diff options
Diffstat (limited to '19308.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 19308.txt | 12873 |
1 files changed, 12873 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/19308.txt b/19308.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a0593c --- /dev/null +++ b/19308.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12873 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Pioneers and Founders, by Charlotte Mary Yonge + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Pioneers and Founders + or, Recent Workers in the Mission field + + +Author: Charlotte Mary Yonge + + + +Release Date: September 17, 2006 [eBook #19308] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIONEERS AND FOUNDERS*** + + + + +Transcribed from the 184 Macmillan & Co. edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + +PIONEERS AND FOUNDERS, +or +Recent Workers in the Mission field. + + +BY C. M. YONGE, + +_Author of_ "_The Heir of Radclyffe_." + +{i:Portrait of Reginald Heber: p0.jpg} + +London: +MACMILLAN & CO +1874. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +It has been my endeavour in the ensuing narratives to bring together such +of the more distinguished Missionaries of the English and American +nations as might best illustrate the character and growth of Mission work +in the last two centuries. It is impossible to make it a real history of +the Missions of modern times. If I could, I would have followed in the +track of Mr. Maclear's admirable volume, but the field is too wide, the +material at once too numerous and too scattered, and the account of the +spread of the Gospel in the distant parts of the earth has yet to be +written in volumes far exceeding the bulk of those allotted to the +"Sunday Library." + +Two large classes of admirable Missions have been purposely +avoided,--namely, those of the Jesuits in Japan, China, and North and +South America, and those of the Moravians in Greenland, the United +States, and Africa. These are noble works, but they are subjects apart, +and our narratives deal with men exclusively of British blood, with the +exception of Schwartz, whose toils were so entirely accepted and adopted +by the Church of England, that he cannot but be reckoned among her +ambassadors. The object, then, has been to throw together such +biographies as are most complete, most illustrative, and have been found +most inciting to stir up others--representative lives, as far as +possible--from the time when the destitution of the Red Indians first +stirred the heart of John Eliot, till the misery of the hunted negro +brought Charles Mackenzie to the banks of the fever-haunted Zambesi. + +We think it will be found that, so far from being the talking, +exaggerating, unpractical men that the critical and popular mind is apt +to suppose, these labourers were in general eminently practical and hard- +working. They seem to us to range themselves into three classes: one, +stirred up by the sight of the destitution before their eyes, and quietly +trying to supply those needs; one, inspired by fervid zeal to devote +themselves; and one, selected by others, taking that selection as a call, +and toiling as a duty, as they would have toiled at any other duty set +before them. Each and all have their place, and fulfil the work. The +hindrances and drawbacks are generally not in the men themselves, nor in +the objects of their labour, but first and foremost in the almost uniform +hostility of the colonists around, who are used to consider the dark +races as subjects for servitude, and either despise or resent any attempt +at raising them in the scale; and next, in the extreme difficulty of +obtaining means. This it is that has more than anything tended to bring +Mission work into disrepute. Many people have no regular system nor +principle of giving--the much-needed supplies can only be charmed out of +their pockets by sensational accounts, such as the most really +hard-working and devoted men cannot prevail on themselves to pour forth; +and the work of collection is left to any of the rank and file who have +the power of speech, backed by articles where immediate results may be +dwelt upon to satisfy those who will not sow in faith and wait patiently. + +And the Societies that do their best to regulate and collect the funds +raised by those who give, whether on impulse or principle, are +necessarily managed by home committees, who ought to unite the qualities +of men of business with an intimate knowledge of the needs and +governments of numerous young churches, among varied peoples, nations, +and languages, each in an entirely abnormal state; and, moreover, to deal +with those great men who now and then rise to fulfil great tasks, and +cannot be judged by common rules. Thus it is that home Societies are +often to be reckoned among the trials of Missionaries. + +But we will not dwell on such shortcomings, and will rather pass on to +what we had designed as the purpose of our present introduction; namely, +to supplement the information which the biographical form of our work has +necessitated us to leave imperfect, respecting the Missions as well as +the men. + +Of the Red Indians who first stirred the compassion of John Eliot, there +is little that is good to tell, or rather there is little good to tell of +the White man's treatment of them. Self-government by the stronger +people always falls hard on the weaker, and Mission after Mission has +been extinguished by the enmity of the surrounding Whites and the +corruption and decay of the Indians. A Moravian Mission has been +actually persecuted. Every here and there some good man has arisen and +done a good work on those immediately around him, and at the present time +there are some Indians living upon the reserves in the western part of +the continent, fairly civilized, settled, and Christianized, and only +diminishing from that law of their physical nature that forbids them to +flourish without a wilderness in which to roam. + +But between the long-settled States of America and those upon the shores +of the Pacific, lies a territory where the Indian is still a wild and +savage man, and where hatred and slaughter prevail. The Government at +Washington would fain act a humane part, and set apart reserves of land +and supplies, but the agents through which the transactions are carried +on have too often proved unfaithful, and palmed off inferior goods on the +Indians, or brought up old debts against them; and in the meantime mutual +injuries work up the settlers and the Red men to such a pitch of +exasperation, that horrid cruelties are perpetrated on the one side, and +on the other the wild men are shot down as pitilessly as beasts of prey, +while the travellers and soldiers who live in daily watch and ward +against the "wily savage" learn to stigmatize all pity for him as a sort +of sentimentalism sprung from Cooper's novels. + +Still, where there is peace, good men make their way, and with blessed +effect. We wish we had room for the records of the Bishopric of +Minnesota, and the details of the work among the Indians; more especially +how, when a rising was contemplated to massacre the White settlers all +along the border, a Christian Indian travelled all night to give warning; +and how, on another occasion, no less than four hundred White women and +children were saved by the interposition of four Christian Indian chiefs. +Perhaps the Church has never made so systematic an effort upon the +Indians as in Minnesota, and it is to be hoped that there may be some +success. + +For the need of system seems to me one of the great morals to be deduced +from the lives I have here collected. I confess that I began them with +the unwilling belief that greater works had been effected by persons +outside the pale of the Church than by those within; but as I have gone +on, the conviction has grown on me that even though the individuals were +often great men, their works lacked that permanency and grasp that Church +work, as such, has had. + +The equality of rank in the ministry of other bodies has prevented the +original great founders from being invested with the power that is really +needed in training and disciplining inferior and more inexperienced +assistants, and produces a want of compactness and authority which has +disastrous effects in movements of emergency. Moreover, the lack of +forms causes a deficiency of framework for religion to attach itself to, +and this is almost fatal to dealing with unintellectual minds. + +On the whole, the East Indian Missions have prospered best. Schwartz was +the very type of a founder, with his quiet, plodding earnestness, and +power of being generally valuable; and the impression he made had not had +time to die away before the Episcopate brought authority to deal with the +difficulties he had left. Martyn was, like Brainerd before him, one of +the beacons of the cause, and did more by his example than by actual +teaching; and the foundation of the See of Calcutta gave stability to the +former efforts. Except Heber, the Bishops of the Indian See were not +remarkable men, but their history has been put together as a whole for +the sake of the completion of the subject, as a sample of the +difficulties of the position, and likewise because of the steady progress +of the labours there recorded. + +The Serampore brethren are too notable to be passed over, if only for the +memorable fact that Carey the cobbler lighted the missionary fire +throughout England and America at a time when the embers had become so +extinct that our Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had to borrow +workers from Denmark and Germany. Indeed, Martyn's zeal was partly +lighted by Carey, though the early termination of his labours has forced +me to place his biography before that of the longer-lived Baptist +friends--both men of curious and wonderful powers, but whose history +shows the disadvantages of the Society government, and whose achievements +were the less permanent in consequence. The Burmese branch of their work +is chiefly noticeable for the characters and adventures of Dr. Judson and +his three wives, and for the interesting display of Buddhism in contact +with Christianity. According to the statistics in an American Missionary +Dictionary, the work they founded has not fallen to the ground either at +Moulmein or Rangoon; while there has also sprung up a hopeful English +Church Mission in the same quarter. The last thing I saw about it was a +mention of the neatness and dexterity of Burmese girls as needlewomen. + +Samuel Marsden may be called the patriarch of Australasian Christianity. +There is something grand in the bravery of the bullet-headed +Yorkshireman, now contending with the brutality of the convicts and their +masters, now sleeping among the cannibals of New Zealand. His +foundations, too, have received a superstructure on which we cannot +dwell; because, happily, the first Bishop of New Zealand is not yet a +subject for biography, and the Melanesian Mission, which has sprung out +of it, has not yet seen its first generation. + +The Polynesian work, of which John Williams was the martyr and the +representative man, has chiefly been carried on by the London Mission. It +has always been a principle with the Missionaries of the Anglican Church, +whose centre has been first New Zealand, then Norfolk Island, never to +enter upon any islands pre-occupied by Christian teachers of any +denomination, since there is no lack of wholly unoccupied ground, without +perplexing the spirit of the natives with the spectacle of "our unhappy +divisions;" and thus while Melanesia is for the most part left to the +Church, Polynesia is in the hands of the London Mission. Much good has +been effected. The difficulty is that, for want of supervision, +individual Missionaries are too much left to themselves, and are in +danger of becoming too despotic in their islands. At least such is the +impression they sometimes give to officers of the navy. French +aggression has much disturbed them both in Tahiti and in the Loyalty +Islands, and the introduction of Roman Catholic priests into their +territory is bitterly resented. On the whole, observers tolerably +impartial think that the civilization which these married teachers bring +with them has a happier effect as an example and stimulus to the natives +than the solitary ascetic priest,--a true, self-devoted saint indeed but +unable to win the attention of the people in their present condition. In +India, where asceticism is the test of sanctity even among the heathen, +the most self-denying preacher has the best chance of being respected; +but in those luxurious islets, poverty and plainness of living, without +the power of showing the arts of life, get despised. If the priests +could bring their pomp of worship, and large bands of brethren or sisters +to reclaim the waste, they might tell upon the minds of the people, but +at present they go forth few and poor, and are little heeded in their +isolation. Unfortunately, too, the antagonism between them and the +London Mission is desperate. The latter hold the tenets perhaps the most +widely removed from Catholicism of any Protestant sect, and are mostly +not educated enough to understand the opposite point of view, so that +each party would almost as soon see the natives unconverted as joining +the hostile camp: and precious time is wasted in warrings the one against +the other. + +The most real enemies to Christianity in these seas are, however, the +lawless traders, the English and American whalers and sandal-wood +dealers, who bring uncontrolled vice and violence where they put in for +water; while they, on the one hand, corrupt the natives, on the other +they provoke them into reprisals on the next White men who fall in their +way. That the Polynesians are good sailors and not bad workmen, has +proved another misfortune, for they are often kidnapped by unscrupulous +captains to supply the deficiency of labour in some of the Australasian +settlements. Everywhere it seems to be the unhappy fact that Christian +men are the most fatal hinderers of God's word among the heathen. + +Yet most of the more accessible of the isles have a resident missionary, +and keep up schools and chapels. Their chiefs have accepted a Christian +code, and the horrid atrocities of cannibalism have been entirely given +up, though there is still much evil prevalent, especially in those which +have convenient harbours, and are in the pathway of ships. The Samoan +islanders have a college, managed by an English minister and his wife, +where teachers are educated not only to much good discipline, but to much +real refinement, and go forth as admirable and self-devoted heralds of +the Gospel into other isles. They have furnished willing martyrs, and +many have been far beyond praise. One lack, however, seems to be of that +definite formularies, a deficiency which leaves the teaching to depend +over much on the individual impressions of the teacher. + +The chief remnants of cannibalism are to be found in the New Hebrides. +The leader of the attack on John Williams is still alive at Erromango, +and the savage defiant nature of this people has never been subdued. They +belong more to the Melanesian than the Polynesian races. The first are +more like the Negro, the second more like the Malay. The Melanesian +Missions are in the charge of the Missionary Bishop, John Coleridge +Patteson, who went out as a priest with the Bishop of New Zealand in +1855. + +The New Zealand story, as I have said, cannot be told in the lifetime of +the chief actor in it. It is a story of startling success, and then of +disappointment through colonial impracticability. In some points it has +been John Eliot's experience upon a larger scale; but in this case the +political quarrel led to the rise of a savage and murderous sect among +the Maories, a sort of endeavour to combine some features of Christianity +and even Judaism with the old forgotten Paganism, and yet promoting even +cannibalism. It is memorable, however, that not one Maori who had +received Holy Orders has ever swerved from the faith, though the "Hau- +Haus" have led away many hundreds of Christians. Still, a good number +remain loyal and faithful, and hold to the English in the miserable war +which is still raging, provoked by disputes over the sale of land. + +The Melanesian Mission was begun from New Zealand; but whereas the isles +are too hot for English constitutions, they can only be visited from the +sea, and lads are brought away to be educated for teachers. New Zealand +proved too cold for these natives of a tropical climate, and the college +has been transplanted to Norfolk Island, where Bishop Patteson has fixed +his head-quarters. One of his converts from Banks's Island has received +Holy Orders, and this latter group seems in good train to afford a supply +of native ministers to islands where few Englishmen could take up a +permanent abode. + +The African Missions would afford much detail, but want of space has +prevented me from mentioning the Rev. George Leacock, the West Indian +clergyman, who gave up everything when already an old man to pave the way +of the Gospel in the Pongas. And the Cape still retains its first +Bishop, so that it is only on the side of Natal and Zululand, where the +workers have passed away, that the narrative can be complete. But the +African Church is extending its stakes in Graham's Town, Orange River, +Zululand, and Zanzibar; and while the cry from East, West, and South is +still "Come over and help us," we cannot but feel that, in spite of many +a failure, many a disappointment, many a fatal error, still the Gospel +trumpet is being blown, and not blown in vain, even in the few spots +whose history, for the sake of their representative men, I have here +tried to record. Of the Canadian and Columbian Indian Missions, of the +Sandwich Isles, and of many more, I have here been able to say nothing; +but I hope that the pictures of these labourers in the cause may tend to +some understanding, not only of their toils, but of their joys, and may +show that they were men not easily deceived, and thoroughly to be trusted +in their own reports of their progress. + +CHARLOTTE M. YONGE. + +_March_ 16_th_, 1871. + + + + +CHAPTER I. JOHN ELIOT, THE APOSTLE OF THE RED INDIANS. + + +Since the great efforts that Britain had made between the years 500 and +1000 to bring the knowledge of the truth into the still heathen portions +of the Continent,--since the days of Columban and Gal, of Boniface and +Willibrord,--there had been a cessation of missionary enterprise. The +known portions of the world were either Christian, or were in the hands +of the Mahommedans; and no doubt much of the adventurous spirit which, +united with religious enthusiasm, forms the missionary, found vent in the +Crusades, and training in the military orders. The temper of the age, +and the hopelessness of converting a Mahommedan, made the good men of the +third 500 years use their swords rather than their tongues against the +infidel; and it was only in the case of men possessing such rare natures +as those of Francis of Assisi, or Raymond Lull, that the possibility of +trying to bring over a single Saracen to the faith was imagined. + +It was in the revival from the Paganism with which classical tastes had +infected the Church, that the spirit of missions again awoke, stimulated, +of course, by the wide discoveries of fresh lands that were dawning upon +the earth. If from 1000 to 1500 the progress of the Gospel was confined +to the borders of the Slavonic nation, the space of time from 1500 +onwards has been one of constant and unwearied effort to raise the +standard of the Cross in the new worlds beyond the Atlantic. + +Spain, Portugal, France, as nations, and the great company of the Jesuits +as one mighty brotherhood, were the foremost in the great undertaking; +but their doings form a history of their own, and our business is with +the efforts of our own Church and country in the same great cause. + +Our work was not taken up so soon as theirs, partly because the spirit of +colonization did not begin amongst us so early as in Spain and Portugal, +and partly because the foundations of most of our colonies were laid by +private enterprise, rather than by public adventure, and moreover some of +the earlier ones in unsettled times. + +It may be reckoned as one peculiarity of Englishmen, that their greatest +works are usually not the outcome of enthusiastic design, but rather grow +upon them by degrees, as they are led in paths that they have not known, +and merely undertake the duty that stands immediately before them, step +by step. + +The young schoolmaster at Little Baddow, near Chelmsford, who decided on +following in the track of the Pilgrim Fathers to New England, went simply +to enjoy liberty of conscience, and to be free to minister according to +his own views, and never intended to become the Apostle of the Red +Indians. + +Nothing is more remarkable than the recoil from neglected truths. When, +even in the earliest ages of the Church, the Second Commandment was +supposed to be a mere enhancing of the first, and therefore curtailed and +omitted, there was little perception that this would lead to popular, +though not theoretical, idolatry, still less that this law, when again +brought forward, would be pushed by scrupulous minds to the most strange +and unexpected consequences, to the over-powering of all authority of +ancient custom, and to the repudiation of everything symbolical. + +This resolution against acknowledging any obligation to use either symbol +or ceremony, together with the opposition of the hierarchy, led to the +rejection of the traditional usages of the Church and the previously +universal interpretation of Scripture in favour of three orders in the +ministry. The elders, or presbytery, were deemed sufficient; and when, +after having for many years been carried along, acquiescing, in the +stream of the Reformation, the English Episcopacy tried to make a stand, +the coercion was regarded as a return to bondage, and the more ardent +spirits sought a new soil on which to enjoy the immunities that they +regarded as Christian freedom. + +The _Mayflower_ led the way in 1620, and the news of the success of the +first Pilgrim Fathers impelled many others to follow in their track. +Among these was John Eliot. He had been born in 1604 at Nasing in Essex, +and had been bred up by careful parents, full of that strong craving for +theological studies that characterized the middle classes in the reign of +James I. + +Nothing more is known of his youth except that he received a university +education, and, like others who have been foremost in missionary labours, +had a gift for the comparison of languages and study of grammar. He +studied the Holy Scriptures in the original tongues with the zeal that +was infused into all scholars by the knowledge that the Authorized +Version was in hand, and by the stimulus that was afforded by the promise +of a copy of the first edition to him who should detect and correct an +error in the type. + +The usual fate of a scholar was to be either schoolmaster or clergyman, +if not both, and young Eliot commenced his career as an assistant to Mr. +John Hooker, at the Grammar School at Little Baddow. He considered this +period to have been that in which the strongest religious impressions +were made upon him. John Hooker was a thorough-going Puritan of great +piety and rigid scruples, and instructed his household diligently in +godliness, both theoretical and practical. Eliot became anxious to enter +the ministry, but the reaction of Church principles, which had set in +with James I., was an obstacle in his way; and imagining all ceremonial +not observed by the foreign Protestants to be oppressions on Christian +liberty, it became the strongest resolution of the whole party to accept +nothing of all these rites, and thus ordination became impossible to +them, while the laws were stringent against any preaching or praying +publicly by any unordained person. The instruction of youth was likewise +only permitted to those who were licensed by the bishop of the diocese; +and Mr. Hooker, failing to fulfil the required tests, was silenced, and, +although forty-seven clergy petitioned on his behalf, was obliged to flee +to Holland. + +This decided Eliot, then twenty-seven years of age, on leaving England, +and seeking a freer sphere of action in the newly-founded colonies of New +England, which held a charter from Government. He took leave of his +betrothed, of whom we only know that her Christian name was Anne +(gracious), and that her nature answered to her name, and sailed on the +3rd of November, 1631, in the ship _Lyon_, with a company of sixty +persons, among whom were the family of Governor Winthrop. + +They landed at Boston, then newly rising into a city over its harbour, +and there he found his services immediately required to conduct the +worship in the congregation during the absence of the pastor, who had +gone to England finally to arrange his affairs. + +On his return, Mr. Eliot was found to be in such favour, that the +Bostonites strove to retain him as an assistant minister; but this he +refused, knowing that many friends in England wished to found a separate +settlement of their own; and in less than a year this arrangement was +actually carried out, a steep hill in the forest-land was selected, and a +staunch band of East Saxons, bringing with them the gracious Anne, came +forth. John Eliot was married, elected pastor, ordained, after +Presbyterian custom, by the laying on of the hands of the ministers in +solemn assembly, and then took possession of the abode prepared for him +and of the building on the top of the hill, where his ministrations were +to be conducted. + +These old fathers of the United States had found a soil, fair and well +watered; and though less rich than the wondrous alluvial lands to the +west, yet with capacities to yield them plentiful provision, when cleared +from the vast forest that covered it. Nor had they come for the sake of +wealth or luxury; the earnestness of newly-awakened, and in some degree +persecuted, religion was upon them, and they regarded a sufficiency of +food and clothing as all that they had a right to seek. Indeed, the +spirit of ascetiscism was one of their foremost characteristics. Eliot +was a man who lived in constant self-restraint as to both sleep and diet, +and, on all occasions of special prayer, prefaced them by a rigorous +fast--and he seems to have been in a continual atmosphere of devotion. + +One of his friends objected (oddly enough as it seems to us) to his +stooping to pick up a weed in his garden. "Sir, you tell us we must be +heavenly-minded." + +"It is true," he said, "and this is no impediment unto that; for, were I +sure to go to heaven to-morrow, I would do what I do to-day." + +And, like many a good Christian, his outward life was to him full of +allegory. Going up the steep hill to his church, he said, "This is very +like the way to heaven. 'Tis up hill! The Lord in His grace fetch us +up;" and spying a bush near him, he added, "And truly there are thorns +and briars in the way, too." + +He had great command of his flock at Roxbury, and was a most diligent +preacher and catechiser, declaring, in reference to the charge to St. +Peter, that "the care of the lambs is one-third part of the charge to the +Church of God." An excellent free school was founded at Roxbury, which +was held in great repute in the time of Cotton Mather, to whom we owe +most of our knowledge of this good man. The biography is put together in +the peculiar fashion of that day, not chronologically, but under heads +illustrating his various virtues, so that it is not easy to pick out the +course of his undertakings. Before passing on to that which especially +distinguished him, we must give an anecdote or two from the "article" +denominated "His exquisite charity." His wife had become exceedingly +skilful in medicine and in dealing with wounds, no small benefit in a +recent colony scant of doctors, and she gave her aid freely to all who +stood in need of help. A person who had taken offence at something in +one of his sermons, and had abused him passionately, both in speech and +in writing, chanced to wound himself severely, whereupon he at once sent +his wife to act as surgeon; and when the man, having recovered, came to +return thanks and presents, he would accept nothing, but detained him to +a friendly meal, "and," says Mather, "by this carriage he mollified and +conquered the stomach of his reviler." + +"He was also a great enemy to all contention, and would ring a loud +_Courfew Bell_ wherever he saw the fires of animosity." When he heard +any ministers complain that such and such in their flocks were too +difficult for them, the strain of his answer was still: "Brother, compass +them;" and, "Brother, learn the meaning of those three little words, +'bear, forbear, forgive.'" + +Once, when at an assembly of ministers a bundle of papers containing +matters of difference and contention between two parties--who, he +thought, should rather unite--was laid on the table, Eliot rose up and +put the whole upon the fire, saying, "Brethren, wonder not at that which +I have done: I did it on my knees this morning before I came among you." + +But that "exquisite charity" seems a little one-sided in another anecdote +recorded of him, when "a godly gentleman of Charlestown, one Mr. Foster, +with his son, was taken captive by his Turkish enemies." {f:6} Public +prayers were offered for his release: but when tidings were received that +the "Bloody Prince" who had enslaved him had resolved that no captive +should be liberated in his own lifetime, and the distressed friends +concluded, "Our hope is lost;" Mr. Eliot, "in some of his prayers before +a very solemn congregation, very broadly begged, 'Heavenly Father, work +for the redemption of Thy poor servant Foster, and if the prince which +detains him will not, as they say, release him so long as himself lives, +Lord, we pray Thee kill that cruel prince, kill him, and glorify Thyself +upon him.' And now behold the answer. The poor captiv'd gentleman +quickly returns to us that had been mourning for him as a lost man, and +brings us news that the prince, which had hitherto held him, was come to +an untimely death, by which means he was now set at liberty." + +"And to turn their hearts" was a form that did not occur to the earnest +suppliant for his friend. But the "cruel prince" was far away out of +sight, and there was no lack of charity in John Eliot's heart for the +heathen who came into immediate contact with him. Indeed, he was the +first to make any real effort for their conversion. + +The colonists were as yet only a scanty sprinkling in easy reach of the +coast, and had done little at present to destroy the hunting-grounds of +the Red man who had hitherto held possession of the woods and plains. + +The country was inhabited by the Pequot Indians, a tall, +well-proportioned, and active tribe, belonging to the great Iroquois +nation. They set up their wigwams of bark, around which their squaws +cultivated the rapidly growing crop of maize while the men hunted the +buffalo and deer, and returning with their spoil, required every +imaginable service from their heavily-oppressed women, while they +themselves deemed the slightest exertion, except in war and hunting, +beneath their dignity. Their nature had much that was high and noble; +and in those days had not yet been ruined either by the White man's vices +or his cruelty. They were neither the outcast savages nor the abject +inferiors that two hundred years have rendered their descendants, but far +better realized the description in Longfellow's "Hiawatha," of the +magnificently grave, imperturbably patient savage, the slave of his word, +and hospitable to the most scrupulous extent. It was in mercy and +tenderness that the character was the most deficient. The whole European +instinct of forbearance and respect to woman was utterly wanting,--the +squaws were the most degraded of slaves; and to the captive the most +barbarous cruelty was shown. Experience has shown that there is +something in the nature of the Red Indian which makes him very slow of +being able to endure civilization, renders wandering almost a necessity +to his constitution, and generally makes him, when under restraint, even +under the most favourable conditions, dwindle away, lose all his fine +natural endowments, and become an abject and often a vicious being. The +misfortune has been that, with a few honourable exceptions, it has not +been within the power of the better and more thoughtful portion of man to +change the Red Indian's vague belief in his "Great Spirit" to a more +systematic and stringent acceptance of other eternal verities and their +consequent obligations, and at the same time leave him free to lead the +roving life of the patriarchs of old; since, as Scripture itself shows +us, it takes many generations to train the wandering hunter to a tiller +of the soil, or a dweller in cities; and the shock to the wild man of a +sudden change is almost always fatal both to mental and bodily health. +This conclusion, however, has been a matter of slow and sad experience, +often confused by the wretched effects of the vice, barbarity, and +avarice of the settler and seaman, which in many cases have counteracted +the effects of the missionary, and accelerated the extinction of the +native. + +In John Eliot's time, there was all to hope; and the community of +Englishmen with whom he lived, though stern, fierce, intolerant, and at +times cruel in their intolerance, did not embarrass his work nor corrupt +the Indians by the grosser and coarser vices, when, in his biographer's +words, "our Eliot was on such ill terms with the devil as to alarm him +with sounding the silver trumpets of Heaven in his territories, and make +some noble and zealous endeavours towards ousting him of his ancient +possessions." The Pilgrim Fathers had obtained their land by fair +purchase, _i.e._ if purchase could be fair where there was no real mutual +understanding; and a good deal of interest had been felt in England in +the religious state of the Red men. The charter to the colony had +enforced their conversion on the settlers, and Dr. Lake, Bishop of Bath +and Wells, declared that but for his old age and infirmities he would +have headed a mission to America for the purpose. Had he done so, +perhaps something systematic might have been attempted. As it was the +new colonists had too severe a struggle with their own difficulties to +attend to their heathen surroundings, even though the seal of their +colony of Massachusetts represented an Indian with the label in his +mouth, "Come over and help us." A few conversions had taken place, but +rather owing to the interest in the White men's worship taken by +individual Indians, than to any efforts on the part of the settlers. + +Sixteen years, however, passed without overt aggression, though already +was beginning the sad story that is repeated wherever civilized man +extends his frontiers. The savage finds his hunting-ground broken up, +the White man's farm is ruined by the game or the chase, the luxuries of +civilization excite the natives' desires, mistrust leads to injury, +retaliation follows, and then war. + +In 1634, only two years after Eliot's arrival, two gentlemen, with their +boat's crew, were killed on the Connecticut river, and some of the +barbarities took place that we shall too often have to notice--attacks by +the natives on solitary dwellings or lonely travellers, and increasing +anger on the part of the colonists, until they ceased to regard their +enemies as fellow-creatures. + +However, the Pequots were likewise at war with the Dutch and with the +Narragansets, or river Indians, and they sent a deputation to endeavour +to make peace with the English, and secure their assistance against these +enemies. They were appointed to return for their answer in a month's +time; and after consultation with the clergy, Mr. Dudley and Mr. Ludlow, +the Governor and Deputy-Governor, decided on making a treaty with them, +on condition of their delivering up the murderers of the Englishmen, and +paying down forty beaver and thirty otter skins, besides 400 fathoms of +wampum, _i.e._ strings of the small whelks and Venus-shells that served +as current coin, a fathom being worth about five shillings. + +It surprises us that Eliot's name first appears in connection with the +Indians as an objector to this treaty, and in a sermon too, at Roxbury; +not on any grounds of injustice to the Indians, but because it had been +conducted by the magistrates without reference to the people, which was +an offence to his views of the republican rights to be exercised in the +colony. So serious was his objection deemed, that a deputation was +appointed to explain the principles on which Government had acted, and +thus convince Mr. Eliot, which they did so effectually that he retracted +his censure in his next sermon. + +Probably this was what first awakened John Eliot's interest in the Red- +skins; but for the next few years, in spite of the treaty, there was a +good deal of disturbance on the frontier, and some commission of +cruelties, until the colonists became gradually roused into fury. Some +tribes were friendly with them; and, uniting with these the Mohicans and +river Indians, under the conduct of Uncas, the Mohican chief, seventy- +seven Englishmen made a raid into the Pequot country and drove them from +it. Then, in 1637, a battle, called "the Great Swamp Fight," took place +between the English, Dutch, and friendly Indians on the one hand, and the +Pequots on the other. It ended in the slaughter of seven hundred of the +Pequots and thirteen of their Sachems. The wife of one of the Sachems +was taken, and as she had protected two captive English girls she was +treated with great consideration, and was much admired for her good sense +and modesty; but the other prisoners were dispersed among the settlers to +serve as slaves, and a great number of the poor creatures were shipped +off to the West India Islands to work on the sugar plantations. + +Those who had escaped the battle were hunted down by the Mohicans and +Narragansets, who continually brought their scalps in to the English +towns, and at last they were reduced to sue for peace when only 200 +braves were still living. These, with their families, were amalgamated +with the Mohicans and Narragansets, and expelled from their former +territory, on which the English settled. An annual tribute of a length +of wampum, for every male in the tribe, varying according to age and +rank, was paid to the English, and their supremacy was so entirely +established that nearly forty years of peace succeeded. + +Eliot's missionary enterprise, Mather allows, was first inspired by the +"remarkable zeal of the Romish missionaries," by whom he probably means +the French Jesuits, who were working with much effect in the settlements +in Louisiana, first occupied in the time of Henri IV. Another stimulus +came from the expressions in the Royal Charter which had granted licence +for the establishment of the colony, namely, "To win and incite the +natives of that country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true +God and Saviour of mankind and the Christian faith, in our Royal +intention and the Adventurers' free profession, is the principal end of +the Plantation." + +That the devil himself was the Red men's master, and came to their +assistance when summoned by the incantations of their medicine men, was +the universal belief of the colonists, in corroboration of which the +following story is given:--"The Indians in their wars with us, finding a +sore inconvenience by our dogs, which would make a sad yelling if in the +night they scented the approaches of them, they sacrificed a dog to the +devil, after which no English dog would bark at an Indian for divers +months ensuing." + +In the intended contest Mr. Eliot began by preaching and making +collections from the English settlers, and likewise "he hires a native to +teach him this exotick language, and, with a laborious care and skill, +reduces it into a grammar, which afterwards he published. There is a +letter or two of our alphabet which the Indians never had in theirs; +though there were enough of the dog in their temper, there can scarce be +found an R in their language, . . . but, if their alphabet be short, I am +sure the words composed of it are long enough to tire the patience of any +scholar in the world; they are _Sesquipedalia verba_, of which their +linguo is composed. For instance, if I were to translate our Loves, it +must be nothing shorter than _Noowomantamoonkanunonush_. Or to give my +reader a longer word, _Kremmogkodonattootummootiteaonganunnnash_ is, in +English, our _question_." + +The worthy Mr. Mather adds, with a sort of apology, that, having once +found that the demons in a possessed young woman understood Latin, Greek, +and Hebrew, he himself tried them with this Indian tongue, and "the +demons did seem as if they understood it." Indeed, he thinks the words +must have been growing ever since the confusion of Babel! The fact +appears to be, that these are what are now called agglutinate languages, +and, like those of all savage tribes, in a continual course of +alteration--also often using a long periphrastic description to convey an +idea or form a name. A few familiar instances will occur, such as +_Niagara_, "thunder of water." + +This formidable language Mr. Eliot--the anagram of whose name, Mather +appropriately observes, was _Toils_--mastered with the assistance of a +"pregnant-witted Indian," who had been a servant in an English family. By +the help of his natural turn for philology, he was able to subdue this +instrument to his great and holy end,--with what difficulty may be +estimated from the sentence with which he concluded his grammar: "Prayer +and pains through faith in CHRIST JESUS will do anything." + +It was in the year 1646, while Cromwell was gradually obtaining a +preponderating influence in England, and King Charles had gone to seek +protection in the Scottish army, that John Eliot, then in his +forty-second year, having thus prepared himself, commenced his campaign. + +He had had a good deal of conversation with individual Indians who came +about the settlement at Roxbury, and who perceived the advantages of some +of the English customs. They said they believed that in forty years the +Red and White men would be all one, and were really anxious for this +consummation. When Eliot declared that the superiority of the White race +came from their better knowledge of God, and offered to come and instruct +them, they were full of joy and gratitude; and on the 28th of October, +1646, among the glowing autumn woods, a meeting of Indians was convoked, +to which Mr. Eliot came with three companions. They were met by a chief +named Waban, or the Wind, who had a son at an English school, and was +already well disposed towards them, and who led them to his wigwam, where +the principal men of the tribe awaited them. + + "All the old men of the village, + All the warriors of the nation, + All the Jossakeeds, the prophets, + The magicians, the Wabenos, + And the medicine men, the medas, + Came to bid the strangers welcome. + 'It is well,' they said, 'O brothers, + That you came so far to see us.' + In a circle round the doorway, + With their pipes they sat in silence, + Waiting to behold the strangers, + Waiting to receive their message, + Till the Black Robe chief, the pale face, + From the wigwam came to greet them, + Stammering in his speech a little, + Speaking words yet unfamiliar." + +Mr. Eliot prayed in English, and then preached on the 9th and 10th verses +of the 37th chapter of Ezekiel, where the prophet is bid to call the +Breath of God from the four winds of heaven to give life to the dry bones +around. It so happened that the Indian word for breath or wind was +_Waban_, and this made a great impression, and was afterwards viewed as +an omen. + +The preacher worked up from the natural religion, of which this fine race +already had an idea, to the leading Christian truths. + + Then the Black Robe chief, the prophet, + Told his message to the people, + Told the purport of his mission, + Told them of the Virgin Mary, + And her blessed Son, the Saviour: + How in distant lands and ages + He had lived on earth as we do; + How He fasted, prayed, and laboured; + How the Jews, the tribe accursed, + Mocked Him, scourged Him, crucified Him; + How He rose from where they laid Him, + Walked again with His disciples, + And ascended into heaven." + +The sermon lasted an hour and a quarter, but the Indians are a dignified +and patient people, prone to long discourses themselves, and apt to +listen to them from others. When he finally asked if they had +understood, many voices replied that they had; and, on his encouraging +them to ask questions, many intelligent inquiries were made. The whole +conference lasted three hours, and Mr. Eliot was invited to come again, +which he did at intervals of about a fortnight, and again with good +promise. + +In one of these meetings they asked, very reasonably, why the English +called them Indians, a question it could not have been easy to answer. +The Powaws, or priests, began to make some opposition, but Waban was +continually going about among the people, repeating portions of the +instructions he had received, and teaching his friends to pray--for some +had at first supposed that the English God might not be addressed in the +native tongue, but only in English. + +After some little time, he thought the Indians ripe for being taught to +live a settled life, and obtained for his congregation--"the praying +Indians," as they were commonly called--a grant of the site of his first +instructions. The place was named "Rejoicing,"--in Indian, a word that +soon got corrupted into Nonantum; and, under Mr. Eliot's directions, they +divided their grounds with trenches and stone walls, for which he gave +them tools to the best of his ability. They built wigwams of a superior +construction, and the women learnt to spin; there was a continual +manufacture of brushes, eel-pots, and baskets, which were sold in the +English towns, together with turkeys, fish, venison, and fruits, +according to the season. At hay and harvest times they would hire +themselves out to work for their English neighbours, but were thought +unable or unwilling to do what sturdy Englishmen regarded as a fair day's +work. + +A second settlement of praying Indians followed at Neponset, around the +wigwam of a Sachem named Cutshamakin, a man of rank much superior to +Waban. He had already been in treaty with the English, and had promised +to observe the Ten Commandments, but had unhappily learnt also from the +English that love of drink which was the bane of the Indian; and while +Mr. Eliot was formally instructing the family, one of the sons, a boy of +fifteen, when learning the fifth commandment, persisted in saying only +"honour thy mother," and, when admonished, declared that his father had +given him fire-water, which had intoxicated him, and had besides been +passionate and violent with him. The boy had always been a rude, +contumacious fellow, and at the next lecture day Mr. Eliot turned to the +Sachem, and lamented over these faults, but added that the first step to +reforming him would be for his father to set the example by a confession +of his own sins, which were neither few nor light. + +The Sachem's pride was subdued. He stood up and openly declared his +offences, lamenting over them with deep sincerity. The boy was so +touched that he made humble confession in his turn, and entreated +forgiveness. His parents were so much moved that they wept aloud, and +the board on which Cutshamakin stood was wet with his tears. He was +softened then, but, poor man, he said: "My heart is but very little +better than it was, and I am afraid it will be as bad again as it was +before. I sometimes wish I might die before I be so bad again!" + +Poor Cutshamakin! he estimated himself truly. The Puritan discipline, +which aimed at acting on the conduct rather through the conscience and +feelings than by means of grace, never entirely subdued him, and he +remained a fitfully fierce, and yet repentant, savage to the end of his +life. His squaw must have been a clever woman; for, being publicly +reprimanded by the Indian preacher Nabanton, for fetching water on a +Sunday, she told him after the meeting that he had done more harm by +raising the discussion than she had done by fetching the water. + +Sunday was impressed upon the natives with all the strictness peculiar to +the British Calvinists in their reaction from the ale-feasts, juggleries, +and merry-makings of the almost pagan fifteenth century. It is never +hard to make savage converts observe a day of rest; they are generally +used to keep certain seasons already, and, as Mr. Eliot's Indians +honestly said, they do so little work at any time that a weekly +abstinence from it comes very easily. At Nonantum, indeed, they seem to +have emulated the Pharisees themselves in their strictness. Waban got +into trouble for having a racoon killed to entertain two unexpected +guests; and a case was brought up at public lecture of a man who, finding +his fire nearly gone out, had violated the Sabbath by splitting one piece +of dry wood with his axe. + +But the "weightier matters of the law" were not by any means forgotten, +and there was a continual struggle to cure the converts of their new vice +of drunkenness, and their old habit of despising and maltreating their +squaws, who in the Christian villages were raised to a state far less +degraded; for any cruelty or tyranny towards them was made matter of +public censure and confession in the assembly. + +Several more distant journeys were taken by Mr. Eliot, some of them to +the Merrimac River to see a powerful old Sachem of a great age, named +Passaconaway, who his people believed to be able to make green leaves +grow in winter, trees dance, and water burn. + +He was so much afraid of the Missionary that he fled away the first time +he heard he was coming, probably thinking him a great sorcerer; but the +next time he remained, listened eagerly, expressed his intention of +praying, and tried to induce Mr. Eliot to settle in his district. He +lived to a great age, and left a charge with his children never to +contend with the English, having convinced himself that the struggle was +hopeless. Several other Sachems gave a sort of attention: and it +appeared that the way had been in some degree prepared by a French +priest, who had been wrecked on Cape Cod, had been passed from one tribe +to another, and had died among them, but not without having left a +tradition of teaching which was by some identified with Eliot's. + +Of one Sachem, Mather tells a story: "While Mr. Eliot was preaching of +Christ unto the other Indians, a demon appeared unto a Prince of the +Eastern Indians in a shape that had some resemblance of Mr. Eliot or of +an English minister, pretending to be the Englishman's God. The spectre +commanded him 'to forbear the drinking of rum and to observe the Sabbath- +day, and to deal justly with his neighbours;' all which things had been +inculcated in Mr. Eliot's ministry, promising therewithal unto him that, +if he did so, at his death his soul should ascend into a happy place, +otherwise descend unto miseries; but the apparition all the while never +said one word about Christ, which was the main subject of Mr. Eliot's +ministry. The Sachem received such an impression from the apparition +that he dealt justly with all men except in the bloody tragedies and +cruelties he afterwards committed on the English in our wars. He kept +the Sabbath-day like a fast, frequently attending in our congregations; +he would not meddle with any rum, though usually his countrymen had +rather die than undergo such a piece of self-denial. That liquor has +merely enchanted them. At last, and not long since, this demon appeared +again unto this pagan, requiring him to kill himself, and assuring him +that he should revive in a day or two, never to die any more. He +thereupon divers times attempted it, but his friends very carefully +prevented it; however, at length he found a _fair_ opportunity for this +_foul_ business, and hanged himself,--you may be sure without his +expected resurrection." + +This story, grotesque as it sounds in the solemn simplicity of the worthy +Puritan, is really only an instance of what takes place wherever the +light of the Gospel is held up to men capable of appreciating its +standard of morality, but too proud to bend the spirit to accept the +doctrine of the Cross. The Sachem was but a red-skinned "seeker after +God," an "ape of Christianity," like Marcus Aurelius, and like the many +others we shall meet with who loved darkness rather than light, not so +much because their deeds were evil as because their hearts were proud. + +Like all practical men, Eliot found it absolutely necessary to do what he +called "carrying on civility with religion," _i.e._ instructing the +converts in such of the arts of life as would afford them wholesome +industry; but want of means was his great difficulty, and in the middle +of a civil war England was not very likely to supply him. + +Still he made his Indians at Nonantum hedge and ditch, plant trees, sow +cornfields, and saw planks; and some good man in England, whose name he +never knew, sent him in 1648 ten pounds for schools among the natives, +half of which he gave to a mistress at Cambridge, and half to a master at +Dorchester, under whom the Indian children made good progress, and he +catechized them himself most diligently by way of teaching both them and +the parents who looked on. + +He had by this time translated the Bible, but it remained in manuscript +for want of the means of printing it; and his favourite scheme of +creating an Indian city, with a scriptural government, well out of the +way of temptation from and interference by the English, was also at a +standstill, from his poverty. + +He likewise sustained a great loss in his friend Mr. Shepard, who had +worked with him with equal devotion and enthusiasm, but this loss really +led to the fulfilment of his wishes, for Mr. Shepard's papers were sent +home, and aroused such an interest in Calamy and others of the devout +ministers in London, that the needs of the Indians of New England were +brought before Parliament, and an ordinance was passed on the 27th of +July, 1649, for the advancement of civilization and Christianity among +them. Then a corporation was instituted, entitled the Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel in New England, of which Judge Street was the +first president, and Mr. Henry Ashurst the first treasurer, with powers +to receive the collections that the ministers in every parish were +exhorted to make by authority of Parliament, backed up by letters from +the two Universities. + +There was a good deal of opposition; people fancied it a new plan of +getting money for Government, and were not at all interested about the +Indians, but money enough was collected to purchase lands worth about +500_l._ or 600_l._ a year, by way of foundation, at a time when the +property of Cavaliers was going cheap, and the Society was able to +undertake the cost of printing Eliot's Bible, as well as of building him +an Indian college, of paying his teachers, and of supplying the greatly +needed tools and other necessaries for his much-desired station. + +Still there was a great deal of difficulty and opposition, from the +English dislike and contempt for the Indians, who were judged _en masse_ +by the degraded ones who loitered about the settlements, begging and +drinking; as well as from the Powaws or medicine men who found their +dupes escaping, and tried to terrify them by every means by which it was +possible to work upon their superstition. The Sachems, likewise, were +finding out that Christians were less under their tyranny since they had +had a higher standard, and many opposed Eliot violently, trying to drive +him from their villages with threats and menacing gestures, but he calmly +answered, "I am engaged in the work of God, and God is with me. I fear +not all the Sachems in the country. I shall go on with my work. Touch +me if you dare;" nor did he ever fail to keep the most angry in check +while he was present, though they hated him greatly. Uncas, the chief of +the Mohicans, made a regular complaint to Government that Eliot and his +colleagues prayed by name for the conversion of the Mohicans and +Narragansets. Even Cutshamakin, when he heard of the project of an +Indian town, broke out against it with such fury, that all the men in +favour of it cowered and slunk away from his furious howls and +gesticulations. Mr. Eliot was left alone to confront him, and looking +steadily at him told him that, as this was God's work, no fear of him +should hinder it. The savage quailed before him, but afterwards came to +him and stated that his objection was that the praying Indians did not +pay him their tribute. Eliot kindly answered that this had been +complained of before, and that he had preached a sermon enforcing this +duty upon the tribe. + +The words were good, said Cutshamakin, but the Indians would not obey +them. So Mr. Eliot, after consultation with the ministers and elders in +Boston, invited the Indians who understood English to hear a sermon +there, and in it the duty of rendering to all their due was fully +enforced. Afterwards, however, the Indians came forward declaring +themselves much surprised and mortified at being accused of not paying +their just duty to their chief; and they specified the service and gifts: +each had rendered twenty bushels of corn, six bushels of rye, fifteen +deer, days spent in hunting, the building of a wigwam, reclaiming two +acres of land; and the amount when added up amazed Mr. Eliot. At his +next lecture, then, he took for his text the rejection by the Saviour of +all the kingdoms of the world, and personally applied it to Cutshamakin, +reproaching him with lust of power and worldly ambition, and warning him +that Satan was tempting him to give up the faith for the sake of +recovering his arbitrary power. The discourse and the conversation that +followed again melted the Sachem, and he repented and retracted, although +he continued an unsafe and unstable man. + +At length, in 1651, Mr. Eliot was able to convene his praying Indians and +with them lay the foundation of a town on the banks of Charles River, +about eighteen miles to the south-west of Boston. The spot, as he +believed, had been indicated to him in answer to prayer, and they named +it Natick, or the place of hills. The inhabitants of Nonantum removed +thither, and the work was put in hand. A bridge, eighty feet long and +nine feet wide, had already been laid across the river, entirely by +Indian workmen, under Mr. Eliot's superintendence; and the town was laid +out in three streets, two on one side of the river and one on the other; +the grounds were measured and divided, apple-trees planted, and sowing +begun. The cellars of some of the houses, it is said, remain to the +present day. In the midst was a circular fort, palisaded with trees, and +a large house built in the English style, though with only a day or two +of help from an English carpenter, the lower part of which was to serve +as a place of worship on Sunday, and for a school on other days, the +upper part as a wardrobe and storehouse for valuables, and with a room +partitioned off, and known as "the prophet's chamber," for the use of Mr. +Eliot on his visits to the settlement. Outside were canopies, formed by +mats stretched on poles, one for Mr. Eliot and his attendants, another +for the men, and a third for the women. These were apparently to shelter +a sort of forum, and likewise to supplement the school-chapel in warm +weather. A few English-built houses were raised; but the Indians found +them expensive and troublesome, and preferred the bark wigwams on +improved principles. + +The spot was secured to the Indians by the Council of Government, acting +under the Commonwealth at home; but the right of local self-government +was vested in each township; and Eliot, as the guide of his new settlers, +could lead them to what he believed to be a truly scriptural code, such +as he longed to see prevail in his native land. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "the +blessed day in England, when the Word of God shall be their Magna Carta +and chief law book, and all lawyers must be divines to study the +Scripture." + +His commencement in carrying out this system was to preach Jethro's +advice to Moses, and thence deduce that the Indians should divide +themselves into hundreds and into tens, and elect rulers for each +division, each tithing man being responsible for the ten under him, each +chief of a hundred for the ten tithings. This was done on the 6th of +August, 1651; and Eliot declared that it seemed to him as if he beheld +the scattered bones he had spoken of in his first sermon to the Indians, +come bone to bone, and a civil political life begin. His hundreds and +tithings were as much suggested by the traditional arrangements of King +Alfred as by those of Moses in the wilderness; and his next step was, in +like manner, partly founded on Scripture, partly on English +history,--namely, the binding his Indians by a solemn covenant to serve +the Lord, and ratifying it on a fast-day. His converts had often asked +him why he held none of the great fast-days with them that they saw the +English hold, and he had always replied that there was not a sufficient +occasion, but he regarded this as truly important enough. Moreover, a +ship containing some supplies, sent by the Society in England, had been +wrecked, and the goods, though saved, were damaged. This he regarded as +a frown of Providence and a fruit of sin. Poor Cutshamakin also was in +trouble again, having been drawn into a great revel, where much spirits +had been drunk; and his warm though unstable temper always made him ready +to serve as a public example of confession and humiliation. So when, on +the 24th of September, 1651, Mr. Eliot had conducted the fast-day +service, it began with Cutshamakin's confession; then three Indians +preached and prayed in turn, and Mr. Eliot finally preached on Ezra's +great fast. There was a pause for rest; then the assembly came together +again, and before them Mr. Eliot solemnly recited the terms of the +Covenant, by which all were to bind themselves to the service of the +Lord, and which included all their principal laws. He asked them whether +they stood to the Covenant. All the chiefs first bound themselves, then +the remainder of the people; a collection was made for the poor; and so +ended that "blessed day," as the happy apostle of the Indians called it. + +When Governor Endicot shortly after visited the place, he was greatly +struck with the orderliness and civilization he found there. "I account +this one of the best journeys I have made for many years," he says. Many +little manufactures were carried on, in particular one of drums, which +were used for lack of bells in some of the American settlements, as a +summons to come to church. + +There was a native schoolmaster, named Monequassum, who could write, +read, and spell English correctly, and under whom the children were +making good progress. Promising lads were trained by Mr. Eliot himself, +in hopes of making them act as missionaries among their brethren. All +this time his praying Indians were not baptized, nor what he called +"gathered into a Church estate." He seems to have been determined to +have full proof of their stability before he so accepted them; for it was +from no inclination to Baptist views that he so long delayed receiving +them. However, on the 13th of October, 1652, he convened his brother- +ministers to hear his Indians make public confession of their faith. What +the converts said was perfectly satisfactory; but they were a long-winded +race, accustomed to flowing periods; and as each man spoke for himself, +and his confession had to be copied down in writing, Mr. Eliot himself +owns that their "enlargement of spirit" did make "the work longsome." So +longsome it was, that while the schoolmaster was speaking every one got +restless, and there was a confusion; and the ministers, who had a long +dark ride through the woods before them, went away, and were hard to +bring back again, so that he had to finish hearing the declarations of +faith alone. + +Still, he cut off the baptism and organization of a church till he had +sent all these confessions to be considered by the Society in England, +printed and published under the title of "Tears of Repentance," with a +dedication to Oliver Cromwell. Then came other delays; some from the +jealousy and distrust of the English, who feared that the Indians were +going to ally themselves to the Dutch; some from the difficulty of +getting pastors to join in the tedious task of listening to the wordy +confessions; and some from the distressing scandal of drunkenness +breaking out among the Indians, in spite of the strict discipline that +always punished it. It was not till 1660 that Mr. Eliot baptized any +Indians, and the next day admitted them to the Lord's Supper, nine years +after he had begun to preach. The numbers we do not know, but there is +no doubt that he received no adults except well proved and tried persons +coming up to the Puritan standard of sincerity and devotion. + +At this time the Society at home was in great danger; for, on the +Restoration, the charter had become void, and, moreover, the principal +estate that formed the endowment had been the property of a Roman +Catholic,--Colonel Bedingfield,--who resumed possession, and refused to +refund the purchase money, as considering the Society at an end. It +would probably have been entirely lost, but for the excellent Robert +Boyle, so notable at once for his science, piety, and beneficence. He +placed the matter in its true light before Lord Clarendon, and obtained +by his means a fresh charter from Charles II. The judgment in the Court +of Chancery was given in favour of the Society, and Boyle himself +likewise endowed it with a third part of a grant of the forfeited +impropriations in Ireland which he had received from the king. But all +the time there was a great disbelief in the efficacy of the work among +the Indians both at home and in New England. It was the fashion to call +all the stories of Indian conversions mere devices for getting money, and +the unhappy, proud hostility that almost always actuated the ordinary +English colonist in dealing with natives, was setting in in full force. +However, at Massachusetts, the general court appointed an English +magistrate to hold a court of judicature in conjunction with the chiefs +of the Christian Indians, and to be in fact a sort of special member of +government on their behalf. The first so appointed was Daniel Gookin, a +man of great piety, wisdom, and excellence, and a warm friend of Mr. +Eliot, with whom he worked most heartily, not only in dealing with the +Indians of Natick, but with all those who came under English +jurisdiction, providing schools, and procuring the observance of the +Sunday among them. It was also provided that the Christian Indians +should set apart a tenth of all their produce for the support of their +teachers--a practice that Mr. Gookin defended from the charge of Judaism. +It seems as if these good men, who went direct to the Old Testament for +their politics, must have been hard set between their desire of +scriptural authority and their dread of Judaizing. + +It was well for Eliot that he had friends, for in the first flush of the +tidings of the successes of the Puritans in England, he had written a set +of papers upon Government, entitled the "Christian Commonwealth," which +had been sent to England, and there lay dormant for nine or ten years, +until in the midst of all the excitement on the Restoration, this +speculative work, the theory of a scholar upon Christian democracy, was +actually printed and launched upon the world at home, whether by an enemy +or by an ill-advised friend does not appear, and without the author's +consent. Complaints of this as a seditious book came out to New England, +and John Eliot was forced to appear before the court, when he owned the +authorship, but disowned the publication, and retracted whatever might +have declared the Government of England, by King, Lords, and Commons, to +be anti-Christian, avowing it to be "not only a lawful but eminent form +of government, and professing himself ready to conform to any polity that +could be deduced from Scripture as being of Divine authority." The court +was satisfied, and suppressed the book, while publishing Mr. Eliot's +retractation. Some have sneered at his conduct on this occasion as an +act of moral cowardice; but it would be very hard if every man were bound +to stand to all the political views expressed in an essay never meant for +the general eye, ten years old, and written in the enthusiasm of the +commencement of an experiment, which to the Presbyterian mind had proved +a grievous disappointment. + +He had a much more important work in hand than the defence of old dreams +of the reign of the saints--for the Society for the Propagation of the +Gospel in New England had just finished printing his translation of the +New Testament, _Wusku Wuttestermentum_ as it was called, and in two years +more the Old Testament was finished. A copy was presented to Charles +II., to the Chancellor Clarendon, and to the two Universities in England, +as well as to Harvard College. It was in the Mohican dialect, which was +sufficiently like that of the neighbouring tribes to serve for them, and +had all the correctness that the scholarship and philology of the time +could furnish. There is a story that Eliot wrote the whole with a single +pen. It went through a good many editions, but is now very rare, and +with Eliot's Catechism, and translations of Baxter's chief works, and a +metrical version of the Psalms, remains the only vestige of the language +of the Mohicans. + +There were now several Indian congregations, one in especial at the +island called Martha's Vineyard, under the charge of an Indian pastor, +John Hiacoomes, who is said to have been the first red-skinned convert, +and who had made proof of much true Christian courage. Once in the act +of prayer he received a severe blow from a Sachem, and would have been +killed if some English had not been present; but all his answer was, "I +have two hands. I had one hand for injuries, and the other for God. +While I did receive wrong with the one, the other laid the greater hold +on God." + +When some of the Powaws, or medicine men, were boasting that they could, +if they would, destroy all the praying Indians at once, Hiacoomes made +reply: "Let all the Powaws in the island come together, I'll venture +myself in the midst among them all. Let them use all their witchcrafts. +With the help of God, I'll tread upon them all!" + +By which defiance he wonderfully "heartened" his flock, who, Christians +as they were, had still been beset by the dread of the magic arts, in +which, as we have seen, even their White teachers did not wholly +disbelieve. + +Such a man as this was well worthy of promotion, and Mr. Eliot hoped to +educate his more promising scholars, so as to supply a succession of +learned and trained native pastors. Two young men, named Joel and Caleb, +were sent to Harvard College, Cambridge, where they both were gaining +distinguished success, and were about to take their degree, when Joel, +who had gone home on a visit, was wrecked on the Island of Nantucket, +and, with the rest of the ship's company, was either drowned or murdered +by the Indians. The name of Caleb, Chee-shah-teau-muck, Indus, is still +to be seen in the registers of those who took their degree, and there are +two Latin and Greek elegies remaining, which he composed on the death of +an eminent minister, bearing his signature, with the addition, Senior +Sophister. How curiously do the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin proclaim +themselves the universal languages, thus blending with the uncouth +Mohican word! Caleb's constitution proved unable to endure College +discipline and learning, and he died of decline soon after taking his +degree. Consumption was very frequent among the Indians, as it so often +is among savages suddenly brought to habits of civilization, and it seems +to have mown down especially the more intellectual of the Indians; +Monequassum, the first schoolmaster at Natick, among them. An Indian +College, which had been established at Cambridge, failed from the deaths +of some scholars and the discouragement of others, and had to be turned +into a printing house, and the energetic and indefatigable Eliot did the +best he could by giving courses of lectures in logic and theology to +candidates for the ministry at Natick, and even printed an "Indian logick +primer." It was a wonderful feat, considering the loose unwieldy words +of the language. + +From 1660 to 1675 were Eliot's years of chief success. His own vigour +was unabated, and he had Major Gookin's hearty co-operation. There had +been time for a race of his own pupils to grow up; and there had not been +time for the first love of his converts to wax cool. There had been a +long interval of average peace and goodwill between English and natives, +and there seemed good reason to suppose that Christianity and +civilization would keep them friends, if not fuse them together. There +were eleven hundred Christian Indians, according to Eliot and Gookin's +computation, with six regularly constituted "churches" after the fashion +of Natick, and fourteen towns, of which seven were called old and seven +new, where praying Indians lived, for the most part, in a well-conducted, +peaceable manner, though now and then disorderly conduct would take +place, chiefly from drunkenness. Several Sachems had likewise been +converted, in especial Wanalanset, the eldest son of the famous old chief +Passaconnaway. After four years of hesitation whether he should, as he +said, quit his old canoe and embark in a new one, he came to the +conclusion that the old canoe was floating down the stream of +destruction, and manfully embraced the faith, although at the cost of +losing many of his tribe, who deserted him on his profession of +Christianity. + +But there is always a period of check and disappointment in every great +and holy work. The tide of evil may be driven into ebb for a time, but +it always rallies and flows back upon the servant of God, and usually +when the prime of his strength is past, and he is less able to withstand. +Most good and great men have closed their eyes upon apparent failure and +disappointment in what is especially their own task, and, like the first +great Leader and Lawgiver, have had to cry, "Show Thy servants Thy work, +and their children Thy glory." Often the next generation does see the +success, and gather the fruits; but the strong, wise, scholarly, +statesman-like Apostle of the Indians was destined to see his work swept +away like snow before the rage and fury of man, and to leave behind him +little save a great witness and example. At least he had the comfort of +knowing that the evil did not arise among his own children in the faith, +but came from causes entirely external, and as much to be preferred as +persecution is better than corruption. + +The Sachem nearest to Plymouth had been at the first arrival of the +Pilgrim Fathers, Massasoiet, chief of the Wampanongs, who had kept the +peace out of fear. His son Alexander had followed his example, but it +was current among the English that he had died of "choler," on being +detected in a plot against them, and his successor, Philip, was a man of +more than common pride, fierceness, cunning, and ability. These were +only names given them by the English; none of them were Christians. Mr. +Eliot had made some attempts upon Philip, but had been treated with +scorn. The Sachem, twisting a button upon the minister's coat, told him +he cared not _that_ for his Gospel; but Major Gookin had some hopes of +having touched his heart. + +However, there were indications that he was endeavouring to unite all the +surrounding tribes in an alliance against the colony. A murder of an +Englishman had taken place, and the Government at Plymouth required all +natives to surrender the fire-arms they had obtained from the English. +Even Philip consented to deliver them up until the English should see no +further cause for detaining them. Upon this, in June 1671, Eliot wrote a +remarkable letter to Mr. Prince, the Governor of Plymouth, requiring him +not to detain the arms, especially of Philip. "My reasons are," he says, +"first, lest we render ourselves more afraid of them and their guns than +indeed we are or have cause to be. Alas! it is not the gun, but the man; +nor, indeed, is it the man, but our sin that we have cause to be afraid +of. Secondly, your so doing will open an effectual door to the +entertainment of the Gospel." Probably Mr. Eliot was right, and the +keeping the arms only irritated the high-spirited chief, who said to the +messenger of the Governor of Massachusetts, "Your governor is but a +subject. I will not treat but with my brother, King Charles of England." + +For four years enmity smouldered on. The rights of the dispute will +never be known. The settlers laid all upon Philip's machinations, except +those who lived near his wigwams and knew him best; and they said that so +far from entering into a conspiracy, he always deplored the war, but was +forced on by the rage and fury of the young braves, over whom the Sachems +had no real power, and who wanted to signalize their valour, and could +not fail to have their pride insulted by the demeanour of the ordinary +English. One instance of brutality on the river Saco is said to have +been the immediate cause of the war in that district. Some English +sailors, seeing a canoe with an Indian woman and her infant, and having +heard that a papoose could swim like a duck, actually upset the canoe to +make the experiment. The poor baby sank, and the mother dived and +brought it up alive, but it died so soon after, that the loss was laid to +the charge of the cruel men by the father, who was a Sachem named +Squando, of considerable dignity and influence, a great medicine man. + +On Philip's border to the southward, a plantation called Swawny was +attacked and burnt by the Indians in the June of 1675. He is said to +have shed tears (impassible Indian as he was) at the tidings, foreseeing +the utter ruin of his people; and, twenty days after, Squando's influence +led to another attack 200 miles off, and this was viewed as a sign of +complicity with Philip. + +There was deadly terror among the English. The Indians swarmed down at +night on lonely villages and farmhouses, slew, scalped, burnt, and now +and then carried off prisoners to be tortured to death, and children to +tell by and by strange tales of life in the wigwams. The militia were +called out, but left their houses unprotected. At Newich-wannock, the +farmhouse of a man named Tozer was attacked by the Indians when only +tenanted by fifteen women and children. A girl of eighteen, who was the +first to see the approach, bravely shut the door and set her back against +it; thus giving time for the others to escape by another door to a better +secured building. The Indians chopped the door to pieces with their +hatchets, knocked the girl down, left her for dead, and hurried on in +pursuit of the others, but only came up with two poor little children, +who had not been able to get over the fence. The rest were saved, and +the brave girl recovered from her wounds; but other attacks ended far +more fatally for the sufferers, and the rage and alarm of the New +Englanders were great. A few of the recently taught and unbaptized +Indians from what were called the "new praying towns" had joined their +countrymen; and though the great body of the converts were true and +faithful, the English confounded them all in one common hatred to the Red- +skin. The magistrates and Government were not infected by this blind +passion, and did all they could to restrain it, showing trust in the +Christian natives by employing them in the war, when they rendered good +and faithful service; but the commonalty, who were in the habit of +viewing the whole people as Hivites and Jebusites, treated these allies +with such distrust and contumely as was quite enough to alienate them. + +In July 1675, three Christian Indians were sent as guides and +interpreters to an expedition to treat with the Indians in the Nipmuck +country. One was made prisoner, but the two officers in command gave the +fullest testimony to the good conduct of the other two; nevertheless they +were so misused on their return that Mr. Gookin declared that they had +been, by ill-treatment, "in a manner constrained to fall off to the +enemy." One was killed by a scouting party of praying Indians; the other +was taken, sold as a slave, and sent to Jamaica; and though Mr. Eliot +prevailed to have him brought back, and redeemed his wife and children, +he was still kept in captivity. + +The next month, August, a number of the Christian Indians were arrested +and sent up to Boston to be tried for some murders that had been +committed at Lancaster. Eliot and Gookin succeeded in proving their +perfect innocence, but the magistrates had great difficulty in saving +their lives from the fury of the mob, who thirsted for Indian blood, and +both minister and major were insulted and reviled, so that Gookin said on +the bench that it was not safe for him to walk in the streets; and when +Eliot met with a dangerous boat accident, wishes were expressed that he +had been drowned. + +Natick was looked upon with so much distrust and aversion that +Government, fearing occasions of bloodshed, decided that the inhabitants +must be removed to Deer Island. On the 7th of October a great fast-day, +with prayer and preaching, had been held, and fierce and bitter +entreaties had been uttered against the Indian Sachems, especially +Philip. One wonders whether Eliot--now seventy-one years old--felt it +come home to him that he knew not what spirit he had been of when he had +prayed for the death of the Moorish prince. It must have been a heart- +breaking time for the aged man, to see the spot founded in so much hope +and prayer, the fruit of so much care and meditation, thus broken up and +ruined, and when he was too old to do the like work over again. At the +end of that month of October, Captain Thomas Prentiss, with a party of +horse and five or six carts, arrived at Natick, and made known the +commands of the Government. Sadly but patiently the Indians submitted. +Two hundred men, women, and children were made to get together all they +could carry, and marched from their homes to the banks of the Charles +River. Here, at a spot called the Pines, Mr. Eliot met them, and they +gathered round him to hear his words of comfort, as he exhorted them to +meek patience, resignation, and steadiness to the faith. The scene was +exceedingly affecting, as the white-haired pastor stood by the river-side +beneath the tall pines, with his dark-skinned, newly reclaimed children +about him, clinging to him for consolation, but neither murmuring nor +struggling, only praying and encouraging one another. Captain Prentiss +and his soldiers were deeply touched; but at midnight, when the tide was +high enough, three large boats bore the Indians over to Deer Island. Here +they were, transplanted from their comfortable homes in the beginning of +a long and very severe winter; but, well divided by the river from all +suspicion of doing violence, they fared better than the praying Indians +of the new town of Wamesit. A barn full of hay and corn had been burnt, +and fourteen men of Chelmsford, the next settlement, concluding it had +been done by the Wamesit Red-skins, went thither, called them out of +their wigwams, and then fired at them, killing a lad and five women and +children. After all, the fire had been caused by some skulking heathen +Indians; but though the Government obtained the arrest of the murderers, +the jury would not find them guilty. The Wamesit Indians fled into the +forest, and sent a piteous letter:--"We are not sorry for what we leave +behind, but we are sorry that the English have driven us from our praying +to God and from our teacher. We did begin to understand praying to God a +_little_." They were invited back, but were afraid to come till cold and +hunger drove them to their old abode, and then the indefatigable Eliot +and Gookin visited them, and did all in their power to bring about a +better feeling towards them in Chelmsford. + +This whole autumn and winter--a terribly severe one--seems to have been +spent by these good men in trying to heal the strifes between the English +and the Indians. Wanalanset had fled, true to his father's policy of +never resisting, and they were sent to invite him back again; but when he +returned, he found that the maize grounds of his settlement had been +ploughed up by the English and sown with rye, so that his tribe had most +scanty subsistence. + +Several settlements of Christians were deported to Deer Island. One +large party had been made prisoners by their heathen countrymen and had +managed to escape, but when met with wandering in the woods by a party of +English soldiers, were plundered of the little the heathens had left +them, in especial of a pewter cup, their communion plate, which Mr. Eliot +had given them, and which was much treasured by their native pastor. The +General interfered in their behalf, but could not protect them from much +ill-usage. The teacher was sent with his old father and young children +to Boston, where Mr. Eliot saw and cheered him before he was conveyed to +Deer Island. There, in December, Eliot, with Gookin and other friends, +frequently visited the Indians, now five hundred in number, and found +them undergoing many privations, but patient, resigned, and unmurmuring. +The snow was four feet deep in the woods by the 10th of December that +year, and the exertion and exposure of travelling, either on snow-shoes +or sledges, must have been tremendous to a man of Mr. Eliot's age; but he +never seems to have intermitted his labours in carrying spiritual and +temporal succour to his people, and in endeavouring to keep the peace +between them and the English. + +The hard winter had had a great effect in breaking the strength of the +enemy, and they were much more feeble on the renewal of the war in the +spring. The good conduct of the praying Indians had overcome the popular +prejudice so much that it was decided to employ them to assist the scanty +forces of the English in hunting down the hostile tribes, and Gookin +boasts of their having taken and slain more than 400 foes in the course +of the summer of 1676, which one would scarcely think was very good for +their recent Christianity. In the mean time, the absence of all the able- +bodied men and hunters reduced their families to such distress that +serious illness broke out among them, and Major Gookin caused them to be +brought to the neighbourhood of Cambridge, where there was good fishing, +and where he could attend to them, and provide them with food, clothing, +and medicine. + +In August Philip was killed, the English believing themselves to "have +prayed the bullet straight into his heart;" and his head was carried +about on a pole, in a manner we should have called worthy of the Indians +themselves, did we not recollect that there were a good many city gates +at home with much the same kind of trophy, while his wife and +children--miserable fate!