C. (page 24.)

Reply of the Birmingham Committee to the Serampore Brethren.

"VERY DEAR BRETHREN,

London, June 26, 1818.

Being met here, as usual at this season of the year, we have had to consider, among other points, the application which Mr. W. Pearce has made us for permission to join your Society.

"This involves a question which we did not expect ever to have come before us, but as it has, we proceed to give you our sentiments with the utmost frankness; beseeching you, dear brethren, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, that you will not impute to us any hostile feeling-that you will put the most candid construc. tion upon any thing we may say, and believe that we are actuated most powerfully by a regard to your welfare and happiness, as well as to the prosperity and honour of the Mission at large.

"Let us dispassionately review the state of the case. During the life-time of dear brother Fuller, little was known about the internal state of the Mission. Under the divine blessing it had arisen to a great degree of prosperity, and it seemed to be universally taken for granted, that all its concerns were managed in the best possible way. On his decease it followed as an inevitable consequence, that the direction became somewhat more extended -the responsibility, which had hitherto centered almost entirely in one individual, devolved on the whole Committee, and it was perceived that there were several points of importance, on which the public had a right to demand, and we ought to be prepared to furnish, a full and explicit statement.

"Among these points a principal one was, the mode of securing the premises and property at Serampore-and to this subject our attention was forcibly directed by your letter of March 11, 1816, addressed by Mr. Ward to Mr. Burls. This communication, containing the outlines of a plan for this very end, and arising from your anxious solicitude that no mis-appropriation of the premises in question should take place, was attentively considered at Birmingham in the October following; but as you gave us reason to expect a more digested plan would soon be forwarded, no resolutions were then passed, or any definite steps taken.

"At this meeting, however, it was agreed, with a view to facilitate the business of the society, that the management of its concerns should be entrusted to a Sub-committee, who might assemble without much inconvenience or expence, two or three times in the course of the year, and report their proceedings to the General

Committee at the annual meeting. This Sub-committee first met at Oxford, January 1, 1817, and as no further communication from yourselves had then been received, the question was taken. into consideration, as far as we were able to do so from the documents before us. Then it was that those Resolutions were passed, the spirit and tenor of which you appear to us, dear brethren, to have most unhappily misconceived.

"This we learn from your printed letter of September 26, 1817, addressed to the Sub-committee, and also from a letter from our highly esteemed brother Carey to Dr. Ryland, written soon after.

"As far as we understand from these documents, your alarm and distress have been occasioned by two things: our requesting you to take upon you the direction of the native brethren, on behalf of the Society, and your nominating certain individuals in this country to be united with yourselves as Trustees, for the purpose of securing the premises and property at Serampore to the uses of the Society.

"These proposals appear instantly to have produced the most lively apprehensions, and to have satisfied you that the Committee had simultaneously imbibed a spirit of domination and oppression, -had resolved to seize for themselves the direction of your counsels, the appropriation of your funds, the possession of your premises. And this idea predominated to such a degree, that, without requiring a single explanation, or addressing a single remonstrance-forgetting that we were still waiting for the matured plan of arrangement, promised in March 1816-you instantly decide on the course to be taken, and hasten to the adoption of a measure whereby you become virtually separated from the Society, accompanying this step, at the same time, by assurances, reiterated again and again, that to this resolution you shall immoveably adhere. In conformity herewith, we perceive that in your correspondence with Mr. Pearce, you speak of yourselves as a body, totally distinct from, and independent of us in all respects, and have urged him to solicit permission to give up his connexion with us, and unite himself with you.

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The

Such, then, is the present state of affairs between us. question respecting Mr. Pearce is, in truth, of itself a matter of little weight, but the point involved in it, namely, your separation from us, and forming yourselves into a distinct and independent Society, is a point of such paramount importance, and pregnant, in our apprehensions at least, with such serious consequences to us, to you, and to the cause of religion generally throughout the world, that we wish to pause, and in the most calm and serious manner we are able, and as in the sight of Him by whom actions are weighed, to give the deepest consideration we can to the subject.

"Hitherto we have been one, in the fair, open, legitimate sense

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of the word, not merely as Christian brethren, feeling the same concern for souls, and engaged in similar pursuits,—you are thus one with every Missionary Society in existence-but as one society, part in Asia and part in Europe, combined together in the most sacred and endearing of all ties, for the prosecution of missionary objects to the utmost possible extent. This union is a matter of public notoriety throughout the world, both to the friends and enemies of religion. If, then, it must be dissolved, the inquiry will naturally be urged from every quarter, Why is this? What has occasioned the disruption of that union which has subsisted so long?'

“ And here, dear brethren, you must permit us, in justice to ourselves, solemnly and distinctly to declare that, as far as we know our own hearts, we have in no degree been influenced by that spirit of domination which you have ascribed to us. We love you as brethren, and it is in our hearts to live and die with you; but we have never aimed or desired to exercise authority or control over you. Had such an imputation been cast upon us by an enemy, we should have regarded it as an artifice of Satan to disunite us, but we should cheerfully have referred him to yourselves for a refutation. Judge, then, of our grief and mortification at perceiving this charge brought against us by you, in the most direct and unqualified terms. Conscious that it does not attach to us, and perfectly assured that we should be acquitted by the public at large (should the question ever come before them, which on all accounts we hope it never will,) we should feel no little perplexity in what manner to announce the fact of your secession from us.

