Robert Morrison, Bible Translator of , 1782-1834 By C. P. Hallihan

• INTRODUCTION church—although not always visible or acceptable to the ‘principalities’ and Media coverage of the 2008 Olympics in ‘powers’ (Romans 8.38)—is estimated to brought China to the forefront of number in the tens of millions. our attention. Many Christian people in would almost intuitively think The first of His servants in this noble com- of James (1832–1905) mission was Robert Morrison. Morrison or (1902–1970) among had prayed that ‘God would station him early Protestant workers in China; in in that part of the field where the diffi- Wales, Griffith John (1831–1912) is culties are the greatest, and to all human remembered, and in , William appearances the most insurmountable’:1 Chalmers Burns (1815–1868) is honoured God sent him to China. He entered China in connection with the 1839 revival at at a time when endeavour M’Cheyne’s church as well as for his work was highly restricted—allowed in only a in Canton and other Chinese cities. From couple of cities and with the government North America went, amongst many threatening death to anyone teaching others, William Jones Boone (1811– the to foreigners. Mor- 1864), Harlan Page Beach (1854–1933) rison learned the language and taught and Charlotte (1840–1912). Most others, and when not allowed to give the memorable of all in connection with spoken Gospel endeavoured to produce the Olympics is the Sabbath-keeping literature and Scriptures for the people Olympic champion Eric , there. He did not, however, go to China born to Scottish missionary parents in with false expectations; when asked by a Tientsin in 1902. He died in 1945, hav- shipping agent shortly before his arrival ing worked in China for twenty in China, ‘Do you really expect years. God certainly moved His you can make an impression chosen servants into that vast on the great Chinese empire?’, land from the late 18th cen- Morrison answered, ‘No Sir, I tury on, and today the Chinese expect God will!’2 Trinitarian Bible Society – Quarterly Record

During his years in China, Morrison would China has the world’s oldest continu- be able to claim few initial converts but ous civilization, a recorded history of laid the foundations for subsequent about four thousand years. The era of Bible, educational and medical work the Shang dynasty approximated to the that would have a significant and endur- Biblical time from Abraham to David, ing impact on the culture and history of and the Chou dynasties from David to the nation. His impact is honoured today the Maccabees. After that came the Han not only by Christians but by govern- eras, up to the start of the 3rd century ments as well. On the bicentenary of his AD, when the administrative/bureau- arrival in China, a conference was held in cratic model of government was per- Washington, DC, in which Morrison was fected—a model which would be cop- hailed as ‘a bridge between cultures’. A ied by every successive dynasty. report on the conference said: The sheer size of China and its popula- In particular today, at a time when tion demands a functioning bureaucracy, China is assuming ever greater impor- the more so when you realise that many tance in international relations, the of these successive dynasties began as beginnings of modern diplomatic forces of occupation or rebellion. The and commercial contacts between Han Dynasty ran from about 200 BC to China and the western world become AD 200, and its descendants are still the visible in Morrison’s work for the East most numerous ethnic group in China. Company and as ambassadorial Empress Wu,4 the only woman to be interpreter... His long-term influence ‘Emperor’, lived during the Tang dynasty, is, however, most intensely felt in his 618–907, when China ruled Siberia, translations.3 Korea and Vietnam, as well as controlling the ‘Silk Road’ through Afghanistan. The Before looking in a little more detail at Song Dynasties were from 960 to 1279, Robert Morrison and his work, a very an era of advance in technology, cul- broad-brush background sketch of ture, economics and agriculture; there China would be of use. were new strains of rice as well as the printing press. Then came the Mongols, 1279–1368, with the Yuan Dynasty and • CHINA BACKGROUND Khublai Khan. Next was the Ming (‘bril- liant’) Dynasty, 1368–1644, lampooned History as fatter, lazier, crazier and nastier than This may seem a little tedious—but it most. In this era the Chinese Admiral helps a great deal to appreciate that the Zheng-He sailed with three hundred China of Protestant missionary labour ships to New Zealand and within reach was aware of itself as a cultured civili- of Africa.5 This was never followed up, its zation, long-rooted, proud, huge and significance unrealised. self-sufficient, needing noth- ing that came from outside. To The Chinese world-view was them we were (are?) the unciv- becoming ingrown, and ‘politi- ilised, unstable, ignorant and cal ideology’ led to false inter- insignificant barbarians! pretation of events. The Ming

