Farewell letters

Contents

Page

DEDICATION. To Divie Bethune, Esq.

and Mrs. Bethune, .... 9

LETTER I. To the Rev. Di-. Newman. — Reflections on returning to England, 13

LETTER II. To John Breckinridge, Esq. — On the present spiritual state of the world ; and on the causes which have led to the neglect of the command of Christ, to preach the gospel to every creature, . . . .18

LETTER III. To the Rev. Dr. Ryland. — On the future state of the heathen, 34

LETTER IV. To the Rev. Dr. Staugh- TON. — On the philosophical system of the Hindoos, . . . . .39

LETTER V. To the Rev. Dr. Chaplin. — On the popular superstition of the Hindoos, . . . . . . 51

LETTER VI. To Miss Hope.— On the

state of female society in India, . . 60 1 *

CONTENTS.

Page

LETTER VIL To the Rev. Dr. Steadman. — On the cruelties connected with the Hindoo superstition, . . 78

LETTER VIIL To Captain B. Wickes. — On the impurities connected with the Hindoo superstition, . . . 8B

LETTER IX. To the Rev. Christmas Evans. — On the concern of many of the Hindoos respecting a future state, 93

LETTER X. To Richard Phillips, Esq. — On the necessity of a greater union in prayer for the Divine Lifluence, . . . . • .101

LETTER XL To the Rev. Christopher Anderson. — On the triumphs of the missionary cause in India, . .116'

LETTER XII. To the Rev. Dr. Baldwin. — On the success of the mission in India, as it respects the number and character of the converts, . . .137

LETTER XIII. To the Rev. Daniel Sharp. — On the progress of the translations in India, . . » .144

LETTER XIV. To the Rev. Lucius BoLLEs. — On the success of the Native Schools in India, . . .153

CONTEx\TS.

Page

LETTER XV. To J. .Douglas, Esq,— - On the late great moral changes in the East, and on the Serampore Missionary College, . . . . .161

LETTER XVI. To Joseph Butterworth, Esq. M. P. — On the striking nature of the change wrought in the views and character of a converted Hindoo, ...... 168

LETTER XVIL To Mrs. Fuller.— On the certainty of the final triumphs of Christianity, . . . . .178

LETTER XVIII. To a Missionary Student. — Advice on the importance and duties of the Missionary Life, . .189

LETTER XIX. To Dr. Charles Stuart. — On the origin of the Mennonites, 202

LETTER XX. To the Rev. Joseph KiNGHORN. — On the manner of worship, &.C. among the Mennonites, .211

LETTER XXI. To the Rev. W. H. Angas. — On the doctrines received by the Mennonites, . . . .21.5

LETTER XXII. To the Rev. N. Mess-

8 CONTENTS.

Page

CHAERT. — On the number of churches among the Mennonites, . . . 222

LETTER XXIII. To the Rev. J. J. Robertson. — On the state of rehgion in Holland, . . . . . .227

LETTER XXIV. To the Rev. George Barclay. — On the state of religion in America, . . . . . . 232

LETTER XXV. To Mrs. Stretton.— On the constitution and present state of the Episcopal Church in America, . 241

LETTER XXVL To the Rev. G. Pike. — On the answers to prayer, as seen in the present remarkable movements among the heathen, . . , .248

TO

DIVIE BETHUNE, ESQ.

AND

MRS. BETHUNE,

OF NEW- YORK.

London, May 24, 1821.

My Dear Friends,

Some reason or other for publishing these letters will, I suppose, be expected : and yet, you know, the rendering such an account is often, to an author, more unpleasant than writing the book itself. You will not wonder, therefore, that I wish to blunt the edge of this difficulty by turning that which should have been a preface into a letter, and a letter to my beloved friends in New- York. In your company I shall lose some of my awkwardness perhaps.

10 DEDICATION.

Several friends in England have suggested the propriety of giving, in a more accessible form, those accounts of the state of the heathen in India, and of our mission there, which formed the principal contents of the discourses I was called to deliver on my return to England. And similar suggestions have been made in America, especially by Dr. Chaplin and other brethren in the state of Maine. The greater part of these letters, therefore, have been written in conformity with the ideas of these friends.

