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 [PRIVATE.] 
 
 A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO A SECRETARY OP A 
 
 MISSIONARY STUDENTSHIP ASSOCIATION 
 
 REV. HENRY BAILEY, B.D., 
 
 WARDEN OF ST. AUGUSTINE'S COLLEGE, 
 AND HONORARY CANON OF CANTERBURY. 
 
 Canteritirj? : 
 
 PBINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY HENRY CHIVEES, 
 
 48, PALACE STREET. 
 
 1867.
 
 PRAYER FOR ST. AUGUSTINE'S COLLEGE. 
 
 " Bless, Lord, this place now set apart to Thy glory, and 
 grant that Thy holy Name may be worshipped therein in truth and 
 purity to all generations. Give grace and wisdom to all the Authorities, 
 that they may exercise holy discipline, and be themselves patterns of 
 holiness, simplicity, and self-denial. Bless all who may be trained 
 therein. Take from them all pride, vanity, and self-conceit, and give 
 them true humility and self abasement. Enlighten their minds, subju- 
 gate their wills, purify their hearts, and so penetrate them with Thy 
 Spirit, and fill them with Thy love, that they may go forth animated 
 with holy, prudent, burning zeal for Thy glory : and may Thy holy 
 word so burn within their hearts, that they may speak with that resistless 
 energy of love, which shall melt the hearts of sinners to the love of Thee. 
 Bless, Lord God, the Founders and Benefactors of this College, and 
 recompense them with the riches of Thy everlasting kingdom, for Jesus' 
 sake." Amen. 
 
 R. B. 8t. Peters Bay, 1848.
 
 A LETTER. 
 
 St. Augustine's College, 
 Michaelmas, 1867. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 Two years ago last St. Peter's Day, we held a 
 Conference of Secretaries and Treasurers of Missionary 
 Studentship Associations; and our discussions, suggestions, 
 and conclusions were gathered up into an Extra Occasional 
 Paper afterwards. The effects of this measure were so useful, 
 that a kind offer was made by one of the Collectors to prepare 
 a similar Paper last year for circulation amongst the members 
 of the Associations. He took somo preliminary steps for this 
 purpose, but the amount of other business which fell upon him 
 at the time prevented its being brought to completion. 
 
 Another year has now passed away, and it seems very 
 desirable that no longer time should be allowed to elapse with- 
 out a renewed survey of the present conditions of the great and 
 delicate problem which we have undertaken, according to our 
 several positions, to solve, — the selection and training of fit 
 men for the service of the Church of England in our foreign 
 possessions ; I say the present conditions, for events move so 
 rapidly, the changes in the country generally are so great and 
 extensive, as to affect very materially the work we have in hand. 
 Some difficulties which pressed upon us in former years, have 
 diminished or disappeared ; but others have emerged to light 
 which were not then thought of, or which did not exist. 
 Experience is a great teacher, and gives rise to new thoughts 
 and reflections ; and it is out of the experience of the last few- 
 years that I would speak in the following pages. I have 
 thought it best to prefix the word " private " to this letter, in 
 order that I may write with greater freedom, both of style and 
 matter, on many delicate subjects which I shall have to touch 
 upon, and that 1 may have a mutual understanding with my 
 readers, that this letter be used with caution, and that none 
 of it be quoted in public or reprinted without consulting me. 
 At the same time, I wish the documentary part, and the senti- 
 ments of the whole, the widest circulation. 
 
 I have often thought it would be very desirable to explain 
 the constitution and characteristics of the College, and the 
 conditions on which Students are admitted into it, pass through
 
 it, and obtain their appointments, more fully than can be done 
 in the " Circular." It is due to those who tender such valuable 
 aid to the Missionary cause, as do the members of the Student- 
 ship Associations, that we should supply them with clear 
 knowledge of the conditions on which we of ihe College have 
 received our responsible trust. And it will answer many other 
 useful ends also. It will preserve in distinct form that which 
 lapse of time, and changes in the agency, tend to reduce to vague 
 outline. It will serve to correct erroneous notions which have 
 already taken hold of the minds of some persons on material 
 points, and will prevent other mistaken anticipations, I hope, 
 from springing into birth. 
 
 The truest conclusions are those drawn from a careful study 
 of the successive documents in which the scheme and constitu- 
 tion of the College were sketched, and ultimately matured. 
 I adopted this method in my own case, when I first became 
 officially connected with St. Augustine's, nearly eighteen years 
 since, and had the further privilege of free intercourse with 
 those who where the most active agents in its first conception 
 and subsequent establishment. 
 