12 Issue Number: 585 – October to December 2008 joined up all the bits and pieces of the that the individual man must seek this Great Wall to be what we see today,6 harmony via reconciliation: each man to moved the capital to Beijing, built the himself, and thus to each other. ‘Heaven’ Forbidden City, and gave Macau to is a kind of pervasive moral force, not a the Portuguese. From 1644 to 1911 place or destiny. You can thus see how the Manchus took over China as the the simplest preaching of the Gospel of . As ‘incomers’ they were the Lord Jesus Christ is utter irrationality extremely conservative and inflexible in to the Confucian. maintaining ‘Chinese’ norms. Just when the Western world was attempting con- Lao Tzu, author (probably) of the Tao Te tact and trade, the Qing had no concept Ching (The Way and the Virtue), thought of independent equal nations; there that the Ritual-Music Culture itself was was China and then there was the rest. the problem, and therefore that Con- A community of nations was beyond fucius’ attempt to reclaim it was com- their conception, and to sympathise at pounding the error. He saw the answer all with Western ideas was to threaten to social instability in the Tao, the Way, national security and even cease to be and in the principle of wu-wei, accept- Chinese. This was the cultural China into ance and passivity, ‘purposeful inactiv- which Robert Morrison and his associ- ity’, with the less external imposition ate William Milne came. the better. The yin-yang symbol is the hallmark of Taoism: active passivity and Philosophy and Religion dualism. The opening words of the Tao Insofar as such things can be dated, we Te Ching still appeal to the ‘religious’ can trace Taoism and Confucianism to mind: ‘The Way that can be told is not c. 500 BC. The ‘fathers’ of these philoso- the eternal Way’ and ‘The name that can phies were contemporaries, both seek- be named is not the eternal name’.8 To ing a way of returning Chinese society come, preaching with authority that to an older concept of harmonic life but Name that is above every name, the opposed in their vision of the way. WAY, the truth and the life (John 14.6), was to challenge the very fabric of the Confucius is a Latinised form of K’ung Fu- Taoist view of the world. When Bud- tzu, or Grand master Kung. In the mod- dhism came to China in the 6th century ern West, Confucius would be called AD it was in the form of Ch’an Buddhism, a humanist, believing in an inherent much given to meditation on the ‘vast goodness of the individual to provide emptiness’ within. Taoism interacted the basis for virtue and seemly conduct. with this, becoming a forerunner of Solutions are to be sought and found in Zen Buddhism, much favoured subse- individual humanity itself, not in any- quently in Japan.9 thing supernatural or religious. To do this, Confucius sought a modified Ritual- When we look at early ‘Christian’ impact Music Culture.7 In this culture, we have the usual difficulty of previous philosophers had laid authenticity of sources. Both the responsibility of promoting Thomas and Bartholomew (of social harmony on the rulers. fame) were Confucius, however, believed there, we are told. With more

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certainty we can say that the Nestorians worldwide at that time. (and the Manichees), heading ever east- ward after their condemnation at Ephe- This then is the ‘religious’ China that the sus in 431, came to China in the 7th cen- Protestant came to, meet- tury, and there were Nestorian churches ing hostility from all indigenous authori- in China until the Mongol times.10 Over- ties, from the Portuguese, and from the lapping this, in 1294 John of Montecor- Roman Catholics. vino, a Franciscan monk, was sent to China. Within a short time he had bap- tised six thousand Chinese, established • ROBERT MORRISON 1782–1834 his churches in several cities, and had the New Testament and Psalms trans- Early Life and Callings • 1782–1804 lated into the Mongolian dialect of the Robert Morrison, the son of James Morri- court. By 1368 there may have been as son, a Scottish farm labourer, and Hannah many as one hundred thousand Roman Nicholson, an English woman, both active Catholics in China. members of the presbyterian , was born in Bullers Green, near From then until the arrival of the Jesu- Morpeth, Northumberland, on 5 January its at the end of the 16th century, no 1782, the youngest of eight children. The record exists of any professedly Chris- family soon moved to Newcastle11 where tian churches in China. The Jesuits his father found work in the shoe trade entered China in 1582 from a base in which better enabled him to support his the Portuguese colony of Macau. First growing family. As the children of firmly assuming a religious role, like Buddhist convinced Christians, Morrison and his monks, and then becoming more like siblings were raised learning the Bible Confucian scholars, and and the Westminster Shorter Catechism, his Jesuit colleagues identified with so much so that at the age of twelve he the Chinese elite. They prepared maps, could recite flawlessly from memory the practised astronomy, constructed and entirety of Psalm 119. repaired clocks that they gave to the emperor, and wrote treatises on Christi- At fourteen Morrison was apprenticed anity accommodating to the Confucian to his father’s business as a boot-tree world-view. By the beginning of the 18th maker, working twelve to fourteen century the Roman Catholic Church in hours a day. Notwithstanding the privi- China numbered two hundred thou- leges of his home and his busy occupa- sand. Jesuits were mostly very flexible tion, to his parents’ dismay he fell into about the . They viewed poor company and abandoned his ancestral rites as civil deference, not Christian upbringing—albeit only for religious worship, described Confucius a couple of years. Whilst he may have in semi-sacred terms as holy, and used appeared to have finished with his par- indigenous terms for God. The ents’ God, his parents’ God controversies arising from this had not finished with him. ‘accommodation of rites’ led to Remembering this time, in the disbanding of the Jesuits 1803 Morrison said,

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Timeline of Robert Morrison 1811 The Morrisons’ first child, James, 1760–1820 George III King of England born and died 1779 The Iron Bridge across the River 1812 The Morrisons’ second child, Severn in Shropshire completed Rebecca, born 1781 Henry Martyn born Grammar book sent for printing 1782 Robert born 5 January Adoniram and Ann Judson sailed for India on the Caravan 1783 John Ryland baptised William Carey in the River Nene 1813 William and Rachel Milne arrive in Macau 1787 William Carey ordained to the gospel ministry Chinese New Testament completed 1789–1797 George Washington President Edict against printing Christian of the USA books issued by Chinese govern- 1789–1799 The French Revolution ment 1791 John Wesley died 1814 The Morrisons’ son, John, was born 1794 Orthodox missionaries arrive in First Chinese convert baptised Alaska Chinese grammar book arrived 1795 Missionary Society founded Mary returned to England from 1797 Formation of English Baptist Home China Mission Society 1815 Battle of Waterloo 1798 Robert converted 1817 Robert travelled to Beijing William Willis Moseley burdened for Robert made Doctor of Divinity China 1818 The Morrison-Milne Bible 1799 Religious Society begun completed Church Missionary Society founded Founding of Ultra Ganges Mission 1800 The White House, Washington, DC, Founding of the Anglo-Chinese completed College in 1801 Robert began studies in Latin, Greek, Hebrew and theology 1819 Rachel Milne died Moseley published A Memoir on the 1820–1830 George IV King of England Importance and Practicability of Trans- 1821 Morrison’s published lating and Printing the Holy Scriptures Mary Morrison died in the Chinese Language 1822 William Milne died 1803 Robert entered Hoxton Academy 1824 Robert’s visit to England 1804 Hannah Morrison (Robert’s mother) died Married Eliza Armstrong British and Foreign Bible Society 1825 Stockton and Darlington Railway, founded England, opened 1805 Battle of Trafalgar 1826 The Morrisons return to China 1807 Robert ordained, sailed for China 1830–1837 William IV King of England via New York 1831 Trinitarian Bible Society founded 1809 Robert married Mary Morton 1832 Eliza Morrison returned to Began working for the East India England Company 1834 Robert Morrison died James Madison President of the USA Prohibition of slavery in British 1810 American Missionary Society Empire