My reasons for writing the letters to Mrs. Fuller, to a missionary student, and the four last letters, need not be offered.

When at Norwich last year, the Rev. Joseph Kinghorn expressed a hope that I might, in visiting Holland, find some materials for giving a better account of the present state of the Mennonites than was generally possessed in England. Through the assistance of the Rev. N. Messchaert of Rotterdam, and of my beloved compa-

DEDICATION. 1 1 nion, the Rev. W. H. Angas, I obtained from three Dutch works, the contents of letters 19, 20, 21, and 22.

The whole of these accounts appear in the form of Farewell Letters, just to gratify my own feelings. I hope the persons to whom they are addressed will excuse the appearance of their names here without leave.

I rejoice that I have visited America ; that I have seen some part, at least, of the New World, the chosen refuge of the puritans, and of many an eminently devoted christian; the land of equal privileges; of pure and heavenly light; the country to which, under God, next to my ow n, the eyes of every friend of God and man on earth are directed ; the hope of the world.

I ow^e to you, my dear friends, under a gracious Providence, a great share of the comfort and success which have attended my visit to America: I found Serampore in your family. Your influence raised a

^2 DEDICATION. t

considerable part of the fund now left in America for sending forth Hindoo ministers of the gospel from the Serampore college ; and through your letters of introduction I obtained access to some of the most devoted christians in the United

States.

Many thanks for the Memoirs of your dear mother, Mrs. Graham. It was the only book I read during my passage to England. What a high consecration of herself to God ! What deep humility !

Accept of the overflowing feelings of

the heart of,

My dear friends.

Your most obliged friend and servant,

W. WARD.

FAREWELL LETTERS.

Letter I

To the Rev. Dr. Newman, Stepney.

The Hercules, at sea, March 26, 1821.

My Dear Sir,

When I left New-York for Liverpool yesterday, I considered it as the commencement of my return to Serampore ; and I resolved to devote the leisure and retirement I might enjoy in my cabin to these farewell letters, begun at your suggestion.

After an absence of twenty years from England, it was to be expected, that the great moral changes of so considerable and so remarkable a period? the successful attempts to revive the unity and energies of the primitive age, and the formation of so many benevolent institutions, would produce a very strong and delightful impression on the mind of such an exile.

14 REFLECT lONS^^

I recollect, that as soon as I set my feet on board the Criterion* in 1799, on my way to India, to join Mr. Carey and Mr. Thomas residing there since 1793, I lay down on a seat upon the deck to read the voyage of the DufF, then recently published. The Bible Society, with its auxiharies, and still more interesting associations; and numerous other institutions, which have entitled the age in which we live to be denominated the " suttee joog," i. e. the " age of truth," did not at that time exist.

It was impossible, then, not to exult in observing, an my return, the progress of the kingdom of Christ, in a country endeared by every youthful recollection^ and rendered still dearer by absence, so long an absence, and by the painful contrast between the land of bibles, of christian temples, christian ministers, and christian institutions, and a land full of dead idols, heathen temples, priests, " abominable idolatries," and containing One Hundred Millions of degraded idolaters.

Ah ! my dear Doctor, I can never con-

* Commanded by Capt. B. Wickes, senior, of Philadelphiay who still lives, and whose great humility and ardent Christiasi. friendship cannot be forgotten by his surviving passengers.

