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The social background, motivation and training of British protestant missionaries toIndia, 1789-1858.
Piggin, F. S
Download date: 13. Feb. 2022
-1-
THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND, MOTIVATION, AND TRAINING OF BRITISH
PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES TO INDIA, 1789-1858.
Thesis submitted for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
, in the University of London by
FREDERIC STUART PIGGIN.
King's College, London,
1971+.
(ii. ( *
-2-
ABSTRACT
This inquiry into the 'home' background of British
missionaries to India is based on a study of five hundred and
fifty missionaries who served with thirteen missionary societies.
In Chapter 1 an analysis of the occupational distribution
and economic status of missionary candidates reveals that most
candidates were drawn from the aspiring professional classes;
that the significant minority from the 'working class' had been
skilled artisans rather than members of the industrial proletariat;
and that the quest for economic security and social status was
not thought incompatible with religious belief and mission.
Chapters 2 and 3 are devoted respectively to the individual
and to the corporate experience of religion. References to
personal religious experiences in private diaries and testimonies
form the basis for a debate on questions of personality disorders
and fanaticism. An attempt is then made to assess the influence
of church and chapel on candidates. The principal influences
discussed are: 'Moderate Calvinism' and 'Wesleyan Ari4inianism'
as missionary-orientated theological systems; practical experience
in home missions; and the conflicting forces of sectarianism and
ecumenicalism.
Chapter 4 is an examination of missionary motives, both
secular and religious. _
Missionary training is the subject of Chapters 5 to 7. The
policies of the London Missionary Society and the two Baptist
societies on the education of their candidates and the ministerial
training given in Baptist and Congregationalist theological
colleges are reviewed in Chapter In Chapter 6 the education
received by Anglican missionaries in missionary seminaries and
universities and developments in theological and missionary
education in the Wesleyan Methodist Connexion are described.
-3-
The university Arts and theological courses which Scottish
missionaries attended are discussed in Chapter 7, as are the
university missionary associations where Scottish students
acquired-their missionary zeal2 and the training given to
missionaries of all societies in medicinev teaching, and Indian
languages.
5
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
I would like to pay &, warm tribute to my Supervisor,
Professor C. W. Dugmore, for his many kindnesses and encouragment
as well as for his advice and direction. Dr. P. J. Marshall
earned my gratitude with occasional stimulating suggestions
and by reading the last two chapters of my thesis. Dr. M. A. C.
Warren gave valuable assistance in the definition of my area of
research. I am very grateful to Dr. G. F. Nuttall who introduced
this Australian Episcopalian to the complexities of English
Dissent, and whose many suggestions played a formative part in
my research. Helpful advice was also received from Dr. M. A.
Laird and Dr. E. A. Payne.
Miss Irene Fletcher was an omniscient guide to the riches
of the archives of the congregational Council for World Mission.
Her recent retirement is a great loss to students of missionary
history, by many of whom she will be remembered with affectionate
gratitude. Miss Rosemary Keen and Miss Tean Woods, Archivist
and Librarian respectively of the Church Missionary Society, gave
much capable assistance. I would also like to thank Mr. B. W.
Amey of the Baptist Missionary Society, Dr. J. C. Bowmerl Archivist
both of the Methodist Archives and of the Methodist Missionary
Society, and his staff, Mr. R. L. Calder of the Church of Scotland
Overseas Council, and Mrs. I. J. M. Pridmore and Miss M. S. Holland
of the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
Dr. R. George kindly allowed me access at the eleventh hour
to the records of Richmond College; Mr. N. S. Moon introduced me
to the records of Bristol Baptist College; and, at New College,
Edinburgh, Mr. J. V. Howard and his staff were exceedingly helpful.
My wife's contribution to my thesis went far beyond her
assistance in the compilation of the bibliography.
-5-
Finally, for financial assistance and for rewarding
contacts with theological students, both of which were afforded
by a tutorial studentship, I have to thank the Council of King's
College,
-6-
CONTENTS
Abbreviations 7
Introduction 8
Chapter 1. f Social and Economt. c Influences, 16
Chapter 2. 'The One Thing Needful' - Religious
Experience 59
Chapter 3. The Influence of Church and Chapel 100
Chapter 4. Missionary Motives 145
Chapter 5. Missionary Training
I. The Congregationalists and Baptista 193
Chapter 6. Missionary Training
II. The Anglicans and Methodists 239
Chapter 7. MissiDnary. Training
III-. The Presbyterians and Non-Theological Training 283
Conclusion, / 317
Appendix A 326
Appendix B 361
Bibliography 363
-7-.
ABBREVIATIONS
B. F. B. S. British and Foreign Bible Society
B. M. S. Baptist Missionary Society
C. M. I. Church Missionary Training Institution,
Islington
Comes. Church Missionary Society
C. P. Candidates Papers'- London Missionary Society
C of S Church of Scotland
C. S. M. Foreign Missions of the Church of Scotland
E, U, M. A. Edinburgh University Missionary Association
F. C. Free Church of Scotland
F. C. M. Foreign Missions of the Free Church of
Scotland
G. B. M. S. General Baptist Missionary Society
G. T. A. Glasgow Theological Academy
L. M. S. London Missionary Society
some used in Appendix A to denote a student in
training for the ministry (the technical
termsAordinand' and 'licentiate' are used
only when applications are so described in
original sources)
S. M. S. Scottish Missionary Society
S. P. C. K. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
S. P. G. Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
T. C. D. Trinity CollegeDublin.
W. M. M. S. Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society
-8-
INTRODUCTION
James Russe112 pastor of the Independent Church at Rendall
in the Orkney Islands, offered in 1836 to serve as a missionary,
preferably in India, with the London Missionary Society. His
application did not go unchallenged. George Robertsong founder
of the chapel in Rendall and its first pastor, complained that
Russell's 'natural habits' were not suited to a missionary: he
was surrounded by 'home heathens' and yet did not preach frequently
on weekdays2 nor did he visit homes for the purpose of holding
services therein. ' The Home Secretary of the L. M. S., John Arundel,
made anxious enquiries as to whether Russell was deficient in
lenergy'. 2 In reply, Ralph Wardlaw, tutor at the Glasgow
Theological Academy where Russell had been trained for the ministry,
praised Russell for keeping up with 'necessary reading'. Wardlaw
argued: ... too little account appears to me to be made of
a studious disposition, j and too much of constant locomotive labour
in the way of preaching'. 3 The fact 4as that Russell just did
things differently from his predecessor. Whereas Robertson had
been an evangelist, Russell was a teacher - he engaged in the
distribution of tractst lent out about three hundred books from
his own library, and taught two Sunday school classes. 1+
Pleased
with his laptness to_teachl, but regretful that he was not more
active in seeking the lostq the Directors of the L. M. S. accepted
Russell's application.
1 L. M. S I C. P., G. Robertson to J. Arundelq 23 March, 1837. 2: Ibid.; J. Arundel to G. Robertsong 5 April, 1837.
Ibid t R. Wardlaw to J. Arundell 5 Mayp 1837. Ibid. $ J. Russell to J. Arundelo 2 May, 1837.
-9- This little dispute hints at numerous characteristics of
the modern missionary movement. India appealed to the most
scholarly of applicants for missionary servicet and missionary
societies appointed their best-educated candidates to Indian
stations. Apart from printers, missionary tradesmen were not
sent to India in our period in significant numbers. Neither
were lay doctors or teachers, or female missionaries. But,
unlike Russell, candidates posted to India usually provided ample
evidence of their evangelistic zeal as well as of their academic
attainments, for the first half of the nineteenth century was
the age of 'evangelical aggression' in British Protestant churches.
Robertson's conviction that a prospective missionary's 'natural
habits' should be active and Arundel's interest in the 'energy'
of applicants were typical of a new breed of religious activists
in the churches. 1
Indeed, there was much creative energy in the modern
missionary movement: it provided new avenues of enterprise for
new social classes; its agents were hungry for lusefall knowledge
and they received a new. vocational training in new theological
colleges, and, previously, as laymen, they had engaged in new
methods of evangelism - in open-air preaching, in tract
distributiong in visitation of the sick, and in Sunday school
teaching; the missionary movement was based on a now theology
which rejected the fatalism and determinism of the eighteenth
century; it was the product of a new religion - 'experimental'
religion or the religion of experience; and it was inspired by a
vision which seemed to have a new hope of realisation - that out
of every nation zyriads of souls would be saved to the greater
glory of God.
_10- The task of exploring these energies is an open-ended one,
its many themes constantly threatening to run away from the
subject. It was a temptation, for example, to trace the
evolution of the theological systems which dominated missionary-
minded churches ever further back into Christian history, or to
become embroiled in the many controversies which enliven the
largely-untold history of theological colleges, which were often
meeting-points for the conflicting aims of the leaders of
religious denominations. There was, however, little temptation
to begin with the missionary in India and to endeavour to
interpret-his early life in the light of his later practice.
For our aim quickly became not to add to the understanding of
the missionary in India so much as to illuminate the life of
the young man in Britain. A consuming interest in personal
religion and an involvement in the efforts of churches to reach
the unsaved with the Gospe12 as well as the harsher realities of
life in the nineteenth century - the struggle to secure a
livelihood or to overcome the deficiencies of early educationg
made agonisingly plain by the demands of classical and theological
studiesq occupied most of the waking hours of the prospective
missionary. An attempt has been made in this research2 therefore,
to allow the missionary candidate to impress upon, us his main
preoccupations and motives. Consequently, this thesis has become
devoted to a chapter in the social and ecclesiastical history
of Britain, rather than to, a chapter in Indian history. -
Perhaps, this confession ought not to be made too
apologetically. To treat the early lives of missionary candidates
as a story in itself is probably, the most valuable perspective
from which to begin to understand the influence of the missiohary's
European background on his work in India. Recently, historians
have been paying increasing attention to this influence.
-11-
Michael Laird has devoted more than a quarter of a recent work
on the educational interests of missionaries in Bengal to the
study of the missionaries' home environment in England, Wales,
and Scotland. ' And David Kopf, in an earlier study of the
Bengal Renaissance, has remarked: 'We need to know as much of
the European background which shaped the mind of an early
nineteenth-century transplanted Englishman as we do of the
Indian experience which provided the environment for a-special
acculturation process. 12 Apart from the intrinsic interest of
the subject of this research, therefore, the time seemed ripe to
devote a study exclusively to the home background of the
missionaries who served in India.
The terminus a Quo has been pushed back to 1789 to include
the first Englishman to be appointed as a missionary to India.
In that year Abraham Thomas Clarke, who had studied at Trinity
College, Cambridge, who had been ordained priest in 1784 by the
Bishop of Lincoln, and who had been licensed to the cure of
Wigtoft with Quadring with a stipend of ; C5O, was appointed to
Calcutta by the Society for Promoting Christian Khowledge, 3
whose work in South India with Danish and German missionaries
was commenced in 1710. )+ Clarke was certainly one 'born out of
due time': the S. P. C. K. was unable before or after to find any
Englishman to serve In its Eastern stations. Dr. Finch, in
delivering the charge to Clarke, said that as England had, in
modern parlance, a much higher standard of living than Germany,
it was 'no wonder' that the Society had to rely on German agents
1. M. A. Lairdq Missionaries and Education in Bengal, 1793-1837, Oxford, 1972. 2. D. Kopf, British orientalism and the Bengal Renaissance, Berkeley, 1969, p. 6
Diocesan Archives the Castlet Lincolng Register 39 p. 418. W. O. B. Allen and ý. McClureq Two Hundred Years: The History
oi the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, -1-9-9S--18989 I 10')Ol ppee: )Ol-r*
-12-
and found it virtually impossible to attract Englishmen. 1
Apparently pecuniary motives were the only ones which made
much sense to him and to most churchmen in the days before
William Carey's revolutionary mission to India.
The end of the year 1858, that is, the year when the East
India Company surrendered the administration of India to the
Crown, is the terminus ad quem. It was the year in which
missionary societies sent a record number of missionaries to
India to demonstrate that they were not daunted by the Indian
Mutiny of the previous year. The period 1789-1858 is sufficiently
wide to reflect the extent to which the missionary vocation had
become respectable and 'normal'. Whereas the C. M. S. took ten
years to appoint its first English missionary, by the end of the
181+os it was accepting only one offer in ten, and by the late 1850s,
only one in fifteen. Similarly, of the thirty-one offers received
by the L. M. S. in 1855 and 1856 only nine were finally accepted.
Secondly, this wide period allows the influence of the Catholic
Revival within the Church of England to be assessed. And,
thirdly, by the 1850s significant numbers of Scottishl Welsh,
and Irish missionaries had been appointed to India.
Continental missionaries and missionaries who were born
and trained in India have been excluded from this researchq even
though the former dominated the S. P. C. K. and made up a significant
proportion of the Church Missionary Society's contingent to
India, and the latter made up almost one-half of the total number
of missionaries who served with the Baptist Missionary Society.
Nevertheless, this research purports to be comprehensive in two
respects. Every British Protestant missionary society which
posted missionaries to India before 1859 has been included, as
1. S. P. C. K., Report, 1789; P-100; cr* S-P-C-K East India Mission Co=ittee Book, 6 November$ 1788; 4 December, *17bb; 22 January7 1789; 3 March$ 1789.
-13- has every male missionary educated in Britain (the few
Continental missionaries partly trained here by the C. M. S.
excepted). Hence this research is based on a study of the
early lives of five hundred and fifty missionaries (listed in
Appendix A) who served with thirteen different societies.
The societies which sent the largest numbers of
missionaries to India before 1859 were the product of that zeal
for voluntary benevolent societies which flowered so remarkably
at the close of the eighteenth century. 1 There were important
organisational differences between the societies. At one
extreme were the interdenominational voluntary societies - the
London Missionary Society (formed in 1795) and the Edinburgh,
later the Scottish Missionary Society (1796). Then there were
the denominational voluntary societies - the S. P. C. K. (1699),
the Particular Baptist Missionary Society (1792), the Church
Missionary Society (1799), and the General Baptist, Missionary
Society (1816). The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
in Foreign Parts (1701) was an incorporated societyt which was
at first the missionary organ of the Established Church and led
by its bishops, 2 although by the beginning of our period it was
seen more in the light of a voluntary society. The Wesleyan
Methodist Missionary Society (1814-1818) was a highly centralised
society responsible to the Wesleyan Methodist Conference. It
was the forerunner of the denominational missions which were
understood as the Church in its missionary aspect - the Foreign
Missionary Committee of the Church of Scotland (1824), the
1. Dr. G. Nuttall, New College, Londong has drawn my attention to a remarkable catalogue of these voluntary societies in a sermon by Charles Buckq entitled The Close of the Eighteenth Century ImDroved: A Sermon Rreached at Prince? s Street Chapel, Finsbury Square, December 26,1800, Second Edition, London, 1816, p. 40n. bee, -also Fo-l-W. B. Bullock, Voluntary Religious Societies,, St. Leonards-on-Sea, 1963. 2. H. P. Thompson, Into all Landsq London, 1951, p. 18.
-1Li-
Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Missionary Society (1840), the
Foreign Missionary Committee of the Presbyterian Church in
Ireland (1840), and the Foreign Missionary Committee of the
Free Church of Scotland (181+3). The thirteenth group, the
Plymouth Brethren, refused to form a missionary society at all. The first Brethren missionary, Anthony Norris Grovesý departed
for Baghdad in 1829 and entered India'in 1833.
The manuscript sources on which this study is based are
not uniformly useful and extensive for all the societies. The
candidates papers for C. M. S. and L. M. S. missionaries are
particularly rich and voluminous. They include references to
the early education and occupations of candidates, extensive descriptions of religious experience and motivationg and details
of age, church connexions, books read, and experience in
evangelism and teaching. The candidates' conceptions of missionary
work are best seen in the essays which applicants to the L. M. S.
were required to write shortly after application and in the
hitherto largely-untapped correspondence of the Scottish
University missionary associations at New College, Edinburgh.
Apart from the minute books, which are the best guide to
recruiting and educational policies, the manuscript sources in
the archives of the other missionary societies are not nearly
so comprehensive as those of the C*M. S. and L. M. S.: some
valuable and copious accounts of the religious experience of
Parly Baptist missionaries have been preserved at the. B. M. S.;
at the S. P. G. extant applications and letters of recommendation
bear chiefly on the educational attainments of applicants and
deal rather unashamedly with material considerations; and, at
the W. M. M. S., the recommendations of superintendents of circuits
proved valuable when available.
-15-
Information about the early lives of missionaries has
also been culled from the annual reports of missionary societies,
the matriculation records of the colleges where missionaries
studied, obituaries in religious journals, and the many
missionary biographies for which there was a ready market in the
nineteenth century. 1 In spite of the great interest in
biography, however, the standard of accuracy attained was not
always high. Conflicting evidence about a missionary's date of
birth, or the year of his entry at college, or even the spelling
of his name, has frequently occasioned despair. But this
introduction ought not to end on a negative note. The sheer
volume of evidence bearing on the early lives of missionaries in
the various missionary archives is enormous. The historian is
far more frequently delighted by what he finds than frustrated
by what he cannot. This is the more so if he is interested in
the main concerns of the societies themselves and does not seek
evidence on such unlikely subjects as the prospective missionary's
interest in imperialism and nationalism or expect him to have a
modern anthropologist's interest in the customs of the Hindus.
1. A writer in the Quarterly Review (Marchq 1856, P. 383) commented that religious biographies 'invariably command a larger circulation than any other species of literature'.
-16- CHAPTER I
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INFLUENCES
In an age of social upheaval, shoemakers, it seems, had
a penchant for revolution. Thomas Hardy, founder in 1792 of
the London Corresponding Society which boasted universal
manhood suffrage in its-platform, was a journeyman shoemaker. 1
He was subsequently arraigned for high treason. No doubt
his political opinions and his trial owed much to the . aspirations and fears generated by the French Revolution.
Bitter controversy in another sphere of human interest -
theology - predates the Revolution and2 indeed, -bedevilled
much eighteenth century church life. Another shoemakerg
Thomas Olivers, 2 one of John Wesley's Imethodistical,
enthusiasts', had the temerity to call Augustus Topladyt the
Vicar of Broad-Hembury2 to account for his theological opinions.
The smarting Vicar, unable to divine if his pride or his sense
of social propriety had been the more injured, penned the
following doggerel in which Wesley is made to say:
I've Thomas Olivers, the cobbler, No stall in England holds a,. nobler; A wight of talents universal,
Whereof I'll give a brief rehearsal:
He wields, beyond most other men,
His awl, his razor, and his pen;
1. E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, Revised Edition-, Penguin Books, 196b, pp. Jqff.
2. Author of the hymnq 'The God of Abraham praises.
-17- With equal ease, whenler there's need
Can darn my stockings or my creed,
And then, when he philosophisesq
No son of-Crispin half so wise is;
Of all my ragged regiment7
No cobbler givesme more content.
Perhaps the most celebrated and malicious example of
religious artisan-bashing came from the satirical pen of Sidney
Smith. The butt of his wit was yet another shoemaker, William
Carey, whose work in Bengal triggered off the modern missionary
movement with all its revolutionary demands on British churches. Smith described the Serampore missionaries as a, lneat of
12 ,3 consecrated cobblers and mere 'didactic artisans who
were so 'foolish' that 'the Natives almost instinctively duck 1+ - and pelt them'. He could not respect the poor, he explained,
when they stepped 'out of their province' and became 'teachers
of the land. 5 His criticisms of the missionaries, he argued,
were a service to the cause of rational religion, 6 but it
rather seems as if they were designed primarily to fortify
the increasingly threatened prdjudices of the Whig ruling-
classes, of which Smith was a prominent member. 7 Fifty years
later, at the end of the period covered by this study, Smith's
attack was still exciting attention according to a son of one
of the originally-maligned missionaries. 8 If nfissionaries were
1. P. Kruse, 'Thoughts on the Wesleyan Theological Institution', The Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, LIX, October, 1831f, p. 827. 2. Edinburgh Review, April, lb09, j p. 40.
Ibid. Ibid. I p: 1+5. Ibid. 1 p 42.
6: Ibid., p. 40. 7. Seg -Dictionary of National BiographZI Volume 53, p. 122. 8. J. C. Marshman, The Life and Times of Carey Marshman, and
embracing the 2 lb59, Volume
stor I p- 0
mpore Mission, (T Volumes),
-3L8- still being thought of as 'delirious mechanics' whog like
Hardy, Olivers, and Carey, refused to be contented with their
'province' in society, to what extent was that a true
conception? From what social strata did they come, and what
was their economic status? Does the pattern of occupational
distribution change over time and vary between one missionary
society and another? What do the answers to these questions
suggest about the social and economic forces which would have
influenced the expectations and aspirations of future
missionaries? The following is an attempt to answer these
questions as they apply to missionaries who served in India. 1
I
The table below (based on Appendix A) shows the
occupations at the time of application of the five hundred
and fifty missionaries here selected for'study who served in
India between 1789 and 1858. Just over eighty-four per cent
are known.
1. Recent studies bearing on the social background of missionaries in this period give the impression that the 'average missionary' was of humble stock. Max Warren has enlivened an important study with extracts from Sidney Smith's scurrilous journalism (Social History and Christian Mission, London, 1967, pp. 61-63)- Warren's account owes much to Niel Gunson's unpublished study, 'Evangelical Missionaries in the South Seas, 1797-18601, Ph. D. Thesist Australian National University, 1959. An essay which also suggests the humble social origins of missionaries is Peter Hinchliffe's 'The Selection and Training of MitIonaries in the Early Nineteenth Century' in The Mission of the Church and the Propagation of the Faith. Studies in Church HIstory) Volume VI, editeT-b-y U. J. Cuming, Cambridge, 1970.
Table I
1. Ministers of religion 82
2. Students for the ministry 93 3. University students 33
I+. Other students 5
5. Teachers 84
6. Doctors7 chemists, dentists 22
7. Lawyers 6
8. Engineers 2
9. Accountants and clerks 20
10. Merchants 2
11. Gentleman of means 1
12. Landscape painter 1
13. Printers and booksellers 26
14. Skilled artisans, mechanics,
shop assistants, labourers &a. 88
15. Unknown or uncertain 85
0-0
At first sight it appears that the missionary movement
in India In this period was predominantly a middle-class
enterprise: it is as if the office of a missionary were a
profession, and that most missionaries were recruited from
the professions. Thirty-two per cent of the total number
were either ministers already, or in training for the ministry.
A further twenty per cent were teachers, student teachers, or
other students. Another nine per cent were doctors, dentists,
chemists, lawyers, accountants, or clerks. Fewer than one-
quarter of the whole are knovm to have been printersq artisans,
mechanics, shop assistants, labourersl, soldiers, sailors, &C.
The majority of missionaries who served in India before 1859,
therefore, came from the lower middle and professional classes,
-20-
and not from the skilled working classes. However, there are
many qualifications which must be made to this general
observation.
First, it is necessary to analyse the previous occupaticns,
where known, of the large numbers of ministers and teachers. 1
This should provide a better guide to their social origins. Theýevidence is scanty, but suggestive. Six missionaries who
served in India with the L. M. S. were ministers when they applied. John Smith was the son of a nurseryman but he was 'on the way
up' and he had no sympathy with the labouring classes. His
wife had died, he maintained, from the shock of witnesping the
'mob' smahh her brother's looms in the machinery riots of
1826.2 Manchester-born Robert Cotton Mather enjoyed a Scottish
university education7 and, like many so educatedq became a
classical tutor while seeking a more satisfying occupation. 3
James Russell was bound apprentice to a bookbinder at the age
of twelve. )+ David Watt, son of a merchant, 5
was a 'Sailor-boy'
in Calcutta. 6 Edward Storrow hesitated to apply because of his 'want of a proper educationt7 even though it was an 'English
education rather superior to the generality of the middle
classest. 8 His dwelling on the nuances of educational
opportunities'signifies that he considered, that he had received
an education which had prepared him for business, rather than
a 'liberal' (classical) education which would have prepared
him for a profession. Finally, William Johnson was bound
1. Where known these are indicated in Appendix A. 2. L. M. S., C. P., J. Smith to J. Fletcherg 11 January, 1827-
L. M. S., C. P. ý R. C. Mather to the Directors, 12 June 1832 L. M. S., Answers to printed questions$ 19 January, 1637. W. I. Addison, The Matriculation Albums of the UniversitZ or
Glasgow, Glasgow, 1913, p. 402. L. M.;, ý. j Answers to printed questions, 13 May, 1839. L. M. S., C. P. 9 E. Storrow to the Secretary, 8 Septemberý 1847. L. M. S., Answers to printed questionsg 26 July, 1847.
-21- apprentice at the age of fourteen. During his apprenticeship
he 'carried on the work-of self-education', was then trained
as a teacher by the British and Foreign School Society in
London, and taught for three years before commencing his
training for the ministry. I
The twenty-nine ministers who were sent by the C. M. S. to
India in this period seem to have come from higher social
strata than the L. M. S. ministers. Twenty-five of them studied
at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, or Dublin, and a
number of them were sons of clergymen. Most of them were
probably like Henry Milward who, being always 'designed' for
the University, 'was brought up to no businessi. 2 Only seven
of them are known to have been previously in other occupations. Thomas Ragland and Robert Clark both spent a number of years
in mercantile houses, the latter being 'well trained for
business in a Merchant's Office at Liverpoolt. 3 Joseph Fenn 1+
was a very successful barristerg and Thomas Fitzpatrick was
a student for the bar. 5 Luke Cradock held the post of
Scripture Reader, 6 a lay office in the Church of England, often
held at the end of the period under review by those who desired
to enter the ministry, but had not the means of acquiring a
university education. Andrew Burn was educated as an engineer
before going to Cambridge. 7
1. L. M. S., Answers to printed questions, 2 March, 1858. 2. C. M. S., C/ACl/4, Answers to questions 1 25 November, 1856.
C. M. S., Minutes, 21 May, 1850, pp. 49516. ae. E. Stock, The History of the Church Missionary Society.,
Volumes), London, 109-1916, Volume I- P-233-- 5- C-M-S-i C/ACI/309, Answers to questionsg 18 March, 1847. 6. C. M. S. ) Minutes, 20 June, 1854 p 247. 7. C. M. S. 9 Minutest 29 January, 1656; pp. 12011.
-22- Particularly informative is the case of Andrew H. Frost. After
taking a bachelor's degree at Cambridge, Frost became a private
tutor. He simultaneously commenced the study of medicine.
Before he could complete the protracted and expensive
business of establishing himself in the medical profession, he
decided to get married. He therefore had to abandon both his
tutorship and his medical studies in favour of the less
savoury2 but more immediately remunerative, post of
mathematics master in a-grammar school. His apparent quest
for professional status was finally realised when subsequently
he entered the ministry. It was only then, while serving his
first curacy under the father of Thomas Valpy French, ' that he
experienced religious conversion. That his reasons for
entering the ministry were social rather than religious is
suggested by his later confession: 'I tremble now to think of
the way in which I took on mygelf the ministry of that Gospel
of whose grace and fulness I knew nothing'. Nevertheless, It
is a fact repeatedly seen in this research that religious
conversion and social ambition were not mutually incompatible,
and it is interesting that Frost only applied to the C. M. S.
after he had beenrefused the more desirable post of an East
India chaplaincy. 2
Analysis oi-, the previous occupations of the eighty-four
teachers who went to India as missionaries suggests thatý -
teaching was an occupation frequently exploited as a means of
bridging the gap between the working and middle classes. It
was also a popular way of supporting oneself while training
1. By then a C. M. S. missionary in India. In 1877 he was consecrated first Bishop of Lahore. 2. C. M. S. f C/AC1/3, A. H. Frost to the Secretaries, 19 May, 3.853.
-23- for the ministry. Scottish licentiates, in particular,
taught to help pay their university fees, and, after licence
by their presbyteries, were usually dominies pending
appointment to parishes. ' Irish ordinands frequently sought
teaching posts for the same reason. However, teaching was an
occupation to which all could aspire regardless of previous
social or even educational advantages. The Wesleyan, Joseph
Fletcher, had been a teacher for about three years when he
wrote the following account of his early life:
The first sixteen years of my life I was brought up in
a. country Village my Father having been unsuccessful in
his first setting out in the world became a poor labouring
man and having an increasing family could give me but
very little schooling I was sent to work as a plough boy
or to do anything I could in husbandry when not more
than nine years of age I continued to work at [the]
agriculture business till I was nearly sixteen when a
situation offered itself of my being apprenticed as a
Glover in Worcester. 2
A more prominent Wesleyan missionary, Ebenezer Jenkins,
was a cabinet-maker before becoming a teacher. His father
was a very successful cabinet-maker, and the craft a much
respected one, stimulating the creative genius of some in
whom the religious public would have been especially interested.
1. 'If the Church (of Scotland] had required regular attendance at divinity classes a large part of the parochial School System would have ceased to function. ' S. Mechie, 'Edudation for the Ministry in Scotland since the Reformation', Records of the Scottish Church History Society, XIV, 19621-P-132. 2. W. M. M. S., Home - C9 1815-lbl9l J. Fletcher to R. Watson, 27 November, 1817.
-24- Had not Thomas Sheraton himself been a Baptist minister?
But Jenkins sought 'more congenial employment'. ' He became
assistant master in a day school and was beginning to hanker
after a career in journalism when he was accepted as a 2 Methodist preacher.
Among the teachers accepted for missionary service In
India were two other cabinet-makers, 3 two other farm
labourers, 1+
a bookseller, 5 a grocer,
6 a brewer. 7 two servants,
8
and a draper. 9 However, teaching was not only a favourite
occupation of those who were climbing to higher social strata;
it was also the resort of those who, like Andrew Frost, had
difficulty in establishing themselves in other professions.
II
A second reason for qualifying the general observation
that the missionary movement in India was predominantly a
professional enterprise, is that the professions themselves
were in an embryonic state. Many of the oedupations now
recognised as professions would not have been considered such
in 1800. Their status depended on the industrialisation of
society, 10 a process which had barely started in England and
Southern Scotland at the beginning of the period covered by
this study. Admittedly, clergymen, physicians, and barristers
1. J. H. Jenkins, Ebenezer E. Jenkins, a Memoir, London, undated, pp. 12,3. 2. Ibid., P-17.
H. Baker (C. M. S. ) and T. K. Nicholson, (C. M. S. ) J. S. S. Robertson (C. M. S. ) and G. Walker (C. M. S. ) J. Marshman (B. M. S. )
6. J. Latham (C. M. S. ) 7. Septimus Hobbs (C. M. S. ) 8. E. Reynolds and J. Gritton (C. M. S. ) 9. E. Rogers (C. M. S. ) 10. W. J. Reader, Professional Men. The Rise of the Professional Classes In Nineteenth-Century England,, London, 1966, p. 2.
-25- were accorded professional status before the Industrial
Revolution; it has been argued that the status of the first-
and last depended on their connexion with the State. ' How
many of the five hundred and fifty missionaries here studied
would have been accepted by their contemporaries as
professional men at the time of their application? And, since
a classical education was considered essential for entry into
the 'liberal' professions, what sort of education had they
received? These questions will be answered with reference to
the ministers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and accountants who
were to become missionaries in India.
Thirty-seven of the eighty-two ministers who were
successful applicants must be eliminated because they did not
belong to the established churches in England, Irelandq or
Scotland. No Dissenting minister, respected as he may have
been by his own congregation, would have been accorded 2 professional status. The remainder would have received a
measure of social esteem13 but few were examples of that
archetypal professional man - the country clergyman, secure
in his parson's freehold. l+ Some, as will be seent held
arduous curacies in new, populous, industrial cities*5
However, the temptation to locate the social stratum of any
minister of religion too low should be resisted. Both Church
and Dissenting ministers were better respected in the nineteenth
century, than in the eighteenth; they were better educated
and generally had a higher sense of vocationg thanks to the
Evangelical and Catholic Revivals.
1. ! bid., pp. 21,23. 2. Ibid*7 po 15.
Ibid. Ibid., p. 199. See below, pp. 122f.
-26- Even fewer of the teachers who applied would have been
men of professional status. W. J. Reader is of the opinion that even in the second half of the nineteenth century in
England teaching 'as an occupation had a very low standing indeed and was no profession for a gentleman'. ' It is
certain, however, particularly towards-the end of the period
under review, that teachers were deeply incensed at the low 2 status accorded them, and were doing something about it.
The advent of teacher training institution3helped to give teachers a professional image. Numbers of the teachers here
considered trained in such colleges13 particularly towards
the end of the period under review. '+ Here they were not only infected with the teachers' zeal for greater recognition; they were also encouraged to think of teaching as a vocation.
1. W. J. Reader, op. cit., p. 6. 2. "'What in short the teacher desires is, that his 'calling' shall rank as a 'profession', that the name of 'schoolmaster' shall ring as grandly on the ear as that of 'clergyman' or 'Solicitors: that he shall feel no more that awful chill and 'stony British stare' which follows the explanation that 'that interesting young man' is only the 'schoolmaster' Quoted in A. Tropp, The School Teachers, The Growth of
; he Teaching Profession in England and Wales from 1800 to the present =, London, 1957, p. 26. 3. This is quite apart from the large numbers who spent a short time learning new educational methods as part of their missionary training. 4. For a list of teacher training colleges under Government inspection in 1858, see J. Hurt, Education in Evolutions Church. State, Society, and Poýular Education, 1800-18ZO, London, 1971, PP-1079b. W. J. Reader (op. cit., p. 106) is in or in asserting that teacher training did not commence until the 1870s. Among the missionaries so trained were the Baptist, J. Penneyt who was trained by Joseph Lancaster himself (W. H. Carey, Oriental Christian Biography, O-Volumes)ý Calcuttaý 18529 V61ume II, pp. 126ff.; M. A. Lalrdq Missionaries and Education in Bengal, 1793-183Zý Oxford, 1972, p. 39. ); t-t. Batstoneq W. Wright, F. Scamell, and F. Goodall, all of the C. M*S. t who trained at the Metropolitan Training Institution of the Church of England, Highbury, founded in 1849; the Wesleyan, L. Garthwaite, who studied at the Wesleyan teacher training college at Westminster (F. C. Pritchard, The Story of Westminster College, 1851-1951, London, 1951); and the Scotti7h! -missionaries, A. Walker and W. Black, who were trained at the Normal Seminary of the General Assembly of. the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh (A. Morgan, Two Famous Old Edinburgh Colleges. a Century of Teachor Trainingg Edinburgh2 1935).
-2T- This was to create a certain disinterestedness in their work,
and a desire to stay in teaching instead of thinking of it as
a mere stepping-stone to a more respected occupation. ' Both
this disinterestedness and the desire to stay in teaching were
essential ingredients of professionalism. It is significant
that most of the missionaries who trained in these colleges
before application went to India as lay teachers. In fact
it was the policy of the Directors of the C. M. S. to refuse
to accept into its own missionary seminary (where candidates
were prepared for ordination) any students from the teacher
training college at Highbury, thus closing a door to their
ordination. 2 Of course, not all opposition to the exploitation
of teaching as a road to a higher goal was dictated by concern
for the professionalism of teaching. Much of it, both in
England and Scotland, 3 stemmed from upper-class prejudice:
'My simple desire for my groom)+, ' emphasised G. F. Williamson,
'is that he should be trained as a schoolmaster -I never
entertained any ideaof his entering Orders, as I am not over
fond of raising him from the ranks for that Office. 15 The
good Vicar must have been a hunting parson for he proceeded
to confuse his groom with his horses: 'He has received already
a fair education - but of course will require brushing up and
finishing off - His parents are respectable, and he came of a
good stock. 6
1. A. Tropp, op. cit. 9 po-18o 2. C. M. S., Minutes, 24 May, 18539 p. 1+09. The Committee gave two reasons for this decision: the need for teachers in India- and concern for the 'general interests' of the Highbury college. 3. For evidence of the resistance to improving the status of dominies, see J. Scotland, The History of Scottish Education, 2 Volumes, London 1969, Volume I, P-175. 4. Peter Goodall IC. M. S. ) 5. C. M. S. t C/ACl/3, G. F. Williamson to the Secretary, 6 November, 1852. The emphasis is original. 6. Ibid.
-28- The training received and the subjects taught by the
teachers who became missionaries suggest that their social
status should be located well above the lowest echelons who
struggled to impart a knowledge of the 'three R's' in dame
and charity schools. Fifteen of the thirty-four teachers who
were to become C. M. S. missionaries in India were classics
masters or tutorsq some of whom were men of high ability. James Long, for example, though it is said that his Irish
'/manners2eft something to be desired, was acquainted with six foreign and three ancient languages; 1
the mere prospect of having him as a student made the Principal of the Missionary
2 Institution tremble. Of the remainder, the majority were National Schoolmasters, having received, no doubt$ like T. K.
Nicholson 'that wh. is generally termed a plain English
education't consisting of the 'three R's', mechanicst grammar, 3 geography2 mensuration, and algebra.
Nor were the relatively high qualifications of the teachers
who were to become C. M. S. missionaries exceptional. The few
B. M. S. missionaries who were teachers on application do not
appear to have been as accomplished, but the Wesleyans had
managed jist as well, 1+
and the L. M. S., S. P. G., and the Scottish
missionary societies contributed a much higher proportion of
classics teachers. Eight of the eleven L. M. S. teachers were
tutors or masters of the classics9 seven of whom were Scottish.
1. C. M. S., Minutes, 8 October, 1838, pp. 237,8. 2. E. Stock, The History-of the Church Missionary Societv, Volume II, pp-. -7Z-f-. 3. C. M. S., C/ACl/l/92j T. K. Nicholson to R. Davies, 18 July, 181+6. 1+. Five of the nine Methodist teachers had been teachers of classics. Nonconformists, possibly because of their stress on an educated laity, had greater respect for teachers than members of the Church of England. A. Tropp, OP, cit., P-35h.
-29- Another L. M. S. missionary, William Blake, was a fine example
of the 'new breed' of schoolteachers who aimed at professional
competence: he professed to being influenced by the ideals of Thomas Arnold of Rugbyq of Pestalozzils disciple, David Stow,
and of Henry Dunn, Secretary of the British and Foreign School
Society. ' The teachers who became missionaries in Indiap theng
were drawn from the better educated, professionally conscious,
ranks of teachers. Only a few were like Joseph Fletcher who had yet to discover punctuation. 2
Fewer missionaries were drawn from the other traditional
'liberal' professions - Physic and Law. At the beginning of
the nineteenth century all those who dealt with the body's
ailments were divided into a rigid hierarchical structure, beginning with physicians and descending through surgeonsq
apothecaries, and druggists to 'Ifthe worm and water doctors,
bone-setters and others, whose name is Legion". 3 Only the
physicians, who had received a 'liberal' education and who
confined their practices largely to the wealthy areas of big
cities, were accorded professional status. )+ In the half-century
that followedt surgeons, like teachers of the classics, and
those trained in teachers' colleges, struggled for professional
recognition. 5 From this discontented-and aspiring group came
most of the seventeen doctors and medical students who were to 6 become missionaries in India. Usually they had been
1. L. M. S., Answers to printed questionq 29 December, 1835. 2. See above, p. 23- '
Quoted in W. J. Reader, op, cit., P-32. Ibid. 9 pp. 16-21.
5-- T--bid-, P-32. 6. J. Taylor, M. D., (L. M. S. ) was one exception. He had studied physic at the University of Edinburgh, writing a dissertation on dysentery. List-of the Graduates in Medicine in the UniversitZ of Edinburgh from_MDCCV to MDCCCLXVI, Edinburgh, 1W, P-36.
1 -30- apprenticed to surgeonsq and 'walked the wards' of the
hospitals, before applying to the Society of Apothecaries
for a licence, or, more commonly, to the Royal College of
Surgeons, for a diploma. 2 The L. M. S. missionary, Archibald
Ramsay, had opened the door to wider prospects by adding to
his diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons the degree of
M. A. from Marischal College, Aberdeen. 3 But a 'liberal'
education was an exception, most surgeons being forced into.
this occupation in the first place because of their inability
to afford a college education.
Lower down the scalet but also improving their standards,
and therefore their prospects of professional recognition,
were a further eight druggists or druggists' apprentices.
Serving an apprenticeship to a druggist was frequently the
first step on the road to becoming a surgeon. The Baptist,
W. Johns, 5 and J. H. Wilkinson (C. M. S. )6 were both chemists
before they were surgeons. Taken as one group the doctors and
chemists were not as well educated as the ministers or teachers
previously discussed, even though some of them had been to
grammar schoolst and most of them appear to have acquired a
smattering of Greek, and a little more Latin, before they
applied. Nor was their status in society anything like that
enjoyed by ministers. This point is well illustrated by
1. Some attended the new medical schools. H. Huxtable (S. P. G. ) may have studied medicine at King's College, London (S. P. G. Ms. X-1241 p. 69) and W. T. Storrs (C. M. S. ) obtained 'every prize but one' in the York Medical School (C. M. S., Minutes, 5 July, 1853, P05000). 2. See, for exampleg C. M. S., Minutes, 11 March, 1839, P-51+8; cf. W. J. Reader, op. cit., PP-IA, 53-
LH. S. 7 C. P., A. Ramsay to the Secretary, 29 July, 1837. W. J. Reader, op. cit., p-41.
5. S. P. Carey, -Willian, Carey, Eighth Editiong London, 19 4, P318. 6. c. m. s., CIACI/3, J. H. Wilkinson to the Secretaries, 2a November, 1853, and 5 December, 1853.
-31- W. T. Storrs ref eree: 'Now this man must not be lost he wrote , 'he
is quite too good for a Doctor. "
Both branches of the legal profession - barristers and
attorneys (solicitors) - had risen higher in social esteem by the beginning of the nineteenth century than either teachers or surgeons, and continued to press for further
recognition throughout the ensuing half-century. 2 Joseph
Fenn (C*M. S. ) had been a barrister before he took Orders
under the guidance of Charles Simeon of Cambridge. 3 He had
the two prerequisites for success as a barrister - ability
and good connexions4 - and had an income of ýCJ9500 p. a., a
considerable sum at the time. 5 A further ten candidates had
been in the legal profession either before or at the time of
their application. This includes three Scotsmeng Thomas
Lesse16 and James Duthie, 7 both of the L. M. S., and John Pourie
of the Free Church of Scotland Missior4 8 who were clerks
articled to advocates, and an Irishmang Thomas Fitzpatrickq
who had kept all six terms required of a student for the bar
at the King's Inn) Dublin, plus four terms at Grray's Inn,
London. 9 Only Fenn had unambiguously established himself in
a 'liberal' profession. Fitzpatrick, and two S. P. G.
1. C. M. S., C/AC1/3, Letter from G. Hodgson, 8 July, 1852. The emphasis is original. 2. The Law Society was granted a Royal Charterin 1831. W. J. Reader, op. cit j pp. 21228,54.
C. M. S., Minutes,, 16 May, 1817, p. 1+38. E. Stock, op. cit. 9 Volume I, p. 233- Ibid.
6. E. M. S., C. P. 2 T. L. Lessel to J. Arunde12 8 April, 1837. 7. L. M. S., C. P. 2 J. Duthie to Prout, 13 Augusts 1853. 8. G. Smith2 Memorials of th-, Rev. John Pourie, Calcutta, 1869, P. iv. 9. C. M. S., C/Acl/l/309, Answers to questions, 18 Marcht 1847.
-32- missionaries, Matthew Sarjant' and Matthew de Mel, 02 were well
on the way to success as barristers. The remaining seven were
articled clerks, handicapped by their want of a college
education, 3 and should not be classified as professional men,
but with the attorneys whose importance was increasing with
the progress. of the Industrial Revolution.
Professional recognition of accountants depended on a
sophistication in commercial pursuits which had yet to come, l+
It was an occupation rather like teaching in that it was often
used to bridge the working and middle classes and suffered lack
of recognition from either class as a result. 5 The Baptist,
Joshua Rowe, resigned as clerk of a Newfoundland merchant to
take up woolcombing because it made him 'uneasy' not to have (accounting)
learned a trade. 6 It/ýras an occupation which required an
education superior to that needed by the skilled mechanicq and
most of the twenty-five future missionaries who had any previous
connexions with accountancy or its branches had been clerks in
counting-houses and had received a 'commerciall, 'business',
or 'good English' education. After a day's book-keeping for
their employers they would seek to further their education,
like Henry Sells (S. P. G. ), clerk in the Commercial Sales Room,
Mincing Lane, whose spare-time studies included Hebrewq
1SP. G. " C/IND/GEN-I+, Letter from M. G. Sarjant 16 June, 1823. 2: H: R. Luard, Graduati Cantabrigienses, 1800-18A)+, Cambridge, 1881+1 p. 11+5. 3. J. Sugden (L. M. S. ), after deciding to enter the ministry, took a B. A. degree at University College, London. (L. M. S., Answers to printed questionsq 14 Novemberg 18810. 4. Not until the census of 1921 was accountancy classified as a profession. W. J. Reader, op. cit , p. 11+8. 5. See A. Tropp, op. cit-9 P-33. 6. B. M. S. 1 IN/23, Letter from J. Rowel lI+ September, 1803.
-33- Persian, and Hindustani, l
and Charles Leitch (L. M. S. ),
accountant in a bank, whose hours of work (10a. m. -I+p. m. )
enabled him to attend classes in Greek, logic, mathematics,
and moral and natural philosophy at the University of 2 Edinburgh.
A closer look at the occupational groups listed in Table
I then, has revealed that although not many missionaries were
professional men at the time of their application for serviceg their standing should not be located too low on the ladder of
social status. But more important than that, it has been
demonstrated that most missionaries came from occupational
groups which were campaigning for greater recognition in the
industrialising society to which they owed, if not their origin,
then their increased importance.
III
Although most of these missionaries were drawn from the
potentially professional groups, there was a large minority
who had been skilled artisans, mechanics, shop assistants,
and the like. The existence of this significant minority7
which must now be analysedg is a third reason for qualifying
the original impression that the missionary movement in India
was a middle-class one. The occupations in this group are
set out in Table II below. Column (a) shows the number of
future missionaries in each occupation at the time of application.
Column (b) refers to those who had been in these occupations
at one time but who had moved into other occupations before
application. The totals of columns (a) and (b) are given in
column (c).
1. S. P. G.? Diocese of Calcuttaý 1835-1907? T. Walpole to G. Fagan (undated). 2. L. M. S., C. P.? C. C. Leitch to Freeman, 1 JulYq 181+7-
-34- Table II
(a) (b) (c) printers and/or booksellers 26 31
drapers 16 20
grocers 7 3 10
farm labourers 1+ 9
shoemakers 8 9
carpenters 1+
servants 1+
cabinet-makers 3 1+
'gardeners 3 1 )+
ironmongers 2 2 )+
sailors 2 2 1+
shop assistants 2 2 1+
tailors 1+ - )+
engravers 3 3
brewers 1 1 2
soldiers 2 - 2
weavers - 2 2
bookbinder - butcher 1
cooper - currier 1
cutter 1
glover - hosiery manufacturer
house painter
master dyer
miner
molecatcher
in the post office
potter
-35- silkmercer
silver-plater
stone mason
surgical instrument maker
umbrella manufacturer
woolcomber
apprentice (unspecified) 9 1 10 'business' (unspecified) 7 18
H
m Totals of columns (b) and (c) are not meaningful as they
include missionaries previously covered by column (m).
With that English genius for making a hierarchy out of
any two or three who are gathered together it is not surprising
to discover rigid social divisions within the English tworking
classes'. In particular there was a cleavage between the
skilled artisan or craftsman and the 'Poor labourerl which
was far sharper than the division between the skilled worker
and the 'lower middle classes'. 1 There were further
hierarchies among skilled workers themselves, and within each
industry, resulting from an elaborate amalgam of inherited
customs, changes over timet variations between regionsq and 2 differences in earnings.
1. A. Briggs and J. Saville (eds. ), 'Essays-in Labour History, London, 1960, pp. 44,1167117 E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, p. 26ý, and p. 212, where this fact is recognised even while it is qualified; E. J. Hobsbaym, Labouring Men,
-Studies in the History of Labour,, London, 1961+, p. 275;
R. S. Neale, Class and Ideology in the Nineteenth Century, London, 1972, P-32. 2. A. Briggs and J. Saville, op. cit ý pp. 11697; E. P. Thompson, op. cit. 9 pp. 212,26iff.
-36- High in the hierarchy of skilled working men came the
printersq bulwarked like teachers and attorneys with their
own societies. 1 Since directors of missionary societies
attached considerable importance to printing and publishing 2 -in India, numbers of printers went to India without ordinationj
their efforts being confined to the production of books and
pamphlets. 3 However, printers were promising missionary
materialg quite apart from their skills, because, of all the
skilled workers, they tended to be the most highly literate.
William Ward, of the Serampore trio, may have owed much to his
apprenticeship to a printer and bookseller at Derby, his native town. On rising to the position of 'corrector of the press', he had the opportunity of 'storing his mind with various and
useful knowledge'. He subsequently edited two newspapersý the
Derby Mercury and the Hull Advertiser. )+ It was daid. of him,
as it could probably be said of many other young men who became missionaries in India before 1859, that he had a 'mind
naturally aspiring, which could not altogether brook the
plodding course of common business e. 15 Thomas Salmon (LJ4. S. )
used his opportunities as an apprentice to a printer and bookseller to acquire 'rather an extensive acquaintance with
1. For example, the London Society of Compositors. 2. The distribution of cheap literature wasp of courseq a top priority at the time with the Evangelical movementq generallyq and, indeed, with all propagandist movements in Britain. It is significant that one of the most powerful institutions within the Wesleyan Connexion was the Book Room. 3. This practice was not favoured by all missionary societies see General Baptist Missionary Society Minute Book, 27 November, l&02 p. 238, and 25 March, 1841, p. 21+2. See also the back af this minute book for evidence of the B. M. S. 's opposition to lay printers. 1+. J. C. Marshman, o7). cit., Volume I) pp-93f. 5. W. H. Careyp 2riental Christian BiograpM, q Volume 119 P-137-
-37- Literature, so as to be, in the common acceptation of the term,
atreading man at the age of 20 &J=] James Elouis (C. M. S. )
was sufficiently educated to teach English and French and , superintend a, printing-press at the same time. 2 John Parker
(L. M. S. ) found that printing demanded too much of his time to
further his educationý but he probably owed his appointment
in the first place to his $general school educationg comprising
some knowledge of the Greek, Latin, and French languages ... 3
The printing trade itself had. '.. its own hierarchyg different
educational attainments being required in its different
branches. Half way up the scale would be the pressmeng 1+ like
Thomas Brown (C. M. S. )2 who earned 33/--a week, and who required
further training as a, compositor before he could be accepted 6 for service in India. 5 Near the top would be the 'readers',
like John Bensley (C. M. S. ), who had studied Latin) Greekg. and
Hebrew in a grammar school, and who considered he could hardly
accept a salary of less than ýC220.7 Most printers who went.
to India before 1859 came somewhere between the two. 8 That is
to say, they were drawn from the top half of a top trade.
'September2 1837. 1. L. M. S. 2 C. P. 7 T. Salmon to J'. Arundelq 19. 2. C-M. S.? G/AC3, J. J. H. Elouis to W. Jowett, 22 June, 1837.
L. M. S. 7 C. P. 9 J. H. Parker to J. Arundel, 7 August, 1838. Type-founders would have been below them. See E. P. Thompson,
OP. cit.. p. 264. 3. C. M. S., Minutes, 2 April, 1819. 6. That is, proof-readers.
C. M. S., Minutes, 21 September2 1847, P-147. Perhaps the most remarkable printer who went to India with
a,, missionary society was Robert Young I appointed in 1856 by the Irish Presbyterian Church Mission. A printer, publisher, and stationer, he later wrote a concordance of the Hebrew language and received the degree of Doctor of Laws. R. Jeffrey, The Indian Mission of the Irish Presbyterian Church2 London, 1890, pp. 61140-142.
-38- The sons of Crispin were by no means 'despised petty
producers' either. For one thing they were the largest
artisan trade outside the textile industry. 1 They further
made their presence felt by organising themselves into
societies, and, as was seen at the beginning of this chapter,
established a reputation for radicalism. 2 They tended to be
not as well educated as the printers, and yet were a
surprisingly enterprising and independent race-of autodidacts.
Like other artisans, they had established a hierarchy within
their own trade. This point is well illustrated by a story
which is told about William Carey. On one occasion when dining
with the Governor-General of India (Hastings) he overheard (he was probably meant to) an army officer ask an aide-de-camp
if he, Carey, had not been a shoemaker at one time. To this
Carey quipped, "$No Sir! only a cobblerm. 3 Although Carey
received no college training, his linguistic achievement in
India was remarkable. 4 So, too, was that of another Baptist
shoemaker, William Yates. 5 Unlike Careyq howeverg he had
been a 'very skilful' shoomaker. 6 Undistinguished in his
schooling, he became a passionate student after his religious
conversion, and rapidly acquired a knowledge of Greek and
Latin. 7 William Addis (L. M. S. ) had reached the top of his
1. E. P. Thompson, op. cit. t p. 259. 2. For further evidence of radicalism among shoemakers see E. P. Thompson, op. cit , pp. 252,771n; R. S. Neale, op. -cit , pp. 68-70.
J. C. Marshmang op. cit. 9 Volume 1, p. 8. See, for example, D. Kopf, British Orientalism and the Bengal
Renaissance. Berkeleyq 1969, pp. 9119 nd E. D. Potts -British BaDtist ionaries in India, 1793 Cambridge, '1_9ý7_, Ch-5- 5. S. A. Swaine, F-aithful Men,
- Is of Br Baptist
Colleze. and some of its I LJ%J4L%A%JLA )
10049 pp. e-4-09 6. lbid. 9 p. 2 7. Ibid. 9 P-21+6; W., H. Carey, op. cit 9 VOlume II, pp. 68-70.
-39- draft; he had served his time in the Boot and Shoe trade
'in all its branches' and, as a wholesale and retail leather-
seller 'on a respectable scale', qualified for inclusion in
the 'lower middle classes'. He offered himself as a. 'Missionary Artisanl, l but he was considered to be of
sufficient ability to be appointed to India as a teacher. 2
In fact, seven of the nine shoemakers (Carey included) were fortunate in the education they received - only the Wesleyan,
John Jones, 3 and the Brethren missionaryt George Beer, were
entirely self-taught. The latter was the son of poor parents
from Barnstaple, Devonshire. It was the practice of overseers
of parishes in that region to bind the children of the poor as
farmerst apprentices. The farmers were expected to maintain
them, but not to pay wages. Beer was just such a farm-labourer
and he was 'quite uneducated'. 4 It was a big step up from this
for Beer to become a shoemaker. 5
It would be tedious to discuss the other artisanst but an
observation about those drawn from the textile industry -
namely, that most of them were linen drapers - raises an
interesting question. Since the linen industry tended to cling
to traditional methods more than the cotton and woollen
industries, 6 is it true that most missionaries who came from
1. The major missionary societies appointed 'missionary artisans' to Africa, the South Seas, and New Zealand, but not to India. 2. L. M. S. 9 C. P. 9 W. B. Addis to Burder, 22 December, 1825; Minutes of the Examination Committee, 24 April, 1826, P-308.
W. M. M. S., Missionary Candidates, 1844-56, p. 198. R. Gribble, Recollections of an Evangelist? Second Edition,
L; ndon, 1858, pp. 1195697. 5. W. T. Stunt, Turning the World Upside Down, a Centenary of Missionary-Endeavour, Eastbourne, 19729 p. 24. r. A. Redford, Labour Migration in England, 1800-18LO, Second Edition, Manchester, 1964ý p. 49.
-40- the working classes were drawn from the traditional artisan
trades, and not from the industrial proletariate? The answer
to this question, as Table II plainly confirms, is in the
affirmative. They were not the human fddder of the Industrial
Revolution, the helpless, exploited factory workers, whose
boredom and misery were so profound, that gin and emotional
religion were the only panaceas. But they were victims of the
Industrial Revolution in another sense - the coming of machinery
meant that most of the old and honoured trades of Britain were
doomed to eventual extinction. 1 Furthermore, the need of
laissez-faire capitalism, which then dominated the British
economy, for cheap labour, ended artificial restrictions on
entry into the trades. As they became more unattractive the
emerging professions provided a natural outl-et. IV
There were close affinities between the skillbd artisan
trades and the new professional occupations, and they were
filled with men who had much in common.
First, the impression will have been given that the
opportunities of basic education enjoyed by many future
missionaries in India, whether they were shoemakers, printers,
clerks, or teachers, were better than might have been imagined;
they had received a tgood English' or 'sound business'
educationt and a surprising number had studied some Latin and
Greek. This is not to &ny that their acquirements owed more
to their common thirst for knowledge, than to the system's
capacity to impart it.
1. Shoemakers, for example, lost artisan status in 1834. E. P. Thompson, op. -cit , p. 282.
Secondly, there is an important link between the
specialised training of the apprenticed artisan, and the
vocational training of the new professional men. The training
of the teacher in the teacher's college, and of the surgeon by
the apprenticeship system and in the medical school, were
methods "inherited ... from below - from the skilled trades -
rather than from above, from the world of $liberal education"'. 1
In a'society rapidly expanding its technological-boundaries,
the tradition of 'liberal education' had been found wanting,
while the educational methods of the skilled artisans were
found capable of infinite improvement and adaptation. The
emergence of the new Anglican theological colleges in the 2 nineteenth century owed something to this realisationj and
it is most clearly seen in the case of the Church Missionary
Institution because it was one of the earliest of the new
colleges, and its students more obviously needed a specialised
training than those who intended to be ministers in England.
It Is seen, too, in the specialised training which necessitated
first the foundation of Fort WilliamC41lege in Calcutta and
then of Haileybury College, where East India cadets were
trained, for Britain was expanding territorially as well as
technologically.
Thirdly, there was a self-confidence about the artisan
and the new professional man which the new factory workers
never had. The cult of respectability strongly influenced
1. W. J. Reader, Professional Men, p. 28. 2-. The Universities of Oxford ana Cambridge traditionally
. opposed such institutions even though the theological training they (the universities) afforded was minimal. F, W. B. Bullock, A Historv of Trainine for the Ministry of the Church of Enaland In England and Wales rrom louu ro IoYltj DL* Leonaras-on-bea, 1955, Introduction* The Evangelicals, however2 stressed that the ministry was the highest of the professions, that ministers were professional men as well as gentlemen, and that they, therefore, required a specialised theological education.
-42- both these groups; the skilled artisan was never lacking in
self-respect, while the new professional man was constantly
making gains in this period, and was being influenced by
notions of alcalling' or 'vocation'.
FourthlY2 both had similar social ambitions and grievances. Both were 'upwardly mobile men with high need for achievement
but with subordinate positions'-' This has already been
discussed in the case of teachers, but skilled artisans were
the same. The journeyman shoemaker could become a master
shoemaker and then could become, like William Addis, a leather-
seller, that is a middle-man in the trade. In the textile
trade, Samuel Mateer was moving to the top of the hierarchy.
Having completed his apprenticeship to a cotton and linen
manufacturer in Belfast he was employed as a book-keeper 'in
2 " highly respectable firm', and was doing well. To become
" missionary was not to arrest the upward mobility: he was
told 'you were fitted for some higher work [it is remarkable
how this overtly religious expression had social overtones
in our period] than poring over ledgers2 and making up even
difficult accounts for which you are famous'. 3 Charles Farrar
(C. M. S. ) was first apprenticed to a bookseller and bookbinder
in Rochesterý but he then moved into a, woollen mill owned by
his brother-in-law. His future was ensured: 'deriving from
the business a comfortable maintainance; having leisure and
respectability; with the permitted anticipation of being in
1 1+
the firm hereafter On leaving behind the manufacturing,
1. R. S. Nealeg Class and IdeologX in the-Nineteenth Century,, P-9. 2. L. M. S., C. P. ý S. Mateer to the Secretary, 8 January, 1858.
lbid-2 Reference from D. Macafee, 28 January, 1858. C-11-S-i G/AC39 C. P. Farrar to E. Bickersteth, 6 June, 1823.
-43- and moving into the commercial and managerial aspects of the
trade, one was also moving into the middle classes. 1 The
upper classes, however, were undiscriminating in their
treatment of those below them) and were cavalier with the
hierarchies which did so much to bolster the successful
artisans' self-esteem. Socially, they were still in
'subordinate positions' - it was unjust and infuriating, 2 but
a goad to keep straining upwards, nevertheless.
Because of these four affinities between skilled artisans
and the new professional men, it is helpful to employ Nealets
thesis of a 'middling class' to explain both the social status
and the non-religious dynamic of nearly all the young men who
were to become missionaries in our period. Neale has advanced
&. five-class model of English society to replace the traditional
three-class model. 3 In his 'middling class' he includes the
'Petit bourgeoisq aspiring professional men, other literates
and artisans'. 4
Thisý it will be observed, covers most of the
occupational groups listed in Table I,, above. 5 One of the
strengths of Neale's thesis lies in its distinction between
social stratification (a. static concept) and social class (a
concept which is meaningful only in &, historical context). 6
To him class is a dynamic concept, and the 'middling class' 7 the most dynamic of the classes; it was the, 'unstable-clas8,
the "'uneasy"' class. 8 It has already been noted that many
1. 'To become as the middle classes was the ideal held up to the industrious artisan and mechanic. 1 R. Lewis and A. Maude, The English Middle Classesq Londong 191f9ij-57. . 2. A. Briggs and J. Saville, op. cit., p. 44n. 3. R. S. Neale, op. cit., Ch. 1, 'Class and class consciousness in early nineteenth-century England: three classes or five? ', &P . 15-1+0.
Ibid-9 P-30- P. 19.
6. R. S. Neale, op. cit-9 P-33; cf. E. P. Thompson, oD. cit., p. q. Neale owes much to Ralph Dahrendorf's stimulating classic of sociological writing, Class and Class Conflict__in Tndustrial Society, Stanford, 1959.
R. S. Neale,. op. cit., P-32. I-bid I p. 2
-44- missionaries had been in more than one occupation before they
applied for missionary service. They were obviously drawn
from groups characterised by considerable horizontal mobility
between occupations, as well as vertical mobility within them.
The restless, energy which produced this mobility was determined
by a desire to increase one's income, and raise onets status
and respectabilityo and the influence in society which depended
on them. These strong social pressures reinforced the Evangelical-
Utilitarian desire to maximise one's usefulness.
Members of the 'middling classes', Neale observes2 also
tended to be 'individuated' and 'non-deferential'. ' The
independence and individualism of missionaries is proverbial;
their capacity for strong disagreements with each other and
with their directors in this period is notorious. This may be
traced partly to their social origins - to #the quaint kind of
obstinacyt and 'bovine wayj2 of the self-respecting artisan
and the brash confidence of the aspiring professional man.
Neale further observes that, politically, the 'middling
classes' had a propensity for radicalism. 3 It would be
interesting to know the political sympathies of missionaries
before they sailed for Indiag but7 unfortunately there is not
much evidence of any interest in politics. Early in the period,
in the wake of the French Revolution, some Baptist missionaries
gave enthusiastic support to the radical cause. William Ward
invited John Thelwall, a member of Thomas Hardy's London
Corresponding Society, into a Baptist meeting-house, thus
promoting a riot. The windows of the chapel were smashed in,
1. Ibidej P-30. 2. Meredith Townsend's description of such people, quoted in E0D. Pottsq British BaDtiSt Missionaries in India, p. 20. 39 07). cit , mp---3004.
-45- and its occupants thrown out, by an infuriated 'Church and
King' mob. 1 Possibly Ward's wholehearted dedication to
missions was another way of expressing an impassioned need
to be involved in a good cause - the abolitionistq Thomas
Clarkson, found him as valuable an ally in the campaign against
slavery, as Thelwall did in the radical cause. 2 William Carey's
famous was originally printed and sold by radical
booksellers. '+ And as for the third member of the Serampore
trio, Joshua Marshmang &, letter from his wife may reflect his
sympathies: 'The distress, is tenfold to what it used to be.
The machines are the ruin of the Country/ hundreds on the parish
hundreds more out of work and much [ajaj turn thieves. 0 that
God would arise for the helpýof the poor and distrest la-ig]- 15
However2 missionaries were primarily interested in securing
the right to preach the Gospel, and this meant curbing their
radical tendencies) even though the 'most despotict and 6 'morbidly sensitive' government in India cried out for reform.
Yet, even for the sake of the welfare of the missiong one
radical Baptistq John Fountain, could not contain himself. 7
1. J, * C. Marshman, oD. cit. 9 Volume I, p. 91+. Previously Ward had been unsuccessfully prosecuted for writing a republican pamphlet. 2. Ibid. -9 pr. 95. 3. ZT-Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens, First Eaitionj Leicester, 1792-, New Facsimile Edition, London, 1961. 1+ j=. 1 B. A. Payne's 'Introduction', pp. v, vi. 5: B. M. S., IN119, Hannah Marshman to-J. Marshmang undated, postmarked Augustq 1820. 6. J. C. Marshman, op. cit. t Volume I, P-75- 7. He had been carefully interrogated about his political opinions before being accepted (B. M. S. t Minutes, 2 February, 1796, pp. 58f. ), but his subsequent criticisms of the authorities both in England and India were so imprudent that the Secretary of the B. M. S., A. Fullerg regretted ever having accepted him. (J. C. Marshman, oD. cit. 9 Volume I, pp-75-77).
-46- His radicalism owed much to the opposition of Dissenters to
the Established Church; he addressed a B. M. S. committee member
as the 'Lord's Bishop', laboriously inveighing against those,
episcopal dignitaries who expected to be addressed as 'My
Lord Bishop'. 1 However, as the post-Revolution fervour abated;
as the link bqtween radicalism and infidelity developedq 2
convincing even Dissenters that it was wiser to obey the
Biblical injunction to be 'subject to the governing 3
authorities'; as the novelty of the missionary enterprise
wore off, thus becoming increasingly appealing to the
'respectable'; and as more missionaries reported being helped
(unofficially) by East India Company officialsq missionaries
appear to have become increasingly conservative in their
attitudes to the ruling authorities. 14-
It is, of course, true that, in the long period covered by this research, there were discernible changes in the social
strata from which missionaries were recruited, but it is also
true, and Neale's thesis helps us to see it more clearlyq that
some important social aspirations were shared by nearly all
the missionaries'-here studied.
1. B. MS. l IN/222 J. B. Fountain to J. Ryland, 22- May, 1798. 2. Even Fountain must have been conscious of this connexion. On the voyage to Calcutta-he was given a copy of Paine's Rights of Man by the sailors. 'Moses is damned'by them as a Villainous imposter, ' he wrote, 'Christ as an Illegitimate fellow, and the Apostles as contradictory Madmen. 1 (B. M. S. 9 I N/229 J. B. Fountain to A. Fuller, 17 May, 1796. ) a: Romans 13.1
The nature of the sources partly explains the difficulty in finding any political dimension in the thought of missionaries. Information on this subject was not elicited by the directors of missionary societies as a matter of courset except in the case of the S. P. G., and the S, P, C. K. 2 where referees had to affirm that applicants were favourably disposed to the Government.
-47-
The changes which did take place in the pattern of
occupational distribution of these missionary recruits may
be dealt with briefly. Those recruited from occupations
1-12, in Table 11 increased as a percentage of the total number
in each decade between 1809 and 1858.2 The number of
missionaries recruited from occupations 13 and 11f in Table I
exceeded the numbers recruited from occupations 1-12 in the
first two decades of the century onlyq but remained constant
at exactly twenty-two for each successive decade, while the
numbers of those aspiring to the professions increased
dramatically. If these statistics are taken as a barometer
of the acceptability of missions to the middle classes it
appears that missions had become a respectable pursuit by the
third decade of the nineteenth century. As for differences in the social background of the
missionaries who served with different societiesq it appears
that while this basic shift from the artisan to the professional
classes took place in the C. M. S., L. M. S., and B. M. S., no such
changes are discernible for the W. M. M. S., the Scottish
missIonary societies7 and the S, P. G. The last six W. M. M. S.
missionaries whose occupations are known include three drapers,
a. tailor, a shoemaker, and a tutor. The W. M. M. S. probably
recruited mainly from the artisan classes throughout our period.
1. See above, p. 19. 2.18og-1818 17.5%
1819-1828, 55.5% 1829-1838 66.5% 1839-1848 73q - 1849-1858
-48- The Presbyterian missionaries of Ireland and Scotland were
all licentiates, ministers, or teachers at the time of their
application. 1 The Presbyterians thought of their missionaries
as agents of the Church, rather than representatives of private 2 societies, and therefore expected them to receive the same
training as other ministers in the Churchq and only dntertained
their applications when they had nearly completed this training.
The Scots were not as class-conscious as the English, and the
legacy of the clans cut across any vertical stratification of
society. The fathers of Scottish missionaries were generally
respectedg hard-working, God-fearing, citizens - the occupations
of twenty of them are known - nine of them were farmers and
another four were ministers. Most Scottish missionaries came
from families who had to be thrifty, but few seem to have
suffered from abject poverty like John Anderson, whose face was
scarred with small-pox, and who contemplated enlisting in the
army 'to get bread'. 3 Their social background is probably
epitomis6d in the following description of English-bornt
Scottish-educated I Adam Compton Thomson, who served not with
" Scottish society, but with the S. P. G.: "He is descended from
" Stock of very creditable Shepherds in ye. Northern part of
this Country - and has acquired his education at Edinbrot
greatly by his own exertions As we have many Instances upon
the 'Border'11.4
1. With the single exception of Robert Youngg printer, of the Irish Mission. See above p-37p n. 8. 2. The seven 'Missionaries of the Scottish Missionary Society excepted. 3. J. Braidwood, True Yoke-Fellows in the Mission Field: The Life and Labours of the Rev. John Anderson and the Rev. Robert Johnston, London, ld62t p. 12. 4. S. P. G., C/I /GEN-69 W. Haigh to A. Hamilton, 25 January, 1830-
-49- Similarly, the S. P. G., which was fast becoming the
missionary instrument of the bishops of the Church of England, '
consistently recruited its missionaries from the professions,
university college students, and ministers. It has been
demonstrated in a recent study that just over sixty per cent
of all bishops already installed or appointed between 1783 and
1852 had direct familial links with the aristocracy, 2 and
they did not hesitate to make known their preference for a
clergy of respectable social breeding. Bishop George Murray
in 181+0 opposed allcurrent reforms of the Churchý as he had
dreaded the Church's sinking "'into the state ... where the
clergy are but one degree removed from the labourer and the
mechaniciti. 3 But the S. P. G. had difficulty in recruiting Its
missionaries from the social strata from which Anglican clergy
usually came. When seeking university graduates to staff the
projected Bishop's College, Calcutta, in 1820, the S. P*G.
Committee received no applications until it raised the salary
of the principal to ý: 1,000, which was five times that received
by a missionary of the C. M. S. )+ Later, when the Committee
proposed transferring Charles Craven from Bishop's College to
Madras, he resigned. 'I am not disposed to feel ashamed of
the office of a Missionary9l he wrote, 'for I consider it
highly honourable, but I beg to observe that as a Professor
1. H. P. Thompson, Into All -
Lands. The History of the Society for the Propagation of the Gosýelin Foreign Parts, 1701 = 19509 London, 19519 P-113; H. Cnattingius, Bishops-and Societies a Study of Anglican-Colonial and Missionary Expansion, 169A - TUO-, London, 1952, p. 107. 2. R. Yk. Soloway,, Prelates and People, Ecclesiastical Thought in England,
-17 -1852, London, 1969, P-7. Ibid , P-13. SPG
, India Committee Journal, 1818-27, (X-56), 19 May,
1820; ; p: f.
-50- in Bishop's College I was considered to hold a much higher
rank in Society than I could have claimed as a Missionary
merely, which is the appellation proposed to be given me in
the appointment at Madras, and though this may appear to the
Society an objection of little weight, yet to anyone at all
acquainted with India it will not be considered frivolous. 11
It is not surprising that, with the passage of time, the
Directors of the S. P. G. began to wonder if they were not paying
too high &price for the pedigree of their missionaries. In
181+5 the Assistant Chaplain at Surat suggested that a new
breed of men, recruited 'from the ranks of the Peasantryý 2 Yeomanry, and humble Citizens', by their different 'position
in society', and their 'simple, active, self-denying habits'
might be better suited to the work in India. 3
However, the difference in the social origins of the
S. P. G. missionaries should not be exaggerated. Until the
opening of St. Augustine's Collegeg Canterbury, in 1848, the
S. P. G. had nowhere to prepare applicants and, like the Scotsq
had to draw on those who were already students for the ministry.
But such students were not all from one social class.
Admittedly, those who were fortunate enough to be appointed to
the lucrative posts in Bishop's College were of impeccable
social pedigree! 'He is a gentleman, ' John Henry Newman, then
fellow of Oriel Collegeg Oxford, wrote conclusively of
1. S. P. G., Bisho is College - 21 C. Craven to A. Hamilton, 31 December, 1829 2. The agriculturL frame of reference is typical of the Anglican clergyman even as late as 1845. 3. S. P. G., Diocese of Bombay, G. Morison to E. Hawkins, 28 October, 1845.
-5]. - Arthur Wallis Street, land a man of serious mind and sound
doctrinal views'. 1 However, 'gentlemen' could not always be
found to fillthe Society's other posts in India. Thomas
Brotherton, for example, who was to become a fine Tamil
scholar, applied to the S. M. in February, 1836, imploring
them to give him employment as quickly as possible, as he had
'no independent property whatever'. 2 He was the son of a his
'respectable tradesman', and//widowed mother struggled to put
him through college, even though it meant she would lose him,
for he had desired to be a missionary for sixteen years. 3
The prejudices which a man from his social class had to face
are apparent in the following letter which was supposed to be
a recommendation: 'In the earlier part of life ... he was
engaged in an iron factory, which accounts for his great want
of polished manners, on which account he was perhaps rather
unpopular in the College ... while few liked the man considered
abstractedly, all respected, admired, esteemed the future
missionary. ... I must really confess that before I heard his
character I was somewhat prejudiced against him by his want of
cleanliness and that polish of manners which is seldom acquired
in a Provincial town ... they really sometimes degenerated
into coarseness. '. "+
vi
Britain's unregulated capitalist economy in the first half
of the nineteenth century brought further pressures to bear
1. S. P. G. ) Candidates' Testimonials, 1837-44, (X-111+), p. 119. 2. S. P. G., Madras Diocese, 1835-50, T. Brotherton to A. M. Campbell, 28 February, 1836.
jbid. 9 W. Roy to A. M. Campbellt 7 March, 1836. Ibid., W.? Day to Archdeacon Pitt?, March, 1836.
-52- upon the early lives of missionaries. Like everyone else
they were sometimes victims of cyclical depressions7
unemployment, and low wages. 1 Some of these victims will
now be mentioned, and since one-third of all these missionaries
had been either ministers or studying for the ministry, a case
study will be made of the economic condition of the Church of
England and the opportunities for employment and the prospects
for advancement within it.
