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THE PAST AND PROSPECTIVE EXTENSION
OF THE GOSPEL
BY MISSIONS TO THE HEATHEN:

CONSIDERED IN

EIGHT LECTURES,

DELIVERED BEFORE

THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,
IN THE YEAR MDCCCXLIII.
AT THE LECTURE FOUNDED BY JOHN BAMPTON, M.A.
CANON OF SALISBURY.

ANTHONY GRANT, D.C.L.
I.ATE FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE, AND VICAR OF KOMFORD, ESSEX.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON ;
AND SOLD BY J. H. PARKER, OXFORD.
1844.

" VULGARES ANIMjE CONSTITUTAM ECCLESIAM CONSERVARE
QUEUNT; SED ALIQUAM DE NOVO ERIGERE, UT REMPUBLICAM,
TANTUM HEROUM EST." nt. Ant. Walmi -in Fit. Select. Fir. p. 648.

THE RIGHT REVEREND

THE BISHOPS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND,

IN THE COLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES OF GREAT BRITAIN,

WHO OCCUPY

THE FOREMOST POSTS IN THE BATTLE-FIELD OF THE CHURCH,

TO CONFRONT HEATHENISM,

AND PLANT

THE CHRISTIANITY OF FUTURE KINGDOMS,

THIS VOLUME

IS INSCRIBED.

EXTRACT FROM
THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
OF THE, LA,TE,
REV. JOHN BAMPTON,
CANON OF SALISBURY.
 " I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates

" to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the
" University of Oxford for ever, to have and to hold
" aU and singular the said Lands or Estates upon trust,
" and to the intents and purposes hereinafter mentioned;
" that is to say, I wiU and appoint tha,t the Vice-Chan-
" cellor of the University of Oxford for the time being
" shall take and receive all the rents, issues, and profits
" thereof, and (after aU taxes, reparations, and necessary
" deductions made) that he pay aU the remainder to the
" endowment of eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, to be
" established for ever in the said University, and to be
" performed in the manner foUowing :
" I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday
" in Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the
" .Heads of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room
" adjoining to the Printing-House, between the hours
" of ten in the morning and two in the afternoon, to
" preach eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, the year
" following, at St. Mary's in Oxford, between the com-
" mencement of the last month in Lent Term, and the
" end of the third week in Act Term.

VI EXTRACT PROM MR. BAMPTON S WILL.
" Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity
" Lecture Sermons shall be preached upon either of
" the following Subjects — to confirm and establish the
" Christian Faith, and to confute all heretics and schis-
" matics — upon the divine authority of the holy Scrip-
" tures-— upon the authority of the writings of the
" primitive Fathers, as to the faith and practice of the
" primitive Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord
" and Saviour Jesus Christ — upon the Divinity of the
" Holy Ghost — upon the Articles of the Christian Faith,
" as comprehended in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds.
" Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight
" Divinity Lecture Sermons shall be always printed,
" within two months after they are preached, and one
" copy shall be given to the Chancellor of the Univer-
" sity, and one copy to the Head of every College, and
" one copy to the Mayor of the city of Oxford, and one
" copy to be put into the Bodleian Library ; and the
" expence of printing them shall be paid out of the
" revenue of the Land or Estates given for establishing
" the Divinity Lecture Sermons ; and the Preacher
" shall not be paid, nor be entitled to the revenue,
" before they are printed.
" Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be
" qualified to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons,
" unless he hath taken the degree of Master of Arts at
" least, in one of the two Universities of Oxford or
" Cambridge ; and that the same person shall never
" preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons twice."

PREFACE.

The following Lectures, though deli
vered before a learned audience, are
composed in a popular form, and are
designed to convey to as many as take
an interest in the subject, a general view
of the extension of the Gospel among the
heathen, and to elicit those principles by
which it has been, and may be, accom
plished most successfully, and in accord
ance with the purpose of God. For a
long period, until later years. Missionary
enterprises were, in the minds of many
members of our Church, identified with
a certain cast of religious opinion and
character, which caused offence to sober-
minded Christians, while the work itself
was discredited by others, because it v\?as

VIU PREFACE.

disconnected from the authority and direc
tion of the Church. The cause that was
thus enterprised, was, however, based upon
truth and christian duty, and therefore it
gained a hearing, and has made its way.
But the interest that was created in its
behalf, and which has now for many years
been advancing at an accelerated ratio,
and constitutes one of the encouraging
signs that mark our times, awakened,
also, in the minds of reflecting Christians,
a conviction that something beyond
the principles of action upon which
this "work of Christ" had been under
taken, was imperatively needed for its
due accomplishment. It began to be felt
that there was no unity of design, no
steadiness of operation in the plans that
were adopted; that different Societies, and
individuals, had their favourite schemes, or
spheres of action, and were frequently set
in rivalry against each other; that the
methods by which this great duty was ad
vocated at home, and conducted abroad.

PREFACE. IX
were not such as could compass the various
forms and vast systems of Paganism which
were to be displaced : some great let and
hindrance seemed to be thwarting the irre
gular, uncombined efforts that were made ;
sounds of dissension, sometimes of misgiv
ing, came from abroad ; and no comment
surate success was seen to follow on the
amount of expenditure and activity that
was devoted to the work.
These thoughts, together v^ith the taunt
which was frequently repeated, that, since
its separation from Rome, reformed Chris
tendom had lost its expansive power,
gave rise to a consideration of the sub
ject. It naturally occurred to examine
the truth of the statement, to reflect upon
the cause of it, as far as it was well-
grounded, to turn to Scripture and past
experience, and discover wherein the defect
lay. And here it was perceived that the
subject had not been treated of in our
books of theology, that no specific rules
had been laid down, nor organization pro-

PREFACE.

vided for the execution of this great func
tion of the Church, the evangelizing of the
heathen. On referring to the pubhcations
that were constantly issuing from the press,
it was found that, instead of supplying the
want of information that was felt, they
served only to increase a sense of it. It
was impossible, on reading them, not to be
struck with the narrowness and unfairness
with which most of them were written.
On the one hand, Roman Catholics clearly
did injustice to the missionary efforts of
Protestants ; while, on the other hand, the
treatises and writings of many Protestants
seemed composed under the impression
that no such thing as Roman Catholic
missions existed ; that, at least before the
Reformation, the design of evangelizing
the world was a thing unheard of; that it
had been reserved for this age almost to
commence the work, for which a new
theory of missions, new methods, and
machinery, and system of action were to
be provided.

PREFACE. XI
A sense, then, of the insufficiency and
faultiness of the recent modes of conduct
ing missionary enterprises ; — the absence
of a work, accessible to ordinary readers,
which offered a general view, past and
present, of these operations ; — a pressing
conviction that the Son of God had pro
vided a means for executing His last com
mand, and the great purpose of His
Redeeming Sacrifice ; — a recollection of
those two great triumphs of the Church,
over Roman civilization, and medieeval
barbarism; — the wonderful expansion of
the Empire of Great Britain, whereby,
through her colonies, she is brought into
contact with almost the entire heathen
world; — the great national responsibility
which lies upon her, and upon the Church
within her borders, to discern God's Hand
in this conjuncture and to execute His
will; — these considerations pointed out
the subject as one that opened a field
of solemn enquiry and reflection, that
deserved and demanded attention, and

XU PREFACE.
would soon thrust itself upon the notice
of the Church, — one that might suitably
be brought before, as it was sure to
engage the interest of, a body of the
youth of England in one of our Univer
sities, destined to occupy, ere long, the
most important - posts in the Church
and State, and to exercise a vast influ
ence on the future interests of our
country. In undertaking this task I was
not unconscious — I am, at its conclusion,
more than ever conscious — of its engross
ing importance, and of the difficulty of
executing it at all worthily; I was con
scious that it would be scarcely possible
to avoid giving offence; that it is, at all
times, an ungracious task to run counter
to received methods of action, especially
when directed towards a good object,
and that, just now, to recall men's
minds to ancient modes of thinking and
acting is regarded, by a great number,
with peculiar suspicion. Under this im
pression, I can hardly expect to escape

PREFACE. XUl
misconstruction and censure, though I
venture to hope that some deliberate and
serious attention will, at least, be drawn
to the subject which is treated of, and to
the points of principle and pressing duty
that are involved in it.
For the purpose, however, of renioving,
as much as may be, all cause for objection,
it may be permitted to make a few
remarks on one or two heads on which
misconception might arise.
First, I would observe that, in noticing
the later missionary proceedings, subse
quent to the Reformation, priority in
point of time has determined the order in
which they have been reviewed.
Next, let it be borne in mind that it
formed no part of the design of these
Lectures to detail the operations of indi
vidual Societies. It is quite possible that
some particular missions of interest may
be found to have been unnoticed, and that
a charge of unfairness may be alleged in
consequence. But, be it remembered, it

XIV PREFACE.

was clearly impracticable to embody the
substance of Reports in a Lecture ; nor
was it my object to detail the successes
of this or that Association, but to examine
the principles upon which missions in
general were conducted, and to adduce
such instances as might illustrate what
was advanced.
Thirdly, in consequence of a suggestion
which has been made, that the competency
of the Abbe Dubois, (whose letters are
quoted in Lecture V.) as a Roman Catholic
authority, might be disputed, I feel bound
to state the simple grounds upon which I
deem that his evidence cannot fairly be
questioned. In the first place, I find that
his statements, on the subject of missions,
are referred to as indisputable by one of
the most able and zealous Roman Catholic
apologists.' Secondly, considerable por
tions of the very letters from which I
quote (omitting, of course, the unfavour-
1 Dr. Wiseman, On the Principal Doctrines and Practices of tte
Catholic Church, Leet. VII, pp. 223, 224.

PREFACE. XV
able representations) are published in the
"Annales de la Propagation de laFoi," and
the name of M. Dubois, as the source of
the information, is expressly given " pour
donner a notre r6cit I'appui d'une autorit6
recommandable.'" Thirdly, on his return
from India he was appointed Director of
the Seminary of Missions in Paris,^ which
office of trust, I believe, he now holds.
And lastly, the material part of the state
ments for which he is quoted is confirmed
by other evidence.
Once more ; I am aware that, amid the
pressing needs by which the Church of
England is surrounded, and its energies
are taxed, even at home, and by our own
countrymen, it may be thought a ques
tionable wisdom to press the duty of
labouring for its extension abroad. With
out repeating any argument advanced in
the Lectures, I would venture, on this
point, to urge two considerations. — In the

1 Annales, vol. iii. p. 49. ' Ibid, vol, i. No. VI. p.

30.

XVI PREFACE.
first place, it is no longer a question
whether the heathen shall be left to them
selves. Our colonies are already planted in
the midst of them ; they are our fellow-
subjects ; we must, as a nation, exercise an
untold influence upon them; already the
tendency of an unhallowed influence has
been witnessed in two fearful results, —
the extermination of whole races, and a
dark scepticism in many of those heathen
who have learnt to cast off their native
superstitions. Therefore must the Church
extend herself with the extension of our
Empire, even to prevent our country from
becoming a curse to the pagan world, even,
also, to save our own countrymen from
lapsing into a state of apostate infidelity,
more fatal than pagan darkness. The duty
is no longer one of option, but of necessity,
simply to check a national sin, and to pre
serve ourselves. And besides this, even
supposing it were, under any circum
stances, desirable, yet it is no longer
possible, to hinder the Gospel from being

PREFACE. XVU

made known among the heathen nations
which border upon our colonies. If the
Church do not propagate the Gospel, other,
self-appointed teachers will. And although
Christianity, however made known, would
be a gain to the heathen, yet we cannot
shut our eyes to the ills likely to arise
from its being planted by uncommissioned
and rival bodies. They will multiply their
private opinions and divisions among their
pagan converts and in our colonies, they
will spread their dissocialising principles
which, whether developed in the form of
independence in religion, or republicanism
in politics, are destructive of the national
life of kingdoms ; elements of disturbance
will ever be agitating these infant settle
ments, the effects of which will be felt in
their reflux upon the mother country ; so
that, setting aside the grounds of religious
obligation, merely on national considera
tions, the Church cannot choose but meet
this newly-risen but ever-growing evil,
and, carrying her divine system into
b

XVm PREFACE.

foreign settlements, secure the Christianity
and the true social organization of these
future nations.
How this great demand may be met,—
how the Church shall discharge, at all
adequately, this immense duty, — what
forms of agency she shall call forth from
her expansive system, — what portions of
her ancient organization she shall revive
to grapple with this great emergency, are
questions which it belongs to the wisdom
of our spiritual rulers, and to no private
individual, to weigh and determine. But
I would observe further, that, together
with these larger questions, there are
several wants in the detail and machinery
of our missions, affecting the treatment
and instruction of converts, which it was
felt unfitting to introduce in the body of
a discourse, but which require to be sup
plied, and for which no specific pro
vision has hitherto been made. Among
these occurs, primarily, the necessity of
an Office for Catechumens, or the par-

PREFACE. xix
tially-instructed heathen, for whom "the
Order of Common Prayer." however beau
tifully constructed for a Christian and
civilized community, must be obviously
unsuited.' Then a course of authorized
catechetical teaching for hearers and neo
phytes,— rules and means of discipline for
the lapsed, — forms of exclusion and recon-
cihation, — directions -for the treatment of
polygamist converts, — these and several
other points, which the practical experi
ence of missionaries makes known, need
to be considered and regulated ; while the
settlement of them is rendered the more
difficult and the more indispensable by the
sad state of schism, and by the rival
communities which are found existing in
the very face of the heathen,
1 It appears that such a variation from the received form of
public worship, as is suggested, was not unknown in the early
Church. Indeed, under certain limitations, each Bishop possessed
the liberty of " forming his own Liturgy in what method and
words he thought proper, only keeping to the analogy of faith
and sound doctrine." The substance of the " one form of worship
throughout the Church" was preserved in each Liturgy, it was
adapted only to the peculiar wants of particular Dioceses ; and pro
tection from any abuse of this liberty, by which the faith might be
endangered, was secured by the accountability of each Bishop to the
whole synod of Bishops. — Bingham, Antiq. Book II. ch. v. sect. 2.
h 2

XX PREFACE.
In every quarter, the evil results into
which the recent methods employed in
the conversion of the heathen have begun
to work themselves, naturally direct the
eyes of thoughtful members of the Church
towards the resumption by her of that apo
stolic function which she is commissioned
to exercise, and towards the enlargement
and application of her divine polity, by
which these evils may be remedied, and the
Gospel sped on its way. And though I
speak thus unreservedly, I do so with the
deep feeling that, whatever thoughts or
hopes any individual may entertain on this
subject, yet his present duty, superseding
any private conviction, is zealously to give
effect to such counsels as our spiritual
rulers may devise, and to advance the work
by such means as they shall recommend ;
otherwise, so great a discomfiture, and such
a disastrous blow to the Christianity of our
foreign dependencies, and to the conversion
of the heathen who encompass them, will
immediately ensue, as perhaps no future

PREFACE. Xxi
efforts will be ever able to repair. In any
revival of principles, or of forgotten forms
of polity or truth, it must necessarily be,
that, for a time, our practice should fall
short of our theory ; and should any feel
that they are called upon to acquiesce,
somewhat reluctantly, in this law, they
may reflect that they will be acquiescing
also in a line of duty, which, like every
other, will be charged with blessing to
those who walk therein.
No one, perhaps, can take leave of a
work in which he has been, for a season,
engaged and engrossed, without a wish to
say somewhat of the circumstances attend
ing its performance. All, however, that
I would desire to remark concerning it,
is, that it has been accomplished in the
midst of many other duties, and that
I have had very frequently to lament the
want of books which I was debarred from
the means of obtaining, or have been able
to obtain only with delay and difficulty.
I am bound, however, to express my

XXll PREFACE.
thanks to many individuals, and some
public bodies, for the fi-ee use of many
works which are continually referred to in
these pages.
Having thus completed ray task, I com
mend it to the spiritual rulers of the
Church in this land and its dependencies,
in the humble hope that it may subserve
their counsels in the execution of that
apostolic office of the Church of which it
treats ; that it may lead some to reflect and
inquire into the principles upon which this
and all other great works for Christianizing
the world should be conducted; and be
accepted of HIM whose glory it is
humbly designed to advance.

CONTENTS.

LECTURE I.
THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL.
The Gospel contrasted, in its adaptation to fallen human
kind, with all other religious systems. — Enjoined to be preached
throughout the world. — Reflections on the part hitherto taken
by the Church of England, as a body, in this work.
Inquiry into the predicted prevalence of the Christian
Faith. — The Old Testament prophecies examined; — and the
New. — No universal acceptance promised before the end of
the world.
Motives for engaging in the conversion of the heathen. —
Its effect on the future conflict of the Church with Antichrist.
— The command of Christ. — The debt of Charity. — The debt
of Justice. — Reflex spiritual benefits  p. 1 — 34
LECTURE 11.
THE GENERAL CONDITIONS AND ACTUAL HINDRANCES IN
EXTENDING THE GOSPEL.
Subject stated. — The laborious progress of the Gospel in
accordance with Scripture, and all previous probability. —
Retarded, in its early propagation, by persecution, heresies,
judgments. Disadvantages of the early Church contrasted with those of
the later. — 1. Weakness of its first promulgators. — 2. Their

Xxiv CONTENTS.
illiterate condition.-3. Without honour in their own country.
—4. The Church disconnected from the civil power.
Disadvantages of the later Church.— § 1. Character of pre
sent superstitions among the heathen, and of the civilization
built upon them.— § 2. Viciousness of Christians among the
heathen.— § 3. Want of unity at home and abroad. p. 35—67

LECTURE III.
THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL.
Twofold view of the Gospel.— Not simply a spiritual in
fluence, but a spiritual and visible institution.
Argument from analogy ; from the needs of man ; from
what is required for the transmission of the Truth ; from God's
earlier dealings with mankind. This institution provided in
the Church.
Its expansion, as a body, contemplated in the prophecies
of the Old Testament ;— and of the New. — Effected by com
missioned men, in Apostolic and later times : — the methods
employed being, the teaching of the Church, followed and
confirmed by, the written Word of God ; not the latter
apart from the former. — Indications of this process in the
Scriptures themselves. — This twofold means adapted to man's
moral and intellectual nature ; — his social and individual life.
Individual energy not paralyzed by being subordinated to
the authority of the Church  p. 68 — 99
LECTURE IV.
THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL BEFORE THE REFORMATION.
Review of last Lecture, and subject stated. — Two periods
to be considered.
Sketch of the actual extension of the Church for the first
four centuries. — Sketch of its extension in the second period,
up to the 15th century, among the Gothic tribes, and the

CONTENTS. XXV
Sclavonic. — Sketch of the Nestorian missions in the East, and
their discomfiture.
Causes and means of the advance of the Gospel in the two
periods. First period; — 1. State of the Pagan religion. 2. Perse
cutions. 3. Miracles. 4. Direct missionary efforts.
Second period ; — 1. Pomp of ceremonial. 2. Introduction
of learning, and the arts. 3. Monastic institutions. 4. In
fluence of rulers, &c.
Reflections upon these events.
1. The providence and invisible presence of God recognised
in them. 2. Contrast of the methods used in the two periods.
3. The visible system of the Church. 4. The evanescence
of the Nestorians, and of the Arianizing tribes . p. 100 — 137

LECTURE V.
MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION.
Part I.
Sketch of the movement at the Reformation. — Missions of
Rome, and chiefly of the Jesuits, reviewed. — India and Fr.
Xavier. — Japan. — China. — Tonkin and Cochin China. —
Paraguay. — Africa. — Abyssinia. — Present revived efforts.
Character of these missions. — The causes of success and of
failure, the same. — Vicious accommodation ; the Malabar and
Chinese rites.— Indiscriminate Baptism and half-paganized
Christianity. — Results witnessed in the low character of con
verts ; — and in tKe quarrels and dissensions of religious orders.
— On the other hand, a wise instrumentality in many respects
employed. Two powerful principles operating in the enterprises of
Roman Catholic missionaries : the spirit of obedience ; and
the exhibition of the Church to the heathen as a suffering
body  p. 138—181

XXVl CONTENTS.
LECTURE VI.
MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION.
Part II.
Expansion a note of the Church. — Causes which checked
missionary enterprise in the Church of England immediately
after the Reformation. — Projects in the 1 7th century. — The
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1701. — Dutch
Missions. — Moravians. — The formation of voluntary associ
ations. Sketch of results of these desultory labours: — In India;
Diocese of Madras and Calcutta. — Anglo-American missions.
— Moravians in South America, and Greenland. — The West
Indies. — Moravians in Africa. — Missions in South Sea Islands.
— New Zealand.
Reflections on this review.
Successes indisputable. — Inadequacy of result traceable, in
the Church, to recent commencement, paucity of missionaries,
want of discipline. — Yet attributable, in separatist bodies,
to faulty methods of proceeding, rejection of all authority of
the Church, and many concomitant errors. — The divine power
of the Church evidenced where applied ... p. 182 — 224
LECTURE VII.
THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS OF THE CHURCH OF
ENGLAND MISSIONS.
Human agency in the propagation of the Gospel. — Sketch
of the threefold division of Paganism. — Principles needed for
the conduct of missions.
I. The Church to act as a body. — How neglected, and
supplanted by private associations. — Similarity of these asso
ciations, in some vicious results, with the order of Jesuits :
— 1. In the neglect of Episcopal authority ; 2. Inconsequent
dissensions ; 3. In inability to coalesce with civil authority ;
4. In faulty internalism of doctrine ; 5. In the tendency to

CONTENTS. XXvii
secularity ; 6. In exaggeration of their labours. — This prin
ciple of acting as a body to be applied abroad.
II. Diversified means of action ; adapted to different states
of civilization, and in different climes ; such as, § 1. Intellec
tual acquirements among the civilized Hindoos ; § 2. Know
ledge of mechanical arts among uncivilized tribes ; § 3.
Knowledge of vernacular languages. — Distribution of labour
required ; — and a missionary Seminary for training labourers.
— Need of catachetical schools for the higher class among the
heathen ; and asylums for orphans, destitute converts, and
for rearing a native ministry.
Recent effort of the Church towards combined action, by the
extension of the Episcopate in the colonies . . p. 225 — 261
LECTURE VIII.
THE PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS OF OUR MISSIONARY
ENTERPRISES.
One further requisite in our missionary operations ; a Code
of missionary instructions :
1. To determine the method of dealing with the heathen
mind and prejudices. 2, To lay down the order in which the
Christian verities should be communicated. 3. To settle
points in the practical treatment of converts.
Review of the subject ; prospects and encouragements. —
Probability of success drawn, I. From the past progress of the
Gospel, and from its surmounting every kind of obstacle.
II. From the aspect of Pagan nations. III. From the pre
sent conjuncture of favourable circumstances, resembling
former periods of religious movement.
The duty of the Church of England as designed to be a
Missionary Church. The dignity of missionary labour. p. 262—296

APPENDIX. . . ;  p. 299— 416
DECLARATioNof the Archbishops and Bishops . p. 416 — 420

" Et TU LEVA OCULOS QUOSDAM CONSIDERATIONIS TVJE, ET VIDE
REGIONES, SI NON SUNT MAGIS SICCjE AD IGNEM, GUAM ALBjE AD
MESSEM. . . . NONNE SI EXIS, ET CERNIS ISTA, PUDEBIT OTIOSAM
JACERE SECURIM, PUDEBIT SINE CAUSA FALCEM APOSTOLICAM
ACCEPISSE?" Bernards de Consid. lib. ii. cap. vi. sect. 12.

ERRATA.
Page 62, line 9, for mould read moved.
— 97, — . 16,/or house fead home.

LECTUEE L

THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED EXTENSION
OF THE GOSPEL.

Malachi I. 11.
FOR FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN EVEN UNTO THE GOING
DOWN OF THE SAME MY NAME SHALL BE GREAT AMONG THE
GENTILES ; AND IN EVERY PLACE INCENSE SHALL BE OFFERED
UNTO MY NAME, AND A PURE OFFERING : FOR MY NAME SHALL
BE GREAT AMONG THE HEATHEN, SAlTH THE LORD OF HOSTS.
These words form a portion of that splendid train
of prophecy upon which the Jews built their hopes
of future and universal triumph. The season came
when it began to be fulfilled, and yet they were
unable to discern it. It began to be fulfilled, and,
indeed, was deemed by some to have met an ade
quate fulfilment, when the Gospel of Christ made
its early and rapid progress over the face of the
civilized world. ^ Por so the early Christians,
when they witnessed " the forces of the Gentiles "
1 St. Chrysostom conceived that the prophecy (Matt. xxiv. 14)
was fulfilled before the destruction of Jerusalem : on yap iravTaxov
cKripvxdr] Tore, aKOVcrov tL ^rjcrtv o XiavXos' Tov 'Evayyikiov tov
Kr]pvx6(VT0S ev Trdar] rfj Kritrei tJ vtro tov ovpavdu. o /cat iiiyicrrov
a-rifielov rrjs tov Xpta-Tov Swdixcas' on iv cUocri ?; Kol TpiaKOVTa

2 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
eoming into the fold of Christ, recognised the
power and faithfulness of God in the accom
plishment of this His prophetic promise, and gave
praise thus, in their devotions, to His great name :
" Giving thanks through Him to Thee, together
with Him and the Holy Ghost, we present this
reasonable and unbloody worship, which is offered
to Thee, O Lord, by all nations, from the rising to
the setting of the sun, from the north unto the
south. Por Thy name is great among all nations,
and in every place incense, sacrifice, and oblations
are offered to it."'
But it is not on the fact, whether the inspired
prediction respecting the universal spread of the
kingdom of God had, or has, met with a corre
sponding fulfilment, that I would now dweU. The
point which deserves our attention is, that of the

oXoir eTco^L TCI TTfpaTa TJjs olKOVfievr]! KareXa^ev 6 \6yos. Homil.
LXXV. in Matt.
It was an argument, too, of the Donatists, when the promised
diffusion of the Church was urged against their pretensions, to
reply, that this had been accomplished, but that the Faith had
perished in all the world except their own body. " Et ista,
inquiunt, credimus, et completa esse confilemur; at postea orhis
ierrarum apostatavit, et sola remansit Donati communio." August.
contr. Donat. Epist. cap.xiii. vol. ix. p. 361. Edit. Bened.
' Liturgia S. Marci ad init. The Latin translation is, " Per
quem Tibi, cum Ipso, et Spiritu Sancto, gratias agentes, offerimus
rationabilem et incruentam Xarp^iav seu oblationem banc, quam
offeruntTibi, Domine, omnes Gentes ab ortu Solis usque ad occa-
sura, a septentrione ad meridiem. Quia magnum nomen Tuum
in omnibus gentibus, et in omni loco incensum offertur nomini
Tuo sancto et sacrificium et oblatio." — La Bigne's Biblioth. Pair.
vol. vi. p. 24. Paris, 1589.

L] EXTENSION OP THE GOSPEL. 3
adequacy and tendency of the Gospel to gain an
universal supremacy over the human mind, and its
adaptation to mankind at large. In these respects
it presents no less an evidence of its divine power
than a contrast to every form of religion that has
ever gathered votaries to itself among the nations
of the world. It addresses itself not to this or that
people, or condition of thought, or social state, or
political organization, but to fallen human nature ;
and therefore it is designed of God to be universal ;
and the Church as the depositary of this remedial
scheme, the channel of its spiritual blessings, is
evermore to expand, until the " saving health "
which it conveys is made " known to all nations,"
and the kingdom of God shall come.
This universahty and expansiveness of the Eaith
and Church of Christ place the Gospel, as was just
remarked, in striking contrast with all other religions
of the earth. Consider, in a few words, and in illus
tration of what is said, that divine system which it
pleased God to make known to the Jews in prepa
ration for the advent of His Son. It bore written
on its law the marks of being only a preparatory
and therefore temporary and imperfect system.
Its types and prophecies could supply no resting^
place to the mind of the spiritual Israelite ; they
pointed, and were understood to point, to something
further-^" the bringing in of a better hope."' The
1 Heb. vii. 19.
B 2

4 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
intertexture of religious with civil and political
ordinances, while it was calculated to bind the
nation together in one people, and preserve its dis
tinctiveness, demonstrated, at the same time, that
the former were applicable to that people and polity
alone. And this was evidenced stUl more clearly
in that portion of the law which required the
yearly worship at Jerusalem,' and fixed the one
material temple as the place wherein alone the
sacrifice for the atonement of sins could be ofiered ;
so that, when this should be destroyed, and the
land be left desolate, there would remain no
longer any availing sacrifice for the pardon of
transgression. And all other religious systems have borne the
same marks of local adaptation, and consequently
of their inadequacy to become universal, having
rather grown out of the condition and circum
stances of individual nations, than possessing a
power to fashion and mould the soul of man to
themselves. They have been characterised, either
by being based on traditional recollections, or by a
mixture with political institutions, or by such an
amount of imperfection and falsity, as to show at
once that they were calculated only for men dwell
ing in particular climes, or in a certain state of
civilization or condition of mind.
In none of these, however debased or revolting,
¦ See Eusebius, Demonstratio Evang. lib. i. cap. iii., where this,
among other arguments on this point, is adduced.

I-] EXTENSION OP THE GOSPEL. 5
has th^e been an absence of all Truth. Relics
of the primaeval Tradition, witnessed to, and
kept alive by the unwritten Law in man's heart,
have been scattered over the whole earth, and have
taken root in certain soils ; and round these frag
ments of Truth the various idolatries and super
stitions have gathered as a shell, modified by, and
in turn again modifying the character of the people
among whom each system has prevailed. Observe,
for instance, the peculiar nationality that pervaded
and distinguished the polytheistic systems of Greece
and Rome. The intellectual taste of the Greek soon
gave birth to the elegant mythology, and the visible
forms of beauty in which his deities were imper
sonated ; he deified the graces and qualities of mind,
and consecrated his amusements, his games, the
drama, and the arts, by dedicating them to religion.
Amongst the Romans, on the contrary, the whole
fabric of then' social being, and eminently of their
religion, partook of the masculine character which
was stamped on their political system. They deified,
not the powers of mind, but the social and civil vir
tues ¦' they consecrated not their amusements, but
their triumphs, and aU the " circumstance" of war.^
• Temples were dedicated to Honour, Virtue, Concord, Piety,
Peace, &c. &c. The Comitia and Capitol were reckoned temples.
— Liv. iii. 17, 18; vi. 4.
2 In the middle of the camp were placed the altar and the
standards, which are called by Tacitus " propria legionum
numina" (Ann. ii. 17), and "bellorum Dii" (Hist. iii. 10); which
were objects of adoration (Suet. Calig. v.), and by which the sol
diers swore. — Liv. xxvi. 48.

6 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
Foreign religions were forbidden,' as interfering vrith
the laws and constitution of the republic. The in
troduction of them was punished, not as impiety,
but as treason. Hence there could exist neither
the inclination nor the possibility of propagating
such systems as these. It was not toleration that
checked the endeavour to extend them among sub
ject provinces, but the consciousness of the con
querors that they had nothing to offer ; nothing but
what the citizens of an African or Asiatic state had
already equally good, and more suited to them, of
their own.^ And it would have been simply im
politic to disturb their prejudices on a point on
which they could not better them. Compare, again,
with each of these systems, the mystical abstractions
into which religious thought was subtilized in the
mythologies of the East ; and as we see how they
found a natural home in the dreamy inactivity of
the oriental character, we must perceive also how
impossible it would have been to engraft them
on the intellectual and stirring activity of the
1 Cic. de Leg. II. c. viii. "  ^neque nisi Romani Dii, neu quo
alio more quam patrio colerentur." Liv. iv. 30. See also the
advice of Mtecenas to Augustus. Dio Cassius, Iii. 36. Thus
the refusal to sacrifice to the Gods was considered an act of high
treason (crimen majestatis). TertuUian, Apol. xxix.
2 Celsus considered it an impossibility, and a weakness to sup
pose it, that the inhabitants of all nations could be united in one
religion. Ei yip 8)) (he is quoted as saying) ofoi/Tc els eva a-vp.-
<j)povfjcrai uopov tovs tiji/ 'Acrlav Ka\ Y.iip(i7rr)v Ka\ hi^irjv kutoi-
KoivTas 'EWtjvds t€ Kal ^ap^apovs axpi irepdrav vevofiTinivovs- —
dSvvarov tovto vopiaras ehai imipfpei Sti, 6 tovto ol6p.cvo9 olSev
ovScc — Origen contr. Celsum, 72, Edit. Bened. Paris, p. 795.

L] EXTENSION OE THE. GOSPEL. 7
Greek, or the strong practical vigour of the Roman
mind. And this is even more conspicuously discernible
in the ruder forms of religious worship. Just in
proportion as a nation has receded further from the
light of traditional truth and civilization, it has ever
been broken up into separate tribes. The state of
barbarism is one of social disunion. So also the
tendency of error is to multiply its forms, to disso-
cialize and split up the worship of the human heart
into endless superstitions, which vary and take their
specific character either from some local peculiarity,
or from the mental condition of its votaries. The
senseless worship of the Eetiche bears the impress
of that moral degradation which has settled, as a
curse, upon the tribes of Africa. The frequent
ablutions of the Hindoo, the adoration he pays
to the sacred waters of the Jumna or Ganges, limit
his superstition to the sultry clime of Hindostan.
The very forms of his idols correspond with the
monstrous growth which belongs to that prolific
region. The divinities of Egypt could find none
to do them honour beyond the slimy banks of the
Nile, which was their birth-place. The dark legen
dary tale, the savage feast and song, by which the
pirates of Scandinavia " maddened themselves to
rage" for carnage, beseemed the inhabitants of those
northern wilds ; while the more refined worship
of Eastern Asia, the gilded decorations and graceful
offerings of flowers and incense which the Chinese

8 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
votary presents at the shrine of Confucius or
Buddha, if they indicate the higher civilization,
betoken, likewise, the feebleness and timidity of
the oriental character.
View however, in contrast with these varying
and ever-multiplying shapes of error, the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. It asserts its divine origin by the
very universality of the message it contains, and by
its tendency to unity. It is for man — for man in
that one character in which there is no difference
between tribe and tribe, viz. in his fallen estate, as
sinful, and as needing reconciliation with his Maker.
If the evil was comprehensive, the remedy which it
has provided is equally comprehensive ; and in the
character of the truths that it reveals, it addresses
itself to every part and function of the soul of man.
The wants that drive the savage to his incantations
and sorceries, or bow him before his shapeless idol,
— the doubts that perplexed and multiphed the
schools of philosophy,' — the simple truths, moral
and theological, that kept alive the knowledge of
the One God among the Jews, — are aU recognised,
harmonized, and developed. Each power and affec
tion of man finds therein an object on which to
engage itself, — the means of its exercise and sanc-
tification. The Gospel meets him in his most
abject state, and, presenting its one object of faith,
leads him forth from the prison-house of slavish
fear and wasting passion, providing for and keep
ing pace with his civilization, and cherishing within

L] EXTENSION OP THE GOSPEL. 9
him his true life, from its earliest germ to its last
and fullest maturity. It supplies him with a new
tie of brotherhood ; maintaining and consolidating
national existence, while it unites in one fraternity,
and on equal terms, all ranks and aU tribes of the
earth. Thus, in the person of the Divine Re*
deemer, " the second Adam," the dispersed races of
the world are gathered together, and in Him the
type is set forth of man in the unity and sanctity
of his redeemed and regenerate nature.
And therefore to one thus recognising the reve
lation of God to man for his recovery, it can be no
strange thing to find that it was designed for uni
versal acceptation. Such was its Divine Author's
injunction ; and this it was which roused the
jealousy of its first persecutors. The Church, the
new spiritual kingdom which He established, was
to " be fruitful and multiply." It was to spread
into aU lands, and gather within its limits all
nations, and tribes, and languages. This was the
purpose announced before by successive prophecies,
and finally enforced in the command which the
Son of God, as He quitted this earth, charged upon
His disciples, " Go ye into all the world, and preach
the Gospel to every creature."'
This command, for the accomplishment of which
" the whole creation groaneth," and the ulterior
purposes of God are waiting in expectation, remains
' Mark xvi. 15.

10 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
still unrepealed, still unfulfilled.' Why does it
remain so ? what is the purpose of God respecting
it? what means has He provided for its comple
tion? what part is man to bear in evangelizing
the world ? what efforts have been made and are
makiny, and with what success ? what are the
causes of failure ? what are our duties, our encou
ragements, and prospects, in the discharge of this
pressing obligation, as a branch of Christ's holy
Church, and as a nation? These are questions
opening a wide field of deep and practical interest,
and bringing under review the past and prospective
extension of the Gospel, and the missionary functions
of the Church, as the commissioned converter of the
Heathen. This is the topic which, as God shall give me the
power, I shall venture to bring before you in the
following Lectm-es. No one can surely witness the
surprising spirit, and almost restless interest that
has evinced itself on this subject, pervading and
stirring the whole mass of the community, without
1 In order to escape the argument drawn from this command
in favour of a perpetual apostohc ministry,— viz. that, since it
clearly could not be accomplished by the Apostles themselves,
unless " immortality on earth was a part of the gift bestowed
them," therefore the succession of an apostolic ministry was i
plied in the command,— in order to escape this strong presump
tiqn, it was contended that the command was actually fulfilled
by the Apostles ; that they actually did preach the Gospel to every
creature-even in America. The absurd argument is stated and
refuted m Witsius's Treatises, 13 and 14, De Evang. in Amer pre-
dicando.— See note in Rose's Commission and Duty of the Cler"-v
p. 45. Fabric. Lux Evang. cap. xlvii.

on
im-

!•] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 11
feeling how near a place it has in the sympathies
of every christian heart, and without the solemn
thought that our Heavenly Master is preparing the
way for events which shall mark a fresh sera in His
Church. That He has, in His eternal counsels, a
design to be accomplished, none can doubt; the
book of the prophecy has yet to be fulfilled, before
it is sealed up. Three hundred years have scarcely
elapsed, since it may be said that in the East and
West a new world was discovered and brought
into contact with Christian Europe. The nations
by which the supremacy of the sea and the means of
foreign intercourse were then possessed, have sunk
into feebleness. They visited these lands of fabled
magnificence, and enriched themselves with the
plunder ; and they have passed away. But God
has now made England the Empress of the Sea ;
territories more numerous than the fleets of Spain
and Portugal ever visited have fallen under her
supremacy ; her navies sweep the seas, and her
commerce circulates through every land ; — with an
empire extending over a seventh part of the world's
inhabitants, and more than a seventh part of the
earth's surface,' though the least among the nations,
1 The follpwing Table is published by the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel : —
Population of the whole world  860,000,000
British subjects, one-seventh part  123,000,000 Square Miles.
Land area of the globe  50,000,000
Total British territory  8,100,000

12 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
she has surpassed them all in the wide spread of her
influence, and the amount of her responsibility ; and
in all this we cannot but feel that the finger of God,
and the day of her visitation, is upon her ; and, if
power and opportunity, and concurrent providences,
are indications of God's will, that this nation and
Church are speciaUy set to urge on their com-se
the prophetic events which seem to be gathering
towards their fulfilment, to hasten and usher in the
day of the Lord, and " make straight in the desert
a highway for our God."
And we are led at once to ask, what part in so
great a transaction the Church has hitherto shown
a readiness to discharge. This empire has not been
the growth of a day : — for two hundred years,
savages and pagans have been brought within the
range of its enterprize and influence. And we
must with shame at once confess, that the whole
of that period exhibits nearly a blank page of indo
lence or indifference. Eor above a hundred years,
the utmost that was done was to maintain some
thing like an estabhshment of Christianity by a few
priests, in our American colonies ; again, chaplains
were thinly scattered, with our garrisons and fac
tories, along the coasts of the vast Indian continent,
and lined the border of the dark masses of heathen
ism, without an effort, without the means, to invade
and enhghten them.' A few heathen, a small
1 Appendix, No. I. On the condition of the Church in the
Colonies in past years.

L] EXTENSION OP THE GOSPEL. 13
remnant, or rather a first-fruits, brought immedi
ately under the control of European masters, were
gathered in; and these should indeed have been
thankfully hailed as the first large drops that por
tend a coming shower to fertilize the whole ground ;
but nothing beyond this seems to have been aimed
at. It was left to other and smaller states to
make a first essay on paganism. Denmark, among
reformed nations, established the first mission in
Hindostan ; and it must be again acknowledged
with shame, that whatever more cheering con
quests have been gained in subsequent times in
India, have been effected by German missionaries,'
aided with British money. In vain through that
long period, though province was added yearly
to province, and treasures, deemed inexhaustible,
poured into our land, and kindled our cupidity,
and worldly men flocked anew to the prey, —
though many conquering names were emblazoned
on the roUs of warlike achievement, in vain do we
look for one name in the annals of our Church
shining with the lustrous title of " apostle to the
heathen." And yet during that time the mis-
' By far the ablest Protestant missionaries in connexion with
the Church of England have, throughout, been not Germans only,
but Lutherans. Such were the venerable Schwartz and Schultze,
in the last century. Mr. Rhenius, again, who was very instru
mental in the religious movement at TinneveUy, was a Lutheran ;
and so is Mr. Deerr, to whose zeal the late results at Krishnaghur
are in large measure to be attributed. In 1842 the number of
Lutheran ministers on the list of the Church Missionary Society
amounted to twelve ; and to judge from the names of those in its
employ, above forty are either Germans, or of German extraction.

14 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
sionaries of the Church of Rome were foUowing in
the track of war and commerce, and spreading
themselves in aU lands wherever Spanish arms
opened the way, or ships of trade would bear
them; and if their almost miraculous records of
the conversion of the heathen do not present the
genuine conquests of a pure Christianity, they at
least suggest what pure Christianity might have
achieved, — they at least exhibit glorious instances
of what men of devoted spirits and apostolic zeal
did attempt and suffer. And, in later days, sects
that have seceded from the Church, have com
bined in associations for the same end, and have
multiplied means and societies, till throughout the
vast continents of the East and West, and the mul
titudinous islands of the South, their emissaries are
scattering the word of God, and instructing savages
in the truths of the Gospel. It must indeed be
thankfuUy acknowledged that, at the same time
mth this later movement, a Missionary Society,'
conducted by members of the Church, was organ
ized for the conversion of the heathen; and the
success with which God has blessed this effort wiU
be mentioned in its place; stUl it was not the
Church that thus acted ; nor was any commission
entrusted to the Society to act in its name. The
Church itself, as a body, as the ordained minister of
1 Originally called the Society for Missions to Africa and the
East; but in 1812 its designation was changed to The Church
Missionary Society for Africa and the East.

L] EXTENSION OP THE GOSPEL. 15
the heathen, has not acted. Though it acknow
ledged and exercised the duties of edifying the
flock at home, and educating the young of its
communion, yet it has not, in its corporate capa
city, claimed the heathen for its inheritance, and
been, as it were, in travail tiU they were born
again ; it has not been careful to press this duty
upon the state, nor to urge it from its pulpits, nor
infuse the missionary spirit into its members, tiU
the feeling had penetrated its very being, and cir
culated as blood through its whole system, and
become a function of its dafly hfe and action.
Causes, indeed, may be assigned, and wiU be here
after assigned, to account, in some way, for this
seeming indifference, the absence of this sign of
an apostle in a. branch of Christ's Church ; but the
fact must be acknowledged, most humbly and
moumfuUy. And therefore we may the more joy
at the sympathy which " now at the last hath
flourished again" in behalf of a world lying in
wickedness ; at the keen sense that is now felt of
the duty and the responsibUity which is fastened
upon the Church by its Great Head and Saviour,
to go forth and visit the dark places of the earth,
to expand and enlarge its borders, and gather
within the curtains of its tabernacle tribes of every
tongue and every hue, to adorn the supper-chamber
of the Lamb.
Such a duty being recognised, it would be an
.useless task to repeat, even for the purpose of

16 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
refuting, the many objections which have from time
to time been entertained against any such proceed
ings. Some of them were urged, no doubt, from a
worldly jealousy ; some from a cold indifference to
the divine command ; some, too, from a conscious
ness that it was not such an individual work as
it was commonly represented to be by its advocates.
Many, it may be supposed, shrunk from so vast a
duty, who would yet have owned and welcomed it,
had it been undertaken, and explained, and urged
as an obligation and responsibUity adhering to the
Church at large. But yet a question may arise,
which has engaged the thoughts of many, as
to the amount of success which seems promised
by the Word of God to crown the performance
of this duty. For, unreasonable as it is, yet the
zeal and interest with which the work has been
engaged in by many have been made to depend,
not on the plain duty, but on some specific
prospect of a triumphant result which they think
they see assured by the word of prophecy, and for
the hastening and consummation of which they
labour. Now, it is not for the purpose of dispelling any
brighter hope, which at least carries with it the
benefit of supplying an immediate incentive to
action, that I would inquire into the justice of that
expectation which calculates on the universal spread
of the kingdom of Christ over the whole earth, as
the result of any present effort in the propagation

L] EXTENSION OP THE GOSPEL. 17
of the Faith : ' but it is for the purpose of freeing
the subject of missionary exertions from the charge
of dreamy enthusiasm, as being connected with
anticipations which are controverted by many, and
distrusted by more. Besides which, the zeal that
rests on an insecure foundation, is necessarUy itself
insecure. And is it not a part of our trial, an
exercise and strengthening of our faith, to act upon
a sense of present duty irrespectively of a definite
and foreseen . result ? This is the discipline of
God's moral government in our daUy course of
conduct ; thus He tries us ; — not bribing our obe
dience by immediate gratification, but setting only
His general laws and promises before us, throwing
in, perhaps, a thousand disappointments between
any act and its final though certain recompense, —
and thus teaching us to repose, for our strength
and confidence, on the principle of ascertained duty.
For the purpose, then, of educing rather a guide,
than a motive, of action, I would proceed to con
sider what prospects are opened in the Word of
God in regard to the future fortunes and extension
of the Church of Christ.
It is clear, on the first glance at the prophecies
of the Old Testament, that scenes of glory and
boundless triumph are described as ordained in the
latter days for the kingdom of the promised Mes
siah. A few of these glowing predictions will
• See Appendix, No. II. On the opinion of the earlier Fathers
respecting the predicted spread of the Gospel.
C

18 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
recaU others to our mind; as when it is declared
that " the mountain of the Lord's house shaU be
estabUshed in the top of the mountains, and shall
be exalted above the hiUs, and aU nations shaU flow
unto it." " The abundance of the sea shaU be con
verted unto thee, the forces of the GentUes shaU
come unto thee." " I wiU save my people from
the east country, and from the west country ; and
I wiU bring them, and they shaU dweU in the midst
of Jerusalem." " Violence shaU no more be heard
in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy
borders; but thou shalt caU thy walls Salvation,
and thy gates Praise." " For the earth shaU be
fiUed with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea."'
The thought at once arises, upon reading such
passages as these,^^o«i', or when may we hope that
they wiU be reaUzed? Have they already been
accompUshed, or are they in course of accomphsh-
ment ? May we look forward to the time when,
under the present dispensation of things, and as a
result of existing causes, the whole earth wiU be
christianized, and the kingdoms of the world be
come in truth the kingdoms of Christ?
Now, before an answer is given to such inquiries,
much more before it is given (as is commonly done)
in fie affirmative, it is needful to set before the
mind cleariy what it is that is anticipated ; whether
' Isa.ii. 2; Ix. 5. Zech. viii. 7, 8. Isa.lx. 18. Hab. ii. 14.

!•] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 19
it is indeed a literal fulfilment of these and like
predictions; whether not only every nation, but
every individual within each nation, shall receive
the Gospel, and this, not in word, but in truth ; so
that the opposition of Satan shall be broken, and a
universal reign of joy and peace be spread over all
lands and in all hearts.
That hereafter, in the restitution of all things, and
in the Church triumphant, such wUl be the case,
cannot be doubted. But as regards the condition of
the visible Church on earth, we must bear in mind,
that no such scene of glory is contemplated in the
New Testament, either by our Blessed Lord or His
Apostles. Nay, is it not the contrary? Though
ushered in as bringing " peace on earth," was not the
Gospel declared to be sent as " a sword ?" Though
the Lord of Life came to triumph over, and subdue
aU things under His feet, yet He lived on earth only
as a man of sorrows. And so it is with the Church.
Whatever be its final destiny, no glowing scene of
peace and purity, before the end of all things, is
promised; but frequent forebodings of departure
from the faith, corruptions, and wresthngs with
the world and Satan, and persecutions ; these
deepening as the solemn drama of God's counsels
draws to a close; so that it is asked, "When the Son
of Man cometh, shaU he find faith on the earth ? '"
1 Luke xviii. 8. Compare with this 2 Tim. iii. 1 — 4, and 2 Peter
iii. 3; likewise the references in p. 23, note 1.
c 2

20 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
Besides this, there is an entire absence in the
New Testament of any ground for supposing, that
there wiU be any supernatural interruption of those
laws by which the Church of Christ, and the moral
nature of man, are now governed. On the contrary,
frequent parables' of our Lord lead us to conclude
that there wiU be going on to the end of the world
the same conflict of the kingdom of Christ with the
powers of evU ; the same alternations of advancing
and receding light; the same victory and defeat,
throughout the period of the mortal struggle that
is carrying on, whether on the broad surface of
the world by the Church mUitant, or by the indi
vidual Christian on the narrow stage of his own
heart. In this sense, " since the fathers feU asleep,
aU things continue as they were from the begin
ning." The fortunes of the Church may vary, and
the work it has to do wUl certainly advance ; yet it
will be without any change in those conditions of
spiritual being according to which the kingdom of
Christ is ordered, and the Gospel has to win its
tardy way against the reluctant wUl of man, and
the manifold obstructions of evU.
And surely by nothing less than such an especial
interference of God, amounting to a suspension of
His own laws, can we suppose that the universal
conversion of the world could be effected, — that
every natural heart could be disarmed of its oppo-
» Mark iv. 26. Matt. xiii. 24.

L] EXTENSION OP THE GOSPEL. 21
sition to Christ, the swellings of passion be at
once overborne and queUed, the world be stripped
of its fascinations, the power of Satan be broken,
and scenes of unendangered peace and joy possess
the compass of the earth.
Nor yet, on the other hand, wUl anything short of
this be a worthy and real fiUfilment of such pro
phecies. It would seem derogatory to God's word
to suppose that such a doubtful sway of the Gospel
as exists at present in Christian countries, though
extended over the whole world, could be an ade
quate realization of that vision which the Holy
Ghost revealed to the eyes of His inspired servants.
And therefore we are constrained to look to some
future period for the completion of this Divine
counsel. Then it wiU be altogether fulfilled; now
it wiU be but partially. For we need not exclude
even a present and partial fuUUment from bearing a
part in the predicted scheme. The purpose of God
runs through a long period of accomplishment, by
a series of events falling at last into its one great
consummation. The word of prophecy communi
cates His design viewed as a whole and as one,
from first to last, gathered into one object of sight,
the end anticipated in the beginning. And this
beginning is dependent on human agency ; it may
be marred, thwarted, delayed, by man's wilfulness,
or folly, or neglect ; and so the prophecy wUl seem
but ill to correspond with this its imperfect realiza
tion ; but " at the end it shaU speak, and not lie ;

22 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
though it tarry, wait for it, because it wiU surely
come, it wiU not tarry."
Thus it was that, on the preaching to the GentUes
by St. Peter, and when " a people " began to be
gathered unto the Lord from among them, St.
James recognised in these first-fruits of the Gospel
an agreement with the words of inspiration, which
foretold that " aU the Gentiles should seek after
the Lord."' Thus, too, St. Chrysostom considered
that the prediction of the Gospel being preached to
aU nations, was fulfiUed by the Apostles before the
overthrow of Jerusalem.^ And so we may perceive
an accomplishment of the subUme prophecies of the
Old Testament, even in the present triumphs of
Christ's spiritual kingdom, as being an earnest of
the heavenly glory in which it wUl finally issue.
But in endeavouring to ascertain the predicted
fortunes and extension of the Church, we must
rather turn our eyes from these elder prophecies to
those which are found in the New Testament, and
according to which the earlier Fathers were led to
form their expectations of the future. And here
we are met by two main ideas. The first is, the
prediction of the great faUing off" and apostasy
which is to mark the last times, and which wiU
have reached its crisis and been fully developed
in the Man of Sin,' when " the Lord shaU consume
1 Acts XV. 17. 2 See page 1, note I.
3 Horsley, Serm. III. With this order of events corresponds
the prophecy of Gog and Magog (in Ezekiel) being destroyed

L] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 23
hin» with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy him
with the brightness of His coming." The second
is, the announcement that " this Gospel of the king
dom shaU be preached in aU the world /or a witness
to aU nations ; and then shaU the end come." ' That
neither of these announcements has met with an
adequate fulfUment, whatever foreshadowings have
from time to time prefigured them, or however they
may have seemed, at intervals, to be very nigh at
hand, can hardly be doubted; and so closely are
they both connected with the second coming of our
Lord, that each of them has at aU times attracted
the expectant gaze of those who have been looking
out for that solemn event.
It is to be observed, too, that the position of
this latter prediction of our Lord, in the awful
sayings with which it is accompanied, leads us to
conclude, that a more earnest and vigorous effort
to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation among all
nations wUl be the immediate harbinger ^ of that
dark season of apostasy and sharp persecution
which wUl shut in the declining day of the Church
on earth, — to be relieved only by the brightness of
her Lord's approach. And, during this season, a
sifting of the nations, a dissolution of every system
just before the vision of the Temple (chaps, xxxviii.xxxix.), which
seems a counterpart of the similar prophecy of Gog and Magog,
just before the final resurrection, in Rev. xx.
' Matt. xxiv. 14.
2 Thus Origen, in Matt. Comm. sect. 39, torn. iii. p. 8.58. Ed.
Ben. (quoted in Appendix II.)

24 THE , UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
into its elements of truth or ungodliness,' and a
ranging of them on the side of Antichrist or
Christ wUl be witnessed, — so that once again, as
at first in the wUderness, the great enemy of man
and the Son of God wiU be, as it were, confronted
for a last conflict. St. Augustine records it^ as
being a conviction ever present in the discourses
and hearts of the faithful, that through the preach
ing of Ehas, or of those coming in his spirit and
power, during the brief but sifting tribulation of
those days, the tribes of Israel wiU be summoned
from their dispersion and blindness, and own their
rejected Saviour. And St. Paul' strikingly con
nects this glorious event with a larger gathering in
of the GentUes. May it not be that, in the shaking
1 August, de Civit. Dei, cap. viii. " Sicut enim fatendum est,
multorum refrigescere charitatem cum abundat iniquitas, et inu-
sitatis maximisque persecutionibus atque fallaciis diaboU jam
soluti, eos qui in libro Vitse scripti non sunt, esse multos cessuros ;
ita cogitandum est, non solum quos bonos fideles illud tempus
inveniet, sed nonnuUos etiam qui foris adhuc erunt, adjuvante
Dei gratia, per considerationem Scripturarum, in quibus et alia
et finis ipse prsenunciatus est quem venire jam sentiunt, ad cre-
dendum quod non credebant futuros esse firmiores."
^ De Civit. Dei, cap. xxix. "Per hunc Eliam, magnum mira-
bilemque prophetam, exposita sibi lege, ultimo tempore, ante
judicium, Judaeos in Christum verum, id est, in Christum nostrum
esse credituros, celeberrimum est insermorubus cordibusquefidelium."
— Cf. Justin M. Dial, cum Tryph. p. 268, Edit. Paris, 1615 ; also
Gregor. M. Moral, lib. ix. cap. 3.
A similar opinion is expressed by Jerome, on Malachi iv., who
however conceives, under Elias " omnem Prophetarum chorum "
to be understood, who shall convert the Jews, " antequam veniet
dies judicii.''
'' Rom. xi. 1, 2.

LI EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 25
of the nations, and the trying and dissolving of all
false systems as by fire, the sight of the ancient
people of God turning to their Messiah through
out aU lands, wiU be a signal to many among the
heathen tribes to fulfil in spirit the prediction of
Zechariah,' so that "they shaU lay hold of the skirt
of him that is a Jew, saying. We wUl go with
you, for we have heard that the Lord is with
you? Thus, then, the gathering in of the GentUes, and
of the elect of God, wiU be accomplished ; and so
much at least the clear word of God seems to have
revealed for our edification. And let it not be
thought that, in excluding from his anticipations a
prospect of mUlenary glory, to be vouchsafed in
recompense to present exertion, we rob the Chris
tian of a main inducement to endure toU, and
sacrifice, and it may be disappointment, in preach
ing abroad the Gospel of Christ. It formed no
part of the motives which urged the men of God,
who issued from our shores in the seventh and
eighth centuries, to go and convert, and die in
converting, the Pagan hordes that possessed the
forests of Germany. Nor if we review those in
ducements that remain, and some of which press
with pecuhar force on our own age and nation,
shaU we find aught wanting to make us bend our
selves with more deliberate zeal to the discharge of
this binding duty. ' Zech, viii. 23.

26 " TILE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
Let me draw, then, a first motive to the per
formance of it, from the very consideration that
has been entered into of the prospective destinies
of the Church. The preaching of the Gospel in aU
lands is to precede, nay, is to usher in and attend
the last contest between righteousness and un
righteousness, between the Prince of this world and
the Lord of Life, — and thus prepare the way for
the coming of Christ in judgment. Now, surely
such revelations of God are made for the strength
ening of Christian faith, and in order to give direc
tion and energy to Christian eflPorts. And however
difficult it may be to solve the problem of man's
free agency working concurrently with the eternal
counsels of God, — or to determine how far the
latter may be made to depend on the mode or
degree in which the former is exerted; yet that
they do depend upon, and are modified in some way
by it, the history of God with His chosen people
sufficiently testifies ; nay, it is implied in the very
injunction to pray for the approach and the speedy
realization of events, " the times and seasons " of
which are in the hands of the Father. We are
bidden to pray that His "kingdom" may "come;"
we beseech Him that He wUl "hasten it," and
"shortly accomplish the number of" His " elect."
Therefore, looking forward to the consummation of
aU things, to the trial which the Church is to endure,
and the final triumph which wUl be achieved in its
behalf, the present conduct of Christians is charged

I.] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 27
with the most solemn, though perhaps remote,
issues. The final result, indeed, is not, cannot
be, doubtful ; but a conflict is to precede it, uncer
tain in its duration, its intensity, and the character
of its termination. May it not be that the glory of
Christ is delayed indefinitely, and a longer period
accorded to the rule of Satan, because the Gospel
is not yet fuUy preached ? May it not be that the
souls " under the altar " prolong their weary plaint ;
that the present groans of all creation deepen
around us ; and that the morning star stiU lingers
beneath the horizon, because some nation, which
we delay to call, has yet to be born anew, some
heathen souls have yet to be added to the fold of
Christ ? May it not be (considering the influence
of man on man) that in the war of the powers of
heaven and earth, the numbers of those who shaU
be marshaUed on the one side or the other, of those
who shaU bear the mark of the beast, or the seal of
Christ, wUl be determined by the previous faith
fulness or unfaithfulness of His Church in the
extension of His kingdom ? Nay, if it be not too
bold a word, may it not be that, while generation
after generation is passing away, bowing before
senseless idols, and plunging more hopelessly into
the snares of the destroyer, the very number
of those who shall sit down with their Lord in
heaven faUs of its completion ? Whatever we may
judge of these specific results, stiU it is only in con
sistency with the analogy of God's moral dealings.

28 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
that such issues, most solemn, it may be most dis
tant, shoiUd be intimately bound up with present
determinations and actions. The consequences of
a single deed, the neglect of one opportunity, may
be felt in its vibrations even at the utmost verge of
time, and the fate of future generations hang upon
the decision of the present. And therefore we
cannot contemplate the predicted fortunes of the
Church, without seeing how strong an obligation
rests upon each age to give effect to the implied
charge of Christ, when He said that " this Gospel
of the kingdom shall" first " be preached in all the
world for a witness to aU nations ; and then shall the
end come!'
And other motives may constrain us to the same
duty. The command of Christ Himself, expHcit,
unlimited either in time or extent, might be urged
as alone sufficient to bind it upon the Church in aU
ages, as constituting the highest of aU obligations.
But without dweUing upon what has already been
alluded to, we may observe that the expansiveness
of the Church is triUy noted as among the tokens
of its life. The light that cannot spread itself
abroad is no true light. And the Church was con
stituted for this end, to give shine unto the world.
Thus it lives in activity, it is gifted with power, —
the power as of fire, or the wind, which exist only
in motion ; and its life is made manifest, according
as it extends abroad the holy influences with which
it is endowed. The immediate result of that power

L] EXTENSION OP THE GOSPEL. 29
with which Christ was invested on His rising from
the grave, was the transference to His Apostles of
the authority to evangelize the world : " AU power
is given unto me in heaven and in earth : Go ye,
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them."
It was to be exerted to the end of time ; and upon
the exertion of it the blessing of His continued pre
sence was made to depend ; for He added imme
diately, " And lo ! I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world." Plow shall the
Church, or any portion of the Church, show that
it has succeeded to this commission, and to the
power that is engaged for its execution, but by its
wide-spread toUs and conquests? And is it not
true that it is this very want of expansiveness
that has been unceasingly objected to us ? And
how, tUl almost yesterday, have we been able to
reply to the imputation? Where have we been
able to point to the Church, breaking forth as by
an inward energy, I wUl not say wherever a rude
hut, or dark form, on the shore of some far-off isle
betokened the presence of a soul that might be
saved, but even where the arms of the nation
had opened a free and secure entrance in among
whole tribes and miUions of the heathen? And
now, if ever, we need to show that we have this
token of Ufe ; that we have received the commis
sion, and possess the energy to execute it, to go
and convert ; that our Church is not merely of one
age, or one people, whose whole vitality has been

30 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
exhausted within these narrow limits ; but that it is
for every clime and age, can master human nature,
can fashion, according to one heavenly model, aU
minds and dispositions, savage and civUized, without
destroying the distinctive features of their indi
vidual character.
And to this work, too, the debt of charity binds
us, and the voices of the multitudinous heathen.
Two-tlurds of the human race yet lie in darkness,
and stUl present to the eye of faith a portion of that
vast field which the omniscient eye of Christ sur
veyed, when He bade His disciples " pray the Lord
of the harvest that he would send labourers into his
harvest." ShaU it be said that they have the law
of nature, and that, ignorant of any higher, they
wiU be judged by no higher, and so may be left
with their God ? But thus felt not their heavenly
Redeemer, when He laid down His life for them,
and commanded His disciples to go and caU them
to salvation, that He might " see of the travaU of
his soul." Besides which, can they stand by the
law of nature ? Can they with unaided strength
walk even by that, and meet their Judge ? Is it
not the case that even their conscience becomes
deffled, that they ever retrograde and deteriorate ;
that infanticide,' and treachery, and moral abomina
tions, indicate the powerlessness of this law to con-
' This was fully borne out in the " Evidence on Aborigines,''
giveii before the Committee of the House of Commons in 1833
and 1835. In China, according to Barrow, the number of exposed

L] EXTENSION OP THE GOSPEL. 31
trol the corrupt passions of human nature, which
is destitute of strength, because destitute of Christ?
So that not even thus can we be relieved of the con
viction, that, whUe we withhold our hand, we are
neglecting our Lord's command, and that, in leaving
the heathen to themselves, we leave them to perish.
It is a debt of charity with every Christian
people. But with us it is a debt of justice too.
For, more than any nation, we have been brought
into contact with the tribes of the Pagan world ; in
our commerce and colonization we have visited
every coast, with a charge indeed to bless, but —
must we not confess it ? — in reality to curse. What
has been the history of our extended empire ? The
numberless tribes that once swarmed over the
northern continent of America are almost wasted
from under the sun before men of one blood with
ourselves, and their names are scarce known. And
never was there a more pathetic appeal than that
of the Indian chief, who, in a review of his nation's
wrongs, found the plea for rejecting the white man's
reUgion.' And how is it with Eastern India ? Long was it
thought that the empire could be held only by a
infants, in Pekin alone, after deducting more than one-half for
natural deaths, amounts to four thousand a year. In some pro
vinces not one in three is suffered to live. Abeel's China, p. 109.
• In 1805 a council was held by the chiefs and warriors of the
Senecas, at the request of a Missionary, when the speech alluded
to was made. It is given at length in Hewitt's Colonization
and Christianity, pp. 397 — 401.

32 THE UNIVERSALITY AND PREDICTED [Lect.
denial of our Lord; and the Hindoo learnt to
deem that we had no religion,' and that no " con
siderable modes of faith existed among men, except
the two which divide the population of Hindostan."
We planted settlements on the African coast, but it
is written in our laws^ that it was " only for the en
couragement, protection, and defence of the slave-
trade." And the traffic consumed and blighted
the natives with a moral pestUence. Among
the chiefs and people, wherever it prevaUed, " the
commonest charities of life," almost " the last
glimmerings of civilization disappeared, and the
unrestrained passions of men obtained a feU ascen
dency." ^ We are peopUng another continent with
our criminals, and have made the place dreadful to
Christian thought ; and twenty years have been
sufficient for the " extermination of nearly a whole
race of aborigines."* And these things convert the
debt of charity into a debt of justice. The nations
of the earth demand some recompense of us ; and
England owes a debt of penitence and restitution.
And how shall it be paid, but by the Church lifting
up her voice, and stirring the nation to its duty, by
letting it have no rest until she be enabled to bear
the healing balm of the Gospel to the afflicted tribes ;
' Bishop Middleton's Charge to the Clergy at Calcutta. (Ser
mons, p. 233.)
2 In an Act of Parliament passed 23 Geo. III. (c. 21), quoted in
Mr. Trew's Letter to the Bishop of London, p. 8.
' Trew's Letter, p. 18.
* Catholic Missions in Australia, by Dr. UUathorne, p. 47.
See also Evidence on Aborigines, pp. 253, 254.

L] EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 33
till she stand between the dead and the Uving, and
the plague be stayed.
And if God in His mercy stir up in us this spirit
of penitence, and love, and zeal, — that spirit which
once made this country the isle of saints, — how great
may we believe wUl be the reflected blessing with
which He wiU recompense the work ! The spirit
that undertakes the duty, and makes the sacrifice,
wUl not be borne abroad and then given to the
winds, but will be wafted back again, and distil as
dew to refresh and revive the Church. Is it not
ever thus, that compliance with known duty is
blessed with an increase of spiritual power ? And
thus the sight of the Church flourishing in some
distant land among tribes converted, civUized, dis-
ciphned, united, will bear witness to the grace stUl
dwelling within it. Its power will be seen. This
token of its life will silence many a taunt, awaken,
perhaps, many a tenderer regard ; " turn the hearts
of the fathers unto the chUdren," and convince
gainsayers " that God is with" us " of a truth." The
faith of many shaU wax strong ; and piety wUl burn
brighter in the individual breast that has learned
to sympathize in the salvation of the heathen. And
the examples of " men who have hazarded their
lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," wUl
call forth a kindred spirit of sacrifice at home.
They will chide the slumberer and self-indulgent.
They wiU plead the cause of Christ with us. As we
foUow them, as it were, into the very dominion of
D

34 EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. [Lect. L
Satan, and stand in the face :0f the great enemy of
Christ, surely our animosities wUl be laid aside, —
our spirits, now estranged by jealousies, will be drawn
together, — our work at home wiU be consoUdated
and sanctified, — and our Church may shine forth,
as it did in darker and less prosperous days, a light
to the heathen, a mother of churches, and a glory
of all Christendom.

LECTURE II.

THE GENERAL CONDITIONS AND ACTUAL HIN
DRANCES IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL.

Mark IV. 26—28.
so IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AS IF A MAN SHOULD CAST SEED
INTO THE GROUND, AND SHOULD SLEEP, AND RISE NIGHT AND
DAY, AND THE SEED SHOULD SPRING AND GROW UP, HE
KNOWETH NOT HOW : FOR THE EARTH BRINGETH FORTH FRUIT
OF HERSELF; FIRST THE BLADE, THEN THE EAR, AFTER THAT
THE FULL CORN IN THE EAR.
When, in the former Lecture, the universality of
the Gospel was spoken of, the expression was
used in reference to the adaptation which it bore
to human nature at large, under all its varying
peculiarities, individual, local, or social, over the
earth. But using the word theologically, as denot
ing the actual extension of it by the Church, it
must be received in a limited signification. For
neither the promise of its Divine Author, nor any
probability, would lead us to expect that it would
be in all places at all times, nor in all places at any
one time ; but in some place at aU times, and in all
places at some time ; — in a word, that it shall never
faU from the earth, and shall at some period or
D 2

36 conditions and hindrances [Lect.
other be preached over the whole world, before the
end come.'
Such being, as it were, the limits which bound
the extension and universality of the Church, I
propose to consider the conditions which attend
its progress within these limits, as they may be
deduced from Holy Writ, or from previous proba
bility, and as they are Ulustrated by past experience;
and then to compare, in this respect, the early and
present circumstances of the Church.
For such considerations as these will have a two
fold eflFect ; they may tend to solve the difficulty
which some have certainly felt at the very partial
success which has yet been granted to the triumphs
of Divine Truth ; and they may, at the same time,
offer a sufficient reply to the objections that have
been advanced against missionary projects, as
though they were an impracticable day-dream,
which the present state of the world would prevent
from ever being realized ; and which, in as far as
they have hitherto met with any measure of success,
have owed that success only to miraculous inter
position, or to a very peculiar conjuncture of favour
able circumstances.
Now a fair view of what was all along to be
expected, will go far to dissipate such misconcep
tions. It wUl show that the obstructions which
have stayed the spread of the Gospel, are in accord-
' See Field on the Church, book ii. ch. 8.

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 37
ance with aU previous probabUity; and that not
withstanding, throughout, the Divine counsels have
been, and are being, fulfiUed. It wiU be perceived
that a balance of advantage and disadvantage be
longs to each age ; whUe, from a contemplation of
the pecuUar circumstances that distinguish any one
period from others, the means requisite for meeting
them wiU be more readily supplied, and the angel
who is gone forth bearing the everlasting Gospel
wUl be sped in his course.
The text, then, in one image, describes generaUy
the growth of the kingdom of Christ in the world.
Divine in its origin, — planted by the Divine hand,
and miraculously aided in its first increase, — it was
thenceforth left to be propagated by human means ;
subject, therefore, to the vicissitudes, and the various
fortunes, and the reverses, which dependence on such
instrumentality was sure to entaU on it, in its con-
ffict with the powers of evU.
And what is generaUy implied in the text is
borne out by the analogy of aU other parts of Scrip
ture. It supposes, throughout, a gradual and pain
fully-earned extension of the Gospel of Christ. It
supposes the gift of blessings, and then the loss of
them upon unfaithfulness. It supposes, in fact, not
merely an execution of the will of God, but a trial
of man. The statement is old, and need be only
incidental. But reflect on the one uniform idea in
St. Paul's Epistles, of suffering being the portion of
the Christian, and of the body of Christ, which was

38 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
to exhibit in itself the counterpart of its Lord's his
tory, as though seeming reverse were the previous
condition of success, and defeat of victory; — then
the inroads of Satan on the dominion of the Lord,
and the apostasy of man ; — then the actual with
drawal of light once vouchsafed, from the corrupt
Asiatic churches : — and from these facts we are led
to the conviction, that we are to look for no mere
shining down of Divine light from heaven, before
which aU darkness is to disappear, no peaceable
increase of it to the perfect day, in the spread of
the Gospel; but that there is to be a struggle, a
constant and painfully -sustained struggle; that,
inch by inch, the arena of the world is to be con
tested ; man is to suffer in it, and Christ be glori
fied through it ; and so the kingdoms of the world
are to be wrenched from the grasp of Satan. Such
is the stern picture set before man of the work he
has to be engaged in. There is a bright side, on
which faith may gaze at times ; but, in its aspect
towards the world, the Church is mUitant, going
forth on a crusade against evil, striving for victory,
earning it gradually, partially, and by suffering,
and frequently, to human eye, by accident. And is
not this in exact analogy with God's providential
dealings with His elect Church of old ? The history
of the Jews, from the patriarchal days, was pre
paratory to the appearance of the Messiah, as the
history of the Church is preparatory to His second
advent. Consider, then, the long period that was

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 39
permitted to elapse before the fulness of the time
was come ; how slowly the human mind was
matured for receiAdng the Divine revelation, and
after a retrogression of the whole race of man
into an almost hopeless degradation; how imper
fectly, as it would seem, the knowledge of the
true God was diffused by the captivity, or by
the commercial enterprizes of the Jews, or by
the dispersion of the sacred writings ; how various
were the fortunes of that people, faUing into sin,
punished, almost extinguished ; and how the coun
sels of God appear to have been hindered thereby.
If we reflect on this, we shall cease to wonder
that a similar delay, and tardy fulfflment of the
Divine purposes, should attend the execution of
that greater and more glorious scheme, which, if it
has a larger portion of the Divine power going
with it, as it certainly has, yet has a more stu
pendous work to accompUsh, and is subject, like
its precursor, to the variations, and aU the coun-
tervaUing influences, which the sinfulness and
obstinacy of man, and the power of evil, can
throw in its way.
Such, then, are the expectations which an inspec
tion of the word of God would suggest respecting
the conditions which wUl attend the extension of
the kingdom of Christ on earth.
Nor is the argument from previous probabUity
different. It is easy to suppose, that, on the com
munication to man of a scheme of salvation, it would

40 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
be made known at once, and fuUy, so as for all men
to see it, and share in it ; and this may correspond
with the notion of that unmeaning and undis-
criminating beneficence, which is sometimes attri
buted to the Almighty God at the expense of His
justice and hoUness. But viewing that scheme as
it is, as provided for moral and rational beings, who
may therefore reject or corrupt it, and so hinder it
in its success; as calciUated, indeed, to exalt man
to the highest state of moral elevation of which
human nature is capable, but having, for that
purpose, to dispel ignorance, overcome prejudice,
humanize barbarism, and subdue a reluctant wUl ;
we shaU not be surprised at its not winning its way
with the speed of light through the unresisting
atmosphere, but shaU be prepared for many re
verses, for a slow and hesitating progress, and
but partial results. It is well known that, among
the secondary causes by which the historian of
Rome's Decline and Fall' would account for the
surprising diffusion of the Gospel in the three
first centuries, is numbered " the doctrine of a
future life ;" which, as filling up a void in the
human heart, it is supposed, would naturally re
commend the system that revealed it. Were this,
indeed, the sum of the Christian faith, its ready
acceptance would not be difficult to account for.
But Christianity is something very different from
' Gibbon, vol. i. p. 536, 4to edit.

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 41
this one doctrine extracted from its comprehensive
scheme. Does it follow, that, because this one
heavenly truth, then first sanctioned by the word
of God, met with a kindred response in the hearts
of men, therefore the faith of Christ, as a whole,
with aU its solemn demands, and humbling power,
Avould command the acquiescence and wUling ac
ceptance of mankind ? To suppose this, would be
to suppose either human nature, or the doctrine of
the Cross, very different from what they were when
St. Paul, as he passed from city to city, found one or
two, — a Lydia, a Timothy, or a Dionysius, — a few
here and there, ready to receive the Divine seed ;
but the mass reject him, and, at the instigation of
the Jews, persecute him, and stone him. The
Gospel is, in truth, antagonistic to human nature.
It has no language to flatter the natural man. It
is not a mere offer of peace. Nor is it a mere pas
sive system, to be gazed at and admired, or rejected,
at will. But it went forth to caU men to repent
ance. It declared war against sin and error. It
professed to "wrestle" with "principalities and
powers," and " the prince of this world ;" and the
Church, its witness and prophet, made her account
to suffer as she bore testimony to the truth. And
thus the prediction of our Lord was fulfiUed, who de
clared that He came to send a sword upon the earth.
Wielding the sword of the Spirit, the Church awoke
the sword of man's hatred and opposition against
herself. Thus striving and struggling, she planted

42 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
the seed in sorrow. Yet was this nothing more
than what aU probabUity would have led us to
anticipate, from a just appreciation of human
nature on the one hand, and of the Gospel, as its
rectifier and restorer, on the other.
Holy Scripture, then, and reasonable probabUity
concur in supposing a laborious, and therefore
merely gradual, extension of the Gospel of Christ ;
— and that the natural reluctance of man, and the
real existing power of evil, would oppose, from age
to age, many hindrances, varying in character with
various countries and periods of the world's history,
to its successful propagation.
For a confirmation of this same truth we have but
to turn to the page of history, and see, even during
the period of the most rapid extension of the
Gospel, how many and manifold have been the
antagonist powers that have been set in array to
check its progress. The natural opposition such
as a contemptuous phUosophy would present to a
simple assertion of the truth, or sensuality would
offer to reasonings " on righteousness, temperance,
and judgment to come," may be passed by. It
was not long before the civU power, the imperial
majesty of Rome, bent itself to crush the rising sect,
which, gathered into distinct societies, yet forming
parts of a new kingdom, threatened to overturn the
national Polytheism, and, with it, the frame of civil
society. Bound up as the two were together, it
was impossible for the Christians to escape the

II] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 43
suspicion of disaffection to the State.' For two cen
turies and a half, sometimes the malice, or the fear, —
sometimes even the pious zeal of heathen emperors,
aimed at extirpating the obnoxious body. Nor was
it the arm of authority alone that was stretched out
against Christians, but individual hatred, and in
terest, and popular superstition and fury,^ sought to
gratify their several passions by the slaughter of the
servants of Christ. It was not tUl the middle of
the third century that the free enjoyment of their
religion was accorded to the Christians;' whUe
every reverse of fortune, a flood, or pestUence, or
drought, provoked the rage of the populace against
the Christians, as having called down the anger of
the gods in judgment on their atheism.* These
sanguinary acts failed, indeed, in their object of
extirpating the hated or dreaded reUgion ; still they
naturally, for a time, at least, checked its progress.
For it is not the general law that persecution only
promotes what it would suppress. The success of
1 See Mosheim de Rebus Christ. Sec. I. § xxvii. " The
Christians (says Neander, Hist. Christ, p. 86) were called, irre-
ligiosi in Ceesares, hostes Caesarum, hostes populi Romani."
2 Eusebius, H. E. Ub.iii. cap. 32; who refers, in cap. 33, to
Tertullian's Apology, and Pliny's application to Trajan. Also
Mosheim de Rebus Christ, pp. 571, 913, and Dodwell de Paucit.
Mart. c. cix.
=* By the edict of Gallienus, a.d. 259. It is given by Eusebius,
H. E. lib. vii. cap. 13. Neander remarks, that Christianity was
now, for the first time, reckoned a " religio licita;" p. 143.
* Dodwell de Paucit. Mart. c. xxxiv. See the edict of Marcus
Aurelius in Eusebius, H. E. lib.iv. cap. 13. mpe tovs ddkovs, was
the common cry of the populace. Euseb. H. E. lib. iv. cap. 15.

44 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [.'Lect.
the Persian persecution, when, on the restoration of
the old dynasty, Christianity was obliterated, and
the religion of the Zenda established in its place ; '
the extirpation of this, again, by the sword of
Mahomet ^ four centuries later ; the power which
availed to crush the rising spirit of reformation in
Spain;' and, again, the tale of Moravian suffering,*
are sufficient to prove, that persecution needs only
to be carried on with adequate vigour and perse
verance to effect its deadly purpose.
Then, again, it is enough to allude to the various
. forms of unbelief and heresy, which successively
sprang up, to recognise in them another and stiU
more formidable obstruction to the extension of the
Gospel. The appearance of the Christian faith
seems to have been the signal for error not merely
to multiply its forms, but to shape itself into
system, and so try, if not to supplant, at least to
rival the Divine revelation. Judaism, unable to
oppose it, allied itseU to Platonism, and formed a
theosophic phUosophy ; — then Paganism sought for
support by a simUar alliance ; then every form of
Oriental mysticism coalesced with each and all of
these ; as if they separately came forth, and then
set themselves in conjunction, to dispute with the
1 A. D. 226. See Gibbon, ch. viii. ; and Appendix, No. III.
2 Or rather of Abubeker, the first caliph, a. d. 632. Gibbon,
ch.li. voLv. 285. Hallam's Middle Ages, vol.ii. pp. 167, 168.
" M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Spain ; its Progress,
and Suppression.
* Holmes' History of the United Brethren, vol.i. p. 165, &c.

II] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 45
Gospel the empire over the human mind. From
the earliest period, too, sprung those more injurious
forms of error which introduced division and per
plexity within the very sanctuary of the Church;
and which, in proportion as they approached more
nearly to the tiuth, were more insidious and influ
ential. It is mere sophistry to assert that such
perversions of the truth, however much they " dis
turbed the peace, and frequently disgraced the
name of religion, yet contributed to assist rather
than retard the progress of the Gospel : ' for what
ever benefit may have been educed from the evil,
by the good providence of God, yet, as regards at
least the extension of the Gospel, their influence was
prejudicial. Allow that the existence of heresies and false
systems led to a more explicit and complete deve
lopment of the faith ; that the Church was thereby
consolidated ; that by the learning of the Christians
being caUed forth, the attention of the educated was
secured : stUl such results affected the Church only
internally, and would have the effect of contracting
its compass by throwing off from it aU that was
heterogeneous. And externally these dissensions
were calculated only to repel . To the casual observer,
or even more anxious inquirer, the difference of
sentiment, and the consequent disunion that was
seen to exist, would convey the notion that no such
' Gibbon, ch. xv. p. 551.

46 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
thing as definite truth existed. The unbeUever
would naturally confound one system with another,
just as in the earUest days the Christians were con
founded with the Jews by the Romans ; ' and the
errors and vices of heretics would be attributed to
the Church herself.^ And a stiU more harmful
effect of such dissensions would be to fix the
thoughts of Christians on their own differences,
and to prevent their sympathy and zeal from
directing itself towards the unconverted, and exert
ing itseK upon the mass of pagan darkness and sin
which encompassed the Church on every side. To
what other cause than this can we refer the fact of
the feeble efforts made to evangelize the heathen,
from the third to the sixth centuries ; or the torpor
which seemed to rest for several centuries on a
large portion of the Eastern Church, that fruitful
1 See a Treatise by Damann, " De Christianis ad Trajauum
usque a Caesaribus et Senatu Romano pro Cultoribus Religionis
Mosaicse semper habitis." Helmsh. 1790.
2 The vices and magical practices of the Gnostics were imputed
to the Christians, and were frequently the cause of the odium
which fell upon them. Thus Eusebius remarks, ro'is anla-Tots
edi>e<ri jtoWtjv napkx^iv KOTd rov 6elov Xrfyow bviT(^r)p,las treptovcriav,
Trjs (^ avTav <^'J/i')r fis Trjv tov rravTos Xpia^Tiavav edvovs Sja/SoXijc
KaTaxeoiiivrjs. H. E. lib.iv. 7. So Irenseus adv. Hseres. lib. i.
cap. XXV. " Ad detractionem divini ecclesise nominis, quemad-
modum et gentes, k Satana prsemissi sunt (e. q. Carpocratiani)
uti secundilm alium modum, quse sunt Ulorum audientes homines,
et putantes nos omnes tales esse, avertant aures suas a prseconio
veritatis." Thus the arrival of Valentinus and Marcion at Rome,
in 142, was a cause of the renewal of the sufferings of Christians;
which gave rise to the first Apology of Justin Martyr. — Burton,
Eccl. Hist, ii. p. 110.

II-] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 47
source of dissension; so that, whUe barbarian
Europe was gradually converted to the faith, there
issued from it but one mission, and that in a late
age, to evangehze the pagan tribes which pressed
upon its frontier.'
Again, we cannot faU to reckon among the hin
drances which actually checked the free diffusion
of the Christian faith among the nations, those suc
cessive judgments with which it pleased God to
visit the degenerating and distracted nations of
Europe, Asia, and Africa.
It is surely a most just view that would regard
the frequent invasions of the various northern hordes,
which poured themselves for three centuries over
the fertile plains of the old Roman dominion, as sent
in judgment, and yet in mercy too, on the enervated
' This remark applies to what has been since more peculiarly
called the Greek Church, whose parentage was claimed by the
Chazares, Moravians, and Bulgarians, alone among the barbarian
nations which overran Europe. The names of Cyril and Metho
dius, who converted these tribes in the ninth century, are the
only ones which shine in the missionary annals of that branch of
the Church after the fifth century. The other portion of the
Eastern Church, if, indeed, it may be reckoned such, since it was
so largely impregnated with heresy, the Syrian or Nestorian, will
be spoken of in Lect. IV. Blumhardt expresses a similar opinion,
Etabl. du Christ, vol. iv. p. 65 — " Depuis plusieurs siScles I'Eglise
Grecque, d^chirle par des dissensions intestines, n'avait rien fait
pour les pa'iens ; eUe deperissait au miheu des disputes theolo-
giques et du culte des ceremonies . . . de sorte que cette eglise
etait a la fois devancee, en Occident par ceUe de Rome, et en
Orient par sa rivale, celle des Nestoriens, qui couvrait 1' Asie de ses
missions, tandis que le siege de Constantinople laissait depuis
des siecles, jusqu'aux portes memes de cette capitale, des nations
pa'iennes croupir dans leur idolatrie."

48 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
and effete nations of the West, — a visible chastise
ment on their moral degradation; and yet, as we
may conclude, the really shortest method of saving
mankind from the most hopeless of barbarisms, an
exhausted civUization. Nor had the Church been
free from the contagion that infected the atmosphere.
It alone, indeed, offered any resistance to the gravi
tating tone of thought and feeling, that marked the
decline of spirit that prevailed ; — it alone for a season
supplied a bond of union which held together for a
short time longer the already crumbling mass of
Roman dominion; — but on every side signs of cor
ruption, and seemingly approaching dissolution,
betrayed themselves. In the East, wide-spread dis
sensions ; in the North and South, among the British
and African Churches, such a depravation of morals
as to amount almost to a relapse into paganism ; so
that not Christian historians alone, but even the
very barbariansthemselves, professed that the scom'ge
which visited the West, was inflicted by the just
and corrective vengeance of the Almighty.'
In the same point of view must we regard the
subsequent rise and wonderful progress of the
Mahometan power, which broke with amazing fury
over the Eastern and African Churches, when they
were sunk to their lowest point of depression ; but
which carried with it into Europe the seeds of future
inteUectual,^ and, under God, even moral recovery.
• See Appendix, No. IV.
^ See Forster's Mahometanism Unveiled, vol.ii. sect. 13.

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 49
We may venture to trace the providential dealings
of God with His Church in these phenomena in
the world's history. Even in the uprooting of Chris
tianity in some places, and of all Roman civilization,
we may recognise a provision being made for the
ready and effectual propagation of the Faith ; but
it was by a process which seemed like throwing the
world back into its infancy again, which thoroughly
tested the life of the Church, and cast before it the
elements of social existence, to be gathered up and
reconstructed. And in its toU through the long night
of darkness that set in, we see, indeed, the presence
of that creative power which makes all things new ;
but we find too, in the prevailing barbarism,' such
an amount of obstacle, as rendered any rapid or
universal expansion of Christianity impossible, with
out some miraculous interference in the ordering of
God's dealings with His creatures.
Such obstructions, for the sins and unworthiness
of man, and from no defect in the faithfulness of
God's promises, were permitted, in the earlier periods
of the propagation of the Church of Christ, to check
its progress. Under them it may seem to have
receded for a' time, yet only to make in the end a
more vigorous spring. Their existence, in some
form, or other, is a necessary result of the moral
laws by which man is governed. They have never
ceased, nor wiU they, tUl the consummation of all
' Routh, Rel). Sacree, ii. p. 437.
£

50 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
things. And therefore, such being the conditions
under which any extension of the Gospel is to be
expected, let me proceed to take a review of the
present in comparison with the earlier periods;
and to contrast such hindrances as may be felt,
or anticipated now, with those which have already
been met and surmounted.
The revolution that has passed over the face of
Christian Europe, and of the world, has totally
altered the relations in which the Church of Christ
stands in regard to the heathen. Europe, which
was the battle-field in which the kingdom of God
for thirteen centuries struggled for ascendency, has
become Christianized, and thence the Church now
has to look forth on the distant nations of the earth
as from the centre and citadel of civUization, and to
devise means for bringing the farthest lands under
the dominion of the Cross.
1 . This reflection alone suggests the almost exact
contrariety between the circumstances under which
the Gospel is to be preached now, and those which
existed on its earlier promulgation. It is, indeed,
necessary to distinguish the period which preceded
the establishment of Christianity in the Roman
Empire, from that which followed it, but the con
trast of the present period with each of these remains
equaUy marked and instructive. — Consider the
Apostles and first preachers of the word, going
forth among the polished nations of the earth;
reflect on the condition of the cities which they

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 51
visited, the firm hold which Paganism had on the
people, the splendour with which it was arrayed,
its sumptuous temples, and gorgeous processions,
the numberless associations, historical and political,
with which it was bound up; then contemplate
the position and character of the simple teacher of
the Gospel of Salvation; and as far as human eye
can see, there is the appearance only of weakness
and simpUcity, opposed to the whole force of worldly
power, authority, and learning. Or take a later
period. AU this array in which Paganism was
enthroned has passed away ; in the room of it the
antagonist of Christianity is seen in the dense masses
of brute force that overspread the land. StiU the
aspect of Christians remains one only of weakness,
or even of suffering. Christians were scattered about
defenceless; they began to assemble themselves
in religious houses, for piety or for safety; — and
then was first seen the striking sight of men, dead
to this world, retiring,' sometimes alone, sometimes
with a few associates, to solitary rocks or forests,
and awing their barbarous conquerors into reverence,
by their very austerity and sanctity. But now the
whole scene is again changed : " the stone" has be
come "a great mountain ;" worldly power, and all the

' Such were Severin on the banks of the Danube, in the fifth
century ; Erroul in the forest of Ouche in Normandy, Columban
in the solitude of Wasgau, Sigebert at St. Gothard, in the sixth
century, &c. &c. See Surius, Vitse Patr. ; and MabiUon, Acta
Sanct.
E 2

52 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
weight of learning and influence, are on the side of
the Gospel; Christians are the invaders and con
querors, and encircle heathenism with the arma
ments, and with the violence too, of war ; and the
contest now, is that of Truth advancing with a
resistless weight of temporal might and enlighten
ment on its side, against a Paganism, in some parts
rude and unlettered, and everywhere debilitated
and powerless.
2. Or again ; what had the earlier servants of
Christ to offer, wherewith to attract the superstitious
Greek or Roman, but that one blessing, (above all
blessings, indeed, but which has nothing in itself to
engage or conciliate the worldly mind,) the soul's
salvation? Civilization had already reached its
highest pitch ; and to become a Christian, was to
retrograde from the heights of polished and cultivated
life, and to join a poor and despised sect,' whose
doctrines seemed to denounce the glory which the
men of this world had learnt to look upon with
pride. It was somewhat different, indeed, in the
subsequent period, when, in the wreck of civilization,
all the relics of refinement, of knowledge, or of art,
were deposited with the Christians : stUl these were

^ The mean quality of its adherents was the constant charge of
the opponents of Christianity, such as Celsus, Julian, Porphyry,
See Mosheim de Rebus Christ. &c. Sec. I. § xxi. ; also Gibbon,
ch. XX. p. 613.
Mr. Milman remarks, (Hist. Christ, ii. p. 264, note,) that " the
strength of Christianity lay in the middle, perhaps the mercantile,
classes.'' But he is speaking of the third century.

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 53
few and slight, confined to the simpler manual arts,
rarely witnessed beyond the precincts of the convent,
and so unlikely to draw attention ; few and scanty
at least, compared with the almost miraculous
achievements of modern skUl, which, even in its less
elaborate forms, the savage deems to be super
natural ; so that in Mahomedan Africa, where
even now the faith of the Prophet makes rapid
progress, he wiU string fragments of the written
Koran round his neck as an amulet.' And if, in the
period mentioned, the superiority in skill and know
ledge, which the Christian possessed, was not with
out its effect in conciliating the barbarian mind,
we may calculate how powerful an engine is pos
sessed by the European nations, to whom the pro
mulgation of the Gospel is now entrusted, in the
gifts and refinements of civUization, wherewith to
win the attention of the heathen to the higher gift
of eternal life.
3. There is, moreover, what might almost be
called a geographical contrariety between the cir
cumstances of the earlier and the present period.
The Christians of the first centuries sprang up and
' This circumstance was mentioned by a native of Western
Africa. On the reverence which the Africans have for superior
learning, Mr. Laird speaks : " In the interior, in every village
where Mohammedanism is professed, the children crowd to learn
scraps of the Koran." — Buxton's Slave Trade, p. 487. Curious
instances of the wonder excited in the savage mind by witnessing
the process of writing, and reading, are given by Mr. Williams, in
the Evidence on Aborigines; and by Capt. Gardiner, in the
account of his interview with Dingarn, in the Zooloo country.

54 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
lived in the midst of the Paganism which they
sought to convert ; their " abode," their "going out,"
and "coming in" were known ; the circumstances
of their obscure birth and their feeble condition
would make them, like their Divine Master, to be
despised; and, as prophets, they would have no
honour in their own country. Even the latest of
the imperial enemies of the Gospel ceased not to
taunt the Christians with the earthly humUiation of
their Redeemer.' But now the missionary presents
himself to the heathen as one coming from a far land,
from regions beneath another sun ; one whom the
providence of God has directed thither ; his character
is associated with no thought of personal inferiority,
but carries with it the whole weight of European
civilization; he is the representative of a national
faith, and consequently is invested with all the
moral influence which these circumstances exercise,
and that rightfully, over the mind and imagination
of man.
4. And this leads to a further and important
reflection. Consider the condition of affairs before
the Church was connected with the empire under
Constantine ; or, at a later period, before it aUied
' Julian passed an edict that Christians should becalledTaXiXatoi.
Greg. Naz. Orat. I. in Julian, (quoted by Fabric. Lux Evang. p. 306.)
Theodoret relates, that Libanius, the friend of Julian, inquired, in
derision, of a Christian, shortly before the Emperor's death, ti
TTotfi 6 Toil TiKTovos vlos ', TMs scoff was answered by what
resembled a prediction : ¦yXoxrcroKo/ioi', e(pr), 6 tov TravTos Kara-
(TKevafet Srjfuovpyos, ov av Kaiiadmv TtKTOVOs vidv irpoirr^yopivtras.
Eccl. Hist. lib. iii. cap. xviii.

II-] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 55
itself to those rude forms of social existence into
which, after their first inroad, the barbarian tribes
settled themselves in the West ; and we see that,
though the preachers of the Gospel could announce
its truths as fraught with individual blessings, and
though they could exhibit the Church as a spiritual
institution, designed to knit man to man in fresh
and universal relationship, by uniting him to God,
yet they could point to this kingdom as existing
only apart from the great system of national
organization into which it has pleased God that
the families of man should be parcelled out. De
signed, as the Church undoubtedly was, to amal
gamate with all nations, to call out, perfect, and
sanctify in each, its true national life, yet its power
to effect this could not be witnessed, whUe the
nations, as such, were stUl alien from the faith ;
and therefore we cannot be surprised, that, as the
new kingdom of Christ exhibited itself, with its
bonds of union, its laws, and discipline, and unity
of action, it excited the jealousy and suspicion of
the rulers of the world. They thought they saw in
it a rival commonwealth. The suspicion of em
perors was directed against it as a treasonable
society. And although, in later days, too, the
preaching of the Gospel, unaccompanied by the
true impersonation of it in the Church, has given
rise to the like accusation of interference with the
civil rule of the nation, yet no such difficulty need
attend the missionary from our land. WhUe seeking

56 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
to draw to the faith those to whom authority
among the heathen nations is committed, he wiU
show that the Church interferes not with the civU
rule ; that these are co-ordinate powers ; that the
former wiU sanctify the latter ; — calling upon the
state, indeed, to rule as the delegate of God, and
for the advancement of His kingdom, but, on the
other hand, herself teaching men to see the autho
rity of God impersonated in the civU government ; —
preserving the distinctiveness of national life and
character, even while she declares that this life is
drawn from Christ's universal kingdom.
Such, then, are some of the marked differences
attending the extension of the Gospel in the pre
sent, compared with the earlier, period of its history.
It wiU be seen at once, that they imply a different
mode of action to be pursued ; that the advantages
are altogether in favour of the present period ; and
that what before were hindrances, are turned into
powerful secondary aids in the conversion of the
heathen. And this is undoubtedly the case. Yet a little
consideration wUl show, that these advantages are
connected with a mere worldly ascendency ; power
ful, indeed, if blessed of God, but carrying with
them, frequently, concurrent difficulties. It may be
that all this worldly power has not been directed
towards the accomplishment of God's purposes ; it
may be that aU this civilization has only hardened
men's hearts ; it may be that the force of national

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 57
influence has been bent on national aggrandize
ment, and not on the interests of God's kingdom ;
it may be that the riches, and the power, and a
fearful energy for good or for iU, but not the
Christianity of the nation, has been exhibited in
the sight of the heathen : and if this be the case,
we cannot indulge the cheerful hopes and pro
spects which the possession of such superiority
might otherwise encourage. And, besides this,
we may perceive, even in the state of the heathen
world, and of Christianity in relation to it, peculiar
hindrances to the successful advancement of the
kingdom of Christ, from which the earlier periods
of its propagation were exempt.
§ 1. It is to be observed, then, that the form of
religion with which the Gospel, in its first promul
gation, had to contend, was mostly an unsys
tematized Polytheism, which had Uttle or no hold
on the religious affections of the people, was sup
ported by no external evidence, had no religious
books professing to be a revelation from heaven,
(for the Sibylline writings, being of a political
character, form no exception,) possessed no fixed
creed, nor sacerdotal order, and was disunited from
moral duty. In a word, it was, in reality, no reli
gion;' but was rather a worship. And just the
same thing may be observed of the idolatries of the
' " Con9oit-on une religion sans dogmes, une religion sans
morale, une religion sans culte ? Ce seroit concevoir une contra
diction manifeste. Pour former une reUgion il faut done que les

58 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
barbarian nations who were afterwards converted
to the Christian faith, and who generally shared
in the rude warlike superstitions, consisting of a
few savage rites and legendary tales, which charac
terised the northern tribes.
Now it is clear that any floating and fabulous
system of such a character, could offer, of itself, but
a feeble resistance to the Christian faith, with its
divine oracles, and transmitted creeds, and divinely
ordered ministry, and pure morality. Hence it was
that the chief triumphs of the Gospel were achieved
over the heathen. For Judaism, supported as it
was by the elder word of God, presented so strong
a barrier against it, that Justin Martyr says, " Chris
tianity found more, and more faithful, converts
among the heathen, than among the Jews."' Hence,
too, the first repulse and defeat which the Church
met with was in the East, from the revived creed of
Zoroaster, which could at least offer an appeal to
its sacred books. Whereas, therefore, the Gospel,
on its first propagation, was brought into contact
merely with a fabulous idolatry; with a set of
vague, imcertain conjectures on those awful realities
respecting the soul, after a knowledge of which the

dogmes, la morale, et le culte, unis ensemble, et dfipendans I'un
de I'autre, fassent un tout indissoluble." — De la Mennais, Essai
sur I'Indifference, &c. iii. p. 113.
Leibnitz is quoted by this author, as applying this test to
Paganism, in his " Remarque sur le Systeme de M. Bayle," tom, i.
pr6f. London, 1720.
' Apol. I. c. 53.

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 59
nature of man unceasingly yearns ; now, on the
other hand, it finds all the heathen world, except
one-fifth, ranged under the well-compacted reli
gious systems of the East, — those of Mahomet,
or of Brahm, and of Buddha; systems which no
longer leave their votaries in doubt and hesi
tation, but present, in the first instance, such an
admixture of truth Avith imposture, that it may
be regarded rather as a Christian heresy' than
a heathen superstition; in the two latter, such a
gigantic mass of professed revelations, embracing
the various fields of religion, science, and morals,
as to oppress the mind of the votary by its own
vastness;^ interwoven, as it is, with the whole range
of social and domestic duty, appealing for its
authority to an almost incalculable antiquity, and
rivetted together by a rigid and despotic institu
tion of caste.
So that, comparing the present aspect of Pagan
ism with that which it presented to Christianity,
both in the earliest and in the second period
of its propagation, we discover these contrasts :
as compared with the former period, there is a
contrast between the highly-intellectual civilization,
but undefined mythology, of Greece and Rome,
and the imperfect civUization, but vast and com
pact mythology, of the present nations of the
' De la Mennais, vol. iii. 26, who refers to Leibnitz, Nicole, Sir
W. Jones, &c.
' See Duff, on India, and Indian Missions, ch. ii.

60 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
East : — as compared with the latter period, a con
trast between this same imperfect civiUzation of
the Pagan East, and the rude unlettered barba
risms of Europe, on the breaking up of the Roman
empu'e. It is clear that, in the former contrast, the dis
advantage lies strongly on the side of the present
prospects of Christianity; and in the latter con
trast. Pagan civilization (such as now exists)
would seem to present a greater obstacle, than
Pagan barbarism, to the reception of the Christian
faith. On this point, however, I would further explain
myself. We have learnt to think that all blessings are
comprehended in civilization, and that aU good is
excluded by the want of it. But with regard to
the comparative advantage or disadvantage which
it presents to the propagation of the Truth, the
difficulty of the question, such as it is, seems to
have arisen from a misconception of the term.
There is, indeed, a moral civilization, consisting of
the culture of the social instincts, and the powers
of conscience, which must commonly precede even
an inclination to receive the Truth ; and where these
are dead or dissipated in a savage wildness of
character, an effectual obstacle is offered to the
inculcation of the Gospel. But there is, too, a
mere intellectual civilization, which, either spring
ing from worldly shrewdness, or based upon a

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 61
corrupt religious system, opposes an equally im
penetrable barrier to the Gospel. So that, while we
do require the existence of the former (which Chris
tianity, and the exhibition of Christian life by the
Church, are best calculated to caU forth) for the
reception of the faith of Christ, we must rather depre
cate the latter as a hindrance to the same result, in
consequence of the greater defect of moral prepara
tion. We cannot doubt whether it be easier to arrest
the attention, to affect the imagination, to move the
feelings with a sense of personal misery, to waken
the moral sentiments, and so prepare the ground
for the reception of the Divine seed, in a savage,
though rude and unenlightened, or in a heathen
whose mind and moral natm'c have been distorted
and hardened by a vicious civilization. Modern
experience may be appealed to for a decision.
Take the Protestant missions, in which conversions
far more numerous and more satisfactory have of
later days been made among the negroes of Africa,
and the natives of Greenland, or New Zealand,
than among the more refined natives of Asia.'
And therefore we must see in the present face
of the larger portion of the heathen world, a more

1 See Lect. VI. for these comparative results. Mr. Beecham,
in his evidence (on Aborigines, p. 133) before the House of Com
mons, remarks : " I do not hesitate to say, that, so far as our
experience goes, we find that many of the most ignorant and
uncultivated heathen tribes receive the Gospel more readily than
the inhabitants of India."

62 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
formidable hindrance to the diffusion of the truth,
than was presented to the earlier Church of Christ
on the downfaU of the Roman empire.'
^ 2. But there are obstructions of another kind,
in which a melancholy contrast is offered by the
present, compared with the earlier age of Chris
tianity. Nothing, we may venture to say, of a
secondary nature, not miracles, nor learning, nor
individual authority, so mould the heart of the
Pagan worshipper to a reception of the Gospel, on
its first promulgation, as the purity of Christian
lives, the constancy of Christian faith. We have on
our lips the multiplied testimonies of the earlier
writers to this ; the fact has grown into a proverb, —
it has been urged by the phUosophic inquirer, as one
special cause of the success of the Gospel.^ " Non
magna loquimur, sed vivimus,"^ was the answer by
which sceptical reasonings were met ; and it told
more irresistibly than the most laboured apology.
It was one note of the Church — its sanctity. Just
as it lost this, it lost its vigour ; tUl God visited it
with judgment, and then again men went forth
lifting up this ensign to the heathen, who saw in
it the power of God, and worshipped.
' Appendix, No. V.
2 Gibbon, ch. xv. It would be superfluous to illustrate a point
so unquestionable.
3 ov yip Xoyots Siapvrjpovev'ov<nv, dXXd irpd^en dyaedt eViSft-
Kvvova-iv. — Athenagoras, Legat, pro Christ, sect. ii.

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 63
It is an ungracious task to repeat the miserable
tale of European crime, but upon it lies the awful
guUt of checking the Gospel in its career, of closing
the door against its entering in among the heathen.
The first acquaintance of savage tribes with Chris
tians has been formed with men, whose hateful
vices have made them appear the very emissaries of
evil. Can we wonder that they should think it far
better to worship before an idol, though stained
with blood, — much more, to offer a bloodless sacri
fice of fruits and flowers before the Great Spirit, the
belief in whom has a power over their conscience, —
than to embrace the creed of men, however advanced
in arts, and in the devUish power of "breaking
down and subduing all things," who would seem
to draw from it only a sanction for crime ? If the
Gospel was first sped on its way by the manifold
graces of " the new man" formed in its converts,
then there is no longer any mystery in the present
difficulties of missionaries ; we can understand why,
though tribes reject the Christian faith, and waste
away before the European, in America and Australia,
yet they stUl flourish and have gathered round the
Cross, amid the frosts and snows of Labrador and
Greenland, whose barren wastes offer no tempting
prize to lure Christian avarice to their shores ; and
we cannot wonder at the earnest but saddening
testimony of one who had laboured among the
heathen, that, in attempting to introduce Christianity
among a people, he would rather by far go to an

64 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
island where they had never seen an European,' than
where European influence had been experienced.
§ 3. And once more ; I would shortly refer to a
peculiar difficulty which now besets the course of
the Gospel, and from which it was free on its first
promulgation; viz. the want of unity. How in
separable it is from the one idea of a " kingdom,"
under which the Gospel is presented in the Holy
Scriptures, — how great an efficacy^ was attached to
it by the first Christian writers — how the greatest
triumphs of the Gospel were effected while the Church
wore but one aspect before the heathen, — aU this is
at once admitted, and leads us to apprehend, that
a large portion of the sterUity of our missions may
be attributed to that discord which Christianity
exhibits in the very sight of the unbeliever.
It may perhaps be said that disunions existed in
early times ; and this indeed was so : yet it may be
observed that they existed during the period when
no great extension of the limits of the Church
occurred ; the points of difference, moreover, were
internal, they did not affect the really practical
questions of the existence and character of the
Church and its Sacraments, and therefore would
not attract the notice of the heathen ; "and, even in
those differences, the same tenets, however erroneous,
were for the most part maintained in the same
district, so as to exhibit to the neighbouring tribes
> See Evidence on Aborigines, p. 277.
2 St. Cyprian (De Unit. Eccl. § 6,) calls it " sacramentum unitatis.''

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 65
the appearance of unity."' Far different this from
the aspect which Christianity must present, where,
as happens, eleven separate societies are congregated
in the same place to extend the Gospel.^ Consider
only the effect of this : must there not arise a
strong presumption in the mind of an unbeliever,
against the Divine origin of that doctrine, or system,
which cannot be clearly ascertained, or on which its
upholders cannot unite ? For unity is the law of
truth : that after which the understanding labours,
and to which every enlargement of knowledge
points. It is that towards which, also, the perfec
tion of society tends.' For evU dissociates and
separates, and hoUness unites, because it draws to
God; so that unity becomes the evidence of the
presence of God, disunion a witness to the presence
of evil. And these instructive truths are recognised
' Bishop Middleton's Charge to the Clergy of Calcutta, Sermons,
p. 220. See Appendix, No. VI.
' At the Cape of Good Hope, the following Missionary Associa
tions are represented as having stations ; viz. Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel ; Scottish Missionary Society ; United
Brethren ; French Protestant Mission ; German Missionary Society;
London Missionary Society ; Wesleyan Missionary Society ; Bap
tist Missionary Society ; American Board of Missions; Rhenish
Missionary Society; Paris Missionary Society. No account is
taken here of the Roman Catholics, who, according to the " An
nales de la Foi," have one Bishop and four Priests at the Cape.
On the practical effect of such disunion, see Appendix, No. VII.
^ M. Guizot somewhere remarks, that " no society can be com
pletely savage or iniquitous." AU society therefore impUes the
presence of a certain amount of good, and just as more or less
good prevails, the society is more or less perfect ; so that unity,
which is the perfection of society, is a test of prevaUing goodness.

66 CONDITIONS AND HINDRANCES [Lect.
by heathen minds, which are repeUed instead of
attracted, whenever there is wanting the one great
evidence which Christ Himself appointed whereby
the world should know that the Father had sent Him.
And what has been the effect of dissension at home,
but to weaken exertion, to dissipate, where concen
tration is most needful for success ? It has intro
duced, too, a peculiar perplexity in determining
where fresh missions may be established; how to
observe those missionary rules which the Apostle
enjoined on himself, — " not to extend himself beyond
his measure," not to "preach where Christ is
already preached," nor " to buUd on another man's
fou.ndation." It is a difficulty, indeed, which neither
the Romanist nor the sectarian feels ; but they
escape it only by destroying the true idea of the
Chm'ch altogether ; the one, by breaking it up into
congregational sections, the other, by making it
coextensive only with allegiance to Rome ; and thus
claiming, each of them, the whole world as his own
share and portion. And this disunion has operated,
too, even to the hiding altogether of the truth,
that there is one Body. Men have shrunk from
avowing a principle which was denied by fact, and
which they therefore felt to be an unreality ; they
have been neglectful of those means whereby alone
the oneness and the permanency of the body can
be maintained, and man knit together in one com
munion with his feUow-man and with God.
Difficulties and hindrances such as these cannot

IL] IN EXTENDING THE GOSPEL. 67
but present themselves to the mind as it reviews the
circumstances under which the work of God is to
be done, — circumstances, taken one by one, almost
in direct contrariety to those which marked the first
promulgation of the Gospel, yet only forming a part
of those general conditions under which it is destined
to make its way. — " The servant is not greater than
his Lord." If the Lord of Life "came unto His
own, and His own received Him not," we need
not be surprised if His kingdom of grace, left to
estabUsh its dominion amidst strangers and ahens,
has met with rejections : we need not be surprised
at past delays and reverses, nor at present obstruc
tions. Yet should they serve as a special call of God,
bidding us to examine whence they arise. There
are no hindrances that can reaUy avail to check the
Gospel, but those which come from within the
Church of Christ. Persecution only served to
scatter the seed wider; invasion concentrated and
gathered the light into a stronger focus ; judgments
pruned the tree, and made it more fruitful ; as the
Church seemed to be impaired in one direction, it
broke forth the more vigorously in another. And
SO neither now wiU any such visitations prevaU to
check the course of the Gospel, if only the true
means be faithfoUy exerted for its extension. And,
therefore, it becomes a subject of immediate and
deep concern, to ascertain what that agency is
which God has ordained for the execution of this
His work. F 2

LECTURE III.

THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR THE EXTENSION OF
THE GOSPEL.

Ephes. III. 10.

TO THE INTENT THAT NOW UNTO THE PRINCIPALITIES AND
POWERS IN HEAVENLY PLACES MIGHT BE KNOWN ^ BY THE
CHURCH THE MANIFOLD WISDOM OF GOD.
To ascertain the full meaning of these words, it is
needful to take them in connexion with those which
occur in the verse but one preceding, and upon
which they depend. St. Paul there refers to his
caU to preach the Gospel to the Gentfles ; " Unto
me," he says, " who am less than the least of aU
saints, is this grace given, that I should preach
among the GentUes the unsearchable riches of
Christ ;" and the purpose or intent for which he
was so commissioned is contained in the text. So
that the Apostle here declares two things ; that his
preaching the name of Christ to the pagan world
' i.e. " might he made known," yvoapurOfi 8io Trjs iKKXrjo-ias : " ut
innotescat principatibus, S;c. per Ecclesiam." — Vulg. " Nota flat
principibus, ^c- per Ecclesiam." — Comment. S. Ambros. Append. Op.
vol. iv. 282. Ed. Bened.

Lect. HL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 69
was subordinate to a further object, namely, the
making known the manifold wisdom of God to the
heavenly hierarchy; and that the instrument for
effecting this was the Church.'
Now this declaration of St. Paul may seem to
conclude the question which I propose to bring
before you; viz. the means ordained of God for
extending the Gospel in its fuU and complete
design : yet I shaU venture to enter into it at some
length, both because of the importance of acting in
accordance vdth His orderings to secure the bless
ing annexed to them, and because much of the
failure and sterUity that has attended the propaga
tion of the faith seems traceable to the neglect of
these divine appointments.
A little consideration wiU show that the character
of the means adopted for the extension of the
Gospel, wUl depend upon the view taken of the
Gospel itseff, in its design and effect. It may
be viewed solely as a spiritual influence imparted
directly by the Holy Spirit to the individual soul,
whereby it receives the Divine truth, is converted
and saved. To one thus viewing the purpose
of the Gospel, it wiU appear that the chief part
to be taken by man in the conversion of others,
consists in setting before them, by any and by
every means, the truth as it is in Jesus ; that
' "But whence," says St. Chrysostom, "hath this been made
manifest to the angels? By the Church." — Homil. in loc. Theo
doret interprets it, Std t^s irepi t^v eKKXTjiriav olnovopias. — Inter
pret, in loc.

70 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
it belongs to each one, as he has received so to
impart to others ; and that the zeal and earnestness
by which he is moved to engage in this work, are
the only credentials required for his authority to do
so. It wiU, under this view, be the duty of aU to
labour for the salvation of souls, on the great law
that Christians live not to themselves. In order to
give greater efficiency to this design, numbers wUl
combine together; but, in carrying on the work,
there wiU be no authority recognised as appointed
of God, as especially commissioned by Him to dis
pense the gifts, to speak with the voice, and to send
in the name of Christ.'
But if Christianity be not solely a spiritual influ
ence on the soul of man, but rather a spiritual yet
visible institution, in which souls are gathered to
the Lord, and nourished to eternal life, then Chris
tians will view themselves, not as mere individuals,
but as members of a body too ; then the Gospel is
no longer to be propagated as a naked abstraction
of truth, but in connexion with a system ; then the
Holy Spirit wUl work His gracious ends through
specific means, ordained indeed of God, but yet
administered by man.
And now, in proceeding to establish this latter
position, I shall be pardoned if I am only asserting
principles with which the minds of most here pre
sent are familiar, but which are not sufficiently
' See Appendix, No. VIII.

IIL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 71
recognised nor acted on abroad, and which really
lie at the bottom of the subject I have in hand ;
and upon the bringing out and vigorous acting
upon which, our hopes depend, of carrying the
work of God onward, and seeing the Lord of Life
confessed and adored by a heathen world.
Let me observe then, first, how entirely in con
sistency with the dealings of God it is, that aU
inward, spiritual power should be closely aUied to
some outward form or system, and conveyed
through it to man. Is it not thus that the hidden
laws of nature work under a veU; that we know
nothing of them but in their outward development,
in which we recognise their presence? Is it not
the case in the providential dealing of God, most
mysterious as it is, that upon some outward event,
some accident, perhaps some bodUy injury, happen
ing to an individual, a moral revolution is made to
depend, not to one being only, but, it may be, to a
whole generation, nay, even to the entire human
race ? And so closely are these two connected, the
seen and the unseen, so much do they act and react
the one upon the other, that we cannot draw the
line between them, nor mark where the functions of
the one cease, and those of the other begin. But
we see how this condition of things harmonizes
with the twofold nature of nian ; how there is in
the one man just the same interdependence between
what is outward and what is inward ; how the
inward movement ever tends towards an outward

72 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect
development ; how it gains accuracy, precision, and
strength from it ; and how it is confirmed into a
habit by the constant repetition of the external act.
Was not this the source of the Psalmist's earnest
exclamation, "I am fearfully and wonderfully
made;" — not in body merely, but in spirit more;
and most in the conjunction of the two ?
A presumption to the same effect may be drawn
further from considering what the nature of man
would seem to demand for itself, and what provi
sion has been actually made for it in the dispensa
tions of God. As a moral being, he has not been
left alone on the earth ; but for his improvement he
is united to a system of moral relationship and
mutual dependence. He is at once, on his birth,
placed in a relationship to others as a son ; he is
linked to a family. And aU mankind are thus
clustered into groups, in which each one finds him
self, prior to any consent of his own, tied to a cer
tain rule and system, from which he cannot break
himself without sin, and on compliance with which
his happiness depends. Within this system his
moral nature is trained and disciplined ; and pro
bably a stamp is affixed to it, which not all the
vicissitudes of after years can altogether efface.
And further we may remark, that in order to
the perpetuation and transmission of principles, or
rehgious truths, it seems necessary that these
should be embodied in certain institutions and
outward forms, and conveyed through a definite

UL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 73
channel. Thus, laws have ever been connected
with a settled mode of administration; religious
tenets have been joined to external ceremonies and
rites, and transmitted by a separate order, as well
as preserved in writing. And we may observe that
just in proportion as either of these provisions has
been neglected, the religion has varied, or died
away. It has varied, because the notions sought to
be conveyed have not been truly transmitted from
mind to mind, but have been modified either by
the different aspects in which individuals have
viewed them, or by the shifting character of suc
ceeding ages ; and thus having lost all identity and
permanency, they have quickly disappeared. And
the great check to this is to be found in the doc
trines being transmitted in an appointed channel,
with a fixed test by which they may be tried, and
embodied in a system of outward observances, of
ceremony, or of worship.
These few remarks have been introduced, as
offering a presumption, drawn from the analogy of
God's general dealings, and from the facts of man's
experience, that the Gospel, though spu'itual in its
nature, would yet be communicated through a
certain external and visible system; 1st, for con
veying the spiritual blessings which it has to
bestow ; 2dly, for educating man as a social being ;
3dly, for perpetuating and extending the truth.'
• A passage of Hooker's is to the point : E. P. Book V. Ixxvi.
§ 9. " Our fourth proposition set down was, that reUgion, with-

74 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
If we look for a further corroboration of this pre
sumption, the only instances bearing immediately on
the point, from which we can ascertain the wUl and
purpose of God, are to be found in His actual deal
ings with the fathers of the human race, — with the
Church, under the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensa
tions. In both these cases, the revelation was im
parted in connexion, at least, with a system :' it was
committed for its perpetuation not to man as an
individual, but as associated according to God's
ordinance. In the former, the earliest and divinely
instituted appointment of domestic life was taken,
and consecrated as a shrine for preserving and
transmitting the treasure of Divine truth : the head
of the famUy was the priest of the Lord, the ruler
of His household. In the Mosaic dispensation the
association was still further extended, and made
to embrace a civU polity ; but strictly, as wiU
be aUowed, the covenant of God with man was
out the help of a spiritual ministry, is unable to plant itself ; the
fruits thereof not possible to grow of their own accord. If it did,
I could easily declare how aU things which are of God, He hath,
by wonderful wisdom, sodered, as it were, together, with the
glue of mutual assistance ; appointing the lowest to receive from
the nearest what the influence of the highest yieldeth. And
therefore the Church being the most absolute of all His works,
was in reason to be ordered also with Uke harmony, that what
He worketh might, no less in grace than in nature, be effected by
hands and instruments duly subordinated to the power of His
Spirit."— Vol. u. p. 579. Ed. Keble.
' See Bishop Bilson's " Perpetual Government of Christ's
Church." Ch. i. andii. ; On the " Domestical Discipline of the
Church before the Law of Moses ;" and " The National Regiment
of the Church under the Law."

III.] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 75
entrusted to a visible society ; within it, and as
sharing in the privUeges conveyed through it, the
individual partook of the promised blessings of
God, and under it was educated in the knowledge
and service of Jehovah. He was not a solitary
being, but one of a body, and to him, as such,
pertained "the adoption, and the glory, and the
covenants."' And, therefore, in aU these considerations, we
have evident proof of the manner in which God
does communicate His gifts to man ; and if it be
found that in a fresh dispensation the same analogy
is observed — that it does not consist of a mere
revelation of Divine truth, nor of spiritual gifts
imparted immediately to the soul, but of both of
these in connexion with a visible institution, and
with certain ordinances as signs and vehicles for
the perpetuation and conveyance of His gifts — we
shaU be prepared to recognise such a dispensation
as entirely in accordance with the usual dealings of
God, and with the actual needs of man.^
And such an institution is presented to us
under the Gospel, in the Church. Surely it is not
a valid argument against this ordinance of God, to
urge, that, as contrasted with all previous dispen
sations, the Gospel is a spiritual system, and
' Rom. ix. 4.
' This is very forcibly put by the present Bishop of Calcutta,
in his late Charge of 1842-1843, p. 26 ; "Man, being as he is,
must have a Church. Christianity without order and authority is
a dream, an enthusiasm, a desolation."

76 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
therefore is to be distinguished from them by the
absence of any such external organization. For is
not this to set things spiritual and things visible in
opposition, as incompatible one with another?
And is there not some such notion latent in the
minds of those who think that they are vindicating
what is spiritual, in proportion as they carefuUy
exclude everything external ? Yet no such opposition
is set before us in God's word ; nay, rather in the
reality of a spiritual body, which is revealed to the
Christian as a part of the wonderful working of
Christ, and in the mysterious truth of the Incarna
tion, in the union of the heavenly and the earthly,
the contrary is set before us as one object of our
devout admiration. Spiritualities may be hnked
to things visible and tangible, and be dependent
on them for their conveyance. So that, whUe we
disallow the tenet of the Romanists who would
confound the two, we equaUy reject the error of
those who would dissociate the two. We maintain
their union against the one class, who would
carnalize the spiritual gift of God, on the plea of
making it real ; and against the other, who would
idealize it, on the plea of keeping it spiritual.
And holy Scripture bears on its front that God
has ordained such a visible system, a holy society,
the Church ; to which are entrusted the oracles of
truth, and the means of grace. Prophecy, and the
New Testament, the teaching and the acting of the
Apostles, and the consent of primitive ages, concur

IIL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 77
in SO representing the new covenant. But as this
fact is urged with a view to a further point, viz.
that to this body the function of preaching and
propagating the Gospel is committed, those passages
MnW. chiefly be adduced in corroboration which Ulus-
trate this position.
For if we turn to the prophetic writings, it will
be seen at once that the word of God does not
represent the future believers of the Gospel as a
number of individuals, or as a combination volun
tarily formed ; but the terms by which they are
designated, convey the idea of some one single
object or person.' Thus the Church is spoken of
by the Psalmist as " the king's daughter ;" in the
Canticles as a " bride ;" by the Prophets as a
" mountain," or as a habitation and resort of man,
as " the Lord's house," " the city Jerusalem ;" and
she is prophesied of as resembling the four great
empires which were to precede, and then give way
to her sway. Surely such language seems pur
posely used to bring before the mind the idea of
the corporate body of the Church, rather than of its
separate members. So, also, every increase or exten
sion of the Church is represented by one of two
ideas, which yet seem stUl to exclude the thought
of a mere union of independent parts, i.e. either by
an accretion from without to a fixed centre, or by the
expansion of the body as from a centre. Thus, on
the one hand, " nations " are said to " flow unto
' See Barrow, Unity of the Church, Works, vol. vii. 628.

78 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
it ;" " many people shaU " go up "to the house of
the God of Jacob.'" On the other hand, her
extension from within is thus described : " Enlarge
the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth
the curtains of thine habitations ... For thou shalt
break forth on the right hand and on the left;
and thy seed shaU inherit the GentUes, and make
the desolate cities to be inhabited."^ In the same
way she is spoken of as " a joyful mother of
chUdren,"^ as " the barren " that did " not bear,"*
but whose " chUdren " shaU say in her " ears, The
place is too strait for me : give place to me that
I may dweU."^
Examine next the New Testament, and the lan
guage is stUl the same. It wUl strike any one who
considers the point, how much more prominent is
the idea of the Church as a body, than that of the
individual. The very phrase, " the kingdom of
heaven," and " of God," which was the first an
nouncement of the Gospel made by John the Baptist,
and by our Lord Himself, and the various images
under which it is typified in the Parables, aU repre
sent the Gospel dispensation as a system to be
planted on the earth, the character and fortunes of
which are indicated as of a person. To this, and
not to individuals, is indefectibUity promised ; with
those whom our Lord caUed, and commissioned to

' Isa. u. 2, 3. ' Isa. liv. 2, 3. s Pga. cxiu. 9.
* Isa. Uv. 1. = Isa. xlix. 20.

III-1 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 79
represent Him, and bear rule in His kingdom. He
left the promise to be present with them " even
unto the end of the world." To them the com
mand was given, " Go ye and teach aU nations." '
And in the Acts of the Apostles, and the apo
stolic Epistles, wherein we must look for the realiza
tion of this idea, and for the growth of the Church,
we find the same twofold representation that has
been traced in the prophecies. First, a society is
set up, and is increased by addition, gathering
round the Apostles as a centre. The converts, being
baptized, " continued in the Apostles' feUowship ;"
they were " added to the Church daUy ;" and were
thus spoken of as in a "state of salvation."^ In
other places they are spoken of as being " added to
the Lord."^ Throughout the Epistles they are
reminded that there is " one body," constituted in
a certain way, endowed with a peculiar ministry,
for the very purpose, first, of " perfecting saints ;"
next, of preserving oneness of faith, and purity of
doctrine.* Into this body they were aU baptized.
They had " come unto Mount Sion .... the
heavenly Jerusalem .... the church of the first -
bom .... and to Jesus." ° The great subject set
forth is "the increase of the body,"* the " edifying
of the Church."' Again, it is the depository of the
faith, being " the pUlar and ground of the truth."'
' Matt. xxviU. 19. ' (ra^dp-^voi. Acts ii. 47.
3 Acts V. 14. * Eph. iv. 11—13.
« Heb. xU. 22, 23. " Ephes. iv. 16.
' 1 Cor. xiv. 5, 12. « 1 Tim. iu. 15.

80 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
We must be struck by the prominence given here
and elsewhere to the idea of the body, and how
little, in comparison, the thought of the individual,
apart from it, is contemplated.
Again; as the idea of the propagation of the
Gospel is represented, in such passages as the fore
going, by believers being joined to the body, so
likewise it is exhibited by the body being extended;
by offshoots from it being planted in distant parts,
as colonies from a mother country. Wherever the
Gospel took root, there a Church was formed — was
formed, not round a doctrine, but round a com
missioned teacher; either Presbyters were ordained,'
or one of the Apostohc company, as SUas and
Timothy at Berea, was left behind to organize the
society.^ And over a Church thus formed by himself,
St. Paul retained an authority by virtue of his apostle-
ship : for it is very observable that, in his discussion
with the Corinthians, by whom he had been set at
nought, his aim was, not to establish on indepen
dent grounds his claim to visit, to rebuke, to set
things in order, to punish — but merely to establish
' Thus Clemens Rom. states that the Apostles acted; (card
Xopas ovv Ka\ TroXfts Kt]pv<ra-oVTes KaSe'aTapov ras dtrapxas avTav,
SoKip.do'avTes ra TlvevpaTi, fls eTTKTKoirovs Ka\ SiaKovovs Tav ucX-
XdvTwv tri(TTfv£iv. Ep. I. xlii.
' " There is scarce any instance in the New Testament,"
(observes Archbishop Potter,) " of their (the Apostles) ordaining
ministers at the first time of their coming to any place, unless
perhaps at Ephesus, where St. Paul, having been resident almost
three years together, had sufficient time to prove the fitness of
his converts for the ministry." — On Church Government, ch.in.

UL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 81
his apostleship, as though this office, once proved to
be vested in himself, carried with it the autho
rity he sought to exercise.'
Thus, then, the Gospel was spread by the propa
gation of the Church ; each fresh seed, so planted,
carrying within itself, though in germ, the perfect
organization of the parent tree from which it
sprang. But now a further question arises re
specting the instrumentality used in the execution
of this work ; by whom the duty was undertaken ;
by what means converts were gained. And first, it
wiU appear, the commission to preach the Gospel was
imparted by the Church itself, from whence apostolic
men went forth. It was not an act merely of indi
vidual zeal (though this, of com'se, was most needful,
and was a grace of the Holy Spirit), but of an
authoritative commission also.^ The apostles that
were at Jerusalem sent Peter and John, to confer a
spiritual gift on the disciples at Samaria.^ The
same occurred when the Apostles and Elders, with
the whole Church, sent chosen men to Antioch.*
Not even did St. Paul enter upon his apostleship to
the Gentiles, without being separated and sent
thereunto by the Church.^ He specially commends
the brother" (probably St. Luke) to the Corinthians,
' Comp. 2 Cor. X. 8; ICor.ix. 1, xii. 28, iv. 21, xvi. 1, xi.34.
2 See Appendix, No. IX. ^ Acts viu. 14. * Acts xv. 22.
5 The strong argument derivable from this instance of St. Paul,
is insisted upon by Dr. Hey, Book IV. Art. 23, sect. 22, quoted
by Rose, Commission, &c. p. 58.
^ 2 Cor. viii. 18, ov 6 'iwaivos ev rm evayyeXla — not for writing,
hnt preaching the Gospel, as in ch. x. 14. Hammond, in loc.
G

82 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
as chosen' of the churches to travel and preach
with him ; and the other brethren as " messengers,"
the sent of the churches.^ Moreover, it is to be
remarked, that the very language of Scripture bears
witness to the same truth of the office of preaching
the Gospel belonging to men authoritatively com
missioned thereunto. To proclaim the Gospel to
unconverted men is usuaUy designated by a single
word (K7)pvTTeiv) ; and it is to be observed that
both this word and the kindred expression " to
evangelize" (evayjeXl^ea-dai,), when employed to
denote the same act, are applied in the New Testa
ment solely to apostles, or men authoritatively
commissioned to the office.^
This consideration wiU serve to Ulustrate, also,
the anxiety which St. Paul manifests in all his
writings, to assert that he was not acting as an
individual stirred by his personal zeal for the sal
vation of souls, and for the glory of Christ, but
that he was acting in consequence of his divine
commission. He commences seven of his epistles
by urging that he was an apostle, not by the will of
man, but by " the commandment," the will of God.
In the remarkable expression which he uses in his
first epistle to Timothy, that he was " ordained a
preacher and an apostle,"* he adds a solemn asseve
ration (" I speak the truth in Christ ; I Ue not,") in
' X^>-poTovrj6us. 2 Cor. viu. 19. On the use of this word, see
Appendix, No. X.
^ divoiTToXoi iKKXrjaiay, 2 Cor. viii. 23.
^ See Appendix, No. XI. * 1 Tim. u. 7.

HL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 83
confirmation of his being thus appointed " a
herald " of the Gospel. And that it was a part of
the apostolic commission is further confirmed, by
observing that, in the instructions which the same
Apostle gives to Timothy, he charges him, in addi
tion to the duties towards those within the Church,
such as " teaching," " reproving," " exhorting,"
likewise " to preach " or herald abroad " the word
to them that were without.''''^
Such, then, is the argument which holy Scrip
ture supplies in proof, not only of the Church
being the institution of Christ — a visible body
endowed with invisible privUeges, — but that to it, as
a body under apostolic rule, is entrusted the com
mission to propagate the Gospel by means of its
appointed ministers and heralds ; and that it was by
the extension of itself, of its own divinely-con
stituted system, and by the dispensation of its ordi
nances, that the internal gift was conveyed, as through
channels from a fountain-head, to the heathen.
Nor were these rules neglected in the ages
next succeeding the apostolic times. It was not
deemed that individual earnestness was an adequate
vocation for the high work of being an evangelist
to the nations ; nor was it deemed that the autho
rity to send lay in any number of associated indi
viduals, however zealous for the honour of Christ,
1 Comp. 1 Tim.vi. 2, and 2 Tim.iv. 2. For the difference be
tween KT/puo-o-M and 8t8ao-K(B — Xo-yor and 8i8uxi), see Appendix,
(in the preceding page,) No. XI.
G 2

84 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
but that it rested with the Church, commonly with
the bishops bordering on the waste lands of hea
thenism, to send ' wherever a famine for the word,
or an opportunity for communicating it, was found
to exist. Instances in support of this wUl occur,
when we come to review the progress of the Gospel
in the subsequent periods of the history of the
Church. But the testimony of Eusebius is too
remarkable to be omitted, who speaks of evan
gelists,^ caUed also the disciples of the Apostles, as
appointed to preach Christ to those who had not
heard His name, and to deliver to them the
Gospel.^ And witness to the observance of the
same rule is further borne by one, not a strenuous
supporter of apostolic authority, who, in his com
mentary on the affairs of Christians,* writes, that
" it was certainly the custom, in early days, for
I For corroboration and instances of this statement, see Appen
dix, No. XII.
2 Although it is uncertain (as Archbishop Potter observes,
ch. ni.) what the exact nature of this office was, yet (as Hooker
remarks, referring to this passage of Eusebius, E.P. V. Ixxviii.) in
after days they were Presbyters who were sent abroad, and " pain
fully preached Christ ... to them who as yet had never heard the
doctrine of faith." It is unaccountable how Schleusner could have
interpreted evayyiXi.<TTa\ as those, " qui ad varies Christianorum
coetus mittebantur, et ab alio ad alium migrantes, non tarn primaj
Doctrinse rudimenta tradebant, quam institutionem apostolorum
continuare solebant." And this he says, quoting this passage of
Eusebius, and the comment of Theodoret on Ephes. iv. 11, in
which the latter says of evangelists, ckeivoi TrepiiovTcs (Ki^pvrrov.
This last word might have decided the nature of their office.
3 Hist. Eccl. iiii 37. See Appendix, No. XIIL
* Mosheim de Rebus Christ. Ssec. Prim. p. 176. " Sic nempe
consuetudo antiquorum temporum ferebat, ut qui ex coetu

IIL] THE EXTENSION OE THE GOSPEL. 85
such members of any Church as desUed to imitate
the example of the Apostles, and to extend the
limits of the kingdom of Christ, to apply to the
Bishop for his licence, and to enter on his travels
with his sanction." And further concurrent tes
timony estabUshes the rule, on the Gospel being
planted in any new district, of a Bishop being
straightway sent to preside over and direct the
rising Church ;' and in order that aU might be pre
served in due harmony and unity, the councU of
Chalcedon specially provided^ for the consecration
of bishops in foreign parts, and the subordination of
the Churches to the patriarchate of Constantinople.
Such being the agents in dispensing the word of
life to the heathen, it follows next to determine by
what methods it was administered, and converts in
structed and edified in the way of Christian truth and
quodam Christiano Apostolos imitari, atque fines regni Christi
proferre volebant, facultatem proficiscendi ab Episcopo peterent,
et ejus verbis iter suum facerent." And he adds, " Et sexcenti
sunt veterum ante Constantinum scriptorum loci, ex quibus elucet,
nefas prima Christianarum rerum setate fuisse, gerere aliquid et
suscipere ad religionem pertinens, Episcopo vel ignaro vel dis-
sentiente." ^ This has been fully Ulustrated already in Appendix, No. XII. ;
for in the instances there adduced, the missionaries w ere consecrated
as bishops. It is needless to mention how universal this rule was
in later ages. The following passage, however, in Thomassin is
curious : — ^" With respect to new colonies of Christians and new
bishoprics, the councUs of Africa had decreed (Concil. Afric. 86 — 88)
that he should be bishop of each Church and people, who gained the
same to the CathoUc unity, and retained it undisturbed for three
years." — Vet. et Nov. Discipl. parti, lib. i. cap. Iv. §13. Latin edit.
2 Can. xxvui. Beveridge, Pandect, vol.i. p. 145. See Appen
dix, No. XIV.

86 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
perfection. It would seem, indeed, altogether in
accordance with reason, — since the commission had
been given to a certain body to preach the Gospel to
aU nations, and to teach them to observe aU things
whatsoever the redeeming Son of God had com
manded, — that these messengers of the Lord should,
then and for evermore, fulfil their commission by im
parting the truth as they had received it from the
mouth of their Lord, and that they should commit it
to others to do the same. It is altogether in accord
ance with reason, and with the good providence of a
merciful God, that, to preserve the truth so entrusted
to man from being either lost, or mutUated, or
corrupted, or overlaid with human inventions, it
should be committed to writing; that thus there
should remain an unchanging standard of its purity.
Moreover, it would be altogether in accordance
with the dictates of wisdom, that, in imparting
the doctrines of a faith which neither the wiU nor
the understanding would naturaUy embrace, it
should be communicated in such a way and by
such measure, as those to whom it was preached
were able to bear, and as would be likely to secure
their assent.
A twofold method of imparting the truth, then,
naturaUy presents itself in the authoritative teach
ing of the Church, and in the vmtten word of
God.' Surely it could be only through an extreme
Some very valuable remarks on this point occur in Rose's
Commission and Duties of the Clergy, p. 13, with note.

IIL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 87
elevation of the one ordinance of God, and depre
ciation of the other, and by the mind of man then
rushing violently from one extreme to the opposite,
that there should be either a supposed opposition
between the two, or a doubt as to the functions of
each, and the order in which they should be exer
cised ; that either the teaching of the Church should
be separated from the use and study of the sacred
oracles of God, or that the Scriptures should be
presented to convey the truth, without the aid and
introduction of the teaching of the Church. And
yet it is the latter method that has been so largely
and so imceasingly pursued by certain advocates of
the Bible, as to cause it to be identified with the
whole principle adopted by Protestants for propaga
ting the truth.' And the sacred Scriptures have by
nailUons been dispersed in foreign lands among the
uninitiated, the uncatechized, nay the very heathen,
' Thus Dr. Wiseman, (Lect. VI. on the Doctrines and Practices
of the Catholic Church, p. 198,) speaks of " the attempts made to
preach the Gospel on the Protestant principle, that the Bible
alone is sufficient;" and quotes General Hislop, as stating that
" these missionaries think that this distribution of the Gospels in
Chinese, Sanscrit, &c. is sufficient to obtain their purpose."
Again he writes, (p. 206,) " If the distribution of the Bible be the
appointed way of conversion, &c. ;" representing, as he conceives,
the Protestant method. See also Annales de la Propagation de la
Foi, vol. U. p. 354. It need hardly be added, that no such principle
is recognised by the Church of England.
How entirely, however, this is the principle of some Protestants,
may be judged from the foUowing astounding sentence : " China
is open to the distribution of books ; the myriads inhabiting the
maritime provinces are ready to receive the word of life, and the
lever that shall move this moral world is undoubtedly — metal-type
printing .'" — Medhurst's China, p. 575.

88 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
and those of the baser sort,' as if they carried with
them a kind of sacramental efficacy to unscale the
eyes, and enlighten the hearts of those who read
the deep and wonderful oracles of God; as if no
preparatory teaching were needful for apprehending
them ; as if the word of God, which is compared to
seed cast into the ground, were certainly the written,
and not the preached word; as if there were no
danger in leaving unlearned souls unwarned, to
profane and jeer at the revelations of the Holy
Spu-it of the Most High.
But, in truth, how is it ? How do we learn, even
from the very Scriptm^es themselves, not only respect
ing the method there pointed out by the mind of
the Spirit for extending the Gospel, but respecting
that actuaUy employed by the inspired servants of
our Lord ? Where is there any blessing promised
on the distribution of the word of God ? Without
denying the possibility of any one, however plunged
in ignorance, yet if stirred by the Spirit of God to
search the living word, being able by the same
Spirit to gather out the saving . truths of salvation ;
stiU neither is this the way in which provision was
made for dispensing the Gospel to the world, nor has
it any scriptural or reasonable probabihty in favour
of its success. Surely in trusting to this, we must
be shutting our eyes to the moral hindrances, fre
quently the intellectual difficulties, that beset the
' See China and its Prospects, by Medhurst, pp. 395, 409, 450.

IIL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 89
avenues by which truth can enter in, and take
possession of the soul; and be relying on some
miraculous interposition to give success to our
intentions. By what means was the Gospel ap
pointed to be propagated, and how in fact was it
propagated ? By preaching : living witnesses went
forth, and besought, and pleaded, and warned, and
suffered. They showed it was a real thing that had
possessed their own souls, that made them no longer
dear to their ownselves, and could fiU them, even to
self-forgetfulness, with the burning zeal of bringing
others to Christ. Christian men preached, and
resisted unto blood; and heathen men saw, and
heard, and believed. Christ's servants came as
ambassadors with a message ; they came to draw
men together into a new society, under one Head,
not merely through a mental acquiescence in certain
doctrines, but by a real union with the incarnate
and invisible God, through visible ordinances, im
parted on the reception of that holy Faith which
they were commissioned to preach. To this method
all historical records of the propagation of the Gospel
bear witness, and it is iUustrated by the well-known
and striking passage of Irenseus, who wrote, that
" many natives of barbarians, without paper and
ink, had, through the Holy Spirit, the words of
salvation written in their hearts."'
Moreover, various considerations would lead us
to the conclusion, that the perfect exhibition of the
' Adv. Hseres. III. cap. iv.

90 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
truth of God as contained in the holy Scriptures,
was preceded by initiatory, and probably more
formal instruction. Indications of this in the Scrip
tures themselves are not wanting, in the "faithful
sayings," and "traditions," of which the converts
were reminded, and which, in the latter instance' at
least, were represented as a concurrent mode of
instruction with the epistle which the Apostle was
then writing. Some creed or summary was un
doubtedly used as the test of a correct faith; which
was professed by the candidates of Holy Baptism,
and which existed before the Scriptures were com
pleted.^ And this supposition is further borne out by the
very structure of the sacred writings themselves,
especiaUy of the Epistles, which were actually
addressed, and bear the mark of being adapted to
those who had already been instructed in the prin-
^ 2 Thess. ii. 15.
2 " Therefore the Church had a summary and symbol of Chris
tianity, as I said before, about twelve years before any book of the
New Testament was written, and about sixty-six before the whole
was written ; and this of God's own making ; and which was even
agreed on when many books of the New Testament were not yet
agreed on." — Baxter's CathoUc Theology, Introduction, 1675, foi.
See Wordsworth's Institutes, vol. i. p. 272.
He refers to the Appendix to his Reformed Pastor, for authori
ties for the agreement of the ancient Creeds " ever professed at
baptism from their (the Apostles') days."
In his Catechizing of Families, is the following : " And infal-
Uble tradition assures us, that accordingly, ever since the Apostles'
days, before any adults were baptized, they were catechized, and
brought to understand and profess these same articles of faith." —
Christ. Inst. vol. i. 274.

IIL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 91
ciples of the Christian faith. They are composed
in an unsystematic manner, especially iU-suited to
minds unacquainted with the outlines of that doc
trine which they treat of ; fundamental tenets and
inferences are mixed together ; and many portions
of them are designed to supplement, or correct, or
limit what had been before communicated. Nor
were the sacred writings intended to supersede,
even afterwards, other concurrent and authoritative
teaching; since, at a later period, when the apo
stohc Epistles were nearly aU composed, and were
probably in circulation, a succession of ministers was
stUl provided for the very purpose of " teaching.",'
And the facts recorded in holy Scripture tend to
confirm what is here maintained; as when Phihp
was sent to instruct the Ethiopian, even while
studying those very Scriptures which, when under
stood, were " able to make " him " wise unto salva
tion." The Bereans are praised for searching the
oracles of God, but it was after they had been
instructed, and in order " to see whether these
things were so ;" it was to prove, not originaUy to
find out, the truth. And, in reaUty, this process is
only in accordance with the method pursued in the
communication of aU knowledge ; in imparting
which, a teacher, speaking with authority, and
claiming the confidence of the instructed, is a
condition upon which alone it can be received.
' As appears from the First Epistle to Timothy.

92 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
And, moreover, is not the process of instruction
that of first communicating the general principles,
and then testing these principles by an appeal to
facts and experience, and thus iUustrating and
applying them ? So is it with religious teaching.
We may recognise in the creeds, the summary and
principles of the faith to be first imparted — milk
provided for babes ; we may recognise in the
Scriptures the wider field of facts and experience
in which those principles are tested, explained,
exemplified, drawn out into rules, and proved;
and urged upon the belief of the Christian wdth
every variety of iUustration, and touching instance,
and appeal to the affections. And in the Church
we may recognise such a teacher as is needed to
communicate these first principles ; to stand by
and remove difficulties ; to satisfy inquiries, and
solve doubts ; to speak with authoritative voice,
as commissioned to teach, and so awaken and
engage the faith of the instructed, untU afterwards,
when " the senses are exercised to discern both
good and evU," they are able to " prove aU things,"
and " hold fast that which is good."
Thus, then, we may conclude, that in the Church
sending her chUdren, preaching by them the re
ceived faith, appealing to the written word as a
record of the truth and a proof of her teaching,
gathering men into the fold of Christ, and rearing
them by her discipline, are contained the appointed
means entrusted to man for the extension of the

IIL] ; THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 93
Gospel.' Surely the very failure^ that has attended
the mere dispersion of the sacred Scriptures among
heathen nations, might satisfy us that it was not
designed that the Gospel should thus win its
triumphs. The causes of the eagerness which has
sometimes been evinced by natives of pagan coun
tries along the coasts and rivers of India and
China, and the Asiatic isles, to obtain the sacred
volume, cannot be traced to a thirst for the word
of life, but to the secular purposes, the unhaUowed
uses, to which the holy word of God, left in then-
hands, has been turned, and which are absolutely
shocking to any Christian feeling.^
But view this great gift of God in connexion
with the system in which it was designed to dis
charge its special office, and how wonderful a
means is ordained to meet all the wants of man, —
' Waterland, (Tract on Justification, Works, vol. ix. p. 435,)
speaking of the Christian covenant, says, " According to the
natural order of precedency, the authorized minister is first in
consideration; (Rom. x. 13 — 15 ; Tit. i. 3,) the word next; then
hearing and beUeving ; after that, baptism, and therein the first
solemn reception of justification." — Cited by Rose, Commission,
&c. p. 14.
2 See Lect. VI. It is to be observed that, in the cases there
mentioned, some missionaries were engaged in preaching
besides, so that even the few conversions that occurred cannot be
attributed to the dispersion of the Scriptures alone.
^ Even Mr. Medhurst says that "the anxiety to obtain books
must not in the least be ascribed to any knowledge of, or relish
for their contents," p. 403. Painful instances of the profanation
of the word of God by indiscriminate distribution, are given in
a note to Dr. Wiseman's Lect. VI. ut supra ; and in Rev. W. J.
Humphrey's Letter to Rev. H. Cottrill, at Madras, in the Corre
spondence lately published by the former gentleman.

94 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
to affect, and caU out, and sanctify his whole
nature, moral and inteUectual. It is not ordinarUy
through the understanding that rehgious faith gains
an entrance into the soul ; it may be weakened, in
deed, and it may be confirmed through the intellect,
but not newly awakened. It is commonly through
the moral affections and sympathies that faith is first
kindled ; and thus " with the heart man beheveth
unto righteousness." It would seem that previous
culture of the moral nature is needful for the fuU
exercise, certainly for the right direction and co
operation, of aU the other faculties; and we may
notice how entirely in accordance with this law it
is, that in the orderings of God so large a period
has been aUotted, in the commencement of man's
life, to childhood, which is the especial season for
moral training, and this in connexion with the
closest sympathies of our nature ; in preparation, as
it were, for the other faculties, as they expand, to
discharge their aUotted functions powerfully and
harmoniously. And in the same way it is, that the
Church provides for the education of her chUdren,
not merely laying before them the truth, however
testified to and supported by an ii-resistible weight
of evidence; but presenting herself as a teacher,
bearing with her a personahty, and addressing her
seU to the wants and weaknesses, and the finer
affections of man's nature ; thus winning the con
fidence of those whom she would lead to salvation,
by the exhibition of goodness, long-suffering, and

IIL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 95
patience ; offering to guide and protect, and bring
near to God in that society which He has planted
upon earth ; and then instructing and enlightening
the mind by knowledge, and by opening before it
the whole counsel of God.
Thus, through the powerful inworking of God's
Holy Spirit, the " new man" is " put on," " created
in righteousness and true holiness," and " re
newed in knowledge after the image of him that
created him."
Nor are the means thus provided for extending
the kingdom of God upon earth less adapted to
meet and form the character of man in that twofold
estate in which he is placed as an individual and as
a social being. It was to reveal to him his true con
dition, and to perfect him in each of these respects,
that the Son of God became man. We may re
cognise a provision made for impressing upon each
Christian soul its own personal responsibUity before
God ; the sense that it stands alone in His sight ;
that not a mere blind acquiescence in autho
rity, but a conscious and reasonable conviction of
duty, is the groundwork of obedience to Him; —
we recognise the means of bringing it, as it were,
before its Maker, to hear His voice, and read those
words by which it must be ruled now, and judged
hereafter, — in the free use of the holy Scriptures,
and in the charge to study and meditate upon
them, — which belonged not to the later days of the
Church alone, but marked the earlier progress of

96 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
the Gospel, when, as is testified by St. Chryso
stom and St. Augustine,' the inspired writings were
translated into the native tongue of almost every
people among whom the Church was propagated.
And if man were only an individual, — did not the
perfection of his moral nature materially depend on
his being bound together with his feUow-men, and
with God Himself in " one body and one Spirit," —
this would be enough. But it is necessary for the cor
rection of his passions, for the restraint of an unruly
wiU, for caUing forth the higher feeUngs of dutiful-
ness and reverence, for the exercise of the charities
of lUe, that he should be joined to a body, and
placed under authority. And this Body God has
provided, in which a new brotherhood is created,
not based upon the calculation of mutual benefit,
but upon that relation into which mankind are
brought one with another and with God in Christ.
Within that Body the true social life of man is
called out. The sympathies that form the bond of
domestic and national existence receive a larger
expansion; and gather within their circle all who
share in that nature which God has redeemed, and
' St. Chrysostom, Hom. II. in Johann. vol. viii. p. 10. Edit.
Bened. Kal Svpoi, koi AtyvvTioi, koi 'IvSol, Kal Hiparai, Kal AWiottcs,
Kal p.vpLa iTcpa iQvrj (is T^v avTwv p-ira^aXoVTes yXSiTTav rd napd
TOVTOV (sc. S. Johann.) fltraxBivTa, %p.adov avBpairoL ^dp^apoi
<f>iXo(TO(l)uv .
St. Augustine de Doctr. Christ, lib. ii. sect. 6. " Ex quo factum
est ut etiam Scriptura divina, qua tantis morbis humanarum
voluntatum subvenitur, ab una lingua profecta, qua opportune
potuit per orbem terrarum disseminari, per varias interpretum
linguas longg latfeque diffusa innotesceret gentibus ad salutem."

IIL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 97
sanctified, and glorified in HimseU, by bearing it.
Within it, all those inequalities of life and circum
stances which foster so largely the pride, and dis
content, and envy, and aU the evil passions of the
heart, are made to disappear ; for human distinctions
find no place in that spiritual kingdom, in which
the weak things are chosen before the strong,
" where there is neither Greek nor Scythian, bond
nor free, but Christ is aU and in aU."
And if such be the plan by which God has ordained
that the Gospel should be spread abroad ; if to the
Chm'ch is committed the solemn charge of converting
the nations, and presenting them to her Lord and
Master; if she alone seems endowed with the
power of grappling with human nature ; and if past
experience has shown that in her, as its house and
sanctuary, the Gospel was preserved, and borne over
that deluge of barbarism which overspread Europe,
and uprooted every thing beside in its course ; — we
must expect that by the same agency alone can the
heathen world be gained over to the Redeemer.
We cannot expect God's blessing in so great
a work to rest on desultory and unauthorized
methods, to which the promise neither of success
nor perpetuity is engaged.
And shaU it be said that, by thus insisting upon
the one appointed means for doing the work of
God on earth, which is indeed His Church, we
tend to paralyze individual exertion, or to damp the
geal of many ? Surely this result can never follow.

98 THE ORDAINED MEANS FOR [Lect.
It never has been so, whenever a sense of duty has
been appealed to by an authority whose claim to
demand it has been recognised. Those have not
commonly been the most slow to make sacrifice of
themselves, and to devote their energies to a great
end, who have been summoned to do so by a power
which has been to them as the voice of God. Nay,
while God's Spirit dweUs in the hearts of His
people, there wUl be many who need nothing more
to caU forth the free surrender of themselves to His
service, than the certainty of being right and in the
way of duty ; and who will have all their energy
quickened thereby. For the secret of that moral
strength, that composm-e, and confidence, which
ever belongs to obedience, lies in the consciousness
that we are not foUowing our own wUl, but the will
of God, however made known to us. It is free from
distraction, for its way is clear ; it can bear reverse
or disappointment, for it looks not to success for
the warranty of its acting. And if this spirit be
appealed to, individual exertion wUl not be wanting.
The trial has not been made. Though the Church
has indeed pleaded and exhorted, yet she has not
used a parent's right, and demanded the service of
her chUdren on the ground of that loyalty and obe
dience which are her due. And we, on oiu- part,
have lost too much a sense of the aUegiance we oAve
to her; we have not looked to her for guidance, nor
shown our readiness to obey ; we have been acting
as individuals, and therefore the work has Ian-

IIL] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 99
guished in our hands. But let the ancient spirit
of faith revive, and surely the Church, recognised
in her true character, wUl be powerful again, as she
ever has been, in enlisting zeal, and drawing forth
self-sacrifice in her service— the service of Christ,
and for the salvation of souls ; and she wiU be seen
going forth irresistible in her beauty and might,
and bringing, by the power of Divine truth, aU
nations into subjection to her Lord and Saviour.

H 2

LECTUEE lY.

THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL BEFORE TPIE
REFORMATION.

Psalm LXXII. 9, 10.
they that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him ;
and his enemies shall lick the dust. the kings of tarshish
and of the isles shall bring presents : the kings of sheba
and seba shall offer gifts.
The purpose of the last Lecture was to elicit from
reasonable probabUity, from the revealed wiU of
God, and from apostohc practice, those general
principles by which the effort to extend the Gospel
of Christ should be guided. These principles, and
the facts in which they are involved, are as fol
lows : — That the Chm'ch, as the visible institution
of Christ, is the divinely ordained instrument for the
conversion of the world ; — That Christianity was
propagated, in the apostolic age, through the en
largement of the Church, either by additions from
without, or by the expansion of it from vidthin ; —
That it belongs to commissioned teachers to preach
the word of life to the heathen, and that the

Lect. IV.] THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL. 101
authority to send is derived from the Lord Himself
to those who bear apostolic rule in His Church ; —
That the method whereby the conversion of unbe
lievers was effected was not the mere distribution
of the written word, to which the promise of suc
cess in this work is not engaged,' but the preach
ing of the Gospel by living witnesses ; — And,
lastly, that the place held by the holy Scriptures in
the economy of instructing the heathen mind, is
that of proving and confirming the previous ele
mentary teaching of the Church, conveyed through
its formularies, and the oral expositions of its mes
sengers. Such being the groundwork on which the theory
of missions is buUt, I proceed now to a review of
the progress of the Gospel throughout the world, in
reference, more or less directly, to the principles here
laid down ; and to ascertain the various secondary
means that have been used in securing the success
that has been achieved. Let it be premised, how
ever, that these secondary means have not been
employed with any uniform or systematic precision,
but have varied with the varying condition of
Christianity, and the circumstances under which
it has been extended ; and, further, that neither
externaUy has the Church advanced with unre-
ceding step, nor internally has it preserved an
* " And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not
heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how
shall they preach except they be sent?" — Rom. x. 14, 15.

102 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
unchanging character, but has won its way irregularly
and imperfectly, in various degrees, through un
looked-for contingencies, sometimes by doubtful
expedients, and after many reverses ; in a word, by
that laborious process to which aU moral advance
ment is subject, as being the product of a conflict
between the powers of light and darkness, and as
dependent on human instrumentality.
The present review, as far as it can be taken in
a single lecture, wUl embrace the ages which pre
ceded that great movement, intellectual, political,
and religious, which exhibited itseff in the sixteenth
century. It is felt that a period of vast extent is
embraced ; and of course nothing more can be done
than to sketch the outline of the empire of the
Church, as it contracted or expanded its limits,
and then to note the various means by which its
sway was acquired and retained. It is felt, also,
that the character of this period is as diversified
as it is vast ; that, during it, the nations of Europe
and of the East presented every form of poli
tical existence, between weU-compacted govern
ment and complete social disorganization; and
that the human mind passed through every stage,
from the highest inteUectual culture to the most
iUiterate barbarism; so that, during these ages,
we witness the Church in conflict with every oppo
sition which the powers of the world could set in
array against it, to check its progress ; and hence,
assuming different aspects at different periods.

IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 103
varying with the character of the nation, or the
degree of civilization with which it was brought
into contact. Yet the struggles which it sustained,
whUe they put it to the severest test, only served
to draw forth its resources, and prove its power to
cope with human nature under every form, to
subdue, and mould it anew, to reorganise society,
infuse into it fresh lUe, and carry it onward through
each stage of its advancement.
In taking such a glance at these ages as is here
proposed, it will be convenient to divide them into
two portions, placing the line of separation at the
decree of Theodosius, which, at the close of the
fourth century, banished Paganism from the Roman
empire.' And, in truth, this forms a natural divi
sion in treating of the propagation of the faith ;
since it was not till after that event that missionary
efforts, properly so called, may be said to have com
menced ; while the condition of the Church, and of
the nations among whom she preached, and the
means employed for their conversion, became then
altogether different from what they had been before
Christianity took permanent possession of the throne
of the Caesars. The plan, then, wUl be, to trace
out the gradual extension of the Gospel during
these two periods, and then to consider the various
means by which its successes were acquired, and
the lessons which may be derived from the review.
1 A. D. 392. Cod. Theod. c. xii. Baron. Annal. vol. viii.
p. 115.

104 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
The first four centuries have commonly been con
sidered as those in which the Gospel made its most
rapid and most extended conquests. It has been
thought that, during them, the Church of Christ
was carried forward by the supernatural impiUse
which it received on the day of Pentecost, and of
which the last vibrations were felt, and expired at
the verge of that period ; — that afterwards, if it was
not wholly arrested in its course, yet it expanded
itself further only languidly and slowly, by natural
or doubtful means, and that for centuries it lost all
its pristine vigour and purity. There is perhaps
just enough of truth in such a statement to account
for the general impression ; but certainly as regards
the territorial extension of the Church, it is far from
correct. For history would not lead us to conclude,
either that the actual boundaries of the Church
continued progressively to enlarge themselves
during the first four centuries, or that, at the close
of them, the tide of its rising waters was stayed by
any barrier, or any cessation of the invisible power
that had first set them in motion. That it did
indeed increase and multiply, according to the
blessing bestowed upon it, so as to gather con
stantly fresh chUdren into its bosom, is most
true ; not however, commonly, by pushing its lines
further into the domains of darkness, but rather by
filling up and occupying more completely the
ground already acquired. If we may give credit
to the traditions that have been preserved of the

IV.J BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 105
apostolic labours,' we may believe that, on the
death of the last of the Apostles, the preaching of
the Gospel had reached nearly the full extent of
the territory which was possessed for the first four
centuries. Intimations of this occur in the
Epistles ; and we should be led to suppose it
probable, from the fact, that, at the period last
named, the knowledge of the Gospel appears to
have extended very little beyond the limits of the
Roman empire. And that, ivithin those limits, the
seeds of divine truth should have been very early
and widely scattered, is what we might reasonably
expect, from the constant communication that was
kept up between one part of the empire and an
other, — from the connexion of the Jews dispersed
throughout all the world with Jerusalem, — from
the intercourse which bound the distant colonies
and provinces of Rome to the capital and the
metropolitan cities, such as Alexandria, Antioch,
Ephesus, and Corinth, in which the first preachers
of the Gospel took up their abode, where they
' Euseb. H. E. iii. 1. For the labours of each of the Apostles,
see a summary in Fabr. Lux Evang. cap. v. pp. 95 — 114. The
fact of St. Peter having preached at Babylon in Assyria (1 Ep.
V. 13), though a point of much discussion in which controversy
has mixed itself, is maintained by good authority. See Lardner,
XVII. p. 239. Little doubt can exist that the Gospel was carried
to that district in the first century. Respecting the visit of
St. Paul to Spain, Prof. Burton (Eccles. Hist. i. 281) quotes Epi-
phanius, Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Jerome, in favour of the
Apostle having preached there ; and so these two points may be
considered the limits, in the east and west, which the Gospel
reached in the apostolic age.

