The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-07-23 00:00:00

RELIGIOUS AWAKENING IN NORTHERN INDIA.
FROM FIFTY TO SIXTY VILLAGES SIMULTANEOUSLY
EMBRACING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
Letter from the Lord Bishop of Calcutta to the Earl of
Chichester, President of the Church Missionary Society.

The attention of the friends of the Church Mission-
ary Society, and of the public in general, is earnestly
called to the following extracts from a letter lately re-
ceived by the Right Honourable the Earl of Chiches-
ter from the Lord Bishop of Calctltta, in which his
lordship states the extraordinary awakening which has
taken place amongst the Hindoos in the neighbour-
hood of Kishnaghur, through the instrumentality of
the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society,
and begs for an immediate supply of missionaries.
A special meeting of the Calcutta Corresponding
Committee was held at the Bishop's Palace -on the
27th of February, in order to deliberate on the course
to be adopted, with a view to meet the extraordinary
state of things at Kishnaghur. The Bishop was on
this occasion requested to communicate the facts of
the case, and the feelings of the Corresponding Com-
mittee, to the president of the society. His lordship
writes, on the same day, as follows:

" I have this morning promised the gentlemen of the
Church-Missionary Calcutta Committee, that I would re-
present to your lordship the urgent need of additional Euro.
pean missionaries in the station of Kishnaghur, which has
been created by the extraordinary promises of success which
the goodness and grace of God have been lately opening to
the pious subscribers of the great society over which your
lordship presides, in that particular field of missionary ex-
ertion. I fulfil my promise at the instant ; lest the pressure
of incessant duties, which, wave after wave, roll over me,
should defeat my purpose.
. . .

" It was just Before Christmas last, that the Rev. W. J.
Deerr, hearing that I had returned from the first division of
my second visitation, sent down a catechist, to entreat me
to come up to Kishnagur, and advise him how he might best
proceed with the large and increasing numbers of candidates
for baptism who had applied to him from all the villages
around. He described himself as quite overwhelmed. I
wrote to him a few lines instantly, to ' comfort him concern-
ing his faith ;' and promised him to visit his station the
moment I could get away from Calcutta. I begged him to
answer me, in the meantime, eight or ten questions also,
that I might judge the better of the blessed appearances
which he spoke of. On the receipt of his reply, I was struck
with amazement and admiration of the grace of God—l could
scarcely believe the accounts, for joy. There seemed to be
hundreds being ' born at once.' Finding that I was unable,
however, to leave home from an unexpected crowd of duties,
I begged of the Archdeacon to go down without delay, and
bring up a full statement of the position of things, that I
might submit it to the Church-Missionary Corresponding
Committee, and advise with them how to meet the rising
demand for help. The Archdeacon is just returned. It
appears that between fifty-five and sixty villages are thirsting
for the waters of life, in a greater or less degree : they stretch
to the north and north-east of Kishnaghur on the Jelingha,
to the distance of forty or fifty miles, and to the south-west
fifteen or twenty. The numbers described as prepared for
holy baptism—in various measures, of course—are between
3,000 and 3,500. The Archdeacon assisted himself at the
reception of about 500 souls, including women and children,
into the Christian church : and there seems the fairest pros-
pect, if we can but enter at the wide and effectual door in
time, that not only these 3,000 or 4,000, but the whole po-
pulation of the fifty or sixty villages, may receive the Chris-
tian faith, and resemble our Christian Tillages in the times
of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers in the 6th and 7th centuries.
Such a glorious scene has never yet been presented to our
longing eyes in Bengal!"

"After making every allowance, the Bishop adds :
" Admitting all this, and as much more as tne most timid
observer can require, it still appears that a mighty work of
divine grace is begun—a work wide and permanent, as we
trust—a work marking the finger of God—a work which will
demand, and warrant, and repay, all our pastoral care, anxi-
ety, and labour—a work for which our fathers in India,
Brown, Buchanan, Martyn, Thomason, and Bps. Corrie,
Middleton, and Heber, would have blessed and praised God,
in the loudest strains of gratitude and joy."

