Elizabeth Saunders
Series: Steadfast in Faith
Speaker: Nicole Starling
Date: 19th January 2025
Passage: Ruth 1:1-22
00:00:00 --> 00:00:05 Well thank you again for having me here this morning. It's wonderful as I said to be able to
00:00:05 --> 00:00:11 speak about a woman from history and actually particularly a woman from history who most
00:00:11 --> 00:00:16 people don't know about. It's something I'm really passionate about telling some stories of some
00:00:16 --> 00:00:24 unknown women and when Steve asked me to speak about a woman from history steadfast in faith
00:00:24 --> 00:00:33 I immediately thought of Elizabeth Saunders. Now as I said she is a relatively unknown person
00:00:33 --> 00:00:40 from the early history of the New South Wales Baptists. Now the reason why I chose her was
00:00:40 --> 00:00:46 not because of my connections with the Baptist churches although I do think Baptist history is
00:00:46 --> 00:00:54 pretty interesting but it was really because of the multiple ways in which her life
00:00:54 --> 00:01:05 displayed the steadfast love, steadfast faithfulness of God. What I have in mind by that is partly the
00:01:05 --> 00:01:13 way in which at various points in her life story she showed steadfast faithful love toward God and
00:01:13 --> 00:01:23 others but also and perhaps even more so the ways in which she herself and her family experienced
00:01:23 --> 00:01:32 God's steadfast love and kindness in their own lives. One of my favourite words from the Old Testament
00:01:32 --> 00:01:40 is the Hebrew word hesed. It's the word that's sometimes translated as steadfast love.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:47 Especially in situations where the person demonstrating it is in a covenant relationship
00:01:47 --> 00:01:55 with another person and is steadfastly faithfully keeping that covenant of love. So it's the word that's used
00:01:55 --> 00:02:01 over and over again to describe the steadfast love of God himself toward his people.
00:02:03 --> 00:02:10 But it also gets used in situations where the love and mercy that's been shown spills over beyond
00:02:10 --> 00:02:18 any covenant responsibilities. It exists where there isn't any covenant relationship at all in some
00:02:18 --> 00:02:27 cases and for that reason in some translations like the NIV it's frequently translated not as steadfast
00:02:27 --> 00:02:35 love but as mercy or kindness. And for most of this talk as we reflect together on the story of
00:02:35 --> 00:02:44 Elizabeth Saunders it's that word kindness that I'll be using. And as I tell her story I want us to be
00:02:44 --> 00:02:50 listening for some of the echoes that we will hear of one of the great Old Testament stories of hesed
00:02:50 --> 00:02:57 of steadfast love and kindness. The story that we read in the Old Testament book of Ruth and we just heard
00:02:57 --> 00:03:05 the first chapter of that read just before quite beautifully. You might want to go and read
00:03:05 --> 00:03:12 the rest of it this afternoon. It's a short book and if you're already familiar with it you might see
00:03:12 --> 00:03:18 the connections as I speak about Elizabeth Saunders's life today. I think there are a lot of parallels.
00:03:19 --> 00:03:28 Twice exiled, vulnerable, widowed, living out the kindness and steadfast love of God in ways that
00:03:28 --> 00:03:35 were costly and controversial at times. Her life really does remind me in multiple ways of Ruth and Naomi's
00:03:35 --> 00:03:44 story. And that should not really be a surprise because the same kind and gracious God that they
00:03:44 --> 00:03:57 worshipped was her God too. Elizabeth Saunders was born in England in 1801 and grew up in Aberdeen in the
00:03:57 --> 00:04:04 north of Scotland. There's a picture of the place there. Her father was stationed as a lieutenant with the
00:04:04 --> 00:04:13 Navy. She married her husband John in May 1834 after meeting him when he was in Edinburgh training to be a
00:04:13 --> 00:04:22 Baptist missionary. Both had become strongly evangelical in their convictions during their formative years.
00:04:22 --> 00:04:28 John had made the decision to follow Christ in the aftermath of his mother's death when he was still a
00:04:28 --> 00:04:37 teenager. He left his family's congregational church and was baptised at Cold Harbour Lane Baptist Church or
00:04:37 --> 00:04:44 Denmark Place Baptist Church in Camberwell in London. His family had set their hearts in entering Parliament
00:04:44 --> 00:04:53 and he trained as a solicitor before leaving, becoming a Baptist pastor and starting to pursue the idea of
00:04:53 --> 00:05:01 overseas missionary work. Elizabeth's faith was also strongly evangelical. She was probably influenced by
00:05:01 --> 00:05:09 an evangelical revival in Scotland led by a man named Robert and James Holden in the early 19th century.
