1806.

Opposition had been growing in Government to what was regarded as the destabilising influence of attempts to supplant the native religion. The missionaries were restricted by Sir George Barlow to the confines of the Danish settlement and the Bow Bazaar chapel was closed.

In these circumstances it seems remarkable that Rev. Henry Martyn, the Anglican Chaplain's assistant, and an evangelical minister should be allowed to proceed to Dinagepore as Chaplain. A prayer-meeting was held at the 'Pagoda' in Serampore when Mr. Martyn, Mr Brown, Mr. Marshman and William Ward prayed for divine blessing on his labours. Ward gave Martin 'fifty Hindoostanee Testaments and 20,000 tracts, to begin his missionary career', which Martin distributed on his way to Dinagepore.

John Clark Marshman, 1859.

'Henry Martyn's Pagoda, Aldeen, Serampore'.
Courtesy 'The Centre for Study of the Life and Work of William Carey D.D., 1761 - 1834.'

 

NEXT