Undoubtedly many future missionaries had suffered from
economic hardships before their applications. The Baptist,
John Thomas, had failed to make a success of his surgery and
midwifery practice and sog selling a112 he sailed for Bengal
as ship's surgeon on the 'Oxford'. 2 Another Baptist$ William
Moore, had been forced to leave school and work on his fatherts
farm when the family income suddenly evaporated. 3 William 4 Reeve's (L. M. S. ) business plans had been 'frustrated'. Samuel
Render (L. M. S. ) had failed in business through the 'pressure
of the times' - he had done all that 'an honestman could' to
save it. 5 William Bankhead, also of the L. M. S., confessed to
the Directors: 'God was pleased to bring down my towring I-11-C]
expectations, by a sudden and unexpected change in my Masters 6 1.2-1C] affairs', a misfortune which forced him to leave his
mechanical trade in London and seek the protection of the
'parental rooft. Like Bankhead, the Wesleyan, Joseph Fletcher,
1. Rostow estimates that there were sixteen troughs in the trade cycle between 1789 and 1858. W. W. Rostowý British Economy of the Nineteenth Century, Oxford, 19481 P-33. 2. W. H. Carey, -op. cit., Volume II) p-444.
Ibid., Volume III, p. 200. L. M. S., C. P., W. Reeve to the Directors, 21+ Aprilq 1813. L. M. S. 2 C. P., Farmer's testimonial, 26 August, 1813.
6. L. M. S. 2 C. P. 2 W. H. Bankhead to the Secretary, 17 Octoberq 1816.
-53- could not find employment during the post-Napoleonic depression.
Forced out of his situation as a glover, he eventually obtained
a position as a teacher. 1 Henry Baker (C. M. S. ), a cabinet-
maker fromGblchester, had been dismissed from a London firm
because his work was not of a sufficiently high standard, and
he could not find other employment as the trade was tvery dull'. 2
It does appear that economic conditions for artisans were bad
just at the time when they constituted the largest proportion
of the missionaries=being sent to India. It may be that there
is some link between this lartisant missionary movement and the emigration of artisans from Britain whichms then causing
so much concern. 3
The missionary movement however should not be thought of as just one branch of the emigration from Britain which took
place in this period. Missionaries were primarily interested
in the natives of the places to which they were appointedland
not Europeans, be they emigrants or temporary residents. But
chaplaincies were created to meet the spiritual needs of
emigrants and other Europeans, and many chaplains undoubtedly
looked on their appointments as means of improving their
temporal welfare. l+
The reasons given by applicants for
chaplaincies throw interesting light on the state of the
Church of England (and Ireland) during our period, and suggest
1. W. M. M. S., Letters; Home-C, Watson, 27 November, 1817. 2. C. M. S., G/AC31 H. Baker to 3. A. Redford. Labour Migrati, 'Artisans' Emigration', pp-17, 4. Ronald-Knox's grandfather, (E. Waugh, The-Life-of Ronald 19629 pp. 21-24).
1815-1819, J. Fletcher to R.
the Secretary, 8 August, 1814. : )n in England.,
-1800-1850, 6"--l 81. George Knoxg was one such.
. Knoxg Fontana Edition, London,
-54-
possible reasons why some missionaries sought overseas
service: '
... being without fortune, or Interest in this Country, [I]
am desirous of obtaining if possible, an Appointment as
Chaplain to someColony abroad. 2
For myself I am perfectly content with the situation in
which Providence has placed me; but when I consider my
wife and family I must confess I feel bitterly the
scantinesscC the provision, that I can make for them with
all my exertions. 3
I am a clergyman of the Established Church, and as but too
frequently is the case with the inferior members of that
profession, in no very affluent circumstances: and what is
Perhaps still worse my prospects of future advancement are
by no means encouraging. )+
1. The following extracts are taken from the manuscript volume, X-154, in the archives of the S. P. G. It is labelled 'General Correspondence Book1q but the writer considers that it has no reference to any area-of the S. P. Clls work. It is rather a copy of letters passed on to the Rev. Anthony Hamilton. He was a notorious pluralist (all pluralists were notorious! ); Chaplain in Ordinary to the King, Rector of St. Mary-le-Bow, and of Loughton, Essexq Archdeacon of Tauntoný Prebendary of Wells, and Canon of Lichfieldq (H. P. Thompsont Into All Lands PP-110f). He was also Secretary of the S. P, G. from lb19 to 1833. However2 these letters appear to have been passed on to him in 'his capacity as Chaplain General to the Colonies. If this is s07 these letters will have been dealt with by the 'Ecclesiastical Board for the Superintendence of the Colonial Church' set up by Bathurst, Secretary of State for the'Colonies, and of which Hamilton was Secretary. Historians have been looking for the records of the Ecclesiastical Board for some time. 2. S. P. G. 7 X-151+2 S. Bachler to R. Wilmotq 16 April, 1822, p. 6.
Ibid. ý R. Heath to R. W.? Hortong 5 May, 1821+9 P-30- Ibid,. j T. M. Edwards to Bathurstj 21+ May, 18242 P-36.
-55- These letters reveal that it was very difficult for a young
curate without connexions to obtain well-paid appointments in
the Church of England at that time. The situation was
obviously very serious in Ireland where there was strong
competition for each vacancy. ' In England it was also difficult
to obtain a curacy, let alone a living. Graduates, of
universities blamed the students from the new college of St.
Bees, and the 'literati' for the 'unprecedented competition',
and those who had no university training found that bishops
were very reluctant to ordain them. 2 From different sources
we learn that there was similar -,, unemployment in the Church
in Scotland, particularly before the Disruption in 1843.3
Evidence that these same problems in the Church weighed
upon the minds of applicants for missionary service is not
difficult to find in the case of S. P. G. missionaries. Thomas
Christian, who had not received a university trainingt and who
Could not obtain a title, had appealed in vain to the Bishop
Of Sodor and Man for ordination. 1+ A. P. Birrel had made
application to several bishops for ordination but they all
refused him because he did not have a college education. His
friends advised him to go to a university, but as he was
twenty-four, he preferred to 'go abroad'. 5 Thomas Pettinger
1. Ibid. 9 pp. 12,38,74,106; there are many applications from graTulates of Trinity College, Dublin. 2. Ibid., pp. 19,42; cf. X-109, Board of Examiners of the S. P. G., MisHonary Candidates' Correspondence, 181+6-186o, G. H. Fagan to D. A. Campbell,
t 10 April, 1847, P-33.
in Scotland since 3. S. Mechie, Education for the Ministry the Reformation$, Records of the Scottish Church History Society. XV9 19639 P-11; J. Scotland, The History 0? Scottish Education, Volume I, p. 191. )+. S. P G: q C/IND/GENJ+ý Letter from the Bishop, 21 November, 1828.
, 5'. S. P: G I C/IND/GEN-59 A. P. Birrel to A. Hamilton, 1 August, 1826.
-56- decided to go to India when he learned that he was about to
lose one of his two curacies at Otley, and the other was 'not
worth retaining'. 1 Adam ThomsoAts teaching post was 'very
limited to an ardent and aspiring Mind'; it was 'ill paid', and
his 'Dwelling unsuitable for taking Pupils'. Nor would his
bishop ordain him when so many university graduates required
titles. 2 George Pieritz had been scandalised to discover that
his curacy yielded an income of only ýC12 a year. 3 George Allen's
case is particularly revealing. Three of his brothers were
clergymen. At first Allen had been inclined to enter the
medical profession, but in the 'panic of 18251 his family had
lost its fortune, depriving Allen of the means of continuing
his medical studies. He then tried to obtain orders but his
not having a university education made him unacceptable to
the bishops. The same deficiency shut him out 'from all hope
of a permanent appointment in any good endowed School'; he had
not been appointed, as he had wished, head master at the Free
Grammar School, Burnley. This was not the extent of his
misfortunes; he had previously been forced to leave a firm of
civil engineers, when their establishment was 'greatly reduced'.
There is no doubt that Allen sought a missionary appointment as
a remedy for his economic problems - he had been 'naturally
anxious, to obtain 'a permanent settlement in life'. 1+
It is not surprising to discover that, just as there were
those who wanted the S. P. G. to recruit missionaries from a
1. S. P. G., C/IND/GEN-69 T. D. Pettinger to W. Ain; er, 4 July, 1829. 2. Ibid. 9 W. Haigh to A. Hamilton, 25 January, lb30. 3. R-. P. G., Diocese of Bombay, 1822-1851) G. W. Pieritz. to
, E. Hawkins 97 July, 181+7. Many curates earned about ; C100 a ý ear in this period.
. S. P. G., Diocese of Bombay, 1822-18519 G. L. Allen to T. B. Murray, 1 July, 1841; G. L. Allen to E. Hawkins, 16 August, 181+1; H. Mackenzie to E. Hawkinsq 21 August, 1 1+1.
-57- different social class, there were those who were alarmed
at the predominantly temporal ambitions of its agents. 'Try
and get another Selwyn, t2 urged B. C. Malan in connexion with
a vacancy at Bishopts College. 'That's your man. A man who, loving his Church above all, loves India too, and will live
for India,, Not go there for a few years with the hope of
returning on a pension; but a man of apostolic mind. Surely
there must be some such in our Church. t3
It is necessary to observe, in conclusion, that no
attempt has been made in this chapter to present a balanced
view of missionary motivation. This is the purpose of Chapter
, Four, 'Missionary Motivest. Attention in this chapter has
been focused on the social and economic aspects of the future
missionaries' home environment. The social classes from which
nearly all of them were drawn were among the most dynamicq
aspiring, discontented, and restless in a society which was
itself in a process of change. Self-respecting skilled artisans
were struggling to reach the top of their trades, and there
were opportunities of attaining middle-class status. The
embryonic professions were campaigning for greater social
status and monetary reward. The inadequate opportunities for
education were being exploited to the full by highly-motivated
young men, whose intellectual energy matched their social
ambition. They were opportunistsq but they were rarely
unscrupulous; a new sense of vocation anddisinterested
1. See above p. 50 2. George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand. 3. S. P. G., Bishop's College-6, S. C. Malan to E. Hawkins, 21 Decemberg 184(5? ).
-58-
service characterised the professions. Butq although Britain
was aland of opportunities and exciting changes, it was no
garden of Eden. In the troughs of its cyclical depressions,
poverty could be lethal, and many sought to escape it by
emigrating. When the aspiring did manage to break into the
liberal professions in Britain, they did not a lways find them
as they had hoped. In particular, the Church was not able to
provide all those who desired to serve it with an adequate
income, a problem for which overseas service provided a
possible solution.
All this influenced many of the activities and attitudes
of missionaries when they were in India, as well as their
motives for seeking missionary employment in the first place.
They shared the aggressive work-ethic of their class and tried
to instil it into their converts. They had an uncritical
respect for the utility of their own knowledge, which they had
acquired with such difficulties, and were often enthusiastic
educators. They were dynamic opportunistsg who longed to work
with 'efficiency', to mx1mise their 'usefulness', to limprovel
everAing they touched, and to make everybody 'respectable'.
These values wdre very much at variance with those of the
rigid and other-worldly society which they encountered in
timeless India.
-59- CHAPTER 2
ITHE ONE THING NEEDFULI -
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
I
James Peggs, one-time missionary with the General Baptist
Missionary Society in Orissa, died in 18ý0. The diary he kept
before his departure for India in May, 1821, was handed to
the editor of the General Baptist Repository and Missionary
Observer to help him to write a short biography of the kind
familiar to readers of missionary magazines. What he read
fascinated him and he filled successive numbers of the
Repository with copious extracts from Peggs' diary.
Peggs was born in 1793 in the town of March in the Isle
of Ely, where he early attended the General Baptist Church
under the Rev. Thomas Mills. The General Baptists were
Arminian in doctrine, and it is not surprising to find Peggs
reading the Methodist Arminian Magazine at an early age. He
also read Call to the Unconverted by the Puritan divine,
Richard Baxter. ' When he was seventeen he was apprenticed to
a shop-keeper in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire. On 9 June, 1809,
he was converted under the ministry of the Rev. W. Burgess of
Fleet. He then scrutinised the Scriptures and, on concluding
that the Church of England was mistaken in its teaching on 2 Baptism, was baptized by Burgess in August of the same year.
Peggs' post-conversion asceticism equalled that of
Wesley in his pre-conversion 'Holy Club' days at Oxford.
1. This work, which was first published in 1658, does not appear to have been as widely read by the subjects of this research as Baxter's devotional classic Saints' Everlasting Rest (1650). Only-two are definitely known to have read the Call and seven to have read Saints' Rest, as it was usually called. Eleven others are known to have consulted his Works. 2. General Baptist Re_p_ository and-Missionary Observer, 1850, P. 489.
-60- Apart from regular and frequent times of prayer each day,
Peggs renewed his 'covenant' twice a week, kept a record of his 'feelings' after hearing sermons, and, to avoid the
intemperance which he feared so muchq he fasted. He cut down
on his food and drink so drastically that he was in a constant
state of near starvation and, instead of concluding that he
should eat more, tormented himself with the conviction that
gluttony was his besetting sin. ' But it was his iftaster's
scales which first brought him to grief. Peggs found that weighing out customers' purchases
created an acute moral dilemma: exact weight was a Utopian
concept - in practice, he must either rob the customer or his
master. So he kept a record of those to whom he believed he
may have given short weight so that he could make it up to
them7 and helpaid something into the till each week out of his
own wages to compensate his master. He forfeited any gratitude
the customers may have felt at receiving an unexpected bonus,
however, by criticising them whenever-he felt they were being
extravagant. Furthermore, Peggs neglected his duties in the
shop several times a day to observe the times of prayer which
he had appointed for himself. His master concluded that
although he was an thonest' and 'well-meaning' lad, he was
nevertheless fuseless'7 and that he would have to go. Peggs'
father took him home to March in a state of exhaustion. He
was greatly distressed at the suggestion that his religious
exercises could have been doing him harm. His guilt-feelings
were temporarily relieved, but his neurosis not at all helped,
by the opinion of friends that he was suffering for righteousness'
, sake. 2
1* Ibid*, p*491* 2. Ibid. 9 pp. 490-492.
-61- Having failed to keep his Job at Lbng Sutton for more
than a year, it is perhaps surprising to read that he managed to run a successful school in March for more than five years. We do n6t learn how his pupils suffered under their obsessive
school-master, but it is obvious that everybody else in the town suffered. The local clergy discovered copies of Berridge's Great Error Detected or Baxter's Call to the
Unconverted thrown into their gardens by this zealous Dissenter
who doubted their conversion. Others would find similar tracts thrust into their pockets when passing, or left in their hands,
after they had shaken his. And when he left them he would
never say lgood-byefý but 'stand fast' or 'watch and pray'. Sometimes he would be tempted to vary this with something
stronger like 'flee from the wrath to comeI7 and if he managed to resist this temptation, he would afterwards castigate himself for being ashamed of Christ. He visited the sick and dying for miles around. Whenever the church bell signalled
the passing of immortal souls into eternity, he trembled at
the thought that he had not faithfully warned them. He would
go nowhere near their graves lest their 'murdered souls'
should accuse him. 1 The poor fellow was always very unhappy,
andq though sometimes relieved by contemplating 'the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made usfreet, 2 he seemed to find it ýoo,
good to be trueg and relapsed into his old scrupulosity. 3
His activities reached manic proportions: he inundated
the religious press with his literary output and attended
every new religious enterprise in the district from meetings
1. Ibid. 9 p. 1+95. 2. ralatians 5.1. 3. General Baptist RepositorZ, 1850ý pp. 1+9191+9)+.
-62- of the Bible Society to the opening of Sunday Schools. His
rule of life was to do all he could, but he was also guided to act by 'impressions' and 'inclinations' which he took to be the will of God. So he would feel 'called' to visit someone in a village five miles away, only to find no-one at home when he got there. He would also be perplexed when his prayers were not immediately answered. 1
Peggs' subsequent missionary career consisted of ceaseless travellihg and writing, and, after he returned to England In
1825, he campaigned untiringly for the rest of his life for
social reforms in India and for the abolition of capital
punishment in the United Kingdom. 2
One more case must be given in some detail before beginning
a general analysis of the early religious experience of
missionaries. Daniel Brunsdon gave only two years service to
the (Particular) Baptist Missionary Society in India before he
died in 1801. He was born in a little village near Pershore,
Worcestershire, in 1777. His father was a member of the
Established Church, but his mother attended the Baptist Chapel
in Pershore, and Daniel sometimes accompanied her. His parents
did not allow him to play on the Sabbath and they tamed his
occasional temperamental outbursts by accusing him of wickedness.
He learned to read at an early age and he loved books, but
there is no evidence that his childhood offered him any other
happiness. Still he loved his mother and did not want her to
die. He dreaded the onset of night because sleep brought
constant nightmares where Satan came to take him away. When
he was about twelve years old2 he heard a sermon on the text:
1. Ibid. 7 PP. 1+93-6. 2. B. M. S., Catalogue of Papers relating to South Asia, 1792- 1914, and South-East Asia7 1813-19141 P-119-
-63- 'I love them that love me; and they that seek me early shall find met. ' This deeply affected Brunsdon, who determined to
seek the Lord, but after a few days the impression wore off. He recalled a more terrifying experience when he was fourteen:
I had an alarming dream, I thought I was in a field near
home and a farmer was driveing EL, -cl sheep out of the
next field / his dog bark'd and I cursed him,
Immediately I heard somthing 12-4 coming down the path,
a thought crossed my mind it is the devil, and I thought
it took hold of my skirt and shook me dead, or rather
shook me into hell, I awoke in very great agony of mind
and spent some time in prayer / indeed I was afraid to
go to sleep, least D-ic. ] I should die, for I knew I
should go to hell if I did ... The iiifluence of this experience waned like the previous one,
but the 'terrors of the Lord' had not done with him-. -, yet. He
heard a sermon preached on a text from the book of Revelation:
'And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and
thunders... t: 2
I felt very much afraid at the description the preacher
gave of those things and this I suppose had an effect
on my body. I was afraid I was seized for death and
this terrified me more / it made me very serious and
prayerful for some time. Indeed I have thought this
was the beginning of the work of God on my soul... I
could not hide my distress from observation /I cryed,
but could not tell them why. I could not work, my mind
was so agitated about dying, I went to a doctor, but no
physic did any good.
1. Proverbs 8.17. 2. Revelation 4.5,6.
-64- Probably his minister was practising the revivalistic
technique of stimulating death-fears, before holding out the
offer of salvation, l because Brunsdon thought it may have been
the very next Sunday when he heard a sermon on the text: 'In
the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and his children
shall have a place of refuge'. 2 This sermon initiated a
process of thought which eventually extricated Brunsdon from
his awful, fears:
I saw I had no confidence, and that mine was not the
fear of the Lord, I was only afraid of him least [11-cl
he should send me to hell, 3 the whole sermon was
interesting to me and I felt Exceedingly enlivened, and
encouraged ... about this time, I thought I could have
suffered or died for him or anything but this was all
vanity, or nearly so and for want of knowing my own
heart better, and in great distress I thought I must be
lost / this though came into my mind Godhas made no one
on purpose that they should be lost, that relived P-C]
me and I Enjoy'd several times of prayer that day.
Part of Brunsdon's problem was that his own experience did not
accord with that of the Evangelicals whose biographies -he had
read. He thought that his conversion was not genuine because
he did not weep over his sins as they did. Neither had he
experienced a dramatic crisis akin to theirs; $the workt had
been imperceptible in his soul. In Bristol, where he had been
apprenticed to a linen-draper, he read Philip Doddridge's
1. G. R. Taylor, The Angel-Makers a Studyin the PsXchological Origins of Historical Change, London, 19561 PP-137f. 2. Proverbs 14.26. 3. Although it was considered acceptable to play on fear to induce an interest in the Gospel, it was not thought to-be an adequate motive on its own, and it was expected that the convert would grow out of it. (See, for example? C-M-S-, C/ACl/3? E. Champion's answers to questionst 28 February, 1853).
-65- devotional treatise, The Rise and Progress of Religion in
the Soul, (1745), which helped him to understand his spiritual
condition. 1 Finally, Dr. John Ryland's invitation to become
a member of the Baptist Church at Broadmead forced him to
resolve his dilemma and dispense with his doubts&&
... I endeavoured to make it plain in my own mind, whether
I really was converted or not. I argued the case over
many times ... in this way ... My temper and disposition
are as bad as the vilest in the world, yet I don't run to
the same excess as those I am surrounded with ... This
at last brought me to be quite positive that because I
did not practise those sins my inclinations led me to,
therefore I certainly was a converted person...
When Brunsdon read of the activities of the Baptist
missionaries in the Periodical Accounts92 he offered his
services to the B. M. S. , convinced that the office of a
missionary was the 'most honourable, benovlent rational,
employment in the world'. 3
ii
It is immediately apparent that the two case studies above
easily lend themselves to psychological enquiry. James Peggs
is a classic case of a neurotic personality of the obsessive
1. Sixteen of the missionaries here studied are known to have read Rise and Progress before they entered any colleget and a furth; -r -twelve are known to have consulted Doddridge's Works. Given the deficient nature of the sourcds on the books which missionaries read prior to the commencement of their training, these figures strongly suggest that Doddridge's writings were widely read. 2. The Periodical Accounts Relative to the Baptist Missionary Society Is known to have influenced four other Baptists- in their
sions to become missionaries; W. Grant, J. Marshman, J. Chamberlain find J. Rowe. 3. The above. account of Brunsdon's religious experience is based on his own testimony (B. M. S., IN129 D. Brunsdon to A. Fuller, 30 July, 1800).
-66- type. His scrupulosity was pathologicalg and it is quite
consistent with such mental illness that his employer found
him 'useless'. His life-long feverish activity was almost
manic - only talmost' because it always had a purpose behind
it, which is indicative of obsession rather than mania. His
apparent unwillingness or inability to abstain from the most
self-denying religious exercises (he was frequently urged to do
so on account of their superfluity in view of the finished work
of Christ) was masochistic. Daniel Brunsdonnwas a victim of
the 'religious terrorismIl of the revivalist Christianity of
the age. His fears of death and hell were constantly excitedg
and his guilt-feelings intensified and exploited. Whitefieldt
Wesley, and other revivalists thought it lbgitimate to invoke
the 'terrors of the Lord' in order to induce the crisis of
conversion. 2 Furthermore, it has been argued, 3 the revivalists
sowed the seeds of fear in fertile soil: children were accused
of wickndness for each petty disobedience and thus developed
an over-active super-ego, and the severe father image thus
created was reinforced by lurid pictures of the harshq arbitrary
God of Calvinistic theology, or the perfectionist God of
Wesleyan Arminianism.
The fact that these two case studies can be so easily
explained in terms of psychological factors raises the
possibility that the motivation and behaviour of all the
1. W. E. H. Lecky's expression quoted in E. P. Thompson, The Making of-the English WorkinrClass, p-1+11- 2. E. H. Sugden (ed. )ý Wesley's Standard Sermonsq (2 Volumes), Lotidon, 1968, Volume II, 'On the, Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield', p. 518. On the place of fear in religious conversion, see S. G. Dimond, The Psychology of the'Methodist Revival2 London, 19262 pp. 145-11+9. 3. G. R. Taylor, The Angel-Makers2 pp-89-109,148-168.
-67- missionaries here studied might be most satisfactorily
understood by identifying underlying personality problems.
Maybe their remarkable activism is best explained in terms
of obsessive or manic neuroses. They may have been trying to
atone for pathological guilt-feelings. They may have been
masochists who could only be happy when 'performing painfulq
laborious or self-denying tasks'. '
Pefhaps it needs to be said at the outset that such
suggestions cannot be affirmed on grounds of preconceptions
alone:
A life of self-sacrifice ... may be the expression of a
free and highly developed personality; on the other hand,
it may be the outcome of a strongly repressed masdchism -
a tendency or impulse to seek suffering becaus4'of the
unconscious pleasure which is derived from itt and which
is neurotic... 2
Similarly, a sorrowful awareness of one's unworthiness in the
sight of God need not express itself in morbid and neurotic
introspection. 3 Some sense of guilt must be felt by anyone
with a normal super-ego, and some suffering must be endured by
anyone with normal adult-altruistic drives which render him
capable of adultlove for others. )+ It, therefore, does not
automatically follow that all missionaries were neurotic
simply because they had a heightened sense of personal
sinfulness'and were willing to suffer hardships for the sake
of others and the Gospel.
1. E. P. Thompson, op. cit., p. 409, 2. R. S. Lee, Freud and Christianity, London, 191+8, p. 55, quoted in G. Zilboorg, PsXchoanalys s and Religioný London, 1967, p. 66.
G. Zilboorg, op. cit , p. 63. ibid., p. 69.
-68- Psychological explanations, however, do appear to be
promising in this research because many of these future
missionaries had experienced adolescent religious conversions
of an apparently emotional kind. A large number of missionaries
who went to India with the C. M. S. were able to tell the
examiners when interviewed just how long their minds had been
'seriously impressed with divine truth', ' suggesting that these
conversions were conscious experiences which they could locate
with some precision in time, and it may be suspected that
sudden conversions had more to do with feelings than the
intellect. Similar predominantly emotional conversions with
marked ethical elements are prominent among L. M. S., Baptist2
and Wesleyan missionaries. 2 In such conversions there is always
a psychological mechanism at work. Bullock, 3 after Yellowlees,
has described this as a process resulting from a super-ego
which sets 'an inpossibly high and unattainable standard' and
which resides in the unconscious producing acute inexplicable
guilt-feelings, a morbid inferiority complex, mental depression,
pathological fearg or a preoccupation with death. Conversion
is thus a psychological adjustment producing a consciousness
of forgiveness, happiness, and inner. strength. Since the
successful applicant's desire for missionary service was almost
invariably directly linked with his conversion experience (a
fact which will be-demonstrated in Chapter Fbur below) it would
1. See, for example, c. M. S. 9 Minutes 22 March, 1811; 19 October, 1818; 9 October 1820; 27 Januaryq 1624; 16 Novemberg 1821f; 23 September, 1625; 6 octobert 1829;, twenty-three similar referenccB could be given. 2. For an analysis of one hundred and thirty-two Methodist conversions of a similar type, see S. G. Dimondq The PsXchology of the Methodist Revival, pp. 163-168. Dimond maintains that these mainly 'sudden' conversions were not donfined to neurotic persons. 3. F. W. B. Bullock, Evangelical Conversion in Great Britain, 1696-18451 St. Leonards-on-Seal 19599 p. 237. 4. __D. YeXlowlees, Psychology's Defence of the-Faith, London, 1930, p. 42.
-69- have to be concluded that the essence of missionary motivation
is to be found in these neurotic, unconscious drives to which
conversion has been a response*
Certainly it is not difficult to find that some missionaries,
like James Peggsq were burdened with guilt. John Thomas, the
Baptist missionary who accompanied Carey to Calcutta, said
he could not recall the wicked acts of his dissipated youth
without Iddep abasement of soul and detestation' of himself. 1
Another Baptist, Andrew Leslie, said, "the accusations of my
conscience were sometimes beyond description and I knew indeed
the truth of that Scripture 'The spirit of a man will sustain
his infirmity but a wounded Spirit who can bear! 1112 The
biography of John Macdonaldq a Scottish missionaryq is a
depressdng chronicle of morbid and ruminative self-distrust
and forlorn and joyless anxiety about his religious condition. 3
Evidence of an intense fear of death and hell like that
suffered by Daniel Brunsdon is not wanting, either. John Thomas
wrote: 'Very often I was almost distracted, starting up in my
bed, and crying out with fear. One afternooný I had retired
for prayer, and I was so apprehensiveg that I thought I felt
Satan come and touch my heel, which gave me great fear and
mental distress. 14 The Wesleyan, Titus Close, wrote of similar
experiences:
When about four years of age, I was ... so powerfully
affected with a sense of danger, that often at night I
1. C. B. Lewis, John Thomas, London, 1873t p. 2. 2. Baptist Quarterly, Volume XII 191+2, 'Narrative of Andrew Leslie, 1823', p. b2. 3. W. K. Tweedie, ý. 'The Life of the Rev. John Macdonald, A. M., Late Missionary Minister from the Free church of Scotland at Calcutta, Second Edition, Edinburght 1849.
C. B. Lewis, op. cit , p. 8.
-70- was afraid to close my eyes, lest I should open them
in hell. I was taken frequently to the Independent
chapel; and there I heard many impressive sermons,
which truly caused me to tremble, and made me resolve
to turn to God. '
I As a child, the General Baptist, Joshua Cropper, was so worried
about his soul that he frequently burst into tears in the
middle of a game of marbles. 2 On one occasiong just a year
before his departure for India, he was so overwrought by a
sense of his own unworthiness, that he sobbed for half an hour. 3
Young Alexander DuffIs mind was fed on Fox's Book of Martyrs
and the lurid, Dantean, Gaelic poetry of Dagald Buchanan.
In a terrifying dream he saw the human race approaching a great
white throne on which sat the eternal Judge, assigning some
to endless torments and others to endless bliss. By the time
his turn came to be judged he was distraught with terror and
awoke convulsing violently. )+
Furthermore, there is evidence that2 as children, some of
these missionaries were encouraged to imbibe their parentst
interest in death, which today appears to be morbid. They
frequently attended funeral sermons, 5 read books about children
6 who died happily in tho Lordq attended death-bed scenes, and
were encouraged to reflect on the eternal implications of the
1. J. Heaton, Memoir of the Rev. Titus Close, London, 1836, P-3. 2. J. H. Wood, A Condensed HIstorX of the General Baptists of the New Connexion, Leicester, ldL+7, ýp. 2479
General Baptist Repository and Missionary Observer. 18307 P-358. G. Smith, The Life of Alexander Duff,
-D. D. 2 T, L. D. ý Fourth
Edition, London, 1900, pp. 9f. 5. B. M. S., IN/23, Joshua Rowe's account of his experience, 14 September, 1803- 6. For example, J. Janewayls Token for Children; Account of the Conversion. holv and exemplar-v Lives and JoYful Deaths of
, ionaon, Lo-t. L.
-71- 1 death of a friend, brother,.: or sister. Not that it ought
to be concluded that such indoctrination automatically induced
unhealthy death-wishes. When Joshua Marshman's parents
encouraged him to think on the joys of heaven after the death
of an older brother, he rather impiously informed them that
he would, if they would assure him that his favourite hobby -
reading history books - were a permissible heavenly pursuit. 2
Another of their characteristics which makes historians
suspect neurotic drives is what is taken to be a totally
unrealistic assessment of their own sinfulness. 3 Many had
'pious' parents, who jealously guarded their sons from
undesirable company2 giving them little opportunity for
wrong-doing; some were already conscientious ministers or
theological students when they experienced conversion. To an
impartial observer the conversions of people like these seem 4
to be conversions 'from righteousness' rather than from gross
sin. Occasionally they managed to give objective proof of
their sins, like Samuel Render2 who got so drunk he fell off
his horse, 5 or Andrew Leslie, who so flagrantly flouted the
rules of his apprenticeship that his master had his indentures
read to him before two witnesses and threatened tothrow him
In gaol. 6 But even evidence of thi's kind - and it is difficult
1. C. M. S., G/AC3, C. P. Farrar to E. Bickersteth, 6 June, 1823. 2. J. C. Marshman$ The Life and Times'of Carey, Marshman, and Ward, embracing'the History-of the Serampore Mission,, London, 1U'599 Volume I, p. 258. 3. F. W. B. Bullock (op. cit., Pi237) quotes, not without criticism, from D. Yellowlees oi)., cit 9- p. 63): 'There are many people who feel intensely guilty,, but who have not sinned in any way against God or man'. See also G. R. -Taylor, op. cit., &. 152.
- R. A. Knox, Enthusiasm, Oxford, 1962, p. 1+85. Knox is referring to the conveision of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, who had previously devoted her energies to charitable works. 5. L. M. S. 9 C. P., S. 'Render to G. Burder, 26 April, 1813. 6. Bal)tist-Quarterly, g Volume X11,19427 ý. 81. '
-72- enough to find - has a glamourised aura about it. In sum, there appears to be unjustified exaggeration in such self-
assessments as: 'very much corrupted'; 1 a participant in
'diabolical diversions'; 2 la noted rakel; 3 'sunk ... low In
deplorable wickedness'; '+ 'deeply immersed in awful depravityl; 5
'vice and dissipation ruled over mei; 6 'I rolled sin as a sweet
morsel under my tongue'. 7
Acute guilt-feelings, terrible fearv a preoccupation with
deathq and an unrealistic assessment of pre-conversion
sinfulness - these, then, are the chief reasons for suspecting
generalised neurotic drives among the subjects of this research.
There are numerous reasons, however, for questioning this
suspicion. Most of the evidence above is based on the
religious experiences of Baptists in the first half of the
period under review. As Baptists and Wesleyans came from
religious traditions most influenced by the emotionalýrevivalism
of the eighteenth centuryq it is open to doubt whether their
experiences can be generalised to embrace the much larger
numbers of Anglicans and Congregationalists who went to India
in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Certainly
the two case studies at the beginning of this chapter were not
typical. James Peggs was the most obsessive character
discovered in this research and the only one whose scrupulosity
1. B. M. S., IN/231 J. Rowe's 'experience', llf September, 1803. 2. Ibid.
Heaton, Memoir of the Rev. Titus Close, p. 8. R'e-ference to Andrew Leslie) BaDttSt--ýuarterlyj Volume XI,
191+2) p. 81. 5. Ibid. 6. C-M-S-v G/Mi C-P- Farrar to E, Bickersteth, 6 June, 1823. 7. Reference to W. H. Pearce in S. A. Swaine, Faithful-Men, or, Memorials of Bristol Baptist College, and soFe' of its most Distinguished Alumni, p. 254.
-73- can be labelled without hesitation as neurotic. Similarly7
Daniel Brunsdon's fears of death and hell, and their
psychosomatic effects, were more exaggerated than most.
An account of an adolescent religious conversion which has
Itypicall religious experience the virtue of approaching the I
of these missionaries was that given by John_Henry Parker in
his application to the L. M. S in 1838. He must be allowed to
use his own words:
through Divine mercy I have been blessed, with pious
parents whose desire has been to bring up their children
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. My Father
has been for many years a Deacon ... of the church at
Homerton, under the care of Dr. Smithl. ... Thus ... my
religious advantages have been much greater than those
of multitudes of others, even in this professedly
Christian land; but alas! like the inhabitants of
Bethsaida and Capernaum, though my privileges were so
great they were sadly misimproved and perverted, and
most justly might the doom denounced [-li&] against those
cities have been executed upon me. There were, indeed,
sometimes, convictions of sin and strivings of conscience,
and at the present time I remember one or two seasons
when my mind seemed considerably impressed with Divine
things; but these7 like the morning cloud and early dew,
soon passed away, and left me still more estranged and
alienated from God than before., Thus I continued till
nearly 18 years of age, receiving, the culture bestowed
on the plants in the garden, of,, the Lord, but altogether
1. John Pye Smith, Minister of Old Gravel Pit Chapel, 1802- 1849, and Principal of Homerton Academy, 1806-1851.
-74-
barren and unfruitful; and I can only admire the
Divine forbearance and longsuffering that the decree
was not sent forth against mep 'cut it down, why
cumbereth it the ground? '
Parker then left home and was apprenticed to a bookseller in
Bishop's Stortford. He recalled that, on leaving homeq he
was pleased to be free from irksome parental restrictionsl
but, at the time of writing,. he was glad of them, because they
kept him from committing open sin. On the eve of his departure,
his pastor paid him a visit:
From him I received a present of Dr. Henry's 'Letters to
a Friend', which I regard as the instrument that God in
his mercy saw fit to employ for effectually awakening me
to a sense of my sinful conditioý. I began to read this
book .. something seemed to tell me I ought to read it
By the blessing of God on the perusal of the 'Letters',
I was led to see the guilt I had contracted by so long
a course of rebellion against him, amidst all the light
and privileges with which I had been favoured ... I felt
that I was justly exposed to the wrath of God; and the
salvation of my soul, which till this time had been a
matter altogether neglected, now became in my esteem the
one thing needful. Especially I was brought to a deep
sense of the heinous sins of my heart; for though in my
previous circumstances in life the restraining grace of
God had preserved me from falling into the grossest and
most flagrant acts of wickednessq yet now that I was
made to feel the spirituality of the Divine lawq - when
the Spirit of God applied to'my awakened conscience the
declaration of his word, that in the esteem of Him who
searcheth the heart, every impure thought is adultery,
-75- every covetous desire, theft and idolatry, and every
angry feeling, murder -I saw the awful condition to
which the sins of my heart had reduced me ... I now
became alive to the importance of a diligent attendance
on the means of grace, as having been appointed by God
for promoting the salvation and sanctification of men.
With seriousness and attention before unknown, I listened
to the preaching of the gospel; and felt my load of guilt
gradually removed as I understood the doctrine of the
cross of Christ, and was enabled with trembling hope to
put my trust in the Saviour's name. At the throne of
grace I sought with earnestness and anxiety the pardon
of my sins through the blood of Christ ... I read the
Scriptures with devout attention and self-application,
praying that the Holy Spirit would lead me into all truth,
and by them make me wise unto salvation ... and such a
light seemed thrown upon the meaning of the sacred page,
that it appeared to me almost a new book. From other
works suited to my state of mind, (especially Philip's
Christian Experience and James's Anxious Enquirert which
I read over and over again with thankfulness to God for
putting such helps in my way) I derived much assistance
and encouragement. By these means I was at length led,
as I trust, by the gracious Spirit of'God to a perception
of the suitableness of the gospel to my wants, and to come
to God by repentance and faith ... Believing, in him, I
found joy and peace ... 1
In this 'typical' account can be found a burden of 'guilt',
an anxiety about his future state, and a conviction, in spite
1. L. M. S., C. P. 7 -T. H. Parker to J. Arundel, 7 Augustt 1838.
-76- of an outwardly blameless youth, of 'heinous sins'. Yet there is no need to seek for the origins of any of these
in supposed neuroses. Neither thist nor any post-conversion
account of religious experiencet is a plain statement of what
actually happened, but is a reinterpretation of the past in
the light of newly acquired attitudes. And this reinterpretation
is generally not a psychologically explicable product of
neurotic guilt - in the above example it is plainly theological,
Parker's account, like so many othersq is stylised and
stereotyped, laden with Biblical imagery2 and his references
to sin and guilt are formal and unspecific. The question of
outward morality was important to him, and he was glad he had
observed it. Neither was he in any doubt that he had observed
it. But he did not make the theological error that outward
morality rendered him acceptable to a holy God. It is
significant that he remarked that his new attitudes resulted
from an apprehension of the 'spirituality of the Divine law' -
he was now worried about the sins of the 'heart'. Furthermore,
his guilt was not an inexplicable and unconscious drive
resulting from an Impossibly severe super-ego. 1 He was quite
conscious of his guilt and of its cause. It is a mistake to
exaggerate the unconscious element in religious conversion12
and thus ascribe to psychology a greater potency in the
explanation of motives than it warrants. The very fact that
these missionaries'accepted the current Protestant theology
is sufficient to explain their sense of guilt without reference
1. See above, p. 68. 2. F. W. B. Bullock, op. cit., p. 236.
-77- to neuroses. Their guilt-feelings and claims to great
sinfulness were reasonable and conscious responses to the
Pauline doctrine of the inherent sinfulness cf man and the
total depravity of the human heart. HaVing accepted such
doctrines, these outwardly 'good' and moral men, who were
well thought of in society, and who knew it, reviewed their
past in a different light. Two other 'typical' statements
which support this view were made by the Wesleyanq James Lynch,
and Samuel Trawin of the L. M. S. Lynch wrote: From my infancy I was instructed to fear God; swearing,
Lying, and sabbath breaking, were never suffered in the
Family; so that having been prevented from outward sin
I was considered by others2 and thought myself a very
good boy - but on hearing the Methodists, and conversing
with them and attending to the instruction of my Father,
I was convinced of outward or Actual Sin, and much inward
Evil and unholiness...
Typically, Lynch does not say what these newly-discovered sins
were. Trawin was more specific:
... being born in sin and shapen in iniquity I followed
the desired of my own corrupt heart / hated God / despised
his people / broke his Sabbaths and slighted the means of
grace / thus I was going on in the broad road that leadeth
to destruction until the Lord awakened me to A sense of
my danger ... 2
The nature of the sins which Trawin mentions is further
proof that the guilt and the sense of sin common among these
missionaries were theological, rather than pathological, in
1. W. M. M. S. 9 B-Ceylon, Ms. Journal of Jame3 Lynch, p. 4. 2. L. M. S., C. P., Sý Travin to Gardiner, October, 1811+.
-78-
origin. For when these missionaries do specify their
pre-conversion sins they are usually $religious$: sabbath- breaking, neglecting church or chapel, ignoring the means of
graceg blaspheming, and, most heinous of all, ridiculing the
Scriptures. The Wesleyans added another which recalls the
pain felt by St. Paul when he remembered that he had persecuted
the Christians 1- namely, their early opposition to, and
2 persecution of, Methodists. To an Evangelical these sins
could never be dismissed as mere peccadilloes, for they were
sins against God and his Church. Psychology can explain the
mental process whereby realisationcf opposition to an
omnipotent father-figure could issue in guilt and remorse, but
that is not to say that the guilt was'pathological (although,
of course, it could become pathological)q or that opposition
to sabbath-breaking was really expressing a masochistic fear
of pleasure. 3
It would probably be more accurate to describe the typical
stereotyped adolescent conversions of these missionaries as
predominantly 'theological' or doctrinal, rather than
predominantly emotional. '+ Not many had conversions either
1. Significantly, this is why St. Paul came to a similar, apparently over-modest conclusion that he was the least of the apostles. See I Corinthians 15.9. 2. For J. Fletcher's vicious opposition to the formation of a local Methodist society, see W. M MS Home-C, 1815-1819, J. Fletcher to R. Watson, 27 Novemb; r;
i617. For T, Close's opposition, see J. Heaton, Memoir of the Rev. Titus Close, pp.
gon of the early persecuEron of Methodism 15f. For the phenomei by its converts, see 6. G. Dimondt The Psychology of the Methodist Revival, pp. 151ff.
This is claimed by G. R. Taylor in The Angel-Makers. p. 14 F. -This is a large claim and one with which many - hologi; ts,
working with different sourcesq would'disagree. CCU=
James, sy
for example, points out that, in his work on the psychology of conversiong Professor Leuba, lsubordinates the theological aspect of the religious life almost-entirely to its moral aspects. (The Varieties of Religious Experiences Fontana Edition, London, 1968, pp. 20Tf__.; cf. p. 207). in my argument, however) I Identify the moral problem as a theological one and-claim thatt in my period,,, it did not usually express itself in a very emotional manner.
-79- preceded by a burden of guilt so intense that the personality
Could not bear it or accompanied by an emotional crisis. The
deduction postulated abovel for the sake of argument - namely,
that many C. M. S. missionaries must have had sudden and
emotional conversions because they could tell when they became
'Seriously impressed with divine truth' does not appear to
be justified by the facts. If their conversions were like
Parker's, they would have arrived gradually at their decision
after reading and listening to sermons2 and that decision would
therefore have been the result of mental inquiry, as much as an
emotional response. Others, like the celebrated Bombay
missionaryg John Wilson, could not recollect at all when they
were converted but 'trusted' that it was at an early age. 2
Wilson, and others like himg grew up In the Christian faith
and never knew anything else2 and the word 'conversion' is
applied to their experience only with difficulty. Wilson was
only one of many who desired to be a minister at a very young
age and who was 'preaching' while still an infant. 3 Perhaps
no missionary conjures up quite so vivid a picture as the
leader of the Evangelical party in the Church of Scotland,
Thomas Chalmers, waddling about his nursery at the age of
three, exclaiming with heavy pathos, 10 my son Absalom! 0 my - Absalom, my son2/son. 11)+1 but the Baptist Missionary, John
Thomas, comes fairly close when, at the-age of four, he was
1. P. 6 8. 2. G. Smith, The Lif e- of
-- John Wilson, D. D.,
_F. R. S Second
Edition, London, 18791 P-5- 3. Ibid. Wilson was always known as 'the priest'. Another Scottish missionary, Robert Nesbit, was fond of 'preaching' at the age of four (J. M. Mitchellt Memoir of the Rev. Robert Nesbit, London, 1858, P-3). 4. W. Hanna. Memoirs of Thomas Chalmers, D. D., LL. D., (2 Volumes), Edinburghq i854, Volume I, p. 6.
-80-
exhorting his 'beloved brethren', the hedges and lanes of
rural England, to be Isteadfastq unmoveable7 always abounding
in the work of the Lord'. 1
Still others appear to have had predominantly intellectual
conversions, like Robert Cotton Mather, who had wrestled with
the 'speculations' suggested by 'an antichristian philosophyl, 2
or Harding Dixon whose voracious reading had introduced him
to 'sceptical doubts concerning the genuineness and authenticity
of the Scriptures', but who came to a gradual acceptance of
orthodox Christianity through the reading of Paley's Evidences, 3
a work which probably did a similar service for many of these
missionaries. 1+ Easily the most interesting of these
'intellectual' conversions was that of the Baptist, William
Grant. He could recall 'nothing like any conviction of sin',
and at the age of sixteen, at the height of the Intellectual
ferment occasioned by the French-Revolution, 5 he struck up a
friendship with a Deitt, read%ltaire's Philosophical DictionaEZ, 6
scorned Christians as deluded fanatics, and superciliously
rejoiced in his freedom from vulgar prejudices. He next became
an 'Arian' after reading-An History of the Corruptions of
1. C. B. Lewis, John Thomas, p. 2. . -, 2. LMSC. P., R. C. Mather to the Directors, 12 June, 1832.
C: M: S: t' C/ACl/3/528t Letter from'H. Dixong 27 March, 1852. W. Paley, View of the Evidences of ChristianitZ, 1794.
Thirty-one of these missionaries are known-to have read this work before receiving any formal theological education. Another five are known to have read his Works, and so probably read the Evidencest too. Though not so popular, his Natural Theology M02) also appears to have been well read. 5. He was born in 1774. 6. An English translation of Voltaire's Dictionnaire Philosophique was published in 1765, a year after the publication of the original in Geneva.
-81- ChristianiU, by the Unitarian, Joseph Priestley. ' Then he
adopted atheism after reading Mirabaud's System of Nature2
(translated by Hodson), lutered D-igll the most horrible
blasphemys likel 1, and so attempted to persuade all of his
views2 that he afterwards wondered that he was 'not made a
monument of Eternal Vengence Eg-ig] I. However, his understanding
of 'Natural Philosophy' undermined his atheism - Mirabaud was
in error in supposing that 'Matter and Motion without the
interference of an intelligent being will produce an Animal' -
so he became a Deist again and then a Socinian. Finally, Grant
met Joshua Marshman in a bookshop perusing a Latin dictionary
andq unable to keep his thirst for knowledge within the bounds
of propriety, invited Marshman to teach him Latin. Convinced
by Marshman's defence of the doctrine of the atonement, he
became a Calvinist and a missionary. 3 No doubt the psychologist
would find it interesting that no matter what Grant became -
be it Deist, Arian, Atheist, Socinian, or Calvinist - he tried
to convert, people to his position. But the point we are trying
to make here is that there were a number of different kinds of
religious experience enjoyed by the subjects of this research
the emotional, the theological, the intellectual, and the slow
unbroken growth in the Christian faith to which the word
'conversion' can hardly be applied. )+
There is little evidence
of neurotic elements in the last three types of experience.
A final reason for doubting the theory of Igeneralised
neurosist is that missionaries had to be selected by directors
who often had decided views about what constituted valid
1. First published in Birmingham in 1782. 2. The French original was first published in 1770.
B. M. S., IN/221 W. Grant to J. Rylandq October, 1799. On 'types' of religious conversion, see F. W. B. Bu3-jock,
9P. -cit. j pp. 222-228, and S. G. Dimond, op. cit I pp. 169-190,
-82- religious behaviour and attitudes. Freudian psychoanalysis
lay in the future, but many ministers of religion could
distinguish between a healthy, normal response to the Christian an
Gospe12 and/unhealthy one. This is seen in the case of James
Peggs, himself. His biographer thought him 'morbidly
scrupulous', '
a sufferer from a 'species of religious glooml. 2
His pastor, T. Ewenq told him that 'the horror of spirit often
felt was rather nervous than religiouss. 3 His tutor at
Wisbech General Baptist Academy, Joseph Jarromý who was a
Director of the General Baptist Missionary Society from its
inception in 18161 was also worried about him and told him that
he should 'acquire habits of stability'. When Peggs told him
that his rule of life was to do all he could, Jarrom told him
to attend first to his secular responsibilities and his studies,
and to make 'Self-love' the rule of his love for others. - When
Peggs complained that he was not penitent because he could not
weep (a, problem which also troubled Brunsdon) Jarrom told him
that he was being ridiculous: 'children weep more than men but
do not feel more'. Peggs also confessed to wasting time - six
hours' sleep was enough. Jarrom retorted that it was a bad
habit to sleep so little and that it would shorten his life. 1+
As we have seenj5 there were unwise spiritual guides who were
ready to tell him that he was duffering for righteousness' sake, 6
but they were recognised as being unwise by his biographer.
1. General BaRtist Repository7 185og p. 491; cf. W. K. Tweedie, The Life of the Rev. John Macdonald p 89; Tweedie says introspection can become a jjo--rbid men; al disease', 2. General Baptist RepositorZ, 18509 P-494-
Ibid., p. 495. a: T-b-id.
, p. 1+96. 5. O-e-eabove, p. 60- 6. Repository, p. 1+92.
-83- As Jarrom himself recommended Peggs to the G. B. M, S. 1
we can
only conclude that in his opinion Peggs' morbid scrupulosity
was not so acute as to render him incapable of interest in,
and a desire to be of service to, others, and his subsequent
career bore out Jarromts judgment. An applicant who was so
afraid of sin that he felt he must ignore sinners, or whose
preoccupation with his own soul was bo complete that he had no
time for othersq would have been rejected. One such was a
printer, Edward Dowling2 who applied to the C. M. S. in 1818.
His fellow printers, he complained, were 'the most Dissipated,
immoral set of men ever ... huddled together'. They contaminated
young people, rendering them so 'insensible to every notion of
religion' that they 'become paupers in the parish poorhouse'.
Thus he maintained:
... it is not to be wondered at my desire for going abroad
on a religious mission where profit to the soul will
accrue, instead of remaining here7 where vice and all
the concomitant evils which attend it, are hourly plotting
our destruction. - Now when abroad the mind becomes
estranged from the vicious notions which are engendered
in the vortex of public society.. 02
This unrealistic and immature escaptist did not-get as far as
an interview. Missionary societies as a rule. did not accept applicants
who had been recently converted as the directors were aware
that new converts were often unstable and had a particular
tendency to over-react to their past. The Baptist, Andrew
Leslie, for example, immediately after his conversion, gave
1. Minutes of G. B. M. B., 25 Noveniber, 1817, P-8. 2. C-MIS-9 G/AC3j E. Dowling to the Secretary, 3 Novemberý 1818.
-84- all his money away for religious purposes, found entertainments
which were not innocent unbearable2 regretted any feelings of
happiness he might have, and was so involved with his own soul
that he had no time for anyone else. He was helped to understand
the place of 'peace and joy in believing' by Ralph Wardlaw,
Scotland's most prominent Congregationalist pastor. 1 The
C. M. S. Committee twice postponed the acceptance of Samuel
Ridsdale's application because2 although he wa; giftedl zealous,
and a conscientious student, he was not 'amiable'. He was a
convert of only two years' standing and was censorious,
conceited2 hypercritical, and he adopted peculiar 'habits of
diet and self-government j. 2
To sum up, it has been argued above that there are five
reasons to question the theory that neuroses were mainly
responsible for the distinctive behaviour and the motivation
of these missionaries. First, their guilt-feelings and sense
of sin were conscious and reasonable responses to Protestant
theology. S. 6condly, they could, and usually did, distinguish
between a morality acceptable to society, which they were often
aware they had not violated, and a spiritual standard acceptable
to God, which they had not attainedg and could not attain In
their own strength. Thirdlyp their statements of religious
experience - as typified by Parker's - were expressed in
stereotyped Biblical language, which-is a, ýfar better index of
their theological opinions, than of--theiremotions - that is
to say, exotic claims about personal sinfulness originated in
1. Baptist Quarterly, Volume XI9 1942-1 PP 8 -85. 2. C*M. S., Minutesq 17 Decembert 18219 19 December, 1823, P-553.
-85- Biblical metaphor$ rather than in neurotic guilt. Fourthly,
apart from dramatic, emotional conversions which do-appear
to be fertile soil for neuroses, there were varieties of
religious experience - the predominantly 'theological$ or doctrinal, the intellectual, and the uninterrupted growth
of Christian conviction from infancy - which appear to be
barren soil. Finally, pastors and directors of missionary
societies were not ignorant of the dangers of excessive zeal
and over-scrupulous introspection, and there is little evidence that many were allowed to go to India who suffered from these
things to a pathological extent.
The value of this discussion does not lie chiefly in its
conclusion - that is, whether these missionaries were generally
neurotic or not - but in the extent to which the debate has
elicited important facets of their personalities. Butj as
far as the conclusion is concerned, it is probably fair to
say that in the above discussion both the prosecution and the
defence cases have been overdrawn. It is a safe generalisation
to make that, early in the period under review - when England
was dislocated by fears of revolution, when Wesley had just
passed away, and Methodism and Evangelicalism were making
progress against fierce and emotional resistance - then the
religious experience of those who were to become missionaries
was more individuated, dramatic, and unstable. With the
passage of time, as Evangelicalism became institutionalised,
as the fires of revivalism died down, and as the missionary
movement was accepted, religious experience became more
stereotyped and less dramatic. Missionary service was almost
a normal undertaking, and 'normal' people became missionaries,
and for such missionariesý'Itbecomes increasingly untenable to
suspect neurotic drives.
-86- III
It should prove an informative exercise to enter into
yet another debate -a debate in which these missionarles themselves took part. Was the missionary movement lenthusiastical'7 and were missionaries 'enthusiasts'? Sidney
Smith answered these questions In the affirmative. He was
opposed to the missionary enterprise in India because 'no man
of moderation and good sense' could be found to embark on it.
William Carey and his cohorts were 'visionary enthusiasts', and it would be better to have no mission than one run by the likes
of them. 1 Smith was undiscriminating about the denominational
allegiance of those whom he criticised: he lumped Baptist
missionaries (whom he insisted on calling lanabaptists') and
all Methodists together, described them as 'canting hypocrites
and raving enthusiastsl, 2 and claimed they were responsible
for a "growing evil of - 'fanaticism'st. 3 If Smith had been
genuinely Interested in finding out more about the Baptists
instead of hurling abuse at them, he would have found unexpected
support for his attribution of #enthusiasm' to their missionaries.
The legendary scene in which John Collett Ryland said to Carey,
when the latter raised the matter of missions at a Ministers'
Fraternal in 1785, 'Sit down2 young man; when God wants to
convert the heathen, He'll do it. without your help or mine$,
may be understood in terms of Ryland's high Calvinist theology
and his conviction that foreign, missions smacked of lenthusiasm'05
1. 2.
a: Edinburgh Review Aprilq 18082 p. 180. Ibid., April,, -1809, p. 1+5. =bid.
2 p. 40. W. Carey, An Enquiry into the Obligat
Editi-o-n, 19611 E. A. Payne's 'IntrodUCtIon', p. 1ii. 5. F. A. Coxý History of the Baptist Missionary Society from 3-722 to 1842ýj (2 Volumes), London2 ld'+21 Volume 1, pp, llf.
-87- 'Enthusiasm' had only derogatory connotations in the
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Put simplY7
whereas today it meanslzeall, in those days it meant 'fanaticism'.
It was characterised by: temperamental instability expressing
itself in 'an alternation of ecstasies and despondencies'; 1
a belief in special7 personal revelations; a related conviction
of being inspired or possessed by the Deity; experiences of
mystical union with God; feelings of spiritual superiority and
a propensity to think of critics as enemies of God; a sense
of destiny, of being called by God for a purpose no-one else
could fulfil; suspension of personal accountability and
responsibility in favour of total dependence on the provision
of God; a related rejection' of the prudent evaluation of
problems in favour of 'divine guidance' as expressed through
impulses, visionsq and dreams; a conviction that religion was
principally a matter of feelings, hence a preoccupation with
'experimental' religion; great interest in witnessing outward
manifestations of the grace of God and a need to see results;
emphasis on miracles; suspicion of reason7 of the intellect,
and of education. 2
Missionaries and Evangelical supporters of the missionary
movement, it is truep were virtually unanimous in their support
of the absolute importance of 'experimental' religion. If
not a matter of the heart, religion was nothing. But they
were equally adamant in their opposition to the ethos of
'enthusiasm'. Thomas Scott2 first Secretary of the C. M. S.,
I. Taylor, Natural History- . of Enthusiasmt London, 18299 p. 67. 2. See E. H. Su-gd-en--g-Ted. )v Wesley's Standard Sermons, Volume III Sermon XXXII, IT
, he Nature of Enthusiasm', PP-b+-103; R. A. Knox,
Enthusiasmt PP-3787586-589.
-88- and subsequently tutor of missionary candidates, said in
the first of the Society's anniversary sermons, that it was
not his intention to excite 'disproportionate and romantick [lic] zeal'.
' Eugene Stock, historian of the C. M. S.,
professes mystification that Scott should say such a thing
when the Society had not yet sent one missionary abroad, nor 2 even had any offers of service to consider, But Scott was
obviously anxious that the infant Society should not be
dismissed as an organisation of 'enthusiasts'. This, however,
is precisely what happened: 'I am sorry to say. ' wrote a layman
to the Secretary of the C. M. S. in 1816, 'that the Clergy in
this Country do not encourage the objects of your Society;
were they even neuter P-C] 9 it would not be far amiss; but
there seems to. be a systematic design of affixing the charge
of Enthusiasm and innovation on Every plan (however soberly
arranged and pursued) of ameliorating the Religious and Moral
Characters of our fellow Creatures of the heathen Worlds. t3
The L. M. S. was threatened with lack of support for the same
reason2 and at its Anniversary of 1811+1 Thoýias Raffles, a
prominent Independent pastor from Liverpoolq preached to ap
enormous gathering a sermon entitled 'Missions to the Heathen 4
vindicated from the Charge of Enthusiasm'. 'The plans of the
he said, I have been represented as Missionary Society,
visionary, and their agents as spiritual'Quixotes. But
assertion is not proof, ridicule Is not argumentooo
l. 'C. M. S., Repor , 1801, p. 50. 2. E. Stock, The History of'the Church Missionary Society, Volume Ii P-77. 3. C. M. S., G/AC3,.. T. Christian to the Secretary, 20 August, 1816. 1+. L. M. S., Reports, 1814-16, pp. 59-876 5. Ibid-9 P072.
-89- In 1823, a Congregationalist pastor Is' song. 'Isaac* Taylort published
a large work on the subject entitled Natural History of Enthusiasm which was i=ediately successful. Ronald Knox said
it is 'probably the most uniformally dull book ever written'
and it contains not 'one arresting sentiment7 or one important
consideration'. 1 Today, it is certainly unread and unreadable,
but there is one fascinating thing about it; after dealing
with all manner of ways in which 'enthusiasm' expresses itself,
Taylor concludes his book with a chapter specifically excluding
the missionary movement from it. 2 "A myriad of philosophists
may clamorously affirm the missionary project to be insane, "
Taylor wrote in his inimitable prose., "Nevertheless Christians,
listening rather to the history of their religion than to the
harangues of its modern oppugnerst will go on to preach in
every land, 'That men should turn from dumb idols to serve the
living Godl. tt3
Missionaries, themselvest were at pains to defend themselves
from the charge of being 'enthusiasts' throughout the whole
period under reviewt suggesting that Knox's observation, that
the word hardly appeared without inverted commas after 1823,1+
may be slightly misleading. John Thomas, for examplet had been
anxious for a time that his conversion experience might not
last, since, he reasoned, it may only have been induced by
'an ignorant zeal or a fit of enthusiasml*5 Similarly, James
Sewell had been concerned that he had been depending too much
1. Enthusiasm, pp. 6f. 2. Section Xv'Hints-on the probable Triumph of Christianity, submitted especially to those vhonisuse the ter% enthusiasmll pp. 254-311. The chapter, heading is significant, suggesting the emergence of the modern use of', the word. -
Ibid. 2 p. 277. Enthusiasm, p. 6. C. B. Lewis, john Thomasq p. 8.
-go- on 'fancies and feelings', and he was glad to inform the
Directors of the L. M. S. that since he had been received into
the fellowship of the church at Stepney his experience had
been $very event - he had suffered 'few doubts' and had not
'much elatement of feeling'. 1 The C. M. S. Committee was Informed
by Alfred Medland: 'In thus offering myself it would be right to state7 that I am not influenced by any degree of enthusiasm,
or feeling of extraordinary zeal, but rather from a sense of
duty'. 2
Predictably, referees of S. P. G. missionary candidates were
particularly concerned with this problem. They never referred
to anything like a conversion experience, but they did not
hesitate to describe a diligent man as Izealous'. 3 Thomas
Brotherton, for example, was said to be 'openhearted and 4
zealous without fanaticism'. However2 the same could not be
said confidently of George Dunbar Haughtong whose 'glowing$
imagination and Ifervourl made his referees suspect lack of
'prudence'. 5 Surprisingly, the S. P, G. accepted him, only to
find Haughton2 convinced that he had misled himself2 applying
to return to England only four months after his arrival In India. 6
His unrealistic assessment of difficulties was a symptom of
$enthusiasm', and we must enquire how_gene ral it was among the
missionaries here studied. In the answerto this question some
distinctions should be drawn between the different societies.
L. M. S., C. P. t J. Sewell to the Directors, 19 February, 1831+. 2. C. M. S., C/ACl/2/31+51 Letter from A.
_Medland, 17 May, 1849.
3. The prominence of this, word is explained by the fact-that the S. P. G. Committee specifically asked referees if their candidates had-'zeal' for the Christian religion'. See, for example, C/IND/GEN-41 W. Ain er, to A. 'Hamilton 11 March, 1823. 4. S. P. G., Madras Diocese, 1935-50'i'-w- ROY to I. M. Campbell, 7 March, 1836. 5. S. P. G. 9 C/IND/GEN-61 G. D. Haughton to A. Hamilton, 2 Xanuary, 1830. 6. S. P. G., Bishop's College - 49 G. D. Haughton to A. Hamilton, 11 April, 1831.
-91--
The Wesleyans minimised the difficulties involved in
their mission to Ceylon and India from its inception. Thomas
Coke, 'the father of Methodist missions', '
who led the first
expedition, was an unrealistic optimist who secured recruits
with sanguine letters like the following to Thomas Squance:
It will be expedient for you to meet me In London as
soon as you conveniently can, in order to learn the
Portugese [2ig] language. It is a very easy language 2 to learn... we may expect fine weather all the way.
Ceylon is one of the finest spots in the world - perhaps
the finest. ... 0 what an honour will it be, if the Lord
be pleased to raise up by our instrumentality a spiritual
Church in the Methodist way among sixty millions of
British subjects. 3
Coke's leadership of Methodist missions before his departure
for Ceylon had prevented the development of an efficient
organisation like the C. M. S. and the L. M. S.; he had proved
incapable of delegating responsibility and had endeavoured to
raise all the funds himself. On Coke's departure Jabez Bunting
organised the W. M. M. S., and it became as efficient as the
earlier founded societies. 4 But, like every other branch of
the Wesleyan Connexiong it was a predominantly clerical body, 5
1. On Coke, gsee
J. Vickers, Thomas Coke, Apostle of Methodism) Londong 19 2.. In fact, ihey had a dreadful voyage, daring which Coke died. 3. Methodist Archives, City Road, T. Coke-tol, T. H. Squance, 7 August, 1813. 4. It was this $well-organised miss ionaryý, system I which made Bunting a 'public man'. T. P. Bunting and G. S. Rove, The Life of Jabez Bunting, D. D , London, 18879 P-396. Cf. E. G. Rupp, Thomas Jackson, Methodist Patriarch London, 19541 P-34. 5-. Only one layman, Joseph Butterworth, figures prominently in the early minutes of the W. M. M. S. ,
-92-
and, although laymen made up half its Committee, they do not
appear to have been as instrumental in the formulation of policy
as Bunting and the other clerical members of Bunting's
hierocracy. 1 There were two unfortunate consequences. In
the first place, the differences between home and foreign
work were minimised and missionaries were expected to plant in less propitious soil the elaborate machinery of English
Methodism. Secondly, the difficulties which missionaries
faced were never understood, and the Committee often meted out 2 unjust criticism and made unreasonable demands. These
problems were accentuated by the fact that, unlike every other
missionary society here studiedg the activity of the Wesleyans
in India was only a small fraction of their overseas work.
Hence there was always a temptation to contrast the slow advance
of the Gospel in India with the remarkable gains made elsewhere,
and to reflect on the missionariest instead of attributing it
to the proverbial imPerviousness'of India to the Gospel. 3
The relative failure of the work in India contrasted even more
sharply with the spectacular successes of Methodism in England..
Because Methodism was a success story all difficulties
tended to be underestimated. The remarkable series of
secessions from the Wesleyan Connexion during our period failed
1. T. P. Bunting and G. S. Rove, ov. cit., p. 678; R. Currie Methodism Divided, a Study in the Soc. iology of Ecumenicalism, London, 196bg P-33. Bunting was appointed permanent General Secretary of the W. M. M. S. in 1833 and remained officially connected with it until his death in 1858. 2. G. G. Findley and W. W. Holdsworth; The History of the WesleXan Methodist MissionarX Society, (5 Volumes)2 London, 1921-4, Volume Vq PP-39)1+0 61 1.95,1959203,207. 3. In 1832 there welre911284293155 members of'Methodist societies in Jamaica (K. S. Latourette A History of the Expansion of Christianity, (7 Volumes3j New Yorký 1937-45, Volume V, p-55). In India by that date the Methodists had hardly made any converts.
-93-
to convince the'Buntingites' that reforms were necessary. '
Over-confidence was a spiritual malaise which blighted every
area of the life of the Methodist Churchq and, to return to
the humbler matter of missionary attitudesq there can be
little doubt that many applicants for missionary service
underrated,. the difficulties involved by agreeing with their
superiors to see missionary work as a mere extension of home
work. Put cruelly, it seemed more important for many applicants to be able to say to their superintendents that they were
willing to work wherever the Conference decidedq be it at home
or overseas, than to count the real cost of exchanging one's 2 home and country for another*
This Is In marked contrast to most L. M. S. missionaries
who expressed a strong preference for overseas work vis a vis
the home ministry, 3 The Directors of the L. M. S., a coterie of
expert opinion on such matters as foreign trade and shipping
and attempts to abolish the-slave tradeq were anxious for their
missionaries to make a just estimation of the difficulties
involved in foreign missionary work and addressed to each
applicant the question, 'Have you seriously considered the
hardships and dangers to which a Missionary may be exposed? "+
1. R. E. Davies, Methodism, Penguin Books, 1963, pp-13? ff; J. Kent, Jabez Bunting, the Last Wesleyang Londong 195,51 pp, r+6f. 2. R. Currie, op. cit 9 p. 40 aries who expressed no
reference for home or foreign work included A. Stead, E. Hoole, . F. England, and T. Cryer in the first half of our period (Methodist Archives, City Road, A Register of Preachers, Ms. -
unpaginated, 18189 no. ll+; 1819, no. 19; 18219 no. 21+; 1827, no. 18), and, at the end of the period, J. JonesqýH- Sykes, and B. Broadley (W. M. M. S., Missionary Candidates, 181+4-569 pp. 198,1990 201). 3. This is apparent from answers to question 11 of the question sheet sent to missionaries. See Appendix B. 4. See Appendix B, question 9.
-94- In a typical statement on this matter Benjamin Rice said: 'I determined to use every means of informing myself of the
sorrows, as well as the joyst the dangersand privations, as
well as the encoaragementsand success, attendant on Missionary
labourl. 1
Missionaries who served with the C. M. S. shared a similar
anxiety to avoid underestimating difficulties. William Clark
wrote out a long catalogue of difficulties in the application
he sent to the C. M. S. 12 and Frederick Alexander described to
the Committee his protracted inquiry Into missionary work 'to
show that no sudden fancy' had prompted him slightly to u
undertake so arcý6us a work ... 6 But perhaps none investigated
so thoroughly the problems which lay ahead as Scottish
missionaries, )+
with their active university missionary
associations and the missionary libraries attached to them. 5
For example, before he sailed for India, John Wilson, whose
familiarity with current missionary literature was remarkable, 6
wrote a biography of John zliot, 7 missionary to the American
Indians.
1. L. M. S., C. P., B. Rice to J. Arundell 1+ Septeribert 1833. 2. C. M. S., Q/AC39 W. Ciarkp Answers to questions, 1 February, 1844, Q. 6.
C. M. S. 9 C/ACJ/I+l F. W. N. Alexander to J. Chapman. John Adam, a Scottish missionary who served with the L. M. S.,
told the Directors of the 'research, consultation, and prayer, ' which lay behind his decision (C. P., J. Adam to the Secretary.. 9 November, 1827). For details of this research, see the anonymous Memoir of John Adam, London, 1833, PP-103f- 5. See below, Chapter 7. 6. This fact may be dedu d from reading his Observations on the-MOtives and Encoura7ents to active, Missionary Exertions. Edinburgh, 1827, published anonymou. -_
filson was only twentY-tV6 years old. 7. The Life of John Eliot, the Apostle of the Indians,, Edinburgh, l82'5-j9*--Z'-IThe best account which-has yet appeared-of this excellent and indefatigable Man' (Scottish MissionarY and Philanthropic Re-&-l-st-er, 1829, p. 56).
-95- Interesting evidence of a lack of lenthusiasticall
notions among the subjects of this research is the difficulty
some of them had in understanding the Evangelical concept of a divine 'calling'. There is no evidence that any were called to India in dreams or visions. For most, the twin facts of the need of the heathen and the plain duty to evangelise them appear to have been a sufficient call, but others hesitated to apply because they had received no directl personal calling. 'With regard to any peculiar qualifications, ' said Andrew
Leslie at his. valedictory service at Coventry In 18239 'or
anything like an internal monitor telling me that it Is my duty to go to the Heathens I can make no pretensions. Indeed I hardly understand what Is meant by a Call and I have not been
'without many doubts whether I were not running without being
sent... 11 James Vaughan wrote In a similar vein:,!... I do not lay claim to any special internal call to the work. On this
point I have long deferred, wishing to feel ... a direct
intimation and full conviction on my mindt of my particular
call'. 2 The image, vhich would have been conjured up by the
word 'enthusiasm' early in the nineteenth century, of an
energumen who believed himself possessed by God, but whose mission of messianic significance was really a self-appointed one, is alien to the whole atmosphere of the missionary movement.
Furthermore, the vast majority appear to have accepted the current orthodoxy that miracles terminated with the
apostolic age, that the missionary enterprise would not be
aided with visible demonstrations of supernatural powerf and
that knowledge of Divinity and of the languages of the heathen
ýýtis-ýjjqua jrLt±rjyq Volume XII 191+21 p. 85. 2. C. M, S, g C/ACI/3-, -J. Vaughan to W. Knight, 16 March2 1853.
-96- would not be miraculously infused. None entertained ideas
as extreme as Mary Campbellp who practised glossolalia and
whop in the belief that she spoke Turkish or the language
of the Pelew Islanders, contemplated becoming a missionary. 1
The small band of Plymouth Brethren missionaries were the only
ones who flirted with lenthusiasticall notions like these.
Anthony Norris Groves withdrew from Trinity Collegev Dublin,
on deciding that it was unnecessary to have academic
qualifications to be a missionary. 2 Groves was troubled by
the worldly wisdom of current Evangelicalism, which was
epitomised in the wealthy and vell-connected members of the
Clapham Sect; to him learning was a 'false' ground of-'Christian
influences. 3 He was concerned that all the weapons of his
warfare should be spiritual, '+ he took the Bible literally, and
he expected God to equip him with supernatural gifts. 5 Two
other Brethren, John Vesey Parnell (afterwards Lord Congleton)
and Edward Cronin, left India in 1837 after three years' work,
disillusioned because they saw no evidence of God's miraculous
power. 6
Few, to repeat, agreed with them. God's normal instrument
for the propagation of the Gospel was preaching, and preachers
had to be vell-educated meng who had studied to present
themselves as workmen who need not be ashamed. 7 There is,
1. R. A. Knoxg Enthusiasm, p. 553. 2. H. H. Rowdon, The Origins or the Brethren., 1825-1850, London, 19679 p. 40; H. Groves Not of the woFl-=dt. Memoir of Lord Congleton. London, 3- H. -Groves, 1jemoir of the Tate_Anthony Norris Groves, London 1856, p. 18 4. A. N. Gr; ves. Journal of Mr. Anthony N. Groves I MissionIM, during a Journ; yA7rom London to_gagdadp London, ld31q P-vii- 3- H. H. Rowdon, on. cit-9 P-79. - 6. Ibid.; cf. H. Grovesý 'Not-of the World1p p. 56. 7. Il Timothy 2.15.
-97-
accordingly, a large body of evidence showing that the typical
missionary in our period prosecuted his studies with a
diligence remarkable even in an age when aspiring youths were
noted for their studious habits. He was not afraid of the
intellect and he was determined to make fall use of 'reason'
in the pursuit of his aims. This will become more evident in
the chapters on missionary training; here a few examples must
suffice.
Charles Miller's referee wrote of his #strong desire of
knowledge and habit of application to literary pursuits'. 1
John Shaw Banks wrote to the Committee of the W*M. M. S. -- 'MY
only anxiety Is to get all the preparation possible, human as
well as divine, for my future work; and I know the more of this
I obtaing the better 'workman' I shall be, for you, for the
Church and for Christ. g2 John Pourie might have been any
Scottish missionary when he wrote: 'There can ... be no good
scriptural grounds for the overstrained anxiety and earnestness
of some whose sentiments, whether secret or avowedt have a
tendency towards the fanatical doctrineg that the exercise of
the human intellect is incompatible withl or at least unnecessary
tog the belief of the holy doctrines and the practice and the
precepts of spiritual Christianity'. 3 That missionaries
eschewed these fanatical or lenthusiasticall doctrines is not to
say that they were wanting in ardour. The missionary previously
1. L. M. S., C. P., Edie to the Secretary, 30 JulYi 1832. 2. W. M. M. S., Candidates 2b, 181+5-69, j. S. Banks to the Secretary, 11 July, 1856. 3. From one of Pourie's College essayst 'On the Connection between an effort to Develop the Intellect and Effort at General Progress in the Christian Lifelp printed in G. Smith, Memorials of the Rev. John Pourie, P-139.
-98-
selected as the one whose religious experience beat typifies
them all, John Henry Parkerý surnined up perfectly what appears to have been the predominant attitude in this matterp too,
when he wrote:
It will be readily admitted that $it is good to be
zealously affected always in a good thing'; and with
equal readiness will it be conceded that this zeal
should be $according to knowledge'; - not a rash and
hasty enthusiasm, taking up a course of proceeding
without consideration, and prosecuting it with a blind
and furious fanaticism; but a firm, steady, consistent
principle of action, based on a correct acquaintance with
all the circumstances of the case, and guided by the
dictates of sound judgment and calm and enlightened
reason. 1
'Zeal$ plus 'enlightened reason' - the Revival and the en Enlighýbent coalesced in the formation of the modern missionary
movement. The mainstream of this movement lay between two banks.
