 
 the streets on the points of the guards' spears. In 
 this dreadful situation the missionaries' wives saw 
 their husbands, from the window of a small hut to 
 which they had fled, and expected every moment 
 to be bound and treated in a similar manner. 
 
 When they arrived at the seat of judgment they 
 were made to kneel, with their bodies bending for- 
 ward for the convenience of the executioner, who 
 was ordered that moment to behead them. None 
 of them understood the order but Mr Hough, who 
 requested the executioner to desist for a moment, 
 and petition the Yawoon (the chief magistrate) to 
 send him on board the frigate, and he promised to 
 use his influence to prevent any further firing upon 
 the town. The linguists seconded the proposal, 
 and pleaded that they might be reprieved for a 
 few moments. 
 
 The Yawoon answered, "If the English fire 
 again, there shall be no reprieve ;" and asked Mr 
 
252 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Hough if he would positively promise to put an 
 v ' immediate stop to the firing, which had been dis- 
 continued from the time that the keepers had fled 
 from the prison. At this moment several shots 
 being sent very near them, the government people 
 fled from the seat of judgment, and took refuge 
 under the banks of a neighbouring tank. All the 
 others fled from the town, but kept the prisoners 
 before them ; who were obliged to make their way 
 as fast as possible, for the madness and terror of 
 the attendants allowed of no pause. They were 
 soon overtaken by the government people, fleeing 
 upon horseback. 
 
 About a mile and a half from the town they 
 halted, and the prisoners were again placed before 
 the guards. Mr Hough and the linguists then re- 
 newed their petition. After a few moments' con- 
 versation his irons were taken off, and he was 
 sent on board the frigate, with the most awful 
 threatenings to himself and the rest if he did not 
 succeed. 
 
 On Mr Hough's return from the ships he could 
 find nothing of the officers and prisoners ; for after 
 his departure they resumed their march, and the 
 prisoners were again put in confinement, where 
 they remained until released by the British troops 
 on the following day. The missionaries and their 
 wives soon met again at the mission house, where 
 they found everything almost as they had left it, 
 and united in grateful praises to the Lord for their 
 marvellous deliverance. They soon after embarked 
 for Bengal, finding that their stay at Rangoon 
 would be attended with continual danger, while 
 they would have no opportunity of carrying on 
 their missionary work during the war. 
 
 Sufferings O A mi j. \ i j. i 
 
 of the MIS- 3v. The missionaries at Ava, being suspected as 
 sionaries spies, were taken, with the other gentlemen there. 
 
 and others 
 at Ava. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 253 
 
 and their sufferings cannot be better described 
 than in Mrs Judson's own words : * 
 
 "On the 8th of June/' she says, " just as we 
 were preparing for dinner, in rushed an officer, 
 holding a black book, with a dozen Burmans, ac- 
 companied by one, whom, from his spotted face, 
 we knew to be an executioner, and e a son of the 
 prison.' ' Where is the teacher ?' was the first in- 
 quiry. Mr Judson presented himself. i You are 
 called by the king,' said the officer, a form of 
 speech always used when about to arrest a criminal. 
 The spotted man instantly seized Mr Judson, threw 
 him on the floor, and produced the small cord, the 
 instrument of torture. I caught hold of his arm ; 
 'Stay,' said I : ' I will give you money.' ' Take her 
 too,' said the officer, ' she also is a foreigner.' Mr 
 Judson, with an imploring look, begged they would 
 let me remain till further orders. The scene was 
 now shocking beyond description. The whole neigh- 
 bourhood had collected ; the masons at work on the 
 brick house threw down their tools and ran ; the 
 little Burman children were screaming and crying ; 
 the Bengalese servants stood in amazement at the 
 indignities offered their master ; and the hardened 
 executioner, with a kind of hellish joy, drew tight 
 the cords, bound Mr Judson fast, and dragged him 
 off, I knew not whither. In vain I begged and 
 entreated the spotted face to take the silver, and 
 loosen the ropes ; he spurned my offers, and imme- 
 diately departed. I gave the money, however, to 
 Moung Ing, to follow after, to make some further 
 
 1 In a narrative of the dreadful scenes she witnessed, ad- 
 dressed to Mr Judson's brother. A second narrative she ad- 
 dressed to Joseph Butter worth, Esq. This narrative may be 
 seen in the Missionary Register for November 1826, and in the 
 Missionary Herald for January and February 1827. Both these 
 narratives are used in the account here drawn up, several incidents 
 being given in one which are not contained in the other. 
 
251 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, attempt to mitigate the torture of Mr Judson ; 
 but instead of succeeding, when a few rods from 
 the house,, the unfeeling wretches again threw 
 their prisoner on the ground, and drew the cords 
 still tighter, so as almost to prevent respiration. I 
 was left guarded by ten men, who had received 
 strict orders to confine me close, and let no one go 
 in or out. I retired to my room, and attempted 
 to pour out my soul to Him, who, for our sakes, 
 was bound and led away to execution ; and even 
 in that dreadful moment I experienced a degree 
 of consolation hardly to be expected. 
 
 " But this employment was of short duration. 
 The magistrate of that part of Ava in which we 
 lived was in the verandah, continually calling me 
 to come out, and submit to his examinations. 
 
 " The next morning, I sent Moung Ing to ascer- 
 tain Mr Judson' s situation, and to give him food, 
 if still living. He soon returned, with the intelli- 
 gence that Mr J. and all the white foreigners were 
 confined in the death prison, with five pairs of iron 
 fetters each, and fastened to a long pole, to pre- 
 vent their moving ! They were so crowded with 
 Burman thieves and robbers, that they had not 
 sufficient room to lie down. There were at the 
 time near a hundred prisoners, all in one room, 
 without a window or hole for the admittance of 
 air, and the door half closed. I again applied to 
 the governor of the city to allow the missionaries 
 to be removed to their former place, or at least to 
 let them remain outside of the door during the 
 day. I offered him money, and promised to re- 
 ward him handsomely when in my power ; but all 
 in vain. The old man shed tears at my distress, 
 but said that it was not in his power to comply 
 with my request, for his orders were from a high 
 quarter : he had even been commanded to execute 
 all the white prisoners in private ; and to keep 
 
IN INDIA 1 BOOK XIII. 255 
 
 them in close confinement was as little as he 
 could do. 
 
 <e The point of my anguish now was, that I was 
 a prisoner myself, and could make no efforts for 
 the release of the missionaries. I begged and en- 
 treated the magistrate to let me go to some mem- 
 ber of the government to state my case ; but he 
 said he did not dare to consent, for fear I should 
 make my escape. I next wrote a note to one of 
 the king's sisters, with whom I had been intimate, 
 requesting her to use her influence for the release 
 of the teachers. The note was returned with this 
 message ' She did not understand it;' which was 
 a polite refusal to interfere. I afterwards ascer- 
 tained that she had an anxious desire to assist us, 
 but dared not, on account of the queen. The day 
 dragged heavily away, and another dreadful night 
 was before me. I endeavoured to soften the feel- 
 ings of the guard by giving them tea and segars 
 for the night, so that they allowed me to remain 
 inside of my room, without threatening, as they 
 did the night before. But the idea of your brother 
 being stretched on the bare floor in irons and con- 
 finement haunted my mind like a spectre, and 
 prevented my obtaining any quiet sleep, though 
 nature was almost exhausted." 
 
 On the third day Mrs Judson procured an order 
 from the governor for her admittance into the 
 prison; "but," she remarks, " the sensations pro- 
 duced by meeting your brother in that wretched, 
 horrid situation, and the affecting scene which 
 ensued, I will not attempt to describe. Mr Judson 
 crawled to the door of the prison, for I was never 
 allowed to enter, and gave me some directions 
 relative to his release ; but before we could make 
 any arrangement, I was ordered to depart by those 
 iron-hearted jailors, who could not endure to see 
 us enjoy the poor consolation of meeting in that 
 
256 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, miserable place. In vain I pleaded the order from 
 
 L the governor for my admittance. They again harshly 
 
 repeated,, ' Depart, or we will put you out.' The 
 same evening the missionaries, together with the 
 other foreigners, who paid an equal sum, were taken 
 out of the common prison, and confined in an open 
 shed in the prison enclosure. Here I was allowed 
 to send them food and mats to sleep on, but was 
 not permitted to enter again for several days. 
 
 <e The next morning the royal treasurer, attended 
 by forty or fifty followers, went to Mr Judson's 
 house, to take possession of all he had. I begged 
 that they would not take our wearing apparel, as 
 it would be disgraceful to take clothes partly worn 
 into the possession of his majesty, and to us they 
 were of unspeakable value. They assented, and 
 took a list only, and did the same with the books, 
 medicines, &c. My little work-table and rocking- 
 chair, presents from my beloved brother, 1 rescued 
 from their grasp, partly by artifice, and partly 
 through their ignorance. They left also many 
 articles which were of inestimable value during our 
 long imprisonment. 
 
 " The officers who had taken the property pre- 
 sented it to the king, saying, 'Judson is a true 
 teacher ; we found nothing in his house but what 
 belongs to priests. In addition to this money, there 
 is an immense number of books, medicines, trunks 
 of wearing apparel, &c., of which we have only 
 taken a list. Shall we take them, or let them 
 remain ? ' ' Let them remain,' said the king, e and 
 put this property by itself, for it shall be restored 
 to him again if he is found innocent. 7 This was an 
 allusion to the idea of his being a spy. 
 
 " During seven months the continual extortions 
 and oppressions to which your brother and the 
 other white prisoners were subject are indescribable. 
 Sometimes sums of money were demanded, some- 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 
 
 times pieces of cloth and handkerchiefs ; at other 
 times an order would be issued that the white 
 foreigners should not speak to each other, or have 
 any communication with their friends without. 
 Then, again, the servants were forbidden to carry 
 in their food without an extra fee. Sometimes, for 
 days and days together, I could not go into the 
 prison till after dark, when I had two miles to walk 
 on returning to the house. Oh how many, many 
 times have I returned from that dreary prison at 
 nine o'clock at night, solitary and worn out with 
 fatigue and anxiety, and endeavoured to invent 
 some new scheme for the relief of the prisoners ! 
 Sometimes, for a moment or two, my thoughts 
 would glance towards America, and my beloved 
 friends there ; but for nearly a year and a half, so 
 entirely engrossed was every thought with present 
 scenes and sufferings, that I seldom reflected on a 
 single occurrence of my life, or recollected that I 
 had a friend in existence out of Ava. 
 
 " You, my dear brother, who know my strong 
 attachment to my friends, and how much pleasure 
 I have hitherto experienced from retrospect, can 
 judge from the above circumstances how intense 
 were my sufferings. But the point, the acme of 
 my distress, consisted in the awful uncertainty of 
 our final state. My prevailing opinion was that 
 my husband would suffer a violent death ; and that 
 I should, of course, become a slave, and languish 
 out a miserable, though short existence, in the 
 tyrannic hands of some unfeeling monster. But 
 the consolations of religion in these trying circum- 
 stances were neither 'few nor small.' It taught 
 me to look beyond this world, to that rest, that 
 peaceful, happy rest, where Jesus reigns, and op- 
 pression never enters." 
 
 On one occasion Mrs Judson heard that all the 
 white prisoners were carried away. She remarks : 
 
 VOL. v. R 
 
258 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. " I would not believe the report, and instantly 
 v - went back to the governor, who said he had just 
 heard it, but did not wish to tell me. I hastily 
 ran into the street, hoping to get a glimpse of 
 them before they were out of sight, but in this I 
 was disappointed. I ran first into one street, then 
 into another, inquiring of all I met, but no one 
 would answer me. At length an old woman told 
 me that the white prisoners had gone towards the 
 little river ; for they were to be carried to Amara- 
 pora. I then ran to the banks of the little river, 
 about half a mile, but saw them not, and concluded 
 the old woman had deceived me. Some of the 
 friends of the foreigners went to the place of exe- 
 cution, but found them not. I then returned to 
 the governor, to try to discover the cause of their 
 removal, and the probability of their future fate. 
 The old man assured me that he was ignorant of 
 the intention of government to remove the foreign- 
 ers till that morning ; that since I went out he 
 had learnt that the prisoners were to be sent to 
 Amarapora ; but for what purpose he knew not. 
 ' I will send off a man immediately/ said he, ' to 
 see what is to be done with them ! You can do 
 nothing more for your husband,' continued he ; 
 ' take care of yourself.' This was a day never 
 to be forgotten. With a heavy heart, I retired to 
 my little bamboo house, and endeavoured to obtain 
 comfort from the only true source ; but my mind 
 was in such a distracted state, that I could not 
 steadily reflect on any thing. This one thought 
 occupied my mind to the exclusion of every other 
 that I had seen Mr Judson for the last time, 
 and that he was now probably in a state of extreme 
 agony. For several days previous, I had been 
 actively engaged in building my own little room, 
 and making our hovel comfortable. My thoughts 
 had been almost entirely occupied in contriving 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 259 
 
 means to get into prison. But now I looked towards 
 the gate with a kind of melancholy feeling, but no 
 wish to enter. All was the stillness of death no 
 preparation of your brother's food, no expectation 
 of meeting him at the usual dinner hour ; all my 
 employments, all my occupations seemed to have 
 ceased ; and I had nothing left but the dreadful 
 recollection that Mr Judson was carried off, I knew 
 not whither. It was one of the most insupportable 
 days I ever passed. Towards night, however, I 
 came to the determination to set off the next morn- 
 ing for Amarapora." 
 
 With her little child, then only three months old, 
 two of the Burman children, and the Bengalee 
 cook, who was the only one of the party that could 
 afford any assistance, this devoted woman accom- 
 plished her purpose. On her arrival, she had to 
 proceed four miles further, and was at length con- 
 ducted to the prison-yard. " But what a scene of 
 wretchedness," she says, " was presented to my 
 view ! I found Mr Judson in a most wretched 
 state. He had been dragged out of his little room 
 the day before ; his shoes, hat, and clothes, except- 
 ing his shirt and pantaloons, had been taken from 
 him, and in his feeble state of health, and in the 
 hottest part of the day, had been literally driven 
 ten miles with a rope tied round his waist. His 
 feet were torn in such a manner, that for six weeks 
 he was unable to stand. He was nearly exhausted 
 with pain and fatigue, when a servant of Mr Gau- 
 ger's who had followed his master, took from his 
 head his turban, and gave part of it to Mr Judson, 
 who hastily wrapped it about his feet, which en- 
 abled him to proceed without sinking. He and Dr 
 Price were now chained together ; and, with the 
 other prisoners, put inside of a small wood prison 
 almost gone to decay. It was without a roof ; the 
 fence was entirely destroyed ; eight or ten Bur- 
 
260 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, mans were at the top of the building, trying to 
 ' make something like a shelter with leaves ; while 
 under a little low projection,, outside of the prison, 
 sat the foreigners, chained together two and two, 
 almost dead with suffering and fatigue.'' The first 
 words of Mr Judson on beholding her were, " Why 
 have you come ? I hoped you would not follow, 
 for you cannot live here." True, but how could 
 she live at Ava, imagining by day and dreaming 
 by night of her husband in torturing endurance ? 
 To proceed with her sad narrative. " It was now 
 dark ; I had no refreshments for the suffering pri- 
 soners or myself, as I had expected to procure all 
 that was necessary at the market of Amarapora ; 
 and I had no shelter for the night. I asked one 
 of the jailors if I might put up a little bamboo 
 house hear the prison ; he said, ' No ; it was not 
 not customary/ I then begged he would procure 
 me a shelter for the night, when on the morrow I 
 could find some place to live in. He took me to 
 his house, in which there were only two small 
 rooms, one in which he and his family lived ; the 
 other, which was then half full of grain, he offered 
 to me ; and in that little filthy place I spent the 
 next six months of wretchedness. I procured 
 some half-boiled water, instead of my tea, and, 
 worn out with fatigue, laid myself down on a mat 
 spread over the paddy, and endeavoured to obtain 
 a little refreshment from sleep." 
 
 It is needless to dwell on the heart-rending trials 
 that succeeded, until the triumph of the British 
 troops issued in their deliverance. For nearly two 
 years, the cloud which concealed their state was 
 dark and portentous. That suspense, which is 
 often as dreadful as the most afflicting certainty, 
 agitated the minds of their relatives, and of all the 
 friends of missions, with alternate hopes and fears. 
 Many hearts were engaged in continual and impor- 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 261 
 
 tunate prayer to the Lord, that he would hear the 
 sighing of the prisoners, and protect his servants 
 from the rage of the heathen, and from the perils 
 of war. 
 
 At length, this painful suspense was terminated, 
 by the joyful news that the missionaries were alive, 
 and were safe in the English camp. The British 
 troops, after an almost uninterrupted series of suc- 
 cessful combats, had penetrated to Yandaboo, about 
 forty miles from the capital. The Burmese govern- 
 ment had hitherto haughtily refused to comply 
 with the terms proposed by the British commander. 
 But the near approach of the English troops, and 
 the prospect of the speedy capture of the golden 
 city, so operated on the fears of the monarch, that 
 he yielded, and signed a treaty of peace, in which 
 he ceded a large portion of his territory, and agreed 
 to pay a crore of rupees (about one million sterling^, 
 in four instalments. 
 
 The king of Ava had employed the missionaries 
 to negotiate this peace, but they were indebted to 
 the British general for their immediate deliverance, 
 under circumstances which Mrs Judson thus de- 
 scribed : 
 
 C( Mr Judson communicated our real situation to 
 the general, who, with all the feelings of a British 
 officer, now demanded us in a way that his majesty 
 dared not refuse ; and, on the 21st of February, 
 after an imprisonment of nearly two years, we 
 took our leave of the "golden city," and all its 
 magnificence, and turned our faces toward the Bri- 
 tish camp, then within forty miles of Ava. 
 
 " No one can conceive our joy, when we had 
 safely passed the Burman camp ; for then we felt, 
 indeed, that we were once more free, and out of 
 the power of those whose tender 'mercies are cruel. 
 The British general received us with all that kind- 
 
262 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, ness and hospitality for which your * countrymen 
 v ' are so far-famed, provided us with every comfort 
 during a fortnight's residence at the camp, and 
 kindly sent us on to Kangoon in this gunboat. We 
 deeply feel the kindness of Sir Archibald Campbell, 
 for, under the directions of Providence, he has 
 been the means of delivering us from the iron grasp 
 of the Burmans. May God reward him a hundred- 
 fold, and prepare him for the future enjoyment of 
 heaven." 
 
 Their de- 31. On their return to Rangoon, in March 1826, 
 andTeturn ^ ev united with the brethren and sisters whom 
 to Ran- they found there, in rendering their tribute of 
 goon. praise to the Lord, who had brought them through 
 such deep waters, and restored them to the mis- 
 sion-house once more. For a while they were 
 undetermined what to do. When, however, Ran- 
 goon was again given up to the Burmese, their 
 experience of the insecurity of a Christian mission, 
 under a despotic government, induced them to re- 
 solve to settle in one or more of the places re- 
 tained by the British ; and it was finally agreed to 
 make Amherst the head-quarters of the Burinan 
 mission. 
 
 Anew 32. Amherst was a new town, formed by the 
 
 formed at British, near the mouth of the river Martaban. It 
 Amherst, was named after the Governor- General, Lord Am- 
 herst, and made the seat of the British Govern- 
 ment in Burmah. In June 1826, Dr 2 and Mrs 
 Judson arrived here from Rangoon, accompanied 
 by several converts, and especially by Moung-Ing, 
 their faithful companion in all their recent troubles. 
 
 1 This is addressed to Mr Butterworth, of London. 
 
 2 Mr Judson had recently received an honorary diploma from 
 America, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 263 
 
 God had, indeed, raised up this Burman Christian 
 to be a special comfort and assistant to them in 
 their great need. For some time he was the only 
 person who would venture to carry food to Mr 
 Judson ; he stood by them faithfully through their 
 long confinement ; and was still spared to rejoice 
 with them in their deliverance, and to assist in 
 their labours. 
 
 They found the site selected for the town of 
 Amherst little better than a wilderness, being a 
 dense jungle, inhabited by deer and wild fowl, 
 which had hitherto been the undisturbed occupants 
 of the peninsula. The only habitations to be seen 
 were a few bamboo huts, some erected by the na- 
 tive converts who had preceded them, and others 
 by the sepoys quartered there, and the natives 
 with them. A few days after their arrival, on the 
 5th of July, Mr Judson left again, being under an 
 engagement to accompany the embassy to Ava as 
 interpreter. 
 
 33. During his absence, his indefatigable wife Mrs 
 exerted herself for the improvement of those around J uds o n 's 
 her. As soon as the numbers of the new settlers 
 would admit, she opened a school, which in a short 
 time contained ten children. But this was her last 
 work. Attacked with intermittent fever, she lin- 
 gered about a month, and expired on the 24th of 
 October 1826, before her husband returned. The 
 shocks which her constitution had received from 
 previous attacks of disease, and during the severity 
 of her trials at Ava, rendered her incapable of re- 
 sisting the malady by which she was at last as- 
 sailed. She died in a strange land, in the midst of 
 strangers. Though we have no account of her last 
 thoughts and feelings, yet the testimony of her 
 life, and the known sentiments of her mind, leave 
 not a doubt that her last end was peace. For her 
 to live was Christ, and to die was gain, (Phil. i. 
 
264 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 21). No marble shines upon her lowly bed, but 
 v> her record is on high. And " her name will be re- 
 membered in the churches of Burmah, in future 
 times, when the pagodas of Gaudama shall have 
 fallen ; when the spires of Christian temples shall 
 gleam along the waters of the Irrawaddy and the 
 Salwen ; and when the golden city shall have lifted 
 up her gates, to admit the King of Glory. Mean- 
 while, may her bright example inspire many with 
 the generous resolution to toil and die, like her, for 
 the salvation of the heathen." 
 
 About a month after Mrs Judson's death, Mr and 
 Mrs Boardman arrived at Amherst, and carried on 
 the work she had begun ; but Mr Judson did not 
 return till the 24th of January 1827. The other 
 missionaries from Rangoon were dispersed in the 
 country, and usefully employed in the following 
 years : but it were premature here to enter upon 
 the history of their operations. 
 
 34. We return to Dr Price. At the close of the 
 
 war ^ e was sent to Calcutta, % tne King of Bur- 
 the court mah, to complete some negotiations then pending 
 of Ava. between him and the British ; and he returned to 
 Burmah in May 1826. He found that a complete 
 revolution had taken place in the feelings of the 
 king, royal family, and the principal men of the 
 country, towards the British. They were so asto- 
 nished at the forbearance, good faith, and noble ex- 
 ploits of the conquerors, that they attributed all to 
 the religion which they professed, and the God 
 w^hom they worshipped. They desired Dr Price, 
 who was called the " Peacemaker," from the pro- 
 minent part he had acted in the negotiations, to 
 explain to them the cause of all this ; and they 
 could not conceal from him their astonishment and 
 Dr Price's admiration at the good behaviour of the "White 
 ms e a d " Foreigners." 
 Ava. al 35. In consequence of this favourable impression, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 265 
 
 the prospects of usefulness at Avawere now brighter 
 than at any former period. Dr Price was no longer 
 restricted in his access to the natives or the instruc- 
 tions to be imparted to them ; but was permitted to 
 read and enforce the sentiments of the Scriptures 
 every Lord's day. The king and his court even in- 
 vited conversation with him on religion. He opened 
 a school, which Burman youth of the first families 
 attended. He soon had nine scholars, five of whom 
 were sent by the king, and two of them daily read 
 the Bible in English. He purposed also, in connec- 
 tion with the dispensation of the Gospel, to give in- 
 structions in astronomy and natural philosophy ; for 
 the religious superstitions of the Burmans, like those 
 of the Hindoos, being interwoven with false notions 
 of the sciences, he hoped that, when convinced of 
 their errors on these subjects, they would be prepared 
 the more easily to relinquish those of their religion. 
 Not long after this, the king granted him permis- 
 sion to establish a press at Ava, being overjoyed at 
 the proposal, and repeatedly urging the completion 
 of the project. 
 
 36. On the whole, therefore, the American Board Conciu- 
 of Missions, 1 are completely borne out in the follow- Slon * 
 ing general view of the hopes and prospects of this 
 eventful mission at the present period : 
 
 " In view of all the circumstances connected with 
 the late war in Burmah and the consequences re- 
 sulting from it, the Board feel justified in expressing 
 their belief, that it has widened the sphere of their 
 labours incalculably ; and rendered the prospect of 
 success on the part of their missionaries far greater 
 than before, particularly within the conquered pro- 
 vinces. They may now have free access to the 
 people without fear, and employ all the means of 
 
 1 Vide Report for 1827. 
 
266 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, instruction within their reach : they may preach 
 v> and establish schools in which the principles of 
 Christianity shall be taught : the natives may also 
 inquire, read the Scriptures, hear the Gospel, arid 
 embrace it, without being subject to penalty or 
 oppression. Heretofore it has been otherwise. 
 When the missionaries preached it was with cau- 
 tion ; and when the people wished to hear and con- 
 verse on religion, they were often deterred by the 
 certain displeasure of their rulers. If, then, some- 
 thing was accomplished for the cause of Christ under 
 former disadvantages, how much more may be anti- 
 cipated, now these hindrances are removed ! Divine 
 Providence has committed this field of labour to 
 the American Baptists ; and it now calls on them, 
 in a most impressive manner, for increased and 
 vigorous exertions, as several new stations ought 
 soon to be commenced and supported." 
 
 This anticipation, if it does not reconcile us, as 
 nothing can, to the horrors of war, tends at least 
 to mitigate the pain with which we look back upon 
 its disasters. And truly we have here an encourag- 
 ing prospect ! The wall of China, hitherto deemed 
 impregnable, is breached ; and the prowess of Bri- 
 tons has made an opening into that vast empire for 
 the heralds of the gospel from their daughter land. 
 May England and America henceforth go on, hand 
 in hand, in this blessed work, and know no other 
 rivalry but in the race of Christian zeal, provoking 
 one another to love and good works, and striving 
 who shall most faithfully spread far and wide the 
 knowledge of the only true God, and of Jesus Christ 
 whom He hath sent ! 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 267 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 1 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN NORTH INDIA. 
 
 1817-1826. 
 
 CALCUTTA. 
 
 1. THE arrival of two missionaries in Calcutta in Carrie's 
 1816, Messrs Greenwood and Schroeter, was men- retum. 
 tioned in the chapter detailing the commencement 
 of this mission. 2 In 1817, Rev. Daniel Corrie re- 
 turned to India, accompanied by two more mis- 
 sionaries, Rev. Deocar Schmid and Rev. Bernard 
 Schmid, with Mr John Adlington, a young man 
 whom Mr Corrie had brought up, and taken to 
 England to complete his education. Being too 
 young for holy orders, it was thought advisable 
 that he should return to India, to assist as a teacher 
 till old enough to be admitted to ordination. The 
 two missionaries were designed for Bengal, but, on 
 arriving at Fort St George, it was found that the 
 mission in that quarter stood in such need of im- 
 mediate help, that, with the concurrence of all 
 parties, their destination was changed, and they 
 were left at Madras. 
 
 1 This chapter is drawn up principally from the Society's Re-- 
 ports from 17th to the 28th. 
 
 2 B. xi. c. iv. See Appendix E. of this Vol. 
 
268 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 On Mr Corrie's arrival at Calcutta, August 30th 
 1817, he communicated to the Corresponding Com- 
 mittee the Society's wish, that its premises at Gar- 
 den Reach should be occupied by the various 
 departments of a Christian Institution, 1 the supply 
 of CHRISTIAN TEACHERS, the maintenance and exten- 
 sion of EDUCATION, and the employment of the 
 PRESS. The Committee cordially entered into these 
 views, and immediately took measures to accom- 
 plish the object. Previous to entering upon the 
 extended operations now projected, they com- 
 menced a missionary prayer meeting at the old 
 church rooms, for the Spirit of God to be poured 
 out on the Church in India, and awaken a mission- 
 ary zeal in Bengal. 
 
 Baptizes 2. On Sunday, October 12th, Mr Corrie preached 
 ^ rom Isaiah Ixi. 11, the first professedly MISSIONARY 
 SERMON that was delivered from a pulpit of the 
 Established Church in India. After the discourse 
 he had the satisfaction of baptizing a native con- 
 vert, by the name of Fuez Messeeh, from Bareilly, 
 who had been a year under instruction, and had 
 given satisfactory evidence of his sincerity. He 
 was a native of Mooradabad, where his father and 
 other members of his family were still living in 
 idolatry. At eighteen years of age, disgusted with 
 the idolatry of the Hindoos, he became a believer 
 in Mahomet, and, from that time, lived after the 
 strictest manner of the Mahomedans, becoming a 
 Fakeer, and gaining many disciples, by his reputed 
 sanctity. He described himself as all the while 
 without comfort, and in a state of uncertainty as 
 to what would be the end of all his austerities. Of 
 late years he heard much said about the Gospel ; 
 and conceived a strong desire to know on what ac- 
 
 1 The nature and objects of such Institutions are fully ex- 
 plained in the Society's 1 6th Report. 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 269 
 
 count Mahomet had prohibited the reading of it. 
 Obtaining a copy of Martyn's Hindoostanee New 
 Testament, he read it with attention, until con- 
 vinced that Jesus Christ was the long-expected 
 Messiah, through whom alone was to be procured 
 the forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to God. He 
 was now forty years of age ; and after his baptism 
 he returned to Bareilly, where he w v as usefully em- 
 ployed by the Society as a reader and catechist. 
 
 3. Mr Corrie having been appointed to the chap- 
 laincy at Benares, left Calcutta in November, ac- 
 companied by Mr Adlington, Fuez Messeeh, and Calcutta - 
 the native youths left by him at Calcutta in 1816, 
 who had been under the care of Mr Robertson and 
 Mr Greenwood. Here Mr Corrie saw a wide field 
 of useful labour opening before him, and he soon sat 
 down to missionary work in his own unostentatious 
 and effectual way. 2 In the autumn of next year, 
 1818, however, he was appointed to Cawnpore ; but 
 before his removal thither, he was called back to 
 Calcutta, on the expected departure of the senior 
 chaplain for England, and he succeeded to* that im- 
 portant station in 1819. Greatly as the Committee 
 regretted the loss of his superintendence and aid at 
 Benares, yet they anticipated greater advantages, 
 on the whole, from his counsels and assistance at 
 the head-quarters of the mission. There were 
 several points of view in which his character and 
 experience seemed to fit him for most extensive 
 usefulness at the presidency. His peculiar habit of 
 mind would lead him to give himself to receive 
 inquirers after truth, to cherish the missionary 
 spirit among the younger members of the Church, 
 and to raise up labourers in this department of 
 service. These anticipations were fully realised. 
 
 3 His proceedings at Benares will be given in the account of 
 that station. 
 
270 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP He also relieved Mr Thomason, who was already 
 
 '_ overworked, of much missionary correspondence, 
 
 and by their united efforts they rendered the whole 
 of their exertions more efficient. In 1823, he was 
 appointed Archdeacon of Calcutta, but the increased 
 responsibilities of this station did not divert his 
 mind from the missionary work, as will be seen in 
 the sequel. 
 
 A mission- 4. Mr Deocar Schmid, who was originally des- 
 poiled tined for Bengal, but was left by Mr Corrie, as we 
 to the have seen, at Madras, was removed in 1818 to Cal- 
 Asyium. cutta. One chief object of his removal was the 
 superintendence of a periodical work, connected 
 with the plans and exertions of the Society. He 
 had particularly applied his attention to this sub- 
 ject, and had drawn up a prospectus of the work, 
 which induced the Corresponding Committee to in- 
 vite him to Calcutta, that he might there mature 
 his plan. 
 
 About the time of his arrival in Calcutta, a va- 
 cancy occurring in the situation of mistress of the 
 Female Orphan Asylum, Mrs Schmid was appointed 
 to that office, a charge for which she was well qua- 
 lified ; and she entered on her duties with the ear- 
 nest hope of becoming a blessing to the poor orphans, 
 thirty-four of whom were committed to her care. 
 Mr and Mrs Schmid resided at the asylum, in the 
 suburbs of Calcutta. Mr Schmid conducted the 
 daily worship and the Sunday services at the asy- 
 lum ; and his assiduous attention to the children's 
 religious improvement was followed by the happiest 
 results. In a few years he was able to report of 
 several,, that he had reason to believe them truly 
 converted to God, and that not less than six had 
 left them for direct missionary employment, for 
 which they were found to be well prepared. Upon 
 this he remarked, that they had six others in train- 
 ing for the same work, and that he and Mrs Schmid 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 27J 
 
 considered themselves highly rewarded for all their 
 labours, by seeing themselves thus made instru- 
 mental in training a succession of female mission- 
 aries. 
 
 Mr Schmid's residence in the asylum afforded 
 him an opportunity to pursue his studies without 
 interruption, and we shall soon see the result of his 
 literary exertions. 
 
 5. The Society's school at Kidderpore, mentioned 
 in the former chapter/ contained, in 1817, about tion. 
 thirty scholars, who were receiving a Scriptural 
 education without awaking any suspicion in the 
 minds of their friends. Indeed, the natives, and 
 even Brahmins, of other villages requested that 
 similar schools might be established for their chil- 
 dren also. In consequence of this application, Mr 
 Greenwood, accompanied by Mr Adlington, made 
 an excursion in the neighbourhood, to ascertain 
 what prospect there might be of extending their 
 schools, and how the inhabitants generally stood 
 affected towards their plans. The result was fa- 
 vourable, and the Corresponding Committee, con- 
 curring in Mr Greenwood's suggestion, resolved to 
 establish three more schools. That at Kidderpore 
 was about this time converted into an English 
 school, at the request of Colly Shunker, the Brah- 
 min who originally gave the ground for it, and was 
 its chief support, until the year 1820, when he re- 
 moved to Benares, and the expense devolved on the 
 Church Missionary Society. 
 
 Mr Greenwood being transferred to Chunar, a 
 Mr Sandy, a gentleman residing at Kidderpore, 
 volunteered to take charge of the schools in his 
 neighbourhood until the appointment of a regular 
 master. Shortly after one of the schools was made 
 
 1 B. xi., C. iv. ? established 1815. 
 
272 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, over to the Diocesan School Committee, being 
 _ L_ found more convenient for their agents to visit ; 
 and in 1821 three schools, together with the pre- 
 mises and other property, were transferred by the 
 Calcutta School Society to the Church Missionary 
 Society. These new schools made the Society more 
 acquainted with the native population, applications 
 soon came in from other villages, one school was 
 added after another, according to the Committee's 
 means of superintendence and support, until, in 
 1826, there were thirteen boys' schools in Calcutta 
 and its vicinity, containing upwards of eight hun- 
 dred scholars. The whole received Christian in- 
 struction when sufficiently advanced to read, and 
 the upper classes were periodically examined in the 
 presence of the Committee and their friends. The 
 account of the examination in 1826, before Arch- 
 deacon Corrie and many other friends of native 
 education, was very satisfactory. 
 
 In the midst of facilities which presented them- 
 selves on all sides for more extended labours in this 
 department, the Calcutta Committee wrote : "The 
 applications for schools have been so pressing, and 
 the willingness to listen to Christian instruction so 
 manifest, in some villages near Calcutta, that it has 
 been very painful to the missionaries to be obliged 
 to refuse the aid which has been sought for." 1 
 Esth " ^* ^ e nome Committee wished to have a 
 
 nat 
 
 Christian institution formed in Calcutta, comprising 
 
 a mission-house, a mission- church, a seminary, and 
 a printing and book-binding establishment. In 
 1821 they communicated this design to the Cal- 
 cutta Committee, together with their intention to 
 send out two ordained missionaries to take charge 
 of such an establishment. This communication led 
 
 Missionary Register 1827, p. 66 ; C. M. S. Report 1828, p. 71. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 273 
 
 the Committee to purchase an estate in a part of 
 the native town every way suitable to the views of 
 the parent Society. It contained a space of three 
 acres of ground, with an upper-roomed house, con- 
 sisting of eight rooms below and five above, a square 
 enclosure comprehending about half an acre, with 
 a broad piazza all round, and an open area in the 
 middle, after the plan of a college quadrangle. 
 For this property they paid about three thousand 
 pounds, 2 but it required a further expenditure to 
 render the premises available for their purpose. 
 Thus was procured the station of Mirzapore, which 
 was soon established as the head-quarters of the 
 mission. In the following year an additional piece 
 of ground was purchased, to render the estate of a 
 regular form, and the necessary repairs and altera- 
 tions were made in the buildings for the accommo- 
 dation of the missionaries and other members of 
 the establishment. 
 
 The first missionary placed in charge of the insti- 
 tution, was Rev. John Andrew Jetter, a German, 
 who arrived in Calcutta in 1819, and had since been 
 stationed at Burdwan. While the premises at Mir- 
 zapore were in progress, he visited Calcutta for the 
 restoration of his health ; but when about to return 
 to Burdwan, the Committee deemed it advisable to 
 detain him at Calcutta to watch over their rising 
 establishment. In 1822 he was joined by another 
 German missionary, Rev. Theophilus Reichardt, 
 and for some time the educational department con- 
 tinued under their superintendence. 
 
 7. One of the first objects attended to at Mirza- A central 
 pore was the seminary projected by the Society for opened. 
 
 2 Some idea may be formed of this purchase if we mention, 
 that the price was only about 200 more than the Committee 
 was asked for one acre of ground in another part of the native 
 town, without any building^iaterials. 
 
 S 
 
274 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, training native youths for the service of the mis- 
 _ L_ sion. They desired that it should be so conducted 
 as not to interfere with Bishop's College., but,, on 
 the contrary, it was to be rendered subservient to 
 it. We have seen that Mr Corrie, for some time 
 past, had been training native youths for the in- 
 struction of their countrymen, and several of his 
 pupils were now usefully employed at different sta- 
 tions. In the month of April 1822, a central 
 school was opened on the premises at Mirzapore, 
 for the instruction of the most attentive scholars 
 in the Bengalee schools ; and in November it con- 
 tained fourteen boys. The numbers continued to 
 increase from time to time, until, in 1826, they 
 amounted to fifty. Although only five of these 
 were native Christians, yet the Bible and various 
 Christian works were taught alike to all. The 
 lessons in natural philosophy were occasionally 
 illustrated by experiments, and the good effect of 
 such studies was soon apparent, in the improve- 
 ment of those whose minds had been so completely 
 entrammelled by ignorance and superstition. 
 Female 8. In the educational department, a great tri- 
 
 ucation. Um pj 1 wag achieved a t this period. We have 
 already noticed the native prejudice against female 
 education, and the partial success attending the 
 efforts made even among the Christians of South 
 India ; and these obstacles were found to exist in 
 North India also. When schools were first pro- 
 jected in Bengal, the state of society seemed to 
 preclude females from the immediate benefits of 
 such exertions. Yet, in the progress of the expe- 
 riment, it was found that the female mind also 
 could be roused to seek the blessings resulting from 
 education ; and the success of the Calcutta Baptist 
 Society, as seen above, 1 in establishing native 
 
 Chap. iv. sec. 33. Besides the*C. M. S. Reports and the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 275 
 
 schools for girls, encouraged the friends of religion 
 to endeavour to carry out the plan to a wider 
 extent. 
 
 While the way was thus preparing for them in 
 India,, the British and Foreign School Society, on 
 the representation of the Rev. W. Ward, of Seram- 
 pore, and in concert with some members of the 
 Calcutta School Society, then in England, had 
 solicited and obtained from the public funds for 
 sending to India a suitable teacher, who might de- 
 vote herself exclusively to the education of native 
 females. The lady who consented to undertake 
 this interesting service was a Miss Cooke, who, to 
 a sincere love of her sex, and fervent piety toward 
 her Saviour, united long acquaintance with the 
 work of education. She accordingly sailed from 
 England, recommended more especially to the Cal- 
 cutta School Society ; but the Committee of that 
 Institution, being composed partly of native gentle- 
 men, were not prepared, unanimously and actively, 
 to engage in any general plan of native female 
 education. Their funds also were inadequate to 
 the due support of the plans contemplated. Under 
 these circumstances, they resigned their claim on 
 Miss Cooke's services to the Corresponding Com- 
 mittee of the Church Missionary Society, who cor- 
 dially agreed to make every practicable exertion to 
 assist her to improve such opportunities as might 
 offer for promoting the object which had brought 
 her to Calcutta. They entered upon this engage- 
 ment, trusting to the liberality of the Christian 
 
 Missionary Eegister, from which this statement is drawn up, 
 an account of Hindoo female education was published by Pris- 
 cilla Chapman in 1839. " A Prize Essay " on the same sub- 
 ject, by a converted Brahmin, the Kev. K. M. Banerjed, was 
 published in Calcutta in 1841. See also The Friend of India, 
 No. 5, Art. on Female Education in India. 
 
276 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, public in India to supply the means of carrying on 
 
 VL their operations ; and they were not disappointed. 
 
 Many,, indeed,, thought the plan visionary and 
 
 hopeless, but there was encouragement enough to 
 
 persevere. 
 
 Opening 9. While engaged in studying Bengalee, and 
 chooL * scarcely venturing to hope that an immediate 
 opening for entering upon her work would be 
 found, Miss Cooke was advised by Archdeacon 
 Corrie to attend one of the boys' schools, in order 
 to observe their pronunciation. Besides convers- 
 ing with the boys, she hoped to be able to in- 
 duce them to bring their sisters also to learn to 
 read. This circumstance, trifling as it may appear, 
 led to the immediate establishment of her first 
 school. Unaccustomed to see a European lady in 
 that part of the native town, a crowd collected 
 about the door, which annoyed the school pundit, 
 who began to drive them away. Miss Cooke de- 
 sired that they would not send away the girls, as 
 she wished to speak to them. Among them was 
 an interesting-looking child, whom she desired to 
 be called, and, by an interpreter, asked her if she 
 wished to learn to read. The pundit answered for 
 her, saying, that she had for three months past 
 been daily begging to be admitted to learn with 
 the boys ; but that he could not teach her, not 
 having received any orders to instruct girls. Miss 
 Cooke said that she would teach her, on which the 
 child looked pleased and surprised. Two more 
 little girls then came forward, and she was told, 
 that if she would attend next day, twenty girls 
 should be collected. 
 
 In consequence, on the following day, January 
 26. 1822, Miss Cooke attended, accompanied by a 
 female friend, who spoke Bengalee fluently. They 
 found fifteen girls, accompanied, in several cases, 
 by their mothers, who kept up a long and ani- 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 27' 
 
 mated conversation 1 with Miss Cooke's friend, 
 which ended in the school being established forth- 
 
 1 The following few particulars of this conversation, given 
 by the lady in question, will afford some insight into the modes 
 of thinking prevalent among the native women : 
 
 " As soon as the first salutations were over, I conversed fa- 
 miliarly with the children in Bengalee ; on which they all 
 appeared delighted. I asked them if they would attend regu- 
 larly for instruction from that lady (looking towards Miss 
 Cooke), who is taking so much trouble as to learn the language 
 for the purpose of instructing them. They said that they 
 would most gladly ; and their little countenances were light- 
 ened up with joy. Two of them, whose names are Monachee 
 and Ponchee, said that they wished I also would come with 
 Miss Cooke and talk to them. 
 
 " While speaking to the children, many of their female re- 
 latives stood without the lattice-work, looking in. 
 
 " The children then repeated their Bengalee alphabet to Miss 
 Cooke ; and, after they had gone over a few of the first letters 
 several times, we moved to come away. Little Ponchee took 
 hold of my clothes, and said, ' Stop, my mother is coming;' by 
 which I found that some intelligence had been conveyed to the 
 nearest neighbours of our being there. While Miss Cooke was 
 speaking to Mr Jetter, who had a boys' school in the place, 
 two or three of the mothers approached close to the lattice- 
 work ; and the children, particularly Monachee and Ponchee, 
 pointed out theirs, and Ponchee her grandmother also, begging 
 I would speak to them. 
 
 " The mothers of the children were neatly dressed, in clean 
 white clothes ; but drew their upper coverings so much over 
 their faces, that I should not know them again. I drew close 
 to them, and said, ' I hope you will be pleased that your chil- 
 dren should be instructed by us ; that lady, Miss Cooke, is 
 come to this country solely for the purpose of instructing 
 the children of the natives of this country/ Monachee's 
 mother inquired, if she could speak their language. I told 
 them that she had begun to learn it on her way hither, and 
 could read and write a little ; and, in a short time, I hoped 
 she would be able to converse with them familiarly. She then 
 asked why I could not come also with Miss Cooke. I told 
 them that I had my own to instruct at home, but that I would 
 often accompany Miss Cooke. They inquired whether Miss 
 Cooke was married. I answered ' No/ Had she been, or was 
 she going to be? I said, 'No; she is married, or devoted, to 
 your children. She heard in England that the women of this 
 
278 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, with, the women consenting to send their girls to 
 
 1_ be instructed. 
 
 This development of Miss Cooke's plan seems to 
 have prevented much suspicion from being enter- 
 tained as to her motives, and the effects of her 
 intercourse with the children was encouraging ; for 
 petitions were subsequently presented, from time 
 to time, from different quarters of the native town, 
 and in a few months no less than ten schools were 
 established, containing two hundred and seventy- 
 country were kept in total ignorance ; that they were not 
 taught even to read or write; and that the men alone were 
 allowed to attain to any degree of knowledge ; it was also 
 generally understood that the chief objection arose from your 
 having no female who would undertake to teach. She, there- 
 fore, felt much sorrow and compassion for your state, and 
 determined to leave her country, her parents, her friends, and 
 every other advantage, and come here for the sole purpose of 
 educating your female children.' They, with one voice, cried 
 out, smiting their bosoms with their right hands, ' Oh ! what 
 a pearl of a woman is this ! ' I added, * She has given up 
 greater expectations to come here ; and seeks not the riches of 
 this world, but that she may promote your BEST INTERESTS/ 
 * Our children are yours we give them to you/ replied two or 
 three of the mothers at once." 
 
 In another conversation, held two days after, Monacbee's 
 mother asked, What will be the use of learning to our FEMALE 
 children, and what advantage will it be to them ? The lady 
 replied i( It will enable them to be more useful in their fami- 
 lies, and increase their knowledge ; and it is to be hoped that 
 it will tend also to gain respect to families and increase their 
 affection." " True," said one of them, " our husbands now look 
 upon us as little better than brutes/' " And/' added Mona- 
 chee's mother, " what benefit will you derive from this work ? " 
 J replied, " The only return that we wish is to promote your 
 best interests and happiness/' " Then," said the woman, " I 
 suppose this is a holy work in your sight, and well pleasing to 
 God." As they are not yet able to understand our MOTIVES, I 
 only said, in return, " God is always well pleased that we should 
 love and do good to our fellow- creatures " The women then 
 spoke to one another in terms of the highest approbation of us. 
 C. M. S. Report, 23d, pp. 107-109. Missionary Register, 
 1822, pp. 481-485; 1823, pp. 355-360. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 279 
 
 seven girls. Not that the natives were wholly 
 without fear of the consequences of this innova- 
 tion ; and one instance may be given of the suspi- 
 cion with which untutored minds are apt to view 
 disinterested labours for their good. 
 
 The first girl who presented herself, after having 
 attended daily for some weeks, was withdrawn ; 
 and, under the pretext of going to a distance, was 
 absent about a fortnight. Daily inquiry being 
 made for her, the father at last promised to send 
 her back, provided Miss Cooke would sign an 
 agreement, binding herself to make no claim upon 
 the child hereafter on the score of educating her, 
 and that her parents should be at liberty to take 
 her away when they chose. This was imme- 
 diately done ; the child returned to school ; and no 
 further interruption, except what the indolence 
 and ignorance of the parents sometimes occasioned, 
 arose in any quarter. 
 
 10. The Marchioness of Hastings rendered the Their 
 most important aid to these schools in various ways, ra P id in * 
 
 * . ... . n ovpnsft. 
 
 but especially by visiting them in person. The 
 parents were much attracted by her ladyship's ap- 
 pearance in the lanes and gullies where Europeans 
 were seldom seen, and by her condescension to their 
 children. Under such distinguished patronage, the 
 schools were increased, in 1823, to twenty- two, and 
 the scholars to four hundred. It was still found 
 difficult to bring them into the same order 
 as the boys' schools, but a growing sense of the 
 benefits likely to arise from education was evident, 
 and the most sanguine hopes of the patrons of the 
 schools were already more than realised. An exa- 
 mination of the first and second classes was held 
 June 23. 1823, in the presence of a numerous 
 assemblage of ladies and other friends, at which 
 upwards of one hundred girls were present, and 
 they acquitted themselves highly to the satisfaction 
 
 crease. 
 
280 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 of the company. A wealthy native addressed the 
 children at the conclusion of the examination,, on 
 the advantage of education both for time and eter- 
 nity ; and assured them, that as soon as they were 
 qualified, the native gentlemen would employ them 
 to instruct their daughters. 1 
 
 This short address encouraged the hope that the 
 houses of the rich, and even the Brahmins, would 
 ere long be opened to the female teacher. These 
 expectations, however, were only partially realised, 
 though the prejudices of several were evidently 
 giving way. Some of the respectable natives who 
 declined, as members of the Calcutta School Com- 
 mittee, taking part publicly in female education, 
 privately assisted in procuring ground for erecting 
 schools and other buildings for the purpose. This 
 year, 1823, Miss Cooke wrote thus on the subject, 
 to the Church Missionary Society 
 
 " I have, this morning, it being a holiday among 
 the Hindoos, been exploring some parts of the native 
 town, which I had not before seen. Mr Jetter 
 accompanied me : he is now pretty well known, and 
 is much liked by the natives. We met with a per- 
 son who was my pundit for a short time. He is a 
 high Brahmin, with a most profound contempt for 
 the Bengalee females. He used daily to assure me 
 that I should never succeed : their women were all 
 BEASTS quite stupid never could or would learn ; 
 nor would the Brahmins ever allow THEIR females 
 to be taught, &c., &c. To all this I answered, 
 ' Very well we shall see.' This morning I told him 
 that I MUST begin with their ladies now, and he 
 must assist my plans ; and he has promised to get 
 some girls collected in a large verandah WITHIN the 
 
 1 In the Missionary Kegister 1824, p. 312, is given some par 
 ticulars of another examination in December. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 281 
 
 compound of a rich native ! I am thankful for this 
 step gained : surely the next will be to the ladies' 
 apartments !" 2 
 
 11. The great difficulty in the progress of this Need of 
 work arose from the want of suitable female teachers. teachers - 
 Several women had entered the schools, and Miss 
 Cooke endeavoured to encourage them with the 
 promise of appointing them to teach when suffi- 
 ciently qualified ; but they frequently disappointed 
 
 her. It was found almost impossible to rouse them 
 from their habitual apathy, or to keep up any 
 little interest at first awakened in their minds. The 
 want of teachers, however, was in some measure 
 supplied from the Female Orphan Asylum, over 
 which Mr and Mrs Schmid presided. Several of 
 the elder girls, who had given evidence of piety, 
 having cheerfully begun the study of Bengalee, in 
 order that, under Miss Cooke' s instructions, they 
 might be prepared to act as teachers of the female 
 schools. It will be remembered that this Asylum 
 was established by Mr Thomason in 1815. He had 
 always hoped that it might be rendered subservient 
 to the interests of Christianity in India ; but he 
 could scarcely look for such a gratifying fulfilment 
 of his wishes. 
 
 About this time, Miss Cooke was married to Kev. 
 Isaac Wilson, a missionary of the Church Missionary 
 Society, who arrived at Madras in 1821, and was 
 now transferred to Calcutta, with the sanction of 
 both committees, Miss Cooke having accepted his 
 proposal on this condition. Mr Wilson, besides 
 performing his own missionary duties in Calcutta, 
 made himself useful in the female schools, especially 
 in conducting their public examinations. 
 
 12. With a view to awaken a more powerful Lad i es ' 
 
 Society for 
 
 female 
 education. 
 
 Miss. Register 1823, pp. 194, 359, 360. 
 
282 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 interest among all classes of benevolent'persons in 
 India in favour of female education,, and also to 
 improve more extensively the opportunities open- 
 ing for its extension, it was deemed expedient to 
 assign this department of the Society's labour to 
 a separate association of ladies. In consequence, 
 a Society was formed in. March 1824, entitled 
 " THE LADIES' SOCIETY FOR NATIVE FEMALE EDUCA- 
 TION IN CALCUTTA AND ITS VICINITY/' of which Lady 
 Amherst, the Go venor- General's lady, consented 
 to become the patroness. In devolving the care 
 of the female branch of their operations on this 
 Society, the Calcutta Corresponding Committee 
 reserved to themselves the right of resuming that 
 charge should circumstances ever render itjidvis- 
 able. 
 
 Under the direction of the Ladies' Society the 
 work continued steadily to advance ; and at the 
 close of 1826 the number of female schools had 
 increased to thirty, containing above six hundred 
 children. Mrs Wilson had introduced the Scrip- 
 tures into half the schools, and the remainder, it 
 was hoped, would soon be ready for the sacred 
 volume. Many more schools might have been 
 established, with the prospect of being well attended ; 
 but as no dependence could be placed on the na- 
 tive teachers, without vigilant superintendence, the 
 Ladies' Committee did not judge it advisable, even 
 had the funds admitted of it, to extend their sphere 
 at present in Calcutta. 1 
 Public 13. An examination of two hundred of the school 
 
 tfon m jf n the cnildren took P lace on the 23d of December 1826, 
 schools. in presence of about two hundred ladies of the 
 settlement, and several English and native gentle- 
 men ; and all were satisfied with this exhibition of 
 
 ] Second and Third Reports of the Ladies' Association. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 283 
 
 the progress that had been made in the appear- 
 ance and acquirements of the scholars. 2 
 
 2 The following account of this examination was given by 
 the ladies in their Second Report : " The appearance of the 
 scholars was more favourable than on any former occasion ; a 
 considerable proportion were of an age capable of benefiting by 
 the instruction imparted thus manifesting, on the part of the 
 native population, an increased confidence in the teachers. Of 
 about 540 girls who are in daily attendance in the different 
 schools, 200 were examined. They are taught generally in 
 the elementary books supplied by the School-Book Society. 
 Some of them were examined in the little work on Geography, 
 and pointed out, on the beautiful map now bound up with that 
 work, the countries and places respecting which they were 
 questioned. They were examined also in the Gospels, which 
 are given them in separate copies ; in Watt's Catechism ; " Con- 
 versations between a Mother and her Daughter," which con- 
 tain questions on the Creation, the Ten Commandments, and 
 on the Way of Salvation as taught in the Christian Scriptures. 
 They also read and learn by heart short prayers and transla- 
 tions of hymns, which have been prepared chiefly for their use. 
 Many of the girls manifest great readiness in explaining the 
 meaning of words which occur in their lessons, and the mean- 
 ing of the passages which they read. A poor, BLIND girl, about 
 thirteen years of age, excited considerable interest. She has, 
 from listening to the other children, got by heart many passages 
 from the Gospels ; and repeated very correctly the greater part 
 of the second chapter of the Gospel of St Luke. The exami- 
 nation commenced by the girls singing the hymn, " Come, ye 
 sinners, poor and wretched," according to their own tune, 
 which had been taught them by the blind girl. At the close 
 of the examination the girls repeated the Lord's Prayer, which 
 they had all committed to memory. On the whole, the pro- 
 gress in the state of these schools is manifest, both in respect 
 of the appearance and acquirements of the children. 
 
 Several persons, conversant in Bengalee, engaged in examin- 
 ing separate classes, by which means the whole was got through 
 in moderate time ; and the company separated with a general 
 feeling of satisfaction with the measures adopted by the Ladies' 
 Society, and anticipations of solid advantage to the objects of 
 their benevolent exertions. 
 
 Among the specimens of work performed by the school girls 
 was also a sampler, very well executed by a native Christian 
 woman, who has been taught at the Church Mission premises. 
 
284 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 14. Encouraged by the circumstances which 
 
 L favoured the growth of female education,, in 1823 
 
 A c o entral the Corresponding Committee circulated proposals 
 estab- for the erection of a central school, for the special 
 lished. improvement of the first classes of all the other 
 schools. Considerable contributions were in a short 
 time collected for this object, but they did not 
 amount to a sufficient sum before 1826, when the 
 ground was purchased ; and, on the 18th of May, 
 the foundation-stone was laid by the lady of the 
 Governor- General, when solemn prayer was offered 
 by Archdeacon Corrie for the Divine blessing on 
 the institution. Many natives, particularly women 
 and their daughters, were present. A native rajah, 
 Budinoth Roy, who had contributed twenty thou- 
 sand rupees, addressed Lady Amherst in terms of 
 deep gratitude for the obligation bestowed on his 
 countrywomen, and congratulated her and the other 
 ladies on the success attending their exertions. 
 The buildings were not ready for occupation before 
 the autumn of the following year. 
 
 Such was the success, within five years, of the 
 endeavours of female energy to overcome a pre- 
 judice in the native mind which almost all persons 
 had hitherto deemed insuperable. The salutary 
 influence of education on the moral and maternal 
 character of the Hindoo female was already ap- 
 
 It is intended as a present for Lady Hastings, and the follow- 
 ing inscription is wrought on it : 
 
 UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF 
 THE MOST NOBLE HOUSE OF HASTINGS, 
 
 WE, POOR HINDOO FEMALES, 
 
 FIRST BEGAN TO ENJOY THE BLESSINGS OF EDUCATION, 
 FEBRUARY 1822. 
 
 About 1000 rupees were added to the funds of the Society 
 by subscriptions and by the sale of fancy articles. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 285 
 
 parent ; and it was anticipated at the time that 
 female education would not remain stationary in 
 Calcutta ; that it must pervade the whole continent 
 of India ; that that city would only be the centre 
 whence light and information, diffused over the 
 country, would animate and elevate the women of 
 Hindoostan. Raised to her proper rank in society, 
 it was seen that the Hindoo female would modify 
 and improve that society ; that the appalling forms 
 of cruelty and pollution would disappear under her 
 influence, and gradually yield to the gentleness of 
 feminine manners ; that the woman of India, be- 
 come the companion, not the slave of man, could 
 no longer consent to sacrifice her offspring from 
 superstition, or herself in despair : but would find 
 means to counteract that superstition, by the light 
 poured into her mind by education ; and to shake 
 off that despair by employments suitable for her 
 rank, her sex, and her character. 
 
 15. Although in the infancy of this mission Themis- 
 education occupied so prominent a place, yet the 
 ministry of the Word was constantly kept in view 
 as the appointed ordinance of God for the salvation 
 of men. Shortly after the opening of the institu- 
 tion at Mirzapore, Mr Jetter held Divine service 
 in Bengalee, every Sunday morning, in the spacious 
 school-room. He also preached to the natives, as 
 opportunities offered, in different parts of the town. 
 On Monday evening he explained the Scriptures 
 at Kidderpore, and on Friday evening he preached 
 in a small building near the mission premises. In 
 the following year a Sunday evening lecture also 
 was delivered at this place. Mr Reichardt usually 
 accompanied him in these visits, though not yet 
 sufficiently acquainted with Bengalee to take part 
 in the services, Mr Wilson also, from Madras, 
 soon joined them ; but, for the same reason, could 
 not yet assist in the native department. In 1825, 
 
286 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, however, when sickness obliged Mr Jetter to return 
 
 1_ home, they were both able to conduct the services 
 
 in their several chapels. 
 
 These chapels were temporary structures, of 
 which they had three in the year 1826, at Mirza- 
 pore, Potuldunga, and Semlya, about two miles 
 apart. At Mirzapore, besides the regular morn- 
 ing and evening services on Sundays, the Christians 
 residing on and near the mission premises met 
 daily for morning and evening worship, to the 
 number of about fifty, on which occasions some of 
 the passers-by were usually attracted to hear a 
 portion of Scripture read and explained. In this 
 and the other chapels together, the missionaries 
 preached from ten to fifteen times in the course of 
 the week. Two native converts, also, were oc- 
 cupied in distributing tracts among their country- 
 men, and conversing with them on subjects con- 
 nected with Christianity. The willingness to listen 
 to Christian instruction was so manifest in some 
 villages near Calcutta, that it was quite painful to 
 the missionaries to be obliged to wave these op- 
 portunities. The congregations at the chapels 
 varied from eighty to two hundred. The mission 
 flock residing at Mirzapore consisted of thirty-two 
 adults and twenty children. About twelve were 
 regular communicants ; and the rest gave good 
 hope respecting their state. Some of them were 
 brought to the knowledge of Christ in different 
 places by the preaching of other missionaries. 
 Several ]Q Q ne O f ^he fl rs ^ conver ts, under Mr Jetter's 
 
 ministry, was a young Brahmin, who gave a satis- 
 factory account of the progress of truth in his 
 mind. Having heard from one of his Gooroos 
 that one way of salvation was by Jesus Christ, he. 
 went to Calcutta to inquire concerning it. His 
 assiduity in reading the Scriptures and other books 
 of religious instruction his diligence in attending 
 
 converts. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 287 
 
 to the explanations given him of religious truth 
 and his conscientious regard to the workings of 
 his own heart, as exhibited in his conduct and 
 inquiries, led the missionaries to hope that the 
 grace of God was with him ; and on the 24th of 
 August 1823, Mr Jetter baptized him, in com- 
 pliance with his earnest request. 
 
 The Corresponding Committee mention another 
 interesting and encouraging circumstance in their 
 last report for this period. There were " among 
 the candidates for baptism a Hindoo and his wife, 
 who were led by their daughter, a little girl, who 
 was a scholar in one of Mrs Wilson's schools, to 
 inquire into the truth of Christianity. The child 
 had imbibed very soon the doctrines taught in the 
 books introduced by Mrs Wilson, and refused to 
 bow down any more to idols, saying that she had 
 read that it was wrong. By her entreaties the 
 parents were led to converse with Mr and Mrs 
 Wilson ; and after a long time they yielded, with 
 apparent sincerity, to the arguments in favour 
 of Christianity." 
 
 Some of the adult converts were employed by 
 the Society, and others were permitted to reside 
 on the mission premises, which were now consider- 
 ably enlarged and improved. An improvement 
 had been made in the neighbourhood also, which 
 increased the value of the property to more than 
 double its original price, and afforded ample space 
 for a large church for the native converts, when- 
 ever necessary. The whole was now enclosed with 
 a brick wall. 
 
 17. The PRESS formed the third division of the Themis- 
 Society's operations at Calcutta. In 1820, a prin- sion P ress - 
 ter, Mr Thomas Brown, was sent from England to 
 take charge of this department, which he conducted 
 for about four years. Besides printing, numerous 
 works for the Society's use, the press was employed 
 
288 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, for other parties, and its proceeds soon repaid the 
 VL expenses incurred. But in 1824 the Society was 
 deprived of Mr Brown's valuable services. A pul- 
 monary complaint had for some time prevented 
 him from pursuing his usual occupations, and on 
 the 20th of August death terminated his labours. 
 Mr Beichardt, with the assistance of a printer 
 obtained at Calcutta, named De Bozario, an active 
 and intelligent man, undertook this department for 
 the present ; but finding it interfere too much 
 with his more appropriate duties, he was very 
 urgent with the Society to send out an able prin- 
 ter to relieve him. Such a man, however, it was 
 difficult to obtain, and the press continued for 
 some time to be conducted, under his superinten- 
 dence, by M. De Bozario. 1 The books required 
 for the schools, beyond their own publications, and 
 
 1 The following books, printed at the Society's press, were 
 kept on sale : 
 
 English : Martyn's Sermons Outline of Ancient History, 
 for the use of Native Youths Geography of Europe, 12mo 
 Murray's Spelling Book Address to Young Persons on the 
 Lord's Supper, by a Clergyman Cecil's Friendly Visit to the 
 House of Mourning Anglo-Bengalee : Ellerton's Dialogues on 
 the Book of Genesis Collection of Divine Sayings Sum- 
 mary of the Holy Scriptures. Bengalee : Ellerton's Dialogues 
 Book of Common-Prayer Spelling Book History of Joseph 
 and his Brethren. Hindoostanee : Book of Common-Prayer 
 Oordoo Spelling Book History of Abraham ; besides numer- 
 ous tracts in English, Bengalee, and Hindoostanee. 
 
 An idea may be formed of the extent of its operations from 
 the following statement : From June 1824 to February 1826, 
 there were printed fifty-two different books and tracts, forming 
 a total of 122,344 copies. These works were of various sizes, 
 from a tract of four pages to a book of 432 ; and the editions 
 varied from eighty copies to 6000, but produced a total of 
 nearly six millions of pages. Of these pages, more than one 
 half consisted of single Gospels, the Acts, and the Book of 
 Isaiah ; printed for the Bible Society nearly one -twelfth of 
 the whole we're for other societies and individuals and the re- 
 mainder were printed for the use of the Society's Missions. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 289 
 
 before these were ready, were furnished by the 
 Diocesan School Committee and the Calcutta 
 School-Book Society. 
 
 18. In August 1823, a Calcutta Church Mis- Church 
 sionary Association 2 was formed, and in December " 
 
 the affairs of the North India Mission were placed 
 under the charge of an AUXILIARY SOCIETY. The li 
 Bishop of Calcutta, Dr Heber, soon after his ciety< 
 arrival, in the autumn of that year, lent his sanc- 
 tion and aid in placing the Society's concerns in 
 that state of organization, and in that relation to 
 the Episcopate, which gave the best promise of 
 extensive and permanent usefulness. The Cal- 
 cutta Auxiliary Society was formed on the 1st of 
 December, the Bishop in the chair. His Lord- 
 ship accepted the office of President, and Arch- 
 deacon Corrie undertook that of Secretary, which 
 he had held under the Corresponding Committee. 
 This Committee now transferred to that of the 
 Auxiliary Society the powers heretofore vested in 
 themselves. 3 
 
 The Committee, at a meeting held December 3d, 
 adopted such standing regulations as appeared best 
 adapted to promote the efficiency of the Society ; 
 and, more especially, that of obtaining the Bishop's 
 licence for all their Episcopal missionaries, the 
 difficulties which Bishop Middleton had found in 
 the way of licensing them being removed. By 
 these regulations it will be seen how fully the 
 Society's missionaries in Bengal would enjoy the 
 
 3 The preparatory measures for forming this Association, 
 and the rules for its government, may be seen in Appendix 
 IT. of the Church Missionary Society's twenty-fourth report. 
 The nature and advantages of such an association are explained 
 in the Missionary Kegister for 1824, pp. 229, 230. 
 
 3 The proceedings on this occasion are given in the Church 
 Missionary Society's twenty-fourth report, Appendix HI., and 
 in the Missionary Kegister for 1824, pp. 230, 231. 
 
 VOL. V. T 
 
200 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, patronage and superintendence of the Bishop. 1 
 _ 1_ They would bear a relation to their diocesan in 
 India similar to that existing between the pa- 
 rochial clergy and their diocesans in England. 
 The advantages of this relation are too well under- 
 stood to require explanation here. In Bishop 
 Heber the missionaries found a friend and a 
 father, who animated them by his example, 
 guided them by his counsels, and supported them 
 by his prayers. 
 
 These improvements related to the Bengal mis- 
 sion generally, and will be adverted to again. We 
 will here conclude the account of its progress at 
 Calcutta with the testimony of Mr Wilson, who 
 says, " I cannot but look back with thankfulness 
 for what I have been allowed to witness during 
 three years in Calcutta ; and cannot but hope, 
 from my own observation, that things are changing 
 for the better. Considering how little compara- 
 tively has been yet attempted for the salvation of 
 the heathen, there is abundant fruit ; and if more 
 activity, more faith, and more prayer were em- 
 ployed in this holy cause, we should no doubt 
 speedily reap a tenfold harvest." 
 
 Schools 19. AGRA. The difficulties of Abdool Messeeh, 
 church at a ^er Mr Corrie's departure from this station, were 
 
 Agra. / mentioned in the last chapter ; also the subsequent 
 / improvement of his schools and congregation under 
 
 _ 
 
 1 Church Missionary Society's twenty-fourth report, Ap- 
 pendix IV. ; Missionary Kegister, 1824, p. 232. The follow- 
 ing is the regulation referring to the missionaries' licence : 
 
 " 1. That all the Episcopal missionaries of the Society at 
 this presidency, who have not obtained the Bishop's licence, 
 be directed to apply to him for the same ; and that every 
 missionary of the Society, Episcopally ordained, be directed, 
 on his arrival from England, to present himself to the Bishop of 
 the Diocese for his licence." 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 291 
 
 the patronage of a British officer. 2 This gentle- 
 man, being called away from Agra in 1817, en- 
 gaged a Mr John Lyons to superintend the schools, 
 and render aid to Abdool ; but as his situation 
 admitted of his giving only a small portion of his 
 time to this object, it was necessary to place the 
 schools under the exclusive care of an English 
 master. Accordingly, in 1820, a Mr Crowley was 
 appointed to the situation, and the number of scho- 
 lars was soon doubled. Several of the British re- 
 sidents took a lively interest in the schools, and 
 contributed liberally towards their support. 
 
 Abdool Messeeh continued, amidst growing in- 
 firmities, to hold up the light of Christian truth 
 and practice. His faith, love, and zeal were as 
 conspicuous as ever, though not productive of the 
 same visible effects on the people around him. The 
 congregation was between forty and fifty, most of 
 whom daily attended public prayers ; on Sunday 
 their little chapel was filled, several Hindoos and 
 Mahomedans attending to hear the word of God . 
 On the death of some of the converts in 1820, the 
 Calcutta Committee remarked, in their annual re- 
 port, " Of the members of the native church who 
 have, within a late period, departed this life, three 
 have died in the sure and certain hope of the re- 
 surrection to life eternal, through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. One of these was a convert from Hindoo- 
 ism, whose end was unusually happy." Another 
 had been brought up in the Armenian Church, but 
 was ignorant of the real meaning of Christianity, 
 until he became an attendant on Divine service at 
 the mission chapel ; a third was a member of the 
 Roman Church at Agra, and long an opposer of the 
 Protestant doctrine ; but at length he became sin- 
 
 B. xi. c. iv. See Appendix F of this volume. 
 
292 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, cerely penitent, and,, forsaking all his own fancied 
 VL merits and the mediation of saints, declared, with 
 his dying breath, that he rested for salvation only 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ. Of a fourth, though 
 delirious in his last hours, and unable to exhibit 
 any evidence of his faith and hope at that awful 
 period, yet, from his general character and con- 
 duct, there was reason to conclude that he was a 
 true Christian. 
 
 Abdool's labours were much circumscribed, in 
 consequence of his growing infirmities, which pre- 
 vented his moving about on foot as heretofore. In 
 the years 1822 and 1823 he baptized twenty adults. 
 Though the number of converts is not generally 
 reported at this period, yet several instances are 
 mentioned of the blessing of God attending his 
 labours, and also of the improved state of feeling 
 manifested by the inhabitants of Agra towards this 
 venerable " servant of Christ ." 1 His journals ex- 
 
 1 One instance, on the part of a Mahomedan of great respec- 
 tability, will serve to illustrate this improvement. In his jour- 
 nal for April 1. 1825, Abdool says : 
 
 " Now, in the place of enmity, these people begin to shew 
 kindness ; and, moreover, invite me to their houses, and send 
 me portions from their friendly entertainments ; for instance, 
 to-day, Meer Seyud Ali, who is head-man to the collector, sent 
 me a friendly note, saying, { The daughter of me, your servant, 
 is to-day to be married ; you will greatly oblige me by making 
 one of our company/ I sent for answer, ' Since the day that, 
 by the grace of G-od, I was honoured with baptism, I have re- 
 nounced all assemblies for dancing and music ; and I should be 
 ashamed, with this white beard and these broken teeth, to shew 
 myself at a wedding-feast.' He sent, in reply, ' I have read in 
 the blessed Gospel, that the Lord Jesus himself honoured a 
 wedding at Cana of Galilee with his presence, and there mira- 
 culously turned water into wine : if you will not come, we shall 
 all conclude that you disobey the traditions of the Divine 
 Jesus. If you excuse yourself on account of the dancing, &c., 
 I will prepare a separate apartment for you ; and will invite 
 some aged person, like yourself, to keep your company/ I was 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 293 
 
 hibit no decay of mental energy, notwithstanding 
 the weakness of his body. His conversations with 
 inquirers after truth seem to have been as animated 
 
 as ever. 2 
 
 20. In the autumn of 1820, Abdool had received 
 Lutheran orders at Calcutta ; but, in 1825, the ordained. 
 impediments in the way of the Bishop's ordaining 
 natives being removed, it was deemed advisable 
 
 that, as a missionary of the Church of England, he 
 should receive Episcopal ordination. Concurring 
 in this opinion, he proceeded to Calcutta for the 
 purpose, and was ordained, in December 1825, by 
 Bishop Heber. The Bishop had visited Agra early 
 in the same year, and expressed himself highly 
 pleased with the native church and school, and 
 with all the proceedings of this faithful missionary, 
 But he did not live long to labour as a clergyman 
 of the Church of England. After his ordination, 
 he set out for Lucknow, where his mother still re- 
 sided, and reached her abode when the hot season 
 of 1826 had set in. It was intended that he should 
 make this place the sphere of his future labours ; 
 but, on the 4th of March 1827, he was called to 
 enter into his eternal rest. 
 
 21. His end was peace. After joining in sing- His death, 
 ing a favourite hymn of his own composing, and 
 discoursing with those about him of their Redeemer, 
 
 he lay for some time, seemingly in perfect ease. 
 
 rejoiced on hearing this, since it appears that these people read 
 the Gospels. In the evening, after worship, I went to his 
 house : they had prepared a separate apartment, where several 
 aged persons, learned in religion, and wealthy, were collected, 
 all of whom received me with respect ; and we continued to 
 converse on religious subjects, in a very friendly manner, till 
 midnight : from their conversation I entertained some hope re- 
 specting them. Taking my leave, I returned home, and retired 
 to rest/' Missionary Register 1826, p. 397. 
 8 Missionary Register, pp. 392-398. 
 
294 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. At length he raised his head from the pillow, took 
 the hand of a friend by his side, then gently with- 
 drew his hand, and breathed his last. 
 
 " According to his desire, his remains were in- 
 terred in the compound of his own house. The 
 Resident, with other friends, attended the funeral 
 on the morning of the 5th, and read the burial 
 service at the grave. The Resident also ordered a 
 monument to be erected over the grave, and di- 
 rected an inscription to be prepared both in English 
 and Persian. 1 
 
 Such was the happy termination of this devout 
 man's ministry. After the particular account of 
 his labours and trials given in these pages, it is 
 unnecessary to dwell upon them here, or to repeat 
 the honourable testimonies borne to his character 
 after his decease. We shall, therefore, close with 
 the brief notice of him and his work contained in 
 the Report of the Calcutta Committee for 1827. 
 
 " He had laboured in the service of the Church 
 Missionary Society upward of fourteen years, dur- 
 ing the whole of which period he had uniformly 
 adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour, and 
 greatly endeared himself to many Christians of all 
 classes in society. By patience and meekness under 
 persecutions and reproaches for Christ's sake, and 
 by persevering endeavours to return good for evil, 
 even his enemies had become at peace with him ; 
 while, by his labours to make known the Gospel, 
 multitudes of his countrymen were brought to 
 acknowledge the superiority of the Christian reli- 
 gion, and about a hundred of them to embrace the 
 profession of it. Many of these departed this life 
 before him, some have returned to their old errors, 
 and some remain walking in the truth. While the 
 
 Missionary Register 1827, p. 453. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 295 
 
 Committee justly regret the loss which the cause 
 of the Gospel has suffered in the removal of so 
 valuable a fellow-labourer, they would offer their 
 hearty thanks to the Father of Lights, from whom 
 every good and perfect gift doth come, for mani- 
 festing so signally the power of his grace in the 
 conversion, holy life, and triumphant death of this 
 true servant of Christ." 2 
 
 The native flock at Agra continued to assemble 
 for Divine worship under Fuez Messeeh. Encour- 
 aged by a friend to the mission, he established 
 three native girls' schools in the city, in which 
 there were thirty- one scholars, five of whom were 
 widows. But the station long felt the loss of the 
 faithful ABDOOL MESSEEH. 
 
 22. CHUNAR. Mr Bowley's removal to Chunar, chunar. 
 the commencement of his labours there, and his 
 extensive plan for native schools, were mentioned 
 in the last chapter on this mission. 3 He persevered 
 in his labours there with steadiness and zeal. Mr 
 Corrie visited the station in February and March 
 1818, and his communications 4 to the Correspond- 
 ing Committee were highly encouraging. One 
 extract from them will serve to shew the state of 
 the congregation at this period. 
 
 ' The usual number of Europeans who attend 
 Divine service regularly is about forty ; and that 
 of native Christians who attend worship in Hin- 
 doostanee about seventy or eighty. The number in 
 both congregations has been gradually and regu- 
 
 2 Missionary Eegister 1828, pp. 164, 165. An obituary of 
 Abdool Messeeh is given in the Miss. Register for October 
 1827 ; and a portrait of him in that for June 1831. 
 
 3 Book xi. c. iv. 
 
 4 These communications may be seen in the Miss- .Register 
 for 1819, pp. 31, 220^2.22, 272, 
 
296 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, larly increasing, and testifies of itself to the dili- 
 L gence and exemplary conduct of Mr Bowley. 
 
 " The state of the people impressed me deeply 
 with the value of his labours. I knew the degra- 
 dation of both European invalids and their native 
 wives and families, from three years' residence 
 among them ; and now to behold so many of them 
 adorning by their lives the doctrine of God our 
 Saviour, was to me most gratifying, and will be 
 considered as an ample recompence, for all their 
 contributions, by the supporters of our Society. 
 
 "A remarkable tenderness of conscience seems 
 to distinguish most of them, and their altered and 
 exemplary conduct is the talk of all." 
 
 Amis- 23. In January 1819, Rev. William Greenwood, 
 
 joh^tfie f rom Calcutta, was added to this station. Mr 
 station. Bowley welcomed him with great joy, and he im- 
 mediately entered on his work. There were up- 
 wards of two hundred Europeans, invalids, at this 
 station, with the families of non-commissioned 
 officers who might be in the field. Of this new 
 sphere of labour, Mr Greenwood wrote 
 
 " I am much gratified with the state of things 
 here, and delighted with my situation ; and have, 
 I think, a prospect of much usefulness. 
 
 " The native Christians appear very exemplary 
 in their lives, and very devout when attending 
 Divine service. It is really edifying to see them ; 
 and shews, very forcibly, what Divine grace can 
 accomplish." 
 
 Of his visits to the hospital, he says 
 
 " It is very affecting to see with what anxiety 
 the sick soldiers daily send for me, when they 
 think that they shall not recover ; and how they 
 open to me the most secret workings of their hearts, 
 and acknowledge the folly of their former ways." 
 
 The reason of Mr Greenwood's removal was to 
 supply the church they were now erecting atChunar. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 297 
 
 The ground was given by the proprietor, a Mr 
 Turnbull, and the subscription list was headed by 
 the Marquis of Hastings, with a thousand rupees. 
 The object was liberally supported by all classes, 
 even to the poorest among the European and native 
 residents. It was finished in 1821, and opened for 
 the double purpose of English and Hindoostanee 
 worship, A mission-house, also, with necessary 
 offices, was erected contiguous to the church ; and 
 the Government, at the suggestion of the Calcutta 
 Committee, built twelve alms-houses for the poor 
 Christian widows of European invalids residing at 
 this station. This was the first asylum for the 
 widowed native woman that modern India had 
 beheld. 
 
 24. Mr Greenwood's residence here left Mr 
 Bowley at liberty to pursue his favourite occupa- 
 tion with the natives in the places of public resort. 
 His journals, as heretofore, give a full and interest- 
 ing account of his conversations with them. His 
 manner of delineating the state and mind of the 
 people among whom he laboured conveys a lively 
 impression both of the difficulties and encourage- 
 ments which they present to a missionary. 1 He 
 sometimes found it hard to obtain anything like a 
 stated hearing in the market-places, or anywhere 
 else, as the practice of listening to the missionaries, 
 or associating with them, was branded with oppro- 
 brious epithets. Those inclined to listen were often 
 deterred by fear of losing caste, and suffering the 
 taunts and reproaches of their friends. But, under 
 all circumstances, he encouraged himself with the 
 thoughts of CHRIST in His work and offices. 
 
 1 These journals are published in full, both in the Miss. 
 Register and in the Appendices to the Society's Reports for 
 this decade. 
 
298 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. "These." he .says, " have kept up my head out 
 VL of deep waters." 
 
 He frequently attended annual fairs at different 
 places, and many festivals at Benares, on which 
 occasions considerable numbers of single Gospels, 
 tracts, and catechisms were circulated, and conver- 
 sations and discussions held with the people. Many 
 came by these means to acknowledge openly that, 
 without Christ, there is no salvation. 
 
 His;ordi- 25. In 1820, MrBowley received Lutheran orders 
 
 increase a ^ ^ ne hands of the Society's German missioiiaries ; 
 
 of MS an( ^ m 1825, he was ordained a minister of the 
 
 Church of England by Bishop Heber, when he 
 
 served the Church at Chunar, in the room of Mr 
 
 Greenwood, who in the same year was removed to 
 
 Allahabad, in consequence of a petition addressed 
 
 to Bishop Heber by the British residents at this 
 
 place. 1 
 
 The native congregation steadily increased at 
 this period. In January 1820, Mr Bowley, in a 
 review of the course and effect of his labours at 
 Chunar, remarked, that when he first assembled 
 the native Christians, from twelve to fifteen at- 
 tended ; but in five years this grain of mustard- 
 seed had been growing, till it had become a tree 
 of from ninety to a hundred branches, of whom 
 fifty were regular communicants. In 1826, when 
 Archdeacon Corrie visited this station, he found 
 the converts nearly doubled, and thus described 
 them : "The responses of the native congregation, 
 in Hindoostanee, remind me of the hearty Amen 
 with which the first Christians are said to have 
 responded to the public prayers. On the Sunday 
 
 1 Allahabad was now added to the stations occupied by the 
 Society, but the proceedings there were not yet sufficiently 
 advanced to require notice in this chapter. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 299 
 
 which I passed at Chunar, about two hundred 
 attended Divine service,, of whom about forty were 
 unbaptized native inhabitants of the place, most 
 of whom attend every Sabbath day." 2 Fifty- seven 
 of the flock were confirmed on this occasion by 
 Bishop Heber. 
 
 Besides his usual ministrations in the church, 
 Mr Bowley, after his ordination, opened a chapel 
 in the midst of the native town, where he was 
 attended by a considerable number of respectable 
 natives, who would not, for fear of incurring re- 
 proach, enter the church. Here he was heard with 
 much attention, and in a short time two persons, 
 an old man and a youth, offered themselves as 
 candidates for baptism, and were admitted. 
 
 26. There were six schools in Chunar and the Schools- 
 vicinity, containing one hundred and eighty boys, tionfc a< 
 and one female school, with about fifty scholars, 
 women and girls. In the boys' schools were taught 
 English, Persian, Hindoostanee, and Hindeewee. 
 
 2 Satisfactory accounts are given from time to time, in Mr 
 Bowley's journals, of the members of his congregation who died 
 in the faith of Christ. We will select one for insertion here. 
 
 " Jan. 10. 1824. To-night, at ten o'clock, I found Sumrut 
 Doss (a native Christian, baptized here in November 1820) 
 apparently in perfect health ; and, in two hours after, saw him 
 a corpse. His wife said that he had complained a little. Since 
 his baptism his life has been exemplary, to the admiration even 
 of heathens around us. He never for a moment seemed to feel 
 the least inclination to return to Hindooism. 
 
 11 Jan 11, Sunday. The remains of Sumrut Doss were con- 
 veyed by Europeans to the place of interment. All the native 
 Christian congregation accompanied, mostly in black ; many 
 Europeans also followed, and not less than 100 heathens, who 
 were all well acquainted with the character of the deceased. The 
 service was in Hindoostanee. Several Hindoos remarked that 
 they never heard of a more hopeful death ; meaning, that the 
 transition was so sudden and without previous pain. The 
 whole seemed to make a deep impression on the people." 
 
300 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. In 1823 the Government of Bengal relieved the 
 Society of the expense of the English school,, it be- 
 ing found beneficial to the public service, several of 
 the scholars having been prepared for various kinds 
 of employment. In these schools the New Testa- 
 ment and other religious books were taught. The 
 female scholars learned English and Hindoostanee, 
 besides sewing and knitting. 
 
 In addition to his ministerial labours, Mr Bowley 
 occupied himself in the important work of transla- 
 tion. He first revised Mr Martyn's Hindoostanee 
 Testament for the use of the people among whom 
 he laboured, by substituting common Hindoostanee 
 words for the Arabic and Persian words, which the 
 idiom of the Oordoo required, but which were un- 
 intelligible to the Hindoos in his neighbourhood. 
 This work was completed in 1824, when he began 
 with the Old Testament, in which he had made 
 some progress at the close of 1826. 
 
 Church at 27. BuxAR, about seventy miles below Benares, 
 Buxar - is a station of invalid soldiers. In 1818, some 
 native Christians residing here having expressed an 
 earnest desire for religious instruction, Mr Bowley 
 spent a week among them, and was received with 
 much attention. This appeared to him a more 
 eligible situation, in respect of the heathen, than 
 even Chunar, one or two fairs being held here 
 annually, which were resorted to by multitudes of 
 natives from all quarters. There was also a place 
 about half a mile off, where devotees, from different 
 parts of India, took up their abode, generally for 
 life. Mr Bowley visited some of the native huts, 
 and his report of the prospect for missionary exer- 
 tion was so satisfactory, that in the following year, 
 the Calcutta Committee placed a catechist here, 
 Kurrum Messeeh, who laboured diligently in his 
 humble sphere. He taught the native Christians 
 to read the New Testament, and to repeat the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 301 
 
 Catechism ; and also conducted their worship ac- 
 cording to the Hindoostanee Prayer-book. The 
 congregation was composed of about forty,, of differ- 
 ent ages. In 1826, when Archdeacon Corrie visited 
 this station, he found that the people were greatly 
 in want of a place of worship, and a circumstance 
 occurred which induced him at once to begin one. 
 A native Christian, the widow of a Sergeant Car- 
 rol, having obtained some arrears of pension due to 
 her husband, brought to the Archdeacon one hun- 
 dred rupees, begging him to receive it " as an offer- 
 ing to the church." She had long been an at- 
 tentive and consistent Christian : her religious 
 impressions were first received at Chunar, and this 
 offering she made of her own accord, in token of 
 her gratitude for t the blessing of Christian instruc- 
 tion. Another friend having presented a donation 
 for the same object, the Archdeacon commenced 
 the erection of a small church, upon a piece of 
 ground near the parade, which the commanding 
 officer permitted him to inclose. 
 
