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 Temple"; Richard, 1826-1902 
 A layman's estimate of Indi 
 missions 
 
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 SIR RICHARD TEMPLE, Bart, 
 
 Missions in India. 
 
■ ■ ■ ( 
 
 A LAYMAN'S ESTIMATE 
 
 OF 
 
 INDIA MISSIONS. 
 
 ADDRESS of SIR RICHARD TEMPLE, Bart, G.C.S.L. D.C.L, 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbvteuian Church in the 
 United States, New York, November yTii, 1SS2. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 Presbyterian Mission House, 23 Centre Street. 
 1SS3. 
 
A LAYMAN'S ESTIMATE OF INDIA MISSIONS. 
 
 [The statements presented in the following- address of Sir Richard Temple are 
 worthy of being pondered by all thoughtful minds. His testimony is that of a 
 statesman accustomed to study carefully all phases of social life ; it is that of a 
 calm and dispassionate philosopher who has no other interest than to prove all 
 things and hold fast that which is good. Sir Richard has been in India not less 
 than twenty-five years, and in his successive promotions from one position to an- 
 other in the India Civil Service, he has held office in nearly every province, hav- 
 ing been Governor both of the Bombay and the Bengal Presidency. 
 
 Stirred by the gross injustice and misrepresentation which the haters of Chris- 
 tianity have put upon the mission work, he has felt called upon within the last 
 lew years to come to the defence of the truth. He has repeatedly spoken on the 
 subject in Exeter Hall and elsewhere, and while in New York, in November last, 
 he very readily consented to present his views before a special meeting of the 
 I^resbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. 
 
 An imperfect report of his address, made at the time, was handed to him for 
 correction just as he w'as embarking for Liverpool, and he has kindlv returned 
 the following as his own authorized statement of his observations.] 
 
 Sir Rtch.^rd Te:\iple having been invited to meet the I'resbyterian 
 Board of Missions at their rooms in New York, November 7th, 1882, the 
 meeting was opened with prayer by the President, Rev. W. M. Paxton, 
 D.D., who made a brief address of welcome, expressing the gratification of 
 the Board, and of friends present in greeting one so long connected with 
 the Government of India, and so well known throughout the Christian 
 world for his interest in the work of missions. 
 
 The distinguished speaker then said : 
 
 " I take pleasure in meeting your Missionary Board on this occasion, and 
 in giving my testimony to the value of Christian missions in India. 
 
" And in what I have to say I would speak of Protestant missions in 
 their totality. While we trust that the Church of England will be found to 
 have taken her full share in the missionary operations, yet we fully appreci- 
 ate the great work done by the Presbyterian Church, and especially by the 
 Free Church of Scotland, which I regard as having done as much in pro- 
 portion to its numbers and resources for the cause of missions in India as 
 any community in Christendom. We regard with gratitude and respect the 
 assistance obtained through the piety and generosity of the several Protes- 
 tant churches of America. Certainly the American missions of all denomi- 
 nations in India are working thoroughly well. That I can testify having 
 seen them. At the same time I would give full credit to the Roman Cath- 
 olic missionaries in India who certainly are earnest laborers, and have de- 
 voted themselves to the heathen. Whatever they may be in Europe, they 
 show their best side when laboring as missionaries in India. I would not 
 desire to disparage them, and yet even Ihey cannot keep pace with Protes- 
 tant missions so far as the result can be gauged by statistics. I apply my 
 remarks then to Protestant missions in their integrity, their totality, in 
 which the Presbyterian Church, on both sides of the Atlantic, has borne so 
 prominent a share. 
 
 ANSWER TO DISPARAGEMENTS. 
 
