Shelf.. PRINCETON, N. J- Green, Ashbel , 1762-1848. Presbyterian missions BV 2570 .G74 (^re^c^r\ AQhhpl 17fiP-1ft4.ft. Of this large-paper edition three hundred copies have been printed. No. PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS BY ASHBELtiREEN, D.D., LL.D. WITH SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES JOHN C. LOWRIE NEW YORK ANSON D F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY (incorporated^ 182 FIFTH AVENUE Copyright, 1893, by Anson D. F. Randolph &- Company, (Incorporated). PRESS OF EDWARD O. JENKINS' SON, NEW YORK. PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS ADVERTISEMENT— NOTE. The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Cburcli, at their meeting in Baltimore, in October and November, 1837, passed the following resolution, viz. : " Resolved^ That the Rev. Dr. Green be requested to draw up a history of the Foreign Missionary operations of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, to be published by the Executive Committee, with the pro- ceedings of this Board." "When the duty assigned by the foregoing resolution came to be performed, it was found on examination, that Domestic and Foreign Missions in the Presby- terian Church had not only been conducted by the same agencies, but that, to some extent, they had been mingled together. A compendious view of both, was therefore determined on, as stated in the introduction to the Sketch. Institutions established or conducted mainly by asso- ciations or individuals, not immediately connected with the Presbyterian Church, when mentioned at all, have received but a cursory and summary notice. Their operations have not been traced, although carried on in concert with members of the Presbyterian denomina- tion. Institutions characteristically Presbyterian have been regarded as the only proper subjects of anything like historical detail. Nor has it been considered as consistent with the plan adopted, to mention such of these as were known to have had no other than a very (V) Vi ADVERTISEMENT— NOTE. brief existence, or a very limited action. If any socie- ties having a just claim to be noticed in this compend- ious view, have been altogether omitted, the writer can only say, that they have escaped inquiries, made as extensively and diligently as his time and means of in- formation would permit. It is hoped that the readers of this Sketch will keep in mind that its natm-e forbade much enlargement. It had been easier for the author to compose a much larger work, than to condense his materials, after he had col- lected them, into the necessary compass. Probably some will think that equal justice has not been done to the numerous institutions that have been brought under review. This will not be fairly attributed to partiality in the writer — it is owing solely to the fact, that after much research he could obtain but scanty materials for some articles, while for others his materials were abun- dant, and near at hand. He is sensible of the defects of his work, but with all its imperfections he hopes it may be useful. As this Sketch could not be submitted to the Board of Missions, and as the larger part of it has not been seen even by the Executive Committee, it is to be dis- tinctly understood, that the writer alone is responsible for the statements it contains. — A. G. [Dr. Green's History has long been out of print, and no book supplies its place. It contains valuable Infor- mation, collected from many sources, to the year 1838. Its author, one of the eminent among our American clergymen, was born at Hanover, N. J., July 6, 1Y62. He graduated at Princeton College with the first honors, under the Presidency of Dr. Witherspoon, in 1783, and yielded to his preceptor's urgent counsel to accept the ADVERTISEMENT— NOTE. yii call of the Second Presbyterian church, Philadelphia. His ministry in this church was greatly blessed, and attend- ed with special revivals of religion. For twenty-five years he was the pastor of this large and influential congre^^a- tion ; and then, with the deep regret of both parties, re- signing its charge, he accepted the Presidency of Prince- ton College. At the end of ten years, on retiring from active pubHc services, he became the author of valuable books and the editor for twelve years of a monthly re- ligious magazine, the Christian Advocate. In some of his latter years he preached to a small congregation of colored people in Philadelphia. He was always an earn- est and eflicient friend of Missions. A personal inter- view with him in 1833 called forth expressions of deep sympathy with this cause. He departed this life May 17, 1848. This book is here reprinted as it left the author's pen, with a few omissions specified where they occur, and with some changes not affecting its meaning' such as the transfer of foot-notes, in some cases to the text, and the removal of his Appendix to its intended place, at page 215. Corrections or omissions have been made in extracts quoted from Annual Reports, rendered proper by later information. The Supplemen- tal Xotes, distinguished by brackets [ ], are inserted usually at the dates of the narrative or the suggestions of the subject ; and sometimes witiiout close connection with the original text, but still in keeping with its purpose. These W'otes have been gathered chiefly from many volumes published, or which have become acces- sible, since the year 1838 ; but in some instances they have been derived from personal knowledge. They sometimes refer to matters of later date, connected with preceding events or subjects. VIU ADVERTISEMENT— NOTE. The plan of this History includes three periods, viz. : First, from 1741 to 1838, embraciDg Domestic and Foreign Missions, both then conducted under the same direction — that of the General Assembly, or by some of the Synods. This part is treated of in this volume. Second, from 1839 to 1869. Third, from 1870 to . The narratives of the two latter periods will relate only to Foreign Missions. They may not soon be ready for the press ; but the first volume admits of being separately published. The occasion of preparing it is found in the Minute of the Board of Foreign Missions, of February 16, 1891. This kind Minute was understood by the Editor to include a transfer from routine to special work, as Providence might indicate. Any pecuniary avails that may reach him from this book will, as heretofore, go to the cause of Missions. J. C. L. New York, 53 Fifth Avenue, December, 1892.] CONTENTS. Introduction 1 Domestic Missions 2 Presbyterian Church always a missionary church 3 Virginia and the Carolinas early regarded as missionary ground 3 Collections annually taken up in the Churches, by order of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia in 17C6, to aid in sending the Gospel to destitute places 4 The General Assembly constituted 1788, and met the first time at Philadelphia, May, 1789 4 Vigorous measures adopted by the General Assembly to raise funds for the missionary cause, 1800 5 Standing Committee of Missions appointed in 1802 6 Circular addressed to every Protestant Missionary Society known in Europe 7 Missionary operations among the African race in the South- ern section of our country 7 Services performed by the lamented John H. Rice, D.D. . . 8 Synod of Virginia instrumental in forming Presbyterian churches in Kentucky 9 Synod of Pittsburgh efficiently engaged in sustaining For- eign and Domestic Missions 9 Monthly periodical issued by the Standing Committee of the General Assembly 9 Western Foreign Missionary Society of New Jersey, formed in 1800. Its organization independent of the General Assembly 9 Board of Missions of the General Assembly, constituted in 1816 10 Formation of Missionary Societies auxiliary to the General Assembly's Board recommended 10 Duties of Secretary and General Agent of the Board of Missions performed by a few of the members, amidst pas- toral and other engagements 11 (ix) X COi^'TENTS. Young Men's Missionary Society of New York, formed 1815 11 New York Evangelical Missionary Society, instituted about 1816 12 United Domestic Missionary Society, formed by the union of the Young Men's Missionary Society and the New York Evangelical 3Iissionary Society 12 Meeting of delegates from different States of New-England held at Boston, in 1826, to form a General Society for Domestic Missions 13 American Home Missionary Society, instituted May, 1826. . 14 Refusal of the American Home Missionary Society to co- operate with the General Assembly's Board of Missions. 14 Resolution of the General Assembly of 1837, recommending the discontinuance of the operations of the American Home Missionary Society and the American Education Society within the Presbyterian Church 15 The organization of a Philadelphia Missionary and other Presbyterian Missionary Societies in the city and liberties of Philadelphia 17 Pennsylvania Missionary Society, formed 1826 18 Re-organization op the Board of Missions of the Gen- eral Assembly in 1828 19 FOREIGN OR HEATHEN MISSIONS 22 Indian Mission on Long Island, the first heathen mission instituted in the Presbyterian Church 23 Second mission under Rev. David Brainerd 24 Mission to Indians in eastern Pennsylvania, eastern New York, and New Jersey 24 Rev. John Brainerd succeeds his brother 28 New York Missionary Society, organized 1796 30 Transfer of all their missions to the United Foreign Mis- sionary Society 31 Northern Missionary Society, organized 1797 31 Mission to the Cherokee Indians 32 Rev. Gideon Blackburn engaged as a missionary 33 Efforts to establish schools among the Cherokees 33 Letter from Rev. G. Blackburn on the progress of civiliza- tion among the Indians 84 CONTENTS. XI Mission amokq the Wyaxdot Indians 35 Mission at Cornplanter's Town 36 Mission at Lewistown, Ohio 38 United Foreign Missionary Society instituted 1818 38 Their operations countenanced and patronized by the gen- eral government 40 The Two Osage Missions 43 The want of success in this mission induces its final aban- donment 43 The Cattaraugus Mission 44 Encouraging circumstances connected with it 45 The Mackinaw Mission 45 The Haytien Mission 46 The Tcscarora Mission 47 The Seneca Mission 49 Legislature of New York reject a petition praying for the residence of ministers of the Gospel on Indian lands 49 The Fort Gratiot Mission 50 The Maumee Mission 50 Proceedings of the Synod of Pittsburgh in relation thereto. 51 Report on the state of the ^laumee school 52 Remarks on tlie transfer of the missions of the United For- eign Missionary Society to the American Board 54 Reasons adduced in favor of this union 55 Remarks on the preceding reasons 58 Action of the General Assembly and Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church, on the subject of the amalgamation 60 Report and resolution of the General Assembly 63 Mission among the CnicKASAw Indians, the only one in the Presbyterian Church, not transferred to the American Board 65 Chickasaw Mission under the supervision of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia 65 Foreign and Domestic Missions authorized by the General Assembly 84 Mission to Buenos Atres 85 Resolution of the General Assembly's Board of Missions rendering assistance to this mission 87 Cause of failure 88, 89 Xii CONTENTS. Concluding remarks on the different sentiments existing in the Presbyterian Church on the most eligible method of prosecuting Foreign Missions 89 WESTEnN Foreign Missionary Society formed m Novem- ber, 1831 101 Circular letter issued by this Society 101 Formation of the Society 103 Extracts from the Life of the Rev. Joseph W. Barr, one of its missionaries 112 Missions and missionaries under the care of the Western Foreign Missionary Society 112 Mission to Western Africa 114 Ordination of Missionaries 114 Death of the Rev. Joseph W. Barr, one of the missionaries destined for Africa 115 Embarkation of Missionaries 116 Their arrival at Monrovia 116 Death of Mr. Cloud and Mr. and Mrs. Laird 117 The state of the African Mission 130 Mission to Northern India 126 Embarkation and arrival of the Missionaries 127 Death of Mrs. Lowrie 128 Death of Mr. Reed 142 Reinforcement of the Mission by the arrival of several Mis- sionaries 143 Mr. Lowrie has permission to return to the United States to recruit his health • • • • 1^6 Details of the three missionary stations in Northern India. . 163 Mission to the Western Indians 165 The Iowa Mission 169 Details of the Wea and louia stations 171 Mission to Smyrna I'l Mission to China 1 ' ^ Interesting statement relative to the progress of casting types of the Chinese characters 175 Projected or Prospective Missions 179 Indian Tribes 1^^ Mission TO Calcutta 1^2 The Foreign Missionary Chronicle 184 CONTENTS. xiii Transfer of the "Western Foreign Missionary SocreTT.. 189 Proceedings of the General Assembly of 1835, in relation to the transfer 190 Report of a Committee to the General Assembly of 1836. . . 190 Terms of agreement between the Committee of the General Assembly and the Synod of Pittsburgh 192 Report of a Committee appointed by the General Assembly of 1836, to review the whole case, and present it to the consideration of the Assembly 195 Proceedings of the Assembly on the report, and final rejec- tion thereof 200 Transactions in General Assembly of 1837 221 Report of the Committee on the overture from the Presby- tery of Salem, on the subject of foreign missions, and of "The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America " 221 Directors for the Board of Foreign Missions appointed 223 First meeting of the Board held October, 1837 226 Proceedings of the AVestcrn Foreign Missionary Society, at its last Meeting, May, 1837 214 Concluding Remarks 229 1. The importance of sustaining our missionary operations on right principles, and from right motives 230 2. Before the world shall be converted to God, there must be a practical conviction that it is the power of God alone, working on the minds of the heathen, that can ever change them 232 3. Dependence on God for the success of missions ought not to diminish, but increase, the means and exertions that are used to produce this effect 235 4. Faithful missionaries ought to be " esteemed very highly in love for their work's sake," and every reasonable pro- vision made for their support in foreign lands 239 5. We ought not to calculate that great and speedy success will follow our missionary enterprises 239 6. Strict economy ought to be observed in the use of funds in managing the missionary concerns at home 240 ArrKNDiCES . . . . 243 I. Presbyterian ^lissionaries 243 II. Books of Reference 246 Index of ScrrLEMENXARY Notes 247 A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. INTEODCrCTIOK THE propagation of tlie Gospel in North America possessed, essentially, the character of a Missionary enterprise. Its propagators when they fled from perse- cution in the land of their fathers, had it in view, not only to be able to worship God according to the dictates of their consciences, free from molestation, but to trans- mit the Gospel in its purity to their descendants, and to other emigrants, in all succeeding generations; and they also hoped to impart its blessings to the Pagan tribes, who inhabited the wilderness in which they sought an abode. As introductory, therefore, to a brief " History of the Foreign Missionary Operations of the Presby- terian Church in the United States," it is proposed to take a rapid survey of the Missions of this Church among the descendants of Europeans ; and to follow it by a narrative, more in detail, of missionary operations, among the aborigines of our own country, and among the heathen of foreign lands. It is believed that the present will not be considered as an unfit occasion for the survey contemplated ; nor prove unwelcome to those who take an interest in the concerns of the Presbyterian Church, many of whom are almost wholly unacquainted with its missionary history. DOMESTIC MISSIONS. THE Presbytery of Philadelphia was the first that existed on the American continent, and was formed, as nearly as can be ascertained, in the year 1704. Its clerical members were emigrants from Scotland and Ire- land, with one individual from New England, They were, with a single exception, almost wholly destitute of property ; and the people to whom they ministered, be- ing like themselves in poverty, and struggling for sub- sistence in a wilderness land, could contribute but a pit- tance to the support of their pastors. In these circumstances, little more could be done for spreading the Gospel, than to proclaim its truths and administer its ordinances, among the inhabitants in the vicinity of the preachers. But in this field of operation, the labors of the fathers of the Presbyterian Church were most exemplary. It may be questioned whether any missionaries, in more recent times, have made greater exertions to carry the Gospel to the destitute, or have endured more hardships in doing it, than were ex- hibited by these venerable and devoted men. They not only preached to the peojDle to whom they sustained the pastoral relation, but extended, as far as possible, their excursions of benevolence into the adjacent regions ; and this without any pecuniary compensation or facilities of travelling. The affecting cries of the destitute came to them at every meeting of their Presbytery, as well as at their individual abodes ; and the efforts which they made to relieve the spiritual wants of the supphants, were neither few nor feeble, (2) DOMESTIC MISSIONS. 3 In process of time, wlien the Presbytery was enlarged into a Synod, and a small fund was obtained to aid the operations, and partially to relieve the pressing neces- sities of its members, missionary services were extended to places more remote. It was in this way that Presby- terian churches were planted, not only in the British colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland, but also in Vir- ginia, and in North and South Carolina. The Presby- terian Church has, in fact, been always a Missionary Church ; and to her being such, is to be attributed, under the blessing of God, her rapid increase and her present wide extension. In a period of little more than a hundred and thirty years, this Church, embracing at first but six or seven ministers of the Gospel, has located congregations, with their pastors, through a region ex- tending from Canada, on the North, to Florida, in the South, and from the Atlantic, on the East, to parts be- yond the Mississippi, in the "West ; and now consists of nineteen S^-nods, one hundred and six Presbyteries, and nearly two thousand ordained ministers ; between two and three hundred licentiates ; more than two hundred and forty candidates for the Gospel ministry ; and not less than two thousand churches. Of the detail of her Domestic Missions, only the most cursory view can now be taken. It has already been stated, that Virginia and the Carolinas were early regarded as missionary ground ; and we now add, that they continued to be thus re- garded, till the commencement of the Revolutionary war of our country. Tiieir necessities formed a marked sub- ject of attention, and measures were adopted for their relief, at almost every meeting of the Synod, before the unhappy rent which divided it, in 1741. After that occurrence, till the reunion of the Synods in 1758, each 4 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. of the conflictmg bodies made vigorous exertions to sup- ply the spiritual wants of the southern portion of the then British colonies. The result was, that not only many churches were organized, but several Presbyteries were formed in that section of our country. In the year 1766, the Sjmod of New York and Phila- delphia, then the supreme judicatory of the Church, directed that a subscription should be taken up, or a collection made, in all their congregations, vacant as well as supplied, for sending the Gospel to destitute places ; and, in the following year, they determined that such a collection should be annually made ; and they adopted other suitable measures to carry into effect their benev- olent design. During the \7ar of Independence, the public mind was so engrossed with the state of the country that all religious institutions languished, and some were tem- porarily suspended. In the South, the hostile armies overran, and for a time had the occupancy of a part of the region, to which missions had previously been sent ; and missionary operations, on the whole frontier of the United States, were precluded, by the existence or the fear of Indian hostilities. Such, nevertheless, was the strength of the missionary spirit in the Presbyterian Church, that a number of missionaries were sent forth during this war ; and the subject continued to command the serious attention of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia, as long as it remained the highest judica- tory of the Presbyterian Church. The General Assem- bly, which was constituted by that Synod in 1788, met, for the first time, in Philadelphia, in May, 1789. Dur- ing the sessions of this first year, the missionary cause claimed a particular attention. The four Synods, then existing under the Assembly, were directed to provide DOMESTIC MISSIONS. 5 and recommend, each, two missionaries to the next As- sembly ; and that funds might be prepared to meet the expense expected to be incurred, it was enjoined on all the Presbyteries, to take measures for raising collections, in all the congregations within their bounds. It is believed that at this time (1789) there was not, in the United States, another religious denomination beside the Presbyterian, that prosecuted any domestic missionary enterprise ; except that then, as since, the Methodists sent forth their circuit riders, in various directions. A few years subsequently, the Congrega- tionalists of Connecticut sent missionaries among the emigrants from that State, who had located themselves within the bounds of the States of New York and Penn- sylvania ; and, in Massachusetts also, at a period some- what later, missionary operations were set on foot. But for some time, with the exception stated, the Presby- terian Church stood alone, at least as to any regular and systematic efforts, in supplying the destitute portions of our country with the preaching of the Gospel. For thirteen years in succession, the General Assembly, at every annual meeting, either by a committee appointed for the purpose, or by measures adopted on motion in the House, took the missionary concern into special consideration, heard the reports of those appointed in a preceding year, and made new appointments, as exten- sively as missionaries and the means of their support could be obtained. In 1800, measures of increased vigor and efficiency were adopted, to raise funds for the support of the mis- sionary cause. Agents were commissioned and sent out into different parts of the country, to solicit donations in aid of the Assembly's Missions ; and the result was, the formation of a fund of upwards of twenty-two thousand 6 PEESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. dollars, conditioned by tlie donors, that the capital should remain unbroken, and the annual interest only be ex- pended. At this period, the Kev. Jedediah Chapman was appointed a stated missionary for four years, in the northwestern, part of the State of New York ; to direct and assist other missionaries, and to spend six months of each year in personal labors, in this, at that time, the most favored missionary field. He subsequently re- ceived missionary appointments, till the time of his death in 1813. The same year (1800) the Eev. James Hall was appointed a missionary to Natchez, for several months; and was accompanied by the Rev. James Bow- man and William Montgomery, appointed by the Synod of the Carolinas. This mission was performed in a very able and satisfactory manner. In 1802, an important alteration took place in the man- ner of conducting the Missionary business. It had now become so extensive, that the Assembly found it would be impossible, amidst the numerous concerns claiming their attention, to devote to it, during the short term of their annual sessions, that time and regard which its successful and extended prosecution demanded. To diminish their business, and to ensure a proper manage- ment of all their missionary affairs, they appointed a Standing Committee of Missions, to act through the year; prescribed to them the duties to be performed, and clothed them with such powers as were then deemed suflBcient. Immediately on the rising of the Assembly, the Committee organized themselves, and entered with alacrity and zeal on the discharge of the interesting duties assigned them. A circular letter was addressed to Presbyteries, urging their assistance in the missionary enterprise ; a system of instructions was drawn up and printed, for directing the conduct of the DOMESTIC MISSIONS. 7 missionaries employed ; and a circular letter was pre- pared and sent by the Committee to every Protestant Missionary Society known to exist in Europe — contain- ing information in regard to missionary operations in our country at large, and more particularly in our own Church. A series of questions on missionary concerns was also contained in the letter, and answers were solicited, from which it was hoped that much useful information might be derived, to aid the Committee in the management of their important business. Due attention was paid to this letter, by the Societies to which it was addressed, and numerous and friendly replies were received. Under the conduct of the Committee, the Missionary operations became more and more ex- tensive ; and the satisfaction was enjoyed of beholding them constantly exerting a most benign influence on the cause of religion. In one year of its existence, the Com- mittee recommended, and the Assembly sanctioned, fifty-one missionary appointments. It ought to be particularly noted, that a very zealous effort was made by the Standing Committee to establish regular missionary operations among the unhappy African race, in the southern section of our country. With this view, they commissioned the Rev. John Cliavis, a man of African descent, who had previous- ly been employed as a missionary among the blacks, by the Synod of Virginia. From the General Assem- bly, on the recommendation of the Committee, he re- ceived, for six years in succession, missionary appoint- ments to the people of his color, in Virginia and North Carolina. Nor did he labor altogether in vain. [The brief reference to Mr. Chavis in the text may be supplemented by later information. He was a negro of full blood, but a freeman. He was born in 17C3, 8 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. near Oxford, N. C., and educated at Princeton College, under Dr. Witherspoon. His expenses were defrayed by gentlemen in the neighborhood of Oxford, who wished to see how far a negro could be well educated. He was licensed as a preacher by a New Jersey Presby- tery, and accompanied the Kev. Samuel Davis to Vir- ginia, where he engaged in the work of the ministry. In that State he preached the Gospel acceptably until 1805, and then was transferred to North Carolina, where he continued in faithful work in three counties, one of them his native county, until 1832. He died in 1838, in his seventy-fifth year. He was aided in his later years by the Presbytery for his support, which was con- tinued to his widow. His ministry was eminently use- ful, and for several years he conducted a classical school for white boys. This school was considered the best in the State at that time. Many eminent professional men, sons of the best families in the State, received their education in it ; some of whom were still living a few years ago, who spoke in warm terms of praise of their former teacher. The great respect and kindly feeling which were shown to Mr. Chavis were due to his own character and life, and were worthy not only of himself, but of his white friends. His memoirs should be acces- sible, for the benefit of his race, and not less of white people, both in* our Northern and Southern States. It is our blessed religion that must mainly solve existing and grave difficulties.*] But the most important and efficient services, in this field of benevolent action, were performed by the late eminent and lamented John H. Eice, D.D. For seven * This imperfect note is abridged from an article in the Chicago Interior of April 28, 1892, written by a respected minister of the Southern Presbyterian Church. DOMESTIC MISSIONS. 9 years he cheerfully accepted a mission to the black pop- ulation of Virginia, and labored among them with the most exemplary fidelity and happy success. The fruits of his mission are said to be yet visible, and to be remem- bered with gratitude, by a number of those to whom his labors were blessed. But beside the missionaries commissioned by the Assembly, a considerable number were annually sent forth by the Synods, who managed this interesting con- cern separately from the Assembly. The Synods of the Carolinas, Virginia, Kentucky, and Pittsburgh, were dis- tinguished for their zeal and efficiency in the missionary caule. By the missionary operations of the Synod of Virginia, some of the first Presbyterian churches in KeiTtucky were formed, and afterwards supplied with the Gospel ordinances. But of all the Synods, that of Pitts- burgh was the longest and most extensively and efficiently engaged in sustaining missions, both domestic and foreign. It ought not to be omitted, that among the other labors of the Standing Committee of Missions, was the distribution of a large number of religious books and tracts, and the editing and publishing of a monthly Miscellany of fifty octavo pages. In a compendious view of Missions in the Presby- terian Church, some notice is due to "The Western Mis- sionary Society of New Jersey." It was formed about the year ISOO. Its organization, indeed, was entirely independent of the General Assembly. But it was com- posed of members belonging to the same church, con- tributed liberally to the funds of the Assembly, pursued the same objects, and was, for a length of time, active and spirited in the execution of its own missionary plans. Its operations ceased, principally for the want of funds, about four years since. 10 PEESBYTEKIAN MISSIONS. In 1816, the Standing Committee of Missions, on tlieir owii recommendation, was succeeded by a Board, which, by an order of the Assembly, was styled " The Board of Missions actingr under the authority of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States." The powers of the Committee had not ex- tended beyond the nomination of missionaries to the Assembly, pointing out their routes of travel or fields of labor, and specifying the amount of salary due to each. A final action on all these points was among the powers now granted to this Board ; whose members were not confined to Philadelphia and its vicinity, but were taken, in part, from each of the Synods composing the Assembly — to wliich body an annual report of all the transactions of the preceding year was required to be made. The centre of action was still in Philadelphia. The Assem- bly "authorized and directed the Board to take measures for establishing throughout the churches. Auxiliary Mis- sionary Societies, and recommended to their people the establishment of such societies, to aid the funds and ex- tend the operations of the Board." In carrying this order of the Assembly into effect, the Board recom- mended the formation of Auxiliary Societies in every Presbytery, and the formation of Missionary Associa- tions, as far as practicable, in all the congregations of each Presbytery ; and, to a considerable extent, this rec- ommendation was complied with. For a time, the operations of this Board were prosecuted with much vigor, and an encouraging success. And although in no year did the Board commission as many missionaries as had been recommended to the Assembly, in some years of the Standing Committee, to which it succeeded, yet for a series of years its efficiency was great, in convcv- ing widely the blessings of the Gospel to the destitute. DOMESTIC MISSIONS. 11 It deserves especial notice, tliat in almost every part of our country, numerous infant churches were organized by the travelling missionaries of this Board, which could not otherwise have been formed; and which afterwards furnished the opportunity, so haj>pily embraced by other institutions, to afford assistance, in the support of their pastors or stated supplies. But for a considerable period before its reorrised of this, the Executive Committee of the United Domestic Missionary Society invited the directors of that Associa- tion, together with other friends of missions in the United States, " to convene at the session room of the Brick Presbyterian Church in that city, on "Wednesday, the tenth day of May, at eight o'clock, a.m., for the purpose of forming an American Home Missionary Society." This Convention was accordingly held at the time designated ; and after some preliminary proceed- ings, " the Rev. Mr. Peters, Corresponding Secretary of the United Domestic Missionary Society, read a form of a Constitution, which the Executive Committee had agreed to recommend to the Convention "; after which the following resolution was passed : " That this Conven- tion entirely approve of the proposed plan of a National Home Missionary Society, and that they will now pro- ceed to consider the Constitution that has been offered." 