BAKER, SIR HENRY [1821‑1877] – English baronet and hymn writer. Baker was the son of Vice Admiral Henry Loraine Baker. He attended Trinity College at Cambridge and was ordained in 1844 and be came assistant curate at Great Hockesley, near Colchester, Essex. In 1851, he became Vicar of Monkland Priory Church in Herefordshire, England, where he served most of his life. Upon his father’s death in 1859, Baker assumed the family baronetcy. From 1860 to 1877, he was editor-in-chief of the Anglican “Hymns Ancient and Modern, and contributed twenty five hymns, tunes, and translations. This historic hymnal sold 60 million copies. His best known hymns were "The King of Love my Shepherd is" and "Lord, Thy word abideth". His friend John Ellerton reported that Baker’s dying words were from his famous hymn: “Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, But yet in love He sought me, And on His shoulder gently laid, And home, rejoicing, brought me.
ELLICOTT, CHARLES JOHN [1819-1905] – Bishop of Gloucester. Educated at Cambridge where he was elected a fellow in 1845. He was a vicar in Rutland from 1848 and afterwards professor of divinity at Kings College, London from 1858 to 61, and Hulsean professor of divinity at Cambridge from 1860 to 61. He became dean of Exeter 1861 and the bishop of Gloucester two years later until his resignation in 1905. He was chairman of the New Testament Revision Company for 11 years and wrote a series of highly acclaimed commentaries on most of the Pauline epistles.
INDRE MISSION – The popular name of the Danish Church Home Mission Society, an evangelical movement within the Danish national church. It was formed in 1861 by some Pietistic clergymen and laymen from “the awakened circles”. Toward the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century the Mission spread as a dynamic revival movement all over Denmark; many clergymen joined it, numerous laymen were employed as preachers, and gradually meeting houses were built all over the country. In the later 20th century the mission has become a recognised and established party within the church but at the same time has lost much of its original zeal and spiritual power and to some extent even drifted away from its original biblical and evangelical position.
JACOB Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria [1861-1865] see 1858 and 1866
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM [1809-1865] – 16th President of the United States who was raised on frontier farms. He was a self educated lawyer who became president in 1861. A Republican, he attracted support through simplicity of manner, his defence of established authority, his fusion of farmers and industrialists, his equation of slavery's expansion with threats to Northern prosperity, and his recognition of the inferior condition of the black Americans. His election prompted the lower South to secede and his intransigence on secession in turn led the upper South to rebel and sparked the Civil War. Assassinated by a Southern sympathiser within days of his forces gaining the victory, he epitomised the nation’s ideals of self-reliance, opportunism, and churchless religion.
NICOLAI [Ivan Kasatkin] [1835-1912] – Russian Orthodox missionary bishop to Japan. He offered as chaplain to the Russian Consulate in Hokkaido, became a monk, and took the name Nicolai. Arriving in Japan in 1861 he acquired a deep knowledge of the Chinese and Japanese languages. Christianity being a prohibited religion he proceeded cautiously. Not until 1868 did he baptise his first three converts. Returning to Russia in 1869 he was responsible for the constitution of the Orthodox Mission. With the lifting of prohibition against Christianity he returned to Japan in 1873 and built a cathedral in Tokyo and was consecrated bishop in 1880 and archbishop in 1906. He encouraged the indigenous aspect of the church selecting promising young men to evangelise their own people. At his death there were 30,000 converts.
NOEL, CAROLINE MARIA [1817-1877]. – Caroline Noel was born in London. Her first hymn "Draw nigh unto my soul" was written when she was 17. During the next three years she wrote about a dozen pieces. From 20 years of age to 40 she wrote nothing; and during the next 20 years the rest of her pieces were written. The first edition of her composition was published as "The Name of Jesus and other Verses for the Sick and Lonely" in 1861. This was enlarged from time to time and subsequently changed by the publishers to "The Name of Jesus and other Poems". She, in common with Charlotte Elliott, was a great sufferer, and many of these verses were the outcome of her days of pain. They are specially adapted "for the sick and lonely" and were written rather for private meditation than for public use, although several are suited for the latter purpose. Her best known hymn is "At the Name of Jesus".
NOMMENSEN, LUDWIG INGWER [1834-1918] – German missionary to Sumatra. He was apprentice to a schoolmaster and entered the Rhine Mission’s school at Barmen in 1857. In 1861 he was sent out to the mission’s new field of Sumatra and soon proved to be a man of great resolution and faith. His ministry among the Bataks proceeded slowly until a number of the chiefs were converted and then Nommensen was overwhelmed by a great movement of over 103,000 Christians in 1911 and undreamed-of problems of church organisation. He decided it should be a Batak not a Western church but in fact the church’s organisation was patriarchal and the missionaries held all the positions of influence and authority until German control ended in 1940.
RICASOLI, BETTINO [1809-1880] – Italian politician and patriot who worked for the unity of Italy and was minister of Tuscany, and later after Cavour’s death in 1861, prime minister of Italy. In touch with the leaders of Tuscan evangelism and with Swiss Protestant circles he was greatly influenced by them and hoped for a reform of the Roman Catholic Church. He never however severed his connection with the latter.
SOUTHERN AFRICA MALAWI – The attempt of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa to enter Malawi in 1861 ended in disaster. The Scottish missions which arrived in 1875 exercised widespread influence from their headquarters at Livingstonia [Free Church] and Blantyre [Church of Scotland]. The Dutch Reformed Church also entered this field in 1896 and joined the Scots in the Church of Central Africa Presbyterians in 1926. The UMCA undertook work among Muslims in the 1890's.
STRONG, AUGUSTUS HOPKINS [1836-1921] – American Baptist pastor and educator who graduated from Yale and Rochester Theological Seminary and Berlin. Ordained in 1861, Strong held pastorates in Massachusetts and Ohio. He was president of the Rochester Theological Seminary from 1872 to 1912 and was also professor of biblical theology. He was conservative in his views but was open to certain trends developing late in the 19th century such as theistic evolution and German idealism. Strong served as president of the American Baptist Missionary Union from 1892 to 1895.
TOLSTOY, LEO [1828-1910] – Russian novelist and social reformer who was born into a family of the ruling class and after serving in the Crimean War returned home to write and study. In 1861 he freed his serfs. In the midst of his fame he experienced a mystical transformation and cast his lot with the peasants, adopting their dress and labouring in their trades. He rejected Russian Orthodoxy and evolved his own form of faith, emphasising as a central creed the non-resistance to evil. Disowning his title and his wealth he turned over his property to his wife. In his later years he became embittered and left his home in company with his daughter.
WEIZSACKER, KARL HEINRICH VON [1822-1899] – German Protestant theologian who was successor to F.C. Baur [see 1845] as professor of church history at Tubingen in 1861. In his work on the history of the gospels he attempted to provide a reunion between the radical criticism of Baur and the concepts of the more conservative criticism. He also rejected the teachings of Baur that there was conflict between the epistles of Paul and Peter in early Christianity. His translation of the Bible into German was widely appreciated. Weizsacker held offices from time to time in both church and academic life.
1862
AMERICAN SOUTHERN PRESBYTERIAN MISSION was an American Presbyterian missionary society of the Southern Presbyterian Church founded in 1862 that was involved in sending workers to countries such as China during the late Qing Dynasty.
CAIRD, JOHN [1820‑1898] – Scottish theologian who was educated at Glasgow and ordained in 1845 and having ministered in a number of churches became professor of theology at Glasgow in 1862. He preached what Dean Stanley called "The greatest single sermon of the century" before Queen Victoria on Roman 12:11. The sermon was translated into several languages.
DYKES, JOHN BACCHUS [1823-1876] – English composer who studied at Cambridge. He is important for his hymn tunes, a large number which have become extremely popular such as Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty and Lead Kindly Light. His style found numerous imitators and while he has been much criticised, he possessed a remarkable gift of providing memorable and readily singable melodies.
DIMITRIOS II - Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria [1862-1870] see 1854 and 1874. He attended the opening ceremony for the Suez Canal on 17 November 1869 during which he met the Ottoman Sultan Abdülâziz. The see was vacant from 1870 to 1874
JAPAN [see also 1549 and 1925] – The first Protestant missionaries, the Rev John Liggins and Bishop Channing-Williams of the Episcopal Church arrived in May 1859. Later that year the Presbyterian missionary Dr James Hepburn [see 1859] and two missionaries from the Reformed Church arrived while the following year the Baptists sent their first. The first church was established in 1862 and in 1865 thousands of secret Christians, descendants of the 17th century Catholic believers, revealed themselves. Intense persecution followed, but that was eased in 1873 when the edicts banning Christianity were removed. Ivan Kasatkin, later known as Bishop Nikolai, founded the Eastern Orthodox Church and saw it grow to 30,000 members. From the 1870’s Christian groups emerged in Japan, at Yokohama under the Rev John Ballagh, at Kamumoto under Captain L. Janes, at Sapporo under Doctor W.S. Clarke [see 1876] at Nagasaki under Doctor G. Verbeck [see 1869], and others. From these groups came many Japanese leaders in this period of rapid growth from 1880-1889, notably Yuzuru Neeshima, Kanzo Uchimura, Masahisa Uemura, and Yoichi Honda. Numerous interdenominational bodies were founded such as the Japan YMCA [1880], Scripture Union [1884], Christian Endeavour [1886], and the Bible Society [1890]. The catastrophic influence of liberal theology which made its first appearance in 1885 was being increasingly felt in the church. Japan eventually saw a revival in 1904 led by Barclay Buxton and Paget Wilkes [see 1897].