Speaking of the danger of backsliding, the Bishop
says :

" The fearful relapses of native converts and whole flocks,
when destitute of adequate instructors, in all parts of India,
and after the lapse of a very few years, is a sufficient indica-
tion to us of that wonderful connexion in the system of
means, which we all acknowledge in theory, but which is
nowhere so prominent as in our labours in a Heathen and
Mahomedan land. Everything depends, under God, upon
incessant culture—and culture by European missionaries—
at least in the actual state of things around us in this heathen
and prostrate country."

And his lordship then gives a sketch of some of the
facts which have occurred :
"-About four years since the Rev. W. J. Deerr, thission-
ary at Kishanegore or Kislinaghur (` the town of Krishna'
no longer, I trust; but rather Anunda Bas, ' the village of
joy,' according to the name of the first spot where the
blessed baptisms took place), having heard that there was a
body of persons, partly of Hindoo and partly of Mussulman
origin, who professed to worship the one true God, and who
were exposed to persecution on that account, went to their
principal village and spoke to them of the Gospel, but appa-
rently with little impression : he left copies, however, of the
New Testament behind, as silent missionaries ; and promised
to see them again.
" In 1836 he was more cordially listened to—he had re-
peated interviews—they consented to unite in prayer to Jesus
Christ—they begged for Christian instructors.
" Five heads of finnilies were baptized by Mr. Deerr, at
his visit the following winter, 1837. A fierce persecution
had broken out : their wives and children were forcibly torn
from them, and only restored by the interference of the ma-
gistrate. From this date, however, numbers began to flock
around the new Christians—the tidings spread—the young
converts became each of them missionaries—one told his
brother, another his mother and sister, like the primitive
disciples, We have found the Saviour.' Thus the informa-
tion reached to the extremities of the connection, for the
whole body or sect are connected by intermarriages.
" In 1838, the leading men in ten villages, including with
their families probably 400 or 500 souls, embraced openly
the doctrine of Christ ; and, after some months' further in-
struction, were 'baptized : these began from that time to
celebrate Christian worship among themselves, and keep
holy the Lord's day. A keener curiosity was thus excited
among the connected family or tribe, and more rigid perse-
cution followed. But the flame was so far from being ex-
tinguished, that it burned only the brighter, and spread with
more rapidity : whole neighbourhoods came over to the
Christian fold, and prayed for instruction in the new reli-
gion. Mr. Deerr did what he could, but said little to any
one.

In the present winter, 1839, a devastating inundation
plunged the whole agricultural population, in a moment,
into the most profound distress. Christianity, feeble as it
was, produced its immediate fruit : help was afforded: Mr.
Deerr stripped himself even of the little fund indispensable
for his own necessities and those of his own children, to
administer to the sufferers. The Christian villagers went
about in boats over the deluged fields, to see how their bre-
thren did. The neighbours said, There, sec how these
Christians love one another ! For us, poor fellows, no one
cares. Of a truth, there is the true relation among these
people.' Your lordship will here again recognise the scenes
of Primitive Christianity."

At this time Mr. Deerr sent a catechist to the
Bishop, to request of him to come and advise with
him what to do. His lordship says :