 An admirable paper was privately printed, entitled " Sub- 
 stratum of Statutes for a Missionary College," in which are 
 recited the primary purposes for which ours was to be founded. 
 " Namely, to maintain perpetually the worship and service 
 of God, praying Him daily to bless this and all other works for 
 the spreading of His kingdom ; a strict and godly discipline of 
 living, such as befits those, who are to endure hardships for the 
 Gospel's sake ; and the training of such young men, as shall 
 be found willing and duly qualified to propose themselves for 
 that calUng, intending to exercise it, if duly called and ap- 
 proved, under any of the Bishops of British Colonies and 
 Possessions." Among other duties assigned to the Warden, he 
 is " to order all things within the College to the furtherance of 
 piety and learning; to order and maintain the service of 
 Common Prayer daily throughout the year, and the celebration 
 of the Holy Communion on Sundays and Holy Days ; to give 
 instruction in Tlieology, and in the understanding of Holy 
 Scripture ; to assign to the Sub- Warden, and to each of the 
 Fellows, such duties as they shall discharge in the care and 
 ordering of the House, the government and instructing of 
 scholars, and whatever else may be expedient for the good 
 order of the College, and tlie furtherance of the work for which 
 it is founded." The Fellows are to " assist the Warden in 
 governing and instructing the scholars, and shall take charge 
 of such scholars severally as he appoints ; and give such 
 Lectures as he directs or approves in the departments assigned 
 
 urn'
 
 them, as well as private instruction to their several pupils, as 
 may be needful ; to take part in the services of the Chapel ; 
 to reside in College." " Every candidate for a Fellowship, 
 after he has been accepted, shall reside one year for probation, 
 before his appointment is confirmed, and shall during that time 
 spend a certain number of days in a course of prayer, study, 
 and meditation, for the quieting his mind, and settling of his 
 own purpose." " Any Fellow maybe deputed to visit Schools 
 in search of proper scholars, or accompany scholars going out 
 to any Colony." " Above all things, the Fellows shall be 
 diligent in whatever relates to their own spiritual advancement, 
 and" shall be careful by devotion, meditation, the devout study 
 of the Holy Scripture and of spiritual books, earnest and 
 reverent preparation for the Holy Eucharist, and continual 
 supplication for the help of God, to cherish in themselves a 
 spirit of fervour and piety, impressing well upon themselves 
 that they cannot train others in self-denying habits, to the 
 high office of winning souls to Christ, unless they first, by the 
 grace of God, conform themselves more and more to His holy 
 Will, and frame in themselves that mind, which they desire to 
 see formed in those committed to their charge." 
 
 I cannot forbear a momentary pause to reflect upon the 
 high value, I may say, grandeur of this Collegiate scheme as 
 a powerful aid to Missions, I mean irrespective of the teaching 
 engrafted on it. And the walls of our beautiful little Chapel, 
 within which have mingled together, from year to year, the 
 intercessions and praises of worshippers from all parts of the 
 world, bear witness to one most important realization of it. 
 
 But experience has shewn the danger and inherent evils of a 
 purely contemplative life, without some definite sphere of action. 
 And therefore it was most wise to correct or prevent these by 
 prescribing that which should at the same time supply a most 
 urgent practical need in the Mission field. " The College will 
 consist of a Warden, Sub- Warden, and six Fellows, all of whom 
 are to be actively engaged in the instruction and tuition of the 
 students." This leads me to make further quotations from the 
 Document already described, for the purpose of exhibiting the 
 spirit and intentions of the Foundation. 
 
 " Students will not be admitted ordinarily under seventeen, 
 or above twenty two years of age ; and those will be preferred 
 who have obtained a fair proficiency in Learning, or have given 
 good sign of an earnest and devoted spirit. 
 
 "They shall be subject to punishment, at the discretion of the 
 Warden, for any breach of Rules, or act of disobedience or 
 disrespect to their superiors. But if any Student shall resist 
 authority wilfully, or shall not willingly submit to punishments.
 
 when imposed on him, or shall be guilty of any great and 
 scandalous offence, he shall be dismissed from the College. 
 
 " And even if any Student formally obey the Rules and 
 Orders of the College, but is careless and remiss in his studies, 
 he may, after three admonitions, be dismissed. And in like 
 manner, if his life and conversation are such as to show a 
 secular and irreligious spirit, and to hinder the worthy and 
 devout attendance of himself and his companions on their 
 religious duties, after due admonition and endeavour to correct 
 him, he shall be removed from the College. 
 