KGAMA III [c.1828-1923] – African Christian chief who was baptised in 1862 by H.C. Schulenbourg of the Hermansburg Mission and soon proved himself an uncompromising Christian. He became chief of the Ngwato in 1875 and tried to apply Christian standards of government despite strong opposition. He opposed many tribal customs, banned the liquor trade, dispensed even handed justice, and refused to alienate tribal lands to white men. He was extremely patient and magnanimous to other members of his family who opposed him. He consistently supported the London Missionary Society but had somewhat strained relations with some missionaries. He accepted a British protectorate in 1885 and was successful in avoiding control by the Chartered Company. His grandson Seretse Khama became first president of Botswana.
LONGLEY, CHARLES THOMAS – Archbishop of Canterbury [1862-1868]. He was born at Rochester, the fifth son of the recorder of Rochester. He was educated at Westminster School and at Oxford. He was ordained in 1818, and was appointed vicar of Cowley, Oxford, in 1823. In 1829 he was elected headmaster of Harrow School. He held this office until 1836, when he was consecrated bishop of the new see of Ripon. In 1856 he became bishop of Durham and in 1860 he became archbishop of York. Two years later he was transferred to Canterbury. Soon afterwards the questions connected with the deposition of Bishop John William Colenso were referred to Longley, but, while regarding Colenso's opinions as heretical and his deposition as justifiable, he refused to pronounce upon the legal difficulties of the case. The chief event of his primacy was the meeting at Lambeth, in 1867 of the first Pan-Anglican conference of British, colonial and foreign bishops. His published works included numerous sermons and addresses. He died at Addington Park, near Croydon. While headmaster of Harrow School, he married in 1831 and had six children some of whom later became prominent in society. He succeeded John Bird Sumner [see 1848] and was succeeded by Archibald Campbell Tate [see 1868].
MOOREHEAD, WILLIAM GALLOGLY [1836-1914] – American biblical scholar educated at Xenia Seminary and was ordained into the Presbyterian Church in 1862. For some eight years Moorehead was a missionary to Italy. From 1873 to 1914 he was professor of Greek exegesis and biblical literature at Xenia Seminary. An editor of the Scofield Bible he was also a leader in the Bible Conferences and Student Volunteer movements and visiting lecturer at several Bible schools. He was also a dispensationalist and wrote tracts and essays as well as biblical commentaries.
ROSSETTI, CHRISTINA GEORGINA [1830-1894] – Anglican poet who was educated at home and later helped her mother run a school. A High Anglican she had ill health which led to a secluded life and intensified her religious attitudes. She published several books in prose for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Rossetti wrote a number of poems some of which are sung as hymns such as “In the bleak midwinter” and “Love came down at Christmas”.
STUNDISTS – Russian evangelical sect tracing their origin to a group of Bible students in south-west Russia about 1845. Bohnekamper, a Reformed pastor conducted pietistic devotional hours [stunden] for Russian peasants as well as German settlers. Under his son Karl the religious movement called "Stundism" arose about 1862. It freed itself from all connection with the Reformed Church and became purely Russian in character. Despite persecution by church and state, Stundism spread widely with the majority gradually linking with the Baptists.
1863
BURGOS, JOSE [1837-1872] – A Spaniard born in the Philippines who was the theologian curate at Manila Cathedral. From 1863 he led a group of clerics in action for rights in the Philippines and produced a manifesto. With Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora he headed reform committees.
CASWELL, EDWARD [1814-1878] – Hymn writer, son of an Anglican vicar, educated at Oxford. Ordained in 1840 he converted to Roman Catholicism and joined J H Newman in 1850. He translated such hymns as “When morning gilds the skies” and “Jesu the very thought of Thee” and composed himself “See amid the winter snow”, publishing “Hymns and Other Poems” in 1863.
DARBOY, GEORGES [1813-1871] – Archbishop of Paris. From humble origins he became chaplain at a school where he occupied increasingly important posts. As bishop of Nancy he showed a deep interest in education. He was the archbishop of Paris from 1863. So strongly did he oppose the definition of papal infallibility that he tried to persuade Napoleon III to intervene at Vatican Council I. He eventually submitted and exemplified important pastoral instructions by his distinguished care for the needy during the siege of Paris 1870-71. He was executed by the Commune while blessing his executioners.
DAVIDSON, ANDREW BRUCE [1831-1902] – Scottish Old Testament scholar who was born in a poor Aberdeenshire family which made considerable sacrifices for his education at Aberdeen. After three years school-teaching during which he mastered Hebrew and some modern languages he entered New College in Edinburgh, the theological training school of the free Church of Scotland. Licensed as a preacher in 1856, he was subsequently assistant and then in 1863 successor to the famous ‘Rabbi’ Duncan as professor of Hebrew and oriental languages. He was also an influential member of the Old Testament revision committee [1870-1884]. He is now best remembered for his “Introductory Hebrew Grammar” published in 1874 which was known as a textbook to many generations of students.
GAVAZZI, ALLESANDRO [1809-1889] – Italian patriot and religious reformer. He joined the Barnabite Order [see 1533] and taught in their schools in various Italian cities. A great orator, he began to promote the cause of liberalism and Italian freedom against ecclesiastical authorities and the Jesuits, who tried vainly to silence him. He was enclosed in a convent until being liberated at the election of Pope Pius IX who sent him as a chaplain with the papal volunteers fighting with Charles Albert against Austria in the first war of independence in 1848. Disappointed with the papacy he joined the many Italian exiles who had founded the Italian Evangelical Church in London. Lord Palmerston suggested hiring a hall in Oxford Street where crowds went to hear him denounce papal abuses and Jesuits politics. He travelled widely in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and in 1859 returned to Italy to join Garibaldi in the Wars of Independence. Disagreeing with the Waldensians, he spent a number of years unsuccessfully trying to join the Free Italian Church. He became disillusioned and embittered, rejected by his friends, he died in Rome.
GRATRY, AUGUSTE JOSEPH ALPHONSE [1805-1872] – French Roman Catholic scholar. After an irreligious youth he studied theology at Strasbourg and was ordained in 1834. In 1863 he was appointed professor of moral theology in the Sorbonne. He was elected to the French Academy four years later. He first opposed papal infallibility, but submitted to the decrees, being much concerned for renewal in French church life which led to his work in restoring the Oratory [see 1564].
NEW APOSTOLIC CHURCH – In 1863 the senior apostle of the Catholic Apostlic Church, F.V. Woodhouse, excommunicated the movement's German prophet Heinrich Geyer for recognising new apostles to replace those who had died. As a consequence the New Apostolic Church was founded in Germany, and it continued to flourish even under Hitler, whom Johann Bischoff patriarch from 1932 to 1960 claimed to be God's special emissary. There are now branches in a number of other countries.
SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS – A religious denomination that grew from the work of William Miller [d.1849] [see 1833] who began to preach that the end of the world was at hand and that a fiery conflagration would usher in the new heaven and new earth. He predicted it would occur between 1843 and 1844. When this did not occur the fervour was largely diminished, a few however continued to believe that the end was near. One of these Hiram Edson saw a vision of Christ entering a second compartment of heaven proving to Edson that Miller’s prophetic calculations were correct. The Sabbath keeping was confirmed by visions especially those of Ellen G. White who died in 1915 [see 1846] whose importance to the movement cannot be overstressed. White, though possessing only a third grade education, wrote 45 major books and 4000 articles. The denomination was organised in 1863 and by 1874 their first missionary J.N. Andrews was sent out. In addition to the Sabbath they teach about soul sleep and abstain from certain foods as well as smoking, drinking, card playing, gambling, worldly entertainment and dancing. They conduct extensive medical programs as well as promoting healthy foods.
SMALL, JAMES GRINDLAY [1817-1888] – James Small was a Scot born at Edinburgh, in 1817, the son of George Small, and attended Edinburgh High School. Converted in 1834, he published two volumes of poetry, “The Highlands and Other Poems” in 1843, and “Songs of the Vineyard in Days of Gloom and Sadness” in 1846. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, he studied under Dr. Chalmers and became a minister of the Free Church of Scotland in 1847, serving at the Free Church of Bervie, near Montrose. Greatly interested in hymnology, Small published “Hymns for Youthful Voices” in 1859. His most famous hymn, "I’ve Found a Friend, O such a Friend " was first published in “The Revival Hymn Book” in 1863.