14 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. After considering the Constitution, the Convention adopted the following resolutions : " That this Convention approve the proposed Consti- tution, and recommend to the United Domestic Mis- sionary Society to adopt the same, and to become the American Home Missionary Society." " That the officers of this meeting be a Committee of the Convention, to present to the United Domestic Mis- sionary Society a statement of the proceedings of this meeting, together with the proposed Constitution, and tlie preceding recommendation that the same be adopted. On the Friday evening following, the United Domestic Missionary Society met for the adoption of the Consti- tution, as recommended by the Convention." * Such was the oi'igin of the American Home Missionary Society. This Society consisted, when organized, of various distinct ecclesiastical bodies, or associations, three-fourths of which were not Presbyterian ; and it acknowledged no responsibility to any judicatory of the Presbyterian Church. It refused, although kindly invited, to co- operate in missionary concerns with the Assembly's Board, but came forth against it in open hostility, and labored for some years to thwart its operations and destroy its influence. It was never denied that this So- ciety, especially in the early periods of its existence, had in its connection many estimable members of the Pres- byterian Church, was instrumental in building up and supplying w^th pastors no inconsiderable number of feeble congregations in this Church, and that on this ac- count it for a time received the countenance of the General Assembly. But it was not long before it became palpably evident * See Missionwry Herald, vol. xxii., pp. 161, 191. DOMESTIC MISSIOIS^S. 15 that in every conflict in the General Assembly, in which an attempt was made to sustain discipline or to maintain in their integrity the doctrines and government of the Church, the attempt was resisted, and in general de- feated, by the friends and dependents of this Society. In a word, it became notorious, that the unhappy and reproachful distractions of the Church, threatening not only its peace but its very existence, were attributable, in a great measure, to the influence of this institution ; in introducing as pastors, and consequently as members of Presbyteries, and ultimately as members of the Gen- eral Assembly, men of unsound theological opinions, and nearly always of lax sentiments, in regard to the govern- ment and discipline of the Church ; and tliat, of course, peace and order could not be restored till this evil should be abated. Under this conviction, the General Assem- bly of 1837 passed the following resolution : '^ Besolved, That while we desire that no body of Christian men of other denominations should be pre- vented from choosing their own plans of doing good ; and while we claim no right to complain, should they exceed us in energy and zeal— we believe that facts too familiar to need repetition here, warrant us in afiirming that the organization and operations of the so-called American Home Missionary Society and American Education Society, and its branches of whatever name, are exceedingly injurious to the peace and purity of the Presbyterian Church. We recommend, accord- ingly, that they should cease to operate witliin our churches." Any Christian Church will be preponderantly in- fluenced, and will eventually find all its important meas- ures moulded and directed by those who conduct the education or training of its youth for the Gospel ministry ; IG PEESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. and who possess, at the same time, the exclusive manage- ment of its domestic and foreign missions. The truth of this position will not be doubted by any intelhgent person, who candidly and carefully considers the nature of the case, and who is able and willing to consult and appreciate the evidence derivable from observation and experience. Let it then be observed, that the American Education Society, the American Home Missionary So- ciety, and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, if their views had been carried into full effect, would in fact have conducted, to a great and commanding extent, if not exclusively, the education or training of youth for the Gospel ministry in the Presby- terian Church ; and would, at the same time, have di- rected all the Domestic and Foreign Missions of that Church. Now, it is known that all these institutions are without any ecclesiastical organization or responsi- bility whatever ; and yet, in the case supposed, they would have possessed a preponderant influence in the Presbyterian Church, and have given shape and direc- tion to its most important measures. That is, the man- agement of the concerns of this Church would have passed out of the Church (not in form but yet in fact) into the hands of secular institutions — of secular institu- tions, moreover, a majority of whose members, to say the least, had no partiality for Presbyterian government, usages, or creeds. It will not follow from this that those who planned the Societies in question had hostile designs against the Presbyterian Church. This the present writer neither affirms nor believes. Good men have often formed plans, or acted a part, the mischiev- ous results of which they did not foresee, or suspect to be possible — a truth abundantly confirmed by the history of the Church in past ages. DOMESTIC MISSIONS. 17 It belongs not to the design of this sketch to speak directly of other than missionary concerns. But it may with truth be remarked, that the education of youth for the Gospel ministry is essentially connected with the subject of Missions. These youth must, many of them, be ultimately the missionaries of the Church. They form, as it were, the very elements of all missionary operations; and every friend to missions, and indeed every enlightened member of the Presbyterian Church, must regard its Board of Education as intimately and directly connected with all the best interests of the Church, and yield it accordingly a cheerful and liberal patronage. As in ITew York, so also in Philadelphia, there were several Missionary Societies, which were eventually combined, and formed into a single Institution. The Christian Advocate for the month of April, 1826, con- tained, on this subject, the following statement : " Many years ago a Philadelphia Missionary Society was organized in this city, to which each annual sub- scriber paid five dollars, and each subscriber for hfe fifty dollars. For a considerable time, it was prosperous and eflScient; being able constantly to support a laborer in the metropolis and its vicinity, and sometimes to send missionaries to distant parts of the Commonwealth. Unhappily, however, the love of novelty, or some cause less commendable, produced within the last eight years four or five other Presbyterian Missionary Societies in the city and liberties of Philadelphia. This distracted the minds of our fellow-citizens, divided their resources, and paralyzed their exertions. These societies, for the most part, were supported by the same individuals ; and . consumed in their management five hours, where one would have been sufficient, had they been united. To 18 PEESBTTERIAN MISSIONS. produce, if possible, a better state of things, in the Pres- byterian portion of this community, two of our Mission- ary Societies resolved to become extinct ; and on the 7th of the present month, a number of gentlemen of this city resolved to co-operate with each other, in an association which is called the Pennsylvania Missionary Society. PENNSYLVANIA " Morc tliau uinc hundred dollars, MISSIONARY stipulated to be paid annually, were at SOCIETY. once subscribed by fourteen individuals, and the subscriptions of a few other persons since, have made the annual income of the Society already exceed one thousand dollars. This, we trust, will prove but a good beginning; and we earnestly entreat our Christian friends, and especially the ministers and elders of the Presb}i:crian Church throughout the State, to unite with us ; and not to relax their exertions, until every vacant congregation in Pennsylvania has a well- informed and faithful pastor ; and every town and vil- lage a dwelling-place for the Most High. The object of this Society is, to employ regular ministers of the Gos- pel, or licentiates of the Presbyterian or Reformed Dutch Church in the United States, to preach among the destitute in this city and State ; and when their funds will allow, to assist infant churches m this and neighboring States, in maintaining the stated ministra- tions of the word and other ordinances of Christ Every benevolent heart must wish success to this newly organized Society, which seems destined particularly to promote the spiritual welfare of the Presbyterian por- tion of this Commonwealth. The Reformed Dutch Church in this country is in all respects Presbyterian, in its creed and character ; and therefore the two denomi- nations united in this laudable enterprise can harmonize in their operations." DOMESTIC MISSIONS. 19 This Society was zealous, active, and successful, in prosecuting the objects for which it was instituted. But it did not long continue its operations ; for after the re- organization of the Assembly's Board of Missions, it was seen that the very purposes for which the Society had been formed, were embraced in the plan of that Board ; and therefore that the continuance of the Society would be rather injurious than useful. Thus it appears, that while the American Home Mis- sionary Society absorbed all the small domestic institu- tions of a missionary character, within the scope of its influence, the same effect was produced, on similar insti- tutions of a strictly Presbyterian character, in the vicin- ity of the Missionary Board of the General Assembly. The friends of these two large and commanding bodies threw their funds and their influence into the one or the other of them, according as they were led by their predilections or their sense of duty. In 1828 a printed Overture, signed by three clergy- men and two laymen, was introduced into the Assembly, through the Committee of Overtures, proposing and urging a new organization of the Board of Missions. After an ardent and protracted debate, occasioned by opposition to the Overture by the friends of the Home Missionary Society, the Assembly resolved, " That the Board of Missions already have the power to establish Missions, not only among the destitute of our own country, or any other country, but also among the heathen in any part of the world; to select, appoint, and commission missionaries ; to determine their salaries, and to settle and pay their accounts ; that they have full authority to correspond with any other body on the sub- ject of missions ; to appoint an Executive Committee, and an efficient agent or agents, to manage their mis- 20 PEESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. sionarj concerns ; to take measures to form auxiliary societies, on such terms as they may deem proper ; to procure funds, and in general to manage the missionary operations of the General Assembly. It is therefore submitted to the discretion of the Board of Missions, to consider whether it is expedient for them to carry into effect the full powers which they possess." THE GENERAL No time was lost, after the rising ASSEMBLY of thc Asscmbly, in reorganizing the BOARD OF MISSIONS. Board of Missions of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. At the first meeting of this Board, an Executive Committee was appointed, a Corresponding Secretary and General Agent was chosen, and the performance of the various duties of the Board was entered on, with spirit and energy. The manner in which the plans of this Board have been, and still are, carried into effect, through the agency and co-operation of Presbyteries and Sessions, and indeed the whole detail of its proceedings, are so well known throughout the Presbyterian Church, that it seemed not only unnecessary, but improper, to make a particular statement of them in this compendious view ; yet it should be noted that for several years it had to contend, as already stated, with open and active opposition, from a rival institution. But its onward progress has been constant and cheering ; till by its re- port to the General Assembly in May, 1837, it appears that in the preceding year, the Missionary Fund had amounted to nearly thirty-one thousand dollars ; that the nmnber of missionaries and agents employed had been two hundred and seventy-five ; that several missionaries had been sent to places where no churches or congrega- tions had been previously organized ; that their mission- aries had labored in twenty of the States of the Ameri- DOMESTIC MISSIONS. 21 can Union, and that the amount of ministerial labor per- formed, had been equal to one hundred and twenty-seven years ; that the number of members added to the churches under the care of the missionaries, by examin- ation and certificate, had been two thousand six hundred and sixty ; that eighteen new churches had been organ- ized, and about sixty houses for public worship erected ; that the number of Sabbath-schools that had been formed was a little short of five hundred, in which were employed two thousand eight hundred teachers, and twelve thousand scholars; that two hundred and fifty Bible-classes had been reported, containing more than five thousand learners ; that the number of Temperance Societies reported had been about three hundred and eighty, containing forty thousand members ; that beside the monthly concert, four hundred weekly prayer-meet- ings had been established, one hundred and twenty Bible Societies, sixty-eight Tract Societies, one hundred and thirty Missionary Societies, and societies for promoting other benevolent operations in similar proportion. Domestic Missions in the Presbyterian Church may now be considered as systematically and permanently established, and under the continued blessing of the Great Head of the Church, with every prospect of ex- tensive and increasing usefulness. FOKEIGK OR HEATHEN MISSIONS. AS already stated, Heathen Missions, in the Infancy of the Presbyterian Church, were impracticable. It was with diflSculty, and principally by their own labor and management, that the ministers of the Gospel ob- tained a bare subsistence for themselves and their fami- lies. The heathen in their neighborhoods lived by the chase and led an unsettled life ; so that without some pe- cuniary aid, derived from a foreign source, a missionary could not exist among them — if indeed a missionary to them ought, in any event, to have been employed, when on all sides their own countrymen were perishing for lack of knowledge. Early, however, they found the means and the men for the prosecution of Heathen Missions. The Church of Scotland was their mother Church ; and to her they looked, to enable them to send the Gospel to the pagans of the wilderness. "The Society in Scotland for propagating Christian knowl- edge" was instituted, in Edinburgh, in 1709. This Society, in 1741, established a Board of Correspondents in New York, who, on proper recommendation, ap- pointed the Rev. Azariah Horton, a member of the Presbytery of New York, to labor as a missionary on Long Island, where a large number of Indians then re- sided. This was the first formal heathen mission, insti- tuted in the Presbyterian Church. Whatever Christian instruction had been previously given by Presbyterian ministers to the natives of the forest, had been imparted to such as were found willing to receive it, in the neigh- (32) FOREIGN OR HEATHEN MISSIONS. 23 borhood of settled pastors. Mr. Horton received from Scotland a salary of forty pounds sterling per annum ; and he chose for his assistant and interpreter a man by the name of Miranda, an Indian, and formerly a trader, but who had for some time labored to instruct the Dela- ware and Susquehanna Indians. Mr. Horton's inter- preter died, not long after his appointment, but the mission was still prosecuted by himself ; and at the East end of the Island, where the greatest number of Indians were found, his success, for a time, was highly encour- aging. A general reformation of manners speedily appeared, and several gave satisfactory evidence of a saving conversion ; a number were taught to read, and in two or three years he had baptized forty-five adults and forty-four children. The introduction of spirituous liquors, the bane of the Indians, had an unhappy influ- ence, in arresting the progress of the Gospel among them. Yet it appears, that so late as 1788, the Indians in those places where Mr. Horton labored were etiU re- ligiously disposed, had two preachers among them, both Indians, who were well esteemed ; and that a number of individuals were then in the full communion of the Church. [The " large number of Indians " on Long Island, to whom Mr. Horton ministered, occupied a tract of coun- try near Southampton. Their successors still remain in the same district, but are reduced in number and other- wise much changed. They are known as the Sliinne- cock Indians, and thirty communicants are reported in their church, in the Minutes of the General Assembly, 1892. Under date of September 10, 1891, their pas- tor gave the following account of them : " Our present generation, descended from the Shinne- cock tribe, is now greatly mixed with negro and Anglo- 24 PKESBYTERIAN MISSIOT^S. Saxon blood, the former to much the most extent. Only two claim to be of pure Indian blood, and one hundred and sixty-two are of mixed blood. Together they make 164 persons in 34 families. Besides those who reside here, there are 96 others who do not live here, but are of the same stock, making in all 254 persons. Their temporal circumstances are not very favorable, though much better than formerly, and the future promises better still. Twenty years ago they were decreasing ; for the last decade they have rapidly increased. I find them docile and kind, though not as industrious as I wish them."] DAVTD BRAiNERD. Thc sccoud Prcsbyterian missionary to the Indians was the justly celebrated David Brainerd. He also received a salary from the same Society in Scotland, by which Mr. Horton had been supported. He was licensed to preach by an association of Con- gregational ministers, convened at Danbury in Connec- ticut, July 29, 1T42 ; and in the character of a licentiate, spent about a year in missionary labor, at an Indian settlement called Kaunaumeek, about twenty miles from Albany, in the Province of New York. Here his success was not encouraging, and his sufferings, both mental and bodily, were extreme. Inflexibly deter- mined, however, to devote his life to the evangelizing of the heathen, he refused a pressing invitation to a very advantageous settlement, in an English congregation on Long Island. He was ordained as a missionary by the Presbytery of New York, at Newark in New Jersey, June 12, 1Y44. From this time to his death (October 9, 1747) he was a member both of the Presbytery and Synod of New York, and attended all their meetings, unless prevented by sickness, or by his missionary engage- ments. Immediately after his ordination, his attention FOREIGN OR HEATHEN MISSIONS. 25 was directed to three collections, or bodies of Indians, considerably remote from eacb other : namely, to those located at the forks of the Delaware River, in the Prov- ince of Pennsylvania, to those on the borders of the Susquehanna River, in the same Province, and to those who resided at a place, the Indian name of which was Crosweeksung, called by the English Crosweeks, near the centre of the Province of New Jersey, and from eighteen to twenty miles to the south of Kew Bruns- wick. He spent the most of his time at the first and last mentioned of these places; although he made no less than four visits to the borderers on the Susque- hanna, encountering dangers, privations, and sufferings of the most appalling kind ; and by his last visit increas- ing greatly a tendency to a consumption of the lungs, which terminated his life, in about a year after his return. Of the three fields of missionary labor, in which Mr. Brainerd was employed after his ordination, Crosweek- sung was that in which he reaped, almost exclusively, the harvest of his success. On the pagans of the Susque- hanna he made but little impression. Among those at the Forks of the Delaware, his interpreter, with his wife, were the only individuals who gave evidence of a sound conversion ; although an external reformation of manners was visible, in a considerable number. But at Crosweeksung his success was perhaps without a parallel, in heathen missions, since the days of the apostles. For his exertions were made single-handed ; he had no fel- low-laborer, beyond a little occasional assistance from two or three neighboring brethren in the ministry. In opposition to discouragements which would have sub- dued any ordinary mind, and which went near to van- quish his own, he long persevered, with no prospect of 26 PRESBYTEKIAN MISSIONS. obtaining the object of bis wishes and bis agonizing prayers, in the conversion of those to whom be minis- tered. "I do not know," be says in bis journal, "that my hopes respecting the conversion of the Indians were ever reduced to so low an ebb, since I bad any concern for them, as when I first visited the Indians at Crosweek- sung. Yet this was the very season in which God saw fit to begin this glorious work." A glorious work it pre- eminently was. His own summary account of it is in these words : "June 19tb, 1746. This day makes up a complete year, from the first time of my preaching to these In- dians in J^J^ew Jersey. What amazing things has God wrought, in this space of time, for this people ! What a surprising change appears in their tempers and be- havior ! How are morose and savage pagans, in this short period, transformed into agreeable, affectionate, and humble Christians ! and then* drunken and pagan bowlings turned into devout and fervent praises to God ! They ' who were sometimes in darkness are now become light in the Lord.' May they ' walk as children of the bght and of the day ! ' And now, to Him that is of power to establish them, according to the Gospel and the preaching of Christ, to God only wise, be glory, through Jesus Christ, for ever and ever. Amen." Mr. Brainerd soon became sensible, that the Gospel could not be permanently established among his Indian converts, unless he could prevail on them to abandon their wandering life as hunters, and rely for their sub- sistence on the cultivation of the soil. He therefore advieed them — and they unanimously resolved to follow bis advice — to form a compact settlement by themselves, and to become agriculturists. But for this undertak- ing, their residence at Crosweeksung was unfavorable. FOREIGN OR HEATHEN MISSIONS. 27 as the soil, though covered with bushes, was entirely unfit for cultivation. But the territory which they had not yet ceded to the English, was of considerable ex- tent; and at the distance of about fifteen miles, at a place called Cranberry, they possessed a large tract of land, favorable to agricultural operations. Hither, there- fore, they removed ; formed a settlement without any mixture with the white population, and under the di- rection and instruction of their missionary, who had to take personally the charge of every concern, they en- tered on the business of farming. They were organized into a regular church of about forty communicating members ; the whole number that removed being about one hundred and fifty. A very prosperous school of from twenty-five to thirty children, and wliich was event- ually enlarged to fifty, was hkewise estabhshed, under the instruction of an excellent master, whom Mr. Brain- erd obtained for them, and for whose support he solicited donations. Some adults were also taught to read, in an evening school, opened for their accommodation. It was in this manner that Mr. Brainerd hoped he had provided for the perpetuating of Gospel ordinances, not only among the Indians already Christianized, but also for their descendants. He erected among them a house for his own residence, in the building of which a considerable part of the labor was performed by himself. This was the fourth structure, which, at his different missionary stations, he had built for the same purpose, and mostly with his own hands. Scarcely was he settled in his new abode, when his consumptive complaint compelled him to abandon both it and his beloved charge. After being confined at Elizabethtown, in the house of the Eev. Jonathan Dickinson, for about four months, he acquired strength enough to return, and bid a final fare- 28 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIOJS-S. well to his congregation of heathen converts, on the 18th of February, 1747. He died, as already stated, on the 9th of the following October, in the 30th year of his age, the half of this year not being completed. A very short • time before his death, he was visited by his brother and successor, John Brainerd, and was com- forted by the prospect, that in him his bereaved flock would still be under the care of a faithful, able, and af- fectionate pastor. JOHN BKAiNEKD. The Rcv. Johu Brainerd was a mem- ber both of the Synod and the Presbytery of New York. For several years he was successful in sustain- ing, and in somewhat enlarging, the Indian congre- gation and school, which his brother had organized. During a period in which his labors among the Indians at Cranberry were suspended, by several journeys which he made to those on the Susquehanna, and by other causes, his place was well supplied by the Rev. William Tennent, of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, whose pastoral charge was in the neighborhood of Cran- berry. Mr. John Brainerd, as well as his brother, held a correspondence with the Society in Scotland for the pro- motion of Christian knowledge ; but he was supported principally, if not wholly, by funds derived from the contributions of Presbyterian congregations in America. Such was certainly the fact, after the commencement of our Revolutionary war. The Synod had previously allowed him a salary of thirty pounds per annum ; and in 1763 they ordered a collection to be taken up in all their congregations, for the support of the Indian Mis- sion. To the schoolmaster they awarded, for that year, an allowance of thirty pounds. They also voted sixty- five pounds, for the support of the Rev. Sampson Occum, a native Indian, a member of the Presbytery FOEEIGN OR HEATHEN MISSIONS. 29 of Suffolk, on Long Island, and at that time a mis- sionary among the Oneida Indians. He was afterwards employed, for many years, among various tribes of his race. The converts from paganism who were gathered into the Christian Church by the Brainerds, appear to have maintained, with very few exceptions, a character for vital piety and exemplary deportment, through the whole of their subsequent life; and some are represented as having died in the triumphant hope of the Gospel. But from a variety of causes which cannot now be specified, but chiefly from being deprived of their lands by the fraud and cupidity of the white inhabitants, then- num- bers were greatly reduced* In 1802, some com- missioners from New Jersey conducted eighty-five Delaware Indians, the remainder of Mr. John Brainerd's congregation, to New Stockbridge, to place them under the ministry of Mr, Sergeant, the missionary in that town ; and it was then stated that after Mr. Brainerd's death (in 1780) they were left alone, having no spiritual shepherd to watch over them, no meetings for divine worship on the Sabbath, and no school for their children. We only add that the remnant left, seem to have lost all sense of religion ; and it is believed have now become nearly, if not altogether, extinct — the common fate of Indians when surrounded by a white population. In the year 1766, the Rev. Charles Beatty and the Rev. George Duffield, performed a mission, by the appointment of the Synod, among the Indians on the Muskingum River, in what is now the State of Ohio, but which was then a howling wilderness. An account of this mission was published in a printed pamphlet ; and the representation made was so favorable, that in the * Brown's History of Missions, vol. i., p. 136, 30 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. following year the Synod appointed two other mission, aries to the same region ; but owing to unfavorable re- ports of the state of things among the Indians and the frontier inhabitants, this mission was not fulfilled ; and no further attempts were made to evangelize the heathen in that quarter. THE In 1796, the New York Missionary Society NEW TORE was Organized, consisting principally of mem- sociETY. bers of the Presbyterian Church. It owed its origin to the missionary zeal excited by the accounts then recently received in this country, of the institu- tion, animated exertions, and flattering prospects of the London Missionary Society. The present writer can state from a distinct recollection of his feelings and language at the period now referred to, that although he highly approved the zeal of the founders of this Society, and was perfectly willing that they should prosecute their own views of duty, yet for himself he saw no need of any new organization for missionary operations in the Presbyterian Church. He thought the zeal now awakened should be cherished, and be carried into the General Assembly of our Church ; that in this body we already had an organization, than which none could be devised better adapted to the prosecution of foreign as well as domestic missions ; in a word, it was his opinion that every member of the Presbyterian Church should use his influence, and all his means, for evangelizing the heathen, through the agency of the Supreme Judicatory of our Church. How far these sentiments prevailed is not known ; but it was only in the northern section of the Presbyterian Church, that societies, similar to that now under consideration, were at that time patronized. The members of this Society, however, though not very numerous, proceeded with a laudable spirit and activity FOREIGN OR HEATHEN MISSIONS. 31 in the execution of their plans. They collected funds to a considerable amount; and under their patronage one of their missionaries, with his son as a schoolmaster, formed a missionary establishment among the Chickasaw Indians, which for a time prospered, and promised to be permanent. No less than eighteen individuals went out with this mission, and contributed in various ways to carry its design into ejffect. The Society also estab- lished two Indian missions in the State of New York ; one in the Tuscarora, and the other in the Seneca tribe. Both these missions, especially the latter, appear to have prospered ; and to have been happily instrumental in gathering a number of the heathen, as hopeful con- verts, into the Christian Church. In the year 1821, they transferred all their missions to the United Foreign Missionary Society. THE In 1797, the Northern Missionary Society KORTHERN was iustitutcd. Why a distinct society was SOCIETY, so soon formed in the neighborhood of that last mentioned, and what was the proportion of mem- bers of the Presbyterian Church which it embodied, is unknown to the present writer. Commendable exer- tions, however, were made by this institution, to promote Indian missions. The Society obtained considerable funds, and the Indians themselves made it a valuable donation of land. In the circular letter sent in 1802, by the Standing Committee of Missions, to the mis- sionary establishments of Europe, it is stated that this Society had then "made preparations for sending a minister of the Gospel and a schoolmaster, to the Oneida nation of Indians." It also appears that it had a mission located at Fort Gratiot, which was assumed by the United Foreign Missionary Society in 1823, and trans- ferred to the American Board in 1826 ; at which time, 33 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. it employed one male and two female teachers, and had established a school, containing from fifteen to twenty Indian children. In the appointment of Mr. Chapman, as a missionary to the northwestern frontier of the State of New York, in the year 1800, the General Assembly had a reference, not only to the wants of the white population, but to the deplorable condition of the Indian tribes, for whom their sympathy was deeply enlisted. Hence, in the circular letter addressed to the Presbyteries by the Standing Committee, in 1802, the following passage appeared : "Missionaries for the Indians is a great desideratum with the Assembly. The hope of contributing to send the Gospel to the heathen tribes, prompted the liberality of many who have contributed most largely to the funds which the Assembly have at command ; and it was with the deepest regret that the last Assembly found that they had not a single candidate for an Indian mission. If your Presbytery can nominate one who is well qualified, it will be an important acquisition." The next year (1803) the desideratum of the Assem- bly was obtained. The Eev. Gideon Blackburn was found willing to engage in a mission to the Cherokee Indians. MISSION TO Mr. Blackburn was accordingly recoin- THE CHEKOKEE mendcd by the Committee, and appointed INDIANS. • by the Assembly. With great zeal, ac- tivity, and devotedness, he prosecuted his missionary undertaking for eight years. But the failure of his health (in 1810), and a necessary removal of his family to a greater distance from the field of missionary labor, compelled him to retire, when he seemed to be on the point of reaping the fruits of his toils and sufferings. This was a subject of great regret to the Committee, to FOEEIGN OR HEATHEIT MISSIONS. 33 the Assembly, and to many others, who had taken a lively interest in this promising mission. Mr. Blackburn's efforts were principally directed to the establishment of schools among the Cherokees. By these schools he hoped to promote their civilization, to prepare them for an advantageous hearing of the Gospel in public preaching, and for a permanent enjoyment of its ordinances. He also had it in view to qualify the Indian youth, not only for the duties of secular life, but for ministerial usefulness, when, by the blessing of God, any of them should become practically pious. Two flourishing schools were established ; for the support of one of which, he made himself personally and exclu- sively responsible. For sustaining the other, the annual allowance made by the Assembly, for several years, was five hundred dollars ; and to this, in one year, an addi- tion of three hundred dollars was made by the New Jersey Missionary Society. 'Not less than ten thousand dollars were expended on this mission ; more than half of which was obtained by Mr. Blackburn himself, in donations and contributions which he received, chiefly, in a journey which he made for the purpose through the New England States. The amount of his receipts, as stated by himself, was five thousand three hundred and forty-seven dollars and ninety cents. The ability, assiduity, and fidelity of Mr. Blackburn in his missionary employment, not only among the Indians, but in preaching the Gospel to the white popu- lation in the vicinity of the Cherokee country, was at- tested by the Governor of the State of Tennessee, by other respectable individuals, and by the Presbytery of Union. The rapid improvement of the youth in his Indian schools was truly surprising. The specimens of their handwriting, and of some articles of their manu- 34 PRESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. facture, whicli were transmitted to the Committee, manifested a progress in improvement of the most promising kind. In 1806, there were in the two schools seventy-five scholars, whose proficiency in reading, writ- ing, and arithmetic exceeded the most sanguine expecta- tions which had previously been entertained. But the improvement of the Cherokees, during the mission of Mr. Blackburn, was not confined to the schools. The Indians in general, made no inconsiderable progress in many of the common and most useful arts of life. They assumed, to a great extent, not only the habits, but even the form of government, of a civilized nation. At a kind of national meeting, they formed a constitution, chose a legislative body, and passed a number of laws, among which was an act imposing taxes for public purposes. In a letter from Mr. Blackburn, of January 5, 1810, the following interesting statement of the progress of the Cherokee Indians, towards a state of civilization, was contained: "In the nation there are twelve thou- sand three hundred and ninety-five Indians. The num- ber of females exceeds that of the males, by two hun- dred, Tlie whites in the nation are three hundred and forty-one. Of these, there are one hundred and thirteen who have Indian wives. Of negro slaves there are five hundred and eighty-three. The number of their cattle is nineteen thousand five hundred ; of their horses six thousand one hundred ; of their hogs nineteen thousand six hundred ; of their sheep one thousand and thirty- seven. They have now in actual operation thirteen grist mills, three saw mills, three saltpetre works, and one powder mill. They have fifty wagons ; between four hundred and eighty and five hundred ploughs; one thousand six hundred spinning wheels ; four hundred and sixty-seven looms, and forty-nine silversmiths. FOREIGN OR HEATHEN MISSIONS. 