THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY'S MISSIONS

IN THE PUNJAB AND SINDH.

CHAPTER I.

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE PUNJAB MISSIONS.

IT was in the year 1846 that an appeal was first made to the Church Missionary Society by officers of our army and by civilians in India, to urge them to send Missionaries to the Punjab, before the country was annexed to British India. The resources of the Society were, however, at that time too limited to allow of this extension in their operations. The liberal contributions of the Jubilee year, together with the continued appeal of civil and military officers, at length prevailed with the Committee. The Mission was undertaken, and the Missionaries were appointed.

At the very time that this was taking place in England, in the year 1850, God put it into the heart of one of His faithful servants in India, an officer in the East India Company's Army, who was then quartered with his regiment in Lahore, to seek, in a very special manner, for God's glory in making Christ's salvation known in the Punjab. He was one who, like Cornelius the Centurion, feared God, and gave much alms, and prayed to God always. His habit was, for some hours every day, to shut the doors of his closet for prayer, and then he came forth to act for God, with a purpose and a courage which were everywhere blessed in all that he

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undertook. As he loved to pray in secret, so also he loved to work in secret; and when the second Sikh War terminated with the annexation of the whole of Runjeet Singh's dominions, after the battle of Gujrat, our centurion friend first laboured fervently in his prayers to God for the country and people of the Punjab, and then anonymously, and as he thought secretly, sent Rs. 10,000 to the Church Missionary Society, with the request that they would commence Missionary work in our new dependency. He did so through a Presbyterian Missionary, the Rev. John Newton, who, after 51 years of faithful ministry, still labours in Lahore, revered and honoured by all, together with the Rev. C. W. Forman, his son-in-law, and with his sons, all of them Missionaries, and all working around him, with the exception of one who now rests from his missionary labours in God's presence above. Thus happily commenced the Society's work in the Punjab; and thus commenced also the intimate relationship of the Church Missionary Society with the American Presbyterian Board of Missions, which has now existed for more than 30 years. Whatever others may say, or think, we who are in the Punjab have seen, and therefore we bear witness, that God's grace is not confined to any one Church or people. Dearly as we love our own Church we have seen that converts are not made only in the Church of England; and we have seen also that converts of the Church of England are not better Christians than those of other Churches. And we say this, because the Punjab owes a great debt of gratitude especially to Dr. Duff and to the Free Church of Scotland in Bengal, who have sent to this province many of the most influential and useful Native Christians, who are now labouring in it, in connexion both with the Church Missionary Society, and with other Societies. We cannot blind our eyes to facts; for we see that God is no respecter of

THE FIRST INSTRUCTIONS.

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persons, and that in every nation, and in every Church, they who fear Him, and work righteousness, are accepted and blessed of Him. We speak not of other matters, but of God's blessing; and we wot that whoever God blesses is blessed, and none can reverse it.

In the Valedictory Instructions which were given on the 20th June, 1851, to the two first Missionaries of the Church of England who were appointed to the Punjab, the Committee thus spoke :

"It is hardly possible to describe the advantages and facilities which may be connected with the contemporaneous commencement of Christian Missions, and of a Christian dynasty in the country of the Punjab. Whence, we may ask, comes the blight upon our Indian Missions? Why are the Indians last, and the Negroes and New Zealanders first? Because upon the soil of India for a century and a half, a Christian Government frowned upon all attempts to preach the Gospel to their pagan subjects. It would appear as if this had interposed a retributive delay, before the hope of the Christian Missionary shall be fulfilled, and hence we may trust that if the tidings of a Saviour's advent be spread with the first introduction of a Christian Government, a mighty impulse and advancement will be given to the Christian cause."

"The Committee must point to another encouragement. Though the Brahmin religion still sways the minds of a large proportion of the population of the Punjab, and the Mahomedan of another, the dominant religion and power for the last century has been the Sikh religion, a species of pure theism, formed in the first instance by a dissenting sect from Hinduism. A few hopeful instances lead us to believe that the Sikhs may prove more accessible to Scriptural truth than the Hindus and Mahomedans, if a few leading minds be won to Christ. It may be hoped at least that the Sikh religion has so far broken the spell of the more ancient systems, as to loosen their hold on the minds of the people."

"The Committee allude to these hopeful circumstances not only to encourge, but to direct the Missionaries in their future proceedings. They indicate the duty of as wide an extension as possible of Missionary effort, that Christian instruction may be everywhere identified with Christian rule, and that while the petals open, and the ancient superstitions prostrate, the year of Jubilee may be proclaimed throughout the whole land."

Thus was commenced in a very little way a very great work, which has gone on, and has prospered, ever since. A little vine was then planted, which has taken root, and it is gradually spreading itself over the land. The water of life given to some civil and military officers, and especially to one who was then a Captain in the East India Company's Army, became in them a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life, from which rivers of living water are now flowing copiously forth into many parts of the land.

That time was one when, by God's mercy, there were many great Christian heroes in the Punjab. Sir Henry Lawrence was then at the head of the Board of Administration. His letter of welcome to the Missionaries, and his subscription of Rs. 500 a year to the Mission, showed the importance which he attached to the work which they were commencing. His immediate colleagues were Mr. John Lawrence, afterwards Lord Lawrence of the Punjab, and Sir Robert Montgomery. There was a galaxy then of able administrators, with noble earnest hearts, around them, in Mr. (afterwards Sir Donald) McLeod, Major (afterwards Sir Herbert) Edwardes, Mr. Arthur Roberts, Mr. Edward Thornton, Major (afterwards General) Edward Lake, Major (afterwards General) Reynell Taylor, and many others. They were men who honoured God, and who were therefore men who were themselves honoured of God; and they speedily rose to great distinction. They were men who, in their simple faith towards God, never, as a rule, asked for any office, and never declined one; whose chief desire consisted neither in personal profit nor pleasure, but in the performance of duty; and whose great aim lay in putting themselves into right relations with every one around them, for the benefit of all. They were men who never hesitated to let the success of their administration, and their own credit and position, depend on the results

CHRISTIAN RULERS IN THE PUNJAB.

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of their Christian action and example. They therefore became many of them the founders of our Punjab Missions. They were willing to stand or fall, and to let our empire stand or fall, on this issue. And they stood, and they prospered; and the empire also stood and prospered under their administration. "If any man serve Me," said Christ, "him will My Father honour." They served Christ and His Father honoured them.

Those were days in which governors and rulers lived not only for the punishment of evil-doers, but for the praise of them who do well (1 Pet. ii. 14, and Rom. xiii. 3), days in which both the Bible and Prayer Book were believed in; when magistrates thought it not only their duty to execute justice, but were diligent also to maintain truth, and were not ashamed to pray for grace to do it; when Rulers "inclined to God's will and walked in His ways," and sought "the advancement of God's glory and the good of His Church," as well as "the safety, honour, and welfare of Her Majesty and her Dominions"; when men "so ordered and settled their endeavours upon the best and surest foundations, that not only peace and happiness and justice, but that truth and piety might be established in the land." They first in all their thoughts and words and works sought God's honour and glory; and then "studied to preserve the people committed to their charge in wealth, peace, and godliness."

The Mutiny of 1857 then came. Our rulers had acknowledged and borne testimony to God by their actions; and God by His actions then acknowledged and bore witness to them; and many of them became the saviours of India, as much as the Judges in days of old were the saviours of Israel. And then they gave all the honour to God. Mr. (now Sir Richard) Temple, then Secretary to the Chief Commissioner Sir John Lawrence, wrote: "In recounting the secondary human