EBENEZER: HALLELUJAH. THE STORY OF THE LALL BEING THE HISTORY OF COMPILED BY- EDWARD STEANE WENGER, FULLY ILLUSTRATED. CALCUTTA. PRINTED AT THE EDINBURGH PRESS, 300, BOW BAZAR STREET. 811926-2 THE Lall Bazar Baptist Chapel, Calcutta, was opened for Divine Service on the 1st January 1809. In 1907 it was realized that its centenary was rapidly approaching, and as I was the Secretary Deacon and had charge of the records of the Church, it occurred to me that a History of the Church for the intervening hundred years should be written for the information of the members of the Church and as a contribution to Baptist history generally. I was persuaded that a great deal of very interesting information would be forthcoming which was unknown to the majority of the present members, as well as to outsiders in this country and to Baptists in Great Britain and America. It was suggested that while upon this work a list should be compiled of all the individuals whose names have been on the Church Rolls during the 100 years. As all the extant Church Rolls and Minute Books were in my custody there seemed no alternative but for me to undertake the work; but it was with great diffidence that I consented to put my hand to it. However, as the subject was one in which I was much interested for several reasons and had had some experience in research work, I thought I might be equal to the effort. The book makes no pretensions to literary merit, but is a bare statement of the facts ascertained. For this reason it may not be very attractive to some readers, as it is intended to serve as a book of reference hereafter, my object being to bring out the facts stated prominently before they pass into oblivion. It does not profess to be complete, but may serve for others to build upon. Some readers may notice omissions of which I am unconscious while others may even consider it "padded." Such a mass of very interesting information has been collected that it has been difficult to compress it even into its present dimensions, which some probably may consider excessive. While I was about it I thought it best to put down all the information I had collected on any one subject so as to obviate. the readers having to go through all the books I had consulted in order to get at the information so collected. A large correspondence has also had to be carried on in order to get information from one and another and references have had to be made to the Secretaries of the Baptist Missionary Societies in London and Boston, who have cheerfully and readily furnished such information as it was in their power to give. As will be seen from the Bibliography in Appendix 8 there are four Minute Books and four Church Rolls extant in Calcutta, which have been gone through more than once and the necessary notes made from them. There is also a small Church Roll book extant at Serampore, containing lists of the members of the several churches planted by the Serampore Missionaries which seems to be in Dr. Carey's own small handwriting; under the heading Church at Serampore, Bengal" are entered the names of the Calcutta members as well, but this unfortunately stops at April 1811. I have, however, had a copy made of this list which contains 242 names in all. The earliest Church Roll extant in Calcutta is one which was prepared in 1825, so that it has been a very laborious matter to prepare a Church Roll for the early years of the Church's History. The names of 148 members who joined the Church prior to 1825 having been brought forward in the roll of that year, it became necessary to prepare an independent roll from the very beginning, and in doing this it was found that at least 660 persons must have joined the Church between the 24th April 1800, the date of the formation of the Church, and the 16th June 1825, when Drs. Carey and Marshman severed their connection with it. Unfortunately it has not been possible to trace clearly the date of baptism of some persons who are known to have been members. In the old books it is stated that Serampore and Calcutta were two branches of one Church and also that "the united churches formed one station." They are always linked together as "Serampore and Calcutta" and are never mentioned separately. It, therefore, became necessary to go back to the 24th April 1800, the date on which the Serampore Missionaries first banded themselves into a Church at Serampore. Such being the case, the history of the Baptist Mission in Bengal for the first quarter of the nineteenth century has had to be read up very carefully. Many books have had to be consulted as will be seen by a reference to the Bibliography which forms Appendix 8 as I determined not to accept a fact or a date on the authority of only one book where others were available. Notably among the books consulted have been the Circular Letters of the Serampore Missionaries and the Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missionary Society, but other books, such as the biographies of the early missionaries and standard works like Marshman's Life and Times of Carey, Marshman and Ward, and W. H. Carey's Oriental Christian Biography have also been consulted. I firmly believe that illustrations enhance the value of a history, so I have spared no pains or expense in getting together those which I considered would add to the interest of the book and I am happy to say that I have been more successful than I had ever hoped to be when I first took up this undertaking. I would have liked to have put in about half a dozen more, but refrained from inserting them from prudential reasons lest it might be thought that copyright had been infringed as it has not been possible to correspond with all the publishers concerned. It was even suggested to me to risk this, but I did not care to do so. I desire therefore here and now to express my sincerest thanks to all who have so cheerfuly and readily complied with my request for portraits or for information. I must here make special mention of : 1. Messrs. Thacker, Spink & Co. for placing at my disposal the blocks of five illustrations from their published works, one of which they got out specially from England for me. 2. The Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, London, for a similar favor in regard to six of their blocks from different publications. 3. The Secretary of the American Baptist Missionary Union for three electrotypes from their blocks about Dr. Judson. They did not like to risk sending the originals so far so had duplicates made specially for me. 4. The Librarian of the Imperial Library, Calcutta, for so readily permitting me to have a photograph taken off of Mr. Colesworthy Grant's sketch of Rev. J. Penney teaching the children of the Benevolent Institution. |