 " ist. In the first place I would allude to the disparaging reports often 
 made by travellers with regard to the missionary work in India, which 
 reports are often current in England, and have, I am sorry to hear, found 
 their way to America. Some gentlemen, and ladies, too, returning from 
 India after travelling or residing in the country, deride the results of mis- 
 sions. Now, statements like these are made either by persons who never 
 took the trouble to obtain information, perhaps never enjoyed the opportu- 
 nity of obtaining it, or by those who have no interest in religion and no 
 care for religious work. You well understand how difficult it would be for 
 a person passing through your great city (New ^'ork) to form a just esti- 
 mate of its various institvitions of charity and public beneficence. How 
 imperfect is the knowledge of one just residing only for a time in city or 
 country ! How much more does this hold good of the observations by 
 European travellers or temi:)orary residents in a country so vast as India. 
 The work of missions does not strike the casual observer. You have to 
 inquire and investigate, not only at the great centres, but in the interior of 
 the country. You must not suppose that because a lady or gentleman has 
 
5 
 
 happened to reside or travel in India, he or she must necessarily know 
 all about the missionary work going on in that land. 
 
 " Those who undervalue missions will belong to one or other of two cate- 
 gories, either persons who do not care for religion, or persons who, while 
 caring for religion, are not experienced in the interior in India. On the 
 other hand, those who have examined the work are those who give a favora- 
 ble testimony. The favorable witnesses are not mere casual or superficial 
 observers, but men of the highest character, statesmen, civilians, politicians 
 and soldiers, men on whose judgment their government and the civilized 
 world depend with confidence on other subjects, and whose opinion may be 
 safely trusted on this great subject of missions. 
 
 " The evidence depends, moreover, not on mere personal statements and 
 impressions, but on statistics and facts, liable to be checked by witnesses 
 with local knowledge and subject to verification in many collateral respects 
 by official men who are not likely to deceive themselves. 
 
 ACTUAL SUCCESS. 
 
 " 2d. Objectors are fond of saying, what after all is the actual success of 
 missions ? Have they done anything in India ? The answer to this must 
 come from well-verified figures and facts. No blow is so effective as one 
 given straight from the shoulder, and no argument is so effective on this 
 subject as that drawn from the official documents. I have not my papers 
 and figures with me while travelling in America, but I could give you an 
 array of facts of which all Christendom would be proud. They read like 
 the statistics of some great governmental undertaking, but they really con- 
 stitute the result of private enterprise undertaken in the most sacred of 
 causes. The fear is not that we shall be discouraged by the small result 
 already attained, but that the result is becoming so great, and increasing 
 with such rapid growth as might be well styled, in view of the rapid devel- 
 opment of your great country, an American growth, that it may ere long 
 so grow on your hands that you cannot cope with it. It is nosv advancing 
 fifty per cent every ten years during the generation (thirty years) ending with 
 the year 1880. If it goes on at that rate, during the present generation 
 there will be by the year 19 10 about 2,000,000 of native Christians on your 
 hands, and any organization you can make with European agency will be 
 inadequate to deal with them. Your only hope will be in organizing a 
 native church. And this work is already receiving due consideration. 
 
Natives of acknowledged ability and piety are entering the Christian min- 
 istry, and the government have already had to sanction, in conjunction 
 with the English missionary societies, three additional bishops to examine 
 and ordain the native ministers and deacons. There are now in India 
 three hundred native ministers with four hundred European missionaries, 
 and we hope that ere long the natives will outnumber the foreign mission- 
 aries. 
 
 " But for a long time to come the prime movers in these operations must 
 continue to be European. And we hope that a great Christian, and if we 
 may use the term, ecclesiastical army will be raised, the rank and file con- 
 sisting of natives while the leaders and generals are highly qualified 
 Europeans. 
 
 " 3d. Again we ar.e sometimes asked by objectors, Is there any chance 
 for Ciiristianity to make headway against these antiquated systems of false 
 religion ? 
 
 THE BATTLE WITH ANCIENT SYSTEMS. 
 