SOPHRONIUS III – Patriarch of Constantinople [1863-1866] succeeded Joachim II [see 1860]. There is no additional information readily available.
WARING, ANNA LAETITA [1820-1910] – Poet and Hymn Writer. She was born at Neath in Glamorganshire, South Wales, where it seems she spent her whole life. It has been said of her "Few authors are so sensitive or shy of publicity as Anna Waring. She has written her heart into her hymns, but particulars of her life and education are concealed from us". Her hymns were first introduced into America by a minister named F.D. Huntingdon in 1863. Though her early upbringing was among the Quakers, she was impressed by the sacraments of the Anglican Church, and identified herself with that body in 1842. She wrote hymns in her teens and completed 39 of them by 1863. In order to read the Old Testament in the original, she learned Hebrew. She had a gentle but merry spirit and did helpful work for the "Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society". Her ninety years of life were a blessing to all who knew her or read her poems and hymns. She is best remembered for the hymn “In heavenly love abiding”
WILLIAMSON ALEXANDER [1829 – 1890] - Scottish Protestant missionary to China with the London Missionary Society. He was known for his scholarship and translation work as well as founding of the Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge Among the Chinese or the Christian Literature Society for China. Born in Falkirk, Scotland he was the eldest of seven sons and trained at Glasgow University with the aim of going to China as a missionary. He completed his arts and theological studies, and offered himself to, and was accepted by, the London Missionary Society for the mission field in China. For seven years he worked in evangelism, Chinese literary studies, and travelling. His health and strength wore out and he came home to Scotland on furlough from 1858-1863 to recover. In 1863 Williamson returned to China with the National Bible Society of Scotland as its first agent there. He started at Yantai in Shandong Province and then travelled extensively distributing copies of the Bible in Chinese. During this period he visited Beijing, Mongolia, and Manchuria. In August 1869, his younger brother and fellow missionary, James Williamson also of the London Missionary Society, was murdered near Tianjin. Between 1871 and 1883 he was back at Yantai with the Bible Society and also with the Scottish United Presbyterian Mission [see 1796] In 1883 he had to return to Scotland for health reasons. While he was there he founded the “Book and Tract Society for China” later renamed in 1887: the “Christian Literature Society for China”. Williamson returned to China again and was in Shanghai in 1886, when his wife died. He died four years later at Yantai in 1890. He was 61.
1864
CLOUGH, JOHN EVERETT [1836-1910] – American Baptist missionary who was the overseer of a mass movement to Christianity among the Telegus of South India. In 1864 he and his wife sailed to India to a mission that three times the Baptists had been about to give up in discouragement. He allowed the mission to continue along Indian lines and the flow of converts became a flood after the famine of 1876-8 in the relief of which he played a significant role. When he left India in 1910 the Baptist Telegu Mission had reached 60,000 members.
CROSBY, FANNY [1823-1915] – Fanny Crosby was born in Putnam County, New York to poor parents, John and Mercy Crosby. At six weeks old, she caught a cold and developed inflammation of the eyes. The family physician was not available, and a quack who came in his place recommended mustard plasters as treatment. The botched procedure blinded her. Her father died when she was one year old, so she was raised by her mother and grandmother. These women grounded Crosby in Protestant Christian principles, helping her, for example, memorize long passages from the Bible. Crosby became an active member of the John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. At age 15, Crosby enrolled at the New York Institute for the Blind. She remained there for seven years. During that time she learned to play the piano and guitar and to sing. In 1843, she joined a group of lobbyists in Washington, D.C. arguing for support of education for the blind. From 1847 to 1858, Crosby joined the faculty at the New York school, teaching English and history. She married Alexander Van Alstyne, a blind musician and fellow teacher, in 1858. At his insistence, she kept her maiden name. They had one daughter, Francis, who died while a baby. In 1864 she published 2000 hymns of which some 60 are still in common use including “Safe in the Arms of Jesus”, “To God Be the Glory”, "All the Way My Saviour Leads Me" and “Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine"
DODS, MARCUS [1834-1909] – Scottish biblical scholar who graduated from Edinburgh and in 1864 became minister of Renfield Free Church Glasgow, a position he held until he was called to the chair of New Testament criticism in New College Edinburgh. In 1890 a complaint was brought against him in the General Assembly that he had denied the inerrancy of Scripture, but it was dismissed, and a more liberal view in his church was consolidated with the passing of the 1892 Declaratory Act.
EAST AFRICA TANZANIA – Bishop Tozer in 1864 moved the headquarters the Anglo Catholic University Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) from Malawi to Zanzibar, and in 1868 the Holy Ghost Fathers arrived from the island of Reunion. Soon the various missionary societies began to penetrate the mainland. The UMCA landed at Tanga and worked inland as well as working up to the north bank of the Rovuma River in the south. Before the German occupation of the country, all the missionary societies were British and included the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS) in the central area and the London Missionary Society (LMS) along Lake Tanjanyika. With the declaration of the German protectorate in 1885 Lutheran and Moravian missionaries began to arrive. The Bethel Mission started work in Dar es Salaam in 1887, and in 1891 Moravians took over part of the work of the LMS south of Lake Victoria. In 1893 the Leipzig Mission took over the work of the CMS along with Chagga people at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro where the latter society had run into difficulties with the German administration. On the Roman Catholic side the Holy Ghost Fathers were followed by the White Fathers in 1879 and the Benedictines in 1888. By 1914 most of the country had been occupied by missionary societies, but under the British occupation most of the German missionaries were interned in World War I, and in 1920 they were all repatriated when the country came under British mandate. Replacements came from America and Scandinavia. In 1925 the German missionaries were allowed to return but in 1940 they were interned again during World War II but the Lutheran Church of America took care of the German Mission stations. Post-war, all the churches strengthened their work and local autonomous churches were established. The largest Protestant body was the Lutheran Church. The Anglican Church set up several dioceses and in 1970 it became a separate province of the Anglican Communion.
GESS, WOLFGANG FRIEDRICH [1819-1891] – German theologian who studied at Tubingen where he came under the influence of F.C. Baur [see 1845] and J. T. Beck [see 1836]. After serving as assistant minister to his father he taught at the missionary college Basle [1850] before becoming professor at Gottingen in 1864. Gess came from the Wurttemberg Pietism which stressed biblical theology and Christian experience, but which adopted a looser attitude towards biblical inspiration.
HANKEY, ARABELLA KATHERINE [1834-1911]. She was an English hymn writer, the daughter of a banker, who had a story to tell. Though the members of her family were prominent members of the Anglican Church, they were always associated with its more evangelical faction. Her father was one of the influential members of the Clapham Sect. Early in life Katherine, or Kate, as she was affectionately known, caught this same evangelical concern from her father. She began organizing Sunday School classes for rich and poor throughout London. These classes had a profound influence throughout the city with a large number of the young students in turn becoming zealous Christian workers. Kate also did considerable writing, including such works as Bible Class Teachings, a booklet on confirmation, as well as a number of books of verse. All of the royalties received from these publications were always directed to some foreign missions project. When Katherine was only thirty years of age, she experienced a serious illness that left her bedridden for an extended period. During a long period of recovery she wrote a lengthy poem on the life of Christ. The poem consisted of two main sections, each containing fifty verses. From this came the words of “Tell Me the Old, Old Story”
MAXWELL, JAMES LAIDLAW [1836-1921]. – Maxwell was the first Presbyterian missionary to Taiwan (Formosa). He served with the English Presbyterian Mission. Maxwell studied medicine at Edinburgh and practiced in London before being sent to Taiwan in 1864. He donated a small printing press to the church which was later used to print the Taiwan Church News. In the following year he established the first Presbyterian church in Taiwan. His mission at first centred in the then capital Taiwan Fu. In 1868 he moved near Qijin where his work, both medical and missionary, became more appreciated. In early 1872 he advised Canadian Presbyterian missionary pioneer George Leslie Mackay to start his work in northern Taiwan, near Tamsui. He had two sons, John Preston and James Laidlaw Jnr, both of whom later also became medical missionaries. He retired in London in 1885 where he formed and became the first secretary of the Medical Missionary Association. He and his sons oversaw the construction of Sin-lâu Hospital in Tainan, the first western-style hospital in Taiwan. The younger J. L. Maxwell served in the Tainan hospital from 1900 to 1923.
PIERPOINT, FOLLIOT SANDFORD [1835-1917] was a hymnist and poet. Born at Spa Villa, Bath, England, he was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge graduating in classical honours in 1871. Pierpoint was a classics schoolmaster and a devout Tractarian. He taught at Somersetshire College, spending most of his life in Bath and the south-west. He published “The Chalice of Nature and Other Poems” His most famous hymn is “For the Beauty of the Earth” first published in 1864.
