.U-'.IA ^nmtll Ittiuersitg Stbrarg 3tt)ara, Krm fork CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Cornell University Library BV 2500.A3H72 The early history of the Church M^ 3 1924 023 034 675 DATE DUE •^ Intfirlit irap,' L0£ n QAYLOHD PRINTED IN U.SA WSS^^Si filMW Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924023034675 THE EAELT HISTOEY OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY FOE AFRICA AND THE EAST TO THE END OF A.D. 1814 BY THE EEV. CHAELES HOLE, B.A. LECTUKEB IN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY AT KING S COLLEGE, LONDON 'I will remember the works of the Lord; swrely I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings ' — Ps. Ixxvii. 11, 12 LONDON CHUECH MISSIONAEY SOCIETY SALISBURY SQUARE, FLEET STREET, E.C. a -' i^ N b L I U 1^ I V i: U ;; i 1 Y PRINTED BY SPO'iTISWOODE AXD CO., NBW-STRKET SQUARE LONDON SYNOPTICAL VIEW OF THE CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. I. Sources and scope of the present work, p. xv. The fathers of the Church Missionary Society not to be classed as mere individualists ; but in their generation cherishingpre-eminently their membership with the Church, catholic and national, xvi. The local memories of the Society's past days, why worthy of preservation, xvi., xvii. The Church of England spiritually indebted to the work of this Society, xvii., xviii. The Society's feeble existence until its second birth, which providentially resulted from efforts for India, xviii., xix. Structure of this work ; prominence given to its biographical department, xix. The previous history of English missionary action needful to be borne in mind, xix. II. The first English colonising charters missionary in profession, a.d. 1609, 1612, 1620, 1629, xx., xxi. Colonial evangelising acts and Ehot's mission an outcome, 1636, 1646, xxi. III. The first S.P.G. 1649, and the second S.P.G. 1662 ; the home episcopate moving, 1679, xxii. Boyle's missionary fund bequeathed, 1691, producing Porteus's Christian Faith Society, 1793, xxii., xxiii. Dr. Bray's efforts for the home and colonial ministry cir. 1696, xxiii. The S.P.C.K. begun, March 8, 1699 ; its foimders, objects, preamble ; mode of admission to it, early additions, xxiii.-xxvi. Dr. Bray's visit to Maryland, Mr. Barklay's proposals. Convocation moving March 13, 1701, a charter ordered Jime 9, xxvi., xxvii. The S.P.G. charter, June 16, 1701, and the members incorporated by it, xxviii. Remarks on the new S.P.G. : — 1. It was an offshoot firom the S.P.C.K., with some points of contrast, xxviii., xxix. 2. It was a private society, xxix., xxx. 3. A third S.P.G., xxx. 4. In ecclesiastical questions then current, ' Low Church,' xxx.- xxxii. 5. Distinct, as an exclusively Church Society, from previous S.P.G.'s, xxxii.-xxxiii. 6. In constitution a colonial more than a missionary society, but in actual operation both, xxxiii.-xxxiv. The circumstances leading the S.P.C.K. to support India missions, xxxiv.-xxxv. The origin and principle of the Baptist Missionary Society, 1793, xxxv.-xxxvi. The London Mis- sionary Society, 1795, xxxvi.-xxxvii. CHAPTER I. EVENTS LEADING TO THE SOCIETY'S ESTABLISHMENT, 1786-1799, pp. 2-34. Section I. — Events in India, 1789-1791, 2-16. 1. Early Christian Efforts in Bengal, 2 ; Kiernander's Portuguese Mission at Calcutta, 1758, 2 ; Mr. Thomas advertises in the Indian Gazette, November 1, 1788, 4 ; Bev. David Brown's arrival at Calcutta, June 8, 1786, 6 ; Mr. Thomas's second arrival at Calcutta, July 14, 1786, 5 ; the Gomalty Mission under Thomas established vi History of the Church Missionary Society. by Mr. Grant, then residing at Malda, about autumn, 1786, 5. 2. First Eclectic Meeting on Missions in London, 1786, 6. 3. The Calcutta Project of Missions, 1787, by Brown, Grant, Chambers, Udny, 7. 4. The GalciMa Project in England, 1788, 11 : committed to Simeon and Wilberforce to press it upon the Government, the East India Directors, and the Episcopate, 12, 13. 5. A Second Eclectic Meeting on Missions, 1789, 13 : occasioned by the Calcutta Project, 13. 6. Mr. Qrant returns to England, 1790, 14 ; the Gomalty Mission abandoned as a failure, 14 ; the importance of his presence in England for the Mission cause, 15 ; his intercourse with Wilberforce, H. Thornton, Simeon, 16 ; defeat of the Abolitionists in 1791, 16. Section II. — Events in England, 1791-1799, 16-34. 1. Sierra Leone Company and Third Eclectic Meeting on Missions, 1791, 16 : the Company to remedy the failure of a sclieme to settle free Africans at Sierra Leone ; the Meeting occasioned by the Company, 17, 18. 2. Va/rious Incidents of 1792^ 1793, 18 ; Wilberforce's acquaintance with Sir John Shore, Baptist Mis- sionary Society, Buchanan at Cambridge interested for India, Grant's Observations, Carey's embarkation for India, the Boyle Missionary Fund, 18, 19. 3. The E.I.C. Charter, 1793, 19: Wilberforce's two Eesolutions placed in the Journals, but rejected in debate, 20, 21 ; the Charter Act of 1793 a reply to the Calcutta Project of 1787, 21 ; the Eesolutions and the Project compared, 21 ; both impracticable at that time, 21 ; Wilberforce confirmed to the cause of Missions, 22 ; Lord Macartney an example of the public indifference to Missions, 22. 4. The Rauceby Meetings and Bristol Clerical Education Society, 1795, 23 : the Jane legacy lost to Missions, 25. 5. The Fourth Eclectic Meeting on Missions, 1796, 25 : after the formation of the London Missionary Society, 25. 6. Battersea Pise, 1797, 27 : con- ferences of H. Thornton, Wilberforce, Grant, Simeon, J. Venn, 28. 7. Con- temporary Notices of these Movements, 28 ; Brodbelt, Coulthurst, Goode, 28, 29. 8. Fifth, Sixth, Seventh Eclectic Meetings on Missions, 1799, 29 : topography of St. John's Chapel, members of the Eclectic Society, extant reports of the discussions, 29-32 ; comments — the ' Evangelical part of the Church,' 34. CHAPTER II. EARLY DAYS, PKIBNDS, AND LOCALITIES, 1799-1805, pp. 35-112. 1. The Place amd Date of Foundation, 36 : topography, 36. 2. The Castle amd Falcon Meeting, April 12, 1799, 36 : the members, business, officers, committee, 37, 38. 3. First Committee Meeting, 38 : same place, AprU 15, business, first contributions, 38, 39. 4. A Contemporary Notice, 39 : only in Scotland, English press silent, 39, 40. 5. More Early Proceed- ings, General Meeting, 40 : Name given to the Society, Country Members, character of the General Meeting, the Society's lay heads to be styled Governors, Jlew London Tavern, 40-42. 6. The Society's First Home, 43 : St. Andrew Wardrobe Rectory and associations of Eomaine, draft Account of the Society, its intention, 44. 7. Letter to the Primate, July 1, 45 : depu- tation to wait on him, 46. 8. Delays, 46 : owing to the Primate's sUenoe, 46 ; friendly advances to the L.M.S., 46 ; Scott's private sentiments on the case of the Duff, 47 ; Mission to Sierra Leone decided on, 48 ; more country members, 50. 9. Outlook as to Episcopal Support, 52: Wilberforce in conversation with Pitt — Bishop Tomline, Wilberforce in conversation with the Bishop, bitter spirit against ' Methodist ' clergy, 52, 53 ; who sometimes needed more guardedness — Eobinson's letter to Scott, 54 ; but should have had more sympathy from Bishops, 55. 10. Country Friends, 55: Synoptical View of the Contents. vii spirit of their letters, Crouch, Biddnlph, Jones of Creaton, Burn, Stil- lingfleet of Hotham, Vaughan of Bristol, Fawoett of Carlisle, Mayor, Powley, Home — ' Methodism,' 55-58 ; the catechist plan causing trouble, 56, 57. 11. The Primate's Decision, July 24, 1800, 58 : thoughts on this, 58, 59 ; the Committee's decision, 59. 12. Besumiption of Activity, 60 : spirit of country friends accordant — Dikes, Vaughan of Bristol, Jones of Creaton, Stephenson of Olney, Eobinson, Powley, Hey of Leeds, Simeon, Fry, Tandey, but Dr. Hawker unsympathetic, 60-62. 13. A Closer Search for Missionaries, 63 : letters from Secretary of S.P.C.K., Dr. Haweis, Powley, Vaughan, Home, Jones, 63, 64; Mr. Newton decliues the sermon on the catechist difficulty, 65 ; an anniversary of the S.P.Gr., 66 ; more letters, no missionaries, Mr. Newton persuaded, but his ability doubtful, 67, 68 ; the Evangelical part of the Church, in its laity or younger clergy, cannot yet yield a missionary, 68. 14. The First Anniversary, 1801, 69 : topography of St. Andrew Wardrobe, 69 ; Sermon by Scott, who is much discouraged, 70; the meeting small, 71. 15. First Subscription List, 72: analysis of it, 73. 16. Letters and Pro- ceedings to the Second Anniversary, 73 : gentlemen at Sierra Leone to be invited to form a Corresponding Committee, 76 ; the Berlin Missionary Seminary heard of, 76. 17. Second Anniversary, 1802, 79 : Sermon by Simeon, 79. 18. New Contributors, 81. 19. Berlin Missionary Semina/ry, 81 : its previous history and its plan, 82, 83. 20. Letters and Proceedings to the Third Anniversary, 83 : two Berlin students arrive and are accepted as missionary catechists, 85 ; Henry Martyn's intention to offer, 86. 21. Third Anniversary, 1803, 88 : sermon by Cecil, 88. 22. Proceedings and Letters to the Fourth Anniversary, 89 : the two catechists, having been ordained in the Lutheran Church abroad, are received as missionaries, 91 ; Open Committee for their dismissal, January 31, 1804, 93 ; their embarkation and arrival out, 93, 94. 23. Fourth Anniversary, 1804, 98: Sermon by Biddulph. 24. Proceedings and Letters to the Fifth Anniversary, 101 : the question of an English Seminary mooted, 105. 25. Fifth Anrdversa/ry, 1805, 106: Sermon by Venn, 106, 107; Bentinck Chapel collection, 109. 26. The Four Committees, 1799-1805, 109 : their most active and effective members, 112. CHAPTER III. PEOGEBSS TILL THE END OF 1811, pp. 113-207. Section I. Missionaey Seminaries, 114-126. — 1. The Berlin Missionary Seminary, 114 : connection from February 1, 1800, 114 ; from August 13, 1807, and within the period of this section the reception of its candidates was suspended, 115, 116. 2. The Bledlow Seminary, 116 : constituted under Mr. W. Dawes, 116-119 ; first student, English, from January 5 to March 26, 1807, 119 ; the only others, four Germans, from August 13 until about Christmas 1807, 119, 120. 3. Aston Sandford Seminary, 121 : formed under Bev. Thomas Scott, 121 ; began about Christmas, 1807, with the four Germans from Bledlow, 121, 122 ; the first permanent English student (Nor- ton) joined about January 7, 1810, and the next (Greenwood) about March 22, 1811, 125, 126. Section II. The Africa Mission, 126-139. — 1. The Missionaries Organ- ised, 127 : connection from January 31, 1604, 127, 128. 2. The Mission- aries in their work, 128 : connection from April 14, 1804, 128 ; in 1806 severely blamed, 128 ; the real state of things, 129, 130. 3. The first rein- forcement, September 22, 1806, 130: a crisis in the Colony and another in the Corresponding Committee, 1807, 131 ; the missionaries reorganised and viii History of the Church Missionary Society. one discharged, 132 ; a missionary station secured December 2, 1807, 133. 4. Sierra Leone comes under the Crown, January 1, 1808, 133. 5. Mission on the Bio Pongas, 134 : Bashia, Fantimania, the iirst death, Captain Colum- bine, 135, 136 ; a second reinforcement of the Mission, August 5, 1809, 136 ; liberated African children first committed to the Mission, June 5, 1811, 138 ; review of the Mission, 139. Section III. The New Zealand Mission, 140. — First before the Com- mittee March 7, 1808 ; Marsden sails with two artisans August 1809, 142 ; inteUigenoe of the Boyd disaster before the Committee December 7, 1810, 143 ; the Mission detained for the present in New South Wales, 144. Section IV. Proposed Missions, 145. — 1. Ceylon and the East, 145 : interest revived by the coming home of Sir A. Johnston, 1810, 146 ; and by the publication of Buchanan's Christian Researches, 1811, 147 ; and Melville Home's presatire, 1811, 147. 2. The Mediterranean, 148 : Buchanan in the Christian Observer, Dr. Naudi of Malta, Bev. W. Terrot, Mr. H. C. Mair, special openings through the war, 148, 149. 3. The Falls of St: Mary, 150. Section V. Preliminary Examination of India, 151-187. — 1. Under Lord Cornwallis, 151 : the object of the present examination, 151 ; restric- tions from 1781 on the residence of British subjects in British India, 151, 152 ; during this administration the Calcutta project of missions, 1787, and the Charter of 1793, 152, 153. 2. Under Sir John Shore, 153 : arrival of Carey and Thomas, November 11, 1793, 153 ; of Buchanan, March 10, 1797, 155 ; of Mr. Fountain in 1796, 155 ; death of Swartz, 1798, 157. 3. Under the Marquess Wellesley, 157 : French schemes on India, 158 ; arrival of Marsham and Ward, October 5, 1799, 159 ; Carey removes to Serampore, January 10, 1800 ; Buchanan's Sermon, February 6, 1800, 160 ; the College of Fort William, 161 ; Carey began as a Teacher in it. May 12, 1801, 162 ; Bible versions in connection with it, 163 ; Buchanan Prizes, 164 ; review of the administration, 167. 4. Under the Marquess CornwalKs, 167 : Seram- pore missionaries checked, 167 ; Buchanan's College of Fort WilUam. and his Memoir on am, Ecclesiastical Establishment in India, 167. 5. Under Sir G. Ba/rlow, 168 : Serampore missionaries again checked, 168 ; Bible versions pushed on, 170 ; arrival of Henry Martyn, May 16, 1806, 170 ; the Vellore outbreak, July 10, 1806, 171 ; two more missionaries arrived at Serampore, August 23, 1806, 172 ; the Directors send out a monument to Swartz, October 29, 1806, 175 ; letter by Parry and Grant on the VeUore outbreak. May 18, 1807, 175. 6. Under Lord Minto, 177 : the Swartz monument at Madras, 178 ; difficulties with Serampore missionaries, 179 ; the India Missionary question in warm debate at home, 179-184 ; Lord Minto's attitude, 184 ; Scripture reading in India supported by the Society, May 3, 1811, and noticed in Parliament, 186, 187. Section VI. Advance of the Society, 187-207. — 1. To the Sixth Anni- versary, May 27, 1806, 187 : Burn's Sermon, 188. 2. Year ending with the Seventh Anniversary, May 19, 1807, 189 : Woodd's Sermon, 189. 3. Year ending with the Eighth Anniversa/ry, June 7, 1808, 191 : Eobinson's Ser- mon unusually impressive, 191, 192. 4. Year ending with the Ninth Anni- versary, May 23, 1809, 194 : Kichmond's Sermon, 136. 5. Year ending with the Tenth Anniversary, June 12, 1810, 197 ; Buchanan's Sermon — a mis- sionary ship, 198, 199. 6. From the Tenth Anniversary to the close of 1811, 202 : Home's Sermon, 202 ; Open Committee for farewell to Africa Mission- aries, August 28, 1811, 205 ; a sub-committee for augmenting the funds and increasing the patronage, and to promote the formation of auxiliaries, Decem- ber 19, 206, 207. Synoptical View of the Contents. ix CHAPTER IV. PROGRESS DURING 1812, pp. 208-237. Section I. January-April, 208-215. — 1. Internal, 208 : The committee room changes from Mr. Goode's study to Mr. Seeley's, in Fleet Street, 208, 209. 2. Collection 8er7nons, 209 : to be invited from London clergy, 209. 3. Missiona/ry Ship, 210 : a letter from Mr. WUberforce considered, 210. 4. Africa, 210. 5. India and the New Charter, 210 : Wilberforce stirring, 211 ; Scindia's letter alarms him, 212 ; Special General Meeting to promote the opening of India to Missions through the coming new Charter, 213. Section II. May 1-19, 215-220. — 1. The Mediterranean, 215. 2. India and the New Charter, 215 : Government friendly to the Society's objects, 215. 3. Twelfth Anniversary, May 19, 216 : Goode's Sermon, 216 ; at the Meeting the Laws much altered, 217 ; the Committees for particular purposes augmented from two to four, 217 ; the law of life-membership relaxed, 217 ; title of ' Governors ' dropped in favour of ' President ' and ' Vice-presidents,' 216, 217; the Report enters fully on the openings for Christianity in the East, 218-220. Section III. May 20-Dbcembee 31, 221-237. — 1. The Seminary and Missionary Candidates, 221 : three more English caiididates placed under Mr. Scott (Bailey, Collier, Dawson) about September 29, 221 ; two Ger- mans (Schnarre and Ehenius), the first since August 13, 1807, received by the Committee, October 2, to be placed with Mr. Scott, 221. 2. Africa, 221 : a Special General Meeting for dismissal of missionaries, among whom are three artisans, 223. 3. New Zealand, 225 : continues closed to the Mis- sion, 226. 4. The Mediterranean, 226 : the Committee and Dr. Naudi in considtation, 226. 5. India and the East, 227 : the Calcutta Government and Serampore Mission in conflict, 227 ; perhaps accounted for by Scindia's letter, 227-229 ; Lord Liverpool surprisingly favourable to the opening of India, 229. 6. Internal Associations, Sermons, 230 : a plan of Associations, 230 ; great necessity for them, 230 ; thirteen London clergy to be in- vited to have sermons, 231 ; the Bristol clergy moving for an Association, 232 ; but defer measures tiU the spring, 234 ; a London CM. Association formed in December, and about the same time the Ladies' Association of London formed, 235 ; a Special General Meeting, December 30, rules that aU clerical members of the Society shall belong to the Committee, along with twenty-four lay-members to be elected, 236. CHAPTER V. PROGRESS DURING 1813, 238-407. Section I. January-May 3, 238-264.— 1. Internal, 238 : A list of thirty- five London clergymen to be regularly summoned to Committee meetings, 239 ; a list of twelve laymen added by the Committee to their number, Janu- ary 11, 240 ; The Missionary Begister, No. 1, published January 31, 240. 2. Sermnary, 240. 3. Africa, 240 : a second set of rescued slaves taken under the Society's protection, 241. 4. Antigua, 241 : Mr. Dawes, being about to proceed to this island, offers himself as an honorary catechist, 241. 5. New Zealamd, 241 : Mr. Kendall being about to embark, takes leave of the Committee, 241. 6. Ceylon, 241. 7. Mediterranean, 242. 8. India amd the New Charter, Hi : a conference with Lord Liverpool, 243 ; an unsatis- X History of the Church Missionary Society. factory speech of Lord Castlereagh, March 22, 244 ; alarm at Lord Castle- reagh's speech, 245 ; a meeting about it on March 29, 246 ; Mr. Hastings and Lord Teignmouth examined, 247 ; Lord Wellesley's speech, April 9, 249 ; Special General Meeting AprU 13, petitions both Houses, 250. 9. As- sociations and Sermons, 251 ; the apostles of the Society and their oppor- tunity, 251 ; Clifton in Warwickshire, Dewsbury, Hatherleigh, Carlisle, Eeading, Liverpool, Chesterton, Shrewsbury, Leeds, Glasbury, 252-256 ; Bristol, 256-260 ; Cambridge, Cotsbrook, Bedford, Portsea, Bunwell, Blun- ham, Sudbury, Kenniugton, Lock ChapeJ, 260-264. Section II. — Thirteenth Anniveksaey, May 4, 264-270 : Dealtry's Sermon, 264 — its appeal to great principles on the India question, 265 — its reference to Henry Martyn, 266 — its appeal to Churchmen and its hint to the Episcopate, 266 ; the Beport, 267 ; speakers, thanks to Bristol, sermon to be printed with aU speed, 269 ; a Church dignitary beooraes a vice- president, 270 ; thoughts on the situation, 270. Section III. — May 5-July 31, 271-301. 1. Internal, 271 : a vacant house in Salisbury Square to be treated for, 271. 2. Patronage, 271 : Master Stephen, 271 ; various bishops to be approached, 271. 3. The Semi- nary and Students, 272 : a library started, 272 ; the Berlin Seminary crippled by the war, 273 ; the first student ordained (Greenwood) and his title, 273. 4. Associations, Sermons, Journeys, 274 : Mr. Dobbs of Eamsdell, 274, 275 ; Cambridge, 275-279; Birmingham, its CM. history, 279; Liverpool, 280- 281 ; Liddington and Stoke, Clewer, Bacup, Drayton Beauchamp, Wooburn, High Wycombe, 282-286 ; Oare, Seamere, Ely Chapel, Lancaster, 286, 287 ; Leeds — Basil Woodd's unwillingness, 287-289 ; St. Clement Danes, New- land, Percy Chapel, Birmingham, Ireland, Sheffield, Queen's Square Chapel, Maldon, 289-294 ; Basil Woodd's July Journey, 294 ;— Leeds and Bradford, 295. 5. Africa, 296 : wreck, death, arrival, 296. 6. Antigua, 297 : the first honorary cateehist fMr. Dawes), 297. 7. The Mediterranean, 297 : W. Jowett and W. Terrot decline, 297. 8. India and the Oha/rter, 297 : Eeso- lution XIII. in the Commons, 299, 300 ; passing of the BOl, 300 ; advantage of this not to be hurriedly taken, 301 ; account of Abdool Messeeh from India, 300. Section IV. — Au&ust-October, 302-360. 1. Internal, 302 : Sahsbury Square house fitting up, 302. 2. The Seminary and Missionary Proba- tioners, 302 : ordination for the second student not obtainable, 302, 303 ; arrival of four new students from Berlin, 303 ; Greenwood obliged to leave his curacy, 304. 3. Africa, 304 : redeeming of slave children becomes questionable, 305. 4. India, 305. 5. Mediterranean, 305 : Eev. W. Jowett accepted for Malta, 305. 6. Associations, Sermons, Journeys, 306 : Wales, Liverpool, Belchamp St. Paul, 308 ; Portsea, 308-311 ; Norwich, Birming- ham, Peatling Parva, Portsmouth, Dublin, Eawden, Maldon, Nottingham, Cheshire and Staffordshire, Huddersfield, Chichester, Knaresboroxigh, Steb- bing and Bardfield, 311-314 ; Woodd's August Journey, 314 ; — Bradford, Bramley, Huddersfield, Birstall, Chapel AUerton, Wakefield, Pudsey, Parnley, 314-317; — Tadcaster, Knaresborough, Pannal, Little Ouseburn, 317, 318; — York, 318 ; — Seamere, Scarborough, Beeford, 321, 322 ; Stewart's August Journey, 322 ; — Chichester, Graffham, 323, 324 ; Woodd's September Journey, 324 ; — Hornsea, Driffield, Eudstone, Bridlington, 324, 325 ; — his view of the work, 325 ; — the impression made by him, 326 ; — Malton, ICnottingley, Ponte- fraot, Barusley, Eothwell (Northants), Kettering, Burton Latimer, Titch- marsh, Peterborough, Werrington, Meldreth. Melbourne, 326-328 ; — his review, 328, 329 ; Goode's September Journey, 329 ; — Ashborne, Derby, Burslem, Stoke-upon-Trent, Lane End, Middlewich, Great Budworth, the aspect of things so far. Market Drayton, Wem, 329-332 ; — his report, 333 ; Burn's Synoptical View of the Contents. xi Journey, 333 ; — Leek, Cheadle, Newoastle-mider-Lyrae, Congleton, Knutsford, 333-334 ; — report, 334 ; Stewart's September Journey, 334 ;— Byde, Portsea, Havant, Backton, Basingstoke, Overton, 334-336 ; — his impressions and report, 336 ; September Associations and Sermons, 336 ;— Olney, Lymington, Norwich, Oxford, St. Ives, Canterbury, Beeford, 336-339 ; an archdeacon's visitation in Yorkshire, 339, 340 ; — Huddersfield, Ballincollig, Kendal, Ashby- de-la-Zouche, Stoke-by-Gtuildford, Manchester, Pudsey, Tamworth and Walton-on-Trent, Liverpool, 340-345 ; — Norfolk and Norwich CM. history, 345, 346 ;— Norfolk and Norwich Association, September 29, 346-350 ; — review and reflections, 350-354; October Associations, 354; — Kettering, Stoke-upon- Trent, Leicester, Ipswich, West Cowes, Louth, 354, 355 ; — Bradford Associa- tion, 356-357 ; — Nazing, Norwich, Longwood, Cheshire and Staffordshire, Liverpool, Carhsle, Thaxted, 357-360. Section V. — Novumbeh, December, 1813, 360-407. 1. Internal, 360 : by what ranks in life the offices of patron, vice-patron, president, vice- president, were to be filled, 360, 361. 2. Seminary and Probationers, 361 ; the second student (Norton) ordained, 363, 364. 3. Africa, 365 : redemption of African slave children to be discontinued, 365 ; it is urged on the mission- aries that some superstructure should now be visible on the foundations so long laid, 366. 4. India and Ceylon, 366 : the two India missionaries are courteously granted by the Directors a passage to India before the Charter Act comes into force, 367 ; Abdool Messeeh employed as catechist and reader under Corrie by the Calcutta Corresponding Committee, 368. 5. New Zealand, 369 : a missionary ship by the Society impracticable, 369. 6. Madeira, 370 : a grant of school-books and Bibles. 7. Associations, Sermons, Journeys, 370 : Southwark, Hawkesworth, Kettering,' Cork, 370- 372 ; preparations at Leicester, the bishop declining his patronage, 372-374 ; Lutheran bishops in Denmark and superintendents in Germany, 374, 376 ; Suffolk and Ipswich Association, November 10, 376-384 ; Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Assington, Bramley, Wisbech, Cork, Wrexham, Portsmouth, Frampton, 384-387 ; Home's November Journey, 387 ; — Ipswich, Wellington (Salop), Wrookwardine, Newport (Salop), Shrewsbury, Leicester, 387, 388 ; Buckworth's Journeys, 388 ; — Pulverbatch, Welshpool, Berriew, 388-390 ; Burton Latimer, Leicestershire and Leicester Association, 390-397 ; Norfolk and Norwich, Bradford, Debenham, 397, 398 ; Southwark Association, 398- 402 ; Wakefield, Rugby, Leeds, 402, 403 ; the Leeds secretary writes doubt- fully, 403 ; Swansea, Suffolk and Ipswich, 404 ; Philo-Propheticus at Ipswich, 404, 405 ; Montgomeryshire, Gosfield, 405, 406 ; Pratt to the Leeds Secre- tary, 406 ; Edinburgh, 407. CHAPTER VI. PROGRESS DURING 1814, pp. 408-620. Section I.— January I-May 2, 1814, 408-454. 1. Internal, 408: the circulation of the Missionary Register is 5,000 monthly, 409 ; present extent of favour in high ecclesiastical quarters, March 9, 410 ; J. W. Cunningham's pamphlet. Church of England Missions, 411. 2. Seminary amd Candidates for Service, 412 : the seminary plan to be modified by placing English students with various clergymen, 414. 3. Africa, 416 : instead of slave children being redeemed by benefactors, rescued ones are to be maintained by them, 416. 4. Mediterranean, 417 : Dr. Naudi of Malta appointed a corresponding member, 417. 6. India and Ceylon, 418 : Special General Meeting for the dismission of Bhenius and Schnarre, the first two India missionaries, xii History of the Church Missionary Society. January 7, 418, 419 ; Dr. Buchanan's charge to them, 419-422 ; the departing missionaries at Portsea, 422-424 ; relations of the missionaries towards the Bishop of Calcutta to be ascertained, 425 ; the journal of Abdool Messeeh begins to be published in the April number of the Missionwry Register, 426. 6. Netv Zealand, 426 : the missionary ship still under discussion, 426-428. 7. Associations and Sermons, 429 : Dorchester, Portsea, Ireland, Edinburgh, St. Clement Danes, Church Lawford, Thorndon, Wrexham, Cowes, Walton- on-Trent, Holmfirth, Pertonhall, Donnington Wood, Wombridge, Long Sutton, Ireland, Leeds, Wales, Mitcheldean, Hereford, Groldhanger, Norwich Ladies (429-432) ; Wellington (Somerset), Ireland, Huddersfield, Liverpool, Chatteris, Eodborough, Manchester, Lutterworth, Southwark, Spondon, Ireland, 433-436 ; York Association, dr. February 10, 436-438 ; Assington, Dorsetshire, Bristol, Cranford, Lyme Regis, Yorkshire, Ashted, 438, 439 ; Ireland, Edinburgh, 440, 441 ; Edmonton, Hull, Bedford, Trowbridge, Man- chester, Cambridge, Plymouth Dock, Holmfirth, 441-444 ; Bristol Anni- versary, 444 ;— the Eedcliffe sermon, 445 ; Ireland, Essex, Breconshire, Glasbury, 446-448 ; Ireland, 448 ; — counsels at Clifton, Hensman, the Liffords, John Browne, Mr. Fitzgerald, 448-449 ; Colchester, Tutbury, Southwark, Milborne Port, Ireland, Accrington, Devon and Cornwall, East Tytherley, 449-451 ; Ireland, its present feeble missionary efforts and its clouded prospects, 452-453 ; Birmingham, 454. Section II. Fourteenth Anniveesaey, May 3, 1814, 454-460. — Dean Byder's sermon, connecting the overthrow of Bonaparte's tyranny with the duty of extending the kingdom of Christ, bears testimony to a kindling missionary spirit, calls on the Church of England to head the missionary movement, 455, 456 ; list of London and country clergy at the meeting, 456, 457 ; the St. Lawrence Jewry sermon, 460 ; display of patronage in the pub- lished report, 460, 461. Section III. May 3-August 3, 461-528.— 1. Internal, 461 : efforts to obtain the patronage of the Royal Dukes, 462. 2. Seminary and Offers of Service, 463 : an Act drafted for facilitating the ordination of missionaries, 464. 3. Africa, 465 : special General Meeting, July 18, to oppose the French revival of the slave-trade, 465-466. 4. India, 467 : the new Bishop of Cal- cutta approached, 467 ; his consecration, 468. 5. Associations, Sermons, Jov/rneys, 469 : Coventry, its CM. history, Oswin, 469, 470 ; Crickhowell, Ireland, Melbourn, Hull, Ireland, Bristol, Seamere, Ireland, 469-474 ; Col- chester, Hull and East Riding Association, June 1, 475-477 ; Ireland (Lady Lifford), Peniston, 477, 478 ; Ireland, an archidiaconal meeting at Dubhn, 478-480 ; Shrewsbury, Long Sutton, Essex, Lympsham, 480, 481 ; The Hibernian Auxiliary, 481 ; — deputation arrive, Jime 10, and reconnoitre 482 ;— state of things at Bethesda Chapel, 483 ;— Ladies' Association, June 11, 483 ; — Rev. B. Shaw's reUgious survey of Ireland, 485 ; — the sermons of Sun- day, June 12, 485, 486 ; — ^uneasiness of Lord Lifford, 486 ; — Mr. Thomas Par- neU'sview of things, 487, 488 ;— Rev. Peter Roe's, 489 ;— Rev. B. W. Mathias acquiescent, 489 ; — visit to the Peter La Touches at BeUevue, 492-4 ; conver- sation at Blackrock and Mr. Disney's view of things, 494-5 ; — invitation to Armagh, 495-6 ; second Sunday in Dublin (June 19), 496 ;— conversation at Mr. Arthur Guinness's, 496-7 ;— the Rotunda meeting on June 22 and the Auxiliary formed, 497-502 ; Dr. Hale's discontent, 503 ;— the St. George's sermon (June 26), 504 ;— Wilson's expedition to Armagh, 505 ;— meeting at Loughgall Rectory and the Armagh Association formed, 506-7 ; sermons at MuUavilly, Grange, Dungannon, 508-9 ;— review of the Irish visit by Mr. Jowett, Mr. Nixon, Mr. Corbet, Mr. Thomas ParneU, 511-13 ; miscellaneous Associations, 514; Preston, Coventry, Thoroton, Slaithwaite, Colchester, Manchester, Prince's Risborough, Tadoaster, Bewdley, Lynn, 514-516 ; July Synoptical View of the Contents. xiii Journey of Messrs. Kemp and Saunders, 517 ; — Grantham, Barnsley, Wors- borough, Leeds (view of things so far), Staindrop, Barnard Castle, Darlington (report at this point). South Shields, Belford, Berwick-on-Tweed, Tweed- mouth, 517-520) ; Woodd's Journey in the West, 520 ; — Blandford, Lyme Regis, Exeter, Oharlestown, St. AusteU, St. Blazey, Mevagissey (reports at this point), 520-522 ; Truro, Falmouth, St. Paul, Marazion, Eedruth, Padstow, 523-526 ; St. Austell Association, Stonehouse, Plymouth Dock, Exeter, Tiverton, 526-528 ; — review and report, 528. Section IV. Auqust 1-Octobee 31, 1814, 529-589.— 1. Internal, 529 : missionary charts suggested, 529 ; an attack in the Suffolk Chronicle, 530. 2. Seminaries and Missionary Curate, 531 : branch seminaries begun at Dewsbury and Wakefield, 532 ; merits and faults of the missionary curate at York, 535. 3. Africa,5Zl: the wife of a penitent missionary, 537, 4. India and the East, 588 : the ideal missionary, 539 ; plan for the ordination of natives, 539. 5. New Zealand, 539. 6. Antigua, 540 : N. Gilbert, "W. Dawes, schools, 540, 541. 7. Associations, Journeys, Sermons, 541 : Plymouth Dock, Knaresborough, Spondon, 541, 542 ; Manchester, 542-544 ; Newland, Kilburn, Padstow, West Bromwich, Norwich, 544-547 ; Buckworth's Sermons, 547 ; — Mirfield, Colsterworth, SkUlington, Stamford, Hartshead, 547, 548 ; Journey of Messrs. Kemp and Saunders, 549 ; — Haddington, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kirklinton, Carlisle, Arthuret, Kendal, Lancaster, Derby, Spondon, 549-552 ; Ipswich, Ireland, 552-554 ; Shrewsbury and Shropshire, 555-559 ; Coventry, West Haddon, Blandford, Harworth, Leeds, Birmingham, Bradford, Darlas- ton, Newcastle and Gateshead, 559-562 ; Norfolk and Norwich Anniversary, 562-564 ; the Norwich Ladies, 564 ; Journey of Richmond and Maddock, 564 ; Bakewell, Teolgrave, Chapel-en-le-Prith, Matlock, Chesterfield, Eotherham, Selby, Elvington, Pocklington, 566-571 ; — Knaresborough, Pannal, Harewood, Wortley, Bramley, Chapel AUerton, 571, 572; — Leeds, Horsforth, Pudsey, Eawdon, Huddersfield, Almondbury, Holmfirth, Kirkheaton, 572-573 ; — leaving Woodliovise, Bradford, Kirkburton, Honley, Mansfield, Nottingham, Spratton, Creaton, review, 573-576 ; Grendon, Darsham, Leeds, 577, 578 ; Suffolk and Ipswich Anniversary, Ipswich Ladies' Association, 578-9 ; Brix- ham, Chatteris, Bedford, Manchester, 580-582 ; Birmingham Association, October 19, 583-587 ; Norfolk and Norwich, Romsey, Flintshire, Denbigh- shire, Wales, Naziag, Hereford, 587-589. Section V. November, December, 1814, 589-620. — 1. Internal, 589 : a proposal respecting the Jews Society, 590, 591 ; the Minutes rewritten, 591 ; a portrait of Abdool Messeeh, 591. 2. Seminaries and Prospectime Missionaries,, 592: the two missionary curates at Dewsbuiy, 593; their separation deprecated, 593-4 ; Mr. Pratt's answer, 595. 3. Africa, 596 : missionary rearrangements for Sierra Leone, project of a Christian Institu- tion, 597 ; party under Sperrhacken sets out, 598 ; King WiUiam Fernandez, 598-600 ; the Sierra Leone Missionary Chaplaincy with Government aid, 600, 601 ; Sperrhacken's party at Plymouth, 601. 4. Indm-, 602 : the two missionaries, after having begiin at Tranquebar, transferred to Madras, 602, 603 ; a seminary for native schoolmasters begun at Calcutta, 603 ; Mrs. Sherwood's Little Henry, 603. 5. New Zealand, 604 : landing of Marsden's Mission, 606-608. 