35 " Circulating specie is supposed to be as plenty among them as is common among the white people. Most of these advantages they have acquired since the year 1796, and particularly since 1803." There is a more extended detail, accompanied by calculations, which we have not room to insert ; but it may be seen, in the appendix to Brown's 1st volume of the History of Missions, page 505. It was the intention of the Standing Committee of Missions of the Assembly, to prosecute the Cherokee Mission ; but while they were looking for missionaries possessing suitable qualifications for the work, the Rev. Mr. Kingsbury, acting under the authority of the Ameri- can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, passed through Philadelphia, to occupy the field in which the missionaries of the General Assembly had been laboring for eight years. When Mr. Kingsbury waited on the Chairman of the Standing Committee, to know if there was any objection to his mission to the Cherokees, he was informed that the Committee could not object to his laboring for the benefit of that be- nighted people ; but at the same time, he was distinctly apprised of their design to resume the mission, so soon as Providence should be pleased to furnish them with suitable missionaries. The subsequent success of the missionaries of the American Board, in this "line of things made ready to their hand," was most happy ; and rendered unnecessary any farther efforts of the Standing Committee to prosecute a mission in the Cherokee country. MISSION In 1805, the Standing Committee of the AMONG THE Gcncral Assembly received a letter (dated WYANDOT October 23 of that year) from the Secretary INDIANS, of "The Board of Trust of the Western 36 PKESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. Missionary Society," composed of members, and acting under the direction, of the Synod of Pittsburgh, and chartered by the State of Pennsylvania, requesting pecuniary aid in establishing a mission among the Wy- andot Indians. The Committee could not act officially in answer to the request of the Board of Trust, till authorized so to do by the General Assembly ; but one of their members immediately made them a dona- tion of one hundred dollars, and the Assembly of the following year appropriated four hundred dollars to their funds. The same sum was awarded to them annually, for several years in succession. Sandusky, in the State of Ohio, was selected by the Board, for the location of their missionary establishment. Their ulti- mate design was to evangelize the savages ; but to facili- tate the attainment of this great object, they organized a school for the instruction of their children, whom they both fed and clothed. They also procured land, for the purpose of assisting, by its cultivation, in the support of the establishment ; as well as to instruct and engage the Indians in the business of farming. On the farm, they erected the necessary buildings, and the school consisted of from thirty to forty pupils. This mission was going on in a very prosperous way, till the war of 1812; when the buildings having been burned, and the improvements destroyed by the enemy, the mission was suspended. An effort was made to revive it after the war, but with little success. MISSION AT In 1814 the Western Board, in conse- cornplanter's quence of a personal and pressing ap- TowN. plication from Cornplanter, a distin- guished chief of the Six Nations, resolved to establish a mission among his people. The Indians, who had requested this mission, received very cordially the FOREIGN OR HEATHEN MISSIONS. 37 missionary and sclioolmaster who were sent to them, eno-aged to provide for their own cliildren boarding and lodging, without any expense to the Society ; and the chief promised to furnish a school-house and a dwelling for the teacher, together with a farm, if it should be judged necessary to promote the design of the mission. This chief seemed to have a deep sense of the importance of the Christian religion, both for himself and his people; and to be exceedingly desirous that they should learn and practice the arts and usages of civilized life. The General Assembly agreed to allow three hundred dollars toward the sup- port of this mission. But the instruction of these Indians was, after a short time, assumed by another de- nomination of Christians ; and in the autumn of 1818, the school at Corn planter's town, owing to the occurrence of several obstacles, and the removal of a number of the Indian families from the town and the adjacent country, was discontinued. The Board of Trust, reluctant to lose altogether the fruits of their labor and liberality, en- deavored to persuade a number of the Indian boys, who had made some considerable progress, to prosecute their education ; and offered, as an encouragement, to bring them into Christian society, and to clothe, support, and instruct them gratuitously. This benevolent offer, how- ever, was not accepted, and the Board were compelled, at least for a time, to resign their hopes of further success. [The Cornplanter station is again, in 1891, under the care of the Presbyterian Church, in connection with the mission to the Seneca Indians. Brief but interesting accounts of its condition are given in the recent Annual Reports of the Board. The band consists now of about a hundred souls, and most of the adults are members of 38 PEESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. tlie Churcli. Under the Board of Trust tlieir settlement was visited, to preach the Gospel to them by such pas- tors as Messrs. McPherrin and Tait, and several years were spent in their service by lay missionaries.] MISSION AT In 1814, a mission at Lewistown in LEwisTowN, Ohio was projected, for the benefit of the OHIO. Indians in that vicinity. In the following year, four hundred and fifty dollars were granted to the Kev. James Hughes, who was about to remove to Ohio, and offered to undertake the mission. Here, as elsewhere, the prospect of benefiting the benighted pagans seemed to be highly promising, and yet it ended in disappointment. It is deserving of notice, that however unproductive of other beneficial results, were the Indian Missions undertaken and patronized by the General Assembly, they seem to have had a happy effect in preventing savage barbarities, on the frontiers of our country. It appears that not one of the tribes that the Assembly attempted to evangelize, took any hostile part in the existing conflict, during the war of 1812. In 1816, the General Assembly adopted measures which resulted next year in the establishment of the United Foreign Missionary Society. UNITED Beheving that a new Society for conducting FOREIGN Foreign Missions might be advantageously SOCIETY, formed, the Assembly of that year entered into a correspondence on the subject, with the Reformed Dutch Church, and the Associated Reformed Church. The proposition made, met with a cordial reception from the supreme judicatories of these sister Churches ; and the Committee which had been appointed to manage the concern on the part of the Assembly, reported, at the next meeting of that body, the Constitution which l^OKEIGN OE HEATHEN MISSIONS. 39 had been prepared for the contemplated Society; and which, after some amendments, adopted in the following year, stood as expressed in the following articles : " 1. The Society shall be composed of the Presby- terian, Keformed Dutch, and Associate Reformed Churches, and all others who may choose to join them ; and shall be known by the name of The United Foreign Missionary Society. " 2. The object of the Society shall be, to spread the Gospel among the Indians of North America, the inhab- itants of Mexico, and South America, and other portions of the heathen and anti-Christian world. " 3. The business of the Society shall be conducted by a Board, consisting of a President, six Yice-Presi- dents, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secre- tary, a Treasurer, and eighteen Managers, to be annually chosen by the Society. They shall have power to enact their own by-laws. Seven shall constitute a quorum. "4. The Board shall present their annual report to the highest judicatory of the three denominations, for their information. " 5. Any person paying three dollars annually, or thirty dollars at one time, shall be a member of the Society ; and any person presenting to the Society a donation of not less than one hundred dollars, shall be a director for life, and entitled to a seat and vote in the Board of Managers. " 6. The President, Treasurer, and Secretary of any Society auxiliary to this, shall be ex officio members of the Board of Managers. " 7. The Board of Managers shall be authorized to fill any vacancies that may occur in the Board. " 8. The annual meeting of the Society shall be in the city of Kew York on the . 40 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. "9. Missionaries shall be Belccted from the tlirce Churclies indiscriminately. "10. This Constitution maybe altered by a vote of two-thirds of the members present at an annual meeting, with the consent of the highest judicatory of the three dcnoin illations." The operations of this Society were commenced with vigor and unanimity, and with prospects apj^arently the most auspicious. The United States Government, then under the presidency of Mr. Monroe, gave it counten- ance and patronage— allotting to its establishments a liberal portion of the fund annually ap])ropriated by Congress to the civilization of the Indians. The Super- intendent of Indian Trade, Col. Thomas L. McKenney, could scarcely have cmbarl arrived at Monrovia on the 31st of December (1833), after a passage of fifty-six days. The missionaries were enabled, soon after their arrival, to rent a suitable tene- ment for their accommodation, during their stay in Monrovia, and all the members of the mission soon ex- perienced, in succession, the attacks of the African fever. In most instances, the fever in the past winter had been uncommonly mild, and much fewer cases of mortality had occurred among the emigrants than in former years ; from which it was hoped that the missionaries, most of whom had experienced more than one return of the dis- ease, would have little to fear from any future attack. But these cheering prospects of a safe and easy acclima- tion, and the expectation of an uncommonly healthy season in the colony, were but the precursors of a mor- tality which thinned the ranks of the emigrants, while it almost entirely extinguished the hope of the two im- portant missions which had lately arrived. Mr. Cloud, unwilling to lose time by unnecessary de- lay, and anxious to ascertain the prospects at Cape Mount, a place one hundred and fifty miles up the coast, before the arrangements of the mission were finally made, resolved (too soon it would appear after his re- covery) to embrace an opportunity then offering, to embark on board a vessel going up the coast. The heat of the weather — the detention of the coaster by adverse winds — an incautious exposure to night air, and the yet THE WESTERN FOE. MISS. SOCIETY. 119 debilitated state of his health, brought on an early re- lapse, which, in the absence of needful medicines, of even a tolerably comfortable place in sickness, or a kind friend to attend him, soon prepared the way for cholera morbus, and the transition of this to a malignant dysen- tery. When the vessel returned to Monrovia, on the 8th of April, after an absence of ten days, he was found un- able to walk or stand, and his physician soon after pro- nounced it impossible to arrest his malady. During the few days of his survival, Mr. and Mrs. Laird, with a kindness and solicitude which nothing could surpass, waited night and day around the bed of their beloved associate; and he had no sooner expired than it was found that the fatal malady had transferred itself with undiminished violence to them. Mr. Laird was first at- tacked, and his wife, though a woman of no ordinary faith and fortitude, sunk before the prospect of another victim, so soon to be made in the person of her husband. She expired on the 3d of May ; and on the day follow- ing, her husband closed his eyes in death. When it was known among the native tribes around Monrovia, that the voice of those kind and devoted friends, who had come to them with the words of eternal life, was to be heard no more, they are said to have ex- hibited a regret as solemn and striking as it appeared to be sincere; and who, that considers how often the light of hope for this unfortunate people has but reached the shores of Africa, and then died away, can avoid a heart- felt sympathy in these touching expressions of a con- scious bereavement? Of these three courageous and devoted servants of Christ, this is not the place to speak at large. All that can be added is, that they carried with them from their native shores the esteem of all who knew them, and entered upon their perilous undertak- 120 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. ing with great apparent desire to live and suffer for the good of the heathen ; and that thej met the early and beclouded end of their enterprise, in the possession of a calm and cheerful anticipation of immortal felicity. Soon after the decease of Mr. Laird, Mr, Temple with- drew from the mission and returned to the LTnited States; while Mr. Pinney, temporarily fulfilling the duties of Colonial Agent, and still resolving to resume and pros- ecute the missionary work, remained at his post amidst the most appalling scenes of dispersion and death, among those who had accompanied him on his return to Africa. After having conferred important good upon the colony by the judicious fulfilment of the duties of Colonial Agent, he retired from that office and resumed his mis- sionary labors. In the September following, he was joined by Mr. J. F. C. Finley, who had repaired to Li- beria to become a superintendent and teacher of native schools ; and they soon after proceeded to erect a com- fortable mission-house at Millsburgh, and open a small farm for the use of the mission — on which a supply of coffee, lime, grove, and orange trees, and also of cassada, sweet potatoes, plantain, and banana were planted. Shortly after, however, these two brethren, exhausted by disease, and no longer able to prosecute their labors, embarked for the United States ; having suspended all further efforts for the present, and left the mission premises and property in Millsburgh, in trust, with the Baptist missionaries, by whom the house has since been occupied. From the departure from Africa of Messrs. Pinney and Finley, in an early part of the summer of 1835, till the month of December following, the Western Foreign Missionary Society was destitute of a single African mis- sionary. Mr. Pinney, indeed, was still living, and still THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 121 expressing his willingness, should his life be spared and his health restored, to return to the field of his painful and hazardous labors. But his constitution was so shat- tered that his ultimate restoration, to such a degree of firmness as to warrant the resumption of his former sit- uation, was exceedingly problematical ; and it may here be added, that although his health is considerably im- proved, it is still questionable whether he ought ever again to risk an exposure to a climate which repeated trials have demonstrated that he cannot encounter, with- out the most imminent peril of his life and usefulness. In the autumn of 1835, Mr. Ephraim Titler, a colored man, who had resided for some time in Liberia, and who, with his wife, had been employed, under the aus- pices of Mr. Pinney, in teaching a school of native Afri- cans near the Junk River, was received as a missionary by the Western Board. He had previously spent nearly a year in the United States, employing as much time as he could command in acquiring the knowledge which might qualify him to receive license to preach the Gos- pel. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, with an express reference to his return as a missionary to Africa, in the month of September, 1836. He sailed from Wilmington, North CaroHna, on the 31st of De- cember following, in a vessel chartered by the American Colonization Society, with a number of emigrants to Liberia, and arrived in safety at Monrovia in the follow- ing February. He w^as instructed to commence his la- bors at Boblee, a station selected by Mr. Pinney as hav- ing every facility of access to the natives, and owing to its elevated situation, affording the best prospect of health. He has located himself at that place, agreeably to his instructions, and according to communications received from him, with fair prospects of success. 122 PEESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. In closing the gloomy account of this African Mission, it is believed that particular attention is due to what is said on the subject in the fifth and last report of the "Western Foreign Missionary Society, made in May, 1837. It is as follows : " It is the intention of the Executive Committee, as fast as they can procure suitable and educated colored men, to strengthen and enlarge this mission. The em- ployment of colored men, for building up the Redeemer's kingdom in Africa, the Committee now believe, has not been sufficiently attended to by the churches. Their own most painful experience, in the loss of their first missionaries; the lamentable loss of lives, among the missionaries of other societies, and particularly of that noble institution, the Church of England Missionary Society, whose persevering and untiring efiorts in behalf of Western Africa exceed all others, have brought the subject of some other agency strongly before the Com- mittee. Of their own missionaries sent to this field, but one survived, and he was forced to return in feeble health ; and of the German Mission to Liberia, all died or returned. The number of missionaries and teachers sent to Sierra Leone by the Church of England Mis- sionary Society, including chaplains sent by the govern- ment, from 1812 to 1830, was forty-four men and thirty-five women. The aggregate of time all these lived in that colony was 208 years ; giving as an average two and one-half years to each ; and more or less of that period was a time of severe sickness. A few returned home, but even then their labors were equally lost to the mission. The average of two and one-half years, as the life of a missionary, is a very painful subject of con- templation; but another view is even more so. Of these seventy-nine devoted men and women, five only THE WESTEKN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 123 lived from twelve to seventeen years — ten from five to eight years — thirteen from two to three years, and forty- fom* died the first year. How important for every Mis- sionary Society to profit by such painful and distressing experience of their own and sister institutions, "JMow in the providence of God, an agency every way suited for the wants of Africa exists among us, and in the bosom of the Church. The constitution of the colored men of the Southern States has nothing to ap- prehend from the climate of Africa. If the friends of our Society at the South will select pious, suitable men, it will be the duty of the Committee to have them brought to the North, and see that they are properly educated. The result of this course, in a few years, would be a full supply of pious, educated, and qualified missionaries for this long discouraging field ; and with thre blessing of God, Africa 'redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled,' would stretch forth her hand to Him. TV hat Christian heart would not rejoice to see degraded, perishing, bleeding Africa, a nation scattered and peeled, for centuries the prey of the man-stealer and the mur- derer, rising from her long desolations, and rejoicing in the knowledge of redeeming love. "Xo missionary society in the United States can bring this agency into action, with more advantages than the Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church ; and the Committee would most earnestly en- treat their friends, and especially the pastors and elders of the churches, to assist them in carrying into efficient operation, the very important principles here suggested." WEST [Preceding pages contain the views CENTRAL AFRICA, of the first Secretary of the Western VIA LIBERIA. Foreign Missionary Society, which show that the mission to Africa had as its chief field the cen- 124 PEESBTTERIAN MISSIONS. tral region of that dark land. Liberia seemed to be the door of entrance to this immense region and its vast population. Notwithstanding the distressing bereave- ments at first, the faith of the Church did not fail. The second Secretary called special attention to this mission and particularly to the colored people of our own coun- try, as eventually to furnish laborers for this interior field in the land of their forefathers. Both of these references to the African Mission were correct and of great moment. They have not yet been verified, to the degree then anticipated ; but they will be, if the faith of the Church still fail not. Two serious hindrances have stood in the way. One was and still is the extremely malarious coast region of the country, extending inland fiom fifty to a hundred miles, in which a large part of Liberia is situated. The Americo- Africans, mostly very poor, settled in this coast country, of which Monrovia is the chief town, aud the capital of the Republic. The great discouragement of white men as missionaries, from which later experi- ence shows that colored men have not been exempt though less liable thereto, has been the injurious climate. It proved to be fatal to devoted men and women after but short periods of service, or compelled them to with- draw from their work there, as already shown. They did not lose their reward, assuredly ; the imperfect labors of missionaries in Liberia have not been in vain. Ex- perience has led to greater care in not sending men ill adapted to the climate, and in their using proper pre- cautions against its injurious influence. The existing Americo-Africans, now about 20,000, are in some degree acclimated ; and among them are children and youths of both sexes, who greatly need better opportunities of training— not at all by sending them to America for this THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 125 purpose, but by providing in tlieir own land better means and opportunities of industrial education. This subject was referred to in the Annual Reports of the Board of Foreign Missions for 1890, page 12, and 1891, page 23. The second hindrance to missionary labors in the in- terior, long insuperable, has to a large degree passed away. The border tribes, back of the coast, refused to allow foreigners to penetrate beyond tlieir own bound- aries. This was the case for many hundreds of miles along the west coast, even as far down as to the river Congo. But the time of exclusion from the interior of Africa is passing away, indeed is virtually at an end. As an example, Boporo, a considerable town and district, about a hundred miles inland from Monrovia, in an ele- vated and healthy country, is a place to which in former years missionaries could not be sent, but where they would now be welcomed. Indeed a missionary might have been stationed here several years ago, and the Board adopted measures to occupy this post. A talented, measurably well educated, colored man, then in the ranks as a missionary, was sent by the Board to Boporo. He was kindly received, and his report showed that the way was in a good degree prepared for missionary work. Bat his subsequent course made it plain that to some other laborer must be reserved the privilege of preach- ing the Gospel permanently in that place. This Mission to Central Africa via Liberia must not be abandoned. It was the first begun, abroad, by our Church under its present system. It was sorely tried by early bereavements. Its conditions are now better understood. Its preliminary work has not been in vain. Its connection with the seven milh'ons of Africo-A meri- cans in our own country, and its influence on their religious and missionary destiny, must not be forgotten. 126 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIOI^S. It may be of immeasurable importance to tbem. The Liberia Mission Las been the most discouraging foreign work of our Church. Shall it not yet become one of the most blessed ?] MISSION This mission was projected, as has been TO NOKTHEKN sceu, at the very origin of the Western INDIA. Foreign Missionary Society ; and Messrs. John C. Lowrie and William Reed were the first mis- sionaries that offered their services to the Society, and they were received under its care January 16, 1832. No preference for any field was stated by them ; though the sendino; a mission to India or the East was then under the Society's consideration. The want of funds led to some delay, and they were engaged for several months after their licensure in visiting churches and meetings of Presbyteries and Synods for the cause of missions, one of them also spending several months at the Prince- ton Theological Seminary. The African Mission was sooner ready to be organized and sent forward to its field of operation. In narrating the transactions relative to this and the remaining missions of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, the best general view may be presented, by ab- breviating the authentic statements contained in .the several annual reports of the Society itself. This plan will accordingly be pursued, with only such occasional departures from it as may be found indispensable. The following quotation is taken from the second Annual Peport, read and adopted at the annual meeting, May 6, 1834: " The last Annual Peport stated, that the Pev. Messrs. William Peed and John C. Lowrie, with their wives, were expected to leave this country in a few weeks afterwards, to commence their contemplated mission in THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 127 Hindustan. Arrangements were made for their embark- ation in the ship Star, of the port of Philadelphia, in May last. Never, it is believed, was the mind of the Chris- tian public in that citj, more deeply interested in the foreign missionary enterprise, than during the presence of the mission there, and the religious exercises which were connected with their final departure from it. The closing meeting will long be remembered by many, as well from the peculiar circumstances which tended to give effect to it, as from the divine influence which seemed to pervade it This little band finally bid adieu to their native land, and the ship Star put to sea on the 30th of May, 1833, and arrived at Madeira on the 24th of June following. The temporary abode of the mis- sionaries at that fertile and lovely spot in the ocean, tended not only to mitigate the fatigues of a long sea voyage, but somewhat to recruit the strength of Mrs. Lowrie, whose health had begun to be so far impaired, during the last few weeks of her residence in this coun- try, as to threaten a confirmed pulmonary affection. The voyage was resumed on the 15th of July, and the Star arrived in the port of Calcutta on the 15th of Oc- tober. The change of air incident to her passage into the southern hemisphere, and severe gales in doubling the Cape of Good Hope, appeared, the Committee re- gret to state, to confirm all the fears which had been en- tertained as to the character of Mrs. Lowrie's illness, and from that period she began gradually to become so feeble, that before the arrival of the Star in port, all hopes of her recovery were at an end. " The missionaries were received at Calcutta with every mark of respect and affection, and to the Kev. William H. Pearce especially, will they and their friends in this country feel long and deeply indebted for the hospitahty 128 PRESBYTEKIAN MISSIONS. and kindness wliich were shown them. They were im- mediately taken into his family, and amidst the assidu- ous and affectionate attentions of Mr. and Mrs. Pearce and their friends, Mrs. Lowrie hngered until the 21st of November, when she expired ; and from his hospi- table mansion her mortal remains were borne to the house appointed for all living. To her deeply afflicted husband, thus early bereaved in a strange land, to the other two surviving members, to the Society and the cause of missions in India, the death of this amiable, in- telligent, and devoted woman must be regarded as a very severe affliction. Her desires to devote herself to the spiritual good of the heathen were fervent, and her qual- ifications for the station were, to human view, uncom- mon ; but He, for whose glory she left her native land, was pleased, doubtless for wise reasons, to disappoint her earthly hopes, and to require her associates, a few short weeks after their arrival, to consign her to the dust, there to proclaim, as she sleeps in Jesus on India's distant shores, the compassion of American Christians for its millions of degraded idolaters ; and to invite others from her native land to come and prosecute the noble under- taking in which she fell. "The Committee were led, from the information which they had previously obtained, to direct these brethren to seek some eligible position in the northern provinces of Hindustan as the field of their labors; but they were authorized to make a different selection if, on arriving in India and consulting with the friends of mis- sions at Calcutta, it should be found expedient to do so." [Other parts of the country were brought to their at- tention, particularly the district of Bundelkhund, not far south and west from Allahabad, containing a popula- tion of about three milHons, and other millions in neigh- THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 129 boring districts. Tlie people are mostly Hindus, but not 60 much under the influence of the higher castes, " hard and fast," as in the northwest. They live not more than half as far from Calcutta as the people of the Punjab. Not much could be learned about them in those days, but their part of the country was said to be subject to fever and ague ; now considered an erroneous impres- sion. The reason for this 2^ote is, that this district has not enjoyed more than transient visits of missionaries; it is still unoccupied territory, after so many years. The lately formed station of Jhansi is on its northern bor- ders, accessible by railway.] " After mature deliberation, and taking the advice of many judicious and well-informed counsellors, they came to the conclusion that the original designation of the Committee was decidedly the best, varying from it only in the selection of an adjoining province, some- what further to the northwest, and inhabited by a peo- ple less bigoted in their attachment to Paganism. Be- sides this feature in the religious character of the people — their docility and desire to become acquainted with the English language — the comparative healthfulness of that part of India— its entire destitution of missionary instruction — and its proximity to, and commercial inter- course with, Afghanistan, Cashmere, and Thibet, exten- sive and populous regions as yet entirely unoccupied, are all considerations of importance, and going to show the propriety of the selection. " Lcdiana and Ambala, which have been mentioned as the two best positions, are, both of them, distant nearly twelve hundred miles from Calcutta, and almost as many from Bombay ; but as measures are now in progress to open the navigation of the Indus and its tributaries, and as Lodiana stands on the navigable 130 PRESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. waters of the Sutledge, one of its principal branches, and as there is now a plan on foot for a steam commu- nication from Bombay to England, through the Mediter- ranean and the Eed Sea, this part of India, and espe- cially Lodiana, may eventually become of more easy and frequent access to us than Calcutta itself, " Of the climate, and government, and inhabitants of the province of Lahore, it is stated that it consists of two parts : the one of which is the mountainous tract in the northeast, stretching south and east from Cashmere ; and the other comprising the low and flat regions bounded on the south by the Sutledge, called the Punjab. The former has a climate much resembling that of middle Europe, but is thinly peopled in comparison to the other, which is by far the most productive, though less salu- brious. It comprises a territory of seventy thousand square miles, and a population of several milhons, and is said to contain many fine villages and some large towns ; but those of the latter, with the exception of Amritsar, the holy city of the Sikhs, are in a declining condition. Lahore is under the government of a native ruler by the name of Runjeet Singh, formerly one of the most formidable enemies of the Anglo-Indian government, but now on terms of friendship with it, " The political changes which have recently taken place in respect to India, the increasing desire of persons of distinction among the natives to give their children an English education, and the disposition of the constituted authorities to encourage the settlement of educated and intelligent missionaries in all parts of that country, are to be regarded as truly auspicious circumstances. "The brethren readily obtained permission of the Governor-General of India to reside in the province which they had selected ; but as the season least favor- THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 131 able for making the journey was about, to commence, and as thej could spend the intervening time profitably in the study of the language, they had concluded, on consultation with their friends in Calcutta, to remain in the vicinity of that city until June next." IK CALCUTTA. [It was uot the purpose of the missionaries to make any long stay in Calcutta ; but the deeply sorrow- ful illness and bereavement, referred to on preceding pages, caused considerable detention. Afterwards it was fully learned that the best time for beginning the 1,000 miles of the voyage on the Ganges was at the com- mencement of the rainy season, several months later. This unexpected delay involved little if any disadvantage in learning the Hindustani language ; many people from the up-country provinces were living in that city. But other things of importance had to be studied by new missionaries of a Society itself new. Climatic condi- tions affecting health; methods of business; social usages of natives and foreigners ; the religious systems of the Hindus as exemplified in daily Hfe— all required practical attention. The work of missions, moreover, in its varied methods, as conducted by several Christian de- nominations and about twenty missionaries, called for careful and thoughtful study. It is well therefore to introduce a few notices of missionary topics suggested by this temporary abode in the capital city. And in connection therewith reference may be made to a book published in 1850—" Two Years in Upper India." It gives information, partly personal, largely general, con- cerning what was expected to be the life work of the writer, but what proved to be chiefly the pioneer work of the mission. The Notes of the present book may be viewed as suggested by or connected with the interests of the Lodiana Mission. 