Church Missionary was, "apparently, most active, and employing with more wisdom than the elder corporation, those powerful means of obtaining popular support, which ignorance only can depreciate or condemn."* Heber was, however, fully aware, that the existence of two such societies, professing to follow identical objects by identical courses, must necessarily be productive of injury to the cause which both professed to serve; and it may well appear strange, that a body which voluntarily created this difficulty, and impeded, by disuniting those efforts which hitherto had acted in conjunction, should have found means of supplanting the old and highly-sanctioned society in the estimation of Heber. Be this as it may, no mind was ever more keenly alive to the evil of things as they stood, than Heber's; and a letter from him to some prelate who patronized the Church Missionary Society, but whose name is somewhat singularly suppressed, has been published by his relict, wherein he recommends, with great mildness and good sense, an union of the two societies. Here again we are happy to find ourselves in agreement with Bishop Heber. We extract from this letter the following: Why, my Lord, (may I be permitted to ask) should there be two societies for the same precise object? Would it not be possible and advantageous to unite them both into one great body, under the same rules and the same administration, which might embrace all the different departments in which zeal for the missionary cause may be advantageous? In other words; since the charter of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, forbids their joining us, why might not we, as a body, make an offer to transfer our subscriptions, our funds, and our missionary establishments to them, on such conditions as might secure our missions from neglect, and our money from misapplication, supposing such neglect or misapplication to be likely or possible? The advantages of such a union would, I humbly conceive, be great. It might go very far towards healing the breach which unhappily exists in our establishment. Ir WOULD BE THE MOST EFFICACIOUS ANSWER WHICH COULD BE GIVEN TO THOSE IMPUTATIONS OF A PARTY AND SECTARIAN SPIRIT, which, either from prejudice or misinformation, have been brought against the Church Missionary Society; and I apprehend that the efforts of Churchmen in one accordant society, would be more efficacious in the good cause, than, under present circumstances, they are likely to be. It must, doubtless, have occurred to your Lordship, that supposing the two societies to proceed, as I could wish them to do, with mutual good will, yet still two societies under separate management, may often be expected to clash in their plans of doing good. Missionaries may be sent so as to interfere with each other's labours; or, for fear of such interference, advantageous openings may be neglected; nor is it possible, I conceive, for so much good to be done separately as might be effected in one regular and systematic course of proceeding. But if, as there is too much reason to apprehend, the spirit of rivalry should be excited between them, it is plain how surely that will conduct the advocates of each to a depreciation of the zeal, or orthodoxy, or success of the other; how hardly we shall be tempted to judge of each other's motives; and how unedifying spectacle may be presented to the laity and the heathen, of missionaries contesting the validity of each other's appointments; preachers extolled or censured according to the societies which they have joined; subscriptions canvassed for by one side from a *Letter to the Bishop of , Life, Vol. I. p. 492. a fear lest the other should obtain them; and another bone of contention added to the many which at present disturb the private repose, or lessen the public utility of clergymen.-Life, Vol. I. pp. 492, 493. The plan which Heber suggested for the realization of his benevolent scheme was as follows: It is respectfully suggested to the members of the Church Missionary Society, that it is expedient that the said society should make the offer of uniting themselves with the Incorporated Society for Propagating Christianity in Foreign Parts, on the following conditions: 1st. That the Society for Propagating the Gospel do admit as members all those who are now members of the Church Missionary Society, either on the presumption of their being churchmen, which the fact of their belonging to such a society warrants; or, if a further guarantee be thought necessary in the case of the lay-members, on the recommendation of some of the clerical members of the said Society for Church Missions. 2dly. That, in consideration of the increase of numbers, one joint-treasurer and three additional secretaries be appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; and that the same gentlemen who now hold those offices in the Church Missionary Society, be requested to accept of the treasurership and two of the said secretaryships. 3dly. That District Societies, either county, diocesan, or archidiaconal, be instituted, with powers to recommend new members; to raise and receive subscriptions; appoint clergymen to preach for the society, &c. on the plan now adopted by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 4thly. That all the missionaries, schoolmasters, &c. now employed by the Church Missionary Society, shall be immediately taken into the employ of the Society for Propagating the Gospel, and not dismissed unless in case of bad behaviour, but treated, in all respects, in the same manner with those which the last-named society at present supports. 5thly. That, these conditions being agreed to, the Church Missionary Society will transfer to the Society for Propagating the Gospel their subscriptions, their stock, the services of their missionaries, their experience and local knowledge, and zealously co-operate with them in the support of their society, and the orthodox and orderly furtherance of their benevolent and Christian views.