 28. TITALYA is in the northern part of Rungpore, Opening 
 whence access might be opened into Bootan. Thibet, fy a Tlta " 
 and even China. The commanding officer at this 
 station, Captain (afterwards Major) Latter, was 
 anxious to obtain the services of a missionary at a 
 post of such importance. There he might become 
 acquainted with the Thibet and other languages 
 hitherto unknown, but current among extensive 
 nations, who had presses of their own for printing, 
 which afforded a great facility for circulating the 
 Scriptures. Upon this representation, the Calcutta 
 Committee appointed Mr Schroeter to Titalya, 
 where they could not but anticipate great benefit 
 to the cause of Christianity by this opening to the 
 vast regions which border on India and China. 
 
 Under some discouragements, however, in the 
 early part of his residence, Mr Schroeter was called 
 
302 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, down to Burdwan, to superintend the Society's 
 schools at that station. He took with him the books 
 which he had collected in the language of Thibet, 
 intending to employ his leisure at Burdwan in the 
 prosecution of those studies. 
 
 On the application of Captain Latter, who was 
 disappointed at Mr Schroeter's removal, Govern- 
 ment undertook to support him at Titalya, whither, 
 with the Corresponding Committee's sanction, he 
 returned in 1819. Shortly after his arrival, on the 
 20th of March, he wrote to the Society : " Here 
 I am now again in full pursuit of the first rudi- 
 ments of a language with which Europeans have 
 been hitherto very little acquainted ; and I trust 
 that, with the blessing of God, I may be enabled 
 to furnish some materials, to facilitate to others the 
 acquisition of this language ; so that finally we 
 shall see the Word of Life go forth in this tongue 
 also." 
 
 In March 1820, he writes: "My vocabulary 
 has received a considerable increase ; so much so, 
 that if I could work this whole year, day and night, 
 I should not be able to write all out on clean paper. 
 
 " There are yet two other languages spoken in 
 the mountains of Nepaul, with which Europeans 
 are quite unacquainted. These are the Lapchap 
 and Limbooan ; called, in the language of Bootan, 
 Monpa and Tsong. These languages are quite dis- 
 tinct, in the character and words, from the Thibet, 
 or Bootan ; and will, consequently, require two 
 missionaries to obtain a knowledge of them, when- 
 ever it shall please God to open a way to them." 
 
 But while thus diligently pursuing the great 
 object of his appointment to this station, he did 
 not neglect his appropriate duties as a minister of 
 religion. Besides officiating in English for the 
 officers and soldiers, he reports : " On the Lord's 
 day, I have twice Divine worship, in the Hindoo- 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 303 
 
 stanee language, in which Mr Marty n's translation 
 of the Prayer-book and New Testament are used : 
 the number in attendance is, at present, but very 
 small, the greater part of it being Christian drum- 
 mers ; now and then a new comer steps in, and 
 stays away again. Last Easter day, I baptized a 
 native drummer ; and three more candidates for 
 baptism are frequenting my house, for further 
 instruction in the Christian doctrines." 
 
 29. The labours of this young missionary were station 
 soon to terminate. He was attacked with fever, 
 which put an end to his life, July 14. 1820, in the 
 midst of his days and usefulness. He died per- 
 fectly tranquil, without a sign or groan. 
 
 This dispensation was a heavy disappointment to 
 Major Latter and the Calcutta Committee. Anxious 
 to prosecute labours so auspiciously begun, they 
 immediately appointed a missionary to Titalya, 
 Kev. Benedict La Roche, who arrived from England 
 about the time that intelligence of Mr Schroeter' s 
 death reached Calcutta. Government readily ac- 
 cepted the offer of Mr La Roche's services, but his 
 sudden sickness frustrated this design. He was 
 obliged to return to England, where he died in 
 August 1821. 
 
 In October 1822 two missionaries arrived at Cal- 
 cutta, Revs. Maisch and Reichardt, for Titalya ; 
 but the death of Major Latter in that month pre- 
 vented their proceeding to that station, which was 
 therefore suspended. The exertions of Major Latter 
 and Mr Schroeter were not, however, lost, being 
 afterwards made available in the translations of the 
 Scriptures and other works into the language of 
 Thibet. 1 
 
 1 After the death of Mr Schroeter, Major Latter transmitted 
 to the Supreme Government a list of the manuscripts, seven in 
 number, which he h#d left on the subject of the Thibetian Ian- 
 
304 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 VI. 
 
 Establish- 
 ment at 
 Burdwan. 
 
 30. BURDWAN. Mention has been made of two 
 schools opened at this station, in 1816, by Lieu- 
 
 guage, with a statement of the progress made in each (Mission- 
 ary Kegister 1824, p. 335). Two of these MSS., a Thibetian 
 and English Dictionary, and a Supplement to the same, were 
 afterwards put into the hand of Rev. Dr Carey of Serampore, 
 who undertook to correct and publish them, and also to prepare 
 a Grammar of the Thibet language from Mr Shroeter's mate- 
 rials. When this transfer of the MSS. for such a purpose was 
 published, the Jesuits, supposing Schroeter to be one of their 
 fraternity, unwittingly bore testimony to his diligence and 
 ability. The reader will be much amused with the following 
 notice of him arid his labours in the "Noveau Journal Asiatique." 
 The jealousy of the editors for his reputation would probably 
 have been unknown, if they had been aware, as they ought to 
 have been, that he was a thorough Protestant, and not one of 
 the Jesuit " Fathers." 
 
 " Father Schroeter, a German missionary, who long resided 
 in Thibet, has left a complete dictionary as well as a grammar 
 of that language of the country, commonly called ' Bhot-yid/ or 
 the language of Bhote. He composed these two works from the 
 compilations of preceding missionaries in that country, and from 
 his own observations : hence they are partly in Latin, partly in 
 Italian, and partly in German. The MS. of F. Schroeter has 
 been purchased by the English of Calcutta ; and it was placed 
 in the hands of Dr W. Carey, in 1823, in order to be translated 
 and prepared for the press. The work is about to appear, in 
 one quarto volume, well printed. We hope to find that M. 
 Carey has happily overcome the difficulties attending the publi- 
 cation of a dialect of which he is ignorant (qu'on ne connait pas 
 soi-meme). We have also reason to hope that the name of the 
 real author will not be omitted in the title page of the work, as 
 has happened to several other productions of the same kind in 
 India." Missionary Kegister 1828, p. 414. 
 
 Major Latter procured from Europe, at a heavy expense, 
 copies of every work that had any reference to Thibet, or to the 
 language of that country ; and he spared no exertions to procure 
 Thibet manuscripts, from whatever quarter they could be ob- 
 tained. These he placed in Mr Schroeter's hand. On the death 
 of Major Latter, his valuable collection was purchased by the 
 Rev. Mr Mill, the Principal of Bishop's College, on account of 
 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The dispersion 
 of many of the continental libraries, under the influence of the 
 French Revolution, at the time when the purchases for Major 
 
IN INDIA *. BOOK XIII. 305 
 
 tenant (afterwards Captain) Stuart, l who pro- 
 posed to the Calcutta Committee an extensive 
 plan of native schools at Burdwan, and in the 
 neighbourhood. The Committee assured him of 
 such assistance as they might be able to render, 
 and the present decade opened with three schools, 
 containing three hundred and fifty children. Burd- 
 wan is about forty miles above Calcutta ; it is one 
 of the most populous districts in India, and the 
 people were described as thirsting for knowledge. 
 It was, therefore, a favourable spot for the pro- 
 posed plan of education, and during the year 1818 
 the schools were increased to twelve, containing 
 about eleven hundred children, who were taught 
 the Bengalee language. Shortly after Captain Stu- 
 art opened a central school for instruction in Eng- 
 lish, which was a measure of great promise, both 
 parents and children being pleased with the ar- 
 rangement. The most promising scholars were 
 selected from the other schools, and admission into 
 the central school they esteemed a great privilege. 
 The Bible was not introduced at once into these 
 schools, it being deemed advisable to prepare the 
 
 Latter were made at Paris, placed many valuable books within 
 his reach, which could not otherwise have been obtained. 
 
 The library of the College has been further enriched by the 
 liberality of Mrs Latter, in presenting to it a collection of manu- 
 scripts and printed books, in the language of Thibet, formed by 
 Major Latter in that country. These literary treasures are now 
 first opened for the use of Europeans. Major Latter directed, 
 by his will, that they should be presented to some society under 
 whose care they might be best employed for the promotion of 
 literature and religion. These works relate to the language, 
 history, mythology, manners, and social and civil state of the 
 people. There are also specimens of the block-printing of the 
 natives of great antiquity. 
 
 1 B. xi c. iv. 
 
 VOL. V. U 
 
30G HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, children's minds for scriptural lessons by a course 
 L_ of instruction in several branches of useful know- 
 ledge. The plan of education was that adopted 
 by Mr May at Chinsurah, with some modifications 
 by Captain Stuart, which were considered im- 
 provements. 
 
 The establishment of the central school involved 
 a considerable addition to the expenses of this sta- 
 tion ; for, as the majority of the children lived 
 at a distance from Burdwan, it was found impos- 
 sible, while they resided at home with their pa- 
 rents, that they should attend daily at the school ; 
 and, consequently, the full advantages of the insti- 
 tution could only be enjoyed by providing them 
 with board and lodging in the school premises. 
 Captain Stuart, with this object, erected a com- 
 modious building contiguous to the school, where 
 they were boarded and lodged during the week, 
 being permitted to visit their several homes on 
 Saturday, provided they returned in time for busi- 
 ness on Monday morning. 
 
 Captain Stuart was urgent for a missionary to 
 take charge of this station ; and, in anticipation of 
 his request being granted, he purchased for the 
 Society a space of ground, with some building upon 
 it, 1 and laid the foundation of a house for the ac- 
 commodation of a missionary family. The central 
 school was built on the same ground, and here he 
 was laying the foundation of the future mission- 
 ary's work, as well as that of his habitation. 
 Though he had hitherto withheld the Scriptures 
 as a reading-book, yet he gave all the pupils to 
 understand that the missionary would introduce it 
 
 1 The cost of this building, with 20 acres of land, was 4400 
 rupees, or 550. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 307 
 
 into the central school. The English schoolmaster 
 was a Mr D'Aiiselme, an East Indian. 
 
 31. Mr Schroeter's temporary abode at Burdwan Arrival 
 was mentioned above. In November 1819,, two fission 
 missionaries arrived here from England, the Revs, aries. 
 J. A. Jetter and W. J. Deer. Mr Jetter took 
 charge of the central school, and Mr Deer entered 
 
 on the superintendence of the Bengalee schools. 
 Mr D'Anselme, who had hitherto been exclusively 
 employed in the English school, was now set at 
 liberty to visit the other schools. He stayed some 
 days at each station, in order to teach the national 
 system, to which it was now thought advisable to 
 conform, as far as might be practicable. This 
 created a little dissatisfaction, the natives being 
 averse to change, and the schools fell off at first ; 
 but, through the missionaries' attention to their 
 work, order was soon restored, and the schools 
 were conducted with their former regularity and 
 success. 
 
 An English missionary was now required to 
 complete this rising establishment. Messrs Jetter 
 and Deer were Germans ; and though they had 
 made great progress in the study of English, yet 
 their knowledge of that language was too imperfect 
 efficiently to bring forward -the central school. The 
 Society, therefore, appointed to this station an 
 English missionary, Rev. John Perowne, who ar- 
 rived towards the close of 1821. He was received 
 with great cordiality by the British residents, whose 
 attention on his ministrations greatly encouraged 
 him to persevere. But the station was soon de- 
 prived of the services of Mr Jetter, who was 
 obliged, by severe indisposition, to retire from 
 Burdwan in the same year. 
 
 32. The schools nourished under Mr Deer's su- improve- 
 perintendence. The head classes were annually JJ ntm 
 examined by friends from Calcutta, whose reports schools. 
 
308 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAR were uniformly favourable. 1 Soon after Mr Pe- 
 rowne's arrival, the reading of the Gospels was 
 introduced into all the schools. At first, some 
 opposition was manifested ; but the missionaries 
 persevered, and before the end of 1822 they had 
 not less than a thousand children reading the word 
 of God. So greatly were their prejudices removed, 
 that those very boys who, a few months before, 
 disliked, or refused, to read any book which con- 
 tained the name of Jesus, were now willing to read 
 a history of his life and doctrine. In some Di- 
 stances, they even solicited a copy of the Gospels, 
 in preference to every other book. 
 
 In 1823, this station was joined by another mis- 
 sionary, Rev. Jacob Maisch ; but his labours here 
 were short, being removed by death in 1825. They 
 were also deprived, a short time before, of the ser- 
 vices of a Mr Dunmure, the son of an officer, who, 
 after being usefully emploj^ed in the central school 
 for three or four years, was transferred to Bishop's 
 College, Calcutta. In 1 826, Mr Deer was removed 
 to Culna, when three of the most remote village 
 schools were given up. But fifteen still remained, 
 containing between eleven and twelve hundred 
 children, from, it appears, not less than one hun- 
 dred and fifty villages. Great inconvenience was 
 found from the boys leaving before their education 
 was completed. This was especially the case with 
 the English school, the chief design of which was 
 to prepare a body of competent instructors of their 
 countrymen. As the inducement of the boys thus 
 prematurely to leave school was to earn a pittance 
 for their families, it was resolved to give a small 
 
 1 An account of these examinations is given in the volumes 
 of the Missionary Register, and in the Appendix to most of the 
 C. M. S. Reports. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 309 
 
 monthly allowance to such as had made a certain 
 proficiency ; and also to employ those who might 
 become duly qualified for the work in the service 
 of the Society. 
 
 33. With a view to promote female education, Female 
 Mrs Perowne studied Bengalee ; and, after several 
 unsuccessful attempts, she succeeded in establishing 
 
 one school, which was soon followed by four others, 
 containing together upwards of one hundred girls. 
 This she did not accomplish without much perse- 
 verance, under frequent disappointment. In 1826, 
 her schools were increased to twelve, with between 
 three and four hundred children ; and, at a public 
 examination in the preceding year, they acquitted 
 themselves to the entire satisfaction of the friends 
 present. 2 
 
 34. Soon after the arrival of Mr Perowne, the Opening 
 British residents set on foot a subscription for a church 
 church, for which the Government, on the appli- and three 
 cation of the local authorities, assigned an eligible 
 
 site, and issued an order to supply the sum re- 
 quired to complete the estimate out of the public 
 chest. The building was finished in 1822, when 
 Divine worship in English was established, and 
 regularly performed. On Sunday afternoon the 
 service was in Bengalee, and Mr Perowne read and 
 explained the Scriptures in his own house every 
 evening, when from twenty to thirty attended. 
 The numbers increasing, a small chapel was opened 
 on the mission premises, in 1825, for native wor- 
 ship, where Divine service was performed twice on 
 Sundays, and they had morning and evening wor- 
 ship every day. Another Bengalee chapel was 
 opened in the neighbourhood of the town, at an 
 
 2 An account of this examination may be seen in the 0. M. 
 S. Report 182G, pp. 81, 82. 
 
310 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, equal distance from the two principal bazaars. 
 VL For the use of these congregations, Mr Perowne 
 translated the Book of Common Prayer into Ben- 
 galee. In 1826, a third Bengalee chapel was 
 opened. The average attendance at each of these 
 chapels was from one to two hundred. The schools 
 also, male and female, with one or two exceptions, 
 were opened to the missionary, where he might 
 preach Christ with as much freedom as in the 
 chapels. Their first two converts were baptized 
 May 5th 1822. Ten others were subsequently 
 added, besides their children ; and the missionaries 
 describe several promising candidates for the sacred 
 ordinance, some of whom were Brahmins, and 
 others young men who had been educated in their 
 schools. 
 
 With these encouraging appearances, Mr Perowne, 
 in 1826, thus expressed himself with becoming 
 caution : " These things are so sudden and unex- 
 pected, that I can scarcely tell what to think of 
 them : little should be said about them, till we see 
 what the event will be. I rejoice in the prospect 
 of the Gospel being preached to so many attentive 
 hearers ; but, knowing the character of the people, 
 I rejoice with trembling." " Some of the young 
 men mentioned above, I have reason to expect, 
 will hereafter be baptized, and, by the blessing of 
 God, become Christian teachers of their country- 
 men. Thus, while doors of usefulness are opened, 
 suitable instruments are likely to be raised up ; 
 and both together seem to be an indication that, 
 good may be expected." 
 
 ft c cuina ^* ^ ULNA > tne station to which Mr Deer was 
 removed, was a populous town about thirty miles 
 from Burdwan, and forty-seven north of Calcutta. 
 Several schools were established here, male and 
 female, the former being numerously attended by 
 Brahmins ; but the difficulty of procuring a mis- 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 311 
 
 sionary for this place, and the growing demands 
 for pecuniary aid from other stations, induced the 
 Calcutta Committee to hesitate as to the expedi- 
 ency of maintaining these schools ; and they re- 
 quested Mr and Mrs Wilson, from Calcutta, to 
 accompany Mr Deer, with instructions to dismiss 
 most of the teachers, reserving two or three schools 
 to be carried on in connection with Burdwan, to be 
 increased hereafter as opportunity might serve. 
 But the report of the schools being very favourable, 
 and some of the principal inhabitants petitioning 
 the Committee for Mr Deer to settle among them, 
 it was finally resolved to comply with their request, 
 and for the present to continue the station. 
 
 Though the state of the Society's funds did not 
 admit of providing a suitable house for the mis- 
 sionary, yet Mr Deer was so much encouraged by 
 the anxiety of the people for his residence among 
 them, that he took up his abode, with his family, 
 in a temporary hut of frail materials, at no small 
 personal inconvenience. He soon had eight boys', 
 and three girls' schools, containing together about a 
 thousand scholars. In all these schools the Scrip- 
 tures were read, against which no objection had 
 ever been made ; and he wrote in high spirits, in 
 1826, of the prospect of useful labour before him. 
 
 36. MEERUT. The commencement of this sta- Native 
 tion under Anund Messeeh, with the assistance of 
 the chaplain, Rev. H. Fisher, was detailed in the 
 last chapter. 1 In 1818 Mr Fisher baptized two 
 adult converts, and in 1819 eight more, when, after 
 naming the different members of his native flock, 
 eleven in number, he thus spake of them : They 
 " unite in the worship of the glorious and blessed 
 Jesus." Seven of them " associate daily, morn- 
 
 Book xi. c. iv. 
 
312 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, ing and evening ; I trust I may say, continuing sted- 
 fastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in 
 breaking of bread and in prayer " 
 
 They were visited daily by Mahomedans and 
 Hindoos, who came to reason with them, and in- 
 quire into the word of God. A Mussulman judge, 
 after hearing the converted Brahmin, Anund, read, 
 at his own request, eight or ten chapters of St 
 Luke, went away, exclaiming, in the spirit of the 
 officers sent to apprehend Jesus, fe Never man spake 
 like this man ! Never w r as there one to compare 
 to the Lord Jesus Christ ! He MUST be God." 
 
 Accessions were made to this little flock from 
 time to time, until they formed a goodly company, 
 when they were desirous of dwelling together in a 
 separate village, both for the benefit of closer com- 
 munion, and for greater security against the perse- 
 cutions to which they were sometimes exposed. 
 In one instance only does this persecution seem to 
 have shaken a convert's fidelity ; and he, on his 
 repentance, was in due time restored. 1 It was 
 natural, however, for these simple Christians to 
 desire to dwell apart from the abominations and 
 confusion of the heathen abodes ; but this could 
 not yet be accomplished, Mr Fisher being disap- 
 pointed of the site which he expected to procure 
 for them, and not being able to obtain another. It 
 is probable, however, that this was an advantage 
 to them in the end. For their faith and zeal were 
 more exercised than they would have been in the 
 comparative retirement of a Christian village ; 
 under Mr Fisher's direction, they were diligently 
 employed among their neighbours, and several cases 
 of conversion are given as the result of their exer- 
 
 1 The persecution of a native officer of this flock was men- 
 tioned in chap. i. sect. 51. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 313 
 
 tions. Among these, Mr Fisher specially mentions 
 a Brahmin,, who was converted by reading the Tes- 
 tament of one of the Christians, named Joseph, 
 and such explanations of it as the man was able to 
 give. He was baptized on Good Friday 1824. 
 
 Besides the public service performed by the na- 
 tive catechists, Mr Fisher gave them a Hindoo- 
 stanee service on Wednesday mornings, assembled 
 them on Sundays for religious conversation 1 and 
 
 1 In one of these conversations, on the universality of the 
 feeling that prevails in all nations, that some atonement for sin 
 is necessary, Mr Fisher related to them what his three sons had 
 seen, as they returned with him from Hurdwar : "A Fakeer 
 was observed by the road-side, preparing something extraordi- 
 nary ; which, having never observed before, excited a curiosity 
 to draw near and examine his employment. He had several 
 Hindoo pilgrims round him, all on their way from the Holy 
 G-haut ; who assisted in preparing the wretched devotee for 
 some horrible penance, to which he had voluntarily bound him- 
 self, in order to expiate the guilt of some crime which he had 
 committed long ago. His attendants literally worshipped him ; 
 kissing his feet, calling him God, and invoking his blessing. A 
 large fire was kindled under the extended branch of an old tree : 
 to this branch the Fakeer fastened two strong ropes, having at 
 the lower end of each of them a stuffed noose, into which he 
 introduced his feet ; and thus being suspended with his head 
 downward over the fire, a third rope (at a distance toward the 
 end of the branch) was fixed, by which he succeeded with one 
 hand to set himself in a swinging motion, backward and 
 forward through the smoke and flaming-fire, which was kept 
 blazing by a constant supply of fuel, ministered by many 
 of his followers ; with the other hand he counted a string 
 of beads, a fixed number of times, so as to ascertain the ter- 
 mination of the four hours, for which he had doomed himself 
 daily to endure this exercise for twelve years, nine of which are 
 nearly expired. A narrow bandage is over his eyes, and another 
 over his mouth, to guard against the suffocating effects of the 
 smoke. By this means he says he shall atone for the guilt of 
 his sins, and be made holy for ever. The last half hour of the 
 four hours, his people say, he stands upright and swings in a 
 circular motion round the fire. On coming down, he rolls him- 
 self in the hot ashes of the fire, The boys went to see him 
 
314 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 reading the Gospel, and gave them as much of his 
 time as his official duties allowed. The flock 
 steadily increased, though, after the first three or 
 four years, the precise number is not given, 
 have no time to be very minute," Mr Fisher re- 
 marked, by way of apology for the brevity of his 
 reports. We may form spme notion, however, of 
 the extent and character of his flock, from his ac- 
 count of a confirmation at Meerut, by Bishop 
 Heber, in 1825. Two hundred and fifty-five, Euro- 
 peans and natives, were confirmed, " a considerable 
 portion of whom," he states, " were converts to the 
 faith as it is in Jesus ; many from Hindoo idola- 
 tries and Mahomedan infidelity ; others from the 
 apathy and ignorance of a nominal profession worse 
 than heathenism ; all, I have much reason to hope, 
 seriously in earnest to give themselves to God." 
 The Bishop accompanied him to his native congre- 
 gation, visited his native school, saw and conversed 
 with many of the Christians who were introduced 
 to him, and manifested a lively interest in the pro- 
 gress of the Gospel among them. 
 
 Commu- 37. DELHI. In May 1817, Anund Messeeh visited 
 
 Saadhs at Delhi, where he heard a report that a number of 
 
 Delhi. strangers, from several villages to the west of that 
 
 city had assembled together in a neighbouring 
 
 again in the evening, when he was engaged in his prayers, but 
 to what or whom they could not tell. 
 
 " I asked my little congregation what they thought of all 
 this. They sat silent, with their eyes cast down, and sighing 
 heavily. At length, Anund turned to Matthew Phiroodeen, and, 
 passing his arms round his neck, exclaimed, with the most 
 touching expression of affection as well as of gratitude to God, 
 ' Ah, my brother ! my brother ! such devils once were we ! but 
 now (and he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and elevated his whole 
 person), Jesus ! Jesus ! my God ! my Saviour I' It was very 
 affecting/* C. M. S. Keport 21, p. 131. Missionary Register 
 1821, pp. 471, 472. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 315 
 
 grove, and were busily employed in conversation ; 
 and also in reading some books in their possession, 
 which had induced them to renounce their caste, 
 to love one another, and to lead strict and holy 
 lives. This account awakened his curiosity. He 
 instantly set off for the place of meeting, where he 
 found about five hundred people, men, women, and 
 children, seated under the shade of the trees, and 
 employed in the manner described. It appeared, 
 on inquiry, that this awakening was caused by the 
 reading of the New Testament, several copies of 
 which had been distributed at the fair of Hurdwar, 
 by Mr Chamberlain, the Baptist missionary, often 
 mentioned in the last volume. 
 
 By direction of Mr Fisher, Anund visited several 
 of their villages, and explained to them the truths 
 of the Gospel. They all shewed him much affec- 
 tion, and begged him to stay among them. Several 
 of the people copied his Hindoostanee Liturgy. They 
 seemed to have no form of public worship, but each 
 individual made diligent use of the Lord's Prayer. 
 They were called Saadhs, or holy persons, and were 
 much persecuted by the Brahmins, from whose 
 authority they had withdrawn. At first, sanguine 
 hopes were entertained that they were a people 
 prepared for missionary labourers, by their previous 
 knowledge and observance of the Scriptures ; but 
 from subsequent accounts it appeared, that they 
 were merely a sect of Hindoos, who, rejecting the 
 shasters and superstitions of the Brahmins, had, for 
 a period of about fifty years, professed deistical 
 principles. Upon further acquaintance, they were 
 found to be too much entangled by peculiarities and 
 fancies of their own, to possess sufficient docility 
 for the lessons of pure religion. They were better 
 disposed, indeed, than their heathen countrymen to 
 receive instruction ; for they were curious to read 
 and understand the Scriptures, and had renounced 
 
316 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, caste : yet they highly estimated their own creed ; 
 VL and were anxious to convince the Christians that 
 there was a great resemblance between Christianity 
 and its Divine Author, and their OAvn traditions 
 and fabulous records of Satgur Uddeas. 
 Success 38. Some of them, however, manifested a more 
 
 j*hem ngst teachable disposition ; and one, an old man, named 
 Jysingh, soon expressed a desire to embrace the 
 Gospel. At the instance of Mr Fisher, he opened 
 a school at Kowallee, the village where he resided ; 
 and in the evenings, a company of men and children 
 assembled to hear him read a chapter from one of 
 the Gospels, after which they applied to learning. 
 At Christmas in 1818, Mr Fisher, being satisfied of 
 Jysingh's sincerity, baptized him at Meerut by the 
 name of David, together with another promising 
 convert. 
 
 After his baptism, he returned with Anund to 
 Kowallee, to resume the work of instruction, which 
 was soon interrupted by sickness. On his recovery, 
 he accompanied Anund on a journey among the 
 Saadhs ; and all the information which they gathered 
 tended to shew, that an encouraging prospect was 
 opening among that people for the labours of mis- 
 sionaries. This account was confirmed by Mr 
 Fisher not long after, when the Saadhs welcomed 
 him with great joy. He marked out ground for a 
 spacious school, and a house for the catechist. The 
 Saadhs afterwards built their houses near the 
 school, and formed a village on a regular plan, 
 which they called Henreepore, after the Christian 
 name of Mr Fisher. The ground was given by an 
 European and a native. Mr Fisher had much in- 
 teresting conversation with the people, and with 
 another class, called Jhats, on the benefits of edu- 
 cation, and on the blessing of the Scriptures, which 
 they expressed their readiness to read, and their 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 317 
 
 admiration of all that they had heard Anund read 
 and explain. 1 
 
 In 1824., David lost his sight, which compelled 
 him to give up teaching ; but his place was taken 
 by another convert, named Joseph, who had lived 
 with him for some time. This is the young man 
 who was instrumental in the conversion of the 
 Brahmin baptized at Meerut in 1824, and he now 
 made himself very useful among the Saadhs. Anund 
 Messeeh was stationed at Delhi, where he was em- 
 ployed in reading the Scriptures and conversing 
 with Brahmins and others who came to him for in- 
 formation. He paid frequent visits to Henreepore, 
 to watch and direct the progress of the people. 
 
 39. BENARES. Mr Corrie's residence at Benares, j ay Na- 
 in 1817 and 1818, was mentioned at the opening rain ' s 
 of this chapter. The importance of this station Benares. 
 for missionary purposes, as the ancient seat of 
 Brahminical learning in North India, it were hard 
 to estimate too highly. 2 Mr Corrie soon opened a 
 native school, and laid his plans for future opera- 
 tions. But the principal object of attention was 
 the establishment of a school by a wealthy native, 
 already alluded to, 3 on an extensive scale. This 
 
 1 Besides copious notices of the Saadhs scattered through the 
 volumes of the Missionary Kegister at this period, a particular 
 account of them is published in that for 1819, pp. 86-91 ; and 
 another in that for 1820, pp. 294-296. 
 
 2 Benares is denominated " The Holy City." It stands about 
 460 miles north-west of Calcutta. Besides a vast number of 
 mud-huts, this city is said to have contained at this time 
 12,000 houses of stone and brick, from one to six stories high, 
 8000 of which were occupied by Brahmins. The inhabitants 
 exceeded 600,000 ; and during the Hindoo festivals the con- 
 course was beyond all calculation. 
 
 3 Vide B. xi. c. i. sec. 61, where Rev. T. Thomason says, ll I 
 have seen the foundation of Jay Narain's school. He met 
 me there, and shewed me the grounds, large and pleasantly 
 situated." 
 
318 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, was Jay Narain Grhossaul, who, after acquiring a 
 
 ^_ considerable fortune in the service of the English, 
 
 retired to Benares. Being taken ill, he applied to 
 an English merchant, named Wheatley, for some 
 medicine ; and at the same time Mr Wheatley gave 
 him also a New Testament, sold him a copy of the 
 Book of Common Prayer, and often passed much 
 time with him in explaining these books. He 
 likewise frequently wrote to him on the subject of 
 the Christian religion. When he gave him medi- 
 cines, he recommended him, above all, to apply 
 himself to God in prayer, to lead his mind into 
 the truth, and to restore his body to health. He 
 complied with this advice, and was perfectly cured. 
 After his recovery, he asked his friend what he 
 ought to do for the name of Jesus Christ, to whom 
 he seems to have ascribed his restoration to health. 
 Mr Wheatley advised him to consult the benefit of 
 his countrymen, and establish a school for their 
 instruction in English, Bengalee, Persian, and Hin- 
 dee. This advice he immediately followed, with 
 the help of his friends, and raised a fund sufficient 
 to endow his school with two hundred rupees a- 
 month. Not long after, Mr Wheatley, having 
 failed in business, became the Engish teacher in 
 the school, beginning, however, with Jay Narain 
 and his family, assembling them for Christian in- 
 struction and prayer. This good man soon died, 
 when Jay Narain had great difficulty in carrying 
 on his school. In 1814, he applied to Government 
 for assistance, but without success. 1 When Mr 
 Corrie was last at Benares, he became acquainted 
 with him, and sent a letter, through him, to the 
 British and Foreign Bible Society, 2 with a small 
 
 1 Vide B. xi. c. i. sec. 61. 
 
 2 Hist, of B. and F. Bible Society, vol. ii. pp. 36-38. C. M. 
 S. Report, 19th, pp. 138, 139. 
 
IN INDIA t BOOK XIII. 319 
 
 subscription. After Mr Corrie's departure from 
 Benares, he often prayed for his return, and he 
 now regarded his appointment to this station as an 
 answer to his prayers. 
 
 He consulted Mr Corrie about his school, and 
 hearing from him of the Church Missionary So- 
 ciety, he resolved on making their Calcutta Corre- 
 sponding Committee the trustees of the school, 
 and on assigning to them the property which he 
 had appropriated for its endowment. 5 These bene- 
 volent intentions were executed in due course. A 
 deed of gift of the house and premises in Benares 
 was signed at Calcutta, October 21. 1818, by Jay 
 Narain's son, Kolly Shunker Ghossaul, in whose 
 name the writings then stood. The deed was then 
 sent to Benares, and received the signature of Jay 
 Narain himself.* At his request, Mr Corrie drew 
 
 3 Vide Jay Narain's letter fco C. M. S., August 12. 1818, 
 Report, 19th, pp. 139-141. Missionary Kegister, 1819, pp. 
 416, 417. 
 
 4 By this deed, the property was given to Messrs Udny and 
 Sherer, and the Eev. Messrs Thomason, Parson, and Robert- 
 son, as the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary So- 
 ciety, and their successors, " for the purpose of a school for in- 
 struction in all kinds of science ; and that, in this school, 
 children of all descriptions may be instructed in the English, 
 Persian, Hindee, and Bengalee languages. The appointment 
 of the masters to be at the pleasure of the Committee; the 
 house to be appropriated as a school for ever, and the Commit- 
 tee and their successors to have the sole disposal of it." 
 
 The sum of 200 rupees per month, or 300 per annum, was 
 secured in perpetuity towards the support of the institution, by 
 an endowment of 40,000 rupees, vested, in trust, in the Cor- 
 responding Committee and their successors, by the founders of 
 the institution. 
 
 The premises at Benares contained about one thousand yards 
 in space. The principal building was three stories high. 
 It contained, on the second floor, an entrance, a large room, 
 supported by two rows of pillars, excellently suited for a 
 
P)20 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, up an advertisement,, detailing the plan and objects 
 VI - of the school,, which was translated into the lan- 
 guages current in those parts of India, and put into 
 circulation. 
 
 The school was opened July 17. 1818 ; and, in 
 November, one hundred and sixteen scholars had 
 been admitted, and the school became very popu- 
 lar among the natives. The particular course of 
 education, as well as the appointment of the mas- 
 ters, was wholly under the control of the Society's 
 representatives, and was therefore conducted on 
 the principles and with the views which governed 
 them in all their proceedings. They appointed Mr 
 Adlington head-master ; the second master was a 
 young man, an East Indian, but educated in Eng- 
 land, who proved a valuable assistant, from his in- 
 timate acquaintance with the colloquial language 
 and manners of the natives. These, however, 
 were only regarded as temporary arrangements. 
 To give full effect to the bounty of Jay Narain, 
 two well-educated English missionaries were re- 
 quired ; but these the Committee had not yet at 
 their command. 
 
 It soon became apparent that the monthly 
 allowance granted by Jay Narain was greatly ex- 
 ceeded by the expenses of the establishment, and 
 that an additional sum of two hundred and fifty 
 rupees ] was necessary, in order to carry on the 
 school with effect. Jay Narain, therefore, for- 
 mally applied to Government for pecuniary assist- 
 ance, and his application was granted to the extent 
 required. By this grant, an important branch of 
 
 school room ; behind that, a large room intended for a library 
 and museum ; with other apartments in the Hindoostanee fa- 
 shion. Both the masters were able to reside on the premises. 
 1 400 per annum. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 321 
 
 the missionary undertaking received the sanction 
 of the highest authorities. 
 
 In the following year (1820), the school was ex- 
 amined by a gentleman high in office at Benares, 
 when the improvement of the scholars was found 
 answerable to the time and means afforded for 
 their instruction. The number in attendance was 
 150. Besides elementary books, containing ideas 
 opposed to polytheism, the New Testament in 
 English was used by the first class ; and all the 
 Hindoo boys who learnt Persian read the New 
 Testament in that language as a class-book. This 
 was agreeable to the founder's will ; and the allow- 
 ance which he charitably made to poor boys for 
 subsistence, enabled such of them as were disposed 
 to cultivate the love of knowledge. 
 
 Besides this institution, Mr Corrie established 
 another school at Secrole, a military station close 
 to Benares, which was supported by the residents 
 in the neighbourhood. This was chiefly for the 
 benefit of children whose parents belonged or 
 were attached to the army, and it proved of essen- 
 tial benefit. 
 
 40. In January 1821, an English missionary, Jay Na- 
 Rev. Thomas Morris, arrived at Benares, to take death. 
 charge of the establishment ; but in the autumn of 
 the same year, it was deprived of its founder, Jay 
 Narain, who died on the 9th of November. The 
 day before, he had been removed to what the 
 Hindoos called a "holy place," whether by his 
 own desire or no could not be ascertained. Mr 
 Morris had visited him some time before, during 
 an attack of illness, when he appeared to have 
 some serious impressions on his mind, and re- 
 quested the missionary to pray with him. But 
 now he was almost too far gone to know him, and 
 his views and feelings on the near approach of 
 death could not be ascertained. He expired at 
 
 VOL. v. x 
 
322 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 VI. 
 
 His son 
 fulfils his 
 intentions. 
 
 the " holy place/' whither his people had carried 
 him. It is to be regretted that the closing days 
 of this benevolent man were not accompanied by 
 clearer evidence of the decisive influence of Chris- 
 tianity upon his mind. In his letter to the Bible 
 Society, in 1810, he said plainly " I am no 
 Christian, nor wish to be one." But in writing to 
 the Church Missionary Society, eight years after, 
 he gave a much more promising account of the 
 disposition of his mind towards Christianity ; and 
 his son, Kolly Shunker Ghossaul, in a letter to Mr 
 Corrie, a few days after his father's death, spoke 
 of him in a way that encouraged the hope that he 
 believed in Christ for salvation. " He suffered no 
 worldly pain in his mind," wrote his son ; " and 
 no doubt, I believe, by his Christian faith he will 
 enjoy eternal happiness in the next world." 
 
 41. Kolly Shunker himself trode in his father's 
 steps. In the same letter to Mr Corrie, after 
 urging, as Jay Narain had done, the establishment 
 of a printing press at Benares, he adds ' ' Now, I 
 wish to reside some time in this part, and to effect 
 the increase of Christian knowledge among the 
 people. I therefore beg you will pray for the 
 enlightening of the human minds which are natu- 
 rally in darkness. Oh, I am sure, without it no 
 good can be expected in this or in the next world!" 
 The sincerity of these expressions were soon 
 put to the test. It appeared that the legal trans- 
 fer of the property, mentioned above to have been 
 assigned by Jay Narain to the support of these 
 schools, was not finally effected ; but Kolly Shun- 
 ker, very honourably, secured to the Society in 
 perpetuity the monthly payment assigned by his 
 father. 1 
 
 1 This act was so honourable to this wealthy native, that we 
 must preserve the paragraph of his letter to the Calcutta Cora- 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 323 
 
 42. The school continued to flourish under Mr Progress 
 Morris's superintendence, assisted by a very effi- school. 
 cient master, a Mr Stewart. In addition to the 
 instructions mentioned above, the Church Cate- 
 chism was now used in all the classes ; so that, 
 besides the knowledge of divine truth, acquired 
 from reading their usual lessons, the principles of 
 Christianity were distinctly taught them ; nor 
 was there at any time the least objection made to 
 this religious instruction by either the boys or 
 their parents. The school was publicly examined 
 from time to time ; and in 1824, the Bishop of 
 Calcutta, in company with Archdeacon Corrie, 
 was present at the examination, when the classes 
 exhibited good proficiency in Christian knowledge, 
 in translating the History of England into Hin- 
 doostanee, in English grammar, arithmetic, and 
 geography. At the close of 1826, the number of 
 scholars was 150. 2 
 
 mittee, in which he first declared his intention : " For the 
 school which my father established in this city, to support ex- 
 penses, he was bound to pay monthly 200 sicca rupees. He 
 made no will for it ; but I am bound to pay it for his sake, 
 regularly, as long as I live. But I do not wish any hesitation 
 to take place for the payment in future, either by my decaying 
 in wealth, or by the neglect of my children, heirs, and repre- 
 sentatives. I therefore wish to secure the fund by landed pro- 
 perty. I have two houses, of English fashion, situated in this 
 city; will you, therefore, be pleased to get them both, and 
 empower the Rev. Thomas Morris to take the necessary con- 
 veyances of me ?" Accordingly, he conveyed the property to the 
 Society as soon as the documents were prepared. Church Mis- 
 sionary Society's Reports, 22d and 23d. 
 
 a The following extract from Mr Adlington's report at this 
 time will give some idea of the religious influences of this 
 school : 
 
 u The instruction given has, I trust, not been without its 
 blessing. The Holy Scriptures are read with pleasure in all 
 the departments of the school, and impressions of a serious 
 nature excited. A Bengalee youth, who had been in the 
 
324 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CI ^ P - 43. By the appointment of Mr Morris, Mr 
 
 L Adlington was relieved of the superintendence of 
 
 Schools in this establishment, and turned his attention to 
 native education generally. Besides the school at 
 Secrole, just mentioned, another was soon opened 
 near the mission premises. This was followed by 
 others, until, in December 1826, there were eight 
 native schools in and around Benares, containing 
 250 boys. A small girls' school also was opened 
 by Mrs Morris on the mission premises ; but her 
 attempts further to extend female education in the 
 place were unsuccessful. 
 
 school for four or five years, was so much impressed with the 
 daily portion of the word of God, read in the books of the 
 first class in English, that he came several times previous to 
 his leaving Benares for Calcutta, to ask for baptism. Some 
 time before he asked for baptism, he appeared to labour under 
 much uneasiness of mind, and evidently endeavoured to stifle 
 his convictions. He left Benares through compulsion, as his 
 relations sent him away to prevent him receiving any further 
 instruction. I could not at that time administer baptism.* 
 Another Bengalee youth, who, though never seriously im- 
 pressed with religious truth, so far saw the absurdity of idolatry 
 as to refuse compliance with the usual idolatrous customs, 
 until compelled by the authority of his father, a Brahmin, to 
 bow to an idol ; an authority, which I was given to understand, 
 was daily exercised. Besides two young men sent as monitors 
 to the Cawnpore Free School, three boys from the Persian 
 class were admitted as students into the Medical College in 
 Calcutta, and gave so much satisfaction as to induce the 
 managers of the College to write to Benares for more boys of 
 their description. A Christian youth, who was brought up a 
 Koman Catholic, and is now receiving instruction in Serampore 
 College, preparatory to future usefulness, ascribes his first 
 inclination to things of a spiritual nature to the exhortations 
 addressed to him in the Free School of Benares. The attach- 
 ment of the generality of the scholars to their masters and 
 superintendents is great. This, and the hope of being made 
 instrumental to their salvation, have often compensated both 
 myself and others for the trouble which we have had with 
 them." Missionary Kegister 1827, pp. 78, 79. 
 
 * Mr A. was not then ordained. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 325 
 
 44. In 1822, about a year after his arrival, Mr Congrega- 
 Morris gathered together the native Christians in J^Sves. 
 the mission-house, for public worship in Hindoo- 
 stanee. Between twenty and thirty usually at- 
 tended, twice on Sunday and once on Wednesday. 
 
 In 1823 a chapel was erected at Secrole for their 
 accommodation, and opened in May, when the 
 chaplain of the station, Rev. Mr Fraser, baptized 
 two adults. The congregation was increased to 
 fifty native Christians, and occasionally a few Hin- 
 doos and Mahomedans attended the service. At 
 a confirmation held by the Bishop of Calcutta at 
 Benares in 1 824, fourteen of the congregation were 
 confirmed, and afterwards admitted to the Lord's 
 table ; the Bishop officiated, as respected them, in 
 Hindoostanee. In the next year nine more adult 
 converts were baptized, and the attendance at the 
 chapel was much improved. 
 
 45. Mr Morris, accompanied by Mr Adlington, Exertions 
 attended the fairs within reach of Benares, for the JJ^jf. 
 purpose of distributing the Gospels and tracts bour- 
 among the people who were there assembled ; and 
 opportunity was thus afforded them of entering 
 
 into conversation with the natives on the subject 
 of Christianity. On the state of the people gene- 
 rally, Mr Adlington remarked " They are ready 
 to listen to the missionary's message ; and it is a 
 pleasing fact, that though they are well known to 
 be disposed to violence when an opportunity offers, 
 and fail not among themselves to express their 
 dislike of some measures of Government, yet the 
 missionaries who are daily among them seldom 
 receive the least interruption from them." 
 
 In 1826, Mr Morris was attacked with fever, 
 and visited Calcutta for the benefit of his health. 
 After his recovery he was removed to Cawnpore, 
 his place at Benares being occupied by Mr Adling- 
 ton, who in 1825 was ordained by the Bishop of 
 
326 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Calcutta. Mr Stewart, who had conducted the 
 VL schools for some time under Mr Morris, now under- 
 took their general superintendence. 
 
 Gormck- 46. GoRRUCKPORE. This station is about one 
 station, hundred miles north of Benares. In 1823, at the 
 request of some gentlemen residing there, who 
 were interested in the education of the natives, 
 Mr and Mrs Morris paid them a visit, and suc- 
 ceeded in establishing both a boys' and a girls' 
 school. The population amounted to seventy thou- 
 sand souls, and a wide field Avas opened for useful 
 exertion. Next year a missionary was appointed 
 to this station, Rev. Michael Wilkinson, with an 
 assistant, Mr Thomas W. Smith, an East Indian, 
 educated in England. The friends of the Society 
 in the district erected a commodious house for the 
 missionary, and a chapel, at their own expense. 
 The boys' school soon increased to seventy scholars, 
 and two other smaller schools were added not long 
 after. Besides the usual school-books, the Scrip- 
 tures, iii Persian, Oordoo, and Hindee, were read 
 by the upper classes ; and Christian instruction 
 was given to the whole of the scholars. At a public 
 examination, in 1826, they acquitted themselves, 
 especially the upper classes, in a satisfactory man- 
 ner, and, indeed, to the surprise of the friends 
 present, when it was considered how lately they 
 had come under this kind of instruction. They 
 shewed an energy in answering questions, and in 
 referring to texts in confirmation of their answers, 
 which was quite unusual in natives. The little 
 girls also passed a creditable examination, though 
 their shyness and tender years rendered it more 
 difficult to estimate their progress. 
 
 The want of native assistants in the schools in- 
 duced Mr Wilkinson to open a seminary for train- 
 ing youths as catechists and readers of the word of 
 God among their countrymen. He soon had twelve 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 327 
 
 pupils, whose improvement, and especially their 
 attention in reading the Scriptures, gave him great 
 pleasure. "This school is, in fact," he remarked, 
 " a little church." 
 
 The result of his ministrations, also, in this short 
 time was encouraging. Few besides Romanists 
 entered the church at first ; and for these he had 
 regular service twice every Sunday, and a meeting 
 every morning at his own house, for Scriptural 
 instruction and prayer, which several constantly 
 attended. In 1826, he administered the Lord's 
 Supper to three converts, a Brahmin and his wife, 
 and a Romanist. A small party of Eomanists, 
 twenty- six in number, from two villages, removed 
 to Gorruckpore for the benefit of Mr Wilkinson's 
 ministry, and thus he had the satisfaction of seeing 
 a little fiock gathering around him. 
 
 47. At CAWNPOBE, to which station, we have 
 seen, Mr Morris was removed, a congregation of 
 thirty native Christians was already formed. At 
 LUCKNOW and Bareilly schools were carried on for 
 some time, to the great advantage of their respec- 
 tive vicinities, by benevolent individuals at those 
 stations ; but on their removal, the schools were 
 suspended for want of missionary superintendence. 
 At one or two other stations in Bengal, promising 
 openings were presented in 1826 ; but it were pre- 
 mature to describe them in this place. 
 
 48. In 1826, the Calcutta Committee gave the 
 following summary of the Bengal mission : "Since mission. 
 the last public meeting of the Society took place, 
 there have been baptized at the different stations, 
 according to reports received, twenty-six adult 
 natives, besides children ; the number of habitual 
 Christian worshippers at the different stations is 
 about 480, besides the assemblies of heathen ; the 
 native children receiving instruction in the Society's 
 various schools is about 3980." 
 
328 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP And Archdeacon Corrie bore this testimony to 
 VL the progress and prospects of the Church Mission- 
 ary Society in North India : 
 
 " Instruction is, without reserve, imparted, and 
 by the natives received without reserve ; that is, 
 they read and they learn by heart, both boys and 
 girls, whatever is brought before them by the 
 teachers. The retaining of caste, as it is avowedly 
 a religious distinction, is held, by all the mission- 
 aries and friends of missions on this side of India, 
 as utterly incompatible with an upright profession 
 of Christianity. Measures are in progress on the 
 coast for the extinction of caste among the pro- 
 fessing Christians who were allowed to retain it. 
 
 "It is our desire and delight to fulfil all the 
 wishes of the Society, and to be fellow-helpers in 
 the Lord. If we have erred, it has been perhaps 
 in attempting too much ; yet nothing has failed of 
 our plans as yet, All our missionaries are crying 
 out for more books and more help for schools not 
 one of them seems to seek anything for himself ; 
 but all their cry is ' Schools, books, and more help, 
 to enable us to meet the demands on our time and 
 strength.' Doubtless the Society will reap in due 
 time, if we faint not. 
 
 " I deeply feel the need of keeping up spirituality 
 in our work ; and soon would the spirit of missions 
 depart, if any departure from the principles on 
 which we have set out be admitted. As it is, 
 our machine seems fitly framed and fair for opera- 
 tion ; but, as yet, our main-spring has not been 
 brought into powerful action. May the Spirit be 
 poured out upon us from on high ! " l 
 
 1 Missionary Register 1827, p. 67. C. M. S. Eeport, 27. 
 The Calcutta Committee's Report of their progress, which for 
 some years they circulated quarterly, was from this time pub- 
 lished every month. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 329 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN SOUTH INDIA, 1817-1826. 
 
 MADRAS. 
 
 1. WE left Mr Rhenius diligently occupied in organis- Arrival of 
 ing this mission, and calling earnestly for assistance. mi . ssion ; 
 
 H/r X' 1 * J.1 11 j. arlCS at 
 
 Mention was also made of the small congregation Madras. 
 which he had succeeded in forming, and of the en- 
 couraging prospect opening before him. 2 In 1817, 
 two missionaries arrived at Madras,, the Revs. Deocar 
 and Bernard Schmid. The former was transferred 
 to Bengal, as noticed in the last chapter. 3 His 
 brother, Mr Bernard Schmid, was retained at 
 Madras. 
 
 2. Hitherto Mr Rhenius had confined his exer- Mr Rhc- 
 tions to the Presidency ; but his attention was now aTour e 
 directed to the adjacent parts of the country, prin- visits the 
 cipally by the correspondence of the native Chris- * 
 tian, Appavoo, mentioned in the last volume. 4 In 
 a letter dated May 2. 1817, he mentions the vari- 
 ous places he had visited, and his exertions in dif- 
 fusing the knowledge of Christianity, with his varied 
 success. 6 In consequence of the information re- 
 ceived from this pious and intelligent man, Mr 
 
 2 Book x. chap. vi. ; also App. A. 3 Sec. 4. 4 P. 309. 
 5 C. M. S. 18th Keport, p. 281, App. xti. 
 
330 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Rhenius, in the year 1818, made an extensive tour 
 
 !_ through the country ; and his journal contains 
 
 abundant evidence of that activity, and in his inter- 
 course with the natives, his labours for their bene- 
 fit, which he had hitherto shewn. 1 He proceeded 
 as far as Chittamboore, a few miles from Conj eve- 
 ram, for the purpose of visiting the colony of Jains 
 in that neighbourhood, of whom Appavoo had sent 
 him an encouraging account, and whose high priest 
 had expressed a desire to see him. We have al- 
 ready described the Jains, or Jainas, as the rem- 
 nant of the Buddhists who were left behind when 
 that sect was expelled from the continent of India. 2 
 Mr Rhenius met with great attention from this 
 people, who occupied many villages around Chittam- 
 boore. He found that the Testaments and tracts 
 distributed among them the year before by Appavoo 
 had not been given in vain. One of the Testaments 
 had been perused by the high priest himself, who 
 received Mr Rhenius with the most distinguishing 
 marks of regard, notwithstanding much pains had 
 been taken, by the Brahmins about his person, to 
 infuse into his mind prejudices against him, and 
 suspicions of evil designs connected with his visit. 
 He joined his people in their application for schools, 
 but the Madras Committee were not yet able to 
 comply with their request. Considering, also, the 
 levity with which many applications of this kind 
 were made, and the transient nature of the senti- 
 ment or feeling which produced them, the Commit- 
 tee deemed it prudent, as a general principle, to 
 wait a longer observation of the actual result of the 
 
 1 C. M. S. 19th Report, pp. 285-302. 
 
 2 Vol. iii. p. 69. A more particular account of them in their 
 present state may be seen in C. M. S. 19th Report, pp. 163, 
 292, et seq. ; Missionary Register 1818, April. Memoirs of Rev. 
 C. T. E. Rhenius, chaps, v. vi. 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 331 
 
 schools already subsisting, before they sanctioned 
 the establishment of new ones. The case of the 
 Jains shewed the wisdom of this caution ; for their 
 state appeared for some time to be promising, and 
 good hopes were entertained of some individuals 
 among them. Yet in general they by no means 
 answered the expectations that they had raised. 
 Appavoo, who had been the means of calling their 
 attention to Christianity, was removed in Septem- 
 ber 1819, being carried off in a very short time by 
 the cholera morbus ; and there was no one left ade- 
 quately to supply his place among them. 
 
 3. The missionaries had reason to be satisfied, on Progress 
 the whole, with the progress of education in and ofschools - 
 around Madras, though their schools were attended 
 with the usual fluctuations arising from the natives' 
 suspicions and prejudices. In reference to the en- 
 couragement derived from them, Mr Ehenius drew 
 the following interesting picture : " The schools 
 give me a certain authority in every place ; and 
 the desired opportunity of having the people assem- 
 bled, and preaching the Gospel to them : besides 
 that they are preparing the minds of the rising 
 generation to understand the Gospel. 
 
 " A Christian friend, in England, would witness, 
 with tears, a sight like .this. A minister of the 
 Gospel comes into a village, He is carried to the 
 shade of a fine large tree, near the place, or near to 
 their temple. The people of the village, small and 
 great, young and old, assemble round him, sitting 
 on their cross legs. He addresses them on the sal- 
 vation of their souls by Christ Jesus, and on the 
 education of their children. The people at times 
 listen with great attention, looking down to the 
 ground, as if engaged by important thoughts ; then, 
 turning to one another, they will say, 'What do 
 you say to this or that ? ' ' What will become of 
 
332 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, this ?' doubting, fearing, or rejoicing about what 
 VIL they hear." 
 
 " Let the Christian friend in England represent to 
 himself such a scene in each village ; and consider 
 it, though he do not see the desired effects of conver- 
 sion on the spot, as a way-mark pointing to the end. 
 It will rejoice his heart, and redouble his liberality, 
 to aid the establishment of missions and their 
 schools ; until, by the grace of God, the heathen 
 will be enlightened to see, and enabled to walk in 
 the beauty of holiness, and to take pleasure in pro- 
 viding for their own ministers and for their own 
 schools." 
 
 For the more efficient management of the schools, 
 the missionaries assembled all the masters from time 
 to time, when they instructed them in their duties, 
 encouraged them to be diligent and faithful, and 
 elicited from them minute and confidential commu- 
 nications of their own proceedings at their stations, 
 of the state of the surrounding country with respect 
 to religion, and of the sentiments entertained con- 
 cerning the Christian books introduced among them. 
 On the information thus obtained they founded 
 much advice and exhortation, how to avoid and 
 overcome their difficulties, to answer objections, 
 dispel apprehensions, and encourage a more fami- 
 liar resort to their schools and readings. They 
 were also examined as to their own progress in 
 acquaintance with the Scriptures, and particular 
 portions were pointed out, of which they would be 
 expected to give an account at the next assembly. 
 A solemn address concluded the meetings. Much 
 harmony and friendly feeling attended them ; and 
 much increase of unity and diligence was the happy 
 result. 
 
 In the paucity of Christian schoolmasters, the 
 Committee consented to the employment of hea- 
 thens in that capacity ; and, out of thirteen now 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 333 
 
 employed, nine were heathens and Komanists. 
 For some time the missionaries were able to make 
 a favourable report of the ability and faithfulness 
 of most of them in the discharge of their office ; 
 but after a while the heathens did not, in every 
 instance, maintain a fidelity and diligence propor- 
 tioned to the readiness with which they had un- 
 dertaken their office The Committee were urged 
 to make use of Brahmins also as Scripture readers 
 in Sanscrit, in the expectation that their influence 
 and the language would allure all classes of natives, 
 and especially other Brahmins, to attend to what 
 they read ; but the Committee, though they in no 
 way discouraged any such forward spirit, and even 
 cherished and employed its energies wherever they 
 thought that nothing material would be risked, 
 declined to lay out any of the Society's funds in 
 maintaining such readers. As schoolmasters, and 
 even as superintendents of schools, the employ- 
 ment of heathens was unobjectionable, as the duty 
 to be performed was reduced to rules, and means 
 were at hand to ensure their due observance. But 
 as Scripture readers, they could not be depended 
 on to accomplish the Society's object, which was 
 to spread abroad pure Scripture truth, the truth as 
 it is in Jesus. For not only might the fidelity of a 
 heathen, as such, in expounding the parts of Scrip- 
 ture that he really understood, be suspected ; but 
 also, the positive incompetency of the natural man 
 to receive the things of the Spirit of God, must 
 necessarily disqualify him from being a correct in- 
 terpreter of the sacred Word. Indeed, those who 
 applied for this employment, actually proposed to 
 read and expound the Scriptures, conjointly with 
 the Hindoo shasters ; thus, by the unhallowed 
 mixture, to adulterate and confound the glorious 
 Gospel of Christ with the inventions and fables of 
 men, and, as it were, to set up the image of Baal 
 
3?>4 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, in the temple of the living God. Such a proposi- 
 
 1 tion more than justified the rejection of the offer of 
 
 these men's services. 
 Erection 4. Qn the 15th of March 1819. the missionaries 
 
 of the mis- Tin i 
 
 s ion removed to the new mission-house on the premises 
 Black 1 ' P UI> chased for them by the Society. 1 The fresh 
 Town. and salubrious air of the situation greatly revived 
 them. To the services before regularly held, an 
 English service was soon added on Thursday even- 
 ings, at the particular request of the East Indians, 
 between sixty and eighty of whom regularly at- 
 tended. Many of them visited the missionaries 
 for religious conversation, and awakened hopes 
 concerning them. They began to establish worship 
 in their households, and the appearance of piety 
 among them encouraged the hope that they 
 would ere long furnish the mission with useful 
 assistants. There was likewise a greatly improved 
 attendance upon the Tamul services, and the mis- 
 sionaries began to feel the want of a more spa- 
 cious place of worship. Indeed, this necessity 
 was felt in 1817, when the Corresponding Commit- 
 tee circulated a paper, inviting subscriptions for 
 the erection of a church, the cost of which, includ- 
 ing the purchase of the site, was estimated at three 
 thousand five hundred pagodas (1400 sterling). 
 This proposal met with a favourable acceptance 
 among the Europeans, and liberal contributions 
 were raised and the building commenced. Diffi- 
 culties, however, arising from an opposition which 
 was stirred up among the natives, who objected to 
 the situation, the Government of Fort St George 
 were induced to interpose, and to refuse to sanc- 
 tion the completion of the work on the present site. 
 At the same time they fully approved the object of 
 
 1 B. x. chap. vi. sec. 27. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 
 
 the building, and gave directions to the proper de- 
 partments to select a suitable situation for it. They 
 also engaged to indemnify the Committee for all 
 the expenses incurred in the present building, and 
 assured them of their countenance and support in 
 all their measures for the furtherance of the So- 
 ciety's objects, so far as might be consistent with 
 the paramount duty of preserving the public peace. 
 Accordingly, they undertook to erect, at the public 
 expense, a church for the native Protestants, and 
 allowed the use of it to the Church Missionary 
 Society. To add to the value of this important 
 benefit, Government directed that the church should 
 be built on the Society's premises in Black Town, 
 which the Committee had purchased On the 30th 
 of June 1819, the foundation-stone was laid with 
 due solemnity. 2 It was completed and transferred 
 
 2 The Rev. Marmaduke Thompson, in a letter of July 20. 
 1819, thus expresses his feelings on this occasion : " Now, let 
 me tell you of the holy triumph that we have just enjoyed. We 
 have solemnly laid the first stone of our new mission church 
 within our new premises ; it took place on the 30th of June, 
 and it was indeed a great and happy day to us. Several friends 
 assembled with us at the mission house, with Major D'Havil- 
 land and his family, the superintending engineer, who is ex 
 officio the architect. From thence we proceeded to the long- 
 desired spot. There we found our Tamul congregation ranged 
 opposite to the place where the missionaries and myself were to 
 stand, with a considerable number of natives and others all 
 around us, and spectators on the tops of the adjoining houses. 
 The service began with the 117th Psalm, in Tamul; then fol- 
 lowed prayer, in English, by myself; Mr Rhenius addressed 
 the people, his own congregation chiefly, in Tamul, and then 
 laid the stone. Having happily had it suggested to him, by a 
 gentleman present, to explain this part of the ceremony, to pre- 
 vent any erroneous notion among the heathen spectators of any 
 such thing in it as their own superstitious practices, he again ad- 
 dressed them. Then a doxology was sung in Tamul, in which 
 Hallelujah sounded out very distinctly and affectingly. Mr 
 Rhenius offered up a prayer in Tamul, and we concluded with 
 the apostolic benediction, in English and Tamul alternately ; 
 
336 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, to the charge of the Corresponding Committee in 
 IL the following year, and opened for Divine service 
 on the llth of October. The aged missionary, Dr 
 Rottler, preached on the occasion, in Tamul, from 
 Genesis xxviii. 16, 17. There were present upward 
 of one hundred and fifty native children belonging 
 to the different schools in Madras and its vicinity 
 under the Society's care, the schoolmasters, cate- 
 chists, and readers, and about one hundred and 
 fifty other men and women, some of them avowed 
 heathen, together with several East Indian and 
 European inhabitants. Many heathen stood at the 
 doors and windows to witness the service, and 
 much order and reverence prevailed. Thus did the 
 Lord overrule the opposition of the Society's ene- 
 mies for good, and their object was accomplished 
 in the most desirable manner. 1 
 
 With the progress of the mission, the feelings of 
 the heathen towards their Christian countrymen 
 improved. The converts themselves informed the 
 missionaries, that the name of Christian was be- 
 come less a badge of reproach ; that not long ago 
 a heathen would not endure to be seated near one 
 of them, and that if a Christian had entered his 
 house and rested in it, he would, on his departure, 
 immediately purify the place where the man had 
 sat : but that now all this had ceased, and the com- 
 munications between them were in general unre- 
 stricted and friendly. Much of this improvement 
 
 Mr Rhenius following me sentence by sentence, so as to end 
 both together ; the effect of which was very solemn and impres- 
 sive. The people were all very attentive, and the expressions 
 of satisfaction, as they were dispersing, were very gratifying. 
 It was, on the whole, I suppose, one of the most interesting 
 ceremonies of the kind ever witnessed in Madras." 
 
 1 C. M. S.Keports, xviii., pp. 115, 116 ; xix., p. 162 ; xx. p. 
 154; xxi. p. H3. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 337 
 
 was attributed, under God, to the exertions and 
 influence of the Catechist, Sandappen, of whose 
 piety, diligence, and discretion, the Corresponding 
 Committee speak in the highest terms. 2 
 
 5. In 1819, a third missionary arrived for Ma- Arrival of 
 dras, the Rev. George Theophilus Barenbruck, and 
 another in the following year, the Rev. James Rids- 
 dale, a clergyman of the Church of England, in full 
 orders. On the erection of the mission church at 
 the expense of Government, together with other 
 local circumstances, it was deemed expedient that 
 the station of Madras itself should become exclu- 
 sively an English mission ; while the Lutheran 
 missionaries in connection with the Society would 
 have stations of useful labour in various quarters. 
 Accordingly, Messrs Rhenius and Schmid were now 
 removed to Palamcottah ; Mr Ridsdale undertook 
 the English department of the Madras mission ; and 
 Mr Barenbruck devoted himself exclusively to the 
 native department of its concerns, until the arrival 
 of another English clergyman in April 1822, the 
 Rev. William Sawyer, who in a few months became 
 competent to the charge of the Tamul department, 
 when Mr Barenbruck, a Lutheran, was removed to 
 Tranquebar. 
 
 Mr Sawyer was originally designed for Bengal ; 
 but was detained at Madras in lieu of Mr Wilson, 
 who, as mentioned in the last chapter, had been 
 transferred to Calcutta. The native congregation 
 was at this time in an encouraging state. Besides 
 the Tamul services on Sunday, a regular Wednesday 
 evening service had been recently begun, and meet- 
 ings on Tuesday and Thursday evenings were held 
 in a schoolroom near the bazaar, where there was 
 a constant concourse of people. This house was 
 
 2 C. M. S. Report xix., p. 169. 
 VOL. v. 
 
338 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, filled with Christians and heathens, and as many 
 stood at the doors and windows as the space would 
 admit. Mr Barenbruck described the spirit of in- 
 quiry that seemed to be awakened among the peo- 
 ple as very encouraging. 
 
 When Mr Sawyer took charge of the mission, 
 the stated members of the congregation were one 
 hundred and nine, and the communicants from 
 twenty-five to thirty. On the 12th of February 
 1823, he made his first attempt to read prayers, and 
 the 8th of June, to preach, in Tamul, and a few 
 months after he was able to relieve the catechist 
 from the whole duty. Among the congregation 
 there were some of whom he expressed the hope 
 that they had experienced the transforming efficacy 
 of the Divine Spirit on their souls, for they were 
 living a life of faith in God's dear Son. " Two or 
 three," he remarked, " might be adduced as living 
 examples ; and, in the happy end of one lately de- 
 parted, the grace of God was singularly magnified." 
 " In my weekly visits to their respective habita- 
 tions, I have sometimes had much satisfaction. 
 At these opportunities, though spiritual advice and 
 reproof are considered as most prominent, hints are 
 occasionally given with regard to domestic economy, 
 and other points of minor consideration." 1 
 Baptism 6. He then speaks of three baptisms of heathen 
 min fmi h " converts, and the reception of three converts from 
 otuer con- Romanism, during the year 1823 ; and in a subse- 
 quent report he gives the following account of the 
 baptism of a Brahmin, Jan. 1. 1824, which cannot 
 but be read with interest : 
 
 " The congregation was large ; many heathen 
 children and some adults, besides our ordinary 
 number of Christians, attended. Mr Eidsdale read 
 
 1 C. M. S. Report, 24th, p. 133. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 339 
 
 prayers ; after which I proceeded to the most plea- 
 sant task that I ever performed in my life that of 
 baptizing this interesting man. Before the ad- 
 ministration of the ordinance, I desired him to say 
 what he had previously expressed a desire to say to 
 the people. This he did to the following effect : 
 
 " ' Friends in Christ Jesus ! I, as one who am 
 about to be admitted this day to the privileges of 
 the holy Gospel in Christ Jesus, am desirous to 
 shew you, in as concise a manner as possible, my 
 former state, and my present change of mind 
 wrought by Almighty God, through His dear Son, 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 " ' My forefathers were of the Kauadannier tribe 
 of Brahmins. My name is Soobarayen. I, together 
 with many thousands of my caste, who are still de- 
 ceived in the darkness of heathenism, and bound 
 by the many deceitful Shasters, used to worship an 
 image of stone ; but Jesus Christ, in a wonderful 
 manner, hath blessed me with clearer light. Con- 
 sider this goodness, of which I am not in the least 
 worthy ! Jesus Christ having joined me to His 
 holy communion, and having strengthened me, I 
 do believe Him to be the only Way, the Truth, and 
 the Life ; and that there is no salvation in any 
 other besides. In conclusion, I beg you, Christian 
 brethren, to beseech God on my behalf in all your 
 prayers/ 
 
 " After this address, the attention of the congre- 
 gation was called to the circumstance of his break- 
 ing the sacred Brahminical cord ; which is the 
 grand fetter, in which Satan binds these poor 
 priests to his service. Taking the cord in his hand, 
 he said, with great emphasis : ' In breaking this 
 string, I desire to renounce the service of the devil ; 
 and, dividing myself from him, to become the ser- 
 vant of Christ.' 
 
 " After this, I baptized him by the name of John. 
 
340 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 C vn P " Whether the man will continue stedfast or not, 
 ' is known only to Him who is the searcher of 
 hearts. In the mean while, we would be very strenu- 
 ous with our friends, in entreating their interest 
 for him at that throne of grace, from which no 
 humble and believing petitioner was ever sent 
 empty away." 1 
 
 The baptism of this Brahmin was the occasion of 
 giving a salutary check to the influence of caste 
 among the Christians connected with the mission. 
 The observance of the distinctions of caste by four 
 Christian youths of the seminary, in refusing to 
 eat with their Parriah schoolfellows, and even with 
 John himself, though a Brahmin, because he had 
 broken caste by eating with the Parriah scholars, 
 was highly offensive to him, as he considered it 
 entirely opposed to Christian love and unity ; and 
 the more so, as these four youths were all Soodras, 
 which is the lowest caste recognised among the 
 Hindoos. In consequence, it was thought right to 
 suspend them, and there was every prospect that 
 this event would issue in the extinction of this ob- 
 servance in the seminary. 
 
 About three weeks after the baptism of John, 
 Mr Ridsdale gave an account of six other converts, 
 whom he baptized in the mission church. They 
 were all of humbler caste, but their cases appear to 
 have been equally satisfactory. 2 Thus from time 
 to time the missionaries report the reception of 
 heathen and Romish converts, until, at the close of 
 1826, they amounted together to one hundred and 
 fifty. 
 
 1 In the Missionary Kegister for 1824, p. 322, this convert 
 is, by mistake, identified with another, mentioned immediately 
 before. 
 ^ 3 Ibid. 
 
IN INDIA: BOOK xin. 341 
 
 7. At the same period,, the Tamul schools for increase 
 boys had increased to seventeen, containing seven seminary 
 hundred and forty-eight scholars ; 3 and four for estabiish- 
 girls, with one hundred and thirty children. There e ' 
 were also three English schools for girls, contain- 
 ing one hundred and twenty. Mrs Eidsdale had 
 charge of the FEMALE schools ; and under her care 
 they advanced steadily, attended with many encou- 
 raging circumstances. 
 
 The seminary for training native teachers was 
 another important branch of the Tamul depart- 
 ment. When the Government undertook to build 
 the mission church, the Corresponding Committee 
 announced, in a circular, to the friends who had 
 contributed to this object, that their subscriptions 
 were again at their own disposal ; but made, at 
 the same time, an appeal to them in behalf of a 
 seminary, which they wished to establish in con- 
 nection with the church. They then gave the fol- 
 lowing description of the object in view that it 
 was to be " the establishment of a seminary, or 
 college, for the instruction of native Christian 
 youths, for various services in the Society's mis- 
 sions ; as schoolmasters and catechists, and they 
 trust priests also, by Episcopal ordination, when- 
 ever their qualifications and piety may render them 
 eligible for the higher sacred offices. The system 
 of instruction will also comprehend the elements of 
 general knowledge and the sciences ; and the insti- 
 tution will be open, either in these departments 
 
 3 Of these, the Christians were 128 
 Brahmins, 73 
 
 Soodras, 417 
 
 Parriahs, 130 
 
 748 
 0. M. S. Reports, 27th, pp. 125-127; 28th, p. 88. 
 
342 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, exclusively, or in its whole course of instruction, to 
 1 youths, destined for mere secular avocations, whe- 
 ther Christians, Hindoos, or Mahomedans ; but 
 there will be a permanent establishment of pupils 
 for the primary purposes of the institution, who 
 will reside in the seminary, and whose employ- 
 ments and government will be adapted entirely to 
 the nature of their future destination. 
 
 " The Corresponding Committee have had this 
 institution in contemplation from the commence- 
 ment of the Society's missions on the coast ; but 
 they have not before possessed all the means which 
 are requisite for its establishment. It is hoped 
 that the means now in their power will be adequate 
 to the purpose. The missionaries of the Society in 
 Madras are every way qualified, by learned and 
 collegiate education, for the superintendence of the 
 seminary ; the ground comprised within the mis- 
 sion premises affords ample space for the necessary 
 buildings ; the course of instruction, and elemen- 
 tary works necessary for its accomplisment, are 
 preparing ; and it is hoped that suitable youths 
 may be gradually found, to the number at present 
 proposed to be maintained on the foundation of the 
 institution." 
 
 The Committee then conclude with their appeal 
 to the contributors to the church, and nearly the 
 whole of the subscriptions, amounting to about seven 
 hundred pounds, were allowed to be transferred to 
 the proposed institution. 1 
 
 This seminary was opened in the month of Janu- 
 ary 1823, with seventeen native youths, and six 
 East Indians. Twelve of the natives were selected 
 from the Tranquebar schools. The Lutheran mis- 
 
 1 0. M. S. Report, 20th, pp. 155, 156. Missionary Register. 
 1820, pp. 484, 485. 
 
LN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 343 
 
 sionaries had previously educated young men for 
 the service of the mission,, of whom the five that 
 remained were now transferred to the seminary 
 under Mr Sawyer's care. The situation of the 
 mission premises in Black Town being too confined 
 for the pupils' health, the seminary was in the fol- 
 lowing year removed to Perambore, a healthy and 
 retired situation about three miles off. The pro- 
 gress of the institutions, and the difficulties con- 
 tended with, will be best described in the words of 
 Mr Sawyer's report at the close of 1826. He says, 
 " The total number of boys now under instruction 
 is thirty ; of which twenty-three are natives, and 
 seven country-born. 
 
 " Since the establishment of the seminary, eight 
 of the elder youths have been placed in different 
 situations according to their qualifications ; four 
 are now employed as schoolmasters and assistants 
 in the Madras mission ; two are employed as wri- 
 ters in offices ; one as schoolmaster in the English 
 school at Tranquebar ; and one in service. Of the 
 youths now in the seminary, six are sufficiently 
 advanced in learning to undertake the charge of 
 schools ; but, not being of proper age to hold such 
 appointments, they will be kept some time longer 
 in the institution ; in the mean while they will be 
 daily acquiring additional knowledge and experi- 
 ence. Of the country-born young men, four 
 have commenced the study of Latin, and two 
 of the more intelligent native boys are about to 
 begin. 
 
 " The institution, from its commencement until 
 the end of last year, was tried, in a peculiar man- 
 ner, by the perverse tempers and blind prejudices 
 of the boys and their parents. These things were 
 not without their use, in giving the mission prac- 
 tical experience, and a knowledge of the most 
 effectual methods of overcoming the prejudices 
 
344 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, and gaining the esteem and affection of the 
 VIL youths." 
 
 He next speaks of the permanency and enlarge- 
 ment of the seminary, which its opening prospects 
 seemed to him to require. " Such an establish- 
 ment should be on a sufficiently extensive scale to 
 allow of the efficient instruction of sixty students 
 in English, Tamul, Gentoo, Sanscrit, Latin, Greek, 
 and Hebrew. Of these students, a fourth part 
 might be country-born, and the rest natives. The 
 internal management of the institution should be 
 in the hands of two missionaries, if possible ; one 
 of whom should confine his attention to the theo- 
 logical instruction of the elder youths, while the 
 other could pay more particular attention to their 
 classical learning. A Moonshee should be em- 
 ployed for every branch of native instruction ; and 
 a person well instructed in the national system of 
 education would be required as English school- 
 master." 
 
 Then, after proposing its removal to a more eli- 
 gible situation, called Eoyapooram, he thus de- 
 scribes the increased accommodation that would 
 be required : " The buildings requisite will be, a 
 house for two missionaries and families ; with suit- 
 able apartments for the purpose of sleeping-rooms, 
 day-rooms, and school-rooms for the country-born 
 and native youths. These buildings should be 
 erected as near as possible to the residence of the 
 missionaries in charge, in order to a constant in- 
 spection of the whole establishment." l 
 
 The English department of the mission, under 
 Mr Ridsdale's care, was not less encouraging. In 
 1823, he reported that the attendance on public 
 
 1 C. M. S. Keports, 24th, p. 136 ; 25th, p. 113 ; 27th, p. 126. 
 Missionary Kegister 1827, p. 549. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 345 
 
 worship had become progressively more regular and 
 devout ; and that increasing ministerial intercourse 
 between the missionaries and their flock was 
 attended with evident spiritual benefit to the people,, 
 while it imparted encouragement and satisfaction 
 to themselves. By the year 1825, the English con- 
 gregation had so much increased, that the church 
 became insufficient for its accommodation. In con- 
 sequence, it was enlarged in the following year, the 
 government of Madras readily contributing its aid 
 toward the work. 
 
 8. The members of the congregation, grateful to c> M< s> 
 the Church Missionary Society for the means of associa- 
 grace thus afforded them, formed an association formed. 
 among themselves, in furtherance of its general de- 
 sign for the conversion of the heathen. A female 
 association was next formed ; and the two associa- 
 tions proceeded together with equal zeal, and con- 
 tributed materially to the Society's funds. These 
 exertions kept in activity the principles of gratitude 
 
 and benevolence among the members of the con- 
 gregation. They likewise derived great benefit from 
 a lending library which Mr Ridsdale established for 
 their use. " Many young persons," he remarked, 
 " have substituted its volumes for novels and such 
 trash, which before occupied their attention." 
 
 9. The PRESS formed an important department Printing 
 of this mission. Its operations were commenced in press> 
 1819, with the revised version of the Scriptures in 
 Tamul by Dr Rottler and Mr Rhenius. Several 
 religious tracts, in Tamul and Teloogoo, were pub- 
 lished in the same year. Under Mr Ridsdale's 
 direction, the press became a profitable resource for 
 
 the Society's treasury ; besides executing all the 
 work for its missions on the coast, without any 
 charge, except the cost of paper. Besides defray- 
 ing all its expenses, it was reported, in 1824, the 
 press " has, this year, contributed a surplus of two 
 
346 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, thousand two hundred and thirty- seven rupees to 
 VIL the general fund of the Corresponding Committee. 
 During the same period,, it has completed an edition 
 of four thousand five hundred copies of the Tamul 
 version of the New Testament, for the Auxiliary 
 Bible Society ; twenty- three thousand school-books 
 and tracts, for the Committee's stores ; and twenty- 
 nine thousand for the School-book and Tract 
 Societies." 
 
 With such rapidity did these operations continue 
 to increase, that two years after, in 1826, the Cor- 
 responding Committee pleaded urgently for a printer 
 from England to take charge of the press, as the 
 care of it was found to interfere with Mr Ridsdale's 
 important functions as a missionary. They stated 
 also, that an additional number of presses was re- 
 quired to meet the wants of the mission in this 
 growing department of labour. 1 
 
 Pooua- 10. In the course of the year 1822, an addition 
 
 maiiee. was ma de to the native branch of the Madras mis- 
 sion. The first place mentioned is Poonamallee, 
 a military cantonment about fifteen miles from 
 Madras. In 1821, the author was removed from 
 Palamcottah to this station as garrison chaplain ; 
 and before the end of the year, a Tamul school was 
 established, containing forty-three scholars, who 
 assembled in a commodious building, gratuitously 
 procured for the purpose. A small native congre- 
 gation was formed, consisting of twenty adults and 
 six grown-up children, besides four women, candi- 
 dates for baptism. Most of the women were the 
 wives of the English pensioners residing at Poona- 
 mallee. A neat rustic church was built for their 
 accommodation, with a house adjoining for the use 
 
 1 C. M. S. Keports, xx., pp. 157, 162 ; xxi., p. 147; xxii., p. 
 138; xxiii., pp. 133-136; xxv., p. 115; xxviii., p. 88. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 347 
 
 of the catechist. The church was built chiefly by 
 local contributions. It stood on a dry and elevated 
 spot by the road- side ; a situation favourable for the 
 attraction of the heathen passing by. In 1822, the 
 author being compelled by sickness to return to 
 Europe, the Corresponding Committee took charge 
 of this infant establishment, a Captain Miller, then 
 in charge of the European Asylum there, having 
 benevolently offered his services in aid of the mea- 
 sures which the Committee should take to maintain 
 it. The missionaries from Madras visited the place 
 from time to time, and stated, in their first report, 
 that the catechist held two Tamul services every 
 Sunday, and one on Friday evenings. He was also 
 occupied in visiting the neighbouring villages, and 
 conversing with the heathen, to whom he read and 
 explained the Scriptures. The school also was in a 
 satisfactory state. In 1823 six converts were bap- 
 tized, and another school was opened ; but for want 
 of efficient native teachers, they had both fallen into 
 disorder. In 1826, there were ten adult baptisms, 
 the congregation then amounting to thirty-five. 
 
 The next out-station was Trippasoor, about Trippa- 
 eighteen miles from Poonamallee. Here a Mr soor> 
 Dennis, an East Indian, opened an English school 
 in 1822, and also performed divine service on Sun- 
 days, for the benefit of the invalids stationed there. 
 Several natives also joined them ; and, in 1826, the 
 average attendance on public worship was thirty ; 
 when Mr Sawyer remarked, " The people are grow- 
 ing, I hope, in the knowledge and love of God." 
 There was a small school also at this station. 
 
 11. TRANQUEBAR. We have already mentioned Tranque- 
 Mr Schnarre's return to Tranquebar, to take charge bar ' 
 of Dr John's schools. 2 In 1817, he undertook an 
 
 Book x. elm p. vi. 
 
348 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, inspection into the actual state of these establish- 
 VIL ments, and his report, on the whole, was as promis- 
 ing as could be expected, and the prospect of im- 
 provement, under his superintendence, very good. 
 There were nineteen schools, containing eight hun- 
 dred and twenty-five scholars, fifty less than last 
 year. One or two extracts from his report 1 will 
 account for this decrease of numbers, and give an 
 idea of the character of the schools. 
 
 "The Eoman Catholic priests at Kareical became, 
 some time ago, provoked by our school there, and 
 established a school for the children of their own 
 congregation, and therefore about fifty of their 
 children left our school ; and as the distress and 
 poverty among the natives here is so great, that 
 many families have travelled away, and are still 
 travelling away, to other places for want of food, 
 we must expect a still farther decrease of our 
 scholars. 
 
 "Of the above number of children, I suppose 
 that only about one -third are Christian chil- 
 dren : the rest are heathens, and a few Eoman 
 Catholics. 
 
 " As I went along to examine them, I found, in 
 general, that the heathen schools were, with respect 
 to learning and diligence, in a better condition than 
 the Christian. The reason is, that the Christian 
 schools are, for the most part, of the low caste ; 
 and as this poor people cannot attain any other 
 station in life, but must be tied to the hard and 
 mean labours which none of the other castes will 
 perform. 
 
 " In all our schools, both heathen and Christian, 
 our religious books and the same lessons are taught, 
 
 1 This report may be seen entire in the Missionary Eegister 
 1818, January. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 319 
 
 and are all opened and closed with our Christian 
 prayers. The prayers used in the heathen schools 
 contain the same petitions ; only that they are not 
 in prose,, but in verse, because the heathen used to 
 sing their prayers. 
 
 " In one of the three schools in the paper-mill, 
 which we call our seminary, there are several 
 youths educating for the offices of schoolmasters, 
 catechists, &c. ; among whom are also some heathen 
 youths, from sixteen to twenty years of age, who 
 have received Christian instruction for three or 
 four years, but they do not manifest as yet any 
 desire to become Christians. The difference, how- 
 ever, which I observe between them and other 
 heathen youths who have not received these in- 
 structions, is remarkable. 
 
 " I am happy that I have two natives with me 
 at the head of our schools, John Devasagayam and 
 the catechist David, who are both faithful in their 
 duty, and of a pious disposition. That our gracious 
 Lord may increase the number of such among this 
 people, and bless for this end your endeavours and 
 the labours of those whom you send unto them, is 
 the earnest wish and prayer of your humble and 
 obedient servant, 
 
 " JOHN CHRISTIAN SCHNARRE." 
 
 12. At Chillambaram, the stronghold of Hindoo Chiiiam- 
 idolatry on the coast, and inhabited chiefly by baram * 
 Brahmins, Mr Schnarre was requested to establish 
 a Free School ; to which he assented, on the under- 
 standing that none of their heathen doctrines should 
 be taught in the school, and that the children should 
 receive the same religious instruction as was given 
 in the other schools. After some demur, and 
 receiving from him an assurance that no force 
 whatever should be used to compel their children 
 to become Christians, they agreed to his stipula- 
 
350 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Mr 
 
 Scbnarre's 
 death. 
 
 
 tion. A large school-room was, in consequence, 
 erected in one of the principal streets of the town. 
 It was opened April 13. 181 8, and by the end of 
 the month it contained eighty children. 
 
 At the close of 1819 these schools had consider- 
 ably increased, the number of scholars being sixteen 
 hundred and twenty-seven, nearly double the last 
 return. Mr Schnarre's report of their present state 
 and prospect gave a variety of important informa- 
 tion, yet too closely resembling what we have 
 already recorded to be repeated here. It was read, 
 however, with special interest at the time, being 
 the last public communication received from this 
 able and indefatigable missionary. 
 