132 PEESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. MISSIONARIES Among the missionaries and other gentle- AND OTHER Hion, then in Calcutta, or its immediate vi- FRiENDs. cinity, were men of eminent ability and scholarship, whose counsels were of great service to the new missionaries. Some of them had lived many years in India, and all of them were held in esteem for their Christian character. Such men as Drs. Carey and Marshman ; Archdeacon Corrie, afterwards Bishop of Madras, Henry Martyn's friend, not in missionary ranks, but of a devoted missionary spirit; Drs. Yates and Duff; Messrs. Pearce, Lacroix, Mackey, Ewart, Ellis, Mather, and others; besides the Scotch chaplain, Dr. Charles, and the Evangelical Bishop, Dr. Wilson ; Col. Dunlop, an elder in the Scotch church ; and Mr. after- wards Sir Charles Trevelyan, one of the secretaries of the Government. The revered Archdeacon, Col. Dun- lop, and Mr. Trevelyan had been stationed for several years in the northwestern provinces, and they were well acquainted with that part of the country and its people. The information received from them, most kindly given, was invaluable. At the suggestion of the secretary, one of the missionaries and himself spent a day at Barrack- pore, and were invited to dine at the palace. The Gov- ernor-General was on a visit to a distant part of the country, but Lady Bentinck was very kind in her recep- tion of her guests, and made a most pleasing impression of herself and of her interest in the Christian welfare of the people of India. Her example and that of Lord Cavendish Bentinck promoted all that was good for the Hindus. Their friendly influence greatly favored our missionary work in the northwest provinces. CORDIAL Nothing could exceed the cordial in- iNTERcouRSE OP tcrcourse of the missionaries of different MISSIONARIES, chuTchcs with each other, as shown on THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 133 all occasions ; this was very evident at their monthly meeting. It was held for breakfast at each other's homes, their wives always with them when they could come. After this social hour the ladies were left to the pleasant service of entertaining each other, while the men went to the study, for conference on subjects of common interest. It might be to consider a special paper, read by previous appointment; or a matter re- quiring consideration in the occurrences of the previous month; or the composing informally of some local trouble between native Christians of different missions; or settling plans for common missionary services, etc. A marked example of this good feeling occurred. The best translation of the New Testament in Bengali had been recently completed by the eminent Sanscrit and Bengali scholar, the Rev. Dr. Yates, of the English Baptist Mission. His Baptist co-laborers were grateful for it and proud of it, as well they might be. It was printed at their press in Calcutta, artd its merits became known to the missionaries of other denominations, so that a strong desire existed to be permitted to make use of it in their work. But certain words stood in the way ; many could not use immerse as the only Scriptural word in English or Bengali for baptism. The case received friendly consultation, and in good time permission was cordially given to print this superior version separately, with certain words transferred as in our English version, while the Baptist brethren continued to print them ac- cording to their usage. All honor to them for their Christian spirit ! The suggestion may be added, that words denoting ideas or objects not in a native language might in several cases be transferred, and not translated according to a common Hindu usage. As an example, " tea kettle " was not in use. The people did not drink 134 PRESBYTEETAN MISSIONS. tea, the word kettle was not known, until foreigners came to live in India; and the word itself has two sounds not expressed in their alphabet — the open and the obtuse sounds of e. The people solved the difficulty by transferring the word, writing it "kitlee," and so nat- uralizing it as a Hindu word, with an easy and accurate idea of its meaning. Might not some of our Christian words, such as "righteousness, sanctification, and re- demption," be transferred in like manner ? The harmony of the Calcutta Conference should re- buke an error as to personal " difficulties " among mis- sionaries. The writer of these lines may say that he heard of no difficulties as resulting from their being of so many denominations. After many years of observa- tion he believes that difficulties hardly ever do occur among missionaries ; and when unhappily they occur, it is usually among men of their own missions. In too close relations to each other, men of imperfectly sancti- fied nature may give or take umbrage where no offence was intended, or ought not to have been given. More grace would prevent or terminate the trouble. Let all be " meek and lowly in heart," as Christ was, and there will never be any personal difficulties. But if difficul- ties do arise, then let Matthew xviii. 15-1 Y, and Luke vi. 31, be deeply considered, and literally followed. TRUE IDEA Before passing from this Conference it OP CHRISTIAN may be referred to as manifesting the true UNION. idea and the duty of Christian union. Our Saviour's prayer, John xvii. 11 and 21, was heard for these missionaries. Of the five denominations in Cal- cutta, each missionary followed the line of life and of work for Christ to which he felt himself called, or to which his Home Church had appointed him. Xo one attempted to break down denominational lines of Church THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 135 order and worship. These could be maintained in char- ity and in deference to the differing views of other brethren. This separate action as members of different missionary societies was not antagonistic, nor intention- ally divisive ; neither was it weakening. It was like the infantry, cavalry, artillery, etc., of an army— increasing, not lessening, its power ; it was one in purpose, object, and sympathy. It was all this because it was a spiritual union —like that of the sacred Persons in the Blessed Trinity. In the work of redemption, their offices are separate, and yet they are one. Many are the orders of the angels, moreover, and many the high services of the archangels, differing, but all one in spirit, aim, and end. The king- dom of God cometh not with observation — not with out- ward show and parade ; it is " within you." More perfect spiritual union will yet be obtained. In the meantime missionaries are to be chiefly " witnesses unto Christ," standing firmly in the truth, as they have received it, and regarding those from whom they differ in this re- spect as " the weaker brethren "; while yet willing to be so regarded by them. But as they learn more of divine truth, they will stand more nearly to the same standards. CHIEF The members of the Conference stood ■WORK OF in the lines of the apostles — as their chief MISSIONARIES, work was the preaching of the Gospel. If educational labors were adopted, it was still for direct, evangehzing purposes. If tracts, or books, or transla- tions of the Scriptures were prepared, it was not for lit- erary or scholastic reputation ; nothing but Christ and Him crucified was kept in view. In all respects, in the use of all their gifts, they might have said with Spurgeon : " I hate the science of comparative theology. I know but one God, and all the rest are idols. I hate the com- 136 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. parison of sacred books. I know of only one, and all the rest are pretenders." A greater than Spurgeon once stood on Mars Hill, far superior to all bis bearers, in gifts of intellect, learning, and oratory ; and be declared to tbem the true God; be spent little time on tbeir ^' comparative " tbeories and criticisms. He would know notbing but Cbrist and Him crucified. Even so let every missionary and every friend of missions abide in tbe sin- gleness of Gospel service ! In accord witb this good wisb was tbe teacbing of tbe late Dr. Cbarles Hodge on Atbeism, Pantbeism, Polytbeism, etc. (Systematic Tbe- ology, vol. i.) ; and tbe works of Sir Monier Williams on Brabmanism, Hinduism, and Buddbism as an out- growth of tbe latter,— two vols., by tbe foremost scholar of our day on such subjects, and a reverent disciple of our Saviour. Such studies by such men may be of great use to a few persons of special gifts ; but hardly if in Sanscrit, to most missionaries. HINDU SCHOLARS. The uativo Hindu scholars of emi- THE POOR. nence seldom learn to rest in Cbrist THE OUTLOOK. Jesus for salvation. A more remark- able example could hardly be cited than that of Kaja Rammobun Roy, whose death on a visit in England was reported in Calcutta in 1834, after a long life of eminent scholarship and fairness, especially in tbe Hne of Com- parative Religions, as to which bis writings were indeed remarkable. He ended his course virtually as a Uni- tarian, but he remained to tbe last a Brahman. Some of his disciples adhered to bis teacbing. Eventually tbeir views were represented in tbe Brahma Soma], or Society — not properly called a Church ; and other Somdjas were formed in various provinces, particularly tbe Arya Somaj. Their leading adherents have usually acquired some degree of education in Engbsh; many of them THE WESTERN FOE. MISS. SOCIETY. 137 have given up the grosser features of idolatry, and pro- fess to find the true idea of religion in the early history of their sacred writings. But they all, or nearly all, re- main in the bonds of caste, and seldom become fol- lowers of the Saviour of sinners. These Soma] Hindus are comparatively but a small part of the two hundred and ninety millions of the Hindus. Nevertheless great changes have taken place in India within the last century. The people are now under the best government and the most upright rulers, and enjoy the best means of education, they have ever had. For- eign commerce, railroads, steamboats, all work against caste; and many modern ideas are penetrating minds long contented in darkness. Particular statements can- not here be adduced ; but as yet it must be acknowledged that the masses of the Hindus, the poorer classes form- ing the great bulk of the inhabitants, know but little of the Gospel. It is, however, among the poorer Hindus that the chief encouragement has been found in mis- sionary work— among the poorer castes, the Teloogoos, for instance, or the almost no-castes like the Chuhras. Our missionary life and work in India, as in every coun- try, is of course for all— high and low, rich and poor, Brahmans and Chuhras, as it was in the days of Schwartz, Carey, Spurgeon, and the great Apostle. Such indeed was the example of our blessed Lord himself. In His teaching we see little if any reference to the speculations of Koman, Grecian, and other so-called philosophers, but the principles and truths that He taught overthrew all their vain theories; He preached the Gospel to the poor. Such preaching will carry the victory over every form of error, from the Yale of Cashmere to Cape Comorin, and to the ends of the earth. 138 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. EXCEPTIONABLE III this period an Independent mission- THEORiEs. ary, who had been ten or a dozen of years in another country, passed through Calcutta on his way to his home in Europe. He held the opinions of the Darbyites, or Plymouth Brethren, made but little of church organization and its ministry, expected the speedy coming of our Saviour, and believed that the world would then soon be converted. He was a man of talents, pleasing manners, and a fine conversa- tionalist. A kind and courteous reception was ac- corded to him by individuals; but his confident opin- ions, strongly expressed to men who were his seniors in experience and of greater practical ability as mission- aries, limited the influence of his visit. It was an ex- ample to be studied by a new missionary, particularly its questionable trust in unusual methods, and its expec- tation of immediate success. His hopes have not been verified. A somewhat similar theory as to haste in the salvation of the world is now advocated in certain quar- ters. This, it is held, can be done " before the end of this century," or at any rate, " during this generation." It is to be done by evangelizing^ not by converting^ the world. Now whatever limited instruction might be given in times of persecution by the disciples of Christ fleeing for their lives, we must refer to our Lord's last commandment as the foundation of Christian missions. Such is the faith of the Church in all ages. This com- mandment is obeyed by Teaching and by the adminis- tration of Baptism. " Go ye therefore and mate dis- ciples of all the nations," Baptizing them, and Teaching them. (See Revised version, and margin of Authorized version.) These requirements are understood to include church organization, the ministry, the succession of Gospel ordinances, and the use of the means of grace. THE WESTERIT FOE. MISS. SOCIETY. 139 So the Commandment was understood by the Apostles ; so by the first Christians (see Acts xiii.). And such is the general understanding of our Presbyterian people at the present day. It is " power from on high " that will qualify men to be missionaries and give them success ; it is as " witnesses unto Christ " they go forth, in the use of the appointed means of grace ; it is far from being merely flying heralds, " not stopping even to repeat the rejected message." As to the exact time of the world's redemption, we may well leave that with God. Has it been revealed unto us ? Let the wonderful progress of missionary work in our day call forth grateful acknowl- edgment, and be continued with true devotion, on only Scriptural lines and promises ! PAINFUL The sojourn of the new missionaries at the SIGHTS, chief city of India, gave them numberless opportunities of seeing the influence of heathenism on its inhabitants. It is dark and dreadful ; yet the people are an interesting race, and their land one of the best in the world. But illustrations cannot here be given, though an incident or two may be mentioned. One of the painful " sights " at Howrah, opposite Cal- cutta, where the missionaries lived for several months, was that of " hook-swinging," — not then prohibited by the Government. This case occurred on a vacant lot in the rear of their house — not many feet distant, but in full view from their back windows. The poor man was evidently intoxicated, and hardly conscious of what was going on. A thick bandage around his waist, cov- ering the space in which the hooks were inserted in his back, prevented the risk of being thrown to the ground. The hooks were pushed into the living flesh, and tied by strong cords to the end of a slender cross-beam of twenty-five or thirty feet. This beam was fastened and 140 PEESBYTEETAN MISSIONS. made to revolve on the top of an upright post about thirty feet high. It was then rapidly pulled around and around by spectators seizing the ropes fastened to its other end — swinging the poor victim in the air, flour- ishing a cane in bravado for several minutes. The shouts of the crowd saluted him. When he was let down, he appeared to be stupid and unconscious, but he was looked on as a martyr. It was a painful, irrever- ent, disgusting sight, worthy of heathenism. Of many sad sights, none was more touching than that of a young mother teaching her little daughter to worship an idol. On his early morning walk for exer- cise in the suburbs, when but few persons were yet in the street, one of the missionaries saw this young woman going with a serious air and holding in hand a child four or five years old, which was trying hard to keep up. Leaving the street, she entered a small, open space, and stood at the door of a low temple. There she made her own worship, bowing down, then she took her child's hands, put them together, and raised them to its face, and taught the little girl to salute the idol. A few minutes were thus spent, and, after leaving some small gift for the idol, or rather, for the attending priest, they slowly left the place, and returned to the street home- ward. The missionary went into the enclosed place, looked into the house of the idol, but could hardly rec ognize its hideous features in the dim light. From this his thoughts followed the poor mother and her little daughter, and deeply was his morning walk saddened. How little were her anxious thoughts for her dear child relieved ! How dark was her mind ! Alas for the heathen mother and the heathen child !] In the Second Annual Eeport, 1834, already quoted, the missionaries are referred to as "expressing, and THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 141 that repeatedly, the hope that additional missionaries maj be speedily sent out to join them ; and the decease of one of theu- valued members, and the importance of the field itself, give great force to this solicitation. The Committee are happy to say that they have it in pros- pect to send a reinforcement in the course of the ensu- ing autumn. In the meantime, it would be highly use- ful to provide for that station a printing-press to be sent out from this country, with the view of obtaining a font of type in the Punjabee at Calcutta ; and charts, maps, and globes, and other apparatus, for the High School which the mission intend speedily to establish, would be extremely serviceable. ' If one hundred addi- tional missionaries could be sent out there would be,' say these brethren, ' an abundance of work to employ them all.'" The following quotations are from the Third Annual Report, of May 18, 1835 : " Our last Report left its three surviving members, viz., the Rev. John C. Lowrie, Rev. William Reed, and Mrs. Harriet Reed, in Calcutta, diligently prosecut- ing the study of the language of th3 Punjab; and making preparations to leave that city for the Xorth of India, as soon as the appropriate season should ar- rive. In the meantime, however, the health of Mr. Reed became visibly impaired, and a bad cough and fever were soon followed by the painful evidences of a confirmed consumption. From this period, the de- cline of this amiable and devoted missionary was so rapid, that all expectation of his being able to labor in India ceased; and after long and trying consultation, and after having obtained the best medical advice, it was resolved that Mr. Reed and his partner should take passage for the United States, while Mr. Lowrie pro- 142 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. ceeded to Lodiana, to make preparations to commence the mission. "Mr. and Mrs. Eeed embarked on the 23d of July (1834), and on the 12th of August, after a few days of rapid decline, the dying missionary closed in serenity and peace his earthly sufferings, and his re- mains in the evening of the same day were committed to the watery deep ; leaving his bereaved partner in the most delicate and trying circumstances, to prosecute the tedious voyage on which they had just entered. The gratitude of the Board is due to Captain Land of the ship Edward, for his affectionate sympathy and unre- mitting attention to Mr. Eeed while he survived, and to his widowed companion, who reached this country in safety on the 12th of December following. " Mr. Lowrie left Calcutta on the day after this pain- ful separation from his beloved associates, and, at the date of his last communications, had arrived within a few days' travel of Lodiana [arriving there November 5, 1834], having ascended the Ganges to Cawnpore, and thus gained by personal observation much useful infor- mation, as to the state of society and morals, the cus- toms and religious rites of the Hindus, the trade and various phenomena of that far-famed river, and of the scenery, soil, productions, cities, temples, and military stations, along its banks. " In view of the providential reduction of this mis- sion to a single individual, it is cause of unfeigned thankfulness to God that the survivor, and the pioneer in the enterprise, should be a man who, by the union of judgment, prudence, and energy, with gentleness, for- titude, and devotedness to the work, is so well fitted for the difficult and responsible situation. "In the beginning of November last, the Eev. THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 143 Messrs. James "Wilson and John l^ewton, with their wives, and Miss Julia A. Davis, sailed from Boston as a reinforcement to this mission; and probably ere this have arrived at Calcutta, from whence, after becoming acquainted with the friends of missions in that city, and making the necessary preparations, they are ex- pected to proceed in time to join Mr. Lowrie early in autumn. The Eev. James E. Campbell, of the Re- formed Presbyterian Church, and the Eev. James Mc- Eweh, of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and Mr. David Hull, licentiate of the Presbytery of ]S"orthum. berland, have since been appointed to the same field, and are expected, in connection with a physician, and one or two assistant teachers, if suitable persons should in the meantime be obtained, to leave this country in October next. If this reinforcement be permitted to reach Lodiana in safety, and not find the force already sent out materially weakened, it is the expectation of the Committee that an additional station, either in Cash- mere, at Ambala, or some still more promising position, will be soon formed. Through the distinguished mu' nificence of a single individual, an excellent philo- sophical apparatus for a native high-school has already been sent to Upper India, and it is the purpose of the Committee to provide a printing-press and ap- pai-atus, to be forwarded next fall ; and from the num- ber of young men who are known to have that field in view, and other indications of Providence in refer- ence to it, they are led to believe that these and every other desirable facility for the vigorous and extended prosecution of this mission, should be provided. In view of the disproportionate amount of effort which the Committee have already resolved to apply to Xorth- western India, the Board may desire a brief statement 144 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. of the considerations on whicb this policy is founded [as drawn from books on India and Central Asia, not from the correspondence of the missionaries, then too recently arrived to write on some of these subjects]. They are such as apply to Hindustan in general, and such as respect that part of it in particular. " It is in the contemplation of India, and with it as an instrument, the whole of peninsular Asia, as ap- parently on the eve of a great revolution in its intel- lectual and religious prospects, that we feel a special interest in it as a missionary field. If the tram of causes which led to the establishment and the exten- sion of a Protestant power in that country, and which will inevitably lead to the far greater extension of its moral influence, and develop the singular wisdom of Divine Providence, not less so are now the means by which the fearful structure of Buddhism is crumbling away. The native press, originally got up to sustain it, is now, through its concessions and the tone of feel- ing it encourages, becoming a most powerful engine in its overthrow. It now contributes with other means, to weaken prejudices and soften the asperities of bigotry ; to excite a spirit of inquiry ; and is, with the influence of native schools, creating a thirst for knowl- edge, and making Christianity a topic of famihar con- versation, tending to aid the civil authority in the sup- pression of those cruelties and excesses, by which super- stition maintains its firmest hold of an ignorant and de- luded people. The Brahmans, it is said, fully expect the speedy termination of all the sanctity of their idol- ized rivers ; and then, as one of them recently observed, ' nothing will remain to Hindus but to embrace the Chris- tian faith.' If this is the feeling beginning to possess the minds of the most bigoted and influential among a THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 145 population of one hundred and twenty millions, and that in a land which has been the stronghold of Buddhism, and at a moment when Burmah, on its border, is also powerfully shaken, we may easily see how eventful to the missionary enterprise is the crisis which it has attained. " We, however, proceed to notice the local advantages of Northern India. " In the execution of the Redeemer's commission, no part of the earth, it is true, is to be excepted, on account of the insalubrity of its climate or the degradation or the ferocity of its population. Still, at every stage of the progress of its evangelization, it is proper, other things being equal, to prefer locations of less moral or physical obstruction, to those which have greater. The intense heat and periodical winds of the day, and the extreme humidity of the atmosphere, in the wet seasons of Hindustan, have always made almost every part of it a precarious and very often a fatal abode, for both Anglo and American emigrants; although the cold is doubtless considerably greater in these upper provinces, than in other parts of India. Burns found the heat so great at Lahore, Lodiana, and Moultan, that in the month of June the thermometer stood at 100°, even in the shade of a bungalow artificially cooled. The chief con- sideration, therefore, in favor of this field, is its prox- imity to some of the most elevated and salubrious posts in Asia. Simla, a place of considerable resort for sani- tary purposes, which attains an elevation of 7,800 feet above the level of the sea, and where, according to Cap- tain Mundy, the thermometer in May or June never rises higher than 72°, and never sinks lower than 55°, is but 100 miles from Lodiana. Roopur and Sabathu are still nearer, while Ambala, which has been some- 146 PRESBYTEKIAN MISSIONS. times mentioned by our brethren for a second position, approaches still closer to the base of the Asiatic range. If, in securing these advantages of locality, we have re- ceded several hundreds of miles into the interior, ordi- narily precluding frequent communication, and requiring a long and expensive journey, it is to be recollected that 1,000 miles in the navigation of rivers destitute of every obstruction, will bring the trade of the Punjab, as high up as Lodiana, to the ocean, on the line of the intended thoroughfare from India to Europe— not less than 1,000 miles nearer the latter than Calcutta itself. [A hope since verified, though not by navigation, but by railway. The journey to either city is now made in two or three days.] "Apart from the fact that the opening of the Indus and its tributaries to an active commerce by steam com- munication, now in contemplation, and the concentration of a considerable trade from Thibet and Tartary, through the defiles of the mountains, carrying back into these benighted regions the arts and religious light of Chris- tian nations, it is to be observed, that the political ascend- ency of the powerful chief of the Sikh nation, already makes the Punjab the most safe and convenient entrance into Cabool, Bokhara, and Eastern Persia. In these countries, it is true, the Moslem faith, in a milder form than in Western Asia, has long prevailed ; but it is be- lieved that Christianity would even now be tolerated, as Hinduism is ; and Burns states that while travelling in these unfrequented countries, he gathered from the con- versation of the Mohanmiedans of Cabool and Persia among themselves, that there existed among them a pre- diction that Christianity was speedily to overturn the entire structure of their faith. The Scriptures have been translated into the Mongolian language — a language THE WESTERN FOE. MISS. SOCIETY. 147 spoken by many tribes, from the shores of the Baikal to the borders of Thibet, and from the Caspian to the gates of Pekin, including millions in the Chinese empire; and if our Society should eventually establish a mission at Selinga, Kiatka, or some other spot under the protec- tion of a Christian power, in Asiatic Russia, and another on the borders of China or Tartary, on the great thor- oughfare from Pekin to Tobolsk and St. Petersburgh, these two remote positions would stand towards each other, and the great plateau of Central Asia, in the most interesting and powerful relation." [In the earlier years of the India Mission the journey of a family, and of a single traveller with any house- keeping articles, from Calcutta to Lodiana, was made by boat on the Ganges to Cawnpore or to Futtehgurh— the former about 620 miles direct distance or' 1,000 miles by the river, requiring about two months and a half for the voyage; the latter 720 miles direct; and then overland to Lodiana, nearly 1,200 miles from Cal- cutta. ^ For the tedious, dangerous, but very interesting river journey ; and for information concerning Upper India and the first years of the new mission, see the book already referred to. AT LODIANA, From the 23d of November, 1835, to MESSRS. WILSON the 21st of Jauuary, 1836, the first three AND NEWTON, missiouarics, above named, had the happi- ness of meeting again and spending the time mostly at Lodiana. They and Mr. Eeed had been personal friends at college and theological seminary. They had been separated in the spring of 1833. Sad changes had since occurred. But now with the lovely and devoted Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. l^ewton they were in Christian fellow- ship and council, in regard to the cause of Christ, in the great field set before the Church which they represented. 148 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. Mr. Wilson was a man of sterling good sense, bright, and genial, of most winning manners, and of truly con- secrated spirit ; Mr. Newton was of humble, straightfor- ward devotedness to the cause of Christ, and of consid- erate and most pleasant address. And it is paying the ladies an insufficient compliment to say that they were worthy of their husbands. All are entered into rest ex- cept the writer of these lines. Of their ten children, six entered the ministry, of whom two were also physicians ; one was an elder, two were wives of missionaries, and one was the wife of a merchant, both faithful members of the Church — seven of them in foreign or home missionary service, one an honored pastor at home for many years in his present charge — all showing a good and enviable record ; so one may write who has kept a friendly eye on them all. Of these ten, five have gone to be in the blessed family of heaven. WHY A Many subjects were carefully studied in PRESBYTERY thls couucil of fivc pcrsous, with earnest WAS NOT prayers for divine direction. For informa- FORMED AT tlou as to most of these matters reference LODiANA. may be made to the Annual Eeports of the Society and to the pages of its monthly magazine — the Foreign Missionary Chronicle. One of these subjects, however, does not appear to have been reported, and it is worthy of a place in this Note. Why did not the three ministers organize a Presbytery at Lodiana ? It was not for want of a high regard for this part of their Church system, nor for any inferior sense of its bearing on their work as missionaries ; but it was mainly owing to their inexperience, — and perhaps to some want of considera- tion at home. At any rate the young ministers sup- posed that organized churches and ruling elders were THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 149 required as well as ministers, in order to conistitute a Presbytery. This view was not accepted in this country, as they afterwards learned. See the two Presbyteries organized in California, one by each General Assembly, old and new, each Presbytery at first consisting only of ministers. On the theory that the ofiice of a minister includes that of an elder, this action was " in order "; as it might have been at any rate in the special circum- stances. And it is a matter of regret that this ruling could not have been known at Lodiana ; a Presbytery would then have been organized in 1835, instead of 1842 ; with the approval of the General Assembly. This revered institution might have modified what is known as the Mission, afterwards so prominent ; or it might perhaps have altogether prevented its coming into use among Presbyterians, abroad as at home. PRESBYTERY lu the ucxt couipauy of missionaries for OR the Lodiana field, several Reformed Presby- MIS8I0N. terian missionaries, and others of the same Church afterwards, led to their organizing a Presby- tery in connection with their Synod, while the earlier brethren and their successors eventually formed a Pres- bytery connected with the General Assembly. Subse- quently most of the Reformed Presbyterian brethren, and ministers and elders of their Synod, among the best men, found their ecclesiastical home in the Presbyterian Church. In all this, there was no want of agreement and Christian fellowship. It led partly, however, to the transaction of certain missionary matters by the ' Mission,' rather than by the Presbytery, following in this respect the example of other Societies, earlier in the field, who were supported mostly by Congregational or Independ- ent churches. The question has often been asked, whether the 150 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. so-called 'Missions' of the Presbyterian Church might not well be superseded by Presbyteries. It is a subject that has several sides, and it is not intended to discuss it here at any length. So far as financial matters are concerned, the native ministers and elders might well have the Presbyterial supervision of gifts and payments of funds from the native churches and other native sources, their votes by common consent being necessary to a decision. In like manner the foreign members should continue in charge of the funds sent out by the churches in our country, as best understanding their con. ditions, readily being held responsible for their specified use, and best aiding to obtain liberal support for the work. It is moreover of great interest, that the com- mon consideration and discussion by both the native and foreign brethren in Presbytery would go far to prepare the native churches for their great work of seK-support, when they become independent of foreign assistance. The ' Mission ' is but a Committee of a Committee, con- sisting of foreign members. The Presbytery is of divine warrant, abroad as at home. It includes all, native and foreign, ministers and elders. It acts under definite rules — well known, easily applicable to all cases, and subject to review. The present double action of Mission and Presbytery seems to require a good deal of adjusting. It certainly seems to be important that ministers and elders of native churches should be on the same general footing with their foreign brethren, in matters affecting the welfare of their churches. And it is gratifying to feel sure that this is the common feeling on both sides. There is a home side to the question of Presbytery instead of Mission. The latter seems to require greater labors at the Mission House and greater expense also than would be incurred by the former. This results THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 151 from placing the supervision of so many matters in the charge of the Executive officers. Important duties must certainly devolve upon the Board as a Permanent Committee of the General Assembly, such as the appor- tionment of funds among the fields of labor, the appoint- ment of missionaries, etc. But the methods of work hi the field, the numberless details of this work already to some extent under their supervision, might well be left as far as possible to the missionaries ; as also the general subjects that fall under the settled policy of the Church in this country. These brethren are capable of such work, being the equals of their fellow-laborers at home. These field matters must have due attention— which could be best secured, as it is believed, under the Presbytery, rather than the Mission. And all the more so, as the number of missionaries becomes larger, their experience increased, and their plans of work fully matured. On the other hand, the more limited supervision at home would be in- creasingly thorough, and involve less expense. Purposely this suggestion leaves out of view expenses for the collection of funds in this country. On the theory of our Church, elsewhere referred to, gifts for the cause of Missions are the fruits of divine grace, and should be sought for mainly in the use of the ordi- nary means of grace, under the lead of the church ses- sion and pastor. Many and remarkable examples verify- ing this might be readily cited in our Presbyterian churches. The good influence of all our church courts, Presbyteries, Synods, and the General Assembly, greatly promotes this happy result. Where this general Church influence is adverse, a Missionary Society is justifiable in the employment of agencies in visits to churches that may be open to them for collections ; as in the case of a foreign Society, which is admirably conducted, though 152 PEESBTTEBIAN MISSIONS. its agents are much larger in number than its Executive oflScers, and their expense greater. The hne of policy as to supervision thus briefly sug- gested was the well-considered opinion of the late senior Secretary of the oldest Missionary Board in our country, a minister eminent for his great knowledge and discrim- inating judgment in missionary affairs. It was based on intimate and long acquaintance with Missions in his own Church. He believed that in this way the number of missionaries might be largely increased without a pro- portional increase of executive expenses in this country. In the Presbyterian denomination we may prefer Pres- bytery to 3f issions, for many reasons ; but in both let the supervision of the work in the field be left to the men on the ground as far as practicable.] The following extracts are from the Fourth Annual Eeport, May, 1836, from the pen of Dr. Swift : " This mission at present, consists of fifteen individ- uals, comprising five ordained ministers of the Gospel and three candidates for the ministry, and possessing two printing-presses, a philosophical apparatus, and a good library. The Committee rejoice in being able to state, that since the last Annual Report, the operations of the Mission to India have been attended with the continued marks of the divine favor. The lives of all the mission- aries have been preserved, and the health of the Rev. John C. Lowrie, the only one of them who has been seriously indisposed, has not materially changed during the year. Rev. Messrs. James Wilson and John New- ton, with their wives, after a prosperous voyage, arrived at Calcutta in due season, and remained in that city, as was expected, until the 24th of June last, when they pro- ceeded by water, on their way to the Upper Provinces. During their stay, and on their protracted voyage up the THE WESTERN FOE. MISS. SOCIETY. 