One bank was the cool rationalism of much eighteenth century
English Christianity or the often frigid Moderatism of the
Scottish Church, both of which were religions of morality
supported by Natural Theology. Without jettisoning either of
these, the missionaries we have studied here added a Biblical
Theology and a religion of the heart. The other bank was the
'enthusiasm' with which the Revival sometimes expressed Itself.
2 Holding a 'doctrine of divine communicationIq it was avoided
by our missionaries who preferred to be guided by 'reason' and
1. L. M. S. t C. P., J. H. Parker's essayp 'How may high attainments in Literature and Science be-made most subservient to the cause of Christian Missions? ' 2.1. Taylor, Natural History of Enthusiasm, P-76.
_99- Scripture. Yet, of the two banks, they were chiefly tempted
by 'enthusiasm', not in doctrine, but in piety and behaviour.
We are here dealing with single-minded young men, remarkable
for their earnestness, their self-discipline 9 their capacity to
study, and their zeal for souls. Their studies inflamed rather
than tamed them. This is seen most clearly in the Scottish
missionaries, who, it could be argued, were at once the most
zealous and the best educated. The fire of the Spirit seemed
to combine with inherent Celtic fire and resulted in a consuming inferno terrible to behold in a man like Alexander Duff. Not
all had his power of intellect, nor his strength of perso nality,
and, under the strain of bending all their energies to subserve
the 'one thing needfull, l a minority may have exhibited the
neurotic or lenthusiasticall symptoms discussed in this chapter.
1. Luke 10.4.
-100-
CHAPTER
THE INFLUENCE OF CEURCH AND CHAPEL
Having dealt in the previous chapter with the personal
religion of missionary applicants, It is now Proposed to turn
to their experience of institutional religion. Specifically
an attempt will be made to answer three questions: What
theological system was bequeathed to candidates by the ministers
of the churches they attended, and what was its relevance to
missionary work? What encouragement did they receive to engage in activities of an evangelistic kind under the supervision of their ministers? How enthusiastic were their ministers for
interdenominational co-operation in missionary work, and to
what extent were they exposed to sectarian disputes which threatened this ideal of unity? The difficulties involved In
answering these questions are formidable: clearlyg it is
impracticable to analyse the views of all the ministers whose
congregations sent missionaries to Indiall but to discuss current
theological systems and denominational affairs in general would be far too arbitrary. It has been thought best, thereforeq to
analyse the attitudes to the above questions of all the
ministers whose congregations sent two or more missionaries to
India with the L. M. S. in the period 1798-1858.2 An enquiry is
then conducted first into the extent to which their views may have been shared by ministers of other denominationsg and
secondly into the Influence of these attitudes on missionary
candidates themselves.
1. These are indicated, where known, in Appendix A. 2. More information is available on the church affiliations of L. M. S. missionary candidates than on the candidates of other societies,
-101-. "
Seven Congregational pastors are known to have numbered two or more prospective missionaries to India In their
congregations. Six of them were acknowledged leaders of their
denomination, a fact which immediately suggests that mission
was a primary concern of the Congregational churches during
this period. Ralph Wardlaw (1779-1853)) minister of North Albion
Street Meeting Place, 1803-18199 and of West George Street
Chapel, 1819-1853, (both Chapels were in Glasgow), was7 from
1811 until his death, theological tutor at the Glasgow - Theological Academyq where eighteen missionaries trained for
service in India. His congregation sent eight missionaries to
Indiall two to South Africa, and one to Siberia. Four
missionaries' wives also came from his congregation. One of
the Indian contingent, John Smith Wardlaw? was his own son, and
two of the wives were his own daughters, Marianne and Jessie.
He was a Director of the L. M, S. twenty-five times between 1816
and 1853. With the possible exception of David Boguep tutor at
Gosport Missionary Seminary, no Congregational minister
contributed so much to Indian missions. William Roby (1766-
1830), pastor first of Cannon Street Chapel and, after 1807, of
Grosvenor Street, Manchesterg nurtured about ten L. M. S.
missionaries, but only two went to India. 2A further three
1. R. Fleming, J. W. Massieq W. Campbell, A. Lillie, James Robertsong W. P. Lyon, J. Russell, and J. S. Wardlaw. A. Leslie (B. M. S. ) also attended Wardlaw's church for a time. 2. James Edmonds and John Hampson. The former was appointed to South Africa in 1798, in spite of his wish to be posted to Bdngal. In 1800, of his own volitiong he went to India. Although his connexion with the L. M. S. was thus dissolved, he remained a missionary and supported himself by teaching. W. G. Robinson, 'William Roby's Missionary Candidateslq Transactions of the Congregational Historical Society, Volume XVII Number 2 p. B4.
-102-
ministers were trained by him, and at least three missionaries'
wives came from his congregation. He was a founder of the
L. M. S.. 1 and a Director twenty-five times between 1796 and
1826. John Angell James (1785-1859)2 the well-known author of
the Anxious inquirer and a dazzling pulpit oratorl ministered
for more than fifty years in Birmingham, mainly at the chapel 2 in Carr's Lane. Six missionaries, of whom five went to India,
and two missionaries$ wives came from Carr's Lane during his
pastorate. He was a Director of the L. M. S. thirty-four times
between 1807 and 1852. Joseph Fletcher (1784-1843), pastor at Blackburn from 1807 to 1823, was tutor at Blackburn Academy
(1817-1822) where he prepared John Smith, destined for India,
for the ministry. From 1823 until 1843 he was pastor at Stepney
Meeting in London, during which time three members of his
congregation sailed for India as missionaries. 3 Fletcher was
a Director of the L. M, S. twenty-one times between 1812 and 1841.
John Philip (1775-1851), 'Liberator of the Hottentots of South
Africa'94 was minister of Belmont Street Chapel, Aberdeeng
1804-18181 and controversial Superintendent of the L. M. S. 's
South African Mission from 1819 to 1851. During his ministry
at Belmont Street four missionariesq of whom two went to India, 5
and one missionary's wife7 went out from his congregationi.
1. Roby's signature is appended to the 'Statement of Intent', 17 February, 1795, in the first Minute Book. 2. J. Smith, M. HJ117 J. B. Wardeng W. Porter (? ), and D. G. Watt, a- E* Porter, J. Sevellq and T. Lumb.
5: Congregational Year Bookq 1852, p-229. William and Alexander Fyvie.
-103- He was a Director of the L. M. S. in Aberdeen from 1812 to 1811+
and in South Africa from 1819 until his death. The 'great
Dissenting bishop', 1 Thomas Binney (1798-187109 was the
outspoken minister at the King's Weigh House Chapel in London
for forty years from 1829. Four L. M. S. missionaries, of whom
two vent to India, 2 and one missionary's wife, came from the
King's Weigh House during his ministry. He was a Director of
the L. M. S. five times between 1830 and 1838. His chief
missionary interest was the Colonial Missionary Societyt founded
in 1836 at his behest. 3 Thomas Stollery (1770-1832)9 pastor of
the Independent Church meeting in Chapel Streetq Soho2 from
1796 until his death, was the only one of the seven ministers
whose fame did not reach beyond his congregation; he destroyed
his private papers before he diedlý and does not appear to have
published any sermons. Three missionaries went to India from
his church. 5 He was never a Director of the L. M. S.
The floruit of these ministers was at a time when a system
of theology known as 'Modern' or 'Moderate Calvinismt was in
the ascendency. Basically this system sought to draw the
fatalistic sting of predestinarianism. Originally conceived
in the womb of missionary concernt Moderate Calvinism made
indulgent provision for Its mother by presenting a strong case
4 1. E. Kaye, The History of the King's Weigh House Churcht London, 1968, p. 62. 2. J. H. Budden and T. O. Whitehouse.
E. Kaye op cit., p. 81. a.. LvangelleaftagazIne, november, 1832) P. 489.
5. J. Hands, E. Pritchett, and X. Thompson.
-104- for the universal presentation of the Gospel. It was expounded
by two Dissenting ministers who were esteemed as the leading
theologians of their respective denominations - the Baptist,
Andrew Fullerl and the Congregationalistt Edward Williams. 1
About 1785 Fuller published The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation.
It is commonly and rightly held to be the work which demolished
the objections of Particular Baptists to offering salvation
freely to all men, and which, with Carey's Enquiry2 laid the
foundation of the B. M, S. Edward Williams' fullest exposition
of Moderate Calvinism, On the Equity of Divine Goverrmentg was
published as late as 1809. He had been a founder of the L. M. S.
in 1795 and delivered the charge to its first missionaries in
1796.2 This chronology suggests that Williams' enthusiasm for
missions preceded his formulation of Moderate Calvinism. Indeed
his biographer sees him as consciously attempting to bridge the
gap between the popular preaching of the day, which was the
product of the Evangelical Revival and which invited all men
to receive the mercy. of a loving God, and the prevailing
Calvinist theology with its harsh God who predestinates some to
damnation. 3 He was concerned to remove serious theological
1. Owen argues thatj as there appears to have been no contact between the two men, each arrived at the same views independently. He explains this by 'the profound influence of Jonathan Edwards on each of them$. W. T. Owenj Edward Williams, D. D., IZ50-18139
ý, -Cardiffp 1963, p. 116n. On the His Life, Thought, and Tnfluený§ seminal Influence of Jonathan Edwardsq see W. T. Whitleyt Calvinism and Rvangelism in England, Especially in Baptist Circles7-London, 1933 p. 44* I. Murray, The Puritan Hovel
'London, 19712-P-. 135. For a study of7Edwardst-missionary theology see S. H Rooy The Theology of Missions-in the Puritan Tradition, Delit, 19 5ý97pp-*265ff- 2. MissionarZ ýd4jge, ýnd ient: A Charge Delivered on nf%f%!: nin nr ! 21-, 1RC;
0; V; hF2!
mV1i-rst Missionaries to the
s. Lanas or trie poutq beas, JUIY*__. L/'IU) a W. T. Owen, op. cit I p-96-
-105- hindrances to the Evangelical Awakening of the period.
'
The historical context in which Williams endeavoured to
achieve his purpose requires a little explanation. The
majority of Independent ministers in the eighteenth century
had resisted the Unitarian tendencies of many Presbyterians
on the one hand and the Hyper-Calvinism of some Particular 2 Baptists on the other. Even so, any appeal for their
theological allegiance had still to be made in the name of
John Calvin; Wesleyan Arminianism could never be seriously
entertained by them as a theological rationale for missionary
activity at home and abroad. Met their traditional Calvinistic
orthodoxy could not contain the mighty spiritual forces unleashed
by the Evangelical Revival. This was a dilemma which required
considerable powers of intellect to resolve - but if the majority
of, Congregational ministers were to give unqualified support
to the Revival, an intellectual solution would have to be found,
for they were decidedly men who endeavoured to be ruled by the
head rather than by the heart, and though their sympathies
might incline to Evangelicalism2 they would not become mere
pragmatists in theology simply to embrace it. That is to say,
it may be doubted if they could ever have been such enthusiastic
advocates of missions had they not been convinced that this was
demanded by their theology. "Do we not feel, " Wardlaw-c-asked
his students in his critique of the limited atonement of
1. Ibid. j p. 116; cf. p. 112: "Williams was a convinced Calvinist, and a great lover of Calvin, and it was never his intention to be anything other. than a Calvinist. But his evangelical fervour forced his intellect into the task of making that Calvinism a more effective evangelical weapon. The result was 'Modern Calvinism'. " 2. G. F. Nuttall$ 'Northamptonshire and the Modern Ques ion: A Turning-Point in Eighteenth-Century Dissent'$ Journal or Theological_Studies, New Series, Volume XVI,
. 19659 PP-107F.
-lo6- orthodox Calvinism, "as if the word
[sticks] in our throat
when we say: - 'Whosoever willý let him take the water of life
freelyl? "l But now, thanks to Williamst no such qualms could
arise to undermine the preacher's confidence in his mission to
all men. The system was 'modern' because it could comprehend
what the Spirit was saying to the churches in the new age of
revival and missionary enthusiasm; but it was still Calvinism,
and the great Puritan, Reformed tradition survived unscathed.
to vindicate the ways of God to man$ was Williams'
intention, said Wardlaw approvingly to his students. 2 Andq by
this choice of Milton's words, Wardlaw placed Williams firmly
in the Puritan tradition and, incidentallyp conveyed to his
students that it was not presumption for a minister of the
Gospel to aim so highý but a dereliction of his duty to aim at
less. To be an effective apologist in the defence of the faith
was the aim of every Congregational minister and missionary.
But what were the principal tenets(f Williams' system?
His fundamental task was to reconcile the desire to bring all
men to faith in Christ with the doctrine that God had decreed
that only some would be saved; he had to refute the proposition
that particular election makes nonsense of any universal
invitation to receive the Gospel. While not denying that only
the elect are savedt Williams did reject the commonly-held view
that God arbitrarily decrees the damnation of others. To do
this he distinguished between God's 'equity' - the right and
disposition to give all men their due, and God's 'sovereignty,
1. R. Wardlaw, Systematic Theology, (3 Volumes), Edinburgh, 1856, Volume II, p. 453. -Published posthumously, Systematic Theolo comprises the lectures Wardlaw delivered to his students at9yt-be Glasgow Theological Academy. 2. Ibid., Volume II, p. 116.
-107- the power to do anything consistent with equity. As equity
operates according to justice, giving man his due, and
sovereignty according to mercy, meting out unmerited favour,
man can have no just complaint about his treatment by God on
either count. If man thinks he sees some injustice in receiving
unmerited favour he is mistaken, because on the Cross, Christ
bore the sinner's punishment, thus satisfying divine equity.
If, in the more likely event, man objects to being treated
according to divine equity alone, he can have no just complaint
either2 because, according to Williams, he is an 'accountable
creature' - God, out of his equity, having given him free will.
If a man suffers reprobation it is because he has rejected the
means of grace of his own volition. Thus man suffers because of
his own sinfulness and because of God's equity, but the harmful
operation of the latter is dependent on the former. Therefore,
no man ought to languish under the misapprehension, illustrated
tragically in the life of William CowperIl that God has decreed
his eternal reprobationg irrespective of his personal response
to the Gospel. In this way Williams was able to justify the
proposition, possibly first suggested by the Calvinist revivalist,
George Whitefield, and which contains the essence of Moderate
Cailvinism, that 'every man's damnation is of himself, and every
man's salvation all of God'. 2 So Williams displaced the
caricature of Calvinism that God is cruel and arbitrary with the
view that God is benevolent and just. He cast aside all talk of
particular election and limited atonement and claimed that
while, in effect, Christ's death was a surety only for the elect,
1. D. Cecil, The Stricken Deer, Or, The Life of Cow]2er, Fontana Edition, Londong 19ý5- 2. G. Whitefield, Works, (6 Volumes), London, 1771-2, Volume III letter 848,29 Junet 1750, P-363.
IN
-lo8- it justified, even demandedt the universal invitation to
sinners to come to God, because it paid the Eternal Judge a
price sufficient for all men. '
Some of the seven ministers here selected for study were
generals in the army which ensured the conquest of Moderate 2 Calvinism within their denomination. Admittedly, the specific
influence of Williams' writings on Roby and Stollery, whose
pastorates covered the first part of our period, cannot be
demonstrated. Yet both are best described as Moderate Calvinists.
It has been said of Roby that his 'Calvinistic earnestness was
infused with deep compassion'. 3 Stollery's theology possessed
all the elements of Moderate Calvinism: he ascribed man's
salvation to grace alone, yet he rejected the current
Antinomianism, stressed man's accountabilityg and warned all he
could of their obligation to repent.
Ralph Wardlaw enthusiastically accepted and promulgated
Williams' system: 'We are accustomed to say, and we say truly
to sinners of mankind without exception that if they are not
saved, the fault is entirely their owng lying solely in their
own unwillingness to accept the salvation offered to them, or
to have it on the terms on which It is presented. 15 Of
1. This summary of Williams' system is based on W. T. Owen, 2p. citel 96-116; R. Tudor Jonesp Congregationalism in England, 1"672-1p%, London, 1962, P 170, and A, Wardlawq Systematic T-heology, Volume IIt Pp-loi-11691+27-456. 2. Owen has shown how Wardlaw2 Jamesq and Fletcher were in their respective spheres of considerable influenceg disseminators of Williams' system. 0 cit., pp-139-147- , 3. W. G. Robinson, Hifliam Roby (1766-1830) and the Revival of Independency in the North, Londong 19541 p, 146, - q. -J. Morison, 'The HigR Reward of Those who turn many to Righteousness. A Funeral Sermong preached at Chapel Street, Soho, on the death of the Rev. Thomas Stolleryll The British Preacherg London, 1832, Volume III, j-320. 5. R. Wardlaw, System tic heology, Volume 119 pp. 441f.
-109-
Moderate Calvinism he said: 'Its great advantage is, that it
leaves all open; and thus, by introducing no previous
restrictions having reference to the atonement itself, it
preserves, free of all encroachment2 a basis for the universal
obligation of sinners of mankind to accept the offered mercy ... Such a theology was pregnant with implications: the doctrine that
man was accountable meant that he was a responsible agent2 and
thus destroyed the determinism and fatalism which was a dominant
element in eighteenth century thought in general and in traditional
Calvinism in particular. The new interest in civil liberty and
social change exhibited by Nonconformists at the time has been
traced to their adoption of this theological system. 2 To
preachers of the Gospel it gave a peculiar authority and an
unshakeable conviction of the supreme value of their work.
Wardlaw applied Biblical precepts and ethics to every area of
life and stoutly maintained that all men2 converted or not$ 3 were duty-bound to obey them. This sense of authority was
heightened by the sense of earnestness implicit in Moderate
Calvinism: all meng everywhere2 had to be warned that, as
responsible creaturest they were accountablefor their personal
response to the Gospe12 which it was their duty to believe. The
urgency of this message and the earnestness which accompanied
it constrained many to become missionaries. It became such a
1. Ibid., Volume II, p. 1+56. 2. W=.. Owen, op. cit-9 P-133; R. L. Hughq, 'The Theological background of Nonconformist social influence in Wales, 1800-18501, Ph. D. Thesis, University of London2 1951t p. 127. 3. R. Wardlaw, System tic Theology, Volume 119 Chapter 1+5.
_110- burden that it is conceivable that they were not always
sophists who argued that, as hearing the Gospel increased a
man's accountability, it might be better not to conduct missions
at all. Then, at least, the heathen would not have to account
for so much on the Day of Judgment. Wardlaw's answer to this
argument was two-fold. In the first place, to object to missions
on the grounds that they increased accountability, would be to
question the divine 'Procedure' of imparting the Gospel in the
first placeý and such logic would also mean leaving men in
ignorance and suffering, since education and medicine also
increased the accountability of the recipient. 1 Secondly,
although Wardlaw conceded that, since all would be judged
according to their knowledge, the heathen who had never heard
the Gospel would not be as accountable as those who had, he
nevertheless maintained that this was no comfort as the heathen
would be condemned all the same, and that on the basis of 'the
purest and most unimpeachable equityl. 2 'They shall be tried
by the light and law of nature and of original revelationj and
the ground of their sentence shall be2 their wilful forgetfulness
and inexcusable ignorance of God, and, the perverse violation in
their conduct2 of the suggestions of reason and the dictates of
conscience., 3Clearly there was no hope for the heathen, apart
from the missionary. Joseph Fletcher was as convinced a Moderate Calvinist as
Wardlaw. In his preface tq On Personal Election andDivine
Sovereignty he said that he had lendeavoured to avoid the
I 1. R. Wardlaw, Four Sermons: Two on his beliefr and Two on the Respo 1827, PP-15b-161. 2, R. Wardlaw, The ontemplation of Excitement to Missionary Zealq Londc
Is Accountableness for ty of -Ul-asgov,
eathen Idolat 9 1U1--8-1p. 20.
Ibid.
-111-
extreme of Antinomian presumption and Pelagian scepticism',
and that he felt 'increasingly convinced that the sentiments
of such Divines as Edwards, Williams, and Fuller, afford the
best defence of the system designated by the name of the
venerable reformer of Geneva, and to which the rash dogmatists
of the Hyper-Calvinistic school have no legitimate claim'. 1
Wardlaw, a life-long fridnd of Fletcher, said of himt- 'His
views were those which, in our own times are sufficiently well
understood under the designation of moderate or modern Calvinism
... He preached atonement for all, founding upon its
universality the universality of the invitations and offers of
the gospel, and the accountableness of men for the reception
given by them to these invitations and offers ... 12
John Angell James also belonged 'to the school of his
predecessor, Dr. Williams1,3 and, like Fletcher and Wardlawq
denied its discontinuity with Reformed theology. In his
celebrated tribute to the fathers and founders of the L*M*S.
he urged his hearers to maintain 'the theology of Luther and
Calvin and Knox; of Leighton, Baxter, and Howe; of Scott, Simeonj
and Newton; of Fuller and Robert Hall; of Jonathan Edwards and
Dwight; of Williams and Payne; of Chalmers and Dick; of Wardlaw
and Russell$ - men of different ages and various churches but
all one in fundamental truth'. 4
1. These words are found in the third editiont 1825, p. vi. 2. R. Wardlaw, The Final Triumph of God's Faithful Servants. A Sermon preached ... on occas ion of the-Lamented Death of the Rev. Joseph Fletcher, D. D., Londoný lb43) Pp-3'2 . 37 R. W. Dale, The Life and Letters of John Angell James) Fifth Editiong Lond6n-21B621 p*278. 4. J. A. James. AT ibute of Affectionate Respect to the Memor of the Fathers'agd-Folinders of the London Mlsslonary Societyl London, lbl+9, p, 29,
-112- The theological position of Thomas Binney, whose ministry
overlaps the end of our period, is a disputed matter which
signifies that the grip of Calvinism on the Congregationalists
was being loosened. His biographer claims tha he was a
Calvinist in theology1l but R. Tudor Jones writes: 'The
pioneer in the movement towards a more decided emphasis on
God's love was Thomas Binney. He was never a Calvinist
Probably both claims are over-simplificationsq but if Jones is
substantially correct, then the emphasis should be put on the
word 'pioneer'; the erosion of Calvinist doctrines before 1858
should not be exaggerated. Certainlyi the vast majority of 3 Congregational ministers in this period were Moderate Calvinists.
It follows that the majority of L. M. S. missionaries wereq too.
Among the other denominations, the Particular Baptists
relaxed their traditional tenacious grip on high Calvinism4
only after a struggle. 5 But, that 'Fullerism, 6 was adopted by
the ministers who most enthusiastically supported missions -
John Ryland, Joseph Butcliff, Christopher Anderson$ and Joseph
Ivimey7 - may be surmised from the fact that they were close
1. E. P. Hood, Thomas Binney: His Mind, Life, and Opinions, London2 1874, P-141--ý 2. Congregationalism in England, 1662; 1962, p, 260.. 3. Stoughton believed this to be so a late as the 1870s. See H. M. Dexter, The Congregationalism of the Last Three Hundred Years as seen in its Literature, Londong C-lbbOv P-675- 4. W. T. Whitley, Calvinism and Evangelism in England, Especia in Baptist Circlesq PP-13717,2b; F. -Toon2 The Eme ence of Hyper-Calvinism in English Nonconformity, 16b9- 9 Londonv . A. W%Of 2 VC&O. P. Alue
5. E. A. Payne, The Baptist Union, a Short HistOrZ, London, 1959, P-39. 6. As the Baptists' version of Moderate Calvinism was labelled. 7. Each of their congregations provided two or more missionaries for service in India.
-113- Personal friends of Andrew Fuller himself. A fifth Baptist
pastor, Isaiah Birt, from whose chapel at Devonport John Biss
and Richard Mardon proceeded to India, attempted to-modify the
extreme Calvinistic notions canvassed in that region by Robert
Hawker of Plymouth. 1
Moderate Calvinism also appears to have been adopted by
many Evangelicals within the Church of England. They were following in the train of Henry Venn of Huddersfield7 John
Newton of Olneyq and Thomas Scott, the Bible Commentator, who was the C. M. S. 's first Secretary. Among the Anglican clergymen
whose congregations provided two or more missionaries were
Charles Simeong John Buckworth, and Edmund Dewdney. Simeon
is more celebrated for the string of chaplains he sent to India 2
but among the missionaries who attended on his ministry were
William Towett) the C. M. S. 's first graduate missionary, who
served In Malta, and Joseph Fenn and Robert Turlington Noble
both of whom served in India. Although a critic of Calvinism
"'as an exclusive systemi"3 and reluctant to be labelled with
the name of any theological party, Simeon was a Calvinist of
the moderate school. )+
John Buckworth, Vicar of Dewsbury,
Yorkshire, who formed the first town association of the C. M. S.,
and who trained some missionary candidates for service, with the
C. M. S. 9 numbered three future missionaries to India among his
congregation5 and a fourth6 who served in Ceylon. Six '
I. Birt, The Moral Government of God in the disnensation of the Gospel vindicated. - in oBservations on the system of--t, -K-eojoj3r, Eaught by the Rev. Dr. Hawker, London, 1024, Bicicersteth thought7 that Hawker's Hypqr-Calvin was, jeopardising the success of foreign missions. E Stock, The History of the Church Missionary SocietZ, Volume Iq ;. 282. 2. H. C. G. Moule, Charles Simeong Londonp 19481 p. go. 3. W. Carus (ed') Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. Charles Simeon, M. A. 7 London, lb+7', p. 566. 47-E. Stock, op. cit., Volume 11 p. 281. 5. W. Greenwooa-, 77-Bailey, and T. Dawson. 6. J. Bailey.
-liz4. - missionaries' wives also came from his congregationg as did
three clergymen who remained at home. 1 Reporting to the
C. M. S. Committee on the candidates whom he was training for
them, Buckworth wrote: 'The doctrines called moderate
Calvinism they have been accustomed to hear from me which they
have embracedt, 2 Edmund Dewdneyj Curate of a proprietary
chapel at Portsea, whose congregation gave at least three
missionaries to IndiaO3 taught both the doctrines of election
and final perseverance, remarking on the former: "'It is best
studied on your knees'11.4 Although not all Evangelicals in
the Church of England were Moderate Calvinistst5 there can be
no doubt that this system was embraced by many who were most
influential in the life of the CM, S. And the practical genius
of Moderate Calvinism is nowhere better stated than by one
C. M. S. missionaryq Robert Bruce: 'My views of Religion are
that from beginning to end it is entirely the work of the Holy
Spirit. But ... as God is pleased in His love to His children
to work by means / we must strive with all our mightq as if all
depended on ourselves. t6
In turning to the Church of Scotlandt the traditional
bastion of orthodox Calvinismq greater caution must be exercised
in summarily assessing the impact of the new Calvinism. The
Congregationalist, Ralph Wardlaw, might be prepared favourably
to contrast the now, Moderate Calvinism with the 'former'
Calvinism, 7 but the leaders of the Scottish Church, during our
1. J. Lock and W. T. Dixon, A Man of Sorrow. The Life. Letters aný Times of the Rev.
-Patrick Brontb. 1777-lb6l, Londoni 1 65
Pr-677; Memoir of the Rev. John Buckworth, M. A*9 London, 1836, pp. 49f. 2. C. M, S., G/AU3-1--Letter from J. Buckwor 716 March, '1812.
1 U97"
J. Barclay, S. Hobbs, and R. Hawes. E. --, Ddwdney, A Trepti-e on the_Special Providence of G6d,
London, 18487 p. 27- 5. Patrick BrontUj for example7 was, an Arminian. J. Lock and W. T. Dixon, or. cit. 9 pp. 292f. 6. C. M, S. 9 C/ACJ/57 R. Bruce's answers to questions, 2 December, 185ý: 7. Wardlaw, Systematic rheology, Volume II, p. 445.
-115-
period, would not permit even this mild aspersion on the faith
of their fathers. The Evangelicals who formed the Free Church
in 181+3 'ardently maintained confessional Calvinist-Orthodoxy',
and the Moderates who remained in the Church of Scotland were
'officially orthodox#, too. ' That the Evangelicals would have
nothing to do with Arminian tendencies is shown by the fact
thattwelve years before, they had taken the lead in deposing
John McLeod Campbell from the ministry because he taught a 2 universal atonement and the necessity of assurance to salvation.
'Resolute' Calvinism was upheld by Robert Candlish2 who after
the death of Thomas Chalmersq assumed the leadership of the
Evangelicals in the Free Church. His Church, Free St. Georgels,
Edinburgh, was attended by more future missionaries. than any
other in Scotland apart from Wardlaw's. 3 Candlish criticised
Wardlaw for teaching the doctrine of a general atonement (Christ
died for all) with a particular application (the atonement's
efficacy is limited to the elect by the operation of the Holy
Spirit); )+ donning the cloak of orthodox Calvinism, he refused
to conceive of Christ's death 'as undertaken and accomplished
for any but those actually saved'. 5
1. J. H. S. Hurleigh, A Church History of Scotland, London, 1960,
JýJ83; cf. A. L. Drummond and J. Bullochq The Scottish Churchq p
8-181+1, Edinburghq 1973, p-211. J. H. S. - Burleighq op. cit., pp-332f.
3. W. K. Mitchell, R. B. Blythq J. Fordyce, J. Pourie A. Whiteg and J. W. Gardner, all of the F*C M and A. Leitch JL. M. S. ) are known to have attended CandllsOs ministry. I+. A Wesleyan Layman, The Irresis ibility of the Holy Spirit's Influence, infallibly effecting the Salvation of a Certain NiimbAr nf Mankind. and Involvine the lmDosslbllity of the Salva
or al: L others, irrazionai ana unscripuurai- in neiuTaTion oi une Arguments adduced by the Rev. R. S. Candlish, D. D., Edinburgh, lb45, p. 4. 5.. R. S. Candlish, The Cross of Christ;
-the Call of God; Saving
Faith. An Inquiry into the Completeness and Extent of the 1-tonement. with es"cial reference to the Universal offer of the gr3i-pel, and the universal Obligation to believe, Edinburgh, 1845, p. 22.
-116-
Although thwarted in the letter7 however, Moderate Calvinism
had Its victories in the spirit in the Church of Scotland.
After hearing Thomas Chalmersl,, preach, Jabez Bunting, an
Arminian Methodist, enthused: "-Un descanting on the perfect
freeness of spiritual privileges and urging the people to
embrace by faith a present salvation, as offered in the Gospel
to every one of them, he almost excelled everything I ever
heard or read. "" As a pupil at St. Andrews, Chalmers had been
taught by George Hill that Calvinism was 'not for use in the
pulpitt. 2 If Moderates followed this advice because of an
alleged aversion to the twin doctrines of sin and grace,
Scottish missionaries followed it for a different reason. In
his application to the S. M. S., Robert Nesbit wrote: "'My views
of Christian truth are strictly Calvinistic. At present,
however, I should not be inclined to dwell much on the doctrines
of predestination, election, and particular redemption. That
love wherewith God so loved the world ... I desire to be the
principal theme of my discourses. itt3 John Pourie thought along
similar lines:
'Talking of methods of preaching, Mr. Tullo and I have had
a little bit of controversy ... he is of opinion that the
fact of man's total inability to believe should be always
coupled with the invitation to believe ... I am inclined
1. T. P. Bunting and G. S. Rove, The Life of Jabez Bunting, D. D. p. 551. Bunting's pleasure at haa-ring Chaimer alvinism recalls Simeon's delight with John Wesley's Arminianism (H. C. G. Moule, -op. cit , pp-79f. ) and emphasiwa that in preaching and evangelism there was little to distinguish Evangelical Calvinism from Wesleyan Arminianism. 2. J. H. S. Burleigh, op. cit-2 P-307. 3. J. M. Mitchell, Memoir of the Rev. Robert Nesbit, P-35.
-117-
to think that the doctrine is chiefly, if not wholly,
available for meeting and repressing any rising tendency
to exalt self ... the proclamation of it to an anxious
soul cannot have any motive influence in inclining his
will to believe, trust and confide in Christ. 11
Pourie's theology, it will be observed, was as utilitarian as
that of Edward Williams, and it seems safe to postulate that
Scottish Evangelicals, in spite of their strongemotional
attachment to traditional Calvinismt were as reluctant as
English Evangelicals to emphasise those predestinarian elements
in Calvinistic theology which did not support their chief
passion - evangelism.
Evangelical or Moderate Calvinism, then, was probably the
theological system favoured by most of the missionaries who
went to India during our period - it was dominant in the L. M. S.,
B. M. S., C. M. S., the Scottish societies, the Irish Presbyterian
Mission, and the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Mission. Only the
General Baptists and the Wesleyans were decidedly Arminian,
although most S. P. G. missionaries were probably Arminians, too.
Since Moderate Calvinists stressed man's accountability in
order to refute the Antinomianism inherent in Calvinism, and
Wesleyans stressed the Sovereignty of God to resist the
Pelagianism inherent in Arminianism, it is not surprising that
adherents of the two systems frequently found themselves in
substantial agreement. Yet, it waspartly because of theological
differences that the Wesleyans thought it necessary to divert
Methodist support away from the interdenominational L. M. S. and
to found their own Society. 'If we are to employ hundreds of
pounds in Asiag' reasoned Thomas Cokeq 'shall we employ them in
1. G. Smith, Memorials of the Rev. John Pourie, p. xvii.
-1]. 8-
establishing Calvinism in that immense country in preference to Methodism? ... I am certain that our competent people ... will subscribe annually for the Calvinist. missions, if they do
not subscribe for ours. 11 Obviously Methodists preferred
'Calvinists missions to none at all, but it would be wrong to
underrate, the deeply-felt abhorrence with which their leaders
viewed any qualification of the doctrines of general redemption,
the universal call to repentanceg the conditional character of
the-divine decrees, and the lunnecessitated' agency of man. 2
There is no doubt that these doctrines nourished the missionary
enthusiasm for which Methodists were renowned. But that the
missionary genius of Wesleyan Arminianism was any greater than
that of Moderate Calvinism may be doubted. 3
ii
A review of the evangelistic activities of the Congregational
ministers here selected for special study suggests that they
may have influenced potential missionaries as much by their
practical involvement in missions, as by their advocacy of a
missionary theology. William Roby encouraged all the members
of his church to be missionaries, pointing out that it was not
1. Methodist Archivesq City Road, T. Coke to R. Smithý 29 October, 1812. 2. T. P. Bunting and G. S. Rowe, The Life of Jabez Bunting, DD PP-387ý1+92; T. Jackson, Memoirs of the--Ife and Writings oFý_t__h; Rev. Richard Watson, Late Secretar; C to the Wesleyan Missionary 9_q_qieýZ, Third Edition, London, lb4O9 PP-36114221436f, 3. This'is not the place to attempt-to resolve this issue. On one side of the debate, Nuttall has asserted that modern missions would not have been possibleulpsychologically' agart from Wesley's Arminianigm (G. F. N ttallq The Puritan pirit, Essays and Addresses, London 19679 Chapter-B-9 'The Influence of Ir-minianism in England', P-77). On the other hand, E. A. Payne argues that Jonathan Edwards was the seminal influence rather than Wesley (E. A. Payne, 'The Evangelical Revival and the Modern Missionary Movement', Congregational Quarterlyq July, 191+32* ppr. 223ff )-
-119-
necessary, to go overseas to be a missionary. 1000 genuine
zeal for the spread of the Gospel is uniform. ' he maintained,
in commenting on the relative claims of home and foreign
missions. 'Those who are most anxious to promote it in one
direction, will be likewise most ready to encourage it in
another. 11 He and other members of his congregation preached
out of doors, in the countryside and towns around Manchester.
When the soil had been preparedý some of his church members
were dismissed to form new churches. 2 In an academy which he
conducted between 1D03 and 1808,3 itinerant preachers were
trained as well as some L. M. S. candidates. Wardlaw closely
parallels Robyhere. ... let us be earnest, ' he said, 'for the
deliverance of both - of the perishing abroad, and of the
perishing at home. "+ Like the preachers of the Haldane
Revival in Scotland, which had influenced him so much, he made
many missionary tours throughout Scotland, preaching 'on way-
sides2 and hill-sides and fieldsq - at market-crosses, and in
public streets, - from chairs, and stairsq and horse-blocks'. 5
The Glasgow Theological Academy, like RobTls more short-lived 6 institution, was formed originally to train Itinerant preachers,
1. W. Roby, An ApologY for Christian Missions to the Heathen ' A Sermon preached before the Missionary Society in London,
London, 18012 P-77. 2. W. G. RobinsongWilliam Roby, pp. 152f.
Ibid. 9 p. 111. RK. -Vardlaw The Call to Repentance. A Sermon, preached in
behalf of the9out-of-Door Preaching Scheme, Glasgow2 lb521 p. 28. 5. Ibid., p. 27. 6. W= Alexander, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of--Ralph Wardlaw, D. D., Second Edition, Ed1nDurgh2 18569 p. 124.
-120-
John Angell James' church also dismissed members to form now
churches: 'It has ever been carrying on home missionary
operations. ' James remarked, land has become a mothe church. 11
As for Thomas Binney, his conviction that his congregation
should continue to support those of its members who, fired by
Gibbon Wakefieldts plan, went to South Australia to form a new
colony2 led to the formation of the Colonial Missionary Society. 2
None of this appears to have been particularly unusual at this time either within the Congregational denomination or beyond
it. The churches were sufficiently successfulinaDbilising the
the laity to ensure that the majority of applicants for
missionary'service had been engaged previously in Sunday School
teaching, tract distribution2 or visitation of the sick. Among
L. M. S. missionaries John Adam had taught for four hours each Sunday in a close known as the 'Goose-dubs' in the slums of
3 Glasgow and subsequently established preaching stations around St. Andrews; )+
at Harrow Thomas Higgs had formed a society 'for
the dissemination of Gospel knowledge' and was so shocked at the
ignorance of local villagers that he concluded that the heathen
must be in a truly wretched state; 5 Robert Cotton Mather had
been led to reflect on the misery of the heathen by his
1. R. W. Dale, The Life ... of ... James, P-315. 2. E. Kaye, Th; History of the King's-Weigh House Church. p. 81.
- Memoir of John Adam, late Missionary at Calcutta, p,, 44, W. Hann&, Memoirs of Thomas Chalmers, D. D., LL. D., Volume II, 51. L. M. S., C. P,, q T. K. Higgs to J. Arundell December, 1829.
-121- 1 evangelistic endeavours among the poor of Homerton; John
Abbs said that the same motive which constrained him to preach
in the Norwich poorhouse had led him to desire missionary
service; 2 and the two Scots, Charles Leitch and James Duthiet
received their missionary apprenticeship working among the
destitute as agents of the interdenominational 'United Christian
Instruction Society'. 3 The slums of Edinburgh were thought of
as a most valuable training ground for Scottish missionaries:
John Anderson's taming 'the savages of Canongatel convinced an
observer that he could not fail as a missionary; '+ Alexander
MICallum haft. laboured as a home missionary for the Free Tolbooth
congregation in a tough area of Edinburgh; 5
and Robert Blyth
wrote to the New College Missionary Association: 'All motives
which any man, be he Missionary or anything else7 can uset pale
before the great broad, fearful realities of life in such cities
as Edin. [2.1-cl ... I can never forget some of the scenest and
some of the dark impressions of deep and deepening depravity
and ungodliness which met me in connection with your Home
Mission., 6
Lay missionary activity is equally evident among the
Baptists. William Ward's missionary'desire may have been
kindled when he preached in a packed cottage near Halifax7 and
1. L. M. S. p C. P. 9 R. C. Mather to the Directorsý 12 Juneq 18 2. 2. L. M. S. 9C. P. -9 J. Abbs to the Secretaryq 7 February, 18N, 3 L. M. S., C. P., C. C. Leitch, Answers, to questions, 9 August, 1A47; C. P. $ J. Duthie to the Directors, 6 October, 1853 4. J. Braidwood, True Yoke-Fellows in the Mission Fieldq p. 16. 5. Home and Foreign Missionar Record for the Free Church of Scotland Novem er, 1651s P-93. '6. New College, . Edinburgh; Correspondence of the New College Missionary Association, R. B. Blyth's letter, October, 1854.
-122- imagined himself 'surrounded with a group of Hottentots'71 and
John Chamberlain, when warned that he may have been breaking
the law by gathering crowds to hear his preaching, protested
vehemently that he would 'rather lie and rot in prison, than
not attempt to save poor souls'. 2
If George Eliot's Adam Bede is any guide, Methodist lay
missionary activity was a well known feature of English life
early in the nineteenth century. Some of the Wesleyans who went
to India with the W. M. M. S., such as James Lynch, Thomas Cryer,
and William Simpson, were leaders of classes prior to application.
These classes were the small weekly meetings which John Wesley
devised for the encouragement and discipline of converts. A3.1
Wesleyan missionaries had been local preachers before they were
accepted by Conference into the Itinerancy. At least three
Wesleyan missionaries who served in Indim - Samuel Hardey,
William Arthur, and Benjamin Field - had become local preachers
when they were only sixteen years old, and it was reported of
Field, for example, that he had preached with lintelligenceg
power, and successi. 3
Neither is it difficult to find evidence that the Anglicans
who were to become missionaries were also interested in the
evangelisation of the poor, in spite of the proverbial failure
of the Church of England's mission among the working classes.
Arthur Irwing who served with the S. P. G., had strenuously
exerted himself to ameliorate the material and spiritual condition
1. W. H. Carey, Oriental Christian Biograp -2
Volume IIv P-13 - 2. W. Yates, MeMoirs of Mr. John Chamberlain, late Missionary in India2 Calcutta, 16272--p--77. 3. W. M. M. S., Examination of Missionary Candidates (unpaginated), 'Volume III, August, 181+32 Benjamin Field.
-123-
of the poor at Birmingham. ' Increasingly towards the middle
of the century the young curates who applied to the C*M*S. were
being drawn from the industrial towns with their exploding,
impoverished populations: Thomas Fitzpatrick had been a curate
in a Birmingham parish with a 'poor population' of ten thousand; 2
Andrew Frost had been the incumbent in a manufacturing village
near Huddersfield with a population of fifteen hundred; 3 Richard
Greaves had been appointed 'to a. newly formed and populous district
in Mancheste%1.1+ z, and Dormer Fynes-Clinton had been curate at
Stourbridge7 population over six thousand2 most of whom were
miners and nailmakers. 5 All of the above evidence qualifies the
oft-made criticism that missionaries during this period were
unaware of the destitution and the grave social problems of
their own kinsmen. It would be truer to say that they were not
only aware of them but the experience of them sometimes originated
their desire to become missionaries. What is beyond dispute is
that many wereq for all practical purposes7 missionaries before
they ever sailed for India.
III
k common interest in schemes promoting union is another
characteristic of the Congregational ministers chosen for special
study. As the word 'Independency' suggestsq Congregationalists
were traditionally suspicious of all attempts to organise their
1. S. P. G. 9 X-111+1 Candidates' Testimonials, 1837-44, S. Dedge's testimonial, 30 JulY9 181+01 p 19610 2. CMS:, Minutes, 21 May, 1ý501 p*'. 501.
C: M: S 9 C/ACJ/3j A. H. Frost to the Secretaries, 19 May, 1853. CMS: j Minutesq 7 Octoberq 1856p, P. 398.
5. C: M: S 9 C/ACl/5j D. Fynes-Clinton-to W. Knight, 22 April, 1857.
-124-
denomination at a regional or national level. However, effective
evangelism meant that these scruples had to be overcome. The
Lancashire Congregational Union, formed in 1806, was largely
the work of William Roby7 and its chief concerns were evangelising,
itinerating, and erecting new chapels. 1 Wardlaw was committed
to making a success of the Congregational Union of Scotland
founded in 1812 with the two-fold concern of home missions and 2
providing financial assistance for needy ministers. Immediately
before the formation of the Congregational Union of Scotland,
Joseph Fletcherg under the spell of Roby's enthusiasm for union,
wrote the following exhortation to Wardlaw concerning the
Scottish scheme:
'You have been too insulated - too independent, too much
afraid of an approach to synodical association, till you
have lost sight of scriptural unionv and the immense
advantages arising from it. The County Unions formed in
Lancashire and Cheshire, since I came here, have done more
good to the 'perishing souls' of men in the dark and
semibarbarous parts of both counties, than the occasional
itinerant excursions of regular ministers for the last
twenty years. t3
Fletcher, 4 James, 5 and Binney6 were all instrumental in founding
the Congregational Union of England and Wales in 1831- In fact,
1. W. G. Robinsong William Roby, DD. 104f 151f. * 2. W. L. Alexander, -ffi-moirs of ... Wardlaw, p 171; H. Escott, A History of Scottish Congregational-=sml 141a; gow, 1960, pp. 91+f. 3. J, Fletcher (Jun. ), Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of the Late Rev. Joseýh -Fietcher, D. D., London, lb'+6ý P-175. 't* IDlae $ Pojj: )- 5. R. W. Dale, The Life .. - of o., James, p. 146, 6o A. Peel, These Hundred Years. A HIstory of the Congregationa union of Býng-land and wales, 1831-M17 London, 1931, p-49o
-125- so close is the correspondence between its founders and the
leading supporters of the L. M. S., that it has been seen as an
off-shoot of that Society. 1 Partly born of missionary concern,
it is not surprising that evangelisation was one of its 2
principal aims.
Apart from the Particular Baptists, all the other
denominations enjoyed centralised systems of Church government
before their missionary societies were formed. The story of the
Baptist Union, however, closely parallels that of the
Congregational Union. Baptists were Independents, too, and they
instinctively resisted surrendering any freedom to &-wider
organisation. 3 The Baptist Union was formed twenty years before
the Congregational Union and it, too, grew out of the activity
of the denominational Missionary Society-'ý Its foundation was
attended by leading supporters of the B. M. S. - Andrew Fuller,
John Ryland, Joseph Sutcliff, and James Hinton. 5 Its first
Secretary and mainstay for two decades was Joseph Ivimeyj whose
congregation, at Eagle Street, Londong contributed John Lawson
and Richard Burton to the Indian mission field. 6 Finally the
purpose of the Baptist Union was overtly missionary. 7
1. Ibid,. pl: T. 10,46. 2.177 p.. 63.
E. A. Payne The Baptist Union, a Short History, P-39. Ibid., p. 21. -IM., p. 20.
6. YR-d, j pp. 21+, 44f. On Ivimey's enthusiasm for home, Irish,
and foreign missions, see Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 29, ppr. 81f. and G. Pritchard) Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Joseph Ivimey., Londong 1835, passim. 7. E. A. Payne, op. cit , pp. 6124159.
-129-
Of course, union within a denomination could be considered
a symptom of the undoubted hardening of denominational
allegiances which characterised British ecclesiastical affairs
in the first half of the nineteenth century. However, in the
perspective of history, it can be observed that denominational
unions which grew out of evangelistic concern were essential
preparation for the interdenominational negotiations basic to
the ecumenical movement. ' It is true that some - not all - of
the ministers here selected for study were convinced adherents
of Congregational polity'and of Dissent. Early in his ministry
Wardlaw wrote a satirical poemq 'Porteousianalt aimed at a minister
of the Church of Scotland who accused the Burgher Synod of
inciting people to laxity in ecclesiastical matters:
'Because you are a church and state man
You think yourself a very great man. 12
Trivial as the incident may have been, it reveals a love of
controversy which was all too common in our period and which
must have encouraged some missionaries to adopt a disputatious
approach to theological issues. In the 1830s Wardlaw became
a well-known figure in Scotland, as he was identified with the
leadership of the Voluntary Movement in its bitter opposition
to Thomas Chalmers' programme of church extension subsidised
from public funds. 3 In England the tension between Church and
Chapel, between Establishment and Dissent, was such a pronounced
feature of society that it provided themes for popular novels
of the day, such as Margaret Oliphant's Salem Chapel, the hero
1. R. Rouse and B. C. Neill (eds. )q'ý-A History of the Ecumenical Movement, 1517-191+81 Second Editiong London, 1967, Chapters 16 and 7-ý
. L. Alexander, op. cit., p. 498. 3. Ibid. 2 pp-336f.
-TPT(- 6f which was a young Independent minister, Arthur Vincent.
He had been raised on "the 'Nonconformist' and the 'Eclectic
Review', was strongly impressed with the idea that the Church
Establishmentq though outwardly prosperous was in reality a
profoundly rotten institution; that the Nonconforming portion
of the English public was the party of progress; that the eyes,
of the world were turned upon the Dissenting interest; and
that his own youthful eloquence and the Voluntary principle
were quite enough to counterbalance all the ecclesiastical
advantage on the other side
Clearly sectarian prejudices were flourishing. Nevertheless,
it would be doing less than justice to the ministers here
sel. ected for study - least of all Wardlaw-, - - to accuse them of
outright bigotry. They are far more conspicuous for that
unqualified support of interdenominational co-operation which
led to the formation of the Evangelical Alliance In 1846, first
projected by James in 181+2,2 but possibly originally conceived
by Joseph Fletcher. 3 William Roby's ecumenical spirit is
illustrated by the fact that in 1812 the 'Youth's Auxiliary
Society' was formed in his churchg the aim being to encourage
young people to support four societies, three of uhichg the
L. M. S., the B. F. B. S., and the Religious Tract Society, were
interdenominational. '+ Of John Philipq Wardlaw observed: 'He
was a man of a catholic, or ratherg let me say, of a Christian
spirit ... For, whilst he was a thorough dissenter, he was
1. M. Oliphant, Salem Chapel, (2 Volumes), London, 18631 Volume I, pp. 6f. 2. R. Rouse and S. C. Neill, op. cit , p-282. 3. 'My esteemed friend, Dr. Fletcher, had the thought in his mind before it came to me7I admitted James. R. W. Dale, op. cit
21+1. W. G. Robinson, William RobTq p. 85.
-128- distinguished alike for his love for the likeness of Christ
in whomsoever he saw that likeness, and also for his willingness
to co-operate with Christians of other denominations, in any
or every work that had for its object either the amelioration
of the social condition of the people, or the extension of the
religion of Christ at home and abroad. " As this was said
after Philip's death, it could be objected that his ecumenical
spirit may have been forced on him by the realities of missionary
lifeg for he had spent thitty years in Africa. Howeverg this
cannot be said of James who was perhaps unequalled in his
enthusiasm for co-operation between denominations. With Wardlaw,
James made the Congregational contribution to the book9 Essays
onChristian Union, an ecumenical venture published in Scotland
in 181+5.2 James had to concede that7 for the time-being, the
missionary enterprise could be conducted most efficiently along
denominational lines, but over twenty-five years earlier he had
congratulated the Directors of the L. M. S. on their unbroken
record of 'friendly intercourse' with other 'kindred societies',
adding: 'Perish for ever all envy and rivalryg and let the only
contest be this, who shall most glorify God and bless the human
race., 3 In factq theng an underlying ecumenicity tended to
purify ecclesiological motives for missionary expansion; the
exertion of one denominationp it was believed, stimulated others
to emulation rather than opposition. 4 In 1826 it seemed to
1. R. Wardlaw, I
PP. 4, )r. 2. T. Chalmers and R. S. Candlish mentioned
i above as orthodox
Calvinists within the Free Church of Scotland were also among the contributors. 3- T. A. James. The Attraction of the Cross, a ermon preached before the Loýd3n-Missionary S_ociety at SurreX chapel, London)
yj PPOJOIO J. A. James, Missionary-Prospects, a Sermon ... at the Opening Hoxton College as a Missionary Seminary, London, lb269 PP-32f.
-129- James as if the 'whole religious public' had become in
consequence of its accepting the Evangelical passion for
evangelism "one vast Missionary Societyq of which every
congregation is an auxiliary, and almost every family a branch.
A spirit of universal philanthropy is abroad ... 'the world for Christ', is the watchword of the age. "'
The proposition, maintained above, that commitment to
mission was3argely responsible for union within the
Congregational denomination, and for ecumenical activities beyond itp was explicitly stated in the Eclectic Review in 1837:
Nothing has contributed so powerfully to produce this
unity of feeling and to bind together the members of
the general body, as the missionary spirit which has been
awakened throughout the religious community, and the
amicable rivalry of the several denominations in the great
Christian enterprise. Our missionary societies have been
rallying points) not of party zeal, but of all the vital
energy and genuine piety pervading our respective
communions; ... This ... has tended to produce a general
revival of religion; so that, in fact, never were our
churches in a more healthy state ... In engaging in the
work of foreign missions, we have learned, as it were, the
lesson of Christianity afresh; and the church has gained
strength in the very act of bracing herself for exertion. 2
The ambiguous conclusion justified by the evidencels that,
even though this was a sectarian age, there was nevertheless
much enthusiasm for united missionary endeavour. The remainder
1. Ibid., pp. 27f. 2. IT-he Congregational and Baptist Unions' (no author cited), Eclectic Review, January-June, London, 18379 pp. 18of.
-130-
of this chapter is devoted to illustrating this tension
between sectarian exclusiveness and interdenominational
co-operation. The practical failure of the L, M. S. to recruit
from all denominations, the'exclusivism of the W. M. H. S., and
the divisive influence of the Oxford Movement, are first
discussed as indicative of the strength of sectarian barriers,
This is followed by an analysis of some areas of agreement
among the churches: the common belief that the welfare of the
home churches depended on their involvement in foreign missions;
the consensus that the Church's raison dlgtre was mission; and
the happy relations which existed between the various missionary
societies.
The founders of the L. M. S. were marked by a catholic
rather than a sectarian spirit. They adopted as the Society's
'Fundamental Principle': 'not to send Presbyterianism,
Independency, Episcopacy, or any other form of Church Order and
Government ... but the glorious Gospel of the blessed God to
the Heathen. 11 The fructification of this commendable ideal
was disappointing, however. The determination of the Directors
of the C. M, S. to win the support of the bishops of the Church
of England meant restricting the 'irregular' support which an
earlier generation of Evangelicals had given to Dissenters.
Bence, the L. M. S. found it increasingly difficult to persuade
ministers of the Established Church to preach at its
anniversaries. Charles Simeon, for example, declined an
1. L. M. S., Board Minutesq 9 May2 17962 p-98- See 1. Fletcher, The Formative Years of the London Missionary Society with Special Reference to the Fundamental Principle, L. M. S. 9 1961. Typescript.
-131- invitation to preach for 'prudential considerations', ' and
Daniel Wilson2 the future Bishop of Calcutta, intimated that
he would not accept if invited. 2 Consequently, it is not
surprising that only one member of the Established Church,
Orlando Dobbin, became a missionary with the L. M. S. in India,
and he came from Ireland. Baptists were excluded, for the
L. M. S. was a Society of those who accepted infant baptism. 3
There is also some evidence that the Directors of the L. M*S.
wished to 'escape the imputation of methodism'. 1+ They resolved
to reject applicants who were members of Wesleyan societies
because of their Arminianism and in the interests of 'peace and
Cooperation' on the mission field. 5 Only three Wesleyans 6
two of them printers and the third, exceptionally talented,
with a Presbyterian upbringing - were appointed by the L. M. So
to India before 1859. The majority of missionaries who went
to India with the L. M. S. in our period who were not
Congregationalists were drawn from various Presbyterian
denominations in Scotland. Alexander Leitch and -Tames Duthie
were both attracted to the L. M, S. by its 'Catholic Constitution, 27 but even they made the Directors uneasy: 'He is a stranger to
our denomination'2 it was noted of Duthie18 and it was
1. L. M. S., Minutes of the Committee of Examination, 25 February, 1805, p. 69. 2. Ibid*2 10 January 1820 p. 1+8.
June, 1A28, p: 86; cf. ApPendix B, Question 3. ý* Ibid*2 30 ry, 1817, P-77. Ibid., 17 Februa
Ibid., 7 Augusti 1799, P-9; 27 Augustý 1824, p. 115; 10 January, 1825, pp. 119f. 6. T. Salmon, J. J. Dennis, and S. Mateer. 7. L. M. S. 9 C. P., A. Leitch to J. Arundell 1+ December, 1837, and J. Duthie to the Directors, 6 Octoberg 1853. 8. L. M. S., C. P., (J. Dathie)q D. Wallace to E. Prout, 29 September, 1853.
-132-
suggested of Leitch that his strong Presbyterian ideas ought
to be Iliberalised' before his departure for India. ' One
Presbyterian denomination7 the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists7
concluded that the L. M. S. was discriminating on sectarian grounds
against applicants from their churches, and7 like the Wesleyans
before them, ceased supporting the L. M. S. 9 and formed their own
missionary society in 181+0.2 The 'Fundamental Principle' was
apparently in tatters - forsaken by the Anglicans and Welsh
Calvinistic Methodistsq spurning the assistance of Baptists and
Wesleyans, and suspicious even of Presbyterians7 the L. M*S*
swiftly became the preserve of the Congregationalists. Only
one in seven of the missionaries who served in India,, with the
L. M. S. before 1859 was not a Congregationalist, yet even this
low proportion may be interpreted as a small victory for the
advocates of a catholic spirit. '
The W. M. M. S. was the most'exclusive of the missionary
societies. Wesleyans were caught up in the conscious process
of forming a new denomination after a period of hesitation as
to whether they should leave the Established Church or not. ' No
divine exercised so complete an influence over the minds of any
group of missionaries as Wesley did over his followers: as
required of Methodist preacherst they had all read Wesley's
Sermons and Notes on the New Testament., and his ADDeals and
Large Minutes were widely read, as weremanuals of Wesleyan
theology, such as Watsonis Institutes. It became habitual for
Wesleyans to speak of 'our doctrines', 'our disciplinelt four
1. L. M. S. 9 C. P.., (A. Leitch), J. Paterson to J. Arundel, 22 January, 1838. 2, J. H. Morris, The History of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, Foreign Mission, to the end of the year 1904, Carnarvon, 1910, pp. 2. Drr.
-133- hymns' and 'our literature'. 1 Ironically, this denominational
exclusivism meant that Wesleyanism made a valuable contribution to the wider missionary movement2 as numbers of its adherents,
who owed to Wesleyanism their zeal for evangelism$ but who could
not brook its bureaucracy$ served with other societies. 2 Six
S. P. G. missionaries who served in India had been Wesleyans, four
of them initially missionaries with the W. M. M. S. At least four
C. M. S., two G, B. M. S., and, as we have seen2 three L. M*S.
missionaries had been Wesleyans before application. Ralph
Eteson (C. M. S. ) first conceived the desire for missionary
service whilst teaching in a Methodist Sunday School. In his
subsequent theological studies he rejected bany peculiar tenets
of the Methodists' and applied to the C. M. s. 3 Another Wesleyan$
Thomas Jerram. (C. M. S. ), found he could approve neither of
Wesleyan theories of justification, Christian perfection7 and the
witness of the Spirit, nor of the severence of Wesleyan societies
from the Church of England. '+ Adherents of the Oxford Movement
labelled this separation a schism from the holy Catholic Church,
a claim which appears to have worried some Wesleyans and was
probably the fundamental reason why some Wesleyan missionaries
joined the S. P., G. 5
1. E. G. Rupp, Thomas Jackson, Methodist Patriarcht p! 20. 2. Samual Mate-er--a-a=pped to the L. M95. because tEe-W. M. M. S. would not let him go to India married. L. M*S. 9 C. P., Letter from S. Mateer, 8 January, 1858.
C. M. S. jG/AC31 R. Eteson to E. Bickerstethq 16 August, 1824. C. M. S. jG/AC3t S- Hey to the Secretaries 5 October 1843.
5. G. G. Findlgy and W. W. Holdsworthq The-History of tL Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, Volume V, p. 194; W. M. M, sjj Minutes 9 June, 1859 1 pp. 50f; F. Penny, The Church-in Madras 3 Volumesi, London, 1904-22, Volume III, PP 3669369; S. P. G., Standing Committee Minutes, 30 December, 1842, p. 2K
-134- To Anglo-Catholicism, of course, may be traced the
principal sectarian challenge to united missionary endeavour
by Protestants. Even though Keblels assize sermon on National
Apostacy was preached as early as 1833, the lines of battle
were not finally drawn up before 1850. By then the Gorham
controversy over baptismal regeneration had created a quest
for precision on doctrinal matters which was dangerously out
of keeping with the Anglican tradition of comprehensiveness.
The unease, first of the Evangelicals and then of the Catholic
party, as to their place In the Church of England, was translated
into hysteria by the 'papal aggression' of 1850 when Pius IX
restored the hierarchy of the Church of Rome in England.
Mounting apprehension of the Catholic threat within and
without the Church of England is reflected in the records of
the C. M. S., a society founded originally on the 'Church-
principle' and not the 'High-Church principle'. ' In 1837
Robert Haves, who left for Indim in 181+11 had studied Finch's
account2 of the controversy between the 'Romanists' and the
Protbstants. 3 In his application in 181+5 George Cuthbert
described himself as an "Evangelical" with no sympathies for
those "designated 'Tractariant". I+
In the 1850s such
protestations are common among applicants: William Keene'was
'without leaven of Tractarian or rationalistic heterodoxyt; 5
Henry Hubbard, twin brother of an S. P. G. missionary, was
1. E. Stoc , The History of the Church MissionarX Society, Volume I, pp. 67f--. 2. George inch wrote a number of'books on this subject, including A Sketch of the Romish ControversX2 London, 1831.
C. M. S. 7 G/AC32 E. Dewdney to t1le Uecretary, 11 Allmistt 1837- C-M-S-I G/AC32 G. G. Cuthbert to the Committee, 4-Xpril, 181+5.
5: C. M. S., C/AC1/3/5479 Letter from G. F. Cameron, 29 May, 1852.
-135- 'totally untainted with anything approaching to Tractarianism';
and Arthur Davidson had forced himself to rise at 1+ a. m. to
give himself time for study so that he could resist the
Itractarian tendency$ of his friends. 2 We read of Charles
Every's revealing concurrence in the C. M. S. 's unwritten policy
to refuse admission to its missionary training collegeof any
who held thigh-church views of Baptismi3 and of Ashton Dibb,
whose opposition 'to the vain splitting doctrines of Baptismal
regeneration"+ was so intense that he may actually have been
motivated to become a missionary by his aversion to 'Popery'
and his zeal for 'the elementary truths of Christianity* 05
The official attitude of the Evangelical C. M. S. to the
Catholic 'menace' was most clearly demonstrated in 1841 when
the Committee dissolved its connexion with William Topley
Humphrey. The only previous indication that Humphrey had
sympathies unusual in an Evangelical was that, prior to his
application, he had made a study of the Church Fathers. 6 He
subsequently cited Justin Martyr in defence of the views which
struck horror into the breasts of the Directors of the C. M. S. 7
On 1 September, 1841, he wrote to the Madras Corresponding
Committee of the C. M. S., giving details of the church he wished
to have built at Mayaveram. The 'heathen' were to be confined
1. C. M. S., C/AC1/3, I. Hay to W. Knightq 20 June, 1853. 2. C-M-S., C/AC1/3/1961 S. Gedge to W. Wrightq 12 September, 1850. 3. C. M. S., C/ACl/3/301+j W. H. Howard to the Secretary, 10 February, 1851 '+- C. M. S.. t C/Aý1/3/327, - W. Hodgson's letter, 2 April, 1851. 5. Ibid. 6. T. -M. S., G/AC31 G. C. Greenway to the Committee, 26 May, 1835. 7. C. M. S., Proceedinfsq 181+3, Appendix, PP-113-143, for documents relating to Humphrey's dismissal.
-136- to the nave of the church which was to be separated by an
organ screen from the choir where the 'faithful' were to
congregate. The south transept was to be used as a chapel for
'catechumens' and the north transept for lpenitents'. 1 'Such
a conception, t wrote Cnattingius, 'could manifestly only have
come from an enthusiastic young Hi& Churchman., 2 And that,
in spite of Humphrey's claim that his views emanated from a
study of Hindu responses to the preaching of the Gospel, is
how the Directors of the C. M. S. interpreted his position:
they dissolved his connexion because, in their view, he had
adopted a policy of 'reserve' in preaching Christian doctrines
to Hindus. 3 Obviously the Committee had in mind Isaac Williams'
Tract 80, 'On Reserve in communicating Religious Knowledge',
published in 1837, which had provoked charges of 'Jesuitism'
against the Oxford Movement. 1+
After its indecent haste in
ridding itself of the advocate of this offensive doctrine, the
Committee was embarrassed to discover that Humphrey had
previously written to his bishop, G. J. T. Spencer of Madras,
who had approved the 'general tenourl [. 2ic] of his views. 5
Spencer claimed that the C. M, S. Committee's unilateral action
in this matter violated its own 32nd. Law, accepted only a few
months earlier, that matters of order and discipline disputed
between colonial bishops and the Committee would be referred to
the bishops of the Church in England. 6 That7 in spite of a great
1. Ibid., 'Basement plan of proposed church at Mayaveram', facT-n-gP-130. 2. H. Cnattingius, Bishops and Societies, a Study of Angli
C. M. S., Minutes) 30 Novemberg lb4l, R. W. Churchý The Oxford Movement: -Tw
London, 1892, pp-. -2! -67f--, 5. C. M. S., Proceedingsq 1843, PP-132f. 6. E. Stock, op. cit., Volume Ig P-392.
-137- desire for episcopal favour, the Committee persevered in its
insistence that it had the right to withdraw support from any
missionary who violated its foundation principles, demonstrates
the jealousy with which the C. M. S. guarded its Evangelical
heritage.
If the C. M. S. consistently maintained its Evangelical
positiong it would be wrong to conclude that the SoPoGo was as
vehement in its support of High Church viewsq especially where
Tractarianism is concerned. Henry Manning's application for
the principalship of Bishop's Collegeg Calcuttaq was rejected
because of his extreme Tractarianism; 1 Pusey's name was struck
off a list for election to membership-of the S. P*G.; 2 and the
SoP. G* sought to vindicate its claims as a missionary organ of
the whole Church, and not just of a party, by surrendering the
power to select missionaries to a Board of Examiners appointed
by the Archbishops and the Bishop of London03 Some missionaries
who served with the SoP. Go in India were probably Evangelicals:
Joseph Walpole was recommended by Daniel Wilson of Islington,
son of the Evangelical Bishop of Calcutta; )+ George Weidemann,
a fellov of St. Catherine's Hallq Cambridget an Evangelical
stronghold, was recommended by Bishop Wilson's son-in-law and
biographer, Josiah Bateman, and received a testimonial from
Professor Samuel Leev who had been groomed for Oriental studies
by the C. M, S. -5 Thomas Suter, from Islington, had applied to 7
1. Bishop's Colle 2. H. P. Thompson2 3. So P. Go X-115, December, 1839 - 4. So P. Go X-114. 5. lbid. 2 p. 238. '
ge. Calcutta. 1820-19702 Calcutta, 19701 P-14- Into All Lands2 p. 115. Minutes of tH-e Candidates' Co=ittee,
June, 1848,15 May, 1846, p. 213- Candidates' Testimonialsj 1837-44t p-10.
-138- the C. M. S. and only turned to the S. P. G. because the C. M. S. would not entertain his application until he had completed
his education. 1
However, there is no doubt that mobt candidates of
Evangelical sympathies preferred tht C, M, S, 2 and ipso facto
opposition to High Church influences on the S. P. G. was weakened. Ifence it is possible to find among the S. P. G. missionaries who
went to India before 1859 examples of the full spectrum of
High Church beliefs and practices. The first principal of Bishop's College, William Hodge Mill, was-a High Churchman of
the pre-Tractarian school of which Thomas Fanshaw Middletonv
first Bishop of Calcutta, was a more conspicuous example.
These thigh and dry' churchmen were champions of sacramental
grace2 believed episcopacy to be of the less'el of the Church,
esteemed the Church's connexion with the State, and hence
2 abhorred Dissenters. Mill took this intolerance of Dissenters
with him to India and was noted for his refusal to co-operate
with missionaries from non-episcopal societies. 3 Arthur
Leighton Irwin, who studied at Caius College, Cambridge,
preferred to model his theological views not on the Oxford
divines, but on Bishop Beveridge, author of. Ecclesia Anglicana
Eaclesia, Catholica. His views on the sacraments and church
government were described as #high-church', but he combined
this with an emphasis on the doctrines of grace and the
religion of experience such as would have delighted Evangelicals. '+
0 1. S. P. G., Madras Diocese, T. H. Buter's answers to questions, 22 December, 1853. 2.8 C Carpenterg Church and People, 1Z89-1M) London, 1959, pp. 6ýf'1'80; G. V. Bennett and JT. D, Walsh (eds. ), Essays in Modern Church History, in-Memory of Norman Sykes, London, 1966, p.
Bishop's College, Calcutta, lb20-19701 pol * S. P. G.. 2 X-111+1 J. Gibson's testimonial, 5 March, 1841, pp. 188f.
-139- He was recommended by Cambridge Professors Scholefield and.
Lee, both Evangelicals. 1 Edward Whitehead, of Wadham College,
Oxford, was described as 'a High Churchman of the old school;
manifesting his position ... in his doctrine rather than his
rituall. 2 This was true of the fathers of the Oxford Movement
and could probably be applied to other S, P. G. missionaries
like Arthur Wallis Street, who had been recommended by Newman
and Faber13 and was later described as 'steeped - in
Tractarianism'91+ or Ebenezer Wilshere, who-had actually
resided with Pusey while he studied at Worcester College,
Oxford. 5 Of the HiEAChurch missionaries2 one2 Richard V. Pope,
who went to India in 1852 with the S. P. G., seceded to Rome In 6 1858. Although the revival of the S. P. G. predates the Catholic
Revival, and must be attributed organisationally to the Clapton
Sect, 7 and indirectly to the Evangelical Revival, 8 the
Evangelicals were not needed to maintain the new missionary
impulse. This is evidenced not only by the ever-strengthening
work of the S. P. G., but also by tha remarkable determination
of the Church of Scotland to maintain its missionary effort
unabated after the Evangelicals walked out of the Church at
1. Ibid., pp-1909193. 2. Y-. Penny, oD. cit. 9 Vol. III, P-335-
S. P. G. 7 X-11EFg-pp. 118f. J. Batemang The Life of the Right Rev. Daniel Wilson, D. D.,
6 Volumes), London, lb601 Volume III p. lb5. 5. F. Penny, ol). cit., Volume 1119 P-367. 6' Ibid., P-373- 7: 1". B. Webster, Joshua Watson, the Sto ry of a Layman, 1771- 1855, London, 1957, p-118. U. -H. P. Thompson, Into All Landsq pp. 106-109.
-140- the Disruption in 1843.1 Divided the churches may have been
in the second quarter of the nineteenth century over the
questions of infant baptism, baptismal regeneration and
sadramental grace, episcopacy, and the State connexion, but
all were agreed on one point - that the vigour of the Church's
life at home-depended on its according to missions a top
priority. This common belief became a recurring theme in
missionary propaganda, the value of which was reinforced by
the fact that it was true. In the first anniversary sermon
of the C, M. S., Thomas Scott maintained that evangelising the
heathen would result in greater zeal for the evangelising of
Britain. 2 Jabez Bunting observed in 1813 that subscriptions to '3 missions also raised giving at class-meetings and when he
spoke at the first General Meeting of the WeM. MeS. in May, 1818,
he cited the Baptist missionary, William Wardq in support of
his claim that home work was not jeopardised by foreign
missionary work. The tutor of L. M, S. missionaries at Gosport
Academy, David Bogue, claimed that churches actively involved
in support of foreign missions invariably prospered; 5 the
Moderator of the Ulster Synod in 1826, James Carlisle, declared
that the way to revive a dead and formal church was to engage
its members in a great, challenging undertaking and such was 6 the missionary enterprise. And John Macdonald, minister of
1. Home and Foreign Missionary Record for the Church of Scotland, July, 18W, p. 426. 2. E. Stock, op. cit., Volume Ig P-78. 3. T. P. Bunting and G. S. Rowe, The Life of Tabez Bunting, D. D.,
418. Ibid., P-507.
5: Y. -WilSon, Observations on the Motives and Encouragements to active Missionary Exertions., p. 12-
I Polle
-1 L. 1- the Church of Scotland, and subsequently a missionary, wrote: 10h surely, if our Churches did but respond to that parting
charge of their common Lord ... we should not have such a
mournful deadness in other respects amongst us! "
A corollary was that, to an extent perhaps unequalled in
British ecclesiastical history before or since, the Church,
whether conceived of in narrow denominational termsv or as
embracing all believers, was thought of as a missionary Church.
A revialution in attitudes is entailed in the fact that, by the
middle of the period under review, few would have quarrelled
with John Macdonald's doctrine of the Church: 'the Church
of Christ is essentially and constitutionally Evangelistic or
Missionary ... her unceasing duty is evangelical aggressioný
and perpetual extension ... the evangelisation of the world
being the will of her Head, Is the law of her being... s2
That the laity of the Methodist Church believed the missionary
character of the Church to transcend doctrinal divisions, as
shown by their eagerness to support Calvinistic missions rather
than none at all, has already been observed in passing. 3 Thomas
Scott also found himself powerless to constrain Anglican laity
to confine their support to their own denominational missions;
they would insist on supporting the B. M. S. 9the L. M. S., and the
Bible Society as well. '+ And J. A. James's apparently extravagant
claim that the 'whole religious public' had become 'one vast
1. J. Macdonald, Statement of Reasons for Accepting a Call go to India as a Missionary, Glasgow, 109, P-19. 2. Ibid., p. 16.
See aboveg pP-11 W. CoMeSo, G/AC31 T. Scott to the Secretary, 19 July, 1820.
-142- Missionary Society" was spelt out in some detail three years later by Isaac Taylor:
But if the extent, and the power, and the promise of the
existing missionary zeal are to be duly estimated7 the
inquirer should visit the homes of our religious folks; ý
or enter the schools in which their children are trainedl
and there learn what is the doctrine inculcated ... or let him listen to the hymns they lispt and examine the
tracts they read, and he will medt the same great
principle in a thousand manners enforced7 namely - That
it is the duty of every Christian, young or old, rich or
poor, to take part in sending the Gospel to all nations.
Or let the observer notice the 'Missionary BoxI7 in the
school-room, in the nurseryt in the shop-parlour, in the
farm-house kitchen7 in the cottage, of the religious; and
let him mark the multiform contrivances for swelling the
amount of the revenues of Christian charity7 devised7 and
zealously persisted in, by youths and by little ones7
whose parents at the same age, thought of nothing but
cakes and sports. 2
The missionary movement, then, was helping to dampen the
fires of sectarian bitterness: new life was enjoyed in common
by all churches which engaged in missions, there was growing
agreement that the Church was essentially a missionary body,
and the support of the laity was mobilised to an extent whichi
benefited all the missionary societies.. To this catalogue of
1. See above, p. 129. 2.1. Taylor, Natural History of Enthusiasmg pp.. 269f.
-143- unifying factors must be added the fact that relations between the various missionary societies were obviously cordial. The chief evidence for this was the existence of the London
Secretaries' Association. The Secretaries of the B, M, S., C*M*S0j
L. M. S., and W. M. M. S. first met officially on 29 October, 1819,
and in subsequent meetings were joined by representatives from
(among others) the Religious Tract Society, the B. F. B. S., the
Moravian Brethrents London Association, the London Society for
Promoting Christianity among the Jews, andý in the present
century, the S. P. G. and the S, P, C. K. The secretaries shared their views on such practical matters as missionaries' salaries,
marriage of missionaries, and the education of their children;
together they planned opposition to such matters as the British
Governmentts patronage of idol-worship in India; and they 1 discussed broad matters of missionary policy and strategy.