RITSCHL, ALBRECHT [1822-1889] – German Protestant theologian who was the son of the evangelical bishop and studied at various German universities becoming professor at Bonn from 1852 to 1864 and Gottingen from 1864 to 1889. He began his career as a disciple of F.C. Baur [see 1845]. He rejected the concept of a penal wrath of God. Christ’s death he said was not a propitiation of just judgement but the result of His uttermost loyalty to his vocation. Christ’s object was to bring men into the same fellowship with God by sharing His own consciousness of Sonship which he preserved to the end. For Ritschl religion was always social.
SYLLABUS OF ERRORS – A list of 80 propositions condemning the doctrines of liberalism attached to a papal encyclical issued by Pius IX in 1864. The first approach towards drawing up the syllabus came from the provincial council of Spoleto in 1849 which requested a condemnation of modern errors. The syllabus was arranged under 10 headings, Pantheism, Naturalism, and Absolute Rationalism; Modern Rationalism; Indifferentism and False Toleration in Religious matters; Socialism, Communism, Secret Societies, Bible Societies, and Liberal Clerical Associations; the Church and its Rights; the State and its Relation to the Church; Natural and Christian Ethics; Christian Marriage; Temporal Power of the Pope; and Modern Liberalism. The Syllabus of Errors caused problems in Belgium, France and Germany.
WALDENSTROM, PAUL PETER [1838-1917] – He was a Swedish theologian and churchman who studied at Uppsala and then taught biblical languages and theology at Gayle, a seaport on the Gulf of Bothnia. Ordained in 1864 he found the theological outlook of the national church depressing. Deeply interested in the revival movement, he stressed Scripture rather than creeds and insisted that salvation came through a personal commitment to Christ. He resigned from the national church's ministry in 1882 and worked with the Evangelical National Association, a movement founded in 1856 for the reform of religion in Sweden. In 1878 he organised the Swedish Mission Covenant. Many of its members migrated to the USA where they formed what is now the Evangelical Covenant Church. Many say his devotional writings are the best reading after the Bible.
WHITELAW, THOMAS [1840-1917] – Scottish Presbyterian minister and biblical scholar who was educated at St Andrews and the United Presbyterians Theological Hall in Edinburgh. He was ordained in 1864 and held ministries in Glasgow and Kilmarnock but refused a call to Australia. However he was a special commissioner of the United Free Church at the union of Australian Presbyterian Churches in 1901. He wrote a number of commentaries.
WOODSWORTH, JAMES [d.1917] – Canadian Methodist minister who was ordained into the ministry in 1864. The same year he was sent to the Portage la Prairie circuit in the West where he served the rest of his life. He was for many years superintendent of Northwest missions for the Methodist Church.
1865
ABOTT, EDWIN [1838-1926] – Educationalist and writer who was appointed headmaster of the City of London School in 1865 and resigned in 1889 to devote himself to study and writing. He wrote biographies of Francis Bacon, Cardinal Newman and Thomas Becket. Having written “Flatland” a story of a two dimensional world he concluded that miracles came from a fourth dimension.
BARING‑GOULD, SABINE [1834‑1924] – Born in Exeter and educated at Cambridge. He was a hymn writer who wrote "Onward Christian Soldiers" for a Sunday School procession. In 1881 after a number of incumbencies he appointed himself rector of Lew Trenchard in Devon which had been the family seat for 300 years. He was the author of "The Lives of the Saints" in 15 volumes which has the distinction of being banned by the Roman Catholic Church by its placing on its Index.
BOMPAS, WILLIAM CARPENTER [1834‑1906] – Pioneer Anglican bishop of the Canadian North who was educated privately and ordained a deacon in 1859. In 1865 he volunteered for missionary work in the Yukon. He quickly earned the respect of the Indians and Eskimos and translated the New Testament into many of their languages. He also founded hostels and schools. He was a bishop in Canada from 1874 to 1905. His many travels and his endurance of cold and famine earned him the title “Apostle of the North” and left a permanent mark on missionary work in the Yukon.
BOOTH, CATHERINE [1829-1890] – So called Mother of the Salvation Army and wife of William Booth [see 1878] who was the daughter of a Wesleyan preacher. She was educated at home and later joined the Brixton Wesleyan Church from which she and William were expelled for her religious zeal. They married in 1855 and had eight children. In 1865 after years of itinerant preaching they returned to London and set up the Christian Revival Association, a forerunner of the Salvation Army. For many years she laboured on though never out of pain. She died of cancer in 1890 with 36,000 attending her funeral at Olympia.
CHINA INLAND MISSION is an interdenominational Protestant Christian missionary society, founded in Britain by Hudson Taylor [see below] on 25 June 1865. It was founded on principles of faith and prayer. From the beginning it recruited missionaries from the working class as well as single women, which was a new practice for a large agency. Even today, no appeals for funds are made, instead a reliance upon God is practiced to move people through prayer alone. The goal of the mission that began dedicated to China has grown to include bringing the Gospel to the millions of inhabitants of East Asia who have never heard or had access to the message of Jesus Christ. Reluctantly, along with the departure of all foreign Christian workers in the early 1950s, the China Inland Mission redirected all of its missionaries to other parts of east Asia, to continue the work and maintain a ministry to China and the Chinese. The name was officially changed to Overseas Missionary Fellowship in 1964.
HANBY, BENJAMIN RUSSELL [1833-1867] – Hanby was an American composer who wrote approximately 80 songs, the most famous of which are "Darling Nelly Gray" and the hymn "Who Is He In Yonder Stall?". Hanby was born in Ohio and was educated at Otterbein University. He was the son of Bishop William Hanby. After graduation Hanby briefly taught school and then became a minister in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. During his tenure as minister of a church near Dayton he composed "Who Is He In Yonder Stall?" Hanby was involved in the Ohio Underground Railroad which was a means of assisting runaway slaves from the south accessing freedom in Canada. In 1865 Chicago publisher George Frederick Root brought Hanby to Chicago to pursue some publishing ventures. Hanby died there from tuberculosis in 1867
MANNING, HENRY EDWARD [1808-1892] – Cardinal, archbishop of Westminster. Educated at Harrow and Oxford he was an Anglican until his 40s, then Roman Catholic from 1851 and helped to consolidate the Catholic revival in England. He began as an Anglican Evangelical ordained in 1832, then archdeacon of Chichester in 1841. He was supported by Cardinal Wiseman [see 1850], amid opposition from older Catholic families, who took personal interest in him ordaining him a priest in 1851 and then appointing him inspector of schools in the Westminster diocese in 1856. In 1860 Manning became the chief English defender of papal temporal power. Upon Wiseman's death in 1865, Pius IX made Manning new primate and he became a cardinal in 1875. He generally supported Gladstone's policies.
PALMER RAY [1808-1887] – Congregational minister who at thirteen years of age he became a clerk in a dry goods store in Boston, where he identified himself with the Park Street Congregational Church, whose pastor, Dr. S. E. Dwight, discerning the promise of great usefulness in the boy, took a deep interest in him, inducing him to go to Phillips Academy, Andover, where he prepared for Yale College, from which institution he was graduated in 1820. The next year he lived in New York City, taking up the study of theology privately and supporting himself by teaching in a woman's college. From 1835 to 1850 he was pastor of the Congregational Church at Bath before moving to pastor the First Congregational Church of Albany until 1865. He then for thirteen years (1865-78) lived in New York City and filled the office of Corresponding Secretary of the American Congregational Union. He then retired to private life. Between 1829 and 1881 he published eleven volumes including hymnals. He is regarded by many as the greatest hymn writer that America has produced, and his hymn "My faith looks up to thee" as the greatest hymn of American origin. He also translated and promoted “Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts” by Bernard of Clairvaux [1090‑1153]
SALVATION ARMY – Founded by William Booth [see 1878] as the "Christian Mission" in East London in 1865 which took the name Salvation Army in 1878. It was an essentially evangelical movement, biblically orientated, theologically conservative. Their basis of belief includes the divine inspiration of the Bible, the doctrine of the Trinity, the salvation of believers by faith through grace, the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and the final judgement. The distinctiveness of the Army includes an Arminian emphasis on free will and a holiness experience which can be subsequent to conversion, both of which can be traceable to William Booth's Methodist origins, and the non-observance of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. By 1879 William Booth commanded 81 stations manned by 127 full-time evangelists with another 1000 voluntary speakers holding 75,000 services a year. In 1878 the first brass band appeared at an Army event with bands soon springing up everywhere, and the uniform was adopted two years later. The Army was faced with the appalling social needs of Victorian London. The sensational case in which William Booth son Bramwell was involved in exposing the white slave trade forced the Army into prominence and within five years thirteen homes for girls in need of care and protection had been set up in the United Kingdom and a further 17 overseas. The first Prison Gate home for discharged prisoners was opened in Melbourne in 1883. Other social action included cheap food depots, an unofficial employment exchange, a missing persons bureau, night shelters, a farm colony, soup kitchens, leper colonies, wood yards in the United States of America, home industries in India, hospitals, schools, and even a lifeboat for the fishermen of Norway. Permeating it all was the basic concern for personal salvation as had been the motivation from its beginning. The Salvation Army were very prominent in serving people in the World Wars where they gained a lot of respect for their service.