--were, like many others of the captives, sold +into slavery to the sugar planters in Jamaica. + +After this the war did not entirely cease, but the Christian Indians were +allowed to creep back to their old settlements at Nonantum, and even at +Natick, where Mr. Eliot continued periodically to visit and instruct +them; but after this unhappy war there were only four instead of fourteen +towns of Christian Indians in Massachusetts, and a blow had been given to +his mission that it never recovered. + +Still there was a splendid energy and resolution about this undaunted old +man, now writing a narrative of the Gospel History in his seventy-fourth +year, now sending Robert Boyle new physical facts, now protesting hard +against the cruel policy of selling captive Indians into slavery. What +must not the slavery of the West Indian isles, which had already killed +off their native Caribbeans, have been to these free hunters of the North +American forest, too proud to work for themselves, and bred in a climate +of cold, dry, bracing air? And even in the West Indies, a shipload of +these miserable creatures was refused in the over-stocked market, and the +horrors of the slave-ship were prolonged across the Atlantic, till at +last Mr. Eliot traced the unhappy freight to Tangier. He at once wrote +to conjure the excellent Mr. Boyle to endeavour to have them redeemed and +sent home,--with what success, or if any were left alive, does not +appear. + +He had the pleasure of seeing a son of good Major Gookin become the +minister of a district including Natick, and likewise of the ordination +at Natick of an Indian named Daniel Takawombgrait. Of his own six +children only one son and one daughter survived him. Benjamin, the +youngest son, was his coadjutor at Roxbury, and was left in charge there +while he circulated amongst his Indians, and would have succeeded him. +The loss of this son must have fallen very heavily on him; but "the good +old man would sometimes comfortably say, 'I have had six children, and I +bless God for His free grace; they are all either _with_ Christ or _in_ +Christ, and my mind is now at rest concerning them.'" + +When asked how he could bear the death of such excellent children, his +answer was, "My desire was that they should have served God on earth, but +if God will choose to have them rather serve Him in heaven, I have +nothing to object against it, but His will be done." + +His last letter to Mr. Boyle was written in his eighty-fourth year, and +was a farewell but a cheerful one, and he had good hopes then of a +renewal of the spirit of missions among his people. But though his +Christians did not bely their name in his own generation, alcohol did its +work on some, consumption on others; and, in 1836, when Jabez Sparks +wrote his biography, there was one wigwam at Natick inhabited by a few +persons of mingled Indian and Negro blood, the sole living remnants of +the foundation he had loved so well. Nevertheless, Eliot's work was not +wasted. The spark he lit has never gone out wholly in men's minds. + +His wife died in 1684, at a great age, and her elegy over her coffin were +these words from himself: "Here lies my dear faithful, pious, prudent, +prayerful wife. I shall go to her, but she shall not return to me." + +He had become very feeble, and was wont to say, when asked how he did, +"Alas! I have lost everything: my understanding leaves me, my memory +fails me, my utterance fails me, but, I thank God, my charity holds out +still; I find that rather grows than fails." + +He was forced to give up the duties of his office to a new pastor, and +though often entreated to preach again, he would hardly ever do so, by +reason, he said, that it would be wronging the souls of his people, when +they had an able minister; and when he preached for the last time on a +fast day, on the 63rd Psalm, it was with an apology for what he called +the poorness, and meanness, and brokenness of his meditations. + +"I wonder," he used to say, "for what the Lord lets me live. He knows +that now I can do nothing for Him." + +Yet he was working for Him to the utmost of his power. A little boy in +the neighbourhood had fallen into the fire, and lost his eyesight in +consequence. The old minister took him into his house to instruct, and +first taught him to repeat many chapters in the Bible, and to know it so +thoroughly that when listening to readers he could correct them if they +missed a word; after which he taught him Latin, so that an "ordinary +piece" had become easy to him. + +The importation of negro slaves had already begun, and Mr. Eliot +"lamented with a bleeding and a burning passion that the English used +their negroes but as their horses or oxen, and that so little care was +taken about their immortal souls. He look'd upon it as a prodigy, that +any bearing the name of Christians should so much have the heart of +devils in them, as to prevent and hinder the instruction of the poor +Blackamores, and confine the souls of their miserable slaves to a +destroying ignorance, merely through fear of using the benefit of their +vassalage." So, old as he was, he induced the settlers around to send +him their negroes on certain days of the week for instruction; but he had +not made much progress in the work before he became too feeble to carry +it on. He fell into languishments attended with fever, and this he +viewed as his summons. His successor, Mr. Nehemiah Walters, came to live +with him, and held a good deal of conversation with him. + +"There is a cloud," he said, "a dark cloud upon the work of the Gospel +among the poor Indians. The Lord renew and prosper that work, and grant +it may live when I am dead. It is a work which I have been doing much +and long about. But what was the word I spoke last? I recall that word. +_My doings_. Alas! they have been poor and small, and lean doings, and +I'll be the man that shall throw the first stone at them all." + +Mather relates that he spake other words "little short of oracles," and +laments that they were not correctly recorded; but it appears that he +gradually sank, and died in his eighty-seventh year of age, at Roxbury, +in the year 1690. His last words were, "Welcome joy." + + + + +CHAPTER II. DAVID BRAINERD, THE ENTHUSIAST. + + +The Indian pastor of Natick, who had been trained by Mr. Eliot, died in +1716, and two years later was born one of the men who did all in his +power, through his brief life, to hold up the light of truth to the +unfortunate natives of America, as they were driven further and further +to the west before the advancing tide from Europe. + +The fourth son among nine children, who lost both parents at a very early +age, David Brainerd, though born above the reach of want, had many +disadvantages to contend with. Both his parents had, however, been +religious people, the children of ministers who had come out to America +in the days of the Pilgrim Fathers, and settling at Haddam in +Connecticut, trained up their families in the stern, earnest, and rigid +rules and doctrines of Calvinism, which certainly, where they are +accepted by an earnest and thoughtful mind, have a great tendency to +stimulate the intellect, and force forward, as it were, the religious +perceptions in early youth. David was, moreover, a delicate child, with +the seeds of (probably) hereditary decline incipient, and at seven or +eight years old he drew apart from play, thinking much of death, and +trying to prepare by prayer and meditation. His parents' death increased +these feelings, and while living at East Haddam, under the charge of his +brothers, and employed in farm work, the boy was continually struggling +with himself in silence, disliking all youthful mirth and amusement, +fasting, watching and praying, and groaning over the state of his soul. +At nineteen, the wish to become a minister came upon him, and he began to +study hard at all spare moments; and in another year, at twenty, he went +to reside with Mr. Fiske, the minister of Haddam, and in him found, for +the first time, a friend to whom he could open his heart, who could +understand the anxieties and longings within him, and who gave him advice +to withdraw himself from the young companions whose gay spirits were +uncongenial to him, and spend more time with the graver and more +religious. + +Whether this were good advice we do not know, but a period of terrible +agony had to be struggled through. It seems plain, from comparison of +different lives, that in the forms of religion which make everything +depend upon the individual person's own consciousness of the state of his +heart and feelings, instead of supporting this by any outward tokens for +faith to rest upon, the more humble and scrupulous spirits often undergo +fearful misery before they can attain to such security of their own faith +as they believe essential. Indeed, this state of wretchedness is almost +deemed a necessary stage in the Christian life, like the Slough of +Despond in the Pilgrim's Progress; and with such a temperament as David +Brainerd's, the horrors of the struggle for hope were dreadful and lasted +for months, before an almost physical perception of light, glory, and +grace shone out upon him, although, even to the end of his life, hope and +fear, spiritual joy and depression alternated, no doubt, greatly in +consequence of his constant ill-health. + +In 1739, in his twenty-first year, he became a student at Yale, and, +between hard work and his mental self-reproach for the worldly ambition +of distinction, his health broke down, haemorrhage from the lungs set in, +and he was sent home, it was supposed, only to die. He was then in a +very happy frame of mind, and was almost sorry to find himself well +enough to return to what he felt to be a scene of temptation. That same +year, his head was entirely turned by the excitement of George +Whitfield's preaching; he was carried away by religious enthusiasm, and +was in a state of indiscreet zeal, of which his better judgment +afterwards repented, so that he destroyed all the portion of his journal +that related to that year. Indeed, his vehemence cost him dear, for, in +the heat of a discussion, he had the misfortune to say, "Mr. Whittlesey, +he has no more grace than this chair I am leaning upon." Mr. Whittlesey +was one of the college tutors, and a gossiping freshman who overheard the +words thought proper to report this to a meddling woman, who immediately +walked off to the Rector of the college with the awful intelligence that +young Brainerd said that Mr. Whittlesey had no more grace than a chair! + +The Rector had not the sense to silence the silly slander; he sent for +the freshman, took his evidence, and that of the young men with whom +Brainerd had been conversing, and then required him to make public +confession and amends to Mr. Whittlesey before the whole assembled +college,--a humiliation never previously required, except in cases of +gross moral misconduct. The fact was, that the old-fashioned hereditary +Presbyterianism, which had had time to slacken in the hundred years since +the foundation of the colony, was dismayed at the new and vivid life +imported by Whitfield from the Wesleyan revival in the English Church. It +was what always happens. A mixture of genuine sober-minded dread of +extravagance, or new doctrine, and a sluggish distaste to the more +searching religion, combine to lead to a spirit of persecution. This was +the true reason that the lad's youthful rashness of speech was treated as +so grave an offence. Brainerd's spirit was up. Probably he saw no cause +to alter his opinion as to Mr. Whittlesey's amount of grace, and he +stoutly refused to retract his words, whereupon he was found guilty of +insubordination, and actually expelled from Yale. A council of ministers +who assembled at Hartford petitioned for his restoration, but were +refused, the authorities deeming themselves well rid of a dangerous +fanatic. + +Still, as a youth of blameless life and ardent piety, he was encouraged +by his friends to continue his preparation for the ministry, and he +persisted in reading hard, and going out between whiles to meditate in +the depths of the glorious woods. It is curious that while his homely +and rigid system precluded any conscious admiration of the beauties of +nature, it is always evident from his journal that the lightenings of +hope and joy which relieved his too frequent depression and melancholy, +were connected with the scenery and the glories of day and night. Sunrise +and the aurora borealis seem to have filled him with spiritual bliss, and +he never was so happy as when deep in the woods, out of the sight of men; +but his morbid, sensitive, excitable nature never seems to have been +understood by himself or by others. + +Just as John Eliot's missionary zeal was the outcome of the earnestness +that carried the Puritans to New England, so the fresh infusion of +religious life, brought by Whitfield, produced an ardent desire on the +part of David Brainerd to devote himself to the remainder of the Indians; +and in the year 1742, at twenty-five years old, he was examined by an +assembly of ministers at Danbury, and licensed to preach the Gospel, when +he began at once with a little settlement of Indians at Kent, with such a +sinking of heart at his own unworthiness that he says he seemed to +himself worse than any devil, and almost expected to have been stoned +rather than listened to. Indeed, something of this diffidence and +sadness seems always to have weighed him down when he began to preach, +though the fervour of his subject and the responding faces of his +audience always exhilarated him and bore him up through his sermon. To +learn the Indian language had not occurred to him as part of his +preparation, but probably these Kent Red men had been enough among the +English to understand him, for they seem to have been much impressed. + +A Scottish Society for propagating Christian Knowledge had arisen, and +the delegates hearing of the zeal of David Brainerd, desired to engage +him at a salary. The sense of his own unworthiness, and fear of keeping +out a better man, brought his spirits down to the lowest ebb; +nevertheless, he went to meet the representatives of the Society at New +York, and there, though between the hubbub of the town and his own +perpetual self-condemnation he was continually wretched, they were so +well satisfied with him as to give him the appointment, on condition that +he studied the language, intending to send him to the Red men between the +Susquehanna and the Delaware; but there was a dispute between these and +the Government, and it was decided to send him to a settlement called +Kanaumeek, between Stockbridge and Albany. + +Before going, David Brainerd, having no thought beyond devotion to the +Indians, and thinking his allowance enough for his wants, gave up the +whole of his inheritance to support a scholar at the University, and set +forth, undaunted by such weakness of health as in ordinary eyes would +have fitted him for nothing but to be carefully nursed; for even then he +was continually suffering from pain and dizziness, and weakness so great +that he could often hardly stand. + +In this state he arrived at Kanaumeek, with a young Indian to act as his +interpreter, and there spent the first night sleeping on a heap of straw. +It was a lonely, melancholy spot, where the Indians were herded together, +watched with jealous eyes by adventurers who were always endeavouring to +seize their lands, and sadly degenerated from the free, grave, +high-spirited men to whom Eliot had preached. His first lodging was in +the log house of a poor Scotchman who lived among the Indians--a single +chamber, without so much as a floor, and where he shared the family meals +upon porridge, boiled corn, and girdle-cakes. The family spoke Gaelic, +only the master of the house knowing any English, and that not so good as +the Indian interpreter's; and, moreover, the spot was a mile and a half +from the Indian wigwams, no small consideration to so weakly a man, thus +poorly fed. However, the Indians were pleased with his addresses, and +seemed touched by them; but the evil habits of the White men were the +terrible stumbling-block. Parties of them would come into the town, and +vex the missionary's ears with their foul tongues, making a scandalous +contrast to the grave, calm manners of the Indians. More than ever did +he love solitude, and when with his own hands he had built himself a log +hut, where he could be alone when he pleased, his relief was great. + +He was not the highly educated scholar and practical theorist that his +predecessor had been: he seems to have had no plans or systems, and +merely to have tried to fulfil immediate needs; but he soon found that he +could not hope to benefit his Red flock without a school, so he made a +journey to New Jersey to entreat for means to set one up, and this was +done, with his interpreter as master. His journey was made on horseback, +and was no small undertaking, for even between Stockbridge and Kanaumeek +he had once lost his way, and had to sleep a night in the woods. + +He had by this time thoroughly repented of the uncharitableness and +hastiness of his speech about Mr. Whittlesey, and he took a journey to +New Haven to send in a thoroughly humble and Christian-like apology, +requesting to be permitted to take his degree. Twice he was refused, and +the third time was told that the only condition on which the degree would +be granted would be the making up his term of residence at Yale, which +was, of course, not possible to a licensed minister in full employment, +and in fact was an insulting proposal to a man of his standing and +character. + +His journey cost him dear, for as he was riding home he was attacked with +violent pain in the face and shiverings, which forced him to halt at the +first shelter he could find, happily with kind friends, who nursed him +for a fortnight before he could return home. He believed that had his +illness seized him in his log house at home, he must certainly have died +for want of care and attendance, although he was much beloved by his poor +Indians. + +His life was indeed a frightfully hard one, and would have been so for a +healthy man; for he had to work with his own hands to store provisions +for his horse in the winter, and that when weak and suffering the more +for want of proper food. He could get no bread but by riding ten or +fifteen miles to procure it, and if he brought home too much it became +mouldy and sour, while, if he brought home a small quantity, he could not +go for more if he failed to catch his horse, which was turned out to +graze in the woods; so that he was reduced to making little cakes of +Indian meal, which he fried in the ashes. "And then," he says, "I +blessed God as if I had been a king." "I have a house and many of the +comforts of life to support me," he says with great satisfaction; and the +solitude of that house was so precious to him that, however weary he was, +he would ride back twenty miles to it at night rather than spend an +evening among ungodly men. By this terrible stinting of what we should +deem the necessaries of life, he was actually able, in fifteen months, to +devote a hundred pounds to charitable purposes, besides keeping the young +man at the University. + +So much, however, did he love his solitude, that he counted it as no +relief, but an affliction, to have to ride to Stockbridge from time to +time to learn the Indian language from Mr. Sergeant, the missionary there +stationed. Something of this must have been morbid feeling, something +from the want of energy consequent on the condition of his frame. For a +man in confirmed decline such an entry in a journal as this is no +trifle:--"December 20.--Rode to Stockbridge. Was very much fatigued with +my journey, wherein I underwent great hardship; was much exposed, and +very wet by falling into a river." Mr. Sergeant could hardly have been +profane company, but Brainerd never enjoyed these visits, thinking that +intercourse with the world made him less familiar with heaven. + +Another inconvenience was the proximity of Kanaumeek to the frontier, and +these were the days of that horrid war between England and France in +America, when the native allies of each nation made savage descents on +the outlying settlements, inflicting all the flagrant outrages of their +wild warfare. A message came one evening to Kanaumeek from Colonel +Stoddart, warning all in exposed situations to secure themselves as well +as possible, since an attack might come at any moment; and this Brainerd +quietly records as a salutary warning not to attach himself too much to +the _comforts of life_ he enjoyed. + +The attack was never made, but he came to the conclusion that his small +congregation of Indians would be much better with their fellows at +Stockbridge under the care of Mr. Sergeant, and that this would leave him +free to go to more wild and untaught tribes. It was carried out, and the +Indians removed. There was much mutual love between them and their +pastor, and the parting was very affectionate, though even after two +years he was still unable to speak the language, and never seems to have +troubled himself about this trifling obstacle. Several English +congregations entreated him to become their minister, but he refused them +all, and went to meet the Commissioners of the Scottish Society at New +Jersey. They arranged with him for a mission to the Delaware Indians, in +spite of his being laid up for some days at the time; and when he went +back to Kanaumeek to dispose of his books and other "comforts," the +effects of being drenched with rain showed themselves in continued +bleeding from the lungs. He knew that he was often in an almost dying +state, and only wished to continue in his Master's service to the end he +longed for. He owns that his heart did sometimes sink at the thought of +going alone into the wilderness; but he thought of Abraham, and took +courage, riding alone through the depths of the forest, so desolate and +lonely day after day, that it struck terror even into his soul. There +were scanty settlements of Dutch and Irish, where he sometimes spent a +night, but the Sunday he passed among some Irish was so entirely unmarked +by them, that he felt like a "creature banished from the sight of God." + +At last he reached his destination on the fork of the river Delaware, and +being within moderate distance of Newark, there received ordination as a +minister on the 11th of June, 1744. Severe illness followed the exertion +of preaching and praying before the convened ministers; but as soon as he +could walk, he set forth on his return, though he was so weak that he +could hardly open his numbed hand, but his heart and hopes had begun to +revive, and the little settlement of Whites with whom he lived were +willing to listen to him. + +The Indians were in the midst of preparing for an idolatrous feast and +dance. Brainerd spent a day in the woods in an anguish of prayer, and +then went to the place of meeting, where, stranger as he was, he +prevailed on them to cease their revels and attend to him. + +His biographer, President Jonathan Edwards, provokingly leaves out his +method of teaching, "for the sake of brevity," and from his own diary +little is to be gathered but accounts of his state of feeling through +endless journeyings and terrible prostrations of strength. He was always +travelling about--now to the Susquehanna, now back to New +England--apparently at times with the restlessness of disease, for this +roving about must have prevented him from ever deepening the impression +made by his preaching, which after all was only through an interpreter, +for he never gave himself time to learn the language. + +Yet after some months he did find a settlement of Indians, about eighty +miles from the fork of Delaware, at a place called Crossweeksung, who +were far more disposed to attend to him. They listened so eagerly, that +day after day they would travel after him from village to village, hardly +taking any heed to secure provisions for themselves. The description of +their conduct is like that of those touched by Wesleyan preaching. They +threw themselves on the ground, wept bitterly, and prayed aloud, with the +general enthusiasm of excitement, though, he expressly says, without +fainting or convulsions, and even the White men around, who came to +scoff, were deeply impressed. + +David Brainerd had at last his hour of bliss! He was delivered from his +melancholy by the joy of such results, and in trembling happiness +baptized his converts in the river beside their wigwams before leaving +them to proceed to a village on the Susquehanna, where he hoped for an +interview with the chief Sachem of the Delawares. + +The place, however, was in the wildest confusion and uproar, it being the +period of a great festival, when every one was too tipsy to attend to +him. At an island called Juneauta, he met a very remarkable personage, a +Powaw, who bore the reputation of a reformer, anxious to restore the +ancient religion of the Red man, which had become corrupted by +intercourse with the White and his vices. + +His aspect was the most dreadful thing Brainerd had ever seen. He wore a +shaggy bearskin coat, hood, and stockings, and a hideous, painted mask, +so that no part of his person was visible, not even the hand in which he +held an instrument made of the shell of a tortoise, with dry corn within, +and he came up rattling this, and dancing with all his might, and with +such gesticulations that, though assured that he intended no injury, it +was impossible not to shrink back as this savage creature came close. + +Yet he was a thoughtful man, such as would have been a philosopher in +ancient Greece or Rome. He took the missionary into his hut, and +conversed long and earnestly with him. He had revolted in spirit from +the degradation of his countrymen, and had gone to live apart in the +woods, where he had worked out a system of natural religion for himself, +which he believed the Great Spirit had taught him, and which had at last +led him to return to his people and endeavour to restore them to that +purity which of course he believed to have once existed. He believed +there were good men somewhere, and he meant to wander till he found them; +meantime, he was kindly to all who came near him, and constantly uplifted +his testimony against their vices, especially when the love of strong +drink was brought among them. When all was in vain, he would go weeping +away into the woods, and hide himself there till the hateful fire-water +was all consumed and the madness over. Brainerd was greatly touched by +this red-skinned Epictetus, who, he said, had more honesty, sincerity, +and conscientiousness than he had ever met with in an Indian, and more of +the temper of true religion; and he expounded to him the Christian +doctrine with great carefulness and double earnestness. The self-taught +philosopher broke in now and then with "Now that I like,"--"So the Great +Spirit has taught me;" but when the missionary came to the regions where +faith surpasses the power of the intellect and the moral sense, the +Indian would not follow him, and rejected his teaching. It was curious +that he particularly denied the idea of a devil, declaring that there was +no such being, according to the ancient Indians. Now, the incantations +of the Powaws were generally supposed to be addressed to evil spirits, +and probably the perception of the falsehood of these pretended rites led +to his disclaiming the Christian doctrine. + +Whether time and further teaching would have overpowered his belief in +his own inspiration does not appear, for Brainerd found the Indians too +vicious and hardened to pay the least heed either to him or to their own +reformer; and he went back to Crossweeksung, where his flock was still +increasing, and in a most satisfactory condition, renouncing their +heathen customs and their acquired vice of drunkenness, and practising +some amount of industry. A school was set up, old and young learnt +English, the children in three or four months could read the Bible in +English, and Brainerd's sermons and prayers were understood without an +interpreter. + +This improved condition of the Indians destroyed the shameful profits of +the nearest settlement of Whites, whose practice it had hitherto been to +entice them to drink, and then run up a heavy score against them for +liquor. Finding that all endeavours to seduce them into drunkenness were +now vain, these wretches first tried to raise the country against +Brainerd, by reporting that he was a Roman Catholic in disguise; and when +this failed, they laid claim to the lands of Crossweeksung, in discharge +of debts that they declared to have been previously contracted. +Fortunately, Brainerd had it in his power to advance 82_l._ from his +private means, so as to save his people from this extortion; but he +afterwards thought it best to remove them from these dangerous neighbours +to a new settlement, fifteen miles off, called Cranberry. He remained +himself in his little hut at Crossweeksung, after they had proceeded to +raise wigwams and prepare the ground for maize; but, whenever he rode +over to visit them, his approach was notified by the sound of a conch +shell, and they all gathered round for his prayers and instruction. + +His success with them seems to have greatly cured his depression of +spirits, but his mind was balancing between the expedience of remaining +among them as their permanent pastor, protector, and guide, and that of +striving to extend the kingdom of faith. Sometimes he liked the prospect +of a settled home and repose, study and meditation; but, at the thought +of gaining souls to Christ, all these considerations melted before him, +and he believed that he was marked out for the life of a pilgrim and +hermit by his carelessness about hardships. + +He had not, however, taken leave of his flock when he set forth on +another expedition to the obdurate Indians of the Susquehanna, in the +September of 1746. It was without result; he could obtain no attention, +and the hardships of the journey, the night exposure, and the frequent +drenchings completed the wreck of his health. He came back with night +perspirations, bleeding from the lungs, and suffering greatly, feverish +and coughing, and often in pain; yet, whenever he could mount his horse, +riding the fifteen miles to attend to the Indians at Cranberry, or +sitting in a chair before his hut, when they assembled round him. + +On Sunday he persisted in preaching, till generally at the end of half an +hour he fainted, and was carried to his bed; and at the administration of +the Lord's Supper he was carried to the place where he had forty Indian +communicants, and likewise some Whites, who had learnt to reverence him, +and who supported him back to his bed. He was quite happy now, for he +felt he had done all he could to the utmost of his strength; but, soon +becoming totally unable to speak at all, he felt that he must do what he +called "consuming some time in diversions," and try to spend the winter +in a civilized place. + +After riding his first short stage, however, his illness increased so +much, that he was quite incapable of proceeding or returning, and +remained in a friend's house at Elizabethtown, suffering from cough, +asthma, and fever the whole winter. In March 1747 he had rallied enough +to ride to Cranberry, where he went from hut to hut, giving advice to and +praying with each family, and parting with them with great tenderness. +Tears were shed everywhere; for, though he still hoped to return, all +felt that they should see his face no more! But, to his great comfort +and joy, his poor people were not to be abandoned to themselves and their +tempters. His younger brother--John--relieved his mind by offering to +assume the care of them, and under his pastorship he could thankfully +leave them. + +In April he set out again on his journey, at the rate of about ten miles +a day, riding all the way, and on the 28th of May arrived at Northampton, +where Jonathan Edwards, afterwards President of the College of New +Jersey, was then minister. They were like-minded men, both disciples of +Whitfield, and the self-devoted piety of the young missionary was already +so well known to Mr. Edwards by report, that it was most gladly that he +received him into his house and family. There the impression Brainerd +made was of a singularly social, entertaining person, meek and +unpretending, but manly and independent. Probably rest and brightness +had come when the terrible struggle of his early years had ceased, and +morbid despondency had given way to Christian hope, for he became at once +a bright and pleasant member of any society where he formed a part, and +to the Edwards family he was like a son or brother. When he was able, +Mr. Edwards wished him to lead the family devotions, and was always +greatly impressed by the manner and matter of his prayers, but one +petition never failed, _i.e._ "that we might not outlive our usefulness." +Even in saying grace there was always something about him that struck the +attention. + +His purpose in coming to Northampton had been to consult Dr. Mather, +whose verdict was that he was far gone in decline, and who gave him no +advice but to ride as much as possible. So little difference did this +sentence make to him that he never noted it in his diary, though he spoke +of it cheerily in the Edwards family--a large household of young +people--where he was so much beloved, that when he decided to go to +Boston, Jerusha, the second daughter, entreated to be allowed to +accompany him, to nurse him as his sister would have done. + +The pure, severe simplicity of those early American manners was such, +that no one seems to have been surprised at a girl of eighteen becoming +the attendant of a man of twenty-nine. Jerusha had the full consent and +approbation of her parents, and she was a great comfort and delight to +him. He told her father that she was more spiritual, self denying, and +earnest to do good, than any young person he had ever known; and on doubt +their communings were far above earth, hovering, as he was well known to +be, upon the very borders of the grave. + +They took four days to reach Boston, and there he was received with the +greatest respect by all the ministers; but, a week after his arrival, so +severe an attack of his illness came on that he became delirious, and was +thought to be at the point of death. Again, however, he came back enough +to life to sit up in bed and write ardent letters of counsel to the +brother who had succeeded him among his Indians, and likewise to give his +friends the assurance of his perfect peace and joy. He said that he had +carefully examined himself, and though he had found much pride, +selfishness, and corruption, he was still certain that he had felt it his +greatest happiness to glorify and praise God; and this certainty, +together with his faith in the Redeemer, had calmed all the anguish he +had suffered for years. + +Whenever he was able to converse he had numerous visitors, especially +from the deputies of the Society in London which had assisted Eliot. A +legacy for the support of two missionaries had newly been received, and +his counsel on the mode of employing it was asked. He was able to strive +to imbue others with the same zeal as himself, and to do much on behalf +of his own mission, although he often lay so utterly exhausted that he +said of himself that he could not understand how life could be retained. +One of his brothers, a student at Yale, came to see him, and to tell him +of the death of his favourite sister, of whose illness he had not even +heard, but it was no shock to him, for he felt far more sure of meeting +her again than if she had been left on earth. + +The summer weather, to the surprise of all, brought back a slight revival +of strength, and some of his friends began to hope he might yet recover, +but he knew his own state too well, and told them he was as assuredly a +dead man as if he had been shot through the heart; still he was resolved +to profit by this partial restoration to return to Northampton, chiefly +because the rumour had reached him that the Bostonians had intended to +give him such a funeral as should testify their great esteem; and being +disappointed in this, they intended to assemble and escort him publicly, +while still alive, out of their city, but the bare idea naturally made +him so unhappy that they were forced to give it up. + +Five days were spent in the journey, and again the Edwardses +reverentially opened their doors to a guest so near heaven. For some +time he rode out two or three miles daily, and sat with the family, +writing or conversing cheerfully when not engaged in prayer. His brother +John came from Crossweeksung and cheered him with a good account of his +Indians; and hearing of the great need of another school, he wrote to the +friends who had shown themselves so warmly interested in him at Boston, +and was gratified by their reply, with a subscription of 200_l._ for the +purpose, and of 75_l._ for the mission to the Six Nations. His answers +were written with his own hand; but he had become so much weaker that he +felt this his last task. He had been one who, in his short life, had +sown in tears to reap in joy. + +He was sinking fast as the autumn cold came on, often talking tenderly to +the little ones of the house, but suffering terribly at times, and +sighing, "Why is His chariot so long coming?" then blaming himself for +over-haste to be released. + +He had a smile for Jerusha as she came into his room on Sunday morning. +"Are you willing to part with me? I am willing to part with you, though +if I thought I could not see you and be happy with you in another world, +I could not bear to part. I am willing to leave all my friends. I am +willing to leave my brother, though I love him better than any creature +living. I have committed him and all my friends to God, and can leave +them with God!" + +Presently, looking at the Bible in her hands, he said, "Oh that dear +Book! the mysteries in it and in God's providence will soon be unfolded." + +He lingered in great agony at times till the 9th of October, 1747, when +came a cessation of pain, and during this lull he breathed his last, then +wanting six months of his thirtieth birthday. He had told Jerusha that +they should soon meet above, and, in effect, she only lived until the +next February. She told her father on her death-bed, that for years past +she had not seen the time when she had any wish to live a moment longer, +save for the sake of doing good and filling up the measure of her duty. + +David Brainerd's career ended at an age when John Eliot's had not begun. +It was a very wonderful struggle between the frail suffering body and the +devoted, resolute spirit, both weighed down by the natural morbid temper, +further depressed by the peculiar tenets of the form of doctrine in which +he had been bred. The prudent, well-weighed measures of the ripe +scholar, studious theologian, and conscientious politician, formed by +forty-two years' experience of an old and a new country, could not be +looked for in the sickly, self-educated, enthusiastic youth who had been +debarred from the due amount of study, and started with little system but +that of "proclaiming the Gospel"--even though ignorant of the language of +those to whom he preached. And yet that heart-whole piety and patience +was blessed with a full measure of present success, and David Brainerd's +story, though that of a short life, over-clouded by mental distress, +hardship, and sickness, fills us with the joyful sense that there is One +that giveth the victory. + + + + +CHAPTER III. CHRISTIAN FRIEDRICH SCHWARTZ, THE COUNCILLOR OF TANJORE. + + +We must turn from America to the warmer regions of the East, from the +patriarchal savage to complicated forms of society, and from the Red-skin +to the Hindoo--a man of far nearer affinity to ourselves, being, like us, +of the great Indo-European race, speaking a language like our own, an +altered, corrupted, and intermingled dialect of the same original tongue, +and his ancestors originally professing a religion in which the same +primary ideas may be traced as those which were held by our ancient +northern forefathers, and which are familiar to us in the graceful dress +imposed on them by the Greeks. The sacred writings of the Hindoos form +the earliest storehouse of the words of our common language, and the +thoughts therein found, though recorded after the branches had parted +from the common stock, are nearer the universal germ than those to be +found anywhere else, and more nearly represent the primary notion of +religion held by the race of Japheth, after that of Shem, to which God +revealed Himself more distinctly, had parted from it. These oldest +writings are quaint, pure, and simple, but on them the fancies of a race +enervated by climate engrafted much that was hideous, monstrous, and +loathsome, leading to gross idolatry, and much vice perpetrated in the +name of religion. Mythology always degenerates with the popular +character, and then, so far as the character is formed by the religious +faith, the mythology helps to debase it further, until the undying moral +sense of conscience awakens again in some man, or band of men, and a new +morality arises; sometimes grafted upon philosophic reasoning, sometimes +upon a newly-invented or freshly introduced religion. + +Thus, when Hindooism had become corrupt, the deeply meditative system of +Buddha was introduced into many parts of India, and certainly brought a +much higher theory and purer code than that founded on the garbled nature- +worship of ancient India; but both religions co-existed, and, indeed, +Buddhism was in one aspect an offshoot of the Hindoo faith. + +Christianity--planted, as is believed, by St. Thomas, on the Malabar +coast--never became wholly extinct, although tinged with Nestorianism, +but it was never adopted by the natives at large, and the learning and +philosophy of the Brahmins would have required the utmost powers of the +most learned fathers of the Church to cope with them, before they could +have been convinced. + +The rigid distinctions of caste have made it more difficult for the +Church which "preaches the Gospel to the poor," to be accepted in India +than anywhere else. Accounting himself sprung from the head of Brahma, +the Brahmin deems himself, and is deemed by others, as lifted to an +elevation which has no connection either with moral goodness, with +wealth, or with power; and which is as much the due of the most poverty- +stricken and wicked member of the caste as of the most magnificent +priest. The Sudras, the governing and warlike class, are next in order, +having sprung from the god's breast, and beneath these come infinite +grades of caste, their subdivisions each including every man of each +trade or calling which he pursues hereditarily and cannot desert or +change, save under the horrible penalty of losing caste, and becoming +forsaken and despised of every creature, even the nearest kindred. The +mere eating from a vessel used to contain food for a person of a +different caste is enough to produce contamination; the separation is +complete, and the whole constitution of body and mind have become so +inured to the distinction, that the cost of becoming a convert is +infinitely severer in India than ever it could have been even in Greece +or Rome, where, though the Christian might be persecuted even to the +death, he was not thrust out of the pale of humanity like a Hindoo +convert who transgresses caste. + +The Christians of Malabar are a people living to themselves, and the +great Bengalee nations never appear to have had the Gospel carried to +them. The Mahometan conquest filled India with professors of the faith +of the Koran; but these were a dominant race, proud and separate from the +mass of people, whom they did not win to their faith, and thus the Hindoo +idolatry had prevailed untouched for almost the whole duration of the +world, when the wealth of India in the early days of naval enterprise +first began to tempt small mercantile companies of Europeans to form +factories on the coast merely for purposes of traffic, without at first +any idea that these would lead to possession or conquest, and, in +general, without any sense of the responsibility of coming as Christians +into a heathen world. + +The Portuguese did indeed strive earnestly to Christianize their +territory at Goa; and they promoted by all means in their power the +labours of Francisco Xavier and his Jesuit companions, so effectually +that the fruits of their teaching have remained to the present day. + +Neither were the Dutch, who then held Ceylon, entirely careless of the +duty of instructing their subjects; and the Danes, who had obtained the +town of Tranquebar on the Coromandel coast, in 1746, sent out a mission +which was vigorously conducted, and met with good success. Hitherto, +however, the English at Madras and Calcutta had been almost wholly +indifferent, and it must be remembered that theirs was not a Government +undertaking. The East India Company was still only a struggling +corporation of merchants and traders, who only wanted to secure the +warehouses and dwellings of those who conducted their traffic, and had as +yet no thought of anything but the security of their trade; often, +indeed, considering themselves pledged to no interference with the +religion of the people around, and too often forgetting their own. +However, the Danish mission received grants of money and books from the +Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and the first Indian +missionary of any note, a German by birth, was equally connected with +both England and Denmark. + +Sonnenburg in Brandenburg, still an electorate at the time, was the +native home of Christian Friedrich Schwartz, of whose parents it is only +known that they appear to have been in easy circumstances, and that his +mother, who died before he could remember, told her husband and her +pastor on her death-bed, that she had dedicated her infant to the service +of God, imploring them to cherish and forward any inclination towards the +ministerial office that might be visible in him. It was, of course, the +Lutheran form in which the child of this pious woman was bred up, and in +1734 he was sent to the grammar school of Sonnenburg, where his piety was +first excited by a religious master, then cooled by an indifferent one; +and he was then taken by his father, walking on foot the whole way, to +pursue his studies at Custrin. There he became beset by the temptations +that surrounded young students, and after giving way to them for a time, +was saved from further evil by the influence of the daughter of one of +the Syndics. It does not appear to have been a matter of sentiment, but +of honest friendship and good counsel, aiding the young man to follow his +better instead of his worse impulses; and thus giving a labourer to the +vineyard. + +Before residing at Custrin, this lady had lived for a time at Halle, and +what she told the young Schwartz of the professors at that university, +inspired him with the desire of completing his course under them, +especially August Hermann Francke, who had established an admirable +orphan house, with an excellent grammar school. + +In his twentieth year, Schwartz entered at Halle, but lodged at the +orphan house, where he became teacher to the Latin classes, and was put +in charge of the evening devotions of the household. At Halle, he met a +retired Danish missionary, named Schultz, who had come thither to +superintend the printing of a version of the Bible in Tamul, the language +of Ceylon and of the Coromandel coast; and this it was that first turned +his mind to the thought of offering himself as a worker in the great +field of India. + +He was the eldest of the family, and his friends all declared that it was +impossible that his father should consent to part with him; but when he +went home, and earnestly stated his desire, the elder Schwartz, instead +of at once refusing as all expected, desired to take three days to +consider; and when they were passed, he came gravely down from his +chamber, called his son Christian, gave him his blessing, and told him to +depart in God's name, charging him to forget his own country and his +father's house, and to win many souls to Christ. + +And certainly that good old German's blessing went forth with his son. +Christian Schwartz next resigned his share in the family property to his +brothers and sisters; and after completing his studies at Halle, went to +Copenhagen, since it was by the Danish government that he was to be +authorized. Two other young Germans, named Poltzenheigen and Hutteman, +went with him. The Danes, though Lutherans in profession, have an +Episcopal hierarchy, and the three students were ordained by the Danish +Bishop Horreboa on the 6th of September, 1749; Christian Schwartz being +then within a month of twenty-three. + +Their first stage was to England, where they had to learn the language, +and were entertained at the cost of the Society for Promoting Christian +Knowledge. Mr. Ziegenhagen, German chaplain to George II., was very kind +to his countrymen, helped them in all their difficulties, and gave them +directions for which they were very grateful. He made them preach in the +Chapel Royal on Christmas Day. No doubt the language was German, which +must have been acceptable to the Hanoverian ears. + +Their English studies were not greatly prolonged, for they arrived on the +8th of December, 1749, and sailed on the 29th of January, 1750, in an +East India Company's ship, where they were allowed a free passage, and +were treated with respect and friendliness. The voyage lasted long +enough to improve them in English, for they did not cast anchor at +Tranquebar till the 8th of October. + +At this considerable Danish factory, they were received into the mission- +house of the Danes, and there remained while studying the language, in +which Schwartz made so much progress that he preached his first Tamul +sermon only four months after his arrival, and by the spring was able to +catechize the children who attended the school. This station at +Tranquebar formed the home of seven or eight missionaries, who lived +together, attended to the services and schools, prepared candidates for +baptism, and made excursions by ones and twos into the villages that +stood thickly on the coast, where they talked and argued with the +natives, hoping to incite them to inquire further. The two greatest +obstacles they met with here were the evil example of Europeans and the +difficulty of maintenance for a convert. One poor dancing girl said, on +hearing that no unholy person could enter into the kingdom of heaven, +"Ah! sir, then no European will;" but, on the whole, they must have met +with good success, for in 1752 there were three large classes of +catechumens prepared and baptized at the station. In the district around +there were several villages, where congregations of Christians existed, +and, of all those south of the river Caveri, Schwartz was after two more +years made the superintendent. + +The simple habits of these German and Danish clergy eminently fitted them +for such journeys; they set out in pairs on foot, after a farewell of +united prayer from their brethren, carrying with them their Hebrew +Bibles, and attended by a few Christian servants and coolies; they +proceeded from village to village, sometimes sleeping in the house of a +Hindoo merchant, sometimes at that of one the brother ministers they had +come to see, and at every halt conversing and arguing with Hindoo or +Mahometan, or sometimes with the remnants of the Christians converted by +the Portuguese, who had been so long neglected that they had little +knowledge of any faith. + +The character of Christian Schwartz was one to influence all around him. +He seems to have had all the quiet German patience and endurance of +hardship, without much excitability, and with a steadiness of judgment +and intense honesty and integrity, that disposed every one to lean on him +and rely on him for their temporal as well as their spiritual +matters--great charity and warmth of heart, and a shrewdness of +perception that made him excellent in argument. He had also that true +missionary gift, a great facility of languages, both in grammar and +pronunciation, and his utter absence of all regard for his own comfort or +selfish dignity, yet his due respect to times and places made him able to +penetrate everywhere, from the hut to the palace. + +The Carnatic war was at this time an impediment, by keeping the minds of +all the natives in a state of excitement and anxiety, from dread of +Mahratta incursions; but Schwartz never intermitted his rounds, and was +well supported by the Danish Governor, a good man, who often showed +himself his friend. Some of the missionaries were actually made +prisoners when the French took Cuddalore, but Count Lally Tollendal was +very kind to them, and sent them with all their property and converts +safely away to Tranquebar. + +The Dutch missionaries in Ceylon had been in correspondence with those of +Tranquebar, and had obtained from them copies of their Tamul Bible, and +in 1760 Schwartz was sent on a visit to them. He was very well received +by both clergy and laity; and though he was laid up by a severe illness +at Colombo, yet he was exceedingly well contented with his journey and +his conferences with his brethren. + +Christian Schwartz had been more than sixteen years in India, and was +forty years of age, before his really distinctive and independent work +began, after his long training in the central station at Tranquebar. + +The neighbouring district of Tanjore had at different times been visited, +and the ministers of the Rajah had shown themselves willing to bestow +some reflection on what they heard from the missionaries. Visits to this +place and to Trichinopoly became frequent with him, and in 1766 the +Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge having decided on planting a +mission station in the latter place, he was appointed to take the charge +of it. + +About this time he seems to have accommodated his name to English +pronunciation, and to have always written it Swartz. It was now that he +became acquainted with William Chambers, Esq., brother to the Chief +Justice of Bengal,--not a Company's servant, but a merchant, and an +excellent man, who took great interest in missionary labours, and himself +translated a great part of St. Matthew's Gospel into Persian, the court +language of India. From a letter of this gentleman, we obtain the only +description we possess of Swartz's appearance and manners. He says that, +from the descriptions he had heard, he had expected to see a very austere +and strict person, but "the first sight of him made a complete revolution +on this point. His garb, indeed, which was pretty well worn, seemed +foreign and old-fashioned, but in every other respect his appearance was +the reverse of all that could be called forbidding or morose. Figure to +yourself a stout well-made man, somewhat above the middle size, erect in +his carriage and address, with a complexion rather dark though healthy, +black curled hair, and a manly engaging countenance, expressive of +unaffected candour, ingenuousness, and benevolence, and you will have an +idea of what Mr. Swartz appeared to be at first sight." Mr. Chambers +adds that Swartz's whole allowance at Trichinopoly was ten pagodas a +year, that is, about 48_l._ (as Mr. Chambers estimates it). The +commanding officer of the English garrison was ordered to supply him with +quarters, and gave him a room in an old native building, where "there was +just room for his bed and himself, and in which few men could stand +upright." With this lodging he was content. His food was rice and +vegetables dressed native fashion, and his clothes were made of black +dimity. The little brass lamp which he had used for his studies at the +University went with him to India, and served him all his life, often +late at night, for he never preached even to the natives without much +study. + +He found the English without church or chaplain, and had very little +knowledge of their language, having lived almost entirely among Germans, +Danes, and natives; but he quickly picked it up among the soldiers, to +whom his kindly simple manners commended him; and, as soon as he could +speak it to any degree, he began to read the Church Service every Sunday +to the garrison, with a printed sermon from an English divine, until he +had obtained sufficient fluency to preach extempore. At first, the place +of meeting was a large room in an old building, but he afterwards +persuaded them to build themselves a church capable of holding from 1,500 +to 2,000. His facility in learning languages must have been great, for +the English of his letters is excellent, unless his biographer, Dean +Pearson, has altered it. It is not at all like that of a German. His +influence with the soldiers was considered as something wonderful, in +those times of neglect and immorality, and the commandant and his +wife--Colonel and Mrs. Wood--were his warmest friends; and when the +Government at Madras heard of his voluntary services as chaplain, they +granted him, unsolicited, a salary of 100_l._ a year, of which he devoted +half to the service of his congregation. He was thus able to build a +mission-house, and an English and a Tamul school, labour and materials +being alike cheap. But, in spite of all his care of the English +soldiery, the natives were his chief thought; and he was continually +among them, reading and arguing home with the most thorough knowledge and +experience of their difficulties. He made expeditions from Trichinopoly +to Tanjore, then under the government of a Rajah, under the protection of +the British Government. The principal worship of the place was directed +to an enormous black bull, said to be hewn out of a single block of +granite, and so large that the temple had been built round it. + +The Brahmins conversed with him a good deal, and often were all _but_ +converted. One plainly said that love of money and pleasure alone kept +them from accepting Christianity. In 1769 he had a personal interview +with the Rajah Tuljajee, a man of the dignity, grace, and courtesy usual +in Hindoo princes, but very indolent, not even rising in the morning if +he was told that it was not an auspicious day, though he was more +cultivated than most men of his rank and period. + +Swartz found him seated on a couch suspended from pillars, and was placed +opposite to him, on a seat. The interpreter addressed him in Persian, +and Swartz replied in the same; but, perceiving that the man omitted part +of his speech, he asked leave to speak Tamul. + +The Rajah asked questions, which led to an exposition of the Christian +doctrine, and he listened with interest; and he likewise was struck when +Swartz uttered a thanksgiving before partaking of the sweets that were +carried round on trays. He showed himself so much disappointed when he +learnt that the Padre had left Tanjore, that it was resolved that Swartz +should return thither again; and for some days there were out-of-door +preachings on the glacis of the fort, where, in spite of clouds of dust +brought by the land wind, the people collected in crowds to hear him, and +expressed ardent wishes that the Rajah would become a Christian, when +they all could do the same. The Prince himself was much drawn towards +the missionary; but it was the old story,--he was surrounded with +ministers and courtiers who feared any change, above all any +plain-speaking truth, and therefore did their best to keep the new light +at a distance. However, Tuljajee called Swartz "_his padre_," and gave +him free entrance to his fort at Tanjore, where his arguments made a wide +impression, and still more his example. "Padre," said a young Nabob, "we +always regarded you Europeans as ungodly men, who knew not the use of +prayers, till you came among us." + +He continued to go backwards and forwards between Trichinopoly and +Tanjore, in both which places he began to gather catechumens round him. +Unfortunately his Protestant principles brought him into collision with +the Roman Catholics at the former place. A young Hindoo, of good birth, +seems to have had one of those remarkable natures that cannot rest +without truth. He had for seven years wandered to all the most famous +pagodas and most sacred rivers, seeking rest for his soul, but in vain. +Some Roman Catholics had given him a little brass crucifix, which he used +to set up before him as he prayed; but he had learnt little more of them, +and he was mournfully gazing at "the pagodas of Sirengam" (in his own +words), and thinking, "What is all this? what can it avail?" when some of +Swartz's catechists began to speak. "Will this be better than what I +have found?" he said to himself. He listened, was asked to remain a +fortnight at the station, and soon had given his whole soul to the faith. +He was baptized by the name of Nyana Pracasam, or Spiritual Light, and +became a catechist. His father and mother were likewise led to +Christianity by him, but the Roman Catholics, having begun his +conversion, considered that they had a right to him, and on one occasion, +when he was found reading to a sick relative, probably a member of their +Church, he was severely beaten, and was rescued by the heathen neighbours +when nearly killed. + +Swartz seems to have regarded the Roman Catholics as in almost as much +need of reconversion as the Hindoos and Mahometans; and as in those days +their Church shared in that universal religious torpor that had crept +over the world, it is most likely that he found them in a very debased +condition. + +With the Mahometans he had some success, though he found, like all other +missionaries, that their faith, being rather a heresy than a paganism, +had truth enough in it to be much harder to deal with than the Hindoo +polytheism. Besides, they accepted the Persian proverb, "Every time a +man argues, he loses a drop of blood from his liver." He was impeded +also by the want of a Persian translation of the entire Bible, having no +more than the Gospels to give the inquirers, and these badly translated; +and with Mahometans the want of the real history of the Patriarchs was +very serious. Some, however, were convinced and baptized, though by far +the greater number of his converts were Hindoos. + +In 1776, a coadjutor, either German or Danish-trained, named Christian +Pohle, joined him at Trichinopoly, and thus he became free to reside more +constantly at Tanjore, where the Rajah always protected him, though +continually fluctuating in feeling towards Christianity, according to the +influences of his ministers and the Brahmins who surrounded him, and the +too frequent offences given by the godless officers of the European +garrison which was stationed in the fort. + +Mr. Swartz was anxiously soliciting for means to build a church for the +use of this garrison, when he was summoned to Madras, to the governor, +Sir Thomas Rumbold, who promised him a grant for his church; but, at the +same time, informed him that he was to be sent on a mission to visit the +formidable Hyder Ali in Mysore, in order to judge how far his intentions +towards the English were pacific. He was selected for the purpose on +account of his perfect knowledge of Hindostanee, the simplicity of his +manner of travelling, and his perfect immunity from any of the ordinary +influences of interest or ambition; and he undertook it, as he tells the +Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, because he regarded it as +conducing to peace, as opening fresh doors to the Gospel, and as a token +of gratitude to the Honourable Company for kindness he had received; "but +at the same time," he says, "I resolved to keep my hands undefiled from +any presents, by which determination the Lord enabled me to abide, so +that I have not accepted a single farthing save my travelling expenses." + +On the 1st of July, 1779, he set out from Trichinopoly on this journey, +taking one of his catechists, named Sattianadem, with him. He travelled +in a palanquin, and took six days to reach Caroor, on the Mysore +frontier, forty miles off, where he stayed a month with a young Ceylonese +Dutchman in Hyder Ali's service, while sending to ask the Nabob's +permission to proceed. All this time he and his catechist preached and +gave instruction in the streets. It is curious to find him, on his +journey, contrasting the excellent state of Hyder Ali's roads and bridges +with the careless disorganization of the public works under the Company. +An epidemic fever was raging in Seringapatam, and Swartz pitched his tent +outside, where he could conveniently visit the many-pillared palace of +the sovereign. He was much struck with the close personal supervision +that Hyder Ali kept up over his officers, and with the terrible severity +of the punishments. Two hundred men were kept armed with whips, and not +a day passed without many being scourged, no rank being exempt, the +Nabob's two sons and sons-in-law being liable to be whipped like the +meanest groom. Swartz was the unwilling spectator of the punishment of +the collector of a district who was flogged with whips armed with nails. + +A few hundreds of Europeans, English, German, and French, were in Hyder's +pay, encamped about the town, and a German captain lent his tent for +public worship. No molestation was offered to any instructions that +Swartz attempted to give, and he was very courteously entreated by the +Prince himself. The conferences with him were generally held in a hall +of marble columns, open to a garden adorned with fruit trees, rows of +cypresses, and fountains. Hyder Ali sat on rich carpets, covering the +floor, and the Padre was placed next to him. He spoke in general terms +of his desire to keep the peace, though the British had violated their +engagements, referring to an attempt that had newly been made to march +troops through his territory without his permission. To Swartz he was +gracious in speech, but the letter he entrusted to him was full of +threatening for this and other acts which he considered aggressive; and +the general impression brought back by the missionary was that a war was +to be expected. + +Hyder Ali had presented him with a bag of three hundred rupees for +travelling expenses, which it would have been a great affront to return. +He, however, made it over to the Government at Madras, and when they +would not take it, asked leave to use it as the foundation for a +collection for an English orphan school at Tanjore. This was granted, +and proved a success. Finding that there was an intention of voting a +present to him, he begged instead that a salary might be given to Mr. +Pohle at Trichinopoly; and, in consequence, both were enabled to maintain +catechists and schoolmasters; for of making a home for themselves, these +devoted men never thought. Moreover, Swartz obtained bricks and lime for +the building of his English church within the fort; and he bought and +enlarged a house half a mile from it, for his Malabar Christians to +worship in. His own observations of Hyder Ali's warlike intentions led +also to his purchasing 12,000 bags of rice as a provision against the +scarcity that too surely attends upon Indian warfare. + +In the summer of 1780, these apprehensions were realized. Hyder crossed +the Ghauts, and passed down into the Carnatic with 100,000 men, directed +by a staff of French officers, and plundered up to the very gates of +Madras. Everything was in the greatest confusion; the English troops +were dispersed in garrisons, and could not easily be brought together; +and one small detachment under Colonel Baillie, who were made prisoners +at Conjiveram, suffered a frightful captivity. Sir Eyre Coote did, +indeed, keep the enemy in check, and defeat him in several battles, but +had not at first sufficient numbers or stores effectually to drive him +back; and the whole province of Tanjore was horribly wasted. The +irrigation of the district had been broken up by the invaders; there was +for three years neither seed-time nor harvest, and the miserable peasants +crawled into the towns to perish there, often with their sons carried off +to form a regiment of youths whom Hyder Ali was bringing up as a sort of +Janissaries. + +The unhappy creatures lay dying along the sides of the road, and among +them moved from one to another that homely figure in the black dimity +dress, and his catechists with him, feeding those who could still +swallow, and speaking words of comfort to those who could hear. Some of +the English sent a monthly subscription, which enabled Swartz to keep up +the supply, so that a hundred and twenty a day were fed; but often in the +morning he found the dead lying in heaps, and in one of his letters he +mentions that his catechists are alive, as though he regarded it as a +wonder and a mercy. Indeed he seems to have been a very Joseph to the +Rajah, and even to the English garrison. There was absolutely no +magazine for provisions, either for the Sepoys or the Rajah's own troops, +and twice he was implored, both by Tuljajee and the Company, to purchase +supplies and get them brought in, since they were unable to do so, "for a +want of good understanding with the natives who still possessed either +rice or oxen to transport it." He was enabled to procure the supply, and +then there was no place to store it in but his own new English church, so +that he was obliged to hold three services on a Sunday in the other: from +eight till ten in English, from ten till twelve in Tamul, and from four +till five in Portuguese! About a hundred converts were gained during the +famine; but he was forced to teach them very slowly, their mental +faculties were so weakened by their state of exhaustion. The whole of +the towns of Tanjore and Trichinopoly were, he says, filled with living +skeletons, there was hardly an able or vigorous man to be found, and in +this distress it was necessary to relax the ordinarily wise rule of never +giving any assistance to a person under preparation for baptism, since to +withhold succour would have been barbarous cruelty. + +When the whole country was overrun by the troops of Mysore, the respect +paid to the good Padre was such that he travelled from end to end of it +without hindrance, even through the midst of the enemy's camp, and on the +only occasion when he was detained, the sentinel politely put it that "he +was waiting for orders to let him proceed." It was on one of these +journeys that a little lad, named Christian David, the son of one of the +converts, was attending him one evening, when, halting at a native +village, the supper was brought, of rice and curry. The Padre made so +long a grace out of the fulness of his heart, that at last the boy broke +in with a murmur that the curry would be cold! He never forgot the +reproof: "What! shall our gracious God watch over us through the heat and +burden of the day, and shall we devour the food which He provides for us +at night, with hands which we have never raised in prayer, and lips which +have never praised Him?" The missionaries were always safe throughout +the war, and, when Cuddalore capitulated to the French and Mysoreans, Mr. +Gericke, who was then at the head of the station, concealed some English +officers in his house, and likewise, by his representations to the French +general, saved the town from being delivered up to be plundered by +Hyder's native troops. + +In the end of 1782, Hyder Ali died; his son, Tippoo Sahib, assuming the +title of Sultan, continued the war, with the same fierceness, but without +the assistance of the French, who were withdrawn, in consequence of the +peace that had been concluded at home. + +This, together with the numerous victories that had been obtained by the +English forces, led to hopes that Tippoo would consent to terms of peace, +and two Commissioners were appointed, whom Swartz was requested to join +as interpreter. He had no taste for political missions, but he thought +it a duty to do all in his power for peace, and set off for the purpose, +but the Mysoreans complained that the English promises had not been kept, +and he was turned back again by the enemy's troops. Colonel Fullarton, +who was in command of the army about to invade Mysore, writes, "The +knowledge and the integrity of this irreproachable missionary have +retrieved the character of Europeans from _imputations of general +depravity_!" He went back to Tanjore, and there, for the first time, +experienced some failure in health. He was requested again to join the +Commissioners, but would not again attempt it, partly from the state of +his health, and partly because Tippoo was far more averse to Christianity +than Hyder had been. All the 12,000 Tanjoreen captive boys--originally +Hindoos--were bred up Mahometans, and he tolerated nothing else but +Hindooism, persecuting the Roman Catholics in his dominions till no one +dared make an open profession. + +A treaty was, however, concluded in 1784, and there was for a time a +little rest, greatly needed by Swartz, who had been suffering from much +weakness and exhaustion; but a journey into Tinnevelly, with his friend +Mr. Sullivan, seems to have restored him. + +There were already some dawnings of Christianity in this district. As +long before as 1771, one of the Trichinopoly converts, named +Schavrimutta, who was living at Palamcotta, began to instruct his +neighbours from the Bible, and a young Hindoo accountant, becoming +interested, went to an English sergeant and his wife, who had likewise +been under Swartz's influence, and asked for further teaching. The +sergeant taught him the Catechism and then baptized him, rather to the +displeasure of Swartz, who always was strongly averse to hasty baptisms. +Afterwards, a Brahmin's widow begged for baptism. She, it appeared, was +living with an English officer, and Swartz was obliged to refuse her +while this state of things continued, but he found that the Englishman +had promised to marry her, and had begun to teach her his language and +his faith. He died without performing his promise, but Christianity had +become so dear to her, that she again entreated for baptism, and was then +admitted into the Church by the name of Clarinda. She afterwards was the +chief means of building a church at Palamcotta, to which Sattianadem +became the catechist; and thus was first sown a seed which has never +ceased growing, for this district of Tinnevelly has always been the +stronghold of Christianity in India. + +Meantime Swartz's poor friend, the Rajah Tuljajee at Tanjore, was in a +deplorable state. He had suffered great losses during Hyder Ali's +invasion of his country, and, moreover, was afflicted with an incurable +disease, and had lately lost, by death, his only son, daughter, and +grandson: He shut himself up in the depths of his palace, and became +harsh and moody, heaping all the treasure together that he could collect, +and employing a dean or minister, named Baba, whose exactions on the +famished population were so intolerable that the people fled the country, +and settled in the neighbouring districts, so that no less than 65,000 +were said to have deserted the province. + +Sir Archibald Campbell, Governor of Madras, remonstrated, but the Rajah +was affronted, and would not dismiss his minister, and as the peasants +refused to sow their land without some security that the crops should not +be reaped by Baba's emissaries before their very eyes, the Madras +authorities decided on taking the management of Tanjoreen affairs into +their hands and appointing a committee to watch over the government. Sir +Archibald wished to place Mr. Swartz on this committee as the person best +able to deal both with Rajah and people, and he accepted a seat, only +stipulating that he was not to share in any violent or coercive measures. + +When the "good Padre" assured the fugitives in the Rajah's name and his +own that oppression was at an end, 7,000 at once returned; and when he +reminded them that the season for planting their corps was nearly past, +they replied that in return for his kindness they intended to work night +and day. + +In 1787, the childless Rajah decided on--after the fashion of many Hindoo +princes--adopting an heir, who might perform the last duties which were +incumbent on a son. His choice fell upon the son of a near kinsman, a +child ten years of age, whom he named Serfojee. A day or two after he +sent for Mr. Swartz, and said, "This is not my son, but yours. Into your +hand I deliver him." "May the child become a child of God," was the +answer of Swartz. The Rajah was too ill to continue the interview, but +he sent for Swartz the next day, and said, "I appoint you guardian to +this child; I put his hands into yours." + +Swartz, however, did not think it right to undertake the state +guardianship of the lad, and the administration of the province. Indeed, +he knew that to do so would be absolutely to put the child's life in +danger, from the cabals and jealousies which would be excited, and he +induced Tuljajee to confide the charge to his brother, Rama Swamey, +afterwards called Ameer Singh. + +This was done, and the Rajah soon after died, in the year 1787, leaving +the boy and Ameer Singh under the protection of the Company. He had +always listened to Swartz willingly, and treated him affectionately, and +the result of the influence of the missionary extended so far that no +Suttee took place at his funeral, but he had never actually embraced +Christianity, though protecting it to the utmost of his power. + +The brother, Ameer Singh, was not contented merely to act as regent, but +complained that injustice was done to him, and that Tuljajee was too much +enfeebled in mind to judge of his own measures when he adopted the boy +Serfojee. Sir Archibald Campbell, acting for the Company, came to +Tanjore, and, after an examination into the circumstances, decided in +favour of Ameer Singh, and confirmed him in the Rajahship, binding him +over to be the faithful protector of poor little Serfojee, who, putting +the adoption apart, was still his near relation. + +Ameer was not a better manager of his province than his brother had been, +and he was far from kind to Serfojee, whom Swartz had not been allowed to +see for months, when the widows of the late Rajah made complaints that +the boy was closely shut up and cruelly treated. On this Swartz applied +to Government, and obtained an order to go with another gentleman to +inquire into his condition. The Rajah was much offended; but as he +reigned only by the protection of the English, he could not refuse, and +the Padre was conducted to a large but dark room, where he found the poor +child sitting by lamp-light. This had been his condition for almost two +years, ever since his adopted father's death, and on seeing the Padre, he +asked piteously if it were the way in Europe to prevent children from +seeing the sun and moon. Mr. Swartz comforted him, and asked him if he +had any one to teach him. The Rajah's minister replied that he had a +master, but was too idle to learn; but Serfojee looked up and said, "I +have none to teach me, therefore I do not know a single letter." The +Rajah was only offended at remonstrance, and at last Government sent +orders that could not be resisted, and a Sepoy guard to take charge of +the lad. Then, as a great favour, the Rajah entreated that the guard +would not enter his palace, but that for the night before Serfojee could +be removed, the Padre would remain with him to satisfy them that he was +safe. To this Swartz consented, and the guard disappeared, whereupon the +Rajah told him "he might go home." + +"What! and be guilty of a breach of faith?" was his resolute answer. +"Even my father should not be permitted to make me such a proposal!" + +They were ashamed, and left him to remain that night with Serfojee, whom +he probably thus saved from foul play, since the jealous and vindictive +passions of Ameer Singh had been thoroughly excited. The captivity must +have been very wretched, for he observed that the poor boy walked lame, +and found that the cause was this:--"I have not been able to sleep," said +poor Serfojee, "from the number of insects in my room, but have had to +sit clasping my knees about with my arms. My sinews are a little +contracted, but I hope I shall soon recover." + +When taken out, the poor little fellow was delighted once more to see the +sun, and to ride out again. A Brahmin master selected by Mr. Swartz was +given to him, and he very rapidly learnt both to read his own language +and English. Swartz also interfered on behalf of the late Rajah's +minister, Baba, who had indeed been extortionate and severe, but scarcely +deserved such a punishment as being put into a hole six feet long and +four feet broad and high. + +For two years Serfojee was unmolested; but, in 1792, the husband of Ameer +Singh's only child died without children, and this misfortune was +attributed by the Rajah to witchcraft on the part of the widows of +Tuljajee. He imagined that they were contriving against his own life, +and included Serfojee in his hatred. By way of revenge, he caused a pile +of chilis and other noxious plants to be burnt under Serfojee's windows, +and thus nearly stifled him and his attendants. He prevented the +Prince's teachers from having access to him, shut up his servants, and +denied permission to merchants to bring their wares to him. Mr. Swartz +was absent at the time, and Serfojee wrote a letter to him, begging that +the English Government would again interfere. It was found that any +remonstrance put the Rajah into such a state of fury that the lives of +the youth and the ladies we're really unsafe while they remained within +his reach, and it was therefore decided that they should be transplanted +to Madras. It was a wonderful step for Hindoo princesses to take, and +was only accomplished by the influence of Mr. Swartz, backed by a guard +of soldiers, under whose escort all safely arrived at Madras, where +Serfojee's education could at length be properly carried on. + +The youth was so entirely the child of Swartz and of the Government, that +it is disappointing to find that he did not become a Christian. No +stipulation to the contrary seems to have been made by Tuljajee; but, +probably, the missionary refrained from a sense of honour towards the +late Rajah, and because to bring the boy up in the Church would have +destroyed all chance of his obtaining the provinces, and probably have +deprived him of the protection of the Company, who dreaded the suspicion +of proselytizing. Still it is very disappointing, and requires all our +trust in Swartz's judgment and excellence to be satisfied that he was +right in leaving this child, who had been confided to him, all his life a +heathen. Serfojee learnt the theory of Christianity, was deeply attached +to Mr. Swartz, and lived a life very superior to that of most Hindoo +princes of his time. His faith in his hereditary paganism was probably +only political, but he never made the desperate, and no doubt perilous, +plunge of giving up all the world to save his own soul. Was it his +fault, or was it any shortcoming in the teaching that was laid before +him, and was that human honour a want of faith? It puzzles us! Here was +Swartz, from early youth to hoary hairs unwavering in the work of the +Gospel, gathering in multitudes to the Church, often at great peril to +himself, yet holding back from bringing into the fold the child who had +been committed to him, and, as far as we can see, without any stipulation +to the contrary. Probably he thought it right to leave Serfojee's +decision uninfluenced until his education should be complete, and was +disappointed that the force of old custom and the danger of change were +then too strong for him; and thus it was that Serfojee was only one of +the many half-reclaimed Indian princes who have lived out their dreary, +useless lives under English protection, without accepting the one pearl +of great price which could alone have made them gainers. + +It is just possible that there may have been too much of a certain sort +of acquiescence in Swartz's mind, missionary as he was. He did not +attack the system of caste, with its multitudinous separations and +distinctions. Of course he wished it to be abolished, but he accepted +converts without requiring its renunciation, allowed high-caste persons +to sit apart in the churches, and to communicate before Pariahs, and did +not interfere with their habits of touching no food that the very finger +of a person of a different caste had defiled. He no doubt thought these +things would wither away of themselves, but his having permitted them, +left a world of difficulty to his successors. + +He lived, however, the life of a saint, nearly that of an ascetic. His +almost unfurnished house was shared with some younger missionary. +Kohloff, who was one of these, related in after years how plain their +diet was. Some tea in a jug, with boiling water poured over it and dry +bread broken into it, formed the breakfast, which lasted five minutes; +dinner, at one, was of broth or curry; and at eight at night they had +some meal or gruel. If wine were sent them, it was reserved for the +communions or for the sick. Swartz only began, very late in life, to +take a single glass in the middle of his Sunday services. + +Every morning he assembled his native catechists at early prayer, and +appointed them their day's work. "You go there." "You do this." "You +call on such and such families." "You visit such a village." About four +o'clock they returned and made their report, when their master took them +all with him to the churchyard or some public place, or to the front of +the Mission-house, according to the season of the year, and there sat +either expounding the Scriptures to those who would come and listen, or +conversing with inquirers and objectors among the heathen. His manner +was mild, sometimes humorous, but very authoritative, and he would brook +neither idleness nor disobedience. + +Over his Christian flock his authority was as complete as ever that of +Samuel could have been as a judge. If any of them did wrong, the +alternative was-- + +"Will you go to the Rajah's court, or be punished by me?" + +"O Padre, you punish me!" was always the reply. + +"Give him twenty strokes," said the Padre, and it was done. + +The universal confidence in the Padre, felt alike by Englishmen and +Hindoos, was inestimable in procuring and carrying out regulations for +the temporal prosperity of the peasantry at Tanjore, under the Board +which had pretty well taken the authority out of the hands of the +inefficient and violent Ameer Singh. Districts that, partly from misery, +had become full of thieves, were brought into order, and the thieves +themselves often became hopeful converts, and endured a good deal of +persecution from their heathen neighbours. His good judgment in dealing +with all classes, high and low, English or native, does indeed seem to +have been wonderful, and almost always to have prevailed, probably +through his perfect honesty, simplicity, and disinterestedness. + +The converts in Tinnevelly became more and more numerous, and Sattianadem +had been ordained to the ministry, Lutheran fashion, by the assembly of +the presbytery at Tranquebar, there being as yet no Bishop in India; and +thus many, the very best of his catechists, served for many years, at +Palamcotta, the first Christian minister produced by modern India. On +the whole, Swartz could look back on the half-century of his mission with +great joy and thankfulness; he counted his spiritual children by +hundreds; and the influence he had exerted upon the whole Government had +saved multitudes of peasants from oppression and starvation, and had +raised the whole tone of the administration. He was once or twice +unkindly attacked by Englishmen who hated or mistrusted the propagation +of Christianity. One gentleman even wrote a letter in a newspaper +calling a missionary a disgrace to any nation, and raking up stories of +the malpractices of heathens who had been preached to without being +converted, which were laid to the charge of the actual Christians; but +imputations like these did not meet with faith from any one whose good +opinion was of any real consequence to Swartz. + +His strong health and the suitability of his constitution to the climate +brought him to a good old age in full activity. He had become the +patriarch of the community of missionaries, and had survived all those +with whom he had at first laboured; but he was still able to circulate +among the churches he had founded, teaching, praying, preaching and +counselling, or laying any difficulty before the Government, whose +attention he had so well earned. His last care was establishing the +validity of the adoption of Serfojee, who had grown up a thoughtful, +gentle, and upright man, satisfactory on all points except on the one +which rendered him eligible to the throne of Tanjore, his continued +heathenism. The question was referred to the Company at home, and before +the answer could arrive, by the slow communication of those days, when +the long voyage, and that by a sailing vessel, was the only mode of +conveyance, the venerable guardian of the young Rajah had sunk into his +last illness. + +This was connected with a mortification in his left foot, which had been +more or less painful for several years, but had probably been neglected. +His Danish colleague, Mr. Gericke, was with him most of the time, and it +was one of his subjects of thankfulness that he was permitted to depart +out of the world in the society of faithful brethren. He suffered +severely for about three months, but it was not till the last week that +his departure was thought to be near. He liked to have the English +children brought in to read to him chapters of the Bible and sing Dr. +Watts's hymns to him; and the beautiful old German hymns sung by Mr. +Gericke and Mr. Kohloff were his great delight. Indeed, when at the very +last, as he lay almost lifeless, with closed eyes, Mr. Gericke began to +sing the hymn, + + "Only to Thee, Lord JESUS CHRIST," + +he joined in with a clear melodious voice, and accompanied him to the +end. Two hours later, about four o'clock in the afternoon of the 13th of +February, 1798, Christian Friedrich Swartz breathed his last, in the +seventy-second year of his age, and the forty-eighth of his mission +service in India. + +The cries and wailings of the poor resounded all night around the house, +and Serfojee Rajah came from a distance to be present at his burial. It +had been intended to sing a funeral hymn, but the cries and lamentations +of the poor so overcame the clergy, that they could scarcely raise their +voices. Serfojee wept bitterly, laid a gold cloth over the bier, and +remained present while Mr. Gericke read the Funeral Service,--a most +unusual departure from Hindoo custom, and a great testimony of affection +and respect. + +A few months later arrived the decision of the East India Company, that +the weak and rapacious Ameer Singh should be deposed, and Serfojee placed +on the throne. He conducted himself excellently as a ruler, and greatly +favoured Christians in his territory, always assisting the various +schools, and giving liberal aid whenever the frequently-recurring famines +of India brought them into distress. + +Three years later, in 1801, Serfojee wrote to the Society for Promoting +Christian Knowledge, to beg them to order a "monument of marble" at his +expense, to the memory of the late Rev. Father Swartz, to be affixed to +the pillar nearest the pulpit. Accordingly, a bas-relief in white marble +was executed by Flaxman, representing the death of Swartz, Gericke behind +him, two native Christians and three children standing by, and Serfojee +clasping his hand and receiving his blessing. It was not exactly fact, +but it was the monumental taste of the day; and it so much delighted the +Rajah, that he kept it in his palace, among the portraits of his +ancestors, for two years before he could resolve on parting with it to +the church. The Prince likewise composed the epitaph which was carved on +the stone which covers the grave of Swartz, the first instance of English +verse by a Hindoo:-- + + "Firm wast thou, humble and wise, + Honest, pure, free from disguise; + Father of orphans, the widow's support, + Comfort in sorrow of every sort: + To the benighted dispenser of light, + Doing and pointing to that which is right. + Blessing to princes, to people, to me, + May I, my father, be worthy of thee, + Wisheth and prayeth thy Sarabojee." + +Swartz had always been striving to be poor, and never succeeding. Living +and eating in the humblest manner, and giving away all that came to him, +still recognitions of services from English and natives had flowed in on +him; and, after all the hosts of poor he had fed, and of churches and +schools he had founded, he was an instance of "there is that scattereth +and yet increaseth;" for the property he bequeathed to the Mission was +enough to assist materially in carrying it on after his death. Moreover, +Serfojee maintained the blind, lame, and decrepit members of his church, +and founded an asylum for the orphan children; so that the good men, +Gericke, Kohloff, Pohle, and the rest, were not absolutely dependent on +Europe for assistance; and this was well, since the Orphan-house at Halle +and the Society at Copenhagen had in this long course of years ceased to +send out funds. + +But Swartz's work under their hands continued to prosper. He had a sort +of apotheosis among the heathen, such as he would have been the last to +covet; for statues were raised to him, lights burnt before him, and +crowns offered up. But about Palamcotta and throughout Tinnevelly there +was one of those sudden movements towards Christianity that sometimes +takes place. The natives were asking instruction from their friends, and +going eagerly in search of the catechists and of Sattianadem, and even +burning their idols and building chapels in preparation for the coming of +more fully qualified teachers. Mr. Gericke made a tour among them in +1803, and found their hearts so moved towards the Gospel, that he +baptized 1,300 in the course of his journey, and the work of Sattianadem +and the catechists raised the number of converts to 4,000. This was, +however, this good man's last journey. On his return, he found that his +only son, an officer in the Company's service, was dying, and, under the +weight of this and other troubles, his health gave way, and he died in +the thirty-eighth year of his mission. Others of the original Danish and +German missionaries likewise died, and scarcely any came out in their +stead. Their places were, therefore, supplied by ordinations, by the +assembly of ministers, of four native catechists, of whom was +Nyanapracasem, a favourite pupil of Swartz. No Church can take root +without a native ministry. But the absence of any central Church +government was grievously felt, both as concerned the English and the +Hindoos. There were more than twenty English regiments in India, and not +a single chaplain among them all. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. HENRY MARTYN, THE SCHOLAR-MISSIONARY. + + +Again do we find the steady, plodding labourer of a lifetime contrasted +with the warm enthusiast, whose lot seems rather to awaken others than to +achieve victories in his own person. St. Stephen falls beneath the +stones, but his glowing discourse is traced through many a deep argument +of St. Paul. St. James drains the cup in early manhood, but his brother +holds aloft his witness to extreme old age. + +The ardent zeal of the Keltic character; the religious atmosphere that +John Wesley had spread over Cornwall, even among those who did not enrol +themselves among his followers; the ability and sensitiveness hereditary +in the Martyn family, together with the strong influence of a university +tutor,--all combined to make such a bright and brief trail of light of +the career of Henry Martyn, the son of the head clerk in a merchant's +office at Truro, born on the 18th of February, 1781. This station sounds +lowly enough, but when we find that it was attained by a self-educated +man, who had begun life as a common miner, and taught himself in the +intervals of rest, it is plain that the elder Martyn must have possessed +no ordinary power. Out of a numerous family only four survived their +infancy, and only one reached middle age, and in Henry at least great +talent was united to an extreme susceptibility and delicacy of frame, +which made him as a child unusually tender and gentle in manner when at +his ease, but fretful and passionate when annoyed. + +Of course he fared as ill with his fellow-scholars at Truro Grammar +School as he did well with the masters; but an elder boy took him under +his protection, and not only lessened his grievances at the time, but +founded a lasting friendship. + +In 1795, when only fourteen, Henry Martyn was sufficiently advanced to be +sent up as a candidate for a scholarship at Corpus Christi College, +Oxford, and passed a very creditable examination, though he failed in +obtaining the election. Eight years later, we find him congratulating +himself in his journal on thus having escaped the "scenes of debauchery" +to which his "profligate acquaintances" might have introduced him. Was +Corpus very much changed, when, only eleven years after, John Keble +entered it at the same age? Was it that Martyn's Cornish schoolfellows +were a bad set, or does this thanksgiving proceed from the sort of pious +complacency which religious journalizing is apt to produce in the best of +men? + +The failure sent Henry back to work for two years longer at the Truro +Grammar School, and when at sixteen he was entered at St. John's, +Cambridge (most peculiarly the college of future missionaries), he +immediately made proof of his remarkable talent. Strange to say, +although his father's rise in life had begun in his mathematical ability, +Henry's training in this branch had been so deficient, and the study +appeared so repugnant to him, that his first endeavour at Cambridge was +to learn the proportions of Euclid by heart, without trying to follow +their reasoning. This story is told of many persons, but perhaps of no +one else who in four years' time, while still a month under twenty, was +declared Senior Wrangler. + +This was in 1801, and the intervening time had been spent in hard study +and regular habits, but neither his sister at home, nor a +seriously-minded college friend, were satisfied with his religious +feelings during the first part of the time, and he himself regarded it +afterwards as a period of darkness. Indeed, his temper was under so +little control that in a passion he threw a knife at a companion, but +happily missed his aim, so that it only pierced the wall. The shock of +horror no doubt was good for him. But the next step he recorded in his +life was his _surprise_ at hearing it maintained that the glory of God, +not the praise of man, should be the chief motive of study. After +thinking it over his mind assented, and he resolved to maintain this as a +noble saying, but did not perceive that it would affect his conduct. + +However, the dearest, almost the only hallowed form of the praise of man, +was taken from him by the death of his father in 1799, immediately after +the delight of hearing of his standing first in the Christmas +examination. The expense of a return home was beyond his means, but he +took to reading the Bible, as a proper form to be complied with in the +days of mourning; and beginning with the Acts, as being the most +entertaining part, he felt the full weight of the doctrine of the +Apostles borne in on him, and was roused to renew his long-neglected +prayers. When next he went to chapel, with his soul thus awakened, he +was struck by perceiving for the first time how joy for the coming of our +Lord rings through the _Magnificat_. + +The great religious influence of the day at Cambridge emanated from the +pulpit and the rooms of the Reverend Charles Simeon, who did a truly +remarkable work in stirring up young men to a sense of the +responsibilities of the ministry. Henry Martyn regularly attended his +sermons, and the newly lighted sparks were also fanned by anxious letters +from the good sister at home; but until the strain, pressure, and +excitement of preparing for the final examination were over, he had +little time or attention for any other form of mental exertion. + +When, however, he found himself in possession of the highest honours his +University could award, he was amazed to discover how little they +satisfied him, and that he felt as if he had grasped a shadow instead of +a substance. + +This instinctive longing, the sure token of a mind of the higher pitch, +was finding rest as he became more and more imbued with the spirit of +religion, and ventured upon manifesting it more openly. He had hitherto +intended to apply himself to the law, but the example and conversation of +Charles Simeon brought him to such a perception of the greatness of the +office of the ministry that he resolved to dedicate himself thereto. +During the term after this decision was made, while he was acting as a +tutor at his college, he heard Mr. Simeon speak of William Carey and his +self-devotion in India; he read the Life of that kindred spirit, David +Brainerd, and the spark of missionary zeal was kindled in his ardent +nature. The commission "Go ye and teach all nations" was borne in on his +mind, and, with the promptness that was a part of his nature, he at once +offered himself to the "Society for Missions to Africa and the East," +which had been established, in the year 1800, by members of the English +Church who wished to act independently of the elder Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel. The name has since been altered to the +"Church Missionary Society." + +However, Martyn was only just twenty-one, and not of an age to take Holy +Orders, and he had therefore to wait, while studying divinity, and acting +as a tutor at Cambridge. All through his life he kept copious journals +of his sensations and resolutions, full of the deepest piety, always +replete with sternness towards himself and others, and tinged with that +melancholy which usually pervades the more earnest of that school which +requires conscious feeling as the test of spiritual life. + +In October 1803, he went to Ely for ordination as a deacon, though still +wanting five months of twenty-three. Those were lax days, there was +little examination, and a very low standard of fitness was required. +Henry Martyn was so much scandalized by the lightness of demeanour of one +of his fellow candidates that he spoke to him in strong reproof--with +what effect we do not know, but he records that he never ventured to +speak in rebuke, "unless he at the same time experienced a peculiar +contrition of spirit." + +He became Mr. Simeon's curate, and at the same time took charge of the +neighbouring parish of Lolworth. People then had small expectations of +clerical care, if a parish could be entrusted to a young deacon, +non-resident, acting as tutor and examiner, and with an assistant curacy +besides! His whole mind was, however, intensely full of his duties, and +so unworthy did he consider all other occupations that he prayed and +struggled conscientiously against the pleasure he could not but feel, in +getting up Thucydides and Xenophon for the examinations. Everything not +actually devotional seemed to him at these times under a ban, and it is +painful to see how a mind of great scope and power was cramped and +contracted, and the spirits lowered by incessant self-contemplation and +distrust of almost all enjoyment. When, at another time, he had to +examine on "Locke on the Human Understanding," the metaphysical study +acting on his already introspective mind produced a sense of misery and +anguish that he could hardly endure. It is pleasant, however, to find +him in another mood, writing, "Since I have known God in a saving manner, +painting, poetry, and music have had charms unknown to me before; I have +received what I suppose is a taste for them, for religion has refined my +mind, and made it susceptible of impressions from the sublime and +beautiful." + +This, no doubt, was true, but another influence had awakened his heart, +earthly perhaps in itself, but so noble and so holy that it bears a +heavenly light. He had become attached to a young lady in Cornwall, +named Lydia Grenfell, like-minded enough to return his affection. His +intention of volunteering for the Church Missionary Society was +overthrown by a disaster in Cornwall which deprived himself and his +unmarried sister of all the provision that their father had made for +them, thus throwing her upon him for maintenance, and making it necessary +that he should obtain a salary that would support her. It was suggested +by some of his friends that one of the chaplaincies founded by the old +East India Company, before the jealousy of religious teaching had set in, +would both give him opportunities for missionary work and enable him to +provide for his sister at home. Application was accordingly made, and a +man of his talent and character could not fail of being accepted; he was +promised the next vacant post, and went down to spend the long vacation +in Cornwall, and bid farewell to all whom he loved there, for the journey +was long and expensive, and he had resolved not to trust himself among +them again. + +He writes in his journal, "Parted with Lydia for ever in this life with a +sort of uncertain pain, which I knew would increase to violence." And so +it was, he suffered most acutely for many days, and, though calmness and +comfort came after a time, never were hopes and affections more +thoroughly sacrificed, or with more anguish, than by this most truly +devoted disciple of his Master. + +He worked on at Cambridge till he received his appointment in the January +of 1805, and he then only waited to receive Priests' Orders before going +to London to prepare for his embarkation. + +In those times of war, a voyage to India was a perilous and lengthy +undertaking. A whole fleet was collected, containing merchant, convict, +and transport vessels, all under the convoy of the ships of war belonging +to the Company; and, as no straggler might be left behind, the progress +of the whole was dependent on the rate of sailing of the slowest, and all +were impeded by the disaster of one. The _Union_, in which a passage was +given to the chaplain, contained, besides the crew, passengers, the 59th +Regiment, some other soldiers, and young cadets, all thrown closely +together for many months. She sailed from Portsmouth on the 17th of +July; but in two days' time one of the many casualties attendant on at +least sixty vessels made the fleet put into Falmouth, where it remained +for three weeks. This opportunity of intercourse with his family might +well seem an especial boon of Providence to the young missionary, who had +denied himself a last visit to them, and he carried away much comfort +from this meeting. His sister was engaged to be suitably married, so +that he was relieved from care on her account, and some hope was +entertained that Lydia would be able to come out to him in India. A +correspondence likewise began, which has been in great part preserved. +Two days after weighing anchor, the _Union_ still lingered on the coast, +and the well-known outline, with Mount's Bay, the spire of St. Hilary's +church, and all the landmarks so dear and familiar to the young +Cornishman's eye and heart, were watched from morning to night with keen +pain and grief, but with steadfast resolve and constant inward prayer. + +Then he addressed himself to the duties of the voyage. Private study of +Hebrew and of Hindostanee was of course a part; but he hoped to be useful +to his companions as a friend and as a minister. He could only obtain +permission to hold one service every Sunday, but he hoped to do much by +private conversations and prayers, and he tried to gain over the cadets +by offering to assist them in their studies, especially mathematics. Some +of them had the sense to see that the teaching of a senior wrangler was +no small advantage, and these read with him throughout the voyage; but in +general they were but raw lads, and followed the example of their +superiors, who for the most part were strongly set against Mr. Martyn. +Those were the times when sailors were utterly uncared for, and when +_mauvais sujets_ at home were sent out to India to the corruptions of a +luxurious climate and a heathen atmosphere. Men of this stamp would +think it bad enough to have a parson on board at all, and when they found +that he was a faithful priest, who held himself bound not to leave them +unchecked in their evil courses, they thought themselves aggrieved. Nor +was his manner likely to gain them. Grave and earnest, he had never in +his life known sportiveness, and his distress and horror at the profanity +and blasphemy that rang in his ears made him doubly sad and stern. From +the first his Sunday service was by most treated as an infliction, and +the officers, both of the ship and of the military, had so little sense +of decency as to sit drinking, smoking, and talking within earshot. The +persons who professed to attend showed no reverence of attitude; and when +he endeavoured to make an impression on the soldiers and their wives +between-decks, he was met with the same rude and careless inattention. + +With very little experience of mankind, he imagined that these hardened +beings could be brought to repent by terror, and his discourses were full +of denunciations of the wrath of God. He was told that, if he threatened +them thus, they would not come to hear him, and his reply was an +uncompromising sermon on the text, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, +and all the people that forget God." The bravery of the thing, and the +spirit of truth and love that pervaded all he said on this solemn verse, +was not lost upon all: some of the cadets were moved to tears, and an +impression was made upon several persons. Indeed, there was much that +should have induced serious thought, for, after having touched at Madeira +and the Azores, it was made known that the 59th was to be disembarked at +the Cape, to assist in the struggle then going on between the English and +Dutch. Moreover, there was much sickness on board, and the captain +himself, who had been always bitterly opposed to Mr. Martyn, anxiously +called for him to attend upon his death-bed. + +The 59th were landed in Table Bay just in time to take part in Sir David +Baird's victory. Martyn went on shore the next day to do his best for +the wounded; but they were mostly in hospital, and, being Dutch, he could +do little for them. He found congenial spirits among the Dutch clergy in +Cape Town, and spent a happy month there, but the latter part of his +voyage was not more satisfactory than the first. The educated portion of +the passengers continued to set their faces against him, treating him +with increased contempt, and even turning into ridicule the farewell +sermon, in which he took an affectionate leave of all who had sailed with +him. + +It may be that his manner was ill-judged, but it is a fearful thing to +find that it was possible for so many Christian people to have been in +daily contact with as true a saint as ever lived, and yet make him their +mock! Perhaps some of his words, and far more his example, may have +borne fruit in after years, such as he never knew of. + +The whole voyage had lasted nearly ten months before entering the +Hooghly. While ascending the stream, the lassitude produced by the +climate was so great that Martyn's spirits sank under it: he thought he +should "lead an idle, worthless life to no purpose. Exertion seemed like +death; indeed, absolutely impossible." Yet at the least he could write, +"Even if I should never see a native converted, God may design, by my +patience and continuance, to encourage future missionaries." + +This feeling of exhaustion was the prelude to a severe attack of fever, +which assailed him almost immediately after his arrival; but happily not +till he was safely lodged at Aldeen, in the kindly house of the Rev. +David Brown, where he was nursed till his recovery. His friends wanted +to keep him among the English at Calcutta, but his heart was set on +ministering to the heathen, and the sights and sounds of idolatry that +constantly met him increased his eagerness. He once rushed out at the +sight of the flames of a Suttee, hoping to rescue the victim, but she had +perished before he reached the spot. + +His arrival was when the alarm about the meeting at Vellore was at its +height, and when the colony at Serampore had been forbidden to preach or +distribute tracts in Calcutta. He by no means agreed with all the +Baptist doctrines, but he held in great esteem and reverence such men as +Carey and Marshman, was glad to profit by their experience and +instructions, and heartily sympathised in all their difficulties. Mr. +Carey might well write, "A young clergyman, Mr. Martyn, is lately +arrived, who is possessed with a truly missionary spirit." Together the +Serampore missionaries, with Mr. Martyn, Mr. Corrie, and Mr. Brown, +united in dedicating to the worship of God a heathen pagoda, which the +last-mentioned had succeeded in purchasing from the natives. Altogether +he was much cheered and refreshed. During the time that he waited at +Aldeen he improved himself in Hindostanee, and began to study Sanscrit, +and learnt the most approved method of dealing with the natives. +Moreover, he found that his allowance as a chaplain was so liberal as +amply to justify him in writing to urge Miss Grenfell to come out and +join him; and, during the long period of sixteen or eighteen months +before her refusal to do so reached him, he was full of the hope of +receiving her. + +His appointed station was Dinapore, where his primary duty was to +minister to the English troops there posted, and to the families of the +civilians; but he also hoped to establish native schools, to preach in +their own language to the Hindoos, and to scatter translations of +portions of Scripture, such as the Parables, among them. + +He had to read prayers to the soldiers from the drum-head by way of desk; +there were no seats, and he was desired to omit the sermon: but +afterwards a room was provided, and then the families of the officers and +residents began to attend, though at first they were much scandalized by +his preaching extempore. In fact there was a good deal in his whole tone +that startled old orthodoxy; and in the opposition with which he met at +times, there was some lawful and just distrust of the _onesidedness_ of +his tenets, together with the ordinary hatred and dislike of darkness to +light. So scrupulous was he in the Jewish force given by his party to +the Fourth Commandment, that, having one Sunday conceived the plan of +translating the Prayer-book into Hindostanee, he worked at it till he had +reached the end of the _Te Deum_; and there, doubting whether it were a +proper employment for the day, desisted until the Monday, to give himself +up to prayer, singing hymns, Scripture-reading, and meditation. The +immediate value of this work was for the poor native wives of the English +soldiers, whom he found professing Christianity, but utterly ignorant; +and to them every Sunday, after the official English service, he repeated +the Liturgy in the vulgar tongue. In this holy work he was the pioneer, +since Swartz's service was in Tamul. While working at his translations +with his moonshee, or interpreter, a Mussulman, he had much opportunity +for conversation and for study of the Mahometan arguments, so as to be +very useful to himself; though he could not succeed in convincing the +impracticable moonshee, who had all that self-satisfaction belonging to +Mahometanism. "I told him that he ought to pray that God would teach him +what the truth really is. He said he had no occasion to pray on this +subject, as the word of God is express." With the Hindoos at Dinapore, +he found, to his surprise, that there was apparently little +disinclination to "become Feringees," as they called it, outwardly; but +the difficulty lay in his insistance on Christian faith and obedience, +instead of a mere external profession. + +It was while he was at Dinapore that we first acquire anything like a +distinct idea of Henry Martyn; for there a short halt of the 53rd +Regiment brought him in contact with one who had an eye to observe, a +heart to honour, and a pen to describe him; namely, Mrs. Sherwood, the +wife of the paymaster, a woman of deeply religious sentiments and +considerable powers as an author. Mutual friends had already prepared +Mr. Martyn to expect to find like-minded companions in the Sherwoods, +invited to stay with him for the few days of their sojourn at Dinapore. +"Mr. Martyn's quarters," says that lady, "were in the smaller square--a +church-like abode, with little furniture, the rooms wide and high, with +many vast doorways, having their green jalousied doors, and long +verandahs encompassing two sides of the quarters." So scanty, indeed, +was the furniture, that, though he gave up his own bedroom, Mrs. Sherwood +could not find a pillow, not only there, but in the whole house; and, +with a severe pain in her face, could get nothing to lay her head on "but +a bolster stuffed as hard as a pin-cushion." + +She thus describes the first sight of her host:--"He was dressed in +white, and looked very pale, which, however, was nothing singular in +India; his hair, a light brown, was raised from his forehead, which was a +remarkably fine one. His features were not regular, but the expression +was so luminous, so intellectual, so affectionate, so beaming with Divine +charity, that no one could have looked at his features and thought of +their shape or form; the outbeaming of his soul would absorb the +attention of every observer. There was a very decided air, too, of the +gentleman about Mr. Martyn, and a perfection of manners which, from his +extreme attention to all minute civilities, might seem almost +inconsistent with the general bent of his thoughts to the most serious +subjects. He was as remarkable for ease as for cheerfulness. He did not +appear like one who felt the necessity of contending with the world and +denying himself its delights, but, rather, as one who was unconscious of +the existence of any attractions in the world, or of any delights which +were worthy of his notice. When he relaxed from his labours in the +presence of his friends, it was to play and laugh like an innocent child, +more especially if children were present to play and laugh with him." + +His labours were the incessant charge of the English, travelling often +great distances to baptize, marry, or bury, together with constant +teaching in the schools he had established both for the English and +natives, attendance on the sick in the hospitals, and likewise private +arguments with Mahometans and Hindoos. Public preachings in the streets +and bazaars, like those of Swartz, Carey, and Ward, he does not seem to +have attempted at this time; but his translations were his great and +serious employment, and one that gave him much delight. His thorough +classical education and scholarship fitted him for this in an unusual +degree, and besides the Hindostanee version of the Prayer-book, the +Persian--so much wanted in the Bombay Presidency--was committed to him; +and an assistant was sent to him, whose history, disappointing as it is, +cannot be omitted from the account of Indian missions. + +Sabat was an Arab of the tribe of Koreish, the same which gave birth to +Mahomet himself. He was born on the banks of the Euphrates, and educated +in such learning as still lingered about the city of the Khalifs; but he +left home early, and served in the Turkish army against the French at +Acre. Afterwards he became a soldier in the Persian army, where he was +several times wounded, and in consequence retired, and, wandering into +Cabul, there rose to be a royal secretary. + +He formed a close friendship with his colleague, Abdallah, likewise a +Koreishite Arab, and very able and poetical. When the Wahabees, the +straitest sect of the Mussulmans, seized Mecca, their chief wrote a +letter to the King of Cabul, which was committed to Abdallah to translate +into Persian. By way of a graceful compliment, he put his translation +into Persian verse, and the reward he received was equally strange; +namely, the gift of as many pearls as could be stuffed into his mouth at +once. He was, however, observed to be unusually grave and thoughtful, +and to frequent the house of an Armenian--of course a Christian: but as +this person had a beautiful daughter, she was supposed to be the +attraction, and no suspicion was excited by his request to retire into +his own country. + +Soon after Sabat was made prisoner by the Tartars of Bokhara, and, by +appealing to the king, as a descendant of the prophet, obtained his +release and promotion to high honour. While visiting the city of +Bokhara, he recognized his old friend, Abdallah, and, perceiving that his +beard was shaved off, examined him on the cause so closely that he was +driven to confess that the Armenian had converted him to the Christian +faith, and that he did not wish to be known. Hereditary Christians are +tolerated by the Moslem, but converts are bitterly persecuted; and Sabat +flew into a great rage, argued, threatened, and at last denounced his old +friend to the Moollahs as a recreant from Islam. + +Abdallah was arrested, and showed himself a true and faithful confessor +and martyr. The Moollahs strove hard to make him recant. They demanded +of him: "In the Gospel of Christ, is anything said of our +Prophet?"--intending to extort that promise of the Comforter which +Mahomet blasphemously applied to himself. + +Abdallah's answer was: "Yea--Beware of false prophets which come to you +in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves." + +This brave reply was requited by blows on the mouth till the blood +flowed, and Sabat thought of the day he had seen that same mouth filled +with pearls. Abdallah was sent back to prison, and four days were +allowed him in which to recant; after which he was brought out and set +before an assembled multitude. Pardon was offered him if he would deny +his Lord, and, on his refusal, his left hand was cut off. The look of +deep sorrow and pity he gave the former friend who had betrayed him sunk +deep into Sabat's heart. Again his life was offered, again he confessed +himself a Christian, and finally his martyrdom was completed by cutting +off his head. + +This history Sabat told with feeling and earnestness, that convinced his +hearers of its truth; and from this he did not vary, though his account +of his own subsequent adventures varied so much that it was not possible +at last to attach credence to anything he said of himself before he +became expounder of Mohammedan Law in the Civil Court at Vizagapatam. At +any rate Abdallah's look dwelt with him; he detected discrepancies in the +Koran, and became anxious to study the Christian Scriptures. He obtained +from Bombay a copy, first of the New Testament, then of the Old, and, +having become convinced, he came to Madras, and demanded baptism from Dr. +Ker, the British chaplain. After some probation, which made Sabat so +impatient that he threatened that he should accuse the minister before +God if he delayed, he was baptized by the name of Nathanael, and sent to +Serampore as a person likely to be useful in the translations always in +hand there. + +He was delighted with the habits there prevailing, dismissed his +attendants, dined at the common table, and altogether conformed himself +to the spirit of the place. When it was decided to send him to Dinapore +to assist Mr. Martyn in rendering the Bible into Persian, he took leave +of Serampore with tears in his eyes. He was gladly welcomed by Mr. +Martyn, and they worked together at the Gospel of St. Matthew, Sabat +showing a scholar-like anxiety both for correctness and rhythm; but there +was so much of the wild Arab about him that he was a continual anxiety. +The Serampore missionaries thought him a grand, dignified figure. Mrs. +Sherwood paints him much less pleasantly, and says he was exactly like +the sign of the Saracen's head, with intensely flashing eyes, high nose, +white teeth, and jet black eyebrows, moustache, and beard. His voice was +like rolling thunder, his dress of gorgeous material and thoroughly +Oriental, silk skull-cap, jacket, jewelled girdle, loose trousers, and +embroidered shoes, and he had a free and haughty manner, according with +his signature, when writing to a gentleman who had offended +him--"Nathanael Sabat, an Arab, who never was in bondage." + +In April 1809, Mr. Martyn was removed to the station at Cawnpore, where +the Sherwoods were then residing. The time was one of the worst in the +whole year for travelling across the sandy plains, with a wind blowing +that made the air like "the mouth of an oven." For two days and two +nights, between Allahabad and Cawnpore, Mr. Martyn travelled in his +palanquin without intermission, and, having expected to arrive sooner, he +had brought no provision for the last day. "I lay in my palanquin, +faint, with a headache, neither awake nor asleep, between dead and alive, +the wind blowing flames." When he arrived, Mr. Sherwood had only just +time to lead him into the bungalow before he fainted away, and the hall +being the least heated place, a couch was made ready for him there, where +for some days he lay very ill; and the thermometer was never below 96 +degrees, though the punkah never ceased. + +As soon as he mended a little, he enjoyed talking over his Hebrew and +Greek studies and his ethnological researches with his clever and eager +hostess, who must have greatly refreshed his spirit. He delighted in +music: his voice and ear were both excellent, and he taught her many +hymns and their tunes. He also took much pleasure in a little orphan +girl whom she was bringing up. At this time she herself was almost a +childless mother, all her Indian-born infants having been victims to the +climate; but a few months later Mr. Martyn christened her little daughter +Lucy, a child of such gentle, gracious temper that he was wont to call +her Serena. Mrs. Sherwood gives a pretty picture of this little +creature, when about eighteen months old, creeping up to Mr. Martyn as he +lay on a sofa with all his books about him, and perching herself on his +Hebrew Lexicon, which he needed every moment, but would not touch so as +to disturb her. The pale, white-clad pastor, and the child with silky +hair, bare white feet and arms, and little muslin frock, looked equally +innocent and pure. + +Mr. Martyn's house at Cawnpore was at the end of an avenue of palms and +aloes: there were two bungalows connected by a long passage, in one of +which he himself lived, the other was given up to Sabat and his wife. The +garden was prettily laid out with shrubs and tall trees, with a raised +platform in the centre; and on one side was a whole colony, consisting +not only of the usual number of servants allowed to a military chaplain, +but of a host of pundits, moonshees, schoolmasters, and poor nominal +Christians, who hung about him because there was no one else to give them +a handful of rice for their daily maintenance. + +Here Mrs. Sherwood describes a motley entertainment, at which she was the +only lady. Her husband, in his scarlet and gold uniform, and Mr. Martyn, +in his clerical black silk coat, were the only other English. The other +European present was Padre Giulio Cesare, an Italian Franciscan, whom Mr. +Martyn was obliged to receive when he came to minister to the numerous +Irish Roman Catholics in the regiment. He wore a purple satin cassock, a +cord of twisted silk, a rosary of costly stones, and a little skull-cap, +and his languages were French with the Sherwoods, and Italian and Latin +with Mr. Martyn. Sabat was there in his Arab dress; there was a thin, +copper-coloured, half-caste gentleman in white nankeen, speaking only +Bengalee; and a Hindoo in full costume, speaking only his native tongue: +so that no two of the party were in similar costume, seven languages were +employed, and moreover the three Orientals viewed it as good breeding to +shout at the very top of their voices. + +Unluckily, too, Mr. Martyn in his politeness suddenly recollected that +Mrs. Sherwood had expressed a liking for certain mutton patties, and +ordered them to be brought, in a bachelor's entire oblivion whether any +mutton was procurable otherwise than by killing a sheep: and the delay +forced the guests to continue to sit on the platform in the dark, with +the voices and languages making too great a Babel for the night-enjoyment +sometimes so valued, when Mr. Martyn would show Mrs. Sherwood our own +Pole Star just above the horizon, or watch the new moon "looking like a +ball of ebony in a silver cup." At last the patties were ready, and Mr. +Martyn handed Mrs. Sherwood to a seat by him at the top of the table, +while Sabat perched himself cross-legged upon a chair at the bottom. + +The good chaplain's simplicity seems to have been a great amusement to +the Sherwoods. Late one evening he quietly observed, "The coolie does +not come with my money: I was thinking this morning how rich I should be, +and now I should not wonder in the least if he has run off and taken my +treasure with him." Thereupon it turned out that, not having drawn his +pay for some time, he had sent a note to the collector at Cawnpore, +asking that the amount should be forwarded by the bearer, a common +coolie. It was all paid in silver, tied up in cotton bags, and no one +expected that he would ever see it; however, the coolie arrived safely +with it a little later. Another time, when each household had ordered a +pineapple cheese, it was observed that the fissures in the two were +marvellously similar; and at last it was discovered that the servants, +though paid for two cheeses, made one do duty for both, appearing in turn +at the two tables, which was the easier as Mr. Martyn supped on limes and +other fruits, and only produced his cheese when the Sherwoods came to +supper. He heeded little but his immediate thoughts, and, when he drove +out in his gig, went on with his disquisitions on language and +pronunciation, utterly unheeding what his horse was about. + +The hope of having Lydia with him to brighten his life and aid his +labours had by this time passed away. She had some entanglement which +prevented her from coming out to India, and his disappointment was most +acute. His letters urging her to come out to him are so strong, and full +of such anguish, that it is hard to understand that the person who could +withstand them could have been the admirable woman Miss Grenfell is +described to have been in after-life--unless, indeed, Martyn did not +appreciate the claims at home to which she yielded. "Why do things go so +well with them and so hardly with me?" was a thought that would come into +his mind at the weddings where he officiated as priest. Meantime he had +established native schools, choosing a master, usually a Mussulman, and +giving him an anna a head for each boy whom he obtained as a scholar in +reading and writing. Mr. Martyn supplied books, and these were +translations of Scripture history, of the Parables, and the like, through +which he hoped to lay a foundation for distinctive teaching. Here is +Mrs. Sherwood's description of the Cawnpore school, then in a long shed +by the side of the cavalry lines:-- + +"The master sat at one end like a tailor on the dusty floor, and along +under the shed sat the scholars, a pack of little urchins with no other +clothes on than a skull-cap and a piece of cloth round their loins. These +little ones squatted, like their master, in the sand: they had wooden +imitations of slates in their hands, on which, having first written their +lessons with chalk, they recited them _a pleine gorge_, as the French +would say, being sure to raise their voices on the approach of any +European or native of note. Now Cawnpore is one of the most dusty places +in the world; the Sepoy lines are the most dusty part of Cawnpore; and as +the little urchins are always well greased either with cocoa-nut oil, or, +in failure thereof, with rancid mustard oil, whenever there was the +slightest breath of air they always looked as if they had been powdered +all over with brown powder. Who that has ever heard it, can forget the +sounds of the various notes with which these little people intonated +their 'Aleph, Zubbin ah, Zair a, Paiche oh,' as they moved backwards and +forwards in their recitations? Who can forget the self-importance of the +schoolmaster, who was generally a grey-bearded, dry, old man, who had no +other means of proving his superiority to the scholars than by making +more noise than even they could?" + +{i:Henry Martyn's first endeavour at native preaching: p1.jpg} + +In the winter of 1809, Mr. Martyn made his first endeavour at native +preaching. The Yogis and Fakers, devotees and vagrants, haunted the +station, and every Sunday evening he opened the gates of his garden, +admitted all who were collected by the assurance of the distribution of a +pice a head; and standing on his platform, read to them some simple verse +of Scripture, and then endeavoured to make them believe there is a pure +Almighty Universal Father. A frightful crowd: they were often five +hundred in number. "No dreams," says Mrs. Sherwood, "in the delirium of +a raging fever, could surpass the realities" of their appearance; +"clothed with abominable rags, or nearly without clothes, or plastered +with mud and cow-dung, or with long matted locks streaming down to their +heels; every countenance foul and frightful with evil passions; the lips +black with tobacco, or crimson with henna. One man, who came in a cart +drawn by a bullock, was so bloated as to look like an enormous frog; +another had kept an arm above his head with his hand clenched till the +nail had come out at the back of his hand; and one very tall man had all +his bones marked on his dark skin with white chalk, like the figure of +grim Death himself." The assemblage, in contrast with the pure, +innocent, pale face and white dress of the preacher who addressed them, +must have been like some of Gustave Dore's illustrations. + +These addresses were jealously watched by the British authorities, and +were often interrupted by the howls and threatenings of his loathsome +congregation; while, moreover, pulmonary complaint, the enemy of his +family, began to manifest itself, so that the physicians insisted on his +trying the effect of cessation from work, a sea-voyage, and a visit to +England. On this plan he had at first fixed. He enters in his journal a +happy dream of a walk with Lydia, and, waking, the recollection of the +16,000 miles between them; but in the meantime he heard from the critics +at Calcutta, that his translation of the Gospels into Persian, done with +the assistance of Sabat, was too full of Arabic idioms, and in language +not simple enough for its purpose; and he therefore made up his mind to +spend his leave of absence in making his way through Persia and part of +Arabia, so as to improve himself in the languages, and submit his +translation to more trustworthy scholars. Mr. Brown, on hearing of his +plan, consented in these remarkable terms: "Can I then bring myself to +cut the string and let you go? I confess I could not if your bodily +frame were strong, and promised to last for half a century. But as you +burn with the intenseness and rapid blaze of phosphorus, why should we +not make the most of you? Your flame may last as long, and perhaps +longer, in Arabia than in India. Where should the phoenix build her +odoriferous nest but in the land prophetically called the 'blessed'? And +where shall we ever expect but from that country the true Comforter to +come to the nations of the East?" + +In September, therefore, Henry Martyn made ready to set forth, and to +take leave of his congregation of beggars. He had baptized one poor old +Hindoo woman, and she seemed to him to be the only fruit of his toils; +but though the exhortation, at the end of all his labours of the Sunday, +cost him severe pain and exhaustion, he had constantly persisted, often +beginning in a low feeble tone, but gradually rising in fervour to the +full power of his musical voice; then himself going among the disgusting +throng to distribute their petty bribe for attendance, and often falling +afterwards, faint and speechless, on a sofa. + +He knew not that one seed, cast on these turbid waters, had found good +soil, and was springing up. Sheik Salah was the son of a pundit at +Delhi, and was well-learned in Persian and Arabic. When a youth he had +become moonshee to two English gentlemen then living at Lucknow, and +while in their service converted a Hindoo fellow-servant from his +idolatry to Islam. Elated with his success, he gave himself such airs +that his English masters reproved him; and he left them in displeasure, +vowing never to serve a Feringhee again. However, being in the pay of a +Mahratta chief, he was sent in company with a Mahometan envoy who had +undertaken to murder a rival of his master, and having lulled his victim +into security by an oath on the Koran that no treachery was intended, +decoyed him into his tent, and there stabbed him. + +Sheik Salah was a deeply conscientious man, and not only did he leave the +Mahratta service, lest some such horrible act should be required of him, +but he conceived a certain distrust of his own faith, which, though it +condemns such deeds, had not hindered them. While in search of +employment, he came to Cawnpore, and there, one fine evening, he sat with +some other young Mussulmans, in a summer-house on the garden wall that +bounded Mr. Martyn's garden, enjoying their hookahs and sherbet, and +amusing themselves with what they called the "foolishness" of the +Feringhee Padre, who was discoursing to the throng of hateful looking +beggars below. By and by, anxious to hear more, they came down, entered +the garden, and stood in a row before the front of the bungalow; their +arms folded, their turbans placed jauntily on one side, and their +countenances expressive of the utmost contempt. + +But the words that Sheik Salah caught were sinking deep. They were of +the intense purity and holiness of God and of His laws, and of the need +of His power to attain to the keeping of them, as well as of His +Sacrifice to atone for man's sinfulness. Sheik Salah could not rest +without hearing more, and becoming determined to obtain employment at +Cawnpore, he undertook to copy Persian manuscripts for Sabat, and was +lodged by him in one of the numerous huts in Mr. Martyn's compound. He +was a well-educated, graceful man, exceedingly handsome, looking like a +hero of the Old Testament; and probably Sabat was afraid of a rival, for +he never mentioned to Mr. Martyn the stranger who, Sunday after Sunday, +listened to his preaching, and no doubt would have as thankfully profited +by his individual teaching as he would have joyfully given it. + +Sabat was at this time a great trial to Mr. Martyn, who in the flush of +enthusiasm had let him be put too forward at first, and found the wild +man of the desert far too strong for him. Sometimes, when they differed +about a word in the translation, Sabat would contend so violently for a +whole morning that poor Mr. Martyn, when unable to bear it any longer, +would order his palanquin and be carried over to the Sherwoods to escape +from the intolerable brawling shout. What Sabat could be was plain from +the story of his wife Amina; his seventh, as he told his friends. When +he was trying to convert her, she asked his views upon the future lot of +those who remained Mahometans, and, when he consigned them to the state +of condemnation, she quietly replied that she greatly preferred hell +without Sabat's company to heaven with him. The poor man was no doubt in +great measure sincere, but his probation had been insufficient, and his +wild Ishmaelitish nature, so far from being overcome, gained in pride and +violence through the enthusiasm that was felt for him as a convert. Once, +in a fit of indignation, he wrote a Persian letter, full of abuse of Mr. +Martyn, to a friend in the service of the English resident at Lucknow. By +him it was carried to his master, who, wishing to show Mr. Martyn the +real character of his favourite convert, sent him the letter. Instead of +looking into it, Mr. Martyn summoned Sabat, and bade him read it aloud to +him. For once the Arab was overpowered; he cowered before his calm +master and entreated his pardon, and when Mr. Martyn put the letter into +his hands, assuring him that he had not read it, he was really touched, +and showed sorrow for his violence. + +On the last Sunday of September 1810, Mr. Martyn took leave of Cawnpore. +It was also the Sunday of the installation as chaplain of his dearest +friend, the Reverend Daniel Corrie, and of the opening of a church which +his exertions had prevailed to raise, whereas all former services had +been in his own long verandah. The first sound of the bell most deeply +affected those who had scarcely heard one since they had left their +native country. That church has given place to the beautiful building +which commemorates the horrors of 1857; but the name of Henry Martyn +ought never to be forgotten at Cawnpore, if only as the priest to whom it +was granted first to give thanks that, in his own words, "a temple of God +was erected and a door opened for the service of the Almighty in a place +where, from the foundation of the world, the tabernacle of the true God +had never stood." + +After returning from church he sank, nearly fainting, on a sofa in the +hall; but, as soon as he revived, begged his friends to sing to him. The +hymn was-- + + "O God, our help in ages past, + Our hope in years to come, + Our shelter from the stormy blast, + And our eternal home." + +After the early dinner and afternoon rest, on a sickly, hazy, burning +evening, he preached for the last time to his beggars; came away +fainting, and as he lay on his sofa told his friends that he did not +believe that he had ever made the slightest impression on _one_ of his +audience there. + +He knew not that Sheik Salah's heart had been touched, and so deeply that +he sought further instruction. As to Sabat, his later career was +piteous. He fell back into Mahometanism, and, after some years of a +wandering life, took service with the Mussulman chief of Acheen in +Sumatra, where, having given some offence, he was barbarously hacked to +pieces and thrown into the sea. Such bitter disappointments occur in +missionary life; and how should we wonder, since the like befel even St. +Paul and St. John? + +On the 1st of October, 1810, Mr. Martyn embarked on the Ganges, and on +the last day of the month arrived at Mr. Brown's house at Aldeen. He was +then much the stronger for the long rest to his voice and chest, but his +friends thought him greatly changed and enfeebled, and he could not even +hold a conversation without bringing on painful symptoms. Nevertheless, +he preached every Sunday but one at Calcutta until the 7th of January, +1811, when he took his last leave of his Anglo-Indian friends, and set +forth on his journey to lands almost entirely strange even to his +countrymen, in the hope of rendering the Scriptures available for the +study of the numerous Hindoos and Mahometans who understood Persian +better than any other literary language. He went forth, in broken +health, and not only without a companion, but without even an attendant, +and for his further history we have only his own journals and letters to +depend upon. He went by sea to Bombay with a captain who had been a +pupil of Swartz, and whose narratives delighted him much, and afterwards +obtained a passage in an English ship which was to cruise in the Persian +Gulf against Arab pirates. Here he was allowed to have public prayers +every evening, and on the 22nd of May was landed at Bushire, where he was +lodged in the house of an English merchant with an Armenian wife. + +The time for a journey to Persia was so far favourable that the Shah, +Fath' Ali, who had succeeded to the throne in 1794, owed England much +gratitude for having interfered to check the progress of Russian conquest +upon his northern frontier. After Persia had long been closed from +foreign intercourse by the jealous and cruel Shah, Aga Mohammed, Fath' +Ali, a comparatively enlightened prince in the prime of life, willingly +entertained envoys and travellers from European courts, and Sir Gore +Ouseley was resident at Shiraz as British Ambassador. Yet it was not +considered safe for a Frank to travel through Persia without an Oriental +dress, and, accordingly, Martyn had to provide himself with the tall +conical cap of black Tartar lambskin, baggy blue trousers, red boots, and +a chintz coat, allowing his beard and moustache to grow, and eating rice +by handfuls from the general dish. Meantime he was hospitably +entertained, the Armenian ladies came in a body to kiss his hand, and the +priest placed him beside the altar in church, and incensed him four times +over, for which he was not grateful on being told "it was for the honour +of our order." + +An English officer joined company with him, and a muleteer undertook +their transport to Shiraz. It was a terrible journey up the parching +mountain paths of Persia, where Alexander's army had suffered so much, +with the sun glaring down upon them, never, in that rainless belt around +the Persian Gulf, tempered by a cloud. They travelled only by night, and +encamped by day, sometimes without a tree to spread their tents under. +The only mode of existing was to wrap the head in a wet cloth, and the +body in all the heavy clothing to be had, to prevent the waste of +moisture; but even thus Martyn says his state was "a fire within my head, +my skin like a cinder, the pulse violent." The thermometer rose to 126 +degrees in the middle of the day, and came down to about 100 degrees in +the evening. When exhausted with fever and sleeplessness, but unable to +touch food, it was needful to mount, and, in a half-dead state of +sleepiness, be carried by the sure-footed mountain pony up steep ascents, +and along the verge of giddy precipices, with a general dreamy sense that +it was magnificent scenery for any one who was in a bodily condition to +admire it. + +Swift clear streams and emerald valleys began to refresh the travellers +as they rose into the higher land above the arid region; and, after one +twenty-four hours' halt in a sort of summer-house, where Henry Martyn was +too ill to move till he had had a few hours of sleep, they safely arrived +at the mountain-city of Shiraz, where he was kindly received by Jaffier +Ali Khan, a Persian gentleman to whom he had brought letters of +introduction. + +Persia, as is well known, has a peculiar intellectual character of its +own. Descended from the Indo-European stock, and preserved from total +enervation by their mountain air, the inhabitants have, even under Islam, +retained much of the vivacity, fire, and poetry inherent in the Aryan +nature. Their taste for beauty, especially in form and colour, has +always been exquisite; their delight in gardens, in music, and poetry has +had a certain refinement, and with many terrible faults--in especial +falsehood and cruelty, the absence of the Turkish stolidity, the Arab +wildness, and the Hindoo pride and indolence--has always made them an +attractive people. Their Mahommedanism, too, is of a different form from +that of the Arab and Turk. Theirs is the schismatical sect of Ali, which +is less rigid, and affords more scope for the intellect and fancy, and it +has thrown off a curious body called the Soofees, a sort of philosophers +in relation to Islam. The name may be either really taken from the Greek +_Sophos_, wise, or else comes from the Persian _Soof_, purity. The +Soofees profess to be continually in search of truth, and seem, for the +most part, to rest upon a general belief in an all-pervading Creator, +with a spirit diffused through all His works. Like their (apparent) +namesakes of old, they revel in argument, and delight to tell or to hear +some new thing. + +Thus, Jaffier Ali Khan, who belonged to this sect, made the English padre +welcome; and his brother, Seid Ali, whose title of Mirza shows him to +have been a Scribe, undertook to assist in the translation, while +Moollahs and students delighted to come and hold discussions with him; +and very vain and unprofitable logomachies he found them, whether with +Soofee, Mahometan, or Jew. But the life, on the whole, was interesting, +since he was fulfilling his most important object of providing a +trustworthy and classical version of the Scriptures, such as might +adequately express their meaning, and convey a sense of their beauty of +language and force of expression to the scholarly and fastidious +Oriental. + +He made friends in the suite of the Ambassador, Sir Gore Ouseley, whose +house he ministered on Sunday, and he was presented by him to the heir to +the throne, Prince Abbas Mirza. He had, by way of Court dress, to wear a +pair of red cloth stockings and high-heeled shoes, and was marched up +through the great court of the palace, where a hundred fountains began to +play the moment the Ambassador entered. The Prince sat on the ground in +his hall of audience, and all his visitors sat in a line with their hats +on, but he conversed with no one but the Ambassador, looking so gentle +and amiable that Mr. Martyn could hardly believe that the tyrannical acts +reported of him could be true. + +In the summer heat, Jaffier Ali pitched a tent for him in a garden +outside the walls of Shiraz, where he worked with much enjoyment, "living +among clusters of grapes, by the side of a clear stream," and sitting +under the shade of an orange-tree. From thence he made an expedition to +see the ruins of Persepolis, greatly to the perplexity of his escort, +who, after repeatedly telling him that the place was uninhabited, +concluded that he had come thither to drink brandy in secret! + +On the New Year's Day of 1812 Martyn wrote in his journal: "The present +year will probably be a perilous one, but my life is of little +consequence, whether I live to finish the Persian New Testament, or do +not. I look back with pity and shame on my former self, and on the +importance I then attached to my life and labours. The more I see of my +own works, the more I am ashamed of them. Coarseness and clumsiness mar +all the works of men. I am sick when I look at man, and his wisdom, and +his doings, and am relieved only by reflecting that we have a city whose +builder and maker is God. The least of _His_ works is refreshing to look +at. A dried leaf or a straw makes me feel myself in good company. +Complacency and admiration take the place of disgust." + +On the 24th of February he finished his Persian New Testament, and in six +weeks more his translation of the Psalms. His residence in Persia had +lasted just a year, and, though direct missionary work had not been +possible to him there, he had certainly inspired his coadjutor, Mirza +Seid Ali, with a much higher morality and with something very like faith. +On one of the last days before his leaving Shiraz, Seid Ali said +seriously, "Though a man had no other religious society, I suppose he +might, with the aid of the Bible, live alone with God." It was to this +solitude that Martyn left him, not attempting apparently to induce him to +give up anything for the sake of embracing Christianity. Death would +probably have been the consequence of joining the Armenian Church in +Persia, but why did Martyn's teaching stop at inward faith instead of +insisting on outward confession, the test fixed by the Saviour Himself? + +On the 24th of May, Mr. Martyn and another English clergyman set out to +lay his translation before the Shah, who was in his camp at Tebriz. There +they were admitted to the presence of the Vizier, before whom two +Moollahs, the most ignorant and discourteous whom he had met in Persia, +were set to argue with the English priest. The Vizier mingled in the +discussion, which ended thus: "You had better say God is God, and Mahomet +is His prophet." "God is God," repeated Henry Martyn, "and JESUS is the +Son of God." + +"He is neither born nor begets," cried the Moollahs; and one said, "What +will you say when your tongue is burnt out for blasphemy?" + +He had offended against the Mohammedan doctrine most strictly held; and, +knowing this well, he had kept back the confession of the core of the +true faith till to withhold it longer would have been a denial of his +Lord. After all, he was not allowed to see the Shah without the +Ambassador to present him, and descended again to Sultania--a painful +journey, from which he brought a severe ague and fever, through which he +was nursed by Sir Gore and Lady Ouseley. + +As soon as he had recovered, he decided on making his way to +Constantinople, and thence to England, where he hoped to recruit his +health and, it might be, induce Lydia to accompany him back to India. His +last letter to her was written from Tebriz on the 28th of August, +dreading illness on the journey, but still full of hope. In that letter, +too, he alludes to Sabat as the greatest tormentor he had known, but +warns her against mentioning to others that this "star of the East," as +Claudius Buchanan had called him, had been a disappointment. His diary +is carried on as far as Tocat. The last entry is on the 6th of October. +It closes thus: "Oh! when shall time give place to eternity? When shall +appear that new heaven and earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? There, +there shall in nowise enter in anything that defileth; none of that +wickedness which has made men worse than wild beasts, none of those +corruptions which add still more to the miseries of mortality, shall be +seen or heard of any more." + +No more is known of Henry Martyn save that he died at Tocat on the 16th +of that same October of 1812, without a European near. It is not even +known whether his death were caused by fever, or by the plague, which was +raging at the place. He died a pilgrim's solitary death, and lies in an +unknown grave in a heathen land. + +What fruit has his mission zeal left? It has left one of the +soul-stirring examples that have raised up other labourers. It has left +the Persian Bible for the blessing of all to whom that language is +familiar. It left, for the time, a strong interest in Christianity in +Shiraz. It left in India many English quickened to a sense of religion; +and it assuredly left Sheik Salah a true convert. Baptized afterwards by +the name of Abdul Messeh, or Servant of the Messiah, he became the +teacher of no less than thirty-nine Hindoos whom he brought to Holy +Baptism. Such were the reapings in Paradise that Henry Martyn has won +from his thirty-one years' life and his seeming failure. + + + + +CHAPTER V. WILLIAM CAREY AND JOSHUA MARSHMAN, THE SERAMPORE +MISSIONARIES. + + +The English subjects and allies in India had hitherto owed their scanty +lessons in Christianity to Germans or Danes, and the first of our own +countrymen who attempted the work among them was, to the shame of our +Government be it spoken, a volunteer from among the humblest classes, of +no more education than falls to the lot of the child of a village +schoolmaster and parish clerk. + +In 1761, when Schwartz was just beginning to make his way in Tanjore, +William Carey was born in the village of Paulerspury, in +Northamptonshire. He showed himself a diligent scholar in his father's +little school, and had even picked up some Latin before, at fourteen +years old, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker at the neighbouring village +of Hackleton. Still he had an earnest taste for study; and, falling in +with a commentary on the New Testament full of Greek words, he copied +them all out, and carried them for explanation to a man living in his +native village, who had thrown away a classical education by his +dissipated habits. + +The young shoemaker, thus struggling on to instruct himself, fell under +the notice of Thomas Scott, the author of the Commentary on the Bible, +and it was from him that Carey first received any strong religious +impressions. Scott was a Baptist; and young Carey, who had grown up in +the days of the deadness of the Church, was naturally led to his +teacher's sect, and began to preach at eighteen years of age. He always +looked back with humiliation to the inexperienced performances of his +untried zeal at that time of life; but he was doing his best to study, +working hard at grammar, and every morning reading his portion of the +Scripture for the day in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, as well as English. +Well might Mr. Scott say, as he looked at the little cobbler's shop, +"That was Mr. Carey's college;" for all this time he was working at his +trade, and, on his master's death, took the business, and married the +daughter of the house before he was twenty. + +It was an unlucky marriage, for she was a dull, ignorant woman, with no +feeling for her husband's high aims or superior powers, and the business +was not a flourishing one; but he never manifested anything but warm +affection and tenderness towards this very uncompanionable person, and +perhaps, like most men of low station and unusual intellect, had no idea +that more could be expected of a wife. + +Perhaps, in spite of his kindness, Mrs. Carey had to endure the disasters +common to the wives of struggling great men: for William Carey's shoes +were not equal to his sermons, and his congregation were too poor even to +raise means to clothe him decently. His time was spent in long tramps to +sell shoes he had made and to obtain the mending of others, and, +meantime, he was constantly suffering from fever and ague. + +In 1786, when in his twenty-fifth year, he obtained a little Baptist +chapel and the goodwill of a school at Moulton; but as a minister he only +received 16_l._ per annum, and at the same time proved, as many have done +before him, that aptness to learn does not imply aptness to teach. He +could not keep order, and his boys first played tricks with him and then +deserted, till he came nearly to starvation, and had to return to his +last and his leather. + +Yet it was the geography lessons of this poor little school that first +found the way to the true chord of Carey's soul. Those broad tracts of +heathenism that struck his eye in the map, and the summary of nations and +numbers professing false religions, were to a mind like his no mere items +of information to be driven into dull brains, but were terrible realities +representing souls perishing for lack of knowledge. Cook's Voyages fell +into his hands and fed the growing impulse. He hung up in his shop a +large map, composed of several sheets pasted together, and gazed at it +when at his work, writing against each country whatever information he +had been able to collect as to the number of the inhabitants, their +religion, government, or habits, also as to the climate and natural +history. + +After he had for some time thus dwelt on the great longing of his heart, +he ventured on speaking it forth at a meeting of ministers at +Northampton, when there was a request that some topic might be named for +discussion. Carey then modestly rose and proposed "the duty of +Christians to attempt the spread of the Gospel among the heathen." The +words were like a shock. The senior, who acted as president, sprang up +in displeasure, and shouted out, "Young man, sit down! When God pleases +to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine." And +another, namely Mr. Fuller, who afterwards became the sheet anchor of the +Missions, describes himself as having thought of the words of the noble +at Jezreel, "If the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a +thing be?" + +Silenced by his brethren, Carey persevered, and proceeded to write what +he had not been allowed to speak. A Birmingham tradesman of the name of +Pott, an opulent man, was induced by his earnestness to begin a +subscription for the publication of Carey's pamphlet, which showed +wonderful acquaintance with the state of the countries it mentioned, and +manifested talent of a remarkable order. In truth, Carey had been +endowed with that peculiar missionary gift, facility for languages. A +friend gave him a large folio in Dutch, and was amazed by his returning +shortly after with a translation into English of one of the sermons which +the book contained. + +He was becoming more known, and an invitation from a congregation at +Leicester, in 1789, placed him in somewhat more comfortable +circumstances, and brought him into contact with persons better able to +enter into his views; but it was three years more before he could either +publish his pamphlet or take the very first steps towards the +establishment of a Society for Promoting the Conversion of the Heathen. + +The first endeavour to collect a subscription resulted in 13_l._ 2_s._ +6_d._ This was at Kettering, and at the same time Carey offered to +embark for any country the Society might appoint. The committee, +however, waited to collect more means, but they found it almost +impossible to awaken people's minds. At Birmingham, indeed, 70_l._ was +collected, but in London the dissenting pastors would have nothing to do +with the cause; and the only minister of any denomination who showed any +sympathy was the Rev. John Newton, that giant of his day, who had in his +youth been captain of a slaver, and well knew what were the dark places +of the earth. The objections made at that time were perfectly +astounding. In the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, several +Presbyterian ministers pronounced it to be "highly preposterous" to +attempt to spread the Gospel among barbarous nations, extolled the +"simple virtues" of the untutored savage, and even declared that the +funds of Missionary Societies might be turned against Government. + +In India itself, the endeavours of the Danish settlement at Tranquebar +had little affected Bengal, but a few of the more religious men at +Calcutta had begun to be shocked at the utter oblivion of all Christian +faith and morality by their own countrymen, and the absolute favour shown +to the grossest idolatry of the heathen. Charles Grant, a member of the +Board of Trade at Calcutta, was the foremost of these, and on his return +to England brought the subject under the notice of that great champion of +Christ, William Wilberforce. The charter of the East India Company was +renewed from time to time; and when it was brought before Parliament, +Wilberforce proposed the insertion of clauses enforcing the maintenance +of chaplains, churches, and schools, so that a branch of the Church might +take root in Hindostan. + +This scheme, however, excited violent and selfish alarm in the directors, +chiefly men who had made their fortunes in India, and after living there +for years under no restraint were come home to enjoy their riches. They +believed that the natives would take umbrage at the least interference +with their religion, and that their own wealth and power, so highly +prized, would be lost if idolatry were not merely tolerated, but +flattered and supported. The souls of men and the honour of God were +nothing to them; they were furious with indignation, and procured from +the House of Commons the omission of the clauses. There was another hope +in the Lords; but though Archbishop Moore and the Bishop of London spoke +in favour of the articles, the Bishop of St. David's said one nation had +no right to impose its faith on another. None of the other Bishops +stirred, and the charter passed without one line towards keeping +Englishmen Christians, or making Hindoos such! The lethargy of the +Church of the eighteenth century was so heavy that not only had such a +son as Carey been allowed to turn from her pale in search of earnest +religion, but while she was forced to employ foreigners, bred up in the +Lutheran communion, as the chaplains and missionaries of her Society for +the Propagation of the Gospel, he was going forth unaccredited as a +volunteer in the cause which her paralysed efforts could not support! + +For it was to India that the minds of the little Baptist Society were +turned by the return of one John Thomas, who seems to have been the +Gaultier _Sans Avoir_ of this crusade. He was Baptist by education, and +having gone out as a surgeon to Calcutta, had been so shocked at the +state of things as to begin to preach on his own account, but he was a +hot tempered, imprudent man, and quarrelled with everybody, so as to make +the cause still more unpopular with the East Indians. Yet this strange, +wild character had a wonderful power of awakening enthusiasm. He had +come home in the same ship with one Wilson, whose history was a marvel in +itself. He had been made prisoner by the French during the Carnatic war, +and finding that the captives were to be delivered up to Hyder Ali, he +resolved to escape, leapt forty feet from his prison window, and swam the +river Coleroon, in happy ignorance that it was infested with alligators; +but then going up an eminence to judge of his bearings, he was seen, +secured, and stripped naked, and, with his hands tied behind him, was +driven before Hyder Ali. His account of having crossed the Coleroon was +treated as a lie. "No mortal man," said the natives, "had ever swum the +river; did he but dip a finger in, he would be seized by the alligators," +but when evidence proved the fact, the Nabob held up his hands and cried, +"This is the man of God." Nevertheless Wilson was chained to a soldier, +and, like the well-known David Baird, John Lindsay, and many others, was +driven naked, barefoot, and wounded, 500 miles to Seringapatam; where, +loaded with irons of thirty-two pounds weight, and chained in couples, +they were thrust into a "black hole," and fed so scantily that Wilson +declared that at sight of food his jaws snapped together of themselves. +Many a time in the morning corpses were unchained, and the survivors +coupled up together again. Wilson was one of the thirty-one who lived to +be released after twenty-two months, in a frightful state of exhaustion +and disease. Afterwards, when commanding a ship at Bencoolen, every +European under his command died, and he alone escaped, yet all this time +he was an absolute infidel; and, when having made a fortune, he was +returning home, he appeared so utterly hardened against all the arguments +that the zealous Thomas could bring in favour of Christianity, as to make +him in despair remark to the chief officer that he should have more hope +of converting the Lascar sailors than of Captain Wilson. + +However, the words were penetrating the hitherto ignorant or obdurate +heart, and preparing it to attend to further instruction. After some +years of comfort at home, on hearing of plans for a mission to the South +Sea Islands, Wilson resolved to offer himself as a free and spontaneous +fellow-worker, ready to sacrifice his whole self in the great cause! + +Meantime Thomas's fervid account of the needs of India had made the +infant Society propose to send him out with one colleague; and William +Carey, now thirty-three years of age, offered himself as a fellow-worker. + +The notion was terrible to Mrs. Carey, who flatly refused to go; but her +husband decided on leaving her at home, and only taking his eldest boy, +then about ten or eleven years old. An application was made to the Board +of Directors for a licence to the two missionaries to preach, and for a +passage in one of the Company's vessels; but when Mr. Grant learnt that +Thomas was one of them, he refused to assist in promoting their request, +though he undertook to do what he could for Carey alone. However, the +Board were certain to refuse them a passage; not because they were +unordained or dissenters, but simply because they wished to be Christian +teachers. A captain with whom Thomas had sailed as surgeon, offered to +smuggle them over without permission; but while his ship was preparing, +they had to wait in the Isle of Wight, and Thomas was continually in +danger of being arrested by his creditors, and was constantly obliged to +hide himself, till Carey became ashamed of such an associate. At last, +just as they were on board, with 250_l._ paid for their passage, and the +goods in which the money for their support had been invested, the captain +received a letter warning him that an information was about to be laid +against him at the India House for taking out people without permission. +Not only missionaries, but Europeans of any kind, not in the public +service, were forbidden to set foot on the Company's territories without +special licence, and the danger was so great that the captain set them +ashore at once; and poor Carey beheld with tears the Indian fleet sailing +from Portsmouth without him. + +However, by vigorous exertion, Thomas found that a Danish ship would be +lying in the Downs, on her way to the East Indies, and that a passage in +her would cost 100_l._ for a full-grown person and 50_l._ for a child. +Posting down to Northamptonshire, Carey made a desperate effort to +persuade his wife to come with him, and succeeded at last, on condition +that her sister, Miss Old, should come too. There were now five +children, and the passage-money for the whole party amounted to 600_l._, +of which their utmost efforts, including the sale of all the little +property the Careys possessed, could only raise half. + +Thomas, who really had a generous spirit, then arranged that the whole +party should be squeezed into two cabins, and that Mr. and Mrs. Carey +alone should be treated as first-class passengers. They were taken on +these terms; but the captain, an Englishman, naturalized in Denmark, gave +Mr. Thomas and Miss Old each a cabin, made them dine at his own table, +and treated them all most kindly. + +Thus they safely arrived at Calcutta; but this was only the beginning of +troubles. The goods, the sale of which was intended to maintain the +mission, were entrusted to Thomas, and realized next to nothing; and +Carey was indebted to the goodwill of a rich Hindoo for a miserable house +in an unhealthy suburb of Calcutta, where he lodged his unfortunate +family. They had a great deal of illness, and he was able to do little +but study the language and endeavour to translate the Bible into +Bengalee. Several moves made their state rather worse than better, +until, in 1795, a gentleman in the Civil Service, Mr. George Udney, +offered Carey the superintendence of an indigo factory of his own at +Mudnabutty, where he hoped both to obtain a maintenance, and to have +great opportunities of teaching the natives in his employment. + +Disaster as usual followed him: the spot was unhealthy, the family had +fevers, one of the children died, and the mother lost her reason from +grief, so that she had to be kept under restraint for the rest of her +life. Nor was Carey a better indigo-planter than a shoe-maker; the +profits of the factory dwindled, and the buildings fell into ruin; the +seasons were bad, and in three years Mr. Udney found himself obliged to +give up the speculation; but in the meantime, though Carey had not been +able to produce much effect on the natives, he had completed the +preparation of the implement to which he most trusted for his work, a +translation of the New Testament; and, moreover, had been presented by +good Mr. Udney with a wooden printing-press with Bengalee type. The +wonderful-looking thing was set up in one of the side rooms at the +factory, and was supposed by the natives to be the idol of the Europeans! + +In the meantime he opened a school, and preached to the natives in all +the villages round, but without making much, if any, impression; indeed +he was so disheartened, that he did not even teach his own children. The +chief benefit of his residence in India was at present the example he +set, and the letters he sent home, which bore in on the minds of others +the necessities of their brethren in the East, and brought aid in +subscriptions and, what was still more needed, men. + +In 1799, four members of the Baptist communion offered themselves to go +out as missionaries to India, and two of these were men who left most +important traces behind them: William Ward, who had been a printer and +editor of a newspaper at Derby, and had seen Mr. Carey before his going +out to India, and Joshua Marshman. This latter was the person who, above +all others, gave the struggling mission the strength, consistency, and +prudence which it wanted. The descendant of an old Puritan officer on +the one side, and of Huguenot refugees on the other, he was brought up in +strict Baptist principles by his father, who was one of the cloth weavers +then inhabiting Wiltshire in great numbers. As a child, he was +passionately fond of reading, and his huge appetite for books and great +memory made him a wonder in his village. A London bookseller, who was +visiting the place, heard of this clever lad, and took him into his shop +as an errand boy; but Joshua found that his concern was more with the +outside of books than the inside, and came home, at the end of five +months, to his father's loom. + +He was a steady lad, with no passions save for reading and quiet +heartfelt religion; but though he had never been guilty of any serious +fault, the Baptist body to which his family belonged considered he had +too much "head-knowledge" of Christianity to have much "heart-knowledge" +of its truths; and for that reason only, and their distrust and contempt +of human learning, refused to admit him to baptism. + +However, this was no obstacle either to his marrying the daughter of a +minister of his own persuasion, or taking the mastership of a school at +Bristol, where he found less narrow-minded co-religionists, and was +baptized by them in 1734, when twenty-six years of age. He was a +successful schoolmaster, and was likewise able to join the classes at +Bristol Academy, where he studied thoroughly Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and +Syriac. His circumstances were prosperous and rapidly improving when, +after five years of great comfort at Bristol, his mind became so imbued +with the sense of the need that some one should assist Carey, that he +offered himself, together with Ward and two other young men, one of whom +he had recently brought back to Christianity from Tom Paine's infidel +doctrines. Again his "human learning" stood in his way. The honest, +ignorant men who were working so earnestly, fancied it connected with +Pharisaism, and had little idea that the Brahmin philosophy was as hard +to deal with as the Greek. They accepted him, but with hesitation, and a +passage for the whole party, including wives and children, was taken in +an American vessel. + +Mr. Charles Grant advised them not to attempt to land at Calcutta, where +they would probably be at once arrested and sent home again, but to land +at the Danish colony of Serampore, and there wait for an opportunity of +joining Carey at Mudnabutty. + +Serampore is on the Hooghly, sixteen miles above Calcutta, and here they +found themselves on the 13th of October, 1799, in a town pleasantly +situated, beautiful to look at, and full of a mixed population of Danes, +Dutch, English, and natives of all hues. They were preparing to set +forth for Mudnabutty when, on the fifth day after their arrival, they +were informed that the British Government demanded that they should be +immediately re-embarked and sent home again, whilst a local English +paper, having never heard of Baptists, concluded that the word was a +mistake for Papists, and announced the arrival of four Popish priests, +emissaries of Buonaparte. The Danish governor, Colonel Bie, was resolved +to stand his ground and not deliver them up; but they were prevented from +setting foot upon the Company's territory, and the unwholesome, damp, +little house that they were obliged to take while waiting at Serampore +proved fatal to one of their number, the young man whom Marshman had +rescued from infidelity, who died of chill and fever before his +inexperienced associates were aware of his danger. + +Another difficulty in the way of joining Carey and assisting in the +printing of his translations, was that papers which were thought +dangerous to the British power had lately been issued, and the Marquis +Wellesley, who was then in the midst of his great war with Tippoo Sahib, +was resolved not to allow any printing to be carried on except in +Calcutta, where it could be under the eye of his officials. However, he +had no objection to the establishment of mission, school, or press on the +Danish ground, and Colonel Bie was only desirous to keep them there; so +it was decided to send Ward alone, with a Danish passport, to visit Carey +at Mudnabutty, and confer with him upon his removal to Serampore, and the +establishment of a mission settlement there. + +All doubt was removed, while this consultation was in progress, by +finding that the jealous Anglo-Indians were prepared to arrest any +missionary whom they caught upon their ground; and Carey's five years' +covenant as an indigo planter being now run out, his supposed idol was +taken down and packed up, and his four boys and poor insane wife removed +to Serampore, where all their present capital was laid out in the +purchase of a piece of ground and the construction of the habitations of +the little colony. The expenses were to be defrayed from a common stock, +each missionary in turn superintending the domestic arrangements for a +month, all the household dining together at one table, and only a small +allowance being made to each head of a family for pocket money. + +Six families were here united, and only 200_l._ was left to support them +for the six months until remittances could be obtained from England; but +all were used to cottage fare, and were not so dependent on servants as +most Europeans in India. A piece of land attached to the house became, +under Mr. Carey's care, a beautiful botanic garden. The press was set up +under the care of Ward, and on the 18th of March, 1800, the first sheets +of the Gospels in Bengalee were struck off. Mr. and Mrs. Marshman opened +two boarding schools for European children for the maintenance of the +mission, and their great ability in tuition rendered these so profitable +as to become its main support. This was soon followed by another school +for the natives, to which they eagerly thronged. + +Meanwhile the missionaries went out, singly or in pairs, into the streets +or the neighbourhood of the heathen temples, and attracted a crowd by +singing hymns in Bengalee, and then preached to them, offering to receive +any inquiries at the mission-house. Carey's time was almost entirely +taken up in hearing and answering these questions; but, as usual, the +ties of family, society, and custom almost always proved too strong to be +broken through even by the conviction of the truth of Christianity. Ram- +bosoo, Mr. Carey's first Hindoo friend, was like Serfojee, ready to do +anything on behalf of Christianity except to embrace it openly himself. + +Mr. Thomas had meantime engaged himself as superintendent of a sugar +factory at Beerbhoom, whence he came to visit his brethren at Serampore, +bringing with him one of his workmen named Fukier, whom he believed that +he had converted. The man gave so good an account of his faith that the +missionaries deemed him fit for baptism, and rejoiced in him as the first- +fruits of seven years' labour; but he went home to take leave of his +friends, and either they prevailed on him to give up his intention, or +privately murdered him, for he never was heard of again. + +However, a carpenter of Serampore named Krishnu, who had been brought +into the mission-house with a dislocated arm for Mr. Thomas to set, was +so struck by what he heard there that he, with his wife and daughter and +his brother Goluk, were all willing to give up their caste and be +baptized. + +There was much, however, to render the joy of this day far from being +unmixed. Poor John Thomas, after his seventeen years of effort, fitful, +indeed, but sincere, was so overjoyed at this confession of faith that he +became frantic, and in three days was raving violently. Meanwhile, the +native mob, infuriated by hearing that Krishnu and Goluk had renounced +their caste, rose to the number of two thousand, and dragged them to the +magistrate, but found nothing to accuse them of. The magistrate released +them, but they were brought back immediately after, on the plea that the +person to whom Krishnu's daughter had been betrothed had a claim upon +her. This, however, the authorities disallowed, and they even gave the +missionaries a guard to secure them from any interruption during the rite +of Baptism, which, by the customs of their sect, was necessarily in +public, and by immersion; but there was serious consultation whether it +were fit to use the Ganges, so superstitiously adored by the natives, for +the purpose. Some argued that the Hindoos might think that the +sacredness of Gunga was thus recognized, others that they would consider +that the Christians had defiled it, and it was finally resolved to use it +like any other stream. In the meantime, Goluk and the two women had been +so much terrified that they would not come forward; and on the day of the +baptism, Sunday, the 26th of December, 1800, the only two candidates were +Krishnu and Felix Carey, the missionary's own eldest son. William Carey +walked from the chapel to the ghat, or steps leading to the river, with +his son on one side and the Hindoo on the other; but the court they had +to pass resounded with the frightful imprecations of poor Mr. Thomas in +one room, echoed by screams from Mrs. Carey in the other. + +At the ghat the Danish governor himself, together with several of his +countrymen, some Englishmen, a large body of Portuguese, and a throng of +natives, Hindoo and Mahometan, were waiting, and before all these the +baptism was performed by Mr. Carey. All were silent as if overawed, and +Colonel Bie even shed tears. + +The next day there was not a scholar in the native school, but the love +of learning soon filled it again. Even down till quite recently, when +the bands of attachment to the old heathenism have become much loosened, +every open conversion continued to empty the schools, though never for +long at a time. + +The women soon recovered from their alarm and were baptized, and the +mission also gained over an influential Portuguese gentleman named +Fernandez, whom their tenets led them to view as in as much need of +conversion as the heathen. He proved an active assistant, and for full +thirty years laboured in their cause. + +In the meantime Lord Wellesley had been engaged in founding the college +at Fort William, Calcutta, for the training of young Europeans for the +civil service in the knowledge of the numerous native tongues, laws, and +customs with which they had to deal--and which are as various as they are +important--not only practically, but philosophically. The only person at +that time in Bengal qualified to teach the Bengalese language was the +Northamptonshire cobbler, who had acquired it for the love of God and the +spread of Gospel light! + +His dissent was a disqualification for any of the higher offices of the +college, but the teachership was offered to him, with a salary of 500 +rupees a month--absolute affluence compared with his original condition. +Yet he would not accept the post unless he were allowed still to be +regarded as a missionary. No objection was made, and thus by his talent +and usefulness had Carey forced from the Government which had forbidden +him to set foot on their territories his recognition in the character he +had always claimed. Even his private secular earnings he never regarded +as his own: this income, and that arising from Marshman's school, these +good men viewed as rendering their mission from henceforth independent, +and setting free the Society at home to support fresh ones. Already the +accounts they sent home were stirring up many more subscribers, and the +commendations bestowed on them in the periodical accounts pained their +humility. Ward wrote that it was like a public show: "Very fine +missionaries to be seen here! Walk in, brethren and sisters, walk in!" + +It was happy for the missionaries that their ground had thus been won, +for the war with Denmark occasioned Serampore to be occupied by British +troops early in 1801, and this would, earlier in their career, infallibly +have led to their expulsion: but, as it was, they were allowed to proceed +exactly as they had done before. + +Their most serious difficulties were at an end before poor Thomas, though +he had recovered from his brain fever, died of an attack of fever and +ague, after having done almost an equal amount of good and harm to his +cause by his excitable nature and entire want of balance. Converts +continued from time to time to be gathered in: Goluk took courage after +waiting about two years, and a Brahmin named Krishnu-prisad trampled on +his brahminical cord or poita, and was baptized. He was allowed to wear +it as a mark of distinction, but he gave it up voluntarily after three +years. Moreover he broke through Indian prejudice by marrying the +daughter of Krishnu, the first convert, though of a caste far inferior to +his own. This was the occasion of a happy little wedding feast, given +under a tree in front of the house of the bride's father, when a hymn +composed by Krishnu was sung, and native dishes served up in Eastern +style, after which the entertainment concluded with prayer. Only the +next week, in contrast to the devotion that blessed these family ties, +three Hindoo widows were burnt on a pile not far from the mission-house! + +In still greater contrast was the first funeral among the converts of the +mission-house--that of a man named Gokool. The native custom is that the +dead are always carried to burial by persons of their own caste, and it +is intense defilement for one of another caste to touch the body. +Christians were always carried by the lowest class of the Portuguese, who +had fallen into so degraded a state that they were usually known by their +own word for poor, "pobre," and were despised by the whole population. +They were generally drunk and disorderly, and their rudeness, +irreverence, and quarrels were a scandal to the solemn occasion. Mr. +Marshman, who was in charge of the mission at the time in Mr. Carey's +absence, had some difficulty in persuading the Hindoo converts that it +was no shame, but a charitable work, to bear a brother's body to its last +resting-place, even though they were seen doing the work of the despised +pobres. Accordingly he resolved to set the example, and the corpse of +the convert, within a coffin covered with white muslin, was carried to +the burial-ground by Marshman, Felix Carey, a baptized Brahmin, and a +baptized Hindoo, all the procession singing a Bengalee Christian hymn. + +The most remarkable events that befell the Serampore Mission from this +time were either domestic, or related to their connection with the +College at Fort William, and the sanction they received from Government. +Lord Wellesley went home in 1805, Colonel Bie died the same year, and +these were most serious losses to the cause of the Serampore mission. +Lord Wellesley had followed his own judgment, and carried things with a +high hand, often against the will of the East India Company, and there +was a strong desire to reverse his policy. His successor, Lord +Cornwallis, died two months after landing, and Sir George Barlow, who +carried on the government in the interregnum, though a good man, had not +force enough to withstand the dislike of the Anglo-Indians to the +mission. Mr. Ward made an attempt at Calcutta to preach in Hindoo in a +chapel, the ground of which had been purchased by the missionaries, but +as he walked through the streets the people shouted, "That's the Hindoo +padre; why dost thou destroy the caste of the people?" And when, two +Sundays later, a preacher of Brahmin birth appeared, there were loud +cries of indignation. "O vagabond," cried one man, "why didst thou not +come to my house? I would have given thee a handful of rice rather than +that thou shouldst have become a Feringhee!" In spite of these cries, +however, the chapel was thronged, until, after the third Sunday, when an +order came forth from the magistrates, forbidding the missionaries either +to preach, allow their converts to preach, distribute tracts, or even +argue with the natives--or in anyway "interfere with their prejudices"--in +Calcutta; and two new missionaries, named Chater and Robinson, who had +come out without a licence, were prohibited from proceeding to Serampore. + +Considering that these orders emanated only from a Provisional Government +during an interregnum, and that there was every hope that they might be +reversed by the next Governor-General, the missionaries resolved to +submit to them for the time, and to abstain from working in Calcutta. +Early in the year 1806, however, the animosity of the English East +Indians was increased by a mutiny that broke out among the Sepoys at +Vellore, in the Madras Presidency, in consequence of some regulations as +to their dress, which they resented as being supposed to assimilate them +to Europeans. The English colonel and all his garrison were massacred, +and, though the mutineers were surrounded and destroyed, great alarm +prevailed. The discontent of the Sepoys was attributed to their +displeasure at the spread of Christianity, and it was even averred that +the lives of the English in India could only be preserved by the recall +of all the missionaries! + +At Calcutta, Sir George Barlow sent to forbid Mr. Carey and his +colleagues from making any further attempts at conversion, and for a +short time they were entirely restricted to the Danish territory, while +Chater and Robinson were ordered to embark for England, and were only +kept by their appeal to the flag of Denmark. + +Upon this Mr. Chater proceeded to Rangoon, an independent province, but +on the whole the current of opposition was diminishing. Lord Wellesley +and Mr. Pitt had prevailed upon Government not to permit the College at +Fort William to be broken up, though it was reduced and remodelled. Mr. +Carey was a gainer by the change, for he was promoted to a professorship, +with an increase of salary, which he said was "very good for the +mission." He soon after received the diploma of a Doctor of Divinity +from an American University. + +The head-quarters of the establishment continued to be at Serampore, +where the missionaries and their families still lived in common, +supported upon the proceeds of Mr. Carey's professorship, Mr. Marshman's +school, and likewise the subscriptions received from England. Here were +their chapel, their schools, and their printing-press, from whence +emanated such books and tracts in Bengalee as could be useful for their +purpose, and likewise their great work, the translation of the +Scriptures, which Marshman and Carey were continually revising and +improving as their knowledge of the language became more critical. Thence +Mr. Carey went to give instruction at Fort William, and thence the +preachers, as the opposition relaxed, went forth on expeditions into the +country to teach, argue, and persuade, without any very wide-spread +success, but still every year gaining a few converts--sometimes as many +as twenty--who, when they had given sufficient evidence of faith, were +always publicly baptized by immersion, according to the custom of the +sect, which indeed acknowledged no other form as valid, and re-baptized +such members of other communions as joined them. Every missionary to the +East Indies, whether belonging to their own society or not, was certain +to visit and hold council with them, as the veterans of the Christian +army in India, and the men most experienced in the character and language +of the natives; they were the prime leaders and authorities in all that +concerned the various vernacular translations of the Scriptures, and +their example was as a trumpet-call to others to follow them in their +labours; while all the time the simplicity, humility, self-denial, and +activity of the men themselves remained unspoiled. + +Wonderful, too, had been the effect produced by the stirring of the +sluggish waters of indifference. The Society that had been with such +difficulty established at home, was numbering multitudes of subscribers +both in England and America; it had awakened a like spirit in other +sects, and whereas no dissenting minister in London had at first taken up +Carey's cause, it had become a scandal for a minister not to subscribe to +or promote missions to the heathen. Missionary reports were everywhere +distributed, young men aspired to the work, and American Universities did +honour to the ability and scholarship of the pioneers of Serampore. + +Mrs. Carey died on the 7th of December, 1807, having spent twelve years +in a state of constant melancholy and often raving insanity. Poor woman! +she was from the first a victim to her husband's aspirations, which she +never understood. There is something piteous in the cobbler's daughter +marrying the apprentice to keep on the business, and finding him a genius +and a hero on her hands, starving, being laughed at, and at last carried +off to a strange land and fatal climate, all without the least +comprehension or sympathy for the cause, and her mind failing before the +material prosperity came, which she might have regarded as compensation. + +In 1807, when some progress had been made, the grant for the translation +of the Scriptures was withdrawn; but the superintendents resolved to +persevere on their own account, and at the same time to collect all the +information in their power respecting the Christians in India, so as to +be able to rouse the cold hearts at home to the perception that a real +work was in progress. For this purpose, Dr. Claudius Buchanan, the +Provost of the College at Fort William, made an expedition of inquiry +among the various Christians, and his little book, "Christian +Researches," brought much before the public at home, of which they had +hitherto been ignorant. + +Before his time the enormities of the worship of Jaghernauth, and the +horrors of the car, beneath which human victims threw themselves, had +hardly been realized; and his very effective style of writing brought +into full prominence the atrocities of the Suttee, or burning of widows +on the funeral pile, a custom with which it was supposed to be impossible +to interfere, but which has been proved to be entirely a corrupt +practice, unsanctioned by any ancient law, only encouraged by the +Brahmins out of avarice. Happily the present generation only knows of +these atrocities as almost proverbial expressions, but when the century +came in they were in full force. + +It was Buchanan, too, who first revealed to the English the existence of +those Nestorian Christians of St. Thomas, on the coast of Malabar, who +had probably had no ecclesiastical intercourse with this country since +the embassy of King Alfred, nine hundred years before. He also brought +into public notice the effect of Swartz's labours, by describing a visit +that he made to Tanjore, where he had a most kind reception from +Serfojee, and greatly admired the numerous charitable foundations of that +beneficent Rajah. He also heard the services held in three languages in +Swartz's church, and was greatly struck, when the Tamul sermon began, by +hearing a universal scratching and grating all round him. This was +caused, he found, by the iron pens upon the palmyra leaves upon which +most of the native congregation were taking notes, writing nearly as fast +as the minister spoke. He also heard Sattianadem--now a white-haired old +man--preach on the "Marvellous Light," and he felt that a great man had +verily left his impress on these districts. + +Carey's second marriage was curiously different from his first. It was +to a lady named Charlotte Rumohr, of noble extraction, belonging to a +family of high rank, in the duchy of Schleswig. She was small and +slightly deformed, but of good abilities; she had been highly educated, +and being generally a prisoner on a couch, she had read deeply in many +languages. She had come out to India in search of a warm climate, and +residing at Serampore, had fallen under the influence of the +missionaries, and had some years previously been admitted to their +congregation by immersion. For the first time, Dr. Carey now enjoyed a +really happy home, with a lady equal to conversing with him after the +labours of the day. + +But this mission, though subsisting for some years longer, hardly affords +many more events. It was not without troubles. At times came friendly +support; at others, opposition from the authorities--the committee at +home were sometimes ignorantly meddlesome, sometimes sordid in their fits +of economy; insufficiently tested fellow-labourers came out and failed; +promising converts fell away; the climate was one steady unrelaxing foe, +which took victims out of every family: but all these things were as the +dust of the highway, trials common to man, and only incident to the very +position that had been so wondrously achieved, since the day when the +poor Baptist cobbler was so peremptorily silenced for but venturing to +hint at the duty of converting the heathen. + +Lord Hastings' government was far more friendly than any previous one, +and the few notable events that befell the community are quickly +numbered. In 1821, they were visited by Swartz's pupil, Serfojee, who +was staying with the Governor-General, Lord Hastings, on his way to +Benares, whither, strange and sad to say, he was on pilgrimage, though +all the time showing full intellectual understanding of, and warm +external affection for, the Christian faith. He talked English easily, +and showed much interest in all that was going on, but a heathen he still +remained. + +This visit only preceded by a few weeks the death of Mrs. Carey, after +thirteen years' marriage, the happiest of Dr. Carey's life; but in +another year he married a widow of forty-five, who was ready to nurse his +now declining years. That year 1822 was a year of much sorrow; the +cholera, said to have first appeared in 1817, became very virulent. The +Hindoos viewed it as a visitation from the goddess of destruction, and +held services to propitiate it, and when that had passed away, a more +than usually fatal form of fever set in. Krishnu-pal, the first convert, +who had for twenty years been a consistent Christian, was one of the +first to be taken away. Dr. Carey himself, though exceedingly ill, +recovered his former state of health, and continued his arduous labours, +he being by this time the ablest philologist in India; but the little +band had come to the time of life when "the clouds return after the +rain," and in 1823 Mr. Ward died of cholera. For twenty-three years had +the threefold cord between Carey, Marshman, and Ward, been unbroken. They +had lived together like brothers, alike in aim and purposes, each +supplying what the other lacked; and the distress of the parting was +terrible, especially to Dr. Marshman, who at the time of his friend's +illness was suffering from an attack of deafness, temporary indeed, but +for some days total, so that he could only watch the final struggle +without hearing a single word. + +He wrote as if he longed to be with those whose toils and sorrows were at +an end, but he still had much more to do. In 1826, he visited England, +partly for the sake of pleading with the Society at home, first begun on +so small a scale by Carey, but which now numbered many members and +disposed of large sums. The committee, however, were often hard to deal +with. There were among them many men of good intentions, but without +breadth of views, and used to small economies. They listened to false +reports, censured without sufficient information, pinched their missions, +and dictated the management, so that to deal with them was but a vexation +of spirit. Indeed, such annoyances are inseparable from the very fact of +the supplies and the government being in the hands of a body at a +distance from the scene of action, and destitute of personal experience +of the needs. + +After much argument, the matter ended in the Serampore mission being +separated from the General Society, as indeed it had become nearly self- +supporting through the numerous schools which the talents of the members +of it had been able to establish. It was an unfortunate time, however, +when the two men whose abilities had earned their present position were +so far past the prime of life; and, in 1830, the failure of a great +banking company both deprived them of a large part of their investments, +and, by ruining numerous families, lessened the attendance at Dr. +Marshman's school. Moreover, the American subscribers sent a most +vexatious and absurd remonstrance against any part of their contributions +for training young men to the ministry, being employed in teaching +science. "As if," said Dr. Marshman, "youths in America could be +educated for ministers without learning science." + +Another disaster was that, on Lord William Bentinck's arrival in India in +1830, the finances of the Government were found to be in so +unsatisfactory a state, that salaries were everywhere reduced, and that +which Dr. Carey had derived from the college at Fort William was thus cut +down from 1,000 rupees per month to 500. At this time, the missions and +preachers dependent on Serampore required 1,500_l._ a year for their +support, and only 900_l._ was to be had, and this when both Marshman and +Carey were seventy years of age, and still were toiling as hard as ever. + +There were other troubles, too, as to who was the owner of the buildings, +whether the Baptist Society, or the missionaries as trustees, and as +having paid a large portion of the price. A great inundation of the +Hooghly had nearly settled the question by washing the whole away. As it +was, it did much damage, and destroyed the beautiful botanical garden +that had for twenty years been Dr. Carey's delight. Finally the whole of +the right of Marshman and Carey to the buildings was sold to the Society, +for a much less amount than they had paid from their own pockets; but +they were to occupy them rent free for the rest of their lives. + +The trouble and anxiety consequent on this question, which had been of +many years' standing, had greatly impaired Dr. Marshman's strength both +of body and mind. Morbid attacks of depression came on, during which he +wandered about, unable to apply himself so much as even to write a +letter, though in the intervals he was both cheerful and full of +activity. Dr. Carey's health was likewise failing, and, with no formed +illness, he gradually sank, and died on the 9th of June, 1834, in his +seventy-third year. + +To him belongs the honour of the awakening of the missionary spirit in +England. Yet, as an individual preacher and teacher, he does not seem to +have had much power. His talent was for language and philology; his +perfections were faith and perseverance. In these he was a giant; in +everything else, whether as a cobbler, schoolmaster, indigo-planter, nay, +even as father of a family, he was a failure: but his steady, faithful +purpose enabled him so to use that one talent as to make him the pioneer +and the support as well as the example of numbers better qualified for +the actual work than himself. + +His loss left Dr. Marshman alone, and suffering from melancholy more and +more, as well as much harassed by difficulties as to the resources, and +by captious complaints from home. In 1836, a great shock was given to +his nerves by the danger of his daughter. She was the wife of Lieutenant +Henry Havelock, a young officer, who, deeply impressed by Dr. Marshman's +piety, had joined his congregation, and who was destined to become in +after years one of the most heroic and able of the defenders of the +British cause in India. During his absence, she and her three children +had been left at Landour, when their bungalow caught fire in the middle +of the night, and blazed up with a rapidity due to its light, dry +materials. She rushed out with her baby in her arms, but in crossing the +verandah tripped and fell, losing her hold of the child. She was dragged +away by a faithful native servant, who likewise snatched out her two +eldest boys, but the poor baby was lost in the flames, and she herself +was so much injured and overwhelmed by the alarm and grief, that, when +her husband arrived, her state was almost hopeless, and he wrote a letter +preparing her father to hear of her death. From some untoward accident, +no more tidings reached Serampore for three days, and to spirits that had +already lost their balance the suspense was fatal. The aged father +wandered about the house in a purposeless manner, sometimes standing +gazing along the road through the Venetian blinds, sometimes talking +incoherently; and when at last the intelligence arrived that Mrs. +Havelock was out of danger, though his joy and thankfulness were +ecstatic, the effects of these three days were irremediable; he was +hardly ever seen to smile again, could take no part in the renewed +discussions with the Baptist Society, although his mind and memory were +still clear. He died on the 5th of December, 1837, just as the Serampore +mission had been re-united to the General Baptist mission. + +"There had been but few men at Serampore, but they were all giants," was +said of them by one of the dignitaries of the Church and assuredly it was +a wonderful triumph, that a shoe-maker, a schoolmaster, and a printer +should in thirty-eight years not only have aroused the missionary spirit +in England, but have, by their resolution and talent, established thirty- +three stations for the preaching of Christianity in India; while at the +time of the death of the last survivor, forty-nine ministers were in +union with them, half of whom were natives of Hindostan, and around each +of the elder stations was a fair proportion of converts. Still more +amazingly, these self-educated men had, by their accurate knowledge and +deep study, become most eminent authorities in matters of language and +philology; and by their usefulness had actually compelled a prejudiced +Government to depend on them for assistance, and thus to support the work +for which alone they cared. Never were the words more completely +fulfilled than in them, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His +righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." + +The reverses that chequered their wonderful success were not the more +interesting difficulties of wild country, or persecuting heathen, but +troubles with an obstructive Government, and with the Society at home, +which endeavoured to rule them without understanding them. These +vexations are inseparable from the conditions of Societies trying to +govern from home instead of letting the management be carried on by a +head upon the spot. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE JUDSON FAMILY. + + +We must turn to an important offshoot from the Serampore mission, which +assumed extensive proportions and a character of its own, chiefly in +consequence of American zeal. Here, be it observed, was the first ground +attempted by modern missions (not Roman Catholic) which belonged to an +independent sovereign. + +The great Burmese Empire, roughly speaking, occupies the Eastern India +peninsula, being separated from that of Hindostan by the Brahmapootra +river. The mountainous formation of the country, its indented coast, and +numerous rivers render it fertile, and the hills contain many valuable +metals and beautiful precious stones. + +The inhabitants are of the Mongolian race, short, stout, active, and +brown, with a good deal of ingenuity in arts and manufactures, but not +equal to the Chinese, their neighbours. Their language is monosyllabic, +their religion Buddhist, their government a despotic empire, and at the +time the mission was entered upon they had had little intercourse with +strangers, but their women were not secluded, were not wholly uneducated, +and were treated with consideration. + +Buddha is regarded as a manifestation of Vishnu--the Hindoos say, to +delude his enemies; the Buddhists, to bring a new revelation. Gautama +was the almost deified being who spread the knowledge of Buddhism, about +500 B.C. In different countries the religion has assumed different +forms, but it is nearly co-extensive with the Mongolian race, and the +general features are the rejection of the Vedas and of most of the Hindoo +myths, faith in the divinity of Buddha, and hope that the individual +personality will be entirely absorbed in his essence, the human being +lost in the Deity. Five laws of virtue must be observed, ten kinds of +sin avoided; and the Buddhist expects that transgressions will be +punished by the transmigration of his soul into some inferior creature, +whence he will rise by successive stages into another trial as a man, and +gradually improving by the help of contemplation, and of a sublime state +of annihilation of all self-consciousness, may become fit for his final +absorption into the Godhead. There is an extensive priesthood, called +Lamas, who live in a state of celibacy in dwellings not at all unlike +monasteries; and, in effect, so much in their practices seems to parody +the ceremonies of Christianity that the Portuguese thought them invented +by the devil for the very purpose. However, there is no doubt that +Buddhism inculcates a much purer morality than the religion of Brahma, +and far higher aims. In Burmah, however, the idea of the eternity of the +Deity had evidently been lost, and Gautama had practically usurped the +place that the higher Buddhists gave to Brahma. Indeed, though the true +Buddhist system looks to the absorption in the Deity,--Nirvana, as it is +called,--the popular notion, as received in Burmah and corrupted by less +refined minds, made it into what was either absolute nonentity or could +not be distinguished from it, so that the ordinary Burman's best hope for +the future was of nothing but annihilation. + +There was originally a Burman Empire, but it had become broken up, and +the territories of Ava, Pegu, and Siam were separated, though Ava claimed +them all, and owned a semi-barbarous magnificent court, with many +gradations of dignitaries, sending out Viceroys to the different +provinces and towns. + +When in 1807 strong opposition was made by Sir George Barlow's government +to the landing of the two Baptist missionaries, Robinson and Chater, the +former obtained forbearance on account of his wife's health, but the +latter was obliged to embark; and, rather than return to England, he +chose a vessel bound for Rangoon, a city at the mouth of the river +Irrawaddy, the nearest Burmese harbour. His was to be a reconnoitring +expedition to discover the condition of the Burmese Empire, the progress +that Roman Catholic missions were making there, and the possibility of +undertaking anything from the centre of Serampore. Another missionary, +named Mardon, went with him. They were well received by the European +merchants resident at Rangoon, and returned with an encouraging report. +It was decided that the attempt should be made; and as Mr. Mardon did not +feel equal to the undertaking, fifteen days were set apart as a time of +private prayer for direction who should be chosen in his stead. + +It was Felix Carey, then nearly twenty-two, who volunteered to go with +Mr. Chater, of whom he was very fond. His father was unwilling to send +him, not only on account of his youth, but because he was very valuable +in the printers' work, and had an unusual amount of acquaintance with +Sanskrit and Bengalee, so that he could hardly be spared from the +translations; but the majority of the council at Serampore were in favour +of his going, and after a long delay, in consequence of the danger +British trading vessels were incurring from French privateers from the +Isle of France, they set sail and arrived at Rangoon early in the year +1808. + +There they built themselves a house, and obtained a good deal of favour +from the gentleness and amiability of Mr. Chater, and from young Carey's +usefulness. He had regularly studied medicine for some years in the +hospital at Calcutta, and his skill was soon in great request, especially +for vaccination, which he was the first to introduce. His real turn was, +however, for philology, and he was delighted to discover that the Pali, +the sacred and learned language of Burmah, was really a variety of the +Sanskrit, cut down into agreement with the Mongolian monosyllabic speech. +He began, with the assistance of a pundit, to compile a grammar, and to +make a rough beginning of a translation of the Scripture, a work indeed +in which the Serampore people were apt to be almost too precipitate, not +waiting for those refinements of knowledge which are needful in dealing +with the shades of meaning of words of such intense importance and +delicate significancy. But on their principles, they could do nothing +without vernacular Bibles, and they had not that intense reverence and +trained scholarly appreciation which made Martyn spend his life on the +correctness of a single version, rather than send it forth with a flaw to +give wrong impressions. + +Neither does Felix Carey seem to have been a missionary in anything but +that bent which is given by training and family impulse. He delighted in +languages, but rather as an end than a means; and though he did what the +guiding fathers at Serampore required of him, it was as a matter of +course, not with his whole heart. In the meantime, the fact of Mr. +Chater being a married man occasioned difficulties. Like their kinsmen +the Chinese, the Burmese much objected to the residence of foreign +females within their bounds; and when Mr. Chater obtained leave to bring +his wife, she was so forlorn that he was obliged to seek for another +station, and, receiving an invitation to Ceylon, left Felix alone, except +for his marriage with a young woman of European extraction, but born in +Burmah. + +Soon after a dispute arose between the British and Burmese governments, +and two English ships of war appeared off Rangoon. The native +authorities wished the young missionary to act as interpreter, and on his +refusal he was accused of being a spy, and was forced to take refuge on +board one of the British ships where he remained for two months before +the differences were adjusted, and he was allowed to return on condition +that he should not refuse his services as interpreter another time. In +the October of 1812 he came home to Serampore to print his Burmese +grammar and Gospel of St. Matthew, and not only did this, but carried a +press back with him to Rangoon. A youth who was sent from the +congregation at Calcutta to co-operate with him proved unfit for the +work, and was advised to return to secular business; but in the meantime, +the person who was, above all others, to be identified with the Burmese +mission, had heard the call and was on his way. + +This was Adoniram Judson, a native of New England, the eldest son of the +minister of Malden, in Massachusetts, born in 1788, and bred up first at +a school near home, and afterwards at Brown University. His acuteness +and cleverness from infancy were great, especially in arithmetic and +mathematics. During his studies, he met with a clever and brilliant +friend who had imbibed the deistical teaching of the French Revolution, +and infected him with it, and he came home at seventeen the winner of all +the honours and prizes that the College afforded, but announcing himself +to his parents as a decided infidel! The pastor treated him with stern +displeasure, and argued hotly with him, but young Adoniram was the +cleverer man, and felt his advantage. His mother's tears and entreaties +were less easy to answer, and the thought of them dwelt with him, do what +he would, when he set out on a sort of tour through the surrounding +States. On his journey, he stopped at a country inn, and was told, with +much apology, that there was no choice but to give him a room next to +that of a young man who was so ill that he could scarcely live till +morning. In fact, Adoniram's rest was broken by the groans of the dying +man and the footsteps of the nurses, and there--close to the shadow of +death--his infidelity, which had been but pride of intellect and fashion, +began to quail, as the thought of the future haunted him. Morning came; +all was still. He asked after his fellow-lodger, and heard that he was +dead. He asked his name. It was no other than the very youth who had +staggered his faith. + +The shock changed his whole tone. He could not bear to continue his +journey, but turned back to Plymouth, determined to prove to himself what +was indeed truth; and, while deeply studying the evidences of +Christianity, he supported himself by keeping a school and writing +educational books on grammar and arithmetic. His mind was soon +thoroughly made up, as, indeed, his aberrations had been only on the +surface, and he became very anxious to enter the Theological College at +Andover, Massachusetts. This belonged to the most earnest of the +Congregationalists, and evidence of personal conversion and piety was +required from the candidates; but, in his case, the professors were +satisfied, and he entered on his course of study, which included Hebrew. +In the last year of his studies there he fell in with Claudius Buchanan's +"Star in the East," and the perusal directed his whole soul to the desire +of missionary labour. His mind was harassed night and day with the +thought of longing to do something for the enlightenment of the millions +in Asia; and, meeting with Symes' "Burmese Empire," his thoughts turned +especially in that direction. It was a quiet steady purpose, though he +was slow of communicating it; until, one evening at home, his father +began throwing out hopes and hints of some great preferment, and his +mother and sister smiled complacently, as if they were in the secret. +Adoniram begged for an explanation, since it was possible their plans +might not coincide, to which his father replied there was no fear, and +told him that the minister of the biggest church in Boston wished for him +as a colleague. "So near home," said the delighted mother. He could not +bear to answer her, but, when his sister chimed in, he turned to her, +saying, "No, sister, I shall never live in Boston; I have much farther to +go;" and then, steadily and calmly, but fervidly, he set forth the call +that he felt to be upon him. How different a communication from that +which he had made two years before! No doubt his family so felt it, for, +though his mother and sister shed many tears, neither they nor his father +offered a word of opposition. + +Thenceforth his fate was determined, and he began to prepare himself. He +was, in person, slightly made and delicate-looking, with an aquiline +face, dark eyes, and chesnut hair; and though his constitution must have +been immensely strong to have borne what he underwent, at this time he +was thought delicate; and therefore, with his one purpose before him, he +carefully studied physiology, and made himself a code of rules which he +obeyed to the end of his life, in especial inhaling large quantities of +air, sponging the whole body with cold water, and taking daily exercise +by walking. He was a man of great vivacity and acuteness, with the +poetical spirit that accompanies strong enthusiasm, and with a fastidious +delicacy and refinement in all personal matters, such as seemed rather to +mark him as destined to be an accomplished scholar than to lead the rude +life of a missionary; and Ann Hasseltine, the young lady on whom he had +fixed his affections, was a very beautiful girl, of great cultivation and +accomplishments, but they were alike in one other great respect,--namely, +in dauntless self-devotion. He began to talk of his purpose to the like- +minded among his college mates, and gradually gathered a few into a very +small missionary association, into which none were admitted who had any +duties that could forbid their going out to minister among the heathen. + +At the same time, and partly through their means, a wider association was +formed, which had its centre at Bradford, and which finally decided on +sending Judson to England to endeavour to effect a union with the London +Missionary Society, which had been formed in 1795, in imitation of +Carey's Baptist Society, to work in other directions by Nonconformists of +other denominations. + +The voyage in 1811, in the height of the continental war, was a very +perilous one. On the way the vessel was taken by the French and carried +into Bayonne, while the young American passenger was summarily thrown +into the hold with the common sailors. He became very ill, but, when the +French doctor visited him, he could hold no communication for want of a +common language. Then it was that there came thoughts of home, and of +the "biggest church in Boston," and a misgiving swept over him, which he +treated at once as a suggestion of the enemy, and betook himself to +prayer. Then, in the grey twilight of the hold, he felt about for his +Hebrew Bible; and to keep his mind fully absorbed, began mentally +rendering the Hebrew into Latin. When the doctor came in, he took up the +Bible, perceived that he had a scholar to deal with, began to talk Latin +to him, and arranged his release from the hold. + +But on landing at Bayonne, he was marched through the streets as a +prisoner with the English crew. He began declaiming in his native +language on the injustice of detaining an American, and obtained his +purpose by attracting the attention of an American gentleman in the +street, who promised to do what he could for him, but advised him in the +meantime to proceed quietly. The whole party were thrown into a dismal +underground vault, and the stones covered with straw, which seemed to +Judson so foul that he could not bear to sit down on it, and he walked up +and down, though sick and giddy with the chill, close, noisome +atmosphere. Before his walking powers were exhausted, his American +friend was at the door, and saying, "Let me see whether I know any of +these poor fellows," took up the lamp, looked at them, said "No friend of +mine," and as he put down the lamp threw his own large cloak round Mr. +Judson, and grasping his arm, led him out under it in the dark; while a +fee, put into the hand, first of the turnkey and then of the porter, may +have secured that the four legs under the cloak should pass unobserved. +"Now run," said the American, as soon as they were outside, and he rushed +off to the wharf, closely followed by his young countryman, whom he +placed on board a vessel from their own country for the night. +Afterwards, Judson's papers were laid before the authorities, and he was +not only released, but allowed to travel through France to the northern +coast, and, making friends with some of the Emperor's suite on the way +home from Spain, travelled to Paris in an Imperial carriage. Afterwards, +he made his way to England, where he received a warm welcome from the +London Missionary Society, by which he and the three friends he had left +in America--Samuel Newell, Samuel Nott, and Gordon Hall--were accepted as +missionaries; but on Judson's return to America, he found that the +Congregationalist Mission Board there was able to undertake their +expenses, and accordingly they went out, salaried by their own country. +All four were dedicated to the ministry at Salem on the 6th of February, +1812, and immediately prepared to sail for the East Indies. + +Judson, with his wife, the beautiful dark-eyed Ann Hasseltine, and his +friends Mr. and Mrs. Newell, also newly married, embarked in the +_Caravan_; Hall, Nott, and another college mate, named Luther Rice, were +in the _Harmony_. They were at once received at Serampore, on their +landing, in the June of 1812, but Dr. Carey's expectations of them were +not high. Adoniram and Ann Judson were both delicate, slender, refined- +looking people. "I have little hope from the Americans," he wrote; "if +they should stay in the East, American habits are too luxurious for a +preparation to live among savages." He little knew what were the +capabilities of Ann Judson, the first woman who worked effectively in the +cause, the first who rose above the level of being the comfort of her +husband in his domestic moments, and was an absolute and valuable +influence. + +The opposition to the arrival of missionaries was at its height, and this +large batch so dismayed the Calcutta authorities that, declaring them +British subjects come round by America, they required their instant re- +embarkation. It was decided to go to the Isle of France, whence it was +hoped to find a French ship to take them to the aid of Felix Carey, but +the first vessel could only take the Newells, and the detention at +Serampore drew the Judsons and Rice into the full influence of Marshman's +powerful and earnest mind. Aware that they would have to work with the +Baptist mission, they had studied the tenets on the voyage, but found +when they arrived, that the points of difference were subjects that the +trio at Serampore did not choose to discuss, lest their work among the +heathen should suffer by attention to personal controversy. However, +their own thoughts and the influences of the place led them to desire +baptism by immersion; and this being done, they considered it due to the +Congregationalists, who had sent them out, to resign their claim on them +for support, though this left them destitute. It was decided that Rice +should go home and appeal for their support to the American Baptists, and +in this he thoroughly succeeded, while the Judsons, after sailing for +Mauritius, where they found poor Mrs. Newell recently dead, made their +way back to Madras, and there found a vessel bound for Rangoon. It was a +crazy old craft, with a Malay crew, no one but the captain able to speak +a word of English. The voyage was full of disaster. A good European +nurse, who had been engaged to go with Mrs. Judson, fell on the floor and +died suddenly, even while the ship was getting under weigh, too late to +supply her place. Mrs. Judson became dangerously ill, and the vessel was +driven into a perilous strait between the Great and Little Andaman +Islands, where the captain was not only out of his bearings, but believed +that, if he were driven ashore, the whole ship's company would be eaten +by the cannibal islanders. The alarm, however, acted as a tonic, and +Mrs. Judson began to recover. + +They reached Rangoon in safety, but Judson writes: "We had never before +seen a place where European influence had not contributed to smooth and +soften the rough features of uncultivated nature. The prospect of +Rangoon, as we approached, was quite disheartening. I went on shore, +just at night, to take a view of the place and the mission-house, but so +dark and cheerless and unpromising did all things appear, that the +evening of that day, after my return to the ship, we have marked as the +most gloomy and distressing that we ever passed." The mission-house was +not quite empty, though Felix Carey, who they had hoped would welcome +them, was at Ava. When Mrs. Judson, still too weak to walk, was carried +ashore, she was received by his wife, who could speak Burmese, and +managed the household, providing daily dinners of fowls stewed with rice +or with cucumber. + +It was, however, a dismal place, near the spot where public executions +took place, and where the dead were burnt outside the walls. And all +around, among the beautiful vegetation and lovely forests on the banks of +the broad Irrawaddy, rose the pagodas, graceful with the peculiar beauty +of the far East, with gilded lacquer-work, umbrella-shaped roofs spiring +upwards; huge idols with solemn contemplative faces within, and all +around swarms of yellow-robed, fat, lazy lamas. + +The new comers meantime applied themselves to the study of the language, +after overcoming the disdain of their pundit at having to instruct a +woman. He could not speak English, and had neither grammar nor +dictionary, so that the difficulties were great; but the eager spirit of +the students overcame all, and they ventured to remove into town and keep +house themselves. + +Mrs. Judson was taken to visit the wives of the Myowoon, or Viceroy of +Rangoon, by a French lady who had been admitted before. On their first +arrival the principal wife was not up, and the ladies waited, while the +inferior wives examined all they wore, and tried on their gloves and +bonnets; but when the great lady appeared, they all crouched together at +a distance. She came in richly attired, and smoking a silver pipe, and +sat down on a mat by Mrs. Judson, whom she viewed with much curiosity, +asking if she were her husband's first wife. The Myowoon came in looking +wild and savage, and carrying a huge spear in his hand; but he was very +polite to Mrs. Judson, though he took very little notice of her husband. + +In fact the government was violent and barbarous. There were perpetual +murders and robberies, and these were punished by horrid executions, +accompanied by torture; yet the Burmese regarded themselves as superior +to all other nations, and were far from understanding how greatly they +fell short even of the requirements of Buddhism. + +Felix Carey, meantime, had been requested by the king to vaccinate the +royal children; but he had to return to Calcutta to procure matter for +the purpose. He then visited Rangoon on his way back, and prepared to +carry up his family, property, and printing-press to Ava, with the hope +of forming a fresh station there, under royal patronage; but after ten +days' voyage, the vessel was capsized by a sudden storm, and all who +could not swim were drowned. Felix tried to rescue his little son of +three years old, but, finding himself sinking, he let the child go, and +saved himself alone. + +Everything in the vessel was lost; but the king gave him compensation for +the property, and took him into high favour, sending him shortly after, +to conduct some negotiations with the British Government. He appeared at +Calcutta with the title and gorgeous dress of a Burmese noble, and showed +himself in the streets with a train of fifty followers. Old Dr. Carey +was seriously grieved at his thus "sinking from a missionary to an +ambassador;" and he was by no means successful in this new line; in fact +his negotiations turned out so ill, that on his return to Rangoon he was +obliged to fly the country. The excitement of his life had made +missionary labour distasteful to him, and, after strange wanderings in +the wild lands eastward of Bengal, he became prime minister and +generalissimo to a barbarous prince; and in that capacity led an army +against his old friends, the Burmese, sustained a defeat, and was forced +to wander in the jungle. After three years of this strange life, he fell +in by chance at Chittagong with Mr. Ward, and was by him persuaded to +return to the printing and philology, for which alone, like his father, +he really was well qualified. He lived at Serampore till 1822, and then +was carried off by the same sickly season that had proved fatal to +Krishnu-pal, who had been baptized with him, and to Bishop Middleton. + +Meantime, Mr. and Mrs. Judson were working steadily on, and were greatly +cheered by the arrival of a much less barbarous viceroy, named Mya-day- +men. They were invited, with all the Europeans, to a banquet at the new +official's house, and Mrs. Judson was entertained by the wife, who +questioned her eagerly, and asked if she knew how to dance in the English +way; but was satisfied on hearing that the wives of priests did not +dance. As Buddhist priests are celibate, Mrs. Judson must have been +rather a puzzle to the good lady; and all this time the real work of the +mission had not commenced, for the preliminary operation of acquiring the +language had not been completed, and Judson was warned not to attempt +preaching till he was familiar with it, by Dr. Carey having told him that +after some years in Bengal, when he imagined himself to be freely able to +use the language, he had found from the remark of a young man, that he +was really not in the least understood. Private arguments with the +teachers was all that could be attempted, and in these there seems to +have been some forgetfulness of St. Paul's words, "Who art thou that +judgest another? To his own master he standeth or falleth;" since there +was a very free threatening that the souls of the pagans must be lost; to +which the pundits replied with true Eastern calmness, "Our religion is +good for us, yours for you." During this time of perseverance and +preparation, Mrs. Judson's health became so much affected that she was +forced to go to Madras. Heroine as she was, she would not consent to let +her husband break up his work to accompany her; but the solitude of her +absence fell on him most severely. She says, "He had no individual +Christian with whom he could converse or unite in prayer during the six +months of her absence;" but he worked on heartily, and she returned in +perfect health. + +In the spring of 1816, the death of their first-born child was a great +shock to the father's health, which was already disordered; and he +continued in a declining state all through the summer. The Myowoon's +wife, whom Mrs. Judson conveniently calls the vice-reine, was very kind +to them, and took them on elephant-back to visit her country-house. The +way lay through the woods, between trees sometimes so thick that the +elephants broke them down, at the mahout's word, to make way. Thirty men +in red caps, with spears and guns, formed the guard; then came the vice- +reine's elephant, with a gilded howdah, where the lady sat dressed in red +and white silk; then the Judsons' animal, three or four more behind with +grandees, and 300 or 400 attendants followed. At a beautiful garden, +full of fruit trees, a feast was spread under a noble banyan, the vice- +reine causing the cloth next to her to be allotted to her guests, whom +she tended affectionately, gathering and paring fruit, cutting flowers +and weaving them for them, and, unlike the Hindoos, freely eating what +they handed her. This hospitable and amiable lady had just begun to ask +Mrs. Judson the difference between the Christians' God and Gautama, when +she was obliged to return to Ava. + +For several months Mr. Judson's illness increased; but exercise on +horseback did much to relieve him, and the comfort and encouragement of +the arrival of a brother missionary, Mr. Hough, with his family, did +more. He weathered the attack without leaving his post, and in 1817 made +his first real step. A press had come out with Mr. Hough, and with it +two little tracts, summarizing the chief truths of Christianity, were +printed and distributed at Rangoon. + +Shortly after, a respectable-looking Burmese, attended by a servant, +walked into Mr. Judson's house, and sat down. Presently he inquired, +"How long a time will it take me to learn the religion of JESUS?" + +Mr. Judson answered, that where God gave light and wisdom, it was soon +learnt; but without, a whole lifetime would not teach a man. "But how," +he asked, "came the wish for this knowledge?" + +"I have seen two little books." + +"And who is JESUS?" said the missionary. + +"He is the Son of GOD, who, pitying human creatures, came into this world +and suffered death in their stead." + +"Who is GOD?" continued Mr. Judson. + +"He is a Being without beginning or end, who is not subject to old age or +death, but always is." + +Mr. Judson showed him the two little books, which he recognized, but +begged for more. He did not attend much to what Judson tried to teach +him by word of mouth, but begged for book. The Gospel of St. Matthew was +in hand, but could not be finished for three months; and when he was told +this "Have you not a little of that book done, which you will graciously +give me now?" he asked. "And I," writes Judson, "beginning to think that +God's time was better than man's, folded and gave him the two first half- +sheets, which contain the first five chapters of St. Matthew, on which he +instantly rose, as if his business was done, and took leave." + +It was long before they saw him again; though many other persons began +calling at the mission-house to inquire about what they called the new +religion; but all were so much afraid of one another, that no one would +ask any questions if a fellow-citizen were present. Mrs. Judson was also +getting together from fifteen to twenty women every Sunday, whom she +tried to instruct. One of them, like the Norseman of old, preferred +casting in her lot with her forefathers to a heaven separated from them; +and when Mrs. Judson told her they would reproach her with the rejection +of the truth they had never known, and that she would regret her folly +when it was too late, she answered, "If I do, I will cry out to you to be +my intercessor." Another combined prayers to our Lord and Gautama. + +The vice-reine came back from Ava, and continued to be very kind to Mrs. +Judson, made her explain her doctrine, caused the little catechism to be +taught to her daughter, and accepted a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew, +which was at length completed. This being finished, Mr. Judson, after +four years' study of the language, believed himself able to undertake +more public ministrations; but first went on a voyage to Chittagong, +where he hoped to find, among the Christian converts of Burmese speech, +one to assist him in communicating with the people. + +Mrs. Judson remained with the Houghs, and had the pleasure of receiving +the Burmese inquirer, whose long absence had been occasioned by his being +appointed governor of some villages in Pegu. He said he was thinking and +reading in order to become a believer. "But I cannot yet destroy my old +mind, for, when I see a handsome patso, or a handsome gounboun, {f:130} I +still desire it. Tell the great teacher, when he returns, that I wish to +see him, though I am not a disciple of Christ." She gave him the rest of +St. Matthew, and a tract to each of his attendants, and he promised that, +if the great teacher would come and see him, he would collect his +villagers to hear the new doctrine preached. There was something very +attractive, meek, and unassuming about the man's whole appearance, and of +him there was much hope; but, just about this time great anxiety fell on +the mission party. The kindly Myowoon and his wife were removed, and +immediately after a summons was sent to Mr. Hough to appear at the court- +house of the city, with the intimation, "that, if he did not tell the +whole truth they would write it in his blood." He was kept all Friday +and Saturday answering, through an interpreter, foolish questions: who +were his father and mother, how many suits of clothes he had, and the +like; all which was formally written down. On the third day, Sunday, +Mrs. Judson, resolving to ascertain whether this were really done by the +command of the Myowoon, drew up a petition, which she carried herself. +She was graciously received, and it presently appeared that an order had +really been sent for the banishment of some Portuguese priests, and that +the petty officials of the Court had taken advantage of it to harass Mr. +Hough, in the hope of extracting a reward for his liberation. + +At this time there was a terrible visitation of cholera, which the +Burmese attributed to evil spirits, and accordingly attempted to drive +away by force of noise. It was supposed that the evil spirits would take +refuge in any house that was silent, and for three whole nights cannon +were fired from the court-house, and every human creature used the utmost +powers nature or art afforded for producing a din. The mission party +were uninfected by the contagion, but it was a time of terrible anxiety, +for nothing had been heard of Mr. Judson or his ship for months; there +were reports of ill-feeling between the Burmese and British Governments, +no arrivals of English at Rangoon, and no intelligence. Mrs. Judson's +female classes had fallen off ever since Mr. Hough's summons, and the +state of things was such, that the Houghs decided on removing to Bengal. +Mrs. Judson, with her little girl, most reluctantly decided to accompany +them, but, just as the vessel in which they sailed had gone down the +river, she was ascertained not to be seaworthy; and, during this delay, +Mrs. Judson's fears of her husband's finding her gone, if he ever +returned to Rangoon, so increased, that she went back with her child to +the house, and, brave woman as she was, took up her abode there with the +native servants, trusting herself wholly to the protection of her God. +She was rewarded by her husband's arrival, after an absence of nine +months, caused by the captain of his ship having broken his engagement, +and carried him on to Madras, where he had been detained all this time +for want of a vessel to return in. The Houghs also came back, and two +young men from America soon after came out, full of zeal and activity, +but both fell ill very shortly afterwards, and the younger died, but his +fellow, Mr. Colman, became a valuable assistant. + +This era, the spring of 1819, was the first great step in the Burmese +mission. Funds had been raised by the Baptist Society in America, which +were applied to the erection of a zayat or public room, with walls of +bamboo and a thatched roof. It had two rooms, one for a school for the +women, another for the men, who gladly learnt to read and write from Mrs. +Judson and a Burmese teacher. Here, too, Mr. Judson openly held prayers +and preaching on Sunday, and these attracted many, some of whom would +come in the week for private discussion. + +The first real convert was a man of thirty-five, named Moung Nau, poor, +but of excellent character, and so intelligent, that he became a useful +assistant after his baptism, on the 27th of June, 1819. Others were +inquiring, among whom the most interesting was Moung Shwaygnong, a +schoolmaster or tutor by profession, at a village a little way from +Rangoon, and already a philosopher, "half deist, half sceptic, the first +of the sort I have seen among the Burmans" (our quotations are from Mr. +Judson's journal), who, however, worshipped at the pagodas, and conformed +to national observances. The second time he came the conversation seemed +to have made "no impression on his proud sceptical heart, yet he promised +to pray to the eternal God, through the Saviour." It appeared that, +about eight years previously, it had come before him that there is indeed +One Eternal God, and that this thought had been working in him ever +since. A copy of Mr. Judson's tract which fell in his way chimed in with +this primary belief, and next came the question of the Scripture +revelation, which he argued over with much metaphysical power and +acuteness, being a very powerful reasoner, and well trained in the +literature of his own country. Meantime three simpler minds--Moung +Thaahlah, Moung Byaay, and Moung Ing--had been thoroughly convinced, and, +though aware that they would expose themselves to considerable danger, +resolved to become Christians. + +The Viceroy had remarked the zayat, and notice was taken that men were +there led "to forsake the religion of the country." The alarm cleared +the zayat of all the audience, and emptied Mrs. Judson's class of women, +but Thaahlah {f:133} and Byaay sent in a letter, entreating to be +admitted to baptism, and Ing would have followed their example, but that +his trade as a fisherman carried him off to sea. They begged not to be +baptized openly, as Nau had been, in a piece of water near the town and +presided over by an image of Gautama; and Mr. Judson yielded so far, that +he conducted the preliminary devotions in the zayat, and baptized them in +the same pool two hours after dark. Shwaygnong had in the meantime taken +alarm at being interrogated by the Government, had apologized, and +apparently fallen away; but he could not keep aloof, and soon came back +again. After a good deal of fencing and putting forth metaphysical +cavils, he allowed that it was all for the sake of experiment, and +declared that he really believed both in God and in the Atonement. + +"Said I," writes Mr. Judson, "knowing his deistical weakness, do you +believe all that is contained in the book of St. Matthew which I gave +you? In particular, do you believe that the Son of God died on a cross?" + +"Ah!" he replied, "you have caught me now. I believe that He suffered +death, but I cannot admit that He suffered the shameful death of the +cross." + +"Therefore," said I, "you are not a disciple of Christ. A true disciple +inquires not whether a fact is agreeable to his own reason, but whether +it is in the Book. His pride has yielded to Divine testimony. Teacher, +your pride is unbroken. Break down your pride, and yield to the Word of +God." + +He stopped and thought. "As you utter these words," said he, "I see my +error. I have been trusting in my own reason, not in the Word of God." + +Some interruption now occurred. When we were again alone, he said, "This +day is different from all the days on which I have visited you. I see my +error in trusting to my own reason, and I now believe the Crucifixion of +Christ, because it is contained in the Scripture." + +The profession of Christianity had become more perilous since the +Judsons' arrival in Burmah. The old Emperor had died in 1819, and had +been succeeded by his grandson, who was far more zealous for Buddhism +than he had been, and who had appointed a viceroy at Rangoon, very minute +in exacting observances--so much so, as to put forth an edict forbidding +any person with hat, shoes, umbrella, or horse, to pass through the +grounds belonging to the great pagoda, Shwaay Dagon, which extended half +a mile from the building, and were crossed by all the chief roads. At +the same time, he was new gilding the pagoda, a specially sacred one, as +containing some bits of hair of Gautama. + +It was plain that the mission had little chance of succeeding, unless +some sanction could be obtained from royalty; and Mr. Judson therefore +determined to go to Ava and petition the Emperor to grant him permission +to teach at Rangoon. So he obtained a pass from the Viceroy "to go up to +the golden feet, and lift up our eyes to the golden face," and hired a +boat to take him and Mr. Colman, with ten oarsmen, a headman, a +steersman, a washerman, and two cooks, of whom Moung Nau was one. They +had invited Shwaygnong to accompany them, but he refused, though he +appeared waving his hand to them on the bank as they pushed off from the +land. They took with them, as the most appropriate present, a Bible, +bound in six volumes, in gold leaf, intending to ask permission to +translate it. + +They arrived at Ava on the 28th of January, 1820, and beheld the gilded +roofs of the pagodas and palace. Two English residents welcomed them, +and Mya-day-men, the Viceroy who had been their friend at Rangoon, +undertook to present them to the Emperor. + +They were taken to the palace, and were explaining their wishes to the +Prime Minister, Moung Zah, when it was announced that "the golden foot +was about to advance," and he had to hasten to attend the Emperor. The +dome whither the missionaries followed him was dazzling with splendour, +very lofty, and supported on pillars entirely covered with gold, and +forming long avenues, through one of which the Emperor advanced alone, +with the proud gait and majesty of an Eastern monarch, with a +gold-sheathed sword in his hand. Every one prostrated his forehead in +the dust except the two Americans, who merely knelt with folded hands. He +paused before them, and demanded who they were. + +"The teachers, great king," replied Mr. Judson. + +"What? You speak Burmese--the priests that I heard of last night? When +did you arrive? Are you like the Portuguese priests? Are you married?" +and so on, he asked; then placing himself on a high seat, with his hand +on the hilt of his sword, he listened to the petition read aloud by Moung +Zah. He then held out his hand for it; Moung Zah crawled forward and +gave it; the Emperor read it through to himself, and held out his hand +for the little tract which was handed to him in like manner. The hearts +of the missionaries throbbed with hope and prayer; but, after reading the +two first sentences, the Emperor threw it from him, and when the gift was +presented would not notice it. The answer communicated through Moung Zah +was: "In regard to the objects of your petition, his Majesty gives no +order. In regard to your sacred books, his Majesty has no use for them; +take them away." Something was said of Colman's skill in medicine; upon +which the Emperor desired that both should be taken to the Portuguese +priest, who acted as his physician, to ascertain whether they could be +useful in that line, and then lay down on his cushions to listen to +music. + +They were taken two miles to the residence of the Portuguese, who of +course perceived that they brought no wonderful secret of medicine, and +then returned to their boat. They afterwards saw Moung Zah in private, +and heard that the Burmese laws tolerated foreign religions, but that +there was no security for natives who embraced them, and that it was an +unpardonable offence even to propose it. The English collector went to +the Emperor, but could obtain nothing from him but permission for them to +return to Rangoon, where they might find some of their countrymen to +teach. There was no actual prohibition against teaching Burmese +subjects, but there was no security that the converts would not be +persecuted; and the collector told them that fifteen years previously a +Burmese teacher who had been converted by the Portuguese, and had even +visited Rome, was denounced on his return by his nephew and commanded to +recant. On his refusal, he was tortured with the iron mall--hammered, +namely, from his feet upwards till he was all one livid wound as far as +his breast, pronouncing the name of Christ at every blow. Some persons +at last told the Emperor that he was a mere madman, on which he was +spared, and the Portuguese contrived to send him away to Bengal, where he +died. The nephew was high in the favour of the present Sovereign, who +was besides far more attached than his grandfather had ever been to the +Buddhist doctrine. Only four Portuguese clergy were in the country, and +they confined themselves to ministrations to the descendants of the +converts of the old Jesuit mission, instead of attempting to extend their +Church. Nothing was to be done but to return to Rangoon, and for this a +passport was necessary, the obtaining of which cost thirty dollars in +presents. Mr. Judson was advised also to procure a royal order for +personal protection, otherwise, when it became known that the royal +patronage had been refused, he might be molested by ill-disposed persons; +but finding that this would be exceedingly costly, he preferred "trusting +in the Lord to keep us and our poor disciples." + +It was encouraging that at Pyece, a place on the banks of the Irrawaddy, +the missionaries met Shwaygnong, who had come thither to visit a sick +friend, and came on board eagerly to know the result of their journey. +They told him all, even of the good confession beneath the iron mall, and +he seemed less affected and intimidated than they expected, though he had +nearly made up his mind to cast in his lot with them. "If I die, I shall +die in a good cause," he said. "I know it is the cause of truth." And +then he repeated his actual faith: "I believe in the Eternal God, in His +Son Jesus Christ, in the Atonement which Christ has made, and in the +writings of the Apostles as the true and one Word of God." He also said +he had never, since their last conversation, lifted up his folded hands +before a pagoda, though on the day of worship, to avoid persecution, he +would walk up one side of the building and down the other. To this Mr. +Judson replied, "You may be a disciple of Christ in heart, but you are +not a full disciple. You have not faith and resolution enough to keep +all the commands of Christ, particularly that which commands you to be +baptized though in the face of persecution and death. Consider the words +of JESUS--'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.'" + +He listened in profound silence, and with the manner with which he always +received what he considered deeply; but there was still a long struggle +to come, and many fluctuations, and the simpler minds were the stay and +comfort of the missionaries, when on their return to Rangoon they +considered what steps to take. Their first proposal was to move to a +district between Bengal and Arracan, where were several Christian natives +now destitute of a pastor, and where the language was very like Burmese, +though the place was beyond the power of the Emperor, and to take their +three baptized converts with them. Nau and Thaahlah were ready to follow +them everywhere, but Byaay was married, and no Burmese woman was allowed +to leave the country. He, with several others who were on the point of +conversion, entreated the missionaries not to leave them, and Thaahlah +made a remarkable speech. "Be it remembered," he said, "that this work +is not yours or ours, but the work of God. If He give light, the +religion will spread." + +It was decided, according to the earnest wish of these poor people, that +they should not be deserted till there were enough of them to form a +congregation and have a teacher from among themselves set over them, and +this--as the sect to which the Judsons belonged has no form of setting +apart for the ministry--was all that they regarded as requisite. The +Arracan converts were not, however, to be neglected, and Mr. Colman +therefore was to go to Chittagong, and there establish a station, which +might receive those from Rangoon in case it should become needful to +leave the place. He was doing well there, when he died from an attack of +fever. + +The Judsons remained, and held their worship in the zayat on Sunday with +the doors closed and only the initiated present; but it seemed as if the +fear of losing their teachers quickened the zeal of the Christian +converts in bringing their friends to inquire. Shwaygnong had long been +unconsciously preparing the way by his philosophical instructions, going +so much deeper than the popular Buddhism, and he brought several of his +pupils, both male and female, telling them that "he had found the true +wisdom;" but he still hung back. {f:137} Mr. Judson suspected him of +wanting a companion of his own rank to keep him in countenance, and +doubted whether it were fear of the world or pride of heart that kept him +back; but he seems to have had a genuine battle with his own sceptical +spirit, and the acceptance of such ordinances as the Baptists required +was a difficulty to him. Four or five later converts were baptized +before him, and at last he kept away from the mission for so long that +Mr. Judson thought they had lost him; but when he reappeared it turned +out that he had been ill with fever, and had had much sickness in his +family, and had meantime fought out his mental conflict, and made up his +mind to the full acceptance of Christianity at all risks. + +He came again with five disciples, one of them a woman of fifty-one years +old, named Mah-menlay, with her husband, all formally requesting baptism; +but Mr. Judson was not sufficiently satisfied of the earnestness of any +to receive them at once, excepting Shwaygnong himself, whom Mr. Judson +kept till evening; and then, after reading the history of St. Philip's +baptism of the Ethiopian, and praying, led him down to the water in the +woods and baptized him, like others, in the pool, by the light of the +stars in the tropical night. That same night Mah-menlay came back, +entreating so earnestly for baptism, that she, too, was led down to the +water and baptized. "Now," she said, "I have taken the oath of +allegiance to JESUS CHRIST, and I have nothing to do but to commit +myself, soul and body, to the hands of my Lord, assured that He will +never suffer me to fall away." + +This was the last thing before the Judsons embarked for Serampore, a +journey necessitated by a severe attack of liver complaint, from which +Mrs. Judson had long been suffering and their little girl had also died. + +To these devoted people a visit to Calcutta was a change for the sake of +health! On their return, after half a year's absence, the first thing +they heard was that their kind friend Mya-day-men had come as Myowoon to +Rangoon, and they were met on the wharf by all their disciples, led by +Shwaygnong, in a state of rapture. They found that such as had lived in +the yard of the mission had been subjected to a petty official +persecution, which had made them fly to the woods; but that the good Mya- +day-men had refused to hear an accusation brought against Moung +Shwaygnong by the lamas and officials of the village, who had him before +the tribunal, accusing him of trying "to turn the priest's rice-pot +bottom upwards." + +"What matters it," said the Myowoon; "let the priests turn it back +again." + +This was enough to ensure the safety of the Christians during his +viceroyalty, though at first he paid little attention to Mr. Judson, +being absorbed in grief for the death of his favourite daughter, one of +the wives of the Emperor. She does not seem to have been the child of +the amiable Vice-reine, or, as her title had now become, +Woon-gyee-gaadaw, who had been promoted to the right of riding in a +_wau_, a vehicle carried by forty or fifty men, but who had not forgotten +Mrs. Judson, and received her affectionately. + +There were now twenty-five disciples. Ing likewise joined them having +returned from his voyage, and was shortly after baptized. Mah-menlay +opened a school for little girls, and Shwaygnong was regularly engaged by +Mr. Judson to revise his translation of the Epistle to the Ephesians and +the first part of the Book of Acts, before they were printed. Another +remarkable man came to study the subject, Moung Long, a philosopher of +the most metaphysical kind, whose domestic conversations with his wife +were reported to be of this description.--The wife would tell him, "The +rice is ready." + +"Rice! what is rice? Is it matter or spirit? Is it an idea or a +nonentity?" + +If she answered, "It is matter," he would reply, "And what is matter? Are +you sure there is such a thing in existence, or are you merely subject to +a delusion of the senses?" + +Mr. Judson was struck with the expression of this man's one eye, which +had "as great a quantity of being as half-a-dozen common eyes." After +the first exposition of the Christian doctrine, the philosopher began +with extreme suavity and politeness: "Your lordship says that in the +beginning God created one man and one woman. I do not understand (I beg +your lordship's pardon) what a man is, and why he is called a man." + +Mr. Judson does not record his own line of argument, only that the +Buddhist sceptic was foiled, and Shwaygnong, who had often argued with +him, was delighted to see his old adversary posed. He came again and +again, and so did his wife, the ablest woman whom Mrs. Judson had met, +asking questions on the possibility of sin finding entrance to a pure +mind, and they were soon promising catechumens; but in the midst of all +this hopefulness, a season of cholera and fever set in, both the Judsons +were taken ill at the same time, and could not even help one another, and +the effect on Ann's health was such that, as the only means of saving her +life, she was sent off at once to England, while her husband remained at +his post quite alone, for Colman had died a martyr to the climate. + +She was warmly welcomed by the Missionary Societies in London and +Edinburgh, and thence returned to America, where her mother and sisters +were still living to hail her return. Her narratives, backed by her +natural sweetness, eloquence and beauty, had a great effect in stirring +up the mission spirit among both her countrymen and countrywomen, and +there was no lack of recruits willing to return with her and share her +toil. + +The account of Colman's devotion and death had had an especial effect +upon a young girl named Sarah Hall, of Salem, Massachusetts, one of those +natures that seem peculiarly gifted with poetic enthusiasm, yet able to +stand the brunt of the severest test of practice. She was the daughter +of one of those old-fashioned New England families, where a considerable +amount of prosperity and a good deal of mental culture is compatible with +much personal homely exertion. As the eldest of thirteen, Sarah had to +work hard, but all the time she kept a prim little journal, recording, at +an age when one is surprised to see her able to write at all, that her +mother is too busy to let her go to school, and she must improve herself +at home; and this she really did, for her notes, as she grew older, speak +of studying Butler's Analogy, Paley's Evidences, logic, geometry, and +Latin. Her library of poetry is said to have consisted only of Thomson's +Castle of Indolence, and Macpherson's Ossian; but hymns must have filled +her ear with the ring of rhyme, for she was continually versifying, +sometimes passages of Scripture, sometimes Ossian, long before she was +halfway through her teens. Very foolish, sing-song, emotional specimens +they are, but notable as showing the bent of nature that forms itself +into heroism. Her family were Baptists, and she was sixteen when the +sense of religion came on her so strongly as to lead her to seek baptism. +Remarkably enough, the thought of the ignorance of the heathen, and the +desire to teach them, began to haunt her from that time, and is recorded +in the last page of her childish journal, dated a month later than her +baptism. + +In fact, her zeal seems to have been pretty strong towards the persons +around her. While staying at a friend's house, she found a pack of cards +left by a young man on the table, and wrote on it the text beginning, +"Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth," &c. Hearing that +the owner was very curious to know the perpetrator, she wrote down this +verse for him: + + "And wouldst thou know what friend sincere + Reminds thee of thy day of doom? + Repress the wish, yet thou mayst hear + She shed for thee a pitying tear, + For thine are paths of gloom." + +She also says that she had been for six weeks engaged, with the +assistance of a gentleman, in working out proofs of the immortality of +the soul, apart from those in Scripture. She had prayer-meetings for her +young friends in her own room, and distributed tracts in the town, while +still acting at home, as her mother's right hand, among her little +brothers and sisters. + +But her vocation she felt to be for missionary life. At one time she +thought of joining a mission to the Red Indians, and her verses were full +of the subject. Her ode on Colman's death expressed the feeling of her +soul in the verse: + + "The spirit of love from on high + The hearts of the righteous hath fired; + Lo! they come, and with transport they cry, + 'We will go where our brother expired, + And labour and die.'" + +The words fall sadly short of the feeling,--a very real one, but the ode +not only satisfied Sarah's critics and obtained circulation, but it fired +the heart of George Dana Boardman, a young student at Waterville College, +intended for the Baptist ministry; and he never rested till he had found +out the authoress, met her, and asked her to be his partner in "labouring +and dying," as Colman had done before them. + +There was no illusion in her mind; she knew her task would be full of +toil and suffering; but her feeling was the desire to devote her whole +self to the work of the Redeemer, who had done so much for her. Mr. and +Mrs. Hall were at first reluctant, but after a time heartily consented, +and she was introduced to Mrs. Judson as a future companion in her toils. +With very questionable taste, some of her friends insisted on her reading +her own elegy on Colman, aloud, before a whole circle of friends that +they might see Mrs. Judson listen to it. Blushes and refusals were of no +avail; she was dragged out, and the paper thrust into her hand; she +began, faltering, but as she proceeded the strong purpose of her soul +inspired her, and she ended with firmness and enthusiasm--but was so +overpowered that, without daring to look up and see that Mrs. Judson's +eyes were overflowing, she crept away to hide in a corner the burning +tears on her own cheeks. Twenty years after she spoke of it as one of +the most painful moments of her life. + +At first it had been proposed that Mr. Boardman and Sarah should +accompany Mrs. Judson on her return, but it was thought better that he +should spend a little more time on his studies, and Ann Judson therefore +sailed in 1823, with Mr. and Mrs. Wade as her companions. + +In the meantime Judson himself had been going on with his work at +Rangoon, among many troubles. + +Another accusation was drawn up by the lamas against Shwaygnong, and the +Viceroy, on reading it, pronounced him worthy of death; but before he +could be arrested, he took boat, came down to the mission-house with his +family, obtained a supply of tracts and portions of Scripture, and then +secretly fled up the river to a town named Shway-doung, where he began to +argue and distribute the tracts. So little regular communication was +there between different places in Burmah, that this could be done with +comparative safety; but the accusation and his flight created so much +alarm at Rangoon, that Mr. Judson had to shut up the zayat, and only +assemble his converts in the mission-house. They suffered another loss +in Moung Thaahlah, their second convert, who died of cholera, after +nineteen hours' illness. He had seven months before married a young +Christian woman, this being the first Burmese Christian wedding; and as +he was a youth of much promise and good education, he was a serious loss +to the mission. All this time Mr. Judson was alone, until the arrival of +Jonathan Price, who had wisely qualified himself to act as a physician, +and no sooner did a report of his skill reach Ava, than the King sent for +him; and as he had no time to learn the language, Judson went with him as +interpreter. Dr. Price says, "The King is a man of small stature, very +straight, steps with a natural air of superiority, but has not the least +appearance of it in conversation. He wears a red, finely-striped silk +cloth from his waist to his knees, and a blue-and-white handkerchief on +his head. He has apparently the good of his people as well as the glory +of his kingdom at heart, and is encouraging foreign merchants, and +especially artisans to settle in his capital. A watchmaker at this +moment could obtain any favour he should please to ask." + +As soon as the missionaries arrived, he sent for them and received them +in an open court, where they were seated on a bamboo floor about ten feet +from his chair. He took no notice of Judson, except as an interpreter, +but interrogated Price as to his skill in surgery, sent for his +medicines, looked at them and at his instrument, and was greatly amused +with his galvanic battery; he then dismissed them with orders to choose a +spot on which a house should be built for them, and to look up the +diseased to try Price's skill upon. + +Moung Zah, the former minister, recognized Judson kindly, and after a +time the King took notice of him: "You in black, what are you, a medical +man too?" + +"Not a medical man, but a teacher of religion, your Majesty." + +After a few questions about his religion the King proceeded to ask +whether any Burmese had embraced it. + +"Not here," diplomatically said Judson. + +"Are there any in Rangoon?" + +"There are a few." + +"Are they foreigners?" + +Mr. Judson says he trembled for the consequences of an answer, but the +truth must be spoken at all risks, and he replied, "Some foreigners and +some Burmese." + +The King showed no displeasure, but asked questions on religion, +geography, and astronomy, as though his temper was quite changed. His +brother, a fine young man of twenty-eight, who suffered from paralysis, +became a patient of Dr. Price, and had much conversation with Judson, +showing great eagerness for instruction. He assured the missionaries +that under the present reign there was no danger to the native +Christians, and after a successful operation for cataract, performed by +Dr. Price, the missionaries were so much in favour that while Price +remained at Ava and there married a native lady, Judson was desired only +to go back to Rangoon to meet his wife on her return, and bring her to +reside at Ava. + +Their good and tolerant friend, the Viceroy, was dead, and his successor +was a severe and unjust man, so that the people had fled in numbers from +the place, and few Christians remained except at Moung Shwaygnong's +village. There was thus the less to leave, when in December 1823 Mrs. +Judson safely arrived, and two fresh missionaries with her, to whom the +flock at Rangoon could be left. There is a most happy letter written on +the voyage up the Irrawaddy to Ava, when it seemed as though all the +troubles and difficulties of four years had been smoothed away. The +mission had been kindly welcomed at Ava, and established in the promised +house, when the first of the English wars with Burmah broke out, on +grounds on which it is needless to enter. It is enough to say that after +many mutual offences, Sir Archibald Campbell, with a fleet and army, +entered Rangoon, and occupied it without resistance, the Viceroy being +absent at the time. + +The Court of Ava were exceedingly amazed at the insolence of the +foreigners. An army supposed to be irresistible was sent off, dancing +and singing, in boats down the river, and all the fear was lest the alarm +should drive away the white strangers with the "cock-feather chief" +before there was time to catch any for slaves. A lady sent a commission +for four to manage the affairs of her household, as she heard they were +trustworthy; a courtier, for six to row his boat. + +The capture of Rangoon was supposed by national pride to be wholly owing +to the treachery of spies, and three English merchants were fixed upon as +those spies and put under arrest. The King was advised likewise to +secure the persons of the missionaries, but he answered, "They are quiet +men; let them alone." Unfortunately, however, a receipt for some money +paid to Adoniram Judson was found among the papers of one of the +merchants, and this to the Burmese mind was proof of his complicity in +the plot. Suddenly, an official, accompanied by a dozen men, one of whom +had his face marked with spots, to denote his being an executioner, made +his appearance demanding Mr. Judson. "You are called by the King," said +the official, and at the same moment the executioner produced a cord, +threw Mr. Judson on the floor, and tied his arms behind his back. His +wife vainly offered money to have his arms unbound, and he was led away, +the faithful Ing following at a distance to see what was done with him, +while Mrs. Judson retired to her room and poured out her soul "to Him who +for our sakes was bound and led away to execution," and great was her +comfort even in that moment. She was immediately after summoned to be +examined by a magistrate in the verandah, and after hastily destroying +all journals and papers, went out to meet him. He took down her name and +age, those of four little Burmese girls she had charge of, and of two +Bengal servants; pronounced them all slaves to the King, and set a guard +over them. Mrs. Judson fastened herself and her children into the inner +room, while the guards threatened her savagely if she would not show +herself, and even put her servants' feet in the stocks till she had +obtained their release by promises of money. + +Moung Ing had ascertained that his master was in prison; and when, after +the most dreadful night she had ever spent, she sent him again in the +morning, with a piece of silver to obtain admittance, he brought word +that both Judson and Price, with the three English merchants, were in the +death-prison, each wearing three pairs of iron fetters and fastened to a +long pole. Mrs. Judson immediately sent to the governor of the city with +an entreaty to be allowed to visit him with a present. This procured her +a favourable reception, and he promised to make the condition of the +prisoners more comfortable, but told her that she must consult his head +writer as to the means. This man, a brutal-looking fellow, extorted from +her a huge bribe, and then promised to release the two teachers from the +pole, and to put them into another building where she might send them +food daily, and pillows and mats to sleep on. She obtained an order for +an interview with her husband, whose looks were so wretched and ghastly +that she lost no time in fulfilling these exorbitant demands. + +Her hope was in a petition to the Queen, but being under arrest herself, +she could not go to the Queen in person, and had to approach her through +her sister-in-law--a proud, haughty dame, who received her in the most +cold, discouraging manner, but who undertook to present the petition. She +then went to the prison again, but the head writer would not allow her to +enter; and on her return home she found that all the property in the +mission-house was to undergo a scrutiny; but this was humanely done, and +was only inventoried, not seized--_i.e._ the King did not seize it, but +the officials helped themselves to whatever took their fancy. The next +day the Queen's answer was obtained--"He is not to be executed; let him +remain where he is." + +The poor lady's heart fainted within her, but she thought of the widow +and the unjust judge, and persevered day after day in applying to every +member of the royal family or of Government to entreat for her husband's +liberation. The King's mother, sisters, and brother were all interested +in his favour, but none of them ventured to apply direct to the King lest +they should offend the favourite Queen. All failed, but the hopes that +from time to time were excited, kept up the spirits of the sufferers. +During the long weary months while the missionaries continued in fetters, +_i.e._ chained by the feet to a bar of bamboo, Mrs. Judson was often not +allowed to visit them for ten days at a time, and then only by walking to +the prison after dark, two miles, unattended. She could, however, +communicate with her husband by means of the provisions she sent him +daily. At first she used to write on the dough of a flat cake, which she +afterwards baked and concealed in a bowl of rice, while he answered by +writing on a tile, where the inscription disappeared when dry but was +visible when wet; but latterly they found it most convenient to write on +a roll of paper hidden in the long nose of a coffee-pot, in which tea was +sent to the prisoners. + +Mrs. Judson delighted to send him little surprises, once a mince-pie, +which Moung Ing carried with the utmost pride to his imprisoned master. +Mrs. Judson found herself obliged to wear the native dress, though she +was so much taller than the Burmese women that she could be hardly taken +for one of them. It was a becoming dress; her hair was drawn into a knot +on the forehead, with a cocoa-blossom, like a white plume, drooping from +it; a saffron vest open in front to show a crimson tunic below; and a +tight skirt of rich silk, sloping down behind, made her look to +advantage, so that her husband liked to remember her as she stood at his +prison door. She never was allowed to come further. + +For twenty days she was absent, and then she came with a tiny, pale, +wailing, blue-eyed baby on her breast. Poor Judson, clanking up to the +door in his chains to welcome his little daughter, commemorated his +feelings in some touching verses ending:-- + + "And when in future years + Thou know'st thy father's tongue, + These lines will show thee how he felt, + How o'er his babe he sung." + +Every defeat by the European forces added to the perils of captives. A +favourite old general named Bundoolah had promised, when sent to command +the army against Rangoon, that he would release all the white prisoners +on his return as a conqueror; and when he was totally defeated, the wrath +of the Burmese was so great that at this time the King himself seems to +have scarcely acted at all. He was gentle, indolent and indifferent, +more intelligent than those around him, scarcely a Buddhist in belief, +and very kind-hearted: indeed Judson believed that it was his +interposition alone that prevented the lives of the captives from being +taken at once; but he was demoralized by self-indulgence, and allowed +himself to be governed by his queen, the daughter of a superintendent of +gaols; and through her, by her brother, who was cruel, rapacious and +violent, and the chief author of all the sufferings inflicted on the +prisoners. Among these were seven or eight British officers, and the +King had commanded that a daily allowance of rice should be served to +these, but scarcely half of it ever reached them; Mrs. Judson did her +best to supply them as well as her husband, but their health gave way +under their sufferings, and all died but one. + +At the end of seven months, it was reported that the English army was +advancing into the interior; and in the passionate alarm thus excited, +the English captives were all loaded with five pairs of fetters and +thrown into the common prison among Burman thieves and robbers,--a +hundred in a room without a window, and that in the hottest season of the +year. Mrs. Judson again besought the governor to relieve them from this +horrible condition, by at least allowing them to sit outside the door, +and he actually shed tears at her distress, but he told her that he had +been commanded to put them all to death privately, and that he was doing +his best for them by massing them with the rest. The Queen's brother had +really given this order, but the governor delayed the execution in case +they should be required of him by the King, and they continued in this +frightful state for a whole month, until Mr. Judson sickened with violent +fever, and the governor permitted him to be removed into a little bamboo +room, six feet long and four wide, where his wife was allowed to visit +him and bring him food and medicine, she meantime living in a bamboo +house in the governor's compound, where the thermometer rose daily to 106 +degrees, but where she thought herself happy as she saw her husband begin +to recover. + +One day, however, when the governor had sent for her and was kindly +conversing with her, a servant came in and whispered to him that the +white strangers had suddenly been taken away, no one knew whither. The +governor pretended to be taken by surprise, but there could be no doubt +that he had occupied Mrs. Judson to hinder her from witnessing the +removal; and it was not till the evening that she learnt that the +prisoners had been taken to Umerapoonah, whither she proceeded with her +three months old baby and one servant. There she found that the +prisoners had been sent on two hours before to a sort of penal settlement +called Oung-pen-lay, whither she followed, to find her husband in a +lamentable state. He had been dragged out of his little room, allowed no +clothing but his shirt and trowsers, a rope had been tied round his +waist, and he had been literally driven ten miles in the hottest part of +the day. His feet were so lacerated that he was absolutely falling, when +a servant of one of the merchants tore a piece from his turban, and this +wrapped round his feet enabled him to proceed, but he could not stand for +six weeks after; indeed the scars remained for life. In this state he +lay chained to Dr. Price. The intention was to sacrifice them both, in +order to obtain success for an intended expedition; but before this could +be done, a different woongye, or prime minister, came in, and their +condition was somewhat improved, for they only wore one bamboo, through +two slits in which their feet were forced, and they were allowed to crawl +into the enclosure. Meantime, a poor lion, once a great favourite, which +was thought to be connected with the lions on the English colours, was +placed in a bamboo cage in sight of the prisoners, and there starved to +death, in hopes of thus abating the force of the enemy. When its carcase +was removed, Mr. Judson, at his own earnest entreaty, was allowed the +reversion of its cage, and there, to his great joy, Moung Ing brought him +his MS. translation of part of the Burmese Bible, which he had kept in +his pillow at Ava till it was torn away by the jailors on his removal. +The faithful Ing, thinking only to secure a relic of his master, had +picked up the pillow and secured the treasure. + +Solitude was the greatest boon to Judson, whose fastidious delicacy +suffered greatly in the thronged prison, but his faithful Ann was +suffering terribly. One of the little Burmese girls who lived with her +had caught the small-pox, and was very ill: Mrs. Judson inoculated the +other child and her own little Maria, but Maria's inoculation did not +take effect, and she caught the disease, and had it very severely. Then +Mrs. Judson herself fell ill of a fever, and remained for two months +unable to visit her husband, both of them owing all their food to the +exertions of their good Bengalee cook. Poor little Maria was nearly +starved, no milk was to be had, and the only food she obtained was when +the jailers were bribed to let her father carry her round the village to +beg a little nourishment from the nursing mothers. Her moans at night +rent the heart of her sick mother, and it is scarcely possible to imagine +how either survived. By this time, the English troops were so far +advancing that the King was reduced to negotiate, and, being in need of +an interpreter, he sent an order for Mr. Judson's release; but as his +wife was not named in it, she had great difficulty in effecting her +departure, and half-way through the journey a guard came down and carried +him off to Ava without her. Arriving next day, she found him in prison, +but under orders to embark in a little boat and go at once to the camp at +Maloun. She hastened to prepare all that was needful for his comfort, +but all was stolen except a mattress, pillow, and one blanket. The boat +had no awning, and was so crowded that there was no room to lie down for +the three days and three nights of alternate scorching heat and heavy +dew; there was no food but a bag of refuse-rice, and the banks on either +side of the Irrawaddy were bordered with glittering white sand, which in +sunlight emitted a metallic glare intolerable to the eyes, and heat like +a burning furnace. The fever returned upon Judson, and, when he reached +Maloun, he was almost helpless; but he found himself lodged in a small +bamboo hut in the middle of the white sand, where he could not admit air +by rolling up the matting without letting in the distressing glare, and +where the heat reflected from the sand was like a furnace. He could not +stir when the officers came to summon him to the presence of the Burmese +general, and they thought it stubbornness, and threatened him; then they +brought him papers and commanded him to translate them, while he writhed +in torture and only longed that the fever in his brain would deprive him +of his senses. This it must have done, for he had only a confused +impression of feet around him, and of fancying that he was going to be +burnt alive, until he found himself on a bed in a somewhat cooler room. +As he lay there, papers were continually brought him to explain and +translate, and he found that the greatest difficulty was in making the +Burmese understand that a State paper could mean what it said, or that +truth and honesty were possible. Sometimes, as he tried to explain the +commonest principle: of good faith and fair dealing among Christian +nations, his auditors would exclaim, "That is noble," "That is as it +should be;" but then they would shake their heads and say, "The teacher +dreams; he has a heavenly spirit, and so he thinks himself in the land of +the dwellers in heaven." + +He remained here six weeks, suffering much at night from cold, for his +only covering was a small rug and his well-worn blanket. Then, on the +advance of the English, he was sent back to Ava, but was marched straight +to the court-house without being suffered to halt for a moment at his own +abode, to discover whether his wife was there. He was placed in a shed, +guarded all day, and left without food, till Moung Ing found him out in +the evening, and replied to his questions, that the Mamma Judson and the +child were well; yet there was something about his manner that was +unsatisfactory, and Judson, thinking it over, became terribly uneasy, and +in the morning, being sent for by the governor of the jail, obtained +permission to go to his own house. + +At the door he saw a fat, half-naked Burmese woman with a child in her +arms, so dark with dirt that it never occurred to him that it could be +his own; and entering, he found, lying across the foot of the bed, his +wife, ghastly white and emaciated, her hair all cut away, and her whole +appearance that of a corpse. She woke as he knelt down by her in +despair! She had been ill all this time with a horrible spotted fever. +The day she had fallen ill, the Burmese woman had offered to take charge +of little Maria, and the Bengalee cook had attended on her. Dr. Price +was released from prison and had cut off her hair, bled, and blistered +her, but she could hardly move when the tidings came of her husband being +in the town, and she had sent Moung Ing to him. The husband and wife +were at last together again, and Dr. Price was sent to conduct the treaty +at the English camp. + +As soon as Sir Archibald Campbell heard of the sufferings of the Judsons, +he demanded them as well as the English subjects; but the King was aware +that they were not English, and would not let them go. This attempt at a +treaty failed; but its failure, and the alarm consequent upon a report of +the advance of the English, led to Mr. Judson's being sent off, almost by +force, with two officials, to promise a ransom if Ava were spared. Sir +Archibald Campbell undertook that the city should not be attacked, +provided his terms were complied with before he reached it; and among +these was the stipulation that not only English subjects, but all +foreigners should have free choice whether to go or to stay. Some of the +officials tried to persuade Mr. Judson to stay, declaring that he would +become a great man, but he could not refuse the freedom offered him after +such cruel sufferings, and he was wont to declare that the joy of finding +himself floating down the Irrawaddy in a boat with his wife and baby, +made up for their twenty-one months of peril and misery. + +They were received with courtesy, and indeed with gratitude, respect, and +veneration at the English camp. The Englishmen who had been in captivity +bore witness to the kindness with which Mrs. Judson had relieved their +wants, as well as those of her husband: how she had brought them food, +mended their clothes, obtained new ones, and, as they believed, by her +arguments and appeals to the ignorant and barbarous Government, had not +only saved their lives, but convinced the authorities of the necessity of +accepting the British terms of peace. + +These terms included the cession of a large portion of the Burmese +territory; and this it was that decided the missionaries to leave Ava; +for the state of exasperation and intolerance into which this brought the +Court, made it vain to think of continuing to give instruction where they +would be regarded with enmity and suspicion. Meantime, the officers in +the English camp, who had not seen a lady for nearly two years, could not +make enough of the graceful, gentle woman, so pale and fragile, yet such +a dauntless heroine, and always ready to exert herself beyond her +strength for every sufferer who came in her way. + +There was a curious scene at a dinner given to the Burmese commissioners, +in a magnificent tent, with all the military pomp the camp could furnish. +When Sir Archibald appeared with Mrs. Judson on his arm, and seated her +by his side, there was such a look of discomfiture on the faces of the +guests, that he asked her if they were not old acquaintance who had +treated her ill. "That fellow with the pointed beard," he said, "seems +taken with an ague fit." Then Mrs. Judson told how, when her husband lay +in a burning fever with the five pairs of fetters, she had walked several +miles with a petition to this man, had been kept waiting till the +noontide sun was at its height, and not only was she refused, but as she +departed her silk umbrella was torn out of her hand by his greediness; +and when she begged at least to let her have a paper one to go home with, +the officer only laughed at her, and told her that she was too thin to be +in danger of a sunstroke! The English gentlemen could not restrain their +countenances at least from expressing their indignation; and the Burmese, +who thought she was asking for their heads, or to have them laid out in +the sun with weights upon their chests, were yellow with fright, and +trembled visibly. Mrs. Judson kindly turned to them with a smile, +assuring them that they had nothing to fear, and, on repeating her words +to Sir Archibald Campbell, he confirmed them to the frightened +barbarians. + +That visit to the English camp was one of the few spaces of comfort or +repose in those busy lives. It concluded by the husband and wife being +forwarded to their old home at Rangoon. + +It was in the height of the war, when anxieties for the fate of Mr. and +Mrs. Judson were at the utmost, that, on the 4th of July, 1825, George +Boardman and Sarah Hall were married, and sailed for Calcutta, thinking +it possible that they might find their predecessors martyred, and that +they were coming "to step where their comrades stood." + +At Calcutta they found Mr. and Mrs. Wade, who had with great difficulty +escaped, and soon after they heard of the rescue of the Judsons, and +welcomed Dr. Price. Rangoon, in the meantime, had been occupied by the +English, and then besieged by the Peguans; the mission-house was ruined, +and the people dispersed, and Moung Shwaygnong had died of cholera, +faithful to the last. The city was to be restored to the Burmese, and +the King, though willing to employ Judson politically, refused toleration +to his subjects; so that, as the provinces on the Martaban river were to +be ceded to the English, it seemed wise to take advantage of the +reputation which the Judsons had established to found a mission-station +under their protection in the new town of Amherst, which Sir Archibald +Campbell proposed to build on the banks of the Martaban river. + +Hither was transported the old zayat of Rangoon; and Mount Ing, Moung +Shwaba, and a few other of the flock accompanied their teachers, to form +the nucleus of the mission. Sir Archibald Campbell had made a great +point of Mr. Judson's accompanying the English embassy that was to +conclude the treaty at Ava; and he, hoping to obtain something for the +Christian cause, complied, leaving that most brave and patient woman, his +wife, with her little delicate girl, in a temporary house in Amherst, +which, as yet, consisted only of barracks, officers' houses, and fifty +native huts by the riverside in the space of freshly-cleared jungle. +There she set to work with energy that enfeebled health could not daunt, +to prepare the way for the Wades and the Boardmans, to superintend a +little school, of which Moung Ing was master, and to have a house built +for her husband. + +She had just moved into it, when she was attacked with remittent fever, +and, though attended by an English army surgeon and nursed by a soldier's +wife, she sank under it, and died on the 24th of October, 1826. She was +buried under a _hopia_, or, as her friends loved to call it, a hope tree; +and the Wades, coming shortly after, took charge of poor little Maria, +who lived to be embraced by her father, on his arrival after three +months' absence; but she continued to pine away, and only survived her +mother six months. + +Judson endured patiently, thought of his wife's sufferings as gems in her +crown, wrote cheerful letters, and toiled indefatigably, without breaking +down, but he was never the same man again. Amherst was probably +unhealthy, for several of the Rangoon converts died there, among them one +of the little Burmese girls who had been with Mrs. Judson throughout her +troubles. Those who died almost always spoke with joy of their hope of +seeing Mamma Judson in heaven. "But first," said one woman, "I shall +fall down before the Saviour's feet, and thank Him for sending us our +teachers." + +It was shortly before little Maria's death that Mr. and Mrs. Boardman +arrived, bringing with them a daughter born at Calcutta. Moulmein, the +town near at hand, was decided on as their station, and they removed to a +mission-house on the border of the jungle, about a mile from the +cantonments, with a beautiful range of hills behind them, and the river +in front. Opposite lay the Burman province of Martaban, which had been +desolated during the war, and was now the haunt of terrible Malay +pirates, who came and robbed in the town, and then fled securely to the +opposite bank, where they could not be pursued. The English officers had +entreated the Boardmans to reside within the cantonments, but they wished +to be among the people, so as to learn the language more readily and +become acquainted with them. + +One night, Mrs. Boardman awoke and found the lamp gone out. She rose and +re-lighted it. Every box and drawer lay overthrown and rifled, nothing +left but what the thieves deemed not worth taking. She turned round to +the mosquito curtain which concealed her husband; it was cut by two long +gashes, the one close to his head, the other to his feet. There the +robber-sentry must have kept watch, ready to destroy the sleepers if they +had wakened for a moment! Nearly every valuable had been carried away, +and not a trace of any was ever found. After this, Sir Archibald +Campbell gave them a Sepoy guard; and, as population increased, the +danger diminished. Indeed, Amherst proved an unsuccessful attempt, and +was gradually abandoned in favour of Moulmein, which became the +head-quarters both of Government and of the Mission. + +The Boardmans were specially devoted to that, because of the work which +regarded the Karens. These were a wandering race who occupied a strip of +jungle, a hilly country to the south of Burmah, living chiefly by hunting +and fishing, making canoes, and clothed in cotton cloth. They had very +scanty ideas either of religion or civilization, but were not idolaters, +and had a good many of what Judson calls the gentler virtues of savages, +though their habits were lazy and dirty. They had been a good deal +misused by the Burmese, but occasionally wandered into the cities; and +there Judson had asked questions about them which had roused the interest +of his Burman converts. During the war, one of these Burmese found a +poor Karen, named Ko-Thah-byoo, in bondage for debt, paid the amount, +made him his own servant, and, on the removal to Moulmein, brought him +thither. He proved susceptible of instruction, and full of energy and +zeal; and not only embraced Christianity heartily himself, but introduced +it to his tribe, and assisted the missionaries in acquiring the language. + +To be nearer to these people, the Boardmans removed to Tavoy, where they +had a Burmese congregation; and Mr. Boardman made an expedition among the +Karens, who were, for the most part, by no means unwilling to listen, and +with little tradition to pre-occupy their minds, as well as intelligence +enough to receive new ideas. At one place, the people were found devoted +to an object that was thought to have magic power, and which they kept +with great veneration, wrapt up in many coverings. It proved to be an +English Common Prayer Book, printed at Oxford, which had been left behind +by a Mahometan traveller. On the whole, this has been a flourishing +mission; the Karens were delighted to have their language reduced to +writing, and the influence of their teachers began to raise them in the +scale; but all was done under the terrible drawback of climate. Mrs. +Boardman never was well from the time she landed at Moulmein, and her +beautiful flower-covered house at Tavoy was the constant haunt of +sickness, under which her elder child, Sarah, died, after showing all +that precocity that white children often do in these fatal regions. A +little boy named George had by this time been born, and shared with his +mother the dangers of the Tavoy rebellion, an insurrection stirred up by +a prince of the Burmese royal blood, in hopes of wresting the province +from the English. + +One night, a Burmese lad belonging to the school close to the Boardmans' +house, was awakened by steps; and, peeping through the braided bamboo +walls of his hut, saw parties of men talking in an undertone about lost +buffaloes. Some went into the town, others gathered about the gate, and, +when their numbers began to thicken, a cloud of smoke was seen in the +morning dawn, and yells from a thousand voices proclaimed, "Tavoy has +risen!" + +Boardman awoke and rushed out to the door, but a friendly voice told him +that no harm was intended him. The revolt was against the English, and +never was a movement more perilous. The commandant, Colonel Burney, was +absent at Moulmein, the English officer next in command was ill of a +fatal disease, the gunner was ill, and the whole defence of a long, +straggling city was in the hands of a hundred Sepoys, commanded by a very +young surgeon, assisted by Mrs. Burney, who had a babe of three weeks +old. The chief of the fight was at the powder magazine, not very far +from the Boardmans' abode. It was attacked by two hundred men with +clubs, knives, spears, but happily with very few muskets, and defended by +only six Sepoys, who showed great readiness and faithfulness. Just as +their