THE GRACE OF GOODNESS
Ken R Manley and Barbara J Coe, ‘The Grace of Goodness’ JOHN SAUNDERS – Baptist Pastor and Activist, Sydney 1834-1848. Greenwood Press in association with Baptist Historical Society of NSW Inc.2014
Rev John Saunders (1806-59) was the pioneer Baptist pastor in Sydney from 1834 to 1848. As well as establishing the first Baptist Church at Bathurst Street in 1836 he became a leading figure in the religious and moral life of the colony. A leading figure in the temperance movement at a time when alcohol was still a major scourge, he was also a courageous and outspoken critic of the treatment of Aborigines by many British settlers at the fevered time of the trial of white men for the Myall Creek murders. Henry Reynolds called his sermon on this theme ‘one of the most eloquent presentations of humanitarian doctrine’ from that period.
The special feature of this book is that it not only tells the full story of Saunders’ numerous activities on behalf of missions, philanthropic, scientific and moral issues, but for the first time publishes a comprehensive and carefully edited collection of his fascinating letters, written whilst he was travelling as chaplain to female convicts aboard the George Hibbert and after his arrival in Sydney.
Contemporary colonial poet Charles Harpur described the ‘grace of goodness’ in John Saunders and this documentary biography demonstrates why not only fellow-religionists but many others greatly valued this attractive figure.
"This is a wonderful piece of writing incorporating biography, marvellous descriptions of colonial Sydney and exhaustive historical research into how Rev John Saunders tackled the burning issues of the early settlement of Australia" (Rev Tim Costello)
THIS BOOK WAS LAUNCHED AT THE MEETING – SATURDAY 9TH AUGUST 2014 and is now available through the shop on the website or by contacting the archivist