ON RETURNING TO ENGLAND. 15

vey to your mind that awful feeling of christian solitude — that overwhelming loneliness, which I have sometimes experienced when standing, 15,000 miles from a christian land, among Forty or Fifty Thousand mad idolaters, hearing their shouts and seeing their frenzy. How piercing the thought, that this was an exhibition of the mental and spiritual condition ; this the brutal worship, and this the preparation for eternity, of 500,000,000 of the human race ! Oh ! under these impressions, the christian church becomes almost invisible, and the work to be accomplished appears so prodigious, that nothing but the recollection of the promises, of Calvary, and of Pentecost, preserves the mind from absolute despair. But to return to Britain: to find in the establishment* so many labourers " doing the work of evangelists," and a Misi^ionary Society, increasing daily the extent and the sacred energy of its operations ; — to perceive the great increase of dis-

* W^hen I left England, the peculiar doctrines of the gospel had not been preached, I believe, in the five established churches at Derby since the time of the puritans. I was happy, however, to find, on visiting this my native place in 1819, that two of these churches had recently been blessed with clergymen who followed the apostolic rule, 1 Cor, ii, 2.

1 6 REPLECTIOi\S

sentingand Weslevan-methodist chapels, and the vast additions to their societies ; —to see the pious members of christian churches visiting the benighted villages, and thus dispersing the last remains of heathen darkness in England ; — to see rising in everj part of the country institutions well suited to remove iscnorance, profligacy, and misery, the whole of the pious youth in Britain engaging in these truly christian efforts ; — and to recognise, amidst all this increasing ardour, so much christian liberality and union — how, my dear Sir, how could such an exile, surrounded with summer-scenery like this, help exclaiming, " And is this the country of my nativity ?" — " Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken ;— neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate ; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah ; for the Lord delighteth in thee."

May you still be enabled, my dear Sir, to contribute a large share towards the religious prosperity of our country ! May many a christian missionary go forth, enriched by your instructions, and formed by your holy example, and become a faithful and successful herald of salvation,

ON RETURNING TO ENGLAND. 1?

Remember, before " the Father of Mercies," the 100,000,000 of Hindoo idolaters, and their and your servant, for Jehus' sake.

W. WARD.

2 *

18 PRESENT MORAL STATE

LETTER II. To John Breckinridge, Esq. of Princeton College, New-Jersey

The Hercules^ at sea, March 27, 1821. My Dear Friend,

The frankness with which you entered on the discussion of christian missions with a stranger, in a very transient visit, and the blame you so unhesitatingly took to yourself for neglect in reference to this stupendous subject, must be my apology for addressing this letter to you.

Yes, there has been a most awful neglect of the spiritual interests of mankind; and the criminality of this neglect must lie somewhere.

What is the state of the world ? — The number of its inhabitants is, I believe, generally supposed to be about Eight Hundred Millions* The situation of the countries which all these beings inhabit ; the degree of civilization to which they have attained; their languages; their literature; their manners and customs; the climate, soil, and productions of each of these countries, and a great variety of

OF THE WORLD, l9

other circumstances connected with the present existence of these millions, have been, to a certain extent, ascertained. No want of talent and zeal in those who have enriched our libraries on these subjects: they deserve well of mankind. It is in the christian church only that cowardice and iodiiference to the state of the world, have been placed among the virtues.

In the commission given by our Lord to his disciples, what an immense field did he open for the exercise of christian philanthropy and heroic enterprise ! "> Go ye into all the world ; preach the gospel to every creature." By a mysterious, yet mighty influence, he infused into their spirits all the fervours of a divine benevolence: and thus constituted them, in his absence, the representatives of the Divine Mercy in the world, and the selected agents through whom all the blessings flowing from the interposition of Christ were to be imparted to mankind, till all the effects of the curse should be removed from the earth. With such an impulse as this given it, and with such a design unquestionably, the vessel of mercy and salvation was launched on the

20 PRErBEXT MORAL STATE

ocean of this world immediately after the ascension of our Lord.

