Roman Catholicism, during the Middle Ages, had given scope to the
institution, and had paid attention to the culture, of voluntary
societies. Such societies had sprung up in different parts of Europe
amongst the Clergy and amongst the Laity, being placed in subjection
to the laws, animated by sympathy with the spirit, and directed to the
promotion of the interests of the Church. Monks praying in cloisters,
friars preaching in streets, secular fraternities in towns and cities
visiting the poor and sick, had engaged in spontaneous activity, yet
had remained faithful to their spiritual mother. English Protestantism,
at first, did not produce or encourage any such forms of operation.
Cathedral and parochial clergymen, in dignified or humble routine,
were its only authorized agents. Missionary efforts, foreign and
domestic, as well as lay associations for spiritual improvement, were
unknown. In one ascertained exceptional instance, under Edward VI., an
unordained person was allowed to preach; but it was the rule to exclude
all but men in orders from every kind of public or socially organized
usefulness. Not only were Anglicans destitute of any association of
lay helpers in Christian work at home, and of any means for carrying
on Missions abroad, but Puritans were in the same predicament, since
meetings for prophesying, catechizing, and lecturing, and plans for
purchasing presentations to livings, did not constitute the kind of
co-operation now in view. Presbyterians, and many Independents also,
not only from necessity, but from that neglect of unclerical enterprise
which characterized the age, confined themselves, with few exceptions,
to pulpit teaching and pastoral influences. High Church and Low Church,
the Establishment and the sects, exhibited disregard of a principle in
full play in other portions of Western Christendom. A clerical jealousy
of laymen, a fear of schism, and a dislike of everything approaching to
irregularity, lay at the bottom of the Anglican aversion to lay agency.
Prejudices of a similar kind influenced Puritans; for although there
existed abundant religious irregularity during the Commonwealth, there
were not a few amongst Nonconformists wedded to their own notions of
church order. They were High Churchmen in their own way, regarding the
ecclesiastical principles of the New Testament as so comprehensive in
their direct application, as to render all associations distinguished
from the Church itself as perfectly needless.
[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.]
This state of things prevailed during three-fourths of the seventeenth
century, when a movement began, opening the way to consequences which
ever since have been unfolding themselves. At present, the vast number
of our religious societies--some in slender connection with churches,
some in no connection with them at all--form phenomena worth the study
of social philosophers; and the rise of them may be distinctly traced
in those combinations for certain purposes, just before and during the
reign of William III., which are now to be described. The outburst of
zeal at that time has received much less notice than its importance
deserves.
It was about the year 1678--sixty years after the first establishment
in Paris of the societies by St. Vincent de Paul--that a few young men
in London, belonging to the congregations of Dr. Horneck, the popular
preacher at the Savoy, and of Mr. Smithies, an impressive lecturer at
St. Michael’s, Cornhill, came under one of those inspirations which
mark epochs of revival. They agreed to meet weekly for religious
conference, prayer, and scripture reading. When, under James II.,
signs of Papal outgrowths were visible, they sought to check returning
superstition, and promoted the use of daily common prayer at the
church of St. Clement Danes, as a sort of protest against the use of
daily mass at the Chapel Royal. Feeling a more than ordinary desire
for the Communion, they frequented the Lord’s-table whenever they had
an opportunity, and stimulated clergymen to celebrate, not only upon
Sundays but upon holidays; and on the vigils of feasts they met for
preparation at one another’s houses. They thus fell in with a current
of sacramental feeling, which became prevalent and powerful at the
opening of the eighteenth century--promoted by the writings of Robert
Nelson and others, and by the example of distinguished persons amongst
both Clergy and Laity.[446] They also raised money for the payment
of clergymen who read prayers, for the relief of the poor, for the
support of schools, and for the spread of Christianity abroad and at
home. They laid down rules of conduct, drawn from their own religious
and ecclesiastical principles, “To love one another; when reviled
not to revile again; to speak evil of no man; to wrong no man; to
pray, if possible, seven times a-day; to keep close to the Church of
England; to transact all things peaceably and gently; to be helpful
to each other; to use themselves to holy thoughts on coming in and
going out; to examine themselves every night; to give every one his
due; to obey superiors, both spiritual and temporal.” Controverted
points of Divinity were banished from discussion, no prayers were used
but those in the Prayer-Book, or sanctioned by clergymen; the strong
Church element in these societies further manifesting itself in careful
abstinence from a lay use of absolution. Resembling in some respects,
in others differing from, Young Men’s Christian Associations, they must
be regarded as harbingers of the latter institutions; and, so regarded,
they in certain minds acquire an interest beyond that which inherently
belongs to them.