"To us, we acknowledge, the union hitherto subsisting has been a source of so much pleasure, that it would be a considerable sacrifice to our personal feelings to resign the connexion. And although we do not discover a single expression of regret on this account in either of your letters, we cannot believe that you would be wholly strangers to the sentiment. Still there may be reasons which would justify such a step, and render necessary the sacrifice it would involve. Such, however, do not appear to exist in the case before us; on the contrary, we think we see cogent reasons against a separation. Bear with us if we add, these are principally suggested by a lively and affectionate regard for your reputation.

"You are aware, that the universal impression is, that the premises at Serampore, with all the property they contain, belong to the Society, and that you hold them as a part of the Society, and as Trustees for the whole. This idea has been so expressly and repeatedly recognized all along in our Periodical Accounts, that any attempts to invalidate it would diffuse universal alarm and suspicion. At the eventful period of the renewal of the East India Company's charter, this statement was formally made to the government of this country, by brethren Fuller, Sutcliff, and others;

they felt the force of the argument then employed, that British property was entitled to British protection. On this ground we were successful in urging that petitions might be poured in from all parts of the country; and this enabled Mr. Wilberforce to make an appeal to the House of Commons on your behalf, which had the effect of an electric shock among the members. Coupling these incontestable facts with the known jealousy of the East India Company, respecting the acquisition of property by any but their own servants, we are ready to conceive that the question of your continuance in India was determined by the view then presented of your disinterested conduct in connexion with our Society. Under the same impression, the public came forward so generously to repair the loss occasioned by the fire, relying that the sum thus liberally contributed would be devoted to the specific purpose for which it was subscribed. Whatever we might think of the detailed statements of monies received and expended with which you have furnished us, and however satisfied we might be of your perfect disinterestedness in the whole affair, we feel persuaded that, were the Christian public in Great Britain to be told that not a pice of property belonged to the Society at Serampore,' it would create universal consternation. Really, dear brethren, we have not the hardihood to make such a statement; and we intreat and implore you, by every serious and tender consideration, to weigh well the consequences ere you permit such an idea to go abroad through any other channel.

Every one must be aware, that the interest of the Society in the property is merely nominal. But how, beloved brethren, could you possibly suppose that the recognition of that interest would be immediately followed by your expulsion from the premises, or by a forcible quartering upon you individuals whom you might not approve? You surely might have known, that a majority of Trustees are not competent to act in such a way; but that there must be a concurrence of the whole. In making the proposition, we thought that we were acting in conformity with your own wishes, and that your object, as well as ours, was so to secure the premises, as that the important operations in which you are engaged may be carried on to the best advantage. this, we fondly hoped to have proceeded hand and heart with you for years to come, as we have in years that are past. And so dear is this expectation to our hearts, that we shall not resign it till we are compelled to do so.

In

"We have been ready to fear at times, dear brethren, that too much has been said in commendation of your disinterested conduct in devoting your all to the cause of God. It is this, especially, which has fixed the eyes of the Christian world upon you. Other Missionaries may have been more successful in making converts from among the heathen: but this has ever been the preeminent jewel in your crown. But, But, after having been thus

applauded for your generosity in resigning all claim to the property in question, except as a constituent part of the Society, do you actually intend to resume your gift, and dispose of it intirely according to your own pleasure?

"As yet, we are altogether uncertain as to what you consider as included under the head of property to which the Society has no claim. Besides the premises and large property at Serampore, you speak of premises at Cutwa, at Digah, at Molenvliet. &c. These stand precisely in the same predicament, it should appear, as the premises at Serampore; but are we to understand that the Society has no right to any of them?

"Believe us, dear brethren, we do not make these remarks and inquiries from any wish to exercise control over you, or from any puerile desire to retain premises because of their real or imaginary value. As far as we ourselves are concerned, we have that confidence in your wisdom and faithfulness, that we would willingly resign every thing to your sole, distinct, and undivided management. But we are extremely anxious that you should be aware of the light in which such a procedure will be viewed in this country, in order to estimate for yourselves the consequences which probably may follow.

"Suppose, for the sake of illustration, that the premises and property had been lodged in the hands of an indifferent party, and you had retained the deeds, in which you were named and described as Trustees for the Society,-could you, brethren, have cancelled those deeds, and replaced them by such an one as you have transmitted us a copy of, transferring all right of disposal to yourselves, and completely excluding the interference of that very Society for which you had previously declared yourselves Trustees? Would the holder consider himself authorised to resign the premises to you on the authority of such a deed? Surely the idea is too absurd to require reflection. But, then, does the circumstance of your residence and occupation invest you with any rights beyond those which you would possess, if you were nonresident? We cannot perceive that it does; the gift has been made, nor can it be resumed, without the concurrence of the party to whom it has been made.

"You speak, brethren, of the Baptist Mission at Serampore: but when did this Society, as a distinct body, commence its operations? Where are its records? If you are Trustees on its behalf, to whom are you or your successors accountable?

"While we have relied on your candour, dear brethren, in making these observations, it is not for the sake of giving vent to feelings of disappointment, much less of irritation. Our principal object is, to induce you coolly and deliberately to review the matter among yourselves, with whatever assistance may be afforded you by this letter, and some others which have preceded it (that from brother Dyer to Dr. Marshman we have seen and approve).