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 The following Letter and Extracts are printed 
 as being, it is thought, singularly well fitted 
 to give a true impression of the character and 
 claims of the Oxford Mission to Calcutta.
 
 Letter lately received by the Vice-Chairmauy from 
 the Bishop of Calcutta. 
 
 Darjeelingy 
 
 May lyth, 1886. 
 My Dear Warden, 
 
 You will have heard that the Oxford Brothers in 
 Calcutta have bought a house, and I feel that you and your 
 Committee may like to know what I think of it. It is in every 
 way a cause of thankfulness to me that they have found so 
 suitable a place for their permanent abode. As a matter of 
 business, they have made an excellent investment ; the house 
 is substantial, more than usually so, and though built in 
 accordance with native ideas of domestic and social life, it can 
 easily be made convenient, and the price is very moderate. 
 They are indebted to Mr. Sandel, a Christian lawyer here, for 
 the successful issue of the negotiations for the purchase. And 
 as regards their work : the house is admirably situated, the 
 streets about it are narrow, but some of the most respectable 
 natives live in the neighbourhood, and it is quiet, and easy of 
 access to that class of men which the Mission aims at in- 
 fluencing. Altogether, when I went to see the place I was 
 greatly rejoiced, and I may add that the purchase of this 
 house relieves me of a great anxiety, for it is so difficult to get 
 hold of property in Calcutta, that I had almost begun to 
 despair of finding any place suitable as a Mission centre. 
 The house hitherto occupied has become less and less so, in 
 consequence of the development of traffic, &c., all around it. 
 If I go on to report on the general prospects of the Mission, 
 I must begin by saying that Townsend is proving a most 
 excellent head, and that he has quite taken his place in the 
 affections and confidence both of the Christian and non- 
 Christian community. I am thankful to see that he seems to 
 be strong physically, and that he knows how to take proper 
 care of himself. ^.^ 
 
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 unjc
 
 Of the actual results of the work, it would be presumption 
 to speak confidently, but that the Mission is a centre of 
 influence felt by all, there can be no sort of doubt. You 
 probably hear details from Townscnd himself, and he has 
 experienced what all do, that the prospect is full of hope, 
 though it may be long deferred. My impression is that of late 
 years the attitude of the Hindus is more antagonistic towards 
 Christianity than it was when I first came out, and this means 
 progress ; that is, they see more clearly than they did what 
 Christianity involves, and are feeling that if their Hinduism is 
 to be saved they must make more of a stand against the 
 irresistible encroachments of Christianity. Then political 
 complications have led them to assert themselves more boldly 
 than they used to do, and some of the phases of western 
 thought have even led some to think that after all the eastern 
 faith and philosophy will triumph. On the other hand, I 
 think they perceive how many influences, not directly religious, 
 are undermining their foundations, and some I feel sure are 
 more than anxious about the result. Steady and persevering 
 work must be carried on for long ; we may get a convert now 
 and again but must wait for any great ingathering. I trust 
 that all supporters of the Mission will believe that the work 
 doing is most certainly making itself felt, and I should be 
 thankful if we could have some 12 or 14 men instead of 4, for 
 I should then wish them to start branches of work at such 
 places as Dacca or Patna, where great openings are presenting 
 themselves. I have said nothing about Brown's School, which 
 is now to be linked with Bishop's College. This is a right 
 move I believe, and for me settles another long pending 
 question. All here feel that the connection will strengthen 
 the work as a whole, and promote the interests of the direct 
 Mission work. I trust that your health is improved. 
 
 I am, yours sincerely, 
 
 Edward R. Calcutta.
 
 The following statements of the Rev. J. Stephenson, made at 
 the Annual Meeting in Oxford this year, deserve attention. 
 Mr. Stephenson, who is Senior Chaplain under Government 
 in the Diocese of Calcutta, speaks in the character of one 
 entirely unconnected with the Mission, and experienced in 
 Indian life and needs. 
 