[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.]
The societies, developed in the way described, attained vigour and
prosperity in the middle of King William’s reign, being promoted by the
approval of Queen Mary, who took a deep interest in their proceedings.
Thirty-nine of them were instituted in London and Westminster.
They spread into the midland and western counties; we find them at
Nottingham and Gloucester, and we follow them across the Channel to
Ireland, to Kilkenny and Drogheda, especially to Dublin, where no less
than ten of them arose under the sanction and help of the Bishops and
Clergy.[447]
Tillotson, Compton, and other Prelates, at an early period looked
favourably upon the associations and aided their endeavours; but some
at first were shy. Archbishop Sharpe, for example, and other clergymen,
both Bishops and Presbyters, frowned upon all movements of the kind,
as violations of order and as productive of schism. Amongst the lay
promoters of these societies, Robert Nelson becomes conspicuous after
the year 1700, when he abandoned the Nonjuring party.
Another kind of society, originated about the year 1691--not intended,
like the Young Men’s Associations, for personal religious improvement,
but for checking public immorality--was formed so as to include
Nonconformists. The methods of operation were manifold. The most
prominent was to enforce the execution of the laws against vice and
profanity; and to stir up people to join in this enforcement, the
utmost ingenuity and the most plausible eloquence were employed. An
abstract of the statutes against the profanation of the Lord’s-day,
drunkenness, swearing and cursing, blasphemy, lewd and disorderly
practices, and gaming, was published and circulated, with a list of
penalties annexed; and all good subjects were exhorted, on grounds of
patriotism and religion, to aid in executing these statutes. Other
associations were formed for the same purpose. Persons of eminence,
members of Parliament, justices of the peace, and London citizens,
constituted one division of the army enlisted in the service of public
morals; they chiefly furnished the supplies for carrying on the war.
About fifty persons, including tradesmen and others, composed a second
band, to promote, by individual efforts, the prosecution of the design.
A third detachment embraced constables, who were “to meet to consider
of the most effectual way to discharge their oaths, to acquaint one
another with the difficulties they met with, to resolve on proper
remedies, to divide themselves in the several parts of the city so as
to take in the whole to the best advantage for inspecting of disorderly
houses, taking up of drunkards, lewd persons, profaners of the
Lord’s-day, and swearers out of the streets and markets, and carrying
them before the magistrates.” A fourth rank of men, described as the
corner-stone of the undertaking, contained as many as were disposed
to inform against delinquents; the money arising from informations
being devoted to the help of the poor, except a third part of the
penalty against Sabbath-breaking, which the magistrate had the power to
distribute, but which had never, so it was said, been bestowed upon the
informers themselves.
[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.]
The necessity of laws for the punishment of offences against society
and individual rights is plain, but the efficacy of legislation for
the suppression of immorality and irreligion is more than questioned.
Fines and imprisonments can only produce a skin-deep reformation, and
when relaxed are followed by fresh outbursts of vicious indulgence;
and if the least objectionable part of the plan now under review
was defective, the encouragement given to informers was adapted to
produce bad results, only second to those which were assailed. To stir
up people to lay informations against their neighbours, must breed
mutual suspicion; and with the honest intention of destroying one
evil, provoke another into fiercer rage. The laws against drunkenness,
houses of ill-fame, and gambling, were wise and good, and deserved to
be put in force; but the laws against some kinds of conduct, called
Sabbath-breaking, and profaneness, and blasphemy, were of a different
class and of a doubtful character. Blasphemy included the denial of
the doctrine of the Trinity, so that any honest and upright Socinian
came under the scourge, it being sophistically added as a note at the
bottom of the published abstract, “This statute punishes not the error,
but the impudence of the offender.” It should be stated further, that
over the enforcement of the law against immorality and irreligion
an even-handed justice did not preside. The bandage sometimes fell
from the eyes of that impartial lady. The cases of rich and poor, of
high and low, were not always weighed in the same scales. The crusade
against sinners in the valleys and low lands of social life was most
vigorously carried on; the sinners on the hills were left to do very
much as they liked. De Foe exposed this kind of double-dealing.