00:05:10 --> 00:05:15 And she was attending one of the congregational churches they had planted in Edinburgh and that's where she and
00:05:15 --> 00:05:24 John married. And this was a time when evangelicals were deeply concerned for the spread of the gospel into
00:05:24 --> 00:05:32 all the world and they were involved in a host of charitable causes. Lots of causes aimed at promoting
00:05:32 --> 00:05:40 justice and mercy. This was true for John and Elizabeth as well. So Elizabeth had been involved in various acts of
00:05:40 --> 00:05:47 service. She was an active member of a philanthropic group called the British Lady Society for promoting the
00:05:47 --> 00:05:55 reformation of female prisoners. They didn't go for short titles but did what it said. That was what they
00:05:55 --> 00:06:03 were interested in. And that was a group organised by Elizabeth Fry who's a more well-known person in
00:06:03 --> 00:06:11 history. A Quaker who was famous for her philanthropy and concerned for prison reform. And as a volunteer
00:06:11 --> 00:06:19 with that society, Elizabeth Saunders regularly visited Newgate Prison in London and that had notoriously
00:06:19 --> 00:06:25 bad living conditions for women and children. So volunteers like Elizabeth would bring in provisions
00:06:25 --> 00:06:34 like food and clothes and teach the women basic skills like needlework. They established a school for
00:06:34 --> 00:06:40 children who were living in prison with their mothers and lobbied the government for an improvement in the
00:06:40 --> 00:06:48 conditions for women in prisons throughout the country. And they also visited convict women who were
00:06:48 --> 00:06:53 being held in prison hulks on the Thames waiting to be transported to Australia.
00:06:53 --> 00:07:03 So for the first few months of their marriage, John served as a pastor in a Baptist church in
00:07:03 --> 00:07:10 Shacklewell in London. But he was deep in conversation with the Baptist Missionary Society. He actually
00:07:10 --> 00:07:15 wanted to be sent to India. But it wasn't long before someone else came to him and said,
00:07:15 --> 00:07:24 look, there's a Baptist congregation in Sydney that's just lost its pastor. It's just been planted and
00:07:24 --> 00:07:32 it doesn't, yeah, this is congregation. We need you. So just a few months into the marriage,
00:07:32 --> 00:07:39 Elizabeth and John boarded a female convict ship called the George Hibbert. They did this actually
00:07:39 --> 00:07:45 without financial support since New South Wales was not technically a missionary destination. So they
00:07:45 --> 00:07:52 weren't sent as missionaries. So they had to find other ways to get out to Australia. And Elizabeth Fry
00:07:52 --> 00:08:03 had pleaded earnestly with the Home Secretary, Lord Melbourne, to send Elizabeth Saunders as a matron to
00:08:03 --> 00:08:09 the convicts on this ship. This was the first time such a request was made. Usually they were sent out
00:08:09 --> 00:08:16 with any sort of care in that respect. And it's the first time it was granted and it meant that Elizabeth
00:08:16 --> 00:08:24 could go out as the matron to these female convicts and they could have free passage. John was also the
00:08:24 --> 00:08:31 chaplain to the female convicts. So this was their way to get to Australia. Now, it wasn't an easy
00:08:31 --> 00:08:39 journey. It was a long journey. It was arduous. Elizabeth actually battled severe seasickness. For most of the
00:08:39 --> 00:08:45 journey, she lost a worrying amount of weight. And on the same journey out, many others have come to
00:08:45 --> 00:08:54 dysentery and they died on their way out to Australia. John painted a vivid picture of the voyage in a letter
00:08:54 --> 00:09:00 home to his sister. There's a quote here, the rolling and pitching of the ship, the delay and heat
00:09:00 --> 00:09:08 during calms, the perilous position during gales, the cluck of the women during the day, the howling of
00:09:08 --> 00:09:14 the wind over a waste of waters during the night. Now added to those, then we may mention seasickness
00:09:14 --> 00:09:20 and cockroaches. And to these, the pleasure of often having part of your dinner in your lap before it got
00:09:20 --> 00:09:28 to your mouth. When Elizabeth became ill with seasickness, John actually performed the duties of
00:09:28 --> 00:09:34 chaplain and schoolmaster and some of her duties as well. And he started school lessons for the women
00:09:34 --> 00:09:40 and children on deck every morning, formed two Bible classes for the women and conducted two churches
00:09:40 --> 00:09:47 services on Sundays. And the ship's captain actually wrote about both of them later on. He remembered that
00:09:47 --> 00:09:54 many of the convict women weren't able to read and write when they boarded the ship. But by the end of
00:09:54 --> 00:10:00 the journey, after being taught by John, they could do both. And he also spoke positively about Elizabeth
00:10:00 --> 00:10:09 saying that she was very attentive and kind to these women. The Saunders' work, even on their journey
00:10:09 --> 00:10:15 to the colony, was rated a huge success by people like Elizabeth Fry. She looked back on their efforts
00:10:15 --> 00:10:22 saying, surely the result of our labours has hitherto been beyond our most sanguine expectations as to the
00:10:22 --> 00:10:26 improved state of our prisons, female convict ships and the convicts in New South Wales.
00:10:28 --> 00:10:34 So they arrived in Australia, but when they arrived in Sydney, things were even harder than the ship
00:10:34 --> 00:10:44 journey. Elizabeth described the colony as a wilderness, like being in complete exile.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:51 She struggled with the climate in Sydney and the vast array of vermin and bugs. She particularly hated
00:10:51 --> 00:10:57 the mosquitoes. In another letter home, John described their comical bedtime routine,
00:10:58 --> 00:11:04 which involved Elizabeth hopping into bed with the mosquito curtains drawn, with John on the outside
00:11:04 --> 00:11:10 with the candle, and Elizabeth smashing as many as were visible. Her fear of mosquitoes was so great
00:11:10 --> 00:11:15 that she would supplement the mosquito nets by sleeping with gloves and her head covered.