 I have seen the work of your Oxford Mission, and I can truly say 
 that as long as I live I shall feel an enthusiastic affection and 
 admiration for it. * * i shall never forget when I left 
 Calcutta in November, the Oxford men saying to me " You go to 
 Oxford and tell them how we are getting on." It seems to be always 
 as if these men really look to Oxford for that sympathy and assistance 
 which should enable them, under God, to carry on at all. * * 
 I wish to emphasise what I consider the extreme importance of the 
 establishment of this Oxford Mission. I have seen nothing like it since 
 I have been in India. I have seen Missions going on, and Missions 
 in which I have been deeply interested. * * But this Oxford 
 Mission has come in a time when that sort of Mission is most needed. 
 I have watched the inception of that Mission, and I have watched the 
 work of that Mission, and from my heart I thank God for it. I believe 
 that India is in peril of sinking into atheism, I cannot think, I wish I 
 could, that the disintegrating process which is going on must necessarily 
 end in Christianity. I think that this state of things is, as Sir Charles 
 Turner remarked, very much owing to education, and the influence 
 of Europeans, but I am not going to join in that cry which I don't 
 believe in, that the European is worse in India than the European at 
 home. * * But still for the European to have any effect 
 upon the native, he must not be as good as the average Christian ; he 
 must be a great deal better. The life of an indifferent Christian tells 
 heavily against Christianity, and I think that in many cases the 
 Hindoos have very grave doubts indeed as to whether we have any 
 religion at all. I think it will be allowed that we have to lay to our 
 account a vast and increasing amount of unbelief, and we have to 
 remember that a great deal of that comes from our Universities ; and 
 I say, on that ground, the Oxford Mission is entitled to our gratitude 
 inasmuch as it has helped to do away with that reproach, and to undo 
 as Christian Missionaries, the work which unchristian men from our 
 Universities have done. ##***** 
 
 I say that, considering all things, it has been a wonderful success, 
 in ways which were never contemplated and which are of the very
 
 5 
 
 highest value. What is the great want just now in Calcutta ? The 
 great need is to raise the level of the Christian Community, to bind 
 Christian hearts together, and to oppose the most effectual antidote 
 to that disunion which is the secret of our weakness and disasters 
 both in the Native and English Churches and every Church I have 
 seen. It is very wonderful how the Oxford Mission has had an 
 influence in that way. * * They have leavened the Christian 
 lump ; they have won hearts to them in a wonderful way. I have 
 been much struck with the way in which the native Christians of all 
 classes and all communities in their difliculties and trials seem to turn 
 to the Oxford Mission (applause). I cannot help saying, and I am 
 sure it is a reverent thing to say, though it sounds a strong thing to 
 say, that the Oxford Mission, carrying as it has done the sign of the 
 Cross, like its Master is drawing all hearts in Calcutta unto it. When 
 I knew that IMission most intimately it consisted of two men only, 
 and to me it is almost a miracle that it ever survived ; I shall never 
 forget how I watched that Mission with a sorrowful heart, and I 
 believe it would have been irreparable if that Mission had been allowed 
 to perish. I trust you will excuse me for saying that I believe that 
 never again will that Mission be allowed to reach that point of 
 weakness. There is Mr. Brown, full of strength and full of study, as 
 I know to my cost ; at least I know how he talked with me when he 
 thought I was not quite right on a point of truth. I should think he 
 must have been in his University days a good rower. Then there is 
 Mr. Smith, of whom I can only speak with enthusiasm. To me he 
 is one of the most heroic figures in India, with his slender frame and 
 weak health, his humility and his constantly revived energy. The way 
 in which those men not only kept that Mission afloat, but made it a 
 power, I think is a signal proof of God's blessing on that Mission. I 
 cannot help thinking and saying that no life lived for Christ is lived in 
 vain, and I beUeve some of the success and blessing which rest upon 
 that Mission are due to the martyr who has gone, and the martyr who 
 is still living*. There is a blessing resting upon that Mission for the 
 sake of those devoted men. Father O'Neil, it is said, when he was 
 asked what sort of country India was, said "It is as good as any 
 other place to die in." He proved that, for he died in India, and he 
 died as he lived, a noble Christian. But India is a place to live in, 
 too. I can only call the lives of those two men a sort of holy 
 
