Lucy Giroux
Missionaries have been part of the Christian faith for many years. With the great expanse of the British Empire it is logical that the need for missionaries would expand as well. The problem is that England was already experiencing a shortage of clergy due to the increased demand caused by industrialization. With a shortage of Anglican clergy in England, the call to leave home and hearth to encounter unforeseen perils defines the true meaning of a missionary. The reason that the clergy were willing to make this sacrifice reflects society's perception, and the clergy’s perception of what it means to be a missionary.
John Kent in Nineteenth Century Church and English Society describes missionary work as doing "the divine will of God" (Kent 109). The fact that many different religions feel that they are doing the will of God is completely immaterial to the Christian missionary. They feel that theirs is the one true faith and it is their "duty to convert the heathens to the one true faith" (Kent 112). The missionaries felt in doing their duty that they would reap their just rewards and secure for themselves a place in Heaven. Kent also tells us that " Victorian missionary work was treated as a saga of sacrifice, heroism, and Christian philanthropy" (Kent 109). The sacrifice was in leaving the comforts of home. The heroism was in the converting of the non-believers and the philanthropy was in the giving of oneself for the "betterment" of humanity.
In Jane Eyre we listen to St. John telling Jane his deepest desire to be a missionary. He says he "aspires but after the day when the cross of separation from fleshly ties shall be laid upon his shoulders, and when the Head of that church-militant of whose humblest members he is one, shall give the word, 'Rise, follow me!'" (347; ch. 30). St. John is foreshadowing his separation from his family to follow the call of the missionary. His sister Diana describes his ambition to go to India as a "fever in his vitals" (349; ch.30) and that her conscience "will hardly permit me to dissuade him from his severe decision…. It is right, noble, Christian: yet it breaks my heart" (350; ch.31). She sees the missionary work as something extreme and severe. When she talks of the fever in St. John’s vitals she talks of his consuming passion to be a missionary. Diana calls his decision severe because he is willing to give up the comforts of family and England to convert non-Christians in the unforgiving climate of India. Diana knows she could never live the life that St. John has chosen for himself but she thinks he is a nobler person for choosing it.
The reason for the great call for missionaries was twofold. It was perceived as a heroic calling and the size of the British Empire was growing rapidly. The British Empire covered over one-sixth of the world when Victoria assumed her reign in 1837. The largest of the British colonies was India, and this is where St. John proposes to take Jane. He asks her to marry him and become "a conductress of Indian schools, and a helper amongst Indian women" (394; ch. 34). He has been studying Jane and finds her suitable. He knows she can teach and finds her a virtuous woman. The British felt it was their duty to teach the Indian the ways of the western culture and their Anglican Christian faith so as to make them better human beings. In their arrogance and feeling of superiority they were as unaccepting of other people beliefs as they were to changes in their own value system. Jane speaks of St. John in India as being "Firm, Faithful and devoted…. he labors for his race…he clears their [Indian people] painful way to improvement" (440; ch. 38).
The acceptance of the righteousness of the missionary work by society shows why missionaries were willing to leave England for the unknown. They felt that even though their was a shortage of clergy to attend the English peoples needs, the colonists needed them more because they were so much farther below them to start with. These non-believers (the Indian people) had to be taught Christianity while the English people had the faith; they just didn’t always practice it. The clergy also felt that working as a missionary secured them a place in heaven. When Jane talks of the impending death of St. John she says "his glorious sun hastens to its setting…. he anticipated his sure reward, his incorruptible crown" (441; ch. 38). This reflects the most basic reason the clergy would become a missionary, the ultimate reward of eternal salvation.
Works Cited
Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Boston: Bedford, 1996.
Kent, John. "Nineteenth-Century Church and English Society." Victorian Studies 41 (1997): 107-17.