106 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
established the centre points of their system, and
from whence they penetrated into the smTounding
districts. Very early, then, in most of the larger
cities throughout the Roman dominions, and even
in the frontier garrisons that skirted the territory
of the barbarians, the Cross had been set up ; and
though the number of those who embraced the
faith of Him who had died thereon was but small,
stUl there the Gospel had been " preached /or a wit
ness ;" and we need not hesitate to give a literal
meaning to the words of the Apostle, when he
said, " Their sound went into aU the earth,
their words unto the ends of the world." '
Dm-ing the three centuries that foUowed the
apostolic age, the Gospel was stUl confined within
nearly the same limits which it reached at first,
viz. Britain, the Rhine, the Danube, the Caspian
Sea, the Persian Guff, and the bounds of pro
consular Africa; and those who succeeded the
Apostles were rather engaged in assaUing the
idolatry with which they were immediately con
fronted, in defending the faith, witnessing unto the
death a good confession, and increasing and con
solidating the churches already planted, than in
penetrating into regions yet unexplored.
But at the close of the fourth century a new
order of things arose for the Church, — fresh labom's
and trials, widely different from those in which
it had hitherto been engaged. The Roman
' Rom. X. 18.

IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 107
empire was now shaking and crumbling from its
inherent social decay, and from the assaults of the
northern tribes, which gathered, like birds of prey,
round the dying body. Hitherto the Gospel had
contended with civilization, with a popular and
systematized reUgion, with inteUect, with weU-
ordered government; it had made its way pas
sively, by graduaUy spreading its influence through
the mass in which it had been hid to leaven it ; for
a time, too, it had delayed the breaking up of the
Roman polity by the new Iffe it had infused into
the hearts of man, and the fresh bonds of union
which it had created. But now the Church looked
out, and saw lawless force coming down as a flood,
threatening to bear away before it all law and civUi
zation, and the very landmarks of social existence, —
and it had to arm itseff for the conflict. CivUized
paganism had fallen before the power of the Chris
tian faith ; its philosophy and mythology had been
searched and exposed by the bm'ning light of the
truth, and had melted away as under some powerful
solvent; but now there was altogether a different
enemy which the Church had to meet, in an
unlettered barbarism; marked by characteristic
virtues,' indeed, but also by untamed passions ;
boasting itself in its wUd independence, unre
strained by any fixed law or social order, and
finding only a stimulant to deeds of lawless enter
prise and rapine in the savage idolatry under which
' Salvian de Gub. Dei, p. 261. See Lect. II. Appendix, No. IV.

108 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
the powers of nature were adored. For two cen
turies, countless hordes were pom-ed forth from the
central plains of Asia; one after the other they
took up their position in the most fertile countries
of Europe, and enclosed within them the Church of
God, which, stripped now of the worldly defence by
which it had been strengthened in its later con
quests over Roman paganism, was thrown upon
its inherent vital energy and spiritual resources.
Worldly power had, indeed, faUed to arrest the
progress of the impetuous hosts ; and it was a new
sight for mankind to gaze on, to see the Church of
God, armed only by the force of truth and the invi
sible presence of the Most High, brought into close
contact with the savage wildness of human nature.
The world seemed faUen back into the days of its
infancy; and in such a field it is that we have to
watch the progress of the Gospel softening, human
izing, converting, civilizing. Every form of un-
civUized Ufe, of savage habit, of deep-seated
prejudice, of victorious insolence, was brought
before it, and, by turns, in the course of succeed
ing ages, was controUed and brought into subjec
tion. By what means this wonderfiU regeneration,
under the combined providence and grace of God,
was effected, wUl be noted in its place.
At present I would merely note the direction in
which the Church of Christ enlarged itself. For it
is altogether a partial view, to conceive that its
expansion was thenceforth stayed. On the con-

IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 109
trary, it seems rather to have taken to itself a more
vigorous resolve, and to have risen, as ff conscious
of its power, to invade the dark masse? of ignorance
and violence that encompassed it. Cheerless, in
deed, was the commencement of the seventh cen
tury, and gloomy the scene on which the ffi'st
Gregory closed his eyes;' the barbarous hosts
stiU pressing the Roman empire on the north,
and the Arabian impostor breaking forth from his
sultry sands, as the avenger of the Lord, scatter
ing the flock from field to field, and obliterating
the once fiourishing churches in the East, and along
the African coast. And yet at that very time it was
that a spirit of missionary enterprise arose, and
chiefly from the North; from the monasteries of
Great Britain and Ireland, men went forth glowing
with the desire of bringing the Gothic tribes
within the fold of Christ. It seems as if a special
impulse was imparted to them ; for ceaselessly, we
are told, in the ear of one of the earliest adven
turers, St. Columban, sounded the words of our
blessed Saviour, " If any man wUl come after me, let
1 In the general misery inflicted by the inroads of the barba
rians, he recognised the signs of the approaching end. Thus, in
one of his letters, (lib. vii. ep. xxvU.) he says, " De vicinis urbi-
bus strages nobis mortalitatis quotidie nuncupantur. Africa
autem quahter mortalitate et languoribus vastatur, quanto
viciniores estis, tanto credo quod subtilius cognovistis. De
oriente vero qui veniunt graviores desolationes nunciant. In his
itaque omnibus, quia, appropinquante fine mundi, generalem per-
cussionem esse cognoseimus, affligi nimis de proprUs molestiis
non debemus." — Vita S. Greg. Mag. Acta Sanct. Ssec. Prim.
p. 469.

110 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
him deny himseff, and take up his cross and foUow
me."' Along the banks of the Rhine, in the Black
Forest, in Bavaria, and Thuringia, the Church ex
tended itseff^ by the labours of men thus devoted;
among whom shine the names of Fridohn, St. GaU,
Rupert, St. Eustasius, WUlibrord, and, above aU,
St. Boniface, as apostles of the German nations.^
And thus, from the end of the sixth to the ninth
century, the progress of the Gospel continued,
with varied success, among the Gothic tribes. After
that period, in the tenth century, the field of mis
sionary labour extended itseff stiU further towards
the East. Beyond the limits already named, amid
the barren table-lands of Sclavonia and Sarmatia,
shut in by the Elbe and the Oural mountains, were
gathered the wandering tribes distinguished by the
name of Sclaves, who presented a still more hope
less task to Christian zeal. UncontroUed by any
government or law, deeming even the formation of
viUages an infringement of liberty,* guided only by
traditionary custom, they were dispersed throughout
the forests and plains of that wide district, clus
tered in family groups, with no unity either of
national existence, or of habit, or even of religion.
A vague superstition, consisting of a rude worship
1 Blumhardt, Etablissement du Christianisme, ii. p. 348. No
reference is given. The exact circumstance, as related by Blum
hardt, is not in the life of St. Columban, by Jonas, his pupil, con
tained in Surius, vol. vi. Something similar is, however, mentioned
in pp. 530 and 531.
2 Appendix, No. XV. ' Ibid. No. XVI.
* Blumhardt, Etabl. du Christianisme, iv. pp. 14, 15.

IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. Ill
of Nature's powers, with stated sacrUices, and the
duaUstic notion of the East, derived from contact
with the Scythian tribes,' possessed their minds
with a sense of reUgious awe ; but, throughout the
whole race, even the idea of the immortality of the soul
had become extinct.^ One social virtue, however, had
the force of law amongst them ; and the obligation
to hospitality afforded an opening for the strangers
of the West to gain an entrance among these other
wise unapproachable hordes.^ Partly and in the first
instance, from the Greek Church, by the two apo
stles of Poland and Prussia, CyrU and Methodius ;*
afterwards and more perfectly, by emissaries from
the Latin Church ; in various ways, and at various
intervals, the Gospel was propagated in these coun
tries from the tenth to the sixteenth centuries ; and
during the same period, by missionaries chiefly
from the monastery of Neuf-Corbie on the banks
of the Weser, and from the British Isles, the terri
tories of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden^ were
' Blumhardt, Etabl. du Christianisme, iv. p. 6.
2 Ibid. p. 8. 3 Ibid. p. 15.
* In the ninth century.
5 Anschar, the apostle of Denmark and Sweden, a. d. 826, and
Gislemar, who followed him to Denmark, were sent from Neuf-
Corbie. Missionaries were brought by Hakon, king of Norway,
into his dominions, (an. 938.) Christianity was not, however,
permanently introduced before the reign of Olaf I., who was
accompanied from England by John Sigurd, (an. 993.) Olaf II.
afterwards requested missionaries from England of Kanute,
upon which, Sigfrid (first Bishop of Wexia), Gomkill, and others,
were sent into Norway, (an. 1019). The chief source of informa
tion on these missions is contained in the Hist. Eccles. of Adam
Bremensis.

112 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
brought within the pale of the Christian Church.
And thus, by the end of the thirteenth century,
paganism may be said to have been weU-nigh
banished from the limits of Europe.
By such steps, with a continual yet laborious
progress, the Church was planted and took root
throughout the European continent ; nor, except in
the Turkish dominions, has it since suffered any
permanent reverse, or been despoiled of any por
tion of its inheritance.
Far different, however, were its fortunes in the
East during a portion of the interval that has been
thus slightly sketched. For above four centuries
from its first promulgation, the sound of the
Gospel appears to have been confined within the
Indus,' but from that period, a most rapid exten
sion of Christianity, heretical, indeed, yet in its
degree influential, ensued, and was followed by as
rapid a decline. Led by individual zeal, or dis
persed by persecution, or attracted by the enter
prise of Arabian commerce,^ .the Nestorians spread
themselves over the plains of Hindostan, Tartary,
Mongolia, and China,^ planting churches through
out the wide domain ; and for six centuries kept

» Appendix, No. XVII.
^ Assemanni, Bibl. Orient, torn. iu. p. Ixxxi. ; and Bbhlen, Das
alte Indien, p. 381, who cites Cosmas Indicopleustes (himself a
Nestorian) as saying, that he found a Christian congregation at
Taprobane and Malabar in a.d. 530, under a bishop, consecrated
in Persia.
3 Assemanni, ut sup.

rV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 113
possession of the territory. The well-known monu
ment discovered in the seventeenth century, by the
Jesuits in China,' and the intercourse between
Alexander III. and the famous Prester John, in the
tweffth century,^ indicate the wide-spread influence
which Christianity possessed, externally at least,
over the nations of Eastern Asia.^ But neither did
the earlier labours of the Nestorians, nor those of
the Latin Church directed to the same quarter,*
secure a lasting triumph. It is in melancholy con
trast with the vigorous hfe wherewith the Church
of the West resisted and subdued its barbarian
invaders, that we find the Eastern Churches gra
duaUy fade away and finaUy disappear before the
invasions of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane. As

' An account of this monument found in Siganfu, a.d. 1625,
and recording the establishment of Christianity in China between
A.D. 636 and 781, is given in Assemanni, p. cxxxviU. ; and its
genuineness discussed in Mosheim, Hist. Tartar, p. 9. See Mr.
MUman's note. Gibbon, viii. p. 347. It should be added that
Bbhlen disputes the genuineness of this record ; but the alterna
tive of supposing that the Jesuits forged a document, setting
forth Nestorian doctrines and enterprize, is too improbable to be
readily adopted.
^ Assemanni, p. D. who quotes from the original letter in Pagi,
dated 1177.
3 " The extent to which Nestorianism prevailed among the
Tartar tribes, is one of the most curious questions of Oriental
history." — Milman's Gibbon, vUi. 346, note. Connected with this
is the still more interesting question of the influence which it had
on the Buddhism or Lamaism of those districts, and wiU be
aUuded to in Lect. VIII.
* The first of these missions from the Roman Church was
estabUshed by Nicolas III. in 1278. Monte Corvino and his com
panions entered Tartary in 1289. Assem. p. Dxxvii.

114 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [LecT.
though they had never taken a firm root in
the soU, they were swept away by the storm
which had before in the same way desolated the
fairest portions of Western Asia and Africa, and
Christianity was again driven in upon its centre
in Europe; yet surely only to await the time
when the tide will again roU back with more
powerful effect upon those mighty and imposing
empires. Such a sketch, though necessarUy general, may
suffice to delineate the character of that missionary
field in which Christianity made its territorial advance
on the wastes of Paganism, during fifteen centuries.
And we pass at once to a more important and
interesting review, when we proceed to consider the
various methods by which it was extended, by what
characteristics its expansion was marked, by what
means it was maintained.
Bearing in mind the division of the periods
before observed, we shaU have to compare, and in
some points to contrast, the one with the other.
For the different forms of Paganism which they
severaUy presented, demanded of the Church the
employment of different instruments and modes of
action in order to grapple with them. And thus
its office in these successive periods may seem to
have been represented in the commission given in
our blessed Saviour's parable to the servants sent
to bring guests into the supper of their Lord;
some it has simply "bidden," others it has

IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 115
" brought in," some it has, as it were, " compelled
to come in."'
I. Consider then the first period of its expansion.
It has been already remarked, that, after the first
century, the labours of those commissioned to
penetrate distant lands with the Gospel, were for a
time comparatively suspended. And this wiU
account for the very scanty records that are left us
of the propagation of the Gospel among heathen
nations during that period. StiU, within the Roman
dominions, vast accessions were constantly gained
to the Church, and we may discover many causes
and means, though some of them were only inci
dental or indirect, to which the extension of the
Faith may be attributed.
1. It was but an incidental, though providential,
cause of the advance of the Gospel, that the very
circumstances of the times, especiaUy towards the
close of the empire of the West, secretly yet power-
fuUy drew the minds of men to the reception of
revealed truth. The old pagan religion was ex
hausted; it had sought alliance with phUosophy,
and been maintained by force, but it was felt to
have no power even over the mass. Times of
trouble were hastenmg on, and various signs gave
no uncertain warning of the breaking up of the
empire. The vicious Uves of a long train of emperors,
the consequent general corruption that prevailed,
' Luke xiv. 16 — 23. This application of the parable is made in
Thomas a Jesu, De Proc. Salut. omn. Gent. p. 123.
I 2

116 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
and the threatening rumours of war on the frontier,
forced the more serious to reflect and look for some
refuge from the coming storm. And nothing in
the civU state of the empire offered any ground of
repose, or trust, or union, or stabUity. The Church
alone possessed aU these.' There men were beheld
bound together by common interests and visible
unity, elevated by a strong faith, strengthened by
a mysterious power, acting with aU the devotion of
youth, and suffering for religion with a spirit
resembling the patriotism of the days of the re
public ; and thither the thoughtful and the earnest-
minded were naturaUy drawn to find their support
and peace.
2. Among the indirect means by which the seed
of the Divine word was scattered abroad, must be
reckoned the persecutions which drove the Chris
tians, sometimes in banishment, sometimes in re
treat, among the tribes that lay upon the frontier.
In the same manner, among the colonists that
settled in distant parts, or among the legions that
were garrisoned on the border of the empire, or
among the captives^ who were carried away in the
predatory incursions of the Goths, were found some
of the faithful, who bore with them, and not unfre-
' A remark to this effect occurs in Blumhardt, voL i. p. 211.
' Among the captives from Cappadocia, in the reign of Valerian,
were the progenitors of Ulphilas, afterwards consecrated first
bishop of the Goths by Eusebius and other bishops. PhUostorg.
H. E. lib. ii. cap. v. The Gospel was introduced into Georgia in the
same way. Rufinus, p. 226. See Gibbon, vol. ui. p. 528.

IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 117
quently communicated to their captors, the know
ledge of Christianity.
3. At the same time, there were more direct
influences in operation to win over the uncon
verted. The supernatural endovraients of the
Church, (though less effectual in convincing the
unbeliever than is commonly supposed,) were yet
powerful in arresting the attention of the beholder,
and in nerving the faith and patience of the con
verted. Others were won by the moral miracles of
enduring fortitude and patient suffering, wherewith
the Christians cheerfuUy witnessed unto the death,
for the name of the Lord Jesus. Then, again, in
an age and among a people of phUosophy, another
means of recommending the faith, or at least of
removing obstacles from its progress, was provided
in the Apologies which, from time to time, vin
dicated the tenets and the conduct of Christians,
and in the treatises in which the arguments, either
of the scoffing or the phUosophizing assaUant of
Christianity, were met and refuted.
So that generaUy, in reference to this period, we
are led to remark, first, that after the age of the
Apostles, the advance of the Gospel was effected,
not by a wider aggression upon the heathen world,
but by organizing, strengthening, and gradually
enlarging the Churches already planted ; and
secondly, that in its conflict with civUization of
the highest class, and with weU-compacted govern
ment, the position of the Church was mainly

118 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
defensive. It held its ground, and spoke, when
chaUenged, with no faltering voice. It stood, and
"gave place, no, not for an hour," but was per
secuted and suffered, and rejoiced to "bear about
in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." Like
Israel of old, it was content to " stand stiU, asad
see the salvation of the Lord ;" and thus it gained
its moral triumphs and final supremacy.
4. And yet some notices are not wanting of a
direct advance upon nations among whom the Lord
Jesus had not been named, and of the means
whereby fresh converts were added to the Church.
Pantsenus was sent to bear the Gospel among the
Indians; Frumentius was commissioned by Atha-
nasius to preach to the Ethiopians; missionaries
and bishops were from time to time appointed
among the Goths, Scythians, and Saracens.' Evan
gelists, again, were licensed and sent from Churches
already settled, to declare the word of Iffe to the
neighbouring pagans, and to prepare the ground
for pastors, or a fixed and local ministry, being
placed among them.^ Further, in the provision of
catechists, we discover another appointment for
gathering the contiguous heathen into the fold of
Christ. Teachers of the priestly order were com
missioned to this particular office.' Catechisms
' For a fuller statement respecting these events, see Lect. III.
Appendix, No. XII.
' See the passage of Eusebius quoted Lect. III. Appendix,
No. XIIL
' Bingham's Antiq. b. iii. ch. x. sect. 1. See Dodwell's Dissertat.

IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 119
were compUed for the use of the catechumens,'
who, together with the hearers, were admitted to
attend sermons;^ a special part of the church was
allotted to them,' and prayers were offered for their
Ulumination.* Buildings adjoining the churches
were set apart for the reception and instruction of
the newly converted ; ' and a fixed course of disci-
pUne was appointed for them preparatory to their
reception to holy baptism.'' Then, again, in the care
taken that no clergy should be ordained without a
local charge -J in the provision, that the bishop
should be present at the founding of a fresh Church ;'
in the subordination of bishops of distant parts to
the metropolitan see ; ^ in aU these things we may
certainly recognise thus much, — that the gathering
in of the heathen was a care of the early Church ;
that it was conducted on a fixed system, and

Cyprian. De Presbyteris Doctoribus. " His " (sc. Catechu-
menis) writes Thomas a Jesu, " Presbyter probatae vitae et doc-
trinse constituatur Catechista." — P. 872.
' Bingham, b. x. ch. i. sect. 6.
^ Palmer's Orig. Liturg. vol. u. p. 66.
' Bingham, b. viu. ch.iv. sect. 3.
* Palmer, ut sup. Ukewise Chrysost. Hom. II. ad 2 Cor. ch. i.
* Thomas a Jesu, De Proc. Salut. omn. Gent. p. 872, who quotes
S. Clem. (Rom.) Recognit. Ub. ij. in fin. (apud Cotelerii Patr.
Apost. tom. i. p. 524.) Also S. Basil, Serm. I. de Bapt. p. 2. See
Bingham's Antiquit. b. viii. ch. vU. sect. 12.
« Bingham, b. x. ch. ii.
' Bingham, b. iv. ch. vi. sect. 2.
' Bingham, b. viU. ch.ix. sect. 5.
» Copcil. Chalcedon, Can. xxviU. Several of the points in the
above page are noticed by Bp. Middleton, in his Charge at Calcutta.
(Sermons, p. 219.)

120 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
ever in subjection to the idea of the divinely-
appointed authority of the one body and Church
of Christ.
II. And now, in quitting this period, and
passing to a review of the secondary means by
which the extension of the Gospel was effected
during the dreary ages of darkness, and vio
lence, and disorganization, that succeeded, an
entirely new field opens to our contemplation.
The period of miraculous interposition is pass
ing away; the seed of the Idngdom of God has
become a tree; and the Gospel is left now to
spread itself by such methods as the providence
of God may offer, or Christian wisdom suggest.
The conffict with civiUzation and organized society
had ceased, and the conflict was now begun
with barbarism and social disorder. The world
was almost broken up into its primaeval ele
ments ; and there was one power alone on earth
able to reassemble the shapeless masses, and
reduce them into order and harmony. The great
work that the Church undertook was to chris
tianize and civUize the barbarian hosts; and it
Was evident at once, that these were not to be
affected either by direct appeals to the intellect,
or by exhibitions of meekness and endm'ing
patience, which would only wear the appearance,
in then eyes, of weakness and timidity, and
excite contempt. The peculiar characteristic of
the Germanic tribes was a rude personal inde-

IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 121
pendence;' their virtues were those of the indi
vidual ; they whoUy wanted social order, and those
principles on which civU existence depends. On
this account we shaU perceive, first of aU, that
the means adopted for their conversion and civi
lization were aggressive and bold ; and, secondly,
that they were such as pecuharly to set forth
the social hfe of Christians, controUed by an un
seen spiritual power, by which the rude warriors
were most Ukely to be attracted, since it exhibited
what they most needed. Hence, together with the
sixth century, — that period when thick darkness
threatened to extinguish the Ught of the Gospel, —
the first systematic attempt was made by mission
aries for the conversion of the Pagans. Sometimes
a solitary Christian, harassed by despair, and by
the sight that daUy met his eyes,^ and in the hope
of reclaiming some one soul from the power of
Satan, would seek a retreat in the clefts of the
rock, or on some barren height,' and draw around
' M. Guizot remarks, " Nous devons aux Germains le sentiment
^nergique de la liberte individueUe, de I'individuaUte humaine.
Or, dans un etat d'extreme grossiferetg et d'ignorance, ce senti
ment, c'est Vigdisme dans toute sa brutaUtS, dans tout son inso-
;iabiUte. Du cinquieme au huitieme Steele, il en etait a ce point
oarmi les Germains." — Cours d'Histoire, Le9on in. p. 20.
' Thus Honoratus fled from the Paganism which shocked him at
lome, and founded the convent at Lerins, A. D. 400 — 420. Vita
Honorati. S. HUaru Op. ad fin.
^ Vita S. Martini Turon., a Sulpicio Severe, cap. x. Vita S.
5aUi, cap. u. Acta Sanct. Saec. II. " Ibi oratorium in honorem
3. Petri ApostoU construentes, mansiunculas in quibus commane-
ent, fecerunt. IlUsque ibi conversantibus, et ipsum locum exco-

122 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
him a smaU community of men won by his austere
sanctity, and lay the rudiments of a future Church.
At other times, after the pattern of the first Apo
stles, twelve men of devoted minds would throw
themselves into the forests or plains that bordered
the Rhine or Danube ; ' and form a Christian society
which grew into a religious house ; and from
thence commenced that continuous aggression on
the hordes of Germany and Sarmatia, which ended
in their subjugation to the law and discipUne of
Christ. It cannot be denied that one means whereby the
minds of the barbarians were affected, was, by
dazzling their senses, and working on their imagin
ation. Hence, with this period, the pomp of cere
monial in reUgion was largely increased ; expressive
signs and symbols were unsparingly used, and
frequently abused ; spectacles were multipUed in
accommodation to the coarse taste and intellect of
the age, which were thereby at least impressed with
an idea of power, and a sense of respect for Him
in whose honour they were displayed.
Purer, and, as the result proved, far more effec
tual methods were adopted for the conversion of
the heathen, in the introduction amongst them of
lentibus, multi non solum de genere Burgundiorum, sed etiam
Francorum, amore vitae laudabiUs ad ipsos confluerunt."
' Thus Columban entered Gaul. Vita Columb. in Acta Sanct.
Saect. II. p. 7. WUlibrord among the Frisones, and Rupert in
Bavaria, were each accompanied by twelve. — Blumhardt, vol. u.
pp. 404. 426.

rV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 123
the elements of learning and of the practical arts, the
reduction of their language to written characters,'
the translation of the Scriptures into the native
tongue, the instruction and training of the young
in the habits of civUized Iffe.
And for the instrument by which these were
apphed, — the most efficacious instrument, because
the most systematic, in softening and winning the
pagans, — ^we must refer to the institution of mo
nastic houses and seminaries, which soon rose up
wherever an anchorite or missionary fixed his
dweUing.^ We are, perhaps, too apt to judge of these insti
tutions by their issue, and by the aspect they wore
when, in their decline, they were brought into contact
with an increase of knowledge, and under a searching
and no friendly inquisition. But it is impossible to
overrate the blessed effects, which, under the special
guidance of God, they were the means of producing,
1 It seems, throughout, to have been the peculiar province of
missionaries to introduce the seeds of literature among heathen
and barbarian nations. Thus, writing was introduced, in the
Fourth century, among the Armenians, by Isaac, Bishop of
A.rmenia. UlphUas reduced the language of the Goths to written
iharacters. In the ninth century Cyril did the same among the
Bulgarians and Moravians, and gave them a translation of the
scriptures. Xavier commanded Father Henriquez to reduce the
ilalabar language to a grammar. Life by Dryden, b. iv. p. 228.
n later days this same work has been continued, especiaUy in
he islands of the South Pacific and in New Zealand.
' Between the years 600 and 700, seventy-three monasteries
rere founded on the Benedictine rule. Erroul, or Ebrulphus, who
ireached in Normandy, circ. 596, founded fifteen. — Acta Sanct.
iaec. I. p. 338, and II., ad fin. where a list is given.

124 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
in keeping alive and diffusing the Ught of Christian
truth, during these ages of ignorance and social
disorder. For they presented to the eyes of men
the kingdom of Christ, as a visible body and form
of society ; they exhibited that society held together
by a spiritual rule; men's hearts and consciences
controUed by an invisible influence, and by faith in
an unseen power, which enabled them to overcome
themselves, five in obedience and peace, and be
active in religious service. They at once asserted
and embodied the existence of a spiritual authority'
apart from, and far above, the reach of temporal
power. Within them Christians of more pious and
thoughtful hearts sought a home secure from the
storms of the world around; mind was brought
into contact with mind; aU that remained of
learning and phUosophy found there a sanctuary,
and, by being aUied to reUgion, was saved, and
became its handmaid in civiUzing and convert
ing. The solemn and stated ceremonial, and un
ceasing round of services, impressed the pagan mind
with the reaUty of unseen things, and formed a
powerful contrast with the savage sacrifices offered
to those beings whom superstition had invented.
Besides this, the inmates were not mere solita
ries ; but the numerous brotherhood found their
aUotted tasks in the practice of aU the arts,^ the
¦ ' Guizot, CivUization of Europe, p. 157, Transl. Oxford, 1838.
^ An account of the manual labour practised in monasteries, is
given in the preface to Acta Sanct. Saec. I. § ix. cap. cxiii. The
same is strictly enjoined in Reg. Ixvi. of St. Benedict's Rule.

v.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 125
(reduction of manufactures, the education of youth,
he copying of the Scriptures, the cultivation of
earning, and the active offices of charity. It could
lot be, too, but that the holy austerity they exhi-
)ited, the spirit of obedience, the power of the
[Christian faith, the blessings of civUized life, should
ittract the unsettled tribes amongst whom the con
sents rose, and to whom they became the present
iispensers of Ught, as indeed they contained in
^erm the civUized advancement of subsequent ages.'
SVithin them, moreover, was found an asylum for
he oppressed and injured, for orphans, for redeemed
laves,^ for helpless infirmity. Within them, schools
vere formed for the instruction of the young, and
)f the newly converted; — here was nursed the
;pirit of Christian enterprize, and native missionaries
vere trained and sent forth, sometimes into the
iurrounding country, sometimes into distant lands,
;o bear the knowledge of the Redeemer. — Thus
vere gathered together aU the main instruments
'or evangelizing a heathen country ; hence, under
jrod, tribes were converted, and the kingdom of
Dhrist extended ; untU what religious men founded
n piety, princes afterwards estabUshed on worldly
Dolicy, for the civUization of their dominions.
' The character of these convents is eloquently and impartially
et forward by Fleury, Discours III. Sur I'Histoire Eccles. sect.
:xU. &c. vol. xiu. p. 26, 4to, 1713.
' Life of St. Eligius by Neander. See Appendix, No. XVIII.
Thus Anschar, the apostle of Denmark, redeemed some native
laves in Jutland to educate as missionaries. — Blumhardt, vol. ui.
). 223.

126 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
«
It would be easy to note other secondary causes
which tended towards the same end ; but these are
such, as either cannot be approved, or are to be
attributed rather to the course of God's providence,
than to any definite design of man for extending
the Gospel.
The impulse being once given, — the influence of
rulers, the benefits of civUized Iffe, the respect for
men of reUgion, all conduced to sway many who
would otherwise have been unmoved to embrace
the Christian faith. Then the coercive measures
adopted by those who had the might, as by Charle
magne in Saxony, Olaf in Sweden,' the Teutonic
knights in Lithuania,^ established indeed the Gospel,
but by means which the Gospel does not recognise.'
Further, the influence of the Crusades, which were
the offspring of a rising spirit of chivalrous devotion,
and formed the crisis of the contest between the
Cross and the Crescent, — the frequent pUgrimages to
Rome and Jerusalem, — the commercial enterprizes
conducted chiefly by land, were all overruled of God
for the propagation of the Faith, and, with it, for the
progress of the human race.
' The doings of Olaf Tryggvason, are related in Snorro, Historia
Regum Norvegicorum, vol. i. p. vi.
' For the exploits of the Teutonic knights (the offspring of the
Crusaders) against the pagan enemies of Christianity, see VUlers,
Essai sur la Ref. de Luther, p. 293, note.
' A series of " Dubia" as to the extent of compulsion or per
suasion which may lawfully be employed, in order to draw heathens
to the acknowledgment of the truth, are discussed in the fifth book
of Thomas a Jesu, De Proc. Salut. omn. Gent. pp. 204 — 229.

iV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 127
And now, having surveyed the two periods, we
may hasten to such reflections as seem to arise
from the review.
First, let me be permitted to remark, that no pious
mind can rise from the contemplation of the varied
course which the Church has run, can reflect on its
marveUous and repeated conflicts, dangers, and
manffold triumphs, without being impressed with
the perfect conviction of the Almighty power that
was working through it, guiding, protecting, pros
pering it. We need not turn again to its miraculous
rise, nor pause to ascertain the power or the weak
ness of those secondary causes which tended to aid
it in its advance : the bare fact and acknowledgment
of these being hut secondary, their obvious inade
quacy to account for the result witnessed,' throw the
thoughts back on the first impelling cause which
set it on its course, and to which its conquests and
permanency are due. We may note the dispositions
of an overriding Providence in the times and seasons
at which some of the most eventful catastrophes of
its history occurred ; we may recognise them in the
delay of that dark night, which foUowed on Rome's
downfal, tUl the Church had taken root, had proved
its strength, had fixed its creed, had consolidated
its system, had gathered to itseff aU that remained
of vigour and goodness in the corrupted empire of
the West. We may observe them too, in the fact,
how gradually the desolating inroads of the invading
' See Appendix, No. XIX.

128 THJl EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
hosts were made ; how wave after wave succeeded
at intervals, with respite enough given for the
first to spend itseff and be quiescent, before a
second biUow rose and broke. Thus time was aUowed
for the Chm'ch to raUy its powers ; — one tribe was
in part converted, or at least softened, before
another made its onset ; and this, meeting even on
the frontier the influence of Christianity, was, in a
degree, disarmed of hostility before it reached the
centre and citadel of the faith. Again, we may
observe the providence of God in the constant
eduction of good out of evU, even out of events that
threatened destruction to the Clu'istian name. That
great scourge, the barbarian invasions, forms no
exception; for we may believe that these were
designed for the recovery of the enervated nations
of the West : the infusion amongst whom of the
stronger virtues of a vigorous morality, good faith,
chastity, hospitality, and a sense of personal inde
pendence, which characterised the rude and warlike
tribes of the North, may be regarded as the only
possible means of saving them from a worse state of
moral slavery and degeneracy, against which the
Church had perhaps hopelessly striven.
The same thing is yet more evident in those
hindrances which beset the calm progress of the
Gospel, such as the trials which checked it from
without : for as, in the case of the protomartyr, the
persecution of the Jews drove the Christians upon
the Romans, so, afterwards, the persecutions of the

IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 129
Romans drove them upon the barbarians, and the
persecution of the barbarians drove the emissaries
of the faith into convents and religious asylums,
which became the very centres of light and mis
sionary zeal, the citadels of truth and civilization.
Throughout we may recognise, in the extension
of the Gospel, a divine control going with it,
shaping and sanctifying all things, aU events, all
influences, as means of its enlargement ' and exalta
tion. And yet this does not exclude that inward
invisible power with which, from ' time to time, it
wrought mysteriously on the consciences and hearts
of men, and by an almost miraculous effect awed
them into subjection.
It was a sight that might have kindled the
coldest faith, to witness, in the person of the
Roman Bishop, an aged, feeble man, with no out
ward strength or protection, go forth to the camp
of AttUa; and, when with authority he spoke of
the mercy of Christ, to see that victorious chieftain,
appalled and subdued by his saintly presence, turn
his savage hordes back again from their promised
spoU, at the pleading of the servant of God.' Surely
there was present more than a human influence,
when, during the very pUlage of the imperial city,
the spoiler dared not lay his hand on the sacred
vessels which a holy maid surrendered as her only
treasure; but, amid the carnage and destruction
' A.D. 452. See Gibbon, vol. iii. p. 425, 4to edit.
K

130 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
which raged around, reverently bore them, in
sacred procession, and with the chaunt of hymns,
to the sanctuary of the Christian temple.' Well
might Augustine exclaim on these events, " Who
ever sees not that this is due to the influence of the
name of Christ, and of Christian times, is blind ; —
whoever sees, yet praises not, is thankless ; — who
ever strives with him who giveth praise, is mad.
Let none in his wisdom trace it to the natural
workings of the barbarians. He was there, awing,
curbing, miraculously controlling their savage and
relentless minds, — He who had so long before fore
told by His prophet, 'I wiU visit their offences
with the rod, and their sin with scom-ges ; never
theless, my loving-kindness wUl I not utterly take
from him.'"^ WeU, too, may the Christian reve
rently recognise in them the presence of the same
mysterious Power which struck to the ground those
who came out to lay hands on the Lord of Lffe.
And whUe the infidel ' thought he could account for
the secret influence that went with the Gospel, and
for its success, by the prevalence of sorcery ; and
the persecutor, Julian,* by the unity and compact-

1 Gibbon, vol. Ui. p. 237.
= Ps. IxxxviU. 32, 33. Aug. de Civit. Dei, cap. vii. Blumhardt,
vol. i. p. 464.
' Celsus, quoted by Neander, Hist, of Christ. Rel. p. 04.
Transl. by Rose.
4 Sozomen remarks, V. 16, that Julian, perceiving tov Xpio-ria-
VKTflOV Tljf (TV(TTa(TlV fX^'" ^'^ '""" ^'o" <"•' 'T^s iToXiTtlas Tav aVTOV
penovTav, SievouTO travTax^ Tois 'EXXtjvikovs vaoxis ttj TTapa(rKevrj

IV.] before the reformation. 131
ness of its external system, and sacerdotal authority ;
the Christian saw, and stUl sees, in instances such
as these, the power of Christ dweUing in His
Church, which forms its hidden life, and encircles
it, as a waU of fire, to protect it from its foes.
2. But in reference more particularly to the
secondary means by which the Gospel was ex
tended, and which it is mainly our object to
examine, it occurs at once to observe the widely
different aspect which is presented in the mode of
its propagation in the two periods which have
been reviewed. The former was distinguished
by a miraculous agency and the absence of tem
poral aid; the latter by a large employment of
secondary appliances ; — in the former, the Church
was rather defensive; in the latter, aggressive.
Further, the means which were used in the ad
vancement of the faith in the two periods were of a
different order : — an appeal to the inteUect, and
reason, and conscience, marking the one; the in
fluence of civUization, the other. In the former,
the Gospel was wholly antagonistic to Paganism, it
offered no compromise, but renounced all heathen
principles and practices ; in the latter, being an
age of barbarism, a certain accommodation to
ignorance, and adoption of heathen practices was
admitted, to win over the prejudices of the uncon-
Kal TTJ Td^ei rijs XpUTTiavav SprjcrKflas hiuKoafieiv, k. t. X. : and then
foUows a letter from Julian to Arsacius, the priest of Galatia, on
the subject.
K 2

132 the extension of the gospel [Lect.
verted.' Perhaps as a result of these differences,
we have to note, that, whereas in the first period
conversions were individual, in the latter they were
national : — in the former, the course of Christianity
was from the lower up to the higher ; in the latter,
princes were addressed first,^ and then the people.
And it must be added, that, ff the consequence of
this latter process was to extend the Gospel wide,
and to plant it among nations, to the blessing of
future generations, yet, at the time, the conver
sions were much less genuine and real than those
which marked the earlier period of Christianity,
the age of earnest faith and suffering devotion.
3. But, throughout these periods, it is to be
observed, the Gospel was presented to the hea
then as a system, in the form of a visible body,
within which, as it were, Christ was to be found,
and in Him the new life of their whole being
acquired. The fact of its advance having been
' Seethe instructions of Gregory to Augustine, Bede, i. ch. 30,
in which the sacrifice of oxen, &c. was to be allowed to the Saxon
converts, only in honour of Christ, instead of to their demons.
2 Boniface, in his twelfth Letter (to Bishop Daniel, first bishop
of Winchester), quoted by Neander, AUgemeine Geschichte, vol.
iii. p. 100, says, " Sine patrocinio Principis Francorum nee popu-
lum regere nee presbyteros vel diaconos monachos, vel anciUas
Dei regere possum, vel ipsos Paganorum ritus, et sacrilegia idolo-
rum in Gemania sive illius mandate et timore prohibere valeo."
Father Bouhours, in the Life of Xavier (Dryden's transl., book
vi. p. 485) remarks, that " the most efficacious means of conver
sion," (a means, surely, too much neglected by ourselves,) "used
by Xavier was this ; he endeavoured to gain to God those persons
that were most considerable, either for their dignity, or by their
birth."

IV.] before the REFORMATION. 133
attributed, as has been remarked, to such a cause
as this, is enough to prove how large an element its
external system formed in its character, and how
forcibly the minds of unbelievers were affected by
it. In the earlier period, though less discernible
by the outward eye, its visible constitution was
in reality all the more forcibly realized by the
faithful; for oppression and contempt only gathered
them the more closely together, and made them
more deeply conscious, from the sympathy which
each felt for the other, and from the intercommunion
of distant churches, that they were the famUy of
God, and that to belong to Christ was to belong to
a fixed, and this a suffering, body. But the same
idea was again clearly exhibited, when the Church
expanded itself, and penetrated among the hosts of
the barbarians. The men who went forth on that
mission ever carried and presented to the heathen
the idea of the body of Christ : — they asserted it
in their creed ; they showed it in the communities
which they formed ; in the asylum they opened to
those who were converted ; in the jurisdiction they
at once established by the consecration of a bishop
in every newly-gained district; in the discipline
which they observed ; in the intercom'se which they
kept up, not only with one another, but with the
mother Church from which they came, and, in
later days, with the see of Rome. It is not the
place to comment on the despotic dominion which
that Church at length usurped, and by which.

134 the extension of the gospel [Lect.
instead of exhibiting, it destroyed the true idea of
the Church of Christ ; yet we must admit that the
fact of such a power having been estabhshed,
proves at least the prevalence of a conviction that
Christianity was a system, that Christians were a
body, and that unity was a token of that body ; —
and further, a dispassionate judgment wiU conclude
that such a power, usurped as it was, yet became
a channel of God's providences to the world;
that it was still the means whereby the idea of a
spiritual rule on earth was tangibly impressed on
minds which would have been unaffected by the
purer and simpler garb which the Gospel wore in
primitive ages ; that it did overcome the cruelty
and tyranny of monarchs, before which weaker
or less compacted bodies might have faUen ; did
frequently check the career of guUty power, and
uphold the cause of justice and of virtue.
4. There is still another lesson of striking
significance, which a general glance at the ex
tension of the Gospel, in its ebb and flow over the
surface of the world during these ages, impresses
upon the mind. It is, that the permanency of the
Church has been indissolubly connected with the
maintenance of the essential verities of the Christian
faith. And further, together with the loss of these,
there seems ever to have passed away also all
power and energy to give lffe and stabUity, not to
the Church alone, but even to the institutions of
social and national existence. Is not this mourn-

IV.] before the REFORMATION. 135
fully recorded in the history of a large portion of
the Eastern Church? For centuries it was the
source of successive heresies touching the very
centre of the Christian faith, — and it fell in conse
quence, almost irrecoverably, as a helpless prey,
before the arms of the false Prophet. What, again,
was the fate of the Nestorian bodies which were
dispersed over the stiff further East ? For a few
centuries they prevaUed, and multiplied Churches
among the swarming tribes of Asia ; yet, as though
they had " no root in themselves," when the heat of
trial feU upon them, they disappeared " as the grass
upon the housetops :" wherewith the mower fiUeth
not his hand ; nor he that bindeth sheaves his
bosom."' Or contemplate, again, the fortunes of
Arianism in the West. For a time, like most systems
of plausible error, it spread rapidly and Avidely, yet
unhealthfuUy. It gained the earlier barbarian
hordes ; it possessed itself of the greater portion
of the West. But less than a century was enough
to see its rise and decline ; and, more than this, —
as if it carried with it the principle of death, — as
ff it withered what it touched, and imparted its own
evanescence to those communities that embraced its
blasphemies, — it is a most striking lesson, that not
one of the tribes who became Arian has preserved
its name among the nations of the earth. Other
tribes from the East, smaller and weaker than they,
embracing the true faith, have been permitted to
' Psalm cxxix. 6, 7.

136 THE EXTENSION OF THE GOSPEL [Lect.
preserve the memorial of their name in the
European kingdoms which they severally formed,
but of the former no record remains — they are not
written among the nations.'
And do we ask how is this? Certainly, if a
nation's life, its unity, and strength, are to be
traced to its religious faith, the answer is not diffi
cult. For heresy has no inherent vitality; its
principle is disunion; it confesses no transmitted
creed; it breaks itseff off from communion with
past ages ; it loses sight of the authority, and,
therefore, the idea of the Church ; it is ever
distracted, for it appeals alone to individual con
viction ; it acknowledges no aUegiance to what has
gone before, and therefore cannot claim any to itseff ;
it cannot impart (for itself is a stranger to it) the
high temper of faith and obedience, which, as it
forms the Christian's life, is the lffe of nations also.
And therefore it is changeful and transitory ; and
nations that have embraced it have lost the prin
ciple, the source, of stabUity, and the blessing
of God. Therefore, too, on the other hand, has
the Church prevaUed and remained.^ It has
guarded its transmitted creed, and authority, and
system ; and hence has secured its strength. And
while it preserves the purity of the faith, not the

1 Appendix, No. XX.
^ Rufinus was able to state, that, up to his time, no heresy had
taken its rise from Rome, or from any of the Western Churches.
— In Symbol. Apost. § 3.

IV.] BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 137
command and promise of its Saviour alone, but the
experience of past ages, the visible blessing of
God, the nations that through successive centuries
were brought into subjection to the Cross of
Christ, — these may assure us, that, if we are
" zealous," and " repent, and do the first works,"
ff we but stir up the gift which He hath given,
power shaU not be wanting to " make Jerusalem a
praise," "the joy of the whole earth !"

LECTURE V.

MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION.

Part I.

John XVIII. 36.

MY KINGDOM IS NOT OP THIS WORLD.
The sixteenth century, the period at which I closed
the foregoing review of the extension of the Gospel,
witnessed not merely a resuscitation of the human
mind, but a remodelling of the whole state of
society. The elements of previous disorder began
to be reduced to harmony; principles of truth,
which had been entertained before as but indistinct
guesses, were acknowledged, and fixed, by being
brought into action ; rights were recognised ; power
was consolidated ; old things seemed to be passing
away, and a new destiny to unfold itseff to the
nations of Europe. The fuU effects of the great
movement which then took place are still unrealized ;
and probably, neither the beneficial results, nor the
vicious developments of the principles then put in
motion, can yet be appreciated. It was the crisis
towards which the unsettlement of preceding cen-

Lect. v.] MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION. 139
turies, with their contests, discordant systems, and
irregular strivings after truth and peace, had been
gradually but surely tending : and now, on a sudden,
there was a stirring among the nations ; not in one
direction only, but in every department of individual
activity and social existence, a new system arose,
with new manifestations of power, as though some
fresh forms of creation had been thrown up from the
depths of the earth. Fresh energies were put forth,
and struck boldly forward over a boundless untried
sea; and in art and science, as in the material
globe, a new world was discovered in recompence to
the "ventures of faith." And although it was in
the caUing forth of individual powers, that the
peculiar character of the period was evinced, yet its
wonderful effects were seen no less in the recasting
of those principles by which the civU condition of
mankind is regulated. There was a fixing and
settling of pohtical relations in the internal govern
ment of nations ; and a balancing of power, too, in
their external policy, as they began to recognise
their mutual obligations, interests, and independ
ence : and whereas almost every preceding century,
from the downfal of the Western empire, had
witnessed some devastating inroad of warlike tribes
from the East, a curb now seemed placed on
these outbursts of lawless violence, and the nations
settled down in peace. It was the age of coloniza
tion, too, which is probably destined to become, in
the providence of God, the main instrument for

140 MISSIONS SINCE [I-ect.
furthering His purposes in the extension of the
kingdom of Christ.
But of all the events that occurred at that event
ful period, the Reformation in religion was the
greatest ; its effects have been the most lasting
and influential, even as reUgion affects the deepest
springs of human action : and whUe it was itself the
product of preceding causes, it has become largely a
moving cause in aU succeeding results. Yet on this
point it is not intended to say more, than that, with
the Reformation and that stirring of men's hearts
and minds which accompanied it, a new impulse
was given to the efforts, never discontinued indeed,
but of late ages languidly carried on, to extend the
faith of Christ : and both in the East and in the
West a fair field lay open to the zeal and enter
prize of the soldiers of the Cross. At this time,
however, the Church of Rome, which commanded
the influence of the great maritime powers, was
alone in a condition to undertake the task with
any vigour; and within that Church it was un
dertaken most largely, — so largely as almost to
occupy the whole field of vision, — by that extra
ordinary company, which rose up speciaUy to contend
with the Reformation, viz. the Jesuits ; whose sub
sequent faUures, and enormous vices, are found in
strange union with as much heroic seff-sacrifice, as
much purity and singleness of purpose, as was ever
devoted to any cause that has been prosecuted upon
the earth.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 141
I proceed, therefore, to sketch shortly the efforts
made in the earlier portion of this period, by the
Church of Rome, towards the extension of Chris
tianity among the heathen, and those which are
made by the same body at the present time ; — and
this with the view of ascertaining, not merely the
success that has attended these efforts, but the
strength and weakness of those methods and princi
ples on which they have been conducted.
And in doing this, I shall best approve myself to
your judgments ff I avoid both the spirit and the
argument which has been adopted by writers of the
Church of Rome when treating on these subjects.
One object seems uppermost in their mind — to
depreciate, to decry, to exhibit a cold malicious
pleasure in underrating, all that has been done,
or is doing, by others than themselves.' Fresh
schemes have of late been devised by that Church,
avowedly to imitate and oppose the exertions of
some Protestant bodies;^ while not in our own
country alone, but in our colonies, a precise, studied,
and untiring effort is making to enter into a contest
1 See the Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, e.g. vol. Ui.
pp. I — 48, especiaUy 61, No. LXXXII.p. 211, &c. Comp. Dr. Wise
man's sixth Lecture, the extreme unfairness of which, as an account
of Protestant Missions, must at once strike any one acquainted at
all with the subject. A glaring instance of this will be noticed in
Lect. VI.
^ " C'est I'Angleterre," (says a writer in the Annales, vol. i.
No. VI. p. 92, note,) "qmafournil'idee modele de I'Association de
la Propagation de la Foi. La Societe des Anabaptistes a forme pour
ses Missions des Societes," &c. &c. See also vol. U. p. 72, where
this Association is called a "contrepoids" to the Bible Society.

142 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
with our own branch of the Chm'ch Catholic' And
it has been thought politic, if not ingenuous, even
in official documents, so to represent the missionary
labours of other bodies, (defective in many respects
as we fuUy allow them to be,) as ff no success had
attended their steps, — as ff the converts thus brought
to a confession of Christ were composed merely of
apostates from the Church of Rome, were of Ul
characters, and swayed by mercenary motives.^
With this representation is contrasted, of course, a
specious exhibition of the missions of Rome; an
ostentatious parade of numbers is made ; and the
Divine sanction to that Church and system is
thence inferred. But neither wiU this argument
be allowed, any more than the spirit by which it
is advanced and maintained. Numbers are no
test of truth ; numbers may be gained by error,'
even more readily than by the severity of a sound
faith ; and although expansiveness is one mark of
the true Church, yet permanency is a surer one.
Nor, whatever wisdom we may wUlingly recognise,
and desire to imitate, in the methods and manage-
' A Table, which I regret I am not at liberty to make further
use of, has been drawn up from the Reports of the Annales,
showing that the extension of missions of the Church of Rome,
for the last several years, has been remarkably and uniformly in
the direction of the English Colonies, and where the Church of
England exists.
^ Annales, vol. iii. pp. 60, 61, with the note. Dr. Wiseman's
Lect. VII. p. 224, note.
3 Thus Archbishop Laud argued against Fisher, Conference,
p. 254. Oxford, 1839.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 143
ment adopted by the Church of Rome, and in its
enterprise too ; — however we may sympathize,
wherever, within its own limits, it has conveyed
the grace and light of the Gospel to the savage
heart, turning it from idols "to serve the living and
true God," — can we do else than repudiate them,
when we find these methods unjustifiable and pro
fane, and subversive of the true idea and constitu
tion of Christ's Church ; when we find the converts
lapsing into apostasy, or falling back into an idola
trous or half-paganized Christianity ; — nor need we
be greatly moved by the taunt at the popular arts,
by which, in too many cases, the missionary cause
has been advocated and its funds recruited, even
within our own Church, when we find their place
supplied, in the Roman system, by indulgences dis
pensed and accurately proportioned to the prayers
and contributions of the subscribers.'
1 The following is a transcript of the indulgences granted by
various popes to the members of the Institution. They are
" applicable," it is stated, "to the souls in purgatory."
"i. A Plenary Indulgence on the festival of the Finding of the
Holy Cross ; the anniversary of the first establishment of the
institution at Lyons in the year 1822; on the festival of Saint
Francis Xavier, patron of the Institution ; and, once a month, on
any day, at the choice of each subscriber, provided he says every
day within the month the appointed prayers" . . . " The indulgence
attached to the two festivals of the Finding of the Holy Cross, and
of Saint Francis Xavier, may, upon the prescribed condition, be
gained, at the choice of each subscriber, either on the day of the
festival, or on any day within their octaves, or on the day to which
their celebration shall be attached by the bishop."
" 2. An Indulgence of a hundred days, each time that the pre
scribed prayers, with at least a contrite heart, will be repeated, or

144 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
The object, then, before me, is merely this ; to
trace the broader lines along which the Faith has
been extended within the last three centuries by
missionaries of the Church of Rome ; in which the
statements of their own advocates will be gene
raUy foUowed, though it is absolutely necessary to
receive them with hesitation ; and then (what more
especially applies to the pm*pose I have in hand) to
comment on the methods and principles by which
those successes have been obtained.
I begin, then, with India : and it is an edffying
fact to observe, that not even the first intercourse
with that unexplored continent was attempted with
out a thought for its conversion; and that the
earliest baptisms were administered .by the con
fessor of Vasco di Gama.' For several years the
ground was occupied by Franciscans and Capuchins,
but no memorial of their success is transmitted.
And so it continued, tiU India was visited, in 1542,
by that valiant soldier of the Cross, Francis Xavier.
The injustice done to this apostolic missionary by
the fables with which his history is deformed,^ ren
ders it difficult to appreciate his mode of action, or

a donation made to the missions, or any other pious or charitable
work performed."
' MUlar's Propagation of Christianity, vol. U. p. 350.
^ Among the many works which record his achievements is one
with the title of " Xavier Thaumaturgus," containing, it need
scarcely be said, a tissue of the most extravagant fables. On
the subject of the miracles attributed to him, see Appendix,
No. XXI.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 145
the amount of his success : but the heroic faith
with which he threw himself among the idolatrous
tribes ; the quenchless love of souls with which he
was consumed ; the incalculable labours and endu
rances which render his story almost a romance of
chivalry ; the entUe spUit of self-sacrifice with
which he devoted himself to his one object ; his
zeal in preaching and tending the sick ; and, with
all this, the earnest piety and watchfulness over his
own heart which breathe in his letters, and the
wisdom with which he directed the missionary
efforts of his coadjutors ; offer all that we can
desire or conceive in the personal character of a
servant of God charged with the commission to
preach among the heathen " repentance towards
God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ."'
' In reading the letters of Fr. Xavier, and those of the later
Jesuit missionaries in the Lettres Edifiantes, &c. it is impossible
not to be struck with the great deterioration of tone and conduct
which appears in the later missionaries compared with their great
leader. E. g. — Xavier ever openly professed himself an Euro
pean; — he strictly enjoined subjection to episcopal authority;
— he commanded the missionaries to abstain from worldly
occupations ; — he makes no mention of the performance of
miracles; — he is silent on the subject of his own great suf
ferings. Compare, on each of these points, the behaviour of the later
missionaries, which will be noticed in these Lectures : — their con
cealment of their being Europeans, and the false behaviour thence
resulting; — their impatience of episcopal control; — their traffic
and mercenary pursuits ; — the frequent accounts of miraculous
performance; — the enlargement on their own sufferings which
occurs in their writings ; — and we shall at once see that a new
system, not that of Xavier, had sprung up, which in the end
marred the work he so successfully began.
L

146 MISSIONS SINCE [^ect.
Twice he traversed the provinces of Southern
India; twice crossed the sea from Cape Comorin
to China, and even to Japan; thirty kingdoms
became subject to the faith ; — in the space of eleven
years he passed over three times the circuit of the
globe, tUl his name acted as a spell on the minds
of men throughout the Indian Seas. His own
accounts present us with notices of the marveUous
conversions which he effected. In one month he
baptized, according to his own statement, ten
thousand idolaters ; ' the whole kingdom of Tra-
vancore was gained over to the faith ;^ Ceylon, we
are told, embraced Christianity;' other islands fol
lowed in the train ; and the converts in Japan,
within a century, are estimated variously between
one and two miUions.* It may be, that these
statements are somewhat exaggerated; stUl, at any
rate, a sensible impression was made on the hea
thenism of Eastern Asia. But now, turning our
eyes from the past to the present, and surveying
the actual condition of districts where once many
churches were numbered, we are forced to conclude
that there must have been some grievous defect in
the methods employed for the conversion of the
natives, or at least for the perpetuity of the faith
' Lettres de Fr. Xavier, vol. i. Lettre XLV. Edit. Brussels,
1838. In Letter XIV. p. 196, he writes, " souvent j'ai baptizS
en un seul jour, deshourgades entieres."
' Life by Father Bouhours, translated by Dryden, pp. 114, 115.
^ Annales de la Foi, vol. iu. p. 53.
* Annales, vol. iu. p. 50, — " Environ deux millions."

v.] THE REFORMATION. 147
among them. On Xavier's death, the missions
seem to have languished ; tUl, sixty years later, one
of the same fraternity set himseff to re-establish
them. By this time the tendencies of the prin
ciples adopted by the Jesuits began to work them
selves out, and a system of accommodation, and
of unscrupulous expedients, was employed by Robert
a NobUi,' which ended in those disgraceful contests
which exhibited Order in bitter conflict with Order,
Pope opposed to Pope, and the Jesuits in turn set
against the decrees of the Sovereign Pontiff, and
against episcopal authority, to the scandal and
injury of the Christian faith. From the time of
the buU of Benedict XIV. (1744), the missions
declined:^ whatever number of converts were
reckoned at that period, they at once decreased ;
and we have the unquestionable authority of a
Roman Catholic missionary for stating that, in the
space of about seventy years from this event, they
were reduced to one-third of the previous number,
in the extensive districts of the Marawa, Madura,
the Carnatic, and Mysore.'
The names of Xavier and Japan demand next a
' This missionary, caUed also Robert de NobUibus, was related
to Pope MarceUus II. and nephew to Cardinal Bellarmine. — See
Lettres Edifiantes, vol. x. p. 72.
^ The bull " Omnium Solicitudinem." See Letters on the State
of Christianity in India, by the Abb6 Dubois, p. 11. As I shall
have to cite this author on several occasions, I would refer to
the Preface for the reasons why his authority cannot fairly be
questioned even by Roman Catholics.
' Dubois, p. 7.
L 2

148 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
mention of the eventful tale of the Christianity of
that kingdom, coinciding as it does with the general
outUne which the course of the Roman missions
exhibits. If we foUow the account of Xavier's
labours, and those of his immediate successors, the
conversions effected throughout the provinces of
this island were almost miraculous. How they
were effected 1 do not at present inquire. Many
circumstances there were of a secondary and tem
poral character which gained the favour of the
kings, and aided the efforts of the missionaries.'
Yet certainly these, too, evinced a patient and
courageous zeal, which won the blessing of God, and
' Mosheim states these to be; 1st. The teaching of bountiful-
ness to the poor, which contrasted strongly with the severity and
cruelty of the Bonzes. 2d. The great simUarity between the
Romish rites and those prevaUing among the Japanese. 3d. The
interest of the several maritime princes who wished to draw to
themselves the commerce of the Portuguese. Vol. U. p. 264,
London, 1838. SimUar reasons are adduced by Arnoldus Mon-
tanus, in the Atlas Japanensis, pp. 249 — 252. The corresponding
religious practices, as stated by these two writers, consist in — the
existence of a sovereign Pontiff, called the Dayro ; the system of
penanaes ; saying prayers by beads ; the worship of departed
saints ; processions ; prayers for the dead ; auricular confession ;
numerous monasteries ; and consequently the observance of
celibacy. However this analogy (which is discoverable in Thibet
and Siam, as weU as Japan) is to be accounted for, I will only
add, that the solution offered by Dr. Wiseman, in his eleventh
Lecture on Science and Revealed Religion, in which he supposes
these Eastern reUgious practices to be an imitation of the Roman
Catholic worship, wUl not at all meet the case ; for many of them
are much more ancient than the intercourse between the Church
of Rome and the East. Bbhlen, in his work. Das alte lndien>
notices many of the same resemblances ; and the subject will be
again referred to in Lect. VIII.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 149
secured a large portion of the result of their labours.
The triumph, however, was but short : within a
century the number of converts who received the
Gospel rose to above a miUion ; a persecution was
commenced in 1613, as cruel perhaps as was ever
stirred by the power of evil against the Church of
Christ ; — thousands of Christians met, with unwaver
ing constancy, the fire of martyrdom ; — but with its
flames the light of the Christian faith expired, and
pagan darkness has continued since to brood more
deeply over the land.
The dying wish of the great apostle of the Indies,
was to set his foot within the spell-encircled limits
of the Chinese empire. He saw it only and expired.
But his vow did not pass away and perish ; it was
caught, as a descending mantle, by others of a
kindred spirit. About twenty years after his death,'
Matthew Rogier arrived in China, and was soon
followed by his coadjutor Ricci — men of energy,
weU-versed in literature, science, and the practical
arts, and devoted to the one object of evangelizing
that vast empire. From this period, the end of the
sixteenth century, the Church spread itseff wonder
fully, and with but few reverses, throughout the
Chinese provinces, up to the beginning of the eight
eenth century ; numbering imperial converts among
the faithful, so that the Gospel was " manifest in all
' 1579. A sketch of these events may be found in Mosheim, and
Gutzlaff's History of China, chap, xix., and are Ulustrated in the
Lettres Edif. vols. xvi. — xxiv.

150 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
the palace, and in aU other places." Their skUl in
mathematics, their diplomatic address, and unwearied
industry, recommended the Jesuit missionaries to
the highest and most influential stations in the
empire ; the education of the heir to that vast
dominion was entrusted to them ; the mission was
encouraged by the French monarch ; and the coun
tenance given to the Christian Faith at the close of
the seventeenth century,' seemed to throw open the
door wide for gathering that imposing empire within
the fold of Christ. But at this point, as in the
countries already named, when the sweUing tide
seemed ready to overflow the land, a check and reverse
came ; — the corrupt practices of the Jesuits excited
the opposition of the Franciscans and Dominicans ;
— the disputes and animosities between the Orders
roused the suspicion of the Chinese rulers; — per
secution commenced;^ — the missions thenceforth
declined, and for the last century have been feebly
maintained. It is certain, however, that a remnant
stiU exists in the empire, though chiefly of the
lowest class.' Missionaries from among the Laza-
rists,* and agents of the Propaganda, occupy the
field, scattered about under an interdict, and fre-

' The emperor Kang-he was educated by Schaal; and in 1692
issued an edict in favour of the missionaries, legaUzing the preach
ing of the Christian faith in his empire. Preface to vol. xvi.
Lettres Edifiantes, p. xiii.
2 1736.
" Macartney's Missionto China, by Sir G. Staunton,vol.ii. p. 159.
* Medhurst's China, p. 243.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 151
quently meeting their flocks by stealth. Converts,
estimated at the number of 200,000, are said stUl
to remain, though this is but one-fffth of the number
which the Jesuits, on their expulsion, bequeathed to
their successors.'
The neighbouring kingdoms of Tonkin and
Cochin-China form probably the most interesting
of all the missions of Rome. These and the con
tiguous country of Siam are distributed into five
Vicariates, and contain, according to late reports,
above 400,000 Christians.^ Again, I omit for the
present the methods by which these numbers are
sweUed, but which correspond with the system
which has generaUy been adopted. It is impossible
to read, unmoved, the statements transmitted by
the missionaries from this district, in which, of late
years, both the fury of the first pagan persecutions
under Nero or Diocletian seems to have revived, and
a simUar constancy with that of the earliest Chris
tians, to have been evinced by some of the European
priests, and even by native converts, — men who
" have not counted their lives dear unto them," but
in dungeons, or by the more merciful sword, have
won the crown of martyrdom.
But we turn now to the West : for both worlds
opened at the same period before the enterprize of
Europe, and speciaUy of the two maritime powers.

' Annales de la Foi, vol. ii. p. 245.
' Etat general des Missions, vol. xU. Annales.

152 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
Spain and Portugal. The tale of the invasion and
subjugation of Central and Southern America is
written in blood. Yet into these districts, among
the uncivUized aborigines, the Church of Rome
sent forth its emissaries ; — and although their
operations differed widely in character from those
pursued in the East, yet the course of the missions
in both hemispheres taUies as regards their rapid
success and as rapid declension. For above a cen
tury and a half the Reductions of Paraguay formed
a spiritual republic in the heart of the Spanish and
Portuguese dominions. A hundred and fifty thou
sand Indians were reclaimed from their wandering
life,' grouped into families, instructed and provided
for in common as children of a household. Look
ing solely at the methods used for their conversion,
we cannot but admire the skUl and wisdom by
which the natives were won over, and humanized ;
and we may find, in their general outline, a com
plete exhibition of those means by which savage
tribes may at the first be civUized, and brought
under the influence of Christianity.^ We must, in
common Christian sympathy, recognise in these
labours, a noble attempt to rescue the natives
from the corrupting and exterminating influence of
European avarice and civiUzation : — but two faults
beset them. First, it was not the Church that
was planted among the natives of Paraguay, but a
' Prichard's Researches, vol. n. p. 481, note.
' See Appendix, No. XXII.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 153
principahty of Jesuits:' episcopal superintendence
was carefuUy avoided;^ and therefore we cannot
but view these famUies of converts as destitute, in
a measure, of the divine rule of the Catholic
Church, and in that degree sociaUy weakened.
And, secondly, the Christianity that was embraced
consisted chiefly of an external adherence to a
system of forms, and deeply superstitious worship : '
the Indians were treated as children, and the
treatment was defended on the ground of their
being but in a state of pupUage ; and therefore
when the rule of the Jesuits was removed,* the
system that had been established at once fell.
The Jesuits had laboured for a century and a
haff ; and yet, at the close, the natives had acquired.

' They separated themselves from national authority ; — thus,
they told the natives of Parana and Uraguai," que le Roi d'Espagne
n'avoit point de pouvoir sureux." Recueil des Dficrets ApostoUques
et des Ordonnances du Roi de Portugal, Avertissement, p. 14.
The contests between the Jesuits and the Crown of Portugal are
detaUed in the Relation Abregee concernant la Republique que
les Religieux (nommes) Jesuites ont etabli dans les pays et
domains outre mer ; also in Principaux Abus que les Religieux
de la Compagnie de Jesus ont commis pour usurper les Etats de
I'Amerique Portuguaise et Espagnole, published by Joseph I.
King of Portugal, in 1757.
2 Southey's History of BrazU, vol. ii. The Jesuits claimed to
be subject to their superior, and not to the bishop, who had his
seat at Assumption. Bernardin de Cardenas, a bishop, for at
tempting to restrain the Jesuits, was driven by them from his
episcopal town in 1644. The same occurred in 1646. — Recueil
des Decrets, &c. 14.
' In proof of this it is sufficient to refer to the Lettres Edif.
Src. vol.ix. on Paraguay.
* 1757.

154 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
under their special instruction, so little strength of
character, so little of the principles of social life,
that they were unable to maintain their existence.
i-Like the original tribes of North and Central
America, whole races wasted away : and their past
history is like some by-gone vision, the disappear
ance of which proves that it was baseless. And
what has foUowed ? We may learn from the present
state of Mexico, that ff Christianity can be said to
have overspread the once flourishing colonies of Spain
and Portugal, yet it was such as gave but " a name
to live," and bequeathed but a doubtful benefit.'
" A change of name," says a traveller, " a change
of form and garb of the idols, new symbols, altered
ceremonials, another race of priests, has been effected
for the Indians. . . . The whole system of the
aboriginal religious hierarchy bears a singiUar resem
blance to that which took its place under the
domination of Spain. . . . They retain their super
stitions, talismans, and charms ; . . . but as to any
change of heart and purpose, a knowledge of the
true God as a Spirit, who is to be worshipped in
spirit and in truth, a sense of their degraded and
faUen state as men, and an acquaintance with the
truths of the Gospel, its application to their indivi-
' Reign of de Francia in Paraguay, from 1819 to 1825, by J. R.
Rengger. After speaking of the system of the Jesuits, he adds,
" the descendants of these Neophytes have scarcely any advan
tage over the savage Indians ; and yet, surely, one hundred and
fifty years of instruction ought to have left some traces behind
it." P. 55.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 155
dual state, and its influence on their lives and cha
racters, they are as blind and ignorant as their
forefathers.' We have to trace likewise a similar effort directed
towards the hitherto inaccessible regions of Africa ;
an effort conducted in the same way, meeting with
the same success, and the same discomfiture. The
conquests of the Portuguese on the Western coast
opened the course of the Congo to Christian enter
prize; and hither, in the seventeenth century, the
see of Rome sent missionaries of the strictest reli
gious order, the Capuchins,^ to bring the dark
tribes which inhabit that kingdom to the faith. The
kings of powerful states, and with them their sub
jects, were led to profess the Gospel. Zingha, a
queen of vast influence, and of a cruel and intrepid
character, was baptized ; but it becomes a mere
mockery of the solemn work of conversion to God,
to regard the reception of the idolatrous natives
into the Church, as more than an unmeaning and
profane ceremony.' And though for two hundred
years these efforts were continued, yet, since then,
the spirit that set them in action has died away,
and the name of these Western tribes, as weU as

' Latrobe's Mexico, p. 166.
' Fifteen Capuchins were sent by Alexander VII. in 1666, and
others by Innocent XI. in 1682. See Pinkerton's Voyages,
Africa. ' Murray's Discoveries in Africa, pp. 80, 81. See Appendix,
No. XXIII.

156 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
that of Sierra Leone, is expunged from the list of
the missions of Rome.'
It would be only to repeat a simUar tale, were
I to recount the labours of the same unwearied
propagators of the faith, to bring the ancient
Church of Abyssinia into subjection to the Roman
see. For nearly a century the Jesuits directed
their versatUe powers against its mUd and pastoral
inhabitants ; but the spirit of those who recollected
that the conversion of their forefathers had been
the care of the great Athanasius, rose against the
schismatical intrusion ; they were content to endure,
even unto death, the persecution which was stirred,
through the influence of these stranger missionaries,
against them; untU, by the middle of the seven
teenth century,^ the name of the Jesuits, and the
authority of the Roman see, were finaUy banished
from the precincts of this primitive, though faUen
Church. Such is a sketch of the more marked efforts to
extend the faith, which have issued from the
Church of Rome, since the period when universal
Europe was roused to new deeds of enterprize and
social advancement. And, of late years, a fresh,
1 An establishment, under the bishop of Angola, exists in the
Portuguese possessions on the coasts ; but all attempts upon the
native tribes in the interior seem to have ceased. See Annales,
vol. xii. p. 340.
2 1632. The account of this violent attempt of the Jesuits,
and their faUure, is given in Geddes's History of the Church of
Ethiopia, and in MUlar's Propagation of the Gospel, vol. ii.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 157
but far more questionable zeal, — for it is charac
terised by a spirit of rivalry, — has evinced itself;
and Rome is making revived efforts to extend its
spiritual sway. While it had kings and princes for
its nursing fathers, it was content to follow in the
train of colonization, to laud and excite the zeal of
governments in the propagation of the faith; but
its later conduct is marked by a disregard and a
contempt of this obligation of the state towards its
colonies ; it claims an universal sovereignty ; and
now, wherever the EngUsh arms have opened a
way, or the English Church has extended its fos
tering care, there Rome rears a rival altar, and
numbers itseff with the sects. Thus, in Austra
lia,' and more recently in New Zealand, — within a
few months in Tasmania, — even already, as is said,
in the recently-acquired territory of China, — the
standard of the Roman see has been raised, its
authority is inculcated, with its attendant corrup
tions, to the destruction of the unity of the
Church. To judge from the accounts, however,
that have been received, the numbers of its native
converts in the countries aUuded to are but small ; ^
nor is there ground for anticipating much success
to its labours, when it is found in opposition to
• See Appendix, No. XXIV. for the just and manly protest of
the prelate of this diocese against the intrusion, into his see, of an
archbishop appointed by the pope. The step he has taken is one in
volving amost important principle, which he has promptly asserted.
^ The bishop of New Zealand, in a letter, dated July 29, 1842,
remarks of Korarika, the head quarters of the French bishop
(Pompallier), " I have been unable to ascertain the slightest

158 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
the rightful and divine authority of a national
episcopate. It would be impossible, in the body of a dis
course, to enter more minutely into the details of
the various missions thus generaUy sketched; nor
into a statistical account of those now existing in
China, India, and the South Pacific Isles, the chief
scenes of the present labours of Rome in the exten
sion of the Gospel. The review of them, even as
thus exhibited, opens a wide field of solemn and
interesting reflection. It suggests, at the very
outset, a thought that wUl strike every observer.
We see, together with the awakening spirit of
Europe, missionary enterprize throwing itseff into
the different quarters of the globe ; following in
the track of armies, sharing in the hazards of dis
covery, and keeping pace with the eagerness of
commercial activity. We find men gffted with
every power that can conciliate or sway mankind,
going, as on a crusade, against newly-discovered
Paganism, supported by monarchs, armed with an
intense spiritual power ; and it would seem as if
the sceptre of Satan was at once about to fall
before the Cross and the Spirit of Christ. The
sickle was thrust boldly into the whitening harvest,
and a large return seemed at first to reward the
labourer's toU. But almost universally, just when
foundation for the bishop's statement of many thousand converts
having joined him. His converts, as far as I can learn, are not
numerous."

v.] THE REFORMATION. 159
success was reaching the full realization of hope, it
was checked, and reverse began ; the swelling
waters abated, and flowed -within narrower chan
nels ; and the conviction is forced upon the mind
that permanency does not belong to the means
then adopted for propagating the faith ; that there
was latent in them the seed of decay, which re-
quUed only time, and a trial sufficiently prolonged,
for its development.'
Successive progress and dechne has been the
confessed condition of the Roman missions -^ and
the point for our further consideration is, to what
causes may that success and decline be referred ?
We should be led to expect that there must have
been in the methods employed an admixture of
truth and error, of what is earthly with what is
divine ; and probably that the means of immediate
success were the cause of subsequent faUure. If
in any degree we can ascertain these causes, they
will at least present us with lessons of no common
interest and value.
And now, it seems on reflection, that as far as
secondary means are concerned, we may, in a large
' In addition to the instances mentioned, it may be observed,
that the island of Moro, in the Indian Archipelago, was num
bered among the triumphs of Fr. Xavier ; Thomas a Jesu, p. 109 ;
also. Life of Xavier, translated by Dryden, p. 177; but of this
island it is stated in the Annales de la Foi, " la trace (de I'evan-
gUe) en est entierement effacee." — Vol. i. p. 18.
^ Thus, at least, it is confessed, in India, " TeUe est, en abrege,
I'esquisse de la naissance, des progrls, et du declin de la Religion
Chrfitienne dans I'Jnde." Annales, vol. Ui. p. 58.

160 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
degree, trace the solution of the whole question
to the very constitution of the bodies by which
those labours were mainly conducted. The reUgious
fraternities, especially the company of Jesuits, were
the great agents in these missionary enterprizes;
and the only light in which we can view these
bodies, is that of voluntary associations. Though
sanctioned by pontifical authority, they were yet
independent in their operations, and became societies
within, and yet distinct from, the Church. They
imposed their own vows, exacted aUegiance to fresh
authority, formed and wielded a distinct machinery
for engaging in special labours. It is well known
how complete and unquestioning a surrender is
made by the members of the society above-named
to the head of their order.' Hence naturally arose
the desire of aggrandizement for their own body f
hence the love of power : submission to the Church
and to its rules was lost sight of,' or subordinated
to the attainment of a particular design ; and with
' Constitution. Jesuit. 31. " Superiorem (quicunque ille sit)
loco Christi Domini nostri agnoscentes .... obediant." This is
enlarged on in the Epistle of Ignatius Loyola to the order. See
Epistolas Generalium ad Fratres Soc. Jesu. Antwerp, 1635, Ep. I.
^ See Tractatus de Missionibus, by Rovenius, Archbishop of
PhUippi, and Vicar Apostolic, p. 49, Paris, 1625. The evils of the
religious orders in missions, are pointed out with much calmness
and truth in this small treatise. The writer was assailed for it
by some of the orders ; but was defended and vindicated by
CamiUus Caesar, censor of publications at Rome.
3 This was complained of in a letter to Pope Innocent X. from
John de Palafox, bishop of Angelopolis, in 1649, who remarks of
the Jesuits, "Leur gouvernement ne se conduit point par les
regies de I'Eglise Catholique, mais suivant les maximes d'une

v.] THE REFORMATION. 161
the loss of this temper, flowed in the whole tide
of evU conduct and fatal result which foUowed.
Amazing zeal, and heroic devotion and energy,
were enlisted in the labours that were undertaken ;
but in the prosecution of them, maxims and expe
dients most questionable and culpable were adopted,
fixed principles of moral obligation were evaded, a
pliancy and accommodation the most varied were
resorted to, and every means of human influence
was employed to ensure visible and present success.
And visible and present success foUowed ; but in the
main they were human devices and unauthorized
expedients that were used in obtaining it, and there
fore, after a period of wonderful effect, and romantic
achievement, faUure and discomfiture ensued.
And this I have to trace out in the efforts that
were directed towards the conversion of the heathen
world. And the first thing to be noted, is the
principle of aUuring the minds of the heathen by
an adaptation of the Gospel, and of the worship of
God, to pagan practices and prejudices. The least
objectionable form of this is discerned in the large
use of pictures, and images, and amulets, and even
the sale of consecrated corn by which the converts
were frequently attracted.' For the last religious
direction cachde qui ne sent sue que des Superieurs." — RecueU des
Decrets ApostoUques, &c. vol. i. p. 258.
• See Lettres de Fr. Xavier, Lettre LXXIV. vol.U. p. 175, Edit,
Brussels, 1838 ; Lettres Edif. vol. xxU. p. 413, and Atlas Japa
nensis, p. 247.
The following is a striking instance of the recrimination to
M

162 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
instinct that lingers in the human breast is that of
a superstitious trust in magical virtue, with which,
as in the Fetiches of Africa, the fears of the savage
wUl invest the commonest, and even the most
loathsome objects. To this feeling the Jesuit mis
sionaries largely addressed themselves ; and we may
see at once the extreme danger that was thereby
incurred, of only supplanting one kind of idolatry
by another. How far this result foUowed wiU
be Ulustrated presently. But a much more vicious
form of this principle soon exhibited itself, —
one which we might have discredited, had it
not been established on evidence that cannot be
gainsayed. It was that which was employed first
by Robert a NobUi, when he and his coUeagues
represented themselves as European Brahnuns,
adopted' the manners, dress, and superstitious rites
of that caste, bore the cord of dignity, and the very
which Roman CathoUc missionaries are exposed in arguing with
idolaters. It is related by a missionary in the Annales de la Foi,
No. XIV. p. 285, EngUsh trans. " ' If there is but one God,' said
I, addressing one of them, who appeared better informed than the
others, ' what is the meaning of so many figures in stone, wood,
and clay, which are to be seen at every step on the roads?'
Instead of answering me, he showed me a crucifix that was on the
table, and asked me what was the signification of that image ....
I contented myself with telling him, that the crucifix was only a
sign which reminded us of what our Lord suffered for us. ' With
us,' said he, ' aU those figures of stone and clay are only signs.' "
— " The answer," adds the missionary, " was subtle, but not
grounded in fact."
• For the whole account of these practices, see Norbert,
M6moires Historiques, vol. i. p. 13, &c. See also Lettres Edif.
vol. X. pp. 46, 62 ; and Annales, vol. in. p. 51.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 163
mark of idolatry on their forehead;' and pro
claimed themselves to the Hindoos as having ema
nated from their deity. Hence foUowed the forgery
of a deed purporting to authenticate their story ;^
and at a later period that of a Veda, which was
exhibited as the Christian's Veda, to be classed with
the sacred books of the Hindoos.' It is altogether
shocking to think of the deceptions that were thus
unscrupulously practised; as when Lainez pro
claimed a false decree of the pope to sanction the
well-known rites of Malabar, which had been con
demned.* ParaUel and contemporaneous with these
acts, were the controversies respecting the adoption
of the practices and language of the Chinese idola
tries.' The worship of ancestors, and the appro
priation of a term to the Deity which is constantly
' Dubois, pp. 5, 6.
2 Mosheim, vol. ii. p. 254, London, 1838, note, who quotes
Jouvenci, Histoire des Jesuites ; and Norbert, Mem. Hist, sur les
Missions des Malab. torn. u. p. 145,
5 A Dissertation by Mr. EUis on this fraud is contained in the
Asiatic Researches, vol. xiv. See Appendix, No. XXV.
* Norbert, vol. i. p. 213. Cardinal de Journon had, in 1704,
issued decrees condemnatory of the Malabar rites, which decrees
were confirmed by Pope Clement XI. in 1711. Lainez, Bishop of
St. Thomfi, who arrived in India at this latter date, backed by a
Jesuit priest named Bouchet, solemnly declared that the Pope
had, by word, sanctioned the practice of the condemned cere
monies. Clement afterwards issued a brief, exposing the false-r
hood of this statement, which brief is given in Norbert, vol, i.
p. 238. 5 The Constitutions of Clement XL in 1715, " Ex iUa die," and
of Benedict XIV. in 1742, "Ex quo singulari," on the subject of
these rites, are recited in Norbert, Part iu. pp. 37 — 45. See Ap-r
pendix. No. XXVI.
M 2

164 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
represented as conveying to the Chinese mind
merely the idea of a material first cause, were freely
allowed and defended ; and, in justification, it was
maintained, that the same acts, though idolatrous
in idolaters, ceased to be so in Christians :' and
thus, by a sophistical refinement, which involved a
practical falsehood, the outward religious act was
disjoined from the inward, and a mere intention of
the mind was substituted, in the worship of God,
for the homage both of "body and spirit which
are His."
Hence arose, as a part of the same system, a
mode of acting, effective perhaps at the moment,
but fatal in the end. By the assumption of Brah-
minical .caste, the missionaries were led to despise
the lower castes ; they refused to eat in the houses
of Pariahs, or to administer to them the last rites
of the Church of Rome, and forbad their communi
cating at the same altar with converts of a higher
grade. ^ The sacrament of Baptism, as we should
expect, was profaned, by imparting it to the hea
then with no sufficient conversion in heart, or even

1 Norbert, vol. i. p. 409. The principle maintained by the
Jesuits was — " On pent permettre quelque chose de superstitieux,
afin de parvenir a quelque bonne fin, pourvu que I'intention de
celui qui opere ne soit pas de faire un acte superstitieux." " Sous
ce faux pretexte," adds the writer, " ces P6res ont toujours pre-
tendu que les rits Chinois etoient innocens, quoiqu'ils soient
evidemment faux et superstitieux."
' Norbert, vol. i. pp. 8, 9. So far from caste being opposed, it
was viewed as coincident with the institution of the tribes of
Israel. Lettres Edif. vol. xi. p. 19.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 165
in creed.' Hundreds in a day, whole villages at
a time, received that holy rite, not in India
alone, but in Africa : and even a Pontifical decree
was needed to check the administration of holy
Baptism to candidates who professed a Chris
tianity stUl tainted with Paganism.^ Past events,
I am aware, are chiefly alluded to here; — still,
though a more careful method seems generally
adopted in heathen lands, there is enough even now
to make any one distrust the character of such
conversions as are said to be effected.' Official
statements refer, with seeming satisfaction, to bap
tism being clandestinely administered to Pagan chil
dren ;* and we are led to ask. Can the impartation
' In proof of this assertion, see the striking evidence borne in
passages from Joseph Acosta (a Roman Catholic missionary) in
Appendix, No. XXVII. For general confirmatory instances of what
is mentioned in the next sentence, see Lettres de Fr. Xavier, xiv.
p. 196; Lettres Edif. vol. xi. p. 93; Annales de la Foi, vol. xii.
pp. 154, 155 ; Lettres Edif. vol. xvii. p. 166, where no provision
seems made for the education of the exposed chUdren baptized in
multitudes. Some chUdren were seized by force, and baptized at
Goa, by order of the viceroy. Lettres Edif. vol. x. p. 70. The
practice in Africa has been referred to in p. 155, note 3.
^ By Alexander VII. Norbert, vol. i. p. 566.
^ No notice is here taken of the barbarous conduct pursued, for
the conversion of the Mahometans and other natives on the
Malabar coast, by the Portuguese, in the sixteenth century. Mr.
Forster justly caUs it "a deteriorated revival of the holy wars."
I omit, too, the mention of the Inquisition of Goa; but surely
the recollection of these things might have prevented many an
idle taunt against Protestant converts as "rice Christians." See
Maljpmedanism Unveiled, vol. n. pp. 240, 241 : the Roman Ca-
iholic testimony of D. Garcias de Silva Figueroa, is quoted in the
notes to the volume.
* Annales, vol. xii. p. 165.