 "The Students shall be directed and assisted in fulfilHng, as 
 far as may be, the intentions of the Church in their whole 
 course of life. 
 
 " They shall observe strictly the hours of rising and going 
 to bed appointed by the Warden, and not absent themselves 
 from any lecture or meal, or omit any prescribed exercise, 
 without leave. 
 
 "They shall avoid every thing that can interrupt study 
 during the hours appointed for it ; and shall retire to their 
 own rooms at least half an hour before they go to bed, for the 
 purposes of private prayer and self-examination. At such 
 times strict silence shall be observed by all. 
 
 " They shall not be allowed to go out of the College gates, 
 without special leave, after an hour fixed by the Warden, and 
 varying, if thought proper by him, with the time of the year. 
 The hour also to which they may remain out shall be fixed by 
 the Warden. Any one attempting to evade this Rule by 
 entering or quitting the College any other way shall be liable 
 to expulsion. 
 
 " The rooms shall be furnished by the College, and no other 
 furniture introduced without leave. Any pictures, books, or 
 newspapers, disapproved by the Warden shall be excluded 
 from the College. No newspapers shall be admitted into the 
 College, nor any secular books, except such as shall be thought 
 necessary for the cultivation of the mind, or at least not in any 
 way likely to be prejudicial thereto. 
 
 " Such recreations only shall be allowed as are consistent 
 with a grave and sober life, and do not interfere with any 
 duty. 
 
 " The Students shall not only behave modestly and obedi- 
 ently towards their superiors, but shall also treat one another 
 with respect and consideration, both within the College and 
 in their times of recreation without it. They shall be careful 
 to maintain harmony among each other, and modesty of 
 demeanour, considering in one another the calling to which 
 they are devoted. iVnd above all, they shall bear in mind that
 
 the attainment of even religious knowledge will not qualify 
 them for their office, but may even be hurtful to them, without 
 devotion and holiness of life ; they shall cheerfully give them- 
 selves to those devotions and religious exercises which the 
 Warden shall appoint for them. " 
 
 These paragraphs supply a full and practical interpretation 
 of the College Statute, chap, vi., "Of the Students," expressed 
 in general terms, which I subjoin. 
 
 " Candidates for admission into the College as Students will be 
 submitted to a previous examination. They will be required to be in 
 communion with the Church of England, and to bring with them 
 satisfactory certificates of baptism, and of religious and moral character. 
 
 " They will not be admitted ordinarily under eighteen or above 
 twenty-two years of age. But the Warden may in special cases, 
 dispense with this regulation on the subject of age. They shall sign 
 a written promise to conform to the rules of the College, to obey those 
 who are set over them, and diligently to pursue the studies appointed 
 them. They shall also sign a written declaration of their deUberate 
 intention to devote themselves, with all the powers of mind and body 
 which God in His Goodness has given them, to His Service in the 
 Ministry of the Church of England, in the distant dependencies of the 
 British Empire. And on these preliminaries having been complied 
 with, their names shall be entered by the Warden in a book to be kept 
 by him for that purpose, as having been admitted into the said College 
 as Students, and such entry shall be signed by the Warden, and they 
 shall thereupon be Students in the said College. 
 
 " If any Student shall not submit to the discipline of the College, 
 or shall be guilty of any grave and serious offence, he shall, after a 
 hearing in the presence of the Warden, Sub- Warden, and Fellows, or 
 any three of them, whereof the Warden shall be one, be dismissed 
 from the College by the Warden, who shall give immediate notice 
 thereof to the Visitor. If any Student be careless and remiss in his 
 studies, he may, after three solemn admonitions, the last of them to be 
 in the presence of the Warden, Sub-Warden, and Fellows, or any 
 4hree of them, whereof the Warden shall be one, be dismissed, notice 
 thereof being given to the Visitor. And in like manner, if his life and 
 conversation be such as to show the want of a religious spirit, and he 
 after due admonition and exhortation shall not amend, he shall be 
 removed from the College by the Warden, notice thereof^being given 
 to the Visitor. 
 