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It was about five years ago that I was instructing poor children, as well as much awakened to a sense of sin... bearing witness of his faith in Christ to and I was brought to a serious con- unsaved friends and family. Finally, in cern about my soul. I felt the dread January 1803 he entered George Col- of eternal condemnation. The fear lison’s Hoxton Academy in London to of death compassed me about and I train as a Congregationalist minister. was led nightly to cry to God that he Despite his studies, Morrison continued would pardon my sin, that he would to visit the poor and sick, and found grant me an interest in the Saviour, opportunities to preach in villages and and that he would renew me in the churches around London. spirit of my mind. Sin became a bur- den. It was then that I experienced a Morrison had been born in the declin- change of life, and, I trust, a change of ing years of the Great Awakening, but in heart, too. I broke off from my former those years many of the men who had careless company, and gave myself been so greatly used in that revival still to reading, meditation and prayer. It worked to encourage missionary work, pleased God to reveal his Son in me, and numerous foreign mission agen- and at that time I experienced much cies were formed (including the London of the ‘kindness of youth and the love Missionary Society in 1795), giving rise of espousals’ [see Jeremiah 2.2]. And to publications such as The Evangelical though the first flash of affection wore Magazine and The Missionary Magazine. off, I trust my love to and knowledge Older figures such as Charles Simeon of the Saviour have increased.12 and John Newton laboured hard to present the call to missionary work and In young Morrison’s renewed faith he Morrison again felt the call to service in seldom failed to find time for reading distant lands. His parents continued to and meditation. He would frequently oppose this calling—Morrison’s mother bring his Bible and Christian books— most strongly—and in obedience he such as he could obtain—to work promised that he would not leave and read whenever possible,13 all too England while she lived. He was there- familiar with the tug of the world on a fore present to care for her in her last ill- young man’s life. Soon he felt the pull to ness, and just before her death in 1804 Christian work and wanted to become a joyfully received her blessing on the missionary, but it was a desire opposed work to which God had called him. by his parents. While submitting to his parents’ will, when opportunity came Missionary Preparation • 1804–07 in 1801 for further education he began Following his mother’s death, Morrison studies in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, the- had joined the London Missionary Soci- ology and shorthand from the Rev. W. ety, with his mind leaning alternately to Laidler, a Presbyterian minister in New- Africa or China. He offered himself for castle. He attended meetings missionary service and after on the Lord’s Day, and followed one interview was accepted at the Lord’s teaching by visiting once and sent to David Bogue’s the sick with the ‘Friendless Academy in Gosport near Ports- Poor and Sick Society’ and mouth for further training.

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In the late 18th century, William Wil- Canton City, with whom he shared lodg- lis Moseley of Northamptonshire was ings. As well as learning the language strongly burdened for the spiritual needs from Sam-tak, Morrison also learned of China and in 1801 published a tract something of Chinese culture: when urging ‘the establishment of a society he absentmindedly burned a piece of for translating the Holy Scriptures into paper with Chinese characters on it, the languages of the populous oriental Sam-tak stormed out—the burning of nations’.14 Visiting the British Museum he the Chinese characters had sparked a found a manuscript of most of the Chi- superstitious rage. The young foreigner nese New Testament translated by early returned several days later and from Roman Catholic missionaries and imme- then on Morrison wrote his characters diately printed a further tract entitled A on a piece of tin that could be wiped Memoir on the Importance and Practica- clean. They continued to work together, bility of Translating and Printing the Holy using as the basis of their studies an Scriptures in the Chinese Language,15 early Jesuit Chinese translation of the copies of which were sent to all Angli- Gospels, Evangelia Quatuor Sinice, and can bishops and to mission agencies in a handwritten Latin-Chinese dictionary. hopes of bringing this great land to the Morrison made considerable progress forefront of their endeavours. in both learning an extremely difficult language and in crossing the cultural The majority of replies that Moseley had divide: in due course, Yong Sam-tak received were negative, but one copy even joined him in family worship. of the tract found fertile ground. At the Academy, Dr. Bogue read the tract and The goal of the directors of the mission replied to Moseley that if he were a was that Morrison should master ordi- younger man he would have ‘devoted nary Chinese speech and thus be able the rest of my days to the propaga- to compile a dictionary for the benefit tion of the gospel in China’. Instead, he of future missionaries, as well as making searched for suitable young men to a start on a translation of the Scriptures. send and found Robert Morrison. Mor- But this couldn’t be done with Mor- rison was thus turned from the idea of rison learning Chinese from one man Africa and settled on China as his mis- in England. To do this it was necessary sion field, writing to a friend, ‘I wish I to get onto Chinese soil—which would could persuade you to accompany me. not be easy to do without upsetting the Take into account the 350 million souls Chinese authorities. Foreigners were not in China who have not the means of allowed to converse with the local peo- knowing Jesus Christ as Saviour...’ .16 ple except for purposes of trade, and the missionaries would not be going to China Morrison studied medicine at St. Bar- for commerce. Even if they had been, tholomew’s Hospital and astronomy at every foreigner was strictly interrogated the Greenwich Observatory, on arrival as to his business while diligently pursuing the and if he had no reasonable study of the Chinese language, answer—or if his answer was which he was learning from a not what the Chinese officials student, Yong Sam-tak from would accept—he was nor-