00:11:15 --> 00:11:22 Arriving in summer in Sydney was also a huge shock to her, coming from England.
00:11:22 --> 00:11:29 She continued to struggle with her health, telling her sister that her limbs were extremely weak and
00:11:29 --> 00:11:33 she didn't expect to gain much strength while the weather remained so hot.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:42 On arriving in Sydney, Elizabeth was also shocked by the realities of living in a penal colony.
00:11:42 --> 00:11:48 At this stage, convicts and ex-convicts meet up over a third of the population.
00:11:49 --> 00:11:53 They had a female convict living with them as a servant that they'd met on the way out.
00:11:55 --> 00:12:00 And Elizabeth and John maintained contact with this Society for Female Prisoners,
00:12:00 --> 00:12:07 sending back reports about various female convicts that the women back home in England were
00:12:07 --> 00:12:11 interested in and concerned for, and particularly those who had already come to faith.
00:12:12 --> 00:12:17 But as much as Elizabeth was interested in this cause and accustomed to poverty and the plight of
00:12:17 --> 00:12:23 prisoners and their families, she still found the constant presence of convicts in chains
00:12:23 --> 00:12:24 unsettling and disturbing.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:30 She could hear prisoners passing by on the streets of Sydney, clanking their chains,
00:12:30 --> 00:12:34 and she found the sound awful and heart-wrenching, she said.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:39 She would wonder if they were bush rangers or whether they would soon be executed.
00:12:39 --> 00:12:45 She commented that the conditions of the female convicts in Sydney were worse than she had seen
00:12:45 --> 00:12:48 in Newgate Prison on her visits there.
00:12:50 --> 00:12:51 Her quote was,
00:12:51 --> 00:12:56 You never beheld woman so degraded as she appears in Sydney streets.
00:12:57 --> 00:13:05 Nothing really about their lives in Sydney during those early months seemed comfortable or easy
00:13:05 --> 00:13:10 or familiar compared to the life that they'd left behind in London.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:21 This was not a choice that they would have made if they were looking for their happiness in the comfort and the safety of their familiar world
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 or in the possessions that they could amass.
00:13:25 --> 00:13:30 But they knew deep down that this was a choice that they were compelled to make,
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 that they were clear about why they had made it.
00:13:33 --> 00:13:38 Reflecting on some of the daily difficulties they were encountering,
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 just a few months after their arrival,
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 John reassured his brother in a letter home that,
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 I am happy and so is Elizabeth.
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 For we came out for an object and God favours us.
00:13:50 --> 00:13:55 But we put up with some things we should have no occasion to contend with at home.
00:13:55 --> 00:14:00 I write not to complain, he said in another letter written a few weeks later,
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 for a kind God has made us and still keeps us happy.
00:14:05 --> 00:14:10 But to convince you how much his support and consolations can make every situation comfortable.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:19 But the way in which Elizabeth Saunders and her husband lived out the kindness of God
00:14:19 --> 00:14:24 went far beyond the discomforts and inconveniences that they endured.
00:14:25 --> 00:14:31 There was also frequently a sharp and risky edge of controversy to the kindness that they showed.
00:14:32 --> 00:14:39 And numerous occasions when they took choices that put their reputation and respectability at risk.
00:14:39 --> 00:14:44 And at a time in which reputation and respectability was everything,
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 this was no small thing.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 The risk to reputation was there from the very beginning.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:55 The original Baptist pastor in Sydney, John McCaig,
00:14:55 --> 00:14:59 had been a figure of public ridicule and scorn.
00:15:00 --> 00:15:04 When he baptised his first converts in Woolloomooloo Bay,
00:15:04 --> 00:15:09 a crowd of cheering onlookers gathered around to hoot and laugh at him,
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 throw stones while he was trying to baptise,
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 and then they stole his shoes at the end of it.
00:15:17 --> 00:15:21 And things only got worse from there as his ministry unravelled,
00:15:22 --> 00:15:26 his life spiralled down into miserable drunkenness,
00:15:26 --> 00:15:30 gambling addiction, debtors prison, and attempted suicide.
00:15:31 --> 00:15:33 So that was the state of things when John was asked to come.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:38 So throwing in lot in with the Baptists in the 1830s
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 was not a decision to join with the beautiful people.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:48 And the causes that her husband John threw himself into,
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 alongside the work of pastoring,
00:15:51 --> 00:15:53 the Bathurst Street Baptist Church,
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 and helping to plant a string of other ones,
00:15:55 --> 00:15:59 were frequently controversial and disreputable as well.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:03 The cause that John was best known for in his own time
00:16:03 --> 00:16:06 was his involvement in the temperance movement,
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 a movement that sprang up in the 1830s and 1840s
00:16:10 --> 00:16:15 in response to a growing concern at the social harm
00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 caused by excessive consumption of alcohol,
00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 particularly drinks like gin and rum.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 Now, Elizabeth shared John's opinions
00:16:24 --> 00:16:27 about the effects of the rum trade on the colony.
00:16:27 --> 00:16:30 She was shocked at the level of street violence
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 and public drunkenness in Sydney,
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 writing home about it on multiple occasions.