166 MISSIONS SINCE [I-ect.
of such a gift be justifiable, when no provision
is made for cherishing it and keeping it alive?
Parents are even bribed to allow then offspring to
receive the awful privUege of being joined to Christ's
Body ;' which has been conferred in some years on
forty thousand children. And other accounts pre
sent us with the fact of adults receiving in sickness
the same gift, on the first manifestation of an
awakened mind ; the doubtful character of which,
as indicating a conversion of heart, is weU known
to all conversant with the cure of souls. ^ Even
now, the Christianity resulting from such a system
as this wears all the guise of Paganism. For, hear
a missionary of the Roman Church thus speak of
India : — " The Hindoo pageantry is chiefly seen
in the festivals celebrated by the native Christians.
These processions in the streets, always performed
at night-time, have indeed been to me, at all times,
a subject of shame. Accompanied with hundreds
of trumpets, and all the discordant noisy music of
the country, with numberless torches and fireworks,
the statue of the saint placed on a car which is
charged with garlands and flowers, and other gaudy
ornaments, the car slowly dragged by a multitude,
1 Annales, vol. i. No. II. p. 71.
2 Annales, vol. x. pp. 179, 180 ; voL i. No. VI. p. 79. Compare
vol. u. p. 176, and for the superstitious state of mind stiU Unger-
ing in one already baptized, vol. x. p. 170. In this latter case, a
woman inquired whether she ought to carry her chUd on her
back, since it had been tapu-ed in baptism : this, says the mission
ary, is " une preuve que la religion n'est pas seulement 6, la surface,
mais qu'elle a p6n6tre jusqu'au fond des cceurs !"

v.] THE REFORMATION. T67
shouting aU along the march, the congregation sur
rounding it aU in confusion, several of them dancing
or playing with smaU sticks, or with naked swords;
all shouting or conversing vsdth one another, with
out any one exhibiting the least sign of respect or
devotion : such is the mode in which Hindoo
Christians in the inland country celebrate their
festivals."' With such statements as these before us, sadden
ing as they are even to refer to, we cannot wonder
ff many are attracted to a worship so little differing
from their own : and, beyond a doubt, a consider
able portion of the success which has been obtained
is to be referred to those methods, which must
shock every one who contrasts such mere pageantry
with the adoration of Him, who is a Spuit, and is
to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. We cannot
expect such expedients as these to prevaU in the
end ; they can neither lead the heathen to a genuine
reception of the faith, nor secure them in the main
tenance of it whenever the season of trial comes.
And in iUustrating both those points, I would
content myseff vrith referring to the authorities
already cited. " Can any one be surprised," says a
Capuchin missionary, in the middle of the eight
eenth century, " ff Christians of this description,
and formed according to a spirit so far removed
from the precepts of the Gospel, should show so
» Dubois, pp. 69, 70.

168 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
Uttle attachment to the faith, or firmness in adher
ing to it ; ff the attraction of base interest, if the
fear of the sUghtest persecution, should have suffi
cient power over these mercenary and half-pagan
souls, to induce them to return to idolatry ?"' Nor
is the assertion of the Abbe Dubois, during this
century, less sorrowful. " It would be some con
solation," he says, " if at least a due proportion of
them " (viz. the neophytes) " were real and un
feigned Christians. But, alas ! this is very far
from being the case ; the by far greater number
exhibit nothing but a vain phantom, an empty
shade of Christianity. In fact, during a period of
twenty-five years that I have famUiarly conversed
with them, lived among them as their spiritual
teacher and spiritual guide, I would hardly dare to
affirm that I have met anywhere a sincere Christian."^
Again he adds : " Among them are to be found
some who beUeved themselves possessed, and who
turned Christians after being assured that, on
receiving baptism, the unclean spirit would leave
them, and never return ;' and I will declare it with
shame and confusion, that I do not remember any
one who may be said to have received Christianity
from conviction, and through quite disinterested
motives."* After such evidence as this, we cannot

' Norbert, vol.i. p. 53. 2 P. 63.
' Instances of what is here mentioned by M. Dubois abound in
the Lettres Edif., and are recorded with full satisfaction.
' P. 134.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 169
doubt that of Bishop Middleton, on the same
subject, who writes : " As to such converts as
are made by the Church of Rome, I question
whether they might not as well retain the name,
with the ignorance, of Pagans;"' or of Bishop
Heber, who found them as ignorant of the
commonest truths of Christianity as the Hindoos ;
and whose remark is thus fuUy verified, that
" they belong to a lower caste, and, in point of
knowledge and moraUty, are said to be extremely
inferior."^ And, further, as to the other point, the stabUity
and consistency of such conversions ; — evidence is
supplied on this head, by the melancholy defections
that have frequently characterised the missions of
the Roman Church. Though it has been urged in
their behaff, that the converts have pecuharly mani
fested an independence of secular support and en
couragement, and a primitive constancy under the
severest trials, yet facts do not seem to substantiate
either part of this assertion. It is observable that
the striking success and failure that marked these
missions synchronized with the ascendency and
decUne of the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal, the
two great colonizing powers in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, and the liberal and earnest
supporters of the Roman see. Again, the transfer

1 Life byLe Bas, vol.i. p. 222.
' Journal, vol. iii. p. 460. See Dubois, p. 101.

170 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
of Ceylon to the Dutch in 1655 ' was attended
by a general defection of the Roman converts ;
and though it is not intended to assert either
the wisdom or the piety of the measures which the
government adopted towards that country in regard
to religion, yet the fact shows, at least, the insta
bility of the previous conversion of the natives.
Or take the melancholy tales, estabUshed by the
undoubted testimony of missionaries of the Church
of Rome, of the apostasies that have unchristianized
whole districts during the terrors of persecution. In
1701^ the indiscreet zeal of the Jesuit missionaries
in the destruction of idols had drawn down upon
the Christians throughout Tanjore the revenge of
the native powers. The converts were condemned
to the prisons, where, throughout the whole circuit
of the province, scarcely one endured to bear the
Cross, but multitudes denied the sacred Name into
which they had been baptized. Again, at a later
period, (1784,)' the tyrant of Mysore resolved to
enforce the creed of the false Prophet throughout
his dominions, and directed his first assaults against
the hated Christians. Sixty thousand were seized,
and ordered to submit to the rite of circumcision ;
and of that vast multitude not one " had the courage
to confess his faith, and become a martyr to his
1 At this period, Roman CathoUc authority informs us, that
scarcely a trace of Paganism remained in the island. Annales,
vol.iU. p. 53.
2 Norbert, vol.i. p. 71, &c.
* Dubois, p. 74.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 171
reUgion." " So general a defection," writes the
missionary of the Roman Church, " so dastardly an
apostasy, is I believe unexampled in the annals of
Christianity." It would be unfeeling and unwarrantable to make-
light of trials so severe as these ; yet such defections
do at least show that there must have been a want
of depth and constancy in the faith of Christians,
who so universally faUed in the hour of fiery trial,
and this, too, not in the very infancy of the propaga
tion of the Gospel, but after the lapse of two
centuries from its introduction into the country.
Yet truth requires that they should be brought
forward, in order to iUustrate the fact, that the
methods whereby the great, the astonishing successes
of the Jesuit missions were gained, could not secure
permanency. The subsequent reverses showed how
large a portion of the harvest was but as "chaff
which the wind scattereth away from the face of the
earth," and that in a great measure both the success
and the faUure are to be attributed to the same
causes, the same vicious principles of conduct.
For, from the faulty methods adopted in gaining
converts, arose the scandalous quarrels which threw,
not the East alone, but Europe into excitement,
and raised a storm of crimination and apology, the
sounds of which have scarcely yet died away. Three
papal decrees' were insufficient whoUy to suppress
1 By Innocent X. in 1645, confirming the decree of the Con
gregation de Propaganda, at the end of Lettres des MM. des

172 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect,
the corrupt practices which had disfigured the Chris
tianity imparted by the missionaries; and which
were not discontinued untU after the papal legate
had been persecuted,' and a system of evasion
pursued which threw discredit on the Christian
name; — untU the intercommunion between one
order and another had been broken off, and a Jesuit
bishop had renounced communion with his frater
nity f — untu the decision of the Chinese emperor
had been obtained by the missionaries and opposed
to the decrees of the pope, and practical unity and
Church authority had been altogether destroyed.
It was not difficult to foresee the end of such events ;
the hated order was expelled from almost every
country where their missions had existed, from
Japan, China, Abyssinia, Paraguay; and with the
cessation of the repudiated practices they had used,
the missions declined, and seemed robbed of their
secret power. We may accurately trace the cause
of faUure to the suppression of these practices,
from which so large a portion of the previous success
resulted ; and it is satisfactory to observe, that the
faUure was owing to such parts of the system as
were of human device, of worldly and culpable
Miss. Etrang. p. 162 ; by Clement XI. in 1715 ; and Benedict XIV.
in 1742 and 1744. — Norbert, vol. n. Part Ui. p. 37.
' Clement XI. excommunicated the Bishop of Macao, by a
buU, on account of the injurious treatment of the Cardinal de
Toumon, in 1711. — Norbert, vol. i. p. 199. The conduct of the
Jesuits towards this prelate is related in Histoire Abregee des
Jesuites, Paris, 1820, tom. ii. p. 106.
' Norbert, Pref. p. u. and pp. 242, 286, vol. i.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 173
policy. God's word did not faU ; the truth (as far
as it was preached) did "not return void;" the
worship of the Church (in so far as the Catholic ele
ment was retained) was not ineffectual in attracting
the rehgious affections of men ; — but the admixture
of profane rites, the corruption of the true faith,
brought with them disaster and disappointment. This
is testified by papal missionaries ; it was urged again
and again, that Christianity would sustain a severe
shock ff these practices were discontinued ;' the
cause of conversion was made to rest upon them; —
they ceased, and Christianity did decline. Even now
it is distinctly urged that two of the main hindrances
to the reception of the Gospel are, — in China, " the
worship of ancestors,"^^in India, the unhallowed
system of caste .-' both of these customs were unright
eously conceded by the Jesuits, and converts were
' Grimaldi, visitor of the Jesuits in China, in his letter to the
Pope, in 1700, urged, " That if the Chinese Christians are forbid
the use of the ceremonies, which are practised in reference to
Confticius, and their deceased parents, the Christian religion runs
the hazard, on the first accusation, of being banished out of the
empire of China." Quoted in Appendix XXII. to Penrose's Bamp-
ton Lectures. This apprehension is noticed in the Constitution
of Benedict XIV. ad fin. See Norbert, vol. U. Part iU. p. 74. The
vicious practices of Robert a NobUi are urged as the only means
of converting the Indians, in a letter from the Jesuit, Pere Pierre
Martin, Lettres Edif. vol. X. p. 72. The discontinuance of these prac
tices, and the discovery of the missionaries as Europeans, are
advanced as the cause of conversions ceasing. Annales de la
Foi, vol. ui. p. 57.
2 Annales, vol. U. p. 245.
' Dubois, p. 81. — The same thing is strongly urged by Indian
prelates of the Church of England. See Bishop of Madras's letter,
on Caste, in Report of S. P. G. for 1842, p. cxxii.

174 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
gained; they were forbidden, and conversions
ceased : and therefore we may fairly trace to such
imworthy and worse than " legal" compUances, both
the rapid success that attended these missionary
enterprizes, and their subsequent discomfiture.
That these causes both of success and faUure are
much less active now, is at once aUowed, — and with
the mitigation of the corrupt system, a smaUer
measure of success has been realized. But whUe
an impartial judgment must lead every one reflecting
on these things to repudiate such methods in the
propagation of the Gospel, and at the same time to
see, that to these and not to God's blessing pecu
liarly bestowed upon one branch of the Church, the
boasted results of its missionary labours are in a
large degree to be attributed ; we may yet acknow
ledge and admire the earnest zeal, and seff-devotion,
and perseverance, which have characterised the men
by whom these exertions were made. We may
recognise, too, a spirit and discretion in much of the
instrumentaUty that is provided for making them,
which we may do weU to imitate. In the European
seminaries for the training of missionaries,' and the
acquisition of foreign languages, — in the numerous
body which commonly accompanies each mission,^ —
' Pope Gregory XIII. founded twenty-three such seminaries.
Thomas k Jesu de Convers. omn. Gent. p. 111. Clement XI. by
buU dated 1707, ordained that seminaries should be attached to
the principal monasteries.
» Within the last two years. Dr. Folding returned to Sydney,
New South Wales, with the title of " Archbishop," and was
attended by twenty young priests.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 175
in the establishment of sanctuaries and religious
houses for the reception of Catechumens, and the
education of orphans, and native children,' — in the
preparation of elementary forms of instruction,^ —
in the community of living, and austerity of habits
frequently adopted, we must perceive at once, modes
of proceeding which in some countries, as in the
East, seem actually needed to ensure any large
success, and which the purest Christian wisdom
must approve.
Nor can it be denied, notwithstanding the vicious
principles which have so largely infected many, and
those the most important missions of the Roman
Church, that yet a power, and that of no common
kind, has been evinced in the prosecution of these
enterprizes. There has been a vigour and earnest
ness exhibited by those who have laboured in that
ennobling service, which can be traced to no ordinary
motive ; and the success that has been obtained in
many countries, and the constancy that has been at
times displayed by the converts under trying cir
cumstances, indicate a source of influence over the
heathen mind, which cannot be traced to those
' For these various institutions, see Annales, vol. i. No. IV.
p. 29. voL U. p. 194. and No. LXXXIII. p. 282 ; Lettires de Fr.
Xavier, Letti-e XI. p. 176, and CXIV. p. 403.
' See the instructions for catechizing given byFr. Xavier to the
catechists in India, Letter LIII. The method, not the substance
of the recommendations is, of course, the point to be observed.
Also Letter XC. p. 125, Brussels Edit. His mode of conducting
pubUc service on Sunday is contained in Letter XIV. See
Appendix, No. XXVIII.

176 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
causes to which a large portion of the supposed
conversions may be referred. Before dismissing
the subject, then, I would advert to two of those
principles from which this power may seem to have
sprung, and which it cannot but be edifying and
instructive to contemplate.
It certainly is a matter of admiration to note the
devotion with which, at aU times, men endowed
with the highest gffts have been ready, in the
communion of Rome, to consecrate themselves to
these enterprizes. And whence has this sprung?
Whence has it arisen, that men have not been
wanting to bear living witness among the heathen
to the reality of the faith which they profess, and to
hazard aU in preaching it? Whence has arisen
that seffrsurrender, and spirit of confidence which
has distinguished them,' and which of all moral
qualities has perhaps the most efficacy in persuading
and influencing the minds of others? There is
one source to which we may refer it, — ^the spirit of
obedience. For what is the one condition of attain
ing the highest exceUence ? Is it not the acting in
conformity with an external law ? Is it not to be
found in looking out from seff for the apprehension
1 E. g. — ^for to multiply instances would be useless : Lettres
Edif. vol. xvii. p. 430, " L'unique grace que je vous demande,
c'est de me donner tout ce qu'il y aura de plus penible, et de plus
mortifiant dans la mission," &c. &c. Another writes, " J'aurois
souhaite que vous ne m'eussiez pas laissfi le choix, d'aller en
I'une ou en I'autre des deux missions ; mais que vous m'eussiez
dStermind. Je n'ai quitti la France que pour obeir a Dieu,"
&c. &c.

v.] THE REFORMATION. 177
of truth, and in shaping the individual will to a
supreme wUl authoritatively made known to us?
Is it not true that the noblest and most heroic
achievements have been prompted by some impulse,
real or supposed, impressing the soul from without,
and awakening a responsive inward conviction,
against which the wUl dares not rebel? Hence
arises a readiness to engage in great services, —
hence a true confidence, and unflinching steadfast
ness, freedom from the doubts that at times harass
the mind which reposes on its own decision; — and
more than aU, perhaps, the comfort and sustaining
power which spring from the performance of duty.
It was this strength of an obedient will, this alle
giance to recognised rule, that nerved the devotion of
those whose footsteps were over the whole world,
pressing the deserts of Tartary and the sands of
Africa. It is this temper that actuates their fol
lowers now in the same career. And to the same
obedience, not capriciously vowed to seff-chosen
authority, but reposed in the Church and in her
commission to send, we must look for a revival of a
similar spirit of faith and devotion, which, on her
summons to arise and execute the great work,
which her supreme Head has commanded her to
accomplish, wUl enable men to suffer the loss of all
things, that the name of the Lord Jesus may be
glorified among the heathen.
And lastly ; it was but the working of the same
principle, which led to that powerful influence
N

178 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
which was undoubtedly exerted in winning many a
soul from its vain idolatries, viz. the exhibition of
the Church before the heathen as of a body called
to suffer for Christ's sake. We may deem the self-
vowed poverty, which distinguishes some religious
fraternities, to be over-strained, and even opposed to
the spirit of the Gospel; we may believe, too, that it is
needful to array the Church of Christ in the influence
which belongs to station, that so it may gain access
to the high places, and to the great of this world.
StUl, among the most solemn and affecting truths
which are written in the Gospel, is that of Christians
suffering, and winning others by suffering, — " bear
ing about the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the
life also of Jesus may be made manffest."
It is not a subject of mere surmise, but of uniform
experience, that the endurances of Christians, the
seff-sacrifice they have evinced for the sake of
winning souls, have prevailed more in gaining con
verts throughout aU ages, than the arguments of
reason, or the calculations of temporal benefit. The
weak things of the world have been the strong
things of Christ. Nor can we wonder at this. It is
when thus exhibited that the Gospel appears in its
true character. It shows itseff as bearing the
remedy for man's wants, — as sympathizing with the
sorrowful and destitute, — as the comforter under
earthly privation, — as supplying a compensation for
the inequalities of this life, — as having a blessing
irrespective of outward lot, nay, belonging peculiarly

v.] THE REFORMATION. 179
to those who are in want and weariness, — as estab-
Ushing a kingdom "not of this world." It was
this character,' which the most eminent of those
whose labours have been reviewed, undoubtedly
presented to the heathen, and as by a natural
attraction won to themselves the sympathies of
men. We wonder, we justly wonder, how it was
that, in some lands, in Japan for instance,^ though
the acquaintance of the converts with the truths
of Christ's Gospel was certainly very imperfect
and corrupt, yet in the hour of persecution,
many, nay hundreds, were found wiUing to shed
then blood for the faith, and to yield their bodies
to be burned. It was, they had been instructed
that to this lot they were called in Christ, should
God so order it ; that ff they suffered, they should
" also reign with him."' Therefore no strange
thing seemed to happen to them; they had em
braced the Cross ; they were prepared to find
it sharp, — to find it, in the end, the instrument
of then ovrai death. This expectation kept them
stedfast. In the suffering members of His Church,
¦ See a noble speech of Fr. Xavier's, in Dryden's Life, p. 174.
" If I should happen to die by their hands, who knows but aU of
them might receive the faith ? For it is most certain that, since
the primitive times of tie Church, the seed of the Gospel has
made a larger increase in the fields of paganism, by the blood of
martyrs, than by the sweat of missionaries," &c. &c.
2 The account of the terrible persecution in this island, is
detailed in the Atlas Japonensis, by Arnoldus Montanus. And
for a curious instance of the way in which young converts were
inured to pain and suffering, see Appendix, No. XXIX.
' 2 Tim. n. 12.
N 2

180 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
they had seen Christ as He was in the flesh, " a
man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;" they
had seen Him pierced and His brow encircled
with a crown of thorns, and so they were enabled
to endure and " rejoice in tribulation." The
patient fortitude of those who had come and
preached the Gospel to them, and who went about
frequently not having where to lay their heads, in
sickness and weariness, in poverty and pain, attracted
the heathens' heart, and taught them to suffer too.
For is there not a hidden charm, a mysterious
virtue, in exhibiting to the world, through the
medium of the members of His suffering Body,
the image of Christ crucified? Was not this the
secret of much of their moral power, whose
almost miraculous efforts have gained them the
name of apostles among the heathen ? And wher
ever we see this wUling devotion, must we not
do it honour? Nay, must it not lead us, if we
would profit by the conviction, most humbly to ask,
however unworthy any individual may be to do so.
Where is this spirit amongst us? We have seen
men of zeal, and simplicity, and power, and truth,
(and we may bless their memories,) issue from our
Church, and from this University, to carry the word
of lffe among distant idolaters ; but hardly has
this feature, this peculiar feature, of Christ's pre
sence been lifted up as an ensign before the heathen,
— His suffering. Hardly has there been that spirit
which reckons the going forth to die with Christ its

v.] THE REFORMATION. 181
noblest service, and suffering for Him its highest
glory. Yet ff the Chm-ch of England is to be the
instrument of subduing and drawing the souls of
heathen to Christ, her faithful members must learn
of her this spirit. Among the many things which
we may desire, this is among the chiefest. And,
certainly, if God deal mercffuUy with this His
Church; ff He design her to be the instrument
in accompUshing those great deeds, which are open
ing before us to be done, He wiU in His own
time raise fit instruments, and stir the hearts of
men of high aims and holy ambition, to place
themselves at her service, to go wherever she bids,
and reap wherever a harvest is to be gathered in.
For surely here the great law of vicarious suffering
finds most largely its application. It is a law of
our very natural being, — it forms the essence of
real Christian charity, — it shone forth as the basis
of atoning Love in the great work of Salvation : and,
therefore, in communicating this Redemption to
his fellow-man, in being a feUow-worker with his
Lord, man must be content to labour under the
overshadowing influence of the Cross of suffering, —
must himself suffer ff he would bless, — and " lose
his " own " life " that the life of others may be
found.

LECTURE VI.

MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION.
Part II.

Matt. V. 14, 15.
YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WOULD. A CITY THAT IS SET ON A HILL
CANNOT BE HID. NEITHER DO MEN LIGHT A CANDLE, AND PUT
IT UNDER A BUSHEL, BUT ON A CANDLESTICK ; AND IT GIVETH
LIGHT UNTO ALL THAT ARE IN THE HOUSE.
As universality is a property of the Gospel, so (ff
the distinction may be made) expansiveness is a
token of the Church of Christ : and for this reason
the image of light and of a candle is so commonly
used in Scripture to represent, as in the text, both
the one and the other. So that thus much we must
conclude respecting any portion of the Church ; ff,
after due trial, it fail of difiiising its light abroad,
a light that maybe recognised and felt, then, so far
forth, it is without the mark of being of that One
Body which Christ has instituted and endowed with
power for this purpose ; it is deficient in the con
ditions and requirements needful for fulfUling the
command, " Go ye into all the world, and preach

Lect.VL] MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION. 183
the Gsspel to every creature," and for claiming
the promise which is certainly attached to the
execution of this duty.
Acknowledging this principle, and applying it to
the subject before us, we now turn from the review
last made of the missions of the Church of Rome,
to simUar efforts made since the Reformation,
first, by the Church of England, and secondly, by
various bodies into which reformed Christendom
has been broken up and crumbled.
For, as is weU known, among the many taunts
directed equally against aU who have protested
against the corruption and usurpation of Rome,
this is one, viz. that Christianity, as professed by
them, has lost its expansive power ; that it is pent
up within just those Umits, to which, by the first
convulsive effort that cast aside the Papal yoke, it was
borne ; that, since then, it has even receded ; that
the attempts made to bear it among the heathen,
and gather them within the Church, have been
abortive, and have utterly faUed. Again, it is
urged, that this is owing not to want of endeavour,
nor to want of means, but to what is caUed the
Protestant Rule of Faith ; whUe such successes as
are acknowledged (and but very few are noticed)
are attributed to merely secondary causes, such as
the use of force, or the influence of civilization, or
the support of the civU power.'
' Annales, vol- u. p. 63, note. Dr. Wiseman's Lectures, Lect. vi.
p. 193. In regard to the last-named point, the very review that

184 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
Such a charge, ff substantiated, would be most
serious ; and the truth of it wiU be tested in the
present Lecture. We may say at the outset, how
ever, that, in its sweeping indiscriminate censure, it
is untenable. We may maintain, in the first place,
that even the defective and frequently unwise efforts
of unauthorized bodies to extend the Gospel, have
not been without some fruit bearing witness to
their acceptance of God; secondly, that the ste
rility which, on the whole, we must confess, has
attended the missionary labours connected with our
Church, is not traced, nor traceable, to a supposed
Rule of Faith above aUuded to, but is expUcable on
other grounds ; — and lastly, that the method com
monly adduced as the practical worldng of that
Rule, viz. the indiscriminate distribution of the
Bible, is not adopted, or recognised, by the Church,
nor is it that upon which she expects the blessing
of God to descend in converting the nations of the
heathen to the faith.
Before entering on the detaUs which I shaU have
to set before you, a few words must be said on the
startling fact, which might seem to furnish ground
has been taken will show that Roman Catholic missions always
received the greatest support from the government of the coun
tries from which they issued, such as Portugal, Spain, and France;
and have been largely indebted for their success to this circum
stance ; while it is equally indisputable that Protestant govern
ments, as such, have generaUy neglected to assist, nay, have, in
some cases, (as will appear,) discountenanced the efforts of mis
sionaries. The causes of this opposite conduct might be readily
traced, and would deserve consideration.

VI.] THE REFORMATION. 185
for the charge that has been mentioned, that it
was not tUl after a long interval that any attempt
was made, or anxiety evinced, by the Reformed
Church of England, for the extension of the
Gospel and the salvation of the heathen. This note
of an Apostolic Church seemed indeed, for a time,
to be wanting to us. Day after day, in its
evening hymn, the prayer was offered as a witness
against succeeding generations, that God would
make known His way upon earth. His " saving
health unto all nations." ilnd still generations
passed away, and no heart nor hand seemed
stirred to the work. We cannot help asking
why it has been so, and endeavouring to ascer
tain the cause of so humbling a fact. And on
a retrospect, there are many circumstances which
go, if not to justify, at least to explain it. The
outbreak of the Reformation isolated the English
Church and the reformed continental bodies from
the vast system with which they had been bound
up. They were thrown suddenly on their own
resources. Numberless duties pressed upon them
at once, of which they were unable to compass the
range, or provide the means necessary for their
discharge. They had to create anew, to buUd up,
to fix their principles, define their rights, and
ascertain the relations in which they stood to one
another and to the temporal power. And yet they
had not entirely mastered their own or one another's
principles. The sympathy and union which had

186 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
been strong enough for them to break from Rome,
was not sufficiently close to enable them to re
construct, and to draw out, a system of their own ;
to develop it on defined laws of action, with unity
of conduct and of object. Two principles seem
mainly to have predominated in the measures
adopted by the reformers of our Church ; and these
they were dUigent in carrying out, — the Christian
life of the nation on the one hand, and of the
individual on the other ; with these alone they were
occupied, and by these their views, for the time,
were bounded. Their own immediate difficulties,
too, soon engaged their thoughts. When the
depths of society are once broken up, it is not untU
after a long lapse of time, and many heavings to
and fro, that they can settle down again in peace
and order. Thus internal strifes and gainsayings,
hostUities from without fomented by Rome, and
perplexities from within, exhausted the energies of
Christian men during the reigns of Elizabeth and
James ; and for 150 years no definite attempt was
encouraged for extending the Church into the dis
tant wUderness of the world. Thoughts, indeed,
and crude proposals were entertained from time to
time, but they serve only to bear witness to the
state of unripeness in which Christians found them
selves to enter upon so high a work of evangelical
duty and enterprise. In 1556, a body of preachers
issued from Geneva, under the joint direction of
Calvin and the French minister Coligni, for the

VL] THE REFORMATION. 187
purpose of establishing their system of 'Christianity
on the continent of Brazil, and among the savage
natives.' But the expedition was marked by a
signal and distressing failure. Again, a scheme to
rival the Roman Propaganda was devised by
Cromwell, but was never realized.^ Nor in our
Church was the spirit of missionary enterprize dead,
though it lay dormant for a while, or burnt feebly
in the secret aspirations of individuals. The influ
ence and energy of the truly noble Robert Boyle
were exerted for the propagation of the Gospel in
India and America, which object he aided by his
munificence;' but stUl nothing systematic was
attempted. Again, a kindred philosophic mind in
Bishop Berkeley bent its powers towards the con
version of the American Indians ; and the fairest
scheme that was ever devised for the execijtion of
this purpose was prepared by him, and urged by
his own personal devotion and toil, but it met
with coldness and repulse, and it fell.*
StiU, even prior to the last event, the close of the
sixteenth century saw an onward move towards the
^ Brown's History of Missions, vol. i. pp. 3 — 9.
2 Burnet's History of his Own Time, voLi. p. 132. Oxford, 1823.
See Appendix, No. XXX.
' He was at the expense of publishing the four Gospels and
the Acts of the Apostles, in the Malay language, which were
printed at Oxford in 1677; and he left, at his death, the sum of
5400/. for the propagation of Christianity among infidel and unen
lightened nations. — Brown, vol. ii. p. 714.
* See Proposal for converting the savage Americans to Chris
tianity. Berkeley's Works, 4to. vol. ii. p. 421 ; and Brown, vol. ii.
p.715.

188 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
resumption," by the Church, of this neglected func
tion, in the formation of " the Society for the Propa
gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." It partook,
however, of the character just assigned to the prin
ciples on which religious men generally acted, and
within which their views were narrowed. For al
though it contemplated the diffusion of Christianity
in aU those parts of the world in which any colony
or factory of Great Britain had been established, yet
the salvation of the heathen was only in a secondary
degree its concern. It was defensive, and was
rather engaged in Christianizing a temporal doini-
nion, than in extending the kingdom of Christ.
Yet it claims our thankful regard, since, for a cen
tury, in conjunction with the kindred Institution
" for Promoting Christian Knowledge," it bore
witness in our land, when none else did, that the
Church had a thought for the heathen ; and, of
later days, through the wonderful extension of our
colonial empire, its sphere of action has expanded,
and reaches to almost every portion of the Pagan
world. Of the same national character were the missions
established by the Dutch during the seventeenth
century, in Ceylon and the islands of the Indian
seas, Java, Amboyna, and Formosa, in which they
had planted colonies. The Holy Scriptures were
dispersed with zeal, and a considerable number
of the natives were gained over; but in each of
the three latter islands the mission ceased with

^^•] THE REFORMATION. 189
the temporal dominion of the Dutch, and Chris
tianity seems to have disappeared from them, or to
exist only in a state of great corruption.' Again,
in 1705, Frederic IV. of Denmark was moved to
found a mission on the coast of Coromandel, and
afterwards, in 1721, at the instigation of that
zealous and enterprizing missionary, Hans Egede,
on the shores of Greenland. The latter of these is
rendered eminent by the sufferings of the first mis
sionaries, and by the devoted continuance of their
labours by the Moravians, who have at least shown,
by their power over the rude natives of these inhos
pitable climes, that no condition of human nature
is beyond the reach of the transforming power of
the Gospel. The former is signalized by the suc
cesses of Ziegenbalg, Schultze, and Schwartz, whose
labours, inherited and extended by Societies acting
within our own Church, opened one of the most
hopeful fields in the East for the propagation of
the faith.
But amidst the growing consciousness of obliga
tion towards the heathen, the Moravians (in 1731)
rose up to exhibit a pattern of devotion and godly
enterprize which no subsequent efforts have at all
equalled. Regard them either in their spirit of seff-
sacrifice, or in their weU-concerted plans and
system of action, and they not only show what a
1 Brown, vol. i. pp. 26, 30, 31,

u

190 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
vigorous and faithful resolve can effect, but iUus
trate the causes of their ovm success, and of our
failure. Driven by persecution from Moravia, and
hunted into mountain-caves, and forests, where
they held their nightly assemblies by stealth, the
diminished and suffering band sought at last in
Saxony a refuge from Papal persecution. But
scarcely had they secured a resting-place, when this
body of six hundred exUes, with the first returning
sense of safety, cast their thoughts towards the
heathen world; and though a mere handful in
numbers, yet with the spirit of men banded for
daring and righteous deeds, they formed the heroic
design, and vowed the execution of it before God,
of bearing the Gospel to the savage and perishing
tribes in Greenland and the West Indies, of whose
condition report had brought a mournful rumour to
their ears. And so, UteraUy with " neither bread
nor scrip," they went forth on their pUgrimage ;
and incredible as it sounds, within ten years they
had established missions in the islands of the West
Indies, in South America, Surinam, Greenland,
among the North American tribes, in Lapland,
Tartary, Algiers, Guinea, the Cape of Good Hope,
Ceylon.' Their success wUl be mentioned presently.
In some districts, indeed, the work faded in their
hands : yet in others, the field of their operations
' Missions of the United Brethren, Introduction.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 191
has been enlarged ; and we might well feel shame
if we withheld our sympathy from men who still
burn with the same spirit, stUl toU in the same
harvest-field of souls. In the West Indies, North
and South America, Labrador, Greenland, and y
South Africa, they now maintain fifty-eight missions,
tended by 262 labourers ; and though the number
of their body is said not much to exceed 10,000,
they yet reckon above 57,000 among the heathen,
who are either converted, or are receiving at their
hands instruction in the Gospel.'
These were the preparations for a more general
movement, chiefly among the Protestant bodies in
this land. In 1792, the " Baptist Missionary
Society" was formed, and was foUowed three years
later by the " London Society" for the same purpose,
conducted chiefly by the Independents. In the
foUowing year the Scotch Association was instituted ;
and in 1800, several individuals within the Church
originated the present " Church Missionary Society"
for Christianizing the heathen in Africa and the
East. In 1817, again, the Wesleyan Association
was consoUdated : and, besides these various bodies,
several others, many of them in America, and most
of minor importance, have been formed, and pursue
the same object, each carrying its peculiar principles
and tenets among Europeans and natives in dif
ferent parts of the globe.
' Report for 1841, p. 53.

192 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
And what success has attended these sadly
desultory and conflicting efforts to extend the
Gospel, and bring mankind into obedience to
Christ? It is indeed a melancholy reflection,
that, from our shores, Christianity should go
forth, not in one shape, but in shapes as mul
tifarious as individual conviction and zeal can
make them, — that all our dissensions should be
propagated and reproduced among the heathen ;
that the gift of God, designed to be the healer
of the nations, the harbinger and source of peace,
should become the spring of strffe and debate ;
that the pagan mind, just awakening to the
truth, should have that truth presented to it in
manffold forms, and when disposed to look out
from itseff to receive the counsel of God, should
sometimes be thrown back on its own judgment
to choose which system it wUl embrace. Chris
tianity suffers by all this; it must suffer; we
must be prepared for failures; we must be
prepared for enemies to confound together the
operations of all these associations, whether within
or without the Church; to impute the faults of
each to aU, and attribute the failures of any
portion of them to a general withholding of
God's blessing from any missionary labours thus
undertaken and directed. Let me again repeat,
that were this indeed true, there would be deep
cause for alarm. I proceed, therefore, to re
view such successes as seem unquestionable, and

VL] THE REFORMATION. 193
in which we cannot but recognise God's blessing
upon labours undertaken for His sake; let me
endeavour to point out the causes of comparative
faUure, with such tokens for good as may appear, —
and so to open the way for the eduction of such
principles as the facts seem to Ulustrate, which
may exhibit the laws of God's dealing in the exten
sion of the Gospel, and may guide and encourage
His Church in the prosecution of its appointed
work. I turn then at once to the wide field of India ;
the scene of much discouragement and much hope.
Above a century has elapsed since the first Danish
missionary set foot on its soU, and confronted that
monstrous and shapeless mass of superstition by
which it is overshadowed. It was indeed an
unequal contest. Two or three strangers were
stationed at Tranquebar, on the outskirts of that
vast continent,' powerless and defenceless, to assail
a mighty and organized system of two thousand
years' duration. Almost from the moment of their
entering in, incessant wars devastated every pro
vince. Christians, who should hav« been living
epistles of Christ, and have preached Him by their
lives, showed themselves the servants of sin rather
than of God. Christian governments discounte
nanced Christianity, and attached civil incapacities
* Ziegenbalg and Plutcho were sent by Frederic IV. king
of Denmark, in 1705. — Niecampii Historia Miss, in Ind. Orient.
p. 3. O

194 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
to converted heathens ;' and even in later years, the
first Anghcan bishop was by stealth inducted into
his spiritual domain,^ through a faithless fear of
offending heathen prejudice. Such was, and has
been, the paralyzing discouragement against which
the Gospel has had to make its way. Yet, in a
considerable degree, it has advanced. We may
turn to the days of Schwartz. That sterUng and
devoted man of God was engaged for nearly haff a
century' in preaching the Gospel, and is said to
have converted seven thousand natives.* Consider
ing the scantiness of the means at his command,
we might be quite content with the knowledge that,
at his death, he left behind him this spiritual off
spring in the field of his missionary labour. But
since then, during the present century, that field
' Extract from Regulations of the Madras Government, 1816 : —
" The Zilla Judges shaU recommend to the Provincial Courts the
persons whom they may deem fit for the office of District Moonsif ;
but no person shaU be authorized to officiate as a District Moon
sif, without the previous sanction of the Provincial Court, nor
unless he be of the Hindoo or Mahometan persuasion." (Heber's
Journal, vol. iii. p. 463, note.) The Bishop likewise relates, —
" About twenty people were present; one, the 'naick,' or corpo
ral, whom, in consequence of his embracing Christianity, Govern
ment very absurdly, not to say wickedly, disgraced, by removing
him from his regiment, though they stUl allow him his pay." —
Vol. U. p. 280.
2 Le Bas's Life of Middleton, vol. i. p. 76.
2 His missionary labours extended from 1750 to 1798.
* In one year of his active ministry (1775), it is stated that at
two of the stations which he superintended, Tranquebar and
Trichinopoly, the increase of members in the congregation, including
the chUdren of converts and proselytes from the Roman Catholics,
amounted to 627. Brown's Hist. vol. i. p. 192.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 195
has greatly enlarged itseff; and it may be said, that
the " Uttle one" has " become a thousand." The
missions then established by him have been con
tinued by societies in this country, and haVe largely
increased.' It is weU known that Bishop Heber
computed the number of converts in Southern
India, in 1826, at 15,000.^ This calculation has
been disputed, and has been broadly stigmatized as
being " very much too great."' Yet the only evi
dence adduced in disproof of it, is the fact of the
Bishop having confirmed fifty natives at one station,
and fffteen at another ! And as a very unfair
representation is based upon this calculation, I
must be permitted to say at once that instead of
being " very much too great," it was certainly not
above, and, in aU probability, much below the
actual number. I forbear to trouble you here with
the exact details in support of this assertion.* I
will content myself with saying, that official returns,
made two years before, represented the converts in
connexion with the Church as exceeding the com
putation of Bishop Heber, which is moreover con
firmed by coUateral evidence ; and, further, that had
the missions of other bodies been included, the cal
culation of Protestant converts, even at that period,
should have been raised at the least to 23,000, the
' In 1 812, on the coast of Coromandel alone, they were reckoned
(including chUdren) at 16,000. Brown, vol.i. p. 230.
" Journal, vol. iii. p. 460.
' Wiseman's Lectures, VI. p. 175.
* See, however, Appendix, No. XXXI.
o 2

196 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
number certified three years before, in ParUamentary
evidence, by a missionary, as the result of his personal
knowledge. And since those days, the progress has
been decisive. TinneveUy became, in 1828, the
scene of a considerable movement, and many heathen
were led to receive the Gospel. Let me refer to
recent events. The difficulty in obtaining reports
of the older missions of Tanjore and Trichinopoly,
prevents the possibUity of any accurate statement
being made respecting them.' At Vepery, however,
a mission founded by Schultze, in 1728, and sup
ported by the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts, twenty-two native adults
' No one, who has not triedit, can imagine the difficulty of arriving
at exact conclusions in regard to missionary successes, as detailed
in Reports, partly from defective returns, partly from unsystematic
and diversified modes of classifying the individuals under instruc
tion. E.g. In the Report of the Church Missionary Society, which
are the fullest, the common classification of the natives, in con
nexion with the missions, is into " communicants" and " attendants
on pubUc worship ;" but whether any, or how many of the latter
are baptized, there are no means of guessing; for besides, or
amongst these latter, some are mentioned as " inquirers," " can
didates for baptism," " hearers," but whether these are all in the
same class, or how they are to be reckoned, is uncertain. Instances
of aU these titles occur in the Forty-first Eeport. Of course other
Societies have another classification. It is very much to be wished
that some such certain division were adopted as prevailed in early
days, into baptized, catechumens, hearers ; we might then know
in what state the converts mentioned in the Reports might be
understood to be. The Moravians approach most nearly to the
original system ; they distribute their members into the " bap
tized," "candidates for baptism," (catechumeni), and "new
people," (audientes) ; they have likewise a subordinate class of
"excluded," corresponding exactly with the i^adovjicvoi, or
poenitentes. See Buigham, b. x. ch. U. sect. 2.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 197
were baptized in 1838.' The Bishop of Madras,
in his visitation, two years ago, (1841,) speaks of
meeting with whole Christian viUages in the Tin
neveUy district.^ He states that lately 3000 had
been added to the Church ;' and that in four stations
alone he had confirmed 1500 native converts.*
Without mentioning the Dissenting Associations, —
(one of which, however, is said to have 10,000 natives
under instruction in the Province of Travancore,^) —
take only these facts, together with the statement,
that in connexion with the Church Missionary So
ciety there are nearly 7000 baptized converts, and
above 19,000 receiving more or less instruction;^
and we must conclude, that a wide and effectual
door has been opened in Southern India for the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. We may believe, as the
prelate of that diocese assures us, that " the Gospel V
is as surely there as it is in England, and may be
preached there, with as saving effect to tens of thou
sands, as it is already preached to thousands."'
This is no insulated instance. In the northern
province of Bengal, a stirring of men's hearts to the
' Report of the Missionaries of the S. P. G. Madras, 1839.
2 Charge, quoted in S.P.G. Quarterly Paper, No. XIX. p. 10.
3 Report of S.P.G. 1842, p. 117.
* In 1842. The four stations were in the TinneveUy district.
Report C.M.S. 1842, p. 70.
» On the authority of the Secretary of the London Missionary
Society. « Communicated by the Secretary of the C. M.S. The Report
was made up to the 31st of December, 1841.
' Letter in Report of S.P.G., 1841, p. 154.

198 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
reception of the Gospel, simUar to that witnessed in
Southern India, — ^perhaps more extraordinary from
the obscurity in which its origin is veUed — is
preparing the way for larger results. At Barhipur
and Krishnaghur, both of them missions in connexion
with the Church, whole vUlages seem to awake almost
simultaneously, and demand to be instructed in the
truth, and to put on Christ in Baptism. At Barhi
pur, but few signs of any spread of the Gospel
showed themselves before the accession of the Rev.
C. E. Driberg, as a resident missionary, in 1835.
From that time, converts have been gathered into
the Church ; in 1838, the number of the baptized
amounted to 131 ; of catechumens, to 235. Three
years later, (in 1841,) there were, of baptized, 472,
of catechumens, 517; so that a congregation of
nearly 1000 was coUected, exclusive of many
(above 200,) who were inquiring after " this way,"
and of such unworthy catechumens as were excom
municate.' And recent reports confirm the ex
pectation of increase.^ At Krishnaghur, it would
seem as if the seed scattered on the ground by
' Report of Rev. Professor Street in S. P. G. Report, 1842, p. Ixx.
' Bishop of Calcutta's Charge for 1842: " In the viUages of the
Propagation Society about Jangera and Barhipur, 1200 have been
admitted to holy baptism, who, with 1300 catechumens, constitute
a body of 2500 under Christian instruction ; of these, 370 were
candidates for confirmation when I visited the station last Feb
ruary." — P. 18. An accurate return, made up to July 1843, and
recently received, states the number of converts to have consider
ably increased. At Barhipur, the baptized amount to 627, the
catechumens to 606. The increase in the neighbouring stations is
equally large.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 199
missionaries, accustomed forty years back to travel
through the district, had suddenly taken root and
sprung up, — as if the leaven secretly hidden had
begun to ferment through the whole lump. A few
pUgrims, as it were, came first for instruction ; these
carried the tidings back to their native viUages ;
and shortly after, messengers from forty and sixty
mUes distant flocked to see what was " come to pass
there in these days." In one year, (1839,) on the
visits of the Archdeacon and the Bishop of Calcutta,
980 heathen were baptized, which increased the
number of converts to 1420 ; in the year following,
(1840,) the baptized were again increased to 2000 ;
and 3000 more were preparing for the laver of
regeneration.' Here, then, are certainly converts of no ambiguous
character ; not influenced by interest, or by aUiance
with Europeans, — not outcasts from Hindooism, or
from the Roman communion, but, through the con
current causes of inward conviction and the offer of
the Truth, stirred by God's grace to seek and receive
salvation in Christ ; — not hastUy baptized, but after
patient instruction; — and not ineffectually sealed
with the spirit of grace, since in the hour of trial
which has come upon them even already, neither the
spoUing of their goods, nor oppression, nor much
personal suffering, has prevailed on them to deny
' See the iSishop of Calcutta's Letters to the Earl of Chichester,
President of the C. M. S., published separately by the Society,
and the Society's Report for 1840—1841, p. 64.

200 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
their profession, or grow weary of His service who
bought them with His own blood.'
From hence I now turn to the Western hemi
sphere, with the view of ascertaining what success
has been vouchsafed to the missionary enterprizes
undertaken amongst the more or less savage and
idolatrous aborigines of its vast continent. It
seems indeed as if some curse rested on the natives
of North and South America, since tribe after tribe
has faded away, tUl they are now almost extinct,
before the scourge of European aggression. And
certainly we must charge it largely to the avaricious
system of plunder and cruelty that marked the
earlier European intercourse with that new world,
that its unhappy tribes have presented no perma
nent fruit of the labours that would, and alone
could, have blessed and preserved them. Even
from the first there were not wanting, among the
emigrants to North America, men desirous of

' Letter from the Bishop of Calcutta, quoted in C.M.S. Report,
1841 — 1842, p. 60. "A fierce persecution has begun to show
itself in many parts of the mission, chiefly about Anunda Bas,
and Baht Gatchee, which has occasioned great anxiety to the
missionaries. An inquirer of only a fortnight's standing, yet
accounted as a Christian, was so beaten, in one of these assaults,
that he died of the injuries he received." Yet it was during
these scenes that the number of converts and catechumens stUl
increased, p. 58.
The Bishop of Madras records likewise of the TinneveUy mis
sion, that, " a persecution had been stirred up against the Christ
ians, so that the missionaries were obliged to guard their houses ;
yet not one baptized native has been known to faU away." —
S.P.G. Report, 1842, p. cxvi.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 201
imparting the gift of the Gospel to the savage
yet noble tribes of Indians who possessed its forests
and fertile vaUeys. From the middle of the seven
teenth to the same period in the eighteenth
century, the labours of Elliot, the two Mayhews,
and David Brainerd, fully proved how much the
disinterested and seff-denying devotion of men bent
on doing God's work could gain on the simple and
reverent affections of those uncivUized natives.
The method pursued by EUiot seems to have been,
whUe he instructed the Indians in the knowledge of
the Great Spirit, to introduce among them the arts
of civUization,' and to collect them into viUages ;
and in the space of about twenty-five years, he had
formed fourteen of these settlements.^ A simUar
success attended the other missionaries; and it is
remarkable how readily the natives seem, in some
instances, to have laid aside theU more evil and
pernicious customs, under the influence of the
higher knowledge which they perceived in their
instructors. We have to observe, however, in
regard to their success, first, that no intercourse
existed at this time between the natives and the colo
nists, so that the former were kept free from the
contamination of European vice ;' and secondly, that
the whole benefit that was imparted depended solely
on the individual teacher : — no means oiperpetuating
' Brown, vol. i. p. 37.
' Ibid. vol. i. p. 44.
' As was the case with the first Roman CathoUc missions, the
success of which, as has been noticed, was so remarkable.

202 MISSIONS SINCE JLect,
his work was provided, so that, on the removal of
each labourer, the converts declined,' and almost
every trace of their former Christianity disappeared.
A simUar but more organized mode of conversion
was adopted in South America, by that devoted and
simple body of men already named, the Moravians.
The first settlements of these missionaries in Berbice
and Surinam, in 1738, resembled the Reductions of
the Jesuits in Paraguay. The missionaries, shun
ning the contact of the ungodly Europeans, threw
themselves among the Indians, conversed with them,
taught them the mechanical arts,^ and gathered
them into small settlements. After a short period,
wherever the missionaries presented themselves, the
savages would collect in circles round these servants
of Christ, and listen with the deepest sUence and
interest to the lessons of salvation. In the space
of eight years, 367 natives were baptized.' The
jealousy of Europeans, joined to the insurrections
among the slave negroes, drove the missionaries
from station to station, and scattered their flocks.
The missions, however, notwithstanding many re
verses, are stUl maintained among the free negroes,
into whose hands the territory has passed, and
above 7000 converts, either baptized or catechu
mens, are reckoned among the fruits of these
Christian labours.*
' See Appendix, No. XXXII.
' Missions of the United Brethren, p. 272.
3 Ibid.
* Report of Moravian Missions, 1841, pp. 52, 53.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 203
A like method was pursued by the same body in
their missions amidst the desolate regions of Green
land and Labrador. These were among the very
earliest efforts of this remarkable brotherhood to
reclaim the heathen from their state of degradation;
and they stiU flourish, and present a very beautiful
contrast, — even in the existence of the natives under
the beneficent direction of Christian men, — to the
process of extermination which has swept away neigh
bouring tribes in their intercourse with European
colonists. They offer, too, an instructive lesson in
the evidence which they bear to the power of Chris
tianity, not lowered and debased by amalgamation
with Pagan customs, but in its naked simplicity,
to move and elevate minds even of the lowest
stamp. No experiment could be more complete than
that made among the Greenlanders and Esquimaux;
and we have a witness that the God of aU grace
has not withheld a blessing from the zeal of His
servants, who have sought to do Him honour, in the
simple worship that even now, together with our own
more solemn sacrifice, rises week after week to our
common Saviour, from the lips of 3000 converts
among the snow-huts of the Northern wUds.'
Nor has the degraded race of Ham been ex
cluded from " a place and a name " within the
waUs of the house of God ; but throughout nearly
the whole extent of the western coast of Africa, and
on the borders of its unexplored interior, some
' See Missions of the United Brethren, and the Report for 1841.

204 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
" sons of the stranger " have been " joined to the
Lord." Hateful as has been the mass of guUt and
of misery entailed by the traffic in slaves, yet one
benefit at least has, by God's mercy, been educed
from it. Many of its unhappy victims have been
brought into contact with Christian truth, and born
again in their bonds. The result of Christian
instruction, not from our Church alone, but from
many Protestant sects, has been vidtnessed in the
very general conversion of the vast slave population
in the British West Indies. And to nothing else
but the controlling and softening power of the
Gospel, even upon the negro mind, can we attri
bute the striking scene that was exhibited on the
emancipation of that long-enslaved race; when, in
the words of the Bishop to whose oversight they
were subject, " 800,000 human beings lay down at
night as slaves, and rose again in the morning free
as ourselves." And yet there was no outburst of
pubUc feeling, " no gathering that affected the civil
peace. There was a gathering, indeed, but it was
a gathering together of old and young in the house
of the common Father of all." Among the multi
tude whom the Bishop addressed on that day,
" were thousands," he adds, " of my African brethren
joining with their European brother in offering up
their prayers and thanksgivings to the Father, the
Redeemer, and Sanctifier of aU."'
' Account of the Emancipation of the Negroes as stated by the
Bishop of Barbados ; quoted in the S. P. G. Quarterly Paper,
No. XIX. p. 7.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 205
This great effect, I am aware, may be largely
attributed by some to the power of example, to
removal from native idolatry, and to incorporation
into European modes of social life. And therefore,
to show that the work of conversion has proceeded
even without these coUateral aids, I would refer
briefiy to the success that has rewarded the toil of
the Moravians, amid the glens and barren plains of
Southern Africa, among the Caffres, Hottentots,
and Fingoos. The mission was commenced in
these wUd tracts in 1736, but the jealousy of the
Dutch government caused its suspension after six
years, and for haff a century the smaU congregation
was entirely deserted by Christian instructors. It
was revived, however, in 1792 ; and to exhibit the
progress that has been made since that period,
I would observe that in 1816, in two stations only,
congregations of Hottentots were coUected to the
number of above 1500 souls;' and ff we compare
this statement with later returns, the increase has
been marked and decisive. The number of stations
has been increased to seven ; — nearly 5000 heathen
have been gathered into congregations, of whom
about three -fourths are baptized. A zealous
labourer in this work, shortly before his death,
had to report, that in one station, and within one
year, above 130 had been received to holy Baptism,
and was enabled to cheer his dying hour with the
' See Missions of the United Brethren, p. 419.

206 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
prospect of a wider extension of the Gospel of
grace.' But I cannot dismiss this review without some
notice of the extensive movement which has of late
occurred in the islands of the South Pacific. Since
the year 1796, the London Missionary Society has
maintained a considerable number of teachers in
the groups of the Society Islands, for the conversion
of the natives. Throughout a long period then-
labours met with no success.^ Of later years, how
ever, chiefly through the enterprize of one man of
much energy and singleness of purpose, — well cal
culated too, by his skiU in the manual arts, to
attract the mind of the savage, — whole clusters of
islands, and many thousand natives, have at once
cast away their idols, and embraced the Gospel.
Immediately after one island had been gained, and
the benefits derived from the adoption of civUized
habits, and from the mercfful doctrines of Christi
anity,' had been witnessed, it appears that others
foUowed in the train. But the very readiness with
which the Gospel has been received would make us
fear that it can be held at present but insecurely,
or in a very imperfect form. Indeed, we learn from
the evidence of missionaries, that the conversions
' Report of Missions of the United Brethren, 1841, p. 27.
" " For sixteen years,'' writes Mr. WUliams, " notwithstanding
the untiring zeal, the incessant journeys, and the faithful exhorta
tions of these devoted men, no spirit of interest or inquiry
appeared; no solitary instance of conversion took place." Mis
sionary Enterprizes, p. 13. » Hjid. pp. 185, 189, 190.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 207
which have been recorded very commonly followed
on defeat, or on the apprehension of defeat, in
battle,' or upon sickness, when the help of idols was
found to be vain,^ or were largely dependent on the
influence of chiefs.' In such circumstances as these
we recognise the natural — and, as history shows
them to have been, the usual — causes by which
sudden and extensive movements have been effected
among savage tribes. Thus it was that many of the
simultaneous conversions of numbers were produced
in the missions of the sixth and seventh centuries,
to which these present proceedings bear a stronger
resemblance than those in the other countries which
have been noticed, as regards the condition of the
heathen, the position of the missionaries, and the
effects which have been witnessed. But any such
sudden impulse cannot be implicitly relied on ; the real
character and value of such conversions can be tested
only by time, and by the result exhibited in the

' Missionary Enterprizes, p. 185. Mr. Williams observes, "It is
a very remarkable fact, that in no island of importance has Christi
anity been introduced without a war ; but it is right to observe,
that in every instance, the heathens have been the aggressors."
^ Ibid. p. 72. See also Polynesia, by Bishop RusseU, p. 393.
The author, in a note, quotes a passage from WUliams's Mis
sionary Enterprizes, p. 281, in which it is said, " The reader
wiU remember that it was when Pomare was iU, his people pro
posed to destroy the images of Oro, presuming that the god was
either maUgnant or powerless." In the eighth edition of Mr.
WiUiams's work, this sentence is omitted, though the context
remains the same.
' Polynesian Researches, vol. ii. p. 88, quoted in Polynesia,
pp. 386, 387.

208 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
future character of a nation.' AUeady, in the Society
and Georgian Isles, relapses have occurred to a griev
ous extent.^ In truth, among uncivUized tribes,
commonly capricious in their temper, easUy at
tracted, and as easily passing from one feeling to its
opposite, the difficulty is not to induce them to
accept a new faith, but to keep them in it.' And
when we consider the rapid method in which con
versions were effected, how the missions seemed
to depend on the influence and authority of indi
viduals, how they were committed at once to native
catechists, with no fixed superintendence, no definite
' The charges brought by some voyagers against the converts
in these islands, and against theconductof the missionaries, are too
well known to need repetition. They may be found in Kotzebue
(Voyage round the World, 1830) ; Captain Beechey (Narrative of
a Voyage to the Pacific) ; and the Edinburgh Review, No. LIII.
p. 217; and are quoted in Bishop Russell's Polynesia, pp. 113,
114, 394. The latter writer quotes also, to the same purpose,
from an unpubUshed Journal, p. 404, &c. The probable truth is,
that both the missionaries and the travellers have drawn rather
partial portraits from the view of the natives presented to each.
StUl we cannot but think it likely, that some such evil results to
the native character as are charged, should arise from the extreme
rigour of some of the laws imposed on their converts by the
missionaries ; such as the prohibition of fire, even to dress their
meals, on Sunday, attendance at pubUc worship required five times
in the day, the discontinuance of several mascuUne amusements,
which also are mentioned by Lord Byron (Voyage of H. M. S.
Blonde, p. 146.)
' Report of London Missionary Society, 1842, p. 3.
" " Cum enim sint (Barbari) leves corde, facUd credunt, non
fidem eoncipientes ex Deo, facile quoqueid retractant inconstantes
et leves." (Joseph. Acosta de Proc. Ind. Sal. p. 250.) Thus in
the very first year of Brainerd's preaching, the Indians readUy
abolished their idolatrous sacrifices and heathenish dances, and
even drunkenness was checked. Brown, vol. i. p. 91.

VI.] THE REFORMATION. 209
worship, nor provision for succession in the minis
try, — whUe we thankfuUy welcome whatever im
provement has resulted to the islands, — we cannot
but feel that the ground is but broken up, that no
means exist for its effectual culture ; nor can we
discern the presence of any power sufficient to cope
with the advancing infiuence of the Romanists,
supported, as it now is, by the protection of the
civU government.
A more solid, and no less marked advance of the
Gospel has been effected ia a mission which, from
the hopes and anticipations which are centred on
that new country and its rising Church, must
engage aU our sympathies, — the mission of New
Zealand. A more striking instance it has not
been permitted to later generations to witness,
than was exhibited on this field, of the conver
sion of nearly a whole nation. In 1814, the
Church Missionary Society first commenced its
labours in these islands, but for fifteen years no
native was affected by the word of life, which was
wholly checked in its course, chiefly through the
savage opposition of one notorious marauder.' The
fact of the natives being scattered about in tribes
under separate chiefs^ was another source of hin
drance, not only from the perpetual jealousies and
' Evidence on Aborigines, p. 219.
2 Blumhardt, speaking of the Sclavi being broken up into small
tribes, remarks with great truth, " I'histoire enti6re nous moutre
que cette circonstance a toujours 6t6 d6favorable aux progrSs de
I'EvangUe, et la mission Chr^tienne a toujours trouve une entree
plus facile chez les peuples soumis h, un meme sceptre." Vol.iv. p. 6,
P

210 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
wars to which it gave rise, but from the ab
sence of any such influence as was found to aid
the reception of the Gospel in th«! Society and
Sandwich groups, where th? .several islands were
subject to one kiisig or rider. From the period of
1829, the gathering in of the heathen has bicen
gradual and decisive. We may probably trace the
more favourable reiCieption which the missionaries
then began to experience, to the conviction of the
natives, that they ^ere come to settle among them
for beneficent purposeis ;^ in their own expressive
laoguage, they fouild they were come " to break
their cliibs in two ; to blunt the points of their
spears; to make this tribe and that tribe love one
another, and sit down as brothers and friends ;'"^
and hence th^ listened to their teaching. Thus
converts were gained ; the inhuman practices which
before distinguished this savage race were discon
tinued. With a surprising faciUty they gave them
selves to instruction, and " to thousands of our
feUoW'Preatures in that distant quarter of the earth
God gave a new heart and a new spirit."' During
the year 1841, the increase of those who were
\mder instruction, including baptised and hearers,
advanced from 29,000 to 35,000,* Distant tribes
are constantly being wakened to a desire to become
Christians, and send for a teacher to come and
instruct them. And thus, in calling individual
' RusseU's Polynesia, p. 352. ^ Hjjj p_ 353
s Bishop of New Zealand's Thanksgiving Sermon, p. 9.
* Church Missionary Report, 1842.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 211
souls out of darkness, and instructing them in the
principles of the Christian faith, in guiding men in
habits of civUization and morality, the special work
which it is competent to Christians, as individuals,
to accomplish, has been effected, and has been
abundantly blessed of God. But to consolidate this
work, to carry it on, to develop the genn of
Christian lffe in converts, to knit them together
into a body, and lead them forward on settled
methods of discipline and instruction, to draw out
their true social lffe ; for all this some higher and
more complete system is needed, and that system is
to be found in the perfect organization of the Church.
And therefore we may look with cheerful thoughts
towards this new colony; we may thankfully
admire the Providence of God in having, at such a
conjuncture, moved the hearts of our spiritual rulers
to send a Chief Pastor to what his own fervent
devotion regarded as " a land of promise, a goodly
heritage ;" one who views himseff and his feUows
as guided by the Holy Spirit to plant, through
Him, " a new branch of Christ's universal Church
in the midst of a race of native Christians ; to be
the prop and stay round which their early faith
might entwine its branches, that it might grow
with their growth, and strengthen with their in
crease of strength."'
The foregoing is but a sketch of those labours
' Bishop of New Zealand's Sermon, p. 11. On the Church in
New Zealand, see Appendix, No. XXXIII.
p 2

212 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
which, of late years, and of late years alone, have
been engaged in for the propagation of the Gospel,
partly by the Church, and partly by various Protes
tant bodies. Many reflections and some instructive
lessons seem to arise from the review.
And first, we must feel convinced, that, desultory
and unorganized as these labours have been, yet it
would be denying the grace of God, and closing our
eyes against His mercfful workings, to doubt that a
blessing, — and one quite as large as the character of
the means employed would justify us in expecting, —
has been bestowed upon them. Savages have been
reclaimed and dravni from their altars of blood, to
bow before the Cross of Christ then Saviour ; their
idols have been cast "to the moles and to the
bats." Men of fierce passions, whose glory it was
to drain the blood of an enemy, have become
tender and forgiving; intractable and wUd, have
learned to " dwell in peaceable habitations, and in
sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places." " The
wilderness has become a fruitful field, under the
hands of men who have but lately learned from the
Gospel to love the arts of peace."' Men have torn
themselves from home and kindred, and rent the
dearest ties, and borne a mother's bitter imprecation,
and counted aU things but loss, that they might
win Christ.^ On the fertUe plains of Hindostan,
' Bishop of New Zealand's Sermon, p. 10.
2 See the very affecting statement of a Hindoo convert quitting
his home, in Dr. Duff's speech on The Church of Scotland's
India Mission, 1835, p. 24.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 213
and the bleak shores of Greenland, amid the islands
of the Southern Pacific, and the arid wastes of
Africa, the sound of the Gospel has been heard;
and, whatever we may think of the fulness or
sufficiency with which it has been set forth before
the heathen mind, yet of a surety we have seen
the civUized and thoughtful Brahmin, — the island-
savage, — the haff-humanized Esquimaux, and Hot
tentot, transformed in mind and heart, under the
power of the word of God, casting off their former
prejudices and stormy passions and palsy of soul,
and rising into new life under the healing shadow
of the Cross of Christ. I might adduce, were it
suitable, instances, and these touching ones, in
which the power of God has beyond doubt been
exhibited in the actings of a vigorous and venturing
faith, in the control of passions, which before it had
been deemed a virtue to gratify; in the spirit of
self-sacrifice which has enabled the young convert
to forsake mother and brethren, and all that he had,
to foUow Christ. These are signs of Christ's king
dom, and they are before our eyes, and we dare
not deny them. The word of God is active, and
does not faU, does " not return void," but is
prospering "in the thing whereunto it is sent."
But have not these efforts been marked largely
also by faUure, or by results incommensurate with
the amount of labour and resources that have been
expended upon them? This too must be freely
acknowledged. The earlier missions of the EngUsh

214 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
in. America seemed to fail on the removal of each
zealous missionary.' Those of the Dutch in the
Indian islands ceased and became obliterated, with
the cessation of the civU authority which upheld
them. In many districts where the Moravians had
commenced the work of evangelizing the natives, in
Lapland, Ceylon, Persia, and among the Kalmuc
Tartars, no trace of their operations any longer
remains.^ The attempts of Protestant bodies to
evangelize China, and the neighbouring kingdoms,
have signaUy faUed. We must confess that hitherto
no widely spread impression has been made on
British India ; that the older missions , of Tran
quebar and Tanjore appear for a tjme to have
languished; that others are carried on but feebly;
so that we may not wonder at the doubts that ha,ve
been expressed by casual observers, as to any
advance of the faith of the Cross on the strongholds
of Hindoo superstition. An attempt was made to
gain an entrance among the Zooloo, race, but it
faUed. Compare the visible results obtained, with
the multiplied machinery, urgency of appeal, and
vast expenditure, with which the missions, are
prosecuted, and it must be owned they are greatly
disproportionate. And hence arises ; a question of
deep interest, — to what causes may. these failures
and this inadequacy qf success be traced ?
There are those who wUl at once reply, that they
' See a former Appendix, No. XXXII.
' Missions of United Brethren, pp. 437— t453.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 215
are to be traced alone to the so^-caUed Protestant
principle, which admits of no other sanction and
authority in reUgion, but the Holy Scriptures. T
trust that what has been already adflilced is suf
ficient to show, that notvrithstanding this principle,
supposing" it to exist, successes have, nevertheless,
been obtained ; for undoubtedly, (to repeat one
instance,) the Moravians, the rnost devoted and'
fruitful among Protestant missionaries, seem, in'
the tone of their language, to symbohze with those'
by whom such a, nUe is supposed' to be accepted.
And further, I would observe, that no such objec
tion can apply to the Church of England^ even
though the conduct of some of its members, or of
associations formed' within it, may have given cause
for the charge ; for it has never asserted nor acted^
upon any such principle, but claims an authority in
matters of faith and discipline: And' certainly
there are many causes by which the apparent un
productiveness of its missionary exertions may be
readUy and satisfactorfly explained. Con^der-how
recently these efforts have been commenced; which
yet, by God's mercy, are being strengthened and
multiplied. Consider how long a period is com
monly needed for maturing a system, (and without
system aU effort is useless,) on which operations,
large and varied, and pregnant with new and
difficult conjunctures, are to be conducted. Then
reflect on the paucity of missionaries by which so
great a work has been enterprized ; some thirty, scat-

216 MISSIONS SINCE: [Lect.
tered through Northern India, with its 70,000,000
heathen ;' ten aUotted to the diocese of Bombay -^
four located among a population of 600,000 in
Tanjore.' This latter district is named, because
it has been selected as an instance of our dis
comfiture ; and yet here it is that the missionaries
complain that they can do no more than minister to
the converts already gained, that " many hundreds
of vUlages are never visited," that, " instead of
eighty or one hundred converts from heathenism,
with which the labours of Schwartz were annuaUy
blessed, we have seldom more than five or six to
bring forward as the fruit of our labours. And this
is not owing to any opposition to the Gospel on the
part of the heathen, but simply to the fact, that they
have not the Gospel preached to them at aU."* I
could cite passages from Bishop Heber' and the
present Bishop of Madras,^ to the same point, were
it required; but the fact wUl not be disputed by
any one conversant with the subject. The hesita
tion commonly shown in administering Holy Bap
tism, protracted at times to a probation of several
' Since this was written, the Bishop of Calcutta's Charge states
that there are now thirty-seven clergy in his diocese. In 1838
there were only twenty-nine. Of course the East India Com
pany's chaplains are not included ; for their services are devoted to
Europeans. 2 i. e. four on the S. P. G. list, and six on the C. M. S. list. Re
ports, 1842.
' Kohloff 's Report, in Madras Report for 1838, p. 61.
* Ibid. p. 62.
' Journal, vol. iU. p. 91.
.« Report S.P.G. 1841, p. cliv.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 217
years,' the care with which the faith and the worship
of Christ are protected from any contamination or
admixture with Pagan superstitions,^ diminish the
number of those who might otherwise be gained to
sweU the amount of success. It must be admitted,
too, that through that lack of discipline which
Henry Martyn' lamented, not only are converts
deprived of the guidance and instruction which is
needed for then- growth in grace, but the Church is
stripped of those signs of power and holiness,
whereby it might testify to the heathen that it
is indeed the city of God upon earth. These
remarks, confined to India, might more or less be
extended to the missions in various lands; and
other hindrances already aUuded to might be
added; but surely these are, of themselves, fuUy
adequate to account for such scantiness of success,
and so slow an advance of the Gospel of grace, as
we have to deplore.
But beyond a doubt, when we refiect on the pro
ceedings of other bodies, there do appear inherent
faults in the method of their operations, to which
we cannot but attribute the want of permanency,
and in many cases the very scanty fruit that has
resulted from their labours. They have acted on
the persuasion of the Holy Scriptures being the
1 An instance of baptism delayed for four years occurs in
C. M. S. Report for 1842, p. 73.
2 As in the observance of caste, which converts are required to
renounce. ' Memoirs, p. 287.

218 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
chief instrument of conversion, and therefore; in the
most extensive scene where this principle has been
applied, a most extensive faUure has foUowed.
Dr. Morrison arrived at Canton in 1807, and at
once; set himself to the translation,, into Chinese,,
of the sacred Scriptures, with other religious writ
ings. From the commencement of his work up to
1838, a. prodigious dispersion was. made of the,
word of God, and of religious, tracts;. Some mis
sionaries were joined with him,, and were stationed
at Penang,. Singapore, and Malacca,, to aid> the
work of distribution by preaching. The narrative,
of one of them records, at the last-named period,,
that, at Macao, and Canton, in; twenty-one years,.
ten had- " entered; the Church!;,"' at Penang, after
sixteen years, thirteen had. been baptized;.^ at
Singapore, which mission was commenced- at, the
same date with the last,, thnee natives had been
baptized " in course of time," as the fruit of these
labours,' At Malacca a somewhat different system
was pursued; for a seminary and; school were insti
tuted, besides, an establishment for printing, and a
Chinese convert was joined to several missionaries
for the, purpose of preaching. Here, however,, after
twenty-two - years' labour; as near as can be col
lected, about sixty had been baptized.* During
this period, in all the neighbouring districts an
' Medhurst's China, p. 276. ^ ii,y_ pp 325—327.
3 Ibid. p. 328. * Ibid. ch. xu. throughout.

VL] THE REFORMATION. 219
almost incredible distribution of the Holy Scrip
tures and other writings had been accomplished,
aided with vast, fjmds, and zeal,, to give a fair trial
to the great experiment ; and, such is the result.
We may observe, also, that not here alone, but in
other fields in which missionaries, connected with
these sects, have been engaged, their proceedings
are marked by a rejection of any authority as exist
ing in the Church ; nay, they profess to teach only
certain doctrines, and repudiate, the idea of propa
gating the Gospel in connexion with, and through
an ordained system.' And, stiU further, as a
necessary consequence of this principle, their opera
tions have. been, characterised by a faulty and feeble
Individualism, both iUi the means employed, and in
the result sought to be obtained. The being joined
to Christ is made to consist solely in the, acceptance
of certain, truths, and in the inward experience of
their power. Hence, personal conviction is alone
regarded ; spiritual emotions, and not the concur
rence of the will in an external, definite creed and
law of holiness, are viewed as the test of conver
sion ; the being united to aibody,. and the. reception
of a gfft on being baptized into it, is lost sight of.
Hence missions have declined because resting solely
' It is declared to be a fundamental principle of the London
Missionary Society, that " its design is not to send Presbyte-
rianism, Independency, Episcopacy, or any other form of Church
order, and government^  but the glorious Gospel of; the
blessed God, to the heathen."

220 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
on personal labours ; hence has sprung the relapse
of converts through their being left destitute of due
aids to their faith ; hence has arisen the inabUity to
consolidate and give permanency to the work of
conversion in a people, and to transmit it, un
changed, to posterity.
There is a work, indeed, (as has been already
urged and Ulustrated,) in which individual Chris
tians, as such, may engage, and produce an im
mediate result. They may prepare the way, may
affect men as individuals, may waken their con
science, may caU them from idols, may break up
the faUow ground, may humanize and civilize ;
but to build up the House of God, to feed the
flock of Christ, to unite in one, to provide for
future generations ; for these high ends, (and
without these permanency cannot be secured,) the
appointed ordinance of God in His Church is
needed, with its solemn round of homUy and
htany, fast and festival, the inculcation of its
creeds, the controUing influence of its discipline
and godly rule.
For a time, then, and among unciviUzed tribes,
labours such as those just mentioned may succeed;
but they can do so only up to a certain point.
They are whoUy insufficient, when numbers have
received the Gospel, to form them into a people,
being destitute of those true principles on which
social existence depends. And therefore they have
proved altogether inefficacious in extending the

VL] THE REFORMATION. 221
Gospel among nations advanced in civilization and
possessed of an organized religious system, Uke the
empires of the East. This is strikingly illustrated
by a tabiUar statement, drawn up in a most impar
tial spirit, in order to exhibit the success attending
the labours of several missionary societies in India.
In this table the number of the baptized is specified,
both in some missionary districts connected with
the Church of England, and in others of several
denominations of Protestants. And the result is
as foUows. Thirty-three stations are named ; in
fourteen of these, which belong to our Church,
the number of baptized is above 6400 ; whUe in
the nineteen remaining stations, connected with
Protestant Dissenters, the number amounts to
but 692.'
We see, then, in such methods an inherent defect,
an inabUity to take up the command of Christ, and
" make disciples of aU nations." We see why
failure adheres to them as a natural result. Christ
has appointed a divine institution for this end, and
without it this end cannot be accomphshed. The
neglect of any of God's appointments in a given
work, must cripple its progress, and bring discomfi
ture in due time. So far as it is conducted accord
ing to His wUl, it may secure a blessing, and to
that extent confer one^-but no further. Personal
faith, and love, and devotedness, may carry with
' This Table, which is taken from the Rev. Baptist Noel's
Essay on Christian Missions, is given in Appendix, No. XXXIV.