 "The Students shall reside in College save during the periods 
 allowed for the College Vacations, during which however they may, 
 with the consent of the Warden, Sub-Warden or Senior Resident 
 Fellow, as the case may be, reside in College. They are required 
 to attend the daily Morning and Evening Prayers in the College 
 Chapel, [at such times, and under such penalties as the Warden shall 
 from time to time direct and appoint. Statutes, chap. VIII.] and are 
 exhorted to communicate monthly at the least, and oftener if they desire 
 it, and the Warden consider them fit to do so.
 
 *' Their rooms shall be furnished by the College, and no other 
 furniture shall be introduced without leave of the Warden. Any 
 pictures, prints, books, or other publications, disapproved by the War- 
 den, shall be excluded from the College. 
 
 " The Students shall have separate apartments, but shall take all 
 their meals in common in the College Hall. They shall wear a dis- 
 tinctive dress, and their ordinary apparel shall be grave and sober. 
 
 " The ordinary course of instruction in the College will be com- 
 pleted in three years. 
 
 " The payments to be made by the Students for the expense of 
 their maintenance shall be from time to time fixed by the Warden, 
 with the approbation of the Visitor, and shall be made in advance at 
 the beginning of each Term." 
 
 It was especially " understood that no contribution shall 
 convey any right of nomination, or of interference with the 
 government of the College." And it is recorded as " due to 
 the munificent donor of the site, by very far the largest con- 
 tributor to the general fund, as well as to the buildings, to 
 state, that neither on his part, nor on that of others, who 
 most liberally aided the design, was a desire evinced to reserve 
 any personal rights, or the exercise of any control." 
 
 The independence of action thus happily secured to the Col- 
 lege has doubtless contributed materially to the harmonious 
 relations which have uniformily subsisted between it and other 
 bodies, e.g., the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the 
 Cathedral Chapter, and Missionary Studentship Associations. 
 
 The functions of the Visitor lie solely with the Members of 
 the Foundation, and are suflSciently defined in the Charter and 
 the Statutes. Together with the Archbishop of York, and the 
 Bishop of London, he appoints the Authorities of the College ; 
 he receives appeals from any of them, and adjudicates accord- 
 ingly; at their request he has power to alter any of the Statutes, 
 so that it be not contrary to the Charter. Such relations as 
 the Visitor has with the Students are mediately through the 
 Warden. The Warden submits to him for approval the scheme 
 of Lectures delivered in College, and the amount of College 
 fees. He gives notice to the Visitor of any Student whom he 
 has dismissed from the College ; but no appeal is allowed in 
 the Statutes from any decision upon a Student. 
 
 While writing these paragraphs, I am forcibly reminded of 
 a sentence — one of many grand sentences, in the*^ old Statutes 
 of my own College at Cambridge, which I translate memoriter. 
 " The Scholars shall be responsible to the Fellows, the Fellows 
 shall be responsible to the Master, and the Master shall be 
 responsible to God." 
 
 ^ I turn next to the " Proposal for the establishment of a 
 Missionary College." After describing in detail the intellectual
 
 training which it was proposed to give, the Paper comes "to the 
 chief point." " In the case of the Missionary it is absolutely 
 required that his career should, from the first, as far as possible, 
 be ascertained. To mature the necessary intensity of purpose, 
 to concentrate all the powers of the will, and to inspire the 
 whole character with a constant and enduring force, it is 
 necessary that the first condition on entering the College should 
 be the recorded choice of a Missionary life. If this purpose be 
 compromised or weakened, the College must relax itself into 
 a mere place of lecturing about Missions, instead of a School 
 for Missionaries. With this view, therefore, it is needed that 
 the whole order and discipline of the place should habitually 
 impress the one great aim of seeking Christ's sheep, not for 
 wages, nor for hire, but for the love of God. To mature the 
 zeal, boldness, endurance, and fervent character, without which 
 the hardships and crosses of Missionary toil cannot be sustained, 
 there is need of a strengthening, and chastening system, with 
 prayer and meditation, within walls, which bear the token of 
 an apostolic life, and in a fellowship ' of men like-minded, 
 mutually supported, and of one purpose, for which they have 
 resolved to spend, and to be spent." 
 
 Lastly, and with the same object as before, I have tran- 
 scribed above the beautiful "Prayer for St. Augustine's College," 
 composed on the day of the Consecration of the Chapel. 
 