153 Ganges, they were all blessed witli good health and spirits ; at the last date of intelligence from them, they were proceeding, by land, from the river to Lodiana, where they probably arrived early in December last. Miss Julia A. Davis, who accompanied this reinforce- ment, as an assistant to the mission, was induced, some time after her arrival at Calcutta, and with the concur- rence of our brethren, and the friends of the missionary cause in that city, to form a matrimonial connection with Eev. John Goadby, of the English General Baptist Mis- sion at Cuttack ; and in consequence withdrew from her connection with this Board, with the hope, it is believed, of being enabled, with greater prospects of usefulness, to prosecute the work for which she left her native land. " Our missionary brethren appear to have met with great kindness and hospitality, at all the stations and British settlements, on their way up the Ganges, and to have experienced a growing conviction of the import- ance of India missions, and the desirableness of a great enlargement of our operations in that country. " Mr. Lowrie having, in compliance with a special and repeated invitation from the powerful sovereign of the Punjab, made an excursion to the court of Labor, con- ferred with the Government on the subject of education, and visited some of the principal cities and other ob- jects of interest within its territory ; and having spent the hot season at Simla, in what is familiarly called the Hills, or Hill Provinces, and made several tours of ob- servation during the summer, for the purposes of infor- mation as well as of exercise and change of air, has thus collected an amount of knowledge which may prove highly useful to the cause of missions. " In education, agriculture, and morals, Mr. Lowrie found the population of the Maha Kajah, Runjeet 154 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. Singh, consisting of Sikhs, Hindus, Mussulmans, etc., much like other parts of Hindustan. This territory was originally divided among a number of independ- ent princes, who now acknowledge the sway of this powerful chief. But on the termination of his life, now considerably advanced, it is supposed that things will revert to their original condition ; and the whole eventually fall, as other portions of India have done, under the direction of the British power. " A considerable part of the country through which Mr. Lowrie passed, is neither fertile nor densely popu- lated ; but the vicinity of the capital was covered with luxuriant wheat and fine gardens, extremely fertile, and adorned with the beautiful mango and tamarind trees. Amritsir, the seat of Sikh learning and devotion, the resort of pilgrims, and the site of a beautiful and picturesque sacred reservoir, is important also, as the commercial emporium of the Punjab, and the mart of the fine fabrics of Cashmere ; and may thus be regarded as the most eligible position in Labor for a missionary station, whenever our operations in that quarter shall demand a selection. The result of Mr. Lowrie's obser- vations, however, would seem, for the present, to give a decided preference to the population of the Hill prov- inces, as, in some respects, more hkely to be benefited by missionary efforts, and as possessing a chmate more favorable to the health of missionaries. The people are less attached to caste than those of the Plains, and to those immoral habits and customs which so extensively abound in India ; being simple in their habits and modes of life, devoted to agriculture, and combining a larger share of industry, uprightness, and thoughtfulness of character. The natural productions of the soil, and consequently the staple articles of subsistence, cor- THE WESTERJT FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 165 respond also much more with those of our own country ; and this fact, while it might promote both the comfort and the health of our missionaries, would enable them to transfer to this simple-hearted people, and introduce among them, many of the improvements in agriculture and horticulture which exist in their native land." The Third Annual Report, 1835, continues : "In November last, a second reinforcement, consist- ing of Rev. James McEwen, of the Associate Reformed Synod ; Rev. James R. Campbell, of the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, with their wives ; and Messrs. William Rogers and Joseph Porter, graduates of Miami University ; and Mr. Jesse S. Jamieson, graduate of Jefferson College, with their wives, sailed from Phila- delphia, in the ship CharUs Wharton, for Calcutta ; and, at the date of the last advices, these ten brethren and sisters, with Rev. Messrs. Winslow and Dwight, and their wives, of the American Board, were all" in'good health, and expected to reach their destined port about the first of March last. Neither of the three last named brethren of this reinforcement had prosecuted a regular course of theological education, before leaving this country; though each had completed his academical course with uncommon respectability, as to scholarship and correct moral and religious deportment. From in- formation previously received, and of high authority, the Committee were led to believe that these brethren, by spending a few of the first years of their missionary labors as teachers, in the higher departments of educa- tion in India, might promote the great object of its evangelization, as effectually as any other; and that, while an entrance upon these pursuits, fresh from the studies of an academic education, and with a view to enter the holy ministry as soon as they should be pre- 156 PEESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. pared for it, and the progress of the mission might de- mand it, would bring them more speedily into active service, it would not materially affect their prospective usefulness as ambassadors of Christ to the heathen. ''Two printing-presses and fonts of type, as well in the Eoman character as that of the principal lan- guages of the l^orthern Provinces of Hindustan, have in the meantime been sent forward ; and Mr. Eeese Morris, of Philadelphia, a practical printer, with his wife, has been accepted as an assistant in the mission, and is expected to repair to India with the next rein- forcement. In the intervening time, provision has been made to employ the service of printers on the spot, and a very considerable portion of the expense of this part of our establishment in India will be defrayed, by the publication of a paper about to be estabhshed by the British agent at Lodiana. On the arrival of this reinforcement at the station, it is expected that the mis- sionaries, after all due inquiry and observation has been made, will so divide and arrange their forces as to occupy one or two additional positions. " The Eev. Mr. Lowrie, having suffered considerably from impaired health during most of the time of his residence in India, and having been advised by his physicians to return and spend a year or two in this country, received some months ago from the Commit- tee permission to do so, and, if no material change should have since occurred, his return to the United States may be anticipated during the course of the pres- ent year." [The Fifth Annual Keport of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, May 1, 1837, was prepared by the Hon. Walter Lowrie. He succeeded Dr. Swift as Cor- responding Secretary of this Society. Born in Edin- THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 157 burgh in 1Y84, he was in his father's large family when they emigrated to this country in 1792. He was brought up on a farm, and assisted his father in a saw- mill, to wliich a flour-mill was afterwards added, in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Becoming an earnest member of the church, he engaged in studies for the ministry, and made good progress in learning the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages ; but it became evident that his studies should be laid aside, and he then en- gaged in teaching a school in the county town. This led to his becoming known, and then to his being elected to the Senate of Pennsylvania repeatedly for seven years ; he was then elected to the Senate of the United States, 1818-1824 ; and afterwards as Secretary of the United States Senate, 1821-1836. Under the usage of that time he might have con- tinued to occupy this office ; but he resigned it to be- come Secretary of the Missionary Society. He had at first declined this appointment, but felt constrained to accept it, a year later, on its being renewed. In this new sphere of duty he had the full sympathy and pref- erence of his beloved wife. He had always maintained his religious character and convictions. It was in this consecrated life that consent was given to his eldest son, and afterwards to two younger sons, going as mission- aries. In the case of the first he felt some hesitation, partly in view of the need of more ministers in our own country, and partly for reasons of health ; but after careful thought his judgment became satisfied, and he encouraged him to enter on this work for Christ, as also in the case of his younger sons, notwithstanding the deep personal trial of these separations. His final accept- ance of the missionary office was but in the same line of Christian duty. He continued in the Missionary 158 PRESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. Secretaryship until his death in 1868-in the 85th year of his age. His early training in practical work ; his year of theo- logical studies; his twenty-five years in public service ; his membership on the Senate's Committee on Indian Affairs ; his sons' questions of duty as to missionary life ; his relations to the Church of Christ as a member and an elder, all it is now plam were tributary to his great work for life.] Interesting notices concerning India are taken from this Keport : " This most extensive of the missions of the Society has continued to enjoy the protection and blessing of God. The only adverse circumstance is the retm-n, on account of ill health, of the Kev. John C. Lowrie, as intimated in the last report. Mr. Lowrie left Lodiana the 20th January, 1836. When he arrived at Calcutta, it was found to be impracticable to obtain a passage di- rect to this country, and he was obliged to return by way of England. He arrived at New York the 28th December last. Since that time he has visited a num- ber of the churches, making known the wants of the heathen, of whose perishing condition he has been an eye-witness. Should his health be restored, it is his settled purpose to return. "The second reinforcement mentioned in the last report, consisting of Messrs. McEwen, Campbell, Kog- ers, Jamieson, Porter, and their wives, reached Calcutta in safety on the 1st of April. At Madras they parted with the Kev. Messrs. Winslow and Dwight, mission- aries of the American Board, who were their compan- ions in the voyage, and to whom they had become strongly attached in the bonds of Christian love and friendship. The joint labors of these brethren on the THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 159 voyage were greatly blessed to the oflScers and sailors of the ship. " On landing at Calcutta these brethren were greatly encouraged by meeting Mr. Lowrie. "With his assist- ance they were soon accommodated with lodgings, and on the 27th June they commenced their voyage up the river. On the 1st November they had nearly reached their destination, with the exception of Mr, McEwen, who stopped at Allahabad with the intention of remaining there till spring. " The Rev. Messrs. James Wilson and John !N"ewton occupy the station at Lodiana. Besides the usual mis- sionary labors, they have under their care the school first established at that station by the British Political Agent, Capt. Wade, but afterwards transferred to the care and direction of the mission. Capt. Wade is still its efficient patron, and the school at present gives high promise of service in the cause of the Eedeemer. It consists of between forty and fifty youth, most of them from the first families. In this school everything which human means can provide is afforded for raising up an educated and qualified native ministry ; and the Com- mittee ask their fellow-Christians to join with them in daily prayer in pleading the promise of the Saviour (Luke xi. 9-13) for the gift of the Holy Spirit on the hearts of these youth. At this station are two printing- presses belonging to the Society. " Besides Lodiana, two other stations — Sabathu and Saharunpur — have been selected, to be occupied by the last reinforcement. " Sabathu, distant 110 miles northeast from Lodiana, is situated on the lower elevation of the Himalaya mountains, 4,000 feet above the level of the sea. Between the snowy ranges of these mountains and the 160 PRESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. plains of India there is an intervening tract of country, having an avei'age breadth of about sixty miles, which, though mountainous in its character, is yet capable of cultivation to a considerable extent. A district in this hilly region, 200 miles in length, with a population of 250,000, is under the control of the East India Com- pany. Sabathu is one of their military stations, and is considered an eligible point in regard to health, com- munication with other places, and general convenience for commencing the system of effort by which the Gospel is to be established over those mountain tribes. "Saharunpur, distant 130 miles southeast from Lodi- ana, 100 miles north of Delhi, is situated within 20 miles of Hurdwar, that great rendezvous of pilgrims from all the surrounding nations. The annual fair at Hurdwar is attended by hundreds of thousands of all classes ; and hitherto, with the exception of a few tran- sient visits of a single missionary from Delhi, Satan has had the undisputed possession of this great field to him- self. No place affords more advantages for the dissemi- nation of the Sacred Scriptures and religious publica- tions than the fair at Hurdwar. From this point they will be carried into the surrounding countries, and to all parts of Northern India, and even to the tribes beyond Cashmere, inhabiting the high table-lands of Central Asia. " The Committee expected to have sent, early in the spring, to this important field, four additional mission- aries. The Rev. Henry E. Wilson, Jr., and Mr. Reese Morris, Jr., a printer ; and from the Reformed Presby- terian Church the Rev. Joseph Caldwell and Mr. James Craig, a teacher. But, owing to the want of funds, this reinforcement has been postponed till the coming THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 161 fall. To it will then be added the Kev. John H. Mor- rison." It may be proper to add here, that, agreeably to the intimation given above, these missionaries sailed for India in October, 1837. " At Lodiana there are residing at present, under the protection of the British Government, two exiled kings from Afghanistan, who have their followers with them to the number of 2,000 or upward. There are also more than 3,500 Cashmerians residing at that station, and many at other towns in Upper India, who were driven from their native valley by famine and by the oppression of their rulers. They are employed in manu- facturing the fine fabrics for which their country is so celebrated, and they retain the language and the usages of the tribe of the Hindu family to which they belong. Owing to the residence of these people at the principal missionary station, every opportunity is afforded of learn- ing the language of those countries, and among them making known the way of forgiveness of sins through the risen Saviour. The opening of Divine Providence, in thus bringing such large portions of two nations who have never heard of Christ to the very door of mission- ary operations, was too plain to be neglected. One of the brethren of the next reinforcement will be appointed a missionary to Cashmere, and another of them to Afghanistan. Until they have learned the respective languages, these brethren will reside at Lodiana, and in every way endeavor to promote the best interests of those to whom they are sent. "Mr. Morris will take charge of the printing-presses, and the two other brethren will occupy Ambala, Sir- hind, or some of the other stations in the vicinity. " The foregoing relation of facts and circumstances, 162 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. if there were no others, shows the importance of this region as a missionary field ; but the half has not been told. " It is a ground of no small encouragement, that here at least a Protestant mission has been planted, in ad- vance of the missionaries of the Pope of Rome. Here too are the missionaries within a short distance of the hilly country, to which the sick and the invalid, with- out leaving missionary ground, may resort for health. On the west is the large and populous kingdom of the Punjab ; with a population very similar to that among which the present stations are placed. On the borders of the Punjab are Cashmere and Afghanistan, those keys to the tribes inhabiting Central Asia. ISTorth and northeast from Lodiana, in the valleys stretching far into the recesses of the Himalaya mountains, are numer- ous tribes of Hindus, not more remarkable for their industry than for their quiet demeanor, the simplicity of their habits, and the almost imperceptible change which time has made upon their national customs. Stretching far to the southeast, between the snowy mountains and the plains, embracing the secondary range of the Himalaya mountains, is the kingdom of Nepaul. On the south is Eajpootana; and on the southwest, on both sides of the Indus, are tribes and people like the others, ' having no hope, and without God in the world.' In all these populous nations, the blessed Saviour, and life and salvation through his name, are unknown. 'Not a single missionary of the cross is there ; and the people are sitting in the region and shadow of death. In view of this entire destitu- tion of the bread of life, what Christian, in his daily prayer of ' Thy kingdom come,' will not bear before the mercy-seat the youth now under a course of Christian THE WESTERI^ FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 163 instruction, in the very centre of these regions, thus covered with the pall of death. Oh, for the time! when the Church will ' with one accord ' plead for those blessings, without which all will be in vain. But to assist in thus training up a native ministry, and above all to preach the Gospel, whom will the Committee send to say to them, 'Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world ' ? And where are the indi- viduals and the churches, who will support those now waiting, and the others who, from time to time, are of- fering themselves willingly to this blessed work ? " Thus it appears that the Mission in :N'orthern India occupies four stations, viz.: 1. LoDiANA.— Rev. John Kewton, Rev. Henry R, Wilson, Jr., Mr. Joseph Porter, Mr. Reese Morris, Jr., and their wives. The Rev. John C. Lowrie, on a'visit to the United States. At this station is the High-school, in a state of much promise, containing fifty-eight scholars ; a female board- ing-school just commencing; and a printing-press, with fonts of English, Persian, and Gurmukhi type. As this is at present their principal station in Northern India, the Rev. Henry R. Wilson, Jr., and Mr. Reese Morris,' Jr.,^ printer and book-binder, who have recently left the United States, are to be stationed there, with the large printing-press now in India. 2. Sabathu.— Rev. James Wilson, Mr.Wm. S. Rog- ers, and their wives. Mrs. Wilson has an interesting school of Gurkha girls. It is uncertain that they will continue their attendance ; so far the prospect is encouraging. 3. Saharunpue.— Rev. James R. Campbell, Rev. Joseph Caldwell, Mr. Jesse M. Jamieson, and their wives. 164 PKESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. At tliis station is a boarding and common school, sup- ported by the Juvenile Missionary Society of tbe First Keformed Presbyterian Church in Pbikdelphia. Mr. Campbell is a minister in connection with the Eeformed Presbyterian Chnrch. 4. Allahabad.— Kev. James McEwen, Rev. John H. Morrison, Mr. James Craig, and their wives. As this is an important station, the Rev. John H. Morrison, and Mr. James Craig, who have recently sailed for India, weie instructed to join it. At this station is a large boarding-school, which,^ for want of funds, the Executive Committee were obliged to reduce to twenty scholars. A printing-press will be wanted there the ensuing year. Mr. Craig is a member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, as is also the Rev. Joseph Caldwell ; the whole amount of his outfit, passage to India, and support for one year, have been provided by that church. [In the company of missionaries who arrived at Cal- cutta in 1836, was the Rev. James R. Campbell, after- ward D.D., with his wife, of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod. He and two laymen were ap- pointed by special agreement, not between the two churches, but between the societies, the Western and the Reformed, on the same basis as to their missionary relations to the former with that of its other missionaries. Among the leading members of the Reformed Mission- ary Society in Philadelphia, were the Rev. Dr. T. W. J. Wylie, and the late Mr. George H. Stuart,— the former secretary, the latter treasurer. The former is still min- ister of the same church, in later years connected with the Presbyterian body ; the latter, an elder in the same church, was distinguished as the leader of the Sanitary Commission Service, and as active in all good work— THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 165 especially, as was his friend and pastor, in that of missions ; both brethren efficient and beloved. Dr. Campbell was spared for many years of faithful work in India. He was held in honor by all who knew him ; he was a warm-hearted and devoted missionary. Other brethren were sent out by this Society in subse- quent years, whose names will appear at the date of their appointment, and whose pecuniary support was provided by the same joint arrangement. But Providential changes eventually terminated, or rather rendered simpler, this joint method ; and most of the E.. P. missionaries be- came members of the same Presbyteries with their breth- ren of the Presbyterian Church. The Rev. James McEwen and his wife were of the company who arrived at Calcutta in 1836. He was or- dained by the Presbytery of Philadelphia ; his wife was of a well-known and a highly esteemed family in that city. He was a minister of marked ability in the pulpit, and was encouraged in his labors at Allahabad. After two years his health gave way, and he and his consecrated wife returned to this country. His course at home as a pastor was not long afterwards ended by his death.] MISSION TO The Synod of Pittsburgh, at their annual THB WESTERN meeting in October, 1833, adopted the res- iNDiANs. olution to sustain The Western Foreign Missionary Society, " in attempting the immediate sup- ply of every unsupplied and accessible tribe of the West- ern Indian Reservation, with the means of grace "; and they were greatly encouraged in this benevolent purpose, by the favorable disposition of the general government at that period, in regard to the civilization of the aborig- ines of our country. In execution of the resolution passed by the Synod, the Society, in the following sum- mer, engaged the Rev. William D. Smith, one of the 166 PRESBYTEEIAT!^ MISSIONS. two missionaries then under the direction of the Society, to undertake an exploring mission through the Indian territories west of the Mississippi. He accordingly spent most of the summer in visiting and conferring with the Shawnees, Delawares, Kickapoos, Kansas, Ottawas,Weas, lowas, and Omawhaws ; and the results of his explora- tion were approved by the Executive Committee. It was finally determined to select the Weas, as the tribe among whom operations should be commenced ; and ar- rangements were made to despatch a mission to that station in the month of November following. Accord- ingly on the 4th of that month, the Kev. Joseph Kerr and the Rev. "Wells Bushnell and their wives, with Miss Nancy Henderson and Miss Martha Boal, were duly organized as a mission family, and shortly after set out for the place of their destination. After experiencing some disasters in their journey, one of which became the accelerating cause of such a state of impaired health, in respect to Miss Boal, as made it necessary to leave her on the way, the missionaries arrived at Independence, a town in the State of Missouri, about forty miles east of the Wea village, on the 21st of December ; and they con- cluded to pass the winter there. They did so, occasion- ally visiting the Indians and making preparations for the commencement of more regular labors in the spring. They preached to those whom they visited, by an inter- preter ; and obtained much useful information relative to their state and character. Mr. Henry Bradley, a young man whom the Committee had accepted as an as- sistant in the agricultural department, was sent on with supplies to the mission, in the spring. The Wea Indians are a small tribe ; but they at once manifested a disposi- tion to receive and treat the missionaries with respect and kindness ; so that during the first summer and au- THE WESTERN" FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 167 tumn after their location, besides erecting a school-house, finisliing their own dwellings, and making preparations to till a small farm, they opened a school for the children of the natives, and collected the Indians for public and social worship, as often as circumstances would permit. Miss Henderson opened and taught an infant Indian school ; and Mr. Kerr and his associate prosecuted their respective labors with great diligence. At the formation of a Temperance Society, although at first somewhat dis- couraged by the reluctance manifested by many of the "Weas to give the pledges of total abstinence, they were subsequently agreeably surprised, when two of the tribe, not formerly present, came forward, without solicitation, and requested their names to be entered. The following extracts are taken from the Fourth Annual Report in 1836 : "The Mission to theTVea Indians is located in the eastern border of the reserved tract allotted to the emi- grant Indians; and may be properly said to comprise two stations, about four miles distant from each other. Our excellent missionary, Eev. Joseph Kerr, and Messrs. Lindsay and Bradley, with Mrs. Kerr, Mrs. Lindsay, and Miss Henderson, comprise the present members of the mission. During the last summer, the schools were fuller and better attended than at any former period, and the prospects of usefulness flattering. " The Weas, though not numerous, are an interesting people, and have uniformly manifested a disposition gratefully to receive instruction ; and this mission has, during the last year, enjoyed special tokens of the divine favor. Besides a growing and very encouraging atten- tion to the means of grace on the part of the Indians, and visible improvement in their morals generally, our brethren have been rejoiced to witness the manifestations 168 PRESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. of the special influences of the Holy Spirit. Early in the last winter, it pleased the All-wise Disposer of events suddenly to remove by death, one of the most promising of the young men of that tribe, under circumstances which gave encouraging evidence to the missionaries of his interest in Christ. More recently, a church has been organized, to which five native converts have been ad- mitted, and fifteen or twenty more are supposed to be the subjects of religious impression. One of the native converts, a man advanced in years, with locks whitened with age, burst into tears, and indeed into loud weeping, as, in the act of receiving the ordinance of Christian baptism, he publicly submitted himself to the authority of Jesus Christ; and these events, taken collectively, seem to have produced a general excitement among the whole of that tribe of Indians ; some becoming warmly enlisted in behalf of the mission, and others aroused to resist its progress. Speaking of one of the oldest and most venerable chiefs of that tribe, and in connection with a small prayer-meeting held at the mission-house, Mr. Kerr states, that, after each had led in the devotions, old Kemassa knelt down and offered an apparently fer- vent supplication in his own language, on the very spot where, one year before, he lay upon the floor in a state of stupid and helpless intoxication. The progress of reformation and of saving conversion to God among these unhappy remnants of our border tribes, must neces- sarily be connected with many formidable obstacles ; and we are not surprised that our missionary brethren, with these pleasing indications of success in their benevolent work, begin also to experience the opposition of the more debased part of the natives whom they are striving to turn to God." THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 169 From the Fifth Annual Report in 1837 we take the following quotation : " The Wca tribe of Indians have greatly profited by the labors bestowed upon them. A church containing ten native members has been formed in the wilderness, and the hearts of the missionaries have been encouraged by thus early seeing the blessing of God on their labors, among this solitary, degraded, and neglected people. " Since the commencement of the mission, the Rev. Joseph Kerr and his wife have been at this station. The time of Miss Nancy Henderson was divided between the "Weas and the loways. During the last year the health of Mrs. Kerr was so reduced by sickness, that, in the opinion of her physicians, nothing but a change of resi- dence and climate gave the least hope of recovery. Early in the winter, while her husband remained among the Indians, she returned to her father's. But the change has not restored her health ; and owing to her continued illness, Mr. Kerr has been induced to ask a dismission from the service of the Society, which has been granted. He will remain at the station till the reinforcement lately sent out arrives. On the l-lth of March Mr. Henry Bradley and his wife, and Mr. James Duncan, left Pittsburgh for the Wea Mission Station. Miss Henderson, who during part of the winter had been on a visit to her sick mother, since deceased, will join them the first suitable opportunity. THE IOWA " The Iowa Mission comprises but one sta- MissioN. tion, established among a considerable division of the tribe of that name, about eighty-five miles from the Weas. It consists at present of Mr. A. Ballard and wife, and Mr. E. M. Sheppard. Two or three schools were sustained during most of the last summer (lS34r); and when the missionaries have found it impracticable 170 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. regularly to assemble tlie cliildren together, they have spent most of each day in going from lodge to lodge through the village, and giving to their pupils in each family their stated lessons, accompanying them with suit- able instructions to the parents and other members of the family. The lowas, like other tribes, have been much addicted to the excessive and ruinous use of ardent spirits. But the mission has already been highly serv- iceable in arresting the progress and diminishing the evils of this vice ; and the missionaries have been a good deal encouraged by the apparent desire on the part of many to be brought to the knowledge of God. " During the last year, Mr. and Mrs. Ballard have de- voted their whole time to the loway Indians. Miss Henderson during part of the summer was engaged teaching the children. Great difficulties were experi- enced on account of the uncertainty of their residence. Under an arrangement made by the government, the lowas will remove this spring from their present loca- tion to the south of the Missouri River, where 400 sec- tions have been assigned to them and the little band of the Sacs of the Missouri, between the great Kemahaw and the northern boundary of the Kickapoos. The mission family have been instructed to accompany them, and as their home is now considered permanent, the difficulties growing out of an uncertain and temporary residence will cease. On the 14tli of March Mr. Samuel M. Irvin and his wife left Pittsburgh to occuj)y the new station with Mr. and Mrs. Ballard. " From information which they have been enabled to obtain, the Committee believe that the policy of the Board in the establishment of missions among our Western Indians should contemplate a speedy extension of its efforts to those more numerous and distant tribes, THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 171 which reside near the sources of the Missouri and its tributary waters. Those people are far less debased and contaminated by the borrowed vices and bad example of our frontier settlements. They are comparative strangers to the use of ardent spirits; and many of them, it is understood, are well inclined towards the great objects of missionary effort." Thus it appears that the mission to the Western Indi- ans consists of two stations ; which, by the last statement of the Corresponding Secretary, stand as follows: 1. Wea Station. — Rev. John Fleming, Mr. James Duncan, Mr. Henry Bradley, and Mrs. Bradley. The Church at this station consists of twelve native members and a number of others seriously inquiring the way to be saved. 