J^^iE^iit tfiiMJ *^'-:.\;v ' i [ 1: 1 1; ; ^■'■/ ffifi^^H':. ) ' ■ Rj^l^^^^^H ''' , ;■ 1 < ■»' (.1,1 ; ■ I i r'' \ F- \: r'v /,-:_> f:; 6, c d ;,^~,9s^^^^ |TI!EOLCGlCAL'BEiUi\AUY.| Frinceton, N. J- ^ -vj^» 33 ?'^^3e<^?5>ee By Rev. G. B. Chee ver, D.D 365 REV. HENRY LYMAN. 5 REV. WALTER M. LOWRIE. By Rev. R. W. Dickinson, D.D 397 MfS. JANE ISABEL WHITE. By Rev. M. J. Hickok 417 R JV. MELVILLE B. COX. By Rev. W. P. Strickland, D.D 431 REV. LAUNCELOT B. MINOR. By Rev. C. M. Butler, D.D 449 REV. WILLIAM B. WILLIAMS. By Rev. George Peck, D.D 463 REV. G. W. SIMPSON, and ) > By Rev. James M. Macdonald 473 MRS. ELIZA P. SIMPSON. J ^/pElltCBWy X ILLUSTRATIONS, ENGRAVED BY LOSSING AND BARRITT, FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS Drawn by 1. Closing Scene in the Life of Gordon Hall Wallin . 2. Portrait of Harriet Newell Wallin . 3. Portrait of Mr. Judson Wallin . 4. Portrait of Mrs. Ann H. Judson Walli?i, . 5. Mrs. Judson's Visit, with her Infant, to her Hus- band in Prison Doepler . 6. Baptism of Karens Doepler . 7. Portrait of Mr. Comstock Wallin . 8. Portrait of Mrs. Comstock Wallin . 9. Portrait of Mrs. Winslow Walli?i . 10. Portrait of Mr. McEwen Wallin . 1 1. Portrait of Mrs. Scudder. Wallin . 12. Teaching the Heathen through an Interpreter . . Doepler 1 3. Portrait of Pliny Fisk Wallin . 14. Portrait of Levi Parsons Wallin . 15. The Jordan Wells . . . 1 6. Portrait of Mrs. Smith Wallin . 17. Gethsemane Wells . . . 18. Portrait of Mr. Temple Wallin . 1 9. Portrait of Azariah Smith Wallin . 20. Portrait of David Abeel Wallin . 21. Portrait of F. B. Thomson Wallin . 22 Mission Station, Karangan, Borneo Wells. . . 40 74 94 102 121 135 148 162 184 210 230 241 244 262 271 278 287 298 314 328 344 352 Vi 1 LLVSTRATIONS. Drawn by Page 23. Portrait of Henry Lyman ... Wallin . . 364 24. Portrait of Walter M. Lowrie Wallin . . 396 25. Portrait of Mrs. White Walli?i . . 416 26. Portrait of Melville B. Cox Wallin . . 430 27. African Camp-meeting Oertel . . . 443 28. Portrait of L. B. Minor Wallin . . 448 29. Mission Station, Mount Vaughan, Cape Palmas 453 30 Portrait of William B. Williams Wallin . . 462 31 Portrait of G. W. Simpson Wallin . . 472 32 Portrait of Mrs. Simpson Wallin . . 478 33 Boat-race Oertel ... 49b FAC SIMILES. Page 1. From Constitution of first Missionary Society in Williams College, in Cipher 17 2. From Letter of Gordon Hall 41 3 From Journal of Mrs. Newell 75 4. From Karen Tract of Mr. Judson 95 5. From Letter of Mrs. Ann H. Judson 103 6. From Letter of Mrs. Sarah B. Judson 127 7. From Letter of Mr. Corastock 149 8. From Letter of Mrs. Comstock 163 9. From Letter of Mrs. Winslow 185 10. From Letter of Mr. McEwen 211 1 1 . From Letter of Mrs. Scudder 231 12. From Letter of Mr. Fisk 245 13. From Letter of Mr. Parsons 263 1 4. From Letter of Mrs. Smith 279 15. From Letter of Mr. Temple 299 16. From Letter of Dr. Smith 315 17. From Letter of Mr. Abeel 329 18. From Letter of Mr. Thomson 345 19. From Letter of Mr. Lyman 365 20. From Letter of Mr. Munson 367 21 . From Letter of Mr. Lowrie 397 22. From Journal of Mr. Cox 431 23. From Letter of Mr. Minor 449 24. From Letter of Mr. Williams 463 25. From Letter of Mrs. Simpson 480 INTRODUCTION. Detained by m health from the G-aboon Mission, West Africa, to which I was appointed, and unable to engage in the work of the ministry, I have thought that I might perform an acceptable and useful service in the cause of missions by col- lecting the materials for the volume which is now offered to the public. If I were permitted to indulge in a poet's license, I could adopt the language of another, and say of this work, "I have gathered a nosegay of culled flowers, and brought noth- ing of my own but the thread that ties them." But, though humble and laborious, this has been a most delightful work. It has been delightful to go back and trace in detail the his- tory of those plans and movements which have since resulted so gloriously to the cause of Christ. In the earlier efforts in connection with the work of foreign missions in this country, there was an ardent faith, a self-forgetting, self-consuming zeal, that were truly heroic and sublime. It has been refreshing to go back and live over again those eventful scenes. In tracing the history of the missions of the different denom- inations, it has been delightful to mark the oneness of the peo- ple of Grod of every name, as illustrated in their spirit and la- bors for the conversion of the world. In coming to a decision to devote themselves to the work of missions amonof the hea- INTRODUCTION. then, there has usually been the same struggle. At first there has been an earnest panting for a higher consecration ; then an abasing, overwhelming view of their deep depravity and wretched helplessness ; followed by such joy-imparting, soul- subduing views of the fullness and freeness of the pardoning power and love of Christ, that the soul has exulted to make any sacrifice, to endure any toil for the honor of such a Savior. And having entered upon the missionary work, to which, in such a spirit, they had devoted themselves, the same oneness characterizes them in all the