Robert Caldwell

“ As might naturally be expected in so unprincipled an age, the immoral lives of most of the English then resident in India was a scandal to the Christian name, insomuch that it became a proverbial expression that they had left their consciences at the Cape of Good Hope. We have reason to be thankful that a very different state of things now prevails. The character of the English in India has wonderfully improved, especially within the last thirty years, and the Indian Government itself has parti cipated in the improvement. ”

“ Whilst the Missionary is preaching Christianity to the Hindus, many an English layman is exemplifying to the Hindus what Christianity means : without abandoning " the calling wherein he was called," or violating any principle of official propriety, he is proving to a regiment or to an entire province that the teaching of the Missionaries is true, that Christianity is only another name for a holy and useful life, that it must have come from God, because it makes men godly, and that is an argument which every man can understand and appre ciate, and which no man can gainsay. ”

“ It is true that many members of that community are far, very far, from being what they ought to be, but at the same time it will be difficult to discover anywhere more Christian piety, in proportion to the numbers of the community, than amongst the English in India. In every district, in every station, with which I am acquainted, there has been a succession of men who have distin guished themselves, not only by their gentlemanly honour and by the purity of their lives, but by their Christian benevolence and zeal ”

“ Our duty, as a Christian Church and nation, to promote the religious welfare of India has generally been admitted ; but until our slumbers were rudely disturbed by the recent Mutiny and the dreadful proofs that were furnished by heathens and Mahome tans that bad religions are worse than none, that duty was not sufficiently recognised in this country, and certainly was not sufficiently felt, even by religious people. ”

“ The Indian Government moves forward slowly, but it keeps constantly moving it takes no step backwards and hence, notwithstanding its characteristic caution, perhaps there is no government in the world which has made greater progress, within the time specified, in moral and social reforms. Undoubtedly much remains for the Government to do before it can be admitted that it is doing its duty to God and to India ”

“ Mainly and ultimately, however, I doubt not that the rule of the English in India rests neither on force nor on human opinion, but on the will of the Most High, the Supreme Ruler of the nations, who has raised up England, and confided race after race and region after region to her care, that she might " tell it out amongst the heathen that the Lord is King." ”

“ Even in the greater cities of India, where the excellent rule referred to cannot be acted upon, and where the Missionaries of various Societies carry on their work in somewhat of a promis cuous manner, it would be an error to suppose that the conversion of the Hindus to Christ is hindered by the spectacle of a divided, quarrelsome Christianity. Divisions do, it is true, exist, and it is a pity that they do ”

“ The missionary spirit, which is the spirit of Christ and of love, has done much to mitigate both the spirit of divisiveness and the spirit of exclu- siveness; but, partly from the resistance which relentless theories offer to charity, and partly from ignorance, few even of the friends of Missions in England seem to have much relish for looking upon " the things of others." In India, and throughout the Mission- field, the missionary spirit has freer scope, and has generally brought about a more satisfactory state of things. ”

“ Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest. Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields ; for they are white already unto harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal. ”

“ It is true that much remains to be done before our Christian community in Tinnevelly is in all respects worthy of the Christian name, and that there, as elsewhere, Christian pro fession and public spirit are not always accompanied by personal piety ; but it is necessary, and very consolatory, to bear in mind that in what has already been accomplished there is much reason for thankfulness, and that the degree in which old things have already passed away is an encouragement to us to hope that in due time all things will become new. ”

“ In everything which, according to Hindu notions, constitutes a religion, in everything in which Christianity differs from Brahmanism, all Protestant Missionaries appear to the Hindus to be at one. When they see that all Missionaries expound and circulate the same sacred volume, translated into the vernacular; that they all preach salvation through the death of the same Divine Saviour; that they all represent faith as the means of obtaining release from sin, and as the seed of virtue; that they are all free from the suspicion of idolatry ”

“ The great English schools, or colleges, established in Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay, by the Scotch Presbyterians, stand at the head of the former class ; at the head of the latter, which includes almost all other missionary efforts, we may safely place the Missions of the Church of England in Tinnevelly.
It cannot be doubted that the endeavour to diffuse Christianity amongst the higher classes of the Hindus is one of very great importance, for the institution of caste gives the higher classes greater influence in India than in any other country ”

“ It is an interesting feature of real missionary work everywhere, and certainly not less so in India than in other parts of the world, that it is carried on with so small an admixture of party- spirit. In Tinnevelly, for example, we may confidently say, " Behold how good and joyful it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." ”

“ In connexion with those Missions there are upwards of 18.000 converts to Christianity, nearly all of whom speak the same language as our own converts in Tinnevelly, belong to the same castes and classes, and may be regarded as the same people ; and though in point of numbers they are considerably behind our Tinnevelly Christians, yet in education, public spirit, missionary zeal, and liberality in contributions to charitable objects, they have made, in proportion to their numbers, at least equal progress. ”

“ The real work of Missions, the work of winning souls to Christ, is a spiritual work, and can only be done by spiritual men. Living men alone are competent to place " living stones " in the wall of the spiritual temple. ”