6. Associations and Sermons, 608 : Norfolk and Norwich, Birmingham and West Bromwich, Snedshill, Leathley, 608 ; Shropshire difficulties, Eev. W. Gilpin's view, 608, 609 ; Leicester, Beckenham, Here- ford, Wheler Chapel Association, 609-612 ; Harworth, Worksop, Leicester- shire and Leicester Anniversary, Northampton, Cambridge, Wolvey, 642-644 ; Bedfordshire and Bedford Association, December 20, 615-617 ; Toddington, Portsea, Marsh's Journey, Basildon, Dorchester, Stanton Lacy and Ludlow, Warrington, Essex, Hibernian AuxiHary, 617-620. xiv History of the Church Missionary Society. APPENDICES. A. Biographical Notes, relating almost exclusively to those persons who attended the first meeting on April 12, 1799, or who before 1815 bore any office in the Parent Society, including all the metropolitan clergy (as those on p. 239) who were entitled to a seat on the Committee by the rule of December 30, 1812. B. The Original Eulbs of the Society. C. The Original Account of the Society, showing the principles on which the Founders based their design. D. African Children at Clapham, friends of the Society, but not under it, baptized in 1805. INTEODUCTION. I. Sources and scope of this Work. Early fathers of the C.M.S. Those less known. The C.M.S. a bond of fellowship. Holy Catholic Church no lost idea to them. C.M.S. localities. The C.M.S. promoting revival in the Church. Its earlier years a providential preparation. The present Work in its structure. — II. Missionary ideal of early English colonisation. Charters cited. The missionary outcome. Eliot and Brainerd. — III. The first S.P.G. Second S.P.G., or New England Company. Christian Faith Society. The S.P.C.K. Third S.P.G. These two Societies compared. Their relation to the Church at their foiTuation. Ecclesiastical tendencies of the founders. The S.P.G. and its Charter in relation to missionary work. The S.P.C.K. and missionary work in India. The Baptist Missionary Society. The London Missionary Society. I. The main sources of this Work are the printed and manu- script records of the Church Missionary Society, whose archives include minutes from the first day of its existence, a large number of letters written by its friends, and copies of some important ones sent by the first two Secretaries. We here refer, of course, only to such documents, out of the vast treasures relating to every department of the Society's great business for nearly a century, as it has been necessary for us to consult. From these materials have been compiled (1) a short preliminary narrative of an indefinite period containing events and circum- stances which led up to and prepared the way for the institution, (2) a full account of the first fifteen years of its own life. In such a history, intended mainly for the Society's friends, there seemed to the Author a call for some considerable detail, and for a free exhibition of what is to them never a matter of indifference, its inner life and leading principles. A task of such scope was one very congenial to him when requested to undertake it, falling in as it did with some of his own studies in the more recent history of the English Church. One thing has been strongly impressed upon his mind, that among those who identified themselves with the birth and early years of the Church Missionary Society there is a larger number than may be suspected worthy of being remembered by those who, had they lived then, would have been their friends and fellow-helpers, but who now know not even their names, while as to their spirit they simply take it for granted. Their record is on high ; they desired no other, could have looked for no other ; but the memorials that survive of them in the letter-cases at Salisbury Square can hardly fail, we think, even through the brief hints we have room for, to awaken an interest in their names. We allude here chiefly to those of minor importance, xvi History of the Church Missionary Society. who had no biographers, and generally not even a magazine notice ; but in their humble spheres they were the salt of the earth, and in co-operating with the Church Missionary Society they found one of the cordials of their work for Christ. In the midst of apathy and worldliness the sight and the news of messengers going forth with the Word of Life, and the very hope of converts in the dead places of the earth, encouraged them to perseverance in their own secluded path. It has frequently been an assumption, with those who really do not and cannot know, that such of the spiritually minded men of that day as were attracted to a society like this were merely individualists, having scarcely an idea of what the Church was, and no veneration at all for the word. We strongly suspect that among the members of the Church of England that precious ideal was in any practical way known and understood by very few so well. Shunned by fellow-churchmen and strangers in their own Jerusalem, all the more intensely would their souls look upward to the great Head of the Church. How could they but thankfully link themselves in sympathy and exertion with brethren pledged to extend the Christian fellowship into every realm of darkness ? Who more readily than those familiar with the pages of their own Joseph MiLNEE, not to speak of the inspired language of St. Paul, should have appreciated the true meaning of those divine words, Church OF Christ ? Who more likely to be kindled to a new sense of them than those who were continually uniting in speech, in correspondence, in gifts, with brethren whose brotherhood but for this inspiring effort they had hardly known ? If these were not the men, who were they, by whom the reformed estabhshed Church of this nation was being permeated with the genuine spirit of the Holy Catholic Church, that mystical body of Christ which is the blessed company of all faithful people ? What was Venn of Yelling thinking of, when in 1786 those words which we shall soon have to record burst from his heart ? It was the Church of the Firstborn which are written in heaven. Many an isolated pastor declaring, to his ability, the Gospel of Christ, realised to himself and communicated to his flock the nobler signification of the word Church which he never learnt and never could learn anything like so well from other fellow members of the national communion. What Milner of Hull was for the Church of Christ, all that was Biddulph of Bristol for the Church of England as by law established ; like Milner a powerful upholder, because like him a spiritual expositor to the hearts of the people, as for a series of years he laboured to inculcate not only the divine material of their national worship, but its beautiful and touching adaptability to their ever varying needs as well. Then again, who was it that started the movement for the earliest extension of the English Episcopate and the Enghsh Church Establishment into the East ? Who but this Society's fast friend and early fellow-worker, Dr. Claudius Buchanan ? Introduction. xvii Another conviction much present to the Writer in the course of this compilation has been the great apparent usefulness of suffering no local memories of the Church Missionary Society's home-work to die out. He has been strongly of opinion that a full history of the Society's early period should deal much in localities ; that a record should survive of every parish and hamlet wherein the Society in bygone days happily succeeded in creating any real interest. For that reason he has thought it good to be as particular as possible in fixing the starting date and circumstances of the Church Missionary history of any spot, no matter how obscure, that came in his way. The probabilities are, as he thinks, that if in any case a definite beginning is once made, local chroniclers will one day arise to carry on the story. If former efforts have been intermitted, the golden thread may be restored by some Christian of the place jealous that the word fuit should be read with any work for the Gospel of Christ. The drawing out of some details in these pages so fine is there- fore intended, not to show how well the Secretary organised his work and marshalled his forces, but to secure that every spot of ground upon which the Church Missionary Society once trod should know what it has to maintain or retrieve, and be put on its mettle in both these respects. Scores of places mentioned in these pages, passed over, it may be, by the general reader, will be treasured up, we would fain believe, by some more individually interested, who still look upon the old church, the old rectory, the old mansion, of their acquaintance, and cheer themselves in the thought that through them this Society did something to build up the piety handed on to the present day. Some of the seniors of this generation must be able to cast their look behind, upon pulpits, and platforms, and faces, and anniversaries, which, as they reported the expansion of the Kingdom of Christ, warmed the piety of their fathers while it interested the beginnings of their own. Not for a moment would we encourage a supposi- tion of there being inherent in this particular cause any special secret to which was due the reflex benefit to its promoters. Then, as now, fire from the altar was everything, and let missionary materials have been ever so high-piled, until the hearth was lit it remained a dull gospel all the same. But with this caution, we repeat our conviction that the spiritual quickening of many a locality in England owed much to the advocacy of this Society. Nor, we will further add, have we in the progress of this Work felt indifferent to such points as might interest the reader of ecclesiastical history. The fuller story of the Church Mis- sionary Society has, we think, much to contribute in illustration of the state of the English Church half a century and a century back, which in not a few of its features certainly differed much from the same Church in the later decades of the eighteenth century and in the last one of the nineteenth. Let any one, with the materials furnished by this present History before him, try xviii ' History of the Church Missionary Society. to form a judgment as to whether the Church of England was or was not the better for the Church Missionary Society having been born within its bosom in 1799; whether the revival of Scriptural light and warmth which took a new and marked departure among the members of the Church of England and in its literature half a century before that year was or was not appreciably augmented in the following half century in consequence of the activities promoted by this Society ; and whether the sons and daughters of the Church of England have at the present moment the greater cause to feel grateful to God for, or to treat with indiffer- , ence and oblivion, the days when John Venn, Scott, Pratt, and Goode, Wilberforce, Lord Gambler, Charles Grant, Woodd and Wilson, took counsel for heathendom on St. Andrew's Hill, in Fleet Street, in Salisbury Square. Surely, the work which, without any boasting, has been accomplished in heathen lands is of itself proof abundant of a development, during the process, •of devotion, spirituality, liberality, and self-denial, which are the grand signs of healthiness in a Church. In short, warm friends of the Society may fairly be excused if they rise from a perusal of its history with a conviction that its steady progress from 1799, and more especially from 1812, onwards was not only symptomatic, but in no small degree instrumental of the improvement so undeniable in the Church of the first half of this century. We have brought the Society in this volume to nearly the end of its fifteenth year. During its first twelve years, v^ith 'Africa and the East' in its title, it appears in our eyes a humble institution indeed, largely ignored by its mother Church, spending a mere three or four thousand a year. It gave no promise of any material advance, and perpetual childhood -seemed its inevitable doom. The interest of those years, indeed of the whole fifteen, lies more in the home branch of its operations than in the foreign, in watching English Church people slowly waking up to the duty and the joy of extending the borders of the Church of Christ and the Kingdom of God. Eather monotonously at first, it yet does advance. It never goes actually back. Eeported contributions occupy a little more space each year ; governors or vice-presidents increase in num- ber ; committee-men, lay and clerical, are always found ; the anniversary Sermons are crowded and gain the people's ear ; faith in Missions lives on. At length a view of India, long and obstinately closed, opening in a new way to Christian enterprise, ■changes the entire prospect as if by magic. It is like the end of the Canadian winter. The whole country is appealed to on the basis of going to India. All is Eastward Ho ! Our stationary infant, out of its nurse's arms, goes bounding along. By means of provincial Associations the feeble metropolitan contributory becomes a real Society for England and Ireland, and in the effort to grasp the full promise of its title it bursts, almost with- out touching youth, at once from childhood into manhood. Introduction. xix This extension through the country, the Society's second birth, yields in point of interest in no respect to its original foun- dation, and the space devoted to it in this History is as much as that occupied by all the previous portion. The Society's friends may well be excused if they express a belief that the hand of God led it by this way. Why should it not have ? If any insti- tution that was ever formed commended itself to the care and protection of .Almighty God constantly and daily, surely it was this one. It needed to, having special difficulties to cope with — such as this one, to create its own constituency. That long period of apparently unadvancing, stunted, childhood, a little reflection will show that it was by no means a lost one. Its own experience was ripening — confidence in it was growing. Had the Church Missionary Society, instead of being founded in 1799, waited a dozen years, and at the time of India's opening been but an infant, so to speak, in long clothes, unready for its opportunity, it might have proved an utter failure. How dif- ferent was the event ! The crisis came, and the Church Mission- ary Society, with twelve years of childhood on it, was strong enough to take a prominent place among other leading bodies. But for her co-operation might not the India Charter have passed without the Christian clauses ? Had not the Society occupied the position she did in that grand struggle, what other repre- sentative, as large, as active, as popular, and as vigorous, had the Church of England of that period in her at all ? In regard to the structure of his Work, with much multiplicity of detail that he has not seen how to avoid, the Author has taken what pains he could to consult the reader's convenience. The Index, though not to be considered as exhaustive, is cer- tainly full, most so as regards names of the clergy, of office- holding laymen, and of localities. Of official members of the parent society there will be found in an Appendix a series of short biographical notices ; while copious footnotes, to which the Index will prove a guide, give corresponding information, somewhat more concise, of provincial worthies. ■ This Introduction will not conclude without some pages devoted to an account of a few societies of much interest and importance which the reader will be every now and then in contact with, but which could not be enlarged upon . in the text without considerable digressions. We refer to Boyle's missionary foundation, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the Baptist Missionary Society, the London Missionary Society. Our notice of these will be preceded by a review of even earlier missionary attempts in England. II. In 1606, in the reign of James I., there were formed two companies, one belonging to London, the other to Bristol and various leading towns in the West of England, their object being to promote colonisation in America. A royal charter, dated April 10, 1606, licensing the design, expresses a hope that it — XX History of the Church 2fissionary Society. ' may, by the providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the glory of His Divine Majesty ia propagating of Christian Eeligion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and vi'orship of God, and may in time bring the infidels and savages living in those parts to human civility, and to a settled and quiet government.' ' What could such language mean if it did not imply the foundation of a very missionary company, the Crown itself, which is the spokesman and representative of the nation, being a party to it, and the colonists the missionaries ? If such is the case, it may in some real sense be reckoned that the modern missionary history of England commences from that date. Other charters to the same or other colonial companies followed at various times, affirming in like unequivocal language the duty of a Christian nation, its Christian sovereign, and its Christian emigrants, towards the Heathen Natives with whom colonial enterprise brought them in contact. One such, dated May 23, 1609, incorporating the Virginia Company, makes King James thus express himself : — ' The principal effect which we can desire or expect of this action is the conversion and reduction of the people in those parts unto the true worship of God and Christian Beligiou.' ^ Another Virginia Company charter, March 12, 1612, allowed one object of the colonisation on foot to be ' the propagation of the Christian Eeligion, and reclaiming of people barbarous to civility and humanity.' ^ New England was equally pledged by its charter of November 3, 1620, which, while it recognised that the conversion of the Heathen was one design of the company itself, further declared the King's own readiness to ' go on to the settling of so hopeful a work, which tendeth to the reducing and conversion of such savages as remain wandering in desola- tion and distress to civil society and Christian Eeligion.' "• There commenced the missionary history of New England, and all that Eliot afterwards did, all that Brainerd did, in those regions, was simply the performance of what the English Crown and the colonising Company formally pledged themselves on that day to consider as their grand purpose. The bulk of those who directed and financed the operations at home may have had commercial ends mainly in view, but there was no mean number animated by an ardent desire to spread the Christian religion in its purer forms, men hke Henry Wriothesley Earl of Southamp- ton,'* Sir Edwin Sandys,*^ Hooker's pupil, son of the Elizabethan ' S. Lucas, Charters of the Old English Colonies in Amriica, 1850, Charter i. clause 3, p. 2. - Ibid, charter ii. clause 29, p. 18. '' Ibid, charter iii. p. 20. ' This charter, not in Lucas, will be found in Ebenezer Hazard's Historical Collectiofis, 2 vols. Philad. 1792-4, 4to, and the particular passages in i. 165, 117. Komanists were excluded from this colony. The charter is quoted in Dr. Robert Baird's Eeligion in the U.S.A., New York, 1844, 8vo, p. 667. » The third Earl, died 1624. ' Knighted April 12, 1617, Metcalfe's Book of Knights, 1885, p. 170. fntr eduction. xxi Archbishop of York, and Nicholas Perrar of saintly fame,' all of them holding high positions in the Virginia Company. Before the members of that body, on November 13, 1622, probably with those three very men in the auditory, but most certainly ■with such as those in his mind, Dr. John Donne, the Dean of St. Paul's, delivered what his latest biographer '■^ describes as a glorious sermon, and regards as the first missionary sermon printed in the English language, addressing them in terms like these : — ' Be- loved in Him whose Kingdom and Gospel you seek to advance in this Plantation, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' ' Eeturning to the charters, we notice in the one granted by Charles I., March 4, 1629, to the Massachusetts Company, the King enjoining on the settlers that — ' their good life and orderly conversation may win and invite the natives of that country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Saviour of mankind and the Christian Faith, which in our royal intention and the Adventurers' free profession is the principal end of the Plantation.' '^ Such were the intentions and principles professed. The missionary colonists, as we may call them, had to make them- selves at home in the strange land before any execution of the main purpose could be looked for. That came first from the New Plymouth Settlement, the governing body of which, in 1636, made a legal public provision for instructing the Indians around in Christianity,^ and so Anglo-American Missions, in the terms of the charters, were formally commenced. In 1646, ten years later, occurred the second instance, when the Massachusetts Colony passed an Act for encouraging the propagation of Chris- tianity among the Indians, recommending the Elders of the various churches (Nonconformist it will be noted) to consider the best means of effecting it.^ It was under this evangelising Act that John Eliot, a Massachusetts minister, began the mission to the Eed Indians in his immediate neighbourhood in 1646, which led to his being called the Apostle of that widely extended race. His strictly missionary labours concluded in 1675 ; his life, at an advanced age, in 1690. III. Eeports of the missionary work in New England excited much interest at home, and there was formed a society for assist- ing it, which by an ordinance of the Commonwealth ParHament, dated July 19, 1649, was incorporated under this title : ' The President and Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England.' ^ It consisted of sixteen members. A general collec- ' His life, by Professor J. E. B. Mayor and the Rev. T. T. Carter, has more on this subject. ^ In Stephen's Dictionary of National Biography. ' Donne's Sermon on Acts i. 8, to the Virginia Company, p. 11. It is in the British Museum. ^ Lucas, p. 43. ^ Baird, pp. 667, 668 ; N. Morton, New England's Memorial, 1855, p. 379. ' Baird, p. 668 ; Dr. William Brown, Prop, of Christ, i. p. 32. ' The substance of this ordinance may be seen the most fully and with the date here given in Hazard, i. p. 685 ; less fully in An Account of the S.P.O., 1706 (to be mentioned further on), p. 4 ; and in Baird, p. 670. xxii History of the Church Missionary Society. tion throughout the country enjoined by the ordinance raised a sum which, when invested in land, produced above 500Z. a year. This was the first of the institutions to which the letters S.P.G. would apply. At the Eestoration, when the Commonwealth ordinances were regarded as dead in law, its landed possessions had all been lost but for the energy of the Hon. Eobert Boyle,' who succeeded in obtaining a royal charter, dated February 7, 1662, which virtually re-incorporated the old society and saved everything. The title, however, with some apparent hesitation, was altered from ' Society ' to ' Company,' The hesitation seems revealed by the Charter first using the phrase ' Society or Com- pany ' and then, after the word ' Company ' has been introduced in a new sense, making use of that alone, fixing the official designation as ' The Company for Propagation of the Gospel in New England and the parts adjacent in America.'^ With this explanation and this qualification we shall take the liberty of mentioning this society as the second S.P.G. The head, or Governor, was Mr. Boyle. The members, forty-five in number, were composed of Churchmen and Dissenters. Mr. Boyle threw himself warmly into its objects and was its animating spirit until his death on December 81, 1691.' The apostle of the Bed Indians, Eliot, continued to be supported by it,* and under its patronage translated the whole Bible into their tongue. The Anglo-American missionary work of the first forty years or so after the Massachusetts Evangelising Act proceeded on nonconformist lines,'' as might have been supposed from the history of the colonisation of New England, the home Church authorities holding aloof until about 1679, when the Bishop of London procured the erection of a church at Boston ; ^ nor was it till much later that we find Church of England Missions started. Their origin brings us first to a Boyle missionary fund, and then through the S.P.C.K. to another S.P.G. What we here call a fund of Mr. Boyle's was something quite distinct from his benefactions to the New England Company, of which he was Governor. It arose out of a bequest of the residue of his personal estate, which his executors were to lay out for charitable purposes at their discretion, with a recommendation that they should chiefly consider the ' propagation of the Christian religion amongst " Birch's Life of Hon. Bobert Boyle, in Boyle's Works, 1744 folio, i. p. 42 ; Mr. H. W. Busk's New England Company, 1884, pp. 8, 9. ' The short title at the present time is ' The New England Company.' The text of the charter is given in Birch's Life of Boyle, Boyle's Wm-ks, 1744 folio, i. p. 95 ; also in Mr. H. W. Busk's Neio England Company, 1884, Office of the Company, 1 Furnival's Inn. The substance of the Charter may be seen in An Account of the Foundation of the S.P.O., 1706 (mentioned further on), p. 4 ; and in Baird, p. 670. The S.P.G. Account uses the phrase ' Society or Company,' as will be mentioned further on. " Birch's Life of Boyle, 1744, p. 101. ' Ibid. pp. 130-6. * The society, incorporated in 1662, limited to forty-five members, consisted of Churchmen and Dissenters.— S.P.G. Digest of Becords, p. 3. ' S.P.G, Account, 1706, p. 10. Introduction. xxiii infidels.' ' I'he result was the purchase of an estate for 5,400i!., and the remission of its rents to the College of William and Mary in Virginia, for the education of Indian children. During the American War (1775-1786) such remittances were withheld, and afterwards, on a petition of Beilby Porteus Bishop of London in 1790, the Court of Chancery decreed their entire discontinuance on the plea of Virginia having become foreign ground. A new scheme for the disposal of the fund, drawn up by the Bishop, was approved by the Court on October 30, 1793, and in accordance with that the estate has been administered to this day. The Bishop of London, the Lord President of the Privy Council, and other great persons are the trustees, and the body thus organised bears the title, ' Society for Advancing the Christian Faith in the West India Islands and elsewhere in the dioceses of -Jamaica, Barbadoes, the Leeward Islands, and the Mauritius,' but more briefly ' Christian Faith Society, '^ disbursing above 1,500L a year in aid of the Church of England's work among the natives of those British possessions. We proceed now to the next two Societies awaiting notice. When the seventeenth century drew to a close and much good had already been done through the well-known 'Beligious So- cieties,' organised parochially in and after the reign of Charles II., there came to the front a man whose unwearied efforts to improve the ministry of the Church of England should be held in lasting remembrance, Dr. Thomas Bray, Eector of Sheldon. He sought to encourage divinity studies among his fellow clergy by supplying libraries of the besr theology procurable, to be established at various parochial centres for their special use. His benevolent mind took in likewise the plantations or colonies in America, especially Maryland, for which the Bishop of London, Dr. Compton, in 1696 appointed him his commissary,' i.e. a sort of spiritual agent, whose business was to study the needs of the Church there, keep the bishop informed, and carry out his lord- ship's instructions. In this post Dr: 'Bray did excellent service, recruiting the Maryland clergy from England, and not forgetting the libraries. We now reach a memorable incident, in which once more this valuable man figures. On March 8, 1699,^ a few gentlemen met together and formed themselves into a voluntary society. There were five in all, four ' Boyle's Will, in Life, by Birohj vol. i. of Works, 5 vols, folio, 1744, Appendix, p. 103. - The author acknowledges his obligations for much information respecting this Society to R. Munro, Esq., the -Accountant. The office is at No. 1, The Sanctuary, Westminster. ' S.P.G. Digest, p. 2. ' This is the proper date in the new style. Sometimes it appears (the styles being combined) as March 8, 1698-9. In the old style entirely it was March 8, 1698 ; and as the new year began on March 25, we find the day described (e.g. in S.P.C.K. Account, 1733, p. 4) as ' the latter end of 1698.' xxiv History of the Church Missionary Society. of them laymen of position, Francis North second Lord Guilford, Sir Humphrey Mackworth, a capitaUst of distinction and an author, Mr. Justice John Hook, Colonel Maynard Colchester; the fifth, probably the originator and life of the movement, the Eev. Dr. Thomas Bray. That meeting started the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. We might speak of it as having been essentially a layman's meeting, gathered and probably led by a clergyman. Itsminutes show that there were four main objects more immediately_ in view. (1) The progress which the Eev. George Keith was making in his labours for the conversion of the Quakers was to be ascer- tained. (2) It was to be considered how catechetical schools might be erected in the parishes of London. (3) Archbishop Tenison was to be moved by Lord Guilford to get inserted in the bill then before Parliament for employing the poor a clause enacting that their children should be taught to read, and to learn the Church Catechism. (4) Dr. Bray was desired to bring forward his scheme for promoting religion in the Planta- tions. The grand desire, in short, was to promote Christian instruction both at home and in the colonies. The colonies, though mentioned last, were absolutely co-eval with the London parishes in the intentions of this Society from its very founda- tion. We further observe that at this little meeting each gentle- man put down his name for a donation ; but there was no attempt at organising ; no one was president, secretary, or treasurer ; ' no rules were proposed : a committee was impossible except so far as they were themselves one. We find no hint that the heads of the Church were so much as thought of ; not even the diocesan was to be acquainted with the new Society's exist- ence, although Dr. Bray was his commissary. We may safely assume however that the Bishop of London, in whose care was the whole sphere of the Society's attentions, the Plantations in- cluded, was kept informed of everything and approved of every- thing. The members considered it a matter of immediate importance to frame a ' Preamble,' which meant, as the sequel shows, a, standard formula declaratory of their principles and objects as a society, constituting in fact their bond of union. The first mention of it was on March 19, but it was not ready until April 19, on which day it was read and approved. It was ordered that every member should subscribe it, and four of the original members, the only ones present that day, at once afi&xed their names ; many others did the same at various times after- wards. It ran as follows : — ' Whereas the growth of vice and immorality is greatly owing to gross ignorance of the principles of the Christian Beligion, we whose names are underwritten do agree to meet together as often as we can conveniently to consult (under the conduct of the Divine Providence and assistance) how we may be able by due and lawful methods to promote Christian knowledge.' ' Mr. Justice Hook was made treasurer on March 16. Introduction. xxv On this same day the first new member was admitted, Mr. John Chamberlayne, P.E.S., an eminent linguist of the day, and after this date admissions to the Society became frequent. An entrance was not secured by any amount of donation ; nor was it the custom (so far as the minutes show) for persons to offer. Any gentleman deemed suitable was twice proposed from within the body, and after the second proposal inquiries about him were ordered to be made. In case these proved satisfactory, he was admitted and desired to attend. Should he accept his election, subscription to the Preamble and a donation naturally followed. The first new appearance at a meeting was that of Mr. Chamberlayne on May 4, and in the course of the same month three others joined. In June were added six : Dr. Gideon Harvey, the physician ; Mr. William Melmoth, of Lincoln's Inn, afterwards a well-known religious writer ; the Eev. Dr. Wood- ward, of Poplar, historian and improver of the Keligious Societies ; the Eev. Henry Shute, the lecturer of Whitechapel, strongly opposed by the Non-jurors of that parish, headed by the rector. Dr. Welton ; Mr. Samuel Brewster, of Lincoln's Inn ; Mr. Eobert Nelson, merchant, friend of the Non-jurors, pious and literary, author of The Fasts and Festivals, biographer of Bishop Bull, and quite of the school of Bull's Harmonia Apostolica. He was admitted June 22, 1699, and began attendance on June 29. The continued predominance of the laity is very striking. Woodward and Shute being the only clerics since Dr. Bray. In June a Bishop was proposed twice, Edward Fowler of Gloucester, but his admission is not recorded, though he subscribed the Preamble. In October we notice the Pembrokeshire baronet Sir John Philipps, father of Sir Erasmus, and later on a friend of George Whitefield and the Oxford Methodists ; in November, Dr. William NichoUs, of Prayer-book fame. As to the Preamble, we may observe that there is nothing in it to oblige its subscribers to belong to the Church of England, nor had any rule pledging the associates to be of its communion been adopted, so far as the minutes show ; but we may assume that at every election care would be taken to admit none but those whose churchmanship was undoubted. Nor would an outward and heartless communion with the Church be all that had to be thought of. At a period like that, when the tension of parties in the Established Church was truly deplorable, and the commixture of uncongenial comrades, only too easy, must have proved fatal to their undertaking, they could not be too particular in the co-optation of members. They were really obliged to be narrow, just because they were broad, if they would prosper. Nor was the absence from the Preamble of a test of churchmanship, or even of Scriptural Christianity, so perilous as it might at first sight appear, since the schools could be set up only through the parochial clergy, and plantations aided only through the Bishop of London and his commissaries. On the xxvi History of the Church Missionary Society. Church authorities therefore would be the ultimate responsibility of their work. They were not a missionary society, to select and send out agents, but only an aid society, to excite the clergy to their duty and assist them in it. The orthodoxy and spiri- tuality of their literature was, however, a serious responsibility, and it behoved them to take extreme care as to the reception of all coadjutors upon whom would devolve its chief oversight. On October 31 the first Secretary was appointed, Mr. Cham- berlayne. But there was still no committee, so called; the ' members ' themselves, selected so sparingly and so vigilantly, were what in other societies would be the committee. To the end of 1699 the ' Plantations ' are constantly receiving attention at the meetings, and the minutes record libraries and gifts for their benefit, all betokening the splendid activity of Dr. Bray, who must have been the real father of this branch of the work. On June 10 we find him writing out to the Maryland clergy that he is absorbed in business on their account and has been quite unable to get out, to them, but he hopes to sail in August.' He was delayed, however, until December,^ when at length he undertook the voyage with a commission from the Bishop of London. But we will take events as they come. On January 4 and 5, 1700, the Bishop of Chichester, Dr. John WiUiams, was twice proposed. After ' inquiries ' made about him — without respect of persons — he was on Jan. 11 ' approved of and accord- ingly attended,' the first Bishop, the first Church dignitary ad- mitted to membership, fifteen months after the Society's birth. On April 18, 1700, the Society seemed on the point of receiving a formal constitution, for some proposals were made in the meet- ing of that day for erecting it into a corporation, and there is here appended to the minutes a memorial addressed to the Society by one or some of the members for rDfioving in that direction ; but the idea seems to have been afterwards wholly laid aside, and things came to take another turn. We should not omit to notice that on June 10, 1700, Bishop Kidder, of Bath and Wells, Ken's successor in Ken's lifetime, was proposed, by Mr. Shute, for membership. On June 12 he was, on the second pro- posal, to be inquired about by Mr. Shute and Mr. Chamberlayne ; on June 13 he was approved of, and on June 27 was first present — a second Bishop. In the course of the summer of 1700, Dr. Bray, having arranged matters in Maryland, was back in Eng- land ; and we may safely conclude that after this personal con- tact the condition of the Plantation Church was nearer than ever to his heart. It was on July 25 that he personally reported himself to his fellow members, when an order was passed ' that the thanks of this Society be returned to Dr. Bray for his extra- ■ S.P.G. Gollectkm of Papers, Brit. Mus. 'T. 680,' No. 4, p. 31. ' S.P.G. Digest, p. 4. He ceases to appear for a time at the S.P.C.K. after De- ceraber 14, 1799, reached Plymouth Decem'ber 24, and sailed January 3 or 4. MacClure's Minutes of the S.P.G.E., pp. 40-73, 289. Introduction. xxvii ordinary care and pains in his iate expedition.' ' Although nothing apparently could have been accomplished for the Plan- tation Church but for Dr. Bray, it seems more than probable that even Dr. Bray would have failed to effect all that was ulti- mately done but for ' Mr. Barklay.' From this gentleman, who was the Society's correspondent in Africa and the West Indies — but whether cleric or layman we cannot say — there was received on Nov. 7, 1700, a proposal for propagating Christian knowledge in foreign parts ' amongst the Indian and Barbarous,' the im- portance attributed to which was shown by the consideration given to it in meeting after meeting afterwards and its being finally handed to Dr. White Kennet to prepare for the press. Dr. White Kennet has here the appearance of being an acting literary or editorial secretary. Meanwhile contributions for Plantation Mis- sions freely poured in and missionaries came forward. Evidently outside attention was being increasingly attracted to this business, which was as much a novelty to Churchmen as had been the setting up of ' catechetical schools ; ' transatlantic mission work had interested none but Nonconformists scarcely, with some bright exceptions. But before very long there were other Church- men besides Dr. Bray and the Society beginning to move in that matter ; and here we arrive at an incident of very considerable interest. On March 13, 1701, a Committee of Convocation was named to inquire into the means of promoting Christian religion in the Foreign Plantations, and on March 15 that Committee met.^ Probably no man in England knew half so much at that time of the Colonial Church as Dr. Bray, and if he now was stimulated to further action by a fear that the management of the cause might be taken out of his hands, even by Convocation, it is not much to be wondered at. Acting for his Society, and entirely supported by it, he lost no time in drawing up a petition to King William III. for Letters Patent incorporating an attempt which he had in view. That petition was before the Privy Council on April 7, 1701.3 At the following S.P.C.K. meetings the S.P.G. Charter business came forward. On May 5 the draught was read,'' as on the 12th was Dr. Bray's petition to the King in Council, the Archbishop's support of it as a member of that body being also reported."' On the 19th the draught- charter was debated and amended," and on .June 9 it was announced that the order in Council for Letters Patent had been signed by the King." On June 23 Letters Patent incorporating the S.P.G-. were laid before the Society and read. Dr. Bray being thanked for procuring the grant of them, and the Archbishop for his assistance in the matter.' ' MacClure's Minutes, p. 73. 2 S.P.G. Digest, pp. 4, 5. On Mar. 27 a Carlisle letter advised the Society to apply to Convocation, MaoClure, p. 326. ■■' S.P.G. Digest, p. 5, where the petition is in full, but undated. ' MacClure's Minutes, p. 132. 5 Ibid. p. 133. » Ibid. p. 134. ' Ibid. p. 136. » Ibid. pp. 138, 139. xxviii History of the Church Missionary Society. The Charter of the S.P.G., bearing date June 16, 13 Will. III. {i.e. 1701), incorporates ninety-four persons, whose names are recited.' They include the two archbishops, who are to be always members ex officio, and nine bishops. The then Arch- bishop of Canterbury (Tenison) is named as first President, but the presidentship is to be afterwards elective annually, not to be ex officio.'