In 1808 and 1809, Sydney Smith, founder of the Edinburgh Review, predicted the failure of the missionary movement. Smith claimed that the purpose of his article was to contribute to the cause of "rational religion." He called the true nature of Methodism (i.e., the impetus for evangelism) the "evil of fanaticism." (Sydney Smith, "Review of 'Strictures on Two Critiques in the Edinburgh Review, on the Subject of Methodism and Missions; with Remarks on the Influence of Reviews, in general, on Morals and Happiness' by John Styles," Edinburgh Review 14 (April-July 1809), 40). This evil, according to Smith, changed a normal, decent Englishman into a mean, deceptive person. He argued that John Styles, a Methodist missionary writer, presented his cause in a deceptive manner in order to produce "a great degree of mysterious terror" in people at home. Styles had described the Hindu as piercing themselves with kimes, a print error that should have read as "knives." Smith mocked the misprint, suggesting that reading Style's article created the "noble" idea that they had to send missionaries to a country where people used kimes (Smith, "Review of Strictures," 45). But it was ridiculous, Smith argued, to think that they could teach the religion of the British to a country and then pack up and go home, leaving it to their management. In addition, he stated, the type of men who were sent out for missionary purposes were worse for religion than a thousand "pagans, who cut themselves with cruel kimes" (Smith, "Review of 'Strictures,'" 46). If they were going to send out missionaries, why did they forget "common sense and decency" in religious matters? Why did they send such a "foolish set of men?" (Smith, "Review of 'Strictures'," 45). He failed to see the purpose in missions. What good does it do, he asked, for a man to say he has walked a thousand miles with peas in his shoes unless he has a purpose for it? (Smith, "Review of 'Strictures,'" 46).