00:16:37 --> 00:16:39 And the temperance campaign
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 also was a joint effort between them.
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 So John and Elizabeth did this together
00:16:43 --> 00:16:46 when she travelled with him, for example,
00:16:46 --> 00:16:50 when he made his first trip out of Sydney in 1835.
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 He went and established temperance societies
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 in country outposts like Campbelltown and Liverpool.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 Which were just tiny little towns at the time.
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 And, yeah, that was a big journey, actually.
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 And it was a big deal because it was at a time
00:17:06 --> 00:17:10 when temperance campaigners were finding it desperately hard
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 to persuade the women of the colony
00:17:12 --> 00:17:14 to give their support to the cause
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 because it was seen as being a cause.
00:17:16 --> 00:17:17 It was not respectable.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:21 It was not a good issue for ladies to involve themselves in.
00:17:21 --> 00:17:26 Over time, the work of Saunders as a leader
00:17:26 --> 00:17:27 of the temperance movement
00:17:27 --> 00:17:31 ended up winning him enormous respect and recognition.
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 Public figures like Governor Gipps
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 and the Attorney General John Plunkett
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 were full of praise for him,
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 even if there were other people less than impressed.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:45 But he was also outspoken on issues
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 that were less popular at the time.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 And the most famous of these
00:17:49 --> 00:17:55 was the way that he responded to the Mile Creek Massacre in 1838
00:17:55 --> 00:17:59 when 28 Indigenous people were rounded up
00:17:59 --> 00:18:01 and slaughtered by stockmen
00:18:01 --> 00:18:03 at a property near Mile Creek
00:18:03 --> 00:18:06 in northwestern New South Wales.
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 This was not the first time
00:18:09 --> 00:18:13 that large-scale killings of Indigenous people
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 had taken place in New South Wales.
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 But it was the first time
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 that the perpetrators were held to account
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 and charged with murder.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 In October, as the men were being tried,
00:18:27 --> 00:18:28 Saunders preached a sermon
00:18:28 --> 00:18:32 which caused a massive backlash in the press.
00:18:32 --> 00:18:37 The text of the sermon was Isaiah 26, 21.
00:18:38 --> 00:18:41 Behold, the Lord cometh out of his place
00:18:41 --> 00:18:43 to punish the inhabitants of the earth
00:18:43 --> 00:18:44 for their iniquity.
00:18:48 --> 00:18:50 The earth shall disclose her blood
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 and shall no more cover her slain.
00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 And its climax was on the collective guilt
00:18:56 --> 00:18:57 of the whole colony
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 for the shedding of innocent blood.
00:19:00 --> 00:19:00 More than that,
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 he went on to set the massacre
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 in the even larger context
00:19:05 --> 00:19:06 of the wrongs that had been done
00:19:06 --> 00:19:08 in invading the continent,
00:19:08 --> 00:19:09 stealing the land,
00:19:10 --> 00:19:11 and destroying communities
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 by introducing a whole new set
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 of European vices and addictions.
00:19:17 --> 00:19:18 Now, this was far beyond
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 what almost anyone else was prepared to say
00:19:21 --> 00:19:23 at a time when even the decision
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 to prosecute the perpetrators of the massacre
00:19:25 --> 00:19:28 was viewed as a controversial one.
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 And the sermon
00:19:30 --> 00:19:32 and a follow-up speech he gave
00:19:32 --> 00:19:33 a few days later
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 led to enormous controversy.
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 There were threats of legal action,
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41 vicious public criticism,
00:19:41 --> 00:19:42 so particularly from the editor
00:19:42 --> 00:19:44 of the City Morning Herald.
00:19:44 --> 00:19:45 He attacked Saunders
00:19:45 --> 00:19:48 in a series of furious editorials
00:19:48 --> 00:19:51 accusing him of malicious falsehood
00:19:51 --> 00:19:53 and maniacal fury
00:19:53 --> 00:19:54 before going on to say,
00:19:54 --> 00:19:56 let him keep to his pulpit
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 and attend to the narrow circle
00:19:58 --> 00:20:00 of his own congregation.
00:20:00 --> 00:20:01 For should he persist
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 in assuming such airs of importance
00:20:03 --> 00:20:04 as he has lately assumed
00:20:04 --> 00:20:07 in denouncing and libeling the colonists,
00:20:07 --> 00:20:08 he may rest assured
00:20:08 --> 00:20:10 that we will drive him back
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 to his proper position in society.
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 Now, this could hardly have been
00:20:16 --> 00:20:18 a comfortable time for Elizabeth
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 as she watched her husband
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 stick his neck out repeatedly
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 for a cause that he believed in,
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 knowing that he would end up
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 himself attacked so violently
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 and relentlessly in response.
00:20:31 --> 00:20:33 John and Elizabeth's marriage
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35 was clearly the kind of relationship
00:20:35 --> 00:20:37 in which they travelled side by side
00:20:37 --> 00:20:38 and talked things through together.
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 In the letters that they wrote back home,
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 they frequently echo
00:20:43 --> 00:20:44 one another's thoughts.