^ On June 27, 1701,' the first meeting of the newly incorporated Society was held at Lambeth Palace ; the next one was at Bow Church, Cheapside,* on the legal ^ annual day, the third Friday in February (February 20), 1702, on which occasion the first S.P.G. sermon was preached by Dr. Eichard Willis, Dean of Lincoln. That Dr. Bray was the one personally to secure that galaxy of patrons which the Charter exhibits, including so large a por- tion of the Episcopate, need not be supposed. He and his Society must have had the Bishop of London and the Primate behind them. In fact, the S.P.G. Account of 1706 (§6, p. 15), passing by Dr. Bray, definitely states that ' a proper application was made by the Archbishops and Bishops to the King, who accord- ingly granted the Charter.' But why the prelates were not osten- sibly the moving parties, and why Dr. Bray was left to petition the Crown, the Archbishop merely assisting Dr. Bray as a privy councillor, we are unable to say. They formed a large body in the Upper House of Convocation, and they may have desired not to come into open competition with the Lower House ; but what- ever the motive, it was the Bishops and both the Archbishops who sanctioned the taking of the matter out of the hands of Convocation and forming the new Society independently of it. We desire to make a few remarks on the new Society. 1. It was an offshoot from the S.P.C.K., and but for the for- bidding associations of the word we might have said a separation from it. It is quite needless to add that the parting indicated no differences even in the remotest degree, but took place solely for the more effectual carrying out of their common original design. The S.P.C.K., now two years old, warm and experienced in its valuable home-work, had no experience whatever in the foreign branch, which they had not begun to enter upon, except to receive gifts, and in which everything had to be learnt, except by Dr. Bray. The division of labour was most natural, and ' The Charter is given in full in the S.P.G. Collecticm of Papers, which may be seen in the British Museum volume of Tracts, ' T. 680 ; ' also in S.P.G. Digest, p. 925, where some sections are otherwise numbered. An abstract of it continued to be annexed to the printed annual sermon. ••^ The Charter, sees, ix., x. (S.P.G. Account, 1706). The vice-presidents, trea- surers, and secretaries were also to be annually elected on the anniversarv day ' S.P.G. Digest, p. 6. ■• St. Paul's Cathedral was only in process of restoration, and in place of it the fine neighbouring church of St. Mary-le-Bow was then and for some time after- wards used on great public occasions as a sort of Pro-Cathedral. But the S.P.G. sermons were not removed to St. Paul's until many years later. = The Charter, sec. ix. (S.P.G. Account, 1706). Introduction. xxix most necessary. We observe too that most but not all of the members of the S.P.C.K. were by the Charter members of the S.P.G. If our reckoning (arrived at from the Minutes of the S.P.C.K.) is accurate, there were forty-six who had made their appearance as accepted members at the S.P.C.K. meetings down to June 16, 1701, the date of the Charter. We do not count here those who are styled corresponding members, who were on a different footing from the others, residing, as a rule, at a distance, and not concerned with the actual management of the Society. Out of the forty-six we find thirty-one mentioned in the Charter. Among the fifteen absent we observe Mr. Nelson and Sir John Philipps, the others being more obscure. Out of the forty-six, we cannot be sure how many are clergymen, as ' Mr.' is mostly the only title, with the Christian name, which might identify some, generally omitted. But as far as we can judge, the majority were laymen. Then again, while the S.P.C.K. proceeded in its private course, a small layman's com- mittee, if we may call it so — the Chartered Society went on in public state, with its eleven prelates, a cloud of churchmen of rank — deans, archdeacons, chaplains in ordinary, all the Divinity Professors at Oxford and Cambridge, doctors of divinity, masters of arts, almost enough to put out of countenance its few titled laymen, physicians, lawyers, and merchants. The S.P.G. had its President and his following of Vice-presidents ; but where were corresponding dignitaries in the little S.P.C.K. ? The S.P.C.K. never found it incumbent upon it, or worth its while, to com- municate to the world a lengthened account of its history until 1733 ; the S.P.G. presented itself before the public punctually each year on its chartered day, with a sermon by a leading divine, afterwards regularly printed with a summary of its doings. For all that, however, the S.P.C.K., only in another form, had its anniversary too, and one that probably far outshone in a pageantry of its own the gathering of its daughter at Bow Church. It was when in long array all its foster children, the boys and girls of its schools, marched from every point into the great church of Saint Sepulchre's without the gates — a beautiful and welcome sight to Londoners — to be addressed, not seldom in very touching and fatherly terms, by dignitaries as high as those in Cheap- side itself. In formal terms this was not an anniversary of the S.P.C.K., but a Charity School anniversary ; yet none the less was that benevolent Societj, those children's alma mater, the prin- cipal doer of it all. It will be understood that in comparing the members of the two Societies numerically, we confine ourselves to the middle of 1701, and do not answer for any later period. 2. In its origin the S.P.C.K. was a private society. ' A few gentlemen formed themselves into a Voluntary Society.' ' Such also essentially was the S.P.G., though chartered by the Crown. ' S.P.C.K. Account, 1733, p. 4 (Brit. Mus., 694, f. 13). XXX History of the Church Missionary Society. Those gentlemen were in no sense the delegates, or a Committee, of the Church. There was no application at any stage to the Church as a body. The incorporating act was from the civil authority. This is more noticeable, since on the very eve of the incorporating Charter Convocation was almost, as it were, actually saying that it would like to lead. In the circumstances of the hour why did not the B.P.C.K. hail the indication and hand over their project ? We should not like to answer this question Perhaps the Church history of those few years might be con- sulted. Most assuredly ecclesiastical party feeling ran high, and it was a very troublous period then and afterwards for Convoca- tion. But to us it seems a very natural thing that the associates should act as they did. They were substantially a body of lay- men, who had come to know one another in consultation and to have confidence in one another, discharging no functions they were incompetent for. Why should they not have remained on the same footing and continued a private society ? 3. The chartered daughter bore the old title, ' Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.' Yet there was a change. The first and second corporations were for New England in America ; the third was for ' Foreign Parts,' while its members were churchmen without exception. The churchmen did not shun the title of the first corporation because of its Commonwealth and Dissenting associations. Probably the designation ' Society ' of earlier days was' thought more appropriate to a religious organisation than the ' Company ' of Mr. Boyle's period, and less suggestive of com- merce and colonisation. We cannot help the conviction that because of those associations the ordinary and colloquial name of the corporation of 1662, in spite of its chartered title of ' Company,' continued to be ' Society,' and there may be some proof of this in the fact that the S.P.G. Account of 1706 in its historical review refers to the corporation of 1662 by the expres- sion ' Society or Company.' This being borne in mind, it may perhaps be allowed us to consider the present S.P.G. , for con- venience sake, the third. 4. Most strictly for the purpose of historical inquiry, and without the least desire to drag the reader into the discomforts of controversial briars, we proceed to ask the question^ — What were the ecclesiastical leanings of the original members and managers of the S.P.C.K. and its daughter society? An answer should not be hazarded without a recollection of the fact that the terms high-clmrch and low-church were coming into use first at that very time 1698-1702, and therefore had a very special meaning for the period, not one however to be dilated on in this place. To analyse for the purpose of an answer the ninety-four names of the S.P.G., which included most of the S.P.C.K., would be impossible here, even if we were competent to do it ; but a few hints may perhaps be usefully suggested. In the first place, it should be observed that the Introduction. xxxi President, Archbishop Tenison, was a decided friend of the Eevolution settlement, as he was later on of the Hanoverian succession, both of which policies were regarded by high- churchmen of the period generally with much dislike and frequently with disdain and hostility. All the first five S.P.G. anniversary preachers, 1702-1706, to go no later, Willis Dean of Lincoln, William Lloyd Bishop of Worcester, Burnet Bishop of Sarum, John Hough (Hough of Magdalen) Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, John Williams Bishop of Chichester, showed them- selves by their public utterances, while varying in the strength of their expressions, staunch friends of the cause espoused by the Primate, men who neither were nor could be high-churchmen of the type then prevalent.' But what may be especially noted is the official language sanctioned bj' the S.P.G. in its Account, i.e. its formal history of itself published so early as 1706. The Society, it says, arose ' soon after the late happy Eevolution, when our glorious Deliverer King William had rescued the Church of England and the Protestant religion from extreme danger.' ^ It seems difficult to conceive how such expressions could have found place in an authoritative document of the Society, unless the great body of its members, which would include most of the S.P.C.K., were in sympathy with the President on that burning question of the hour. Nor may it be immaterial here to note that in the same paper sent forth in 1706, the Account, the S.P.G., so far from manifesting any back- wardness in letting the world know of its succeeding more or less closely to the titles and the general objects of the mixed bodies of 1649 and 1662, took all possible pains to make it clear. The reader of Church history will however know, and not forget, that the low churchman of that day was not the Evangelical Churchman of ours. What is understood as the Evangelical Eevival was at this juncture in its very earliest beginnings. It was uttering itself indeed in the county of Salop, but its voice was not perhaps heard much beyond. We are anxious, however, for a few more words here before ' Willis, in his S.P.G. sermon, February 20, 1702, makes distinct allusion to tlie blessings of the Eevolution, and in a later sermon, November 5, 1705, before the Commons was especially outspoken. Bishop W. Lloyd, on November 5, 1689, before the king and queen upheld that cause. Bishop Burnet, one of its strongest champions, preaching before the S.P.G. February 18, 1704, declares that William's memory ' will ever ba glorious among us.' Bishop Hough, gentle in language, spoke, in his charge of 1717, unfalteringly as a friend of the Eevolution and of the House of Hanover (pp. 19-22 of his Charges and Sermons, ed. W. Eussell). Bishop Williams, in his argumentative Vindication of a Discourse concerning the Unreasonableness of a New Separation on account of the Oaths, 1691, showed him- self a strenuous supporter of the policy then established. ^ Account of the S.P.G., 1706, §6, p. 14. If this paper was drawn up by Dr. White Kennet, as the French translator of it in 1708 says it was (see following note), the language referring to William is well accounted for, and the fact of his having been made the spokesman of the Society of much significance. Kennet was a very able writer against the chief high-church position of that day, and brought out his book on Ecclesiastical Synods, maintaining the rights of Princes, in 1701, the very year his name was placed in the S.P.G. Charter. b xxxii History of the Church Missionary Society. proceeding to the next point. In the honoured founders of these two great Societies we see Churchmen who, if not '_ high ' in the party sense which that word then bore, were yet stiff and unbending, abhorring schism and separation, stoutly asserting the privileges of the Established Church in all pubKc measures, though not the least regretting the Toleration Act. They were not the men to unchurch the foreign Protestants or throw doubts on the salvation of Dissenters. They were not the men to compromise matters with Eome. What we most regret to find in these divines is that their pulpit-teaching was mainly that of the moral-essay school. In the better examples which have reached us may be read many a passage of good common sense, pointedly, tersely, and forcibly expressed, calculated to do a certain amount of good ; and had such discourses been duly penetrated with the leading doctrines of Christianity, as after- wards asserted by Hervey and Eomaine, they would have fur- nished admirable aids to religious thought. In the absence of this essential quality we feel obliged to consider the teaching of this school a dull theology, not to be really brightened by any amount of vigorous and earnest language. But this imperfect school had not everything to itself. Among the venerated founders of the two great Church Societies of that period, there were, for instance, Melmoth and Mackworth, lay teachers, send- ing through the press something which could drive home to the heart their preceptive admonitions and meet the deeper wants of their times. Portions of Mackworth's Discourse and Melmoth's Great Importance were assuredly doing not a little towards pro- moting that knowledge of Gospel doctrine which, when it became in a few years sufficiently prevalent, constituted what is under- stood by the expression Evangelical Eevival. 5. We would next inquire in what relation the S.P.G. of 1701 stood to its predecessor in the title — Charles II.'s S.P.G., Boyle's S.P.G. Owing perhaps to the survival of the leading initials, some uncertainty of statement seems now and then to occur, and we are given to understand that the third S.P.G. (if we may here so call it) continued the existence of the second just as the second did that of the first ; and this was especially likely to have been the case after the S.P.G. of 1701, in the official account of itself published in 1706, had taken no small pains, as already noticed,' to introduce its birth with a narrative of the two earlier S.P.G. corporations. Thus the German historian Mosheim makes the Society of 1649 and that of ' 1 661 ' to have been ' again confirmed and invested with extraordinary privi- leges and rights by William III. in 1701.' ' Baird,^ more ' Mosheim's Church History , English translation, vol. iii. p. 199, ed. 1863. His reference here is to Kennet's Relation de la SociM, etc., Rotterdam, 1708, which work is merely a French version of the S.P.G. Account of 1706, which the French translator attributes to Dr. White Kennet. ' Page 670. Introduction. xxxiii indefinite in his expressions, appears to mean not much other- wise when he states that the S.P.G. of 1701 'joined with' that of 1662 ' in aiding the American Missions.' The Charter of 1701 itself hints no organic connection of the third Society with the second. Mosheim's observation appears based on a passage in the S.P.G. Account of 1706, where, after a notice of the Society or Company of 1662, it is added, in reference to the Society of 1701— ' when so good a foundation had been laid, it was time for public authority again to espouse and confirm and carry on this good work as a national con- cern and a blessing to the Christian world ' (§6, p. 14). What these words say is that the ivork of the earlier Society (not that Society) was confirmed and carried on through the Society of 1701. There is no statement anywhere in this Account im- plying that the Society of 1701 was that of 1662 reorganised. The S.P.G. 's important volume, recently issued, Digest of the Records, by Mr. C. P. Pascoe, 1893, puts the matter in the clearest light,' showing that the two Societies were, and still are, perfectly distinct ; while all the requisite details on which that account is based are contained in Mr. Busk's Sketch of the Origin of the New England Company, referred to earlier in this Introduction. 6. Again, did the S.P.G. of 1701 contemplate native races as within its sphere of operations ? In the Charter the King states^ that the object of the Society is to provide for the spiritual good of ' our loving subjects ' in the Colonies, who from lack thereof are in danger of falling into atheism, infidelity, popish superstition, and idolatry. Natives are not alluded to, but provision is made ^ for an orthodox clergy to live amongst ' our people,' and, as it is added, ' for the propagation of the Gospel in those parts,' language which at least permitted the Society to go to the natives, if not pledging them to go. It is clear that the original, direct, and pressing object of the Society was felt to be the colonial settlers ; their duty to the natives was latent and awaited the interpreter. The interpretation came in the very first sermon on February 20, 1702, when Dean Willis said : — ' The design is, in the first place, to settle the state of reUgion, as well as may be, among our own people there, . . . and then to proceed in the best^ methods they can toward the conversion of the Natives.' * The Society had not to wait long for the opportunity of commencing its strictly missionary work, the needs of two peoples in particular being pressed upon its attention — inde- pendent Indians and negro slaves. The Indian races known as the Five Nations, occupying the frontiers of New York territory, were being assiduously proselytised by French Canadian priests. 3. ^ Section i. ' Section i. ■• Willis's sermon to the S.P.G., p. 17. See also Digest, p. 7. xxxiv IJ'lstory of the Cliurch. yUHHlonary Socidy. and thereby enticed into the sapport of 1 rench interests, to the no small disquietude of the Y.riohhh Govemmont, who had been considering the matter since the year 1700.' The cause of the Negroes, left without the lea-t attemj/t to Christianiie them, found a warm sympatbi.-,er in a French Pro- testant layman of New York, Mr. Elias Neau, a lett^jr from whom, dated July 10, 170B, informed the Society of their deplorable condition.'-' The honour of the earliest systematic measures for the instruction of this helpless people on any seal'; of importance belongs to the S.P.G., whose annual s';rTrjons in London frequently referred to them. In 170G the Bodety was fully recognising its missionary obligations. It might appear somewhat singular that the S.P.C.K., which bad handed over Colonial Missions in America to a separate organisation, on the ground of its having enough on its hands at home, should he found shortly afterwards occupying it-elf with a Mission in India. The circumstances were these. On JsoTem- her 29, 170.5, two Danish Lutheran clergymen, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plutschau, ordained by the Lutheran Bishop of Zeeland, embarked at Copenhagen, and on -July 0, 1706, arrived at the Danish settlement of Tranquebar, in South India. In 1700 this Mission first became known in England, by means of the Eev. Anton Wilhelm Boehm, who was residing in London and had been Chaplain to Prince George of Denmark, the Consort of Queen .\nne. Prince George, whose death had occurred on October 28, 1708, and whose funeral semion, preached on November 21, in the German Protestant Chapel Pioyal at St. .James's Palace by Mr. Boehm,* had been published in an English translation, was an uncle of Frederick IV., King of Denmark, and may have taken an interest in the Tranqnebar Mission. The Chaplain at all events had, and a set of ten letters, which had reached him from Ziegenhal;.-, were in 1700 published by him in an English version out of High Dutch, with a dedication to the Society for the Propagation of the Gf^i*!- The Society showed its sympathy by a present of 20/. and by a case of books, which arrived at Tranquebar in (JctoUsr 1700.' The footing thus gained in England by this Danish Mis-ion, through a happy combination of circumstances, political and religdons, was confirmed during the next few years. In 1710 was published a second set of Tranquebar letters, covering the period from April 20, 1709, to January 17, 1710, and this time 'humbly recommended' to the S.P.G.; but as the Society, restricted in its operations by Charter to the liritish Colonies, could not officially render assistance, the nnchartered S.P.C.K. was approached. Here also an obstacle existed, from the fact ' 8.P.G. Aeeotmt, 1706, p. ?Jt. ^ PM. p. 58. ' A (ienain ehscfiel, with a Genasat Lwthenm ministry, js, ag readers of tbft newspapers well know, still a part of the eeelesiapticii estahUahment at St. Jaintf;n s Palace. * Hoogb, Prote»iant MUmmn in India, i. pp. UTi-H. Introduction. xxxv that the business to which they were engaged with their su?^ scribers was strictly a home one. They wilhngly, however, tindertook to open and manage a separate fund, and of this fund the President and Secretary of the S.P.G., the Archbishop and Mr. John Chamberlayne, in their unofficial capacity, were the heart and soul.' In 1714 King Frederick IK. of Denmark esta- blished at Copenhagen the Pioyal Danish Missionary College, for the Tfxurpose of training clergy for the Tranquebar ilission. Such an institution, under such patronage, added immense dignity to that ]^Iission, while the Episcopal title prevalent in the Danish Lutheran Church greatly advanced it in the eyes of English Churchmen.^ In 1716 Ziegenbalg, who had returned to Europe for fresh assistance, received a cordial welcome from Archbishop TVake, the new Primate, the Bishop of London (Dr. John Piobiason), King George I., the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the Committee of the S.P.C.K., who since 1709 had made friendly mention of him in their reports. On August 23, 1717, George I. addressed a reply-letter to Ziegenbalg and Grundler, promising his support. On .January 7, 1719, Arch- bishop Wake, as President of the S.P.C.K., addressed them in a warm and encouraging letter. On Eebruarj- 23, 1727, King George once more addressed a sympathetic reply-letter to the Tranquebar missionaries.' Throughout the eighteenth centmy and into the nineteenth did the S.P.C.K. lead the support of distinguished men in England to the Danish labours at Tranque- bar, and for thus keeping aUve the missionary interest all those years within their Church English churchmen can never think of its earUer history without feelings of affection. But it is specially to be noted that nothing done by the S.P.C.K. consti- tuted it a Missionary Society. It remained what it was after the Charter of 1701, and all it did was to subsidise a Missionary Association, transmitting to it special gifts bestowed by its friends for that special purpose. The alumni of the Ptoyal Danish ilissionary College would come to London for embarka- tion, and would there receive the friendly hand and fatherly counsels of the Society, which thus united with Copenhagen in giving them a mission ; but their selection, their training, their ordination, and their chief maintenance were from their own people in Denmark. It was Cook's Voyages round the World, published in 1768-84, that in 1787 kindled WiUiam Carey's heart towards missions ' 'Hxm!^, i. pp. 172-3. We notice among the S.P.C.K. minute; that on Novem- ber 9, 1699, the Bev. .J. W. Mecken, Chaplain to the Princess of Denmark, as Queen Anne then was, first appeared among the members of the Society. '■' There is a short account of the college in Xiekamp's Kurzgefasste ilisnons- Gachichte, 1740. p. 218. and in Grischovius's Latin version of this work, 1747, p. 176. There is also an account in Ziegenbalg's Fropagatum, of the Gospel in the East. In the date of the college we follow Xiekamp. In a brief notice in the Missumary BegUUr, 1813, p. 176, the year is 170^5, but no authority is cited and it seems questionable. ' Hough, i. pp. 184, 18.5, 190, 193, 220. xxxvi History of the Church Missionary Society. while he was teaching boys and working as a shoemaker at Moulton. By a striking coincidence the Calcutta scheme of missions was planned and sent to England in that same year, and Sierra Leone was acquired by the Crown of England where- on to settle and civihse the native Africans thrown upon its care, after the law had declared the impossibility of slavery on the soil of the United Kingdom. In 1789 Carey became a Baptist minister at Leicester, and never did he cease to press the subject of Missions upon the attention of his fellow ministers, Andrew Fuller, one of them, being his warm supporter. At Kettering on October 2, 1792, a body of twelve formed themselves into a Society, five of these being appointed a Committee, of which Andrew Puller was made Secretary. As soon as the sum of 13Z. 2s. &d. was subscribed by this small gathering, Carey offered himself as the first mis- sionary. The Birmingham Baptists on hearing of this added a contribution of 70Z. ; other congregations at once followed their example, and soon a considerable sum was raised.' Carey and his family, with John Thomas a surgeon, were the first to go out, and Bengal was chosen as the scene of their labours. Cook's Voyages must not be lost sight of. Carey's first impulse shows the imagination laid hold of for Christ. Here are new lands opening up — new lands and new peoples ; do they not belong to Christ? Are not we, British Christians, whose are the ships and the seamanship, to see them brought to Christ ? This was a distinct thought from that which carried Englishmen towards a New England, planting in it the Eliots and the Brainerds. It was not — We are going out as farmers and miners with royal charters and subscribed capital, and are therefore bound to see the natives, for their sake and for ours, instructed in the way of salvation : the idea was, we must go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature ; and if there be but a single man qualified and willing, there is that man's business. An old Baptist minister said to the adventurer, ' Young man, when God pleases to convert the heathen He will do it without your aid or mine,' showed an apparently greater faith ; but at the root, if unsuspected, there was unbelief, that would not obey a plain command and trust the difficulties to Him who had com- manded. There was nought unreasonable, wild, fanatical, or in the language of that day ' enthusiastical,' about Carey's plan. He was going to live among the ]people, learn their tongue, write the Bible in that tongue, atid offer it to them : what could pos- sibly be a more sober, safe and rational way of proceeding ? An address, dated August 26, 1794,^ issued by the Eev. David Bogue, a Dissenting minister of Gosport, started the move- ment in the press towards the formation of the London Mission- ary Society. The object was to combine Churchmen and Dissen- ' J. C. Marshman, Life and Time of Carey, i. pp. 9 sg. ^ It was reprinted in the Evangelical Magazine of September 1794. Introduction. xxxvii ters in the cause of Missions ; but it was very imperfectly realised, and the Dissenting element considerably predominated — the only two clergymen who took a leading part being Thomas Haweis, Eector of Aldwinckle, Lady Huntingdon's trustee, and John Eyre, minister of Ram's Chapel, Hackney. The Eev. Melville Home's Letters on Missions, which appeared in 1794 contributed greatly to its establishment.' After various steps taken to secure co-operation, a preparatory meeting was held on September 21, 1795, at the Castle and Falcon, Sir Egerton Leigh presiding, to arrange for launching the Society on the following day. On September 22, therefore, at Spafields Chapel (Lady Huntingdon's), after a sermon by Mr. Haweis, a numerous body of ministers and laymen, Mr. Kingsbury an Independent minister presiding, formed themselves into a Society, appointed a com- mittee, and adopted a plan of operations. Here is to be con- sidered the birth-place, and this the birthday, of the London Missionary Society, as it came afterwards to be called. Various other meetings immediately followed for the purpose of making the new Society known. On the same evening, at Mr. Steven's Meeting in Crown Court, the Eev. George Burder, of Coventry, preached before it. On September 23, at the Haberdashers' Hall Meeting, there was a sermon by the Eev. Samuel Greathead of Woburn, and there Directors were chosen. In the evening the Society was addressed at the Tabernacle by the Eev. John Hey, Baptist minister of Bristol. On September 24, the fifth and sixth sermons were delivered by Eowland Hill at Surrey Chapel, and by David Bogue at Tottenham Court Eoad Chapel. On September 25 a general meeting was held at the Castle and Fal- con, when the Society was regarded as formally introduced in the most public sense. The first missionary attempt was to be made at Otaheite in the South Seas, and as soon as possible afterwards, others on the coast of Africa, or in Tartary by way of Astrakhan, or in Surat on the Malabar coast, or in Bengal, the Coromandel coast, Sumatra, or the Pelew Islands.^ On July 28, 1796, the first missionaries, twenty-one in number, were pubUcly designated at Sion Chapel, London, some of them being carpen- ters, smiths, sail-makers, painters, &c. On August 10, 1796, they embarked at Portsmouth in the Duff, a vessel purchased by the Society for 5,000L, and with its cargo insured for 6,000L, the E. I. Company promising them a return freight from India. That embarkation was a truly striking event, well calculated to excite the attention of the whole Christian body of this country. That the thoughts of a limited number of Churchmen ' Evangelical Magazine, May 1797, in a review of a sermon of Melville Home's. 2 Sermons preached in London at the formation of the Missionary Society, September 22, 23, 24, 1795 ; to which are prefixed memorials respecting the esta- blishment and first attempts of the Society. By order of the Directors, London, 1795. xxxviii History of the Church Missionary Society. had been already turned towards the vast outlying regions of idolatry and Islam before even the older of these two societies arose, there will be dates to show ; but that they were at length stimulated to definite action by the interesting example of 1796 seems, by similar testimony, highly probable, and if so should be thankfully acknowledged. N.B. — It should be observed that references m the notes are sometimes made to the Society's Proceedings and sometimes to its Reports. The Pro- ceedings are the entire annual volume, containing everything, Sermon, Report, Contributions, Appendices, Lists, &c. ; and any page in the Beport or Sermon, &c. will be found as the same page in the Proceedings. The reader is also asked to bear in mind that the early Anniversary Ser- mons are said to have been preached sometiraes in ' St. Andrew's,' sometimes in ' St. Aime's.' These were two names of the same church, as explained in the notes. THE EARLY HISTOEY CHUECH MISSIONAEY SOCIETY CHAPTEE I. EVENTS LEADING TO ITS ESTABLISHMENT. A.D. 1786-1799. Section I. Events in India, 2. — Early Christian Efforts in Bengal, 2. — First Eclectic Meeting on Missions, 1786, 6. — The Calcutta Project of Missions, 1787 (map), 7.— The Calcutta Project in England 1788, 11.— Second Eclectic Meeting on Missions, 1789, 13.--Mr. Grant in England, 1790, 14. Section II. Events in England, 16. — The Sierra Leone Company and the Third Eclectic Meeting on Missions, 1791, 16.— Various Incidents of 1792, 1793, 18,— East India Company's Charter, 1793, 19. — The Eauoeby Meetings and Bristol Clerical Educational Society, 23. — Fourth Eclectic Meeting on Missions, 1796, 25. — Battersea Bise, 1797,27. — Contemporary Notices of these movements, 28. — Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Eeleetio Meetings on Missions, February 18, March 18, April 1, 1799 (map), 29. SUMMARY. A FEW Christian men under the East India Company in Ben- gal become awakened as to their duty towards the Heathen and Mohammedan world about them, and in concert with some brethren at home seek to move the Church of England, the King's Government, and the India House to undertake missions on a public scale. They are however disappointed. The expa- triation of criminals gives an opportunity of placing a Christian minister at the antipodes. The circumstances of the slave-trade agitation lead Christian men to make an effort for Africa. After years spent in discussion of plans a few clergymen and laymen of the Church of England, unable to unite with other bodies moving in the same direction, resolve on taking action by them- selves. History of the Church Missionary Society. [chap. i. Section I. — Events in India. 1. Early Christian Efforts in Bengal. ilLTHOUGH in this chapter nothing more is in- tended than a history of those events which led to the estabhshment of the Church Missionary- Society, it will be convenient to commence- with some early efforts in Calcutta, inasmuch as these contributed greatly to the awakening and matur- ing of that missionary spirit and those missionary plans at home to which the origin of the Society is mainly due. In 1689, when the East India Company had but two Presi- dencies, Madras and Bombay, an English factory was esta- blished at the then purely native town of Calcutta. In 1696 "the first Fort William was erected, and in 1700 the site of Cal- cutta was formally purchased by the Company from its Indian owners. In 1714 the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge invited the Kev. Samuel Briercliffe, Chaplain of Fort William, to become a corresponding member, requesting of him informa- tion as to the state of Christianity in Bengal ; and his reply, dated December 31, 1715, is, we believe, the earliest account of that subject which we possess. In 1715 Calcutta was declared a Presidency. When its first church, St. John's, was built is not precisely known, owing to the loss of records in the disasters of 1756 ; but it is believed to have been in 1716, the j^ear after <3alcutta attained to its new dignity. Its situation was near the river, and its lofty steeple was then the chief public ornament of Calcutta. It became the custom every Sunday for the Governor, the civil servants, and such of the military as were off duty, to walk in procession to attend divine service there. On the night of October 11-12, 1737, the steeple fell down in a hurricane and ■earthquake, and it was never rebuilt. In 1756, the Black Hole year, the church itself was demolished. By his victory at Plassey, June 23, 1757, Clive recovered Calcutta, and the same jear a new Fort William was begun. While this fortress was in course of erection the missionary history of Calcutta commenced. The capture of Cuddalore in South India by the French on May 2, 1758, led to the break-up of the Danish Mission there, which was supported by the S.P.C.K., and on September 29, 1758, Mr. J. L. Kiernander, a member of that Mission, a Dane, who had been eighteen years in India, arrived at Calcutta with six assistants, contmuing, as at Cuddalore, in connection with the S.P.C.K. He was the first Protestant missionary in Bengal. Colonel Clive, the acting Governor, cordially received him, while he was also welcomed and aided by the chaplains. On December 1, 1758, with the SEC. I.] Early Efforts in Bengal, 1759-73. 3 general concurrence, he opened a mission school. On June 2, 1759, he commenced public worship in the Portuguese tongue in the chapel of Fort William, which was allowed him when not required for the English service. In 1763 the then Governor, Mr. Vansittart, who also warmly supported this Mission, placed at his disposal a building which served him for a chapel. About May, 1767, Government premises being no longer available for him, Mr. Kiernander began the erection of a mission church, the liabilities of which, amounting to 8,000L, he took upon him- self — a thing he was able to do through his having recently con- tracted a second marriage with a lady of fortune at Calcutta. On December 31, 1770, he dedicated it with the Hebrew name of Beth Tephillah (House of Prayer) ; but it commonly went by the name of The Mission Church. When first built this was the only church in Calcutta town, St. John's having never been re- erected down to that time. In its original form it had a very homely appearance, and was not that handsome Ionic edifice, porticoed, towered, and spired, which made it later more worthy of the English community of Calcutta.