In a passing reference to this Associationt Ruth Rouse comments:
'Such union meetings were then a unique phenomenon, as united
prayer and conferences between Christians of different
denominations were at that time deemed impossible. The impossible
became the possible and natural amongst the missionary-minded. t2
This chapter must be drawn to a close, although it should
be said that our analysis of the interests which ministers had
in common, and which must have influenced future missionaries,
could be greatly extended. Many were deeply interested in
schemes of popular education and of ministerial training.
There was agreement that a basic need of the Church was for a
well educated ministry - for men who had studied to present
1. J. H. Ritson, Records of Missionary-Secretaries. An Account of the Celebration of the Centenary-of the London Secretaries' Association, London2 1920. 2. R. Rouse and S. C. Neill, op. cit-7 P-312y- cf. N. Goodall, The Ecumenical Movementq London, 1961, pp. 5f.
-144- themselves as workmen who need not be ashamed. There was
widespread respect for treason' and free inquiry;
characteristics which it is not usual to associate with
Evangelicals. There was a remarkable general interest in the
'mind', in the 'mental powers', and the metaphysics of unbelief,
This last gave rise to a pre-Freudian psychology; an eriquiry
into the 'springs' (the real motivation) of thoughts and actions.
This knowledge was to be applied especially in preaching:
sermons, it was generally agreed, were to be 'full, criticalp
experimental and tender expositions of the divine Word'. 1
Lastly, one searches their writings in vain for any favourable
reflection on non-Christian religions. They filled their
missionary sermons with lurid descriptions of the abominations
of these religions and the misery and ignorance of the heathen.
In their churches, then, would-be missionaries imbibed a
missionary theology; they were given practical experience in
missionary activities; they learned to value the assistance of
other churches where this did not conflict with loyalty to their
respective denominations; they were encouraged to secure as
good an education as possible; and they were stirred to pity
and indignation by vivid descriptions of heathen idolatry.
1. R. W. Dale, The Life ... of .. James, p. 267.
-145- CHAPTER 1+
MISSIONARY' MOTIVES
'I burnt for the more active life of the world - for the
more exciting toils of a literary career - for the destiny
of an artist, author, orator ... Yos, the heart of a
politician, of a soldier, of a votary of glory, a lover of
renown, a luster after power, beat under my curate's
surplice. I considered; my life was so wrbtched, it must be changed, or I must die. After a season of darkness and
struggling, light broke and relief fell: my cramped
existence all at once spread out to a plain without bounds
my powers heard a call from heaven to rise, gather their
full strength, spread their wings, and mount beyond ken.
God had an errand for me; to bear which afari to deliver it
well, skill and strength, courage and eloquence, the best
qualifications of soldier, statesman, and orator, were all
needed: for these all centre in the good missionary.
'A missionary I resolved to be. 11
So enthused St. John Rivers, prior to his departure for
missionary service in India. Jane Eyrel in which Rivers
appeared second only to Mr. Rochester in strength of character,
ig, of course, an intensely romantic novel. In it, one suspects,
no dilution of h=an passions is permitted simply for the sake
of realism. In any case, did not Charlotte Bronte' spend nearly
all her life isolated from the 'world of affairs$ in Haworth
Rectory, on the silent moors of Yorkshire? What insights could
she possibly have had into the yearnings of a would-be missionary?
1. C. Brontg, Xane Eyre., Everyman Edition, London, 1969, P-363.
-146-
Surprisingly, the answer to the latter question is: 'considerable'.
Her father, Patrick, had been John Buckworth's curate at
Dewsbury, Yorkshire, from December, 1809', to March, 1811, and
probably gave religious instruction to some young members of
Buckworth's congregation who were destined for the Indian
mission field. 1 A further source of information on the subject
of missionary motives was the other man in Charlotte's life.
Jane Eyre was first published in 181+7 under the pseudonym of
'Currer Bell'. In 1845, Arthur Bell Nicholls,, graduate of
Trinity College, Dublin, had become BrontUts curate at Haworth,
and in June, 1854, he married Charlotte. It is not known if
he had entertained ideas of becoming a missionary before Jane
Eyre was written. But it is possible that, like many other
graduates of Trinity College, Dublin, whose opportunities for
preferment in the Church were few, he had thought of emigrating,
and he may have mentioned this to Charlotte. In December, 1852,
he proposed to her. Her father would not hear of it - his
celebrated daughter could do better than marry an impoverished,
Puseyite Irishmaný who was less than a gentleman. Distraught,
Nicholls threatened to emigrate, and in January, 1853, he
actually applied to the S. P. G. to be sent to 'Sydney, Melbourne,
or Adelaide'. He gave as his only motive: 'I have for some
time felt a strong inclination to assist in ministering to
the thousands of of [, Li-c] our fellow Countrymen, who by
1. On Buckworthts interest in the C. M. S., see above P-113. X. Lock and W. T. Dixon (A Man of_Sorrow. The ýife. Letters and Times of the Rev. Patrick Bronttf-, 1777-1861, pp. 66fj- ear, however, to have exaggerated Brontg's part in the official training of C. M. S. candidates, as it was not until 1814, by which time BrontU was at Hartshead, that Buckworth entered into an official arrangement with the C*M. S. to train some of its candidates (C. M, S., Minutes, 9 May, 1814, p. 151+; C. Hole, The Early History of-the Church Missionary SocieýXp London, 18-9-r, PP040jr)o
-147-
Emigration have been in a great measure deprived of the means
of grace. " Two months later he withdrew his application. 2
The fictional St. JTohn Rivers and the historical Arthur
Bell Nicholls raise interesting questions about missionary
motives. Were missionaries really motivated by the
restlessness, the passion for action, the lust for adventure
and excitementt and the ungovernable ambition to realise the
full potential of one's innate energies, of a Rivers? The
case of Nicholls raises a more fundamental question: since it
is not unfair to suspect that he was not telling the whole
truth in his application to the S. P. G., how can we hope to
give an authentic description of missionary motives, especially
of the majority of applicants about whom much less is known
than about Nicholls? A number of related difficulties also
suggest themselves. A recent sociological inquiry has shown
that, on the subject of withdrawal from missionary service,
there was little correlation between the explanation offered
by the missionary to his society2 and that given to the
independent team of investigators conducting the research. 3
Irence, it is reasonable to suspect, in the context of this
research, that candidates may have allowed the formal statement
of their motives to have been influenced by their assessment
of the directctrs' rosponser to them, and that they may have
expressed themselves differently had they been confiding in
close friends. On the other-hand, such & disparity would not
1. S. P. G. I Ms. A. B. 1853. 2. J. Lock and W. T. 3. H. L. Bailey and Motivation, Trainin 19652 p. q.
Nicholls' answers to questions, 28 January,
Dixon, op. cit., p. 460. II. C. Jacgs-onTý-A StudY of Missi6nar g, and Withdrawal (1953-1962), N-ewYork2
40
-148- be sa. great in the case of motives as in the more painful
matter of withdrawal. Another difficulty is the influence
of subconscious factors on motivation: some applicants may
have been hard-pressed to articulate precisely what it was
that motivated them, and, out of despair2 fatigue, or habit,
may have resorted to one of the numerous stereotypes which
Evangelicalism has proved so adept at providing. A further
difficulty is that motives are usually both mixed and complex;
most missionaries may have been motivated by a combination of
factors, and to dissect them for the purposes-of analysis
might be to rob the organism of its life. The first section
of this chapter, therefore, must be devoted to explaining why
it is believed that the search for missionary motives is a
hopeful enterprise, in spite of all the difficulties. In
section two, possible economic and social factors In missionary
motivation will be analysed, and, in the third section,
religious motives will be examined.
I
Hopefulness in the search for missionary motives is
Justified chiefly by the fact that both missionary candidates
and directors of missionary societies were profoundly convinced
of the importance of ascertaining what theselreally wereý and
hence the available evidence on motives is voluminous.
Accountability to Godq a principal tenet of Moderate Calvinism2
accentuated the importance of having right motives, and belief
in the natural deceitfulness of the heart) a primary emphasis
of Evangelicalism, meant that few believed that purity of
motive was easily achieved. Suspýcion of motives by directors
of missionary societies is evidenced both by the statements
they issued on their recruiting policies and by the questions
-149- they asked candidates. A sub-committee of the C. M. S., reporting
on the expenses of the Church Missionary Institution at Islington where missionary candidates were trained, showed that
it had no illusions as to the motives which some might have in
wishing to serve with the C. M. S.:
In various ways an Individual might find his temporal
condition materially improved, and the conveniences
necessarily incident to a residence in the Institution
superior to those which he had previously enjoyed, or
which he had the prospect of acquiring in the course of
life otherwise open to him.. The circumstance also, that
admission to Holy Orders in the Church of England, raises
such an Individual to a rank considerably superior to-
that in which he formerly moved, or which he would otherwise
attain; and the consideration that the Missionary receives
from the Society some provision for himself7 if disabled by
sickness, and for his widow and children2 if he should leave
either at his decease, may operate unperceived on the mind
of a Candidate, and render his motives less pure than they
ought to be in aspiring to the Missionary office. 1
In view of these possibilities, the sub-commitee counselled the
Committee of Correspondence and the principal of the Institution
to be extremely cautious in the selection Of candidates. 2 The
suspicions of the C. M. S. Committee had been aroused over a
decade earlier during the difficult years after the Napolecmic
Wars. After a long period in which the C. M. S. had despaired
of attracting significant numbers of applications, it was
suddenly swamped in the year 1816/7 with no fewer than fifty
1. C. M. S., Minutes, 7 Augusti 18299 P-393- 2. Ibid., P-391+-
-150-
of them. Then the Committee had reported: ... the general want
of employment had ... induced the Committee to scrutinise with
peculiar care into the motives which led to the numerous offers
of service... On this subject it is scarcely possible to
exercise too much caution. " The Directors of the B, M. S., in
their annual report for 1819, quoted these very words and endorsed
them unreservedly. 2 In 1821 the S. M. S. advised referees to be
on their guard against a whole catalogue of unworthy motives
in prospective missionaries: to obtain an education otherwise
unprocurable; to make a name for themselves; to rise above
'manual employment'; to increase their income; restlessness and
a desire for travel and adventure; a purely romantic and
emotional de sire to alleviate need. 3 During the same year in
which the C. M. S. received a glut of applications, the Directors
of the L. M. S. were confronted with the same problem. A referee
for M. T. Adam wrote: 'The young Man, I believe, is in very
indigent circumstances; but I would hope better of him than to
think he is prompted to this step by any view to find a good
worldly provision, or even a tolerable settlement in life ... But it behoves the Society, by its Directors, not only in this,
but in every case, to Scrutinise this point very Narrowly. "+
To assist their narrow scrutiny the directors of missionary
societies asked applicants numerous questions bearing on their
motives. This is best seen in the L. M. S. 'Questions to be
answered by Missionary Candidates' which has been included as
1- C-M. S., Proceedings, 1816-17, p. 14-79. 2, B. M,, S., 1ý-ortý, 1819, p. 26.
- Scottish Missionary-Register7 Volume 11,18212 pp. 283f. 4 L. M. S.., Dr. Ra fles' collection of autographed letters, X.
S; even to G. Burder, 28 April, 1817. The emphasis is Steven's. He was a Director of the L. M. S.,
-151-
Appendix B,, below. It will be observed that at least six of
the seventeen questions are relevant to missionary motivation,
culminating in Question 12: 'As there is too much reason to
fear that some persons have become Missionaries under the
influence of improper principles, you are desired seriously
and sincerely to state what are the MOTIVES by which you are
actuated in offering yourself as a Missionary to the Heathen.,
The questionnaire of the Scottish Missionary Society closely
resembles that of the L. M. S., being modelled on it. 1 Applicants
of the C. M. S. were asked seventeen similar questions including
(Q. 6) 'What led you to desire Missionary EmploymentV2 The
S. P. G. 's question sheet has nineteen questions including (Q-17)
'What considerations have led you to offer yourself for
Missionary employment? t3 Wesleyans were not required to give
their reasons; they had only to state whether or not they
preferred 'Missionary labourt and were willing to go anywhere
in the world01-1+
Anyone who studies the copious replies of applicants will
conclude that these questionnaires were not taken lightly.
In the preamble to the L. M. S. 'Questions', the Directors reminded
applicants that they would have to render an account at the
'Great Day', 'in the sight of that heart-searching God', a
solemn consideration, in the light of which many Evangelicals
sought to direct all their thoughts and actions. Hence a large
proportion of applicants appear to have answered this question
1. Scottish Missionary Register, Volume 11,1821, pp. 281-3- 2. C. M. 6 'Questions to Mis ary Candidates'- c/ACi/3/51+6, 20 May, i652. I
- S. P, G., Printed questions for 1850. ý* Questions 12 and 13 of 'Particular inquiries to be made
concerning Missionary Candidates'? in E. Grindrod, A Compendium of the Laws and Regulations of Wesleyan MethOd1sMj London, lb42, p. 207.
-152-
of motivation with trembling anxiety and only after prayerful
and protracted introspection. In his private diary, John
Chambdrlain agonised: 'III fearg my proud and wicked heart has
pretended to love souls, and to desire to be a missionary from
no other ground than this, that there was no prospect of my
being a minister here. Is it so, 0 Lord? 6earch me, and try
me. ... I am aiming at things too high for me, at things
beyond my capacity, and for which I was never intended. '"l
Me pursued the inquiry into his own motives by writing out two
dialogues between Self, Conscience, and Truth, 'which, ' in the
opinion of his biographer, 'display deep research into the
2 secrets of his own heart'. Benjamin Rice reported to the
Directors of the L. M. S. ' that he had undergone a similar
process:
Being frequently assailed with doubts as to my fitness
for the work7 and the purity Of MY motives in wishing to
engage in it, causing at times great depression of spirits
see I set apart [days for prayer on the subject] ... I
was enabled to a greater degree than before to abstract
my mind from every wandering thought, and surrounding
object, and to probe my heart to the bottom, to ascertain
what were its motives ... 3
Other applicants expressed themselves as follows:
Having been long suspended in uncertainty, on this subject
and tried in different waysp I hope the desire is purged
from some of that dross which usually accompanies new and
1. C. B. Lewis John Chamberlain: A Missionary Biography, Calcutta, 18R, PP-17f. 2. Ibid. 2 p. 18. 3. f. '-M. S. 2 C. P., B'. Rice to J. Arundel, 4 September, 1833.
-153-
unproved desires in the human heart. 1
I dread the very idea of acting from impure motives, for
I am persuaded that if it turn out that I am thus impelled
forward, I shall most bitterly suffer. 2
I do sincerely hope that my motives are pure. I say I
hope so; for I am too well aware of the deceitfulness of the human heart not to know that our very best motives to
actioniare not thoroughly unmixed; even though we ourselves
are not aware of it. 3
Because of the anxiety of applicants over this matter of
motivation; because of their awareness of the ease with which they could mislead themselves in assessing their own motives; because of the amount of time they spent in self-examination; because they stated their motives so copiously; because they
were earnest men, who put a high premium on truth2 and were ever
mindful of the account which they must one day give to God - for all these reasons - it would surely be unduly cynical to
dismiss as untrustworthy the sources on which this study of
motives is based,
ii
With the passage of time the major missionary societies
increased their provision for the needs of their agents: they
offered an education which the State did not provide and which
applicants could rarely afford; they paid a regular salary;
1. L. H. S. 2 C. P., T. Nicholson to the Directors, 30 December, 1816. 2.. L. M. S., C. P.. $ J. T. Pattison's answers to questions, 12 April, 1836. 3. C. M. S. 2 C/AC1/3/496, Ir. Dixon to the Committee, 23 February, 1852.
-154- they undertook the expense of educating the children of
missionaries; they pensioned those who had to retire through
ill health; and they offered benefits for widows and orphaned
children. In the days before the Welfare State, these advantages
would have been found in few other occupations, and many
applicants must have been aware of them. Furthermoreq it will be recalled that some prospective missionaries had suffered
from e-conomic depressions; from unemployment and from loss of 1 income. When these circumstances are combined with the fact
that directors of missionary societies often suspected
applicants of materialistic motives, it is tempting to conclude
that the quest for economic security must have been a prominent
motive.
This impression, however, ought to be qualified from the
large amount of evidence which points in the opposite direction.
At least two missionaries, Joseph Fenn, a barrister, and
Anthony Norris Groves, the Brethren dentistt were earning about
: el, 500 per annum. prior to their entering missionary service.
The latter was influenced to sacrifice his income by the example
of Edward Bickersteth, a Secretary of the C. M. S. t on a salary
of : C300-400, who had previously been an attorney at Norwich 2 with an income in excess of : C1,000 a year* Groves' companion
in India, J. V. Parnell, later first Baron Congleton, had
inherited early in his life property yielding Zlp200 annually-3
Robert Noble accepted a reduction in his salary from ýC800 to
ýC200 to become a missionary. 4 HenrX Baker preferred to'surrender
1. See above, pp. 51-57. 2, H. Groves Memoir of the Late Anthony Norris Groves, p. q.
H. H. Rowdoln, The origins of the Brethren, p, 73-- Church Missionary Intelli-gencer, lb67, F-133.
-155-
his inheritance of ýCl, 400-19600 and become a missionary rather
than use it to establish himself in a businessor profession. '
Some referees wrote as follows concerning applicants to
the C. M. S.:
His connections are respectable, and his prospects in
life promising - BUt he is willing to forgo all ... 2
It is not a new provision he seeks - his parents are in
affluence. It is not that he is unfitted for the ministry
at home, his talents are above mediocrity - It is not
that he is unemployed - he has long been engaged as
opportunity offered in doing what he could in his own
country in schools &: c. 3
... his prospects as a lawyer were very good, so that he
is making a worldly sacrifice in the step he now meditates, 4
As for the missionaries themselves, some appear to have
been genuinely surprised that materialistic motives could be
attributed to anyone contemplating a life which so obviously
demanded much sacrifice:
The idea of making the present application with a view to
temporal advancement wd. [IJC] never occur to me and if
It did would seem simply absurd-5
1. C. M. S., Minutesý 15 August, 1814, P-187; G/AC39 H. Baker to the Secretaryq 8 Augustq 1813 2. C. M. S. 9 G/AC32 G. Perowne io D. Coatest 1 June, 1833 (concerning J. N. Norgate). 3. C. M. S. 9 G/AC3, Trew to D. Coates, 26 December, 1834 (concerning J. H. Gray). 4. C. M. S., Minutes, 4 March, 1851, pp. 108f. (C. Every). 5, L. M. S. 9 S. Mateer's answers to questions, 12 January, 1858.
-156-
Were I to be actuated by worldly motives, I should
certainly seek to attain the end in some different way - I would not, as a more matter of business endure the
discomforts and privations of a Missionary's life...
The following statements, made by applicants to various societies2
are typical:
... I am not conscious of interested motives in volunteering
myself to Hardships ... I am at this moment surrounded
with friends that would gladly see me occupy a respectable
station in Society, bu# with deference to their greater
Experience -I should look rather proudly upon what some
call 'Respectabilityt whilst I would esteem it but as
Dung and Dross ... You will allow me in a few words to
say what I think of Business - 'It is (what many say of
Religion) very wellin its place, and not too much of it. t2
Possessed of a respectable situation, enjoying most of
the comforts, and all the necessaries [s-W of life, it
Is not, perhaps, too much to concludel that I am not
actuated in making this offer by any prospect of increasing 3
my worldly possessions or enjoyments.
'My prospects once were such that, with no other help thmi
my own head, I was not without the hope of being able to
clear my way up to a position which) if Judged by the
world's standard, would have been far higher than any I
can now expect to occupy 14
1. L. M. S. 7 C. P. 7 F. Baylist answers to questions, 9 November, 1847. 2. B. M, S., IN131 W. Johns to A. Fuller, 2- August7 1807.
C. M. S., 2 G/AC3, C. Friend to the Committee, 13 May, 1824. Letter from J. Pourie (F. C. M.., )7 31 August, 1855, quoted in
G: Smith, Memorials of the Rev. John Pourie2 p. xxx.
-157- Probably the only conclusion warranted by the evidence is that
during the period under review, there were times when to
postulate a possible connexion between a desire for missionary
employment and the quest for economic security is not
unreasonable. At other times the postulate seems highly unlikely.
The majority of missionaries who went to India in this period
had been successful in their previous occupations and made
pecuniary sacrifices in leaving them. As for distinctions which
may have to be drawn between the different societies, it does
not seem unfair to retain the impressiong given above, l that
S. P*G. missionaries seem to have been more conscious of financial
considerations than those who applied to other societies. Not
that they sought to make their fortune by becoming missionaries.
Thomas Pettinger, for exampleý was frankly Informed by the
Secretary of the B. P, G.: Me Salary of the Society (QOO per
annum together with a residence provided for a. Missionary) offers
little encouragement in a worldly point of view - your
satisfaction must be derived from the fulfillment Eql. C] of duty
*.. t2 Nor were SýP, G. missionaries unmoved by higher
considerations. George Allen, previously mentioned as one who
did apply primarily to get employment2 was greatly agitated
'lest inferior motives should have too, much influence' in his
application, and he claimed that he was also motivated by a
desire to promote 'the Glory of Godt and the Kingdom of His Son'. )+
The related desire for greater Orespectabilityt must have
played a part in motivation since it was an instinct of the
social classes from which missionary candidates came and it was
1. See above, pp-55-57. 2. S. P. G. -I X-106t A. Hamilton to T. D. Pettingerý 10 July, 1829, p. 29.
See above, P. 56 S. P. G., Diocese 'of Bombay, 1822-18519 G. L. Allen to C. B. Dalton,
3 August, 181+1.
-158- also; a characteristic of their churches. Traditionallyq social
prestige was attached more readily to adherents of the
Established Church, but the Dissenters were then confidently
climbing to the peak of their influence in social life - witness
the grandiose Gothic Revival churchest and more especially,
colleges, erected by Dissenters in the half-century before 1860.
In that year2 John Angell James complained that his fellow-
Dissenters were 'infected with the ambition of becoming the
religion of cathedralst. 1 Another indication of the Nonconformist
passion to be thought respectable was the argument that ministers
should be sufficiently well educated to avoid disgusting and
repelling the better-educated laity. 2 And, as for the Methodists,
the amazing series of secessions from the Wesleyan Connexion in
our period must be understood not only as democratic movements,
but as desperate attempts by their instigators to keep Methodism
faithful to its calling to the working classest rather than go
the middle-class way of all the other denominations.
Missionary applicants could hardly remain immune to this
cult of respectability. John Pearson was not embarrassed to
inform the Directors of the L, M, S. that his father was 'one of
the most respectable tradesmen in the cityt3 -a proud boast as
the 'City' was London. Furthermore7 John worked in a merchant's
counting-house of 'high respectability'. '* William Addis was not
just any shoemaker; he was in the business 'on a respectable
scale'. 5 The printing office which Robert Jennings conducted In
1. R. W. Dale, The Life and Letters of John Angell James, p. 560. 2.. R. Wardlaw, Systematic Theology, Volume Ig p. 26,
L. M. S. t C. P., j J. D. Pearson to the Directors, 26 February, 1816. ý- Ibid.
5:. See above, pp. 38f.
-159-
Gloucester was dignified by the same epithet. 1
On balance, the directors were not critical of the ambition for respectability. They thought it could make their
missionaries - often men of unpolished and uncultivated manners
more respected by the Natives and more acceptable to the
European governing and administrative classes in India.
Certainly it was inseparable from a preoccupation with self- improvement and a love of hard work. Hence it was a positive force, helping the applicant to welcome the hard study
preparatory to his departure as well as the challenges involved
in the work itself. Indeedý many missionaries seem to have
thought of this ambition as afruit af their religion, rather
than as a selfish or pretentious ulterior motive. Nevertheless,
the class-consciousness exhibited by missionaries was also
potentially harmful - it could create a psychological desire
for underlingq, 2 a r8le which the convert might be expected to
fill to the detriment of his integrity and independence.
This missionary paternalism could have been reinforced by the
practice, as exemplified by St. Paul, the missionary who was
the model for so many of them, of regarding converts as children
to be disciplined3 as well as brothers to be respected as equals. '+
An influence independent of class and economic status
could have been that of the Romantic Movement. This does not
mearr that prospective missionaries were stirred by the literature
of the Romantic poets. Sir Walter Scott's novels were read,
but nervously! If we mean the romantic notion, popularised in
1. L. M. S., C. P., Bishop to G. Burder, 29 January, 1823. 2.11 ... Evangelical missionaries ... substituted the 'poor Heathens for the lower orders-" W. N. Gunson, 'Evangelical Missionaries in the South Seas, 1797-186o, 2 p-34-
Galatians 4.19. II Corinthians 8.23o
-160-
Britain by Captain James Cook, of the 'noble savage', a being
so attractive that it would be a delight to live and work with him, then there is little evidence that any of the British
Protestant missionaries who served in India ever entertained
such views. The notion may conceivably have influenced the
advocates of the L, M, S. 's first mission to the South Seas, '
but Indian missions were commenced in the more sober light of the comparative failure of the South Seas Mission. Bitter
experience brought the L. M. S. 's 'Period of Enthusiasm, 2 to an
early end, and if this experience dealt the 'noble savage' a
mortal wound, then the prevailing Calvinistic theologyq with its
emphasis on the innate depravity of all meng buried him forever.
If an 'unrealistic assessment of difficulties' is meant by
the word 'romantic', it has already been argued that the
contemporary emphasis on counting the cost and weighing
difficulties was taken seriously by the majority of applicants,
although some under-rated the difficulties out of enthusiasm. 3
It is true that, through ignorancep few could have appreciated
fully all the difficulties as the modern missionary movement was
then in its infancy. Unavoidable ignorance is no mark of
romanticism, however$ and John Adam may be taken as speaking
for the majority when he commented on his desire for missionary
service: 'If I know my own heartt I trust that it is not from
any romantic or crudely formed notion of the missionary
enterprise ... I have endeavoured to view it in its worst aspects
and yet feel the duty to go. "+
1. -T. van den Berg, Constrained by lesus' Love. the Motives of the Missionarv AwakeninR in GreZ rerioCL Derween jtýoo ang ipiýp, riampenj IV. 701 P-I)J. 2. R. Turtas, Llattivitd e la politica missionarla della
-- direzic
delia London Missionary society, 1795-lb201 Rome, 1971, PP-3-63- 37. See above, pp. 90-94. 4. L. M, S. 7 C. P., J. Adam to the Secretary, 9 November, 1827-
-161- A romantic element in motivation cannot be as easily
excluded if 'romantic' is taken to mean 'love of adventure'.
In addition to the more famous journals like those of James Cook
which so excited William Careyll numerous accounts of missionary
travels and adventures were published during the period under
review. These were widely read and entered into the calculations
of at least some of these missionariest a not surprising fact
as so many were converted in their impressionable mid-teens.
Edmund Crisp read John CampbellisiTravels in South Africa in
18159 the year of its publication, and to it attributed his
first thoughts of becoming a. missionary. 2 John Gritton first
conceived of missionary service when he read William Ellis's
PolYnesian Researches (ý828) and John Williams' Narrative of
MissionarX Enterprises in the South Seas (1837). 3 tEarly in my
life, ' admitted -Tames Paterson, 'my mind was impressed with a
desire of visiting the natives of the South Seas; but it was
then more in the character of a Traveller or Advanturer... 11+
In the relentless quest for rooting out ignoble motives, the
desire for adventure was naturally labelled unsatisfactory.
Thomas Nicholson probably illustrates this when he wrote: 'But
upon due examination I found connected with this much that was
selfish and sinfulý and for that reason endeavoured to supply
it as the fruit of youthful passion, and not of genuine love to
Christ. 15 Others denied emphatically that any romantic element
1. X. C. Mars'hmanj The Life and Times: of Carey, -Marshman,
and Ward, Volume 11 p. 9. 2. L. M*S. j C&I E Crisp to C. Masling 5 September, 1816. 3. C. M. S. 7 C/A 1/1ý303, J. Gritton's answers to questions, 12 March, 1837. 4. L. M. S. 2 C. P. 9 J. Paterson to the Secretary, 28 Aprilt 1828. 5. L. M. S. t C. P. 2 T. Nicholson to the Directors, 30 December, 1816.
-162-
ent-ered into their motivation. James Long insisted that there
was 'nothing romantic in the Missionary work" and John Macdonald
maintained that he had not applied from 'any romantic or
sentimental preference for that which isstrange and foreignj. 2
Y-et, like the desire for respectabilityq the desire for travel
and adventure was probably more often sublimated than eradicated.
Finally, there can be no doubt that many missionaries had,
like St. John Rivers, a romantic cast of mind) if by 'romantic'
we mean 'heroic'. Samuel Render's statement of his motives
has an heroic ring about it: 'With respectito my desire of
becoming a Missionary, I would be like those of old, who when,
they were healed, spread the fame of Jesus, that others might
receive the same benefit. t3 An heroic attitude is betrayed by
the occasional request, like that from Richard Khillý one of the
most celebrated of a2l LM. S, missionariesq to be sent to a
place of special difficulty. '+ It is more particularly conveyed
by the use of military language: ... often does my heart burn,
within me to mingle in the fight, ' exclaimed William Lyon. 5
The youthful experience of William Moore is interesting in that
it closely resembles that of St, Ignatius Loyola. 6 When war
with Napoleon was expected, Moore, $led away by hopes of martial
glory', joined the Volunteers' Corps. He never went into action,
and his restless heart sought another avenue of excitement. So
he decided to sail to Tamaica as a planter's assistant. However,
1. C-M-S-. 7 G/AC31 J. Longt 2. J. Macdonald, Statement go to India as a Missionarl
L. M. S., U-. -P. I S. Render
LýX. S. j C. P., j S. Rooker L. M. S. qCP. 9 W. P. Lyon
6. C. Hollis; A History of
s answers to questions, 12 October, 1838. of Reasons for Accepting a Call to
. yj P*10* to G. Burder, 26 April, 1813. to G. Burder, 16 August, 1814. to T. Arundelt 21 March 1837. the Jesuits, London, l9k, pp. 8f.
-163-
a fall from a horse prevented his departure. "I ... a gracious P2ovidence, when I was thus sporting with folly and sin, interfered and stopped me in my mad career. 1111 He was converted
and his long-standing yearning for adventure was realised by his
becoming a missionary.
The desire for greatness, which was not necessarily
romantic, also influenced some missionaries. The main source of
evidence for this is the private diary where excruciating
struggles to resist the yearning for fame and prominence are
sometimes recorded. 'III feel myself condemned, 111 agonised John
Chamberlain, "land fear nothing but selfish motives have induced
me to propose myself as a missionary - the thought of being a
great man, such as John Chamberlain, Missionary-in India; but
cursed be the motive ... tv, 2 On the circumstances surrounding his
decision to become a missionary, Robert Nesbit later confessed:
"'I burned with desire to communicate my thoughts to the Society,
and so vain and wicked was 1, as to wish that my communication
should be the first that made its appearance among them. Indeed,
I cared not at that time whether any other individual should
offer, as I was anxious to engross to myself the individual
affections of the Directors, and the friends of the Society in
general, The idea that I should enjoy the love, and possess the
prayers of all the religious people in Scotland, was to me
exceedingly delightful. ti, 3
The office of a Christian minister7 being a public one,
has probably always had some appeal to those who have looked for
prominence in public affairs. And there is reason to suspect
1. W. M. Carey, Oriental Christian Biography, Volume III, pp. 200ff. 2. W. Yates, Memoirs of Mr. John chamberlain, p. 15. 3. T. M. Mitchellq Memoir of the Rev. Robert Nesbit, p. 29.
-164-
that this temptation was unusually strong during our period
for the prospective missionaryq as there was a lot of propaganda
to the effect that the missionary office was the highest and
most, honourable calling in the Church. L. M. S. missionary
students at Gosport Theological Academy and Missionary Seminary
were told by David Bogue that the best persons the world ever
saw had been engaged in this 'most important' of all vocations.
In the world to come missionaries would receive 'superior
blessings', for while there was to be a tCrown of Glory' for
believers, and a 'bright Crown' for ministers, the 'brightest of
all' was reserved for missionariesol Samuel Pearce, a prominent
supporter of the a. M. S., was certain of divine enthusiasm for
the mission to Bengal: 'Surely heaven is filled with double joy,
and resounds with unusual acclamation at the arrival of each
missionary there. 12 The Convener of the C, S. M., in his address
at the ordination of Thomas Hunter, spoke of the 'high and holy
calling of a missionary - equal in importance to any office in
the Church, and second to none'. 3
Many prospective missionaries agreed with this flattering
assessment of the missionary office. on hearing that the
missionaries in Tuggernaut's domain would probably taste
persecution, Xoshua Cropper exclaimed: 'Great God, shall they
have all this honour to themselves? 0 send me forth, send me
forth. "+ Xames Long spoke of the missionary's task as 'the
1. L M, S,, Ms. Missionary Lectures P-33. 2. F: A. ox Histor of the Baptist Missionary-Society from 1792 to 181+2',, Volume 11 P*50e
r the Ch 3, Home and Foreign Missionary-Record fd urch of Scotland$ 1655) p. 221. 1+. General Baptist Repository and MissionarX Observer, 1830, P-387-
-165- highest glory of an arch-angel [Ii--c] t-, l Robert Hawes considered
it 'the most glorious work that any of God's creatures can be
engaged int; 2 and Samuel Dyson said: 'It is the most noble
and glorious of all works and worthy of all my energies and
talentst. 3
It would be unfair to conclude, however, that the
generalised exaltation of the missionary office was merely an
expression of egotism. Some may have become missionaries because
they thought it the most glorious of all vocations, but it does
not follow that they were chiefly motivated by a desire to
enhance their own prestige. Thomas Morris thought of missionary
service as 'the best Cause in the world', but only because it
was the most efficient means of alleviating the distress of
'the dark natives of distant shores'. 1+ Harding Dixon thought it
'the most honourablel office because it was 'in exact obedience
to the last co=and of our Blessed Master'15 and Frederick
Alexander agreed because. ýit offered the greatest 'sphere of
usefulness'. 6 It is clear that just as the quest for
respectability had a religious component, so did the desire to
be involved in the most honourable of all vocations.
Religion is, of course, a social phenomenon, and therefore
it is not always possible to distinguish between social and
religious motives. For this reason it seems best to discuss
1- C-M-S., G/AC37 J. Long's answers to questions, 12 October, 1838. 2. C. M. S. 9 G/AC3, R. Hawes to the Committee2 7 August, 1837. 3. C. M. S., C/ACl/3/363) S. Dyson's answers to questions, 17 June, 16,71. 4 C. M. S. 2 G/AC32 T. Morris to the Secretary, 2 March, 1815. ! ý- C. M. S. 2 C/ACl/3/5287 H. Dixon's answers to questions, 27 March, 1852. 6.. c. m. s., C/AC1/4, F. W. N. Alexander to J. Chapman, 21 May, 1856.
-166- here the motive of seeking heavenly reward by becoming a
missionary, although as a 'religious' motive, it might seem
more logical to postpone discussion of it to the next section
on religious motives. This motive seems to have been based on
the view that the missionary office was the most illustrious of
all, because it was rewarded most highly in heaven. John Pourie
wrote to a friend:. about a text in Scripture which "'speaks of a
special super-added glory in Heaven to faithful ministers and
messengers of peace"'. 1 Thetext, a much loved one in missionary
circles, was Daniel 12.3. Others preferred to employ the
methphor of a bright crown awaiting the missionary in heaven:
Titus Close asserted that if given the chance of going either
to heaven, or to India as a missionary2 he would choose the
latter so that he would have an opportunity of brightening his 2 crown, and Xames Long yearned to be engaged in 'that conflict
which is rewarded with a brilliant crown in the skiest*3
Encouraging young men to raise their eternal status became an
integral part of missionary propaganda. 'Let a holy ambition
animate your breasts, $ advised the Directors of the S. M. S. in
an appeal for applicants. 'Be not content with a low seat in
heaven. Aim after one of the highest: Strive to sit amongst
the prophets, the apostles, and the martyrs ... Go forth in
their spirit as ambassadors of mercy to the heathen. This is
the path to one of the brightest crowns. "+ In spite of appeals
like these, however, and a revived interest In the theology of
heavenly rewards, there is not a great deal of evidence that
1. G. Smith, Memorials of the Rev. John Pourie7 p. xxx. 2. T. Heaton, Memoir of the RTT Titus Closel'-p-30.
C. M. S., G/AC3, J. Long's answers to quest ons, 12 October, 1838. , Address to the Friends of Missions, particularly to Ministers,
Pý-achers, and Students in Divinity by the Directors of the Scottish Missionary Society19 appended to the S. M. S. Report, 1823, p. 23-
-167- this was ever a major factor in missionary motivation. John
Henry Parker confessed to being not 'uninfluenced by the promise
of the final reward$, ' but he was in'the small minority, and of
these few, none advanced this as his only motive.
A very commonly-stated motive was the desire to maximise
one's usefulness, which may reflect the utilitarianism of the
period. Charles Farrar, who was employed by a woollen
manufacturer, wrote in his diary on 22 October, 1823: '1 am fall
of thought, being desirous of a great change in my pursuits and
conduct; the unworthiness of those which occupy the present
gives me much sorr. av ... This restlessness resulted from his
readi ng a biography on Claudius Buchanan, a chaplain with the
East India Company. 'The memoirs of him which now engages my
attentiong' continued Farrar wistfully, 'displays a life of
industry2 activity and usefulness; a Xtian [sic] ever ready to
labor [P-LQ in his master's vineyard; a man fulfilling with
humility and resignation the duties of his peculiar station. t2
In his studies, John Ifenry Parker apportioned his attention to
the various branches of learning taccording to their subserViency
to christian usefulnesst, 3 and Edward Evans contended that 'every
Christian is bound to spend his life in the way in which he
thinks he can be most. usefult. 11' This sentiment is so frequently
expressed that there can be no doubt that it arose out of a deep
emotional need, and is probably an integral part of the Puritan
ethic of hard work.
1. L. M. S., C. P., J. H. Parker to J. Arundel, 7 August, 1838 2. C. M. S. 2 G/AC39 C. P. Farrar to E. Bickersteth, 6 June 1625'.
L: M: S: l C. P., ZT. H. Parker to J. P. Smith2 19 May, 18)+ LMS2E. J. Evans' answers to questions, 12 June,
19.
-168- Although many applicants, when contemplating the
difficulties of missionary work, cried tWho is sufficient for
these things? '11 a surprising number towards the end of our
period said that they were motivated by the belief that they
were better suited to missionary work than any other. John Smith
Wardlaw gave as his only motive: ... it is my sincere and
earnest desire to occupy the sphere of labor [sicj for which I
am best suited and in which ... I shall prove most useful to
the cause of Christ - and ... my settled conviction is that the
Missionary field is that sphere. t2 Richard Sargent said that
his 'great motivet was to 'serve God in the sphere' in which he
could 'best do soi; 3 Matthew Sherring believed that he possessed
qualifications which 'peculiarly' fitted him 'for certain
departments of missionary labourl; 1+ James Vaughan hoped that
his 'turn of mind, and natural abilities' would qualify him for
missionary work; 5
and Samuel Mateer believed that he had 'a
considerable facility for philological studies' and that he could
best use this talent 'by consecrating it' to the service of God. 6
The fact that this motive became increasingly common with the
passage of time is an indication both that the average applicant
was becoming better educated and that he was better informed
about the nature of missionary work. In fact) the emphasis on
translation and education in missionary work in India probably
appealed to numbers of,, university graduates to whom the pastoral
aspects of ministerial labours may not have offered sufficient
1. Il Cori 2. L. M. S.
L. 11. So L.. M. S.,
5. Comes*) 6. L. M. S. I
nthians 2.16. JT*. S. Wardlawls answers R. J. Sargent's answers C. P. ý M. A. Sherring to G/AC37 J. Vaughan to W S. Mateer's answers to
to questions, 5 August, 1840. to questions, 28 Zlanuaryý 185'1. the Directors, 8 March Knight, 16 March, 18ý3
1852.
questions, 12 January, i858.
-169- stimulus. Both philology and pedagogy were disciplines of
growing importance in the nineteenth century and missionaries
early distinguished themselves in both-.. Had not the progenitor
of the modern missionary movement, William Carey himself,
achieved fame through his translation work? Had he not dined
with governors and received a top scholastic post in Indiats
'Oxford of the East'? Had not Robert Hay, $the children's
missionary', received recognition from the government for the
network of schools he had established in Bengal? 2 Scottish
missionaries appear to have been especially attracted by the
opportunities for academic work afforded by missionary service.
John Reid, born in England but educated in Scotlandp actually
residing in the home of that champion of Scottish education,
Ralph Wardlaw, admitted to the Directors of the L. M. S. that
literary renown was something to which'he could easily aspire. 3
Not that it is necessary to postulate that renown, fame, and
eating with governors were necessary to make this a powerful
motive: the 'job satisfaction', to use the modern termý may have
bedn quite sufficient. John Mack, a Scotsman who served with
the B. M. S., was delighted to accept an invitation to fill a
professor's post at Serampore College because it allowed him to
teach chemistry and other branches of natural science in which
he had a keen interest and great ability. 4
Charles Miller, a
Scottish schoolteacher, rejected the opportunity of becoming a
1. Fort WilIlam College, Calcutta. See D. Kopf British Orientalism an
-d the Bengal Renaissance_t ChapterS, 4=Z-.
2. WIH. CareYý Oriental Christian Blog ' raphyq Volume III,. p. 296.
L. M. S., C. P., J. Reid to J. Arundelq 14 January, 182 W. H. Carey7 op. cit., Volume I pp. 283ff; E. A. Payne,
The First Generation, London, 1931', pp. 127ff; W. S. Stewart (ed The Storyof Serampore and its College, Calcutta, undated, p. 2E
-170- Presbyterian minister, so that he could become a missionary
schoolteacher with the L, M, S. in a seminary in India. He
originally offered his services as 'an instructor of youth'; 1
becoming a missionary offered him the most satisfying way of 2 meeting his chief interest - evangelism through education.
Scottish-educated Joseph Mullens applied to the L. M. S. because
in India both 'a facility for acquiring languages was needed' and 'a fondness for Natural Science might be turned to good account'. 3
And Stephen Hislop, who served with the F. C. M., - felt that he
could not preach and that God was thus pointing to India as his
'only vphere of usefulness', because there he could teach the
Bible and natural science, -for both of which he had a liking. 4
A profounder insight into missionary motivation might be
gained by a closer examination of those applicants who claimed
that they could only be happy if they became missionaries. Titus
Close was almost moved to ecstasy by the contemplation of his
future work; the prospect of building up a congregation of Hindus
filled him with "'rapturous delight'11.5 To feel one's heart
enkindled by the flame of the Spirit of God is a sweet, ecstatic,
overwhelming experience which few can describe but many crave.
In the self-denying dedication of one's all to the missionary
vocation and in the total obedience and self-surrender to God
which it often entailed, a significant minority enjoyed a
religious experience at a level which, while not justifying
their being thought of as mystics2 did lead to an exceptional
1. L. M. S., C. P., C. Miller to the Directors, 20 February, 1832. 2. Ibid,., C. Miller to the Secretary, 8 February, 1832.
-LM. S., J. Mullens' answers to questions, 21 June, 1842. ý* G: Smith, Stephen__Hislop, Pioneer MissionarZ and Naturalist
in Central India, from 1844 to 18639 London, lbbb, p. 257 T. -J. Heaton, Memoir of the Rev. Titus_Close, g PP-30f-
-171- awareness of power and liberty-e 'Sloth is banished, ' wrote Alexander Leitch happily2 'doubts are dispelled, my zeal is
quickened, my energies are stirred by the bright and splendid
prospect of Christ glorified by a regenerated world. 11 Tames
Leighton observed: I cannot but notice the reflexive
influence wh. Eaic3 the Missy [_aja] spirit has had upon my own
soul. It has made me more devoted to the Saviour, and more self- denying in my daily course. I have been enabled to take greater
delight in all the ordinances of the Church; and to enjoy
communion with G6d in prayer, especially on behalf of the Nations
sitting in darkness .. I have also taken greater pleasure in my duties; and have had more profit in study., 2 For some2 however,
it was not that contemplating missionary work produced an
experience of joy and power, so much that refusing to become
missionaries left them in a state of guilt and uneasiness.
Robert Nesbit thought that he would tgo drooping and creeping'
all his life unless he was obedient to the missionary call. 3
Charles Farrar confessed to being burdened by the failures of
the past and he hoped to redeem this 'in the exertions and by
the self-denial of the time to come'. 4 Of the call to missionary
service2 John Macdonald said that he 'had no continued rest of
soul in this matter, save in yielding to it .... 1; 5
Andrew Leslie
said that he would be 'unhappy' if he refused to obey it; 6
and
1. L. M. S., C. P. 9 A. Leitch to J. Arundell 4-December, 1837- 2. C. M. S., C/AC1/3/1899 T. Leighton to H Venn, 2 September, 1850.
- J'-*M. Mitche117 Memoir of the Rev. Rob; rt Nesbit, pp*28 46. a C. M. S., G/AC37 J. P. Farrar to B. Bickersteth, 6 June, 182! ý.
5. J. Macdonald, Statement of Reasons for Accept ng a Call to go t India as a Missionary, p. 26. 6. Baptist Quarterly., 1942, p. 87-
-172-
Francis Scamell said that unless he accepted it he could never 'enjoy peace and comfort with God'. ' For some then, the
constraint to missionary service was so powerful that to
frustrate it meant jeopardising the integrity of their
personalities.
Before turning to specifically religious matives, a comment
ought to be made on the tendency of modern historians to dismiss
missionaries as mere agents of British Imperialism. Rlaus Knorr
has asserted that the 'essence' of the modern missionary movement
was 'an aggressive cultural imperialism'. 2 Max Warren suggests
that this judgment may have been a tlittle cavalier'13 and James
Orr, rather more robustly, describes it as 'nonsense at any levelf.
Canon Warren does not care for the word 'cultural', claiming that
missionaries did not offer themselves in the name of their
culture, but "in the name of 'Him who had died for them'11.5 And
Orr considers the word 'essence$ misapplied: the missionary 6
movement was essentially evangelistic, not imperialistic. For
our purposes it is better to drop the word 'essence' altogether,
and rather distinguish between what it was in intention, and what
its cultural effects may have been in practice. As our present
inquiry is into missionary motivation we are here only interested
in debating whether or not missionaries had any imperialistic
intentions, be they political or cultural.
1. C. M. S. 9 C/ACl/3, Letter from F. Scamellq 27_February, 1854. 2. K. E. Knorr, British Colonial Theories, 1570 18509 London, 1963, P-381. 3- M. A. C. Warreng The Missionary Movement from Britain in Modern History, London2 19659 pp. 42f. 4. J. M. 'Orr, 'The Contribution of Scottish Missions to the Rise of Responsible Churches in India', Ph. D. Thesisq University of Edinburgh, 1967, P-154- 5. M. A. C. Warreng op. cit., p.. 44. 6. T. M. Orr, op. - cit., p. 125.
-173-
In this debate it should be kept in mind that the arguments identifying Britaints political and commercial interests with
missionary activity were advanced by the champions of missions in the face of almost hysterical opposition to missionary work
by many in the governing and higher commercial classes. Claudius
Buchanants oft-quoted justification for the introduction of
Christianity to India, namely that 'it attaches the governed to
their governors', ' was advanced in the context of a furious
debate over, the renewal of the Charter of the East India Company,
which had been used hitherto to refuse missionaries permission ta.
enter India. Missionary work had been so effectively frustrated
by powerful interests that it was imperative to prove that these
interests could be better served by accepting missionaries as
allies, rather than by opposing them as enemies. The same
argument had to be advanced fortr-five years later, when in the
House of Lords, Lord Ellenborough attributed the Indian Mutiny
to Canning's approval of Christian missions. It would be quite
erroneous to equate arguments originally evoked by opposition to
missions, which had a distinctly apologetic purpose, and which
were far more commonly voiced by keen supporters of missions,
than by missionaries themselvest with the authentic motives of
missionaries. Missionaries were not drawn from the governing or
higher commercial classes, their mission was neither political
nor commercial, and. none mentioned a political or commercial
motive in his application. Nor di d any give as his sole motive
a desire to Iciviliset2 although some said that. they were partly
motivated by it. However, there can be no doubt that some
1. C. Buchanan, Memoir of the Establishment for British Ind p., it). '1: ne memoir was rirs
xpedlency or an Ecclesiastical
, Second Edition I London, -18121 lished in 1805.
-174- applicants, while they do not appear to have been primarily
motivated by ýmperialistic considerations, be they political,
commerical, or cultural, and while they were aware of some of the shortcomings of British Society, 1
were. blind, uncritical
admirers of Western Civilisation, a fact which did tend to make them in practice, if not in intentiong agents of cultural imperialism. Robert CaldweJ12 who served first with the L. M. S. 2 and then with the S. P. G., before his appointment as Bishop of Tinnevelly, strove to introduce the benefits of Western
Civilisation to his Indian converts on the grounds that they were indistinguishable from the fruits of the Christian Gospel. In
this he faithfully enacted his earlier attitudesq if not his
driving motives: [Missionaries] introduce among Savages the arts and comforts
and amenities of civilised life - the gentleness, meekness,
and goodwill which are the blessing of families, - that
integrity which is the bond of union in communities and that righteousness which exalteth a nation - they promote
the diffusion of knowledge and the extension of commerce.
... civilisation follows in the steps of Christianisation - industry animates those who were formerly idle and by its
exertions the hitherto barren earth becomes fruitful ... 2
Two generalisations can be made about the missionaries"
desire to Iciviliset. In the first place, it usually meant not
Westernisation, which is what Caldwell seems to mean, so much as
humanisation since missionaries were mainly disturbed by those
features of Hinduism which caused human suffering) such as
infanticide and the immolation of widows. In the second place,
1. See above, p. 123- 2. L. M. S., C. P., R. Caldwell's Ms. essay, 'On the inducements and encouragements to engaging in, Missionary labourl.
-175-
missionaries were never solely motivated by this humanitarian
concern to relieve physical distress. Both these generalisations
are illustrated by the words of Joseph Coles:
... though the grand object of the Church is not merely
to civilise but to Christianise, yet we cannot behold the
awful prevalence of human woe in heathen countries without
being pained at the spectacle and without desiring to
alleviate it by the communication of that gospel which
causes the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose. 1
Knorr's claim that missionaries were essentially cultural
-imperialists, then, can be justified only to the following extent:
they were desirous of removing inhumane customs and of replacing
heathen religious beliefs with their own, and since both could be
an integral part of a community's culture, missionaries were a
cultural threat in intention. But to go further and to claim
that missionaries were primarily motivated by a desire to
Westernise, which is the plainest construction of Knorr's words,
is to proceed with insufficient evidence. Any summary assessment
about missionary motivation which ignores religious factors cannot
hope to be valid. III
If asked to isolate the most prominent element in missionary
propaganda in the first half of the nineteenth century, a strong
case could be made for the emphasis on the wretchedness of the 'poor,
benighted heathen'. The huge crowds which gathered each May to
1. L. M. S. t C. P. 7 J. B. Coles' Ms. essay, 'The Comparative Claims of Pagan Nations on the sympathies and efforts of the Christian Church$. ' See also L. M. S., C. P., G. Welsh's Ms. essay, 'What are the most important objects of Missionary Pursuits? $ Welsh maintains that while the missionary agrees with the aims-of the politician (to make the heathen industrious and loyal)7 the man of business (to
gR ýe boundaries of commerce), and thet hilosopher (to enJIr
en tent
and would not be inattentive to Ke
achievement of these aims'2 his primary motives transcend these.,
-176- hear the anniversary sermons of the great missionary societies were treated to horrifying descriptions of the sufferings and abominations of the heathen. Josiah Pratt, Secretary of the C. M. S., and editor of the Missionary Register7 a journal which reported the progress of all Protestant missions and which depicted the miseries of the heathen in graphic prose and stark woodcuts, reprimanded William Greenwood, the C. M. S. 's first English
missionary to India, for failing to send home vivid accounts of pagan abominations. 1 The Committee of the S. M. S. justified
commencing a mission in India with the claim: ... it is now fixed
on evidence2 irresistible to every one who will giveit his candid
and serious attention, that the Hindoos are sunk miserably low
in the scale of moral beings, that impurity and cruelty are the
characteristics of their superstition, and that they stand as much in need of the purifying and enlightening influence of Christianity
as any nation on the face of the earth., 2 John Henry Parker
argued that the missionary should obtain faccurate information
respecting the present state of the heathen world'. This meant
that the heathen's 'real destitution must be made known in all
its darkness and deformity; the cruel and debasing character of their Idolatry must be unfolded' so that-the Church at home would
be stirred to action and kept from its 'former indifference and
unconcern'. 3
The heart-rending appeals to relieve the distress of the
heathen met with a ready response, and tpity' was one of the most
important of all missionary motivesl Joseph Bradley Warden,
1. C. M. S. 2 C: E: L/F, 2-/18 J. Pratt to W. Greenwood, 28 July, 1818. 2. S. M. S., Reportg, 1622, p. 25'o 3. L. M. S., U-, P. l J. H. Parkerts Ms. essay7 'How may attainments in Literature and Science be made more subservient to the Cause of Christian Missions? '
-177-
while maintaining that his chief motive was to do something for
the welfare of the heathen in the next world, said that he was first drawn to contemplate missionary work by reading the accounts
of human misery by Baptist missionaries in Bengal: 'I felt an
unusual degree of pity for those unfortunate Creatures - the
burning of tender and delicate females on the funeral Pile of their husbands without any regard either to age or station())
The throwing of helpless and innocent babes into the mighty waters
of the Ganges to be swept away by its torrent or to be devoured
by the ferocious Crocodile and the other horrid cruelties
practised in their Religion caused an ardent wish to do something
for their relief'. ' John Thompson was induced to think seriously
of offering his services as a missionary by 'frequent accounts'
of 'the state of the Heathen' who were. 1going down to the pit for
lack of knowledget. 2 John Gritton yearned to make the heathen
'happier and wiser$; he had read 'daily' accounts 'showing (mi-C]
'3 the degradation and misery in which they are sunk', and Elias
Champion admitted to being 'deeply affected by the state of the
heathen world, enveloped as it is, in a cloud of ignorance and
superstition, and also by the earnest cry that is uttered by its
perishing Millions for helps. '+
Rather than multiply such quotations2 it might be more
rewarding to analyse the constituents of this motive of pity for
the heathen: what exactly were the ObJects of their pity and why
was it felt so strongly? In the first place, to repeat, no
missionary was motivated by humanitarian feelings alone; none
1. L. M. S., C. P., Letter from J. B. Warden, 15 August, 1816. 2. L. M. S. 9 C. P. 9 J. C. Thompson's answers to questiois, 31 October, 1823. 3 M. S. 9 9/ACl/l/285) J. Gritton to the Secretaries, 18 February, lbIC: - I+. C. M. S., C/ACl/3, E. Champion to the Committee, 1853.
6
-178- vent solely to relieve physical and economic hardship. There
was always a soteriological element in. this motive: the heathen
were In a 'deplorable and dangerous condition'; they were 'exposed to the dreadful and eternal wrath of an offended and holy God'. 1 Secondly, missionaries never tired of telling their
detractors, who thought they should confine their attention to
the unsaved at home, that Hindus and Negroes were also human beings
who possessed immortal, $never-dying' souls. This fellow-feeling
was an article in the creed of the slave-trade abolitionists, to
whom missionaries lent their vehement support. IThe strength of this conviction may be traced to the enormous popularity of
William Cowper's poem, 'The Task19 which champions the dignity of
all races. William Wilberforce was guided by, this poem, and John
Adam) L. M. S. missionary in Indiat said that 'The Task' was his
constant companion after leaving school; it became a Iraling
passion' with him "to share the joys and possess the hopes of the
man who could 'lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eyeg and smiling
say, My Father*made them all1jj. 2 Thirdly, missionaries not only
maintained that all men were their brothers, but that Indians
were deserving of special, pity since they were 'fellow-citizens$
of the British Empire. "Are they not politically 'Bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh'? " demanded John Steward. "And Uhat
British Christian is there that can hear of the Infanticides
Matricides / Parricides and Suicides committed under the sanction
1. L. M. S., C. P., E.,,, Crispis answers to questions, 13 December2 1817. 2. W. H. Carey. Oriental'Christian-Biographyg Volume III, P-97. It is signifi6ant in this respect that on the title page of his EnquirX Carey quoted Romans 10.12-151' which begins with the vordst 'For there is no diffdrence between, the Jew and the Greek'.
-179- of their religion without feeling his compassion yearn over
them..., " It is in sentiments like these that the concept of'
the 'White Man's Burden$ was conceived. Finally, thIs 'pity'
was not sentimentality; it was based on the iridely-hold view
that the Gospel was a mighty 'engine' for the moral and material
as well as the spiritual regeneration of human society; it was
the panacea for all the ills of, society$ the 'balm of Gilead', 2 the divine prescription for the healing of all her wounds,
In view of the denominational rivalries discussed in Chapter
Three, it might be expected that lecclesiologicall motiVS32 the
desire to propagate a particular form of churchmanshipq could have
been significant, However$ there is very little evidence for
this. Ashton Dibb gave as one of his six motives the desire to
outflank the advance of popery. 3 Robert Vickers$ an applicant
from Catholic Ireland, said that he was first induced to take up
missionary work by a desire to see his country 'delivered from
the corruptions of a false creed'. 1+ Thomas Coke, as we have
seen, 5 was eager to propagate Arminianism overseas in preference
to the Calvinism of the L. M. S., and a Wesleyan Missionary) Alfred
Bourne, established a Book Society in India to propagate the
doctrines of Wesleyan Methodism. 6
On the Calvinist side, Robert
1. C. M. S., G/AC39 J. Steward to E. Bickersteth, 23 October, 1823; cf. G/AC3ý H. W. Fox to the Secretary, 8 August, 1840. 2. R. Wardlaw. Systematic Theology, Volume III, Chapter 1+5. The subjects of ihis research were never troubled with doubts as to the relevance of the Gospel. In the 1>uritan tradition Biblical precepts and ethics were applied to every area of life. -The totalitarian overtones of this attempt to Christianise the whole of society may be traced to'the concept of the corpus christianum which figured so prominently in the theology of the lie . See S. H. Rooy, The Theology-of-Missions in the Puritan Tradition PP-323-8; J. van don Perg, Constrained by-Jesusi-Love,, - PP-14fil89-93.
See aboveg P. 135. C. M. S. ý C/AC1/49 R, H. Vickers' answers to questions, 20 Juneq 18% See above, pp. 117f.
6. W. M. M. S., Minutes, 10 June, 18329'-. p. 186.
-18o-
Nesbit was stung into retaliation by the charge of Anthony
Norris Groves, who was to become a Brethren missionary, that
'high' Calvinism was detrimental to the missionary causetl and
among his motives, he included 'a desire of vindicating
C41vinism from the charge of coldness and sloth in the great
work of evangelizing the world'. 2 However, this exhausts the
evidence on possible ecclesiological motives. In the first place
such motives were not considered particularly noble -; the
Committee of the W. M. M. S. refused to finance Bourne's Book
Society since they were not prepared to spend money on an
'object which appears to be purely controversiall. 3 Secondly,
it was recognised that denominational squabbles could prove
detrimental to the missionary movement: - William Hanna, reporting
on the formation of an auxiliary branch of the S. M. S. in the
Royal Academical Institution, Belfastl, lamented that interest
In missions was diminished because of a flourishing controversy
with Roman Catholics. '+ The ecclesiological motive can hardly
have been an important one.
In the first half of the nineteenth century British
churches witnessed a luxuriant flowering of exotic theories
concerning prophecy2 and it is to be-expected that they had some
bearing on missionary motivation. Among the hotch-potch of
current views, four may be distinguished. The first-was the
belief that the millemium would be inevitably ushered in by the
faithful preaching of the Gospel and,, the spontaneous multiplication
of preachers. 5 Evidence for this sanguine expectation was the
1. J. M. Mitchell) Memoir of the Rev. Robert Nesbit, p. 28. 2. Ibid. I pp-36f
W. m. M. S., MiLtes, 10 June, 18321, p. 186. New College2 Edinburgh, 'Correspondence of the Edinburgh
University Missionary Associationg W. -Hanna
to J, Wilson, 10 May, 1826. 5. J. van den Berg, op., cit , p. 163.,
-181-
progress already made by the Gospel, progress which seemed to
justify still greater expectations. Before Carey left for
India he wrote of the 'tokens for good', listing increasing
enthusiasm for prayer-meetings, the better understanding of
religious controversies, increased interest in evangelism) the
attempts to abolish the slave-tradeq and the commencement of a-
Christian freed trade settlement at Sierra Leone. 1 In India,
Carey's faith that he was justified in expecting ever greater
things from God never waned. 2 'We live in eventful and amazing
times, ' the 'Serampore Trio' reported to the home Committee of
the B. M. S., land ought to expect much from that God, who, in his
millenniun glory, appears to be coming very near to us. o3 The
inevitable and irreversible coming of the Kingdom of God was one
of the numerous motives which animated John Wilson before his
departure for Bombay. He exhorted his fellow students at
Edinburgh: 'Let us ... dwell with delight on that covenant which
God has established with his Son, and in which he has promised
to give him the heathen for his inhekitance, and-the uttermost
parts of the earth for his possession. Let us listen to the
delightful songs of prophecy; and, animated by their cheering
strains, let us labour with all our might in the use of the
means which God has appointed for the renovation of the world. $
Among the few others who claim to have been motivated by the
belief that the age in which they lived was especially propitious
for the expansion of the Kingdom of God, -were
William Miller and
David Watt, both of whom were to serve with the L. M. S1, Miller
wrote: "The present day seems to be the commencement of that
1. W. Carey, ' An Enquiry into the - Obligations of Christians, pp-79f.
2.1. Murray, The Puritan Hopeg p. 140. 3. B. M, S., IN/221-2p-Carey) Marshman) and Ward to the Brethren, 1 November, 1808. 4. Minutes of the E. U. M. A., New College, Edinburgh, 1 March, 1828, P-71.
-182-
happy period when the 'earth shall be full of the knowledge of
the Lord as the waters-cover the sea-111.1 And Watt commented:
"The Spirit of prophecy has annointed [zlaj that these wastes
are to be ploughed up and these weeds to be supplanted by
'branches of the planting of the Lord's right handfit. 2 It
appears that this was a widely-held belief, and one from which
missionaries derived encouragement, but it was not often advanced
as a motive.
A second eschatological belief was in the imminence of
Christ's Second Coming in Final Judgment, the corollary being
that one must labour for souls while there is time. In his
application the Baptist surgeon, W. Johns, wrote: 'The Day Is
coming when the World shall be wrecked: - Her Palaces and Towers
shall be thrown down - The Ungodly shall utterly perish: - The
Heavens shall pass away, and the Earth shall be burnt up ... t3
He concluded that he could not acquit his conscience if he
refused to labour for the conversion of those who must otherwise
perish in the conflagration. Johns' urgent words on the imminence
of the Last Judgment, howevert all but. exhaubt the evidence on
this subject. It was a less significant factor in motivation
than the previous belief.
A third view of prophecy) which whipped up tremendous
excitement in some churches, was that of pre-milleriniitl
dispensationalism, promulgated by the thrilling oratory of Edward
Irving, founder in 1832 of the Catholic Apostolic Churchq and by
the teachings of John, Nelson Darbyý founder of the Plymouth
1. L0M. S., C. P., W. Miller to the Directors, 22 September, 1823- 2. LIX. S. ) C. P., D. G. Watt to J. Arundel, 11 January 1839 3. B. M. B., IN13t W. Johns to A. Fuller, 2 August, 1607.
-183-
Brethren. This interpretation of prophecy included the
imminence of Christ's Second Adventý but, unlike the previous belief, Christ's coming was expected to precede the Last
Judgment by a period of a thousand years. The established
churches were corrupt beyond reformation; the gathered church
must withdraw from the world and prepare for Christ's coming;
schemes to evangelise the world and establish indigenous
churches were doomed to failure; in the place of these schemes individuals were to be exhorted urgently to separate themselves
from the world; the Church's hope was to be found only in the
coming of Christ, not in Gospel preaching. 1 There is little
evidence that the modern missionary movement owed anything to
these astounding theories of Irving and Darby. It is generally
supposed that Brethren missionaries must have been motivated by 2 them, but even here the evidence is unimpressive. Admittedly,
A. N. Groves, the founder of Brethren missions, saidt "I'consider
the testimony of Jesus is to be published through every land,
before the Bridegroom comes; this makes my heart feel an interest
in heathens$ that we may hasten the coming of the Lord. tto3 But,
in the first place this is not a clear statement of orthodox
pre-millemial dispensationalism which was formulated after
Groves had become thoroughly missionary-minded, anyway, and
secondly, it does less than justice to Groves to locate the
distinctive essence of his motivation in any Interpretation of
prophecy - this must rather be found in_his literalistic
interpretation of Scripture and his readiness to respond in
1.1. Murray, op. cit., pp. 190-2o6.. 2. H. H. Rowdon, The Origins of the Brethren, 1825-1§10, p. 18 3. H. Grovest Memoir of the Late Anthony Norris Groves, p. 259:
-184- radical obedience to its demands. ' It cannot be denied that
pre-millenarian views had their adherents among supporters of
missions. - for example, Andrew and Horatius Bonar in Scotland92
and, in Englandt Edward Bickerstethq a Secretary of the C. M. S. 3
But the majority of missionaries appear to have been motivated by
considerations far less speculative and potentially divisive than
complicated interpretations of prophecy. The last prominent prophetical theory to be considered was
the view that the churches should divert their energies to the
conversion of the Jews, since it was believed, mainly on the basis
of the eleventh chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans, that the
restoration of the Jews was an indispensable prerequisite for
wider blessings for the Gentile world. In England, Charles Simeon
was well-known for his preoccupation with this subject, on which
he wrote much and preached many sermons. But his ideas do not
appear to have filtered down to those who had set their hearts
on the conversion of Gentile India. On the other hand, in the
late 1830s, prospective Scottish missionaries became deeply
interested in this matter. 1+
The Glasgow students were invited
by the students who belonged to the E. U. M. A. to share their
new-found interest in the claims of the Jews: 'Perhaps you may
come to agree with us that the Jews. ought to form the special
subject of Missionary effort2 and that our Church ought to have,
as one of its chief Schemes, the conversion of Israel. 15
1. G; 7R. Lang$ Anthony Norris Groves, Saint-and Pioneer, Second Editiong Londong 19499 p. k3 e 2.1. Murray, op. cit. , p*1959 3. E. Stock, The Historv of the Church Missionary SocietX9 Volume 19 pp. 283f. - 4. J. van den Bergq op. cit., p. 16)+; 'I. Murray, pp. cit.., PP-175-8.
Uu-r g 5. Correspondence of the E. U M. A. 9 New Collegeg Edin ur h, the secretary to the Glasgow College Missionary Society, 14 March, 1837.
-185-
The Glasgow students concurred that 'never shall the whole
wilderness blossom as the rose till the children of Israel
through Gentile instrumentality shall return and seek their
God'; they reported that an essay had been read to them on 'The
Calling of the Jews and its influence on the Conversion of the
world'; and they suggested that, in the event of their Church's
establishing &mission to the Jews, some of their own members
might go. 1 A year later the Church of Scotland did establish a
mission to the Jews as one of its 'Five Schemes', 2 and, , in the
year 1841/2, over : C5OOO was received by this mission alone. 3
Meanwhile, John Murray Mitchell had departed for Bombay where it
was anticipated that he would find Jewish children in Christian
schools, thanks to the interest of John Wilson in the Jews of that city. Of Mitchell it was observed: tHe Is himself already
deeply impressed with the importance of the conversion of that
nationg as bearing on the conversion of the Gentiles. "+ One of
Mitchell's contemporaries at the Divinity Ha117 Edinburgh, Daniel
Edward, became a missionary to the Jews at Breslau. 5 The
celebrated Scottish missionary trio in Madras - Anderson,
Braidwood and Johnson - were also committed to the strategic importance of the conversion of the Jews, 6
and two other Scottish
missionaries who served in India, James Yule and James Bonthorne,
were described as missionaries to the Jews. 7
1. Ibid., W. Govan and W, C, Burns to the'E. U. M. A. 9 29 January, 1838. 2. Home and Foreign Missionary Record for the Church of Scotland, April, 18399 P-191-
Ibid. 9 Julyq 181+21 p. lllf. as. =Id., Septemberg 19389 P-71. 5. J. M. Mitchell, In Western India: Recollections-of my Early
Missionary Life, Edinburghq 99, P. q. U. -I. Murray2 ov. cit., p-176. 7.11. Scott, Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, 'Edinburgh, 1928, Volume VII2 PP-711+s717-
-186- It is significant that two of the above interpretations
of prophecy - pre-millennial dispensationalism and the dependence
of the conversion of the Gentiles on the conversion of the Jews -
were both entertained in missionary circles about half way
through the period under review when the early expectations of
the conversion of the nations were not realised. Hence the
search for new means and a new hope. Another current theory
which had the same purpose was based on John 17.21, that Church
Unity was to be the instrument for converting the world. 1 An
indication that the disillusionment ought not to be exaggerated,
however, is the fact that, generally-speaking, all these theories
failed to capture the imagination of prospective missionaries and
were not important factors in their motivation. Knorr is almost
certainly incorrect in claiming that missionary enthusiasm waned
in the 1840S. 2 Severe economic depression was the cause of the
retardation in theEmpansion of the work of the missionary
societies. But the number of applications continued to rise2 and
the 1850s was a decade of unprecedented growth in missionary
activity. It remains to be noted that interpretations of prophecy
were not only relatively insignificant factors in missionary
motivation, but they could also be'counter-ppoductiveg diverting 3 energies away from the missionary cause.
Apart from the humanitarian-religious motive of compassion
for the heathen, there were three other major religious motives.
The first was zeal for the honour and glory of God: van don Berg
labelled this the Itheocentric' motive. 1+ Secondly, many
missionaries were motivated by a sense of duty) resulting from
1. Correspondence of the E. U. M. A. 'IýNew'Collegej Edinburgh, the secretary to the Belfast Associationii18 Marchq 1837. 2. K. E. Knorr, British Colonial Theor es, 1570-1859t P-381. 3. W. Carey, Enquiry2 p. 12; E. -Stock, op. ci .9 Volume 1, pp. 281+f G. R. Balleine, A History of the Evang 1-ical Party_in th Church o England2 London-, 79M, P-137; J. van den Berg, op. cit., p. -j-, 6-0.
40 Op* ci 9 P*1550
-187- the conviction that Christ's 'Great Commission' to preach the
Gospel to all men was an obligation binding on every Christian.
Finally, the motive given most commonly was that of love,
expressing itself in a desire for the salvation of souls, and
based on the gratitude which the applicant felt to God for his
own salvation.
The glorification of God, although fundamental to all
traditions of Christian faith, has perhaps received greatest
stress in the Calvinist tradition; it is referred to as man's
highest purpose in the Westminster Confession and was a primary
emphasis in the Covenanting tradition in both England and
(especially) Scotland. Although commonly given as a motive for
seeking missionary serviceg it is normally grouped with other
motives or predicated in some way, usually in a way which binds
it with the third (soteriological) motive. It is thus stated so
frequently as to become a stereotype:
I am conscious of no other motive .. than a view to the
Glory of God and a compassion for my fellow creatures ... 1
*so I think I may say that an ardent desire to promote the
glory of God In the Salvation of the poor Heathen has
actuated me ... 2
e**I desire nothing but the Glory of God and the Salvation
of Sinners ... 3
I have no end in view but the glory of God and the good of
my fellow creatures. )+
1. B. M. S., IN/22$ W. Grant to J. Ryland, October, 1799. 2. L. M S:? C. P. 9 H. Chambers to the Chairman, 6 November 1816
C-M: S 9 G/AC3j H. Baker to the Seardtary, 8 August, 1611+. W. M MS Home-C, 1815-1819, J. Fletcher to R. Watson, 27
Novemb; r; i617.
-188- Duty was even more frequently given as a motive. It was
perhaps the most characteristic feature of missionary motivation
in the first half of the nineteenth century since it was central
both to Moderate Calvinism and Evangelical Arminianism. The duty
or obligation of Christians to take the Gospel to all the world
was the burden of Carey's Enquiry; it was the criminality of the
Churchts neglect of this duty that he preached in his famous
sermon in May, 1792t which led to the formation of the B. M. S.; 2
and it was because this sense of duty was so strong that he was
even prepared if necessary to leave his wife and children behind
in England and to go alone to India. 3 The binding obligation on
all Christians to take the Gospel to every creature quickly became
a major emphasis of all the missionary societies, but perhaps none
expressed it so forcefully as the S. M. S. in an appeal for recruits:
The general princip3. ehas been already settled by your Lord
and Master; and, therefore, the onus Probandi that this is
your duty, lies not with us; it lies with you to prove that
this is not your duty; you must be able to show reason why
You should be excused from the'service. )+
Extraordinary as this principle may appear, there were not wanting
those who accepted it. John Adam was, onewho having accepted this
general premise proceeded to ask himself_, _if
there were reasons of
sufficient weight to justify his staying in Scotland: 'Did he have
a responsibility to support a family? _Did
"those best competent
to judge' have any objections? Was he. lbetter suited to some other
1. Op. cit., Section 1. 2. J. C. Marshman, The Life and Times of Carey, Marshman, and Ward, Volume I, p 15.
Ibid , P;. 53f. 'Address to the Friends of, Missions', appended to the S. M.
Report for 1823s P-11.
-189- sphere'? Having answered these questions in the negative, his
conscience left him with no alternative; he must go. 1 Robert
Caldwell concurred:
... as ... there is no limitation in the command so there
is none in the obligation - the rule is universal ... There
must either be in the way health or age or sex - or present
engagement in God's work at home to some considerable extent
or an evident call to it or the entire dependence of
relations ... or else there must be no apparent possibility
of obtaining support should they embark in the work 2
Such stress on obligation could be legalistic. Such
emphasis on human instrumentality could be Pelagian. And since
so many gave duty as their primary or sole motive, it is tempting
to dismiss the modern missionary movement as unattractive,
legalistic, and synergistic, No doubt the movement was not free
from these features which frequently characterise aggressive
Christianity. John Adamt himself, must have been only about
eighteen years old when he was accosted by an earnest enthusiast
who impressed the obligation of missionary work upon his tender
consciencet together with the firm reminder that one day, he would
have to give an account. 3 Neverthelesst though many were convinced
by the argument which left Adam and Caldwell, with no alternative,
the point is that few wanted to resist it. Certainly they looked
on the missionary call as a burdeng but like the 'White Man's
Burden' of which it was, perhapst an integral part, it was a
challenging and comforting burden2 rather than an intolerable one.
1. W. H. Careyq oriental Christian Biography, Volume 1119 pp. 100-2; L. M. S. 9 C. P., J. dam to the Secretary, 9 November, 1827- Id -am 2. L. M. S. 9 C. P. 9 R. Caldwell's Ms. essay. 3. W. H. Carey2 op. cit I Volume III, p. 100.