But the result of the prosecutions was such that the good people,
working in this way, regarded themselves as very successful. Seventy
or eighty warrants a week were executed upon street swearers, so
that the constables “found it difficult to take up a swearer in
divers of our streets.” Sunday markets ceased; drovers and carriers
were stopped; bakers did not dare to appear with their baskets, or
“barbers with their pot, basin, or periwig-box;” hundreds of bad
houses became closed; and “thousands of lewd persons were imprisoned,
fined, and whipped, and the Tower end of the town much purged from
that pestilential generation of night-walkers, forty or fifty of them
being sent in a week to Bridewell, from whence, at their own desire,
they were transported to America, to gain an honest livelihood in the
plantations.”
[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.]
Means of another and an unexceptionable nature were employed for the
furtherance of the general object. The distribution of tracts--now
become so conspicuous and powerful an agency--was then systematically
commenced, and we notice in the scanty but gradually increasing
list, _Kind Caution to Profane Swearers_ and _The Soldier’s
Monitor_, the last of these publications indicating the interest
taken in the spiritual welfare of the army. A hundred thousand short
tracts against drunkenness and other vices were distributed throughout
the country, and we meet with the statement that especial care was
taken to present them to culprits after their conviction. Connected
with this enterprise appears the germ of another usage, exceedingly
popular in our own times--the preaching of sermons on particular
occasions in behalf of societies. Episcopal clergymen advocated them
from the pulpit of Bow Church, Nonconforming ministers from the pulpit
of Salter’s Hall. With eloquence, or with varying degrees in the want
of it; with spirit, or with dulness; with a pleasant voice, as of one
who can play well on an instrument, or with an unmusical delivery,
which grated harshly on sensitive ears,--did these divines stand up
before congregations, crowded or scanty, charmed or disappointed,
enthusiastic or critical; after which a collection was made, yielding
a goodly amount of gold and silver, or the reverse. Then, as now,
secretaries would be filled with anxiety, committees would listen
with a feeling of responsibility, praises and censures would follow
the appeals, complacency would be inspired, mortification would
be provoked, thanks would be returned; and the good and evil, the
grace and the frailty, the virtues and the infirmities incident to
such occasions would begin to manifest themselves on a small scale,
in prophetic type of what obtains in the May anniversaries of the
nineteenth century.
The meetings at Bow Church, graced by the presence and assisted by the
advocacy of such men as Patrick, Burnet, Trelawny, Kidder, Williams,
Stanhope, and Bray, were held once a quarter; and, besides sermons
delivered on behalf of these societies, there were sermons preached,
exposing the vices of the age. In different parts of the country
efforts of this kind were made. Stratford, the Bishop, and Fog, the
Dean of Chester, warmly took up the new cause, and the picturesque old
city in the north became head-quarters for the new crusade.
Societies for the reformation of manners gradually multiplied, and
within a few years they existed numerously, not only in England, but
in Scotland and Ireland; and the undulations of the excitement rolled
over Europe, touched Flanders, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark,
Sweden, and also reached as far as the West Indies and North America.