2. Iowa Station.— Rev. William Hamilton, Mr. Au- rey Ballard, Mr. Samuel M. Irviu, and Miss Nancy Henderson. During the last year this tribe sold their land to the United States, and have received other land in exchange. They have removed and are now settled — permanently, it is expected — at their new home. MISSION This mission is not at present in operation. TO It seems proper, however, that the substance SMTRNA. of the statement relative to it contained in the last Report of the Society, should be inserted in this sketch. It is contained in the following extract : " The Rev. Josiah Brewer and Mr. Thomas Brown, a printer, and his wife, as mentioned in the last report, sailed from New York the 2Sth of March, 1836, and arrived at Smyrna in May following. They took with them a printing-press and a set of book-binder's instruments. During the last winter the Rev. Wm. McCombs and Mr. John McClintock and their wives, 172 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. were set apart for this field of labor, and expected to sail in the first vessel leaving the United States. When this reinforcement were on the eve of their departure, Mr. Brown was found very unexpectedly to have returned to this country, having left the station with- out apprising the Committee of his wish or intention to do so. The unauthorized, and as the Committee judged, unnecessary return of Mr. Brown, and his ceasing on this account to be longer connected with them, made some other measures on the part of the Committee necessary, and brought under their review the whole subject of their mission to Asia Minor. " Their connection with Mr. Brewer was on the con- dition that some responsible board or association should assume his support, but no such arrangement had been reported to the Committee, or was known to exist. Much dissatisfaction with this connection existed in the minds of many members of the Presbyterian Church, in view of which Mr. Brewer had signified his willingness that his connection with the Society should be dissolved if thought expedient. Under all these circumstances, the Committee, whilst they entertain for Mr. Brewer sincere and Christian regard, and a desire for his suc- cess and usefulness in the missionary field, deemed it best and most expedient that the contemplated connec- tion between him and the Western Foreign Missionary Society should be finally abandoned. Though not under their direction, the Committee hope his valuable labors may still be continued in the Mediterranean, and they will always rejoice to hear that his efforts in this import- ant field have been owned and blessed by the Head of the Church. " It will probably be found expedient to assign one, if not both of the missionaries, who have been prevented THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 173 from going to Smyrna by the want of funds, to some other field of labor, where the door of usefulness is more open and the call for assistance more pressing." MISSION The remarks in the last, or Fifth Annual E.e- To port of the Society, in May, 1837, introductory to CHINA, the notice of the appointment of this mission, are so important in themselves, and so necessary to be known and appreciated throughout the whole Presbyterian Church at the present time, that it has been determined to quote the whole, although of a length, which, but for the considerations stated, would render it improper to insert them in this sketch. Immediately after announcing the mission to China, the report proceeds as follows : "This great people — not more remarkable for the extent of their territory and the number of their popu- lation than for their entire ignorance of the true God — have of late engaged the thoughts of professing Chris- tians in all parts of our country. The remarkable fact that one-fourth, or perhaps one-third of the human race, read one language, ought long ere now to have called for the exertion of every friend of missions and of the Bible to give to them that blessed Book in numbers somewhat proportionable to the demand. But alas, a few small editions of the Chinese Bible is the entire sup- ply for these hundreds of millions. The missionary and tract societies of our own and other countries have of late years been most usefully employed in furnishing tracts and Scripture histories ; but all that has yet been done cannot bear any comparison to what is yet wanted. The impression that China is closed to missionary exer- tions seems yet to rest like an incubus on the minds of Christians, and to paralyze and throw doubt on every exertion in her behalf. China is closed in some respects, but China is open and waiting for the Gospel in others. i 174 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. / The Government of China, fearful of Eurj^pgan politics, and still remembering the intrigues of tl\e agents of the Church of Eome, have forbidden the ?{-esidence of for- eigners within their limits except at one, designated point. The Government do not permit eve^ their language to be taught, nor their books to be soldAo foreigners. They forbid also the reading of any book-g brought by foreign- ers. They permit no schools to K^^. taught by them, nor printing-presses to be estabhshfed. New edicts make their appearance from time }(o time, but these prohibi- tions are of long standing^/ ]V[otwithstanding these measures, the people of (^ina are anxious to receive our religious, scientific, ^^^^ historical books; and if, instead of five thousand ,^^opies of the Bible, we had half a milhon, and prudent, and qualified men to distribute them, it would not be^ long before they would be in cir- culation in the most- thickly-settled part of the empire. All the mandarins -"^nd all the military officers could not prevent their teerr ^jng millions from receiving and read- ing them. It ij.^1 becomes the Church to be discouraged till the missioy^aries abroad report to them that nothing more can be done. In other respects, China is open and perfectly a/^.cessible to missionary labors. In every isl- and in t^jg Eastern Archipelago Chinese emigrants are to be fo];^n(i^ mostly residing together ; and only men of a right, spirit, sustained by the prayers and the contribu- tions, of the churches, are wanted to carry to these acce^'^sible perishing thousands the bread of life, "^^^ise emigrants, to a greater or less degree, are con- ^7cted with the population at home; many are con- ^^fcantly coming and returning, and thus affording facili- /ties and opportunities to disseminate printed books to a great extent. The hundreds of thousands of the Chi- nese population, engaged in fishing far out of sight of THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 175 land and in large companies together, ought neither to be overlooked nor neglected. The attempt to supply them with printed or oral instruction might not in all cases be permitted, because the}- are for the most part accompanied by war-boats. But let the trial be made. It may be found that these very war-boats will be the first to receive the words of life. "Heretofore the Chinese printing has been almost entirely performed in the Chinese manner, on blocks of wood. The preparation of these blocks requires the employment of Chinese artists. Hence, nothing could be done without their assistance. The Chinese language has no alphabet, every character represents either a word or an idea. Their number is estimated by Dr. Marsh- man at 30,000. The expense of preparing steel punches and matrices for such a number would be so great, that till lately, no attempt has been made to supply the whole.' Besides the expense, the difficulty of arranging 30,000 different characters in a printing-office, so as to be man- ageable by the printer, is seen at once to be too great for practical purposes. The Ecv. Mr. Dyer at Penang has been for some time engaged with good success in preparing steel punches and matrices for two or three thousand of the characters most in use. These types when prepared can be used in the common printing- press, and even that number of characters will afford great facility in Chinese printing. Still, it is most desirable that when the missionaries have acquired a full knowledge of the language, they should have the advan- tage of using any character in it they might prefer in translating or explaining the Bible or in writing their other publications. This most important discovery has quite lately been made. More than thirty years ago Dr. Marshman discovered that most of the Chinese 176 PEESBYTERIAK MISSIONS. characters consisted of two elements, which he called formath^es^r.d.:primitives. He pointed out this prm- ciple to the student of the language with great clearness, as one of great importance for him to know. Vv, Marshman does not seem to have been aware how very important this discovery was in relation to the prepara- tion of a body of metal type for the whole language. Pursuing the subject with the hght thus afforded by this venerable and able missionary, the Chinese scholars in Paris carried it one step further, in reference solely to printing. They divided the whole language mto two classes of difvisiUe and indivisible characters, and by a careful examination of the divisible characters, and a reduction of them to their most simple elements it appeared that, with 9,000 punches and matrices, the whole 30,000 characters can be formed. By arranging and numbering these 9,000 elements under their respect- ive keys, the whole presents but little more difficulty than a common English printing-office. " The Committee are much indebted to the Eev. Robert Baird, now in Paris, for the promptitude and ability with which he answered all their letters in relation to this subiect He also forwarded specimens of the printing which in beauty of form and perfection of finish, excel any Chinese printing with which they have yet been compared in this country. An experienced typographer has engaged to furnish matrices for the whole, or for part of the language, as individuals or societies may order. Deeming the subject of the first importance, in reference to the present condition of China, the Com- mittee, in October last, ordered a set of matrices for the whole language, and forwarded $500 in Part payment The expense at first was stated to be nearly $5,000, but by later information from Mr. Baird, some additional THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 177 charges for polishing, preparing, and numbering the matrices, amounting to $1,600, must be added. The payment of this additional sum has been assumed by a single individual, which, in the present state of their funds, very much relieved the Committee. There is also some uncertainty whether the whole number of matrices will be made. The typographer states, that for less than two orders, he cannot afford the expense of completing the whole set. No other Society, either in Europe or the United States, has ordered a full set ; but the last advices are favorable to a second order being given by the Royal Printing Establishment of Franca A number, however, that will be of essential service will be obtained, some of which are already made. With some delay, the whole of the remainder can be furnished by American artists at a small increase of expense. "The Committee had previously decided to send a mission to China, as large and efficient as the means placed in their hands would justify. For this mission there have been designated two ordained ministers, one physician, and one printer. If the means were afforded, these brethren would in a few weeks be on their way. At present there are not means to send them forward ; but the Committee hope the delay will be short ; they trust the time is nearly past when the Presbyterian Church will continue to stand with her arms folded, wliile the millions of China are perishing in her sight."' The writer greatly rejoices that he is able to state^that the Rev. John A. Mitchell, and the Rev. R. W. Orr, and Mrs. Orr, forming an incipient mission to China, sailed for the port of their destination in December last (1837). A physician is delayed for the want of means to send him out.^ The matrices for the Chinese metal types are in prep- aration at Paris, with much promise of complete success. nS PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. CHINESE [The Chinese metallic type question had a re- TYPEs. markable history, partly given in the preceding pages. A few lines suiDplemental may here be in good place. When the question of ordering a set of the matrices from the artist in Paris came before the Presbyterian Board, it had no missions in China, though one was pro- jected, and two missionaries were under appointment ; the expense was estimated at about $6,000 ; the Board's income was still but small ; the request called for faith, especially in view of the declinature by other public and missionary institutions to subscribe in aid of such an ex- periment. It is not surprising that the new Board should hesitate to incur so large a pecuniary outlay for 60 apparently doubtful an object. But looking back a few years, it was deemed singular by the younger members of his family that the Secre- tary, then in the full measure of public official service in Washington, should decide to rise two hours earlier each morning in order to study Chinese ! But this he continued to do for a few years, until, with the aid of dictionary and grammar, he could translate some Chinese books, as well as in a degree to understand matters con- nected with the language. It was of special interest that this study enabled him to see the practicable side of this new type question; and that he had been called by Providence to a post of duty, where he had to consider its missionary bearing. It was finally decided favorably by the Board, partly out of deference to the Secretary's views, and still more owing to the noble liberahty of one of the Board's members— the late Mr. James Lenox, who had carefully studied the subject with the Secre- tary. The order was given ; arrangements were made, involving much subsequent patient labor by printers and THE WESTERN FOR. MIS3. SOCIETY. 179 Other missionaries— all ending in complete success. This press is now and has been for years in full work. The Holy Scriptures and other books are printed in electro- tyjDe editions. It has become the largest printing estal)- hshment in Eastern Asia. It is already sec-iring the con- fidence of the Chinese, the most conservative people m the worid. Their compositors and pressmen are its workmen. Their capitalists and business men, with their energy and industry, and with the lower wa-es from lower cost of living, will eventually be ready^o supersede foreign enterprise— much to the relief of Missionary Boards.] PROJECTED The Institution, whose missions have OR PROSPECTIVE uow becu noticcd, is still in its infancy mssioNs. Those who conducted its operations be- fore It was received under the patronage of the General Assembly, as well as those who now manage its concerns have been obliged to do what they found to be practic^ able, and to forego much, very much, that they felt to be desirable. Often it was difficult, as they could do but little, to say who, among the multitude hastening to per- dition, they would first attempt to save. Thelieathen nations were spread out before them, like men perishincr by a mighty shipwreck, and as their little relief bark could only go to one here, and anotlier there, the ques- tion was embarrassing, what individuals of the sinkincr throng tliey would immediately strive to rescue. Hence in their report they point to so many fields of usefulness which they saw it to be desirable, yet found it to be im- practicable, to essay to enter, till t'heir means should be greatly enlarged. In their report on their Northern India and China missions, they point to regions of heathen desolation, which all the missions now in action throughout the world, would but very partially supply 180 PRESBYTERIAN MlSSIOlJq^S. Beside what thej there saj, toward the close of their last report, they give a distinct article which they entitle " ADDITIONAL MISSIONS," and then add : " In view of the amount of means that might be con- tributed by the churches connected with the Society, the Committee believed it to be their duty, to bring into view other stations, which ought to be occupied. Two of these would be, the enlargement of missionary operations among the Indian tribes, another a mission to Calcutta, and another a mission to China." This report, it will be recollected, was made, while as yet the mission, since gone to China, could not proceed for want of the necessary funds. The same want still renders it very imperfect. INDIAN In their last report the Committee say : " Be- TRiBEs yond the limits of the respective States, and east of the Eocky Mountains, are forty tribes of various sizes, containing a population of near 200,000. Ten other tribes, or parts of tribes, east of the Mississippi river, with a population of 50,000, are under treaty stipulations to remove west of that river ; thus making an aggregate of 250,000, all more or less accessible to the labors of the missionary. " The Indian territory, as designated by the commis- sioners to apportion it among the different tribes, is bounded by Red river on the south, and the Missouri and Platte rivers on the north ; and is estimated to con- tain 206,738 square miles — a country more than three times the size of the six New England States, and more than four times the size of Pennsylvania. Upwards of 45,000 Indians have already emigrated to this territory, which, with 6,500 Kansas and Osages residing there, and 50,000, under treaty stipulations to remove within its limits, will make a population of more than 100,000. THE WESTERN FOE. MISS. SOCIETY. 181 Here are no interferences with the jurisdiction or rights of any of the States ; and the whole Indian territory will be held by them, under the solemn guarantee of the Government of the United States. In every treaty, the most ample provision has been made for the support of schools, and for teaching agriculture and the most simple of the mechanic arts. It is a most important question, will this experiment of the government, in thus providing a permanent home, save the remnants of this noble race, from the melancholy destiny of those who have perished before the advance of the white man ? Is it practicable to elevate the mass of this population, 60 that in time they may safely be entrusted with all the rights of citizens, and be brought into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States ? It would not be difficult to prove, that if the proper means are used, both these questions may be safely answered in the affirmative. But leaving this discussion as not properly belonging to this report, the Committee would notice but one aspect of the question. This experiment will fail most certainly, unless the Indians are made ac- quainted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How im- portant then is the agency the Church has to perform ; and how great will be her guilt, if from apathy the part assigned to her is left undone, and thereby all the other efforts fail ! In view of this responsibility, the Com- mittee have decided, that as soon as they can obtain qualified men, and the means are afforded, to occupy suitable stations in the Indian territory, and thus to aid in sending the Gospel to every tribe and people within its limits. " The Committee had also in contemplation to send a mission to the Mandan Indians. They reside high up on the Missouri, and have a population of 15,000. There 182 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. are many considerations iu favor of a station so remote from the white population on the borders of the settle- ments. There are also disadvantages. The Committee are not prepared at present to occupy this station ; and this mission must wait till the spirit of the churches has reached a higher elevation in favor of foreign missions. In the meantime the Committee will seek for the best information in relation to all the tribes upon our borders. MISSION " Looking to our large and extending mis- To CALCUTTA, slonary estabhshments in Upper India, the Committee have decided to establish a mission at Cal- cutta. Through this place all the remittances and sup- plies for the upper stations must be sent. This city is the seat of the British Government in India. It is crowded and surrounded by a heathen population ; and the devoted laborers from other societies now there, are anxiously looking to this country for assistance in this arduous work. " The Committee have not definitely selected any other stations in India. What additional points they may be able to occupy, will depend on the men and the means which may be at their disposal. A pressing call has been made in favor of Munipore, a station about half way between Calcutta and Ava, and on the direct road between the two cities. Yarious stations on the Ganges above Benares are very eligible, and call loudly on the churches to occupy them. It is the wish of the Committee, as soon as practicable, to make arrangements for occupying one or more stations, at or above Allaha- bad, the station now occupied by a part of the last missionaries sent to India. All these stations would be on the direct travelling road from Calcutta to Lodiana." [The purpose of establishing a mission at Calcutta THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 183 was not fulfilled, partly because that city ceased to be tlie chief business port of the missions in the upper provinces. The steamers superseded the sailing vessels ; the railroads, the bulgerows and tents; the bills of exchange, the recoinage of American half-dollars into Hindu rupees; — changes gradually taking effect soon after the statement above was published, resulted in more convenient methods of missionary business. In some respects Bombay became the mission's port. But the principal reasons for the proposed new mission were lessened in force by the greater number of missionary laborers, foreign and native, who in a few years made Calcutta their centre of work. Besides, one of the younger men, just fairly entered on the ministry, who possessed extraordinary gifts, which would no doubt have placed him on the principal evangelistic committees in the capital of India, was led to remain at work for Christ in this country — a work largely available also for the missions abroad. All parties cordially concurred in this decision, until at his early end of life, he was eminent above most men in intellect; eminent also in linguistic and especially in Bibli- cal studies, in commentaries — see his work on the two volumes. Earlier and Later, of the prophecies of Isaiah, in which he leaves " the higher critics," so called, with little ground to stand on ; indeed, those two volumes ought long ago to have ended controversy on the subject. He wrote commentaries on the Gospel of Mark and the Acts of the Apostles, besides many lectures and review articles. He was remarkable as a preacher of the Gospel, filling the largest churches to overflowing, when it was known that he was to preach ; he was certainly one of the most eminent among men of gifts and scholarship, and he was equally remarkable as a modest, humble, devoted 184 PRESBYTEETAN MISSIONS. servant of the Lord Jesus, even unto the end. The Church has had but few such highly endowed men in its service. It is a privilege to bear one's testimony to such a man, in times of uncertain scholarship. But in this place, he is particularly referred to as ready to be a missionary, and Calcutta was in view by the Board for his field of labor. "We can now see more clearly that God gave Dr. J. Addison Alexander the right place for his service.] THE This publication was commenced by the FOREIGN Western Foreign Missionary Society in the MISSIONARY second year (1833) of its existence, and has CHRONICLE, been regularly continued ever since. It con- sisted at first of a single sheet, but is now extended to two sheets ; and is printed in a very handsome style, and great care is taken to distribute it regularly. No Presbyterian family ought to be without this publica- tion, whatever be the number or character of the other publications which it receives. The price is only one dollar per annum, with a most liberal allowance to agents. A very particular attention is due to the fol- lowing statement, which appeared on the cover of the January number of the present year (1838) : " At the meeting of the Board of Foreign Missions in Baltimore, it was decided that the Foreign Mission- ary Chronicle should be enlarged. It is important that our churches should be able to take an intelligent in- terest in the proceedings of our own Missionary brethren, and to offer appropriate prayers to God in their behalf; and it is, also, desirable that every Christian should form comprehensive views of the prog- ress of the kingdom of Christ in the world. Our nar- row limits have, heretofore, restricted the amount of information in regard to these objects, which we have \ THE WESTERN FOE. MISS. SOCIETY. 185 desired to communicate. In future, we hope to give our readers a particular account of tlie proceedings of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, and a general view of the ti-ansactions of other henevo- lent institutions ; with occasional original communica- tions ; biographical sketches of persons engaged in missionary duty, and of converted heathens; notices of books relating to missions ; and such other general in- formation as may be adapted to interest the minds of intelligent and reflecting readers. We wish to make the Foreign Missionarij Chronicle so far a perfect Mission- ary work, that those persons whose means will not justify them in taking more than one periodical of this kind, and those also whose duties will not permit them to read more than one, will ahke find this Magazine adapted to their wishes. " The Chronicle will continue to be pubHshed under the direction of the Executive Committee. We are well aware of the difficulty of conducting a work of this kind, in such a way as to meet the views and wishes of all classes of its readers. The outline presented above, describes the manner in which we wish to have it con- ducted. We hope that it will prove a useful auxiliary to clergymen, and to individual Christians, who wish to co-operate with the Board of their own Church in this sacred cause. It may perhaps become the best, and yet the least expensive agent, which the Board could employ among the churches. " May we not hope, therefore, to receive the kind countenance of Christian friends, in sustaining and ex- tending the circulation of this work ? To the ministers of our churches we respectfully suggest the propriety of recommending it to their people from the pulpit, and on other occasions. We know that, commonly, the 186 PKESBTTEEIAN MISSIONS. degree of interest which anj people manifest in the subject of missions, is in precise proportion to the mis- sionary intelligence which they possess. We would, also, solicit the assistance of all who are friendly to this Board, in procuring additional subscribers to the Chronicle. Its circulation might, we suppose, at once be increased many thousands ; and the present seems to be the most suitable time, for making efforts to secure for it a support worthy of the Presbyterian Church, and of the cause in whose service it is employed." [The Foreign Missionary Chronicle was probably the first periodical of chiefly foreign missions published in the Presbyterian Church of this country. It was edited mainly by the Rev. Dr. E. P. Swift, Corresponding Secretary, and published under the direction of the Executive Committee, at Pittsburgh, Penn., its first num- ber being dated April, 1833. In the next year the services of the venerable and greatly esteemed Pev. John Andrews, who was justly claimed to be the first publisher of a weekly religious newspaper in this country, were obtained to aid in the duties of the mis- sion office, and he rendered valuable aid in editing this publication. On the transfer of the Society to Xew York, the Chronicle was edited for some years by one of the assistant secretaries. In 1850, it was m^erged in the Home and Foreign Record, as the organ of all the Boards. The Record was discontinued in 1886, and succeeded by the Church at Home and Abroad. It is worthy of note that, at its first meeting, in 1802, the Synod of Pittsburgh appointed twelve of its members as editors of a magazine, — three of them in special charge. Two large volumes were published in 1803-1805, the Western Missionary Magazine, in octavo. They con- tain valuable articles of religious instruction, selected THE WESTERN FOR. MISS. SOCIETY. 187 missionary information, and often quite interesting letters from missionaries of the Synod. The editors do not appear to have received compensation for tlieir labors, but the sum of $334.32 was paid to the mission treasury from its profits. Though references were made in the Synod as to its continuance, no positive information as to a later volume seems to be available. COLLECTING The W. F. M. Society departed widely AGENTS. from the example referred to on a previous page of the Synodical Commissions, in efforts to obtain funds for its work. The Commissions relied chiefly on the evangelistic piety of their ministers and people ; the Society appointed not a few agents to make collections —pastors, unemployed ministers, licentiate preachers, and missionaries under appointment ; usually for short periods, and on moderate compensation. In the circum- stances then existing this policy was considered expedient by many, though not by all, and after the Society was merged in the General Assembly, it was continued for some years. Its plan was modified, however, so that the services of ministers of large acceptableness were sought, for much larger districts of the country. For a time a General Agent or Field Secretary was in service ; then one for two or three States in the East, another for several in the West, etc. It was found difficult to get such men, and more difiicult to keep them. More- over, the true theory of gifts in aid of church evangeliz- ing work was gaining approval— that such gifts are the fruits of divine grace, and are to be sought in the use of the ordinary means of grace. This view of the subject transferred the responsibility of seeking these gifts from the missionary ofiice to the church session and its ministers— very greatly to the advantage of the work. In connection with this, in still later years, the General 188 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. Assembly's Committee on Systematic Benevolence ren- dered valuable service, though in such a Church and in such a ministry as the Presbyterian it would seem that this kind of agency ought not to be long needed. Keeping to the record, in 1855 all Collecting or Field Agency was discontinued by the Board, and for many years its sole reliance was on the churches. During these years, the two financial crises of the Board's history occurred — one in 1861, when about one-third of its income was withdrawn by the Southern churches, with but little offset for less expenses, most of the mis- sionaries having remained with the Board ; the other, a few years later, by the depreciated currency of the country. In both these cases it was the ministers and people who saved the cause. Visiting agents would have been of little use.] TRANSFER OF THE WESTERN FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY. IT only remains to trace the proceeding which resulted in the transfer of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, from the Board of Directors deriving their antliority from tlie Synod of Pittsbnrgli, to tlie Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, consti- tuted by the General Assembly of that Church in the United States. The Convention which met at Pittsburgh in May, 1835, on the recommendation of the signers of the Act and Testimony, issued after the rising of the General Assembly of the preceding year, was the first public body that adopted any decisive measures on this subject. The Act of the Convention referred to, was expressed in the following resolution : " Resolved, That the Committee on the memorial be instructed to present to the General Assembly the solemn conviction of this Convention, that the Presbyterian Church owes it as a sacred duty to her glorified Head, to yield a far more exemplary obedi- ence (and that in her distinctive character as a Church) to the command which He gave at His ascension into Heaven : ' Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.' It is believed to be among the causes of the frowns of the great Head of the Church, which are now resting on our beloved Zion, in the declension of vital piety and the disorders and divisions that distract us, that we have done so little — comparatively nothing — in our distinctive character as a Church of Christ, to send the Gospel to the heathen, (189) 190 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. the Jews, and the Mohammedans. It is regarded as of vital importance to the welfare of our Church, that foreign as well as domestic missions should be more zealously prosecuted, and more liberally patronized ; and that, as a nucleus of foreign missionary effort and oper- ation, the Western Foreign Missionary Society should receive the countenance, as it appears to us to merit the confidence, of those who cherish an attachment to the doctrines and order of the Church to which we be- long." " After some discussion the above document was committed to the Rev. Drs. Blythe, Cuyler, and "Witherspoon, with instructions to introduce the subject to the notice of the General Assembly, through the Committee on Bills and Overtures." Agreeably to their appointment, the Committee on the Memorial of the Convention presented the foregoing resolution to the General Assembly of 1835. The action of the Assembly on the subject, is contained in the following extracts from their records : " The Committee on Overture, 'No. 24, reported and their report was accepted and adopted, and is as follows, viz. : " The Committee on the papers submitted to them in relation to the "Western Foreign Missionary Society, recommend the adoption of the following resolutions, viz. : " I. That it is the solemn conviction of this General Assembly that the Presbyterian Church owes it, as a sacred duty to her glorified Head, to yield a far more exemplary obedience, and that in her distinctive char- acter as a church, to the command which He gave at His ascension into Heaven : ' Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.' It is believed TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 191 to be among the causes of the frowns of the great Head of the Church, which are now resting on our beloved Zion, in the declension of vital pietj and the disorders and divisions that distract us, that we have done so httle —comparatively nothing— in our distinctive character as a Church of Christ, to send the Gospel to the heatben, the Jews, and the Mohammedans. It is regarded as of vital importance to the welfare of our Church, that foreign as well as domestic missions should be 'more zealously prosecuted, and more liberally patronized ; and that as a nucleus of foreign missionary effort and oper- ation, the Western Foreign Missionary Society should receive the countenance, as it appears to us to merit the confidence, of those who cherish an attachment to the doctrines and order of the Church to which we belong. " II. Resolved, That a committee be appointed to confer with the Synod of Pittsburgh, on the subject of a transfer of the su23ervision of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, now under the direction of tlfat Synod ; to ascertain the terms on which such transfer can be made, to devise and digest a plan of conducting foreign missions under "the direction of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, and report the whole to the next General Assembly. " Dr. Cuyler, Dr. Cummins, Dr.