SPURGEON, CHARLES HADDON [1834-1892] – Baptist preacher whose father and grandfather were Independent pastors. Early in 1850 he was converted at the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Colchester Essex into which he had entered because of snowy weather. Spurgeon became pastor of the Waterbeach Baptist Chapel in 1851 and three years later was called to the New Park Street Baptist Chapel Southwark London which he soon filled to overflowing necessitating the building of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in 1859. In 1856 he began the "Pastors College" for training men called to preach the gospel, an establishment which still continues today as Spurgeon's College. In 1865 he was one of the founders of the London Baptist Association and four years later established an orphanage now known as Spurgeon's Homes. Other charitable religious organisations he founded or supported included Temperance and Clothing societies, a Pioneer Mission, and Colportage Association. He suffered periodic bouts of illness which sometime kept him out of the pulpit. He fought battles against hyper Calvinism and Arminianism in his early ministry. Spurgeon was an evangelical Calvinist who read widely and especially loved the 17th century Puritans. He last preached at the Tabernacle in June 1891 and died the following January in the south of France.
TAYLOR, JAMES HUDSON [1832-1905] – English missionary pioneer who was the son of a Methodist chemist. He was converted at 17 and soon felt a strong call to China. He landed in Shanghai in 1854 after completing part of medical training, as an agent of the short lived Chinese Evangelisation Society. The inefficiency of its home base threw him back on faith and prayer to support and a succession of providences caused him to server connection. He adopted Chinese dress and in 1858 married Maria Dyer in Ningpo despite the opposition of other missionaries who viewed him as a poor "unconnected nobody". Invalided back to England he bore a burden for the Chinese millions without Christ which grew even stronger. As the Chinese Empire opened up he could find no mission willing to back him so he founded the interdenominational China Inland Mission in 1865 asking God to send “24 willing skilful labourers” two for each un-reached province. They sailed in 1866, and Maria died four years later. Despite opposition from other missionaries and mandarins and some internal dissension, the China Inland Mission established itself as the "shock troops" of Protestant advance. By 1895 he led 641 missionaries which was about half the total Protestant missionaries in the country. His example led to other faith missions being founded. Among his main emphases were identification with the people such as all missionaries to wear Chinese dress, the direction of the mission to be from the field, not the home base, and dependence on God for provision. Hudson Taylor retired in 1901 and died four years later in Changsha, capital of the last province to open.
WANGEMANN, HERMANN THEODOR [1818-1894] – German mission executive who studied theology and became director in 1849 of a Lutheran teachers college. He was appointed director of the Berlin Mission in 1865 and held that position until his death. He was strong willed and somewhat authoritarian with some calling the Berlin Mission ‘Wangermann Mission”. His first love was the South African field, which he visited on two occasions, but was not enthusiastic about the mission’s moved to China in 1882 and German East Africa in 1890. He was seldom interested in cooperative efforts with other missions either at home or abroad.
1866
BUSHNELL, HORACE [1802‑1876] – American Congregational minister and theologian who was ordained as pastor of the North Church at Hartford Connecticut [1833‑1859]. He argued that conversion should be educative rather than sudden and in "The Vicarious Sacrifice” of 1866 declared Christ's atonement as an illustration of the eternal principle of love rather than a satisfaction by which God was reconciled to man.
CHINA – After a period of isolation of over 100 years China was opened up again in 1841. The China Inland Mission under Hudson Taylor commenced to send protestant missionaries into all Chinese provinces making a great impact on Chinese society with its hospitals, schools, and churches. [1601-1900]
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE was founded in 1866 as a religion which has its origin in Mary Baker Eddy who claimed it came to her by direct revelation and that the book “Science and Health, With a Key to the Scriptures” was written under divine dictation although she conceded that a clergyman edited the bad grammar. There are around 3,000 churches worldwide of which 2000 are in the United States. The church has no preachers or sermons but have First and Second readers who read passages from the Bible and from Science and Health. They believe Jesus is not God, and that he neither died on the Cross nor rose from the dead.
DIX, WILLIAM CHATTERTON [1837-1898] – Dix was born in Bristol, the son of a surgeon. William Dix' father wrote a biography of poet Thomas Chatterton and gave his son his middle name in his honour. Young William attended the Bristol Grammar School for a commercial career. After school he became the manager of a marine insurance company in Glasgow, a vocation which he followed to the end of his life. At the age of 29 he was struck with a near fatal illness and consequently suffered months confined to his bed. During this time he became severely depressed. Yet it is from this period that many of his hymns date. His best known hymn was “As with Gladness Men of Old”. His heart was in the poetry of worship. He wrote more than 40 hymns over the course of his life.
GUINNESS, HENRY GRATTAN [1835-1910] – Evangelist and writer who was the ordained as an evangelist in 1857 and preached in Europe and America [1857 – 1872]. He had a part in the conversion of Doctor Barnardo in Dublin in 1866. He founded the East London Institute for training missionaries in 1873 and the Livingstone Inland Mission in the Congo in 1878 and other missions in South America and India. All these societies were in 1899 amalgamated into the Regions Beyond Missionary Union which supported nearly 100 and sent out more than 1000 missionaries.
HOPKINS, GERARD MANLEY [1844-1889] – English poet, educated Oxford where he was influenced in art by the Pre-Raphaelites and in religion by the later Tractarians [see 1833]. In 1866 he seceded to Rome and joined the Jesuits and held several teaching and pastoral posts including the chair of Greek at Dublin. On entering the order he destroyed the poetry he had written to that date. In his poems Hopkins revealed his allegiance to Duns Scotus [see 1291] rather than the official theology of the Jesuits, that of Thomas Aquinas.
MATHESON GEORGE [1842-1906] – Matheson was a Scottish theologian and preacher who was educated at the University of Glasgow, where he graduated in classics, logic and philosophy. In his twentieth year he became totally blind, but he held to his resolve to enter the ministry, and gave himself to theological and historical study. In 1879 the University of Edinburgh conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.D. In 1890, he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He died suddenly of a stroke in 1906. He never married. One of his hymns, "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go," has passed into the popular hymnology of the Christian Church. Matheson himself wrote of the composition: "I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes, and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high. "O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go" was written on the evening of Matheson’s sister’s marriage. Years before, he had been engaged, until his fiancée learned that he was going blind and that there was nothing the doctors could do. She told him that she could not go through life with a blind man. He went blind while studying for the ministry, and his sister had been the one to care for him through the years, but now she was gone. He was now 40, and his sister’s marriage brought a fresh reminder of his own heartbreak. It was in the midst of this circumstance and intense sadness that the Lord gave Matheson this hymn, which he said was written in five minutes.
NICANOR Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria [1866-1869] see 1861 and 1870
SOCIETY OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST – Popularly known as the "Cowley Fathers" the society is the oldest men's religious community in the Church of England. In 1850 R.M. Benson was appointed Vicar at Cowley and in 1866 took the vows with three others. The society has worked in India, South Africa, United States, Canada, as well as in Britain and in the 20th century played an increasing part in ecumenical affairs.
1867
ANGLICAN COMMUNION originally involved England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales to which was added the Protestant Episcopal Church of the USA in 1789. Due mainly to missionary endeavours by 1971 there were some 365 dioceses including in Brazil, China, and Japan. The focal point of the Anglican Communion has been the succession of Lambeth Conferences since 1867 which started with 70 bishops at its inaugural meeting and reached 310 in 1958. In 1966 an Anglican centre was set up in Rome to facilitate better understanding between the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches with this action being endorsed at the 1968 Lambeth Conference.
BETHEL INSTITUTIONS – Housing for disadvantaged. Developed from a farmhouse near Bielefeld Germany with five epileptic boys which opened in 1867 as a result of revival in Westphalia, the institutions have grown, housing over 10,000 people. Besides homes for epileptics, mental patients, tramps, refugees, and youths in need of guidance, there are institutes for deacons and deaconesses, a mission to East Africa, a theological college, and secondary schools. The institutions were named Bethel by Pastor Friedrich von Bodelschwingh [see 1872].
BRITISH NORTH AMERICA ACT [1867] was the “foundation charter” of the Dominion of Canada passed by the British Government. The self governing colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario after a series of conferences were joined together under a federal government. The act preserved the monarchy in British North America with a House of Commons elected by the people and a Senate appointed from three basic regions of the nation. Two key questions left to the provinces were property and education which allowed separate schools to continue and placated the French Canadians.