-190- They lived in an age when men relished responsibility, reacted
positively to dutyt and were uncynical about the solemn and the
portentous. The prevailing Calvinism kept their Pelagianism in
check, and it Is not gross hyperbole to claim that, though they
lived and worked as if the Kingdom of God would collapse without
themt they died uncomplaininglyv in the belief that neither God
nor his work had any need of them. They would have emphatically
denied, toot the accuracy of the predicate 'legalistic'. If there
was any constraint involved it was the constraint of the love of Christ. This brings us to the last and most frequently expressed
motive.
Large numbers of candidates employed the language of Scripture
and spoke of being constrained by the love of Jesus. 1 This is an
ambiguous term; it can either mean being constrained by 'Christ's
love for me', which is probably the most obvious meaning, or it
can mean being constrained by 'my love for Christ'. It is
significant that, of those who expressed themselves so as to make
clear which of these interpretations they had in mind, most meant
the latter. That is, a desire or need to manifest their love for
Christ was the most prominent motive. In this sense love means
gratitude to Christ for his gift of salvation to them. Repeatedly
candidates affirm that their conversion experience (their awareness
that Christ loved them personally and that they wished to reciprocate
this love) and the missionary impulse were inseparable:
I believe !.. that it Is the case with most young persons
when they first see the value of the Gospel to wish to be
the instruments of making it known to others. And such was
the case with me... 2
1.11 Corinthians 5.11+. 2. Baptist Quarterlyq 191+21 p186.
-191- Ever since I was awakened to consider the unspeakable value
of religion ... I have felt an irrepressible desire to
make known the tidings of salvation to sinners ... when I
consider what I owe to Jesus' loveg I cannot but desire to
do what in me lieth to spread hbroad the Knowledge of his
name
Soon after it pleased Godt of his great gracev 'to reveal
His Son in met, ... I was filled with a vehement desire to 2 make known the salvation of Christ tojIl men ...
eee my desire to go abroad has arisen chiefly from the
knowledge of the Love of God in rescuing Sinners from
destruction ... and from a feeling of gratitude that having
done so for me, it is but a return not worthy to be mentioned,
but the best I have to offer as a proof of gratitude for
his mercy ... 3
It is obvious, then, that most applicants believed that the
missionary impulse was of divine origin, springing from the work
which they believed Christ had performed in their hearts at, and
subsequent to, the time of their conversion. Their 'calling' to
missionary service was implicit in their conversion. It was a
spontaneous thing which all their earnes. t and prayerful
introspection refined and clarified but did not originate. It
was an instinct or 'reflex"+ of God-given faith. It is true that
its peculiar expression was influenced by many other motives, both
secular and religious, so that the modern missionary movement
1. L. M. S., C. P. 9 T. Hay to the Directorsq 15 June, 1836. 2. T. Macdonald$ Statement of Reasons for Acceptinga Call to go to India as a Mis'sionary, pp. 23f.
C. M. S., C/AC1/3ý T. J. Gaster to J. Chapman, 13 January, 1854. Quoted by van den Berg, oD. cit , p. 211.
-192- cannot be'understood apart from them. The urgency which
characterised all their endeavours resulted from their being
motivated by a sense of duty to fulfil the long-neglected command
of Christ to preach the Gospel to all creatures, together with a
desire to maximise their usefulness$ and to realise the potential
of all their innate and cultivated abilities. The confidence which
they displayed indicates that they were motivated by a belief that
the times were propitious for their work9 that they enjoyed the
respect of the religious publieg the approval of God himself,
and the hope of a bright crown in the hereafter. The sense of
superiority which they sometimes evinced suggests that they were
partly motivated by the quest for respectability and it was also
the impression created by their pity for the 'poor heathen'.
However, it would not be doing justice to--the evidence to refrain
from the conclusion, even in týe name of caution, that gratitude
to Christ for his gift of salvation, with a consequent concern
for the welfare of immprtal souls, was, the compelling motive for
most of them. The words of a hymn which they loved to sing spoke
the language of their souls' main concern:
The love of Christ doth me constrain
To seek the wandering souls of men;
With cries, entreaties, prayers to save,
And snatch them from the gaping grave.
-193- CHAPTER 5*
MISSIONARY TRAINING
I I. THE CONGREGATIONALISTS AND BAPTISTS
The training received by the majority of British Protestant
missionaries in the first half of the nineteenth century was
determined by two factors. The first was the policy of the
directors of missionary societies on the education of candidates
and, in the first part of this chapter, Baptist and L. M. S.
policies on missionary training will be discussed. The second
determining factor was the state of theological education in
Britaing for the core of a missionary's preparation was the same
as that received by ministers who intended to remain in the home
country. The second part of this chapter is therefore devoted to
a discussion of the traditions, the standards, and the curricula
of some important Congregationalist and Baptist theological
institutions in which missionaries trained. In the third section,
Bristol Baptist College is isolated for special studyq and in the
fourth and final section, the curriculum and lectures at the
Missionary Seminary at Gosport will be reviewed.
Many missionary candidates were givený in addition to their
basic theological education, special training in Indian languages,
in medicine at universities and hospitals, and in teaching at
teacher training Institutions. Consideration will be given in
Chapter Seven to these non-theological institutions in which
missionaries of all denominations trained.
I
One of the earliest disagreements among the founders of the
L. M. S. arose over the question ofmissionary training. The
majority of the Directors appear to have considered this the least
Of their problems; they had no desire to send an army of scholars
-194-
to the heathen. With the uncivilised nations of the world
uppermost in their minds, they cheerfully resolved that it was
'not necessary that every Missionary should be a learned Man'
and that 'Godly men who understand Mechanic Arts' might best
meet their requirements. 1 This attitude was sufficiently general
and influential to suggest to one historian, Hinchliff, that
Missionary training in our period was Inadequate and haphazard,
the inevitable result of a 'romantic casualness'; a feeling that 2 zeal, food, and heathen were quite enough for any missionary.
Another historian, Gunson, has observed that ill-educated men who
were thought unsuited to the home ministry were frequently
considered "quite adequate instructors of the 'ignorant heathenln. 3
But' Hinchliff's judgment was based largely on his work in African
missions, and Gunson's on his researches on missions in the South
Baas. Educational requirements for missionaries who were to serve
in India were very different.
Opposition to this romantic attitude was led by David Bogue.
Raised a Presbyterian, educated in Scotland, with a Puritan's
zeal for an educated ministryp and a yearning to see a mission
begun in the ancient civilisation of India, he maintained that
missionaries would have to receive a good and specialised
education. )+
Possibly to ease his agitation, the Directors in 1795
requested him "'to draw up a Memorialq On the most useful mode of
employing Missionaries, in theAnterval between their approbation
and embarkment, and during their Passagelff; 5 'in 1797 they patiently
1. L. M. S., Board Minutes, 28 Septembery 17959 P-33. 2. P. Hinchliff, 'The Selection and Training of Missionaries in the Early Nineteenth CenturyIq in G. J. Cuming (ed. ), The Mission of the Church and the PropaRation of the'Faith. Stuai; -sin Church h1story. Volume VI, P-131.
e We * Gunsonp 'Evangelical Missionaries in the South Seasq 1797- 186019 p. 125. I+e See below, pp. 217ff. 5. L. M. S., Board Minutesp 1 October, 1795, P-39.
-195- listened while he read a paper on the importance of establishing
special missionary training institutions; 1 and, in 1800 they
appointed him tutor of their projected Missionary Seminary. 2
Earlier in the year 1800, Robert Haldaneq a close friend of Bogue,
had written to the Directors-of the L. M. S., suggesting that such
a seminary should be established and offering, in conjunction with
a Mr, Spear of Manchester, to pay E500 towards the cost. 3 A
specially appointed sub-committeG4 presented a report on 5 May,
1800, the basic principles, if not the details, of which were
faithfully enacted at the Gosport Missionary Seminary: the
proportion of time devoted to the sciences was to be strictly
limited as the purpose of the seminary was 'not to form
Mathematicianst Philosophersq or even Linguists'; the acquisition
of Scriptural knowledge was to be the primary academic pursuit,
although this was not to involve concentration on Biblical
criticism or 'unedifying controversies'; the 'self-denying
principle' was to be impressed upon the missionary students who
were to learn show they may be patient and submissive under
disappointments, persevering under long discouragementst ready to
meet sufferings or even death' and they were to 'calculate on
labour and danger, opposition . and reproach'.
5
The sub-committee emphasised both that the seminary's
purpose was to provide 'a judicious missionary education to a
certain number', and that this limited number was to be made up
chiefly of those intended for 'Indiag or any other civilised.
countrylt for such missionaries would have to pay 'attention for
1. Ibid., 12 May, 1797t P-180- 2. ".
) 21 Julyq 18009 p. 200. ! bid 1 28 Aprilq 18009 p 16)+. - a: Consisting of Waugh7 Wilks,. Hardcastle, Durant$ Nicolq Haweis,
and Eyre. Bogue vas not included almost certainly because he resided. so far from London. 5. L. M. S., Board Minutesp 5 Mayq 18001'ppI64-169.
-196-
a longer term to the sources of knowledge'. ' Hence-India was
the chief beneficiary of Gosport. By the time of Bogue's death
in 1825 just under two-fifths of the two hundred and fifty L. M.
missionaries who had been sent to sixteen different countries had
been trained at Gosport. But seven out of every ten missionaries
destined for India before 1826 had been trained there. Directors
and missionaries concurred that missionary service in India
required a superior training. George Pritchard, destined for an
eventful life at Tahiti as missionary, British consul, and
unofficial prime minister of Queen Pomareq might have gone to
India had not John Angell James, a Director, protested that
because of 'the disadvantages of his early education' he was quite
disqualified from any 'oriental station'. 2 john Pye Smith, on
the other hand, wrote that John Lumb was 'admirably adapted for
any one of the most important Indian stations' as he had a 'love
of solid learning and a great aptitude for making large and well-
adjusted acquisition'. 3 Recurring, elements in the correspoi2dence
of candidates with the Directors were, firstq a pleading for
longer preparation as missions in India required high educational
qualifications, 4 and secondlyt confession of the realisation-that
missionary work demanded greater academic achievement than the
home ministry. 5 These were attitudes which guaranteed both the
gradual improvement of training standards and the thorough
exploitation by missionaries of the educational opportunities
open to them.
L. M. S., Board Minutesq 5 may, 1800, pp. 161+-169. 2. L. M. S., C. P. t (G. Pritchard)jJ'-A-james to J. Arundell 13 March, 1824.
L. M. S., C, Pj (J. Lumb), J. 'P. Smith, to J. Arundel, 23 March, 1837, Seeg for example, the candidates'p apers of R. Caldwell,, J. Sewell,
F Baylis, and G. Hall. L. M. S., C. P. 9 J. Reid to the Directors, 30 January, 1828;
R. C. Mather to the Directorsj, 12 Junev 1832.
-197- Bogue's death in 1825 enabled the L. M. S. to close Gosport.
It had long been criticised on three grounds: it was too far
from London, the practice of accommodating the students outside
the seminary was not in their best interests, and it cost too
much to run. The first two criticisms were met in 1826. The
Missionary-Seminary was moved into premises vacated by the staff
and students of Hoxton Academy when they moved to Highbury.
However, the Hoxton Mission College was closed in 1830 after it
failed to silence the third criticism. Only ten missionaries who
subsequently worked in India received all or part of their
training there. They led a highly regimented college lifeg rising
at 5.45 a. m., and were subject to a set of forbidding rules
designed 'to contribute to-the formation-of such characters as
shall exhibit to the heathen a lovely and consistent specimen of
the holy influence of the Gospel of Christ'. '
A thorough inquiry in 1830 2 showed that the cost of educating
each missionary for a period of three years was : C435. The
consequent resolution to close the Mission College and to send
the missionary students to various theological colleges of
established reputation was a major change in policy. Hitherto
it had been compulsory for all students educated at the Society's
expense to be trained at the special institution provided by the
Society for that purpose. 3 The change was as wise as it was
significant. The average cost of educating missionaries dropped
by two-thirds4 which encouraged the Society to undertake expansion5
and to consider longer courses for each candidate. Academicr
I. L. M. S. 7 Board Minutes, 25 Septemberg 18267 pp. 214-216. 2. Ibid. 7 25 March, 1830, pp. 695-704.
R=nutes of the Committee of Examination7 12 October, 1818, p. 245. Both Homerton and Glasgow Theological Academies charged only
f-50 Per annum. per student for board and tuition. Minutes of the Committee of Examinationg 29 Augustt 1831, p. 217- 5. Ibid. 9 9 March, 18469 P-381-
-198-
standards were raised as the academies to which missionaries
were sent were improving rapidly with larger and better qualified
staffs, longer courses, and wider curricula. Students were more
contented - they could study at colleges closer to their homes
which they could therefore visit more frequently and at a lower
cost to the Society. And they sometimes nominated the colleges
where they wished to pursue their studies, a degree of freedom
not possible under the old system.
A less significant change in policy2 also made in 1630, was
the suspension of a regulation requiring three months' probation
from candidates who, at the time of their application, were
already in training for the ministry in English or Scottish
colleges. 1 However, this probationary period was still considered
necessary for all other candidatesq and during the next decade,
the L. M. S. sent ninety probationers to study in the Rev. Richard
Cecil's private academy, first at Turvey in Bedfordshire, and
then at Ongar, Essex. Fifty-eight of these probationers eventually
found their way to various mission fields. Fifteen, most of whom
spent only three months under Cecil before receiving 'highl3r
satisfactory' reports and moving on to the established colleges 2
for further education, were to serve in India. So one purpose
of Cecil's dual-r8le academy was to assist the Committee of
Examination of the L. M*S- in selecting'students to re*ceive a
higher training elsewhere for India. On the other hand, many
missionaries destined for the South Seas, the West Indies, and
Africa received most of their training under him. David Livingstone,
for example, spent two years at Ongar under Cecil.
1. Ibid. 2 15 November, 18309 P-151- Welsh colleges were significantl3r exc; pted. 2. H. G. Tibbutt, 'The Turvey and Ongar Congregational Academy'q Transactions of the Congregational Historical Society, Volume. XIX, October, 1962, pp. 147ff, and Septemberg 1963, pp. 230ff-
-199- An institution which appears to have contributed more
substantially to Indian missions was the Bedford Missionary
Training Colleget a private venture established in 1840 by John
Jukest minister of Bunyan Meeting Houseq and William Alliott.
Before it closed in 1866 it had trained between fifty and sixty
missionaries of whom eight went to India in the period to the end
of 1858, and seventeen after it. 1 At first it appears to have
been a preparatory institution like Cecills, but in the 1850s
there was anunusually high demand for missionaries for India, 2
and Bedford developed into a 'finishing school' or a college for
giving $crash courses' to talented or otherwise qualified
applicants. 3
Bedford reverted to a preparatory institution in 1861 when
the first official training institution of the L. M. S. since the
closure of Hoxton was opened at Highbury. Its purpose was to
provide a year's studies on the specific field to which each
candidate had been appointed. This course was commenced after
completion elsewhere of theological training. Highbury's
principal from 1863 until 1872 was john Smith Wardlawq son of
Ralph Wardlaw, and a retired missionary from India.
Unlike the L. M. S., founded in 1795 on a wave of enthusiasm,
and presenting the appearance of a viable business concern with
its Board of Directors made up of successful London business men
and prominent London ministers, the B. M. S was at first a purely
clerical concern representing one small association of Baptists.
1. L. T. Towersq 'The Bedford Missionary Training College and its connection with the London Missionary Society', Transactions of the Congregational Historical Societyq Volume XV, 191+59 PP-3493 -1+0- 2. L. M. S., Mijýu-tes of the CommiEtee, of Examination, February, 1850, P. 11. 3. See candidates papers for M. Sherring, W. Jones, J. Dennis, S. Mateer, W. M. Blakeg and J. Duthie.
-200-
Its first Committee, appointed in November, 1792, consisted of five Baptist ministers: John Rylandq John Sutcliff, William
Carey, Reynold Hogg, the first Treasurer, and Andrew Fuller,
the first Secretary. 1 Close friends all, they appear to have
formulated policy at informal meetings among themselves, rather
than in the formal atmosphere of a business meeting. Hence the
Minutes are searched in vain for any schemes of missionary
educationg and during the first two decades of its existence, the
B. M. S. provided neither a systematic nor an extensive training
for its missionaries. Possibly the Committee did not spend much
time on this question because they had a ready-made answer to it.
Ryland became President of Bristol Academy in 1793, and Sutcliff,
who had been a student at BrIstolq where he achieved academic
distinctiong and who, for two yearsq had directed the studies of
William Carey, was also well qualified to instruct missionary
candidates.
The first reference to missionary training in the Minutes
appears in 1798, when it'was resolved that the Society's
candidates 'should be placed under the care of some one of our
brethren .. * in order to their qualifications being ascertained,
and desirable improvements made'. By the same resolution Sutcliff
was requested to take two applicantsv" Chamberlain and Brunsdon,
for instruction. 2 Apart from Carey, they were the first of eleven
prospective missionaries for India who trained . under Butcliff,
residing in a house adjoining his own at Olney and making use of
his outstanding library, which on his death was given to the
Baptist Academy at Horton. 3 More than thirty trainees studied
1. B. M. S., Minutes, 2z: October, 1792t P-3. 2. Ibid., 20 September, 1798) PP-97f- 3. H. Howard, 'John Sutcliff of Olney1q Baptist Quarterly, Volume XIV, 1951-2t P-306.
-201-
under him, some of them receiving preliminary instruction before
passing on to Bristoll and Stepney2 Academies. Academic
attainments by the missionary students cannot have been high
considering the few educational advantages most candidates had
enjoyed before application, and the fact that so little time was
allowed them at Olney. Four of the eleven were fortunate enough
to receive additional training at Bristol under Ryland, but the
remainder were sent to India with generally less than a year's
instruction from Sutcliff. Daniel Brunsdon had been with Sutcliff
for two months when he wrote: 'To be employd [_sic] in this
service demands powers and abilitys[ sic] far beyond co=on
attainments. Does the minister of the gospel in this land need
a great deal of wisdom and prudence in propagating divine truth[? ]
The Missionary more. e3 In spite of this conviction he had to
embark for India less than six months later. His short period
of training was typical of early Baptist missionaries. Not
surprisingly, the Serampore Trio complained that the educational
attainments of the missionaries being sent out to them were not
high enough: even If they came equipped with a knowledge of
Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, they explainedg it would take a further
three or four years' study of the indigenous languages before
they could hope to begin translation work. lý When William Ward
asked Fuller to send men 'thoroughly qualified for the work of
translation', the latter remarked that 'scholars' were 'as rarely
willing to be missionaries as noblemen', and he irritably added
1. Bristol Baptist College, Minutes of. the Bristol Education Society, 2 August2 1805, P-173. 2. R. E. Cooperg From Stepney to St. Gilesit the Story of Regent' Park College. 1810-19609 London, 1960, p-. -27-.
B. M, S, 2 IN/21 D. BrEfisdon to J. Bedford, 30 November, 1798. B. M. S., IN/2 Careyq Marshman, and Ward to the Brethren,
1 November2 1806.
-202-
when Ward asked for men acquainted with Latin, Greekq and Hebrew,
'They write as if Latin, Gk. Esic ]and Heb. grew in our hedges'. '
In 1824 the Committee resolved to enquire: 'what plan of
instruction can be adopted in this country, preparatory to
Missionary Labour in the East Indiesq both respecting the course
of reading which Missionary students should pursue, their
theological inquiries, or the acquisition of languages, so as to
fit them for entering upon the scene of labour to the best
advantage'. 2 Nothing came of this laudable desire to devise a
specialised training for missionaries, and with the financial
difficulties of the late 1820s and of the early 1840s, the Society
took steps which ensured that missionary education came even
closer to that received by a Baptist minister who intended to
work in England. In 1828 the Committee resolved not to pay the
educational expenses of a prospective missionaryg but to reimburse
the colleges for any of their students whog at the conclusion of
their course of ministerial trainingg determined to become
missionaries. 3 In 1837 the B. M. S. Committee suggested to the
Baptist Education Societies that missionary students ought to be
educated free of charge at the academies which they sponsored -
Bristol, Stepney, and Horton. )+ The colleges agreed to a
substaAtial reduction in fees95 and in 181+6, following another
1. B. M. S. 2 IN/16, w. Ward to J. Sutcliff`2 13 January, 1810; Fuller's comments are appended to this letter. 2. B. M. S. 9 Minutes, 16 Septemberg 18249 pp. 94f. 3. Lbid. 2 13 Marchq 18282 pp. 61f. This step was recommended to avoid losses on missionary candidates who changed their minds about missionary service and who resolved to, go into the home ministry. 4. B. M. S., Minutesq 19 July. 18379 po'213. 5. Bristol Baptist College, minutes of the Bristol Education Society, 16 August, 18371 p. 23-
-205-
representation from the Committee of the B. M. S. 91 they agreed to make no claims for reimbursement of the cost of educating
students who decided to become missionaries. Consequently, In
the latter part of the period under review, the majority of Baptist missionaries had been students for the ministry at the
time of their applications, and had received an education
apfropriate to the home ministry. That interest in foreign
missions was considerable in these collegesq however, is
demonstrated by the high proportions of students who became
missionaries. 2
As with the L. M. S. at Gosport and the B. M. S. at Olney, the
G. B. M. S. at first attempted to provide an institution at Derby
where its applicants could receive a specifically missionary-
orientated training, and then (again like the L. M. S. and B. M. S. )
contented itself after 181F3 with sending candidates to the
Connexion's main theological training institution at Leicester
under Joseph Wallis. The Committee of the G. B, M. S. had already
accepted the principle t"t no missionary could be sent out
without training, 3 wheng in 1819, its first applicants were
accepted on probation. But nothing had yet been doneq so J. G.
Pike of Derbyq the principal-founder of the Society, was invited
to act as tutor and to draw up a scheme of missionary education.
The curriculum was to include the study of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew2 logic ('without spending time in all the Minutiae of
1. B. M. S., Minutes, 28 January, 1846, p. 245. 2. S. A. Swaine, Faithful Men, or, Memorials of Bristol Baptist College, and some of its most Distinguished Alumni p, 201; E. A. Payne, (ed. )q Studies in Higtory and Religion, L ndon, 1942, p-232n. An exception was the Welsh Baptist Academy at Abergavenny and Pontypool where only threeýof the one hundred and seventy-two students trained there by 1856, became missionaries. D. M. Himbury The South Wales BaDtiSt ColleRe3 1807-1=9 Llandysul, 1957, pp-56f.
* G. B, M. S., Minutes, 11 Mayq Ibl6p p*9*
-204- Watts'), natural theology (as 'a very large portion of the more
civilised population of the heathen world are actually atheists')
and Christian evidences, the Word of Godt Jewish antiquities,
church and modern missionary historyt geography, 'particular
attention to the manners, history, customs, literature and
theology' of those to whom missionaries were to be sent, 'the
ancient systems of paganism19 'the rise and progress and nature
of the Mahometan imposture', English compositiong printingg and
the British system of education. 1 This scheme, on paper the most
ambitious discovered in the course of this research, was to be
accomplished in only two years' study as 'an Infant Society'
could not reasonably be expected to afford longer. Only four
missionaries who went to India enjoyed the benefit of Pike's
expertise in these matters, the Society preferring wherever
possible to recruit those who had already received a theological
education.
ii
In the first half of the nineteenth century the shape of
ministerial training received by Congregationalists and Baptists
was determined largely by two eventsl the Act of Uniformity of
1662, and the Evangelical Revival. On St. Bartholomew's Day,
1662, upwards of two thousand clergy of Puritan persuasion -
Presbyterians, Independentsý and a few Baptists 2_ were ejected
from their livings when they refused to_conform to the formularies
of the Prayer Book and episcopal,, ordination. Among these were
about one hundred and fifty, clergy who taught in grammar schools
and In the two Universities. Diss I enting'students as well as
1. lbid. 9 28 Septemýer, 1819, pp. 18-21. 2. E. A. Payne and N. S. Moon, Baptists-and 1662,9 London, 1962, PP-13ff.
k
-205- teachers were effectively excluded from Oxford and Cambridge
as they were required to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articlesq
a disability under which the latter laboured until 1871, when
Parliament passed the Universities Tests Act. Some dissenters
sought a university education on the Continent or in Scotland
where no religious tests applied, but the majority received its
equivalent in the Dissenting academies-' Inferior to the
universities in numbers of staff (they frequently had only one
tutor), in library facilities, and in equipment, they were
cheaperg offered a wider curriculum7 and were frequently more
progressive. Students were better disciplinedg generally worked
harder, had shorter vacations, were more thoroughly examined7
and in the superior academiesq appear to have received a better
education than the universitiesq then notorious for their lethargy,
2 offered. For these reasons the Dissenting academies were
popular with Anglicans as well as Dissenters, and many were open
to students who desired to enter the liberal professions of Law
and Physic, as well as Divinity. 3
The second major historical influence on the type of
education received by missionaries from Nonconformist churches
was that of the Evangelical Revival. Congregations were both
larger and more numerous as a result of the Revivalq and a crisis
1. Dissenters thought of their academies as alternative universities. See I. Parker, Dissenting Academies in England. Cambridge, 1914, pp. 50-. 52,56. ' - 2. Among the historians who claim thatýthe'education offered by the Dissenting academies was superior to that of Oxford and Cambridge during the eighteenthýcentury'are I. Parker, o cit ho CIAT
ts, pp. 1+5f, 49,56; H. McLachlan, English Education under the 7e-st'; Manchester, 1931s pp. 16f; H. H. Belloto University College London,
-1926, Londoný 1929t pp. 6f, and'M. A Lairdq Missionaries and 1826 0 Education'in Bengal. 1793-1837, pp. 23-2L 3. For a list or the major Dissenting academies showing which were open to all students and which were confined to students for the ministry, see H. McLachlanq, op- cit 9 pp. 6-15.
-206-
was precipitated by the want of qualified pastors to minister to them. Furthermore, these congregations were not happy with the ministers who had studied at the older Dissenting academies because many of these were tending to Arianismg Socinianism,
Deism and Unitarianism. It may have been the Countess of
Huntingdon who first offered the obvious solution. In 1768 she founded a new college at Trevecca in response to the opposition
met by students holding 'Methodist tenets' at the universities. 1
Her purpose was to have Evangelicals trained for the Anglican
blinistry2 but the Dissenters probably benefited more because her 2 students were, unacceptable to the bishops, and the Countess had
no narrow denominational aspirations for her students in any case. 3
But of greater significance for Dissenters is the fact that 'for
a generation [Treveccaj became a model for theological educationl, 4
and it is therefore convenient to describe, this new departure as
'the Trevecca tradition'. Students received their education in
an atmosphere of great urgency produced by pity for the many
perishing souls. Hence they could not expect a long education or
to engage in such time-consuming luxuries as the study of
classical languages. 5 A shorter course (frequently two years)
and a narrower syllabus with emphasis on theology9 preachingg and
pastoralia characterised a large number of new, small, private
Dissenting academies. Their tutors, who were also pastors of
1. G. F., Nuttallq The Significance of Trevecca-College, 1768-91, London, 1969, pp . 4f. 2. Ibid. 9 p. 6. During the years 1818 to 18382 ninety students were educated at Cheshunt College, the successor to Trevecca. Of these only eleven-entered, the ministry of the-Established Church. J. Bennett) The HistorX of, Dissenters, duringthe Last Thirty Years (from 1808 to 1818)9 London, lb399 P-139.
J. Bennett, The History of nissentersq P-139. G. F. Nutta112 The Significance of Trevecca College., pq. G. F. Nuttallq 'The Students of Trevecca College, 1768-17911,
Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion,, 1967, - Part II, p. 2533-
-207-
churches, were often men convinced of the evils of the larger
and older academies, which, putting the pursuit of knowledge
above that of holiness, encouraged the student 'to recommend
himself to the great by his literaturep rather than to the good
by his usefalness'. 1 The tutor/pastor concentrated rather on
producing 'plain' and 'useful' pastors.
That David Bogue, tutor of the Gosport Academy and
Missionary Seminary, appreciated 'the Trevecca tradition' is
demonstrated by the superlatives used to describe that system
in his History of Dissenters. Together with his pupil, James
Bennett2 subsequently tutor at Rotherham Collegeg Bogue spoke of
the 'Prime excellence', the 'grand advantagelg and the 'forte,
of the never Dissenting academies. The 'prime excellence' was
the 'attention paid to the religion of the studentsI. 2 Unlike
many of the older Dissenting academiesq those patterned on Trevecca
confined instruction to candidates for the ministryl gave special
emphasis to 'ascertaining the experimental religioni3 of applicants,
and provided for students regular exercises in public prayer and
preaching. The 'grand advantage' lay 'in the direct tendency of
Students were being all their studies to solid usefulness'. ' )+
prepared for the duties and pitfalls of the pastoral office by
tutors who were themselves experienced pastors. The 'forte$ was
theology. Bogue and Bennett claim that 'many competent judges,
believed that students of Dissenting academies had a far better
acquaintance with theology than students at Oxford and Cambridge. 5
1. D. Bogue and J. Bennett, History of Dissenters,, (1+ Volumes), Londont 1808-12, Volume IV; ý-p, -2-99f, 2. Ibid
'Ip 301+.
Ibid, 2 P: 301+. Ib P: 307- Ip 306.
-208-
Most Nonconformist theological colleges in the first half
of the nineteenth century were the product of these two traditions
the tradition of the learned Dissenting academies created in the
wake of the Great Ejectment of 1662 and the Trevecca tradition
which was a response to the Evangelical Revival. The two
traditions coalesced, and the typical eighteenth century academies
which prepared students for the liberal professions 'were
transformed into sectarian training-colleges' 1
exclusively
preparing candidates for the ministry. Most Baptist and
Congregational missionaries were prepared for their work in these
'sectarian training-colleges'. But the picture is not a simple
one. The one hundred and thirty-seven L. M. S. missionaries here
selected for study received training in no fewer than thirty-five
different institutions. The fifty-eight Particular Baptist
missionaries were trained in fifteen institutions, and the eighteen
General Baptists in four. 2
Gosport, which trained more missionaries for India than any
other of these institutionsq was one of the new foundations which
G, F. Nuttall identifies as having belonged to 'the Trevecca
tradition'. 3 Bennett says that when in 1789 George Welch, a
wealthy London banker, sent three men to Bogue for instruction,
offering to pay all expenses, he had been 'reflecting on the
darknesscC many parts of the country for want of the pure preaching
of the gospel'. 4 His motives are made even more explicit by his
friend, William Jay) who together with Welch 'thought (for It was
the King's business, and required haste) that it was desirable
1. H. H. Ballot, op. cit., 2. See Appendix A. - 3. The Significance of Tr 4. J. Bennett, Memoirs of London, 18279 P-119-
P-7. p. 16.
-209- immediately to search outq and educatet a number of young men
of gifts and grace for the ministry, and place them in a kind
of domestic academies [AIC] ... They were to give these young
men a less literary training, but a more theological and
practical; or with a fuller reference ... to divinity and
preaching'. ' On to this domestic academy the Directors of the
L. M. S. grafted the Missionary Seminary in 1800.
The Theological Academy at Glasgow, where seventeen
missionaries trained for India, was similarly born of a great
sense of urgencyt although it is not included by Nuttall in his
list of colleges inspired by Trevecca. Its first tutors,
Greville Ewing and Ralph Wardlaw, believed that the infant cause
of Congregationalism in Scotland depended for its very life on
rapidly achieving an educated ministry. 2
Hoxton Academy, where Robert Morrison prepared for service
in China, John Philip for South Africa, Henry Townley for India,
and Aaron Buzacott for the Pacific Islands -a very distinguished
missionary alumni - was instituted in 1778 as an 'Evangelical'
and levangelising institutionl,, 3 rather than a specifically
Congregationalist academy for'imparting a liberaleducation only. )f
The course was to be only two years in duration, the curriculum
to consist of English and Divinity, and the students were to be
regularly exercised in preaching. 5
Apart from Gosport and Hoxton, academies where missionaries
trained for India and which Nuttall included in the Trevecca
1. G. Redford and J. A. James (eds. ), The Autobiography of the Rev. William Tay,, Second Editiong London, -IU59 p. 425. 2. H. Escott, A History of Scottish Congregationalism, p. 91; R. Wardlaw, Systematic Theology, Volume 19 p. 34. 3. T. Wilson A Memoir of the Life and Character of Thomas Wilson, esg.. Treasý&r of Highbury Gollegeg Londong 18469 P-154. 4. G. F. Nuttallq The Significance of Trevecca College, p, ll. 5. H. McLachlan, op. cit 9 p, 236.
-210-
tradition' were the Rotherham Academy founded in 1795 2 which,
however, like the Glasgow Theological Academy, was limited to CongregationaLlists only, 3 and Newport Pagnell Evangelical
Institution, founded in 178271+ and Hackney Academy2 opened in
1803,5 both of which enjoyed interdenominational support. 6
However, by the time most missionary students entered these institutions they had progressed far beyond the humble
intentions of their original benefactors. Owing to the influence
of the older and more prestigious institutions there was a
general upgrading in the breadth of the curriculum and in the
academic standards achieved. Next after Gosport and the Glas gow Theological Academy, most L. M. S. missionarýes for India studied
at Homerton College which by 1827, the date of entry of its
first missionary student, John Adamp was the'oldest and most illustrious Independent theological training college in Britain. 7
It had been founded as Homerton Academy in 1730.8 Its Principal
from 1806 until 1850, when it merged with'Highbury and Coward
I 1. G. F. Nuttall, The Significance of*Trevecca Collegeq pp. 10ff. 2. H. McLachlan, op. cit., p. 199. 3. Tutors had to be 'Calvinistic Independent dissenters', and students had to be members of Independent churches (Evangelical Ma azine, 17951, p. 466; Congregational Year Bookk lb479 P-133). -
- Newport Pagnell was based on 'A Plan Ff Academic Preparation for the Ministry' drawn up by John Newton. The course of studies was to be liberal, but modified by strict utilitarian principles; systematic theology and controversy were to be eschewed in favour of a Biblical theology, and students were expected to construe the Old and New Testaments in Hebrew and Greek and be tolerable masters' of the grammar of these, languaSes. H. McLachlan, op. cit., P . 241f. F.
Hackney was originally intended to provide only 'a slight and economical course of instruction' to prepare itinerants to fill the vacancies in churches. D.
-Bogue and J. Bennett, op. cit.,
Volume IV, p. 267- 6. Although a Dissenterg the first: tutor of Newport Pagnell, William Bull, was a close friend of John Newtong William Cowper, and John Thornton - all Evangelical Anglicans. Newton planned the scheme of educationt Cowper sent it to Bull, and Thornton financed the infant academy. -D., Bogue and J. Bennett, op. cit Volume IV, pp. 279f. Hackney was founded by John Eyre, an Evangelical Anglican. Ibid., p. 267- 7. Congregational Year Book, 18479 P-131. 8. THe name was cnangUa zo, 'College' in 1824.
-211- Colleges to form New College, was Dr. John Pye Smithq 'probably
the most encyclo'paedic scholar" of all the academies' tutors.
Conservative in theology, he yet introduced his students to the
study of the German language and German theology and wrestled
constructively with the problems posed for the Christian faith
by new developments in Geology. 2 He was elected Fellow of the
Geological Society in 1836 and Fellow of the Royal Society in
1840 and received doctorates in Divinity and Laws. From the
date of the inception of Homerton Academy a six-year course was
projected; the first two years were preparatory, the students
being expected to acquire a working acquaintance with the classics
and Hebrew, and the latter four years were devoted mainly to
theology. In 1840 queen Victoria awarded Homerton a warrant to
issue certificates for degrees in the University of London, a
fact which gave an added stimulus to the scientific and
philosophical aspects of the college course. 3 To assist him
with his six-year course Smith had four other members of staff; l+
the days of the one-man academy were over. The course, which
provided a thorough grounding in the classics and Hebrew and
Syriac, in systematic theology and Biblical criticism, in
ecclesiastical and secular history, in. logic and'moral philosophy,
in natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural history, in
geometry, algebra, and Euclid, 5 would have been a thorough
academic training for the fifteen, missionary students who studied
there had they remained for the full six years. However, some
1. H. McLachianp CD. cit-9 p. 18; cf' P-181. 2. J. P. Smith's Relation between-th; Holy Scriptures and sc
arts of Geological Science was published as early Congregational Year Book, lb47s' PP-130f- Ibid. The
5. Y. -BennetT7History of Dissenters, P-130; H. McLachlan, OP. cit., pp-183ff.
-212- remained for only a few months while taking advantage of proximity to the Metropolis to study Indian languages, and none remained for
more than four years. Nevertheless2 John Adam, an alumnus of the Universities of Glasgow and St. Andrews, probably found there
an appreciative environment in which to commence the then rather
esoteric study of Sanskrit and to improve his grasp of Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew. ' The last missionary student to enter Homerton
(September, 1839) was John Henry Parker. Towards the end of his
fourth year John Pye Smith reported that Parker was well versed
in church history, had made some progress in German and French,
and was above average in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Smith revealed
that in view of Parker-s missionary future the College tutors had
not liked to force him to pay too much attention to mathematics,
but that he was 'pretty well acquainted' with the elements of
algebra2 with Euclid, and natural philosophy. A glimpse of the
progressive nature of Homerton is seen in Parker's own complaint
to his tutor that he felt most deficient In 'what the Germans call
Psychology 1.2
Apart from John Pye Smith's outstanding scholarship in fields
as diverse as Hebrew, theology7^and geology, another aspect of
the man may have been noticed and emulated by the students. He
refused to concede that there were any social disadvantages in
being a Dissenter. He dressed immaculatelyp wore gloves into the
pulpit, and paid considerable sums of. money to establish one of
his sons in the legal profession, and another in medicine. 3
1. Memoir of John'. Adam' I' late Missionary at-Calcuttag P. 169. 2. f. -M. 8 C P., (J. H. Parker), J. P. Smith to J. Arundelý 20 May, H43:
1ý ý- I. -1 1 3. J. H. Taylor, ' 'Some'John Pye Smith'Letters', Transactions of the Congregational Historical Society,. Volume XXI 1970t P-3
-21 3- Homerton was not only 'a nursery of orthodoxyll and 'the
dissenting Oxfordl; 2 it was also a finishing school for gentlemen.
Homerton was worthy of emulation, and this examplet together
with the tradition of the learned Dissenting academiesq the new
demands of a new ageq the influence of tutors who had received
a superior education in Scottish universities, and the demands
for a wider syllabus in sciences, geographyq and languages by
missionary students, served to transform the humble foundations
modelled on Trevecca into larger colleges with more ambitious
trustees who were less suspicious of the value of a liberal
education. Trevecca itself moved to Cheshunt in 1792, a second
tutor was appointed in 1814, and the course was increased from
two to four years. In 1839 Dr. John Harris was appointed resident
theological tutor, and before his appointment in 1850 as the first
Principal of New College, he introduced written examinations to
Cheshunt and affiliated the College to the University of London.
The curriculum on his appointment to Cheshunt consisted of Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, mathematics, systematic and, expository theologyq
church history, philosophy and logic, and sermon composition. 3
When the five missionaryý-candidates studied there preparatory to
service In Indial, the College was no longer 'a clearing-house
for probationary preachers"t as it was in its Trevecca days, and
some effort was made to give a missionary orientation to the
studies of missionary candidates. 5,
,,
1. R. T. Jonesq Congre 2. D. Bogue and J. Be 3. J. Bennettq Histor Year Book, 1847,, P. 13 4. B. C. OrChardj'A Re Dowazer Countess of H
OD* cit., voiume j issenters, PP-138f;
f thetCollege found
62-12629 p. 176. p. 261.
Congregational
* Aj 0 rA 0 Lj, 40 1 Vero Iv&
ad bX Selinal n, undated, P. t).
Arundelp 31 March, 1837.
-214-
Hoxton Academy, too, rapidly ascended the scale to eminence
and respectability. In 1797 a second tutor was appointed, and by
1804 the course had been extended to a maximum of four years and
the curriculum had been widened to include the classical languages
and Hebrew, logic, rhetoriag history, geography, and natural
philosophy, in addition to the original English grammar and
composition and divinity. 1 In 1826 the Academy moved into a
handsome Gothic edifice at Highbury. The resident theological
tutor from 1830 to 1849 was Dr. Ebenezer Henderson, who had$ during
the previous five years, conducted the Mission College at Hoxton.
The seven missionary students who studied for service in India at
Highbury enjoyed wide advantages - the 'oriental scholarship' of
Henderson, the classical scholarship of Robert Halley, later
Principal of New College, and the youthful genius of Henry Rogers,
who continued to lecture at Highbury on logic and rhetoric after
his appointment to the chair of English Language and Literature
at the University of London in 1836.2
Rotherham Academy in Yorkshire more. quickly acquired a high
reputation thanks to its first tutorg Dr. 'Edward
Williams, the
theologian who did most to establish Moderate Calvinism in the
Independent churches. 3 The five L. M. S. missionaries who trained
at Rotherham studied under William Stowell or F. J. Falding
(successive tutors in theology and oriental languagesl+). Four of
the five completed the four-year course which comprised Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, mathematicsq systematic theology,
1. Evangelical Magazine2 1801+, p. 94 2. H. H. Bellot, op. cit., pp-113f;
6ongregational Year Book, 18599 p. 200.
See above, pp. 104f f as. 'Oriental languages' in the theological academies usually
referred to Hebrewq, Chaldeeq' and Syriac.
-215-
logicq mental and moral philosophy, rhetorict elocution, church
history, and sermon composition. 1 The fifth student, Frederick
Baylis, spent only two years at Rotherham. His unfortunate,
experience there illustrates the relative instability of academies
with small staffs: Stowell was ill, the Classical Department
disrupted, and the trustees were indecisive in mooting a merger 2
with Airedale College. Baylis pleaded to be moved elsewhere .
The beginnings of the Theological Academy at Glasgow were
humble enough - the institution had no buildings of its own,
the course was confined to divinityt and its tutorsq both busy
pastors, had little time to prepare lectures for their students.
At first, they each met the students oi2ly once a week and read
from the Scriptures with them. 3 Ralph Wardlaw found he could do
little for his students apart from reading to them his lectures
on Paul's Epistle to the Romans. He consoled himself with the
hope that this was as good an introduction to systematic theology
as any. )+ Long before 18301 however, when L. M. S. policy allowed
missionary candidates to study at Glasgow in large numbers,
Wardlaw, who was in charge of systematic theology, and Greville
Ewing, who lectured in Biblical criticism, would have compiled
comprehensive courses of instruction. 5 Furthermore, the course
was confined to divinity not-through a narrow conception of
ministerial educationg but because students could be sent to the
1. J. Bennett. The History of Dissenters, p. 150. 2. L. M. S., C. P. -2-F. 79-aylis to 1.7-Tidmanj 25 January', 1850, and
April, 1850. J. Bennett, The History of Dissenters pp. 181+ff. W. L. Alexanderg Memoirs or the Lire an Writings of Ralph
Wardlaw, D. D., p. 1470. 5. rdlaw's iheological lectures were edited by J'. R. Campbell and published posthumously In Edinburgh in 1856 in three large volumes entitled 2j§tem9Lt-iP Zheojýaa. Oki the compilation of these lectures and the revision they underwent during Wardlaw'-s presidency of the Academy (1811-1853) see Volume 1p pp-iiif.
-216-
University of Glasgow for lectures in classics, philosophy and
sciences. Of the seventeen missionaries who trained at the
Theological Academy only four do not appear to have simultaneously
attended the University. William Harris2 for example, completed
the p-rescribed four-year courseq studying Biblical criticism and
systematic theology at the Academy andt at the University, Latin,
Greek, Hebrewq Chaldee7 logicq moral philosophy, mathematics7
natural philosophy$ anatomyg botanyq and chemistry. 1 Another of
the missionary students7 James Russell, is known to'-have risen
each morning at four to prepare for the day's classes during the
seven months of the University term (November to May) for four
years. He attended the Academy four times each week for divinity
lectures, while, at the University, he attended lectures in '
classics, mathematics2 and moral and natural philosophy. Each
2 evening he retired at nine o'clock.
Neither can Gosport be fully understood within the confines
of the Trevecca tradition. Appreciative as he was of the domestic
adademies, Bogue was too well educated andq through his historical
survey of the Dissentersq too well aware of the advantages and
strengths of the older academiest to remain uncritical of the new.
His own training for the ministry included nine years' study at
Edinburgh, an advantage he longed for more to enjoy. While he
asserted that the academies gave instruction in some areas
superior to that of the universitiest he constantly bemoaned the
fact that Oxford and Cambridge were closed to Dissenters.
Wistfully he looked back to the illustrious university-educated
fathers of Congregationalism who were expelled from the Established
Church in 1662 and who were at once the most learned and the most
1. L. M. S. 9 C. P. 2 (W. Harris), R. Wardlaw and G. Ewing to the Directors, 7 Januaryý 1830. - 2. L. M. S. 9 C. Pý? J. Russell to the Directors, 13 December, 1836, and medical re ort, 19 Januaryp 1837.
-217-
truly pious of the clergy. '
Bogue also approved of those theological institutions at
which the standard of academic achievement was being raised above
12 the level of 'plain unlettered pastors . Instancing the extended
curricula at Hoxton and Rotherham, Bogue insisted that this was
not to be 'regretted as an infelicity' even if they did go beyond
the purposes envisaged by their founders and first benefactors. 3
A greater compulsion to widen the original curriculum at
GosPort came from Bogue's own priorities for missionary
enterprise. He had never approved of the missionary expeditions
to the South Seas which encouraged the Directors of the L. M. S.
to content themselves with unlettered artisans; he wanted the
L. M. S. to advance into the ancient civilisations of the East
with their hundreds of millions of lost souls. In 1796, that
is just four years before he began to train the Society's
missionaries, he had consented to join the Haldane brothers and
Greville Ewing in their proposed journey to India, where, at
Benares, they intended to establish a seminary to instruct the
natives of India in the Christian religion, a scheme frustrated
by the East India Company's policy of non-interference with
India's culture. '+ Having been convinced that he could best use
his abilities in India, 5 Bogueq when disappointed, consciously
endeavoured to make Gosport serve India's need. There is no
doubt that India was uppermost in his mind when he drew up his
1. D. Bogue and J. Bennettq op. cit 9 Vol=e IVt P-301. 2. Ibid. 9 P-302. ý, IF-id.
. Y-. Bennettý Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. David Bogue,
-D. D.,
p,. 203. H. Escott, :& History of Scottish Congregationalismt p. 54.
-218-
missionary lectures. 1 The classics had to be mastered as they
laid a foundation for the study of India's languages, In which
missionaries were to preach with facilityt and into which they
were expected to translate the Scriptures.. Philosophy and
Christian evidences had also to be studied thoroughly so that
the clever systems of the Hindus might be confuted. Bogue's
standards were so high that many of the Society's candidates found
the course far too difficult. The Directors of the L. M. S. were
not altogether pleased with these developments, but they felt
unwilling to overrule the venerable Dr. Bogue's aspirations.
So they characterised Gosport as a seminary 'for Asiatic
Missionaries of a higher order of Talents for Translating the
Scriptures into the Oriental Languages 12 and they contemplated
establishing another seminary with less exacting requirements to
train missionaries for Africa and the West Indies. At Gosport
a large and increasing amount of the students' time was devoted
to classical studies. The Classical Department was strengthened
in 1817 by the appointment of Bogue's own son who had graduated
with distinction from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
He was replaced in 1821 by the Rev. Theophilus Eastman, who held
the post until 1826. This was a significant development as
Bogue himself had been suspicious of the place of classics in 3 the curriculum of a theological college. He had not only to
overcome his own reservations and the doubts of those whose
thinking had been moulded in the Trevecca tradition, but he also
1. 'The considerable attention paid by Dr. Bogue to Indian missions in his lectures, possibly turned the thoughts of his students particularly to that field... I W. N. Gunsont 'Evangelical Missionaries in the South Seas, 1797-18601, p. 128. 2. L M. S,, Minutes of the Committee of Examination, 12 September, 1811+; P. 94. 3. D. Bogue and J. Bennettq OP--cit-7 Volume III, p. 265.
-219r-
had to contend with those who thought that the 'best education
for missionaries [was] none at all'. ' But once having decided
that the change was necessary, Bogue was adamant, complaining
irritably of the 'mistaken interference of some laymen, whose
opinions he reckoned more valuable on any other subject than
on the quantity of Greek or Hebrew which it was proper to Impart 2 to missionary students' .
The prejudice against college training for the ministry
was even more deeply rooted in Baptist circles. Throughout the
eighteenth century Baptist hyper-Calvinists derided theological
training institutions as denigrating the sovereignty of God; to
give further education to those divinely called and equipped
with spiritual gifts for the ministry was thought a slur on the
Holy Spirit. 3
Joshua Marshman was one victim of this hyper-Calvinist
antagonism to 'man-made' ministers2 as the conservative deacons
of his church at Westbury Leigh labelled those who passed through
theological institutions. When Marshman asked to be baptized he
was informed that, ', he had far too much 'head knowledge' to have
sufficient 'heart knowledge' of the faith, Seven years later he
left Westbury Leigh still unbaptized. 1 The cautious deacons must
have muttered their displeasure at Marshman, 's subsequent
endeavours to secure an adequate ministerial education, for he
spent some time at Bristol Baptist Academy, at the early demise
of which the members of the church at, -Westbury Leigh would have
rejoiced. '+
1. J. Bennett, Memoirs of ... David Bogue. 9 P. 220. 2. -T. Morisonj, The Fathers and Founders of the Society, (2 Volumes), Londong undated, Volume 3. D. M. Himbnry, 'Training Baptist Ministers', Yolume XXI, 1965-6 W 342.
TAfe and Times -of
Carez, 4 J. C. j4arshman. ýhp, Volume I, pp. ju>r..
rshman, and Wardq
B, a-ptist QuarterlXj
-220- But the liberating influence of Fuller's theology was
being felt in the matter of ministerial training, as well as
in evangelism and mission. 'Another of the early Baptist
missionaries, James Chater, met with far more enlightened
treatment from the members of his church at Middleton Cheney,
under the ministry of Thomas Green. After Chater had preached
a number of sermons in his church, Green and its members
unanimously resolved to give him 'a Letter of recommendation'
which constituted a regular call to the ministry and which
entitled him to 'preach-wherever Providence Eopened]a Door for
him'. He impressed his pastor with his 'Seriousness', 'humility',
'piety', and preaching gifts. 'Butt' wrote Green in his
recommendation to the Bristol Education Society, 'he wants
Cultivation. And it is not to be wondered at that he should,
for he was taken away from the Anvil to the pulpit without any
help or assistance. His language appears to be tolerably good,
but his Grammar is badand there are other things in him as a
preacher that want correction'.
Clearly Green believed thatq although Chater was obviously
called by God and given the gift of preaching)he would nevertheless
benefit greatly from a college course and become a more effective
minister as a result. This attitude was shared by the Committee
of the Bristol Education Societyq formed in 1770 to supply
Baptist churches 'with a succession of able and evangelical 2 Ministers and which for years appended to annual reports an
assurance that only such students should be admitted to Bristol
Baptist Academy 'who appear to be partakers of vital religion,
sound in the faith and reputable in their depoLrtment; as well
1. Bristol Baptist College Archives, Ms. 88ej T. Green to J. Ryland, 10 Marchp 1803. 2. Minutes of the Bristol Education SocietYP 7 June, 1770, P-1.
-221-
as possessed of such talents as will render them apt to teach'. '
But the Committee insisted that an educated ministry was
necessary because of the 'general increase of knowledge in the
nation' and because 'an illiterate though pious ministry must
be exposed to needless contempt'. 2 Robert Hall advanced similar
arguments in the prospectus he wrote for Stepney Baptist Academy,
opened in 1811: 3
An unconverted ministry we look upon as the greatest
calamity that can befall the churchq nor would we be
supposed to insinuate ... that education can ever be
a proper substitute for native talent, much less for
real piety: all we mean to assert is, that the union
of both will much enlarge the capacity of doing good.
A result of the new importance which Baptists attached to
an educated ministry was thatp within a generation, a network
of Baptist training colleges was established throughout England.
The West was served by Bristol Baptist Aaddemy (which can
actually tra-ce its history back to 16791ý) supported by the
Bristol Education Society (1770). Here twenty-four missionaries
were trained for India in our period. In the North, Horton
Academy was supported by the Northern Education Society formed
in 1804. Here four missionaries, including William Wardq
received training for service in India. Also in 1804 the Baptist
Education Society was formed in London. This Society sponsored
1. Accounts of the Bristol Education Society, 18071 P-1f. 2. Ibid. 3.. rh-is prospectus was included in many of the annual Reports of the Stepney Academical Institution. It is quoted iii full in G. P. Gouldg The Baptist College at Regent's Park: A Centenary Record Londong 1910, PP-35ff. 4. N. N: Moong 'Caleb Evans, Founder of the Bristol Education Society', Baptist-Quarterlyg October, 1971, P-175.
-222-
Stepney Academy where eleven prospective missionaries studied
prior to departure for India. A Welsh Academy was established
in 1807 at Abergavenny, whence it moved to Pontypool in 1836.
Here two missionarie s prepared for service in India. For the
New Connexion of General Baptistsq formed in 1770 by Dan Taylor,
a theological academy was opened at Mile Endq London, in 1798.
Taylor himself supervised the Academy until 1812. In 1813,
three years before the foundation of the G. B. M., the Academy
was moved to Wisbechq where under the tuition of Joseph Jarromtl
six missionaries were trained for India. A measure of the
success of these ventures into theological education is indicated
by the fact that, whereas in the eighteenth century the
academy-trained Baptist pastor was an exception, about ninety
per cent of the Baptist missionaries who served In India in our
period are known to have received some academical training.
Next to the C. M. S. 's Training Institution at Islington and
the L. M. S. Is Missionary Seminary at Gosportý the Bristol Baptist
College trained a larger contingent'of missionaries for India
than any other British institution before 1859. That in itself
would sufficiently justify making a special study of Bristol
College. But in the problems which it faced, the improvements
which it achieved, and the curriculum which it offeredý Bristol
was typical of the major Dissenting academies in the first half
of the nineteenth century, and for this reason, too, the following
case study is made.
1. J. H. Wood, A'Condensed History of'the General Baptists of the New Connexion, j London and Lelcesterv Ib47v pp. 261+-f) 302ff.
-223-
III
The first prospective missionary to enter Bristol Academy,
Joshua Marshman, enrolled in 17959 and the last in our period,
William Sampson, left in 1855. During that period Bristol had
only two Presidents, John Ryland (1793-1825) and Thomas Steffe
Crisp (1825-1868). Ryland, an orthodox Calvinist, was an
outstanding Hebrew scholar - his manuscript sermons, preserved
in the College archives, are remarkable in that the Scripture
texts are written in beautiful Hebrew characters. He was
assisted in the teaching of classics by Joseph Hughes (who
resigned in 1796). Isaac James (1796-182 ), Henry Page (1802-
1817), and Thomas Crisp (1818-1825). In 1805 Benjamin Donne
was engaged to teach mathematics on a part-time basis. He was
replaced in 1809 by Thomas Exley when the Bristol Education
Society resolved to broaden the instruction offered at the
Academy. Exley gave instruction in mathematics2 geographyq
astronomy, and natural philosophy. 2, Together with James he
resigned after Ryland's death in 1825t thus permitting a complete
reorganisation of the Academy.
It is tempting to conclude that missionaries must have
received an impressive education at Bristol by contemporary
standards: the course of four years was as long as most; the
staff of four tutors was unusually large for a theological
academy; the curriculum was wide, and the regimen of classical
authors studied was respectable. 3' And it is striking thought
that before the C. M. was even born)a prospective Baptist
missionary, Joshua Marshman, was preparing at Bristol for
1. H. McLachlan (OP. cit. P 97) is in error in supposing that James only served until 1902: 2. Minutes of the Bristol Education Society, 21 September, 1809, P-31. 3 Ibid. 28 July, 18249 pp. 52ffq for a catalogue of books siu=e
Ly Andrew Leslie and Thomas Swan, prospective missionaries.
-224-
missionary labours in India by studying Arabic and Syriac in
addition to Greek and Hebrew. ' John Chamberlain spent most of 2 his time at Bristol studying Hebrewp Chaldee, and Arabicl and
Andrew Leslie's reading there included the Koran and some Hindu
scriptures; he left for India already convinced that all claims
to their inspiration were 'weak, unsatisfactory, and erroneousi. 3
However, there were deficiencies in the system of education
under Ryland. In the first place, too many students left the
Academy before completing the four-year course. William Moore,
2)r example, who in his schooling had never heard of grammar, IF
cannot have spent more than a year at Bristol and Olney together,
before departing for India, where he proved incapable of learning
any Indian language. 5 Secondly, although there were four members
of staff, only Ryland was resident and he was co-pastor of the
busy church at Broadmead. A sub-committee of inquiry reporting
in 1824 complained of the 'comparative inefficiency' of the
system of education under Ryland: tutors were apparently more
concerned about the morals of the pupils than their academic
progress; they only met their students for a few hours each
week; and the courses given by the classical tutors overlapped. 6
Thirdly, too many lectures-were missed by students who had to
travel long distances from Bristol to fulfil preaching engagements.
Fourthlyq academic advancement was retarded by the large
percentage of Welsh students who had to be taught English.
And finally, although missionary candidates at the Academy did
study languages of some relevance to their future work and the
1. W. H. Carey, Oriental Christian Biography, Volume III p 259. 2. W. Yates. MeFo--irsof Mr. John Chamberlain, DD. 61.78.68. " a: Baptist Quarterly, 19427 p. b9.
W. H. Carey, OP. c1t , volume III, p. 200. Ibid., p; 203; B. M. S., Minutes 9 Novembert 1802 (unga&inated).
6. ffl-nut6s f the Bristol Education Societyq 26 May, 12, pp. 31ff.
-225- sacred writings of Muslims and Hindusq their studies in these
areas appear to have been largely self-directed. 1 Numbers of
students later expressed the opinion that academic standards were
not high under Ryland, and thatq particularly towards the end of
his presidency, the Academy was languishing. 2
The assessment of Ryland's achievements at Bristol ought
not to end on a negative notet however. Under him the course
had been expanded to embrace more scientific and mathematical
subjects; the Academy was moved to larger premises at Stokes
Croft, Bristol; Welsh students9 together with those who displayed
little ability in the acquisition of languages, were sent for
preparatory instruction to other ministerst like Sutaliff at
Olney, so that the tutors at Bristol could assume an elementary
grasp of the classics in, -. all who entered the Academy; 3 and no
first-year students were permitted to accept any preaching
engagements. )+ It should also be remembered that Ryland did more
for his students than give them a good grounding in Hebrew - he
was an inspiring preacher, greatly esteemed in his denomination,
a valued friend of Wilberforce15 and, he was closely associated
with the romantic origins of the B. M. S. And, although he does
not appear to have given instruction in exclusively missionary
subjects at Bristol, he would have been a valuable guide to
missionary candidates on their future worký as he was a Secretary
of the B*M*S. from 1815 to 1825. :: If the system of ministerial-training at Bristol had evolved
haphazardly under Ryland, -it was reorganised and systematised at
1. W. Yates, Memoirs of Mr. John Chamberlain* p 8; W. H. Carey, 02- cit., Volume 11P P-30 (reference to Yttes-ý. 2. - H. --McLachlanq ov. cit- i- PP-97f, 3. Minutes of the Bristol Education Society, 17 May, 1804, and 2 August, 1805. 4. Ibid. 9 3 August? 1820.
W-U-17erforcess letters to Ryland have been preserved in the College archives.
-226- the beginning of Crisp's presidency. The course was divided
into two Departments. The Theological Department, taken by
the President, was responsible for systematic theology, Biblical
criticism, Hebrewq church history, pastoralial and preaching. 1
Crisp, who was educated at the University of Glasgowq appears
to have been a shy man who never rose to Ryland's eminence in
the Baptist denomination. Orthodox in theology, devout in his
faith, transparently sincere, he was in Hebrew a meticulous
scholar and an exacting tutor. 2
The Classical and Mathematical Department was to provide
instruction in Latin and Greek, in classical antiquities, and
in the 'elementary branches of pure and mixed Mathematics .3 Instruction in logic, rhetoric, English compositiong and elocution
had also to be provided in one or both of the above departments.
During Crisp's presidency the Classical and Mathematical
Department was served by four tutors: William Anderson (1825-33),
William Pechey (1833-10, Edgar Huxtable (1834-45)$ and Frederic
William-Gotch (1845-68). Gotch was the most remarkable of the
four: in 1832 he had entered Bristol Academy as a student; he
subsequently graduated from Dublin University, which later awarded
him the degree of Doctor of Laws. From 1841 until 1845 he
lectured in philosophy and natural science at Stepney Academy,
and in 1868, he succeeded Crisp as President of Bristol College.
Outstanding in the fields of mathematiesp philosophy, and science,
his most brilliant scholarly contribution was to Hebrew studies;
he served as a member of the committee which produced the Revised
Version of the Old Testament in 1884.1+ ,
1. Minutes of the Bristol Education 80cietYq 3 August, 1825, P-93. 2. F. Trestraill Reminiscences-of ColleRe Life in Bristol, during the Ministry of the Rev. Robert Hall, A. M., Lond undated, pp. 2, ', 3. M nutes of the Bristol Education SOcietYi 3 August, 18259 P-93. 4. 'Bristol Baptist College - the 250th Anniversarylý (anon. ) Baptist Quarterly, Volume IV) 1928-99 p. 297.
-227- Four farther stbps to raise academic standards were taken
during Crisp's presidency: greater restrictions were placed on
students' preaching; 1 annual external examinations were
introduced; 2 applicants were given a more thorough examination
prior to admission; 3 and in 181+1 the Academy was affiliated to
the University of London and changed its name to 'Bristol Baptist
College'. '+
The last was the most significant change. To qualify
students to matriculate and graduate at the University it was
decided that in mathematics, classics, and Hebrew, it was not
necessary to alter the. course in any way, which is, perhaps an
indication of the standard of instruction given at Bristol at
this time. However, for natural history, natural philosophy,
and chemistry, another tutor had to be engaged. 5 Subsequently,
it was learned that courses in French and German were also
required by the University. 6 For those wishing to take University
examinations the course at Bristol was -extended
from four to
five years. 7
In this stage of its development the history of Stepney
College closely parallels that at Bristol. At Stepney, Stuart's
Hebrew Grammar, used by first-year students28 was replaced after
1. Minutes of the Bristol Education Society, 3 Augustt 1825, p. 94; 19 February, 181fl, p. gg. 2. Ibid., 3 August, 1 259 p*glf*
Ibid., li January 1838, p. 26. Y-bid.; 1 June, 1641$ p. 84. Y-bid.
,8 January, 1841, P-75. 6. TOF derman was studied at Dissenting colleges did not indicate so much that their tutors were desirous that their students should study German theology as that it was a prescribed subject which the colleges had to offer in order to satisfy University requirements. Cf. E. A. Payne (ed.,, )g Studies in History and Religion. p. 246. "'--4 7 -Minutes of the Bristol Education Societyq 8 Januaryq 18 19 P-75. 8: Stepney Collegeg Reportý 1836, p-17.
-228-
affiliation with the University by that of the German scholar,
Gesenius, and, in German, students were studying SchilleiZrarrd 2 Wallenstein. In divinity, the University connexion forced
greater conformity on theological students of different
denominations, since Butler's Analogy (1736) and Paley's 3
Evidences (17910 were set as prescribed texts. In philosophy,
Stepney students were introduced to Butler's Sermons, Paley's
Moral Philosophy, and Whateley's Lmic. '+ Richard Whateley, an
Oxford liberal or tNoeticlý was by then Archbishop of Dublin,
and his Rhetoric had been studied at Stepney before its
affiliation with the University. 5 Opposed to party spirit and
dogmatism, his hard reasoning was a much-needed corrective to
those who-thought of the Bible asa repository of proof-texts
or a treatise on systematic theology. But it may be doubted if
the older works of Butler and Paley offered much assistance to
those attempting to defend the faith against developments in
Biblical criticism, science, and geology. As Payne has remarked,
the link with the University was not all gain. 6
Neither did many Baptist missionaries receive university.
qualifications. George Parsons, a Bristol student, attended
classes at University College, Londong in 1837, before Bristol's
affiliation with the University, and after affiliation, only
one missionary student for India at Bristol, William Sampson,
appears to have matriculated at the University of London before
1859. Stepney's record was hardly more impressive. One
1. Ibid., 1843, P-8. 2. Ibide, p. q.
jbid. 9 p. 8.; E. A. Payne, op. cit., p. 21+6. Stepney College,., Report,, 18431 p. 9.
5* Ibid. 9 18369 p-17. 6. rMudies in_History and Religion, p. 21+7.
-229- prospective missionaryý Robert Gibson, left Stepney in 1838,
having been awarded a scholarship at University College, London.
From here he matriculated at the University in the same year,
graduated in 1840, and shared the first prize In the Scriptural
Examination which was instituted the previous year and which
was the unsatisfactory forerunner of the University's Bachelor
of Divinity degree. One other Stepney missionary student2 Thomas
Collins Pageq matriculated in 181+5-1 Scottish universities
continued to attract Baptist students even after the development
of ties with the University of London, but, even so, only one
in five of all B. M. S. missionaries to India before 1859 had
received some university education whereas the L. M. S. managed to
achieve a ratio of almost one in three. However, all students
of theological institutions affiliated with the University of
London must have benefited acadepically through the wider courses
and improved tuition which generally resulted from the affiliation. 2;
IV
A complete set of the lectures delivered at Gosport by
David Bogue has been preserved13 but in this concluding section
of the chapter, notice can only be taken of the content of the
missionary lectures. Here It must suffice to list the subjects
studied at Gosport and the number of lectures which Bogue
delivered in each: theology (120); Old Testament (30); New
Testament (30); rhetoric (35) plus exercises in composition and
preaching; Latin, Greek2 and Hebrew (studied In all three years
1. Lists of matriculants and graduates of the University of London are given in The University of London. General Register, Part 1, December 31t lb90, Londonv undated. 2. Lists of colleges affiliated with the University, usually arranged in order of the date of affiliationg are to be found in successive editions of the London University Calendar. 3. In the archives of New Collegep London.
-230- of the course); 'Principles of Universal Gra=arl (5); logic
evidences of Christianity (20); pastoral office (40);
ecclesiastical history (28); Jewish qntiquities (16); 'Sacred
History before the Christian Era' (15); missionary lectures (26);
geography and astronomy (30); and introductory lectures 10
Bogue's missionary lectures were compiled largely on the
basis of his reflections on the lives of prominent missionaries
like Brainerd, Eliot, Mayhew, Schwartz, the Danish missionaries
who worked in India, and his own students, Cran and Des Granges.
Frequent references are made to Moravians and Roman Catholics,
both of whom had deeply impressed Bogue with their missionary
zeal. 2 The 'divine pattern' of the apostles' missionary work
as recorded in the Book of Acts wast of course, the source of
greatest authority.
1. This list is based mainly on an entry in the Minutes of the Committee of Examinationg 15 May, 1815, P-376. 2. 'The labours of the Church of Rome have been far more abundant than those of all other seats whatever. ... The Moravian Brethren have, iffwe consider their numbers and their substance, excelled the whole Christian world. ' Quoted in R. Lovett, The History of the London Missionary ociety, 18959 (2 Volumes), London, 10999 Volume 1, pod.
t
-231-
The lectures may be grouped under four heads: - A.
-Qualifica- tions of a Missionary
1. Office and Qualifications of a Missionary
B. Duties of a, Missionary
2. Employment of a=Missionary
3-5. On Preaching 6. on Reasoning with the Heathen about Religion 7. On Conversation
8. On Catechising
9. on Writing and Publishing BUoks 10. On Setting up Schools
11. On the Studies of a Missionary
20. Of blending other Employments with Missionary Labours
21. Of the Establishment of Churches among the Heathen
C. O"osition Encouragement
13. Opposition to be expected by Missionaries
14. Difficulties attending Missions
15. Encourage- ments to Missions
16. Behaviour of Missionaries to each other
23 - Of persevering in a, Mission
21+. Of Quitting the Missionary work
D. Missionary Strategy
12. Fields of Missions
17. Behaviour of Missionaries to different classes of people
18. Conduct and Doctrine of Missionaries respecting Civil Government
19. The Number of Missionaries in one Station
22. Method of Extending a Mission when successful
25. Of the Duration of a Mission in a Country
26. Advantages of Ancient and Modern Missionaries compared
In his description of the qualifications of a missionary,
Bogue's insistence on the importance of education and the danger
of sectarianism are clearly seen. The missionary must have #a
vary accurate knowledge of the christian [aJa] system' and of
'the method of conveying' it to the heathen mind. This latter
necessitated an acquaintance with the languages of the heathen
and with universa 1 grammar, 'an intimate knowledge of the human
heart', and 'an accurate knowledge' of the 'national character,
-232-
disposition, manners and religion' of the heathen. The
missionary's attitudes should be 'generous' and 'liberal':
'he should not be inordinately attached to any party of
Christians' and his 'enlarged catholic loveI9 close adherence
to the 'simplicity' of primitive Christianity, and the great
themes of that religion, should influence his converts to
$cherish union, not to promote division'. Bogue also enumerated
the natural and spiritual qualities which the missionary should
have: natural qualities included a 'good temper', #Quickness
and readiness of mind', 'Skill in ingratiating himself in the
people's favourt, and a 'good constitution'; spiritual qualities
included humility, patience, fervent zeal, 'Great deadness to the
world', and a #spirit of martyrdom'. '
The first duty of the missionary was the acquisition of the
language which was to be considered as 'a spiritual service
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ'. Although he said it
was an 'important part of the first year's labourl, thus implying
that it was not the responsibility of his seminary to impart
such knowledge, he was of the opinion that 'Persons of a previous
liberal education have a great advantage in this respect ... 12
and that a 'knowledge of the nature of language in general' was
instrumental in the acquisition of all languages. 2
Having always insisted on 'plain preaching'$ Bogue was even
more adamant about 'simplicity, and 'perspicuity' when it came
to preaching to the heathen. 3 As to subject matter, the
distinguishing doctrines of 'modern Sects' and all cantroversies
were to be carefully avoided. 4 Sermons were to be delivered with
1. L. M. S., Missionary Lectures, p. l. 2. Ibid. 9 pp. 2f.
Ibid., p, 7 P;.; f.
-233- 'remarkable seriousness', and the argument presented was to
be not only 'solid', that is based on the Bible or 'Reasoni,
but 'cogent', by which he meant building on premises which the
heathen themselves accepted. The preacher was to avoid reference
to 'heathen superstitions' unless specifically challenged, since,
Bogue warnedg 'frequent insisting on the superstitions of the
)ieathen will irritate them and perhaps lead them to conceive an
aversion of idolatry to be nearly the whole of religiont. 2
Nevertheless, Bogue was so convinced of evangelical truth
that he recommended arguing in its defence if necessaryg and
he found plenty of Biblical precedents for engaging in
disputation. 3 Furthermorev he maintained, the heathen would
have contempt for any missionary who could not refute his
arguments and thus he would feel inclined to ignore the missionary's
preaching. Consequently, while warning students against 'a
disputing turn of mindlý Bogue recommended that 'quickness in
answering any questions' should be carefully cultivated.
The most interesting aspect of Bogue's missionary strategy
is his insistence on training native clergy to be missionaries
in their own country and ministers in their own churches. A
reason he gave for preferring to concentrate missionary endeavour
in Iciviliseds countries like India and China rather than in
luncivilised' areas like Africa and the South Seas was that it
would be easier to train natives from the former as preachers
and missionaries. 5 He urged the establishment of seminaries to
train natives for the work of preaching)6 suggesting that these
1. That 'Reason' should be an accepted alternative authoritative source to the Bible in some matters is an interesting indication of the respect which Scottish-educated Congregationalists had for much eighteenth century philosophy. 2. Missionary Lecturest P-7. a: Ibid., P. 9.
Ibid., P. 10 IBM. po2? =-, P.
i
-234- should produce native missionaries in sufficient numbers to
obviate the necessity of sending foreign ones. 1 He pointed
out that missionaries In the past had been 'especially defective
in not seeking to train up others for the workt. 2 He charged
his students with the duty of putting natives in charge of
church affairs as quickly as possible, and to guard against
lording it over them. Nevertheless, he seemed to be following
the New Testament pattern of ministry when he said that
missionaries should act as overseers of the churches which they
planted and should have greater authority over them than anyone
else. 3 Thus, in spite of his eagerness to see natives controlling
church affairs, he advised missionaries to be very cautious in
the appointment of bishops4 and deacons. 'As there were in the
Apostolical churches extraordinary gifts bestowed on men for
the work of the ministry, ' he saidg fit will now require a much
longer time before persons be qualified for offices in the
Church than in that age. 15
In the perspective of history it may be doubted if this
caution and reluctance to expect miracleS6 produced results as
sanguine as a more adventurous policy might have done. Many
missionary statesmen in the nineteenth century paid lip-service
to the need for an indigenous Churchq but they may have over-
stressed the need for supervision by missionaries in the name
1. Ibid p. 56. 2. Ibid: , P. ý.
TI b -id p. 99. By wh*ichj of courseq he did not wish to imply any Anglican
conception of the episcopate. 5. Missionary Lectures) p. 49. 6. Neither were missionaries to expect a 'Pentecostal' gift for languages nor miraculous assistance when calldd to defend the faith before kings and governors (Matthew 10.9) - such miracles, Bogue assertedt were confined to the Apostolic age.
-23ý- of maintaining pure doctrine. If a decision had to be made
between boldly entrusting responsiblity to a native and
cautiously withholding itq the latter normally prevailed. It
would be difficult to establish that Bogue was responsible for
this sad feature of missionary life in the nineteenth century,
which stunted the growth of the indigenous Church, but the type
of thinking which he shared did contribute to it. Belief in
the superiority of the missionary over every other office in
the Church2 must have been partly responsible, toot because it
would have encouraged the missionary to feel that when control
of church affairs passed out of his hands, it passed to one less
*competent, and that--was a situation to be postponed as long as
possible.
An attempt was made to give an honest appraisal of the
difficulties which missionaries were to expect. Bogue did not
underestimate the tenacity with which men cling to their inherited
religion. 3 He told his students that opposition would result
not only from their own imprudence, but also from their very
faithfulness2 because this was the experience of Christ and his
dis#ples. )+
He claimed that 'the difficulties which arise out
of local circumstances are not so great as those which are
common to all missionaries'. 5 Common difficulties included
'the common depraved principles of human nature', anxiety
occasioned by learning a new language, and the self-denial and
hard work demanded of the faithful Christian. 6
1. No-one could accuse Henry Venn, Secretary of the C. M. S., or Rufus Anderson, Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, of this, however. Both shared the vision of a 'self-supporting$, 'self-governinglg and 'self-extending' indigenous Church. 2. Missionary Lectures7 P-33; cf. above, p. 164. a: Missionary Lecturesq p. 9.
Ibid. ý p. 29. I=id j P. 30- -I=id.