There were not wanting Churchmen who fixed a jealous eye on these
proceedings, seeing that they combined Conformists and Nonconformists
in works of charity. The goodness of the object did not prevent
disapproval of union with schismatics. Archbishop Sharpe, whose
suspicions as to the Young Men’s Societies have been already mentioned,
refused to countenance in any way those on a broader basis; and Henry
Newcome, son of the eminent Presbyterian of that name, when preaching
a Reformation Lecture, railed against Dissenters, a circumstance which
led Matthew Henry to say, “The Lord be judge between us. Perhaps it
will be found that the body of Dissenters have been the strongest
bulwarks against profaneness in England.” The practice of laying
informations sometimes produced bad blood in Church circles. “My
brother Hulton,” Henry records in his _Diary_, “on Lord’s-day was
seven-night, observing the churchwardens of St. Peter’s with a strange
minister and others, go to Mr. Holland’s alehouse, and sit there three
hours, told the Recorder of it. The Bishop came to hear of it, and
Mr. Hulton desired his Lordship to admonish them. They set light by
the Bishop, and challenged the magistrates to fine them; whereupon
Mr. Hulton was summoned to inform against them, and did so, and they
were fined, but they were very abusive to him.” The co-operation of
Churchmen and Dissenters excited political suspicion; and Vernon,
Secretary of State, by no means friendly to such movements, told the
Duke of Shrewsbury that the Archbishop apprehended their design was
to undermine the Church, and that the Lord Chancellor thought they
rather aimed at discrediting the Administration. Even William approved
of a watch being kept over the movement, and Somers was for finding
out all ways of getting into their secret, and by clandestine means
to defeat clandestine objects. Not that Dissenters were suspected of
treason, but his Lordship wished to know “what discontented Churchmen
or discarded statesmen meant by insinuating themselves into their
familiarities.”[448]
[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.]
In one instance the activity of the reformers occasioned a riot. May
Fair reached its zenith in the reign of William III., when, in addition
to the sale of leather and cattle, all sorts of exhibitions took place
adapted to high and low, rich and poor. Graceful dancers attracted
noblemen; duck-hunting in a pond at the back of a wooden house--which
then, in rural simplicity, stood in what is now the heart of a west-end
population--drew together crowds of the vulgar; and for the curious of
all ranks there was provided a model of the City of Amsterdam, carved
in wood; and, amongst other wonders, a body was shown with the words
_Deus Meus_ written on the pupil of one eye, and on the other a
Hebrew inscription, which had to be taken on trust. Want of loyalty
was not one of the vices of the place, for a play-bill informed the
public that during the time of May Fair an excellent droll would be
performed, called, “King William’s Happy Deliverance, and Glorious
Triumph over his Enemies.” Even ecclesiastical zeal penetrated this
multifarious assemblage, for the bill gave as a second title of the
piece, “The Consultation of the Pope, Devil, French King, and the
Grand Turk.” _Vivat Rex_ closed the advertisement.[449] Not
confining themselves to the quiet distribution of tracts, the friends
of morality who visited the Fair in 1702 were bent upon executing
the law. Informers, constables, and magistrates were busy at their
work, apprehending the worst offenders, and no doubt plenty they
found to do, for it is stated by a contemporary that young people, by
the temptation they met with here, committed much sin, and fell into
much disorder. “Here they spent their time and money in drunkenness,
fornication, gaming, and lewdness, whereby were occasioned oftentimes
quarrels, tumults, and shedding of blood.”[450] The consequence of
the excitement produced by the reformers was, that a set of ruffians,
including a number of soldiers, swore at the constables, drew swords,
made an assault, killed one, and wounded several. The man who slew the
constable was hanged.
[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.]
At the close of the year 1698 an organization more important than
any of the preceding took its rise. Dr. Bray and four distinguished
friends, consisting of Lord Guildford, Sir Humphrey Mackworth, Mr.
Justice Hook, and Colonel Maynard Colchester, met, and drew up a
document, by which they agreed as often as conveniently, to consult
together how they might be able, by due and lawful methods, to promote
Christian knowledge. The last words pointed to the general object
contemplated, and gave a distinctive name to the institution arising
out of these circumstances, _The Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge_. As the purpose was comprehensive, and the means
remained to be arranged, a principle of selectness appeared essential
to success; and, accordingly, the possession of “noted humility,
condescension, and charity,” was laid down as essential to membership.