00:20:45 --> 00:20:46 And John repeatedly mentions
00:20:46 --> 00:20:49 ways in which his prudent wife
00:20:49 --> 00:20:52 had advised him on various issues.
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 On this issue, however,
00:20:56 --> 00:20:57 it seems that prudence,
00:20:57 --> 00:20:59 as they understood it,
00:20:59 --> 00:21:01 did not stand in the way
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 of doing what was right and just,
00:21:03 --> 00:21:05 motivated by compassion and kindness
00:21:05 --> 00:21:07 and driven by conviction
00:21:07 --> 00:21:10 by the word of God.
00:21:10 --> 00:21:16 Now, the kindness that Elizabeth
00:21:16 --> 00:21:19 and John showed to others in Sydney
00:21:19 --> 00:21:20 was deeply costly.
00:21:21 --> 00:21:22 It affected them emotionally
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 and it affected them physically as well.
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 Elizabeth married relatively late
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 at the age of 34
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 and struggled to have children.
00:21:32 --> 00:21:33 They waited a long time
00:21:33 --> 00:21:35 before they welcomed a baby
00:21:35 --> 00:21:36 into their family.
00:21:37 --> 00:21:39 And finally, when the time came,
00:21:40 --> 00:21:42 their baby boy, Edmund,
00:21:42 --> 00:21:43 was stillborn.
00:21:44 --> 00:21:46 Now, who knows how things
00:21:46 --> 00:21:47 would have worked out
00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 if they'd stayed back in London
00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 and had the better medical care
00:21:52 --> 00:21:53 that would have been available
00:21:53 --> 00:21:54 to them back there.
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 But it must have been a terrible time.
00:21:58 --> 00:22:01 Her sister came out the following year
00:22:01 --> 00:22:03 to join them.
00:22:03 --> 00:22:04 Her name was Sarah.
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 And it was just in time
00:22:06 --> 00:22:07 to help Elizabeth
00:22:07 --> 00:22:10 through labour a second time.
00:22:10 --> 00:22:11 And this time,
00:22:11 --> 00:22:12 she gave birth
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14 to a healthy little girl
00:22:14 --> 00:22:15 whom they named Elizabeth
00:22:15 --> 00:22:16 or Bessie.
00:22:17 --> 00:22:18 By this time,
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 Elizabeth Saunders was in her 40s
00:22:21 --> 00:22:22 and this would be
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 their only living child.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:27 The time in Sydney
00:22:27 --> 00:22:30 also affected John's health.
00:22:30 --> 00:22:31 John worked hard.
00:22:31 --> 00:22:34 The sheer number of societies
00:22:34 --> 00:22:35 he was involved in running
00:22:35 --> 00:22:36 would have added up
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 to a really heavy workload,
00:22:39 --> 00:22:40 especially his role
00:22:40 --> 00:22:41 in the temperance society.
00:22:41 --> 00:22:43 And if you add to this
00:22:43 --> 00:22:45 the burden of pastoring a church,
00:22:45 --> 00:22:46 which was in the initial stages
00:22:46 --> 00:22:47 of being established
00:22:47 --> 00:22:51 and overseeing a major building project,
00:22:52 --> 00:22:53 he must have been constantly
00:22:53 --> 00:22:55 on the edge of exhaustion.
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 His letters home in the first year
00:22:59 --> 00:23:00 indicate that he always struggled
00:23:00 --> 00:23:00 with his health
00:23:00 --> 00:23:02 even from the very beginning.
00:23:03 --> 00:23:05 Over his 13 years in Sydney,
00:23:05 --> 00:23:06 it became even worse.
00:23:06 --> 00:23:08 It seems that no diagnosis
00:23:08 --> 00:23:09 was ever made.
00:23:09 --> 00:23:11 But most people who knew him
00:23:11 --> 00:23:12 seemed to agree
00:23:12 --> 00:23:14 that whatever the complaint was,
00:23:14 --> 00:23:16 the excessive zeal
00:23:16 --> 00:23:17 in his labours of usefulness,
00:23:17 --> 00:23:18 is the quote,
00:23:18 --> 00:23:20 his excessive zeal
00:23:20 --> 00:23:22 certainly exacerbated it.
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 And by 1847,
00:23:25 --> 00:23:25 it was decided
00:23:25 --> 00:23:26 he would need to go back home
00:23:26 --> 00:23:27 to England.
00:23:28 --> 00:23:29 And after a large farewell,
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31 the family,
00:23:31 --> 00:23:32 Elizabeth,
00:23:32 --> 00:23:33 John,
00:23:33 --> 00:23:33 Bessie,
00:23:33 --> 00:23:34 their daughter,
00:23:34 --> 00:23:35 and Elizabeth's sister,
00:23:35 --> 00:23:35 Sarah,
00:23:36 --> 00:23:38 all sailed out from Sydney
00:23:38 --> 00:23:39 in January 1848.
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 After returning to England,
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 they settled back in London.
00:23:46 --> 00:23:47 John worked for some time
00:23:47 --> 00:23:48 as a solicitor
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 and officiated
00:23:50 --> 00:23:51 as a past congregation
00:23:51 --> 00:23:52 in the suburbs.