-2316- The most important answer to difficulties seems to have
been a knowledge ofq and reliance ong the many promises of
God's strength and consolation in the Scriptures. 1 But Bogue
was so committed to the missionary cause that he added constraint
to encouragement; hence his rather legalistic classification of
reasons for 'quitting' missionary service into thonourable'2
'lawful', and Idishonourable'. To the obviously Idishonourablet
reasons, Bogue added leaving because of weariness of the work
and inability 'to bear the manners and way of living' of the
heathen. 2 if Bogue had little respect for the cultures of the
heathen, he had none for cultural incompatibility on the part
of missionaries. Thus Boguets students went to their respective
areas of service aware of some of the difficulties, fortified
with the promises of Scripture of protection and success, borne
up with an exalted conception of their office, and determined to
avoid the uncharitable soubriquet of Idishonourable quitter'.
Nothing is said about the distinguishing features of
non-Christian religions. The non-Christian world is divided
religiously into 'Mahommed4n' and 'Heathen'13 and culturally
into Icivilised' and trudet. 4 There was nothing intrinsically
meritorious about Icivilised' nations in Bogue's thinking apart
from their propensity to capitulate more easily to the Christian
army, an interesting miscalculation which probably owed something
to the view prominent among moderate churchmen that the heathen
would have to be civilised before they could be converted* Even
civilised non-Christians thought irrationallyg claimed Bogue,
but they could be made to think rationally more quickly.
1. Ibid. 9 p 32. 2. T-bid.
9 p: 54. Ibi .7P. 23- ao. Ibi .7p. 9.
-237- Education (the acquisition of Western knowledge) was held to
be always inimical to paganism and favourable to Christianity,
undermining 'superstitions' and breaking the power of the pagan
hierarchy. 1 This was the kind of thinking which led to a deep
commitment to educational work by missionaries in India.
The most important guide to Bogue's understanding of the
heathen mind was not anything approximating anthropologyq but
the Scriptures which taught the 'desperate wickedness' of the
hearts of all men. 2 The Scriptures, and probably even more
importantly the current practice in Evangelical Churches, were
to determine the kind of relationship established between the
missionary and the convert from heathenism. Bogue does say
that the missionary should respect his converts as brethren, but
he also says that he should love them as children. 3 Once 'they
were all ignorant, and blind heathen'; converted they were to be
'willingly desirous to be guided ... in what relates to Christian
life'. Iý The roots of this paternalismg so prominent a feature
of nineteenth century missionsq are to be found in St. Paul's
attitudes to his converts95 and this was nourished by the
tremendous respect given to 'fathers in Christ' by British
Evangelicals. For this was the 'age of benevolence# when
paternalism was esteemed as a virtue, and when the word
'condescension' had nothing but favourable connotations.
For all their omissions and faults? Bogue's lectures were
far from superficialt and the missionary who was determined to
put Bogue's advice and recommendations into practice must have
1. jbid. 9 p. 18. 2. Mid., p. l. ý- =bid.
9 p-37. Ibid. 9 p. 4
above, ;
-159-
-238- been consciuus of many tensions which only experience could
resolve. He knew he was to be characterised by humility and
self-denial and yet he was conscious that success would bring
him distinction among interested Christians. Similarly, he
knew that he might sacrifice his health and even his life through
arduous study, and yet he was aware that there were those who, like Bogue, would accord him great honour if he translated the
Scriptures into the languages of the heathen. While he was
aware that he must preach with great plainness, avoiding
sectarian differences and a direct confrontation with non- Christian beliefs, he also knew that he was expected to be an
effective apologist, skilled in controversy. He know that he
must labour to fill lay and clerical offices in the new churches
with native Christians, whom he should respect as brothers and
trust as friends, yet he was also taught that their every habit,
custom, and way of thinking, nurtured in 'heathenish darknessl, l
was inimical to Christianity, and that native church officers
would therefore require vigilant supervision. But there was one
thing about which there was no conflict in his mind - the great
responsibility of his office. If he preached false doctrine 2 it would 'be felt for thousands of years'$ and if he were
unfaithful, he would bring dishonour on the cause of Christ.
He felt the burden of his responsibility to an extent which can
only be described as Pauline: 'Necessity is laid upon me, for woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospell. 3
1. Missionary Lectures, P-1+7- 2. Ibid., p. 4. 3. ! -Corinthians 9.16.
-239-
CHAPTER 6
MISSIONARY TRAINING
II. THE ANGLICANS AND WESLEYANS
At the beginning of the present century the College
established at Islington by the C. M. S. for the training of
missionaries was the oldest Anglican theological college in
England, and more missionaries were trained there than in any
other institution in Britain. It had taken more than a quarter
of a century to establish, but the preparation of C. M. S.
missionaries had not been neglected before then. The first
seven missionaries who served with the C. M. S. were trained in
Berlin at a seminary opened in 1800 in response to the interest
in missions excited by the foundation of the L. M. S. 1 Before
any English missionaries began to serve with the C. M. S, the
Committee resolved to educate its own English missionaries2
instead of relying, as the S. P, G. had done during the previous
centuryg on the offers of those who were already prepared for
ordination. This step was born of the sad realisation that the
C. M. S. would get English candidates in no other way: the German
missionaries who were offering in such gratifying numbers were
artisans who needed a special missionary education - English
missionaries would have to be of the same breed.
It testifies to the urgency and the flexibility of C. M. S.
committee members that they were prepared to accept a layman as
tutor of their first missionary seminary. William Dawes had
accompanied Captain Arthur Phillip to Botany Bay in 1788ý where
C. Hole The Early History of te Church Missionary Society, pp. 81ff.; ý. Utock, The History ofýthe uhurcTMissionary Society, Volume I, pp. 82f. I 2. C. M. S., Minutes 6 Ma , 1805, p-177; Minutes of Sub-Committees, G/CSlj 4 june2 18019 p*Z*
-240-
with remarkable prescience, he had made a study of the 'vulgar
language of the Hindus'. 1 He had subsequently served as Governor of Sierra Leone where his strictness provoked. the
charge that he was trying to impose 'convict methodst. 2 But
he was no harder on others than on himself2 and his 'exceedingly
frugal and hardy habits of livingt3 marked him out as a man
whom Thomas Scott, the Bible Commentator and first Secretary of
the C. M. S. 2 thoughtespecially suited to training men for the
arduous life of a missionary, '+ Dawes had taken part of a large
house owned by Lord Carrington at Bledlow2 just five miles from
Thomas Scott's parish at Aston Sandford2 and this house was
thought suitable for the lodging of missionary students. 5 As
befits one who had earned the trust of the Clapham Beet, Dawes
had a resourceful mind2 and the course of instruction he planned
for his students might have been genuinely useful: Arabic and
Susoo for those posted to Sierra Leone, and Arabic2 Persian2 and
Hindustani for those destined for India; tropical medicineg as
Dawes had been in the habit of 'preparing all the medicines ... for the whole Colony at Sierra Leone'; astronomy2 mathematics,
6
and 'Mechanical Arts', surveyingg and 'building good plain
comfortable housest. 7 Thomas Scott, who was then engaged in 8
writing a new edition of his Family Bible, was to give occasional
instructions in divinity to the Bledlow studentst as was the
1. C. M. S. 9 G/AC3, w. Dawes to Z. -Macaulayý 1+ October, 1806.
2. C. Fyfe, A History-of Sierra Leone. Londong 1962, pp. 1+8f. - C. M. S. 2 G7A-C3q T. Scott to J. Pratt, ' 17 June, 1806.
Ibid.
6. ga-wes had taught mathematics at Christ's Hospital. C. Fyfe, OD. cit. 9 p. 48* 7. C. M. S 2 G/AC39 W. Dawes to Z. Macaulayq 1+ October, 1806. 8. Ibid.; T. Scott to J& Pratt, 7 Octoberq 1807.
-241-
incumbent of Bledlow, Nathaniel Gilbert, who, with Melville
Horne, had shared the chaplaincy at Sierra Leone*'
Dawes' first student, who arrived in Januaryq 1807, was an Englishman, Edward Postlethwayt Page. His grand name was
of no assistance to him in the presence of his superiors, and
he left three months later because of a nervous 'disorder' which
he likened to 'that of Mr. Cowper, the poet' and which rendered
him quite incapable of coping with the 'burden of a gown, - the
requisite qualifications, - the ceremony of ordination, - the
ostensibility attached to an ordained misaionary, and the 2 expectation that the public [had] of him' . Page was followed
by four Germans all of whom eventually served in West Africa.
Unfortunately2 ex-governors were no more immune from the
enclosures than farm labourers, and Lord Carrington deprived
Dawes of his residence at the end of 1807,3 an act which brought
to a premature close one of the more interesting experiments in
missionary education.
Thomas Scott then stepped into the breach and trained four
English and three German missionaries for India before retiring
in 1815. Late in 1809 Thomas Norton, destined to be the first
Englishman in Holy Orders to serve with the C. M. S. $ was sent to
Aston Sandford where he was joined early in 1811 by William
Greenwood. Their chief gain from studying under the Bible
commentator was probably in divinity, for Scott took pains to
enlarge their conception of Christianity and to train them in
sound methods of Biblical exegesis, )+
and'it is not surprising
1. Ibid.; cf. C. Hole, op. cit., p. 118.. 2. UM. S., G/AC31 E. P. Page to W. Dawes, 19 March, 1807.
jbid. ý W. Dawes to J. Pratt, 25 September, 1807- C. Holev op. cit I p. 122.
-242- to discover that subsequently the principal chaplain of Ceylon
respected Norton 'as a theologian'. 1 They also studied Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic with Scottq who tried to give them
'a correct idea of translatingt as distinct from either 2
expounding or paraphrasing'. He may also have discussed
missionary histories and diaries with them. 3 In sum, Scott
appears to have made a genuine effort to equip his students
with information directly relevant to their future missionary
labours.
However, he was already sixty years old when he began his
seminary at Aston Sandford, and in 1813 he repeatedly begged the
Committee to find an alternative, as, he explainedt 'it behoves
me to prepare for the closing scene'. 1+ Relief for Scott was to
be found at the hands of John Buckworth of Dewsbury, Yorkshire,
an old friend of the Society. In 1814 he began to prepare
missionary students, 5
and in 1815 the Rev. E. Parkin became
classical tutor while Buckworth continued as divinity tutor, an
arrangement which contributed to the preparation of another four 6
missionaries for India. Other clergymen who gave instruction
in classics and Hebrew to missionary students before the opening
of the Islington College in 1825 included William Sharpe of
Yaxham2 Thomas Rogers of Wakefield, Thomas Whitaker of Ringway,
J. Clarke of Hull, J. Jessop of York) and Henry Gauntlett of
Olney. The reaction of one missionary student, William Mitchell,
1. C. M. S., Minutes, T. J. Twistleton to M. Thompson, 2 October, 1817) P-193 2. C-M-S-ý ý/AC31 T. Scott to J. Pratt) 7 June, 1810.
Ibid., 5 November 1807 1-b-id.
1 10 JulY7 1613. 9-e-eabovej p-146. The Committee may have been induced to accept
a seminary so far from London because they thought it might be easier to obtain ordination for their candidates in the Diocese of York. (C. Hole) op. cit-., p. 4610. 6. B. Bailey, To Dawson) J. Adlington)and H. Baker.
-24,3- to the last-mentioned is sufficient evidence that not all of
these tutors were as disinterested and missionary-minded as
Scott and Buckworth. Not only did Mitchell find Gauntlett
incapable of teaching Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, but his children
laughed mockingly during prayers without being 'chid', his
sermons were irreverent, his conversation, which never touched
on missions or anything -'edifying or spiritual', consisted
chiefly of 'vain and trifling anecdotes'. Of 'all the unconverted
clergymen' whom this earnest young Evangelical student had met,
Gauntlett was the worstq and Mitchell considered it 'both unwise
and unfaithful' to waste any more time under his roof. 1
Apart from Scott and Buckworth most of the tutors gave
little instruction in divinity to the missionary students. In
1815, when Thomas Scott finally closed his seminaryg the
Committee resolved to ask Edward Bickersteth, a Norwich solicitor,
to seek ordination and to become Assistant Secretary of the
C. M. S., with responsibility for the theological and missionary
studies of candidates. 2 Bickersteth consented and in 1816,
following a successful deputation to Sierra Leone, he took in
his first students, boarding them first on the second floor of
the Society's headquarters in Salisbury Square and subsequently
in his house at Barnsbury Park, Islington. The student's day,
as at most similar institutions2 was closely regulated: he rose
at six in summer and seven in winter and, after his devotions,
he studiedlanguages and divinity until nine when he breakfasted,
after which he resumed his study until one; from two to four he
was allowed recreation, he then had dinner, read generally until
seven. when, after teal he read missionary literature and listened
1. C. M S: 7 G/AC3, W. Mitchell to E. Bickersteth, 28 September, 1824. 2. C. M: S , Minutesý 14 August, 1815, P-357.
-244- to lectures from Bickersteth on 'the missionary life'. 1 His
diet was plain and meagre as he was supported by funds which had
been contributed largely by the flabouring orders' for the tmost
sacred uses j. 2 For nine years Bickersteth performed his dual
task of missionary secretary and tutorg during which time all
the Society's candidatesq after preliminary instruction elsewhere
in the ancient languages, spent longer or shorter periods under
his direction. 3
Soon after Bickersteth began his labours it became apparent
that this system of training was also inadequate, '+ but the
Committee repeatedly postponed the creation of a theological
college for its candidates because it feared 'the awakening of
Jealousy on the part of persons in authority in the Church'. 5
The Church of England then had no tradition of theological
colleges, and St. Bees' College, Cumberlandq founded as recently
as 1816, was the only precedent which the C. M, S. had for such
an action. In addition, the Committee was currently receiving
so many requests for intelligent and well-educated missionaries
for the East, that it was seriously thought for a time that it
might be more 'expedient, and in the end economical, to give
the Missionaries intended for the Mediterranean and India the
benefit of an education in one of the Universitiestv 6
while
other missionaries might continue, to be trained by the existing
system.
1. Ibid. ) 11 November, 1816, p. 546. 2. -IT -id
. 3. Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society, 1824-5, p. 219; W. Knight The Missionary_Secretariat of Henry Venn, B. D,, London, 16807 p. 1 cf T. R. Birks, Memoir of the Rev... Edward Bickersteth (2 Volumes), Second Edition$ London, 1852, - Vol. I,
5ff. &N. M. S., Minutes) 19 October, 1818, P-358.
5 Ibid*, 14 May, 1819, p. 609. 6: Ibid
-245- A number of circumstances, however7 showed that this
hesitancy was ill-advised. The most important was the rapid
expansion in the commitments of the Society overseas and the
chronic dearth of suitable missionaries to fill vacancies.
Clearly the Society had to evolve a means of increasing the
supply. 1 This same circumstance increased the secretarial
duties of Bickersteth which meant he had less time to spend with
his students. 2 Furthermore, the policy of sending candidates to
the universities proved disappointingý for in such centres of
privilege new and diverting ambitions were born in the breasts
of prospective missionaries. It was also a doubtful policy to
send students to such professional classical tutors as Gauntlett
who had no interest in missions. A further consideration was
that, if such tutors resided a long way from London, members of
Committee were prevented from developing an intimate acquaintance
with their future agents, and the students were deprived of such
advantages as instruction in Eastern languages which was usually
obtainable only in London. 3 It was also thought that the average
annual cost of training missionaries would be reduced if they
were all boarded and educated under the one roof. '+ An indirect
influence on the minds of members of the Committee appears to
have been the example of the Missionary Seminary at Basle, a
wisely-conceived and very successful venture founded in 1815
under the direction of Theophilus. Blumhardt. It was not only
that the'Church Missionary Institution was frequently compared
with Basle and patterned on it, but Basle had the vexatious
1. Ibid., 11 April 1823, P-308. 2. Z-. Stock, The HIstory-of the Church Missionary SocietX4 Vol=e I, p. 21N.
C. M. S., Minutesq 11 April, 1823, P-308. ýo- Ibid. t P-309.
-246- habit of turning out missionaries either tainted with German
heterodoxy or with Lutheran objections to the formularies of
the Church of England. 1 There was always the danger that the
supply of Basle men, on which the C. M. S. relied so heavily,
would have to be cut off by the C. M. S. Committee $rather than 2 expose their own Students to the risk of contaminationIq a
possibility which made even more imperative the existence of
an English missionary college training significant numbers of
missionaries,
Convinced for all these reasons3 that a training college
was necessary, the Committee in 1823 launched an appeal to
finance the construction of a college to accommodate twenty
students and their teachers. '+ The site of the college had
already been purchased at Islington*5 However, the subscribers
of the C. M. S., who wanted their money spent on converting heathen
rather than preparing for it, -6 could not see the force of the
Committee's reasons for projecting the college, and, for want
of funds, the building plans had first to be postponed, 7 and
then severely modified, 8
The Church Missionary Institution (C. M. I. ), as it continued
to be called for the next fifty years, was opened on 31 January,
1825, with eleven students19 but the numbers soon exceeded twenty,
1. Ibid. ) 11 June, 1821, pp. 266,272f. 2. T-bid.,
j 11 June, 1827, p. 161. 3. E-added fillip was given to the college by the'Government's decision to co=it to the C. M. S. responsibility for I spiritual instruction' at Sierra Leone. ' Ibid*,, 13'September, 1821+, p. 203- 1+. Ibid. ) 11 Aprill, 18239 P. 310.
=Iid., 8 Octoberi 1821, P-364. -- 6: T-Re-Islingtonian, 1897, p. 6
c. M. s., minutes, 18 July, 1623, p. 423- Ibid., 20 March, 1824, p. 630.,
9- =bid-t 31 January2 1825) P&379ý
-247- and in the next year work was begun on the main college buildings.
Efforts to finance the construction of this handsome edifice
continued to meet with opposition. 1 A savage letter appeared
in the Times, written by a correspondent whose house had
obviously been entered unceremoniously by two aggressive
females demanding first a subscription and then a reason for his
refusal. He fulminated against the greed of religious societies: "It seems 'to grow by what it feeds on"'. He libelled the
President of the C, M. S. who launched the subscription: 'The
old admiral, Lord Gambier ... being wearied with cutting out
small craft in shore, (at which it is said he was very expert),
and hurling mimic thunder round the Baltic, devotes the leisure
6f his old age to plead for sending the Bible to the people he
once wanted to annihilate'. The correspondent ended scornfully:
'I look upon the whole affair at Islington as a job!, 2 The
C. M. S. deserved a better press, however, as all extravagance was
carefully avoided, and the students continued with their 'plain'
diet and were allowed no fires except in case of sickness which,
it appears2 they often suffered. 3
The staff at Islington before 181+2 consisted of a principal
and classics tutor and three part-time tutors in Oriental
languages, in psalmody, and in elocution and English. In 181+2
the part-time tutors were replaced by a 'Resident Tutorl, who
was to give instruction in Englishcomposition and grammar as
well as the general instruction of 'all the inferior classes',
a reference to sincere but poorly educatdd candidates who were
to be prepared separately as 'simple and faithful' missionaries.
1. Ibid., 19 October, 1826, p. 427-. 2.1W. J., to the Editor, Times, 18 December, 1828. 3. C. M. S., Minutes) 27 Januaryq 18252 P-377.
-248- The classics tutor was responsible for the teaching of Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, and scientific subjects. The principal's task
was the teaching of divinity and the training of character, 1
which involved his presence at the students' meals for 'the
correction of their manners' as many of them had 'never had the
advantage of polite Society'. 2
The Institution was served by only two principals in our
period: John Norman Pearson (1825-38) and Charles Frederick
Childe (1839-58). Pearson was a son of a member both of the
Clapham, Sect and of the first C. M. S. Committee, John Pearson,
a wealthy surgeon. J. N. Pearson had studied at Trinity College,
Cambridge, and had won the Hulsean Prize2 recently introduced to
promote the study of theology at Cambridge. Before his appointment
to the C. M. I. he had been chaplain to the Marquis Wellesley. 3
A theologian of some ability, Pearson published several works
during his principalship, including an edition of the complete
works of the saintly Bishop of Dunblane, Robert Leighton,
afterwards Archbishop of Glasgow. '+ Significantly2 Leighton's
commentary on St. Peter's epistles was a great favourite among
C. M. S. candidates, and there is little doubt thatt just as at
Gosport Missionary Seminaryl the Puritan divines of the seventeenth
century were most favoured at the C. M. I. Pearson appears to have
been rather an aloof, but sensitive, man, who felt deeply the
unpopularity which the C. M. "I. continued to suffer. 5 When in
1829, following enthusiastic reports of the system of discipline
1. Ibid., 12 December, 181+29 PP-398ff. 2. Ibid., 13 September, 1824, p. 202.
Dictionary'of National BiogrUtM, Volume 44, P-171+- Yh-e Whole Works of R. Leighton . To which-is prefixed a Life of the author . *0 by J. N. Pearsong 1b3O. 5. C. M. S,., G/AC31 J. N. Pearson to D. Coates, 23 December, 1828.
-249- and the cheapness of the Basle Seminary, it was proposed to
reduce the expenditure of the C. M. I. and to conduct it more as 2 a large family than as 'a Collegiate Establishment', Pearson
twice rendered his resignation. 3 This unhappy crisis also led to the resignation of Bickersteth)+ and of the classics tutor,
John Ayre, 5 who, before his appointment in 1825, had been the
curate of that prominent Evangelical and friend of the C. M. S. 2 Legh Richmond. 6 Pearson was kept on as principal but there is
no reason to suppose that he proved any more capable than
previously of regarding the students 'as his Children, maintaining with them at all times an unreserved and familiar intercoursel. 7
Academicallyq however, Pearson proved a very successful principal. His students surprised and delighted the exacting Bishop of London by constantly'appearing near the top in the results of his
annual ordination examination) and when Pearson finally resigned in 1838) Blomfield 'pronounced a high encomium on the results of Mr. Pearson's labourst. 8
Childe, who had studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 9
was a very different person from his predecessor, and was probably
the most successful principal the college had during its life of
ninety years. Previously the headmaster of Walsall Grammar
School, Childe had the gift of inspiring men to selfless service.
1. C. M. S. 9 Minutes, 10 September 18279-pp. 238-249. 2. Ibid. 9 1+ November, 1829 $ p. 516.
1bid*9 8 June, 1829, p. 232; 9 Novemberl 1829, p. 531. E. Stock, 011, C it-9 Volume 1, P. 253. C. M. S., Minutes, 12 July, 1830, p. 216.
6. Ibid., 14 Marchq 1825, p. 1+26. 7e Ibid.. 7 Augustq 18299 P-392. 8.1-bid.; 28 January, 1839, p. 1+63. Blomfield was one of a numVerof bishopsýwho were determined to raise the academic requirements for ordination. A. Blomfield, A Memoir of C. J. Blomfield, (2 Volumes)$ London, 1863, Volume_ý, . 101f. 9. Crockford's-Clerical Directoryg London2 1860, P-113.
-250- 'Up to its utmost limits, power means duty, ' he would say.
'Whatever we can do, we oug to do. 11 Three missionaries
who served in India, William Salter Price, Albert Peter Neele,
and James Sheldon, were pupils at Walsall under Childe before
entering the C. M. I. 2 He was said to have been a strict
disciplinarian, 3 but his correspondence with the Committee shows
him to have been indulgent towards his studentst always pleading
with them in the interests of their health not to study so hard. )+
In fact, on the one occasion when the Committee criticised
Childe it was on the ground that he had 'relaxed discipline' as
a result of which some students had taken 'wine and porter' into
their private apartments. 5 Neverthelessq the Committee conceded,
6 'brotherly love' had increased under Childe. The belief that
Childe was strict probably arose from his preoccupation with
the 'personal piety' of his students, a matter on which he annually
reported at length to the Committeeg and which suggests that he
was not uninfluenced by Wesleyan views on Christian perfection.
The atmosphere of holiness was so rarified at the C. M. I. that
one poor student deserted in a giddy panicp explaining afterwards
while still 'in a state of the greatest excitement$: I ... the
standard of piety and humility is far too high for me ever to
attain to ... I shall ever think of it as a place of peculiar
sancity LS-1,91 .; an abode of the most devoted servants of the
Lord'. 7 Childe was as enthusiastic a defender of the faith as
1. C. F. Childe, Preface ' to The Finished Course: Brief Notices of
DeDarted Church Missionarie-2_--by Miss Childe, London, 1865, ý--viii. 2. E. 9tock, ED. cit-9 volume 11, P-78.
Ibid-. 29pk79 C. M. S inutesq 24 A lgril,
1840, pp. 527ff. Ibid., 12 December, 1+21 P-397- Ibid 1 P-398- UM. M. S., G/AC3, J. F. Osborn to. C. F. Childe, 21 October, 1851.
-251-
he was of personal piety and he kept the college and its students
faithful to 'Evangelical and Protestant principles'. ' 'It is
attachment to the Church, ' he once explained, 'as reformed from
the errors of Popery, and as the pillar and ground of evangelical
truth2 that is inculcated and cherished. ' 2 Nor was this ill-
informed prejudice. Just as the Dissenting academies gave
instruction in theology superior to that offered in our period
by the universities, so did the new Anglican theological colleges,
of which, to repeat, the C. M. I. was one of the earliest. 3
External examiners at the C. M. I. were repeatedly impressed with
the students' understanding of systematic theology which, they
considered, was superior to that of the ordinands who had been
'regularly trained for the ministry'. 1+
The course of study at the C. M. I. was prescribed by two
considerations. The first was the need to pass the examinations
of the Bishop of London which necessitated mainly a thorough
grounding in classical languages. The second was the need to
satisfy the regulations of the C. M. S. which required that
candidates be able to read the Scriptures In the original
languages and 'be acquainted with the entire outline of
Ecclesiastical Historyq both General and English, with Church
Polity and Rituals, with Evidences and Doctrines'. 5 The course
was three years in duration before 1845, after which, following
an invidious comparison with the course at Basle which was six
1. C. M. S., Minutes, 25 April 1848, P-394. 2. Ibid., 25 April, 1843, p.
127. Cf. The Islingtonian 18g9ý)P-37- 3. Z-glican colleges opened before 18 ere St, Beesi (1 1 C. M. I. (1825), St. Davidts, Lampeter 7) King's College, London (1831), Durham (1832), Chichester (1839), Wells (1840), St. Aidants, Birkenhead (1847), St. Augustine'sq Canterbury (1848), Cuddesdon-(1854)q and Lichfield (1857). - 4. C. M. S., Minutesq 12 August, 1844, p. 185; 14 August, 1851+t P-302. 5. Ibid. 9 25 Aprilp 1845, p-555.
-252-
years in lengthq the course was extended to four years. 1 In
addition, since the Colonial Service Act of 1819 gave the
Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Bishop of London
power to ordain a prospective missionary to the priesthood
without serving a curacy in Englandq many candidates spent their
deacon's year engaged in further study at college. It was not
unusual, then, for the candidates who afterwards become
missionaries in India to spend four or five years at the C, M. I.
Students during Pearson's principalship spent most of their
first two years with the classics tutor, studying, in addition
to Latin and. Greek, history and geography, and various branches
of mathematics and science. In their third year the students
studied in Latin Jewel's Apologia Ecclesiae-Anglicanae (1562).
The principal began his work with the students with lectures on
the Greek N6w Testament2 on Nowell's Latin Catechism (1570)2 and
elementary Hebrew. He then moved on to logic, metaphysics, moral
philosophy, divinity, and Butler's Analogy, supervised the
composition of sermons, andq following in his father's footsteps,
even introduced his students to medicine and surgery. Samuel Lee,
the OrLental tutor, shared Hebrew instruction with the principal,
and taught Syriac, Arabic, Persian2 Sanscrit, and Bengali to
students2 depending on their destination. Instruction in
Eastern languages was discontinued after Lee's resignation in
1831.
In Childel's principalship the course was marked by an
increased attention to church doctrine and polity in response
to the growing threat of the Oxford Movement. Much time was
spent on the study of such old, authorities as Richard Hooker's
Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1600)9 John Pearson's Exposition
Of the Creed, (1659), Gilbert Burnet's Exposition of the 39 Articles
(1699)9 J. L. von Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, (1726), as well
1. Ibid.
-253- as such newer acceptable works as Thomas Shortts Sketch of The History of the Church of England (1832), E. H. Browne's An
Exposition of the Thirty-nineArticles (1850), and G. C. Knapp's
Lectures on Christian Theology (1831-3). Childe's chief purpose, however, was not to produce controversialists, but 'Men of the
BookI7 who understood the languages in which it was originally
written. Towards the attainment of this aim he was ably assisted by J. G. Heisch, Hebrew tutor from 181+3'to 1858, and following
Childe's resignation, vice-principal until 1879.1
Probably the majority of students at the C. M. I. entered with
such low attainments in classical languages thatq after preparing for their ordination examinationsg little time was left for
acquiring the skills of a minister$ let alone a missionary. 2
Childe later admitted that there was not much he 'could accomplish
in the way of missionary training'. 3 Shortly after commencing
his duties he conducted a class on 'Map and History of the
Society's operations in British Guiana' and a similar class on
West Africa. )+ He encouraged students to read missionary
biographies, and from 1853 the senior students read to all the
students essays on missionary topics. 5 A weeklv missionary
meeting was held at which missionary correspondence was read,
and devotions on Saturday nights were directed to the study of
missionary principles in Scripture. 6
Henry Venn also assisted
in the education of candidates in missionary matters: he regularly
1. E. Stock, op. cit., Volume II, p. 80; The Islingtonian, 1899, P-37. 2. C. M. S., G/AC3, -T-N- Pearson to D. Coates, 21 October, 1831+-
The Islingtoniang 18992 P-37. C. M. S., Minutes 2ý October, 1839, p. 261. Tbid. 9 9 May, 16539 P-381.
6. The Islingtoniang 1899t P-37.
-254-
invited candidates to stay in his own home where they would meet
various experts on missionary matters.
Various outside activities were also promoted to give the
students practical experience in evangelising. During Pearson's
principglship, the Bishop of London allowed some of the students
to be employed as 'Cottage Lecturers' under the supervision of
the local clergy. By thus 'treading the quiet path of domestic
Missions' it was hoped that the students might 'grow in fitness' 2 for their future work. Treading the quiet path was translated
into running the gauntlet by the intrepid Childe who thought
that the best Preparation for facing furious Muslims and garrulous
Hindus was to attempt to convert the local Iribh Roman Catholic
immigrant population around the Angel$ Islingtong who eked out
a sub-human existence in drunken torpor or brawling and quarrelling.
The red-hot pokers with which the students were threatened, the
boiling water flung at themg the bricks hurled through the windows
of the room dubbed 'St. Patrick's Cathedral', where they attempted
to hold services, were.; all later vividly recalled by Childe. 3
He and the other tutors supervised this warfare wherever they
could, and he and the Committee were well pleased with this
'model School and Mission for the'preparation of Students for
their work abroad'.
But Childe's principalship was not all drama and adventure.
He was fighting a losing battle to maintain academic standards.
1. George Cuthbertt for examplet on the eve of his departure for India in 1845, was invited to stay with Venn to meet Daniel Wilson, Bishop of Calcuttat and his chaplain, J. H. Pratt. C*M, S, t G/AC1/49 H. Venn to G. G. Cuthbert, 1 July, 1845. 2. C. M. S,, Minutes, 25 April, 1832t'p. 293; 21 April, 1831+9 P-380. 3. The I lingtonian, g 18999 Pp. 38f; C. M. S., Minutes, 9 May, 185'3-9 P-381. 4. C. M. S,, Minutest 5 August, 1853, p. 673.
-255- Large numbers of university graduates were now beginning to
offer themselves to the C. M. S. and these were given the positions in India and the East which required the highest talents. '
2 Increasingly the C. M. I. became a school for catechists, and
with the higher average qualifications of men offering for
ordination in the Church at home it became ever more difficult
to satisfy the bishops. 3 Childe regularly bemoaned the low
numbers of suitable applicants. 1+ It was $pretty notorious' he
warned, that the majority of the candidates possessed 'very
slender actual attainments'95 and he feared that standards were 'actually degenerating'. 6 'The struggle to raise standards
involved lengthening the course, separating a preparatory course
from the classical and theological course, introducing quarterly
examinations, and, in the end, reverting to the tried method of
sending poorly educated candidates for preparatory instruction
to clerical tutors outside the Institution. 7 Childe helped to
train about fifty missionaries for service in India. But it is
doubtful if they received a preparation any better than the
slightly smaller contingent who studied under Pearson. However,
Childe was more disturbed by this than the Committee of the C. M, S.,
for in the last two decades of our period almost as many 8
university graduates were sent to India as C. M. I. students,
1. Ibid. ) 1 May, 1851, P-179. 2. Y-bid. t 12 December, 18422 P-399. T-bid'. 9 14 October, 18421. §ý292;, 25 April, 181+5, p-ý53- a:
Ibid., 25 April, 181+51 p 0; 2 April, 18509 P-474; 1 May, 1651, P-179 5. Ibid. 9 2i Aprilq 18452 p. 552. 6. Ibid. 7. fn-1853 Joseph Ketley2 for example, was asked to help prepare men for Islington. He had been engaged 'for years' in preparing Ayoung gentlemen' for entrance to the East India College at Haileybury. C. M. S. 2 G/AC1/39 J. Ketley to H. Vennq 25 November, 1853. 8. A minority of graduates studied at the C. *M. I. as well as at the universities.
-256- ii
By contrast with the great anxiety with which the
Committee of the C. M. S. viewed the preparation of their candidates,
the S. P. G. paid little attention to the matter. No doubt the
S. P. G. hoped to continue recruiting from the ranks of the
'inferior clergy' which had been relatively easy in the eighteenth
century when living standards for the clergy were low, ' and
the chief area of missionary work - North America - was not too
daunting to Englishmen. Some attention was given to the matter
when, in 1818, the S. P. G. decided to begin missionary work in
India, -hopefully with English missionaries in Anglican orders 2
rather than the German Lutherans on which the S. P. C. K. had relied.
It was hoped to give some preparatory training to missionaries in
India itself, an idea which other societies did not entertain,
preferring the closer scrutiny and control allowed by home
instruction. But the S. P, G. was prepared to entrust this control
to the diocesan Bishop, Middleton, founder of Bishop's College,
Calcutta, one purpose of which was to receive 'English
missionaries to be sent out by the Society, on their first arrival
in'Indial. 3 Some of the early S. P. G. missionaries appear to have
needed such supplementary training. The first to study there
was William Tweddle whog prior to his acceptance by the S. P. G.,
had been examined by Christopher Wordsworthý Master of Trinity
College, Cambridge, and a member of Joshua Watson's Clapton Seat.
Of Tweddle who had been studying at St. Bees' under the principal,
William Aingert Wordsworth wrote: 'In appearance I did not see
anything particularly repulsive: thol of these points, any more
1. H. P. Thompson, Into all Lands, po'237. 2. H. Cnattingius, Bishops and SO, cieties2 p. 82. 3. S. P. G., Report; -17-20, p'. ft; cf. p. b9.
-2577-- than of his talents and learning Dr. Ainger does not speak in
very sanguine terms'. 1 He nevertheless reco=ended that Tweddle
be'accepted as he thought the S. P. G. would find it difficult
to obtain men 'of any very considerable talentscr acquirements'. 2
Tweddle studied Bengali and Hindustani at Bishop's College for
a year. 3 Another S. P. G. missionary, Edward J. Jones, studied
Sanskrit and Hindustani thereqI+ and a third, Thomas C. Simpson,
studied at the College according to a scheme organised by.
Middleton whereby students at the Clergy Orphan Schoo12 one of
Joshua Watsonts projects, were to go to Calcutta, with the
consent of their guardians, to train as catechists. 5 But Simpson
6 was the only fruit of the Bishop's scheme. A similar attempt
to train missionary candidates in India was made twenty years later when David Holden'and Henry Pope were sent In 1849 and
1851 respectively to the Madras Diocesan Institution opened in
181+8 solely to train missionaries. 7 -
The number of missionaries who received their missionary
training in India, at the Society's expense, howevert made up a
small proportion of the Society's missionaries. The general
rule of the S. P. G. was not to pay for the education of its
candidates, but to accept the applications only of those already
prepared for orders. 8 This meant that a successful applicant
1. S. P. G. 7 C/IND/GEN-I+, quoted in a letter from J. Watson to A. Hamilton, 23 September, 1822. 2. Ibid.
Tb-id.,, W Tweýdle to A. Hamilt 12 August, 1825. t
n630-37t letter dated 16 S. P. G. i-58 India Committee,
ol
Novemberý, 1832, pp. 210fo 5. S. P. G., Bishop Is Colle e -10 A. Hamilton to Dr. Burrows, C/IND 1 (5) 23; Bishop's
gollege -2, Letter from D. Kinnell,
26 Marchq 1825. 6. C. F. Pascoeq Two Hundred Years of the S. P. G., London, 1901v P-475. 7. F. Penny, The Uh-urch in Madras, Volume III. ' 37 f. 8. S. P. G., Minutes of the Board'of Examiners, '19&6R 3 Julyq 18489 p. 2.
i
-258- would have to have already financed his'education at a university
or a recognised theological college like St. Bees' or St. David's
Lampeter, The Standing Committee of the S. P. G., therefore,
applied directly for recommendations to the Heads of Houses at
Oxford and Cambridge. 1
In view of the great demand for missionaries of a superior
education for India there developed strong criticism of the
universities for not doing enough for the missionary cause, 2
and the S. P, G. Standing Committee contemplated augmenting
scholarships and 'Bible clerkships' at the universities to
facilitatb the education of a larger supply of missionaries.
However, it was left to a private benefactor and to the Council
of King's College, London, to take decisive action they produced
a scheme by which ten S. P. G. missionaries were sent to India in
our period. King's College was opened in 1831.3 The Associateship
of King's College (A. K. C. ), awarded to students who successfully
completed a course of studies in divinity, classics, mathematics,
and English, was instituted in 1834,1+ and hence) contrary to the
desire of its founderst the College was unofficially training men
for ordination long before the creation of its Department of
Theology in 1846.5 The members of the staff early manifested
their support for foreign missions: in 1833 C-M-S. candidates
were invited to attend medical lectures free of charge at the
College96 and, in the same year, the College's first principal,
1. S. P G., Minutes of the Standing Committee, 12 April, 1833, (unpaginated). 2. S. P. G., Diocese of Calcutta, 1835-19079 Printed Letter from 'A Friend to MissionsIq Calcutta, 7 August, 1845. 3. F. J. C. Hearnshawq The Centenary History of King's Collepe, London, 1828-19289 London, 19299 P-93-- 40- ýbid. q p. 112. 5* Ibid. 1 P-170. 6. U-. M-. S., Minutes, 8 July,, 1833, PP-108f-
-259- the irenic William Otter7 consented to the gratuitous attendance
of missionary students at his divinity lectures. ' In 1834
Major-General Sir Henry Worsley2 established a scholarship at
King's College for the education of missionaries for India. 3
The Worsley scholarships were not very attractivet their value
was only : C25 per annum, '+ and a Worsley scholar was bound to leave
for India within eighteen months of the completion of his studies5
and was not permitted to enter any occupation other than that of
a missionary for a prescribed number of years. 6 No wonder it
was left unclaimed for a period of three-years even in the 'hungry
)+Os,. 7 But for the S. P, G. it fulfilled an essential serviceg and
grateful for the missionaries it produced, the Committee
occasionally bent the rules of the Society and augmented the income
of Worsley scholars during their training. 8 The Co=ittee also
appointed a special missionary tutor at King's College with a
salary of : elOO, an experiment terminated after only a year. 9
The missionaries from King's College must have been an asset to
the S. P. G.: they had directed their attention to missionary studies
from the commencement of their tertiary education; 10 they had
received an excellent critical understanding of the original
1. Ibid.. 9 9 September7 1833, P-158- In 1847 a Chair of Chinese was established at King's College 'mainly for missionary purposes'. F. J. C. Hearnshawq op. cit. 9 p. 180. 2. Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 63, P-949.
C. M. S., Minutest 22 April, 1834, P-374- S. P. G., Diocese of Madrasq R. W. Jelf to H. H. Jones, 5 March,
1850. 5. Ibid., R. W. Jelf to W. T. Bullock, 24 December, 1853. 6. U". -PG:, Diocese of Calcutta, 1835-1907, S. Slater to R. W. Jelf, (undated). 7. Ibid., H. Sells to his father, 3 March, 1847. 8. U-. P. G., Minutes of the Standing Committeeq 1 July, 1842,, p. 204; Minutes of the Candidates' Co=itteet X-115,1 Juneq 18429 P-97. 9. S. P. G., Minutes of the Standing Committee, 8 April, 1842, P'. 183; 9 December, 1842, p. 220. 10. S. P G,, Diocese of MaAras, Jo Selby's answers to questions (undat; d , R. W. Jelf to w. T. Bullock, 24 December, 1853.
-260- languages of Scripture and (under Duncan Forbes) other Oriental
languages; 1 and their interests were assiduously cultivated by 2 Richard William Jelfj principal from 1844 to 1868, who was
certainly not the tyrant he was made out to be after the
sensational dismissal of F. D. Maurice. 3
to put it crudely, the S. P. G. got more out of King's
College than it put into it, the same may be said of St.
Augustine's Missionary Collegeg Canterbury, opened in 1848. 4 The S. P. G. played no part in its foundation, and it was never
an official training institution of the S*P, G. in the way that
the Institution at Islington was for the C. M. S., although the
S. P. G. was only too happy to receive applications from its
students providing they had successfully completed two years of
the prescribed three-year course of study. 5 But the S. P. G. did
help St. Augustine's to prepare missionaries for India by devoting
a portion of its jubilee fund to the creation of three Oriental
scholarships and to paying the salary of a professor of Oriental 6 languages. Peter Percival, a distinguished Tamil scholar, who
had been a Wesleyan missionary in India, lectured at St.
Augustine's for two years on India and its religions before
returning-to Madras with the S. P. G. in 1851+. 7 But Important as St. Augustinets was to become to the cause of Indian missions, it
did not contribute significantly to it before 1859. Only one of
1. S. P. G., Diocese of Calcutta2 H. Sells to G. Fagan, 9 October, 181+7- 2. Ibid. 9 S. Slater to R. W. Jelf, (undated); H. Sells to his fatge-r, 12 April, 181+7-
F. J. C. Hearnshaw, op. cit., p, 219. A. J. Brown, 'The. 'Founding of aint Augustine's Missionary
College, a Spiritual Romance', M. Th. Thesis, University of London, 1970, passim. 5. S. P. G., Minutes of the Board of Examiners, 3 July, 1848, p. 2; Candidates' Correspondence, 184,6-60ý X-109ý H. H. Jones to F. Wilson, 21+ January, 1850p P-71* 6. S. P. G., Minutes of the Standing Committee, 3 December, 1852, P-11+3; 17 Decembert 18529 pp. 155ff; C. F. Pascoe, op. cit i P-797- 7. F. Penny, op. cit. 9 Volume III, P-373.
-261- 1 its alumni, the obscure Ernest Arthur Fussell, whose name is
not even to be found in the Society's official register of 2 missionaries, was posted to India in our period.
III
Forty-six CoMoS., and forty-four S. P*G. missionaries for
India studied at universities, the traditional training centres
of Anglican clergy.
C. M. S. S. P. G.
Cambridge 22 17 Oxford 8 13 Trinity Collegeg Dublin 16 33 King's College, London - 10
1+
University df London - 1
Durham - 1
Edinburgh - 1
The sixty missionaries from Oxford and Cambridge who served
in India with the C. M. S. and S*PoG. received substantially the
same education as that received by most ordinands of the Church
of England - viz. the 'liberal' course of studies pursued by
the great majority of the universities' students. Instruction
for the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Cambridge concentrated on
mathematics. 5 From 1808 examinations for the degree lasted five
days. The first three days were devoted to mathematics, the
fourth to philosophy, which could easily be passed by imbibing
Paley's Moral Philosophy, and hence was a day of rest, and the
fifth was given to a re-examination for purposes of grading
1. R. J. E. Boggis. A History of St. Augustine's ColleRe, Canterbum Canterbury, 1907; ý--313-
-920. 2. C. F. Pascoe . op. cit., pp. 908 Includes W. k. -Vo-ies who also studied at Oxford. Includes T. S. Jackson who also studied at Cambridge. D. A. Winstanley, Early Victorian Cambridge2 Cambridge, -1955, ppr. 65,150 t 157.
-262- candidates. Those who received first class honours were known
as 'wranglers'. At least nine of the thirty-nine missionaries
from Cambridge were wranglers - the highest, Thomas Gajetan
Ragland, was fourth Wrangler. 1 Candidates who were awarded
second and third class honours were known as senior and junior
optimes respectively, rankings achieved by prospective
missionaries in copious numbers. The flag of classical studies
at Cambridge was kept flying by Trinity College2 from which more
missionaries went to India than any other college. A Classical
Tripos was established at Cambridge in 1822 largely owing to the
machinations of Christopher Wordsworth, Master of Trinity College
and Vice-Chancellor of the University. 3 The second of the
C. M. S. missionaries from Cambridget George Valentineq significantly
from Trinity, in addition to his Senior Optime position in
mathematics, was placed in the First Class of the Classical Tripos,
a result which, he thought, fitted him for a ministry among 'the
more civilised heathen# rather than among Isavages'. 4 Valentine
was one of four C. M. S. missionaries from Trinity who received
honours in classics. 5 The two S. P. G. missionaries from Trinity
both had distinguished academic careerst William Hodge Mill,
first principal of Bishop's Collegev Calcuttaq graduated before
the inaugration of the Classical Tripost but he was a fellow of
Ttinity and, after his return from India, Hulsean Advocate of 6
(1839-44) and Regius Professor, /Hebrew (181+8-54); George Udney
1. T. T. Perowne. A Memoir of the Rev. Thomas Gaietan-Ragland, B. D., London, 1861, pý. IlTfy-- 2. D. A. Winstanley, op. - cit., p. 67- 3 65ff; F. W. B. Bullock, A History of Training for the MIn'ibst'rdv"opfp; he Church of EnRland'iR-England and Wales from lbOO to 1874,. P. 3 - 4. C-M. 9 G/AC3, Letter from G. M. Valentine, 23 October, 1837. 5. Ke others were D. Fenn, C. F. Cobb, and P. S. Royston. 6. W. H. R. Ball and J. A. Venn Admissions to_Trirttz Collegel Cambridge, Volume IV, 1801-1650, London, 1911, p. 61.
-263-
Withers was eighth Senior Optime and ninth in the First Class
of the Classical Tripos. 1
At Oxford mathematics was not so highly esteemed: greatest
importance had come to be attached to classical studies and to
Aristotelian philosophy. 2 In 1800 the examination system was
reformed and honours introduced13 and in 1807 a school of
Mathematics and Physics was separated from the largest school of
Literae Humaniores, but all students had to pass in Literae
Humaniores before they were allowed into other schools. 1+ Subjects
included in the examination for the Bachelor or Arts were grammar,
rhetoric, logic, elementary mathematics2 moral philosophy, the
'Elements of Religion' and the Thirty-nine Articles, and, in
pride of place, Latin-and Greek Literature. 5 The first C. M, S.
missionary from Oxford to be appointed to India, John Tucker,
took a Second Class in Literae-Humaniores or 'Greats' and a
Second in Mathematics. Thomas Valpy French, 'the most
distinguished of all C. M. S. missionaries') 6
took a First in
'Greats', won the Chancellorls Latin Essay Prize, and was a
fellow of his college (University). The most distinguished
S. P. G. missionary, Salomon Caesar Malang 'one of the greatest
linguists of his time'97 was Grand-Compounder, that is, he took
precedence over all others in his year and faculty. Arthur
Wallis Street's classical prowess won him a Craven Scholarship
and a fellowship at Pembroke; Arthur W. Wallis, Boden Sanskrit
1 9-. P G., Bishop's College -1+1 C. Walters to the Committee, 24 Jun;, 1829. 2. V. H. H. Greent The Universities, Penguin Books, 1969, pp. 60f- C. E. Mallet A History of the University of Oxford (3 Volumesýi London, 1924-7, Volume 1119 pp. 127fq 306.
C. E. Mallet, j Volume IIII, p. 167ff. ae. Ibid. t pp. 297
ci to ! qR3
c"
G. C. Brodrick, A History of the University of 5. Tbid., p. 167f2 Oxford. 'Second Edition, Londong 18912 pp. 191ff. 6. E. Stock, op. cit ý Volume, IIp p. 65. 7. C. E. Malletý op. cit I Volume III, p. 223.
-264- Scholar, commended himself to the S. P. G. on the grounds that he
would be able 'to meet with scientific precision the erroneous ideas of Heathen Theology'; '
and William Kay was 'Rector and
Fellow of Lincoln Collegeq Oxford, and a man of some distinction'. 2
The attention paid to the divinity and professional studies
of ordinands at Oxford and Cambridge at the beginning of the
nineteenth century was minima17 and was the bubject of numerous
pamphlets, letters, and inquiries in the next sixty years. The
authors of this voluminous literature3complained with monotonous
regularity that the preparation given to the clergy at Oxford
and Cambridge was inadequate, that ordinands were ignorant of
theology, that Dissenting, Continental, and American colleges
provided a superior theological educationg and that Oxford and
Cambridge had all the resources to provide an unsurpassed course
of instruction for ordinands if they would only reorganise and
permit mild reforms. 4 Some changes were made. At Cambridge the
professors who held the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity
(inaugurated In 1502), the Regius Professorship of Divinity (1540),
and the Knightbridge Professorship of Moral Theology (1683),
bestirred themselvesq no longer looked on their appointments as
sinecuresý and began to lecture in English rather than Latin.. T'
From its inception in 1780 the Norrisian Professorship of Revealed
Religion was a portent of better things for the study of theology
at Cambridge. The professor was expected to deliver fifty
lectures a year on the Creed and Christian evidencesq and with
1. S. P. G., Candidates' Testimonials, 1837-44, X-111+9 P-133. 2. BishoD's College, Calcutta, 1820-1970, Pr-17-
This is extensively reviewe in F. W. B. Bullock, or. cit. Ibid., pp.. 34940)44fý 49152ff, 65'168,75f, 78- CE Mallet. o*D. cit. 111
P-30 FS. C. Carpenter. Church and People, C IT: -1769-i8b. p. 217- V. H. H. Greený ReligioA Rt Oxford and Cambrid e London, lO9tI+,, pp. 2307298; D. A. Winstanley, oD. -cit. 9 pp f i68. 5. Francis Barnesq KnightbridEe- -Professor from 7 1813 to 1838, was a sad exception. D. A. Winstanley7 op. cit., p. 175.
-265-
the support of the bishops, who required a certificate of
attendance at his lectures from every Cambridge ordinand, he
managed to secure an attentive audience. ' Other improvementp
included the appointment of the Hulsean Christian Advocate (1803))
the foundation of the Hulsean Prize (1802) and Tyrwhitt Hebrew
scholarships (1819), and the Inauguration in 1822 of the
'Previous Examination' or 'Little-Golg which required of all
undergraduates a knowledge of a prescribed portion of the Greek-
New Testament and Paleyls Evidences.. 2 In 181+3 the postgraduate
Voluntary Theological Examination was first held, candidates
being examined in the Greek Testamentý the Church Fathers,
ecclesiastical history, the Thirty-nine Articlesq and Anglican
liturgy. 3 It was an immediate success9 chiefly because it was
voluntary in name only, the bishops demanding a pass certificate
in the examination from Cambridge ordinands. 1+ It was inaugurated
in time to be of benefit to the majority of C. M, S. missionaries
who were appointed to India before 1859.5 In 1856 an honours
examination was added to the Voluntary Theological Examination,
and the next year the C. M. S. sent its first 'Double-First' to
India - Henry Shackell, tenth Wrangler2 Second Class Classical
Tripos, and First Class Theological Tripos. And J. Y. Nicholson,
Fellow asid tutor of Emmanuel College, and Secretary of the
Cambridge Church Missionary Associationg fell on his knees and
thanked God for putting into Shackell's heart 'so freely and in
the freshness of his University honours' the desire 'to devote
himself to Christ's service'. 6
1ý
1. F. W. B. Bullockq OD. cit. 9 p.. 20. 2. Ibid., pp-34f;, D. A. Winstanley, op. cit., pp. 68ff.
F. W. B. Bullock. op. cit-9 P-71. ý. -. Ibid.; - D. A. Wiiistanleyq op. cit., pp-168-71+. 5., If-. Clark and R. R. Meadows were both engaged in preparing for the Voluntary Theological Examination at the time of their applications to the C. M. S. C. M. S. 9 C/ACJ/3/89, HA, Clark to I Tucker, 22 April, 1850; Minutes, 27 January, 1 29 P-497. 6: C. m. S., Minutes, 17 March, 1857, p. 586.
-266- At Oxford, the Bampton Lectures were commenced in 1780,
and Lady Margaret and Regius Professors of Divinity reported,
as at Cambridge, improved attendances at lectures. 2 Now prizes 3
and scholarships gave a fillip to theological studies, and I
lectures were given at most colleges in the Greek Testamentq as,
unlike Cambridge, at least some theological knowledge was
required from all who sat for a degree, )+
In the 181+Os two new
Regius Professorships - Pastoral Theology and Ecclesiastical
History5 - and the Dean Ireland Professorship of Biblical ExegesiS6
were established, but an attempt to instigate a postgraduate
voluntary theological examination proved disappointing. 7 At the
end of our period the complaint continued to be heard that the
course of instruction which most ordinands received at Oxford
was not a 'clerical education' at all .8
It remains to comment on the surprisingly large number of
missionaries, especially C. M*S. missionaries7 who studied at
Trinity College, Dublin. The reason is not only to be found in
the dearth of remunerative posts in the Established Church in
Ireland. Much of the credit must go to one man - J. H. Singer -
Tutor and Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. He gave unstinted
support to the C. M. S., was Secretary of its Hibernian Auxiliary,
preached the Society's annual sermon in 1829, and was appointed
an Honorary Governor of the Society for life. He was strategically
placed in his fellowship to aid the Societyq a position
strengthened by his subsequent appointment as Regius Professor of
1. F. W. B. Bullock, OP. cit 2. Ibid., P-36.
- Ibid. Ibid.? P-37. Ibid 9 P-72; C. E. Mallet,
6. F. W. B. Bullock., op. cit,., 7. Tbld-. n. 72.
21.
cit I Vol=e III, p. 296.
to- ý`-" '-: ý1100; C. E. Mallet, Ibid. 9 pp 7 OP--cit. 9 Volume III, P-308.
-267- Divinity, andq in 1852, Bishop of Meath. 1 A. third reason why
Trinity College, Dublin, became an important source of supply
was probably that the Committee of the C. M. S. started sending
some applicants there before the C. M. I. was founded and never
had any reason to be dissatisfied with the result. 2 For Trinity
College was in some respects a more progressive institution than
Oxford and Cambridge, and the reorganisation of its theological 3
course in 1833 was the envy of the older universities. The
four-year undergraduate course placed equal emphasis on general
'Science' (logic, ethics, pure and mixed mathematics) and the
classics, '+ and by 1816 final honours examinations (Moderatorships)
had been introduced in both mathematics and classics. 5
Having graduated, ordinands were expected to attend for a
year the lectures of the two Divinity Professors, the. Regius
Professor and Archbishop King's Lecturer in Divinity. 6 In 1833,
thanks to the reforming zeal of the Provost, Bartholomew Lloyd,
and the interest of Dublin's new Archbishop, Richard Whateley, in
raising the academic standards of ordinands, the Divinity School
introduced a systematic two-year course in theology, 7 thd first
year of which could be completed by an undergraduate in his fourth
(senior sophister) year. 8 During this first year the student
attended lectures by Archbishop King's Lecturer for two terms
on 'the evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion' and for one
1. E. Stock, op. --
cit., Volume Iq p, 242; Volume II, pp-37945. 2. J F. Beddy and J-W. Doran were oth entered at Trinity College in 1KO according to the wishes of the Hibernian Committee. 3. W. M. Dixon. Trinity Mlege3 Dublin2 London, 1902, pp. 184-6; F. W. B. Bullocig-OP. cit. 9 pp. 679150f-
C. M. S. 9 G/AC3ý J-H- Singer to J. Pratt, 27 JulYp 1820. W. M. Dixong o0 cit., p. 152.
6. Ibid. 9 pp. 5391 ; F. W. B. Bullockq op. cit., p. 11jq. 7. W. -M. Dixon, op. cit., p. 186. - 8. Calendarg Trinity College, Dublin, 1846, p. 27-
-268-
term on the Socinian Controversy. Lectures given by his
'Assistantst on the Greek Testament, Pearson on the Creed,
and the first, secondq and eighth of the Thirty-nine Articles,
had also to be attended. In his second year, the divinity
student attended the Regius Professor's lectures on Biblical
criticism and exegesis, the Articles and Liturgy of the
Established Church, and 'the Controversy with the Church of Rome'.
His assistants also delivered lectures* 1
With typical thoroughness the Committee of the C. M. S. made
enquiries as to whether this new course was considered valuable! 2
Joseph Henry Gray, the first candidate from Dublin after the
1833 reforms9 prepared for ordination both at Trinity College
and at the C. M. I.., but many subsequent candidates were allowed
to obtain their Divinity Testimonium at Dublin undisturbed.
Gray, himself, was one of the most successful of the Dublin
candidates, winning honours in classics and mathematics and the
Primate's Hebrew prize. Edward Craig Stewart was placed in the
Second Class in Logic and Ethics2 the First Class in Divinity,
and won prizes in English prose and Divinity. Improving academic
standards were accompanied by no diminution of the missionary
enthusiasm engendered by Singer a generation earlierg and in the
1850s a Missionary Prayer Union was established at Trinity
College at which interested students read papers on missionary
matters. 3
Early in the century Thoýpas Scott had been of the opinion
that tthe habits formed at an University' were lunfavourable to
1. Ibid. 2. S. minutes 11 October, 1836, P-377. 3. C. M. S., C/ACJý41 R. H. Vickers to J. Chapman, 20 June, 1854.
-269-
a Missionary'. 1 But by the middle of our period, with the
universities in a mood to remove their own abuses, all
objections to university-educated missionaries had evaporated.
Henry Venn eagerly visited both Oxford and Cambridge each term
'with the view of keepEing] the claims of the Missionary field
2 before the minds of the Students . And, although it appears
that just over half of the university men who went to India with
the C. M. S. and S. P. G. were not honours graduates or prizemen,
the mission field did attract some of the universities$ finest
scholars.
IV
In the stormy history of English Methodism, the issue of
ministerial training produced one of the loudest thunder-claps.
The projection of a Training Institution for Wesleyan preachers
in the early 1830s provoked a bitter confrontation in which each
side bombarded the other with literally hundreds of pamphlets, 3
whose authors plummeted to the nadir of cheap propaganda2 venomt
and scurrility. The causes of this extraordinary2 impassioned
strife among well-meaning men were complex, and the W. M. M. S.,
by supporting the Institution in the interests of securing a
course of systematic missionary training, contributed to the
crisis.
A minority of Methodists were hostile to the very idea of
ministerial training, arguing that the strength of Methodism
was Its body of plain preachers whose only tutor was the Holy
Spirit. But this of itself cannot explain the explosionnof 1834.
1. C. M S., Minutesq 9 November, 1809, P-31+3- 2. C. M: S. 2 C/CE/L2j 1835-1850, Henry Venn to'the Bishop of Ceylon, 7 June, 18479 P-370. 3. About two hundred pamphlets on the issue of the Training Institution have been preserved in the Methodist Archives, City Road, London.
-270-
For Methodism came into existence partly as a reaction to the
breakdown_of episcopal oversight of the ministry in the
Established Church, l and a tradition of a protracted and
carefully-regulated preparation for the ministryýhad already
been established among Wesleyans. An aspirant to the Methodist
ministry had first to serve a year as a local preacher. He had
then to be recommended by the superintendent of his circuit and
pass an examination before his circuit and another before the
synod of the district of which his circuit was part. These
examinations involved trial sermons, accounts of his conversion,
and oral investigation of his familiarity with Wesley's Sermons
and Notes on the New Testament. If successful in the synod
examination, he passed to a further series of tests -a written
sermon, a trial sermon preached in public, a written theological
test, and then a further oral examination by three superintendents
orý after 1834, by the Committee of the Theological Instittti=2
and/or a sub-committee of the W. M. M. S. if he expressed a
willingness to serve overseas. 3 He was then recommended to
Conference, and his studies or reading supervised for a further
probationary period of four years during which he was not allowed
to marry. An attempt was made to ascertain whether a candidate
was called of God before committing the Connexion to the expense
of his intellectual trainingg and hence considerable importance
was attached to the trial sermons and their fruits. Young
Benjamin Field, for exampleg was so powerful and successful in
his preaching that none who heard him doubted that he was called
1. J. Kent, Jabez Buntin, The Victorian Uhh-iuirph7 (2 P-376. 2. W. F. Moultont William pp. 47ff. 3. W. M. M. S., Minutes7 27
I
g, the Last Weslei 0. Chadwick, Volumes),
_London, 1966,1970s Volume I,
F. 'Moulton, a Memoirl Londong 18992
Septemberg 1816, P-7.
-271- to tthe full work of the Christian ministryt. On the other
hand Ebenezer Jenkinst who had conscientiously imbibed the prose
style of Swift, Johnson, and Addisont preached such stilted
and pompous sermons that the only response he could get from his
astonished audience was the retort, "'Well! he is intellectual,
at any rate. 11j2 Even though his learning astounded the district
examiners in his theological examinationt they still opposed his
acceptance as his trial sermon was 'cold and Metaphysicall. 3
Firm in the discipline of prospective ministers, Wesley saw
no fault in institutional training. Asked in the first
Conference in 1744: ICan we have a Seminary for Labourers? ',
Wesley -replied 'If God spare us untill M another Conferance
Wcj 1.1+ The question being repeated the ensuing year, Wesley
answered 'Not till God gives us a proper Tutor'. 5 Wesley was
never an enemy of 'useful' learning. He edited 'The Christian
Libraryt, a voluminous selection from the writings of English
divines, he encouraged his preachers to read copiously2 to study
the Greek and Latin classics, and to imitate his own example of
never spending a minute on horseback without a book in hand.
He also hoped that Kingswood School, which he established for
the education of preachers; ' sons, would furnish some preachers
with a sound basic education. 6 Supporters of the Theological
Institution were thus able to invoke Wesley's support, claiming
1. Minutes of the Methodist Conference, p London, 1870, P-9. 2. Y. H. Jenkins, Ebenezer 9. Jenkins,
-a Memoir, p. 15.
Ibid., pp-17f- : Minutes of the Methodist Conferenceg Ms. C. 10 (edited by JohnBannett), 29 June, 1744, Q. 11. Methodist Archives, City Road. This question was omitted in subsiquent printed editions of Conference Minutes. 5. jbid. 9 3 Augustq 1745, P1400 Q. 6. 6. Proposals for the Format on of a Literary and Theological InsUtution with a Design to Promote the Improvement of the Junior Preachers in the Methodist Connexion, Londong 1834, -pp-9ff; J. Kentq ope cit., p, g; W. B. Brashl The Story of Our Colleges, 1835-191, ý-, - London, 1935v PP-15f.,
-272-
that they were only reviving 'one of his early and favourite
plans' which he never abandoned but failed to perfect for want
of opportunity. '
Early in the new centuryq Adam Clarket the Wesleyans'
leading theologian before he came under a cloud for entertaining
$speculative' theological opinions2 proposed the establishment
of a seminary in London 'where young men, who may be deemed fit
for the work, may have (were it but twelve months, or even half
a year's) previous instruction, in Theology, in Vital Godliness,
in Practical_Religion,, in English Grammar, and the Rudiments of
12 general Knowledge.... Clarke argued that Methodist preachers
were an embarrassment to the Methodist laity, who were becoming
better educated. A seminary was needed to produce workmen of
whom an increasingly respectable church had literally no need to
be ashamed. 3
But even this scheme, which in its modesty recalls the
'Trevecca tradition', bore no fruit. Preachers continued to
he trained by the superintendents of their circuits. Prospective
missionaries were at first trained in the same way. In 1815
John Kilner, for example, was posted to Colchester circuit pending
his departure for Bombay and was sent 'elementary books for the 4 East'. By 1819, however, the W. M. M. S. had adopted a plan
similar to that tried by the C. M*S. - one of the missionary
secretaries was put in charge of the training of candidates. 5
Richard Watson, who had been appointed a secretary in 18166 and
1. 2.
�-'S
6.
sals2 p. 12. vations on-the Importance of adopting a Plan o ion for those Preachers who are admitt2d upon
he Methodist Connexion, London, IdO7, P-6. bid. I p, 5.
. M. M. S., Minutest 9 October, 1855, p. 66; 5 April, 1816, p. 80. bid.. 22 January, 1819, p. 192.
-273- had devised the planfor a general Wesleyan Missionary Society
the following yearj directed the theological studies of the 2 missionary students. He was well qualified for his work,
establishing his reputation overnight with the publication in
1818 of a study of the eternal sonship of Christ, a work partly
prompted by the bewilderment of young missionary'candidates on
the subject and a reference in a missionary's letter to the
'now exploded doctrine of the eternal sonship'. 3 It was during
the 1020s, while Watson was engaged in the theological training
of missionary candidates, that he wrote his Theological Institutes.,
which for the next half-century were esteemed as second in
authority only to Wesley's Sermons and Notes. as normative Wesleyan
theology.
At the Conference following Watson's death in 18339 Jabez
Bunting2 convinced of the necessity for an improved training for
missionaries and desirious of introducing a systematic training
for all the Connexion's preachers, arranged for the appointment
of a Committee of twenty preachers, including himself and -
disastrously - Samuel Warrený to mature a plan of ministerial
training. Warren apparently acquiesced in the Committee's desire
to have Bunting appointed as President of the projected seminary
and may even have voted for him. But when his nominations for
two further positions in the seminary were rejected, he became
cantankerous. An unwise Buntingite on the Committee may even
have suggested that Bunting be theological tutor as well as
President. The prospect of Bunting as Presidentg tutor, and
Secretary of the W. M. M. S. to boot, was too much for poor Warren
whose personal ambitions hadýprobably been frustrated by the
1. Ibid., p. 271+. 2. Ibid. 9 pp-350f. 3. R. Watson to R. Reece, 7 March, 1818, Methodist Archives, City Road.
-274-
nominations. He saw himself as a victim of the Bunting machine. Unfortunately he found a, sympathetic hearer in James Everett,
surely the sharpest thorn in the side of any denomination in
the history of Christendom. Warren found himselfg possibly
against his own better judgmentý writing an unpopular
condemnatory pamphlet against the Institution2 speaking to an
unheeding Conference in 1834 which 'specially and earnestly'
requested Bunting to accept the Presidency of the Institution,
expelled by the 1835 Conference and appealing without success for redress to the Lord Chancellor. 1
The motives which drove Warren'to this personal tragedy
are obscureq but the storm which broke over his head were just
another episode in the long battle fought by lay and democratic
forces for recognition in the Connexion. Bunting, who, although
more moderate2 than his critics and some modern historians3 would
have us believe, does appear to have been slightly paranoid about
'democratic encroachment'. He saw all lay aspirations as
lorganised conspiracylý subversive of the inimitable Methodist
constitution, and 'Kilhamitish and Allinist' in their divisive
effects. 4 So it is not surprising that opposition to the
Theological Institution was really opposition to everything that
Bunting stood for. One anonymous pamphleteer2 who had obviously
1. G. Smith2 History of Wesleyan Methodism, (3 Volumes)2 London, 1861, Volume III, p 242ff; J. Everett, hodism as it is, (2 Volumes)q London, 196*3-5p Volume Iq pp. 127ff' W R;
pWardqfReligio and Society in England, 1790-1850, London2 1ý72; . 160f ; W. B. Brash, op. cit , pp. 2bff. 2.0. Chadwick, The-Victorian Churchq Volume I P*376. 3. Robert Currie's recent denunciation of Butiting (Methodism Divided, a Study in the SociologZ of Ecumenicalismq PP-32ff)'too closely follows Everettts frenetic language to win the assent of the impartial historian. 4. J. Bunting to his son, Percivalq 9 July, 18359 Methodist Archivess City Road.
-275- drunk deep at Everett'spoisonous well, dubbed the Theological
Institution I Bunting College'. ' 'In its establishment, ' he
wrote, 'I recognise the regular installation of that oligarchy by which the body has long really, though not ostensibly, been
governed ... 2 Clearly this pamphleteer was more interested in
throttling Bunting's 'oligarchy' than the Theological Institution.
But Bunting saw to it that such selective throttling was impossible - he could not be destroyed without destroying much
that still claimed majority support among Wesleyans. This is
nowhere more clearly seen than in the case of the W. M. M. S. 9- much
loved of all'Wesleyans. Apparently some of Warren's many
supporters believed that, were it not for the readiness of the
W. M. M. S. to meet part of the cost of running the Theological
Institution, it would be impossible to proceed with the obnoxious
project, and they therefore threatened to withhold their support
for the W. M. M. S. until the missionary committee promised to
spend none of its funds on the Institution. Seeing 'that the
Theological Institution was assailed through the Missions',
John Beecham, then one of the missionary Secretaries, took fright
and advised the Committee that it was not too late to adopt the
plan of the C. M. S. of creating a separate fund for the education
of missionary recruits so that the General Fund of the Society
would not have to be touched. No doubt divining, however, that
Warren's sympathisers would be despised In the eyes of Wesleyans
generally if it were known that they were prepared to make God's
great work overseas suffer simply for ignoble party gains, the
Committee, of which Bunting was a member7 uncompromisingly
1. The Wesleya Theological Institution, an unauthorised Imposition subVersive of, Methodism, and Uontrary to the Word of God2 London, 2 1831+, --P. 3, Methodist Archives, City Road. 2. Ibid.
-276- resolved to pay for the cost of educating missionary candidates
out of the General Fund. 1
On the same day the Committee issued
a strongly-worded circular explaining that for fourteen years the cost of training missionaries in London had been paid, 'as
2 a matter strictly Just and reasonable', out of the General Fund.
It was also argued that the new institution could actually reduce the cost of training missionaries, that missionary candidates
usually needed an extensive preparation, that such Instruction
would enable them to enter upon the full work of a missionary
more quickly and efficiently$ and that such training was better
acquired in England than in a less salubrious climate. 3
Thus the fortunes of the W. M. M. S. and the Theological
Institution became inextricably linkedý and the Theological
Institution, first at Hoxtonj and from 18439 at Richmondl bore
more of a missionary aspect than theological institutions in
other denominations not exclusively designed for missionary
training. In the first place, to repeat, Bunting was master of
both the Institution and the W. M. M. S. The Committee of the latter
in 1834 consented to their Senior Secretary's accepting the
Presidency of the Institution, '+ and his active mind ensured that
he did not treat the post as a mere sinecure. 5 Other members of
the Committee served on the Institution's Committee, 6 and hence
the links between the two were strongly forged. Secondlyq the
needs of missionary students were borne in mind when the 'Plan of
1. W. M. MoS., Minutes, 12 November, 1834, PPo3l+9ffo 2. Broadsheet entitled Wesleyan Missionary-Society, 12 November, 1831+o Methodist Archivesq City Road,
Ibido ýe- 9. -M. M. S., Minutesq 27 August 1831+9 P-329.
5. T. P. Bunting and G. S. Rowe, 1he Life of Jabez Bunting, P. 678. 6. The Committee of Management of the TS-eological Institution included the secretaries and treasurers of the W. M. M. S., Proposalsq P-35.
-277-
Tuition' and the location of the college were discussed. '
Thirdly, the Missionary Committee appropriated funds for the
purchase of 'Missionary Biography and other suitable publications, 2 for the library at Richmond Collegel as it was later called.
This missionary library was augmented by private gifts3 and
public presentations from such bodies as the East India Company
and included many works in Indian languages written by Wesleyan
missionaries. A fourth fact which g4ve the Institution a strong
missionary character was that a large proportion of the total
student population were missionary students: almost one in every
three of the students who studied at the Institution in its
Hoxton days were destined for the mission field. 5 More perfectly
testifying to the missionary character of the Institution was
the development, early in its Richmond daysý of two curious
ritual farewells for departing missionaries: the 'Rolling Off'
which was conducted on the day of the missionary's departure
from the college, and the 'Warblell solemnly conducted by
candlelight when it was learned that the missionary had sailed 6 from his home shores.
The fact that the Institution was so much the brain-child
of conservative 'high' Wesleyans7 who believed that the only
hope for Methodism lay in strengthening its discipline, 7 meant
that missionary studentsq along with otherst were thoroughly
1. Ibid., PP-32ff. 2. W. M. M. S., Minutes 22 November, 181+3, p, 259, 3. Minutes of the Wesleyan Theological Institutiong Southern Branch (Richmond College)q 5 Decemberg 181+59 p. 106; 16 April, 181+61 p. 115; 26 Octoberq 1848, pi855t
p. 221. 4. W. M. M. S., Minutest 25 April, 5. The numbers of students and their destinations were reliably kept between 1834- and 181+1. Sixty-two of the Institution's one hundred and ninety-two students became missionaries* Ms. Roll of students, entitled 'Wesleyan Theological Institution'. 6. F. H. Cumbers, (ed. )q Richmond College, 1843-191+31 London, 1944t pp. 18ff. 7. 'Good general principles of Churdh-Government are now what is chiefly wanted IJ Bunting to I; Keeling, 1+ November, 1835, Methodist Archiý;; t City Road.
-278-
indoctrinated with Wesleyan polity. 1 They might easily have
developed an exaggerated conception of its importance, like
the fictional Peter Piper who, though ignorant of 'commerce'
and 'society$, believed the Wesleyan Conference to be the
'greatest power in Europe', who spoke of 'Doctor Bunting as the
Prime Minister of England', and who did 'battle with any
disputant' on his claim that John Mason (who managed the Book
Room from 1827 to 18610 was the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 2
Preoccupation with ecclesiastical polity is divisive and promotes
a litigious spiritq and Jt is no accident that Methodist
missionaries in India were torn by unhappy disputes in our period.
The course of instructionrat the Theological Institution
was regulated by the 'Plan of Tuition' published in the Minutes
of Conference, for 1831+. There were two departments: that of
Biblical and Classical Literature, of which John Farrar was the
principal tutor from 181+3 until 18579 and the Theological
Department, of which the tutor from 1843 to 1861 was that
conservative 'Buntingitelg Thomas Jackson. In the Classical
Department students of the first year were engaged in a
preparatory course, necessitated by the low attainments with
which the average Wesleyan preacher commenced his studies:
English grammar and composition) the elements of Greek and Latin,
geography, history, arithmetict mensurationg and elementary
instruction in several branches of physical science. In his
second and third yearsq the student studied Horace and Cicero
in Latin, the New Testamentj. Homerý and Eupipides in Greek,
Genesis and Psalms in Hebrew, mental and moral philosophy with
the help of Whateley's Logic, geometry and algebra, and
1. PEopLosajs .- -9 P 2, The Adventures of Peter Piper to, at, and from Woodhouse
GroVe Schoolq-by a Wesleyan Minister's Song London, 1862, -p. 25.