It was determined to have a chairman to preserve order, and the members
were urged, first, to “prevent heats and to allay such as may arise,”
and then “to exercise discretion in talking of their affairs.” Prayers
were to be offered upon commencing business. Members were to be
carefully elected, no payment of money or possession of office being
recognized as a qualification. A candidate was proposed at two meetings
before admission, and in the minutes for June, 1699, it is recorded
on the 27th, that the Lord Bishop of Gloucester was proposed for the
first time, and on the 29th that he was proposed a second time. Eminent
persons, including Prelates, Presbyters, and Laymen, soon joined the
new association. Amongst the Prelates were Patrick, Fowler, Williams,
Kidder, Lloyd, and Burnet. Amongst Presbyters were Shute, Manningham,
Wheeler, and Mapletoft, the latter two being clergymen of Nonjuring
principles, and their association with such men as Fowler and Burnet
in this kind of work is very remarkable. Amongst the Laymen were
Richard Blackmore, William Melmoth, and Robert Nelson; the last, who
joined in 1699, whilst still a Jacobite, and a non-communicant with the
Established Church, further illustrates the toleration of political
and ecclesiastical differences. Besides members in London, who could
meet for personal conference, there were corresponding associates.
John Strype, at Low Leyton, turned aside from his ancient rolls and
faded manuscripts to unite in this movement, and Samuel Wesley formed a
branch at Epworth.
Manifold were the methods adopted at the beginning, and various schemes
being from time to time discussed, the Society pursued diversified
forms of action, according to circumstances. It was primarily a Book
and Tract Society. The establishment of parochial libraries in America
to aid the work of the Clergy, and of lending catechetical libraries
in market towns of this kingdom, together with the distribution of
good books, as the Society should direct, are amongst the decisions
mentioned in the minutes. At an early period we find in its list of
publications, _Bradford on Regeneration_, _Scougal’s Life of God
in the Soul of Man_, _Melmoth’s Great Importance of a Religious
Life_, and _Bull’s Corruptions of the Church of Rome_. Thirty
thousand copies of _The Soldier’s Monitor_ were sent to the army
in Holland. Admiral Benbow and Sir George Rooke caused similar tracts
to be circulated throughout the fleet; and _Cautions to Watermen_
were sent down to the West for distribution amongst people employed on
rivers and canals. It was also a School Society upon Church principles.
Catechetical schools in and about London received attention; and before
the end of the year 1699 it was reported that in Whitechapel, Poplar,
St. Martin’s, Cripplegate, Shadwell, Shoreditch, and Bishopsgate,
they had been set up through the Society’s operations. Other similar
efforts were made, as appears from a report by Lord Guildford, as to
teaching paupers in workhouses and instructing them in the Catechism;
and further, it may be stated that resolutions were passed to induce
the parents of scholars to attend catechetical lectures. It is also
worth noticing, as a curiosity, that Mr. Symons, schoolmaster at
Cripplegate, discovered a secret, by which he could teach twenty or
thirty boys the alphabet in a day. Allusions occur, in the months of
July and August, 1699, to efforts at instruction in the parish of St.
George’s, Southwark, being “much obstructed,” when it was ordered that
the agents should immediately treat with a schoolmaster, the Society to
ensure him one half-year’s pay; but the measure was postponed in hopes
of an agreement with the parish officers, who seemed to have thrown
difficulties in the way.
[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.]
Whilst the promotion of Christian knowledge, by means of publications
and schools, formed the main object of the Society, other purposes were
incidentally contemplated, and we find these good men anticipating the
labours of John Howard by seeking to improve the state of prisons,
and the modern condemnation of duelling, by giving thanks to Sir John
Phillips for his noble Christian example in refusing a challenge.
Numerous references occur in the earliest proceedings to efforts for
the conversion of Quakers, and, as they are so singular, they claim
notice and require explanation.
There was a man named George Keith, a native of Aberdeen, and a
fellow-student with Gilbert Burnet at the University of that city. He
went over to America, and there pursued a distinguished course as a
preacher amongst the Quakers; but disputes arose between him and the
Pennsylvanian Friends, which ended in their disowning him, and in his
resisting them. They could not retain a person who openly declared
that he “trampled their judgments under his feet as dirt;” who charged
those who opposed him, with apostacy from Quakers’ principles; and who
established a separate meeting for such as sympathized in his views.