00:23:53 --> 00:23:55 His health continued to decline
00:23:55 --> 00:23:56 and while he tried
00:23:56 --> 00:23:57 to conduct
00:23:57 --> 00:23:59 occasional religious services,
00:23:59 --> 00:24:00 he ended up
00:24:00 --> 00:24:02 unable to do anything.
00:24:03 --> 00:24:04 Elizabeth described him
00:24:04 --> 00:24:05 as being incapacitated
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 by utter prostration.
00:24:08 --> 00:24:10 And he died in 1857.
00:24:12 --> 00:24:13 Up until his last weeks,
00:24:13 --> 00:24:14 he was still hoping
00:24:14 --> 00:24:16 to return to Australia,
00:24:17 --> 00:24:18 wanting to at least
00:24:18 --> 00:24:19 be put to rest
00:24:19 --> 00:24:20 in what he called
00:24:20 --> 00:24:21 that bright land.
00:24:22 --> 00:24:23 The knowledge
00:24:23 --> 00:24:24 that he would never return
00:24:24 --> 00:24:25 was,
00:24:25 --> 00:24:26 as Elizabeth described it,
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 his death blow.
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30 His gravestone
00:24:30 --> 00:24:30 in England
00:24:30 --> 00:24:32 expressed the extent
00:24:32 --> 00:24:33 to which his time
00:24:33 --> 00:24:33 in Australia
00:24:33 --> 00:24:34 was the most significant
00:24:34 --> 00:24:36 of his life.
00:24:36 --> 00:24:36 It said,
00:24:37 --> 00:24:38 this memorial
00:24:38 --> 00:24:39 is erected
00:24:39 --> 00:24:39 by his widow,
00:24:40 --> 00:24:40 sister,
00:24:40 --> 00:24:41 and child,
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 and may perhaps
00:24:43 --> 00:24:44 guide some old
00:24:44 --> 00:24:45 Australian friend
00:24:45 --> 00:24:46 to the last
00:24:46 --> 00:24:47 resting place
00:24:47 --> 00:24:49 of one whose energies
00:24:49 --> 00:24:50 were devoted
00:24:50 --> 00:24:52 to the best interests
00:24:52 --> 00:24:53 of that bright land.
00:24:55 --> 00:24:57 Now, John's death
00:24:57 --> 00:24:59 left Elizabeth
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00 destitute.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:01 The evening
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 before the funeral,
00:25:03 --> 00:25:05 John's law firm
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06 partner
00:25:06 --> 00:25:07 sat her down
00:25:07 --> 00:25:08 and informed her
00:25:08 --> 00:25:08 that there were
00:25:08 --> 00:25:10 no funds left,
00:25:11 --> 00:25:12 not even enough
00:25:12 --> 00:25:13 to pay the funeral
00:25:13 --> 00:25:13 expenses.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:16 She lamented
00:25:16 --> 00:25:16 that,
00:25:16 --> 00:25:17 kind and generous
00:25:17 --> 00:25:18 as he was to others,
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19 he had not been able
00:25:19 --> 00:25:20 to save anything
00:25:20 --> 00:25:21 for his family
00:25:21 --> 00:25:23 and said that,
00:25:23 --> 00:25:24 I felt stupefied
00:25:24 --> 00:25:25 and horror-stricken,
00:25:25 --> 00:25:26 and what to do
00:25:26 --> 00:25:27 I knew not,
00:25:27 --> 00:25:28 nor do I now.
00:25:30 --> 00:25:30 Now,
00:25:30 --> 00:25:31 the poor law
00:25:31 --> 00:25:33 in Victorian England
00:25:33 --> 00:25:34 was a fragile
00:25:34 --> 00:25:35 and rickety
00:25:35 --> 00:25:36 safety net,
00:25:36 --> 00:25:37 and there was
00:25:37 --> 00:25:38 a very real
00:25:38 --> 00:25:39 possibility
00:25:39 --> 00:25:40 she would end up
00:25:40 --> 00:25:41 with no home
00:25:41 --> 00:25:42 and no means
00:25:42 --> 00:25:43 of support.
00:25:44 --> 00:25:45 Her only option
00:25:45 --> 00:25:47 was to cast herself
00:25:47 --> 00:25:49 on the kindness
00:25:49 --> 00:25:49 of others.
00:25:51 --> 00:25:52 So she asked
00:25:52 --> 00:25:53 some influential
00:25:53 --> 00:25:54 friends in Sydney
00:25:54 --> 00:25:55 if they would
00:25:55 --> 00:25:56 consider raising
00:25:56 --> 00:25:57 a small subscription
00:25:57 --> 00:25:58 for her.
00:25:59 --> 00:26:00 May the law
00:26:00 --> 00:26:01 direct our kind
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 friends in Sydney,
00:26:02 --> 00:26:03 she said.
00:26:03 --> 00:26:04 I put my cause
00:26:04 --> 00:26:05 in their hands,
00:26:05 --> 00:26:06 the cause of the
00:26:06 --> 00:26:07 fatherless and the
00:26:07 --> 00:26:07 widow.
00:26:09 --> 00:26:09 There was an
00:26:09 --> 00:26:10 overwhelming response.