“ But such men are not to be purchased by money ; no organization, however perfect no ordination, however valid, can confer life. If we wish Christian men, animated by the living, loving Spirit of Christ, to be raised up and sent forth to do Christ's work in India, such men must be sought for in Christ's Spirit, and in accordance with Christ's commands, by earnest prayers to Himself ”

“ I am truly thankful to record this improvement in the Society's position, and I trust that it is not only in itself a considerable step in advance, but a sign and pledge of progressive improve ment. All that has been accomplished as yet may be described as only a promising beginning. More has been done in Tinne- velly than in any other province in India, and yet very much remains to be done before all Tinnevelly is Christianized. 43,000 souls have been brought under Christian instruction in that one province, but more than 1,200,000 souls remain in darkness still ! ”

“ Leaving out of account whence their support is derived, leaving also out of account their present ecclesiastical connexion, and looking only at the country where they were born and bred, and where they received their first missionary impulse, I find that there is a larger number of Germans labouring as Missionaries in the British possessions in India than of English-born members of the Church of England. ”

“ I cannot forbear adding, that whilst some other communions are doing more than could reasonably have been expected, and whilst the Missionary Societies of the Church of England have shown their capacity for doing well whatever they are enabled to do, there are multitudes of persons, calling themselves members of the Church of England, who either render those Societies no help whatever in their great work, or mock them with help of the most niggardly kind. ”

“ But though we may hope that God's blessing will continue to rest upon our labours, it is unsatisfactory to find that our labours fall so far short of those of others ; and it may be added, that in the end Providence is generally found to favour most those who labour most. ”

“ It is frequently our duty still, in the ordinary course of our labours in Tinnevelly, within the limits even of our Missionary parishes, to pass through village after village, teeming with a busy population, in which all classes of society " old men and maidens, young men and children," vie with each other, not in praising and serving God, but in praising and serving devils. ”

“ The other class of Missions, the popular or parochial, as distin- guished from the purely educational, expend much money and effort on education, especially on the education of the children of the poorer classes in the vernacular languages ; but they may properly be regarded as acting on a different system, inasmuch as they labour for the benefit, not of the young only, but of the people at large ; and the schools which they establish are con nected with, and subordinated to, Christian congregations. ”

“ Another fact, which some persons will be still less prepared to hear, is, that the Americans and the Germans are doing far more for India, proportionately to their interest in it, than is being done by English churchmen. India has been expressly com mitted, by Divine Providence, to the care of England, and England derives from India immense temporal advantages. America has received no special call to evangelize India ; yet the two non-Episcopal Missionary Societies of the United States main tain in India and Ceylon no less than 67 Missionaries. ”

“ Hinduism, which wears a calm and tolerant face when it fears no danger, has recently shown, by its combination with Mahometan fanaticism, and its ebullitions of persecuting rage, that it feels the grasp, and fears the power and progress of its Divine foe. ”

“ In the Presidency of Bengal the number of Missionaries is more considerable ; and there, not only are the Christian converts seventeen or eighteen times more numerous than in Bombay, but in many parts of that vast Presidency the Hindu mind has been stirred to its inmost depths by the progress of Christian education and Christian civilization. ”

“ Progress undoubtedly has been made, and year by year the prospects of Christianity become more encourag ing ; but the encouragements are of such a nature as will best be appreciated by those whose experience in some work similar to this has taught them not to " despise the day of small things."
Only one generation has elapsed since our Christian Govern ment systematically refused permission to Missionaries to labour in India, and openly patronised heathenism. ”

“ In this old Christian country, the church of Christ, the com munity of baptized believers, which ought to be in all things an example to new Christian communities in distant lands, is rent into hostile sects and parties, each of which is accustomed to look only on " its own things," and too often thinks it serves God by ignoring God's gifts to its neighbours. ”

“ The possessions which have fallen to the lot of the English nation in India are the most valuable and important that any people has ever acquired beyond its own natural boundaries. India comprises nearly a million and a half of square miles, an area which is equal to the half of Europe, leaving out Russia ”

“ The parochial system has been introduced, and the native congregations brought under efficient superintendence ; education has made rapid progress ; one of the best training seminaries in the country has been brought into operation : caste, the source of so many mischiefs, has been repressed ; and though, in consequence of these refor mations, especially in consequence of the systematic discourage ment of caste, the numbers of the Christian community have been diminished, the gain to the Christian cause has been more than equivalent. ”

“ Thus whilst Providence is so loudly calling upon us to go forward, whilst new openings for usefulness are daily pre senting themselves to us, we shall no longer be under the necessity of abandoning our outposts and narrowing the circle of our use fulness, as we had latterly been obliged to do in India, but will be enabled, I trust, to follow whither Providence leads. ”

“ Whilst we are thankful that the Indian Government, as such, has improved so considerably, we have also much reason to be thankful for the improvement which has taken place in the lives of so many members of the Anglo-Indian community. ”