 These several documents, stamped as they are, with like, 
 and those decisive, characters, deserve to be constantly pondered 
 over, (1) by us the Authorities of the College, that we may 
 remember what a grave and sacred trust has been committed 
 to us ; (2) by young men, and Students, that they do not ap- 
 ply for admission under mistaken notions of what the College is, 
 and when admitted may learn how utterly alien from the spirit 
 of this holy House is all self-seeking, self-assertion, and self-will; 
 and (3) by all the Members of our Studentship Associations, and 
 others, that they may have a guide in their search after suitable 
 candidates, and be preserved from disappointment of their 
 natural hopes. For the number is large of those who have 
 been sent to us, and to whom, during probation, we have 
 felt it our duty, on various grounds, to advise withdrawal. 
 And in some cases we have deemed it well, for the sake of the 
 College and the Colonial Church, to release actual Students 
 from their solemn declaration made on admission, this being 
 a step for which the consent of the College is necessary. 
 
 Were I to describe our administration of the College system 
 during all these years, and the results of it, " I should be a fool." 
 I would rather leave it to be gathered from the annals of those 
 devoted labourers who have gone from us into all lands, from
 
 10 
 
 the memorials of those who have sunk, in the midst of their 
 labours, to early rest,* and from the strong affection, deservedly 
 proverbial, of Augustinians for their College and for their several 
 tutors. I would only express my conviction, before closing this 
 part of my letter, that any depravation, or dereliction of those 
 characteristic principles, on which the College was founded, 
 would soon forfeit for us the strong general confidence which 
 has been built upon the toil of many years, and bring the 
 Institution down into deserved contempt. The salt would have 
 lost its savour. 
 
 We had difficulties to contend with in former years, which 
 have happily been surmounted. Others have come up more re- 
 cently, which I will endeavour to describe out of our experience, 
 that you may be better able to understand our circumstances. 
 
 Perhaps I shall best pave the way by quoting part of a 
 letter from one of the most acute judges of character, the 
 Bishop of Wellington, N. Z. He writes : — " The Maories, who 
 are keen observers, say of the young clergy, who have lately 
 come into this country, as compared with the old missionaries, 
 such as Archdeacon Hadfield — koa hoki te tupu o nga minita 
 (the growth of clergy now-a-days is stunted). I am afraid 
 that this is a very general impression with regard to anything 
 like enthusiasm on their part. I am struck with the entirely 
 business view some young men take of the clerical office ; and 
 at home, missionary zeal has very much cooled, I fancy." 
 {Mission Field, May, 1867, p. 208.) These are results. Let 
 us now turn to examine — we will not say the causes — but the 
 corresponding condition of things in an earlier stage. 
 
 Every one is familiar with the various causes which have 
 affected, to so great a degree, the supply of clergy for the 
 church in England ; while for the church in foreign parts, 
 the great burst of missionary zeal, which may be dated from 
 the establishment of the Colonial Bishoprics' Fund, and which 
 lasted for several years, drew out, first of all, many men of 
 high position, talent, and expectations, and then others of a 
 moderate, but highly respectable stamp, among whom I am 
 proud to class many of the late Students of St. Augustine's. 
 By these, planted as they have been in successive years in our 
 
 * I cannot refrain from quoting part of a letter to myself, this summer, 
 announcing the departure of an old Student, after a long and painful illness 
 most cheerfully and patiently borne, from his father, who is a well known 
 Clergyman: "In his delirium he showed that he was thinking of St. Augustine's; 
 for he said ' I have been trying to spell the word Canterbury backwards.' He 
 always spoke with devout affection of St. Augustine's : and it is impossible for me 
 to express the gratitude I feel for the admirable instruction which he received 
 there, as well as for the habits of Christian piety and conduct which he formed 
 there."
 
 11 
 
 colonies and dependencies, the crying " vacancies '* in Foreign 
 Missions have been more or less filled up. Meanwhile, exactly 
 as the financial exigencies of the church at home, the poverty 
 and paucity of benefices, and the like, have led to the more 
 extensive introduction into the ministry of men of less general 
 education, of humbler position and means; so, and on this 
 very account too, the scantiness of Mission funds,* general, 
 special, and local, has brought it to pass, that very few men of 
 independent means, or who, by their education and talents, can 
 do better for themselves, are found to offer for Missionary 
 work ; and therefore it falls into the hands of men who do not 
 possess these advantages. Now it is the glory of a church, 
 whether in home or in foreign service, to know how to employ 
 in the ranks of her ministry, men of all grades, from the high- 
 est to the lowest, and to welcome the self-dedication of piety, 
 ability, and special gifts in the persons of the humblest of her 
 members. Our Church, in England and abroad, can boast 
 herself in the possession of this power, as numerous instances 
 testify ; and in this boasting, the Missionary College of St. 
 Augustine, thank God, may take its full share. But it is not 
 the glory of a church, when the class of the well-to-do, well- 
 nurtured, and well educated among her sons, hang back from 
 the Lord's especial service, and she is driven, as it were, " to 
 compel men to come in," whosoever they are, if they are but 
 willing, lest the field should be left absolutely without any 
 labourers at all. Nor is it to the real benefit of the church, or 
 of Missionary operations, that this should be the case. 
 