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mally bundled unceremoniously onto were hostile to Protestant missionaries the next ship and sent away. Morrison and would stir up the people against was fully aware of these dangers; yet, in them. July 1806, he travelled to visit his family and bid them farewell, and after preach- True to the stories, on his arrival in ing thirteen times in London, Edinburgh Macau he was stripped and interviewed, and Glasgow returned to London. and on 7 September expelled by the Roman Catholic authorities. From there Early missionary endeavour he went to the Thirteen Factories (or • 1807–09 hongs: the ‘foreigners’ quarters’, which Robert Morrison was formally ordained Chinese citizens often referred to as ‘bar- 17 to the work in London on 8 January barian houses’ ) outside , 1807, and on 31 January he sailed for where the chief of the American sector China. His first hurdle was travel: the offered him a room in his house. Soon only ship heading for China belonged after, Morrison gained lodging in the to the , and the East American Supercargoes of Messrs Mil- India Company had a policy of not carry- nor and Bull and was often thought to ing missionaries. Thus an initial voyage be American—a benefit since the Chi- of nearly three months took him first, nese seemed not to dislike and suspect providentially as it turned out, to New Americans quite as strongly as they did York, where he spent nearly a month the English. He had to take care, how- and was able to secure the interest and ever, in case anyone suspected that influence of the United States consul he was trying to learn Chinese, and he who would provide a promise of protec- could not leave his books in the open in tion for him with the American Consul at case it should be supposed that he was Guangzhou (Canton). Another voyage, attempting to master the language. Sur- and Morrison finally reached his goal on prisingly, some Chinese Roman Catho- 4 September 1807. lics offered to teach him such as they could, but Mandarin The first move of a Western newcomer was not the language of the common to the Far East was to present letters man. In the best tradition of Tyndale, of introduction—such as those Morri- Morrison’s aim was not to translate the son received during his respite in New Scriptures into the tongue of a com- York—to leading Englishmen and Amer- paratively small, highly educated and icans. In Guangzhou Robert Morrison wealthy class, but to lay a solid, broad was kindly received by his countrymen foundation for future mission work in and the Americans, but their stories of the common tongue. the obstacles in the way of missionary work were disheartening. Not only were In an attempt to reach the general the Chinese people forbidden by the populace, Morrison at first attempted government to have dealings to conform closely to Chinese with Westerners—often on manners. He tried to live on penalty of death—but Roman Chinese food, even becoming Catholic missionaries at Macau, adept with chopsticks; he grew protected by the Portuguese, his nails and pigtail long, wore

18 Issue Number: 585 – October to December 2008 a Chinese frock and thick Chinese shoes. resented by the Chinese authorities at Soon he came to realise that this was Guangzhou and reprisals were threat- a mistake. The unaccustomed Chinese ened against the English community, food made him ill, and the dress—at a who fled to Macau with Morrison and time when he found it best to be incon- his precious luggage of manuscripts spicuous—only made him stand out and books in tow. The political difficulty more amongst the native people. Rather finally passed, but it left the Chinese than avoiding attention, he was attract- even more intensely suspicious of for- ing it. In due course, Morrison resumed eigners thereafter. Western deportment. A Family, a Job and a Colleague Morrison often found it best to hide • 1809–13 himself from the Chinese authorities, Morrison had managed to master both and spent many hours cloistered alone Mandarin and during his stay in his room working on his dictionary in Guangzhou, but was now uncomfort- (which in time would run to six volumes) ably housed at Macau, paying an exorbi- and Bible translation, depending upon tant price for a miserable top-floor room. Chinese servants and assistants to help He had not been there long before the with daily needs and, surreptitiously, the roof fell in, and in repairing it his land- Chinese language. He was not allowed lord raised his rent by a third, effectively to preach, and could only speak of his forcing him out into the streets. Mor- faith behind closed and locked doors. rison had been unwell when he arrived He spoke to his servants and assistants in Macau, and his health continued to of the true faith, but rather than heed suffer greatly. Nevertheless he laboured his testimony many of them cheated at his Chinese dictionary and his transla- him, demanding extortionate sums tion work, in his private prayers pouring for all service and provision. Expenses, out his soul to God in broken Chinese, even without the unscrupulous acts of the better to master the native tongue. his associates, were high. Morrison tried In his zeal, he paid three Chinese boys to living in a single room in order to lower have tea in his room and converse with his expenses, but found the lack of fresh him as a way to help both them and his air and exercise wore upon his body. He own language skills, but shortly had to was surrounded by an idolatrous city abandon the idea. About it Morrison full of hostile people. The utter loneli- wrote: ‘A-Sam, a lad, showed some levity ness oppressed him, and his prospects and disposition to laugh... The novelty of for relief were non-existent. seeing a Fan-kwei—“foreign devil”—sit- ting down to address them in their own Life in China was always overshadowed language, perhaps in broken Chinese, on by Britain’s political troubles. Then prob- new and strange topics to them, appears lems in Guangzhou came to a head: Brit- at first very odd, and boys are disposed ain was at war with France, and to levity...’.18 a British naval squadron had blockaded Macau to prevent In his distress of spirit he the French from striking at thought of leaving China for English trade. This was fiercely , Malaya, where there

