Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877

The first question which comes before us when considering the government of India is, What right have we to govern it? For an answer to this question we must betake ourselves to...

My greatly beloved and much esteemed friend, the late Rev. M. A. Sherring, years ago published a handsome volume under the title of _The Sacred City of the Hindus_, in which he...

In our own country, under the pressure of life, many hail the release from toil and the refreshment of spirit promised by the annual summer trip. So in India missionaries avail...

At no place was the shock felt more severely than at Benares, where I was residing with my family. In no place was the danger greater. We were living in the suburbs of the most...

I have endeavoured in my account of Benares to describe the Hindu idolatry there practised, and in my account of our missionary preaching I have stated the arguments by which th...

Kumaon is a sub-Himalayan region, with Nepal to the east, the snowy range, separating it from Tibet, to the north, Gurhwal and Dehra Doon to the west, and Rohilkund to the south...

In accordance with instructions from the Directors of the London Missionary Society, Mrs. Kennedy and myself went at the beginning of May, 1869, to Ranee Khet, a new station twe...

There is no difference of opinion among missionaries as to the object for which they have gone to the heathen. They are all agreed their object is to make known the Gospel, the...

Crowds pass through the temples of Benares every day, pay obeisance, and present offerings; but on ordinary occasions there is no combined act of worship conducted by a leader,...

I suppose there is no community of any extent that has not unworthy members, persons that may be called its excrescence and blots, who have increased its size, as a tumour incre...

A very brief residence at Benares led me to see the great difference between the society to which I had come and that which I had left. The European community formed a mere hand...

From the time of our arrival at Benares in January, 1859, on to our departure for the hills in March, 1861, the work of the Mission was carried on in the usual way. There were i...

Hinduism, like all other religions, has its points of contact, we may say of agreement, with Christianity; but in its main features and tendencies it is intensely antagonistic,...

No one who was within the range of the hurricane of 1857, no one who was even on its edge, can ever forget it. When we now look back, we marvel that a single European in that pa...

From the commencement of Missions, schools have received much attention, and have absorbed a large part of mission agency. These schools have been of different orders, many prim...

It has been already stated that missionaries have an income, which enables them to live in a way conducive to the health of themselves and families. Things which would be luxuri...

The need for these institutions was most pressing in 1838 and 1839. I remember hearing, on my arrival at Benares, the most harrowing account of the fearful sufferings of the peo...

All over Northern India--I may say all over India--we find the followers of Muhammad. They are very unequally distributed. In some districts they form the majority, in others th...

During the hot season and rains of 1858 I suffered greatly from boils and feverishness. After applying in vain the usual means of cure prescribed, I was advised to try a sea voy...

During our residence in Kumaon we had many opportunities of observing the condition and habits of the people. I have mentioned the new resources opened up to them, and yet it mu...

On reviewing these reminiscences I find there are several subjects of interest to which I have only casually alluded, and others on which I have made no remark. My readers will,...

In Southern India there are thousands calling themselves Syrian Christians, still more frequently Christians of St. Thomas. Either the Apostle Thomas or some of his spiritual ch...

The climate of India precludes the possibility of its being a sphere for European colonization. With the exception of the hill districts, the intense heat during the greater par...

In 1837 I was accepted by the London Missionary Society as one of its agents. On September 15, 1838, I embarked at Portsmouth with thirty other passengers on the _Duke of Buccle...

A stranger passing hurriedly through a country may carry away impressions about its climate, products, and people, which residence for a considerable time would not merely modif...

Our Baptist brethren were first in the field. All who have read the biography of the illustrious trio of Serampore are aware that they formed, and with ardent zeal and untiring...

When two more years had passed, during which we were enabled to carry on our work with few interruptions, we found that, beneficial though our visit to the hills had been, we st...

I left myself in the hands of friends in Calcutta as to the best mode of proceeding to my destination. There were at that time three modes of travelling to the North-Western Pro...

In beginning this chapter it is fitting I should mention that shortly after entering on my second year an event occurred of transcendent importance to me, which has contributed...

On Sabbath, March 31, 1839, we came to anchor at the northern end of Benares, at a place called Raj Ghat, the ferry connecting the city on the left bank of the river with the Tr...

_Our Right to Govern India._ We went as Traders, and were led by Circumstances to fight. The Conduct of the Native Powers. The Marquess of Hastings. Not allowed to remain at Pea...

Stated mission work was commenced in Kumaon in 1850. Previous to that time a few of its people had heard the Gospel from missionaries travelling through it, or residing for a fe...

_Girls' Schools and Female Missions._ Access to Hindu Families. Lady Physicians. Great Importance of Zenana Missions. Behind the Curtain. The Freedom of Women in Humble Life. Th...

The Christian Community at Benares. The Fanaticism of the City. Precautions. The Fourth of June. Mutiny of the Native Regiments. Flight to the Ganges. Escorted to the Mint. Retr...

_No Sphere in India for European Colonization._ The Climate. The Land occupied. _India Presents a Wide Field for European Agency._ _The Difference between Europeans and Natives....

Unworthy Members. The Sacrifices made by Converts. Difficulty in Forming a Right Estimate of a Community. The General Character of our Native Christians. _The Ordeal of 1857._ T...

_Its Scenery and Products._ A Sub-Himalayan Region. Scenery, Climate, and Products. New Products. Tea. Inhabitants, Hindus and Doms. Gods and Temples. Local Gods. Demons. The Ch...

Syrian Christians. The Descendants of Xavier's Converts. The Shanars in Travancore and Tinnevelly. _The Hills of Central and Eastern India._ The Kols and Santhals. _Bengal._ Kri...

Sherring's "Sacred City of the Hindus." Residents and Visitors. Commerce. Antiquity. Gautam's Ministry in the Sixth Century B.C. The Success of Buddhism. Its Overthrow. The Devo...

Voyaging in the Ganges. Trust in Ganges Water. Serpents. Journey to Agra at the end of 1842. Tents. The Appearance of the Country. Roads and Groves. Walled Villages. Traffic. Im...

The Mode of Living required by the Climate. Missionary Theology. The Radical Opposition of the Gospel to Heathenism. The Example of our Lord and His Apostles. Hindu and Buddhist...

_A Large Muhammadan Population._ Variety in Position, Culture, and Character. The Quran and the Bible. Licentiousness of Muhammadans, Hindus, and So-called Christians. The Estim...

Work at Benares. Increased Attention to the European Population. Visit to Cities in the North-West. Allahabad. Cawnpore. Lucknow. Incident on the Ganges. Visit to Delhi in 1861...

Extent and Variety of the Indian Field. The Greatness of the Missionary Office. The Contrast between Ministerial and Missionary Work. The Relations of Missionaries to each other...

Work at Benares. Voyage to England in 1850. Return to India in 1853. Calcutta to Benares. From 1854 to 1857. Increase of Native Christian Congregation. Mission Tours. Visit to t...

Hostility to the Gospel. Apostolic Labour in Great Cities. Robert Haldane's Project. Benares brought under British Rule in 1781. The Door opened for the Gospel. Bishop Heber. Be...

Their Saturnalia. The Play of Ram. The Eclipse of the Moon. Mela at Allahabad. The Peculiarities of a Hindu Gathering. Sanitary Precautions. Cholera. Ascetics. Influence of Mela...

Galle, Colombo, and Kandy. The Cocoanut Palm. The Cinnamon Gardens. Coffee Plantations. Perpetual Summer. Visit to Newera Ellia. The Christian Zeal of the Dutch. Great Outward S...

Class-feeling among Europeans. Eurasians. Climate in the North-West Provinces. Variety of Scenery and Climate in India. Experience of Climate during First Year. The Sufferings o...

Causes. Peculiarity of our Position. The Native Army. Grievances alleged. Dissatisfaction outside the Army. Threatenings of the Storm. The Cartridges. Outbreak and Progress of t...

Schools. Wooden House. Rain and Rats. Pioneer Work. The Erection of Buildings. Work among the English. Among Natives. Educated Young Men. Doms. Night School. Itineracy. A Hill M...