 But I must narrow my observations to our own experience. 
 For many years we had a sprinkling of Students of fair social 
 position, and coming to us with a tolerable amount of liberal 
 education, of whom it might be said, and in whom it might be 
 seen, at the first glance, with easy adaptation of George 
 Herbert's words, that 
 
 " Parents first seasoned them : then schoolmasters 
 Delivered them to laws." 
 
 They were sufficient in number to leaven the whole body with 
 their own tone, and by their connexions, standing, and general 
 bearing, to win for themselves and the rest of their college 
 
 * It is impossible to read the Appeal of th.e S. P. G. for special help, prefixed 
 to the Report of this year, without a feeling of shame that the Missions of the 
 Church of England, which have been so wonderfully blest, and are so full of 
 hope and promise on every side, should be so "starved" by her numerous and 
 wealthy members. The rich who do support them content themselves for the 
 most part with their miserable guinea. Would that the example was more 
 
 largely followed of the Earl of H , and of his Countess, who (like the late 
 
 Earl and Countess) give their annual subscription of £25, and £5, respectively.
 
 12 
 
 companions, a general position of respect and social influence, 
 which in colonial experience is of such very great importance. 
 This valuable element has been gradually diminishing amongst 
 us, v^^hether from the decay of the Missionary spirit in the 
 Church, or from other causes, it is not for me to say. The 
 Missionary Studentship Associations, now so numerous, and 
 the sources already of incalculable good, started at first with the 
 alternative before them, of not giving pecuniary aid to their 
 Students, if it was not needed. But I do not remember any 
 actual instance of this class. The natural, almost the inherent, 
 tendency of the Associations was towards needy candidates ; 
 and each successive year has seen an increase in their num- 
 bers, and in the average amount of their needs, whether coming 
 to us from, or independently of Associations, till the whole is 
 becoming a very expensive process. 
 
 I feel sure I shall not be misunderstood in what I am going 
 to say. The Members of Associations are the best friends 
 of Missions the Church and College has. I know well the 
 extreme difficulty of meeting with a Missionary Candidate, 
 who in all points answers your ideal of one. There is generally 
 some drawback, and we must of course make use of the best 
 instruments which Providence puts into our hands. It has 
 however, unfortunately, been our duty rather frequently of late 
 years to reject those who have been recommended, or sent to 
 us. And I fear some of our friends have thought us over 
 cautious, and over critical. Let me assure them that our 
 natural desire is not only to meet their wishes, but also to 
 secure for the service of the Colonial and Missionary Churches 
 as many labourers as possible. But experience teaches us, and 
 the Bishops constantly warn us, that we must not mar this 
 glorious cause by the mission of agents whose hearts are not 
 really in the work, or whose powers are manifestly inadequate 
 to it, or constitution feeble, or deficiencies in other ways patent 
 to us. And if the candidate is without means, all these points 
 require the more rigid scrutiny, with such a future in pros- 
 pect, as Missionary life presents. 
 
 Every such Candidate entails, at the beginning, upon those 
 who take him up, and throughout the whole time upon the 
 College, a much greater amount of responsibility and anxiety, 
 than one of higher stamp would. There is first the great 
 difficulty of getting at his real motives and character, through 
 the various inducements that may be influencing him. And 
 when that is satisfactorily solved for the time being, then 
 begins the task, so full of delicacy and danger, of taking him 
 out of his original humble walk of life and associations, and 
 transplanting him to a totally different sphere, where the highest
 