BULLINGER, ETHELBERT WILLIAM [1837 – 1913] - Anglican clergyman, Author and Theologian. His family traced their ancestry back to Heinrich Bullinger, the Swiss Reformer [see 1531]. He was educated at King's College London. He later received a Doctor of Divinity degree in 1881 from Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury who cited Bullinger's "eminent service in the Church in the department of Biblical criticism. He was ordained in 1862 and in 1867 Bullinger became clerical secretary of the Trinitarian Bible Society [see 1831], a position he would hold till his death in 1913. In the great Anglican debate of the Victorian era, he was a Low Churchman. He is well known for his books including the Companion Bible. He was also a practiced musician.
CANADA – The Church since 1867 has been the tale of ecumenism with the Presbyterians being untied in 1875, most of the Methodists in 1884, and the Anglican Synod in 1893. In 1925 the Methodists and Congregationalists and a large part of the Presbyterians joined to form the United Church of Canada. The growth of liberalism continued in the 20th century with many emphasising the social implications of Christianity such as James Woodsworth [see 1864]. However there are many in the denominations who remain conservative and orthodox as well as groups such as the Brethren, Mennonites and the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptists. Missions to the Indians and Eskimos however have been overwhelmingly in the evangelical and conservative groups. [See Canada – The Churches under British Rule 1763]
CHALMERS, JAMES [1841-1901] – Scottish missionary trained by the London Missionary Society who sailed in 1867 to the Cook Islands of Polynesia where for 10 years he continued the work begun at Rarotonga by John Williams [see 1817]. He however longed for un-evangelised areas such as New Guinea where he went in 1877. During his 24 years there despite setbacks he opened up many areas for the Gospel and established a training institution in Port Moresby seeing the whole area transformed. He was well known for his prayer, Christ-likeness and love for the people. He was murdered by cannibals during a journey to explore new territories.
HOWSON, JOHN SAUL [1816-1885] – New Testament scholar who was educated at Cambridge and served as a teacher and then headmaster of Liverpool Collegiate Institute. From 1867 he was the dean of Chester. He is best remembered as the co-author of the influential work “The Life and Epistles of St Paul”. Howson was chiefly responsible for the historical, geographical, and archaeological aspects of the work.
JONES, JOHN CYNDDYLAN [1840-1930] – Welsh expositor and theologian who trained for a Welsh Calvinistic ministry at Bala and Trevecca colleges. After serving as minister at English Calvinistic Methodist Church at Pontypool from 1867 for two years he became a Congregational minister in London. He returned to Wales, and ministered in Cardiff until his resignation. In 1888 he joined the staff of the British and Foreign Bible Society in South Wales. He was much influenced by American theologians such as W.G.T. Shedd [see 1888].
LAMBETH CONFERENCES – The origin of these conferences was as a result of the synod of the Anglican Church in Canada which was held to discuss the Colenso Affair [see 1853]. As a result the archbishop of Canterbury C.T. Longley proposed an informal gathering of bishops which would meet at his personal invitation to discuss Anglican problems, though having no legislative powers. In 1867 the first conference of 76 bishops met, and its success ensured that calling of future conferences, which have occurred every 10 years, with the majority of Anglican bishops attending. The 1888 conference endorsed the Lambeth Quadrilateral [see 1886], the 1920 conference issued a plea for reunion addressed to the heads of all Christian communities, and in the 1958 conference the main topic was a review on race relations and family planning. Though the conference lasts a month, large themes are frequently treated superficially.
PASSAVANT, WILLIAM ALFRED [1821-1894] – American Lutheran clergyman, editor and philanthropist who in 1867 was one of the founders the conservative General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America. He served for the last 50 years of his life in Pittsburgh where he was a pastor until 1855 of the English Lutheran Church. He edited numerous papers including the monthly “Missionary” from 1856 and the “Workman” first published in 1881. He opened hospitals and orphanage asylums in a number of American cities.
SCRIPTURE UNION – Founded in England in 1867 as the "Children's Special Service Mission". Scripture Union is now an international, interdenominational evangelical youth and Bible reading movement, with offices or representatives in 70 countries. Basic activities are children's evangelism and youth work especially through school groups. Scripture Union especially in Britain publishes books and booklets with a complete range of graded Sunday school lesson aids, storybooks for children and youth, training literature and discussion group material, as well as audiovisual material.
VON HUGEL, FRIEDRICH [1852-1925] – Roman Catholic philosopher and writer. Born in Florence of an Austrian diplomat father and a Scottish mother he went to England with his family at the age of 15 in 1867 and stayed there for the rest of his life. Baron of the Holy Roman Empire, Von Hugel was a student of many subjects and master of seven languages. He never held an office in the Roman Catholic Church but did have a relationship with controversialists within that organisation. He was a Roman Catholic who did not believe in Purgatory hereafter, and a mystic who walked the world with open eyes.
1868
BORNHOLMERS – The Danish Lutheran Mission, an evangelical layman’s home mission formed within the Danish national church. Its name originates from a revival movement on the island of Bornholm in the 1860’s and was officially formed in 1868. It has an evangelical basis accentuating the total depravity of man, reconciliation through Christ alone and sanctification as a consequence of salvation. In addition it accentuated individual spiritual gifts, the universal priesthood of all believers and the maximum spiritual development of all Christians.
BRIGHT, WILLIAM [1824-1901] – Church historian who was educated at Rugby and Oxford and after teaching there succeeded H L Mansel [see 1868] as regius professor of ecclesiastical history at Oxford in 1868. Of his numerous works the most important were “History of the Church” 313-451, “Early English History” and “The Age of the Fathers”. He was a High Church Anglican and a dynamic preacher.
CHARTERIS, ARCHIBALD HAMILTON [1835-1908] – Scottish Church leader who was royal chaplain to Victoria and Edward VIII and moderator of the Church of Scotland. Appointed to the chair of biblical criticism at Edinburgh University he was founder of Woman’s Guild, Young Men’s Guild and Deaconess Hospital as well as the “Life and Work” magazine.
CHRISTLIEB, THEODOR [1833-1889] – German preacher and theologian who in 1865 became pastor at Friedrichaften where he influenced members of the German royal family. He became professor of pastoral theology at Bonn in 1868 holding that position until his death. He was a conservative and resisted the German biblical critics despite much opposition, and organised missionary work.
EDISON, THOMAS ALVA [1847-1931] – Inventor who was born in Ohio and was a newspaper boy at 11 and later became a telegraph operator. In 1868 he purchased the publication "Faraday's experimental researches in electricity" which inspired his life's work. Of his 1,100 inventions, the best known are the phonograph, electric lamp, and the alkaline storage battery. Edison was a strong believer in God stating "the existence of an intelligent Creator, a personal God, can to my mind almost be proved from chemistry”. He was motivated by a firm faith that where man faced technological problems, God had in nature supplied materials necessary to solve them. Thus despite early losses, no difficulty daunted him.
FLAD, JOHANN MARTIN [1838-1915] – German missionary to Ethiopia. He was a saddler by trade and was one of a number of craftsmen who were selected to a new work in Ethiopia. He went to Ethiopia in 1855 and initially was well received. He became a victim of the persecution of Emperor Theodorus II in 1864 and two years later, with the his family held hostage, Theodorus compelled him to undertake a diplomatic mission to England. After the British had forced the downfall of Theodorus in 1868, Flad was able to pursue an undisturbed ministry of literature distribution and evangelism among the Ethiopian Jews until his death.
MANSEL, HENRY LONGUEVILLE [1820-1871] – Dean of St Paul's who was educated at Oxford and ordained in 1844. He was appointed as a professor in Oxford in 1859 and succeeded as professor of ecclesiastical history in 1866. Two years later he was made dean of St Paul's. Mansel maintained that man acquires knowledge of the nature of God only from supernatural revelation. F.D. Maurice [see 1838] replied by challenging both Mansel's concept of revelation his concept of Christianity. The conflict continued to drag on with little credit to either man.
MORTON, JOHN [1839-1912] – Founder of the Canadian Presbyterian Mission to the East Indians in Trinidad. The East Indians were brought into Trinidad as indentured labour for the sugar industry after emancipation, but social and religious factors inhibited their integration into Trinidadian Christianity, and Morton was sent to open a special mission for them. From 1868 until his death in 1912 he was the leader of the mission which included, besides Trinidad, work in Guyana, St Lucia, Grenada, and Jamaica. His approach was based on both education and evangelism. Although the Indian churches were small his emphasis on schools enabled the Indians for the first time to make their way in the West Indies. He was particularly enthusiastic about independent Indian settlement.
