ness of God, who had, in special mercy, vouchsafed them to our country, at a time when formalism pervaded the church, and ungodliness or political frenzy had seized on the great mass of the people. It would be difficult, perhaps, in the early movements of any great Institution, to point to an equal number of distinguished men as may be traced in the first Committee of the London Missionary Society. Their high standing in the church of God, their exalted piety and character, the learning and genius of not a few of them, were circumstances worthy of peculiar notice. But the most remarkable feature of all was, that men belonging to different sections of the visible church, animated by one common feeling of sympathy for the perishing heathen, should have grace given them to lay aside all their party jealousies and distinctions, and to unite as the heart of one man in carrying out the commission of their risen Lord,—“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." The Author is not unconscious of the imperfections attaching to biographical sketches of so many eminent men. In some instances, the existing materials were so scanty, as to preclude the possibility of minute detail; and in others, as in the case of Dr. Haweis, documents have been withheld from the Author by reason of the projection of family memoirs. In every instance, however, he has done his best to uphold the fair fame of a circle of men, to whom posterity, for ages to come, will look for some of the brightest examples of devoted zeal and holy effort in the cause of Christ. The Author would not omit to express his deep sense of obligation to many kind friends, who have cheerfully aided him. in his laborious undertaking. To the family of the late Joseph Hardcastle, Esq., in particular, he would take this opportunity of conveying his heartfelt acknowledgments, for the very cordial manner in which they have entered into the general plan of his work, and for the valuable materials supplied for the memoir of the late venerated Treasurer of the London Missionary Society. To Alexander Haldane, Esq.; the Rev. James Parsons, of York; the Rev. Thomas Stratten, of Hull; the Rev. T. P. Bull, of Newport Pagnell; Mrs. Cunliffe, of Highbury, and many other Christian friends, he would tender his warm expressions of gratitude, for various kind offices which they have rendered in the prosecution of his grateful task. It is the Author's sincere and ardent desire to promote the interests of the LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY, by the publication of these memorials of its early friends. He has sought to catch their spirit, while he delineated their virtues; and, if he has succeeded, in any measure, in embalming the memory of a race of men who so eminently served their generation, he I will feel that he has made a useful contribution to those who have been called by Divine Providence to enter into their labours. Such as the work is, the Author commits it to the candid inspection of the friends of Missions, and to the sovereign blessing of Him who can render effectual the humblest effort to promote his glory, and the immortal benefit of the human race. 1, WALTON PLACE, BROMPTON, SEPT. 10, 1844. CONTENTS. PAGE Historical Notice of the London Missionary Society Memoirs of the Fathers and Founders of the London Missionary Society... Memoir of the Rev. William Roby Memoir of the Rev. George Lambert Memoir of the Rev. Samuel Greatheed, F. A. S....... Memoir of the Rev. William Francis Platt............................................ Memoir of the Rev. John Townsend Memoir of the Rev. Edward Williams, D. D. Memoir of the Rev. Matthew Wilks..... Memoir of the Rev. Joel Abraham Knight Memoir of the Rev. James Steven, D. D... Memoir of the Rev. Henry Hunter, D.D..... Memoir of the Rev. George Townsend... Memoir of the Rev. Joseph Brooksbank Memoir of the Rev. Herbert Mends Memoir of the Rev. George Jerment, D. D.. Memoir of the Rev. William Graham A. M.. Memoir of the Rev. William Smith, A. M. Portrait of Joseph Hardcastle, Esq. Portraits of the Rev. Rowland Hill-Rev. Matthew Wilks- Portraits of the Rev. Edward Williams-Rev. Edward Parsons Portraits of Thomas Wilson, Esq.-Rev. J. A. Knight-Rev. To face the Title. To face page To face page 293 To face page 429 To face page 551 BRIEF SKETCHI OF THE ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND PROSPECTS OF THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY. MORE than a generation has passed away since this Protestant Mission sent forth its first messengers to the island of Tahiti. The honoured men, with one or two exceptious, who formed the Society are now numbered with the dead; but they left behind them a portion of their spirit, and their children live to witness the triumphs of their hopes. As the Jubilee year of the institution will commence on the 22nd of September, 1844, it would seem a grateful task to furnish brief memorials of the devoted men who gave it birth, and of the results which have sprung from the efforts of their consecrated zeal. If it be a high religious duty to mark the hand of God in the events and agencies which he employs in extending the kingdom of his Son, it must be incumbent upon all the members of the true church to make themselves acquainted with the history of a society, which, for the lengthened period of fifty years, has been operating with mighty energy and success upon the benighted and idolatrous regions of the globe. ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY. The rise of the London Missionary Society may be regarded as a distinct era in the history of Christian missions. Its plan was so new, and its proposed scale of operation so vast, that it burst forth with a kind of Pentecostal excitement upon the public mind of the church. The joy created in the hearts of thousands of God's children, by the formation of a scheme of philanthropy so enlarged, so comprehensive, and so accordant with the spirit of primitive Christianity, can only be fully judged of by those who were happy enough to aid its first struggle for existence, or to hail the successive voyages of the missionary ship Duff to the islands of 99 the great South Pacific. The tidings of these events were, to many a languishing church, and many a slumbering Christian, "as life from the dead; and generations yet unborn will have to look back on these happy days of the Son of Man, as the commencement of a distinguished era in the revival of true religion, and in its more extended dissemination throughout the habitable globe. When we contemplate the present aspects of the Society, the vast field which it occupies, the number of its missions, the honoured men who represent its interests on many a heathen shore, the sunny and bright spots which have risen to view under its culture in the moral desert, and the glorious triumphs of divine grace which have attended, and which still attend, its hallowed enterprise, we cannot but desire to look back upon its early history, and to trace up to its fountain-head that stream of mercy which is now conveying health and refreshment on its bosom to many a parched wilderness thirsting for the waters of life. In July, 1793, that important organ of religious intelligence, the Evangelical Magazine, as the result of many anxious deliberations, first took its stand among the periodical publications of our highly-favoured country. The object of its founders was two-fold; first, to stem the torrent of ungodliness, which, at that time threatened to sweep away all the great landmarks of morality and religion; and, secondly, to furnish an effective organ for the defence of evangelical truth, and the diffusion of Christian knowledge. Happily for "the good of Jerusalem," it was hailed with gratitude by Christians of every name, and drew around it a circle of Churchmen, Methodists, and Dissenters, whose venerable names are still an inheritance to their children, and a precious memorial to the church of the living God. Among the many objects of benevolence which have either been originated or materially helped forward by the advocacy of this religious periodical, the London Missionary Society occupies a conspicuous and distinguished place. The mind of one of its first editors, the late venerable Dr. Bogue, of Gosport, had been awakened to serious reflection upon the sad condition of the heathen world, and the indifference to the spread of the gospel so largely prevailing in his own particular denomination. He thought of what had been done by Episcopalians and Presbyterians, by Anglo-Americans and Moravians, by Wesleyans and Baptists, and * -- In a memoir of the late Dr. Ryland, of Bristol, which appeared in the Baptist Magazine for January, 1826, the following interesting facts are recorded:- "A few months after Dr. Ryland fixed his residence at Bristol, he received the first letters which had arrived from Carey and Thomas in Bengal, and the intelligence they contained was so cheering, that he longed to communicate it as widely as possible. The Rev. David Bogue, of Gosport, and the Rev, James Steven, then |