 13. On the 1st of October 1820, it pleased God 
 to terminate his valuable life, in the midst of his 
 career of usefulness, by a sudden and violent dis- 
 order, after a few hours' illness. The testimony of 
 the Madras Committee to his worth will be best 
 given in their own words : " Mingling with their 
 grief on this occasion the submission which is due 
 to the all-wise but inscrutable will of the great 
 Head of the Church," they performed the melan- 
 choly duty of bearing their testimony to the meek- 
 ness, piety, and faithfulness of this esteemed ser- 
 vant of the Society and of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 The cordial attachment and harmonious co-opera- 
 tion which had uniformly subsisted between them 
 and their late friend exacted the testimony of their 
 affectionate esteem ; whilst a review of his useful 
 labours, manifested in the increase and improve- 
 ment of the Free School Institution during the 
 period of his superintendence, called for their grate- 
 ful acknowledgments. 1 
 
 1 C. M. S. Beport, xxi., p. 148. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 351 
 
 14. The Committee being unable to appoint any J ohn 
 missionary to this station without impairing the 
 other missions, they resolved to place it under the temporary 
 temporary charge of John Devasagayam, who,, as thesS- 
 we have seen, had been attached to the School tion - 
 Institution from the period of its establishment by 
 the late Dr John,, and had in that capacity afforded 
 entire satisfaction to Mr Schnarre. He readily 
 consented to undertake this charge, but at the same 
 time recommended that the Kev. Dr Coemmerer 
 should be requested to assume the chief superin- 
 tendence of the schools, and that he himself should 
 act under that gentleman's directions in the exe- 
 cution of all the details of the duty. Under this 
 arrangement, the schools continued to prosper, 
 and at the close of the first year of John Devasa- 
 gayam's inspection they contained 1634 scholars. 
 He kept a journal of his proceedings, many ex- 
 tracts from which threw much light on the state of 
 the natives generally, both Christians and hea- 
 thens, and exhibited the devout spirit with which 
 the writer was animated. He had to encounter 
 great opposition from some parties ; but the pru- 
 dent and conciliatory conduct towards his op- 
 ponents often removed their prejudice against him, 
 when they left him to pursue his work in peace. 2 
 
 Mr Schnarre, during his residence at Tranque- 
 bar, composed a number of sermons in Tamul, 
 which, after his decease, came into the hands of 
 the inspector, who employed his seminarists to 
 transcribe them. In announcing the discovery of 
 them to the Corresponding Committee, he re- 
 marked " Be assured the expense of the Society 
 for their late worthy missionary would not have 
 
 2 Church Missionary Society's Report, xxii., pp. 140, 141. 
 In Appendix xii. to this report will be found a series of ex- 
 tracts from his journals. 
 
352 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, been misplaced had these sermons been the only 
 VIL fruits of his labour." The original manuscripts 
 were transmitted to Madras,, and they proved a 
 valuable help to others in their missionary work. 
 
 In 1821, the Rev. Isaac Wilson, whose arrival 
 at Madras we have mentioned above, was trans- 
 ferred to Tranquebar, where he took charge of the 
 schools. The seminary especially soon felt the 
 benefit of his superintendence ; but he was there 
 too short a time to mature his plans for the gene- 
 ral improvement of the mission, being removed in 
 the next year to Calcutta, for the purpose ex- 
 plained in the last chapter. 1 John Devasagayam 
 then resumed the charge of the establishment, 
 until the arrival of another missionary, the Rev. 
 G. T. Barenbruck, in 1823. The schools at this 
 period contained 1725 scholars. John Devasaga- 
 yam had likewise begun to employ readers of the 
 Scriptures to their countrymen in the interior, 
 who travelled some distance, and it appears, from 
 the journals which they kept of their progress, 
 that their success was very encouraging. 2 
 Head- 15. Soon after Mr Barenbruck's arrival, it was 
 
 ?he a m e is- 0f deemed advisable to change the head-quarters of 
 sion re- the mission. It had been usual to visit from 
 Mayave- Tranquebar the schools in the province of Tanjore ; 
 rani. but Combaconum being considered a station from 
 which they might be more advantageously super- 
 intended, in April 1823, Mr Barenbruck removed 
 thither, with the seminarists and mission servants, 
 who continued diligently to labour there until the 
 following January, when another removal was 
 thought expedient. The Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge had a school at Combaconum ; 
 
 1 Section 11. 
 
 3 Church Missionary Society's Reports, xxiii., xxiv. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 353 
 
 and the Corresponding Committee, in their solici- 
 tude to avoid intruding within the remotest limits 
 of that or any other society's missionaries, had felt 
 from the beginning that it was desirable, on that ac- 
 count, that Mr Barenbruck should settle, if practi- 
 cable, elsewhere. After much inquiry for a suit- 
 able spot, Mayaveram was ultimately fixed upon 
 for the seat of the mission. It was fifteen miles 
 west of Tranquebar, and twenty-one miles north- 
 east of Combaconum. Owing to various impedi- 
 ments, it was not till a late period of the year that 
 Mr Barenbruck succeeded, with the assistance of 
 John Cotton, Esq., the collector, in completing the 
 purchase of an eligible piece of ground for the site 
 of the mission. 3 
 
 The erection of suitable buildings at Mayaveram 
 for the purposes of the mission was immediately be- 
 gun, under Mr Barenbruck's superintendence. When 
 finished, he established the regular performance 
 of divine worship, with one English and two Tamul 
 services on Sunday. He also devoted several 
 evenings in the week to the reading and exposi- 
 tion of the Scriptures, in a small building open to 
 the road, and easy of access to all who passed by. 
 The Christians attached to the mission he as- 
 sembled every morning and evening for family 
 prayer, when he explained to them the word of 
 God. He described himself as happy in these 
 services, and remarked, " In this, as in all our 
 work, we would entirely depend upon the Divine 
 blessing, feeling the need of wrestling more seri- 
 ously and perseveringly in prayer with the Lord, 
 like Jacob of old, when he said, / will not let thee 
 go, except Thou bless me. John Devasagayam, as 
 
 3 Keport xx*v., p. 116. 
 VOL. V. 
 
354 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, also some of the readers, are excellent helps to me 
 VIL in the work of the Lord." 
 
 The schools continued to prosper, and at the 
 close of 1826 they amounted to thirty- three, con- 
 taining 1749 scholars of all castes. There were 
 seventy-eight Brahmins. The influence which, by 
 the Divine blessing, the children were sometimes 
 enabled to produce on the minds of their parents 
 was very encouraging. One father remarked to 
 Mr Barenbruck " My boy has only attended your 
 school a few months, and he has learned more 
 than I have in all the years of my life, and is now 
 teaching me." Another, a relation of the Rajah 
 of Tanjore, observing that the children of his ser- 
 vants learned more at the mission schools than his 
 own son, who was instructed by a private tutor at 
 home, sent him also, regardless of the remarks he 
 heard upon the impropriety of his allowing his son 
 to attend a free school. In this way the schools 
 became the medium of diffusing Scriptural know- 
 ledge to a great extent. 1 
 
 The seminary at this time contained fourteen 
 pupils. Several were already employed in the 
 mission, and some who remained gave promise of 
 future usefulness. 
 
 Tmne- ^Q TiNNEVELLY. We have already recorded the 
 
 revival of the Christian Knowledge Society's mis- 
 sion in this district in 1816, and have seen, that 
 the Society's funds were not in a state to do more 
 than provide for the immediate wants of their own 
 Christian community. 2 But the author's views were 
 
 1 Church Missionary Society's Reports, xxvii., pp. 128 et seq.; 
 xxviii., pp. 89, 90. In 1827, the schools within the Danish 
 territory were, at the request of the Danish Government, re- 
 transferred to their mission. Up to that time, 6006 children 
 had passed through the schools. 
 
 3 Book xiii. chap. iii. sees. 15-17. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 355 
 
 extended to the vast heathen population around him, 
 and his own resources, together with the contribu- 
 tions of his friends, soon proving unequal to the 
 increasing demands of the people, he was con- 
 strained to look elsewhere for assistance ; and 
 the Corresponding Committee of the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society at Madras entered immediately into 
 his plans, and encouraged him with the pecuniary 
 aid required. When he first consulted the leading 
 members of his congregation as to the mode of pro- 
 ceeding most likely to prevail with the heathen, 
 and the prospect of success in an attempt to edu- 
 cate their children, so little did they enter into 
 the question, that they endeavoured, though in a 
 friendly manner, to dissuade him from the attempt, 
 and left him for several months to pursue alone 
 what they deemed a hopeless task. 
 
 At length the collector, John Cotton, Esq., re- Schools 
 ceiving an application for contributions to a school 
 at Cochin, considered, that if inclined to support 
 such institutions, they ought to begin with those 
 of their own chaplain. In consequence, he re- 
 quested to be informed what had been done, and 
 contributed liberally towards the expenses incurred. 
 His example was followed by his neighbours ; and 
 from this time they subscribed annually to the 
 maintenance of the schools. This countenance also 
 of the British authorities tended to conciliate the 
 natives, some of whom, men of influence, had Aid from 
 hitherto manifested considerable hostility, and the church 
 rapid increase of the schools led to the application Mission- 
 to the Church Missionary Society mentioned above. c2ty.~ 
 
 17. Without entering into the various details of R ev . j. 
 his progress, and the difficulties encountered prin- ^"jF t h '* g 
 cipally in the use of Scriptural lessons, and in ob- given by 
 taining sites for the schools, it may suffice to give 
 an abstract of the author s report for 1818, to mark 
 the progress made at this period : " At Palam- 
 
356 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. cottah, and in different parts of the district of 
 VIL Tinnevelly, the Rev. James Hough has been en- 
 abled to promote the Society's objects, with increas- 
 ing success. Much prejudice prevailed against the 
 use of the Scriptures and other books, in the schools 
 at Palamcottah ; but it has gradually lessened ; and, 
 in several instances, a lively interest appears to 
 have been taken in their contents. An entrance 
 has been obtained, under many difficulties, into 
 Tinnevelly, the chief town of the district : an 
 English school has been opened, and a native of 
 some ability was under preparation to take charge 
 of a Tamul school, and measures were in -progress 
 for the purchase of premises, in order to secure a 
 permanent establishment in Tinnevelly. In the 
 large town of Tutecoryn, a Dutch settlement, a 
 small school had been established, under a heathen 
 schoolmaster ; but the jealousy and opposition of 
 the Romanists would probably occasion his removal. 
 At Tachinoor, near Tinnevelly, forty scholars were 
 soon collected. At Mylappalyum, a populous place 
 near Palamcottah, seventy scholars assembled : the 
 opening of the school was a gratifying scene. 
 ' Moormen and Hindoos,' writes Mr Hough, ' flocked 
 AROUND and IN the place, to hear the Christian 
 prayer that was offered to the Majesty of heaven, 
 invoking the Divine blessing on their labours.' The 
 number of scholars in these different places amounted, 
 at the end of last year, to three hundred and fifty- 
 A semin- three. To these schools has been added a seminary 
 opened. f r tne preparation of Christian youths for the ser- 
 vice of the mission. At the villages of Situmbu- 
 rapooram and Kunrumgalum, about thirty miles 
 south of Palamcottah, a catechist, named Arul- 
 anum, has been fixed, by desire of the people them- 
 selves ; which desire appears to have been awakened 
 by the gift of a Testament, some time back, to a 
 head-man, by Mr Ringletaube, late of Milaudy. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 357 
 
 In these two villages there were twelve families, or 
 fifty souls, united under the catechist, and forming 
 the first Christian congregation under the Church 
 Missionary Society. At all these stations, the 
 Scriptures, in different languages, are distributed 
 among such persons as can read them ; and whart 
 may be the blessing conveyed by a single copy, the 
 instance just mentioned will manifest. An affect- 
 ing incident with reference to this distribution of 
 the Holy Word is related by Mr Hough : 
 
 " f A Roman Catholic, sixty-eight years of age, 
 and the brother of a Roman Catholic four years 
 younger than himself, came fourteen miles to beg 
 for a Tamul Testament. His appearance, for his 
 black face and breast were covered with white hairs, 
 increased the interest which his request had ex- 
 cited ; and, as he bowed his aged body to receive 
 the boon which he craved, I could not but pray, 
 that the book which he held might lead him to 
 bend before the footstool of mercy, to receive the 
 salvation of his soul.' " l 
 
 In 1819, the prospect was clouded by the pre- 
 valence of the cholera morbus, which, in the course 
 of three months, swept away twelve thousand souls. 
 The stoutest hearts seemed to be appalled by the 
 unusual severity of this scourge, and several parents 
 were afraid to allow their children to attend school. 
 Notwithstanding this impediment, the scholars were 
 this year increased to four hundred and seventy- 
 one. In the establishment of these schools the 
 feelings of the natives were consulted as far as 
 practicable, which one instance, taken from the 
 Report, will serve to explain. 
 
 "In the town of Tinnevelly, ayoung Brahmin sold 
 
 1 C. M. S. Report, 19th, pp. 173-177; Missionary Register 
 1819, pp. 431, 432. 
 
358 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, uie a piece of ground; and having had it regularly 
 VIL registered, I made preparations for the building of a 
 school, and drew on your treasurer for one hundred 
 star -pagodas for the purpose ; but on preparing to 
 dig the foundation, what was my disappointment 
 to find the neighbouring Brahmins interrupt the 
 work ! The spot happened to be in a Brahminy 
 street, and near the walls of a pagoda ; and these 
 infatuated people contended that their dwellings 
 and temple would be defiled were a school for the 
 admission of all castes to be erected so near them. 
 I found it in vain to endeavour to reason with them 
 on the absurdity of their objection ; and some 
 declared that they would perish on the spot rather 
 than suffer the building to be commenced. 
 
 " What was to be done ? We had justice on our 
 side, it is true ; but the workmen were at a stand, 
 and could not think of proceeding in opposition to 
 the Brahmins. While recollecting the fate of the 
 mission church at Madras, under similar circum- 
 stances, I could not expect much better success by 
 throwing the cause into court ; and the very thought 
 of conducting such a work in a spirit of hostility 
 on our part was quite contrary to our avowed in- 
 tention of promoting the happiness and peace of 
 the inhabitants. There seemed, therefore, to be 
 no alternative but to allow them to repurchase the 
 ground, which I did ; and trust our forbearance 
 has made a more favourable impression on their 
 minds than if we had done violence to their pre- 
 judices." 
 
 The following testimony is borne in this Report 
 to the benefit to be expected from native educa- 
 tion, especially from the school for training cate- 
 chists, if the plan could be extended : 
 
 " The system of catechising them on what they 
 read is new and difficult to them ; for it makes 
 them think for themselves, as well as retain their 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 359 
 
 lessons in memory. I feel persuaded, however, that 
 constant practice will familiarise their minds with 
 the plan, and that it will be of the utmost advan- 
 tage. 
 
 " A few of the elder youths are disappointed, I 
 suspect, at not receiving some remuneration for 
 their attendance ; for after they reach fourteen or 
 fifteen years of age, they begin to earn something 
 toward a livelihood ; and it is assigned as the 
 reason for the absence of the eldest boy, who is 
 frequently missing, that he is at work. I have, 
 therefore, thought that the money would be well 
 employed were each of the elder scholars allowed 
 about half a pagoda per month, on condition of 
 their giving up their whole time to their studies. 
 To institute a seminary for the whole, where they 
 should be clothed, lodged, and fed, would be a still 
 better plan, would your funds admit of it ; each 
 boy would cost half a pagoda per month, and there 
 would be, besides, the expense of two or three 
 servants." 
 
 With regard to the effect produced on the minds 
 of heathen youths, the Eeport proceeds : 
 
 " I have received another striking instance of 
 the utility of schools for the instruction of natives, 
 in a youth who has just finished his education in 
 our English school. He came to take leave ; and 
 on questioning him as to what he had learnt, 
 replied, without the least hesitation, that he was 
 convinced in his mind of the truth of Christianity. 
 This I should have attributed to the ductility so 
 common among the natives, were it not that he 
 stated his reason, out of the Testament and a Ta- 
 mul book, which he is translating into English, 
 with a degree of intelligence that surprised me. I 
 mean not to say that this youth is a convert to 
 Christianity ; nor is there anything in him that 
 favours the hope that his heart is yet duly affected, 
 
360 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 for he sees not the evil of sin in his own bosom ; 
 and though he acknowledged, that to adhere to 
 idolatry through fear of his relatives would prove 
 destructive to his soul, and that it was to be attri- 
 buted to his want of sufficient light, yet he could 
 not promise to pray for Divine instruction and 
 support. His knowledge has had the effect, how- 
 ever, of causing him to forsake the pagoda, and to 
 employ his leisure hours over his Christian books 
 at home. This I know to be the fact ; and he told 
 me the same of another youth in the same class 
 with himself ; and of a third, instructed in an 
 English school at Madras, he made a similar report, 
 adding, that though he could not walk in opposi- 
 tion to his father, he turned his ceremonies into 
 ridicule. 
 
 " Are not these things encouraging ? Does it 
 not appear that the leaven is beginning to work ? 
 We see an effect produced, short of a saving effect 
 indeed, but such an one as nothing ever yet accom- 
 plished but the method of education adopted by 
 our Society and by kindred institutions. And is 
 it not rational to expect yea, is it not highly irra- 
 tional not to expect that youths, so instructed, 
 will grow up less prejudiced in favour of idolatry 
 and against Christianity than their fathers ? And 
 if they live to have children, it is most probable 
 that they will rather foster than check, in the 
 minds of their offspring, such impressions as they 
 themselves have received. 
 
 " Some may smile at this exultation over such 
 a trifle ; but the wanderer in the gloom of night, 
 who has missed his way, leaps at the prospect of a 
 distant light, however dim, and thither bends his 
 course. Then, amidst the darkness that envelopes 
 us, let us press onward in the way which these 
 instances of partial success seem to point out as 
 the right way ; and then our children, or children's 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 361 
 
 children, if not ourselves, may witness a trium- 
 phant result to our exertions. 1 
 
 18. In the year 1820, the rapidly increasing Arrival of 
 demand for exertion, and the declining state of his misMon- 
 own health, induced the author to apply to the gj^* 
 Madras Corresponding Committee for the help of C ottah." 
 a missionary. In consequence, in July, Mr Rhe- 
 nius was sent to him from Madras ; and soon 
 finding that there was already work enough for 
 another, they applied for Mr Rhenius's former col- 
 league at Madras, Mr B. Schmid, who was per- 
 mitted to join them in October. Here they 
 worked together till the following March, when 
 continued sickness compelled the author to retire. 2 
 The schools, at the time of his departure, were in- 
 creased to thirteen, two English and eleven Tamul, 
 containing four hundred and ninety- seven scholars. 
 There were extensive openings among the Shanars, 
 or Toddy caste, inhabiting the Palmeira forest to 
 the south, who have been described in a former 
 volume. These people were less attached to idola- 
 try, and more inclined to embrace the Christian 
 faith, than any other class of natives ; and, as in 
 the days of Swartz and Jaenicke, there seemed to 
 be good reason to hope that, if duly attended to 
 by a European missionary, and amply supplied 
 with native catechists, they would soon repay the 
 benevolence of the Christian public, with a tenfold 
 proportion of joy in their bosoms, crown the mis- 
 sionaries' labours with an abundant harvest, and 
 encourage all who watch, and pray, and toil for 
 the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom upon 
 earth, to persevere unto the end. 
 
 1 C. M. S. Report, 20, pp. 182-185, 348. Miss, Register 
 1820, pp. 296, 297. 
 8 See above, sec. 10. 
 
362 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 19. It was proposed to select some Shanar youths 
 VIL for the Palamcottah seminary,, to be trained for 
 Progress eatechists and schoolmasters among their own 
 seminar P eo pl e ; the congregations that were beginning to form 
 lary ' among them being likely soon to create a demand 
 for Christian teachers. The average expense of 
 each seminarist was estimated at one pagoda (eight 
 shillings) a month. The first class of the several 
 schools near enough to attend were assembled at 
 Palamcottah,, the first Saturday in every month, 
 for examination in the New Testament, and writ- 
 ing from dictation. At the conclusion,, another 
 chapter was given out, which they were to read 
 attentively, and come prepared at the next exami- 
 nation to be catechised upon it. They were ac- 
 companied by their masters, and formed a respect- 
 able congregation. The masters were prepared 
 with ollas, to write down what they heard, 
 which they found useful afterwards. The hea- 
 then were allowed to be present, and they some- 
 times entered into friendly discussions upon the 
 word of God. 
 
 The circulation of portions of the New Testa- 
 ment and tracts was becoming considerable, and 
 it was attended with beneficial effects. In the 
 last nine months, sixteen hundred and seventy 
 copies had been distributed ; and the supply being 
 exhausted, several heathens and others were anx- 
 iously waiting a fresh arrival. From all parts of 
 the district, and even from the capital, Tinnevelly, 
 reports were frequently coming in of the general 
 spirit of inquiry that was awakened. The BOOK- 
 READERS were sometimes pointed at with scorn as 
 they walked along the streets, but they were sel- 
 dom deterred thereby from studying the sacred 
 volume. 
 
 After the author's departure, the missionaries 
 removed to his house, which the Corresponding 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 36S 
 
 Committee had purchased for the mission. It was 
 situated on the high road from Palamcottah to 
 Tinnevelly, about a mile from the former, and two 
 and a half miles from the latter. It has already 
 become a place of resort for inquirers after know- 
 ledge, and petitioners for books. A large space of 
 ground was attached to the house, adjoining to 
 which were an English and a Tamul school, with 
 space to build as many more as might be required, 
 and even a church. In the mean time, one of the 
 school-houses was used as a temporary place of 
 worship, and part of the mission-house was pre- 
 pared for the reception of the seminarists. 1 
 
 1 C. M. S. Report, 21st, pp. 142, 143, 156. 
 
 There was a weekly assemblage of mendicants in the Fort of 
 Palamcottah, when paddy (rice in the husk) was distributed, 
 and a word of exhortation given to them. These meetings 
 were similar to those of the Eev. Henry Martyn at Cawnpore, 
 (B. xi. c. i. sec. 27). The most necessitous of these poor crea- 
 tures received a new cloth at Christmas. No instance of spiri- 
 tual benefit resulting from these weekly addresses came to the 
 author's knowledge at the time ; but he has since met with one, 
 recorded by an anonymous writer, which serves to encourage 
 the hope that the seed of the Divine word sown on this unpro- 
 mising soil did not all perish. In a work published by L. & J. 
 Seeley, entitled, " Anecdotes Illustrative of the Catechism of 
 the Church of England," the following anecdote is given, upon 
 the Question and Answer, " What is the outward/' &c., " Water, 
 wherein," &c., p. 94 : 
 
 " A lady in India gave the following account of an aged 
 female who was baptized a short time since : -' She is about 
 seventy. I asked her what led her to think of changing her 
 religion. She replied, "Before, I worshipped plenty idols; what 
 good ? I went to the church on Monday to have alms ; heard 
 the catechist preach; then after he done, Mr Hough asked 
 questions, and if we knew we were sinners. I went home and 
 thought, what this ? Then the light come into my mind, and 
 I feel myself great sinner. Then I tell my son and daughter, 
 I like to be a Christian. They laugh, but me not mind. I 
 feel very great love to Jesus Christ, and I think upon Him 
 always." I asked her why she wished to be baptized ? She 
 
364 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 20. The missionaries paid special attention to 
 VIL the seminary, as an engine of primary importance 
 Progress to the working of the mission. At first some in- 
 mission terruption was occasioned by some arrangements 
 which they adopted affecting the prejudices of the 
 pupils on the subject of caste ; but this occurrence 
 proved eventually advantageous. Their occupa- 
 tions and instructions varied but little from the 
 course usually adopted in similar establishments, 
 as described from time to time in the foregoing 
 pages. Besides geography, history, arithmetic, and 
 English, they were daily instructed in the prin- 
 ciples of Christianity, and were carried through 
 the Old and New Testaments. In 1824, there 
 were thirty-five young men and boys in this 
 school ; and of the tokens of the Divine blessing 
 vouchsafed to them, Mr Rhenius thus spoke : 
 " Those who were last year in an awakened state 
 have not only continued, but also advanced there- 
 in. Their conduct, in general, corresponds with 
 the gospel. Some of them have, during the year, 
 discovered much piety and zeal for the cause of 
 Christianity among their countrymen : they have 
 their private prayer meetings. When they visit 
 their homes, they take tracts with them to read to 
 their relations, and other people whom they meet 
 with. At different times during the week they go 
 into the high road which passes our compound, 
 and read tracts or portions of Scripture to the 
 passengers." In the following year, they were 
 
 said, " That I may come to Christ, and get pardon and salva- 
 tion." Fearing that she might have wrong views of the ordi- 
 nance, I asked her if she thought baptismal water could pardon 
 and save her ? She replied, with great earnestness, " no, no ! 
 water can do nothing. Only Christ can save me." ' 
 
 These meetings were continued by the missionaries. 0. M. 
 S. Report, 23d, p. 141. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 365 
 
 employed in making excursions into the villages, 
 and some of them proposed of their own accord to 
 attend the idolatrous festivals of the people. They 
 were now and then ridiculed, and sometimes in 
 danger of being ill-treated ; but, on the whole, the 
 tracts, and those who read and distributed them, 
 were well received. Many who carried away their 
 books came to the missionaries for more, expressing 
 a wish to be well acquainted with Christianity : not 
 a few Brahmins were of the number. Some per- 
 sons even paid for the tracts ; and, in several in- 
 stances, people of one village asked the seminarists 
 to go to others, where the inhabitants, they said, 
 would be glad to hear them and to receive such 
 books. 1 
 
 In 1822, a change was made in the schools, in 
 consequence of the establishment of an English 
 school by Government, under charge of the chap- 
 lain of Palamcottah, from which Christian instruc- 
 tion was excluded. In consequence, the English 
 schools on the mission premises and in Tinnevelly 
 were closed, most of the pupils now manifesting a 
 repugnance to continue the course of Christian 
 education observed in them. The discontinuance 
 of these schools was a great interruption to the 
 missionaries ; but it enabled them to give more 
 attention to the native schools, and to employ one 
 of the English masters, a pious and intelligent 
 East Indian, very usefully in their inspection. 
 They were now increased to thirteen, and contained 
 four hundred and eleven scholars. 
 
 20. A beginning also was made in female edu- Female 
 cation. In 1819, two small schools were estab- educat1011 ' 
 
 1 C. M. S. Reports, 25th, 26th, 27th. *A particular account 
 of these labours of the seminarists is given, from the mis- 
 sionaries' journals, in the Missionary Kegister 1816, pp. 501- 
 505. 
 
366 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, lished, after much difficulty, for the daughters of 
 VIL the Christians in the south. In 1823, one was 
 opened at Palamcottah for girls of all descriptions, 
 which soon contained twenty- three scholars. Next 
 year, the numbers increased to thirty-six ; and, 
 with the view of extending female education in 
 this mission, and for the better conducting of its 
 increasing concerns, some addition to the Society's 
 establishment became necessary. An advantageous 
 purchase of new premises was, in consequence, 
 effected. The house and ground were conveniently 
 situated, being directly opposite the old premises, 
 the public road passing between them. In Sep- 
 tember 1824, the widow of the late Mr Schnarre, 
 missionary at Tranquebar, was appointed by the 
 Corresponding Committee to take charge of this 
 establishment. The girls were instructed in read- 
 ing and writing, with other appropriate branches 
 of female education. Mr Schmid remarked of 
 them " It is astonishing how quickly they im- 
 prove. Their very features appear to me to become 
 daily more expressive and pleasing. May only the 
 Lord prosper our endeavours, and shower down his 
 Spirit upon them, that they may become inheritors 
 of his kingdom, and lead others also into the way 
 ofZion!" 1 
 
 The ministry of the Word of God was manifestly 
 accompanied with his blessing. Until the appoint- 
 ment of another chaplain to Palamcottah, the mis- 
 sionaries performed the usual public services in 
 English. When relieved of this duty, they were 
 enabled to pay undivided attention to the Tamul 
 service ; and the English school-room adjoining 
 their premises, being shut up for the reason just 
 stated, was now exclusively appropriated as the 
 
 1 C. M. S. Reports, 24, 25, 27. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 367 
 
 place of worship, where the service was performed 
 twice on the Lord's day. At their Tamul devotions 
 every evening for the mission family, several Ro- 
 manists and heathens attended, when a portion of 
 Scripture was read and explained. In addition, 
 the missionaries soon began a stated service for the 
 heathen on Wednesday evening, in the town of 
 Tinnevelly, at the place where the second English 
 school was formerly kept. Upon this service they 
 remark " The attendance of the heathen has been 
 most encouraging hitherto. From thirty to as 
 many as one hundred and eighty at a time, have 
 there heard of the truth as it is in Jesus, and received 
 religious tracts. The attention which prevails, 
 especially during the prayers, is remarkable." 
 
 At every visit to the village schools they took 
 the opportunity of preaching to the people. At 
 Keelpatam, a school and house of prayer was erected 
 for the people, who had applied for religious in- 
 struction ; and a catechist was appointed to take 
 charge of them. At other places, many adults 
 attended when the missionaries catechised the 
 scholars ; " and not seldom," it is remarked, "they 
 make up a handsome congregation, to whom, after 
 the school business is over, we preach the gospel, 
 with exhortations to repent and believe in the 
 Saviour." 
 
 21. The first converts baptized by the mission- Baptism of 
 aries, in 1822, were one of the heathen schoolmas- converts - 
 ters, named Supramanien, a merchant, of the 
 Soodra caste, and a Parriah woman, with her two 
 daughters. 2 The man's behaviour on the occasion 
 was a good token of his sincerity, and very encour- 
 aging to the missionaries. He might have objected 
 to be baptized with this woman, who also was a 
 
 3 Memoirs of Eev. C. T. E. Ehenius, p. 223. 
 
368 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, widow, alleging, that it would expose him to the 
 VIL ridicule of his neighbours, and occasion the loss of 
 caste. But instead of this, he stood by her side 
 before the font, as a brother in the Lord, and was 
 admitted with her and her children into " the 
 fellowship of Christ's true religion." Mr Schmid 
 has given the following account of the events which 
 led this man to embrace Christianity, and of his 
 subsequent conduct i 1 "He became schoolmaster 
 to our girls' seminary afterwards, and his conduct 
 was always perfectly unexceptionable and loving. 
 Several years after, when my first child died, he 
 came to Mrs Schmid, and related to her, that he 
 had had eight lovely boys and a good wife, but all 
 had died, one after the other ; so he gave up his 
 mercantile business, since he had none to care for. 
 But several years after, when Mr Hough had been 
 establishing schools, he thought he might as well 
 be useful to other boys, having none of his own, 
 and had offered himself to Mr Hough. By being 
 thus employed, he had become acquainted with the 
 Bible and the Saviour. Had God not cut off, by 
 death, his wife and children, those strong cords 
 which had tied him down to the earth, he would 
 never have come to the knowledge of salvation ; 
 and he intimated to Mrs Schmid that God had, 
 doubtless, gracious intentions in taking away her 
 beloved child also ." 
 
 This is one instance of the advantages that have 
 accrued from the employment of heathen school- 
 masters, when Christians were not to be obtained ; 
 though nothing but this necessity should induce 
 missionaries to have recourse to them, and their 
 proceedings require to be watched with more than 
 double care, lest they introduce with the Scriptural 
 lessons instruction in their own idolatries. 
 
 Tn a letter to the author. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 369 
 
 The seed hitherto sown was now beginning to 
 take effect, and in 1823, the total number of 
 Christians belonging to this mission, at its different 
 stations, together with seven candidates for baptism, 
 were one hundred and three. In 1824, thirteen 
 were baptized at Palamcottah ; and in several vil- 
 lages there appeared to be an extensive awakening 
 among the people. The work of God in this dis- 
 trict continued steadily to advance ; until, at the 
 close of 1826, the people under instruction amounted 
 to one thousand families, about four thousand three 
 hundred children inclusive, and inhabited one 
 hundred and twenty-five villages. Of these about 
 thirty families were Soodras, thirty Parriahs, and 
 the remainder Shanars. Several of these were 
 merchants and proprietors of land in comfortable 
 circumstances ; others were mechanics ; but the 
 majority were cultivators of the palmyra tree. 
 
 The following brief statement will shew that the 
 missionaries were in no haste to baptize these 
 numerous inquirers after the way of salvation. 
 The number baptized since the commencement of 
 the mission, including children, was fifty-nine ; to 
 these were added seventy- three formerly baptized in 
 other missions, or received from the Roman Church. 
 Making a total of one hundred and thirty-two. 
 
 Of the state of the people the missionaries say : 
 r 'The conduct of most of those who have been 
 baptized is worthy of their profession. The un- 
 baptized are such as have renounced idolatry, and 
 placed themselves under Christian instruction : the 
 attention of many, both men and women, and their 
 desire to know the Lord and his ways, are very 
 pleasing. The turning of their idols out of their 
 temples, and the devoting of those temples to the 
 worship of the only true God and to Him whom he 
 hath sent their breaking to pieces of other idols 
 their burning of the various utensils used in 
 VOL. v. A a 
 
370 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, idolatrous worship their delivering up to us of 
 VIL objects of superstition, and the peculiar dresses 
 which the devotees of Satan used when professedly 
 possessed of him- -their conviction of the wicked- 
 ness and folly of idolatry and their desire and 
 readiness to renounce the customs connected with 
 idolatry, and to adopt such as become Christians 
 these things are truly remarkable. Thus far darkness 
 has receded, and light has sprung up among them." 
 The missionaries add some remarks, which shew 
 that they very justly appreciate the condition of 
 the people : " How far they have advanced in 
 true self-knowledge, in justifying faith in the Ke- 
 deemer, and in the sanctifying grace of the Spirit, 
 we cannot say : but, from what we ourselves have 
 seen, we cannot but confess, that, in all the congre- 
 gations, there are at least some who have begun 
 to experience this work of God. We have many 
 instances of their teachableness, of their acknow- 
 ledging their faults, of their speaking the truth, of 
 their endeavouring to suppress their evil passions, 
 of their desire to pray, of their wishing well to their 
 enemies, and of their keeping the Sabbath day holy. 
 There are, indeed, still many shades in them ; but 
 we cannot wonder at it, when we consider from 
 what gross darkness they are emerging, and what 
 a mass of wicked and superstitious habits they have 
 to unlearn ; besides, among so many, there will be 
 such as turn to Christianity only because others 
 do, or in expectation of worldly advantages. Under 
 these circumstances, it cannot well be otherwise, 
 than that evil should appear in these congregations ; 
 and that their old sins should occasionally break 
 out, and require much of our patience and care. It 
 was so in the apostolic churches : hence the various 
 reproofs and admonitions contained in the Aposto- 
 lic Epistles ; they suit exactly, in many respects, 
 the state of these new churches. The new congre- 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 371 
 
 gations, like every other congregation,, are like a 
 large hospital, in which persons labour under vari- 
 ous sicknesses : it is the great and glorious work 
 of Christianity to heal them. Happy are they 
 that have come under its influence ! May the 
 Great Physician and Shepherd and Bishop of their 
 souls give them his Holy Spirit, and be health and 
 cure to them,, according to his gracious promise ! 
 
 ' That the teachers, whom we have placed 
 among them,, are all, we have reason to believe, 
 truly desirous of serving the Lord and doing good 
 to their fellow-countrymen, is a matter of no small 
 congratulation, and of much gratitude to God : we 
 desire that they may be particularly remembered 
 in the prayers of all our Christian friends. The 
 people have many and various afflictions to endure 
 from their heathen neighbours and superiors : may 
 the Lord preserve them in all their trials, and 
 strengthen them to stand fast unto the end !" 
 
 22. At several stations small places of worship Asper- 
 were erected : at others, the schoolhouses were used 
 for that purpose ; and, in 1826, a new church was 
 built within the mission premises at Palamcottah, 
 and opened with two full services, in Tamul and 
 English, on the 26th of June. The expense of the 
 building amounted to two thousand rupees, of which 
 the Madras Committee advanced eight hundred ; 
 the remainder was raised by contributions, from all 
 classes of people in the neighbourhood, Europeans, 
 native Christians, Mahomedans, and heathens. 
 
 Thus the work continued to advance beyond the 
 missionaries' ability to keep pace with it : and they 
 called upon the Society to provide five missionaries, 
 at least, for the province, and ample employment 
 could already have been found for more. 1 
 
 1 C. M. S. Eeports, xxvii., xxviii.; Missionary Register 1827, 
 pp. 94, 95, 558-565. 
 
872 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. It was not to be expected that the enemies of the 
 VIL Gospel should patiently look upon these triumphs 
 of sacred truth without attempting to impede its 
 progress. The Christians soon became involved in 
 a serious persecution from their heathen neighbours, 
 But the attempt on the part of Europeans to depre- 
 ciate the missionaries' success was still more to be 
 regretted. Two of the Calcutta newspapers, in order 
 to throw discredit on the accounts of the advancing 
 cause of truth in Tinnevelly, brought against the 
 missionaries the cheap and easy charges of enthu- 
 siasm, proneness to exaggeration, and a want of 
 suitable qualifications for their work. Nor did 
 those who were diligently seeking Christian in- 
 struction escape accusation. The majority of them 
 were represented either as proselytes from Koman- 
 ism, or the converts of Swartz and his associates, 
 while a small portion of them were allowed to have 
 been heathens ; and their conduct was charged with 
 insincerity, and imputed to corrupt motives. There 
 is no difficulty in tracing these general charges to 
 their real source. Christian love rejoiceth not in 
 iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; but the carnal 
 mind is enmity against God. 
 
 The missionaries were called on to vindicate the 
 truth of their statements. In consequence, they 
 drew up an account of their mission from its com- 
 mencement till the month of July 1827, detailing 
 the various circumstances connected with their pro- 
 ceedings, and the facts which had taken place ; and 
 shewing to the satisfaction of every Christian mind 
 that, whatever portion of alloy there might be, there 
 was much precious gold ; and that, though tares, 
 as might have been expected, had sprung up among 
 the wheat, God had, by the enthusiasm of His ser- 
 vants, and the foolishness of their preaching, turned 
 many from idols, to serve the living and true God, 
 and to wait for His Son from heaven. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK xiii. 373 
 
 23. There were others, however, who viewed the Testimony 
 work in Tinnevelly in a very different light ; and n ft K 6S ' P ' 
 among these were some who, if influenced by the 
 feelings of man's corrupt nature, might have been 
 expected to look upon it with a jealous eye. We 
 allude to the members of the Christian Knowledge 
 Society in Calcutta, who, in the ninth report of 
 their Diocesan Committee, bore the following un- 
 biassed testimony to the success which it had pleased 
 God to grant to the missionaries' exertions in this 
 extensive field : 
 
 ' ( It is most encouraging to hear of the wonder- 
 ful success of missionary labours at this Presidency 
 (Madras), more especially in the district of Tinne- 
 velly. The natives in this part of the south of 
 India had long been under the tuition of the mis- 
 sionaries of the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge, when, through want of a succession of 
 them, they were kindly taken up by those of the 
 Church Missionary Society ; thus verifying, in a 
 double sense, the text that saith, One soweth, and 
 another reapeth. To the great astonishment and 
 joy of your Committee, as many as eleven hundred 
 families have since renounced their idols, and entirely 
 given up the distinction of caste ; and numbers of 
 them have been added to the church by baptism. 
 And certainly it is enough for these converts, though 
 they know no more, to be enabled to say, like the 
 man in the Gospel One thing I know, that whereas 
 I was 'blind, now I see ; and your Committee rejoice, 
 for their object is equally attained, that these 
 Gentiles were not suffered to remain in their 
 idolatry, and that this timely assistance has been 
 afforded by a sister society." 1 
 
 24. TRAVANCORE. The commencement of this 
 
 1 C. M. S. Keport, xxviiL pp. 94-96. App. iii., pp. 150-164. 
 
 core. 
 
374 HISTOKY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, mission under the auspices of Colonel Munro, and 
 v L the arrival of Messrs Norton and Bailey at Allepie, 
 Revs. have already been recorded. 1 Mr Bailey was soon 
 fenn y a t nd removed to Cotym, with a view to his taking 
 Cotym. charge of the Syrian College, and also to his trans- 
 lating the Scriptures and the English Liturgy into 
 Malay alim, the vernacular language of Travancore. 
 Colonel Munro had a house erected for him in the 
 vicinity of the college. The Metran, Mar Philoxe- 
 nus, was, as we have seen, friendly to the projected 
 improvements of his church ; but being a man of 
 devout and quiet habits, and wishing to retire into 
 privacy, he consecrated the Archdeacon George to 
 the office of Bishop and Metran, by the name of 
 Mar Dionysius. The new Metran was equally 
 anxious for the accomplishment of Colonel Munro's 
 plans for the benefit of the Syrian community. In 
 the autumn of 1818, a second missionary, the Rev. 
 Joseph Fenn, arrived at Cotym, which enabled 
 Colonel Munro to carry forward his benevolent 
 undertaking. A cordial understanding was effected 
 between the Syrian clergy and the missionaries ; 
 the reformation of several objectionable practices 
 was set on foot ; and an intimate connection was 
 established between the missionaries and the great 
 " body of the Syrian people, by the missionaries be- 
 ing made the channel through which redress of the 
 oppressions and grievances of the Syrians was 
 derived to them ; by the foundation of the college 
 at Cotym; and by the translation undertaken of the 
 Scriptures and the Liturgy of the Church of Eng- 
 land into the vernacular language ; while the en- 
 dowment of the college by the Raiinee of Travan- 
 core, and her other acts of liberality to the mission, 
 gave it favour in the eyes of many respectable hea- 
 
 1 Book x. chap. vi. 
 
IN INDIA t BOOK XIII. 375 
 
 thens. At the same time, it must be confessed, 
 that the jealousy of interference on the part of some 
 of the Syrians, and, above all, the licentious man- 
 ners of many of the clergy, concurred to render the 
 missionaries' situation one of peculiar delicacy and 
 difficulty . But God vouchsafed to them wisdom to 
 conduct themselves in such a manner as to give no 
 reasonable cause for offence to any, even of those 
 most inclined to oppose their proceedings. 
 
 25. About a fortnight after Mr Fenn's arrival MrFenn's 
 
 tour 
 
 at Cotym, he received an invitation from the through 
 Resident to accompany him on a tour through ^elnd 
 Travancore and Cochin, which he was glad to Cochin, 
 accept ; and a few extracts from his journal will 
 best explain the hopes of the mission at this 
 period. 
 
 "I have visited many churches ; and, with a 
 solitary exception, have been received with the 
 greatest possible joy, treated with every mark of 
 respect, and listened to with great attention. I 
 have generally preached through an interpreter ; 
 and sometimes have been much affected with the 
 deep interest which the statement of the love of 
 God in Christ Jesus has excited. In most of the 
 churches, schools have been established since my 
 visit, and the people have been roused to industry. 
 
 " To a spectator, their service resembles very 
 much the Roman Catholic worship, The whole of 
 it is in Syriac ; and is chanted by the priests, 
 accompanied by frequent prostrations and crossings 
 on the forehead and breast. Many of the prayers 
 are translated into Malayalim, and taught to the 
 people ; these they repeat to themselves during 
 public worship, and prostrate and cross themselves 
 after the manner of the cattanars. I believe that 
 in all the churches which I have visited, the Ma- 
 laj'alim Gospels are now read. In some it had 
 been the custom to read them before. 
 
376 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. " My first business,, on arriving at our tents, has 
 
 L been to send for the cattanars and elders of the 
 
 neighbouring churches,, who have generally attended 
 me daily during our stay in their neighbourhood. 
 By this means I have become personally acquainted 
 with them ; and have had opportunities of satisfy- 
 ing myself as to the number, information, and 
 character of the people belonging to the different 
 churches. I have seen, I believe, almost every 
 person of any note among them. 
 
 " The people are of a very interesting appear- 
 ance, and are by no means deficient in capacity. 
 They have not yet recovered from the sad effects 
 of the oppression under which they so long laboured. 
 These effects are visible in the fear which they 
 manifest of attracting notice ; and herein is to be 
 found, I believe, the cause of that great indolence 
 discoverable among them. Not only are they anx- 
 ious to avoid every public situation, but even of 
 exciting envy by the cultivation of their fields and 
 gardens, and by exhibiting the scene of comfort 
 and happiness in their houses. When I have 
 spoken with them on their excessive negligence in 
 their gardens, &c., they reply, ( Heretofore, when we 
 cultivated our grounds, our neighbours accused us 
 to the Sircar, in order to obtain possession of them.' 
 You will not, therefore, be suprised in hearing that 
 no manly exercises are practised among them ; and 
 though they suffer great losses by the incursions of 
 wild beasts, it is with difficulty that one or two in 
 a district can be found accustomed to the use either 
 of the spear or gun. 
 
 " But notwithstanding all their degradation, they 
 are greatly superior, in point of moral principle and 
 feeling, to their neighbours ; and instances of dis- 
 honesty, a vice to which all other classes of the 
 natives are particularly addicted, are rare among 
 them.. This is so remarkably the case, that the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 377 
 
 Dewan, who is a Mahratta Brahmin, is anxious to 
 have them in every station of trust ; and requested 
 me to procure upwards of one hundred to fill vari- 
 ous situations. Many have been in situations of 
 trust for two years, and have acquired the confi- 
 dence of the Government. 
 
 " The Government has manifested great kind- 
 ness and liberality towards the Christians ; and in 
 so doing, I am persuaded, has consulted its own 
 advantage." 
 
 Then, after mentioning the Kannee's endowment 
 of the College, and a loan of money, without in- 
 terest, to the Syrian traders, Mr Fenn pro- 
 ceeds : 
 
 " After we had visited one or two churches, it 
 occurred to me that a general assembly, at Mavil- 
 leaare, of all the cattanars and elders of the churches 
 south of Cotym would be a very desirable measure. 
 It was accordingly held on Thursday, the 3d inst. 
 A more interesting sight cannot be imagined. The 
 Metropolitan took his seat in front of the assembly, 
 which was held in the church, with Mr Bailey and 
 myself on either side. The cattanars and elders 
 were seated on mats before us, and filled the church. 
 The number of cattanars exceeded forty, and I think 
 there must have been seven or eight hundred per- 
 sons present. Mr Bailey read the Litany, in Ma- 
 layalim. Afterwards, two of the cattanars read the 
 First Epistle to Timothy ; and the whole closed 
 with an address, delivered through an interpreter. 
 
 " It is the wish of Mr Bailey and myself that 
 this ancient church should rise, by the blessing of 
 God, following its own exertions. We wish that 
 her members should be instrumental in bringing 
 before their own eyes the various rites and cere- 
 monies now prevalent among themselves in con- 
 nection with the word of God ; and it has occurred 
 to us that the best plan which can be desired is 
 
378 HISTORY or CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, that recommended in the address the selection of 
 VIL half a dozen of their ablest and most respected 
 cattanars, who, in conjunction with the Metropoli- 
 tan and Malpan, shall define their present rites, 
 ceremonies, and worship ; with them we shall can- 
 vass every part, and judge of it, so far as our ability 
 extends, by the rule of Scripture. We wish to 
 alter as little as possible, that the character and 
 individuality of the church may be preserved. 
 
 " The college increases daily in importance. 
 There, I trust, will be kindled the flame of piety, 
 which shall diffuse light and heat, not only through 
 Travancore, but the whole of the southern pen- 
 insula. 
 
 "We are wishing very much for a period of 
 humiliation ; but must wait until there is the spirit 
 of humiliation among the people. We purpose, 
 hoping for the blessing of God on our endeavour, 
 to attempt exciting this spirit, by preparing sermons 
 to be preached in the different churches. 
 
 " Notwithstanding all that I have seen to dis- 
 tress and dishearten me, I freely confess that my 
 expectations of a revival among the Syrians are 
 high ; and should it take place, I think that I feel 
 sufficiently the pulse of the great body of the in- 
 habitants of Travancore to say, that the promulga- 
 tion and extension of Christianity will be rapid and 
 wide, to a degree that will astonish all who hear 
 of it." 1 
 
 The missionaries were not suffered, however, by 
 the old enemies of the Syrians, the Komanists, to 
 proceed far without interruption. They wrote in 
 1819 :~" With regard to the Roman Catholics, all 
 possible means have been resorted to, to irritate 
 every member of that body against us." They 
 
 0. IM. S. Report, xix. ; Appendix xix. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 379 
 
 looked with envy, and even alarm, upon the mea- 
 sures in progress for the Syrians' protection and 
 improvement : and this year they resisted the pro- 
 posed restoration to the Syrians of four churches, 
 which originally belonged to them, but of which 
 the Romanists had for some time held forcible pos- 
 session. The violence of their attempts to retain 
 them was so great, that it was deemed advisable to 
 compromise the matter, allowing them to keep two 
 of the churches, and to restore the other two to the 
 Syrians, under stipulations which applied equally 
 to both communions. 
 
 26. In April 1819, the missionaries were joined Mission 
 by Rev. Henry Baker, who, as we have seen, was work at 
 detained some time at Tanjore, to assist Mr Koh- 
 Ihoff. 2 In the same year they were deprived of the 
 able counsel and assistance of Colonel Munro, who 
 at that time returned to Europe ; and the multi- 
 plicity of affairs that now devolved upon them, 
 including attention even to the secular interests 
 of the college and the mission, pointed out the 
 necessity of a division of their labours. It was ac- 
 cordingly determined, that Mr Bailey should devote 
 his time chiefly to the clergy, and translations ; 
 that Mr Fenn should have the management of the 
 college, and a few introductory schools ; and that 
 Mr Baker should have the charge of the schools 
 intended for the great body of the people. 
 
 On the first branch, which the missionaries 
 judged to be the most important, they remarked : 
 " The clergy are a numerous body ; and, with in- 
 struction and care, may, under the Divine blessing, 
 produce a wonderful reformation in the community. 
 The composing or translating of useful tracts and 
 small treatises, and circulating them among the cat- 
 
 Chap. iii. sect. 10. 
 
380 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, tanars the having three or four, by turns, near the 
 
 L missionary and under his instruction the receiving 
 
 quarterly reports of the churches, &c. the appoint- 
 ment of readers, where the parishes are large, and 
 the dwellings of any of the Christians at a distance 
 from the church the personal inspection of the 
 churches : these are some of the duties devolving 
 upon the missionary taking this department." 
 
 The work of translations was already proceeding 
 with spirit and effect. Besides a considerable por- 
 tion of the Scriptures and Liturgy, Mr Bailey, with 
 the assistance of an able Malayalim moonshee, had 
 translated one Homily on the right use of the 
 Church, Dr Watts's two Catechisms, Murray's 
 Abridged Grammar, besides three valuable tracts, 
 and several little things of daily use in the college. 
 
 As the missionaries became better acquainted 
 with the people, the difficulties they would have to 
 contend with opened gradually upon them ; and the 
 following observations on this general subject, drawn 
 from their communications at different periods, 
 will help us, both to appreciate their exertions 
 and to sympathise in their trials. Of the Syrians 
 in general they remark : " It seems proper that 
 we should say a little regarding their moral cha- 
 racter. In our former statements on this point, 
 we have never drawn highly-coloured pictures ; 
 and if at any time we have spoken of their virtues, 
 it has only been in reference to the standard of hu- 
 man conduct existing in this dark and wretched 
 land. We see no reason to alter our opinion ; 
 though the familiarity of Christian priests, churches, 
 and ordinances, in a land of death-like darkness, 
 extinguishes much of that enthusiastic interest at 
 first excited. 
 
 " In themselves, they are sunk and degraded 
 indeed. The total disregard of the Sabbath, the 
 profanation of the name of God, drunkenness, and 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 381 
 
 to a considerable extent, especially among the 
 priesthood, adultery, are very prevalent among 
 them. And yet, in this wretched condition, they 
 are several degrees above the other castes. The 
 crimes above mentioned they acknowledge to be 
 crimes, and do not attempt to justify ; nay more, 
 they wish and try to conceal them. Not so with 
 the other classes : and the difference hence arising 
 is of vast moment ; and one is almost tempted to 
 say, is half-way toward a CURE : a conscience in 
 any degree enlightened, a moral sense in any mea- 
 sure in exercise, is an incalculable blessing in such 
 a land. 
 
 " But, in estimating the moral condition of a 
 body of people, it is at the rulers or members of 
 influence among them that we must principally 
 look ; at least when contemplating them as subjects 
 of reformation and instruction. With the Metropo- 
 litan, the Committee are now well acquainted ; but 
 an observation made by him the other day surprised 
 even us, who think so highly of him, and entertain 
 so strong an affection for him. He said that he 
 did not expect much improvement among his peo- 
 ple ' TILL THE BIBLE WAS CIRCULATED' a truly Chris- 
 tian and Protestant sentiment ! The opinions of 
 the Malpans, of many of the judges, indeed we be- 
 lieve of all of the most aged and respected cattanars, 
 agree with this sentiment of the Metropolitan. 
 Most gratefully do they accept our services, and 
 forward them heartily ; except where money is re- 
 quired. This cannot be said of any other class of 
 people in India. It is not in word only, that they 
 concur in our plans ; but with the before -mentioned 
 limitation, by their actions also. What then is 
 wanting to render them objects of interest to a 
 Protestant country, and to endear them to a 
 Christian public ?" 
 
 In 1818, the Syrian Church was supplied with 
 
382 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, the Syriac New Testament by the British and 
 
 1 Foreign Bible Society, a large number being sent 
 
 for the missionaries to distribute. A copy was 
 sent to each of the churches ; and where there 
 were several cattanars, two copies were given. 
 These were received as a great boon, the whole 
 community having very few copies, in manuscript, 
 among them. 
 
 Scriptures 27. The next object was to give them the Scrip- 
 into S Ma- d tures in the language of the country, Malay alim, 
 layaiim. upon the transition of which Mr Bailey, as we 
 printing have seen, had been engaged almost from the time 
 press, &c. of his arrival ; and, until provided with a press, 
 they employed writers to multiply copies of se- 
 lected portions of the sacred volume. In 1821, a 
 printing press, with English types, arrived from 
 the parent Society, together with school-books, a 
 lending library, and other useful things. Describ- 
 ing the opening of the packages, the missionaries 
 remark : " It would have delighted all the friends 
 of the Society to see the Metropolitan, and to hear 
 him express his gratitude to our liberal friends at 
 home, as he sat and looked upon the room full of 
 books around him. And more especially is he 
 delighted with the press ; he says that such a thing 
 has been talked of in this country before, but never 
 till now seen." 
 
 The great desideratum now was a supply of 
 Malayalim types ; and in the following year the 
 College of Fort St George permitted a fount to be 
 cast with its dies for the use of the Cotym Press. 
 But these types proving too large, and very faulty, 
 and failing to obtain better from any other source, 
 Mr Bailey tried the experiment of having a fount 
 cast under his own directions ; and his success is 
 thus described by the Rev. Marmaduke Thompson, 
 who visited Travancore in 1824. Of the printing 
 office, Mr Thompson says : 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 383 
 
 " It appears to be well and substantially built. 
 It consists of two large rooms ; one of these is 
 sufficient for the easy working of four presses, and 
 for all the necessary types and apparatus ; and the 
 other, which is of equal size, receives all the paper 
 and other stores, and furnishes conveniences for 
 bookbinding. The whole is enclosed with a rather 
 deep verandah, one end of which is at present 
 formed into a dwelling for the native printer, and 
 the other end may be quite sufficient for the type 
 foundry. The situation is elevated* airy, and dry." 
 
 " How very faulty the Malay alim types were, 
 the Committee have long known. Hopeless of any 
 thing better, at least for a long time to come, Mr 
 Bailey, without ever having seen a type-foundry 
 or its apparatus of any kind, eager to get some 
 portion of the Scriptures and some other works 
 respectably printed as soon as possible, set himself 
 to endeavour to form his own types, with such aid 
 as he could find from books alone and from com- 
 mon workmen. He had recourse chiefly to the 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica ; and, with the instruc- 
 tions which he derived from this and another 
 smaller work or two, a common carpenter, and two 
 silversmiths, it is pleasant to report that he suc- 
 ceeded so completely, that, some months ago, he 
 sent a specimen of his types, in print, to the Re- 
 sident, whose reply to Mr Bailey's letter sent with 
 them I have seen, in the following terms : ' Ac- 
 cept of my best thanks, for the specimen of the 
 new types which you have been so kind as to send 
 me. The print is extremely beautiful and correct, 
 and reflects much credit on your zeal and in- 
 dustry.' 
 
 " The sight of this machinery, and of the means 
 by which he has accomplished all, was very grati- 
 fying to me. He counted upon being able to pre- 
 pare a sufficiency of types for the printing of the 
 
384 CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA. 
 
 CHAP, whole Scriptures in little more than a quarter of 
 
 L a year. Besides the correctness and beauty of 
 
 his types, noticed by Colonel Newall, he has so 
 reduced them in size, that we can now print at one 
 half of the cost of the old types." 
 
 " I have to conclude my Report with the wel- 
 come intelligence of a permanent reduction in the 
 expense of printing, involving another little inte- 
 resting circumstance in connection with Mr Bailey. 
 The printer sent from Madras we were obliged to 
 dismiss. In the mean time, a youth, adopted 
 some years ago by Mr Bailey as a destitute orphan 
 child, had acquired the art of printing sufficiently to 
 succeed as head printer, to which office we ap- 
 pointed him, on a salary of seven rupees per 
 month. This little incident adds singularly to the 
 completeness of Mr Bailey's work in the edition of 
 the Malayalim Scriptures, to issue from our press, 
 we trust, in a short time. The translation is en- 
 tirely his own ; the types formed by himself from 
 the very mould ; and the printing to be executed 
 by an orphan boy, reared up by his charity." 
 Progress 28. The translation of the Scriptures Mr Bailey 
 ' J US ^7 regarded as his primary object, and he gave 
 to it as much of his time as he could spare from 
 other duties. In 1824, he had nearly prepared 
 the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles for 
 the press. The remainder of the New Testament 
 had also undergone his revision, and he was going 
 over it again. As a considerable desire was excited 
 among the Syrians in general to possess the Scrip- 
 tures in Malayalim, the Gospel of St Matthew was 
 printed first, and distributed among them. Before 
 printing any other portions of the Testament, Mr 
 Bailey was anxious to make his translation as cor- 
 rect as possible, to improve his types, and to 
 obtain two or three more presses, Before the end 
 of 1826, these three objects were attained, and 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 385 
 
 during that year an edition of five thousand copies 
 of St Luke's Gospel was finished for the Madras 
 Bible Society. At the same time Mr Bailey was 
 proceeding with the remainder of the New Testa- 
 ment, the Liturgy, and smaller works. Indeed, 
 his presses were now in active operation, and he 
 seems only to have wanted a regular printer from 
 England to accomplish all his plans. 
 
 29. His translation of the English Liturgy was ^ f c t c h e unt 
 very acceptable to the Metran and his clergy ; and, s y ri a e n 
 of their own accord, several cattanars read it in Church. 
 their churches, not at the time, however, of their 
 own Syriac services, with which the missionaries 
 were specially careful not to interfere. At Cotym, 
 Mr Bailey himself performed the Malayalim ser- 
 vice, with the Metran's permission, in one of the 
 Syrian churches, which was generally well at- 
 tended. The author was present on one of these 
 occasions, and will here give his remarks upon it 
 at the time : 
 
 " In the evening, I attended our church service 
 in Malayalim, performed by Mr Bailey in one of 
 the Syrian churches ; about ten cattanars and one 
 hundred and fifty Syrians were present ; and they 
 appeared to be very attentive, particularly to the 
 sermon. It was singular to see the person who, 
 in the morning, officiated as priest at the Syrian 
 altar, now performing the office of clerk to Mr 
 Bailey ; this was the head Malpan of the college, who 
 expresses his admiration of most of our prayers, and 
 will permit no one else to read the responses." l 
 
 The missionaries remark upon this use of the 
 Liturgy in their presence " We think they will 
 be more delighted with the constitution of the 
 English Church the better they are acquainted 
 with it ; and it appears to us to be of growing im- 
 
 1 Missionary Register 1822, p. 426. 
 VOL. v. B b 
 
386 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, portance, that the discipline and services of that 
 VIL Church should be fully exhibited to them, so far 
 as it may be in our power. Not that we wish to 
 impose any of our ceremonies on them, much less 
 to identify them with the English Church ; but a 
 model is necessary for them in their attempts at 
 reformation, and we know of none better than the 
 sober but dignified deportment of the Church to 
 which it is our privilege to belong." 
 
 Acknowledging the advantage of performing pub- 
 lic service in the language which the people under- 
 stood, the Metropolitan admitted 1 that their Church 
 had no canon against translating into Malayalim 
 even their own Liturgy, except those prayers which 
 were peculiar to the priests, which must always be 
 read in Syriac. Many, if not all, the prayers, to the 
 translation of which they would object, are such 
 as it would even be desirable to preserve in Syriac; 
 for they are addressed chiefly to the Virgin Mary ; 
 and would tend to confirm the people in error, 
 rather than enlighten their minds and brighten the 
 flame of true devotion. 
 
 The missionaries, however, did not contemplate 
 interfering with the Syriac services ; and the Com- 
 mittee of the Society conveyed to them their decided 
 judgment, that the Syrians should be brought back 
 to their own ancient and primitive worship and disci- 
 pline, rather than be induced to adopt the Liturgy 
 and discipline of the English Church ; and that 
 should any considerations incline them to wish such 
 a measure, it would be highly expedient to dissuade 
 them from adopting it ; both for the preservation 
 of their individuality and entireness, and greater 
 consequent weight and usefulness as a Church ; and 
 also to prevent those jealousies and heart-burnings 
 
 In the conference with the author referred to above. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 387 
 
 which would, in all probability, hereafter arise. 2 At 
 present, the cordiality subsisting between the 
 Syrians and the missionaries appeared to be com- 
 plete. No apprehension of interference was mani- 
 fested by the Bishop or any of his clergy ; and the 
 work of improvement seemed to be advancing with 
 the fairest prospect of ultimate success. 
 
 30. The second branch of the mission, the college College 
 and introductory schools, proceeded with equal pro- Schools at 
 mise under Mr Fenn's superintendence. His first Cotym. 
 report of the college pupils will shew with what 
 encouragement he commenced his work. In 1820, 
 he wrote 
 
 "The number of students is forty- two ; of whom 
 twenty- one have passed through the five initiatory 
 ordinations. Their improvement has been toler- 
 ably good. Some can read English as well as the 
 generality of our own youths, and are making ad- 
 vances in the real knowledge of it. All have ac- 
 quired some knowledge of figures ; and some can 
 go through the first four rules of arithmetic, accord- 
 ing to our mode and in our language, with the 
 same readiness as youth at home. In Sanscrit and 
 Malayalim, the progress is fair. With regard to 
 the Syriac, we have hitherto refrained from any 
 interference in the mode of teaching ; but an altera- 
 tion is absolutely necessary : no grammar is taught ; 
 the progress is uncommonly slow ; and the know- 
 ledge acquired of no use beyond the simple transla- 
 tion of the parts of Scripture which have been 
 learnt ; as the best foundation of a change, we have 
 directed the attention of the most proficient student 
 to the study of the Latin language. Dr Watts's 
 First and Second Catechisms for Children are among 
 the books which the students are learning ; and, 
 
 2 0. M. S. Keport, 20th, p. 179. 
 
388 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, though simple in themselves, they contain what the 
 VIL students have hitherto been very ignorant of. 
 
 " The Committee will be pleased to hear, that 
 the application of many of the students has been 
 very great. Many of them not more than twelve, 
 thirteen, or fourteen years old, were up till past 
 twelve o'clock of a night, learning the tasks assigned 
 them. We deemed it our duty to repress this 
 over-exertion." 
 
 At the same time, the missionaries proposed the 
 establishment of three grammar schools, as intro- 
 ductory to the college, where the rudiments of the 
 English, Sanscrit, and Syriac languages should be 
 studied, together with the elementary principles of 
 science. Without such auxiliaries, it was obvious 
 that the college must always remain a mere school, 
 and the attention of its teachers be confined to the 
 incipient branches of learning. The Madras Cor- 
 responding Committee, concurring in this view of 
 the importance of such schools, agreed to commence 
 with the establishment of one at Cotym, by way 
 of experiment. A competent English master was 
 obtained from Madras. It proved, as was expected, 
 a nursery to the college. For some time it was 
 under Mr Baker's charge, and two or three years 
 after it was opened, in 1824, it contained forty-five 
 scholars, whose progress in the acquirement of 
 English and Sanscrit had been steady. Two boys 
 had been sent out as schoolmasters, and thus the 
 school had begun to fulfil another important object 
 in its plan, besides training pupils for the college. 
 The boys were regularly instructed in religion, and 
 almost all of them had committed to memory our 
 Lord's Sermon on the Mount. They would have 
 learnt much more, Mr Baker remarked, but this 
 was all he had ready for them in their own language. 
 The first class had also begun the book of Genesis ; 
 had read two of the gospels in English ; and the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 389 
 
 greater part of the scholars were learning the Cate- 
 chisms of the Church, and Dr Watts's. In 1825, the 
 charge of this school devolved on Mr Fenn and his 
 assistants, Mr Baker being obliged to give it up in 
 consequence of the increase of the parochial schools. 
 
 In the mean time, the college had begun to at- 
 tain the object for which it was established. Mr 
 Fenn considered it of primary importance, in the 
 infancy of such an institution, to promote in his 
 pupils habits of study, reflection, and investiga- 
 tion, as well as to inspire them with a certain 
 degree of confidence in their own natural powers, 
 rather than to impart any particular quantity of 
 general information on any subject ; and he had 
 the satisfaction ere long of seeing his plan of educa- 
 tion beginning to succeed. In 1824, there were 
 fifty-one students, and their punctuality in attend- 
 ance and application to study bore testimony to 
 their desire for improvement. Thirty of them 
 were now learning Latin and English, besides 
 Syriac and Sanscrit, and he had it in contempla- 
 tion to introduce Greek. But his health was 
 beginning seriously to suffer through these exer- 
 tions, and it became necessary to obtain assistance. 
 In his application for help, he remarked " What 
 comparison is there between the labour of instruct- 
 ing lads in our own country, of similar habits and 
 language and taste, and those who are dissimilar 
 in these and other respects from ourselves ? Be- 
 sides this, books are formed in England to our 
 hands here, all is to be put into Malayalim." 
 
 31. Assistance was procured in India for the Arrival of 
 junior classes ; but Mr Fenn soon found it neces- j^.'^ ' 
 sary to return to England, and applied for a mis- 
 sionary to relieve him of his charge. In conse- 
 quence, the Society obtained the services of a 
 gentleman competent to the post, the Rev. John 
 William Doran, of Trinity College, Dublin, who 
 
390 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, arrived at Cotym in April 1826. The college was 
 VIL soon placed under his superintendence, and Mr 
 Fenn embarked shortly after for Europe. In con- 
 sequence of a general disorder which had arisen 
 among the Syrians, from circumstances soon to be 
 explained, several of the students had left the 
 college, and Mr Doran supplied their places with 
 boys from the grammar school. There were now 
 forty- eight students, from eight to twenty years of 
 age, divided into six classes. In April 1827, Mr 
 Doran sent home a full report of the studies of each 
 class, with the dispositions and progress of the 
 pupils. It would take us beyond the limits of the 
 present volume to enter into the particulars of this 
 communication ;* but we may venture to give Mr 
 Doran' s concluding remarks : 
 
 " In conclusion, I would say that the whole 
 establishment rises daily in my regard. If I know 
 myself (but who does ?), I feel more and more 
 willing hourly to spend and be spent in its service. 
 Give us only SUITABLE help, and pray that the 
 Spirit may be poured out from on high upon us, 
 and I am convinced that this, even THIS, may 
 become as interesting a spot as the eye of the 
 Christian would wish to dwell upon in pagan India." 
 Schools 32. The establishment and superintendence of 
 Syrians schools for the whole Syrian community formed 
 the third department, which, as we have seen, 
 . was placed under Mr Baker's charge. It was 
 wished and proposed, that wherever these schools 
 were established, the churches should wholly sup- 
 port them ; but, though the expense seldom ex- 
 ceeded five rupees a month, and the Metropolitan 
 issued orders to the clergy and elders of the dif- 
 
 1 It may be seen in the Missionary Register for 1827, pp. 
 602, 603. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 391 
 
 ferent parishes to pay the money out of the funds 
 of the Church, the people were not everywhere 
 willing to meet the expense. This reluctance 
 greatly disappointed the missionaries, and obliged 
 them to apply to the Madras Committee for as- 
 sistance to maintain a limited number of schools ; 
 and their application was granted for those parishes 
 whose resources there might be reason to believe 
 were inadequate to the support of their teachers. 
 In 1821, Mr Baker had succeeded in establishing 
 thirty-five schools, containing 806 pupils. No 
 more than thirteen of these were maintained by 
 the parishes themselves. There were yet many 
 places to which masters had not been appointed. 
 The difficulty of visiting the schools already esta- 
 blished as often as necessary was great, owing to 
 their distance from Cotym, some of them being 
 eighty miles to the north, others upwards of a hun- 
 dred to the south, and others being in the vicinity of 
 the mountains eastward, at places almost inacces- 
 sible, and much infested by wild beasts. In 1825, 
 there were forty-eight schools ; but several of 
 them being thinly attended, and in the failure of 
 contributions from some of the parishes to main- 
 tain them, it was found necessary, in 1826, to 
 reduce them to twenty-nine, which contained 770 
 scholars, of whom 445 were Syrians, and the re- 
 mainder heathens. The Scriptures, Catechisms, 
 and other religious books, were taught in these 
 schools. In several of them the attendance was good, 
 and Mr Baker reported favourably of the diligence 
 of the masters and the progress of the scholars. 
 
 33. A commencement was made also in female Female 
 education. Mrs Bailey, from the first, had a few 
 girls under instruction in her own house, at her 
 own charge ; and, afterwards, Mrs Fenn and Mrs 
 Baker opened a school for the instruction of ten or 
 twelve girls. Mrs Baker subsequently received 
 
392 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, eighteen into her house, wishing to increase the 
 VIL number to twenty-five, and undertaking to board 
 and lodge them under her own eye, at a charge 
 not exceeding twenty-five rupees a month for the 
 whole. It were premature to state at this early 
 period the successful result of this little establish- 
 ment ; but we may give Mrs Baker's report of 
 her prospect in 1827. "All these children, ex- 
 cept two, are under twelve years of age, and had 
 scarcely learned anything before they came. They 
 are now employed from morning till noon at their 
 needles, &c., and in the after part of the day at 
 their books. The first class read the responses of 
 the Liturgy, which we use at morning prayer, 
 and are regularly catechised and examined on the 
 Lord's day. Under the blessing of God, we have 
 some prospect before us of their turning out 
 well." 1 
 
 1 On this subject, Mr Doran thus expresses his sentiments : 
 " As it regards the practicability of educating the Syrian 
 females, I have only to point to a school which Mrs Baker 
 supports and instructs at her own charge. I never visit this 
 little establishment, and see the pretty little children engaged 
 in their equally useful and sacred employments, without 
 mingled feelings of thankfulness and pain of thankfulness, 
 that even so much is doing; of pain, that so much is left 
 undone. Parents are now so satisfied that their female children 
 are deriving benefit from being under Mrs Baker's kind care, 
 that many of them are coming forward to solicit an entrance 
 for more. Mr Baker assures me that he might have a school 
 of eighty, had he but the means to support it. Here, then, 
 is a most promising and interesting channel through which 
 Christian benevolence and sympathy may move : the Christian 
 heart, which now beats responsive to the calls of Bengal 
 females, will not be insensible to the spiritual and intellectual 
 wants of Syro-Indian females. Christianity (alas ! falsely so 
 called) has done but little, if anything, for the Syrian women. 
 The marks of degradation are, I believe, equally apparent in 
 Syrian and heathen women. I need not say that female im- 
 provement ought to go hand in hand with that of man, if not 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 393 
 
 34. We have mentioned Bishop Middleton's visits visits of 
 to the Syrians in 1816 and 1821, and the satisfac- Middieton 
 tion he expressed on the latter occasion at the ?" d T ?*- 
 
 . | -,. rri-i . . IT W. H. Mill 
 
 missionaries proceedings. They were visited by t o the 
 other friends also from time to time during the Syrians. 
 present decade, who, without exception, reported 
 favourably of the progress and prospects of the 
 mission. 2 One of these was the Eev. Principal 
 Mill, of Bishop's College, Calcutta, who made a 
 tour of the coast in 1821, and we will give two or 
 three extracts from his report. After describing 
 the two divisions of the Syrian community that 
 which continued faithful to the see of Antioch, and 
 that which still remained under " forced subjection 
 to the see of Rome," he proceeds : 
 
 " It is the former and happier division of this 
 singular people, to whom we look with the greatest 
 interest and hope, as those whose recovery and rise 
 to their early primitive character will, as we may 
 confidently expect, bring with it the emancipation 
 of the rest. From their venerable Metropolitan, 
 Mar Dionysius, who is exerting himself in various 
 ways for the improvement of his clergy and people, 
 I had the happiness of hearing very warm expres- 
 sions of respect and attachment to the Church of 
 England, and our late regretted Bishop, whose 
 interviews with himself and mutual presents he 
 evidently remembered with great satisfaction, I 
 received, both from him and several of his clergy, 
 copies of the New Testament and other works in 
 Syriac, which I hope, at no distant time, to deposit 
 in our College Library." 
 
 to precede it. In making these observations, I am but record- 
 ing tbe sentiments and feelings of our whole circle." Church 
 Missionary Society's Keport, xxviii., pp. 98, 99. 
 
 2 Missionary Eegister 1822, pp. 425-432 ; 1823, pp. 149- 
 157. 
 
394 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Mr Mill thus speaks of the Church missionaries 
 VIL stationed among the Syrians : 
 
 " The persons to whom I was chiefly indebted for 
 my intercourse both with the priests and laity of 
 this extraordinary people (of whose Indian language 
 I was wholly ignorant), were three clergymen of 
 the Church of England resident at Cotym, in Tra- 
 vancore, and actively employed in superintending 
 the college and the parochial schools ; the former 
 of which, by the grant of the heathen government 
 of that country, the latter, by the desire and con- 
 tribution of these Christians themselves, have been 
 recently established in their community. Singular 
 as such superintendence may appear, and almost 
 unprecedented, there is nothing in it, as exercised 
 by these clergymen, which opposes the order, either 
 of that Episcopal Church which they visit, or, as 
 far as I am capable of judging, of that to which 
 they themselves belong." 
 
 Of the considerate and candid spirit maintained 
 towards the Syrian Church by the missionaries, 
 Mr Mill thus speaks : 
 
 " They do nothing but by the express sanction 
 of the Metropolitan consulting and employing them. 
 Their use of the Anglican service for themselves 
 and families at one of his chapels is agreeable to 
 the catholic practice of these Christians (who 
 allowed the same two hundred and fifty years ago 
 to the Portuguese priests, as to persons rightly and 
 canonically ordained, even while they were resist- 
 ing their usurpations), and is totally unconnected 
 with any purpose of obtruding even that liturgy 
 upon the Syrian Church ; while their conduct with 
 respect to those parts of the Syrian ritual and 
 practice, which all Protestants must condemn, is 
 that of silence ; which, without the appearance of 
 approval, leaves it to the gradual influence of the 
 knowledge now disseminating itself to undermine, 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 395 
 
 and at length, by regular authority, to remove 
 them." l 
 
 35. But, in 1825, a cloud came over the fair Death of 
 prospect of the Syrian Church. On the 16th of Dionysus. 
 May it pleased God to remove the Metropolitan, 
 Mar Dionysius. The day before he was in his 
 usual health, and attended the funeral of a cattanar. 
 In the night he was attacked with the cholera 
 morbus, and died after a few hours' illness. His 
 predecessor, Mar Philoxenus, who lived in retire- 
 ment, was sent for, as there appeared to be cause 
 for alarm ; but he arrived too late, but was in time 
 for the funeral, and was greatly overcome by the 
 death of his friend. The event was most sincerely 
 felt and lamented by the missionaries also ; for 
 they had received much encouragement from the 
 deceased prelate, who entered cordially into their 
 plans and operations, and seemed to be anxious to 
 promote the interest of his Church. 
 
 On Sunday, the 26th of June, the Malpan Philip, 
 having been elected by lot after their manner, was 
 consecrated to the office of Metropolitan by Mar 
 Philoxenus. " Three persons were named, and 
 lots cast in the primitive manner of an appeal to 
 the will of God. For each person it appears that 
 two papers were written in the following form : 
 
 If it be the will of God that A should be chosen, let this 
 paper come up 
 
 If it be the will of God that A should not be chosen, let 
 this paper come up. 
 
 The first paper which was drawn was the nega- 
 tive paper of one of the other candidates ; the 
 second was the paper of Philip which established 
 him in the office." 
 
 1 C. M. S. Report, 24th, p. 148. Missionary Register 1823, 
 p. 398. 
 
396 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. But the peace of the Church was soon disturbed, 
 VIL and its unity broken, by a more serious occurrence. 
 For many years past, the Syrians had been accus- 
 tomed to receive, from time to time, a visit from 
 some one appointed by the mother Church of An- 
 tioch, with which they were always desirous to 
 keep up their connection. These visitors had uni- 
 formly been received with due respect ; and, after 
 investigating the state of the churches, they returned 
 home to make their report to the patriarch. One 
 of these visitors arrived in 1825, Mar Athanasius, 
 who, when at Bombay, on his way to the south, 
 gave out that he was " appointed by the patriarch 
 of Antioch to be Metropolitan of the Syrian church 
 on the Malabar coast." In this capacity he received 
 marked attention from the Bishop of Calcutta, who 
 was at Bombay at the same time, and from the 
 clergy and others. One of the chaplains, how- 
 ever, the Rev. Thomas Carr, 1 in giving an account 
 of this visitor, remarked " We cannot but feel 
 anxious, lest the measures now carrying on for the 
 benefit of the Syrian Church should be interrupted." 2 
 What there was in the conduct of Athanasius to 
 give rise to these apprehensions, does not appear ; 
 but they were too soon realized. On his arrival 
 at Cochin, he waited on the British resident of 
 Travancore, Colonel Newall, to whom he gave a 
 similar account of his appointment over the Syrian 
 Church of Malabar. But the resident informed him 
 that the church had already two Metrans, acknow- 
 ledged by the government of Travancore, who cer- 
 tainly would not recognise the authority of any 
 other, especially of an unauthenticated stranger, to 
 the prejudice of those prelates ; and that he could 
 
 1 The present Bishop of Bombay, (1846). 
 
 2 C. M. S. Report, 26th, p 103. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 397 
 
 only be allowed to pass into the interior on the 
 distinct understanding that he should not interfere 
 with them, nor do anything to disturb the harmony 
 of the Church, or the arrangements which the go- 
 vernment had always sanctioned. To these con- 
 ditions he gave a reluctant assent, finding that 
 there was no alternative ; 3 but he soon forgot them 
 after his arrival among the people. At first, he 
 met with a cordial welcome ; but on his assuming 
 uncontrolled authority over the Metrans, and the 
 whole Syrian Church, and commencing a series of 
 violent measures, with a view to support his pre- 
 tensions, all was thrown into commotion. Having 
 succeeded in gaining a party, headed by one of the 
 disappointed candidates at the late election of a 
 bishop, he endeavoured to persuade the cattanars 
 to renounce their allegiance to their Metrans ; de- 
 nied the validity of those prelates' title, and the 
 orders which they had conferred, and insisted, if 
 he were acknowledged, on their being stripped of 
 their robes, and resigning their cross and pastoral 
 staff. The missionaries were greatly distressed by 
 these proceedings ; yet they offered no other in- 
 terference than that of a friendly remonstrance, 
 warning him, at the same time, of the consequences 
 of his violence, should it become known to the Go- 
 vernment. But he would take no advice, and, 
 finding how much the people respected the mis- 
 sionaries, he told them he was sure they might 
 maintain him in his authority if they would. This, 
 however, they felt that they had no right to do ; 
 neither, on the other hand, did they use any influ- 
 ence with the Syrians to induce them to resist his 
 pretensions. At length, the tumult he excited was 
 
 3 His answer to the resident was u As I have no guns to 
 force my way, I must submit/' This was mentioned to the 
 author when shortly after on the spot. 
 
398 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, so great that the civil authorities were compelled 
 VIL to interfere, and to remove him from the country. 
 As nothing more was heard of him after he em- 
 barked, it was generally believed that he perished 
 at sea ; but this report proved to be incorrect. 1 
 
 This event, as might be expected, in some de- 
 gree affected the interests of the mission ; but, a 
 few months after, Mr Bailey wrote " The disturb- 
 ances caused in the Syrian Church by the arrival 
 of Athanasius have, in a great measure, subsided. 
 Some of the cattanars, who manifested a very re- 
 fractory spirit, have been fined by the Travancore 
 Government for disobedience to its orders, and 
 have been made to submit. The Metropolitan, 
 Mar Philoxenus, on whom the government of the 
 Syrian Church at present devolves, has summoned 
 these cattanars before him, and endeavoured to 
 bring them to a just sense of their improper con- 
 duct ; they have acknowledged their guilt, and 
 promised to obey the Metropolitan's instructions in 
 future ; I trust that, through the blessing of God, 
 the exertions of the Metropolitan to restore peace, 
 harmony, and brotherly love in his Church will be 
 crowned with success. He appears very desirous 
 to do all in his power for the good of his Church ; 
 but his present weak state of health prevents him 
 from exerting himself as he could wish. The late 
 disturbances have affected his nerves exceedingly ; 
 we were afraid, some time ago, that he would not 
 be able to resume the management of the affairs of 
 his Church ; but I am thankful to say that he is 
 now much better. The late trials appear to have 
 increased his confidence in us. I do not see how 
 we could have acted otherwise than we did, or 
 
 1 He was not heard of again till some years afterwards, when 
 he visited England. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 399 
 
 have interfered less than we did ; though it may be 
 a general impression that we were, in a great mea- 
 sure, instrumental in Athanasius being sent out 
 of the country, I can positively state that we had 
 nothing whatever to do in it; the Travancore 
 government acted with entire independence of us, 
 and for the preservation of its own authority." 2 
 
 Mr Fenn had now returned to England, with 
 his family, and Mr Doran was left in charge of the 
 college, which prospered under his care. It were 
 premature here to give an account of his exertions 
 and success ; we will therefore close this decade 
 with a general view of the mission in the follow- 
 ing year. Mr Baker wrote that he considered it 
 to be in a more encouraging state than it had been 
 for a long time past, and that chiefly because the 
 attention of the missionaries was no longer greatly 
 occupied as, from unavoidable circumstances, it 
 formerly was, with secular concerns, but was di- 
 rected solely to their proper work. They were 
 now employed, he concludes, " in printing and 
 circulating the Scriptures and religious books, in 
 teaching children, and in training young men 
 for the work of the ministry, who, we trust, will 
 become our helpers in the work of teaching and 
 preaching to their benighted countrymen." 3 
 
 36. ALLEPIE. The favourable commencement of Aiiepie. 
 this mission, under the Rev. Thomas Norton, was 
 recorded in the last volume. 4 In 1817, he esta- 
 blished a school for natives, on the plan of those at 
 Tranquebar, and soon had nearly fifty scholars, who 
 willingly attended, and some of them made a toler- 
 
 2 C. M. S. Reports, 26th, 27th, 28th. Missionary Register 
 1827, pp. 600, 601. 
 
 3 C. M. S. Reports, 26th to 28th. 
 
 4 B. x. c. vi. Also B. xiii. c. i. s. 27. Reached Allepie in 
 1810. 
 
400 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, able proficiency. He also opened an asylum for 
 VIL orphans and destitute children, whom he boarded 
 and clothed. This establishment was supported 
 by local contributions, and it soon contained 
 twenty- six children. Both these schools suffered 
 for a while, from the apprehension that some evil 
 use was to be made of the children ; and the Ro- 
 manists fomented, if they did not awaken, this 
 fear. But, after some observation of Mr Norton's 
 proceedings, the alarm subsided, when the Romish 
 children attended in spite of their priests, and the 
 people seemed to be satisfied that nothing but the 
 benefit of their children was intended. The schools 
 rose rapidly in their favour, and before long the 
 applications for admission into the asylum ex- 
 ceeded the amount of the contributions. In 1819, 
 a third school was opened in a populous part of the 
 town, about a mile from the mission-house, in the 
 Great Bazaar, calculated to hold one hundred chil- 
 dren. All the scholars received Christian instruc- 
 tion, and many of them made satisfactory progress 
 in Scriptural knowledge ; but they still had to 
 encounter some opposition, especially from the 
 Romish Syrians, who met, however, with but par- 
 tial success. 
 
 Success 37. The church which, as we have seen, the 
 Travancore Government undertook to erect, 1 was 
 opened on the 18th of July 1819, and much at- 
 tracted the attention of the natives. It was a 
 substantial building, and would accommodate from 
 seven hundred to eight hundred persons. The 
 
 1 B. x. c. vi. It appears, however, that the Rannee of Tra- 
 vancore gave only the timber ; exclusive of which, the building 
 cost 4155 rupees : of which sum, 1500 rupees were raised by 
 subscription, 555 were contributed by Mr Norton, and the re- 
 maining 2100 were supplied by the Church Missionary Society. 
 C. M. S. Report, 21st, p. 169. 
 
 mission. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 401 
 
 Moormen, who are numerous at this place, were 
 much attracted with the ten commandments, and 
 marked the opposition of the Romanists' worship 
 of images to the second commandment. A con- 
 gregation had been gradually forming in the mis- 
 sion-house, where Mr Norton performed public 
 worship, first in English, and afterwards, in 1818, 
 in Malayalim. This service was most acceptable 
 to the natives ; the Syrians and children joined 
 readily in the responses, and others listened with 
 attention. By the time the church was opened, a 
 congregation of two hundred, school children in- 
 cluded, was ready to be transferred to it. Mr 
 Norton preached three times on the Lord's day, as 
 he had done for some time past, twice in Malaya- 
 lim, and once in English ; he also established a 
 lecture on Thursday evenings, for the benefit of all 
 who understood English. In 1821, he added a 
 fourth service on Sunday, in Tamul, there being a 
 goodly number of Tamulians resident at Allepie, or 
 resorting thither for trade. This service was con- 
 ducted by a catechist from the Tamul country. 
 
 Mr Norton received much encouragement in his 
 labours, and, in 1821, had the gratification of bap- 
 tizing twelve adult converts and fourteen children 
 from idolatry, and of receiving three Romanists 
 into the Church. He had then eight regular com- 
 municants. In the following year he baptized two 
 more adults, and five children of Christian parents, 
 and admitted seven converts from Romish supersti- 
 tions into the Protestant communion. 
 
 " On the free use of the Scriptures, Mr Norton 
 is unavoidably at issue with his Roman Catholic 
 neighbours, who manifest much hostility to his 
 plans. In the mean while, the power of the Scrip- 
 tures, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, con- 
 tinues to be manifested. A Hindoo youth in the 
 school, impressed by the Gospels which he was 
 
 VOL. v. c c 
 
402 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, transcribing for Mr Norton, was removed by his 
 VII> relatives into the interior, but fled from their 
 violence, and took refuge in the Society's semi- 
 nary at Tinnevelly, where he was preparing for 
 baptism." 
 
