A - FOUNDERS OF C. M. SOCIETY, AND FIRST FIVE YEARS (1799—1804)

Summary

The design of a distinct Society for sending missionaries to the heathen, to be conducted by members of the Church of England, originated with a few Evangelical clergymen and laymen at the close of the last century. It was chiefly matured at the meeting of a religious association called ‘The Eclectic Society,’ assembling in the vestry of St. John's Chapel, Bedford Row, of which the Rev. Richard Cecil was then the minister. On successive occasions the principles upon which the proposed Society should be established were discussed, and the rules were prepared. In these previous discussions the following points were especially insisted upon:

That the Society should be conducted upon those principles which they believed to be most in accordance with the Gospel of Christ, and with the spirit of the Reformed Church of England. In the expressive language of Mr. Pratt, the management of the Society was to be kept ‘in Evangelical hands.’

That none should be sent out as missionaries but those who should appear to the Committee, after a careful examination, ‘to have themselves experienced the benefits of the Gospel, and therefore to be earnestly desirous to make known to their perishing fellow-sinners the grace and power of a Redeemer, and the inestimable blessings of His salvation.’ […]