-279-
'Mechanics2 Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, Pne=atics, Heat, Acoustics,
Optics and Astronomy'. 1
. Tadkson's theological lectures covered 'the Evidences,
Doctrines, Institutions and Duties of Christianitylq
ecclesiastical historyq and pastoralia. This involved the study
of Paley's Evidences. and the first four volumes of Wesley's
Sermons. He attempted not only 'to establish the minds of the
Students in their attachment to Wesleyan Methodism' but he also
endeavoured to inoculate them against 'the Calvinistic hodge-podge
of the Westminster Confession 192 the Oxford Movement, and 'the
dogmas of Popery'. His lectures in ecclesiastical history2
thereforeq consisted mainly of identifying those heresies in
the first four centuries of the Christian era 'which were
afterwards developed in the abomination of mystic Babylon'. 3
No provision was made in the syllabus for instruction in
subjects with a specifically missionary orientationg such as
native languages, the customs and religious beliefs of the
heathen, or tropical medicine. )+ But there is evidence that
missionary students managed to expend some of their energies on
such matters: the examiners in 181+6 found some candidates
deficient in 'Historic Theology' and were inclined to excuse
them on the grounds that they 'had been for months past greatly
absorbed in Missionary Studies'. 5
1. Report of John Farrarg Classical Tutorg Minutes of the Wesleyan Theological Institution, 18 Septemberg 1844p pp. 53f. 2. E. G. Rupp, Thomas Jackson. Methodist Patriarch, p. 29. 3. Minutes of the Wes eyan Theological Institution, 3 July, 1845,
p. 86f. . This was not even attempted in the 1880s when Richmond College
was devoted exclusively to the training of missionaries the reason offered being that no student knew to which station he would be appointed. F. H. Cumbers. or)--cit., p. 63- 5. Minutes of the Wesleyan Theol6gical Institution, 28 July, 181+69 P-133; cf. J. Bush, (ed. )t W. O. SimRson, Methodist Minister and Missionary, Londong 1866) pp. 66ff.
-280- The devotional apparatus of the Wesleyan system was
maintained at the Institution. The names of many of the
f1fteen students who prepared for service in India at Hoxton
are to be found in the class-book of the first House Governor,
The Rev. Joseph Entwisle. Attendance was compulsory at the
class meeting which washeld each week. ' From a report of the
first House Governor at Richmond, Philip C. Turner, it is clear that the distinctive Wesleyan doctrines of Christian holiness,
of the Baptism of the Spirit, and of Christian perfectiong were the subject of fervent discussion and prayer at these weekly
2 meetings. Furthermore, since it was feared that 'mental
discipline' might 'check the advancement of experimental
godliness', half the students met the theological tutor each
week 'for purposes immediately connected with the training of
the heart'. 3
Training in preaching was not neglected either. In the year
1845/6 a total of twenty-three circuits were visited by student
preachers from Richmond, 4 William Simpson entered in his diary
for 26 October, 1851: "'Preached twice at Pinner; walked there
and back - twenty-eight miles. 1115 Students also preached out-
doors, engaged in visitation of the sick and in tract distribution,
occasionally founded a new Methodist society in a local village,
and even held services for construction workers during the laying 6
of the Richmond railway line.
1. J. Entwisle's Class-Book, Methodist Archives, City Road. 2. Minutes of the Wesleyan Theological Institution, 18 September, 1844 9 p. 52.
Ibid. 28 July, 1846t p. 129; Ibi P-130. J. Bush, op. cit. 9 P-32.
6. Minutes of the Wesleyan Theological Institution, 28 July, 1846$ P-130; 18 Septembert 1M41 p. 52.
-281- Compared with other missionary students, the Wesleyans did
not achieve a high academic standard. Only two who went to
India before 1859 had attended universities. 1 The course of instruction and reading was narrowly Wesleyan forg it was held2
Wesley had taught a2l the 'great and vital truths' that were
necessary 'to the world's conversion and the edification of [Christ's] Church'. 2 It was also strictly utilitarian and
largely theological, its purpose being to produce effective
preachers - hence Wesleyan missionaries found it more difficult
than others to learn that, in India, missionary work required
more than impassioned preaching. 3 A corollary of the utilitarian
spirit in which Wesleyans organised their educational system
was that all young preachers were to be educated to the same
level. Admittedly, candidates had to prove that they were
sufficiently talented to benefit from the course at the
Institution2 but it had also to be patently clear that they needed
the instruction. '+ If they had acquired a smattering of Greek
and Latin they might easily be deprived of any further training.
This was the fate of John Kilner who had received 'some little
preparatory instruction in Latin, and Mathematicsl, 5 of
Arminjus Burgess, who had won the Hebrew prize at Newark Grammar
School at the age of ninO6 and had taught modern languages at
the Wesleyan school at Kingswood, 7 and John Shaw Banks2 who had
1. Robert Stephenson (London), John Hutcheon (Aberdeen). 2. Minutes of the Wesleyan Theological Institution, 3 July, 181+52 pp. 86f. 3. G. G. Findlay and W'W. Holdsworth, The History of th Wesle an Methodist Mi; sionary Society, olume V, pp. lbTf.
W. B. Brash, =- c_I_t., P-46. 5. W. M. M. S., Missionary Candidatesq 1844-56 P 72. 6. Minutes of the'Methodist Conferenceg 1916, ;. ill. 7. X-. H. L. Hastling, W. A. Willis, and W. P. Workman, The History of Kingswood-Schooll London, 1898, P-139.
-282-
enjoyed instruction in the classics from one of the masters of
King Edward's School, Birmingham. 1 The last fought hard to be
admitted to the Institution2 but at last submitted2 contenting
himself with the observation that had he been an Anglican he
would have been entering a university, instead of being sent off 2 precipitately to India, He employed the wrong tactics: he
ought to have pleaded his ignorance rather than his attainments.
Instead of cultivating the special abilities of candidates, then,
as the other missionary societies did, the W. M. M. S. 's policy was
to raise all to the same minimum level. There is little of the
consciousness2 found so frequently in the records of other
societies, that India was a mission field which required an
especially thorough training2 and Wesleyan missionary students
bound for India did not spend longer on average at the .
Institution than other students. 3 Finally, the instruction
must have been conservative: so many of the tutors were known to
have been uncritical supporters of Bunting's position - Richard
Watson and Thomas Jackson2 especially so. Neither did they have
youth on their side. Jackson's nineteen years as theological
tutor at Richmond began when he was fifty-nine years old. His
maxim, "'Whatever is new is not true, and whatever is true is
not new"', '+ is sufficient evidence that the spirit of enquiry
did not flourish at Richmond.
The training of Wesleyan missignaries2 then2 was strictly
utilitarian, thoroughly conservativeg narrowly Wesleyan, and
predominantly theological, and it imparted a modicum of learning
rather than excellence and expertise., It is not surprising that
generally Wesleyans were not among the best missionary scholars
who served in India2 but many were untiringly faithful in their
testimony to 'the one thing needful'. ' 1. w. m. m. s., missionary Candidate8, -1844-56, P. 196. 2. W. M. M. S., Candidates'-2b, 1845-69; Letters from J. S. Banks, 9 July, 1856; 11 Julý.. 1856- 22 July 1856; 15 A UBtV 1856. 3. Missionary studen who trained at Hoxton foruindia sR; nt an avera two years there, but thi; ý. 5, aried from t ee months . ge of e od v to thiýee years 4. *F. H. Cimbers, ke v Ric ond College, ýp. 100.
-283- CHAPTER 7
MISSIONARY TRAINING
III. THE PRESBYTERIANS AND NON-THEOLOGICAL TRAINING.
Scottish Presbyterian missionaries were the product of
proud educational traditions. The great majority had studied
Arts and then divinity at the ancient universities and the
divinity halls attached to them. The Universities of St. Andrews,
Glasgow, and King's College, AberdeenIttaced their origins back
to the fifteenth century2 and Edinburgh and Marischal College,
Aberdeen, to the sixteenth. More influenced by Continental models
than Oxford and Cambridge, Scottish universities developed a
character which may be sharply contrasted with that of their
southern counterparts. Whereas Oxford and Cambridge were
d6m-inated by their colleges and chiefly employed a tutorial
system of instruction, the Scottish universities were effectively
controllbd by their senates and used a professorial system of
training, l combining lecturing with 'examination hours' in
which professors questioned and debated with students. At these
examinations prizes were awarded by the vote of the class 92
Whereas Oxford and Cambridge became centres of ecclesiastical
privilege affording an education mainly to wealthy and well-
connected members of the Established Church, Scottish universities
imposed no religious tests on students and provided a cheaper
course of instruction to which all might aspire - the prescription
for success being talent and hard work. Hence Dissenters as well
as members of the Established Church of Scotland; Americans,
Europeans, Irishmen2 and Englishmen2 as well as Scots; the
impecunious youth who lived 'in a garret upon porridge- and
1. A. Grant, The Story of theTniversity of Edinburgh, (2 Volumes), London, 1884, Volume I, pp. 269f.
, 2. G. E. Davieg The Democratic Intellect: Scotland and her Universities in the Nineteenth Century, Second Edition, Edinburgh, 19647 pp-14f.
-284- herrings'l as well as the son of a laird - all contributed to
the cosmopolitan and egalitarian atmosphere of the Scottish
university. Whereas in the English universities (particularly
Oxford) at the beginnitig of the nineteenth century Aristotle
was still looked on as first among philosophers, in Scottish
universities he had long since surrendered his pre-eminence.
He was displaced first by the metaphysical scepticism-of Hume,
which itself had given way to the philosophy of Icommon sense'
as expounded by Dugald Stewart, Professor of Moral Philosophy at
Edinburgh, which, in turn, had exhausted itself 2 in sufficient
time to allow Thomas Chalmers2 Professor of Moral Philosophy at
St. Andrews, to advance his Evangelical metaphysics. Chalmers
re-established the place of 'revelation' in moral philosophy;
he lectured on 'the philosophy of morals the philosophy of
duty'. 3 Hence the latest developments in philosophical studies
were seen to reinforce the Evangelical cult of duty and usefulness.
Finallyq whereas Oxford and Cambridge soughtto train specialists
in mathematics or classics, Scottish universities endeavoured to
provide their students with a philosophical framework to give
coherence to all their studies in the Arts and exact sciences. '+
To English critics Scottish students, who usually completed the
Arts course between the ages of seventeen and twenty, bore the
appearance of precocious metaphysicians with high-flown views
of the harmony of all knowledge. They impressed as over-confident,
assertive, opinionated, dogmatic. 5 'It'is not surprising,
therefore, to discover that some Scottish missionaries were
1. D. B. Horng A Short History of the University of Edinburgh, 1556-18899 Ed nburghl 19677 P-117. 2. Ibid. 2 p. 115.
. 3.71. Hannaý Memoirs of Thomas Chalmers, D. D., LL. D. ý Vol=e II,
G. E. Davie, op. cit. t pp. 4,26ff. D. B. Horn, op. cit t PP-1179119.
-285- among the most confident and dogmatic of British missionaries - their Gospel was undergirded by a coherent philosophyl and
compounded with cultural nationdlism. So it was that, if the
typical English Evangelical missionary believed that Hinduism
did not have a religious or moral leg to stand on, the
quintessential Scottish missionary, Alexander Duff, believed it
did not have a scientific or philosophical leg, either. The
Scots were more tempted than others to equate cultural aggression
with missionary activity.
14
Training for the ministry of the Church of Scotland took
a minimum of eight years - four years in an Arts (or 'philosophy')
course at a university and four in a divinity hall. The General
Assembly enacted first in 1776, and with additional requirements
in 1813, that no student could be enrolled at a university
divinity hall unless he had passed through 'a full Coarse of
Philosophyt. 2 The university senates, left to interpret this
requirement, resolved that the prescribed coursd was to be of
four years' duration, in which Greek, logic, moral philosophy,
and natural philosophy (this might include anatomy, botany)
chemistry, astronomy, and geology) were to be studied in separate
I. In view of Chalmers$ impatience with metaphysics it could be argued that it was not-philosophy which integrated all knowledge, but Evangelicalism (M. A. Laird, Missionaries and Education in Bengal, lZ93-1837 p. 214). Ralph Wardlaw, the leader of the Scottish Gongregatlonalistsq certainly maintained that integration, so essential to the Scottish mindp was the function of religion rather than philosophy. G. E. Davie op. cit., pp. 267f )q however, describes Wardlaw as a 'sectarian enthusiast; and distinguished his 'extreme views-about. philosophy, from Chalmers' 'more moderate evangelicalism'. 2. Acts of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, respecting te Licensing of Probationers, and Course of Study to ýe pursued bSrýptudents of Divinityz also Recommendation for the Promoting of Theological-Learninpl Edinburgh, 1826, p*4,
-286-
sessions. 1 In practice, history and economics were also 2 popular subjects with prospective ministers.
Early Scottish missionaries had followed established
practice when they entered universities at tender ages. John
Macdonald was only thirteen when he began his studies at King's
College, Aberdeen, and John Murray Mitchell at Marischal College,
Aberdeen, Robert Nesbit at St. Andrews, and John Wilson at
Edinburgh were each only fourteen. It is informative to review
some aspects of the university careers of each of them. At
the conclusion of his Arts course, Macdonald won the Huttonian
Prizeq Aberdeen University's tmost coveted award of meriti. 3
It was awarded to the student who topped final year examinations
in Greek and Latin, mathematics and moral philosophy. No limit
was placed on the time a student took to complete each of the
examinations. The Scots did everything heroically, and Macdonald
sat for the examinations in the spirit of an Olympic athlete.
With the assistance of snuff and 'sherry wine', he annihilated
his competitors who, after three days and nights without sleep,
were discovered 'stretched on the floor quite stupid'. 1+
Mitchell's
early studies at Aberdeen Grammar School suggest that not all
Scottish students, as was commonly charged95 were deprived of a thdrough grounding in Latin and Greek before commencing their
1. A. Morgan, (ed. ), University of Edinburgh Charters, Statubs and Acts of the Town Council and the Senatus, 1564-18MI, Edinbiirgh, 1937, pp. 25bf; A. Grant, op. cit,., Volume 1, p, 262. 2. A. L. Drummond and J. Bulloch, The Scottish Church, 1688-181-rj, Edinburgh, 1973, p. 190; L. M. S., C. P., (W. Harris), R. Wardlaw to the(ýDirectors, 7 January 1830. 3. T. M. Calderg,, Scotlandls March Past: the Share of Scottish Churches in the London Missionary Society$ London, 191ý7-, p, 7- 4e W. K. Tw__eedie2 The Life of the Rev. John Macdonaldq pp. 4off. 5. Dr. Johnson commented: I ... in learningg gco7IE7 resembled a besieged city, where every-man had a mouthful, but no man a bellyfull', Quoted in A. L. Drummond and T. Bulloch, op. cit , p. 189.
-287-
university courses. Mitchell was so drilled by the 'excellent
Latinist Xames Melvin, who also lectured at the University
that he claimed he could write Latin 'fully as well as English'. '
16.,
At the conclusion of his 'philosophy' course, which included Latin,
Greek, mathematicsq and natural and moral philosophy, Mitchell 2 topped the examination for the degree of Master of Artsý and
proceeded to the Divinity Hall. Here Alexander Black, Professor
of Divinity from 1832 to 181+3, delivered a useful course of
lectures, emphasising philology, and gave his students passages
of abstruse Greek to translate into Hebrew. 3 At St. Andrews,
Robert Nesbit consistently won prizes in classics, logic, mental
philosophy, and mathematics*'+ And, at Edinburgh, John Wilson
cultivated his considerable talents in ancient and modern
languages, and won distinction in scientific subjects, particularl3r
in medicine, 5 for the study of which Edinburgh was the most
celebrated of all British universities. On his achievements in
the study of science, Wilson's biographer, an uncritical supporter
of Alexander Duffts missionary strategyq which blatantly attempted
to undermine Hinduism2 comments: 'There [in natural philosophy
he stood up in the front rank, a significant factq for it is
through the clay of the physical error worked up with the iron
of speculative falsehood in the systems of the Eastq that they
are first to be shaken and shattered ... [to Wilson] Nature came
second only to the divine Word, and worked harmoniously along
with it in his whole missionary career. #6
1. T. M. Mitchell, In Western India: Recollections of my-Early Missionary Life2 p. 2. 27 Ibid.
Ibid. : ZF-. M. Mitchellq Memoir of the Rev. Robert Nesbit. p. 4. E. G. K. Hewatq Vision and Achievement7 Edin-burgh, 1960, P-35;
H. Scott, Fasti Ece esiae Scoticanael Edinburgh, 1928, VII 9 P-711. 6. G. Smith, The Llre of John gilson, p. 12.
-288- Having completed his four-year Arts courset the Scottish
student commenced training for one of the liberal professions
law, medicine, or divinity. The General Assembly of the Church
of Scotland during our period tightened its control over this
professional training for the ministry as it had done over the
undergraduate 'philosophy' course. From 1782 probationers of
the Church had to attend the divinity halls either for four
years full-time or for six years'part-time. 1 In 1813 the
Assembly made it a standing 14w of the Church that any student
who attended the divinity hall for three full sessions could
complete his course in four sessions, and a student who attended
for two sessions could complete his course in five. 2 In 1826
it was made compulsory for every student to attend at least one
full sessiont and those who attended only part-time in other
sessions had to take an additional examination by their presbyteries
in divinity, church history2 Greekq and Hebrew. 3 Before
ordination all candidates had to pass seven 'trials' conducted
by their presbyteries. These included examinations in divinity,
church history, Greekq and Hebrew, a dissertation on a
controverted theological topic$ a homily, an exegetical lecture,
and a popular sermon. 4
Each of the faculties of theology in the universities had
at least three, professors - in divinity, church history, and
Hebrew and Oriental languages. From the early eighteenth
century St. Andrews and Glasgow each had four professors (two
in divinity) as did Edinburgh from 1847. At Aberdeen students
1. S. Mechie, 'Education for the Ministry in Scotland since the Reformationig-Records of the Scottish Church History society, volume-XIV2 Part ii, 1961ý p. 127. 2-. Acts of, the Gelieral Assembly (op. cit. ), p, I+,
Ibid. 2pp. 12f. =. , p. 8.
-289-
were required to attend the lectures of the divinity professors
in both Colleges. 1
Thomas Chalmers, Professor of Moral Philosophy at St.
Andrews (1823-8), Professor of Divinity at Edinburgh (1828-1+3),
and Principal and Professor of Divinity at New Collbge,
Edinburgh (1843-7), was easily the most prominent of the
theological professors in the first half of the nineteenth century.
More prospective missionaries studied under him than any other
Scottish professor. He exercised a magnetic attraction over
students. -
Fewer than one hundred. students were enrolled at St.
Andrews before Chalmers' advent; during his five years there
the studentImpulation averaged about two hundred and fifty. 2
John Adam, who eventually served in Indi& with the L. M. S., was
one of Chalmers' disciples. In 18.21+ he sacrificed his Arts
course at Glasgow and. even his theological studies under Ralph
Wardlaw, whom he loved I very muchIP3 so that he might study
moral philosophy at St. Andrews under Chalmers. 'Dr. Chalmers'
lectures2l Adam wroteg land even examinations and repetitions
are really quite a treat; he has the art of clothing every thing
in such vivid colours, his comprehensive mind takes such a
grasp of its subject, and his fine imagination and nervous
language present such a luminous display of it, as to fix the
attention and fill his hearers with delightg whilst he carries
them along with him in his new and original elucidations. The
most careless are at length fixed in a listening posture, and
every countenance bears the mark of the profoundest attention,
1. S. Mechie, op. -cit. I Volume XIVI Part ii, pp. 119f. 2. W. Orme, Memoir including Letters and Select Remains of John Urctubart, Lon on, 1, P-70.
Memoir of John Adam, p. 0. L. M. S. I (;. p. -I 4.. Adam to the, Secretary, 9 November, 1827.
-290-
till his brilliant imagery sometimes irresistibly calls forth
the testimony of universal admirationg by ruffingg though
forbidden.
When Chalmers moved to the divinity chair at Edinburgh the
secretary of the Glasgow University Missionary Association
reported a decline in the number of students at the Glasgow
Divinity Hall owing, as he explained to the Edinburgh students,
to 'the attraction of your great Doctor in the east'. 2 Never
before had so many students enrolled at the Edinburgh Divinity
Hall, and Chalmers' lectures on parish economics and causes of
the growth of pauperism attracted in addition to the divinity
students 'a great number of general Students and literary
characters of no particular profession'. 3 'Chalmers especially
attracted me, ' wrote John Murray Mitchell who had dome from
Aberdeen to exploit the opportunities for study in theology and
science which Edinburgh offered, 'a purifying and dlevating
Influence seemed to radiate from the mants very countenance. "+
In 1843 Chalmers assumed the principalship'of New College thus
precipitating another student'migrationg albeit to another
location in Edinburgh. The number of students at the Divinity
Hall fell from one hundred and eighty to sixty-six, while one
hundred and sixty-eight students enrolled at the theological 6
college of the newly-created Free Church.
1. Memoir of John Adam, P. 1+9 2. E. U. M. A., Correspondence, New College Archives, Edinburgh, R. McCorkle to the secretary of-the, E. U. M. A., 6 February, 1829. 3. Ibid., . G. F. Knight, se, cretary of-the E. U. M. A. 9 to J. Wilson, 7 January, 1831. 4. J. M. Mitchellt In-Western-Indiag P-7. 5. Roll of Cives of the Theological Library of the University of Edinburgh, 1829-1855,. Ms. -' in'the University Library, entries for 181+2/3 and 181+3/4.1. 6. H. Watt, urgh: A Centenary Historyl Edinburgh, 191+69-P-27.39
-291- But, although the majority of Scottish hiissionaries may
have had an opportunity of catching inspiration from Chalmers,
not all were fortunate in their divinity professors. Not
until after the passing of the Universities (Scotland) Act of
1858 were retiring pensions provided for professors in Scottish
universities, l and some missionaries retained memories of aged
and incompetent professors. 2 There were other weaknesses in
the system of education received by Scottish ministers:
university sessions were short (usually less than six months
in eadh year); divinity students often attended the divinity
halls for as few sessions as possible - sometimes only one3 or,
if they did attend they usually held arduous teaching posts at
the same time; )+ attendance at Hebrew and church history lectures
was not made compulsory until 1832; 5 and students were expected
to start at any point in a divinity professor's four-year cycle
of lectures, depending on the year of their completion of the 6
philosophy course. Chalmers led the movement for reform of theological education
in Scotland; his evidence before the Royal Commission on Scottish
Universities appointed in 1826 was a catalogue of recommendations
for improvement. 7 Before he becamela member of the Evangelical
1. DB Horn, op. cit., P1170. , 2. G: imith, The Life of ohn Wilsong pp. 15ff. 3. This abuse may not have be n as serious as some have thought. During Chalmers' professorship at Edinburgh (admittedly not a fair test of, the situation in universities with less glamorous professors) the 'regular$ students outnumbered the 'partial' students by about two to one. See Roll of Cives of the Theological Library of the University of Edinburgh. 4. Robert Johnston taught for five and a half hours each day in addition to attending lectures at the divinity hall. His biographer commentst I ... it must be admitted thatp under such pressures, it not infrequently happens that the Scottish student damages his constitution for life ... (J. Braidwood, True Yoke-, Fellows, p. 26. ) 5. S. M chie, op. cit. 9 Volume XIVt Part iii', p. 167. 6. H. Watt, oD-. -cit .9p. 11- 7. W. Hanna, op. cit. j Volume II, pp. 698f; S. Mechie, op. cit,, Volume XIV, Part 111) 1962, pp. 161ff; H. Watt, op. cit , p. 11.
-292-
party in the Church of Scotland following a conversion
experience at the age of thirty$ Chalmers had been the Church's
most promising young 'Moderate'$ receiving his licence as a
preacher two years under the regular age of twenty-one on the
grounds that he was 'a lad of pregnant partsl. ý He never lost
his typically Moderatist respect for the value of an educated
ministry and the role of reason in-the understanding of 2 revelation. But it was not until the Disruption in 181+3 that
he was given full scope for the implementation of all his ideas
on ministerial training: - increasing the number of professors In
the theological faculty; reorganising courses; raising the
standard of scholarship in Biblical languages; and integrating
the study of science with the study of theology to obviate
clashes between the two.
Chalmers' remarkable energy-and enthusiasm are seen in
the fact that, at the Disruptionj there was no hint of
temporarily lowering standards for licentiates to meet an
emergency situation. Rather the opportunity was taken to'
establish a thbological college. more ambitious and impressively
staffed than Britain had ever seen. The Free Church's Committee
on Education, chaired by Chalmers' close friend and colleague,
David Welshp resolved that a theological college was 'essential',
that it should be established 'instantly', and that 'great
improvements might be made in the course of theological education'. -3ý,
William Cunningham, destined to succeed Chalmers as principal of
New College, was sent overseas by the Committee on Education to
study the best American theological colleges, so that New College
1. Quoted by J. H. S. Burleigh in A Church History of Scotland, P-314. 2. A. L. Drummond and J. Bulloch, le -Scottish Church,
_1688: 181+1,
P. 163. 3. Home and Forei n Missionary-Record for the Free Church of Sco land, June, 1943, P. 3-
-293-
would be "'conducted according to the best principlesq and
after the most approved models'"*'
Chalmers had wanted the appointment of a fourth, and
preferably a fifth, professor to the faculty of theology at
Edinburgh. 2 Nothing came of this until after the Disruptiong
but at New College four professors were immediately appointed:
Chalmers; David Welsh (Church History), 181F3-5; John Duncan
(Oriental Literature)q 1843-63; and William Cunningham (Divinity),
181+3-5.3 in 1844 a fifth professor, 4exander Black, vho had been professor of Divinity for a session at the New Free Church
College In Aberdeenv was appointed to the new chair of Biblical
Exegesis in New College* 1+
This increase in the number of divinity professors solved
a problem which had long troubled Chalmers. Previously only one
intake of students in four could commence theological studies at
the beginning of the four-year course of divinity lectures. At
New College two divinity professors were given two classes each.
This permitted every student to begin with a course appropriate to
his first year of theological studies - that Ist a course on
natural theology, the evidences of Christianity, and the-canon
and Iftspiration of Scripture. With this, foundation he proceeded
in his second and third years to the study of the doctrines of
the Christian faith, and in his fourth-yeart to the study of the
Church, the ministry, and the sacraments.
H. Watt, op. cit. I p. 10. 2. W. Hanna, op. cit., volume-III p. 699; H. Watt, op. cit I p. 11.
H. Watt, 'op. cit. 9, p. 10. W*J. Masson, The Church college in ADerdeen, p ADerdeen, 1930P P-7. Inauguration of the New College of the Free Church, Edinburgh:
November, MDCCCL. with Introductory ectures on Theology, Phi osophy, and Natural Sclence2 Edinburgh, lb5l, pp. 49f*
-294- A measure of the ambition of the founders of New College
was their intention of creating a Free Church University.
Since it was illegal until 1853 for anyone to hold a professor-
ship in a Scottish-university who was not a member of the
Established Church of Scotlandq it was thought necessary to
provide a philosophy or Arts course at New College as well as
a divinity course. 1 By 1845, therefore, three other
professorships had been created - in Moral Philosophy, Logic, and 2 Natural Science. The Arts Faculty confronted Chalmers with
another of his grievances about Scottish education - the low
standards achieved in Latin and Greek by students prior to their
admission to universities. This deficiency, together with low
attainments in Hebrew, continued to handicap students throughout 3 their divinity courses. Chalmers pondered the solution he had
suggested to the Royal Commission in 1828,1+ of establishing
gymnasia for the teaching of Latin and Greek. 5 The Committee on
Education recommended that students stay at the grammar schools
a year longer. 6
In 1844 a classics tutor w' as attached to the
7 Arts Faculty at New College, and in 1851 a. Hebrew tutor was
appointed to give instruction in Hebrew to the Arts students. 8
Attainments In Scriptural languages appear to have been raised:
in 1851 the classics tutorshipq originally designed to remove an
'evil which, it was hoped might be temporaryIq was discontinued, 9
1. H. Watt, oý. cit., pP. 24ff. 2. Ibid*j p2; S. Michie, op.
Inauguraiion of the New Colle W. Hanna, op. cit,, Volume 1 H. Watt, op. cit., p. 28.
6. Home and Foreign Missionary F Scotlandq December, 1M 1 74. 7. H. Watt, o. cit,,, pp-2&; 254. 8. Ibid. 9 P. 7; Home and Foreip Fre; Chiirch of Scotland, Juneq I
it. 0 Volume XV, Part it p. 5. Eq PP-47f- ,p. 698.
the Free Chure
Home and Foreign Misgionary Re Scotland June, lb5l, p*381*
issionary mecora ror tne , P-3bl- - rd for the Free Church of
-295- and, In the same yearg the Assembly of the Free Church resolved
to require its probationers to be acquainted with Hebrew before
they even 'began their divinity studies. 1 The professor of
Oriental languages, John Duncan, a retired missionary, must have
been pleased with this raising of standards. With a reputation
as an enthusiastic and inspiring teacherý he had earlier displayed
an eagerness to introduce, his students to the Intricacies of
Arabic and Syriac, as well as Hebrew, and had made a special
appeal to 'Friends in India' to send copies of 'all the works
that have issued there from the press in connection with Eastern
languages and learningi. 2
But perhaps Chalmers' greatest desire, had been to see his
students adopt a positive faith; he wanted them to have informed
and constructive opinions on the many challenges to traditional
belief and practice posed by industrialisation, and developments
in Biblical criticism and science'. In an attempt to come to
grips with the first, he had conducted experiments in parish
poor relief in Glasgow in the early 1820s'and had lectured on
Political Economy at St. Andrews. But'in'this sphere he said
little that came to the heart of the problems of Britain's
laissez-faire capitalism. 'Basically, he maintained that poverty
was a moral probleml that the solution was to christianise each
individual, and that the means was the preaching of the Gospel -
the Evangelical panacea-for all the lllslýof society. 3 In response
to developments In Biblical"criticismp Chalmers delivered a
course of lectures to his students on the'implications for the
Christian faith of contemporary German philosophy. 4
But it was
1. Ibid., P-383; Inauguration of the New College, PP-1+7fq51- 2. R-o-me and Foreign MissionarX Record ror the Free Church of Scot and. Novemberg Jb449 pp. 276f.
Drummond and J. Bulloch, The Scottish Church, -1688-184i.
W. Hanna, op. cit I Volume 119 PP-708ff.
-296-
in connexion with scientific developments that Chalmers made a
genuinely constructive contribution to the course of studies
at New College. He worked for, and attached great importance
to, the appointment in 1845 of John Fleming to the chair of
Natural Science at New College.
Chalmers contended that there could be no conflict between
theology and science 'rightly understood' and that science was
'a grand authenticator of the Bible, rightly interpreted'. 1
He therefore saw in the study of science a positive and a negative
value for the student of theology. From natural science, and
especially one of its branches, natural history, Chalmers sought
'the evidences of an intelligent and designing Cause'. It was
from natural history that natural theology drew 'her largest
resources in building up her argument for a DeitV1.2 This'was
not an unimaginative reiteration of the Position of Paley and the
eighteenth-century Moderates. Paley had held that natural
theology was sufficient in itself - without recourse to a written
revelation - to establish belief in God and his benevolent
purposes. But the view of Chalmerst which had so excited the
Youthful John Adam at St. Andrews, 3 was that natural theology
posed leading questions which had to be answered, but that only
revelation could answer them. "Natural theology, "'Chalmers
claimed2 "may see as much as-shall draw forth the anxious
interrogation, 'What shall I do to be saved? ' The answer to this
question comes from a higher theology. " )+
The negative value of
the studyýof natural science-was.. that only thus would be obtained
1. Home and Foreign Missionary Record for-the Free-Church of ScoTland. March, 1072-P-193-_ 2. Quoted by John Fleming in Inauguration of the New College, p. 219.
Memoir of John Adam, p. 52. Quoted in A. L. DrIliond and J. Bulloch, op. cit 2 p. 171.
-297- the means wherewith to refute those who thought they saw in
geology and astronomy 'formidable weapons of attack' against Christianity. 1
Chalmers died in 1847, but he was not alone in his
conviction that a course of ministerial training should involveb
the study of the sciences. John Wilson in Bombay, previously
noted as one who distinguished himself in the study of science
at university, donated his geological specimens, laboriously
collected in India, to augment Fleming's natural history museum
at New College. 2 And Flemingj himself, ardently maintained Chalmers' conviction of the compatibility of Christianity and
science. 3 When the Test Act of 1853 rendered unnecessary an
Arts faculty at New College, natural science was not given up but
was made an Integral part'of the divinity course. )+ Not until
the last year of our period was the decision made on grounds of
economy not to fill the Natural Science professorship vacated by
the death of Fleming in 1857.5
It is not exaggerating to conclude that missionaries trained
at New College received the best education that Scotland could
offer. Chalmers and David Welsh were replaced by a team of like 6 charisma - William Cunningham and Robert Candlish. The large
student population was maintained, academic standards were
consistently raised, the original languages of Scripture were
studied scientifically and critically, the contribution of German
1. Inauguration of the New Colleget p-219. 2. Zo-me and Foreign Missionary Record for the SCO-tland, Octoberg lb459 p. 214. ,
Inauguration of the New Collegeq pp. 216ff. H. -Wattj New College. Edinburghp pp. 29p53.
5. Home and Foreign Missionary Record for the Scotlandq June, lb5b, ps25b. 6. H. Wait, op. cit., pp. 88f.
-298-
scholars to Biblical criticism was not ignored, and the emerging
challenge to Biblical Christianity of geology and evolution was
constantly monitored. At its best, the theology of the New
College alumnus was positive, relevant$ and informed, and his
skills in philology and science served him well in the
institutions of higher learning in which the typical Scottish
missionary worked.
The training received by Irish and Welsh Presbyterian
missionaries may be described briefly. In 1691 the Synod of
Ulster decreed that none were to enter the ministry without a
university degree, 1 a resolution which had forced the majority
of Irish Presbyterian ministers to train in Scotland. In 1810
the Royal Belfast Academical Institution was established, and
the Synod agreed to accept its certificate as the equivalent of
an Arts degree. 2 Here studied seven of the nine Irish Presbyterian
missionaries who served in India before 18590 In 181+0 the Ulster
Synod was united with the Secession Synod to form the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. This body had
five divinity professors at the Belfast Institution and resolved
in 1840 to require of its licentiates a certificate from the
Institution plus attendance at two further sessions for divinity
studies. 3 After determiningg in the same year2 on a mission to
India7 the Assembly did not. wait for volunteers but invited those
already in the ordained ministry to serve thdir Church overseas. 4
1. R. Allen, The Presbyterian College Belfast, 1853-1953,, Belfast, 1954, p. b. 2. Ibid., P-37. 3.91-nutes of the Proceedings of the General Assembly of the
jerian Church in Irelandg, (2 Volumes), belfast, lb4O-60, Pre-2! Zy- vo. Lume i$ pp. ibr. -zI 'ý 4. R. Jeffrey, The Indian Mission-of the I ish Presbyteri Church p. 31+; Home and Foreign missionaEy Record for the Uh--urch7of Scotland, Novemberj, 1641ý, pe. 397-
-299- The Irish Presbyterian missionaries to India, therefore, received
no special missionary training but were among the mosttalented
of the Church's ministers. James Glasgow had received 'the
highest collegiate honours'; he was a medallist in both the Arts
and divinity courses. Alexander Kerr had won honours in
classical languages and Hebrew. 2 Robert Montgomery had passed through the Institution 'with great credit'13 and Adam Glasgow
was 'the ablest mathematician of his time at college' and won two
medals In science. 4 The Irish Presbyterian missionaries may be
grouped with the Scots as among the best educated missionaries to proceed to India in our period.
The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, although Presbyterian in
polity, were not, like the Irish, influenced by John Knox's
dream of a highly-educated ministry. The Welsh were influenced
not so much by Scotland as by the 'Trevecca tradition'. General
educational standards were not high in Wales, and it Is not
surprising to find that behind the rejection by the L. M. S. of
Thomas Jones, a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist, -a rejection which
provoked the Connexion to form its own missionary society - was
the opinion of the Directors that his educational attainments
were not sufficiently high to justify their having him trained
for service in India. 5 For a century the Welsh Calvinistic
Methodistsq some of whom were hostile to institutional training,
had no connexional college. 6 But7 in 1837 a theological college
at Bala was opened with Lewis Edwardst an honours graduate from
1. R. Jeffrey, op. cit., P-36. 2. Ibid. 9 P3-
- Ibid., p: 65n. Ibid., P. 66n.
. M. S., Minutes of the Committee of Examination, 23 December, 1839) &155.1 6. W. lliamsq Welsh Calvinistic Methodismt a Historical
I
-300- Edinburgh, and David Charles, a graduate of Oxford, as joint-
tutors. 1 Here were trained five of the seven Walsh missionaries
who served in India before 1859t most of them spending three
years in their studies* 2 In 1842 David Charles moved to
Trevecca to become the tutor of a second Welsh Calvinistic
Methodist training college. 3 Here William Pryse spent four years in training for the ministry prior to his departure for India. '+
Welsh Presbyterian missionaries to India$ then, were among the
first ministers to receive a regular theological training in
their Connexion, but their academic attainments can hardly have
been comparable with those of the Scots and Irish.
ii
The directors of Scottish missionary societiespaid little
attention to the question of special missionary training. Unlike
the C. M. S., they did not have to establish special colleges in
order to procure suitable candidates. Admittedly, the S. M. S.,
established as early as 1796, had found it difficult to attract
university-educated applicants, and in 1820 resolved to open a
missionary seminary d; Edinburgh. Its superintendent was William
Brown, author of an impressively documented history of missions. 5
He made a study of the missionary seminaries at Basle under 6 Theophilus Blumhardt and Hoxton under Ebenezer Hendersoh,
1. W. Williams, op. cit. t p, 208. 2. J. H. Morris, t
T-h-eHistorX of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists' Foreign Missiong-Fp-. 300-2. 3. W. Williams, op. cit., p. 209; 'Trevecca - and its Colleges' (anon), Journal of the HistorJml SocietZ of the Presbyterian Church of Walesq Volume XV9 Number 1? p. 6. 4. J. H. Morrist op. cit 9 P-302. 5. History of the Propagation of Christianity among the Heathen,, (3 Volumes), Third Edition, Edinburghp 1854. 6. S. M. S., Minutes, 25 Januaryq 18259, P. 38; 14 October, 1828, pp. 297f.
-301- John Wilson was one of the four missionaries to India known to
have studied at the Edinburgh seminary. Apparentlyq howeverp
when university graduates were forthcoming, the directors of
Scottish societies, well satisfied with the course of training
received by Scottish ministersq did not seek to supplement it.
Not until after th6 Disruptiong when the Church of Sbotland
lost its missionaries to India to the Free Church, was the question
of a missionary seminary again raised. The only reason for the
suggestion was the 'difficulty of finding properly-qualified
agents', ' and as the man-power crisis in the Church of Scotland
passed more quickly than was expectedg nothing was done.
Nevertheless, Scottish missionaries2 whether they served
with the various Soottish societiesq the L. M. S., or the B. M. S. 9
had paid considerable attention to missionary questions during
their professional training. This was achieved through the
remarkable student missionary associations which were established
in all the universitiesq and which were among the most successful
of student organisations, religious or secular.
-The earliest university missionary association appears to
have been formed at Aberdeen in 1816, but it had to be revived
in 1820 after it collapsed through 'bad management' .2 Its
fluctuating fortunes call to mind the volatility of most student
organisations: in 1828 its secretaryt Charles Brown, complained of
'a melancholy deadness' even among the divinity students93 but
the following year he rejoiced at 'the support of a great
proportion of the Theological and of not a small part of the Gown
Students'. 1+
At Glasgow the Theological Missionary Association
Io Minutes of the India Mission Committee of the Church of Scotland, 1 February2 1844; 14 July, 1845- 21 March, 1848. 2. E. U. M. A., Correspondence2 C. 1. Brownto J. Wilson, in the annual letter from Aberdeen2 1827*
Ibid. 2 C. T. Brown to J. Wilsont 26 February, 1828. TM. 2 C. T. Brown to the secretary of the E. U. M. A. 2 24 February,
D329-.
-302-
was founded in 1821. An essay read by William Harris in 1830v
the same year as he departed for India with the L. M. S.,
attracted great number; 1 but in 1833 it was reported that 2 the missionary spirit in Glasgow had all but 'evaporated'.
At. St. Andrews and Edinburgh2 however, the s tudent
missionary societies flourished. With Chalmers' encouragement3
a missionary association was formed among divinity students at
St. Andrews in 1823, with earnest, introspective Robert Nesbit
as its first secretary and treasurer. In the following year a
similar organisation was formed among the philosophy students.
The latter association was founded at the behest of John Urquhart,
a brilliant student who carried off all the academic prizes at
St. Andrews and died at the a§e of eighteen. His pastor,
William Ormeq wrote his memoir which, in its Influence on
Scottish students9 rivalled Jonathan Edwards' Life of David
Brainerd. Among the foundation members of the St. Andrews
Missionary Association were John Adam, shortly to depart for
India with the L. M. S., Alexander Duff, the most celebrated of
all Scottish missionaries to India, and Henry Craik, whose
contribution to Indian missions may be traced through his
influence on the Brethren missionary, Anthony Norris Groves.
When Adam died in 1831 he was replaced by another member of the
St. Andrews Associationý Jamex Paterson (L. M. S. )5, and two other 9
members, William Mackay and David Ewartt left for India with
with the Church of Scotland Mission in 1831 and 1831+ respectively.
1, Ibid., R. McCorkle to the secretary of the E. U. M. A., 18 FebFu-ary, 1830. 2. Ibid., A. Bannatyne to the E. U. M. A. 9 27 February, 1833. 3. W. Hannag op. cit., Volume 119 pp: 151-4; J. M. Mitchell, Memoir of the Rev. Robert Nesbit, pp 12f. IF. W. Orme, Memoir including-Letters-and Select Remains of John Urquhart. 57. E. U, M, A,, correspondence, W*S. Rae to the E. U. M. A. 9 9 February, 1833.
-303- In 1827 the Association had ninety membersll more than a third
of the total university student population. 2 But, although thereafter the Association managed to maintain this support
numerically, there was always a yearning to recapture the
glorious days of Chalmers and Urquhart and Duff. 3
In 1825 John Wilson was Instrumental In the formation of the 'Edinburgh Association of Theological Students in aid , of the diffusion of Chrstian Knowledge'
1+ and was its sedretary for
three years. In 1828 membership was opened to all students in
the University, -and In 1826 its name was changed to the 'Edinburgh
University Missionary Association'. Under the pitronage of
Chalmers$ secured as soon as he arrived from St. Andrews, 5 the
Association was assured of success, and in 1838 between thirty and
forty members were meeting in his 'retiring room' each Saturday 6 to pray for missions. In the following year between fifty and
sixty attended these prayer meetings and about two huadred attended
the public meetings. 7 Missionaries from this Association were
stationed in the three Indian presidenciesp in North and South
Africa, in South Americat and in Australia.
1. Ibid., J. Scott to J. Wilsong 21+ Februaryg 1827. 2. Z Hanna, op. cit., Volume II, p. 156. 3. E. U. M. A. t Correspondenceg W. S. Rae to the E. U. M. A. 9 February, 1833; A. F. Mitchell to the E. U. M. A., 11 March, 1842. 4.
E. U. M. A., Minutes 22 December, 18259 p. 2. 5. Ibid., 1 March, 1628; CorrespondencelT. Chalmers to W. Patterson, 20 December, 1828. 6. E. U. M. A., Correspondence, A. Leitch (subsequently in India with the L. M. S. ) to the And&ver Missionary Aisociation, 21+ March, . 1838. 7ý Ibid I J. Braidwood to J. Anderson and R. Johnston, 2 June; 1839. 8. E. U. M. A., Minutest p. vi.
-304- At the Belfast Academical Institution an auxiliary to the
S. M. S. had been formed by 1826.1 Ten years later it changed its
name to the 'Belfast Students' Auxiliary to the Synod of Ulster 2 Home Missionary Society$. All six of the missionaries who had
gone to India with the Irish Presbyterian Church Mission by 1842
had been 'most active' members of the Auxiliary,, whimh at that
date had seventy members. 3
The aims of the university missionary associations reflected
the earnestness of their founders. Urquhart, stirred by the
thought that Cambridge had already sent three distinguished
chaplains to India, David Browng Claudius Buchanang and 'the
zealous and devoted Martyn', hoped that St. Andrews would make
a six4ilar contribution, and his purpose in establishing the student
society there was not so much to give pecuniary aid to missionary
societies, as to stimulate 'a missionary spirit' among students. 4
This was to entail circulating 'the most interesting intelligence'
from the mission field so as to promote among students 'a spirit
of enlightened liberality and extended Christian philantbropy'. 5
The primary purpose of the Edinburgh Association wasiropaganda:
its members felt 'the absolute necessity. of saturating the minds
of the rising generation with Missionary principles and Missionary
facts2 in order that the next generation mayq through Divine grace,
be. blessed with the Missionary energy and enriched with the
1. E. U. M. A,, Correspondence W Hanna to J. Wilson, 10 May, 1826. 2. Ibid., 'Letter from A. C. 6anLngg 25 January, 1836.
Ibid., H. Henderson to the E. U. M. A., 26 March, 1842. V. Orme, op. cit-9 P-310- 5. E. U. M. A., Correspondence2 R. Wilson, to J. Wilsong 1 March, 1827.
-305-
Missionary fruits of Apostolic times'. ' The 'great object'
of the Belfast Associationuas 'to kindle in the hearts of [students] such a friendly feeling to Missions and evangelical
truth that afterward they may take a decided part in such
operationd. 2 All the societies adopted as their own the aim
of the Andover Theological Seminary Society of Enquiry formed
in 1811 to stir every theological student to missionary enthusiasm
and to confront him with the question of his personal responsibility
for the conversion of the heathen, 3
Such serious aims meant that the character of the missionary
associations was unlike that of other student organisations.
At Edinburgh it was decided not to permit the criticism of the
essays read at meetings9 as it was maintained that 'the interests
of the Association would probably be injured by such remarks'. 1+
At Glasgow, where the student debating society2 the Athenaeum,
attracted about two hundred students, the Missionary Association
allowed a debate on the question 'Should a Missionary going to
foreign parts confine himself exclusively to preachingg or should
he attempt the erection of schools and coUAges? '. Butq although
this attracted large numbers, some members of the committee
thought it detracted Ifrom, the sacrednesscf the Association'.
Similarly, it was impressed on chagrined students at St. Andrews
that the Missionary Association 'contemplates no discussions of
disputed points either on religious or secular subjects; but is
1. E. U. M. A., Minutes, 10 March, 1840, p. 213- 2. EX MA Correspondence, W. Patterson to J. Wilsong 25 Februa; y; i928.
National Library, Scotlandq Ms. 8955 J Wilson to D. B. Dowie. a.. E. U. M. A., Minutes, 1 March, 1828ý P-ý5; ecf. 6 December, 1828,
P-78. 5. E. U. M. A., Correspondence, R. McCorkle to the E. U. M. A. 9 18 February, 1830.
-306-
devoted exclusively to the hearing and co=unicating of essays
and intelligence, regarding the Missionary cause in the world. '
The very fact that debates were rejected, however, suggests
an uncharacteristic preference for the accumulation of factual
data over metaphysics. All the associations had their own libraries
and at first spent most of their funds in stocking them. 2 In 181+8
the library of the Edinburgh Association contained more than two
hundred and seventy works including reports of various missionary
societies, missionary travels and biographies, religious journals,
and studies of foreign religions and customs. 3 But members
probably learned most at the weekly or monthly meetings for the
reading of essays on missionary subjects. )+ The titles of many of
these essays have been preserved. Many of them were designed to
combat anti-missionary prejudices. The first essay read to the
Edinburgh Association, by its president, Thomas Pitcairn, was
entitled 'on the necessities at home being no sufficient argument
for withholding the Knowledge of Christianity from Heathen
countriest. 5 A topic which constantly recurred under various
titles was 'On the mode of resolving the question - Is it my duty
to become a Missionary in Foreign Parts?, 6 Some essays were
addressed to questions of missionary strategy such as 'A Comparison
1. Ibid., Reportv 1839-409 p. 2. 2. W. Ormeq op. cit. $ P-310-
he Library of-the Universi 3- Catalogue of the Books in t I, I. L Zi. 5. L Vila ry J&5bU1j. LUto. LUIJ9 "Al "'A'L 'LALjL"r'&Aj L%J--rw*
4. On the importance of the essay in Scottish university teaching, see G. E. Davie, The Democratic Intellectt P-17. 5. E, U. M, A., Minutest 7 January, 1626, p-6- G. Smith (John Wilson, P-17) and E. G. K. Hewat Vision and Achievementg-p. -N6) are incorrect in saying that John Wilson read the first essay. 6. E. U. M. A., Minutes, 5 December, 1829v p. 86.
-307-
between the-plans of the Moravians as to Missionary enterprise and
those of other bodies of Christians'. 1 Essays were read on
Roman Catholic missionaries, on prominent missionaries like David
Brainerd, on interesting religious phenomena such as revival in
America, on the progress of missions in various parts of the world,
and on heathen customs and religious practices. When to the
library facilities and essays one adds the correspondence with
similar associations in America and Ireland and with members who
had become missionaries overseas, it is difficult to doubt that
the Scottish student was well informed about the missionary movement.
The members of the ass. ociations did not confine their
activities to talk and prayer. They raised sufficient money to 2
support native catechists in India. John Braidwood, was supported
in India entirely out of the funds of the E. U, M, A., of which he
had been president. 3 The same association established a bursary
of : e25 to assist a prospective missionary in, his preparatory studiesý
Home missions were not forgotten; both the Edinburgh and Glasgow
associations appointed missionaries to work in the slums of their
respective cities. 5 Another achievement was the launching of the
Home and Foreign Missionary Record for the Church of Scotland6 7
which, with a monthly circulation of ten thousand, helped to
fulfil the ambition of 'saturating' the religious public with
missionary inte lligence. I
1. Ibid., 10 December, 18319 p. 112. 2. E. U. M. A., Correspondencep J. M. Lang to the E. U, M. A., 8 March, 1854.1
C. S. M., Minutes, 6 April, 1840. E. U. M. A., Correspondence, Letter from W. Dill, 28 February, 1844.
5. Ibid. 2 J. M. Lang to the E. U. M. A., 8 March, 1854; E. U. M. A. 0 Minutes, 23 March, 18479 P-176. 6. E. G. K. Hewat (op. cit., P-38) attributes this to Alexander Duff. But it is clear that the sugtestion originated with John Braidwood /v,, UeM, A. q Minutesq 20 January, 1838, P063). Y. Home and Foreign Missionary Record for the Church of Scotland, 1842-1 p. 48.
-3o8- The results of the zealous atmosphere in which Scottish
students-acquired a knowledge of missions were predictable. It
was while he was preparing for the members of the St. Andrews
Association an essay on the duty of evangelising the heathen
that John Adam was led to linquire, whether the advocate for the
general principle is not inconsistent and blameworthy, if whilst
exhorting others ... he draw back from the work himself'. 1
Among others who received the missionary impulse from the
university missionary associations was one who was more remarkable
than Adam - Alexander Duff. Adam, himself, probably helped to
turn Duff's attention to missions. 'I should feel happy. ' wrote
Adam of Duff, 'if I could be in any way useful in turning his
classical enthusiasm towards the Bible. 12 Urquhart was another
influence as Duff testifies in his 'Preface' to a late edition of
Urquhart's Memoir. 3 Duff was an over-simplifier but there is
probably a lot of truth In his words: ... well can I trace the
dawn, the rise, and progress of any feeble Missionary spirit I
possess, to the readings) conversations9 and essays calldd for by
[the] association in St. Andrews'. 1+
III
The special training missionaries to India received in
medicine and teaching was perfunctory. Close attention was paid
to the specialist qualifications of the small minority of lay
teachers and printers sent to India by the missionary societies,
but for the great majority of missionaries, the societies were
chiefly concerned with theological and linguistic qualifications,
1. L. M. S. 9 C. P. 9 J. Adam to the Secretaryq 9 November, 1827. 2. Memoir of John Adam
'9 P. 84. 3. W. - Ormet Memolr_lncludinp, Letters and Select Remains of
. Te%h-m TTv-miih. Qri-- with n PrAfatorV Notice and Recommendation bv
anuer -ui i. --. L,. . uu - -- . U. M. A., Correspondence, A. Duff to G. Knight, 19 March, 1831-
-309-
In this respect, missionaries to India may be contrasted with
missionaries to the South Seas, Africa, and the West Indies who
appear to have been trained more systematically in teaching methods
and medical skills. James Robertson and Orlando Dobbin, for
example, onlyzeceived medical instruction under the L. M. S. physician,
Dr. Conquestq because they were originally appointed to Siam2l
and Thomas Jones was to be given up to six months to study medicine 2' because he had been accepted for South Africa. Apparently both
places were thought to be dangerously remote from European medical
expertise. Whether or not a missionary candidate made any study of
medicine appears to have depended largely on his own ability to
convince the directors of its desirability. William Bampton
(G. B. M, S. ), 3 John Wilson (S. M. S. )q)+ James Xennedy5 and Charles
Leitch6 (both of the L. M. S. ) insisted on studying medicine before
their departure for India. Many Scottish missionary'candidates
obviously took advantage of the facilities for, studying medicine
at Scottish universities: L. M. S. candidates missed so many
divinity lectures at the Glasgow Theological Academy in order to
attend medical lectures at the University that-the L. M. S. Committee
of Examination had to intervene to pacify the irritated, tutors. 7,
Baptist missionaries who made a study of medicine included John
Mack, who attended lectures in medicine and surgery at Guy's
Hospital, London98 and James Thomasv who attended similar lectures
1. L. M. S. 9 Minutes of the Committee of Examination, 28 February, 183ILid. 179; 21 March,
118319 p. 180.
2. *9 9 Decembers 839, P-53- - 3. G, B, M, S Minutes, 18 September, 18209 p. 29; A. Sterling, Orissa, London, lKi, p. 152. 4. S. M. S., Minutes, 13 Novembers 1827, pp. 244f. 5. L. M. S. t Answers, to printed questionsq 2 November, 1837. 6. L. M. S., Minutes of the Committee of Examination, 20 May, 1850, Pý15Z 7. L. M. S., Minutes of the Committee of Examination, 9 December, 183
A. G. Hamlin, 'Bristol Baptist Colleges 1679-19591,1964. Typescript at Bristol Baptist College, p. 55. -
-310-
at the London Hospitalq Whitechapelsl Medical practitioners who
supported the missionary movement frequently offered to give
instruction to candidates in elementary anatomy, surgeryý and 2 medicine, and attendance at a doctorts surgery was part of the
3 course at the C. M. S. Institution at Islington. The full potential
of medical missions does not appear to have been appreciated until
the last decade of our period, and it was not until 1856 that the
F. C. M. together with the newly-formed Edinburgh Medical Missionary
Society sent a doctor to India for full-time medical work. 4
A far larger number of missionaries received some-training in
teaching. They attended for short periods the new model schools
attached to the British and Foreign Schools Society and the
National Society. All c. M. S. candidates who studied at the Islington
Institution were expected, immediately following ordination to
spend six weeks at 'a well organised National School and Infant
School ... so as to become thoroughly acquainted with both these
systems of Education'. 5 And, in 1842, the Committee of Visitors,
on hearing that the only books in the library on pedagogy were 'the
antiquated works of Bell and Lancaster', decided to add"the, most 6
approved modern treatises' on the subject. Other societies2 while
not as systematic as-the C. M, S. in their approach, did not neglect
this aspect of missionary training. 7 The earliest Wesleyan
missionaries studied the British or Lancasterian system at the
1. E. S. Wenger, The StorX of the Lall Bazar Baptist Church, Calcutta, Calcutta, 1908, p. 2d7- 2. See, for example6, C. M. S., Minutesp 8 JulYt 18339 PP-108f; W. M. M. S., Minutes, 8 April, 1 7, P-311-
C, M. S. 9 Minutes, 28 October 18319 PP-109f- F*C. M., Minutes, 0 May, 18ý69 insert between pages 98 and 99. C. M. S., Minutes,
ý February p 506; cf. 1+ November, 1829, p. 521.
6. Ibid. 7 1+ February 1842, ý07: 7.9M. M. S., Report, 1623t p. 290; L. M. S. 9 C. P., T. L. Lessel to T. Arundel, 8 Apr 19 1837; G. B. M. S., Minutes2 15 February, 18551 P-478.
-3-11- famous Borough Road School in London, and one of their'number,
Joseph Fletcher, took with him to the East not only a knowledge
of 'the New Systems of education12 but also a set of the lessons
taught at Borough Roadt one hundred and ninety-two slatest and 2 five hundred pencils. In Glasgow new experiments in teaching
were being conducted by David Stow, and it is not surprising to
read Robert Caldwell's robust words to the Secretary of the L. M. S.:
'As for studying the various systems of popular Education (And I
suppose you wish us to study them) I can assure you Glasgow /far
better place than London. This may appear special pleading and
sheer Scotch vanity, but I can quote as many Engfish, French and
German writers as you please in proof of it ... t3
In view of the large proportion of time the average missionary
in India spent in teaching it may be doubted if a little more than
a month's training in a normal school would have been a, dequate
preparation. It should be rememberedt howeverg that a significant
number of missionaries to India had been teachersor tutors before
they even applied for missionary service, and the experience thus
gained must have been far more useful than any period of teaching
practice provided by the societies in the course of missionary
training.
The study of Indian languages in Britain posed a greater
problem for the missionary societies. - The existence of hospitals
and normal schools facilitated the study of medicine and teaching,
but opportunities for instruction in Oriental languages at the
beginning of the nineteenth century were very limited. For the
first group of Wesleyan missionaries, for example, no teacher of
1. W. M. M. S., Minutest 27 Novemberg 18159 P-70. 2. Ibid. 9 23 December, 18189 P-173, and 31 March, 1819, P-13. 3. E. M. S. 7 C. P., R. Caldwell to J. Arundel, 24 March, 1837.
-312- Sinhalese or Tamil could be procured in London. 1 In the middle
of our period the societies tried various schemes to meet this
need, but subsequently the problem received less attention.
Three factors appear to have been responsible for the decline of
activity: first, the opinion that it was either inefficient or
actually detrimental to attempt to learn Indian languages in
Britain seemed to grow in popularity; secondly, chairs In Oriental
languages began to be established at Universities, and increasingly
missionary societies relied on these; andl thirdly, a growing army
of returned missionaries meant that societies no longer had any
difficulty in finding teachers for their candidates.
No provision was made for instruction in India languages at
the Gosport Missionarý Seminary, but in 1815 the Directors of the
L*M. S. were invited by a syndicate known as the Lascar Committee to
employ a native, Abdallah, for this purpose. The Directors agreed
to employ Abdallah to teach Hindustaniq but they doubted if he
understood Persian and Arabic Igrammatically'. 2 After a year his 3 services were not retained$ and the Committee of the L. M. S.
decided that it was 'impracticable, however desirable' to have
their missionaries instructed in Hindustani prior to departure. 4
Meanwhile, Claudius Buchanan had directed the attention of
the C. M. S. Committee to one Samuel Lee who had made 'with very
little assistance from others7 very extraordinary acquisitions
in Classical and Oriental Learning ... Lee was indeed a remarkable
linguist - the Committee looked forward to the day when he would
1. W. M. Harvard, A Narrative of the Establishment and Progress of the Mission to Ceylonaid India, Londong 1823, pp. 29f. 2o L. MoS., Minutes of the vommittee of Examination, 11 January, 1815, po342o
Ibido, 1+ Decemberg 1815,13.. 4e. Ibi v 22 April, 1816v p.
e5a
5. C. .., Minutes, 13, December, 1813P p, 239-
-313-
depart for India, 'that great scene of Biblical labours, to which
he seemed especially destined'. 1 But Lee never became a missionary.
Instead he was entered at Queen's Collegeq Cambkidge, whence he
produced a steady stream of useful works on philology, such as 2 'Rules for the guidance of persons who have to fix a language',
the Old Testament in Persian93 and a revision of Henry Martyn's 4 Hindustani New Testament. He also translated tracts and supervised
the preparation of type for printing-presses in India. 5 In 1819 of he was appointed Professor/Arabic In the University of Cambridge.
A review of his work in 1825 showed that he was familiar with
thirteen different languages. 6 In the same year Lee commenced his
duties as Oriental tutor at the C. M. I. Here he gave instruction
in Sanskrit, Hebrew, Arabia, Persian, and Bengali. Many years
after Lee's retirement from the C. M. I. Henry Venn, who by then
was strongly convinced that Eastern languages should not be studied
until the missionary arrived in his appointed country 97 informed a
correspondent that Lee's attempt to give instruction in Oriental 8 languages at the C. M. I. had proved 'comparatively useless'.
A. more ambitious experiment was tried at the behest of Robert
Morrison, at home from his philological labours in China, and
Henry Townley, another L. M. S. missionary, at home from India.
As early as 1818 Morrison had conceived of the formation of a
'Universal philological Society' in London. 9 In 1824 H6nry Townley
1. Ibid. 1+ June, 18177 p. 446. 2. Tb Md. 28 November7 1811+1 p. 232.
Ibid p 233. ME& 2j SeAember, 18157 P-377. Ibid., 13 November, 1815, P-463-- T-bid. j 15 Februaryp 18252 pp-396ff.
7. U-. M. S. 7 G/AC1/52 H. Venn to R. W. WolselY2 7 December, 1846; G/AC1/1lj H. Venn to J. W. RidleY7 30 January, 1854. 8. C. M. S. 2 G/AC1/13, Letter from Henry, Venn2 30 July, 1856. 9. E. Morrison, Memoirs of the'Life and Labours of Robert Morrison, P. D. 2 (2 Volumes)7 London2 16jyj Volume III pp. 298f.
-314- laid his plan of Oriental instruction first before the Committee
of Examination' and subsequently before the London Secretaries'
Association which had met to consider the question of missionary
training. 2 To the Language Institution2 Holborn, formed as a
result of Morrison's vision and Townley's plan, all the major
English missionary societies, with the exception of the S. P. G. 9 that is the C. M. S., L. M. S, 9 B, M., S., W. M. M. S., and G. B. M. S. ) sent
their missionary candidates for instruction in Eastern languages.
Morrison lectured on Chinesel Townley on Bengali, and Francis-
Johnsong Professor of Sanskrit, Bengali, and Telegu at Haileybury
3 College, on Sanskrit. However, in spite of distinguished patrons - Wilberforce was one - the Institution soon ran into financial
difficulties'+ and in 1831 it collapsed*5
By this time, howeverg the East India Company and the universities
had appointed lecturers in Eastern languages, and
missionary candidates had increasingly availed themselves of the
opportunity of stydying under them. Both Baptist and C; M-S--
missionaries studied Hindustani under John Borthwick Gilchrist, who
from 1818 until 1826 was Professor of Hindustani in the, East India
Company's Oriental Institution in Leicester Square. Gilchrist
gave instruction gratuitiously but required his students to
purchase his books at a5 each. 6 Francis Johnson's motives for
helping missionaries in their language studies were less pecuniary.
1. L. M. S. Minutes of the Committee of Examination, 11 Septemberp 1821+2 p. 88. 2. J. H. Ritson, Records of Missionary Secretariesq p. 62. 3. L. M. S: j Minutes of the L; o==ee of Examination, 31 January, 1825, &-131; C M. S., Minutes,. 2OiApril 827P pp-104-6.
. B. M. S., Minutes, 17 k pr 1,1892819 p-70; C-M. S. p Minutes, lI+ April, 1828, p. 508. 5. B. M. S., Minutes, 15 September, 1831, P-59; C. M. S. 9 Minutes, 5 October, 1831, P-132. 6. Dictionary of National Biographyf' Volume 21) PP-31+2-1+; H. H. Bell6t, Universi-tv College. on on. 1826-1926.1+2f; C. M S Minutes, 14 Februaryq 16202 P-376- 1ý-S. enger
Iýe Story ; foihe
Lail Bazar Baptist Church, Calcutta, p*2 7.
-315- He was a devout Evangelical Congregationalist, and immediately on his appointment to Haileybury, he offered his services to the
L. M. S. 'as far as [was]consistent with his College duties'. '
Johnson's contribution to Oriental studies was substantial: his
dictionary of Persian and Arabic is a monument to exhaustive of scholarship, he assisted H. H. Wilson, Boden PTofessoi/Sanskrit
at Oxford, to compile his Sanskrit grammar, and he published
selections from various Sanskrit writings, including the Mahabharatt
After the demise of the Language Institution missionary students
continued to receive instruction in Eastern languages from him,
and the example of this pious, indefatigableg and systematic
scholar must have been of considerable value to them in their
exacting philological labours in India. Appropriately the epitaph
on his tomb reads: "A workman that needeth not to be ashamed". 2
One of Johnson's students was John Smith Wardlaw who had come from
Glasgow to study Oriental languages under Professor Forbes at King's
College. A comment of Wardlaw may be indicative of the standard
attained by missionary candidates in their language studies:
'Professor Johnson says that Mr. Forbes has not perhaps paid an
equal degree of attention with himself to the Sanskrit wh. he has
studied for twenty years ... He is quite prepared, he says, to
give me such a certificate as you require, seeing I have already
acquired as much of the Teloogoo as is considered sufficient for
any of the Civil Servants to possess on leaving the College. 13
At Oxford in 1832, Horace Hayman Wilson was elected to the
Chair of Sanskrit, endowed by Joseph Boden of the East India
Company, to facilitate the conversion of British India to
Christianity. 1+
Wilson was appointed in preference to William Hodge
1. L. M. S., Minutes of the Committee of Examination, 31 January, 1825, P-131. 2. F. C. Danvers, et al., Memorials of Old Haileybury College- London, 1894, pp-71t18off-
L. M. S. 9 C P. p J., S. Wardiaw to J. Arundel, 22 February, 1841. JS Re I
; lds, The Evangelicals at Orford. 1735rl871, Oxford, 1953; ;
p-NOf.
-316- Mill, principal of Bishop's College, Calcutta, who was supported
by E. B. Pusey. 1 The competition for the post appears to have
been a portent of the more bitter clashes between the Evangelicals
and the Puseyltes because John David Macbride, Evangelical
principal of-Magdalene Hall and Professor or Arabia, reported
Wilson's success to the Committee of the C. M. Sý, and in that
generosity born of victory, he invited the C. M. S. to nominate a
student for an exhibition of ; e20 per annum plus free rooms and 2 gratuitous tuition in Sanskrit from Wilson. Ironically, the S. P, G.
appears to have profited most from Wilson's appointment: among
his students were Arthur Wellington Wallis of Magdalene Ha112 who
was a Boden Sanskrit Scholar93 and Walter Xyte Coles, who read of Sanskrit with Wilson and with M. C. Lassen, Professor7Sanskrit in
the University of Bonn. 1+ Indeed, S. P. 4. missionaries appear to
have had the most scientific approach to the study of language and
enthusiastically embraced German developments in philology. Those
who were Worsley scholars at King's College, London, would probably
have studied under Duncan Forbes, who was appointed Professor of
Oriental Languages and Literature-in 1837, and who is reputed to
have had 'an amazingly wide acquaintance with the diverse tongues
of Indial. 5
Finally, mention must be made of provision for the study, of
Eastern languages in Scotland. - Until the last two decades of our
period many Scottish missionaries prosecuted their language studies
1. F. C. Danvers, or. cit., pp. 212ff. 2. C. M. S., Minutes, 27 Marcht 1832, p-257. 3 S. P. G., Bishop's College - 6, Letter from A, W, Wallis, 13 Mav, 1M. - 4. S. p. G.., Candidates' Testimonials, 1837-44, X-111f 183-6. 5. F. J. C. Hearnshawq-The Centenary HistorZ of Kingisp8; llege, London,, p. 249; cf. F. C. Danvers, op. cit , p. 42.
-317- in London. In 1837 a Rev. J. Duncan of Glasgow offered to give
instruction to any L. M. S. missionary students in Syriac, Arabic,
Sanskrit, Bengali, and Malay$ without charge providing his
students undertook to send him any works they might afterwards
publish in any of these languages. ' The reference. isto John
'Rabbit Duncan whose subsequent energetic activities in Oriental
languages at New College, Edinburghq have already been'noted. 2
Students of the Church of Scotland, while not excluded from New
Collegeg werewell provided for by David Listont Professor of Hebrew
and Semitic Languages in the University of Edinburgh (1848-80),
who occasionally instructed missionary students in Hindustani. 3
CONCLUSION
To produce 'workmen who need not be ashamed' was the purpose
of the theological colleges in which most missionaries'to India
were trained - workmen academically and spiritually equipped to
defend andpropagate the Christian faith. That the missionary
candidates here studied were workers there can be no doubt. Inbued
with an eighteenth-century utilitarian"morality which they learned
from Paley, one of their chief mentors, -rather than from Bentham,
they were dedicated to the ethical value of efficiency and usefulness.
'I act, therefore I amt was their creed. 4
They were supremely
men of action and few would want to quarrel with the claim that
they were faithful workmen who departed for India determined to do
their duty, as they understood it.
1. L. M. S., Minutes of the Committee of Examination, 21 August, 1837, P-322. 2. See above, p. 295.
CO. Y., Minutes, 29 Decemberp 1854, p. 119. D. Newsome, Godliness and-Good Learning,? Londong 1961, -p. 80,
cf. p. 196.,
-318- It is their understanding both of the Gospel yhich they
proclaimed and of the opposition which they confronted which
calls for more detailed concluding reflections. For it is by
this understanding that the effectiveness of missionary training
is ultimately to be judged. The high priority given to Butler
and Paley in theological colleges and universities throughout our
period suggests that missionaries confronted nineteenth-century
Hinduism not only with the values of another civilisation which
was inevitable, but also with the apologetic of another age
(eighteenth-century reason) which could perhaps have been avoided
had missionaries been trained in a more flexible atmosphere.
But Paley continued to dominate the English Church in the nineteenth
century, and it is as unjust to criticise missionaries for the want
of existentialism in their theologyq as it is to criticise them
because they were not all impartial anthropologists, champions of
Indian nationalism, or sympathisers with the Hindu Renaissance.
Avoidable or not, however2 the point is worth making, since it is
a much-overlooked fact about Evangelicalsp that the tutors of
missionary candidates had a serene faith in human reason, and they
were confident that it must vindicate the Christian revelation.
One never finds a trace of Coleridge's impatience with the so-called
'evidences' of Christianity.
As Evangelicalism became the popular religion of the respectable
classes, and as the missionary movement failed to attract t6e
measure of abuse heaped upon it by Sidney Smith In an earlier
generation, missionaries increasingly appeared as the purveyors of
a human system rather than of'a divine life. When the system was
attacked, the champions of missions were diverted from their
'evangelical aggression' to a defensive'role. Orthodoxy was upheld
by ever more painful measures at the institutions where missionaries
studied. Missionary students-at the C. M. I. who were suspected of
-319- doubting the doctrine of eternal damnation and punishment were
closely questioned and either expelldd or asked to withdraw: ' it
was felt that to deny this would be to destroy a vital motive to
missionary activity. 2 Even such a champion of $reason' and free
inquiry as Ralph Wardlaw reluctantly agreed to the expulsion'of
nine students from the Glasgow Theological Academy for denying his 3 rather esoteric views of the Holy Spirit's work in election.
The Directors of the L. M. S. dissolved its connexion with Aaron
Buzacott Jnr., a student at Cheshunt College2 who, on applying to
be transferred to New College, Londonp mentioned In passing that he
had not had time thoroughly to examine the truthfulness of all
Christian doctrines. '+ The stunned student protested that he had
no $doubts about the great essential truths of Christianitylt5
but the Directors were of the opinion that doctrinal beliefs ought
to be formulated before entering college t and, in a subsequent
interviewý Buzacott failed to satisfy them 'in reference to
Several important Evangelical Truths,. 6
Buzacott was a contempGrary of a far more famous Cheshunt and
New College student, William Hale White; who was himself expelled
from Yew College one or two years after Buzacott; and whose classic
The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford (1881) is such an incisive
exposure of Evangelical Dissent. ' It is'a critique of 'Puritanism
petrified and mammonized, clinging to shibboleths without real
conviction, perpetuating old forms from which the life had departed'. 7
1. C. M. S., Minutes, 1+ Octoberg 1826, p. 467; 11 June, 1827, pp 159ff; 10 Septemberg 18279 pp. 229ff; 26 Septemberg 1849, P. 23ý; 30 September, 1849, p. 239; 26,0atoberg 18539 p. 629. 2. Ibid. 9 1+ Octoberg 1826, p. 1+67.
H. Escott, A History of Scottish Congregationalisat PP-107ff- L. M. S., UnacceptedýU. P. p Letter, rrom A. Buzacott, 6 May, 1850,
5, Ibid,, Letter from'A. Buzacottq 2Z May, 1850. 6. L. M. S., Minutes of, the Committee of Examination, 21 June, 1850, P. 141. 7. B. Willeyq More Nineteenth Century Studies. A Group of Honest_ Doubters, London, 1956, p. 191.
-320- Of the president of the theological collegeg White wrotet "I
see him now, a gentleman with lightish hair, with a most
mellifluous voice and most pastoral mannert reading his prim
little tracts to us directed against the 'shallow infidel' who
seemed to deny conclusions so obvious that we were certain he
could not be sincere, and those of us who had never seen an infidel
might well be pardoned for supposing that he must always be wickedly
blind. "' So missionaries were encouraged to think as uncharitably
about the 'infidel' in India. That White was not exaggerating is
confirmed by the argument employed by Ralph Wardlaw when he was
confronted with the problem that unorthodox opinionsv atheism, and
non-Christian religions were being advanced In the name of liberty
of thought and were being supported on the basis of free inquiry.
Wardlaw contended that such beliefs could never be arrived at by
Air argument; they were the result of sin, of licentiousness, not
liberty. 'A blameless atheist - an atheist that has arrived at
his miserable conclusions without the perverting influence of
moral pravity ... is a characterg I honestly confessq of which I
am unable to form a conception., 2 Similarly, White'scomplaint
... indeed, the word 'German' was a term of reproach signifying
something very awfulO may be bracketed with Wardlaw's confession
to his students that he had no wish to waste any portion of his
life in learning German or reading German theology in the original. 4
Wardlaw likened German speculations to those of the Hindus and Buddhists and described them all as: "the fruitless toil
1. W. H. White, The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford, Third Edition, London, 1923, pp-13f. 2. R. Wardlaw, Four Sermons: Two oil Man's Accountabloness for his belief; and Two on the Responsib-f-lity of the Heathen. L p. Viii.
W. H White, op. cit., p#14* Systematic Theology,, Volume 1, p. 163.
-321- 'Of dropping buckets into empty wells,
and growing old in drawing nothing up. '"
It ought to be noted thatp if missionaries were unappreciative
of the culture and religions of India, it was not because they were
uneducated. As has been demonstrated the majority were as well
educated as ministers of religion in Britain, who were probably
the best-educated group in the population. The problem lies
rather with the kind of education received. Original thinking
was not encouraged in universities let alone theological colleges.
