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 642 FOREIGN MISSIONS West Indies, with 423 stations, 87 missionaries, 229 native pastors and preachers, 32,444 com- municants, 280 teachers, 12,101 scholars, and an income of 40,255. The General or Ar- minian Baptists formed a separate society in 1816, and began a mission at Orissa, India, in 1822, and at Ningpo, China, in 1845. In 1873 they had 8 stations in India, 7 missionaries, 15 native preachers, 731 communicants, and an income of 14,216, much of which is raised in India where the work is done. The mission in Ningpo has ceased after a feeble existence, and one has been commenced in Rome. The "London Missionary Society" owed its origin to a spirited paper in the " Evangelical Maga- zine," advocating the formation of a missionary society on the broadest possible basis. An in- vitation for that purpose was signed by 18 In- dependent, 7 Presbyterian, 3 Wesleyan, and 3 Episcopal clergymen ; and the constitutive as- sembly took place Sept. 22, 1795, in a chapel of the countess of Huntingdon. The islands of the Pacific were selected as the first missionary field, and 29 young men were selected from the large number of those who had offered them- selves. On March 4, 1797, the missionaries landed on Tahiti and opened the first mission of the London society. Soon the society oc- cupied also China and the East Indies, where Morrison and Milne prepared a translation of the Bible into Chinese, the islands of the Indian archipelago and Mauritius, southern Africa, the West Indies, Guiana, and North America. Their most important stations are at present those in the South seas, where John Williams labored so nobly and successfully, in southern Africa, where Moffat and Living- stone distinguished themselves, and in Mada- gascar. In 1873 the society had 156 ordain- ed missionaries, 175 native ordained ministers, 4,006 native preachers. 97,967 communicants, 2,601 schools, 72,289 pupils, and an income of 115,909, of which about 21,950 was from English and native contributions in the mission fields. The society still adheres to its origi- nal basis, avoiding denominational differences of doctrine and church government; but the subsequent organization of separate denomi- national societies has left the London society mostly in the hands of the Independents. The " Church Missionary Society " was organized April 12, 1799, by distinguished men belong- ing to the evangelical school of the established church, among whom William Wilberforce, Charles Simeon, and others took an active part. Its progress was slow at first; no mission- aries could be found for it in England, and it employed only Germans. Its first mission on the west coast of Africa was unsuccess- ful, in consequence of the deleterious climate and the plots of the slave traders; but after 1818 mission labors were very prosperous in Sierra Leone. In 1814 the society had sta- tions also in India and New Zealand; in 1822 in Rupert's Land, North America; in 1826 in the West Indies; in 1844 in China; and in 1857 on the banks of the Niger. In 1873 it had 157 mission stations, 207 European mis- sionaries, 147 native clergy, 2,278 catechists and teachers, 22,555 communicants, and 45,- 782 scholars, not counting 4,356 communicants and 12,866 scholars recently transferred to the native church of Sierra Leone. The income of the society for 1873 reached the extraordinary sum of 261,221, nearly 100,000 above its usual receipts. The president of the society must always be elected from among the mem- bers of parliament. Vice presidents are, ac- cording to a resolution of 1841, all the bishops of the Anglican church. Since 1825 the soci- ety has owned a missionary institute at Isling- ton, which has room for 50 students, and gen- erally counts about 30. The low church party of the establishment has always had a decided control over this society ; yet all its mission- aries have to submit to episcopal ordination and to subscribe the thirty-nine articles; even the Germans who are employed by the society are now no longer exempt from the latter con- dition. The first missions of the Wesleyan Methodists were commenced in 1786, when Dr. Thomas Coke, with three other mission- aries, went to the West Indies. After the death of Wesley, Coke remained at the head of the Wesleyan missions, and crossed the At- lantic for missionary purposes no fewer than 18 times. Within 20 years the number of Methodist missionaries in the West Indies and North America rqse to 43. In 1813 Coke em- barked with five companions for the East In- dies, but died before that country was reached. His companions founded a mission in Ceylon, which soon spread to the mainland of India. As long as Coke lived, the administration of foreign missions lay almost exclusively in his hands, under the advice of a committee con- sisting of all the resident Wesleyan ministers of London ; but after his death the necessity of a more complete organization was felt. The "Wesleyan Missionary Society" was consti- tuted in 1817, and soon took a foremost rank among such agencies. It has missions in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Africa, India, China, Austra- lia, Polynesia, and the West India islands. But much the larger part of this society's work is in nominally Christian lands, or in British de- pendencies and among English colonists. Even in Africa and India its labors are much among English-speaking people ; but its most success- ful missions are among the negroes of the West Indies and among the heathen and cannibals of the Feejee and Friendly islands. In 1873 it had in all 847 stations, 6,647 chapels and other preaching places, 1,125 ministers and assistant missionaries, 4,783 other paid agents, 170,360 communicants, 15,616 probationers, 245,733 pupils, and an income of 167,993. Besides these larger societies, there are a number of smaller ones, as the Welsh Calvinistic Metho- dist, founded in 1840 ; the English Presbyte- rian, 1844; the "Turkish Missions Aid 'So- ciety;" and the New Connection Methodists'