222 MISSIONS SINCE [Lect.
them blessings to individuals ; but they are cncum-
scribed by individual Ufe; they cannot transmit
themselves; they cannot reach beyond their measure;
and ff they alone are trusted to for executing what
is to be universal and perpetual, they must fail.
We may thank God, then, on witnessing signs of
His blessing upon labours thus undertaken, where-
ever the Church has not acted, nor brought its
¦divine commission ahd polity to bear upon the
heathen world. But we must not mistake these
labours for the power of the Church itseff, nor be
content with such desultory, imperfect methods of
doing the wiU of God. The Church has gifts and
energy of a wider range and influence ; its system
is adapted to affect, and call forth, and control, and
sanctffy the whole man, in all his powers and in
all his relations, not individual alone, but social and
civU. It can address itseff to the lawless and rude
independence of savage Ufe, to the compacted and
stately fabric of well-organized governments, and
to the refinements of civUized society. It can take
up the work where individual exertion faUs. And
whUe the thought may excite shame and self-
reproach, still it is a consolation to feel, and to avow,
that ff its doings have not been witnessed in con
verting the pagan nations, this has arisen, not from
any failure in the attempt, but from the attempt
not having been duly made. It is consolatory
also to observe, that wherever this Divine system
has been drawn out in greater completeness and

VL] THE REFORMATION. 223
integrity, there a fresh energy has at once been seen
to go forth, and stir into Ufe the dry bones of the
vaUey of death. We may trace the new and cheer
ing aspect that has been impressed on the Indian
missions, and the revival of the work in the latter
days, to a larger unfolding of the powers that be
long to the Churah cathoUc. The last four years
have witnessed an enlargement of its borders in
North and South India, which, but of late, would
have been deemed visionary.' In other colonial
districts — in AustraUa, North America, New Zea
land — a fresh energy, evidenced by the earnest
appeals for more labourers from amongst us, has
been infused by the extension of the episcopate.^
Among heathen nations, Ceylon now waits for its
portion in the Church. In prospects such as these
we may thankfuUy rejoice and " take courage."
Let us receive them as tokens upon us for good.
Let us only the more " stand upon our watch, and
set us upon the tower, and watch to see what the
Lord wUl say unto us, and what we shall answer
' See the Letters and Charges of the Bishops of Calcutta and
Madras. 2 Of the need felt of the perfect organization of the Church, an
instance is given by Mr. Schbn, who accompanied the Niger expe
dition, and who writes, " I have no hesitation in saying, that if
the Church at Sierra Leone had been blessed with the paternal
care of a bishop, several would ere now have been admitted to
holy orders." Quoted in Trew's Letter to the Bishop of London,
p. 53. A similar sentiment is expressed by a missionary, writing
from the farther districts of North America, in the Church Mis
sionary Record for December, 1842, p. 299.

224 MISSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION. [Lect.
when we are reproved."* Even yet our past neg
lect may be done away; and though, through
disunion, and through the irregular zeal of others,
who have entered, uncalled, upon the work which
they found unattempted, embarrassment and diffi
culty may attend our steps, — though the seed may
have to be sown in sorrow and amidst gainsay
ings, — even yet the Lord wiU show that He has
chosen His Church to be a blessing to all people,
to " bear" His name before the GentUes, and kings,
and the children of Israel."^
' Habakkukii. 1. ' Acts ix. 15.

LECTURE YIL

THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS OF THE
CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS.

Luke XXIL 35, 36.
and he said unto them, when i sent you without purse,
and sceip, and shoes, lacked ye anything ? and they said,
nothing. then said he unto them, but now, he that hath
a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip : and he
that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy
ONE.
The conduct of our blessed Lord towards His
disciples while He was on the earth, seems to
present a type of that method which He has observed
in His dealings with His Church since His ascen
sion into heaven. WhUe He was with them. His
fostering care was over them in a larger measure ;
and there was, for the time, a suspension of that
severer ordeal which they were afterwards to endure.
They could not, and, in His presence, needed not to
use those fastings which were to be their portion
afterwards, when He was taken away. On then-
first commission to preach, they had gone forth
unprovided with the common means of support, yet
lacked nothing : but now He bids them, in the
Q

226 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
prospect of their coming trial, to take with them
their scrip, and purse, and sword. Such too have
been His dealings with the Church. For a time
His special power watched over and aided its
infancy; and, whUe the larger endowment of
spiritual gffts rested upon it, there needed not the
appliances of worldly help to speed it onward. But
since the withdrawal of these gffts the extension of
the Gospel has been committed to human agency;
and it is to be advanced by the use of aU such
instruments and means as Christian prudence and
the consecration of the gffts of God to His service
can supply.
In the review that has been taken of the mis
sionary labours of later years, my purpose has been
to discover those methods on the use of which their
success or failure have seemed to depend- For in
the execution of any purpose of God, the single
consideration on which the care and thoughtfulness
of those engaged in it need to be fixed, is, whether
the means proper for the attainment of the end are
employed ; and difficulties last only so long as these
faU to be appUed. Therefore, ff any such discussion
as the present is to be more than a mere idle
speculation, we must necessarUy direct our thoughts
to those points on wh^ch the efforts of the Chmxh
seem to have been defective, and to the consideration
of how she may be enabled to rise up in the
strength of the Lord, and enter upon the vast
work that lies before her.

VIL] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 227
And since means must be proportioned to the
object to be attained, let it be permitted, in the
outset, to survey shortly the harvest-field of mis
sionary labour, so as to catch, in outline at least,
the characteristics of its main divisions. Viewing
the expanse of Paganism in its broader features, it
presents itself under a threefold aspect. And as
each form of it Ues more or less within defined
geographical limits, it wUl not be difficult to mark
off each division, and assign it to its proper district
on the chart of the earth.
The ancient dynasties of the East are possessed
generaUy by two vast religious systems, which meet
and are blended together in the peninsula of Hin
dostan. The former of these systems is that of the
false Prophet, which, exercising unopposed sway
over Western Asia, and extending along the north-
em coast of Africa, offers the most formidable
obstruction to the faith of Christ, from the fact of
its being, as it is, a counterfeit of the Truth itseff.
The great simplicity of its dogmas, proclaiming the
unity and spirituahty of God, with the solemn
doctrine of a state of future reward and punish
ment, and denouncing the sin of idolatry, are
calculated to seize hold of the mind and demand
the acquiescence of the reason. The existence of a
sacred record, which always, in its degree, secures
permanency to a creed; the purity of its morals,
compared with what is recognised in Oriental super
stitions ; the recollection of former grandeur, when
Q 2

228 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
Europe was indebted to Arabian genius for a revival
of its arts, and science, and learning; and the
adaptation of the system, especiaUy in its large
admixture of fabulous comment, to the Oriental
mind ; the increased civiUzation that has undoubt
edly foUowed in its track, and enlightened many of
the dark places of idolatry ; its aUiance with power
ful dynasties in Asia, and even in Europe; — aU
these circumstances concur in giving a fixedness to
the system, and in rooting the Mahometan in his
faith, so as to forbid his viewing the Gospel of
Jesus Christ as holding any other place than that
aUotted to it in his creed.
The second form of Paganism which, as holding
in subjection the hearts and understandings of one-
third of the human race, demands the concern of the
Church, is that stupendous and multfform system,
which, from its being based on a strict, Pantheism,
and on the doctrine of a metempsychosis, may be
regarded as one, though it assumes a twofold appear
ance, as exhibited either in the practical Polytheism of
Brahminism, or in the purer Pantheism of the Budd
hists. In India, the source of thought and civUiza
tion to the East, where it took its rise, it appears in
the more popular form of an Emanative system, in
which the one primordial essence is extended through
aU forms of existence, shining brighter in the deities
than in the human soul, or inferior spirits, and is so
transmitted through all the manifold forms of being.
From the endless incarnations which have thus been

VIL] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 229
evolved, there has sprung a complicated and varied
mythology, with a corresponding variety in the
rites and ceremonies which constitute the Hindoo
worship. Concurrently with this religious system,
the whole circle of knowledge, of science, physical
and metaphysical, of art, of law, and government,
of social and private duty, has been the subject of
express revelation, so that there is not a transaction
in which the Hindoo can engage for which he has
not, as he deems, the especial direction of heaven.'
In the further East, among the pastoral tribes of
Mongolia and Thibet, and in the isle of Japan, this
same system, propagated under its later form of
Buddhism, displaced the simpler worship of the
elements, and of the genii presiding over them,
and gave rise to the religion of the Lamas and
the Bonzes ; while in China mUlions are still held
in subjection to its mystical creed.^ In this vast
empire, however, it is brought into contact with
two other religious systems, which seem in some
degree to be modified by, or maintained concur
rently with it in the minds of the population.
The former is that of Confucius, whose moral code
and materialistic tendencies are maintained chiefly
¦ A more phUosophical view of the Hindoo theory than is
commonly given in accounts of that superstition, is to be found
in Dr. Duif s India and India Missions, ch. ii., and has been
followed in the text.
2 This is reckoned by M. Abel Remusat (Relation des Voyages
Bouddhiques, Introd. p. xUu.) as the second great outbreak of
Buddhism, and is placed by him at about 100 B.C.

230 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
by the learned. The latter is that of Lao-tsze,
which has degenerated into a mass of magical
superstitions, though professing originaUy to pay
honour to the Eternal Reason. But aU these
systems are equaUy characterised by one pervading
defect. The idea of one aU-powerful and perfect
Being is so obscured by a countless multitude of
divinities, or refined away amid the subtleties of
metaphysical abstraction, as to be practicaUy re
jected ; so that throughout the nations of the East
are exhibited in combination the seemingly contra
dictory principles of polytheism with atheism.'
The third form of idolatry and darkness to be
assailed by the Gospel, is the debased superstition
which prevaUs variously among the Africans, the
Indians of America, and the mixed Malay and
Negro races of the islands of the South Pacific.
Among these the idea of the Great Spirit is oblite
rated in proportion as the tribes are more or less
barbarized. Yet, commonly, the superstition is
rude and formless, with no creed or system of
worship, accompanied by cruel rites and a behef
in a magical virtue, and attended by a degraded
state of civiUzed lffe. It is the reUgion, in a
word, of barbarism, of the primaeval tradition
run to its very dregs, varying its form according
to the state of the savage understanding, and modi
fied by local custom and peculiarities.
The thought that occurs at once, on a general
' Medhurst's China, p. 219.

VIL] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 23l
glance at this field of infidelityj is to note a certain
correspondence between its separate parts, and
those various states of the Pagan world with which,
in the earlier periods, Christianity was brought
into conffict.
We may observe, first, that, in one main feature,
the struggle of the Church in the first four cen
turies is analogous to its present position with
regard to the systematized superstitions of the
East ; viz. that it is a struggle with civilization,- —
apolitical civUization in China, as was the case in
Greece and Rome, — a religious civUization in India,
as it was in Egypt. And next, that the long and
laborious ex:tension of the Gospel among the barba
rous races in Germany, Scandinavia, and Russia,
may be viewed as in some degree identical with
the task to be undertaken now among the uncivi
lized tribes of the heathen world.
This correspondence,— though doubtless many
points of difference exist, enough to modify the
methods of action that may be adopted, — ^may yet
be thought sufficiently real, to lead us to look to the
past, in addition to the experience of later days,
for some general principles which may serve as a
guide to the Church in converting the nations.
For, from age to age,^ she has drawn from her
armoury implements of warfare, whereby, at first,
though a stranger in the midst of enemies, she
changed the face of the civUized Roman empire ;
and afterwards, though a captive, subdued her bar-

232 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
barian conquerors, and gained a spiritual triumph
over force and violence. And we must believe, —
since human nature, in its broader features, is the
same, and the counsel of God standeth fast, — that
if He grant her the spirit to act faithfuUy upon the
same principles. His blessing will enable her to
prevaU, as she has prevaUed.
I. And now, the first principle which I would
point out as signalizing the earliest efforts of the
Church, during the periods of its greatest success
in evangeUzing the heathen, and in which it must
be acknowledged that we have been mainly defi
cient in our operations both at home and abroad,
is that of its acting on the ever present idea of its
being One Body. I will not speak now of unity
between the vast branches of the Catholic Church,
but confine myseff, on this point, to the proceed
ings of our own Church; in the operations of
which this principle may be observed, by our
acting as a body, and not merely as associated
individuals. The dissocializing principle that has
characterised and formed the Protestant sects, has
in a degree infected the Church, and has too much
broken up its organization into societies, which
(acting with more or less of countenance from its
rulers) have yet framed their own rules, and pursued
their own objects by their own means ; have ap
pealed to the faithful on behaff of themselves ; have
sent emissaries to urge their own claims ; have
redistributed the country into fresh districts for

VIL] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 233
their own operations, disregarding the ancient
ecclesiastical divisions ; have called on the clergy
to cooperate, with no concurrence of their Bishop ;
thus, in many cases introducing disorder and per
plexity, and charging individuals with a duty which
belongs to them only in subordination to divinely-
appointed authority. The office of carrying the
Gospel to the heathen, in particular, is undertaken
by a professedly " Lay Association," which never
theless selects, appoints, and sends missionaries ;
superintends and directs their operations ; forms
new missions and rehnquishes them; and so
assumes an authority and responsibility which was
ever wont to be reposed in the chief pastors of the
Church.' Let it be aUowed that such societies
have been formed with a true desire for God's
glory, and in defect of provision being authorita
tively made for executing the proposed work ; yet
the principle must be acknowledged to be faulty, —
the system anomalous in the Church of Christ.
Saul waited not for Samuel to sacrifice, and it
was counted for disobedience; and though God
' A statement, On the Constitution and Practice of the Church
Missionary Society, with reference to its Ecclesiastical Relations,
was pubUshed in Appendix II. of the Society's Thirty-ninth Re
port. I cannot but think, however, that a candid judgment must
perceive that this statement does not satisfy either the actual
circumstances of the case, or the principles involved in them. It
is difficult to conclude either that it is competent for a lay body
to do such ecclesiastical acts as are mentioned in the text, or that
the Society does not perform them. On this point, see Appendix,
No. XXXV.

234 , THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lec*.
may mercifully have accepted this service, for the
sake of the piety which urged it, yet it cannot
but entaU much difficulty and misunderstand
ing, as being at variance with His Divine order
and rule.
In expanding further this remark, I trust I may
not be understood as speaking in a tone of censure,
but only as pointing out what must at once be
aUowed to be a defect ; and, in iUustration, let me
revert once again to experience.
The providences of God, as weU as the declara
tions of His word, have clearly marked that His
blessing rests with the Church as a body ; whUe
neglect of this appointment, independent agency,
schemes devised in piety, indeed, but in man's
wisdom, and the adoption of means seemingly
more fit, energetic, and apt for the work, yet
without Divine sanction, have led into error, have
succeeded, perhaps, for a time, and made (as all
plans pushed on by zeal ever do for a season) a
show of power and effect, yet in the end have failed
in consolidating and perpetuating their work. In
stances of this have occurred in the review of past
missionary history. It has been Ulustrated in the
missions of Protestant bodies ; it has been shown
again in the very opposite, but (as happens in
extremes) analogous instances of the reUgious
orders of Rome, especially that of the Jesuits.
And it is so observable a corroboration of the
principle here sought to be estabUshed, that it may

Vn.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 235
be worth whUe to point out various ways in which
precisely the same ^results have sprung (even within
the short time they have yet existed) from the
religious associations of Protestants, as showed
themselves in the reUgious Societies of Rome,
proving an identity of principle involved in them.
1 . We may trace, then, this identity most readUy
in the tendency which manifests itself in both, to
act independently of the appointed government of
the Church by Episcopal authority. In Japan, in
Paraguay, in India, a marked jealousy of this
apostohc rule was evinced by the Jesuits ;' even the
Papal decrees were disregarded when opposed to
their modes of action; a persecution was raised
against prelates who resisted them, for they would
walk after their own ways, and were therefore found
' For instances, see Recueil des Decrets ApostoUques et des
Ordonnances du Roi de Portugal, Avertissement, pp. 14 — 16; and
Histoire abrSgee des .Jesuites, vol. U. pp. 83 — 86. Paris, 1820.
Two bishops were consecrated at Rome in 1657; one. Bishop of
HeUopolis, the other, Bishop' of Berithe, to take charge of the
congregations in China, Cochin-China, &o. The Jestiits opposed
them as intruding on their ground. " lis tirent savoir aux fideles
qu'Us n'eussent pas a reconnaitre les Eveques, ni & leur ob6ir." —
Histoire abregee, p. 95. For their conduct in Paraguay, see
Lect. V. p. 153, note 2. In 1626, a Bishop of Chalcedon was
appointed, with the authority of ordinary over the Roman
CathoUcs iu England, and undertook to extend his jurisdiction
over the Jesuits ; but they threw such obstacles in his way that
he was obliged to retire. Hence arose a controversy between the
Jesuits and the adherents of the bishop, in which, among other
things, it was disputed, whether " regulars were under the jurisdic
tion of bishops." See StUUngfleet's Discourse concerning the
Idolatry practised in the Church of Rome. London, 1676, p. 421,
quoted in Bayle, art. " Knot,'' note (A).

236 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
in collision with external rule. Thus the associa
tions of various Protestant bodies have necessarily cut
themselves off from this apostolic ordinance, with
which their constitution is incompatible. And even
within the Church, a sad evidence of this tendency
has been recently exhibited in the coUision of a
Society with the Bishop of an Indian diocese, and
the wounds are yet unhealed.' Yet so it is, that
private voluntary schemes must, in their indepen
dent action, naturally conflict with a controUing
authority, ff that authority does not depend for its
existence on the same voluntary appointment.
2. Again, there was not a more melancholy
sight, than the strffes that arose between the rival
orders of Rome in China, in India, and throughout
Europe, each charging the other with departure
from the faith ; so that in Malabar, a Jesuit
Christian was set in opposition to a Capuchin Chris
tian.^ Would that we had not to lament the same
jealousy, marring the work of God in the same
unhappy field, among the various Protestant Socie
ties, which, each jealous for its own honour, and
pushing its own schemes, are set in rivalry and
opposition one against the other !'
' The case referred to, is that of the Rev. W. T. Humphrey, late
missionary of the Church Missionary Society at Mayaveram, in
the Diocese of Madras. See Appendix, No. XXXVI.
2 Norbert, M6m. Hist, des Missions dans les Indes Orientales,
vol. i. p. 8.
' Thus, among the dangers attending the Krishnaghur mission,
the Bishop of Calcutta names the divisions among different bodies
of Christians. Church Missionary Society, 40th Report, p. 151.

VIL] OP THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 237
3. A further correspondence may be remarked in
the inabUity which has attended both to coalesce
with the civU authority among the heathen. They
have been found, in some cases, neglecting it, and
thus rejecting a means appointed of God to aid in
the work of conversion,' and in others, exercising
tyranny over it. It is needless to refer to the
precise and definite charges of interference with the
civU supremacy which caused the expulsion of the
Jesuits from many kingdoms. It is but the same
spirit that has exhibited itself in the unwise and
presumptuous exercise of authority that has marked
the conduct of Protestant emissaries among the
nations of the Pacific islands.^ And that it should
thus reappear is no strange thing ; for experience
proves that the temper of self-will which acts regard
less of authority, is ever ready to seize upon it, even
unlawfuUy, when within its grasp.
4. We may further trace the same coincidence,
where perhaps we might not expect it, in a similar
and unreal substitution of an internal state, or
intention of the mind, for the entire worship of God
in body and soul. The true and scriptural teaching
' Comp. Medhurst's China, p. 250.
2 " They have acquired a degree of pubUc and private impor
tance, (having persuaded them [the natives] that they are the
necessary conductors to heaven,) which, but for the situation of
the islands, which secures a constant succession of foreigners for
the purposes of commerce, wotdd bid fair to renew the Jesuit
dominion in Paraguay." Byron's Voyage to Sandwich Islands,
pp. 146, 147 ; and Captain Beechy's Voyage to the Pacific, vol. ii.
p. 420 ; also RusseU's Polynesia, p. 323.

238 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
of the Church associates the internal worship with
its corresponding external act, which at once em
bodies, and fixes, and strengthens the inward
gracious temper. How this union has been violated
in the teaching of Protestant sects, which resolves
all true reUgion into an inward experience and
movement of the soul, is too well known. These
have discarded the outward worship. Yet just in a
siniilar way were the Jesuit missionaries found
maintaining that the intention of the mind by itself
constituted acceptable service to God, even though
aUied to an idolatrous act. So that these have
separated the outward from the inward ; and this,
too, purposely to justffy a vicious permission of
heathen practices to their neophytes.'
5. It is but the same principle, moreover, in both
classes of societies, that has shown itself in the
tendency to become secular, and engage in the
acquisition of private property. In the West, and
in the East Indies, the emissaries of the Jesuits
were largely engaged in commercial pursuits ; and
thus wealth accrued to the order, and they were
enabled to push their schemes over all the world,
until they became, through their secular transactions,
a scandal to Europe.^ And it is enough to notice
• See Lect. V. p. 164, note 1.
^ On a point which has been so much the subject of discussion,
it wUl be enough to refer to sources of information. The fact is
bewailed in most strong language by Josephus Acosta, de Proc.
Ind. Sal. lib. iv. cap. xv. pp. 403, 404. See Norbert, vol. i.
pp. 157, 298. (In the latter passage the Jesuit Bishop of Melia-

vn.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 239
a tendency towards the same results, a mixing of
the secular with the religious character, in the
conduct of missionaries of seff-constituted societies.
It is avowed and claimed by them as among the
benefits of missionary enterprize, that they have
promoted Qommercial dealings, and directed them
among the islands of the South;' and in New
Zealand, the private speculations of missionaries
connected with the Church became so excessive, as
to bring reproach upon the mission.^ Yet do not
these things Ulustrate only the natural tendencies of
individual associations, though formed for religious
purposes ? They are schemes of man's device, they
do not represent the spiritual society founded by
Christ, and therefore cannot throw themselves upon
the promise to that body; they cannot foUow the
Apostle's canon, and "give themselves wholly to
these things," but, having a human origin, they
are driven to sustain themselves by human expe
dients.
pore is related to have inquired of the English governor of
Madras, in what character he would be received. " Comme un bon
marchand," was the reply.) The failure of Father La Valette at
Martinique, for above a mUUon and half of Uvres, is related in the
M6moire a consulter, et Consultation pour Jean Lioncy, &c.,
printed at Paris in 1761. A " Memoire Apologetique," (in which,
however, the mercantile transactions of the Jesuits in Paraguay
are acknowledged,) occurs in Lettres Edif. vol. ix. p. 187.
' Evidence on Abor. p. 310. " The Great Commission," p. 238.
Mr. WUliams seems to have engaged largely in such pursuits, and
on one occasion a speculation which he had entered into was
condemned, and his conduct censured. Life by Prout, p. 194.
2 Appendix, No. XXXVII.

240 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
6. Lastly, another indication of the identity of
principle which pervades seff-originated associations
is seen in the temptation to parade and exaggerate
the effects of their labours ; for, unable to appeal
to any special commission, they need the evidence
of visible success to justify and recommend their
proceedings. And the imputation of this untruth
fulness of statement has been cast by each on the
other, tiU missionary reports have become a by-word,
and the whole work is distrusted.
The pernicious character of the tendencies which
have been enumerated wUl, I trust, prove that no
undue importance is attached to the evU which
besets the existence of such voluntary associations
within the Church. These iU results may exhibit
themselves in various degrees in various bodies, just
in proportion as they either practicaUy recognise or
disregard episcopal control.' StUl such bodies are
essentiaUy faulty in their tendency, they usurp the
office assigned to the Church, and yet they are
incompetent to execute its work. For not being an
ordinance of God, they possess no corporate life.

' It is but justice to remark that " the Society for the Propaga
tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," from the unreserved manner
in which the direction of its affairs is submitted to the Bishops of
the Church, under the constant personal superintendence of the
Archbishop of Canterbury, and from the care with which it abstains
from any interference with its missionaries, who are placed entirely
under the control of the Colonial Bishop in whose Diocese they
officiate, is as free as possible from those faults to which voluntary
associations have a natural tendency.

vn.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 241
they are at best but an aggregate of individuals,
with no personality, or responsibility as a body, and
no source of unity ; they depend for existence on
private wiU and favour, and therefore can appeal to
no higher principle; they cannot command the
allegiance or fix the affections of men. And besides
this, they introduce diversity of comisel and of action
where unity is an especial condition of success ; and
thus, in the perplexities and difficulties which wUl
ever arise, they force upon us the conviction that
our missionary transactions, ff any permanent
success is to attend them, should be conducted by
the constituted authority of the Church, and thus
claim the suffrages and alms of the faithful.
Nor is this principle of the Church acting as one
body to be confined to its conduct in originating its
missions, but to be carried out and visibly exhibited
among the heathen. What has necessarUy been
the effect of the desultory and uncombined action
that has been evinced at home, but a sad feebleness
and aimlessness of object in the dispersion of the
forces abroad? Missionaries have been scattered
here and there, one or two amongst millions, acting
upon no system, representing no body, their spirits
exhausted under an oppressive sense of inabUity to
meet the demand upon them. And even where
some degree of success has foUowed, yet the
converts have been sprinkled over so wide a surface,
with no coherence or common life, that the results
have been scarcely visible. Therefore it deserves

242 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
our serious consideration whether we might not act
more efficiently by concentrating our labours, and
fixing them upon given spots where a Christian
community might be formed and organized ; where
the converts, being mutually a support to one
another, aided by the restraints of discipline,' and
removed beyond the influence of idolatrous practices
and associations, might exhibit a higher standard of
Christian advancement, and offer a more evident
witness to the heathen of the power and excellence
of the faith of Christ.
But in carrying out this design, it wUl seem
indispensable that, in planting any mission, not
one or two individuals be sent, but that a brother
hood of clergy, under one invested with episcopal
authority, be associated together, and thus form
the germ from which a Christian Church may
unfold itself in its fuU proportions. Thus, at least,
in all earlier and more successful days, the apostles
of heathen Europe acted ; they began by centrali
zation, and by setting up a Christian society.
Within its circle they maintained that mode of
life which might convince the heathen that, in
Christ, men were brought into a fresh relation to
God and to one another ; that this relationship did
not supersede, but sanctified and comprehended
within itself aU other social bonds ; that, by making
^ The absence of discipline amongst native converts was
lamented by Henry Martyn, Memoirs, p. 287. The necessity of
it among neophytes is strongly and justly urged by Josephus
Acosta, de Proc. Ind. Sal. lib. iv. cap. xix. p. 422.

VIL] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 243
things spiritual the measure of things temporal, it
softened down the inequalities of life, giving dignity
to the weak, and humility to the strong, and so
united men in a new family. Thus a visible
meaning was given to the language of Scripture,
to its pervading idea of the " Mount Sion," " the
heavenly Jerusalem," " the kingdom of God," the
" feUowship " of saints. From these central points
evangelists issued forth into the surroimding Pagan
country; fresh wastes were recovered, and taken
possession of. The bounds of the Church gradu
aUy enlarged themselves from the primary seat of
occupation ; and by the concentration of power,
and by unity of action, means were provided for
regular advance, and for making a steady resistance
against the assaults of heathenism.
II. But ff the review of the heathen world, in
its vast dimensions and various aspects, force upon
us the needfulness of a united and vigorous system
of operation, both at home in originating, and
abroad in executing, the onward advance of the
Gospel of Christ ; it equaUy establishes, that diver^
sity of means and of action must be employed in
the same work. In this respect the present con
dition of Paganism offers a contrast to that which
belonged to it both in the earlier and middle ages
of the Christian era. Each of these periods had
its own distinguishing character ; the aspect of the
heathen with whom the Church had to do was, for
the most part, the same. In the former period it
R 2

244 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
was civilized, in the latter it was barbarian. The
operations of the Church, within each, were there
fore unfform. But now the heathen world presents
an aspect greatly diversified. On the one hand are
the Eastern superstitions, like the huge fortresses
which crown the heights of India, bearing the
impress of a rude grandeur, and witnessing to an
ancient civiUzation, the strongholds of a stern
despotism, under the shelter of which there has
growm up a cultivation of the arts and sciences,
with an advancement in social lffe, and, among the
privileged classes of natives, an extravagant but
abstruse phUosophy, which wUl offer, at the least,
a strong inert force against the advance of Chris
tianity. On the other hand are nations in aU the
varying degrees of barbarism and gross idolatry,
scattered into tribes, uninstructed in the rudiments
of civUized lffe, and needing, in some cases, almost
to be humanized, in order to their elevation as
moral and immortal beings.
It is clear that a different system of treatment
must be adopted towards these diverse forms of
Paganism, in order effectuaUy to bring them into
subjection to the truth. It will be required also
by that diversity of thought, and feeling, and cha
racter, and association, which (to whatever cause
we trace it, whether climate, or habit, and a conse
quent organization of the human frame,) certainly
does distinguish the various races of the earth's
inhabitants. We recognise at once the strong

VII]. OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 245
contrast which is presented in the imaginative cast
of the oriental mind, its fondness for abstraction and
dreamy thought and symbolical representations,
its mysticism and admiration of austerity, to the
practical and masculine character which is formed
in the western and northern climes, its cool intel
lectual energy, its bodUy activity which despises
indolent meditation, its proneness rather to scepti
cism than superstition. And therefore this con
sideration would lead us to conclude, that a dff-
ferent mode of address and treatment wUl be
needed towards heathen faUing under the one class
of character from what is pursued towards the
other ; and that it would be impracticable to graft
the rational and unsymbolical form of European
worship on an imagination accustomed to contem
plate divine things only under forms of external
grandeur and ceremonial.'
Enough, then, is said to show that diversity of
means needs to be employed in the propagation of
the faith among various races. Neither the same
methods of presenting the truth, nor the same
individuals, can meet the demands of all. Different
habits of thought, quahfications, resources, powers.

' The poverty of the external form under which the Gospel was
exhibited in India is thus spoken of by Bishop Middleton : " What
must the worshipper in mosque and pagoda think of men, who,
possessing all the resources of the country, and pretending to a
better faith, worship their Maker in buUdings not distinguishable
from barracks and godorons ?" — Life by Le Bas, vol.i. p. 120.

246 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
bodUy and mental, are necessarUy required for
each. The endowments of men fitted for so high
an office are partly the gifts of nature, and partly
the result of long training and laborious acquisi
tion. For a man successfuUy to address himself to
a Brahmin it wiU not be enough that he be person-
aUy pious, and zealous, and fflled with a compas
sionate love of souls; not enough for him to be
fluent in speech and versed in Scripture ; nor, on
the other hand, in addressing the savages of Africa
or New Zealand, is it alone needful that he possess
quickness of thought, be kind or prayerful, or even
apt at instruction. But besides and over these,
there needs an apparatus of means and qualifica
tions adapted to the particular sphere in which he
is to be caUed into action.
Let me instance some of these qualifications, in
iUustration of the subject.
^ 1. We learn from missionaries of the present
day, with what acuteness and subtlety the instructed
Hindoo will enter into abstruse argument — how
he wdU sift every statement of an opponent, draw
him off into the discussion of an abstract question,
involve him in metaphysical intricacies, or historical
doubts.' All the disputations on which years of
controversy have been expended, wUl be torn open
and renewed, as if objections of the kind had never
' Church of Scotland's India Mission, by Dr. Duff, p. 9. The
same thing is instanced in the life of Xavier, translated by
Dryden, pp. 332, 376.

vn.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 247
before been made or answered. The Bible is
searched " for the express purpose of impugning
its sacred contents."' And besides this, the
partial introduction of European phUosophy has
produced in India a new school of disputants.
Rejecting the more glaring absurdities, they yet
retain the principle of Pantheism, and, combining
with it parts of European systems, have formed
them into a new theosophic compound. Hence,
exactly the same process that took place in
Alexandria among the Platonists and Eclectics,
is adopted now by the more enhghtened heathen
in Calcutta, and is, indeed, but a natural result
when phUosophic paganism is being assaulted and
sifted by the truth.^ They endeavour to strengthen
the former by subsidies from the latter. Adopt
ing the language of a liberal phUosophy, they
assert that " the Deity has appointed to each
tribe its own faith; that he views with com
placency in each particular place the mode of
worship respectively appointed to it ; sometimes he
is employed with the attendants on the Mosque,
sometimes he is in the Temple at the adoration of
idols, the friend of Mussulman and Hindoo, and

' Missions the chief End of the Christian Church, by Dr. Duff,
p. 122.
^ Ibid. p. 119. Professor WUson, in his second Lecture, On
the Religious Practices and Principles of the Hindus, p. 66,
remarks that " the Hindus traverse the very same ground that
was famiUarly trodden by the phUosophers of Greece and Rome,
and pursue the same ends by the same or similar paths.''

248 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
the companion of the Christian."' So that the
various forms of antagonism to the Christian faith
which once assailed it by direct opposition or by
false liberality, are reviving again under the auspices
of Hindu Eclectics or Unitarians.^ And it wiU
foUow from hence that no common acquirements
or powers are needed for such an arena as this,
but that some missionaries, at least, must be
speciaUy prepared, ff they are to contend success
fully with this race of subtle dialecticians.
§ 2. But another class of qualifications wiU be
required under a different class of circumstances.
Scarcely is there a greater difficulty, at times, than
to attract the attention, or (still more) to gain the
confidence of the heathen. In the first ages this
was achieved by the miraculous powers possessed
by apostolic men. The means placed in European
hands for accomplishing the same effect now, is the
superiority in arts and sciences, which strike the
heathen as " coming down from above." It was
by the possession of knowledge such as this that
the Jesuits made their wonderful advance in
China, and rose to the highest stations of confi-
' Preface to the code of Hindu Law, compUed by command of
Warren Hastings. Professor WUson's first Lect. p. 37. Duff, ut
sup. p. 120, who quotes the words.
^ The system framed by Rammohun Roy, the late Hindu
Reformer, is simple Deism. A Society first formed by him exists
at Calcutta. The members meet together each Sunday for Divine
Service ; and an English newspaper is conducted by some of
them, advocating the opinions of the party " with remarkable
boldness and abiUty." — Professor WUson's first Lect. p. 12.

VIL] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 349
dence, and were entrusted with the education of
princes. Astronomy, chemistry, the arts of survey
ing, even mechanical skUl, above all, the sacred art,
as it is deemed, of medicine, were the instruments
by which they secured to themselves an amount of
infiuence, which might have procured the conversion
of that vast empire. Among barbarous natives this
is the one source of concUiation and power, as weU
as an effective instrument of their improvement.
The advance made in Africa by Islamism, the only
instance of a bloodless conquest obtained by that
crusading faith, has been achieved by the mysterious
influence of letters and science on the half-reasoning
mind of the negro. The practice of the commoner
arts first drew the savages of South America round
the Moravian missionaries, and, of later years, round
the teachers in the Pacific islands, just as cen
turies before they drew the rude Ostrogoth to the
convent of Monte-Cassuio, and, under the guidance
of St. Benedict, tamed his hardy energy by the
gentler occupations of peace.' And ff any vigorous
and systematic effort is to be made, missionaries
destined for more uncivUized countries — nay, for
the more advanced nations, especiaUy China, where
knowledge is pecuharly the source of power — need
' Guizot, Cours d'Histoire moderne, vol. i. p. 172, quoted by
Blumhardt, vol. ii. p. 182. St. Benedict was the first who made
agricultur.al labour a part of the monastic discipUne ; he himself
laboured, and so employed the Goths who joined his convent.
See Acta Sanct. Saec. L praefat. No. CXIII., and Vita S. Mauri.
§ 13, p. 265.

250 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
to be equipped with the appUances of European
skUl. § 3. And further, it is clear, on the first glance,
— and so clear as to make the neglect the more
strange, — that, before any effectual intercourse with
nations of a foreign clime can be maintained,
famUiar acquaintance with the vernacular and even
provincial dialects of the country wUl be required.
Years have been lost by missionaries in acquiring,
on the field of their labour, this prerequisite of their
labouring at aU. However zealous and burning to
impart their message, they have stood among the
heathen with sealed lips ; or have communicated
broken sentences of truth, by the stammering
tongue of an interpreter. And when we consider
that the large portion of missionaries in the vast
field of India have sunk under their exhausting toUs
within the first six or seven years of their sojourn,'
we must learn how indispensably needful it is that
such labourers as are sent should go forth acquainted,
in a large measure, ¦with the language,^ with the
habits, too, of thought, and prejudice, and associa^
tion, of those to whom they are to make known the
' Duff's India, &c. p. 328.
' In this respect, we have an instance of the care which the
Church of Rome bestows in providing the fittest instruments for
the work to be done. On the " Feast of Languages," recitations
are made in almost every known tongue by pupils of the Propa
ganda. When Lord Macartney was sent to China, the King of
England begged some of the scholars from the Propaganda to
accompany the embassy as interpreters. They were given on
certain conditions, and went. — De Maistre, du Pape, p. 280.

VIL] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 251
message of salvation, and thus be possessed of the
power of doing so, before both body and spirit are
consumed under the combined action of fatigue,
anxiety, and disappointment.
That such qualifications are needed wiU be at
once admitted ; and two inferences foUow upon
the statement. It wUl be felt, first, that, in pro
secuting the work of evangeUzing the heathen,
there must needs be a distribution of offices, so
that each individual may be assigned, according to
his powers, to the field in which he is best qualified
to fight the Lord's battles :— and, secondly, that,
in some countries, where various classes of men are
to be addressed, there shoiUd be a brotherhood,
possessing among themselves such acquirements as
have been named, each exercising his own gift, and
aU cooperating towards the proposed end. It is
too much to expect any one, it is too cruel to aUow
any one, to engage in the task of combining aU
qualifications, to study, to labour, to preach, to
translate, to gather in, and then organize, to in
struct the young, to exhibit the austere lffe of a
saint, and the physical energy of an evangelist.'
' There is a splendid passage in St. Chrysostom, (De Sacerdot.
lib. iv. § 4,) setting forth the acquirements needed by one " in
structed unto the kingdom of heaven;" which, though it may
seem to mUitate against what is here said, does not so in reaUty,
and is too beautiful to be omitted. Kal hci t6v piXXovTa tijv irpos
Travras dva8exf<rdai pdx^v, Tas aTrdvTav elSivai rcxvas' Kal tov ovtov
To^oTt^v T£ elvai Kal cr(p(vBovi(rTriv, Kal aTpaTiiliTrjv, Kal oTpaTrjybv,
Kol rre^dv, Kal ImrSa, Kal vavpAxrtv, Kal Tuxopjixri^- He is speak
ing of but one department of the work required in a missionary,
viz. meeting unbelievers or misbeUevers in discussion.

252 . THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
We may, indeed, send men, one by one, ready to
attempt this and die in the attempt, and be
snatched off in the very first budding of success ;
but such conduct evinces not the tender care of a
parent who would husband the strength of her
children, nor the wise prudence of a servant who
would do the work of his master most successfully.
Had this care been felt and exercised, we should
not, it may be, have seen the noble spirit of Henry
Martyn, the one burning light in our missionary
enterprises, toUing in his multffarious labour,
exhausted and worn away in sorrow of heart under
it. With his rare gifts and saintly devotion, had
his powers been but associated with a system, and
directed in their due exercise, he might have been
spared to confront with larger success the creed of
the Prophet, might have risen to be an apostle to
Mahometans, and have nerved many a kindred
soul, by his example, to the same ennobUng enter
prize. But, secondly, the conviction will arise that an
institution is demanded, wherein the soldiers of
Christ who give themselves to this elevating service
may be trained and instructed, where their powers
may be caUed out and tried, where they may learn
to endure hardness, and practise discipline, and
each have his aUotted task assigned on which he
may concentrate his powers. It was thus, in the
middle ages, that seminaries were attached to the
reUgious houses, which were the cUadels of Chris-

Vn.J OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 253
tianity. As early as at the close of the fourth
century, Lerins became the source of enlightenment
to southern France. The monastic houses at Ban
gor, lona, Lindisfarne, and Neuf-Corbie, were for
centuries the nurseries of evangelists for northern
Europe ; ' and within their seminaries were trained
those master spirits to whom the Christianity of
nations is due, Columban, St. GaU, Aidan, Boni
face, and Anschar.^ In the sixteenth century
similar institutions were founded by the Church of
Rome, — twenty -three by one Pontiff alone,^ — and
subsequently were attached to all religious houses.*
By these means the missionary temper of the Mora
vians is kept bright and keen, whose instruction of
their youth is saturated with an interest for the
heathen. And with this lesson before us, we need
not inquire why so few have vowed themselves to
this work amongst ourselves, why this apostolic
service has been deemed extravagant and without
repute, has been consigned to the lowher ranks of
lffe, or left to German emissaries. Seminaries such
as these are the chief spring of the Church's action,
in aU its functions ; and it will be a bright dawn
' Neander, AUgemeine Geschichte, vol. in. p. 17.
' Columban and St. GaU were both trained at Bangor. Aidan
was an inmate of the monastery in lona, and was afterwards
appointed to the see of Lindisfarne, which was the nursery of
evangelical labourers in the north of England. Anschar belonged
to the fraternity at Neuf-Corbie.
^ By Gregory XIII. Thomas a Jesu, De Proc. omn. Gent. Sal.
Ub.iii. cap.iU. p. 111.
* Clement XI. so ordained by decree in 1707.

254 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
of more vigorous effort, — a fresh hope for the
heathen world, — when that scheme, which, at the
pleading and strong entreaty of prelates from the
southern isles,' is now being enterprized and pro
jected under auspices so happy, shaU be matured ;
and amid the imposing monuments of piety set
apart for God's honour and worship that surround
us, surely none wUl be more honourable than that
dedicated to Christ for the salvation of the
heathen. But the mention of these mediaeval seminaries
suggests another practice of the early Church,
which recent experience has proved to be largely
needed in our advances upon civUized nations ; viz.
the iastruction of converts, both before and after
their being joined to the fold of Christ. It is
true that numerous schools for children are pro
vided in most missionary stations.^ But this is
not sufficient : to be effectual in influencing the
mind of a people, instruction must be addressed
also to maturer inteUects.^ And both of these
• See Appendix, No. XXXVIII.
^ It is, however, the universal confession, that but very few of
the chUdren, so educated, embrace the Christian faith, owing, of
course, to their intercourse with their heathen relations at home.
See Bishop of Madras's Letter in Church Missionary Record,
July, 1843, p. 161; and Native Female Education, by K. M. Ba-
nerjea, p. 106 ; compare also what Bishop Heber says. Journal,
vol. i. p. 379, and Formby's Visit to the East, p. 165.
^ This was evidenced in a letter from Mr. Tucker, secretary of
the Corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society
at Madras, quoted at the end of Hough's Vindication of Protestant
Missions. The Madras Diocesan Institution, supported by the

VIL] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 255
objects were included in the catechetical schools of
antiquity. The celebrated school of Alexandria
needs only to be mentioned,' signaUzed by the
lectures and writuigs of Pantsenus, Clement, and
Origen, where, meeting on the common ground of
Greek phUosophy, the more enlightened among the
inquiring heathen might be instructed, and led to
the acquisition of Divine truth. The thirst for
education and European knowledge that advances
wdth rapid progression among the nations of the
East demands that it should be met in the same
way. The two most remarkable conversions, in
Calcutta, of educated natives, one of them of the
highest caste, effected by means of pubUc discus
sions on natural and revealed reUgion, prove how
vast the efficacy of such schools might be in the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, seems calculated to
meet the want expressed : only Mr. Tucker proposed to add to
such an Institution lectures on scientific and religious subj ects ;
and pointed to Dr. Duff's establishment at Calcutta as an instance
of what he designed. This latter point seems well deserving of
attention. ' The catechetical school of Alexandria was twofold; the ele
mentary division, or " catechumenorum schola, " in which neophytes
were instructed in the rudiments of the Christian faith; the higher
division, and later in point of establishment^ caUed by Eusebius
(H. E. lib. vL c. 3) rd ttjs KaTTjxwems StSaa-KoX^ov, in which lectures
on theology and ethics, embracing the systems of heathen phUo
sophy, were deUvered to more advanced Christians, and the heathen
who might attend. See Guerike, de ScholS, Alex. Catecheticfi,
cap. in. p. 100, et seg. Prof. Burton conjectures thatthe " Exhorta
tion to the Heathen," and the " Psedagogue" of Clement, were the
substance of lectures delivered by him in the Catechetical school.
Lect. on Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 206.

256 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lecus
hands of able men.' Let it be borne in mind,
also, that the method of educating the mass
must be through the well-instructed few, rather
than by an elementary teaching of the many.^
Therefore should the Church take part in this
onward movement, ff the moral regeneration of the
Indian people is to keep pace with its inteUectual
advancement ; she must show that she is ready and
powerful to form and educate the heathen mind, to
remedy the defective, and therefore faulty method,
by which this task has hitherto been attempted. For
it was first essayed by coUeges for the revival of
Hindoo and Sanskrit literature;' these have since
given way to a mere secular education in European
science, apart from all religious knowledge.* Dan
gerous as such a procedure is at aU times, what
result must be expected among a people in whom
the religious affection is manffested with peculiar
strength, and in whose mind aU science has ever
been intimately blended with the dogmas of theology?
To subvert these, and, in the room of the old and
varied fabric, to present the abstractions of philoso
phy and science, wUl secure an immediate infidelity,
and probably, after a series of convulsions, and in
' These discussions were conducted by Dr. Duff, and a detailed
account of them and of the very striking results with which they
were blessed to the two young men aUuded to, is given in the
Appendix to his India and Indian Missions, p. 607.
2 Trevelyan on Education in India, p. 47.
» Ibid. pp. 4, 5, &c.
' Duffs Vindication, &c. p. 29. India, and Indian Missions,
p. 608.

VIL] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 257
the absence of any substitute, will lead to a resettling
of the national mind upon the old superstition, the
abandonment of which entaUed only misery and
ruin.' But an institution that should meet this want
might subserve, too, another end. Many are the
touching accounts of the entire abandonment and
rejection to which the Hindoo is consigned on
apostasy from his native faith. He is at once an
outcast. In the first ages, probably in the house of
the catechumens,^ and in the middle ages, certainly,
within the monastic house, such, when forsaken of
father and mother, would have sought an asylum.
Here, slaves redeemed by the apostolic men who
first preached in Germany, found a refuge, and
from hence, in subsequent years, they went forth,
the most powerful agents in converting the heathen,
a body of native evangelists. All experience has
shown that no ordinary training and education is
needed to fit a native for gaining influence over the
minds of his feUow-countrymen, and yet the Gospel
cannot win its way without this agency. Thus,
whUe an asylum were offered to the homeless, a
disciphned life would be secured in connexion with
schools of Christian science; and as these failed
not to acquire ascendency over the old pagan mind
' Duff's India, &c. p. 269.
2 Recognit. S. Clement, lib. ii. ad fin. apud Cotelerii Patr. Apost.
tom. i. p. 524, quoted by Thomas &, Jesu, de Proc. omn. Gent. Sal.
p. 872, for the establishment of such an institution. He recom
mends that in such a refuge the destitute should be retained, p. 908.

«
258 THE PRESENT CONDITION .AND WANTS [Lect.
armed with twice the truth that is contained in the
present mythologic systems of the East, so wiU they
not now faU to raise up a race of men able, not to
receive only, but to perpetuate the Faith of Christ,
and to build up a native Church in the midst of
their own homes and the temples of their forsaken
idols. Thus I have endeavoured to point out some of
those wants which are felt in the conduct of our
missions ; and how in past ages they were wont to
be supplied. They have been suggested chiefly by
the recorded experience of men now labouring in
the harvest-field of souls. One more need remains
to be noticed, but this must be deferred.
Let me revert, in a few words, to the point from
which I set out. Nothing has been said on the
wide subject of the unity of the whole Church
Catholic, the one great want of Christendom ; and
of this it would be presumptuous to speak. It is
indeed the condition of the word of God being
glorified widely, fuUy, speedUy. As some blessings
have for many long years been undoubtedly forfeited
through the loss of it ; so, on this account also, the
exceeding honour of evangelizing the whole world,
is, it may be, indefinitely suspended. And for this
cause the work of the Church may be, in the same
degree, protracted ; it may have to go on toUing in
broken disorder, doing its task in great trouble, in
fear and uncertainty, and reaping its fruit only
partially and at intervals. Upon this, however,

vn.] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 259
I venture not to dwell.' Yet as regards the proce
dures of our branch of the Church within itseff, we
may direct our desires and endeavours towards the
drawing out of those hidden powers which lie folded
up within its divine system, and which are inherent
in its unity. We cannot, indeed, look around us
without seeing a stirring and converging of men's
hearts towards this point ; we cannot but recognise
instinctive strivings after it, though it be in the
narrow and really baseless schemes of union by
which the want is sought to be supplied. We may
accept even these as tokens for good ; and yet only
the more, in patience and submission, aim at caUing
forth those Uving principles of action within the
Church, which, directed by its spiritual rulers, as the
centre of its energies, may bear with them the sym
pathies and wUling cooperation of the whole body.
We may be content to bear for a time the taunt,
when we are told that we are possessed of no miiting
principle, that we have lost all claim to it, aU the
semblance of apostolic discipline ; that we have no
concentrated action, nor unfform system ; that our
power is frittered away in independent irregular
doings, and rival associations ; that we neither con
solidate at home, nor present a compacted front
' For it formed the subject of the admirable Sermon of the
Bishop of SaUsbury, preached before the Society for the Propaga
tion of the Gospel, and published in the Report for 1842. The
same topic has been since handled also by a prelate of the
American Church, in a Sermon entitled " The Church upon her
knees," by the Bishop of New Jersey.
s 2

260 THE PRESENT CONDITION AND WANTS [Lect.
against the adversary abroad ; — ^we may be content
to be stiU, and, as an omen of the coming day when
those who bear us evU wiU shaU be able no longer
to use any such proverb, may recur in grateful
recollection to the auspicious and moving scene,
when, under the shadow of one of its most ancient
and haUowed sanctuaries, the Church did consecrate
to the pastoral office, and did send forth to our
country's most distant dependencies, yea, to earth's
utmost limits, five of its chosen children, to be the
centres of its visible unity, the vicegerents of its
rule, the channels of its apostolic gifts and minis
trations.' Yet this is but the earnest of greater doings.
And only the more vigorously must we second these
efforts, and prepare to meet the caU when labourers
are demanded for the whitening harvest. These
leadings of God's providence are surely only drawing
on larger results. They cannot stay. Fresh success
wiU demand fresh sacrifice. And the Church at
home, if it is to share in the glorious enterprize,
must enter on the field with the Church abroad.
Though occupying a securer post, and further
removed from the scene of strife, still it is militant ;
it is only not in the first ranks, it must bear its
portion of toil. It must support, counsel, repair
' On the feast of St. Bartholomew, 1842, the edifying sight was
given to the Church, of the five Bishops of Barbados, Gibraltar,
Antigua, British Guiana, and Tasmania, being consecrated in
Westminster Abbey.

VIL] OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MISSIONS. 261
losses, encom'age, supply the whole armoury of
warfare; and this surely must be done systematically,
with careful earnestness, as carrying the very wiU
of Christ into effect. For it is not merely in the
unity of operation and external system, but in the
energetic unity of a sanctified will acting in these,
that the strength of the Church resides, before
which the enemies of the Lord wUl give way, and
the gainsayers of the Truth be put to sUence.

LECTURE VIII.

THE PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS OF OUR
MISSIONARY ENTERPRIZES.

ISAIAH LIX. 19.
so SHALL THEY FEAR THE NAME OF THE LORD FROM THE WEST,
AND HIS GLORY FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN. WHEN THE
ENEMY SHALL COME IN LIKE A FLOOD, THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD
SHALL LIFT UP A STANDARD AGAINST HIM.
The past missionary efforts of the Church, when
viewed in reference to the extensive and varied
tracts of heathenism that lie before it, can be
deemed only as inceptive and experimental. They
resemble but the essays of the messengers sent
to make trial of the land of promise, to ascertain
the character of its natives, and bring back some
first-fruits of its produce. A more organized move
ment, resolute and concentrated action, wUl be
required, to take possession of each portion of the
inheritance.' Some of those modes of action which
' This is strongly urged in a tract entitled, "New Model of
Christian Missions," published in 1829, by the author of "The
Natural History of Enthusiasm," who may be supposed to repre
sent the nonconforming Protestant bodies. He says, that " the

LECT.Vin.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 203
seem most needed for executing what is to be done
have been already adverted to ; and I would now
take up the subject, and notice .the one fm'ther
deficiency which, as was observed, presents itseff in
our missionary transactions. It is the want of some
body of instructions, for the guidance of the mis
sionaries in their intercourse with the various
classes of heathen.
Questions must, day by day, present themselves
to the missionary, in which he is now thrown back
on his own resources, skUl, and judgment, either
for solving them or for determining his own line of
action, — on which, nevertheless, a wider and more
deliberate view of his position, of the character,
reUgious system, or prejudices of those with whom
he is brought in contact, might supply a specific
rule of conduct. Some time, no doubt, is needed,
and considerable experience, in operations of large
compass, before the real difficulties that beset them
can be discerned, their bearings ascertained, or
those principles evolved upon which they may suc
cessfuUy be met. Yet most of the questions that
arise are now no longer new ; a vast unsorted mass
of information respecting them is in our hands, and

modern system of missionary exertion, taken as a. -whole, is funda
mentally defective, and such as can never, except miracle come to
its aid, achieve an extensive conquest for Christianity,'' p. 8.
And yet, surely a miracle would be no less needed to provide his
remedy, viz. an " universal and harmonious association" of all
Protestant communities. StiU his evidence is important as
pointing out the need of one body to secure success.

264 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
facts are ascertained sufficiently numerous to allow
of inductions being drawm from them, or at least a
judgment being expressed. Perhaps it wall be best
perceived how requisite is some such code of in
structions, if I proceed, in Ulustration, to adduce
one or two cases on which perplexities and contra
dictory views may exist, and yet on a right treat
ment of which the whole success of a mission may
depend. 1. The first and most important is, the way in
which the heathen mind should be met in setting
before it the Gospel of Salvation.
It woU appear from what has been aUeady said,
that a different method will be needed in the treat
ment of the civUized and the uncivUized, — of those
Avhose minds are already moulded and fashioned by
a Jefinite creed and system of worship, and those
whose religion consists only of a blind and senseless
superstition, and rude idolatry. And further than
this ; in respect to the former, both a priori rea
soning and apostolic practice would suggest, what
experience leads us to conclude, that the attempt to
produce conviction should not be made by ad
vancing at once the high and most holy doctrines
which lie at the centre of the Christian faith. The
chief argument in support of such a mode of pro
ceeding has been drawn from the often-cited testi
mony of the Moravian missionaries, who, in their
conversion of the Greenlanders, record, that it was
not until they preached " ' Christ and him cruci-

VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 265
fied,' without -first ' laying the foundation of repent
ance from dead works, and faith towards God,' "
that any effect was seen to follow on their labom's.'
And upon this, and one or two simUar instances,
a modern theory of conversion has been buUt.
But in this case, as in aU with which I am ac
quainted, a long preparatory process had preceded
this appearance of fruit. For seven years the
Moravians had been instructing these savages : for
twelve years previously, the Danes had been civi
lizing and teaching them;^ and some result was
therefore reasonably at that time to be expected.
A simUar appearance of success occurred in the
southern isles in a lUic sudden way, after years of
night toU, in which nothing had been taken ; yet
in this case there was no variation in the mode of
teaching, so that the change is referable to some
other cause. But even supposing such a mode of
instruction to be fitted for minds destitute of any
systematic creed, and sunk in much misery and
personal degradation, yet pursue the same method
with a cultivated oriental, and the doctrine wiU be
assaUed by a searching and sffting analysis. Evi
dence wUl be demanded, and when it is produced,
the facts on which it rests will be disputed, and the
' Missions of the United Brethren, pp. 30, 31.
^ Matth. and Chrisf. Stach went to Greenland in 1733, and
were welcomed by Hans Egede, who had been labouring there
since 1721. The commencement of success, mentioned above,
occurred in 1740. Brown's Missions, vol.i. p. 241, Missions of
United Brethren, pp. 12, 30.

266 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
reasonings evaded ; chronology and history wiU be
denied, or met by some counter system of such
magnitude that, in comparison with it, the former
will appear contemptible; and the whole discus
sion wUl probably be thrown back upon some
abstract question of phUosophy or natural theology.'
So that either these obstacles must be previously
removed, or else some common principles of belief
be sought from which the peculiar doctrines of the
Christian faith may be evolved and thus recom
mended to the acceptance of the disputant.
And hence arises a consideration of peculiar
interest. AU researches upon the subject have
confirmed the fact, — and there could not be a more
engaging study than fuUy to verffy it, — that through
out the heathen world there lie scattered the seeds
of a primseval tradition, sometimes nearly oblite
rated, or mixed with fable, sometimes overlaid by
a vast and extravagant mythology, or absorbed in
some phUosophic theory; stiU supplying those
elements of truth through which the systems by
which they are obscured exist at aU, and become
productive of any social benefits. Now in these
traditional revelations the germ of the Gospel may
be said to exist, as it did when they were first
communicated to man. And in reasoning Avith the
thoughtful and intelligent, it would seem the one
plan of winning the way to their conviction and
' Duff's Church of Scotland's India Mission, p. 9.

VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 267
acceptance of the Divine faith, to appeal to these
primal truths, and, through the expansion and fuU
development of them, to dislodge and shake off the
mass of error with which they are encrusted. It
would seem the way to concUiate prejudice, and
break down that posture of antagonism which the
mind naturally assumes, when its faith is directly
assaUed. And the slightest examination of the
method of instruction pursued by our blessed Lord,
— how He dispensed to His disciples His heavenly
truths, each one in its season, drawing it out as
they were able to bear it ; sometimes basing His
lessons on the law of nature, sometimes unfolding
them from the germinal principles in which they lay
involved in the law of Moses ; — or of the method
adopted by St. Paul, when he reasoned with Felix,
or preached to the Athenians, or expounded the
Scriptures to the Jews ; — or further, of the analogy
that may be drawn from the whole course of growth,
expansion, and gradual increase, by which the
revelation of the Gospel, through long prophetic
periods, was ushered into the world; — aU this
would teach us that a certain economy of instruction
is the ordained method for enlightening and con
vincing the human mind, — that an appeal to common
principles of belief wiU more surely and effectuaUy
conduce to the acknowledgment of the truth, than
a naked announcement of the deep things and
unsearchable riches of Christ. And it is deeply
interesting to observe how later and more accmate

268 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
investigations into heathen, and especiaUy Oriental
systems, have opened up these latent elements of
truth, these points of contact with the heathen
mind. The first discovery of some of these was
largely used by infidels of the last century as an
objection to Christianity, as though it were only a
borrowed form of Eastern mythology, a development
of moral truth upon this basis. For instance, the
doctrine of a divine Triad which more or less exphcitly
pervades the Brahmanic, Confucian, and Buddhistic
systems;' — the existence of a mediatorial scheme,
through incarnations of the Deity, for the destruc
tion of the enemies of man ; — the indweUing of the
Divine Presence in the subordinate works of His
creation ; — the remarkable existence, in the phUoso
phic system of Lao-tsze, of the three letters forming
the ineffable name of God;^ — the appearance, in
one of the Puranas, which forms the text-book for
the adoration of the infant Krishna, of coincidences

' The Brahmanic and Buddhistic triad are weU-known. " The
Confucians," says Mr. Medhurst, " speak of the three powers of
nature, — heaven, earth, and man; the Taonists, (followers of
Lao-tsze,) have some references to the "three pure ones," who
combine themselves in the essence of eternal reason." — China,
p. 218. " Quand les Tibetains pretent serment, ils invoquent le
Kandja-soum (c'est-a-dire le Dieu triple; Kandja signifiant Dieu,
et soum trois.) lis disent cependant qu'ils n'y a qu'un Dieu, — et
que des autres, I'un est son prophete, et I'autre son Verbe, et que
I'union des trois dans la formule du serment se rapporte a un
seul Dieu.'' Quoted from " Relation d'un Voyage dans I'Asie cen-
trale par Mir I'zzet-uUah, en 1812," by M. Abel Remusat, " Rela
tion des Voyages Bouddhiques," p. 42.
' Appendix, No. XXXIX.

Vin.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 269
in doctrine, and even in language, wdth the truths
of Christianity ; ' — the threefold hierarchy, the mo
nastic institutions, the yearly period set apart for
abstinence and humUiation, which were found to
prevail in Thibet, Japan, and Siam -^ — the striking
correspondence between the religion of the Lama
and forms of Christian worship, especially as they
prevaU in the Church of Rome f — all these analogies,
while they at first startled the sensitive faith of
some Christians, were used as grounds of insinua
tion by sceptics against the Divine origin of the
Gospel. The argument that was thus attempted to
be drawn from them has, indeed, by subsequent
researches been completely refuted, by the discovery
of the intercourse that existed between China and
Persia during the Jewish captivity; of the pUgrimage
of the Chinese sages, at that period, to the latter
country,* from whence, no doubt, was gained the
acquaintance with the sacred name of Jehovah;
of the recent origin of Lamaism, subsequent to the
missions of the Nestorians i^ of the modern date of
' Appendix, No. XL.
' See Annales de la Foi, vol. v. pp. Ill, 134, for these coinci
dences in Siam ; Bohlen, das alte Indien, p. 336, &c. for Thibet ;
the Atlas Japanensis, by Arnoldus Montanus, p. 249, (quoted in
Lect. V. p. 148, note,) for Japan.
^ Appendix, No. XLI.
'' M. Remusat, Relat. des Voyages Bouddhiques, Introd. p. xlii.
Dr. Wiseman, (Lect. XI. on Science and Revealed ReUgion,)
refers to another work of M. Remusat, MSmoire sur la Vie et les
Opinions de Lao-tseu, &c., in support of this opinion.
* Lamaism, that is, in ils present form, which, according to
M. Remusat, (Relation, &c. Introd. p. xxii.) was estabUshed in

270 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
the Purana alluded to (as modern probably as the
twelfth century of our era'); and by the reference of
other points to that primal traditional revelation,
which, throughout the whole world, has left traces
of itseff even in the most degraded superstitions,
and by which, as weU as by His providences and
mercies, God has not left Himseff without a witness
among men.
But my chief object in adducing these topics has
not been to notice the sceptical objections that have
been founded on them. The researches that have
been made into different forms of superstition, have
discovered remarkable coincidences in the religions
of the most distant countries, which seem to establish
the identity of their origin in one primaeval revela
tion ; and in the fragments of traditional truths,
which they have traced, they present so many points
of sympathy and contact with the heathen, of which
any one who aimed at leading them from their
error would do well to avaU himseff.^ It was thus
Thibet, on the third outbreak of Buddhism, in the 13th centiiry.
It cannot, however, be doubted, but that a modified system of
Lamaism pervaded these Eastern countries for centuries before
this period, and is identical with the reUgion of Japan and Siam.
See the preceding Appendix, No. XLI.
' Prof. Wilson's Lect. on the Hindus, p. 26.
' See the " rational and ingenious'' mode of persuasion recom
mended by Daniel, first Bishop of Winchester, a.d. 723, to
Boniface, who was preaching in Thurin gia. The letter is contained
in Bede's Hist. Eccl. Angl. lib. v. c. 18, and is quoted by Gibbon,
vol. iu. p. 531, 4to. edit. See also Appendix, No. XLII. for an
eloquent exposition of the course of argument with which
Mahometans should be addressed.

VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 271
that the earlier fathers met the instructed pagan on
the common 'ground of the Greek phUosophy; and
the writings of Clement of Alexandria may be justly
viewed as of a completely missionary character.
And it would be of extreme service if arguments
founded upon these traditional truths and practices,
either transmitted or imported, were drawn out, and
a manual of instruction provided by which the mis
sionary might be prepared to meet the heathen
disputant, and gain his confidence at the outset, —
or at least not be obliged, as is now not unfrequently
his case, to retire before a numerous assemblage in
discomfiture. 2. A second question, connected closely with
this, will arise, as to the order in which the Gospel
truths and precepts should be set before the
inquiring heathen, not merely to convince his
understanding, and obtain a hearing for Christian
truth, but to awaken in his heart a belief unto
salvation. A method seems largely to have pre
vaUed among many Protestants, so largely as to be
almost the received rule of action, to appeal at once
to the inward work of the Spirit upon the heart, to
aim at rousing the spiritual affections by urging
their necessity, and demanding their excitement,
and to make these the test of fitness for Holy
Baptism ; to require an experience, rather than an
acceptance of the truth, a desire, rather than a
purpose of the will to obey.' It might without
' Appendix, No. XLIII.

272 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
difficulty be shown how really powerless such an
attempt to force into ripeness the higher graces of
the Spirit is likely to be, how subversive, too, of the
true character of faith, which has its basis laid in
the reception of specific truths, on which it gazes
till the inward affections of the heart are kindled
by them into living energy. It wUl be enough to
contrast it with the plan of teaching recommended
by St. Augustine, in his Treatise on Catechizing
the Uninstructed, in which he sets forth the scheme
of Divine truth in its due proportions, in order
to lead the inquiring soul to the reception of
Christ; and throughout which he exhibits the
redemption of the Church of God by the recital
of His manifold counsels or dealings with man,
and of the life and death of the Redeemer.' In
accordance wdth this method of objective teaching-
were the rules given, from time to time, to
missionaries in the middle ages, which might
profitably be examined.^ The solemn series of
external truths contained in the Creed, and pro
fessed ever at Baptism, confirms this mode of
proceeding; and an instance of its efficacy is
recorded in the conversion of the disputant at the
first Nicene CouncU, who, after fruitless discussions,
on hearing the symbol of faith recited, yielded
himseff up to the virtue that went forth from the
lips of the speaker, nor could longer withstand
» Appendix, No. XLIV. ^ Appendix, No. XLV.

VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 273
God.' Nor is it a principle of sUght import that is
involved in a point on which the acceptance or
rejection of the Gospel, the salvation or ruin of a
soul, may depend. The comprehensive works pro
vided for the Roman Catholic missionaries assert
the need of such a code of missionary institutes,
to furnish with his due treasure of " things new and
old" the " scribe which is instructed unto the king
dom of heaven;"^ but there seems yet to be no
sufficient guide to which the missionary of our

' The narrative is related by Rufinus, Hist. Eccl. lib. x. cap. 3, and
is quoted by Franciscus a Brono, in the Manuale Missiouariorum
Orientaliura, tom. U. p. 454. ..." At uno ex confessoribus Episco-
pis qui aderant ibi, mira; viro simpUcitatis, Symbolum Fidei pro-
ponente, statim arma abjecit, seque ultro felici calamitate subactum
asseruit. Ut enim ipse dicebat, ad eos, qui tam subitaneas
mutationis stupore fuerant abrepti, conversus : 'Donee,' inquit,
' verbis mecum gesta res est, verbis verba opposui, et quEe
dicebantur dicendi arte subverti : ubi vero pro verbis processit
virtus ex ore dicentis, non potuerunt verba resistere virtuti, nee
homo adversari potuit Deo.'" — So too Fr. Xavier acted: He
entered a pagoda where two hundred Brahmins were assembled ;
and asked them, on the performance of what precept their
deities promised future happiness ? An aged man, for the rest,
gave an idle answer: — "Cette reponse," writes Xavier, "me
troubla, et jeta dans mon .ame une profonde douleur, en voyant
jusqu'a quel point le demon aveugieles hommes, en se donnant a
leur imagmation pour une divinite. Je les priai h mon tour de
m'^couter. Alors je recital a haute voix le symbole des Apotres,
et les commandemens de Dieu." Lettre XIV. vol. i. p. 205.
2 The principal Roman Catholic treatises to which I have had
access, are, De Procuranda Salute omnium Gentium, by Thomas a
Jesu, ordinis Carmelitaruni discalceatorum, Antverpise, 1613 ; —
Manuale Missiouariorum Orientaliura, by Franciscus a Breno,
ordinis Minorum strictioris Observantise ; and the treatise, De
Promulgatione EvangelU apud Barbaros, by Josephus Acosta,
Societ, Jesu. Colon. Agripp. 1596. T

274 PROSPECT'S AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
communion may refer with confidence for the
solution of his doubts.'
3. And stUl further, the history of past inter
course with the eastern nations, the controversies
which agitated and finally marred the Roman mis
sions, must convince us that there are several points,
in relation to their language and religious practices,
which need to be examined and settled. Should it
please God that our Church be planted in our terri
tories bordering on the Chinese empire, should an
entering in be obtained among that ancient nation
with its teeming population, the very language has
to be ascertained in -which the God of heaven
and earth is to be announced. I aUude, of course,
to the disputes on the apphcation to Jehovah of
the terms used in the Confucian phUosophy, the
" heaven " (Tien), and the " Sovereign Ruler"
(Xang-ti), which, as was truly asserted against the
Jesuit missionaries who employed them, convey at
the best only the notion of an invisible power, but
not of a Supreme God.^ It appears that the
' The admirable Essay by Bishop Wilson, of Sodor and Man,
on the Knowledge and Practice of Christianity, intended originally
for the instruction of the American Indian, is weU known, and
contains an excellent digest of elementary teaching.
2 Thus Mosheim interprets the meaning of the words Tien and
Xang-ti. On the other hand, an authority quoted in the Annales,
vol. ii. p. 244, asserts that the word Tien signifies the material
heaven. Gutzlafif in the same way affirms that " the present
generation understand by it the material heaven." History of
China, vol. ii. p. 136. The use of these words was forbidden, and
another substituted in their place, by the bull of Clement XI. in
1715, in the following terms: "Cum Deus optimus maximus

VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 275
Chinese have no adequate term to express this idea.
Numberless other questions besides have arisen,
and must arise, as to the permission in Christians
of several national rites and ceremonies, on which
it is the more difficult to determine, since they are
connected with those primary moral principles on
Avhich the whole framework of the Chinese polity is
buUt.' It is true that, in respect of language, after
years of contention and scandal, the foregoing terms
were rejected, and a mode of speech for declaring
the name of the Most High was sanctioned by the
see of Rome, and that a decision was pronounced
relative to most of the ceremonies on which con
troversy had arisen ; but neither in the latter case
can we conclude at once that this judgment may
consist with a more rigorous adherence to the
purity of Christian doctrine and practice, nor, in
the former, can we think inquiry superseded, since
the late learned researches of M. Abel Remusat
inform us how far we are from appreciating the
real meaning of the Buddhistic writings of the
congru6 apud Sinas vocabulis Europteis exprimi nequeat, ad
eumdem verum Deum significandum, vocabulum Tien Chu, hoc
est, coeli Dominus, quod a Sinensibus missionariis et fidelibus
longo ac probato usu receptum esse dignoscitur, admittendum
esse : nomina vero Tien, coelum, et Xang-ti, supremus Imperator,
penitiis rejicienda."
¦ Tliese other ceremonies consisted of sacrifices to Confucius,
oblations at the tombs of ancestors, tablets suspended in private
dwellings with the title " The throne of the soul of  " in
scribed on it, before which oiferings were made. They are
mentioned in the above-named Bull, which is quoted in Norbert,
Mem. Histor. vol. u. Part III. p. 46.
T 2

276 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
Chinese, or comprehending the terms by which
spiritual things are expressed; from an ignorance
of which, as he remarks, the whole system has met
with a contempt by the missionaries which it did
not deserve, and which has only rooted its votaries
deeper in their belief.' These are not imaginary
difficulties, but real questions of Christian pru
dence, which cannot be evaded ; for these systems
must be fairly met and grasped, if they are to be
deposed, and if the Gospel is to take their place in
the mind of that remarkable nation ; the solution
of them is too solemn to be left to the judgment of
any one prelate (should such be appointed) how
ever competent to entertain them; they are not
mere matters of form which may be allowed to pass
unheeded, for they have once aUeady been the
cause of discomfiture to Christianity : and from
being so deeply interwoven with national prejudice
they seem to involve more serious results than any
of those points of conduct, in the days of apostolic
Christianity, on which the intervention and judg
ment of St. Paul were required.
Of a like character with this is the subject of
several Pagan practices in India, especiaUy of caste,
the existence of which is frequently referred to as
the great obstacle to Christianity, and yet in regard
to which no systematic line of conduct has been
pursued. For a long period this distinction of race
' Relation des Voyages Bouddhiques, Introd. p. v. See Ap
pendix, No. XLVI.

VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 277
was treated as a civil custom, and was so recog
nised by our missionaries.' In 1826, however, in
consequence of several disputes on the subject, the
interposition of Bishop Heber was demanded,
whose indulgence, arising from an unwiUingness to
offend native prejudice, was soon followed by so
large an introduction of heathen and idolatrous
practices, that the purity and sincerity of the Chris
tian profession were jeoparded.^ Eight years later,
the decision of the present Bishop of Calcutta was
required, and on his unqualified condemnation of
these observances, as connected with their idolatries,
many hundreds of converts, in one district alone,
at once withdrew from the communion of the
Church.^ Now, here is a vital point undetermined
in the treatment of young converts, not to mention
other points the decision of which may vary
according to individual judgment ; and while this
uncertainty lasts, vacUlation of faith, inconsistency
and probably duplicity of practice, must be the
result. Indeed this question of caste forms a main
test of sincerity in foUowdng Christ. And it must
be observed that the difficulty of deciding it wiU
' Brown's Hist, of Missions, vol. i. p. 230. Mr. Trevelyan
remarks, that the allowance of caste " was found to encourage
the prejudice it was intended to conciliate." Education in India,
p. 20. Heber's Journal, vol. iii. p. 445.
' Letter from the Bishop of Calcutta. Report of the S. P. G.
1834—1835, p. 183.
3 Report of Tanjore Mission for 1835. Madras, 1839, p. 25.
Two years after, 785 of these Soodras, who had separated,
returned to the Church. Ibid. p. 44.

278 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
increase just as the ratio of converts increases, whose
prejudices may grow into a barrier too formidable
to resist ; and therefore there is aU the more need
for a judgment being pronounced, which may meet
the difficulty in its incipient stage, pronounced, too,
by that collective apostolic voice, to which is com
mitted the authority to ordain and determine the
ceremonies of each particular Church.

And now it is time to draw to a close ; to look
back upon the course along which I have endea
voured to conduct you in these Lectures, and to
gather from the retrospect such refiections as it may
suggest. Such a review as I have been taking
might amply repay attention merely as a matter of
speculation, as the historic view of a great pheno
menon, in a system of reUgious truth pushing its
way into aU lands, changing the face of the world,
elevating the human race; it might rivet our
interest to trace this system in its anomalous
advance of mixed triumph and defeat, humUiation
and glory; sometimes resembling the march of a
conqueror controUing subject tribes, and sitting in
the high places of the earth ; sometimes the toUsome
journeyings of a pUgrim, in sorrow and lowliness
witnessing to the truth, and winning, through
suffering, the sympathy of strangers. It would be
stUl more engaging to pm-sue this retrospect for
the purpose of extracting from it the evidence

VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 279
which it supplies to the divine authority of such a
system, so upheld, so powerful, to which, in augury
of its final and everlasting exaltation, the super
stitions of the earth have, one by one, bowed down
and done reverence. But an intenser hold is fas
tened on the mind when such a review issues in
the consideration of present duty and of prospective
results, when it leads the thoughts onward to the
fulfilment of the eternal counsels of God, and fore
shortens into one point of vision the future destinies
of the world.
And these are reaUy the subjects upon which our
minds should be solemnly fixed. And as, in the
first moments of repose after the excitement and
fatigue of pursuit are over, the mind is ever wont
to reflect on the way that has been traversed, and
to contemplate the fruit of its labours, and the
reality of that after which it has been striving ; so
now the question involuntarily recurs, whether
indeed the great subject which has been before us
is more than a dream, whether the extension of the
Gospel has a real practical bearing upon us, involv
ing present exertion, and whether in making it we
shaU be toiling for more than a shadow.
To this consideration I will direct my remain
ing remarks. The impracticability of such efforts
has, indeed, been maintained by some ; by others a
rationalistic philosophy has caused them to be
viewed as simply an outbreak of narrow but fruit
less enthusiasm ; doubtfulness as to the possibUity

280 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
of success, arising from the want of present visible
effect, has been aUowed to dull the sympathies of
others ; therefore let the justness of these surmises
be tested by the criterion of facts past and present ;
and for this end permit me first cursorily to pass
over the leading points which I have endeavoured
to Ulustrate.
I. It is as great a certainty as that the Son of
God has appeared in the flesh, that it is His wiU
and command that the Gospel of the kingdom
should be preached to all nations. It is to make
its way (so revelation declares) gradually, against
difficulties and hindrances, until the number of the
elect is made up out of many generations, out " of
aU nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues."
Christ has constituted the Church His Body, and
has commissioned, and endowed, and dwells in it,
to form this elect people for Himself, which, as age
after age passes away, is being gradually gathered
in and added to the invisible company of His
saints. And thus, from the day of Pentecost, the
Church has proceeded on its way. It has ever
advanced. No age has been wholly without some
fruit of its labours ; and though other systems have
become stationary, or exhausted, or are unable to
carry the human mind on to the higher degrees of
moral preeminence, yet the Church has been found
equal to the task; and, rent though it be and
divided, yet each several portion, like Aaron's rod,
is stiU instinct with vitality, has budded, and

vni.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 281
bloomed, and jdelded its fruit. During the first
fifteen centuries it mastered the continent and
islands of Europe. Other worlds then opened
before it, and, as if to meet the fresh demand, the
nations of the West rose up to new energy, and
became endued with greater intensity of thought
and enterprize. Since that time, but one-fifth of
the former period has yet elapsed, — scarce enough
to witness the opening of the great drama of events
that are to be evolved in this new era ; and there
fore we need not wonder though no great effects
be already discerned. Yet in truth the Church has
not been stayed even here. For, as has been re-
comited, wherever the appointed methods for doing
God's work have been employed, wherever zeal,
and truth, and piety have made the effort, there, in
recent days, a measure of blessing has been vouch
safed to reward the toil of the labourer.
Thus an augury for the future may be drawn
from the actual progression that has ever marked
the course of the Church in past ages. And the
review may supply us with another ground of con
fidence. It is but a common-place reflection, but
it has a reality and truth about it that wiU justify
its frequent repetition, and it is a source of encou
ragement which our first fathers in the faith did
not possess, that this progression of the Church has
continued under all variety of circumstances, and
against all difficulties. When, at the second great
period of its expansion, knowledge, humanity, law.

282 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
all civU institutions were crumbled to dust, and
buried under barbaric invasion, we have seen
Christianity survive ; yea, gradually rise up with
new lffe from amidst the ruins, clear them away,
and reconstruct throughout the face of Europe the
fabric of social order; repaU the sanctuaries that
had been thrown down, and become the regenerator
of the West. It could not arrest, indeed, the
rushing downfal of exhausted and demoralized
civilization (for this was a judgment from God) ;
but it subdued and elevated barbarism, attended it
along its tedious course of improvement, drawing
out and directing each opening faculty and effort,
and leading on the European nations to their pre
sent culminating eminence of refinement and
knowledge. We have found by experiment that,
unlike every other system, it has no local bounds,
is shut in by no peculiarities of climate or civil
advancement, but has a plastic power which can
adapt itself to all distinctions of race ; it draws to
itself all that is good in human nature, aU the
lingering principles of truth on which error is
based, and represents that unity which stUl lies at
the bottom of all the diversities of religion. It
demands not civUization to pioneer its way, for it
carries all improvement with it ; it is not hindered
by preexistent forms of civUized life, for it can
appropriate to itseff all that is good in them, and
correct the rest. Instances of aU this have been
adduced ; some out of aU the great famUies of the

VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 283
human race have found its sanctuary to be a home ;
of whatever clime, or superstition, or intellectual
power, they have recognised the type of their ideal
excellence set forth in the Church of Christ ; and
therefore there can be nothing in the actual state
of nations, there is no phenomenon in human
nature to w^hich it is a stranger, or for which it has
no charm to draw it wdthin the circle of its own
mysterious influence.
II. Or pass from these general thoughts on the
past triumphs of the Gospel, to the particular
aspect which the pagan nations now present, and
see if there be not in them a stirring in the elements
of power, which seem gathering towards some great
onward movement, and which must either meet in
discord and dissolution, or, being drawn round
the living centre of truth, move in harmonious
concert along the lines of God's providential designs.
The uncivUized races of the earth, the aborigines of
America and the Southern islands, have been often
mentioned ; and it is sufficiently seen that European
intercourse, unsanctifled, tends to their extermina
tion. There is but one power on earth that can
save them, and that is the shelter and shield of the
Church of Christ.' By its aid they may be con
verted, without it they wffl perish ; and it may be
that the Church, if it overspread their land at a
' It is a cheering sight to witness the attempt which is made in
New Zealand by the Bishop, to rescue the natives from the too
probable extinction which they would otherwise suffer from
colonial aggression.