00:26:11 --> 00:26:12 Her letter was
00:26:12 --> 00:26:13 published in multiple
00:26:13 --> 00:26:14 Sydney newspapers,
00:26:15 --> 00:26:16 and an enormous
00:26:16 --> 00:26:16 amount was raised
00:26:16 --> 00:26:17 in response to her
00:26:17 --> 00:26:18 appeal.
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20 Despite the fact
00:26:20 --> 00:26:21 they'd been gone
00:26:21 --> 00:26:22 for 11 years,
00:26:23 --> 00:26:24 the Saunders family
00:26:24 --> 00:26:24 had not been
00:26:24 --> 00:26:25 forgotten.
00:26:26 --> 00:26:27 Over 200 donations
00:26:27 --> 00:26:28 were made,
00:26:28 --> 00:26:28 adding up to
00:26:28 --> 00:26:29 over £650
00:26:29 --> 00:26:31 in total.
00:26:31 --> 00:26:31 Now, that was
00:26:31 --> 00:26:32 a lot of money
00:26:32 --> 00:26:34 at the time
00:26:34 --> 00:26:35 when a house
00:26:35 --> 00:26:36 made would earn
00:26:36 --> 00:26:38 about £21 a year.
00:26:40 --> 00:26:40 Overwhelmed
00:26:40 --> 00:26:41 by this kindness,
00:26:42 --> 00:26:43 Elizabeth returned
00:26:43 --> 00:26:44 to Australia.
00:26:44 --> 00:26:45 The following year,
00:26:46 --> 00:26:46 she came with
00:26:46 --> 00:26:47 her daughter,
00:26:47 --> 00:26:47 Bessie,
00:26:48 --> 00:26:48 and her sister,
00:26:48 --> 00:26:49 Sarah.
00:26:49 --> 00:26:49 And the three
00:26:49 --> 00:26:51 women started
00:26:51 --> 00:26:52 a small school
00:26:52 --> 00:26:53 in Pitt Street,
00:26:53 --> 00:26:54 Redfern.
00:26:54 --> 00:26:55 It's pictured there
00:26:55 --> 00:26:56 and some terraces
00:26:56 --> 00:26:57 in Pitt Street.
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 Elizabeth's daughter,
00:27:01 --> 00:27:02 Bessie,
00:27:02 --> 00:27:03 ended up a good deal
00:27:03 --> 00:27:04 wealthier than her
00:27:04 --> 00:27:04 mother.
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 In 1868,
00:27:06 --> 00:27:06 she married
00:27:06 --> 00:27:07 Arthur Rennick,
00:27:08 --> 00:27:08 whom she met
00:27:08 --> 00:27:09 through the Redfern
00:27:09 --> 00:27:11 Congregational Church.
00:27:12 --> 00:27:12 Arthur went on
00:27:12 --> 00:27:14 to become a doctor
00:27:14 --> 00:27:15 and member
00:27:15 --> 00:27:16 of parliament.
00:27:16 --> 00:27:17 He was knighted
00:27:17 --> 00:27:18 and so she would
00:27:18 --> 00:27:19 later become known
00:27:19 --> 00:27:20 as Lady Elizabeth
00:27:20 --> 00:27:21 Rennick.
00:27:22 --> 00:27:23 But even in their
00:27:23 --> 00:27:25 wealth and respectability,
00:27:25 --> 00:27:25 the Rennicks
00:27:25 --> 00:27:26 carried with them
00:27:26 --> 00:27:28 something of the
00:27:28 --> 00:27:28 kindness
00:27:28 --> 00:27:29 that Bessie
00:27:29 --> 00:27:30 had seen modelled
00:27:30 --> 00:27:31 by her parents
00:27:31 --> 00:27:33 and the lessons
00:27:33 --> 00:27:34 that they had
00:27:34 --> 00:27:34 been taught,
00:27:35 --> 00:27:36 she'd been taught
00:27:36 --> 00:27:36 by them
00:27:36 --> 00:27:38 about the God
00:27:38 --> 00:27:39 who cares
00:27:39 --> 00:27:40 for widows
00:27:40 --> 00:27:41 and orphans.
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 Arthur,
00:27:43 --> 00:27:43 her husband,
00:27:44 --> 00:27:45 was responsible
00:27:45 --> 00:27:46 for introducing
00:27:46 --> 00:27:48 the old age pension
00:27:48 --> 00:27:49 in New South Wales.
00:27:50 --> 00:27:51 He also introduced
00:27:51 --> 00:27:53 legislation that
00:27:53 --> 00:27:54 outlawed
00:27:54 --> 00:27:55 commercial baby farming
00:27:55 --> 00:27:56 and protected
00:27:56 --> 00:27:57 the right of women
00:27:57 --> 00:27:58 to keep their children
00:27:58 --> 00:27:58 if they were widowed
00:27:58 --> 00:27:59 or deserted.
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01 They were both
00:28:01 --> 00:28:02 prominent supporters
00:28:02 --> 00:28:03 of the Benevolent Society
00:28:03 --> 00:28:04 and a host
00:28:04 --> 00:28:05 of other charitable
00:28:05 --> 00:28:06 institutions,
00:28:06 --> 00:28:07 particularly those
00:28:07 --> 00:28:07 which helped
00:28:07 --> 00:28:08 women and children.