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would be fewer barriers to missionary loneliness, much affected Mary, and her activity. But in the kindly grace of our health suffered. English and American sovereign God, he met the Morton fam- residents treated them kindly, but cared ily, newly arrived in Macau. This meeting little for their Gospel work—their main persuaded him to stay, and in the provi- reason for being there. Their first child, dence of God he married the Morton’s James, was born on 5 March 1811, and daughter, Mary, on 20 February 1809. died on the same day.19 The Chinese opposed the burial and Mary was too In grudging respect for his perseverance ill to attend, so Morrison buried his first and growing ability, on the very day of child on a lonely mountainside. their marriage Morrison was offered the post of Chinese secretary and translator Nevertheless, the next year saw the birth to the British Factory by the East India of another child—a daughter—and a Company, at a salary of £500 per annum. Chinese grammar book which was sent Although highly irregular for a mission- to Bengal for printing. The book brought ary to be in paid employment of this many anxious thoughts: he heard no sort, Morrison was concerned about the more of it for another three long years. heavy financial burden he was placing Morrison wasn’t inactive during those on the London Missionary Society and years, working on tracts and a cate- accepted the position. The post supplied chism, as well as on the book of Acts (the what he most needed: security, and legit- printing of which he paid himself, at an imacy in the eyes of the authorities. In exorbitant cost). He also translated the addition, rather than hindering the work Gospel of Luke and had it printed, only of the mission, it furthered it because to have the Roman Catholic bishop at the daily work of Company translation Macau order it to be burned as heresy. strongly developed his familiarity with the language. In addition, he could now Despite the problems, the mission sent go about more freely and interact more out more missionaries—William and openly and fluently with the Chinese Rachel Milne—to join Morrison. They people. It was also beneficial in that arrived in Macau on 4 July 1813, only his mastery of the Chinese tongue was to be expelled a few days later by the noted by the Company as valuable for Roman Catholic authorities working their own affairs, placing him on a very with the government. stable footing with his employer. Worse was yet to come for the mission- Morrison had, however, been forced aries. By this time copies of Morrison’s to leave Mary in Macau and return work had come into the hands of the to Guangzhou alone, since foreign Chinese authorities, who saw the mate- women were not allowed to reside rial as an attempt to undermine Chinese there. The seaways between Macau and religion and custom. Thus, they issued a Guangzhou were full of pirates, formal edict making the pub- and both Morrison and Mary lication and printing of Chris- spent many anxious days as tian books in Chinese a capital he travelled between the cit- offence. Morrison forwarded ies. These perils, as well as the a translation of this proclama-

20 Issue Number: 585 – October to December 2008 tion to England, but rather than aban- and not excite the suspicion that Euro- doning his work, he carried it forward, peans would. stating that ‘We will scrupulously obey Governments as far as their decrees Milne travelled around surveying the do not oppose what is required by the country, distributing tracts and Testa- Almighty; I will be careful not to invite ments as opportunity arose. He visited the notice of Government.’20 the island of Banca and then went to Batavia, the principal town in Java, The Milnes settled in Guangzhou, and where the Governor welcomed him began the arduous task of learning Chi- and sent him at government expense nese, which William claimed required through the interior settlements of ‘bodies of iron, lungs of brass, heads Java. From there Milne made his way to of oak, hands of spring steel, eyes of Malacca, receiving equal kindness from eagles, hearts of apostles, memories of the authorities, returning to Guangzhou angels, and lives of Methuselah’.21 in the autumn of 1814. In reviewing the situation, the missionaries felt that Shortly thereafter the Morrisons fol- Malacca—situated between India and lowed them to Guangzhou, and both China with means of transport to almost families waited for the government’s any part of China and the adjoining next move. archipelago—had the best advantage for the furtherance of the work. Thus, First Bible and First Believer Milne settled at Malacca. • 1814–17 Despite the problems that surrounded In that same year, on 14 May—seven Morrison and his colleagues, by the years after his arrival—Morrison bap- end of 1813 the whole of the New Tes- tised the first Protestant convert, Tsae A- tament translation was completed and Ko. Morrison acknowledged the imper- printed. The translator readily conceded fection of the man’s knowledge, but its defects, but claimed that it was a he relied on the familiar words, ‘If thou translation of the New Testament into believest with all thine heart’ (Acts 8.37). the genuine colloquial speech of the Morrison recorded: ‘At a spring of water Chinese, and would be understandable issuing from the foot of a lofty hill by the to the common man. sea-side, away from human observa- tion, I baptized him in the name of the The missionaries now sought to ensure Father, Son, and Holy Spirit... May he be 22 the widest distribution of the printed the first fruits of a great harvest.’ The copies of the Scriptures. Several parts of native Chinese Church was begun. the Malay Peninsula were under British protection, and this seemed a promising More good news came that year. One field for a mission station with a printing was the birth of a son; the other the press within reach of the Chi- long-awaited arrival of the nese coast. Chinese missionar- grammar book—attractively ies could be trained, who could printed, good quality and then return to their homeland highly approved by all. Morri- with the Gospel and literature son’s massive Chinese diction-