 * Mr. Stephenson refers to the Rev. M. F. Arglcs, Fellow of S. John's, whose 
 health broke down after n short term of work nt the Mission, and who died on his 
 return home, and to the Rev. E. F. Willis, before Vice-Principal of Cuddesdon, 
 first Head of the Mission, who returned to England with his health for the lime at 
 least shattered by the unceasing toil to which he had submitted himself.
 
 scramble; there might have been ten men for the work they did. 
 But I trust, at any rate, there will be no further martyrs through any 
 fault of those here in failing to support them. The arrival of Mr. 
 Townsend and Mr. Walker is the best guarantee against that. 
 
 The constitution of the Mission is in its favour, and I trust the 
 namef is prophetic of what the Mission is to be. Of all places 
 Calcutta is the one through which to reach Bengal. So that the 
 Mission, I think, in its constitution, in its locality, and in its various 
 circumstances, has the best promise of success. If it be asked 
 what it has done and what it is, I say it is a home of hoHness ; 
 you cannot go near those men, and you cannot go to that place, 
 without feeling the better for it, or wishing to be better. I say that it 
 has raised the level of the Clergy of Calcutta. I myself have wished 
 and tried to be better since I knew the Oxford Mission, and I owe 
 them a debt of gratitude. And it is not only a home of holiness, but a 
 home of theology. The Oxford Mission are doing what they can to 
 help forward the cause of Christian unity. As you know there is 
 great danger of a false unity, but as long as we have the Oxford 
 Mission, I think we have there a guarantee that this unity shall be of 
 a real kind. 
 
 Mr. Townsend at the last anniversary of the Calcutta Mission,, said 
 " This Mission represents the missionary aspect of the greatest Univer- 
 sity in the world." That is a great assertion, and surely it is for us to 
 make good that assertion. In order to do that the number of men 
 must be still further increased, and the strength of the Mission more 
 efficiently maintained, and surely it is no light thing, if we think of it, 
 that Oxford and this great University should have a part in the 
 recovery to Christ of the greatest heritage ever given to man to win 
 for God. 
 
 Mr. Stephenson's remarks were confirmed by Mr. Gore, who 
 spent some months with the Mission two years ago, and who 
 said — 
 
 I own, so far as a visitor gets an impression about these matters, 
 that certainly what Mr. Stephenson said very much represents the 
 impression I got, and that was that the work the Mission had put 
 itself in the way to do was just the sort of work it ought to be doing, 
 that it elevated the conception of what the Christian life meant, and 
 that no work could be on stronger and healthier, and more hopeful 
 lines than their work was. 
 
 t The Brotherhood of the Epiphany.
 
 The Mission has lately obtained (partly by the generosity 
 of one of its working members) a house in the centre of the 
 Native quarter of Calcutta. By an arrangement with Bishop's 
 College, the Mission has also been able to secure the permanence 
 of the Boys' School which it had founded, — the only Native 
 Christian Boarding School in Calcutta, — while it is relieved of 
 much of the special expense and responsibility which it 
 entailed, and gains freedom for its other work. 
 
 The present members of the Mission are as follows : 
 
 Rev. C. W. TowNSEND, M.A., Keble College, late Vice- 
 Principal of Salisbury Theological College ; 
 
 Rev. E. F. Brown, M.A., late Scholar of Trinity Coll.; 
 
 Rev. P. S. Smith, late Scholar of University College, 
 Oriental Fellow of S. Augustin's Coll., Cambridge ; 
 
 Rev. C. H. Walker, M.A., Oriel College ; 
 the Hon. Treasurer of the Mission at home is 
 
 H. O. Wakeman, Esq., All Souls College, Oxford ; 
 and its Bankers are 
 
 Messrs. PARSONS AND Co., Old Bank, Oxford.
 
 OXFORD : 
 
 PRINTED BY W. R. EOWDEN, 
 59, HIGH STREET.
 
 
 
 
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