00:28:10 --> 00:28:10 Bessie
00:28:10 --> 00:28:12 continued to care
00:28:12 --> 00:28:12 for her mother
00:28:12 --> 00:28:13 Elizabeth
00:28:13 --> 00:28:14 and her aunt Sarah
00:28:14 --> 00:28:15 until their deaths.
00:28:16 --> 00:28:17 Elizabeth died
00:28:17 --> 00:28:18 in 1878
00:28:18 --> 00:28:19 in their home
00:28:19 --> 00:28:21 near Hyde Park
00:28:21 --> 00:28:21 in Sydney.
00:28:23 --> 00:28:23 Sarah
00:28:23 --> 00:28:25 continued to live
00:28:25 --> 00:28:25 with them
00:28:25 --> 00:28:26 and died
00:28:26 --> 00:28:27 ten years later
00:28:27 --> 00:28:28 in 1888.
00:28:29 --> 00:28:30 All three women
00:28:30 --> 00:28:31 are buried
00:28:31 --> 00:28:32 in the same plot
00:28:32 --> 00:28:33 at Rookwood Cemetery.
00:28:33 --> 00:28:34 You can still go
00:28:34 --> 00:28:35 and visit today.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38 A few months
00:28:38 --> 00:28:39 after he arrived
00:28:39 --> 00:28:39 in the colony,
00:28:40 --> 00:28:41 John Saunders
00:28:41 --> 00:28:41 wrote home
00:28:41 --> 00:28:42 to his sister.
00:28:43 --> 00:28:44 You may think
00:28:44 --> 00:28:45 religion a hard
00:28:45 --> 00:28:46 service when it
00:28:46 --> 00:28:46 calls a man
00:28:46 --> 00:28:48 to leave his home,
00:28:49 --> 00:28:49 his country
00:28:49 --> 00:28:50 and his friends.
00:28:51 --> 00:28:52 So far from it.
00:28:52 --> 00:28:53 I can truly say
00:28:53 --> 00:28:54 my joys have been
00:28:54 --> 00:28:55 more regular,
00:28:56 --> 00:28:57 tranquil and intense
00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 than in a secular
00:28:58 --> 00:28:58 occupation
00:28:58 --> 00:28:59 and that with
00:28:59 --> 00:29:01 some little trials
00:29:01 --> 00:29:01 I have had
00:29:01 --> 00:29:03 greater consolations.
00:29:04 --> 00:29:04 Our family
00:29:04 --> 00:29:05 is much tried
00:29:05 --> 00:29:06 but God will
00:29:06 --> 00:29:06 out of this
00:29:06 --> 00:29:07 I trust
00:29:07 --> 00:29:08 adduce some
00:29:08 --> 00:29:09 excellence of character.
00:29:10 --> 00:29:11 May his glorious
00:29:11 --> 00:29:13 hand transmute
00:29:13 --> 00:29:14 our sordid metal
00:29:14 --> 00:29:15 to lustrous
00:29:15 --> 00:29:16 gold wear.
00:29:17 --> 00:29:18 Happy here
00:29:18 --> 00:29:18 and under the
00:29:18 --> 00:29:20 kind guardianship
00:29:20 --> 00:29:20 of our heavenly
00:29:20 --> 00:29:21 father,
00:29:21 --> 00:29:22 I trust you will be
00:29:22 --> 00:29:23 blessed at home.
00:29:24 --> 00:29:24 Pray the spirit
00:29:24 --> 00:29:25 of truth
00:29:25 --> 00:29:26 be with you.
00:29:28 --> 00:29:29 May the same
00:29:29 --> 00:29:30 spirit of truth
00:29:30 --> 00:29:31 be with us
00:29:31 --> 00:29:32 and the same
00:29:32 --> 00:29:34 kind guardianship
00:29:34 --> 00:29:34 of our heavenly
00:29:34 --> 00:29:36 father watch over
00:29:36 --> 00:29:37 our ways
00:29:37 --> 00:29:38 and may we know
00:29:38 --> 00:29:39 the same joy
00:29:39 --> 00:29:41 in his service.
00:29:41 --> 00:29:42 Let's pray together.
00:29:45 --> 00:29:46 Lord, we thank you
00:29:46 --> 00:29:46 for the life
00:29:46 --> 00:29:48 of Elizabeth Saunders.
00:29:48 --> 00:29:48 We thank you
00:29:48 --> 00:29:50 for her faithfulness
00:29:50 --> 00:29:50 to you
00:29:50 --> 00:29:52 and we thank you
00:29:52 --> 00:29:53 for the way
00:29:53 --> 00:29:54 that your steadfast
00:29:54 --> 00:29:55 love and kindness
00:29:55 --> 00:29:56 was so just clearly
00:29:56 --> 00:29:58 demonstrated in her life.
00:29:59 --> 00:30:00 We thank you
00:30:00 --> 00:30:03 that you
00:30:03 --> 00:30:05 also care for us
00:30:05 --> 00:30:06 in the same way
00:30:06 --> 00:30:07 you show us
00:30:07 --> 00:30:09 the same faithfulness
00:30:09 --> 00:30:09 and kindness
00:30:09 --> 00:30:11 day by day.
00:30:11 --> 00:30:12 In Jesus' name we pray.
00:30:12 --> 00:30:12 Amen.