^ The year 1773 was an important one for Calcutta, for two reasons. Fort William, a stronghold of the very first rank, was finished, and an Act of Parliament elevated the Presidency to a supremacy over both Madras and Bombay, nominating Mr. Warren Hastings the first Governor- General. Well worthy of notice, therefore, is a token of respect shown that year by the Court of Directors to Kiernander and his Mission. They gave a free passage in one of their ships to two of his children returning from Germany, and to a German missionary who went out to his assistance. Two points here invite our attention. First, there is the unbroken favour shown to the Mission by the ruling authorities, from Clive to Warren Hastings ; while the action, of the Directors at home evidenced an increasing public encouragement, instead of any diminishing one — a matter that will not be forgotten when, later on, we reach the obstacles thrown in the way of Missions both in London and in India. In the second place, the work of Kiernander at Calcutta was in no sense a mission to the old Heathen population of the country — a fact needing atten- tion, as an unexplained mention of the ' Mission ' of Kiernander is very misleading. He was less a missionary at Calcutta than he had been at Cuddalore, for the Tamil of South India, with which he was well acquainted, was not spoken in Calcutta, and Eindustani or Bengali he never attempted to acquire. Kier- nander's missionary equipment at Calcutta was Portuguese, which was the lingua franca of all the foreign settlements around the Bay of Bengal, and the ordinary medium of communication between the Europeans and their domestics, as Persian was in ' An engraving of it in its improved state may be seen in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1824, p. 105, where there is a iull history of the church and a life of its founder. 4 History of the Church Missionary Society. [chap. i. their intercourse with native courts. The Beth Tephillah mis- sion was confined to the descendants of European fathers, and hardly ever embraced a single Heathen. It was known in Cal- cutta as ' the Portuguese Mission ' ; it began with Kiernander, and with him it practically ended. Altogether distinct was it from a Mission to Hindus and Mohammedans, though in itself a most valuable one. By every sense of honour the heads of the English community, which was responsible for this Eurasian race, were bound to encourage and reward the charitable labour which Kiernander discharged towards the poorer members of it, and it is not surprising that they are seen acknowledging their obligations. A name of note in the annals of our Society is now to be introduced. Charles Grant, of a good Scotch family, left home at one-and-twenty as a military cadet, November 23, 1767,' the year in which Beth Tephillah was founded, but his special quali- fications having been discerned, he was ai once put into civil employ. In 1773, when Calcutta became the capital of India, he was advanced to the Company rank of Factor. His talents and integrity continued to merit the confidence of the Calcutta Government and secure his rise in the service. In June, 1784, he gained the step of Senior Merchant. In 1783, twenty-five years after Kiernander commenced his labours in Bengal, the dawn of true Missions in that province made its appearance by the arrival out of the Oxford (more properly Earl of Oxford) Indiaman. The surgeon of that ship, Mr. John Thomas, pained by the entire apathy towards religion, as far as he could see, in Calcutta society, which had not even a church of its own (Beth Tephillah not coming under that desig- nation), and was wholly neglecting to offer Christianity to the Hindus around, felt impelled to advertise a plan of his own for this latter object in the India Gazette of November 1, 1783, inviting communications.^ Although he was mistaken in sup- posing that there was no spiritual life left in the Calcutta com- munity, no direct result followed from his advertisement, and on March 16, 1784,' Mr. Thomas went home again in the Earl of Oxford. On April 6, 1784, the first stone was laid of a new St. John's' Church, twenty-eight years after the destruction of the original one, on a piece of ground presented by a rich native, and in its erection, which cost 20,000L, a leading part was taken by Mr. ' Thomas Fisher's Memoir of Mr. C. Grant, 1833, p. 2. ' Thomas's own account is given in the Baptist Missionary Society's Periodi- cal Accounts, i. p. 15, where the advertisement is given verbatim, along with two answers received. One of the answers was anonymous, and Thomas did not know who the writer was. He was the Mr. Chambers mentioned further on, p 8 » Calcutta Gazette, April 1, 1784. ' Ibid. April 8, 1784. Conspicuous in the proceedings of this day, in the absence of the Governor-General from Calcutta, was the much respected Mr, Edward Wheler, member of Council, removed by death in the followino- October, and noticed in the Calcutta Gazette of October 14. ° SBC. i.J Early Efforts in Bengal, 1786. 6 Grant. A comparison of dates shows that measures for this church must have been on foot much about the time of the visit of Mr. Thomas, before it or after it, while it seems possible that they even grew out of it. The building of St. John's was far advanced when, on June 8, 1786, there arrived out a young clergyman of three-and- twenty, David Brown, appointed by a society of officers of the Company's army, to take spiritual charge of their Military Orphan House at Calcutta.' The later history of the Beth Tephillah Mission, the history of the St. John's ministry, the history of the progress of spiritual religion in Calcutta, could not be written without much space in them being given to the labours of David Brown. These, however, are not to our present purpose. Mr. Grant and David Brown became at once intimate friends, and it may be assumed that either a plan was drawn up between them, or else that one already designed by Mr. Grant ^ was talked over, for Missions to the Hindus. But this subject can more conveniently come before us a year later, when we begin to have better information concerning it. On July 14, 1786,^ after the arrival of Brown, the Earl of Oxford once more made her appearance in the Hoogly, with Mr. Thomas on board, and on this his second visit he was intro- duced to Mr. Grant, who, being favourably impressed with him, proposed his retiring from the Earl of Oxford, learning the native languages, and devoting himself to missionary work ; to which plan Thomas, after some delay, assented. Mr. Grant, whose official residence was at Malda, about one hundred and seventy-five miles above Calcutta, on the same side of the river, had established in his neighbourhood, at Gomalty, a factory of his own for the cultivation of indigo, then recently introduced into the country, and the idea was that Thomas should be stationed at Gomalty as a missionary. Thither accordingly he proceeded, his support being provided for from funds raised by Mr. Grant, who himself contributed 1,000?. This Gomalty Mi-s- sion is interesting as the first actual attempt to reach the native races of Bengal in a Christian way, and as indicating the growth of the missionary spirit at Calcutta, which last is our more im- mediate concern. The birth of a missionary spirit in that line of things which issued in the formation of the C.M.S. is what we are seeking. Having discovered this at Calcutta about the autumn of 1786, we leave India for a brief space in order to point out the rise about the same time in England of a streamlet similar in ' Simeon's Memorial Sketches of Rev. D. Brown, 1816, p. 143, a passage of singular interest. ^ Before the second arrival of Thomas (Marshman's Life and Timet of Carey, i. p. 31). ^ Calcutta Oasette, July 20, 1786. 6 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. i. character, which afterwards coalesced with it. Henceforth, in fact, we shall have for a short while, in pursuit of our object, to pass backwards and forwards between Calcutta and London. 2. The First Eclectic Meeting on Missions, 1786. It became necessary, after the concession of independence to the American colonies, to find a fresh penal settlement for English criminals, and New South Wales was selected. The first fleet was on the point of sailing with its unhappy freight when Mr. Pitt was waited on by Mr. John Thornton and Mr. Wilberforee, who urged the appointment of a chaplain to Botany Bay, where the convicts were to be settled. The Eev. Richard Johnson was appointed, and on October 22, 1786, having ac- companied Mr. John Thornton to Woolwich, he was there, on board a hulk, introduced to about 250 of his future flock. This occurrence is reported by the Eev. Henry Venn of Yelling (pre- viously of Huddersfield) in a letter to his daughter dated October 28, 1786, and he expresses the warmest feehngs on it, his thoughts taking a wider range and anticipating openings for carrying the Gospel to those eastern regions, and a period when ' a vast multitude whom no man can number shall call upon His Name.' He adds, 'Though neither I nor you who are yet in youth (much less I who am stricken in years) shall be living on earth when this fact comes to pass, yet we shall be well informed of it above. All heaven will break forth in that song of praise : Allelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth! ' ' Two days after Mr. Venn's letter was written, and probably without the least connection with it, Mr. Johnson's mission en- gaged the attention of a clerical society in London, who were in the habit of meeting every other Monday in the vestry of Mr. Cecil's chapel, St. John's, Bedford Eow. Of this body, which bore the name of Eclectic Society,^ more will meet us as we proceed. On the day in question, October 30, 1786, the subject appointed for the following meeting, November 13, was, ' What is the best method of planting and propagating the Gospel in Botany Bay ? ' This was discussed on that day accordingly, though we have no information as to what was said, nor was Mr. Johnson, who had been invited, present.^ That was the first known meeting on the mission subject ever held by the Eclectic Society, which was then three years old."* Mr. Johnson, we may add, went out with the convicts, but proved unequal to the post, ' Life of the Bev. Henry Venn, by his Son, 5th ed. 1837, p. 447. ^ It was composed mainly of clergymen, and its meetings, begun on January 16, 1783, were for the first three years held at the ' Caatle and Falcon.' " Memoir of the Bev. Josiah Pratt, by his Sons, 1849, p. 463. ■' We cannot, however, but note here that the enlightenment of the Natives of India had been already urged by the S.P.G., whose annual sermon on February 17, 1786, preached by Dr. Thurlow, Bishop of Lincoln, made a strong appeal to the H.E.I.C. to recognise that duty. One passage of it much reminds us of SEC. I.] Calcutta Project of Missions, 1787. and returned home His successor, Samuel Marsden, whose commission was dated January 1, 1793, became the father of the New Zealand Mission. Noting that Mr. Venn's letter, the Eclectic meeting, and Mr. Grant's mission at Gomalty were all nearly contemporaneous and harbingers of further efforts, we take our stand once more at Calcutta. 3. The Calcutta Project of Missions, 1787. On the festival of St. John the Baptist, June 24, 1787, St. John's Church a,t Calcutta was opened for divine service ; con- secrated it could not be, BOW BA2AR according to the forms of the English Church, there being no bishop.' It stood, and stands, near the river, midway between Govern- ment House and the Old Fort, and less than half a mile south-west from the Mission Church.- Mr. Grant and the Eev. David Brown were by no means disposed to think that all was done when Mr. Thomas was stationed at Gomalty. Had Thomas been a man of the true missionary stamp (which he was not) , his mission could not promise much under the direction of Churchmen, for he was a layman and a Baptist. In the course of 1787, therefore, we find a far more ambitious scheme in contemplation. In a letter of David Brown to a friend in England, dated only 1787, but written apparently on or about September 10,' he remarks, ' I have been at work on the idea of a Mission, and some papers have been sent home on the subject.' * Mr. Simeon, nearly thirty years later,'* referring to these papers, appears to attribute ' the idea of a Mission ' to Heber's stanza written many years later : ' Can we, whose souls are lighted,' &a. ' Can we withhold from so many millions of rational beings, unhappily deluded by error or degraded by superstition, this privilege of an emancipation from their chains of darkness and an admission into the "glorious liberty of the children of God ? " ' Bishop Thurlow urged that the Company should, at their own expense, build churches in the capitals of the provinces under their rule. ' It was reckoned as consecrated by a written ' Act of Consecration ' sent out June 24, 1787, from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Eev. William Johnson, the seruor chaplain, as stated in the lettering under a large engraved view of the church to be seen at the British Museum (K. 115. 46 c). 2 The erection of St. John's caused Beth Tephillah to lose its Hebrew name, and to be called ' Mission Church,' and, at the present day, ' Old Church.' " This being the date of a letter preceding it in the published series, and Vritten apparently for the same mail. ' Memorial Sketches of David Brown, p. 225. " In his Preface (dated September 16, 1816) to the Memorial Sketches of the Bev. David Brown, pp. xii., xiii. 8 History of the Church Missionary Society. [chap. i. Brown alone, -without mentioning Grant ; so that if Grant, or Grant and Brown, started it about June, 1786, it was probably Brown who worked it out and put it into shape a year later.' However this may have been, that the Calcutta suggestion was one of the seeds from which sprang the Church Missionary Society was plainly the view of Simeon in 1816, when he wrote in the same Preface : ^ 'Mr. Brown, if not actually the founder of all the great missionary institutions which have been esta- blished of late years, and of the plans which have been carried into effect for translating the Scriptures into all the languages of the East, laboured in this field as much as any who have followed him, and strove to the utmost of his power to kindle that very flame which has burned and is now burning in almost every quarter of the globe.' The programme was drawn up, as Simeon here goes on to say, by Brown ' in conjunction with two other friends in India, who most gladly co-operated with him.' ^ But before we proceed with these papers to England we will unfold them at Calcutta, first saying something more of those whose thoughts and hopes they expressed. Mr. William Chambers in 1767 resided at Madras, engaged in mercantile pursuits of his own, unconnected with the Company. He was a personal acquaintance of Swartz, and a letter written by him in the above year gives the only description that exists of the appearance of that distinguished missionary. Swartz's published letters to him, the first of which is dated September 8, 1769, show Mr. Chambers to have been an estabhshed Christian and a warm friend of missionary work, on which subject he frequently corresponded with the S.P.C.K. On October 19, 1774, his brother Sir Eobert Chambers reached India as one of the puisne judges of the newly constituted Judicature of Bengal, Sir William Jones being another, and Sir Elijah Impey being Chief Justice. About 1779 Mr. William Chambers had removed to Bengal. In 1783 he replied to Mr. Thomas's advertisement of November 1 on Missions.'' In 1787, the year now especially before us, he must have been a man of some influence, his brother being senior puisne judge and practically Chief Justice, as Sir Elijah Impey was then in Europe. His wife was a sister of Mr. Grant. Reputed the ablest Persian scholar among the Europeans in India, Mr. Chambers translated the first thirteen chapters of St. Matthew from Greek into Persian, and in 1787 was engaged on a Bengali version of the New Testament. He died in August, 1793, most deeply regretted by David Brown. Mr. George Udny, whose rank in the Company's employ commenced on July 14, 1778, was in 1787, when Junior Merchant, ' Marshman (Life and Times of Carey, i. pp. 31, 32) says the scheme was Grant's, and Brown came into it. -' P. xii. " P. xiii. ' The reply of Mr. Chambers, as cited by Thomas, stated his readiness to assist if the advertiser's object was to obtain a translation of the New Testament into Persian and Moorish, under the direction of proper persons. See note further back (p. 4). SEC. I.] Calcutta Project of Missions, 11^1 . 9 Commercial Eesident at Malda in succession to Mr. Grant; a near neighbour, therefore, to Mr. Thomas at Gomalty, whose mission there he helped to support. In after years he proved a kind friend both to Thomas and Carey. Later on he served for a period on the Supreme Council, and temporarily, in 1805, held the post of President and Deputy Governor-General. After a career of fifty-two years in India he died at Calcutta on October 24, 1830,' being then second Senior Merchant, Senior Member of the Board of Trade, and Export- warehouse Keeper. Mr. Grant's influential position in 1787 may be judged of from the posts he then occupied. He was a Senior Merchant, a member of the Board of Trade, a director of the General Bank of India. In the autumn of 1787, soon therefore after the mission scheme had been despatched to England, the misfortune of insolvency fell upon poor Mr. Kiernander and that of seque- stration on Beth Tephillah. For the redemption of the latter Mr. Grant out of his own purse paid ten thousand rupees, and on October 31, 1787, the fabric was conveyed to Mr. William Chambers, Eev. David Brown, and Mr. Grant, in trust for the S.P.C.K. Forthwith it was re-opened, and David Brown served it gratuitously. Grant, Chambers, and Brown forming themselves into a committee of management, and raising subscriptions among their friends in Calcutta and elsewhere. Thus this group of Christians had constituted themselves a committee to conduct the ' Portuguese Mission ' among the Eurasians and lower orders of Calcutta, and a little Mission to the Hindus of Gomalty, while promoting a vast Christian scheme for British North India. How the scheme was taken up in England we shall presently see, after attending to it in detail as it left the hands of the four associates. It was headed, 'A Proposal foe Establishing A Pbotbstant Mission in Bengal and Bbhab.' The claim which the natives had upon the British Government was forcibly set forth, and the duty urged of imparting to them the civil and religious privileges enjoyed by ourselves.^ British Bengal and Behar were at that period in eight grand divisions, viz., Calcutta, Moorshedabad, Patna (or Benares), Monghen, Dinagepore, Dacen, Burdwan, and Eamgur.' The proposal was that eight young clergymen of the Church of England should come out, picked men as to ability, vital piety, and missionary spirit, one to reside in each division, and at their respective stations to set up schools, employ catechists, and establish churches. How strikingly this idea reflected that of Bishop Thurlow's S.P.G. sermon ! The sermon, of course, could not have been heard by David Brown, who, at the period of its delivery, was on his voyage ; but there was time for a printed copy of it to have reached India. The pro- ' Calcutta Annual Directory, 1831, p. 59. ' Memorial Sketches of David Brown, Pref. p. xiii. ' Ibid. p. xiv. In these names we follow the authority cited, but Eennell's map of 1786 gives Monghir and Dacca, which must be the correct spellings. 10 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. i. posal also embraced a measure for translating the Scriptures into the various languages of the East. The hope was that both Government and the Company would come forward and defray the costs.' To support the application to those bodies, letters were addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. John Moore), the Bishop of Llandaff (Dr. Eichard Watson), and Mr. Wilberforce. Other letters were sent to influential men, urging and entreating them to use their utmost efforts, in and out of Parliament, to draw the attention of the public to this great work, and gain for it the sanction and assistance of the ruling powers.^ This was indeed a noble project, both as to the scale on which it was conceived, the people it sought to bring into the Christian fold, and the spirit in which it appealed for workmen. What may be called its method of Missions was not at all the one on which the Church Missionary Society was afterwards based, though the method of conversions was strictly so. For the pervading idea was that the Company and the Government were to become responsible for the movement. It was, in fact, the plan on which the Dutch Missions in the East had been worked, producing many converts, it is true, but too many for the few missionaries to instruct, and little to be depended on. By the side of this comprehensive and startling scheme the eclipsed city mission of Beth Tephillah sinks into insignificance. The promoters wanted to see in expanding British India a grand edition of what they were then beholding at Tranquebar and Tanjore under Swartz and his comrades. The two chief men relied upon by the Calcutta friends for keeping the grand design moving were Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. , Simeon. A question here arises how those veteran Indians, Chambers, Grant, Udny, could have known or heard anything of Charles Simeon, who in 1787 was almost nobody outside Cambridge, a young Fellow of King's, without even college office, known certainly in the town, but probably nowhere else, as a striking preacher. This question is easily answered. It was David Brown who carried out Simeon's name to India. A Cam- bridge undergraduate from about 1782 to 1785, Brown was all that while an enlightened and ardent Christian, and the young minister of Trinity Church was a man after his own heart. The warmest interest did Simeon feel in Brown's call to India, little suspecting how his own future in Cambridge was going to be affected by it. When Brown, on November 14, 1785, quitted London at the Tower, Simeon was there to bid farewell. The next morning at Gravesend there was Simeon again to see the last of him.^ When Brown reached Calcutta, on June 8, 1786, ' ' Upon a public foundation,' Mr. Brown's letter, February 24, 1789, Carus's Life of Simeon, p. 79, 2ud ed. 1847 ; Meinorial Sketches, p. 252. ' Simeon, Preface to Memorial Sketches of David Brown (pp. xiii-xv). See also Brown's letter in that volume (p. 239), mentioning more particularly Dr. Jackson for the S.P.O.K., the Archbishop, and Bishop Watson. ' Memorial Sketches of David Brown, pp. 177, 178. SEC. I.] Calcutta Project in England, 1787-8. 11 Mr. Chambers, Mr. Grant, Mr. Udny, at once welcomed him as one of them to house and friendship, and it is impossible that those three could have been many days — it was more likely not many hours — without hearing enough of the Cambridge divine to warm and cheer their hearts. What wonder, then, that when the mission project left Calcutta in September, 1787, the earnest- ness and zeal of Simeon were absolutely counted on, and he was requested to be agent and representative of their cause in England ? The fame of Wilberforce could not have reached Calcutta with Brown. Brown, while in England, could hardly have known his name except merely as a young M.P. Born the same year as Simeon, 1759, Wilberforce was much younger in the Christian life, and correspondingly later in entering upon the special works for which he was afterwards known, as a few dates will show. It was on November 10, 1785, that he reached home from the eventful tour in which Isaac Milner was his companion.' On November 14 Brown left London for India.^ On December 7, 1785, Wilberforce visited Mr. Newton, and during 1786 he was, in a quiet way, making himself acquainted with the slave-trade, with a view to usefulness in accordance with his higher views of life.^ By the autumn of 1786 he had a reputation in England as a parliamentary intimate of the Minister, as talented, eloquent, upright in his polities, as a friend of truth and virtue,"* and early in 1787 he could have been known in those characters at Calcutta. On October 28, 1787,' while the Calcutta papers were on their way, Wilberforce wrote in his journal : ' God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave-trade, and the reformation of manners.' Missions, apparently, had not occurred to him. At the commencement of 1788,^ in the early days of January we may assume, the papers arrived which helped to give him another subject of abiding interest, to endure long after Abolition was won. But at that moment he must have been absorbed in preparing for his motion in the House, due on February 2, 1788,' for which he seems to have given notice in December, 1787.* 4. The Calcutta Project in England, 1788. The papers which reached Mr. Simeon at Cambridge early in 1788 included one addressed specially to himself, in the names of Mr. Chambers, Mr. Grant, Mr. Udny, and the Eev. David ' Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, i. p. 89. ■^ Memorial Sketches of David Brown, p. 177. s Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, i. pp. 96, 97, 147, 149. * Ibid. p. 145. ^ Ibid. p. 149. "■ Carus's Life of Simeon, p. 75, ed. 1847. ' Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, i. p. 160. " Pitt in his speech, May 9, 1788, says the notice was given ' early in the session.' The session began November 27, 1787, and ended July 11, 1788. 12 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. i. Brown. Of this letter only a fragment, and that undated, is given in Carus's Life of Simeon} It runs as follows : — ' From the enclosed papers you will learn the project of a mission to the East Indies. We understand such matters lie very near your heart, and that you have a warm zeal to promote their interest. Upon this ground we take the liberty to invite you to become agent on behalf of the intended mission at home. We humbly hope you will accept our proposal, and immediately commence a correspondence with us, stating to us from time to time the progress of our application.' Here was a special call to Simeon, which could not have been addressed to Wilberforce. Wilberforce was already deeply pledged to a most arduous undertaking, one that demanded intense labour and thought, and at that moment he was altogether immersed in it. Simeon's mind and circumstances left him exactly open to such a call, and, whether he just then saw it or not, it proved to him a summons similar to the one Wilberforce had received in regard to the slave-trade. Simeon came to be a leading apostle of the Mission cause, as Wilberforce had already begun to be of the Abolition cause. That thought could hardly, perhaps, have dawned upon his mind immediately, but it surely grew upon him as time went on. Upon the front of the letter, as Canon Carus adds, Mr. Simeon wrote, in 1830, ' It merely shows how early God enabled me to act for India, to provide for which has now for forty-two years been a principal and an incessant object of my care and labour.' As this address formed an epoch in Simeon's life, so it did more than anything we have seen yet to bring on the design of the Church Missionary Society, which, however, is stiU eleven years from us. In February and May, 1788, Mr. Simeon wrote out to Calcutta reporting progress.^ For his own part, he is cordially taking the matter up and exerting himself to bring the project forward. Success, however, may be doubtful. Mr. Wilberforce is ready to assist, and two young men are willing to go out as missionaries. Eeadiness to assist was all that could be said for Mr. Wilberforce. The motion due from him on February 2, 1788, was postponed, but on January 31 he was taken unwell, and continued for several days so unfit for public work that his friends became alarmed.2 On May 9 Pitt moved a resolution on his behalf; but, as it was late in the session, his only intention was to keep the subject alive without going into the heart of it.'' On January 30 and February 24, 1789, David Brown again ' P. 75, ed. 1847. The letter is given nearly in full, with the date Sep- tember, 1787, in the Eev. Dr.H. C. G. Moule's Charles Simeon, 1892, p. 111. The same date is given in Marshman's Life and Times of Carey, i. p. 32. ^ The letters are not extant, but their general purport is known from Mr. Brown's replies ; Carus's Life of Simeon, pp. 75, 76, 2nd ed. 1847 ; Memorial Sketches of David Brown, p. 244. ' Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, i. pp. 167-170. ' Ibid. i. p. 171. SBC. I.] Second Eclectic Meeting, 11%^. 13 wrote from Calcutta.' The tone of Simeon's letters had made him and his colleagues hopeful. They were expecting the two missionaries, for whose maintenance, until a public support should be provided, Mr. Grant was ready to allow from his own purse at the rate of above 300L a year.^ The Eev. Thomas Blanshard, Senior Chaplain of the Presidency, and another chaplain, the Eev. Mr. Owen, had been consulted with the happiest results. Mr. Owen, who much approved of the project, was interesting others, while Mr. Blanshard agreed to assist in breaking the subject to the Governor-General, Lord Cornwallis. In an interview with his Lordship they had suggested beginning quietly with native schools and feeling their way. The Governor- General confessed that he had no faith in the project. He would not go so far as to veto it, but he withheld his formal sanction, leaving the promoters to take their own independent course. Mr. Grant also had, by his Lordship's request, given in a written statement of his views, which had been civilly re- ceived, with a promise of perusal.^ All, however, was in vain. The great people then heading affairs— Governor-General, Govern- ment, Company, Primate — were not to be moved into action,'' and the project, as far as they were concerned in it, dropped. That failure is not surprising. A great Company and the King's Government and the Episcopate were not to be gained to such a cause in that way, nor by prompters of that sort. They must be overborne by a public movement before they will, perhaps before they can, stir a step. From much humbler beginnings did success come at last, and it was proved that only a sapling can be planted, not the full-grown oak. By no means, however, need we suppose that this effort of prayer, faith, zeal, and generosity fell wholly to the ground. A scheme of such grandeur urged upon the attention of Christian men in England helped to keep their duty before them, making them watch and wait for more propitious times. Simeon and Wilberforce, after having been so closely in contact with so splendid an effort, were not likely ever to forget it, as though they had been solicited simply to procure another clergyman for the Beth Tephillah Mission. 5. A Second Eclectic Meeting on Missions, 1789. On February 16, 1789, the Eclectic Society discussed the question, ' What is the best method of propagating the Gospel in the East Indies ? ' * Here was obviously an outcome of the letters and papers from Calcutta ; and if these had failed in their purpose in high ' Carus's Life of Simeon, pp. 75, 76, ed. 1847. ^ Ibid. p. 79 ; Memorial Sketches of David Brown, pp. 247-254. ' Eev. D. Brown's letter of February 24, 1789, in Memorial Sketches, p. 247, and in Carus's Simeon, p. 76, ed. 1847. * See particulars in Marshman's Life and Timet of Caret/, i. pp. 32-36. ' Life of Rev. Josiah Pratt, p. 464, 14 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap, i- official circles, they were yet preparing a way in the humbler quarters of Mr. Cecil's vestry for some result later. Missionary literature must have been resorted to. The lives of Eliot and Brainerd were doubtless perused, as well as accounts of Green- land Missions. The financial aspect of the problem must have presented a serious difficulty, now that the Calcutta plan had evidently failed of a response in official quarters ; while the meagre funds of the S.P.G. and the S.P.C.K. would seem any- thing but encouraging for the subscriptional method of Missions. The Moravian plan of a missionary colony maintained by trade and an annual merchantman must have had a share in the discussion. This was the second missionary debate of the Eclectic brethren, the first, in 1786, having had reference to Botany Bay. Watching Mr. Wilberforce's progress in his special cause, which does not really take us much out of our way, we may observe that on May 12, 1789, his first Abolition speech in Parliament was delivered, and that we may call the inauguration of the subject in the House of Commons. On May 21 the debate continued, and on June 23 it ended in an agreement for a further early consideration next session. 6. Mr. Grant in Eufiland, 1790. On February 28, 1790, Mr. Grant, now about forty-four years of age, finding it necessary for the health of his family to return home, set sail in the Berrington Indiaman, with Mrs. Grant and six children,' and on .July 25 arrived in the Thames.^ A letter from him read by the Court of Directors on August 18, requesting leave to return to his station when his private affairs were adjusted,^ shows that he had not then made up his mind to quit India, but as a matter of fact he never went out again. What is to be said as to the results of his various sacrifices in Christ's cause in India ? The Gomalty Mission in Mr. Thomas's hands had by that time miserably failed, and before leaving Mr. Grant declined supporting it any further," Mr. Udny following his example. In 1792 Thomas himself went home. The Beth Tephillah Mission had likewise proved a heavy difficulty, and it could be kept alive by the self-denying exertions of David Brown alone until the S.P.C.K. could find a successor to Kiernander.'^ In August, 1788, with a young family around him, he actually relinquished the Orphan House, its residence, and stipend, retaining his military chaplaincy alone, that he might serve humble Beth Tephillah without remuneration." David Brown ' Calcutta Gazette, January 28 and March i, 1790. 2 Court Book, 1790-1791, pp. 344, 349. India Office. ' Ibid. p. 414. ■• Dr. William Brown, History of the Propagation of Christianity among the Heathen since the Reformation, ii. p. 8, 3rd ed. 1854 ; Marshnian, Life and Times of Carey, i. p. 31. ^ Hough, Protestant Missions in India, ii. p. 42 ; Memorial Sketches of David Broion, pp. 285, 289. « Hough, ii. p. 44. 6 SEC. I.] Mr. Grant in England, 1790. 15 thus deserves to be regarded the first English Protestant missionary in India, although he did not go out as one. Not until April, 1789,' could the S.P.C.K. embark a minister of their appointment, Abraham Thomas Clark, and he must be considered the first clergyman of the Church of England who went as a missionary to India.^ Arriving on September 27, he was received with particular attention by the Governor-General, Lord Corn- wallis ' — a proof that this mission was still in favour in high Calcutta quarters. Mr. Clark's delicate health, and his igno- rance of the native languages, made him ineffective, but David Brown's assistance was willingly rendered." Such was the dis- couraging state of things which Mr. Grant left behind him in India. The three missionary projects of 1787 seemed sinking in failure. Nor did any better news soon follow him to England. In November, 1790,' without warning, Beth Tephillah was once more thrown wholly on David Brown's hands by Clark's accept ance of a Company's chaplaincy and removal to a distance Mr. Eingeltaube, a Dane, was next sent out by the Society,^ but his tenure was brief, and disappointing too.* Mr. Grant must have been in despair but for the thought that he left behind in India, as he himself found in England also, hearts and hands true as gold. As for ourselves, engaged as we are with such a subject as the present one, it is right we should remember those difficulties in missionary history represented by some of the instances we have mentioned. They are the vexations, not of this or that society, but of all societies, more or less. The minister of souls is a creation of God, and the example has never been wholly wanting. Mr. Grant, whatever other stamp of missionary he had found, had seen David Brown, and, in all but the seeing,^ had known Swartz. Mr. Grant arrived in England, to prove a foremost friend of Missions, and from his experience of India, his friends in India, his talents, his high India character, a most effective one. ,He was just the man wanted among the mission party at home to furnish that practical knowledge of India matters without which they could not have been much more than theorists. Mr. Grant was, besides, a great acquisition to the cause in England as one who could there associate in its interests with men of position, busi- ' Hough, ii. p. 42 ; Memorial Sketches of David Brown, p. 288. ' Hough, ii. p. 42. ^ Ibid. ii. p. 47. " Ibid. ii. p. 48. > Ibid. ii. p. 49. ' Memorial Sketches of David Brown, pp. 289, 290 ; Hough, ii. p. 56. ' In 1797, from Halle, Hough, i. p. 463. ' Memorial Sketches, pp. 291, 292 ; Hough, ii. pp. 62, 65. " We add this on the authority of Henry Martyn, who, under the date January 26, 1804, on which day he had a long conversation with Mr. Grant about India and Swartz, wrote : — ' Mr. Grant had never seen Mr. Swartz, but corresponded with him.' {Martyn's Journals and Letters, i. p. 86.) The statement therefore of Mr. Thomas Fisher's Memoir of Mr. Grant, 1833, p. 2, that Mr. Grant, on his second voyage to India in 1772, became intimate with Swartz, a statement repeated by others, must be inaccurate. 