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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
Happy will it be, if our conquests should open the way for a farther introduction of the Gospel, and for the extension and enlargement of Christ's Kingdom … What a lustre would such an accession give to British conquests in the Eastern world!
(Dr Glasse)A CENTURY before this quotation, Humphrey Prideaux, who was to become Dean of Norwich, castigated the East India Company for bringing down God's curse on it for neglecting to propagate Christianity in India. He pointed out that the English East India Company had fallen from wealth and power while the Dutch company, which furthered Christianity in its territories, was thriving. Prideaux put forward nine proposals to bring the English company back into God's favour. Amongst them, he recommended that the Company should provide chaplains, set up schools and establish a seminary to supply Protestant ministers who would ‘oppose the Popish priests who swarm in India’. Consonant with the spirit of the age, with its rash of societies for the improvement of England's morals and manners, Prideaux sought to improve the morals and manners of India. He also advocated the appointment of a bishop in order to ensure a proper Anglican footing for the clergy. Prideaux, however, was sceptical of the Company fulfilling its Christian obligations voluntarily and urged his readers to ensure that a law was passed in Parliament to force the East India Company into action. His fears were well founded.
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