 " (a) In the first place with regard to Buddhism, that religion is not 
 extensively prevalent in India, but it is met with in the mountainous regions 
 of the eastern Himalayas, and however excellent and attractive the poetic 
 accounts of Buddhism, as given in the well-known poem, 'The Light of 
 Asia,' the actual Buddhism of India is as degraded and degrading as can 
 well be imagined. It is liberal toward other faiths, but when you have said 
 that you have exhausted the catalogue of its merits. It is very picturesque 
 to the fancy in its ceremonial rites, but is far otherwise in doctrine and 
 discipline. 
 
 " (d) Then, as to Mohammedanism. It is a much more formidable ad- 
 versary, and yet converts have been made from among the Mohammedans, 
 and these converts are among the best yet made in India. Mohammedan- 
 ism presents us a nut which is hard to crack. It had the advantage of 
 Christianity in coming after it, and it borrowed many of its teachings. The 
 Mohammedans say willingly that they revere " the Book" as they style the 
 Bible. They have the idea of God, of one God. No uninspired book has 
 so fully formulated the attributes of Deity as the Mohammedan writings in 
 the Arabic language, and that is perhaps the most elaborately constructed 
 language ever known. 
 
 " Vet as a religion Mohammedanism establishes a narrow exclusive char- 
 acter. It withers human character as with a blight, warps all the feelings 
 
and sentiments, crystallizes everything which it touches, and rivets all cus- 
 toms and opinions in a groove. Though it inculcates the duty of almsgiv- 
 ing, it is in several respects uncharitable. It is utterly intolerant. Any- 
 thing more sanguinary than its fanaticism cannot be imagined. 
 
 " Benevolence toward those who differ from us, love to our neighbor, 
 and charity in the Christian sense of that most noble term, are wholly alien 
 to the Mohammedan religion. I know the Mohammedans well, from long 
 and familiar acquaintance, and their peculiar character only convinces me 
 the more of the necessity of giving them the freedom of Christianity. 
 
 " (t) Then as to Hindooism. The Hindoos number one hundred and 
 fifty millions of souls, about two thirds of the population of India. 
 
 " Do not suppose because you hear and read of the pristine purity of the 
 early Vedic faith that this is the Hindooism of the nineteeeth century. 
 The Hindoos who strive in our day to purify their faith are thinking them- 
 selves out of Hindooism. Though the educated classes are soaring toward 
 the light, yet the masses of the people to-day are as devoted to a corrupt 
 religion as in the darkest ages of the East. I cannot give you an exact idea 
 of the vicious orgies which occur constantly in the Hindoo temples. There 
 is a considerable amount of abominable immorality, which is practically the 
 outcome of the religion ; though, on the other hand, there are many domestic 
 virtues practised by the people, showing how much of goodness would be 
 produced, if the religion were purer, 
 
 " The practical instruction given by Hindooism to the young is grossly 
 defective. All the ideas of truth and honor are not inculcated. The 
 parent in training the child does not say. Never tell an untruth, but rather 
 says, in effect. Do the best you can, in the circumstances, thus teaching 
 expediency, not morality. 
 
 " When contemplating the Hindoos you recall the absurdity of their 
 superstitions, and the immorality of many among their practices, you will 
 see the need of carrying on missionary work in India, 
 
 "I have heard in England and even in this country, that many think 
 there is not much f/eeti for Christianity in India, and even if there were need, 
 that there is /lo chance for its success. 
 
 " There is the need as seen by the character of the three great religions 
 of the land, and that there is a chance of success is abundantly proved by 
 statistics of the work already done 
 
CHARACTER OF THE MISSIONARIES. 
 
 " 4tli. Again I have been asked what is really the character of your mis- 
 sionaries in India. I have heard at times the other side of the Atlantic as 
 well as here, the remark that the missionaries of our day are far from being 
 of the apostolic type, that they only go to earn a living and draw salaries 
 without zeal for doing good, and with little hope of accomplishing anything. 
 