284 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
later period, wiU plant itself only over their forgotten
graves. But the vast African continent does not
appear reserved for such a destiny. Its pestilential
climate secures it from European aggression, and
the same cause would seem to shut it out from all
hope of being evangelized. But a wonderful con
juncture of circumstance has arisen. The sons of
Ham in their house of bondage have learned to
know the God of Israel, and even now offer them
selves to bear back to their native soU the knowledge
of His name.' Strength to endure its feverish and
fatal damps, and zeal to enter on such an enterprize,
are here united. There seems an opening of which
we cannot calculate the result. Instruction may be
needed for the Negroes, who are themselves but
babes in knowledge. The spirit that is excited
may require to be, and must be, guided, but Africa
may be evangelized. Recent experiment has proved,
— the advance of Islamism long ago proved, — that
the swarming tribes of the centre desire instruction,
are capable of it, will receive it from their country
men;^ and the channel is now opened for the
repayment of that vast debt of justice and charity
which is due from Christian Europe to oppressed
Africa.' Or observe, again, the great Mahometan
' Trew's Letter to the Bishop of London, pp. 45 — 48. Buxton's
Slave-Trade, Introd. p. 11.
^ Schbn's Journal of the Niger Expedition, pp. 223 — 231.
Buxton's Slave-Trade, p. 389.
'Letter from the Bishop of London to Sir T.F.Buxton;
quoted in the Friend of Africa, No. XXI.

VIIL J PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 285
nations. No impression has ever been made on the
creed of the Prophet. It may be that, like dispersed
Israel, its foUowers have hitherto been reserved to
bear some part in the eventual furtherance of the
Gospel,' which has not yet been accompUshed.
But the power on which it rests is temporal ; it has
trusted to the sword, and by the sword it wUl
perish. The Moslems of the East fix their gaze, as
if under the power of a spell, on the Turkish
dynasty as the centre of their hopes ;^ they look
there for a restoration of the Caliphate, and with it
of their former glory. But they fix it on a power
which is tottering, which is preserved only through
the conflicting jealousies of European states ; the
key-stone of the arch is ready to fall, and with its
faU the whole structure must be shaken into ruins.
Or, again, look at the condition of that vast empire
which the providence of God has entrusted to our
custody. The conversion of the Hindoos was long
thought impracticable ; it was opposed as impolitic.

' See Forster's Mahometanism UnveOed, vol. ii. pp. 371, 372.
Bishop Heber gives an interesting account of a Hindoo led by
education to forsake idolatry, to become Mahometan, and then
(from finding no satisfaction in his new creed,) embracing Chris
tianity. .Tournal, vol. ii. p. 11.
2 This feeling of the Indian Moslems in regard to Constantinople,
was expressed by many of them to A. P. Forbes, Esq. (on whose
authority it is stated) who was connected with the courts of
Madras. The occasion was a trial of a certain Moulavee, who
was charged with preaching sedition, and trying to excite a
"jihaud," or holy war, against the infidel in the town of
Chittore.

286 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
But the silent course of events has worked a
different persuasion. Attentive observers have
noted that, in their civUization, the countries of the
East are stationary; that, though the cradle of
science and the arts, they have never been able to
rise above a certain point in the scale of improve
ment. TheU strength, exhausted in a precocious
growth, has faUed, and is unable to put out another
shoot. Their mythology, law, literature, all repose
at the same stagnant level; and if any impulse
towards a higher state of intellectual vigour be
impressed from without, their system must be
shaken to its base. For besides this exhausted
aspect which Hindooism presents, later years and
deeper research have tended altogether to dissipate
the romance with which it was invested in the eyes
of Europeans. Not only has the absurdity of its
Vedantic doctrines been exposed, but its extravagant
systems of astronomy, and history, on which un
believers were wont to expatiate, reaching back
into untold ages, when the world was miUions of
years younger than at present, — even its literature
and sacred books have been stripped of their high
pretensions to antiquity, and brought within the
span of historical computation.' Their extent may
now be surveyed, their foundation measured, and
the power required to displace them calculated.
Even already no indistinct signs are given that
' See Duff's India and Indian Missions, p. 24.

VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 287
the faith of the Hindoo is not proof against the
power of European knowledge.' Knit and bound
together, and equaUy constituting parts of the
same unchangeable faith, his religion and his
science must fall together. There is no alternative
between adherence to the whole mass of error and
total abandonment of it. And some minds have
already broken from it, and are wandering in the
twilight of their reason, struggling with infidelity,
or constructing a heartless phUosophic creed of
simple Deism. ^ These are not effects at which we
can rejoice ; but they are indications of that process
which must continue ; they suggest the solemn
question. What shall be substituted in the place of
that which is discarded? What shall be the
character of that revolution which in the end wUl
affect the whole East ? For India has aUeady been
the source of all Oriental civUization and learning ;
from hence issued the religious faith which spread
itseff through Thibet, China, and the adjacent isles ;
1 Native Female Education, by K. M. Banergea, p. 125. Charge
by Bishop Middleton, Sermons, p. 233.
' Tracts, by Ram Mohun Roy. In reference to these. Bishop
Middleton writes : " Who would have believed, that any would
have been found among them (the natives) thus early to provoke
religious discussions, and openly to impugn the fundamental
doctrines of Christianity ? To cavU at its mysteries, to deny the
atonement, and to attempt to reduce the stupendous scheme of
Revelation to some, not aU, of the Divine sayings which it
ascribes to Christ ; teaching that these are sufficient unto salva
tion ; and aU this with an air of research and learning borrowed
fi-om our biblical criticism?" Charge to the Clergy of Calcutta,
Sermons, p. 234.

288 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
in the eyes of nations its soil is the sacred home of
truth ; and once again, it may rise in its regenera
tion to be the centre from which the streams of a
holier infiuence shall flow throughout the furthest
extremities of that vast continent.
III. There is a progressive movement, then,
among the pagan nations. And that a wonderful
conjuncture is thereby presented for the advance of
the Church of Christ, will be made more apparent
if we reflect on the manifold apparatus that exists,
even in our own hands, for securing and directing
it. For it is clear that aggression on the heathen
nations is being vigorously made by Europe and
her colonies. It is the aggression of a high and
restless, upon an inferior and inert, civUization. It
is the aggression of power upon weakness, of truth
upon error. As surely as the tide of conquest once
roUed from the East to the West, so surely is it
flowing back (may it be more peaceably !) upon the
birth-place of the human race. DaUy is the influence
of Christendom increasing. Even in point of num
bers the disproportion between the Christian and
Pagan population of the world is daily lessening.
Reflect only on the gigantic power which is put forth
by this our country. It has already peopled one-
haff of the American continent. Austral-Asia seems
wonderfully destined to grow up under its influence
to be a central source of improvement to the barba
rism of the South. There is scarcely a heathen
people with whom we are not brought into contact.

VIIL] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 289
We carry the conveniences of lffe into the hut of
the remotest savage. And our land is the resort of
strangers. They flock from under every sun to
learn our arts, and search out the source of our
earthly greatness ; and we might truly tell them
that aU these blessings have flowed from the
influence of Christian truth. The language of
England is spreading itself with a rapidity far
exceeding any other. It is the tongue of half of
the Western hemisphere. It is become the instru
ment of education in India. Our modes of thought,
our principles, our literature, our history, are thus
carried into other lands ; they cannot perish there ;
rather, are they not pioneering a track along which
the Gospel may advance, when those are found who
are wdUing to proclaim it ? We cannot reflect upon
these elements of power, and not see in them the
means provided for a fresh advance of the Church
of Christ, — means which would scarcely have
been equalled in the first ages of the promulgation
of the Gospel, if, instead of the few fishermen of
Galilee, the learned and powerful of Greece and
Italy had been its propagators, and, instead of
Jerusalem, imperial Rome had been the centre of
its diffusion.
But though these secondary means must be
deemed powerless in themselves, yet tokens are
they, and signs of His wiU towards the accompUsh-
ment of which aU things surely tend. We may
note that, in those onward movements which have

290 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS, [Lect.
marked particular periods in the history of the
Church of God, the lines of His providence have
ever run concurrently with those of His grace ; and
that a combination of subordinate agencies have
betokened " the fulness of the time." Was it not
thus at the first coming of the Lord of Life ? The
general peace; the intercourse between nations
along the highways of mUitary conveyance; ex
tended colonization ; the apphcation of the papyrus
to the purposes of writing ; the cUculation of the
Septuagint ; a common language of communication;
aU conspired to aid the promulgation of the
kingdom of heaven. So was it at the subsequent
religious crisis of the Reformation. The settling
down of the nations into order ; increased skUl in
navigation, by means of the mariner's compass ; fresh
commercial enterprize ; emigration to a new world ;
the invention of printing; the translation of the
Sacred Scriptures ; the use of Latin as the channel
of thought ; these combined to urge onward that
fresh outbreak of revived Christianity which agitated
the whole of Europe. And can we close our eyes
against the same concurrence of means now concen
trating their force into one mighty effort ; — the
application of a new power to navigation ; the rapid
transit to every spot in the globe ; the founding of
new settlements, and of future kingdoms; the
invention of arts, and discovery of new sciences ;
the circulation of the word of God ; the ubiquity of
the English language from Quebec to Canton, from

Vm.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 291
New Zealand to the Himalayas ; and lastly, the
universal peace, so mercfful and unexpected, which
may seem to be hushing the world into stillness,
and to resemble the sUence that was " in heaven for
about the space of haff an hour" at the opening of
the seventh seal? ShaU we discern nothing in
these conjunctures but the chance on-drivings of a
restless world, aimless and uncontroUed ? Or, as it
watches the feverish strivings and agitations of men,
can the eye of faith discern no Hand weaving out
therefrom the web of the world's destinies, and
tracing upon it the legible characters of God's
eternal decrees ?
And God does not bestow His gifts for nought.
These leadings of His providence, these opportuni
ties, powers, resources, this peculiar and singular
contact into which we are brought with the heathen,
what do they indicate, but that He seems to have
designed our Church for the special office and
labours of an Apostle ? Nay, in past history this
impress seems to have been upon it. Mysteriously
planted by we know not whom ; assaulted, beyond
aU other Churches, by disasters in its growth ; its
light twdce rekindled when weU-nigh quenched by
foreign and invading paganism; the Church of
this land appears to have been reserved for this end,
that it should be a missionary Church. On each
occasion this was the fruit of its preservation. It
was overrun by Saxons, and straightway on its
recovery apostolic men went forth to convert the

292 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
Teutonic tribes. It was devastated by northern
pirates, its sanctuaries destroyed and monasteries
piUaged; on its rescue, the conversion of Norway
was presented by English missionaries as a thank-
offering to God. Count over the array of names
with which the earlier Usts of its saints stand embla
zoned, and say ff this be not its great and grand
characteristic' And why, at the later period of its
recovery, why has it been so blessed above aU
reformed Christendom in the preservation of its
apostolic form, but that it might be fuUy equipped
for fulfilling this its peculiar destiny ? — And there
fore, we may justly fear that, in neglecting this duty,
we may be contravening God's ordained purpose,
and losing our special crown. There are not
wanting those who wiU bid us look at home, wiU
point to our own heathen population, to the fester
ing mass of evil that is eating into the heart of our
social condition. And we must confess the evil;
yet not the more on this account may we dare omit
that still pressing obligation of setting up the light
of Christianity in our colonies, and causing it to
shine upon the surrounding heathen; otherwise,
founded upon no regard to God's wUl, those
colonies wall turn against us, and become, as former
ones have become, our scourges.
We must ponder on the lesson which we may
read in Portugal's history ; we must caU to mind
the prophetic warning which was uttered to its
• Appendix, No. XLVII.

Vin.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 293
monarch, by his bold and religious counseUor, who
reminded him that, in giving to his kingdom the
territories of the heathen in the East and West, in
enriching it with the wealth of Mexico and BrazUs,
God had set it on its trial, to see whether it would
employ these gifts in His service, and pour back
upon the plundered nations the true riches ; — and
that, ff it faUed, God would lay it low, for He
" setteth up and putteth down."' — And its king
dom has been taken away and given to another.
We stand in its place. And we need no more
stirring voice than this to read to us our own
warning, and, it may be, to foretel our doom.
" Behold," it seems to speak, " the goodness and
the severity of God : on them which fell severity ;
but toward thee, goodness, ff thou continue in his
goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."^
God's work wUl be done. If we undertake it not
wUUngly, He wUl force it on us ; He wUl turn upon
us our own evUs, and scatter us abroad; and so
witness we must, this mighty nation, to Christ,
either by our obedience, or by our punishment.
And therefore should the Church cease not to
raise its voice, tUl its teaching is throughout imbued
by the lesson, and entreat, and warn, tUl this
kingdom and people learn, that, not by its wealth,
or commerce, or colonies, but by the execution of
God's will, it can alone be preserved. The methods
by which this His wUl towards the heathen may
1 Appendix, No. XLVIII. = Rom. xi. 22.

294 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect.
be, for they have been, executed, I have endeavoured
to trace. We have Christ's promise, we have the
due organization, we have the Living Body, we have
truth, and past experience. What more do we
need, — what, but the pouring out of that new Spirit,
which wiU set aU in action, and give the Church a
" mouth and wisdom which its adversaries shall not
be able to gainsay nor resist ?" It is not merely a
new-modeUed machinery, nor multiplied funds that
are needed ; these have ere now been tried, and they
have faded : they are unable to purchase hoUness
and zeal, and to secure the reward which is reserved
for these alone. It is another weapon that is
required for this warfare — the Spirit of God quick
ening the hearts of aU His people. Thus alone
can it be carried on. For it is no easy work to
plant a Church. It has ever been effected in
pain and sorrow ; and it was an act that bore with
it a solemn meaning, when Christians used to bear
some martyr's remains, and place them deep under
the foundation of the buUding they were about to
raise, to show that its permanency must be based
on such high deeds of suffering. The easy methods
which have hitherto been pursued have wrought no
adequate result. We see the fruit of them in the
discouragement and disappointment which seems
to blight the incipient efforts which are made at
home, in the strffe and complaint to which they
tend, and the feebly-sustained existence in which
they issue. We cannot, indeed, hope to rise all at

vm.] PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 295
once to the fuU accomplishment of the labour that
lies before us ; the neglect of past years needs to be
amended ; its punishment needs to be borne ; the
new seed must be cast in sorrow and repentance,
that after-generations may reap the fruit. But
with the first awakening of such a reviving spirit,
the pressing duty, and the real dignity, of evan-
gehzing the heathen, will be felt in all their
constraining force. — Men endowed with the power,
will present themselves for so noble a service. It
wdU be undertaken, as it was of old, in poverty, and
in seff-dedication to God. It wUl be esteemed a
cutting reproach, that for gain, for honour, for a
profession, — every profession but that of Christ's
service, — men wUl give, and sacrifice themselves,
their talents, then youth, their home ; that parents
wUl part with their chUdren, and gladly send them
to earth's utmost limits to gather those earthly
benefits which perish in the using; but grudge
them, and count them thrown away ff devoted to
purposes which wUl exist when earth itseff has
perished, and wUl make their memories blessed for
evermore. Men (and there are many such whom I
am now addressing) uncaUed to any special work
in Christ's vineyard, will reckon among the services
by which they may consecrate then Uves to the work
of God, (and they must be doing His work if they
are to rise above a base and selfish mediocrity,) this
one, of bearing the name of Christ to a perishing
world. They wiU consider that not merely second-

296 PROSPECTS AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. [Lect. VIIL
rate powers and gifts are required for it ; ' that it is
not an inglorious service; but that in it the first
gifts and rarest endowments of mind and body find
their fitting exercise, whUe men and angels are
looking on ; that in it the flower of Christ's army
have striven; saints have been made perfect,
talents have put out their noblest energies ; genius
has wrought its greatest triumphs ; the Church has
been most edified, Christ has been most glorified,
and brightest crowois have been won. And those
crowns are not yet expended; they are stored in
heaven for those who wUl claim them; none has
yet heard the numbering of the army of martyrs, —
the roU is yet open, and in their ranks are places
yet unfilled.

' On the qualifications of Missionaries, see Appendix, No.
XLIX.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX

No. I.
Lecture I. — Page 12.
On the Condition of the Church in the Colonies in past years.
" The total number of Clergy, both civil and military, did
not, there is reason to believe, in 1814, exceed thirty-two: in
the proportion of fifteen for Bengal, twelve for Madras, and five
for Bombay. This number, smaU as it was, was subject to con
tinual reduction, by illness, death, necessary absence, or return
to England. Such, e.g. was the amount of these casualties at
Bombay, on the arrival of Archdeacon Barnes in 1814, that he
found at that presidency only one efficient Clergyman on the
establishment." " Throughout the provinces subject to the government of
Bombay, there was but a single church."
" Not only the offices for marriage and burial, but that of
Baptism also, were continually ministered by lay persons;
generally, though not always, by the magistrate, or commanding
officer of the station." — Life of Bishop Middleton, vol. i. pp. 82,
83, 113.
At the same period, 1814, (it is stated in a table published in
a work caUed Propaganda,) the number of missionaries and
schoolmasters in Canada (whose area equals France and England
in extent), was twelve. In New Brunswick (equal to Scotland),
twenty-one. About half of these, probably, were schoolmasters.
In New South "Wales, at the same date, the number of Clergy
was five, the population being about 14,000. — State of EeUgion
in New South Wales, by Mr. Justice Burton, p. 9.

300 APPENDIX.
Of the feeling that was entertained by politicians towards the
heathen, and on the duty of attempting their conversion, many
instances might be adduced. In 1793, in the House of Commons,
a member (Mr. Campbell) " reprobated the idea of converting
the natives" of India. (Brown's History of Missions, vol. i.
p. 204.) " The allowance of missionaries," so it was urged,
" in that country, for the express purpose of propagating the
Gospel among the people, was a measure which ought to be
sternly resisted, as likely to bring Christianity and idolatry into
direct conflict, imminently dangerous to the peace and safety of
India." — (Le Bas' Life of Middleton, vol. i. p. 44.) A further
instance of the state of feeling in regard to missions, and the duty
and authority of the Church to advance them, is strikingly
exhibited in the following extracts from Major Waring's answer
to Dr. Buchanan's Eesearches: — " I do not believe that there is
an adversary to Christian missions in England, though many
may argue, roith the late Sir William Jones, that missionaries
of no church or sect mill succeed in India." And yet of the
really adverse feelings existing towards them, he immediately
gives proof in detailing two instances of missionaries being
prohibited, by the civil authority, from preaching and distributing
books in Calcutta and Dacca. Pp. 48, 49. " No man of pru
dence or common sense," he adds, " will censure the Bishops of
Llandaff and St. David's, for not delivering their sentiments in
Parliament, knowing, as they did, that both the king's ministers,
and a great majority in each house, rvere decidedly hostile to
the institution of a system of proselytism in India." P. 58. In
accordance with these sentiments it is urged, — " that the
legislature alone is competent to form an union between the
Church of England and any other Christian Church." " The
Church cannot herself be an instrument in giving light to the
world ; parliament may, if it please, make her the instrument."
Pp. 52, 55.
A simUar instance of the melancholy misapprehension that
existed, even among the Clergy in the colonies, as to the
authority of the Bishop and the real character of the Church, is
to be found in Le Bas' Life of Middleton, vol. ii. p. 119 ; where
it is mentioned that a Chaplain, " having obtained leave of
absence from his own station, and being on a visit at another,

APPENDIX. 301
where there was a licensed Chaplain, obtained there, from the
commanding officer, a sort of licence to officiate at a wedding,
although the licensed Chaplain remonstrated against the invasion
of his rights."
These extracts are made merely as indicating a tone of
feeling which has now happily passed away.

; No. IL
Lecture I. — Page 17.
On the Opinion of the earlier Fathers respecting the predicted
Extension of the Gospel.
The opinions commonly entertained respecting the universal
spread of Christianity, whereby the whole world shaU be evan
gelized before the end come, may be comprehended under these
two heads : first, the expectation of the MiUenarians, (derived
from Eev. xx.) who look for a reign of peace and bUss on
earth, under the personal government of Christ ; — and secondly,
the expectation that the Gospel will gradually extend itself, by
the operation of already existing influences, until (in some sense)
" the earth shall be fiUed with the knowledge of the glory of the
Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
There is, indeed, a third opinion, which, however, is scarcely
definite or consistent enough to be accurately described, but
which, while it asserts the belief of the whole world becoming
the inheritance of the Lord, before " the end of all things,"
rejects, on the one hand, the notion of the miUenarian, that this
will be effected by a miraculous manifestation of our Lord, and
rejects, on the other hand also, the idea that this " happy reign
of piety on the earth will be attained by the peaceful and unin
terrupted progress of the means employed, and by these alone."
This intermediate opinion is set forth by Dr. Harris, and
probably represents the tenets of a large portion of Protestant
dissenters. See "The Great Commission," pp. 117 — 121.
1. In regard to the former of the above-named opinions.

302 APPENDIX.
(that of a Millennium) much need not be said ; because, first, any
such opinion (viewed as a motive for missionary exertion) would
seem to supersede the necessity of any exertion at all, — since it
looks for the fulfilment of its expectations to miraculous inter
position : next, because there is no necessary connexion between
the portion of Scripture on which the doctrine of the MiUennium
mainly depends, (viz. Rev. xx.) and those which import the
enlargement and final triumph of the kingdom of Christ, in the
prophets : lastly, because the opinion does not at all prevail
among divines of the Church of England. It is well known
that the doctrine was generally held in the earlier days of Chris
tianity, and down to the time of St. Jerome (a.d. 392). Papias
(a.d. 1 16) is generally referred to, as the first who maintained the
opinion, and who was (in part at least) followed by Justin
Martyr, Melito, Bishop of Sardis (a.d. 170), Irenseus, TertuUian,
and Lactantius. It was opposed, first by Origen ; and after
wards by Dionysius of Alexandria (a.d. 247), who summoned a
council (a.d. 262), on occasion of a book being written on the
subject by Nepos, Bishop of Egypt; then by S. Jerome, and S.
Augustine. The last writer enters fully into an interpretation
of those passages of Scripture, on which the doctrine of a
Millennium was founded, in his work, De Civit. Dei, lib. xx.
cap. vi. — xi.
The doctrine slept from the close of the fourth, to the seven
teenth century; when it was again revived, and published in 1643,
under the title of " The Personal Reign of Christ on Earth."
This treatise is examined and fuUy replied to by Bishop Hall,
in his " Revelation Revealed." The theory is likewise discussed
and refuted at length by Ant. Walaeus, (Prof, of Theology at
Leyden, and Director of a Missionary Seminary founded in
1612, by the Dutch East India Company,) in a dissertation
" De ChUiastis."
2. The second opinion is probably that which most largely
prevails, and it is in reference chiefly to this that the arguments
in the Lecture are advanced. It is remarkable how, in the
current theology of later years, this notion of an universal
diffusion of the Gospel, a conversion of the whole world, as the
result of the means now in operation, is expected and expressed.
It is seldom that a missionary sermon is preached in which it is

APPENDIX. 303
not at least implied. Dean Graves (on the Pentateuch, p. 434,
3d edit.) asserts it. It seems taken for granted in aU the
concluding remarks of Mr. Forster, in his " Mahometanism
Unveiled," pp. 369, 371. Mr. Davison, indeed, in his work
on " Prophecy," speaks more cautiously. After quoting the
passages, " all nations shall flow unto it," (Isa. ii. 2,) and, "the
earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea," (Isa. xi .9,) he says, " Such predictions as
these, if pressed to the letter, open the prospect of an unlimited
and universal spread of the Gospel." P. 529.
That the earlier fathers did not conceive such passages of
Scripture as these to declare an universal reign of the Gospel
throughout the earth before the end of the world, whatever ful
filment they might have in the future glory of Christ with His
redeemed, is apparent from such authorities as the following.
St. Chrysostom (as quoted in p. 1,) considered the prophecy of
the preaching of the Gospel in all the world to have been fulfiUed,
in an adequate sense, before the taking of Jerusalem. St. Jerome,
in his commentary on Isa. xi., understands the whole of the
chapter as having reference to the period of the first advent of
our Lord ; opposing herein the opinion of the Jews, who re
ferred it to the end of the world, tom. iv. 158 — 164, Vallarsii
edit. St. Cyril of Alexandria, in his Commentary on Isaiah,
(lib. ii. Orat. I,) writes in the same way : — ipTrtTrXfjtrdal re (jytjorl
TTiv (Tvp-n-aaav rov yvSvai tov Kvpiov. oUrw re elvai -rrXiipr] ttjq eiq
avTOv cvaefieiac, Kadairep afxeXei Kal >; TrXarcid re Kal evpvxi^poQ
ddXaaaa fiearfi riov IBiiov vSaTWv iariv. 'iSoi S' dv rtg Kal tovto
aXridie- TfoiJ yap oXids rj vapd riaiv ovk ovopdZerai 'S.piaroQ ; r/
iTo'iov dvdpbnrii)v yivoQ ovk inroirETTTtiiKEV ; Kapxjjet yap avrio irdv
yow, Kal irdaa yXwrrira t^opoXoyi'iaerai avrw Kara ro yeypapfievov.
In like manner St. Basil observes, in his Commentary on Isaiah,
cap. ii. § 67, — Kai ri^ovaiv iir' avro iravra ra idvvj. Ilpdiiov o
X6yo£ yvpvoripav eKCJiaivei rrjv irpofrjrdav, rrjv avvZpofirjv riiiv
idvdiv Trjv i(rofievrjv irrl Trjv inlyvuXTiv Toi) Xpiarov i/n-o^a/i'wv.
"R^oviTi yap KXrjdevra Bid rov Krjpvyfiaroe eVt rijV Trlariv TzdvTa ra
eOvr). Kr]pvy(dti<T£Tai yap to evayyiXiov tovto ev bXio tS Koafua' Ka\,
Eic irdaav rrjv yrjv e^rjXOEv o evayyeXiKoe (pdoyyoe tuh> aivoiTToXioy.
And as such passages as these were applied to the spread of
the Church that had been already witnessed, so the writers of

304 APPENDIX.
these early ages seem not to have expected any universal ac
ceptance of the Gospel before the end. St. Augustine wrote
two letters to Hesychius on the signs of the approaching end,
in which he enters upon the subject. He determines that the
Gospel was to be preached, for a witness, in all lands, which
had not, at that time, been completely done ; that the accom
plishment of this would be a sign of the coming end ; yet that
the result of this preaching throughout would be, not that all
would believe, but some only, and that the rest would be un
believing and opposed to the faithful.
For the two first statements I would refer to Epist. 197, § 4,
and Epist. 199, cap. xii.; also, De Consens. Evangel, lib. ii.
cap. Ixxvii. and De Agon. Christian, cap. xxix. So St. Hilary
says, " Usque ad finem perseverantibus salus reservata est ; ac
tum per omnes orbis partes, viris Apostolicis dispersis, Evangelii
Veritas predicabitur," in Matt. xxv. 2. (xxiv. 13). — Origen,
too, writes, " Si vult quis temerS dicere prsedicatum esse jam
evangelium regni in toto orbe in testimonium omnibus gentibus,
consequenter dicere poterit et quod ait, 'Tunc erit finis,' jam
finem venisse," in Matt. Comment, sec. 39, tom. iii. edit.
Bened. — St. Cyril of Jerusalem thought the preaching of the
Gospel to the whole world so nearly complete, as to show that
Christ was coming : — e\tiQ Kal tuvto to arifieXov. Kal Kripvxdtjrrerai
TOVTO TO EvayykXiov TrJQ jSatriXeiae iv oXri rrj oiKovfiej'i],eig paprvptov
Tcdni TOiQ 'edv£(7i' Kai tote r]^ei to teXoc. Kat (T^eSov, wq opiipEV, 6
Kotypog awae rrjc irEpi XpiaToiJ SiSarrKaXlas TrEwXijpMrai. Catech.
XV. 8, p. 227, Edit. Bened. See also, Theodoret, Interpret.
2 Thess. ii. 2.
And that no universal acceptance of the Gospel would be the
result of this, is strongly stated by St. Augustine in these
words : " In quibus ergo gentibus nondum est Ecclesia, oportet
ut sit; non ut omnes qui ibi fuerint, credant, (omnes enim
gentes promissas sunt, non omnes homines omnium gentium; non
enim omnium est fides ;) credit itaque omnis gens in omnibus qui
electi sunt ante constitutionem mundi, in casteris non credit, et
credentes odit," Epist. 199, cap. xii. See also, De Unit. Eccles.
§ 34. To the same purpose St. Jerome says, " Signum
Dominici adventus est, Evangelium in toto orbe praedicari, ut
nullus sit excusabilis," in Matt. xxiv. 14. Origen likewise.

APPENDIX. 305
though asserting the universal preaching of the Gospel, yet,
in answer to the objection of Celsus, that it was impossible for
all men to agree in one faith, replies that this may be so in this
life, but not in that to come : — TaHra S' eSo^e poi pETpiws, kuI
ov fXETa rfjs aKpifioHs Siriy^aEwg, wapadEadai, Sid ti^v KeXitov Xe^iv
oiopivov TO avpippovijaai Tovg ri^v 'Aaiav, Kal 'EvpwTtriv, Kal Aipvr]v,
EXXrivae te Kal fiapjidpovc ohovvTae, dSuvarov tivai" Kal raj^a
dXridwQ dSvvaTOv per to toiovtov role 'in 'ev auipaTi. ov p-qv dSvvarov
Kal diroXv6E7tTiv avTod. Contr. Cels. viii. 73.
If this, then, be a true view of what we are to expect be
fore the second coming of our Lord, the prospect of an uni
versal reign of Christian truth and bliss, under the present
dispensation of things, is unfounded ; and, without denying a
partial fulfilment of them even now, the full realization of the
scenes presented in the elder prophets must be looked for in
another state. "Whatever state that may be, I would observe
only further, that any question respecting a millennium is apart
from the point immediately under consideration, and properly
rests on other passages of Scripture. And should it be thought
that such an opinion as is here expressed respecting the
spread of the Gospel necessarily contradicts the idea of a millen
nium, I would reply, that the fact of the day of judgment would
seem to do so no less ; for we cannot conceive how such a mil
lenary state as is conceived, could exist before that event with
out forestaUing its sentence. This, then, is altogether a point
apart from the course of His dealings which God has revealed,
and it is one on which it will be wiser to express no opinion ;
only, should a season of such a character be in store, no doubt
it will be reconcUed, though we may not be able to see how,
with the other revelations of God respecting the laborious
preaching and partial acceptance of the Gospel even unto the
end.

306 APPENDIX. [Lect.
No. III.
Lecture II. — Page 44.
On the Revival of Zoroastrianism in Persia.
" By an edict of Artaxerxes (or Ardeschir) the exercise of
every worship except that of Zoroaster was severely prohibited.
The temples of the Parthians, and the statues of their deified
monarchs, were thrown down with ignominy. The sword of
Aristotle (such was the name given by the Orientals to the
polytheism and philosophy of the Greeks) was easily broken ;
the flames of persecution soon reached the more stubborn Jews
and Christians ; nor did they spare the heretics of their own
nation and religion.", — Decline and Fall of Rom. Emp. vol. i.
p. 246, 2d ed.
Gibbon, in a note on this passage, refers to Sozomen, lib. ii.
c. 1. (vui. ?) on the subject of this persecution. But the events
and the sufferings of the Christians there related refer to a later
period, and occurred under Sapor, son of Hormouz, in the
middle of the fourth century. See Rufinus, p. 339. Sozomen
speaks (ch. xiv.) of 16,000 Christians having been martyred
under this prince. That Zoroastrianism was restored by
violence in the first instance is most probable, and the spirit of
persecution was continued, since Manes was put to death by
Varanes, a.d. 277 ; but no account (as Mr. Milman observes
in his note on Gibbon) remains of the earlier conflict. " The
restoration of Zoroastrianism, as the established and influential
religion of Persia, is perhaps the only instance of the vigorous
revival of a Pagan religion." — Milman's Hist. Christ, vol. ii.
p. 310.
It is remarkable that Sozomen (lib. ii. c. viii.) speaks of Chris
tianity as having been introduced to Persia from Armenia.
This is clearly incorrect, as it was not preached in the latter
country before a.d. 312; when Tiridates was converted by
Gregory the Illuminator ; a sketch of whose preaching is given
at the end of St. Chrysostom's works, vol. xii. p. 821 ; ed.
VeU. The faith had existed and flourished in Persia before
this period. The earlier history of Christianity in Persia is
involved in much obscurity. Tradition (Martyrol. Rom. 28th

IL] .VPPENDIX. 307
Oct. cited by Fabric. Lux. Evang. p. 633) assigns the first
preaching of the Gospel in that country to Simon the Canaanite
and Thaddeus. That it was conveyed tliither soon after the
day of Pentecost we might conclude from " Parthians and
Medes and Elamites " having been among the number who wit
nessed the wonders of that day. In a "Variorum note appended
to the passage of Sozomen, the foUowing words occur : — " Et
quidem Bardesanes, saiculi secundi scriptor, apud Euseb. lib.
vi. de Praepar. Evang. cap. 8 (10?) refert suo tempore Chris-
tianos apud Persas inveniri. Sed tamen vix compertum est,
quis fuerit in hac amplissima regione Christianas religionis status
ante Constantini Mag. tempera, qui, in Epistola ad Saporem
Regem Persarum apud Eusebium de Vita Const, lib. iv. cap. 8
(9 ?) Christianos ipsi commendat, ' quorum multitudine nobi-
lissima quaeque Persidis loca longe lateque esse decorata'
asseverat."

No. IV.
Lecture II. — Page 48.
On the Invasion of the Vandals and Saxons.
Of the state of the African Church an appalling account is
given by Salvian, of MarseiUes (a.d. 480), in his work De
Gubernatione Dei, in which the following passage occurs: —
" Nam sicut in sentinam profundae navis coUuviones omnium
sordium, sic in mores eorum quasi omni mundo vitia fluxerunt.
NuUam enim improbitatem scio, quae Ulic non reduhdarit, cum
utique etiam paganse ac ferrese gentes, etsi habeant specialiter
mala propria, non sint tamen in his omni execratione dignae.
Gothorum gens perfida, sed pudica est : Alamannorum impudica,
sed minus perfida : Franci mendaces, sed hospitales : Saxones
crudeUtate efferi, sed castitate mirandi. Omnes denique gentes
habent sicut peculiaria mala, ita etiam qusedam bona. In Afris
pene omnibus nescio quid non malum. Si accusanda est in-
humanitas, inhumani sunt. Si ebriositas, ebriosi sunt. Si
falsitas, falsi sunt. Si dolus, fraudulentissimi. Si cupiditas,
X 2

308 APPENDIX. [Lect.
cupidissimi. Si perfidia, perfidissimi. Impuritas eorum atque
blasphemia his omnibus admiscenda non sunt : quia illis quas
supra diximus mails aliarum gentium vitia, his autem etiam sua
ipsorum vicerunt." Pp. 261, 262.
In respect to the feelings of the barbarians themselves, he
says, (p. 256,) " Ipsi denique fatebantur non suum esse quod
facerent, agi enim se divino jussu, ac perurgeri. Ex quo
intelligi potest quanta sint mala nostra, ad quos vastandos atque
cruciandos ire barbari compeUuntur inviti." The same senti
ment is put into the mouth of a Persian by Herodotus, in refer
ence to the invasion of Xerxes ; ravra Ik Uepitewv avj(yoi etti-
trrapEvoi ETTopEBa dvayKairj evSeSepevol, k.t.X. lib. ix. c. 16.
The state of the English Church is dwelt on, in the same
tone, by Bede, who speaks of the ravages of the Saxons in the
sixth century as being a just judgment of God : " Accensus
manibus paganorum ignis Justus de sceleribus popuU Dei ultiones
expetiit." — (Eccl. Hist. Gent. Angl. lib. i. c. 15.) In the same
way Gildas, in his " Uber querulus," as it is called, " de excidio
Britanniae," charges every amount of vice on the Britons, and
adds that " God to purify, as it were, His family, had inflicted
on it the ravages of the Saxons.", — Bibl. Max. tom. viii. p. 710.

No. V.
Lecture II. — Page 62.
On the mutual Interdependence of Christianity and Civilization.
The difficulty that has beset this subject, and the difference of
opinion that has been expressed upon it, have arisen very much
from the meaning that has been attached, by different minds, to
the word " civilization," which will need to be settled before any
agreement of opinion can be come to upon it. It may be
thought, perhaps, that this has been accomplished by M. Guizot,
in his first lecture on " The history of civilization in Europe ;"
but, in reality, he only describes it as " the progress or deve-
lopement of a people in their social life," and " the developement
of individual life, — of the human mind and faculties" (pp. 13, 15,

IL] APPENDIX. 309
Engl, transl.) ; and concludes that France exhibits, and is the
centre of it. As regards the point in question, however, this
description does not at all meet the difficulty, in which we are
met by conflicting opinions and seemingly conflicting facts.
E. g. Mr. Forster, in his Mahometanism Unveiled, strongly
maintains that civilization must precede, or at least go hand in
hand with the introduction of Christianity; and that " a high
state of national culture and civilization would seem essential,
in order to Christianity striking root, and becoming permanently
established among any people." He instances the fact, that the
limits of permanent Christianity have been hitherto nearly com
mensurate with the boundaries of Greek and Roman civilization,
and accounts for the conversion of the barbarian hordes in
Europe by the fact of their having changed their abode and
habits, and of its having been effected finaUy by force. Vol. ii.
pp. 365—367.
With this opinion the late Mr. Rose, whose judgment must
command the deepest respect, coincides ; and his note upon the
subject, in the Appendix to his " Christianity always Pro
gressive," (pp. 175 — 182,) contains quotations from Mr. Forster,
and Bishop Law. In an examination which he subjoins, of
the Polynesian Researches, he justly observes, that regular
instruction had been going on among the natives of Tahiti and
the other islands for years before the conversions took place,
which Mr. EUis seems to think were the work of the moment at
which they happened ; and he discovers in this instruction
" exactly such preparation as might be expected, in due time,
under God's blessing,, to produce the desired effect."
On the other hand, — with one voice, the missionaries and
others who were examined before the House of Commons,
expressed their conviction that it is "neither necessary nor
advantageous for civiUzation to precede Christianity;" (Mr.
Ellis's Evidence, p. 174; see also, pp. 187, 250), — that in Chris
tianizing a country, Christianity must precede the attempt to
civUize ; " You cannot get a barbarous people to attend to any
civilizing process, or aspire to any European habit, till you give
them Christian principle." — (Williams's Evidence, p. 294.) They
instance the introduction of Christianity among the North
Americans by the labours of Elliott, Brainerd, and others, — and

310 APPENDIX. [Lect.
into Greenland by the Moravians, " where they had not been
preceded by any civUizing process, and where the most decided
results followed." [This statement, however, is scarcely true in
fact. Both Elliott and Brainerd did civilize while they tried to
convert. See Brown's Missions, pp. 37, 43, 134. And in Green
land, fifteen years of preparatory instruction preceded the
ingathering of any fruit by the Moravians.]
Such are the opposite opinions. And it must be owned, too,
that there are facts which seem to favour both views. E. g. It
is quite true that the civilized portion of Europe received the
Gospel earlier and more easily than those countries occupied by
the barbaric hordes. Constantine inured such of the tribes as
were under his sway to the habits of civilized life, in order to
their being christianized. In many parts of Europe, such as
Sweden and Norway, a century of missionary labour passed
before any impression was made on the hardy and savage
natives. So that civilization would seem necessary for the
reception of Christianity. — On the other hand, later experience
has certainly shown that it is far more difficult to affect the
civilized nations of the East, India, and China, than the un
civiUzed natives of the Southern isles, or on the continent of
America ; so that, on this representation, a more advanced stage
of civilization would seem disadvantageous to the reception of
Christianity. These seemingly conflicting facts, and the conclusions drawn
from them, might surely be reconciled by observing, that a
different idea is attached to civilization when either the one
class of cases or the other is considered.' There is a moral, as
1 It is quite strange to note the paradoxical statements into which the
adherents of the civilization or non-civilization system have been dravfn, by'
having one idea of civilization before their mind. E. g. Bishop Law (Theory
of Keligion, p. 33,) observes, that " The improvement of the natural faculties,
and the cultivation and refinement of natural genius, are necessary to the
reception of Christianity." (It occurs at once upon this to suggest, that
we ought then to find the Chinese more prepared than other nations to
embrace Christianity ; whereas, notwithstanding their advancement, they do
offer a peculiar resistance to the Gospel. In anticipation, as it were, of this,
the author proceeds at once,) " The extreme absurdities, and childish ignorance
of the Chinese in many things, testify that this is not their case, notwithstanding
the fine things which have been said of them, and therefore accounts for their

IL] APPENDIX. 311
weU as an intellectual or secular, civiUzation. Where there is
merely the latter, it wUl by no means aid the work of conversion ;
on the contrary, it may coexist, as in China and India, with so
much either moral darkness, or adherence to a monstrous super
stition, as to offer a complete barrier to an entering in of the
Faith. And we may find the same thing iUustrated among
ourselves. On the other hand, some civilization must precede
the conversion of savages ; but then it is a inoral civiUzation, a
reclaiming from wandering habits, and brutalizing practices.
They must be humanized, andjthis is a moral civilization. And
thus it has been that savages, Kving in a state of dissocialized
barbarism, have been at first most difficult to convert ; and they
have been converted, as in Paraguay, North America, Green
land, and South Africa, by first gathering them into settlements,
and introducing among them civUized habits. In reply then to
any general question as to the necessity of civiUzation preceding
the reception of Christianity, it may be said, that, as far as some
degree of moral advancement is meant by the word, it is neces
sary; as far as mere skiU in arts, or inteUectual acuteness are
meant, these not only do not of themselves, apart from concurrent
moral improvement, render conversion more easy, but may be
so allied to moral unfitness, as to be an actual hindrance to it.
Should it be said that, admitting the former- statement, yet
Christianity is the only means of securing this moral advance
ment, and therefore it must be the first point of the wedge that
enters, — this I should deny, and maintain that every reUgion,
in as far as it has any remnant of truth in it, (and all have some
lying at the bottom,) may improve and prepare the way for the
Gospel, and does improve in proportion as the Ught is followed
not receiving the Gospel." Surely it is nothing better than a paradox to
assert, that the Gospel is not received by the Chinese because they are not
yet civilized enough. — On the other hand, Mr. Beecham, in maintaining that
" Christianity must precede civilization," that " Christianity is the parent of
civilization," and "that true civilization cannot be produced without it,"
seems met by the possible suggestion that surely Greece and Rome possessed
some degree of true civilization ; but no, — he replies, " I cannot conclude that
the civilization of the classic heathen was anything better than a splendid bar
barism." — Evidence on Aborig. pp. 122, 123. A theory is indeed a hard
taskmaster when it drives one to such a conclusion, in spite of the sublime
writings of antiquity, and the high characters which shine in its history.

312 APPENDIX. ^ [Lect.
and obeyed. But this is another question, and not directly
connected with the point here treated of. I would observe
only further, that in practice hoih parties approximate much
more nearly on this point, and that it is chiefly in their theory,
and in the after-interpretation of facts, that they differ.

No. VI.
Lecture II. — Page 65.
Extract from Bishop Middleton's CItarge to the Clergy of
Calcutta and Madras, in 1819.
The foUowing passage, in which Bishop Middleton proceeds
to iUustrate what has been quoted, is too valuable not to be
added ; and I transcribe it the more readily, as the volume in
which it occurs is now scarce.
" The history of Montanism, of Donatism, and even of
Arianism, though the latter two did not appear till the beginning
of the fourth century, wiU furnish more or less an illustration of
these remarks : and probably it may be true, that controversies
upon any point had then less hold upon ordinary minds, when
as yet men were not led by the enjoyment of political freedom
to confound the maintenance of theological opinions with the
exercise of civil rights. But what would have been the case, if
in any of the provinces in which a ministry was already exer
cised by persons duly commissioned and ordained, and the
Catholic doctrines were taught, what would have been the con
sequence if teachers had appeared, impugning the form of Church
Government till then universally received, and promulgating
new opinions as to the sacrament by which men are admitted to
the Christian covenant ? Though we cannot estimate amidst
varying circumstances the force of the resistance which such
obstacles might have opposed to the progress of the Gospel, we
may venture to affirm that more pernicious questions could not
have been agitated in a heathen land : under what form of

IL] ' * APPENDIX. 313
Church government Christian societies shaU Uve ; what is the
authority of their teachers, and whence derived ; and whether
infants can, or cannot, be brought to Christ, are practical contro
versies, if any are practical, and they necessarily produce a
diversity and a colUsion, which the heathen (I speak it of my
own knowledge) do not fail to observe. It is indeed, in this
point of view, and not merely for the sake of instituting a com
parison between primitive and modern missions, that I have
adverted to the subject; and on this head, if we have any
interest in Christian proceedings connected with this country,
there is somewhat to regret." — Sermons, pp. 220, 221.

No. VII.
Lecture II. — ^Page 65.
The effect of Disunion in hindering the Gospel.
This did not escape the sagacity of Voltaire, who, in his
Essai sur les Moeurs, (tom i. cap. iv.) has these words : " Le
plus grand obstacle a nos succ^s religieux dans 1' Inde, c'est la
difference des opinions qui divisent nos missionaires," &c.
The following more recent testimonies, from aU quarters, con
firm the same observation, which is, day by day, pressed more
forcibly on the attention of all interested in the success of
missions. Bishop Middleton, in a letter to Mr. Courtenay,
dated April 25, 1817, observes, "While writing this letter,
I have heard from a Brahmin at Benares, who is quite disgusted
with idolatry, and has, with several others, made some progress
in the knowledge of Christianity. But he teUs me that they
have had among them not only Protestants (meaning the Church
of England), but Roman CathoUcs, and recently Baptists, and
that their ways are quite different ; ' by which, ' he says, in his
imperfect EngUsh, ' the poor Hindoos is in a great confusion!'"
— Life by Le Bas, vol. i. p. 410.
In the famous speech of a North American Indian, of the
Seneca tribe, to a missionary in 1805, the following remon
strance occurs : — " Brother, you say there is but one way to

314 APPENDIX. * [Lect.
worship the Great Spirit. If there is but one reUgion, why do
you white people differ so much about it ? why not all agree, as
you can all read the book?" — Hewitt's Christianity and Colo
nization, p. 399.
A Roman CathoUc missionary thus writes in the Annales
de la Foi, vol. iii. p. 63, note : — " Dans les derniers annees que
j'ai pass6es dans I'lnde, toutes les fois que j'ai entrepris de
parler a des Indiens d'embrasser le Christianisme, j'ai presque
toujours re5u cette reponse . . . . ' Vous, missionaires Catholiques,
vous nous dites que la verite est de votre cote, et que vos anta-
gonistes, les missionaires protestans, sont dans I'erreur: ces
derniers, venus long -temps apres vous, nous disent le contraire ....
Vous, Catholiques, vous nous tirez d'un cote ; vous, protestans,
vous nous tirez de I'autre. Dans cette position, quel parti
voulez-vous que nous prenions, nous, pauvres ignorans, qui ne
connaissons rien, ou presque rien, du sujet de vos disputes ?
Commencez done par vous accorder entre vous, et vous vien-
drez ensuite nous precher vos dogmes.'"
" One great cause,'' (writes Rev. Krishna Mohana Bannerjea,)
" which has occasioned the short-comings aUuded to, and proved
such a drawback upon educational and other agencies of the
Missionary Societies, is the want of union, and consequently of
strength in the Church." — On Female Education in India, p. 138.
And, lastly, in the introduction to his recent Charge, the
Bishop of Madras has the foUowing pithy remark : —
" To those amongst us, if such there be, who think agitation
better adapted than quietness, peace, and love, to promote the
Gospel in the East, I would commend for their most serious
consideration a remark made lately to one of our missionary
clergy by a shrewd Mahometan, to whom he was speaking of
the claims of Christianity as ' worthy of all men to be received ;'
' First settle among yourselves what is the truth, and who of
you has the truth, and then perhaps we wiU listen to you as its
ministers.'" P. 12.
The following observations on the conduct of missions, since
they touch especially upon the point here illustrated, are ex
tracted from the private correspondence of a gentleman in India,
who has considerable opportunities of watching the progress of
our missions, and are worthy of attentive consideration.
" As to the method of conducting missionary operations, there

IL] APPENDIX. 315
should be several weU-trained men always in and out among the
people of each district. These men should live together at the
head-quarters of the mission, but go and live out in the villages,
from time to time, and by turns. The present class of native
readers should be utterly abolished ; the services of the Church
should not be performed (as is now done) by unordained catechists,
and even by these readers ; there should be some one with chief
authority in each mission ; and some one over all the missions,
who shall repeatedly visit them and confer with the men em
ployed in them. But after all, as long as there are two Church
societies missionarizing with different rules, on different plans,
giving different salaries, &c. &c  one may attempt
what one may in the way suggested, and it will come to
nothing, or very little. Bishop Middleton mentions an anec
dote in which a poor Hindoo states himself to be in great con
fusion owing to the conflicting teaching of the Church, the
Roman Catholics and the Anabaptists. Now, whilst some may
reaUy feel this perplexity, others, who wish for an excuse, turn
it to account. The father of a lad whom I saved some time
since from pursuit, and put beyond the reach of his persecutors,
pleaded very earnestly with me for his restoration. "Why should
not his son continue a Hindoo, and keep his father's faith ?
why should the missionaries try to turn people from Hindooism,
and not leave them as free in that faith as the Roman Catholics
in theirs ? The Roman Catholics thought one thing and we
thought another (he said), and why should not he himself think
a third ? This is how the thing presents itself to a Hindoo
mind. By the way, I shaU never forget the scene I had with
that man, though it was short ; his deep distress at his son's
becoming a Christian, and how he urged the duty of children
to obey their parents. ... I understand he never now alludes
to his son, looking on him as dead (as he once said) sifice his
baptism; — a remarkable involuntary comment on what the
Apostle says to the baptized.
" To return ; the escape from the present state of things never
can be entire. Dissent, we know, will continue ; and its mani
festation of itself among the heathen in antagonism to the Church,
we may weU suppose to be part of their probation. This will
do, after a sort, to explain its permission, but not, of course, to

316 APPENDIX. [Lect.
excuse it, or warrant any sanction of it on the part of Church
people. I question whether any but those who have come into
contact with it as missionaries can realize its evil in a mis
sionary form to the Heathen. A priori, anything seems a gain
compared with heathenism"; and I am not prepared to deny this,
excepting always atheism, if there be such a thing. What is
the common theory ? it is this ; that though one forbid not the
Dissenters beforehand, it is on the supposition that where they
have made converts, these, on the coming of an apostolical
ministry, wiU yield to it, and embrace it as the more perfect
way. Yet this is a theory which leaves out of sight the fact that
the teachers in this case have acted not only independently of
the Church, and of necessity, but knowingly and designedly
against the Church, the recognition of which by their foUowers is
as certainly foUowed by excommunication as a relapse into
idolatrous practices.
" To take up another point. The missionaries should be men
of fewer wants than those one now has ; . . . the ability ' to
endure hardness' in a practical way, unthought of now-a-days,
seems to me indispensable for those who will throw their whole
energies into this work. Missionaries have told me that the
idea which the natives have of them is that they merely work
for their pay, and they have met with the notion that the more
converts a man has, the better he is off, or something like it.
This, of course, has its root in the inconceivable sordidness of
the Hindoo character, which would not yield perhaps to the
evidence of one who should carry his devotion to such a pitch
as to seem to be beside himself for the Gospel's sake. Until,
however, some have gone thus far like Xavier, one perhaps is
not warranted to say that zeal has had its fair trial."

IIL] APPENDIX. 317

No. VIII
Lecture HI. — Page 70.
On the Theory of Missions.
In the text I have endeavoured to give a fair representation
of the theory maintained by non-conformist Protestants ; which
is more fuUy put forth in Dr. Harris's " Great Commission," than
in any other writing which I have seen. It occupies above
160 pages, and seems to be summed up in the foUowing propo
sitions : " that Christ, as the Head of the Church on earth,
authoritatively requires that each individual Christian surrender
himself, and live supremely for the conversion of others ; that
these unite into particular societies for the conversion of greater
numbers stiU ; that all these societies, in every land, combine in
sympathy and purpose for the salvation of the entire race,"
pp. 110,111. This theory, it is argued, "was prefigured by
former dispensations ; it was substantiaUy realized in the person
of Christ ; it is caUed for by the office and energy of the Holy
Spirit ; our Lord prescribed it ; his primitive Churches either
practicaUy exemplified it, or were authoritatively exhorted to do
so." P. 94.
The first proposition of the former quotation is of course fully
admitted. As regards the two following, the question only is,
whether Christ has not ordained a Society for this very end.
This is the point at issue, and therefore the reply to these propo
sitions and to the affirmations in the latter quotation, wiU be
found in the Lecture. I would only remark further, that
justice is not done to the points which are attempted to be
proved in the work above quoted, in consequence of the loose
declamatory style in which it is written, and which has aU the
character of haranguing, rather than of calmly discussing a
serious subject.
The opposite theory is that of the Romanists, who represent
the authority to send missionaries and to convert the heathen, as
centering in the Pope. It is enunciated by Thomas a Jesu, in his

318 APPENDIX. [Lect.
work, De Procuranda Salute omnium. Gentium Ub. ii. cap. 1, in the
following proposition: "Ad Romanum Pontificem tanquam ad
summum Ecclesise Pastorem, Petrique in Apostolatu successorem,
pertinere, praedicatores pro fide propaganda mittere in universum
orbem." ' The passages by which this proposition is maintained,
are those commonly adduced from Holy Scripture, and from the
Fathers, in support of the tenet of the supremacy of St. Peter,
and of the Pope as his successor. Other chapters follow,
asserting the fact that the Gospel was propagated through all
the world, in Europe, Asia, the East and West Indies by the
Pope. Now, as regards the latter point, which, as a matter of
authoritative practice in the early Church, is very important,
this, being a question of fact, is of course subject to proof. In
refutation, therefore, of the assertion, instances of the distinct
authority of separate Bishops in converting the heathen within
reach of their operations, as the practice of the early Church,
wUl be given in Appendix, No. XII. — In addition, however, it is
satisfactory to quote Roman CathoUc authority, which confirms
the position, that, for the first six centuries, and until the supre
macy of the Pope was estabUshed, the work of converting the
heathen was not confined to the Bishop of Rome, either in point
of fact, or of right and authority, — but belonged to all Bishops,
and specially to those bordering upon districts of heathenism.
Thus Fleury remarks, " Ceux qui entreprenoient d'y travailler
(en AUemagne) prenoient toujours leur mission du Pape ; au
lieu que, en premiers temps, chaque Eveque se croyoit en droit de
precher aux InfidMes de son voisinage." Discours IH. de
Fleury, sect. xxiv. vol. xiii. Hist. Eccles. 1713, 4to, p. 31.
Thomassin also, in his elaborate work, " Vetus et Nova Eccle
sia Disciplina," makes just the same admission. The subject is
treated in Part I. lib. i. cap. liv. and Iv. p. 412. et seq. 4to,
edit. 1786, Latin. The substance of these chapters has been
already translated and quoted by Dr. Pusey, in the Appendix
to his Sermon entitled, " The Church the Converter of the
Heathen," in which the following passages will be found : —
1 See also a chapter upon the same subject in the Tractatus de Mission
ibus, by Rovenius, p. 16, in which, however, nothing diflTerent from what is
urged by Thomas a Jesu is adduced.

IIL] APPENDIX. 319
" We cannot doubt that the Apostles, and the Bishops of the
apostolic times, who, for the most part, confined themselves to
the chief cities of the empire, and the metropoUs of each
province, both themselves founded new Bishoprics (as so many
citadels of the Christian empire,) in those cities, where a new
Church was gathered, and left the like power to their successors.
For all being Apostles, and leaving a more abundant portion of
apostolic power (as has been said) to those who should be
Bishops of the Metropolis, they transmitted to them the same
power of founding new Churches and new Bishoprics."
" With regard to new colonies of Christians, and new Bishop
rics, the councils of Africa had decreed, that he should be
Bishop of each Church and people who gained the same to the
Catholic unity, and retained it undisturbed for three years.
They had permitted also any Bishops to gain and unite to their
own Church places which were neglected by their own Bishops,
after six months' warning. Whence you wiU readUy understand,
that those Bishops, who were on the confines of the Church and
the heathen, had far more right to enlarge their own Dioceses
and Metropoles by subduing the barbarians to themselves and to
Christ. So Pope Gregory protested to Theodoric and Theo-
debert, kings of the Franks, that he had only sent missionaries
and Bishops to England, because the GaUician Bishops neglected
this rich and neighbouring harvest. " It reached us, that the
English nation, through the mercy of God, long to be converted
to the Christian Faith, but that your priests, close at hand,
neglect it, and omit to kindle their longings by exhortations."
And in the letter to Queen Brumeheld : " We give you to know
that it reached us that the English nation wished to be made
Christian, but the priests who are close at hand, have not a
pastoral anxiety towards them."
" In a long series of time, and consequent revolution of things,
it came to pass, that the right of 'erecting a new Bishopric
should rest with the Roman Pontiff alone. Not that he
reserved this right to himself, so as to augment his own jurisdic
tion at the expense of that of the Bishops, but either that other
Bishops were somewhat negligent in extending the bounds of
the Christian empire, or that they paid this mark of respect to
the first See, or that princes trusted the Pontiff more, or that the

320 APPENDIX, [Lect.
people appUed more to the seat of St. Peter, or that the Pontiff
was more kindled with the fire of faith ; or it may be, that it
was so ordered by the Divine counsels, by the disposal of that
same Spirit of Christ, who forming the Church, and giving it a
head, and giving strength to that head, and bidding him
'strengthen his brethren,' the very chiefest members of His
Body, did in the very infancy of the Church, when so large a
multitude was added to the Church by two discourses of Peter,
foresignify what was to be expected as to its future growth,
chiefly through the influence and love of that head. Hence it
may have been, that all this power came to the successors of
Peter, which was not reserved to them by any written law, until
the practice of several centuries had made it theirs. It is quite
certain, that neither Gregory the Great, nor Sergius II. or III.
nor Zacharias, ever reserved this right to themselves ; and yet,
they almost alone exercised it. So it ever is in human affairs,
that offices at length devolve as a right to him to whom others
for a long time leave them to be exercised. If equals gain rights
by prescription, how much more superiors ! Such is the in
offensive and guileless way, whereby most rights have been
devolved and become prescriptive, neither Pontiffs nor Bishops
intending it, but custom insensibly establishing it immovably.
Thus both in civil and ecclesiastical government, many things
take place unintended, and unperceived, which when they have
come to pass, no one can undo."
With this candid statement (the translator adds,) it can only
be looked upon as a sort of apology, that he conjectures, that
what took place in the middle ages may be an evidence or
exhibition of what took place in the first ; thereby, however,
conceding the more forcibly, that for the first centuries there was
no direct historical evidence, as indeed all that there is, goes (as
he remarks) the other way.

In opposition, then, to the two theories which have been here
mentioned, the argument contained in these Lectures asserts the
authority of the Church, through its several apostolic rulers,
against the independent agency of individuals, on the one hand,
and the concentrated supremacy of the Pope, on the other. It

IIL] APPENDIX. 321
is maintained also, that the heathen within, or bordering upon,
each diocese, are the especial charge of the Bishop presiding
over that diocese ; and that, in regard to the several branches of
the Church CathoUc, each Church has primarily its sphere of
more immediate action assigned to it in those countries with
which it is brought into closer communication and contact
by national and political relationship ; and that, within this
sphere, its authority should be respected by other Churches.
Let it be observed only, that asserting such a right as this is
acknowledging an obligation.

No. IX.
Lecture III. — Page 81.
On some Passages of Scripture adduced in Favour of inde
pendent Missionary Exertion.
The passages of Scripture adduced, in a small work entitled
The Missionary Church, p. 59, by Mr. Stowell, (an Independent
Minister, it is believed,) in support of the theory of the Gospel
being extended by voluntary individual agency, and by the
" mutual faith and charity of the primitive Churches," are the
foUowing: Acts viu. 4; 1 Thess. i. 8 ; 3 John 6, 7, 8. But
a very slight notice of these will show how incapable they are of
supporting any such argument.
In the first instance, — on the death of Stephen, it is said,
ol fiEV ovv ZiaairapEVTEQ SirjXdov, EvayyEXii^OfiEi'oi, K. t. X. In the
following Appendix, No. X. it will be shown that no direct
promulgation of the Gospel to the heathen is here implied. In
addition to which, it was not the Church at Jerusalem that was
thus scattered abroad and extended the Gospel.
The second instance is, 1 Thess. i. 8. " For from you sounded
forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad."
This passage, as the context shows, implies merely that, by the
Y

322 APPENDIX. [Lect.
example which the converts exhibited of Christian conduct, the
word of God was noised abroad and made way.
Again, the last passage (3 John 6, 7, 8,) seems to have even
less in it to bear out any theory of either individual or combined
voluntary proceedings. " Which have borne witness of thy
charity before the Church : whom if thou bring forward on
their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt do well : because
that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the
Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be
fellow -helpers to the truth." Who the brethren were that went
forth is not mentioned, whether they were sent, or otherwise, —
by any Church, or by the Apostles themselves.
In speaking of the Apostleship, Blumhardt uses the following
argument. He says that " this sacred commission indicated
itself in some sensible way ;" and that " in general an Apostle
was recognised by his works, rather than by the manner of his
nomination. (2 Cor. xii. 12, &c.) That is the principle, at least,"
(he adds,) " from which the Apostle Paul seems to start in alibis
discussions on this subject." Vol. i. p. 8. Not so, certainly : for
St. Paul commences his epistles ordinarily by urging his Apostle
ship on the ground of his being called "through the will of
God," and " by the commandment of Jesus Christ." This is
the point he starts from, and to which he refers in proof of his
Apostleship, as when he says, (1 Cor. ix. 1,) "Am I not an
Apostle ? Am I not free ? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our
Lord ?" And the signs which he mentions are the fruits of his
Apostleship, and of the grace accompanying it.

No. X.
Lecture III. — Page 82.
On the Use of the Word x^iporovijdEie.
The- controversy on the word x^^P"'^""^'"' turns upon the
question, whether it is to be understood as signifying, to elect
by suffrage, by holding up of the hand, — or, to ordain by the

IIL] APPENDIX. 323
imposition of hands. The discussion is fully entered into in
Bishop Bilson's " Perpetual Government of Chriet's Church,"
pp. Ill — 125, Oxford, 1842; the substance of which is as
foUows : " There can be no question, but, as among the profane
Grecians, x^'porovE~iv did signify to lift up the hand in token of
liking, because that was their manner in yielding their consent ;
so, amongst all Ecclesiastical writers, x^'po'''"'"'' is to lay hands
on another man's head, which the Church of Christ used in
caUing and approving her Bishops and Presbyters, to whom she
committed the care of souls." And he proves very satisfactorily
that, in their Christian usage, x^'P<"'<"'''" ^^^ x.^ipoBeaia were
synonymous. An argument on the same point may be found in
Mr. Rose's Commission and Duties of the Clergy, p. 56, note,
in which he remarks : — " That it meant a designation to an
office by the Apostles, must, I think, be allowed, (see Hoadley's
Brief Defence of Episcopacy, c. iii. pp. 204 — 206 ;) and when we
remember the positive evidence existing as to the method in
which that designation was made on other occasions, I hardly
think we go beyond the mark in affixing to the word a sense
descriptive of that method, and certainly belonging to the word
a little later." — He observes also, with great truth, that, what
ever is the meaning of the word x^iporoi'Eio (in Acts xiv. 23), it
applies to Paul and Barnabas, and not to the people. Suicer
gives two meanings to the word x^'^P°rovia, as signifying,
1. election, or form of suffrage; — 2. ordination; and quotes the
following words from S. Chrysostom, tovto r\ x^tporoida caXeirai"
r] x"P EiriKEirai roH dvBpog. The purpose of the learned note of
Hammond, on Acts xiv. 23, is to the same effect, showing that
\EipoTovla has, no doubt, first, a general meaning, corresponding
with KadEcrrdv, but that, secondly, it was used in a Christian and
restricted sense, in which it was the same as x^ipoOsaia.

324 APPENDIX. [Lect.
No. XI.
Lecture III. — Page 82.
On ike Expressions ktjpvtteiv, EvayyEXli^ecrdai, ^-c. as denoting
the act of one authoritatively coinmissioned.
The note of Hammond on Acts viii. 4 and 5, will give the
general outline of the argument here advanced, and may first be
quoted :—
" Some difference may perhaps be here observed between Evay-
yEXi'CojJiEvoi TOV Xoyov, (ver. 4,) and kdipvaaE tov Xpla-rov (ver. 5) ;
but this not in respect of the matter of their preaching, but of the
manner of it, and of the quaUfications of the persons that did it.
The latter of these, KtipvaaEiv, to preach Christ, doth generally
signify a public, solemn, proclaiming of Him, as when a ^fipv^,
herald or cryer, doth, pro officio, by way of office, proclaim
anything ; but EvayyEXii^Eadat imports no more than telling it,
making it known, as good news is published without the voice of
an herald, or cryer, by aU that have heard, to all they meet
with: and although in one respect, (that of proclaiming anew
what was not known before,) this KripvaoEiv, to preach, and
EvayyEXi'CEaQai, to tell glad tidings, do agree, yet in this other
respect they differ sometimes. Not that EvayyEXLZEaQai is never
used of that public, authoritative proclaiming; for it is some
times used of the Apostles, (Acts v. 42, xv. 35,) and the word
EvayyEXtcTTrje, evangelist, is the name of an office in the Apostles'
times, and then, whensoever it was done by way of office either
apostolical, or by mission from them, it is evident that ivayyE-
XiiEordai and Kr/puaaEiv are in all respects the same ; but I say
that sometimes, and particularly in this place, EvayyEXli;E<Teai
may belong to whatsoever publishing of the Gospel of Christ,
and by whomsoever, that is, by those who have no calling
to it."
To this passage I would add, that, in respect of the word
KrfpvTTEiv, T find, on examining the passages in the New Testa
ment in which it occurs, that it denotes an authoritative

IIL] APPENDIX. 325
proclamation of the Gospel, pro officio, either by the Apostles
themselves, or by men commissioned by them to this office.
The only passage, which might seem to form an exception to
this rule, is (Philip, i. 15,) where St. Paul complains of some
Christians "preaching" {icrjpvcraovTEQ) Christ "of contention,"
"in pretence," or "by occasion." The interpretation set upon
this passage by Mr. Keble, in his Sermon on Primitive Tradition,
Appendix A. wiU probably be in the reader's mind ; viz. that it
was not any " formal preaching " that was here complained of by
the Apostle, but that the word Kripiiaaeiv is used merely in
" a secondary sense," as denoting " the pains taken by adversaries
to spread the report of the Apostle's imprisonment," whereby
they became, in a certain sense, "heralds of Christ." — But to
this I would add, further, that, even supposing some formal
preaching to have been denoted here, yet the Apostle speciaUy
complains of it; he might rejoice at the good effect which God
permitted to arise from it, stUl he complains of the act, as being
done in rivalry {BC 'ipiv) to him. Now this could not be by duly
commissioned men, — therefore it was irregular preaching ; the
very point of the Apostle's complaint is that his adversaries were
contumaciously performing an apostolic function; so that the
passage only confirms the argument that the word KrjpvTTeiv
implies this.
In respect to the word EvayytXli^Eadai, it is true that it does,
at times, mean only " telling good news;'' but this meaning is
more rare than the expression used by Hammond would imply ;
it generally means official proclamation, and then is always
applied to men acting by direct commission. I discover only
two passages in the Acts and the Epistles, in which the word is
applied to uncommissioned people pubUshing the glad tidings, —
viz. Acts viii. 4, and xi. 20 ; and these refer to the same occasion,
when those who were scattered on the death of Stephen went
publishing the news of the Gospel. On comparing these passages,
it wUl be seen at once that the expression evayyEXi^opEvoi rov
Xoyov is identical with XaXoUvrEQ tov Xoyov (xi. 19); so that it
means (as was most natural) that those who were dispersed, men
and women, published the glad tidings " by conversation" with
those they met, and by private intercourse. This interpretation
is adopted by Bishop J.B. Sumner, in his Exposition of the

326 APPENDIX. [Lect.
Acts of the Apostles, who observes, on the two passages, that
what is translated "preaching" does not mean "by a direct
commission ;" but " implies conversation rather than public
preaching." It is worth observing, in connexion with this topic, that the
act of preaching to the unconverted, and to the converted, is
designated by different expressions ; — in the former case, it is
expressed by Krjpvrrii), or EvayyeXiiopai ; in the latter, by BiSdirKb),
or BiaXiyopai ; and these are always kept distinct. This is
clearly marked in Acts v. 42, and xv. 35, in both of which
places the Apostles are spoken of as BiBdaKovrEe kuI svayyEXi-
i^o/jiEvoi, — which words are not tautologous, but imply the
double office of teaching the converted, and preaching to the
unconverted. See also how St. Paul's instruction to the converts
at Troas is expressed (Acts xx. 7), and at Ephesus (xx. 20).
The distinction is apt to be overlooked from the indiscriminate
use of the word " preaching " in our version. The same differ
ence may also be frequently observed between Xdyoc and BiBa-xri
or BiBaiTKaXia, as Hammond observes on Matt. ix. 35, note I ;
" the first, without the Church, to unbelievers ; the second,
within it, to those that were already converted to the faith." —
This is illustrated by 1 Tim. v. 17, where kottkSvteq ev Xdya
Kal BiSaiTKaXii} denotes the distinction. So in 2 Tim. iv. 2,
KTipvlov TOV Xoyov UteraUy means, " proclaim the Gospel to
unbelievers." This distinction receives further illustration from a note by
Mosheim, on 1 Tim. v. 17, " De rebus ant. Const, temp."
cap. xxxviii. p. 126, in which he remarks on the difference
between those who preached to the unconverted, and those
who instructed or exhorted Christian people. After observing
that Konidta either by itself, or in conjunction with 'ev Xoya,
or Ev Kvpib), is never to be understood as meaning the ordinary
instruction of Christians, and quoting Rom. xvi. 12, and
1 Cor. iv. 12, he proceeds, " Sunt alii praster hos loci, quos
ut ordine proferam nil opus est, in quibus Idborare aut simpli-
citer, aut explicatione quadam adject^ positum, non significat
Christianos erudire, sed populos veree religionis nescios ejus
cognitione imbuere. Igitur non stulte prorsus et imperite
verba S. Pauli ad Timotheum, de quibus agimus, inter-

IIL] APPENDIX. 327
pretabitur, qui statuet, TrpEff/Sur/povc KoiridivTas ev Xoyip Kal
BiBa(TKaXi<ji} illos esse qui amplificandse studebant ecclesife, atque
Judasos, Deorumque cultores ab erroribus avocare et ad Chris
tum adducere nitebantur, non eos, qui Christianos cultiis divini
causa congregates docebant et monebant," p. 127. He proceeds
to argue (maintaining his own theory on this point,) that St.
Paul distributed presbyters into three classes, the laborantes, or
KOTTKJivTae, thc prcesidcntcs, or TrpciarapEyovg, and the exhor-
tantes, or vovQErovvTag, and then adds, " ex quo apparet, qui
Idborare dicuntur Apostolo diversos fuisse ab illis, qui populo
congregate fidem explicabant et officia vitae interpretabantur,
seu monebant."

No. XII.
Lecture III. — ^Page 84.
Instances of Missionaries sent to the Heathen, in earlier Times,
by the neighbouring Bishops.
The tradition is well known, which records that Irenajus was
sent by Polycarp into Gaul, (circ. a. d. 160;) it is added also,
that Pothinus received a similar commission, (Greg. Turon.
Hist. Franc, i. 27, 29. See Cave's Lives of the Fathers, p. 162.)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, again, was summoned and commissioned
by Phsedimus, Bishop of Amasea, which bordered upon the
paganized city of Neo-Caesarea, to undertake that mission.
A.D. 240. (Greg. Nyssen. Vita Greg. Thaumat. p. 975, — quoted
by Cave, p. 271-2.) — Afterwards, Pantaanus was sent to the
East " as far as the Indians," (Euseb. H. E. v. 10,) Jerome adds,
" by Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria." (Cat. Script. Eccles.
cap. xxxvi.) Athanasius sent Frumentius to Abyssinia, (Theod.
Eccl. Hist. lib. i. cap. xxii.) Unilas was sent among the Goths,
by S. Chrysostom;^ (Ep. xiv. tom. iii. p. 600, Ed. Ben.) who
1 It will be observed that Mosheim is intent on drawing a distinction
between Koinaa and vovS^Tka, which will account for his overlooking in these
words the same distinction between Koyos and 5(5acr/caA(a.
^ His words are, OuviXus o iiriffKOTros 6 Qavfidirtos e/cefros, ou 7rpwr}v ^p^eipo-
ToVijffa Kal ^ffiij/a fls Tordiav, iroAAa lea) fx^yaKa KaTopBoiiras lK0iiJ.ri9rj.

328 APPENDIX. [Lect.
also, hearing that a tribe of Scythians were desirous of instruc
tion, sent to Leontius, Bishop of Ancyra, requesting him to
send missionaries. Theodoret says he saw the letters. (Eccl.
Hist. lib. V. cap. xxxi.) Moses Saracenus was sent to Alexan
dria to be consecrated Bishop of the Saracens, since the queen
(Maira) EviaKOTrov tov oIkeiov 'tdvovg r/rtt Xa^Eiv. (Socrates, iv.
cap. xxxvi.) At a later period, according to Cyril the monk, in
his Life of Euthymius the Great, Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem,
" sent Peter to preside over the Saracen converts, — and thus
Peter was ordained the first Bishop of those who dwelt in
Palestine." (Surius, Vit. Patr. Jan. 30.) These last words are
reconciled with the preceding sentence, by understanding that
the latter converts were a different tribe of Saracens from that
over which Maira ruled. Moses was sent about a. d. 377, just
before the death of Valens ; Peter, later than a. d. 407.
In regard to the missions of a later date, it is weU known that
an argument against Episcopal authority and jurisdiction has
been drawn from the supposed custom of the monastic houses in
the mediaeval centuries, within which missionaries are repre
sented as being " ordained and sent to preach." This argument
has been adduced by Selden, Prsefat. ad decem Scriptores ; —
Baxter, on Episcopacy; — and Jamieson, Historical Account of
the Ancient Culdees, in support of the Presbyterian form of
Church Government. One of the chief passages on which the
argument is built, is that which occurs in Bede, where he
relates the circumstance of Aidan's being ordained and sent to
preach the Gospel in the north of England. He is speaking of
the , monastery of Hy, or lona, in which Aidan resided, and
mentions that, on Aidan's speech, all eyes were fixed on him
as one worthy of the episcopate, — " sicque ilium ordinantes
ad prsedicandum miserunt." (Bed. Hist. lib. iii. cap. v. quoted
in Bishop RusseU's Hist, of the Church in Scotland, vol. i.
p. 18.)
It may be well, then, here to transcribe the following passages
from Bishop Lloyd's Historical Account of Church Government
in Great Britain, (London, 1684, p. 162, &c.) in which the
custom of the monastic houses, in this respect, is learnedly and
conclusively set forth.
" When by this monastic education any one was made fit to

IIL] APPENDIX. 329
take orders, in the judgment of them that were his superiors in
that place, then he was to be ordained ; but by whom ? By his
superiors in the monastery ? It must be so, if they had the
power of ordination. And so indeed our adversaries would
have it, that the abbot and his senior monks did ordain those
that were sent out of their monastery ; and that, not only into
the lower orders, but into the order of bishop, as they show us
in the example of Aidan, and his successors. But this is so far
from being true, that I dare challenge our adversaries to show
any instance where the abbot and monks, without a bishop
among them, ordained so much as one single presbyter. I
shall show, on the contrary, by many instances, that as it was
necessary to have orders conferred in the monasteries (without
which there could be no administration of sacraments), so bishops
were held necessary on this very account, that they might confer
orders on those that were judged fit to be ordained in the
monasteries." Then, after proceeding to speak of the exemption from ordi
nary episcopal jurisdiction, which some monasteries enjoyed,
he adds : —
" The most ancient privileges of this kind that I have ob
served in the Western Church, were those that were enjoyed
by the African monasteries, They were, for one while, so
exempt that' the bishop, in whose diocese they were, had
nothing to do with them, except when they themselves were
pleased to make use of his assistance.
" About the year of Christ 500, we find ^ that they might
choose what bishop they pleased, in the whole province, to ordain
and do other episcopal acts in their monastery. It appears "
that whomsoever they chose they were tied to ; he was their
bishop as long as he lived ; but when he died they were not tied
to his successor, but might choose either him or any other whom
they pleased. For (as they pleaded in the councU of Carthage)
they were * not under any bishop, out of duty, but out of choice,
except only the Archbishop of Carthage, who was their primate.
Afterwards they were confined to the bishop of the diocese ; so

' Concil. Edit. Labbe, tom. iv. col. 1649 and 1785. B.
2 lb. col. 161,6. D. E. 3 lb. " lb. col. 1785. B.

330 APPENDIX. [Lect.
that he,' and no other, when they desired it, might ordain any
whom they chose out of their number, or might give confirma
tion, or might consecrate a new oratory. And it is expressed
by what pattern this was done,^ that it was in Uke manner as
the monastery of Lerin, in France (now S. Honor6), was confined
to the bishop of the diocese.
" In France and Spain, how this matter was ordered, it
appears in the canons of their councils of Agde ' and Lerida.*
There was none to be ordained in any monastery but by the
bishop, in whose diocese it was. But then it must be at the
desire of the abbot, or at least with his leave, and not otherwise.
But besides, we find that some greater monasteries had bishops
in them of their own, who were elected by the abbot and
monks, and were ordained by the adjacent bishops, to the end
that they might preach and do episcopal offices in their monas
teries. Of this kind we have examples " in S. Martin's, near
Tours, and the monastery of St. Denis, near Paris, which had
such bishops in them from ancient times ; and we have an
account of their successions for some ages. The like we have
of the Bishops that were in St. Colomb's monastery at Hy, of
whom there is mention in the Ulster Annals." So that in
either case, of exempt, or not exempt monasteries, there were
bishops to be had for the ordaining of monks ; and no pretence
to have it done by the abbot, that was no bishop, though his
leave or consent was needful to the ordination."
> Concil. Edit. Labbe, tom. iv. 1785. B. ^ n,. col. 1649. A. B.
3 Concil. Agath. u. 27. * Concil. Herd. c. 3.
* Acta SS. Ord. Benedict. Seculo viii. in pref. pp. xx. xxi.
" Usher de priraord. p. 701.