 13 
 
 moral and religious qualifications as well as tact and gentlemanly 
 bearing, are demanded. What for others has been taught in the 
 successive stages of boyhood and youth, " the numberless little 
 rules of action and conduct, which we could not live without, 
 and which are learnt so insensibly and so perfectly, as to be 
 mistaken perhaps for instinct, though they are the effect of 
 long experience and exercise," — all this training has to be 
 crowded, for such an one as I am now speaking of, into a very 
 short space of time. The raising of funds for the maintenance 
 of a single Student is comparatively an easy matter. But poor 
 circumstances generally imply scanty means of education, and 
 scanty attainments; and much too often in our experience, 
 slender ability, and lack of general intelligence and power of 
 perception. If, further, it turns out that there is a want of 
 humility, and that the principles of piety are not deeply rooted 
 in the heart, the dangers that accompany intellectual training, 
 and the elevation of social position, are very much increased. 
 The worst side of the character is in such cases only the more 
 developed. The want of "acquired moderation and self- 
 government, some aptitude and readiness in restraining them- 
 selves, and concealing their sense of things," is painfully 
 evident. Their knowledge of the laws of a society, and of the 
 nature of discipline, is in inverse proportion to their need of it. 
 They are easily moved by unsettling influences, the sport of 
 imagined rumours about themselves, the victims (if their wills 
 are crossed) of fancied wrong. These dangers would be cor- 
 rected by a mixture of rank in their body; were they the 
 exception, they would be absorbed and moulded by the rest : 
 but where all are of the same class, the tendencies are very apt 
 to spread, unless kept in check by careful handling. The 
 commercial spirit, too, which is now so much in the ascendant in 
 the country, has affected Missionary Candidates also, and this 
 class can scarcely escape the contagion. The money bid, which 
 is made for them, has some sort of tendency to promote it ; and 
 the effect needs continual counteraction. Pecuniary aid easily 
 obtained creates a desire for more, especially when friends and 
 family do nothing, and small insincerities and selfishness are 
 not uncommon accompaniments. I have seen the hint throvni 
 out, that Associations ought to rai§e all their Exhibitions to 
 £50 per annum. I cannot but think that would only aggravate 
 the difficulties which already exist. The cheap and easy way 
 of merely giving more money, with no competition or guar- 
 antee, must needs be injurious. It seems to me that we have 
 gone quite as far as we ought in purchasing even worthy 
 candidates for missionary work. To descend lower would, in 
 every probability, be to buy an inferior article at a dearer rate.
 
 14 
 
 In such an event, too, the College would at once raise its terms; 
 a step it would most unwillingly take, and yet almost necessary 
 through the high rate of provisions during recent years. 
 
 The observations I have made above reach no farther than 
 the period of College residence. If we were to extend their 
 range, we should find that the bareness of pecuniary means, 
 the narrowness of experience, and the other drawbacks which 
 I have enumerated or alluded to, are only more serious in their 
 effects, from that crisis and forwards. The necessary delays 
 in obtaining an appointment are more keenly felt, and more 
 sharply resented ; if prudence and gratitude are set aside, as is 
 sometimes the case, and a premature and improvident matri- 
 monial engagement is made, the complication is much 
 increased; pecuniary distractions and embarrasments accom- 
 pany the very first entrance upon Missionary work ; and the 
 tempers, which education had kept down, soon reappear. 
 Misunderstandings arise with the colonists and others, who tell 
 us — and they are very apt to tell us — " they want gentlemen." 
 If the Missionary or his family sink into bad health, they have 
 nothing to fall back upon, and the consequences are lamentable. 
 I need not dwell upon the unwelcome picture.* 
 
 And first, it is most desirable that the adoption of a 
 Candidate by an Association should be founded upon personal 
 knowledge on the part of one or more of its Members, and not 
 only upon report and testimonials. 
 
 I will venture now upon one or two practical suggestions. 
 In negotiating with Candidates, I would insist on the family 
 (a Missionary's family excepted) doing something in the 
 earliest stages towards their preparatory education and main- 
 tenance. This will be more easily secured then than later. 
 It will lighten the burden to the Association, and will postpone 
 that condition of entire dependence on others which is in 
 many ways so prejudicial. A life abroad now-a-days is not 
 what it used to be, and must not be misrepresented as a sacrifice 
 in the cases we are now speaking of. The trials of Missionary 
 life now, are not in confessorship and martyrdom, but trials of 
 the constitution in climate, trials of spirit, tact, temper, in the 
 perpetual vexations and disappointments which arise. 
 
 But T confess I should like the experiment to be tried, of 
 making the call more frequently and more loudly to those who 
 really have something to sacrifice of a worldly nature at the 
 altar of Christ's service, whether it be means, or station, or title, 
 or talent, or expectations. If the appeal is made to the higher 
 motives of Missionary action, I believe an encouraging res- 
 
 * Let me refer here to some striking paragraphs in a Sermon preached at 
 Eton last St. Barnabas Day, by Bishop Hobhouse.
 