," The Archdeacon Dealtry cheerfully went, and supplied
my lack of service : he took with him the Rev. Krishna Mo-
hana Banerjea, whom I ordained in June 1837 ; and he found
there the Rev. J. J. Weitbrecht and the Rev. T. Sandys, of
Burdwan and Mirzapore, who had been attracted by the
tidings, and came, without concert, to give what aid they
could to such a work, at such a moment.
" On reaching the first field of labour, the Archdeacon,
assisted by his brethren, proceeded to examine the candidates
for baptism—about 160 were placed in rows—at the village
of Anunda Bas. Their replies were most affecting. They
evidently showed an acquaintance generally with the lost
estate and sinful nature of man—with the incarnation and
holy life of our Lord Jesus Christ—with His atonement—
with the doctrines of justification and sanctification, in their
substantial import—and with the necessity and duty of fol-
lowing His example. Jesus Christ was the beginning and
end of their religion. Prayer to Him was the test of dis-
cipleship. The moment any one fell down and called on the
name of the Lord Jesus—the Society will recognise again
the Apostolic Faith—he was gathered into their number.
They appeared, in short, so far as could be judged, under
the influence of the grace of God. They had learned the
Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed,
together with Dr. Watts's First Catechism. They knew
that the Son of God appeared in human form, and died to
save them—that there is salvation in Him, and in no other
—that to believe in Him is the way to obtain this salvation
—that nothing can be done without the Holy Spirit's influ-
encethat there will be a resurrection of the dead, a final
judgment day, a reward fo the righteous, and punishments
for the wicked. It appe d further, so far as could be
ascertained, that they were willing to forsake all for Christ,
and endure whatever persecutions might come upon them.
" The result was, that the Archdeacon said to the rev.
missionaries, Can any
,forbid water, that these should not
be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost, in His sanc-
tifying influences, as well as we? And, upon their unani-
mous opinion, holy baptism was administered according to
the forms of our church • first to the 160 then assembled;
and then, at three other villages, after like examinations, to
about 380 or 400 more. These, together with the little com-
paniea which bad been received into the church in 1837 and
1838, may amount, including children, to nearly 1,000.
About 1,500 or 2,000 more lay so tar distant, that it was
impossible to visit them at that time. Messrs. Sandys,
Weitbrecht, and Mohana Banerjea, however, went to several
villages; and found the same eagerness for instruction, but
tar less attainments in Christian knowledge : they were in-
quirers only. Those baptized were catechumens—most of
them for more than a year—under the instructions of Mr.
Deerr and his native catechists and assistants. The rest are
in earlier stages."

The Bishop, speaking of the paucity of teachers,
observes :

" The whole body of teachers would thus be, (1) one mis-
sionary, Mr. Deerr ; (2) one English catechist—whom the
committee solicited me to admit as a candidate for holy
orders—Mr. Alexander; (3) and eleven or twelve native
catechists : but what are these amony so many !—fifty-five
or sixty villages-3,000 inquiring souls—a population all
around pressing to hear the Word of God—flocks, upwards
of 1,000 already baptized—distances of fifty or sixty miles on
the east, thirty-six on the north, and eighteen on the west of
Kishnaghur to be traversed ! Such circumstances demand
at least three European missionary clergymen, three school-
masters, and thirty catechists; and these are little enough
for the effective work before them."

Speaking of the missions in India, he says :
" l have now been acquainted intimately with all your
missions, and most of your missionaries—l believe I may
say nearly all—for between six and seven years; nor'can I
conceive of any clergy more admirably adapted, as a body,
for their sacred work than they arc. With a difference of
talent and cast of mind, I know of no difference in point of
simplicity, of piety, zeal, love for souls, disinterestedness,
diligent labour, affection for each other, attachment to the
natives, prudence, fortitude and resignation under a thousand
privations. They are, indeed, men of God."
And in faith looking forward to a further work of
divine grace, he goes on to say :
" Nor is there anything to prevent similar outbursts, at
any given moment, and at any place. Benares, with her
500,000 Brahminical devotees, may desert the point of the
trident of Shiva, for the Divine Redeemer and His Cross.
The city of the ImperialAklibar (Agra) may quit its gorgeous
Tuj for the Christian Mission Chapel; and the commence-
ment of grace, begun under the honoured and beloved Bishop
Corrie, and apparent in Abdool Messeeli and his flocks for a
season, may revive, after so long a decline, under your pre-
sent missionaries.
" The importance, therefore, of the events at Kishnaghur,
vast as it is in itself—for the value of a single soul who can
estimate ?—is elevated much higher by the relative position
of your other missions, and the hopes which they serve to
enkindle of the further effusions of the Blessed Spirit."
And then, pleading the cause of the poor heathen,
be most ailemagly adds