labors of their life, and in the hour of death. The last moments of Abeel, Comstock, Cox, Minor, and others, dying in different parts of the world, and representing different denominations of Christians, are marked by the same devotion to their work, the same entire renuncia- tion of self, the same confident trust in Christ. Verily, there is but one Calvary, and " One family we dwell on earth." During the seventeen months in which I have been engaged apon this work, I have been obliged to correspond very extens- ively with the friends of missionaries, clergymen and others, in order to procure the portraits, fac similes, illustrations, and sketches that compose the volume. Nothing but actual expe- rience could give an adequate idea of the extent and difficulty of this labor. I will give an illustration. I wished to procure the portrait, autograph, etc., of one of the most honored men connected with the origin and organization of the American Board. I applied to the distinguished author of his Memoir, but without success. I then wrote to the friend and associate who was with him when he died at sea, but he was not able to furnish what I desired. I then, by referring to the minutes INTRODUCTION. X] of the Greneral Association of the state in which he was born, learned the name of the clergyman of his native town, to whom I next wrote. He kindly replied to my note, informing me that the male branch of the family was extinct, but gave me the address of other relatives, to whom I wrote, and from whom I learned that there was no portrait in existence, and that the letters and manuscripts in question were in the hands of rela- tives, now missionaries in the Sandwich Islands. Time would not allow me to prosecute the matter further. One of the portraits in the volume is from a copper-plate en- graved nearly thirty years ago, now in my possession, which had carelessly been sold as old copper for twenty-five cents. In connection with this work I have received nearly two hundred letters, and written a greater number. This corre- spondence has been, to a large extent, with strangers, scattered widely over the country, and connected with different religious denominations. I would here express my grateful thanks, not only for the kind consideration that my communications have uniformly received, but for the words of approval and encour- agement that have so often and so freely been extended to me. My thanks are also eminently due to the distinguished clergy- men, the authors of these sketches, to whose accomplished pens the work is so largely indebted for whatever of interest and value it may possess. They have been written in the midst of numerous and pressing engagements ; and as, to a large ex- tent, they are portraitures of intimate personal friends, they have been written con amore. I can not doubt either the use- fulness or the public estimate of these labors of love. I am also happy to acknowledge my indebtedness to the sec- retaries and officers of the American Board of Commissioners •• INTRODUCTION. for Foreign Missions, the American Baptist Missionary Union, the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church, for their kind ad- vice and co-operation. To them, and to all who have in any manner contributed to aid me in these most congenial and de- lightful labors, I cheerfully offer my heartiest thanks. I had hoped to include in this work biographical sketches of several other missionaries, but have been disappointed in the arrangements I had made. This disappointment is the more regretted, as, on this account, I am unable to give memorials of those representing different missionary Boards as fully as I had designed. In procuring the portraits in this volume, no efforts have been spared to obtain those which were authentic. By personal visits or by correspondence, I have (with a single exception, where this was impracticable) obtained copies of those which the relatives or immediate friends of the mission- aries have regarded as the best in existence. I am greatly in- debted to these friends for their kindness in allowing me to take copies of these portraits and daguerreotypes ; and while I offer them my own thanks, I feel assured that the numerous friends of missions, to whom the names of these devoted mis- sionaries are as " ointment poured forth," will also be grateful that they are thus allowed to look upon the lineaments of those whose names have been among their most cherished house- hold words. A work like the one that is now offered to the Christian public has seemed to me eminently desirable. Our national love for the name of Washington has caused the publication of a fac simile of his entire accounts durini? the war of the Rev- INTRODUCTION. ^jjj olution, and the patriot regards the volume with a just and hon- orable pride. If love of country and of the name of Washing- ton invests with such interest a fac simile of such records as the price of horses, equipments, food, etc., will not the love of missions, and of the memory of those good men and women who have given their lives to this work, invest with a deeper interest fac similes of passages containing