按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
General; being up the country; Mr。 Udny is Vice…President and Deputy…Governor。 I therefore went one morning; took a breakfast with him; and told him what we were doing and what we wished to do。 He; in a very friendly manner; desired me to state to him in a private letter all that we wished; and offered to communicate privately with Sir G。 Barlow upon the subject; and inform me of the result。 I called on him again last week; when he informed me that he had written upon the subject and was promised a speedy reply。 God grant that it may be favourable。 I know that Government will allow it if their powers are large enough。〃
Not till 1810 could Carey report that 〃permission was obtained of Government for the forming of a new station at Agra; a large city in upper Hindostan; not far from Delhi and the country of the Sikhs;〃 to which Chamberlain and an assistant were sent。 From that year the Bengal became only the first of 〃The United Missions in India。〃 These were five in number; each under its own separate brotherhood; on the same principles of self…denial as the original; each a Lindisfarne sprung from the parent Iona。 These five were the Bengal; the Burman; the Orissa; the Bhootan; and the Hindostan Missions。 The Bengal mission was fourfoldSerampore and Calcutta reckoned as one station; the old Dinapoor and Sadamahal which had taken the place of Mudnabati; Goamalty; near Malda; Cutwa; an old town on the upper waters of the Hoogli; Jessor; the agricultural capital of its lower delta; and afterwards Monghyr; Berhampore; Moorshedabad; Dacca; Chittagong; and Assam。 The Bhootan missionaries were plundered and driven out。 The Hindostan mission soon included Gaya; Patna; Deegah; Ghazeepore; Benares; Allahabad; Cawnpore; Ajmer; and Delhi itself。 From Nagpoor; in the very centre of India; and Surat to the north of Bombay; Carey sought to bring Marathas and Goojaratees under the yoke of Christ。 China; where the East India Company was still master; was cared for by the press; as we shall see。 Not content with the continent of Asia; Carey's mission; at once forced by the intolerance which refused to allow new missionaries to land in India proper; and led by the invitations of Sir Stamford Raffles; extended to Java and Amboyna; Penang; Ceylon; and even Mauritius。 The elaborate review of their position; signed by the three faithful men of Serampore; at the close of 1817; amazes the reader at once by the magnitude and variety of the operations; the childlike modesty of the record; and the heroism of the toil which supplied the means。
At the time of the organisation into the Five United Missions the staff of workers had grown to be thirty strong。 From England there were nine surviving:Carey; Marshman; Ward; Chamberlain; Mardon; Moore; Chater; Rowe; and Robinson。 Raised up in India itself there were seventhe two sons of Carey; Felix and William; Fernandez; his first convert at Dinapoor; Peacock and Cornish; and two Armenians; Aratoon and Peters; two were on probation for the ministry; Leonard and Forder。 Besides seven Hindoo evangelists also on probation; there were five survivors of the band of converts called from time to time to the ministryKrishna Pal; the first; who is entered on the list as 〃the beloved〃; Krishna Dass; Ram Mohun; Seeta Ram; and Seeta Dass。 Carey's third son Jabez was soon to become the most advanced of the three brothers away in far Amboyna。 His father had long prayed; and besought others to pray; that he too might be a missionary。 For the last fifteen years of his life Jabez was his closest and most valued correspondent。
But only less dear than his own sons to the heart of the father; already in 1817 described in an official letter as 〃our aged brother Carey;〃 were the native missionaries and pastors; his sons in the faith。 He sent forth the educated Petumber Singh; first in November 1802; to his countrymen at Sooksagar; and 〃gave him a suitable and solemn charge: the opportunity was very pleasant。〃 In May 1803 Krishna Pal was similarly set apart。 At the same time the young Brahman; Krishna Prosad; 〃delivered his first sermon in Bengali; much to the satisfaction of our brethren。〃 Six months after; Ward reports of him in Dinapoor:〃The eyes of the people were fixed listening to Prosad; he is becoming eloquent。〃 In 1804 their successful probation resulted in their formal ordination by prayer and the laying on of the hands of the brethren; when Carey addressed them from the divine words; 〃As my Father hath sent me so send I you;〃 and all commemorated the Lord's death till He come。 Krishna Dass was imprisoned unjustly; for a debt which he had paid; but 〃he did not cease to declare to the native men in power that he was a Christian; when they gnashed upon him with their teeth。 He preached almost all night to the prisoners; who heard the word with eagerness。〃 Two years after he was ordained; Carey charged him as Paul had written to Timothy; 〃in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus; who shall judge the quick and the dead;〃 to be instant in season and out of season; to reprove; rebuke; exhort with all long…suffering and teaching。 Ram Mohun was a Brahman; the fruit of old Petumber's ministry; and had his ability as a student and preacher of the Scriptures consecrated to Christ on the death of Krishna Prosad; while the missionaries thus saw again answered the invocation they had sung; in rude strains; in the ship which brought them to India:
〃Bid Brahmans preach the heavenly word Beneath the banian's shade; Oh let the Hindoo feel its power And grace his soul pervade。〃
So early as 1806 the missionaries thus acknowledged the value of the work of their native brethren; and made of all the native converts a Missionary Church。 In the delay and even failure to do this of their successors of all Churches we see the one radical point in which the Church in India has as yet come short of its duty and its privilege:
〃We have availed ourselves of the help of native brethren ever since we had one who dared to speak in the name of Christ; and their exertions have chiefly been the immediate means by which our church has been increased。 But we have lately been revolving a plan for rendering their labours more extensively useful; namely; that of sending them out; two and two; without any European brother。 It appeared also a most desirable object to interest in this work; as much as possible; the whole of the native church among us: indeed; we have had much in them of this nature to commend。 In order; then; more effectually to answer this purpose; we called an extraordinary meeting of all the brethren on Friday evening; Aug。 8; 1806; and laid before them the following ideas:
〃1。 That the intention of the Saviour; in calling them out of darkness into marvellous light; was that they should labour to the uttermost in advancing his cause among their countrymen。
〃2。 That it was therefore their indispensable duty; both collectively and individually; to strive by every means to bring their countrymen to the knowledge of the Saviour; that if we; who were strangers; thought it our duty to come from a country so distant; for this purpose; much more was it incumbent on them to labour for the same end。 This