16 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. i. ness, and wealth. Its supporters in the higher ranks of society needed to have as strong a front as possible, in order to impress it upon the world that Missions were not a clerical hobby, that the laity could and did understand their merits, and could con- tribute their independent assistance rather than as under the impulsion of the Eclectic Society and the clergy. It was an immense support to Wilberforce that he should have, in addition to Simeon at Cambridge, a man like Grant ever accessible to him in London for consultation and advice — a man who had personal and first-hand knowledge, beyond any other person of his level in England, of Hindu life and of the possibility of reaching it for Christ. We may be pretty sure that an acquaint- ance with Mr. Wilberforce was made at the earliest moment ; but it is only on February 24, 1791,' that we find the two in company. As little doubt can there be that Mr. Henry Thornton was soon in his list of friends. All three were together on August 2, 1791, and are frequently afterwards so mentioned in Wilberforce's letters and journals.^ We may safely guess at one topic of their conversations — a plan for remedying the Jate disaster in Parliament. For on April 18 and 19, 1791, after much skirmishing, the battle-royal of Abolition had come off in the Commons, when Wilberforce was badly beaten by 163 to 88. He and his allies were not, however, cowed, and another idea was growing, out of which afterwards issued fruit for the mis- sionary cause. Section II. — Events in England. 1. The Sierra Leone Company and the Third Eclectic Meeting on Missions, 1791. The Colony of Sierra Leone is so closely connected with our subject that we take the opportunity which here offers of giving a short account of its origin.' It was on June 22, 1772, that the law courts established the principle that no person could be legally a slave on the soil of England. As one consequence of this the streets of London became in course of time infested with negro beggars, who, being without any legal protectors, and utterly incapable of earning a livelihood, were thrown on public charity. Thus the problem of the negro in England was not solved by taking him out of the hands of a master responsible for his maintenance ; and the decision of 1772 absolutely necessitated some further dealing to prevent bad becoming worse. The result of much effort and much planning was that, with the help of Government, which ' Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, i. p. 288. ' Ibid. 307 There is a portrait of Mr. Grant, full length, sitting, in Good Words for September 1891. ' Mostly from Prince Hoare's Life of Granville Sliarjj. SBC. II,] -The Sierra Leone Company, 1791. 17 made money grants and lent transports, Mr. Granville Sharp, that true friend of the race, sent out a body of about 400 Africans and 60 Europeans, the latter mostly women, to establish them as settlers at the foot of the Sierra Leone Mountains, where Great Britain did not then possess one foot of land, and in the near neighbourhood of the slave-trade ; but where, nevertheless, some ■ special advantages were reported to exist. Conducted by the Nautilus, sloop-of-war, Capt. Thompson, and under proper Euro- pean superintendence, accompanied also by a chaplain, they arrived off the coast on May 9, 1787. With the native ruler of Sierra Leone, named Naimbanna, or King Tom, the purchase of a district twenty miles square was negotiated, and by a formal deed it was conveyed in absolute sovereignty to the Crown of England, which had furnished the price. The land thus became British, and the settlers remained British subjects — not, of course, through any parliamentary measure, but on the responsibility of the Secretary of State and the Ministry. On May 15 the settlers were landed, possession taken, and the English colours hoisted. Until September 16 the Nautilus stood guard on the coast and supplied necessaries of life, after which the settlers were left to manage for themselves. Comparing dates we notice that at the very time David Brown at Calcutta was framing his scheme for the evangelisation of India, the British Government, with a truly Christian philan- thropy, was doing something for Africa. From various causes, chiefly, it would seem, from the settle- ment being too much left to itself in its infancy and inexperience, this beginning was disastrous, and ultimate ruin seemed but too much in prospect. When on the top of this misfortune came the parliamentary defeat on April 19, 1791, the leading Abolitionists, only stimu- lated to further exertion by the gloomy appearances, united in promoting the Sierra Leone Company to conduct a commercial business, with the object of proving what had been denied, that the Africans were fitted for the pursuits of lawful trade, for civi- lisation, and for Christian knowledge. The chief promoter was Mr. Henry Thornton, who became Chairman of the Company, and second to him only was Mr. Wilber force, a director.' Mr. Grant joined the directorate later on.^ Dividends, though ex- pected, were regarded as a secondary point, as was fuUy under- stood by the shareholders, who were prepared to risk something in the cause of humanity and the Gospel.^ Virtually the Company was a Missionary Society, for it was a capital part of the scheme to employ Christianity as the great engine for civi- lising Africa, and two chaplains, selected with great care,* were 1 Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, i. p. 306. 2 On December 20, 1791, lAfe of Wilberforce, i. p. 325. ' Ibid. i. p. 306. ■■ Melville Home and Nathaniel Gilbert. 18 History of the Church Missionary Society. [chap. i. to be attached to the settlement. On June 6, 1791, an act in- corporating the Company ' and providing for the estabhshing of a colony by it received the royal assent.^ The Eclectic Society in London, ever on the watch for practicable methods of Missions, at their meeting on October 24, 1791, attended by MelvUle Home, just then appointed one of the chaplains, fixed for their discussion at the next meeting, November 7, the question, ' What is the best method of propa- gating the Gospel in Africa ? ' No account of the meeting, how- ever, has been discovered.' It was the third Eclectic meeting on Missions. It was to Sierra Leone, and under the auspices of this Sierra Leone Company, that the Church Missionary Society sent out its first missionaries in 1804.'' It may be truly said that this Company was another of the progenitors of the Society, the chief projectors of the Company being, moreover, the warmest friends of the Society when this came to be formed ; * as, for instance, besides those above named. Sir Charles Middleton, Mr. George Wolff, Mr. Babington, Mr. Harford of Bristol, Mr. Hey of Leeds, Sir Eichard Hill, Mr. Henry Hoare, Mr. Neale of St. Paul's Churchyard, Mr. Thompson of Hull, Mr. Eobert and Mr. Samuel Thornton, Mr. E. Venn of Bow Lane, Mr. John Fenn of Cornhill, Mr. Brasier of Camberwell, Mr. Cardale of Bedford Eow, Mr. Charles Elliott of Bond Street, Mr. Grimwood of Lincoln's Inn ; and of the clergy, Newton, Simeon, Abdy, Farish of Cambridge, Gisborne, Gurdon, Jarratt, Professor Jowett of Cambridge, Stillingfleet of Hotham. We have already seen how, in 1787-90, the conception and the agitation of the project of Missions for Bengal brought Calcutta into the line of the C.M.S. progenitors, and we are now prepared to find, as part of the title of the Society, when we reach it, the words, ' Africa and the East.' 2. Various Incidents of 1792, 1793. 1792, September 15.— Mr. Wilberforce, at Mr. Grant's per- suasion, called on Sir John Shore at Clapham, then just fixed on for Governor-General, thus establishing a connection with him for the sake of Indian objects.^ Mr. Wilberforce's correspon- ' More may be seen oi the Company, -which was still in its early stage on July 23 and August 8, 1791, in the Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, i. pp. 805, 307. ' Act 31 Geo. III. c. 55. The debate on the third reading, which was carried on May 30, may be seen in Pari. Hist., xxix. 651, and the Act itself, which con- tains the names of the proprietors incorporated, in Statutes at Larae xxxvii 366. ^ ' Life of the Bev. Josiah Pratt, p. 464. * In 1808, after Abolition was carried, the Company handed over the Settlement to Government, as will be explained hereafter, pp. 130, 131. ' A complete list of shareholders, closed in June, 1792, may be seen in Wadstrom's Essay on Colonisation, 1794-5, 4to. p. 341. = Life of Wilberforce, by his Sous, 1838, i. p. 368. SEC. II.] East India Charter, VI 'd2-Z. 19 dence with Sir John in India afterwards seems to have stimulated him to a more public encouragement of Christian action. 179'2, October 2. — The Baptist Missionary Society was formed. 1792, about October. — Mr. and Mrs. Grant passed through Cambridge, where Mr. Simeon, accompanied by Claudius Buchanan, an undergraduate of Queens', dined and supped with them.^ That Brown and Swartz were mentioned we need not doubt. Buchanan, in reference to this visit, wrote : ' I hope the conversation of that evening was useful to me. From hearing various accounts of the apostolic spirit of some missionaries to the Indies, and of the extensive field for preaching the Gospel there, I was led to desire that I might be well qualified for such a department in case God should intend me for it.' This is the first meeting we have seen between Mr. Grant and Mr. Simeon. Buchanan, so evidently impressed by the con- versation on Missions, proceeded to India a few years later. In this year Mr. Grant composed his pamphlet, Obsercations on the State of Society among the Asiatic Subjects of Great Britain, the perusal of which was limited to his personal friends until 1797.^ 1793, Jtme 3. — William Carey and John Thomas, the first missionaries of the Baptist Society, embarked for India. In 1793, Dr. Porteus, Bishop of London, established his missionary fund for the negroes of the West Indies. This was a capital sum, producing 1,000L a year, originally bequeathed by the Hon. E. Boyle for missionary objects. For about a hundred years it was used on behalf of the native Indians in one of the American colonies, but on the concession of Independence it was diverted, under the management of the Bishop of London, to the British West Indies. 3. The East India Company's Charter, 1793. Mr. Wilberforce, during the time that his Abolition cause was suffering an eclipse, had an opportunity of placing the subject of Missions as a parliamentary question. It was on March 8, 1793, that the Bast India Company presented their petition in the House of Commons for a renewal of their charter. The debate on that subject opened on April 23 ; on May 10 the Bill was read a second time, and on May 18 it reached the Com- mittee stage. On Tuesday, May 14, Mr. Wilberforce, after long and earnest consultations with the Archbishop, the Speaker, and Mr. Grant,^ brought before the Committee the two Eesolutions following : — (1) ' That it is the peculiar and botmden duty of the Legislature to pro- ' Pearson's Life of Buchanan, i. p. 77. The names are in initials only, and the date is calculated from the context ; cf . p. 73 of the Life. ' Fisher's Memoir of Mr. Grant, p. 8. ' Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, ii. p. 24. c 2 20 History of the Church Missionary Society. [chap. i. mote, by all just and prudent means, the interests and happiness of the inhabitants' of the British Dominion in India ; and that, for these ends, such measures ought to be adopted as may gradually tend to their advancement in useful knowledge and to their religious and moral improvement.' (2) ' That it is the opinion of this Committee that sufficient means of religious worship and instruction be provided for aU persons of the Protestant communion in the service or under the protection of the East India Company in Asia, proper ministers being from time to time sent out from Great Britain for these purposes ; and that a chaplain be maintained on board every ship of 700 tons ' burthen and upwards in the East India Company's employ ; and, moreover, that no such ministers or chaplains shall be sent out or ap- pointed until they shall first have been approved of by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London for the time being.' These Eesolutions, which were passed by the Committee, having been reported to and accepted by the House, were entered in the Journals, where, therefore, they are now to be seen.^ It cannot be said that either of them touched the question of intro- ducing ' Christianity to the natives. But a clause proposed by Mr. Wilber force to the House on May 17 went closer, and from a missionary point of view was of prime importance. The Journals do not cite it verbatim, but they give its substance, the entry being as follows : ^ ' Another clause being offered to be added to the Bill for empowering the Court of Directors to send out schoolmasters and persons approved of by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, &c., for the religious and moral improvement of the native inhabitants of the British Dominion in India, the House was moved " That the Eesolutions of Tuesday should be read." They were read accordingly.* . . . Then the said clause was twice read, and, upon the question put thereupon, agreed to by the House to be made part of the Bill.' At this result Mr. Wilberforce expressed himself in hisjournal with the deepest thankfulness to God, and represents Mr. Grant also as 'properly affected.''* On May '22, however, he had to record a very uncomfortable occurrence — ' East India Directors met, and strongly reprobated my clauses.' ^ On May 24, in the Commons' debate on the Bill, Mr. Wilberforce, in the course of his speech, observed : ^ 'It is not meant to break up by violence existing institutions and force our faith upon the natives of India, but gravely, silently, and systematically to prepare the way for the gradual diffusion of religious truth.' The Bill was read a third time on May 24, and on May 25 "Wilberforce had the following dismal statement to make to Mr. Gisborne : * ' The average burthen of an East Indiaman at this period was about 755 tons, as may be seen in a list of ships in the Calcutta Gazette of June 1, 1786. One of these, the Earl of Oxford, was of 758 tons. 2 Journals of the House of Gmnmons, 1793, pp. 778, 792. ' Ibid. p. 792. The name of Mr. Wilberforce does not occur in the Journals, either here or with the two Eesolutions; it is his Life (ii. pp. 24, 25) that connects him with the three motions. * The two Eesolutions of May 14 are iiere repeated textually. " Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, ii. p. 25. » Ibid. p. 26 ' Tbid. * Ibid. ii. p. 27. SEC. II. J East India Charter, 1122). 21 ' The East India Directors and Proprietors have triumphed. All my clauses were last night struck out on the third reading of the Bill, and our territories in Hindustan, twenty millions- of people included, are left in the undisturbed and peaceable possession, and committed to the providential protection of — Brama.' In his journal Wilberforce wrote, ' I closed with speaking of the East India clauses being carried, of which I have now to record the defeat, thrown out on the third reading by a little tumult in the Court of Proprietors.' ' Here let us look back for a few moments. The Calcutta proposal of 1787 urged that Parliament and the Company should be directly appealed to in the interest of Missions. The appeal, for want of support, never did in form reach those high regions. Now, however, six years afterwards, when the course of _ public business gave an opening. Parliament and the Company having been in a direct and formal manner interrogated and forced to reply, the reply was crushingly adverse. The East India Charter Act of 1793 was the true reply to the Calcutta plan of 1787. In reviewing the efforts made by the friends of Missions in 1793 and their defeat, we should not omit to notice that in one respect the scheme of that year was less ambitious than the one of 1787, soliciting as it did only the preparatory measure of schoolmasters and chaplains, instead of territorial divisions with a missionary -in-chief over each. Yet in another respect it took a wider scope, seeking to obtain Christian teachers for the entire Indo-British Dominion. In principle, however, the two designs were the same. The Mission demanded was to be an official one. Parliament and the Company were to be at the head and in the direction of it — to be, in fact, the missionary society. It was, again, the Dutch method of Missions ; and if Wilberforce's clauses had remained in the Bill, it seems to us extremely doubt- ful if the work would have been properly accomplished. Would chaplains and schoolmasters of the right stamp have been forth- coming for Government employ? Would the best men for this peculiar work have been always chosen ? Then how about institutions for training such special agents ? We must notice also that Wilberforce's resolutions were foredoomed to ultimate failure, from the simple fact that there was then positively no missionary spirit in the nation. The missionary education of the country had not really begun in 1793. Wilberforce himself bore testimony to this when he expressed his deep pain at the general apathy with which his proposals were received, and above all when he complained especially that the bishops as a body gave him no support.^ There was, however, this result, ' Life of Wilberforce, ii. p. 27. We may here observe that the Apology of Dr. Claudius Buchanan contains Swartz's answer to the attacks on missions made in the course of these debates of 1793. This Charter Act, 33 Geo. III. o. 52, which received the Eoyal Assent June 11, 1793, may be seen in the Statutes at Large, xxxix. 133. ■ Life of Wilberforce, ii. p. 28. 22 History of the Church Missionary Society. [chap. i. and it was certainly something, that Wilberforce's clauses which were struck out of the Bill remained planted in substance in the national records, there to testify in after years what Parliament on May 14 and May 17, 1793, apart from the Company, acknow- ledged to be British duty towards India. Another point also was gained, that Mr. Wilberforce himself was now more deeply inte- rested than ever in the cause of Missions, and was in a special manner publicly committed to it and identified with it. It became from that moment, at all events, a part of his pro- gramme. He had Mr. Grant for his ally in East India circles ; he had Mr. Simeon for his support at Cambridge. All was not lost therefore. An illustrative incident of 1793 deserves mention here. Lord Macartney being on his celebrated embassy from King George the Third, made at the Court of China the following declaration : ' The English never attempt to disturb or dispute the worship or tenets of others ; they come to China with no such views ; they have no priests or chaplains with them, as have other European nations.' ' A truly lamentable and humiliating utterance to have ever been made by the representative of a Christian nation ! ' No priests, no chaplains, with them.' Nor does the speech in its longer form improve upon the extract.^ Chinese sensibilities are lulled by the assurance that Portuguese missionary zeal is a thing unknown in England, and has never been enjoined by the Supreme Governor of the Universe, equally pleased with the homage of all His creatures in their own way ; and so true is this that the British merchants of Canton and Macao have neither chaplain nor priest. Such was the Christ-forgetting spirit which Wilberforce, Grant, and Simeon had to face when they talked of Missions to the great builders of the British Empire ! Yet Macartney, let us hope it, would not have com- mitted his King and his Church to such sentiments but for his being challenged to his defence as a Christian in circumstances of unexampled difficulty. To a very jealous Power it had to be put beyond dispute that the English were not employing their public resources to overthrow the Paganism of the world. They would sanction no armed mission ; they would bring no priests in their train to make themselves a focus of foreign politics. Too well must Lord Macartney have known what priests, and chaplains, and Jesuit Fathers, in East and West, in China especially, had done in the wake of, or in advance of, Spanish, and Portuguese, and French aggressions. In behalf of England he disowned it all, and there was a nobility in that at any rate. It is a painfully interesting commentary on much of the previous history of Missions, a terrible confession to make of the past ' Lord Macartney's Journal of this date, cited in the Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, ii. p. 28. ^ The Journal of the Embassy appeared in Barrow's Public Life of the Earl of Macartney, 1807, 4to. ii. where see p. 327. sBo. ii.J Rauceby Clerical Meetings, 1796. 23 religious iniquities of some European powers. The missionary barbarities of a Pizarro and a Cortez, blown by fame into every civilised Pagan nation, had made it seem to an English Christian envoy almost a necessity to stand before the great gods of China with no apparent religion at all. 4. The Raucehy Meetings mid Bristol Clerical Education Society, 1795. The Eev. Joseph Jane, Fellow and Tutor of Christ Church, Oxford, was the son of another Eev. Joseph Jane of Truro and Ann Gould of Lew Trenchard in Devonshire. The father was Eector of Truro, and master of Truro Grammar School, dying just before Samuel Walker went to that town. Mr. Jane the son, in his will, executed on September 2, 1781, he being then Eector of Iron Acton, stated that his nearest kinsman was Mr. Edward Gould of Pridhamsleigh, Devon. One of his legacies went to improve the living of Truro ; and he especially desired his ' dear friend ' the Eev. John Pugh, appointing him executor, to lay out for him a bequest of 4,000Z. Eeduced Annui- ties to the best advantage in the service of true religion. Pre- sently the will named a second executor, the Eev. Eichard Hart, while a codicil of AprU 4, 1786, appointed a third. Sir Charles Gould, H.M. Judge Advocate. Thus with three executors Mr. Jane seems to have left Mr. Pugh alone responsible for selecting the object of this bequest, and it is only Mr. Pugh that is commonly mentioned in connection with it.' Mr. Jane died a little before February 27, 1795, and on March 4 the will was proved. Mr. Pugh was vicar of two contiguous parishes in South Lincolnshire, Eauceby and Cr an well, near Sleaford, Eauceby being in the patronage of the Thorold famUy, whose seat, Syston Park, is not far distant from it. A local history ^ calls Mr. Pugh ' a most earnest Evangelical clergyman, of high ministerial reputation, set as a spiritual light on Eauceby Hill in a time of ecclesiastical supineness,' adding that he was re- sorted to by many persons for miles around, who were desirous of profiting by his counsel and of receiving the Holy Com- munion from his hands. From his friendship with Mr. Pugh it is evident that Mr. Jane's sympathies went strongly with the Evangelical revival, and the same thing is to be inferred from his intimacy with two other of its leaders, Thomas Adam of Wintringham, who died in 1784, and Samuel Walker of Truro, whose deathbed at Blackheath he visited in 1761. Mr. Jane's second executor, Eichard Hart, belonging to one of the first ' The Christian Guardian, 1809, in a Memoir of the Eev. Eichard Hart, says at the discretion of ' his executors.' ' History of Sleaford, by the Eev. Edward Trollope. Mr. TroUope, then Vicar of Eauceby, was afterwards Archdeacon of Stow and Suffragan Bishop of Nottingham. 24 History of the Church Missionary Society. [chap. i. Bristol families, was an undergraduate of Christ Church while Mr. Jane was tutor there. He afterwards became Eector of St. George's in Kingswood, near Bristol, and during the time of his ministry there Mr. Jane, retiring from Oxford, took the college living of Iron Acton in Gloucestershire, about twelve miles from St. George's. Still later on Mr. Jane ceased his residence at Iron Acton and made his abode in a village very near St. George's. The two clergymen were thus thrown a good deal together, and especially towards the last. In 1795, on May 6 and 7, there was a clerical meeting at Eauceby Vicarage, one of those gatherings of distant neighbours (distant necessarily at that period) of the Evangelical school, glad to renew their intimacy in conference on the highest subjects at one of their houses spacious enough to afford a night's hospitality. On this occasion there were present an^ong them three men of leading repute : Thomas Kobinson of Leicester, Samuel Knight (then of Wintringham),' Charles Simeon of Cambridge. Those far-separated localities will afford some idea of what such gatherings usually then were in earnest- ness and unity^not very small ones either. Mr. Pugh drew attention to the legacy of Mr. Jane, to be laid out by him ^ to the best advantage of true religion. The opinion of the meeting was asked whether the money might better be bestowed on any scheme already in progress, or on any new object at home or abroad ; if abroad, ' the thing desirable seems to be to send out missionaries.' ^ It was agreed to discuss the question at the next meeting, to be held on September 30 and October 1. On those days Mr. Knight and Mr. Simeon were again present at Eauceby, but not Mr. Eobinson, and Mr. Knight occupied the chair. The question was put, ' Is it practicable or expedient to form an institution for educating young men professedly with a view to their becoming missionaries under the sanction of the Established Church ? ' It will be observed here that the point to be discussed was not. Shall there be a society for sending out missionaries? but, Shall there be an institution for training them ? It was evidently the idea that the one desideratum was true men of God, and that, if such could be produced before the existing Church Societies, a mission would be readily granted them. Once more no conclusion was arrived at. Encouragements appeared to be outweighed by obstacles, which were these : the great difficulty of finding proper men ; the danger of their losing their missionary zeal under scholastic training ; the probability of more good being done with the money for home purposes. It was also doubted whether a foreign mission ought to be con- > Succeeded Dr. Coulthurst as Vicar of Halifax in 1817, and died January 7, 1827. It was for the Wintriugham people that his Family Prayers were written. ^ The account we here follow makes no allusion to Mr. Hart. ' Life of the Rev. Josiah Pratt, p. 464. SEC. II.] Fourth Eclectic Meeting, ^Tdb-Q. 25 fined to the Established Church.' The matter was again ad- journed to another meeting, and three other clerical societies were to be asked to consider it in the meanwhile — viz. those of EUand and Hotham in Yorkshire, and the Eclectic in London. Such indecision should not much surprise us when we consider that English country clergymen then were absolute tiros in missionary matters. They were altogether without experience, and were plainly at a loss where and how to begin. What else could be expected from rural gatherings swept together twice a year ? It required London men to show them the way, men like those meeting at Mr. Cecil's every fortnight, paying the closest attention to passing events and all their lessons. It was they who at length first solved the problem, and, though without 4,0001. to start them, perceived the right thread to take up, took it up, and held on. Before the next Eauceby meeting and the next discussion were due —and such gatherings could not occur in the winter months — there was another event, a winter one, to be noticed. On December 15, 1795, a company of clergymen, mostly of Bristol and the neighbourhood, but with some from a distance, met at Bristol, under the lead of Mr. Biddulph, and formed a society for assisting at the Universities promising young men with a view to the ministry. Among the Bristolians was Eiichard Hart, and one of the distant visitors was Mr. Pugh of Eauceby. Why this Lincolnshire clergyman should have been present at Bristol is more readily seen by remembering that his co-executor was Eichard Hart. A very plausible conjecture it would be, that these two, thinking the missionary scheme pro- mised no practical result in the immediate future, and desirous of terminating their executorial responsibilities without further delay, either disposed of the 4,000L for the excellent object started at Bristol on this occasion, or saw enough of the project to induce them to do so shortly afterwards. One thing is certain, that Mr. Jane's legacy was not reserved for the Church Missionary Society. 5. The Fourth Eclectic Meeting on Missions, 1796. On February 8, 1796, the subject of Missions was once more brought up in St. John's Vestry, where Mr. Simeon pro- posed the following question : ' With what propriety, and in what mode, can a Mission be attempted to the heathen from the Established Church ? ' What just then brought this subject into prominence was that the London Missionary Society (to give it its later title), formed on September 21, 1795, were actively en- gaged in the despatch of their first body of missionaries. ' Life of the Bev. Josiah Pratt, pp. 465-6. Melville Home's Letters on Mis- sions, 1794, urged that there was no hope of a sucoessful Missionary Society con- fined to any one denomination. 26 History of the Church Missionary Society. [chap.i. A summary of the views expressed, and the results arrived at, is given in the Life of Josiah Pratt.^ Seventeen members of the Society were present, and ten took part in the discussion ; but the only ones named besides Mr. Simeon are Thomas Scott and Basil Woodd. Mr. Simeon ' stated the circumstances connected with the legacy of 4,000i., and the discussion at Eauceby.' This is not saying that Mr. Jane's bequest was then available, nor is there in the summary anything that we see inconsistent with the suppo- sition that it had been already disposed of, or pledged to, the Bristol Clerical Education Society. As to the question before the meeting, our account says : ' The majority were not prepared to recommend any immediate measures beyondthe education of young men for this special purpose, either by the Elland or some other society ' ; and ' Not more than two or three of those present on this occasion seem to have thought that something more might be attempted.' Of these ' two or three ' Scott was evidently one, as there is quoted -an expression of his that the sending out of missionaries, instead of lessening the work at home, would ' set things stirring — set up a spirit of prayer,' Basil Woodd took notes of the meeting, and from his known zeal for Missions in after days may be fairly considered as another of the ' two or three.* At some period not earlier than 1812, it is thought, he wrote upon his notes, ' This conversation proved the foundation of the Church Missionary Society.' ^ Such a remark might surprise us when no more than two or three out of seventeen felt any encouragement to press forward ; but two or three men of strong convictions, who afterwards returned to the matter again and again, refusing to let it sleep, could do marvels. Our account accordingly goes on to say: 'The subject was not dropped; it was made a matter of frequent discussion amongst individual members, and of prayer ; and consultations were held with those who were likely to promote the scheme.' Besides Simeon, Scott, and Basil Woodd, we might feel sure of John Venn, whose name, however, does not happen to occur, and who may not have been present. The bulk of the seventeen were evidently in despair of success rather than indifferent to it. The sanction of the episcopate appeared problematical ; it would look like an inter- ference with the S.P.G. and the S.P.C.K. ; zealous ministers were wanted at home ; the bishops and the S.P.C.K. should be memo- rialised. We feel rather inclined to trace up this despair and indecision to the form in which Mr. Simeon put his question, when he^ asked about a mission 'from the Established Church.' The ex- pression strictly interpreted suggests that the corporate body of the Church of England, with the bishops at the head, was to be moved, though perhaps he was only thinking of the two Societies ' P. 466. ^ A title first ofBoially borne in 1812, though it prevailed colloquially some years earlier, as we shall have oooasion to notice. SEC. n.] Battersea Rise, 1797. 27 of the Church. He may, however, have meant simply members of the Church. At any rate he did not demand, ' Shall we our- selves, we Churchmen, put our shoulders to the wheel and form the Society that we want to see ? ' For a feeble remnant in the Church of England, as the Evangelical clergy comparatively then were, to have taken such a position might have appeared to them too forward and presumptuous, exposing them to certain failure and to derision ; but it was only when that humble, yet that lofty, ground was taken that success came. Why had the Baptists succeeded in 1792, and the London Missionary Society in 1795 ? Simply because two or three said, ' We ourselves are the men to do it ; we will begin it now and here : we will not seek to move great bodies : let them move to us.' 6. Battersea Rise, 1797. This spot, which possesses not a little interest for us in these inquiries, is to be looked for at the north-western extremity of Clapham Common, where the noble expanse, instead of coming to a corner, projects itself further west in a narrow parallelogram. All that projecting piece of the common went, as it still goes, by the name of Battersea Eise. Two detached mansions, which yet survive in their grounds, on the south side of the parallelogram, and facing it, were in 1797 the abodes of Mr. Henry Thornton and Mr. Grant. Mr. Henry Thornton, when he bought his house in 1792, was of ' Battersea Eise ' simply, for the property, having no rival thereabout, bore no name, as the mansion bears none now. It had belonged to Mr. Lubbock, and ' Single-speech ' Hamilton had lived there. Mr. Thornton, on acquiring the extensive estate, proceeded to erect upon it two other houses, one westward of him on the same line of road, the other far in the rear, both of them like his own in size and appearance, though varying somewhat in architectural detail from it, but in this respect closely resembling one another. The one by his side was taken by Mr. Grant in 1794, and came to be called, as it still is, Glenelg House. The mansion in the rear, Broomfield (also still standing, but altered in name to Broomwood), began to be occu- pied in 1797 by Mr. Wilberforce. Thus Grant, Wilberforce, and Henry Thornton, whose close and endeared friendship we have traced from 1790, were now near neighbours at Clapham, and in Mr. Grant, who on May 30, 1794, had become an East India Director, the cause of Missions had an influential friend at the India House. The Eector of Clapham, John Venn, lived at the opposite extremity of the Common, on the road between Holy Trinity Church and what is now St. Paul's, his rectory house, which was midway between the two and was standing down to 1884, occupying the site of what is now a group of dwellings named Eectory Gardens. Mr. Wilberforce, in his journal, briefly records two conferences 28 History of the Church Missionary Society. [chap. t. on the Mission subject at Battersea Eise. Under Thursday, July 20, 1797, his entry is : 'To town, and back to dine at Henry Thornton's, where Simeon and Grant to talk over Mission scheme.' ^ Under November 9, 1797, he wrote : ' Dined and slept at Battersea Eise for missionary meeting ; Simeon, Charles Grant, Venn. Something, but not much, done. Simeon in earnest.' ^ These jottings, indicating that the cause was alive, and Simeon the soul of it, form useful chronological links ; but, furnishing no particulars, they are rather interesting to us than important. They also serve to show that Clapham Common may be regarded as one of the historic spots in the line which we are tracing. We will not, however, pass on without noting another incident of 1797 to be thought of in connection with those Battersea Rise conferences. In that year Mr. Grant laid on the table of the Court of Directors the Observations composed, as before remarked, in 1792 ; and the step was taken with the object of interesting his colleagues at the India House in the cause of Missions.^ 7. Contemporary Notices of these Movements. That the earnest endeavours of Mr. Simeon and his friends in and after 1795 were exciting a corresponding interest here and there, and creating prayerful expectations, may be gathered from two or three brief remarks that happen to have fallen under our eye. i. One occurs in a volume of Original Essays, 1796, by the Eev. G. C. Brodbelt, minister of Loudwater Chapel, near High Wycombe, and Eector of Aston Sandford (where he was suc- ceeded by Scott) . A clerical correspondent of his, after expressing a hope that Churchmen will follow the good example set them by the new London Missionary Society, proceeds : ' I am glad to inform you that such a plan is in agitation, and I hope will go forward. I am a member of a clerical society, meeting at in , where this matter has been taken up, and I hope the scheme will soon be matured. I think by taking this line we shall obtain more support, and much of what the others would not obtain. Let us have your prayers.'