bullets seemed to be likely to endanger the frightened little +family, a savage-looking troop of natives were seen consulting, with +threatening gestures aimed at the mission-house, and Mr. Boardman, fully +expecting to be massacred, made his wife and her baby hide in a little +shed, crouching to escape the bullets; but this alarm passed off, and, at +the end of an hour, the whole of the gates had been regained by the +Sepoys, and the attack on the magazine repulsed. Mr. Boardman took this +opportunity of carrying his family to the Government house, where they +were warmly welcomed by Mrs. Burney; but it was impossible to continue +the defence of so large an extent as the town occupied, and therefore the +tiny garrison decided on retiring to a large wooden building on the +wharf, whither the Sepoys conveyed three cannon and as much powder as +they expected to want, throwing the rest down wells. This was not done +without constant skirmishing, and was not completed till three o'clock, +when the refugees were collected,--namely, a hundred Sepoys, with their +wives and children, stripped of all their ornaments, which they had +buried; some Hindoo and Burmese servants; a few Portuguese traders; a +wily old Mussulman; Mrs. Boardman and Mrs. Burney, each with her baby; +and seven Englishmen besides Mr. Boardman. Among them rode the ghastly +figure of the sick officer, who had been taken from his bed, but who +hoped to encourage his men by appearing on horseback; but his almost +orange skin, wasted form, sunken eyes, and perfect helplessness, were to +Mrs. Boardman even more terrible than the yells of the insurgents around +and the shots of their scanty escort. + +Three hundred persons were crowded together in the wooden shed, roofed +over, and supported on posts above the water, with no partitions. The +situation was miserable enough, but they trusted that the enemy, being +only armed with spears, could not reach them. By and by, however, the +report of a cannon dismayed them. The jingals, or small field-pieces, +were brought up, but not till evening; and the inexperienced rebels took +such bad aim that all the balls passed over the wharf into the sea, and +the dense darkness put a stop to the attempt; but all night the trembling +inmates were awakened by savage yells; and a Sepoy, detecting a spark of +light through the chinks of the floor, fired, and killed an enemy who had +come beneath in a boat to set fire to the frail shelter! + +In the morning the firing from the walls was renewed, but at long +intervals, for there was a great scarcity of powder, though the unhappy +besieged apprehended every moment that the right direction would be hit +upon, and then that the balls would be among them. They could send +nowhere for help, though there was a Chinese junk within their reach, for +it could not put to sea under the fire of the rebels; and two more days, +and two still more terrible nights, passed in what must have been almost +a black hole. The fifth night was the worst of all, for the town was set +on fire around, and by the light of the flames the enemy made a furious +attack; but just in time to prevent the fire from attaining the frail +wooden structure, a providential storm quenched it, and the muskets of +the Sepoys again repulsed the enemy. By this time the provisions were +all but exhausted, and there were few among even the defenders who were +not seriously ill from the alternate burning sun and drenching rain. +Death seemed hovering over the devoted wharf from every quarter; when at +last, soon after sunrise on the fifth day, the young doctor quietly +beckoned the Colonel's wife to the door that opened upon the sea, and +pointed to the horizon, where a little cloudy thread of smoke was rising. + +It was the steamer bringing Colonel Burney back, in perfect ignorance of +the peril of Tavoy and of his wife! But he understood all at a glance. +The women and children were instantly transferred to the steamer, and she +was sent back to Moulmein, but Colonel Burney and the few men who came +with him landed, and restored courage and spirit to the besieged. Not +only was a breastwork thrown up to protect the wharf, but the Colonel led +a trusty little band of Sepoys to the wall where the cannon stood, +recaptured them, and had absolutely regained Tavoy before the tidings of +the insurrection had reached Moulmein. Mrs. Burney's babe died soon +after the steamer had brought the two mothers and their infants to their +refuge; but little George Boardman did not suffer any ill effects from +these dreadful days and nights, and was, in fact, the only child of his +patents who outlived infancy. Another son, born a few months afterwards, +soon ended a feeble existence, and Mrs. Boardman was ill for many months. +Her husband, delicate from the first, never entirely recovered the +sufferings at the wharf; yet in spite of an affection of the lungs, he +would often walk twenty miles a day through the Karen villages, teaching +and preaching, and at night have no food but rice, and sleep on a mat on +the floor of an open zayat. + +The Moulmein station was a comparative rest, and the husband and wife +removed thither to supply the place of Judson and of the Wades, who were +making another attempt upon Burmah Proper; the Wades taking up their +residence at Rangoon, and Judson going on to Prome, the ancient capital, +where he preached in the zayats, distributed tracts, and argued with the +teachers in his old fashion; but the Ava Government had become far more +suspicious, and interfered as soon as he began to make anything like +progress, requesting the English officer now in residence at the Court to +remonstrate with him, and desire him not to proceed further than Rangoon. +He was obliged to yield, and again to float down the river in his little +boat, baffled, but patient and hopeful. + +A great change had come upon the bright, enthusiastic, lively young man +who had set out, with his beautiful Ann, to explore the unknown Eastern +world. Suffering of body had not altered him so much as bereavement, and +bereavement without rest in which to face and recover the shock. A +strong ascetic spirit was growing on him. Already on his first return to +Moulmein, after joining in the embassy, he had thought it right to cut +short the ordinary intercourse of society, to which his residence in the +camp had given rise, and had announced his intention in a letter to Sir +Archibald Campbell. He was much regretted, for he was a particularly +agreeable man; and it is evident, both from all testimony and from the +lively tone of his letters, that he was full of good-natured sympathy, +and, however sad at heart, was a cheerful and even merry companion. + +But through these years, throughout constant care and unrelaxed activity +of mind and body, his heart was aching for the wife he had no time to +mourn; and the agony thus suppressed led to an utter loathing for all +that he thought held him back from perfect likeness to the glorified +Saint whom he loved. He took delight in the most spiritual mystical +writings he could find,--a Kempis, Madame Guyon, Fenelon, and the +like,--and endeavoured to fulfil the Gospel measure of holiness. He gave +up his whole patrimony to the American Baptist Mission Board (now +separate from England and Serampore), mortified to the very utmost his +fastidious delicacy by ministering to the most loathsome diseases; and to +crush his love of honour, he burnt a letter of thanks for his services +from the Governor-General of India, and other documents of the same kind. +He fasted severely, and having by nature a peculiar horror of the decay +and mouldering of death, he deemed it pride and self-love, and dug a +grave beside which he would sit meditating on the appearance of the body +after death. He had a bamboo hermitage on the borders of the jungle, +where he would live on rice for weeks together--only holding converse +with those who came to him for religious instruction; and once, when worn +out with his work of translation, he went far into the depths of the +wildest jungle, near a deserted pagoda, and there sat down to read, pray, +and meditate. The next day, on returning to the spot, he found a seat of +bamboo, and the branches woven together for a shelter. Judson never +learnt whose work this was, but it was done by a loving disciple, who had +overcome the fear of tigers to provide by night for his comfort, though +the place was thought so dangerous that his safety, during the forty days +that he haunted it, was viewed by the natives as a miracle. He spent +several months in retirement. It was indeed four years after his +bereavement, but it is plain that he was taking the needful rest and calm +that his whole nature required after the shock that he had undergone, but +which he had in a manner deferred until the numbers of workers were so +increased that his constant labour could be dispensed with. He came +forth from his retirement renovated in spirit, for the second period of +his toils. + +Meantime, the Boardmans had returned to Tavoy, where they were eagerly +welcomed by their Karen flock, and found many candidates for baptism. +Weak as he was, Mr. Boardman examined them. He was sometimes able to sit +up in his chair and speak for himself, but oftener so weak that his wife +sat on his couch and interpreted his feeble whispers; but he was so happy +that tears of joy often filled his eyes. The actual baptism, performed +by going down into the water like Philip with the Ethiopian, could hardly +have been carried out by a man in his state; but Moung Ing, who had been +admitted to the pastorate, touched at Moulmein, on a mission to Mergui, +and undertook the baptisms. The Karens carried Mr. Boardman to the water +in his cot, along a street filled with lamaseries, whence the +yellow-clothed priests looked down in scorn, and the common people hooted +and reviled: "See! see your teacher, a living man borne as if he were +already dead!" with still worse unfeeling taunts. The Christians, about +fifty in number, reached the spot, a beautiful lake, nearly a mile in +circumference, and bordered by green grass overshadowed by trees. There +they all knelt down and prayed, and then Moung Ing baptized the nineteen +new disciples, while the pastor lay pale and happy, and his wife watched +him with her heart full of the last baptism, when it had been he who +poured the water and spoke the words. + +Mr. Boardman lived on into the year 1831, and welcomed a new arrival from +America, Francis Mason and his wife, on the 23rd of January, and a week +later set out to introduce the former to the Karens, a band of whom had +come down to convey the party. Mr. Boardman was carried on his bed, his +wife in a chair, and on the third day they reached a spot where the +Karens, of their own accord, had erected a bamboo chapel beside a +beautiful stream beneath a range of mountains. Nearly a hundred had +assembled there, of whom half were candidates for baptism. They cooked, +ate, and slept in the open air, but they had made a small shed for Mr. +Mason, and another for the Boardmans, too small to stand upright in, and +so ill-enclosed as to be exposed to sun by day and cold air by night. + +The sufferer rapidly became worse, but he had an ardent desire to see +this last baptism, and all the thirty-four women, who were sufficiently +prepared, were baptized in his sight, though he was so spent as scarcely +to be able to breathe without the fan and smelling-bottle. In the +evening he contrived to speak a few words of exhortation to the +disciples, and to give them each a tract or a portion of Scripture. The +next morning the party set out on their return, but in the afternoon were +overtaken by a great storm of thunder and lightning, with rain that +drenched his mattress and pillows; and when they reached a house, they +found it belonged to heathens, who would scarcely let the strange teacher +lie in the verandah. + +His cot was so wet that he was forced to lie on the bamboo floor, and the +rain continued all night. A boat was expected at twelve the next day, +and it was resolved to wait for this, while the Tavoyans looked grimly +on, and refused even to sell a chicken to make broth for the sick man. By +nine o'clock he was evidently dying, and the Karens rubbed his hands and +feet as they grew cold. Almost immediately after being conveyed to the +boat, the last struggles came on, and in a few minutes he had passed +away. He was buried at Tavoy, beside his little Sarah; all the Europeans +in the town attending, as well as a grateful multitude of Burmese and +Karens. + + "The tree to which the frail creeper clung + Still lifts its stately head, + But he, on whom my spirit hung, + Is sleeping with the dead," + +wrote Sarah Boardman; and her first thought was of course to go home with +her child, but the Masons had not learnt the languages, and had no +experience, and, without her, there would be no schools, no possibility +of instruction for the converts of either people until they could speak +freely, and she therefore resolved not to desert her work. She was +keeping school, attending to all comers, and interpreting from sunrise +till ten o'clock at night, besides having the care of her little boy, and +her schools were so good that, when the British Government established +some, orders were given for conducting them on the same system. + +She tried to learn Karen, but never had time, and it was the less needful +that a little Burmese was known to some Karens, and thus she could always +have an interpreter. She sometimes made mission tours to keep up the +spirit of the Karens till Mr. Mason should be qualified to come among +them. Her little George was carried by her attendants, and there is a +note to Mrs. Mason, sent back from one of the stages of her journey, +which shows what her travels must have been: "Perhaps you had better send +the chair, as it is convenient to be carried over the streams when they +are deep. You will laugh when I tell you that I have forded all the +smaller ones." But there is scarcely any record of these journeys of +hers, she was too modest and shy to dwell on what only related to +herself; and though she several times, with the help of her Burmese +interpreter, led the devotions of two or three hundred Karens, it was +always with a sense of reluctance, and only under necessity. + +She had been a widow four years, when Adoniram Judson, who had returned +from Rangoon, and was about to take charge of the station at Moulmein, +made her his second wife, on the 10th of April, 1834. At the same time, +an opportunity offered of sending little George back to America for +education; but year after year filled the house at Moulmein with other +little ones,--careful comforts, in that fatal climate, which had begun to +tell on the health of both the parents. Pain and sorrow went for little +with this devoted pair. To be as holy as the Apostles though without +their power, was the endeavour which Judson set before himself, and the +work of such a man was one of spirit that drew all to hear and follow +him. The Burmese converts were numbered by hundreds, and one of the +missionaries in the Karen country could write: "I no longer date from a +heathen land. Heathenism has fled from these banks; I eat the rice and +fruits cultivated by Christian hands, look on the fields of Christians, +see no dwellings but those of Christian families. I am seated in the +midst of a Christian village, surrounded by a people that live as +Christians, converse as Christians, act as Christians, and, to my eyes, +look like Christians." + +All this, like every other popular conversion, involved many individual +disappointments from persons not keeping up to the Christian standard, +and from coolness setting in when the excitement of the change was over; +and great attention had to be paid to rules, discipline, &c., as well as +to providing books and schools. Judson himself had to work hard at the +completion and correction of the Burmese Bible, to which he devoted +himself, the more entirely because an affection of the throat and cough +came on, and for some time prevented him from preaching. In 1839, he +tried to alleviate it by a voyage to Calcutta, where he was received by +both Bishop Wilson and by the Marshman family at Serampore; but, as he +observes, "the glory of Serampore had departed," and his stay there must +have been full of sad associations. His work upon the Scriptures was +finished in 1840, and he then began a complete Burmese dictionary, while +his wife was translating the Pilgrim's Progress; but both were completely +shattered in health, and their children, four in number, had all been +brought low by the hooping cough, and then by other complaints. A voyage +to Calcutta was imperatively enjoined on all; but it was stormy and full +of suffering, and soon after they arrived at Serampore their youngest +child, little Henry, died. A still further voyage was thought advisable, +and the whole family went as far as the Isle of France, where they +recovered some measure of health, and their toil at Moulmein was resumed. +Four more years passed, three more children were born, and then the +strength that had been for nineteen years so severely tried, gave way, +and the doctors pronounced that Sarah Judson's life could only be saved +by a voyage to America. The three elder children were to go with her, +but the three little ones were to remain, since their father only +intended to go as far as the Isle of France, and then return to his +labour. The last words she ever wrote were pencilled on a slip of paper, +intended to be given to him to comfort him at their farewell:-- + + "We part on this green islet, love: + Thou for the Eastern main, + I for the setting sun, love; + Oh! when to meet again? + + My heart is sad for thee, love, + For lone thy way will be; + And oft thy tears will fall, love, + For thy children and for me. + + The music of thy daughter's voice + Thou'lt miss for many a year, + And the merry shout of thine elder boys + Thou'lt list in vain to hear. + + * * * * * + + Yet my spirit clings to thine, love, + Thy soul remains with me, + And oft we'll hold communion sweet + O'er the dark and distant sea. + + And who can paint our mutual joy + When, all our wanderings o'er, + We both shall clasp our infants three + At home on Burmah's shore? + + But higher shall our raptures glow + On yon celestial plain, + When the loved and parted here below + Meet, ne'er to part again. + + Then gird thine armour on, love, + Nor faint thou by the way + Till Boodh shall fall, and Burmah's sons + Shall own Messiah's sway." + +What a trumpet-note for a soldier to leave after nineteen years service +"through peril, toil, and pain," undaunted to the last! For by the time +the ship left the Isle of France, she was fading so rapidly that her +husband could not quit her, and sailed on with her to St. Helena. She +was fast dying, but so composed about her children, that some one +observed that she seemed to have forgotten the three babes. "Can a +mother forget?" was all her answer. She died on board the ship, at +anchor in the bay of St. Helena, and was carried to the burial-ground, +where all the colonial clergy in the island attended, and she was laid +beside Mrs. Chater, the wife of that Serampore missionary whose expulsion +had led to the first pioneering at Rangoon, and who had since worked in +Ceylon. She was just forty-two, and died September 1st, 1845. + +Her husband found her beautiful farewell; and, as he copied it out, he +wrote after the last verse, "Gird thine armour on," "And so, God willing, +I will yet endeavour to do; and while her prostrate form finds repose on +the rock of the ocean, and her sanctified spirit enjoys sweeter repose on +the bosom of JESUS, let me continue to toil on all my appointed time, +until my change too shall come." + +On the evening of the day of her burial, he sailed with the three +children, and arrived at Boston on the 15th of October, 1845. He +remained in his native country only nine months, and, if a universal +welcome could have delighted him, he received it to the utmost. So +little did he know of his own fame, that, returning after thirty years, +he had been in pain to know where to procure a night's lodging at Boston, +whereas he found half the city ready to compete for the honour of +receiving him, and every one wanted to meet him. Places of worship where +he was to preach were thronged, and every public meeting where he was +expected to speak was fully attended; but all this fervour of welcome was +a distress to him, his affection of the throat made oratory painful and +often impossible, and the mere going silently to an evening assembly so +excited his nerves that he could not sleep for the whole night after. Any +sort of display was misery to him; he could not bear to sit still and +hear the usual laudation of his achievements; and, when distinguished and +excellent men were introduced to him, he received them with chilling +shyness and coldness, too humble to believe that it was for his goodness +and greatness that they sought to know him, but fancying it was out of +mere curiosity. + +His whole desire was to get back to his work and escape from American +notoriety, and, disregarding all representations that longer residence in +the north might confirm his health, he intended to seize the first +opportunity of returning to Moulmein. But a wife was almost a necessity +both to himself and his mission, and even now, at his mature age and +broken health, he was able to win a woman of qualities almost if not +quite equal to those of the Ann and Sarah who had gone before her. + +Emily Chubbuck, born in 1817, was the daughter of parents of the Baptist +persuasion, living in the State of New York. She was the fifth child of +a large family in such poor circumstances that, when she was only eleven +years old, she was sent to work at a woollen factory, where her +recollections were only of "noise and filth, bleeding hands and aching +feet, and a very sad heart;" but happily for her, the frost stopped the +works during the winter months, and she was able to go to school; and, +after two years, the family removed to a country farm. They were all +very delicate, and her elder sisters were one after the other slowly +dying of decline. This, with their "conversions" and baptisms, deepened +Emily's longing to give the tokens required by her sect for Christian +membership, but they came slowly and tardily with her, and she quaintly +told how one day she was addressed by one of the congregation whose +prayers had been asked for her, "What! this little girl not converted +yet? How do you suppose we can waste any more time in praying for you?" +Her intelligence was very great, and in 1832, when her mother wanted her +to become a milliner, she entreated to be allowed to engage herself as a +school teacher. "I stood as tall as I could," she says, when she went to +offer herself, and she was accepted, although only fifteen. The system +was that of "boarding round"--_i.e._ the young mistress had to live a +week alternately at each house, and went from thence to her school, but +she found this so uncomfortable that she ended by sleeping at home every +night. She struggled on, teaching in various schools, doing needlework +in after-hours, trying to improve herself, and always contending with +great delicacy of health, which must have made it most trying to cope +with what she calls in one of her letters "a little regiment of wild +cats" for about seven years, when some of the friends she had made +obtained of two sisters who kept a boarding school at Utica that she +should be admitted there to pursue the higher branches of study for a +year or two, and then to repay them by her services as a teacher. + +The two ladies, Miss Urania and Miss Cynthia Sheldon, and their widowed +sister, Mrs. Anable, proved Emily's kindest friends, and made a +thoroughly happy home for her. She was very frail and nervous, but of +great power of influence, and even while still only a pupil had this +gift. Here she spent the rest of her maiden days, and here she supplied +the failure of her labours in needlework by contributions to magazines, +generally under the _nom de plume_ of Fanny Forester. They were chiefly +poems and short tales, and were popular enough to bring in a sum that was +very important to the Chubbuck family. The day's employment was very +full, and she stole the time required from her rest. Late one night, +Miss Sheldon seeing a light in the room looked in, and found her +trembling in nervous agitation, holding her head with her hands and her +manuscript before her; and when gently rebuked, and entreated to lie down +at once, she exclaimed with a burst of tears, "Oh! Miss Urania, I must +write; I must help my poor parents." + +Her brave and dutiful endeavours prospered so much that she was actually +able to buy a house for them. It was during her stay at Utica that she +was baptized, and several of her writings were expressly for the Baptist +Sunday School Union; and though others were of a more secular cast, all +were such as could only be composed by a religious woman. A little book +of hers fell into the hands of Dr. Judson, and struck him so much that he +said, "I should be glad to know her. A lady who writes so well ought to +write better." She was then at Philadelphia, and at the moment of his +introduction to her was undergoing the process of vaccination. As soon +as it was over he entered into conversation with her with some +abruptness, demanding of her how she could employ her talents in writings +so trifling and so little spiritual as those he had read. + +Emily met the rebuke without offence, but defended herself by describing +the necessity of her case, with her indigent parents depending upon her; +so that her work must almost of necessity be popular and profitable, +though, as a duty, she avoided all that could be of doubtful tendency. + +The missionary was thoroughly softened, and not only acquitted her, but +begged her to undertake the biography of his wife Sarah: and this threw +them much together. He was fifty-seven, she twenty-eight, when he +offered himself to her in the following letter, sent with a watch:-- + +"I hand you, dearest, a charmed watch. It always comes back to me, and +brings its wearer with it. I gave it to Ann when a hemisphere divided +us, and it brought her safely and surely to my arms. I gave it to Sarah +during her husband's lifetime (not then aware of the secret), and the +charm, though slow in its operation, was true at last." + +The charm worked. Emily Chubbuck was ready to follow Dr. Judson to the +deadly climate of Burmah, to share his labours, and become a mother to +the babies he had left there. + +They were married on the 2nd of June, 1846, and five weeks later sailed +for Burmah, leaving the three children at school. + +Emily seems to have differed from Ann and Sarah, in that she had less +actual missionary zeal than they. Sarah at least was a missionary in +heart, and, as such, became a wife; but Emily was more the wife, working +as her husband worked. She had much more literary power than either; her +letters to her friends were full of vivid description, playful accounts +of their adventures, and lively colouring even of misfortunes, pain, and +sickness. She arrived at Moulmein in November. One little boy had died +during Dr. Judson's absence, but the other two were tenderly cared for by +the new Mrs. Judson, who threw herself into all the work and interests of +the mission with great animation. It proved, however, that both the +Burman and Karen missions were well supplied with teachers; and Dr. +Judson thought he should be more useful at Rangoon, where there had, +since one attempt on the part of the Wades, been no resident missionary. +He heard accounts of the Court which made him hope to recover a footing +at Ava, and decided on again living at Rangoon; but he soon heard that +there was less hope than ever at Ava. The king whom he had known was +dead, and had been succeeded by a devoted Buddhist, whose brother and +heir, "having been prevented from being a lama," writes Dr. Judson, "poor +man! does all that he can. He descends from his prince-regal seat, +pounds and winnows the rice with his own hands, washes and boils it in +his own cook-house, and then, on bended knees, presents it to the +priests. This strong pulsation at the heart has thrown fresh blood +through the once shrivelled system of the national superstition, and now +every one vies with his neighbour in building pagodas and making +offerings to the priests. What can one poor missionary effect, +accompanied by his yet speechless wife, and followed by three men and one +woman from Moulmein, and summoning to his aid the aged pastor of Rangoon +and eight or ten surviving members of the church?" + +The Vice-governor, or Raywoon, was a violent and cruel savage, whose +house and court-yard rang with shrieks from the tortured, and the old +remnant of Christians were sadly scattered. When they were collected to +worship on Sunday, they durst not either come in or go out in company, +and used to arrive with their garments tucked up to look like Coolies, or +carrying fruit or parcels, while the Karens crept down from the hills in +small parties. The Governor was friendly, but a weak man, whose +authority the Raywoon openly set at defiance; and all sorts of petty +annoyances were set in action against the teachers, while the probability +that the converts would suffer actual persecution daily increased. Dr. +Judson used to call the present difficulties the Splugen Pass, and +illness, of course, added to their troubles. + +The great Buddhist fast of the year had never before been imposed on +strangers, but now the markets contained nothing but boiled rice, fruit, +or decaying fish, and terrible illness was the consequence both with +themselves and the children, until some boxes of biscuit arrived from +Moulmein, and a Mahometan was bribed to supply fowls. + +But the finances of the Society at home were at a low ebb, and it was +thought needful to diminish the number of stations. The intolerance of +the Burmese Government led to the decision that there was less benefit in +maintaining that at Rangoon than those in the British provinces; and, as +Dr. Judson had no private means, he was obliged to obey and return to +Moulmein. Here he had a curious correspondence with the Prince of Siam, +whose letter began in his own English: "Venerable sir, having received +very often your far-famed qualities, honesty, faithfulness, +righteousness, gracefulness, and very kindness to poor nation, &c., from +reading the book of your ancient wife's memoir and journal." . . . The +object of this letter was to ask for some of his Burmese translations, +and, in return for them, his Royal Highness sent "a few artificial +flowers, two passion flowers, one mognayet or surnamed flower, and three +roses manufactured by most celebrated princess the daughter of the late +second king or sub-king." + +The Dictionary continued to be Judson's chief occupation, for his +affection of the voice rendered him unable to take charge of a +congregation. He continued to work at it till the November of 1849, when +he caught a severe cold, which brought on an attack of fever, and from +that time he never entirely rallied. + +One of the last pleasures of his life deserves to be mentioned. He had +always had a strong feeling for the Jews, and had longed to work for +their conversion, praying that he might at least do something towards it. +After his last illness had begun, a letter was read to him by his wife, +giving an account of a German Jew who had been led, by reading the +history of his toils in Burmah in the Gospel cause, to study Christianity +and believe. "Love," he said presently, his eyes full of tears, "this +frightens me. I do not know what to make of it." "What?" "What you +have just been reading. I never was deeply interested in any object; I +never prayed sincerely and fervently for anything, but it came at some +time--no matter how distant a day--somehow, in some shape, probably the +last I should have devised, it came. And yet I have always had so little +faith." + +After spending a month at Amherst in the vain hope of improvement, a sea- +voyage was recommended; but his reluctance was great, for his wife was +expecting a second child, and could not go with him. There are some +lines of hers describing her night-watches, so exquisite and descriptive, +that we must transcribe them:-- + + "Sleep, love, sleep! + The dusty day is done. + Lo! from afar the freshening breezes sweep + Wide over groves of balm, + Down from the towering palm, + In at the open casement cooling run; + And round thy lowly bed, + Thy bed of pain, + Bathing thy patient head, + Like grateful showers of rain + They come; + While the white curtains, waving to and fro, + Fan the sick air; + And pityingly the shadows come and go, + With gentle human care, + Compassionate and dumb. + The dusty day is done, + The night begun; + While prayerful watch I keep, + Sleep, love, sleep! + Is there no magic in the touch + Of fingers thou dost love so much? + Fain would they scatter poppies o'er thee now; + Or, with its mute caress, + The tremulous lip some soft nepenthe press + Upon thy weary lid and aching brow; + While prayerful watch I keep, + Sleep, love, sleep! + + On the pagoda spire + The bells are swinging, + Their little golden circlet in a flutter + With tales the wooing winds have dared to utter, + Till all are ringing, + As if a choir + Of golden-nested birds in heaven were singing; + And with a lulling sound + The music floats around, + And drops like balm into the drowsy ear; + Commingling with the hum + Of the Sepoy's distant drum, + And lazy beetle ever droning near. + Sounds these of deepest silence born, + Like night made visible by morn; + So silent that I sometimes start + To hear the throbbings of my heart, + And watch, with shivering sense of pain, + To see thy pale lids lift again. + + The lizard, with his mouse-like eyes, + Peeps from the mortise in surprise + At such strange quiet after day's hard din; + Then boldly ventures out, + And looks around, + And with his hollow feet + Treads his small evening beat, + Darting upon his prey + In such a tricksy, winsome sort of way, + His delicate marauding seems no sin. + And still the curtains swing, + But noiselessly; + The bells a melancholy murmur ring, + As tears were in the sky: + More heavily the shadows fall, + Like the black foldings of a pall, + Where juts the rough beam from the wall; + The candles flare + With fresher gusts of air; + The beetle's drone + Turns to a dirge-like, solitary moan; + Night deepens, and I sit, in cheerless doubt, alone." + +In spite of all this tender care, Dr. Judson became so much worse that, +as a last resource, a passage was taken for him and another missionary, +named Ramney, on board a French vessel bound for the Isle of Bourbon. The +outset of the voyage was very rough, and this produced such an increase +of illness, that his life closed on the 12th of April, 1850, only a +fortnight after parting from his wife, though it was not for four months +that she could be informed of his loss. During this time she had given +birth to a dead babe, and had suffered fearfully from sorrow and +suspense. + +She had become valuable enough to the mission for there to be much +anxiety to retain her, and at first she thought of remaining; but her +health was too much broken, and in a few months she carried home her +little girl and her two step-sons. She collected the family together, +and spent her time in the care of them, and in contributing materials for +the Life of her husband; but the hereditary disease of her family had +already laid its grasp on her, and she died on the 1st of June, 1854, the +last of a truly devoted group of workers, as remarkable for their +cheerfulness as for their heroism. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE BISHOPRIC OF CALCUTTA: THOMAS MIDDLETON, REGINALD +HEBER, DANIEL WILSON. + + +Perhaps dying in a cause is the surest way of leading to its success. +Henry Martyn was sinking on his homeward journey, while in England the +renewal of the Charter of the East India Company was leading to the +renewal of those discussions on the promotion of religion in Hindostan +which had been so entirely quashed twenty years before, in 1793. Claudius +Buchanan had published his "Christian Researches," the Life of Schwartz +had become known, the labours of Marshman and Carey were reported, and +the Legislature at length attended to the representations, made through +Archbishop Manners Sutton, by the Society for Promoting Christian +Knowledge, and consented to sanction the establishment of a branch of the +Church, with a Bishop to govern it at Calcutta, and an Archdeacon there +and also at Madras and Bombay; the Bishop to have 5,000_l._ a year but no +house, and each Archdeacon 2,000_l._ Such was all that the efforts of +Wilberforce could wring from the East India Company for a diocese, in +length twenty degrees, in breadth ten, and where the inconvenience of +distances was infinitely increased by the difficulties and dangers of +travelling. + +One excuse for the insufficiency of this provision had more weight with +the supporters of the Church than we can understand. England had for +more than a thousand years been accustomed to connect temporal grandeur +with the Episcopacy; a Bishop not in the House of Lords seemed an +anomaly, and it was imagined that to create chief pastors without a +considerable endowment would serve to bring them into contempt; whereas +to many minds, that very wealth and station was an absolute stumbling- +block. However, a beginning was made, and a year after Henry Martyn's +death, in 1814, the first of the Colonial Bishops of England was +appointed, namely, Thomas Fanshaw Middleton, the son of a Derbyshire +clergyman, who had been educated at Christ's Hospital, and Pembroke +College, Cambridge, and had since been known as an excellent Greek +scholar, and an active clergyman in the diocese of Lincoln. Thence he +removed to the rectory of St. Pancras, London, where he strove hard to +accomplish the building of a new church, but could not succeed, such was +the dead indifference of the period. He was also Archdeacon of +Huntingdon, and one of a firmly compacted body of friends who were doing +much in a resolute though quiet way for the awakening of the nation from +its apathy towards religion. Joshua Watson, a merchant, might be +regarded as the lay-manager and leader, as having more leisure, and more +habit of business than the clergy, with and for whom he worked. This is +no place for detailing their home labours, but it may be well to mention +that to their exertions we owe the National Society for the education of +the poor, and likewise that edition of the Holy Scriptures, with notes, +which is commonly known as Mant's Bible. They were the chief managers at +that time of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and when, in +1813, a Danish missionary was sent out by that Society to take charge of +the congregations left by Schwartz and his colleagues, it was Archdeacon +Middleton who was selected to deliver a charge to him. It was a very +powerful and impressive speech, and perhaps occasioned Dr. Tomline, +Bishop of Lincoln, to recommend the speaker to the Earl of +Buckinghamshire for the bishopric created the next year. + +The office would be, humanly speaking, most trying, laborious and +perplexing, and neither Archdeacon Middleton's age (forty-five) nor his +habits inclined to enthusiasm. He shrank from it at first, then +"suspected," as he says, "that I had yielded to some unmanly +considerations," and decided that it was his duty to accept the charge as +a call from his Master. He was consecrated in the chapel at Lambeth, by +Archbishop Manners Sutton, with the Bishops of London, Lincoln, and +Salisbury assisting. The sermon was preached by Dr. Rennell, Dean of +Winchester, but was withheld from publication for the strange reason that +there was so strong an aversion to the establishment of episcopacy in +India, that it was thought better not to attract attention to the fact +that had just been accomplished. + +Bishop Middleton, his wife, and two of his Archdeacons (the third was +already in India) sailed on the 8th of June, 1814, and they landed at +Calcutta on the 28th of November. There was no public reception, for +fear of alarming the natives, though, on the other hand, they were found +to entertain a better opinion of the English on finding they respected +their own religion. The difficulties of the Bishop's arrival were +increased by the absence of Lord Moira, the Governor-General, who was +engaged in the Nepaulese war; and as no house had been provided for the +Bishop, he had to be the guest of Mr. Seton, a member of the Council, +till a house could be procured, at a high rent. + +One of the first visitors was a Hindoo gentleman, who told him, "Sir +William Jones was a great man and understood our books, but he attended +only to our law. Your lordship will study our religion; your people +mistake our religion; it is not in our books. The Brahminee religion and +your lordship's are the same; we mean the same thing." + +The man seems to have been one of those of whom there are now only too +many in India, who have thrown off their old superstitions only to +believe in nothing, save the existence of a Supreme Being, and who fancy +that all other religions can be simplified into the like. This is the +class that has, for the seventy years during which Christianity has been +preached in earnest, been the alternate hope and anxiety of the +missionary; intellectually renouncing their own paganism, but withheld by +the prejudices of their families from giving up the heathenish customs of +caste; admiring divine morality, but not perceiving the inability of man +to attain the standard; and refusing to accept the mysteries in the +supernatural portion of Revelation. Such was probably Serfojee; such was +the celebrated Brahmin Ram Mohun Roy, with whom Bishop Middleton had much +discussion, and of whom he had at one time many hopes, a man of very +remarkable powers of mind and clear practical intelligence. Roy's +endeavour at first was to purify the native forms of religion, and, +recurring to the Vedas, to find a high philosophy in them; but he and the +friends he gathered round him soon became convinced that these contained +no system of reasonable theology, still less of morality, and they then +constructed for themselves a theory culled from Christianity, but +rejecting whatever did not approve itself to their intellect, in especial +the holy mysteries regarding the nature of the Godhead and the +Incarnation of our Lord. This teaching, called Brahmoism, from Brahma, +the purest and highest of Hindoo divinities, is, under another form, the +Neo-Platonism of the Greeks, or the Soofeeism of the Persians. There was +even the germ of it in the grotesque medicine-man encountered by David +Brainerd. It is the form of opposition which the spirit of evil always +stirs up, wherever the natural character is elevated enough to appreciate +the beauty of Christian morality. It only prevails where there are +refined and cultivated men, afraid of all belief in the supernatural, as +a humbling of their intellect to superstition; and just at present a form +of it is very prevalent in India, owing to the amount of education which +the natives receive, which uproots the old belief, but does not always +implant the new. Whether it will become a stepping-stone to +Christianity, or whether it has substance to become a separate sect, +remains to be proved. + +To return to Bishop Middleton. He knew when he left home that his work +would be heavy, and that to set in order the things that were wanting +must be his first undertaking; but no words could have conveyed the dead +weight of care and toil that lay on him. The huge diocese was shamefully +deficient in all that was needful for the keeping up of religious +ordinances; the Company's chaplains, few in number, were stationed at +immense distances apart, and for the most part had no attempt at a proper +church for their congregations. Verandahs or dining-rooms were used on +Sundays; and at Meerut, an edifice was actually built for the purpose of +a riding-school in the week, and a place of worship on Sunday. Moreover, +these chaplains were accustomed to look to the Governor-General as their +only superior, and, living so far apart, each followed his own +independent line of action, as if entirely unaccountable. Some, such as +Mr. Corrie at Cawnpore, were admirable and earnest men; but Henry +Martyn's successor at Dinapore had let the place sink into a lamentable +state, and there were several chaplains who greatly resented the being +brought under authority. The brunt of the battle fell of course upon the +first Bishop, and being a man as sensitive as he was firm, it tried him +severely. His entreaty was constantly for more men; and in order to +obtain a ministry beyond that which the East India Company would provide +for, he occupied himself in procuring the foundation of Bishop's College, +close to Calcutta, a seminary where young men, both European and native, +could receive a good theological and classical education, and be prepared +for Holy Orders. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge granted +5,000_l._ for the purpose, and private subscriptions came in, until on +the 15th of December, 1820, the Bishop was enabled to lay the foundation- +stone of an institution that has, now for half a century, admirably +answered its purpose. + +It has long been found that Christianity cannot take root without a +native ministry, and Bishop Middleton was most anxious to ordain such +catechists of Schwartz's training as were ready; but he found great +technical difficulties in the way, since the ordination form in the +Prayer Book left no opening for persons who, not being British subjects, +could not be expected to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy; and, +moreover, it was not certain what language ought to be used with men not +speaking English. The arrangement of these difficulties hindered him +from ordaining Christian David, the godson and pupil of Schwartz, and a +subject of Tanjore, on his visitation to the Presidency. This good man +met him, together with the minister of Palamcotta, bringing a deputation +about thirty in number. The minister was an exceedingly dark man, with a +very interesting countenance. Addresses, interpreted by Christian, were +made on either side, and the thirty sang a psalm of thanksgiving in +Tamul. They were only a small deputation, for there were several +Christian villages in Tinnevelly, with churches built of unburnt brick, +and roofed with palmyra leaves, where the English Liturgy was used, +having been translated into Tamul by David. + +At Tanjore, the Bishop was received in the most friendly manner by +Serfojee, who came down from his throne to welcome him, and caused Mrs. +Middleton to be conducted to visit the ladies of his zenana. He +conducted the Bishop into his library, which contained books in various +European languages; also on medicine and anatomy, this being his +favourite study, to assist him in which he had an ivory skeleton. He +returned the visit in great state, with six elephants, two of enormous +size, going before him, and accompanied by his troops, with a wild, +horrid dissonance of cannon and native music. Two thousand persons +escorted the Rajah to the Bishop's tent, where he conversed very sensibly +on various subjects, especially English history, or as he called it, "the +Generations of English Kings." He was keeping up the good works he had +established, under the encouragement of the British resident, Colonel +Blackburne, and in this district the native Christians numbered about +500, who were under the direction of Schwartz's companion, Pohle. + +On the Malabar coast Bishop Middleton had much intercourse with the +Christians of St. Thomas, visited their churches, and held much +conversation with their Bishop, convincing himself that the distinctive +tenets of Nestorianism had died out among them, and arranging for their +receiving assistance in books and teachers. + +His visit to Ceylon followed, and was always regarded by him as a time of +much gratification; the good Governor, Sir Robert Brownrigg, had done so +much for the improvement of the people, and the missions were flourishing +so well. Here Christian David became a catechist, and on the Bishop's +second visitation, in 1821, he ordained as deacon a man named Armour, +whose history one longs to know more fully. He had come out to Ceylon +originally as a private soldier, and finding a number of natives, +probably the remnant of the Dutch Mission, whose profession of +Christianity was only nominal, he had taken upon himself "almost the work +of an evangelist," never varying from the teaching and services of the +English Church. He had taught himself to speak and preach fluently in +Cingalese, and could use the Dutch and Portuguese languages freely. He +had even some knowledge of Latin and Greek, and was so staunch Churchman +that he had resisted all invitations from the Baptists to join them. He +had gone through frightful difficulties and dangers in the swamp and the +jungle, and travelled thousands of miles; and when he came to the Bishop +it was with deep humility, and the hope that he had not been presumptuous +in taking on himself the charge of souls without sanction. It was his +great desire to obtain this commission, and the Bishop, finding how sound +in faith, pious, and excellent he was, admitted him to deacon's orders +before leaving Colombo. + +Ceylon was erected into an archdeaconry and attached to the Bishopric of +Calcutta, and shortly after the same arrangement was made respecting +Australia--an archdeaconry a great deal larger than the continent of +Europe! Thence Bishop Middleton received and attended to the petition of +the Rev. Samuel Marsden, a devoted worker in the vineyard, of whom our +next chapter will speak. + +Distinct missionary labour was scarcely possible to a man overtasked like +Bishop Middleton. The district that kept St. Paul in continual +"journeyings often" would have been but a quarter of that which depended +on him for "the care of all the churches," and the long journeys by sea +and land were by far the least harassing part of his life; for he had to +fight the battles, sometimes of his Church, sometimes of the whole +Christian cause, with unfair and prejudiced officials, and a malignant +newspaper press, by which the bitterest attacks were circulated against +him and his doings. And, "besides those things that were without," there +were the troubles of dealing with men used to do "that which was right in +their own eyes," and determined to oppose or neglect one whose powers +could only thoroughly be defined by actual practice. To go into these +conflicts would be wearisome and vain. They have lost their interest +now; but it must be remembered that it is by manfully and firmly enduring +vexations such as these, that systems are established which form the +framework and foundation of more visible labours, which gain more praise +for those who are allowed to carry them out. + +The constant wearing effort, the daily vexation, the inability to gain +support, the binding of his hands from free action by the machinery of +State regulations only applicable to home ecclesiastics, the continual +making beginnings that never were allowed to progress--or, as he himself +called it, the continual rolling of the stone of Sisyphus--could not but +exhaust his powers, above all in such a climate; and that same sickly +summer of 1822 which proved fatal to Felix Carey was his last. In July, +one of his clergy, on whom he had been obliged to pass censure, +instituted proceedings against him in the Supreme Court--a most improper +and disloyal act, which much grieved and agitated him. He had to spend +eight hours in writing in preparation for this painful matter, and +afterwards went out in the carriage with his wife, but too early in the +evening, for the slanting rays of the sun, not yet down, fell full on +him, and their force is always especially dreaded at that damp and sickly +season. He immediately said that the sun had struck him, and returned +home; a most distressing fever, chiefly on the nerves, and accompanied by +grievous restlessness and afterwards delirium, set in, and he died on the +8th of July, 1822, in his fifty-fourth year, absolutely worn out by toil +and worry. But his career had established both the needfulness and the +position of a Bishop, and his successor was appointed without the same +opposition, still to a path perhaps only less thorny because briefer. + +Of a Yorkshire family, where the eldest son was always bred up as the +country gentleman, the younger ones usually prepared to hold the family +livings, Reginald Heber was born on the 21st of April, 1783, at Malpas, +in Cheshire, a rectory held by his father, who was the clerical second +son, but soon after became head of the house by the death of his squire- +brother. He was twice married, and had a son by his first wife, so that +Reginald was born, as it were, to the prospect of taking Holy Orders; and +this fact seems to have in a certain degree coloured his whole boyhood, +and acted as a consecration, not saddening, but brightening his life. + +A happy, eager, docile childhood seems to have been his; so obedient, +that when an attack on the lungs necessitated the use of very painful +remedies, the physician said that the chances of his recovery turned upon +his being the most tractable of children; and with such a love and +knowledge of the Bible that, when only five years old, his father could +consult him like a little Concordance, and withal full of boyish mirth +and daring. When sent to school at Neasdon, he was so excited by the +story of an African traveller overawing a wild bull by the calm defiance +of the eye, as to attempt the like process upon one that he found grazing +in a field, but without the like success; for he provoked so furious a +charge that he was forced to escape ignominiously over a high paling, +whence he descended into a muddy pond. + +Neasdon was the place of education of his whole boyhood, among twelve +other pupils. Mr. John Thornton, the schoolfellow friend and +correspondent of his life, describes him as having been much beloved +there. He had no scruple as to fighting rather than submitting to +tyranny from a bigger boy, but his unfailing good nature and +unselfishness generally prevented such collisions; he was full of fun, +and excellent at games of all sorts; and though at one time evil talk was +prevalent among the boys, his perfect purity of mind and power of +creating innocent amusement destroyed the habit, without estranging the +other lads from him. He took many of his stories from books not read by +them, for he was an omnivorous reader, taking special delight in poetry, +loving nothing better than a solitary walk with Spenser's "Faerie Queen" +in his hand, and often himself composing verses above the average for so +young a boy. + +He was always thoughtful, and there is a letter of his to his friend +Thornton, written when only seventeen, which shows that he had begun to +think over Church questions, was deeply sensible of the sacredness of the +apostolical commission to the ministry, and of the evils of State +interference. That same year, 1800, began his University education, at +Brasenose College, Oxford. His course there was alike blameless in life +and brilliant in scholarship; his talents and industry could not fail to +secure him honours in the schools. + +Another young man was at the very same time at Oxford, whose course had +been steered thither with more difficulties than Reginald Heber's. Daniel +Wilson's father was a wealthy silk manufacturer, at Spitalfields, where +he was born in the year 1778. He was educated at a private school at +Hackney, kept by a clergyman named Eyre, who must have had a good deal of +discernment of character, for he said, "There is no milk and water in +that boy. He will be either something very bad or very good." One day, +when he was in an obstinate and impracticable state of idleness, Mr. Eyre +said, "Daniel, you are not worth flogging, or I would flog you," which so +stung him that he never fell into similar disgrace again; nay, one +morning when he had failed in his appointed task, he refused food saying, +"No! If my head will not work, my body shall not eat." He had +considerable powers, and when his own theme on a given subject was +finished, would find "sense" for all the dull boys--varying the matter +but keeping to the point in all: but his education ceased at fourteen, +when he was bound apprentice to his uncle, who followed the same trade as +his father, and lived in Cheapside. He was a widower with seven +children, one of whom in after years became Daniel's wife. It was a +strictly religious household, and whereas Daniel's parents had been wont +to attend church or meeting as suited them best, his uncle was a regular +churchman, and took his whole family constantly with him, as decidedly as +he kept up discipline in his warehouse, where the young men had so little +liberty, that for weeks together they never had occasion to put on their +hats except on Sunday. + +Daniel was a thoughtless, irreverent lad, full of schoolboy restlessness +when first he came; but though he was at first remarkable for his ill- +behaviour in church, his attendance insensibly took effect upon him, as +it brought his mind under the influence of the two chief powers for good +then in London, John Newton and Richard Cecil. The vehement struggle for +conversion and sense of individual salvation that their teaching deemed +the beginning of grace took place, and he turned for aid to them and to +his old schoolmaster, Mr. Eyre. It was from his hands in 1797, at the +age of nineteen, that he received his first Communion, with so much +emotion and such trembling, that he writes to his mother, "I have no +doubt I appeared very foolish to those about me," but he adds in another +letter to a friend that it had been the happiest day of his life. "And +to you I confess it," he says, "(though it ought perhaps to be a cause +for shame,) that I have felt great desire to go or do anything for the +love of JESUS, and that I have even wished, if it were the Lord's will, +to go as a missionary to foreign lands." + +It is very remarkable that this thought should have occurred at such a +moment to one who only became a missionary thirty-five years later, at a +summons from without, not from within. The distinct mission impulse +passed away, but a strong desire remained to devote himself to the +ministry of the Church. He tried to stifle it at first, lest it should +be a form of conceit or pride; but it only grew upon him, and at last he +spoke to Mr. Eyre, who promised to broach the subject to his parents. + +His father was strongly averse to it, as an overthrow to all his plans, +and Mr. Eyre, after hearing both sides, said that he should give no +opinion for a year; it would not hurt Daniel to remain another year in +the warehouse, to fulfil the term of his apprenticeship, and it would +then be proper time to decide whether to press his father to change his +mind. It was a very sore trial to the young man, who had many reasons +for deeming this sheer waste of time, though he owned he had not lost +much of his school learning, having always loved it so much as to read as +much Latin as he could in his leisure hours. He submitted at first, but +was uneasy under his submission, and asked counsel from all the clergymen +he revered, who seem all to have advised _him_ to be patient, but to have +urged his father to yield, which he finally did before the year was out; +so that Daniel Wilson was entered at St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, on the +1st of May, 1798. He struggled with the eagerness of one whose desire +had grown by meeting with obstacles. In order to acquire a good Latin +style, he translated all Cicero's letters into English, and then back +into Latin; and when he went up for his degree, he took, besides his +Latin and Greek books, the whole Hebrew Bible, but was only examined in +the Psalms. He gained a triumphant first-class, and the next year, 1803, +he carried off the English prose essay prize. The theme was "Common +Sense." He had not in the least expected to gain the prize, and had not +even mentioned the competition to his friends, so that their delight and +surprise were equal. That same year, Reginald Heber was happy in the +subject for Sir Roger Newdegate's prize for English verse, namely, +"Palestine," which in this case had fallen to a poet too real to be +crushed by the greatness of his subject. + +Reginald Heber was used to society of high talent and cultivation. His +elder brother, Richard, was an elegant scholar and antiquary, and was +intimate with Mr. Marriott, of Rokeby; with Mr. Surtees, the beauty of +whose forged ballads almost makes us forgive him for having palmed them +off as genuine; and with Walter Scott, then chiefly known as "the +compiler of the 'Border Minstrelsy,'" but who a few years later +immortalized his friendship for Richard Heber by the sixth of his +introductions to "Marmion,"--the best known, as it contains the +description of the Christmas of the olden time. It concludes with the +wish-- + + "Adieu, dear Heber, life and health! + And store of literary wealth." + +Just as Reginald was finishing his prize poem, Scott was on a tour +through England, and breakfasted at Richard Heber's rooms at Oxford, when +on the way to lionize Blenheim. The young brother's poem was brought +forward and read aloud, and Scott's opinion was anxiously looked for. It +was thoroughly favourable, "but," said Scott, "you have missed one +striking circumstance in your account of the building of the Temple, that +no tools were used in its erection." + +Before the party broke up the lines had been added: + + "No workman's steel, no ponderous axes rung; + Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung; + Majestic silence--" + +The prose essay on "Common Sense" was first recited from the rostrum in +the Sheldonian theatre, and Wilson always remembered the hearty applause +of the young man who sat waiting his turn. But the effect of the +recitation of "Palestine" was entirely unrivalled on that as on any other +occasion. Reginald Heber,--a graceful, fine-looking, rather pale young +man of twenty,--with his younger brother Thomas beside him as prompter, +stood in the rostrum, and commenced in a clear, beautiful, melancholy +voice, with perfect declamation, which overcame all the stir and +tumultuous restlessness of the audience by the power and sweetness of +words and action: + + "Reft of thy sons, amid thy foes forlorn, + Mourn, widow'd queen; forgotten Zion, mourn. + Is this thy place, sad city, this thy throne, + Where the wild desert rears its craggy stone; + While suns unblest their angry lustre fling, + And wayworn pilgrims seek the scanty spring?" + +On flowed the harmonious lines, looking back to the call of the Chosen, +the victory of Joshua, the glory of Solomon, the hidden glory of the +Greater than Solomon, the crime of crimes, the destruction, the renewal +by the Empress Helena, the Crusades, and after a tribute (excusable at +the time of excitement) to Sir Sidney Smith's defence of Acre, gradually +rising to a magnificent description of the heavenly Jerusalem. + + "Ten thousand harps attune the mystic throng, + Ten thousand thousand saints the strain prolong. + 'Worthy the Lamb, omnipotent to save! + Who died, Who lives triumphant o'er the grave." + +The enthusiasm, the hush, the feeling, the acclamations have ever since +been remembered at Oxford as unequalled. Heber's parents were both +present, and his mother, repairing at once in her joy to his rooms, found +him kneeling by his bedside, laying the burthen of honour and success +upon his God. His father, recently recovered from illness, was so +overcome and shaken by the pressure of the throng and the thunder of +applause as never entirely to recover the fatigue, and he died eight +months later, early in 1804. + +The two youths who were in juxtaposition at the rostrum were not to meet +again. Daniel Wilson was ordained to the curacy of Chobham, under Mr. +Cecil, an excellent master for impressing hard study on his curates. He +writes: "What should a young minister do? His office says, 'Go to your +books, go to retirement, go to prayer.' 'No,' says the enthusiast, 'go +to preach, go and be a witness.'" + +"'A witness of what?' + +"'He don't know!'" + +While Wilson worked under Cecil, Heber, who was still too young for the +family living of Hodnet, in Shropshire, after taking his bachelor's +degree, obtaining a fellowship at All Souls College, and gaining the +prize for the prose essay, accompanied John Thornton on a tour through +northern and eastern Europe, the only portions then accessible to the +traveller; and, returning in 1806, was welcomed at home by his brother's +tenants with a banquet, for which three sheep were slaughtered, and at +which he appeared in the red coat of the volunteer regiment in which he +had taken an eager share during former years. + +It was his last appearance in a military character, for in 1807 he was +ordained, and entered on his duties as Rector of Hodnet. Two years later +he married Amelia Shipley, the daughter of the Dean of St. Asaph. +Floating thus easily into preferment, without a shoal or rock in his +course, fairly wealthy, and belonging to a well-esteemed county family, +connected through his brother with the very _elite_ of literary society, +it seemed as though, in the laxity of the early part of the century, +Reginald Heber could hardly have helped falling into the indolence of +learned ease, the peril of the well-beneficed clergy of his day, +especially among those who had not accepted the peculiarities of the +awakening school of the period. + +But such was not the case. He was at once an earnest parish priest, +working hard to win his people, not only to attend at church, but to +become regular communicants, and to give up their prevalent evil courses. +We find him in one letter mentioning the writing of an article on Pindar +in the _Quarterly Review_, planning for a village-school on the +Lancastrian principle, and endeavouring to improve the psalmody. "At +least," he says, "I have a better reason to plead for silence than the +Cambridge man who, on being asked in what pursuit he was then engaged, +replied that he was diligently employed in suffering his hair to grow." + +These "endeavours to improve the psalmody" were a forestalling of the +victory over the version of Tate and Brady. The Olney Hymns, produced by +Cowper, under the guidance of John Newton, had been introduced by Heber +on his first arrival in the parish, but he felt the lack of something +more thoroughly in accordance with the course of the Christian year, less +personal and meditative, and more congregational. Therefore he produced +by degrees a series of hymns, which he described as designed to be sung +between the Nicene Creed and the Sermon, and to be connected in some +degree with the Collects and Gospels for the day. Thus he was the real +originator in England of the great system of appropriate hymnology, which +has become almost universal, and many of his own are among the most +beautiful voices of praise our Church possesses. We would instance Nos. +135 and 263 in "Hymns Ancient and Modern,"--that for the 21st Sunday +after Trinity, a magnificent Christian battle-song; and that for +Innocents' Day, an imitation of the old Latin hymn "_Salvete flores +Martyrum_." They were put together, with others by Dean Milman and a few +more, into a little volume, which Heber requested Dr. Howley, then Bishop +of London, to lay before the Archbishop, that it might be recommended for +use in churches, but the timidity of the time prevented this from being +carried into effect. + +A deep student of church history, his letters show him trying every +practical question by the tests of ancient authority as well as +instructive piety, and, on these principles, already deploring the undue +elevation of the pulpit and debasement of the Altar to which exclusive +preference of preaching had led. Missions had, since the days of Carey's +first opening of the subject become so predominant a thought with the +Nonconformist bodies, and were often conducted so irregularly, that there +was certain dread and distrust of them among the sober-minded and +orthodox; but Heber was one of the first English churchmen who perceived +that to enlarge her borders and strengthen her stakes was the bounden +duty of the living Church. He was a fervent admirer of Henry Martyn, +whose biography was published soon after the news of his death reached +England, and his feeling found vent in that hymn so familiar to us +all--"From Greenland's icy mountains." + +He was meantime rising in influence and station,--Canon of St. Asaph, +Preacher at Lincoln's Inn, Select Preacher before the University. He was +beloved by all ranks: by the poor for his boundless charity and sympathy; +and by his equals, not only for these qualities, but for his sunny +temper, bright wit, and playfulness, which showed in his conversation, +his letters, and in many a droll, elegant, and scholarly _jeu d'esprit_, +thrown off by a mind that could do nothing without gracefulness. All +this prosperity was alloyed only by such domestic sorrow as might be +fitly termed gentle chastening. The death of his next brother, Thomas, +who had acted as his curate, was a severe loss to him; and in the desire +to make every affliction a stepping-stone in Christian progress, he +began, from that date, a custom of composing a short collect-like prayer, +veiled in Latin, on every marked occurrence in his life. The next +occasion was, after several years of marriage, the birth of a little +daughter, whom (in his own words) "he had the pleasure of seeing and +caressing for six months," ere she faded away, and died just before the +Christmas of 1817. He never could speak of her without tears, and (his +wife tells us) ever after added to his private prayers a petition to be +worthy to rejoin his "sinless child." His grief and his faith further +found voice in the hymn, each verse of which begins with "Thou art gone +to the grave, but we will not deplore thee," and which finishes-- + + "Thou art gone to the grave, but we will not deplore thee, + Whose God was thy ransom, thy Guardian and Guide. + He gave thee, He took thee, and He will restore thee, + And death has no sting, for the Saviour has died." + +Such had been the training of Reginald Heber, through the pleasant paths +of successful scholarship and literature, and of well-beneficed country +pastorship; a life perilous to spirituality and earnestness, but which he +kept full of the salt of piety, charity and unwearied activity as parish +priest, and as one of the voices of the Church. Such had been his life +up to 1822, when, on the tidings of the death of Dr. Middleton, Bishop of +Calcutta, his friend Charles Williams Wynn, President of the Board of +Commissioners for the affairs of India, offered him the appointment. + +To a man of his present position, talents, and prospects at home, the +preferment was not advantageous: the income, with the heavy attendant +expenses, would very little increase his means; the promotion threw him +out of the chances of the like at home; and the labour and toil of the +half-constituted and enormous diocese, the needful struggles with English +irreligion and native heathenism, and the perils of climate, offered a +trying exchange for all that had made life delightful at Hodnet Rectory. +A second little daughter too, whom he could not of course look to +educating in India, rendered the decision more trying. But in his own +peculiarly calm and simple way, he wrote: "I really should not think +myself justified in declining a situation of so great usefulness, and for +which, without vanity, I think myself not ill adapted, either from a love +for the society and friendship of England, or from a hope, which may +never be realized, of being some time or other in a situation of more +importance at home." At first, however, the fear for the child's health +induced him to decline, but only if anyone else equally suitable could be +found; and finally he accepted it, with apparent coolness, veiling the +deep spirit of zeal and enthusiasm that glowed within. It was not the +ardent vehemence that enables some to follow their inward call, +overcoming all obstacles, but it was calm obedience to a call from +without. "After all," he wrote, "I hope I am not enthusiastic in +thinking that a clergyman is, like a soldier or a sailor, bound to go on +any service, however remote or undesirable, where the course of his duty +leads him, and my destiny (though there are some circumstances attending +it which make my heart ache) has many, very many, advantages in an +extended sphere of professional activity, in the indulgence of literary +curiosity, and, what to me has many charms, the opportunity of seeing +nature in some of its wildest and most majestic features." + +In the spring of 1823, he took leave of Hodnet, amid the tears of his +parishioners; and on the 18th of May preached his last sermon in +Lincoln's Inn chapel, on the Atonement. On coming out, one of the most +leading men among the Wesleyan Methodists could only express his feelings +by exclaiming, "Thank God for that man! Thank God for that man!" + +It is striking to find him in the full pressure of business, while +preparing in London for his consecration and his voyage, making time for +a letter to one of the Hodnet farmers, to warn him against habits of +drunkenness, hoping that it would dwell with him "as a voice from the +dead." On the 1st of June, 1823, Reginald Heber was consecrated at +Lambeth, and on the 10th sailed for India! He made several sketches +along the southern coast, under one of which he wrote:-- + + "And we must have danger, and fever, and pain, + Ere we look on the white rocks of Albion again." + +A few days later, when passing the western coast of France on a Sunday, +the sound of the bells suggested the following meditative verses:-- + + "Bounding along the obedient surges, + Cheerly on her onward way, + Her course the gallant vessel urges + Across thy stormy gulf, Biscay. + In the sun the bright waves glisten; + Rising slow with solemn swell, + Hark, hark, what sound unwonted? Listen-- + Listen--'tis the Sabbath bell. + + It tells of ties which duties sever, + Of hearts so fondly knit to thee, + Kind hands, kind looks, which, wanderer, never + Thy hand shall grasp, thine eye shall see. + It tells of home and all its pleasures, + Of scenes where memory loves to dwell, + And bids thee count thy heart's best treasures + Far, far away, that Sabbath bell. + + Listen again! Thy wounded spirit + Shall soar from earth and seek above + That kingdom which the blest inherit, + The mansions of eternal love. + Earth and her lowly cares forsaking, + Bemoaned too keenly, loved too well, + To faith and hope thy soul awaking, + Thou hear'st with joy that Sabbath bell." + +By the 28th of September, the vessel was in sight of the Temple of +Jaghernauth, and on the 3rd of October was anchored close to the island +of Saugor. + +All through his voyage and residence in India, the Bishop kept a journal +of the doings and scenes of each day, full of interesting sketches, both +in pen and pencil. The beauty of the villages on the Hooghly, "the +greenhouse-like smell and temperature of the atmosphere," and the gentle +countenances and manners of the natives, struck him greatly, as he says, +"with a very solemn and earnest wish that I might in some degree, however +small, be enabled to conduce to the spiritual advantage of creatures so +goodly, so gentle, and now so misled and blinded. '_Angili forent si +essent Christiani_.'" + +On the 10th of October the Heber family entered their temporary abode in +the Fort at Calcutta, and were received by two Sepoy sentries and a long +train of servants in cotton dresses and turbans, one of them with a long +silver stick, another with a mace. There, too, were assembled the +neighbouring clergy--alas! far too few--and the next day the Bishop was +installed in his cathedral. + +Then began a life of very severe labour, for not only had the arrears of +episcopal business after the interregnum to be made up, but the +deficiency of clergy rendered the Sunday duties very heavy; and the +Bishop took as full a share of them as any working parish priest; and +even though he authorized the Church Missionary Society's teachers to +read prayers and to preach, the lack of sufficient ministrations was +great. Bishop's College had, however, been completed, and what Middleton +had founded was opened by Heber, with the happiest effect, which has +lasted to the present time. + +The difficulties as to the form of ordination of such as were not British +subjects had also been overcome, and Christian David was to be sent up +from Ceylon in company with Mr. Armour, who was to receive Priest's +orders. The latter excellent man died just before he was to set off, and +this delayed David until the next spring, when he came to Calcutta, was +lodged in Bishop's College, passed an excellent examination, and was +ordained deacon on Holy Thursday, 1824, and priest on the ensuing Trinity +Sunday. He is memorable as the first man of the dark-skinned races +admitted by the Church of England to her ministry. An excellent and well- +expressed letter from him, on the difficulties respecting the +distinctions of caste, is given in Bishop Heber's Life. This, indeed, +was one of the greatest troubles in dealing with converts. The Serampore +missionaries had striven to destroy it, but Ziegenbalg, Schwartz, and +their elder companions, regarded it as a distinction of society--not +religious--and, though discouraging it, had not so opposed it as to +insist on high and low castes mingling indiscriminately in church or at +meals. The younger men who had since come out had been scandalized, and +tried to make a change, which had led to much heartburning. + +Next to his hymns, Bishop Heber is best known by the journal he kept of +his visitation tour, not intended for publication but containing so much +of vivid description of scenery and manners, that it forms a valuable +picture of the condition of Hindostan as it then was. + +His first stage, in barges along the Ganges, brought him to Dacca, where +he was delayed by the illness and death of his much esteemed and beloved +chaplain. He then went on to Bhaugulpore, where he was much interested +in a wild tribe called the Puharries, who inhabit the Rajmahal hills, +remnants of the aborigines of India. They carried bows and arrows, lived +by the chase, and were viewed as great marauders; but they had a +primitive faith, free from idolatry, hated falsehood, and, having no +observance of caste and a great respect for Europeans, seemed promising +objects for a mission; but unfortunately the climate of their mountains +was so injurious to European life, that the clergyman, Mr. Thomas +Christian, a scholar of Bishop's College, whom the Bishop appointed to +this mission, was only able to spend three months in the hills in the +course of the year, while for the other nine he took the children under +his instruction back with him to Bhaugulpore. + +At Bankipore, the Bishop met Padre Giulio Cesare, still a remarkably +handsome and intelligent-looking little man, and speaking warmly of Henry +Martyn. Dinapore, that first station of Martyn's, had since his time +fallen into a very unsatisfactory state, owing to the carelessness of his +successor, though it was newly come into better hands. + +On the contrary, at Buxar, the Fort-adjutant, Captain Field, had so +influenced all around, though without a chaplain, that, though the Bishop +could not give the place a Sunday, his Saturday evening service in the +verandah was thronged, the English soldiers coming with Prayer-books and +making the responses, besides numerous Hindoos, many of them the +Christian wives and children of the soldiers. There was a boys' school +kept by a converted Mahometan, and one for girls by "Mrs. Simpson," a +native of Agra, converted by Mr. Corrie, and the widow of a sergeant. +She, however, got no scholars but the half-caste daughters of the +soldiers. A little boy of four years old, son to an English sergeant +with a native wife, was baptized, and the Bishop was delighted with the +reverent devotion of the spectators. Cureem Musseh, once a Sepoy +havildar, had his sword and sash hung over the desk, where, in a clean +white cotton dress and turban, he presided over his scholars, whom he had +taught to read Hindostanee, and to say the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and +Commandments, with a short exposition of each. The school served them +likewise to hold prayer-meetings in, and, on rare occasions, a clergyman +visited them. + +The Bishop's entrance into the sacred city of Benares he describes to his +wife thus: "I will endeavour to give you an account of the concert, vocal +and instrumental, which saluted us as we entered the town:-- + +"_First beggar_.--Agha Sahib! Judge Sahib, Burra Sahib, give me some +pice; I am a fakir; I am a priest; I am dying of hunger! + +"_Bearers trotting under the tonjon_.--Ugh! ugh!--Ugh! ugh! + +"_Musicians_.--Tingle, tangle; tingle, tangle; bray, bray, bray. + +"_Chuprassee_, _clearing the way with his sheathed sabre_.--Silence! Room +for the Lord Judge, the Lord Priest. Get out of the way! Quick! (_Then +gently patting and stroking the broad back of a Brahmin bull_.) Oh, good +man, move. + +"_Bull_, _scarcely moving_.--Bu-u-uh. + +"_Second beggar_, _counting his beads_, _rolling his eyes_, _and moving +his body backwards and forwards_.--Ram, ram; ram, ram!" + +Benares, said to be founded on the point of Siva's trident, as the most +sacred city of all Hindostan, swarmed with beggars, fakirs, sacred +animals, and idols of every description; but close beside it was a church +for consecration and thirty candidates for confirmation, of whom fourteen +were natives. The next day the Bishop was taken to see a school founded +by a rich Bengalee baboo, whom Mr. Corrie had almost persuaded to be a +Christian, but who had settled down into a sort of general admiration for +the beauty of the Gospel, and a wish to improve his countrymen. He had +made over the house where the school was kept to the Church Missionary +Society, and the staff consisted of an English schoolmaster, a Persian +moonshee, and two Hindostanee writing masters, the whole presided over by +an English catechist, a candidate for Holy Orders. There were several +class rooms, and a large, lofty hall, supported by pillars, where the +Bishop examined the 140, who read Persian and English, answered questions +in Hindostanee and English, and showed great proficiency in writing, +arithmetic, and geography. No objection was made to their reading the +New Testament. + +Afterwards, when the Bishop looked into a little pagoda, richly carved, +and containing an image of Siva, crowned with scarlet flowers, with lamps +burning before him, and a painted bull in front, a little boy, one of the +brightest scholars in the school, came forward, and showing his +Brahminical string, told, in tolerable English, the histories of the +deities with which the walls were painted. "This," says the Bishop, +"opened my eyes more fully to a danger which had before struck me as +possible, that some of the boys brought up in our schools might grow up +accomplished hypocrites, playing the part of Christian with us, and with +their own people of zealous followers of Brahma, or else that they would +settle down in a sort of compromise between the two creeds, allowing that +Christianity was the best for us, but that idolatry was necessary and +commendable in persons of their own nation." This in fact seems to have +been ever since the state of a large proportion of the educated Hindoos. +May it be only a transition state! + +The street preaching employed by the Serampore community had not been +resorted to by the Church Missionary Society, and Bishop Heber decided +that in the fanatic population, amid the crowds of bulls, beggars, and +sacred apes, it was far wiser not to attempt it; but the missionaries +were often sent for to private houses to converse with natives of rank, +on their doctrine. One notable Hindoo, Amrut Row, who had at one time +been Peishwa of the Mahrattas, who had retired to Benares, used on the +feast of his patron god to give a portion of rice and a rupee to every +Brahmin and blind or lame person who applied between sunrise and sunset. +He had a large garden with four gates, three of which were set open for +the three classes of applicants; the fourth served himself and his +servants. As each person received his dole, he was shown into the +garden, and detained there to prevent his applying twice, but there he +enjoyed plenty of shade, water, company, and idols! This day's +distribution often amounted to above 50,000 rupees, and his charities +altogether were three times as great in the course of every year. He was +a good kind man, religious to the best of his knowledge; and just before +the Bishop's visit, he had sent a message to Mr. Morris, the clergyman at +Sealcote, to call on him in the middle of the next week as he wished to +inquire further into Christianity. Alas! before the appointed day Amrut +Row was dead, and his ashes were still smoking when the Bishop quitted +Benares. + +What had become of Henry Martyn's church does not appear, for at Cawnpore +he found none, but service was alternately performed in a bungalow and in +the riding-school. He went as far north as Oude, and found at Chinear a +much larger native congregation than he expected, though the women still +retained so much of Eastern customs that they would not even raise their +veils when receiving the Holy Communion. Almost all were the converts of +the excellent Mr. Corrie, Henry Martyn's friend. + +Arriving at Surat, after a journey of ten months, he there embarked for +Bombay, where his wife and eldest child came from Calcutta, by sea, to +meet him, and thence, after a stay in Ceylon for some weeks, returned to +Calcutta, where, in December, he ordained Abdul Messeh, the man who had +been won by Henry Martyn's garden preachings. It was a very remarkable +ordination, for Father Abraham, the Armenian Suffragan from the Patriarch +of Jerusalem, was present, in the black robes of his convent, and laid +his hand on the heads of the candidates, and the service was in +Hindostanee, whenever Abdul Messeh was individually concerned. Abdul +Messeh was a most valuable worker among his countrymen, but he only +survived about eighteen months. + +In his last letter to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the +Bishop records the reception into Bishop's College of Mesrop David, the +kinsman of the Armenian Bishop and already a deacon; also of two native +youths from Ceylon, one Tamul and one Cingalese. This college, though a +work which had none of the romance of adventure about it, afforded the +surest and most important means of thoroughly implanting the Gospel, and +forming a native priesthood fit for the varying needs of the various +people. Nor could such a task be committed to any but superior men. Only +such as have abilities that would win them distinction in England, are +fit to cope with the difficulties of dealing with intellects quite as +argumentative as, and even more subtle than, those of the ordinary level +of Englishmen. + +Soon after writing this letter, Bishop Heber set forth on what was to +prove his last visitation. On the voyage to Madras, he spent much time +upon some invalid soldiers who were being sent home, and confirmed one of +them on board. Also he devoted himself to comforting a poor lady whose +baby died on the voyage, not only when with her in her cabin, but +Archdeacon Robinson, his chaplain, could hear him weeping and praying for +her when alone in his own. + +At Madras, he was lodged in the house of Sir Thomas Munro, the governor, +who had done much by the help of his excellent wife to promote all that +was good. At Vepery, close at hand, the Bishop found, nearly finished, +the first church built in the Gothic style in India. He was greatly +delighted with it, and especially that the desk and pulpit had not been +allowed to obstruct the view of the altar, which had more dignity than +was usual in the churches of 1826. A monstrous pulpit in another little +church at Poonamalee, a depot for recruits, and an asylum for pensioners +and soldiers' children, he caused to be removed. He had a confirmation +at this place, or rather two, for some unexpected candidates presented +themselves, and he desired Archdeacon Robinson to examine them, so that +they might be confirmed later in the day. Among them was an old +pensioner, and a sickly-looking young woman with a little boy, whom the +Archdeacon thought too young, and recommended her to keep back for +another opportunity. She wept much, and the Bishop said, "Bring them +both to me; who knows whether they may live to wish for it again?" The +native Christians, poor people employed on the beach, remnants of the old +Portuguese Missions, had built a church at their own expense, and, being +unable to obtain regular ministrations from their own clergy, begged the +Bishop to consecrate their building, and give them a clergyman, and this +he hoped to do on his return. + +Meantime, he went in his robes to present Lady Munro with a vote of +thanks from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, for the good +works in the schools of her husband's government. "I have seldom +witnessed a more interesting or affecting picture," writes Archdeacon +Robinson: "the beauty and gracefulness of Lady Munro, the grave and +commanding figure of the Governor, the youthful appearance and simple +dignity of the dear Bishop, the beloved of all beholders, presented a +scene such as few can ever hope to witness." "My lord," said Sir Thomas, +with the tears rolling down his cheeks, "it will be vain for me after +this to preach humility to Lady Munro; she will be proud of this day to +the latest hour she lives." + +"God bless you, Sir Thomas!" was all the Bishop could utter. + +"And God bless _you_, my lord!" was the fervent answer. + +Before eighteen months had passed the two good men who exchanged this +blessing, had met in Paradise! + +The Bishop went on from Madras, travelling by dak, and encamping during +the heat of the day. He soon came into the field of labour of the Danish +Missions, and was disappointed to find how poor and forlorn the Christian +converts about Cuddalore were, and the great want of employment for them. +Things were better in the Tanjore territory, where the Bishop was much +interested by a visit from the native pastor of one of the villages, a +fine, venerable old man. When about to take leave, he lingered, and the +Bishop was told that the Tamul Christians never quitted a minister +without receiving his blessing. He was greatly touched. "I will bless +them all, the good people," he said, after blessing the pastor. + +Arriving at Tanjore, the Bishop thus describes Serfojee:--"I have been +passing the last four days in the society of a Hindoo Prince, the Rajah +of Tanjore, who quotes Fourcroy, Lavoilier, Linnaeus, and Buffon +fluently; has formed a more accurate judgment of the poetical merits of +Shakespeare than that so felicitously expressed by Lord Byron; and has +actually emitted English poetry, very superior indeed to Rousseau's +epitaph on Shenstone; at the same time that he is much respected by the +English officers in his neighbourhood, as a real good judge of a horse, +and a cool, bold, and deadly shot at a tiger. The truth is, that he is +an extraordinary man, who, having in early youth received such an +education as old Schwartz, the celebrated missionary, could give him, has +ever since continued, in the midst of many disadvantages, to preserve his +taste for, and extend his knowledge of, European literature: while he has +never neglected the active exercises and frank, soldierly bearing which +become the descendant of the old Mahratta conquerors; and by which only, +in the present state of things, he has it in his power to gratify the +prejudices of his people, and prolong his popularity among them. Had he +lived in the days of Hyder, he would have been a formidable ally or +enemy; for he is, by the testimony of all in his neighbourhood, frugal, +bold, popular, and insinuating. At present, with less power than an +English nobleman, he holds his head high, and appears contented; and the +print of Buonaparte, which hangs in his library, is so neutralized by +that of Lord Hastings in full costume, that it can do no harm to anybody. +. . . To finish the portrait of Maha Raja Sarbojee, I should tell you +that he is a strong-built and very handsome middle-aged man, with eyes +and nose like a fine hawk, and very bushy grey mustachios, generally +splendidly dressed, but with no effeminacy of ornament, and looking and +talking more like a favourable specimen of a French general officer than +any other object of comparison which occurs to me. His son, Raja +Seroojee (so named after their great ancestor), is a pale, sickly-looking +lad of seventeen, who also speaks English, but imperfectly, and on whose +account his father lamented, with much apparent concern, the +impossibility which he found of obtaining any tolerable instruction in +Tanjore. I was moved at this, and offered to take him on my tour, and +afterwards to Calcutta, where he might have apartments in my house, and +be introduced into good English society; at the same time that I would +superintend his studies, and procure for him the best masters which India +affords. The father and son, in different ways,--the one catching at the +idea with great eagerness, the other as if he were afraid to say all he +wished,--seemed both well pleased with the proposal. Both, however, on +consulting together, expressed a doubt of the mother's concurrence; and, +accordingly, next day I had a very civil message, through the Resident, +that the Rannee had already lost two sons; that this survivor was a +sickly boy; that she was sure he would not come back alive, and it would +kill her to part with him; but that all the family joined in gratitude, +&c. So poor Seroojee must chew betel and sit in the zenana, and pursue +the other amusements of the common race of Hindoo princes, till he is +gathered to those heroic forms who, girded with long swords with hawks on +their wrists, and garments like those of the king of spades (whose +portrait-painter, as I guess, has been retained by this family), adorn +the principal room in the palace." + +To the Bishop's great indignation, he found that whereas while the Rajah +had retained his dominions, Christians had been eligible to all the +different offices of State, there was now an order from the Company's +Government against their admission to any employment. "Surely," he says, +"we are, in matters of religion, the most lukewarm and cowardly people on +the face of the earth. I mean to make this and some other things I have +seen a matter of formal representation to all the three Governments of +India, and to the Board of Control." + +It is highly probable that this systematic dread of encouraging God's +service on the part of the Company assisted in keeping Serfojee a +heathen, in spite of the many prayers offered up for him. Almost the +last in Heber's book of private devotions was for the Rajah; and he drew +up one, to be translated into Tamul, for use in all the churches in his +territory; this last not directly for his conversion, but for his +temporal and spiritual welfare. + +It is pleasant to know that the last Easter of Heber's life was made +joyful by ministering to Schwartz's spiritual children. He preached in +that church which Schwartz had raised, and where his monument stood. His +text was, "I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for +evermore." Many English-speaking natives went there, and others besides; +and at the Holy Eucharist that followed there were thirty English and +fifty-seven native communicants. The delight and admiration of the +Bishop were speedily apparent. In the evening he attended a Tamul +service, where the prayers were said by a Hindoo, the sermon preached by +a Dane, and the blessing delivered by the Bishop in Tamul, to the +surprise and pleasure of the congregation, which numbered no less than +1,300, all reverent, all making the responses, joining in the Easter +hymn, and