IIL] APPENDIX. 331

No. XIII.
Lecture III. — Page 84.
Extract from Eusebius, H. E. lib. iii. c. 37, on Evangelists
being sent to preach the Gospel.
Kal dXXoi B' ETTi TovToiStTrXEiove iyvupi^ovTO Kara tovitBe, Trjv
Trpii)TT]V Ta^iv Trjs riSv diroaToXuv ettexovtes SiaBoxVS' vt Kal Ate
rrjXtK&ij'CE bvTEs BiairpETrEis padrjTai, rovs (.arct ndvra rovov ruiv
EKKXr)aiuv TrpoKaTapXTjOivrae vtto tiSv drroaroXwv dEpEXlovs ettiokoBo-
povv, av^ovTES Eis ttXeov to K-qpvypa, Kai rd (Twrrjpia attEppara rrjs
t(Sv ovpavwv (iaaiXEias dvd Trairav eis rrXdros iminrEipovTEe rrjv
o'lKovpEvrjv, Kal yap Br) ttXeIcttoi tCov tote /j.aOriTWV <T(j>oBpoTEp<o
^ikoaoiplas 'Eptori irpoc Toij QeIov Xoyov rrjv xpvxvv TrXriTTOpEVOi, Trjv
(TWTripiov TfpOTEpov aTTETrXrjpovv TvapaKEXEVtjiv, evBeebi VEpovTEs rds
ovaiag. 'ETreira Be diroBripias arEXXdpEVOi, 'ipyov etteteXovv £u'ay-
yEXiaTiHv, TO~ig 'eti Trapirav dvrjKooig rov Trjs irioretuc Xoyov KrjpvTTEiv
tov Xpi(TTOV (jiiXoTtpovpEvoi, Kol "jjc tQv Beiwv EvayyEXioov TrapaSi-
Bovai ypa<p^v.

No. XIV.
Lecture III. — Page 85.
Extract from the Council of Chalcedon, Canon 28.
The hundred and fifty Bishops of the CouncU of Constanti
nople, Ta 'laa izpEffj^E'ia dirivEipav rw rrjs vias 'Poiprjs dyioiraTii)
dpovu), EvXoywg Kplvavreg, rrjv (iaaiXElq. Kal avyKXrjr^ TtprjdEicrav
TToXiv, Kal tUv "ktiov dwoXavovtrav rrpEajiEiiiiv rrj rrpEO-jSvTEp^ fiacriXiBi
'Poifi-g, Kal EV To'tg EKKXrjcriaiTTiKo7s <ie EKEivrjv pEyaXvvEadai Trpdyfiaai,
BEVTEpav fiET EKEivrjV VTrdpxovnav. Kal &(Ste tovs rrjs UovriKrjg Kal
Trjs AiTiavrjs Kal Trjg QpifKiKrjg StoiKrjtrEbts prirpoTroXlrag povovg, 'eti
OE Kai Tovg EV Tolg papfiapiKoXs ETVKTKOTrovg tiSv irpoEipripEvuv BioiKij-
(TEii)V x^i^porovE'iadai vivo tov TrpoEiprjpEvov dyiwrdrov dpovov rrjs Kard
KijjvffTavTivoviroXiv ayiwraTrjs iKKXr](jiag' BrjXaBrj EKatrrov prjTpowo-

332 APPENDIX. [I'^'^'^-
XiTov TWV TTpoEiprjpEViav BioiKTJdEWV pETU TWV Trjg Eirapxiag ettiitkotcwv
X^ipoTOVoiJvTos tovs rrjs iirapxlae EiriaKoirovs, KaOws Tois Oeiois
Kavoai Birjyopevrai- x^^porovEierdai Be, Kadwg e'iprjrai TOvg fHiTpono-
Xirag twv irpoEiprjpivwv BioiKriaEwv Trapd rov KwvaTavTirovTroXEwg
dpxiEivKTKoirov, ihrjipiapdTwv avpipwvwv Kara to 'eOos yEVoptvwv, Kal
'tt' avTov dvjKpEpopEviDV.

No. XV.
Lecture IV. — Page 110.
The Extension of the Gospel in Europe between the Fifth and
Fourteenth Centuries.
CENTURY. 5th .... Among the Burgundians, Scotch, and Irish, Franks (under
Clevis, King of France, 496.)
6th .... Among the Picts, Heruli (on the Danube), Abasgi.
7th .... Among the Lombards, West-Saxons, East-Angles, Middle-
Angles, Treveri ; in Franconia, Switzerland, Westphalia,
Friesland, Thuringia.
8th .... In Thuringia, Hessia, Bavaria, Westphalia, and among the
Venedi.
9th .... In Saxony, Denmark, Sweden, Bohemia and Moravia,
Hungar}'.
10th .... In Norway, Poland, Russia, Normandy.
11th .... More perfectly in Sweden and Denmark, Hungary, Bulgaria.
12th .... In Livonia, Pomerania.
13th & 14th. In Prussia, (by the Teutonic Knights,) Lithuania.
The preceding table is designed to mark generaUy the course
of the expansion of the Gospel. The " Lux Evangelii," &c. of
Fabricius contains references to works respecting the conversion
of almost every country named.

IV.]

APPENDIX.

333

In Mr. Turner's " History of the Anglo-Saxons" the follow
ing tabular statement is given, " as a conjectural but probable
representation of the progressive increase of the number of
Christians in the world."

lOth Century  50,000,000

1st Century

2d

))

3d

„

4th

»»

5th

„

6th

»J

7th

„

8th

»

9th

500,000

10th

2,000,000

11th

5,000,000

12th

10,000,000

13th

15,000,000

14th

20,000,000

15th

25,000,000

16th

30,000,000

17th

40,000,000

18th

70,000,00080,000,00075,000,000
80,000,000
100,000,000125,000,000155,000,000
200,000,000

(Ferussac. Bull. Univers. Geog. p. 4, Jan. 1827.)
" But I think," he adds, " in this nineteenth century, the
real number of the Christian population of the world is nearer to
three hundred miUions, and is visibly much increasing, from the
missionary spirit and exertions which are now distinguishing
the chief Protestant nations in the world. The Jews, from the
number which I have observed in every part of the globe, are
between six and eight miUions ; the Mahometans not above
eighty millions ; and the Pagans, in the four quarters of the
earth, do not exceed six hundred millions." — Vol. iii. p. 484,
note, 6th Edit.

Neandee, in his "AUgemeine Geschicte," presents, in a tabu
lar form, the expansion and contraction of the Church for a
series of ages. From this table I have extracted the state
ment which follows, exhibiting the condition of the Church, in
its increase or diminution, between the fifth and ninth centuries.
It will be seen that the table is not very full, and that several of
the events have dates affixed to them which do not correspond
with those assigned by other writers. On this account I have
prefixed another column, in which I have supplied several dates
omitted in Neander's list, and added others, in which he differs
from the commonly received chronology.

334

APPENDIX.

[Lect.

The column headed N designates the list of dates as given by
Neander.

430

150—482

"432
'546-59; 570

596_604 ''eos
.556— 61C
611

610

Born 588

)34— 70!

N
A,D.

565

616605579

610

635
659
656

EXPANSION.

Among the Burgun
dians.
By Severinus, in the
S, East of Germany ;
afterwards among
the Franks. (Chil-
debert's law against
idol worship, 554.)
In Nubia and Abys
sinia.
Among thePicts, °Ni-
nian, and ' Columba.
Goar on the Rhine.
W ulflach near Treves.
In Kent, under Ethel
bert, by ' Augustine.
''Laurentius (after 579)
Li France and Lom-
bardy, Columban and
Magnoald.

In Bavaria, Enstatius,
Agil.
Among the
Swiss — Swablan na
tions, Gallus.
In Essex, under Sa-
bareth, Mellitus.

In China, Olopuen ?
Eligius, Bishop of
Tournay.
In Brabant, Livin.'
In Sussex, Wilfrid.

A.D.

circ. 450

circ. 531

610

616

CONTRACTION.

Anglo-Saxons op
press the Chris
tian Britons.

Restoration of Hea
thenism in Hesse
and Thuringia.

Rise of Mahome
tanism, oppression
of Christians by
Chosroes Parviz,
King of Persia.

Eadbald, Kent, idol
vporshipper. Mel
litus driven out of
Essex.
H eathenism prevails
iu Sussex.

1 The [loath of Livin is placed by some writers at a.d. (>33,

IV.]

APPENDIX.

335

A,D.

N
A.D.

EXPANSION.

A.D.

CONTRACTION.

826—675

679

Among the Frisians,
Amandus.

500—538

Iu Alsace, & Switzer
land, Fridolia.'

7th & 8th
century.

Deeds of violence
by the conquer
ing Mahometans
against the Chris

612

In Brisgau, Thrudpert.
tians.
685—688
In Frankiscan, (East
ern Franks,) Kyllena
"649 *526
"717
In Bavaria, under
Theodo I, by "Em-
meran, under Theo
do II. by 'Rudbert^
and '¦ Corbinian.
'658 73S
739
Among the Frisians,
by Wiglbert. "^Vil-
librord, Bishop of
Utrecht.
719
Resistance of the
Frisians under
Radbod.
694
The brothers Hen-
wald.
J95— 71.")
Among the Boruch-
tuarians, Suidbert.
Died 720
680—755 755
Wulfram of Sens.
Boniface, in Friesland,
Thuringia, Hesse, &
Bavaria.
In Friesland, Eoban.
TOO— 776
781
Gregory [of Utrecht].
744^
782—803
779
In Hesse, Abbot
Sturm.
Conversion by vio
lence among the
Saxons.
circ. 779
The Dukes promote
heathenism in
Thuringia.
The Saxons lay
¦waste the Chris
tian institutions.
1 This is
he occ
2 Great i
Canisi
3 Founde
clearly mis]
upies in Ne
incertaintyus, place it
d the conve
Jlaced. Fridolin was at lea
ander's list.
exists as to the date of Ru
as given in the table, Mabill
ntof Fulda, a.e. 741; died
t a century
pert; while
on assigns i
A.D. 779.
earlier than the place
some writers, such as
t a century later.
336

APPENDIX.

[liEdfri

A.D.

N
A,D.

EXPANSION.

A.D.

CONTRACTION.

809

Among the Frisians,
Liudger.

782—803
782—785

Opposition of the
Saxons to Christi
anity.
The Saxons pro
mote heathenism
among the Franks.
Wittekind's rebel
lion.

798

Among the Avares,
Arno of Salzburg.

The Christians in
Spain oppressed
by the Saracens.

778—820
Timothy, Nestorian
circ.
Resistance of the
Patriarch in Syria,
820
Sclavonian tribes
founds Missions for
China and the East
to Christianity.
Indies.
Kardag, Jabdallahah,
Daniel.
No. XVI.
Lecture IV. — Page 110,
A List qf some of the more eminent Missionaries in Northern
Europie, between the Fifth and Eleventh Centuries.
NAME.
Scene of Labour.
A.D,
Source of Information,
Martin of Tours.
Gaul.
316—397
Sulpicius Severus.
Honoratus.
Gaul.
400
Hilary of Aries.
Patrick.
Ireland.
430—470
Jocelin. Usher. Antiq.
cap. xvii.
Severin.
Noricum, or Aus
tria.
450
Vita S. Sev. Acta Sane.
sv.j

APPENDIX

337

NAME.

Scene of Labour.

A.D,

Source of Information,

Romanus andLu-
pioinus.

Jura.

450

Greg. Turon. Vitae Patr.
cap. i.

Benedict.

,Goths.

480—543

Acta Sanct. Ssec. I.

Fridolin.

AUemanni. Black Forest.

500

Vita a Berthero Seck-
ingensi Monacho. cf.
Acta Sanct. tom. i.
Index S.S. prseterm.

Medard.

Flanders.

530

Gregor. Turon. de
Glor. Confess.

Remigius.

Francs,

533

Vita a Hincmar. Su
rius, tom. i.

Seine.

Burgundy.

500—600

Greg. Turon. de Glor.
Confess, cap. 88. Cours
d'Hist. Mod. tom. ii.
p. 176.

Columba, or Co-
lumb-kill.

Scotland.

521—597

Acta Sanct. Ben. Ssec I.

Erroul.

Normandy.

547

Acta Sanct. Ben, Saec. I.

Columban.

Vosges. Lom
bards.

556—616

Vita a Jonas, in Surius
Vitas Patrum and Bede
Vit. Columb.

Eligius.

Francs.

588—659

GalliaChristiana. tom.ix.
Surius, tom. vi.

Augustin.

Anglo-Saxons.

597

Bede.

Eustasius.

Bavaria.

611

Vita a Jonas, Acta Sanct.
Saec. II.

Gallus.

Switzerland.

627

Vita a Walfrld Strabo.
Acta Sanct. Seec. IL

Livin.

Brabant.

633

Vita Auctore Bonifacio.
Acta Sanct. Sffic. II.

Aidan.

Anglo-Saxons.

635

Bede.

Goar.

Rhine. Treves.

570

Acta Sanct. Sase.IL

Rupert and
Trudpert.

On the Rhine,
and Bavaria and
Black Forest.

600—626

Canisii Lection, pt, iii.

Kilian.

Thuringia.

685

Acta Sanct. Sa;c. II.

338

APPENDIX.

[Lect.

NAME.

Willibrord and
eleven Compa
nions.
Winfrid, or Boni
face.

Sturm.

Gregory of
Utrecht.

Liafwin, or Lebu-
inus.
Willehad.

Arno of Salz-
bourg.

Liudger.
Ebbo, Archbishop
of Rheims.
Anschar.

Gautbert.

Rimbert.

John Sigurd.
Sigfrid and Grim-
kill.

Scene of Labour.

Thuringia and
Frisons.

Germany.

Hesse and Thu
ringia.

On the Ems.
Saxons.
Frisons. Saxons.
Avares.Frisians. Jutland.
Danes & Swedes.
Swedes.
Swedes.
Norway.Norway.

A.D.

692

680—755

Circ. 744

700—776

770

775

798

809

822—851

Source of Information.

Alcuin. Vit. Willib. Em-
mii Hist. Frisonum,
p. 52. Surius, tom. vi.
Vita a Willebaldo. Acta
Sanct. Saec. III. p. 2.
Histoire Gen. des Au-
teurs Sacres par Ceil-
lier, tom. xviii.
Vita ab Aigile. Acta
Sanct. Ben. tom. iii. pt.
ii. Hist, des Aut. Eccl.
par Ceillier, tom. xviii.
Vita aLiudger, his pupil.
Acta Sanct. Ben. tom.
iii. pt. ii.
Surius, tom. vi.
Monumenta Germanise
Historica, p. 378. Vita
ab Anschario. Surius,
tom. vi.
Canisii Lection, a Bas-
nage, tom. iii. pt. ii.
p. 449.
Acta Sanct.Ben. Saec.IV.
Hist, des Aut. Eccles,
par Ceillier, tom. xviii.

823—865 Vita k Rimberto, in
Scriptor. Rer. Dan.
No. 30, and Ceillier,
Hist, des Aut. Eccl.
tom. xix.

832

844

993
1019

Adam Bremen. Hist.
Eccl. and Vita An-
scharii a Rimberto.
Adam Bremen. Hist.
Eccl, and Ceillier, Hist.
des Aut. Eccl. tom. xix.
>• Adam Brem. lib. ii.

IV.] APPENDIX. S39
No. XVII.
Lecture IV. — Page 112.
On the Preaching of the Gospel in India.
The statement in the text is made in the persuasion that the
Gospel was not preached in India Proper, either by St. Thomas
the Apostle, or by Pantsenus. The former tradition is scarcely
now maintained, and arose from a confusion of the Apostle with
either a Manichsean, or an Armenian merchant who bore that
name. (La Croze, Christianisme des Indes, i. pp. 57 — 70, cited
by Gibbon, ch. xlvii.) The question of Pantsenus having
conveyed the Gospel beyond the Indus depends on the locality
given to the term " India," whither he was sent to preach. Mr.
Hough, in his late work on Christianity in India, is almost alone
among later writers in supposing that the East Indies are meant.
But, without entering on a discussion of the evidence, he states
nothing to invaUdate the conclusion (from the same facts) drawn
by Mosheim (De Rebus Christ, p. 206) ; by Bohlen (Das alte
Indien, p. 379); by Prof. Burton (Lect. on Eccl. Hist. ii. p. 204);
and by Blumhardt (Etabl. du Christianisme, i. p. 301); who
consider that by the term India, a district of Arabia Felix,
or Ethiopia, was designated. Neander leaves the question open,
(Hist, of Christ. Rel. p. 76.) On the opinion expressed in the
Lecture, the following note may be quoted from Mr. Milman's
ed. of Gibbon, vol. viii. p. 352. " The St. Thome Christians,"
the editor remarks, " had excited a great interest in the ardent
mind of the admirable Bishop Heber .... The arguments of his
friend and coadjutor Mr. Robinson, have not convinced me
that the Christianity of India is older than the Nestorian
dispersion."

z2

340 APPENDIX. [Lect.
No. XVIII.
Lecture IV. — Page 125.
Extract from the Life of Eligius, in the Denknmrdigkeiten
of Neander, vol. iii.
" When he had heard that a vessel of slaves had arrived,
captives of Roman, Gallic, British or Moorish descent, particu
larly of Saxon, who were driven in large bands, like cattle, he
hastened to the spot and purchased the freedom of as many as an
hundred at a time. If gold were wanting, he gave not only his
small jewels, but even needful portions of his garments, and
spared even part of his daUy food. He then went with them to
the King, and procured certificates of their freedom; after which,
he offered them their choice, — either to return free to their own
country, in which case he gave them money for the journey, —
or to remain with him, not. as servants, but as free brethren, — or
to become monks, in which case he procured them a good recep
tion in a cloister."

No. XIX.
Lecture IV. — Page 127.
On the inadequacy of Secondary Causes to account for the
rapid Growth of the Church.
The impression, which it is clearly the purpose of the author
of Rome's Decline and Fall to leave on the mind, by the enume
ration of the five causes which he adduces to account for the
rapid growth of the Church, is aU the more Ukely to be conveyed,
from the fact of these causes being urged merely as secondary.
Although no reflecting and well-principled mind could be affected
by the insidious representations made in the famous chapter in
which the subject is treated, yet the real weakness of the causes

IV.] APPENDIX. 341
which Gibbon mentions, even as aiding the propagation of the
Church, may not be apparent to all. I therefore extract the
following passage, which contains the summary of a small work
of Sir David Dalrymple (Lord Hales), entitled, An Enquiry into
the Secondary Causes which Mr. Gibbon has assigned for the
rapid Growth of Christianity, pp. 332 — 338; in which the
writer has, with considerable acuteness, examined the strength
of the arguments adduced by the historian.
" All that now remains is to recapitulate, briefly, the five
secondary causes, which, in the judgment of Mr. Gibbon, ' so
efficaciously assisted the growth of the Christian religion.' His
first proposition, as we have seen, is, that Christianity became
victorious over the established religions of the earth, by its very
doctrine, and by the ruling providence of its great Author ; and
his last, of a like import, is, that Christianity is the truth.
Between his first and his last propositions there are no doubt
many dissertations, digressions, inferences and hints, not altogether
consistent with his avowed principles.
" I. The first secondary cause of the rapid growth of the
Christian religion is said to have been, ' the inflexible and
intolerant zeal of the Christians,' — a zeal, when unsupported and
even repressed by secular power, of all things the most likely to
check instead of accelerating the growth of Christianity.
" II. ' The doctrine of a future life, improved by every
additional circumstance which could give weight or efficacy to
that important truth.' — This, however, must have been a primary,
and not secondary, cause of the rapid growth of Christianity;
for, if we may credit St. Paul, ' Christ has abolished death, and
has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.'
" III. ' The supernatural gifts ascribed to the Christians.' —
This, if understood of miraculous powers really exercised, ought
to be ranked among the primary causes of the rapid growth of
Christianity; if understood of ' lying wonders,' it is hard to say
why the Pagans, who had fictitious miracles of their own, should
have rejected them, and adopted what, in the present argument,
must be considered as fables, the invention of a hated and
persecuted sect.
" IV. ' The virtues of the primitive Christians.' — Mr. Gibbon
admits, not only that they were virtuous, but also that they were

342 APPENDIX. [I-ECT.
more virtuous than their heathen contemporaries. But what
made them to differ from others ? Let us answer, till we are
better informed, ' The grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath
appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts, we should Uve soberly, righteously, and godly, in
this present world ; looking for that blessed hope, and the appear
ing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ ; who gave
himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and
purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.*
So, if the virtues of the primitive Christians did contribute, in
some measure, to the rapid growth of Christianity, we must
ascribe such effects, not to any secondary cause, but to the
primitive cause of those virtues, the grace of God.
" V. ' The union and the discipline of the Christian republic'
— This indeed would have strengthened the Church, if not
augmented the number of believers ; but between the apostolic
times and the accession of Constantine, the Christians were not
so studious as became them, in preserving ' the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace,' neither was discipUne, at all times,
regularly and prudently maintained among them.
" Thus it appears that the things which Mr. Gibbon considered
as secondary, or human causes efficaciously promoting the
Christian religion, either tended to retard its progress, or were
the manifest operations of the wisdom or power of God."

No. XX.
Lecture IV. — Page 136.
On the evanescent Power of the Arian Tribes.
Blumhakdt, amongst other writers, has noticed the fact which
is observed in the text, and which is borne out by history. The
earlier tribes who received the Arian faith, during its short
ascendency, were, as Gibbon remarks, (vol. iii. p. 534,) the
Ostrogoths in Pannonia and Italy, — the Visigoths in Southern
France and Eastern Spain, — the Suevi in GaUicia and Portugal,

IV.] APPENDIX. 343
— the Burgundians in Southern France, — the Heruli in Polish
Germany, — the Vandals in Africa. It wiU be observed at once,
that none of these tribes established a kingdom which has per
petuated the name of its founders. They were absorbed, as it
seems, by the old Roman population, or invaded and subdued by
other tribes, and then assumed the original name of the country,
or of their new conquerors. The name of the Burgundians has,
indeed, been retained in a small portion of the territory once
held by them, but their dominion ceased at a very early date in
their history; they were subdued by the sons of Clovis, and
received the orthodox faith from the Franks, in 532. (Gibbon,
vol. iu. p. 572.) " It lasted," observes Malte-Brun, (Gfiographie
Universelle, livr. xv.) " only from 414 to 536." At a conference
at Lyons in 499, by order of the king of Burgundy, in order to
settle the religious disputes of the two parties, Gundobald
reproached the orthodox bishops with allowing the King of the
Franks to invade his territory. " The answer of Avitus, Bishop
of Vienna, who spoke in the name of his brethren, was delivered
with the voice and countenance of an angel. ' We are ignorant
of the motives and intentions of the King of the Franks, but we
are taught by Scripture, that the kingdoms which abandon the
divine law are frequently subverted ; and that enemies will
arise on every side, against those who have made God their
enemy. Return with thy people to the law of God, and He
will give peace and security to thy dominions.' " (Gibbon, vol. iii.
p. 570.) On the other hand, it wiU be observed that the Angles, the
Saxons, the Franks, the AUemanni, and even the Lombards,
transmitted their name to kingdoms founded by them, and have
preserved their distinctiveness even to this day. Of the latter,
Malte-Brun observes, without any reference to the reflection
which is here illustrated : " Le royaume de Lombardie fut
conquis par Charlemagne (774), mais il fut long-temps comme
un etat a part ; aussi le nom de la Lombardie a maintenu jusqu'a
nos jours son ancienne c616brite." — Geog. Univ. livr. xv. p. 145.

344 APPENDIX. [!''='=¦'•
No. XXI.
Lecture V. — Page 144.
On the Miracles attributed to Francis Xavier.
As to the abstract question, whether miraculous powers still
reside in the Church, and whether at any particular time, in
later ages, God has vouchsafed this evidence of the truth to any
of His servants, it would be presumption to state any positive
d priori opinion. It is a question of evidence; and "by this
the several alleged instances of such Divine interposition must
be tried. In reference, then, to the miracles which are alleged
to have been wrought by "the apostle of India," and with which
his history is commonly crowded, it will be enough to advance
the following considerations, which would certainly lead us to
entertain the accounts of them with hesitation.
We may observe, first, that there is no allusion to his having
possessed any such power in the letters of Fr. Xavier himself.
On the contrary, in cases where we might, perhaps, have ex
pected divine assistance to have been miraculously accorded,
as when he was unable to address the natives of a country
through ignorance of their language, he bewails his inability,
and sets himself to supply the deficiency.
In the next place, it is expressly stated by his biographer,
that, when questioned upon the subject, he disclaimed the gift
of working miracles. The writer implies that Xavier perceived
not his possession of this endowment, owing to his humility.
But surely no one could be ignorant of his exercising so great
a power, if he possessed it ; and to disown it would be a false
humility, and by no means in accordance with the example of
St. Paul. The foUowing passage occurs in the Life of St.
Francis Xavier, by Dryden. (Works, by Sir W. Scott, vol. xvi.
pp. 499, 500.)
" As for those miracles which he continually wrought, they
passed, in his opinion, as the effects of innocence in children, or
for the fruits of faith in sick persons. And when, at the sight
of a miraculous performance, the people were, at any time, about

v.] APPENDIX. 345
to give him particular honours, he ran to hide himself in the
thickest of a forest ; or, when he could not steal away, he
entered so far into the knowledge of himself, that he stood
secure from the least temptation to vain-glory. It even seemed
that the low opinion which he had of his own worth in some
sort blinded him, in relation to the wonders which he wrought,
so that he perceived hot they were miracles.
" It was the common talk of Goa that he had raised the dead
on the coast of Fishery. After his return to Goa, James Prorba
and Cozmo Annez, his two intimate friends, requested him to
inform them, for God's further glory, how these matters went ;
and particularly they inquired concerning the child who was
drowned in the weU. The holy man, at this request, hung
down his head, and blushed exceedingly. When he had reco
vered somewhat of his bashfulness, ' Jesus ! ' said he, ' what, I
to raise the dead ! Can you believe these things of such a
wretch as I am ?' After which, modestly smiling, he went on,
' Alas, poor sinner that I am ! they set before me a child, whom
they reported to be dead, and who perhaps was not ; I com
manded him, in the name of God, to arise ; he arose, indeed,
and there was the miracle ! ' "
Thirdly, Josephus Acosta, in his work De Promulgatione
Evangelii apud Barbaros, has a chapter expressly on the absence
of miraculous powers, at that period, in preaching the Gospel.
Acosta was a Jesuit missionary, and had laboured for seventeen
years in the West Indies and South America, and was probably
a contemporary of Fr. Xavier, since he dedicated his work to
PhUip II. of Spain in 1588. It is true, in another place, he
speaks of miracles reported to have been performed by Xavier ;
not, however, as bearing testimony to the ' reality of them ;
whereas his general statement upon the point is as follows : —
" Multos vero, inter hsec, illud quasrere et admirari non temere
solere animadverti, quid sit qu5d, nostra setate, in prcedicatione
evangelii apud novas gentes, miraculorum ilia vis non cernatur
quam Christus suis promisit, quaaque ad confirmanda superhu-
mana dogmata singulariter efficax est." .... In accounting for
this fact, he adduces the words of St. Augustine on the inscru
tability of the divine call, and proceeds as foUows : — " ' Hiiec
autem vocatio, quae sive in singuUs hominibus, sive in populis.

346 APPENDIX. [Lect.
atque in ipso genere humano per temporum opportunitatem
operatur, altse et profunda ordinationis est.' (Augustin. lib. de
div. quEest. octoginta-tribus, Queest. 68, tom. vi. p. 55. Ed. Ben.)
Populum Israel sibi carum, initio de servitute -3igypti, Pharaone
toties profligate, ingentibus prodigiis eripuit : eundem populum
longe post de captivitate Babylonica patrise restituit, non ita
magnis operibus perpetratis  Proinde Hieremias loquitur,
' Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et non dicetur ultra, Vivit
Dominus, qui eduxit filios Israel de terra .Mgjpti ; sed, Vivit
Dominus, qui eduxit filios Israel de terra Aquilonis, et de uni-
versis terris ad quas ejeceram eos.' (xxiii. 7-8.) Cui rei non
dissimile uiihi videtur, quod ecclesiam suam olim in ipsis evan-
geUi cunabuUs, multorum signorum et variorum charismatum
copia congregaverit, eandem modo de gentibus non minus mira-
biliter mirabilium parcitate colUgit, diversa tempera, secundiim
altissimas sapientise suae leges, diversis rationibus administrans."
Acosta then advances some reasons for the difference existing
between the earlier and the later ages of the Christian church
in respect of the possession of miraculous powers. " They were
necessary then," he says, " on account of the people, to whom
the gospel was preached, measuring aU things by their reason ;
and the unskiUed illiterate preachers of the gospel would have
had no authority with them, unless what they said had been re
commended by the visible testimony of God in their favour."
" Ita religio Christiana, ubi humana praesidia prorsus aberant,
divinis est fundata miraculis." But now (he goes on) the case
is quite otherwise. Those to whom the gospel is preached are
inferior in all respects ; and those who preach it present it with
the weight of antiquity, of numbers, and with all other means of
persuasion on their side. The argument of miracles (he adds,
quoting the sentiment of St. Chrysostom on 1 Cor. ii. 5) is per
petual, extending through aU ages ; the witness they bear to the
truth of a doctrine is equaUy strong in a subsequent age as in
the age in which they are performed. " Non ergo fides, jam
satis fundata miraculis, novis indiget confirmari, quin potius
utilius esse asserit signis nunc carere, quoniam majoris meriti sit."
The great means of producing conviction (he concludes) is
holiness of life. For miracles (as is urged by St. Chrysostom,
Hom. vi. in 1 Cor.) increase the ill-will and opinion of bad

v.] APPENDIX. 347
men ; but purity of Ufe closes the mouth of Satan. This is
confirmed by St. Paul's words (2 Cor. xU. 12), where he says
that " the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in aU
patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." " Here
observe how Paul places patience before miracles, as an evidence
of his apostleship ; as he does also in 1 Thess. ii., where he
urges the purity of his life as an unanswerable evidence of the
truth which he preached." See also lib. v. cap. xxii. p. 509.
Lastly, it was just at the same period, also, that Melchior
Canus (Bishop of the Canaries, and a prominent character in
the CouncU of Trent) thus reprobated the departure from
veracity which characterised the narratives of the lives of saints
by the Roman Catholics : —
" Dolenter hoc dico potiiis quam contumeliose, multo a Laertio
severiils vitas philosophorum scriptas, quam a Christianis vitas
sanctorum ; longeque incorruptiiis et integriiis Suetonium res
Csesarum exposuisse, quam exposuerint - Catholici, non res dico
imperatorum, sed martyrum, virginum, et confessorum 
Nostri plerique vel affectibus inserviunt, vel de industria quo •
que ita multa confingunt, ut eorum me nimirum non solum
pudeat, sed tsedeat." — Loc. Theol. lib. xi. c. 6, pp. 333, 334.
Ed. Colon. Agrip. 1585.

No. XXIL
Lecture V. — Page 152.
System of the Jesuits in Paraguay.
The following sketch of the system adopted by the Jesuits in
Paraguay, is taken from the Lettres Edifiantes, vols. viii. and ix.
The first object of these missionaries was to withdraw the
natives from their wandering mode of life, " and make them
reasonable creatures before attempting to make them Christians."
For this purpose they followed them into their vast forests, and,
as soon as, by their preaching and example, they had obtained

348 APPENDIX. [Lect.
sufficient influence over them, they induced them to fix in
settlements where they might be subjected to Christian instruc
tion and discipline.'
Usually, two missionaries were sent out together, accompanied
by several neophytes. If after hearing their preaching, the
natives expressed a desire to become Christians, the infants were
baptized at once, the adults invited to the settlements for previous
instruction.^ Here they were affectionately received and lodged;
and these converted natives became, in their turn, active agents
in inducing others of their feUow-countrymen to join them.'
Plan of Settlements or Reductions.
A supply of cattle, food, utensils, and seeds, sufficient for
immediate use, also a few workmen to give instruction, were
procured from the neighbouring Spanish towns.* A certain
portion of land, thirty or forty leagues in circumference, according
to the number of settlers, was marked out for each Reduction.^
As soon as one was full, another was formed, to the support of
which the earlier ones contributed. A church and mission-
house were the first buildings raised; these were placed in a
central position, and the streets were arranged in parallel lines,
so as to be easily overlooked from the mission-house."
The ground produced three harvests, of which the first was
allotted to the natives ; the second, laid up for the widows,
orphans, and poor, and for charity beyond the mission ; the
third, was assigned to the missionaries, and the maintenance of
the church, church-offices, choir, &c.' Three Jesuit brothers
superintended the temporal concerns of the settlement : one
acted as physician, tending the sick, and preparing medicines :
the two others managed the distribution of the food. After
harvest, the corn was all laid by in public granaries, and delivered
out once a month to the chiefs of the districts or quarters into
which the Reduction was divided, these again distributed it
among the famUies of the district according to the numbers in
each ; meat was distributed in the same manner daily.' In
•Vol. viii. 391, 392. ^ Vol. ix. pp. 62, 74, 124. ' Vol. viii. p. 392.
" Vol. viii. p. 392. = Vol. viii. 393. " Vol. ix. 386.
' Vol. ix. 205, 206. " Vol. viii. 397—399.

v.] ¦ APPENDIX. 349
order to maintain discipline, an Elder was appointed to watch
the conduct of the adults, and their regularity in attending the
church services ; and a subordinate one was placed over the
children.' No spirituous liquors or games of chance were
permitted.^ Mode of Instruction.
Two missionaries were placed in each Reduction; one to
remain stationary, the other to go out and make converts in the
vicinity.' At break of day, the church bell was sounded to summon the
people to morning prayer ; this was followed by the celebration
of mass, after which they retired to their several occupations,
and reassembled at sunset, when the evening prayer was followed
by the recital of the Chaplet.
AU the children between seven or eight and twelve years of
age were required to attend schools, where the boys were
instructed in reading and writing, the Catechism, the prayers of
the Church, and the duties of Christianity. The girls learned
reading, the prayers and Catechism, knitting, sewing, and other
work suited to their sex. At eight o'clock in the morning they
were all taken to church for morning prayer and catechizing,
and to hear mass ; after which they returned to the schools.
During Advent and Lent, there was public catechizing twice a
week in the church, and as this could not contain all the popu
lation, three or four missionaries were sent, accompanied by a
troop of children, three times a week, to recite the Catechism in
different quarters of the Reduction; it was foUowed by an " act
of contrition."
On Sundays and festivals, high-mass was performed three
times, at six, seven, and nine, in the morning ; each mass was
accompanied by preaching.
In addition to this system of polity, which resembled that of a
large family, it appears that certain fraternities, of the Scapulary,
the Rosary, and the Holy Sacrament, were established among the
inhabitants for religious purposes.* These associations, however,
seem nothing peculiar to the mission, but to resemble the various
' Vol. viii. 388, 389. 2 Vol. ix. 226. •' Vol. ,ix. 68. * Vol. viii. 384—386.

350 APPENDIX. [Lect.
fraternities existing among Roman Catholics in Europe ; doubt
less they were not without effect in fixing the volatile minds of
the half-educated converts, to which also the pompous and
superstitious ceremonies, not sparingly used, may have Ukewise
tended ; but the services connected with them were mixed up
with grievous superstition, if not idolatry.

No. XXIII.
Lecture V. — Page 155.
Proceedings of Roman Catholic Missionaries on the Coast of
Africa.
" The missionaries on their way found the roads thronged
with persons coming to be baptized. Whole villages flocked to
them at once, so that they were often obliged to spend days on
the road, for the purpose of admitting these numerous converts
within the pale of the Church. At length they arrived at
Congo Battu, the largest town in the province, and the theatre
of a considerable trade. Here, too, they found their ministra
tions in such request, that they could scarcely find time for sleep
or food. After nearly the whole city and neighbourhood had
been baptized, they made a somewhat mortifying discovery.
One part of the ceremony, according to the Romish ritual, con
sists in placing salt upon the mouth ; which circumstance, as
salt is here scarce, and an object of luxury, probably aided the
alacrity with which the natives came to be baptized. As the
fathers acquired a knowledge of the language, they discovered
that the sole idea that the natives attached to the rite, was the
eating of this small quantity of salt. Curia mangua, " to eat
salt," was, in their language, the term for being baptized ; nor
did the efforts to change either their language or their ideas
upon the subject prove very successful." — Murray's Discoveries
in Africa, pp. 80, 81.

v.] APPENDIX. 351
No. XXIV.
Lecture V. — Page 157.
The Bishop) of Australia's Protest ; and Remarks on Papal
Intrusion into Colonial Dioceses of the Church of England.
" Jin tfit name of CSfOb. ^men. By this pubUc instru
ment be it declared and made known to all, that in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, according to
the course and reckoning of the Church of England, on Saturday,
the twenty -fifth of March, being the festival of the Annunciation
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at or near the hour of eleven in the
forenoon, before the commencement of the morning service for
the day, in the Vestry adjoining and pertaining to the Church
of St. James the Apostle, in the city of Sydney, and colony of
New South Wales, in the presence of me, James Norton, Notary
Public, and Registrar of the Diocese of Australia, lawfully con
stituted according to Letters Patent of his late Majesty King
William the Fourth, and in presence also of the witnesses whose
names are hereinafter recited, the Right Reverend Father in
God, William Grant, by divine permission Bishop of Australia,
did personaUy put in and exhibit a certain written Protest, and
did then and there openly and publicly protest, and otherwise
also did profess and do in such manner and according as was
more fully contained in a certain parchment schedule which he
held in his hands, and publicly read : of which schedule the
purport is here inserted, and is as follows without any addition
or omission whatever.
" ' In t&e name of SrOU. ^men. We William Grant,
by Divine permission Bishop and Pastor of Australia, do
Protest publicly and explicitly, on behalf of ourselves and our
successors Bishops of Australia, and on behalf of the clergy and
all the faithful of the same Church and Diocese, and also on
behalf of William by Divine providence Lord Archbishop of
Canterbury, Primate of all England and Metropolitan, and
his successors, that the Bishop of Rome has not any right or
authority according to the laws of God, and the canonical
Order of the Church, to institute any episcopal or archiepiscopal

352 . APPENDIX. [Lect.
See or Sees within the limits of the Diocese of Australia and
Province of Canterbury aforesaid. And We do hereby publicly,
explicitly and deliberately protest against, dissent from, and
contradict, any and every act of episcopal or metropolitan
authority done or to be done, at any time, or by any person
whatever, by virtue of any right or title derived from any
assumed jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or au
thority of the said Bishop of Rome enabling him to institute
any episcopal See or Sees within the Diocese and Province
hereinbefore named.'
" AU and singular the foregoing acts and declarations were
had and done as they are above written and recited in the year,
month, day, hour, and place aforesaid ; there being then and
there present, (having been specially invited and summoned as
witnesses in the premises,) the Rev. Robert AUwood, the Rev.
Henry Hodgkinson Bobart, the Rev. WilUam Branwhite Clarke,
the Rev. Thomas Steele, the Rev. Henry Tarlton StUes, and the
Rev. William Horatio Walsh.
[l- s.J (Signed) " James Norton,
" Registrar, and Notary Public.''
Nor has the schismatic tendency of the Church of Rome,
evidenced in this case of AustraUa, ceased here. More recently,
as is remarked in the text, a Bishop has been sent by the Pope
to Hobart Town, subsequently to the appointment of the Bishop
of Tasmania. A more glaring and pointed instance of the same
aggressive temper has been exhibited in Upper Canada.
Toronto has been now, for some years, erected into a See of the
Church of England, and the present Bishop was consecrated in
1839. At this time, and in 1843 (as appears by the Catholic
Directory), there was a Roman Catholic Bishop of Kingstown,
with a Coadjutor. Recently, however, on the death of the Bishop
of Kingstown, M. Power has been appointed Bishop of Toronto,
by which all ecclesiastical rule and unity are set at defiance.
It may not be out of place to contrast with acts such as these
the rule and practice of antiquity ; and for this purpose I tran
scribe the following passage from Bingham, (Antiq. book ii. chap.
xiii. sect. 1.) " Another rule generally observed by the Church,
was, that in one city there should be but one Bishop, though it was

V-] APPENDIX. - 353
large enough to admit of many presbyters." ..." When Nova-
tian got himself ordained bishop of Rome, in opposition to
Cornelius, he was generally condemned, over the whole world,
as transgressing the rule of the Catholic Church. Cyprian '
deUvers it as a maxim on this occasion, ' That there ought to be
but one bishop in a church at a time, and one judge as the vice
gerent of Christ.' ' Therefore,' he says,' ' Novatian was no
bishop, since there could not be a second after the first ; but he
was an adulterer, and a foreigner, and an ambitious usurper of
another man's church, who had been regularly ordained before
him.' And so he was told not only by Cyprian,' but a whole
African council at once ; who, in return to Novatian's commu
nicatory letter, which (according to custom) he wrote to them
upon his ordination, sent him this plain and positive answer :
' That he was an alien, and that none of them could communi
cate with him, who had attempted to erect a profane altar against
Cornelius the true bishop.' "
In confirmation of this rule and practice of antiquity, in the
foUowing ages, Bingham refers to Chrysostom, Jerome, Pseudo-
Hieron., Hilary, Pacian, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret ;
and adds, that " the Council of Nice repeats and confirms this
ancient rule : for, in the eighth canon, which speaks of the
Novatian bishops that return to the Catholic Church, it is said
that any bishop may admit them to officiate as presbyters in the
city, or as chorepiscopi in the country, but not as city bishops,
for this reason, 'Iva prj 'ev rfj ttoXei Bvo ETriaKoiroi wai,"
The violation, then, of ecclesiastical order in the facts men
tioned, proves too clearly the justice of the Bishop of Australia's
remarks, in a communication which he has recently sent home,
and which lead one to perceive that the Colonies will soon
become a battle-field, where the contest with the revived and
usurping spirit of Rome will have to be fought. Noticing his
recent Protest, the Bishop remarks : " It is not necessary that
I should enter into any extended observations upon those docu-
1 Cypr. Epist. 55, al. 59, ad Cornel, p. 129.
^ Ibid. Epist. 52, al. 55, ad Antonfan. p.l04. " Ciim post primum secundus
esse non possit, quisquis post unum, qui solus esse debeat, factus est, nonjam
secundus ille, sed nullus est."
3 Ibid. Ep. 67, al. 68, ad Steph. p. 177.
A A

354 APPENDIX. [Lect.
ments, which wiU speak for themselves. The effect on the mind
of our feUow-churchmen has been decidedly beneficial : and I trust
will still work for good in keeping their thoughts fixed upon the
question, and leading them to inquire and reflect. The efforts
making by the Roman CathoUcs are scarcely to be conceived by
those at a distance ; and there is much going on which is not
meant immediately to meet the pubUc notice. Dr. Folding
introduced eight or ten additional priests, on his return from
Europe : some of them Irish, others foreigners ; and his resources
are very great. I am not in any degree shaken in my confi
dence as to our own cause ; but in means of action I labour
under very serious deficiencies."
In another letter, dated May 17, 1843, he says : "Whatever
the final result may be, I trust that the position which I have
taken is that which becomes the Church of England, and will
always furnish a point for us to fall back upon in that extended
contest which aU the signs of the times foreshow is about to
arise in this colony between our Church and that of Rome."
A further instance of the antagonism shown by the Roman
CathoUcs in the colonies to the Church of England, is mentioned
in a letter from a gentleman in New Zealand, and who is in a
position to have personal knowledge of the fact related,
" Another point," he writes, " which they have taken up in a
much more unscrupulous manner, is the collection at the
offertory, which the Bishop has introduced. They represent it
as selUng the Sacrament ; a remarkable instance of Jesuitical
versatility, when we think how they extract the last half-crown
out of the poor people in Ireland. But here it is quite a free-
wUl offering ; no one is forced to give ; it is not made a condi
tion of communicating ; and as the Bishop feels his position
such a right one, he will persevere through good report and evil
report."

v.] APPENDIX. 355
No. XXV.
Lecture V. — Page 163.
On the Practices of Robert de Nobili, at Madura.
The passage, in which Mosheim states the facts mentioned in
the text, is as foUows (vol. ii. London, 1838, p. 254, note): —
" Nobili, who was looked upon by the Jesuits as the chief
apostle of the Indians after Frangois Xavier, took incredible
pains to acquire a knowledge of the reUgion, customs, and lan
guage of Madura, sufficient for the purposes of his ministry.
But this was not aU ; for, to stop the mouths of his opposers, and
particularly of those who treated his character of Brachman as
an imposture, he produced an old, dirty parchment, in which he
had forged, in the ancient Indian characters, a deed, showing
that the Brachmans of Rome were of much older date than those
of India, and that the Jesuits of Rome descended in a direct
line from the god Brama. Nay, Father Jouvenci, a learned
Jesuit, teUs us, in the History of his Order, something yet more
remarkable ; even that Robert de NobUi, when the authenticity
of his smoky parchment was caUed in question by some Indian
unbelievers, declared upon oath, before the assembly of Brach
mans of Madura, that he (Nobili) derived reaUy and truly his
origin from the god Brama. Is it not astonishing that this
reverend Father should acknowledge, is it not monstrous that he
should applaud, as a piece of pious ingenuity, this detestable
instance of perjury and fraud ? See Jouvenci, Histoire des
Jesuites ; Norbert, Memoires Historiques sur les Missions des
Malab. tom. ii. p. 145."
In respect to the forged composition entitled the Ezour-Vedam,
a long dissertation on the subject may be found in the Asiatic
Researches, vol. xiv. pp. 1 — 55, by Mr. ElUs. It appears that
the existence of this writing was discovered by Sir Alexander
Johnson, the chief justice on the island of Ceylon, who had
" received a commission to draw up a code of laws for the
natives, and therefore was anxious to consult the best Indian
works." A printed copy of the Ezour-Vedam was sent by him
A a2

356 APPENDIX. [Lect.
to Mr. ElUs, which led to the inquiries made by the latter into
the genuineness of the composition. A French translation of
the work was printed at Paris, in 1778; it was said, by Voltaire,
to have been made by the " grand priest of the island of Cher-
ingham, in the province of Arcot." Voltaire himself, as well as
M. Anquetil du Perron, who was possessed of a profound know
ledge of India, its language, and religion, considered the writing
to be an authentic work, a Commentary on the Vedam. Mr.
ElUs accurately examined the document, and the result is given
in his Dissertation, in which he attributes the composition of the
Ezour-Vedam, and the other Pseudo-Vedas, to Robert de Nobili.
The point of view in which he regarded the former writing, at
least, may be learnt from the manner in which he commences his
Treatise, remarking that he is about " to give an account of an
instance of literary forgery, or rather — as the object of the
author or authors was certainly not Uterary distinction — of
religious imposition, without paraUel."
I do not find it stated in what light this composition was
intended to be viewed by Hindoos. The fact however of such a
title being assigned to the fabrication, — the intermixture of some
Vedantic fables with the argument contained in it, — the transla
tion from the Sanscrit being attributed to a Braman, " le grand-
pretre de I'isle de Cheringham," — afford conclusive evidence
that it was designed for the reception of the Hindoos, as of the
same authority, and from the same source, as their four Vedas.
Mr. Hough says, that the forgery did impose on some Brahmins,
and for many years was received as an authentic work. Yet
it is clear that the object of it was to recommend Christianity ;
so that, probably, the representation of it, in the text, as " the
Christians' Veda," will describe the intention of those who com
posed it ; — and thus it forms a part of that unscrupulous system
of deception, which Robert de Nobili and his companions prac
tised, in representing themselves and their Veda as of Brahmanic
origin ; — with what kind of success the result may inform us.
It has been already stated that Voltaire considered the work
as genuine, and, in the language of Dr. Wiseman, (Lectures on
Science and Revealed ReUgion, p. 408, London, 1842,) "he
pounced upon it, as a proof that the doctrines of Christianity
were borrowed from the heathens ; and pronounced it a work of

v.] APPENDIX. 357
immense antiquity." The use which the latter writer proceeds
to make of this fact is strange. After recounting the discovery
of the real authorship by Mr. ElUs, he adduces the circumstance
as one among many instances of the way in which the advance
of modern science has tended to remove the objections against
Christianity. This is, indeed, profiting by one's own wrong: — it
required considerable hardihood, in a Roman Catholic Apologist,
even to refer to the detection of this reUgious imposition, but
still more to convert it into an evidence for the truth of
Christianity.

No. XXVI.
Lecture V. — Page 163.
The Conduct of the General of the Order qf Jesuits in re
ference to the Chinese Rites.
It appears that a piece of duplicity parallel to that of Lainez
in India was exhibited by Tamburini, the General of the Jesuits
in reference to the Bull of Clement XL, which condemned the
Chinese rites recognised by the Jesuit missionaries. The fol
lowing circumstance is related in the Histoire gen^rale de la
Naissance et des Progres de la Compagnie de Jesus, vol. iii.
p. 45 :—
" Clement XI. ayant rendu, le premier Octobre, 1710, un
decret' confirmatif de la BuUe de 1704 sur les ceremonies de la
Chine, et du mandement que le Cardinal de Toumon avoit
donne pour I'execution de cette BuUe, I'assesseur intima ce
nouveau decret aux generaux d'ordres dont les sujets etoient
employes dans les missions. Tamburini, general des Jesuites, fit
reponse, qu'U alloit faire tout son possible pour que les ordres
du Pape fiissent executes avec ponctualite. L'annee suivante,
les procureurs des provinces de la societe etans assembles a
' On trouve ce decret, la lettre de I'assesseur aux generau.x d'ordres, et leur
reponse, par laquelle ils s'engagent 4 la faire examiner, a la fin des Memoires
de MM. des Missions ^trangeres.

358 APPENDIX. [Lect.
Rome, U fut arrete entre eux, que, pour fermer la bouche a
ceux qui noircissoient la societe, et la calomnioient, le general
presenteroit au Pape une declaration' des plus claires sur cet
objet. II la presenta, signee de lui, de ses quatres assistans, et
des vingt-trois procureurs ; et il faut convenir qu'on ne peut
concevoir de protestation plus formelle de se soumettre aux
decrets de Clement XI. sur les ceremonies Chinoises^ sans au-
cune contradiction, tergiversation, delai, &c. Et cependant
dans le meme tems le General Tamburini ecrivoit au P. Gri
maldi, visiteur des PP. Jesuites a la Chine, et un des plus
furieux persicuteurs du Cardinal de Toumon, de prendre un
nouveau courage et de se ranimer dans la vieillesse pour de-
fendre les rits Chinois ; que le nouveau decret du Pape les
favorise."

No. XXVII.
Lecture V. — Page 165.
On the haste, and absence of preparatory Fitness with which
Baptism was administered by Roman Catholic Missionaries.
The following passages, on this point, occur in Jos. Acosta,
De Promulgatione Evangelii apud Barbaros : —
" Quis vero non doleat baptismo plerosque adultos initio pas
sim, et nostro tempore non raro ante perfundi, quam Christia-
nam catechesin vel mediocriter teneant ; neque an vitae flagi-
tiosse et superstitiosse penitentia tangantur, neque vero id ipsum

' Cette declaration fut d'abord imprimee par ordre de la Society, ensuite
elle reparut en 1712, avec des observations qui sont aussi reimprim^es a la
tin du sixi^me volume des Anecdotes sur la Chine. On la trouve, mais sans
ces observations, dans les Reflexions d'un Portugais sur le memorial du general
qui ont paru en 1758, p. 291 et suiv.
2 On trouve a la tete du sixi^me volume des Anecdotes sur la Chine, une
aatre declaration, ou Memorial, que le meme general presenta a Innocent XIII.
en 1724, et les Reflexions sur ce Memorial faites par un missionaiie pour en
relever les fourberies.

v.] APPENDIX. 359
quod accipiunt an veUnt accipere, satis constet?" — Lib. vi.
cap. ii. p. 520.
Again, " Quam ecclesiae veterem discipUnam," (viz. candidates
coming to baptism duly prepared,) " ita in hoc novo orbe neg-
lectam intuemur, ut nusquam contra evangelii dignitatem magis
irreligiose et contra hominum salutem magis perniciose peccatum
esse intelligamus. Dum enim quoquo modo, per fas et nefas,
per dolum et vim, gentes barbaras Christianas efficere properant
homines imperiti aut improbi, nihil aliud agunt, quam ut evan-
geUum ludibrio exponant, et fidei temere susceptae desertores
certissimo exitio afficiant  Quam quaestionem" (viz. as to
the vaUdity of baptism thus administered) " ne quis otiosam
putet, sciat apud nos esse frequentem in iis, prEesertim ^thio-
pibus servis, qui ex Cabonerbe asportantur. Hos enim si con-
venias an Christiani jam sint, audies non raro, sese, cum essent
impuberes, simul ciim aUis pluribus in navi aut littore depre-
hensos baptizatos esse, ciim certe, quid secum ageretur, ignora-
rent, nisi quod multi simiil a clerico aut milite quopiam, aqua
aspergebantur, et exinde Christianos se fieri audiebant." — ^Lib. vi.
cap. iii. pp. 522-3.

No. XXVIIL
Lecture V. — Page 175.
Method of conducting Religious Service with his Neophytes
adopted by Fr. Xavier.
It may be interesting to see how this surprising missionary
adapted himself to those with whom he had to do ; and, there
fore, the following passage, describing his proceedings on a
Sunday, is translated from one of his letters (xiv.), to indicate
the method which he pursued : —
" On Sunday I collected in the church the men and women,
with the boys and girls : aU cheerfuUy came, aU animated equaUy
with a desire of receiving instruction. I then commenced, in

360 APPENDIX. [^^•=^-
the name of the blessed Trinity, by reciting, in a clear and
audible voice, and in the Malay tongue, the Lord's Prayer, the
Salutation of the Angel, and the Apostles' Creed. AU repeated
these after me, and found great pleasure in it. I repeated once
again the Creed by myself, and dwelt upon each article se
parately ; I then demanded of aU the people individually whether
they unhesitatingly beUeved aU that their lips had just pro
nounced, when each crossing his hands on his breast replied in
the affirmative.
" After the explanation of the Creed, I turn to the Decalogue,
in order to show them that the whole Christian law is contained
in these ten commandments, which all are bound punctuaUy to
obey  The astonishment, both of the neophytes and the
pagans, is great when they perceive the sanctity of the Christian
law, and its perfect conformity with reason. I next repeat with
them the Pater and the Ave, and after each article of the
Creed, set in verse, we begin again the Pater and Ave. After
having sung the first article of faith, I give out in the language
of the country this canticle : ' Jesus, Son of the Uving God,
cause that we may believe perfectly this first article of our faith ;
to obtain which grace we offer to thee this prayer, which thou
thyself hast taught us.'
" After the second article we sing another canticle : ' Holy
Mary, mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, obtain for us from thy
dear Son the grace to believe this article of faith without doubt
ing.' In this manner we pass in review aU the articles of the
Creed. " To inculcate the Decalogue, this is my method : We sing,
as before, the first commandment, ' Thou shalt love one God
alone,' &c., and then make this prayer, ' Jesus Christ, Son of
the living God, grant that we may love thee above all things ! '
We immediately add the Lord's Prayer ; then sing altogether a
couplet out of a canticle, thus arranged : ' Holy Mary, mother of
Jesus Christ, obtain for us of thy Son that we may carefully
observe this first commandment.' This couplet, sung thus, is
followed by the angelic salutation. This is the order we pur
sue with each of the commandments, intercalating them with
various canticles. This is what I accustom them to ask of God,
and then I make them under,stand that when they shall have

v.] APPENDIX. 361
obtained all these graces from heaven, they will obtain, also, all
other things more freely than they can ask them.
" I require all the catechumens preparing for baptism to repeat
the form of general confession, both together and singly. It is
of these that I most particularly demand after each article of the
Creed whether they believe it firmly. On their reply in the
affirmative, it is my custom to address to them a discourse in
the Malay tongue, in which I set before them briefly the chief
points of Christian doctrine necessary for salvation. It is after
having thus prepared them, that I confer on them the sacrament
of baptism. I conclude my instructions by the Salve Regina,
to obtain the aid and protection of the Holy Virgin."
This course of instruction and devotional exercise was pro
bably in addition to a more solemn and fixed office to be used
with the baptized ; but it would seem that such a method of
religious service, based upon a purer faith than is here exhibited,
might be calculated to arrest the attention of heathen converts,
and by the intermixture of instruction and devotion, might
lead them to " pray with the spirit " and " with the under
standing" also.

No. XXIX.
Lecture V. — Page 179.
Japanese Children trained to suff'eringfor the Faith.
" Now the Japanners harden their children against a cruel
death, not with instructing them in the Gospel, but by terrifying
them with unusual cruelties ; which Hazart witnesseth, relating,
that Johannes Catonneme, a nobleman in the kingdom of Deva,
had a son aged seven years, whom he daily instructed to be
constant. I wiU set down Hazart's own words concerning it.
A little before Catonneme was taken prisoner, he said to his son,
' If it were so that you saw the executioners coming, would you
suffer yourself to be burnt aUve, or deny your Faith ?' Where
upon the child asked, ' Father, what would you do ? ' To

363 APPENDIX. [Lect.
which he replied, 'I would suffer myself to be burned.'
Whereon the youth again made answer, ' So will I too.' Then
said his father, ' Come hither, I am resolved to try if you wiU
be as constant as you say : take and hold this coal in your hand,
till I command you to throw it away.' The child immediately
opening his hand, the father laid a glowing coal in the same.
The youth held it fast, without showing any concern thereat,
notwithstanding his hand was burnt to the bone, yet he threw it
not away tiU his father gave order. When they asked him, if
the fire had not hurt him, he made answer, ' Any one that is
ready to burn alive as I am, must not make any scruple to hold
a burning coal in their hand, for so short a time as I have done.'
And who can find more of the aged Japanners, in any observa
tion kept by the Jesuits themselves, that they either said or did
more, whilst they were under the executioner's hands, than to
hold a crucifix, and the picture of the Virgin Mary, repeating
the usual prayer, — 'Jesus Maria?'" Atlas Japannensis, by
Arnoldus Montanus, p. 263.

No. XXX.
Lecture VI. — Page 187.
Missionary Scheme projected by Cromwell.
" Stoupe told me of a great design Cromwell had intended to
begin his kingship with, if he had assumed it ; he resolved to
set up a council for the Protestant reUgion, in opposition to the
congregation De propaganda Fide at Rome. He intended it
should consist of seven counsellors, and four secretaries for
different provinces. These were, the first, France, Switzerland,
and the Valleys ; the Palatinate and the other Calvinists were the
second ; Germany, the north, and Turkey were the third ; and
the East and West Indies were the fourth. The secretaries
were to have 6001. salary apiece, and to keep a correspondence
everywhere, to know the state of religion aU over the world, that
so all good designs might be by their means protected and

VL] APPENDIX. 363
assisted. Stoupe was to have the first province. They were to
have a fund of 10,OOOZ. a year, at their disposal for ordinary
emergencies, but to be farther supplied as occasions should
require it. Chelsea coUege was to be made up for them, which
was then an old decayed building, that had been at first raised to
be a coUege, for writers of controversy. I thought it was not fit
to let such a project as this be quite lost ; it was certainly a noble
one: but how far he would have pursued it, must be left to
conjecture." Burnet's Hist, of His own Times, vol. i. p. 132.

No. XXXI.
Lecture VI. — Page 195.
The Statement of Bishop Heber respecting the Protestant
Missions in Southern India, in 1826.
The words which Bishop Heber used in 1826, and which are
quoted by Dr. Wiseman, are these: — " The number is graduaUy
increasing, and there are now, in the South of India, about two
hundred protestant congregations, the number of which has been
sometimes vaguely stated at 40,000. I doubt whether they reach
15,000; but even this, all things considered, is certainly a great
number." (Journal, vol. iii. p. 460.) Dr. Wiseman's comment
upon the passage is, " And certainly it is a great number, and,
I have no hesitation in saying, very much too great ; as I shall at
once proceed to show you." (Lect. vi. p. 175.) To fulfil this
announcement, he refers to the missions founded by Schwartz, as
if the Bishop were speaking of these alone, whereas he did speak
of " the South of India." Within this sphere of operation, he
then selects three facts: viz. that the Bishop confirmed fifty
natives at Tanjore, and eleven at Trichinopoly; and that, in a set
of vUlages which formed but " one circle" in the Tanjore mission,
the number of Christians returned in 1823, was 1388. " So
that," adds Dr. Wiseman, "the number first stated at forty
thousand, then at fifteen thousand, is, by tbe report of the

364 APPENDIX. [Lect.
missionaries themselves, reduced to thirteen hundred and
twenty-eight!" Thus, then, though Bishop Heber spoke of
the Protestant Christians in the whole of Southern India, Dr.
Wiseman attempts to refute his calculation by computing the
number of Christians in two missions only, — and then limits his
computation to one circle only in one of these missions. And so,
by this process, and by adducing three insulated facts, he has
" no hesitation in saying," that Bishop Heber's computation was
" very much too great."
This is an instance of the fairness with which the missions of
the Church of England and other Protestants are examined. —
Now what is the state of the case?
It may perhaps be urged that this able writer was unable to
discover any other traces of converts in connexion with these
Indian missions. And in reply, I observe, that in the very same
page of his Journal in which Bishop Heber mentions the fact of
his confirming the natives alluded to, at Tanjore, he adds, that
he " pronounced the benediction on above 1300 natives" ou the
evening of Easter-Day. " This however," he subjoins, "is only
in the city of Tanjore. There are scattered congregations, to
the number of many thousand Protestant Christians, in all the
neighbouring cities and villages ; and the wicker-bound graves,
each distinguished by a little cross of cane, of the poor people by
the road side, are enough to tell even the most careless traveller,
that the country is, in a great measure, Christian." It is hardly
possible to conceive that Dr. Wiseman had not read this.
So here there were several thousand Christians, besides the
1300 in the city of Tanjore, in this one mission. But besides,
I flnd that, in this same year, 1826, in one village congregation,
in the TinneveUy mission, ninety-nine natives were baptized by
a native priest, named Nanapragasam.' Further, in 1824,
official statements were sent in to Archdeacon Robinson, (an
account of which he has kindly furnished me with) of the several
missions of the S.P.G. which give the number of converts, in
charge of that Society alone, at about 8260. Even at an earlier
period than this, in 1820, a similar return was made of the
missions conducted by the C.M.S. ; and in one of these missions,
1 Madras Committee Report, p. 302, to the S.P.C.K.

VL] APPENDIX. 365
at TinneveUy, the converts were stated at 7500 ; and there were
other stations which might have been added.
Here then, again, without adducing more, returns, not em
bracing the whole even of the Church of England missions,
present a number above the calculation of Bishop Heber. And
it is to be observed that in the very same Report of the S.P.C.K.
(for 1825), from which Dr. Wiseman extracted the partial state
ment of Mr. Kohloff, it is said that " the congregations of native
Christians in the neighbourhood of Madras," (probably including
the whole Southern district,) were " estimated upon good authority
at 20,000 souls."' This surely might have led to at least a
more candid inquiry. — Lastly, however, in reference to this
point, Mr. Hough, in his Evidence before the House of Commons,
in 1832, stated that he had "had occasion about eight years
previous (1824), to calculate the number of converts made by the
different Protestant missionaries in India ; they then amounted,
as near as I can calculate the number, to 23,000."
I have only to observe, further, that Bishop Heber, in his
moderate computation of 15,000, included not only the whole
southern district of India, as I have stated, but also, probably,
the converts of all Protestant bodies ; so that, if these were
added to the numbers I have already given, his calculation
might have been put considerably higher.

No. xxxri.
Lect. VL— Page 202.
On tJie Declension of the early Anglo-American Missions.
Elliot commenced his mission to the Indians, in the neigh
bourhood of Boston, in 1646 ; in 1674, " the number of towns
inhabited by praying Indians, as they were called, had increased
to no fewer than fourteen, to all of which Mr. EUiot appears, in
' Report of S.P.C.K. 1825, pp. 46, 47.

366 APPENDIX. [Lect.
a greater or less degree, to have extended his labours." ' He
died in 1690, and thirty years after his death, in 1721, "the
Church formed by him was totaUy extinct." ^ David Brainerd
entered on his labours, as missionary to the Indians in New
Jersey, in 1743 ; he died in 1747, and was succeeded by his
brother, John Brainerd. Yet, notwithstanding this, in 1774
(twenty-seven years after his death), the latter complained to
Mr. Rankin, that the converts had sadly declined, " that some
were dead ; others had grown careless and lukewarm ; and many
had wandered back among their pagan countrymen, several of
whom had even returned to their idolatrous practices. Some
also had yielded to the love of spirituous liquors, from which
they seemed once completely weaned. Thus, ' the gold had
become dim, and the most fine gold was changed.' " ' It is
added, that, though this picture may be overcharged, yet " his
representation was by no means without foundation." In 1 766,
Mr. Kirkland proceeded as missionary to the Oneida Indians ;
and the account given of his mission in 1785 is very cheerful ;
a real seriousness in many, and a remarkable reformation of
manners is described.* " But this fair prospect," it is added,
" was afterwards overcast ; religion decUned among them, and
even sunk to a very low ebb." ^ In 1796, Dr. Morse and
Belknap were sent to inquire into the state of the mission, when
they reported that the race had been corrupted by intermarriage
with European settlers, and " that the greater part of them
appeared to have nothing of Christianity but the name." ^ The
case was the same with the missions tended by the Mayhews.'
In some of the cases mentioned, the declension of the missions is
to be attributed in part to the intermixture of the natives with
settlers ; yet it is equally clear that the relapse into their former
habits, on the removal of the zealous missionaries who first con
verted them to Christianity, proves the inadequacy of enterprises
conducted merely by individuals, apart from such a divinely-
ordered system as is provided in the Church, to transmit the
benefit they first impart, and secure perpetuity in the work of
converting the heathen.
' Brown's Missions, vol. i. p. 44. ' Ibid. p. 48. ' Ibid. p. 136.
*Ibid. p. 147. 5 Ibid. p. 148. « Ibid. ' Ibid. pp. 60, 61.

VI.] APPENDIX, 367
No. XXXIII.
Lecture VI. — Page 211.
The Church in New Zealand.
The interest felt in behalf of the rising Church in New
Zealand, and the prospects which are opening of its being esta
blished firmly under the auspices of the Bishop of that diocese,
make me very thankful to be able to state some of those wise
and comprehensive principles upon which the Bishop proposes
to lay the foundation of the Church system. They are extracted
partly from some of his private letters, which I have been
aUowed, by the kindness of one of his friends, to refer to, and
partly from the letters of others.
Hitherto, the several Clergy supported by the Church Mis
sionary Society have been located in different parts of the island
with Catechists, but under no general system or direction ; and
it appears that the executive, and frequently the legislative,
duties of the mission have been entrusted to four Committees,
in which Catechists had an equal vote with the Clergy, and
outnumbered them. The inconveniences which began to be felt
from such a system, in which nothing like the true constitution
of the Church was visible, made the more reflecting among the
missionaries hail with thankfulness the appointment of a lawful
head to the flock of Christ.
The foUowing are some of the plans which are laid down by
the prelate, to whose^ wise administration that portion of Christ's
Church has been committed : —
I. He purposes to keep himself free from any poUtical con
nexion with the state. His words are: "I have no political
connexion with the state. I am not, and never intend to be,
a member of the Council ; a post which I never desired, and
now see the strongest reasons for determining studiously to
avoid. The power of creating Archdeacons wiU enable me to
have a responsible adviser at each principal town, to whom
I shall be able to give such assistance as my periodical visits will
aUow. I have already begun upon the plan which I wish to

368 APPENDIX. [Lect.
pursue, by estabUshing the practice of coUecting at the offertory
from the whole congregation for Church purposes, to form a fund
for the extension of the Church, to be under the direction of
myself, the Archdeacon of the district, the Clergymen of the
parishes, and laymen associated with them on my appointment."
" This plan is the more necessary, because I have thought it
my duty to decline accepting assistance from the State here,
upon the terms of its Church Act, which is a copy of the New
South Wales Act, and professes only to give its assistance to the
Church as one of the many denominations of Christians : at the
same time hampering the churches so assisted with a Board of
Trustees, and other unecclesiastical machinery, which has
already been proved injurious to the Church in Sydney, by the
trusts devolving upon persons indifferent or hostile to its inte
rests. I have therefore felt obliged to assume a position of
entire independence, offering to buy whatever land might be
required for the Church, rather than submit to restrictions of
which I cannot approve : one good effect of which has already
appeared in the appropriation of burial-grounds. I have obtained
a conveyance of two grounds of eight acres each, to be conse
crated for the burial of the dead, according to the usage of the
Church of England, vested in myself as trustee, instead of being
mixed up with a general ' protestant ' cemetery for all denomi
nations. Other sects will now have their own grounds to pro
vide as they please."
II. Institutions for the protection and improvement of the
natives. The protection of the natives has been entrusted to trustees,
of which the Bishop is one ; and the plans proposed for the
benefit of the natives, either visiting or residing in the towns,
are as follows : —
1. To buUd in every town an hostelry for the natives who
come to trade, on a plan similar to an alms-house in England,
with a smaU chapel for their daily worship, and convenient
boxes and cupboards for their goods. In time, we may have
a Clergyman to live in the midst of them. At present the poor
creatures are encamped, with nothing but a bit of canvass to
shelter them from the rain and wind.
2. To found, at a convenient distance from the chief tribes,

VL] APPENDIX. 369
a boarding-school, upon the general plan of the Norwood Insti
tution, where religious instruction, and all good and useful arts
and habits, may be taught from the earliest age. The children
to be fed, taught, and clothed from the produce of the native
reserves, and afterwards put out into Ufe, according to their
abilities and bent of mind."
Again, the Bishop says in reference to this subject, "We
are on the point of forming native institutions, comprising all
the requisites for a large boarding school, for scholars of all
ages, infants' school, boys and girls' school, workshops, dormitories,
hall and chapel ; also a hospital for adult natives, a dwelling for
a clerical superintendent, and accommodation for assistants."
" We shaU be called upon immediately," he says in another
place, " to form institutions for the effectual training of the
native children from the earUest childhood : that they may
become habituated from the first to English customs, learn the
English language, and be instructed as well in the principles of
true religion, as in all the useful arts, which may fit them to
take their place among the English settlers, without distinction
of persons. It is such an opening as has never before been
granted to the leaders of any new colony.''
Such institutions as these seem exactly in accordance with
those which the Church always fostered for the Christianizing of
the pagan population, not merely in the more barbarous times
of the later empire, but in the earlier days of Christianity; and
have all the advantage of the Jesuit Reductions in Paraguay,
without the grievous ill which arose from the too exclusive and
almost scholastic control by which they were regulated, and
which left the natives in the end only as children.
III. A CoUegiate Institution, to comprise a seminary of a
higher order for the candidates for Holy Orders, and a school
for younger pupils. It is proposed to conduct it on a coenobitic
plan ; the whole community to dine together in one hall, with
the Bishop at their head ; which, among other advantages, will
enable him to entertain strangers, which could never be adequately
done in a private establishment.
IV. CoUegiate parsonages in various parts of the diocese, for
the residence of an Archdeacon, Priest, and Deacon, within the
same precincts. E s

370 APPENDIX. [Le<=t-
Since the above was written, the Bishop has carried several of
his plans into execution : the CoUege, and the Collegiate School,
have been opened ; and his unwearied apostoUc labours are pro
ducing a visible effect, as is witnessed in the foUowing sentence
from the letter of Mr. Spencer, an American, and a student for
Holy Orders at the Waimate College : — " The public confidence
which the Bishop enjoys is almost incredible. His sterling
principles bear down all other authority, and he is looked upon
as a man calculated to establish an order of things in these
islands, which wiU promote the greatest political and moral
good."

No. XXXIV.
Lecture VI. — Page 221.
Table of several Missionary Stations in India.
In reference to the subjoined Table, it is to be observed that it
is not given as representing the whole results of missionary
labours in India ; on the contrary, some stations are omitted, and
it is clear that, in several of those mentioned, the returns are
evidently defective. In some, e. g. a number of communicants
is set down, but no baptized. It may be weU to say, that, in
these cases, the number of communicants has been taken for
that of the baptized, in the result of the table given in the text.
The numbers set down under the head of " hearers" have not
been included, for it is clearly impossible to guess in what religious
state these may be supposed to be, and can afford no criterion of
conversion as thus stated. But though the table is by no means
understood as being complete, stUl the result presented by it, as
far as it goes, affords confirmation, of a striking character, to the
argument advanced in the text. It occurs at p. 237 of the Rev.
Baptist Noel's Essay.

VL]

APPENDIX.

371

NORTH INDIA.

Society.

Station.

Communi cants.

Baptized.

Hearers,

Baptist ....
Church Missionary
Soc. Prop. Gospel
Soc. Prop. Gospel
Soc. Prop. Gospel
Baptist ....
Baptist ....
Baptist ....
Church Missionary
Church Missionary
Church Missionary
London Missionary
Church Missionary
Soc, Prop. Gospel

Calcutta . .
Calcutta . .
Tallygunge .
Jangera . .
Barhipiir . .
Seebpore . .
Cutwa . . .
Monghyr . .
Burdwan . .
Buxar . . .
Benares . .
Benares . .
Goruckpore .
Cawnpore . .

2480 54
35 1218

476200 2920
110 10
36
150 11

700 25
200

SOUTH INDIA.

Baptist 
London Missionary .
London Missionary .
London Missionary .
London Missionary .
Soc. Prop. Gospel .
Soc. Prop. Gospel .
London Missionary .
London Missionary .
London Missionary .
London Missionary .
London Missionary .
London Missionary .
London Missionary .
Church Missionary .
Church Missionary .
London Missionary .
London Missionary .
Church Missionary .

Khari ." . .
Vizagapatam. Cuddapah . .
Vepery . .
Tripassore
Vepery . .
Tanjore . .
Chittoor . .
Belgaum . .
Bellary . .
Bangalore Salem . . .
Combaconnm
Coimbatore .
Allepie. . .
Cochin . . .
Neyoor . .
Nagercoil . .
TinneveUy .

403235 15
156 10
15
32
2032
25 9
150
127

98
3211
2029

450 50
132
200 20
100
100
150
200 80
6,0005,423
10,286

B B 2

372 APPENDIX. [Lect.
No. XXXV.
Lecture VIL— Page 233.
On the Practice and Principles of the Church Missionary
Society, as explained in Appendix II. to the Thirty-ninth
Report.
The operations of this Society hold so prominent a place in
the missionary transactions connected with the Church, and in
the interest of a vast body of her members, that it must neces
sarily attract to itself the careful attention of those who are
interested in missions. Hence a more particular notice than
would otherwise be desirable in a work designed to present a
general view of missions, has been given to it; and justice can
hardly be done to what is stated in the body of the Lecture, nor,
probably, to the Society, without explaining a little more fully
what appears to be anomalous in its constitution. This I would
do at once freely and dispassionately. It can hardly be esteemed
a reproach to a Society to find that, being originated within the
last fifty years, during which ecclesiastical principles were so
Uttle brought prominently forward, its transactions have not
been conducted in accordance with those principles, and that, in
the exertion of a zeal for the conversion of the heathen, for the
due performance of which no authoritative provision had been
made, it has " stretched" itself " beyond its measure." But now
that a more .systematic movement of the Church is so urgently
required, it cannot but be deemed a matter of the first importance
to see a Society, influential as this is, brought into entire unison
with the principles and polity of that Church with which it
identifies its operations.
The point on which I would remark, is that brought forward
in the following extract from the Appendix aUuded to, in which
the principles and practice of the Society are professedly set
forth in reference to one ecclesiastical function, that, namely,
of " Mission." " III. The Third general head of the Society's proceed
ings is. The sending forth, to particular Stations,

VIL] APPENDIX. 373
THE Missionaries thus ordained, or other Clergymen
WHO HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY ORDAINED.
" Now, here an objection against the Society has been
founded on the use of the term ' sending forth :' — it sounds
like an exercise of ecclesiastical power. But, ecclesiasti
cally speaking, the Bishop of London ' sends forth ' every
missionary ordained by him. The law of the land has
sanctioned the two Archbishops and the Bishop of London
in ordaining persons to ofiiciate abroad. The Secretary of
the Church Missionary Society requests, by letter, the
Bishop of London to ordain, in conformity with the pro
visions of the Act of Parliament, such and such persons,
whom the Society is willing to support in some foreign
station. The Bishop, by the imposition of hands, gives
them authority to preach the Gospel, with a view to their
foreign location. — In the case of persons already in Holy
Orders, who may join the Society, they may be said to go
forth by their own voluntary act ; but their Letters of
Orders, given by a Bishop of our Church, are their mission
and commission, ecclesiastically speaking.
" Hence, to caU the acts of the Church Missionary Society
— in selecting the station, paying the passage-money, and
agreeing to provide the missionary's salary — to call these
acts a SENDING FORTH of preachcrs, in an ecclesiastical
sense, is to confound names with things, and to lose sight of
all true Church principles."
The objection here aUuded to, does, indeed, at once present
itself in reflecting upon the proceedings of the Society; and
the reply which is put forward to it, in the passage quoted, is
drawn partly from the acts of the Society, and partly from the
nature of the ecclesiastical function of " mission" which it is
charged with assuming.
1. First, then, in reference to the acts of the Society. They
are stated to consist of applying to " the Bishop of London to
ordain such persons as the Society is wilUng to support abroad,"
— " selecting the station," — " paying the passage-money," — and
" agreeing to provide the missionary's salary." Now it is not
asserted that these acts, taken simply by themselves, constitute
any ecclesiastical function; but is this in reality a fair state-

374 APPENDIX. [Lect.
ment of the acts of the Society ? Is there not a studious omission
of those points which might be objected to ? For, in truth, what
has been, and what is the practice of the Society ? It determines
in what new field the Gospel shall be preached; it selects a
missionary; it apipoints him to his sphere of action ; it limits his
ministerial functions ; it superintends the proceedings of the
mission, or assigns the superintendence of them to a Committee;
it relinquishes a mission at wiU. — I am speaking chiefly of
missions in countries in which no Bishop resides ; and the
following extracts from the Society's Reports are adduced to
prove what is stated.
" You have been appointed as missionaries to the Island
of Ceylon. For many years the Society has had it in con
templation to send missionaries thither." Instructions to
the Rev. Brethren, Lambrick, Mayor, Ward and Knight.
Eighteenth Report, p. 178.
" The Committee are now commencing a mission in
South-Eastern Africa." Instructions to the Rev. Francis
Owen, &c. Thirty- seventh Report, p. 71.
" You, Mr. Dixon, and Mr. and Mrs. Farrar, have been
appointed by the Committee to strengthen the mission at
Bombay." Instructions to Rev. Messrs. Dixon and Farrar.
Twenty-ninth Report, p. 152.
" For Ceylon, the Committee are, at present, able to
appoint but one additional missionary." Instructions, &c.
Twentieth Report, pp. 231, 236.
" During your temporary stay at Port Natal, the Com
mittee will not disapprove of your ministering to the
English residing there ; but without undertaking a regular
pastoral charge, or forming a permanent engagement with
them." Instructions to the Rev. Fr. Owen. Thirty-
seventh Report, p. 73.
" In the three Presidencies in India, the Committee have
long had the advantage of corresponding Committees, to
superintend and conduct the general proceedings of the
Society's mission .... These local Committees represent
the Society, and act with its authority.'' Twenty-ninth
Report. Instructions to Missionaries, p, 152.