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ary was still being produced, but even tions to the Emperor at Beijing. Morri- at this early date the East India Com- son’s own awareness of China was much pany undertook the cost of its printing enlarged by this, the journey taking him and spent £10,000 on the work, having through many cities and country dis- brought from England their own printer tricts, introducing him to new aspects and printing press. of Chinese life and character. The expe- rience was invaluable, serving not only The British and Foreign Bible Society to revive his health, but also to stimulate also helped the fledgling China mis- his missionary zeal—through all that sion by providing two grants of £500 vast tract of country and innumerable each towards the cost of printing the population, there was not one solitary New Testament, and a director of the Protestant missionary station. Also in East India Company bequeathed to 1817 he was made a Doctor of Divinity Morrison $1,000 for the propagation of by Glasgow University and published A the Christian religion, which Morrison view of China, for philological purposes: devoted to printing a pocket edition of containing a sketch of Chinese chronol- the New Testament. An earlier edition ogy, geography, government, religion & had been awkwardly large—indeed, customs, designed for the use of persons in due course the whole Bible in 1823 who study the Chinese language. would extend to twenty-one volumes. As this New Testament was a book that A dispensary, a college, and a great was likely to be seized and destroyed by loss • 1817–22 hostile authorities, size could be a prob- Robert Morrison was not only a pioneer lem; but a pocket Testament could be in spreading the Christian Gospel in carried about without difficulty, slipped China. As he had been in his younger into pockets or hidden in the folds of days, he was profoundly stirred by the robes. Thus a small edition was printed misery, the poverty, and the unneces- and many Chinese departed from sary suffering of the poor, and particu- Guangzhou into the interior with copies larly noticed that the Chinese poor often of this invaluable little book. spent all their livelihoods on drugs and herbs that were absolutely useless. He Mary Morrison was diagnosed as incur- therefore established a dispensary which ably ill and ordered to England. She was headed by an intelligent and skilful sailed with their two children, leav- Chinese practitioner, where native dis- ing Morrison to toil in solitude for the eases could be treated more humanely next six years. During this period Mor- and effectively than was usual in China, rison was officially dismissed from the and introduced the use of vaccinations. employment of the East India Company This practitioner had learned the main because of his Christian publishing principles of European treatment, even work—a dismissal which was not imple- receiving great help from Morrison’s mented by the local officers. friend Dr. Livingstone, and did Instead, in 1817 he was sent by much to alleviate the suffer- the Company to accompany ings of the poorer Chinese. Lord Amherst’s embassy as interpreter in their presenta- Morrison and Milne translated

22 Issue Number: 585 – October to December 2008 the Old Testament together and the set up, and students enrolled. While no press was kept steadily at work. Tracts student was compelled to declare him- of various kinds were issued and Mor- self a Christian or to attend Christian rison wrote a little book called A Tour worship, it was hoped that the strong round the World, hoping to acquaint Christian influence would lead many of his Chinese readers with the customs the students who had come for a liter- and ideas of European nations and the ary education to become teachers of benefits of . He also wrote Christianity. home, explaining that the Chinese lan- guage was spoken by some one-third of A settlement, under British protection, the world’s population and urging the was now well established in the midst of friends of China to take up this tongue— those islands which were inhabited by surely some could be found who would a large Malay and Chinese population, be willing to follow the call of God to and reinforcements from the London make known the Christian faith to the Missionary Society were sent out from many lands where Chinese is spoken, or England. These new missionaries spent to help those who did. a period at the college in Malacca and were then sent on to various centres: One way that the missionaries them- Penang, Java, Singapore, Amboyna— selves could further this cause was by wherever they could find a footing and the establishment of schools in which establish relations with the people. In others could study the languages. Fol- this way many new stations of the Ultra lowing Milne’s survey of suitable loca- Ganges Mission sprang to life. A maga- tions, the original Anglo-Chinese College zine, The Gleaner, was published to keep was located in the British Straits Settle- the various stations in touch with one ments of Malacca, Malaysia. It was also another and to share information of Morrison’s hope that the Malacca col- progress and problems in the different lege would prepare the way for the quiet areas. The printing presses poured forth and peaceful dissemination of Christian pamphlets, tracts, catechisms and trans- thought in China. Morrison and Milne lations of Gospels in Malay and Chinese; also established a school for Chinese and and, in order to overcome the obstacle Malay children in 1818.23 This was the of illiteracy, schools were founded for extreme eastern outpost of Protestant the teaching of the children. However, missions in Asia, and Morrison assumed reports from Ultra Ganges, which did not the name ‘Ultra Ganges’ mission. greatly vary from year to year, showed that the work was hard and seemingly Others took on board the work. The unproductive. The people listened but London Missionary Society gave the often did not respond, and converts ground, and the Governor of Malacca were few. and many residents subscribed. Morri- son himself gave £1,000 out of Mary Morrison returned to his small property to establish China, only to die in 1821. the college with Milne as presi- In 1822 William Milne died, dent. The building was erected Rachel Milne having died three and opened, printing presses years earlier. Morrison was

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left to reflect that he alone of the first (1797–1868) who learned Chinese and four Protestant missionaries to China went to Batavia and then to Ningpo, the remained, and he wrote a retrospective first Christian and the first single Euro- of those first fifteen years of missionary pean woman to do so. endeavour. China was as impervious as ever to European and Christian influence In November 1824 Morrison married but the amount of solid Christian liter- Eliza Armstrong, with whom he had five ary work accomplished was immense. more children. The new Mrs. Morrison The lonely Morrison visited Singapore in and the children of his first marriage January 1823 and met Sir Thomas Stam- returned with him to China in 1826. At ford Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor, who Singapore there were fresh trials: little was very keen to establish a college in progress had been made with Raffles’ Singapore along the lines of the college College (the institute subsequently col- at Malacca, and even thought to merge lapsed, to Morrison’s distress), and the the Malacca and Singapore colleges into new Governor had shown very little a single ‘Singapore Institution’. interest in encouraging the work dur- ing Morrison’s absence. Robert and A Return to England and Final days his family went on to Macau and then in China • 1823–34 to Guangzhou, where Morrison again Morrison journeyed on, from Malacca found that mission property had been and Singapore and then to England in neglected in his absence. 1824, where he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. He brought a large Changes in the East India Company now library of Chinese books to England brought the Morrisons into connec- for donation, but neither of the two tion with new officials, some of whom main English universities was willing had no respect for, or comprehension to accept them. His books remained in of, the calling of the missionaries. They storage at the London Missionary Soci- were inclined to assume a high hand ety for the next ten years, before finally until Morrison’s threat to resign pro- being accepted by University College voked interest from higher authorities London. Morrison anonymously pub- and secured more respectful treatment. lished China: a dialogue, for the use of Relations between the English trad- schools: being ten conversations between ers and the Chinese officials were daily a father and his two children concerning becoming more strained, and Morrison the history and present state of that coun- strongly disapproved of the attitudes try, wrote the Memoirs of the Rev. William revealed in the correspondence which Milne and began The Language Institu- he had to translate. Political turmoil tion in Bartlett’s Buildings, Holborn, Lon- would soon break down what restraint don, to train missionaries. He presented there was between China and England. his Chinese Bible to King George IV, There were grave faults on both sides; and taught Chinese to classes the officiousness and tyranny of gentlemen and ladies, stir- of the mandarins were hard to ring up interest and sympathy bear, but on the British inter- on behalf of China. In these est rested the more grievous classes was Mary Ann Aldersey accountability of forcing a