 " Now all these insinuations are incorrect. They are the careless and 
 thoughtless remarks of men who do not know the qualifications and idio- 
 syncrasies of the missionaries now becoming an extensive body of men. I 
 have, during my life in India, been the local governor of 105,000,000 of peo- 
 ple, in different provinces. Thousands of Europeans have served under 
 me, and I ought to know something of the value and the character of men. 
 I have also been acquainted with the missionary stations throughout the 
 length and breadth of the country. I believe that a more talented, zealous, 
 and able body of men than the missionaries does not exist in India. In a 
 country abounding in talent and learning they fully hold their own. 
 
 " But it is said, the present missionaries are not equal to those of former 
 years. Now, is it likely that the present and future missionaries will be 
 less able than the past, when they now profit by all the experience of that 
 past, and beside have professional and technical instruction to give them 
 especial preparation for their work, thus possessing advantages which their 
 earliest predecessors never enjoyed ? In England we have excellent mis- 
 sionary training schools at Islington, at St. Augustine, under the very 
 shadow of Canterbury Cathedral, and at other places. Of course, genius is 
 not to be evoked by examinations, and whether some of the historic origi- 
 nators of the missionary work will, as individuals, be equalled, we cannot 
 say. But, with the means of preparation now in use, I can promise con- 
 fidently that the average missionary in the future will be equal to if not 
 better than the past. 
 
 " I have seen the missionaries in every province, from Cape Comorin to 
 the Himalayas, and I know their high character. I do not say that there 
 are no failures ; but the percentage of failures is as small as in any other 
 departm.ent of the public service. 
 
 " 5th. Remember that you want two kinds of missionaries. In the 
 first place, you need practical " parish priests," to do the work of visit- 
 ing and directing several thousands of simple-minded people, namely, 
 
native Christian peasants — missionaries always prompt, thoughtful, patient, 
 able to despatch details rapidly, and yet in a work not requiring the highest 
 intellectual exercise. A man highly qualified intellectually might not suc- 
 ceed in this labor. 
 
 " Next you need men of another kind thoroughly versed not only in the 
 religion, but also in the literature, philosophy, and poetry of India, to enter 
 into the subtle fallacies and twistings of Oriental reasoning, and also versed 
 in religious dialectics and trained in Christian theology. 
 
 " Just as in an army there must be men of all arms, cavalry, infantry, and 
 artillery, so here in this Christian warfare, we need men of varied gifts and 
 culture. 
 
 " In the mother land there are the Oxford Mission to Calcutta and the 
 Cambridge Mission to Delhi, which are organized to train missionaries of 
 this higher kind. These efforts are specially connected with the two 
 ancient universities. 
 
 CHAR.'VCTER OF THE CONVERTS. 
 
 " 6th. Inquiry is naturally made regarding the character of native con- 
 verts. It is often carelessly said that they are no better after than before 
 their conversion. These taunts may have come from some lady or gentle- 
 man who, at some time has been deceived by a native Christian in the 
 capacity of a domestic servant or a camp follower. But the native converts 
 in India must not, as a whole, be judged by the casual misconduct of indi- 
 viduals. Those who attempt to apply such a test should remember that the 
 efficacy of Christianity even among ourselves would be discredited by the 
 application of so unreasonable a standard. The native Christians are no 
 longer obscure and unknown, scattered here and there like ' Rari nantes in 
 gurgite vasto, ' but they are numbered by tens of thousands and occupy whole 
 tracts and districts of country. You should see them in their rural homes, 
 but such a visitation takes time and trouble, and is seldom undertaken by 
 those who disparage missions. You then would find these Christian com- 
 munities remarkably well conducted. I do not claim for them any unusual 
 display of Christian graces, but they behave as well on the average as Chris- 
 tians in any land. If you appeal to the magistrates in India, they will give 
 the native Christians everywhere a good character. These Christians are 
 obedient to their religious guides, attend faithfully the ordinances of relig- 
 ion, the services of the church, the Holy Communion and Confirmation, 
 
10 
 
 and send their children to school, during the week and to the Sunday- 
 school on the Sabbath. 
 