in the 100th Psalm. Never had the Bishop been happier! As he +was taking off his robes, he exclaimed, "Gladly would I exchange years of +common life for _one_ such day as this!" Even at night he could not help +coming back to Archdeacon Robinson's room to rejoice, discuss, and +finally pray over this blessed fruit of the toils of a holy man, who had +been at rest thirty-eight years, yet whose work still increased. The +next day he confirmed a large number; and Kohloff, a contemporary +missionary of Schwartz, preached in Tamul. + +After this happy Easter, the Bishop continued his route to Trichinopoly, +where he preached and confirmed on the Sunday, but complained of a slight +headache, and allowed himself to be persuaded not to go to the native +service in the evening, though he spent a good deal of time conversing +with Mr. Robinson, who was unwell enough to be lying in bed. + +On Monday, the 3rd of April, he went at daybreak to hold a Tamul +confirmation at the poor little neglected native church; then looked at +the schools, but found that the want of ventilation rendered them too +oppressive for him to remain; and afterwards received and graciously +answered an address from the poor Christians, praying him to send them a +pastor, for they had been without one for two years. He came back, still +in his robes, to Mr. Robinson's bedroom, and, with great eagerness, +talked over what he had seen and heard; speaking of the destitution of +this poor church, and of the needfulness that a Bishop should receive +regular reports of every station; also mentioning a Danish missionary +whom he intended to appoint. He then went to his own room, and, +according to Indian habit after exertion, went out in order to bathe. The +bath was in a separate building. It was fifteen feet long, eight broad, +and with stone steps descending into it to a depth of seven feet, and it +was perfectly full of water. The servant sitting outside wondered at the +length of time and unbroken silence, and at last looked in; but Reginald +Heber had, by that time, long been lifeless in the cold bath! + +He was only in his forty-fourth year; but medical opinion declared that +there had been, unsuspected, the seeds of fatal disease, accelerated by +climate, exertion, and excitement, and such as would probably have caused +long helplessness and inaction, unless thus suddenly developed. + +He was buried the next day at Trichinopoly church, where the mural +tablet, with most touching and appropriate simplicity, bears no +inscription in laudation, but merely the holy words, "Be ye also ready." + +Thus ended a life of inward and outward brightness, which comes like a +stream of sunshine among the shadows through which most of the labourers +had to struggle, either for want of means of education, or from poverty +or melancholy, and yet as true and as exhilarating a course as was ever +one of theirs. May we not read his description in the verse:-- + + "And there are souls that seem to dwell + Above this earth--so rich a spell + Floats round their steps where'er they move, + Of hopes fulfilled, and mutual love: + Such, if on high their hopes are set, + Nor in the stream the source forget; + If, prompt to quit the bliss they know, + Following the Lamb where'er He go, + By purest pleasures unbeguiled + To idolize or wife or child, + Such wedded souls our God shall own + For faultless virgins round His throne." + +Mrs. Heber published soon after her return her husband's journals, and +these, bearing the impress of his graceful, scholarly hand, attracted +many readers who care merely for information and amusement; and thus, by +their mere mundane qualities, his writings did much to spread knowledge +of, and therefore interest in, the field of labour in which he died. +Large subscriptions came into the societies, and in a few years a church +and three schools for the natives, with the pastor he had indicated, +served as the best monument of that Low Sunday at Trichinopoly. + +His successor was John Thomas James: the most memorable event in whose +life was a halt at the Cape of Good Hope. This was the first time that +colony had ever been visited by a Bishop, and there was no church, though +a piece of land had been newly granted for one, which he consecrated +before proceeding on his voyage. He arrived in 1828, but the climate of +Calcutta struck him for death almost immediately. He was only able to +perform one ordination, one confirmation, and one charge to the Calcutta +clergy, then was forced to embark, and died at sea within a few months of +his arrival. + +During this time Daniel Wilson had been working under Mr. Cecil at +Chobham, where he remained for three years, when a tutorship at St. +Edmund's Hall was offered to him, which enabled him to marry his cousin +Ann, combining the small living of Warton with his tutorship. On the +death of the Rev. Richard Cecil he took, by his especial wish, his +proprietary chapel in Bloomsbury, and there continued till 1824 as one of +the most marked London clergy, keeping up the earnestness that Newton and +Cecil had been noted for, with quite as much energy; and though without +the same originality, there was a _telling_ force about his sermons which +made a young man exclaim the first time he heard him, "I will never hear +Daniel Wilson again," but something led him happily to infringe the +resolution, and then it became, "I will always, if possible, hear Daniel +Wilson." Sentences of his were very memorable; for instance, "Nineteen- +twentieths of sanctification consist in holy tempers," and, besides +exhibiting a pithy force of language, his sermons were prepared with +infinite care and labour. When at St. John's, where he had no parochial +charge, he selected his text on Monday and carried it about with him, so +to speak, all the week, chewing the cud of it as it were, looking it up +in every authority, ancient or modern, within his reach, and conversing +on the subject with any one whom he thought likely to give him a hint. +The sermons were written in a large legible shorthand, only on one side +of the paper, and on the opposite page were copied out extracts of +translations from illustrative authors, often as many as eight to a +single sermon, so that he had in fact a huge secretion of stores, which +he could adapt according to the needs of his congregation, and he made +notes of what he found fall flat and incomprehensible, or what he felt +was stirring the souls of his audience; and this time was most profitably +spent, not only for his immediate congregation, but in laying up a +provision for the busier days of after-life, when the same amount of +study was out of his power. And the benefit of such painstaking may be +estimated by the words of a gentleman when introduced to a relative of +his in after-years, "I am only one of very many who do not know and never +spoke to Mr. Wilson, but to whom he has been a father in CHRIST. He +never will know, and he never ought to know, the good that he has been +the means of doing, for no man could bear it." + +Proprietary chapels have now nearly become extinct. They were an effect +of the neglect of the heathenish eighteenth century, and one of the means +of providing church room by private speculation; and thus they almost +necessarily were liable to the abuses of popularity-hunting and of lack +of care for individuals, especially the poor: but a man in thorough +earnestness is sure to draw good even out of a defective system; and +Daniel Wilson, sitting in his study which was connected with the chapel, +became the counsellor of hundreds who sought spiritual advice and +assistance, chiefly of the upper and well-to-do classes, but he took care +to avoid wasting time over these conferences, and when it came to mere +talk would put people's hats and umbrellas into their hands. There were +also large Sunday-schools connected with his chapel, and taught by the +members of his congregation, and these led to the first organization of a +district visitors' society, one of the earliest attempts of the slowly +reviving English Church to show her laity how to minister to the poor +under pastoral direction. + +His father-in-law, Mr. William Wilson, had purchased the advowson of the +living of Islington, and, when it became vacant in 1824, presented it to +him, when he carried thither all his vigour and thoroughness. Church +building was his first necessity, and he absolutely prevailed on his +parish to rate themselves for the purpose, so that three churches were +begun almost at once, and by the time his Life was written in 1860 the +great suburb had multiplied its single church in thirty-six years into +fifteen. At Islington the chief sorrows of his life befel him. He had +had six children, of whom one died an infant and two more in early +childhood. The second son, John, after a boyhood of great promise, fell +into temptation at the University and led a wild and degrading course; +ending by his retirement to the Continent, where he died in 1833, after a +very painful illness, in which he had evinced great agony of mind, which +softened at length into repentance and hope. The eldest son, Daniel, who +attended him on his death-bed, had taken holy orders and succeeded to his +father's former living of Warton; and one daughter, Eliza, born in 1814, +survived to cheer his home when his wife, after some years of invalidism, +died in 1827. Zealous, resolute, and hardworking, he never allowed +sorrow to interfere with his work, and was soon in the midst of his +confirmation classes, and of a scheme for educating young tradespeople on +a more thorough and religious system. + +In the meantime he had always loved and urged the missionary cause, and +had consulted with Bishop Turner before he went out. When the news of +his decease was received (the fourth Bishop to die at his post within +nine years), the appointment began to be looked on as a sentence of +death, and it was declined in succession by several eminent clergymen. +Daniel Wilson had anxiously watched for the answer in each case, and was +suggesting several persons to Mr. Charles Grant, when the thought struck +him, "Here I am, send me." A widower of fifty-four years old, of much +strength, and with no young children, seemed to him the fit person to +volunteer to fill the breach; and he wrote stating, that if no one else +could be found for the post, he was willing to offer himself. The +appointment was accordingly given to him, after an interval of nine +months since the see had become vacant, and an infinity of toil and +arrangements crowded on him. Islington was resigned to his son Daniel, +and he was consecrated by Archbishop Howley on the 29th of April, 1832, +"the day of my espousals to CHRIST my Saviour," as he wrote in his +journal; and on the ensuing 18th of June he sailed with his daughter for +Calcutta. The ship touched at the Cape, which under the government of +Sir Lowry Cole was by no means in the same hopeless state of neglect as +when Martyn had visited it. Bishop Wilson there held an ordination and a +confirmation, the first for himself as well as for South Africa, whose +Episcopate was not founded till twenty-three years later. + +He landed at Calcutta on the 5th of November, 1832, and took possession +of the large unfurnished house that had at last been wrung out of +Government. He found only just enough chairs and tables, placed there by +the Archdeacon, to suffice for immediate use; and was answered, when he +asked why his orders that the place should be completely fitted up had +not been attended to, "I thought this would be enough to last for six +months,"--this being the term for which a Bishop of Calcutta was thought +likely to need earthly furniture. But Bishop Wilson was resolved to take +reasonable precaution, and not to be daunted, or to act as if he were +afraid. He furnished the place, and rented a pleasant country-house, +called the Hive, at Tittaghur, where he spent a few days of every week; +and, having been told that much danger was incurred by the exertion of +visitation tours before the constitution had become accustomed to the +climate, he resolved to wait for two years before making any long +journey; and, in the meantime, he was able to collect a great amount of +information, as well as attending to the regulation of matters at head- +quarters. He kept up more formality and state than Bishop Heber had +done; and, of course, as the one had been censured for his simplicity, so +the other was found fault with for pomp and stiffness. But these were +minor points, chiefly belonging to the character of the two men, whose +whole natures were in curious accordance with their prize performances at +Oxford,--the one with all the warmth, fire, and animation of the poet of +Palestine, sensitive to every impression, and making all serve to light +his altar-flame; the other all common-sense, sincere, deep, and +laborious, but with a narrower range of sympathies, and afraid of all +that might distract attention from the one great subject. General +literature had no charms for Wilson. He is believed never to have read +one of Scott's poems or novels; and the playful mirth that enlivened all +Heber's paths was not with him, though he had the equable cheerfulness of +a faithful servant doing his Lord's work. His daughter, soon after his +arrival, married her cousin, Josiah Bateman, his chaplain (and +biographer), and thus continued to be the mistress of her father's house. + +On the Whitsunday of 1833 the Bishop baptized one of those Hindoo +gentlemen who are among the most satisfactory of Christian converts; they +are free from the suspicion of interested motives which has always +attached to the pariahs and low-caste people who hung about Serampore and +its dependent stations, and, justly or unjustly, were accused of turning +Christians when they had exhausted other resources of idleness and +knavery. A curious instance of a thorough conversion happened the same +year. A lad, educated like most other well-to-do Hindoos in the schools +of the Church Missionary at Mirzampore, when about fifteen, became +persuaded of the saving grace of Christianity, and determined to be +baptized and openly forsake his idols. His parents persecuted him, and +he fled to a friend, a Hindoo convert; but he was seized by his +relations, and the case was referred to the Supreme Court, who decided +that the father's power over the son must not be interfered with; and the +poor boy was dragged away, clinging to the barrister's table, amid the +shouts of the heathen and the tears of the Christians. The boy remained +staunch, and three years later came again and received baptism; but his +sufferings had injured his health, both of mind and body, and his promise +of superior intelligence was blighted. + +In 1834, the Bishop set off on his first long journey, which included +Penang and Moulmein, where the Judsons had taken refuge after the Burmese +war, and where he found, in the midst of half-cleared jungle and Buddhist +temples full of enormous idols, a school kept by an American master, so +full of notions of equality, that, at the examination, he expected the +Bishop to go to each class, not the class to the Bishop. + +The Commissioner had built a church, the walls of teak slabs, and the +pillars each a single teak-tree, and it was ready for consecration. After +this and a confirmation, the Bishop went on his way to Ceylon, and then +to the Madras Presidency, where he had already had a long correspondence +with the pastors of the Christian congregations on the question of caste. +Things had not prospered of late; and, to the dismay of the Bishop, he +found that, in the course of the last year, 168 Christians had fallen +back to heathenism, where, not having broken their caste, they could +still be received and find a place. The truth was that, though caste +might appear only a distinction of mere social rank, it was derived from +a pagan superstition, and was a stronghold of heathenism. Schwartz was +all his life trying to make it wear and die out, lest the violent +renunciation should be too much for his converts' faith. But his +successors had allowed the feeling to retrograde; and Bishop Wilson found +separate services, sides of the church allotted to the high and low +castes, and the most unchristian distinctions made between them. He +decided that toleration of the prejudice was only doing harm, and issued +orders that henceforth catechumens preparing for baptism, confirmation, +or communion, should be called on to renounce caste as a condition of +admittance; and that, though the adult communicants should be gently +dealt with, there should be no recognition of the distinction in the +places in church, in the order of administering the Holy Communion, in +marriages or processions, and that differences of food or dress, or marks +on the forehead, should be discontinued. The clergy were in +consternation, and made an appeal before they published the Bishop's +letter to their flocks; but they found his mind made up, and yielded. The +lesser stations complied without much difficulty; but at Trichinopoly, +Vepery, and Tanjore, there were many Soodras, the soldier-caste, +professing to have come from Brahma's shoulders, and second only to the +Brahmins. They were desperately offended. At Trichinopoly, only seven +Soodra families continued to attend the services, although the seceders +behaved quietly, and offered no insults either to the clergy or the +pariahs. At Vepery, on the reading of the Bishop's letter, the whole +Soodra population walked out _en masse_, except one catechist, who joined +them afterwards. They then drew up a paper, declaring that they would +not yield, and would neither come to church nor send their children to +school, unless they continued to be distinguished; and they set up a +service of their own in a chapel lent them by a missionary belonging to +the London Society. He was, however, reprimanded for this by the +committee which employed him at Madras, and the chapel was withdrawn; +upon which the Soodras remained without any public worship whatever for +five months, when the catechists and schoolmasters came forward and +acknowledged their pride and contumacy, the children dropped into the +schools, and the grown-up people, one by one, returned to church, but in +their own way. + +At Tanjore, the contest was a much harder one. Serfojee had died in +1834, and the son whom Bishop Heber had vainly tried to obtain for +education was one of the ordinary specimens of indolent, useless rajahs, +enjoying ease and display under British protection; but the Mission had +gone on thriving as to numbers, though scarcely as to earnestness or +energy; and the Christians numbered 7,000, with 107 catechists and four +native clergy, under the management of Mr. Kohloff, almost the last of +Schwartz's fellow-workers. The Bishop's letter was read aloud by him, +after the sermon, on the 10th of November, 1833. There was an immediate +clamour of all the Soodras, who would not be hushed by being reminded +that they were in church, and, while Mr. Kohloff was being assisted from +the pulpit, gathered round his wife and insulted her. + +Letters passed between the Soodras and the missionaries. There was no +denial that the Bishop's command was right in itself; but an immense +variety of excuses were offered for not complying with it, and only one +of the four priests consented,--Nyanapracasem, an old man of eighty, who +may be remembered as one of Schwartz's earliest converts, and of the four +priests ordained by the Lutherans,--with three catechists, and ten of the +general body; all the others remained in a state of secession. When the +first death took place among them, Nyanapracasem, the one conforming +priest, was appointed to read the funeral service; but he fell sick, and +the only substitute available on the spot was a low-caste catechist, a +very respectable man, but whom the Soodras silenced with threats, +employing one of their own people in his stead. Next time, they borrowed +the Roman Catholic burial-ground, and services were carried on, on +Sunday, by one of the dissentient priests, but marriages were celebrated +in the heathen fashion, and there was evidently a strong disposition to +form a schism, which the reckless, easy, self-willed conduct of the +Soodras showed would be Christianity only in name. There had even been +an appeal to the Governor-General, and the Bishop felt the whole tone of +Christianity in India to be at stake. + +It was in the height of this crisis that his journey to Madras was made +in the track of Bishop Heber. Twice he preached at Vepery, and the +Soodras attended; but he asked no questions, and let them place +themselves as they chose, and take precedence, intending to fight out the +question at Tanjore. + +There, at seven o'clock in the morning of January 10, 1835, on the bank +of the Cavery River, he was received by all the faithful Christians and +school-children, headed by Kohloff and Nyanapracasem, These were the two +remaining fellow-workers of Schwartz. Kohloff, now becoming aged, had +his hair long and loose round his florid German face; he was still a true +German, full of simple kindness, and his English had a good deal of +accent. His Hindoo companion was a beautiful old man, with long snowy +hair flowing over his long white robes, who took the Bishop's hand +between both of his, and blessed God for his coming, hoping that as +Elijah brought back the stiff-necked Israelites, so the Bishop might turn +the hearts of the Soodras. + +Late that afternoon, a great party of these assembled to lay their +complaints before the Bishop, bringing their two dissentient priests. One +was of doubtful character, and was unnoticed; but to the other, John +Pillay, the Bishop addressed himself, telling him to assure the other +Christians that his heart was full of love, and that he would hear their +grievances, and answer them another time, when less weary with his +journey. + +Several spoke, and the Bishop listened to their individual cases. They +were anxious to come and hear his sermon, but would only do so if allowed +to sit apart; and to this, as one great object was to obtain their +attention, the Bishop consented, with a reservation that it was only for +that once. The church was thronged, and after a Tamul service, the +Bishop preached, pausing after every sentence that a catechist might +render his words into Tamul. The text was, "Walk in love, as Christ also +loved us," and the latter part of his discourse was on the lesson from +the Good Samaritan, as to "who is my neighbour." There was at the end a +long pause of breathless silence, and then he called on everyone present +to offer up the following prayer: "Lord, give me a broken heart to +receive the love of Christ, and obey His commands." The whole +congregation repeated the words aloud in Tamul, and then he gave the +blessing and dismissed them. + +After this there were a great number of private conferences. People came +and owned that they had been very unhappy; religion had died in their +hearts, and they had had no peace; but their wives were the great +objectors--they feared whether they should marry their daughters, &c. &c. +The two priests especially saw the badness of their standing-ground, but +they should lose respect, they said. No Pariah seems to have been in +holy orders, but if a Pariah catechist visited a sick person, he was not +allowed to come under the roof, and the patient was carried out into the +verandah. And then came a rather stormy conference with about 150 +Soodras, which occupied two days, since every sentence had to pass +through an interpreter. The objections were various, but as a body the +resistance continued, and it was only individuals that came over; some of +these, however, did, and it was so clear from all that had passed that to +permit the distinctions was but a truckling to heathenism, that the +Bishop was more than ever resolved on firmness. Two of the priests had +conformed, and the Christianity of those who would not do so was plainly +not worth having. + +There was some polite intercourse with Serfojee's son, whose taste was +visible in the alteration of a fine statue of his father by Flaxman, from +which the white marble turban had been removed to substitute a coloured +one, with black feathers and tassels. In him the family has become +extinct, since he only left a daughter, and the adoption of a son, after +the old Hindoo fashion, has not been permitted by Government. + +Thence, Bishop Wilson proceeded towards Trichinopoly. He encamped, by +the way, at a place called Muttooputty, a large station on the Coleroon +river, where the way had been so prepared for him that there was a grand +throng of native Christians, untroubled about caste, and he was obliged +literally to lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes of the large +tent used as a chapel. It was one of the memorable days of joy that come +now and then to support the laborious spirit of the faithful servant. +"One such day as we have just passed is worth years of common service." + +At Trichinopoly, with the deepest sense of reverence, he visited the +scene of Heber's death, ministered at the same altar, and preached from +the same pulpit, after an interval of nine years. + +Here, his mode of dealing with the caste-question was thus: When he came +robed into the church, he saw groups of natives standing about, instead +of placing themselves like the others of the congregation. He went up to +two, led them to seats, and his chaplain following, did the same; the +rest were seated in like manner without resistance. + +When the Celebration took place, the Bishop had given directions as to +the order of things. First, a Soodra catechist communicated, then two +Pariah catechists, then an English gentleman, next a Pariah, then two +Eurasians; and thus without distinction, 147 communicated. The barrier +was broken down, and the nucleus of a church without caste was formed. + +This presidency of Madras was immediately after formed into a separate +see, and given to Daniel Corrie, the friend of Martyn, while Dr. Thomas +Carr became Bishop of Bombay. + +On Wilson's return to Tanjore he found an increasing though still small +number had conformed, and before he left the place there were hopes of +larger numbers. On his way back to Calcutta, he visited the horrible +pagoda of Juggernaut (properly Jaghanatha, Lord of the World), which was +still the centre of worship and pilgrimage; and though the +self-immolation of the pilgrims beneath the car had been prohibited, yet +the Company's Government still fancied themselves justified in receiving +a toll from the visitors to this shrine of cruelty and all uncleanness, +up to 1839, when the disgrace was done away by Lord Auckland. + +In the year 1836 another journey was made, first to Bombay and then +further into the interior, to many places, never visited by a bishop +before, and with no chaplain or anything to keep up the sense of +religion. At Aurungabad, the utter ignorance of the English officers was +appalling. The old Colonel-commandant had not heard a sermon for twenty +years, and thought every sentence on the text, "Walk in love," was a +personal attack on himself. He refused to attend another service, or to +bid the Bishop farewell! And when the Holy Communion was celebrated, +nobody knew what the offertory meant, and scarcely any one was prepared +to respond. + +Yet in contrast to these English, a small band of Hindoos, four men, six +women, and five children, presented themselves, asking permission to join +in the service, and to have their children baptized. They had been once +Roman Catholics, but an old Dutchwoman from Ceylon had taught them most +of what they knew; and they had a Hindostanee prayer-book, whence they +held a service every Sunday, but leaving out the Absolution and +Benediction, which they rightly perceived to be priestly functions. Two +of them were servants to an English officer, and they were all nearly +related. They were perfectly respectable and trustworthy, and looked +well dressed and intelligent. The Bishop tried to bring about an +application from the Company to the Nizam, to defray the expenses of an +occasional visit from a chaplain to the Christian officers and residents +in his employ, but he was answered that "it would form a dangerous +precedent." + +The next step was into the Bengal presidency, always with the same kind +of adventures; quaint civilities of the presentation of flowery garlands +bedecking the neck and arms, given by the native princes, with a +sprinkling of rose-water, and sometimes an anointing with oil; and then +an endeavour to stir into Christian life the neglected English military +and civil officers stationed in their dominions. + +One of these, a gentleman of good birth and repute, actually went on +smoking and gurgling his hookah when the Bishop was beginning family +prayers, apparently with no more perception that it was anything that +concerned him than if he had seen a Mahometan turning to Mecca, or a +Parsee saluting the rising sun. Indeed many of these Company's servants +had been sent out when fourteen or fifteen years old; and, if in a remote +station, had been left without anything external whatever to remind them +of Christianity. + +This journey extended to the Himalayas, where the Bishop had four months' +repose at Simlah, then in its infancy as a resort for wearied East +Indians; and on his descent from thence, his first halting-place was +Kurnaul, where he found the church in a state of efficiency, owing, in +great part, to an officer whose conversion to a religious life had been +very remarkable. Once, when in a large party, where gambling was going +on to a reckless extent, he saw one of the players take out a hideous +little black figure, supposed to represent the devil, to which he +addressed himself with a mixture of entreaties and threats, involving +such blasphemy that this officer, utterly horrified, withdrew from the +company, spent the night in tears and prayers, and from that time became +a religious man. There was also an active chaplain, a large church, and +a bungalow, built by the soldiers of an English regiment, the centre part +arranged for service, and the surrounding verandah partitioned into +little cells, where the soldiers could retire for private prayer or +reading. It was called St. John's Chapel, and was in the hands of the +chaplain. Here the Bishop remained for two Sundays, and ordained Anund +Musseeh, who had been fifteen years a Christian, and had been known to +Bishop Heber. The difficulty in his case was the rule not to ordain a +person who had a heathen family, since he had not been able to convert +his wife. His excellence outweighed the objection, and he was the first +Brahmin who received holy orders from an English bishop; but in after- +times the heathen influence at home told upon him; and this failure +perhaps rendered Bishop Daniel Wilson somewhat over-cautious and backward +in ordaining a native ministry. + +The next stage was Delhi, where a very interesting interview awaited him. +An officer of Anglo-Indian birth, James Skinner by name, who had raised +and commanded a capital body of light horse, had twenty years before +entered Delhi with a conquering army, and, gazing on the countless domes +and minarets, vowed that if ever he should be able, he would build an +English church to raise its cross among them. He had persevered, though +the cost far exceeded the estimate, and though the failure of houses of +business had greatly lessened his means; and now he came, a tall, stout, +dark man of fifty-six, in a uniform of blue, silver, and steel, a helmet +on his head and a red ribbon on his breast, to beg for consecration for +his church. His sons were Christians, but his wife was a Mahometan, +though, he said with tears, that "for thirty years a better wife no man +ever had." + +The church was of Greek architecture, shaped as a Greek cross, with +porticoes with flights of steps at each extremity except the east, which +formed the chancel, and at the intersection was a dome and cupola. It +was paved with marble, and the whole effect was beautiful. After the +consecration a confirmation followed, and the first to receive the +apostolic rite were the noble old Colonel himself and his three sons. +Twenty years later this fine building was filled with dying men, and +shared in the horrors of the siege of Delhi; but it has now returned to +its rightful use, and as a church of martyrs. + +Indeed, all the places that the Bishop visited in this excursion have +since been associated with the Mutiny. Cawnpore was not much more +satisfactory than when Heber had visited it; an irreligious commandant +and a dissipated regiment had done much harm; and an imprudent letter of +one of the chaplains had led to a quarrel, in which the clergyman +unfortunately put himself in the wrong. Happily, a new commanding +officer and better conducted regiment had replaced the first, and the ill- +feeling was so entirely removed that the Bishop wrote, "Never did I enter +a station with such despondency, nor leave one with so much joy." And +thus he prepared Cawnpore for that which was in store for it! + +His visit to Allahabad was chiefly memorable for his horror at the large +resort of pilgrims to bathe in the Ganges, and at the tax by which a +Christian government profited by their pagan superstition, with all its +grossness and cruelty. He brought home a little ticket, with the number +76902 stamped on it, such as was issued to the pilgrims, and made a +strong appeal to the Governor-General, as well as to persons in England. +The next year both this tax and that on the pilgrims to Jaghernauth were +suppressed. Here he heard of the death of Bishop Corrie, after having +held the see of Madras only a year and a quarter, but having spent many +years in India, and worked there for a whole lifetime, in which he had +seen the very dawn of missionary efforts, and had watched the English +Church spread from a few scattered chaplains to three bishoprics. + +Lord Auckland and his sisters were more sincere friends of Christian +efforts than any Governor-General had yet been, but these were trying +times. Mr. Bateman, his daughter's husband, fell ill, and his wife was +obliged to return to England with him; the Bishop's other chaplain died, +and also some of his best friends. On going, a few years later, to +consecrate a church at Singapore, he visited Moulmein, and was introduced +to Dr. Judson, with whom he was very much struck. + +The great work connected with Daniel Wilson's name, as that of Bishop's +College is with Middleton's, is the building of the Cathedral of +Calcutta. "What do you say, my four children," he writes, "to your +father's attempting to build a cathedral to the name of the Lord his God +in this heathen land?" It had been the desire of Bishop Middleton, but +there had been too much to do during his nine years, and it was only now +that at last the times were ripe. Subscriptions were opened, and the +Bishop devoted a large amount of his income to the fund; plans were drawn +up, land granted freely, and on the 9th of October, 1839, the first stone +of St. Paul's Cathedral was laid by the Bishop. + +Just at this time there was a most remarkable move made towards +Christianity. Krishnaghur, 130 miles from Calcutta, was the great centre +of the worship of Krishna, one of the manifestations of Vishnu. Here two +missionaries of the Church Missionary Society had been at work; and when +the Bishop was there in 1837, he described them as having made "a little +beginning," by keeping schools and holding conferences with the people, +but they had then no adult convert. A year after a message was brought +by a native, entreating for further help. There were 1,200 seriously +inquiring into the doctrine, with many candidates for baptism, and at +many places around it was the same. In the year 1840, the Bishop set +forth to visit the spot and the adjacent districts, where almost all the +villages seemed to be actuated by the same impulse. The missionaries did +their utmost to distinguish between mere fashion and hope of gain and a +true faith; but after all their siftings, large numbers were ready for +baptism, and the hope was so great that the Bishop was full of thankful +ecstasy, and could hardly sleep from agitation, joy, and anxiety. One +hundred and fifty converts were baptized at once, at a place called +Anunda Bass. The examination was thus, the Bishop standing in the +midst:-- + +"Are you sinners?" + +"Yes, we are." + +"How do you hope to obtain forgiveness?" + +"By the sacrifice of Christ." + +"What was that sacrifice?" + +"We were sinners, and Christ died in our stead." + +"How is your heart to be changed?" + +"By the Holy Ghost." + +"Will you renounce all idolatry, feasts, poojahs, and caste?" + +"Yes, we renounce them all." + +"Will you renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil?" + +"Yes." + +"Will you suffer for Christ's sake?" + +"Yes." + +"Will you forgive injuries?" + +"Yes." + +These converts had been under preparation for more than a year, and +seemed thoroughly convinced and fairly instructed. Therefore the +baptismal service was read by Mr. Deerr; and when the vows were reached, +the Bishop turned to the Christians around and asked if they would be +witnesses and godparents to these candidates; and, with one voice, they +shouted that they would. Each candidate was singly baptized, and then +came up to the Bishop, by whom the words receiving him into the Ark of +Christ's Church were spoken. At Ranobunda there was another baptism of +250, and, in the whole district, full a thousand were admitted. It was +not in over-confident joy. "Time will show," said the Bishop, "who are +wheat and who are tares." It was impossible among so many that all +should be perfect Christians, but it was a real foundation; the flame +then lighted burns on steadily, and the Christian faith has a firm and +strong hold in the district of Krishnaghur. + +Anxieties of course crossed his work. The Church Missionary Society, +after being used to control its clergy, was not properly ready to allow +their canonical obedience to a Bishop; and the troubles that thus arose +made him once speak of Heber as happy in being shielded by his early +death from the class of vexations connected with societies. To his great +grief, too, a lady who had worked for years at the education of girls and +orphans at Calcutta seceded to the Plymouth Brethren, and was necessarily +obliged to give up the charge. It was to him "as if a standard-bearer +fainteth." The Oxford controversy also vexed him a good deal. The +school of Newton and Cecil, in which he had been brought up, was at the +most distant point that the Church permitted from the doctrines of the +Tracts for the Times; and few men are able or willing candidly to judge +or appreciate opinions that have grown up since their own budget was +completed, especially after they have been for some time in the exercise +of authority. Thus he set his mind very strongly against all the clergy +holding those views who came to work in the diocese; and thereby impeded +a good deal that might have worked heartily with him if he had only been +able to believe it, and to understand that the maintenance of the voice +of the Church is truly the maintenance of the voice of Christ. + +In November 1844, when on a visitation at Umballah, he had his first +serious illness, a fever, he being then in his sixty-sixth year and in +the thirteenth of his residence in India. For about a week he was in +great danger, but rallied, and was able to be removed by slow stages, +though not without an attack of inflammation on the lungs before reaching +Calcutta; and his constitution was altogether so much shaken that he was +ordered home, without loss of time, to recruit his health. + +He returned to England by the Overland route, and after a short respite +recovered much of his strength, so as to be able to preach in many +churches and appear at numerous meetings; and in a year's time the +vigorous old man was on his way back to his diocese, where he arrived in +time to keep the Christmas of 1846, just two years after he had been +stricken down by fever. In the October of the next year he consecrated +his cathedral, towards which 20,000_l._ had been his own donation, half +towards the building, half towards the endowment. His strength was not +quite what it had been before, but he still had abundant energy, and new +branches of the Church were springing up around him; not only the three +dioceses that had branched from his own in India, but Ceylon had a Bishop +of its own, Australia had five, and the Cape and New Zealand and the Isle +of Hong Kong had each received a Bishop. The principle had come to be +recognized that to send out isolated workers without a head to organize +was a plan that could hardly be reasonably expected to succeed; and in +the long run prosperity has certainly attended the contrary arrangement. +Not to speak of the Divine authority, the action of a body under a +recognized head and superior on the spot must be far readier of +adaptation to circumstances than that of a number of equals, accountable +only to some necessarily half-informed Society at home. + +In his 73rd year, just after a visitation tour, it somewhat dismayed +Bishop Wilson to find a letter from the Bishop of London sending him to +consecrate the new church erected by Sir James Brooke, at Sarawak. Few +careers have been more remarkable than that of the truly great man who +subdued Malay piracy, and gained the confidence of the natives of Borneo; +and when the effort of the fourteen weeks' voyage had been made, the +Bishop returned full of joy and hope, and not long after, together with +the Bishops of Madras and Victoria, joined in consecrating the missionary +Bishop of Labuan to the new field of work there opening. On the last +journey of his life he also visited Rangoon, and there consecrated the +church, finding the clergy hard at work and numerous converts. + +During the year 1856 he had many attacks of illness, more or less severe; +and in December, in going across the room in haste, he struck himself +against a wooden screen, and was thrown down. His thigh was broken, and +his age was such that great fears for his life were entertained, but he +recovered, and was able to pray with, cheer, and comfort the many anxious +hearts at Calcutta during the dreadful days of the Indian mutiny of 1857, +when the churches he had consecrated were stained with the blood of the +worshippers. + +But there was no cause for despondency in the attitude of the converts. +The districts where Christianity had been so widely diffused remained +tranquil, and the Christians in the cities where the mutineers were +raging did not apostatize; but, unless they could conceal themselves, +suffered with the whites. There was a great day of fasting and +humiliation appointed by him for the 24th of July, 1857. + +That day Bishop Wilson preached his last sermon. The text was from +Habakkuk i. 12. "Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy +One? we shall not die. O Lord, Thou hast ordained them for judgment; +and, O mighty God, Thou hast established them for correction." Calcutta +was then trembling under the tidings of the horrors of Cawnpore, the +death of Sir Henry Lawrence, and the siege of Lucknow; and no one knew +what peril might be the next. Slaughter seemed at the very gates, when +the old man stood forth to console and encourage, but yet to give warning +strong and clear that these frightful catastrophes were in great measure +the effect of our sins, our fostering of heathenism, our recognition of +caste, and were especially a judgment on the viciousness and irreligion +that had been the curse of English life in India. It was in open +Christianity alone that he beheld hope. + +The day was observed by all the clergy, but the Governor-General for some +reason declined to make it official, and, only when the worst of the +danger was over, appointed the 4th of October as a fast-day. The Bishop +arranged the services, but was too unwell to attend them. This was the +beginning of his last illness; and though he held an ordination some +weeks later, these latter weeks were all sinking, and increasing +feebleness. A sea-voyage was twice attempted, but without success; and +on the 1st of January, 1858, his trembling hand wrote, "All going on +well, but I am dead almost.--D. C. Firm in hope." + +Daniel Calcutta, whom these initials indicated, wrote these words at half- +past seven at night. By the same hour in the morning he had peacefully +passed to his rest. + +One more Bishop of Calcutta we have since mourned; though the shortness +of his career was owing to accident, not disease or climate. But with +Daniel Wilson the see of Calcutta became established as a metropolitan +bishopric, and ceased to possess that character of gradual extension +which rendered its first holders necessarily missionaries. True, it +needs many subdivisions. Four Bishops are a scanty allowance for our +vast Indian Empire, and the see of Calcutta has a boundary scarce limited +to the north; but these are better days than when it included the Cape, +Australia, and New Zealand. The Bishop has now more to do with the +development of old missions than with the working of new ones; and there +can be no doubt that though there has been much of disappointment, and +the progress is very slow, yet progress there is. The older converts +form more and more of a nucleus, and although there is a large class who +hang about missions from interested motives, there are also multitudes of +quiet and contented villagers whose simplicity and remoteness shield them +from the notice of the travellers who sneer at Christianity and call +mission reports _couleur de rose_, because they have been taken in by +some cunning scamp against whom any missionary would have warned them. + +The towns and the neighbourhood of troops are not favourable places for +observing the effects of Christianity. The work of the schools in the +great cities tells but very slowly. At present, out of a hundred boys +who go thither and receive the facts of Christianity intellectually, only +the minority are practically affected by it; and of these, some lose all +faith in their own system, but retain it outwardly in deference to their +families, while others try to take Christian morality without Christian +doctrine; and only one or two perhaps may be sincere and open believers. +But even if only one is gained, is not that an exceeding gain? It took +three hundred years of apostolic teaching to make the Roman Empire +Christian. Why should we "faint, and say 'tis vain," after one hundred +in India? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. SAMUEL MARSDEN, THE AUSTRALIAN CHAPLAIN AND FRIEND OF THE +MAORI. + + +It has been mentioned that the island of Australia was considered as an +archdeaconry of the see of Calcutta. This enormous island, first +discovered in 1607 by Luis de Torres, and inhabited only by the very +lowest race of savages, appeared to the Government of George III. a +convenient spot for forming a penal settlement; and in 1787 the first +convict ships carried out an instalment from the English jails to New +South Wales, where the city of Sydney was founded by Governor Phillip. + +As usual in those days, the provision made for the moral or religious +training of this felon population was lamentably and even absurdly +deficient; for it seemed to be considered, that so long as the criminals +were safe out of England, it did not greatly matter to her what became of +them. But the power of grace is sure to work sooner or later wherever +the Christian name has been carried, and a holy man rose up, not only to +fight hard with the mass of corruption in Australia, but to carry on the +light to the more distant shores of the Southern Ocean. + +This good man, Samuel Marsden, was the son of a small farmer at Farsley, +near Calverley, in Yorkshire, and was educated at the free Grammar School +at Hull by Dr. Joseph Milner, whose Church History used to be a standard +book in the early part of this century. He began his career as a +tradesman at Leeds, but his school influences had given him higher +aspirations; and a body termed the Elland Society, whose object was to +educate young men of small means and suitable character for the ministry, +and whose chief supporters were Wilberforce, Simeon, and Thornton, +selected him as one of their scholars, and placed him at St. John's +College, Cambridge. He had not even taken his degree when, to his +surprise, he was offered a chaplaincy in New South Wales! The post was +no doubt a difficult one to fill,--for who would willingly undertake to +be one of two clergymen sent to labour among an untamed multitude of +criminals?--and Mr. Wilberforce was, no doubt, glad to suggest a young +man so blameless and full of zeal, and of whom, from personal observation +at Cambridge, Mr. Simeon had so high an opinion. + +Samuel Marsden wished to decline it at first; but finding that no one +else would come forward to undertake the charge, he accepted it; and in +the spring of 1793 he was ordained, and married, being then nearly twenty- +nine years of age. His wife, Elizabeth Tristan, was thoroughly worthy of +him, and ruled his house admirably, never calling him back from any duty, +but so managing that his open-handed charity never brought him into +difficulties. They were obliged to take their passage in a convict ship, +which was to sail from Hull. Marsden was engaged to preach in a church +near the harbour, and was just about to enter the pulpit when the signal- +gun was fired to summon the passengers on board. He took off his gown, +gave his arm to his bride at her pew door, and walked to the beach, the +whole congregation streaming out after them down to the boat, where the +young clergyman stood for a few moments ere pushing off, to give his +parting benedictions. + +The ship went round to Portsmouth to receive her load of convicts; and +while she was lying there, Marsden visited the Isle of Wight, and one +Sunday preached in Brading Church. The effect of his sermon in touching +the heart of one young woman was long remembered, in consequence of a +memoir of her, entitled "The Dairyman's Daughter," which was drawn up +after her death by the clergyman of her parish, the Rev. Legh Richmond. + +It was as trying a voyage as Henry Martyn's, except that even less was to +be expected from his shipmates. The captain was unwilling to allow +prayers to be read even on Sunday, saying he had never known a religious +sailor; and though, after a time, Mr. Marsden prevailed, he never felt +himself making much impression for good. One of his books on the voyage +was the Life of David Brainerd, that torch of missionaries, and who +proved the example which served to stir Mr. Marsden to look beyond his +own immediate field of labour, severe though that was, and unflinching as +was his toil. + +His arrival at Paramatta, his new home, was in the March of 1794, when +the convict system had prevailed about seven years, and had been +sufficient to form a population disgraceful to human nature. None of +those endeavours to reclaim the prisoner which now prevail had then been +attempted, and jails were schools and hotbeds of crime, whence the +transported were sent forth to corrupt each other more and more on board +ship; and then, though employed on Government works or assigned to free +settlers as servants, so soon as they had worked out their time of +servitude they were let loose to live after their own will. + +Such as had any capacity for steady industry soon made their fortunes on +the parcels of land allotted to them by Government, to which they added +by purchase; and these persons, by the influence of wealth and property, +rose into colonial rank and authority, though without any such real +training in the sense of uprightness or morality as could fit them for +the posts they occupied. The least tainted by crime were the Irish, who +had been deported by wholesale after the rebellion, some without even a +form of trial, but these were idle and prone to violence; while of the +regular convicts there was a large proportion addicted to every brutality +that vice could conceive, and their numbers were continually being +recruited by fresh shiploads after the assizes at home. The only attempt +at securing order and tolerable safety was by visiting every offence, +even the slightest, of which a convict was accused in a court of justice, +with the most unrelenting severity; and this, of course, had the effect +of further brutalizing these felon people, making them reckless of the +deeds they committed, and often driving them to become +bush-rangers--outlawed wild men of the woods--a terror to the colony. A +powerful military force was kept up to repress these wretched beings by +physical force, but of moral training there was only what was afforded by +the openings for industry in a new country, and religious teaching was +represented by--two chaplains, for convicts, soldiers, settlers, and all! +No wonder that the senior soon broke down under the hopeless toil of such +a position, and left the junior to struggle with it alone. And nobly he +did struggle! Wilberforce had made a wise choice of a man in the prime +of youth, whose bullet-headed portrait speaks of the most dogged +determination, with nerves, health, and weight enough to contend for a +whole lifetime with the horrible depravity around him--the only +clergyman, and with three settlements far apart dependent on his +ministry. And in the outset he was severely tried by domestic sorrows; +for his eldest son, at two years old, was thrown out of his mother's arms +by a jolt to the carriage over the rough road, and killed on the spot; +and a younger child, who was shortly after left at home from dread of a +similar accident, was allowed by its attendant to stray into the kitchen, +where it fell backwards into a pan of boiling water and was fatally +scalded. + +The father bore these calamities as one who had steadfast faith and +resignation--"one who felt much and said little." The demands on his +time, indeed, left him no leisure for giving way to grief. Spiritual +matters were not all that came upon him. In the utter lack of +conscientious men to perform the functions of the magistracy, he was at +once appointed to the bench; nor, indeed, was there the same feeling in +England then as now against the combination of the clergyman and justice +of the peace. The most exemplary parish priests viewed it as a duty to +administer justice in their villages; and the first, and till quite +recently the sole manual of prayers to be used with prisoners, was the +production of one of these clerical magistrates. A Yorkshire farmer's +son could not be expected to know much about law, but good sense, +uprightness, perception of justice, and intense determination, he had, as +well as Christian humanity; and in these he was superior to any of his +colleagues on the Paramatta bench, whom he was continually striving to +raise to some comprehension of the commonest rules of justice, mercy, and +decency; and in this, after a long course of years, he in some measure +succeeded; but not till after his strong hand, impartial justice, and +hatred of vice, had made him enemies among all parties; and it is only +too probable that his secular authority, though always nobly wielded, +impeded rather than otherwise his pastoral influence. + +His farming education served him well when he received a grant of land, +and of thirteen convicts to bring it into order. It was part of his +payment, almost indispensable for procuring to his family the necessaries +of life, and it gave him, besides, the means of imparting instruction in +honest labour. His property became the model farm of New South Wales, +and the profits afforded him the means of establishing the schools, +benevolent institutions, and missions, for which there were few, if any +purses to draw upon. He won himself respect on all sides, especially +from the Governor of the colony, Captain King, a hasty, violent, but good- +hearted man, with whom more than once he had misunderstandings, but such +as were made up again. On one of these occasions, the chaplain's advice +was asked by the Governor, and promised on condition that he might speak +as to a private individual. So, when they met, Mr. Marsden locked the +door, and, in plain and forcible terms, gave _Captain_ King a +thoroughgoing remonstrance on the faults of _Governor_ King, which was +taken in perfect good part. + +Nevertheless, the whole construction of Society was so atrocious, that +nothing could effect any improvement but interference from higher +authority. The Court of Judicature in New South Wales was the most +shamelessly corrupt and abandoned in existence, and a rebellious spirit +broke out which imperilled the military authority of the Governor. Mr. +Marsden saw no hope, except in laying a full statement in person before +the home Government; and therefore, at the end of fourteen years, when +Governor King was about to return home, he resolved to go himself, and +make a strong personal representation to Government. The two families +sailed in the same ship, the _Buffalo_, which proved to be leaky; and, +when a heavy gale was expected, it was proposed that the passengers +should quit her, and take refuge in a stronger vessel; but Mrs. King was +too unwell to be moved, and Mrs. Marsden would not leave her, so that the +proposal was abandoned, and most providentially, for the ship that had +been thought secure was lost in the night and never seen more! + +The voyage was a slow one; and the first thing Mr. Marsden heard on +arriving was, that the insurrection he had expected had actually broken +out. This rendered Lord Castlereagh, then Colonial Secretary, the more +anxious to obtain the advice of a sensible, clear-headed man like Samuel +Marsden, and he was encouraged to explain his views. First, he was +anxious for whatever would tend to reform the convicts; and having +observed that the most respectable of these were such as had married, or +whose wives had come out to them, he begged that, for the future, the +families of the married men might be sent out with them. This was +refused; but his representation that the convicts ought to be instructed +in trades was attended to, when he showed that, by this means, the whole +expense of their clothing might be saved. He had discerned the wonderful +capacities of Australia for sheep farming, and having brought home some +wool, and found it much approved by the manufacturers, he thereupon +ventured to petition the King for a couple of merino {f:221} sheep from +the royal farm at Windsor, to improve the breed. The request was after +"Farmer George's" own heart; he gave five, and thus Mr. Marsden did the +work of agricultural improvement of the Benedictines of old. He also +obtained that three more clergymen and three schoolmasters should be sent +out; and he strove hard for other institutions, chiefly for the +reformation of the female convicts, which he could not at the time get +carried out. He likewise conducted an immense correspondence on behalf +of persons who had not found any other means of communicating with their +homes; and, at the same time, he became personally acquainted with +Wilberforce, and many others of the supporters of the cause of religion. + +Above all, it was in this visit to England that Mr. Marsden laid the +foundations of the missions to New Zealand, and prepared to become the +apostle of the Maori race. These great islands of New Zealand had been +discovered and named by Tasman in 1642, and first visited by Captain Cook +in 1769. He found them inhabited by a brave, high-spirited, and quick- +witted set of natives, with as large a proportion of the fine qualities +sometimes found in a wild race as ever savages possessed, but their +tribes continually at war, and the custom of cannibalism prevailing: he +had been on friendly terms with them, and presented them with pigs, +fowls, and potatoes--no small boon in a land where there was no quadruped +bigger than a rat, and very few esculent vegetables. From this time, +whalers occasionally stopped to take in water, &c., and kept up a sort of +intercourse with the Maori, sometimes amiable, and resulting in the +natives taking voyages on board the vessels, but sometimes quarrelsome, +and characterized by mutual outrages, when, if a white man were made +prisoner, he was sure to be killed and eaten, to serve as a sort of +triumphal and sacrificial banquet. + +Nevertheless, it was plain that these Maories were of a much higher type +of humanity than the Australian natives, whom Mr. Marsden had found so +far entirely unteachable and untameable, but for whom he was trying to +establish some plan of training and protection. Such a spirit of +curiosity and enterprise possessed some of the New Zealand chieftains, +that they would come on visits to Australia, and on these occasions Mr. +Marsden always gave them a welcome at his parsonage at Paramatta. At one +time there were thirty staying there, over whom he had great influence. +Once, when he was absent from home, the nephew of one of the chiefs died, +and his uncle immediately prepared to sacrifice a slave; nor could Mrs. +Marsden prevent it, otherwise than by hiding the intended victim till her +husband came home, who made the chief understand that it was not to be +done, though the man continued to lament that his nephew was deprived of +his proper attendant in the other world, and seemed afraid to return +home, lest the father of the youth should reproach him with the omission. + +Mr. Marsden made known all that he had been able to gather of the +promising nature of the field of labour in New Zealand, and sought aid +from the Church Missionary Society, since the Society for the Propagation +of the Gospel was then unable to reach beyond the colonies. The almost +universal indifference of the upper classes to missionary labour was +terribly crippling in the matter of means; and perhaps the fact was that +the underbred class of agents of the Societies stirred up by the example +of Marshman and Carey, together with the vulgarly-sensational appeals +against which Ward's good taste so strongly protested, greatly tended to +make them incredulous. It was not till the statements of scholars and +gentlemen, like Henry Martyn and Bishop Heber, became generally known, +that the work was looked on without sarcasm, provoked by vulgarity, even +where there was great devotion. + +No clergyman could be found to undertake the mission to New Zealand; but +William Hall and John King, two laymen, undertook to act as pioneers, +with instructions to establish family worship, converse on religion with +the natives, and instruct their children; trying, at the same time, to +show the benefits of civilization, but to take care it was not confounded +with Christianity. + +These two good men, who were presently followed by Thomas Kendall, sailed +in the same ship with Mr. Marsden, when, in August 1809, he paid his last +farewell to his native land, and sailed in the _Ann_ for New South Wales. +Strange to say, this very ship contained a Maori, on his return home! He +was a young chief named Duaterra, who had, in a spirit of adventure, +embarked on board a whaler named the _Argo_, and worked as a sailor for +six months, till the captain, having no further occasion for his +services, put him ashore at Port Jackson, without payment or friends. +However, he embarked in another whaler, and worked his way home, but soon +was on board of a third English ship, the _Santa Anna_, in search of seal- +skins, and having conceived a great desire to see the country whence +these vessels came forth, and to know its chief, he engaged to come to +England in it, the captain and sailors not scrupling to promise him an +introduction to King George. When the _Santa Anna_ reached England, the +crew had grown tired of him, used him roughly and harshly, and tried to +put him off his pertinacious recollection of the promise of seeing the +king, by telling him that King George's house could not be found; while +he was worked beyond his strength, and scarcely ever suffered to go on +shore. When, in fifteen days, the cargo was all discharged, the captain +put him on board the _Ann_, to be taken back to Australia, and when he +asked for his wages, to provide some clothing, told him that the owner of +the ship would give him two muskets when he should reach Port Jackson. + +The poor fellow was little likely to reach it, for lung disease, the +great foe of the Maori, had set in; and he was in a pitiable condition +when Mr. Marsden, by chance, remarked his brown face on the forecastle, +and inquired into his history, which was confirmed by the master of the +_Ann_, and was really only a specimen of a sailor's vague promises, and +incapacity to understand that a dark skin ought to be treated with the +same justice as a white one. Duaterra was a man of much intelligence, +and even under these most unfavourable circumstances had been greatly +impressed with the civilization of England, and was so desirous of +improvement that, on arriving at Port Jackson, Mr. Marsden took him to +his farm, where he applied eagerly to the learning of husbandry. + +Duaterra was not the only Maori ill-treated by British sailors. Another +chief having been used in like manner, or worse, on board the _Boyd_, +bided his time till the ship was in the Bay of Islands, and then brought +his tribe, armed with clubs and hatchets, to revenge his sufferings. They +overpowered the crew, slaughtered and feasted upon them, burning the +ship, and only retaining as captives two women and a boy. Nevertheless, +Hall and King were ready to take the missionaries to this dangerous spot, +but Mr. Marsden thought it best to give time for the passions thus +excited to cool down. + +Meantime Governor Macquarie had come out to take charge of New South +Wales. He was a man of great determination and despotic will, and +carried out many regulations that were of exceeding benefit to the +colony, but he did not know the limits of his authority, dealt with the +chaplains as with subordinate officials, and sometimes met with staunch +opposition from the sturdy Yorkshireman, his senior chaplain, so that +they were in a state of almost constant feud throughout his government, +although at the end of his career he bore the strongest testimony to the +merits of the only man who durst resist him. The old game of Ambrose and +Theodosius, Hildebrand and Henry, Becket and Plantagenet, has to be +played over and over again, wherever the State refuses to understand that +spiritual matters lie beyond its grasp; and when Governor Macquarie +prescribed the doctrines to be preached and the hymns to be used in the +churches, and commanded the most unsuitable secular notices to be +promulgated by the clergy, if Mr. Marsden had not resisted the Church +would have been absolutely degraded. When convicts of wealth and +station, but still leading most vicious lives, were raised to the +magistrates' bench, Mr. Marsden could not but refuse to associate or act +with them, and even tendered his resignation of the magistracy, but +Macquarie would not accept it. How uncompromising these sermons were is +evidenced by an anecdote of a man, who, being stung to the quick, fancied +that the words had been individually aimed at him, and determined to be +revenged. Accordingly, as soon as he saw the chaplain riding near a +piece of water he jumped in, and when Mr. Marsden at once sprung after +him, did his utmost to drown his intended deliverer; but after a violent +struggle the Yorkshire muscles prevailed, and the man was dragged out, so +startled by the shock that he confessed his intention, and, under the +counsel he had so fiercely spurned at first, became truly penitent, and +warmly attached to Mr. Marsden, whose service he ultimately entered. + +The square short face and sturdy form of Samuel Marsden show the force, +vigour, and determination of his nature, which told on beast as well as +man. On the road between Sydney and Paramatta, he used to let the reins +lie loose on the splash-board of his gig and read, saying that "the horse +that could not keep itself up was not worth driving," and though one of +the pair he usually drove was unmanageable in other hands, nothing ever +went amiss with it when it went out with its master. Such a spirit of +determination produced an impress even on those who opposed him most, and +many works were carried out in the teeth of the difficulties thrown in +their way; such as the erection of schools, of a factory for the +reception of the female convicts, and of a sort of model farm, where it +was intended to collect, tame, and civilize the aborigines. This was at +first planned between the governor and chaplain, but when it was ready +Marsden was under Colonel Macquarie's displeasure, and was therefore +excluded from all share in the management, though the site was actually +in his own parish of Paramatta. The experiment was a failure, probably +not on this account, but from the restless character of the blacks, whose +intellect was too small, and their wants too few, to feel any comfort a +compensation for their freedom and wandering life. Mr. Marsden and the +other chaplains repeatedly tried bringing up children,--some too young to +retain any memory of their native habits, but they always relapsed into +savage life on the first opportunity, and though here and there +individuals may have better come up to the hopes of their devoted +friends, yet as a race they seem too little above the animal to be +susceptible of being raised. + +Governor Macquarie was an iron-handed man, who could not brook +opposition, or endure any scheme that did not originate with himself. So +when Mr. Marsden laid before him a project for diminishing the appalling +misery and vice in which the utter neglect of Government left the female +convicts, he acknowledged the letter, but did not act upon it. After +waiting eighteen months for him to take some measure, the chaplain sent a +statement of the condition of these poor creatures to the Colonial +Office; it was laid before Parliament, and Lord Bathurst, the Colonial +Secretary, sent a letter of inquiry to the Governor. Macquarie's fury +was intense on finding that the chaplain had dared to look above and +beyond him; and he gave a willing encouragement to whatever resisted the +attempts of Marsden at establishing some sense of religion and morality. +After refusing to accept his resignation of his post as a magistrate, he +dismissed him ignominiously, and all the underlings of Government knew +that any attack from them would be regarded with favour. A vile and +slanderous letter, full of infamous libels, not only against Samuel +Marsden, as a man and a Christian priest, but against the missionaries, +and signed "Philo-free," appeared in the _Sydney Herald_, the Government +paper, and was traced to Macquarie's own secretary! The libel was such +that Mr. Marsden felt it due to his cause to bring an action against the +publisher, and in spite of the prejudice against him, after a trial of +three days, he gained a complete victory and damages of 200 pounds; but +the newspaper published such a false and scandalous report of the trial +that he was obliged a second time to prosecute, and again obtained a +verdict in his favour. + +The officers of the 46th Regiment, on leaving the colony, presented him +with a testimonial, and an address most gratifying, amid the general +obloquy, and showing a feeling most honourable to themselves. Every one +who cared for the cause of virtue at home, especially Wilberforce, +Simeon, and Mrs. Fry, wrote encouraging letters to him; and Lord +Bathurst, on receiving a despatch from Macquarie, full of charges against +the chaplain as man, magistrate, and minister, sent out a commission of +inquiry, which, coming with fresh eyes from England, was horrified at the +abuses to which the Australian world was accustomed, found every word of +Mr. Marsden's perfectly justified, and at last extracted the following +confession from Colonel Macquarie: "The Governor admits that Mr. +Marsden's manner to him has been constantly civil and accommodating, and +that nothing in his manner could provoke the Governor's warmth. The +Governor admits his qualifications, his activity, and his unremitting +vigilance as a magistrate, and in society his cheerful disposition and +readiness to please." The report of this commission resulted, among +other more important consequences, in the unsolicited grant of 400 pounds +a year additional stipend to Mr. Marsden, "in consideration of his long, +laborious, and praiseworthy exertions in behalf of religion and +morality." This was only fitting compensation on the part of Government, +for the accusation of avarice had brought to light how many schools and +asylums, the proper work of the Government, had been built, and were +being maintained, out of the proceeds of the farm which had prospered so +excellently. + +As long as Macquarie continued in office, Mr. Marsden was out of favour, +but Sir Thomas Brisbane, who came out in 1821, was friendly with him, and +knew his value, insisting on his returning to the bench of magistrates. +He did all he could to avoid it, till the judges and almost every one in +the colony so urged him to accept that he yielded; but in 1824 a case +occurred in which a rich and insolent culprit was severely punished by +the Paramatta bench, and contrived to raise such an outrageous storm that +Sir Thomas Brisbane, who, if better disposed, was more timid than his +predecessor, dismissed the whole five magistrates. The offender's wish +had been merely to overthrow Mr. Marsden, but this was found impossible. +The whole fury of the colony again rose against this fearless man, and +accusations absolutely absurd were trumped up. One was that he allowed +his windmill to work on Sunday! The fact turned out to be, when +investigated, that somebody had once seen the sails turning on a Sunday, +some time before Mr. Marsden had purchased the land on which the mill +stood. A real act of persecution affected him more seriously, as it was +the ruin of another person in whom he was interested. There was an old +regulation forbidding the hiring out of convicts who were assigned to +residents as domestic servants, but this had been virtually repealed by +another under Macquarie, permitting such hiring out on the owners +complying with certain rules. These had been duly attended to by Mr. +Marsden in the case of one James Ring, a plumber and glazier, who, as a +reward for good conduct, was allowed to go out to work in Paramatta for +his own profit. Being ill-used and beaten by another servant, he +summoned the man before the bench of magistrates, but these, who had been +put in when Mr. Marsden and his colleagues were dismissed, immediately +committed Ring to jail for being at large. His master went to demand his +release, showing that the rules had been observed, but the magistrates +replied by levying a fine of two-and-sixpence for every day that Ring had +been at work, and as Marsden did not offer to pay, they sent a convict +constable to his house to seize property to that amount, while poor Ring +himself was sent to work in irons with the penal gang; though at that +very moment one of the magistrates had a servant, a tailor, at work in +Mr. Marsden's house; and another person had two hired convicts of another +of these justices employed at his home. In fact, it was the only +sentence of the kind ever inflicted, yet Sir Thomas Brisbane was afraid +to interfere; whereupon Mr. Marsden caused his case to be tried before +the Supreme Court, and so completely proved it, that restitution of the +illegal fine was commanded, though the spirit of persecution was still +shown in the absurdly small sum of damages allotted to him. What was +worse was that he could not procure the release of Ring, for while he was +sending an appeal to England the unhappy man lost patience, ran away from +the gang where he was working in irons on the roads, and escaped to New +Zealand, but was never heard of more. Had he but borne with his misery a +little longer he would have been restored to his kind master, for a +commission came out which a second time resulted in the complete triumph +of Mr. Marsden, and the entire discomfiture of his persecutors. + +We have gone through the history of his home troubles before entering on +the part that concerned his missionary labours. It is a painful picture, +but the staunch firmness that never failed to "boldly rebuke vice," is +too essential a part of the picture to be passed over. The Apostle of +New Zealand was the Baptist of the Herods of Australia. We return to the +year 1816, when, after some months' training in agriculture at Mr. +Marsden's farm, Duaterra had sailed for his home, but only again to +suffer from the perfidy of the master of the ship. The ordinary English +mind seemed incapable of perceiving that any faith need be kept with a +dark-coloured man, and Duaterra was defrauded of his share of the oil +procured from the whales he had helped to catch, carried past his own +shores, only two miles from the _pah_ where the master had engaged to +land him, and turned adrift in the then uninhabited Norfolk Island, where +a whaler picked him up almost starved, and brought him back to Australia. +However, Mr. Marsden found another ship, which did fulfil its +engagements, and Duaterra was at last set ashore in the Bay of Islands, +close to the northern point of New Zealand, with a supply of wheat which +Mr. Marsden had given him. + +Two years had passed, and Mr. Marsden had been trying to procure from the +Society at home a mission ship to carry teachers to the islands, visit +them, and supply their wants there, but he had not as yet succeeded, and +he therefore decided on purchasing a small one from Australia at his own +expense. This was the _Active_, the first of the mission vessels that +now bear the Cross in several quarters of the globe. In her Hall and +King sailed, and Mr. Marsden would have accompanied them but for the +express prohibition of Governor Macquarie, who, little as he loved his +senior chaplain, did not choose to lose him on what he regarded as a +scheme of almost fanatic folly. The two teachers were not to settle on +shore, nor even to sleep there, but they were to visit Duaterra, +reconnoitre the ground, and see whether it would be possible to settle +there as they had at first proposed. + +To their delight, Duaterra came eagerly to meet them, very anxious for +their assistance with his corn. He had shown it to his tribe, telling +them that hence came the bread and biscuit they had eaten in English +ships, and great had been their disappointment when neither the ear nor +the root of the wheat proved at all like these articles. However, he had +been successful in his farmer operations, but was entirely puzzled by +those of the miller, only knowing that the grain ought to be ground, and +unable to contrive it, though he had borrowed a coffee-mill from a +trading vessel. When the new comers produced a hand-mill he was +delighted. His kindred, to whom he had been a laughing-stock for +averring that biscuit had any connection with his new grass, crowded +round incredulously to watch the mill, showed unbounded amazement as the +white flour streamed forth, and when a cake was hastily made and baked in +a frying-pan they leapt about shouting and dancing for joy. Duaterra, +his uncle Hunghi, a very powerful chief, and five more, accepted an +invitation to come and confer with Mr. Marsden, and the _Active_ brought +them back to New South Wales. They were very anxious for the benefits +which they hoped to derive from intercourse with the whites, and readily +undertook to secure Hall and King from all danger. Even Governor +Macquarie was so far satisfied that he consented to let Mr. Marsden go +out and arrange the new settlement, to which he presented two cows and a +bull. These, with three horses, and some sheep and poultry, were +embarked on board the _Active_, with a motley collection of passengers, +the eight Maories, the three missionaries with their wives and children, +a sawyer, a smith, Mr. Marsden, and another gentleman named John Lydiard +Nicholas, the master of the vessel, his wife, son, and crew, which +included two Tahitians, and lastly a runaway convict who had secreted +himself on board. Their arrival might have been rendered dangerous by +the conduct of a whaling crew at Wangaroa, in the northern island of New +Zealand, who, by way of retaliation for the massacre of the _Boyd's_ ship- +company, had murdered a chief named Tippahee with all his family, without +waiting to find out whether he had been concerned in the slaughter. +Nevertheless, these brave men were ready to dare to the utmost, and the +fame of Mr. Marsden, "the friend of the Maori," had preceded him, and the +_Active_ was welcomed with presents of fish and visits from the natives. + +They found that Tippahee's people at Wangaroa had accused the tribe of +the Bay of Islands of leading the English to murder their chief, that +there was in consequence a deadly feud, and that several desperate +battles had been fought. Marsden knew that if he came as the friend of +Duaterra and his tribe alone, party spirit would entirely alienate the +rest of the islanders, and he therefore determined at once to prove that +he came not as the ally of one party, but as the friend of both. He +therefore determined to prove to the Wangaroans his confidence in them by +not only landing among them unarmed, but actually spending the night +among them. His friend Mr. Nicholas accompanied him in this, one of the +most intrepid actions ever performed, when it is remembered that this +tribe consisted of the cannibals who had eaten his own countrymen, and +had of late been freshly provoked. The two gentlemen supped in Hunghi's +hut on potatoes and fish, and then quietly walked over to the hostile +camp, where they met with a friendly welcome. One of the natives who had +sailed in an English vessel was able to interpret, and with his +assistance Mr. Marsden explained the purpose of the missionaries, and the +desirableness of peace. Maories appreciate being spoken to at length and +with due respect, and they listened politely, making speeches in their +own fashion in return, until towards eleven, when most had gone to rest. +The two Englishmen wrapped themselves in their great coats and lay down, +the interpreter bidding them lie near him. It was a clear night, +countless stars shining above, the sea in front smooth, all around a +forest of spears stuck upright in the earth, and on the ground the +multitude of human beings in their scanty loose garb of tapa cloth lying +fast asleep, while the man who had come as an apostle to them spent the +night in thought and prayer. Such a scene can never be forgotten! + +In the morning the ship's boat came to fetch him off, and he took the +chiefs back with him to the ship to receive presents and be introduced to +those who were to live among them. There was also a formal +reconciliation with Duaterra and his tribe, and the wondering Maories +took their travelled brother into high estimation when they really beheld +the animals they had imagined to be mere creations of his fancy, and were +specially amazed at the sight of Mr. Marsden mounted on horseback. + +Duaterra, meantime, of his own accord, was making preparations for the +first Sunday service held in New Zealand. It was likewise the Christmas +Day of 1815, and Mr. Marsden felt it a most appropriate moment for his +first proclamation of the good tidings of great joy among this most +distant of the nations. Duaterra's ideas of a church consisted in +enclosing about half an acre of land with a fence, and erecting in the +midst a reading-desk three feet, and a pulpit six feet high, both made +out of canoes, covered with either black native cloth or some canvas he +had brought from Port Jackson, and ranging near them some bottoms of old +canoes, as seats for the English part of the congregation, and on the +hill above he hoisted, of his own accord, the British flag. + +On the Sunday morning Duaterra, his uncle, and Koro Koro, another chief +who had been in Australia, all appeared in regimentals given them by +Governor Macquarie, swords by their sides, and switches in their hands, +and all their men drawn up behind them. When the English had entered, +the chiefs arranged their tribes, and Mr. Marsden began by singing the +Old Hundredth Psalm, the first note of praise to the Creator that ever +rung from the bays and rocks of New Zealand. Then he went through the +Christmas Day service, his twenty-two English joining in it, and Koro +Koro making signs with his switch to the natives when to stand and when +to sit. Mr. Marsden ended with a sermon on the Angelic greeting, and +when the natives complained that they could not understand, Duaterra +promised to explain afterwards, and this he performed--it may be feared, +after a fashion of his own, for as yet he was very ignorant, although +very acute. + +Mr. Marsden's principle was not that of Eliot, to begin with the faith, +then come to civilization. He thought that the benefits of civilization +would lead to the acceptance of the faith; and, besides, he had only +laymen to act as teachers; and, as his system was that of the Church, he +could only employ them in laying foundations, in preparing instead of +admitting converts, while his own duties only permitted of his making +flying visits. So he established his settlers to show the benefits of +peace, industry, and morality, and thus bring the natives to look higher. +Seed, tools, clothing, he assisted them in procuring and using, but his +smith was expressly forbidden ever to make or repair any warlike weapon, +or the settlers ever to barter muskets or powder for any possession of +whatever value with the natives. He likewise strove, in his +conversations with the chiefs, to show the evils of their vices in such a +manner as their shrewd minds could enter into, trying to make them see +the disgrace and horror of cannibalism, and the inconveniences of +polygamy, thus hoping to raise their standard. + +In order that the mission settlement might have some security, he +purchased a plot of land in the name of the Church Missionary Society, +drawing up a regular deed of sale, to which his signature was affixed, +together with a likeness of the tattooed pattern of the Maori chieftain's +face. Duaterra walked about with him in delight, talking of the time +when the church should be built, and planning the spot; but the poor +fellow had probably never recovered the injury his constitution had +suffered, for he fell ill, and his state was soon hopeless. It was a +great grief to Mr. Marsden, who had reckoned much on his assistance, and +found it hard to acquiesce in the will of Providence, more especially as +the poor young man was not yet so entirely a Christian as to warrant +baptizing him. He begged Mr. Marsden to pray with him, but he kept his +heathen priest at hand, and his mind was tossed to and fro between the +new truth and the old superstition. In this state Mr. Marsden was forced +to leave him, four days before his death, when Kendall, who visited him +to the last, was shocked at the savage manner in which his relatives +gashed themselves, to show their grief, and far more when his favourite +wife stole out and hung herself, according to a frequent custom, regarded +as rather honourable than otherwise! + +Soon after his death fresh wars broke out, and a hostile tribe encamped +near the mission settlement, loudly threatening to kill and devour the +inhabitants, who, for months together, had to keep watch day and night, +put their children to bed in their clothes ready for instant flight, and +had their boat always afloat with oars and sails; but they remained +steadfast, and the danger passed over. + +The _Active_ plied backwards and forwards, supplying them with the +necessaries of life, and bringing guests to the farm at Paramatta, where +Mr. Marsden provided instruction for them. Two, named Tooi and Teterree, +were sent in charge of Mr. Nicholas to visit England in a King's ship, +where they had learnt to speak English tolerably, and to follow the +customs of civilized society. They were gentle and intelligent, and +eager to learn, but no one could reckon on what would interest or excite +them. They were taken to see St. Paul's Cathedral, which did not seem to +strike them at all; but, as they were walking along Fleet Street, they +came to a sudden stand before a hairdresser's shop, screaming out, +"Women, women," as they beheld the display of waxen busts, which they +thought did credit to the Pakeha, or English, style of preserving dried +human heads! Like Duaterra, their great anxiety was to see King George; +but, in 1817, the apology recorded in Teterree's English letter was only +too true,--"I never see the King of England, he very poorly; and Queen +Charlotte very poorly too." + +On their return to Paramatta, Mr. Marsden made a second visit to New +Zealand, taking them back, and also going to instal some fresh +missionaries and mechanics on a new settlement. There was great +competition among the chiefs; for the possession of a Pakeha, or +Englishman, was greatly coveted as a means of bringing the material good +things of life, and Mr. Marsden was eagerly assured that there was no +danger of the English being killed and eaten, since the Maori flesh was +much sweeter, because the whites ate so much salt. There was as yet no +convert, but Mr. Marsden's resolution by no means failed him; he +believed--and he was right--that kindness, truth, and uprightness, in +those who could confer temporal benefits, would, in time, lead these +intelligent men to appreciate the spiritual blessings that were offered +to them. + +Presents of hoes, with which to plant the sweet potato, were greatly +appreciated. Hunghi's head wife was working away with a wooden spade, +though perfectly blind, and was delighted with the new instrument. +Indeed, Hunghi was one of the most eager friends of the mission, though +the splendidly tattooed heads of his enemies decorated his abode, and he +defended cannibalism, on the ground that animals preyed upon one another, +and that the gods devoured each other. His manners had all the high-bred +courtesy that marked the chief, and he was a noble-looking creature, full +of native majesty and gentleness. Every hope was entertained of him, and +he was sent, in 1820, to visit England, where he had an interview with +George IV., and received presents of weapons from him. But the moral +Hunghi brought home was, "There is but one king in England. There shall +be but one in New Zealand." And this consummation he endeavoured to +bring about by challenging a hostile chief whom he met on his way back +from Sydney to New Zealand. He gained the battle, by arranging his men +in the form of a wedge, and likewise by the number of muskets with which +he was able to arm them. When the chief himself fell by his hand, he +drank his fresh blood, and devoured his eye, in the belief that it thus +became a star in the firmament, and conferred glory on himself; and the +whole battle-field was covered with the ovens in which his followers +cooked the flesh of the prisoners whom they did not keep as slaves! + +This horrible scene took place while Mr. Marsden was in Australia, but he +could hardly have prevented it. Probably the chief's ferocity, so long +repressed, was in a state of reaction; for, though the missionaries were +not molested, their efforts seemed lost. Hunghi declared that he wished +his children to learn to fight, not to read; and the Maoris insisted on +being paid for any service to the missionaries in fire-arms and powder. +When this was refused they became insolent and mischievous, intruding +into the houses, demanding food, breaking down the fences, and stealing +whatever they could seize; and there was reason to fear that any +excitement might lead to absolute danger. In this crisis some of the +missionaries failed, sold ammunition, and otherwise were wanting in the +testimony they were intended to maintain. The tidings determined Mr. +Marsden on making a fourth visit to New Zealand: and this time he was +able to take with him a clergyman, the Rev. Henry Williams, who lived to +become Bishop of a Maori district. It was nine years since the first +landing there, and, in spite of all disappointments, he found many of the +natives much improved, and the friendly chiefs quite able to understand +his prohibition against the sale of powder, although they were at first +inclined to be angry at his having sent home a missionary on that +account. The other missionaries expressed repentance for their errors, +but he was not thoroughly satisfied with them, though allowing much for +their isolation from Christian society and ordinances. + +A Wesleyan mission had been established at Wangaroa, which he visited and +assisted, and finding Mr. Leigh, the chief minister, very ill, offered +him a passage to Sydney for advice, but this ship had scarcely weighed +anchor before a great storm came on; the ship was lost, and the crew and +passengers had to land in boats, and return for two months longer before +a ship could be found to bring them home, and in this time he did all in +his power to bring the Maories to agree to some settled form of +government under a single chief; but though any chief, especially Hunghi, +was quite willing to be that one, nobody would be anything secondary, and +thus the project failed. He also set the missionaries the task of +endeavouring to collect a fixed vocabulary and grammar, which might be +available in future translations. The great kindness shown him at his +shipwreck had greatly touched his heart, especially in contrast with the +usage he was meeting with in Australia, for this was in the height of the +persecution about Ring, which detained him at home for more than two +years. During this time Mr. Williams was joined by his brother William, +also a priest of the English Church, but the wars of the Maories had +become so desperate that the peril of the missionaries had been much +increased; indeed, the Wesleyans had had the whole of their premises +ravaged, so that the minister came as a fugitive to find a refuge at +Paramatta, as a guest of Mr. Marsden. + +That brave soldier of his Lord decided on going at once to the scene of +peril. Though sixty-three years old, he sailed as soon as possible in +H.M.S. _Rainbow_, but found peace restored and the danger to his missions +over. He therefore came back, after remaining only five days at his +labours in New South Wales, to the superintendence of the translation of +several chapters of Holy Scripture, and to the instruction of the young +Maories at the sort of college he had tried from the first to keep up at +Paramatta, but which he was forced to abandon, since the delicate lungs +of the Maories could not endure the parching dryness of the Australian +climate. + +By the time he went again to New Zealand, in 1830, Hunghi had been killed +in battle, and the nation was fast dwindling between war and a disease +resembling the influenza. It was estimated that in twenty years the +numbers had diminished by one-half, and in the meantime English settlers +were entering on the lands so numerously that it was evident that before +long the islands would be annexed to the British crown. Mr. Marsden had +hoped at first that this brave and intelligent people might have been +Christianized and civilized, so as to stand alone, but finding that their +deadly feuds and internecine savagery rendered this impossible, he +thought it best to prepare them to come willingly under a curb that he +trusted would be no more than beneficial. + +He found the missionaries much alarmed, for a horrible battle had just +been fought, caused by the misconduct and insulting behaviour of the crew +of an English ship. One tribe had taken their part, another had risen to +revenge the affront, and a great mutual slaughter had taken place; +victory had remained with the avengers, and though the offending crew had +sailed away, it was apprehended that all the English might suffer in +their stead. There was not an hour to be lost. Mr. Marsden and Mr. +Williams crossed the bay and entered the camp of the English allies, +where they were affectionately greeted, and allowed to carry proposals of +peace to the victorious party, but there they met with a less friendly +reception, being told that they were answerable for the lives of those +who had fallen in the battle, since it had been occasioned by the +misconduct of their countrymen. When Mr. Marsden promised to write to +England to prevent the return of the offenders, the savages desired he +would do no such thing, since they only desired vengeance. However, they +agreed to hold a meeting with the hostile tribe, and endeavour to come to +terms. Early the next morning thirty-six canoes arrived opposite to the +mission station, some containing forty men; and notice was given that if +the commissioners appointed on either side did not come to terms, the +white men would be the sacrifice. + +The day was spent in conferences, but at night the chief of the hostile +tribe clove a stick in two, in token that his anger was broken, and the +two parties joined in a hideous war-dance, frequently firing their +muskets; but peace was ratified, and Mr. Marsden found that real progress +had been made among the natives around the stations. Many had become +true and sincere Christians, among them the widow and daughters of +Hunghi. A Maori Christian woman was married by Mr. Marsden to an +Englishman. She made all the responses in good English, and appeared in +decent English clothes of her own sewing. He also married a young man, +free, and of good family, to a girl who had been a slave taken in war, +who was redeemed from her master for five blankets, an axe, and an iron +pot. A number of natives lived round the missions, attending the +services, and working with a good deal of industry and intelligence, and +an increasingly large proportion of these were openly baptized +Christians. + +A seventh visit was paid by Mr. Marsden in 1837, when seventy-two years +of age. On his return an officer in the ship observed: "I think, sir, +you may look on this as your last visit to New Zealand." "No," he +answered, "I intend to be off again in about six weeks; the people in the +colony are becoming too fine for me now. I am too old to preach before +them, but I can talk to the New Zealanders." He adhered to his purpose, +and his daughter, Martha, who had been with him on his last voyage, +accompanied him again in this. There had been some quarrels with the +crews of ships, but the natives always separated Mr. Marsden from the +misdeeds of his people, and the old chiefs were delighted to see him. +"Stay with us and learn our language," one of them said: "become our +father and our friend, and we will build you a house." "No," replied +another, "we cannot build a house good enough, but we will hire Europeans +to do it for us." + +Wherever he went, he was hailed as the friend of the Maori, and he made a +progress through all the mission stations, which were growing up +numerously, and whence Christianity was fast spreading by the agency of +the Maories themselves. A chief named Koromona, made captive in Hunghi's +great war, who had become blind, had been converted by Mr. William +Williams, and soon learnt the whole Liturgy, with many chapters of the +Bible, and hymns, by heart, and was fit to be sent as a teacher among the +other tribes. Sunday was generally observed, cannibalism and polygamy +were retreating into the more remote and heathenish regions, and there +was every token that the noble Apostle of New Zealand had verily +conquered a country and people for the Church of God. Terrible wars +among the tribes, provoking all the old ferocities, still were liable to +arise, and the whaling crews, among whom might be found some of the most +unscrupulous, licentious, and violent of mankind, continued to take +advantage of there being no regular jurisdiction to commit outrages, +which spread corruption or provoked retaliation, and for this there was +no remedy but annexation to the British crown, which the influence of the +mission was leading the natives themselves to desire, though this was not +carried out till after Mr. Marsden's death. + +This last visit took place in 1837. By that time the persecutions and +troubles of Mr. Marsden's colonial life had been outlived,--though even +as late as 1828, he writes about a pamphlet which actually charged him +with inflicting torture to extract confession! But his character +outweighed all such absurd charges, and as a more respectable class of +settlers flowed into the colony he was better appreciated. What the tone +must have been may be guessed from the fact that when, in 1825, Governor +Darling began regularly to attend church with his wife and family, it was +regarded as an unexampled act in the supreme magistrate! + +Mr. Marsden lost his wife in 1835, but his daughter did her best to +minister to his happiness, and was his companion and assistant in all he +undertook. Once, when she was driving with him, two of the most terrible +of the bushrangers, who were feared by the whole country, broke forth +upon them, seized the horse, and holding a loaded pistol to Mr. Marsden's +breast, bade her empty his pockets into their hands, threatening to shoot +them both if either said a word. Nevertheless, the fearless old man +continued to remonstrate with them on their wicked life, telling them +that he should see them again upon the gallows, and though they charged +him with savage threats not to follow them with his eyes, he turned round +and continued to warn them of the consequences of a life like theirs. In +a few months' time they were captured, and it did actually fall to his +lot to attend them to the scaffold. + +Yet, though of this fearless mould, he was one of the most loveable of +men; everyone on his farm, as well as all little children, and the +savages he conversed with, all loved him passionately. Some young +Maories, whom he brought back on his last voyage, used to race after his +gig to catch his eye, and when they took hold of any book, used to point +upwards, as if whatever was associated with Matua, as they called him, +must lead to heaven. He was fond of playing with children, and never was +so happy as when he yearly collected the schoolchildren of Paramatta on +his lawn, for a feast and games after it. + +In 1834, the Rev. William Grant Broughton, one of the clergy of +Australia, took home an account of the spiritual destitution of New South +Wales, and the effect was that in 1836 a bishopric was there created, and +the first presentation given to him. Some thought that this was a +passing over of the chaplain who had laboured so hard for so many years, +but Mr. Marsden himself only observed that it was better thus: he was too +old a man, and it was with sincere goodwill that he handed over the +charge he had held for more than forty years, so that only the parish of +Paramatta remained to him, and there he continued his ministry in church, +to the sick, and among the poor to the end. + +On the last Sunday of his life he seemed in his usual health; but for the +first time he did not take part in the service, and at the celebration he +seemed to be so overcome by his feelings as not to move from his place to +communicate, when, after a pause, his son-in-law went to him with the +sacred elements. There were many tears shed by those who foreboded that +his hand would never administer to them again. On the Tuesday he set out +for a short journey, but apparently he took a chill on the way to the +house of his friend, Mr. Styles, at Windsor, and arrived unwell; +erysipelas in the head came on, with a stupor of the faculties, and he +died on Saturday, the 12th of May, 1838,--a man much tried, but resolute, +staunch, and gallant, and, in the end, blessedly successful. + +Two years later, New Zealand, by the wish of the Maories themselves, was +added to the British dominions, a bishopric was erected there, and, did +not our bounds forbid us to speak of those who are still among us, we +could tell much of the development, under Bishop Selwyn, of Samuel +Marsden's work: though, alas! there is a tale to tell that disgraces, not +our Government, but our people,--a story of lust of land and of gain, and +of pertinacious unfairness towards the Maori, which has alienated a large +number of that promising and noble people, led to their relapse into the +horrors from which they had been freed, overthrown their flourishing +Church in favour of a horrid, bloodthirsty superstition, and will +probably finish its work by the destruction of the gallant race that once +asked our protection. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. JOHN WILLIAMS, THE MARTYR OF ERROMANGO. + + +Of Welsh extraction, and respectable though humble parentage, the pioneer +and martyr of Polynesia, John Williams, was born at Tottenham High Court, +London, in the year 1796. His parents were Nonconformists, and he was +educated at a "commercial" school at Edmonton, where the teaching did not +aim at much beyond writing and accounts, all that was supposed, at that +time, to be needful for a young tradesman. The chief point remembered of +his childhood was an aptitude and handiness which caused all little +breakages to be kept for John to repair,--a small quality, but one of no +small importance in the life of a missionary, who often finds ready +resource essential to safety and to influence. + +His mother was a good and religious woman, whose one great purpose in +choosing a situation was to place him in a family where he might be +influenced for good; and she was fortunate in finding a furnishing +ironmonger whose care of his apprentices exactly met her views. While +serving his time, John Williams was observed to delight in the hard +practical work of the forge far more than in the easier and more popular +employments of the shop, and he was always eager to be sent out to +execute repairs, a task that was rather despised by his companions. He +was not regarded as a religious youth till he was about eighteen; he +considered that a serious direction had been given to his mind one Sunday +evening, when his master's wife, finding him just about to enter a tea- +garden with some idle companions, persuaded him to come with her to +chapel, where he heard an impressive sermon that gave a colour to his +life. + +After this, distinct habits of piety were formed, Williams was admitted +to full membership at the chapel called the Tabernacle, and, together +with others of the more earnest young men of the congregation, formed a +society called "The Youths' Class," one of those associations which, +under whatever form, have, in all ages of Christianity, been found a most +powerful and salutary means of quickening, uniting, and strengthening the +young by the sense of fellowship. The lads met every Monday evening for +discussion, and every eighteenth Monday was devoted to special prayer. +The minister of the chapel did not naturally preside, but would often +look in, say a few words on the subject in hand, and thus keep watch that +the debates were properly conducted. + +It was through this pastor, Mr. Wilks, that John Williams first imbibed +his interest in the missionary cause,--an interest that gradually grew +upon him so much, that in his twentieth year he decided upon devoting +himself to the task. Good Mr. Wilks freely gave the young ironmonger +assistance in supplying the deficiencies of his education, and in July +1816 he was presented to the directors of the London Missionary Society, +and passed an examination, after which he was accepted, before he was out +of his apprenticeship. According to rule, so young and so insufficiently +instructed a man would ordinarily have had some years of training before +actually undertaking to labour among the heathen, but there was at the +moment an urgent call for aid from various branches, and it was decided, +by a special vote of the committee, to send him out as soon as possible +to the South Sea Islands. His master willingly released him from the +seven months that remained of his term; nor had his time of +apprenticeship been by any means wasted, for the mechanical skill he had +acquired was of great importance to his success as a civilizer. Marriage +was always recommended to the missionaries of the Baptist Societies, and +Williams's fate was no sooner decided than he chose Mary Channer, a +constant attendant at the Tabernacle, and a woman helpful, kind, and +brave, as befitted a missionary's wife. + +A great meeting was soon after held, as a sort of dedication of the new +labourers, nine in number, who were thence to go forth,--five to South +Africa, four to Polynesia. Among the Africans was Robert Moffat, a name +memorable, both on his own account and as the father-in-law of +Livingstone. An elderly minister stood forth and questioned the young +men in the face of the congregation on their faith, their opinions, their +motives, and their intentions; and then a Bible was solemnly presented to +each by an elder minister, John Angell James, of Birmingham, one of the +most able and highly reputed Nonconformists then living; and another +minister, Dr. Waugh, addressing himself to Williams, who was much the +youngest of the nine, said, "Go, my dear young brother, and if your +tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, let it be with telling poor +sinners the love of JESUS CHRIST; and if your arms drop from their +shoulders, let it be with knocking at men's hearts to gain admittance for +Him there." + +The impression never left John Williams, and the injunction was fulfilled +to the utmost of his power. He was a man of strong and vigorous frame, +well fitted to encounter the perils of climate; and with much enterprise, +hardihood, and ingenuity. That his mind was in some degree narrowed by +want of education, perhaps mattered less in the peculiar field of his +labours, where he was seldom brought in contact with wide questions. He +had the excellent quality of ready sympathy and adaptability to the +persons around him, whether civilized or savage, and was so good-natured +and yielding in unimportant matters, that the strength and firmness with +which he would stand up for whatever he viewed as a matter of conscience, +always took his opponents by surprise; but it was always long before this +point was reached, and he was perhaps too ready to give up when it was +judgment rather than right and wrong that came into play. Williams's +face, as given in the portrait attached to his "History of Missionary +Enterprise in the South Sea," curiously agrees with his history. There +is much power about the brow, much enterprise in the strong, somewhat +aquiline nose, great softness and sweetness in the eyes, but the +thickness of the lips and chin betray the want of cultivation; indeed, +the curious manner in which the mouth is pursed up, would seem to +indicate that an eager temper naturally kept it unclosed, and that the +restraint of sitting for a picture rendered the expression uncomfortably +prim. + +The Polynesian Mission on which John Williams was sent, had been +commenced in 1796 by the London Missionary Society, partly in consequence +of the death-bed entreaties of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, who had +been exceedingly interested by the accounts of the South Sea Islands in +Captain Cook's Voyages. The subscriptions amounted to 10,000_l._, and +were sufficient to purchase a ship called the _Duff_, which was commanded +by that Captain Wilson whose wonderful history has been noticed in the +lives of the Serampore body. Twenty-five missionaries were taken out, +and received at Tahiti with grotesque dances and caperings. The +dwelling, which had been erected when Captain Bligh was collecting bread- +fruit, was given to them, and several were placed there, while the _Duff_ +carried others to the Friendly and Marquesan Islands, and, after visiting +them all a second time, returned home for reinforcements. + +On the next voyage, however, with a different captain, the _Duff_ was +captured by a French privateer, the captain of which, when he understood +the purpose of the voyage, greatly regretted what he had done, and +declared that he would rather have given 500_l._ than have interfered +with it. He landed the missionaries at Monte Video, and assisted them in +obtaining a passage home, in the course of which they were again captured +by a Portuguese, whose treatment of them was a wretched contrast to that +of the friendly Frenchman. + +Meantime, many disasters had befallen the unassisted missionaries, who +suffered from the hostility of a section of the natives, though the king, +Pomare, always protected them. One of their number insisted on marrying +a native woman still unconverted, separated from his brethren, and was +soon after murdered by the natives. Another was lost in a still sadder +way. He reasoned himself into doubts of the Divine power and of the +immortality of the soul, and finally left the island, nor was he heard of +again for many years, though prayer was constantly made for him, and at +length it became known that he had wandered to Serampore, where the +influence of Marshman and Carey had prevailed to bring back his faith, +but he had since been lost at sea. What wonderful glimpses we get of +strange wild lives! + +But the Tahitian Mission had not included any one leading character, so +that it may be enough to state that, after years of patient effort and +often of danger, the missionaries beheld King Pomare II., the successor +of him whom they had found on the throne, solemnly burn his idols, and +profess himself a Christian. + +From that time the island has been Christian. The standard of morality +has been by no means as high as it ought to be, and there is much +disappointment in dealing with any nation, with none more so than with an +indolent and voluptuous people, in a climate disposing them to inertness, +and in a part subject to the visits of lawless seamen of all nations. +However, the mission kept its hold of Tahiti, until the French, in 1844, +began a series of aggressions, which ended in their establishing a +protectorate over the islands, introducing their Church, and doing all in +their power to discourage the London Mission, to which, however, many of +the natives still adhere. + +This, however, is anticipating. When the five young men sailed in 1817, +and after a kindly welcome on their way from Mr. Marsden at Sydney, +things were in the full blush of promise. Eight hundred people +worshipped at the chapel of Erineo, near the landing-place. It was a +circular building, a good deal like a haystack, with walls of stakes, a +thatch of large leaves, and a desk in the centre of the floor for the +preacher. This was his first station, and whilst there he gave his +assistance in building a ship, to enable King Pomare to open a trade with +New South Wales. He stayed in this place till he had become familiar +with the language, and his first child was born there. + +Not long after some allies of Pomare, from Huahime, struck with the +benefits produced among the Tahitians by the missionaries, entreated that +some might be sent to them likewise; and Williams, his wife and child, +with two other married pairs, and an interpreter, were told off for the +mission. + +They were welcomed eagerly, had oval huts assigned to them, and no lack +of pork and yams, but Mr. Williams did not long remain there, being +called away by an invitation from Raiatea. This is one of the loveliest +of tropical islands, the largest of the Society Islands. Huge mountain +masses rise from the centre of an isle, about fifty miles in +circumference, and give it the grandeur of the rock, the precipice, and +the waterfall; but all around and below, the sides are clothed with the +exquisite verdure of the southern clime, the palm, the bread-fruit, the +yam, and all that can delight the eye; and both this and a little +satellite islet are fenced in by an encircling coral reef, within which +is clear still deep water, fit for navies to ride in, and approachable +through numerous inlets in its natural breakwater. It was a spot of much +distinction, containing the temple of the god Oro, who was revered by all +the surrounding groups, as the god of war, to whom children were +dedicated to make them courageous. There dreadful human sacrifices were +offered, concluded by cannibal feasts. Whenever such a sacrifice was +required, the priest and king despatched messengers to the chiefs of the +districts around to inquire whether they had a broken calabash, or a +rotten cocoa-nut. These terms indicated a man whom they would be willing +to give up. The victim was then either knocked down with a blow of a +small stone at the back of his head, or else speared in his own house; +and when one man of a family had thus been sacrificed, all the rest had +the same horrid preference. + +The last human victim of Tahiti was verily a martyr. He was designated +because he had begun to pray. The emissaries came to his house and asked +his wife where he was. Then, borrowing from her the ironwood stick used +for breaking open cocoa-nuts, they went after him, and knocked him down +with it, binding him hand and foot, and placing him in a long basket made +of cocoa-nut leaves. His wife rushed forward, but was kept away, as the +touch or breath of a woman is considered to pollute a sacrifice. The +man, however, recovered the blow, and spoke out boldly: "Friends, I know +what you intend to do with me. You are about to kill me, and offer me up +as a _tabae_ to your savage gods. I know it is vain for me to beg for +mercy, for you will not spare my life. You may kill my body, but you +cannot hurt my soul, for I have begun to pray to JESUS." + +On hearing this, his bearers set him on the ground, put one stone under +his head, and beat out his brains with another, and thus died the last +Tahitian sacrifice, truly baptized in his own blood. The other gods +besides Oro were numerous, and there were also many animals supposed to +be possessed with familiar spirits. A chief was once in the cabin of a +ship where there was a talking cockatoo: the moment the bird spoke he +rushed away in the utmost terror, leapt overboard, and swam for his life, +convinced that he had heard the captain's demon. + +The chief of Raiatea was named Tamatoa, and was a man of considerable +power. Two years previously the Tahitian king, Pomare, nineteen of his +subjects, and a missionary named Wilson had been driven thither in a +canoe by stress of weather; and what Tamatoa had heard from them had so +impressed him that he had persuaded his people to build a place of +worship, observe the Sunday, and meet to repeat together the scant +lessons they had been able to receive during the visit of the Tahitians. +This led to a resolve to entreat for the presence of a missionary among +them; and the chieftain himself came to Huahime to make the request. +Williams longed to go, but, as the youngest minister, waited till all the +rest had decided to the contrary, and then gladly accepted his lot to go +with Tamatoa. There was a joyous welcome, and a feast was brought, +consisting of five pigs for Mr. Williams, five for his wife, and five for +their baby-boy; besides crates of yams, bananas, and cocoa-nuts, which, +however, they were not required to eat themselves, only to see eaten in +their house. + +The islanders were ready to give up their idols and call themselves +Christians, to hear Mr. Williams preach, and to observe the Sabbath; +being, in fact, like the Red Indians of Eliot's experience, so idle that +a day of no work made no difference to them. Their indolence, the effect +of their enervating climate, was well-nigh invincible; they preferred +hunger to trouble, and withal their customs were abhorrent to Christian +morality. Most islets of the South Seas have much the same experience. +The people, taken on their best side, show themselves gentle and +intelligent, and their chiefs are dignified gentlemen; but there is a +horrible background of ferocity and barbarism--often cannibalism. It +generally proves comparatively easy to obtain a recognition of +Christianity, and the cruelty and violence are usually laid aside; but to +bring purity and morality to bear upon these races is a much more +difficult thing, and the apparent failures have been at once the grief +and reproach of missionaries, while those who assail them with scoffs +forget the difficulty of dealing with the inveterate customs of a whole +people, in a luxurious climate, and with little or no inducement to such +industrial occupations or refinements of mind, as are the best +auxiliaries of religion in raising the tone. + +Lands where cold is unknown, and where fruit grows as freely as in +Paradise, offer no inducement to labour; and the missionaries, striving +in vain to lead the people to think occupation a duty, were deserted as +being troublesome when they bade them to work. A school which the +Williams's set up was more popular; the Polynesians had no lack of +brains, and reading and writing were pleasanter than digging and +building, or carrying logs. + +Thinking that examples of the civilization that the islanders had never +seen would do more for their advance than anything else, Mr. Williams, +with such assistance as he could obtain from the natives, built himself a +house with eight rooms, sash windows with Venetian blinds, a verandah, +and a most beautiful garden, and filled it with polished furniture, made +by his own clever mechanical hands. With the assistance of one or two +other missionaries who joined him, he succeeded in thus exciting a +certain emulation among the natives. The king had a house built for him +like that of the white men, others followed, and thus a very important +step was made out of the degraded customs encouraged by the old oval +huts. The coral, made into lime, afforded excellent material for +plaster, and trades began to be fostered among the natives; they became +carpenters, blacksmiths, plasterers, boat-builders, and acquired some +ideas of agriculture. By the end of the second year, the chapel and +school stood in the midst of white cottages; the population still wore +clothing made of their own bark cloth, but in imitation of that of their +teachers, and the open savagery of the island was gone. The congregation +assembled three times on Sunday, and there was family prayer in almost +every house. Cannibalism was ended, and so was infanticide, one of the +most terrible customs of the island, for there was scarcely a woman above +thirty who had not put to death several of her infants. Much had been +done, although the good man to whom so much was owing did not feel +satisfied that the profession in many cases was thoroughly deep, and he +still knew of many an inveterate evil, that only time, discipline, and +above all heartfelt religion, could uproot. + +A large chapel, built with all the taste and ornament that he could +achieve, was erected, the sides wattled, the roof supported by pillars of +tree-trunks, and the floors and pews, the pulpit and desk, which were all +to which the young ironmonger at the Tabernacle attached the notion of a +worthy place of worship, were solid and well finished. He even fashioned +some chandeliers for evening service, and these so astonished the +Raiateans, that on first entering the chapel, they broke out into a cry +of amaze, "Oh, Britannia! Britannia!" and gave the name to England of +"the land whose customs were without end." + +The opening of this chapel was one great step in Mr. Williams's work; the +next was the inducing Tamatoa and the other chiefs to bind themselves to +govern by a code of Christian laws, not complex, but based on the Ten +Commandments, and agreeing with those newly established by Pomare in +Tahiti, but with this difference, that Williams ventured to introduce +trial by jury, in the hope that it would tend to qualify the despotic +power of the chiefs. Tamatoa's brother, Pahi, was appointed judge, and +the community was arranged on a Christian basis. The congregation was +likewise put under regular discipline after the example of the +Independents in England, with ruling pastors and elders appointed from +among the people; and an auxiliary Missionary Society was formed for +assisting in the conversion of the other isles. + +Just as this was thoroughly arranged, in about the fourth year of his +mission, Williams suffered from a malady which seemed to him and his +companion, Mr. Threlkeld, to necessitate his return home. The +information was received by the islanders with something like despair. +Old King Tamatoa came to him and said, "Viriamu, I have been thinking you +are a strange man. JESUS did not take care of His body. He did not even +shrink from death, and now you are afflicted you are going to leave us." + +Prayer was offered all over the island, and in the midst of all the +preparations for departure the disease began to ameliorate, and Mr. +Williams recovered for a time, though the next year a recurrence of the +attack made him resolve upon a visit to Sydney, not only for the sake of +advice, but in the hope of establishing a market for the produce of the +Society Isles, which might give a motive to the industry he was so +anxious to promote, and likewise to obtain a vessel to be used for the +missions. + +Two Raiatean teachers instructed by him were landed at the island of +Aitutake on the way, after the chiefs had pledged themselves to support +and protect them, and the voyage was continued to Australia, where there +was as usual a warm reception from Mr. Marsden. It was a very important +visit. Parts of the Holy Scriptures, catechisms, and spelling-books, +were printed; the ship, with the assistance of the Society of which +Marsden was agent, was purchased, a schooner of ninety tons, and named +_Te Matama_, the Beginner; a person named Scott secured, at 150_l._ per +annum, to instruct the natives in the cultivation of sugar and tobacco, +and stores laid in of presents for the natives, clothes for the women, +shoes, stockings, tea-kettles, tea-cups, saucers, and tea. The natives +had a great liking for tea, and as they could not cherish cups and +saucers without shelves to put them on, all this was an indirect mode of +introducing European comforts and decencies. As to shoes, there can be +no spade husbandry with an unshod foot, and thus the system of hoeing- +women doing all the labour was attacked. + +On the way back to Raiatea, Mr. Williams visited New Zealand, but not at +a favourable moment, for the chiefs were at war, and he had to hurry +away. The cargo was gladly welcomed at Raiatea, and the desire to +purchase European dress was found a great incentive to industry. + +In 1823, Mr. Williams began a series of missionary voyages. The events +of these have almost too much sameness for description, though full of +interest in detail. The people, when taken on their right side, were +almost always ready to admit teachers, and adopt certain externals, +though the true essentials of Christianity were of much slower growth. +Our limits prevent us from giving much of detail of his intercourse with +these isles. Raiatea was his first home, Rarotonga his second. There he +placed his family, which long consisted of his one boy, John, born in +Tahiti, all Mrs. Williams's subsequent babes scarcely living to see the +light, until, in the sixteenth year of her Polynesian life, another son +rejoiced her. She became a centre and pattern of domestic life, and +instructed the women in feminine habits, and she patiently encountered +the anxieties and perils, chiefly from storm and hurricane, that beset +her life. The chief troubles that Mr. Williams encountered at Raiatea, +were the vices that civilization brought. After old Tamatoa's death, his +son allowed a distillery to be established, and drunkenness threatened to +overthrow the habits so diligently taught. May be, the Puritanical form +of religion and the acquired tastes of the London tradesman did not allow +brightness and beauty enough to these children of the South, and tempted +them by proscribing things innocent, but there is no telling: nothing but +strictness seemed a sufficient protection from the foul rites of +idolatry, and all that his judgment or devotion could devise for these +people Williams and his fellows did. + +The Samoan group of islands was one of those where the people showed the +most intelligence. They were already great cultivators of the toilette. +A Samoan beau glistened from the head to the hips with sweet-scented oil, +and was tastefully tattooed from the hips to the knees; he wore a bandage +of red leaves oiled and shining, a head-dress formed of a pearly disk of +nautilus-shell, and a string of small white shells round each arm. His +lady was not tattooed, but spotted all over, and when in full attire, +wore a beautiful white silky mat at her waist, a wreath of sweet flowers +round her head, rows of large blue beads round her neck, and the upper +part of her person was tinged with turmeric rouge. + +These Samoans, though they deified many animals, had no temples, idols, +priests, nor sacrifices, and thus were more than usually amenable to +Christian ideas; and on Mr. Williams's second visit to the island, he had +a numerous congregation, but so arranged that he could hardly keep his +countenance. Some had their long hair greased and stiffened into +separate locks, standing erect like quills upon the fretful porcupine; +while others wore it cultivated into one huge bush, stiffened with coral +line, diversified with turmeric. Indeed, there is no rest for such heads +as these--none of their wearers dares to sleep without a little stool to +support his neck, so as not to crush his _chevelure_ against the ground. + +These fine gentlemen had a readiness and intelligence about them that +warmed to the first rays of light. They listened eagerly, and their +attachment to the missionary was expressed in a song sung in what they +called a "heavenly dance" of the ladies in his honour, when he had +remained with them long enough to plant the good seed of a growing +church. + + "Let us talk of Viriamu, + Let cocoa-nuts glow in peace for months; + When strong the east winds blow, our hearts forget him not. + Let us greatly love the Christian land of the great white chief. + All victors are we now, for we all have one God. + No food is sacred now. All kinds of fish we catch and eat, + Even the sting-ray. + + The birds are crying for Viriamu, + His ship has sailed another way. + The birds are crying for Viriamu, + Long time is he in coming. + Will he ever come again? + Will he ever come again?" + +It was some time before he could come again; for, after eighteen years of +unremitting labour in the isles of Raiatea and Rarotonga, and of voyages +touching on many other isles, he had made up his mind to visit England. + +He came home in 1834, and remained about four years, doing much for his +cause by his personal narratives and vivid accounts of the people to whom +he had devoted his life. Curiously enough, his son, now a youth of +twenty, was introduced to Earl Fitzwilliam's gardener, who proved to have +been one of the mission party who had been captured in the _Duff_ on the +second voyage, and who was delighted to hear of the wonderful progress of +the cause from which he himself had been turned back. + +A subscription was raised for the purchase of a mission ship, exceeding +in size and suitability such craft as could be purchased or hired in +Australia; and the _Camden_, a vessel admirably fitted for the purpose, +was obtained and equipped at a cost of 2,600_l._, the command of her +given to Captain Morgan, who was well experienced in the navigation of +the Polynesian seas, and had, moreover, such a reputation for piety, that +the natives termed his vessel "the praying ship." + +In this vessel a large reinforcement of missionaries was taken out, +including a married pair for Samoa, and likewise young John Williams, who +had found himself an English wife; but his little brother was left at +home for education. The intention of Williams was to station the +missionaries upon the friendly isles, and himself circulate among them in +the _Camden_, breaking fresh ground in yet unvisited isles, and +stationing first native and then English teachers, as they were prepared +for them. + +Among the Samoans he remained a good while. He estimated the population +at 60,000, of whom nearly 50,000 were under instruction. Several places +of worship were opened with feasts, at which huge hecatombs of swine were +consumed--1,370 at one festival. One young chief under instruction +became so good a preacher, that Williams called him the Whitfield of +Samoa; and these islands have, under the training then set on foot, +furnished many a missionary and even martyr to the isles around, and are, +to the present day, one of the happiest specimens of the effects of +missionary labour. + +The want of extended views in good Mr. Williams was shown in his manner +of regarding the expected arrival of some Roman Catholic priests in the +Polynesian seas. He set to work to translate Foxe's "Book of Martyrs," +and begged that a present offered him for his people might be expended in +slides illustrating it for a beautiful magic lantern which he already +possessed, and whose Scripture scenes drew tears from the natives. He +had not Church knowledge enough to rise above the ordinary popular view +of "Popery," and did not understand its Christianity enough to see the +evils of sowing the bitterest seeds of the Protestant controversy among +scarcely reclaimed heathens. + +On their side, the Roman Catholics would have done better to enter on +untrodden ground, of which there was such an infinity, than to force +themselves where, if they did not find their Church, at least they found +faith in the Saviour. But the Society Isles were coveted, for political +reasons, by the existing French Government, and the struggle was there +beginning, of which Mr. Williams was not destined to see the unfortunate +conclusion. + +Raiatea he found much improving; and at Rarotonga civilization had made +such progress, that the chiefs house was two storeys high, with ten +bedrooms, and good furniture made in imitation of English, and any linen +Mr. Williams left in his room was immediately washed, ironed, and laid +ready for use. Much of the lurking heathenism was giving way, and fair +progress being made in religious feeling, when, after a stay in Samoa, +where Mrs. Williams now chiefly resided, John Williams set out on an +exploring voyage in the _Camden_. + +Strangely enough, his last text in preaching to the Samoans was, +"Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see +his face no more;" and the people, who always grieved whenever he left +them, wept as bitterly at the words as if they had known them to be an +omen. He was bent on an attempt on the heathen isle of Erromango, which +his wife viewed with a foreboding terror, that made her in vain try to +extract a promise from him not to land there. + +But he viewed the New Hebrides as an important link, leading perhaps to +reaching the Papuan race in New Guinea. He hoped to gain a footing +there, and make the spot such a centre as Tahiti, Raiatea, Rarotonga, and +Samoa had successively been; and, as the _Camden_ glided along the shores +of the island, he talked of his schemes, and of a certain sense of fear +that they gave him, lest they were too vast to be accomplished by his +means and in his lifetime, but with the sanguine buoyancy of a man still +in full vigour, and who had met with almost unmixed success. + +On the 20th of November, 1839, the vessel entered Dillon's Bay, and a +canoe with three men paddled up to her. A boat was lowered, in which Mr. +Williams, two other missionaries named Harris and Cunningham, Captain +Morgan, and four sailors seated themselves. They tried to converse with +the natives, but the language proved to be unlike any in use in Polynesia +(it is, in fact, one of the Melanesian dialects), and not a word could be +made out. + +Pulling into a creek, some beads and a small looking-glass were thrown to +the natives, and water asked for by signs. It was brought, and this gave +more confidence. Harris then waded ashore. At first the people ran +away, but Mr. Williams called to him to sit down, and, on his doing so, +they came nearer, and offered him some cocoa-nut milk. Mr. Williams +observed little boys at play, and thought it a good sign. Captain Morgan +wished they had been women, because the natives always send their wives +out of the way when they mean violence. However, Williams landed, and +divided some cloth among those who stood nearest. Then Harris began to +walk forward into the bush, Williams following, and, with a crowd of +natives round him, was counting in Samoan, trying whether the boys around +would recognize the names of the figures. Cunningham did not like the +countenances of the natives, and remarked it to him, but was not heard. +Stooping to pick up a shell, Cunningham was startled by a yell, and +Harris came rushing along, pursued by a native. Williams turned and +looked, a blast on a shell was heard, and he too fled. Cunningham +reached the boat in safety, but Harris fell in crossing a small brook, +and the natives were at once upon him with their clubs. Williams had +made for the sea, apparently intending to swim off and let the boat pick +him up, but the beach was stony; he fell as he reached the water, and the +natives with their clubs and arrows had fallen upon him before Morgan +could turn his boat's head to the spot, under a shower of arrows, which +forced him to put off. + +He saw the body lying on the beach, and fired a gun, loaded with powder, +in hopes of driving away the natives and rescuing it; but they dragged it +away into the bush, and all that was left for him to do was to sail for +Sydney, whence a Queen's ship, the _Favourite_, was despatched to +endeavour to recover the remains, and to convey the tidings to Samoa. + +By the 26th of February the vessel arrived. The war-conch was heard, and +the savages were seen flying in all directions; but, as there was no +intention of exacting a revenge, means of communication were at last +arranged, and it was discovered that these two good men had furnished a +cannibal feast, but that their skulls and many of their bones had been +preserved, and these were recovered and carried on board ship. The +Erromangans have always been an exceptionally treacherous and savage +race, and, even to the present day, are more hostile to white men, and +more addicted to cannibalism, than any of the other islanders. + +The _Favourite_ then proceeded to Samoa, where the weeping and wailing of +the tender-hearted race was overwhelming. Mrs. Williams, in her silent +English sorrow, was made the centre of a multitude of frantic mourners. +"Aue kriamu, aue Viriamu, our father, our father! He has turned his face +from us! We shall never see him more! He that brought us the good word +of salvation is gone! Oh, cruel heathen, they knew not what they did. +How great a man they have destroyed!" + +Such laments went on round the widow in the wild poetic language of the +poor Samoans, till the other teachers, by their prayers and sermons, had +produced a somewhat calmer tone; and the funeral took place beside the +chapel, attended by the officers and crew of the _Favourite_, and a great +concourse of natives. + +"Alas, Viriamu!" was the cry in every Christian Polynesian island for +many a day; and well it might be, for, in spite of the shortcomings of a +poorly-educated ministry and a tropical and feeble race, there are few +who ever turned more men from darkness to light, from cannibal fury to +Christian love, than the Martyr of Erromango,--John Williams,--one of the +happiest of missionaries, in that to him was given the martyr's crown, in +the full tide of his success and hope. + + + + +CHAPTER X. ALLEN GARDINER, THE SAILOR MARTYR. + + +The biography we next have to turn to is not that of a founder, scarcely +that of a pioneer, but rather of a brave guerilla, whose efforts were +little availing because wanting in combination, and undirected, but who, +nevertheless, has left behind him a heart-thrilling name won by +unflinching self-devotion even unto death. + +Allen Francis Gardiner, the fifth son of a Berkshire squire, was born in +1794. He was a born sailor, and became a midshipman before the end of +the great war of the French revolution; but the only naval action in +which he was engaged was against the American vessel _Essex_, which was +captured by his ship, the _Phoebe_, off Valparaiso. Allen Gardiner had +been carefully brought up by a good mother, but her death in his early +youth cast him loose and left him without any influence to keep up +serious impressions. He drifted into carelessness and godlessness, +though at times some old remembrance, roused by danger or by a comrade's +death, would sting him sharply. Once, feeling ashamed of having +forgotten the very words of Scripture, he made up his mind to buy a +Bible, and then was so full of false shame that he waited about in the +street till the shop should be empty, and then only thought how odd his +demand must seem to the bookseller. + +Most likely this was at Portsmouth, for he had there met a lady who had +been with his mother at her death, and had given him a narrative of her +last days, which his father had written, but from some sense of want of +sympathy had withheld from the son. The friend judged him better. The +copy in his own handwriting bears the date, "Portsmouth, November 18, +1818," and therewith was a little Bible with the same date written in it. +For two years, however, this produced no effect; but in 1820, when at +Penang, as a lieutenant in the _Dauntless_, Allen received a letter of +grave reproof from his father, and one of warm kindness and expostulation +from the same lady, his mother's friend, together with some books. +Nothing would have seemed more hopeless than the chance that a letter +from a religious old lady would make an impression on a dashing young +naval officer, and yet Allen Gardiner always considered this as the +turning-point of his life, and connected it with his mother's prayers. + +It was when his thoughts were directed to religious subjects, and his +intelligence freshly excited, that he visited the coasts of South +America, the region above all others where the Roman Catholic Church is +seen to the most disadvantage. Two things most especially struck him, +the remnants of the Inquisition at Lima, and the discovery that the poor +were buried without prayer or mass. Such scenes as these gave him an +extreme horror of Romanism and all that he supposed to be connected +therewith, and his next station at Tahiti, in all the freshness of the +newly established mission, full of devout people, filled him with strong +enthusiasm for the good men who were carrying out the work. Shortly +after he was invalided home, and as soon as he was fit for employment he +offered himself to the London Missionary Society, begging them to send +him to the neglected Indians of South America; but this did not suit +their plans, and his ardour was slackened by the more common affairs of +life. He fell in love and married a young lady named Julia Reade, and +his only voyage was in his naval, not his missionary capacity. But his +wife's health was exceedingly frail, and after eleven years of marriage +she died, leaving four children, a fifth having preceded her to the +grave. Beside her death-bed Allen Gardiner made a solemn dedication of +himself to act as a pioneer in one or other of the most neglected parts +of the earth, not so much to establish missions himself as to reconnoitre +the ground and prepare the way for their establishment. + +Africa was the country to which his attention was first called. His wife +died in May 1834, and the 24th of August was the last Sunday he spent in +England, at Calbourne, the native parish of Charles Simeon. He sailed at +once for Cape Colony, where the English, who had in the course of the +Revolutionary war obtained possession of the ground from the original +settlers, the Dutch, were making progress in every direction, and coming +into collision, not with the spiritless Hottentots of the Cape of Good +Hope itself, but with that far more spirited and intellectual race, the +Kaffirs--unbelievers, as the name meant--they being in fact of Arab +descent, though Africanized by their transition through tropical +latitudes, and not Mahometans. Such traditional religion as they +possessed seemed to be vanishing, since only a few of the elders retained +a curious legend of a supreme Deity who sent another Divine being to +"publish the news," and divide the sexes. A message was sent to him from +the Power in heaven to announce that man should not die, but this was +committed to that tardy reptile the chameleon; then another message that +man should die was given to the lizard, who outran the chameleon, and +thus brought death into the world. + +Sir Benjamin D'Urban had just been appointed Governor, and it was +apprehended that a war must take place, since the settlers were +continually liable to sudden attacks by these wild Kaffirs, who burnt, +slew, and robbed any homestead they fell upon. Captain Gardiner thought, +and justly, that it would be better to begin by proclaiming the glad +tidings of peace to these wild and ignorant people rather than to meet +them with the strong hand of war. The colony was lamentably deficient in +clergy, and the missions that existed were chiefly to the Hottentots and +Bushmen. The Moravians, whose work we have not mentioned because it is a +history in itself, had some excellent establishments, but no one had yet +attempted to penetrate into the home of the Kaffirs themselves, the Zulu +country, to endeavour to deal with their chieftains. This was Allen +Gardiner's intention, and on his outward voyage he met with a Polish +refugee named Berken, who had intended to settle in Australia, but was +induced to become his companion in his explorations in South Africa. + +They rode together from Capetown to Grahamstown, where they obtained an +interpreter named George Cyrus, and began to travel in the regular South +African fashion, namely, with waggons fitted for sleeping in, and drawn +by huge teams of oxen, and taking seven horses with them. Their first +adventure during a halt at the Buffalo river was the loss of all their +oxen, who were driven off by some natives. They applied to the chief of +the tribe, named Tzatzoe, who recovered the cattle for them, but showed +himself an insatiable beggar, even asking why, as Mr. Berken had two +shoes, he could not spare him one of them. However, he was honest +enough, when Mr. Berken chanced to leave his umbrella behind him, to send +after him to ask whether he knew that he had left his _house_. + +The next anxiety was at a spot called the Yellow-wood River, where the +mid-day halt was disturbed by an assembly of natives with a hostile +appearance. Captain Gardiner sent orders to collect the oxen, and in- +span (_i.e._ harness) them as soon as possible, but without appearance of +alarm, and in the meantime he tried to keep the natives occupied. To one +he lent his penknife, and after the man had vainly tried to cut off his +own beard with it, he offered to shave him, lathered him well, and +performed the operation like a true barber, then showed him his face in a +glass. His only disappointment was that the moustache had not been +removed, and as by this time the razor was past work, Captain Gardiner +had to pacify him by assuring him that such was the appearance of many +English warriors (for these were the days when moustaches were confined +to the cavalry). The amusement this excited occupied them nearly long +enough, but hostile murmurs then began to be heard--"One of our chiefs +has been killed by the white men, no more shall enter our country!" +Fearing that an angry word would be fatal, Captain Gardiner asked for a +war-song, promising some tobacco at the conclusion. Accordingly they +danced madly, and shouted at the top of their voices, + + "No white man shall drink our milk, + No white man shall eat our children's bread. + Ho-how! ho-how! ho-how!" + +But this couplet often repeated seemed to work off their rage; they +accepted the tobacco, and sullenly said the travellers might pass, but +they were the last who should. This was in the Amakosa country, lying +between the Grahamstown settlement and Port Natal, and to the present day +unannexed, though even then there were traders' stations at intervals, so +filthy and wretched as to be little above the huts of the natives. These +Amakosa tribes were such thieves that great vigilance was needed to +prevent property being stolen; but the next tribes, the Amapondas, were +scrupulously honest and friendly to the English. Their chief was found +by Gardiner and Berken dressed in a leopard's skin, sitting in state +under a canopy of shields, trying a rain-maker, who had failed to bring +showers in consequence of not having his dues of cattle delivered to him! +The chief advised them not to proceed, as he said the Zulus were angry +people who would kill them; but they pushed on, though finding that the +journey occupied much longer than they expected, so that provisions +became a difficulty. + +A full month had passed since leaving Grahamstown, and Gardiner decided +on pressing on upon horseback, leaving Mr. Berken to bring up the +waggons, and taking with him the interpreter and two natives. The +distance was 180 miles, and a terrible journey it was. A few waggon +tracks had made a sort of road, but this was not always to be +distinguished from hippopotamus paths, which led into horrible morasses, +where the horses almost entirely disappeared, and had to be scooped out +as it were by the hands; moreover, scarcely any food was to be had. In +crossing one river one of the horses was so irretrievably stuck in a +quicksand that humanity required it to be shot, and at the next, the +Umkamas, the stream was so swollen that the Captain had to devise a canoe +by sewing two cowskins together with sinews and stretching it upon +branches, in which, as no one save himself had any notion of boating, he +shoved off alone. The stream was too strong for him, and he had to +return and obtain the help of the only good swimmer among his party. With +him he crossed, but with no food save a canister of sugar! However, the +native swam back and fetched a loaf of bread, while Captain Gardiner +waited among the reeds, hearing the snorting and grunting of hippopotami +all round. The transit of the natives was secured by the holding a sort +of float made of a bundle of reeds, and in the morning, as the river was +too high for the rest of the party to cross, he brought over a few +necessaries, and a horse, with which the Captain was able to proceed to +Port Natal, where he found English traders, and sent back supplies to +those in the rear. + +The Zulus, on whom his attention was fixed, inhabit a fine country to the +north of the Tugela, which is considered as the boundary of the British +territory. The nation is full of intelligence and spirit, and by no +means incapable of improvement, and their princes have been for +generations past men of considerable natural ability, and of iron will, +but often savagely cruel. The first known to Englishmen was named +Charka, a great warrior, who kept his armies in a rude but thorough +discipline, and had made considerable conquests. About the year 1829, +Charka had been murdered by his brother Dingarn, who had reigned ever +since, and was the terror of the English settlers, who were beginning to +immigrate into the fertile terraced country of Natal. His forays might +at any time sweep away farms and homesteads; and his subjects were +continually fleeing from his violence across the Tugela, and thus might +bring him down as a pursuer. + +Allen Gardiner's plan was to go to the fountain head and endeavour to +deal with the chief himself, so as to make him a Christian instead of an +enemy. With this end he set out absolutely unaccompanied, except by +Cyrus the interpreter, and a Zulu servant whom he had hired named +Umpondombeni, and this with the knowledge that an English officer had +shortly before been treacherously murdered, and that Dingarn was a blood- +stained savage. + +The king had been informed of his coming, and had pronounced that he was +_his_ white man, and should make haste to Umkingoglove, his present +abode. The first view of this place, with a double circular fence around +it, resembled a race-course, the huts being ranged along the ring of the +enclosure so as to leave the centre free for the reviews and war dances +of the Kaffirs. Gardiner was very near entering by the wrong gate, in +which case all his escort would have been put to death. A hut was +assigned to him, a sort of beehive of grass and mud, with a hole to enter +by. His own lines, strung together in his many unoccupied moments for +his children's benefit, are so good a description of the Kaffir huts that +form a kraal or village, as to be worth inserting:-- + + "I see them now, those four low props + That held the haystack o'er my head, + The dusky framework from their tops + Like a large mouse-trap round me spread. + + To stand erect I never tried, + For reasons you may guess: + Full fourteen feet my hut was wide, + Its height was nine feet less. + + My furniture, a scanty store, + On saddle-bags beside me laid, + A hurdle, used to close the door, + Raised upon stones, my table made." + +There he received a bundle of the native sugar-cane, a bowl of maize beer +from Dingarn, and was invited to his palace. + +This was surrounded by a fence, outside which the Captain was desired to +sit down. Presently a black head and very stout pair of shoulders +appeared above it, and a keen sable visage eyed the visitor fixedly for +some time, in silence, which was only broken by these words, while +indicating an ox, "There is the beast I give you to slaughter." His +black majesty then vanished, but presently to reappear from beneath the +gateway dressed in a long blue cloak, with a white collar, and devices at +the back. After directing the distribution of some heaps of freshly +slain oxen that lay around, he stood like a statue till a seat was +brought him, and then entered into conversation. Captain Gardiner made +him understand that trade was not the object of the visit; but the real +purpose was quite beyond him; he seemed to regard what was proposed to +him as an impossibility, and began to inquire after the presents, which, +unfortunately, were still on the road. + +The delay exposed the Captain to some inconvenience and danger, and two +_indunas_, or chiefs, a sort of prime ministers, who were offended with +him for not having applied to the king through them, treated him with +increasing insolence. At last he persuaded them that he had better send +a note to hasten the coming of the presents, and he also managed to write +a letter for England, on his last half-sheet of paper, by the light of a +lamp made of a rag wick floating in native butter in a calabash. From +time to time he was called upon to witness the wonderful evolutions, +manoeuvres, and mock fights in the camp. The men were solely soldiers; +the women did all the work, planting maize, weeding corn, and herding +cattle, and thus the more wives a man had the more slaves he could +employ. Every wife had a value, and could only be obtained from her +father for a certain price in cattle, varying according to his rank. If +the full rate were not paid, she remained, as well as her children, the +property of her father or the head of her family. The king, having the +power to help himself, had an establishment of ninety women, who on gala- +days, or when his army was going to take the field, were drawn up in a +regiment, all wearing two long feathers on the top of their heads, a veil +of strings of coloured beads over their faces, bead skirts, and brass +rings over their throats and arms; these beads being the current coin of +the traders. They approached and retreated in files, flourishing their +arms like bell-ringers, while they sang:-- + + "Arise, vulture, + Thou art the bird that eateth other birds." + +These were, however, not wives, only female slaves. Either from jealousy +of possible sons growing up, or from the desire not to be considered as +in the ranks of the _umpagati_--elders or married men--neither Charka nor +Dingarn would marry, and no man could take a wife without the king's +permission. Dingarn wore his head closely shaven, whereas the married +trained their woolly hair to fasten over a circle of reed, so as to look +much as if they had an inverted saucepan on their heads. Besides this +they wore nothing but a sort of apron of skin before and behind, except +when gaily arrayed in beads, or ornaments of leopard's fur and teeth, for +dancing or for battle. Their wealth was their cattle, and their mealie +or maize grounds; their food, beef, mealies, and curdled milk; their +drink, beer, made of maize; their great luxury, snuff, made of dried +dacca and burnt aloes, and taken from an ivory spoon. Though sometimes +acting with great cruelty, and wholly ignorant, they were by no means a +dull or indolent people; they were full of courage and spirit, excellent +walkers and runners, capable of learning and of thinking, and with much +readiness to receive new ideas. + +The presents arrived, and the red cloak, made of the long scarlet nap +often used in linings, was presented, and gave infinite satisfaction; the +king tried it on first himself, then judged of the effect upon the back +of one of his servants, caused it to be carried flowing through the air, +and finally hung it up outside his palace for the admiration of his +subjects, then laid it by for the great national festival at the feast of +first-fruits. + +Captain Gardiner's object was to obtain a house and piece of land and +protection for a Christian missionary, and with this object he remained +at the kraal, trying to make some impression on Dingarn, and the two +indunas, who assured him that they were the king's eyes and ears. Thus +he became witness to much horrible barbarity. One of the least shocking +of Dingarn's acts was the exhibiting the powers of a burning-glass that +had been given him, by burning a hole in the wrist of one of his +servants; and his indifference to the pain and death of others was +frightful. His own brother, the next in succession, was, with his two +servants, put to death through some jealousy; and, more horrible still, +every living creature in thirty villages belonging to him was massacred +as a matter of course. + +Captain Gardiner, though often horrified and sickened by the sights he +was obliged to witness, remained for a month, and then, after +accompanying the king on his march, and seeing some astonishing reviews +and dances of his wild warriors, made another effort; but the king +referred him to the two indunas, and the indunas were positive that they +did not wish to learn, either they or their people. They would never +hear nor understand his book, but if he would instruct them in the use of +the musket he was welcome to stay. Dingarn pronounced, "I will not +overrule the decision of my indunas;" but, probably looking on the white +man as a mine of presents, he politely invited Gardiner to return. + +So ended his first attempt, and with no possessions remaining except his +clothes, his saddle, a spoon, and a Testament, he proceeded to the +Tugela, where he met his friend Berken, who had made up his mind to +settle in Natal, and he set out to return to England for the purchase of +stock and implements; but the vessel in which he sailed was never heard +of more. + +Captain Gardiner remained at Port Natal, which in 1835 consisted of a +cluster of huts, all of them built Kaffir-fashion, like so many hollow +haycocks, except Mr. Collis's, which was regarded as English because it +had upright sides, with a good garden surrounded by reeds. About thirty +English and a few Hottentots clustered around, and some three thousand +Zulus, refugees from Dingarn's cruelty, who showed themselves ready and +willing to work for hire, but who exposed their masters to the danger of +the king coming after them with fire and assagai. Hitherto on such an +alarm the whole settlement had been wont to take to the woods, but their +numbers were so increasing that they were beginning to erect a stockade +and think of defence. + +To this little germ of a colony, Allen Gardiner brought the first +recollection of Christian faith and duty. On Sunday mornings he stood +under a tree, as he had been wont to do on the deck of his ship, and read +the Church Service in English to such as would come round him and be +reminded of their homes; in the afternoon, by the help of his +interpreter, he prayed with and for the Kaffirs, and expounded the truths +of the Gospel; and in the week, he kept school for such Kaffir children +as he could collect, dressing them decently in printed calico. He began +with very few, partly because many parents fancied he would steal and +make slaves of them, and partly because he wished to train a few to be in +advance and act as monitors to the rest. The English were on very good +terms with him, and allotted a piece of land for a missionary settlement, +which he called Berea, and began to build upon it in the fashion of the +country. + +Fresh threats from Dingarn led the settlers to try to come to a treaty +with him, by which he was to leave them unmolested with all their +Kaffirs, on their undertaking to harbour no more of his deserters. There +was something hard in this, considering the horrid barbarities from which +the deserters fled, and the impossibility of carrying out the agreement, +as no one could undertake to watch the Tugela; but Captain Gardiner, +always eager and hasty, thinking that he should thus secure safety for +the colony and opportunities for the mission, undertook the embassy, and +set forth in a waggon with two Zulus and Cyrus, falling in on the way +with one of the grotesque parties of European hunters, who were wont to +go on expeditions after the elephant, hippopotamus, and buffalo, with a +hunting train of Hottentots and Kaffirs in their company. On whose +aspect he remarks truly:-- + + "I've seen the savage in his wildest mood, + And marked him reeked with human blood, + But never so repulsive made. + Something incongruous strikes the mind + Whene'er a barbarous race we find + With shreds of civil life displayed. + + There's more of symmetry, however bare, + In what a savage deigns to wear, + In keeping with the scene. + These, each deformed by what he wears, + Like apes that dance at country fairs, + Seemed but a link between." + +Dingarn proved to be at Congella, another circular town or kraal, on the +top of a hill. He gave a ready welcome to the Captain, and his +presents--some looking-glasses, a pair of epaulettes, and some coloured +prints, especially full-lengths of George IV. and William IV. The +collection in a place such as Natal then was must have been very hard to +make, but it was very successful, and still more so was the Captain's +presenting himself in his uniform when he went to propose the treaty. +Dingarn said he must look at it before he could do anything else, and +fully appreciated the compliment when the sailor said it was his war +dress, in which he appeared before King William. He agreed to the +treaty, but declared that the English would be the first to break it. The +Captain answered that a true Englishman never broke a treaty, and that +any white man who deceived was not the right sort of Englishman; and the +king responded that "now a great chief was come, to whom he could speak +his heart." Captain Gardiner tried to impress on him that it was the +fear of God that made himself an honourable man, and to persuade him that +the knowledge of the "Book" would make him and his people still greater; +and the next time of meeting set forth an outline of the morality and +promises of Revelation. Dingarn was attentive, and said they were good +words, and that he would hear more of them, but in the meantime Gardiner +must go back to Natal and see that his people kept the treaty. It was a +good deal more than he could do. A Kaffir inkosikase, or female +chieftain, who, with two servants and three children, was fleeing into +Natal at the time of his return, was sent back, with all her companions. +The poor creatures pleaded hard that the Captain would accompany them and +save them, and he returned with them, and interceded for them with all +his might, but soon found they were being starved to death. "Their bonds +must kill them," said Dingarn. A second great effort resulted in a +little food being sent, and a kind of promise that their lives should be +spared; but this was only made to get rid of him, and they all perished +after his departure. + +Deserters, as Gardiner called the fugitives to reconcile the surrender to +his loyal English conscience, were hardly such as these: they were the +only ones ever sent back, and the loose wild traders, who he ought to +have known would never be bound by treaties, were at that very time +enticing Kaffirs, who could be useful as herdsmen and labourers, across +the frontier. This led to great indignation from Dingarn, and he +declared that no Englishman save his favourite great chief should come +near him. + +Meantime Gardiner was assisting an assembly of traders and hunters who +had decided on building a town--all shaggy, unkempt, bearded men of the +woods, who decided the spot, the name, the arrangements, the spot for +church and magistrate's house, by vote, on the 25th of June, 1835, the +birthday of the town of Durban, so called after Sir Benjamin D'Urban, +Governor of the Cape, while the Portuguese name of Natal passed to the +entire territory. + +The dispute with Dingarn continuing, the Captain was again sent to +negotiate. This time he was received in the royal mansion, a magnified +beehive, where the king was lying on a mat with his head on one of the +little stools made to act as pillows, with about fifty women ranged +round. As to the matter in question, Gardiner was able to declare that, +in the white settlement itself, no deserters had found a home since the +treaty, and that none should do so; Dingarn said he considered him the +chief of the whites there, and should look to him to keep them in order. +Gardiner explained that he had no authority. "You must have power," said +Dingarn. "I give you all the country of the white people's ford." This +was a piece of land extending from the Tugela to the Nouzincoolu, from +the Snowy Mountains to the sea--in fact, the present whole colony of +Natal. A smaller portion, including the district about Natal, was to be +his own immediate property. Dingarn was perfectly in earnest, and thus +intended to make him responsible for the conduct of every individual of +the motley population of Natal, declaring that he should receive no +trader who did not bring credentials from him. It was as curious a +situation as ever commander in the navy was placed in. All he could do +was to return to Durban, explain matters to Mr. Collis and the other +traders, and then set out for the Cape to consult Sir Benjamin Durban. + +His journey across the mountains was very perilous and difficult, and +took much longer than his sanguine nature had reckoned; but he reached +Grahamstown at last, and explained matters to the Governor, who instantly +sent off a British officer to assume authority over the settlement at +Natal, and try to keep the peace with Dingarn, while Captain Gardiner +embarked for England to lay the state of things before Government and the +Church Missionary Society, at whose disposal he placed all his own +personal grant from Dingarn. When the prospects of the mission were +proclaimed, the Rev. Francis Owen volunteered for it, and Captain +Gardiner collected all that he thought needful for the great work he +hoped to carry out. He married Miss Marsh, of Hampstead, and, with her +and his three children, Mr. Owen and his wife and sister, sailed on the +24th of December, 1836; but the arrival was a sorrowful one, for his +eldest child, a girl, of twelve years old, was slowly declining. She +died just as they entered Durban Bay, and was buried at Berea immediately +on their arrival. As soon as the Kaffirs heard of Captain Gardiner's +landing, they flocked in to express their willingness to live under his +authority. He chose a pleasant spot for his home, and having settled his +family there, went up to see Dingarn. The presents this time were indeed +ecstatically received, and especially a watch and seals, and a huge pair +of gay worsted slippers. "He took my measure before he went," cried +Dingarn, who had tried a pair of boots before, but could not get them on. +The king was made to understand that his gift of land must be not to the +Captain, but to the King of England, and with this he complied. He was +also persuaded to modify his demands; as to the fugitives, Gardiner +undertook not to encourage or employ them, but would not search them out +or return them. Mr. Owen was also favourably received, as the +_umfundisi_ or teacher; a hut was allotted to him, and he was allowed to +preach. He took up his abode at Umkingoglove, the first town where +Captain Gardiner had seen the king, held services and opened a school, +often holding conversations with the king. "Has God commanded kings and +indunas to learn His word?" demanded Dingarn; and he actually did learn +to read the words printed upon a card for the children. + +Meantime Captain Gardiner was forming his settlement at a place which he +had named in the Kaffir tongue, Hambanati, "Go with us," in allusion to +Moses' invitation to Hobab: "Go with us, and we will do thee good." It +was half-way between Durban Bay and the Tugela, on a hill-side in the +midst of the beautiful undulating ground and rich wood characteristic of +the country, and with a river in front. There he had raised a thatched +house for himself, and around it Zulu huts were continually multiplying. +The English carpenter and labourers whom he had brought out instructed +the Kaffirs in various kinds of labour, for which they were quite +willing; and as they wore decent garments, they were called the clothed +tribe. School was kept for the children in the week; for the grown-up +people on Sunday; and on every alternate morning some Scripture fact was +read and explained to them, the Captain still being obliged to act as +chaplain, until the arrival of Mr. Hewetson, whom the Church Missionary +Society were sending out. + +Never had the generous toil of a devoted man seemed likely to meet with +better success, when a storm came from a most unexpected quarter. The +original colonists of the Cape of Good Hope were Dutch, and the whole +district was peopled with boers or farmers of that nation, stolid, +prosperous, and entirely uncontrolled by public opinion. They had +treated the unfortunate Hottentots as slaves, with all the cruelty of +stupidity, and imported Malays and Negroes to work in the same manner; +and they had shown, even when under their native state, a sort of grim +turbulence that made them very hard to deal with. When in 1834 the +British Government emancipated their slaves, and made cruelty penal and +labour necessarily remunerative, their discontent was immense, and a +great number sold their farms, and moved off into the interior to form an +independent settlement on the Orange River. A large number of them, +however, hearing of Dingarn's liberality to Captain Gardiner, were +determined to extort a similar grant to themselves by a display of power. +First came a letter, which Mr. Owen had to read and interpret to the +chief, and not long after a large deputation arrived, armed and mounted +on strong horses. Dingarn showed them a war-dance, and they in return +said they would show how the boers danced on horseback, and exhibited a +sham-fight, which did indeed alarm the savage, but, so far from daunting +him, only excited his treachery and fierceness. He gave a sort of +general answer, and the messengers retired. But from that time his +interest in Mr. Owen's teaching flagged; he wanted fire-arms instead of +religion, and preachings led to cavillings. Indications of evil +intentions likewise reached Captain Gardiner, who sent to warn Mr. Owen, +and to offer him a refuge at Hambanati in case of need. Still Mr. Owen +could gather nothing; he was called from time to time to read the +Dutchmen's letters, but was never told how they were to be dealt with. In +fact, Dingarn had replied by an offer of the very district he had given +Captain Gardiner, on condition that the new-comers would recover some +cattle which had been carried off by a hostile tribe. This was done, and +the detachment which had been employed on the service arrived at +Umkingoglove, where they were welcomed with war-dances, and exhibited +their own sham-fights; but in the midst of the ensuing meal they were +suddenly surrounded by a huge circle of the Zulus, as if for another war- +dance. The black ring came nearer and nearer still, and finally rushed +in upon the unhappy boers, and slaughtered every man of them. + +Mr. Owen had suspected nothing of what was passing, till he received a +message from Dingarn that he need not fear; the boers had been killed for +plotting, but the umfundisi should not be hurt. A time of terrible +anxiety followed, during which the Owen family saw large bodies of the +Kaffir army marching towards the Tugela, and in effect they fell upon the +Dutch camp, and upwards of a hundred and fifty white men, women, and +children were massacred. This horrible act, showing that no reliance +could be placed on Dingarn's promise, made the Owens decide on leaving +Umkingoglove, and they arrived at Hambanati, whence they proceeded to +Durban. The Gardiner family waited for another week; but, finding the +whole of the settlers infuriated, and bent on joining the Dutch in a war +of extermination against Dingarn, they were obliged to retreat to the +coast. First, however, Captain Gardiner assembled his Kaffirs, and +promised to do his utmost to find another tract, where they might settle +in peace, if they would abstain from all share in the coming war. They +promised; but in his absence the promise was not easy to keep; they +joined in the fight, many were killed, and the settlement entirely broken +up. The cause seemed to Gardiner hopeless; and, after waiting for a +short time in Algoa Bay, he decided on leaving the scene of action, where +peaceful teaching could not prevail for some time to come. Whether it +would not have been better to have tarried a little while, and then to +have availed himself of the confidence and affection he had inspired, so +as to gather the remnants of his mission again, we cannot say. At any +rate, he consoled himself for the disastrous failure at Natal by setting +forth on a fresh scheme of Christian knight-errantry on behalf of the +Indians of South America. + +Long ago, in Brazil, the Jesuits had done their best to Christianize and +protect the Indians; but the Portuguese settlers had, as usual, savagely +resented any interference with their cruel oppressions, broken up the +Jesuit settlement, and sold their unfortunate converts as slaves. After +this, the Jesuit Fathers had formed excellent establishments in the more +independent country of Paraguay, lying to the south, where they had many +churches, and peaceful, prosperous, happy communities of Christian +Indians around them. South American Indians are essentially childish +beings; and the Jesuits, when providing labour enough to occupy them +wholesomely, found themselves obliged to undertake the disposal of the +produce, thus not merely rendering their mission self-supporting, but so +increasing the wealth of the already powerful Order as to render it a +still greater object of jealousy to the European potentates; and when, in +the eighteenth century, the tide of opposition set strongly against it, +the unecclesiastical traffic of the settlements in Paraguay was one of +the accusations. The result was, that the Jesuit Fathers were banished +from South America in 1767; and whether it was that they had neglected to +train the Indians in self-reliance, or whether it was impossible to do +so, their departure led to an immediate collapse into barbarism; nor had +anything since been done on behalf of the neglected race. Indeed, the +break-up of all Spanish authority had been doubly fatal to the natives, +by removing all protection, and leaving them to the self-interested +violence of the petty republics, unrestrained by any loftier +consideration. + +In the Republic of Buenos Ayres, under the dictatorship of General Rosas, +the lot of these poor creatures was specially cruel. A war of +extermination was carried on against them, and eighty had at one time +been shot together in the market-place of the capital. Nothing could be +done towards reclaiming them while so savage a warfare lasted; but +Gardiner hoped to push on to the more northerly tribes, on the borders of +Chili, and he took a journey to reconnoitre across the Pampas, with many +strange hardships and adventures; but he found always the same story,--the +Indians regarded as wild beasts, and, acting only too much as such, +falling by night on solitary ranchos, or on lonely travellers, and +murdering them, and, on the other hand, being shot down wherever they +were found. + +With great difficulty and perseverance he made his way to the Biobio +river, leaving his family at Concepcion, the nearest comparatively +civilized place. Here he meant to make his way to a village of +independent Indians, with whose chief, Corbalan, he had hopes of entering +into relations. + +To cross the rapid stream of the Biobio, he had to use a primitive raft, +formed of four trunks of trees, about eighteen feet long, lashed together +by hide-thongs to two poles, one at each end. A horse was fastened to +it, by knotting his tail to the tow-rope, and on his back was a boy, +holding on by the single lock of the mane that is allowed to remain on +Chilian horses, who guided him across with much entreating, urging, and +coaxing. On the other side appeared Corbalan, the Indian chief on +horseback, and in a dark poncho, a sort of round cloak, with a hole to +admit the head, much worn all over South America. He took Captain +Gardiner to his house, an oval, with wattled side-walls, about five feet +high and thirty-five long, neatly thatched with grass, with a fireplace +in the centre, where a sheep was cooked for supper. Corbalan could speak +Spanish, and seemed to be pleased with the visit, making an agreement +that he should teach Gardiner his Indian tongue, and, in return, be +instructed in the way of God and heaven. He had convened forty-five of +his people, among whom were five chiefs, each of whom made the visitor +the offering of a boiled chicken, while he gave them some coloured cotton +handkerchiefs and some brass buttons. It was a beautiful country, and +reminded the guest so much of some parts of England, that it needed a +glance at the brown skin, flowing hair, and long poncho of Corbalan to +dispel the illusion that he was near home. Things looked so favourable, +that he had even selected a site for the mission-house, when some change +of sentiment came over Corbalan, probably from the remonstrances of his +fellow-chiefs: he declared that a warlike tribe near at hand would not +suffer him to harbour a stranger, and that he must therefore withdraw his +invitation. + +So ended this attempt; and the indefatigable Captain turned his attention +to the Indians to the southward, but he found that these were on good +terms with the Chilian Government, and that no one could come among them +without a pass from thence; and, as there was a cautious attempt at +Christianizing then going on, by persuading the cacique to be baptized +and to admit priests to their villages, there was both the less need and +the less opening for him. + +So, picking up his wife and children again at Concepcion, he sailed with +them for Valdivia, where, as wandering Europeans were always supposed to +be in search of objects for museums, and perhaps from some confusion +about his name, he was called "El Botanico." Again he plunged among the +Indians; but, wherever he came to a peaceable tribe, they were under the +influence of Spanish clergy, who were, of course, determined to exclude +him, while the warlike and independent Indians could not understand the +difference between him and their Spanish enemies; and thus, after two +years of effort, he found that no opening existed for reaching these wild +people. A proposal was made to him to remain and act as an agent for the +Bible and Tract Societies among the South American Roman Catholics, but +this he rejected. "No," he said; "I have devoted myself to God, to seek +for openings among the heathen, and I cannot go back or modify my vow." + +The Malay Archipelago was his next goal. He sailed with his wife and +children from Valparaiso for Sydney on the 29th of May, 1839, but the +vessel got out of her course, and was forced to put in at Tahiti, where +he found things sadly changed by the aggression of Louis Philippe's +Government, which had claimed the protectorate. The troubles of Queen +Pomare's reign were at their height, and the conflict between French and +English, Roman Catholic and Protestant, prevented any efficient struggle +against the corruption introduced by the crews of all nations. + +The great savage island of New Guinea seemed to Captain Gardiner a field +calling for labour, and, on his arrival in Australia, he found that the +Roman Catholic Bishop of Sydney was trying to organize a mission. He +left Australia, hoping to obtain permission from the Dutch authorities at +Timor to proceed to Papua, to take steps for being beforehand with the +Australian expedition. He reached the place with great difficulty, and +he himself, and all his family, began to suffer severely from fever. The +Dutch governor told him that he might as well try to teach the monkeys as +the Papuans, and the Dutch clergy gave him very little encouragement. He +remained in these strange and beautiful islands for several months, +trying one Dutch governor after another, and always finding them civil +but impenetrable; for, in fact, they could not believe that an officer in +her Britannic Majesty's Navy could be purely actuated by missionary zeal, +but thought that it concealed some political object. They were not more +gracious even to clergy of other nations. He found an American +missionary at Macassar, whom they had detained, and some Germans, who +were vainly entreating to be allowed to proceed to Borneo; and his +efforts met only with the most baffling, passive, but systematic denial. +It was reserved for the enterprise and prudence of Sir James Brooke to +open a way in this quarter. + +The health of the Gardiner family had been much injured by their +residence in those lovely but unwholesome countries, but the voyage to +Capetown restored it; and immediately after they sailed again for South +America, where the Captain had heard of an Indian tribe in the passes of +the Cordilleras, who seemed more possible of access. Here again he was +baffled in his dealings with the local government by the suspicions of +the priests, and never could obtain the means of penetrating beyond the +city of San Carlos, so that he decided at last to repair to the Falkland +Islands, and make an endeavour thence to reach the people of Patagonia +and Tierra del Fuego, where no hostile Church should put stumbling-blocks +in his way. + +A doleful region he found those Falkland Isles, covered only with their +peculiar grass and short heather, and without a tree. A little wooden +cottage, brought from Valparaiso, sheltered the much-enduring Mrs. +Gardiner and the two children, while the Captain looked out for a vessel +to take him to Patagonia; but he found that no one ever went there, and +the whalers who made these dismal islands their station did not wish to +go out of their course. Captain Gardiner offered 200_l._, the probable +value of a whole whale, as the price of his passage; but the skippers +told him that, though they would willingly take him anywhere for nothing, +they could not go out of their course. + +To seek the most hopeless and uncultivated was always this good man's +object. The Falkland Isles were dreary enough, but they were a paradise +compared to the desolate fag-end of the American world,--a cluster of +barren rocks, intersected by arms of the sea, which divide them into +numerous islets, the larger ones bearing stunted forests of beech and +birch, on the skirts of hills covered with perpetual snow, and sending +down blue glaciers to the water's edge. The narrower channels are very +shallow; the wider, rough and storm-tossed; and scarcely anything edible +grows on the islands. The Fuegians are as degraded a people as any on +the face of the earth, with just intelligence enough to maintain +themselves by hunting and fishing, by the help of dogs, which, it is +said, they prize so much that they would rather, in time of scarcity, eat +up an old mother than a dog; and they are churlishly inhospitable to +strangers, although with an unusual facility for imitating their +language, nor had any one ever attempted their conversion. + +However, the master of the _Montgomery_, who had brought the Gardiners +out to the Falkland Islands, hearing of the offer, undertook such a +profitable expedition; but his schooner was utterly frail, had to be +caulked and to borrow a sail, and, as he was losing no whales, Captain +Gardiner refused to give more than 100_l._, a sufficiently exorbitant +sum, for the passage of himself and a servant named Johnstone. While the +crazy vessel was refitting a Sunday intervened, during which he offered +to hold a service, but only two men attended it, the rest were all absent +or intoxicated. + +The poor little ship put to sea, and struggled into the Straits of +Magelhaen, drifting near the Fuegian coast. Landing, the Captain lighted +a fire to attract the attention of the natives, and some came down and +shouted. The English did not, however, think it safe to go further from +the boat, and presently the Fuegians likewise kindled their fire, +whereupon Gardiner heaped more fuel on his own, and continued his +signals, when two men advanced, descending to the beach. They were clad +in cloaks of the skin of the guanaco, a small kind of llama, and were +about five feet ten in height, with broad shoulders and chests, but lean, +disproportionate legs. Each carried a bow and quiver of arrows; and they +spoke loudly, making evident signs that the strangers were unwelcome. +Presents were offered them; brass buttons, a clasp knife, and worsted +comforter; and they sat down, but apparently with a sullen resolution not +to relax their faces, nor utter another word. A small looking-glass was +handed to one of them, and he was grimly putting it under his cloak when +Captain Gardiner held it up to him, and he laughed at the reflection of +his own face; and his friend then looked at the knife, as if expecting it +to produce the same effect, but, though they seemed to appreciate it, +they made no friendly sign, and appeared unmoved when spoken to either in +Spanish or in the few Patagonian phrases that Captain Gardiner had +managed to pick up; nor did anything seem to afford them any satisfaction +except demonstrations of departure. + +Nothing seemed practicable with these uncouth, distrustful beings, and +the Captain therefore went on in search of a tribe of Patagonians, among +which, he was told, was a Creole Spaniard named San Leon, who had +acquired great influence by his reckless courage and daring, and through +whom it might be possible to have some communication with them. The camp +of these people on the main continent, near Cape Gregory, was discovered +newly deserted, with hollow places in the ground where fires had been +made, and many marks of footsteps. This extreme point of the continent +was by no means so dreary as the Land of Fire; it bore thorny bushes ten +feet high, wild celery and clover, and cranberry-bushes covered with red +berries. Indeed, the Patagonians--so called because their big splay +boots made Magelhaen conclude they walked on _patas_ (paws), like +bears--are a superior race to the Fuegians, larger in stature than most +Europeans, great riders, and clever in catching guanacos by means of +bolas, _i.e._ two round stones attached to a string. If the Fuegians are +Antarctic Esquimaux, the Patagonians are Antarctic Tartars, leading a +wandering life under tents made of skins of horses and guanacos, and +hating all settled habits, but not so utterly inhospitable and +impracticable as their neighbours beyond the Strait. In truth, the +division is not clearly marked, for there are Fuegians on the continent +and Patagonians in the islands. Ascending a height, the Captain took a +survey of the country, and, seeing two wreaths of smoke near Oazy +Harbour, sailed in, cast anchor, and in the morning was visited by the +natives of their own accord, after which he returned with them to their +camp, consisting of horse-hide tents, semicircular in form, and entirely +open. They were full of men, women, and children, and among them San +Leon, to whom it was possible to talk in Spanish, and indeed several +natives, from intercourse with ships, knew a few words of English. San +Leon had been with the tribe for twelve years, and said that American +missionaries had visited them, but that they had gone away because the +Fuegians who crossed the Strait were such thieves that they ate up their +provisions and cut up their books. However, no objection was made to +Gardiner's remaining, so he set up a tarred canvas tent, closed at each +end with bullock-hides, and slept on shore, a good deal disturbed by the +dogs, who gnawed at the bullock-hides, till a coat of tar laid over them +prevented them. Not so, however, with another visitor, a huge +Patagonian, who walked in with the words, "I go sleep," and leisurely +coiled himself up for the purpose, unheeding Johnstone's discourse; but +the Captain, pointing with his finger, and emphatically saying "Go," +produced the desired effect. Then followed the erection of seventeen +skin tents, all in a row, set up by the women. These Patagonians behaved +well and quietly; but, in the meantime, the master of the schooner had +asked San Leon to obtain some guanaco meat for the crew, and the natives +who went in search of the animals insisted on being paid, though they had +caught nothing. These however were Fuegians, and the Patagonians were +very angry with them. Captain Gardiner even ventured to remain alone +with Johnstone among this people, while San Leon went on to Port Famine +in the _Montgomery_, which was in search of wood; but, in the meantime, +he could do nothing but hold a little monosyllabic communication; and +once, when he and his servant both went out at the same time, they lost +their dinner, which, left to simmer over the fire, proved irresistible to +the Patagonians. They, however, differed from the Fuegians in not +ordinarily being thieves. + +A chief named Wissale arrived with a body of his tribe with whom he had +been purchasing horses on the Rio Negro, and bringing with him an +American negro named Isaac, who had three years since run away from a +whaler, and who spoke enough English to be a useful interpreter. + +Wissale, with Isaac's help, was made to perceive Captain Gardiner's +intentions sufficiently to promise to make him welcome if he should +return, and to declare that he should be glad to learn good things. There +seemed so favourable an opening that the Captain made up his mind to take +up his abode there with his family to prepare the way for a missionary in +Holy Orders, for whom he never deemed himself more than a pioneer. + +After distributing presents to the friendly Patagonians, he embarked, and +making a weary passage, reached the Falkland Islands, where he found the +two ships _Erebus_ and _Terror_ anchored, in the course of their voyage +of Antarctic discovery. The presence of the two captains and their +officers was a great pleasure and enlivenment to the Gardiners, who +received from them many comforts very needful in that inclement climate +to people lately come from some of the hottest regions of the southern +hemisphere. + +Whalers continually put in, but not one, even though Captain Gardiner's +offers rose to 300_l._, would undertake to go out of his course to +Patagonia to convey him and his family, and he would not trust his wife +and children on board that wretched craft the _Montgomery_, so he waited +on at the Falkland Islands, doing what good he could there, and expecting +the answer of a letter he had despatched to the Church Missionary +Society, begging for the appointment of a clergyman to this field of +labour. After six months' delay, the letter came, and proved to be +unfavourable; there was a falling off in the funds of the Society, and a +new and doubtful mission was thought undesirable. The Captain believed +that nothing but personal representations could prevail, and therefore +decided on going home to plead the cause of his Patagonians. He sailed +with his family for