Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/665

* MISSIONS. 593 MISSIONS. verted Indians in New England before progress was arrested by war. In the East Indies, on the renewal of the charter of the Britisli East India Company in 1098, the duty was iiii])sed upon the company of maintaining chaplains at its stations, and later the obligation to see that its native servants were instructed in Christian doctrine. Discussions regarding religious condi- tions in the company's stations led to the organ- ization in lti!)8 of the Society for the Promotion (if Chrinlian Knoiricdge (S. P. C. K.), designed ii provide Christian schools and books for neg- ]. 'led English connnunities. This was followed tliree years later by the organization of the Hociehj for the Propagation of the tloxjiel in Foreign- Parts (S. P. G.), designed to provide chaplains for the religious culture of Englishmen in foreign lands. Neither of these societies aimed at Christianizing the heathen. But the S. P. C. K. saved the Danish mission in South India from dying with its founder, and supported it for a hundred j'ears. It has also issued Christian literature in the languages of various non-Chris- tian peo])les. Its issues of this description in 1900 anuiunted to 47..500 volumes. As to the S. P. G.. it gradually took up work among the pagans, and in 1001 it had 744 missionaries and 3384 native workers in India, China. Japan, Ma- laysia. Africa, and the West Indies. In view of their later liistory. these two societies may be regarded as the earliest of the voluntary foreign missionary societies of Great Britain. (2) Protestant Voluntaby JIlssionary So- CIETIE.S. Since the true aim of missions is to persuade men to admit Jesus Christ to the control of their lives, ed'orts that tend to accomplish this aim arc of equal interest to all Christians. From this point of view we may note the development of the missionary spirit in Protestant Christen- dom, without pausing to follow into detail its national or denominational particulars. In 1709 the state of the North American Indians led to tile formation, in Scotland, of a Soeieti/ for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. The chief present importance of this society was its employ- ment as a missionary (in 1744) of David Brain- erd of Connecticut. The story of his lirief life had persuasive influence on both sides of the At- lantic in stimulating similar devotion. A more powerful influence of the same nature was exer- cised by the writings and the example of the Moravian Brethren, who called themselves the 'Unity of Bretlircn.' A remnant from persecu- tion, this little people migrated from Bohemia, and in 1772 found asylum in Orniany. They were allowed to settle on the estates of Count Zinzeiidorf. wlio was himself a pupil of Francke of Halle, and who became their leader. The 'Brethren' established missions among the slaves of the West Indies, in Greenland, among the Indians of the North American Colonies, in South Africa, in South America, and in Labrador be- fore the end of the eighteenth century. IMore recently they liave opened missions in Australia. Alaska', ami' on the borders of Tibet. In 1900. all the Eskimos at their four stations in Greenland having boeome Christians, they transferred their Greenland mission to the Danish Chiinb. In their other fields they now have 402 missionaries, Through such influences and through the writ- ings of Spener and Franeke in Germany, and the •earnest exhortations of ^^^litefield and Weslev in •e I England (who had themselves been deeply afl'eet- ed by the writings of Francke and Zinzendorf ) , and of Jonathan Edwards in America, a resusci- tation of personal religion as brought about. At about the same time the travels of Captain Cook revealed the innncnse extent of the heathen world, while occurrences like the trial of Warren Hastings and the anti-slavery agitation of Wil- berforce brought home to the minds of the Eng- lish people their responsibility for outrages per- petrated by purely selfish men professing the name of Christians. The time was ripe for action to benefit the sulTerers from such outrages. As early as 1779 the English Wesleyans sent a num- ber of missionaries among the North American Indians, and in 178(1 they began a mission in the West Indies. In 1814 these beginnings were followed by the organization of a society which has supervised the mission work of that Church up to the present time. Its missions lie in Cey- lon, in other parts of India, in South Africa, Oceanica, and China. In 1900 this society had in the field 306 missionaries of both sexes, aided by 9408 native workers. In general, however, the sudden development of foreign mission enter- prises about the beginning of the nineteenth cen- turv did not come from any church organization. It sprang from the awakening of isolated indi- viiluals whom the Church op|)osed as unsteady enthusiasts. In 1780 William Carey, a cobbler and a Baptist minister in England, surprised a ministers' meeting by proposing discussion of the duty of foreign missions. He was frowned down by his elders. In 1792, however, he commanded attention and won support. The duty had be- come plain. In that same year twelve men united to form the Baptist M issionari/ Soeictg, sending Carey and Thomas as their first missionaries to India. The East India Company would not tol- erate missionaries, but they found a safe resi- dence in the Danish Colonv of Serampore, near Calcutta. The influence of the mission was im- mediate. Carey's greatest work was that of Bible translation ; and the Serampore press, under his direction, added to the slender list then existing translations of Scripture in thirty-four languages. The Baptist Society extended its work in India, and added to its field Ceylon, the West Indies, West Africa, and China. In 1900 it had in the field 263 missionaries, men and women, with 932 native workers. The example of the English Bap- tists had effect in all Protestant countries. The reading of Carey's first letters from India led in 179.5 to the formation of the London Mission- ary Soeiety (L. M. S.), in which Independents, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Episcopalians united. Since the other denominations have un- dertaken missions of their own, this society is now composed substantially of Independents alone. Its present fields are Oceanica. South and Central Africa, Madagascar, India, and China, In 1901 it had in the fiidd 4.'5.'> missionaries, men and women, and 0203 native workers. Nott, .fnhn Williams, IMorrison. Medhurst. Rice. Mof- fat, and Livingstone are names which give spe- cial lustre to its roll. In 1796 two similar socie- ties were formed in Scntliiml. which served at first as auxiliaries to the London soeietv. Later they did good work by themselves in South Africa and the West Indies, and afterwards became merged in the missionary societies of the Estab- lished Church and the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The formation of a society in Hoi-
 * i~-.i^ted liy 18(59 native workers.