Strange to say, after protesting against American Friends as untrue to
the doctrine of their Society, this energetic person became a member of
the Church of England, and, on his return to this country, entered into
holy orders. He now became a zealous opponent of the people with whom
he had been identified, and being brought into intimate connection with
Dr. Bray, that gentleman considered him a suitable agent for the new
Society. Whether the Society originally designed him for the purpose
or not, certainly Keith deemed it his vocation to do all in his power
to bring Quakers within the pale of the English Church, and the records
of the Society endorse his efforts in this respect. They “report about
the Quakers, and give a satisfactory account of Keith’s designs,”
bestowing upon him a certificate or recommendation, to protect him
in his travels and procure him encouragement from the justices of
the peace, at the same time resolving to circulate his narrative and
catechism. A little later a resolution was adopted “respecting Keith’s
progress into the country to convert the Quakers,” and the sum of
£10 12s. was voted for the purchase of publications, which he was
to distribute in his tour. Reports were sent in by him stating the
result of his mission in Bristol and elsewhere; and it seems that, as
the Quakers at an earlier period had been in the habit of entering
parish churches, to bear witness there against what they considered a
departure from the spirit of the Gospel, so now their former friend,
George Keith, carried on his labours against them in a strictly
retaliative form.
It is stated in the Society’s minutes, that the Quakers opposed his
attempts to preach in their meeting-houses; and one is surprised
to find, after the Act of Toleration had passed, the following
entry:--“Resolved, that Mr. Keith attempts again, and, if opposed, that
he pursue his remedy according to law.”
Quakers are not the only persons whose conversion was specially
contemplated; particular attention was paid to Roman Catholics, and
it was agreed that the members of the Society should endeavour to
inform themselves of the practices of priests to pervert His Majesty’s
subjects. I do not find any mention made of special endeavours to
bring back to the Church any other section of Nonconformists than the
people called Quakers.[451]
[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.]
The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was the parent of another
society of not less importance. Dr. Bray was deeply interested in
Missions abroad; with extraordinary efforts for the diffusion of the
Gospel in England, he combined extraordinary efforts for the diffusion
of the Gospel in the American colonies. He went out to Maryland
at his own expense, as Ecclesiastical Commissary to the Bishop of
London, and did not return to England until after he had exhausted
his resources. It appears that in March, 1697, when a Bill was being
read in Parliament respecting estates devoted to superstitious uses,
he presented a petition, praying that a portion of such estates might
be set apart for the propagation of the reformed religion in Maryland,
Virginia, and the Leeward Isles, or that some other provision should
be made for the purpose. Animated by this spirit, he induced the
Society to approve of libraries in North America for the use of the
Clergy. He visited Holland to obtain from His Majesty a grant in aid,
and reported the design of Sir Richard Bulkeley to settle on his Irish
estate a rent-charge of £20 a year, and his gift of a share in certain
mines for the furtherance of this object. At length, floating desires
assumed definite shape, and steps were taken to secure a charter
for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Dr. Bray, through the
instrumentality of Archbishop Tenison and Bishop Compton, succeeded in
accomplishing this object, and in May, 1701, the draft of a charter
“was read and debated, and several amendments made, and the names
of the secretary and other officers proposed and agreed to.”[452]
Repeated conferences took place at the meetings of the Society,
touching points connected with the new undertaking; and on the 9th of
June, Dr. Bray stated that His Majesty in Council had signed an order
for incorporating the Society. Convocation had turned its thoughts to
Foreign Missions, but relinquished further proceedings upon finding
this charter was granted. The instrument described the objects of the
new Society as being, first, the providing of learned and orthodox
ministers for the administration of God’s word and sacraments amongst
the King’s loving subjects in the plantations, colonies, and factories
beyond the seas. So far the enterprise was strictly colonial, intended
for the spiritual instruction and welfare of English emigrants to
distant shores. The charter, secondly, contemplated the making of
such other provision as might be necessary for the propagation of
the Gospel in those parts; and this, read in the light of subsequent
operations, might be interpreted to signify the diffusion of Christian
knowledge amongst such of the heathen as lived in the neighbourhood of
English colonists. Still the objects remained limited; it was confined
to the British dominions, and took no account of pagan countries
lying outside. Now that our Indian dominion is so extensive, the old
charter may be construed as pointing to an immense field of labour
there; but the charter at first--when our colonial dependencies were
of comparatively narrow extent--contemplated, consistently with its
nature as an incorporation under the English crown, a range of effort
far within the wide sweep which Missions since have happily taken.