And what is now the spiritual condition of our race?— Five Hundred Millions, it is notorious, remain to this hour Pagan idolaters, and One Hundred Millions more are the followers of the impostor Muhummud. Two hundred millions only are left wearing the christian name ; and in order to make the calculation respecting the real state of this remnant as favourable as possible^ we will suppose Princeton to be a fair epitome of the whole christian world. Is there one person in four in Princeton who appears to be brought decidedly under the influence of christian principles ? I fear not. We have then less than 50,000,000 of real christians on earth at any given time, and all the rest (750,000,000) are living and dying without God in the world ! And this is not the picture of the worst, but of the best period of time, next to the days of the apostles. Perhaps there never existed more good men on earth at one time than there are at present ; and yet this leaves more than fifteen out of sixteen of the human race unacquainted with the salvation whichis in Christ Jesus; — and this havock made by sin and death has continued with-

OF THE WORLD. 21

out interruption, day by day, and hour by hour, through all the ages since the fall.

There is something so fearful, so tremendous in this retrospect, that I do not wonder that men who have never known " the terrors of the Lord," and " the exceeding sinfulness of sin," should reject the theory altogether. While looking down into this abyss, my dear Friend, I am seized with a shivering horror. I tremble exceedingly. And yet the truth which is here so deeply impressed on my mind is the same as that which I learn from the history of the fallen angels, left without a Saviour ; from the flood ; as that which I receive in Gethsemane and at Calvary; and which is irresistibly confirmed while I look at the civil, and mental, and moral condition of these Seven Hundred and Fifty Millions of Pagans, &c. All proclaims the fearful truth, that there is a criminality, a turpitude, a desert in sin, which we cannot comprehend. And if it were the will of God, that the law should take its course, without mercy, to the end of time, what could we say ? — " Is God unjust that taketh vengeance? God for« bid."

But if in this fearful condition the world is not to remain-^if a brighter dei°

22 CAUSES OF THE NEGLEOT OF

tiny, a most glorious transformation awaits it — and if the command '' to teach ali nations," has never been repealed nor suspended, then there must have been a most shocking neglect of duty somewhere.

Seeing so many prophets had painted this brighter period in the most glowing colours, and had raised their loftiest, their sweetest strains to usher in the reign and universal conquests of the Messiah ; and seeing our Lord himself repeatedly referred to these halcyon days, and directed his disciples to a universal dissemination of his gospel, and to the work of universal teaching, how^, — these records being read hy the christian church every sabbath-day, — how shall we account for christians having left, for seventeen hundred years, in a state of perfect brutality and crime, Seven Hundred and Fifty Millions of deathless minds committed to their especial care by the Great Head of the church ?

What makes this neglect the more strange and unaccountable is, that the command comes from the highest possible authority — that this command is most express, and its meaning most palpable — that the Being who issued it said, at the very time it proceeded from his lips.

THE COMMISSION OF CHRIST. ZJ

" Mark! I am with you, even unto the end of the world," — that this Being has "all power in heaven and upon earth," — that this command is closely connected with the eternal condition of all these successive swarms of men, eight hundred millions composing each generation — and that every one of those to whom the execution of this commission is confided, is supposed to possess the mind that was in Christ Jesus, who came " to seek and to save that which was lost," and to have, as the distinguishing feature of his character, an overwhelming sense of the value of the human soul.

How, with a provision perfectly commensurate with the extent of the commission — with a command, from the Being who was himself the atonement, that every creature should hear the gospel — with such proofs before us that this gospel is the power of God to salvation — how, with all these facts staring us in the face — how is it, that we have never attempted to carry these glad tidings beyond the walls of our own churches ? How can we apologize for this criminal neglect, when our fellow-countrymen, unassisted by the principles and motives which inspire the christian, have, within a very few years.

24 CAUSES OF THE NEGLECT OF

amongst you, founded a new world, and amongst us, founded an empire comprising 100,000,000 of heathen subjects ?

What pestilential influence can have thus withered the arms of 50,000,000 of christian soldiers, to whom had been intrusted "the sword of the Spirit," and neutralized within them all those high and sacred principles which had been imparted to them in their christian birth, and stript them of those energies which, under their Great Captain, had been enough to conquer the whole world ?

My dear Friend, the cause of this total abandonment of effort, under such a leader, under such an inspiration, and with such prospects, is one of the most singular, and yet one of the most important inquiries, which christians at this day can possibly institute.