— Life, Vol. I. pp. 497, 498. It is, perhaps, needless to say, that this suggestion, so temperate, so wise, so worthy of the object professed by the Church Missionaries, so worthy of him, than whom no brighter ornament they ever possessed, has never been acted on; and that the meetings of that Society are now paraded on the lists of " Religious and Benevolent Meetings," on which the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel does NOT appear (nor indeed any society in connexion with the Church), but on which the SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING ECCLESIASTICAL Knowledge (before alluded to) is accommodated! Heber's information with regard to the Church Missionary Society, was, indeed, in one point, corrected. In a sermon preached for the benefit of that society at Whittington, Salop, he speaks thus: I will not, however, dissemble my sentiments, nor can any advantage arise from a pretended ignorance of the nature of those accusations which are brought against us. If it had been the object, if it had been the practice of this Society, to disseminate among the heathen, or elsewhere, those peculiar views of Christianity which are known by the name of Calvin, believing, as I do, though with sincere respect and esteem for the virtue and talents by which those doctrines have been adorned and supported, but believing, as I do, those doctrines to be most injurious to the Divine Majesty, and most pernicious in their ordinary and natural effects on the human mind, I, for one, would have sought some other means of contributing to the propagation of the Gospel. But I speak from personal knowledge, when I say that, IN NO ONE CASE, has any preference been given in the choice of missionaries, to the followers of Calvin over those of Arminius; and that while enthusiasm of all kinds has been discouraged by the managers of our institution, with a jealousy little less than that which has been exerted against positive immorality, they have been contented to exhort their agents to a more zealous attention to those points in which all Churchmen are agreed, and to moderation as to those on which they themselves were divided.-Sermons in England, pp. 208, 209. But, on his arrival in India, the Bishop found it necessary somewhat to alter this opinion. In a letter to Archdeacon Twisleton, dated December, 1823, he says: With reference to the case of such missionaries, (those of the Church Missionary Society,) preaching Calvinism, I am sorry to learn that A MAJORITY of those in Ceylon, are the advocates of its gloomy doctrines; and I am sure I need not recommend to you to give the preference, whenever the power of choice exists, to those who embrace a sounder view of the Divine love, or who observe a prudent silence on topics so difficult and liable to abuse.-Life, Vol. II. p. 179. Nor did the Bishop immediately receive that cordial welcome from the Church Missionary Society, which his sanguine feelings, his just claims, both as a Bishop and as a friend, and their high professions of attachment to church discipline, naturally led him to expect. On his arrival in India, the Bishop was desirous that the missionaries of this Society should be placed under his superintendence. The Societies for Propagating the Gospel and Promoting Christian Knowledge had referred all their missionaries to the Bishop for their licences, as episcopal institutions would naturally be expected to do; the Church Missionary Society had alone demurred. The clergy of the Society seem to have wished themselves placed on the same footing; and the King's Advocate, whom the Bishop consulted on the occasion, formally declared, that the very terms of the patent conferred this jurisdiction. Under the sanction of this opinion, the Bishop, on his arrival, required that all the Church missionaries should report their names, appointments, and letters of orders, to the archdeacons of their respective presidencies, to be transmitted to him, when their regular licences would be made out and returned, in the same manner as was observed with the Company's chaplains. In Calcutta, a meeting of the Church Missionary Society Association, which had recently been formed in connexion with, and by the friends of the Church Missionary Parent Society, and of which the Bishop was requested to be president, was called on the 2d of the December succeeding his arrival. In the course of its proceedings, a resolution was proposed, "that every missionary of the Society should, on his arrival in Bengal, wait on the Bishop for his licence." The Bishop entered at some length into the reasons which had induced him to make the contemplated arrangement in England, and on which, in fact, he had already begun to act, as though, out of courtesy to the Calcutta Association the resolution had been proposed, the opinion given by the King's Advocate was of itself sufficient to authorize his proceedings. All the clergy present, including the missionaries, one chaplain alone excepted, were unanimous for its adoption; but the greater part of the lay members VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED IT, alleging, among other equally improbable reasons, "that a bishop might refuse his licence, and break up the society." (!!!) In fact, these members, wнO KNEW BUT LITTLE OF THE NECESSARY RULES of AN EPISCOPAL CHURCH, were not acquainted with the character of the person appointed to superintend the ecclesiastical affairs of India, and were apprehensive that something, they knew not what, was meditated, by what they denominated the high Church party, against their independence. When the question was put to the vote, IT WAS LOST; (!!!) THE MISSIONARIES THEMSELVES NOT BEING ALLOWED A VOICE, THOUGH THEIR OWN INTERESTS WERE THE MOST DEEPLY INvolved. But after the meeting, many of those who had opposed it, told the Bishop they were perfectly content that the proposed resolution should stand as a by-law of the committee. With this the Bishop declared himself satisfied, as in fact the concurrence of the meeting was not necessary to sanction his proceedings; and as a by-law, the resolution still continues on the records of the Society. * * * Unfortunately, the suspicions entertained of the high Church party were expressed too openly, and with TOO LITTLE COURTESY, to allow of that cordial union between two parties, each labouring in the same cause, which the Bishop was so anxious to promote.