Power was given to hold property, to carry on legal proceedings, to
make bye-laws, and to collect subscriptions. To stamp the whole with
a Church of England character, the Archbishops of Canterbury and
York, the Bishops of London and Ely, the Lord Almoner, the Deans of
Westminster and St. Paul’s, the Archdeacon of London, and the Regius
and Margaret Professors of Divinity at Oxford and Cambridge for the
time being, were constituted trustees, the selection of some of these
dignitaries at first being doubtless determined on personal grounds.
[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.]
Under the presidency of his Grace of Canterbury, a meeting of members
took place within one of the apartments of Lambeth Palace on the 27th
of June, 1701; and we can fancy Compton, Williams, Fowler, Sherlock,
and others, coming in barges along the Thames, or in coaches, on
horseback, or a-foot through the narrow streets, to the well-known
gateway of the Archiepiscopal abode. The charter was read. Five hundred
printed copies of it were ordered. Melmoth was chosen treasurer, and
Chamberlayne secretary. According to a vote on the occasion, there was
prepared a symbolical seal, representing a ship in full sail, with a
gigantic clergyman, half-mast high, standing by the bowsprit with an
open Bible in his hands, whilst diminutive negroes, in an attitude
of expectancy, are sprinkled over a hilly beach. Overhead is one of
those awkward scrolls, devised to convey words uttered by the persons
introduced; and here it contains in Latin the Macedonian prayer, which
the little blacks are supposed to be offering: “Come over and help
us.” At the top is a face surrounded by sun rays, apparently intended
to denote the presence and benediction of God vouchsafed to the
undertaking.
Meetings afterwards were held at the Cockpit, in Whitehall, or in the
vestry of Bow Church, and afterwards in Archbishop Tenison’s library,
in St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. Soon the secretary prepared parchment
rolls for the use of members deputed to receive subscriptions, amongst
whom were Bishop Patrick, Archdeacon Stanley, and others. The Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge had at least contemplated missionary
work in our western colonies; but now that a new Society had been
incorporated for extending the Gospel in foreign parts, these fields of
labour were placed under its care.
As a precursor of publications in religious literature, issued within
a short time in such numbers as would fill a library, there was
presented, at the close of the first year’s operations, a report, from
which it is worth while to extract a passage or two illustrating the
way in which such documents were then drawn up, and of the nature of
the work accomplished by the Society.
Mention is made of “one missionary for the service of the Yeomansee
Indians to the South of Carolina;” of regard had to infidels amongst
English settlers in North America; and of the determination also to
resist the progress of “Quakerism, Antinomianism, ignorance, and
immorality, which have hitherto fatally overspread those infant
churches.” Provision was made for “some of the islands by a supply
of two ministers;” further, there had been “a settlement compassed
for a congregation at Amsterdam, with the consent of the magistrates
of the place;” and encouragement had been given to commence a church
at Moscow, of which the Czar had laid the foundation. The expense of
these undertakings was paid out of a fund of about £800, aided by
subscriptions amounting to £1,700.
[Sidenote: RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.]
In an appendix of the year 1701 is found a plan, proposed by Patrick
Gordon, for establishing seminaries on the verge of the Indian
territory, where boys from London charity-schools should be sent;
the main object being to “induce Indian children to play with these
boys, that marriages might be promoted among them, and a mixed race of
Christians might thus arise.”[453]
It is a curious fact that in the year 1703 overtures were made by White
Kennet on behalf of the Society to Thomas Hearne, to settle in Maryland
in a parochial cure. He was to be ordained at the charge of Dr. Bray,
to have a library of books to the value of £50, to receive for his cure
£70 per annum, and by degrees to be better preferred. He was to be
librarian to the province, at an additional salary of £10 a year; and
it was added: “When you have been there any time, you have liberty to
return with money in your pocket and settle here in England, if you are
not more pleased with all the good accommodations of that place.” The
offer was not accepted. Hearne felt no vocation to colonial work.[454]
By his refusal, the Society lost one who might have been no very
successful missionary, and Oxford gained an illustrious archæologist.