mind until he had recalled his first decision, and had formed a resolution to brave the difficulties of the office, and the dangers of a tropical climate in the service of his Saviour."3 He was consecrated at Lambeth on the 8th of May 1814. On the 17th he attended a Special Meeting of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, to receive their valedictory address, which was delivered by the Bishop of Chester. To this address he replied in terms expressive of diffidence of his capabilities for the arduous duties entrusted to him, and commended himself to the Society's sympathies and prayers. The Society placed one thousand pounds at the Bishop's disposal, for the extension of its efforts in the East.

shop and

sail for

35. On the 8th of June he sailed from Ports- The Bimouth for Bengal, invested with the most impor- two Archtant charge with which any English Clergyman had deacons at that time ever left his native shores. The Arch- India. deacon of Calcutta, the Rev. — - Loring, and the Archdeacon of Bombay, the Rev. George Barnes, sailed in the same fleet. The Archdeacon of Madras, the Rev. Mousley, one of the Company's Chaplains at that Presidency, was already on the spot.*

36. Thus the commencement of the second cen- Concluding Retury of Protestant Missions in India was not only marks. a new epoch in the history of Christianity in that region, but was also marked by events which greatly accelerated its progress, and opened a wider field for Missionary operation. In the combination of circumstances which led to this result, we must be inattentive indeed to the providence of God in the world, and especially in the Church, not to recognise His power, wisdom, and goodness, through

(3) Le Bas' Life of Middleton. Vol. i. p. 51.

(*) Ibid. c. iii. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Report, 1814.

CHAP.

I.

out the transactions here briefly narrated. Who can think it happened by chance, that such suitable agents for the work rose at this favourable juncture; that persons of power, influence, and ability, and in every way qualified to defeat the design, should have their very hostility so controlled, as to be made actually subservient to the cause which it was their one object to suppress? Then, there has been no period of the history of British India when such a movement on the part of the Christian public was so required as at the commencement of the present century; for the patronage of idolatry was then unblushingly avowed by persons in authority, though bearing the Christian name. Next, as the natural consequence of this monstrous concession, the Missionaries' exertions began to be decried, and attempts were now for the first time made, by Englishmen holding responsible stations, to stop the work of those devoted men. This formidable array against Christianity in India would have yielded to no human power but that of the Government of Great Britain. To call that power into the field required the united strength of the friends of religion in England to be put forth in one simultaneous, one mighty effort. We have seen how the effort was made, and with what success. The voice of truth, the zeal of integrity, the love of God and man, prevailed. An Ecclesiastical Establishment was given to India. The bar of adamant, with which it was attempted to shut that country against the Gospel, was shivered to atoms, and the territories under British sway or influence were thrown open to the Christian Missionary. Could this victory have been achieved by mortal arm? Did all this happen without the direction and controul of Him, to whom, as Head of the Universal Church, all power is given in heaven and in earth, for her (1) Matt. xxviii. 18—20.

protection and prosperity? The united exertions of Christians to evangelize the world, recorded above, were regarded at the time as an evidence, such as might be expected in the common course of providence, that the kingdom of Christ was approaching; and subsequent events have tended to confirm this anticipation. In India, for example, the face of society soon wore another aspect. The influence of the Bishop, his Archdeacons, and the augmented establishment of Chaplains; the numerous Missionaries who, from that time, began to pour into the country, and spread themselves far and wide; soon began to make a beneficial impression upon the European community, as well as upon the Heathen. Among the civilians and military officers, at almost every station, were to be seen men of eminent piety, using their influence to protect the humble Missionary, contributing of their substance towards the support of his institutions, and not unfrequently co-operating with him, by personal exertion, to propagate the Gospel. The opponents of these improvements rapidly disappeared; and in a few years the moral and religious character of Indian society became entirely changed. Such an effect can be attributed to only one cause. Had the work been of men, it would soon have come to nought. But it was of God, from beginning to end, and therefore could not be overthrown.2 His Name alone be praised!

We must now return to the East, and see how India was preparing for her first Protestant Bishop.

(2) Acts v. 38, 39.

circumstances of the Mis

sion.

CHAPTER II.

TRANQUEBAR MISSION FROM 1807-1816.

Straitened 1. THE circumstances of this Mission continued in the same state of depression as at the close of the last Decade. Soon after the surrender of Tranquebar to the British, the resources from Denmark were cut off, when the Missionaries applied to the Madras Government for pecuniary assistance. After some time they were allowed two hundred pagodas a month, under an engagement that they would endeavour to repay it at the end of the war. They also met with much personal kindness from the Commandant and other British officers of the garrison; but the aid thus afforded them was so inadequate to their wants, that they experienced great difficulties, and were obliged to conduct the different branches of their operations upon a more limited scale than heretofore. Had it not been for the continued supplies sent them by the ChristianKnowledge Society they must have drawn the Mission within a still narrower compass.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, the Missionaries were not without encouragement in their work. In 1807 there were seventy-eight souls added to their Church, fourteen being adult converts from idolatry. One of these they describe as a Mahratta Brahmin, from the Teloogoo country, who had become not only a theoretical, but a real and practical Christian, whose consistent walk gave his teachers

great satisfaction. The communicants this year are said to have amounted to one thousand and fortyeight. The disturbances which some evil-disposed persons had excited in the congregations were now composed, and many who had been led astray testified their repentance for their misconduct.

Missiona

tions.

2. But the Missionaries were as much in want of Need of teachers as of funds. Dr. John, in addition to the ries and maladies from which he had long been suffering, publicawas now almost deprived of sight, so that he could no longer see to read or write, or take his usual share in the different branches of the Mission; but he was still able to preach, both in Tamul and Portuguese. The European Catechist, also, M. Schreyvogal, was almost in the same predicament with respect to his eyes; so that, though he also continued to make himself useful, the Mission was deprived of much of the valuable service which he had rendered to the Schools, as well as the Tamul and Portuguese congregations. The weight of these duties, therefore, devolved chiefly on M. Cæmmerer, assisted by the Native Catechists, and M. Younker, a pious and promising young man, who was employed as a Portuguese Reader, and Master to the English Charity School. The Missionaries had for some time contemplated ordaining some Catechists for the priesthood, and they never stood in greater need of such assistants than at present: nevertheless, they now deemed it prudent to postpone their ordination, " till," as they remarked, a more favourable period should arrive, when a more regular Church Establishment should take place, which the Indian religious public and the Missionaries so much wish for, and when Ordinations might be performed with more authority and regularity." The books, also, which issued from

1

(') Christian-Knowledge Society's Report, 1810.