It will be said, that for many centuries, those who felt the genuine force of christian principles, were in too depressed a state to make efforts for the spread of the gospel : their whole strength was required to preserve any portion of united existence. They were in the situation of men in a besieged fortress ; attacks upon the territories of the enemy were out of the question. This defence, to a certain extent, must be admitted. But will He

THE COMMISSION OF CHRIST. 25

" whose eves are as a flame of fire, and his voice as the sound of many waters," accept this as an apology for the indifference and inactivity of the last two hundred years — for the apathy of the present hour ?

1. It is an awful fact, that the spirit of missions has to christianize the church, before the church can christianize the world. There is scarcely a single body of christians on earth that has not lost the primitive energy and enterprise, in a thorough subjection to doctrinal or prac-

tical SELFISHNESS.

2. If we 'vere merely in a profound sleep, we might be roused ; but the state o^ large bodies of professing christians reminds one of a garrison, who, to keep out the enemy, have kept up the drawbridges so long that they cannot be lowered again, and thus all egress is prevented. In the state of still larger christian bodies, we are reminded of a garrison, who have become so fond of garrison duty, and garrison fare, that they have no wish to enter upon the campaign and engage the enemy.

3. But there are certain theories and practices still tenaciously adhered to, which are either directly at variance with

26 CAUSES OF TBfE NEGLECT OF

the commission of Christ, or which paralyse all missionary energy.

4. Those views of the divine sovereignty which diminish, in the mind of the recipient, all compassion for the unconverted, and every influential impression of the absolute and inseparable connexion between the end and the means, must necessarily produce an indifference to the use of means, where vigorous effort is required^ and where expense is to be incurred.

5. Those ideas of the atonement w hich prevent a minister from pressing the gospel calls and invitations upon the attention of the unconverted, must in a great degree unfit such a person for the work assigned to ministers in the commission of the Lord Jesus.

6. It is too common to confine the christian ministry to the building up of the church. Many ministers, 1 fear, seldom preach but to believers, and about their duties and privileges. Treating the Bible as a text-book, and finding it full of that which is to make the man of God perfect, they imagine that they cannot be wrong while they preach from the Bible and according to it ,* seldom asking themselves this question, ' To accomplish what

THE COMMISSION OP CHRIST. 27

•' objects was the christian ministry instituted ?' But ought we not to understand, that the Bible is thus full of instruction to the believer, that he may stand in less need of the labours of him, whose main work is to call sinners to repent and believe the gospel? Is it any wonder, when the minister makes so small a reference to the unconverted, that the people should fieel no concern for the heathen ? It cannot be matter of surprise, that additions to such churches are so rare : the conversion of sinners is not sought after; it makes no prominent part of the work of the minister. And if he were to devote much of his preaching to the calling of sinners, he would inevitably be placed among those who are mere novices in the knowledge of christian mysteries. A celebrated preacher in Scotland was spoken of one day, in my hearing, for this very reason, as standing in need of some one to teach him the way of the Lord more perfectly. And thus the Christian ministry is confined to teaching*, and the sub-

* The offices of apostles and prophets have ceased in the •church, if the word prophets in Ephes, iv. 2, signify those who interpreted the discourses delivered in an unknown tongue. But where is the next order. Evangelists, and why are pastors or teachers the only order left? Does not this simple fact supply the testimony of volumes, and prove, that our churches have jost sight of the great object of their existence ?

28 CAUSES OF THE NEGLECT OF

lime work of preaching is almost laid aside. Hence a vast pulpit preparation is necessary to produce incessant variety, to humour the taste of the people, to keep them satisfied with their state, and ^to avoid the shadow of an opinion which has not passed the human ordeal. In the cold and dull effects arising out of this system, we see the infliction of that punishment which might be expected to follow such a departure from the charge given at Bethany. Not only are sinners not converted, but these services, except where extraordinary talents are possessed^ are, for the most part, exceedingly destitute of interest. A meeting for prayer is often much more edifying. The fact is, that most of the professors in England, &c. labour under a preaching surfeit ; hence so many bad humours break out, plainly indicative of the nature of the disease. And yet some ministers are alarmed, lest the engagements of their hearers in Sunday school and other exercises, should destroy their personal religion. But gospel blessings are to be expected much more in active engagements, than in a care only for personal enjoyments : see Genesis xii. 2. Prov. xi. 25. And the evident blessing of God resting on those who thus de-