24 Issue Number: 585 – October to December 2008 trade in on the Chinese people. but only held the position a few days. Mission and Christianity were long the recipients of prejudice because of this In June 1834, with Eliza and their chil- woeful hostility. dren in England, Morrison prepared what was to be his last sermon. He was Morrison had left in the Chinese work a ill and lonely, but chose as his text ‘In native teacher, , one of Milne’s my Father’s house are many mansions’ converts, to carry on the work among (John 14.2). Regardless of the trials on the people. This man endured much for earth, the joy of the eternal Home would his faith, and was entirely consistent and ‘consist in the society formed there; the earnest during the long period of Mor- family of God, from all ages and out of rison’s absence. Other native Christians all nations’.25 were baptised, and the little church grew. It was also well known that many On 1 August 1834—the same year that believed in secret, but did not dare risk William Carey died in India26—the pio- persecution and ostracism by making a neer Protestant missionary to China died public confession. In 1832 Mrs Morrison in his son’s arms at his home, Number 6 returned to England, and in that year in the Danish Hong. He was fifty-two. Morrison reported that The next day his remains were removed to Macau, and on 5 August buried in the There is now in Canton a state of soci- Protestant Cemetery there, beside those ety, in respect of Chinese, totally differ- of his first wife and child. He left a family ent from what I found in 1807. Chinese of six surviving children, two by his first scholars, missionary students, English wife and four by his second. His only presses and Chinese Scriptures, with daughter married , a public worship of God, have all grown medical missionary, in 1847. up since that period. I have served my generation, and the Lord knows when Epitaph I must fall asleep. 24 S. Wells Williams, the Protestant mission- ary who would go on to become one of In 1833 the Roman Catholics again the West’s greatest Chinese scholars, moved against Morrison and the mission upon Morrison’s death said: work, bringing about the suppression of his presses and publications, and with it The dawn of China’s regeneration his best and most profitable means of was breaking as his eyes closed on spreading the Gospel of Christ. The Chi- the scene of his labours... His name, nese helpers set themselves loyally and like that of Carey, Marshman, Judson, quietly to circulate such publications as and Martyn, belongs to the heroic were already printed. At the same time age of missions... His work was the the East India Company lost its monop- work of a wise master-builder, and oly in China, and with it Morri- future generations in the son lost his employment—and Church of God in China will his financial stability. Later he ever find reason to bless Him was appointed government for the labour and example of translator under Lord Napier, Robert Morrison.27

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Sacred to the memory of Robert Morrison DD., The first protestant missionary to China, Where after a service of twenty-seven years, cheerfully spent in extending the kingdom of the blessed Redeemer during which period he compiled and published a dictionary of the Chinese language, founded the Anglo Chinese College at Malacca and for several years laboured alone on a Chinese version of The Holy Scriptures, which he was spared to see complete and widely circulated among those for whom it was destined, he sweetly slept in Jesus. He was born at Morpeth in Northumberland January 5th 1782 Was sent to China by the London Missionary Society in 1807 Was for twenty five years Chinese translator in the employ of The East India Company and died in Canton August 1st 1834. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them28

The inscription on Robert Morrison’s lege. From his English furlough came grave reads (see above): The knowledge of Christ supremely excel- lent: the means and the duty of diffusing Published Work it among all nations: being a discourse There are over thirty works published delivered before the London Missionary by Morrison other than the Scriptures, Society in Surrey Chapel May 11, 1825. In amazing in the light of the troubled Chinese he issued A summary of the doc- nature of his years in China. These works trine of divine redemption, An annotated ranged from ‘The Lord’s prayer in Chi- catechism on the teachings of Jesus, and nese characters’ as published in the several more, including a translation of Evangelical Magazine, to his massive Dic- The Book of Common Prayer. tionary of the Chinese language. For the serious student he wrote A view of China In 1835 the Funeral discourse, which had for philological purposes: containing a been delivered before the London Mis- sketch of Chinese chronology, geography, sionary Society at the Poultry Chapel, government, religion & customs, designed was issued, and steadily for over one for the use of persons who study hundred and fifty years there the Chinese language, along- have been biographies and side of which was A grammar studies of Robert Morrison. of the English Language: for the ’s 1924 Rob- use of the Anglo-Chinese Col- ert Morrison, a master builder