^ For the blanks it seems natural to suggest ' Eauceby ' and ' Lincolnshire,' and so assume an allusion to the meetings there on May 6 and Sep- tember 80, 1795. ii. On October 31, 1797, Dr. Coulthurst, the Vicar of Halifax, ' Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, ii. p. 225. 2 Ibid. p. 251. » Fisher's Memoir of Mr. Grant, p. 8. Mr. Henry Thornton's mansion re- mains in the family, and is the residence of Mr. Percy M. Thornton, M.P. for Clapham, author of Harrow School, 1885. He has publicly stated, we understand, that the room wherein the missionary conferences of the text were held, was the still existing oval saloon known to have been designed by Mr. Pitt during one of his visits there. ' Original Essays, p. 95. SEC. II.] Later Eclectic Meetings,- 1799. 29 wrote to Mr. Simeon referring, perhaps, to the conference at Battersea Eise on the preceding July 20, and possibly to some other similar movements : ' I rejoice to hear that the Mission business succeeds so well ; and if my poor endeavours can be of any avail, you are most sincerely welcome to them.' ' iii. On December 15, 1797, a country clergyman un- named) wrote to the Eev. William Goode of Blackfriars : ^ ' A letter from Mr. P. to Mr. H., which I saw yesterday, mentions the formation of a new missionary society among the clergy and laity of the Establishment. My heart rejoiced iij these tidings.' For the initials here one is tempted to think of Pugh and Hart, and the occasion could very well have been the conference of November 9, 1797, at Battersea Eise. The word ' formation ' must be limited to the meaning of a design or process of forming. 8. The Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Eclectic Meetings on Missions, Febrvary 18, March 18, and April 1, 1799. On February 18, 1799, the evening at St. John's Vestry was occupied with ' a general conversation on the subject of a Mission connected with the Evangelical part of the Church of England.' Now at length, when the question was thus narrowed, immediate action was possible. A dozen London clergymen were not to move the great Church of England ; they were to move themselves and such only as could sympathise with them. The long years of delay had been lost while that simple point of view was missed. The Eclectic Society and St. John's Chapel Vestry, not the mansions of Clapham Common, gave actual birth to the Church Missionary Society. The names of its members, therefore, and the precise spot of their meet- ings, cannot but prove of some interest to us. St. John's Chapel was not strictly in Bed- ford Eow, but near it, just be- yond the end of Great James Street, which is a northern prolongation of Bedford Eow ; more accurately, at the begin- ning of Millman Street, which is a still further continua- tion, and at the corner where Chapel Street branches off from it westward. The site is ex- actly discernible in Eugby Chambers, a handsome block of ' Carus's Life of Simeon, p. 151, ed. 1847. " Life of Ooode, by his Son. Vestry St.iTolinE Chapel Chapel Street Little James St. 30 History of the Church Missionary Society. [chap. i. offices, which has taken the place of the chapel. The vestry, which stood at the north-west angle of the chapel, was ap- proached by a passage from Chapel Street. Mr. Cecil's house, which is surviving, was in the immediate neighbourhood, on the south side of Little James Street, which runs eastward from the upper end of Great James Street. The house is at present No. 15. On March 18, 1799, the following fifteen town and country members of the Eclectic Society assembled : ' The Eevs. John Newton, Henry Foster, George Pattrick, Thomas Scott, John Goode, John Clayton, W. J. Abdy, John Venn, Basil Woodd, William Goode, John Davies, Josiah Pratt, Charles Simeon; John Bacon, Esq., E.A., and Charles Grant, Esq. We should remark here that laymen were occasionally admitted as members, and that the Society included two much- respected Dissenting ministers, who were on very brotherly terms with them all, John Goode (a brother of William Goode) and John Clayton. Mr. Cecil, being at that time much out of health, was absent. The question, which was proposed by Mr. Venn, ran thus : ' What methods can we use more effectually to pro- mote the knowledge of the Gospel among the Heathen ? ' There exists a full and satisfactory account of what passed,^ the leading points of which we here summarise : — (i) The idea was that the Eclectic Society itself, aided by outside friends, should commence a Mission, and send out two or three ordained missionaries or cateohists. Said Pratt : ' Let us regard ourselves as forming the Society. . . . Let us not proceed to choose a committee till we have a larger meeting.' ^ Said William Goode : ' Form a plan, publish it, send it to those friends who are likely to assist, and thus see what can be done.' ^ For the Eclectic Society thus to make itself responsible for a Mission — converting itself, in fact, into a missionary society — was not, indeed, the ultimate conclusion of this meeting in point of form, but substantially it remained so. That was, we think, precisely the right thing to do, since it was saying, ' We will be the men, now and here ' ; and as soon as that was meant and affirmed the business went on. Simeon, truly gauging the situation, remarked : ' Many draw back because we do not stand forward. When shall we do it ? Directly ; not a moment to be lost. We have been dreaming these four years, while all Eng- land, all Europe, has been awake. How shall we do it ? It is ' This list is from the Life of the Bev. Josiah Pratt, 1849, p. 467, where Simeon and Graait are called country members, of whom there was a considerable number. The thirteen of the above list, exclusive of Simeon and Grant, together with Cecil (absent), made up the entire number (fourteen) of town members then belonging to the Society. Pratt's Life, p. 468, says that on this occasion ' fourteen members were present,' probably including Simeon. 2 Preserved in shorthand by the -Eev. William Goode, and printed in the Life of the Rev. Josiah Pratt, pp. 468-70, and likewise (along with some brief memo- randa of Josiah Pratt) in Archdeacon J. H. Pratt's Eclectic Notes, 1856, p. 96. ' Life of Pratt, p. 471. * Ibid. p. 471. SEC. II.] Later Eclectic Meetings, 1799. 31 hopeless to wait for missionaries. Send out catechists. Plan two years ago. Mr. Wilberforce.' ' These fragments reveal something. The ' four years ago ' point to the foundation of the London Missionary Society, which, Simeon said, ' we cannot join,' a,nd he was evidently thinking that in 1795 they ought to have come forward with a plan of their own. The ' catechists ' and ' two years ago ' and ' Mr. Wilberforce ' show what Mr. Wilberforce was urging at Battersea Else in 1797. ' All Europe awake ' is an unmistakable reference to the wars of the French Eevolution then raging everywhere. War awake and Missions asleep, was pusillanimous and discreditable. (ii) The tone of this meeting was of the very highest Christian character. The Evangelical spirit breathed in every utterance. For all success they must depend upon the power of the Holy Ghost working with them, for enlarging the hearts of Christians to help, as well as for preparing agents of the true missionary stamp, men of Brainerd's sort. Prayer unceasing was to be their help and strength in every stage of their efforts. We may notice that more was at that time known in England about Brainerd than of either Eliot or Swartz. Mather's Life of Eliot was not very accessible, and of Swartz no life had yet been written. (iii) They would be governed by the principles of the Church of England, being quite unable to unite with the London Mis- sionary Society, with which, however, they expressed a kind and cordial sympathy. Venn, Simeon, Scott, all took that position. (iv) We notice lastly the determination of this meeting to conduct operations on Evangelical lines. At three different times was that adverted to. On February 18, 'a mission connected with the Evangelical part of the Church of England.' ^ On March 18 Venn thought the Mission ought to be ' founded upon the Church-principle, not the High Church principle ' ; ^ Pratt said now, ' Must be kept in Evangelical hands.' * We shall remark upon this presently. (v) The conclusion was, not to encumber the Eclectic Society with the management of a Mission, but to institute a distinct organisation for the purpose. In the words of our authority, ' The result of this meeting was a general consent that a society should be forthwith formed, by inviting a few of those upon whose concurrence in their own views they could rely ; and that a prospectus of their proceedings should be afterward prepared, and that then their plans should be laid before the heads of the Church.' 5 Such language plainly contemplated some wider scope than that of a Mission to be started by this clerical society, which would hardly require to be brought before the heads of ' Life of the Rev. Josiah Pratt, p. 471. ' Ibid. p. 468. 3 Ibid. p. 469. * Ibid. p. 471. = Ibid. p. 472. 32 History of the Church Missionary Society . [chap. i. the Church. Their r.ange of vision must have extended in the course of conversation. At the next meeting, on April 1, 1799, devoted to the same subject, the rules of the ' proposed Society ' were considered and settled.^ On this day, therefore, at St. John's Chapel Vestry, the Church Missionary Society was in its governing idea fashioned by the Eclectic Society. On April 12, 1799, the plan and design was taken into the City, where, at the ' Castle and Falcon ' Inn, the first stone was laid and the institution founded. We will conclude this section with a few reflections upon the resolve taken by these fathers and founders that their Society should be kept in Evangelical hands. 1. It is inevitable that it should be said. There was the mark of narrow minds ! Whether it was narrowness or whether it was not, this little company were driven into the path they thus took. They had sought to interest the Church at large in a wide pro- ject, but had found the Church and its Primate immovable. Any one looking carefully into the state of opinion in those days finds no difficulty in seeing that those whom St. John's Chapel and its vestry represented were shunned and distrusted by the great body of their fellow-Churchmen. It was very shortly after 1799 that Bishop Tomline, of Lincoln, opened his battery with very small disguise against the Evangelical clergy. If the ' Evan- gelical part of the Church of England ' did not work in this matter by themselves, they might just as well have thrown up the design of Missions altogether, for none would have co-operated with them or have had anything to do with them, except receive their subscriptions. 2. It is not narrowness, it is the ordinary common sense of practical men, if they hold their principles with any strong con- viction, to work on their own lines, while others can look on, criticise, and in some measure assist. There are plenty of examples of that in the present day. The C.M.S. is one. It is staunch to the maxim of its founders. It is kept in EvangeHcal hands ; while in many instances large-hearted High Churchmen and Broad Churchmen, jealously watching it, and keenly criticis- ing it, will generously help it, believing in a balance of usefulness. The Society profits by all those three attitudes. On the other hand, as need hardly be said, there are High Church Societies, which Evangelical men watch suspiciously, criticise openly, and yet often aid, where they think that the balance of good deserves support. There is really no question of narroM^ness at all ; for all are narrow — or all prudent. 3. But what we were most desirous of saying on this subject still remains unsaid. The ' Evangelical part of the Church,' by keeping the C.M.S. in its own hands, has derived an incalculable blessing for itself which is not always suspected by either critics ' Life of the Biv. Josiah Pratt, p. 472. BBC. II.] Later Eclectic Meetings, 1799. 33 or friends. No one can read the literature of the Evangehcal revival before 1799 without becoming painfully aware how the leaders in that good movement, as Scott, for instance, Cecil, Venn the elder, Berridge, regarded the people who thronged their sermons as deplorably tainted with a practical antinomianism. In the most unsparing language they expressed themselves on this subject, Scott perhaps more than any one. What they meant was, not that Evangelical doctrine logically led to antinomian principles, but that the people received it in an antinomian spirit, resting satisfied with the doctrine without showing the fruits of it ; in short, accepting Evangelical doctrine in lieu of practising the Evangelical life. It was by no means intended to say that Evangelical congregations were worse than those of the old dry orthodoxy ; for these were antinomian too, and much more so, in the sense meant by the word, satisfied with forms as others were satisfied with hearing. Those true men, when put on their defence, had no difficulty in showing that congregations under Evangelical teaching compared favourably with others on the whole, as evidenced by their splendid charitable collections ; but they complained that their flocks were far behind their privileges and far too perilously inclined to accept consolatory doctrine with easy rules of life. Not the slightest distrust of Evangelical doctrine did those honoured masters of it ever exhibit, though they would severely reprehend the unfaithfulness of preaching it narcotically, as some inferior teachers were wont to do. Scott himself, who saw and unhesitatingly condemned the antinomian tendency of some Evangelical preaching and hearing, was as decided as any of the Eclectic brethren in asserting that their Missions should be conducted on Evangelical principles, and he was not a man to harness cripples to a waggon, which he would be doing if he had not the strongest possible confidence in those principles. His absolute reliance upon them as the only sources of life, power, and perseverance never faltered. His writings show no reserve or suppression of Evangelical doctrine, no putting the law in the place of the Gospel. He, in fact, insisted on it more instead of less ; but then he pressed its obligations in a corresponding degree. What was really wanted in the eighteenth century to support the efforts of the best teachers of this school, and keep their crowded congregations up to the standard aimed at, was some grand and weighty public cause, appealing in the plainest and the most direct terms to the activities of every individual who heard the joyful sound, some vigorous undertaking to rouse self-denial, toil, and sacrifice. The project of Missions to the Heathen appears to have been the very thing needed, with its grand claims that could never be gainsaid, calculated to arouse the warmest enthusiasm of all who had truly received the doctrine of the Cross. As the Society advanced and its insatiable demands for funds and service grew, it became the peculiar care of those who loved its 34 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. i. fundamental principles — for few others would assist it, nor indeed while its chosen motto was emblazoned on its front could the abstention be complained of. The Church Missionary Society has thus been the special offspring of the EvangeHcal part of the Church, its success their fondest satisfaction if not their boasted feat. It has been the point of honour in that body to make it a success, and if there was failure there, the early saying, ' Must be kept in Evangelical hands,' would be thrown in its face with derision. On the whole they have responded to the various appeals addressed to them in such a manner that, whatever faults have been attributed to the Evangelical part of the Church, that of antinomianism has been less and less heard of, and the worst reproach of the eighteenth century has been wiped away. CHAP. II.] 35 CHAPTEE II. EAELY DAYS, FEIENDS, AND LOCALITIES. A.D. 1799-1805. Place and Date of Foundation {map), 36. — Castle and Falcon Meeting, April 12, 1799, 36. — First Committee Meeting, April 15, 38.— A Contemporary Notice, May 20, 89.— More Early Proceedings and a General Meeting, 40. — The So- ciety's First Home, 43. — Letter to the Primate, July 1, 45. — Delays, 46. — Outlook as to Episcopal Support, 52.— Country Friends, 55 The Primate's Decision, July 24, 1800, 58.— Besumption of Activity, August 4, 60.— Closer Search for Missionaries, 68 — ^First Anniversary, May 26, 1801, 69.— First Sub- scription List, 1801, 72 — Letters and Proceedings to the Second Anniversary, 73. — Second Anniversary, June 8, 1802, 79. — New Contributors during the Year, 81. — The Berlin Missionary Seminary, 81. — Letters and Proceedings to the Third Anniversary, 83.— Third Anniversary, May 31, 1808, 88.— Proceedings and Letters to the Fourth Anniversary, 89 Fourth Anniversary, May 22, 1804, 98. — Proceedings and Letters to the Fifth Anniversary, 101. — Fifth Anui- versary, June 4, 1805 (map), 106.— The Four Committees of 1799-1805, 109. SUMMARY. We now see the Society formed and befriended. In some influ- ential quarters, however, it is regarded with little sympathy or encouragement. Being resolved not to subject their views to any misrepresentation through their own default, they early determine. May 27, 1799, to issue a statement, known as An Account, along with the Rules, and by these they desire that their doctrinal and ecclesiastical principles, as a Society, shall be judged. The heads of the Church, whose countenance they solicit, more than hesitate. Meanwhile, all quarters are searched in the hope of discovering Missionaries. Sierra Leone is deter- mined upon, November 4, as a sphere long before it is clear how they are to get there. When sufficient episcopal countenance fails, they refuse to despond, heartened by brethren in sympathy with them now seen multiplying within the Church of England. On February 12, 1802, they hear of missionaries to be had from Germany, the way to Africa at once becomes clear, arid thither, on February 21, 1804, two missionaries are sent forth. D 2 36 History of the Church Missionary Society. [cha.p. h. i, 2 1. The Place and Date of Foundation. HE Minute Book of General Meetings opens thus : 'At a meeting held at the Castle and Falcon, Alders- gate Street, on Monday,' April 12, 1799, for the purpose of instituting a society among the mem- bers of the Established Church for missionaries among the heathen — .' The inn here mentioned, where also, in 1783, commenced the meetings of the Eclectic Society, which was the parent of the Church Missionary Society, still survives and flourishes, some little dis- Jtance northward from the General Post t Office, on the east side of Aldersgate Street, ~ and the fifth house from Gresham Street. To the archaeologist it is interesting from its containing in its cellars a fine visible fragment of the Eoman wall of London. Outwardly the Castle and Falcon is but slightly changed. The old entrance arch, which used to admit carriages to an inner courtyard, is abridged to an ordinary door- way. Facing this, the spectator sees above him on his right three first-floor windows, rather narrow and close together, and be- hind those is the room, apparently quite unaltered, where the friends of April 12, 1799, gathered, prayed, hoped, and believed on behalf of the Heathen World. "SI St.Botulpli I C. and a Falcon Gresham St. 2. The Castle and Falcon Meeting, April 12, 1799. The proceedings by which the Society was instituted, and the names of those who were present, are given in the minutes before referred to. There were assembled sixteen clergymen and nine laymen, whose names here follow." Eev. John Venn, in the chair ; Eev. William Jarvis Abdy, Eev. Edward Cuthbert, Eev. John Davies, Eev. Henry Foster, Eev. Thomas Fry, Eev. William Goode, Eev. William Alphonsus Gunn, Eev. John White Middelton, Eev. John Newton, Eev. Dr. John Witherington Peers, Eev. Eichard Postlethwaite, Eev. Josiah Pratt, Eev. Thomas Scott, Eev. Thomas Sheppard, Eev. Mr.3 Terrot, Mr. John Bacon, E.A., Mr. John Brasier, Mr. ' April 12 was Friday. The mistake must be due to a slip of the clerk in transcription, for the existing minutes are not the original ones, but copies in new books begun in 1814. ^ Some particulars of each will be found in Appendix A. The list also occurs in the Eev. Henry Venn's Founders, 1848, and the Life of Pratt, 1849, p. 13. = In the Minutes ' Mr. ; ' in Venn ' Eev. W. ; ' in Pratt ' Charles William.' He must have been the Eev. William Terrot of Haddington, in the Minutes of December 2, 1799. Notices of the two Terrots will appear later on. See Index. CHAP. II. 2] Castle and Falcon Meeting, 1799. 37 William Cardale, Mr. Nathan Downer, Mr. Charles Elliott, Mr. John Jowett, Mr. Ambrose Martin, Mr. John Pearson, F.E.S., Mr. Edward Venn. The Eev. E. Cecil, then much out of health, was unable to attend. Of the clergymen, there were three who had no London occupation that we have discovered, and at all events they appear very shortly afterwards in distant parts — Mr. Pry, Mr. Postlethwaite, and Mr. Terrot, the third with duty in Scotland. The rest we find were employed as follows : — Mr. Newton and Mr. Goode were city Sectors. Mr. Poster was a city lecturer ; Mr. Gunn a city curate and lecturer. Mr. Martin and Mr. E. Venn were in city businesses. Mr. Abdy, Mr. Davies, Mr. Pratt, Mr. Scott held city lectureships with their other duties. In London, but beyond the city boundaries, E. Cuthbert, J. Davies, T. Scott, T. Sheppard; and the business gentlemen, Messrs. Downer, Cardale, Bacon, Pearson. In Southwark were the Eevs. W. J. Abdy and J. W. Middelton; and in business Mr. John Jowett. In the environs the Eevs. John Venn and Dr. Peers, and the layman Mr. Brasier. The city was therefore pretty largely represented in this gathering at the Castle and Palcon. Coming to business, the meeting having first proceeded to declare their motives and main purpose, then constituted them- selves a Society for carrying out that purpose on a definite plan. This was all done in the shape of three resolutions, which were unanimously adopted, namely : — (1) ' That it is a duty highly incumbent upon every Christian to endeavour to propagate the knowledge of the Gospel amongst the heathen.' (2) ' That, as it appears from the printed reports of the Societies for Pro- pagating the Gospel and for Promoting Christian Knowledge that those respectable Societies confine their labours to the British Plantations in America and to the West ^ Indies, there seems to be still wanting in the Established Church a society for sending missionaries to the Continent of Africa, or the other parts of the heathen world,' (3) ' That the persons present at this meeting do form themselves into a society for that piu-pose, and that the following rules be adopted.' A body of rules, which had been settled among the Eclectic friends at St. John's Vestry, and were no doubt substantially the twenty-one which stand in the Minutes, were submitted to the meeting and with whatever alterations accepted. The Society being now constituted decided to make known their purpose to the Primate, the Diocesan, and that Church Society whose objects most nearly resembled their own, and this was expressed in another resolution : — (4) ' That a Deputation be sent from this Society to the Archbishop of Canterbury as Metropolitan, the Bishop of London as Diocesan, and the Bishop of Durham as Chairman of the Mission Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, with a copy of the rules of the Society and a respectfol letter.' ' So in the Minutes. Mr. Venn, in his Founders, suggests ' East ' as a correction. 38 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap.h. 3 The Society then proceeded to elect their officers and Com- mittee. Mr. Wilberforee was fixed upon for President ; and for Vice-presidents the following: — Sir Eichard Hill, Bart., M.P. ; Vice-Admiral Gambler ; Charles Grant, Esq. ; Henry Hoare, Esq. ; Edward Parry, Esq. ; Samuel Thornton, Esq., M.P. The Treasurer was Henry Thornton, Esq., M.P. For the Committee were chosen eleven out of the sixteen clergymen present at the m6eting and all the nine laymen. Eour others who were not there made up twenty-four. The entire body then stood thus : — Thirteen Clerical Members : W. J. Abdy, E. Cecil,' E. Cuthbert, J. Davies, H. Foster, W. Goode, J. Newton, J. W. Peers, G. Pattrick, J. Pratt, T. Scott, J. Venn, B. Woodd. Eleven Lay Members : J. Bacon, J. Brasier, W. Cardale, N. Downer, C. Elliott, J. Jowett, A. Martin, J. Pearson, H. Stokes, E. Venn, W. Wilson. The Minutes of April 12 ended thus : — ' The General Com- mittee were then desired to hold their first meeting on Monday next at one o'clock precisely at the same place, and the General Meeting adjourned to Monday, May 20, at this place, to meet at twelve o'clock precisely.' 3. First Committee Meeting. This was held at the Castle and Falcon, on Monday, April 15, 1799, there being present the Eev. J. Venn (Chairman), Sir Eichard Hill (Vice-president), Mr. Samuel Thornton (Vice-presi- dent), the Eevs. Abdy, Cuthbert, Davies, Foster, Goode, Newton, Peers, Pratt, Scott, Woodd ; Messrs. Bacon, Downer, Elliott, Jowett, Stokes. The position of Chairman, occupied by Mr. Venn at this and at all the earliest meetings, indicates the influential part he had hitherto taken, and the confidence reposed in his zeal and judgment. Sir Eichard Hill and Mr. Samuel Thornton were there to testify in person their readiness to accept the office to which they had been chosen. Letters of acceptance were read from Mr. Grant, Mr. Hoare, and Mr. Henry Thornton. Mr. WUberforce, who had been nominated Presi- dent, wrote to express hesitation and a desire for time to con- sider. We observe no mention made of Admiral Gambler and Mr. Parry. Mr. Scott was requested to act as temporary Secretary, a testimony paid to his qualities as a man of business and energy. Venn and Scott were evidently the principal leaders in the movement, and to them, humanly speaking, is to be ascribed the success with which it issued from its early diffi- culties. The Secretary was, and is, a functionary of the Com- mittee only ; the President and the Treasurer of the Society. One of the first necessities was the Committee of Accounts, for which were nominated Messrs. Brasier, Downer, Elliott, E. Venn, and Wilson, who were to receive subscriptions, and pay " It appears from the Minutes that Mr. Cecil declined, leaving the acting mem- bers only twenty-three. CHAP. II. 4] Contemporary Notice, 1799. 39 them into the banks of Messrs. Down, Thornton and Co., and Messrs. Dorien, Martin and Co. They were also desired to look out for a Deputy Secretary. Eule XIV., on the procedure to be observed in the appoint- ment of a missionary, was now settled, having been left in a skeleton form on April 12. The amended form is that given in the printed editions of 1799 and 1801.' Five hundred copies of the amended Eules were to be printed for the Committee to circulate among their friends. Mr. Venn and Mr. Scott were requested to draw up a form of prayer to be used by the Committees at their meetings. At the present meeting were announced the first two recorded contributions, lOOL each from Mr. Ambrose Martin the banker and Mr. George "Wolff. The latter, whose business house was in America Square, not far from the Tower, was Danish Consul- General and a friend of the Thorntons. His country house was on Balham Hill, near Clapham Common, and he went to Clapham Church.^ 4. A Contemporary Notice. The earliest outside mention of the Society that we have met occurs in the Missionary Magazine ' of May 20, 1799, where the following intelHgence is prominently given : — ' New Missionary Society. ' A Society for Missions, we understand, is just instituted in London by some members of the Church of England. Nothing unfriendly to the present London Missionary Society is intended by this institution, nor will it in the least, we are assured, interfere with it as to its objects, or at all materially as to its funds. A set of men will thus be broughtinto action, according to their own principles and consistently with their own engagements, who could not ia either respect have unreservedly and openly united with the present Missionary Society ; and a set of people will no doubt contribute to this whose predilection for the Church, and dislike to Methodists and Dissenters, would have effectually kept them from aiding the other.' There were at this time two English periodicals which we might have expected would take some notice of the new Society, but both were silent, as was also the newspaper press, so far as we have been able to find. One of the two, and the only religious periodical managed by Churchmen, was Zion's Trumpet (afterwards issued as The Christian Guardian), published at Bristol under the care of Mr. Biddulph's friends. It was chiefly didactic, and gave but little news. The other was the Evangeli- ' See the Eules in Appendix B., p. 646. ' There, in 1815, he attended the funeral of Mr. Henry Thornton, whose death he deeply felt. He lived to the age of ninety-two, and died at Balham Hill, March 8, 1828. His daughter Martha Anne, wife of Mr. Edward Poore, was the mother of Sir Edward Poore, second Bart. ' This early missionary periodical, the organ of no particular society, began July 18, 1796. It was published monthly at Edinburgh, and is now, we believe, rather scarce. The first nine volumes are in the Society's library. 'The passage in the text was given in the Church Missionary Intelligencer for February 1892, p. 152. 40 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. ii. 5 cal Magazine, under mixed management. Missions were pro- minent in its pages, and more particularly those of the London Missionary Society, but all through 1799 it made no allusion to the birth of the new institution. The Christian Observer had not yet been projected. In this absence of all mention in the English press, the notification in Scotland is particularly ob- servable. 5. More Early Proceedings and a General Meeting. At the second Committee Meeting, held at the Castle and Falcon, on Monday, May 20, 1799, there were present Eev. J. Venn (Chairman), Mr. Grant (Vice-President), Eevs. Abdy, Cuth- bert, Davies, Foster, Goode, Newton, Pattrick, Peers, Pratt, Scott ; Messrs. Bacon, Downer, Elliott, Jowett, Pearson, Wilson. The Committee of Accounts reported that they had found no suitable place in which the General Meeting ' could be held, and it was decided to hold it in the New London Tavern, Cheapside, on the 27th. In consequence of a letter from Mr. Wilberforce, it was re- solved to recommend to the General Meetiag on the 27th to waive the election of a President for the present, and make the number of Vice-Presidents seven. At this meeting the name ^ of The Society for Missions to Africa and the East was proposed for future consideration. The Committee of Correspondence was also now elected, and the following members composed it : — The Eevs. Foster, Goode, Pratt, Scott, Venn, Woodd; Messrs. H. Thornton, C. Grant, J. Bacon. Thus two of the magnates of the Society were brought into a share of its practical business, and more com- petent men could not have been thought of ; Mr. Thornton representing Africa, and Mr. Grant the East. How Mr. Scott the Secretary viewed the prospect, both as to funds and as to the grand difficulty, the missionary, is disclosed ia the following letter to a friend in Scotland, dated Chapel Street, May 25, 1799 :— ' "We have set on foot a new Society for Missions to Africa and the East, by members of the Established Church ; and as I am a party greatly con- cerned, and have accepted the office of Secretary, it occupies a great deal of my time. Probably we shall engage a set of men (to support it), and draw most of our resources, from quarters vi^hich are out of the reach of other societies. If you know any one of a heroical spirit in the cause of Christ and of souls, he might here have an opportunity of exerting himself in that best of services.' ' The third Committee Meeting, at New London Tavern, Cheapside, May 27, present : Eevs. Venn (Chairman), Abdy, Goode, Davies, Foster, Newton, Peers, Pratt, Scott; Messrs. Bacon, Brasier, Elliott, Jowett, Wilson, was held at eleven o'clock, in view of the General Meeting, which was to assemble in the ' Appointed on April 12 for this day. " Omitted on April 12. ' Soott'B Letters and Papers, 1824, p. 224. CHAP. 11. 5] Second General Meeting, 1199. 41 same place at one. It was now decided to recommend the title Society for Missions to Africa and the East. One important piece of business done at this meeting was the election, as permitted by the Kules, of a body of Country Mem- bers of the Committee.' The following twelve clergymen and two laymen, recommended "by the Committee of Correspondence, which had previously sat in the same place the same day, were fixed on : — The Eevs. Edward Burn, of Birmingham ; T. T. Biddulph, Bristol ; Dr. Coulthurst, Halifax ; Isaac Crouch, Ox- ford ; Thomas Dikes, Hull ; Edward Edwards, Lynn Eegis ; Dr. Hawker, Plymouth ; William Kichardson, York ; Thomas Eobin- son, Leicester ; Charles Simeon, Cambridge ; James Stillingfleet, Hotham ; Eobert Storry, Colchester ; Mr. Thomas Babington, Eothley Temple, Leicester ; and Mr. William Hey, Leeds. In this list, which we shall see enlarged at a subsequent Committee, both Universities were represented, and ten important towns. There were also a rural clergyman and a county magnate. It was thus sought to obtain influential country supporters and correspondents, by whom the provinces might be canvassed, and through whom missionary candidates might be heard of. The appointments, however, were made without any previous com- munication with the elected, nor were these immediately in- formed of the honour conferred on them ; and when they came to be, the replies were not in every instance all that was hoped. At this meeting Mr. Goode made a kind offer of his study for the use of the Committee, and it was thankfully accepted. The- General Meeting of the Society, reckoned the second, held at the same place at one, was attended by seventeen clergy- men and eight laymen : Eev. J. Venn (Chan-man) , Vice- Admiral Gambler and Sir Eichard Hill (Vice-Presidents) ; Eevs. Abdy, Davies, Foster, Goode, Peers, Pratt, Scott, members of the Committee ; Messrs. Bacon, Brasier, Elliott, J. Jowett, Martin, W. Wilson, lay members of the Committee ; Eevs. J. Mayor of Shawbury, H. G. Watkins, W. B. Williams of High Wycombe ; Messrs. Thomas Atkinson of Huddersfield, Dartnell, Dornford, Dr. Fearon, Benjamin Jowett, Joseph Mayor, members or friends of the Society. Such was the first of the series of those meetings which have now come to fill Exeter Hall and St. James's Hall. A parlour lined round with five-and-twenty chairs would have held it. The meeting could not anyhow at that time, and in its special circumstances, have been even moderately large. It was, by the Eules,^ a gathering of ' members,' and six weeks after the birth- day the subscriptions which entitled to membership had hardly begun to flow in. Some of those present, though afterwards members, were not members then. The meeting did not assemble to hear oratory ; it was not preceded by a sermon ; it contained ' The idea of country members was not new. The Eclectic Society had a similar branch. ' Bule IV. 42 History of the Church Missionary Society, [ch^p. n. 5 no ladies. Its object was to transact a little necessary and formal business; the members were summoned individually through the post, and three were there who had come up from the country— Bucks, Salop, and Yorkshire. It is one, and not the least, of the lines of interest in the history we are tracing to watch how an annual C.M.S. meeting of the modern type grew ; but at present we are only at the seed- sowing- What, then, was the business of this occasion ? The title ' Society for Missions to Africa and the East ' ' was decided on, a very cumbrous one, which never prevailed colloquially; no one ever going further than ' Society for Missions,' or ' Missions Society,' and sometimes it was ' The New Missionary Society.' By degrees ' Church Missionary Society ' grew into use, but not until 1812 did the regular of&cial style begin to be ' Church Mis- sionary Society for Africa and the East.' ^ Another thing done was making the President and six Vice- Presidents seven Governors ; but the original designations some years later were restored. In the room of Mr. Cecil, who was elected one of the Committee on April 12, but was obliged to decline on account of the ' unconfirmed ' state of his health, the Eev. Watts Wilkinson was proposed and accepted, but, as it appears, without any previous communication with him. In Eule XX. there were added the words (suggested by Sir Eichard Hill) ' Protestant ' and * of propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ.' 