THE COMMISSION OP CHRIST. 29

devote themselves to the good of others, especially of the rising generation, removes every shadow of doubt on this interesting point. When a minister, whose life has been spent in th^ work of teaching, and whose ministry has had little reference to the extension of the kingdom of Christ, comes to die, he can have no share in the consolation flowing from Daniel xii. 3 : " They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." How different the close of a life in which the minister has spent all his energies in pleasing his people, to that of the minister, however small his parts, who has been successful in " winning souls." Prov. xi. 30.

7. Other ministers dwell almost exclusively on the privileges of believers ; scarcely daring to touch at all on duty and obligation, lest they should be considered as legalists ; and this is so suited to the unsanctiiied taste of men, that the hearers not unfrequently compel the minister to become himself the example of the effects of his own doctrine : they contribute scarcely enough to keep him from starving. How should such congrega- .3 *

30 CAUSES OF THE NEGLECT OF

tions do any thing for maintaining ministers among the heathen ?

8. It is possible also so to preach on the subject of election, as to please a congregation by bringing them to indulge the most contracted ideas of the kingdom of Christ, exhibiting it only in connexion with the awful displays of divine justice, instead of expanding the mind, and stimulating it to exertion, by exhibitions equally scriptural, but in which we behold the whole world brought into the fold of Christ. The baneful effects on missions of such partial displays of this scriptural doctrine, (given to comfort believers, but believers of an order of piety to which few in our day attain,) need not be enlarged upon.

9. In the same spirit of selfishness a society, say of three hundred members, maintain a man to gratify them by a religious exhibition every sabbath-day, without any reference to the state of the unconverted, or at least with a very partial one. Hence three parts out of four of the congregations in America and England do nothing, or next to nothing, for the conversion of the wicked in their own streets. The heathen, placed fifteen thousand

THE COMMISSION OF CHRIST. 31

miles from them, are not likely, in such a state of feeling, to be remembered.

10. But the greatest impediment to the introduction and culture of a right spirit on this most important subject, will, perhaps, be found in such a love of the world as stands reproved in the fifth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. It was not without reference to a state of the church like that of the present times, that the sin of Ananias and Sapphira was so awfully punished, just when the gospel was beginning its progress through the world.

Surely every christian society should consider, that they are united together, not for themselves, but for the extension of the kingdom of Christ. Without depending on the labours of the evangelist whom they maintain, the Saviour has made ample provision in the Holy Scriptures, for the edification of his church, in the gifts of church-members and the privileges of a church-state, in multitudes of excellent works on every doctrinal and practical subject, &c. Those christians who have pleaded most strenuously for the duty of mutual exhortation, would have been in a good measure apostolical if they had united to maintain an evangelist to preach the gospel freely, (as far as

32 CAUSES OF THE NEGLECT OF

the powers of one individual could go,) to every creature. In this way the apostles received aid from their brethren — But in making no provision for extending the Saviour's kingdom, and in leaving the whole of th^ unconverted to the bald instructions of a secular ministry, in a room apparently private, I think they have surely been mistaken.

Let a christian minister bend his principal attention to preaching the gospel, that is, instructing the world to which he is sent; let every gift in the church be employed in the instruction of the young, in visiting the abodes of the ignorant and the afflicted, in distributing tracts and the Holy Scriptures, and let the gifted members edify the church in meetings of church-members ; and then the church will assume an attitude truly primitive. — And if the members be really imbued with the spirit of Christianity, the energies of this christian provision^^ for the teaching of the whole world will soon be seen in the change wrought upon the surrounding population.

Whatever apologies may be made for