'The university authorities9l writes V. H. H. Greeng 'believed
that it was their task to transmit a body of assured knowledge to
their pupils rather than to foster speculative or original ideas
or research., 2 Indeed, a student at New College, Edinburgh,
at the Glasgow Theological Academyt or at the numerous Dissenting
colleges affiliated with the University of Londong had a greater
chance of imbibing some German philosophy than a student at
Oxford or Cambridge. 3 Today, we tend to look on a mature critical
faculty as the mark of an educated man. Butt throughout most of
the nineteenth century an educated mant particularly an educated
minister of religion, was one who had massive erudition in classical
and Biblical languages and an encyclopaedic knowledge of the
various systems of Christian theology. The attitude of the majority
of tutors of missionary candidates is well described by Isaac
Taylors
Christianityq being as it is, exclusively a religion of
documents and of interpretationt must utterly exclude from
its precincts the adventurous spirit of innovation. ... True
1. Ib d. t p. 196. 2. R-eligion at Oxford and Cambridge, p. 297. 3. Ibid-9 P-301.
L
-322-
k6ligion ... was given to mankind in a finished form,. and is to be learned, not improved: and though the most
capacious human mind is nobly employed while concentrating
all its vigour upon the acquirements of this documentary
learningg it is very fruitlesslyq and very perniciously
occupied in attempting to give it a single touch of
perfectionment. 1
so* the toils of learned acquisition ... indispose the mind n to the wantori6ss of speculation, and impart to It rather the
timidity, the acquiescence, the patience, which are proper to
the submissive exposition of an authoritative rule'of faith. 2
Erudite inflexibility must have been a characteristic of the many
well-educated missionaries who served in India in our period*
The prevailing Evangelicalismf characterised by dogmatic
intoleranceg only fortified an educational system which saw no
merit in speculative and original thought. Evangelicals had,
first, a hostile attitude to doubt. 'A doubt, ' explained John
Ryland to the students of the Bristol Baptist Academy, 'is a
suspension of thought, and a propensity to withold [giij] the assent
of the mind to any truth; this very much arises from pride,
darkness and enmity, and therefore should be ... abhorred as the
sickness or moral disease of the soull. 3 Secondlyq Evangelicals
had a narrow conception of the Gospelq a conception which tended
to confine all their mental energies to one over-riding purpose - the salvation of souls. Hence it was thought wise stewardship of
the intellectual powers to study especially 'the avenues which
1.1. Taylor Natural History-of Enthusiasmq P&79* 2. Ibid. 9 p317. 3. J=. yland, 'The Wise Student and'Christian Preacher', a Sermon preached at Broad-Mead, August 28, l780. -? o_r_TF; e Bristol Education Societyq Bristol, 17dOp P-23.
2 3r-
lead to the heart of fallen man'. ' Ando thirdlyl whether on the
offensive -or the defensive, Evangelicals thought normative
Christianity involved a combative mentality. These three
Evangelical characteristics help to explain the great confidence
of missionaries, the invincible relentlessness with which they
pursued their soteriological purposeq and the systematic manner in which they attempted to undermine Hinduism and Islam.
None of the above is meant as 4 criticism. The defence of the Christian faith will always be a function of theological
colleges. Evangelicals were doing nothing exceptional in making
their ministers 'learned in the wisdom of the Egyptians' not that
they might sympathise with the Egyptians (or Hindus) but that they
might despoil them. 2 As a result missionaries may not have made
sympathetic students of Indian religions and customs, but they
were well-informed teachers of, and apologists for, the fundamentals
of the Christian faithq and they were ably equipped and highly
motivated to wrestle with the vernacular languages of Indiag so
that Indians might hear the 'one thing needful' in the tongue
most familiar to them. It might also be argued thýt there is not
much point in condemning missionaries for their narrowness, because
without their characteristic single-mindedness many would never
have surmounted the obstacles to their going to India in the first
place. Evangelicalism strhthened rather than enfeebled them; 'they
could not have done their work In an atmosphere of Liberal
theology'. 3
1. Home and Foreign Missionary Recokd for the Free Church of ScoUlan , ovember, 18519 P-93. 2. F. B. Bullock, A History of Training for the Ministry of th Church of England in En land and Wales from 1800 to JLW7-4, p. 146; HE tt, New College, Edinburghp p-90. 3. These words are used by ib, A. Brooke to describe the Evangelicalism of Thomas Scottq William Wilberforce and John Venn in his Life and Letters ofFtederick W. Robertson M-1.1 (2 Volumes), London-, --Jg-Ul--, Volume I, P'Xii.
-324- Having dealt with the academic equipment of these 'workmen',
a final thought ought to be offered on their spiritual equipment.
Just as the theo3cgical colleges here studied were generally
concerned to defend a conservative, orthodox theology, so they
were all deeply interested in the character of their students.
Theological students were not only expelled for entertaining
heterodox and 'speculative' views. In 1827 a, student was expelled
from the C. M. I. for climbing over the college wall after curfew
and for neglecting prayers. 1- The college principalt J. N. Pearson,
was fully alive- to $the importance of most carefully keeping out,
or, if it have unhappily crept in, of purging outq any-evil
leaven'. 2 In 1837 an inquiry was conducted into the 'moral state'
of the Bristol Baptist Academy. Three students were found guilty
of 'a corrupt state of mind' and expelled. One of their crimes
was laughing during grace atýmeal-times. Hence they were charged
with 'irreligious attempts to put down the manifestations of
social pietyi. 3
It might be argued that such Incidents are evidence of a
growing preoccupation with outward morality. Certainly, the colleges
became stricter about such matters'as smoking and drinking. The
C. M. I. at first brewed its own beer. At the Bristol Baptist
Academy beer was supplied to students until 181+6. - But the
Temperance Movement was gaining strength, and in 181+9 a German
student was expelled after returning to the C. M. I. in a slightly
inebriated condition. )+
But Icharacterl was not only, thought of in terms of behaviour
measured by observance of the growing catalogue of Evangelical
le C*MeSe, Minutes, 31 October, 18279 PP-327ff- 2. Ibid., 24 April, 1838, P-782. 3. Minutes of the Bristol Education Society, 1 March, 1837, PP-4-7; 19 MaYq 18379 p. 16. I+. C. M. S., Minutes, 23 October, 1849, pp. 232f.
-325-
taboos. There was an over-riding interest in the 'piety' of
candidates which appears to have been sustained through our period.
It is a word which has changed its meaning. It then obviously
meant 'vital religion' or lattainments in Divine grace'. ' Hence,
in spite of the Pelagian elements which were increasingly
infiltrating the missionary movement, there can be little doubt
that it was genuinely believed at the end of our period, as at
the beginning, that the chief qualifications for missionary service
were spiritual ones. It was as late as 1855 that Thomas Hunter,
a Scottish missionary candidate, wrote: 'For my own partg every
day shows with greater force that my standard of spirituality must
be very high, and my constant prayer requires to be for heavenly-
mindedness. 12 That the missionary movement to India continued to
attract men of Hunter's spiritual calibre - such men as Robert
Caldwell of the S. P. G., Thomas Valpy French and James Long of the
C. M. S., John Trafford of the B. M. S., and John Smith Wardlaw of
the L. M. S. - is sufficient evidence that William Carey's
inspiration did not die with him.
1. The latter expression appeared In the series of 'Queries' which the S. M. S. asked referees about candidates. That 'piety' meant more than outward morality or overt sanctity is clearly conveyed by these questionss
'What is your opinion of Mr. Is piety? Do you think he gives evidence of real piety? Has he d ne so for any considerable time? Is his piety warm and ardent, or is it cool, yet solid? What do you think of his piety in respect of its degree? Is it much of the ordinary standardo or does he appear to have made superior attainments in Divine grace? Scottish Missionary Regis-ter, 1821, pp. 284f. 2. Quoted in J. F. W. Youngson, FortjK Years of the Panjab-Mission of the Church of Scotland- 11355-1895, Edinburgh, lb96, p. 71.
-526-
APPENDIX A
LIST OF MISSIONARIES, 1789-1858.
This appendix includes the names of missionaries who
were recruited in Britain by thirteen societies and church
mission boards and who departed for service in India between
the years 1789 and 1858. Missionaries whog although recruited
in India, were trained subsequently in Britain during this
period, are also included. The list does not include
missionaries recruited on the Continent of Europe. Neither
does it include missionaries who were recruited in India
and who received no subsequent training in Britain.
In the case of those whose church membership is unknown,
the place of birth is given instead) and where this, too, is
unknown, some indication of a previous place of residence is
given. Such entries are prefixed by 1b. 1 and 'from'
respectively.
-32T-
LIST OF MISSIONARIES, lZ89-1858.
Year of Name Minister Vor Previous Where Eiart- Church occunation(s) educated ure for Ind
1. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge
1789 1. CLARKE, Abraham from Wigtoft minister Trinity Coll., Thomas with Quadring Camb.
II. Baptist Missionary Society
1793 1. CAREY, William J. Ryland (Sen. ), shoemaker/ self-taught Northampton teacher/
minister
2. THOMAS, John S. Stennet, surgeon Westminster London Hospital
1796 3. FOUNTAIN, John W. Smith, Eagle sailor? B. St., London
1799 1+. BRUNSDON, Daniel J. Ryland, apprentice Olney Broadmead to linen (Sutcliff)
draper
GRANT, William J. Ryland, teacher? Olney Broadmead (Sutcliff)
6. MARSHMAN, Joshua Westbury Leigh weaver/ Bristol Baptist Chapel and bookseller/ Academy Rylandq teacher Broadmead
7. WARD9 William Beatson, Hull rinter & E Ewood Hall ookseller/
editor/s. m.
1802 8. CHAMBERLAIN, John J. Simmons, farmer Olney (Sutcliff), Guilsborough Bristol Academy
18o)+ 9. BISS, John I. Birt2 Devonport Olney (tutcliff)
1O. MARDON, Richard I. Birtq Devonport Olney (Sutcliff)
ll. MOOREj William R. Humphreyp farmer Olney (Sutcliff) Stoke-Gomer & Bristol Acad.
12. ROWE, Joshua J. Saffery, servant/weaver/ Olney Salisbury sailor/clerk/ (Sutcliff)
woolcomber/ clerk
1806 13-CHATER, James T. GreenjMiddle- Ironmonger Bristol Academy ton Cheney, and J. Sutcliff7 Olney
11+. ROBINSON, William J. Sutcliff, shoemaker Olney (Sutcliff) Olney & Bristol Acad.
-328- Year of Name
epart7- ure for india.
1810 15. JOHNS, W.
16. LAWSON, John
1814 17-CAREY, Eustace
18-YATES, William
1816 19. PEMY2 James
1817 20. PEARCE2 William Hopkins
1818 21. ADAM, William
22. SUTTON, Stephen
1821 23-MACK, John
1823 21+. LESLIE, Andrew
1825 25. BURTON, Richard
26. SWAN, Thomas
1826 27-PEARCE, George
28. THOMAS, James
1831 29. ELLIS2 J. D,
30. LAWRENCE, John
Minister &/or Previous Church occupation(s)
Scotland chemist & surgeon
J. Ivimey, Eagle wood-engraver St., London
J. Ryland, no business - Northmead and private College Lane, student Northants.
J. Stevenson, Loughborough
Palmer 9 Shrewsbury
J. Hinton, Oxford
J. Inglis 2 Danfermline, Scotland
Where eTu'cated
Univ. Edin.?
Olney (autcliff
Olney & Bristol Acad.
shoemaker and Loughborough teacher's Acad. /Bristol assistant Acad..
teacher Joseph Lancaster
printer Bristol Acad.
J*-. Tyso, Watchet
Edinburgh teacher Scotland ýC
of S) W. Winterbotham, Shortwood
C. Anderson, printer Edin. 9 Scotland
J. Ivimey, Eagle St. 9 London
C. Anderson, Edin., Scotland Dover & Broseley s. m.
Williams, Grafton s. m. St.,, London
Masong Exeter printer
So Brawn, some Loughton
St. Andrew's Univ. /Bristol Acad. /Univ. Glasgow
Bristol Acad.
Univ. Edin. / Bristol Acad.
Bristol Acad.
Bristol Acad.
Bristol Acad. / Univ. Edin. Stepney Coll.
Horton Acad. & Stepney Coll.
London Print- ing Office (Watts)
Stepney Coll.
31-PAUL, Philip
-3'29- Year of Name Minister Vor De ar - Church ure for india
1832 32. LEECHMAN, John C. Andersong Edin., and J. Deakin, Glasgow
3ý. ANDERSON9 George F. Shaldon Chapel 1838 3. BAYNE, Robert E. Clarkeg
Truro?
35. PARSONS, George T. F. Newmang Barton Frome
1839 36. MORGAN, Thomas D. R. Stephen, Swansea, Wales
37. PHILLIPS, Thomas W. H. Coombsq Taunton
38. TUCKER, Francis Plymouth
181+0 39. EVANS, William Watkin
40. PARSONS, John
1+1. SMALL, George
1841 1+2. GIBSON, Robert
Cox, Hackney
Middleditch M Frome Chapels
W. Innes, Edin. 9 Scotland
Previous Where UCcupation(s) educated
son of tin- Haldane's plate worker Glasgow Coll. /
Bristol Coll. / Univ. Glasgow
Stepne. r Coll.
apprentice to Bristol Acad. / tradesman Univ. Coll.,
London
SOMO Bristol Acad.
Stepney Coll. / Univ. Edin.
college Univ. Edind student Stepney Coll.
teacher/clerk "special & accountant training as a
teacher"
W. Gray, Chipping Norton
1A4 1+3. DENHAMý W. H.
1845 44. MAKEPEACE9 Jonathan
1846 45. LEWIS, Charles Bennet
1847 46. PAGE, Thomas Collins
181+9 47. SALE, John
1852 48. JACIMON, John
1853 49. TRAFFORD, John
Blandford St. teacher/ Chapel? minister
To Morgang some Birmingham
Counterslip Church S. M. Bristol
Bedford some
b. Wokingham, Berkshire
Lincoln and Taunton Chapel T. Coles, Bourton-on-the- water
somo
minister
minister
Bristol Acad. / Univ. Edin.
Chipping Nortor (Gray)/Stepney Coll. /Univ. Coll. London
her/ trained for ister Rom. Cath.
priesthood *me Stepney Coll.
Bristol Coll.
Stepney Coll. / Load. Univ.
Horton Acad.
Bristol Coll.
Bristol Coll. / Univ. Glasgow
-330- Year of Name Minifter Vor
e art- Church ure for India
1854 50. ANDERSON, James Hackney Henry
51. GREGSON, John
52. MARTIN, Thomas R. H. Carson, Tubbermore
1855 53. EVANS, Thomas D. Jones, Newport
'ý+. MACKAY, John
SAMPSON, William G. H. Davies, Old King St., Bristol
1856 56. KERRY, George G. H. Davies7 Old King St. 9 Bristol.
1858 -
57. DAKIN, Edward
58. GREGSON, Joseph Hackney Chapel Gelson
III. London Missionary Society
1798 1. FORSYTH, Nathanael Annan Churhh Scotland
1800 2. EDMUNDS, James
180)+ 3. CRAN, George
1+. DES GRANGES, Augustus
LOVELESS, William Charles
6. TAYLOR, John
1807 7. GORDON, John
8. LtE, William
1809 9. HANDSf John
Previous Occupation(t)
semo
minister
S*Mo
minister
S*M*
accountant/ Some
. minister
teacher
teacher
W.. Robyj soldier Manchester
J. Diarmid, Banff, Scotland
Scotch Churchq London?
J. Robertsonj Edin. $Scotland
Charles Buck, Finsbury
T. Stollery, Soho
medical student
"business"
apprentice
Where educated
Stepney Coll.
Stepney Coll.
Bristol Coll.
Pontypool Acad.
Horton Coll,
Bristol Coll, / Lond. Univ.
Bristol Coll.
Borough Road Normal School
Loughton (S. Brawn)
Univ. Glasgov/ New Burgher Divinity Hall
Manchester (Roby)
Gosport
Gosport
Gosport
Univ. Edin. / Gosport
Gosport
Gosport
Gosport
-331- Year of Name Minister Vor Previous Where DeparT-- Church occupation(s) educated ure fo India
10. PRITCHETT, Edward T. Stollery, Soho student Gosport
1811 11. MAY9 Robert
12. THOMPSON', John
1815 13. DAWSON, James
14. FYVIE, William
15. SKINNER, James
1816 16, TOWNLEY, Henry
17. KEITH, James
18. KNILL, Richard
19. REEVE, William
20. MEAD, Charles
21. RENDER, Samuel
22. PEARSON9 John
1817 23. DONALDSON, John
1818 24. FLEMING, Robert
25. HAMPSON, John
teacher
Price, Woodbridge stable boy
T. Stolleryq Soho
Huntley Chapel, Scotland
J. Philip, apprentice Aberdeen2 Scotland
Morison, Auchlin, Scotland b. Great Ealing, proctor
Middlesex
Hyatt, Tottenham Court Rd.
S. Rooker, tailor Bideford
Thomas, business Chelmsford
Raysong teacher Wakefield
Farmer, Leeds apprent
Jones, Silver clerk I St., London countin,
Raffles, apprent, LiverPool
R. Wardlaw, son of i Glasgow, farmer Scotland
W. Roby, grocer Manchester
26. TRAWIN, Samuel Wood, Sth. Molton
27. TRAVELLER, Comelius
28. MAULT, Charles
1819 29. GOGERLY, George
T. Morell, St. Neots
b. London
apprentice
clerk in a counting house
apprentice
son of a farmer
grocer
Gosport
Gosport
Gosport
Gosport
Gosport
Hoxton Adad.
Gosport
Axminster/ Gosport
Chelmsford (Thomas) & Gosport
Wakefield (Rayson)/ Gosport Gosport
Gosport
Univ. Glasgow & Gosport
Manchester (Roby)/Gosporti'
Gosport
gentleman's Gosport servant
apprentice to Gosport a currier
printer
-352- Year of Name Minister Vor
Church ure for =di aý
Previous Where occupation(s) educated
30. NICHOLSON, Thomas from Lancaster school student Gosport
31. ADAM, Matthew Glasgow, Scotland teacher Gosport Thomson (Antibur her
Seceder5
32. FORBES, Andrew Witham (Now- ton)/Gosport
33. MUNDY, George Hill, Surrey linen draper Gosport Chapelq London
34. LAIDLER, Stephen Wooler Church Gosport (Presbyterian)
35. SMITH, John X. A. James, cabinet- Gosport Birmingham maker
1820 36. CHAMBERS, Hiram Grove2 Walsall some Cheshunt/ Gosport
1821 37 -BANKHEAD, William Jabkson2 "apprentice Hackney Hugh Stockwell Chapel9to a mechani-
London cal trade"
38. HILL, Micaiah J, A. James, apprentice in Stafford Birmingham forging & (Chalmers)/
carpentry Gosport
39. HILL2 James X. Chalmers, Stafford Stafford (Chalmers)/
Gosport
40. WARDEN) Joseph J. A. Jamesq son of a Stafford Bradley7 Birmingham woollen (Chalmers)/
draper Gosport
41. FYVIE7 Alexander J. Philip2 Aberdeen Aberdeen2 Scotland (Philip)/
Gosport
42. CRISP, Edmund W. Judson, High linen draper High Wycombe Wydombe (Judson)/
Gosport 43. BROWN9 Thomas Bungay Chapel printer
1823 44. MASSIE, James R. Wardlaw2 somo G. T. A. / William Glasgow, Scotland Gosport
45. CROW, William Carterý Braintree butcher Gosport
1821+ 46. CAMPBELL, William Glasgowý Scotland Gosport
47. TAYLOR, William W. C. Loveless2 in the service Gosport Madras2 India of the East
India Co.
-335- Year of Name Minister Vor fTe--part- Church ure for India
Previous Where occupationks-) educated
48. EDMONDS, John J. Griffin, father in Gosport Portsea "the mercantil e
and shipping interest"
1825 49. SALMON, Thomas Northampton printer & Hackney (Wesleyan) bookseller (Go Collison)
50. PIFFARD, Charles Yockney, in a counting Univ. Glasgow/ Islington house Gosport
51o BENYON, William D. Peter, Heol h
some Carmarthen (Peter)/ Awst, Carmart enp
Wales Gosport
'1826 52. LILLIE, Adam Re Wardlaw, Glasgow2
College student
Univ. Glasgow/ Gosport/Langu :
Scotland , i
age Instituti 1,
53. PAINE, 'Bennington Atkinson, compositor Haill Ipswich
1ý+* ROBERTSON', James Re Wardlaw) grocer 'G. T. A. /Gosport /Language Glasgow,
Scotland Institution
1827 55. MILLER, William A. Ewing, Thurso, teacher Gosport/Hoxton Scotland Mission Coll.
56. THOMPSON", James Whitehouse, printer Gosport/Hoxton ' Charles Spittal, Coll. Mission
Scotland
577. ADDIS, William King, Hambrook, shoemaker/ Hoxton Mission Bawn leather-seller College
58. CRISP, Henry Elborough, apprentice Gosport/Hoxton Thetford Mission Coll.
59. JENNINGS, Robert Bishop, printer Gosport/Roxton, Mission Coll Gloucester .
1828 60. SMITH, John Robyq, - minister Blackburn Acad, Manchester
61. ADAM, John J. Pye Smith, Some Geneva (Malan) Homerton" -, /Univ. Glasgow
. & G. T. A. /Univ. St. Andrewls/ Homerton
1829 62. REID, John To Jackson, retailt '
Wymondley/St. Scotch,, Church, Some Keots/Univ. London (C of 8) Glas. & G. T. A.
I 18 30 63. CHRISTIE, George J. Gibb, Banff, son of a St. Neots/
Scotland farmer Hoxton Missiozj College
-334- Year of Name Minister &/6r Previous Where
e art- Church occupationks) educated ure fo India
64. HIGGS, Thomas Irons, some Newport Pag- Gilpin Camberwell nell/Hoxton
Mission Coll. / Haileybury
65. HARRIS, William We Andersong somo Univ. Glasgow Relief Church7 & G. T. A. Glasgow, Scotland
1831 66. BUYERS, William Penman2 Aberdeen2 apprentice Hoxton Mission Scotland to umbrella College/Univ.
manufacturer Coll., Londe
1832 67. BILDERBECK, John J. Smith, Madras, merchant in Homerton India India
68. PATERSON, James We Lothian2 St. tutor Univ. St. Andrews, Scotland Andrews/High-
bury/Univ. London
69. DOBBIN, Orlando To Gibbings Highbury/ Thomas Ballingary, Irelandq Univ. London
(Church of Ireland)
70. DREW, William Stennerg clerk in a Highbury/ Hoyles Dartmouth counting house Haileybury
1833 71. CAMPBELL, John McIntosh$ Tain, teacher King's Coll., Scotland Aberdeen/Hom-
(C of S) erton/ Haileybury
72. MILLER, Charles J. Brown, Edin., teacher Univs. of Scotland (United Aberdeen, St. Associate Synod) Andrews, &
Edin. /United Secession Divinity Hall, Edin. / Turvey/ Homerton
73. MATHER, Robert Pridie, teacher/ Univs. of Edin., Cotton Manchester Minister Ulasgw/ 1
G T. A. Homertorl,
1831+ 74. WELSH, George Re Brown, Old Some Univs. of Glas. & Edin / Cumnockq Scotland . gow
(United Secession) United Seces- sion Hall, Edin.
75. BOAZ, Thomas So Bottomleyq linen draper/ -Newport Pag- Scarborough itinerant nell/Hailey-
preacher bury
76. GORDON, James J. Smith, Madras, son of, a. missionary di I
Western Acad., Exeter William n a
Year of Name e art ýE
- U-re for lndF57ý
1835 77. PORTER, Edward
78, CAMPBELL, Colin
1836 -79. RICE, Benjamin
-335- Minister Vor
Church
. T. Fletcher, Stepney
R. Burns, Paisley, Scotland
(C of 8)
Bennett, Silver St., London
Previous Where F occupation s) educated
apprentice Homerton
college Univ. Glasgow/ student Homerton/G. T, A.
/Relief Theo- logical Hall, Glasgow.
clerk in a Homerton counting house
merchant Homerton/Univ. London
80. TURNBULL, Gilbert Bangalore Mis- sion Church, India
81. THOMPSON, William Robertsong Selby
82. BRADBURY, James
1837 83. LYON, William Penman
84. LESSEL, Thomas Leys
85. CALDWELL, Robert
"business"
Macclesfield chapel s. m.
R. Wardlaw, Glasgow, Scotland
N. McXechnie, Printfield, Scotland
G. Ewing Glasgow, Scotland
"business" - son of an artisan
clerk In an advocate's office
landscape painter
86. PATTISON, James T. Hyatt, Shadwell Chapel, London
87. ABBS, John
88. cox, John 89. RUSSELL9 James
90. RAMSAY, Archibald
91. MORTON, William
1838 92. SEWELL, James
linen draper/ clerk in a counting house/s. m.
Drydeng Norwich
Painswick Chapel
book- & shoemaker
Turvey/ Homerton
Airedale
Univ. Glasgow/ G. T. A. /Turvey
Turvey/G. T. A.
Univ. Glasgow/ G. T. A. /Turvey
Highbury
Turvey/ Cheshunt
Se Me
R. Wardlawt book-binder/ Glasgow, Scotland. minister
E. -Cherry, surgeon Kennington
Highbury
Univ. Glasgow/ G. T. A.
Royal Colle e of Surgeonsý M. Q r4a 1% h ri I Coll. Aberdeen.
transferred from S. P. G. - see S. P. G. 3.
J. Fletcher, linen draper Bethnal Green Stepney (Robertson)/
Homerton
-336- Year of Name Minister Vor Previous Where
eaart- Church occupation(s) educated gre for India --
93. LMO, John J. Fletcher, Stepney
Turvey/ Homerton
IMMDY, James
1839 95. FLOWER, William
96. CLARKSON, William
97. LEWIS, 'Ebenezer
98. LEITCH, Alexander
ggl&. HAY, John
181+0 loo. GLEN, William
101. PORTER, William
181+1 102. WATT, David Gilkison
103. BUDDEN, John Henry
181+2 10)+. WARMAW, John Smith
105. WHITEHOUSE, John Owen
3.843 106. COLES, Joseph Benjamin
107. MULLENS, Joseph
X. Spence, Aberdeeng Scotland
Percy, Guildford
Dobson, Leicester Sq., London
teacher/s. m. Univs. of Edin., & Aberdeen (King's), Glasgow/G .
T. A.
draper's Turvey/Western apprentice Coll., Exeter
business/s. m. Homerton/ Western Coll., Exeter
J. Hurndallg house joiner/ Highbury Devenport Some
R. S. Candlisht Some Univ. Edin., / Edin. 7 Scotland,
f S) C of S Divinit3
Edin. / Hall (C o , Turvey/Homertor
A. Cuthbert, tutor Marischal Stuartfield, Coll. /Turvey Scotland
Lewis7 Union surgeon? Univ. Glasgow/ Chapel, Islington, G. T. A. (United Secession Church)
Webbt Leicester ýsemo Rotherham
J. Ward, sailor/ Univ. Glasgow/ Kilmarnock, minister G. T. A. /Spring Scotland Hill/Haileybur
To Binney, Weigh linen draper Turvey/Western Houseq London Coll., Exeter/
Univ" Coll., Lond; n/Hailey- bury
Re Wardlaw, S*M* Univ. Glasgqw/ G. T. A. /Hailey- Glasgow,
Scotland bury
To Binney, Weigh phemist Turvey/ Housev London Cheshunt
Cousins, Portsea linen draper Turvey/Spring Hill
A, Tidman, Barbican s. m, Coward Coll., / Chapel, London Univ. Coll.,
London/Univ. Edin.
Year of Name ýar E --
ure for EEIT--ý-
mm-m- 108. PARKER, John
Henry
1845 109. SUGDENq John
110. TAYLOR, Joseph van Someren
181+8 111. STORROW, Edward 112. HILL, William
Henry
1850 113. CORBOLD, Alfred
lll+. BAYLIS, Frederick
1851 115. LEITCH, Charles Calder
116. SARGENT, Richard John
117. EVANS 9 Edward Josiah
, -ý37-8/ Min: s er - or, Church
Chaplin, Bishopts Stortford
Previous Where occupation(s) e-d-uc--aTed
bookseller, Ongar/ printer, & Homerton stationer
Huddersfield student of law/ Highbury/ Chapel Univ. Coll.,
London
Davidson, Madras, college Univ. Glasgow India student /G. T. A.
minis ter Reed, Wycliffe some Chapel, London
HarrisgWalling- chemist ford
Adkinsq Above- chemist Bar Chapel, Southampton
D. Smith, Biggar, accountant Scotland (United Presbyterian)
G. Smith teacher Plymouth
Jefferson, Stoke surgical Newington instrument
. maker 1852 118. SHERRING2 Matthew Colchester Chapel medical
Atmore student
18.51+ 119. HALLt George Ford Church, molecatcher Scotland (United Presbyterian)
1855 120. DENNIS, John Joll
1856 121ý DUTHIE, James
1857 122. MACARTNEY, John
1858 123. JONES, William
(Wesleyan) printer
McTaggart2 Aber- advocate's deen; Scotland apprentice (C of S)
Liverpool Church book-keeper, (English Presby- cashier & terian) salesman
Stephens, Sirhowy$ miner/s. m. Wales
Rotherham Univ. Coll., London/Spring Hill/Western Coll Ply- moutý.,
Bedford/Cotton End
Rotherham
Univ. & United Presb. Theol. Hall Edin. / G. T. I.
Western Coll., Plymouth
Cheshunt/Univ. Coll., London
Univ. Coll. 9 London/Coward Coll. /Bedford
Univ. Coll., London/Bedford /Cheshunt
Bedford
Bedford
RotherhamAjnivý, Coll., London
Indep. BCrellco. %edford/
Univ. London
-338- Year of Name Minister aor Previous Where
- depar - Church occupatio: nis) educated Ure for India
124. BLAKE, William Madras, India teacher Bedford Moodr
125. JOHNSON, William b. Stourport apprentice/ Airedale/Univ. teacher/ Coll. ) Lond. minister
126. MATEER9 Samuel Belfast apprentice Bedford (Wesleyan) linen & cotton
manufacturer/ book-keeper
127. JONES, Samuel Masborough evangelist/ Rotherham/Einiv, Chapel SOM4, London
S
-339-
Year of do arture for Indi or eylon
Name Superintendent- Previous Where & Circuit occuDation(s) educated
IV. Wesleyan Methodist, Missionary SocietZ
1811+ 1. LYNCH2 James Lisburnq Ireland minister London (Coke)
2. HARVARD, William I. Bradnackq Diss printer London (Coke)
3. SQUANCE, Thomas Hall J. Walmsley, printer London (Coke) Liskeard
1815 CARVER, Robert J. Braithwaite, situation in Huddersfield a warehouse
1816 5. HORNER, John J. Storryý
1819 6'o FLETCHER, Joseph W. Henshawý ploughbOy/ self-taught Worcester glover/teacher
7o ROBERTS, Joseph R,. Waddy2 minister "private and Holmsf ifth public schoolst
8o STEAD, Abraham T. Cooperg Huddersfield
9o CLOSE9 Titus S. Annearg China and glass Mission Liskeard merchant/ House
. 1820 10. MOWAT, James
11. HOOLE, Elijah
1823 12. ENGLAND, John Frederick
1825 13. WILLIAMSONt Thomas Jackson
1826 14. PERCIVAL, Peter
15. BOURNE9 Alfred
W. Griffith
. T. Armitage, Ashton-under-Lyne
J. Edmondson,,, Birmingham
W. Griffith London East
G. Marsden Manchester North
Newcastle
minister (Watson)
Kingswood School
Mission House (Watson)
",: xý Potter/ minister
1828'16. HARDEY, ' Samuel J. -S I edgwick, Barton
1829 17. CRYER, Thomas S. Sugdenj minister Bingley'
18. LONGBOTTOM, William W. Athertony Bingley?
19. HODSON, Thomas b. ' Scarle7
Lincolnshire
Private Study/ Hission House (Watson)
Witney (Squance)
Witney (Squance)
Kingswood School
War of Name departure for India or Ceylon
1836 20. HASWELL, Thomas
-340- Superintendent & Circuit
Liverpool South
21. HOLE, George W. Baker Teignmouth
1837 22. BEST, James B. Slater, Longton Kershaw
23. CROWTHER,
21+-. GRIFFITHý Davis
25. FOX9 Will Scott
Jonathan A. Clarke, Millbrook
Richard J. Buckley, Swanseaq Wales
iam T. Galland, Huddersfield
26. MALE, Matthew
27. JENKINS, John
1838 28. BATCHELOR2 Peter
1839 29. POPE, George Uglow
30. GARRETT, - John
31. ARTHUR, William
J. Mason, Downend
Teigrmouth
transferred from
A. Bell, First Manchester
Liverpool North
T. Holmes, Castli bar, Ireland
Previous Where occupationks) educated
shop assistant Hoxton Theolo- gical Institu- tion.
Hoxton
Hoxton
teacher/ Kingswood minister School
Roxton
son of a Hoxton missionary
some Hoxton
his father & Hoxton brother both cabinet-makers
WI. S. - see C. M. S. 34.
druggist Hoxton
printer Hoxton
office boy Hoxton to a corn merchant
32. SQUAREBRIDGE, Brandreth, teacher Kingswood Edward G. Kingswood.
, School/Hoxton,
1842 33. SANDERSON, Daniel R. Harrison, draper Hoxton Whitehaven
34. HARDBEY, Edward L. Possnet, Hoxton Jonathan Barton
181+3 3! ý. PINKNEY, John Scarborough minister
36. GOSTICK, John J. Gostickf minister Higham Ferrers
37. LITTLE, Joseph J. Browng minister "a commercial Bristol North education"
181+5 38. NKINS, Ebenezer JE H. Castle, Cabinet-maker no college Evans , Tiverton /teacher training
-341- Year ol Name SuDerintendent ;e aFtýre Lor Circuit for India EMEM
181+6 39. GLANVILLE, Thomas W. P. Burgesst B. Devonport
40. FIELD, Benjamin J. Chettle, Sevenoaks
41. MORRIS, Joseph J. Walkerq Leyton
-42. DICKSON, William 11. J. Lomas, First London
181+8 1+3. KILNER, John B. 'Firth, Preston & Chorley
144- CRANSWICK, James Ipswich Mosey
1853 45. BURGESS9 Arminius Kingswood
46. GARTHWAITE I L.
1854 1+7. SIMPSON, William Leeds Overend
1+8. SCOTT, John W. Barton, Sixth London
1855 49. STEPHENSON, T. S. Stephenson Robert
50. PORDIGE, Robert Deal William
3.856, 51. BANKS, John Shaw J. Hartley, Belmont Row
52. HUTCHEON, John J. Palmerg Aber- deen, Scotland
3-857 53. ANDREW, Henry J. Rattenburyý Second London
54. COCKILL, William J. Methleyp Richard Coates Sheffield East
1858 55. SYMONS, Silas Bodmin Edward
'Previous Where occupation(s) educated
clerk Richmond Coll.
turner & Richmond pattern maker Coll.
Richmond Coll.
teacher
private study
tutor Richmond Coll.
teacher Newark Grammar School
student Westminster teacher Coll.
house painter Richmond Coll.
barrister's Richmond Coll. clerk
tutor/minister Wesley Coll. / Univ. London
printer & Richmond Coll. book binder
clerk King Edward's School, Birmingham
gollege atlidolit King's Coll., Aberdeen
printer & book Richmond Coll. binder/clerk
draper's Richmond Coll. assistant
draper Richmond Coll.
56. CUMMINGS, James Fourth Leeds woollen draper Richmond Coll.
57. SYKES, Henry Ashton-under-Lyne tailor Richmond Coll.
-342- Year of 'Name SuDerintendent 1ý ý3 r ýý
_arure ýre &/or Circuit
for India or
58. BROADLEY, Benjamin Pontefract
59. JOITES, John Wrexham (Wales)
60. LEVELL, Alfred Skipton
61. ROBINSON, Thomas
62. KILNER, Samuel J. Gregoryq Bli St. Albans
63. TALBOT, William E. R. -, Talbotg Great Horton
Previous Where occupationAs) educated
draper Richmond Coll.
shoemaker Richmond Coll.
Woodhouse Grove School
tutor
"a liberal education"
-343- Year o Name Minister Vor Previous Where departu e Church occupation(s) educated ro-r Indfa--
V. Church Missionary SocietZ
1815 '1. GREENWOOD, J. Buckworth, cloth & blanke t Aston Sandford William Dewsbury maker (Scott)
2. NORTON, Thomas To Sheppard, shoemaker Aston Sandford Pentonville Chapel
1816 --3. BAILEY, Benjamin J. Buckworth, clothier Aston Sandford Dewsbury & Dewsbury
(Buckworth) 1+. DAWSON, Thomas 14. Buckwortho joiner Aston Sandford
Dewsbury, & Dewsbury (Buckworth)
1817 5. ADLINGTON, John Do Corrie) raised in Dewsbury India India Duckworth)
6. BAKER, Henry J. Bullý cabinet-maker/ Wakefield Colchester teacher (Rogers) &
Dewsbur 5 (Parkin
7. FENN, Joseph C. Simeon, barrister/ Cambridge minister
1820 8. MORRIS, Thomas To Whitaker, some Ringway Ringway, Cheshire. (Whitaker)
9. PEROWNE, John from Norwich Yaxham (Sharpe)
10. RIDSDALE, James To Dikes) Hull? Hull (Clarke)
11. BROWN, Thomas printer W. M. Watts, Printing Office London
12. KENNEY, Richard from0fteshire minister
1821 13. WILSON, Isaac from Hull St. Bees
1822 11+. ISAWYER9 William from Holmet chemist York (Jessop) Yorkshire
1823 15. WILKINSON, Michael Be Woodd, grocer Olney Bentinck Chapel, (Gauntlett) Harwich
1821+ 16. BEDDY, Joseph B. W. Mathias, farmer T. C. D. Fawcett Dublin
17. RIDSDALE; Samuel To Dikes, Hull grocer/clerk Yaxham (Sharpe)
1825 18. DORAN, John from Ireland teacher T. C. D. William
1826 19. MITCHELL, William Bush & Mathias, chemist Olney (Gaunt- Dublin lett)/C. M. I,
-344-
71 ear of Name Art n+ -I -I 'are
for India
Minister Y-o-r Previous Where Church occupationTs) educated
20. STEWARD, John from North Walsham, shop assistant Ginningham. Norfolk. (Sharpe)/
C. M. I.
1827 21. LATHAM, John T. Hackley, grocer/teacher Ginningham Rotherham. (Sharpe)/C. M. I.
1028 22. FRIEND2 Charles from London banker's clerk C, M. I,
23. ETESON, Ralph R. Baty, Redale, chemist C. M. I. & A. Cheap, Knaresborough
21+. MOREWOOD, James B. Richings, tutor C. M. I. Baker Atherstone
1829 2-5. FARRAR, Charles Faulkner & H. bookseller/ C. M. I. Pinhorn Budd employed by a
woollen manufactuter
26. DIXON, John B. E. Craig, gardener C. M. I. Edinburgh
27. DUCKHAM, Alfred R. H. Hitchins printer W. M. Watts, Printing Office London/C. M. I.
1830 28. SANDYS, Timothy G. B. Mitchell grocer C. M. I.
- 29. BLACKMAN, Charles G. Harkerg stationer C. M. I. Chatham
30. MARSH, Joseph H. Simt Bonsal teacher C. M. I.
31. SMITH, William T. Dury? from "son of a CIM. I. Keighley, Yorkshir e-respectable
: manufacturer"
1832 32. MORSE, William Dr. Williams, teacher C. M. I. Stroud
1833 33. PEET, Joseph C. Scholl, Inde- master dyer C. M. I. pendent,, Chapelp Hoxton.,
31+- BATCHELORPeter compositor
35. PETTITT, George G. Hodson clerk in a brass founder's warehouse
-345- Year Name Minister Mor Previous
eDarture Church o cc u T) a ý7115Us jo: r India
36. TUCKER, John from %uthborough minister Kent
37. SNASHALL9 Henry J. Tucker, son of a Southborough carpenter
1831+ 38. WOODCOCK, William W. B. Williams stationer John
-1835 39. APPLEGATE9 frcmEdington tailor
. Thomas Hill Wiltshire
1036 40. HAR EY, Henry J. F. Denham books eller 41. THOMAS9 John T. B. Byers, clerk
1837 42. WYBROWt Frederic Lampley
k from London minister
1+3- GRAY9 Joseph J. M. Trewq Henry Tyran, Ireland
44. JOHNSON, John j. Tuckert Southborough
NORTON, Thomas J. B, Morewood (Jun. )
46. NORGATEý John J. Perowne Nicholas
1838 47. ELOUIS, James W. Collett Joseph Haydn
48. VALENTINE2 George Valentine, Meaker Ilchester
49. HUMPHREYtWilliam E. 'Harrison Topley
50* ROBERTSON9 John D. T. H. Drummond, Stuart Struan Edinburgh,
Scotland
51. BARCLAY, John E. Dewdneyp Charles Portsea,
3-839 52. INNES2 James J. Sandys?
53. ROGERS9 Foster (Weslejan)
54. HOBBS, Stephen E. DBvdneyj Portsea
1840 CHAPMAN, John North Runctonq, - Norfolk
teacher
gardener
Where educated
Corpus Chrlsti Coll., Camb.
C. M. I.?
C. M. I.
C. H. I.
C. M. I.
COM010
St. John's Coll. 9 Camb.
T. C. D. /C, M. I*
C. M. I.
raised In India C. M. I.
book-keeper/ grocer
teacher printer
minister
C. M. I.
Trinity Coll., Camb.
apprentice Comolf s4igeon
farm labourer/ ýrivato teacher Uition
midshipman
silkmercer
tutor
grocer/brewer
C. M. I.
C. M. I.
T, C*D. /C, M. I.
C. M. I.
teaching follow St. johnis Coll., Camb.
-346- Date of , Name Minister &/or
ýtu re Church for India
56. HAWKSWORTH, H. Stowell, John Manchester
57. OSBORNE, John T. D. West? Francis from London
58. LONG9 James from Ireland
3-81+1 59. NOBLE, Robert C. Simeon, Turlington Cambridge
60. FOX9 Henry T. Arnold-.:,, Watson (teacher)-
61. HAWES9 Robert E. Dvwdney,, Portsea
62. SEYMERI John Gunning
1842.63. TUCKER, Tc)hn R. Fayle' Thomas
Previous occupation(s)
grocer
tutor
minister
I some
engraver
tutor
surgeon
eWdhueraeted
C. M. I.
C. M. I.
C. M. 1. /T. C. D.
Sidney Sussex Coll. 0 Camb.
Wadham Coll., Oxford
COM016
St. Alban's Hall & Christ Church
3 Oxon.
C. M. I.
64. HOBBS, Septimus W. Brock brewer/ Comeie teacher
QF. SARGENT, Edward W'. ýS , awyer, Madras missionary Perambore student (India)Seminary, Sth.
India/C, M, I,
66. JOHNSON, Edmund G. G. 'Cuthbertp tutor T. C. D. Ireland
67. BAKER, Henr H Baker,, India SOMO COMSIO (Jun.
5
68. MELLON'2 Henry J. Gibson, ''' apprentice C. M. I* Sheffield silver-plater
1844 69. SANDBERG, Paul Closep', teacher COMOI6 Louis Cheltenham
70. REYNOLDS, Edmund Dr. Longley footman/teache r C. M01.
71. BARENBRUCK, son of a German missionary C. M. I. John Theophilus George
181+5 72o DREDGEAlfred J. Ba112 teacher C. M. I. Reading,
73. RHENIUS2 Dr. Lawfie missionary C. H. I. Charles J. student-
74. NEUMAN, Edward J. W. Cunningham missionary in C. M. I. Harrow? Jamaica
-347- Date f Name
eRarture for Ifi-d-ia
7 CUTHBERT, George Goring
Minister Vor Church -
Ireland
76. RAGLAND, Thomas 1. Scholefield, Gajetan St. Michaellsp
Cambridge
1846 77. ALLNUTT9 Richard J. Scholefieldy Lea Cambridge,
Previous Where occupation(s) educated
minister T. C. D.
in a-mercantile Corpus house/minister Christi Coll.,
Camb.
minister
7d. LAMB Richard from Over-Ilarweng minister Martindale Lancashire
cutter
79-r ROSERS, Edward E. J. Speckf draper/ COM010 Olney teacher
80, ACHESON, Alex- B. W.,, Noelg, employed by th e T. C. D. /C. M, I. ander Dublir4Ireland Irish Steam
Navigation Co.
1847 81. HASELL, Samuel T. Jackson teacher C. M. I.
82. WILKINSON9 b. Inclis college Trinity Coll., Michael Joseph student Camb. /C. M. I,
83. JERROM, Thomas S .' Hey, '' sh oemaker CI 6MOI* Ockbrook.
BENSLEY, John
HARDING, John
, 86. CLARK, William
F. G. Crossman., printer North, Brixton
. T. Johnson, Wood- engraver & house near-ý. -, ý window stainer Huddersfield
H. W. McGrath
1849 87. ENGLISH, George J. Vaughant Brighton -
88. FOULKES, Thomas
89. PRICE, William Salter
1850 90. NICHOLSON? Thomas Knight
91. WHITCHURCHt John
P. French
from Eainburgh
H. Jones, Holywell
G. Fisk, Finchley , Road?
R. T. Uýjeelerq Blackburn
E. H. Carr, Melton Mowbray
92. FRENCH , Thomas Valpy
93. STUART, Edward Craig
hosiery manufacturer
ýt. Peter's,
Coll., Camb.
Trinity Coll., Camb.
Andover Gra=ar -School c. M. I.
C. M. I.
C. M. I.
C. M. I.
chemist C. M. I.
cabinet-maker/ C. M. I. -teacher
surgeon
minister
Some
C. M. I.
univ. Coll., Oxon. T. C. D.
Year of Name P Te-p ii Fr ýr e
015 r-1 711 R. - -
India
1851 94. FITZPATRICK2 Thomas Henry
95. CLARK, Robert
1852 '96. MATCHETTI Abraham
97. FENN, David
-348-
Minister Vor Previous Where Church, -., occupation(sl educated
j. Evegys, Dublin, student for T*C. D. Ireland the bar/minister
H. Clarkq in a merchant's Trinity Coll., Harmston office/minister Camb.
D. Bagot printer , C. M. I.
J. Fenn, India Coll. student Trinity Coll., Camb. /C. M, I,
Cokp7lb:, Christi Coll., Camb. / C. M. I.
Trinity Coll., Camb.
98. MEADOWS, Robert from, Witnesham, Rust Suffolk
coll. student
99. COBB, Clement W. F. Cobbp minister Francis Nettlestead
100. NEELE, Albert G. Fisk solicitor's Peter clerk
C. M. I.
101. PICKFORD, John T. Best minister St. Bees/CoH. I.
102. MOODY9 Nicholas Southampton7 minister Oriel Coll. 9 James Hampshire O, xon.
1853 103. SORRELL, Joseph F. F. Stooks gimp spinner Highbury Train- ing Coll.
104. HUBBARD, Henry C. Clayton, minister Caius College, Dickenson Rochester Cambri8ge
105. KEENE, William G. S'. Whitlock? coil. student Brasenose Coll.,, Oxon. /C, M. I,
106. FROST, Andrew P. French, teacher/ St. John's Hollingworth Burton-
, upon-Trent minister Coll., Camb.
107. DAVIDSON9 T. C. Millerp missionary C. M. I. Arthur Birmingham student
1854 108. SHELDON$ James J. 'H, 'Sharwood tailor C*M&I* Walsall
109. GOODALL, Peter G, F,, Williamson- groom & Highbury Train. gardener ing Coll,
110. BATSTONE, Charles H. Carter'Smith, student Highbury Train. John Hastings teacher ing Coll.
111. WRIGHT, William student Highbury Train. teacher ing Coll.
112. STRAWBRIDGE9, J. Marshall, ironmonger/ G. M. I. Alfred Bristol scripture reader
113. LEIGHTON, James from Lancaster teacher C. M. I*
-349- Year of Name Minister Vor ! Lep-a kr t t--Ure Church for India
3.14. MEDLANDI Alfred E. W. Michell, Shirley
EVERYý Charles W. H. Howard
116. SCAMELL, Francis R. L. Allnutt
117. COLLINS9 Richard
118. CRADOCK9 Luke
1855- 119. DIBB, Ashton
120o DIXON, Harding
121. DYSONt Samuel
3.22. ANDREWS, Henry
123. VAUGHAN, James
Previous where occupation(s) educated
clerk C. M. 10
solicitor's C. M. I. clerk
student teacher. Hlghbury Training Coll.
R., Collins, minister St. John's Kirkburton Coll*, Camb.
W. Milton, ' scripture read-,. Manningham er/minister
W. Hodgson, grocer/scripture COMOIO Cheltenham reader
R. Clayton, lithographic C. M. I. Newcastle writer
J. Rigg, Preston teacher C. M. I.
J. E. Bates teacher C. M. I.
J. Deck cooper/scrip- C. M. I. ture reader
124. BALL, William M. F. Day some James Dublin, Ireland
125. VICKERS, Robert A. Leeperg Dublill ýUtor
- Henry Ireland
126. VALPY, Antony F. E. J. Valpy some Bird
127. WALKER, George We Miltoný farmer/ Manningham teacher
128. ROYSTON, Peter from London tutor Sorenson
1856ý129. BURN, Andrew Burn, Kinnersley engineer/ minister
130. GOODALL, Francis T. D. - Atkinson teacher
131. STORRS, William W. A. Cartledgep Townsend York
132. GRITTONp John T. G. Uwins, Cains Cross
133. GREAVES, b. Basle Richard Pearson
surgeon
T. C*D.
T. C. D. /C. M. Is
C. M. I.
ýI. - National Soci- eity Institutiox Westminster
Trinity Coll., Camb.
St. John's Collj Camb.
Lichfield & Highbury Train. ing Colleges
C. H. Is
servant/teacher/ C. H. I. scripture reader
minister Corpus Christi Coll., Camb.
Year of Name dePir-ture IýOrInHMa
134. MICARTHY, John Agar
1857 135. TAMR, Charles
--350- Minister &/or
Church
W. C. Williamson, Cork
J. Tanner, Penton-Mewsey
Previous oc uvationTs)
prInter
locomotive engineer
136. MILWARD9 Henry from Redditch minister Charles
137. ALEXANDER9 Fred- J. Gregg, minister erick William DublintIreland Nassau
138. TUTING, Thomas from Yerbroq minister Yorkshire. ''
139. GASTER, Thomas F. Hamiltont teacher Joseph Poplar
Where e3 u-c a"fe d
C*M. I.
Christ's Coll., Cambridge
T. C. D.
Lincoln Coll., Oxon.
C. M. I.
140. SHAaKELL9 Henry from Stoke coll. student Pembroke Coll., William Newington Camb.
1858 141. FYNES-ELINTON, C. I. " Fynes- minister Wadham College, Dormer Clinton Oxon.
142. CHAMPION, Elias T. H. Widdrington, bank clerk C. M. I. Bath
143. WILKINSON, John H. 'Hutton chemist,; ' Hessey
144. FORD, Theodore T. -Voresl' soldier Thomas Hastings
145. GALBRAITH, from Ireland minister Richard
146. BRUCE, Robert from Charlevillep tutor
147. KNIGHT, John Lister
148. GRAY2 William
So
Ireland
from Birmingham minister
from Longfordq Ireland
or the PrODaRati
1820 1. ALT, Just Henry
2. MILL9 William Hodge
1823 -3. MORTON, William
1+. CHRISTIAN, Thomas
I,,;, ,,. -*", ' , minister
s
Coll. student
minister
., teacher/, minister
ordinand
C. M. 1.
T. C. D.
T. C. D.
St. Catherine's Coll. 9 Camb.
T. C. Do
Pembroke Coll., Camb.
Trinity ColL, Camb.
"liberal though' not Collegiatell
"aarip 3 00 , to
-351- Year of Name Minister Vor de - .
Lparture Chureg" f0 ýrI FEZ
1824,5. TWEDDLE$ William R. Shep4erd' Hutton Rudbyý Yorkshire
1825 6.. SARJANT, Matthew Godmond
7. SIMPSON, Thomas Carter
8. CRAVEN, Charles from Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
1626 9. DE MELLOW9 b. India Matthew Roque
- 10. HOLMES, Frederick
1827 11. BIRREL9 A. P. E. Riehamptong Greenford
1829 12. HEAVYSIDE, John from Wakefield
13. PETTINGER, from Otleyý Thomas Dear Yorkshire
14. WITHERS, George b. 'Lymington, Udney Yorkshire
1830 15. HAUGHTON, George J. Haughtoný Dunbar Reading
16. THOMSON, Adam W. Haigh, ComPton W6oler
1832 17. JONES, Edward W. Roy Jarrett Skirbeck
1834 18. CALTHROP, Charles W. Royq Skirbeck
Previous Where occupation(s) educated
farmer/s. m. St. Bees/Bish- op's Coll, q Calcutta
student of law/ Queen's Coll., tutor Oxon.
student Clergy Orphan School/Bishop's Collp Calcutta
minister St. John's Coll., Camb.
coll. student Jesus Coll., (law) Camb.
sem* St. John's Coll. ) Camb.
teacher Greenford (Polehampton)
St. Bees
medical studen t/ St. Bees minister
teacher Trinity Coll., Camb.
Coll. student Worcester Coll, Oxon.
teacher Univ. Edin.
coll. student Bishop's Coll. qCalcutta
coll. student St. John's Coll. 9 Camb.
1836 19. BROTHERTON, W. 11pri ironmonger/ Corpus Christi-] Thomas Skirbeck coil. student Coil., Camb.
20. HUBBARD, Charles Dale?
21. THOMSON, John Durham
22. WALPOLE, Joseph D. 14ilson teacher Kidd Islington
1837 23. TAYLOR, - William transferred from L. M. S., - see L, M. S. No. 47
1838 24. MALAN, Salomon coil. student St. Edmund Caesar Hall, Oxon.
-352- Tear of Name Minister &/or I-- ý-- - dep-arture Church -Or
India
25. --WHITEHEADP Edward
W. B. Whitehead, Tiverton
1839 26. ', VON DADELSZENq Henry Herman
27. STREET, Arthur Wallis
from Oxford
181+0 28., MORRIS, George Eddison
29. SYMONDS9 Alfred Radford
30. WALLIS, Arthur Wellington
1841'31. CALDWELL , Robert
32. CARVER, Robert
33- COLES, Walter Kyte
31+. GRIFFITHS, John
35. IRWIN, Arthur Leighton
G. Morris Penzanceý
from Oxford
Previous Where occupation(s) educated
Coll. student Wadham Coll., Oxon,
coll. student KItg! s Coll., London
tutor Magdalen Coll., & Pembroke Coll., Oxon.
teacher/coll. Worcester Coll. student Oxon.
coll. student
coll. student
Wadham Coll., Oxon.
Magdalen Coll., Oxon.
transferred from L*M. S. see L. M. S. No-85.
transferred from W. M. M. S. see W. M. S. No. 4..
from Cheltenham, teacher T. C. D. /Univs. Gloucestershire of Oxon. &
Bonn.
from Byfordt minister Christ Church Herefordshire Coll., Oxon.
J. Gibson minister Caius Coll,, Buntingford Camb.
1842 36. ALLEN, George b. London surgeon's app- private school, Lascomb rentice/in a Stepney
firm of ehgin- eers/teacher
37. BEST, James transferred from W. M. M. S. - see W-M-M-S- No. 22. Kershaw
38. DARBY, William W. Ayre, coll. student King's Coll., Hampstead' London
39. WILSHERE9 b. Greenwich tutor Worcester Ebenezer Stibbs Coll., Oxon.
1843 1+0. POPE, George transferred from W. M. M. S. - see W. M. M. S. No. 29. Uglow
41, BILDERBECK) transferred from L. M. S. - see L. M. S. No. 67. John
42. -WEIDEMANN, George Prof. A. -Sedgwick, Coll* student St. Catherine's Fra Roderer Camb. Hall, Camb.
. 181+5 43. FLETCHER9 James S. P. C. K. Cate- , Philip chist, Kurdistan
-353- Tear of Name
2ýrture for India
44. LOVEKIN I Alfred Peter
Minister Vor Church .
1847 45. PIERITZ9 George b. Prussia Wildon
46. SLATER9 Samuel
181*8 1+7. SANBERG, Samuel Cartwrightq SOC- iety for Promot-
ing ChristianitY among the JeW. S'
1+8. JARBO, Peter b. London
1849 49. HUXTABLE, Henry b. Bristol Constantine
50. KEARNS, James b. Ireland Hemming
51. HOLDEN, David A. Leeper? From Ireland
52. KAY, William
53. WRIGHT, William C. S. Fanshawel S. Southampton?
1850 54. LEEPER, Frederick b. Dublin James
1851 55. SELLER9 James J. Jacksont Piccadilly
56. POPE, Henry H. A. Greaves
1852 57. POPE, Richard V.
58. SELLS, Henry T. Walpole
1853 59. HUBBARD, Alfred b. Rochester Roots
6o. JACKSON, John frommodford, Stuart Essex.
Previous occupationTs) I
-missionary to the Jews/ coll. student
Where educated
King's Coll. 9 London
Caius Coll. 9 Camb.
Xing Is Coll., London
c6ll. student --Corpus Christi Coll., Camb.
Government "educated for catechistq tpade", Tasmania
medical student/ King's coll. student Coll. 9 London
teacher St. Mary's Grammar School, Dublin
student Nevry/Madras Diocesan Institution
Rector of Lin- Lincoln Coll., coln Coll. jOxon. Oxon.
teacher T. C, D.
-1 11 somo T, C, D.
coil. student ring's Coll., London
student Plymouth Now Gra=ar School /Madras Dio- cesan Institu- tion
coil. student Univ. London
clerk King1s Coll., London
in Post Office/ Caius Coll., minister Camb.
minister Xing's Coll., London/Caius Coll. 9 Camb*
-354-
Year of Name Minister Vor Previous -
Where de ar re i -- 2-
' Church, nTs) occupatio educilted
0 r India
3-854 61. PERCIVAL, Peter previously W. M. M. S. missionary No. l1+ - then lecturer, Saint Augustine'sq Canterbury.
62. SUTER, Thomas J. Hambleton, some Kingis Coll., Herbert Islington London
1855 63. FUSSELL, Ernest From Somerset St. Augustine's Arthur Canterbury
1856 61+. MAULE , Ward be India coll. student Caius Coll., Camb.
1858 65. PLUMPTRE, from East Retford, minister Univ. Coll., William Alfred Nottinghamshire Oxon.
66. FRENCH, Robert be London home missionary Battersea James (lay) Training Coll.
67. SKELTON, Thomas from Wisbech coll. student Queen's Coll,, Camb.
68. BURRELL, Samuel be St. Iv6s7 minister St. Peter's Blake Huntingdon Coll. 9 Camb.
69. EARNSHAW, John be Colne, coll. student King's Coll,, Lancashire London
VII. General Baptist Missionar y SocietX
1821 1. BAMPTON, William We Taylor, footman/ Wisbech Acad. Boston gardener/
minister.
2. PEGGS, James Burgess2Fleet shopkeeper/ Wisbach Acad. teacher/minister
1823 3. LACEY, Charles T. S. Stevenson, some Loughborough 7 Loughborough (Stavonsonl Derby (Pike)
1821+ 1+. BUTTON, Amos J. Henhamt minister Derby (Pike) Sevenoaks
1827 5. CROPPER, Joshua J. G. Pike, Derby Derby (Pike) Mundy
1830 6. BROWN7 We from Sevenoaks minister
1833 7. GOADBY, John J. Goadby, Ashley Wisbach Acad.
3-93ý 8. BROOKS, John Melbourne Chapel? some LoughboroUEh (Stevensonj
1836 9. STUBBINS, Isaac Fleet Chapel? som* Wisbech Acad,
1838 10. WILKINSON, Henry Jarromp Wisbech? Wisbech Acad,
-355-
Year of Name Minister Vor Previous deDarture -U-hurch occupation(sj- for ! Tdia
1841 11. BROOKS, William Melbourne Chapel printer
12. GRANT, Thomas J. Taylor, apprentice Hinelcley
1844 13. BUCKLEY, John Harborough minister Chapel
1845 14. BAILEY, William Oweng Castle Donington?
15. MILLER, William Staleybridge Chapel
1855 16. HILL, William some
17. TAYLOR, George some
1857 18. GOADBY, John Bolt Orissa
nWhere eZu-cated
Derby (Pike)
Wisbech Acad.
Leicester Acad.
Leicester Aaad.
Leicester Acad,
Leicester Acad.
Leicester Acad.
-356-
Year f Name & - 'Dar U-ra Sociý_t_y_? Trst
Church Vor- Previous Minister occup_a_Moiýns
Where eTu-c-aTed
for IiFdia served
VIII. Scottish Foreign Missions
3.822 1. MITCHELL, Do Mitchellq Ard- s. m. /East King's Coll. Donald (S. M. S. ) lach (C of S) 'India Co. Divinity Hall,
cadet Aberdeen
2. MITCHELL James 9 Stirling (UAited Univ. .&
United S i H . M. S. ) ( Secession) ecess on all, Edin. /S, M*S, Seminary
3. CRAWFORD Alex- 6 S Peebles (United Some Univ. & United
S i ander ( . M. .) Secession) ecess on Hall, Edin. /S. M. S0 Seminary
4. COOPER, John Canongate, Mine, some Univ. & United S) (C
of Secession Hall, , Edin. /S, M. Se
Seminary
1823 5. STEVENSON, John Glasgow, (C of S) licentiate Univ. & Divin.
I1 -1 (So Me So ) ity Hall Glas. &U I
v. gow n Edin.
1827 6. NESBIT Robert Bowsden (English Tutor Univ. & Divin. . ,, M. S. ) Presbyterian) ity Hall, St.
Andrews
1828 -7.
WILSON John NoMose) Cormack2 Stow (C, of S)
tutor Univ. & Divin- ity Hall, Edin. j S. M. S. Sominary
1829 -8. DUFF, Alexander be Moulin Coll' a' Univ. & Divin. (C. S. M. ) student ity Hall, St.
Andrews
1831 9. MACKAY9 William be Thurso Coll. King's Coll., Sinclair (C. S. M. ) student Aberdeen/Univ.
St. Andrews
1834 10. EWART David be Upper Balloch Sam* Univ. St. And- icesomo) rows/Divinity
Hall, Edin. 1836 11. ANDERSON, John 0 Edin; ) Re Gord n2 tutor Univ. & Divine
(C. S. M. ) of Hall, Edin,
1837 12. MACDONALD, John J. Macdonald, tutor/- ,& King's Coll. (C. S. M. ) Edin., (C of S) minister
,, Divinity Hal Aberdeen
1838 13. MITCHELL, John be' Aberdeen teacher/s. m. Marischal Coll. Murray (C. S. M. ) & Divinity Hall.,
Aberdeen/Univ. 1, & Divinity Hall., Edin.
-357- Year of Name & Minister Sc/or departure Socl-e-tyfirst Church 19-rIndi-a served
Previous occupationts)
Where educated
14. JOHNSTON, Robert R. Crawford (C Of S)
teacher/ home missionary
Univ. & Divin-, ity Hall, Edin.
1839 15. SMITH Thomas z j. Smithq Coll. student
Univ. & Divin- ity Hall coseme) Symington
(c of S) , Edin.
16. AITKEN James teacher Glasgow Normal Seminary?
1840 - 17. BRAIDWOOD, John b. Ayr teacher Univ. Glasgow/ Divinity Hall (C. S. M. ) q Edin.
1842 18. FYFE, William b. Alyth teacher univ. Edin.
Ctichton (C. S. M. )
1810+ 19. HISLOP, Stephen j. Ralston, Duns h) Ch r
tutor Univ. Edin. /Div., inity Halls of (F. C. M. ) c u (Relief Glasgow & Edin. New Coll.
20. SHERIFF, James b, Belford teacher (C. S. M. )
21. OGILVIE, James b. Newmill teacher Marischal Coll., Aberdeen (C. S. M. )
22. GRANT, William Banffshire minister Univ. & Divin- ity Hall Edin (C of s) , ,
1845 23. HERDMAN2 James S
W. H. Herdman, (C of ) Rattray
Coll. S)student
univ. St. Andrews
.M Chalmers (c. l .
1846 24. , ANDERSON, John Muckhart
C f S) Some* univ. & Divin-
ity Hall, Edin, (C. S. M .)( o
25. SMITH teacher (C. S. M. )
26. HUNTER Robert J Aberdeen
f S) S40m* Marischal &
Free Church F. C. M. ) (C o colleges, Aber..
deen/New Coll.
1847 27- WALKER, Alex- Edin. (C Of S) teacher Normal School, Edin.
ander (C. S. M. )
1848 28. BLACK, William missionary teacher
Normal School, Edin.
(C. S. M. ) (Boulogne)
29. SINCLAIR, David C. J. Brown (F C )
eeme Univ. & New Coll., Edin.
(F. C. M. ) . . Edin.,
-358-
-ear. o. -f
Name & Stpaftdie SocietX first for India served 1850 30. MILLER, Ebenezer
(F. C. M. )
31. YULD q James W. (C. S. M. )
Minister Vor Previous Where Church - occupation(s) educated
Cambridge (Cong- tutor/minis- Univs. of Glas- regationalist)/' ter/mission- gow& Edin. /
(F. c. ) ary G, T. Ao
Irish licentiate Presbyterian
32. DRUMMOND James We Laughtong licentiate ? F. C. M. ) Greenock (F. C. )
1852 33. MITCHELL, William R. S. Candlish some Kinnaird (F. C. M. ) Edin. 9 (F. C. 3
CAMPBELL, Alex- Guttifte, Edin. ander Bell (F. C. m. (F. C. )
BLYTH, Robert Brittain (F. C. M. )
36. FORDYCE9 John (F. C. M. )
1853 37. FEERGUSON9 William (C. S. M. )
R. Elder Edin. (P. C. )
R. S. Candlish Edin. ) (F. C. j
b. Saline
38. WALLACE, Robert from Stirling- (C. S. M. ) shire
39. GARDINER, Thomas F. Gilliess (F. C. M. ) Edin. (F. C. )
Some
Some
Some
Some
licentiate
Univ. GlasgowY Now Coll.
Free Church Coll. 9 Aberdeen/ Now Coll.
Univ. & Now Coll., Edin.
Univ. & New Coll., Edin.
Univ. & New Coll., Edihe
Univ. & Divinity, Hallq Edino
i Univ. & Divinityl Hallj Edin.
Univ. & New Coll., Edin.
Univ. Abordeen/ New Coll.
Univ. & Divlnltyý! Hallq Edin.
Univ. & Now Coll. 9 Edin.
Univ. & Now Coll. 9 Edin.
Univ. & Divinity Hallj St. Andrews
40. MACKINTOSH, James Gordon Edin., tutor Miller (F. C. M. ) ? F. C. )
1854 41. WHITE, William from Dumfries some I
(C. S. M. )
- 42. POURIE, JOhn
(F. C. M. ) R. S. Candlishq articled Edin. (F. C. ) clerk/s, m.
1*3. MOFFAT, William (F. C. M. )
44. BONTHORNE James (6. S. M. )
1855 45. WHITE, Adam (F. C. M. )
T. Hastings, some Wanlockhead (F. C. )
SOMO
R. S. Candlish home Edin. (F, C*) missionary
46. MICALLUM, Alex- W. G. Blaikie ander B. (F. C. M. ) Edin. (F. C. ý
47. HUNTER Thomas W. Gloverg Edin. JCOSOMO) (c of S)
Marischal & Frao Church Colloges. AberdoWBerlin? Now Coll.
some Univ. & Now Coll. 9 Edin.
some King's Coll. & Divinity Hall, Aberdeen
-359-
Year of Name Minister &/or Previous Where del2arture Churph occumtlo-n(s) odYeated -nr_Tndia
489 COOPER, John Sm th$ Glasgow some Univ. Glasgow/ Gillespie. (F. C . M.
5 (F. C. ) New Coll*
49. BEAUMONT9 John C. Brown, Edin. licentiate Univ. St. Andrewg Smith (F. C. M. ) (F. C. ) /New Coll.
1856 50. PATERSON9 Dairsie (F. C. ) tutor/ Univ. & Coll. David Horn (F. C. M. ) surgeon of Surgeons, & Edinburgh Edin. Medical Mission- ary Society)
510 GARDNER9 James R. S. Candlish some Univ., & New Wardrop (F. C. M. ) Edin., (F. C. 3 Coll. 9 Edin.
1857 52, BUCHMAN, from Dunbarton- licentiate Univ. & Divln- William (C. S. M. ) shire ity Hall,
Glasgow
IX. Brethren Missionaries
1833 1. GROVES, Anthony Fulham Church dentist T, CD. Norris (Anglican)
1831+. 2. PARNELL, John (Church of gentleman of Univ. Edin, Vesey Ireland) means
3. CRONIN, Edward (Ireland -Indep- doctor T, C, D,? endent)
1836 4. BEER, George Gribble & Chapman farm labourer/ no college Barnstaple shoemaker training
BOWDEN, William Gribble & Chapman, stone-mason no college Barnstapb training
6. BRICE Devon
1855 7. HEELIS, Thomas Orchard Street merchant Assemblyt London sailor
X. Irish Presbyterian Church Mission
1840 1. GLASGOW, James Clough Church minister Royal Belfast Academical Institution
2. KERRt Alexander J. Fishert minister Royal Belfast Markethill Academical
Institution
1842. 3. MONTGOMERY9 T. Waters, licentiate Royal Belfast Robert Newtownards? Academical
Institution
4. GLASGOW'21 Adam D. Clough Church? minister Royal Belfast Academic4l. In.
- stitttLon/DIV InitX Hallq 'Edin.
-3GO- Year of Name
at týr e jýjý i ýý re Minister &/or
Ch Previous Where
fo r India urch occupation(s) edUcated
MIKEE, James Moorhead, minister Royal Belfast Loughaghery Academical
Institution
6. SPEERS 9 James Stewart, licentiate Royal Belfast Henry Broughshane Academical
Institution
1846 7. WALLACE9 James Limavady? minister Royal Belfast Academical Institution
1855 8. MOORE, Dunlop T. Millar, licentiate Presbyterian Lurgan College, Bol-
fast/Now Coll., Edin.
1856 9. YOUNG, Robert Edinburgh printer, publisher, &
stationer
XI. Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church Mission
1840.1. JONES, Thomas b. Tanyffridd, carpenter & Bala Coll. Montgomery wheelwright
1842 2. LEWIS2 William b. Manchester apprentice Bala Coll. . engineer
3. RICHARDS9 Oven b. Dolfor, doctor
181+5 4. JONES, Daniel
1848 5. PRYSE, William
1855 6. PARRY, Robert
1856 7. JONES, Thomas
Cardiganshire
from Maesyplwmj Denbighshire
Tredegar Chapel
b. St. Asaph
b. Glyng Caernarvonshire
home Bala Coll. missionary
minister Trovecca Coll.
ironmonger Bala Coll,
preacher Bala Coll.
APPENDIX B
L. M. S. --
Questions sent to Applicants
Dear Sir,
The Directors of the London, Missionary Society havin received from you an intimation of_your- des re to become a
sionary to the Heathen, and judging-It- to be of the bren e Importancel for your own satisfaction-as well as fo, that your qualificaEions for that office shoul-d-U-e I ---fnr as Possible. -ascertained, now put into your hands a so of
ues-Ions for your most grave consideration; -and have to
! ýesire that, after mature deliberation, you will return candi4 1113 explicit answers to : E-h-em, opposite eac ques ion on tH
a-heet, as in tht- gight of that heart- s earc hinK God to whoR O-Oth the-Directors and Missionaries shall at the Areat DaX render their respective accounts. it is requested that the Answersmaybe entirely of your own composition and in your os Rand-writing,
I am,. Dear-Sir,
Yours, very respectfulIZ9
Direct to Rev. John Arundelp.,
Mission-House, Austin Friars, London.
QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED BY-MISSIONARY CANDIDATES.
I. As it is indispensably necessary, that he who I undertakes to teach Christianity to the Heathen, should himself be a real Christiang you are desired, to, state what are the grounds on which you have been led, to, conclude you are sucht together with any memorable circumstances connected with your first religious Impressions, and the,
-period of their co=encement.
2., What are your views of the, principal and distinguishing doctrines of the Gospel?
3. What is your judgment, of-Christian Baptism? Have you thoroughly investigated, the question respecting the Baptism of Infants, and is your mind established as to tho Divine authority of Infant Baptism?
I+. Of what Christian, Church,, or Society are you a member? How long have you been such;,. and to what Minister or Ministers can
-you refer, for information respecting youriuligious character?
Have you been accustomed to engage in any social or public religious services - in prayer-meetings - in the instruction of the young - in visiting the sick - in the distribution of tracts, or in any other effort for the spiritual good of others? - and if so, state the particulars.
6. Where were you born? What is your age? Are your parents living? Do they depend upon you, in whole or in part, for their support? Do they know of your wish to become a Missionary, and do they approve of it?
-3G-2- 7. What has been your occupation? Are you so employed at present as to be able to obtain a comDrtable maintenance? Have you a reasonable prospect of the same support in future? Does the desire of improving your worldly circumstances enter into the motives of this application? 8. What advantages of education have you enjoyed, and what books have you read?
9. What has been the general state'of your health from your infancy? What is it at present? If your health bo good, Is it such as is likely to continue, especially if you should go to a sultry climate? Have you seriously considered the hardships and dangers to which a Missionary may be exposed? Are you willing to subject yourself to them and do you judge your constitution Is able to support them? -
'iBefore your offer can be finally accepted the opinion of some medical person on this' point will be required.
10. How long have you entertained the desire of becoming a Missionary? What first led you'ito form ýthat desire? Has that desire been constant or fluctuating? Has it led you to any particular exercises of mind? - if, so, --state them.
11. Have you felt a decided preference to the work of/Missionary abroad above that of a Minister at home? and do you think you should continue so to feel, were an equal opportunity of becoming a Minister to present itself? if so, state the reasons of this preference.
12. As there Is too much, reason to fear that some persons have become Missionaries under the influence of improper principlest you are desired seriouslyýand sincerely to state what are the MOTIVES by which you are actuated in offering yourself as a Missionary to the Heathen. "
13. What, in your judgment, are the Qualifications necessary to form a good Missionary of Jesus Christ?
3-4. What do you apprehend are the proper Duties- of a Christian Missionary? and what do'you conceive to bi-t-lie-poculiar temptations to which he is exposed?
15. Have you communicated your desire to any Minister or Ministers, or other Christian. Priond; and do they encourage or discourage you in this application?
16. Are you married? If nott are you under any engagemont relating to marriage; or have you.: made proposals of marriage to any one or are you willing to go out, unmarried, should circumstances render it desirable?
17. As your personal expenses, for Clothesq Washingg &c. f may, while residing at College2 amount to from twenty to thirty pounds per annum, can-youl-frOm Your own resourcesl or those of your friends, meet that sump or any part of it?
-363-
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