some of the loftiest sentiments of their consecrated hearts ? If the portraits of patriots, statesmen, warriors, and others are preserved and contemplated with such care and interest, should not the Christian Church preserve and cherish as a most precious legacy the form and lineaments of those who in the work of missions " have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ?" If scenes of patriotic and classic interest are emblazoned by the artist's skill, are not scenes and incidents in the domain of missions — of higher bearing and more enduring interest — en- titled to a like memorial ? In a word, should not the arts, with all their acknowledged power, be made to subserve the cause of missions ? To accomplish, in some measure, this re- sult, has been one object of this " Memorial." The call is imperious upon every follower of Christ to do all in his power to promote the work of missions. Although a great work has already been accomplished — so great as to con- stitute it the crowning glory of the present century — yet a greater work remains to be done. It is a melancholy fact that, though eighteen hundred years have rolled away since the com- mand was given to " preach the Grospel to every creature," so large a portion of the world is still under the profound and aw- ful reign of heathenism. What though the earth was rent, ^■^y INTRODUCTION. and the heavens vailed, when the Son of G-od bowed his head on Calvary I To this day millions are ignorant of those scenes, and of their interest in them. During all the intervening cen- turies, these vast multitudes have not known that that was the day of their redemption — that, in all their wretchedness and beggary, they were heirs to wealth above the wealth of king- doms. Poor heathen! As yet they are unawakened, and uncon- scious of their birth-right. To them time is cheerless and eter- nity hopeless. Overwhelming as this thought is, it can not be denied. " Other foundation hath no man laid than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." " Without faith it is impossible to please him." " Faith cometh by hearing', and hearing by the tfwrd of God." These and similar passages seem conclusive. After the most diligent search, I can not find that the Bible af- fords one ray of hope for adult heathen who die without a knowledge of Christ. The pall of darkness that envelops them is the pall of eternal death, and under its gloomy folds these millions must continue to sink to their changeless doom, as for centuries they have sunk, until we who have the Grospel go to their relief. Such is the Divine arrangement. Such was the work committed to the Christian Church by her ascending Lord. To her is committed, in trust, this only Divine provi- sion for the "healing of the nations." She alone can dispense it. Angels, the redeemed, and all the holy in heaven, are de- barred from this work. They must wait the slow movements of the Christian Church for occasions of "joy in the presence of the angels of God" on account of repenting heathen ; and also for that grander chorus, when the head stone shall be brought forth with shoutings, Grace — grace unto it I INTRODUCTION. XV To labor for such a consummation is not less a duty than a priceless privilege. Grrateful to Grod for strength and ability to complete this work, it is most cordially dedicated TO THE FRIENDS OF MISSIONS, with the humble and earnest prayer that it may contribute to hasten the day when the "kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be giv- en to the people of the saints of the most high G-od." H, W. PlERSON. Nf.w York, November, 1852. T.O'^ ..OGI^^'^^ .^.<^S^^' AMERICAN MISSIONARY MEMORIAL. ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. BY REV. S. M. WORCESTER, D.D., Salem, Mass. f T HATEVER reason may be assigned, the history of the Church and of our country has been too little known among us, or too little regarded. This remark applies to some whose reputation for general intelligence should denote "a perfect understanding of all things from the very first." We may thus explain the very illusive views and erroneous opinions of many, as it respects the introduction of the missionary ele- ment into the spirit and character of our institutions and our times. Some appear to be well satisfied by doing honor to a few more recent names. Others may find it sufficiently agreeable to exult in the advanced position which it is our privilege io have reached. It is not very strange, perhaps, since, as com- pared with the early part of the present century, the objects and anticipations of Christian philanthropy have so entirely changed the prevailing habits of thought and modes of expres- sion. The minds of the people are not now absorbed in watch- A 2 ORIGiy OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. ing the progress of the Revolution in France ; nor is the word "march" applied, with a tlirill of military sensation, to every political and moral movement. At the present day, the lan- guage of literature and popular eloquence has not a more fa- vorite or acceptable term than the word Mission. This is a truly auspicious token of