26 Issue Number: 585 – October to December 2008 was published in English and in 2002 Endnotes was translated into Chinese (Chuan jiao 1. Sherwood Eddy, Pathfinders of the World wei ren ma-li-xun) by Jian You-wen. (This Missionary Crusade (NY: Abingdon-Cokesbury interest in the great missionary to China Press, 1945), page 34. is good to record, particularly as, when 2. Natalie Lai, ‘Robert Morrison: Pioneer of friends have asked me what was to be Pioneers’, OMF International Prayer Point, the subject of this article and I replied 29/08/2007, www.omf.org/omf/australia/news/ ‘Robert Morrison of China’, the usual robert_morrison_pioneer_of_pioneers#. response has been, ‘Hmm, never heard of him’.) 3. ‘A bridge between cultures: commemorating the two-hundredth anniversary of Robert Mor- rison’s arrival in China—Report on the Confer- ence in Washington, March 2007’, The Centre for • INTERIM AFTERWORD the Study of —Oxford, www. cscic.com/A-bridge-between-cultures- In a further part of this article, the Chi- commemorating-the-two-hundreth- nese language and the Chinese Bible anniversary-of-Robert-Morrison-s-arrival-in- will be explored further, and brought China-Report-on-the-Conference-in- down to our own times. Before leaving Washington-March-2007. the more intimate connection with Rob- 4. A thoroughly nasty woman: vicious, ruthless, ert Morrison I must share my renewed content to murder her own son to gain a point. amazement at the spiritual commitment 5. Gavin Menzies’s book 1421: The Year China and fortitude of the missionary pioneers. Discovered the World is a fascinating account, Browsing again through the work of with far-reaching suggestions. Carey and Judson (and a few other early favourites), I am overwhelmed by their 6. They really were turning inward. patient, prayerful, costly enduring of 7. The Ritual-Music Culture taught that there such tribulation, affected deeply by the are strict rituals related to the proper way of stirring endurance and sufferings of the doing things, from serving tea to greeting wives and children, and amongst them superiors. ‘Music’ referred to the harmonious all the sense that at all costs, the Scrip- society that ensued from proper ritual. tures, enduring and powerful, testifying 8. I came across this classic sample of Taoist of Christ, able to make wise unto salva- thought: A man dreamt that he was a butterfly; tion, must be translated into the com- when he awoke he lost himself in the thought mon tongue for others to build with. that he might be a butterfly dreaming that he was a man. Brethren, let us give thanks for these 9. A useful guide to these religions can be continuing apostolic acts, for the Scrip- found in The Illustrated Guide to World Religions tures, and above all for the Gospel of edited by Dean C. Halverson (Grand Rapids, Light and Life in the Lord Jesus Christ, MI, USA: Bethany House Publishers [my copy the only deliverance from the darkness 2003]). It is designed as an aid to and witness to those of other religions. of sin, ignorance and unbelief. 10. Nestorianism teaches that Jesus had distinct human and divine natures, as opposed to normal Biblical doctrine which teaches that the human and divine natures are united in

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the person of Christ. Manichaeism taught that 19. In time there would be more children born there is no omnipotent force for good, but to Robert and Mary: Rebecca Morrison (July that there are two forces, Good (Light) and Evil 1812), and (April 1814). (Darkness), neither of which is stronger than 20. ‘Robert Morrison: Pioneer missionary to the other and which are in constant conflict, China’, Congregational Federation often within the souls of men. Thus, knowledge www.congregational.org.uk/content. is the key to salvation. aspx?id=3947 11. There are suggestions that Morrison was a 21. ‘William Milne (missionary)’, Wikipedia, childhood friend of George Stephenson, who en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Milne_ invented the steam locomotive. (missionary). 12. Tony Lambert, ed., ‘The Power of Prayer’, 22. ‘Robert Morrison (missionary)’ Wikipedia, GCM – July/Aug 2007 www.omf.org/omf/us/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Morrison_ resources__1/newsletters/global_chinese_ (missionary). ministries/gcm_newsletter_2007/gcm_july_ aug_2007. 23. The school, named Anglo-Chinese College, later called Ying Wa College, was moved to 13. In the pattern of Carey, and surely by per- around 1843 after the territory suasion of the same Tutor. became a British possession. It exists today (?) 14. W. W. Moseley, The Origin of the First Protes- in Hong Kong as a secondary school for boys. tant Mission to China, and History of the Events 24. Eliza A. Morrison, Memoirs of the life and Which Induced the Attempt, and Succeeded in labours of Robert Morrison, 2 vols. (London: the Establishment of a Translation of the Holy Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans, Scriptures into the Chinese Language (London, 1839), 1.410. England: Simpkin and Marshall, 1842), p. 9. 25. ‘Robert Morrison (missionary)’, Wikipedia. 15. Ibid., p. 95. 26. Carey was featured in Quarterly Record no. 16. Lambert, ‘Power’. 554. Henry Martyn (Quarterly Record nos. 562 17. ‘Thirteen Factories’, Wikipedia, en.wikipedia. and 563), born in 1781, whose first inclination org/wiki/Thirteen_Factories. In 1835 one to service had been towards China, had died at of these factories became the home of and Tokat, Turkey, in 1812. Adoniram Judson, born housed the medical practice of missionary in 1788 (Quarterly Record nos. 570 and 571) . laboured on for Burma (Myanmar) and died at sea in 1850. 18. Andrew Gosling, ‘Religion and rebellion in China: the London Missionary Society collec- 27. Eddy, pp. 35–36. tion’, National Library of Australia Staff Paper, 28. ‘Robert Morrison (missionary)’, Wikipedia. www.nla.gov.au/asian/pub/aglms1.html.

“I know that the labours of God’s servants in the gloom of the dungeon have often illuminated succeeding ages, and I am cheered with the hope that my labours in my present confinement will be of some service to the millions of China.” (Robert Morrison in a letter to the London Missionary Society, quoted in A. M. Chirgwin, They translated the Bible [London, England: NSSU, 1964], p. 41)

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