 15 
 
 ponse would come. Is it possible that the Missionary spirit 
 in the Church of England has become so feeble, as not to be 
 able to inflame the hearts of some among all classes of her 
 children ? Surely the Missionary vocation has attractions for 
 a certain order of mind more potent than any wordly con- 
 siderations ; and the sphere of usefulness which lies before a 
 thoroughly educated Missionary surpasses that which presents 
 itself to any other person. 
 
 Perhaps some may have expected some allusion before this 
 to certain troubles which have befallen the College during the 
 present year. I think they may easily be made too much of; 
 and certainly, whatever the troubles have been, the greatest 
 share has fallen to the lot of the authorities. It were scarcely 
 to be expected, that the growing experience of a work, so 
 peculiar and delicate as ours is, should be uniformly pleasant, 
 and good, as it has been, by God's Blessing, to such a remark- 
 able degree. It is not the case in a parish, in a society, or 
 even in any large family. 
 
 The secession of two of the middle-year Students to the 
 Church of Rome in the spring was a lamentable fact that took 
 every one of us by surprise. To this day I cannot understand 
 the mystery of it. There are some things in their previous 
 history and family connections that may have led to it. But 
 the fact will remain like a portent in the chronicle of all the 
 loyalty to the Church which will for ever be bound up with 
 the history of our Students. And though I could quote letters 
 of Bishops, home and colonial, which would satisfy any one, 
 as much as they cheered us, on this head, I prefer to let one of 
 our old Students speak, in a private letter at the time. 
 
 " I have just seen in the Guardian news which has caused me 
 great sorrow. I mean, the account of the two young men who have 
 been so misguided as to leave our Church. We must always look for 
 increased troubles with increased numbers in the College, but this is a 
 trouble which causes one to look with pity upon the poor misguided 
 men, upon whom the teaching of the College has not had time yet to 
 take effect. Going there, probably, with very crude ideas on doctrinal 
 matters, their minds not fully developed, and their reasoning powers 
 unformed, they must surely have been misled by the cunning crafti- 
 ness of designing men, before the Divinity course had reached their 
 heads, much less their hearts. I cannot imagine anything more 
 calculated to impress a deep love for Christ in His Church, than the 
 whole tone of the College teaching and practice. Far removed on the 
 one side from the extreme asceticism of an earlier age, and from 
 the loose worldliness of the present on the other, it affords that 
 happy mean of cheerful service and devotion to the cause of Jesus
 
 16 
 
 which surely is most in accordance with His Mind. Everything is 
 essentially true and real and earnest : everything reminds one of the 
 high aims which become a student of Divinity, preparing for mission- 
 ary work, and nothing in any way encourages a taste for the tawdry 
 and unreal and unhealthy state which characterises the Roman Schism 
 in England, and still more in the Colonies. May God forgive the poor 
 misguided young men, and bring them back to their right minds." 
 
 The painful step we felt ourselves compelled to take, in June 
 last, of sending most of the Students down to their homes and 
 friends a fortnight before the usual day, which caused not a little 
 excitement at the time, has happily had the result which we 
 even then ventured to hope for. This result has been attained, 
 mider God's Blessing, through the wise admonitions unani- 
 mously given them by Secretaries and Members of the 
 Associations, through the dignified reproof and advice ad- 
 dressed to them by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 on whom they had intruded, under a mistaken report of what 
 the authorities had done, and on a mistaken notion of their 
 own rights ; and, I thankfully add, through the good sense and 
 right principle of the young men themselves. Putting aside 
 the vexation and temporary disappointment of our hopes about 
 them, now past, our abiding feeling is one of thankfulness to 
 God, that we had courage given us to be faithful to our trust, 
 and discharge a most painful duty when we were shut up to it ; 
 and thus to let in the fresh bracing air of our original College 
 system upon our present conduct of it. But I pray God to be 
 preserved from any such like necessity again. 
 
 With renewed assurance of my constant sense of the effec- 
 tual help which you have given to our common cause. 
 
 I remain, 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 HENRY BAILEY. 
 
 P.S. — I will send you any number of Copies of this Letter you may wish, for the 
 purposes of your Association, post free at Six-pence per Copy. 
 
 CHIVERS, PRINTER, PALACE STREET, CANTERBURY.
 
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