-Life, Vol. II. pp. 175, 176. A society of Churchmen, "who knew but little of the necessary rules of an episcopal Church!" Who voted that a Bishop of their own Church should have no control over their ecclesiastical members! Who refused those members a voice in a question which concerned them most of all! and who ended by making it a by-law, that their Clergy should be subject to their Bishop! Who regarded their diocesan with "suspicions," and "apprehensions" for their "independence," and treated him with "little courtesy!" It is, however, but justice to add, that this line of conduct was not further pursued. The Bishop was afterwards satisfied with the general demeanour of the society towards him. Indeed, his singularly mild and conciliating policy could scarcely have effected less. It had been (as he expresses himself to Mr. Wynn, in the correspondence preliminary to his acceptance of the See of Calcutta), for several years his favourite day-dream, to fancy himself “conducting the affairs of an extended mission, and, by conciliation and caution, smoothing the difficulties, and appeasing the religious quarrels and jealousies which have hitherto chiefly opposed the progress of Christianity in the East." This dream he abundantly realized, when the opportunity offered. And the Church Missionary Society has earned its worthiest triumphs, and filled the fairest pages of its annals beneath the episcopate of Heber. It is but just to say, that the candid mind of Heber, when opportunity was given for personal examination, discarded the prejudices which an artful misrepresentation had induced against the Incor porated Society. The earnest and indefatigable labours which he undertook for the extension of their influence, are a pledge of his entire unequivocal approval. It is much to be regretted, that calumnies have not, in every instance, the full opportunity of refutation which was afforded them in this. The Bishop was so entirely convinced of his mistake, that he now advocated and supported the Society with the full energy of his mind, and the entire influence of his office and character. He established District Associations in all parts of India;—he advocated the interests of the Society from the pulpit at every opportunity, and with all his eloquence ;—he presided, when practicable, at their meetings;-he "addressed letters to all the chaplains, and ordained missionaries in the presidency (Bengal) and its provinces, exhorting them to preach in the Society's behalf; and wrote to every individual of wealth and influence whom he knew, or to whom he could, with any show of propriety, address himself" in favour of the Society.* We extract the following, as a record of his sentiments, from a sermon preached on several occasions in aid of the Society's funds; and no less as an evidence of facts: In what I have said, I seek to dissuade no man from propagating the truth which he proposes, but I desire to impress on those who profess the same truth with myself, that on the support and munificence of the members of the Church of England, the INSTITUTIONS OF THAT CHURCH have a paramount claim, BEYOND those of any other sect or SOCIETY. Of that Society, and that particular Institution for which I am now anxious to interest your bounty, it may be said in few words, that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, has, since its establishment in the year 1701, been SEDULOUSLY and successfully labouring, WITH THE APPROBATION AND UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF THE VENERABLE FATHERS OF OUR CHURCH, AND Of SOME OF OUR MOST DISTINGUISHED STATESMEN AND PHILOSOPHERS, in supporting a line of missionary stations, (above 100 in number,) in some of the wildest and most neglected portions of the British Empire, in the Scilly Islands, in New South Wales, in the wildernesses of Africa and America. Having been encouraged by recent events, and by an increase of funds derived from the contributions of a liberal public, it has extended, within the last ten years, the range of its labours into Bengal, where it now maintains three episcopally ordained missionaries, (one more is on his way hither), and is the chief contributor to an institution in which all the three presidencies are equally interested, the establishment of Bishop's College, Calcutta, of which the avowed and appropriate objects are to superintend and forward the translation and publication of the Scriptures in the languages of India, the education of youth, both native and European, (and selected in equal proportions from Bengal, Madras, Ceylon, and Bombay,) in such a manner as to qualify them, as schoolmasters, for the diffusion of general knowledge among the natives, and, as missionaries, to impart that saving knowledge, without which the value of human acquirements is small indeed. It is on these grounds, and with a more immediate view to the present unfinished state of this establishment especially, (as an institution of no foreign or distant interest to those whom I am addressing, but which only wants your bounty to enable its conductors to do that of which they are most desirous, and extend its operations to this very neighbourhood, and to every part of the Western as well as the Eastern coast of this vast peninsula), that I respectfully, but with confidence, VOL. XIII. * Letter to Rev. Antony Hamilton, Life, ch. xxvii. X X |