3 It is worth noting finally that the Committee were requested to have printed as soon as possible, for general circulation, a proper account of the nature of the Society. The various resolutions, it need not be said, had all been previously settled in Committee. The present meeting was, in fact, mainly the Committee itself, with a sprinkling of visitors. Our best efforts to discover whereabouts in Cheapside was the New London Tavern, to which this meeting introduces us, and which for several years continued to be the Society's ' Exeter Hall,' have been fruitless. In the old annual Picture of London and in the Directories it occurs from 1802 to 1825 as a tavern and coffee-house, kept by Lewis, for assemblies, large dinner- parties, clubs, &c., in Cheapside, but invariably without a number. One book on London" puts it in Bishopsgate Street, opposite the Church of St. Martin Outwich, most erroneously identifying it with the City of London Tavern, on the site of which was afterwards built the Wesleyan Centenary House. ' Left blank on April 12 ; fixed on at the second Committee meeting, May 20. ' In 1812 the designation was somewhat ambiguous, the title-page of the Sermon retaining the old form, ' Society for Missions to Africa and the East insti- tuted by members of the Established Church,' while the title-page of the entire volume of which the Sermon forms a part, reads, ' Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East.' The changes observable in 1813 are noticed in the remarks appended to the Bules of 1799, Appendix B., p. 649. " The Eules thus amended are given in Appendix B. * History of London, by Thomas Allen, 1827 (in 4 vols.), iii. p. 152. CHA.P. II. 6] St. Andrew Wardrobe Rectory, 1799. 43 6. The Society's First Home. On Monday evening, June 17, at seven o'clock, the General Committee find themselves for the first time assembled in Mr. Goode's study, St. Andrew's Eectory, in consequence of his friendly offer of accommodation at the previous meeting. The house, which stood, and yet stands, on St. Andrew's Hill, at the north-west corner of the churchyard, was built by Mr. Eomaine, on taking possession of his living in 1766. What that room was to Eomaine as a Bible student, as an interceder for the whole Church, for his own flock, for his personal friends, can never be forgotten by any reader of his letters. A truly fitting prepara- tion were such exercises for that further chapter in the history of the rectory which reached from the day above mentioned to January 3, 1812, covering twelve years and a half, a period of many prayerful efforts to send forth preachers of the holy volume to Africa and the East. A photograph of the chamber, showing the above dates, which were inscribed within recent years on its chimney-piece, is well known to visitors of the Church Missionary House.' It is the West African Church which has the principal reason to regard the rectory-house of Eomaine and Goode as a holy place in its history. The India Missions of the Society made their grand start about the time that the Committee moved into Salisbury Square. At this Committee of June 17, 1799, there were present the Eev. J. Venn (Chairman), Mr. Grant (Governor), ^ Eevs. Cuthbert, Davies, Foster, Newton, Pattrick, Peers, Pratt ; Messrs. Bacon, Brasier, Cardale, Elliott, Jowett, Martin, E. Venn, Wilson ; Visitor, Eev. E. Burn of Birmingham. The principal business was the acceptance of a friendly offer spontaneously made by the Cambridge Arabic Professor, the Eev. Joseph Dacre Carlyle, to assist in the instruction of the Society's missionaries in the Arabic tongue. The Professor's early death occurred before the Society was in a position to profit by his kindness.' To this meeting was submitted for approval by the Committee of Correspondence a short but very interesting pamphlet in manuscript, which has not, after being printed, been smothered in oblivion among ephemeral circulars and appeals that were useful for an occasion. Its title was An Account of a Society for Missions to Africa and the East, and it was from the pen of Mr. Venn for the Committee of Correspondence, before whom it ' For an engraving of it see C.M. Gleaner for April 1887, p. 38. The photo- graph was taken in July 1886, after the death of the Bev. Charles Frederick Chase the Eeotor, and presented to the Society by Mrs. Chase before her removal from the rectory. 2 Improperly designated Vice-President in the Minutes here, and again on December 2. ' He died April 12, 1804, at the age of forty-five, having been professor since 1795. He was also Chancellor of the Diocese of Carlisle from 1795. 44 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. n. 6 was laid on June 10, when that body sat at Mr. Pratt's in Doughty Street. The idea had originated in the General Com- mittee of May 27, and was the same day proposed to the General Meeting, which recommended its being proceeded with. It was not any historical narrative. Altogether omitting facts, dates, and names, which we should certainly now have been glad of, this Account confines itself to principles and plans ; in which respect it is true to its original intention, namely, as more defi- nitely expressed in the Minutes, to set forth an account of the nature of the Society.^ As to principles more will be said presently. As to particular plans and methods, where expediency might have scope, one was declared which the Committee afterwards found themselves obliged to defend from the objections of their own supporters. According to this, if it were found impracticable to get mis- sionaries in holy orders, there were to be sent out lay eatechists, whose ofiice as teachers was defended at length by the example of the early church, and by the successful practice of the S.P.C.K. The Account said nothing of any ministerial function besides that of teaching ; but the Rules, a printed copy of which was annexed to it, permitted the eatechists to baptize, though only in cases of urgency, and this proposal was supported by a quotation from Hooker.^ The point created a real and anxious difficulty, but, as it proved, only a temporary one, and a way out of it unex- pectedly offered, as we shall find. In other respects the Account dealt with fundamental matter, independent of all particular plans, on which the Society's friends never hesitated, never changed. It was in reality, and no doubt it was intended to be, the Society's manifesto to the public and the Church, exhibiting an official and authentic expression of those foundation truths (as they were held to be) on which all their future work was to be built, and which alone justified the Society's existence. By evangeUcal principles as there stated, and not by any statement of them by others — foes perhaps — they would be judged in the possible controversies that were before them ; by those principles their agents were to reckon themselves in conscience bound ; and by them future generations of the Society would be able to measure whether or not they were in plomb with the minds of their founders. The im- portance therefore of this document cannot well be overrated. The colleagues in the Committee of Correspondence to whom the Eector of Clapham submitted his draft were Scott, Goode, Pratt, Bacon the sculptor, and Mr. Grant. It was their minds as well as his own that the clear statements, well chosen points, and measured language of this document expressed ; and many others at the present day, who desire to be reckoned of their company, might well be thankful for them, quite apart from the ' The Committee of June 17 resolved that 2,000 copies should be printed for distiibutiou : but on this point see more infra, under July 1. < See Bule XVIII. in Appendix B., p. 647. CHAP. II. 7] The Episcopate Approached, 1799. 45 special objects of the Society. The Accownt would be, we think, generally acknowledged a correct exponent of what the wisest evangelical builders of the present time would earnestly desire, and be thankfully content, to see made the basis of all public Church teaching ; and if this be so, the little tract will be re- garded by them a happy memorial of the first Committee held in this historic study.' 7. Letter to the Primate. Committee, July 1, 1799. — Eevs. Venn (Chairman), Cuthbert, Davies, Foster, Goode, Peers, Pratt, Scott ; Messrs. Cardale, Downer, EUiott, Jowett. A letter was read from the Eev. Watts Wilkinson, excusing himself from joining the Committee through want of time.^ It was agreed to subscribe for 400 copies of the Arabic Bible about to be printed under the inspection of Professor Carlyle, towards which subscription a donation of lOOZ. had been offered by Mr. Neale, of St. Paul's Churchyard.^ It was also decided that 4,000 (instead of 2,000) of the Accovmt and Rules should be printed.'' But the most anxious business of the meeting was the drawing up of a letter to the Archbishop (Moore), the Bishop of London (Porteus), and the Bishop of Durham (Shute Barrington), according to the fourth Eesolution of April 12. The deputation to carry it consisted of Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Grant, and Mr. Venn, who were also to present a copy of the Accownt and the Rules, not yet struck off (but doubtless in proof). The letter ran: — ' To His Grace the ArchbisJwp of Canterbury, ' London, July 1, 1799. ' May it please your Grace — ' The Committee of a Society now forming for Missions to Africa and the East have sent a deputation of their members to present, in the most respect- ful manner, to your Grace, as Metropolitan, a copy of the Rules which they have framed, together with the Account of the nature of their * Institution, which is designed for publication. They humbly trust that your Grace wUl be pleased favourably to regard this attempt to extend the benefits of Christianity, an attempt peculiarly necessary at a period in which the most zealous and systematic efforts have been made to eradicate the Christian faith. ' Printed in Appendix C. ' He had been proposed and accepted at the General Meeting on May 27, on the strength of which it must have been that his name occurs in the earliest printed list of the Committee, that of 1799 ; printed, too, after his refusal had been notified, no doubt because no one had any authority to remove it before the next General Meeting. ' At No 8, opposite the south-west corner of the Cathedral, since swallowed up in the woollen warehouses of Messrs. Pawson. Mr. James Neale, an intimate friend of Fletcher, Bomaine, Newton, and Cecil, was an eminent porcelain manufacturer, and died in 1814. His son, Cornelius Neale, whose life was written by the Eev. William Jowett (1833), and whose son was Dr. John- Mason Neale, of Sackville College, historian and hymn-writer, was the Senior Wrangler of 1812, and Second Chancellor's Medallist. * Two thousand copies had been decided for on June 17, p. 44. On this point see later, October 7, p. 48. ' Venn's Founders, p. 11, ' this.' 46 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. n. 8 ' With the utmost submission and reverence they beg leave to subscribe themselves ' Your Grace's most obedient humble servants, ' Signed, on behalf of the Committee, ' John Venn, Chairman.' ' This letter, it will be observed, does not ask the fathers of the Church for their counsel, their co-operation, or their permis- sion. EespectfuUy and dutifully it acquaints them with an enterprise which a number of individual friends have settled to undertake on their own principles clearly laid down. It desires their approbation and encouragement, which would be sincerely valued, and would be considered a great support to their efforts. This assumption of an independent, however respectful, attitude it is very important that we should bear in mind, and if we lose sight of it we shall neither understand the course of events, nor gauge the action of the Society, nor (we are bound to add) do full justice to the Governors of the Church. 8. Delays. For above twelve months Mr. Wilberforce's deputation (as we may call it) to the three prelates remained on foot, and at that amount of delay there can be no reasonable wonder ; for since the Archbishop had to consult his brethren, the Society was sub- stantially approaching the whole episcopate, and that in detail, as the bishops did not in those times often meet, except during the Session of Parliament. The Committee, however, was not reduced for some months to absolute inaction, as will appear from a review of the Minutes, which we now resume. Committee, Aug. 5, 1799. — Kevs. Venn (Chairman), Davies, Peers, Pratt, Scott, Woodd ; Messrs. Brasier, Cardale, Downer, Martin, E. Venn, Wilson. — News had recently arrived that the London Missionary Society's vessel, the Duff, had been captured at sea, and the business done at this meeting was a prompt levy by the members of the Committee among tliemselves of above 501., to be sent as an expression of condolence and sympathy ; and, engaging their absent colleagues for another similar sum, they forwarded through Mr. Brasier one hundred guineas, with- out the loss of a moment. The generous act was no business done for their own Society, and yet it was truly in its interest ; for there can be no doubt that members of the London Missionary Society, which was first in the field, and was framed on an un- denominational basis, were much disappointed that their con- stituents numbered so few Churchmen, and were feeling sore at the starting of a Churchman's Society, which they could not help regarding as a rival and an obstacle. Committee, September 2, 1799. — Eevs. Woodd (Chairman), ' This letter is printed in the Life of Josiah Pratt, p. 15, and in Venn's Founders,' Tp. 11. CHAP. II. 8] Delays, 1199. 47 Pattrick, Peers, Pratt, Scott ; Messrs. Brasier, Jowett, Martin, Pearson, Stokes, E. Venn. — Since the meeting of August 5, the first removal by death had occurred, that of Mr. Bacon, one of the Correspondence Committee. The Minutes of this meeting contain no allusion to the event. A letter of cordial thanks was read from Mr. Joseph Hard- castle, of Hatcham House, Treasurer of the London Missionary- Society, thoroughly appreciating the brotherly spirit of the sup- posed rivals. The letter still exists. The Committee's full hundred guineas had been made up. The following letter from the Eev. J. Venn to the Eev. Thomas Scott, communicating some news of the deputation, was read : — ' 1799, August 28.^ ' As soon as the Archbishop returned Mr. WUberforee waited upon him, and had a long conversation with him respecting the Society, and the persons by whom it was set on foot. The Archbishop was very candid,'^ and appeared to be favourably disposed ; but, as might be expected, he was cautious not to commit himself till he was more particularly acquainted with the subject. He said that he should be glad to receive the deputation at any time.' September 28, 1799, Mr. Scott, in a private letter ' to a friend in the North, remarked : — I do not think any of the things which have happened to the London'' Missionary Society will eventually injure the cause of missions. I really foretold, at least foreboded and privately uttered my forebodings, that such would be the event of their over sanguine and hasty, though well meant, proceedings. The Apostles had no missionary ship worth so many thousands as to tempt depredators. Armed and rich missionaries, as those at Otaheite were, might expect to be plundered and overpowered, as much as a man in London unprotected by law who was loaded with gold and jewels. It must be so without miracles. I said they were too rich to be safe, or to have any prospect of safety; and their firearms and military exercise were like a declaration of war. The seven that are left behind are exactly in the condition I should have wished them to have been in at first landing ; nothing to trust to for protection and provision but the Lord, and under Him the favour He may give them with the people. But of almost all places these islands are the last I should have selected. You may depend upon it that our new Society is not heedlessly losing time. We cast anchor for a whUe, to avoid running on rocks, but we mean soon to go on ; and we would wish not to make more haste than good speed. We mean to begin on a small scale and afterwards to enlarge it if we can, and we have no fear of not getting money if the Lord but form us missionaries. One thing we have done. As soon as we heard that the Duff was taken we, as individuals of the Committee, sent the Missionary Society a hundred guineas, as a token of regard and con- dolence ; which has tended greatly to conciliate them and to convince them that we are coadjutors, not rivals. The world is under obligations to that Society ; but their love and zeal have not been directed by proportionable wisdom. They will profit by their losses, and we shall profit by their mistakes. Committee, October 7. — Mr. Martin (Chairman), Eevs. Abdy, Cuthbert, Davies, Foster, Goode, Newton, Peers, Pratt, Scott, ' Life of Pratt, p. 16. ^ A word then freguently meaning friendly and considerate. ' Scott's Letters and Papers, 1824, p. 164. ■* This title must now have becorae current. 48 History of the Church Missionary Society. [cHip. n. 8 J. Venn, Mr. Grant. — The deputation was still making but slow progress; the three bishops, considering the Society's object im- portant, were going to confer with their brethren. The Episcopate was, in short, about to be consulted. Committee business was ac- cordingly deferred until something more definite was reported ; except that 500 copies of the Account of the Society (which the Archbishop had in proof) were to be printed for private circulation by the Committee among their friends. The edition of 4,000 ordered on July 1 had therefore been in abeyance, and we are to consider that the Account and the Bules, often spoken of as ' the pamphlet,' now extant in fae-simile,' as the earliest publication of the Society, and dated 1799, were at length struck off in an impression of 500 about October 12, 1799. It was also decided to forward a printed letter to those who had been elected country members (and were apparently not yet informed of the fact), letting them understand more particularly what was expected of them. Every possible endeavour was also to be made to find missionary candidates. Thus, while on the one hand the Episcopate at large were being appealed to for countenance, earnest clergymen and laymen were, on the other, being canvassed everywhere for their co-operation. Committee, November 4. — Eevs. Venn (Chairman), Abdy, Cuthbert, Foster, Goode, Pattrick, Peers, Pratt, Scott, Woodd ; Messrs. Cardale, Downer. — To assist the Committee in acquiring missionary information, the following books were to be pro- cured : — Life of David Brainerd, Crantz's Greenland, LochieV? Moravian Missions to America, Moravian Periodical Accounts, Baptist Periodical Accounts, Life of Xavier, Danish Conferences on the Tranquebar Missions, Missionary Magazine, Home's Let- ters on Missions, Jesuits' Missions in Paraguay, Gillie's Collections, Sierra Leone Company Beports, History of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. A memorial for educating Native African children, with a view to their becoming missionaries to their countrymen, was read by the Eev. J. Venn, and referred to the next meeting. The most important business done this day was a resolution to attempt, as soon as convenient, a mission to Sierra Leone. Thus early was the Committee's attention fixed on that spot of West Africa. They did not then need their missionary books to discover to them the opening there offered, and it would be sur- prising if it were not already in their minds when they first adopted in their title the words ' Africa and the East.' The Chairman of the Company was on the Correspondence Com- mittee of the Society, while many of the shareholders were members of the General Committee.^ It must have become evident by 1799, after seven years' experience, that the Christianisation of their colony was too ' The Society poBsessea a single copy of the original. = Supra, p. 18. CHAP. II. 8] Delays, 1799. 49 ifficult a task to be worked out by a Board of Directors in Birchin Lane ; and to that feeling, brought to a point by the death of their ordained chaplain,' and to their failure in six months to procure a successor, may be traced, we are inclined to think, the resolution passed in St. Ann's Bectory on this November 4, 1799. It might have seemed to those who had influence in both the Society and the Company that to com- bine somehow the offices of chaplain and missionary within the colony and on its frontier, at least for a beginning, would, in some degree, mitigate a common difficulty, serve a common interest, and secure the willing co-operation of officials abroad. It happened, at all events, that the missionaries, on their arrival in Africa, found themselves very acceptable as temporary chaplains. Before proceeding to the December Committee meeting we pause a moment to introduce more particularly the youthful Africans mentioned in the minutes now in hand. They were never under the Church Missionary Society, but they are fre- quently referred to in these early years with some sanguine hope that they were destined to advance the cause which the Society and the Company alike had so much at heart. In 1799 Mr. Zachary Macaulay, on retiring from the Gover- norship of Sierra Leone and quitting the colony, took home with him twenty-five children, four of them girls, who had been under his superintendence in the schools.^ They were received into the patronage of the Sierra Leone Company, which promoted a private subscription for their maintenance and education, and for the education of other Africans, both in this country and in Africa, thus originating the Society for the Education of Africans.' The boys were placed at Clapham, under a master procured for them, Mr. William Greaves, while the girls were taken charge of by a lady at Battersea, at her own expense. As might have been expected, the friends of the Society for Missions were not indifferent to this hopeful experiment, and we find Mr. Newton visiting the boys as early as October, 1799, when he wrote : — ' Last week I was at Clapham, and saw the twenty African black-birds. The girls were at Battersea, out of my reach. When I went into the school ' The Eev. John Clark, Chaplain of Sierra Leone, died in the colony, December 3, 1798. He was of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and having been ordained as Chaplain in London, sailed with Governor Macaulay, with whom he arrived out on March 19, 1796. His death was announced in the Evangelical Magazine, May 1799, p. 218, and in the Missionary Magazine, May 20, 1799, pp. 218, 232, where some of the above particulars are stated. ^ Annual Report of the Sierra Leone Company, March 26, 1801, pp. 22, 49. Their arrival in England was announced in the Missionary Magazine for June 17, 1799, which shows Mr. Macaulay's own approximate arrival, which we have found nowhere else. The same periodical for April 21, 1800, mentions only three girls. ^ A list of the directors and subscribers is given in the Sierra Leone Com- pany's Report, referred to in the previous note, pp. 50, 53. 50 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. n. 8 I said Lemmi, which is, being interpreted, " How do you do ? " Two or three answered Bah, that is, " I thank you ! " by which I knew that they had some knowledge of the language of Sherboro', the scene of my bondage. I am told the boys came forward apace, behave well, and seem very happy, especially when they see Mr. Macaulay.' ' Another view of these Africans is recorded by an eye-witness, who accompanied Mr. Macaulay one Sunday afternoon to hear them examined in the Bible. His account of the scene, which occurred in or about 1800, but was not printed until many years afterwards in the Christian Observer,'^ proceeds thus : — ' They stood in a semicircle round Mr. Macaulay while he questioned them in Scripture history. Mr. Henry Thornton stood by Mr. Macaulay's side, evidently much interested in the group before him, while Mr. Wilber- force, on the outside of the group, went from boy to boy, patting them on the shoulder as they gave good answers to the questions, and giving them a few words of encouragement and an admonition to teach the same truths to their countrymen.' ^ After four or five years, this account goes on to state, some of the number expressed a wish to receive Christian Baptism, and accordingly the Clapham register contains the entries of ten of them baptized by the Eev. John Venn, two on February 10, 1805, and eight on May 12 following.* Committee, December 2, 1799. — Mr. Cardale (Chairman) ; Mr. Grant (Governor) ; ^ Eevs. Abdy, Cuthbert, Foster, Goode, Pat- trick, Pratt, Scott ; Messrs. Downer, Elliott, Martin. — Mr. John Jowett, elected to the Committee of Correspondence, vice Mr. Bacon deceased. The consideration of the memorial concerning African children deferred. The following clergymen were elected new country members of the Committee : — James Vaughan of Bristol : WiUiam Tandey of Bristol ; Thomas Fry of Oxford ; Thomas Jones of Creaton ; Matthew Powley of Dewsbury ; Christopher Stephenson of Olney; Melvill^ Home of Maccles- field ; John Fawcett of Carlisle ; William Day of Bengeworth ; John Mayor of Shawbury ; William Terrot of Haddington ; Eobert Jarratt of Wellington, Somerset ; George West of Stoke by Guildford, Surrey. Committee, January 6, 1800. — Eevs. Venn (Chairman), Davies, Foster, Goode, Newton, Pattrick, Peers, Scott ; Messrs. Brasier and Downer. — Letter from Eev. Thomas Jones of Creaton, de- scribing a young tradesman of Chester as a possible missionary candidate. The memorial concerning African children referred to the Committee of Correspondence. Several letters from country members read.^ ' Bull's Life of Newton, p. 343. ' November 1872, p. 806. ' This quotation will also be found in the Memoir of Rev. H. Venn, Secretary, p. 6. ■• Their names, parentage, and localities, as recorded in these entries, will be found in Appendix D., p. 653. " Wrongly ' V.P.' in the minutes. " We have seen this spelling, and also Melville, in Mr. Home's letters. In his publications he wrote Melville latterly. ' A section will be devoted to these letters further on, p. 55. CHAP. II. 8] Delays, 1800. 51 Committee, February 10, 1800. — Eevs. Venn (Chairman), Abdy, Foster, Goode, Pratt, Scott ; Mr. Martin. — A letter from the Eev. J. Mayor of Shawbury, mentioning a possible mis- sionary candidate. A letter from the Eev. John Fawcett of Carlisle, describing two, but their mothers would object. The books purchased, according to a previous minute, directed to be bound and labelled as the Society's property, and Mr. Goode appointed librarian. Thus commences the history of the Society's library. Two hundred and fifty copies of the ' pamphlet ' were to be printed for the Society.' Committee, March 3. — Eevs. Foster (Chairman), Abdy, Cuthbert, Davies, Goode, Pratt, Scott ; Messrs. Downer, Elliott, E.Venn. — Mr. John Jowett was dead since the previous meet- ing ; but the minutes do not refer to the subject. Mr. Wilber- force reported to be using every proper endeavour to obtain an answer from the bishops. Committee, April 7. — Eevs. Venn (Chairman), Foster, Goode, Newton, Pattrick, Scott, Woodd ; Messrs. Downer, Elliott, E. Venn. — The deputation to the bishops to be requested to endeavour to procure an answer ; and if one should arrive in time, it be mentioned in the letters summoning the next meet- ing, so as to secure a larger attendance. Committee, May 5. — Present : Eev. J. Newton and Mr. J. Pearson. As the attendance was insufficient, no business was done. The letters of summons reported no answer from the bishops, and the members must have thought it useless to attend. This was the first instance of the Committee failing to make a quorum, and the advancement of their work has come to a pause. It was now about Anniversary time ; ^ but a general meeting that year was, under the present circumstances, out of the question, and the minutes refer to none. Nor was any Committee meeting summoned for June. Committee, July 7. — Present : Eevs. Abdy and Scott, and Messrs. Martin and Pearson. Again, and for the same reason, no quorum, no business. Three blank Committee days had now passed, and in this dead- lock the secretary, on July 12, in a humour of impatience, thus expressed himself in a private letter to his son : ' The Missionary Society lies off The Bishop and his Clerks, where, if not wrecked, it may rot, for what I can see. They return no answer, and, as I foresaw, we are all nonplussed.' ' ' Five hundred copies were, on October 7, 1799, ordered to be printed. ^ Whit Tuesday was fixed by the Committee on March 2, 1801, and began as the Anniversary day that year. ^ Venn's Founders, p. 13. We have not found this passage in Scott's Life, or in Scott's Letters and Papers. s 2 52 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. h. 9 9. The Outlook as to Episcopal Support. We have seen that the founders of the Church Missionary Society, in the vestry of St. John's Chapel, resolved to base their vfhole enterprise upon evangelical principles, in the sense they understood that expression. Every single step in their proceed- ings from April 12, 1799, indicates an unswerving adherence to the original intention ; and now while the Society, in the persons of its deputies, stands in the presence of the episcopate, this point was in the very forefront. Let us survey the situation. The letter addressed to the Archbishop was dated July 1, 1799. At the latter end of August, as soqn as his Grace returned from his holidays and Mr. Wilberforce could see him, there was a long con- versation respecting the Society and the persons by whom it was set on foot. The Archbishop had also in his hands the Society's unpublished Account of itself, which clearly sot forth both its doctrinal view and its proposed plan of operations — the catechist plan. It becomes therefore a vital point in any history of this Society that the sentiments of the heads of the Church at this time, in regard to that class of their clergy who were coming forward in this missionary project, should be as far as possible understood. A few quotations dating about the period will, we think, sufficiently answer this end. Some time in the earlier part of 1799 (as will presently appear), just therefore while the founders of the Society were putting their scheme into shape at the Eclectic meetings, there occurred a free conversation between Mr. Pitt and Mr. Wilber- force. A memorandum of it, preserved by the latter, runs as follows : — ' We spent some hours together at a tete-a-tete supper, and I confess I never till then knew how deep a prejudice his mind had conceived against the class of clergy to whom he knev7 me to be attached. It was in vain that I mentioned to him Mr. Robinson of Leicester, Mr. Eichardson of York, Mr. Milner of Hull, Mr. Atkinson of Leeds, and others of similar principles ; his language was such as to imply that he thought ill of their moral character, and it clearly appeared that the prejudice arose out of the confidence he reposed in the Bishop of Lincoln.' I remember proposing to him to employ any friend, whose mind should not have already received a bias on either side, to visit the several places I had mentioned, to inquire into their characters, and to ascertain the prmciples and conduct of their adherents, adding my confident persuasion that both their moral and poUtical principles would be found favourable to the peace and good order of society ; indeed, I went further, and alleged that they were in general friendly to his adminis- tration, from believing these to be promoted by its continuance. All however was of no avail.' '' ' Dr. Pretyman Tomline, Pitt's early tutor and subsequently his biographer. ^ This memorandum, undated, occurs in the Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, ii. p. 364. It was written just after the abortive attempt of Lord Sidmouth to carry his Protestant Dissenters Ministers Bill, which, strongly protested against by Wilberforce {Life, iii. 507-510) was introduced in the Lords, May 9, 1811, and lost May 21 on the second reading (Pari. Debates, vol. xix. 1,128, xx. 238, 255). CHAP. II. 9] Outlook as to Episcopal Support, 1799-1800. 53 Here we have evidence both of an estimate of the evangelical clergy which had been formed by a bishop, and of an impression existing in the mind of Pitt so deep as to be ineradicable under the efforts of so close a friend as Wilberforce. Bishop Pretyman Tomline, whose diocese equalled three average ones in extent, an intimate of the Premier, was one of the most influential pre- lates of his time. Our next extract brings him and Wilberforce together at an exact date, and one corroborating the period we have assigned to the conversation with Pitt. It is from Wilber- force's diary,' under April 11, 1799, the very day preceding the foundation of the Society. ' The Bishop of Lincoln good- natured ; but Pitt having told me of his thinking the great bulk of the more serious clergy great rascals, not open, I fear.' The prejudices which a public man like Pitt would disclose perhaps only now and then to an intimate were scattered inces- santly through society by that virulent but influential organ the Anti-Jacohin Revieiv, then recently started to counteract French principles. The sore trouble which it was to the evangelical clergy and their sympathisers will be seen from our next two extracts. Mr. Wilberforce to Mr. William Hey of Leeds. "^ January 21, 1800. ' Have you had an account of what has passed respecting this said ' Mission Society? It is rather indicative of the temper of the bench of bishops, and in that view very important. If you have not received it, I will endeavour to find a vacant half-hour for scribbling it to you. While I think of it, let me ask you, does the Anti-Jacohin Beview naeet with many readers in your country ? It is a most mischievous pubhcation, which by dint of assuming a tone of the highest loyalty and attachment to our establishment in Church and State, secures a prejudice in its favour, and has declared war against what I think the most respectable and most useful of all orders of men — the serious clergy of the Church of England. It has of late openly opposed and vilified the Abolitionists ; it has condemned as puritanical the wish expressed by the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor, that the number of ale-houses m.ight be lessened to the proportion reaUy wanted for travellers. But its opposition to the Evangelical Clergy is carried on in so very venomous a way, and with so much impudence, and so little regard to truth, that the mischief- it does is very great indeed. It accuses them in the plainest terms, and sometimes by name, as being disaffected both to Church and State.' The Rev. Thomas Jones of Creaton, Northants, to the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala. February i, 1800. ' The Anti- Jacobin Bevieiv has an amazing run. It defends the whole body of the English clergy except the Methodists ; they are holy every one of them, and the Church itself is pure ; but as for the pestilential Metho- dists, they must be put down. One of the English Bishops has said, " Churoh- methodism is the disease of my diocese ; it shall be the business of my hfe to extirpate it." This I have seen in his own handwriting.' * ' Life of Wilberforce, by his Sons, 1838, ii'. p. 335. ^ Wilberforce'' s Correspondence, i. p. 200. ^ Not previously mentionSid in the letter as printed. We cannot explain the allusion. ■* Eev. John Owen's Memoir of Jones of Creaton, 1851, p. 119. 54 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. n. 9 It is only fair that we should likewise cite what one of the most eminent of the evangelical clergy felt compelled to admit as to the faults on the side of his own friends ; faults which, as they vexed him and some others, must have had their share in pro- voking the displeasure of the bishops at a period when the great Methodist body, after the death of Wesley, were avowing their separation openly before the world. Among the letters of the Society there is one dated April 26, 1802, addressed to their own Secretary, Thomas Scott, by his admiring and affectionate friend, the Eev. Thomas Eobinson of Leicester. It is a most urgent warning against ecclesiastical irregularity, careful' as Scott gene- rally was in matters of that sort. It reads like a private rather than an official letter, yet it is preserved among the records, and we must suppose for some reason. The utmost of Scott's offend- ing was that he had occasionally preached for Eowland Hill ; but that to Eobinson was intolerable, and his admonitions were not spared :— ' Your letter perfectly astonished me, as containing a. confession of your irregula/rity. I had for some years past boasted of you as belonging to oti/r company, and now I find j'ou have been in the habit of preaching at S. Chapel, I am sorry to find myself mistaken ; but am glad that you promise and are firmly resolved to amend your conduct in the future. You know that I was always cJiMrchy, but I am becorae more decidedly so from seeing the mischief of the opposite plan. The times are critical with respect to the state of religion in the Church. Evangelical ministers are increasing around us, but they are watched with a malignant eye. They are evidently more and more hated by the clergy of an opposite description, and I doubt not but plans are in agitation to check them or to drive them out of the Establish- ment. I trust those plans wiU not be carried into effect ; but I say to all my brethren so aimed at : Be more than ever circumspect, maintain a perfect consistency of character, show yourselves true fciends of the Chmrch by avoiding everything which might weaken her interests, and then abide all consequences. I know not that I should have said all that W. B.' has done in the Christian Observer. I would have let Whitefield and Wesley sleep quietly in their graves. They did good, immense good. But the plan they pursued has been too much followed by others and produced unspeakable mischief. You may not be so much aware of it as we pa/risTi priests. But it has introduced sad confusion and insubordination, so that a country clergy- man has no hold of his people. All are masters, and think themselves at perfect hberty to run where they please, to desert him, and to set up a Church for themselves. This is a serious evil. Surely it becomes us to set ourselves firmly to resist it ; and therefore I am decided to observe the line of strict regularity.