TAIT, ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL – Archbishop of Canterbury [1868-1882]. Born in Edinburgh and educated the Royal High School, his parents were Presbyterian, but he early turned towards the Scottish Episcopal Church, and was confirmed in his first year at Oxford. He won an open scholarship, took his degree and became fellow and tutor of Balliol. He was also ordained deacon in 1836 and priest two years later. Although his sympathies were on the whole with the liberal movement in the university, he never took a lead in the matter. He succeeded Arnold at Rugby School but left due to a serious illness in 1848. He had married at Rugby in 1843 but in the spring of 1856 five of his children died because of scarlet fever. He was consecrated bishop of London later that year and was translated to Canterbury in 1868. His last years were interrupted by illness and saddened by the death in 1878 of his only son Craufurd, and of his wife.
Tait as bishop of London devoted a very large part of his time at London in actual evangelistic work and to the end his interest in the pastoral side of the work of the clergy was greater than anything else. With his wife, he was instrumental in organising women's work upon a sound basis, and he did not a little for the healthful regulation of Anglican sisterhoods during the formative period in which this was particularly necessary. Nor was he less successful in the larger matters of administration and organisation, which brought into play his sound practical judgement and strong, common-sense. He was constant in his attendance in parliament, and spared no pains in pressing on measures of practical utility. The modification of the terms of clerical subscription (1865), the new lectionary (1871), and the Burials Act (1880) were largely owing to him. The Royal Commissions on Ritual (1867) and on the Ecclesiastical Courts (1881) were due to him, and he took a large part in the deliberations of both. He also promoted the healthy development of the Lambeth Conferences on the lines of mutual counsel. On the other hand, Tait was not successful in dealing with matters which called for the higher gifts of a ruler and especially in his relations with the liberal trend in modern thought. The archbishop died in 1882 leaving a legacy of peace to the church. Tait was a churchman by conviction; but although the work of his life was all done in England, he remained a Scotsman to the end. It was the opinion of some that he never really understood the historical position of the English Church and took no pains to learn. He succeeded Charles Thomas Longley [see 1862] and was succeeded by Edward White Benson [see 1883].
WHITE FATHERS – The common name for the “Society of Missionaries of Africa” taken from the white cassocks and mantles. The society was founded in 1868 by Charles Cardinal Lavigerie [1825-1892] archbishop of Algiers, to evangelise Africa. The Fathers are secular priests together with Lay brothers who live in community bound by oath to lifelong work in African missions and obedience to their superiors. They began their mission in Algeria and Tunisia and were unsuccessful in an attempt to penetrate the Sahara. Later they entered Buganda where they were very successful and subsequently going to Tanganyika, Nyasa, and Congo. The White Fathers were also much concerned with the abolition of slavery, improvement of agriculture, and the scientific exploration of Africa.
ZAHN, THEODOR [1838-1933] – German Lutheran biblical and patristic scholar who taught at Gottingen [1868-1877] followed by Kiel, Erlangen, and Leipzig. Though he was one of the greatest scholars of his day he did not have the impact that he might have had due possibly to his defence of orthodoxy in a day when this was far from popular. He was a prolific writer including twelve volumes on the New Testament.
1869
BLUMHARDT, CHRISTOPH FREDERICK [1842-1919] – German evangelical leader who became an assistant to his father Johann [see 1852] in 1869 at Bad Boll and succeeded him as head of the establishment in 1880. His theology included a strong emphasis on the righteousness of God and His judgement against “the flesh”. He was a member of the Diet of Wurttemberg from 1900-1906.
CHRISTADELPHIANS – A sect founded by Dr John Thomas who emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1832 and at first associated with the Campbellites and Millerites. Members accept the Bible as their sole authority. They reject the immortality of the soul and do not believe that Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit is God, as well as there being no personal devil. Salvation is through perseverance in good works and through acceptance of their doctrines and baptism.
DE LAGARDE, PAUL ANTON [1827-1891] – German oriental and Old Testament scholar who studied theology and philology at Berlin and Halle. He rejected the pietistic faith of his father and teachers and became a lifelong foe of organised religion. He entered into a productive scholarly career in ancient oriental literature, especially the Septuagint, but his unpleasant personality made it difficult to secure a university chair. Even after receiving an appointment at Gottingen in 1869 he remained an unrestrained polemicist.
GORDON, ADONIRAM JUDSON [1836-1895] – Baptist minister, educator, and author, graduated from Brown University USA in 1860. In 1869 he went to Clarendon Street Baptist Church, in Boston, a centre of evangelistic and philanthropic work. He founded a school training missionaries for home and foreign service and for pastor’s assistants, from which came Gordon College and its divinity school.
LINDSAY, THOMAS MARTIN [1843-1914] – Scottish church historian who was educated at Glasgow and Edinburgh and ordained in the Free Church of Scotland in 1869. Lindsay was appointed three years later to the chair of church history at his church’s Glasgow college. Lindsay was a defender of W.R. Smith in the heresy trial 1877-1881 that led to the latter deposition. He made substantial contributions to such projects as the Encyclopaedia Britannica and the Cambridge Modern History.
RANKIN, JEREMIAH EAMES [1828-1904] – Rankin was an abolitionist and a champion of the temperance movement. He was educated at Andover and was closely associated with Howard College where he was professor of homiletics and pastoral theology, and president. He served twice as delegate to general conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and once to the Congregational union of England and Wales. Rankin is best known as author of the hymn "God Be with You 'Til we Meet Again" In 1869 Rankin became pastor of Washington's First Congregational Church. This appointment followed a split in the church over the issue of race. Those who remained with the church felt that he was prepared to lead the church in a properly unbiased direction. While pastor of the First Congregational Church (1869-1884), Rankin's sermons were popular with vice president Wilson and numerous members of Congress.
SEELEY, SIR JOHN ROBERT [1834-1895] – English historian educated at Cambridge and became professor of Latin at University College London in 1863 and professor of modern history at Cambridge in 1869 where he succeeded Charles Kingsley [see 1842]. He is best known for his "Ecce Homo" of 1865 which tells the story of Jesus and his subsequent influence on the morals of the world. As it dealt only with the human side of the story the book was construed as an attack on Christianity and gave rise to much controversy.
TISCHENDORF, LOBEGOTT FRIEDRICH KONSTANTIN VON [1815-1874] – German Protestant theologian and textual critic who studied at Leipzig where he was led to combine a careful concern for the Greek language with a love of the sacred text. Though he was a professor in the theological faculty at Leipzig he spent many years in the libraries of Europe and the near East searching out unpublished ancient manuscripts. During his lifetime he published more manuscripts and critical editions of the Greek New Testament than any other scholar. His most famous discovery was the Codex Sinaiticus at St Catherine's monastery in Sinai which he visited several times. His critical edition of the Greek Testament from 1869 remains a basic reference tool for the New Testament scholar.
VATICAN 1 – This event was reckoned by Roman Catholics to be the 20th ecumenical council. The First Vatican Council was convened in 1868 and sat from December 1869 until July 1870. One of the major areas considered at the Council was the infallibility of the pope which caused significant problems in the unity of the Catholic Church and involved the loss of certain groups. The key figure in the council was the pope himself, Pius IX, who made his own convictions clear in his famous reply to one dissident bishop, “Tradition? I am tradition.”
VERBECK, GUIDO HERMAN FRIDOLIN [1830-1898] – Dutch-American missionary to Japan. Born in the Netherlands under Moravian influence he studied engineering at Utrecht and at the same time developed linguistic, literary, and musical skills. Migrating to the United States in 1852 he studied at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in New York before being ordained and setting sail for Japan as a missionary. Verbeck established a school in Nagasaki and taught English through the Bible. At the government’s request he opened a school for Japanese interpreters using the New Testament and the American Constitution as textbooks. Several of his students became prominent in national affairs. In 1869 he headed a school in Tokyo which became eventually the Japanese Imperial University. Later he was appointed official translator for foreign documents for the Japanese government. His final years were spent lecturing and preparing literature for the Japanese church.
WILBERFORCE, SAMUEL [1805-1873] – Bishop of Winchester and third son of William Wilberforce, Samuel was educated at Oxford. Brought up in an evangelical environment he was influenced strongly at Oxford by J.H. Newman [see 1845] and H.E. Manning [see 1865] to whom he was related by marriage. Ordained in 1828, after 10 years of parish work he became bishop of Oxford in 1845 and Winchester in 1869 being known as a High Church bishop. Prime Minister Gladstone would have made him archbishop of Canterbury but Wilberforce was killed by a fall from his horse. He debated at Oxford on Darwin’s Theory in 1859 which precipitated the later 19th century conflict between science and religion.
WORDSWORTH, CHRISTOPHER [1807-1885] – Bishop of Lincoln and hymn writer who was a nephew of the poet Wordsworth. He had a brilliant career in classics and mathematics at Cambridge. Wordsworth was headmaster of Harrow [1836-1844]. In 1850 he held a country living until 1869 when he was consecrated bishop of Lincoln. This conservative High Churchman was involved in controversy with the Wesleyans in 1873. He wrote a number of hymns.