YIL] APPENDIX. 375
It is to be observed that these instructions were given in
reference to India, in 1829, when a Bishop presided over that
Diocese. " With respect to the location of each of you, upon your
arrival at Sierra Leone, the Committee would leave it to
the Local Committee to decide where your services. Brothers
Denton and Ehemann, may be most advantageously em
ployed." Instructions to West Africa Missionaries, 1843,
p. 23." In the last Report, it was anticipated that the Society
might be obliged, after all its efforts, to withdraw its mission
from Rio Pongus. The Committee grieve to state that the
fury of the slave-trade .... has rendered that measure
unavoidable.'' Report, Eighteenth year, p. 179. The same
was the case in regard to Zooloo, in Report for 1840; and
to Jamaica, in Report for 1842.
Lastly; " The Committee have the satisfaction of sending forth
another company of Christian labourers, to missions where
their labours are greatly needed." Instructions to Mission
aries, Twenty-ninth Report, p. 149.
" The Committee now send you forth to your labours, in
the name of our common Lord and Saviour." Instructions
to Missionaries. Twenty-fifth Report, p. 211.
Upon these extracts it occurs to ask. Are the acts of the
Society fairly represented by the statement that they consist
" in selecting the station, paying the passage-money, and
agreeing to provide the missionary's salary?" — What is the
meaning of language, if authority to " send " is not assumed in
what is quoted ? — Are not ecclesiastical acts comprised in the
authority here asserted ?
2. The reply made in the Appendix to these latter questions
is contained in the principle enunciated in regard to " mission,"
— viz. that, " ecclesiasticaUy speaking, the Bishop of London
' sends forth' every missionary ordained by him. The law of
the land has sanctioned the two Archbishops and the Bishop of
London ordaining persons to officiate abroad." Still, though the

376 APPENDIX. Lect.
Bishop of London does ordain, how does he give mission ? He
is not supposed to perform any other act than to ordain ; — does
he give mission simply in virtue of his ordination, or in virtue
of the Act of Parliament which sanctions his ordaining? It
cannot be the latter, for there are some missionaries employed
by the Society not ordained by the Bishop of London, — nay
there are some Lutheran ministers, — and in these cases the
Society professes that " their letters of orders are their mission
and commission." So that, I conclude, it is meant that, in all
cases, — since clearly the Act of Parliament is not necessary for
mission, — ordination confers mission and commission.
Now this principle is entirely untenable. Mission always
was, in earUer days, and is in our Church, a separate ecclesias
tical act, apart from, and subsequent to, ordination. Without
multiplying authorities, the distinction is made in Chrysostom's
words, in reference to Unilas, the missionary to the Goths,
'6v ExEipoTovriaa Kal 'EirEpxpa. It was expressly provided,
in early days, that no one should be ordained, diroXEXvpivws,
without appointment to a special charge, for which a license
was given. See Dodwell's Dissertat. Cyprian. De Presby
teris Doctoribus ; and Bingham's Antiq. book ii. ch. iii. sect. 2.
In our own Church too, before an ordained person can
officiate in a given charge, he needs license or institution
from the Bishop. This is set forth by Heylin : " When a
clerk is to be admitted into any benefice"  the Bishop
" doth institute him into the said benefice, according to the
laws and canons ; committing to him the care and government
of the souls of aU the parishioners therein  For though
the priest or presbyter by his ordination hath authority to preach
the word of God in the congregation, yet it is with this limita-
tation, ' If he shall be so aj)j)ointed,' (see the form of Ordering
of Priests,) that is to say, is sufficiently licensed thereunto, and
not otherwise.'' Heylin's Cyprianus Anglicanus, Introd. § x.
p. 8. London, 1668.
In canonical language, as ordination confers authority to
minister generally, so mission " jurisdictionem tribuit," and
corresponds with our license or institution, the appointment to
a particular sphere of ministerial labour.
Perhaps it may be here repUed, that this is recognised by the

vn.] APPENDIX. 377
Society, which requires its missionaries to receive a license
from the Bishop in whose diocese he officiates, as in India. So
far is weU. Let it be observed however, that (allowing in these
cases the license to confer mission) mission is distinct from
ordination, — and that therefore the principle set up in the
Appendix of the Society is not in accordance with ecclesiastical
principle. Allow, then, that license confers mission, and that in
foreign dioceses the Society's missionaries receive license and
mission ; —then the question recurs, who has given or does give
mission to its missionaries in countries where no EngUsh Bishop
is appointed ? Not the Bishop of London, for he only ordains
them, if he happen to do so ; he certainly gives no license, does
not " appoint," does not superintend, cannot recall. Either they
are without mission, or the Society assumes it. And certainly,
in the plain language which it uses, and in the authority which
(if words have a meaning) it asserts thereby, it does assume it.
I am not inquiring here in whom the authority to " send," in
lands not included in a diocese, should be vested; — this only is
clear, it cannot be in a lay voluntary association. I am aware,
too, that there may be some obscurity on this point, in our present
ecclesiastical arrangements ; but as dispassionate a judgment as
I can give to the question convinces me that the Society does
assume an ecclesiastical function which cannot belong to it;
and that it must, in the end, entail confusion on itself. And
certainly it cannot be thought satisfactory that a question like
this should be dismissed merely with the remark with which the
portion of the Appendix, above quoted, ends, viz. that " to call
these acts a sending forth of preachers, in an ecclesiastical sense,
is to confound names with things, and to lose sight of all true
Church principles."

That the point I have here pressed is not a mere theory, but
one which is felt in its practical bearings by those engaged in
the work of propagating the Gospel, is evidenced by the foUow
ing extract from a private letter of one whose high position, as
well as strong practical sense and experience, give a weight to
his opinion, which I trust will excuse the liberty I take in
publishing it without his express sanction.

378 APPENDIX. [Lect,
" My distinct persuasion is, that it behoves the Church to be
per se, or acting by means of actual ecclesiastics specially com
missioned by her to that object, the channel by which aspirants
to the Colonial ministry are introduced and sent forth upon their
mission. I would have aU Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, of all
Colonial Churches, attracted towards some such common centre
within the Church itself; because our Societies, however noble,
munificent, and serviceable, in their operations, yet in their
constitution (being voluntary associations, and composed in a
great proportion of lay-men and roomen) are not, and cannot be,
equaUy satisfactory, so as to give the full ecclesiastical character
to the ordained missionaries whom they send forth. Leaving
the collection of pecuniary means to them, and rendering them
all thanks, and all gratitude, and honour, for the abundant
liberality with which they have ministered, and yet do minister,
to the necessities of these distant branches of the Church, I
should yet rejoice to see them placed in communication with an
institution purely ecclesiastical, under the direction of which it
should be understood that every thing pertaining to clerical
preparation is to be conducted. I see, and have reason to know,
that the establishment of such an order in the case of the Roman
Church, and the want of it in ours, does contribute, among other
causes, to give their priesthood a notion of their being more
truly commissioned by the Church; and to employ that notion
as an engine for confirming their own estimation, and for depre
ciating ours."

No. XXXVI.
Lecture VIL— Page 236.
The Bishop of Madras and the Church Missionary Society
in reference to the Case of the Rev. W. T. Humphrey.
A statement of this transaction is pubUshed in the Society's
Report, for 1842 — 1843, Appendix. Without entering into the
special merits of the case, the leading facts, and the general ques
tions which arose out of them, are as foUows : —

VIL] APPENDIX. 379
In consequence of a letter expressing certain opinions, and
addressed by Mr. Humphrey to the Secretary of the Madras Cor
responding Committee, that body resolved, as " their deUberate
judgment, that the maintenance of such principles as the Rev.
Mr. Humphrey has now distinctly avowed, necessarily disqualifies
any person from labouring in connexion with a Missionary Society
of the Church of England." This resolution was passed without
any previous consultation with the Bishop of Madras, in whose
diocese, and under whose license, Mr. Humphrey was officiating.
This censure was so far confirmed at home, as for the Parent
Committee to resolve, " That the Committee fully concur in
opinion with the corresponding Committee, that the maintenance
of such principles as Mr. Humphrey has distinctly avowed,
necessarily disqualifies him from labouring in connexion with
this Society." And the Committee proposed to supply another
missionary in the room of Mr. Humphrey at Mayaveram.
The general question which arose out of this proceeding was,
(as stated by the Bishop of Madras), " Has any Committee of a
Society which claims to be considered as a Society of the
members of the Church of England, any power to pass a sentence,
which virtually amounts to a deprivation from his cure, on any
Clergyman, without reference to his Diocesan?" " The sentence
(he adds) is a virtual deprivation."
Without any specific reply to the question, the Committee of
the Church Missionary Society advanced and maintained the
following principle : that the right of " the Committee to with
draw the salary of a licensed missionary, without the Bishop's
concurrence," " has ever been regarded as one of the established
principles of the Society." '
In consequence of these proceedings, the Bishop of Madras
refused to grant any fresh licenses to missionaries nominated by
the Society. It is understood, however, that since the Lecture
' It seems, however, from Appendix IL to Report 1839, that the Committee
claim to themselves confidence that they will not exercise this right of with
drawing the salary from a licensed missionary, " without reason sufficient to
prove to the licensing Bishop the necessity of the proceeding." The question
upon this arises, who is to judge of the sufficiency of the reason, which the
Committee, perhaps, thinks ought to prove the necessity of the proceeding to
the Bishop, but which may not ? This point is undetermined.

380 APPENDIX. [Lect.
to which this is appended was written, a communication has been
made to the Bishop of Madras by the Committee, of such a
nature as to induce his Lordship to consent to grant fresh
licenses to the Society's missionaries. But it appears that the
points above mentioned remain yet unsettled.
Here, then, is one of those cases which must occur from the
very nature of such voluntary associations ; one of those " mis
understandings " which " have sometimes arisen between the
representatives of the Society abroad, and ecclesiastical autho
rities."' The Society seems, indeed, to reconcile itself to such
difficulties and conflicts with authority, by the statement " that
missionary operations are new and anomalous in the system of
the Church of England ; and that it is not always easy to draw
a definite line between the two provinces which belong respec
tively to the Bishop and the Committee." Hence has arisen a
plea for mutual confidence, the Committee placing confidence in
the Bishops, the Bishops placing confidence in the Committee !
Who has assigned, it may be asked, any province, such as is
claimed, to the Committee ? And are missionary proceedings
indeed so wholly new and anomalous an operation in the Church
of Christ, that the very first principles respecting them need to
be settled, even the extent of a Bishop's authority in his own
diocese ? Is it not rather that this new assumption of power
has arisen, within fifty years, in voluntary associations, which
comes into coUision with the ecclesiastical rule of the Church,
and causes "perplexities" and "misunderstandings?"
Other "misunderstandings," it seems, have arisen, and undoubt
edly will arise, while jealousy of episcopal authority is entertained
by any association of members of the Church of England. The
Bishop of Calcutta, who appears to have been met with difficul
ties of this nature in his diocese, from lay committees, has ex
pressed this feeling so forcibly, in his Charge of 1838, that
I transcribe passages from it, as well as from the pages of a
writer of a previous date, and whose discernment upon this
subject is only the more striking.
" And here I am led to advert," observes the Bishop of Cal
cutta, " to a question of detail respecting the machinery of our
1 Appendix IL Report for 1839.

VIL] APPENDIX. 381
missions, which will require much consideration : I allude to the
relations of the ordained and licensed missionary with his diocesan,
and with the lay committees, who dispense the mission funtis of
the Societies at home. It is to be expected that many questions
should arise in so anomalous a case, the chief danger of which is,
that, simple as they are at first, they may tend, if not amicably
arranged, to generate divisions amongst ourselves, and in our
own Church, and lead ultimately to the most serious obstruction
of spiritual good."
" I informed the reverend missionaries that they were as much
entitled to my tenderest care and protection, and acted as much
under my license, as any other of the Clergy ; and that such
licence implied at the least two things — an approbation of the
sphere in which they were to labour, and a cognizance of their pro
ceedings subsequently in the discharge of their spiritual functions.
The principle thus laid down has been since, after much discus
sion, fully admitted and recognised by the Church Missionary
Committee here and at home, and the question has thus been
narrowed to such cases, in the apphcation of the rule, as become
the occasion of doubt and uneasiness. These, however embar
rassing for a time, will, I trust, ultimately be adjusted.
" As to my own impression of the case, I can only say, that
I stand now precisely where I did four years back. The mere
recognition of a principle will be of course of little benefit, if
the practical use of it is declined. I know the price at which
I make this avowal in these evil days of our Church's rebuke —
and friend as I am, and have been, of this exceUent Society from
its formation. But I hope to be enabled cheerfuUy to go
' through evil report and through good report,' after the
example of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, on this and on aU
occasions of duty ; and most especially when the interests of my
reverend brethren are concerned. For I consider the dignity,
peace of mind, and usefulness of the Clergy in our missions, to
be involved in their being preserved as much as possible inde
pendent of all control in their spiritual functions, except that
which springs from their own ordination vows, the order of the
Church, and the paternal superintendence of the Bishop. I speak
of spiritual regimen only. With temporal matters, and what
ever may come under the head of lay patronage, — I repeat what
I stated in my primary Charge — I never, in any way, interfere.

382 APPENDIX. [Lect.
" I may be wrong ; but I consider some of the best interests
of my reverend brethren as especially dependent on my fidelity
in tHis question. I regard the topic as one of the grand
principles which constitute the distinction between an episcopal
and a non-episcopal polity. That I should lay so much weight
upon it, may perhaps seem strange to those who are unversed in
ecclesiastical proceedings ; but to those who are in the least
acquainted with them, it will appear at once in its true magni
tude — every thing, in fact, turns upon it, as I think. I have
always understood, and long observation confirms me in the
opinion, that lay government in spiritual matters tends ulti
mately to hamper ministers in the discharge of their duties, to
lower their doctrine and spirit, and insensibly to make them the
creatures of the people. I have no fears on these subjects at
present. But I look forward ; and I confess I can scarcely
conceive of a greater evil, in the long lapse of time, than for
ordained Presbyters in our Church to be placed in circumstances
to lead them to court the changing pleasure, prejudices, and
cast of religious sentiment of a number of lay gentlemen who
happen to have obtained a majority of voices in the committee
which hold the funds of their sacred cause.
" Such a state of things has hitherto been unknown in the
Church of England ; nor can I be a party for recognising it,
until I am better advised." ' Charge to the Clergy of Calcutta,
July 6, 1838, pp. 43—47.
Mr. A. Knox, in writing to Mr. Jebb, July, 1814, reports
the following as part of a conversation held with Dean Graves
on the subject of the missionary movement at that time going
on in Ireland.
" My answer was, ' that the Church of England would not be
served by a dereliction, from whatever plausible motives, of its
essential principle : that it was an essential of the Church of
England, that, whatever was done in its name, should be done
regularly and responsibly, under the authority of its chiefs, and
harmonically with its organization. But this I observed could
not be the case with missions voluntarily undertaken, by un-
' " It would be most ungrateful in me not to state here, that in the Committee
of the Calcutta Diocesan Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign
Parts, I have met with nothing, since I have been in India, but cordial and
zealous cooperation.''

vn.] APPENDIX. 383
accredited individuals. This would be the work not of the
Church, but of self-directed, irresponsible agents : if indivi
duals,' I added, ' would act in this way, let them do it, and let
those whose conscience impels them, unite in the undertaking if
they will. But let no one talk of serving the Establishment by
exertions irreconcilable with its essential principles, nor call
that a Church mission, which the Church could not recognise
without self-contradiction. In a word, a Bishop of the Anglican
Church is now to be established in the East; he will of course be
the regular superintendent of all ecclesiastical movements in
that quarter ; through him therefore alone would it seem that
a Church of England mission could now be set on foot, or, if
set on foot, could be conducted with consistency or safety.'"
Thirty Years' Correspondence between Mr. A. Knox and Bishop
Jebb, vol. ii. p. 187.

No. XXXVII.
Lecture VII.— Page 239.
The purchase of Lands by Missionaries in New Zealand.
The following statements and list, on this subject, are taken
from Dieffenbach's New Zealand. London: Murray. 1843.
The author went out as naturalist to the New Zealand Company.
" Many of the older missionaries,'' he says, " have become
landed proprietors ; and many, by other pursuits, such as trading
with the produce of their garden or stock, have become wealthy
men." " The acquisition of land by these individuals is the reason
why the whole body has been so much abused, although the
fault lay only with a few." Vol. ii. p. 165.
" Eleven missionaries, the only ones who had given in their
claims to the land-commissioners when I left New Zealand,
claimed 96,219 acres ! and four others had not yet submitted
their claims, which I doubt not will be equally large. Some of
these persons are now retiring on their property, and their sons

384

APPENDIX.

[Lect.

have become so independent as to refuse lucrative situations
under government." P. 166.
He then gives a table of the purchases made by the mission
aries, with the prices given for the land, from which the foUowing
is extracted. I observe that nine of the names are still on the
list of the Church Missionary Society ; but it is not quite
correct to speak of the individuals as missionaries, since but
three of them seem to be in orders ; the remainder labour as
catechists or assistants.

ACRES.

J, Davis 

5,000

Joseph Matthews . .

2,500

Catechist.

Richard Matthews . .

3,000

Catechist.

Richard Taylor . . .

unknown

Missionary

William White . . .

12,403

Henry Williams . . .
11,000
Missionary.
WiUiam Williams . .
890
Missionary.
Charles Baker . . .
6,230
Catechist.
William Fairburn . .
40,400
Catechist.
James Kemp . . .
9,976
Catechist.
John King ....
5,000
Catechist.
96,399
The price which is stated to have been given by these pur
chasers for the above tracts of land, is 3102Z. 9s. 8d.
There is reason to fear that the above statement is not exag
gerated; and it bears out the evidence given before the House of
Commons by Mr. Flatt, and which is quoted by the Rev. S.
Robins, in his first pamphlet on the subject.
The Society has been exposed to much remark, in consequence
of its conduct in reference to these transactions. But with
this point I am not immediately concerned, the facts being all
that is needed for my argument.' I would observe, however,
that the Society does not seem to have examined, censured, and
checked the evil as it should have done. Since the two state
ments, which appeared in the Appendix to the Report for 1840,
no notice has been pubUcly taken of it : nor does it appear
whether the missionaries do not still retain the lands thus
acquired. This must cause grief to any friend of missions,
since a handle is thus given to the enemies of the Church, of
VIL] APPENDIX. 38,5
which they are not slow to avail themselves. The use which
the Roman Catholics, even now, make of these circumstances
may be learnt from the following passage in a recent letter from
a gentleman in New Zealand, who writes thus : — " The natives
are very apprehensive about the alienation of their land. One
of the chiefs, incUned to popery — or, rather, who had given ear
to the popish priests — had a conference with the Bishop the
other day, and in a striking way spoke of their feeUngs, and of
the advantage which the papists took of it. They saw large
tracts of land bought ; with their free-will indeed, but when the
immediate temptation was over, they thought what was to
become of their children. ' We felt ourselves,' said they, ' on
a fish's back,' i. e. ousted from the land. ' We saw the mis
sionaries buying large tracts for their families, and then the
Picopos came in, aggravating the evil, and contrasting with it the
fact that they had no families to provide for, and neither owned
nor wished to acquire a foot of land. Fortunately the Bishop
is in the same position."

No. XXXVIII.
Lecture VII. — Page 254.
A Missionary Seminary the Nursery of Evangelists to the
Heathen.
The immense extent of the colonial possessions and depen
dencies of Great Britain, the rapidly increasing population
within them, and the contact into which, through them, we are
brought with almost the entire heathen world, open before the
Church a field of labour, and create a demand upon her energies
altogether unexampled, and one which must be met. Throughout
the wide extent of India, and especially from the continent and
islands of the South Seas, a demand is made for more labourers.
The following is an extract from a letter of the Bishop of
c c

386 APPENDIX. [Lect.
Australia, in which he states the pressing need, and a proposal
for meeting it : —
" I will now turn," he says, "to a subject, which formed the
occupation of many of the hours which we (himself and the
Bishop of New Zealand) passed in converse together ... I mean
the human resources, upon which we can rely, for sending
labourers (competent both in numbers and ability) into those
vast, and as yet uncultured portions of the vineyard, over which
we are respectively set in charge. It is this question which,
above all others, has come home to the hearts of both ; because
we cannot but be sensible, that, whatever our humble personal
efforts may be, we cannot hope to work effectually the work of
Him who sent us, unless aided by a sufficient number of men
duly quaUfied to serve God in His Church. The Bishop of
New Zealand has with him three excellent and superior persons;
and he was surprised and delighted to meet with a number of
Clergymen here, who, in point of private worth, professional
ability, and correct principles (I say it with unfeigned thank
fulness), would maintain the credit of any church upon earth.
But the question which arises upon our thoughts, and which
formed, as I have said, the subject of many serious conversa
tions, is this, — '¦How is a .mpply of such men to be kept up?'
The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
has, through the special goodness of Providence, done wonders.
But there appears to be at this time considerable difficulty on
their part in maintaining the requisite supply ; and that diffi
culty, it is to be feared, is likely rather to increase ; especiaUy
as, in the contemplation of the Bishop of New Zealand, and of
myself, our establishment here (strengthened, we hope, ere long
by the foundation of the see of Tasmania) is but a preliminary
to a wide extension of the Church over the vast expanse of the
Pacific. The conclusion at which we arrived, was in favour of
erecting, under the immediate eye of each, a School of Divinity,
in which promising young men (from eighteen to twenty-three)
might be trained in the knowledge of the duties of their profes
sion, as well as initiated into the practical discharge of them.
By means of such institutions, in addition to what the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel may be able to accomplish for
us, we trust that the Church may be supplied with a due succes-

VIL] APPENDIX. 387
sion of men qualified rightly to divide the word of truth. The
Bishop of New Zealand has already certain funds and resources
applicable to that object, and will unquestionably proceed to make
the experiment now under consideration, with the few youths
who have accompanied him. In what manner I might hope to
lay a similar foundation here, shall be afterwards stated.
" Now I am anxious to direct your thoughts to the mode in
which duly qualified aspirants to the ministerial charge may be
found out, and forwarded hither, to be placed under our course
of instruction. It seems to me that the large public schools,
aided by occasional contributions from the smaUer foundations,
or from private establishments, are quite sufficient to supply the
needs of the several professions in England ; and I presume
that in those schools, if a boy shows a good disposition and
talents, either by exhibitions and scholarships, or in some other
way, the means are generally provided for maintaining him at
the University, so that his acquirements shall not be lost. But
in the smaller schools, I am no less persuaded, there are hundreds
every year doomed to inaction and obscurity, or to some
unworthy use of their abilities, who, if they were systematically
sought out and assisted very moderately, would supply exactly
the description of persons that we should rejoice to have sent
out to us to be trained as colonial clergymen ; such, I mean, as
at the age of seventeen or eighteen are reaUy ripe and good
scholars, whose hearts are full of pious veneration for those
seminaries of sound learning, parts of the Church itself, in which
their early proficiency has been acquired, and whose longing
desire it is, to devote themselves to the service of that Church,
under whose shade they have grown up. The ^dos among them
is exactly such as we should wish to have to work upon ; and
you will seldom, if ever, find it implanted, except in those who
have been brought up from early youth in association with the
institutions of the Church."
The Bishop here instances himself as one, who, but for an
unexpected legacy, just as he was leaving King's School, at
Canterbury, — would have been excluded from the ministry,
through inability to maintain himself at either of the universi
ties, and then goes on to say : —
" Assuming, then, that there are such persons, it would be a
C c 2

388 APPENDIX. [Lect.
matter for prudential consideration, whether the object proposed
could be best attained by assisting them through an English
university course, or by sending them to pass four or five years
in an establishment here, under the immediate superintendence,
inspection, and control of the Bishop of the colony. No special
recommendation of the former course (that of a home education)
occurs to my thoughts, excepting the superiority of advantage
in point of scholarship which it must confer : but this would
not appear to me deserving of so much consideration, as to be
set in opposition to numerous benefits attached to their being
trained in an episcopal seminary here (from eighteen to twenty-
three), and so being habituated to the duties of their future
station ; while their characters and capacities would be unfolding
themselves to the knowledge of him, who would afterwards have
to direct their services, and under whom they would be trained
and disciplined to act. It is my firm conviction that without
such an institution we cannot reasonably hope to make the im
pression required upon the mass of indifference, and even of
worse characteristics, which new colonies must necessarily,
I fear, present."
In consequence of this representation, the project has been
originated, and submitted to the private consideration of the
Bishops of the Church, for the establishment of a seminary
for educating and training young men as a missionary Clergy
in the colonies and among the heathen. In a matter of
such importance, it would be manifestly wrong to forestall the
decision of our Spiritual Rulers ; the following, however,
naturaUy present themselves as leading features in such an
institution: —
Instruction in theology, ecclesiastical history, and the clas
sics. — Languages. — Acquaintance with heathen, especially the
Eastern, superstitions. — A sound knowledge of medicine, and the
more ordinary operations of surgery. — For those destined for the
more uncivilized heathen, a knowledge of the mechanical arts. —
In preparation for their work, there would be manifestly needed
habits of constant devotion, a simple and frugal mode of life,
and a course of discipline which might inure these future
labourers to " endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ."
Should an opportunity ever occur of establishing a mission

VIL] APPENDIX. 389
in China, it would, no doubt, be borne in mind how great an
influence is acquired among that people by the possession of
superior attainments, especially the sciences, and higher branches
of art.
The very critical period which seems coming on in respect to
our Colonies, leaves scarcely a hope of the obligations which
press upon us being discharged without a timely supply of men
thus equipped for the contest; for all accounts represent the
operations of the Church in the Colonies as a contest with
Romanism, and those forms of irreligion which belong to an
unorganized state of society.
And further, besides the supply of men of our own country as
missionaries, it would be worth consideration whether the oppor
tunity might be offered, in such an institution, for the instruction
of natives who visit our shores from all lands, who frequently
come for instruction, who are commonly entrusted to chance
teachers, and are exposed to the influence of strange bodies, —
but who might be brought within the beneficial influence of the
Church, be educated, and perhaps return missionaries to their
own countrymen.
It can scarcely be needful to refer to the facts which prove
how such institutions have ever been the nurseries of evangelists,
and how the Christianity of Europe is indebted to them. It is
not improbable that our Capitular bodies were in their origin
established largely for the purpose of converting the neighbour
hood surrounding the cathedral. At any rate this is stated by
Stillingfleet on one of the uses of these bodies. Indeed this
learned writer treats largely of their institution and use, in a
passage which has been quoted so frequently as to preclude the
necessity of repetition.'
To come, however, to later times; at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, when the commercial intercourse of the
Dutch with the East Indies was so great, a missionary seminary
was formed at Leyden, in 1612, for the purpose of providing
missionaries for the East and the West. It was projected by
' Disc, of the true Antiq. of London. StiUingfleet's Eccl, Cases, vol, ii.
pp.549 — 559; quoted in the " Past and Prospective Benefits of Cathedral
Establishments," by Dr. Pusey, p. 133, ed. 2 ; and Appendix to " The Church
the Converter of the Heathen," p. 96,

390 APPENDIX. [Lect.
Anton. Walseus, Professor of Theology at Leyden, who was also
the first Principal of the Institution. An account of the necessity
and the form of this seminary is given in the works of this
author, vol. ii. p. 437, in a tract, headed, Necessitas ac forma
erigendi CoUegii seu Seminarii Indici.
Some of the rules are so worthy consideration, that I extract
the following passages. After detailing the character of those
to be elected, and the duties of the Regent or Principal, he
treats of the education and training of the scholars in these
words : —
" Exercitia quoque nonnuUa inter eos domi suse instituet, per
quas in iisdem studiis magis ac magis proficere possint ; qualia
sunt S. Scripturse lectiones atque explicationes, repetitiones
locorum Catecheticorum, disputationes, declamationes, ac propo-
sitiones, iis horis atque eo modo, quem ipse convenientissimum
pro numero atque profectu eorum judicabit.
" Singulariter etiam, quavis occasione data, zelus propagandoe
religionis Christianse in iis erit excitandus. Scripturae atque
Ecclesiasticse historise in eum finem nonnunquam producendas,
atque alias rationes a Dei singulari cura ac benedictione erga eos,
qui tanto operi fideliter se accingunt.
" Ad pietatis exercitia externa, abstinentiam, tolerantiam,
preces, jejunia, pauperum et afflictorum visitationes, Kgrotorum
consolationes, &c. peculiariter quoque erunt adhortandi, et qui
jam provectiores sunt in iis nonnunquam exercendi.
" Quemadmodum vero propter confluxum hominum diversi
generis et religionis inter nostrates, adversus libertines, papistas,
atque alias sectas diligenter muniri debent : ita et propter
infidelium diversa genera, quae in India reperiuntur, adversus
Judseos, Mahumetanos, et Gentiles specialiter quoque instruendi
sunt, ut argumenta firmissima quse falsitatem et superstitionem
eorum convincunt, iUis in promptu sint, et Veritas fidei nostras
adversus eos ab iisdem defendi possit. Ad quem finem iis pro-
ponenda erunt quse ab idoneis scriptoribus, Plessao, atque aliis,
de hac re sunt scriptis consignata.
" In eundem finem utile erit eis quoque ostendere, quae de
natura illarum regionum, et gentium ingenio, ac de modo cum iis
agendi ab aliis sunt observata.
" Prudentiffi item nonnuUa praecepta iis dari convenit, ante-

VIL] APPENDIX. 391
quam hinc discedant, tum quomodo inter nostros, tum quomodo
inter infideles se gerere debeant. Quomodo rudiores, quomodo
doctiores et argutiis nitentes aggredi. Et unde adversus hsec
diversa hominum genera iis exordiendum, ut disputationibus non
necessariis a rebus necessariis non absterreantur aut alienentur ;
quemadmodum illius methodi exempla in Scripturis frequenter
occurrunt. " Ubi vero Collegium hoc suam formam acceperit, consultum
insuper erit, ut uno aut altero ante discessum anno, in lingua
illis regionibus usitatissima nonnihil instruantur, &c."
Towards the close of the same century, it seems that the
minds of many distinguished members of the English Church
were turned to the same object. In Robert Boyle's Works,
(vol. V. p. 586,) there is contained a letter from Dr. Hyde, Canon
of Christ Church, dated 1677, in which he proposed that one of
the halls in Oxford should be set apart as a missionary college,
with the name of Collegium de Propaganda Fide. How far this
proposal was carried is not mentioned.
Some years later, a.d. 1695, Dean Prideaux made a similar
proposition to Archbishop Tenison ; and " accompanied his
proposal with lOOZ." Among his recommendations it was
suggested : —
" That a seminary be erected in England to breed up persons
to supply this mission (to India) for the future ; and that they
therein be instructed not only in all parts of good learning to
withstand the opposition of the popish priests, but also in the
Indian, Malabar, and Sanscrit languages.
" That the choice of those to be bred up in this seminary, be
made up of poor boys out of the hospitals in London or else
where, whose fortunes can give them no temptations, when
educated for this employment, to refuse to undertake it ; and that
care be taken to elect for this purpose such only whose temper,
parts, and inclination, may promise them to be most capable of
being fit for it ; or else I would propose much rather,
" That, after this matter hath received some settlements and
progress, the persons to be bred up here for this employment be
brought from India, which will have these two conveniences ;
first. That the languages of the country from whence they come
will not be to learn ; and secondly. That, when they are bred up.

392 APPENDIX. ' [Lect.
there wiU be no such danger of their miscarrying, when they
come thither again into their native country, as the EngUsh are
liable unto on their going hence to so hot a climate." Life,
pp. 162-3, quoted by Dr. Pusey, in Appendix to The Church
the Converter of the Heathen.
Lastly, in a letter from Rev. W. Stevenson, chaplain at Fort
St. George, to the Secretary of S.P.C.K. dated 1716, a simUar
proposal occurs.
" Besides this fund for expenses, it were to be wished that
there were colleges erected in Europe for training up mission
aries, and teaching the languages that are necessary for them,
namely, the Malabar, the Gentoo, Moorish, and Portuguese
tongues ; in each of which they might be somewhat instructed
before they come abroad ; but chiefly in the Malabarian and
Portuguese, which is the lingua franca used throughout the
coast of Coromandel.
" From such seminaries the mission must be supplied from
time to time with at least eight well qualified missionaries to
reside in India ; and if a greater number could be sent out, they
might be very usefuUy employed in so great a harvest as here
offers itself."
He urges the necessity of having some one empowered to
ordain gentile proselytes to the ministry, and adds the following
useful suggestion : —
" To prevent all disputes about religion, and further the pro
pagation of it among the natives, it wiU be necessary that not
only a short abstract of the Christian doctrine, but likewise a
larger Catechism, containing aU proper (especially practical)
instruction, be composed by some judicious members of the
Society in Europe, for the use of the mission." Abstract of
Reports of S.P.C.K. pp. 20, 21.

vin.] APPENDIX. 393
No. XXXIX.
Lecture VIIL— Page 268.
Notice qf a Divine Triad in the System of Lao-tsze.
The foUowing concise account of this remai'kable feature in
the system of Lao-tsze, a Chinese philosopher of the sixth century
before the Christian era, and a contemporary with Confucius,
is extracted from Dr. Wiseman's Lectures on Science and
Revealed Religion, Lect. XI. p. 402. His reference is also
added. The system of Lao-tsze presents many coincidences
with that of the Platonic school of the West : —
" The doctrine of a Trinity is too clearly expounded in his
(Lao-tsze) writings to be misunderstood ; but in one passage it
is expressed in terms of a most interesting character.
" ' That for which you look, and which you see not, is called
I ; that towards which you listen, yet hear not, is called Hi (the
letter H) ; what your hand seeks, and yet feels not, is called Wei
(the letter V). These three are inscrutable, and being united,
form only one. Of them the superior is not more bright, nor
the inferior more obscure .... This is what is called form with
out form, image without image, an indefinable Being! Precede
it, and ye find not its beginning; follow it, and ye discover not
its end."
" It is not necessary to comment at any length upon this
extraordinary passage, which obviously contains the same doc
trine which I have quoted from other works. I need only
remark, with Abel-Remusat, that the extraordinary name given
to this Triune essence is composed of the three letters I H V ;
for the syllables expressed in the Chinese have no meaning in
that language, and are, consequently, representative of the mere
letters. It is, therefore, a foreign name, and we shall seek for
it in vain anywhere except among the Jews. Their ineffable
name, as it was caUed, which we pronounce Jehovah, is to be
met, variously distorted, in the mysteries of many heathen
' Abel Remusat, Memoire sur la Vie et les Opinions de Lao-tseu,
Paris, p. 40.

94 APPENDIX. [Lect.
nations ; but in none less disfigured than in this passage of a
Chinese philosopher. Indeed, it could not have been possibly
expressed in his language in any manner more closely approach
ing to the original."

No. XL.
Lecture VIIL— Page 269.
Coincidences between some of the Hindu Writings and Portions
of Revealed Truth.
On this point I am happy to be able to cite the words of
A. P. Forbes, Esq., who, in a communication with which he
favoured me, speaking of the worshippers of Krishna called
" the Bluktahs," remarks, " Their system is to be found
in the celebrated Bhagavad Gita, a work of the tenth cen
tury, which has been translated into English by Wilkins, and
into Latin by Aug. V. Schlegel. The moral sentiments in
it are higher than in many of the other Indian systems ; the
religion is more spiritual, with less dependence on human ex
ertions, and less pride of human intellect ; while some of the
distinctive doctrines of Christianity are plainly alluded to.
Thus, remission of sin and the effects of faith seem to have
suggested what occurs in Canto IX. v. 30 : — ' Si vel admodum
facinorosus me colat cultu non aliorsiim distracto, is probus
asstimandus est, is utique recte compositus. Brevi evadit pius,
et ad perpetuam tranquillitatem pervenit. Confide, Kuntidis
nate, hand quisquam mei cultor pessum datur.' (Schlegel's
translation.) Again, what our Saviour says in the Gospel of
St. John of our unity in Him seems a coincidence too striking
to be accidental with what immediately precedes the last quota
tion. ' At qui me colunt religiose ii insunt mihi, et ego iis
insum,' (Schlegel,) a passage which in the original is even more

vin.] APPENDIX. 395
remarkable. I could show many other passages of a similar
nature, and think that the subject would bear an investigation
pushed further through some of the other modern Hindu
philosophies.''

No. XLI.
Lecture VIIL — Page 269.
The Resemblance of Lamaism to Forms of TForship in the
Church of Rome.
Bohlen, in his treatise (Das alte Indien) examines, with
some minuteness, the various points of resemblance between
the Buddhistic forms of religion and those prevalent in the
Church of Rome ; and concludes, from a variety of testimonies,
the greater antiquity of each of these among the Buddhists. As
the main features in which this resemblance exists have been
already enumerated, (in the note, Lect. V. p. 148,) as they are
practised in Japan, it may be sufficient here to remark, that the
same are found in all the countries where this religion prevails ;
that which peculiarly distinguishes the Lamaism of Thibet
being simply the fact, that when that system was first autho
ritatively established there, (after the invasion of Gengis-Khan,)
by the grandson of that conqueror, this prince annexed the
temporal government of the province to the spiritual, in the
person of Delai-Lama. This circumstance, which took place
in the thirteenth century, Dr. Wiseman makes use of to explain
the similarity which he freely acknowledges, and argues as if
the whole system had then first arisen. His sentiments are
expressed in the following extract : —
" Another instance of the advantage which the progress of
oriental historical research may bring to matters of religious in
terest, is afforded us by the light lately thrown upon the religious

396 APPENDIX. [Lect.
worship of Thibet. When Europe first became acquainted with
this worship, it was impossible not to be struck with the analo
gies it presented to the religious rites of Christians. The
hierarchy of the Lamas, their monastic institutes, their churches
and ceremonies, resembled ours with such minuteness that some
connexion between the two seemed necessarily to have existed.
The early missionaries were satisfied with considering Lamaism
as a sort of degenerate Christianity, and as a remnant of those
Syrian sects which once had penetrated into those remote parts
of Asia." '
Speaking of a Chinese work recently translated. Dr. Wiseman
adds, " From this document we learn that Gengis-Khan over
ran that country, and established a government which comprised
Thibet and its dependencies. The Emperor Khoubilai, seeing
the difficulty of governing this distant country, devised a method
for rendering it submissive which was conformable to the
usages of the people. He divided the country of the Thou-pho
into provinces and districts ; appointed officers of different de
grees, and subjected them to the authority of the Ti-szu (pre
ceptor of the emperor). At that time Bhachbah, or Pagba, a
native of Sarghia, in Thibet, held this office. At the age of
seven years he had read all the sacred books, and comprehended
their most sublime ideas, for which reason he was caUed the
Spiritual Child. In 1260 he received the title oi King of the
Great and Precious Law, and a seal of oriental jasper.
Besides these, he was invested with the dignity of Chief of the
Yellow Religion ! "
" At the time when the Buddhist patriarchs first established
themselves in Thibet, that country was in immediate contact
with Christianity. Not only had the Nestorians ecclesiastical
settlements in Tartary, but Italian and French religious men
visited the court of the Khans, charged with important missions
from the Pope and St. Lewis of Fran«e. They carried with
them church ornaments and altars, to make, if possible, a favour
able impression on the minds of the natives. For this end they
celebrated their worship in presence of the Tartar princes, by
1 Abel Remusat, AperQU d'un Memoire intitule Recherches Chronolo-
giques sur I'Origine de la Hierarchic Lamaique, reprinted in the Melanges
Asiatiques. Paris, 1825, vol. i. p. 129.

VIIL] APPENDIX. 397
whom they were permitted to erect chapels within the precincts
of the royal palaces. An Italian archbishop, sent by Clement V.,
established his see in the capital, and erected a church, to which
the faithful were summoned by the sound of three bells, and
where they beheld many sacred pictures, painted on the walls." '
" Surrounded by the celebration of such ceremonies, hearing
from the ambassadors and missionaries of the West accounts of
the worship and hierarchy of their countries, it is no wonder
that the religion of the Lamas, just beginning to assume splen
dour and pomp, should have adopted institutions and practices
already familiar to them, and already admired by those whom
they wished to gain. The coincidence of time and place, the
previous non-existence of that sacred monarchy, amply demon
strate that the religion of Thibet is but an attempted imitation
of ours." Lectures on Science and Revealed ReUgion, Lect.
XL pp. 412—415.
Were it in Thibet alone that this resemblance obtained, the
explanation here given might be admitted as satisfactory. Abel
Remusat, however, to whom Dr. Wiseman principally refers,
divides the historical existence of this system into three periods,
as follows : —
First Period. — Early Patriarchs in India, from Shakya-
Mouni^ till the translation of the seat of the religion to China'
in the fifth century of our era.
Second Period. — Masters of doctrine for eight centuries, a
period of confusion and darkness.
Third Period. — Grand Lamas from the thirteenth century
until now.''
The voyage of Fa-hi-an (which Abel Remusat has translated)
was undertaken in the fifth century, with the express view of
ascertaining the state of the Buddhist religion in the various
countries where it then prevailed, and especially in those parts
where it first arose. The account there given of this system
' AbelRemusat, p. 138.
' The date of this personage, the principal incarnation of Buddha, is very
variously given by different writers. .4bel Remusat places it at about 1000 B.C.
3 Buddhism was first carried into China about 217 B.C. by a Samaneen,
who was accompanied by eighteen monks.
* Voyages Bouddhiques. Introd. p. xi.

398 APPENDIX. [Lect.
corresponds very much with the late Lamaism, or " reformed
Buddhism," of Thibet. The following are among the practices
especially noticed as having then been long established.
Monasteries,' of which the numbers were immense, and in
which celibacy was practised ; the monks adopted reUgious
names f refectories were used for meals, which were commenced
at a given signal, and at which silence and great order were
prescribed ; processions of images were used, these figures being
highly adorned ;' relics of saints and gods were venerated ;* an
unknown dialect was employed in the sacred books, and as the
language of religion ;* and a belief was held of a purifying pro
cess, by bodily suffering after death. *
Bohlen likewise examines the antiquity of these and other
customs, which he traces to a period decidedly earlier than the
Christian era, particularly noticing the use of monasteries,' the
practice of the celibate,' the use of rosaries" for numbering
prayers, the tonsure,'" fasting," and the veneration of relics,'^
which he considers proved to have existed among the Buddhists
before they could have been communicated from the West.
The adoration of the goddess Maya, the virgin mother of
Buddha, appears to be of very great antiquity. The following
extract will show the conclusion at which Bohlen arrived after
careful examination of this system, and of the antiquity of its
origin. " The first missionaries, after some residence in Thibet, were
perfectly confounded by the exact counterfeit of their own cere
monies ; and the fathers Grecher and Maffei adopt the language
used by some old writers of the Church, when unable to deny
the priority of certain heathen customs, and say that ' in Thibet,
where no Christian had penetrated, the devU imitated the
Catholic Church.'
" Some, in the confidence that succeeding travellers would
mistake the followers of the Lama for Christians, were dishonest
enough to say they had converted thousands. The greater
1 The first erection of religious houses. is attributed to Wou-ya, 833 B.C.
Voyages Bouddhiques, p. 67.
2Ibid. p. 2. »Ibid. p. 16. * Ibid. p. 28. = Ibid, p, 15. » Ibid. p. 84.
^ Das alte Indien, pp. 334-5. « Ibid, p. 341. « Ibid. p. 339.
'» Ibid. p. 333. " Ibid. p. 342. " Ibid. p. 347.

VIIL] APPENDIX. 399
number of those who have written on the subject hold to the
belief that this system is a corrupted Christianity of the earliest
age. Staublin has made this the subject of a treatise, wherein
he concludes that although the resemblance both in doctrines
and customs is very strong, yet it does not appear historically
true that Lamaism has been derived from Christianity, though
probably the latter has exercised much influence over the pre
existing Lamaism. For myself, I belive the prior development
of the whole system to be historically proved ; and conclude with
Kleucher that there is an essential principle of hierarchy which
produces everywhere a similar development of external form,
as we may perceive by observing the strong resemblance between
modern Judaism, Lamaism, and Christianity, as also the
hierarchies of Mexico and Muscovy, which closely resemble that
of Thibet." '
At the same time it is right to add, that until further researches
have made us more fully acquainted with the history and the
reUgious systems of the East, it is not safe to pronounce any
decided opinion upon these coincidences, or those more important
ones relating to great doctrinal truths noticed in the two pre
ceding appendices. To whatever cause these latter may be trace
able, — whether to the influence of Christianity at some earlier
period, — to intercourse with the descendants of Abraham, — to
the remains of primseval tradition, — or to an innate beUef, and
divine idea, impressed on the heart of rnan, — they may surely,
and should be, used by the Christian missionary to draw the
followers of this system to the right knowledge of Him whom
now they ignorantly and superstitiously worship.
' Das alte Indien, pp. 349, 350.

400 APPENDIX. [Lect.

No. XLII.
Lecture VIIL— Page 270.
" Let us now suppose the Christian missionary, after the
example bequeathed by the Apostle of the Gentiles, who, in his
inspired teaching, everywhere availed himself of the pre-existing
lights ; who preached to the Greeks, from the imperfect notions
of some of their own poets, the true doctrine of the Godhead ; —
after this best example, let us suppose the Christian missionary
to inculcate and enforce, from the concessions made to his hand
by Mahometan philosophy, the Catholic mystery of the Trinity;
to take Mahometans on their own ground — and while, by a
skilful exposition of the Hayetian doctrine of Christ's non-
eternal deity, and created Godhead, he demonstrated the absurdity
of pausing here, — to prove, from the reachings forth of philoso
phy which had led them thus far, the reasonableness and the
necessity of going stiU further ; to show that the offices and
ittributes assigned by Mahomet himself to Jesus Christ, are
inconsistent and incompatible with any theory, save that of his
sr.preme and eternal Godhead ; that none other than the supreme
.nd eternal God can judge the world ; that He alone who made
ghe human heart, is competent to search into its secrets ; that a
created Creator is a contradiction in terms ; that a participation
in both natures, the human and the divine, is, to say the least,
credible of Him, who holds the acknowledged place and office of
Mediator and Intercessor between God and man ; — suppose
these, and similar positions, plainly deducible from the Koran
and its commentators, once brought clearly and conclusively to
elucidate the authoritative declarations of Scripture, by men
whose zeal shall shine forth on the benighted East, sustained by
extensive knowledge, and tempered by a wise discretion, while
their walk among men forms that best of commentaries, a living
one, on the truth and power of these doctrines ; — suppose epi
scopal Christianity, in a word, one day taught and exemplified
in Asia, as it was originally taught and exemplified in the
Apostolic times; and who, that reflects on the whole providential

VIIL] APPENDIX. 401
history and relationship of the two religions, can doubt the
eventual result throughout the Mahometan world?" Forster's
Mahometanism Unveiled, vol. i. pp. 399 — 400.

No. XLIII.
Lecture Vlll.^Page 271.
Preparation of Heathen Converts for Holy Baptism.
A SPECIMEN of what is referred to in the text is supplied by
Mr. Medhurst, who was " sent out by the London Missionary
Society, to labour for the benefit of China," and who presents,
in the foUowing extract, " the substance of the questions pro
posed to the candidates at the time of their baptism." China
and its Prospects, p. 322.
" Why do you wish to receive Christian baptism ? — Because
I feel myself to be a great sinner, and now desire to repent of
my sins that I may obtain forgiveness.
" Do you think that baptism alone is able to save your soul ?
— No ; but I believe that Jesus Christ, who commanded be
lievers to be baptized, is able to save me.
" What has Jesus Christ done for you ? — He suffered and
died, to atone for my sins and procure my salvation.
" Do you wish to follow the doctrine of Christ, in preference
to that of the Chinese sages ? — I do, because I believe that Christ
alone can guide me to happiness and heaven.
" Can you truly say that you have forsaken the vain su2)er-
stitions of your countrymen ? — I have hitherto foolvshhj rcor-
shipped idols, but now I desire to worship the living and true
God only.
" Do you feel that you are a great sinner, and deserving of
eternal punishment? — I know that lam a sinner, and that
I ought to suffer the punishment due to sin.
" Do you think that any good performance of your own will
be sufficient to save you ? — All I can do will he wholly insvffi-
D D

402 APPENDIX. [Lect.
cient to save me, and I pray for salvation through the merits of
Christ alone.
" Is it with the view of advancing your worldly interests that
you wish to be baptized ? — No ; my sole reason for desiring
baptism is, that I may become a disciple of Jesus Christ."
Surely, the meagre and unsatisfactory character of these
questions as the test of that "faith" and "repentance" which
are to be promised at the holy rite of baptism is most apparent.
In what great verities of the Christian faith is belief here
engaged ? Where is there the profession of a settled will and
purpose, through Divine grace, to keep God's commandments ?
Actually, on the first head, there seems mention of nothing but
that " Jesus Christ is able to save me." And on the second,
there are but the shallow expressions of " I know I am a sinner,"
" I desire to repent of my sins," " I rvish to follow the doctrine
of Christ." There is no mention of belief in God the Father,
none in God the Holy Ghost ; no assertion of repentance be
yond — I know, or feel, that I am a sinner ; no engagement to
obey beyond — I wish, or desire, to do so.
Contrast, then, with these, the solemn questions which, in
substance, the Church has ever proposed to her catechumens
at baptism, and which I venture, even here, to transcribe, if
haply the words should chance to meet the eye of any one
ignorant of her divine system : —
" Question. Dost thou renounce the devil and all his works,
the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all the covetous
desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that
thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them ?
" Answer. I renounce them all.
" Question. Dost thou beUeve in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth ?
" And in Jesus Christ his only-begotten Son our Lord ?
And that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost ; born of the
Virgin Mary ; that he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead, and buried ; that he went down into heU, and
also did rise again the third day ; that he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty ;
and from thence he shall come again at the end of the world, to
judge the quick and the dead ?

VIIL] APPENDIX. 403
" And dost thou beUeve in the Holy Ghost ; the holy CathoUc
Church ; the communion of saints ; the remission of sins ; the
resurrection of the flesh ; and everlasting Ufe after death ?
" A7iswer. AU this I stedfastly beUeve.
" Question. Wilt thou be baptized in this faith ?
" Answer. That is my desire.
" Question. Wilt thou then obediently keep God's holy wiU
and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of thy
life? " Ansiver. I wiU endeavour so to do, God being my helper?"
Similar to this was the mode of questioning employed in all
the early churches of the East and West. Thus, at Constanti
nople the question was asked of the candidates, " awETa^aadE
Tw Saravy ;" and it was answered, " ciirEra^dpEda." Again,
after the solemn profession of faith as above, it was asked,
" avvETa^aade tw Xpiorw ;" and again it was replied, " trvvETa^u-
pEda." See Palmer's Orig. Liturg. U. pp. 178, 183.

No. XLIV.
Lecture VHI.— Page 272.
St. Augustine's Treatise, De Catechizandis Rudihus.
This treatise is peculiarly valuable, as containing a concise
and more than commonly systematic, course of instruction, by
which Augustine recommended that those who wished to become
Christians should be initiated in the doctrines of the Christian
faith. It was written, indeed, as a kind of directory for cate
chizing, at tfe request of a deacon of Carthage.
For this purpose he gives two specimens, one longer and the
other shorter, of the mode of catechizing and instructing a
person of plain understanding, who might be disposed to become
a convert to Christianity. I put down the heads of the topics
advanced, in the order in which they occur, that the leading idea
dd2

404 APPENDIX. [Lect.
which runs throughout, and the skUl with which a train of
evidence is worked in with the other instructions, may be the
more clearly perceived.
After an inquiry into the motives of the catechumen in pro
fessing his desire to become a Christian, the line of argument
and of instruction is as foUows, commencing at sect. 24 of the
treatise : —
" The absence of rest in all worldly pursuits, and the
worthiness of the motive for desiring to become a Chris
tian, viz. in order to obtain eternal rest.
" This rest is typified by God's resting after the creation
of aU things through the Word, Jesus Christ. Man lost
this rest by the FaU, and recovers it through the coming of
the Son of God in the flesh.
" Man created, and placed in paradise ; then he fell. The
character of God not injured thereby, nor by so many
choosing wickedness ; since there are two kingdoms from
the beginning, one of saints, the other of the wicked —
mixed here, but to be separated hereafter.
" In the ark, ' the sacrament of the deluge,' was typified
the Church.
" Concerning Abraham and the Jewish people, in whom
was typified the Church of Christ.
" The Israelites in Egypt ; the exodus through the Red
Sea a type of baptism, as the Paschal Lamb was of the
atonement. " The law given to Moses ; which contained types of
spiritual things belonging to Christ and the Church.
" The establishment of the Jews in Jerusalem, in which
is signified the free city, the heavenly Jerusalem. In
David also was prefigured our true King, Christ.
" The captivity of the Jews in Babylon, a type of the
Church in bondage to the kings of this world.
" The state of the Jews after the captivity, led by pro
phecy to look for Christ.
" The six periods of the world. The sixth now existing
for the recovery of man.
"In the New Testament the spiritual life of man

vin.] APPENDIX. 405
delineated. The history of the human life of Jesus Christ,
an example of contempt for worldly things, j
" His ascension and the gift of the Holy Ghost, that
his disciples might be able to fulfil his law.
" The conversion of the Jews, and the early unworldly
state of the Church.
" St. Paul preached to the Gentiles, and founded
churches among them ; whence persecution arose against
the Church.
" The Church is spread, and pruned by persecutions
and heresies.
" Since these things have turned out true, other declara
tions of God will also, such as the future judgment.
" An exhortation to trust in Christ, on the ground of
the resurrection ;
" And of the future life.
" An exhortation to avoid the temptations of Satan, who
tempts through not Pagans only, but Christians, heretics,
and schismatics, and especially the depraved and ungodly ;
" And to cling to the good."
The catechumen, on professing belief in these things, is to
receive initiation (sacramentum salis), the nature of the visible
signs of invisible and divine things being explained to him.
The shorter Address.
" Present things are transitory and lead to death. But
God has rescued men from it by giving his Son to save
them from Adam's fall.
" All things that happen in the Church were foretold.
It was signified, at the deluge, by the ark (sacramentum
Ecclesiae). The chosen people foretold to Abraham, and
were formed. Christ was foretold to that people. His
birth ; His crucifixion ; His resurrection ; His ascension ;
the descent of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles ; all which
has happened. It was foretold, by prophets and Jesus
Christ, that His Church should spread through the world,
through the sufferings of martyrs, as we see ; that heresies
and schisms should arise, which has happened. Hence faith

406 APPENDIX. [Lect.
is confirmed as to what is to come, viz. the judgment, and
the resurrection of the body.
" An exhortation to beware of temptations from Pagans,
and heretics, and the wicked, and to seek the society of the
good."
It can be scarcely needful to observe, upon reading this line
of address, how, in dealing with an uninstructed but intelligent
heathen, the external facts both of God's Providence and grace
are dwelt upon ; how a summary of the Creed, as detaiUng our
blessed Lord's history, is intermixed with the argument ; and
how the idea of the Church, the city of God, is brought out as
the visible witness of God's having visited the earth. Hence
proceeds the whole course of exhortation to godUness.

No. XLV.
Lecture VIIL— Page 272.
Method of Instructing Converts in the middle ages.
The following are instances of the course of instruction
adopted by missionaries, in which it will be observed how the
external facts of revealed truth were primarily brought forward.
The first passage is extracted from Mr. Turner's History of
the Anglo'Saxons, vol. ii. pp. 486, 487, 6th edit.
" We have an intimation" (he says) " of the plan of instruction
which they (the missionaries) adopted for the change of the
pagan mind, in the following judicious directions of Alcuin for a
progressive information : —
" ' This order should be pursued in teaching mature persons :
" ' First, They should be instructed in the immortality of the
soul ; in the future life ; in its retribution of good and evil; and
in the eternal duration of both conditions.
" ' Second, They should then be informed for what sins and
crimes they will have to suffer with the devil everlasting punish-

vm.] APPENDIX. 407
ments ; and for what good and beneficial deeds they will enjoy
unceasing glory with Christ.
" ' Third, The faith of the Holy Trinity is then to be most
dUigently taught : and the coming of our Saviour into the world
for the salvation of the human race. Afterwards, impress the
mystery of His passion ; the truth of His resurrection ; His
glorious ascension ; His future advent to judge aU nations ; and
the resurrection of our bodies.
" ' Thus prepared and strengthened, the man may be bap
tized.'"' Similar to these topics are those advanced by Boniface, Bishop
of Rome, in a letter to Edwin, King of England, a. d. 625, in
order to persuade him to embrace the Christian faith. After
the first salutation, he proceeds : —
" Supernre igitur Majestatis dementia, quae cuncta solo verbo
prasceptionis su» condidit et creavit, coelum videlicet et terram,
mare, et omnia qu£B in eis sunt, dispositis ordinibus, quibus sub-
sisterent, coasterni Verbi sui consilio, et Sancti Spiritiis unitate
dispensans, hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem suam ex
limo terras plasmatum constituit, eique tantam prasmii prseroga-
tivam indulsit, ut eum cunctis prseponeret, atque servato termino
praeceptionis, Ecternitatis subsistentia praemuniret. Hunc ergo
Deum, Patrem, et Filium, et Spiritum Sanctum, quod est indi-
vidua Trinitas, ab ortu solis usque ad occasum, humanum genus,
quippe ut Creatorem omnium atque Factorem suum, salutifera
confessione fidei veneratur et colit ; cui etiam summitates imperii
rerumque potestates submissse sunt, quia ejus dispositione omnium
praslatio regnorum conceditur. Ejus ergo bonitatis misericordia
totius creaturae suas dilatandse subdi etiam in extremitate terree
positarum gentium corda frigida, Sancti Spiritiis fervore in sui
quoque agnitione, mirabiliter est dignata succendere."
In conclusion, he sums up as foUows : — " Accedite ergo ad
agnitionem ejus qui vos creavit, qui in vobis vitse insufflavit
spiritum, qui pro vestra redemptione Filium suum unigenitum
misit, ut vos ab originali peccato eriperet, et ereptos de potestate
nequitiae diabolicse coelestibus prsemiis muneraret. Suscipite
verba praedicatorum et Evangelium Dei, quod vobis annunciant ;
' Alcuin, Op. p. 1484.

408 APPENDIX. [Lect.
quatenus credentes, sicut ssepius dictum est, in Deum Patrem
Omnipotentem, et in Jesum Christum ejus Filium, et Spiritum
Sanctum, et inseparabilem Trinitatem, fugatis dsemoniorum sen-
sibus, expulsaque a vobis solicitatione venenosi et deceptibilis
hostis, per aquam et Spiritum Sanctum renati, ei, cui credideritis,
in splendore glorise sempiternse cohabitare, ejus opitulante muni-
ficentia, valeatis." Bedse, Hist. Eccl. b. ii. c. xi.
A similar course of instruction is mentioned in Blumhardt,
(vol. iv. p. 218, extracted, as it appears, from the Annales de
I'Histoire Russe, by Nestor, a monk of the convent of Kiew, who
lived 1056 — 1116,) as that adopted by a missionary of the
Greek Church, who was sent to convert Wladimir, King of
Russia, A. D. 987. The points on which he dwelt were " The
creation of the world, — the fall of man, — the deluge, — the elect
people of God, — the coming of the Saviour, — the divine doctrine
which He left in the world, — the eternal joys of the just, — the
eternal misery of the unbelievers."
Directions as to the order in which the doctrines of the Chris
tian faith are to be set before catechumens are given, likewise,
by Thomas a Jesu (p. 877), and by Franciscus a Breno (part ii.
p. 464). Additions to the pure faith are, as was to be expected,
found in these latter writers ; but it may be worthy of conside •
ration whether similar instructions, as to the order in which the
verities of the Christian faith should be brought before the
heathen mind, might not be useful to our missionaries.
It will, it is earnestly hoped, be perceived at once, that
whatever difference may be discerned between such a mode of
proceeding as is here, or in the text, alluded to, and that pursued
in any other course of teaching, refers only to the way in which
" Christ is preached." There are many who are too apt to
charge those who do not adopt their way of setting forth the
truth, with not preaching Christ. Surely, to bring the faith of
" Him crucified " home to the hearts of unbelievers is the one
object of all missionary teaching : and though one attempt this
primarily by a direct appeal to internal conviction, and by the
inculcation of the more sacred mysteries of our faith, and another
attempt it by that method which seems authorized by Scripture,
and to have been adopted by the Apostles and by the most
devoted missionaries, viz. by such preliminary teaching as may

V™-] APPENDIX. 409
be needed, and especially by an exhibition of the external
doctrines of the faith ; yet in the end aimed at there is no diffe-
ence, it exists in the method.

No. XLVI.
Lecture VIII. — Page 276.
Extract from Abel de Remusat on the Language of the Budd
histic Writings in China.
" Trop souvent elles (les idees) sont rendues par des expres
sions qui ne correspondent \ aucune des notres, qui se groupent
d'une maniere difierente, et qui sont autant de metaphores prises
d'objets materiels ou sensibles autres que ceux qui ont servi a
former notre langage figure. Le vidte pour Vesprit, ^ignorance
pour la matiere, Yapparence pourle corps, les cinq racines pour
nos organes, les cinq poussieres pour nos sens, les cinq amas
pour nos facultes, et une infinite d'autres termes du meme genre,
doivent etre pris dans une acception si eloignee du cercle ordi
naire de nos idees, que long-temps elle a pu 6chapper a I'intelU-
gence la plus exacte des textes. Ce n'est rien en pareil cas, que
d'entendre les radicaux, quand il reste encore a savoir quel sens
abstrait ou detourne on a attache, soit par caprice, soit par con
vention, a tel ou tel derive.
" Pour ne s'etre arrete qu'a la signification Utterale et souvent
absurde de ces expressions, on n'a pas su demeler, dans I'appre-
ciation du systeme bouddhique, I'idee d'une double cause de tout
ce qui existe, et Ton a prononce que la loi de Bouddha etait une
loi de neant, que s'y conformer, c'est admettre le neant comme
principe de I'etre, et les etres comme n'ayant qu'une existence
iUusoire. Un tel enonce, et la rigueur des consequences qu'il
entraine etait un avertissement qui aurait du engager a chercher
quelque autre interpretation moins directe, mais plus raisonnable.

410 APPENDIX. [Lect.
On aurait ete conduit alors a faire sortir de ce langage enigma-
tique un ensemble rationnel d'idees oppose presque en tout point
au nihilisme syst^matique que Ton avait reconnu de prime
abord." " Cependant il faut en convenir, toute cette antique sagesse
des Indiens est comme ensevelie dans une idolatrie tellement
etrange, que Ton a pu ^tre detourne par la de I'examen plus
approfondi dont elle meritait d'etre I'objet. Quels enseigne-
ments esperer d'une doctrine entachee d'autant d'extravagance
et de deraison ? A vrai dire, les recits bizarres, les inventions
ridicules, les conceptions fantastiques qui y abondent, etaient
pen faits pour attenuer en rien I'opinion defavorable qu'on s'en
etait formee. Aussi les missionaires, qui ne la jugerent digne
d'aucune refutation serieuse, I'ont ils rejetee presque sans I'ex
amen. L'un d'eux la declare " le comble de la malice reduite
en quintessence." Relation des Voyages Bouddhiques, Introd.
pp. iv. V.

No. XLVII.
Lecture VIIL— Page 292.
Missionaries from the British Isles in the Middle Ages.
The foUowing list will illustrate what is said in the text, and
exhibit the missionary spirit which prevailed in the earlier
Church of England. It will be noted that the two periods when
it most largely flourished were the seventh and eighth and the
eleventh centuries, on the recovery of the Church from the
desolating effects of the Saxon and Danish invasions.
With the exception of the two Ewalds, the list is conflned to
those born and educated in the British Isles, and who became
missionaries in foreign countries ; so that those shining lights
who were engaged in converting the Anglo-Saxons, such as
Aidan, Cedd, and Ninian, are not included. The date affixed to

vm.]

APPENDIX.

411

the names (with the exception of some of the last), is that of their
death, which makes many seem to belong to the eighth century,
whose labours commenced in the seventh.

NAMES.

A.D.

COUNTRY.

SCENE OF LABOUR.

Fridolin . .

538

Scotland or Ire

Black Forest and Switzer

land.

land.

Columban & 12

616

Ireland . . .

Vosges and Lombardy.

companions.

Livin ....
633
Ireland . . .
Flanders.
Gallus . . .
646
Ireland . . .
Switzerland.
Killian . . .
688
Ireland . . .
Artois and Thuringia.
Two Ewalds .
695
Ireland(educated in.)
Ireland . .
Saxony.
Diseu . . .
700
France and Germany.
Swidbert
713
England . . .
Northern Germany.
Plechelm . .
732
Northumbria i .
Lower Germany.
Willebrord .
738
Northumbria . .
Frisians.
Adalbert
740
Northumberland.
Lower Germany.
Werenfrid
740
England . . .
Germany.
"Wigbert .
747
England . . .
Germany.
Burkard .
752
Wessex . . .
Bishop of Wurtzburg.
Boniface .
755
England . . .
Germany.
Winnebald
760
England . . .
Germany.
Lebuinus
772
England . . .
Saxons.
Lullus
788
England . . .
Germany.
WiUebald
790
England . .
Germany.
Willehad
791
Northumbria . .
Saxony.
Sigurd 2 .
993 1
England . . .
Norway.
Gotebald .
1004 1
England . . .
Sweden ,
Sigfrid 3 .
1010—1067
England . . .
Sweden and Norway.
Grimkill .
1019'
England . . .
Norway.
Rodolph .
1019 >
England . . .
Norway.
Bernhardt
1019'
England . . .
Norway.
Wolfrid .
1028
England . . .
Sweden.
Jl Commenced
thei
r mission.
SBaptizedOlof of Swe
leu in 1001. 3 Bishop of Wexia.
412

APPENDIX.

[Lect.

It is very striking to observe how, just at the same periods at
which this spirit of missionary enterprise was exhibited in the
British Isles, a similar zeal was manifested in the consolidation
and extension of the Church at home by the erection of dioceses
in England. The following Ust will show that almost all the
bishoprics owe their origin to one of these two periods : —

St. Asaph  547
Canterbury  596
Wells 
Eochester 
Winchester 
Lichfield and Coventry .
Worcester 
Hereford 
Durham 

604634650650679680
691

Sodor and Man  898

Exeter  1050
Sherborne, transferred to
Salisbury  1056
York (Archbishopric) . . 1067
Dorchester, transferred to
Lincoln  1070
Chichester  1071
Thetford, transferred to Nor
wich  1088
Bath and Wells  1088
Ely  1109
Carlisle  1123

London and Llandaff were instituted at an earlier period.
The five others were founded on the suppression of the monas
teries by Henry VIII.

No. XLVIII.

Lecture VIIL— Page 293.
Extract from a Sermon by Vieyra before John III. King of
Portugal, on the Missions to Brazil.
Vie YEA was confessor to John III. and occupied a high
station in the court of Portugal, where his rank, talents, and
reputation for virtue opened to him the path to the highest
honours in the state ; the personal attachment borne him by the
king was so strong that he used every means of command, per
suasion, and stratagem to induce him to remain at court ; but
the zeal with which Vieyra had devoted himself to the service
of the newly-conquered savages of Brazil was not to be quenched,

"^™.] APPENDIX. 413
and a passage in one of his sermons, contained in the foUowing
extract from Southey's History of Brazil, Part II. pp. 495-6,
will show the earnestness with which he urged before his
monarch the responsibility towards the natives, which the
acquisition of his new territory entaUed upon him.
" His (Vieyra's) next object was to estabUsh a ' Junta das
Missoens,' or missionary board, who should at all times watch
over the interest of the missions."
" He touched upon this subject in a sermon preached before
the court .... and wound up the discourse thus : — 'At this
moment innumerable souls are perishing in Africa, innumerable
souls in Asia, innumerable souls in America, for whom I come
to solicit help . . . and aU through our fault and our negligence.
Verily there is not a more pious kingdom than Portugal, and
yet I can neither understand our humanity, nor our faith, nor
our devotion. For the souls which are in purgatory there are
so many brotherhoods, so many associations, so many expenses,
so many solicitors {Procuradores), so many who plead for them
day and night ; and the poor souls who are going to heU have
none of these ! The souls in purgatory, though they are suffer^
ing, are secure of heaven at last ; those who live and die in
heathenism have not merely heaven doubtful, but heU and con
demnation certain, and yet none to assist them ! Is not this,
then, the greatest work of compassion ? Why therefore is there
no brotherhood ; why therefore is there no association ; why
therefore is there no junta ; why therefore is there no solicitor
for these poor souls ?' Then addressing himself alternately to
the crucifix and to the king there present, he proceeded,
' Lord, are not all these souls redeemed with your blood ? . . . .
Sire, are not all these souls redeemed with the blood of Christ ?
Lord, have you not given the conversion of these souls in charge
to the kings and kingdom of Portugal ? . . . Sire, are not these
souls given in charge with this kingdom by God to your
majesty? Lord, is it well that these souls should be lost, and
go to heU against your desire ? . . . Sire, is it well that these
souls should be lost, and go to hell through our fault ? I do not
expect this either from the Divine or the human Majesty? Now,
when there are so many boards for the affairs of the world, let
there be a board also for the affairs of souls, for they are worth

414 APPENDIX. [Lect.
more than all the world. Let us aU be undeceived ! by how
much the more the business of the salvation of souls shall
proceed, so much better wiU the affairs of the world proceed also.
The devil' offered aU the kingdoms of the world for the per
dition of one soul ; and Christ, because he acted for the salvation
of souls, is at this day Lord of all the kingdoms of the world.
Thus it wUl happen to us also, and thus I promise in the name
of God. Let me sanctify the words of the devil, and place them
in the mouth of Christ. He showed him aU the kingdoms of
the world. . . God is showing us all the kingdoms of the New
World, which in his bounty he gave us, and of which through
our fault they have taken from us so great a part ; and pointing
to Africa, to Asia, and to America, he says, ' All these wiU I
give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me !' . . . Kingdom
of Portugal, I promise thee the restoration of all the kingdoms
which paid thee tribute once, and the conquest of many other
and more opulent ones in this New World, if thou, whom I have
chosen for this end, will make them beUeve in me, and worship
me, — if thou wilt fall down and worship me. This I promise
from the goodness of God, — this I hope from the great zeal and
charity of his Majesty, — this I trust in from the Christianity of
all his ministers. And if we shaU labour for the souls of others,
this means, which is so much for God's service, will be most
efficacious towards obtaining the service of our own, in this life
with great increase of grace, and in the next with the reward
of glory.'' Sermoens, tom. ii. pp. 83 — 85.

No. XLIX.
Lecture VIII. — Page 296.
On the Qualifications required in Missionaries.
The high qualifications, bodily and mental, required in a
missionary, especially among Orientals, are set forth with his
' Alluding to the text of the day.

vm.] APPENDIX. 415
usual earnestness, by Fr. Xavier, in tlie foUowing among other
passages : —
" Je pense qu'il est de toute necessite d'envoyer ici des
hommes d'un merite superieur, doues d'une vertu a toute
epreuve et d'une science pen commune, pour les diriger ensuite
vers les academies japonaises. En void la raison : c'est que
tons les lettres et tons ceux qui se piquent de sagesse et de pru
dence, lorsqu'on leur fait toucher au doigt leurs erreurs, se
retranchent derriere le grand nombre d'hommes savants dont
leurs pays, disent-ils, est abondamment pourvu, et qui, apres
avoir beaucoup Iu, ont passe leur vie dans de profondes medita
tions. II faut done opposer maitres a maitres, il faut commencer
par subjuguer ceux-ci par la voie du raisonnement, et les mettre
de notre cote, puisque leur seul retranchement est de nier ce
que nous affirmons ; de maniere qu'apres les avoir soumis, on
entrainera facilement ceux qui ne s'appuient que sur leur
autorite. II faut done pour cette mission, des hommes egale-
ment savants et vertueux.
" Une Constance inebranlable, une patience a toute epreuve,
une humilite profonde, qui est le comble de toutes les vertus,
doivent etre I'apanage de ceux qu'on vent opposer a ces dispu-
teurs et surtout aux bonzes."
" Les choses etant ainsi, on conceit aisement qu'il faut dans
ce pays des hommes de genie, d'excellents dialecticiens, doues
en meme temps de cette eloquence qui salt descendre et se
mettre de niveau avec le peuple qui Tecoute ; il faut des hommes
prompts a poursuivre leurs adversaires lorsqu'ils fuient, et a les
ramener sur le champ de bataille lorsqu'ils s'egarent ; qui aient
le talent d'arracher au mensonge le masque de la verite dont il
se couvre, de mettre a decouvert la hideuse nudite des sophismes,
de faire toucher et palper aux sens les plus grossiers I'inco-
herence des dogmes dictes par I'esprit d'imposture, faire voir
comment ils se contredirent, se choquent et se heurtent entre
eux. Voila ce qui couvre les bonzes de confusion et ce qui les
atterre, comme aussi lorsqu'on les saisit et qu'on les enveloppe
dans un raisonnement fort serre dont Us ne peuvent rompre la
chaine. A ces hautes quaUtes de I'ame, U faut ajouter une
robuste constitution propre a supporter la rigueur des hivers. . .
L'experience semble avoir demontre que les hommes nes sous

416 APPENDIX. [Lect. VIIL
un cUmat froid, sont generalement plus adroits et plus inge-
nieux." Lettres de Fr. Xavier, tom. ii. pp. 229 — 232.
The notion that men of second-rate powers and general
qualifications are adequate for the purposes of sustaining, or,
perhaps, rearing, the Church in the colonies is thus met by the
Bishop of Australia, in one of his letters : —
" What do you think can be done by a merely passable man
going into a parish here, (or in New Zealand,) where a congre
gation has to be formed, ab initio, where there exists no feeling
of love or veneration ready to his purpose, but it must be
kindled by the earnestness and ability of the teacher ? You
know what the Bishop of New Zealand's acquirements are, and
in what spirit he has gone forth. WeU, be assured that his zeal
and talents will not be more than adequate to fulfil the purposes
of that holy undertaking. It is not to be expected that we can
have all his equals in those respects ; but they must be tales if
not eequales ; that is, they must have zeal and talents like his,
though of a subordinate character."

I CANNOT close this volume more appropriately than with the
following document, which, as bearing the signatures of the
united bench of Bishops, has the weight of an act of the
Church. It is the more important, since it is the first movement
of the kind that has been witnessed of later years ; — and it is to
be earnestly hoped that both the principle that is asserted in it,
and the authority with which it is put forth, wiU so move the
members of the Church of England, that, by their wiUing offer
ings, they wiU enable their Spiritual Rulers to carry into their
fuU effect the proposals which they have herein published. It
needs only to be added, that, in consequence of this Declaration,
the important Colonies of New Zealand, the British possessions
in the Mediterranean, and Tasmania, have been blessed with the
perfect form and polity of the Church amongst them.

APPENDIX. 417

declaration of tjc ^vcfitiisfiops ani aStsftops.

At a Meeting of Archbishops and Bishops, held at
Lambeth, on the Tuesday in Whitsun week, 1841, the
following Declaration was agreed to by all present : —
We, the undersigned Archbishops and Bishops of the United
Church of England and Ireland, contemplate with deep concern
the insufficient provision which has been hitherto made for the
spiritual care of the members of our National Church residing
in the British Colonies, and in distant parts of the world,
especially as it regards the want of a systematic superintendence
of the Clergy, and the absence of those ordinances, the adminis
tration of which is committed to the episcopal Order. We
therefore hold it to be our duty, in compUance with the Resolu
tions of a Meeting convened by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
on the 27th of April last, to undertake the charge of the Fund
for the Endowment of additional Bishoprics in the Colonies, and
to become responsible for its apphcation.
On due consideration of the relative claims of those Depen
dencies of the Empire which require our assistance, we are of
opinion, that the immediate erection of Bishoprics is much to
be desired in the following places : —
new ZEALAND. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS IN VAN DIBMEn's LAND.
THE MEDITERRANEAN. CEYLON.
NEW BRUNSWICK. E E

418 APPENDIX.
When competent provision shaU have been made for the
endowment of these Bishoprics, regard must be had to the
claims of SIERRA LEONE. WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
BRITISH GUIANA. NORTHERN INDIA.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA. SOUTHERN INDIA.
PORT PHILLIP.
In the first instance, we propose that an Episcopal See be
estabUshed at the seat of government in New Zealand, offers
having been already made which appear to obviate aU difficulty
as to endowment.
Our next object will be to make a similar provision for the
congregations of our own communion, estabUshed in the islands
of the Mediterranean, and in the countries bordering upon that
sea ; and it is evident that the position of Malta is such as wiU
render it the most convenient point of communication with them,
as weU as with the Bishops of the ancient Churches of the East,
to whom our Church has been for many centuries known only
by name.
We propose, therefore, that a See be fixed at VaUetta,' the
residence of the English Government, and that its jurisdiction
extend to all the Clergy of our Church residing within the limits
above specified. In this city, through the munificence of Her
Majesty the Queen Dowager, a Church is in course of erection,
which, when completed, wiU form a suitable Cathedral.
Our attention wiU then be directed to the countries named in
the foregoing lists, without binding ourselves to the exact order
therein followed, or precluding ourselves from granting assis
tance to any place where means may be found for the earUer
endowment of a Bishopric.
In no case shall we proceed without the concurrence of Her
Majesty's Government ; and we think it expedient to appoint a
Standing Committee, consisting of

' The Standing Committee of Bishops has recommended that the See be
founded at Gibraltar.

APPENDIX. 419
THE ARCHBISHOP or CANTERBURY,
THE ARCHBISHOP OP YORK,
THE ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH,
THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN,
THE BISHOP OF LONDON,
THE BISHOP OF DURHAM,
THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER,
THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN,
THE BISHOP OF ROCHESTER,
with full powers to confer with the Ministers of the Crown, and
to arrange measures in concert with them, for the erection of
Bishoprics in the places above enumerated.
We appoint as our Treasurers, the Hon. Mr. Justice Cole
ridge, the Venerable Archdeacon Hale, and W. E. Gladstone,
Esq. M.P.; and as Honorary Secretary, the Rev. Ernest
Hawkins. For the attainment of these most desirable objects, a sum of
money wiU be required, large as to its actual amount, but smaU
when compared with the means which this country possesses, by
the bounty of Divine Providence, for advancing the glory of
God and the welfare of mankind. Under a deep feeling of the
sacredness and importance of this great work, and in the hope
that Almighty God may graciously dispose the hearts of his
servants to a corresponding measure of liberality, we earnestly
commend it to the good wiU, the assistance, and the prayers of
aU the Members of our Church.
W. CANTUAR. J- ELY.
J. G. ARMAGH. E. SARUM.
0. J. LONDON. E. NORWICH.
E. DUNELM. T. HEREFORD.
0, WINTON. J. LICHFIELD.
C. BANGOB. C. ST. DAVID'S.
G. ROCHESTER. P- N. CHICHESTER.
E. LLANDAFF. B- DERBY & RAPHOE.
J. H. GLOUCESTER & BRISTOL. T. V. SODOR & MAN.

420

APPENDIX.

We, the undersigned, desire to express our concurrence in
the foregoing declaration:—

E. EBOR.
RD. DUBLIN.
GEO. H. BATH & WELLS.
W. ST. ASAPH.
J. LINCOLN.
H. CARLISLE.
J.B. CHESTER.
E. OXFORD.
H. EXETER.
C. T. RIPON.
G. PETERBOROUGH.
H. WORCESTER.
GEORGE KILMORE.

C. KILDARE.
EOBT. P. CLOGHER.
J. BLPHIN.
R. OSSORY & FERNS.
JAMES DROMORE.
RD. DOWN & CONNOR.
S. CORK.
EDMOND LIMERICK.
STEPHEN CASHEL.
LUDLOW KILLALOE
CLONFERT.
THOMAS TVAM.
CHARLES MEATH.

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