progress in the right di- rection, and is of itself a volume in proof of such progress. But there were "days of old," which are not now to be "despised" as "days of small things." And there is "a record on high," we may be grateful to believe, which " Time's effacing fingers" can never touch, and which it is wise in all to consider, if they would " Share a glorious part" in the recompense of "works of faith," and "labors of love," and " afflictions accomplished in brethren," " of whom the world was not worthy." In the Protestant and Puritan settlement of New England before the Jesuits had made the conquest of the territory, G-od's hand is to be adoringly acknowledged, as also in preserving the secret of the vast American Continent until the approaching struggle of the Reformation. The enterprise of 1620 was not of human device or worldly policy. From Him, who is " won- derful in counsel and excellent in working," the sublime con- ception of a Commonwealth, to be founded in the North Amer- ican wilderness by a few exiled Puritans, must have origin- ated. And by hi^ favor only, in sovereign election or prefer- ence, were those institutions established by our forefathers, which, in less than fifty years from the commencement of the Massachusetts Colony, afforded such occasion for the admiring and rejoicing testimony of the fourth President of Harvard Col- ORIGiy OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. Q lege : "I look upon this as a little model of the glorious king- dom of Christ on earth. Christ reigns among us in the Com- monwealth as well as in the Church, and hath his glorious in- terest involved in the good of both societies respectively."* For a long period, America was to Christians of Europe the great field of missionary effort. It is even maintained that the inspiring idea of Columbus was derived from the proph- ecies ; and that Isabella, his patron, made the conversion of the heathen an object " paramount to all the rest." When our fathers came hither, these were all '■^foreign parts:'''' it was all heathen ground. Long after their coming, the churches in England were accustomed to pray in their songs, " Dark America convert, And every Pagan land." And in some places, these lines are still sung, strangely as they sound to the ear of a New England man who may chance to hear them. So vast is the change ; so accustomed are we to our Christian institutions, that we are all in danger of forget- ting that we live upon the soil that has been rescued from Pa- ganism. Never, never should it be forgotten! And never should it be forgotten that the settlement of New England was in reality, though not in name, a Missionary Enterprise. Or. if any prefer to call it by other terms, it may be called a Mis- sion of Evangelical Colonization ; and it may be proclaim- ed in every language, as the sublimest mission of modern times. Those persecuted and exiled Puritans had no such purpose in coming hither, as has often been ascribed to them, even by some of their favored descendants. It was not for political im- munities nor republican institutions. In the " love of Christ * Election Sermon of President Oakes. 167.5. 4 ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. constraining" them, it was for the advancement of that Ref- ormation, which, a century after it had moved all Christen- dom, was still but in part accomplished ; for they were not satisfied that the " Prince of Life" should only be acknowledged by the Church in his prophetical and priestly offices. It was that, as " the Lord's freemen," they might give him his king- ly RIGHT, and thus be "complete in him, which is the Head of all principality and power." It was that, in the "liberty" '' wherewith the Son makes free," they might enjoy the Gospel, without "human mixtures and temptations," and worship in peace "while worshiping in spirit and in truth." It was for the holier and surer training of a consecrated progeny, at the distance of a " nine hundred league ocean," from the corrup- tions of the Old "World. And not least of all in their desires and hopes was the salvation of the benighted heathen, while in every way which should be prepared before them they would toil and pray for the enlargement of the kingdom of "the Lord of all." These were their motives and ends in separating themselves from the Church of England, which originally adopted the Ref- ormation from paramount purposes of state policy. Above all things, it was in their hearts to call no man master, but to obey Him as their King, whose inspired word was their sun, and whose atoning blood was their eternal life. For this it was that, in the pure and undying " love of their espousals," they "went after him in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown." And in their own graphic expression, it was in a " wil- derness world" that they built their habitations and their sanc- tuaries. For an object holy and sublime as ever angels cele- brated, they lived here in hunger and in cold, and toiled and ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 5 watched in weariness and in painfulness ; where, when the bullock lowed, the wild