Rio in a small vessel, and the voyage could not have +been one of the least of the dangers, for the skipper was a Guacho who +had been a shoemaker, and knew nothing about seafaring, and there was not +a spare rope in the ship. From Rio Gardiner took a passage home, and +safely arrived, after six years of brave pioneering in three different +quarters of the globe. + +He found, however, that the Church Missionary Society could not undertake +the Patagonian Mission, and neither could the London nor Wesleyan +Societies. He declared that every one grew cold when they heard of South +America, and viewed it as the natural inheritance of Giants Pope and +Pagan; and for this very reason he was the more bent upon doing his +utmost. Failing in his attack on Pagan he made an assault on Pope, +obtaining a grant of Bibles, Testaments, and tracts from the Bible +Society, and in 1843 sailed for Rio to distribute them; this time, +however, going alone, as his children were of an age to require an +English education and an English home. + +He undertook this mission, in fact, chiefly for the purpose of continuing +his attempts to reach the Indian tribes. His journey was, as usual, wild +and adventurous, and its principal result was an acquaintance with the +English chaplains and congregations at several of the chief South +American ports, from whom he received a promise of 100_l._, per annum for +the support of a mission to Patagonia. + +With this beginning he returned home, and while residing at Brighton, his +earnestness so stirred people's minds that a Society was formed with an +income of 500_l._, and Mr. Robert Hunt, giving up the mastership of an +endowed school, offered himself to the Church Missionary Society. A +clergyman could not immediately be found, and it was determined that +these two should go first and prepare the way. In 1844, then, they +landed in Oazy Harbour in Magelhaen's Straits, and set up three tents, +one for stores, one for cooking, and one for sleeping. One Fuegian hut +was near, where the people were inoffensive, and presently there arrived +a Chilian deserter named Mariano, who said that he had run away from the +fort at Port Famine with another man named Cruz, who had remained among +the Patagonians. He reported that Wissale had lost much of his +authority, and that San Leon was now chief of the tribe; also that there +was a Padre Domingo at Port Famine, who was teaching the Patagonians to +become "Catolicos." + +To learn the truth as soon as possible, the Captain and Mr. Hunt locked +up two of their huts, leaving the other for Mariano, and set off in +search of the Patagonians; and a severe journey it was, as they had to +carry the heavy clothing required to keep up warmth at night, besides +their food, gun, powder, and shot. The fatigue was too much for Hunt, +who was at one time obliged to lie down exhausted while the Captain went +in search of water; and after four days they were obliged to return to +their huts, where shortly after Wissale arrived, but with a very scanty +following, only ten or twelve horses, and himself and family very hungry; +but though ready to eat whatever Captain Gardiner would give him, his +whole manner was changed by his disasters. He was surly and quarrelsome, +and evidently under the influence of the deserter Cruz, who was resolved +to set him against the new-comers, and so worked upon him that he once +threatened the Captain with his dirk. Moreover, a Chilian vessel +arrived, bringing Padre Mariano himself, a Spanish South American, with a +real zeal for conversion, though he was very courteous to the Englishmen. +An English vessel arrived about the same time, and Gardiner, thinking the +cause for the present hopeless, accepted a homeward passage, writing in +his journal, "We can never do wrong in casting the Gospel net on any side +or in any place. During many a dark and wearisome night we may appear to +have toiled in vain, but it will not be always so. If we will but wait +the appointed time, the promise, though long delayed, will assuredly come +to pass." + +But if he was not daunted his supporters were, and nothing but his +intense earnestness, and assurance that he should never abandon South +America, prevented the whole cause from being dropped. His next attempt +was to reach the Indians beyond Bolivia, in the company of Federigo +Gonzales, a Spaniard, who had become a Protestant, and was to have gone +on the Patagonian Mission. Here fever became their enemy, but after much +suffering and opposition Gonzales was settled at Potosi, studying the +Quichuan language, and hoping to work upon the Indians, while the +unwearied Gardiner again returned to England to strain every nerve for +the Fuegian Mission, which lay nearest of all to his heart. + +He travelled all over England and Scotland, lecturing and making +collections, speaking with the same energy whether he had few or many +auditors. At one town, when asked what sort of a meeting he had had, he +answered, "Not very good, but better than sometimes." + +"How many were present?" + +"Not one; but no meeting is better than a bad one." + +He could not obtain means enough for a well-appointed expedition such as +he wished for; but he urged that a small experimental one might be sent +out, consisting of himself, four sailors, one carpenter, with three +boats, two huts, and provisions for half a year. He hoped to establish a +station on Staten Island, whence the Fuegians could be visited, and the +stores kept out of their reach. + +Having found the men, he embarked on board the barque _Clymene_, which +was bound for Payta, in Peru, and was landed on Picton Island; but before +the vessel had departed the Fuegians had beset the little party, and +shown themselves so obstinately and mischievously thievish, that it was +plainly impossible for so small a party to hold their ground among them. +Before there could be a possibility of convincing them of even the +temporal benefit of the white man's residence among them, they would have +stripped and carried off everything from persons who would refrain from +hurting them. So, once more, the Captain drew up the net which had taken +nothing, decided that the only mission which would suit the Fuegians must +be afloat, and went on to Payta in the _Clymene_. + +While in Peru, he met with a Spanish lady, who asked if he knew a friend +of hers who came from Genoa, and then proceeded to inquire which was the +largest city, Genoa or Italy, and if Europe was not a little on this side +of Spain, while a priest asked if London was a part of France. After +spending a little time in distributing Bibles in Peru, he made his way +home by the way of Panama, and on his arrival made an attempt to interest +the Moravians in the cause so near his heart, thinking that what they had +done in Greenland proved their power of dealing with that savage apathy +that springs from inclemency of climate, but the mission was by them +pronounced impracticable. + +In the meantime, his former ground, Port Natal, was in a more hopeful +state. Tremendous battles had been fought between Dingarn and the boers; +but, in 1839, Panda, Dingarn's brother, finding his life threatened, went +over to the enemy, carrying 4,000 men with him, and thus turned the +scale. Dingarn was routed, fled, and was murdered by the tribe with whom +he had taken refuge, and Panda became Zulu king, while the boers occupied +Natal, and founded the city of Pieter Maritzburg as the capital of a +Republic; but the disputes between them and the Zulus led to the +interference of the Governor of the Cape, and finally Natal was made a +British colony, with the Tugela for a boundary; and, as Panda's +government was exceedingly violent and bloody, his subjects were +continually flocking across the river to put themselves under British +protection, and were received on condition of paying a small yearly rate +for every hut in each kraal, and conforming themselves to English law, so +far as regarded the suppression of violence and theft. One of the +survivors of Gardiner's old pupils, meeting a gentleman who was going to +England, sent him the following message: "Tell Cappan Garna he promise to +come again if his hair was as white as his shirt, and we are waiting for +him;" and he added a little calabash snuff-box as a token. But the +Captain had made his promise to return contingent upon the Kaffirs of his +settlement taking no part in the war, and they, poor things, had, with +the single exception of his own personal attendant, Umpondombeni, broken +this condition; so that he did not deem himself bound by it. Moreover, +means were being taken for providing a mission for Natal, and Christian +teachers were already there, while he regarded his own personal exertions +as the only hope for the desolate natives of Cape Horn. So he only sent +a letter and a present to the man, urging him to attach himself to a +mission-station, and then turned again to his unwearied labour in the +Patagonian and Fuegian cause. His little Society found it impossible to +raise means for the purchase of a brigantine, and he therefore limited +his plans to the equipment of two launches and two smaller boats. He +would store in these provisions for six months, and take a crew of +Cornish fishermen, used to the stormy Irish Sea. As to the funds, a lady +at Cheltenham gave 700_l._, he himself 300_l._ The boats were purchased, +three Cornishmen, named Pearce, Badcock, and Bryant, all of good +character, volunteered from the same village; Joseph Erwin, the +carpenter, who had been with him before, begged to go with him again, +because, he said, "being with Captain Gardiner was like a heaven upon +earth; he was such a man of prayer." One catechist was Richard Williams, +a surgeon; the other John Maidment, who was pointed out by the secretary +of the Young Men's Association in London; and these seven persons, with +their two launches, the _Pioneer_ and the _Speedwell_, were embarked on +board the _Ocean Queen_, and sailed from Liverpool on the 7th of +September, 1850. They carried with them six months' provisions, and the +committee were to send the same quantity out in due time, but they failed +to find a ship that would undertake to go out of its course to Picton +Island, and therefore could only send the stores to the Falklands, to be +thence despatched by a ship that was reported to go monthly to Tierra del +Fuego for wood. + +Meantime, the seven, with their boats and their provisions, were landed +on Picton Island, and the _Ocean Queen_ pursued her way. Time passed on, +and no more was heard of them. The Governor of the Falklands had twice +made arrangements for ships to touch at Picton Island, but the first +master was wrecked, the second disobeyed him; and in great anxiety, on +the discovery of this second failure, he sent, in October 1851, a vessel +on purpose to search for them. At the same time, the _Dido_, Captain +William Morshead, had been commanded by the Admiralty to touch at the +isles of Cape Horn and carry relief to the missionaries. + +On the 21st of October, in a lonely little bay called Spaniards' Harbour, +in Picton Island, the Falkland Island vessel found the _Speedwell_ on the +beach, and near it an open grave. In the boat lay one body, near the +grave another. They returned with these tidings, and in the meantime the +_Dido_ having come out, her boats explored the coast, and a mile and a +half beyond the first found the other boat, beside which lay a skeleton, +the dress of which showed it to be the remains of Allen Gardiner. Near +at hand was a cavern, outside which were these words painted, beneath a +hand:-- + + "My soul, wait thou still upon God, for my hope is in Him. + + "He truly is my strength and my salvation; He is my defence, so that I + shall not fall. + + "In God is my strength and my glory; the rock of my might, and in God + is my trust." + +Within the cave lay another body, that of Maidment. Reverent hands +collected the remains and dug a grave; the funeral service was read by +one of the officers, the ship's colours were hung half-mast high, and +three volleys of musketry fired over the grave--"the only tribute of +respect," says Captain Morshead, "I could pay to this lofty-minded man +and his devoted companions who have perished in the cause of the Gospel." +There was no doubt of the cause and manner of their death, for Captain +Gardiner's diary was found written up to probably the last day of his +life. + +It appeared that in their first voyage, on the 20th of December, they had +fallen in with a heavy sea, and a great drift of seaweed, in which the +anchor of the _Speedwell_ and the two lesser boats had been hopelessly +entangled and lost. It was found impossible for such small numbers to +manage the launches in the stormy channels while loaded, and it was +therefore resolved to lighten them by burying the stores at Banner Cove, +and, while this was being done, it was discovered that all the +ammunition, except one flask and a half of powder, had been left behind +in the _Ocean Queen_; so that there was no means of obtaining either +guanacos or birds. Attempts were made at establishing friendly barter +with the natives, but no sooner did these perceive the smallness of the +number of the strangers, than they beset them with obstinate hostility. +Meantime, Gardiner's object was to reach a certain Button Island, where +was a man called Jemmy Button, who had had much intercourse with English +sailors, and who, he hoped, might pave the way for a better understanding +with the natives. + +But the _Pioneer_ had been damaged from the first, and could not go so +far. At Banner Cove the natives were hostile and troublesome, and +Spaniards' Harbour was the only refuge, and even there a furious wind, on +the 1st of February, drove the _Pioneer_ ashore against the jagged root +of a tree, so as to damage her past all her crew's power of mending, +though they hauled her higher up on the beach, and, by the help of a +tent, made a lodging for the night of the wreck close to the cave, which +they called after her name. + +The question then was, whether to place all the seven in the _Speedwell_ +with some of the provisions and make for Button Island, and this might +probably have saved their lives; but they had already experienced the +exceeding difficulty of navigating the launch in the heavy seas. Both +their landing boats were lost, and they therefore decided to remain where +they were until the arrival of the vessel with supplies, which they +confidently expected either from home or from the Falklands. Indeed, +their power of moving away was soon lost, for Williams, the surgeon, and +Badcock, one of the Cornishmen, both fell ill of the scurvy. The cold +was severe, and neither fresh meat nor green food was to be had, and this +in February--the southern August. However, the patients improved enough +to enable the party to make a last expedition to Banner Cove to recover +more of the provisions buried there, and to paint notices upon the rocks +to guide the hoped-for relief to Spaniards' Harbour; but this was not +effected without much molestation from the Fuegians. Then passed six +weary months of patient expectation and hope deferred. There was no +murmuring, no insubordination, while these seven men waited--waited--waited +in vain, through the dismal Antarctic winter for the relief that came too +late. The journals of Williams and Gardiner breathe nothing but hopeful, +resigned trust, and comfort in the heavenly-minded resolution of each of +the devoted band, who may almost be said to have been the Theban legion +of the nineteenth century. + +For a month they were able to procure fish, and were not put on short +allowance till April, when Williams and Badcock both became worse, and +Bryant began to fail, though he never took to his bed. They, with Erwin, +were lodged in the _Speedwell_ at Blomfield Harbour, a sheltered inlet, +about a mile and a half from the wreck of the _Pioneer_, where, to leave +the sick more room, Captain Gardiner lodged with Maidment and Pearce. + +With the months whose names spoke of English summer, storms and terrible +cold began to set in. The verses that Gardiner wrote in his diary during +this frightful period are inexpressibly touching in the wondrous strength +of their faith and cheerfulness. + + "Let that sweet word our spirits cheer + Which quelled the tossed disciples' fear: + 'Be not afraid!' + He who could bid the tempest cease + Can keep our souls in perfect peace, + If on Him stayed. + And we shall own 'twas good to wait: + No blessing ever came too late." + +This was written on the 4th of June; on the 8th their fishing-net was +torn to pieces by blocks of drifting ice. On the 28th Badcock died, +begging his comrades to sing a hymn to him in his last moments. In +August, Gardiner, hitherto the healthiest, was obliged to take to his bed +in the _Pioneer_, and there heard of the death of Erwin on the 23rd of +August, and of Bryant on the 27th. Maidment buried them both, and came +back to Captain Gardiner, who, as he lay in bed, had continued his +journal, and written his farewell letters to his wife and children. +Hitherto, the stores of food had been eked out by mussels and wild +celery, but there was now no one to search for them. Gardiner, wishing +to save Maidment the journeys to and fro, determined to try to reach the +_Speedwell_, and Maidment cut two forked sticks to serve as crutches, but +the Captain found himself too weak for the walk, and had to return. This +was on the 30th of August. On Sunday, the 31st, there is no record in +the diary, but the markers stand in his Prayer-book at the Psalms for the +day and the Collect for the Sunday. On the 3rd of September, Maidment +was so much exhausted that he could not leave his bed till noon, and +Gardiner never saw him again. He must have died in the _Pioneer_ cavern, +being unable to return. The diary continues five days longer. A little +peppermint-water had been left by the solitary sufferer's bed, and a +little fresh water he also managed to scoop up from the sides of the boat +in an india-rubber shoe. This was all the sustenance he had. On the 6th +of September he wrote--"Yet a little while, and through grace we may join +that blessed throng to sing the praises of Christ throughout eternity. I +neither hunger nor thirst, though five days without food! Marvellous +loving-kindness to me, a sinner. Your affectionate brother in +CHRIST,--ALLEN F. GARDINER." + +These last words were in a letter to Williams. He must afterwards have +left the boat, perhaps to catch more water, and have been too weak to +climb back into it, for his remains were on the beach. Williams lost the +power of writing sooner, and no more is known of his end, though probably +he died first, and Pearce must have been trying to prepare his grave when +he, too, sank. + +What words can befit this piteous history better than "This is the +patience of the saints"? + +The memorial to Allen Gardiner has been a mission-ship bearing his name, +with her head-quarters at the Falkland Isles. We believe that these +isles are to become a Bishop's See. Assuredly a branch of the Church +should spring up where the seed of so patient and devoted a martyrdom has +been sown. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. CHARLES FREDERICK MACKENZIE, THE MARTYR OF THE ZAMBESI. + + +That Zulu country where poor Allen Gardiner had made his first attempt +became doubly interesting to the English when the adjoining district of +Natal became a British colony. It fell under the superintendence of +Bishop Robert Gray, of Capetown, who still lives and labours, and +therefore cannot be here spoken of; and mainly by his exertions it was +formed into a separate Episcopal See in the year 1853. Most of the +actors in the founding of the Church of Natal are still living, but there +are some of whom it can truly be said that-- + + "Death hath moulded into calm completeness + The statue of their life." + +Charles Frederick Mackenzie was born in 1825 of an old Scottish Tory +family, members from the first of the Scottish Church in the days of her +persecution. His father, Colin Mackenzie, was one of Walter Scott's +fellow-Clerks of Session, and is commemorated by one of the Introductions +to "Marmion," as-- + + "He whose absence we deplore, + Who breathes the gales of Devon's shore; + The longer missed, bewailed the more." + +His mother was Elizabeth Forbes, and he was the youngest of so unusually +large a family that the elders had been launched into the world before +the younger ones were born, so that they never were all together under +one roof. The father's delicacy of health kept the mother much +engrossed; the elder girls were therefore appointed as little mothers to +the younger children, and it was to his eldest sister, Elizabeth +(afterwards Mrs. Dundas), that the young Charles always looked with the +tender reverence that is felt towards the earliest strong influence for +good. + +From the first he had one of those pure and stainless natures that seem +to be good without effort, but his talents were only considered +remarkable for arithmetic. His elder brothers used to set him up on a +table and try to puzzle him with questions, which he could often answer +mentally before they had worked them out on their slates. His father +died in 1830, after so much invalidism and separation that his five-year- +old boy had no personal recollection of him. The eldest son, Mr. Forbes +Mackenzie, succeeded to the estate of Portmore, and the rest of the +family resided in Edinburgh for education. Charles attended the Academy +till he was fifteen, when he was sent to the Grange School at Bishop's +Wearmouth, all along showing a predominant taste for mathematics, which +he would study for his own amusement and assist his elder brothers in. +His perfect modesty prevented them from ever feeling hurt by his +superiority in this branch, and he held his place well in classics, +though they were not the same delight to him, and were studied rather as +a duty and as a step to the ministry of the Church, the desire of his +heart from the first. At school, his companions respected him heartily, +and loved him for his unselfish kindness and sweetness, while a few of +the more graceless were inclined to brand him as soft or slow, because he +never consented to join in anything blameable, and was not devoted to +boyish sports, though at times he would join in them with great vigour, +and was always perfectly fearless. + +From the Grange he passed to Cambridge, and was entered at St. John's, +but finding that his Scottish birth was a disadvantage according to +restrictions now removed, he transferred himself to Caius College. He +kept up a constant correspondence with his eldest sister, Mrs. Dundas, +and from it may be gathered much of his inner life, while outwardly he +was working steadily on, as a very able and studious undergraduate. With +hopes of the ministry before his eyes, he begged one of the parochial +clergy to give him work that would serve as training, and accordingly he +was requested to read and pray with a set of old people living in an +asylum. The effort cost his bashfulness much, but he persevered, with +the sense that if he did not go "no one else would," and that his +attempts were "better than nothing." This was the key to all his life. +At the same time he felt, what biography shows many another to have done, +the influence of the more constant and complete worship then enjoined by +college rules. Daily service was new to him, and was accepted of course +as college discipline, but after a time it gathered force and power over +his mind, and as the _Magnificat_ had been a revelation to Henry Martyn, +so Charles Mackenzie's affection first fixed upon the General +Thanksgiving, and on the commemoration of the departed in the prayer for +the Church Militant. + +His fellow-collegians thought of him as a steady, religious-minded man, +but not peculiarly devout, and indeed the just balance of his mind made +him perceive that the prime duty of an undergraduate was industry rather +than attempts to exercise his yet unformed and uncultivated powers. In +1848 he was second wrangler. There were two prizes, called Dr. Smith's, +for the two most distinguished mathematicians of the year. The senior +wrangler's papers had the first of these; for the second, Mackenzie was +neck and neck with a Trinity College man, and the question was only +decided by the fact that Dr. Smith had desired that his own college +(Trinity) should have the preference. + +After this he became tutor and fellow of his college, taking private +pupils, and at the same time preparing for Holy Orders, not only by study +of books, but by work among the poor, with whom his exceeding kindness +and intense reality gave him especial influence at all times. + +He was ordained on the Trinity Sunday of 1851, and took an assistant +curacy at a short distance from Cambridge, his vigorous powers of walking +enabling him to give it full attention as well as to his pupils and to +the University offices he filled. His great characteristic seems always +to have been the tenderest kindness and consideration; and in the year +when he was public examiner, this was especially felt by the young men +undergoing an ordeal so terrible to strained and excited intellect and +nerves, when a little hastiness or harshness often destroys the hopes of +a man's youth. + +With this combination of pastoral work and college life Mackenzie was +perfectly satisfied and happy, but in another year the turning-point of +his life was reached. A mission at Delhi to the natives was in prospect, +and the Rev. J. S. Jackson, who belonged to the same college with him, +came to Cambridge in search of a fellow-labourer therein. During the +conversations and consultations as to who could be asked, the thought +came upon Mackenzie, why should he strive to send forth others without +going himself. He could not put it from his mind. He read Henry +Martyn's life, and resolved on praying for guidance as to his own duty. +In the words of his letter to Mrs. Dundas, "I thought chiefly of the +command, 'Go ye and baptize all nations,' and how some one ought to go; +and I thought how in another world one would look back and rejoice at +having seized this opportunity of taking the good news of the Gospel to +those who had never heard of it; but for whom, as well as for us, Christ +died. I thought of the Saviour sitting in heaven, and looking down upon +this world, and seeing us, who have heard the news, selfishly keeping it +to ourselves, and only one or two, or eight or ten, going out in the year +to preach to His other sheep, who must be brought, that there may be one +fold and one Shepherd; and I thought that if other men would go abroad, +then I might stay at home, but as no one, or so few, would go out, then +it was the duty of every one that could go to go. . . . And I thought, +what right have I to say to young men here, 'You had better go out to +India,' when I am hugging myself in my comfortable place at home." And +afterwards, "Now, dear Lizzie, I have always looked to you as my mother +and early teacher. To you I owe more than I can ever repay, more than I +can well tell. I do hope you will pray for me and give me your advice." + +Mrs. Dundas's reply to this letter was a most wise and full expression of +sympathy with the aspiration, given with the deep consideration of a +peculiarly calm and devotional spirit, which perceived that it is far +better for a man to work up to his fullest perception of right, and +highest aims, than to linger in a sphere which does not occupy his +fullest soul and highest self; and she also recognized the influence that +the fact of one of a family being engaged in such work exercises on those +connected with them. + +Others of the family, however, were startled, and some of his Cambridge +friends did not think him adapted to the Delhi Mission, and this +therefore was given up, but without altering the bent that his mind had +received; and indeed Mrs. Dundas, in one of her beautiful letters, +advised him to keep the aim once set before him in view, and thus his +interest became more and more turned towards the support of missionary +work at home. + +In 1854, the first Primate of New Zealand, George Augustus Selwyn, +visited England, after twelve years of labour spent in building up the +Colonial and Maori Church, and of pioneering for missions in the +Melanesian Isles, over which his vast see then extended. He preached a +course of four sermons at Cambridge; Mackenzie was an eager listener, and +those forcible, heart-stirring discourses clenched his long growing +resolution to obey the first call to missionary labour that should come +to him, though, on the other hand, he desired so far to follow the +leadings of Providence that he would not choose nor volunteer, but wait +for the summons--whither he knew not. + +Ere long the invitation came. The erection of the colony of Natal into a +Bishop's See had been decided upon a year before, and it had been offered +to John William Colenso, a clergyman known as active in the support of +the missionary cause, and a member of the University of Cambridge. On +his appointment he had gone out in company with the Bishop of Capetown to +inspect his diocese and study its needs, as well as to lay the +foundations of future work. In the party who then sailed for Natal was a +lady who had recently been left a widow, Henrietta Woodrow by name, +ardent in zeal for the conversion of the heathen, and hoping that the +warm climate of Africa would enable her to devote herself to good works +more entirely than her delicate health permitted at home. + +Pieter Maritzburg had by this time risen into a capital, with a strange +mixture of Dutch and English buildings; but the English population +strongly predominated. Panda was king of the Kaffirs, and fearfully +bloody massacres had taken place in his dominions, causing an immense +number of refugees to take shelter in the English territory. Young +people who thus came were bound apprentices to persons who would take +charge of them for the sake of their services, and thus the missions and +those connected with them gained considerable influence for a time. A +Kaffir, who must have been Captain Gardiner's faithful Umpondobeni, +though he was now called by another name, inquired for his former good +master, and fell into an agony of distress on hearing of his fate. + +Mrs. Woodrow at once opened an orphanage for the destitute English +children that are sure to be found in a new colony, where the parents, if +unsuccessful, are soon tempted to drink, and then fall victims to climate +and accident. The Kaffir servant whom she engaged had already been +converted, and was baptized by the name of Abraham, soon after he entered +her service; but "Boy,"--the name at first given to him,--became a sort +of surname to him and to his family. While watching over the little band +of children, Mrs. Woodrow was already--even though as yet only learning +the language--preparing the way for the coming Church. She wrote of the +Kaffirs: "They come to me of all ages, men and women, some old men from +the country, with their rings upon their heads, and wrapped in their +house blankets. Then they sit down on the kitchen floor, our 'Boy' +telling them, in his earnest way, about JESUS CHRIST. These I cannot +speak to, but I manage to let them know that I care for them, and 'Boy' +says they go away with 'tears in their hearts.'" + +About two years previously, a Scottish colonist at the Cape, named Robert +Robertson, had been touched by the need of ministers; had been ordained +by the Bishop of Capetown, and sent to Natal as missionary clergyman to +the Zulus. Early in 1855 these two devoted workers were married, and, +taking up their abode at Durban, continued together their care of the +English orphans, and of the Kaffir children whom they could collect. + +In the meantime, Bishop Colenso, having taken his survey of the colony, +had returned to England to collect his staff of fellow-workers; and one +of his first requests was that Charles Mackenzie would accompany him as +Archdeacon of Pieter Maritzburg. There was not such entire willingness +in Mrs. Dundas's mind to part with him on this mission as on the former +proposal; not that she wished to hold him back from the task to which he +had in a manner dedicated himself, but she preferred his going out +without the title of a dignitary, and, from the tone of the new Bishop's +letters, she foresaw that doctrinal difficulties and differences might +arise. + +Her brother had, however, made up his mind that no great work would ever +be done, if those who co-operated were too minute in seeking for perfect +accordance of opinions; and that boundless charity which was his great +characteristic made him perhaps underrate the importance of the fissure +which his sister even then perceived between the ways of thinking of +himself and his Bishop. His next sister, Anne, whose health was too +delicate for a northern climate, was to accompany him; and the entire +party who went out with Bishop Colenso numbered thirty or forty persons, +including several ladies, who were to devote themselves to education, +both of the white and black inhabitants. They sailed in the barque _Jane +Morice_ early in the March of 1855, and, after a pleasant and prosperous +voyage, entered Durban Bay in the ensuing May. + +The first home of the brother and sister was at Durban, among the English +colonists. It somewhat disappointed the Archdeacon, as those who come +out for purely missionary aims always are disappointed, when called to +the equally needful but less interesting field of labour among their own +countrymen; put as he says, he satisfied his mind by recollecting, "I +came out here simply because there was a scarcity of people that could +and would come. I did not come because I thought the work more important +than that I was leaving." So he set himself heartily to gather and +confirm the congregation that had had its first commencement when Allen +Gardiner used to read prayers to the first few settlers; and, at the same +time, Kaffir services were held for the some thousand persons in the town +in the employment of the whites. + +The Archdeacon read prayers in Kaffir, and Mr. Robertson preached on the +Sunday evenings. The numbers of attendants were not large, and the most +work was done by the school that the Robertsons collected round them. The +indifference and slackness of the English at Durban made it all the +harder to work upon the Kaffirs; and, in truth, Archdeacon Mackenzie's +residence there was a troublous time. The endeavour, by the wish of the +Bishop, to establish a weekly offertory, was angrily received by the +colonists, who were furious at the sight of the surplice in the pulpit, +and, no doubt, disguised much real enmity, both to holiness of life and +to true discipline, under their censure of what they called a badge of +party. Their treatment of the Archdeacon, when they found him resolute, +amounted to persecution; the most malignant rumours were set afloat, and +nothing but his strength and calmness, perfect forgiveness, and yet +unswerving determination, carried him through what was probably the most +trying period of his life. + +Intercourse with the Robertsons was the great refreshment in those +anxious days. A grant from Government had been made for a Church Mission +station upon the coast, and upon the river Umlazi, not many miles from +Durban; and here Mr. and Mrs. Robertson stationed themselves with their +little company of orphans, refugees, and Kaffirs; also a Hottentot +family, whose children they were bringing up. + +Their own house had straight walls, coffee-coloured, a brown thatched +roof, and a boarded floor, in consideration of Mrs. Robertson's exceeding +delicacy of health; but such boards! loose, and so springy that the +furniture leapt and danced when the floor was crossed. It was all on the +ground-floor, partitioned by screens; and the thatched roof continued a +good way out, supported on posts, so as to form a wide verandah; and +scattered all around were the beehive dwellings of the Kaffir following, +and huts raised for the nonce for European guests. + +At six o'clock in the morning a large bell was rung. At eight, Kaffir +prayers were read by Mr. Robertson, for his own servants, in the +verandah, and for some who would come in from the neighbouring kraals; +then followed breakfast; then English matins; and, by that time, Kaffir +children were creeping up to the verandah to be taught. They were first +washed, and then taught their letters, with some hymns translated into +their language, and a little religious instruction. The children were +generally particularly pleasant to deal with, bright and intelligent, and +with a natural amiability of disposition that rendered quarrels and +jealousies rare. Good temper seems, indeed, to be quite a Zulu +characteristic; the large mixed families of the numerous wives live +together harmoniously, and the gift of a kraal to one member is +acknowledged by all the rest. Revenge, violence, and passion are to be +found among them, but not fretfulness and quarrelsomeness. + +After the work of instruction, there was generally a ride into the +neighbouring kraals, to converse with the people, and invite the children +to school. They had to be propitiated with packets of sugar, and shown +the happy faces of the home flock. There was, at first, a good deal of +inclination to distrust; and the endeavour to bring the women and girls +to wear clothes had to be most cautiously managed, as a little over-haste +would make them take fright and desert altogether. + +The Kaffir customs of marriage proved one of the most serious impediments +in the way of the missionaries. The female sex had its value as +furnishing servants and cultivators of the ground, and every man wished +to own as many wives as possible. Not only did the question what was to +be done in the case of many-wived converts come under consideration, but +the fathers objected to their daughters acquiring the rudiments of +civilization, lest it should lessen their capabilities to act as beasts +of burden, and thus spoil their price in cattle, (the true _pecunia_ of +the Zulu). Practically, it was found, that no polygamist ever became +more than an inquirer; the way of life seemed to harden the heart or +blind the eyes against conviction; but the difficulty as regarded the +younger people was great, since as long as a girl remained the lawful +property of the head of her kraal, she was liable to be sold to any +polygamist of any age who might pay her value; and thus it became a +question whether it were safe to baptize her. Even Christian Zulus +marrying Christian women according to the English rite could not be +secure of them unless the cows were duly paid over; and as these Kaffirs +are a really fine race, with more of the elements of true love in them +than is usual in savages, adventures fit for a novel would sometimes +occur, when maidens came flying to the mission station to avoid some old +husband who had made large offers to their father; and the real lover +would arrive entreating protection for the lady of his heart until he +could earn the requisite amount of cows to satisfy her father. + +Mr. Robertson was always called the umfundisi, or teacher. He held his +Sunday Kaffir service in a clearing in the bush, and gained many hearts +to himself, and some souls for the Church, while toiling with his hands +as well as setting forth the truth with his lips. Mrs. Robertson at the +same time worked upon the women by her tenderness to their little ones, +offering them little frocks if they would wash them, caressing them with +all a woman's true love for babies, and then training their elder +children and girls, teaching them needlework, and whatever could lead to +aspirations towards modesty and the other graces of Christian womanhood. +Often extremely ill, always fragile, her energy never failed; and there +was a grace and dignity about her whole deportment and manner which +caused "the Lady" to be the emphatic title always given to her by her +husband and his friends. Of these the Mackenzie family were among the +warmest, and the Archdeacon gladly gave valuable assistance to Mr. +Robertson by supplementing an education which had not been definitely +clerical, but rather of that order which seems to render an able Scotsman +fit to apply himself to almost anything. + +In February 1857 another sister, named Alice, joined the Mackenzie +family, when they were on a visit to the Umlazi station. Her quick +powers and enthusiastic spirit fitted her in a wonderful manner for +missionary labour, and she was at once in such sympathy with the Kaffirs +that it was a playful arrangement among the home party that Anne should +be the white and Alice the black sister. + +Just after her arrival, it was determined that the Archdeacon should +leave Durban, where, indeed, he had been only filling the post of an +absent clergyman, and take a district on the Umhlali river, forty miles +from Durban, containing a number of English settlements, a camp, and a +large amount of Kaffir kraals. Every Sunday he had five services at +different places, one of them eighteen miles from the nearest, a space +that had to be ridden at speed in the mid-day sun. There was no house, +but a couple of rooms with perpendicular sides and a verandah, one for +chapel, the other for sitting-room, while Kaffir beehive huts were the +bedrooms of all. For a long time blankets and plaids did the part of +doors and shutters; and just as the accommodations were improving, the +whole grass and wattle structure was burnt down, and it was many months +before the tardy labour of colonial workmen enabled the family to take +possession of the new house, in a better situation, which they named +Seaforth, after the title of the former head of the Mackenzie clan. + +All this time the whole party had been working. A school was collected +every morning of both boys and girls; not many in number, but from a +large area: children of white settlers, varying in rank, gentlemen or +farmers, but all alike running wild for want of time and means to +instruct them. They came riding on horses or oxen, attended by their +Kaffirs, and were generally found exceedingly ignorant of all English +learning, but precocious and independent in practical matters: young boys +able to shoot, ride, and often entrusted with difficult commissions by +their fathers at an age when their cousins at home would scarcely be at a +public school, and little girls accustomed to superintend the Kaffirs in +all household business; both far excelling their parents in familiarity +with the language, but accustomed to tyrannize over the black servants, +and in danger of imbibing unsuspected evil from their heathen converse. +It was a task of no small importance to endeavour to raise the tone, +improve the manners, and instruct the minds of these young colonists, and +it could only be attempted by teaching them as friends upon an equality. + +With the Kaffirs, at the same time, the treatment was moulded on that of +Mr. and Mrs. Robertson, who at one time paid the Umhlali a visit, +bringing with them their whole train of converts, servants, orphans, and +adopted children, who could be easily accommodated by putting up fresh +grass huts, to which even the Europeans of the party had become so +accustomed, that they viewed a chameleon tumbling down on the +dinner-table with rather more indifference than we do the intrusion of an +earwig, quite acquiesced in periodically remaking the clay floor when the +white ants were coming up through it, scorpions being found in the +Archdeacon's whiskers, and green snakes, instead of mice, being killed by +the cat. + +The sight of Christian Kaffirs was very beneficial to the learners, to +whom it was a great stumbling block to have no fellows within their ken, +but to be totally separated from all of their own race and colour. At +Seaforth, the wedding was celebrated of two of Mr. Robertson's converts, +named Benjamin and Louisa, the marriage Psalms being chanted in Kaffir, +and the Holy Communion celebrated, when there were seven Kaffir +communicants. The bride wore a white checked muslin and a wreath of +white natural flowers on her head. This was the first Christian Zulu +wedding, and it has been followed by many more, and we believe that in no +case has there been a relapse into heathenism or polygamy. + +The Mackenzies continued at Seaforth until the early part of the year +1859. The work was peaceful and cheerful. There were no such remarkable +successes in conversion as the Robertsons met with, probably because in +the further and wilder district the work was more pioneering, and the +Robertsons had never been without a nucleus of Christians, besides which +the gifts of both appear to have been surpassing in their power of +dealing with natives, and producing thorough conversions. Moreover, they +had no cure but of the Kaffirs, whereas Archdeacon Mackenzie was the +pastor of a widely scattered population, and his time and strength on +Sundays employed to their very uttermost. Church affairs weighed heavily +upon him; and another heavy sorrow fell on him in the death of the +guardian elder sister, Mrs. Dundas. Her illness, typhus fever, left time +for the preparation of knowing of her danger, and a letter written to her +by her brother during the suspense breathes his resigned hope:--"Dear +Lizzie, you may now be among the members of the Church in heaven, who +have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. If +so, we shall never meet again on earth. But what a meeting in heaven! +Any two of us to meet so would be, more than we can conceive, to be made +perfect, and never more to part." And when writing to the bereaved +husband after the blow had fallen, he says: "Surely we ought not to think +it strange if the brightest gems are sometimes removed from the workshop +to the immediate presence of the Great King." + +But the grief, though borne in such a spirit, probably made him +susceptible to the only illness he experienced while in Natal. The +immediate cause was riding in the burning sun of a southern February, and +the drinking cold water, the result of which was a fever, that kept him +at home for about a month. + +There was at this time a strong desire to send a mission into independent +Zululand, with a Bishop at its head. Bishop Colenso was at first +inclined to undertake the lead himself, resigning Natal; and next a plan +arose that Archdeacon Mackenzie should become the missionary Bishop. The +plan was to be submitted to the Society for the Propagation of the +Gospel, and for this purpose the Archdeacon was despatched to England, +taking Miss Mackenzie with him; but the younger sister, Alice, having so +recently arrived, and being so valuable as a worker among the natives, +remained to assist in the school of young chiefs who had been gathered +together by Bishop Colenso. + +The time of the return of the brother and sister was just when Dr. +Livingstone's account of the interior of Africa, and of the character of +the chiefs on the Zambesi, had excited an immense enthusiasm throughout +England. He had appealed to the Universities to found a mission, and +found it they would, on a truly grand scale, commensurate with their +wealth and numbers. It was to have a Bishop at the head, and a strong +staff of clergy, vessels built on purpose to navigate the rivers, and +every requisite amply provided. Crowded meetings were held at each +University, and the enthusiasm produced by the appeal of Dr. Livingstone, +a Scottish Presbyterian, to the English Universities, as the only bodies +capable of such an effort, produced unspeakable excitement. At a huge +meeting at Cambridge, attended by the most distinguished of English +Churchmen, Archdeacon Mackenzie was present. His quiet remark to the +friend beside him, was, "I am _afraid_ of this. Most great works have +been carried on by one or two men in a quieter way, and have had a more +humble beginning." In fact, Bishop Gray, of Capetown, had long been +thinking of a Central African Mission; but his plan, and that which +Mackenzie would have preferred, was to work gradually northwards from the +places already Christian, or partially so, instead of commencing an +isolated station at so great a distance, not only from all aid to the +workers, but from all example or mode of bringing civilized life to the +pupils. But Livingstone had so thoroughly won the sympathies of the +country that only the exact plan which he advocated could obtain favour, +and it was therefore felt that it was better to accept and co-operate +with his spirit than to give any check, or divide the flow by contrary +suggestions. + +Thus Livingstone became almost as much the guide and referee of the +Zambesi expedition as ever a Cardinal Legate was of a crusade. Nor could +this be wondered at, for the ordinary Englishman is generally almost +ignorant of missions and their history, and in this case an able and +interesting book of travels had stirred the mind of the nation; nor had +experience then shown how much more there was of the explorer than of the +missionary in the writer. + +From the first, Archdeacon Mackenzie was designated as the chief of the +mission. He felt the appointment a call not to be rejected. His sister +Anne viewed it in the same spirit, and was ready to cast in her lot with +him, and letters were written to the other sister in Natal proposing to +her to accompany them. Then came a year of constant travelling and +oratory in churches and on platforms, collecting means and rousing +interest in the mission--a year that would have been a mere whirl to any +one not possessed of the wonderful calmness and simplicity that +characterized Mackenzie, and made him just do the work that came to hand +in the best manner in his power, without question or choice as to what +that work might be. + +By the October of 1860 all was ready, and the brother and sister had +taken leave of the remaining members of their family, and embarked at +Southampton, together with two clergymen, a lay superintendent, a +carpenter and a labourer, and likewise Miss Fanny Woodrow, Mrs. +Robertson's niece, who was to join in her work. Their first stage was +Capetown, where it had been arranged that the consecration should take +place, since it is best that a Missionary Bishop governing persons not +under English government should not be fettered by regulations that +concern her Prelates, not as belonging to the Church, but to the +Establishment. There was some delay in collecting the bishops of South +Africa, so that the _Pioneer_, placed at Dr. Livingstone's disposal, +could not wait; and the two clergy, Mr. Waller and Mr. Scudamore, +proceeded without their chief. + +On the 1st of January, 1861, the rite took place, memorable as the first +English consecration of a Missionary Bishop, and an example was set that +has happily been since duly followed, as the Church has more and more +been roused to the fulfilment of the parting command, "Go ye, and teach +_all_ nations." + +And, on the 7th, the new Bishop sailed in H.M.S. _Lyra_, Captain +Oldfield, which had been appointed, in the course of its East African +cruise, to take him to the scene of his labours, on the way setting down +the Bishop of Natal at his diocese. The first exploration and formation +of a settlement had been decided to be too arduous and perilous for +women, especially for such an invalid as Miss Mackenzie, and she was +therefore left at Capetown, to follow as soon as things should be made +ready for her. The so-called black sister, who then fully intended also +to be a member of the Central African Mission, came down to meet her +brother at Durban, and a few days of exceeding peace and joy were here +spent. The victory over his opponents at Durban had been won by the +recollection of his unfailing meekness and love; they hailed him with +ardent affection and joy, expressed their regret for all that had been +unfriendly, and eagerly sought for all pastoral offices at his hand. He +consecrated a church, and held a confirmation at the Umlazi; but the +Robertsons were not there to welcome him. The long-contemplated mission +into independent Zululand had devolved upon Mr. Robertson, and he and his +wife, and the choicest and most trustworthy of their converts, had +removed across the Tugela into the territories of old King Panda, the +last of the terrible brotherhood, and now himself greatly ruled by the +ablest and most successful of his sons, Ketchewayo by name. The work was +very near Bishop Mackenzie's heart, and, both with substantial aid, +prayers, blessings, and encouragements, he endeavoured to forward it. + +His last day in Natal was spent in a service with a confirmation at +Claremont, and an evening service at Durban. "As we were returning," +wrote his sister Alice, "we saw a rocket from the sea; a gun fired, the +mail was in; and the captain, who was with us, said he would let us know +the first thing in the morning the hour he would sail. Well, after this, +there was little peace or quiet. We were too tired to sit up that night, +and next morning there was much to arrange, and everybody was coming and +going, and we heard we were to go by the half-past two train. A great +many friends were with us, but on the shore we slipped away, and, leaning +together on a heap of bricks, had a few sweet, quiet collects together, +till we were warned we must go to the boat. We went on board the tug, +and stood together high up on the captain's place; we were washed again +and again by the great waves. When he went, and I had his last kiss and +blessing, his own bright, beautiful spirit infected mine, and I could +return his parting words without flinching; I saw him go without even a +tear dimming my eye: so that I could watch him to the last, looking after +our little boat again crossing the bar, till we could distinguish each +other no more. + +"In speaking one day of happiness, he said, 'I have given up looking for +that altogether. Now, till death, my post is one of unrest and care. To +be the sharer of everyone's sorrow, the comforter of everyone's grief, +the strengthener of everyone's weakness: to do this as much as in me lies +is now my aim and object; for, you know, when the members suffer, the +pain must always fly to the head.' He said this with a smile, and oh! +the peace in his face; it seemed as if nothing _could_ shake it." + +The last photograph, taken during this visit to Durban, with the high +calm brow, and the quiet contemplative eye, bears out this beautiful, +sisterly description of that last look. + +The _Lyra_ next proceeded to the Kongone mouth of the Zambesi, where the +two parties who had gone forward, including Dr. Livingstone himself, were +met, and a consultation took place. The Bishop was anxious to go +forward, arrange his settlement, and commence his work at once; but Dr. +Livingstone thought the season a bad one, and was anxious to explore the +River Rovuma, to see whether its banks afforded a better opening; and it +ended in the Bishop feeling obliged to give way to his experience, +although against his own judgment. + +He therefore, with Mr. Rowley, who had joined him at Durban, accompanied +Livingstone in the _Pioneer_, leaving the others at Johanna, a little +island used as a depot for coal. + +The expedition was not successful; there was only water enough in the +channel to enable the _Pioneer_ to go thirty miles up in five days, and +it failed more and more in the descent. The steamer, too, though built +for the purpose of navigating the shallows of rivers, drew more water +than had been expected; the current when among shoals made the descent +worse than the ascent; there was a continual necessity for landing to cut +wood to feed the engine; and, in five days, the _Pioneer_ had not made +ten miles. The Bishop worked as hard as any of the crew, once narrowly +escaped the jaws of a crocodile, and had a slight touch of fever, so +trifling that it perhaps disposed him to think lightly of the danger; but +he was still weak when he came back to Johanna, and, by way of remedy, +set out before breakfast for a mountain walk, and came back exhausted, +and obliged to lie still, thoroughly depressed in mind as well as body +for two days. The expedition proved the more unfortunate, that it +delayed the start for the Zambesi from February, when the stream was +full, till May, when the water was so low that a great quantity of the +stores had to be left behind, in order that the _Pioneer_ might not draw +too much water. The chief assistants were the Malokolo, a portion of a +tribe who had attached themselves to Dr. Livingstone, and had been +awaiting his return on the banks of the river. The Bishop would fain +have gone without weapons of any sort, but Dr. Livingstone decided that +this was impracticable. He said, by all means take guns, and use them, +if needed, and they would prove the best pacificators; and Mackenzie, as +usual, yielded his own judgment, and heartily accepted what was decided +on for him. + +All those left at Johanna had suffered from fever, and were relieved that +the time of inaction was over when they embarked in the _Pioneer_ on the +1st of May, and in due time ascended the Zambesi, and again the Shire, +but very slowly, for much time was consumed in cutting wood for the +engines, every _stick_ in the mud costing three days' labour, and in +three weeks going only six or seven miles, seeing numerous crocodiles and +hippopotami by the way. + +It was not till the middle of July that they reached the landing-place. +As soon as the goods had been landed the whole party set out on an +exploration, intending to seek for a place, high enough on the hills to +be healthy, on which to form their settlement. + +Their goods were carried by negroes, and a good many by themselves, the +Bishop's share being in one hand a loaded gun, in the other a crozier, in +front a can of oil, behind, a bag of seeds. "I thought," he writes, "of +the contrast between my weapon and my staff, the one like Jacob, the +other like Abraham, who armed all his trained servants to rescue Lot. I +thought also of the seed which we must sow in the hearts of the people, +and of the oil of the Spirit that must strengthen us in all we do." + +The example of Abraham going forth to rescue Lot was brought suddenly +before the mission party. While halting at a negro village, a sound was +heard like the blowing of penny trumpets, and six men, with muskets, came +into the village, driving with them eighty-four slaves, men, women, and +children, whom they had collected for Portuguese slave-dealers at Tette. + +The Bishop and Mr. Scudamore had gone out of the village to bathe just +before they arrived; but Dr. Livingstone, recognizing one of the drivers, +whom he had seen at Tette, took him by the wrist, saying, "What are you +doing here, killing people? I shall kill you to-day." + +The man answered: "I do not kill; I am not making war. I bought these +people." + +Then Livingstone turned to the slaves. Two men said, "We were bought." +Six said, "We were captured." And several of the women, "Our husbands +and relatives were killed, and here we are." + +Whereupon Livingstone began to cut the bonds of cord that fastened them +together, while the slave-catchers ran away. All this was over before +the Bishop returned; and Livingstone was explaining to the rescued +negroes that they might either return to their homes, go to Tette, or +remain under English protection, while they expressed their joy and +gratitude by a slow clapping of the hands. They told a terrible story, +of women shot for trying to escape, and of a babe whose brains were +dashed out, because its mother could not carry it and her brothers +together. + +If asked by what authority he did these things, Livingstone would have +answered, by the right of a Christian man to protect the weak from +devilish cruelty. There was no doubt in his mind that these slaves, even +though purchased, were deprived of their liberty so unjustly, that their +deliverance was only a sacred duty, and that their owners had no right of +property in them. If a British cruiser descended on a slave-ship, and +released her freight, should he not also deliver the captive wherever he +met him? + +And, with this, another question was raised, namely, that of the use of +weapons. The party were in the country of the Man-gnaja, a tribe of +negroes who were continually harried by the fiercer and more powerful +neighbour-tribe of Ajawa, great slave-catchers, who supplied the slave- +hunters who came out from Tette to collect their human droves. These +were mostly Arabs, with some Portuguese admixture; and the blacks, after +being disposed of in the market at Tette, were usually shipped off to +supply the demand in Arabia and Egypt, where, to tell the truth, their +lot was a far easier one than befell the slaves of the West, the toilers +among sugar and cotton. + +A crusade against slave-catching could not be carried on without, at +least, a show of force; and, this granted, a further difficulty presented +itself, in the fact that, out of the scanty number of white men, one was +a bishop and two were priests of the English Church, and one a +Presbyterian minister. In all former cases, the missionaries had freely +ventured themselves, using no means of self-defence, and marking the +difference between themselves and others by the absence of all weapons. +But, in those places, it was self-defence that was given up; here the +point was, whether to deliver the captive, or, by silence, to acquiesce +in the wrong done to him; and if his rescue were attempted, it was in +vain, unless the clergy assisted; and thus it was that the mission party +did not march so much as men of peace as deliverers of the captive and +breakers of the yoke. The captives had no power of returning home, and +chose to remain with their deliverers; and the next day the party reached +a negro village, called Chibisa's, after the chief who had ruled it at +the time of Dr. Livingstone's first visit. He was now dead, but his +successor, Chigunda, begged the white men to remain, to protect him from +the Ajawa, who were only five or ten miles off, and from whom an attack +was expected. + +It was decided to forestall it by marching towards them. On the way +another great convoy of slaves was encountered, and with the merest show +of force, no bloodshed at all, more than forty were liberated--the men +from forked clogs to their necks, consisting of a pole as thick as a +man's thigh, branched at the top like the letter Y, so that the neck of +the prisoner could be inserted, and fastened with an iron pin. + +The large number of these liberated captives made it necessary to choose +a home, but Chibisa's was not the place selected, but a spot some sixty +miles further on, called Magomero. It was on a plain 3,000 feet above +the level of the sea, or rather in a hole on the plain; for it was chosen +because the bend of a river encircled it on three sides, so that a +stockade on the fourth would serve for defence, in case of an attack from +the Ajawa; and this consideration made Livingstone enforce the choice +upon the Bishop, who again yielded to his opinion. The higher ground +around was not unhealthy; the air was pure, the heat never excessive; but +the river was too near, and brought fever to a spot soon overcrowded. It +was occupied, however, with high hope and cheerfulness; huts, formed of +poles and roofed with piles of grass, were erected, a larger one set +apart for a church, and a system established of regular training for the +numerous troop of clients, now amounting to above a hundred. To give +them regular religious instruction, without being secure of the language, +was thought by the Bishop inexpedient, and he therefore desired, at +first, to prepare the way by the effects of physical training and +discipline. This was a Magomero day:--English matins at early morning; +breakfast on fowls or goats'-flesh, yam, beans, and porridge; then a +visit to the sick; for, alas! already the whole thirteen of the mission +staff were never well at the same time. After this, the negroes were +collected, answered to their names, and had breakfast served out to them; +two women being found to receive and apportion the shares of the lesser +children, and this they did carefully and kindly. + +The tender sweetness of Mackenzie told greatly in dealing with these poor +creatures. He did not think it waste of time to spend an hour a day +trying to teach the little ones their letters; and Mr. Rowley draws a +beautiful picture of him feeding, with a bottle, a black babe, whose +mother had not nutriment enough to sustain it,--the little naked thing +nestling up to his big beard, and going to sleep against his broad chest. + +Work followed. One whith man drilled the boys, one command being for +them all to leap into the river at the same moment to bathe; one +bargained with the vendors of mealies, beer, goats, fowls, yams, &c., who +came in numbers from the villages round, and received payment in beads, +and a blue cotton manufacture, called selampore, which is the current +coin of Central Africa. Others worked, and showed how to work, at the +buildings till one o'clock, when the dinner was served, only differing +from breakfast in the drink being native beer instead of coffee. Rest +followed till five, when there were two hours' more work, nearly till +sunset, which, even on the longest day, was before half-past six; then +tea, evensong, and bed. + +The great need was of some female element, to train and deal with the +women and girls; and there was an earnest desire for the arrival of the +sisters. But, in the meantime, the occupation of Magomero proved far +from peaceful. The Ajawa were always coming down upon the Man-gnaja to +burn their villages and steal slaves, and the Man-gnaja called upon the +whites as invincible allies. + +The Bishop and his clergy (Livingstone had now left them, and gone on to +Lake Nyassa) thought that to present a resolute front to the Ajawa would +drive them back for good and all; and that the Man-gnaja could be bound +over henceforth to give up slave-dealing, and, on this condition, they +did not refuse their assistance. Subsequent events have led to the +belief that this warfare of the Ajawa was really the advance of one of +those great tides of nations that take place from time to time, and that +they were a much finer people than the cowardly and false Man-gnaja; but, +of course, a small company of strangers, almost ignorant of the language, +and communicating with the natives through a released and educated negro, +could not enter into the state of things, and could only struggle against +the immediate acts of oppression that came before them. + +There were thus about three expeditions to drive back the Ajawa and +deliver the rescued slaves--bloodless expeditions, for the sight of the +white men and their guns was quite enough to produce a general flight, +and a large colony of the rescued had gathered at Magomero in the course +of a few months. Meantime another clergyman, the Rev. H. De Wint Burrup, +with his newly-married wife and three lay members of the mission, had +arrived at Capetown, and, leaving Mrs. Burrup there with Miss Mackenzie, +had come on to join the others. Mr. Burrup and Mr. Dickinson (a surgeon) +actually made their way in canoes and river boats from Quillinane up to +Chibisa's, where the _Pioneer_ was lying, Dr. Livingstone having just +returned from his three months' expedition. + +It was an absolute exploit in travelling, but a very perilous one, since +these open boats, in the rain and on the low level of the river, exposed +them to the greatest danger of fever; and there can be no doubt that +their constitutions were injured, although, no serious symptoms +appearing, the mission party were still further induced to underrate the +necessity of precaution. + +The Bishop coming down to visit Livingstone (seventy miles in thirty +hours on foot), gladly hailed the new-comers, and returned rapidly with +Mr. Burrup, both a good deal over-fatigued; and, indeed, the Bishop never +thoroughly recovered this reckless expenditure of strength. He +considered that things were now forward enough for a summons to the +ladies at Capetown. Communication was very difficult, and the +arrangements had therefore to be made somewhat blindly; but his plan was, +that his sisters and Mrs. Burrup should try to obtain a passage to +Kongone, where the _Pioneer_ should meet them, and bring them up the +rivers to the landing-place at Chibisa's. He did not know of his sister +Alice's marriage at Natal, though he would have rejoiced at it if he had +known. He himself intended to come down to the spot where the rivers +Shire and Ruo meet, and there greet the sister and the wife on board the +_Pioneer_, and return with them to Magomero. + +The way by the river and by Chibisa's was a great circuit, and it was +thought that a more direct way might be found by exploration. Mr. +Procter and Mr. Scudamore, with the black interpreter, Charles Thomas, +and some of the negroes, started to pioneer a way. After five days +Charles appeared at Magomero, exhausted, foot-sore, ragged, and famished, +having had no food for forty-eight hours, and just able to say "the Man- +gnaja attacked us; I am the only one who has escaped." + +When he had had some soup, he told that the party had come to a village +where they had been taken for slave-dealers, and the natives, on finding +they were not, put on a hostile appearance, and as they pushed on came +out in great numbers with bows and arrows, insisting on their return. +After consulting they thought it would be better to turn back and +conciliate the chief, rather than leave a nest of enemies in their rear, +and they therefore turned. Unfortunately the negroes had caught sight of +the 140 yards of selampore that they were taking with them as cash for +the journey, and though the chief, who had been at Senna and Quillinane, +was civil, there was much discontent at their not expending more in +purchases of provisions; and Charles told them that their bearers had +overheard plans for burning their huts in the night, killing them and +taking their goods. They decided to escape; and occupying the chief's +attention by a present of a bright scarf, they bade their men get under +weigh. A cry arose, "They are running away." There was a rush upon +them, and Charles managed to break through. He heard two shots fired, +and was pursued for some distance, but, as darkness came on, effected his +escape. + +It seems to have been just one of the cases when a little hesitation and +uncertainty on the part of the civilized men did all the mischief by +emboldening the savages. Of course it was necessary to rescue them, but +as the Ajawa were but twenty miles off, and Magomero must be guarded, +there was no choice but to have recourse to the Makololo, and thus let +loose one set of savages against another. Just, however, as a message +was being despatched to bring them, the two clergymen were seen +returning. They too had walked eighty-five miles in forty-eight hours, +and had had but one fowl between them. They had in fact got out of the +village almost immediately after Charles, but closely beset with natives +armed with bows and poisoned arrows. Some tried to wrest Mr. Procter's +gun from him, and even got him down, when he defended himself with his +heels, until Mr. Scudamore, who was a little in advance, fired on his +assailants, when they gave back; but an arrow aimed at him penetrated the +stock of his gun so deeply that the head remained embedded in it. Firing +both barrels, he produced a panic, under cover of which they made their +way into the bush, and contrived with much difficulty to reach home. + +Six of their eight bearers gradually straggled in, and the last brought +the following message from a chief in the next village: "I am not in +blame for this war; Manasomba has tried to kill the English, has stolen +their baggage and their boy, and has kept two of your men. He says if +the English want the men, let them come and buy them out, or else fight +for them." + +It appeared that Manasomba was not a Man-gnaja, and that his suspicions +were excited by anything so inexplicable to the negro mind as white men +going about with so much cloth without buying slaves nor much of anything +else. + +There were still two men to be rescued, and the question was, whether to +wait for Livingstone, who was armed with authority to give a lesson to +the negroes, or for the mission party to undertake it themselves, +especially in the haste which was needful in order to be in time for the +meeting with the _Pioneer_. They decided on the march, so as to release +the men, and thus were forced to break up the calm of the Christmas +feast. "If it is right to do it at all, it is right to do it on a holy +day," was the Bishop's argument, and so the Christmas Day was spent, +partly in walking, partly at Chipoka's village, where was held the Holy +Communion feast. "How wondrous," wrote the Bishop, "the feeling of +actual instantaneous communion with all you dear ones, though the +distance and means of earthly communication are so great and so +difficult!" The negroes of the neighbouring villages joined them, and +they proceeded. Near Manasomba's village they met a large body of men, +with whom the Bishop attempted to hold a parley, but they ran away, and +only discharged a few arrows. The village was deserted except by a few +sheep, goats, and Muscovy ducks, and these were driven out and the huts +set on fire. + +This punishment was as a "vindication of the English name," and as an act +of self-defence, since any faltering in resolution among such savages +would have been fatal; but, after all, the men were not recovered, and +the expedition had been so exhausting that none of the party were really +fit to push on for the place of meeting with the _Pioneer_, nor would +Chipoka give them guides or bearers in that direction, saying it was all +occupied by Manasomba's friends. + +They came back to Magomero grievously exhausted; Scudamore fell down on a +bed only just alive, and even the Bishop, though he tried to act and +speak with vigour, was evidently suffering from illness and over-fatigue. + +But there was the appointment to be kept with Livingstone and the ladies +at the Ruo, and, unfit as he was, he persevered, setting off with Burrup, +sadly enough, for Scudamore was lying in a dangerous state; but no one +guessed that they would never meet again upon earth. + +It was on the 4th of January, 1862, that they started with a few Malokolo +and the interpreter Charles, and it was six weeks before the colony at +Magomero heard any tidings. There the stores were all but exhausted, and +having hardly any goods left for barter, there was little food to be +obtained but green corn and pumpkin, most unsuited to the Englishmen's +present state of health. + +Meanwhile, in constant rain and through swollen streams, Mackenzie and +Burrup had made their way down to the river, and there with much +difficulty obtained a canoe. On the first night of the voyage all the +party, except the Bishop, wished to go on, because the mosquitoes +rendered rest impossible. He thought moving on in the dark imprudent, +but gave up his own will, and even wrote jestingly afterwards on the +convenience of making the mosquitoes act as a spur. The consequence was +that they came suddenly upon a projecting bend; the boat upset, and +everything they had was in the water. They spent more than an hour in +recovering what could be brought up; but their powder and their +provisions were spoilt, and, what was still worse, their medicines: +including the quinine, almost essential to life, and that when they were +thoroughly drenched in the middle of an African night. + +Making sure, however, of speedily meeting Dr. Livingstone, they pushed +on; but when they came to Malo, the isle at the confluence of the Ruo and +Shire, they learnt from the natives that the _Pioneer_ had gone down the +stream. The negroes could give no clear account of how long ago it had +been. If they had known that it had been only five days, they would +probably have put forth their speed and have overtaken her, but they +thought that a much longer time was intended, and that waiting for the +return would be not only more prudent, but might enable them to make +friends with the chief, and prepare for a station to be established on +the island. A hut was given them, and there was plenty of wholesome food +on the island. + +Inaction, is, however the most fatal curse in that land of fever. There +is a cheerful letter written by the Bishop to his home friends, on the +14th and 15th of January; but his vigour was flagging. He spoke with +disappointment of the inability of Dr. Livingstone to bring up stores to +Chibisa's, and longed much for his sisters' arrival, telling his +companion it would break his heart if they did not now come. He also +wrote a strong letter to the Secretary of the Universities' Mission, +begging for a steam launch to keep up the supplies, where the _Pioneer_ +had failed. Soon after this, both became grievously ill; the Bishop's +fever grew violent, he perceived his danger, and told the Malokolo that +JESUS would come to take him, but he presently became delirious and +insensible, in which condition he lay for five days, the Malokolo waiting +on him as well as they could under Burrup's superintendence. + +The negro tribes have an exceeding dread of death, and a hut which has +had a corpse in it is shut up for three years. Probably for this reason +the chief begged that the dying man might be carried to another hut less +needful to himself, and as he had been kind and friendly throughout Mr. +Burrup thought it right to comply. Shortly after, on the afternoon of +the 31st of January, the pure, gentle, and noble spirit passed away. The +chief, from superstitious fear, insisted that the body should be +immediately interred, and not on the island, and Mr. Burrup and the +Malokolo therefore laid it in their canoe, and paddled to the mainland, +where a spot was cleared in the bush, the grave dug, and as it was by +this time too dark to see to read, Mr. Burrup said all that he could +remember of the burial service, the four blacks standing wondering and +mournful by. + +He saw that for himself the only hope was in a return to Magomero. The +canoe was tried, but the current was so strong that such small numbers +could not make head against it. He therefore proceeded on foot, but fell +down repeatedly from weakness, and was only dragged on by his strong will +and the aid of the Malokolo. They behaved admirably, and when he reached +Chibisa's, and could walk no longer, they and the villagers contrived a +palanquin of wood, and carried him on in it. The chief, finding that his +store of cloth (_i.e._ coin) was expended, actually offered him a present +of some to carry him on. + +On the 14th of February, one of the Malokolo appeared before the anxious +colonists at Magomero. His face was that of a bearer of evil tidings, +and when they asked for the Bishop, he hid his face in his hands. When +they pressed further, he said, "_wafa_, _wafa_" (he is dead, he is dead). +And while they stood round stunned, he made them understand that Burrup +was at hand, so ill as to be carried on men's shoulders. + +There was nothing to be done but to hurry out to meet him, taking the +last drop of wine remaining. He had become the very shadow of himself, +but even then he slightly rallied, and could he have had nourishing food, +wine or brandy, the strength of his constitution would probably have +carried him through; but the stores were exhausted, there was nothing to +recruit his powers, and on the 23rd of February he likewise died. + +Meantime, his young wife, with Miss Mackenzie and Mrs. Livingstone, had +sailed in December in a wretchedly uncomfortable little craft, called the +_Hetty Ellen_. On reaching the Kongone they saw no token of the +_Pioneer_, but after waiting in great discomfort, tossing at the mouth of +the river, the vessel made for Mozambique. There they fell in with +H.M.S. _Gorgon_. Captain Wilson, resolved to render them every service +in his power, took the ladies on board, the vessel in tow, and carried +them to Quillinane, where they presently fell in with Dr. Livingstone and +the _Pioneer_. + +His little lake steamer, the _Lady Nyassa_, had been packed on board the +_Hetty Ellen_, and had formed the only shelter Miss Mackenzie had from +the sun, and the transference of this occupied some time. Then the +unhappy _Pioneer_ began to proceed at her snail's pace, one day on a sand- +bank, another with the machinery out of order, continually halting for +supplies of wood, and thinking a couple of miles a good day's work. +Captain Wilson, shocked at the notion of women spending weeks in +labouring up that pestiferous stream, beset with mosquitoes by night and +tsetse flies by day, offered to man his gig and take them up himself. So +desperate a journey was it for a frail invalid like Miss Mackenzie, that +one of the sailors took a spade to dig her grave with; and in fact she +was soon prostrated with fever. None of the party knew who lay sleeping +in his grave under the trees. The natives on the island entirely denied +having seen or heard anything of the Bishop, and never gave Mr. Burrup's +letter, fearing perhaps that some revenge might fall on them. Baffled by +not meeting him, Captain Wilson still would not leave the ladies till he +should have seen them safe among their friends, and pushed on his boat +with speed very unlike that of the tardy _Pioneer_, and thus, in a day +and a half, arrived at Chibisa's, where the Malokolo came down to the +boat, with tidings that, though their language was but imperfectly +understood, were only too certain. The brave and tender-hearted leader +of the mission was dead! Still there was hope of Mr. Burrup; but Captain +Wilson would not allow the young wife to take the difficult journey only +to find desolation, but went on by land himself, leaving her with Miss +Mackenzie, under charge of his ship's surgeon, Dr. Ramsay. He came back +after a few days, having become too ill by the way to get further than +Soche, where he had been met by three of the mission party, who now +returned with him to Chibisa's, with the tidings in all their sad +fulness; and the mournful party set forth upon their return. On coming +to the island, he demanded Mr. Burrup's letter, and the negroes looked at +one another, saying, "It is all known." They gave him the letter, but it +was with very great difficulty that they could be persuaded to show him +the grave, over which he set up a cross of reeds, and then continuing +this sad voyage, placed the ladies on board his ship, and carried them +back to Capetown. + +Bishop Mackenzie had executed a will not six weeks before his death, +bequeathing to the Additional Bishoprics Fund his property, and to the +mission his books, except those specially connected with his personal +devotions, which were to go to his family, and which Captain Wilson +brought down with him, the Bible, Prayer-book, and "Christian Year," +bearing tokens of that immersion in the water which, by the destruction +of the medicines, may be believed to have been the chief cause of his +death. Until the arrival of a new Bishop, or of instructions from the +Metropolitan of Capetown, the headship of the mission was to remain with +the senior clergyman, or failing him, of the senior layman. Thus the +little colony had their instructions to wait and carry on the work: but +further difficulties soon arose. Stores were still wanting, fever +prevailed even among the negroes. All the class of little children whom +the Bishop used to teach had died under it, each being baptized before +its death, and the Ajawa began to threaten again. The lessened force, +without a head, decided that, though their advance might drive the enemy +back, it was better to avoid further warfare, and relinquish the post at +Magomero. With the long train of helpless natives, then, the few white +men set forth, and after several days' tedious and weary march came to +Chibisa's, where they founded a new station on a hill-side, above the +native village, and tried to continue their old system; but by Christmas +Mr. Scudamore had become fatally ill, and he died on the morning of New +Year's Day, 1863, greatly lamented, not only by the remnant of his own +party, but by all the negroes; and on the 17th of March he was followed +by Dr. Dickinson. + +We do not deal with those still living, therefore we will only further +mention that on the 26th of June following Bishop Tozer arrived at +Chibisa's. He decided on removing to a place called Morumbala, a station +nearer Quillinane, which he hoped might prove healthier, and out of the +reach of the Ajawa. The remaining clergy of the mission were greatly +concerned at this, for they had hopes of influencing the Ajawa, and +besides, the negroes whom they had rescued, who had been now more than a +year under their care, could not for the most part be taken to Morumbala; +for, though grieving much at losing their "English fathers," they would +be placed at a distance from their own tribe, among strangers and +possible enemies. + +The families who could provide for themselves were left at Chibisa's, Mr. +Waller making the best terms in his power for them. It was sad to leave +them without having more thoroughly Christianized them, but the frequent +sicknesses of the clergy, the loss of the chief pastor, and the want of +some one to take the lead, had prevented their instruction from being all +that could have been hoped. They had become warmly attached to the +English, and had in many respects much improved, and it is hoped that +they may keep alive the memory of the training they have received, and +prepare the way for better things. + +There were about twenty orphan boys, for whom Bishop Tozer undertook to +provide; but there were also ten or twelve women and girls, the former +old and infirm, the latter orphans, and these Mr. Waller could not bear +to abandon, so he carried them with him to Morumbala, and supported them +at his own expense, until at the end of five months it was decided to +give up Morumbala, and fix the head-quarters of the Central African +Mission at Zanzibar. Then, as it was not easy to convey the boys, or +provide for them there, Mr. Waller took the charge of them likewise, and, +with Dr. Livingstone's assistance, conveyed both them and the women and +children to Capetown, where he succeeded in procuring homes for them in +different families and mission schools or stations. All are now +Christians, and show themselves gentle, and susceptible of training and +education; nor have they much of that disposition so familiar to us in +the transplanted negroes of Western Africa. Four boys were brought to +England, but the climate would soon have been fatal to them, and it is +evident that Capetown or Natal and its dependencies must be the meeting +ground of the English and African races, since there alone can both +retain their vigour in the same climate. + +Thus ended the first venture of the University mission, in the sacrifice +of four lives, which may be well esteemed as freely laid down in the +cause of the Gospel. Such lives and such deaths are the seed of the +Church. It is they that speak the loudest in calling for the fresh +labourers; and though the Zanzibar Mission has drifted far away from the +field of Mackenzie's labours, and has adopted a different system, and +though his toils in Natal never were allowed to continue long enough in a +single spot for him personally to reap their fruits upon earth, not only +has his name become a trumpet call, but out of his grave has sprung, as +it were, a mission in the very quarter where, had he been permitted, he +would have spent his best efforts, namely, the free Zulu country, Panda's +kingdom, to the north of the Tugela. + +It has been already mentioned that Mr. and Mrs. Robertson had removed +thither, from their station upon the Umlazi, taking with them a selection +of their Christian Kaffirs, and settling, with the king's permission, at +a place called Kwamagwaza. At first they lived in a waggon and tents, +for, delicate and often ill as was Mrs. Robertson, she shrank from no +hardship or exertion. She writes, "My own health has been wonderful, in +spite of much real suffering from the closeness of the waggon, and +exposure to rain or hot sun, which is even more trying. I often have to +sleep with the waggon open, and a damp foggy air flowing through to keep +me from fainting, and I have often told myself, 'You might be worse off +in the cabin of a steamer,' that I might not pity myself too much." + +A hut was soon raised, and Mrs. Robertson here ruled in her own +peculiarly dignified and tender way as the mother of the whole station, +keeping guard there while her husband went on expeditions to visit the +king and his son Ketchewayo, the chief executive authority. Another hut +was raised to serve as a church, and the days were arranged much as those +on the Umlazi had been. Children were born to the Christian couples, and +Mrs. Robertson spent much time and care in teaching the mothers how to +deal with them after a civilized and Christian fashion. Other children +were sometimes brought to her to be adopted, and when entirely made over +by their parents were baptized and bred up as Christians. The general +trust in Mr. Robertson's skill as a doctor brought many people under his +influence, and likewise gave some, though very slight assistance, in +combating the belief in witchcraft, the worst enemy with which +Christianity has to contend. + +Whenever a person falls sick or meets with an accident, a conjurer is +sent for, who attributes the disaster to some other person, on whom +revenge must be taken. In the British territory, no more can be done +than to treat the supposed wizard with contumely, such as to render his +life a burthen to him, and he can generally escape this by entering some +white man's service, or attaching himself to a mission-station; but in +independent Zululand, any disaster to prince or great chief was sure to +be followed by a horrible massacre of the whole family of the supposed +offender, unless he had time to escape across the border. Many a time +did wounded women and children fly from the slaughter to Kwamagwaza, and +Mr. and Mrs. Robertson protect them from the first fury of the pursuers, +and then almost force consent from Ketchewayo to their living under the +protection of the umfundisi. + +Visits to Ketchewayo formed a very important part of the work, since they +gradually established his confidence in Mr. Robertson, and obtained +concessions that facilitated the Christianizing of his people. One of +his great objections was the fear of losing their services as warriors. +The regiments still assemble at his camp as in the days of Dingarn, go +through their exercises and sing their war-songs, into some of which are +introduced lines in contempt of the Kaffirs who have passed the Tugela to +live under British law:-- + + "The Natal people have no king, + They eat salt; + To every tag-rag white man they say, + 'Your Excellency!'" + +Mrs. Robertson's niece, Miss Fanny Woodrow, who had come out to join her, +arrived at Durban, and was there met by Mrs. Robertson herself, in her +waggon, after the long and perilous journey undertaken alone with the +Kaffirs. Her residence at Kwamagwaza was a time of much interest and +prosperity; she threw herself into the work, and much assisted in the +training of the women and children, and one or two visits she made to +Ketchewayo greatly delighted the prince. She came in June 1861, but she +had become engaged on her way out to the Rev. Lovell Procter, and when +the mission at Chibisa's was given up, he was in such a state of health +as not to be able to continue with the University Mission. Therefore he +set out on his return, and, coming to Natal by the way, arrived at +Kwamagwaza early in 1864. He was the first brother clergyman Mr. +Robertson had seen since coming into Zululand, and the mingling of joy at +the meeting, and of sorrow for Bishop Mackenzie, were almost +overwhelming. At Easter Mr. Procter and Miss Woodrow were married, in +the little mission church, built of bricks made by Mr. Robertson's own +hands and those of his pupils; and soon after Mr. and Mrs. Robertson set +out in their waggon to escort the newly-married pair to Durban, taking +with them several of their converts, and all their flock of adopted +children. + +The stay in Durban, and Pieter Maritzburg, among old friends, was full of +comfort and pleasure; but the indefatigable missionary and his wife were +soon on their way home, their waggon heavily loaded with boxes sent by +friends in England, containing much that they had longed for--among other +things, iron-work for fitting their church. On the 18th of June, when +they were three days' journey across the Tugela, while Mr. Robertson was +walking in front of the waggon to secure a safe track for it, the wheels, +in coming down a descent, slid along on some slippery grass, and there +was a complete overturn, the waggon falling on its side with the wheels +in the air, and Mrs. Robertson, and a little Kaffir boy of three years +old, under the whole of the front portion of the load. + +Her husband and the Kaffirs cut away the side of the waggon with axes, +and tried to draw her out, but she was too fast wedged in. She said in a +calm voice, "Oh, remove the boxes," but before this could be done she had +breathed her last, apparently from suffocation, for her limbs were not +crushed, and her exceeding delicacy of frame and shortness of breath +probably made the weight and suffocation fatal to her. The little boy +suffered no injury. + +The spot was near a Norwegian mission station, where the kindest help was +immediately offered to the husband. A coffin was made of plank that had +been bought at Durban to be made into church doors, and when her husband +had kept lonely vigil all night over her remains, Henrietta Robertson was +laid in her grave, where the Norwegians hope to build their church, Mr. +Robertson himself reading the service over her. + +But her work has not died with her. Mr. Robertson returned to his lonely +task, helped and tended by the converted man and his wife, Usajabula and +Christina, whom she had trained, and whose child had been with her in the +fatal overturn. A clergyman returning from the Zanzibar Mission came to +him and aided him for a while; other helpers have come out from time to +time, and meantime, Miss Mackenzie exerted herself to the utmost, +straining every nerve to obtain funds for the establishment of a +Missionary Bishopric in Zululand, as the most fitting memorial to her +brother, since it was here that, had he chosen for himself, his work +would have lain. After several years of endeavour she has succeeded, +and, even as these last pages are written, we hold in our hands the +account of the arrival of the new Bishop at Kwamagwaza. + +So it is that the work never perishes, but the very extinction of one +light seems to cause the lighting of many more; and thus it is that the +word is being gradually fulfilled that the Gospel shall be preached to +all nations, and that "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of +the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{f:6} At first sight this seems one of the last misfortunes likely to +have befallen a godly gentleman of Charlestown; but throughout the +seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Algerine pirates swept the seas +up to the very coasts of England, as Sir John Eliot's biography +testifies. Dr. James Yonge, of Plymouth, an ancestor only four removes +from the writer, was at one time in captivity to them; and there was +still probability enough of such a catastrophe for Priscilla Wakefield to +introduce it in her "Juvenile Travellers," written about 1780. + +{f:130} Articles of dress. + +{f:133} The Judsons always use the universal prefix Moung, which we +omit, as evidently is a general title. + +{f:137} All along in these letters, written journal fashion, it is to be +observed how careful and even distrustful Mr. Judson is. + +{f:221} Merino sheep, so called in Spain because the breed came from +beyond the sea (_Mer_), having been introduced from England by Constance, +daughter of John of Gaunt, and wife of Juan II. + +LONDON: R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, BREAD STREET HILL. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PIONEERS AND FOUNDERS*** + + +******* This file should be named 19308.txt or 19308.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/3/0/19308 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + |