REMOVAL TO CALCUTTA.
It was not without regret that Mr. Corrie quitted a place which he had found (to use his own words,) “a scene of delightful labour.” In anticipation of his probable removal from Benares, he had written some time before
TO THE REV. MR. SIMEON.
“I am at a loss to decide how to act should my removal be determined on by Government. You will see a report of our Church Missionary proceedings here, no doubt, by Mr. Thomason. There is a great deal too much said in it about me, especially should I be removed soon, so as to be prevented establishing the plans in agitation. But I pray I may be able to go on in simplicity of mind, in obedience to the will of God’s providence, and seek nothing for myself; who am indeed nothing, and deserve to be the ‘off-scouring of all.’ If I were professedly a Missionary, and had the same prospect of entrance into this very citadel of Idolatry, I should consider it a call to live and die in this place; but as a Chaplain of the Government, am I not to consider the disposal of Government, as the voice of providence to me? I can truly say that, in the prospect of leaving this place, ‘I am oppressed; O Lord, undertake for me!’”
Before proceeding, however, to Calcutta, Mr. C. visited Chunar, and there administered the Lord’s Supper to sixty communicants, of whom half were native Christians. He drew up a plan, also, for the future guidance of those who were engaged in the mission at that place and Benares, with a view to secure regularity and efficiency to their exertions: and in this he so arranged as to secure the cooperation of all the parties, for whose guidance his directions were intended. It may be mentioned, too, in connexion with the mission at Chunar, that Mr. C. had employed himself, during his residence at Benares, in carefully examining and correcting a revision of Mr. Martyn’s Hindoostanee translation of the New Testament, into Hindoowee, which Mr. Bowley had found it necessary to undertake for the sake of the native population, among whom he laboured; and which was afterwards printed by the Bible Society. At the close of the year 1818, Mr. Corrie commenced his journey to Calcutta. On the way thither he touched at Buxar, a place to which he had frequently paid missionary visits; and where a great desire had often been manifested on the part of the Christian inhabitants, to have a schoolmaster or Missionary located among them. As a proof of the anxiety which these Christians still cherished for the advantages of a stated ministry, there was now placed in Mr. Corrie’s hands a list of about seventy persons, (chiefly of the less wealthy class,) who were willing to contribute certain monthly payments toward building a church, and the maintenance of a Missionary.
On reaching Calcutta, among the first objects of Mr. Corrie’s care was, the placing under proper instruction some Hindoostanee youths, who had accompanied him from Benares. He had for some time been in the habit of devoting much attention to their education, with a view to their future usefulness as teachers; and he now placed them in a school for Hindoostanee boys, which the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society had just established in that city. With reference to the importance of such an Institution, Mr. Corrie had long entertained a decided opinion. In a letter, anterior to this period, he had observed to Mr. Sherer,
“I see so strongly, and experience also in my connection with the adult converts, the improbability of finding steady, judicious pastors, except from among those who have been educated in Christian studies, that I should like to devote the rest of my days to the instruction of native youths, with a view to the ministry. That may be better done in Calcutta than elsewhere, from the greater readiness with which books may be had, and especially help for the instruction of others got ready. Besides, future Missionaries will act with greater effect, aided by well-educated native brethren. So that in every point of view this appears to be a prime object, to educate for the ministry.”
As respected himself, it is scarcely necessary to state that the scene of labour at the Presidency was, in most respects, widely different from that to which Mr. Corrie had been accustomed in the provinces. In a letter to his brother, dated early in 1819, Mr. C. relates, as a specimen of his engagements,—
“Mr. Parson and myself go on happily in our joint Chaplaincy. The Bishop is absent at Madras, where, we hear, he is confirming, in his sermons, all Mr. Thompson’s labours. He is in many respects a valuable man.
“I have lately been appointed Honorary Chaplain to the [Military] Orphan Institution,[109] where I officiate every Sunday Morning soon after six o’clock. At the Cathedral I read prayers or preach at nine; and the same at eight in the evening. I take the weekly occasional duties in turn. I am, also, ex officio, a Governor of the Free School, and a member of the Select Vestry; who are Trustees of charities distributed to the monthly amount of 3,411 rupees, among 568 Pensioners.”
The connexion with the “Select Vestry” here mentioned, did not however prove without its difficulties; for it happened that Mr. Corrie commenced his duties at the Presidency before a dispute had subsided, respecting the mode in which that Vestry was constituted, and the authority which they claimed to exercise. It seems to have been the custom for the members of the Vestry to re-elect themselves annually, so as to admit new members into their body only as vacancies occurred by deaths, resignations, or departures for England. They had customarily, also, appointed the officers connected with the Church, now called the Cathedral. But it appears that at the Easter preceding Mr. Corrie’s connection with the Cathedral, a certain number of persons opposed the re-election of the Select Vestry, as being contrary to the practice usual in England; and the senior Chaplain, at the same time, claimed the right to nominate the churchwardens. The Select Vestry, on the other hand, regarded themselves (and had long been so recognized by government) as special Trustees for a Church which had been originally built by private individuals; and for the due distribution of certain funds, arising mainly from legacies left for charitable purposes, and under the administration of the Vestry. However much, therefore, to be deplored, might be the animosity and indecorous language, into which some of the parties concerned in the dispute, seem to have been betrayed, it cannot be a matter of surprise that the Vestry, as a body, should hesitate to abandon long-acknowledged claims, and to hand over to other persons, the distribution of certain charities which they conceived to be legally entrusted to the Vestry. To such a length, however, had the dispute respecting this matter been carried, that both parties complained to the Governor General in Council; and the Government had given it as an opinion, rather than as a decision, that the vestry should remain in possession of its accustomed functions, until the authorities in England might judge it proper to interfere. But notwithstanding this opinion on the part of Government, the opponents of the Vestry revived the dispute, at the Easter of 1819. Much correspondence seems to have taken place on the subject, and many hard words again to have been used; and Mr. Corrie as one, among others, who considered it their duty to maintain themselves in the position which had been thus sanctioned by Government, became, as a matter of course, the subject of reprehension on the part of those, who opposed the claims of the Vestry. Yet it is stated by those who were in Calcutta at the time, and were also well acquainted with the facts of the case, that the subject of these Memoirs was enabled so far to keep apart from the bitterness of this strife, as to exhibit throughout “the prudence and meekness becoming the minister of Christ.”