 '■ It would be well, if all white Christians contributed as well as the native 
 Christians for the support of the Gospel, and their religious institutions. 
 In their villages you see the rustic chapels and the little schools which they 
 have reared by their own contributions. 
 
 " Again, they have never scandalized their Christianity nor put their 
 religion to open shame. We must admit that India, like other countries, 
 has had scandals reflecting unfavorably on Christianity. But unhappily 
 these scandals which have been brought on the faith have been chiefly from 
 white men calling themselves Christians. We do not hear of apostates 
 among the native Christians. When the Sepoy revolt and the consequent 
 war spread over the land, and many were tempted to apostatize, were 
 threatened, and exposed to danger, yet they stood firm to their faith, and 
 there was no noteworthy instance of apostasy whatever. 
 
 " 7th. You sometimes hear that the Christians in India have become so 
 for pecuniary gain. They have been called 'rice Christians,' as if they 
 became Christians to be fed with rice. They are rice Christians no doubt, 
 but in a different sense from what the term was intended to convey. 
 Truly, they are rice Christians, because they work industriously and produce 
 the finest rice crops for themselves I They are largely of the peasant class, 
 ])easant proprietors who cultivate the land they own and hand it down to 
 their children. They are by nature attached to everything ancestral ; and 
 those whose families have been Christian for more than one generation, 
 begin to feel an hereditary attachment to Christianity. Everything heredi- 
 tary is by them steadfastly cherished. 
 
 " I have often heard the native Christians speak affectionately of the mis- 
 sionaries who first instructed their fathers in the Christian faith, 
 
 CONVERTS FROM ALL CLASSES. 
 
 " Again it is said that the Christian converts are only the humble- 
 classes. * Show us one of the higher class ! ' I accept that challenge. 
 Let us go through the list of the native ministry and we shall find that most 
 of the able preachers who have done most to vindicate Christianity have 
 been of the high caste. 
 
 ' ' Yet we should remember that the mass of the people belong to the 
 humbler castes, and the majority of the Christians fnust be of the lower 
 
1 1 
 
 caste if Christianity be diffused as it ought to be among all castes equably. 
 And the humblest people are after all the most needy and most appeal to 
 our Christian sympathies. We believe that their souls are as valuable as 
 ours, and we should gladly labor for their salvation. 
 
 " Then there is a body of men in India who belong to no caste at all. 
 They are regarded by all others as out of caste. They are the aborigines 
 and the Pariahs. They nuiTiber, according to the census, twenty-three mill- 
 ions of souls, and it may be encouraging to recollect that while in a large 
 part of India you encounter caste, priestcraft, and bigoted hostility, yet 
 among these you have a clean surface on which to write ; hearts unsullied 
 by guile and superstition, and presenting a ' tabula rasa ' on which you may 
 inscribe the doctrines of eternal truth. Here then you have a field on 
 which may be won an encouraging success. 
 
 "Believing in the inviolability of the Divine command to 'preach the 
 Gospel to every creature ' you would doubtless persevere even in the ab- 
 sence of present success, trusting in the ultimate fulfilment of the Scriptural 
 promises. Yet we cannot but feel our energies stimulated if we see success 
 attending our labors. Now you have in India a sure success before you 
 which will be certainly augmented in proportion to the labors put forth and 
 to the resources brought into play. 
 
 THE EFFECTS OF EDUCATION. 
 
 " 8th. It will occur to you to ask what effect is the system of public in- 
 struction to have on the temper and disposition of the Indian people ? You 
 will be told it is producing disloyalty, discontent and irreligion, taking 
 away from the people the religion of their forefathers and giving them noth- 
 ing in return. 
 
 " As to loyalty or disloyalty, England will do her duty without fear. I 
 believe education will produce loyalty. But, be the political consequence 
 what it may, we must be just and fear not and give India the education in 
 those arts and sciences which have made England herself what she is. 
 Even if a certain sort of disloyalty were to be the consequence we must per- 
 severe, for we could not consent to keep the people ignorant in order to 
 keep them loyal. 
 