*^ Hoge, Dr. Wither- spoon, and Dr. Edgar were appointed this Committee." On the second day after adopting the foregoing report of their Committee, the General Assembly passed the following resolution : " Resolved, That the Committee appointed to confer with the Synod of Pittsburgh, on the subject of a trans- fer of the supervision of the Western Foreign Mission- ary Society to the General Asscmblv, be authorized, if they shall approve of the said transfer, to ratify and 192 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. confirm the same with the said Synod, and report the same to the next General Assembly." The Committee appointed by this resolution made to the General Assembly of 1836 the following report : " The Committee appointed by the last Assembly, on the transfer of the Western Foreign Missionary Society to the General Assembly, made a report, which was read and accepted, and is as follows, viz. : " The Committee appointed under the following resolution of the last General Assembly, viz. : " ' Besol/ved, That the Committee appointed to confer with the Synod of Pittsburgh, on the subject of a trans- fer of the supervision of the "Western Foreign Mission- ary Society to the General Assembly, be authorized, if they shall approve of the said transfer, to ratify and confirm the same with the said Synod, and report the same to the next General Assembly,' beg leave to report — That they submitted the following terms of agreement to the Synod of Pittsburgh, at its sessions last fall, and that it was duly ratified by that body, as will fully appear by its minutes. " Terms of agreement between the Committee of the General Assembly and the Synod of Pittsburgh, in reference to the transfer of the Western Foreign Mis- sionary Society. " 1. The General Assembly will assume the super- vision and control of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, from and after the next annual meeting of said Assembly, and will thereafter superintend and conduct, by its own proper authority, the work of foreign mis- sions of the Presbyterian Church, by a Board especially appointed for that purpose, and directly amenable to said Assembly. And the Synod of Pittsburgh does hereby transfer to that body, all its supervision and TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 193 control over the missions and operations of the AVestern Foreign Society, from and after the adoption of this minute ; and authorizes and directs said Society to per- form every act necessary to complete said transfer, when tlie Assembly shall have appointed its Board ; it being expressly understood, that the said Assembly will never hereafter alienate or transfer to any other judicatory or board whatever, the direct supervision and manao-e- ment of the said missions, or those which may hereafter be established by the Board of the General Assem- bly. " 2. The General Assembly shall, at its next meeting, choose forty ministers and forty laymen, and annually thereafter ten ministers and ten laymen, as members of the Board of Foreign Missions, whose term of office shall be four years ; and these forty ministers and forty laymen, so appointed, shall constitute a board, to be styled ' The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presby- terian Church in the United States'; to which, for the time being, shall be entrusted, with such directions and instructions as may from time to time be given, the superintendence of the foreign missionary operations of the Presbyterian Church ; who shall make annually to the General Assembly a report of their proceedings ; and submit for its approval such plans and measures as may be deemed useful and necessary. Until the trans- fer shall have been completed, the business shall be con- ducted by the Western Foreign Missionary Society. "3. The board of directors shall hold a meeting annually, at some convenient time during the sessions of the General Assembly, at which it shall appoint a pres- ident, a vice-president, a corresponding secretary, a recording secretary, a treasurer, general agents, and an executive committee, to serve for the ensuing year. It 194 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. shall belong to the Board to receive and dispose of their annual report, and present a statement of their proceed- ings to the General Assembly. It shall be the duty of the board of directors to meet for the transaction of business as often as may be expedient, due notice of every special meeting being given to every member of the board. It is recommended to the board to hold, in different parts of the Church, at least one public meet- ing annually, to promote and diffuse a livelier interest in the foreign missionary cause. " 4. To the executive committee, consisting of not more than seven members, besides the corresponding secretary and treasurer, shall belong the duty of appoint- ing all missionaries and missionary agents, except those otherwise provided for ; of designating their fields of labor, receiving the reports of the corresponding secre- tary, and giving him needful directions in reference to all matters of business and correspondence entrusted to him ; to authorize all appropriations and expenditures of money; and to take the particular direction and management of the foreign missionary work, subject to the revision of the board of directors. The executive committee shall meet at least once a month, and oftener if necessary ; of whom three members, meeting at the time and place of adjournment or special call, shall con- stitute a quorum. The committee shall have power to fill their own vacancies, if any occur during a recess of the board. " 5. All property, houses, lands, tenements, and per- manent funds, belonging to the Board of Foreign Mis- sions to be constituted by this agreement, shall be taken in the name of the Trustees of the General Assembly, and held in trust by them, for the use and benefit of the Board of Foreign Missions for the time being. TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 195 " 6. The seat of the operations of the Board shall be designated by the General Assembly. " After some discussion, the above report was com- mitted to Dr. Phillips, Mr. Scovel, Dr. Skinner, Dr. Dunlap, and Mr. Ewing, who were authorized to review the whole case, and present it for the consideration of this Assembly. " Besolved, That the report of this committee be the order of the day for Thursday morning at 10 o'clock, or earlier if prepared." The committee appointed at the close of the foregoing minute, made the following report : " The committee to whom was referred the report of the committee on the transfer of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, and an overture on the same subject from the Synod of Philadelphia, made a report, which was accepted, and is as follows : " The committee to whom was referred the report of the committee appointed by the last Assembly, on the subject of a transfer of the supervision of the Western Foreign Missionary Society to the General Assembly, and also the overture from the Synod of Philadelphia, on the subject of foreign missions, report— That the attention of the last Assembly was called to the subject of foreign missions by the following overture, viz., on page 31 of printed minutes :" The committee here recite what was done in the pre- ceding year, as already stated, and which need not be repeated. They then continue in their report as fol- lows : " Thus it appears, that the proposition to confer with the Synod, and to assume the supervision and control of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, originated in the Assembly. 196 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIOI^S. " At that time the Western Foreign Missionary Society was in a prosperous condition, enjoying the con- fidence and receiving the patronage of a considerable number of our churches, having in their employ about twenty missionaries, and their funds were unembarrassed. The committee having conferred with some of the members of that Society, and finding that the proposi- tion was favorably regarded by them, indulging the hope that an arrangement might be definitely made with the Synod at their next stated meeting, by which the Assembly would be prepared to enter on the work at their present sessions, brought the subject again before the Assembly, when it was, after mature deliberation, " ' Resolved, That the committee appointed to confer with the Synod of Pittsburgh, on the subject of a trans- fer of the supervision of the "Western Foreign Mission- ary Society to the General Assembly, be authorized, if they shall approve of the said transfer, to ratify and confirm the same with the said Synod, and report the same to the next Assembly,' — p. 33. " The committee thus appointed, and clothed with full powers to ratify and confirm a transfer, submitted the terms on which they were willing to accept it, to the Synod of Pittsburgh, at their sessions last fall. " The members of the committee not being present at the meeting of the Synod, and there being no time for further correspondence, the Synod (although they would have preferred some alterations of the terms) were precluded from proposing any, on the ground that such alteration would vitiate the whole proceedings, and therefore acceded to the terms of the transfer which were proposed by the committee of the Assembly, and solemnly ratified the contract on their part. Feeling themselves bound by the same, and trusting to the good TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 197 faith of this body, they have acted accordingly, and have made no provision for their missionaries now in the field for a longer time than the meeting of this Assembly, having informed them of the transfer which has taken place, and of the new relation they would sustain to this body after their present sessions. " It appears then to your committee, that the Assem- bly have entered into a solemn compact with the Synod of Pittsburgh, and that there remains but one righteous course to pursue, which is to adopt the report of the committee appointed last year, and to appoint a Foreign Missionary Board. To pause now, or to annul the doings of the last Assembly in this matter, would be obviously a violation of contract, a breach of trust, and a departure from that good faith which should be sacredly kept between man and man, and especially between Christian societies — conduct which would be utterly un- worthy of this venerable body, and highly injurious to the Western Foreign Missionary Society. " The committee beg leave further respectfully to remind the Assembly, that a large proportion of our churches (being Presbyterians from conviction and pref- erence) feel it to be consistent not only, but their solemn duty in the sight of God, to impart to others the same good, and in the same form of it which they enjoy themselves, and to be represented in heathen lands by missionaries of their own denomination. They greatly prefer such an organization as this contemplated, and which shall be under the care of the Presbyterian Church, and cannot be enlisted so well in the great and glorious work of sending the Gospel to the Heathen, under any other. Already, with the blessing of the great Head of the Church on the efTorts of the Western Foreign Missionary Society in this form of operation, 198 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. has a missionary spirit been awakened among them to a considerable extent, and an interest in the cause of mis- sions been created, never before felt by them. They have furnished men for the work, and are contributing cheerfully to their support in the foreign field. " As one great end to be accomplished by all who love the Eedeemer, is to awaken and cherish a missionary spirit, and to enlist all the churches in the work of evan- gelizing the world ; as every leading Christian denomi- nation in the world has its own foreign missionary board, and has found such distinct organization the most effectual method of interesting the churches under their care, in this great subject ; as such an organization cannot interfere with the rights or operations of any other similar organization, for the field is the world, and is wide enough for all to cultivate; as it is neither desired nor intended to dictate to any in this matter, but simply to give an opportunity of sending the Gospel to the heathen, by their own missionaries, to those who prefer this mode of doing so, giving them that liberty which they cheerfully accord to others — your committee cannot suppose for a moment that this General Assem- bly will, in this stage of the proceedings, refuse to con- summate this arrangement with the Synod of Pittsburgh, and thus prevent so many churches under their care from supporting their missionaries, in their own way. From this view of the case, they recommend to the Assembly the adoption of the following resolutions, viz. : "1. Resolved^ That the report of the committee appointed by the last Assembly, to confer with the Synod of Pittsburgh, on the subject of a transfer of the Western Foreign Missionary Society to the General Assembly, be adopted, and that said transfer be accepted, on the terms of agreement therein contained. TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 199 "2. Resolved, That the Assembly will proceed to appoint a Foreign Missionary Board, the seat of whose operations shall be in the city of New York. " The above report was made the order of the day for to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock." The discussion in the General Assembly on this im- portant concern was much protracted. The parties were very nearly equal in numbers, and on both sides deeply interested. The following are the dates and minutes, exhibited in the record of the proceedings had cm the subject : " Thursday morning, May 26, 1836.— The Assembly, agreeably to the order of the day, took up the report of the Committee to whom was referred the report of the Committee of the last Assembly, on the transfer of the Western Foreign Missionary Society. " Dr. Skinner, one of the Committee, who dissented from this report, made a counter report, which was read, accepted, and is as follows : "Whereas, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions has been connected with the Pres- byterian Church from the year of its incorporation, by the very elements of its existence; and whereas, at the present tmie, the majority of the whole of that Board are Presbyterians ; and whereas, as it is undesirable, in conductmg the work of foreign missions, that there should be any coUision at home or abroad ; therefore, " Resolved, That it is inexpedient that the Assembly should organize a separate Foreign Missionary Institu- tion. " A motion was made to adopt the report of the Com- mittee ; after considerable discussion, a motion was made to postpone the motion for adoption of the Com- mittee's report, with a view to take up the report of 200 PEESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. Dr. Skinner. While this motion was under discussion, the Assembly adjourned till this afternoon at half-past 2 o'clock. "Thursday afternoon, May 26th. — The Assembly resumed the unfinished business of this morning, viz., the postponement of the motion for the adoption of the report of the Committee on the transfer of the Western Foreign Missionary Society ; after considerable time spent on the subject, the further consideration of it was suspended, to giv^e an opportunity to the Committee ap- pointed to count the votes for members of the Board of Missions, to report. " The Assembly resumed the subject of the transfer of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, and it was further discussed. " Friday morning, May 27th. — The Assembly re- sumed the consideration of the unfinished business of last evening, viz., the transfer of the Western Foreign Missionary Society. The forenoon was spent in the discussion of this subject. "Friday afternoon. May 27th. — The unfinished busi- ness of the morning, viz., the transfer of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, was resumed ; and after considerable discussion, the question was taken on the motion to postpone the motion for adopting the report of the Committee, to take up the report of Dr. Skinner, and was decided in the negative. The yeas on this motion were 133, and the nays 134." Thus it appears, that on this question the members of the Assembly in favor of the transfer, had a majority of a single vote. After this, the subject was not again called up, till Thursday morning, the 9th of June, when the final vote was taken ; the record of which is as follows : TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 201 " The report of the Committee on the transfer of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, was taken up, and after considerable discussion, the previous question was moved and carried, when the main question on adopting the report, to transfer the "Western Foreign Missionary Society to the General Assembly, was put, and was decided in the negative, as follows : yeas, 106 ; nays, 110." Thus, in a body of 216 voters, it was decided by a majority of four votes, to set aside a formal solemn contract, entered into with the Synod of Pittsburgh, un- der the sanction of the General Assembly of 1835 ; and to refuse the acceptance of the transfer whicli the Synod had actually made, on the faith that the contract to which they had been invited, would certainly be ful- filled. A very able protest, with 87 signatures, was entered against this proceeding ; and was answered, or rather replied to, by a Committee of the majority of the Assembly, appointed for the purpose. These papers are too long for insertion in this sketch ; and after the quotations already made, are not necessary to a full understanding of the views and aims of the dis- agreeing parties [The author's report of these events refers to some things that were omitted in the narrative, presumably as already known to readers of that day. Complete information, however, is still readily accessible, in the Minutes of the General Assembly of the years 1835, 1836, and 1837, in which the various resolutions, amend- ments, substitutes, votes, protests, and answers to pro- tests, — in short, the full proceedings can be found of record. The Annual Reports of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, in 1830 and 1837, should also be referred to, — see particularly, page 33, of the Eeport of 202 PEESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. 183Y; and the Circular Letter of the Board of Directors of the Society, of June 26, 1836. The adverse action of the Assembly on the transfer was viewed as threatening disaster to the Society. A conference was held in Philadelphia early in June, 1836, by its friends and patrons, including members of the Assembly, Directors of the Society, and others, when it was agreed that a statement of the case should be made by the Directors, in the form of a Circular Letter. This letter was written by Dr. Elisha P. Swift, Corre- sponding Secretary, and submitted to the Executive Committee, under date of June 27, 1836. It is worthy of his great ability, suitable to the grave responsibilities of the situation, and admirable in its Christian spirit. It is here inserted in full. " Dear Brethren : It devolves upon us, by the ap- pointment of the Board of Directors of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, to address you in its behalf, under circumstances of unanticipated and extraordinary embarrassment. " The General Assembly of 1835, as you are doubtless aware, appointed a Committee, to treat with the Synod of Pittsburgh on the subject of the transfer of the Society, with all its missions and its funds, to the supreme judica- tory of our Church ; and authorized and empowered that Committee, if they could obtain terms which to them ap- peared satisfactory, to ratify and confirm a contract to that effect. At the last annual meeting of the Synod, that Committee submitted, with an authentic certification of their appointment and of their plenary powers, certain propositions and articles to which they were prepared, in the name of the Assembly, to accede ; and which required the virtual rehnquishment by the Synod, from and after its assent to them, of all jurisdiction over the Society and its operations. The existing Board, by the joint authority TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 203 of the Assembly's Committee and the Synod, was to con- tinue its superintendence until a new Board should be apiDointed. The Synod, impressed with the behef that there were interspersed through various parts of the Presbyterian Church, a large number of our body by whom an ecclesiastical organization for foreign missions was earnestly desired ; and whose zeal, energy, and affec- tionate co-operation, in the work of sending the Gospel to the Heathen, could be secured only by such a plan ; and sensible that no one Synod could properly claim the rio-ht to direct the operations of an important branch of Christian enterprise in which many others were equally interested, and which they were expected to sustain, came to the determination, after protracted and prayerful dehberation, to accept the overtures of the Assembly; and did forthwith, as all parties fully understand the act, ful- fil the only remaining condition of the contract. "To the Synod, as they were invited to form an an-angement in which their missionaries abroad and their chui'ches at home were deeply interested, the inquiiy naturally enough arose, whether the Church, by her Gen- eral Assembly of one year, could bind herself in a con- tract which would be, in its essential principles, beyond the control of her Assembhes of other years; and whether she could do that by her agents which she had power to do herself. It need hardly be said, that these questions admitted of but one answer. The acts of the Chui'cli, by her General Assembly, like those in the case of any other representative body, assume dififerent forms, according to the subjects to which they refer. When they belong to the class of contracts involving pecuniary considerations and the rights of others, as where the Assembly accepts donations and bequests, to be used or held in tinist for particular objects, the irrepealable obligation of the en- gagement is apparent to every mind, and is recognized in every court of justice. The second inquiry admitted, if 204 PRESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. possible, a still more obvious solution than the first, as tbe General Assembly, by its Trustees and Boards of Direc- tion, was every year making bargains and executing trusts not less permanent or responsible than that which was now contemplated. The Synod, therefore, in good faith, entered into an engagement, which it was foreseen would in the meantime necessarily occasion a serious interrup- tion of business, and eventually prove a heavy pecuniary loss to the Society, if the operations were not promptly carried forward by the Assembly. As the Society was sustaining no unpropitious missions, and was possessed of funds far beyond all present demand, the Board did not look upon it as an act of condescension on the part of the Church, to adopt the Society as its own ; and as the Board had uniformly maintained towards their fellow- laborers of the American Board the most amicable relations, they did not think of giving offense, even to its most ardent friends in the communion of our Church, by co- operating in an arrangement which could only put the advocates of ecclesiastical organization on a par with their brethren, while it would obviously increase the amount of good to be achieved. " The General Assembly, as you have doubtless heard, after a protracted discussion, resolved not to fulfil the provisions of this arrangement, nor receive the Society which had thus been transferred to them. When that portion of the Board of Directors, who were then present in Pittsburgh, found the missionary operations of the Society thus left unprovided for, and themselves without the opportunity of consultation with the Synod, they resumed their deliberations, and adopted a resolution inviting those members of the Assembly who had voted for the transfer to unite in an expression of their views as to the course proper to be pursued. Such a meeting was accordingly convened, and resolutions were unani- mously passed, recommending to the Board to resume its TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 205 functions ; expressing it as the sense of the meeting, that every one then present should use his influence within the bounds of his respective Presbytery to make the condi- tion and the wants of the "Western Foreign IMissionary Society known to the churches, and obtain for it all possi- ble funds, both from contributions at the monthly concert, and in other ways, to be paid over to the treasurer of each Presb}i;ery, and by him transmitted to the Treasurer of the Board — ' That, in resuming the work of missions, the Western Foreign Missionary Society is hereby assiu-ed of om* confidence and zealous co-operation ; and that where suitable agents cannot be obtained to visit the churches we will encourage the members of our Presbyteries to undertake volimtary agencies for the benefit of the same.' " As the decision of the General Assembly may possibly be thought to have originated in some objection to the Society itself, or the character of its missionaries, and may thus be constnied to its disadvantage in its future opera- tions, it may be proper to say, that, with the exception of one of the speakers, who animadverted with some severity upon the Committee for having received, as a missionaiy under its care, a brother not in connection with the Pres- byterian Chui'ch, nothing was said which could justl}' im- peach the credit of the Society before the Christian public. It was indeed urged against its adoj)tion by the supreme judicatory of our Chui'ch : " 1. That it might involve us in collision with the Ameri- can Board, and produce division and strife ; but it was not alleged that the Society had, in past years, incurred this imputation ; nor was it shown that Christian candor and fairness rcquii'ed the Church to oppose an ecclesiasti- cal Board on this ground, while it unhesitatingly encour- aged a voluntary one ; in other words, that this difficulty, if it should prove one, ought to annihilate our institution only, while it encouraged and supported that of our Con- gregational brethren. 206 PEESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. "2, It was said, that, if the sanction of the General Assembly -were given to a Board of Foreign Missions, that board might claim, on its authority, the aid and co- operation of such parts of the Church as desired to give their support to the American Board ; but it was not shown that a refusal to countenance such a board at all, might not be equally construed to mean that the Assem- bly expected all its Presbyteries and churches to patronize that institution ; nor was it shown that the other Boards of the Assembly have ever been able to make such a use of their authority. " 3. It was urged, that it should be the purpose of all Christians, in sending the Gospel to the heathen, to lay aside all denominational peculiarities, and present Chris- tianity to the heathen only in those aspects in which the opinions of aU evangelical believers agree. But the same brother, who so eloquently urged this theory, did, in a previous argument, on the same subject, attempt to show that the American Board was more of a Presbyterian than a Congregational institution ; and consequently liable to the same objections which were preferred against ours. The argument itself, if just, would have gone as truly to subvert all existing missionary boards as to oppose the reception of ours, since no one of them pretends to act upon the principle which it sustained. " 4. It was urged (and these four comprise the principal objections which were mentioned in the debate) that the reception of the Board under the care of the Assembly would be inconsistent with pledges already given to the American Board ; and, at least, it would imply a want of confidence in the wisest and best conducted missionary institution on earth. But those who supported the meas- m-e, and some who opposed it, denied the propriety of pursuing any such course of reasoning. Thus, without going further into particulars, it will be seen that the Assembly did not profess to have discovered in the char- TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 207 acter or operations of this Society any thing which should induce its former friends to withdraw from it; nor should the course and issue of a discussion, in which its consti- tuted officers took no pai-t, an-ay the prejudices of any portion of the community against it. "Of the decision of the Assembly itself we forbear to speak. For the majority in this case we entei-tain great respect, as brethren and fellow-laborers in the service of our Lord. We attentively hstened to most of the discus- sion, and we have since carefuDy, and we hope candidly and prayerfuUy, weighed the reasons embodied in their- answer to the protest of the minority; and we confess our sui-prise that, on gi-ounds to us so insufficient, they should have thought it their duty to suppress, by efforts so strenu- ous and by a majority so small (110 to 106), a plan which could hardly fail to insure a more universal diffusion of the spii-it of foreign missions, and to promote, in the pres- ent excited state of our Church, a feeling of harmony among its members. What if the preceding Assembly had been indiscreet, and had conferred upon its committee ' unwarrantable and improper powers ' ? It does not in- vahdate a contract, that it was prematurely or unwisely entered into (Psalm xv. 4) nor does it prove that the object itself is inexpedient. What if a majority of the last Assem- bly preferred a voluntary to an ecclesiastical organization, theii- concurrence in the adoption of the Society involved no sacrifice of opinion, and left them at full liberty for- mally to decline aU co-operation with any but the American Board. Nor is this all. The constitution of the Presby- terian Church manifestly contains the presumption, that operations of this kind ai-e to be carried on church-wise (Form of Gov., chap. 18), and consequently presents the impossibmty of securing a general ecclesiastical organiza- tion, but through the General Assembly. Now when almost all the larger denominations of evangehcal Chiis- tians both in Europe and America, including the Church 208 PRESBYTEKIAN MISSIONS. of Scotland from whicli we derive our origin, have adopted the ecclesiastical form of foreign missionary operation, it is hard to see how a conscientious member of a Presby- terian Assembly, bound by his ordination vows to study the prosperity of that church, should feel himself required to prohibit that church from embodying its yet unapplied strength in the most important of Christian efforts. That, in a course to us so unexpected, our brethren sincerely intended to glorify God, and promote the salvation of a perishing world, we would not deny ; but, it is our per- suasion, that, on cool reflection, they will find occasion to regret that the influence of excited feeling on other and irrelevant questions, has unduly obtruded itself into one which makes a solemn claim to separate and dispassionate consideration. In the present state of our Chui'ch, could such a decision be expected to increase the amount of effort for benighted lands ? In so far as it disappoints the wishes of probably at least one-half of the Presbyterian Church, it should be met with the candor, meekness, and charity which become the followers of Christ, at aU times, and which especially befits this sacred enterprise. "In the course of argument pursued in the Assembly, there was one point which we seem required to notice. Portions of letters from one of the Secretaries of the American Board, recently pubHshed, were read in the de- bate to show that the Presbyterian Church ' had no occa- sion to withdraw its confidence ' in the wisdom and fidelity of that Board ; and it was generally understood that these letters were intended to bear upon the decision which the Assembly were expected to make of the question of the appointment of the new Board. Whether this was strictly proper after the committee had given its pledge to the Synod in the name of the Assembly we will not pretend to say. Our only object is to say in reference to this mat- ter, that it is certainly doing injustice to the friends of this measure, to suppose that their preference of an eccle- TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 209 siastical arrangement implies any such want of confidence. It woold certainly be deemed unkind to impute to our Congi'egational brethren, motives like this, when they ex- hibit their preferences. So far as good men are persuaded to believe that such an intention is cherished by us, as a Society for Foreign Missions, they may be expected to withhold their sympathies and their prayers from us; and, as we are now required to go on with our labors, it stands us in hand to fortify ourselves against every injurious prejudice. We may then confidently say that we have, as individuals and as a Board, never published a word that could, by fair constiniction, be made to express the shght- est suspicion of this kind. This Society has indeed held out to such as preferred our form of operation to the other an invitation to co-operate in sending the Gospel to the heathen ; but it has spoken of the American Board in the highest terms of respect and confidence. To assume it, therefore, as true that all desu'e for another and an eccle- siastical Board, must imply a want of confidence in that, and then go on to reason against the measure as though it were intended to create and sustain suspicion and dis- turb the tranquillity and confidence of the churches, must appear to every candid mind to be unintentionally foster- ing the very spirit which it professes to condemn. "We should have passed this fact in silence, if it had not awakened in us a desire to guard, if possible, against future misunderstanding. In our first Cu'cular Address to the churches, published early in 1r. SOCIETY. 