 Many similar instances might be given of the 
 converting influence of a simple perusal of the 
 Holy Scriptures among the natives. One other 
 case may be mentioned. It was that of a Roman- 
 ist, who had suffered much persecution in conse- 
 quence of his determination to join the Protestant 
 Church. At last the Bishop applied to the British 
 Resident of Travancore, requesting him to compel 
 Mr Norton to give up the man. Mr Norton, at 
 the Resident's request, sent him a full account of 
 the case. The young man also wrote to the Resi- 
 dent, stating that he had been in the mission 
 school more than four years ; that he had there 
 learned to read the Bible ; and that he could not 
 belong to a Church which would deprive him of 
 the only book that would teach him the way to 
 heaven. It is, perhaps, needless to say, that 
 the British Resident allowed no one to interfere 
 with the youth. There were several others in 
 the school who refused to give up reading the 
 Bible. 1 
 
 Hitherto Mr Norton had laboured almost alone, 
 the Madras Committee being unable to comply with 
 his calls for help : but, in 1823, God raised up for 
 him two effective assistants. The Hindoo youth 
 just mentioned, who sought refuge at Palamcottah 
 from the persecution of his relatives, was baptized 
 by Mr Rhenius on Christmas day 1822. Return- 
 ing to Allepie on the following year, Mr Norton, 
 after a few months' trial, appointed him to act as 
 
 1 C. M. S. Keport, 23d, pp. 13, 154. 
 
IN INDIA: BOOK XIII. 403 
 
 reader of the mission, in the bazaars and through 
 the vicinity. The other assistant was an East 
 Indian,, who, though his father was an Englishman, 
 had actually been brought up a heathen. After his 
 conversion, Mr Norton baptized him in April 1823, 
 when his heathen name, Appoo, was exchanged for 
 that of Daniel. Both these young men became 
 very useful to the mission, especially during Mr 
 Norton's absence from home. 
 
 Under all the circumstances of his situation, his 
 success was as great as could reasonably be ex- 
 pected. In 1825, his native congregations, Tamul 
 and Malayalim, numbered between fifty and sixty, 
 the English, consisting of East Indians, were thirty, 
 and the average number of communicants, four- 
 teen. There were one hundred and seventy-four 
 under instruction in the four schools, including the 
 asylum. The following is the moderate view which 
 Mr Norton took of his progress : " The work does 
 not succeed so rapidly as we could wish. We have 
 not those blessed visitations of Divine mercy and 
 displays of the power of Almighty grace, which our 
 brethren in Africa enjoy. But we know in whose 
 hands the work is ; and have reason to hope, that 
 the same gracious God will grant us also here the 
 outpouring of His Spirit from on high. We have 
 to be thankful that He does not altogether leave 
 his word without testimony. A small number of 
 souls have, I trust, been really benefited to their 
 everlasting welfare. There is no small degree of 
 reasoning and disputation about the Christian re- 
 ligion, in public places and in private families : this 
 is the case among all castes and descriptions of 
 people." 
 
 These works were carried on in much affliction ; 
 and after the loss of his second wife, in 1826, he 
 returned to England, where he succeeded in awaken- 
 ing a special interest in behalf of his asylum. In 
 
404 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, the following year he returned to his post, and was 
 VIT ' spared many years to labour for the benefit of the 
 
 people around him. 1 
 
 Cochin. 38. COCHIN. The Kev. Thomas Dawson, whose 
 arrival at Madras in October 1816 was noticed in a 
 former volume/ was appointed to Cochin., whither he 
 proceeded in the spring of 1817,, and arrived in a 
 precarious state of health. Prospects of usefulness 
 were opening upon him, particularly among the 
 Jews, of whom there were about fifteen hundred 
 residing in the district. Sickness, however, pre- 
 vented much exertion, and compelled him to re- 
 turn to England in the following year. His journal 
 contains some interesting communications respect- 
 ing the Jews, and an interview which he had with 
 the Rajah of Cranganore. It was calculated to en- 
 large the Society's views of the importance of their 
 Travancore missions, shewing that missionaries 
 were everywhere desired by Christians, Jews and 
 heathens. 3 
 
 Labours After Mr Dawson's departure, the missionaries 
 among the at Cotym made arrangements to supply ministerial 
 aid to the inhabitants of Cochin, who about this 
 time lost their chaplain. This led to the renewal 
 of the intercourse with the Jewish colonies there ; 
 and at the earnest request of the Jews, they esta- 
 blished a school for their children, which was well 
 attended by girls as well as boys, and before long 
 contained ninety-six children. Besides an English 
 master and mistress, Mr and Mrs Jones, the mis- 
 sionaries employed two Hebrew teachers. They 
 directed Mr Jones to use a Malayalim translation 
 of Dr Watts's Catechism on the Old Testament 
 History, which was acceptable to the Jews ; but, 
 
 1 C. M. S. Reports, 25th, 26th, 27th. 2 Book x. chap. vi. 
 3 For extracts from Mr Dawson's Journal, see C. M. S. Re- 
 port, 19th, Appendix xx. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 405 
 
 from some mistake, that on the New Testament 
 also was introduced, which raised a great commo- 
 tion, and the number of scholars was soon reduced 
 to twenty. The panic, however, was removed after 
 a few weeks, when the school revived ; and, in 1821, 
 it was delivered over to Mr Sargon, on the part of 
 the Society for Promoting Christianity among the 
 Jews, by which he was employed. Mr Sargon was 
 a converted Jew, and he proved acceptable to the 
 people. 
 
 39. The missionaries, relieved of this charge, successor 
 were able to give the more attention to the Euro- JJj ^ ids " 
 pean inhabitants. They opened a small Malayalini exertions. 
 school also, near the fort ; but the progress of the 
 scholars was slow, owing chiefly to the irregularity 
 of their attendance. The missionaries, in conse- 
 quence of their great distance from the place, could 
 do little more than keep the interests of religion 
 awake, and they were urgent in their applications 
 for a missionary to be appointed to the station. 
 This, however, the Society could not immediately 
 grant. In September 1824, the Rev. Samuel Kids- 
 dale arrived at Madras, for the Travancore mission, 
 and he remained some time at Cotym assisting Mr 
 Fenn in the grammar school. In 1826, he removed 
 to Cochin, where he laboured thirteen years with 
 great diligence and success. Though it comes not 
 within the period to which this volume is limited, 
 to give an account of his exertions and progress, 
 yet it may be remarked, that he quite realised the 
 prospect before him, as he thus described it shortly 
 after his arrival : 4 ' ( I have the use of a noble 
 church a congregation of about two hundred, who 
 
 4 This will appear from the state in which he left the mission 
 in 1839, when there were 150 communicants in his church, 
 and 245 scholars in his schools. Missionary Register 1840, 
 p. 185. 
 
406 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, understand English and immediate prospect of es- 
 L tablishing a native service. I have also a school of 
 
 twenty children, the number of which, I hope, will 
 
 shortly be doubled." 1 
 
 MINOR STATIONS. 
 
 Neiiore. 40. NELLORE. The Rev. Joseph Fawcett Beddy 
 arrived, with Mr Ridsdale, at Madras in 1824 ; 
 and the Corresponding Committee, desirous of 
 occupying a station in the Teloogoo country, ap- 
 pointed him to Nellore, the nearest district north 
 of Madras where that language prevails. He arrived 
 there in December, and was cordially welcomed by 
 the Collector, E. Smalley, Esq., and immediately 
 commenced the study of Teloogoo. He also estab- 
 lished two English services on the Lord's day, and 
 opened a native school. Convenient premises were 
 purchased by the Society, and the station was 
 considered as highly eligible for a mission ; but Mr 
 Beddy had occupied it little more than a twelve- 
 month when he was obliged, by his own and his 
 wife's ill health, to return to England. Mrs Beddy 
 and her infant died on the passage. The gentle- 
 men at Nellore were anxious for another mission- 
 ary, and ready to contribute to his support ; but 
 the Society were not able to comply with their 
 request. 
 
 Masuiipa- 41. MASULiPATAM. Several chaplains were desir- 
 ous of attending to the natives as far as their offi- 
 cial engagements would allow, The first to be 
 mentioned is the Rev. W. Roy, at Masulipatam, 
 the British head-quarters in the Teloogoo country. 
 In addition to two schools for the European chil- 
 dren in the garrison, in 1817 he opened one in the 
 
 1 C. M. S. Reports, 25th, 26th, 27th. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 407 
 
 Pettah for children of all descriptions. Most of the 
 native scholars were, at their own request, in- 
 structed in the prayers and catechisms in use, and 
 some of them attended the Sunday school and 
 public worship. The onerous duties of Mr Roy 
 with the Europeans prevented his doing more for 
 the natives, and he was removed to another station 
 before he could see much effect from his school. 
 
 42. TELLICHERRY. The Rev. F. Spring was ap- Tein- 
 pointed to this station in 1816, and began imme- 
 diately to study the vernacular language, Malaya- 
 lim, with a view to the instruction of the natives, 
 and to the translation of the Scriptures and other 
 religious works. In 1817, he established a school, 
 for which he obtained a Christian master, named 
 Baptiste, of whose piety and capabilities he gave 
 a satisfactory account. In his report at the close 
 of the year, he remarks " The school nourishes. 
 We have ninety boys in all ; they come many miles 
 to it. It does and will support itself. We have 
 now above five hundred rupees in hand. It rises 
 in reputation daily." The school was well sup- 
 plied with Bibles and Testaments, and the Church 
 Catechism was freely taught. In his weekly visits, 
 Mr Spring addressed the children and others who 
 were present, supporting his remarks by quotations 
 from the Scriptures. 2 Some of his elder scholars, 
 especially two Nair youths, took such an interest 
 in what they learned, as to go the length of re- 
 nouncing their idols, and giving him reason to hope 
 that they would, ere long, embrace the Christian 
 faith. " I am persuaded," he wrote in 1819, "that 
 there are many plants of Christ hereabouts, ready 
 to burst into blossom." 3 
 
 2 C. M. S. Report, 19th, pp. 178-179, note. 
 
 3 0. M. S, Report, 20th, p. 185. 
 
408 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Mr Spring established a fund for the relief of the 
 VII> poor, which was munificently supported by the 
 European inhabitants. He also projected an asylum 
 for orphans, both East-Indian and native. In 182 1 , 
 he succeeded, after much exertion, in building a 
 plain, substantial church. But his appointment to 
 the occasional duties of Calicut took him so much 
 from Tellicherry, that he was no longer able to 
 give to his missionary work the attention it required. 
 In the year 1823, severe domestic affliction and his 
 declining health obliged him to return to Europe. 
 He left, however, behind him, as the permanent 
 fruit of his exertions in the service of religion, a 
 complete translation of the Gospels into the Ma- 
 layalim dialect of North Malabar, besides other 
 works in the same language. 1 
 
 The school, hitherto supported by local funds, 
 was now transferred to the Church Missionary 
 Society, and continued under the care of its faith- 
 ful teacher, Baptiste. One of the provincial judges, 
 T. H. Baber, superintended it while at the station ; 
 and after his removal, others were found to under- 
 take the office ; but without a resident clergy- 
 man to give his constant attention to it, the mis- 
 sionary work, so well commenced, soon began to 
 decline. 
 
 Canna- 43. CANNANORE. This station is about thirteen 
 miles from Tellicherry. Mr Spring, hearing of a 
 native Christian, who was publicly preaching to a 
 small congregation, his Christian countrymen, in the 
 Company's chapel at Cannanore, paid him a visit, 
 and found that he came from Trichinopoly, where 
 he was brought up in a missionary school. His 
 father and grandfather being Christians, he was 
 baptized in childhood, and named Jacob Joseph. 
 
 1 C. M. S. Report, 24th, p. 154. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 409 
 
 Visiting his brother at Cannanore, he found a few 
 Christians, who were anxious for instruction, both 
 for themselves and their children, and was induced 
 to become their teacher. On the Lord's day he 
 assembled his little flock for public worship, and 
 instructed them in religion during the week. He 
 also opened a school, consisting of seven children, 
 and yielding between three and four rupees a-month, 
 upon which he subsisted, apparently well contented. 
 Satisfied with Mr Spring's report of the piety and 
 capabilities of this young man, the Corresponding 
 Committee took him into their service, as catechist 
 of the Church Missionary Society at Cannanore. 
 Under Mr Spring's encouragement and attention, 
 the congregation gradually increased, until, in 1820, 
 it consisted of sixty-two souls, some of whom were 
 converts from heathenism, whom Mr Spring had 
 the satisfaction of baptizing. The school, also 
 connected with the church, then contained twenty- 
 five children ; and a second school was established 
 in the town for all classes, and soon had fifty-four 
 scholars. Though the Scriptures were used, the 
 natives were favourably disposed to wards the schools, 
 and the progress of the children was satisfactory. 
 Mr Spring describes his visits to this devout com- 
 munity as seasons of great refreshment to his spirits ; 
 and he received pleasing testimony from several 
 gentlemen at Cannanore to the good conduct of 
 such of Jacob's congregation as were in their service, 
 or had come under their observation. 
 
 The members of this church were generally 
 connected with the troops quartered at Canna- 
 nore, who were frequently changing. This occa- 
 sioned a perpetual fluctuation, both in the congre- 
 gation and the schools ; and, in 1822, they were 
 reduced so low that Mr Spring deemed it advisable 
 to place the catechist at Coimbatoor, where a pro- 
 mising field of usefulness had been opened for 
 
410 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, him, and his labours were less likely to be inter- 
 
 L rupted. 1 
 
 Coimba- 44 f CoiMBATOOR lies nearly a hundred miles south- 
 east of Tellicherry, and is the capital of a district. 
 Here Jacob was welcomed by the collector of the 
 district/ John Sullivan, Esq., under whose patron- 
 age he soon brought the native Christians of the 
 place together, and established two Tamul schools. 
 A third school, for instruction in English, was sub- 
 sequently opened, under an East Indian master. 
 In 1825, the author, being detained some weeks 
 by sickness at Coimbatoor, paid what attention he 
 could to the native Christians and schools. At 
 that time the two Tamul schools contained together 
 about one hundred children, and the English school 
 thirty. The congregation was small, and the state 
 of the people and the schools shewed that the work 
 was too much for one catechist. There was a 
 second catechist at a village three miles off, called 
 Kanapuddy ; but he was an indolent man, and re- 
 quired to [ be stimulated to go more among the 
 inhabitants. Indeed, the whole mission needed a 
 resident missionary. 
 
 At this time an opportunity occurred to recover 
 a little girl from a life of infamy. A few years 
 before, during the prevalence of famine, her father, 
 a weaver, sold her, for seven rupees, to the dancing 
 women of the pagoda, who were training her for 
 their own dissolute course. After a while, both 
 her parents became convinced of the truth of Chris- 
 tianity, and offered themselves as candidates for 
 baptism. But their hearts yearned towards their. 
 
 1 C. M. S. Eeports, 18th, 19th, 21st, 22d. 
 
 2 This gentleman is a son of the late Mr Sullivan, President 
 of Tanjore, whose enlightened zeal in the cause of native edu- 
 cation has heen already mentioned. Vol. iii. B. viii. c. 4. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 411 
 
 child ; and conscience smitten, they told Jacob 
 their grief. An offer was immediately made to 
 repurchase her,, which was refused ; but after some 
 resistance from the Brahmins and the women, and 
 through the Collector's humane intervention, we 
 recovered her, and in due time admitted her, with 
 her parents, into the Church of Christ. Consider- 
 ably more than the purchase-money was demanded 
 and paid for her ; but what price could be too 
 great for the ransom of a soul from a course of 
 profligacy upon which she must soon have entered ? 
 
 45. CHITTOOR. The Rev. Henry Harper, 3 the chittoor 
 chaplain at Chittoor, engaged two native readers of ^- ^ 
 the Tamul and Teloogoo Scriptures, whom he sent com- 
 into the bazaar ; he also opened a small school, mission * 
 chiefly for the children of native Christians ; but work, 
 scarcely had he begun to realise, in some degree, 
 
 the anticipations which he had indulged of giving 
 a permanency to his plans, when he was transferred 
 to Hyderabad. He did not leave Chittoor, how- 
 ever, before he had laid the foundation of a church 
 for the native Christians of the place. 
 
 46. Mr Harper's departure was the less to be MrDacre's 
 regretted, as a gentleman at the station, Joseph f"^ 118 
 Dacre, 4 Esq., of the Madras Civil Service, took an natives^., 
 active part in the Christian instruction of the 
 natives. Mr Dacre was appointed to Chittoor 
 
 about the year 1807, and subsequently became 
 judge and magistrate at that place. While yet 
 young in the service, he paid much attention to the 
 instruction of the natives on the Lord's day, esta- 
 blished schools among them, and exerted himself 
 in various ways to introduce among them the bless- 
 
 3 Afterwards Archdeacon. 
 
 4 The head of an ancient Cumberland family, of Kirklintoii 
 Hall in that county. 
 
412 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, ings of Christianity. He was himself, at that time, 
 VIL very insufficiently informed in the doctrines of the 
 Gospel ; but having, in his occasional visits to 
 Madras, sought the acquaintance of those who were 
 able to instruct him more perfectly, he advanced 
 rapidly in Scriptural knowledge and in grace. His 
 zeal to impart what he thus learned, to his joy, 
 increased with his own progress. He first became 
 painfully affected by what he too well knew of the 
 irreligious state, and consequent peril of the souls 
 of his own countrymen around him, the civil and 
 military servants of the East India Company ; and 
 set himself with earnestness to improve the advan- 
 tages which his situation afforded him, to commu- 
 nicate with them for their spiritual benefit. Among 
 the early fruits of his pious care for his brethren in 
 the service, was the accession of a young member 
 of his own judicial court, his registrar, G. J. Waters, 
 Esq., who, as he advanced in the knowledge and 
 love of the Gospel, entered warmly into the bene- 
 volent missionary views of his zealous instructor, 
 and readily engaged to assist him in teaching the 
 natives. Being well acquainted with the Teloogoo 
 language, he devoted himself to that portion of the 
 population around them ; while Mr Dacre charged 
 himself with the Tamul population. Each had his 
 stated meetings for public instruction, a part of 
 which was held in the prison, in Mr Dacre' s tender 
 compassion for the poor criminals whom he had 
 been constrained, in his official capacity, to sentence 
 to various degrees of punishment. 
 
 By these means, with the assistance of native 
 teachers prepared by himself, he drew around him, 
 in the course of time, a Christian community of 
 about four hundred native converts, including chil- 
 dren. His schools, maintained at his own cost, 
 contained about one hundred children, boys and 
 girls, under competent teachers. Intense were the 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 413 
 
 labours of this excellent man. In order to gain 
 time for them, together with his own devotional 
 exercises and a diligent study of the Scriptures, he 
 invariably rose at four o'clock in the morning. By 
 this means he avoided the least interference with 
 his official duties, in which he was no less conscien- 
 tiously punctual and laborious. To the willing 
 sacrifice of his time and strength to these objects, 
 he added, with a liberal heart, that of his money 
 also, devoting to them, together with liberal con- 
 tributions to other religious and charitable works, 
 the whole of his Indian income. It is estimated 
 that he expended, chiefly at Chittoor, no less a 
 sum than twenty thousand pounds sterling. The 
 amount has been stated even higher. 
 
 We are aware that he was sometimes imposed 
 upon by artful men, who, taking advantage of his 
 unsuspecting confidence, pretended to be convinced 
 of the truth of Christianity by means of his in- 
 structions. This was, perhaps, to be expected ; 
 for what good thing, even the best of human under- 
 takings, is not liable to abuse in this sinful world ? 
 In the present instance it was hardly to be avoided. 
 Such isolated efforts to spread religion among an 
 ignorant and designing people, are always made at 
 a disadvantage ; especially when the individual 
 who undertakes them is so much occupied as Mr 
 Dacre was with the official and onerous duties of a 
 judge and magistrate, as scarcely to have time to 
 investigate the motives, to trace and prove the 
 characters, and to watch the conduct of his prose- 
 lytes. It is much to be regretted that the good 
 work at Chittoor rested so entirely, in all its parts 
 and general conduct, on an individual so engaged 
 in the public service, how temperate and judicious 
 soever he might have been. It had, no doubt, 
 tended more to the efficiency and permanency of 
 his labours, if he could have associated with him- 
 
414 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP self some chaplain or missionary more conversant 
 
 L with spiritual subjects and church discipline ; but 
 
 of this the state of the clerical and missionary 
 establishments in India at that time did not admit. 
 In the last year of his valuable life, indeed, 1826, 
 he obtained for Chittoor periodical visits from the 
 missionaries of the London Missionary Society 1 at 
 Madras, who soon formed the Christians there into 
 a more regular congregation ; and after every de- 
 duction that can reasonably be made for his mis- 
 takes, and the relapse of several who had imposed 
 on him, there can be no question that numbers, not 
 of natives only, but of Europeans also, were by his 
 instrumentality effectually converted from the evil 
 of their ways, and built up in the most holy faith 
 of the Gospel ; and that these will be his crown of 
 rejoicing in the great day of the Lord. 
 
 Mr Dacre died on the 22d of February 1827, 
 and a missionary of the London Society, Mr Jen- 
 nings, gave the following account of the closing 
 scene : " I was with him day and night, a witness 
 of his sufferings and of his faith. Renouncing 
 all self-righteousness, and all self-dependence, he 
 looked to the Saviour with the same faith and 
 feeling of unworthiness as the penitent malefactor 
 on the cross ; and at length enjoyed the placid 
 assurance of his interest in Christ, declaring ' all 
 is peace, built on the right foundation.' On one 
 occasion, he said, ' I have preached Christ with all 
 the powers of my soul, and now He alone is my 
 confidence. Jesus ' (assuming the language of 
 prayer), ' I have sinned against thee ! I have dis- 
 honoured thee ! but thou art still my hope. And 
 
 1 Up to this period Mr Dacre had derived his principal aid 
 from the friends and stores of the Church Missionary Society 
 at Madras. But they had not a missionary at his disposal. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 415 
 
 wilt thou now let me go ? Canst thou let me go ? 
 No ! Thy mercy is a sea of boundless love ! ' On 
 another occasion, he remarked, alluding probably 
 to the ungenerous and unjust construction which 
 was too frequently put on his motives, ' Had any 
 one asked, for the last seventeen, I think I may 
 say twenty years, what had been the object I had 
 chiefly in view, I could have answered, by divine 
 grace, without hesitation the glory of God ; ' an 
 important judgment for the conscience to pass on 
 itself, in the prospect of immediately standing at 
 the bar of God. During his illness, he was some- 
 times delirious ; but even then his remarks were 
 interesting, as manifesting the state of his heart. 
 His funeral took place by torchlight, and was at- 
 tended by a great multitude of natives, as well 
 heathen as Christian. He died where he wished 
 to die, in the room which he appropriated for 
 divine worship, and where he had incessantly 
 taught members how to live, and how to die. He 
 was buried in a spot pointed out by himself, be- 
 tween the graves of two Europeans, to whose con- 
 version God had made him instrumental." 
 
 Thus did this servant of God depart in peace, 
 universally respected. Let those who may feel 
 inclined to censure the irregularity of his course, 
 candidly consider the unfavourable circumstances 
 in which he was placed, and refrain from judging 
 him by a rule applicable only to times when there 
 is no such paucity of Christian missionaries, no 
 such dearth of the Scriptures, as he for a long time 
 found. 2 
 
 VIZAGAPATAM. The removal of the Rev. Charles 
 
 2 Missionary Register 1828, pp. 112 and 414. London 
 Missionary Society's Reports, 33, 34. Missionary Records, 
 India, pp. 248-251. 
 
416 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Church to this station from Cuddalore, in 1819. 
 
 "\7"TT 
 
 ^ was mentioned above. 1 Though his official duties, 
 
 as chaplain, left him little time to attend to the 
 natives, yet he soon commenced the study of Te- 
 loogoo ; but finding the place preoccupied by three 
 missionaries of the London Society, he deferred 
 opening any native schools, until better acquainted 
 with the people and their language. He esta- 
 blished an English school, however, without delay, 
 under the auspices of the Church Missionary So- 
 ciety, for the benefit of East Indian children, in 
 which between forty and fifty scholars were in- 
 structed ; and their progress gave him the highest 
 satisfaction. But before he had been a twelve- 
 month at this station, his labours were again in- 
 terrupted, by his removal to Madras. A friend on 
 the spot took charge of his school, until, in 1823, 
 it was transferred to the missionaries of the Lon- 
 don Society, as there was no prospect of a chap- 
 lain or church missionary being appointed to this 
 station. 2 
 
 1 Chap. iii. sec. 9. 
 
 2 C. M. S. Keports, 22d, 24th. Missionary Eegister 1824, 
 p. 203. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 417 
 
 CHAPTEK VIII. 
 
 CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN WESTERN INDIA, 
 
 1818-1826. 
 
 1. IN consequence of several charitable measures Arrival of 
 requiring previous attention at Bombay, exertions 
 in behalf of the Church Missionary Society were ar y- 
 postponed till 1818. In that year a Corresponding 
 Committee was formed for Bombay and the western 
 parts of India, for the direction of such exertions 
 as the Society might be enabled to make within 
 that presidency and the adjacent places. The 
 Eev. Thomas Carr, 3 one of the East India Company's 
 chaplains, in communicating this intelligence to 
 the Society, requested that some intelligent mis- 
 sionaries might be sent out to them. In 1820, 
 the Rev. Richard Kenney, with his family, sailed 
 for Bombay, w r here he arrived June 18th ; but in 
 a few months sickness compelled his wife to return, 
 with their three children, to Europe, and Mr 
 Kenney was called upon to determine whether to 
 accompany them, or remain at his post. Happily, 
 he chose the latter alternative, preferring to suffer 
 in his own feelings, than to desert the sacred cause 
 in which he was embarked. Both submitted with 
 
 3 Now Bishop of Bombay. 
 VOL V. D d 
 
418 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, devout resignation to this trying dispensation of 
 VIIL Providence, and they never had cause to regret the 
 
 personal sacrifice they made. 
 
 Schools 2. Mr Kenney's first object was the study of 
 
 Mahratta, and in a few months he had acquired a 
 sufficient knowledge of that language to hold inter- 
 course with the natives ; and the Christian popu- 
 lation in Salsette presented to him a promising 
 field for exertion. He soon opened a school for 
 boys, which was followed by one after another 
 until, in 1822, there were six, containing together 
 one hundred and fifty scholars. This year the 
 Kev. T. Carr gave a favourable report of these 
 schools, which he had visited with a friend. The 
 upper classes read part of the book of Genesis in 
 Mahratta, and repeated the Ten Commandments 
 very well, answering the questions put by Mr 
 Kenney in a satisfactory way. About twenty of 
 the elder boys attended him at his house, to learn 
 Mahratta and English, which afforded him an op- 
 portunity to convey to them a knowledge of the 
 saving truths of the Gospel. Five of these youths 
 frequently attended public worship conducted by 
 Mr Kenney. On the subject of native education, 
 the Kev, T. Carr remarked : " With prudent zeal, 
 schools may be established to a very great extent ; 
 and I have not heard of any objection having been 
 made by natives to the use of Christian books in 
 instruction. The schools might, in most cases, be 
 houses also for the reading and exposition of the 
 Scriptures." 
 
 But the want of suitable masters prevented their 
 increase, and even obliged Mr Kenney ere long to 
 reduce the present number. 
 
 Transia- 3. The following extract from one of his letters 
 
 the n i ^^ shew that he endeavoured to turn his know- 
 
 turgy. ledge of Mahratta to good account : " I have 
 
 translated, for the District Committee of the Chris- 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 419 
 
 tian Knowledge Society, the ' Principal Truths of 
 the Christian Religion' into Mahratta. I have 
 also written a little book in English and Mahratta, 
 for the Society recently established here for the 
 moral and intellectual improvement of the natives. 
 The Liturgy, I have ever kept in view : I have trans- 
 slated a few of the prayers, and shall be thankful I 
 am enabled to give a good translation of the whole." 
 
 This object, the translation of the Liturgy, he 
 was able to complete ; and when the Bishop of 
 Calcutta was at Bombay, in 1825, he appointed a 
 syndicate of gentlemen, who were Mahratta scho- 
 lars, to revise the work, and prepare it for the press, 
 proposing to print it at Bishop's College, Calcutta. 1 
 
 4. In 1824, Mr Kenney made a tour in the Extension 
 northern Concan, in company with an American ^ f J ission 
 missionary, the Rev. John Nichols, where they north- 
 had opportunities of distributing tracts, which wards ' 
 were well received by natives of different descrip- 
 tions. The people were uniformly civil and re- 
 spectful ; and it appeared that a missionary sta- 
 tioned at any of the principal towns through which 
 they passed might establish schools, and carry on 
 the missionary work, with good prospect of success. 
 The north of Guzerat also presented an opening, 
 which the Bombay Committee were anxious to occu- 
 py, and very urgent with the Society to send out four 
 missionaries, two for each country, without delay. 
 At present, however, the Society could send only 
 two, the Rev. William Mitchell and the Rev. John 
 Steward, who arrived at Bombay July 12. 1826. 
 But they were both detained for the presidency dur- 
 ing the absence of Mr Kenney, who had returned to 
 Europe, and the Committee placed them in charge 
 of his schools. A beginning was now made in native 
 
 1 0. M. S. Report, 26th, p. 107. 
 
420 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAT*, female education. Mrs Mitchell and Mrs Steward 
 
 L having acquired some knowledge of the language, 
 
 Female opened a girls' school in September, and a second in 
 education. Q c t o ber, which contained together between thirty 
 and forty children. But this work was soon inter- 
 rupted by the domestic circumstances of Mrs Mit- 
 chell, and the death of Mrs Steward, upon whom 
 the care of these schools had chiefly devolved. 
 
 Hitherto the missionaries had no conversions to 
 report. They employed part of the Lord's day, 
 as Mr Kenney had done, in giving instruction to 
 some native youths, who attended for the purpose. 
 This they conducted in English ; and several of 
 those who were formerly instructed by Mr Kenney 
 were tolerably regular in their attendance. Though 
 none of them evinced an inclination to embrace 
 Christianity, yet their readiness to receive religious 
 instruction gave encouragement to hope, from the 
 promises of Scripture, that the seed thus sown 
 would not be altogether lost. 1 
 
 c. M.S. 5. In the year 1821, an association was formed 
 Assocm- a j. jfojnkay^ consisting chiefly of persons in the 
 formed. middle classes, who were zealous for the advance- 
 ment of missionary objects, towards which they 
 contributed in the first year about four hundred 
 pounds. This association was followed, in 1825, 
 by the formation of an Auxiliary Church Mission- 
 ary Society for the Bombay presidency, embody- 
 ing the members of the association, and uniting 
 besides many of the civil and military servants of 
 the Company, of the first respectablity, as well as 
 most of the clergy. The friends of the Society 
 at Bombay now wanted only a competent supply 
 of missionaries to carry forward their designs with 
 vigour at the principal stations of the presidency. 
 
 1 Church Missionary Society's Keport, 27th, p. 142. 
 
IN INDIA: BOOK xin. 421 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CHUECH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN CEYLON, 1817-1826. 
 
 1. TflE arrival of three missionaries for the island Arrival of 
 of Ceylon, and their transfer to Calcutta and Tra- 
 vancore, have already been mentioned. 2 The So- 
 ciety, impressed with the importance of this 
 sphere of labours, and encouraged by the facilities 
 which the local authorities promised, in 1817, sent 
 out four more missionaries, the Revs. Samuel 
 Lambrick, Robert Mayor, William Ward, and 
 Joseph Knight. They arrived at Columbo in 
 June 1818, and were received with great kindness 
 by all classes of persons, especially by Archdeacon 
 Twistleton and the Rev. G. Bissett, senior chap- 
 lain. Owing to the absence of the governor, to 
 suppress an insurrection in the Kandian provinces, 
 they were detained from immediately taking their 
 respective stations ; but this delay was attended 
 with the advantage of obtaining much information 
 respecting the state of the island, and of the par- 
 ticular places to which the Society had directed 
 their attention. As the result of their inquiries, 
 Mr Lambrick was fixed at Kandy, Mr Ward at 
 
 3 Book x. chap. vi. Revs. Greenwood and Schroeter to 
 Calcutta, and Rev. T. Norton to Travancore, as above. 
 
422 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Calpentyn, near Manaar, Mr Mayor at Galle, and 
 
 L Mr Knight at Jaffnapatam. 
 
 Kandy. 2. RANDY. Hitherto the governor,, Sir Kobert 
 
 Brownrigg, had been unwilling to allow any mis- 
 sionary to enter the Kandian territories, " where/' 
 he remarked/ " the bigoted and ignorant Budhist 
 people are hardly yet fit to listen to a Christian 
 preacher, and where mischief might arise from the 
 jealousy of a powerful and numerous priesthood." 
 In prospect, however, of the speedy restoration of 
 peace in that province, he thought Mr Lambrick 
 might be stationed there with great advantage. 
 On his arrival, he found that the town had been 
 almost wholly deserted by the natives ever since 
 the rebellion broke out, and he was not permitted, 
 in the present distracted state of the country, to 
 preach to the people ; but he obtained authority 
 to open schools, and obtained two priests to be the 
 masters of them, on their engaging to conform to 
 his directions. He soon opened one school, for 
 the instruction of native children in reading and 
 writing their own language, as an introduction to 
 their reading the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 When the governor proposed returning to Co- 
 lumbo, he desired that Mr Lambrick might be 
 asked whether he would stay behind. It was a 
 perilous position to occupy ; but the intrepid mis- 
 sionary gave the following reasons for consenting 
 to remain : 
 
 " I took time to consider of it ; and, after well 
 weighing all the circumstances the superior ad- 
 vantages which I have here for studying the 
 language, the prospect of a door being opened for 
 preaching the Gospel to tens of thousands who 
 have never yet heard the joyful sound, the advan- 
 
 1 In a letter to Lord Gambler. President of the Society. 
 C. M. S. Report, 19th, pp. 187, 188. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 423 
 
 tage which I have had of conciliating the good- 
 will of many among the priests and head men,, 
 whose influence is very considerable among the 
 people these things appeared to overbalance all 
 that could be urged on the other side of the ques- 
 tion. I therefore signified my assent; and, in 
 consequence, the governor conferred upon me the 
 appointment of assistant chaplain to the forces in 
 Kandy, which, as long as I retain it, will save the 
 Society my personal expenses. 
 
 " I am applying myself, as closely as possible, 
 to the acquirement of the language. My progress 
 is not equal to my wishes ; but I hope to surmount 
 its difficulties, at least so far as to deliver a written 
 sermon in it intelligibly, in less than a twelve- 
 month ; and, before that, I hope long before, to be 
 permitted to preach to the natives through an in- 
 terpreter." 
 
 Notwithstanding his appointment to the chap- 
 laincy, Mr Lambrick still held himself at the So- 
 ciety's disposal, prepared to go whithersoever they 
 might send him. " But," he remarked, " if they 
 think that the hold which we have on the Kandian 
 provinces, the head- quarters of Budhism, which 
 have never yet been summoned to submit to the 
 Lord Christ, should not be relinquished, I hope 
 they will send me a colleague. My situation is 
 desolate indeed. I have learned here how to esti- 
 mate the value of Christian intercourse. How 
 highly should I prize the advantage of one hour's 
 conversation in a week with a Christian friend ! 
 I have had several very interesting conversations 
 with priests ; two of them have taken the New 
 Testament, with a promise to read it attentively." 2 
 
 As his knowledge of their language increased, 
 
 Missionary Register 1819, p. 277; 1820, p. 57. 
 
424 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, the natives became more free to converse with 
 IX> him, and two or three priests manifested a desire 
 to understand the nature of Christianity. But he 
 dealt faithfully with their consciences, restraining, 
 rather than urging them forward, and charging 
 them well to count the cost before they began to 
 build. He saw too much of the evil resulting from 
 an ignorant or hypocritical profession, and had no 
 wish to add to the number of those in the island 
 who had evidently taken up the Christian name 
 from worldly motives. 
 
 In October 1820, 1 he was joined by the Rev. 
 Thomas Browning, who immediately assisted in 
 the English services ; and, in January 1821, Mr 
 Lambrick commenced preaching to the natives, in 
 Cingalese, " the glad tidings of salvation by Jesus 
 Christ. This was perhaps," he remarked, " the 
 first time that ever this joyful sound was heard in 
 this city, in the native language." 
 
 3 ' In 1822 > M * Lambrick left Kand 7. and took 
 
 U P his abode at Cotta, a few miles from Columbo, 
 blind? 11 chiefly f r the sake of the greater facilities at that 
 erected^ station for the study of Cingalese. Mr Browning 
 was left in charge of the Kandy station, and in 
 June of the same year a grant of land was obtained 
 from Government, for the erection of buildings 
 requisite for a Christian institution. These, it was 
 intended, should for the present comprehend a 
 dwelling-house, school-rooms, and a printing office. 
 A school-room was erected, in which divine ser- 
 vice was performed on Sundays. Mr Browning 
 preached in Cingalese in the afternoon, his congre- 
 gation being formed of the scholars and servants, 
 and a number of beggars, some of whom, he re- 
 marked, listened attentively. But for some time 
 
 1 C. M. S. Report, 21st, pp. 182, 183. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 425 
 
 he was discouraged by the reluctance of the natives 
 generally to attend the service. In 1820, he gave 
 an account of the baptism of an African drummer, 
 in one of the Ceylon regiments, by Mr Lambrick ; 
 and he was now able to employ this young man. 
 His name was Jonathan Gambier, and his walk 
 continued to be worthy of his Christian profession. 
 Having induced some of his African comrades to 
 go and hear the word of God, as they all spoke the 
 Ceylon Portuguese, Mr Browning established a 
 second service for them on the Lord's day, with 
 the assistance of Jonathan, who acted as interpre- 
 ter. This congregation was soon diminished by the 
 removal of the regiment to which these Caffres 
 belonged, when he lost Jonathan's services. He 
 also endeavoured to instruct the Cingalese prisoners, 
 but they gave him very little encouragement ; and 
 the partial success attending all his exertions for 
 the conversion of the natives appears at times to 
 have depressed his spirits. In January 1816, a 
 spacious school-house, built on the mission premises, 
 was opened, both for a school and a place of wor- 
 ship. Besides the Sunday services, Mr Browning 
 had a. Cingalese service on Wednesday evenings, 
 and one in Portuguese on Thursday evenings. The 
 attendance at public worship had previously been 
 small, many of the scholars were kept away by 
 their parents, few adult heathen could be prevailed 
 on to attend, and, of the prisoners, though some 
 listened to the word, others were indifferent and 
 callous ; but he continued to avail himself of this 
 and other opportunities to make known the gospel. 
 
 4. He had another opportunity afforded him for Protestant 
 preaching the word of God to many who would not JJoond 
 otherwise hear it, by the grant of a piece of land, opened. 
 by Government, for a burial-ground for the Pro- 
 testant Christians, who were before compelled to 
 bury their dead at the Romish chapel. The occa- 
 
426 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, sion of a funeral frequently brought a great com- 
 
 L pany together, and, under circumstances so solemn 
 
 and interesting, Mr Browning addressed them on 
 the concerns of their own souls. 
 
 Mission- 5. At the end of July 1826, the SCHOOLS had 
 courage- considerably increased. Besides the Kandy Eng- 
 ments. li sn an d Cingalese school and the Kandy Malabar 
 school, there were six in the country ; the scholars 
 were two hundred and forty- three. In all, the 
 Scriptures were read ; and, where the masters were 
 professed Christians, prayers were daily offered at 
 the opening and closing of the schools. Monthly 
 examinations took place, when the number of les- 
 sons learnt during the month was put on record, 
 and a mulct in case of failure enforced with very 
 good effect both on the masters and the scholars. 
 The Governor promised employment to such boys 
 at Kandy as made competent acquisitions in Eng- 
 lish ; this patronage of His Excellency was of great 
 service to the school. 
 
 Much as Mr Browning's faith and patience had 
 been tried, yet at the commencement of 1827, the 
 prospect of affairs was improved. Instances were 
 brought to his knowledge of good being received 
 by some of his hearers among the higher classes of 
 natives ; some of the sons of the Kandian chiefs, 
 who attended the school to learn English, came of 
 their own accord to purchase the Cingalese and 
 English Testament, to read and compare them at 
 home ; while his English services, which, in con- 
 sequence of the sickness and absence of the chap- 
 lain, often devolved wholly upon him, were attended 
 with a divine blessing to some of the troops. On 
 the whole, he began to feel more encouraged, and 
 was urgent with the Society to send him a col- 
 league, remarking " Here is an extensive field ; 
 and, though it is not inviting, by any wish on the 
 part of the people to be instructed in Christianity, 
 
ix IXDIA : BOOK xin. 427 
 
 yet I conceive that the Gospel might be preached 
 to nearly all the interior, without much opposition, 
 if a sufficient number of missionaries could be sent 
 out for the purpose." 1 
 
 6. GOTTA. We have mentioned Mr Lambrick's Grant of 
 removal to this station, which was very favourably fcioois~~ 
 situated for maintaining communication with Co- built. 
 lumbo, both by water and land ; and at the same 
 time, was sufficiently distant from it, to avoid the 
 evils connected with a large town. It was very 
 cool ; and as healthy as any part of the island. 
 
 The character of the inhabitants Mr Lambrick 
 thus described : " I have found the people here 
 nominal Christians ; but they are grossly ignorant 
 of the first truths of Christianity, and awfully in- 
 different about it. The village is extensive and 
 populous ; but a small proportion come to hear 
 me ; among these, however, I am pleased to see 
 some women. I go out among them on week- 
 days, and talk to as many as I can find willing to 
 listen. The cold assent which they give, equally to 
 the most appalling denunciations and the most 
 winning promises, is, I think, more discouraging 
 than violent opposition would be. As an instance 
 of their ignorance, I would mention, that, one day, 
 on asking a man of what religion he was, he said, 
 ' Budhu's' ' So then you are not a Christian ?' 
 ' yes, to be sure, I am a Christian ; and of the 
 Reformed Protestants too.' Now what this man, 
 with unusual simplicity, declared, is, I believe, a 
 true description of the great mass of the people 
 around us. They are Budhists in belief, but poli- 
 tically Christians." 
 
 A little experience, however, having proved the 
 
 1 C. M. S. Reports 1824-1827 ; also, Selkirk's "Recollections 
 of Ceylon," pp. 200-202. 
 
428 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, place to be most desirable for a permanent mis- 
 IX ' sionary establishment, a piece of ground of about 
 five acres was purchased in perpetuity from Go- 
 vernment, and assigned to the Church Missionary 
 Society ; some convenient buildings were soon 
 erected thereon ; and the place began to assume 
 the appearance of an active missionary station. 
 The people were willing to send their children, and 
 there was little difficulty in establishing schools to 
 the extent of the means at the missionary's dis- 
 posal. In the year 1825, there were eight schools 
 in and around Cotta, containing one hundred and 
 eighty-seven scholars. 1 In the following year one 
 was closed, when the scholars were reduced to one 
 hundred and sixty-one, with an average attendance 
 of one hundred and eight. In addition to these 
 there was an English school, containing sixteen 
 boys. The report of these schools was satisfactory. 
 At the close of 1826, nearly one-half of the native 
 scholars were able to read in their own tongue the 
 Gospel of Christ. Most of them could repeat the 
 Ten Commandments, and some could repeat the 
 whole, and a few the greater part of a small cate- 
 chism on the chief truths of the Christian religion. 2 
 In reference to the exercise of the ministry, Mr 
 Lambrick wrote in May 1824 : " I have now three 
 services on the Lord's day one, at Mirihani, early 
 in the morning ; a second, at Cotta, in the fore- 
 noon ; and a third, at Nawela, in the afternoon. 
 I go out among the people twice in the week, and 
 find a little congregation assembled to hear the 
 word of Life. Many more women have attended, 
 within these few weeks, than ever did formerly." 
 
 1 C. M. S. Report 1826, p. 111. 
 
 2 0. M. S. Report, 27th, p. 144; Selkirk's Becollectioiis, 
 p. 314. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 429 
 
 These services were generally held in the school- 
 rooms,, when Mr Lambrick preached in Cingalese. 
 Besides the masters and scholars,, the attendance 
 varied at the several stations from ten to fifty 
 adults. In some instances a favourable impression 
 seemed to be produced on the auditors, though no 
 case of conversion was yet reported. 
 
 The missionaries of the island were formed into 
 a Committee of management, which, at this period, 
 generally met at Cotta. In reference to the build- 
 ings at this station, they reported towards the close 
 of this decade : " There are now erected, 1, A 
 substantial stone building, with convenient offices, 
 for the accommodation of a missionary family ; 2, 
 Complete printing offices ; 3, A bungalow, which 
 will serve for the residence of a schoolmaster, and 
 for a central school for this station. A great pro- 
 portion of the materials requisite for the proposed 
 buildings of the Christian institution is collected." 
 
 7. On the printing department the Committee Printing 
 reported in 1824 : " The press sent out by the So- 
 ciety has been set up ; together with another, the 
 temporary use of which was granted to the -mis- 
 sionaries by the District Committee of the Society 
 for Promoting Christian Knowledge. A complete 
 fount of Cingalese types had not been procured ; 
 but a few small pieces had been printed, and some 
 others in English ; it was expected that the press 
 would, soon after the meeting, be in full operation, 
 when the printing of one of the Gospels, of Mr 
 Lambrick's translation, would be begun : that trans- 
 lation had proceeded to the Book of Exodus in the 
 Old Testament, and to the middle of St John in 
 the New." 
 
 They subsequently added : "We have two 
 founts of Cingalese types ; but neither of them is 
 complete. There have been issued, since our last 
 meeting, five hundred copies of a Cingalese tract ; 
 
 
430 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, one hundred copies of the Gospel of St Matthew, 
 IX ' the circulation of which has been confined to our 
 own schools ; and two hundred and fifty copies of 
 the first part, the accidence, of a Cingalese gram- 
 mar. A vocabulary is preparing for the press." 
 
 Hitherto Mr Lambrick had laboured here alone, 
 with the exception of a few months in 1823, when 
 he was assisted by the Rev. Joseph Bailey, who 
 was soon compelled, by sickness in his family, to 
 embark for England. He returned to Cotta in 
 1826, and in the same year the Rev. James Sel- 
 kirk joined the station. It were premature here to 
 enter upon the active operations now pursued. 
 Suffice it to say, that all the missionaries found 
 ample occupation, and were, on the whole, en- 
 couraged in their work." 
 character 8. BADDAGAME. The Rev. Robert Mayor arrived 
 
 of the in- a t Point de Galle in Julv 1818 ; but, after survey- 
 habitants. . .,. , nil" ft J xl 
 
 ing this sphere of labour, not finding the proper 
 means of becoming well acquainted with the great 
 body of the natives, and more of his time than he 
 thought right being engrossed by Europeans, he 
 determined to look out for a more eligible station 
 in the interior. For this purpose he made an ex- 
 cursion thirty miles from Galle, up the river Gin- 
 drah, 2 and, encouraged by the apparent willingness 
 of the inhabitants to receive instruction, he resolved, 
 with his brethren's concurrence, to settle at a village 
 about thirteen miles from Galle, called Baddagame. 
 whither he removed in August 1819. The Gindrah 
 was navigable about twenty miles higher, but the 
 population decreased towards the Kandian territory. 
 A few months after the Rev Benjamin Ward joined 
 
 1 Selkirk's Eecollections, pp. 314-363. 
 
 8 As called by the English. Its proper name is Grin Ganga. 
 Ibid., p. 229. 
 
IX INDIA : BOOK XIII. 
 
 this station. The scenery of the country is described 
 as remarkably beautiful, and equal to some of the 
 most picturesque parts of England ; yet to this 
 picture of nature the inhabitants presented a dark 
 contrast. Though, in general, nominal Christians, 
 yet in reality they were heathen ; and their charac- 
 ter was described as " like the rocks which covered 
 the hills hard, and insensible to every godly mo- 
 tion ; their hearts exalted with pride that master 
 of human nature and covered with the thorns and 
 briers of earthly cares, the abode of evil tempers 
 and evil spirits." It was an advantage, however, 
 that there were no distinctions of caste or religion 
 among them, and that they were by no means 
 averse to Christian instruction. They soon began 
 to pay some regard to the Lord's day, and then be- 
 came less attentive to their idolatrous ceremonies. 
 
 9. The missionaries soon began to establish schools 
 schools ; and by the commencement of 1821 they built - 
 had opened seven at and around Baddagame, which 
 contained one hundred and fifty-nine scholars. 
 These schools were conducted on the national sys- 
 tem, which seemed greatly to interest the children, 
 whose progress, especially in the knowledge of the 
 Scriptures, was very satisfactory. In 1824, we find 
 they contained one hundred and ninety- seven boys, 
 with an average attendance of one hundred and 
 fifteen. There was a flourishing school for girls 
 
 also, under the care of the missionaries' wives, and 
 the numbers were seventy-two, and the average 
 attendance was fifty- seven. From this period the 
 schools began to fluctuate, chiefly owing to the ex- 
 tensive prevalence of disease ; but their character 
 did not decline, and the missionaries continued to 
 describe the progress of the children in encouraging 
 terms. 
 
 10. They established besides a boarding-school, 
 for maintaining and educating children, to be named 
 
432 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, by benefactors in Europe, who contributed to their 
 IX " support. This establishment was under the care of 
 Mr Ward, who reported, in 1826, that it contained 
 sixteen boys, and that the conduct of them all was 
 such as to deserve commendation ; remarking, " We 
 trust it proceeds from a higher motive than that of 
 pleasing us, and of obtaining knowledge." Of the 
 schools generally he wrote, in the same year, "They 
 are all visited twice, and in some cases three times, 
 a week, by our young people ; which, together with 
 our own visits, will be productive, I trust, of a 
 gradual improvement in the rising generation. We 
 never before possessed the means which we now 
 have for the accomplishment of this important 
 object." 
 
 Occasionally, when the chaplain was absent from 
 Galle, they devoted as much of their time as they 
 could spare to the duties of his church, and also to 
 the government schools, which were numerous ; 
 but they were careful not to let these services inter- 
 fere " with the prior claim of the native population 
 on their labour and their time : they could render, 
 therefore, only that occasional aid, which they found 
 compatible with their own immediate duties." 
 Mission- !! The missionaries preached in several places 
 aries ' besides Baddagame and Galle ; and though occa- 
 
 course of . 1-1 .1 P ,! -i j* i T i 
 
 ministry, sionally their laitn and patience were tried by the 
 fluctuation in the. number of their auditors, on the 
 whole they were not without encouragement. As 
 respected the exercise of their ministry, their course 
 is thus described by Mr Ward " One of us takes 
 the services at home ; and the other goes to some 
 village, not more, however, than three or four miles 
 distant. He who stays at home has two services ; 
 he who goes out has, in general, two places where 
 he preaches before his return. We have, besides, 
 an English service in the evening, when our inter- 
 preter, and all the boys who understand, attend. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 433 
 
 Almost every evening in the week, we are both out 
 among the people. On Saturday evenings, we meet 
 together for prayer." 
 
 They thus describe the reception they met 
 with " Sometimes a considerable number of adult 
 natives attend ; and not unfrequently the word 
 preached is heard with attention, and encourages 
 the hope that it is not heard in vain : and in our 
 visits to the dwellings of the natives, and in the 
 exhortations which we give to those who assemble 
 to hear us, we are sometimes animated by the sure 
 prospect that the gross darkness which now covers 
 this land will ere long pass away, and that this 
 wretched and captive people of Satan will become 
 the people of the Lord of Hosts. 
 
 " We have, occasionally, had some pleasing in- 
 tercourse with the people. One of us being at a 
 distant school one Sunday morning, a considerable 
 number of respectable and tolerably well-educated 
 men were present, with about forty fine boys. 
 The truths of Christianity having been closely 
 pressed on their attention in a sermon just deli- 
 vered, one of them observed, ' As for ourselves, we 
 cannot now change our religion ; but we will send 
 our children to school, and we are willing for them 
 to become Christians ;' when it was immediately 
 asked, ' Is it proper for parents to follow one reli- 
 gion, and their children another ?' e No,' answered 
 another of them ; ' that is improper ; we must all, 
 therefore, become Christians.' " 
 
 They remark of a respectable native who had 
 shewn them some attention "TheModeliar invited 
 one of us, on two successive Sundays, to attend at his 
 house in the afternoon, when he proposed to assem- 
 ble the people to hear ; on one of these occasions, 
 there were about one hundred men present ; many 
 of them appeared struck with the things which 
 were brought before them ; after the discourse was 
 
 VOL. v. E e 
 
3 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 HAP. concluded, they still kept their places, seemingly 
 
 '__ anxious to hear more ; the missionary spoke to 
 
 them afterward, till his strength was exhausted ; 
 when he called on the Modeliar, who also, in a few 
 words, recommended this true religion to their at- 
 tention. From what has been said, the Christian 
 will at once perceive WHAT it is that is wanted to 
 give efficacy to these labours ; doubtless, it is the 
 enlightening and renewing power of the Holy 
 Ghost to open the blind eyes, and to turn them from 
 darkness to light, that they may obtain remission of 
 sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified 
 through faith which is in Jesus." 
 
 Among the candidates for baptism, they parti- 
 cularly mention one, in 1825, named " Bartimeus, 
 a Budhist priest, who had been for several years 
 wavering on the subject of religion, offered himself 
 for instruction preparatory to baptism. He threw 
 off his yellow robe, the badge of his priestly office, 
 and became nominally a disciple of Christ. He 
 remained with the missionaries upwards of twelve 
 months, employed chiefly as a writer ; but as they 
 exercised toward him their accustomed caution, he 
 at length resumed his yellow robe and left them. 
 He had acquired a tolerable knowledge of the 
 Scriptures, particularly of the Gospels ; but the 
 doctrine of Christ crucified seemed ever to be to 
 him a stone of stumbling and rock of offence" 
 
 Two other priests tried them in a similar manner ; 
 but these disappointments only made them more 
 cautious whom they baptized ; and, so far from 
 yielding to despondency, they remarked ' We 
 cannot but rejoice in the thought that, though we 
 may not be permitted to realise the object of our 
 prayers and labours, though we may be called hence 
 before any peculiar display of the Divine power is 
 manifested, we are nevertheless preparing the way 
 of Jehovah in this idolatrous land. Our prayers 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 435 
 
 will be answered ; and the time is coming, when 
 both he that soweth and he that reapeth shall 
 assuredly rejoice together." This is the spirit in 
 which every Christian mission should be under- 
 taken. The labour is with man ; the result is 
 with God. 
 
 12. When the missionaries first arrived at Bad- Grant of 
 dagame, the place was a mass of rock covered church, 
 with jungle. The Government having granted a mission- 
 portion of land, with much labour they cleared it anT es ' 
 of wood, blew up the rock, and levelled a spot for schools 
 
 , . P r . . % T . , r .T, built. 
 
 tne erection of a mission-house. It was built on 
 the side of a hill close to the river, and for some 
 time was large enough to accommodate both fami- 
 lies. They next laid the foundation of a church, a 
 few yards distant from the house. The difficulty of 
 erecting it may be judged from the fact, that seven 
 hundred pounds of gunpowder were required to 
 blast the rock for the foundation ; while the church 
 and the house were built of the fragments of rock 
 thus obtained on the spot. The foundation of this 
 church was laid February 14. 1821, and it was 
 opened on Thursday the llth of March 1822, when 
 the Archdeacon of Columbo preached in English, 
 and the Rev. Samuel Lambrick in Cingalese. Sir 
 Richard Ottley, with the chief officers and families 
 from Galle, attended. 
 
 Of the church Mr Mayor wrote " It will con- 
 tain four hundred persons, and is so constructed 
 that a gallery may be added without much expense. 
 It is built of stone ; and will remain, I doubt not, 
 a monument to future ages of the day when the 
 Sun of Righteousness first arose upon this benighted 
 village ; and of that compassion with which the 
 Saviour has inspired British Christians toward the 
 deluded natives of Ceylon. It is the first church 
 which has ever been erected in the interior of this 
 island, for the sole benefit of the Cingalese." In 
 
436 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 1824, this church was consecrated by the Bishop 
 L_ of Calcutta. 
 
 After a time it was found necessary to huild a 
 second house for Mr Ward and his family, on the 
 opposite hill ; also two school-rooms of the same 
 substantial materials. 
 
 Mr Mayor found his knowledge of medicine and 
 surgery of great service among the natives. It also 
 gave him considerable influence over them, inso- 
 much that " the horrid practice resorted to by the 
 natives in cases of sickness the ' DEVIL'S DANCE' 
 fell into almost entire disuse in the neighbourhood 
 of Baddagame ; and the people brought their sick 
 regularly to be healed." 
 
 On this subject he wrote in 1823 " My labours 
 among the sick and diseased have drawn people 
 from a distance. I have frequently had patients 
 from a distance of one hundred miles. The relief 
 afforded makes them value our residence among 
 them ; and not only warmly attaches individuals 
 to us, but causes them, I hope, to entertain a good 
 opinion of that religion, which teaches us to shew 
 kindness to all without looking for anything again. 
 Our influence among the natives is now very con- 
 siderable ; and will, I trust, be the introduction to 
 a far better union, even that of Christian fellow- 
 ship." 
 
 The missionaries, in their joint report, give an 
 account of one particular case : " In the month 
 of January, the chief priest of Budhu in this 
 island, being blind, came hither from Kandy, to 
 place himself under the care of Br. Mayor. A 
 considerable number of priests accompanied him, 
 and many more assembled from various parts of 
 the country to meet him. We had thus an oppor- 
 tunity of distributing among them several copies 
 of the New Testament and of the Book of Genesis ; 
 and we had manv discussions with them on the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 437 
 
 principal subjects of Revelation. Br. Mayor ope- 
 rated on the old priest, but he has little hope now 
 that he will recover his sight. Many prayers have 
 been offered up to God for him ; he is still, how- 
 ever, the slave of prejudice and superstition. They 
 are now in the village ; and their presence, to- 
 gether with their frequent readings of the Bana, 
 have confirmed these poor ignorant people more 
 than ever in the belief of their fabulous doctrines." 
 
 Contrary to Mr Mayor's own expectation, the 
 man recovered his sight ; but the following extract 
 of a letter from Mr Ward will shew that little 
 spiritual sight seems at that time to have been 
 gained by these heathens : 
 
 "The Kandian priests, who have been in the 
 village these last ten months, are about to depart 
 as they came bigoted and prejudiced against Christ 
 and His holy word. Before their departure, the 
 people intend to load them with presents ; but one 
 man, who has been in our employ from the first 
 establishment of the mission in the village, on 
 being called on by his relations to contribute his 
 share, refused, declaring that he would not give 
 ANYTHING, that he believed their religion to be 
 false, and that the Christian religion was the only 
 true religion. The natural consequence is, that he 
 is reproached and persecuted by them. His con- 
 duct is uniformly consistent." 
 
 13. With the exception of two of their native Mission- 
 pupils, of whose conversion they had satisfactory J l e ^ s t ' hs 
 evidence, 1 the missionaries saw little to encourage fail 
 the hope that their labours thus far had been ^JJ 1 
 owned and blessed by the Lord to the salvation Trimneii. 
 of sinners. The health of both had suffered from 
 
 1 An account of one of these youths may b seen in the 
 Missionary Register 1827, pp. 185-187. 
 
438 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 ?x P ' ^ e * r i nce ssant labours., and unavoidable exposure 
 
 L_ to the sun during the progress of their buildings ; 
 
 and, in 1826, Mr Ward was advised to retire for a 
 season. In the same year they were consoled, in 
 the decline of their own health, by the arrival of 
 another missionary, the Rev. George Conybeare 
 Trimnell, whose labours, and the departure, in 1828, 
 of Messrs Mayor and Ward, after ten years of 
 active exertion, will be matter for future history. 
 Nellore 14. NELLORE. In July 1818, the Rev. Joseph 
 opened! Knight arrived at Jaffna, and in November re- 
 moved to Nellore, a village about two miles off, 
 which afforded him the advantage of sitting down 
 in the midst of the natives, and yet enabled him 
 to discharge the duties of chaplain, which he had 
 hitherto done, at the request of the European 
 gentlemen at Jaffna, at the Fort Church. 
 
 The population around Mr Knight at Nellore 
 was very numerous ; and the place was one of the 
 strongholds of idolatry, and had one of the largest 
 heathen temples in the district, in which it was 
 said that there were not less than one thousand I 
 
 His primary object was the study of Tamul ; and 
 until he had acquired that language, he refrained 
 from entering upon any active employment, with 
 the exception of opening two or three schools for 
 the natives. By the commencement of 1820, he 
 had made sufficient progress to be able to preach 
 in Tamul, and soon after he began to increase the 
 number of his schools. By the month of August 
 1820, he had opened nine, which contained two 
 hundred and seventy scholars, who continued to 
 increase, until, in July 1821, they amounted to 
 four hundred and nine, the average attendance 
 being two hundred and ninety. "Mr Knight 
 calculates that, with due assistance and accommo- 
 dation, he could collect for instruction, within a 
 mile and a half or two miles of his residence, eight 
 
ix INDIA : BOOK xiii. 439 
 
 hundred boys, and in time an equal number of 
 girls." 
 
 But these anticipations were soon checked by 
 an impediment beyond his control, the cholera 
 morbus, which filled the province with alarm and 
 death. No less than seven schools were suspended 
 this very year, 1821, in consequence of the sweep- 
 ing ravages of this distemper ; and though most of 
 them were soon after reopened, yet they continued 
 to fluctuate, from the same cause, throughout the 
 decade. In 1825, there were, in eleven schools, 
 four hundred and eleven boys and seventy-three 
 girls ; but in the following year the numbers were 
 again reduced, and several of the schools were shut 
 up for want of masters to supply the places of those 
 carried off by the awful epidemic. 
 
 15. In the department of female education, Mr Effects of 
 Knight did not succeed, like the American mis- ges of 
 sionaries, in his neighbourhood, in consequence, cholera, 
 probably, of his having no wife to superintend it. 
 He subsequently married, and a good beginning was 
 made ; but Mrs Knight lived too short a time to 
 carry her plans into effect. In 1822, the Rev. 
 Joseph Bailey, and his wife, joined the station ; but 
 sickness soon compelled them to retire ; and Mr 
 Bailey, as we have seen, was subsequently stationed 
 at Cotta. In 1825, his place was supplied at Jaffna 
 by the Rev. William Adley, who, besides the English 
 services at the fort church, diligently studied Ta- 
 niul, with a view to usefulness among the natives. 
 Mrs Adley also entered with activity into the edu- 
 cation of the females, and soon collected ten of the 
 most promising girls from the different schools, to 
 give them further instruction. The revival, how- 
 ever, of the cholera, aggravated by a dearth of 
 food, again scattered the schools and hindered the 
 labours of the missionaries. 
 
 On this occasion, Mr Knight gave the following 
 
440 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, account of the general effect of this visitation on 
 IX> the natives : " Our efforts and means of useful- 
 ness among the people are much affected by these 
 calamities. They seem,, in most cases, to be less 
 disposed to listen to our instructions ; and, as for- 
 merly when the disease prevailed, more bent on 
 their heathenish ceremonies. When any are visited 
 with the disease, vows are made to present their 
 property as offerings to the temples, which are 
 always fulfilled with the most scrupulous exact- 
 ness ; so that, notwithstanding the scarcity and 
 distress which prevail, contributions for the build- 
 ing, adorning, or endowing of temples, are much 
 greater than at other times." 
 
 Such difficulties in the missionaries' way should 
 be constantly borne in mind, lest the comparatively 
 small result of their labours lead us to underrate 
 their capabilities and zeal. 
 
 A semi- ~[Q t \y^ e have yet to speak of a domestic school. 
 
 menced? 1 " In 1820, Mr Knight obtained permission from the 
 Society to maintain and educate for future service 
 thirty of the most promising youths in the other 
 schools. For want of efficient help, they seldom 
 amounted to twenty ; but, on Mr Adley joining 
 him, the number increased, and the character of 
 the school revived. Several of these young men 
 were, to all appearance, convinced of the truth of 
 Christianity, and impressed with its value ; and 
 desired to be admitted into the Church of Christ. 
 Satisfied of their sincerity, Mr Adley, on the 3d of 
 September 1826, admitted four of them to baptism 
 and the Lord's Supper ; and the sentiments which 
 they openly avowed gave every reason that could be 
 desired to hope that they would continue stedfast 
 in the faith which they had embraced. 1 
 
 1 Selkirk's Recollections, pp, 276-280. Missionary Register 
 1827, pp. 614-620. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 441 
 
 At the close of the decade, Mr Adley gave the 
 following account of this seminary : " As promis- 
 ing youths offered themselves, I increased the num- 
 ber of our family scholars to thirty, the number 
 limited by the Society ; and, nearly through the 
 year, the number has averaged twenty- nine. 
 Nearly the whole of them are making suitable 
 progress ; and their state is far more pleasing and 
 encouraging than I could expect a few months 
 since. They generally write after me on the Sab- 
 bath morning ; and the repeating of the heads and 
 the substance of the sermon, thus written on their 
 ollas, forms an interesting and profitable means of 
 instruction in the afternoon. The native employed 
 as their superintendent is a devoted Christian ; and 
 has, through the year, manifested great zeal and 
 concern for the souls of those under his charge. 
 During the time the boys are engaged in their 
 Tamul studies, he is daily occupied in visiting the 
 out schools, and catechising and speaking with the 
 children. Between the services on the Sabbath, 
 some of the youths go from house to house through- 
 out the village, to read the Scriptures or tracts to 
 all who are disposed to hear them, and to distri- 
 bute such tracts as they may have to those who 
 manifest a desire or willingness to read them. The 
 accounts which they give of their proceedings on 
 the following day are generally interesting." 
 
 17. We have stated that Mr Knight was able to Church 
 preach in Tamul at the commencement of 1820, skmTuUd- 
 when he relinquished the English service at Jaffna, in s s erect - 
 that he might give himself more exclusively to the ground 
 natives. On Sunday morning he preached at his f:;^ 
 own house, and repeated the sermon at two of the vemment. 
 school-houses in the afternoon and evening. In 
 the course of the week he preached at other schools, 
 as he could collect congregations. He found his 
 visits among the people the most effectual method 
 
442 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, of interesting them, and of drawing them to public 
 IX ' worship. Parents frequently accompanied their 
 children. The congregation at Nellore becoming 
 too large to assemble in the mission-house,, in 1823, 
 on their petition, the Government granted them 
 the ruins of the old " Dutch church at Nellore, 
 and the ground on which they stood, with another 
 piece of ground contiguous to the premises formerly 
 occupied as a burial-ground. Conveyances of the 
 property were regularly made, in the names of four 
 members, as trustees to the Society. The extreme 
 length of the old church was about one hundred 
 feet, and the breadth about thirty-six feet. This 
 appeared larger than would be necessary to rebuild 
 for a church ; and, as it was requisite to erect 
 buildings for the printing establishment, it was 
 agreed to take that end of the church for this pur- 
 pose, which adjoined the dwelling-house." 
 
 Here they erected several rooms for their pur- 
 pose. On the remainder of the ground they com- 
 menced building a church, school-room, and vari- 
 ous offices ; and they soon found the advantage of 
 this extended accommodation. The congregation 
 began to increase ; and though converts were not 
 forward publicly to confess their faith, a few were 
 added to the Church. In closing his report for 
 1826, Mr Adley mentioned thirteen who had been 
 baptized and admitted to the Lord's Supper. He 
 remarked, " Besides the Sunday services at Nel- 
 lore, the Wednesday afternoon service at Nellore, 
 and the English service on alternate Sunday 
 afternoons at the fort have been continued ; the 
 church is regularly filled on the Sabbath, and 
 nearly so on Wednesday afternoons, which last 
 service has been a means of grace and benefit 
 to many. The administration of the J ord's Sup- 
 per has been continued monthly. I consider it to 
 have been a great source of comfort and usefulness 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 443 
 
 to our little body : it has tended to raise the tone 
 of Christian feeling, to increase the piety of the 
 communicants, to unite them more with one an- 
 other,, and to separate them from the surrounding 
 heathens." 
 
 The missionaries found great advantage also in 
 the distribution of tracts. At first they obtained 
 them from Madras ; but the supply soon becoming 
 inadequate to the demand, they set up a press at 
 Nellore, and printed several useful treatises. Of 
 these they distributed some thousands in all direc- 
 tions, and their journals contain several instances 
 of the benefit that resulted from their perusal. 
 
444 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Mission-1 
 
 aries 
 
 obtain. 
 
 native 
 
 assistants. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 1 
 
 WESLEYAN MISSION IN CEYLON, 181 7-^826. 
 
 1. WE have already recorded the flourishing state 
 of this mission at the commencement of 1817, 
 when it was strengthened by the arrival of three 
 missionaries. 2 At Columbo, the principal station,, 
 the operations already begun were steadily advanc- 
 ing. The district attached to it extended twelve 
 miles to the south, seven to the north, and, in one 
 place, ten miles into the interior, embracing a cir- 
 cumference of nearly forty miles. This wide cir- 
 cuit, in which several congregations were formed, 
 demanded exertions which exceeded the mission- 
 aries' strength ; and it would not have been practi- 
 cable to supply them, but for the (( native and 
 other assistance which it has pleased God to raise 
 up. Mr Coopman, of Dutch descent ; Don Adrian, 
 a converted priest, employed as a catechist ; Don 
 David, a converted Cingalese, employed as a school- 
 master ; and Mr Gogerley, who was sent from Eng- 
 land to conduct the mission press ; render assistance 
 in preaching through the circuit." 
 
 1 We continue to use the narrative of this mission by W. M. 
 Harvard as far as it goes. Also the Wesleyan Missionary Re- 
 ports and Notices. 
 
 2 Book xii. chap. vii. ; Appendix H of this vol. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 445 
 
 To these was added a young Cingalese of respect- 
 able family, named Don Cornelius de Silva Wijes- 
 ingha. He was one of the fruits of the mission, 
 and, in 1818, was appointed an assistant missionary. 
 Of these native assistants, Mr Clough wrote : 
 ' ' I feel a pleasure in stating to you, that, in our 
 native congregations, though we go to them as 
 often as we can, and shall do it while God gives us 
 strength, they begin to take the precedency of us ; 
 being natives, and of course perfectly familiar with 
 the languages of the country. It is no small grati- 
 fication to the native congregations, to hear the 
 things of God faithfully and zealously delivered by 
 their own countrymen, and in their own style of 
 speaking : indeed our native brethren have access 
 to persons and places that we cannot get at. We 
 have two others coming forward, who appear 
 actuated by the same spirit ; but we thought it 
 best to try them another six months, before we 
 entered their names on the plan." 
 
 The children under daily instruction amount to 
 eight hundred and thirty-five. " Our schools (says 
 Mr Clough) are daily opening our way into every 
 village and hamlet. Every school- house is a church, 
 and sacredly set apart for Divine worship on the 
 Sabbath-days." " Twenty-five heathen boys and 
 girls, after due instruction in one of the schools, 
 offered themselves for baptism ; and were admitted 
 into the Christian church, in the mission chapel, 
 in the presence of a great number of natives, adults 
 and children." 
 
 2. A mission academy was opened in July 1823, A semi- 
 for which a building was erected close to the mis- "p^ ed< 
 sion chapel. The design of this seminary is thus 
 stated : " The primary object of the institution is, 
 to communicate gratuitously to the poor a correct 
 knowledge of the English language, and such an 
 education as may best fit them for useful situations 
 
446 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, in society : it will be open, however, to children of 
 
 L_ respectable burghers and of Cingalese headmen. 
 
 In its establishment we have in view, in the most 
 direct manner, the spiritual interests of the great 
 missionary work in which we are engaged ; which 
 we propose to promote, first, By educating a cer- 
 tain number of youths from each station, prepara- 
 tory to their filling situations of usefulness, as 
 schoolmasters and catechists in their own villages, 
 under the superintendence of the missionaries ; and, 
 secondly, By securing a more perfect religious edu- 
 cation to as many as we can bring under the influ- 
 ence of the institution." 1 
 
 The opening of this seminary was unavoidably 
 delayed till March 1826, when a commencement 
 was made with five scholars, and additions were 
 subsequently made. In April, after speaking in 
 favourable terms of some pupils sent from the 
 Tamul district, Mr Clough remarks : " I feel con- 
 fident that we shall soon have a race of fine native 
 Tamul youth, ready and prepared to go forth to 
 fill up places of usefulness in the work of God in 
 that extensive region." 
 
 About the close of 1826, the schools of this dis- 
 trict contained five hundred and six scholars, and the 
 congregations, ninety members. What proportion 
 of these were native converts does not appear ; and 
 that many of them were Europeans who had joined 
 
 1 " The plan of this institution will be seen from the follow- 
 ing abstract of the principal regulations : ' Gratuitous instruc- 
 tion to be given to fifty children of reduced burgher families and 
 to fifty Cingalese children, not under eight years of age, and 
 who are able to read the New Testament in English children 
 of respectable burghers and of Cingalese headmen to pay eight 
 rix-dollars per month : any funds which may be realised above 
 the expenses, to be laid out in the purchase of books and philo- 
 sophical instruments for the use of the advanced pupils the 
 period of education not to exceed six years / " 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XJ1I. 447 
 
 the Wesleyan Society, may be gathered from the 
 following report of their ministry at this period : 
 " The unfavourable prejudice of the Dutch, by far 
 the most numerous and important of the European 
 population of the Pettah, against our public minis- 
 try and modes of church discipline, has consider- 
 ably diminished. Our English congregations at the 
 mission chapel are greatly increased, and several 
 young Dutchman have lately joined our Society ; 
 we now witness what the builders of the Columbo 
 chapel never expected would be realised in their 
 day such were the obstacles which then presented 
 themselves a full chapel of attentive hearers, con- 
 sisting of almost all classes of persons. The pros- 
 pect in the fort, among the troops, wears a very 
 cheering aspect : the place of worship which w r e 
 now occupy is found by far too small ; and, had 
 we a larger, we feel assured that our congregations 
 there would be both large and respectable. Dur- 
 ing the year, the Society has undergone some 
 changes in consequence of removals, but several 
 have been added to our number." 
 
 3. The operations of the mission press were 
 greatly extended during this decade. Besides 
 numerous school-books and religious tracts, they 
 printed an edition of the Cingalese New Testament 
 for the Bible Society ; and, in 1820, a second edi- 
 tion of three thousand five hundred copies. The 
 following is the general report of the committee 
 for 1825 : 
 
 " The printing-office is kept in full activity by 
 the new edition of the Scriptures in Cingalese, now 
 printing for the Columbo Bible Society on a smaller 
 type, and consequently in a more portable and 
 cheap form than the quarto edition, lately so hap- 
 pily brought to a conclusion. It furnishes also 
 various other works for general distribution, and 
 the works in the different languages used in the 
 
448 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAR schools, which have been composed or translated 
 
 L_ by the brethren. 
 
 "Several portions of the New Testament, and 
 also the Liturgy, have been at different times pub- 
 lished, at the expense of the mission, in Iiido- 
 Portuguese, for distribution in Ceylon and India. 
 These were translated by Messrs Fox and New- 
 stead, and have been exceedingly useful among a 
 most destitute class of people, who before had 
 scarcely a book, except a few Roman Catholic 
 missals, in that language. Mr Newstead also pre- 
 pared a new translation of the Liturgy in the same 
 language, at the recommendation of the late la- 
 mented Archdeacon Twistleton. This edifying form 
 of sound words is in extensive use in every part 
 of the Ceylon mission. The translation is printing 
 at the expense of the Prayer- Book and Homily 
 Society." 
 
 We will select one from several instances given 
 of the benefit accruing from the circulation of the 
 works : " One of the missionaries found a woman 
 at the point of death, to whom the Gospel of St 
 Matthew, thus translated, had been the means of 
 salvation ; astonished at her pertinent answers to 
 his questions, he made inquiries as to the means of 
 instruction which she had enjoyed ; when she drew 
 this precious portion of the word of God from under 
 her pillow, and said, ' From this book I have learned 
 these things, and am now dying happy in my Sa- 
 viour!" 
 
 estab- 18 4. NEGOMBO, twenty miles north of Columbo, 
 lished. contained fifteen thousand inhabitants, Cingalese, 
 Mahomedans, and Romanists. " Long ago, this 
 town and the adjoining country, which in general 
 is also very populous, were remarkable for the 
 readiness with which the natives embraced a pro- 
 fession of Christianity. The Roman Catholics, two 
 centuries ago, made great progress in converting the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 449 
 
 natives to their religion. TEey continued to flourish 
 till the Portuguese were expelled by the Dutch, who 
 in their turn were not unsuccessful in establishing 
 Protestantism among the natives ; and, from the 
 ruins of so many churches and school-houses still 
 visible in the neighbourhood, as well as from the 
 reports of the few aged native Protestants that 
 remained, they must have succeeded to a consider- 
 able extent. But, on the island being taken from 
 the Dutch, Komanism began to revive." The pre- 
 valence of its principles presented a most formidable 
 impediment " in the way of propagating the pure 
 principles of the Gospel ; and the missionaries, who 
 had to cultivate this field, met with many difficul- 
 ties, to try both their faith and patience." 
 
 Their primary object was the establishment of 
 schools, in which they met with considerable suc- 
 cess. For some time they had charge of the Go- 
 vernment schools in the district, and at one period 
 these, together with their own, contained seven 
 hundred boys and two hundred girls. When the 
 Government schools were withdrawn, there were 
 few left ; but they soon began to increase ; and, in 
 1826, the mission had nine schools in the district, 
 containing three hundred and thirty-eight boys, and 
 one hundred and fifty girls. They opened an 
 English school also at Negombo, which at present 
 was on a small scale. 
 
 The congregation at Negombo was small, owing 
 principally to the interference of the Romish priests. 
 About the year 1825, however, they began to relax 
 in their opposition, and immediately the attendance 
 improved ; but the missionaries do not give a flat- 
 tering description of their flock at this period, and 
 they describe the state of pure religion as exceed- Land from 
 ingly low in the town and its immediate vicinity, ^ent^r 
 
 5. KORNEGALLE, a military station, about twenty- mission 
 five miles from Kandy, seems to have been con- P remises> 
 VOL. v. F f 
 
450 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, nected by the missionaries withNegombo. In 1821, 
 x> Government encouraged them to occupy this station, 
 and assigned a piece of land for the purpose. They 
 soon erected a spacious house and chapel ; and, on 
 the 30th of December, in the same year, the chapel 
 was opened with an English and a Cingalese! service, 
 In 1823, Mr Newstead, the missionary, wrote 
 " Our work, having obtained a permanent footing, 
 and having been noticed in a manner most favour- 
 able to its interests by Government, is now begin- 
 ning more fully to approve itself to the Kandian 
 people, who are naturally of a calculating and 
 cautious turn, and therefore not very hasty in 
 forming their opinion. The result of the whole is 
 a very evident impression in favour of our estab- 
 lishment, which, they are assured, designs their 
 everlasting good. Several native chiefs, of diffe- 
 rent ranks, have lately come from considerable 
 distances, voluntarily bringing their sons to place 
 under our instructions." 
 
 Several schools were established, which were at- 
 tended by adults as well as children ; and many of 
 the scholars, sometimes accompanied by their pa- 
 rents, attended public worship. In 1825, there 
 were nine schools, containing three hundred and 
 eight scholars. The native congregation consisted 
 of ten members, though the attendance of others 
 r was at times great. But, in 1825, these brighten- 
 ing prospects were darkened by the ravages of a 
 fatal disease, which rendered it very difficult for 
 the missionary to carry on his operations, and the 
 year 1826 closed before his institutions had reco-? 
 vered from the effects of this visitation. 
 
 Caitura. . CALTURA, about twenty- seven miles south of 
 Columbo. This district extended about thirty 
 miles north and south, and from four to twelve 
 
 Point de Coward ^ ne interior. Near fifty miles further, the 
 
 G^iie. missionaries had another station, POINT DE GALLE ; 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 451 
 
 and another, MATURA, about fourteen miles to the 
 east, and one hundred from Columbo. Matura was 
 near Dondra Head, the southernmost extremity of 
 the island. These stations were the centres of 
 extensive districts through which the missionaries 
 and their assistants, European and native, were 
 constantly itinerating. As there was very little 
 variety in their operations, we class them together, 
 as the Cingalese stations south of Columbo, 
 
 7. SCHOOLS. These fluctuated, as at other stations, Schools. 
 from various causes. In 1826, they amounted to 
 twenty- three, containing about nine hundred boys, 
 and one hundred and sixty girls. All received a 
 Christian education in their own language, and 
 some of the most promising were instructed in 
 English. The missionaries thus describe the views 
 which the adult natives had of these Christian 
 schools : " It is equally pleasing and surprising, 
 that, although the Cingalese in general adhere to 
 their hereditary superstitions, they have so little 
 objection to the instruction of their children in the 
 religion of Christ. They seem to associate Chris- 
 tianity with the European character, and to think 
 that various religions may be respectively good. 
 They hardly apprehend the exclusive claims of 
 revelation ; but assume the possibility of under- 
 standing the European faith, without abandoning 
 Budhism. Hence the adults often tell us that 
 they are content with the religion of their fathers ; 
 and, apprehending that great application is neces- 
 sary to comprehend Christianity, they excuse 
 themselves, by saying, that they wish their chil- 
 dren to understand it, though too old to study it 
 themselves. Very many have been the disputes 
 and conversations with the adults at this place ; 
 but our hopes are chiefly directed to the rising 
 generation." This communication was from Galle, 
 but it was applicable to the other stations also ; 
 
452 HISTORY or CHRISTIANITY 
 
 and the whole at this period were in a hopeful 
 state. Several of the scholars embraced Christi- 
 anity and were baptized. 
 
 Ministry. MINISTRY. Besides the services on the Lord's 
 day, when the missionaries generally preached 
 four times, in English, Portuguese, and Cingalese, 
 they and their native assistants were constantly 
 occupied in their several districts through the 
 week, and their labours are thus described by the 
 Society : " They have succeeded in collecting a 
 number of native congregations, to whom they re- 
 gularly preach in chapels, school-houses, private 
 houses, and bazaars. Many of them have heard 
 the word gladly, and have begun seriously to in- 
 quire after the truth. Copies of the New Testa- 
 ment, Scripture extracts, with various religious 
 tracts in Cingalese, have been extensively circulated 
 in this district. The principal priest of the whole 
 island permitted a copy of the Scriptures, in Cin- 
 galese, to be deposited in his own dwelling, con- 
 nected with the temple ; and certain portions of it 
 were publicly read by one of the priests to the 
 others, generally from twenty to thirty being pre- 
 sent every day." 
 
 The missionaries add : " We have been much 
 encouraged in our labours among the natives : the 
 congregations in most of our preaching-places are 
 good, and the people hear with much attention. 
 Providence is also opening our way into other vil- 
 lages, where we have no schools ; and, in several 
 instances, very interesting congregations have been 
 collected together by the highways and in gardens, 
 who have listened with great earnestness to the 
 truths of the Gospel : our young men, from among 
 the Dutch and Cingalese, have manifested great zeal, 
 and a delightful spirit of missionary enterprise." 
 
 Though the congregations were often crowded, 
 yet the converts were not numerous. In 1826, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 453 
 
 they do not appear to have exceeded ninety in 
 these three districts,, and several of these were 
 Europeans. In reference to their limited success 
 among the natives, the missionaries remark, after 
 mentioning some converts : ' e More names might 
 have appeared on our lists ; but we have been care- 
 ful neither to admit those, nor to suffer such as 
 had been admitted to continue among us, who do 
 not strictly comply with the rules of our Society. 
 Two have died during the year ; and, on attending 
 their deathbeds, we have been comforted and edi- 
 fied by beholding their faith and hope in leaving 
 this mortal life : we confidently believe that they 
 both died in peace : both exclaimed in their last 
 hours, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit I Those who 
 remain appear to be seriously sensible of the 
 supreme importance of being saved from their 
 sins and of leading a holy life : so far as comes 
 within our observation, they are strictly correct in 
 their conduct, and attentive to religious duties and 
 the means of grace." 
 
 In 1826, Mr Sutherland, at Matura, writes : 
 "A signal triumph of the Gospel over Budhism 
 has been witnessed, in the baptism at Matura, in 
 July, of a priest of Budhu, second in rank in the 
 island ; whose conversion is to be traced chiefly, as 
 a means, to the reading of the New Testament." 
 On the whole, while there was undoubtedly much to 
 try the missionaries' faith and patience, their mea- 
 sure of success was quite enough to encourage them 
 to go forward in the name of the Lord. 
 
 8. In the Tamul division of the island, the mis- Batti- 
 sionaries occupied a few stations, but their success caloa - 
 hitherto was not great. At Batticaloa and Trin- Trin . 
 comalee they had two congregations, and the regu- comaiee. 
 lar members amounted together to about twenty- 
 five. There were also, at one time, ten schools, 
 containing about five hundred scholars ; but, in 
 
454 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 1825,, more than half these were broken up in con- 
 sequence of the fatal ravages of cholera, especially 
 at Trincomalee. At this station, they were also 
 much opposed by a Brahmin and the Romanists ; 
 so that they had a hard struggle to restore the 
 schools. They resolved, however, not to relin- 
 quish these stations, so long as they could main- 
 tain them with any hope of success. 
 
 Jaffna. 9. At JAFFNA they were more successful : though 
 
 herev too they met with considerable difficulty, and 
 it was not till after much delay and discouragement, 
 that they were able to obtain access to the villages 
 of this extensive and populous province. At one 
 time, in 1820, they had nearly seven hundred chil- 
 dren under instruction ; but these were subse- 
 quently reduced, owing to the cholera and other 
 impediments, to about one-half the number. 
 
 The missionaries and their assistants all preached 
 in Tamul, and they speak of the service as every 
 where well attended. They state, in 1821 : 
 "The demand for the Scriptures among the natives 
 is much on the increase. We have three young 
 men who take their work regularly with us as 
 preachers. By their help, we are able to have 
 about sixty regular services every month in the 
 Jaffna part of the circuit only. Our school-rooms 
 are our general places of preaching ; but, as the 
 congregations there are uncertain, wherever a com- 
 pany of men can be found there we preach and 
 teach, whether it be a rest-house or the bazaar." 
 Service On proposing to establish a Portuguese service 
 
 Por d tu ya at ^ a ^ na i* 1 1^24, they mention the following 
 guese" interesting occurrence : " Mrs Schrader, a vener- 
 lad y able old lady, who had held Portuguese service in her 
 own house for upwards of twenty years, and had 
 translated nearly the whole of Mr Wesley's sermons 
 into Portuguese, began to feel herself incapable of 
 attending to these services. In commencing our 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 455 
 
 Portuguese worship, we felt ourselves at a loss how 
 to act,, as she had service at the same time ; but 
 the matter was no sooner mentioned to her, than 
 she broke forth in praises to God, that she had lived 
 to see the day, when she could give up her flock to 
 the shepherds of Jesus ; and expressed a wish that 
 we should take her congregation under our care. 
 It is rather remarkable, that this lady did not 
 begin to learn English until about fifty-five years 
 of age ; and now she understands and regularly 
 attends our English preaching." 
 
 In 1825, one of the missionaries wrote : " Our 
 Portuguese congregation has continued to increase. 
 At the Table of the Lord we see English, Dutch, 
 Portuguese, and natives, with their intermediate 
 grades of colour, joining with one heart ." He after- 
 wards describes the crowded attendance of the peo- 
 ple, and their devout attention to what they heard. 
 
 Of their Tamul ministrations also they speak, in 
 January 1827, in these encouraging terms : " Our 
 congregations are increasingly large ; and God is 
 carrying on a good work in the souls of many. 
 One truly gratifying circumstance, which has taken 
 place in the last quarter, is the baptism of seven 
 heathen men, Malabars, most of them of high 
 caste : they are by no means novices in Christi- 
 anity, but are able to give a reason for the hope 
 which is in them : they have been long under reli- 
 gious instruction, and their views of Christianity 
 are clear : their reasons for embracing the Chris- 
 tian religion and wishing to be baptized are ra- 
 tional and scriptural, and they manifest every 
 symptom of sincerity." Four of their adult con- 
 verts, who died by the cholera, gave, as they state, 
 " the fullest testimony that they departed in the 
 Lord." 
 
 10. Connected with this station was Point Point 
 Pedro, at the northern extremity of the island. 
 
456 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 A native assistant resided there, and the station 
 was visited by the missionaries from Jaffna ; and, 
 in 1823, they began to reap fruit from their labours. 
 There were at that time seven schools, containing 
 three hundred and twenty-one scholars, some of 
 whom were adults. In 1825, another large school, 
 built at the expense of the villagers, was opened 
 with one hundred native boys. 
 
 This mission suffered much during the present 
 decade from the sickness and departure of mission- 
 aries, when gaining experience in their work ; but 
 the cause of religion continued notwithstanding to 
 advance. In 1826, there were, in the two divisions 
 of the island, thirteen European and eight native 
 missionaries, and many native teachers and assist- 
 ants. The schools contained nearly three thousand 
 boys, and five hundred and sixty girls ; and, 
 though their converts were not numerous, they are 
 described as walking consistently with their profes- 
 sion, while several gave hope in death of the reality 
 of their faith. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 457 
 
 CHAPTEK XL 
 
 WESLEYAN MISSION IN SOUTH INDIA, 1817-1822. 
 
 1. WE have already recorded the commencement of Progress 
 the Madras Mission by Mr Lynch in 181 6. 1 After f o r*n 
 some difficulty he succeeded in purchasing premises Madras 
 for a mission and chapel at Royapettah, three miles neighbou 
 south of Madras, in the midst of a large heathen hood - 
 population. There he soon began to preach, twice 
 on the Lord's day, and once on Thursday ; and he 
 had the satisfaction of seeing his congregation in- 
 crease. He also opened an English and a Tamul 
 school, and a third at the Mount, about five miles 
 distant. In 1818, he was joined by the Rev. Titus 
 Close, and they both found full employment. Mr 
 Lynch was not long before he received converts 
 from among the natives, and in 1820 he wrote 
 " Last year, six Indian converts, under my care, 
 exchanged earth for heaven ; and two poor heathens, 
 who, never having seen a missionary, heard of 
 Jesus by a country-born female, died, and I hope 
 went to heaven." 
 
 In 1824, Mr Lynch was compelled by sickness 
 to return to Europe, but not before he had seen the 
 erection of a substantial chapel at Madras. He was 
 
 Book xii. chap. iii. sec. 44. 
 
458 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, succeeded by the Rev. Elijah Hoole, who, having 
 XL acquired great readiness in preaching in Tamul, 
 was able to make excursions among the natives in 
 the country with great advantage. In 1826, after 
 several changes, there were three missionaries at 
 Madras, Kevs. E. Hoole, R. Carver, and T. J. Wil- 
 liamson ; but these were not enough to occupy all 
 the fields of labour opening before them, and they 
 were urgent with their Society to send them more 
 assistance. They had four chapels at Madras, and 
 in the district, which were generally well attended ; 
 and the associated members together, including 
 soldiers and other Europeans, amounted to one 
 hundred and thirty. The schools at Madras are 
 included at this time with those at other stations. 
 There were together sixteen, containing five hundred 
 and forty- two scholars. These they might have 
 considerably extended, but for the want of means. 
 Of the schools at and near Madras the missionaries 
 report " The vigorous system of superintendence 
 which has been adopted has caused the masters to 
 be more strict, and consequently the boys attend 
 better. Improvement in their behaviour, and in 
 their attendance on divine worship, is among the 
 encouragements which cheer the missionary to per- 
 severing exertions ; and fruits of increase will not 
 be wanting to his patient labours. Many of the 
 boys are very industrious in learning everything to 
 which they are directed ; and several are very pro- 
 mising, fit to be introduced to a superior school, if 
 we had means and time to establish and superin- 
 tend it." 
 
 Negapa- 2. NEGAPATAM. The Society having been re- 
 quested to occupy this station, the Rev. T. H. 
 Squance, from Jaffna, arrived here in September 
 1820. Being well acquainted with Tamul, which 
 he had acquired in Ceylon, he was able to enter 
 upon his work without delay. He described the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 459 
 
 field before him as promising ; but in the following 
 year sickness compelled him to relinquish it. He 
 was succeeded by Mr T. Close, from Madras, who 
 also was soon obliged, from a similar cause, to return 
 to Europe. His place was taken by the Rev. James 
 Mowatt, from Bangalore, who arrived here in 
 August 1822. He also was able to enter imme- 
 diately on the Tamul services. An assistant mis- 
 sionary, Mr John Katts, from Ceylon, had charge 
 of the Portuguese department of the mission. In 
 1824, a small chapel was built, which was well 
 attended, but chiefly the Portuguese service. The 
 stated members of the chapel in 1826 were thirty- 
 four, very few of whom were natives. There were 
 four schools at Negapatam and in the neighbour- 
 hood, containing nearly two hundred scholars, who 
 received a Christian education. 
 
 Small as this success may appear, yet it was as 
 great as could reasonably be expected in so short a 
 time, and under the repeated interruptions caused 
 by the missionaries' removal. Under Mr Mowatt, 
 the prospect improved, as appears from the report 
 of Mr Hoole, after visiting the place. He writes 
 " The good work in Negapatam is steadily advanc- 
 ing. The English congregation, although neces- 
 sarily small, is very attentive and regular. The 
 Portuguese congregation in the new chapel, which 
 was opened while I was there, is larger than I ever 
 before witnessed it in Negapatam ; and many mem- 
 bers of the class have attained an established matu- 
 rity in religion, highly encouraging to him who has 
 been labouring among them." 
 
 3. BANGALORE. In 1820, Messrs E. Hoole and Bangalore. 
 J. Mowatt arrived at Madras, appointed to com- 
 mence the missionary work in Bangalore and My- 
 sore. But while diligently studying Tamul, preach- 
 ing in English, and preparing for future labour 
 among the natives, Mr Hoole's services were re- 
 
460 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 quired, as we have seen, at Madras, and those of 
 Mr Mowatt at Negapatam. The missionaries occa- 
 sionally visited Mysore, but do not appear to have 
 regularly occupied a station in that country during 
 the remainder of the decade. 
 
 A mission 4. BOMBAY. We may mention here the Society's 
 menced. ^ rs ^ attempt to establish a mission at Bombay. The 
 Rev. John Homer arrived for the purpose in Sep- 
 tember 1816, and was kindly received by Sir Evan 
 Nepean, the Governor. He then waited upon the 
 Bishop of Calcutta, as mentioned above, who ex- 
 pressed his good opinion of the zeal and conduct of 
 the Wesleyan missionaries in Ceylon, and wished 
 Mr Homer equal success in Bombay. Immediately 
 on his arrival, he applied himself to the study of 
 Mahratta, and in the course of a twelvemonth he 
 was able to converse with freedom among the 
 natives in that language. He paid attention to 
 Hindoostanee also, and, it appears, with equal 
 success. He now discoursed openly in the streets 
 and bazaars, but the result did not satisfy him. 
 " Until we can get a house or room (he says) to 
 preach in, I shall not be able to say anything of 
 my sermons. The people consider the streets and 
 bazaars, &c., their own ; and though they listen to 
 what we tell them, yet they will talk, and sometimes 
 contradict, with all their might. But these are 
 good signs ; they shew that the Gospel appears to 
 them of importance enough to call forth their op- 
 position, and is not to be treated with silent con- 
 tempt."' 
 
 In 1819, he had four Mahratta schools, contain- 
 ing one hundred and eighty boys, which he pur- 
 posed to extend on the arrival of an expected 
 colleague, the Rev. Joseph Fletcher, who joined 
 him shortly after. 
 
 In the same year, Mr Horner visited Mai wan, 
 and several neighbouring places, about two hundred 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 461 
 
 in lies south of Bombay, with the view of ascertain- 
 ing the state of the people, and whether it presented 
 an opening for missionary operations. The result 
 of his inquiries was unfavourable. 
 
 In 1822, these active preparations were abruptly 
 terminated, both the missionaries being compelled 
 by ill health to return to Europe ; and the measure 
 of success does not appear to have been such as to 
 induce the Society to supply their place. In their 
 report for 1821, they remark " This place has 
 hitherto proved an unproductive soil to our brethren; 
 and whatever seeds of truth may have been sown 
 in the minds of the children at the school or by 
 conversation with the natives, no apparent fruit 
 has yet succeeded. 
 
 " The case of so many thousands of people, in- 
 volved in the worst and most disgusting of Indian 
 superstitions, renders every attempt to introduce 
 our divine religion the more obligatory. The pa- 
 tience of missionaries on many other stations, after 
 being long called into exercise, has at length been 
 followed by an abundant success. May it prove so 
 in Bombay ! In proportion to the discouragements 
 of missionaries labouring among a people wedded 
 to their idols, are they entitled to be held up by 
 the prayers of the people of God ; and we trust that 
 this awfully dark and idolatrous part of India will 
 call forth intercessions more fervent, that the period 
 of its visitation may not be long delayed." 
 
 Under these circumstances, it is not surprising 
 that this station was suspended. 
 
4(52 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAPTEK XII. 
 
 AMERICAN MISSION IN BOMBAY, 1817-1826. 
 
 of the 688 1' ^ HE establishment of this mission was recorded 
 mission, in the last volume. 1 The missionaries, Messrs 
 Hall, Newell, and Bardwell, still had encourage- 
 ment to go forward. They had no difficulty in 
 assembling the natives, who at times seemed to be 
 impressed under their preaching, but they had not 
 yet formed a regular congregation. The printing 
 press was in active operation ; and they had twelve 
 schools for the heathen, which contained above 
 seven hundred children. 
 
 In February 1818, their hands were strengthened 
 by the arrival of two more brethren, the Rev. John 
 Nicholls and the Rev. Allen Graves. Mr Graves 
 soon removed to Mahim, a populous district, six 
 miles north of Bombay ; and, in the autumn, Mr 
 Nicholls proceeded to Tannah, the chief town of 
 the island of Salsette, and twenty-five miles north 
 of Bombay. At the same time, Messrs Hall and 
 Newell made excursions to various places, from ten 
 to sixty miles distant from Bombay, and subse- 
 quently they went into the northern and southern 
 
 1 In 1815. B. xii. c. iii. Our principal authorities continue 
 to be the Reports of the American Board of Missions, and the 
 Memoir of G-ordon Hall. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 463 
 
 Conkan, preaching, conversing, and distributing Cordiality 
 books. 2 The books were eagerly sought by all j^ e 
 classes ; and numbers, even of Jews, solicited and 
 received copies of St Matthew's Gospel. The Jews 
 generally regarded the mission with a favourable 
 eye, and some of them became teachers, and sent 
 their children to the schools. 
 
 The state and prospect of the mission, about the 
 opening of the present decade, is thus described : 3 
 " In the general health of its members in its in- 
 ternal harmony in the favour which it has obtained 
 with the rulers, and with the people, European and 
 native in the free course afforded to its operations 
 and, above all, in its lively stedfastness in the 
 work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of 
 hope the Lord has marked this mission with dis- 
 tinguished kindness. 
 
 " Since the dates reported the last year, a wide 
 expansion has been given to the sphere of its ope- 
 rations. At first, the labours of the brethren were 
 limited to the town of Bombay. After the arrival 
 of Messrs Nicholls and Graves, by occupying the 
 stations of Mahim and Tannah, they brought the 
 whole island of Bombay, and Salsette also, within 
 their range. Nor is this all. By the late war in 
 India, the Mahratta states and territories, on the 
 side of the peninsula or continent adjacent to Bom- 
 bay, and to a great extent, were subjected to the 
 British dominion. This event, as it rendered those 
 countries more easily and safely accessible, gave a 
 new spring to hope and to enterprise." 
 
 2. The missionaries were indefatigable in preach- A chapel 
 ing the word of God to natives of all castes, both 
 
 2 The journals which the missionaries kept on these excursions 
 are given in the Society's Keports, and will be read with great 
 interest. See especially Report xi. 
 
 3 American Board of Missions, Keport x. 
 
464 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, at Bombay and up the country. They were now 
 XIL able to conduct public worship in several languages, 
 and a native audience was in frequent attendance, 
 but under great disadvantages for want of a suitable 
 building for their accommodation. The mission 
 had been in operation eight years before the mis- 
 sionaries were in circumstances to erect a place of 
 worship. They then circulated a proposal, solicit- 
 ing subscriptions for the purpose, which was gene- 
 rously responded to by their friends. A valuable 
 site was purchased in an eligible part of the native 
 town ; the building was soon commenced, and 
 there is one circumstance connected with its erec- 
 tion which will give a lively idea of the deplorable 
 state of Christianity in India at that time. The 
 missionaries wrote 
 
 " Mr West, the architect, expresses much plea- 
 sure at being authorised to suspend all work at the 
 chapel on the Sabbath ; and thinks that he can 
 manage so as to have the same men do as much 
 work on the six week days as, disregarding the Sab- 
 bath, they would in the seven days : this shews the 
 plea of necessity for working on the Sabbath, which 
 is so common in this country, to be as unfounded 
 as it is impious. To the natives, it is quite a 
 phenomenon to see a building carried on with 
 activity, vigour, and bustle on every week-day ; 
 and, on every Sabbath, to observe all business 
 suspended and everything quiet. It speaks for God 
 and his holy Sabbath, with great emphasis ; for 
 not a building here, so far as I know, is erected, 
 either by professed Christians or by heathens, the 
 work of which is not carried on much the same on 
 the Sabbath as on other days." 
 
 The building was opened on the 30th of May 
 1823, with service in Mahratta, " which solemnity 
 was preceded by a day set apart for invoking the 
 blessing of God, with fasting and prayer. . Public 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 465 
 
 worship was held therein in English every Sunday 
 morning. In the afternoon, the scholars were cate- 
 chised ; and in the evening public worship was 
 held in Mahratta. On the first Monday in each 
 month, the ' Monthly Concert ' for missionary 
 prayer was held in the chapel. Government 
 granted a burying ground for the use of the mis- 
 sion,, and, unsolicited, liberally ordered it to be 
 enclosed, at the public expense, with a wall of 
 masonry." 
 
 But the brethren still exercised their ministry 
 under the canopy of heaven, or under the shadow 
 of a tree ; and they thus speak of the manner in 
 which it was received : 
 
 "We continue our usual method of addressing 
 the Gospel to the people by the way-side, in the 
 field, at their houses, and in their assemblies as 
 we meet with them, on going out for the purpose 
 daily. Besides this, we avail ourselves of oppor- 
 tunities, which we esteem suitable, of making 
 regular appointments in various places ; sometimes 
 weekly, sometimes daily, and sometimes twice a 
 day, according to our ability and the prospect of 
 collecting the people. Our method of conducting 
 these meetings is various, according to the circum- 
 stances of the hearers. The number of these is 
 various, from ten individuals to two or three hun- 
 dred. Some persons of every class are occasion- 
 ally present. Sometimes the stillness and atten- 
 tion almost or quite equal that of an assembly in 
 our native country ; and sometimes there are 
 conversation and confusion, opposition, resentment, 
 reviling, and blasphemy." 
 
 3. In 1820, they speak hopefully of a Mahomedan Conver- 
 convert, whom they had baptized ; and a few years Mahome- 
 after we find him usefully employed in distributing dan. 
 the Scriptures and tracts up the country. But we 
 must confess it is, indeed, confessed both by the 
 
 VOL. v. o g 
 
466 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, missionaries and their friends that conversions 
 
 L were very rare. In 1822, the Board remarked: 
 
 " Though the prejudices of the natives are stubborn 
 and inveterate, and though we do not discover that 
 inquiry concerning the nature of religion, and that 
 concern for the soul which is desired." 
 
 And about the same time, one of the missionaries 
 wrote : " I exceedingly wish that I could tell you 
 good news ; but I must be content to say, or at 
 least I must say, that we do not enjoy, in our 
 labours, the converting influences of the Holy 
 Spirit. But I do indulge the hope that, as a body, 
 we are beginning to seek more earnestly this 
 divine gift ; and we are still hoping to see better 
 days." 
 
 The patience and faith of the brethren continued 
 to be exercised in this manner for a few years 
 longer, as appears from the following extract from 
 a letter of a friend at Bombay, written towards the 
 close of the decade : " I wish our accounts of mis- 
 sionary success in this part of the world were more 
 cheering. As yet, the Lord seems to withhold 
 His blessing ; and though the labourers in the 
 vineyard are zealous, hard working, praying men, 
 yet I do not hear of one instance of real conversion 
 among the heathen." 
 
 Similar testimony is borne to the piety, the 
 discretion, and perseverance of the brethren, by 
 several other persons unconnected with them. 
 They were not disheartened by the apparent want 
 of success. They looked upon this as the seed- 
 time of the mission believed that the Lord would 
 bless it and were content to leave the harvest to 
 those who should follow. 
 
 Schools 4. Their schools were more prosperous, though 
 prosper they varied according to circumstances. For in- 
 stance, in 1819, they had twenty-five, which, in 
 1821, were reduced to fifteen, in consequence of a 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 467 
 
 deficiency in their receipts from America. In 
 1824, they rose again to thirty-five, containing 
 nearly seventeen hundred scholars. In 1826, they 
 fell again to twenty-four. Yet, notwithstanding 
 this fluctuation in their numbers, the schools went 
 on improving both in management and progress, 
 and were free and open to all who chose to benefit 
 by them. They were instituted, not only in seve- 
 ral parts of the island of Bombay, but were also 
 extended along one hundred miles of coast, on the 
 adjacent continent. The instruction given was of 
 a religious character, similar to that of other schools 
 of Christian missions, which we have so often de- 
 scribed. They added, also, in the upper schools, 
 some instruction in the elements of mathematics 
 and universal geography. The attendance of Jewish 
 children was a feature of peculiar interest in these 
 schools. At one time, in 1825, they amounted to 
 one hundred and thirty-three. There were also no 
 less than ten Jews among the teachers ; and the 
 scholars in the principal school at Bombay were 
 regarded as a nursery of future instructors of the 
 heathen. After a time, the missionaries were in- 
 duced to discontinue the practice of dismissing the 
 children on the Lord's day, which was no more to 
 the heathen than any other day. They suspended, 
 however, all secular instruction on that day, and 
 employed the scholars in exercises of a moral and 
 religious nature ; so that they were proper Sunday 
 schools. The children were informed of the reason 
 of this change in their usual subjects of instruction, 
 and no objection seems to have been made to it. 
 " A portion of Scripture was given to the elder 
 boys on the Sunday, in which they were examined 
 on the following Sunday : this portion being read, 
 the missionary examined them in it, and opened its 
 meaning to them ; an hour was thus pleasantly 
 occupied. In the afternoon, the schools assembled 
 
468 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, in the body of the chapel, which they nearly filled ; 
 XIL they were catechised and addressed by the mission- 
 ary, and dismissed with prayer. From thirty to 
 forty adults, not connected with the schools, fre- 
 quently attended." 
 
 Female 5. The missionaries were anxious to introduce 
 
 ^ nd g board- female education, hearing how well it had succeeded 
 begun. 00 S in other parts of India. For some time there had 
 been between sixty and eighty girls scattered 
 through their numerous schools; and, in 1824, they 
 thus speak of their first attempt to establish a female 
 school " In March 1824, we had the very great 
 satisfaction of establishing a female school, under 
 the instruction of Gunga, a competent female native. 
 This is the first school of the kind, we believe, 
 established on this side of India. It seemed quite 
 beyond our expectations ; and as soon as its esta- 
 blishment was known, two pious ladies most heartily 
 engaged to defray its expense. But, about the 
 middle of May, the epidemic cholera revisited 
 Bombay, and indeed all parts of India, with awful 
 violence and fatality ; and, among the dying thou- 
 sands of Bombay, Gunga, the school-mistress, was 
 one ! The school was broken up at once, as we 
 knew of no one to fill her place. When we consider 
 the obloquy which this native female had to brave, 
 and the fetters which she had to break, in order to 
 her engaging in this employment ; when we consi- 
 der that the Hindoo shasters denounce misfortunes, 
 early widowhood, and early death to the female 
 who dares to LEARN or dares to TEACH ; we cannot 
 but consider this as a truly dark and mysterious 
 providence." 
 
 Shortly after, however, they opened two other 
 schools, but were obliged to engage Brahmins of 
 respectability to instruct the girls, not being able 
 to get female teachers. This branch of labour was, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 469 
 
 at the close of the Decade, in too incipient a state 
 to claim further notice. 
 
 The missionaries opened domestic schools also, 
 for the education of Hindoo children in their fami- 
 lies. But these, at first, they found it difficult to 
 obtain, owing to the violence formerly practised by 
 the Portuguese on the natives and their religion, 
 the remembrance of which kept alive their jealousy. 
 The missionaries were not long, however, in gain- 
 ing their confidence ; and, in 1823, there were fifty 
 children East Indian, natives, and Black Jews 
 divided between their three families. Some of the 
 children were maintained by benefactors ; the re- 
 mainder were paid for by their parents ; and the 
 missionaries hoped, not only by the income derived 
 from this source materially to diminish the ex- 
 penses of the mission, but also to strengthen it in 
 a point still more important. To this Mr Nicholls 
 thus adverts, in speaking of the children, thir- 
 teen in number, under the care of Mrs Nicholls 
 " Many of them are making rapid progress in 
 religious knowledge, are quite serious, and retire 
 very regularly for prayer. These children are 
 destined to a rank and respectability far above the 
 great mass of the population, and even above the 
 first classes of the Hindoos and Mussulmans. Of 
 what immense importance, then, is their religious 
 instruction !" 
 
 6. In the printing department their success was The press 
 very satisfactory. Their press was employed by ra ^ yed 
 the Christian Knowledge Society, the Bombay Christian 
 School-Book Society, and others, as well as for ^J ow ^ nd 
 their own purposes. In May 1821, a printer, Mr other So- 
 James Garrett, arrived, and entered on the super- 
 intendence of the press. They soon printed and 
 circulated a great number of tracts in Mahratta 
 and Hindoostanee, and some of the Jewish teachers 
 were among their most active distributors. The 
 
470 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, report at the close of the decade states, that "from 
 '_ the commencement of the mission they had pub- 
 lished nineteen different religious tracts, besides 
 several others not so exclusively of the religious cha- 
 racter/ in such editions as to amount, all together, 
 to more than one hundred thousand copies. A few 
 of these are translations from English tracts ; but 
 most of them were composed on the spot, with the 
 peculiar circumstance of the people in view. All 
 these, except twenty thousand seven hundred, have 
 been distributed, almost universally, one by one 
 hearing the receiver read a portion of each, and 
 accompanying it with a few words of Christian 
 advice receiving, too, a promise that it should be 
 carefully preserved and read. They are sought for 
 by many adults, as well as children and youth ; and 
 received with avidity. There are, comparatively, 
 few of any class capable of reading, who are unwill- 
 ing or afraid to receive them. During the past year, 
 about twenty thousand small tracts and portions of 
 Scripture have been distributed or used in our 
 schools. Besides finishing the printing of the New 
 Testament, and printing a considerable number of 
 tracts for the Bombay District Committee of the 
 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, there 
 have been published or reprinted by the mission 
 thirty-two thousand small tracts, making more than 
 two millions of pages, 18mo. and 12mo., at a cost of 
 one thousand and eighty-six rupees." 
 
 Mahratta 7. But their great work was the Mahratta trans- 
 
 tion of'the l a ^i n of the Scripture, of which they printed single 
 
 Scriptures, portions for distribution before the whole was finished. 
 
 They conducted their translation of the sacred 
 
 1 One of these was a geographical and astronomical tract, 
 of sixty-four octavo pages, containing a map of India, and a re- 
 presentation of the Solar System and of Eclipses. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 471 
 
 volume with too much care to make very rapid 
 progress. They sought assistance wherever there 
 was hope of obtaining it; "yet, after all our care/' 
 they remarked, " we are not insensible that our 
 work, as well as others of this kind, must bear many 
 marks of imperfection, and will need much-improv- 
 ing. Yet, had we not been aiming for something 
 that will be, in the main, correct and permanent, 
 we should have proceeded with much greater rapi- 
 dity, and spared our often repeated investigations : 
 but we think them requisite, not only on account 
 of the importance and difficulty of discovering the 
 most appropriate words and phrases, but because 
 the idiomatical position of words in Mahratta, re- 
 quires so much transposition of the original words 
 and members of sentences, that, without the greatest 
 care, their relation to one another is liable to be 
 lost. Whatever degree of success may attend or be 
 wanting in our exertions in this part of our work, 
 we are actuated, in our moderation, we believe, by 
 a reverent regard to the purity and sacredness of 
 God's holy Word." And in order to attain the 
 greatest accuracy, they invited the remarks of Mah- 
 ratta scholars upon their translation in the news- 
 papers. 
 
 By the close of 1826 they had finished the New 
 Testament, and made some progress with the Old. 
 
 8 . Such was the result of the labours of thirteen Death of 
 years, carried on amidst much interruption from 
 
 the removal of missionaries by sickness and death . fler of the 
 Of the eight who had arrived, only two and the 
 printer remained to serve their three principal sta- 
 tions. The last death was that of the Rev. Gordon 
 Hall, who founded the mission in 1813, and died 
 March 20. 1826. From the first he had been the 
 life and guide of the operations of the mission ; and 
 of his capabilities to direct them the American 
 Board remarked "Among Mr Hall's natural quali- 
 
472 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 ties, force of mind was the most prominent; and 
 1 this he possessed in so high a degree, as to predis- 
 pose and to qualify him for great undertakings: 
 connected with this, was so much piety and moral 
 courage, as rendered him, by the grace of God, 
 strong and unyielding in purposes of Christian be- 
 nevolence ; and, blessed with health, he held on his 
 way, amidst numerous trials and discouragements, 
 until he thought he beheld the dawn of the morning, 
 and saw the clouds breaking, and the star of pro- 
 mise shining in the East." 1 
 
 His surviving colleagues, who could best appre- 
 ciate his worth, thus feelingly deplore his loss : 
 " Since this bereavement, we have endeavoured to 
 keep up the general operations of the mission : but 
 his personal labours among the people, his counsel 
 and encouragement, his investigations of subjects 
 connected with the translation of the Scriptures, 
 aud the responsibility which he bore in all the con- 
 cerns of the mission, are a great loss, which, while 
 we live, is irreparable to us except by peculiar as- 
 sistance from Above." 
 
 1 Besides the memoir of this distinguished missionary, of 
 which we have made use in our account of this mission, an 
 interesting obituary of him may he seen in the Missionary 
 Register for 1827, pp. 345-350. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 473 
 
 and Batti- 
 cotta. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AMERICAN MISSION IN CEYLON, 1816-1826. 
 
 1. ON the 22d of March 1816, five missionaries Themis- 
 arrived at Columbo, Messrs Poor. Richards. Bard- sionco - 
 
 A/T i rrr i i i menced at 
 
 well, JMeigs and Warren, where they met with a 
 friendly receptionfrom the Governor-General Brown- 
 rigg, with other persons in authority, and the Eng- 
 lish missionaries. After consulting, by correspon- 
 dence, with their brethren at Bombay and other 
 missionaries upon the stations best for them to 
 occupy, it was resolved that Mr Bardwell should 
 proceed to Bombay, as we have seen in the account 
 of that mission, and the other four to the province 
 of Jaffna. The monsoon preventing their imme- 
 diate removal, they employed themselves usefully 
 at Columbo, where they were detained about six 
 months. By the 1st of October, they were all safe 
 at Jaffnapatam, and on the 9th, in a joint letter, 
 they give the following account of their station and 
 prospects : " We have visited the places in which 
 we hope to spend our lives, in opening the treasures 
 of the Gospel to the heathen. Tillipally is situated 
 about ten miles north, and Batticotta six miles 
 north-west, of Jaffnapatam. At each place, there 
 are between three and four acres of land, on which 
 stand a dwelling-house, a large church without a 
 roof, uid a variety of fruit-trees. From the esti- 
 
474 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 mates that have been made, 1200 or 1500 dollars 
 would be necessary to make such repairs as a 
 prosperous mission at these stations would require." 1 
 Messrs Poor and Warren were stationed at Tilli- 
 pally, about ten miles north of Jaffnapatam, and 
 Messrs Richards and Meigs at Batticotta, about six 
 miles to the north-west, where, and in two or three 
 adjacent villages, they soon commenced operations. 
 Assisted The Government granted them several unoccupied 
 vemment Portuguese buildings in the districts for their dwell- 
 i n g"houses, chapels, and schools, together with seve- 
 ral acres of land attached to them, and afforded 
 them other assistance. Here they commenced ope- 
 rations without loss of time, but their proceedings 
 were interrupted by sickness, and in the following 
 year each station was left with only one labourer. 
 The missionaries, Meigs and Poor, in a letter dated 
 December 27. 1817, in pleading for more aid, thus 
 feelingly lament their loss : " By the removal of 
 our two brethren, in such circumstances, we feel 
 that our strength is greatly reduced. Whether we 
 regard them as beloved companions, and fellow- 
 labourers in the mission, or as physicians whose 
 services our families, situated as they are at a dis- 
 tance from the European settlements, greatly need, 
 we cannot but regard their removal as a great afflic- 
 tion. But our minds are more deeply affected when 
 we consider its influence upon the state of the mis- 
 sion. Just at the time when we had nearly com- 
 pleted the necessary repairs for living comfortably 
 among the heathen, and in some degree prepared 
 ourselves for engaging with undivided attention to 
 the appropriate duties of the mission with pleasing 
 
 1 They tben proceed to describe the state and character of 
 the province, which is given in the Society's 8th Report: but it 
 does not differ from the descriptions of other missionaries, 
 which we have already given. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 475 
 
 prospects of success, we are deprived of half our 
 strength." 
 
 2. They were soon able to preach to the natives The sta- 
 in Tamul, when on the Lord's day, and two even- creased "to 
 ings in the week, they were employed in reading six around 
 and expounding the Scriptures. They likewise dis- J t ^ n&pa "' 
 coursed with the people on other occasions, as their 
 avocations would permit. In 1820, they occupied 
 
 two more stations Oodooville and Panditeripo. In 
 1821, they established themselves at Manepy, and 
 in 1824, at Kaits. So that at the close of 1826, 
 they were actively employed at six stations, with 
 their adjacent villages, all at convenient distances 
 from Jaffnapatam, and occupied by missionaries and 
 native assistants. 
 
 3. The attendance on their preaching was some- A revival, 
 times numerous, exceeding two hundred, and their 
 behaviour generally serious. The divine blessing 
 
 was soon vouchsafed to their ministrations, and, in 
 1821, their native flock consisted of fourteen con- 
 verts, who were sufficiently established in the faith 
 to be admitted to the Lord's Table. Three were 
 added to these in 1822, but this measure of success 
 did not satisfy the missionaries' burning zeal ; and 
 in December 1823, they held a meeting with the 
 missionaries of other societies in Jaffna, to consider 
 what means could be used for the more rapid diffu- 
 sion of the Gospel. They considered it an appro- 
 priate subject for personal humiliation before God, 
 and agreed to set apart a day for fasting and prayer. 
 With this they redoubled their exertions, and the 
 result was soon apparent, especially among the 
 senior scholars, with several adults who had for 
 some time attended the preaching of the Gospel, 
 and now professed themselves seriously concerned 
 to live a Christian life to the glory of God. There 
 appeared, indeed, to be a general awakening to the 
 importance of religion, which soon began to attract 
 
476 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 C xiii P ' P u kli c n tice. How incredulous soever mankind 
 _ '. may be on the alleged religious revivals, which have 
 sometimes made much noise in the world,, yet, in the 
 present instance, none could deny the fact, that a 
 number of persons had apparently a " serious con- 
 cern for the salvation of their souls, arising under 
 the use of the ordinary means of grace diligently 
 employed, though occurring within a short period 
 of time. And if the abundant influences of the 
 Holy Spirit have been long and earnestly sought, 
 and fervent prayer has been accompanied by dili- 
 gent and persevering labour, shall we not expect 
 and look for the blessing ? and, when the blessing 
 begins to descend, shall we not gratefully acknow- 
 ledge it, and cherish it as the best gift of God to 
 His devoted servants ?" 
 
 " Such manifestations, indeed, of the grace of 
 God are accompanied, in our present state of weak- 
 ness and temptation, with danger ; and the danger 
 is serious and imminent in proportion to the mag- 
 nitude of the interests which are at stake. But, of 
 this danger, the missionaries themselves who were 
 not hasty and sanguine men, but men of thought 
 and experience were well aware. They were pre- 
 pared for disappointment. They were not forgetful 
 of the weakness of man, nor of the power and ma- 
 lignity of the Great Adversary, nor of the proba- 
 bility of those trials which might be needful to keep 
 alive in their minds entire dependence on the Lord. 
 They looked for that evidence, which time alone 
 could develop the abiding fruits of righteous- 
 ness." 
 
 On this movement, the American Board of Mis- 
 sions remarked " During this very interesting sea- 
 son of special attention to religion, not less than 150 
 persons, at all the five stations, manifested more or 
 less concern for their souls. It was, however, with 
 the revival in Ceylon, as it is with revivals in our 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 477 
 
 own land a part only of those whose attention is 
 excited, whose fears are roused, really repent of sin , 
 and believe in Christ." 
 
 This appearance of blossom did not pass away 
 without fruit. The missionaries were disappointed 
 in a few that promised fair ; but their hopes of 
 others were fully realized. Their converts gradu- 
 ally increased ; and at the close of 1826, they made 
 the following report of the state of their flock : 
 e The mission church now contains not less than 
 ninety native communicants many possessing fine 
 minds ; several considerably advanced in learning ; 
 some useful preachers of the Gospel to their country- 
 men ; and all hopefully pious, and, amidst tempta- 
 tions such as we by experience know nothing of, 
 adorning their profession by a Christian life. There 
 is no special religious excitement now, at any of our 
 stations, but some encouraging appearances : our 
 meetings among ourselves have become more solemn, 
 and a spirit of prayer is more prevalent." 
 
 4. In the education of youth the missionaries Male, fe- 
 appear to have been eminently successful, which is 1^^^ 
 to be accounted for, in some measure, by the faci- schools, 
 lities which the local authorities afforded them. 
 They were at comparatively small expense for 
 building, Government everywhere allowing them 
 to appropriate what they found ready to their 
 hands. Within two years after their arrival, they 
 had, at Batticotta and Tillipally, fifteen schools, 
 with seven hundred scholars. At the close of 
 1826, they numbered, at their six stations, no less' 
 than seventy schools, containing two thousand six 
 hundred and eighty- six children, of whom nearly 
 five hundred were girls. The subject of female 
 education had long engaged their anxious thoughts ; 
 and, after much difficulty, they succeeded to the 
 extent here mentioned, chiefly through the perse- 
 verance of their wives. On this interesting de- 
 
478 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, partment of labour they make the following judi- 
 XIIL cious remarks : " The education of females,, though 
 rapidly advancing, is attended with many difficul- 
 ties ; and will be thus attended, for a long time to 
 come : the whole frame of society must be pulled 
 down and rebuilt,, before women can enjoy their 
 rightful privileges, and be elevated to their proper 
 rank. This mighty work can only be accomplished 
 by the all-pervading influence of Christian prin- 
 ciple, diffused by education, by example, and by 
 persevering labour in all these ways, accompanied 
 by the special influences of the Holy Spirit. One 
 of the first impediments to the improvement of 
 females, is the difficulty of finding any employments 
 for them, compatible with cultivation of mind or 
 elevation of character : but such employment will 
 be found, as true civilisation shall advance under 
 the auspices of Christianity." 
 
 Besides these general schools, they commenced, 
 in 1822, a central establishment, at Batticotta, for 
 the reception of their most promising youths, to be 
 trained for future service among their countrymen. 
 In 1826, it contained one hundred and twenty- 
 three pupils ; and, at the same time, the brethren 
 gave the following account of the establishment : 
 " This school is considered as the germ of the in- 
 tended COLLEGE ; most of the youths, divided into 
 two classes, are pursuing the studies intended for 
 the first and second years of college course. In 
 reference to the college it is stated by the Board : 
 Suites of plain low rooms, sufficiently large for the 
 bo} 7 s to eat, sleep, and study in ; with a neat col- 
 lege edifice, for hall, lecture-rooms, library, &c., 
 and a small chapel, are needed. Through the 
 generosity of several gentlemen in Ceylon and 
 Madras, the missionaries have been able to com- 
 mence, and have now nearly finished, two sets of 
 rooms for the students, containing three rooms 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 479 
 
 each ; and one large and handsome room for a 
 hall,, and other purposes, until a college edifice may 
 be built. These are all situated on the Church or 
 Government lands at Batticotta." 
 
 Nor was this the extent of their schools. They 
 had besides, like their brethren at Bombay, do- 
 mestic, or, as they sometimes call them, BENEFI- 
 CIARY schools, most of the pupils being maintained 
 by benefactors in America. There was one at each 
 station, and the missionaries state : " The care 
 and instruction of these schools devolve, in a great 
 degree, on the females of our mission, assisted by 
 natives ; and though domestic duties may prevent 
 them from labouring, to any great extent, among 
 the people, they may in this way be very useful. 
 In these schools, much religious instruction is daily 
 given, and all possible care is taken to keep the 
 scholars from the contaminating influence of heathen 
 customs. The change effected in the habits of 
 these children, by the discipline of a few days only, 
 is exceedingly interesting ; and the number from 
 these schools who have been added to our church 
 sufficiently proves, that the moral influence of such 
 discipline is most happy." 
 
 On this statement the American Board re- 
 marked : " Among these boarding scholars, in 
 number about two hundred, the Spirit of God 
 seems chiefly to have operated. The missionaries 
 indulge the hope, varying in degree with respect to 
 different individuals, that more than ONE-THIRD of 
 these scholars have become pious. This is a grand 
 result. And how was it brought about ? While 
 the missionaries are all men of finished education, 
 and would be respected for their talents and attain- 
 ments in any society of men, they imitate, in their 
 mode of operating on heathen minds, the great 
 Apostle to the Gentiles, who determined to know 
 nothing except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified ; and 
 
480 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, preached, not with enticing words of mans wisdom, 
 
 L but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. No 
 
 parade was made of human learning. Philosophy 
 had no agency. The grand result was produced 
 by the simple inculcation of religious truth by 
 the simple means which are used by all evangelical 
 missionaries,, at every missionary station in the 
 world." 
 
 " On the effects of the schools, and the evidence 
 which they afford of the Divine blessing, the mis- 
 sionaries state : ' We are training up a READING 
 POPULATION ; and it is very noticeable, even now, 
 when we go among the people to distribute tracts, 
 that the young men who have been educated in our 
 schools are by far the most eager to receive them, 
 and the most able to read them with understanding. 
 In the central school at Batticotta, there are now 
 twenty-two, who give good evidence that they are 
 born from above: most of these possess talents 
 which would not disgrace the ministry. These, 
 with a number of boys in the school at Tillipally, 
 and others who are helpers in the mission, are the 
 fruits of that system on which we have acted. To 
 the Lord be all the praise for the work accom- 
 plished !" 
 
 All these operations were carried on, as in other 
 missions, by repeated interruption from sickness 
 and death. At the close of 1826, there were six 
 missionaries, one being a medical man, Dr Scud- 
 der, whose exertions for the recovery of the sick 
 had been very successful, and tended to increase 
 the popularity of the mission in the country. He 
 was subsequently ordained by the brethren to the 
 ministry, and then acted in the twofold capacity of 
 physician to the body and the soul. 
 
 They had from the first availed themselves of the 
 assistance of converts on whose piety and capabi- 
 lities they could rely. They had now several of 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 481 
 
 these native assistants, of whose exertions they 
 thus speak : " The labours of our native preachers 
 continue to increase, and to occupy a more and 
 more important sphere in our mission. As we 
 ourselves have acquired strength by the advance 
 made in the native language, their labours as inter- 
 preters have become of less importance ; and, in- 
 stead of being our medium of communication with 
 the people, they have now become, in a more im- 
 portant sense, themselves, preachers of the Gospel. 
 They have heretofore been principally occupied 
 nearer home : but are now beginning to itinerate at 
 a greater distance among the people ; and generally 
 spend five or six days of each month, either sepa- 
 rately or unitedly, on the islands adjacent, or in 
 different parts of this district. For itinerating in 
 this way, they have peculiar advantages, many of 
 which it is impossible for us to possess ourselves: 
 they can leave home without neglecting other 
 duties, which are essential to the interest of the 
 mission ; and they can, with less exposure, endure 
 the fatigue and inconvenience which attend such 
 tours in this country." 
 
 They employed their elder scholars also, in 
 spreading the Gospel abroad, whom they sent forth 
 by two and two, to go into villages, fields, and 
 streets, and from house to house, for the purpose 
 of preaching the Gospel, or of reading tracts or 
 extracts and portions from the Scriptures. 
 
 Upon this mode of proceeding they remark : 
 " The method of spreading the Gospel, by sending 
 our boarding boys to read to the people, has be- 
 come greatly useful : as it not only enables us to 
 communicate the truth to hundreds in a day, who 
 must otherwise remain uninstructed ; but, at the 
 same time, teaches our boys to defend the Christian 
 religion from all the false accusations and vain ob- 
 jections brought against it by the heathen. The 
 
 VOL. v. H h 
 
482 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, females, who have joined our church, often seek 
 XIIL opportunities, by going to different houses, of com- 
 municating truth to their own sex ; and are some- 
 times successful in persuading a few to break away 
 from their former customs, to go to the house of 
 worship, and to listen to the Gospel." 
 
 In 1820, a printer, Mr James Garrett, arrived 
 from America, but was not permitted to remain on 
 the island, for what cause does not appear. In 
 this department of labour, the missionaries appear 
 to have done little ; but they were abundantly 
 supplied with books and religious tracts from other 
 sources, which they distributed in great numbers. 
 On the whole, the general improvement of each 
 station presented a contrast to its state when esta- 
 blished but a few years before, which filled their 
 hearts with gratitude for the past, and with hope 
 for the future. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 483 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY IX NORTH INDIA, 1817-1826. 
 
 1 . HITHERTO the operations of the London Mission- A mission 
 ary Society had been limited to Chinsurah and its * 
 
 vicinity j 1 but, in the autumn of 1816,, two mis- 
 sionaries, the Rev. Henry Townley and the Rev. 
 James Keith, arrived to form a station in Calcutta. 
 In the course of ten years they were followed by 
 nine others, of whom, at the close of the decade, 
 only four remained, Messrs Trawin, Gogerley, Hill, 
 and Piffard, some of their brethren having been 
 removed by death, or retiring, from sickness and 
 other causes. 
 
 Messrs Townley and Keith commenced their 
 English service in the Free Masons' Hall, which 
 was soon insufficient for their increasing congrega- 
 tion, when they were permitted to use a temporary 
 place of worship occupied by the Presbyterians 
 while their own church was building. They shortly 
 opened a place for preaching at Hourah, on the 
 other side of the river Hooghly, where the attend- 
 ance was good. Mr Townley built a school-room 
 in Calcutta, large enough to accommodate one hun- 
 dred children, and Mr Keith engaged a Poojah- 
 
 1 Book xi. chap. 3. Appendix I. of this Vol. 
 
484 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, house (a place for Pagan worship) for another. 
 XiV ' They also commenced a Sunday school, in which 
 the children learned the Catechism ; and some of 
 their parents attended. 
 
 In about a twelvemonth they had made suffi- 
 cient progress in Bengalee to enable them to preach 
 in that language ; and,, having no place in which 
 to assemble the natives, they set a table, under 
 cover, on their premises, with gospels and tracts ; 
 there they sat, and read to any native who might 
 stop ; and thus they found opportunity to enter 
 into frequent conversations, and distribute many 
 books. This they did every evening, and soon 
 found their opportunities for preaching multiply 
 faster than they were able to embrace them, and 
 they wrote home in urgent terms for more help. 
 Tnl iy 2. In 1819, they occupied a new station, at 
 
 giveifup Tally Gunge, of which they gave the following ac- 
 to the^s. count : " Kalee Ghaut is the seat of Kalee Ma, or 
 Black Mother the Diana of the Hindoos in this 
 district. It is situated about three miles from the 
 southern boundary of Calcutta. Tally Gunge is 
 about one mile to the south of Kalee Ghaut, and in 
 the neighbourhood, not merely of the multitudes 
 resorting for religious purposes to Kalee Ghaut, but 
 of a great resident population. Going forth three 
 miles from Tally Gunge in all directions, probably 
 not fewer than one hundred thousand souls all 
 ignorant of themselves, of God, and of the way of 
 salvation would be found." Here they built a 
 school-room ; and having obtained the loan of a 
 house, rent free, one of them resided at this station 
 alternate weeks, and they had reason to be thankful 
 for the measure of success vouchsafed to their 
 labours, After a few years, however, at the request 
 of the Diocesan Committee of the Christian Know- 
 ledge Society, the station, being connected with 
 their schools in that quarter, was relinquished to 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 485 
 
 them, on their defraying the expenses which had 
 been incurred. It is much to be desired that all 
 Societies engaged in the same great work, would 
 accommodate one another in this friendly manner, 
 where it can be done without injury to their own 
 operations. 
 
 3. In May 1820, they laid the foundation-stone Chapels 
 of a spacious place of worship at Dhurrumtollah, Dhurrum- 
 called " Union Chapel," which was finished and tollah arid 
 opened in the following April, Nearly four thou- 
 sand pounds were raised in India for its erection, 
 another evidence of the growing improvement in 
 public feeling towards religious objects. At this 
 time the missionaries occupied twenty-one stations, 
 within the city of Calcutta and in the suburbs, at 
 which they preached weekly, in Bengalee ; besides 
 preaching out-of-doors, in different districts where 
 the native population was largest. The service at 
 Union Chapel was in English, which was well 
 attended. At Kidderpore, and the other stations, 
 chapels were erected for Bengalee worship, and 
 sometimes large congregations attended. Of these 
 assemblies the missionaries wrote, in 1824 " On 
 many occasions, these little bungalow chapels are 
 crowded with attentive hearers ; who, at the con- 
 clusion of the service, frequently exhibit evident 
 marks of astonishment and concern at what they 
 hear confessing that, if ever the t y are saved, it 
 must be by believing on Christ. Hundreds have 
 expressed doubts respecting the truth of their pre- 
 sent system, and have declared their determination 
 to investigate the claims of Christianity. Many, 
 also, who have attended for the express purpose of 
 cavilling and laughter, have gone away deeply im- 
 pressed with the importance of preparing for eter- 
 nity." In the following year they began to reap 
 the fruits of these exertions, and they had the 
 satisfaction of sending home the following report of 
 
486 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, their result. On the 18th of October 1825, five 
 XIV ' adults were baptized at Kidderpore, on a public 
 avowal of their renouncing idolatry and receiving 
 the Gospel ; three had been before baptized by Mr 
 Trawin ; on the 3d of April, four were added ; and 
 on the 9th of May, three more, making a total of 
 fifteen. At Rammakalchoke, the inhabitants de- 
 molished their image of Siva, and erected a substan- 
 tial chapel with the materials of the idol's temple. 
 Schools 4. Eight boys' schools, and five for girls, were 
 ^oVn^and established at Calcutta, Kidderpore, and the other 
 adults. principal stations, containing in the aggregate, at 
 the close of the decade, three hundred boys and 
 one hundred girls. A Sabbath adult school also 
 was opened at Kidderpore, composed at first of the 
 workmen of a gentleman, and afterwards joined by 
 others, till the numbers increased to eighty. In 
 all these schools the Scriptures were taught, to 
 which, in the Sunday school, the Catechism was 
 added ; and the missionaries give of the whole the 
 following report : " We are thankful in being able 
 to give an account which, as it regards the increase 
 of schools, the number and improvement of the 
 children under Christian instruction, and the in- 
 crease of labourers, is truly encouraging. Hope 
 animates to redoubled exertions, by the fruits al- 
 ready presented as the reward of our toils. Cate- 
 chisms and short prayers are committed to memory, 
 the Scriptures are daily read and explained, and a 
 goodly number of adults are gaining a considerable 
 knowledge of the fundamental truths of Christianity, 
 by the catechetical lectures delivered at the schools 
 and the Bengalee sermon which follows. The 
 schools afford striking instances of the good effects 
 which result from the religious instruction of youth. 
 It almost invariably disposes the parents to respect 
 the missionaries ; and, consequently, to receive their 
 admonitions with attention." 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 487 
 
 The female schools were chiefly under the charge 
 of a Miss Piffard, who erected the buildings and 
 supported the schools at her own expense, and gave 
 to them her personal superintendence. This gene- 
 rous and indefatigable lady was assisted by one of 
 the missionaries' wives, Mrs Trawin ; and they had 
 much to encourage them, in the decline of the 
 native prejudice against female education, and in 
 the readiness of the children to be instructed. 
 
 5. The press also was an important engine in Printing 
 these operations. In 1819, Mr George Gogerley press ' 
 arrived, to take charge of the printing department, 
 
 for which he was well qualified, and to assist in the 
 Sunday school. The press was chiefly employed in 
 printing tracts, in Bengalee, Hindoostanee, Hin- 
 duwee, and English, which were distributed far and 
 wide ; and by the close of 1826, nearly one hundred 
 and fifty thousand of these little winged messengers 
 had been sent forth to proclaim the Gospel of peace. 
 Much of the expense of this mission was defrayed 
 by local contributions, the missionaries having suc- 
 ceeded in establishing an Auxiliary Society, which 
 proved a liberal source of supply. 
 
 6. CHINSTJRAH. An account of the establishment schools at 
 and progress of this station, the first of the Society 
 
 in Bengal, has already been given. 1 The chief 
 object of the missionaries here, we have seen, was 
 the education of youth ; and at the opening of the 
 present decade, they had thirty-six schools under 
 their charge, including on the books nearly three 
 thousand children, of whom about two-thirds were 
 in actual attendance. The scholars consisted chiefly 
 of Mahomedans and Hindoos, a great proportion of 
 whom were Brahmins. 
 
 The extension of these schools creating a neces- Bookand 
 
 Calcutta 
 
 , . School 
 
 Societies. 
 
 1 ftook xi. clinp. 3. 
 
488 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, sity for books, which there were at that time no 
 XIV ' means of supplying, in 1817, a society was formed 
 at Calcutta, called "The School-Book Society," to 
 meet this urgent demand. They began with pub- 
 lishing elementary works of instruction in Bengalee 
 and Hindoostanee ; to which were subsequently 
 added, the Sanscrit, Hinduwee, Ooriya, Arabic, 
 Persian, English, Anglo- Asiatic, and a few others. 1 
 From these works all religious instruction was ex- 
 cluded, none being allowed in the majority of the 
 schools, which were supported by Government, and 
 the society being formed of Hindoos and Mahome- 
 dans, as well as Christians. Their publications, 
 which were designed for the native youth, soon 
 attracted the notice of the more intelligent adults 
 also, for they contained much information that was 
 new to them, and they were the means of diffusing 
 generally much useful knowledge. 
 
 In the following year, 1818, another society, 
 called " The Calcutta School Society," was insti- 
 tuted by the same parties, whose object was to 
 assist and improve existing indigenous schools, to 
 establish and support any further schools and semi- 
 naries which might be required, and to prepare 
 select pupils of distinguished talents, by a superior 
 course of education, for becoming teachers and 
 translators. Both these institutions were liberally 
 supported by Government. 2 
 
 Mr May, the founder and able conductor of the 
 Chinsurah schools, did not live to see these societies, 
 which arose out of his own exertions, in full opera- 
 tion. For some time his health had been declining, 
 and, in August 1818, he removed to Calcutta for 
 medical advice, where he died the day after his 
 
 1 Lusliington's History of Calcutta Institutions, p. 156, et seq. 
 Appendix No. 9, where a list of the books is given. 
 
 8 Ibid., p. 168, c.tseq. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 489 
 
 arrival. Mr Pearson took his place as superin- 
 tendent of the numerous schools, assisted by Mr 
 Harle at Bankipore ; and but for the want of funds, 
 they might immediately have opened twenty more 
 schools,, being compelled to refuse that number of 
 petitions from various villages. Mr Pearson trans- 
 lated into Bengalee the British System of Education, 
 and established, with advantage, public examina- 
 tions. 
 
 7. A short time before Mr May's death, Chin- 
 surah was restored to the Dutch, which caused a the Dutch, 
 change in the European society, arid deprived the 
 schools of the patronage of Mr Commissioner Forbes, to be 
 
 At first their scholars were diminished, but the 
 schools do not seem materially to have suffered, Govern- 
 when it was known that the British Government r 
 continued to support them. The Dutch Governor 
 also countenanced them, and under his protection 
 they soon nearly recovered their former number. 
 The Gospels, together with Scripture selections, 
 were introduced into several of the schools, simply 
 as class-books, without any explanation or personal 
 application of their contents ; and this, so far from 
 giving offence, led both teachers and scholars fre- 
 quently to solicit from the missionaries copies of 
 the sacred Scriptures, or books treating on Christi- 
 anity. 
 
 8. This decline of native prejudice encouraged Mission 
 
 . . 11 schools 
 
 the missionaries to open schools on the mission ac- opened. 
 count, in which a Christian education was avowedly 
 given ; and, in 1822, they gave the following report 
 of the result : " We have taken under our care 
 four native schools, containing about two hundred 
 children. The Catechism and Scriptures are learnt, 
 and read by them daily. On Sabbath morning they 
 are all assembled in our large Bengalee chapel 
 (where we every evening exhibit a crucified Saviour 
 to the people), when we catechise and expound to 
 
490 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 C xiv P ' them. This commenced about ten weeks ago, and 
 
 1 has hitherto gone on with great success : we are 
 
 indeed constrained to say,, What hath God wrought ! 
 Five years ago, on Br. Pearson's arrival, the name 
 of Christ could scarcely be mentioned to a boy, or 
 a printed book put into his hand, though its con- 
 tents were nothing but a few fables, so great were 
 their prejudices ; but now what a door is opening 
 for the communication of that knowledge which 
 shall cause them utterly to forsake the dumb idols 
 of their forefathers ! " This continued to increase 
 till the number on Sundays amounted to nearly 
 three hundred ; and the progress of the scholars in 
 Christian knowledge was very encouraging. 
 
 A commencement was made also in female edu- 
 cation, four schools being opened in and round 
 Chinsurah, containing together about one hundred 
 scholars. 
 
 But the missionaries were not so absorbed in 
 education as to forget the more important duty of 
 proclaiming the Gospel to the heathen. They 
 devoted the mornings and evenings to preaching 
 in Bengalee, and distributing tracts. In 1821, they 
 erected a chapel on the outside of one of the town 
 gates, where, or on the roadside, they daily took their 
 stand, and addressed all who stopped to hear. The 
 plan pursued in the evening service at the chapel 
 is thus described : " On a raised part of the floor 
 we place a table, a stool, and a candlestick ; one 
 of us sits down, and the people coming in take their 
 seats also on stools and benches, in front and on 
 either side. The missionary opens the Bible, reads, 
 expounds, and prays ; then, sitting down again, 
 converses with his hearers on what has been con- 
 sidered. Often do I think that I could sit and 
 converse thus night and day. Independently of 
 the good which, by the blessing of God, we may 
 expect will accrue to the people, here is rapid im- 
 
IN INDIA '. BOOK XIII. 491 
 
 provement in the language, in the knowledge of 
 popular objections, with the mode of refuting them ; 
 and, best of all, in the exercise of faith and love : 
 for we find that hard words, or hard arguments, if 
 alone, will do just as much as hard stones toward 
 making men Christians." The congregations were 
 generally numerous and attentive ; and it is further 
 remarked : " In consequence of our having been 
 so much among the natives lately, we are become 
 universally known; and, as we pass along the 
 streets, they will point at us and say, ' There go 
 Jesus Christ's men ! ' ' 
 
 For some time they were assisted in these 
 ministrations by Mr Townley, who, in 1821, re- 
 moved hither from Calcutta for the benefit of his 
 health, and continued to assist his brethren, until 
 sickness compelled him to embark for Europe. 
 The missionaries found time to pay some attention 
 also to the translation of tracts and school-books, 
 and to superintend the press ; but, for want of 
 assistance, they could not pursue these branches of 
 operation so far as they desired. 
 
 9. BENARES. The directors of the Society hav- Mission 
 ing for some time contemplated the establishment - 
 of a mission at Benares, in October 1819, they sent Benares. 8 
 out a missionary, Rev. M. T. Adam, for that 
 station. He arrived at Calcutta in the following 
 spring. During his sojourn at Calcutta, the 
 Society's report states : " Mr Adam obtained much 
 useful information, but particularly from the Rev. 
 Daniel Corrie, who had formerly resided at Be- 
 nares, and whose communications were made in 
 the kindest manner possible." 
 
 In August 1820, he reached Benares, and fixed 
 his residence at Secrole, near the city. While 
 studying the language of the place, he employed 
 himself in distributing tracts, particularly at the 
 great public festivals, when the resort of Hindoos 
 
492 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, to Benares from the various parts of India was 
 XIV ' immense. He also held public service in English 
 in his own house, which was attended by some of 
 the British troops. The interest they took in his 
 ministrations was evinced in a gratifying manner, 
 by their setting on foot a subscription, during his 
 absence at some distance from home, and erecting 
 a chapel for him on ground granted by the general 
 within the cantonments. Mr Adam preached in 
 this chapel on Sunday and Tuesday evenings, 
 and gave as much time to the instruction of his 
 countrymen as he could spare from his other 
 engagements. 
 
 He established three schools for the natives, 
 which, in 1826, were increased to six, in which 
 Sanscrit, Hindee, and Persian were taught ; and 
 the Scriptures were introduced into all the classes 
 sufficiently advanced to read them. The schools, 
 at the last report of this year, contained 260 boys ; 
 and the missionary reports, in 1826 "they ex- 
 hibit evidence of improvement. In all of them, 
 the Bible is an established school-book, while the 
 native school-books are excluded. The higher 
 Hindoostanee classes have made considerable pro- 
 gress in the Catechism, and one class reads the 
 Hinduwee Testament. Although, in consequence 
 of the Scriptures being taught in the schools, some 
 of the people have taken away their children, yet 
 is there a manifest decline of prejudice evinced on 
 the part of others, who have ceased to object to 
 the schools on this score ; while, on the other 
 hand, the boys manifest greater willingness to 
 read the Scriptures and Christian books, and more 
 ardent thirst for knowledge in general." 
 
 On the distribution of tracts at the melas or 
 fairs, he remarks : 
 
 " The tracts and portions of the Scriptures 
 which have been distributed may, by the blessing 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 493 
 
 of the Lord, make known the way of salvation in 
 many a village, and to many persons, secluded, by 
 distance or other causes, from the instructions of 
 the voice of the Christian missionary ; so that 
 it is impossible to calculate the actual extent to 
 which the knowledge of Jehovah, and of His saving 
 health, may be communicated by means of even 
 one of these large assemblies, held for the express 
 purpose of supporting the kingdom of darkness, or 
 of celebrating the feats of some of its distinguished 
 agents. It is thus that Hindooism itself, by its 
 observances, presents many favourable oppor- 
 tunities for missionary exertions, not to be met 
 with in many other heathen and Mahomedan 
 countries." 
 
 In December 1826, he had the happiness of 
 welcoming a coadjutor, the Rev. James Robertson, 
 who took up his abode in the north-east part of 
 the city, where no schools had been established, 
 either by his colleague or the church missionaries. 
 A commodious and substantial mission-house had 
 recently been erected, and they started on the 
 next decade with bright hopes of success. 
 
 10. In the year 1821, the Society sent a deputa- Report of 
 tion, Messrs Tyerman and Bennett, to visit their ^ n mis ~ 
 missions in the South Seas and the East Indies. 
 After reporting upon the state of the North India 
 missions, in 1826, they remark : 
 
 " Having now given some account of the state 
 of things as we have seen them in Calcutta, Kidder- 
 pore, Chinsurah, Berampore, and Benares, we 
 would remark generally, that our expectations re- 
 specting the missionary good that has been effected, 
 and the prospects of more good being done, have 
 been greatly exceeded by what we have found, 
 and by what, under the blessing of God, we may 
 reasonably hope. Our faith respecting the conver- 
 sion of the Hindoos has been much increased by 
 
494 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, what we have seen both in Bengal and in the 
 XIV " upper provinces ; and from the concurrent testi- 
 mony of wise and observing men, who describe 
 the great difference that there is between the state 
 of things now and what it was some years ago, 
 both among the rich and poor Hindoos,, and among 
 the Brahmins, many of whom begin to be ashamed 
 of the gross impositions which they have so long 
 practised, and of the oppressions which, by pre- 
 scription, they have inflicted on the inferior castes. 
 The reverential regard, reaching to actual adoration, 
 with which these inferior castes treated the Brah- 
 mins, is very much lessened. We think we see 
 the fetters of caste very much weakened ; and we 
 do cheerfully hope that the whole series of the 
 links of this cruel chain will be for ever broken, 
 under the commendable "moderation and prudence 
 of our enlightened government ; and especially by 
 the blessing of God on the efforts of prudent 
 Christian members and missionaries, who, while 
 they preach the Gospel very widely and faithfully, 
 exhibit a Scriptural temper and conduct toward one 
 another, toward the European inhabitants, and 
 toward the heathen population, and who are also 
 zealously engaged in superintending the education 
 of the young of both sexes, and in writing, print- 
 ing, and distributing useful books, especially the 
 Scriptures, to so very great an extent. 
 
 " The effects which have been already produced 
 on the native population by the introduction of an 
 increased number of wise and good missionaries, 
 and members of religion not being missionaries, 
 have already been great, directly, in various parts 
 of India ; nor less so indirectly, by having effected 
 so manifest a moral improvement in the resident 
 British population in these parts. This change is 
 so great and so valuable, that no reflecting per- 
 son can help seeing it, and no benevolent person 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 495 
 
 can avoid rejoicing in it. The decencies of social 
 life are decorously observed the day of God is 
 distinguished the places of religious worship,, in 
 and out of the establishment, are well filled the 
 institutions and ministers of religion are reverenced 
 and many pious families in the different ranks 
 of society among the British offer their daily 
 thanks to God, and pray that His kingdom may 
 come and spread until it shall cover the whole 
 earth!" 
 
496 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN SOUTH INDIA, 
 
 1817-1823. 
 
 MADRAS. 
 
 Account of 1. THE arrival of another missionary for this 
 na e tive St station in the autumn of 1816 was mentioned 
 convert, in the last volume l He was accompanied by 
 several brethren destined for other stations, who, 
 during their detention at Madras, were actively 
 engaged in various ways, and a considerable revival 
 took place in the mission. They preached to three 
 English congregations and one native, all of which 
 they describe as in a prosperous state. Hitherto, 
 as we have seen, little attention had been paid to 
 the natives, Mr Loveless being entirely engaged in 
 English services ; so that he disclaimed the name 
 of a missionary. But now, as soon as his younger 
 brethren had attained some knowledge of Tamul, 
 they began to address the Hindoos around them. 
 On Sunday, Feb. 14. 1819, Mr Loveless baptized 
 their first heathen convert. His name was " Apa- 
 voo, whose parents were of the Batala caste, or 
 highest sub-division of the Soodras . When about 
 
 1 Book x. chap. v. Appendix J of this vol. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 497 
 
 fifteen years of age, his appearance and manners, 
 which were engaging, attracted the attention of the 
 late Dr John, of Tranquebar, into whose family he 
 was taken, and by whom he was treated rather as a 
 son than a stranger. Some time after the death of his 
 benefactor, his parents, apprehensive that he might 
 become a Christian, succeeded in drawing him away 
 from the school in which he had been placed. He 
 had, however, learned, to use his own language, 
 ' the vanity of his countrymen in worshipping 
 images of stocks and stones/ and, therefore, whilst 
 he continued with his parents, although he com- 
 plied with their superstitious modes of worship, he 
 did it reluctantly, and without the consent of his 
 judgment. Released, however, from former re- 
 straints, and having his passions fanned by the 
 influence of an impure religion, he soon sunk 
 into vice. Still he was not entirely free from the 
 rebukes of conscience. Without the knowledge of 
 his parents, he sought readmission into the school, 
 and was accepted, but after a short time was again 
 drawn away. To prevent any further applications, 
 he was afterwards taken to Madras. 
 
 " So difficult is it to eradicate superstition, and 
 so contagious is the influence of corrupt example, 
 that although Apavoo knew better, he actually 
 joined with his idolatrous relations in offerings and 
 penance to the Hindoo deities, in order that he 
 might render them propitious to his journey, and 
 its object. He chose, moreover, several of them, 
 in hope that, if one failed, another might prove 
 more favourable. Nevertheless, his gods deceived 
 him. When he arrived at Madras, his relative was 
 dead, he could obtain no employment, and his 
 parents were compelled, by necessity, to leave him 
 behind them in a destitute condition. The recol- 
 lection of his past sins now revived and tormented 
 him, and, to employ his own words, he ' besought 
 
 VOL. v. i i 
 
498 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. God most humbly to place him in any service, so 
 xy> that he might discover the truth of his infinite be- 
 ing, of Jesus Christ, and his gospel.' 
 
 ee Introduced by an acquaintance to the Rev. Mr 
 Knill, he was appointed to superintend a school 
 recently established, and regarded this engagement 
 as another instance of the gracious care of a superin- 
 tending Providence. ' Surely/ thought he, ( this is 
 intended by God for the good of my soul !' Whilst, 
 however, he taught his scholars to read the Scrip- 
 tures, he did not neglect to search them himself. 
 By this means, and by the kind instructions of Mr 
 Knill, he acquired a high regard for the Bible, and 
 grew rapidly in a knowledge of its contents, though 
 still he could not see that he was under an obliga- 
 tion to comply with all its precepts." 
 
 Subsequently, in conversation with Mr Knill, it 
 appeared that he was struggling hard with his con- 
 victions, and fervently praying to be directed in the 
 path of sacred truth. He had, however, an ex- 
 treme horror at the thought of renouncing his 
 caste ; but was at length brought to the resolution 
 to brave all the contumely and loss to which this 
 step would expose him, by reading the following 
 Scriptures, Jer. xiii. 10 and Psalm Ixxxv. He 
 then declared, " From the views I have derived 
 from these passages of Scriptures, I was enabled to 
 form a decision, that I would leave my heathen 
 companions, and the worship of idols, and devote 
 myself to God, according to his revealed will, and 
 to be entirely his for ever." He also resolved to 
 receive Christian baptism ; but fearing the effect 
 on his people, and his parents, he was desirous to 
 postpone it for an indefinite period. His hesitation, 
 however, to take the decisive step was afterwards 
 removed ; when the missionaries, satisfied as to the 
 sincerity of his profession, publicly baptized him in 
 the mission chapel, before a crowded congregation, 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 499 
 
 chiefly of native Christians, but intermingled with 
 a few dissatisfied heathen. Mr Loveless addressed 
 the convert with much personal emotion, and with 
 pastoral interest. Apavoo was named John, out 
 of regard, no doubt, for the memory of his late 
 teacher, Dr John. The account of his present 
 state of mind, drawn up by himself, which was read 
 on this occasion, concludes as follows : " Thus 
 I have fully and firmly resolved to give myself up 
 to Christ in public baptism, notwithstanding all the 
 opposition that has been made thereto by my own 
 people, and devote myself to his service, body, 
 soul, and spirit, well assured that ' Christ is the 
 way, the truth, and the life/ and humbly depend- 
 ing on him for my eternal redemption. In faith 
 of his power, and of his willingness to save, I can 
 defy all opposition, his grace assisting me. And I 
 do hereby testify, that I am not ashamed of the 
 Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto 
 salvation : and may I have strength given me to 
 persevere, even unto the end, to manifest the purity 
 of my faith by a humble and holy life, and after 
 death receive a crown of endless glory. I now 
 humbly entreat my Christian friends here to re- 
 member me at the throne of grace, that I may be 
 kept from all sin and danger, and that I may be 
 made a useful aud humble follower of Christ, hon- 
 ouring my profession, and glorifying God. And 
 now I commit myself to your love and affection in 
 Jesus Christ. Amen." 1 
 
 After his baptism, Apavoo continued to be em- 
 ployed in the mission, and had subsequently a 
 Tamul congregation committed to his charge. Be- 
 fore long the missionaries also were able to take 
 part in preaching the Gospel to the heathen, and 
 
 Missionary Records, India, pp. 193-200. 
 
500 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAR two of them alternately performed missionary tours 
 
 '- in the neighbourhood of Madras. The result of 
 
 these exertions was very encouraging, and before 
 the close of the decade, they had succeeded in esta- 
 blishing native churches at Vepery, Periamcottoo, 
 Royapooram, and Tripasore. On every visit to the 
 native schools also, they addressed the adult hea- 
 then, frequently in large numbers ; and of these 
 various exertions, also of other opportunities to 
 address the natives, it is remarked i 1 " Unex- 
 pected opportunities of addressing the natives were 
 afforded, in consequence of the prevalent distress 
 resulting from the failure of the harvest. Mr 
 Taylor, having been appointed secretary to the 
 Vepery and Pursewaukum funds for the relief of 
 distressed natives, took an active part in their dis- 
 tribution : about one thousand usually attended to 
 receive assistance. On these occasions, they were 
 sometimes addressed, in a body, by Mr Taylor ; 
 and sometimes in companies of about five hundred 
 each, by himself and John Nimmoo, the native 
 teacher. The most favourable opportunities, how- 
 ever, for addressing the natives, are the seasons of 
 examining and catechizing the children in the 
 schools : on such occasions, the missionary is sur- 
 rounded by people, who patiently listen to the read- 
 ing and exposition of the Scriptures and Catechisms, 
 whom no persuasives would induce to attend the 
 preaching of the Gospel in a place of worship." 
 
 The missionaries remark : ' ' Among the vil- 
 lagers and inhabitants of country-places, there are 
 seen a simplicity of character, a curiosity of dispo- 
 sition easily excited, and an ingenuousness of mind, 
 all highly favourable to the preacher who would 
 declare to them the tidings of salvation ; but among 
 i 
 
 1 Society's Report for 1825. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 501 
 
 the inhabitants of the city there is a willingness of 
 character, an apparent pliancy of disposition, and 
 a very thorough knowledge of the defects of merely 
 nominal Christians, which are calculated to ob- 
 struct the unbiassed reception of Divine truth." 
 
 In the following year they reported : " Teru- 
 chebray and Nimmoo (two native teachers) are 
 constantly and usefully engaged. A member at 
 Pursewaukum chapel has opened his house at 
 Koyapooram for worship in Tamul; Mr Crisp 
 preaches there every alternate week. The congre- 
 gation consists of heathens and Roman Catholics, 
 chiefly heathens. At the close of the services, 
 which have excited considerable attention to the 
 place, numerous applications are made for the 
 Scriptures and tracts." 
 
 2. The missionaries had also three English con- 
 gregations in different parts of Madras and Vepery, 
 composed chiefly of East Indians ; and in Decem- English 
 ber 1819, they opened a spacious chapel at Purse- 
 waukum, built by voluntary contributions. Other 
 places of worship were also erected where required ; 
 and of these English services it was reported in 
 1826: " The Black Town congregation, which, 
 from local circumstances, had for a time declined, 
 has revived, and presents a decidedly improved at- 
 tendance. In each congregation more seriousness 
 and spirituality are manifest : additions are, from 
 time to time, made to the church. The prayer 
 meetings on Sabbath evenings are fully attended : 
 a prayer meeting on Saturday evenings has been 
 commenced. The missionaries preach alternately 
 at Fort St George, where from sixty to one hun- 
 dred of the military attend. The soldiers hold 
 prayer-meetings statedly among themselves : several 
 of them exhibit satisfactory evidence of piety. A 
 Sunday school connected with the English congre- 
 gation was well attended." 
 
 services. 
 
502 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. In the Hindoo schools opened in and around 
 
 L Madras, the aggregate number of boys, in 1826, 
 
 was six hundred. The missionaries established a 
 Hindoostanee school also, for Mahomedans, which 
 contained sixty scholars. " The course of instruc- 
 tion is entirely under the regulation of the mission- 
 aries : a few native books are read ; but the lead- 
 ing objects are the communication of Christian 
 knowledge and the implantation of Christian prin- 
 ciples. The New Testament is a standard book in 
 all the schools. Many of the scholars, in the differ- 
 ent schools, evince a knowledge and approbation of 
 Divine truth." 
 
 A hooi tral ^* ^ ne y established a central school for training 
 esta- schoolmasters, which at this period contained 
 wished twenty-one scholars, ten Mahomedans, and the 
 rest Hindoos, who were both educated and sup- 
 ported. The annual expense of each youth was 
 about seven pounds sterling. There were English 
 free schools also, the average attendance in which 
 was eighty boys and sixty girls ; and many of the 
 scholars were reported to be improving, both in 
 attendance and learning. 1 
 
 1 It would occupy too much space, in the progress of these 
 and other missions, to mention all the changes that take place 
 in the missionaries ; but we cannot forbear to give the high tes- 
 timony borne by the Society to Mr Loveless, the founder of 
 this mission, on his return to England in 1824 : " Since he 
 has resided at Madras, a short period excepted, Mr Loveless 
 has not been in immediate connection with the Society : but 
 he has, nevertheless, in the departments which he has actually 
 filled, contributed materially to the establishment, support, and 
 advancement of the mission ; he has statedly officiated at the 
 chapel in Black Town ; and, together with Mrs Loveless, has 
 taken an active part in the superintendence of the free schools ; 
 he has also maintained a useful correspondence with the direc- 
 tors on the general concerns of the mission, ever since his 
 arrival in India. By these and other gratuitous services, as 
 well as by his pious and consistent conduct, he has entitled 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 503 
 
 4. YIZAGAPATAM. This station continued, as at 
 the close of 1816, 2 under the care of three mis- tionofthe 
 sionaries, Messrs Dawson, Pritchett and Gordon. Scri P tures - 
 The circulation of the Teloogoo Testament, trans- 
 lated, as we have seen, by Mr Pritchett, soon began 
 to awaken the attention of the natives, not only at 
 Vizagapatam and its immediate neighbourhood, but 
 to some distance through the country, as mentioned 
 in our last volume. 3 Mr Pritchett proceeded to 
 Madras, to superintend the printing of two thousand 
 copies of the Teloogoo Testament for the Calcutta 
 Bible Society. He then returned to Vizagapatam, 
 with his family. Here he prosecuted his Teloogoo 
 translation of the Old Testament, in which he had 
 made considerable progress while at Madras; but, 
 on the 13th of June 1820, he was cut off in the 
 midst of his labours, after about ten days' illness. 
 
 The Society, speaking of the effects produced by 
 his translation, states, 4 " Since the Teloogoo New 
 Testament has been circulated among the natives, 
 and publicly read and explained to them, an in- 
 creasing interest has been excited among them 
 relative to Christianity. On the minds of some, 
 favourable impressions appear to have been made, 
 but none which the brethren regard as decisive of 
 real conversion to God." 
 
 On this subject, Mr Gordon writes " Often have 
 
 himself to the esteem and gratitude of the Society. Nor can 
 the directors omit the present opportunity of gratefully acknow- 
 ledging the very kind and hospitable manner in which Mr and 
 Mrs Loveless have, from time to time, received and entertained 
 at their own house the missionaries of this Society not only those 
 appointed at Madras, while they were yet unprovided with a 
 residence of their own ; but also those who have sojourned for 
 a season in that city, while on their way to other stations." 
 
 8 Book x. chap. v. sees. 20, 21. 3 Ibid. 
 
 4 Eeport of the London Missionary Society for 1823. 
 
504 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. I seen the Word of God take hold of the heathen ; 
 v ' and,, while it caused them to tremble, extort an 
 acknowledgment, honourable to the truth, gratify- 
 ing to the missionary, confounding to the by- 
 standers, and hateful to Satan." 
 
 Mr Gordon now carried on the Teloogoo trans- 
 lation of the Old Testament, with as much expedi- 
 tion as his other missionary engagements, and a due 
 regard to the accuracy of the translation, would 
 allow. 
 
 The native schools gradually increased, until, in 
 1827, they amounted to twelve, and the scholars to 
 five hundred and twenty-five. These were all Te- 
 loogoo schools, with the exception of one held at 
 the Court-House, where the scholars were instructed 
 in English. There was also a native female school, 
 containing thirty-five girls. Besides these Teloogoo 
 schools, the English residents and some respectable 
 natives maintained two schools, one of thirty boys, 
 and the other of forty-two girls, instituted for the 
 benefit of the orphans of Europeans and East Indians. 
 Of the native schools, we have the following favour- 
 able report at the close of 1826 : " They continue 
 to inspire in the missionaries a lively hope of many 
 among the rising generation at Vizagapatam even- 
 tually becoming Christians : the progress of the 
 scholars is very encouraging ; their prejudices, 
 generally speaking, are abating ; and their ac- 
 quaintance with Christianity increasing. Scarcely 
 a day passes, in which some circumstance does not 
 transpire, indicative of the beneficial influence of 
 religious instruction on their hearts ; and some of 
 the elder boys not unfrequently ask questions, 
 which the most sagacious Brahmins find themselves 
 unable to answer. Such is the repute in which the 
 schools are held, that many more would forthwith 
 be established, were the means of support and of 
 efficient superintendence within the reach of the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 505 
 
 missionaries. An English lady, resident at Viza- 
 gapatam, has taken the native girls' school, super- 
 intended by the late Mrs Dawson, under her own 
 immediate charge ; together with two other native 
 girls' schools, situated in the fort." 
 
 The missionaries were indefatigable in distribut- 
 ing religious tracts, and preaching to the natives in 
 different places. Of their stated performance of 
 Divine worship, it is reported, in 1826 " Six 
 English services are held weekly ; and ; apparently, 
 not without fruit. Native services are held every 
 day, in one of the school-rooms : the attendance is 
 of the most fluctuating character, amounting some- 
 times to a hundred, at other times sinking below 
 ten ; the versatility of the natives, and their insen- 
 sibleness to the solemnity of Divine worship, ren- 
 der it impossible to observe the desirable order of 
 Christian services ; the missionary is obliged to 
 vary the mode of arresting the attention of his 
 auditors, and of inculcating truth according to the 
 peculiar circumstances of the case." 
 
 The hopes of the missionaries and their Society 
 for this part of India, lighted up by the present 
 results of these operations, were thus described 
 " While the prospects of the mission continue to 
 brighten, there is here unquestionable proof of Pa- 
 ganism being on the decline. The car of Jugger- 
 naut, at Vizagapatam, which seems to have fallen 
 greatly in public estimation, did not make its ap- 
 pearance last year : its three images were offered to 
 the missionaries for ten pagodas. The Brahmins, 
 indeed, appear to support Hindooism merely to 
 support themselves ; since, in other respects, they 
 are as indifferent to its interests as they are igno- 
 rant of it ' as a system : they evidently feel their 
 inferiority in argument with the missionaries, and 
 stand confounded at the poverty of their own 
 dogmas when contrasted with Christianity ; never- 
 
506 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, theless, so blended are their interests with the 
 " vV> existence of Hindooism, that they continue exter- 
 nally to oppose the truth, the force of which they 
 are compelled to feel. 
 
 " The hopes, however, of the brethren, as to the 
 introduction of Christianity into this part of India, 
 are chiefly founded on the effect of the schools 
 gradually preparing, by the Divine blessing, a race 
 who will more readily yield to the force of its obli- 
 gations." 
 
 5. SOUTH TRAVANCORE. The arrival of Messrs 
 Mead and Knill at Malaudy, and the rude state in 
 which they found the people, were mentioned in 
 our last volume. 1 They soon removed to Nagracoil, 
 about four miles distance, the Rannee of Travancore 
 having presented to the mission a house there which 
 was formerly occupied by the resident. It was 
 situated in a healthy and central situation, close to 
 the southern extremity of the Ghauts, and sur- 
 rounded by scenery of singular sublimity and 
 grandeur. Its lofty hills gave it a grandeur which 
 no language can adequately describe. 
 
 The district allotted to the labours of the mission 
 comprehended ten distinct stations, or villages, 
 most of which had churches and schools, and all 
 increasing congregations, At each station, the 
 Word of God was read every Sabbath-day, by a 
 native catechist ; who also preached, as well as his 
 measure of knowledge would enable him. It was a 
 part of the employment of the missionaries to in- 
 struct the catechist s more perfectly. 
 
 Hundreds of the natives had renounced all con^ 
 nection with heathenism. They had cast their 
 household gods out of doors ; and, on their public 
 profession of Christianity, each of them had volun- 
 
 1 Page 285 Note. 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 507 
 
 tarily presented a note of hand, declarative at once 
 of his renunciation of idolatry, and of his determi- 
 nation to serve the living and true God. 
 
 The missionaries adopted a plan for periodically 
 visiting the several villages where there were con- 
 gregations. They also established a seminary for 
 the education of thirty boys, to be selected from 
 among the most intelligent of their congregations, 
 and brought up in the mission house, on the prin- 
 ciples, and in the spirit and practice of Christianity. 
 In his journeyings among the people, Mr Knill 
 seems to have found the school children and some 
 adults better instructed than he had been led to 
 expect, as the following extracts from his journal 
 will shew : 
 
 " When conversing with the people at Tamara- 
 coolum, on the importance of being prepared to die, 
 one man said, ' My father was prepared.' ' By what 
 means ?' ' Through the merits of my Saviour.' 
 ' Did he live a good life ?' ' Yes, after he knew the 
 good way.' ' Who made him good ?' ' It was God.' 
 Did your father say much when he was dying ?' 
 ' One sentence I remember.' ' What ?' ' He said, 
 Jesus ! receive my spirit !' I cannot describe 
 what I felt when the poor creature told me this ; 
 and if we compare the dying expression of this man 
 and the last verse of the Epistle of James, we shall 
 see that the mission was not established in vain. 
 
 " One night, when I was catechising, I asked, 
 ( Who was your former master ?' ' The devil.' 
 ' Is he a good master ?' ( Far from it.' ' Do you 
 like his service ?' ' No ; we like Christ's service.' 
 ' Is it good to be engaged in the service of God ?' 
 One of them promptly answered, ' Yes, it is good 
 A day in thy courts is better than a thousand,' 
 alluding to Psalm Ixxxiv. 10. It was a lad from 
 Malaudy, about fifteen years old, who gave this 
 answer. Thus the Sacred Scriptures are treasured 
 
508 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, up in his memory, and may prove ' a way-mark in 
 
 ' xv - the road to bliss/ " 
 
 Thus did the missionaries find the ground pre- 
 pared for them, and they diligently availed them- 
 selves of their advantage. They soon had about 
 four thousand persons under instruction, and fifteen 
 schools, with a fair prospect of increase. In 1819, 
 sickness compelled Mr Knill to return to Europe ; 
 but he was succeeded in the same year by a mis- 
 sionary from England, the Rev. C. Mault. They 
 had also two assistants, East Indians, besides seven- 
 teen native readers, who were chiefly employed in 
 the villages where congregations were formed. These 
 were sent forth with the Scriptures and other books, 
 for the instruction of the people, and their appoint- 
 ment gave new life to the mission. 
 
 January 1. 1819, the foundation-stone of a new 
 chapel was laid at Nagracoil. The Rannee of Tra- 
 vancore, through the intercession of the British 
 Resident, Colonel Munro, gave the land, timber, 
 and stone for the building, which was to be one 
 hundred and twenty feet by seventy. " The name 
 of this place," the missionaries write, " will not fail 
 to strike the pious mind it means, literally, the 
 serpent church, from there being a church dedicated 
 to the express worship of that ' old serpent the 
 devil/ We hope to build a Christian temple here, 
 on a spot, on one side of which will be seen a large 
 heathen pagoda, and on the other a Mahomedan 
 mosque. Our edifice will be raised above them 
 both. May this be the case soon in every part of 
 the globe/' 
 
 Owing to the want of funds, this spacious build- 
 ing was not completed for some years ; but several 
 smaller places of worship, which they call Bungalow 
 chapels, were built in the most populous villages 
 where congregations were formed. 
 
 The stations gradually increased till they 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 509 
 
 amounted to twenty-nine. At ten of them native 
 readers resided. The missionaries preached every 
 Sunday, and as often during the week as other 
 avocations would allow, to three, and sometimes 
 four, of the congregations ; while the assistants and 
 native readers were constantly employed at the out- 
 stations, and in reading to the heathen population 
 in the vicinity of Nagracoil. In the years 1825, 
 1826, the missionaries gave the following account 
 of these labours and their present effect : 
 
 " We are daily engaged in publishing the Gospel 
 to the Protestant, Roman Catholic, heathen, and 
 Mahomedan inhabitants of this place and neigh- 
 bourhood. It has not been entirely preached in 
 vain. We have reason to hope, that there are a 
 few real Christians. During the past year, several 
 families have publicly abandoned the worship and 
 sacrifices of the EVIL SPIRIT. Several Roman 
 Catholic families have also joined, but there is less 
 hope of these continuing stedfast : they come to our 
 places of worship, and are disappointed at seeing 
 no altars no images or crucifixes no holy water 
 no mysterious rites : they have no services in 
 what they deem a SACRED language ; we have nei- 
 ther cars nor processions : the Catholics have most 
 of these, in common with the heathen : they say 
 that the Protestants will not convert the Hindoos 
 without these appendages, as the Jesuits could not 
 succeed even WITH THEM. But we are aiming to 
 propagate the Gospel ; by preaching its truths ; 
 employing natives to read the Scriptures to the 
 heathen and Christian population ; establishing and 
 superintending free schools ; training up the most 
 promising of the Christian youth to become auxi- 
 liaries in the work of evangelising their country- 
 men ; printing and circulating portions of the 
 Scriptures, and small treatises explanatory of the 
 doctrines and precepts of the Christian religion. 
 
510 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. As these means are sanctioned by the Scriptures, 
 1 1 we doubt not of success, through the Divine bless- 
 ing accompanying them." 
 
 Of the native readers they say : " They are 
 instrumental in conveying a knowledge of the Gos- 
 pel to many who otherwise would perhaps never 
 have had an opportunity of hearing it : several 
 small congregations have been raised by their efforts. 
 They are instant in season and out of season, seeking 
 opportunities of doing good,, not confining their 
 labours to people professing Christianity, but going 
 from house to house and from village to village, 
 calling all to repentance. To secure a general hear- 
 ing in the places which they visit, various methods 
 are adopted : some, on reaching a village, take 
 their stand in the most public situation, where 
 many soon collect around them, and listen atten- 
 tively to the truths of the Gospel, and receive with 
 readiness the tracts with which the readers are 
 furnished to distribute on such occasions : others, 
 when they arrive at a new village, go to the house 
 of some one with whom they are acquainted, or to 
 whom they have been recommended, and tell him 
 that they have an important message to deliver, 
 and request him to collect his neighbours that they 
 also may hear it. The plan promises to be attended 
 with the most pleasing results." 
 
 Mission at Q m i n 1826, Mr Mead removed, on account of his 
 conum. health, to Combaconum, where he established a 
 mission ; and after his departure, Mr Mault thus 
 wrote of the encouraging aspect of affairs around 
 him : " In many of the congregations the work of 
 the Lord is really begun : many of the people are 
 now so attentive to the things spoken, that it is 
 really delightful to make known the Gospel to 
 them. Their outward condition, also, is greatly 
 improved, especially that of many of the women, 
 whose cleanly appearance and devotion in the house 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 511 
 
 of God are a great contrast to what they were five 
 or six years ago. The work began with the readers, 
 many of whom are really devoted to their office ; 
 and with their zeal is mixed a great deal of pru- 
 dence. 
 
 " The holiness of God's law, the evil of sin, the 
 infinite love of Christ manifested in the death of 
 the Cross, and what he effects on the hearts of men 
 by his Spirit, are the subjects on which we princi- 
 pally dwell. When speaking lately of the evil of 
 sin, and the infinite love of Christ in being made 
 sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of 
 God in him, the whole of the readers present were 
 deeply affected : I believe there was not a dry eye 
 among them. How different is the aspect of things 
 from what it was ! What has God wrought ! Suf- 
 ficient to check unbelief, and to prompt to vigorous 
 exertion." 
 
 They do not appear to have sent home a state- 
 ment of the number of converts, who, in seven 
 years, increased from two thousand to between five 
 and six thousand. Many others also placed them- 
 selves under Christian instruction with a view to 
 baptism. " In some of the congregations a know- 
 ledge of the doctrines and precepts of Christianity 
 was advanced ; a considerable improvement took 
 place in the external appearance and social con- 
 dition of the people. A few, who had recently 
 departed this life, the brethren had reason to hope, 
 died in the Lord." l 
 
 1 Though we have little room for an account of individuals 
 who died in the faith of Christ, we must find space here for Mr 
 Mault's description of the peaceful end of an aged Christian : 
 
 " Vesuvasum, whose name signifies Faith, was baptized, with 
 his family, by Mr. Eingletauhe. His attendance on the means 
 of grace, ever since I have known him, has been regular. In 
 conversation he said very little, but that was generally to the 
 Durpose, and shewed that he thought about the truths which he 
 
512 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 XV. 
 
 Schools. 
 
 7. Besides this primary object of a mission to the 
 heathen, other means of instruction were diligently 
 used. Schools were projected on an extensive 
 scale, and, in 1826, they had increased to forty- 
 nine, containing fourteen hundred scholars. Of the 
 state of these schools, and of the hopes they lighted 
 up in the missionaries' minds, they thus speak 
 " In most parts, the schools are well attended. 
 While a very small proportion of the children edu- 
 cated in the heathen schools are capable of reading 
 a book so as to understand it, the proficiency made 
 by many of these scholars in reading, and the taste 
 for it which has been inspired, warrant a hope that 
 the surrounding moral and intellectual darkness 
 will be gradually dispelled : the scholars attend 
 public worship ; and are catechized weekly, either 
 
 heard. Indeed, he seemed to take great pleasure in the ordi- 
 nances of religion, and was very attentive under the preaching 
 of the Word. This I particularly noticed the Sabbath previous 
 to his death, while I was explaining the nature of a sinner's 
 conversion to God. He was deeply interested in the subject ; 
 and appeared to hear as one would who was sensible that there 
 was but a step between him and death : which proved to be 
 really the case ; for, in the following week, he was seized by that 
 painful disease the cholera morbus, which in a few hours put a 
 period to his life. 
 
 " At intervals he took the New Testament and read it. He 
 prayed frequently that the Lord would give him true repentance 
 for all his sins, and faith in Jesus Christ. These seasons were 
 often interrupted by fits that attend this disease, which occa- 
 sioned delirium. 
 
 ft At one time, on recovering from one of these fits, a heathen 
 priest, accompanied by some of his heathen friends, who were 
 sent for by the neighbours for the purpose of curing his com- 
 plaint and to induce him to renounce the Gospel, came in. He 
 began to persuade the poor man to forsake the God whom he 
 had been serving, and to give offerings to the gods which he 
 had so long forsaken, and to put the mark on his forehead as a 
 pledge of his return to heathenism ; telling him, by doing these 
 things, he would restore him to health. To which he answered, 
 Are you come hither to destroy my soul ? To the God who 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 513 
 
 by Mr Mault, or by the readers, who are carefully 
 instructed by him with reference to this important 
 work. The progress made, in the knowledge of the 
 Scriptures, by the boys in the schools which are 
 under good management, demonstrates the vast im- 
 portance of education in the prosecution of mis- 
 sionary undertakings, and indicates that it is likely 
 to become a powerful instrument, in the hand of 
 Providence, in Christianizing India : instances now 
 and then occur of boys who have been present at 
 the catechizings returning home so strongly im- 
 pressed with the folly of idolatry, as to entreat their 
 parents to renounce it and become Christians." 
 
 They had besides a female school, which, in 1826, 
 contained forty girls, who were fed and clothed, the 
 only condition on which their parents would consent 
 
 gave my soul I will commit it. Moreover, you say if I worship 
 your gods I shall not die. Is this true ? Do not some of those 
 persons die by this disease who worship them ? And is there 
 not a period coming when you yourselves will die ? And if you 
 die in your unconverted state, you will go to hell. If I now 
 die, it is with the lively expectation of dwelling in the presence 
 of Grod my Saviour for ever ! He then desired them to leave 
 his house. 
 
 " After this, he said to his wife, children, and friends who 
 were present, * Be not deceived with the words of this man.' 
 Then, after speaking with composure of his approaching end, 
 he turned to his nephew, who is the schoolmaster of the place, 
 and said, ' I shall die : I therefore entreat you to be very kind 
 to my wife and children.' He was now very much exhausted. 
 Soon after, he was heard to say, ' Lord, receive me into thy 
 kingdom !' and so departed in peace. 
 
 " I was forcibly struck with the contrast between the last 
 moments of this man and those of a heathen. Having felt the 
 influence of the Gospel, he dies, not only in peace, but with 
 feelings of the tenderest concern for his wife and children, 
 whom he leaves behind ; while a heathen, after he perceives 
 that there is no hope of life, sinks generally into a state of 
 insensibility and apathy toward his nearest relatives, and into 
 a total indifference in reference to a future state/' 
 
 VOL. V. K k 
 
514 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, to send them for instruction. About half of them 
 xy ' were supported by friends in England,, and the re- 
 mainder by the proceeds of a school of industry, 
 which the missionaries had established for both 
 sexes. Here the elder girls worked half the day, 
 principally in making lace ; and so great was the 
 improvement in their general habits and appear- 
 ance, that the natives themselves soon began to 
 notice their superiority to children who had en- 
 joyed no such advantages. The youths in this 
 school were taught several useful arts, and the es- 
 tablishment was supported by its own profits. 
 
 A semi- The SEMINARY for training native teachers con- 
 tained, in 1826, forty youths, several of whom were 
 appointed in the same year to congregations recently 
 formed. Of these pupils, Mr Mault thus reports 
 " Many of them are lads of ability ; and would soon 
 make proficiency in any branch of knowledge, were 
 they under proper tuition. When I consider the 
 many congregations in the neighbourhood that are 
 to be supplied with teachers, the many openings in 
 Providence for the diffusion of knowledge, and the 
 adaptation of pious and well-instructed natives for 
 the work of pastors and evangelists, I feel deeply 
 anxious that a suitable person should be appointed 
 to take charge of this institution." 
 
 Union 8. They had a press which was actively employed 
 
 with the . . rm i r ji , &* 
 
 Church m printing tracts . The work ol the prmtmg-omce 
 missiona- wag chiefly done by the youths in the school of 
 forming a industry. The missionaries united with those of 
 ciation SS ~ *ke Church Missionary Society in Tinnevelly in 
 forming a Religious Tract Association, and the 
 Eeligious Tract Society in England made them con- 
 siderable contributions in paper and English tracts. 
 In 1826, Mr Mault gave the report of the operations 
 of their press : " During the past year, the press 
 has been fully employed : 33,500 tracts have been 
 printed by the Tract Society, most of which are in 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 515 
 
 circulation ; in addition to these, several thousands 
 have been published by the mission and private 
 individuals, We have had every encouragement to 
 pursue this branch of our labour with vigour, for 
 the tracts have been the means of diffusing much 
 light among the Christian congregations, and of 
 arousing some adults to learn to read, who had not 
 enjoyed the advantages of education in their youth. 
 They have also been the means of bringing a few 
 heathens to see their state as sinners, and to in- 
 quire after the way of salvation." 
 
 One instance, among many, may be given of the 
 good effect produced by the wide circulation of 
 these winged messengers of sacred truth. Mr 
 Rhenius, missionary in Tinnevelly, mentions, that 
 in a village of that province he met with a woman 
 who had resolved to renounce idolatry in conse- 
 quence of the instruction which she had received 
 from a tract sent to her by her son from Nagracoil. 1 
 
 9. On the arrival of another missionary, Mr Quiion. 
 Smith, it was determined that an attempt should 
 be made to establish a mission at Quiion (Coulan), 
 about eighty miles from Nagracoil. For this pur- 
 pose Mr Smith proceeded thither in March 1821, 
 and from the encouragement he received from the 
 British resident, Colonel Newall, and other gentle- 
 men, he began immediately to project an establish- 
 ment of schools. The resident supported two schools 
 in Quiion at his own expense. A third was opened 
 at Trevanderam, about halfway to Nagracoil. This 
 was soon followed by others in different places, 
 until, in 1825, there were eight schools, containing 
 three hundred and thirty-eight boys and fifteen 
 girls. In October 1823, Mr Smith was joined by a 
 colleague, Mr Crow ; but, soon afterwards, they 
 
 1 Missionary Register 1826, p. 496. 
 
516 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, both suffered so much from illness, that, in 1825, 
 
 _J L Mr Smith returned home ; while Mr Crow, who, 
 
 during a short interval of health, was enabled to 
 prosecute his labours with activity, was again taken 
 ill, and obliged, in 1826, to follow his colleague to 
 Europe. 
 
 The station, however, was not relinquished. A 
 small congregation was collected by an assistant 
 missionary, Mr H. Ashton, consisting of about 
 twenty persons, who met at the mission-house for 
 worship on the Sabbath, and some of them on other 
 occasions. There were also three native readers, 
 who, besides visiting the bazaars and public places 
 in Quilon, itinerated to the neighbouring villages. 
 A superintendent of schools was appointed ; while 
 Mr Mault visited the station as often as his engage- 
 ments at Nagracoil would permit, and in January 
 1827, he gave the following report of its state : 
 " The schools are nine in number. Many of the 
 children have committed to memory large portions 
 of the Scriptures, besides two or three catechisms ; 
 but, after all this is done, they may know but very 
 little of the religion of Christ. A vigorous superin- 
 tendence is necessary. To accomplish this, our 
 schoolmasters must be better instructed, and must 
 be taught to feel more interest in their work : this 
 I am endeavouring to do in the south, and it is at- 
 tended with indications of the Divine blessing. 
 
 " During the period I was at Quilon, I had 
 morning and evening service in Tamul, which was 
 very well attended by the Indo- Britons and several 
 natives out of the Carnatic ; on the Sabbath, about 
 fifty attended. The readers improve in their work." 
 
 Much, therefore, as the operations here had been 
 interrupted, there was quite sufficient success to 
 show that the mission had not been established in 
 
 ^ n ' 
 
 10. BELHARY. The arrival of the Kev. W, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 517 
 
 Reeve at this station in 1816, and the successful 
 prosecution of the Canarese version of the Scrip- 
 ture, were mentioned in our last volume. 1 In the 
 following year, a third missionary arrived, Rev. 
 Joseph Taylor, and through the next ten years 
 the operations steadily advanced, but with little 
 variety, except in the change of missionaries and 
 their assistants, Mr Hands, the founder of the 
 mission, alone being able to remain at his post. 
 The English services in the fort were performed 
 by the missionaries until the appointment of a 
 chaplain, when they were relieved of part of this 
 duty. To the natives they preached on Sunday 
 and several times in the week, both in Canarese 
 and Tamul, but their progress among them was 
 slow. Those who seemed to take an interest in 
 what they heard still held back, being deterred from 
 making an open profession of the Christian faith. 
 Two adult converts, a father and daughter, were 
 baptized November 14. 1821. They appear to 
 have been the first fruits of the mission, and they 
 were soon followed by others ; but the numbers 
 that joined the church do not seem to have been 
 regularly reported. We read, not long after, of 
 six communicants, and it is added : " There is 
 reason to believe that several others who have not 
 made an open profession of the Christian faith are 
 convinced of the sin and folly of idolatry, and 
 abstain from its rites and ceremonies as far as they 
 are able to do so without incurring persecution. 
 
 In October 1824, a new chapel was opened. Its 
 cost was about seven hundred pounds, which was 
 nearly defrayed by the liberality of friends in 
 India ; and the missionaries, though not so success- 
 ful among the natives as their zeal prompted them 
 
 P. I' 95. 
 
518 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, to wish, had, nevertheless, made progress enough 
 
 xv> to encourage them to persevere. 
 Transia- 11. In the translation of the Scriptures into 
 scdpfures Canarese, Mr Hands found in Mr Reeve an inde- 
 into fatigable colleague, as stated in our last volume. 1 
 Canarese. Jn j anuary 182 4. Mr Reeve was induced, by do- 
 mestic circumstances, to quit India, but not before 
 he had completed the translation of the Pentateuch, 
 which, after very careful revision by the Transla- 
 tion Committee of the Bible Society at Madras, 
 was printed by the Society. The translation of 
 the remainder of the Old Testament was continued 
 by Mr Hands. 
 
 Mr Reeve also composed a Canarese and English 
 dictionary, and, before he embarked, succeeded in 
 making arrangements for its being printed at the 
 college press of Fort St George. Greatly, there- 
 fore, as the loss of so diligent a labourer was to be 
 regretted, yet was there cause for thankfulness 
 that he had been enabled to accomplish so much 
 during his seven years' residence in the country. 
 
 The missionaries translated numerous religious 
 tracts, which were chiefly printed at their own 
 press. Besides their own Canarese tracts, they 
 printed several in Teloogoo ; and, in 1826, they 
 circulated nearly 15,000 in those languages, be- 
 sides numerous Tamul tracts, and upwards of 6000 
 in English, among the British troops and East 
 Indians. Portions of Scripture, likewise in the 
 native languages, were circulated through the 
 country. 
 
 Bible, 12. These operations were greatly facilitated by 
 
 a Bible, Missionary, and Tract Association at 
 Belhary. The united income of these associations 
 sedation, exceeded two hundred pounds, and several of the 
 
 p. 295 Note. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 519< 
 
 members promoted by their personal exertions the 
 objects for which they were severally established. 
 
 The schools for natives gradually increased from Schools. 
 eleven to twenty,, which contained, in 1826, 864 
 scholars, with an average attendance of 750. Many 
 of the boys are described as promising, and they 
 acquired a considerable portion of Scripture know- 
 ledge ; and as they usually " made known to their 
 parents what they learnt, much Scripture know- 
 ledge was thus indirectly communicated among the 
 adult heathen. At most of the schools established 
 at the villages in the surrounding country, the 
 villagers, when at leisure, attended to improve 
 themselves in knowledge, sat down among the 
 scholars, and read in the religious books taught in 
 the schools ; and when the superintendent, on his 
 inspecting tours, visited them, they asked for ex- 
 planations of such passages as they had not been 
 able fully to understand." 
 
 A few native girls were instructed at most of 
 the school stations. On the opportunities for ex- 
 tending native education, and the difficulty of em- 
 bracing them, Mr Hands writes : 
 
 "We have had the most earnest and pressing 
 applications to establish schools in upwards of 
 forty towns and villages within thirty or forty 
 miles of Bellary ; but the want of sufficient funds 
 and persons to superintend has obliged us to refuse. 
 We have made some attempts to improve the mode 
 of conducting the schools, but here we have not 
 succeeded as yet so far as we could wish. We 
 greatly need an improved class of schoolmasters. 
 A few years ago, we formed a school in the mission 
 garden, for the purpose of teaching English, and 
 affording a superior education to a number of the 
 most promising native youth, that we might form 
 them for future schoolmasters and assistants in the 
 mission ; about twenty were selected for this pur- 
 
520 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 XV. 
 
 Exertions 
 of Major 
 Mack- 
 worth. 
 
 pose. Much personal labour was bestowed on 
 them by the missionaries, and the progress which 
 many of them made afforded us much satisfaction ; 
 but as soon as they had acquired sufficient knowledge 
 to qualify them for a public office, as writers or 
 copyists, they every one left us, though some were 
 offered a small salary to continue in the school. 
 This seminary was maintained for three or four 
 years ; but as it disappointed our expectations, 
 and was attended with much expense and loss of 
 time, it has been discontinued." 
 
 Mr Hands adds the following account of a charity 
 school at the station : 
 
 "We have also, besides the native schools, an 
 English charity school, which was at first formed 
 for European and country-born children. During 
 the last two years, a few natives have been ad- 
 mitted into it. This institution is managed by an 
 European master and mistress, under the superin- 
 tendence of the missionaries and a committee of 
 the gentlemen of the station. It is supported by 
 a quarterly subscription, and its annual expenses 
 are about 130. There are at present in the 
 school twenty-eight boys and twenty-one girls. 
 Since its establishment, at the commencement of 
 the mission, it has educated 340 children, of whom 
 twenty-eight have been supported in the school. 
 Most of the children who have gone out from this 
 school are now scattered over the country ; a few 
 are usefully employed as schoolmasters. Some are 
 in public offices ; one is now an assistant mission- 
 ary, and a few, we have reason to hope, have 
 safely reached the haven of eternal rest ! Many 
 who were snatched from ruin by this institution 
 are now useful and respectable members of society." 
 
 13. BANGALORE. This is a large military can- 
 tonment in Mysore, two hundred and fifteen miles 
 west of Madras. Tn 1820, two missionaries, Messrs 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 521 
 
 Laidler and Forbes, were sent to establish a mis- 
 sion at this place. While studying the native lan- 
 guage, Canarese, they exercised their ministry in 
 English, and were well attended by the British 
 soldiers. A small chapel, capable of accommodat- 
 ing two hundred and fifty persons, was erected in 
 1821, chiefly through the zeal and liberality of a 
 British officer, Major Mackworth, by whom the 
 missionaries were greatly assisted and encouraged 
 in their work. They performed service on Sunday 
 and Wednesday evenings. There were several 
 converts from the errors and superstitions of Ko- 
 manism among those who attended. As the con- 
 gregation consisted chiefly of the military, it was 
 subject to great fluctuations. The communicants 
 amounted, from time to time, to about fifty, 
 several of whom had formerly profited under 
 the ministry of the Rev. Henry Martyn, in Ben- 
 gal. But these services not being strictly of a 
 missionary character, we must not enter into further 
 details. 
 
 14. A native congregation also assembled in the Converts 
 chapel, and in this service the missionaries were f ^ ns 
 assisted by a native teacher. A second service was Romanists 
 held in the Fort, and a third in one of the mission- natives, 
 aries' houses. Of the effect of these ministrations 
 it was reported, in 1826 " Pleasing evidence of 
 success appears from time to time, both among the 
 Tamul and Canarese people ; a spirit of religious 
 inquiry seems to have gone forth among them ; and 
 many hesitate not to express disapprobation of 
 idolatrous worship, whether pagan or papal. Whilst 
 some renounce Hindooism and embrace Christianity, 
 others reject Popery and profess themselves Pro- 
 testants. The number of each of these classes who 
 have been baptized is considerable. Persecution 
 has naturally ensued ; but, in general, the native 
 converts endure it with Christian fortitude and 
 
522 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, patience." In less than four years there were one 
 xv> hundred and thirty converts from pagan and papal 
 error, and in that time seventy- one of these were 
 admitted to the Lord's table. 
 
 There were four native teachers, who itinerated 
 through the surrounding country ; and of the influ- 
 ence of the Gospel, which they everywhere pro- 
 claimed, the missionaries thus speak " Among 
 the people, we cannot but rejoice to see a spirit of 
 inquiry prevailing to a very considerable extent, 
 and contemplate it as the forerunner of better and 
 happier days than this part of the world has yet 
 seen. Many are dissatisfied with their present 
 abominable system, and begin to say, ' That is not 
 a good god,' alluding to their gods of stocks and 
 stones. While such sensations have been created 
 in Bangalore, the villages around have manifested 
 no less concern to hear and receive the Gospel. 
 Many of them have been visited ; a great number 
 have listened, with deep anxiety, to the good news 
 of salvation ; and not a few have received it with 
 pleasure, and have treated its messengers with 
 marked esteem and kindness." 
 
 They speak also of a considerable sensation pro- 
 duced by a public discussion between one of these 
 teachers, Samuel Flavel, and a Eomanist " It was 
 agreed that they should meet in the most conve- 
 nient place which could be procured in the bazaar. 
 The meetings were attended, in general, by sixty 
 or seventy persons, many of whom were heathens ; 
 and were continued for upwards of a fortnight. 
 They were conducted with decorum and good tem- 
 per on both sides ; and were finished, both in point 
 of argument and conviction, much to the advantage 
 of the cause of truth." Much inquiry was excited 
 by this discussion among both Romanists and hea- 
 then ; particularly the former, who were greatly 
 disquieted by the exposure of the errors of their 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 523 
 
 Church,, and many of them began to read the Scrip- 
 tures with attention. 
 
 In their endeavours to educate the native chil- 
 dren the missionaries were not successful, owing to 
 the determined opposition of the parents and friends. 
 They opened a Tamul and a Canarese school, which, 
 in 1826, contained together no more than thirty- 
 two boys. They had a Tamul school for girls also, 
 in which there were twelve scholars. Their semi- 
 nary for native teachers was more promising. At 
 this period they had fifteen youths, of whose gene- 
 ral deportment and progress in religious knowledge 
 they gave a favourable report. Some whom they 
 had educated for the work were already employed 
 in the bazaar, and the adjacent villages with good 
 effect. 
 
 Of the native teachers the missionaries reported 
 " They continue to itinerate within a circuit of 
 between thirty and forty miles ; the natives, in 
 general, listen with attention. During one of these 
 tours, in October 1826, they visited thirty- six vil- 
 lages and conversed with nearly twelve hundred 
 people ; some asked many questions ; others en- 
 tered into disputations ; while others appeared 
 affected with what they heard." But some ex- 
 tended their journeyings much further ; while Se- 
 ringapatam, about seventy-four miles south-west 
 of Bangalore, and Mysore, nine miles further, were 
 supplied by two of these teachers. They were en- 
 couraged in their work by the British resident of 
 Mysore, the Hon. Arthur Cole, and a small congre- 
 gation of baptized natives was soon established at 
 each station. 
 
 15. BELGAUM. This is another mission estab- Themis- 
 lished from Belhary. Belgaum is a populous town employed 
 about two hundred miles from Belhary, on the 
 road to Bombay, and, in September 1820, Mr Joseph GoTe 
 Taylor, accompanied by a native assistant, pro- ment - 
 
524 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, ceeded thither with a view to establish a new mis- 
 
 L sion. It had recently been made a military station, 
 
 and the commanding officer, General Pritzler, fa- 
 voured the missionary's undertaking. " From 
 Belhary to Belgauin, the Canara is spoken ; from 
 Belgaum to Bombay, the Mahratta. The Canara 
 is spoken by nearly all the inhabitants of Belgaum 
 and Shawpore ; but their books are written in 
 Mahratta, and their business is transacted chiefly 
 in that tongue. Mr Taylor attended, therefore, to 
 the study of both languages." 
 
 As there was no chaplain at the station, Mr 
 Taylor performed Divine service both in the camp 
 and at head-quarters, for which the Madras Go- 
 vernment made him a liberal allowance. Although 
 this was not missionary work, yet he was thankful 
 to be so employed for the edification of his country- 
 men until able to preach to the natives, and the 
 remuneration he received was a material relief to 
 the Society's funds. There were several commu- 
 nicants among the troops, and he had reason to be 
 thankful for the result of these ministrations. 
 Baptism of 16. Two native congregations were formed at 
 Brahmms. g e ig aum an( j Shawpore, but those who attended 
 were exposed to much persecution from their hea- 
 then connections ; and the fear of similar treatment 
 prevented others from uniting with them. It was 
 in consequence of this opposition, probably, that, 
 in 1825, three converts, two Brahmins and a Raj- 
 poot, the first fruits of the mission, were sent to 
 Bombay, where, after a satisfactory avowal of their 
 faith in Christianity, in the presence of about three 
 hundred natives, they were baptized. 
 
 One of the Company's chaplains at Bombay thus 
 speaks of this baptism : " The chapel was crowded 
 in every part with natives of all castes ; and I 
 think I never witnessed any thing more affecting, 
 more encouraging, more solemn, or more calculated 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 525 
 
 to call forth praise to Him, who, we hope, has 
 redeemed these once-benighted and spiritually de- 
 solate heathen by His precious blood, and made 
 them kings and priests unto God. The natives 
 present were exceedingly attentive. The different 
 services were in Mahratta : in this language they 
 were most impressively and affectionately addressed 
 by Messrs Graves and Hall." 
 
 But on their return to Belgaum, the persecution 
 directed against them and their connections, " in- 
 duced one of the Brahmins and the Kajpoot to 
 surrender themselves to the will of their respective 
 families ; the Brahmin, however, rejoined the mission. 
 The other Brahmin, who remained firm under perse- 
 cution, removed to Bombay ; to labour in connection 
 with the American mission at that presidency." 
 
 Under these circumstances, the converts could 
 not be expected rapidly to increase. Nevertheless 
 the usual attendance on public worship continued, 
 and at the close of 1826, there were several candi- 
 dates for baptism. 
 
 The native schools, in which Mahratta and Tamul 
 were taught, had increased, in 1825, to six, con- 
 taining two hundred and thirty boys. But in the 
 following year the number of scholars was reduced, 
 and one of the schools suspended, in consequence 
 of the baptism of the three converts, just men- 
 tioned. There was also an English school, to 
 which natives were admitted. 
 
 17. In the distribution of religious tracts and Benefits 
 portions of Scripture, Mr Taylor and his assist- SoSajS 1 " 
 ants found little difficulty. In the early part of tours and 
 1826, " Mr Taylor made a missionary tour to the labo 
 western coast of the peninsula : during his journey, 
 he distributed many portions of the Scriptures and 
 tracts, in Mahratta and Portuguese ; and, in gene- 
 ral, found the people desirous to obtain them. 
 Some of the inhabitants of Goa persist in reading 
 
526 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, the copies of the Scriptures, which he distributed 
 xv ' in that city, notwithstanding the prohibition of the 
 Catholic Archbishop." 
 
 Several of the priests received copies for their 
 own use. On this point the Committee of the Bel- 
 gaum Association remarked : " The disposition 
 thus manifested to receive and read the Scriptures 
 appears to the Committee a most encouraging token, 
 that the time is not very remote, when a revolu- 
 tion will be effected in the spiritual state of these 
 poor people ; who have now, for a long period, 
 been kept under priestly domination, and bound 
 with the cruel chains of ignorance and superstition." 
 The candid acknowledgment of error, or avowal of 
 what they conceived to be so, and an ingenuous 
 confession of inability to answer objections, with- 
 out attempting to justify practices, merely because 
 such have been enjoined and prevail in their 
 church, are marks of increasing light, and loudly 
 testify that bigotry no longer bears sovereign sway 
 in their minds. 
 
 In 1826, the following account was given of a 
 new and beneficial institution : " A building has 
 been erected near one of the mission schools for 
 the reception of poor and diseased natives ; where, 
 together with medical and other aid, religious in- 
 struction is imparted : this institution, which is 
 under the care of Mr and Mrs Taylor, is liberally 
 supported by the contributions of charitable indi- 
 viduals at Belgaum. Beside the direct good done 
 to the bodies and souls of the inmates, who, in 
 December last, amounted to twenty-five, this insti- 
 tution has nearly put a stop to mendicity in the 
 place : many, who formerly subsisted by begging, are 
 now led to maintain themselves by useful labour." 
 
 18. CUDDAPAH. Cuddapah, about one hundred 
 and fifty-three miles north-east from Madras, was 
 the third station occupied by the missionaries at 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 527 
 
 Belhary. Mr W. Howell removed thither in No- Mission 
 vember 1822,, and was received with much kindness ^^ 
 by several gentlemen, who continued to patronize menced. 
 and assist him. The principal language spoken in trans- US 
 this district is Teloogoo, with which Mr Howell 
 was well acquainted,, and therefore able to enter at 
 once on the religious instruction of the natives. 
 He opened one service after another in such places 
 as he could procure ; and in little more than two 
 years after his arrival he spoke thus of his success : 
 " The Lord has so disposed the hearts of the 
 people as to cause households to forsake their lying 
 vanities. The number baptized by me is seventy- 
 four men, twenty-five women, forty boys, and 
 twenty-one girls ; and, with twenty- six baptized 
 previously to my coming, make a total of one hun- 
 dred and nineteen adults and sixty- seven children. 
 Although all be not savingly converted to God, yet 
 I have been induced to baptize them, as having 
 nominally embraced Christianity ; and, I trust, 
 under the stated preaching of the Gospel and the 
 power of the Holy Spirit, they will be savingly 
 impressed. A regular church has been formed, 
 consisting of ten communicants, six men and four 
 women." 
 
 In 1826, he baptized others, amounting in the 
 whole to one hundred and sixty-five, besides several 
 candidates waiting to be received. " A native cate- 
 chist, in the service of the mission, who received 
 the name of Paul Burder, itinerates among the 
 villages round Cuddapah, publicly reads the Scrip- 
 tures, and, according to his ability, explains them 
 to the people. And, in 1825, Mr Howell performed 
 a missionary tour of about one hundred miles in 
 circuit. At every place which he visited the na- 
 tives came in crowds to hear him preach. He 
 distributed, in the course of his journey, about five 
 hundred tracts and several copies of the New Testa- 
 
528 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, ment, which were received with great eagerness. 
 xv - Beside these, he distributed numerous copies of 
 portions of the Scriptures and tracts to prisoners 
 in Cuddapah jail and others, and to those natives 
 from the country who occasionally called upon him 
 at his own house. The native families that attend 
 Christian worship meet from time to time at Mr 
 Howell's house for religious conversation." 
 
 A Christian village was erected in the vicinity, 
 in order to afford the native Christians an oppor- 
 tunity to live near one another for the more con- 
 venient participation in religious ordinances and 
 instruction. Upwards of thirty families availed 
 themselves of this advantage, A Teloogoo school 
 was opened in the village, " designed exclusively 
 for the children belonging to it. It was placed 
 under the superintendence of a converted Brahmin, 
 who bore the name of Martin Luther. The num- 
 ber of scholars was thirty : their improvement was 
 very encouraging. A workshop also was estab- 
 lished, by the aid of European residents, for such 
 native Christians as had not the means of support- 
 ing themselves, and six looms were at work : two 
 families were provided with cattle and implements 
 of husbandry, and the women in each family with 
 a spinning-wheel." And, in October 1826, a new 
 chapel was opened, erected chiefly by subscriptions 
 from the residents of the station. 
 
 There were five Teloogoo schools and one Tamul, 
 containing together about two hundred boys. There 
 were likewise two Hindoostanee schools, separately 
 supported by two gentlemen at the station ; and 
 the other schools were entirely maintained by the 
 European residents. There were twenty-eight na- 
 tive girls also receiving instruction. 
 
 Besides these varied occupations, Mr Howell 
 found time to translate several tracts, portions of 
 the sacred Scripture, and a selection of Psalms 
 and Hymns, into the Teloogoo language. 
 
INDIA : BOOK XIII. 529 
 
 CHAPTER XYL 
 
 LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN WESTERN INDIA, 
 1817-1826. 
 
 1 . THE commencement of the London Missionary The mis- 
 Society's mission at Surat, in the presidency of si e t s 
 Bombay, was recorded in the last volume. 1 Messrs English as 
 Skinner and Fyvie continued the labours and 
 studies there described. They preached in English 
 to large congregations, chiefly of soldiers, among 
 whom they distributed numerous tracts. They 
 were also well attended at the house of a native, 
 in a populous part of the city, where they had fre- 
 quent opportunities to address the people in their 
 own language. In 1818, Mr J. H. Donaldson 
 joined the mission, but it pleased God to remove 
 him, after a residence of about six months in the 
 country. In the same year Mr Skinner also died. 
 He was a devoted and laborious missionary, and 
 his loss was severely felt. He was succeeded by 
 his colleague's brother, Mr Alexander Fyvie, and 
 the two brothers were preserved to work together 
 through the remainder of this decade. 
 
 Besides the English services held at their own 
 house every Sunday morning and Wednesday even- 
 
 1 Book xii. chap. ii. Appendix K of this vol. 
 VOL. V. L 1 
 
530 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 XVI. 
 
 ing, they held native services in the forenoon of 
 the Sabbath and on Thursday evenings. They 
 subsequently erected a spacious bungalow, capable 
 of seating two hundred and fifty natives, which 
 was used for the twofold purpose of school-room 
 and chapel. Hither they transferred their Sunday 
 and Thursday evening services, and in each of the 
 other school-rooms, which were hired, they had 
 public service once a week. The intervals between 
 these duties at Surat they employed in visiting 
 different parts of the province of Guzerat. Some 
 of the villages were populous, and the people were 
 attentive to hear them. Mr W. Fyvie wrote on 
 this subject "I experience much kindness from 
 
 At length 
 succeed in 
 establish- 
 ing 
 schools. 
 
 the people, and can truly say, that I find great 
 pleasure in the service ; but the mighty power of 
 God is necessary to effect the great work on which 
 all our hearts are set." The school-rooms were 
 regularly used as places for preaching. The num- 
 ber of attendants varied ; their attention to the 
 message of mercy was great, and many of them 
 seemed to discover the folly of their own system. 
 Their conviction of its sinfulness did not stop short 
 of their conversion to a belief in Christ for pardon 
 and salvation. 
 
 2. The natives objected so strongly to send their 
 children to the missionaries for education, that they 
 were not able to open a school for them before the 
 year 1822. The impediments once removed, and 
 the work well begun, it soon became popular ; and, 
 in 1826, there were six native schools, containing 
 three hundred and fifty boys, the greater part of 
 whom were assembled in one of the school-rooms 
 on the mornings of the Lord's day for religious 
 worship and instruction. They repeated their 
 catechisms, sung Christian hymns, and joined in 
 prayer. Many of their parents, as well as others, 
 attended, and seemed to enter with pleasure into 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 531 
 
 these religious exercises. It was a great triumph 
 for the missionaries, after so long a struggle with 
 the people's prejudices, to be able to collect so many 
 heathen children together for the express purpose 
 of worshipping the only true God. They derived 
 encouragement also from their English school, to 
 which both Romanists and heathen sent their 
 children. 
 
 3. The missionaries were very diligent in trans- Transia- 
 lating the Scriptures into Guzerattee. In the course 'ion ^ e 
 of about six years, Messrs Skinner and Fy vie ac- and other 8 
 quired a knowledge of the language with scarcely 
 any assistance, for the Grammar and Dictionary, tee. 
 in MSS., which they found, were too imperfect to 
 be of much use to them. They had, therefore, in 
 a great measure, to make out their own grammar, 
 and to collect words and to fix their signification 
 for the dictionary they undertook to compose. Yet, 
 under these disadvantages, before Mr Skinners 
 death in 1821, they had acquired a competent 
 knowledge of the language, had translated the New 
 Testament, and, having learnt the art of printing, 
 published an edition of the Testament. In five 
 years more, the missionaries translated the Old 
 Testament also, and sent out from their own press, 
 a complete edition of the whole Bible, and a second 
 edition of the four Gospels. Different books of 
 Scripture were printed as finished, and circulated 
 through the country. Besides these, they printed 
 tracts, school-books, and cards, amounting together, 
 in five years, to thirty thousand. They also com- 
 pleted their English and Guzerattee Dictionary, 
 and translated several volumes of sermons into 
 Guzerattee. In printing the Scriptures, the Bible 
 Society assisted them largely with grants of paper 
 and other materials. They established at Surat an 
 Auxiliary Missionary Society, from which they re- 
 ceived considerable pecuniary support. In 1826, 
 
532 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, for instance, the local contributions amounted to 
 
 ~vv r 
 
 '_ about one hundred and fifty pounds. 
 
 In their intercourse with Mahomedans, they 
 found opportunity to distribute the Persian Testa- 
 ment of Mr Martyn, of which many expressed great 
 admiration. 
 
 The fruit of all these exertions, v in the conver- 
 sion of idolaters from the error, and sinners from 
 the wickedness of their ways, was manifestly grow- 
 ing around them ; but for its ingathering they had 
 yet to wait with patience and faith. We have seen 
 above the favourable report of the Society's missions 
 in Bengal, made by the gentlemen deputed in 1821, 
 to visit their missions in the East ; and we will 
 conclude this chapter with the general view of their 
 Indian missions given in the Society's report for 
 1826. 
 
 " In reference to that important scene of the 
 Society's labours, the East Indies, never had we 
 before the satisfaction to report so many appa- 
 rently decided instances of the power of Divine 
 grace among the native population ; nor, perhaps, 
 has there ever before existed, in the general state 
 and prospects of our operations, in that part of the 
 world, so much solid ground for pleasing anticipa- 
 tions, as there does at present." 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 533 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SCOTTISH MISSIONARY SOCIETY IN WESTERN INDIA, 
 
 1823-1826. 
 
 1. IN the year 1822, the directors of this Society 
 
 sent out the Rev. Donald Mitchell to Bombay, with 
 
 a view to establish a mission on the western coast Mitchell. 
 
 of India. Mr Mitchell had formerly served as an Success of 
 
 PP j i T T i i ci schools in 
 
 omcer in the Indian army ; but returning to ocot- neigh- 
 land in 1820, he entered the Church, and offered 
 his services to the Society. He arrived at Bombay 
 in January 1823, when a Corresponding Committee 
 was formed for conducting the Society's affairs, and 
 it was resolved that Mr Mitchell should proceed to 
 Bancoot, called by the English Fort Victoria, on 
 the sea coast, sixty miles south of Bombay. Here 
 he was very successful in the establishment of 
 schools, having in a few months opened ten, and 
 collected between four and five hundred children. 
 The directors state on this subject " Most, if not 
 all, of these schools were established at the parti- 
 cular request of some of the inhabitants ; and Mr 
 Mitchell was under the necessity of declining seve- 
 ral other applications, on account of the distance 
 of the villages, and the difficulty of visiting them 
 at least during the rainy season. Having received 
 some Mahratta Gospels from Bombay, he introduced 
 them into the schools without any objection being 
 
534 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, made to them ; and he, at the same time, required 
 XVIL the children to commit to memory the Lord's Prayer, 
 the Ten Commandments,, and the Summary of them 
 by our blessed Kedeemer, and also a small Cate- 
 chism by the American missionaries at Bombay." 
 
 But this prospect was soon clouded. In Sep- 
 tember, Mr Mitchell was attacked with fever, and 
 he died in November 1823, on his way to the 
 Deccan, whither he was proceeding for the benefit 
 of a cooler climate. 
 
 An-ival of 2. The work, however, which he had so success- 
 four more fully begun did not languish on his removal. In 
 
 mission- . , ^ .-, .-, .. i i i 
 
 aries. the same year, three other missionaries had arrived. 
 The Kevs. John Cooper, James Mitchell, and Alex- 
 ander Crawford ; and, in 1824, they were followed 
 by another, the Eev. John Stevenson. With this 
 reinforcement, it was arranged for Messrs Crawford 
 and Mitchell to occupy Fort Victoria, and Messrs 
 Cooper and Stevenson to proceed to Hurnee, near Se- 
 verndroog, about thirteen miles further south. While 
 studying the Mahratta language, they proceeded 
 with the work of education ; and at the close of the 
 decade, their schools, together, amounted to forty- 
 two, with eighteen hundred and twenty-six scholars. 
 The report of the Society for 1826, remarks on this 
 branch of their labours " The missionaries have 
 begun to meet with some of the same difficulties as 
 missionaries in other parts of India experience. 
 While the children at first make pleasing progress 
 in their education, no sooner do they acquire some 
 knowledge of reading and writing, than they appear 
 to have reached the height of their ambition ; and 
 either abandon the school altogether, or become so 
 careless and unsteady as to make little further im- 
 provement. Still it is gratifying to reflect, that 
 each of the young persons who thus leave school 
 carries along with him some portion of the word of 
 God in a language which he understands, and has 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 535 
 
 treasured up in his memory some of its most im- 
 portant passages. The missionaries at Hurnee 
 have endeavoured to establish Mahratta schools 
 among the Mussulmans,, Portuguese, and Purwarees, 
 respectively; but, from the want of proper teachers, 
 the smallness of the number of children, and 
 other causes, they have hitherto failed in the 
 attempt." 
 
 On girls' schools, the directors add " The mis- 
 sionaries have not yet succeeded in establishing 
 separate schools for girls, either at Bankote or at 
 Hurnee, although they have made exertions at both 
 places for accomplishing this important object. The 
 number of girls in the schools amounts, however, 
 to thirty-five ; and it is hoped that a foundation is 
 thus laying for the establishment of female schools 
 in the southern Concan." 
 
 The same report states, that the missionaries had 
 all become sufficiently masters of Mahratta to be 
 able to exercise their ministry in that tongue. 
 " Messrs Crawford and Mitchell preach five times 
 at least weekly, at or near Bankote ; and Messrs 
 Cooper and Stevenson twice weekly at Hurnee, and 
 once a week in four villages. Besides these stated 
 meetings, they have frequent opportunities of mak- 
 ing known the Gospel in their neighbourhood, and 
 in their visits to the more distant schools." 
 
 The Bombay report states " The preaching of 
 the Gospel to the adult population, which the mis- 
 sionaries regard as the principal design of the mis- 
 sion, has now become, from their acquisition of the 
 native language, much more a part of their work 
 than it formerly was : besides occasionally visiting 
 towns and villages at a considerable distance, they 
 have stated meetings with the people in the villages 
 contiguous to Hurnee and Bankote. They imagine 
 not, they say, that this part of the work can be 
 accomplished without, in many instances, coming 
 
536 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, into direct contact with the prejudices of the natives, 
 L and the depravity of the human heart ; at the same 
 
 time, they must confess that, hitherto, they have 
 
 by no means met with so much opposition as might 
 
 have been expected." 1 
 
 Scriptures 3. In this work they had the assistance of an 
 ratt sup- intelligent native Christian, Nriput Sing ; and they 
 plied by were liberally supplied with the Gospels, Acts, and 
 Ld Chris- Book of Genesis, in Mahratta, by the Bombay 
 ilZw Auxiliary Bible Society ; and, by the Christian 
 iedg<T Knowledge Society's District Committee, with the 
 Societies' national school books, 
 tions. On the whole, few missions have made greater 
 
 progress than this in so short a time after their 
 
 establishment. 2 
 
 1 Keport of the Bombay Corresponding Committee. March 
 1826. 
 
 3 In 1836, this mission, with those subsequently established 
 at Bombay and Poonah, were transferred to the General 
 Assembly of the Church of Scotland. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 537 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 EPISCOPATE OF DR REGINALD HEBER, SECOND BISHOP OFj 
 CALCUTTA 
 
 1. WHEN the public feeling awakened by the news Appoint- 
 of Bishop Middleton's death began to subside, all Rev. K. 
 parties interested in the evangelization of India ^ b gg e to o 
 waited anxiously for the appointment of his sue- Calcutta. 
 cessor. The nomination was with the President 
 of the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of 
 India, the right honourable C. W. W. Wynn, a 
 personal friend of the Eev. Eeginald Heber, rector 
 of Hodnet, to whom he applied to recommend him 
 a suitable person to occupy the important post. 1 
 At the same time, he intimated the satisfaction it 
 would give him if he himself would accept it, quite 
 unconscious how sensitive a chord he touched in 
 Heber s heart. He had for some time taken an 
 interest in the conversion of the heathen, and this 
 intimation quickened his missionary sympathies ; 
 but various considerations caused him to demur. 
 
 1 This chapter is drawn up from the " Life and Journey of 
 Bishop Heber," the Keports of the Society for Promoting Chris- 
 tian Knowledge, the Church Missionary Society, the Society 
 for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Missionary Kegister, and 
 other periodicals from 1823 to 1827, the Bishop's Memoirs, by 
 Thomas Taylor. 
 
538 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 xvm' ^k* 8 was a ver y Drying an d painful moment of his 
 . _ ' life : it was no struggle between conflicting temporal 
 interests that he had to encounter ; but it was a 
 struggle between much self-distrust, much love of 
 country and kindred,, much apprehension for the 
 future health of his wife and child (for he thought 
 not of his own), and a strong persuasion, on the 
 other hand, that the call was the call of God, and 
 that to be deaf to it was to be deaf to the still small 
 voice. He deliberated long and anxiously : he even 
 refused the appointment. He recalled his refusal. 
 Although in possession of clerical preferment of 
 nearly equal revenue to that of the See, and justi- 
 fied in indulging sanguine hopes of advancement 
 in England if ambition had been his object, he 
 consented to sacrifice his comforts and expectations 
 for a toilsome life in a distant and unhealthy 
 climate. Mr Wynn was glad to receive his accept- 
 ance of the arduous post ; and the general confidence 
 inspired by a knowledge of his learning, talents, 
 and activity, caused this appointment to be hailed 
 as a most auspicious event by the Christian world. 
 He was consecrated at Lambeth Palace on the 
 1st of June 1823. On the 9th, he met the Com- 
 mittee of the Church Missionary Society ; and on 
 the 13th, he attended a special meeting of the 
 Christian Knowledge Society, when he received 
 from each a valedictory address ; and, in reply, 
 pledged himself to promote the objects of both 
 Societies, avowed his intention to devote himself 
 wholly and fervently to the establishment of the 
 Christian religion by every prudent means, and 
 earnestly entreated their prayers that he might be 
 sustained from above in the arduous duties of the 
 station to which Divine Providence had been pleased 
 to call him. 
 
 Arrival in 3. The Bishop sailed, with Mrs Heber, on the 1 6th 
 of June ; and, on the 1 1th of October, arrived in 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 539 
 
 good health at Calcutta, where he was welcomed 
 with the honours due to his rank. On the same 
 day, the Governor- General, Lord Amherst, accom- 
 panied him to the cathedral, where the ceremony 
 of installation was performed. The day following, 
 being Sunday, he preached to a good congregation. 
 
 Preparing to enter on the important duties that 
 now devolved upon him, such was the state of 
 affairs that he felt almost overwhelmed by the 
 accumulation of business requiring immediate atten- 
 tion. Before long, however, by diligence and per- 
 severance, he brought matters into something like 
 a manageable compass. " The arrears of business," 
 he wrote after a time, " which I have to encounter, 
 though great, and some of a vexatious nature, are 
 such as I can now see my way through." 
 
 3. One of the first objects to which he turned Examines 
 from the pressure of official engagements, was the 
 geiieral state of Christian education in Calcutta, tion. 
 On the 2d of November, he visited the Female 
 Orphan School, under the judicious care of Mrs 
 Thomason. He next examined the Free School 
 for boys and girls, under the direction of a com- 
 mittee of governors. Then the schools for native 
 females, under Mrs Wilson's superintendence. With 
 all these establishments he expressed himself greatly 
 pleased. In the last he took a special interest, 
 was astonished at the progress which some of the 
 children had made, and became at once a zealous 
 advocate of native female education. In going 
 round the schools supported by the Society for 
 Promoting Christian Knowledge, he was surprised, 
 after all that he had been told to the contrary, to 
 find not the least appearance of objection on the 
 part of the natives to the Christian instruction 
 given to their children. After mentioning his visit 
 to these schools, he expressed his gratification at 
 seeing with how much cordiality the Rev. J. Haw- 
 
540 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, tayne, who accompanied him, " was received, not 
 ' only by the children themselves and the school- 
 masters, though all of them were Hindoos and 
 Mussulmans, but by the parents and neighbouring 
 householders, of whatever religion." 
 
 Bishop's 4. Bishop's College, founded, as we have seen, 
 by Dr Middleton, was now almost in the state in 
 which that lamented prelate left it, little having 
 been done to it since his decease, and the funds 
 being nearly exhausted. Even the apartments ap- 
 propriated to the Rev. Principal Mill were not yet 
 ready for his reception. Bishop Heber entered, 
 with characteristic ardour, into the noble design of 
 this institution, and immediately began to carry 
 forward the building, assisted by fresh contributions, 
 and chiefly by the annual grant of one thousand 
 pounds from the Church Missionary Society. In 
 the ensuing year, the principal's apartments were 
 ready for his reception ; and the rest of the build- 
 ings were advanced as rapidly as the funds would 
 admit. The Bishop obtained from Government a 
 further grant of sixty acres of land for the College. 
 He projected two additional wings to the building ; 
 and had the satisfaction ere long of hailing the 
 arrival of two more professors, and the commence- 
 ment of operations with a few students. 
 Licences 5. We have seen Bishop Middle ton's difficulty 
 ^Skm- h respecting his jurisdiction over English mission- 
 aries, aries in Episcopal orders. He appreciated and 
 acknowledged the importance of their services, yet 
 never considered himself invested with authority 
 to license them to their several stations. With a 
 view to remove this difficulty, Bishop Heber, pre- 
 vious to leaving England, submitted the case to the 
 king's advocate, who gave it as his opinion, that 
 all clergymen of the Church of England, employed 
 within the diocese of Calcutta, were subject to the 
 Bishop's authority. The members of the Board of 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 541 
 
 Control concurring in this opinion, the Bishop,, on 
 his arrival in India,, proposed to license all English 
 missionaries in holy orders, in the same manner as 
 the Company's chaplains. At a meeting of the 
 Calcutta Church Missionary Association convened 
 for the consideration of this question, over which 
 the Bishop was requested to preside, he stated, that 
 his chief reason for desiring this jurisdiction was, 
 that he might be able to station the missionaries 
 where their services might be most required, for 
 the services of the Established Church in India. 
 But, as remarked in Bishop Middleton's case, 1 this 
 would be to make them, what that prelate antici- 
 pated, " the parochial clergy" of the country, and 
 so to divert them from the express object of their 
 mission. Ready as they were to exercise their 
 ministry for the benefit of their countrymen when- 
 ever opportunity occurred, yet their commission 
 was to the wide world around them, to gather 
 heathen into the fold. In future times, when a 
 sufficient number should be converted within a 
 given district to form a Christian community re- 
 quiring ministerial supervision, it would be quite 
 in character for one or more missionaries to be 
 stationed there with the sanction of the Bishop's 
 licence ; but in the present incipient state of the 
 work, such a location of their missionaries would 
 have been to cripple the Society's operations. For 
 these, and other reasons of less importance, the 
 Committee of the Calcutta Church Missionary As- 
 sociation felt that they were not at liberty to sur- 
 render the Society's missionaries into the Bishop's 
 hands to the extent that he desired. They were 
 invested with a responsibility which they had no 
 power to transfer. These circumstances cannot 
 
 1 Book xiii. chap. i. sec. 32. 
 
542 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, have been dispassionately considered by parties who 
 XVIIL vehemently censured their conduct. However, 
 while thus faithful to their trust, the Bishop, as 
 their president, had a leading voice in the station- 
 ing of the missionaries, and they uniformly paid 
 respect to his suggestions. The missionaries re- 
 ceived his licences with the latitude which their 
 office required, and never failed to render him cano- 
 nical obedience. The paucity of clergy in India, 
 of which Bishop Middleton so loudly complained, 
 still continued, and Bishop Heber, in the following 
 remark upon it, acknowledged the valuable ser- 
 vices of the missionaries. " Even in Calcutta and 
 the neighbouring stations, though some of the 
 clergy officiate three times a day, and though I my- 
 self and the archdeacon work as hard as any of the 
 labouring clergy in any part of the world, yet were 
 it not for the aid of the Church missionaries, we 
 could not get the ordinary duty of the Sunday 
 done. They, indeed, have cheerfully received 
 licences, and submitted themselves to my authority ; 
 and they are, in fact, very respectable and pains- 
 taking young men, who are doing far more in the 
 way of converting and educating the natives than 
 I had expected." While, therefore, the Calcutta 
 Committee deemed it their duty to retain the con- 
 trol of the missionaries, they took care that the 
 Bishop should have all the aid from their services, 
 which their primary engagement would admit. 
 The first 6. We have already seen the inconvenience aris- 
 ing from the Bishop of Calcutta's want of authority 
 to ordain natives of the country, and also the 
 endeavours of Dr Middleton to have this restric- 
 tion removed . This was now done, 1 and the first 
 
 1 By the Act of 4 Geo. IV., c. 71, sect. 6, it was enacted: 
 " And whereas doubts have arisen whether the Bishop of Cal- 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 543 
 
 person ordained under the Act which gave the 
 power, was Christian David, a native Christian of 
 Ceylon, the young man whose application Bishop 
 Middle ton was constrained to reject. He now re- 
 newed his application, and Bishop Heber directed 
 him to repair to Calcutta, where he admitted him 
 to deacon's orders on Trinity Sunday 1824. He 
 then entered Bishop's College, where he pursued 
 
 cutta, in conferring holy orders, is subject to the several provi- 
 sions and limitations established by the laws of this realm, or 
 canons ecclesiastical, as to the titles of the persons to be or- 
 dained, and as to the oaths and subscriptions to be by such 
 persons taken and made ; be it further declared and enacted, 
 That it shall and may be lawful for the Bishop of Calcutta for 
 the time being, to admit into holy orders of deacon and priest, 
 respectively, any person whom he shall, upon examination, 
 deem duly qualified, specially for the purpose of taking upon 
 himself the cure of souls, or officiating in any spiritual capacity 
 within the limits of the said diocese of Calcutta, and residing 
 therein ; and that a declaration of such purpose, and a written 
 engagement to perform the same, under the hand of such per- 
 son, being deposited in the hands of such Bishop, shall be held 
 to be a sufficient title with a view to such ordination ; and that, 
 in every such case, it shall be distinctly stated in the letters of 
 ordination of every person so admitted to holy orders, that he 
 has been ordained for the cure of souls within the limits of the 
 said diocese of Calcutta only ; and that unless such person shall 
 be a British subject of or belonging to the United Kingdom of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, he shall not be required to take and 
 make the oaths and subscriptions which persons ordained in 
 England are required to take and make." 
 
 The following is the form of title for holy orders which the 
 Bishop required: 
 
 " To the Eight Kev. Father in Grod Lord Bishop of Calcutta. 
 
 " These are to certify to your Lordship, that we, the Com- 
 mittee of the Calcutta Auxiliary Church Missionary Society, do 
 hereby nominate and appoint to perform the 
 
 office of one of our missionaries to the heathen ; and we do 
 most solemnly declare, that we do not fraudulently give this 
 certificate only to entitle the said to re- 
 
 ceive holy orders, but with a real intention to employ him as 
 such missionary, according to what is before expressed. 
 
 " Witness our hands," &c., &c. 
 
544 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP his studies preparatory to his ordination to the 
 XVIIL priesthood ; after which he returned to Ceylon, and 
 was appointed by the Government of the island one 
 of the colonial chaplains . 
 
 Confirma- 7. Not long after the Bishop's arrival, he ap- 
 sitetionof P om ted the Rev. Daniel Corrie, senior chaplain in 
 the clergy. Bengal, archdeacon of Calcutta. Early this year 
 he held his first confirmation, when above two 
 hundred persons were received. And on Ascension 
 day he held his first visitation of the clergy, and 
 delivered his primary charge, in which he addressed 
 the Company's chaplains on the arduous but 
 honourable duties they had to perform ; and to the 
 missionaries he enlarged on the peculiar nature of 
 the great enterprise which they had undertaken. 
 Under this division of his charge, adverting to the 
 letters of the Abbe Dubois, which had been re- 
 cently published, on the state of Christianity in 
 India, he entered a strong appeal against that 
 Jesuit's misrepresentations. The unchristian spirit 
 in which that work is written was justly reproved ; 
 and the assertions of the author on the impractica- 
 bility of converting the Hindoos were confuted by 
 an appeal to facts. Having adduced the testimony 
 arising from the converts under the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society at Agra, Benares, Meerut, and Chu- 
 nar, his lordship thus appealed to those of other 
 societies, whether connected or not with the Church : 
 " Bear witness, those numerous believers of our 
 own immediate neighbourhood, with whom, though 
 we differ on many, and doubtless on very import- 
 ant points, I should hate myself if I could regard 
 them as any other than my brethren and fellow- 
 servants in the Lord. Let the populous Christian 
 districts of Malabar bear witness, where believers 
 are not reckoned by solitary individuals, but by 
 hundreds and by thousands. Bear witness Ceylon, 
 where the Cross has lost its reproach ; and the chiefs 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 545 
 
 of the land are gradually assuming, without scruple, 
 the attire, the language, and the religion of English- 
 
 men." 
 
 8. The Bishop had for some time resolved to Embarks 
 commence the visitation of his extensive diocese upper 
 with the upper provinces of Bengal, the parts which Provinces. 
 Bishop Middleton had not visited. Accordingly, 
 when his business at Calcutta appeared to be suffi- 
 ciently arranged to admit of his absence, he em- 
 barked on the Ganges, accompanied by Archdeacon 
 Corrie, and his chaplain, Rev. Martin Stowe. He 
 proceeded as far as Agra to the north, and his jour- 
 nal contains a variety of information interesting to 
 the traveller and the general reader ; but we shall 
 confine ourselves to those proceedings and remarks 
 which will serve to exhibit the state and prospect 
 of Christianity in those provinces at that period. 
 
 The first station he reached was Dacca, about one 
 hundred miles above the mouth of the Ganges, 
 where he arrived on Saturday evening, July 3d, 
 Such was his anxiety to spend the Sabbath here, 
 that he travelled the last fifteen miles in an open 
 boat, finding that there was no hope of his pinnace 
 arriving in time. Dacca was formerly a place of 
 some consideration, but was now much reduced. 
 The churches and extensive factories, built by the 
 Portuguese, French, and Dutch, were in ruins, and 
 the trade which at one time had flourished in this 
 city was all but gone. The bishop found that very 
 little had been done for the Christian instruction 
 and conversion of the natives, and that the Euro- 
 pean inhabitants were in a deplorable state of reli- 
 gious destitution. They were but few in number ; 
 but they had built a neat church for themselves, in 
 which the Bishop preached the morning after his 
 arrival to a small congregation. He was greatly 
 refreshed by the service, and it were hard to say 
 whether he or the people enjoyed it most. On the 
 
 VOL. v. M m 
 
546 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, following Saturday he confirmed about twenty per- 
 XVIIL sons ; and the next day consecrated the church, 
 and administered the sacrament to about thirty- 
 five communicants. 
 
 Death of 9. During his detention here, he visited the 
 iain? hap " Nabob and other respectable inhabitants ; also the 
 hospital and prisons, besides every object of interest 
 to his intelligent mind. But his feelings were too 
 painfully exercised for him to take much pleasure 
 in anything but his appropriate duties. When he 
 left his pinnace for Dacca, his chaplain, Mr Stowe, 
 remained behind, being too unwell to accompany 
 him ; and on the arrival of the pinnace next day, 
 he was not well enough to go on shore. The Bishop 
 went to him immediately, with a surgeon, and had 
 him carefully removed to an airy apartment, where 
 he attended him with the fidelity of a pastor, the 
 solicitude of a friend, and the affection of a brother. 
 But all his care, with the most skilful medical at- 
 tention, were of no avail. The sufferer died in a 
 few days, and was buried in the cemetery of the 
 place. But his end was peace. At one time, as 
 the Bishop remarked, " he had an awful mental 
 struggle, but confessed his sins, and cried for mercy 
 to Jesus Christ, with a simplicity, contrition, and 
 humility which I shall never forget, but I trust 
 always be the better for. By degrees his fears be- 
 came less, his faith stronger, and his hope more 
 lively ; and he told me at many different times, in 
 the following thirty-six hours, that God's goodness 
 was making the passage more and more easy to 
 him, and that he felt more and more that Christ 
 died for sinners." When his strength was gradually 
 wearing away, he said, " If I lose sight of the Cross, 
 though but for a moment, I am ready to despair ; 
 but my blessed Lord makes his mercy and his 
 power more and more plain to me." 
 
 The Bishop's letters to the sister of the deceased 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 547 
 
 and other friends,, shew that he felt this visitation 
 very acutely, and they express in an interesting 
 manner the tender sympathies of his heart. The 
 sickness and death of his friend detained him here 
 eighteen days,, which was so much beyond the time 
 he intended to remain, as in some measure to de- 
 range his plans. He left Dacca July 22, and reached 
 Boglipoor on the morning of August 10. Here he 
 found Archdeacon Corrie, with his family, waiting 
 his arrival. The chief object of interest in this 
 place was a school, under the care of an intelligent 
 young native. The order maintained was highly 
 commendable ; and considering the disadvantages 
 under which they laboured, for want of suitable 
 school-books, the improvement they had made was 
 much beyond what could have been expected. The 
 inhabitants of this part of India are called Puhar- 
 rees, a quick and intelligent people, fond of learn- 
 ing, without any of the Hindoo prejudices against 
 Christianity. Hitherto no efforts had been made 
 to introduce the Gospel among them ; but the Bishop 
 determined to send them an active missionary. 
 This he was enabled to do in a few weeks, when he 
 appointed the Rev. Thomas Christian, one of the 
 Gospel Propagation Society's Missionaries, at 
 Bishop's College, to this important station. He 
 laboured there with great ability, zeal, and accept- 
 ance, until December 1827, when he and his wife 
 were both carried off by the hill fever. There had 
 not been time enough to see much fruit from his 
 exertions ; but he had sown the seed for some 
 future labourer to reap. 
 
 As there was nothing particular to detain the 
 Bishop at Boglipoor, he left the day after his arri- 
 val. Just as the Archdeacon, who accompanied 
 him, got on board his budgerow, he received a 
 letter, in bad English, addressed to the abbot, as 
 the writer called him, from a Brahmin named Go- 
 
548 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, pee Mohun Doss, requesting an interview with him, 
 ^ VIIL and expressing great desire to receive instruction 
 in Christianity. The archdeacon returned for an- 
 swer, that he would see the writer with great 
 pleasure, on his return down the river. This was 
 not the only instance they met with, of persons in 
 this neighbourhood who seemed willing to inquire 
 into religious subjects. " There are several Hin- 
 doos and Mussulmans," the Bishop remarks in his 
 journal, " who make no objection to eat victuals 
 prepared by Christians, saying, that they think the 
 Christians are as pure as themselves, and they are 
 sure they are wiser." 
 
 Destitute 10. In prosecuting their voyage, they spent a 
 religion Sabbath at Monghyr, and another at Bankipoor. 
 There was neither chaplain nor church at either 
 place ; the Bishop was, therefore, glad to preach to 
 the European residents, administer the Lord's Sup- 
 per, and baptize their children ; and they expressed 
 themselves grateful for his services, and entreated 
 that a chaplain might be sent them. At Dinapore, 
 a large military station a few miles beyond Patna, 
 the Bishop found, as he remarks, " that everything 
 was on a liberal scale, except what belongs to the 
 church and the spiritual interests of the inhabitants. 
 The church, or rather the place so called, was a 
 small inconvenient room in the barracks, which 
 seemed as if it had been designed for an hospital- 
 ward ; the reading-desk, surplice, books, &c., were 
 all meaner and shabbier than are to be seen in the 
 poorest village-chapel in England or Wales ; there 
 were no wall- shades, or other means for lighting 
 up the room, no glass in the windows, no font, and 
 till a paltry deal stand was brought for my use out 
 of an adjoining warehouse, no communion table. 
 Bishop Middleton objected to administer confirma- 
 tion in any but churches built, furnished, and con- 
 secrated. But though I do not think, in India, we 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 
 
 need be so particular, I heartily wished, in the pre- 
 sent case, to see things more as they should be. 
 Nor, in more essential points, was there much to 
 console me for this neglect of external decencies. 
 The chaplain of the station, whom I found ex- 
 tremely desirous of contributing to the welfare of 
 the people, lamented, in a natural and unaffected 
 manner, the gross neglect of Sunday, the extraor- 
 dinary inattention of the lower classes to all reli- 
 gious concerns, and the indifference shewn by the 
 Company's present military officers, to everything 
 like religious improvement. The school that had 
 been established had fallen into decay, and the 
 lending library, that Government had sent six 
 months ago, for the use of the European soldiers, 
 to the care of the brigade-major, had never been 
 even unpacked. 
 
 " This lamentable state of things," the Bishop 
 goes on to remark, " might be accounted for in a 
 great degree, from the bad conduct of the late 
 chaplain, which must have driven many from church, 
 whom it would be very difficult for the most popu- 
 lar preacher to bring back again, from the want of 
 a decent place in which to meet, it being very un- 
 likely that any respectable families would attend, 
 to be crowded up promiscuously, in a room not 
 large enough to accommodate half the soldiers ; 
 and from the too prevalent practice of sending young 
 officers to India, whose religious principles can be 
 expected, at the least, only to be loose and un- 
 formed.*' These painful circumstances had a de- 
 pressive influence on the Bishop's spirits. ff What 
 I saw," says his lordship, "both at and after church, 
 made me low and sad, to which perhaps the op- 
 pressive heat of the day greatly contributed." 
 Before he left this place, he succeeded in re-estab- 
 lishing the school, and in obtaining from the colonel 
 and several of the officers, a promise that they 
 
 549 
 
550 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, would give their patronage and support to the chap- 
 XVIIL lain, Mr Northmore, in his efforts to instruct the 
 people, and would see that the lending library 
 should be regularly distributed. 
 
 This is a correct description of the state in which 
 the Bishop found religion among the Europeans in 
 the upper provinces generally. He quitted Dina- 
 pore, August 25, and on the evening of the next 
 day reached Buxar. Finding in this garrison a 
 goodly company of European soldiers, he regretted 
 that he could not remain over Sunday ; but he 
 preached on the following morning to a crowded 
 congregation, and was highly gratified with their 
 apparent devotion. " All were very attentive," he 
 wrote, " and the old soldiers, most of whom had 
 Prayer-books, joined in the responses with a regu- 
 larity, and exactness, and a zeal which much aifected 
 me, and shewed how much, in their situation, they 
 felt the blessing of an opportunity of public worship." 
 
 Here the Church Missionary Society had a school 
 and small native congregation, under a catechist, 
 Kurreem Messeeh (mercy of Christ), which was es- 
 tablished by Mr Corrie on a previous visit. The 
 scholars were of all ages, several boys, and some 
 girls, but the greater part were women. The 
 Bishop heard them read in the Hindoostanee Testa- 
 ment, and examined them in Watt's Catechism. 
 They also repeated to him the Creed, the Lord's 
 Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, giving a sort 
 of exposition of each. " I was extremely pleased 
 and surprised," he remarked, " at all I witnessed 
 here ; and heartily wished for some of the enemies 
 of missions to see, in this small and detached in- 
 stance, the good which, in a quiet and unpretending 
 way, is really doing among these poor people." 
 
 In the afternoon of the same day, August 27, he 
 left Buxar ; arrived next day at Ghazepoor, and 
 preached on Sunday to the European residents, in 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 551 
 
 a large thatched building, which had been a riding- 
 school, but was now in so ruinous a state as to be 
 unsafe to meet in. Here he remained till the 31st, 
 refreshed with the intelligent society of his host, 
 Mr C. Bayley, and a friend, Mr Melville, from whom 
 he obtained much information about the inhabit- 
 ants and state of the country. The prevalence of 
 suttees in the neighbourhood distressed him exceed- 
 ingly, and he resolved, should he live to return to 
 Calcutta, to use his utmost influence to have the 
 barbarous custom abolished. 1 
 
 11. On the 3d of September the Bishop arrived Church 
 at Benares, a station of the Church Missionary a 
 Society, occupied by the Rev. Thomas Morris, who nares - 
 had a small chapel and native congregation. A 
 
 chaplain also was stationed here, the Rev. 
 
 Frazer, and his lordship at last found a Company's 
 Church, ready for consecration. On Sunday, the 
 5th, he attended the mission chapel, at six in the 
 morning, when Mr Morris read the service and 
 preached in Hindoostanee, and the Bishop pro- 
 nounced the blessing in that language, for the first 
 time. On the same day he held a confirmation, 
 and consecrated the Company's church. In the 
 evening he preached in English to a crowded con- 
 gregation, and administered the Lord's Supper to 
 about sixty communicants, fourteen of whom were 
 
 1 The Bishop mentions the following circumstance, which 
 occurred not far from Grhazepoor, to prove how little a female 
 death is cared for by the natives : " A dispute had arisen be- 
 tween two freeholders, about some land, when one of the con- 
 tending parties, an old man, more than seventy, for the sole 
 purpose of being revenged on his antagonist, brought his wife, 
 of the same age as himself, to the field in question, and with 
 the assistance of his children and relatives, forced her into a 
 little straw hut they had built for the purpose, and burned her 
 and the hut together, that her death, as he imagined, might 
 bring a curse upon the soil, and her spirit haunt it after death, to 
 prevent for ever his antagonist deriving any advantage from it.'' 
 
552 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, native Christians just confirmed, with respect to 
 XVIIL whom he officiated in Hindoostanee. Next day he 
 consecrated the burial ground, and examined the 
 school endowed by Jay Narain, which we have 
 already described. 1 He expressed himself highly 
 pleased with the pertinent and intelligent replies 
 of most of the pupils to his inquiries,, and remarked, 
 that the scene was indeed a very interesting one. 
 The school was originally organized by Mr Corrie, 
 who was present on this occasion ; and the Bishop, 
 after describing the company assembled to witness 
 the examination, adds " One, however, of the 
 most pleasing sights of all, to me, was the calm and 
 intense pleasure visible on Archdeacon Corrie's 
 face, whose efforts and influence had first brought 
 this establishment into activity, and who now, after 
 an interval of several years, was witnessing, with 
 mingled emotions of joy and gratitude, its useful- 
 ness and prosperity." 
 
 The school now contained about one hundred and 
 forty boys, with three teachers English, Persian, 
 and Hindoostanee the whole being under the in- 
 spection of Mr John Adlington. The Bishop was 
 glad to learn, in answer to his inquiries, that none 
 of the boys' parents objected to their reading the 
 New Testament ; that the boys themselves were 
 very fond of it, and understood it as well, if not 
 better than the majority of English scholars of their 
 own age. Nevertheless, the school was not suffi- 
 ciently of a missionary character to satisfy him, 
 and he could not but feel apprehensive that many 
 of the boys would settle down into a compromise 
 between the two creeds, allowing that Christianity 
 was best for the English, and Hindooism for them- 
 selves. He remarks " On mentioning these ap- 
 
 1 Chap. vi. sees. 39-41, 
 
IN INDIA '. BOOK XIII. 553 
 
 prehensions to Mr Morris and Mr Frazer, the mis- 
 sionary and chaplain ; they observed that the same 
 danger had been foreseen by Mr Macleod, and that 
 in consequence of his representations, they had left 
 off teaching the boys the Creed and the Ten Com- 
 mandments, not wishing too early to expose them 
 to a conflict with themselves, but choosing rather 
 that the light should break in upon them by degrees, 
 when they were better able to bear it. They said, 
 however, that they had every reason to believe 
 that all the older and many of the younger boys, 
 began already to despise idolatry, which they attri- 
 buted, partly to the comparison which the boys 
 learn to make between their system of worship and 
 ours, and partly to the enlargement of mind which 
 general knowledge and the pure morality of the 
 Gospel have a tendency to produce. 
 
 12. After spending a week at this celebrated Mission at 
 seat of Hindoo learning, the Bishop pursued his way chunar - 
 to Chunar, where he arrived September 10th. This 
 was the station of the indefatigable missionary, Mr 
 Bowley, with whom Mr Greenwood was associated. 
 Next day, Saturday, the Bishop confirmed above 
 one hundred persons at the church, a large and re- 
 spectable building. The men and elder women who 
 offered themselves, had been Mr Corrie's converts 
 during his residence here. He was now present, 
 and gave the following interesting account of the 
 Bishop's proceedings : 
 
 " At Chunar, I may say, we beheld more than 
 had previously been told us. On Saturday morn- 
 ing, the llth of September, fifty-seven of Mr 
 Bowley's congregation were admitted to Confirma- 
 tion, together with nearly the same number of 
 Europeans." 
 
 " Next day, a still greater number of native 
 Christians communicated, together with a large 
 number of Europeans. Several gentlemen came 
 
554 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 xvm U P f rom Benares, and some officers from Sultan- 
 
 ' pore. Among them were Mr Fraser, Mr Morris, 
 
 and Mr Adlington : these, with Mr Greenwood and 
 Mr Bowley, made a greater number of derici than 
 are to be met with in one place, on this side of 
 India, out of Calcutta. The whole had the appear- 
 ance of a jubilee ; and the fine church, which the 
 Bishop calls handsome and appropriate, was entirely 
 filled. This service was in the morning : the heat 
 was not oppressive, though the service continued 
 from seven till ten o'clock. The Bishop preached, 
 in English, on the parable of the good Samaritan ; 
 and here, as at Secrole, ministered to the native 
 Christians in Hindoostanee. I had here the plea- 
 sure to assist in administering the Lord's Supper ; 
 and with no ordinary feelings partaking, I trust, 
 of gratitude to the God of all grace I beheld the 
 blessed fruits of the Gospel, in the improved reli- 
 gious state of so many, both European and native 
 Christians, in the place where I entered on my 
 ministry in this country." 
 
 " In the afternoon, worship was held in Hindoo- 
 stanee, when Mr Morris read prayers, and Mr 
 Bowley preached. One aisle was filled with native 
 Christians, the other by natives ; among whom, 
 towards the upper end, were twenty or thirty 
 respectable Hindoo inhabitants of Chunar, several 
 of whom seem on the very threshold of the king- 
 dom of God. The middle of the church was occu- 
 pied by Europeans." 
 
 "In the evening, there was a second English 
 service, when Mr Greenwood preached." 
 
 Mr Bowley remarked, that the morning service 
 was nearly four hours long ; and that, from the 
 active part which the Bishop took, it seemed as if 
 he could never be tired while thus engaged. Then, 
 after describing the other services, he concludes : 
 " Thus has his lordship devoted seven hours of 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 555 
 
 this day to public worship. May his example,, and 
 his zeal for the extension of Christ's kingdom, pro- 
 voke very many/' 
 
 13. Instead of halting here a few days to rest, Aiiaha- 
 he pursued his journey on Monday, and with great p^eds 
 difficulty reached Allahabad on the afternoon of by land. 
 Sunday the 19th, when it was too late to make 
 any arrangements for divine service. On the fol- 
 lowing Sunday, he preached, in a place fitted up 
 for the purpose, to a good congregation. He then 
 confirmed about twenty candidates, and afterwards 
 administered the Lord's Supper to nearly eighty 
 communicants. The English residents expressed 
 a great desire for a chaplain ; and as there was no 
 hope of one being at his disposal for some time, 
 the Bishop promised, if possible, that they should 
 have one of the Church missionaries. 
 
 As he intended to proceed the remaining part 
 of his way by land, he dismissed his boats, and 
 directed preparations to be made for his journey. 
 Owing to the difficulty of obtaining what he re- 
 quired, he was detained here until the morning of 
 the 30th, when he started, with a respectable cara- 
 van, well furnished with conveniences for so long 
 a land journey. He was still accompanied by Arch- 
 deacon Corrie, and also by Mr Lushington ; and 
 after suffering no little inconvenience from the 
 heavy rains which fell, arrived at the next Euro- 
 pean station, Cawnpore, October 9th. Here he 
 found a chaplain without a church ; but divine 
 service was regularly performed in a thatched 
 bungalow. The Bishop next morning, Sunday, 
 confirmed above eighty candidates, and afterwards 
 administered the Lord's Supper to about the same 
 number of communicants ; and in the evening he 
 preached. 
 
 Here he remained over the following Sunday 
 for the convenience of his caravan, and to make 
 
556 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, what arrangements were required for the prosecu- 
 vm * tion of his journey. As Cawnpore was a large 
 military cantonment, he was enabled usefully to 
 employ his time. He visited the regimental school, 
 which was well conducted : but the public town- 
 school, through the incompetency or neglect of the 
 master, was so ill managed as to be almost useless, 
 though liberally supported by Government, and 
 under the superintendence of a committee. There 
 were excellent school-rooms and a commodious 
 house, but few scholars, either native or European. 
 At the Bishop's suggestion, Archdeacon Corrie 
 undertook to put the master upon a better plan 
 than he had hitherto adopted ; and his Lordship 
 wrote out a list of books, which he recommended 
 the Committee to procure, suggesting, at the same 
 time, some of the simplest elements of Bell's system 
 for their consideration. The chaplain being dis- 
 abled by sickness, Archdeacon Corrie remained here 
 for the purpose of supplying for a time the spiritual 
 necessities of the place. 
 
 Kingdom 14. On Monday the 18th, the Bishop quitted 
 Oude ' Cawnpore with a strong guard of sepoys, in conse- 
 quence of the turbulent state of the kingdom of 
 Oude, through which he had to pass. In four days 
 he reached Lucknow, the capital of Oude, into 
 which city he was conducted by a respectable 
 escort, which the British resident at the court of 
 Oude, Mr Bicketts, had sent to meet him. There 
 was neither church nor chaplain at this place ; but 
 the resident had read the public service regularly 
 every Sunday in a large room in his own house. 
 Here the Bishop preached on Sunday, and also in 
 a room at the cantonments fitted up for the pur- 
 pose. In the course of the ensuing week, he was 
 variously employed for the benefit of the Europeans, 
 visited the King of Oude, and gathered information 
 about whatever interested him in the place. On 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 557 
 
 Saturday, he held a confirmation ; and, on Sunday, 
 administered the Lord's Supper, preaching on both 
 occasions. He was detained here ten days, having 
 kindly promised to officiate at the marriage of the 
 resident, which was fixed for November 1st. After 
 the service, in the afternoon of the same day, he 
 proceeded on his journey, but without his valued 
 companions, the Archdeacon and Mr Lushington, 
 who were both too unwell to accompany him any 
 further. At the first stage, the Bishop was himself 
 taken so seriously ill as to deliberate whether to 
 return to Lucknow, having no medical attendant 
 or any European companion with him. He finally 
 resolved, however, to move forward as well as he 
 could, though his indisposition continued to increase 
 for several days. At length he obtained relief ; and, 
 on the 10th of November, when they arrived at 
 Shahjehanpoor, he seems to have recovered his 
 wonted health and spirits. 
 
 15. Shahjehanpoor is the first European station Enters the 
 in the Company's territories beyond the frontier of 
 the kingdom of Oude. But the Bishop did not 
 remain here longer than to refresh himself and to 
 give his caravan time to rest. He met the Euro- 
 pean residents, who expressed to him great desire 
 to have a chaplain, having long regretted, they 
 said, the want of public worship. Being unable to 
 comply with their request, he recommended them 
 to follow the example of the resident at Lucknow, 
 by meeting constantly at some convenient place on 
 Sunday, and reading a selection, which he pointed 
 out, from the Church Prayers, the Psalms and 
 Lessons of the day, and a printed sermon. 
 
 He arrived at Bareilly on Sunday the 14th of 
 November, in time to preach to a numerous con- 
 gregation of the civil and military officers, with 
 their families, as well as a good many Christians 
 of humbler rank. He concluded with the admini- 
 
558 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, stration of the Lord's Supper to about sixteen com- 
 xvm - municants. "After breakfast on Monday morn- 
 ing/' he says, " I had a number of children brought 
 to be baptized,, and three couples came to be mar- 
 ried. One of the females was a native, who had 
 engaged to be married to an English soldier, and 
 who was a candidate for baptism. Her intended hus- 
 band had evidently taken much pains to instruct 
 her in her new belief. I explained to her, as far as 
 our means of communication went, her obligations, 
 both baptismal and matrimonial. For the former 
 she seemed very anxious ; and, to judge from her 
 extreme seriousness during the ceremony, and the 
 trembling earnestness with which, both in English 
 and Hindoostanee, she made the promises, I trust 
 it was not performed in vain." 
 
 Himalaya 16. In prosecution of his journey, having deter- 
 mined to take Almorah in his way, though he knew 
 that it would lead him through a tract of country 
 so pestilential that, during many months of the year, 
 even the monkeys, and every living animal fled 
 from it instinctively, he left Bareilly, and arrived 
 at Shahee on the 18th, a small village, where he 
 rested for the night. Here he met with Mr Boul- 
 derson, the collector of the district, who offered 
 him the loan of a sure-footed pony, and proposed 
 to accompany him to the foot of the Himalaya 
 mountains. With this intelligent and agreeable 
 companion, he reached the foot of the mountains 
 on the 22d, where he found suitable equipments 
 provided by Mr Adams of Almorah. Next day 
 they began the ascent. Mr Boulderson accom- 
 panied him another day's journey, and was then, 
 on the 24th, compelled to leave him to pursue his 
 way alone ; and in three days he reached the small 
 town of Almorah, after a toilsome journey up the 
 hills. Next day, November 28th, he preached and 
 administered the Lord's Supper to a respectable 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 559 
 
 congregation, being, as he remarked, the first Pro- 
 testant minister who had officiated " in this cele- 
 brated and remote region." Here he met with Sir 
 Robert Colquhoun, the commandant of the local 
 troops of the Kemaoon, with whom, and his lady, 
 he passed an agreeable day, and obtained from 
 several gentlemen much useful information respect- 
 ing the country, the manners and customs of its 
 inhabitants, with its productions and resources. 
 
 On the 2d of December he resumed his journey, 
 accompanied by Sir Robert and Lady Colquhoun, 
 who travelled with him till the evening of the 6th, 
 when they parted. Advancing through a wild, 
 mountainous country, he reached Moradabad on 
 the llth, the next European station. Next day, 
 Sunday, he read prayers and preached in a com- 
 modious room in the collector s house, administered 
 the Lord's Supper, and baptized three children. 
 Afterwards, he says, that he had "an interesting 
 visit from a fine, grey-bearded old man, who said 
 that he had been converted by Mr Corrie to Chris- 
 tianity, at Agra ; that his name was Noor Musseeh 
 (Light of the Messiah) ; that he was come to ask 
 for books, if I had any to spare for him." He then 
 introduced his son, whom he had been catechizing, 
 and who now expressed a wish for baptism. As, 
 however, the bishop could not then examine him 
 sufficiently to judge of his qualification for admis- 
 sion into the Christian Church, he proposed that 
 the young man should accompany him to Meerut 
 for the purpose. He also interceded with the col- 
 lector for the protection of Noor Musseeh against 
 his enemies, some bigoted Mussulmans, who, on 
 account of his religion, tried hard to have him re- 
 moved from a small office which he held. " This," 
 said Heber, " is the third or fourth Christian I have 
 heard of scattered up and down in the mountain 
 provinces ; but it is likely, which indeed Mr Corrie 
 
560 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, thinks is the case, that there are many more be- 
 
 ~V*\7"TTT 
 
 ' lievers in Christ, who dare not, by owning them- 
 selves such, take the risk of incurring the ill-will 
 of their neighbours." 
 
 Mcerut. 17. He left Moradabad December 13th, and 
 arrived at Meerut on the 18th ; the chaplain, Rev. 
 Henry Fisher, with his two sons, having gone out 
 to Mow, a short day's journey, to meet him. Here 
 the Bishop was gratified to find a large and hand- 
 some church, capable of accommodating at least 
 three thousand hearers. " It is remarkable," he 
 wrote, " that one of the earliest, the largest, and 
 the handsomest churches in India, having in it one 
 of the best organs, should be found in so remote a 
 situation, and in sight of the Himalaya mountains." 
 But what pleased him more was, that this church 
 was w.ell filled and well served, Mr Fisher being 
 indefatigable in the discharge of his duties ; and, 
 besides the Sunday services, preaching twice in the 
 week. Besides the British troops, he had also a 
 small flock of native Christians, to whom he 
 preached on Thursday ; and a school for natives in 
 the town, which the Bishop visited, and remarked, 
 " The boys are taught reading and writing, in 
 Hindoostanee and Persian, and receive, such of them 
 as desire it, which they all -do, instruction in the 
 Gospels." 
 
 On Sunday he consecrated the church. " The 
 congregation/' he says, "was very numerous and 
 attentive, the singing good, and the appearance of 
 everything highly honourable, both to the chaplain 
 and military officers of this important station/' On 
 the following Friday he held a confirmation, which 
 Mr Fisher thus described "The whole of the 
 native Christians, whether resident in Meerut or 
 within convenient reach of us, came forward with 
 peculiar meekness and simplicity of deportment ; 
 and, as I venture to believe too, with consistent 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 561 
 
 warmth of feeling, and a just understanding of the 
 nature and benefit of this ancient and holy rite ; 
 and received the imposition of hands. Two hundred 
 and fifty-five Christians (Europeans and natives 
 included) were publicly confirmed in the church ; a 
 considerable portion of whom were converts to the 
 faith as it is in Jesus many from Hindoo idola- 
 tries and Mahomedan infidelity others from the 
 apathy and ignorance of a nominal profession, 
 worse than heathenism all, I have much reason 
 to hope, seriously in earnest to give themselves to 
 God." They were in fact converted under his own 
 ministry. " Surely this is a greater work/' re- 
 marks the Bishop, " than could have been expected 
 in so remote a part of India, and where no English- 
 man had set his foot, till the conquests made by 
 Lord Lake and Sir Arthur Wellesley." 
 
 Saturday being Christmas day, he preached and 
 administered the Lord's Supper to above two hun- 
 dred communicants. Next day he preached again ; 
 and after evening service confirmed several candi- 
 dates, who were not able to attend on the former 
 occasion. He was indefatigable during the ten 
 days he spent here, and it is hard to say whether 
 himself or the English residents were the better 
 pleased with his visit. After his departure, Mr 
 Fisher gave the following account of the effect he 
 produced : " Our dear and respected Bishop has 
 left an impression behind him, which, I think, will 
 not soon or easily pass away. Proofs, indeed, are 
 continually before me, that the savour of his truly 
 apostolic visit dwells generally in affectionate and 
 grateful remembrance. He interested himself about 
 every minute circumstance of this beloved vineyard 
 accompanied me to my native congregation 
 visited my native school and saw and conversed 
 with many of the Christians who were introduced 
 to him, with the affability and kindness which we 
 
 VOL. v. N n 
 
562 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, had been prepared to expect. We all still cherish 
 
 XVIIL the humble hope that the blessing of God Almighty 
 
 was abundantly with him, and that the peace of 
 
 God which he bequeathed us through Jesus Christ, 
 
 remains upon our souls." 
 
 Delhi. He left Meerut on the 28th., and reached Delhi 
 
 next day, the resident, Mr Elliott, meeting him on 
 the northern bank of the river, and escorting him 
 to the city with oriental pomp. Though the 
 humble mind of Heber was always more at ease, 
 and therefore much happier, without such parade ; 
 yet he knew it to be the usual mark of respect in 
 the country, and, therefore, quietly submitted to it. 
 Here he was joined by his friend, Mr Lushington, 
 and also by Mr Fisher, who had followed him from 
 Meerut. On Sunday, January 2. 1825, he con- 
 firmed about twenty candidates, preached, and ad- 
 ministered the Lord's Supper to about forty com- 
 municants. Mr Fisher read the prayers, and the 
 congregations, morning and evening, were very 
 numerous and attentive. 
 
 While at Delhi, the Bishop was introduced to 
 the King, whom he describes as, " the poor old de- 
 scendant of Tamerlane," and was moved to sym- 
 pathy at the sight of fallen greatness. He also 
 visited the splendid tonib of the Emperor Humaioon. 
 On Monday the 3d, he resumed his journey, ac- 
 companied by his friend Mr Lushington, and also 
 by a medical gentleman, Dr Smith, who was ap- 
 pointed in future to travel with him, and afford 
 him, or any of the caravan, what assistance they 
 might require. They reached Muttra on Sunday 
 the 9th, in time for divine service, when the Bishop 
 read prayers, and preached in a Bungalow to a 
 small congregation, and administered the Lord's 
 Supper to a few communicants. 
 
 Agra. On the 10th, he started again, and reached Agra 
 
 on the 12th. A severe cold which he had taken, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 563 
 
 accompanied with much fever and lassitude, com- 
 pelled him to remain here through the week. On 
 Friday, though so hoarse as to be scarcely able to 
 speak, he confirmed about forty candidates ; and 
 on Sunday, much against Dr Smith's advice, he 
 preached and administered the Lord's Supper. 
 Here he was highly gratified at meeting Abdool 
 Messeeh, of whom he had heard so much, and whose 
 conversion under Henry Martyn, and subsequent 
 labours in the gospel under Mr Corrie, we have 
 already mentioned. Abdool was stationed here by 
 the Church Missionary Society, to preside over a 
 small congregation of native Christians, collected 
 by Mr Corrie, when chaplain at Agra. He expressed 
 an earnest desire to be a clergyman of the Church 
 of England ; " and if God spare his life and mine," 
 wrote the Bishop, " I hope, during the ember weeks 
 in the next autumn, to confer orders on him. He 
 is every way fit for them, and is a most sincere 
 Christian, quite free, as far as I could observe, from 
 all conceit or enthusiasm. His long eastern dress, 
 his long grey beard, and his calm resigned counte- 
 nance, give him almost the air of an apostle." 
 
 18. From this point his future route lay through Central 
 the independent states of Central India ; and the India * 
 necessary arrangements being completed, the Bishop 
 left Agra on the 17th, and reached Jyepoor on 
 Saturday the 30th, without the occurrence of any- 
 thing by the way worthy of special remark. He 
 was welcomed at Jyepoor by the British resident, 
 Colonel Koper, in whose house he read prayers and 
 preached on the Lord's day, and baptized the re- 
 sident's child. Here he was detained one day in 
 consequence of the sudden death of his soubahdar, 
 the native commander of his escort. Next day, 
 February 2d, he left Jyepoor, and reach Nussera- 
 bad on the 8th, a British station, where he con- 
 firmed thirty candidates, preached to a congrega- 
 
564 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, tion of about one hundred, and administered the 
 XVI ' Lord's Supper. On the 15th he started again, and 
 reached Neemuch, the next cantonment of the Ben- 
 gal army, on the 25th. Here he remained three 
 days, and on Sunday performed divine service, when 
 he preached to a congregation of nearly one hun- 
 dred. Next day, the 28th, he pursued his journey ; 
 and after traversing a wide extent of country, 
 through dense forests and wild jungles, which were 
 sometimes noxious, and abounding in tigers, he 
 arrived at Jeridda in health and safety, on the 18th 
 of March. Here he had the happiness to find 
 Archdeacon Barnes of Bombay, who had come thus 
 far to meet him. They were old college friends, 
 and had not seen each other for seventeen years ; 
 the pleasure of the meeting, therefore, in such a 
 place, after so long and perilous a journey, may 
 well be supposed to have been great indeed. 
 
 Baroda. 19. The Bishop's present plan for his visitation 
 of the Archdeaconry of Bombay, differed materially 
 from his original arrangements, as, owing to his 
 unexpected detention on the way, he found himself 
 unable to devote to it the time he had intended. 
 He proceeded, therefore, with all possible expedi- 
 tion, and arrived at Baroda on the 19th, escorted 
 by a large and splendid military cavalcade, sent by 
 the British resident to meet him. Here he found 
 a chaplain, and a neat Gothic English church, which 
 he consecrated on the 20th, and afterwards admi- 
 nistered the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Kairah. On the 25th, he left Baroda, accompanied by 
 the resident, and reached Kairah in the night of 
 the 26th. On Sunday, he consecrated a large 
 church, recently built at this station, and on Wed- 
 nesday, confirmed about seventy persons. On 
 Friday, being Good Friday, and also on Easter 
 Sunday, he preached to good congregations ; and 
 during the intervening day he visited the schools, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 565 
 
 and attended to other matters connected with the 
 station. " The station library here/' he writes, 
 "is a very good room, with a small adjoining 
 apartment for the non-commissioned officer who has 
 the care of the volumes, all of which bore evident 
 marks of having been read, especially those of the 
 Christian Knowledge Society, which are circulated 
 in the manner usually practised in the lending 
 libraries of that institution. Altogether, I have 
 seen no Indian station, Meerut excepted, from 
 which I have derived so much pleasure and comfort." 
 
 He left Kairah April 4th ; was rejoined next Broach, 
 day by Archdeacon Barnes, who had been obliged 
 to leave him ; and arrived at Broach on Sunday 
 morning, the 10th. Here he preached and ad- 
 ministered the Lord's Supper, in the room which 
 for some time had been fitted up and used for the 
 purpose. Next day, he set out again, and reached 
 Surat on the 13th. He was much pleased to find Surat. 
 a neat and -convenient church in this city, which 
 he consecrated on Sunday the 17th, and afterwards 
 preached and administered the Lord's Supper. 
 Here, too, was a considerable school, where Per- 
 sian, Mussulman, and Hindoo boys were instructed 
 in reading, writing, arithmetic, and English. The 
 Scriptures were used as a text-book, without any 
 objection being made, and their progress seemed 
 highly creditable. 
 
 20. On the 18th, he embarked for Bombay, 
 where he arrived on the following night, and 
 landed early next morning, the 20th, when he was 
 received by the authorities with the honours due to 
 his rank. Government having provided a con- 
 venient residence for him near the sea, he greatly 
 enjoyed the repose and the refreshing breezes ; 
 and being shortly after joined by his family, his 
 strength was soon recruited, and his spirits re- 
 freshed, after the fatigues of his long and perilous 
 
566 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, journey. It was more than ten months since he 
 XVIIL left Calcutta. He had travelled nearly three 
 thousand miles, during which he had visited almost 
 every important station in the provinces of Bengal. 
 Though many of his Sundays were unavoidably 
 passed in wildernesses remote from the society of 
 Europeans, yet he had found opportunities to 
 preach more than fifty times, besides administer- 
 ing the Lord's Supper, holding confirmations, and 
 consecrating new churches. He seldom slept 
 under any other cover than that of his cabin or 
 his tent. Much harassed and worn by this fatigue 
 and long exposure to the burning climate, he stood 
 greatly in need of the relaxation which he now 
 found in the bosom of his family and the society 
 of his friends. 
 
 After a few days' rest, he resumed his work, 
 and, on the 25th of April, confirmed about one 
 hundred and fifty candidates, to whom he delivered, 
 as was his custom, an appropriate charge. On the 
 28th, he held his visitation of the clergy. He 
 was indefatigable in regulating whatever required 
 his attention, and examining into the state of 
 religion and education in Bombay and the neigh- 
 bourhood ; and he expressed himself highly grati- 
 fied with the general state of ecclesiastical matters 
 in this archdeaconry. 
 
 Among the various places which he visited, one 
 was the island of Salsette, the extreme poverty 
 and ignorance of a great part of whose inhabitants 
 affected him grievously. " I have felt much 
 anxiety," he wrote, " to learn more of the un- 
 fortunate tribe who inhabit this island, under an 
 idea that the establishment of a school and a mis- 
 sionary among them would at least meet with 110 
 opposition ; but have had at present but little 
 encouragement to expect that such a measure 
 would be followed by success." 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 567 
 
 Wherever he went, he neglected no oppor- 
 tunity to obtain subscriptions in aid of Bishop's 
 College at Calcutta ; and in Bombay his exertions 
 were specially successful. At the suggestion of 
 the archdeacon,, who had well prepared the British 
 public for the proposal, the Bishop succeeded in 
 establishing district committees throughout the 
 archdeaconry in aid of this object. We have 
 already mentioned 1 the Bishop's sermon on Whit- 
 Sunday, from Acts ii. 38, 39, on the conversion of 
 the heathen, and the favourable impression it 
 made, the governor and highest authorities con- 
 curring in the Bishop's proposal to encourage the 
 conversion of the heathen in their private capacity. 
 Never, it has been remarked, were the arguments 
 of the opponents of missions more triumphantly 
 refuted, nor the inducements to engage in the 
 work more powerfully stated. 
 
 Desirous to know the state of religion in the 
 Deccan, the Bishop, accompanied by the archdea- 
 con, proceeded as far as Poonah, the principal 
 British settlement in those parts. Owing to the 
 heavy rains which had fallen, and the fatigue of 
 the journey, which they performed with all pos- 
 sible speed, he arrived too ill immediately to attend 
 to business. In two or three days, however, he 
 felt well enough to take his usual part in the ser- 
 vices of the Lord's day, when he consecrated the 
 church, preached, and held a confirmation. Here 
 he succeeded in persuading the commanding officer 
 to rescind an order which he had issued, prohibit- 
 ing the soldiers in the different cantonments from 
 using the books in the station library. 
 
 We have mentioned the death of the Bishop's 
 chaplain, Mr Stowe ; and at Poonah he met with 
 
 Chap. ii. 
 
568 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, a clergyman, the Rev. Thomas Robinson,, chaplain 
 XVIIL of this station, whom he appointed to the vacant 
 post. From this period, Mr Robinson became his 
 constant companion in travel, and proved of essen- 
 tial service to him in the prosecution of his work. 
 
 The Bishop was detained at Bombay nearly four 
 months, his time being constantly occupied with 
 his various and important engagements. Here, as 
 throughout his long journey, he lost no oppor- 
 tunity to proclaim from the pulpit the glad tidings 
 of the Gospel. Besides discharging publicly his 
 Episcopal functions, he preached every Sunday in 
 the place where he happened to be, and on most 
 occasions twice. Of his great exertions hitherto, 
 the Bombay Courier of the 16th of July thus 
 speaks : 
 
 " It is now more than twelve months since the 
 Bishop left Calcutta ; and though he has since been 
 constantly engaged in personally visiting the prin- 
 cipal stations under that presidency and Bombay, 
 he can scarcely be said to have as yet visited half 
 of his immense diocese ; for, in addition to the 
 Company's territories, we learn that the Archdeacon 
 of New South Wales and twenty-five chaplains in 
 that increasing colony have lately been placed under 
 his superintendence as Bishop." 
 
 On the 15th of August he left Bombay, with his 
 family and chaplain, much regretted by the princi- 
 pal inhabitants of the settlement, of whose kind 
 attentions he wrote in the warmest terms. On the 
 occasion of his departure, the Bombay Courier re- 
 marked " The high talents of Bishop Heber, 
 united with his very kind and amiable feelings, en- 
 gage the regard and friendliness of all who know 
 him ; and his frequent discourses from the pulpit, 
 exhibiting with unusual force the leading features 
 of the Christian faith and character, leave an im- 
 pression on his hearers, which will long remain to 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 569 
 
 their delight and improvement. He carries with 
 him, we are sure,, the prayers of every good man for 
 his health and for his success in the arduous and 
 awfully-important duties in which he is engaged." 
 
 As mere expressions of personal regard, it would, 
 perhaps, be out of place here to record these friendly 
 attentions paid to Bishop Heber, and the manner in 
 which he and his labours were spoken of ; but as 
 indications of the public respect for his office, they 
 are of more importance, and serve to shew, that the 
 British residents in India were prepared to welcome 
 the establishment of their Church among them in 
 all her efficiency and strength. 
 
 21. On the 25th of August the Bishop reached visitation 
 Point-de-Galle, the southern extremity of Ceylon, c 
 where he was received with the accustomed honours. 
 He remained over Sunday, when he held a confir- 
 mation and preached. Early next morning, the 
 29th, he set out for Columbo, where he arrived the 
 following day, and was kindly welcomed by the 
 Governor, Sir Edward Barnes and his lady. On 
 Thursday, September 1, he held a visitation of his 
 clergy, which was attended by all the colonial chap- 
 lains and church missionaries, except Mr Mayor, 
 who was detained at home by indisposition. This 
 visitation is described as one of peculiar interest, 
 and the clergy especially seem to have been en- 
 couraged and refreshed by the Bishop's affectionate 
 charge. He next examined into the state of the 
 schools, of which Government had one hundred 
 under their control in the island. Examining the 
 proponents for catechists, he did not find them so 
 well instructed as he could have wished ; which, 
 perhaps, led to the desire he now expressed to 
 devise a plan 1 for training a body of native clergy 
 
 He thus explained this plan, among other suggestions for 
 
570 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, for the whole island ; an object of great import- 
 
 VIIL ance, and justifying any expenditure of money and 
 
 exertions needful for its accomplishments : but the 
 
 time was not yet come for the prosecution of so 
 
 extensive a design. 
 
 On Sunday, September 4, the Bishop preached 
 to a crowded congregation, in St Thomas's Church, 
 which was so close and badly constructed, that he 
 suffered more than usual from the heat. Arch- 
 deacon Twistleton, the active and liberal patron of 
 every good work, whose exertions we have so fre- 
 quently mentioned, was now dead ; and the Rev. J. 
 M. S. Glennie was acting archdeacon, with whom 
 the Bishop was occupied on Monday in arranging 
 for the visitation of the island. Next day he visited 
 Cotta, the principal station of the Church Missionary 
 Society, accompanied by his chaplain, Mr Robinson, 
 who thus describes the Bishop's interview with the 
 missionaries " Mr Lambrick, in behalf of his 
 brethren, read an address to his lordship, most 
 touchingly and admirably worded, expressing their 
 joy at ranging themselves under his paternal autho- 
 rity, their gratitude for his kindness, their thank- 
 
 the improvement of Ceylon, in a letter to the Society for Pro- 
 moting Christian Knowledge " The native proponents or cate- 
 chists whom I am most anxious to raise in character and ac- 
 quirements, and by degrees to admit into holy orders, and make 
 the groundwork of a regular parochial clergy though good men, 
 and willing to do their best for the instruction and improve- 
 ment of their flocks, are, themselves, very many of them, ex- 
 tremely ill-informed, and destitute of the means of acquiring 
 information. Above all, they greatly need some plain ser- 
 mons to read to their people ; and I have already, in conse- 
 quence, encouraged some of the colonial clergy to undertake 
 translations into Tamul and Cingalese, of the Book of Homilies, 
 which I purpose to follow up with similar translations of Berens' 
 Village Sermons, Bishop Wilson's Sermons, and some other of 
 the more popular works in the Society's Supplementary Cata- 
 logue." 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 571 
 
 fulness for his present visit, and at seeing a friend, 
 a protector, and a father in their lawful superior. 
 The address was neither read nor heard without 
 tears. The Bishop, though he had no previous in- 
 timation of their purpose, returned a most kind 
 and affectionate answer, attaching to himself more 
 strongly the hearts which were already his own. 
 His utterance was ready, and only checked by the 
 strong emotions he felt at the time. The scene was 
 to me most beautiful. We were embowered in the 
 sequestered woods of Ceylon ; and yet here was a 
 transaction worthy of the apostolic age a Christian 
 Bishop, with his heart full of love and zeal for his 
 Divine master, received in his proper church by a 
 body of missionaries of his own church, who with 
 full confidence and affection ranged themselves 
 under his authority, as his servants and fellow- 
 labourers. It realized my ideas of true missionary 
 effort. After breakfast, the schools were collected, 
 in a large, open, but roofed place, used occasionally 
 for preaching. His lordship examined them all 
 about two hundred ; spoke to them, and cate- 
 chised them. At twelve, we returned home the 
 Bishop rejoicing at what he had seen, and I, in 
 having the privilege to share in his joy. Would to 
 God every missionary station could exhibit the 
 same beautiful sight of zeal and church order !" 
 
 On the following day, the 7th, the Bishop pre- 
 sided at a meeting of the Christian Knowledge 
 Society's District Committee ; and afterwards exa- 
 mined about one hundred and sixty boys under Mr 
 Armour's care. The next day he confirmed about 
 two hundred candidates, half Europeans and half 
 natives. At seven on Sunday morning, the llth, 
 he attended the Tamul church, and took some part 
 in the service. At eleven, he preached at the 
 English church in the fort, in aid of Bishop's Col- 
 lege, and afterwards administered the Lord's Supper. 
 
572 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. At four, he attended the Cingalese service, and pro- 
 XVIIL nounced the benediction ; and in the evening he 
 was again present in the English church. " At 
 the close of the day/' says Mr Robinson, " on my 
 remarking, e I fear, my lord, you are exhausted;' he 
 said, 'I am tired indeed, but I would give some 
 years of my life for such a day as this.' " The next 
 day he attended a meeting for the formation of a 
 Society to Promote the Propagation of the Gospel, 
 with special reference to Bishop's College. Here 
 he set a noble example of liberality, presenting a 
 donation of 300. On the 13th, he held another 
 confirmation. 
 
 Early next morning he set out for Kandy, accom- 
 panied by Mrs Heber, his chaplain, the governor, 
 and a small party of gentlemen. They arrived on 
 the following day about noon, much gratified with 
 the luxuriant beauty of the scenery through which 
 they had passed. When refreshed, after the fatigue 
 of the journey, the Bishop examined the mission 
 school, under Mr Browning, and was highly pleased 
 with the progress of the children, and with the 
 neatness, order, and good management that seemed 
 to prevail. At seven on Sunday, the 18th, he held 
 a confirmation in the audience hall of the late king, 
 there being no church at the station. At eleven, 
 he preached in the same place ; and Divine service 
 was again celebrated there in the evening. At his 
 request, an evening service was in future regularly 
 performed. Afterwards, in adverting to the place 
 where they had been worshipping, Mr Robinson 
 remarks " I was mentioning to the Bishop how 
 forcibly it struck me, during the service, that in 
 that hall, where, a few years ago, the most savage 
 tyrant received his miserable subjects, a Christian 
 prelate was now administering the solemn ordi- 
 nances of our religion. He leaned his head on his 
 hand, and burst into tears. ' How wonderful,' said 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 573 
 
 he, ' is the providence of God in the economy of His 
 Church ! Never was any people entrusted with 
 such a power of doing good as England now is ! 
 What a fearful responsibility rests on the Govern- 
 ment and its ministers ; on the nation and all its 
 children ; and, above all, on our Church and its 
 rulers ! ' Such were the remarks made in the palace 
 of the deposed Emperor of Kandy on this memo- 
 rable morning." 
 
 Early next morning, they left Kandy, and reached 
 Columbo on the evening of the following day, the 
 20th. On the 21st, he held another confirmation, 
 and afterwards admitted Mr Armour to priest's 
 orders, who, as already mentioned, was ordained 
 deacon by Bishop Middleton. 1 The next morning 
 he presided at the first meeting of the clergy, 
 chaplains, and missionaries, convened at his sug- 
 gestion, for the purpose of strengthening one an- 
 other's hands, and encouraging each other in the 
 arduous work in which they were engaged. " Se- 
 veral important points were discussed," says Mr 
 Robinson ; " and the Bishop entered with great 
 life and energy into the business. His address to 
 the clergy, and fatherly benediction at the end, 
 were full of feeling, and made a strong impression 
 upon all. At the close of the meeting, the Arch- 
 deacon delivered an address to his lordship, in his 
 own name and that of the clergy, expressive of 
 their thankfulness, reverence, and affection. No- 
 thing could be more unexpected ; but the Bishop's 
 answer was very noble, and all parted with many 
 tears." 
 
 A written address was afterwards presented to 
 the Bishop, signed by all the clergy ; to which he 
 made a most suitable reply. And, besides joining 
 
 1 Book xiii. chap. i. sec. 63. 
 
574 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, in this, the missionaries presented a separate ad- 
 XVIIL dress, in which they detailed the circumstances of 
 each station, with their various difficulties and 
 encouragements. In reply, the Bishop entered at 
 considerable length on the subjects which they had 
 submitted to his notice ; and manifested such a 
 spirit of kindness toward them as much heightened 
 their esteem and increased their affection for their 
 revered Diocesan. 
 
 On the morning of the 23d, the Bishop and his 
 party left Columbo for Baddagame. Their parting 
 interview with Sir Edward and Lady Barnes, and 
 other friends, from whom they had received so 
 much attention and hospitality, was one of mutual 
 regret. They reached Baddagame on Saturday, 
 and next morning the Bishop consecrated the 
 church and burial-ground, and preached to a nume- 
 rous congregation. Almost all the European resi- 
 dents from Galle, and a great number of natives, 
 were assembled to witness the ceremony ; and the 
 peculiar circumstances under which it was per- 
 formed rendered it highly interesting to the greater 
 part of the congregation. In the afternoon, the 
 Bishop confirmed thirteen persons, all of whom, 
 save three, were Cingalese ; making, together with 
 five who had been previously confirmed at Galle, 
 fifteen recently converted natives in this mission, 
 four of whom received the sacrament. In the 
 evening, the Bishop examined some of the scholars, 
 and heard them read and construe a chapter in the 
 New Testament from English into Cingalese. 
 
 The season being too far advanced to visit Jaffna, 
 the Bishop postponed his visitation of that province, 
 and proceeded on the 26th to Galle for Calcutta. 
 While waiting for a favourable wind, he wrote an 
 account of his visit to the island in several letters 
 to his friends. One of the missionaries at Badda- 
 game was a son of the Rev. John Mayor, vicar of 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 575 
 
 Shawbury, an old friend of the Bishop's, to whom 
 he sent an interesting description of his son's pro- 
 ceedings. To Archdeacon Barnes he wrote : " I 
 have spent a very interesting month in Ceylon ; 
 but never in my life, to the best of my recollection, 
 passed so laborious a one ;" and then he relates 
 what he had seen and done. But a letter to his 
 mother contains so full an account of the present 
 state of Christianity in the island, and his hopes 
 of its improvement, that we are induced to give it 
 in his own words : 
 
 " Christianity has made, perhaps, a greater 
 progress in this island than in all India besides. 
 The Dutch, while they governed the country, 
 took great pains to spread it ; and the black 
 preachers whom they left behind, and who are 
 still paid by the English Government, shew a 
 very great reverence for our Common Prayer, which 
 is translated into their language, and a strong 
 desire to be admitted members of the Church of 
 England. One excellent man, named Christian 
 David, I ordained last year in Calcutta, and there 
 are several more in training. There are also some 
 very meritorious missionaries in the island : one of 
 them is the son of our neighbour, Mr Mayor of 
 Shawbury, who, together with another Shropshire 
 man, Mr Ward, has got together a very respectable 
 congregation of natives, as well as a large school, 
 and built a pretty church, which I consecrated last 
 Sunday, in one of the wildest and most beautiful 
 situations that I ever saw. The effects of these 
 exertions have been very happy, both among the 
 Roman Catholic descendants of the Portuguese and 
 the heathen. I have confirmed, since I came into 
 the island, three hundred and sixty persons, of 
 whom only sixty were English ; and, in the great 
 church at Columbo, I pronounced the blessing in 
 
576 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, four different languages, English, Portuguese, Cin- 
 XVIIL galese, and Tamul. 
 
 " Those who are still heathen are professedly 
 worshippers of Buddhu ; but by far the greater 
 part reverence nothing except the devil, to whom 
 they offer sacrifices by night, that he may do them 
 no harm. Many of the nominal Christians are 
 infected with the same superstition ; and are, there- 
 fore, not acknowledged by our missionaries : other- 
 wise, instead of three hundred to be confirmed, I 
 might have had several thousand candidates. 
 
 " On the whole, I rejoice to believe, that, in very 
 many parts of this great country, the fields are white 
 already to harvest ; and it is a circumstance of great 
 comfort to me that, in all the good which is 
 done, the Church of England seems to take the 
 lead, that our liturgy has been translated into 
 the five languages most used in these parts of the 
 world, and that all Christian sects in the East 
 seem more and more disposed to hold it in reve- 
 rence. Still little, very little is done, in compari- 
 son of all which there is to do." 
 
 Eetum to 22. On the 29th he embarked for Calcutta ; but 
 Calcutta, owing to the dangerous and tedious passage, he did 
 not arrive there before the 21st of October, when 
 he landed after an absence of fourteen months, in 
 the visitation of three portions of his immense dio- 
 cese. He had travelled through a greater extent 
 of country, and had encountered more perils than, 
 perhaps, had ever fallen to the lot of any other 
 Christian bishop since the days of the apostles. In 
 every place he manifested the liveliest zeal for the 
 missionary cause, gladdened the hearts of the native 
 Christians, and brought them into close connection 
 with their Episcopal head. They were taught to 
 regard him as their chief pastor, and encouraged to 
 look up to him for protection. 
 
 The Bishop found much important business had 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 577 
 
 accumulated during his long absence from home ; 
 and as he proposed setting off again in two months 
 for southern India, to complete his visitation, he 
 had no time for relaxation to recruit his exhausted 
 strength. The first object of his care was Bishop's 
 College, which institution he regarded as of great 
 importance in promoting the spread of Christianity 
 in India. The buildings were not yet completed, 
 and the subscriptions received for its support had 
 been found inadequate to the expenditure. Some 
 alterations also in the original design were consi- 
 dered necessary, and several additional buildings, 
 with other improvements about the grounds, were 
 indispensable. To all these matters he paid imme- 
 diate attention. 
 
 On the 30th of November 1825, he held an Ordi- 
 nation in the Cathedral, when three missionaries 
 of the Church Missionary Society, the Rev. Theo- 
 philus Reichardt, who had received his education 
 at the University and Mission College at Basle, in 
 Switzerland, and had been ordained in the Lutheran 
 Church before he left that country ; and the Rev. 
 W. Bowley and the Rev. Abdool Messeeh, who, as 
 already recorded, 1 some years ago received Lutheran 
 ordination in India, having found it expedient, from 
 their connection with the Church of England, to 
 apply for Episcopal orders, were admitted to the 
 order of deacons ; and, on December 21, his lord- 
 ship held a second ordination in the Cathedral, 
 when Mr John Adlington, who had been prevented 
 by a serious accident from attending on the pre- 
 vious occasion, was ordained a deacon, and the be- 
 fore-mentioned three missionaries were admitted 
 to the order of priests. " The well-known charac- 
 ter of all the candidates," Mr Robinson remarks, 
 
 1 Book xiii. chap. vi. sees. 20, 25. 
 VOL. V. O O 
 
578 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. " and the bright prospects of futurity which opened 
 XVIIL upon the mind, as the probable result of this day's 
 services, conspired to make the scene one of deep 
 and powerful interest." 
 
 The lively concern with which the Bishop entered 
 into the progress of Christianity in his diocese, was 
 manifest in his frequent mention of the subject in 
 his public discourses and private conversation, in 
 his increasing zeal to advance the missions in con- 
 nection with his own church ; and in the satisfac- 
 tion with which he regarded the progress of the 
 cause carried on by missionaries of other denomi- 
 nations. In January 1826, he visited Chinsurah, 
 where he found three missionaries from different 
 societies actively engaged in their common Master's 
 work ; and he was gratified to learn that they all 
 lived in harmony and peace, making it their great 
 object to promote the spread of Christianity, with- 
 out murmurings or disputings, or the least compro- 
 mise of principle. The missionaries looked with 
 equal cordiality upon the Bishop's pious zeal ; and, 
 on Sunday, when he preached to a numerous con- 
 gregation, Mr Mundy, of the London Missionary 
 Society, gave up his own service, and became a 
 hearer, bringing with him all his flock. 
 Embarks 23. The Bishop continued to be occupied almost 
 Madras without intermission till the end of the month, 
 when, on the 30th, he left Calcutta for Madras, to 
 complete his visitation of South India. It was with 
 no light struggle of domestic feeling that he so soon 
 tore himself again from the bosom of his family ; 
 but public duty called for the private sacrifice, and 
 he did not hesitate to obey. He embarked with 
 his chaplain at the village of Fultah, February 
 2d. They were more than three weeks in reaching 
 Madras, during which time the Bishop laboured 
 indefatigably to make himself useful to all on board ; 
 but especially to a company of invalid soldiers, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 579 
 
 whose constitutions and emaciated frames, worn 
 out by service and, chiefly, by intemperance, but 
 too plainly told that they had not long to live. He 
 preached every Sunday, and was pleased to observe 
 that he was listened to with respectful attention : 
 and his concern for the people's best interests, to- 
 gether with his amiable conduct, so endeared him 
 to them in this short time, that when he left the 
 vessel, on his arrival at Madras, there was not one 
 who did not regret his departure. 
 
 He landed at Madras on the 25th, and was im- 
 mediately conducted to a house provided by Go- 
 vernment for his accommodation, where he was 
 visited by the public authorities, and many gentle- 
 men of the first respectability. He entered imme- 
 diately upon active duty, visiting mission stations, 
 examining schools, attending committee and public 
 meetings of religious societies, besides his own pro- 
 per engagements. On the 8th of March he con- 
 firmed four hundred and seventy-eight candidates, 
 and next day about one hundred and twenty, at 
 Poonamallee, a military station ten miles off. On 
 the 10th, he held his visitation, when sixteen 
 clergymen, including the Archdeacon and mission- 
 aries, were present, to whom he delivered an im- 
 pressive charge. He was frequently in the pulpit, 
 and during the fortnight he remained at Madras he 
 preached no less than eleven times, including his 
 confirmation and visitation addresses. At his sug- 
 gestion, a Sunday evening service was established 
 at St George's church, he himself preaching on the 
 first occasion. This was his last sermon at Madras, 
 and it is described as a powerful appeal to the con- 
 sciences of his auditors. This, combined with his 
 other discourses, which were always attended by a 
 crowd of attentive listeners, left a solemn impres- 
 sion on their minds. 
 
 He thus notices the Madras institutions which 
 
580 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, he visited : " There are some noble charities here. 
 
 XVIIL The Military School for Male and Female Orphans, 
 where Dr Bell first introduced his system, is 
 superior to anything in Calcutta, except the upper 
 schools at Kidderpore. The orphan asylums in 
 the Black Town, though much smaller, put the 
 management of the Calcutta Free School to shame ; 
 and at Yepery is the finest Gothic church, and the 
 best establishment of native schools, both male 
 and female, which I have yet seen in India." 
 
 The Bishop expressed himself highly gratified 
 with the harmony which prevailed among the 
 clergy, chaplains, and missionaries, and with the 
 promising appearances of religious interest, both in 
 Europeans and natives. Of the Yepery mission, 
 he especially remarked : " Although I had visited 
 several native congregations in the north of India 
 and in Ceylon, I had not met with one which gave 
 me so much pleasure, or held out so fair a promise 
 of future good." Yet he candidly remarks : " The 
 native Christians are numerous and increasing ; 
 but are, unfortunately, a good deal divided about 
 castes, respecting which I have to make some 
 regulations, which I have deferred till I have seen 
 the missions in the south. I have obtained the 
 appointment of a select committee of the Society 
 for Promoting Christian Knowledge, to inquire 
 into the real nature of the claims of caste still 
 subsisting, and to report to me at my return, 
 which, with my own inquiries, may perhaps land 
 us nearer the truth. 
 
 " I find there is a vast deal to do connected with 
 the southern missions, and have had many intricate 
 and important points referred to me, both by the 
 Committee, Dr Eottler, and Mr Haubroe. My 
 journey, I foresee, will not be a party of pleasure ; 
 but I rejoice that I have not delayed it any longer." 
 India 24. On the 13th, he left Madras for the south, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 581 
 
 accompanied by his chaplain and the Rev. J. W. 
 Do ran, a young missionary, destined for the 
 Church Missionary Society's College at Cotym. 
 The travellers arrived on the 18th at Cuddalore, 
 the first missionary station, where they remained 
 over Sunday, and the Bishop preached both morn- 
 ing and evening. At the request of the Society 
 for Promoting Christian Knowledge, he examined 
 particularly into the state of their land and build- 
 ings at this place, and was grieved to find both 
 their property and the mission in a neglected 
 state. For some years past, the Society had not 
 been able to place a missionary at this station, and 
 the occasional visit of one from Madras or Tanjore 
 was not enough to stop the progress of decay. 
 This the Bishop regretted the more, as he saw 
 that, under the management of a judicious and 
 active labourer, there were great facilities here for 
 missionary operations on an extensive scale. In a 
 memorandum containing the result of his investi- 
 gations, he remarked, in reference to the Society's 
 land : " It is not as a source of income, but as 
 the nucleus of a Christian agricultural population, 
 that this property appears to me most valuable. 
 There is no want of colonists of such a description ; 
 a considerable number from Tranquebar, well re- 
 commended, have applied for permission to settle 
 there. The place would afford accommodation 
 and nourishment for sixty families. Give them 
 the land in small lots, and on easy terms, as 
 tenants at will ; build a church, and send a mis- 
 sionary, and what an opening would not this give 
 to the spread of the Gospel ! " The judicious 
 plans, however, which he devised for the revival 
 of this mission, once so flourishing under the de- 
 voted Gericke, 1 were destined to remain some years 
 
 Book viii. chap, ii., 1767-1776. 
 
582 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, in abeyance, until a similar labourer could be sent 
 XVIIL to carry them into effect. 
 
 e- 25. They proceeded thence to Mayaveram, a 
 ram station of the Church Missionary Society, in the 
 
 centre of thirty schools, which were under the 
 superintendence of Rev. G. T. Barenbruck, assisted 
 by John Devasagayam. The Bishop visited the 
 mission house and some of the schools ; and though 
 he found the station in its infancy, having been 
 recently transferred from Tranquebar, he was grati- 
 fied to observe such promising indications of ex- 
 tensive usefulness. 
 
 Comba- Arriving at Combaconum on the morning of 
 conum. Good Friday, they were agreeably surprised to 
 find that the sub- collector, hearing of their pro- 
 gress, had made preparations for the performance 
 of divine service. The Bishop preached to a con- 
 gregation of about thirty persons, among whom 
 was Mr Mead, of the London Missionary Society, 
 who had sent his own desk for the occasion, and, 
 at the close of the service, gave his Lordship an 
 account of his labours and success at this place. 
 Tanjore. 26. Next morning, he arrived at Tanjore, the 
 head- quarters of the Christian Knowledge Society 'L 
 South India missions ; and on the following day, 
 Easter Sunday, the 26th, he preached at the 
 mission church in the fort. The circumstance of 
 his being on the spot where the apostolic Swartz 
 laboured, inspired him with unusual animation, 
 and considerably increased the interest of the ser- 
 vice. The evening service was performed in Tamul, 
 when there were not less than thirteen hundred 
 native Christians present. Mr Barenbruck, who 
 had followed from Mayaveram, read prayers, as- 
 sisted by a native priest, and Dr Cameron preached. 
 The Bishop pronounced the blessing, in Tamul, 
 "with much solemnity and feeling." His chap- 
 lain describes it as a scene of intense interest, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 583 
 
 adding " The Bishop's heart was full ; and never 
 shall I forget the energy of his manner, and the 
 heavenly expression of his countenance, when he 
 exclaimed, as I assisted him to take off his robes, 
 e Gladly would I exchange years of common life 
 for one such day as this !' ' 
 
 On Monday, he confirmed twelve European and 
 fifty native candidates, Mr Kohlhoff, the senior 
 missionary, preaching in Tamul on the occasion. 
 In the evening, the Christians assembled in Swartz's 
 chapel, outside the fort, when Rev. J. G. P. Spersch- 
 neider preached in Tamul to a crowded congre- 
 gation. The Bishop was not prepared for this 
 service ; but, as there were seven missionaries pre- 
 sent, he availed himself of the opportunity to make 
 it his visitation, which he wished to be entirely of 
 a missionary character. Accordingly, he addressed 
 these ambassadors to the heathen on the peculiar 
 nature of their duties, exhorting them " to fidelity 
 in their high office, to increasing diligence and 
 zeal, to a more self-denying patience under pri- 
 vation, neglect, and insult, looking for the final 
 recompence of reward ; and, lastly, to more earnest 
 prayer for themselves and the souls committed to 
 their trust, and for the native prince under whose 
 mild and equal government they lived. The ad- 
 dress was short and simple," Mr Robinson remarks, 
 and, though delivered impromptu, " no study could 
 have improved it. It was the spontaneous language 
 of his own heart, and appealed at once to the hearts 
 of all present, making an impression upon them 
 never to be effaced." 
 
 The Bishop was surprised to hear that the Rajah, 
 to whom he referred in his charge, had never been 
 distinctly prayed for in the public service of the 
 native Christians ; and he immediately composed 
 an appropriate prayer, which he ordered henceforth 
 to be used in all their churches. On the 28th, he 
 
584 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, paid the Rajah a visit by appointment, which the 
 XVIIL prince returned on the following day. 1 
 
 The Bishop now began to feel the effects of his 
 exertions for the past few days, and his friends 
 endeavoured to prevail upon him to take a little 
 relaxation. But, whatever repose he consented to 
 give his body, his mind could not rest. Besides 
 the extensive correspondence which he continued 
 to carry on with the Government, individuals, and 
 societies, in all parts of his vast diocese, and the 
 difficult cases often submitted for his advice or 
 decision, he took upon himself the care of all the 
 native churches, in whose prosperity he felt an 
 intense interest ; and the few days he spent at 
 Tanjore were passed in devising plans for their 
 improvement and extension. But this involved 
 the necessity of additional labourers. Tanjore had 
 only two missionaries, and the senior, Mr Kohlhoff, 
 had for some time begun to bend under the infirmi- 
 ties of age. The Bishop, therefore, considering the 
 extent and importance of this mission, expressed 
 his intention to ordain three more clergymen at 
 his earliest convenience, to be employed at Tanjore 
 and in different parts of the district. But this, 
 with all his other wise and useful plans for the 
 propagation of Christianity in India, he was too 
 soon to leave for his successors to carry into effect. 
 Tnchino- On the 31st, he left Tanjore for Trichinopoly, 
 poly. where he arrived next morning, and met, as usual, 
 with a friendly and hospitable reception. Instead 
 of resting after the fatigue of his journey, he was 
 closely occupied all the morning in receiving infor- 
 mation connected with the schools and the mission, 
 
 1 As the ceremonies on this occasion were similar to those 
 observed in the case of Bishop Middleton, which have heen 
 described above (Book xiii. chap. i. sec. 16) ; they need not be 
 repeated here. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 585 
 
 which he regretted to find in a very poor and 
 deserted state, though gradually recovering under 
 the care of a young missionary, Rev. David Rosen. 
 
 27. On Sunday morning, April 2d, the Bishop The 
 preached in the Government church, and held a death?' 8 
 confirmation in the evening. After which, he de- 
 livered another discourse, concluding with a solemn 
 and affecting farewell to the congregation. It was, 
 indeed, a last farewell ! On Monday morning, at 
 six o'clock, he visited the native congregation in 
 the fort, and confirmed eleven candidates. Mr. 
 Robinson, his chaplain, being confined by sickness 
 to his couch, the Bishop was accompanied by Mr 
 Doran, who thus, in a letter to Archdeacon Corrie, 
 describes his closing scene : 
 
 " In going and returning, he was most affec- 
 tionate in his manner, and talked freely on the 
 glorious dispensation of God in Christ Jesus, and 
 of the necessity which rested on us to propagate 
 the faith throughout this vast country. On his 
 return, he went to the bath, in which he had bathed 
 the two preceding days : but his servant, thinking 
 that he remained long, opened the door, and saw 
 him at the bottom of the water, apparently lifeless ! 
 The alarm was given, I hastened to the spot, 
 and, alas ! mine was the awful task to drag, together 
 with Mr Robinson, his mortal remains from the 
 water. All assistance was instantly procured, 
 such as bleeding, friction, and inflating the lungs, 
 but in vain ! The immortal inhabitant had for- 
 saken its tenement of clay, doubtless to realize be- 
 fore the throne of the Lamb those blessings of 
 which he yesterday spoke so EMPHATICALLY and 
 
 POWERFULLY. 
 
 " A cloud hangs over our horizon ! The disinte- 
 rested friend, the loving husband and parent, the 
 beloved and honoured of God, is gone from among 
 us ! It is a season for prayer, for deep humilia- 
 
586 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. tion. May we kiss the rod ! Cease ye from man, 
 XVIIL whose breath is in his nostrils ! Trust ye in the Lord 
 Jehovah, for in Him, only, is everlasting strength.' 1 
 
 The Archdeacon of Calcutta, to whom this was 
 written, remarked, in a letter to a friend in Eng- 
 land " The event is so overwhelming, that I know 
 not what to say Ihey perish, but thou remainest ! 
 To whom must we look to repair the breach, but 
 to Him who made it ? Men of mere secular am- 
 bition will be, in a measure, deterred from braving 
 this climate, by this stroke upon stroke ; and, in 
 the ordering of Providence, we may perhaps obtain 
 men of a right spirit in succession : but the kind- 
 ness and unmeasured benevolence of Bishop Heber 
 are of rare occurrence, even in men of piety. I 
 cannot describe to you how he attracted all hearts. 
 It seems difficult to believe that he is no longer 
 with us." 
 
 It appeared, on examination, that a blood-vessel 
 had burst on his brain, which must have occasioned 
 instant death. But whatever the immediate cause 
 of this heart-rending event, the state of mind in 
 which he stood prepared for his departure hence, 
 tended greatly to mitigate the sorrow of his friends. 
 It must have been gratifying indeed to view him, 
 as it were in the spirit of the family in Jieaven which 
 he was so soon to join, assembling around him the 
 clergy and missionaries of different societies and of 
 different churches, and leaving to them his dying 
 counsel to love and to labour as ministers of Him 
 of whom the whole Family in heaven and earth is 
 named. 
 
 Due respect was paid to the mortal remains of 
 this revered prelate. His interment took place at 
 sunrise on the 4th. The path to the church, near 
 a mile and a half in length, was lined with troops ; 
 the pall was borne by the chief civil and military 
 authorities, and thousands of natives thronged the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 587 
 
 road. He was buried on the north side of the 
 communion table ; the very spot from which he 
 had blessed the people but twelve hours before his 
 own happy spirit was admitted to the blessedness 
 of heaven. The funeral service was closed with 
 more than usual military honours ; and seldom was 
 an event known to have caused a more general 
 consternation throughout the country,, for wherever 
 he was known he was beloved. 
 
 28. As soon as the sad intelligence reached Public de- 
 Madras, the Governor issued the following order, J? onstra - 
 dated Fort St George, 5th April 1826 : " The sonow. 
 Hon. the Governor has received, with feelings of 
 unfeigned regret, the melancholy intelligence of the 
 demise of the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Cal- 
 cutta, which event occurred at Trichinopoly on the 
 morning of the 3d instant. As a tribute of respect 
 to his lordship's memory, his Excellency directs, 
 that the flag of the garrison be immediately hoisted 
 half-staff high, to continue so during the whole of 
 the day ; and that forty-six minute guns, corre- 
 sponding with the age of the deceased, be fired 
 from the saluting battery." 
 
 The testimonies borne, in India, to the character 
 of the deceased prelate were more general than was 
 even known on any former occasion. Public feeling 
 seemed to be universally moved : the Governor- 
 General ; the Governors of Madras, Bombay, and 
 Ceylon ; judicial, civil, and military authorities ; all 
 deplored his death more in the language of private 
 friendship than in official expressions of regret. 
 Public meetings were held at the presidencies and in 
 the different provinces of India, and resolutions 
 passed, expressive of the incalculable loss which 
 India, and especially the interests of Christianity 
 in the country, had sustained. Tablets, with appro- 
 priate inscriptions, were erected in several of the 
 principal churches ; while the religious and chari- 
 
588 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, table societies which had shared his fostering care, 
 " XVIIL the pulpit, the public journals, and Christians of 
 every denomination, joined in these universal de- 
 monstrations of grief. All served, not to idolize 
 the man, but to magnify the grace of God in raising 
 up, and so endowing an instrument of good to man- 
 kind. They furnished also a powerful stimulus to 
 all public men to follow the example of his wise, 
 meek, and conciliatory spirit. 
 
 " The Christian dignitary, chaplain, or mis- 
 sionary, who will tread in the steps of Bishop 
 Heber, though not gifted as he was, will secure the 
 regard and support of men who shew themselves 
 thus alive to the virtues of the Christian character ; 
 and who here announce to all who may be appointed 
 to office and dignity in the Church of India, what 
 those qualities are and what that course of proceed- 
 ing, which will commend themselves to enlightened 
 men well acquainted with the moral and religious 
 wants of our Indian empire." 
 
 Similar demonstrations of general sorrow were 
 displayed in England on the arrival of the mourn- 
 ful tidings. The Societies for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge and for the Propagation of the Gospel, 
 also the Church Missionary Society, lost no time 
 in convening general meetings of their members, 
 at which resolutions were passed, expressive of the 
 high sense they entertained of the departed pre- 
 late's services in India, and of the deep regret they 
 felt at the loss which the Indian Church sustained 
 by his death. The Christian Knowledge and 
 Church Missionary Societies founded each two 
 Heber Scholarships at Bishop's College, Calcutta, as 
 a lasting memorial of their regard for his character, 
 and gratitude for his services. 
 
 At his own University, Oxford, and his former 
 parish, "beloved Hodnet," as he often called it, 
 similar feelings prevailed. Oxford raised a monu- 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 589 
 
 ment to his memory in St Paul's Cathedral, and 
 Hodnet erected another in the parish church. Even 
 in America, where his journal had been reprinted 
 and extensively circulated, the news of his death 
 was followed by similar tokens of regret. 
 
 29. Before Heber accepted the Bishopric of Gal- Expe- 
 cutta, he strongly recommended the division of the d!vidmg f 
 unwieldy diocese into three bishoprics, making the the di - 
 Bishop of Calcutta the Primate. But his friend 
 
 Mr Wynn, President of the India Board, informed 
 him that insuperable objections existed to the adop- 
 tion of his proposed plan. His own experience 
 more and more confirmed him in his opinion, and 
 the circumstances of his lamented death now gave 
 practical proof of its necessity. Accordingly, the 
 three Societies just mentioned took this opportunity 
 to memorialise the British Government on the ne- 
 cessity of establishing a bishopric in each of the 
 Indian presidencies. They expressed their persua- 
 sion, that it was impracticable for any one bishop 
 duly to superintend so vast a charge, and strongly 
 represented the importance of appointing more than 
 one to so immense a diocese. These memorials, 
 however, produced no immediate result, India con- 
 tinuing till after the premature fall of two more 
 bishops, to be presided over by only one diocesan. 
 
 30. It is hardly possible to read the history of Compari- 
 the first two Bishops of Calcutta without observing M?ddieton 
 the difference in their characters, and how exactly 
 
 each seemed to be adapted to the state of public 
 feeling in India, at the time they were respectively 
 raised by Divine Providence to preside over that 
 vast diocese. This observation cannot be better 
 expressed than in the words of Heber's successor, 
 Bishop James l " If ever there was a man well 
 
 1 At a meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the 
 Gospel in 1827. 
 
590 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, calculated to lay the corner-stone of the Church 
 xvm - establishment in a foreign land, ever one whose 
 correctness and precision of judgment, whose un- 
 compromising firmness of mind, whose piety and 
 learning fitted him for such a purpose, it was Bishop 
 Middleton one who never swerved from that path 
 which his Christianly-formed conscience told him 
 was the true one one who, if ever man did, digged 
 deep and laid his foundation on the rock. Nor were 
 those peculiarities less striking in themselves, how- 
 ever different in their nature, which belonged to 
 that generous and highly-gifted being, whose loss 
 we more recently have mourned ; his it was, to 
 conciliate, to soothe, to subdue : it was his, to win 
 over, by his openness and frankness of manner, 
 all that had else beset his path ; and to unite all 
 those varying discordant humours, that too often 
 arise to perplex and confound the zealous advocate 
 of the Christian cause ; while, by the splendour of 
 his talents, he kindled a new flame, and all around 
 him were incited to shew a sympathy with a mind 
 like that of Heber." 
 
 Estimate 31. The exhibition of Heber' s character and ex- 
 er tions, given through this chapter, leaves little to 
 be said of him in conclusion. Some have thought 
 that he did not at all times sufficiently maintain 
 the dignity of his station ; and certainly, in this 
 respect, he presented a perfect contrast to Bishop 
 Middleton. But his apostolic simplicity, which, in 
 all situations, he uniformly maintained, commanded 
 the reverence and respect of every one to whom he 
 was introduced. His easy and open carriage, .con 
 ciliating address, and the affectionate earnestne 
 he evinced to promote the best interests of mankin 
 invested him with a dignity in the eyes of all 
 which no official reserve and distance of manner 
 could have commanded. Even those who differed 
 from him on questions of Church government 
 
 ^ 
 
 5; 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 591 
 
 discipline were drawn to him by the influence 
 of his Christian deportment ; and if they main- 
 tained the essential and fundamental doctrines of 
 the Gospel, he was ever ready to receive them in 
 the spirit of charity. The claims of his character, 
 however, to our veneration, rest not so much on 
 the amiableness of his disposition, or on the bril- 
 liancy of his talents, or even on the purity of his 
 morals, as on the fervent, devoted, indefatigable 
 zeal he evinced in the cause of missions, during the 
 whole of his professional career ; but more espe- 
 cially after his appointment to the See of Calcutta. 
 From the time of his consecration to the last hour 
 of his life, he devoted himself to the discharge of 
 the duties of his sacred office, with a zeal and dili- 
 gence worthy of the great object in which he was 
 engaged. 1 
 
 We will conclude this tribute to the memory of 
 Heber with the testimony of a nobleman who has 
 for many years been forward to patronise every 
 undertaking whose object was the propagation of 
 Christianity in the world. At the anniversary of 
 the London Missionary Society in the same year, 
 Lord Bexley is reported to have addressed the 
 chairman to the following effect : c< Sir, I allude, 
 with particular pleasure, to that portion of the 
 Society's report which describes its successful ope- 
 rations in the East Indies. I feel more, perhaps, 
 on this topic than on any other, from having 
 recently perused the journals of the lamented indi- 
 vidual, who not long ago presided over the spiritual 
 concerns of that vast country. He has been re- 
 moved from us, but the effect of his labour is not 
 gone : he is dead, but he has left a valuable record 
 behind : and if any one can doubt the policy, or 
 
 5 See Taylor's Memoir of Bishop Heber, pp. 485-497. 
 
592 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, the necessity, of endeavouring to convert the natives 
 
 " of India, let him peruse that record, and he will 
 
 doubt no more. I have frequently heard it asserted, 
 and asserted by authorities both weighty and re- 
 spectable, that the attempt to convert the native 
 Indians was altogether hopeless ; and I have heard 
 it further affirmed, that if the attempt were even 
 successful, the effect would not be beneficial : but 
 what an authority, on the other side, have we in 
 the late Bishop Heber ! What does the testimony 
 of that able and excellent man declare ? He states, 
 that if the religion of the Indians were not of a nature 
 so degrading, so tending to debase the mind, the 
 people of that country would be an intelligent and a 
 useful race : ' Shall not we, then,' he continues, ' who 
 hold the sceptre in our hands, endeavour by every 
 means to carry Christianity among them ?' God 
 forbid that we should not attempt so to do ! God 
 forbid that we should not, by every conciliatory 
 mode, introduce the blessed Gospel among that 
 people I" 1 
 
 1 Missionary Eegister 1828, p. 401. 
 
IN INDIA ; BOOK XIII. 593 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 EPISCOPATE OF DR JOHN THOMAS JAMES, THIRD BISHOP OF 
 CALCUTTA. 
 
 In looking for a successor to such a bishop as Heber, Appoint- 
 it was not easy to find a man suited to occupy the Sev .V! T. 
 high and responsible post from which he had been James, 
 so prematurely removed. The person selected for 
 the office was the Rev. John Thomas James, vicar 
 of Flitten, Bedfordshire. 2 Mr James had already 
 distinguished himself as a scholar and a traveller/ 
 and was now actively employed in the duties of a 
 country parish, little comtemplating the wide and 
 important sphere to which he was to be removed. 
 
 * This chapter is drawn up from the Memoirs of Bishop 
 James, published by his brother, the Kev. Edward James. 
 Also from the Calcutta Keports of the Christian Knowledge 
 Society, the Missionary Register, and other periodicals. 
 
 a Mr James published an account of his travels in the north 
 of Europe ; also a series of views, taken during this tour, which 
 he engraved upon stone with his own hand, and coloured in a 
 manner which gave the effect of the original drawings. After 
 his return from a tour in Italy, he published two works on the 
 Italian, Flemish, Dutch, and German Schools of Painting. 
 Having seen much of the evils of infidelity on the Continent, 
 he was induced, in consequence of the attacks upon Christianity 
 which had issued from the English press, to publish a work 
 entitled " The Semi-Sceptic ; or, The Common Sense of Reli- 
 gion considered/* 
 
 VOL. V. P p 
 
594 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 rec eiving the offer of this appointment, he 
 declined it ; but being afterwards strongly advised 
 to reconsider his objections,, he determined to ob- 
 tain the best medical advice as to the fitness of his 
 constitution to endure the climate of India. The 
 opinion of the physicians favouring the undertaking, 
 he felt that he could no longer shrink from the 
 offered post on account of its danger. " I sought 
 it not/' he remarked ; " and I accepted, after twice 
 declining, what I found I had no longer any excuse 
 for continuing to decline." 
 
 Hisconse- On Whit Sunday, June 3d, 1827, he was conse- 
 cration. crated at Lambeth. His time was now fully occu- 
 pied in preparation for the work before him. At 
 a meeting of the Gospel Propagation Society, May 
 25tR, which was convened for the purpose, he de- 
 livered an address, expressive of the views and. 
 feelings with which he entered upon his arduous 
 charge. After a tribute to the piety and talents 
 of the two prelates who had gone before, which 
 has been noticed above, he proceeded : " For my- 
 self, my path is clear and open, an humbler task, 
 and yet one which, if Heaven spares me a term of 
 years, may not pass without fruit : be it mine to 
 aim at producing a closer union of the Christian 
 body in general, and to endeavour to present a less 
 unbroken phalanx than heretofore to the enemies 
 of the Cross." 
 
 On the 13th of June, a similar meeting of the 
 
 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was 
 
 held, when he delivered an appropriate reply to a 
 
 valedictory address by the Bishop of Gloucester. 
 
 Lands at 2. July 14th, the Bishop, with part of his family, 
 
 of e Good e an( ^ his chaplain, the Rev. S. H. Knapp, embarked 
 
 Hope. at Portsmouth, and sailed next day. October 1 4th, 
 
 they arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, where, 
 
 though not within his jurisdiction, the Government 
 
 had charged him with a special commission to 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 595 
 
 commence his episcopal functions. Accordingly, 
 he lost no time in making arrangements for what 
 was to be done. On the 21st, he preached to the 
 English residents, and next day confirmed nearly Confirma- 
 five hundred candidates. These services were per- * 
 formed in the Dutch church ; but the British Proposes 
 inhabitants being anxious to erect a church for 
 themselves, a public meeting was held, in the 
 afternoon of the same day, to take into considera- 
 tion the best mode of fulfilling their desire. The 
 Bishop presided ; and, after an appropriate address, 
 laid before the meeting the offer he was com- 
 missioned to make, on the part of the Government 
 at home, to give a grant of land, and supply half 
 the expense of building the church, provided the 
 inhabitants would furnish the other half. This 
 proposal was cordially met ; and next day, in pre- 
 sence of the Governor and nearly all the English 
 inhabitants, the Bishop consecrated the piece of 
 ground allotted for the church, and also another 
 piece to be used as a cemetery. 
 
 While at the Cape, he presided at a meeting of 
 the District Committee of the Society for Pro- 
 moting Christian Knowledge. He also found an 
 opportunity to send a pastoral letter to the English 
 settlers on the island of Tristan d'Acunha, expres- 
 sive of his satisfaction on hearing of their Christian 
 conduct, and proffering the assistance of the Dis- 
 trict Committee at Cape Town. 
 
 3. After spending eleven days at the Cape, the Arrives at 
 Bishop and his party again embarked for Calcutta, Calcutta - 
 where they landed January 18, 1828, with the 
 accustomed honours, and, were hospitably received 
 at the Government House by Earl Amherst, the 
 Govern or- General . 
 
 Before the Bishop had time to accommodate 
 himself to the novelty of his situation, he sat down 
 to the work before him. The business of the dio- 
 
596 HISTORY OF 
 
 CHAP, cese had accumulated in enormous arrears during 
 XI the vacancy of the see ; many important cases had 
 been awaiting his arrival, and he found them to 
 embrace matters of no ordinary delicacy and 
 anxiety. To these, therefore, he immediately 
 directed his unremitting attention, and for several 
 weeks he was almost incessantly occupied with 
 diocesan affairs. 
 
 visits 4. One of the first objects of his care was Bishop's 
 
 CoUege! College, to which he paid his first visit early on the 
 morning after his arrival, and found there, as he 
 had reason to expect, much to engage his imme- 
 diate and serious attention. 1 He looked to this 
 institution as the most promising means of educat- 
 ing Christian missionaries born in the country, and 
 hoped that the time was not far distant when it 
 would be no longer necessary to send out mission- 
 aries from England. A few weeks after, he paid 
 the college a second visit, for the purpose of exa- 
 mining the students ; at the same time, he inti- 
 mated his intention to repeat the examination at 
 stated intervals, which he continued to do as often 
 as he could find opportunity. In the month of 
 March, he addressed the Society for the Propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, on the state and 
 prospects of the College, and mentioned several 
 regulations which he had made, with the approba- 
 tion of the principal and professors, for the improved 
 management of the institution. In stating the alte- 
 rations he proposed to introduce in the system of 
 
 1 Before the Bishop left England, a revision of the statutes 
 of Bishop's College had taken place, on the suggestion of the 
 late Bishop Heber, by which societies as well as individuals 
 were authorised to found scholarships : the sum now fixed for 
 each scholarship was 12,000 rupees, or about 1200 sterling; 
 and if the nomination were reserved in perpetuity to the foun- 
 ders, 15,000 rupees, or 1500 sterling. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 597 
 
 education hitherto pursued, he drew a distinction 
 between a university education in England, after 
 which professional studies are to begin, and the 
 education at Bishop's College, which was intended 
 to be at once a school to the students, and a uni- 
 versity to those who were probationers in theology, 
 and were thence to enter immediately on their 
 duties as catechists and missionaries. But this 
 course did not quite meet his views. He wished 
 that something more professional, something more 
 of direct preparation for the ministry ; above all, 
 more of Scriptural study should be there pursued ; 
 that it should not be forgotten, that it was insti- 
 tuted as a mission college, and that the object 
 should be, not so much to educate the students for 
 classical scholars, as to qualify them to go forth as 
 catechists and teachers of Scripture lessons to the 
 heathen, and, hereafter, if found duly qualified, to 
 be ordained as " ministers of Christ, and stewards 
 of the mysteries of God." 
 
 On Ascension day, at an early hour, the Bishop conse- 
 consecrated the college chapel and burial-ground j^ e s el the 
 a ceremony which had been expected with much and settles 
 interest by the Christian community of Calcutta. business 
 
 J , , , * connected 
 
 and was accordingly attended by a numerous com- with the 
 pany of the first respectability. Colle s e - 
 
 In the letter to the Gospel Propagation Society 
 just mentioned, the Bishop stated that he had been 
 engaged in making provision for carrying into full 
 effect the statute of the college for the appointment 
 of a syndicate to superintend the press established 
 there, and had been seeking out those who were qua- 
 lified and willing to become associate syndics in the 
 different oriental languages. On the day of the 
 consecration, the Bishop was enabled to accomplish 
 this important object. He presided at a meeting 
 of the syndicate, which was attended for the first 
 time by several oriental scholars, whom the Bishop 
 
598 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 XIX. 
 
 Divides 
 
 Calcutta 
 
 into 
 
 church 
 
 districts. 
 
 Chaplains 
 appointed 
 surrogates* 
 
 Conse- 
 crates the 
 church in 
 Fort Wil- 
 liam. 
 
 had requested to become associate syndics in diffe- 
 rent eastern languages. At this meeting much im- 
 portant business was settled relative to the revision 
 of translations already made, or in progress ; some 
 regulations were also made with regard to the press ; 
 and the translation of several Scriptural tracts was 
 undertaken. After the business of the syndicate 
 was concluded,, the Bishop proceeded, with the 
 members of the council, to inspect the plans for the 
 proposed addition to the buildings of the college, 
 and they agreed as to the best to be adopted. 
 
 5. Another object of the Bishop's serious atten- 
 tion, was some arrangement for the more effective 
 ministerial supervision of Calcutta. Instead of 
 leaving the Company's chaplains to find their own 
 range, as heretofore, he proposed to assign to each 
 a particular district, within which he should visit 
 the Europeans when sick, and perform what are 
 generally considered the parochial duties of the 
 clergy in England. For this purpose he divided 
 the city of Calcutta into three ecclesiastical dis- 
 tricts or parishes, according to the present number 
 of chaplains ; and the plan having received the 
 sanction of Government, directions for carrying it 
 into effect were published, with a plan of the dis- 
 tricts annexed, in a gazette extraordinary, on 
 April 3. 1828. He purposed to make the same 
 arrangement at Madras and Bombay. 
 
 6. Shortly after, he succeeded in accomplishing 
 another object, which Bishop Middleton had much 
 desired. After great perseverance and laborious 
 correspondence, he prevailed upon the Government 
 to concede that the issuing of marriage licences 
 should be placed in the hands of the clergy ; and 
 he immediately appointed the chaplains of the ca- 
 thedral to be surrogates for that purpose. 
 
 7. On the 27th of March, he consecrated the 
 church and burial-ground in Fort William. April 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIIL 599 
 
 8th, he confirmed about four hundred young per- Confirma- 
 sons in the cathedral ; and on the 10th, he held t] 
 another confirmation, and visited the schools at 
 Dum-Dum. He took a lively interest in the edu- Advocates 
 cation of the natives, and especially encouraged femal . 
 
 r- j.i f i i x- j education. 
 
 that of the females, which was continuing to ad- 
 vance. The Committee of the native female 
 schools met in his palace, which was filled on the 
 occasion, principally by English ladies ; but seve- 
 ral natives of the first respectability were present, 
 and, for the first time, contributed liberally to the 
 object. This was reasonably regarded as an indi- 
 cation of the decline of their deeply-rooted preju- 
 dices against the instruction of their wives and 
 daughters, and encouraged the hope that they 
 would henceforth allow them to learn something 
 more than how to plait and oil their hair. 
 
 8. The Bishop was not inattentive to what was Deplores 
 going on in the Hindoo and Mahomedan colleges gfoVofthe 
 in Calcutta, which were patronised and liberally Bible from 
 assisted by Government. The progress of the ^eHa 
 students in English literature had recently at- Calcutta, 
 tracted much attention. But the Bible was a pro- 
 hibited book! Deeply did the Bishop lament the 
 
 fear, the groundless fear, of the English authorities, 
 which caused the exclusion of the Scriptures ; for 
 he saw, from all that was passing around, that 
 both these institutions in their present state obvi- 
 ously led to deism, and, we add, to hostility to 
 British rule. 
 
 9. The sensitiveness that still existed in the Mission- 
 minds of some Englishmen high in station, made ar ^ views * 
 the Bishop cautious how he moved in the support 
 
 of measures that he found in active operation for 
 the conversion of the natives. He considered that 
 one indiscreet step might do more harm than many 
 discreet ones would do good. " In the missionary 
 cause," he wrote, May 4th, " it is difficult to get a 
 
600 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, clear view of the proper line to be taken ; nor till 
 XIX> I have made my visitation shall I venture on any 
 general views, though I shall have an anxious eye 
 upon them in every part. I am quite clear of 
 this, that there is much which may be improved 
 by and by." That his caution proceeded from no 
 want of zeal in the cause, is evident from the in- 
 terest he took in proceedings of the Gospel Pro- 
 pagation Society. He also accepted the office of 
 President of the Calcutta Auxiliary of the Church 
 Missionary Society, and presided at the meetings of 
 the Committee. His anxiety to have none but 
 effective missionaries sent out, he thus expressed 
 to the Gospel Propagation Society, in the com- 
 munication noticed above : " Let me make it my 
 especial request to the Society, that the strictest 
 attention be paid to the temper and deportment of 
 persons selected for the high and important office 
 of missionaries. If they have not steady, sober 
 judgment, and mild manners, whatever other ac- 
 quirements or abilities they may possess, they will 
 never produce any good effect here." Then, after 
 speaking of the heathen, he remarks : * They 
 must be won, if won at all, by being shewn the 
 beauty of Christian holiness demonstrated by 
 Christian example ; in their present state, few 
 truths can be taught them otherwise than this. 
 Let us have another Swartz in temper, in manner, 
 in judgment, and in Christian feeling, and I fear 
 not to say that, under the blessing of God, we may 
 look for a Swartz's success." 
 
 yhita- 10. To the missionaries themselves, he afforded 
 
 Addresses every encouragement his kindness of heart could 
 the mis- suggest, directing his attention to every object 
 sumaries t k at wou ^ increase their comfort, or in any way 
 charge. tend to promote the success of their labours. In the 
 charge deli vered at his visitation, he specially ad- 
 dressed them on the nature and importance of 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 601 
 
 their office ; on the dangers and privations attend- 
 ing it ; and the encouragement they had, in the 
 character and success of those who had gone before, 
 to persevere : he added " Go on, blessing and 
 twice blessed. Be it my duty to guard your in- 
 terests, to study your welfare ; to aid, to advise 
 with you in all spiritual concerns; to strengthen 
 you in all things, according to my ability ; and to 
 prove myself (a title I covet more than all) pub- 
 licly, privately, the missionary's friend. And if 
 there should be any now present who are not of 
 the same communion with ourselves, let ine repeat 
 here what I have elsewhere said, ' None that 
 cometh in the name of Christ shall ever be re- 
 garded as a stranger by me.' The curious and 
 carnal questions which the refinements of European 
 study have brought forth, concern not those whom 
 we have to instruct ' in the first principles of the 
 oracles of God.' The plain and yet saving truths 
 of the Gospel, the primary essentials of Christian 
 doctrine, in the ' pure Word of God,' are all that a 
 missionary here can or ought to attempt to exhibit 
 to his hearers. If some of those who, in our na- 
 tive country, dissent from our establishment on 
 certain questions, and thus place themselves with- 
 out our pale, are too apt to regard us with some- 
 what of an unfriendly view, here, at least, all such 
 feelings ought and must vanish and disappear in 
 sight of our common adversary ; all those who are 
 Christians in principle are with us, and not against 
 us ; the only dissenters in this land should be the 
 idolatrous heathens, or the professed enemies of 
 the cross of Christ." 
 
 While, however, he attached great importance 
 to the character of the European missionary, he 
 regarded the East Indians and converted natives as 
 best adapted to cultivate a successful intercourse 
 with the population of the country, as missionaries 
 
602 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, and catechists, and to forward the diffusion of 
 
 "VTV 
 
 1 Christian truth. For these reasons,, besides acting 
 
 as a watchful visitor at Bishop's College, he took 
 particular interest in the education of both these 
 classes, and used, as often as he was able, to attend 
 the examinations at their different schools in Cal- 
 cutta. 
 
 Ordina- H. On Sunday, May 18th, he admitted to priests' 
 tlon * orders the Kev. Charles Wimberley, one of the 
 Company's chaplains, and the Kev. John Adlington, 
 of the Church Missionary Society, whose labours 
 and admission to deacon's orders by Bishop Heber, 
 we have already recorded. In compliance with a 
 general wish that had been expressed, this service 
 was performed at the time of public prayer, and it 
 seems to have deeply impressed the numerous con- 
 gregation assembled. 
 
 Supports 12. Shortly after his arrival in India, the Bishop 
 na ^ consented, on the Committee's invitation, to 
 join the Calcutta Bible Society, and it was resolved 
 that a complete set of the Society's publications and 
 reports should be presented to him. On receiving 
 this present, June 19th, with an appropriate letter 
 from the president, George Udney, Esq., he returned 
 the following reply, which shews how ready he was 
 to unite in the use of every means to advance the 
 interests of Christianity in his diocese : 
 
 "Accept my warmest and best thanks for the very 
 splendid present which the munificence of the Society 
 has placed before me a present valuable, highly 
 valuable, on many grounds ; but really invaluable, 
 when viewed in the light of a testimony of your 
 confidence and regard. I have come, in various 
 respects, as a stranger among you ; but believe me, 
 I am not on that account less zealously interested 
 in the great objects of our common exertions, nor 
 am I less actuated by kind feelings toward you col- 
 lectively as a body, or less disposed as a friend 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 603 
 
 toward every individual member of this Society. 
 How, indeed, should any Christian feel otherwise 
 than anxious for the furtherance of our great and 
 noble object, when he pauses to reflect on the his- 
 tory of Christianity in the East when he hears 
 that well-known fact, which the sight of the several 
 translations of the Bible at this moment forcibly 
 brings to one's recollection ; namely, that, amidst 
 the deluge of Mahomedan superstition, which has 
 swept over so many fair portions of the Asiatic 
 Continent, and overturned so many Christian 
 churches reared by the primitive labourers of the 
 Gospel, a successful stand has ever been made by 
 the inhabitants of those countries, who once were 
 put in possession of the Holy Scriptures in their 
 own native tongue ! The Armenian Church, the 
 Syriac, the Coptic, the Abyssinian, and our vener- 
 able Church of Travancore, at this day bear wit- 
 ness of this striking fact some in a more pure, 
 some in a less pure, form ; but all, in some sort, 
 have still preserved their adherence to the faith, 
 and shewn themselves founded on the spiritual 
 rock of Christ. 
 
 " Let us hope, in looking at these volumes, that 
 our labours, too, may thus be blessed ; that where 
 we have scattered the seed, a similar spirit of per- 
 severance may, under God's providence be given ; 
 and that, among these several nations, churches 
 may thus be founded, against which the gates of 
 hell shall not prevail, 
 
 " But I will not trespass longer on your atten- 
 tion. We have all our several duties to perform : 
 the day is already far advanced : it were a waste 
 of time, to press upon your notice those ideas with 
 regard to our holy cause which are common to us 
 all, and to descant upon sentiments which belong to, 
 and are fundamental in, our Society." S iS ins e to h 
 
 13. On the following day he held a visitation of suffer! c 
 
604 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, the clergy in the cathedral,, which was well at-' 
 XIX ' tended. But the exertion of the delivery of his 
 charge, in such a temperature, combined with the 
 intensity of his interest on the occasion, was too 
 much for him, and he returned to his palace quite 
 exhausted with the heat. He made an effort to 
 receive his clergy at dinner in the evening, which 
 greatly increased his fatigue, and he passed a rest- 
 less night. Since his arrival at Calcutta he had 
 been attacked no less than three times with violent 
 fever, which had so reduced his strength, that he 
 was obliged to have cushions placed to support him 
 in the pulpit, and he actually preached on his 
 knees. But his anxiety to discharge his duty had 
 carried him too far. His exertions was one con- 
 tinued struggle with disease, and the zeal of the 
 Lord's house was consuming him. His present ill- 
 ness proved to be an attack of the same nature as 
 those he had suffered from before, brought on by 
 the heat and exertion of the day ; but his physician 
 hoped that he would soon recover, if removed from 
 the scene of his anxious occupations at Calcutta. 
 This suited his arrangements, as it was the time 
 that he had fixed for his visitation of the upper 
 provinces ; and sanguine hopes were entertained that 
 he would derive great benefit from the bracing air 
 of the river. 
 
 Com- 14. He had long looked forward to the visita- 
 
 visSon 18 ^ on ^ ki g vas ^ diocese with interest, and while on 
 north, but the voyage to India, he drew out a plan * by which 
 
 obliged to 
 
 return. i The f n ow i ng j s the Bishop's plan: " I shall probably, 
 
 next year, go up the Ganges, and visit the different stations up 
 to Agra and Delhi, &c., and return to Calcutta. July 1829 to 
 September 1830 Madras, Tanjore, Trichmopoly, Madura, 
 Tinnevelly, and the Syrian Christians ; then to Ceylon ; then 
 to Bombay before April ; and thence by the Kistnah to Masuli- 
 patam and Calcutta. July 1831 To Penang, Singapore, and 
 so to New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, returning to Cal- 
 : cutta in May or June 1832". Memoirs, p. 16. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 605 
 
 he might accomplish it in five years, hoping by 
 that time, on the renewal of the Company's charter, 
 to be relieved of a considerable portion of his charge 
 by the appointment of more Bishops. Having re- 
 ceived answers from the chaplains to questions 
 which he had circulated upon points on which he 
 desired to be informed, arrangements were speedily 
 made for his voyage up the Ganges, and he em- 
 barked June 24th, accompanied by his family, 
 chaplain, physician, and some friends. They 
 stopped at the principal stations, but the Bishop 
 was too weak to attempt anything in the way of 
 duty. At Burhampoor, indeed, he was taken 
 seriously ill, with what seemed to be an attack of 
 the liver. Though the pain was removed by the 
 application of violent remedies, yet it left him 
 much debilitated, and very unwell. He resolved, 
 however, to persevere ; but by the time he reached 
 Boglipoor, where he arrived July 16th, he was ar- 
 rested by disease. The pain in his side had in- 
 creased to such a degree as to excite the worst 
 apprehensions, and the physicians urged his im- 
 mediate return to Calcutta ; but his sufferings 
 were not sufficiently alleviated for his removal 
 before the 23d, when he was carried on board his 
 pinnace, and retraced his way to Calcutta, which 
 he reached on the 31st. Though now somewhat 
 better, he was still too weak to go on shore, or 
 even to put on his clothes. Dr Nicholson, the 
 principal physician at Calcutta, who had formerly 
 attended him, came on board, and soon discovered 
 that an enlargement of the liver had taken place, 
 though it appeared to have yielded to prompt and 
 skilful treatment. He was therefore of opinion 
 that his patient should not be removed from the 
 pinnace ; that no time was to be lost in getting 
 him out to sea ; that he should proceed imme- 
 diately to Penang, and thence to England, for that 
 
606 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, he ought not on any account to think of remaining 
 XIX ' in India. 
 
 Resigns 15. Upon hearing this opinion, the Bishop dic- 
 biJhopric. tate( * a letter to the President of the Board of 
 Sails for Control, resigning his bishopric, yet expressing a 
 Die^on hope that he might still be able to superintend the 
 the voy. duties of the diocese from Penang or Bombay until 
 the arrival of his successor. This hope, however, 
 proved delusive. After some official communica- 
 tions with Archdeacon Corrie, who, with several 
 other friends, visited him on board his pinnace, his 
 mind was relieved ; and, on the 6th of August, he 
 proceeded down the river from Calcutta, and reached 
 the new anchorage on the 9th, where one of the 
 Company's ships was waiting to receive him, and 
 he was taken on board with great care. Soon after 
 they had put to sea his spirits were raised, and he 
 felt better ; but the worst symptoms of his disease 
 soon returned, and the physician informed his 
 anxious wife that all hope of his recovery was 
 nearly at an end. After a while, when herself, 
 convinced by appearances of the fact, which it was 
 so natural for her to be reluctant to believe, she 
 made the communication to him as calmly as her 
 feelings would permit, and he received it with 
 Christian resignation to his heavenly Father's will. 
 He now gave his mind almost exclusively to devout 
 preparation for death ; and, on the 22d of August, 
 he resigned his soul without a struggle into his 
 Kedeemer's hands. It would have been a mourn- 
 ful gratification to the sorrowing widow, could his 
 corpse have been kept for interment at Penang ; 
 but it was found necessary to commit it to the 
 deep during the voyage ; and his chaplain, Mr 
 Knapp, had the painful duty of performing the 
 last solemn rite of the Church, in the presence of 
 the captain, passengers, and officers, and the ship's 
 company. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 607 
 
 16. Thus was this estimable prelate removed in Testi- 
 the forty-third year of his age, the second of his JJJJJ 1 * 
 consecration, and about seven months from the his life and 
 period of his landing at Calcutta, to the great loss character - 
 of the Indian Church, for the government of which, 
 his previous habits, as well as his natural endow- 
 ments, had fitted him in an eminent degree. In 
 the Government gazette which announced his decease, 
 it was remarked : " His lordship's exercise of the 
 important functions of his exalted ministry in this 
 country was comparatively short ; but the claims 
 which he had established to the regard and esteem 
 of the members of this Society, and of the commu- 
 nity of the settlement, will make his loss a source 
 of sincere regret." 
 
 Similar testimonies were published on the same 
 day in the journals of Calcutta. " The career of 
 his lordship," they remarked, " has indeed been 
 brief ; and, removed by PROVIDENCE to a better 
 world before he had long entered on the discharge 
 of his sacred and important duties in India, Bishop 
 James has left us little to record of him, since he 
 arrived among us, except the high esteem in which 
 his character was held by all, and the manifesta- 
 tions he had already given of a zeal and judgment 
 in the faithful discharge of his episcopal functions, 
 from which the happiest results to the Church in 
 India were fondly anticipated, had it but pleased 
 heaven to spare his life." " By the few to whom 
 his short residence at Calcutta, and the brief inter- 
 val of health which he enjoyed during this period, 
 had afforded an opportunity of becoming acquainted 
 with him, his memory is endeared by many recol- 
 lections of the piety and excellence of his character, 
 the soundness of his judgment, and the extent and 
 variety of his general information." 
 
 There had not been time, and too little was yet 
 known of his exertions, to produce in England an 
 
608 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, equal impression of his value to the Church in 
 XIX> India, for the intelligence of his sudden loss to 
 awaken such a sensation as the death of Heber had 
 produced. But it confirmed, it deepened, the ge- 
 neral conviction of the necessity of dividing the 
 Indian diocese; and applications to Government 
 were renewed, but again without effect, and a 
 fourth Bishop was appointed over this onerous 
 charge. 
 
IN INDIA ; BOOK XIII. 609 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 EPISCOPATE OF DR JOHN MATTHIAS TURNER, 
 FOURTH BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 
 
 1. THE successor of Bishop James was the Eev. 
 John Matthias Turner, rector of Wilmslow, in 
 Cheshire, prebendary of Lincoln, and examining d ced Dr 
 chaplain to the Bishop of Chester. It appears that aocept'the 
 he was selected for the office not long after Dr Bishopric. 
 James had signified his intention to resign. For 
 Lord Ellenborough, to whom he had for some time 
 been known, offered him the appointment, and in a 
 postscript to a letter to Sir John Malcolm/ his lord- 
 ship states " I am going to send you a very excel- 
 lent new Bishop, whenever Dr James resigns Mr 
 J. M. Turner. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the 
 Bishop of London, and indeed all the Bishops I 
 have seen, are quite satisfied that Mr Turner is as 
 fit a man as could have been selected. He will be 
 mild and firm. He is a very good and pious man, 
 without worldly notions, and really devoted to his 
 high calling." 
 
 The following pages will shew the correctness of 
 this estimate of Dr Turner's character and capabi- 
 
 1 Published in the Bengal Hurkaru, June 1. 1830, No 
 memoir or journal of Bishop Turner having been published, 
 this chapter is drawn up from the best sources of information 
 the author could procure. 
 
 VOL. V. Q q 
 
610 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 lities for the post to which he was raised. When 
 the appointment was offered him, he determined to 
 accept it, not from any overweening self-confidence 
 or ambitious views, but influenced, doubtless, in a 
 great measure, by the dying injunction of his wife, 
 recently deceased. 1 Yet, though his heart was given 
 to the cause of Christianity in India, " he still lin- 
 gered from better motives than personal peril, and 
 would much rather have preferred a less conspi- 
 cuous and responsible station in his Saviour's vine- 
 yard." 
 
 interviews 2. After his appointment was settled, he was in- 
 sionarj s " vited by the Christian Knowledge, the Gospel Pro- 
 Soeieties. pagation, and the Church Missionary Societies, to 
 meet their several committees, and in his interviews 
 with them, he gave them assurance of his intention 
 to tread in the steps of his predecessors, and extend 
 his patronage and protection to their operations in 
 different parts of his diocese. At the anniversary 
 meeting of the Church Missionary Society in 1829, 
 he gave, in the following address, his view of the 
 missionary work, and of the benefit of trials and 
 difficulties attending it : " I shall take leave to 
 offer a few suggestions, by way of encouragement 
 
 1 It is said, that " this excellent woman, on her deathhed, 
 in reply to an inquiry whether he ought to accept the Bishopric 
 of India in case it were offered him, as probably it might 
 be, entreated him by no means to decline it. She urged him, at 
 whatever sacrifice of ease, or health, and favourable prospects at 
 home, to go out in the spirit of a martyr to that distant land ; 
 not counting his life dear to himself, if by any means he might 
 promote the glory of his Redeemer and the welfare of immortal 
 souls for whom He died. She had before her eyes the names 
 and early loss of Middleton, and Heber, and James ; but she 
 bid him let none of these things move him, but in the faith and 
 strength of his Lord go wherever his sacred vows of fidelity as a 
 servant and ambassador of Jesus Christ impelled him/' Vide 
 a " Brief Notice" of Bishop Turner, published in the Christian 
 Observer and Missionary Register for 1832. 
 