beast answered him ; and where, at the rustling of a leaf, the fond mother clasped her infant closer to her bosom. All the charters enjoined upon the colonists the duty of instructing and christianizing the Pagan aborigines. The seal of the Massachusetts Colony is a true exponent of the aims and aspirations of our fathers. In expressive harmony with their benignant desires, they adopted the figure of an aboriginal, with the memorable words of the " man of Mace- donia." Nothing, therefore, was further from their hearts than the wish or the thought of colonizing an immense "howling wilderness," and redeeming it for "a goodly heritage," at the price of the ,blood of the children of its forests and its streams. If the venerated Robinson had occasion to write to the Grov- ernor of Plymouth, "0 that you had converted some before you had killed any," it was not because these were wantonly destroyed, or hunted down as "tawny and bloody salvages;" nor because their moral ignorance and wretchedness were not distinct objects of early and intense solicitude. In less than two years, one of the Plymouth settlers was specially desig- nated to promote the conversion of the Indians ; and as early as December, 1621, Elder Robert Cushman made an appeal to his friends in England in behalf of " those poor heathen." In 1636, the Plymouth Colony provided by law for the " preach- ing of the Grospel among them." In the labors of Eliot, the Mayhews, and others of no less renown, it may be, in heaven ; and in the contributions and personal sacrifices of those who, out of their "deep poverty," sustained them — the first generation of New England furnish- ed examples of as pure missionary zeal as has ever yet found g ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. a record or a grateful notice in tlie uninspired annals of re- demption. And to all human appearances, far distant is the day ^yhen the "thousand" of thousands shall "become" as the " little one" was, and the " strong nation" as "the small one," in the all-pervading and ennohling power of such zeal for the salvation of the perishing. The honor of the first plan in England for sending mission- aries to the heathen has hy mistake been given to that won- derful man whose character is now at last receiving a just and brilliant vindication against the atrocious calumnies which have prevailed for two centuries. But the magnificent design of Cromwell, which contemplated the establishment of a Coun- cil for the Protestant religion, in opposition to the Jesuitical combination at Rome, and which was intended to embrace the East and West Indies in its fourth department of operation, was more than thirty years later than the manifesto of the Pilgrims, declaratory of the " great hope and inward zeal they had of laying some good foundation for the propagation and ad- vancement of the Grospel in these remote parts of the world !" A society had been formed in England, and collections had been taken, in aid of the missions of Eliot and his associates. It is beyond a doubt that the first settlers of Neiv England were the first Englishmen who devised and executed a mis- sion to the heathen ! As early as 1646, the Legislature of Massachusetts passed an act for the propagation of the Gospel among the Indians. From that day onward more or less of legislative provision has been made for their religious instruction, as well as their social comfort. And with all the changes that have passed over the •' fathers" and the " children's children," there never has been ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. "jr a time when they have not furnished some laborers in the heathen part of this Western World. For almost two hundred years, the condition of our country and the state of the world at large very naturally defined, and, it may not be too much to say, very properly circumscribed the missionary field of these churches. They were poor, and there were " many adversaries." They may not have " done what they could," but they did a great and marvelous work. And the spread of the G-ospel throughout the earth was ever in the minds and the supplications of many "faithful men in Christ Jesus." To pray for the conversion of the whole world, in the con- cert of prayer recommended, the year previous, by the churches of Scotland, was, in 1747, the dying injunction of David Brain- erd to his beloved Christian Indians. But the time had not really come, until the last generation, when a Gordon Hall could reasonably be expected to take up the mantle of Brain- erd, and, leaving the heathen of our own territories, go forth to the far distant Gf-entiles. And it is very wide from the truth, to assume or believe that any who first went from these shores fx) the heathen of the Oriental Continent and islands, or that any others, who, like Nettleton and Mills, so ardently and early desired, without ever enjoying, a foreign field of personal toil and trial, are entitled to an emblazoned remembrance ; as if the conception of the arduous and glorious work to which so many are now consecrated had never entered the minds of the fathers, who had not yet fallen asleep, or