211 other against, the proposed measure, is sufficient evidence that the operations of neitlier can be safely suppressed. In this broad land where churches multijily by hundreds every year, and the resources of religious men by thou- sands ; and which, ere long, must scud its missionaries by hundreds annually to the four quaiiers of the globe, who will pretend to say, that there should be but one channel, and all ecclesiastical preferences should be suppressed, in order to the accompHshment of this end ? Which would be the most evangelical liberality, to attempt to bring all denominational differences to bend to this, and cui-b and fetter their action until they should, or to urge one and all of them to be up and doing, to hasten the great con- summation with all their might ; and to do this with the expectation that all hurtful jn-ejudices would gradually vanish away, as the great work would grow upon their hand, and nation after nation come forth into the light and liberty of the Christian redemption ? Is it a matter of doubt to any candid obscn-er, whether the foreign mis- sionary operations of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as such ; the American Baptist Church, as such ; and the Protestant Episcopal Church, as such ; are destined to ex- ert a benign influence upon the entire character of these respectable denominations ? Could there be any prospect of, or would there be any utility in, their consenting to drop aU their respective peculiarities, and unite in one association whose principles should comprise no one dis- tinctive feature of either '? "Would they ever come together by being required to wait until they could thus agree, and, in the meantime, leave the entire heathen world to perish in their sins ? AMiy then should it be thought or repre- sented as sectarian — as unworthy of our character as liberal-minded Christians, to desire to see the Presbyterian Church, as such, organized and embodied in this great and precious seiwice ? " In view, then, of the circumstances in which we are now 212 PEESBYTERIAN MISSIO'NS. placed as a Society, and a Church, by the aspect of the Avorld — by the example of sister denominations — and by the decision of the last General Assembly, let us, beloved brethren, arise with new energy and zeal, to prosecute the too-much neglected work of foreign missions. Let not the disappointment of our plans, and the unexpected counter- action of our reasonable wishes, fill our minds or the souls of our people with discouragement and despair. If our eye is single — if our intentions are sincere, we can present the pressure of our circumstances before the tlirone of God with increased confidence. Om* brethren, who, by such immense exertions, were barely able, after several of our friends had left their posts, to vote down the contract, will, on reflection, see how impossible it is for us to secure a general ecclesiastical organization but through the General Assembly, and they will become convinced that nothing can be gained to them, much less to the cause of foreign missions, by attempting to prevent it ; throwing upon themselves, as it must, a great amount of responsibility, and giving no additional acceptability to the Board for whose sake they propose to do it. If we are active, and prompt, and prayerful, in the cause ; if we bring the for- eign missionary enterprise before the minds of our people, and before God, with a growing conviction of its import- ance, Heaven will listen to our supplications, and the Ee- deemer of Israel will provide. A question like this will lose nothing by standing on its own naked merits before the Church and the world ; and our Church will, in due time, award to us with little opposition, that organization which it would have been undesirable to gain by a bare majority. " In the meantime, the Board of the Synod will resume its duties and go forward, relying upon the pledge of active co-operation given by the brethren from all parts of the Church, in the meeting to which we have referred. From the spirit of that meeting, they hope and trust it TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 213 may be a year of great results. In the provision of mia- Bionaries and assistant missionaries, as well as in the col- lection of funds, and the diffusion of missionary intelli- gence, much aid may be rendered to the Executive Com- mittee by individual ministers, and by Presbyteries in all parts of the Church ; and thus aided, the Board hope to keep pace with the growing energies of the churches. We affectionately entreat our brethren in the ministiy, in the eldership, and in the communion of the Church, to come up to the help of the Lord ; and countenance, with their contributions, their prayers, and their best energies, the attempt which must now be made to seciu'e such an organization and concentration of effort in this work ad these eventful times require. Our Church has surely strength and vigor enough to throw off the obstructions which oppress her, and take her place among those sister denominations by whose ecclesiastical ajDiJointment the trumpet of the Gospel is sounding in Burmah, in Africa, in Greece, and the wilds of America. In the foiToer, what conquests over a dark and cruel superstition have our Baptist brethren begun to realize, and what trophies of theii' piety and zeal are our Methodist brethren endeavor- ing to rear up on the shores of paganism ? Unawakened by these and other examples, is our body to sit stiU, or to append its contributions to another institution, and never make its voice distinctly heard in the great and eventful day of the conversion of the nations ? This enterprise is God's and not man's ; and every Christian, and every de- nomination, must expect to forfeit the richest influences of His grace, if there be neglect and defection when the chief Captain of the hosts mai'shals His forces for the day of His power. Ye watchmen of Israel ! what of the night ? Are not the circumstances of the world eventful? Are they not such as to show that all our Sabbath-schools should be nurseries of the missionary spirit? that our monthly concei'ts should be replenished with the spirit of 214 PEESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. grace and supplication, and that all our judicatories and cliurches, in hope, in zeal, and activity, be as those who wait for the coming of the Lord ? Surely then our Church will arise, and not remain inactive, to wait for the realiza- tion of a beautiful theory of missions, or for fear that she may offend others by fulfilling the command of Christ herself. May the God of missions pour out His Spirit upon us — raise up many devoted, heroic missionaries for the work, and cause the blessing of many ready to perish to come upon us ! Amen." FINAL MINUTES OF Bstween the meetings of the Gen- THE WESTERN BFal Asscmblies of 1836 and 1837, FOREIGN MISSIONARY the friends of the Western Society SOCIETY. gave time, reflection, and prayer to the subject of their Christian duty. The Assembly's adverse action was taken by so small a majority as not to settle the question ; it was doubtful from the two votes of the Assembly whether the majority was really adverse. But the question involved such important principles and such grave issues, that the Society's sup- porters felt constrained to go forward, notwithstanding serious discouragements. Still maintaining the organiza- tion of their Missions under Church direction and super- vision, they were led to decide on two changes, both looking to more general and efficient measures. One was to substitute Presbyterian for Western in the name, and the other to remove the seat of operations to the city of New York — all parties consenting. Following the dates of events, the last Minutes of the Society, printed as an Appendix by the author, are here inserted. They were adopted prior to the Assembly's pro- ceedings of 1837, but at the usual time when the Annual Meeting of the Society was held. They show that its purpose was onward, by the blessing of God.] TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 215 "Philadelphia, May 23, 1837. " Agreeably to tlie Constitution of the Western For- eign Missionary Society, the Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors was held in the session room of the Sixth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, on Tuesday, May 23, 1837, at half-past 7 o'clock, p.m." The names of the members of the Board, and of the Directors of the Society, are then given in detail. It appears that there had been appointed, live representa- tives of the Synod of Pittsburgh, and six of the Synod of Philadelphia. The Presbyteries of Alleghany, Blairsville, Carlisle, Erie, Kaskaskia, Louisville, Miami, IN'ew Castle, Philadelphia, Philadelphia 2d, Redstone, Sidney, and Susquehanna, had also each appointed rep- resentatives, agreeably to a provision of the Constitution ; of whom twenty-six were present. The minutes con- tinue as follows : " Rev. Dr. Green, Yice-President, opened the meeting with prayer. "The following resolution, submitted by the Corre- sponding Secretary, Mr. Lowrie, after full deliberation, was decided in the affirmative : "Jiesolved, That the interests of the Missionary cause, as connected with the Western Foreign Missionary Society, require a change of location of the centre of its operations from the city of Pittsburgh.'' With two exceptions, all the members present voted for this resolution. The minutes then proceed as follows : "The Rev. David Elliot, D.D., and the Rev. T. D. Baird, being members of the Executive Committee, after the above members had voted, expressed their acqui- escence in the above vote in the affirmative. ^''Nmjs — none. "The constitution of the Society requires, that to 216 PEESBYTEEIA.N MISSIONS. carry the affirmative of the above question, there be a majority in the affirmative of all the members of the Board existing at the time ; and there being 26 votes out of the 35, the resolution was adopted. " The following resolution was then submitted, viz. : ^' Hesolved, That the centre of operations of the Society be, for the present, in the city of New York. " After an interchange of sentiment till a late hour, the Board adjourned till half-past 8 o'clock to-morrow. " Wednesday, May 24, 1837. " The Board met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Elliot. " The consideration of the unfinished business was re- sumed, and after full deliberation, was decided in the affirmative. " The Corresponding Secretary laid before the Board the following paper, which had been read by him on yesterday : " ' In order to facilitate the plan of the contemplated removal of the centre of the operations of the Western Foreign Missionary Society, and to provide for the organization of an Executive Committee, in the place to which the said centre may be removed, we, the under- signed, members of the Board, do hereby resign our seats in the same, that our places may be filled, at the annual meeting of the Board, with persons residing near the future location of the Society. ' Francis Hereon. ' Robert Patterson. 'E. P. Swift. 'John Hannen. 'Samuel Thompson. ' Alexander Semple. * Alexander Laughlin. 'Pittsburgh, April 24, 1837.' TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 217 " On motion, "Jiesolved, That the above vacancies in the Board of Directors be filled with the following named persons: " Rev. W. W. Phillips, D.D. Rev. E. W. Crane. " Joseph McElroj, D.D. Mr. James Lenox. " JohnM. Krebs. « James Paton. " Nicholas Mm-ray. ''Resolmd further, That the above named persons be appointed members of the Executive Committee ; and that Alexander Symington, Esq., be the President of the Society, the Rev. Ashbel Green, D.D., Vice- President, and Mr. James Paton, Treasurer. " On motion, ''Resolved, That the name and style of the Society be ' The Presbyterian Foreign Missionary Society.' " On motion, ''Resolved, That the Rev. Francis Eerron, D.D Rev David Elliot, D.D., Rev. T. D. Baird, Rev. E. P. Swift," D.D., Rev. John Nevin, Rev. Robert Patterson, Walter H. Lowrie, Samuel Thompson, Alexander Semple, John Ilannen, and Alexander Laughlin, of the city of Pitts- burgh and vicinity, be a Board of Agency for the Pres- byterian Foreign Missionary Society, for the Western States \ with such powers as may be necessary to aid the Executive Committee in the appointment of Agents for bringing out the resources of the churches in the West- ern States, and for conducting the missionary operations among the Indian tribes. "Adjourned to meet on Friday, the 26th instant, at half-past 7 o'clock, p.m., in the Central Presbyterian Church. 218 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. "Feiday Evening, May 26, 1837. "The Board met pursuant to adjournment, at the Central Presbyterian Church. This being the evening appointed for the public Anniversary of the Society, a large assembly being present, the Rev. James Blythe, D.D., opened the meeting with prayer. " Extracts of the annual report were read by the Cor- responding Secretary. " Addresses were then made by the Rev. Archibald Alexander, D.D., Rev. R. J. Breckinridge, Rev. John A. Mitchell, and the Rev. Wm. S. Plumer ; and, at a late hour, the congregation was dismissed. " The Board continuing in session, on motion by the Rev. Dr. Cuyler, ^^Resolved, That the Annual Report be adopted, and that it be published and distributed under the direction of the Executive Committee. ^^Resohed, That the Rev. George Potts and Moses Allen, Esq., be appointed members of the Board, in the room of the Rev. David Elliot, D.D., and the Rev. T. D. Baird, resigned, and that Mr. Allen be a member of the Executive Committee. " Adjourned to meet in Baltimore, the last Friday in October next." The Board of the "Western, now the Presbyterian, Foreign Missionary Society, held its last meeting in Baltimore at the time specified in the foregoing adjourn- ment ; but did no business, except that which related to the transfer of all its concerns, to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Communications had been received from the Synods of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, the former of which had passed, and the latter had subse- quently adopted, the two following resolutions : TRANSFER OF THE W. F. M. SOCIETY. 219 ''Eesolved, 1st, That the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Foreign Missionary Society, in so far as they derive authority from us, be and they hereby are empowered and directed to transfer to tlie Board of Foreign Missions of the General Assembly, to meet in the city of Baltimore on the 31st instant, the said Society, with all its funds. Missions, and papers. ''Resolved, 2d, That the members of the said Board of the Presbyterian Foreign Missionary Society, now acting in the same by virtue of appointments made by this Synod, be authorized and appointed to act, from and after this date, so long as may be necessary duly and properly to execute the said transfer, and no longer, at which time the said Board shall be considered as dis- solved." The foregoing resolutions were passed by the Synod of Pittsburgh on the 26th of October, and b/ the Synod of Philadelphia on the 30th of the same month, 1837. On the day after the last mentioned date, the fol- lowing paper was laid before the Board of Foreign Mis- sions, viz. : "We, the undersigned, members of the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Foreign Missionary Society, deriving our authority from the Synod of Pittsburgh, in pursuance of the direction of the said Synod, in ''their resolution of the 26th October, 1837, do hereby transfer to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, the said Society, with all its funds. Missions, and papers. It being understood, that this transfer shall not in any manner affect or annul the principles on which the missionaries now under the care of the Presbytenan Foreign Missionary Society, from the Pteformed Pres- byterian Church, were received ; but the said mission- aries shall sustain the same relation to the Board of For- 220 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. eign Missions of the General Assembly, whieli they have sustained to the Presbyterian Foreign Missionary Society. " Walter Loweie. "William W. Phillips. " Nicholas Mueeay. " James Lenox. " John M. Keebs. ♦•Baltimobe, October 81, 1837." FINAL ACTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. IN the same year, a.d. 1837, the following transactions took place. This Minute embodies the Constitution of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. "Wednesday Morning, June 7, 1837: The Commit- tee on Overture No. 7, viz. : the overture from the Presbytery of Salem, on the subject of foreign missions, made a report, which was accepted, and adopted, by yeas and nays, as follows, viz. : " 1. Resolved^ That the General Assembly will super- intend and conduct, by its own proper authority, the work of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, by a Board appointed for that purpose, and directly amenable to said Assembly. " 2. The General Assembly shall at its present meet- ing, choose forty ministers and forty laymen, as mem- bers of the Board of Foreign Missions, one-fourth part of whom shall go out annually, in alphabetical order ; and thereafter ten ministers and ten laymen shall be annually elected as members of the Board of Foreign Missions, whose term of office shall be four years ; and these forty ministers and forty laymen, so appointed, shall constitute a Board to be styled, ' The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America,' to which, for the time being, shall be intrusted, with such directions and instructions as may from time to time be given by the General Assembly, the superintendence of the foreign missionary (221) 222 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. operations of the Presbyterian Church. This Board shall make aniiuallj to tlie General Assembly a report of their proceedings, and submit for its approval such plans and measures as may be deemed useful and necessary. "3. The Board of Directors shall hold their first meeting at such time and place as may be directed by the present General Assembly, and shall hold a meeting annually, at some convenient time during the sessions of the General Assembly, at which it shall appoint a President, Yice-President, a Corresponding Secretary, a Treasurer, and an Executive Committee, to serve for the ensuing year. It shall belong to the Board of Directors to review and decide upon all the doings of the Execu- tive Committee ; to receive and dispose of their annual report, and to present a statement of their proceedings to the General Assembly. It shall be their duty, also, to meet for the transaction of business as often as may be expedient, due notice of every special meeting being seasonably given to every member of the Board. " 4, To the Executive Committee, consisting of not more than nine members beside the Corresponding Sec- retary and the Treasurer, shall belong the duty of appoint- ing all missionaries and agents ; of designating their fields of labor; receiving the reports of the Corresponding Secretary, and giving him needful directions in reference to all matters of business and correspondence intrusted to him ; to authorize all appropriations and expenditures of money ; and to take the particular direction and man- agement of the foreign missionary work, subject to the revision and control of the Board of Directors. The Executive Committee shall meet at least once a month, and oftener if necessary ; five members, meeting at the time and place of adjournment or special call, shall con- stitute a quorum. The committee shall have power to FINAL ACTION OF THE GENEKAL ASSEMBLY. 223 fill their own vacancies, if any occur during the recess ot the Uoard of Directors. "5. All property, liouses, lands, tenements, and per- manent funds, belonging to the said Board of Foreic^a Missions, shall be taken in the name of the Trustees of the General Assembly, and held in trust by them for the use and benefit of 'The Eoard of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Churcli in the United States of America,' for the time being. "6. The seat of operations of the Board of Direct- ors shall be designated by the Board. ^'7. The Board of Directors shall have power, and they are hereby authorized to receive a transfer of the Foreign Missionary Societies, or either of them, now ex- isting in the Presbyterian Church, with all the missions and funds, under the care of and belonging to such societies.— Yeas, 108; Nays, 29. " Mr. Plumer offered the following resolutions, which were adopted, viz. : "1. EesoUed, That a committee be appointed to nominate Directors for the Board of Foreign Missions, ihe names of ministers and elders as Directors were nominated by the Committee and elected by the General Assembly. [See Minutes G. A., June 7, 1837 ] " 2. Resolved, That the Board of Foreign Missions be directed to hold their first meeting in the First Presby tenan Church, in the city of Baltimore, on Tuesday, the 31st of October next, at 3 o'clock p.m." Thus, at length, were the wishes and pravei-s answered of those who had long and earnestly desired to see a l^oard of Foreign Missions, under ecclesiastical appoint- ment and responsibility, established in the Presbyterian Church of the United States, acting in its distinctive character. 224 PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. [The missionary discussions in the General Assembly were now ended. They turned on the question, whether the cause and work of foreign missions should be con- ducted by the organized Church or by voluntary socie- ties? By the societies was not meant denominational voluntary organizations ; these might be expedient when the greater part of the Church was opposed to missions. But the societies referred to were such as were formed by evangelical Christians of all denominations — as at first the London Missionary Society. The Church theory was, and is, in our American sense, both ecclesiastical and de- nominational in its scope. Church doctrine and Church government have a divinely appointed place in the work of missions. Men of marked ability had taken opposite sides on this subject, but yet in most cases without unkind feel- ing. It seems to have been considered apart from dis- cussions of other subjects in the same year. A recent re-perusal of the G. A. Minutes tends to confirm the be- lief that foreign missionary affairs were considered in a Christian spirit, earnest yet not partisan ; in a zeal worthy of the sacred cause. Most Presbyterian people, and many of other denominations, now hold the Church theory ; but the particular questions under discussion in those days now awaken little interest. After many years of divided but practical and amicable experience, the Presbyterian Church is now one body in its support of this sacred cause. The transferred Society brought into the larger field a work that had sprung from right views and motives ; a work well begun ; free from debt ; having an income advancing each year, until at its end it was seven-fold larger than at its beginning — indeed, larger than was then given to foreign missions by ail the other churches FINAL ACTION OF THE GEiVERAL ASSEMBLY. 225 of the denomination ; and, moreover, supporting several existing missions of great promise, with others in prepa- ration. With the blessing of God, this work in its great field has ever since, under the direction of the General Assembly, steadily gained influence, power, and blessed results for earth and heaven — for time and eternity.] THE [This, then, is the position. "We hold tliat POSITION, the duty of missions is divinely and most clearly revealed, and that the practical measures by which this duty is performed may be, and in ordinary times ought to be, determined by the judicatories of the Church. These judicatories will always embrace many of the most able and experienced men in our commun- ion, and their measures will usually be governed in the long run by the public sentiment of the Church — a pul> lie sentiment which every church member contributes to form and has the power to influence. We thus com- bine conservative and popular principles; the voluntary power of numbers with the safer action of the few, who are yet responsible, while they are clothed with a whole- some authority. Measures, therefore, which, not being expressly revealed, are left to the wisdom and judgment of the Church, in the study of Providence and in answer to prayer, may be safely committed to the supervision of our church courts. This is true of missions as of other things. And the missionary policy which secures their approval, after due consideration and trial, will commend itself to the approbation and the support of the members at lai*ge. On what does the work of Foreign Missions hinge in our Church ? We answer, not mainly on questions of missionary policy ; we are, for the most part, agreed about them. But the turning point of the whole enter- 226 PEESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. prise is this, that the hearts of the people become inter- ested in the work. And how shall this result be obtained ? By dwelling chiefly, we do not say exclu- sively, but chiefly, on the great truths on which the whole work is founded. Each follower of Christ will feel—" I am commanded by my Lord, by my Redeemer, to give His Gospel to my fellow-men ; I am commanded to^ do this. And if I have the spirit of the Gospel, I will do unto others as I would have them do unto me —have I, then, the spirit of Christ in this matter? Those poor heathens are dying. Can I help to save them? I shall meet them at the judgment-seat of Christ. Will my conscience, will my Judge, then be satisfied with what I am now doing for their salvation? Their eternity will be as long as mine ; their souls are worth as much as mine ; their time here is as short as mine ; their song of praise to redeeming grace would sound as sweetly as mine. What, then, am I doing to put them in possession of the blessed hopes which I enjoy myself? All that I have has been received from God through the blood of Christ. I am not my own. Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? " These, and such like, are the thoughts and feelings which should fill the hearts of all Christians. ISTow, what are the considera- tions which will call these feelings into life and invigor- ate them ? There is but one answer, and that is found in the plain truths of God's Word, and the outpouring of the influences of the Holy Ghost.] FIRST MEETING Thc Board of Foreign Missions of the OP THE BOARD Presbytcrian Church in the United States OF FOREIGN of Amcrica met in Baltimore, agreeably MISSIONS. to the order of the General Assembly, on the 31st day of October, 1837. The Minutes of this FINAL ACTION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 227 meeting were duly recorded and afterward were pub- lished in pamphlet form of twelve pages. They are usually bound for reference with the Annual Report of the Board for 1838. Suitable record was made of the Board's Constitution ; acknowledgment was recorded of the action of several Synods, particularly those of Pittsburgh and Philadel- phia ; and the transfer of the Presbyterian Foreign Mis- sionary Society, as recorded in its Minutes, was accepted by the Board as follows : ^^Besolved, That the transfer of the Presbyterian Foreign Missionary Society to the Board be accepted on the terms and conditions specified ; and that the Executive Committee be directed to com- municate this fact to the Synods of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and to take necessary order on this sub- ject." The city of !N'ew York was unanimously chosen as the principal seat of operations of the Board. Executive officers were elected, viz. : President^ Rev. Samuel Mil- ler, D.D., Princeton ; Vice-President^ Gen. "William McDonald, Baltimore ; Executive Committee^ Rev. William W. Phillips, D.D., Rev. Joseph McElroy, D.D., Rev. John M. Krebs, Rev. George Potts, Rev, Edward D. Smith, Mr. James Lenox, Mr. Moses Allen, Mr. Henry Rankin, and Mr, Hugh Auchincloss; Corre- sponding Secretary^ Hon. "Walter Lowrie ; Treasurer, Mr. James Pa ton. And other preliminary and usual measures were taken for entering with vigor on the work of the Board. A public religious service was held in the First Pres- byterian Church in the evening. And after recording an expression of thanksgiving to God for His great favor to this cause, the Board adjourned, to meet in the Second Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, on Tuesday 228 PKESBYTEEIAN MISSIONS. after the first Thursday in May next, at 3 o'clock p.m., concluded with prayer. The Central and the Southern Boards of Foreign Missions, supported respectively by the Synods of Vir- ginia and North Carolina and the Synods of South Caro- lina and Georgia, were also transferred at this period or a little later to the Board of Foreign Missions of the General Assembly. Their work for a few years had been connected with the American Board ; but in accord with the tenor of their relations to that Board, this trans- fer was cordially made and accepted. [The adjournment of the Presbyterian Foreign Mis- sionary Society to meet in Baltimore, as mentioned on page 218, suj)ra, was made at the request of some mem- bers, that two general meetings should be held in each year, one in the city where the General Assembly met, the other in a different city, from year to year. Balti- more was chosen for the first semi-annual meeting. This was known to the members of the General Assembly, and probably led to the order that the " first meeting " of the Board of Foreign Missions should be held in that city, in the First Presbyterian Church. And a meeting of great interest and influence was duly held there. It was a convenient time and place, moreover, and it allowed a few months' delay for necessary legal measures to be completed in placing the Society's now consider- able property and its titles in the ownership of the Board. The policy of holding semi-annual meetings of the Board, after some further trial, was relinquished ; for the reason only, that it was found to be difficult, if not impracticable, to hold these fall meetings without incon- venience to the autumnal meetings of Presbyteries and Synods. This precluded the general attendance of min- isters and elders at a semi-annual meeting of the Board.] CONCLUDING REMARKS. pjROM the preceding compendious view of Missions 1 in the Presbyterian Church of the United States, it appears that this Church has not been altogether in- sensible of the importance of so great and sacred a con- cern, nor wholly inactive in the discharge of her duty. In domestic missions her exertions have been laudable, and her efficiency considerable; but in heathen and foreign missions, she has reason to mourn over her re- missness, and to be humbled in view of her small par- ticipation in the great work of evangelizing the world. It is true indeed, that since the revival of the missionary spirit, within the last fifty years, certain unpropitious circumstances, some of which the present sketch has brought into view, have tended to restrain her efforts in foreign missionary enterprise, and to hold her in com- parative inaction. But no apology can justify the past neglect ; and far less would its continuance admit even of palliation. By the good providence and gracious in- terposition of God, the Presbyterian Church in this country is, at present, in a situation more favorable than ever heretofore, for commanding all her resources, and exerting her whole strength in propagating the Gospel. The wise and decisive action of the General Assembly of 1837, has delivered her from the paralyzing effect of an unfriendly extraneous influence ; and having now her Boards of Education, and of Domestic and Foreign mis- sions, formally and fully established, free from internal as well as external counteraction, she has at her disposal all the necessary means for extensive and effective oper- ations, in the foreign as well as the domestic missionary (239) 230 PKESBYTERIAN MISSIONS. field. It is now for her to justify or to falsify, the allega- tion that has often been made by some, not the most friendly to her institutions, that she has neither the zeal nor the skill indispensable for managing effectively a great missionary concern. Every consideration, there- fore, both of character and duty, loudly demands from all her children, to put forth their whole force, and to bring into action all their means, to wipe away her re- proach, and to give her a vigorous operation in obeying her risen Saviour's parting command to His disciples ; and to repair, as far as it can be repaired, her past neglect, and demonstrate that she is animated by a sincere con- cern for the salvation of souls, and a supreme regard to the glory of God — in a degree not exceeded by any Church in Protestant Christendom. All this, her num- bers and her resources put fully in her power, if that power be exerted under the influence of a holy, wisely directed, and well tempered zeal. To contribute to this high object, as far as his ability extends, let the author of the foregoing sketch be permitted, respectfully to sub- mit to his brethren of the Presbyterian Church, some considerations which appear to him to demand a general and very serious attention. 1. The importance of sustaining our missionary oper- ations on right principles, and from right motives. A regard to character has been mentioned ; and the com- mendation which the Apostle Paul bestowed on the churches of Acluiia, and his declaration that their ex- ample had "provoked very many," shows that this motive may lawfully have a degree of influence. Yet doubtless it ought to be subordinate to one of an infi- nitely higher order ; for if the preservation of character itself be not regarded as subservient to the glory of God and the promotion of His cause in the world, it loses its CONCLFDING REMARK3, 231 chief value. "What we want is, that it sliould be brought home to the licart and conscience of every professing Cliristian, male and female, in the Presbyterian Church, that there is a palpable defect, a manifest flaw in Christian character, so long as he or she does nothing to send the Gospel to the heathen. Surely the positive command of the Saviour to " preach the Gospel to every creature," either was obligatory only on the apostles, and their successors, the ministers of the Gospel, or else that it was, and still is, binding ' ■ ,5- ' ^