IN INDIA ! BOOK XIII. 611 
 
 to those who have exerted themselves in promoting 
 missionary labours, and who have closely and 
 anxiously considered this subject. That difficulties 
 and hindrances should lie in the way of missionary 
 labours, is nothing more than might be expected : 
 but it is consoling to think, that many of the diffi- 
 culties are transitory ; and there is encouragement 
 in the reflection, that there are no difficulties or 
 obstructions which patience may not endure and 
 perseverance subvert. It is a sufficient incentive to 
 consider, that thousands are famishing to partake 
 of those counsels of wisdom, which it is the object 
 of missionary labours to supply to all, and that the 
 promised reward of such labours is the treasure of 
 everlasting love. In the difficulties and hindrances 
 which present themselves to the progress of mis- 
 sionary labours, it is also to be observed, that the 
 fulfilment of an express promise may be recognised. 
 It is nothing more than what the holy Scriptures 
 give the friends of the missionary cause reason to 
 expect. It is necessary that the leaven should 
 purify itself gradually, until all should be purified ; 
 and that the light should shine more and more, 
 until at length all is brightness. In reading the 
 history of military achievements or of commercial 
 adventure, the mind is distressed by considering the 
 loss of life which such contests and enterprises lead 
 to, and thousands fall victims to war or to commer- 
 cial enterprise ; but, in this peaceful, but glorious 
 struggle, comparatively few lives have been 
 lost, and the names of the individuals who have 
 fallen victims to their zeal for propagating the 
 Gospel may be counted man by man. The objects, 
 however, with which wars are in general com- 
 menced and commercial speculations carried on, 
 are extremely insignificant, even when confessedly 
 just and laudable, compared with the great cause 
 which this meeting has assembled for the purpose 
 
612 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 of advancing ; and which must prosper, because it 
 
 has the sanction of God himself. 1 
 
 3. Bishop Turner embarked for India July 15. 
 
 1829, stopping a few days at Madeira, Rio, and the 
 Holds a Cape of Good Hope. At the Cape he preached, 
 tion atThe held a confirmation, and visited the Government 
 Cape, and j av schools and college. He also established a 
 
 establishes i i t* L 
 
 a Sunday Sunday school, commenced an atternoon service in 
 school. t^ school-room, chiefly for the benefit of the Sun- 
 day scholars, and guaranteed the payment of three 
 years' salary for a master and mistress. The suc- 
 cess of this school exceeded the most sanguine ex- 
 pectations of those who took an interest in it. 
 "Many a child," writes one gentlman from the 
 Cape, " of every shade and hue might justly be 
 taught to bless the name of Bishop Turner. In 
 fact, I have been assured by those who are ac- 
 quainted with the colony, that his visit gave a 
 decided spring to the social-religious feelings, so to 
 speak, of this town." 2 
 
 4. Before the Bishop sailed from Portsmouth, he 
 
 received a communication from the Colonial Office, 
 
 Conveys intimating a wish, that, on his arrival at the Cape, 
 
 sa7from P ~ ne w 011 ^ communicate with the Governor, Sir 
 
 Govern- Lowry Cole, for the purpose of ascertaining what 
 
 arrange an arrangements it would be desirable to adopt, with 
 
 ecciesiasti- reference to the ecclesiastical establishment of the 
 
 bHshment colony. The governor being absent during the 
 
 there whole period of his visit, the Bishop conferred with 
 
 the acting authorities and the senior chaplain, the 
 
 Rev. George Hough ; and, " after diligent inquiry," 
 
 1 Missionary Eegister 1829, p. 296. 
 
 8 A letter, in MS., to the present Bishop of St Asaph, dated 
 from Government House, Cape of Good Hope, February 7. 
 1833, which, with other documents, his lordship has kindly en- 
 trusted to the author for his use. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 613 
 
 he wrote, " I am satisfied that the general feeling of 
 the more respectable classes at this moment is fa- 
 vourable to our Church ; the personal character 
 and declared views of the present governor, and 
 of Lady Frances Cole, have had a most salutary in- 
 fluence ; those who were disposed to activity have 
 had their hands strengthened ; the hostile are con- 
 ciliated ; and many who professed indifference have 
 been induced to declare themselves." Then, after 
 expressing a confident hope of success if this con- 
 currence of favourable circumstances were improved, 
 he remarks "The several points to which the 
 Society's 3 attention should be turned may be enu- 
 merated under the following heads : 1, The ap- 
 pointment and maintenance of the clergy ; 2, The 
 erection of churches ; 3, The establishment of 
 schools ; 4, Missionary institutions for the direct 
 object of converting the heathen." 
 
 Having enlarged upon each of these heads, and 
 stated that, in reference to the first, he had fully 
 communicated his sentiments to Government, the 
 Bishop concluded his despatch in the following im- 
 pressive terms : " I should apologise to the Board 
 for the length to which this letter has been extended, 
 if I did not feel persuaded that the subject will jus- 
 tify a large demand on their attention. The ques- 
 tion is nothing less than this, whether a colony so 
 fertile in resources, so rapidly advancing in civili- 
 sation and social importance, shall or shall not 
 form a part of our national church ? Should this 
 question be resolved favourably, we shall look for- 
 ward with confidence to the issue ; but should the 
 decision be adverse, we must be prepared to see 
 this powerful dependency, not merely alienated from 
 
 8 He is writing to the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge. Vide Beport 1830, pp. 35-37. 
 
614 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, our establishment, but engaged in actual hostility 
 xx - against us." 1 
 
 Proceeds 5. After spending twelve days, at the Cape in 
 ^is use ^ u ^ manner, the Bishop proceeded on his 
 voyage, and arrived at Calcutta December 10th 
 1829, where he was received with the accustomed 
 honours. On the following Sunday, December 1 3th, 
 he preached in the cathedral, and appears to have 
 made a very favourable impression. " Bishop 
 Turner seems to come in a spirit of Christian con- 
 ciliation/' wrote Archdeacon Corrie. " He promises 
 to be everything desirable in his station. I have 
 shewn him a letter which I wrote to the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, all of which he approved, and said 
 that he had nothing to do but to follow up the views 
 there stated/' 2 
 
 A meeting On the last day of the year, the Bishop wrote to 
 of the s. the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 
 announcing his safe arrival, mentioning the con- 
 vening of a special general meeting of the Diocesan 
 Committee ; and expressing his very great satisfac- 
 tion at the proceedings of the day. The meeting, 
 he said, was numerously attended, and there were 
 many assembled of the first-rate ability and charac- 
 ter. All seemed to be impressed with the import- 
 ance of the work in which the committee was 
 engaged, and resolved to exert themselves in for- 
 warding it, as far as the circumstances of the coun- 
 try would allow. In the same communication, the 
 Bishop mentioned that Archdeacon Corrie, in anti- 
 
 1 The Society lost no time in communicating with the Home 
 and Colonial Governments, with a view to the furtherance of 
 the Bishop's views ; but, for some time, little was done : and 
 the inhabitants of the Cape, in common with all British colonies, 
 had for years, and have still, in 1847, to complain of the neglect 
 of their religious institutions. 
 
 * Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, pp. 464, 466. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 615 
 
 cipation of the Society's wishes, had finished and 
 printed a version of the Liturgy in Hindoostanee ; 
 and that a Bengalee version of the Liturgy was in 
 a state of progress, under the superintendence of 
 the Rev. W. Morton, a missionary of the Propaga- 
 tion Society. 3 
 
 January 6th, the Bishop held a visitation of his visitation, 
 clergy ; and shortly after he confirmed three hun- 
 dred and seventeen persons, delivering an appro- 
 priate charge on each occasion. He also connected 
 himself at once with the different religious institu- 
 tions at Calcutta ; became patron of the Bible 
 Society, and president of the Church Missionary 
 Society. 
 
 6. Shortly after his arrival he was deprived of Arch- 
 his chaplain, who was compelled by sickness to ^CoSe 
 return to Europe. Being now without a domestic become 
 companion, he requested of the Archdeacon that at s the nts 
 he and Mrs Corrie would take up their abode with palace, 
 him. After some consideration they acceded to the 
 arrangement, which became a source of mutual 
 satisfaction. Mr Corrie remarked " I find his 
 conversation very improving : he is naturally 
 cheerful, and our intercourse is easy and agree- 
 able." 4 Their constant and unrestrained commu- 
 cations gave the best opportunity for suggesting 
 and maturing plans for the efficiency of the Church, 
 and the advancement of Christianity in India, to 
 which they were both so heartily devoted. The 
 Bishop's estimate of the Archdeacon will be seen 
 in the following extract from a letter to a friend, 
 in which he describes also his state and occupa- 
 tions. 
 
 3 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Keport 1830, 
 pp. 25, 26. 
 
 4 Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, pp, 467-473, 
 
616 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 7. After acknowledging the receipt of his corres- 
 
 1 pondent's letter, he proceeds : " It finds me in all 
 
 Bhsho ' S res P ec ^ I think, as my friends would desire to see 
 esdirm- 8 me, well in health, constantly employed, though 
 character 8 no ^ overwor ked ; and, in the midst of many hin- 
 drances, disappointments, and difficulties, enabled 
 to accomplish some visible good to the community 
 in which my lot is cast. I find all the little expe- 
 rience I had gained in parochial and school matters 
 turn to excellent account here. What they want 
 is detail. It is not difficult to get good paper 
 schemes arranged, and adopted, and applauded ; 
 but when the moment for action comes, there are 
 no eyes, &c. Every body is for working by deputy ; 
 and the wily Bengalee knows how to make his 
 market of this. He is always at hand to lend his 
 aid ; and, under the name of Sircar, or Banian, or 
 some such appellation, manages to squeeze profit 
 out of the scheme in all sorts of ways, caring for 
 nothing so long as he can throw a veil over the 
 real state of things, and make it appear that some 
 of the objects of the Society are not altogether 
 unaccomplished. It is this habit of trusting to 
 native agency which paralyses all plans of benefi- 
 cence in Calcutta, and it is against this habit, 
 therefore, that I am struggling, and the struggle is 
 not slight. In the Archdeacon, however, I have 
 all the aid I could wish for, and supplied in a way I 
 most desire. He is in very truth ad unquam factus ; 
 discreet and patient ; gentle, and easy to be en- 
 treated, yet firm as adamant in purposes for good ; 
 laborious beyond all ordinary measure of labour, 
 yet altogether without bustle or parade ; ever on 
 the watch for good, and bringing his mature expe- 
 rience to bear upon every circumstance which may 
 be turned to account in the great cause to which 
 every thought of his heart and every moment of 
 his life is Absolutely devoted, Such is Daniel 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 617 
 
 Corrie ; and well may I rejoice that, being such, 
 he is Archdeacon of Calcutta." Then, after again 
 giving a favourable account of his health, he thus 
 details his proceedings : " I commonly preach Various 
 twice on Sunday, in the morning at Calcutta, and esta- ie 
 in the evening at Bishop's College. I have a cate- c U ^ ed j n 
 chetical lecture to a class of about one hundred 
 and fifty, every Wednesday morning during Lent, 
 at the cathedral, and an evening lecture, very 
 largely attended, on Friday evening. I am en- 
 gaged in reforming the mode of teaching in the 
 native English schools connected with the Esta- 
 blishment : I have carried into effect a District 
 Visiting Society for the whole of Calcutta and its 
 neighbourhood : I have laid the ground, and shall 
 soon, I trust, get accomplished, a society for the 
 protection and religious instruction of seamen in 
 the port of Calcutta, and for a savings' bank ; and, 
 furthermore, I have three churches building. You 
 will agree that I must at least be a busy man. 
 Would that I were more a man of business ! Some 
 of the details of these things, which are now very 
 embarrassing, would then become easy." l 
 
 8. Of the three churches here mentioned, one Three 
 was at the Free School, the second was a Mariner's bunt? he * 
 Church at the Custom-house, and the third at 
 Howrah. 2 The last two of these churches were to 
 be served by clergymen appointed by the Gospel 
 Propagation Society. These arrangements were all 
 effected without any expense to Government. 
 
 While the Bishop was thus promoting the erec- Bishop 
 tion of churches, he took measures to secure the 
 
 better observance of the Lord's day. It was the ancepf the 
 
 J Lord's day. 
 
 1 A letter in MS. to the Rev. William Short, rector of Chip- 
 penham, dated Calcutta, March 22. 1830. 
 
 2 Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, p. 474. Missionary Register, 
 1832, pp. 201, et seq. 
 
618 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, general custom on Sundays, not only for the Com- 
 pany's servants to take their own pleasure more 
 than on any other day of the week, but also to 
 keep the native workmen employed about their 
 premises as usual ; so that the unseemly appear- 
 ance of carpenters, bricklayers, and others, at work 
 about the premises of Europeans presented itself in 
 all directions. Such a profanation of the Sabbath, 
 the Bishop deemed it his duty to endeavour to cor- 
 rect, and for this purpose he drew up " A form of 
 an Association for the better Observance of the 
 Lord's day," and sent it to the chaplains and all 
 the dissenting ministers in Calcutta, who cordially 
 responded to the appeal, and sermons were preached 
 on the following Sabbath, in all the churches and 
 chapels, on the duty of sanctifying the Lord's day. 1 
 The " CIRCULAR" was published in the Government 
 Gazette, 2 and, as was to be expected, it immediately 
 
 1 Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, p. 474. 
 
 2 The following is a copy of this document as it appeared in 
 the Government Gazette, and in the Bengal ffurkaru, April 
 16. 1830 : 
 
 COMPACT TO OBSERVE THE SABBATH. 
 We, the undersigned, being desirous to express our conviction, that 
 it is our duty as Christians, and will be for our advantage as 
 Members of the Community, to promote a more exact observance 
 of the Lord's day, amongst the Inhabitants of Calcutta and its 
 neighbourhood, 
 
 DO HEREBY DECLARE, 
 
 1. That we will personally, in our families, and to the utmost 
 limit of our influence, adopt, and encourage others to adopt, 
 such measures as may tend to establish a decent and orderly 
 observance of the Lord's day. 
 
 2. That we will, as far as depends upon ourselves, neither 
 employ, nor allow others to employ on our behalf, or in our 
 service, native workmen and artisans in the exercise of their 
 ordinary calling on the Sabbath day. 
 
 3. And further, we will give a preference to those master 
 tradesmen, who are willing to adopt this regulation, and to act 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 619 
 
 aroused the hostility of the Anti-Christian party, 
 who gave vent to their jealousy of this invasion, as 
 they chose to call it, of their liberty of action in 
 the coarsest invectives. A brisk correspondence 
 was carried on in the public papers by the opposite 
 parties, the opponents, both in sarcastic prose and 
 doggerel verse, shewing the bitterness of their 
 enmity, not only against the prelate and his clergy, 
 but against the institutions of the Christian reli- 
 gion. The Bishop knew too well what was due to 
 his character and office to take part in this contro- 
 versy. His object was to get a public representa- 
 tion made to the Government on the part of the 
 Christian inhabitants to suspend labour on the 
 public works on Sunday, as well as all such busi- 
 ness in the Government offices as could, without 
 embarrassment to the service, be dispensed with. 
 He remarked, " Though my point was not gained, 
 some advances have been made towards it. 3 It 
 would be a matter of very easy arrangement, and 
 
 upon it constantly and unreservedly, in the management of their 
 business. 
 
 4. We will be ready, when it may be deemed expedient, to 
 join in presenting an address to the Eight Honourable the Go- 
 vernor-General in Council, praying that orders may be issued 
 to suspend all labour on public works on the Lord's day, as well 
 as all such business in the Government offices, as can, without 
 embarrassment to the service, be dispensed with. 
 
 The communication of " AN OBSERVER," has reference to a 
 subject deserving of serious consideration ; and which, we be- 
 lieve, requires no advocacy of ours, influentially supported as it 
 is, and comprehending within itself claims to such solemn at- 
 tention and imperative obligation. Gov. Gaz. 
 
 3 It is satisfactory to know, from accounts recently received 
 from India, that the Supreme Government has at length (1847), 
 conceded what Bishop Turner in vain desired to see. Earl 
 Hardinge, the Governor-General, having " ordered the cessa- 
 tion of all public works on the Lord's day, which has called 
 forth ths grateful thanks of the Bishop of Calcutta and his 
 clergy." 
 
620 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, is, in fact, adopted in every private factory of any 
 xx ' claim to respectability. But upon this an outcry 
 was raised that a persecution was meditated against 
 the poor innocent Hindoos, and the whole extent 
 of the editor's historical knowledge was put in 
 requisition to find parallels for so monstrous an 
 oppression. 1 When warned, which he previously 
 was, of the obloquy which would probably be cast 
 upon him for the attempt, he replied, that personal 
 considerations of that sort would never deter him 
 from doing his duty. He persevered ; and the 
 result proved the anticipation to have been well 
 founded. He had the satisfaction of knowing that, 
 notwithstanding the hostility and misrepresenta- 
 tions in question, the object in view, namely, the 
 due observance of the Lord's day, was even here 
 extensively promoted by the'measure ; and at one 
 of the sister presidencies his endeavours for the 
 same purpose were afterwards still more successful. 
 
 Proposes 9, j n n i s private letter iust quoted, he has stated 
 
 measures , . . \, in i P n T 
 
 for the his views oi the measures needful for the amehora- 
 india ' f ^ on ^ I n( ^ a - After describing the immoral and 
 unprincipled character of the inhabitants generally, 
 he remarks, " There is but one principle obviously 
 which can work a change; but how to get that 
 principle applied ! The most that I desire from 
 the Executive Governments, that they would let 
 us alone. Their share in the matter, the duty of 
 Christianising India, should be confined strictly to 
 the support and maintenance of a system of religious 
 instruction adequate to the wants of the actual 
 
 4 Letter in MS., dated May 22. 1830, to the Rev. Dr T. V. 
 Short, now Bishop of St Asaph. In the same letter Bishop 
 Turner describes the editor referred to as " a renegade Baptist 
 of Scotch extraction, who calls himself a Socinian. To abuse 
 Christianity and Prelacy, in the person of the Bishop of Cal- 
 cutta, was an occasion too promising to be missed." 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 621 
 
 Christian population ; and narrow as these limits 
 may seem, they are, I am sorry to say, too wide 
 for the present Government. They complain that 
 their ecclesiastical establishment is already too bur- 
 densome and expensive, and, to prove this, have 
 lately sent me a statement of the last year's expen- 
 diture, which, including the Scotch Church, several 
 Roman Catholic chaplains, and a monthly payment 
 in aid of the Calcutta poor's fund, amounts to 
 45,000 ! Supposing then, if indeed under present 
 circumstances, we could venture to make the sup- 
 position, that an ecclesastical establishment was 
 provided for those who profess and call themselves 
 Christians, what should we then do for the heathen ? 
 Some are for preaching exclusively ; some, for 
 teaching as exclusively. One party says, declare 
 in their hearing the great truths of the Gospel, and 
 leave the result to Him who gave the Gospel ; 
 another urges us to keep back the Gospel alto- 
 gether until their moral sense is raised, and their 
 social habits are purified. The conclusion to which 
 I am brought is, that all these sticklers for their 
 own systems are in a certain sense right, and I am 
 endeavouring to encourage all to persevere in the 
 way most congenial to their own views, without 
 disparaging, or interfering with the views of others. 
 But this is no easy task." Then, after remarking 
 upon the misguided zeal of some embarked in mis- 
 sionary labour, he proceeds: "The real work 
 must be done by the Church, by a well-ordered, 
 faithfully-administered establishment." " What I 
 want to see is, a Church Establishment, which 
 should have in it an expansive principle, and would 
 adjust itself to the actual wants as they arose. I 
 have no doubt that this could be arranged, and if 
 I am encouraged to do so, I will undertake to 
 point out a way of effecting it." " I shall move 
 
622 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, all the powers within my reach as far as individual 
 
 xx ' exertions can go." 
 
 Zealous 10. From' the incidental notices of his proceed- 
 
 efficlent i n g s which we have been able to glean, the Bishop 
 
 ecciesias- d oes indeed appear to have given himself wholly to 
 
 tical esta- -, . , AT, i rr PA 4.U > 
 
 biishment. his work. Archdeacon Corrie, after six months 
 acquaintance with him, and an attentive observa- 
 tion of his course, remarked : " He is by far best 
 suited for this appointment of any who have occu- 
 pied it. With more practical knowledge of men, 
 and of parochial matters than any of them, he has 
 large views of usefulness ; and, with perfect pro- 
 priety of language, states them to Government. 
 Had we a man who had any fixed views of Govern- 
 ment at the head of affairs, something effectual 
 might be accomplished for the religious welfare of 
 
 India ; but when is on one hand, and on 
 
 the other, of Government, what can be expected 
 but fancies and crudities ?" The principle was 
 broadly affirmed, in a report on ecclesiastical affairs 
 made up by the Finance Committee, that Govern- 
 ment was not bound to supply the means of grace 
 to any but the European troops, to which the 
 charter bound them. It was actually recommended 
 from the Supreme Government to reduce the num- 
 ber of chaplains, seven, and to secure the occa- 
 sional services of missionaries, of any and every 
 persuasion, even Romanists, and to abolish the 
 Scotch establishment altogether. The Bishop could 
 not hear of such a proposal without strongly pro- 
 testing against it. He represented to the Govern- 
 ment, that by such a scheme of church arrange- 
 ment, they would recognise missions, which they 
 had never done ; would have no control over the 
 agents so authorised ; and that by a variety of pro- 
 cedure in those employed, confusion probably would 
 ensue. Whereas, if they were serious in their 
 attempts to extend sound knowledge, by extending 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 623 
 
 the Church establishment, and taking more pains 
 than at present to secure fit persons, they might 
 provide a body of most efficient agents in forward- 
 ing the improvement of the country. 
 
 But all his exertions to move the present Go- 
 vernment were to no purpose, and his only hope 
 was of obtaining some improved provisions in the 
 next charter. With such energy did he give him- 
 self to the subject, that the archdeacon seems to 
 have known, or suspected, that he would under- 
 take a voyage home for the purpose of represent- 
 ing the claims of the Church in India ; for he 
 remarks to a friend " You need not be surprised 
 should you hear of the Bishop's arrival in England 
 a few months hence, as it is quite evident, that 
 should the home Government depend on the in- * 
 formation derived from this quarter, nothing will 
 be done for us in an ecclesiastical point of view ; 
 and twenty more years of this miserable system 
 will be perpetrated, which can only end in confu- 
 sion almost irremediable." 1 
 
 11. Although the Bishop failed to obtain all JjP n 
 that he desired for the pastoral provision of the sioVo* the 
 Christian community, he omitted nothing in his 3^0% f 
 power to further the cause of Christianity in the College. 
 country. One of the first objects of his attention 
 was the extension of the benefits of Bishop's College. 
 Bishop Heber had called the attention of the Gospel 
 Propagation Society to the large accommodation 
 afforded by the new buildings at the College, and 
 suggested a plan for extending the benefits of 
 education, then limited to divinity students on 
 the foundation, to lay students generally, under 
 certain restrictions. In 1829, the Society came to 
 a resolution to take measures for carrying this 
 
 Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, pp. 480-483. 
 
624 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP suggestion into effect, The proposed extension 
 xx ' of the benefits of the institution was submitted to 
 the visitor (the Bishop) and the College Council, 
 who lost no time in carrying it into effect. It was 
 agreed to admit new-foundation students, without 
 requiring from them the customary declaration 
 which pledged the ecclesiastical divinity students to 
 a missionary calling. They were required to pay 
 for expenses of board and tuition. The charge fixed 
 on for diet, room-rent, and tuition, was one hundred 
 rupees a month. This payment was reasonable, 
 considering that the College was originally founded 
 entirely for bringing up young men as Church of 
 England missionaries. In special cases, however, 
 of desert, the College Council were empowered to 
 remit to students so appointed the College ex- 
 penses incurred during the year of probation. 1 
 Ordina- 12. The Bishop was very sedulous in his at- 
 tendance at the College, entered much into its 
 affairs, and generally preached there on Sunday 
 evenings. On Palm Sunday, April 4. 1830, he 
 held an ordination in the cathedral at Calcutta, 
 when the junior professor, Mr George Undy 
 Withers, B.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, and 
 Mr John Macqueen, a domiciliary probationer of 
 Bishop's College, were admitted to deacons' orders. 
 The ordination sermon was preached by the Rev. 
 Dr Mill, principal of the College. ^ 
 
 The Bishop was also unremitting in his atten- 
 tion to the objects of the Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge. Owing to the decline of 
 public liberality, and the increase of sects and so- 
 cieties in Calcutta, he found that the funds of the 
 Diocesan Committee had greatly diminished, and, 
 
 1 Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
 Foreign Parts 1829. Calcutta Government Gazette, January 
 1830. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 625 
 
 consequently, that the Society's operations for a 
 time had languished. Under his active superin- 
 tendence, however, they soon revived. He re- 
 lieved the Society from the charge of supporting 
 St James's School, which he took upon himself. 
 " For a time/' he remarked, " the expense will be 
 burthensome, but I shall bear it very willingly, in 
 the hope that a commencement will now be made 
 of a system of district schools, in connection with 
 the several churches in Calcutta, to be maintained 
 by voluntary contributions and congregational col- 
 lections." Government granted the use of a large A central 
 building at Howrah, which was fitted up as a es?a- 
 central native school for teaching English. In wished at 
 mentioning the appropriation of a grant of <300 
 from the Society to two of his new churches and 
 this school, the Bishop remarked, that this was an 
 institution to which, in the present state of Bengal, 
 great importance attached. 2 In about a fortnight 
 after the date of this letter, April 1. 1830, the 
 school was in active operation, and soon began to 
 produce the benefits which he had anticipated. 
 
 13. The Church Missionary Society also re- Support of 
 ceived a full share of his countenance and support. Miss, s'o- 
 He presided at the meetings of their Corresponding ci ety. 
 Committee, and took a lively interest in all their 
 proceedings ; while from his judicious counsels, 
 
 his pastoral exhortations to their missionaries, and 
 the paternal and social intercourse he maintained 
 with them, the Society received, and yet antici- 
 pated, extensive benefits. 3 
 
 14. The impulse given to the education of the Calcutta 
 labouring classes was now reaching the middle school 
 and higher orders, for whom no adequate means of ^ta- 
 ins true tion were yet provided. While Bishop's 
 
 1 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Eeport 1831, 
 1 Church Missionary Society's Reports, 1831, 1832. 
 VOL. V. B r 
 
626 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. College was established for the purpose of educat- 
 
 1_ ing ministers in connection with the Established 
 
 Church in India, it was found that the wants of 
 the European and East Indian community re- 
 quired an institution which should give general 
 and easy access to education of a higher kind than 
 they at present enjoyed. The East Indians espe- 
 cially were fast increasing in numbers and respec- 
 tability. Besides the number in charity schools, 
 there were not less than five hundred in boarding 
 schools in Calcutta alone. Not above one hundred, 
 it was reckoned, could afford to pay sufficient to 
 remunerate masters of a superior class ; yet they 
 were all descendants of gentlemen. Though for 
 the past few years a manifest improvement had 
 been going on among them, yet they had hitherto 
 had no bond of union, and stood separate from all 
 established order. Archdeacon Corrie, deeply con- 
 cerned for the welfare of this class, endeavoured to 
 interest the public authorities to provide suitable 
 means of instruction for them, as well as for the 
 Christian community generally. But failing in all 
 his applications, and finding it to be the settled 
 determination on the part of the Indian Govern- 
 ment to leave Christianity and Christian education 
 to take care of themselves, he resolved to appeal 
 to the public, and, accordingly, circulated in Cal- 
 cutta the outline of a plan for establishing in that 
 city an institution which should aim at promoting 
 the interests of true religion in connection with an 
 enlarged and liberal education. 
 
 The Bishop entered into this plan with his wonted 
 energy and intelligence, and suggested that the 
 Grammar School at Calcutta should be taken as the 
 foundation of the proposed College. A public 
 meeting of persons interested in the object was held 
 on the 5th of June 1830. The Bishop presided, 
 and it was resolved, that an institution should 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 627 
 
 formed, to be called the CALCUTTA HIGH SCHOOL j 1 
 that five trustees should be appointed, and a man- 
 
 1 It may be desirable here to put on record the plan of the 
 Institution according to Archdeacon Corrie's proposal : 
 
 I. That a college be founded in this metropolis, in which, 
 while the various branches of literature and science be made the 
 subjects of instruction, it be an essential part of the system to 
 imbue the minds of the youth with a knowledge of the doctrines 
 and duties of Christianity. 
 
 II. That this college be, in every way, conformable to the 
 United Church of England and Ireland ; but, as there are also 
 many in this land who are not members of that Church, who 
 are at present completely excluded from the means of bestowing 
 upon their children a liberal education, to provide which is the 
 chief object of the proposed seminary, persons of air persuasions 
 be permitted to attend the various classes under certain restric- 
 tions, but without restraints tending to interfere with their reli- 
 gious opinions. 
 
 III. That the following be approved as the general outline 
 of the plan on which the college be founded and conducted : 
 
 1. A liberal and enlarged course of education to be pursued, 
 adapted to the respective attainments of the students. The 
 college to be divided into two departments a higher depart- 
 ment for the elder, and a lower department for the younger. 
 
 2. The system to comprise religious and moral instruction, 
 classical learning, history, modern languages, mathematics, 
 natural philosophy, medicine and surgery, chemistry, jurispru- 
 dence, and other branches, as time and circumstances may 
 require. 
 
 3. The college to be open to the sons of native gentlemen, 
 as well as to all denominations of Christians ; and to be divided 
 into two parts, viz., those who conform in all respects with the 
 regulations of the institution, to be designated members ; and 
 those who only attend the classes for the purpose of receiving 
 instruction ; the advantages to be available by all students, 
 with the exception of some theological privileges, which must 
 unavoidably be restricted to the members of the college ; no 
 student, not being a member of the college, to be required to 
 comply with any religious form, provided he submit to the 
 general system of education pursued within its walls. 
 
 4. The benefit of attending any course of lectures in the 
 higher branches to be afforded to all who may be disposed to 
 avail themselves of it, under the preceding and such other regu- 
 lations as may be specified. 
 
 5. All students entering as members of the college to con- 
 
628 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, aging committee, consisting of fourteen members, 
 L five of whom were to be the trustees, and the re- 
 mainder chosen from among the shareholders. The 
 plan of the Edinburgh academy was to be pursued 
 as nearly as the circumstances of the country would 
 admit. The Eev. J. Macqueen, from the College 
 of Edinburgh, was appointed head-master, with a 
 second and third master under him. To provide 
 for the educational department, it was proposed to 
 raise a sum of money by transferable shares, which 
 were to bear interest arising from dividends of profit. 
 Subscriptions were collected for the erection of pro- 
 per buildings and the establishment of a library. 1 
 
 Unexceptionable as this institution was in the 
 opinion of all right-minded men, it did not escape 
 the opposition of those who were jealous of the 
 growing influence of the Bishop and his clergy, and 
 of all their plans for the advancement of Christi- 
 anity in India. But, unmoved by the virulenc eor 
 sarcasm of several correspondents in the Calcutta 
 papers, the Bishop persevered, and was constant in 
 his attendance at the meetings of the Committee, 
 and indefatigable in promoting the efficiency of the 
 school. 
 
 form, in every respect, to the doctrines, usages, and forms of 
 the United Church of England and Ireland ; and members of 
 the college only to be received as resident students within its 
 walls, and these to be subject to such rules of discipline, and to 
 such an extent, as may be hereafter determined. 
 
 Other regulations follow, relative to the government of the 
 college, the funds, and the nomination of students. Memoirs of 
 Bishop Corrie, pp. 450-453. Missionary Kegister 1830, p. 102. 
 
 1 Missionary Kegister 1831, p. 35. Memoirs of Bishop 
 Corrie, pp. 478, 479. India Gazette, June 21. 1830. On 
 the circulation of the Archdeacon's " Proposal," 24,000 rupees 
 were collected for his projected college, and 30,000 rupees were 
 placed in his hands for the same purpose, by a gentleman in 
 England. These sums were now appropriated to the High 
 School. (India Gazette, June 23. 1830.) 
 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 629 
 
 15. The Bishop established an Infant School, Infant 
 the first which was known in Calcutta, and the tawLheT 
 whole expense of which was borne by him till his andmain- 
 
 -, ,, J tained 
 
 deatn. by the 
 
 An account has already been given of the Free Bish P- 
 School at Calcutta, and we have seen the great 
 improvement in its management which Bishop 
 Middleton effected. 2 This was an institution of 
 too much importance to fail specially to interest 
 Bishop Turner. The accommodation for divine 
 worship being insufficient, he proposed to erect a Erection 
 new chapel in the grounds ; and, on the 13th of Ja P eiTt 
 April 1830, Lady William Bentinck laid the first the Free 
 stone, in presence of the Members of Council, the SchooL 
 Governors of the Institution, and a numerous and 
 respectable assemblage of ladies and gentlemen. 
 The Bishop preached on the occasion from Ps. 
 cxxvii. ver. 1, " Except the Lord build the house, 
 they labour in vain that build it." 3 In the annual 
 report of the School, which the Bishop himself 
 consented to draw up, he thus explained the neces- 
 sity for this chapel, and the accommodation it 
 would afford to others residing in the neighbour- 
 hood : " Amongst the events of the year, a pro- 
 minent place must be given to the measure of 
 erecting a church on the school premises. The 
 Governors were unanimously of opinion, that in 
 thus supplying the want, which has long been felt, 
 of the means of stated attendance on the public 
 services of the Church, they were consulting the 
 highest interests of the individuals entrusted to 
 their superintendence, and thereby acquitting them- 
 selves most effectually of the responsibility attach- 
 ing to their charge. Nor has the advantage of the 
 
 * Vol. iv. Book ix. chap. 1. sees. 5, 14; Book xiii. chap. i. 
 sees. 5, 22. 
 
 3 Bengal Hurkaru, April 14. 1830. 
 
630 HISTOKY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, community at large been lost sight of : to a con- 
 
 1 siderable portion of the residents in that part of 
 
 the town, a facility will be afforded for regular 
 attendance on the public ordinances of the Church, 
 such as these have never before enjoyed ; and there 
 can be no doubt they will derive much satisfaction 
 and comfort from the arrangement." ] 
 
 The remainder of the report sufficiently evinces 
 the lively interest he took in this establishment, 
 which contained at this time two hundred and 
 nine boys, and one hundred and eighteen girls. 
 
 The graduated system of Christian instruction, 
 of which the Bishop laid the foundation, and which 
 was intended by means of the Infant School, the 
 Free School, the High School, and Bishop's College, 
 to provide for the intellectual wants of infancy, 
 childhood, youth, and opening manhood, would 
 have left nothing hardly in this respect for the 
 Christian community to require. But his views 
 were not confined merely to that community : he 
 thought he saw in the state of things which had 
 already been effected, an opening through which 
 Christian instruction might be successfully imparted 
 to the natives ; and as he was convinced that no 
 other description of education would ever render 
 them, what it is desirable they should become, 
 namely, well-principled, well-informed, and well- 
 conducted members of society, he was therefore 
 determined to avail himself of every favourable 
 opportunity that offered for directing their views 
 to this object. He visited the different native 
 schools and colleges, in which so much progress 
 has been made in the acquisition of European 
 literature and science. 
 Hindoo he 16 ' To ttie Hmdo College he paid several visits, 
 
 College. 
 
 1 Bengal Hurkaru, July 17. 1830. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 631 
 
 in company with the Governor- General and his lady, 
 the Members of Council, and other distinguished 
 individuals, and examined the students in the dif- 
 ferent branches of natural and experimental philo- 
 sophy, geography, history, and other departments 
 of general knowledge, in which they acquitted them- 
 selves with great credit. Not long after, several 
 of the students waited upon him, and testified the 
 strongest disposition to cultivate the most cordial 
 communication with him. He had purchased, at 
 a considerable expense, various astronomical and 
 mathematical instruments, for the purpose of assist- 
 ing them in the prosecution of their studies in the 
 higher branches of those sciences ; and he was in 
 hopes that the minds of the native youth, who 
 might thus by degrees collect themselves around 
 him, would, in the progress of these pursuits, be 
 led "to look 'through nature up to nature's God," 
 that enlightened men might one day issue from 
 these institutions to dispel the darkness in which 
 their countrymen had been for ages involved. But 
 these hopes were little likely to be realized under 
 the present system. The Hindoo College, espe- 
 cially, was under the patronage of Government, 
 religion was excluded from the course of instruc- 
 tion, and the evil consequences to the British inte- 
 rests of such a mistaken policy, which Bishop 
 Middleton had anticipated/ were already beginning The Arch- 
 to appear. Archdeacon Corrie had watched the sh e ew n the 
 progress of the system from the beginning ; and, evil effects 
 in 1831, he thus described the result ; The tfon^uh- 
 mode proceeded on has succeeded in detaching outreii- 
 many of the Hindoo youths from religion of every glon ' 
 kind. In sentiment this has appeared for three or 
 four years : it now begins to appear in practice." 
 
 1 Book xiii. chap. 1. sec. 49. 
 
632 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 " Mr H. D. became so convinced of the need of 
 morals to the Hindoo College system, that he pro- 
 posed a moral philosophy lecture, and D. the lec- 
 turer. W. B., who is one of the Committee of 
 Public Education, let his colleagues, who had con- 
 sented, know the character of D., and it was agreed 
 to be best to postpone the appointment ; and now 
 D. is dismissed from the Hindoo College on a charge, 
 by respectable Hindoos, of atheism. He stoutly 
 denied the charge ; but they said, ( We see your 
 works.' It is evident the English I have named 
 are at their wits' end. The young men say they 
 will no longer be guilty of the hypocrisy of up- 
 holding Hindooism. Christianity they have been 
 warned against as an English prejudice ; and they 
 seem to hate Christianity and England heartily." 
 " Some of the youths are gone to other schools. 
 Upwards of fifty have left the Hindoo College : six 
 are entered at the High School." Speaking of the 
 wealthiest class, the Archdeacon adds : " They 
 seem to a man opposed to every thing English. 
 Not a movement in favour of religion in any form 
 is heard of. This has arisen, in a degree, from the 
 part R. and his friends" (wealthy East Indians, 
 who, for some time past, had been clamouring for 
 political privileges) " have been and are playing. 
 They complain as if they had lost mighty privi- 
 leges once in possession, and claim to be employed 
 by the State as a matter of right. This, I think, 
 has arisen from Government having withheld all 
 patronage from plans of Christian improvement. 
 The little they are advanced above former days is 
 entirely through their own exertions." ' ' With them 
 the enlightened Hindoos seem disposed to make 
 common cause. They can effect nothing at present ; 
 but the impolicy, not to say the sin, of withholding 
 Christian instruction, is now beginning to appear." * 
 
 1 Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, pp. 494, 495. 
 
IN INDIA I BOOK XIII. 633 
 
 Such a system of an ti- Christian policy Bishop 
 Turner could not countenance., how desirous soever 
 to promote the mental improvement of the people. 
 Every right-minded Christian had long foreseen 
 the consequences here detailed, but little or nothing 
 has since been done by the Indian Government to 
 correct their fatal mistake. 
 
 17. Besides attending to the various public District 
 charities in Calcutta, the Bishop was the means of s^" t table 
 establishing a Society, similar to the " Friend-in- formed, 
 need Society" at Madras, already described. 2 Of 
 late years, European paupers had increased to such 
 an extent in Calcutta, that not only had the chari- 
 table funds in the hands of the Select Vestry at 
 the cathedral become inadequate to meet the 
 exigencies of the distressed, but frauds had been 
 practised with such facility on the charitable part 
 of the community, that it became necessary to 
 provide for the fuller investigation of the cases of 
 applicants for relief. Frauds the most gross were 
 practised on the public with such facility, that 
 impostors, speculating on the benevolence of the 
 community, and making, as it were, mendicity a 
 trade, found no difficulty in procuring from money- 
 lenders advances, proportionate in amount to the 
 probability of success which the acquisition of 
 certain leading names to their applications for relief 
 justified a reasonable expectation of ultimately 
 obtaining. To remedy these evils, a " DISTRICT 
 CHARITABLE SOCIETY " was formed, at the Bishop's 
 suggestion, and carried on by a central committee of 
 superintendence, aided by subordinate committees, 
 corresponding in number with the ecclesiastical dis- 
 tricts into which Calcutta was divided. The subor- 
 dinate committees were charged with the distribu- 
 
 Vol. iv. pp. 234-236. 
 
634 
 
 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. 
 XX. 
 
 Visitation 
 south 
 Madras 
 Confirma- 
 tions. 
 
 Visits the 
 S. P. C. K. 
 establish- 
 ment. 
 
 tion of the funds ; the Committee of Superintendence 
 determined the principle on which the distribution 
 was to be made, and disposed of cases specially re- 
 ferred to them for consideration. 1 
 
 On the 20th of June 1830, the Bishop left Cal- 
 cutta, in company with the Archdeacon and others, 
 on a visitation of the upper provinces. They pro- 
 ceeded, however, only as far as Chunar, circum- 
 stances having induced the Bishop to defer his 
 visitation of Delhi and the intermediate stations. 
 He therefore returned to the presidency by the 
 latter end of September. 2 No record is left of his 
 proceedings on this journey. 
 
 18. A few days after his return, he sailed from 
 Calcutta on his visitation of the other presidencies, 
 and arrived at Madras October 15th, where he was 
 received with the usual honours. On the follow- 
 ing Sunday, he preached at St George's Church, 
 from Isaiah lii. 7. On the 19th, he confirmed 
 the candidates residing within the districts of St 
 George's ; and in order to meet the convenience of 
 candidates in other districts, he held a confirma- 
 tion in every church at Madras. On each occa- 
 sion he delivered an impressive and appropriate 
 address. After the confirmation in Black Town 
 Chapel, he examined the male and female orphan 
 asylums, and expressed himself highly pleased with 
 their condition. He also complied with the wish 
 of the directors, to preach in behalf of these valu- 
 able institutions. 3 
 
 19. Besides his numerous and laborious official 
 engagements, he inspected the different mission 
 establishments connected with the church. That 
 
 1 Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, pp. 475, 476. 
 March 12. 1830. 
 
 8 Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, p. 481. 
 
 India Gazette, 
 
 Calcutta Government Gazette, Nov. 1. Hurkaru, Nov. 2. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 635 
 
 of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 
 he fully appreciated. " The Vepery Mission In- 
 stitution/' he remarked,, "so long an object of 
 interest to the friends of the Church in India, 
 assumes now an increasing importance. The esta- 
 blishment of the Heber scholarship, in addition to 
 what had been previously accomplished, is a rea- 
 sonable cause of satisfaction. I look forward with 
 confident expectation to the probable results of 
 this measure." 4 He regarded it as a nursery for 
 Bishop's College, and expressed a hope that it 
 would ere long send forth useful labourers into the 
 missionary vineyard. 
 
 20. With the Church Missionary Society's esta- Also the 
 blishment he was equally satisfied. The children s ' ta ^j is s h '_ 
 from all the Society's native schools in the neigh- ment. 
 bourhood, amounting to three hundred boys and Ordains 
 six hundred girls, were assembled together in the 
 mission grounds, when the Bishop examined the 
 upper classes. He also confirmed seventy-three 
 members of the Society's congregations, at a confir- 
 mation held at Yepery : and at an ordination in St 
 George's church he admitted to deacon's orders two 
 of the Society's catechists, Mr Edmund Dent, an 
 East Indian, and John Devasagayam, a pupil of the 
 late Dr John, mentioned in our last volume. 5 He 
 
 4 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Report, 1832. 
 In another letter to the secretary, dated three days after the 
 above, Nov. 26. 1830, he remarks on the S. India missions 
 generally. " The report I shall have to make to the Society of 
 the state and prospect of their affairs in this archdeaconry will 
 be most satisfactory ; but I delay the preparation of it till I 
 have completed the visitation of those districts which I can 
 hope to visit in person during this season" (Report 1831). 
 It does not appear that he was spared to draw up this report ; 
 nor has any account been published of this visitation. The 
 notices of his proceedings given in the text are collected from 
 the newspapers of India, the reports, and periodicals of the time. 
 
 8 Book x. chap. ii. sec. 9. Note. 
 
636 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, had been for fourteen years a native inspector of 
 
 1 the Society's schools in and near Tranquebar, and 
 
 during a considerable portion of that period the 
 unwearied and steady assistant of the missionary, 
 the Rev. T. Barenbruck. 1 Mr Dent had for some 
 time been occupied as a teacher in the Society's 
 seminary at Perambore, in the neighbourhood of 
 Madras. 2 
 
 On his last Sunday at Madras, the Bishop advo- 
 cated the cause of the Church Missionary Society 
 at St George's church, preaching from John x. 16, 
 " Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold ; 
 them also I must bring, and they shall hear my 
 voice ; and there shall be one fold, and one shep- 
 herd." He spoke of this text as furnishing abun- 
 dant materials for the exercise of the Christian 
 graces Faith, Hope, and Charity, and discoursed 
 at large on these subjects the doctrines to be be- 
 lieved, blessings to be thankful for, and duties to 
 be performed. 
 
 On the evening of the same day, he closed his 
 labours in this neighbourhood with a service in the 
 Pioneer Camp. 3 
 
 While at Madras, he visited St Thome, where 
 
 many East Indians resided, who were baptized in 
 
 the Church of England, and connected with the 
 
 Vepery congregation, distant four or five miles. 
 
 Here he supplied money to purchase a piece of 
 
 ground for the erection of a place of worship. 4 
 
 Bishop 21. After holding a confirmation at Tripassoor, 
 
 ^assoor" thirty-four miles west from Madras, the Bishop 
 
 Banga- 
 lore, Se- 
 
 ringpa- 
 
 tam. i Book xiii. chap. vii. sec. 3. 
 
 3 Church Missionary Society's Report 1831. Missionary 
 Kegister 1831, pp. 456-461. 
 
 8 Bengal Hurkaru, Nov. 30. 1830. 
 
 4 Bishop Corrie's Memoir, p. 626. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 637 
 
 pursued his journey to Bangalore, a large military 
 cantonment, in the north of the kingdom of Mysore, 
 where he arrived on Friday, November 19th, and 
 preached on Sunday. We have no further account 
 of his exertions at this station. He proceeded 
 thence to Seringapatam, and Mysore, the capital of 
 the district, where he wrote, " I had very inte- 
 resting communications with the Mysore Christians, 
 sixteen candidates for confirmation, and nearly 
 thirty communicants. We set apart and dedicated 
 a portion of ground near the fort as a site for a 
 church, and the first stone was laid. The funds 
 are nearly ready, and no doubt Mr Casamajor (the 
 British resident) will see it well finished." 5 This 
 station was occupied by Mr William Miller, who 
 was educated at the military asylum at Madras, 
 and now stationed at Mysore as a schoolmaster and 
 catechist in the service of the Society for the Pro- 
 pagation of the Gospel. He was much encouraged 
 in his work by the Bishop's visit, paternal advice, 
 and promise of assistance in books, and whatever 
 he required besides. 
 
 On his route to Bombay, the Bishop passed a The Neil- 
 few days on the Neilgherries (the blue mountains s hemes - 
 of Coimbatoor). While there, he drew up a plan 
 for the improvement of the poor people inhabiting 
 these mountains, the counterpart of one he had 
 sent home to the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge, in behalf of the poor natives of the 
 Kajmahal Hills in Bengal, to be established at Ban- 
 glipore. 6 
 
 22. After spending a week in this salubrious Bombay, 
 and exhilarating climate, he pursued his journey to 
 
 8 Private letter to the Eev. Dr Koy, senior chaplain at 
 Madras, dated December 4. 1830. 
 8 Ibid. 
 
688 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. Bombay, where he celebrated the festival of Christ- 
 xx> mas, and then proceeded to Ceylon. 1 He landed at 
 
 Ceylon. Columbo on the 17th February 1831, and, after a 
 short rest, entered upon the business of his visita- 
 tion. Besides his official engagements, and atten- 
 tion to. the business of the Christian Knowledge 
 Society at Columbo, he visited the four stations oc- 
 cupied by the Church Missionary Society in the 
 island, and refreshed and encouraged the hearts of 
 the missionaries by his paternal counsels and con- 
 duct. At a confirmation of English candidates at 
 Columbo, nine of them were from Cotta ; and at a 
 subsequent confirmation in the Portuguese, Tamul, 
 and Cingalese languages, held February 24th, 
 seventy-eight were from the same station. The 
 service was performed in St Paul's Church, when 
 Mr Lambrick, from Cotta, read the prayers in Cin- 
 galese. This was the first time that the Cotta 
 translation of the Prayer- Book was ever used in any 
 church in Columbo. Mr Lambrick also read the 
 confirmation service in Cingalese, after the Bishop. 
 The prayer at the laying on of hands was also read 
 in Tamul and Portuguese. 
 
 Cotta. March 3d, the Bishop went to Cotta, and spent 
 
 nearly the whole of the day in examining the chil- 
 dren of the out-schools, and the students of the insti- 
 tution. He expressed himself much pleased with 
 both, and particularly with the institution students; 
 to each of whom he promised to give a Bible and a 
 Prayer-Book. 
 
 Kandy. He next visited Kandy, where he confirmed 
 
 thirty-six persons belonging to the mission, and 
 examined some of the schools. He was satisfied 
 with the scholars' progress, and remarked to the 
 
 1 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Report 1831. 
 The author has found no record of the Bishop's proceedings at 
 Bombay. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 639 
 
 missionaries, that they had enough to encourage 
 them, and nothing to elate them. 
 
 At Baddagame he confirmed fifteen candidates, Badda- 
 and examined all the country schools, the girls, and game * 
 the boys of the boarding school, " all of whom, I 
 believe/' Mr Trimnell remarks, "gave him satis- 
 faction." 
 
 The account of his visit to the Tamul province, 
 in the north of Ceylon, we will give from the report 
 of the missionary, Mr Knight : "April 18. 1831. 
 We have just been cheered by a visit from our 
 excellent Bishop. He reached Jaffna on Wednes- 
 day the 13th instant, and remained among us over 
 the following Sunday ; delighting every one, but 
 especially the missionary circle, by his condescen- 
 sion, Christian kindness, and affability. He entered 
 deeply into every plan calculated to promote the 
 best interests of the inhabitants ; and we were 
 much struck, considering how recently he arrived 
 in the country, with the accuracy of his views on 
 all subjects connected with the moral improvement 
 of India. On Friday he visited and examined the 
 seminary of our American brethren at Batticotta ; 
 and the next day, came to Nellore, where he heard 
 some of the boys of the out-schools read in their 
 own language, asked them a few questions by an 
 interpreter, and then examined some of the classes 
 of the seminary, with which he appeared to be 
 much pleased. On Sunday, he held a confir- 
 mation in the Fort Church, at seven o'clock in 
 the morning ; and preached at eleven o'clock. Great 
 numbers came to hear his instruction ; to witness 
 the performance, for the first time in this place, of 
 this primitive and simple rite ; or to participate in 
 the privilege thus afforded them, of publicly ratify- 
 ing their baptismal vow. We trust that much good 
 has been done by his lordship's visit.' The direct 
 sanction which he gives to missionaries and mis- 
 
640 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 sionary efforts ; and the bright testimony which he 
 leaves, wherever he goes, of fervent piety and dis- 
 interested attachment to the cause of his Divine 
 Master ; are such as cannot fail to promote the 
 cause of true religion. On the whole, it will not 
 soon be forgotten that a Christian Bishop has 
 visited Jaffna that a dignitary of our Church, 
 worthy of the exalted station which he holds, has 
 been among us." 
 
 Hitherto he appears to have enjoyed tolerable 
 health ; but in Ceylon he began to feel the effects 
 of the long and fatiguing visitation that was now 
 drawing to a close ; and the missionaries and others 
 could not but be apprehensive of the result. Mr 
 Knight remarked, in concluding the account of his 
 visit : " We regret that his lordship's health ap- 
 pears to be in a declining state ; so that we almost 
 fear he will not be able to bear the climate of India 
 long. His visit to Jaffna was in the hottest and 
 most trying month in the year : he seemed to suf- 
 fer much from a little exertion, and to be unable to 
 bear the least exposure to the sun." 
 
 His spirit, however, was still active in his work, 
 and the following communication from Mr Selkirk, 
 of Cotta, will shew his impression as to the pro- 
 gress of Christianity within his diocese : " During 
 the Bishop's long journey through India, he has 
 delivered four different charges ; two of which have 
 been printed at this press. The testimony which 
 the Bishop here bears to the great advance that 
 Christianity is making, not only among the Euro- 
 peans who are scattered over different parts of the 
 vast continent of India, but also among the native 
 population, is so much the more valuable, as it is 
 given by one who speaks from accurate observation. 
 Those who are conversant with the people from 
 day to day may not be able to trace so distinctly 
 the progress that is made in Christian knowledge, 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 641 
 
 as those who are only occasional visitants. Such a 
 testimony,, borne too by the head of the Christian 
 Church in India, must be a source of great joy to 
 the friends and supporters of missions in our own 
 country ; as they will thus know that the cause 
 for which they are exerting themselves is prosper- 
 ing ; that their prayers are heard ; and that the 
 contributions, which they have so liberally supplied, 
 are answering the end for which they have been 
 given." 1 
 
 23. The progress at these stations appears to Testimony 
 have been the only thing in the island that gave ^o^of 
 the Bishop satisfaction. Archdeacon Corrie wrote the 
 
 c ' He is much out of heart with Ceylon in every- c> M * s ' 
 thing but as respects missionary work ; and he says 
 that the Church Missionary Society has done, and 
 is doing enough there, to answer all the expendi- 
 ture ever incurred by it." 2 
 
 24. From Jaffna he proceeded to Madras, where Report of 
 it was remarked that he had suffered considerably s.V.c.K. 
 from the fatigue he had undergone in the pro- versions, 
 gress of his visitation, though no danger was ap- 
 prehended. On the 4th of May he arrived in Cal- 
 cutta, but in a state of health which then excited 
 
 much apprehension among his friends. He ap- 
 peared to be suffering from some internal disarrange- 
 ment, which was excited into activity by the fatigue 
 and heat he had to endure on his visitation. He 
 was able, however, to pay some attention to busi- 
 ness, and on the 28th of May he wrote to the 
 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, giving 
 gome interesting particulars of his journey, and a 
 satisfactory account of the progress of the great 
 
 1 Church Missionary Society Eeport, 32d ; Missionary Ke- 
 gister 1831, pp. 401, 407 ; 1832, p. 117. 
 a Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, p. 493. 
 VOL, V, S S 
 
642 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, work which, under his auspices,, was carrying on 
 XX ' by the society, of furnishing the natives, and espe- 
 cially the native Christians, with the liturgy of the 
 Church of England, in their own languages. " In 
 addition to those already completed," he remarked, 
 " there are now in different degrees of forwardness 
 new versions into Persian, Arabic, Teluzoo, 1 and 
 Guzerattee, besides the Bengalee, upon which Mr 
 Morton has been so long engaged. These I hope to 
 print in succession at the Bishop's College press, as 
 well as revised editions of the popular versions of 
 the Hindoostanee, Tamul, and Cingalese." 2 
 Bishop's 25. This was his last communication. He had 
 heaith! ng other plans in view for the benefit of India, but his 
 His view attacks of fever becoming more frequent and more 
 state of severe, he was unable to attend to anything ; and a 
 religion voyage to Penang was recommended in hope of its 
 a y * recruiting his strength. He contemplated this re- 
 moval with a tranquil mind, remarking to Arch- 
 deacon Corrie, July 2d, that he was going to Pe- 
 nang, and if he did not recover there as he ex- 
 pected, should proceed to New South Wales : that 
 he had now seen enough of the diocese to judge of 
 the state of religion generally, which he thought as 
 favourable as, under present circumstances, he could 
 well expect : that he judged, too, it would be pro- 
 gressive : that there was a sad deficiency of clergy, 
 but that, notwithstanding, many active agents were 
 at work. He alluded to several laymen, especially 
 officers, of whom he had spoken, as wisely and dili- 
 gently attending to schools in different places he 
 had visited. He then added, that no difficulties 
 manifested themselves, at present, in the adminis- 
 
 1 Qy. Teloogoo. 
 
 3 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Report 1832, 
 pp. 30-32. 
 
ness. 
 
 IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 643 
 
 tration of ecclesiastical affairs, and that he should 
 leave India without anxiety. 3 
 
 26. After this conversation he declined too HUUI- 
 rapidly to admit of his removal. Next morning, 
 being unable to cross the river, as he had intended, 
 to take the Lord's Supper in Bishop's College 
 chapel, the Archdeacon administered it to him at 
 home. Afterwards he remarked, " How many 
 blessings have we to be thankful for ! I have often 
 enjoyed these ordinances in administering them, 
 but a person must be in my circumstances to feel 
 the value of them. I have growing evidence that 
 I know in whom I have trusted :" and then he pro- 
 ceeded to contrast the uncertainty attending science, 
 with the increasing confidence which the Christian 
 feels in Divine truth as he advances in the know- 
 ledge of it. "A little knowledge of science," he 
 said, " makes us confident ; but as we advance, we 
 feel less certainty ; whilst the more we advance in 
 religious knowledge, the greater certainty we at- 
 tain." 
 
 This evening he retired early to his room ; on 
 Monday he took a short airing ; but on Tuesday 
 was not able to leave his couch. After some con- 
 versation on domestic and other matters, the Arch- 
 deacon mentioned this expression of the late Rev. 
 D. Brown, on his deathbed " The Lord's will is 
 best. His way is best. His time is best." The 
 Bishop added, that he greatly needed the interces- 
 sion of his friends, that such might be his state of 
 mind. His thoughts seemed to be dwelling on the 
 conversion of the heathen, for he subsequently said, 
 how happy he should be could he speak to the 
 natives in their own tongue ; and referred to his 
 head-bearer. The Archdeacon offered to speak to 
 the man in Hindoostanee ; but the Bishop said, 
 
 3 Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, pp. 497, 498. 
 
644 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP. " Not now, he is fearfully untutored." This con- 
 versation shewed the pains he had taken to instruct 
 those about him, and the anxiety he felt for their 
 salvation. 
 
 Wednesday, July 6th, was a day of intense and 
 incessant suffering. In the evening he observed to 
 the Archdeacon, that we do not arrange matters in 
 religion sufficiently for ourselves. Then, assenting 
 to the remark, that our mercy consists in that the 
 covenant is ordered in all things and sure, he said, 
 " But to those who are orderly there might be 
 more of joy and peace." The Archdeacon said, 
 that, in great bodily distress, there could be little 
 beside a child-like reliance on a father's care and 
 love. To which he replied, " I have an assured 
 hope :" and added, " We want God to do some 
 great thing for us, that shall prevent the necessity 
 of humiliation, and closing with Christ." The 
 Archdeacon then read two hymns, and offered up 
 a prayer, to which he added a fervent " Amen." 
 After a pause, the dying prelate himself broke out 
 in prayer : " thou God of all grace, stablish, 
 strengthen, settle us. Have mercy on all, that 
 they may come to a knowledge of the truth, and 
 be saved. There is none other name given by 
 which they can be saved. Other foundation can 
 no man lay." The Archdeacon added, '" And this 
 is a sure foundation ;" on which his feelings were 
 much moved ; and the doctor entering, their con- 
 versation ended. 
 
 Death. The Bishop spoke no more after this prayer, 
 
 which expressed feelings amongst the most appro- 
 priate that could have occupied the thoughts of. a 
 dying man. His articulation failed ; he breathed 
 with difficulty, and could get little repose, or cessa- 
 tion from suffering. Yet his appearance exhibited 
 a perfect picture of patient endurance ; and through- 
 out the whole of his illness the exhibition of Chris- 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 645 
 
 tian graces was most exemplary ; there was entire 
 submission to the Divine will, increasing patience 
 under intense sufferings ; freedom from all earthly 
 anxieties ; calmness in viewing the dark valley he 
 was to pass through, and full assurance of those 
 glories that were shortly to open upon him. The 
 lingering spirit took its flight at a quarter before 
 ten on the morning of the 7th of July 1831. Thus 
 sank another devoted prelate under the overwhelm- 
 ing burden laid upon him, in little more than a year 
 and a half, at the age of forty-five. By this, we 
 may call it, premature death, the Protestant Epis- 
 copal Church in India was deprived of its earthly 
 head for the fourth time in the short space of nine 
 years, nearly the half of which period the see was 
 in abeyance. 
 
 27. The public demonstrations of sorrow at Cal- ^jf te c r ha " 
 cutta on this occasion were similar to those ex- drawn by 
 hibited at the death of Bishop James. Deep 
 regret was expressed at the other presidencies 
 also, where the departed prelate had so recently 
 been. On the Sunday after his decease, the Arch- 
 deacon preached a funeral sermon at the cathedral, 
 in which he gave the following brief view of his 
 character, drawn from an almost brotherly inti- 
 macy with him, and which corresponded with the 
 opinion of all who knew him and could appreciate 
 his character and exertions : "We have left us, in 
 the character of our departed Bishop, an example 
 of one who sought glory, honour, and immortality, 
 by patient continuance in well-doing. He began 
 where the Scriptures teach us to begin with per- 
 sonal religion. He had low thoughts of himself. 
 He was seriously affected with a sense of his 
 frailties and unworthiness, and rested his hope of 
 
 1 Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, pp. 497-502 ; Christian Ob- 
 server 1832 ; Missionary Register 1831, p. 552. 
 
646 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, salvation only on the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. 
 xx> He had attained in a remarkable degree the spirit 
 of self-control, so that he was to a considerable 
 extent a copy of the great Shepherd and Bishop of 
 our souls, whose word is, Learn of me, for I am 
 meek and lowly in heart. He took Revelation for 
 his guide ; and whilst the Triune God of the 
 Bible was the object of his adoration, the will of 
 God was the rule of his practice. 
 
 " In his peculiar office, he came near to the apos- 
 tolic standard given in the Epistles to Timothy and 
 Titus. Of his learning and capacity for perpetuat- 
 ing an order of ministers in the Church, it would 
 require one of a similar measure of learning and 
 piety to speak ; but all could judge, that as a 
 Bishop he was blameless and free from reproach ; 
 moderate in all his habits and pursuits ; disin- 
 terested in a high degree, and free from all sus- 
 picion of the love of money. He was apt to teach ; 
 a true labourer in the word and doctrine ; sober in 
 judgment ; wise to solve difficulties ; of a com- 
 passionate spirit ; and heartily desirous of men's 
 eternal good. In the public exercise of his office, 
 he must unavoidably, whilst human nature is what 
 it is, have given offence to some. The lively sense 
 he had of his own responsibility, rendered him 
 more keenly alive to such defects in any of those 
 under his authority as might hinder their useful- 
 ness, or do injury to the cause they had solemnly 
 pledged themselves to serve. He felt himself 
 bound, therefore, when occasion arose, to reprove 
 and to rebuke with all authority." 1 
 
 The missionaries whom he had visited spoke of 
 him with peculiar reverence and regard, and stated 
 that they derived great comfort and instruction 
 
 1 Missionar}' Register 1832, p. 204. 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 647 
 
 from his presence,, and his judicious and Scriptural 
 counsels and directions. At the annual meeting 
 of the Church Missionary Committee at Calcutta, 
 held on the 26th of July, W. W. Bird, Esq., bore 
 similar testimony to the worth of the deceased. 
 Indeed, such were the sentiments generally ex- 
 pressed ; and we will conclude this tribute to his 
 memory in the words of the Archdeacon of Cal- 
 cutta: " The persuasion that God would carry on 
 His own work on the earth, and that He could 
 and would abundantly supply the means of so 
 doing, left him without a care for this world. He 
 conversed calmly on the prospects of religion in 
 this country, and of the support which divine 
 truth afforded to his own mind under the sinkings 
 of nature. He seemed like a man who had been 
 long preparing to take a journey, and now was to 
 set off. This evidently spoke to all a lesson of the 
 blessedness of habitual preparation for death ; and 
 if, like the eminent person deceased, we are found 
 faithful unto death, we need not fear but that the 
 Saviour will bestow the promised crown of life " l 
 
 28. When the news of his death reached Eng- Effect in 
 land, the general sorrow expressed on the decease o^the* 1 
 of his predecessors, seemed to be deepened by this "? w ? f 
 
 i .... n .i 11 TJ. ~ i it his death. 
 
 quick repetition of the blow. It painfully con- 
 firmed the conviction so long felt of the necessity 
 of increasing the Bishops in India. The deceased 
 prelate had himself, in his communications with the 
 religious societies at home, strongly urged the 
 indispensable need of at least two new Bishops to 
 perform a portion of that important work under 
 which he felt himself rapidly sinking, without be- 
 ing able to discharge one half of its demands. And 
 
 1 Memoirs of Bishop Corrie, pp. 502, 503. NOTICES of Bishop 
 Turner in the Christian Observer and Missionary Eegister for 
 1832. 
 
648 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, now, special meetings were held, at which appropri- 
 xx> ate resolutions were passed, by the Christian 
 Knowledge, the Gospel Propagation, the Church 
 Missionary, and other religious Societies connected 
 with the Church of England, with a view to bring 
 the question, with its proper weight, before the 
 legislative and executive authorities. The subject 
 was also brought, by John Poynder, Esq., before 
 the Court of East India Proprietors ; and the ap- 
 proaching renewal of the Company's charter ren- 
 dered the time favourable for this general appeal. 
 The President of the Board of Control, the Right 
 Hon. Charles Grant, 1 was also friendly to the object, 
 though it still had many influential opponents. 
 It were to no purpose here to enter into their 
 objections, which were little more than a repetition 
 of what was urged against the first erection of an 
 ecclesiastical establishment for India. Suffice it to 
 say, that by the new charter granted to the East 
 India Company, in 1833, the object so long and 
 earnestly desired, with regard to the Indian epis- 
 copate, was received. Parliament authorised the 
 erection of two new sees, one at Madras, the other 
 at Bombay, the Bishops of which were to be sub- 
 ject to the Bishop of Calcutta, 2 who thus became 
 the metropolitan of India. The advantages anti- 
 cipated from this enactment to the rising Church 
 in Hindoostan soon began to be realised ; but we 
 will leave their record to the future historian, and 
 close these pages with a brief review of the past 
 success, and the promise it gave of future abun- 
 dance. 
 
 1 Now Lord Glenelg. 
 
 2 The clauses in the Act of Parliament by which His Ma- 
 jesty, William IV., was enabled to erect these Bishoprics, may 
 be seen in the Report of the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge for 1833, pp. 71-74. 
 
IX INDIA : BOOK XIII. 649 
 
 29. The result of Bishop Turner's exertions had ponciud- 
 already begun to appear, and the benefit of some of ' D , re - 
 
 i A' n i mi maiks. 
 
 his pJans continue to this day. Taken in con- 
 nection with the labours of the three prelates who 
 preceded him, those who knew the country before 
 and compared its former with its present state, 
 observed the moral and religious reformation which 
 had taken place in the society of British India. 
 Not to go back to the times previous to the erec- 
 tion of the see of Calcutta, when the number of the 
 clergy was so small, that many large stations, as 
 we have seen, were unprovided with religious in- 
 struction and ordinances, and the Christian Sabbath 
 was known, even at presidencies, by the hoisting 
 of the British flag and diversions to which the day 
 was appropriated, we have only to compare the 
 opening and closing of this volume to observe the 
 complete revolution effected within the short space 
 of fourteen years. We have seen that notwith- 
 standing the quiet and inoffensive labours of German 
 missionaries in South India during the past century, 
 and when Englishmen began to enter the field at 
 the close of the last and beginning of the present 
 century, the spirit of opposition rose against them 
 and their proceedings. Some were sent out of the 
 country ; others allowed to remain on condition 
 that they would exchange their spiritual functions 
 for secular occupations. So bitter was the feeling 
 against them, that all sense of justice was disre- 
 garded, and disturbances among the native troops, 
 known to be occasioned by an attempt on the part 
 of Government to introduce some obnoxious regu- 
 lations, were actually attributed to missionaries who 
 were several hundred miles distant from the scene 
 of action, and many persons in England and India 
 were credulous enough to believe the imputation. 
 In the year 1813, on the renewal of the East India 
 charter, this hostility was carried beyond all bounds 
 
650 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, in the endeavour to prevent the establishment of 
 xx ' Episcopacy in India, and throwing open the country 
 to Christian missionaries, for which the advocates 
 of Christianity in India contended ; and the victory 
 they achieved soon began to change the face of 
 things. It was in fact a new epoch in the history 
 of British India. Many high in station who had 
 resisted the appointment of the Bishop, now that 
 he had arrived, paid him the respect they knew to 
 be due to his office. The number of chaplains was 
 soon increased ; they were selected with greater 
 care than before. They were in general men who 
 entered into the spirit of their sacred duties, and 
 under their exertions the increased regard for reli- 
 gion was soon manifest ; while at stations not yet 
 supplied with a chaplain, the residents were glad to 
 avail themselves of the services of any missionary 
 who might be in the neighbourhood ; and even 
 where there was neither chaplain nor missionary, 
 some civilian or military officer was found willing 
 to conduct the services of the Lord's day, until, 
 before long, there were few stations of any size 
 where the Christian Sabbath was not kept, mis- 
 sionary schools were established for European 
 regiments, and Bibles, Prayer-books, and religious 
 tracts were distributed by officers among the troops. 
 The improvement in the religious character of 
 Europeans was followed by attention to the native 
 inhabitants, and a desire to impart to them the 
 blessing of religious instruction. As missionaries 
 became known, their character and object began to 
 be appreciated. Some of the old alarmists indeed 
 still looked on with a jealous eye, and ceased not 
 to prognosticate commotions, and the loss of the 
 country at no distant period, in consequence of 
 these proceedings. But as year after year rolled 
 on, the course of Christianity among Europeans, 
 and the education of natives increased without the 
 
IN INDIA : BOOK XIII. 651 
 
 slightest disturbance to public tranquillity. On 
 the contrary, the natives began to respect the Eng- 
 lish, when they saw that they really had a religion 
 which before they had questioned, and the British 
 interests increased, their dominion extended, and 
 their power became more firmly established. 1 
 
 But we must not forget that, beneficial as was 
 the alteration which had taken place in the public 
 mind in India, it is to be attributed to the agency 
 of that Holy Spirit by whose influence alone such 
 a change could be accomplished. And seeing what 
 has been effected, with the divine blessing, during 
 the few years that appropriate means had been 
 
 1 It is unnecessaty to repeat the accounts given in the text of 
 the great increase of chaplains and missionaries, to whose united 
 exertions, under God, this improvement is to be attributed. 
 Testimony on this subject was borne, in 1827, by James M. 
 Strachan, Esq., who had known India some years before the 
 arrival of Bishop Middleton, and had watched with lively inte- 
 rest the progress of Christianity in the country, down to the 
 abrupt close of the devoted Heber's life. Mr Strachan conti- 
 nues " Missionaries then have, in their sphere, contributed to 
 the improvement of public opinion in India. Chaplains have 
 done this still more ; but to the bishops who have been appointed 
 to India belongs the high prerogative of having, by their com- 
 manding influence, mainly contributed to turn the current of 
 public opinion altogether on the side of missions The charac- 
 ter of Dr Middleton for great talents, with his high and digni- 
 fied demeanour, constrained the respect of his countrymen, for 
 whose personal benefit he was zealously and wisely engaged ; 
 and it was left for his revered successor to convert that senti- 
 ment of respect into cordial esteem and love. Yet let me not 
 be misunderstood as saying would, indeed, that there were 
 grounds for saying ! that the British community in India has 
 acquired a religious character. The improvement in public 
 opinion, the turning of the tide in favour of religion, does not 
 include the conversion of Hindoostan ; but who does not see 
 that public opinion in favour of missions must progressively 
 tell on the native mind ? But especially is it of importance in 
 India, as it raises up exertions in favour of the natives." Mis- 
 sionary Register 1827, pp. 272, 273. 
 
652 HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 CHAP, diligently used, what may we not expect in future 
 1 from the steady pursuit of the same course ? Al- 
 ready it could no longer be said, as it was not twenty 
 years before, that if it should please God to destroy 
 the British sway in India, scarcely a vestige would 
 remain to shew to our successors that a Christian 
 nation had ever held power over the land. Too 
 many of the inhabitants had received a Christian 
 education in our schools, the Scriptures and reli- 
 gious treatises had been circulated too extensively 
 in all the languages of the country, too many 
 churches had been erected, and congregations of 
 native Christians formed, not to leave traces of our 
 rule behind, which, we believe, would have remained 
 indelible : and we cannot but think that God would 
 have carried on his own work of mercy for India 
 by other instruments, had those employed in its 
 commencement been removed. How much more, 
 then, may we hope in His wisdom and power to 
 complete His gracious purposes for the land, so 
 long as He shall preserve the British rule, and His 
 servants continue faithful to their trust. While, 
 therefore, we thank him for the past, we will hope 
 in Him for the future, and from time to time set 
 up our Ebenezer to His praise, saying, " Hitherto 
 hath the Lord helped us," 1 Sam. vii. 12. 
 
APPENDEX 
 
 THE following Appendices have been drawn up for the benefit of those 
 readers who may not possess the former volumes of this history, in order 
 to put them in possession of the passages referred to in the present 
 volume. But only a faint outline is given of the great work performed 
 by those indefatigable men who first broke up the fallow-ground of 
 heathen India, and, through many trials and difficulties, established the 
 several Missions whose onward course is herein detailed. 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 From Book X. Chap. I. 
 
 THAT eminent servant of God, Dr Buchanan, whose exertions to obtain 
 an Ecclesiastical Establishment for India are well known, was removed 
 to his rest in February 1815, but not before the appointment of the first 
 Indian Bishop. " The person selected was Archdeacon Middleton, whose 
 learning and services to the Church, as well as his appropriate address, 
 delivered in 1813 to M. Jacobi, a missionary of the Christian Knowledge 
 Society, pointed him out as peculiarly fitted f >r this arduous trust 'Over- 
 powered by the vast magnitude and appalling novelty of such a charge, 
 Dr Middleton was at first tempted to decline the offer. His maturer 
 thoughts, however, condemned this determination as unworthy of a 
 Christian minister ; and he found no peace of mind until he had recalled 
 his first decision, and had formed a resolution to brave the difficulties of 
 the office, and the dangers of a tropical climate, in the service of his 
 Saviour/ He was consecrated at Lambeth, May 8. 1814. On the 17th 
 he attended a special meeting of the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge, to receive their valedictory address, which was delivered by 
 
656 APPENDIX. 
 
 the Bishop of Chester. To this address he replied in terms expressive of 
 diffidence of his capabilities for the arduous duties entrusted to him, and 
 commended himself to the Society's sympathies and prayers. The 
 Society placed one thousand pounds at the Bishop's disposal for the 
 extension of its efforts in the East." He sailed June 8th ; the Arch- 
 deacon of Calcutta, Rev. Henry Lloyd Loring, and the Archdeacon of 
 Bombay, Rev. George Barnes, sailed in the same fleet. 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 From Book XII. Chap. I. 
 
 THE first English church was built in Bombay in 1718 by the exertions 
 of the chaplain, Rev. Richard Cobbe. A school was established and 
 Scriptural instruction given, and many benefits resulted to individuals. 
 " These, however, were but faint glimmerings of religious light, and the 
 nineteenth century opened with very little improvement in the European 
 society of Bombay." Few attended public worship, and the state of 
 Christianity was very low. A lady who visited Bombay in 1809 wrote : 
 " The only English church is in the fort ; it is large, but neither well 
 served nor attended." When the Rev. H. Martyn visited it in 1811, he 
 found the society in the lowest state with regard to morality and religion. 
 His spirit was oppressed with its ungodliness. " The Lord's day was 
 openly and notoriously disregarded," being often spent in hunting and 
 public amusements. But his preaching and remonstrances, as well as the 
 influence of his character, were favourable. " His visit was also a season 
 of refreshment and encouragement to some juniors in the service, of a 
 more Christian character, who had not been long in the country. Several 
 of these young men had enjoyed the privilege of a religious education at 
 home, but found themselves in Bombay cast upon a society altogether 
 worldly and licentious. The number of those who made even an out- 
 ward profession of religion was very small. They hailed the ministra- 
 tions and discourse of Henry Martyn, who appeared to them as an angel 
 of light in the midst of the moral darkness around." " Short as was his 
 visit of only five weeks, he left an impression behind which no doubt 
 prepared the way for the improvement which was soon to follow." 
 
 In 1812 Sir Evan Nepean arrived as Governor. His consistent reli- 
 gious example was invaluable. He scrupulously attended church twice 
 on the Lord's day, and promoted every object of a moral and religious 
 tendency. The number of chaplains was doubled. An Auxiliary Bible 
 Society was established in 1813, under the auspices of the Governor, W. 
 T. Money, Esq., in the chair. A girls' school was established, and 
 carried on by a native Christian lady; and, in 1814, Archdeacon Barnes 
 arrived, when " a brighter day dawned on Western India." 
 
APPENDIX. 657 
 
 / 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 FromBook IX. Chap. II., and Book XI. Chap. II. 
 
 MESSRS THOMAS and CAREY went to India, in 1793, as the first mission- 
 aries of this Society. Messrs Ward, Brunsdon, Grant, and Marshman 
 arrived in 1799, and took up their abode at the Danish settlement of 
 Serampore, where they were soon joined by Mr Carey from Kidderpore, 
 and thus was laid the foundation of the Serampore Mission. In 1796 
 Mr Fountain arrived from England. He reported that " the education 
 of the young was well begun, the translation of the New Testament was 
 nearly completed," and the mission work among the natives was pro- 
 gressing. In 1800, a large house was purchased, with extensive grounds. 
 Its proximity to Calcutta was of importance to their school and printing- 
 press, from which, as will be seen, the Holy Scriptures in so many 
 languages of the East, as well as many religious works, have issued in 
 vast numbers. " From this time they maybe considered fairly launched 
 on the wide sea before them, and a noble course they have steered." In 
 Calcutta their mission had been successful. In 1807, they obtained per- 
 mission from Government to build a chapel. In 1810, they established 
 the Benevolent Institution for poor East Indian Children. Several 
 missions were formed in different parts of Bengal. Among others 
 Dinagepoor, Cutwa, formed by Mr Chamberlain after many difficulties ; 
 Malda, Balasore in Orissa, Chittagong, and many others related in the 
 present volume. 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 From Book XI. Chap. IV. 
 
 " AT the period of Martyn's death, in 1812, the long glimmering light 
 seemed to be spreading high and wide on the Indian horizon ; the grain 
 sown with so much care had sprung up, and even here and there a spot 
 was found white already to harvest ; and among the names of those who 
 prepared this vast field for future labourers, not the least honoured are 
 Brown, Buchanan, and Martyn, who were called to their rest so nearly 
 together." In 1807, the Church Missionary Society sent a grant to 
 Calcutta to promote the translation of the Scriptures into the Eastern 
 languages, then carrying on in Fort- William. In 1809, it was increased, 
 a portion applied to the publication of the Scriptures, and another towards 
 the support of Scripture readers in markets, and other places of public 
 resort. Abdool Messeehwas the first reader. He accompanied Rev. D.Corrie 
 VOL. V. T t 
 
658 APPENDIX. 
 
 to Agra, where the word preached brought many inquirers after the 
 truth, and several converts were baptized. On Mr Gome's departure, 
 Mr Bowley, from Meerut, undertook the mission with Abdool Messeeh. 
 Talib Messeeh remained reader at Meerut. In 1815, Rev. T. T. Thoma- 
 son visited Agra, and thence removed Mr Bowley to Chunar, where he 
 was spared to labour many years with success. His ordination is men- 
 tioned in this volume. Anund Messeeh became a reader and schoolmaster 
 at Meerut, under Kev. H. Fisher. Two schools were established at 
 Burdwan, and the land at Benares given to the Society for schools by 
 Jay Narain. In 1815, the school at Kidderpoor was completed, and, in 
 1816, the two missionaries arrived, Revs. D. Greenwood and C. T. S. 
 Shroeter. An estate at Garden Reach was purchased for mission 
 premises. 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 From Book XI. Chaps. I. and IV. 
 
 SHEIK SALIH, the future Abdool Messeeh, was born at Delhi. He was a 
 zealous Mahomedan, and having considerable knowledge of Persian and 
 Arabic, he became at twenty-one a Moonshee. Leaving his situation 
 with an English officer because he was reproved for converting a Hindoo 
 servant to the faith of Islam, he wandered about, engaging in various 
 pursuits, and at length visited his father at Cawnpore, where one evening 
 he heard Mr Martyn preach to a crowd of fakeers, and was so struck 
 with his arguments in proof of Christianity, that he determined to 
 remain at Cawnpore, where he gained employment by copying Persian 
 writings for Sabat. When Mr Martyn had finished his translation of 
 the New Testament into Hindoostanee, it was given to the Sheik to bind. 
 He seized the opportunity to study it, but concealed his religious impres- 
 sions till Mr Martyn was on the eve of leaving Cawnpore when he opened 
 his mind to him, and accompanied him to Calcutta. There he was left 
 with Mr Brown, and after five months' further delay, was baptized 
 Abdool Messeeh, servant of Christ, on Whitsunday 1811. In 1812, he 
 accompanied Mr Corrie to Agra, and there assisted him as Scripture 
 reader for two years. He felt Mr Corrie's departure severely, and met 
 with much opposition and many trials from Mahomedans. But he con- 
 tinued his course diligently. He began the practice of physic, distribut- 
 ing medicine to the poor gratuitously, which, he said, made some of the 
 enemies become friends. At this point the present volume finds us, 
 and continues his career. 
 
APPENDIX. 659 
 
 APPENDIX F. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 From Book X. Chap. VI. 
 
 THE Danish Mission at Tranquebar, begun in 1706 by Ziegenbalg and 
 Plutschow, carried the gospel into Southern India. From this the Mis- 
 sion of Tanjore in 1726, and of Trichinopoly in 1762, originated, and 
 the labours of Swartz in both these are well known. The Christian 
 Knowledge Society gave the first grant from England in 1709, and con- 
 tinued to support the mission. But when Tranquebar was ceded to the 
 British, the mission resources from Denmark being cut off, Dr John 
 found it impossible to meet the increasing demands of the schools. He 
 was assisted by the Madras Government, and many individuals. In 1812, 
 he applied to the Church Missionary Society, and immediately obtained 
 a grant. He died soon after. In 1814, the Church Missionary Society 
 sent out two missionaries, Schnarre and Rhenius. They were, however, 
 recalled to Madras the following year, but Mr Schnarre" being much 
 wanted at Tranquebar, he returned there, and Mr Rhenius was retained 
 by the Corresponding Committee in Madras, where a mission was formed, 
 and mission-house premises and ground for a church were obtained, and 
 schools were opened. The 7th chapter continues the mission from this 
 period. 
 
 APPENDIX G. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 From Book VIII. Chap. V., and Book X. Chap. IV. 
 
 NATIVE priests and catechists from the Tranquebar mission visited 
 Tinnevelly from time to time, and a small congregation was gradually 
 formed under their instructions, but no native teacher resided there till 
 Schavrimootoo went in 1771. In 1785, Swartz visited Palamcottah, 
 where he found a congregation of 160 persons assembling in a church 
 built by the widow of a Brahmin recently baptized. After a visit of 
 three weeks, he left them with two catechists and a schoolmaster. One 
 of these, Sattianaden, had many years sustained the character of an able 
 teacher and pious Christian. A portion of the English liturgy, translated 
 into Tamul, was regularly used in the church. In 1790, Sattianaden 
 received Lutheran orders in one of the Christian Knowledge Society's 
 mission churches. In 1791, the Rev. J. D. Jsenicke arrived at Palam- 
 cottah, and laboured there with Sattianaden, preaching in the villages, 
 and building some churches at the expense of Swartz. Writing to the 
 
660 APPENDIX. 
 
 Society, JsenickS says, " I believe we shall have a great harvest in the 
 West;" in which anticipation Swartz also participated. In 1800, the 
 faithful Jaenicke died, after many years of sickness. In 1799, one year 
 after Swartz's death, the mission was visited by Gericke, from Madras, 
 and again in 1802, when he found the Christians had been much perse- 
 cuted ; but the preaching of Sattianaden and the catechists had been 
 blessed of God. Several inquirers wished to be further instructed in 
 Christianity, and the inhabitants of four villages had broken up and 
 buried their idols, converting their temples into Christian churches. In 
 1803, Mr Kohlhoff found Sattianaden so advancing in age, and declining 
 in health, that he obtained permission from the Society, and ordained 
 four catechists. One of these, Wedanagayam, was sent to Palamcottah 
 in 1811, and another, Abraham, in 1816. The Christians in Tinnevelly 
 had received protection and pecuniary aid from Mr Sawyer, a resident 
 there, who died in 1816. Lieutenant- Colonel Trotter had also given 
 them every encouragement in his power ; but no mention is made of any 
 missionary visiting the spot since 1803 ; so that when the Kev. J. 
 Hough was appointed chaplain to that station, in 1816, he found the 
 schools and mission generally greatly in need of improvements, as de- 
 scribed in the foregoing pages, and besides reviving them, established 
 there also the Church Missionary Society. 
 
 APPENDIX H. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 From Book XII. Chap. VH. 
 
 " THIS Mission seems to have been undertaken on the recommendation 
 of Sir A. Johnstone, during his visit to England/' " Dr Coke, a leading 
 member of the Wesley an body, was, like J. Wesley, educated at Oxford, 
 and ordained in the Church of England. He had long wished to sender 
 carry the gospel to India, and when this mission was projected, being 
 possessed of considerable property, he proposed to establish it, and to 
 advance whatever money was required for the outfit of the missionaries. 
 It was finally agreed that six should accompany him Messrs Ault, 
 Lynch, Erskine, Harvard, Squance, and Clough and they sailed Decem- 
 ber 31. 1813. But Dr Coke was not preserved to lay the foundation of 
 the mission, having died at sea, May 1815." The hearts of the mission- 
 aries sank at this loss, but " they learnt, under the Holy Spirit's influence, 
 to depend more entirely on the providence of G-od ; and it did not fail 
 them/' They were kindly received at Bombay by the Governor, Sir E. 
 Nepean, and assisted by W. T. Money, Esq., the well-known friend of 
 missions. They sailed thence for Ceylon, where they were cordially 
 welcomed by the Governor, Sir R. Brownrigg, the chaplain, and other 
 residents, and by them assisted in establishing the several mission 
 stations, whose progress is now detailed. 
 
APPENDIX. 661 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 From Book XI. Chap. III. 
 
 MR FORSYTH went to India in 1798, under the patronage of the London 
 Missionary Society, and, in 1811, began mission work at Chinsurah, where 
 he was joined by the Kev. K. May in 1812. In 1814, Mr May opened a 
 school for the natives, which increased so rapidly, that, with the assist- 
 ance of the Commissioner, Gordon Forbes, Esq., several more were estab- 
 lished, and a Government grant was obtained. In 1816, the grant was 
 increased, the schools amounted to thirty, containing 2,600 children, and 
 a colleague, the Kev. J. D. Pearson, was sent out by the London Society. 
 It should be stated that, in the school supported by Government, religi- 
 ous instruction was disclaimed, the object being to improve the education 
 given in the native schools, which was described as " extremely deplor- 
 able." They were appreciated by the higher classes of natives, and 
 imitated by some among others, by the Rajah of Burdwan, Mr May 
 also establishing a seminary for training teachers. 
 
 APPENDIX J. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 From Book X. Chap. V. 
 
 THE missionaries of this Society arrived at Vizagapatarn in 1795, and 
 established a mission here, and at other stations on that coast, Ganjam, 
 South Travancore, and Belhary, where they laboured with success, 
 translating the Scriptures, Liturgy, and tracts into Teloogoo. In 1804 
 Dr Taylor and Mr Loveless arrived at Madras ; the latter commenced 
 his mission in that city, with encouragement from the chaplains, and 
 other friends of missions there. In 1816, he hailed the arrival of a 
 colleague in Mr Knill. 
 
 APPENDIX K. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 From Book XII. Chap. II. 
 
 DR TAYLOR proceeded to Bombay in 1807, and was engaged in studying 
 the languages, with a view to the translation of the Scriptures, but upon 
 
662 APPENDIX. 
 
 his acceptance of a medical appointment under Government, the mission 
 work was suspended till 1815, when Messrs Skinner and Fyvie arrived, 
 and proceeded to Surat, where they began the study of Guzerattee, 
 opened schools, &c. ; and the following year the work so increased that 
 they hecame anxious for assistance, which, as the present chapter records, 
 was soon sent to them from England. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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