of brethren in the Lord, who, in some domestic locality, were bearing the burden and heat of the day. In the midst of the alarms occasioned by the French Revo- g ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. lution of 1789, " they that feared the Lord spake often one to another," and on both sides of the Atlantic there was a con- cert of supplication for the outpouring of the Spirit, the dis- comfiture of the foes of the Grospel, and the enlargement of Zion over all the earth, even to "the uttermost parts of the sea." As early as 1792, there was a cheering earnest of the ex- tensive revivals of religion, which, at the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, exerted a power- ful influence, and gave an extraordinary though legitimate im- pulse to the work of American Missions. After the London Missionary Society was formed, in 1795, the movements and appeals of Christians in England had an electrical effect upon our churches. Missionary publications awakened an interest which, in our present circumstances, it is difficult to appreciate. New settlements were now rapidly extending in Western New York, the valley of the Ohio, and the Mississippi. The re- ligious privations and moral dangers of the emigrating children of the Pilgrims and Puritans of New England were regarded by their friends at home as but little less than those of the heathen tribes, whose wigwams and manifold abominations were, in some places of the wilderness, not distant from them " a Sabbath-day's journey." Hence plans for new evangelical exertions, and for new organizations adapted to the exigences of the times, were anxiously and devoutly considered. Before the independence of the colonies, there were several attempts to form missionary societies that should be independ- ent of those in England, Scotland, and elsewhere, to which the colonial churches were accustomed to make liberal con- tributions. But such attempts were discouraged in the mother country. Missionary organizations in Massachusetts, for ex- ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. Q ample, were denied the royal seal of approval or consent. This was doubtless owing to the desire and policy of preventing an increase, both of Congregational and Presbyterian elements of antagonism to Episcopacy. In 1787, a "Society for Propagating the Grospel among the Indians and others in North America" was incorporated by the Legislature of Massachusetts. In 1789, the Greneral As- sembly of the Presbyterian Church "passed an order requiring the churches under their care to take up collections for a Mis- sionary Fund." A mission from this Church to Africa had been contemplated in 1774, the same year in which the Con- necticut Greneral Association resolved to send missionaries to the northern and western wilderness. In 1798, this associa- tion became the Missionary Societi/ of Connecticut. The New York Missionary Society, for " sending the G-ospel to the frontier settlements, and among the Indian tribes in the United States," was formed a little earlier, November 1st, 1796. After much consultation, in 1797 and 1798, and not with- out much opposition from various causes, the Massachusetts Missionary Society was formally instituted. May 28th, 1799. The object was " to diffuse the knowledge of the Gospel among the heathens, as ivell as other people in the remote parts of our country, where Christ is seldom or never preachedy This society, like those which had already begun to operate with auspicious tokens of the divine blessing, may be said to have been born and baptized of the Holy Spirit, while thou- sands of new converts to righteousness were animating the hopes of the tried and faithful in Christ Jesus. Those great revivals, to which allusion has been made, carried forward and 10 ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. signalized the work of missions in our churches far beyond what many among us, at this day, appear to have ever known or imagined ; although the knowledge is quite essential to any just view of the origin of our present foreign missionary organizations. The first address of the Massachusetts Missionary Society breathes the genuine spirit of the charge from Mount Olivet. The society was at once brought into fellowship and correspond- ence with the London Miss^ionary Society, and others in Great Britain. Among the founders were the worthy and honored men who afterward had the leading influence in the forma- tion and establishment of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions ; and it was while laboring in the Massa- chusetts Missionary Society that they were trained for their higher responsibilities and more memorable services. For twenty years before the first missionaries went from America to Asia, the good hand of God had been wonderfully working in the churches of New England and the Middle States, and all over the country ; hastening and completing the fullness of time for their consecration and departure. Establishments precisely similar to those which we now sustain in foreign lands might have been undertaken by the Massachusetts Missionary Society. But as some of