第 68 节
作者:
垃圾王 更新:2021-02-24 22:52 字数:9321
ieties; through which the Presbyterians sent forth missionaries to West and South Africa and to Western India; until their churches acted as such; of the Church Missionary Society which the evangelical members of the Church of England have put in the front of all the societies; and of Robert Haldane's splendid self…sacrifice in selling all that he had to lead a large Presbyterian mission to Hindostan。 Soon (1797) the London Society became the parent of that of the Netherlands; and of that which is one of the most extensive in Christendom; the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions。 The latter; really founded (1810) by Judson and some of his fellow…students; gave birth (1814) to the almost equally great American Baptist Union when Judson and his colleague became Baptists; and the former was sent by Carey to Burma。 The Religious Tract Society (1799); and the British and Foreign Bible Society (1804)each a handmaid of the missionary agenciessprang as really though less directly from Carey's action。 Such organised efforts to bring in heathen and Mohammedan peoples led in 1809 to the at first catholic work begun by the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews。 The older Wesleyan Methodist and Gospel Propagation Societies; catching the enthusiasm as Carey succeeded in opening India and the East; entered on a new development under which the former in 1813; and the latter in 1821; no longer confined their operations to the slaves of America and the English of the dispersion in the colonies and dependencies of Great Britain。 In 1815 Lutheran Germany also; which had cast out the Pietists and the Moravian brethren as the Church of England had rejected the Wesleyans; founded the principal representative of its evangelicalism at Basel。 The succeeding years up to Carey's death saw similar missionary centres formed; or reorganised; in Leipzig (1819); Berlin (1823); and Bremen (1836)。23
The Periodical Accounts sent home from Mudnabati and Serampore; beginning at the close of 1794; and the Monthly Circular Letters after 1807; gave birth not only to these great missionary movements but to the new and now familiar class of foreign missionary periodicals。 The few magazines then existing; like the Evangelical; became filled with a new spirit of earnest aggressiveness。 In 1796 there appeared in Edinburgh The Missionary Magazine; 〃a periodical publication intended as a repository of discussion and intelligence respecting the progress of the Gospel throughout the world。〃 The editors close their preface in January 1797 with this statement:〃With much pleasure they have learned that there was never a greater number of religious periodical publications carried on than at present; and never were any of them more generally read。 The aggregate impression of those alone which are printed in Britain every month considerably exceeds thirty thousand。〃 The first article utilises the facts sent home by Dr。 Carey as the fruit of his first two years' experience; to show 〃The Peculiar Advantages of Bengal as a Field for Missions from Great Britain。〃 After describing; in the style of an English statesman; the immense population; the highly civilised state of society; the eagerness of the natives in the acquisition of knowledge; and the principles which the Hindoos and Mohammedans hold in common with Christians; the writer thus continues:
〃The attachment of both the Mohammedans and Hindoos to their ancient systems is lessening every day。 We have this information from the late Sir William Jones; one of the Judges of that country; a name dear to literature; and a lover of the religion of Jesus。 The Mussulmans in Hindostan are in general but little acquainted with their system; and by no means so zealous for it as their brethren in the Turkish and Persian empires。 Besides; they have not the strong arm of civil authority to crush those who would convert them。 Mr。 Carey's letters seem to intimate the same relaxation among the Hindoos。 This decay of prejudice and bigotry will at least incline them to listen with more patience; and a milder temper; to the doctrines and evidences of the Christian religion。 The degree of adhesion to their castes; which still remains; is certainly unfavourable; and must be considered as one of Satan's arts to render men unhappy; but it is not insuperable。 The Roman Catholics have gained myriads of converts from among them。 The Danish missionaries record their thousands too: and one (Schwartz) of the most successful missionaries at present in the world is labouring in the southern part of Hindostan。 Besides a very considerable number who have thrown aside their old superstition; and make a profession of the Christian religion; he computes that; in the course of his ministry; he has been the instrument of savingly converting two thousand persons to the faith of Christ。 Of these; above five hundred are Mohammedans: the rest are from among the different castes of the Hindoos。 In addition to these instances; it is proper to notice the attention which the Hindoos are paying to the two Baptist missionaries; and which gives a favourable specimen of their readiness to listen to the preaching of the Gospel。。。
〃Reflect; O disciple of Jesus! on what has been presented to thy view。 The cause of Christ is thy own cause。 Without deep criminality thou canst not be indifferent to its success。 Rejoice that so delightful a field of missions has been discovered and exhibited。 Rouse thyself from the slumbers of spiritual languor。 Exert thyself to the utmost of thy power; and let conscience be able to testify; without a doubt; even at the tribunal of Jesus Christ; If missionaries are not speedily sent to preach she glorious Gospel in Bengal; it shall not be owing to me。〃
That is remarkable writing for an Edinburgh magazine in the year 1797; and it was Carey who made it possible。 Its author followed up the appeal by offering himself and his all; for life and death; in a 〃Plan of the Mission to Bengal;〃 which appeared in the April number。 Robert Haldane; whose journal at this time was full of Carey's doings; and his ordained associates; Bogue; Innes; and Greville Ewing; accompanied by John Ritchie as printer; John Campbell as catechist; and other lay workers; determined to turn the very centre of Hindooism; Benares; into a second Serampore。 Defeated by one set of Directors of the East India Company; he waited for the election of their successors; only to find the East India Company as hostile to the Scottish gentleman as they had been to the English shoemaker four years before。
The formation of the great Missionary and Bible Societies did not; as in the case of the Moravian Brethren and the Wesleyans; take their members out of the Churches of England and Scotland; of the Baptists and Independents。 It supplied in each case an executive through which they worked aggressively not only on the non…christian world; but still more directly on their own home congregations and parishes。 The foreign mission spirit directly gave birth to the home mission on an extensive scale。 Not merely did the Haldanes and their agents; following Whitefield and the Scottish Secession of 1733; become the evangelists of the north when they were not suffered to preach the Gospel in South Asia; every member of the churches of Great Britain and America; as he caught the enthusiasm of humanity; in the Master's sense; from the periodical accounts sent home from Serampore; and soon from Africa and the South Seas; as well as from the Red Indians and Slaves of the West; began to work as earnestly among the neglected classes around him; as to pray and give for the conversion of the peoples abroad。 From first to last; from the early days of the Moravian influence on Wesley and Whitefield; and the letters of Carey; to the successive visits to the home churches of missionaries like Duff and Judson; Ellis and Williams; Moffat and Livingstone; it is the enterprise of foreign missions which has been the leaven of Christendom no less really than of the rest of the world。 Does the fact that at the close of the year 1796 there were more than thirty thousand men and women in Great Britain who every month read and prayed about the then little known world of heathenism; and spared not their best to bring that world to the Christ whom they had found; seem a small thing? How much smaller; even to contemptible insignificance; must those who think so consider the arrival of William Carey in Calcutta to be three years before! Yet the thirty thousand sprang from the one; and to…day the thirty thousand have a vast body of Christians really obedient to the Master; in so far as; banded together in five hundred churches and societies; they have sent out eighteen thousand missionaries instead of one or two; they see eighty thousand Asiatics; Africans; and Polynesians proclaiming the Christ to their countrymen; and their praying is tested by their giving annually a sum of ?;000;000; to which every year is adding。
The influence of Carey and his work on individual men and women in his generation was even more marked; inasmuch as his humility kept him so often from magnifying his office and glorifying God as the example of Paul should have encouraged him to do。