* You wiU not blame me, though the Rector of Surrey Chapel may possibly do so. With him, I cannot act ; but still I esteem him highly.' Surely if the leaders of the Evangelical clergy were of Eobin- son's stamp — as unquestionably they were — it was the wisest policy of the fathers of the Church to encourage them with all their might, even though they could not fraternise with them. The Society for Missions too, not only was it attracting Church-ward an awakening sentiment of great interest and power, but it was ' Eev. William Richardson of York. The subject of clerical irregularity was discussed about August 5, 1800, at the BUand Clerical Meeting, attended by Eobinson, Simeon, Jones of Creaton, and eleven others. (Jones's letter of August 13, 1800, in the Society's Collection.) CHAP. II. 10] Country Friends, 1799-1800. 55 the very thing that was to serve to bind them mightily to Church regularity and order if they had it not before. By it they became deeply pledged to a vigilant Churchmanship, without which their darhng project, which they had taken exclusively upon their own shoulders, must have been shattered. But the governors of the Church, estimable men as most of them were, did not really know this class of their fellow clergymen ; and there must have been some ground, we are persuaded, for a remark made by Dean Isaac Milner to Mr. Eichardson of York (September 8, 1800) : ' It is a lamentable truth that the Bishops of our country do not understand the real state of religion.' ^ Kind, courteous, learned, in their palaces, they practically knew little indeed of their brethren over whom they were set in the Lord. 10. Coimtry Friends. The first country members of the Committee, chosen on May 27, 1799, began to be informed of their election in the middle of October, the delay arising from the slow progress of the deputation to the Archbishop, and the five hundred copies of the ' pamphlet,' ordered on October 7, must have been with a view to distribution now. Thus, as we may put it, not until six months after its foundation as a London society did our institu- tion really begin to ramify into the remoter parts of England, and by the end of the year, as the Country Members had been doubled on December 2, the process, as far as then contemplated, was well-nigh completed. We have travelled through the records of the London Committee for the first twelve months, and seen their formal minutes of business. Were we now to peruse the letters of the country members and some others, which are still preserved in Salisbury Square, we should find the utterance of the hearts and spirits of them .all, both in town and country. The letters and the minutes are companion records of the original days, not a little interesting to those who value the work and history of the Society. Here we can but briefly touch on the salient features of the provincial correspondence. Mr. Crouch, who dates from Oxford, October 26, 1799, sends the earliest response, as a country member, that we have seen. Warmly sympathetic, he seems to discern no prospect of any- thing to be done at his University, nor does he suggest any encouraging signs whatever. Later on, however, he and Mr. Fry, a Fellow of Lincoln, between them mention a large number in other parts of England, as likely to sympathise and help, those, doubtless, whom they had known, and perhaps had influenced, at Oxford. Mr. Edwards of Lynn, promising a five-guinea sub- scription from himself and engaging his efforts to obtain others, says that the serious Christians of his neighbourhood are mostly ' Mary Milner's Life of Isaac Milner, 1842, p. 219. 56 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. n. lO poor, many of whom are the converts of his ministry, while among the upper classes his exertions seem to have been fruitless. Mr. Bicldulph of Bristol (November 23, 1799) consented some- time before, on Mr. Goode's application, to be a country member, but the burden of ten thousand souls, since laid on his shoulders, compels him, unwillingly, to decline. He suggests in his stead Mr. Tandey, the new rector of the small parish of St. Werburgh, a man of superior influence, wisdom, and judgment ; or Mr. Vaughan, who is wanting employment ; or Mr. Wait, the curate of St. Maryport ; or Mr. Hart, the Vicar of St. George's. The printed papers he has distributed. Mr. Jones of Creaton (December 2, 1799) mentions a young man behind a counter at Chester as a likely missionary, with some valuable qualities. In a second letter (January 1, 1800) his young man has a strong mind, thirsts for knowledge, is a staunch episcopalian, somewhat contemptuous of Dissenters, and wants ordination. On the whole Mr. Jones is more doubtful. We pause a moment to introduce in its place a letter which will show how the Committee's plan of lay missionaries is being regarded in Episcopal quarters : — Mr. Wilberforce to Rev. Thomas Gisborne. Near Bath, December 6, 1799. ' Venn desires me to say that the mission plan has been misunderstood. It was not intended that the Catechists should ordinarily baptize, but only in cases of necessity. This seems to take away the force of the Bishop of Dur- ham's objection to the use made of Hooker's authority.^ Surely there might be some special appointment or designation for persons intended for teaching barbarous heathen. For the service requires qualifications very different from that of a minister in an enlightened, polished country like this, where the truths of Christianity are already known and professed. Do meditate on this, and if you approve, state your opinion to the Bishop of Durham.' - Mr. Burn of Birmingham (December 10, 1799) engages to help in the great work, and promises to interest his friends in every possible way; having already consulted them he finds there is a prospect of their most cordial co-operation. Mr. Stillingfleet of Hotham (December 18, 1799) cannot bring himself to think that he reaches the standard of the qualifications of a country member as described in the Committee's letter, and on that scruple he seems rather inclined to hold back. We do not gather, however, that he refuses. Mr. Vaughan of Bristol (December 31, 1799) expressing his thanks that he has been deemed eligible for so important a post, cheerfully concurs in the design, and is fully disposed to promote it in every possible way. He would like two or three dozen of the pamphlets. Mr. Faweett of Carhsle (January 21, 1800) feels no hesitation in accepting the office. He knows of two young men apparently suited for missionaries ; but can it be right to break the hearts ' Alluding to the foot-note quotation at Eule XVIII. Appendix B., p. 647. " Wilberforce's Correspondence. CHAP. II. 10] Country Friends, 1199-1800. 57 of their mothers ? He has mentioned the plan to several ; has six guineas (including one from himself) to send, and wants more copies of the Account. Mr. Mayor of Shawbury (dating Shrewsbury, January 22, 1800), while humbled in reflecting how far short he comes of the true country member's spiritual qualifications, will accept the call and do his best. His neighbourhood is not promising for missionaries, but he will mention one young man, who has all the spirit of one and preaches about ; he has been obliged, how- ever, though at heart a Churchman, to take out a Dissenter's licence to give him legal security. Mr. Powley of Dewsbury (April 5, 1800) will be extremely happy to promote the design, and has communicated with several clergymen and others. The plan has been much approved, and there is reason to think it will be heartily encouraged, provided the bishops will countenance it, at least so far as to engage to ordain the catechists when presented to them. If the catechists are subjected to the supervision of a clergyman, and the bishops will at the proper time ordain them, no reasonable objection can be made against th« scheme ; ' but if the bishops will not ordain them, it is generally thought that the catechists will in the end become lay-preachers or dissenting ministers, and thus the end of the institution be so far defeated. . . . You will have the goodness to inform me whether the bishops approve of the plan, as the knowledge of this circumstance will weigh much with regard to a subscription in these parts.' Mr. Melville Home of Macclesfield (April 22, 1800) accepts the office with more pleasure than he can express, though his ability does not keep pace with his good will. He hopes in a little while to send a contribution from himself and his flock. How the Macclesfield church people stand affected to their pastor and his work appears from his next remarks, that the afternoon congregation number 2,000, and the communicants 500, many of the people being truly pious, but the majority in a sort of twilight between morality ^ and Gospel, light and darkness. With his plain speaking they do not quarrel, and the friendliness shown to the preacher encourages the hope that they are disposed to attend to his doctrine. But Melville Home, as described by others in later days. Bishop Shirley,^ for instance, was a preacher much out of the common. In a subsequent letter ' Mr. Home mentions a condition of things at Macclesfield which embar- rasses him not a little, and may perhaps explain that ' Church Methodism ' which the bishop alluded to by Jones of Creaton was resolved on eradicating. All the fruit of Simpson's earnest ministry for twenty-five years at Macclesfield, wrote Home, were found in the Methodist ranks. Pews were being held by the ' He means, of course, a reliance before God on merely human goodness, with- out any adequate dependence on the merits of the Saviour. ' Life of Bishop Shirley, pp. 314-5. " January 7, 1805. 58 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. n. il same persons both in Church and in Chapel, Simpson's ministry having produced that result. Simpson, in fact, had himself in his last days declared for Methodism, and had died in it ; his flock was now largely supporting the Wesleyan Missions, which Dr. Coke was managing. Such an example could not but pre- judice the Society of Missions in the eyes of bishops, and in the eyes of men who were ' churchy ' like Kobinson without his evangeHcal standpoint. On the whole, therefore, the country division of the Society of Missions was adopting the cause in good heart and disposed to carry on the great design with hopefulness and energy, while the London division (not for lack of these qualities) were reduced to being hardly able to command a quorum. 11. The Primate's Decision. On July 24, 1800, Mr. Wilberforce wrote thus to the Eev. John Venn : — ' I have had an interview with the Archbishop, who has spoken in very obliging terms, and expressed himself concerning your society in as favour- able a way as could be well expected. I will teU you more at large when we meet, what passed between us. Meanwhile, I vidll just state that his Grace regretted that he could not with propriety at once express his fuU concurrence and approbation of an endeavour in behalf of an object he had deeply at heart. He acquiesced in the hope I expressed, that the Society might go forward, being assured he would look on the proceedings with candour, and that it would give him pleasure to find them such as he could approve.' The Primate then expresses no positive disapprobation, much less does he forbid. He will not commit himself to the Society, and certainly will not fraternise with it ; but he will not be re- sponsible for stopping it. In short, he, and the Episcopate in him, mean to be neutral, or outside friends. This being the main point, it- signified little what the special objections may have been, and these were doubtless communicated by Mr. Wil- berforce in conversation.' The Society had nothing whatever to complain of or to be disappointed with in this resist ; and they could have no possible grievance in the fact that a body of pre- lates who included Tomline, and had been recruited under Pitt, did not avow themselves of the Evangelical school. Nor had the Society done anything as yet to merit more than tolerance from the governors of the Church in those days. As represented by the founders of April 12, and by its present working Committee, the Society had little to boast of that could attract the attention of the world— two or three rectors, a cluster of curates and lec- turers, a banker or two, merchants and tradesmen. Nor were they all resolute in their own cause. Mr. Secretary Venn in after years observed of them : — ' Humble as this hst of names will appear for so great an undertaking, yet some of this number afterwards rendered but little assistance to the cause, and some ' Some of the Archbishop's feelings in the matter, apparently ascertained from this source, were at a later day publicly stated by Mr. Pratt, pp. 393, 406. cH.up. II. 11] The Primate's Decision, 1800. 59 withdrew from it.' ' When the Society went before the Arch- bishop, as it were, it had not discovered a person of its own prin- ciples suitable for a missionary. Its own unity and coherence had yet to be proved, as well as its zeal and perseverance, not to speak of its competence for so difficult a business as the direction of Missions to the Heathen. Mr. Wilberforce himself, deeply interested as he was in the undertaking and pledged to its prin- ciples and plan, had apparently not thought the Society to be yet of sufficient importance to have a President. The Society had, in fact, to win its spurs before it could expect formal recog- nition from the heads of the Church. The Committee which met in these circumstances on August 4, 1800, was an important and a memorable one. There were present the Eevs. Abdy (Chairman), Goode, Pattrick, Pratt, Scott, Venn, Woodd; Messrs. Brasier, Cardale, Downer, Martin, Pearson, E. Venn. Mr. Wilberforce's letter was read. The minutes disclose no disappointment, no complaint, no grievance, nothing, in fact, but the final resolution. The discussion, how- ever, could not have been otherwise than a most anxious one. Mr. Henry Venn's information enables us to give the substance of it, as follows : — ' The encouragement thus given by the Archbishop was deemed by many of the Committee as too slight to proceed upon ; but the ardent zeal of the Secretary and the sound judgment of Mr. Venn, who had a chief part in the negotiation with the Bishops — supported especially by the lay members of the Committee — determined the rest of that body in their course. Mr. Scott contended " that it was their duty to go forward, expecting that their diffi- culties would be removed, in proportion as it was necessary that they should." ' ■' No trace of despondency or disappointment is discerned in the Eesolution which appears in the Minutes, but only that thankfulness and hope, that spirit of putting the best interpreta- tion on things, which the majority were resolved on cultivating in themselves and encouraging in their distant friends. They had behaved with the dutifulness of Churchmen, as well as with the independence of Englishmen, and it was really a great point that they were free to go forward without a stigma of mu- tiny ; and being now left to carry on their own project in their own way without reproach, to go forward they were determined. Their Eesolution was, That in consequence op this answee FEOM THE MeTBOPOLITAN, THE CoMMITTBE DO NOW PROCEED IN THEIR GREAT DESIGN WITH ALL THE ACTIVITY POSSIBLE. Five thousand copies of the pamphlet, with the date altered to 1800,' were to be printed, names of deceased members being omitted. The country members were to be informed of the pur- port of the Archbishop's letter, and the Committee's design to make a first attempt at Sierra Leone, while Mr. Zachary Macaulay, ' Founders, 1848, p. 6. ^ Venn's Founders, p. 15. ^ This reprint is among the Society's papers. It gives the Account precisely according to the edition of 1799. as given in Appendix C. 60 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. ii. Vi lately Governor of that settlement, was to be asked to meet the Committee, as one capable of giving them important infor- mation. In a memorandum written a few days afterwards for his family, Mr. Scott remarked : — ' What will be the final issue — what the success of these Missions — we know not now. I shall know hereafter. It is glorious and shall prevail. God hath said it, and cannot lie.' ' Under the pubhc patronage of laymen the Society was now to go forward, and the seven who were consenting to let their names remain in the forefront of this design, derive an additional interest in our eyes. Sponsors before the world were they for the ability, wisdom, and determination of that handful of work- ing members, until such a time as the fathers of the Church should come to believe in them. The Laymen patronised the Society in its time of promise ; the Episcopate were to do so in its day of success. 12. Reswnption of Activity. The very next day after the meeting of August 4, 1800, and its energetic resolution, the secretary began to communicate with the country members, acquainting them with the purport of the Archbishop's reply, and with some modifications which had been decided on in the plan described in the printed Account, copies of which were offered for distribution. In the course of August several replies came. On August 8, 1800, Dr. Hawker writes from Plymouth in most unfavourable terms. Unless the corrections in the pam- phlet are very considerable he will require no copies, and will not recommend the Mission. He must learn a new idea of things before he can sanction a young man's going abroad as a cate- chist. He has not so learned Christ. As for laymen baptizing^ in case of emergency, what has emergency to do with lawfulness ? If lay baptism is valid in emergency only, it is never vaUd ; if in emergency, it is valid without it. Let the missionaries be or- dained men ; if they are not fit for ordination they are not fit to go out at all. He will be no party to fettering the Gospel in the manner proposed by the Committee. To this explosion Scott replied in a most patient tone. ' We know that we cannot procure ordination for every person whom we might consider as capable of doing good service as a mis- sionary, and we have assigned a reason in the pamphlet why we cannot expect the bishops to ordain them in present circum- stances.^ If, then, none but ordained persons must be sent, we must either wholly, or in a great measure, give up the design. We do not hear that the bishops object to this part of our plan ' Venn's Founders, p. 15. 2 This admitted difficulty of the bishops, which is fully and fairly stated in the Account (p. 652 infra), will have to be borne in mind when a few years later the Committee were much tried by their failure to procure ordination for the students. OHAP. 11. 12] Resumption of Activity, \^()i). 61 (I mean of sending catechists).' The Committee, however, Mr. Scott adds, purpose waiving the point of catechists baptizing. He hopes that, in the face of the difficulties to be encountered and the many various opinions to be concihated. Dr. Hawker will favour the Committee with his counsels, and at least not turn others against them by withholding his countenance. Mr. Dikes of Hull (August 9, 1800) will gladly exert himself to procure subscribers, and will want eighty or a hundred pam- phlets, but he knows no one fit for a missionary. Mr. Vaughan of Bristol (August 11) congratulates the Com- mittee on the encouragement they have received from the Archbishop, and they may depend upon his utmost exertions. He will want at least twenty-five pamphlets, and is beginning that very day to circulate a subscription-book. But he knows of no one for a missionary in Bristol. Mr. Jones of Creaton (August 13) is happy to hear of the favourable reply of the Archbishop, but knows of no mis- sionary : the young man he thought about has been taken up by the EUand Society. Mr. Stephenson of Olney (August 14) is glad of the Arch- bishop's favourable answer and the Committee's renewed exertion. He will do his utmost at Olney, and wants copies, but knows of no missionaries. Mr. Eobinson of Leicester (August 15) rejoices to see a return to action ; will exert himself to obtain subscribers, and will take fifty copies ; will look out for missionaries. Mr. Powley of Dewsbury (August 16) rejoices that the Arch- bishop's answer is so favourable as to induce the Committee to go forward. ' I have consulted my friends, and they think on account of the number of evangelical clergymen in these parts, one hundred copies may be circulated. It will be important to lay them before the Elland meeting on October 2 and 3 next. . . . The correction which you have made about the catechists bap- tizing in cases of necessity will, I am persuaded, meet with their approbation.' He will help in getting subscriptions and look out for missionaries. Mr. Hey of Leeds (August 16) is glad the Committee are going forward ; will use his best endeavours, and will want twenty or thirty copies. Dr. Hawker again writes from Plymouth (August 21), in reply to Scott. Notwithstanding the expressions in the Arch- bishop's letter to, or conference with, Mr. Wilberforce, ' No one ought to be requested to go as a missionary from the Church of England without ordination.' That is his opinion, and he adheres to it. But he certainly will not use his influence against the Society. He gives an instance of a Mr. Nankivel, one of his congregation, ordained by the Bishop of London for St. Kitts,i ' Bishop Porteus had a special interest in W. India Missions, having as bishop to administer an ancient endowment assigned to that object. Introd. p. xxiii. 62 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. n. 12 and becoming so attached to his work there that he never wanted to leave it. Why should not a young man be ordained for Sierra Leone on the understanding that he was not to return under the time equal to a University course, thus, as it were, keeping terms in Sierra Leone? He describes an interesting plan he is trying for influencing young men in religion before going to college. The tone of this letter is much more pleasant and gracious. Mr. Simeon (August 22, 1800) writes from Cambridge : ' I am happy that at last the plan seems likely to be put into a state of activity after being so long dormant. To those who know not how I have been employed I shall seem to have been extremely remiss ; but I have endeavoured (in a prudent way) to sound the dispositions of the serious young men respecting Missions, and I am sorry to say not one of them says, " Here am I, send me." . . . I see more and more who it is that must thrust out labourers into the harvest.' He will be glad of some pamphlets, and he adds — what seems so unlike Simeon, but what shows how dis- appointment has entered into his soul — that he will send a con- tribution when he knows what others are going to do. ' I should not, indeed, wait for any example if matters seemed likely to take a favourable turn, but I feel a little discouraged at my own entire want of success.' Mr. Fry of Oxford writes from Axbridge, near Wells (August 28), sending his hearty wishes ; he cannot, however, hold out much hope, for in truth the most promising design now on foot seems to be the Bristol Clerical Education Society, and he is using all his influence in support of that. Mr. Tandey of Bristol (August 28) rejoices at the Metro- politan's showing them favour. But he declines being a country member, as he knows only the same people that Vaughan does ; he will second and support Vaughan, ' an active man with the cause of God at heart.' On September 1, the Committee met ; present, Eevs. Peers (Chairman), Davies, Goode, Pratt, Scott ; Messrs. Cardale, Martin, Pearson, Wilson. Mr. Macaulay was unable to attend, but has promised to come some other day. The business of the meeting was listening to the foregoing letters ; from which they ought to have gathered that there was no need to despond yet, though they had no particular reason to boast of the result of Evangelical preaching during the past fifty years — and especially the past twenty — throughout England. Yet they had no reason to be ashamed of that either ; for if no young missionaries had come to the front, here was a no despicable body of older men — and it was then growing fast — banded together to say that, please God, there soon should be some forthcoming. Mean- time there were other stones to be turned up. CHAP. II. 13] Closer Search for Missionaries, 1^^^. 63 13. A Closer Search for Missionaries. Committee, October 6, 1800. — Eevs. Foster (Chairman), Abdy, Cuthbert, Goode, Newton, Pratt, Scott, Venn ; Messrs. Cardale, Downer, Martin. The Eev. George Pattrick was dead, the third member of the Committee who had been taken. All through September no news of missionaries had arrived from country members. Mr. Macaulay, attending the Committee by request, recommended an application to two persons he knew. He was desired to communicate with them. In the case of one of them only, Mr. Brunton,' shall we see a practical result, though he did not prove a missionary. Committee, November 3. — Kevs. Venn (Chairman), Abdy, Goode, Peers, Pratt, Scott ; Messrs. Downer, H. Thornton, E. Venn. Still no missionary had been heard of. The country members, who had engaged to try their best, had failed in this respect, though they were doing something towards obtaining funds. It was resolved, therefore, to go beyond the country members, and institute for themselves an exhaustive search through the whole country, by sending to every likely clergyman whom they knew or could discover, a printed circular, which Mr. Scott was requested to draw up. In the course of November the secretary received two letters, one from Dr. Gaskin, the Secretary of the S.P.C.K., acknow- ledging fifty copies of the pamphlet, the other from Dr. Haweis, the leading promoter of the London Missionary Society. These were the only two Societies which Churchmen could join, should the Society for Missions fail. Dr. Gaskin (November 7), writing from Bartlett's Build- ings, observes : — ' The harvest truly is plenteous. God grant that fit labourers may be found to work in it, that the Gentiles who have not yet entered into the sheepfold of Christ's Church may be led to see that it is the ark of salvation / ' Dr. Haweis, from Brighton (November 15), hardly con-' ceives it practicable to make a beginning in the way suggested by the Account : nor can he imagine any fit catechist devoting his life to the Heathen 20,000 miles distant - who should be deemed unworthy of ordination. He laments that all denomina- tions, and foreign Churches too, could not combine. Committee, December 1.— Eevs. Cuthbert (Chairman), Abdy, Goode, Pratt, Scott, Venn ; Messrs. Elliott, Martin, E. Venn. Country Member, Eev. C. Simeon. No missionaries heard of. Letters of Dr. Gaskin and Dr. Haweis read. Scott's draft circular directed to be printed ^ (500 copies) and distributed in likely quarters from time to time. ' There are two letters from him to Mr. Macaulay, November 26, December 4, 1800, in the Society's collection. ^ This remark suggests the wisdom of the Society in beginning at so moderate a distance as Sierra Leone. 2 We have not seen it among the Society's papers. 64 History of the Church Missionary Society, [chap. h. 13 The December letters breathe further discouragement, though by no means unmixed, as the country members display no faint- ing of heart under them. Mr. Powley writes from Dewsbury, December 10, 1800, that at the last Elland meetings,' when the Archbishop's reply to Mr. Wilberforce was considered, there was a unanimous agreement to support the Society in every possible way. He has distributed the pamphlets. He adds, ' On account of the times, I do not expect that our trade will be considerable. Our trade is in a manner at a stand, and the wants of the poor are such that some are driven to very unjustifiable means to relieve them. Our church and two others were robbed last week. How we are to get over the winter I know not.' ^ Mr. Vaughan of Bristol (December 19) has circulated the pamphlets, but has not received many subscriptions. The high prices, taxes, and the distress of the poor, bring extraordinary demands on every individual. The Bristol Clerical Education Society is in great want of money, which he does not suppose the Missions Society is. He hopes he has paved the way for a larger income next year. ' On any emergency you might obtain a very considerable assistance.' He sends, however, 33Z. 12s., including twenty guineas for a life member. Mrs. Hannah More of Cowslip Green, and her sister Mrs. Martha, are likewise in his list. Mr. Melville Home of Macclesfield (December 30), in- tended to have had a collection in the summer, but the distresses of the previous winter, followed by the high prices of the summer, and the prospects of the present winter, have forbidden the attempt. ' I am obliged to preach charity, and ask it so frequently for hundreds of starving people, that I cannot think of begging of men whose purse and liberality is quite exhausted.' Dr. Coke, too, is calling on every one at Macclesfield to support the Methodist Missions. He will distribute the pamphlets. Mr. Jones of Creaton (January 2, 1801) has not attempted to collect subscriptions, not knowing whether any are wanted. Committee, January 5, 1801. — Eevs. J. Venn (Chairman), Abdy, Foster, Goode, Pratt, Scott ; Messrs. Martin, Wilson. Eevs. Crouch and Fry, country members.— Mr. Scott is requested to circulate the letters, and every person present is asked to make out a list of likely country clergy. The Eevs. "Walker and Maturin elected country members.^ Mr. Newton to be asked to preach the Anniversary Sermon. ' October 2 and 3. 2 The failure oi the harvest and the continuance of the war had caused severe distress in the manufacturing districts, as may be seen in the letters and diaries of Wilberforce, who, in the early months of 1801, was making great exertions to alleviate it.— Life, by his Sons, 1838, iii. pp. 4-6. s The Bev. John Walker of DubUn, who afterwards seceded from the Established Church, and the Rev. Henry Mlturin, whose address in 1812 was Panuet Glebe, Eamelton or Rathmelton, on Lough Swilly, N. Donegal. CHAP. II. 13] Closer Search for Missionaries, 1801. 65 On January 29, 1801, Mr. Newton wrote to decline the Anniversary Sermon. After an introduction breathing very brotherly sentiment and a lowly estimate of himself, he proceeded to state objections, and these turned on the catechist plan : — ' I was always afraid it would involve us in difficulties, and not answer our wishes, and perhaps render our simplicity disputed. I apprehend the catechists in the primitive Church were not quite an appropriate precedent for us. Both they and their catechumens seem to have been constantly under the eye and notice of the Bishops or elders. I think the catechists were not sent abroad as missionaries into unknown and very distant parts of the globe, or if they were, they were not^ restricted from administering the sacraments — not allowed even to baptize unless in cases of great necessity. I find teaching and baptizing so closely connected in our Lord's commission that I know not how to separate them, either in point of conscientious regard to His express command, or, indeed, in the reason and nature of the thing. For baptism seems the necessary and only door of admission into the visible Chmch. I thuik as ministers and members of the Establishment, we are under peculiar disadvantages for the business, unless the Lord is pleased to impress the heart of one or more clergymen of years and experience to under- take it. Of all teachers and preachers, a missionary should not be a novice ; and though young men may be directed and assisted in useful studies, the true spirit — the fortitude, wisdom, self-denial, and devotedness (such as we see among the TJnitas Fratrum) must be given from above. Without this mission spirit, and ordination afforded to such as are not already ordained, I am afraid we shall do little. As to a catechist who should, by the Lord's blessing, awaken a number of heathens, leaving his charge and returning home from the interior of Africa or Asia to obtain leave to baptize them, I suppose few persons are so sanguine as to expect it, and I should think the man who would promise so much beforehand too much of a stranger to his own heart to be fit for the employment.' Committee, February 2, 1801. — Eevs. Goode (Chairman), Abdy, Davies, Cuthbert, Pratt, Scott, J. Venn, Woodd ; Messrs. Downer, E. Venn. — Mr. Newton's letter was read. Much must it have taken them all by surprise, Mr. Newton having never objected to the catechist plan in Committee, as, in fact, he notices in a part of the letter we have not quoted, giving as his reason that he had not the heart to disturb their unanimity by inter- posing his own humble and solitary opinion ; nor would he have done this now, but that he had been asked publicly to endorse the plan in a sermon, which in his conscience he could not do. Surely this disapproval by one so revered, the father, the Nestor of the whole Evangelical body, must have poured the last drop into the cup of their discouragement. It is not necessary to suppose that they failed to see or appreciate the difficulties he suggested ; but that they were difficulties to be surmounted by time, patience, prayer, experience, they must have been convinced, and the history of their society has abundantly justified their faith and indomi- table perseverance. If they could not do what was theoretically the best thing, they were resolved on doing what they discerned to be the next best. On the present occasion the Committee told off three of their number, John Venn, Thomas Scott, Josiah Pratt, ' The reading of the MS. is so, but the sense requires the omission of ' not.' F 66 History of the Church Missionary Society, [ohap. n. 13 as a deputation to wait on their venerable friend,' who, through growing years and deafness, was now not frequently in attendance. One thing more we notice among the minutes of this meeting. Mr. Zachary Macaulay is thanked for a letter giving an account of the ' Society for the Education of Africans.' February 21, 1801. — Amid such struggles and uncertainties of a new body we will introduce a young boy's artless description of an established annual meeting of the venerable S P.G., at that time the sole public and authoritative representation of the English Churchman's missionary duty, for the South India Mission of the S.P.C.K. was but a private, subsidiary, and special department of quite a different branch of work not form- ally coming into the public eye in any demonstrative way ; con- nected moreover with the Danish Church. The narrator was Edward Bickersteth, writing home when a lad new to London. His description may dwell in our mind's eye, by way of contrast, when we arrive a little further on at the first anniversary of our own Society. Our reason for the date (entirely omitted in the Life) will appear in a note : — ' I saw yesterday morning at a Church in Cheapside the two Archbishops of York and Canterbury, and a great many of the Bishops, it being the anniversary of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Countries. There was the Lord Mayor also there in his state carriage, and the Sheriffs of London in theirs. The carriages were very magniiicently adorned, and looked very fine, especially that of the Lord Mayor. The Archbishops and Bishops had their private carriages, which were very handsome also.' ^ The letters of February, 1801, mention numerous country clergymen thought well inclined to the Society's objects, and as those to whom the circular should be sent. The lists sent in by the two Oxford Fellows are especially copious, and altogether they afford an idea of the extent which the Evangelical revival in the Church of England had by this time reached. But mis- sionaries are still nowhere in sight. Mr. Powley writes from Dewsbury (February 18, 1801) that the EUand Society can hear of none. He has sent the circular to various likely men about. ' They will all, I doubt not, com- ' See further on under March 2. ^ Life, i. p. 6. The S.P.G. Anniversary was kept on the third Friday in February, at Bow Chur