With the exception, however, of passing occurrences such as these, there was but little diversity in the duties which now fell to Mr. Corrie’s lot, beyond what may be found in the life of a parochial clergyman. The history of any one day was, to a great extent therefore, the history of the succeeding month; and so on, from month to month: for as it was not yet certain, whether the senior Chaplain, who had gone to the Cape, would return to India or not, Mr. Corrie could not regard himself as more than a temporary resident at the Presidency, and did not therefore feel at liberty to engage so actively in the concerns of several religious societies in Calcutta, as he afterwards felt called upon to do. But when intelligence reached India, early in 1820, that the senior Chaplain had proceeded to England, and Mr. C. thus became entitled to succeed to the vacant chaplaincy, he began to lay himself out for some steady course of missionary labour in Calcutta and the neighbourhood. One of his first movements was, to endeavour to collect a native congregation in Calcutta, by means of Mr. Bowley, who had come down from Chunar to superintend the printing of that revised Hindoowee translation of the New Testament, which has been already mentioned.[110] The ulterior object Mr. Corrie had in view in this was, to provide a sphere of labour for Abdool Messeeh, who was expected to reach Calcutta in the spring of 1820, and whose state of health might probably render it desirable that he should remain there for the future. Mr. Corrie was, also, desirous to excite a deeper interest for missionary objects, among the poorer classes about the Presidency, in the belief that less attention had hitherto been given to effect this, than, on every christian principle, seemed necessary. As having now, also, undertaken the office of Secretary to the Church Missionary Society in Calcutta, Mr. C. was in better circumstances to direct these missionary plans. Some account of his occupations, is given in a letter to his sister, who had returned to England:—
“May 19, 1820.
“Abdool Messeeh is here: I am daily at work with him, writing a Commentary in Hindoostanee, from six in the morning till breakfast and after, if I am not called away. We have got him a house in Meer-jan-kee-gully. It is a roomy (upper-roomed) house, but out of repair; so we get it for fifty rupees a month; and here he collects the poor four times a week. The Church Missionary concerns occupy me too a good deal; and we are setting up a printing-press in my go-downs.[111] To-day the first sheet of a tract is printing off, as a beginning.”
Soon after the date of the foregoing extract, Mr. Corrie had an examination of the boys of his Hindoostanee-school, in the presence of the members of the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society, and of such other persons as interested themselves about missionary objects. His many avocations did not admit of his undertaking the superintendence of a larger number of scholars than that with which the school had commenced; but the result of the examination proved, that the benefit derived from being habituated to christian example and the progress which the boys had made in a knowledge of the Hindoostanee New Testament, the Hindoostanee Catechism, and the principles of the Christian religion in general, were of a very encouraging nature. Impressed, therefore, with the conviction that a Christian education was of the greatest importance as a means to render the natives themselves efficient instruments of God to their countrymen, Mr. Corrie welcomed the idea of establishing a missionary College by the Bishop. With reference to that circumstance, he wrote to his brother:—
“I am quite sure that all men will rejoice in the establishment of the College; although learning alone will do but little. It therefore appears to me more than ever necessary to maintain strenuously the labours and plans of the Church Missionary Society. Under these feelings I was led last Thursday into a long conversation with the Bishop, respecting Missionary proceedings, in which the Church Missionary Society and its views were brought forward and discussed. The Bishop’s chief objection was, that the sending out of English clergymen as Missionaries, would prevent the East India Company from making such a provision of Chaplains, as they ought to make. As far as it goes, the argument is just; but I think he ought rather to adopt such Missionaries, and by pointing out to Government the benefits produced by them, to draw forth Government support, which otherwise may not be afforded in any way.”
It may not be amiss to mention, that however much Mr. Corrie might be occupied by matters of public interest, he did not neglect the charities of social life. On the contrary, he did not allow his gate to be closed against any who might have a reason for desiring to hold communication with him. And, as in India, persons arriving from England, or visiting the Presidency were, at that time, regarded as having an almost unlimited claim on the hospitality of the residents in Calcutta, Mr. C. was seldom without his share of such guests. This circumstance, added to his natural kind-heartedness, gave occasion to one, who loved him, and who was then under his roof, to remark, ‘as long as he lives and wherever he lives, he will have as many people about him as fall in his way; until every corner be occupied, and he himself is left without a corner.’ To many of the younger portion of these visitors Mr. C. was, also, oftentimes the instrument of great moral good; and in such cases it was his custom, as occasion served or might require, to address to them a letter of encouragement or direction, after they had left him. An extract from a letter to Capt. Moyle Sherer, H. M. 34th regiment, and who had been on a visit to his brother in Calcutta, may serve to illustrate the spirit of such communications:—
“Calcutta, May 27, 1820.
“You are by this time settled with your regiment, and begin to find exactly how the minds of those around you stand affected to the principles of true religion. Some painful discoveries will probably have been made, and on the other hand, perhaps, consolation will have arisen from unexpected sources. Such is the beginning, especially of a life of piety. We are apt to wonder that what we see so clearly to be rational and necessary, is not equally seen by others when brought before them; and the result is, to make us feel more experimentally that what we have learned on these subjects, has not been from man’s teaching, but that God has been leading us by ways that we knew not. The discovery of our own inbred sin is what is most distressing at this stage. Indeed, to the end of life such ebullitions of the sin that dwelleth in us, occasionally take place, as almost confound the Christian, and send him back to his first principles; and it seems as if the whole work of religion were yet to begin. Yea, how often does this inward enemy impel him to the very brink of disgrace, and he escapes as by miracle, from temporal no less than eternal ruin. Such is my experience up to this day; and now, what with the experience upwards of forty years have supplied of the world’s insufficiency to afford happiness, and of the power of sin, unless God prevent, to work temporal and eternal ruin, the grave begins to appear a refuge, and I have a deep conviction that they only are completely blessed who are in heaven. I think you were quite right in not taking part with the Wesleyans till you know more of them. By degrees the truly sincere will draw to you as their natural superior, and you will be able to direct their reading and to regulate their affairs far more to their advantage than they can do themselves.”
During the October of 1820, Mr. Corrie was afflicted by the death of one of the elder of the Hindoostanee boys, who were in the school under his care. The youth in question was a Hindoo by birth, and when a child had been purchased up the country, from his parents, during a season of scarcity. He had therefore been under Christian instruction the greater part of his life. It seems that he died of consumption, and that during a long illness, he had afforded satisfactory evidence that he had not received a Christian education in vain. The death of this youth was not long afterwards followed by the removal of the remaining youths, to assist in the schools at different missionary stations. Before, however, Mr. Corrie’s Hindoostanee scholars had been thus dispersed, there had been admitted among them, for the purpose of receiving instruction in order to baptism, a Hindoo youth who had been servant to a converted Moonshee.[112] This youth, when full of the idea of making the pilgrimage to Juggernauth, had accidentally fallen in with the Moonshee, and accompanied him as far as Benares. In consequence, however, of the conversations, which he held with the Moonshee on the subject of religion, his faith in the efficacy of a pilgrimage to Juggernauth had entirely abated, by the time they reached Benares: and he accordingly returned back to Delhi with the Moonshee, in the capacity of servant; although he left his master, after a while, to avoid the scoffs of his Hindoo acquaintances. He could not, however, rid himself of the conviction that his master was right, and became so uneasy under that conviction, that he quitted his home in search of peace of mind. Eventually he made his way to Calcutta, and became an inmate of the Hindoostanee school there, and in due time was baptised.
It may here not be uninteresting to relate, that after Mr. Corrie became Secretary to the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society, he was in the habit of employing himself as he found opportunity, in contributing to the pages of a ‘Quarterly Circular,’ which first appeared in 1820, and contained from time to time, a summary of ‘Missionary Intelligence,’ for the use of Missionaries and others, at the different stations in India. Among his contributions to this periodical may be mentioned a series of papers, containing a ‘Sketch of the progress of Christianity in Calcutta and in the provinces of the presidency of Bengal.’ Mr. Corrie had often been struck by observing the importance attached by historians to but imperfect records of former ages, provided those records happened to bear the marks of authenticity; and he conceived, therefore, that some future historian of the church of Christ in India, might possibly derive assistance from a notice of such facts and circumstances as that ‘Sketch’ might be the means of rescuing from oblivion. It may with truth be added, that no person then living was better qualified than Mr. C. to record the more recent occurrences connected with the history of Christianity in Bengal, he having himself been not only a careful observer of all that concerned the progress of true religion in that Presidency, but also the personal friend of those men of God, who had immediately preceded him, and to whose zeal and labours may be traced the first origin of almost every religious institution in Bengal. The Calcutta Diocesan Committee of the Society for promoting Christian knowledge, having now, also, directed their attention to the translation of religious Tracts into the languages of India, a translation into Hindoostanee, both in the Nagree and Nustaliq character, of “Sellon’s Abridgment of the Holy Scriptures,” was assigned to the superintendence and revision of Mr. Corrie. Having been requested, moreover, by the Committee of the Calcutta Bible Society, to state for their information, such particulars illustrative of the benefit attending the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, as might have fallen under his own observation, the following was his reply:—
“Calcutta, 6th Feb. 1821.
“In compliance with your request that I would state any circumstances within my own knowledge, tending to shew the good arising from the distribution of the Scriptures alone, I have endeavoured to call to mind some facts in corroboration of my general feeling of the good arising from the measure in question. The benefit arising to professed Christians is not, I believe, within your contemplation, otherwise I might say much respecting the benefit the native Christians on this side of India have derived from the Bible Society. During the prevalence of the Mahratta power, many Christians were employed in offices of trust by the Native princes, chiefly in situations connected with the army.
“I had, whilst residing at Agra, frequent applications from Christians of that class, and many of them sent from far, for copies of the Persian and Hindoostanee translations: to shew the need they stood in of such supplies, I may just observe, that a Christian of the class referred to, in the service of the Burthpore Rajah, on applying personally to me for a copy of the New Testament, was asked if he had ever perused the Gospel in any language? he answered that he had never even seen the Book; and in the figurative language of the country, added, that ‘he knew not whether the Book was made of wood or paper.’
“Among the most remarkable instances of Mahomedans and Hindoos deriving benefit from the Scriptures alone, the following occur to me:
“In 1813, a Mahomedan Hukeem came to me at Agra from Burthpore, saying, that he had many years before read the Pentateuch in Arabic, a copy of which had been given to him by a Roman Catholic priest: that about two years before the time he came to me, he had obtained a copy of St. Matthew’s gospel in Persian, from reading of which he had become convinced of the divinity of Jesus Christ. This man, with his son, was afterwards baptized.
“The next instance that occurs to me, is of an aged Hindoo: this man from reading the writings of Cuber, had been led to renounce Idolatry, and finding the Law and Gospel spoken of by Cuber, as divine books, he was for several years anxious to possess a copy. After several ineffectual attempts to procure a copy from English gentlemen, he at length obtained the Gospels in the Nagree character. He was also afterwards baptized. A third instance of good derived from the Scriptures alone, was Burukut Museeh in 1813; he got a manuscript copy of Job, which he perused with great interest; afterwards he got a copy of the Psalms; then Isaiah; and finally the New Testament in Hindoostanee. His exemplary life and happy death are recorded in the Missionary Register.
“The only other case that occurs to me, is that of Fuez Musseeh, baptized in 1817. At seventeen years of age, he became a Mahomedan purely from the abhorrence of idolatry expressed in the Koran; he remained upwards of twenty years a strict and indefatigable disciple of the Koran, living as a Fakeer and obtaining great honour among his countrymen for his supposed sanctity. At length, being disgusted in his own mind with the practices recommended by his spiritual guides, and wearied with his own ineffectual labours after holiness, he abandoned all his honours as a Religieux, and bought from a lady a copy of the New Testament, if haply he might find in it that rest for his soul he had hitherto sought in vain from other quarters. He sought, and found, as his conduct hitherto leads us to think, the object of his pursuit.
“I have met whilst residing out of Calcutta, with very many natives, who from reading the Scriptures, have had all prejudice against Christianity removed; and some of them, as Joy Narain Ghossaul, at Benares, have been set upon many works of benevolence and charity, from their knowledge of duty as learned from the Bible, though they have not derived all the benefits to be desired from the copies of the Scriptures circulated among them. How far this partial good is to be appreciated, each Christian will form his own judgment. As a preparing of the way of the Lord, it is by no means to be undervalued, and future labourers will reap the fruit of the precious seed which the Bible Society has been sowing in India with so much diligence for several years past.”
The memoranda which occur in Mr. Corrie’s Journal after his return to India, are very few, but under date of June 11, 1821, he remarks:—
“I have been endeavouring to call my ways to remembrance, and find enough to be humbled for in the review, but a difficulty as to how I should speak of it. This difficulty I wish to account for. Formerly I could write of my state with ease; lately I have neglected to make memoranda. I have certainly been much employed in public matters. My duties as Chaplain, and as Secretary to the Church Missionary Society,—the schools, the press, leave me very little time, and that little I find difficult to apply to a good purpose. My want of retirement prevents the right use of the little I might have. I am deeply conscious that the evil propensities of my nature are by no means eradicated; and I ought to be alarmed that they do not more alarm me. I feel daily that I sin, and resolve daily against my propensities, yet daily am more or less overcome. Oh! I desire to awake to righteousness! I desire to be alarmed; to be saved from sin, and quickened and made alive to God. O Spirit of light and love, of power and of a sound mind, work in me to will and do of thy good pleasure! I see, in reading the epistle to Titus, that except in such points as are agreeable to my nature, I am far from the character of a true minister of Christ.”
There is reason, however, to hope that Mr. Corrie’s ministrations in Calcutta were not altogether in vain. At any rate, it is well known that his labours were unceasing, whether regard be had to his duties as chaplain, or those connected with the Church Missionary Society, and the superintendence of the native schools. In the December too, of this year, he was appointed to preach the sermon at the third visitation of Bishop Middleton; and in the same month printed, among the Quarterly Missionary Intelligence, a biographical sketch of his old friend Joy Narain, who had died at Benares in November.
But that which now more especially occupied the attention of Mr. C. and others, engaged in conducting the affairs of the Church Missionary Society in Calcutta, was the education of the native females of India. The state of society had until lately, seemed hopelessly to exclude the native female from all share in the benefits of education; but the success which had attended a school set on foot by the Baptist mission, had induced some friends of religion in India, to communicate with the British and Foreign School-Society in England, with a view to extend the means of instruction to the females of India, as widely as practicable. Funds were in consequence, raised for that purpose; and Miss Cooke, a lady of education and piety, arrived in Calcutta during Nov. 1821, for the purpose of devoting herself to the work.
It was early in January 1822, that the Calcutta Committee of the Church Missionary Society, took measures for the formation of female schools, under the superintendence of this lady; and such was the success attending their first efforts, that three schools were in operation by the middle of February. It was then thought desirable to bring the subject more distinctly before the residents in Calcutta, in the hope that the friends to the moral and intellectual improvement of the natives of India, might be induced to assist in carrying on this important and difficult undertaking: and to Mr. Corrie it was assigned, to draw up and circulate the following address:
“Native Female Education.
“The importance of education, in order to the improvement of the state of society among the natives of this country, is now generally acknowledged, and the eagerness of the natives themselves for instruction begins to exceed the opportunities hitherto afforded them.
“But to render education effectual to the improvement of society, it must obviously, be extended to both sexes. Man requires a ‘Help-meet;’ and in every country the infant mind receives its earliest impressions from the female sex. Wherever, therefore, this sex is left in a state of ignorance and degradation, the endearing and important duties of wife and mother cannot be duly discharged; and no great progress in general civilization and morals can, in such a state of things, be reasonably hoped for.
“Such however, with few exceptions has hitherto been the state of the female sex in this country; but a happy change in this respect seems at length to be gradually taking place. A most pleasing proof of this occurred in the interesting fact, that thirty-five girls were among the number of scholars, at the last examination of the School Society, in the house of one of the most respectable natives in Calcutta.
“The arrival of a lady of judgment and experience, at such a crisis, for the purpose of devoting her time and talents to the work of native female education, could not but be regarded, by all interested in the improvement of society among the natives of this country, as a most favourable event.
“This lady (Miss Cooke) was recommended, in the first instance, by the British and Foreign School Society, to the Calcutta School Society; but the Committee of this Society, being composed partly of native gentlemen, were not prepared unanimously and actively to engage in any general plan of native female education. Most of these, however, have expressed their good-will towards such a plan, and their intention of availing themselves, as circumstances may admit, of Miss Cooke’s disinterested services to obtain instruction for their families.
“Under these circumstances the corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society have cordially undertaken to promote, as they may be enabled, the objects of Miss Cooke’s mission.
“Miss Cooke will, as she may find opportunity, afford instruction at home to the female children of the higher classes of natives; and at the suggestion of an enlightened native gentleman, a separate school will be attempted, for poor female children of high caste, with a view to their becoming hereafter teachers in the families of their wealthy country-women.
“Miss Cooke has already made sufficient progress in the acquirement of Bengalee, to enable her to superintend the establishment of schools; and having been attended in her first attempt by a female friend, who can converse in Bengalee, some interesting conversations took place with the mothers of the children first collected, in which Miss Cooke’s motives were fully explained to them. Soon after, a petition was presented to Miss Cooke, in consequence of which, a second female school has been established in another quarter of the town, and a third school has been formed in Mirzapore, near the Church Mission-House. Thus three schools are already established under Miss Cooke’s immediate care, containing about sixty girls; and the disposition manifested towards these schools by the natives, affords reason to expect that a wish to have female schools will in time become general.
“It is intended therefore, to erect in a suitable situation in the native town, a school-room, with a dwelling-house attached, in which an extensive system of female education may be attempted; and this plan, so peculiarly within their province, is submitted, with much respect and confidence of success, to the sympathy and patronage of the ladies of this Presidency, by the corresponding Committee of the Church Missionary Society. Whatever assistance may be afforded, either as donations or monthly subscriptions, will be exclusively applied to the purposes of female education, and a report of progress will be submitted, from time to time by Miss Cooke, for the information of subscribers.”
“Calcutta, Feb. 23, 1822.”
The result of this appeal was, that within a few weeks not less than 3,000 rupees were subscribed for the furtherance of the object contemplated; the Governor General, Lady Hastings, and others of the first distinction being among the most liberal of the contributors. Nor was it among the least remarkable circumstance connected with this great social movement, that a highly respectable Brahmin wrote and circulated a tract, for the express purpose of recommending to his countrymen the importance of female education. He urged it also, as the duty of every parent to rescue thus their female offspring from that state of degradation, to which (as he proved from history) the women in Hindoostan were not formerly subject.
With reference to these and similar occurrences, Mr. Corrie writes to his brother.
“Calcutta, April 19, 1822.
“Our missionary engagements are becoming more and more important; and opportunities for extending our plans more and more frequent and easy: But with all these [prospects,] a spirit unfriendly to the gospel is gone forth amongst the natives, and they are commencing Deistical politicians. Four native newspapers have started in Calcutta; two in Bengalee, one in Hindoostanee, and one in Persian. They cannot all stand long, but they mark the spirit of the times. They are all under an influence unfriendly to our Church establishment: but we are getting on with our schools, having now upwards of four hundred boys, and one hundred and thirty-four girls, under our Church Missionary Society, within the boundary of Calcutta; while the Diocesan Committee have several schools in the suburbs. The youth in these [schools] will, we hope, grow up with impressions favourable to our views of things.”
On Wednesday, May 26, 1822, Mr. Corrie preached a sermon at the Old Church, in aid of the Society for Missions to Africa and the East. The sermon was afterwards printed with the fifth report of the Calcutta Committee of that Society, and contains some valuable remarks on the advantages connected with direct instruction in the faith of Christ, over the education which merely imparts such knowledge as has reference only to the affairs of this life. One sentence may here be cited as illustrative of the great change which the mind of India had undergone, since the time when Mr. Corrie could labour for the conversion of the heathen, only at the risk of incurring the censure of government:—
“Our Church, with reason we think, calls herself Apostolical: now, what is this but missionary? And a portion of missionary spirit has always resided among her members. Time has been, indeed, when this was regarded by many rather as a mark of dissent; but now, blessed be God, she seems to be rising, through all her ranks, to her high and proper character as a missionary body.”
About six weeks only had passed since the delivery of this discourse, when Mr. Corrie was summoned to attend the death-bed of the Bishop of Calcutta, who was called to his rest after but a few days’ illness. Considering the peculiar circumstances of India, and the then novelty of episcopal rule in that country, it could scarcely be expected that Mr. Corrie, among others, should be able to recognise the wisdom of every act of Bishop Middleton’s administration, and the equity of the control which that able prelate claimed to exercise over the temporal as well as spiritual affairs of the chaplains to the East India Company; but his correspondence abundantly shows that he could well appreciate the Bishop’s character. With regard more especially to the cause nearest his heart—that of missions, Mr. C. considered it to have derived from the deceased prelate, exactly that kind of sanction which was then required; it wanted only official countenance, and the reputation of orthodoxy. To labour for the moral improvement and conversion of our heathen fellow-subjects, used to be regarded as characterising a party in the church, and as proceeding from a kind of fanaticism that would endanger the stability of our oriental empire. But the interest which Bishop Middleton had taken in the Missionary cause, had given reason to believe, that official dignity combined with a high reputation for sound judgment and secular learning, were not incompatible with the conviction, that our rule in India had every thing to hope from the spread of Christianity; and that it was not fanatical to suppose, that so vast an empire had been committed to our governance for the noble purpose of making known the Son of God, to a people who were ignorant of Him.
Within two months of the death of Bishop Middleton, the Archdeacon of Calcutta fell a victim to the Cholera; and as that circumstance rendered it necessary for the Government to delegate the administration of the affairs of the See to other hands, Mr. Corrie and Mr. Parson were commissioned to exercise such jurisdiction as by law might be warranted, until a successor to Bishop Middleton should arrive from England.
In a memorandum, penned about that time, Mr. Corrie writes:—
“Sep. 28th, 1822. This day sixteen years ago I first landed in Calcutta. How altered the state of society! Then Mr. Brown was senior Chaplain. He had at time dear Martyn in his house, and received Parson and myself into his family. Now he and his wife are numbered with the dead, and all their children returned.... How many other changes, also, in the state of the religious society of Calcutta, so that Mr. U. only remains of the friends of religion in his class of society of that day. How varied has been the scene of my own Indian-life!
“In respect of public affairs, great changes, also, have taken place. In ecclesiastical matters great changes. A bishop and archdeacon appointed in 1814, and Bishop’s college has been the result. The subject of missions has thus, by degrees, become one of acknowledged duty and advantage to society. The bishop hurried off by sudden death: the archdeacon taken off not two months after, more suddenly still: Parson and I appointed to exercise their functions pro tempore. I would, however, remark especially the state of my own mind during this long period. I came to India chiefly with a view to the propagation of the gospel; and that view, I trust I can say, has not been lost sight of. My time has been principally devoted to that object. My money, too, has chiefly gone in that cause. I trust a mission has been established at Chunar, Agra, and Benares, through my humble means, which will go on, and ‘increase with the increase of God.’ In Calcutta, the labours of Secretary to the Church Missionary Society, in addition to my own official duties, have helped to bring on the loss of strength I am now suffering under. But I would be aware that the state of heart is chiefly to be attended to. And here I can see no one duty so performed, that I dare think of it in the view of presenting it to God; and were it not that Jesus is the righteousness and strength of all who believe, I could not entertain the slightest hope.
“For about three months, my ancles have swollen occasionally, with bad digestion, and aching of the limbs and legs. The doctor says it is the effect of climate; by which I understand that my frame is debilitated sensibly, by the heat. He says, rest is the only remedy, and I am come to Pultah Ghaut[113] for rest, and retirement. My prayer to God is that I may be made fully alive to my real state, and may not waste away without feeling the tendency of such a wasting. I desire to have my loins girt about and my lamp supplied with oil; so that, whenever the bridegroom is announced, I may be ready to enter in.
“I desire to be more spiritually minded; and to have more of a realizing faith, as to the truths I am exercised about day by day out of the holy word. I would fain see religion on the increase among us; and have more abundant fruit of the word. Oh! that the Spirit were poured upon Europeans and natives! Oh! that the kingdom of Christ were established in my own heart! more settled in my family; my flock; and on all around generally. Oh! that the salvation were come out of Zion. Then should this nation be glad and rejoice; and He whose name is Jehovah, be acknowledged throughout the land. Amen.”
The debility of which Mr. Corrie here complains had so increased, that the medical men decided that it would not be safe for him to remain in Calcutta during the hot weather; and moreover, advised a long sea-voyage as the best means for recruiting his impaired health. He did not, however, think a voyage to be of so much consequence; yet early in February 1823 he quitted Calcutta, accompanied by his family and Captain Stephen of the Engineers, and went to reside on the coast, near Juggernaut. For the first eight or nine weeks of his residence at Pooree, Mr. Corrie’s health had been greatly restored; but the anxiety and fatigue which he underwent in attending the sick-bed of Captain Stephen, who died at Pooree on the 10th of May, brought on a serious attack of fever. In this state he attended the funeral of his deceased friend; but being too unwell to proceed through the service, he was carried home in a state of the greatest exhaustion. In the course of the day, however, Mr. Corrie revived sufficiently to allow of his writing to Mr. Thomason, an account of the last illness of Captain Stephen; after which the fever returned with such violence that for several days the sufferer was scarcely sensible. The following is his letter:—
TO THE REV. T. THOMASON.
“Pooree, May 10, 1823.
“The last sad offices having been performed for your beloved son-in-law, I will endeavour to recal some of the pleasing expressions which fell from his lips during the last week, both with a view to the comfort of his friends, and to indulge myself on a subject which engrosses all my thoughts. My acquaintance with the dear departed commenced in September 1814, when I saw him almost the whole of every day during about a week. Again in 1817 and 1818, our intercourse was renewed both at Ghazeepoor and Benares. He was then, it is almost needless to say, strictly correct in his conversation and general conduct, but did not exhibit that serious impression of divine truth which latterly appeared in him. When we went on board the schooner, I soon discovered a marked difference in him in that respect. There was an evident love of religious exercises, and religious books; and I observed more than once a serious attention to private devotion. From that period our intercourse was unreserved, and his general conversation and remarks, such as belong to godliness. He joined us regularly in our morning and evening family worship. He frequently spoke of his expectation that his illness would end in death, but we hoped otherwise; and nothing particular, as to his views in the prospect of such an event was mentioned. He had never been free from bowel-complaint since we came together, and during the early part of the week commencing April 27, he complained of an increase to his disorder from having taken cold, though no such appearances as usually attend a cold appeared about him. He kept up as usual till Friday the 2nd of May, when he did not come to breakfast with the family, but came out to dinner.
“On Saturday he did not leave his room. On Sunday I went into his room, and asked if I should join him in reading the word of God and prayer, since he no longer could join with us. To this he gladly assented, and began to speak of the great mercy of God towards him in preserving him from acute pain, whilst he felt himself sinking gradually. I read the first lesson for the day, and he made several remarks on the applicableness of the admonitions to the spiritual state of the Christian. Being drowsy, from the opiates administered to allay his disease, he desired me to defer praying till the afternoon. In the afternoon he was quite awake, spoke of the mercies of God toward him, complaining also of his want of gratitude to his God and Saviour. I spoke to him of what I thought of his state when at Ghazeepoor in 1814, and especially some remarks he then made on hymn singing, and expressed my delight at his now altered feeling, and the ground of encouragement it afforded him. He said that he had strong convictions of sin before that time; that he owed much to his deceased Aunt Stephen, who had tried much to impress his mind with a sense of religion; adding, ‘I know now why Christians take so much pleasure in hymn-singing; they love to dwell upon the ideas conveyed by the words.’ I may here observe that he several times, since we have been at Pooree, spoke of his Aunt Stephen, and of all his family, and the obligations he owed her.
“To-day he also mentioned his wish to partake of the Lord’s Supper, before his intellects should become clouded. On Monday, May 5th, he asked me if I were prepared to administer to him the Lord’s Supper. As no time had been mentioned the day before, I proposed to put off the celebration till next day, when we would make it a family ordinance; to this he cheerfully assented. I do not recollect any particulars of what fell from him that day, but his conversation was always with reference to his dying soon, and filled with thanksgiving to his God and Saviour for the comparative ease in which he lay, and especially for the hope of heaven which he enjoyed; often exclaiming that it was all of mercy, and entirely flowing from the Saviour’s merits. On Tuesday May 6, his mind was confused all the morning from opiates; about two, P. M. seeing him collected, I asked if he would now have the Sacrament administered? He said he wished to be more awake and would postpone it till the morrow; adding, ‘I have committed my all into the hands of my blessed Saviour, and I can trust him to keep me sleeping or waking.’
“On Wednesday he was taken up with some temporal matters, and wrote the letter which I forwarded to you on that day. Afterwards Mrs. Corrie and I went into his room, and we all, I trust, by faith fed on Christ in our hearts, with thanksgiving. Our sick brother was much alive during the whole of the service, and read the passages in which the congregation join, with much clearness and fervor. On going into his room about an hour after the service, he broke out, ‘Oh, may this dispensation be blessed to my dear Esther, that she may give herself wholly up to God, and fix all her love on him alone. She has a deep sense of her own unworthiness, and I bless God for the piety that is in her.’ On Thursday May 8th, there appeared no alteration in the state of his disease. Two surgeons from Cuttack having arrived, our own doctor brought them to see him. They went into the next room to communicate their thoughts on his case, when he heard them agree that nothing could be done for his relief. On my going into his room after they went away, he seized my hand with all his remaining strength, and said, ‘Oh my dear friend, how much am I indebted to God for placing me at this time with friends, who do all they can for my comfort, without concealing their concern that my soul should be prepared for death;’ adding much on the evil too many medical men are guilty of in cherishing hopes of life when their patients should rather be thinking of death, and contrasting the difference of his present circumstances with what they would have been had he gone, on leaving Calcutta, among strangers and irreligious persons; then adding praise and thanksgiving to God. On the early part of this afternoon Mrs. Corrie went into his room, when he presently began to speak to her as for the last time, praying that her husband might be spared to her, and her children, and to the church, adding many expressions of his regard and affection.
“On Friday, May 9th. On my entering his room early, and enquiring after his state, he said, ‘I have had a wretched night, not in body, for I have been easy, but in mind. I have been thinking of this and that treatment which might have been used; but it is all wrong, and thus my wickedness brings its own punishment. I have much tried to repent of my daily wickedness, and of my wicked life.’ Adding a good deal on the subject of God’s ordering all our affairs, and the duty of looking above human agents—and said, ‘O never did weary traveller desire his home more than I desire my rest:’ most cordially acknowledging with me the duty of submission, and joining in prayer for an increase in faith and patience. Some favourable symptoms appeared, but he seemed to build nothing on them. For several days we had an European Sergeant to sit up at night. He has expressed his surprise at the constant patience our brother manifested, and told me, that he was much in prayer during Friday night.
“On Saturday morning, about half past three, a violent discharge of blood took place, and again about five. I went into his room just after the latter, and found him prostrate indeed.
“He began at once, ‘O my God, suffer me not to fall from thee: make my repentance sincere, and let my faith stand firm—O! accept me, unworthy! for the merits of Jesus Christ. I am wretched and miserable, let my soul be cleansed in his blood and presented spotless before thee; bless my dear wife and children, bless my dear father and mother, bless you (addressing himself to me,) and your family; and God make you a greater blessing than ever to the church, but don’t waste your life in this country, go home and do good among the poor. O God! bless all the doctors who have attended me, and let them not forget their own mortality amidst these scenes;’ adding prayers for such generally as he might at any time have had disagreement with. On my reminding him of our blessedness in having an advocate with the Father to render these petitions available, he added strong expressions of the mercy of God towards him, and of his earnest desire to be at rest with God; adding ‘O God, thou knowest that I love thee,’ and asked me if I thought it wrong to pray for his dismissal. He spoke of his temporal affairs as settled, and said he had no anxiety about his children, the Lord would provide for them. About 7, on going into his room, I spoke respecting the little probability when we first met that I should survive him: he began to pray for blessings for me, adding, ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgiveth all thy sins, who healeth all thy diseases.’ Adding with emphasis, ‘forget not all his benefits; that he had been forgetful all his days, but the Lord had shewed him great mercy.’ From that time he spoke little. Being removed to another bed, he dosed much from medicine. About ten, observing him restless, I asked if he wanted anything? he said ‘No.’ If he retained his peace of mind? He said, ‘His mind had become very confused.’ And on reminding him of the ‘Advocate with the Father,’ he faintly added, ‘Bless God for all the way He has led me,’ or to that effect. About eleven, seeing him restless, and less of consciousness about him, I asked him if he knew me, he said, ‘Yes;’ and in answer to my question, ‘If I should pray for him?’ he said, ‘Yes;’ but there was no respond to the few petitions I offered up, and he was no longer sensible. At half-past one, another discharge of blood took place, which led us to think him expiring; but the spirit lingered till half-past two, when, we doubt not, he entered into his much-desired rest. I may tell you, though I mean to send a medical statement of the fact, that the three doctors ascertained after his death, that the liver was perfectly sound, but the colon had become ulcerated; and at length, a blood-vessel being eaten through, the discharge above-mentioned ensued, and brought on dissolution; but that this must have happened at no great distance of time, and that no change of climate or treatment, could have prevented the fatal result. This morning the beloved remains were committed to their parent earth, in the Pooree burying-ground. The burying-ground is an enclosed square on the sands of Juggernauth.
“Those sands, after almost a year from the Rutt Jattra, are still strewed with the whitened bones of the wretched victims of this Indian Moloch, and I indulged the idea, whilst standing by the grave, that we were taking possession of the land in the name of Jesus our Lord. Without disparagement to a few other remains there interred, and of whose history I know nothing, I knew that we were committing to the earth the remains of a member of His mystical body; and will He not bring in the remnant of His elect, and shall not these, at present, wretched Hindoos, bow to His sceptre, and confess Him ‘Lord, to the glory of God the Father?’ Then, instead of that heartless brutality with which idolatrous remains are treated, decent burial will be given them; and instead of the howling of jackalls and wild dogs over their remains, ‘Devout men will make lamentation,’ though they will not sorrow as ‘those who have no hope.’ These remarks, dearest brother, are indulged in, rather to ease my own heart, than to comfort you and your sorrowing family. I am inexpressibly afflicted for this my brother, but what is my grief compared with his family’s? I send off this blotted and only copy, both that you may receive it within a due time of your knowledge of the afflicting event; and that no discretion may remain with me as to multiplying copies. Mrs. Corrie joins me in tender sympathy to all your house.”
For the remaining portion of the month of May, Mr. Corrie continued to gain no strength. A change of air was, therefore recommended, and he removed to Cuttack, about fifty miles inland. There it pleased God to recover him surprisingly fast. But in a letter to Mr. Sherer, dated June 13, 1823, he observed:—