 " As regards religion the government has to be very careful not to mix 
 religion with the state education. But we give the same educational grants 
 of State aid to the schools of all communities alike and the missionaries 
 
12 
 
 come in for their share, the pecuniary assistance being given on the well- 
 known system of ' payment by results.' Thus indirectly the missionaries 
 obtain a modicum of public aid which they win in open competition. 
 
 Irreligion migJit be the consequence of the secular teaching under the 
 State, but the contrary is the case. The highly educated Hindoos almost 
 invariably break away from their heathen religion. I do not say this is true 
 of Mohammedans, but the Hindoos on receiving western education do, 
 with scarcely any exception, cease to believe in the ancestral faith. They 
 do not, however, become atheists, or materialists. They rather become 
 theists, believing in the immortality of the soul and in human accountability 
 to a Supreme Judge for deeds done in this life. 
 
 " If you look at the sermons of the Hindoo religious reformers, styling 
 themselves the Brahmo Somaj, and the addresses of welcome lately given by 
 them to the missionaries of the Oxford Mission to Calcutta, you can judge 
 whether they are not on the high road to Christianity. Then if you can 
 send out missionaries intellectually able to cope with these men, a rich har- 
 vest may be reaped. 
 
 THE ELEVATION OF WOMEN, 
 
 "I must now say a few words regarding female education ; the impor- 
 tance of this is acknowledged by the British Government in India. We 
 encourage the opening of female schools in every direction. Formerly 
 females were kept in degradation and seclusion, yet there have been man- 
 ifold instances of female heroism and genius in Indian history. Even to 
 this day, widows would be quite ready to burn themselves on the funeral 
 pyres of their husbands, were they not prevented by the strong hand of the 
 British Government. They certainly are not lacking in what we call grit 
 of character. Hence we may infer that a great future is in store for the 
 women of India, when properly educated. Both the high and low are anx- 
 ious to go to school. But the daughters of the rich and noble do not 
 attend school, as they cannot break the bar of public opinion which pre- 
 vents girls of more than eleven or twelve years from appearing in public. 
 Hence you must teach them in their homes, in the Zenanas or female apart- 
 ments. For this reason, European ladies of special training are becoming 
 teachers in the households of the wealthy and the great. I suggest to you 
 that American gentlemen cannot do better than advise some of the young 
 ladies now being educated in the ladies' colleges and the normal institutions 
 of the United States, to go out as teachers to the daughters of the great 
 
13 
 
 Indian houses, and so carry western enlightenment into recesses heretofore 
 secluded from the light. Female education is already advancing in India. 
 I know hundreds of educated natives whose grandmothers could not read 
 at all, whose mothers could read but slightly, and whose wives can read and 
 write imperfectly. But their daughters are being brought up with an edu- 
 cation conducted upon the western models. 
 
 " In conclusion then, gentlemen, the result thus far in India is relatively 
 inconsiderable, though absolutely it may be large. But the smallness of its 
 proportion arises from the vastness of the country and the immense popula- 
 tion, a consideration likely to be fully appreciated by Americans. Still 
 there is every ground for encouragement. A shining goal invites your 
 Christian efforts. Such efforts are not indeed put forth with a view to 
 political effect. Still, as a matter of fact, the political effect of the Christian 
 missions in India is excellent. The spectacle of private enterprise under- 
 taken in this disinterested manner, does not render the natives jealous, but 
 rather edifies them. The natives are but too apt to imagine that British 
 policy is governed by political ambition or national aggrandizement. Let 
 them see in our missions something higher and nobler, a benevolence disin- 
 terested and pure, a sunny spot with no shadows or earth-born cloud to rest 
 upon it. 
 
 " The result of missions thus far is nationally and politically good. We 
 Englishmen feel our responsibility. We thankfully acknowledge the aid 
 sent from the religious world in the United States with a truly disinterested 
 liberality, and we cordially welcome the co-operation of our American kins- 
 men in this noble work." 
 
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