1870
BARNARDO, THOMAS [1845‑1905] – Converted by Irish Plymouth Brethren in 1862, he moved to London where he founded his first home for destitute boys in 1870. In 1882 he started sending children to Canada because of better employment prospects. By the time of his death nearly 60,000 children had been admitted to his homes, 20,000 had emigrated and he had materially helped 250,000 others.
CREMER, HERMANN [1834-1903] – German Protestant theologian who became professor of theology at the University of Griefswald in 1870 combining it with a city pastorate that he held until his death. He strongly resisted the liberal theology movement and reaffirmed a traditional interpretation of Paul’s view of salvation.
ERSKINE, THOMAS [1788-1870] – This landed proprietor of distinguished ancestry and ample means lives in the history of Scotland as the most outstanding lay theologian that country has ever produced. He influenced profoundly some of the ablest men of his day including Dean Stanley, Thomas Carlyle, Benjamin Jowett, and Charles Kingsley. His book "The Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel" introduced to thousands a daring thinker of deep spiritual insight with something new and compelling to say about the Fatherhood of God, the nature of the Atonement, and the doctrine of election. His letters have long since taken the place as a minor religious classic and have been used as a textbook on practical Christianity in many college classrooms.
FIELD, FREDERICK [1801-1885] – Anglican scholar who was directly descended from Oliver Cromwell and was educated at Cambridge. He became partially deaf from an early age, the affliction worsened, and in 1863 the scholarly bachelor retired to Norwich where he devoted himself to his books. In 1870 he was appointed a member of the Old Testament Revision Company but age and infirmity prevented his attendance at meetings, however, his meticulous notes were always welcomed by his colleagues.
FINDLAY, GEORGE GILLANDERS [1849-1919] – Methodist biblical scholar who was born in Wales and educated at London University. He served his denomination’s theological colleges at Headingly and Richmond from 1870 until his retirement in 1917. Findlay contributed to “The Expositor’s Bible”, “The Expositor's Greek Testament”, “The Cambridge Bible”, and “The Pulpit Commentary”.
GILMORE, JAMES [1843-1891] – Scottish missionary to Mongolia who studied at Glasgow University and in Congregationalist theological colleges before he left for Mongolia in 1870 to reopen, under the London Missionary Society, work that had long been in abeyance. After language study in Peking he went to Krechta in order to learn the Mongol language and customs. Gilmore went to live in a tent on the plains, preferring to reach the nomads rather than the settled Chinese-speaking agriculturalists who his seniors advised him to evangelise. With tremendous perseverance and despite an almost total lack of response from all except the Chinese, Gilmore persisted in his task 15 years in the face of adverse criticism. Promised colleagues failed to materialise, and his lonely, hard, self-sacrificing task seemingly made little effect on Mongolian Buddhism.
LIDDON, HENRY PARRY [1829-1890] – Anglican preacher who was educated at Oxford and become a member of the Tractarian [see 1833] group after the secessions to Rome. He was a famous preacher at St Paul's over the last two decades of his life. His Oxford sermons sometimes took as long as 80 minutes to deliver during which he provided exhaustive treatments of theological topics in a closely argued and deeply scholarly manner.
MOULTON, WILLIAM FIDDIAN [1835-1898] – Headmaster and biblical scholar who was brought up in a strongly Methodist family and entered the Wesleyan Ministry in 1858 and began tutoring in classics at Wesley College Richmond Surrey. In 1870 he was appointed to the New Testament committee working on the Revised Version of the Bible and was by far its youngest member. In 1875 he was appointed headmaster of the newly founded Leys School Cambridge and stayed there for the rest of his life. In 1897 he published “A Concordance of the Greek Testament” in collaboration with his son J.H. Moulton [see 1908] and A.S. Geden.
NUREMBERG DECLARATION – A German Old Catholic [see 1889] theological statement. It was drafted by 14 German Catholic professors at a meeting in Nuremberg in 1870 which had been called to protest the decrees of the Vatican Council. It declared firstly that Vatican I was not a true ecumenical council because it was neither free nor morally unanimous; secondly that chapters 3 and 4 of the dogmatic constitution which defined the primacy of the pope were not dogma because they had not been universally believed and taught; and thirdly that papal infallibility would stir up conflicts between church and state, Catholics and non-Catholics; and fourthly that an unfettered general council should meet in Germany.
OVERBECK, FRANZ CAMILLE [1837-1905] – Professor of church history at Jena [1864-1870] and of New Testament and early Christian history at Basle [1870-1897]. Overbeck was an advocate of a totally secular interpretation of the church history. Although he was a member of the Protestant faculty of theology he was a professed atheist from about 1870 and was an unrelenting critic of both orthodox and liberal theology. He was a close friend of Friedrich Nietzsche [see 1889].
PATRIMONY OF ST PETER – Denotes the material wealth and possessions of the Church of Rome. Historically it refers to the lands given to the Holy See in 754 and 756 by Pepin the Short. These gifts became what were known later as the Papal States. Pepin's gift is significant in that it launched the temporal power of the bishop of Rome and its corresponding events were the beginning of Rome's claim to papal supremacy over the crowns of France and Germany. Papal temporal power over the vast part of Italy ended in 1870 when King Victor Emmanuel took possession of Rome as the capital of the free and united Italy. Papal economic power however was restored when Mussolini signed the 1929 Lateran Treaty. This declared Rome a holy city, returned it to the spiritual domination of the Church of Rome, and established the autonomous Vatican State. The Administration for the Patrimony of the Holy See is responsible for overseeing the Vatican’s worldwide investments. Estimates in the 1970s made it clear that the Vatican could be the world's largest business corporation.
RICHARD, TIMOTHY [1845-1919] – Baptist missionary to China who was born in Wales and went to China with the Chinese Evangelisation Society in 1870. Later he joined the Baptist Missionary Society. Like Ricci [see 1583] he planned to evangelise China through influencing the devoutly religious and the learned by adapting Christianity to Chinese culture and by education and literature. In 1891 he became secretary of the newly formed Christian Literature Society and started an ambitious publications programme. He succeeded finally in forming a university and remained in charge of it for its first ten years.
SANKEY, IRA DAVID [1840-1908] – American singing evangelist and associate of D.L. Moody [see 1886]. After service in the Union Army during the Civil War he returned to Newcastle Pennsylvania where singing soon became his chief interest. He often sang at Sunday School conventions. In 1870 as a delegate to the international convention of the YMCA, Sankey impressed D.L. Moody who persuaded him to join him in his evangelical work in Chicago. This meeting linked the two of them together for the next quarter of a century. They had a remarkable series of meetings in the British Isles from 1873 to 1875 during which the popular Sankey and Moody hymn book was published.
SCHAFF, PHILIP [1819-1893] – Theologian, church historian, and pioneer ecumenist, who was born in Switzerland the son of a carpenter and gained his education through scholarships eventually entering Tubingen University where he studied under F.C. Baur [see 1845]. Schaff was a brilliant student who was invited to become professor of church history and biblical literature in the theological seminary of the German Reformed Church at Mercersburg Pennsylvania where he and John Nevin [see 1840] shaped the Mercersburg theology. From 1870 into his death he was professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Beginning in 1866 he was also active in the cause of Christian unity through working in the Evangelical Alliance [see 1846]. A prolific writer he published A History of the Christian Church in seven volumes and helped to prepare the Revised Version of the Bible. In 1888 he founded the American Society of Church History and served as its first president.
SMITH, WILLIAM ROBERTSON [1846-1894] – Scottish Old Testament scholar who was educated in Scotland and Germany and in 1870 was appointed professor of Oriental Languages and Old Testament exegesis at Free Church College Aberdeen. Seven years later he was suspended after contributing to Encyclopaedia Britannica articles that allegedly undermined belief in the inspiration of Scripture. His uncompromising spirit led to his dismissal from the college in 1881 and he subsequently became editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and professor of Arabic at Cambridge where he also served for a time as chief librarian.
SOPHRONIUS IV Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria [1870-1899] see 1866 and 1900. Sophronius III was Patriarch of Constantinople from 1863 to 1866. In 1870 he was elected Greek Patriarch of Alexandria as a compromise candidate in a disputed election. He served there as Sophronius IV until his death in 1899.
SOUTHERN AFRICA MOZAMBIQUE – The 16th century Roman Catholic Mission effort faded away. During the late 19th century work was resumed through out Central Africa under the control of the White Fathers [see 1868] and in Zimbabwe by the Jesuits. In Portuguese East Africa the missionaries had the support of a Catholic government which restricted Protestant missions of which the most important were the Swiss Mission and the American Methodists. After Vatican Council II Roman Catholic pressure on Protestants eased.
