OF REV. GORDON HALL, A. M. ONE OF THE FIRST MISSIONARIES OF THE AMER. BOARD OF COMM. FOR FOR. MISSIONS, AT BOMBAY. BY HORATIO BARDWELL, Formerly Missionary at Bombay, now General Agent of the "Wo to me, if I preach not the gospel to the heathen." ANDOVER: PUBLISHED BY FLAGG, GOULD AND NEWMAN. NEW YORK: J. LEAVITT, 182 BROADWAY. کاله 3269 .H3 33 cop. 2 AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONEM JOMIGN MISSIONS LIBRARY, Entered, according to Act of Congress, by Flagg, Gould and Newman, in the Clerk's Office, of the District Court of Massachusetts, in the year of our Lord, 1834. PREFACE. Soon after the death of Mr. Hall in 1826, the Prudential Committee of the A. B. C. F. M. requested the compiler to prepare a memoir for the press. In preparation for the work, letters from his correspondents were collected, and the few private papers that could be obtained were examined. But the materials for a memoir were found to be so few, that it was thought not advisable to proceed. It was however afterwards suggested that a selection might be made from his published communications to the Board and other correspondents, that would not only be gratifying to his friends, but promote the cause to which he so eminently devoted his life. This led the compiler to an examination of a bundle of private papers, which Mrs. Hall had then recently received from Bombay; and finding some portions of private journal and other papers, which he thought would be interesting and useful, he has pursued the plan, first proposed, of preparing a Memoir. The establishment of this mission at Bombay was an important era in the American churches. It was the commencement of a system of foreign missionary labors, which has at length taken deep hold of the hearts, and has enlisted the prayers and efforts of a large portion of the Christian community. As is often the fact in great and important enterprises, this first effort was attended with almost insurmountable obstacles. These obstacles were not to be removed and the mission firmly established, but by much prayer, faith and persevering effort on the part of the missionaries. These qualities of character were happily united in Mr. Hall, whom the great Head of the church raised up to take an important part in the trials and embarrassments of this mission. The documents which exhibit the nature of these embarrassments, and the means which were successfully employed in their removal, are happily preserved, and comprise no unimportant portion of this volume. In their arrangement and explanation, the compiler has received important aid from the Rev. Samuel Nott, Jun., who at that time was the only colleague of Mr. Hall; and it is but just to remark, that through all these embarrassments and difficulties, the means resorted to for their removal, and which, by the blessing of God, were successful, were the result of their united and harmonious consultation. If there be any one class of the Christian community par to whose special atttention this little volume may be ticularly recommended, it is to candidates for the Christian ministry. Various letters and appeals are contained in the volume, which it is hoped will be seriously and prayerfully perused, by those who are looking forward to the sacred office; especially at the present time, when Providence is throwing open the heathen world to the view of the churches, and presenting so many extensive and promising fields for missionary labor, which are now white for the harvest.-May the great Lord of the harvest speedily raise up a host of young men, who, in the genuine spirit of apostolic times, shall say with Gordon Hall, Wo to me, if Ipreach not the gospel to the heathen! ANDOVER, MARCH, 1834. 1* |