the mem- bers wished to leave no room for a doubt of their constitutional powers to extend their operations to any other land, it was explicitly voted, in May, 1804, that "the object of the society is to diffuse the Gospel among the people of the newly settled and remote parts of our country, among the Indians of the country, and through more distant regions of the earth, as circumstances shall invite and the ability of the society shall ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. -^-^ admit." The Constitution was amended accordingly. If the men, therefore, could have been obtained, and the money se- cured, missionaries could have been sent to Bombay, Ceylon, and the Sandwich Islands, as they were afterward by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.* After the formation of the Massachusetts Missionary Society in 1799, there was a constant progress of the spirit of missions. In the Annual Missionary Sermon before the General Assem- bly in Philadelphia, preached in May, 1805, Dr. Griffin said, " The Christian world, after long contenting itself with prayers for the heathen, and with saying. Be ye ivarmed and filled, is awakening to more charitable views. Men, warmed with apostolic zeal, have abandoned the comforts of civilized life, and are gone to the ends of the earth to bear to benighted nations the first tidings of a precious Savior. Numerous societies have risen into existence on both sides of the Atlantic, under whose patronage missionaries are now employed from India to the American wilderness, from Greenland to the Southern Ocean. Some of the first-fruits of their labors, I hope, are al- ready gathered into the heavenly garner." * * * " In the awful hour when you, and I, and all the Pagan na- tions, shall be called from our graves to stand before the bar of Christ, what comparison will these objects bear to the salva- tion of a single soul ? Eternal mercy ! let not the blood of heathen millions in that hour be found in our skirts ! Stand- ing as I now do, in the sight of a dissolving universe, behold- * For a full account of the rise and progress of the spirit of missions, pre- paratory to the formation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in 1810, the reader may be referred to " The Life and Labors of Rev. Samuel Worcester, D.D." Published by Crocker and Brewster, Boston, 1852. 22 ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. ing the dead arise, the world in flames, the heavens fleeing away, all nations convulsed with terror, or rapt in the vision of the Lamb, I pronounce the conversion of a single Pagan of more value than all the wealth that ever Omnipotence produced. On such an awful subject it becomes me to speak with caution ; but I solemnly aver, that were there but one heathen in the world, and he in the remotest corner of Asia, if no greater duty confined us at home, it would be worth the pains of all the people in America to embark together to carry the Gospel to him." In his Sermon before the Massachusetts Missionary Society in May, 1809, Dr. Worcester affirmed, that "the extensive dissemination of the word of G-od, the unlocking of the treas- ures of divine truth to all the families of the earth, the general diffusion and nurture of a missionary spirit, and the establish- ment over all the world of missionary stations, are most im- portant preparations for the glorious scene in due time to ensue. Ere long the Lord will give the word, and great will be the company of the publishers. Light will break forth in all di- rections, and the whole earth will be filled with the knowl- edge of the glory of Grod." " Yes, my brethren, the oracles of Grod are sure, and the expanding hopes of the Church are not vain. The Lord is on his way ; and the day, the long expected, prayed for day of his promise is at hand." Others, also, were at this same time intently watching the indications of Providence, and devoutly praying that laborers might soon be furnished and sent forth to the perishing Pagans of other continents. Indeed, the days had now nearly arrived when the American churches should send forth to the "utter- ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 1Q most parts of the earth," not their sympathies, supplications, and supplies only, hut their servants for Jesus' sake, to gather sheaves of glory to the Son of Grod. The young men were ready, and the hour at hand for the fathers to give them the guidance of their wisdom, and the guardianship of their care. Before the expiration of another year from the time of Dr. "Worcester's Sermon in May, 1809, there were, as it is now known, about twenty young men who had been examining the question of duty in regard to preaching the G-ospel to the heathen of Asia, Africa, or the Islands of the Sea. And with the life of some of these in particular not only begins a new chapter, but a neiv volume in the history of American mis- sions. It would seem impossible that so much missionary intelli- gence, with the influence of such revivals of religion, from 1797 to 1807, could have failed to arouse some of the youth- ful converts to consider the question of personal duty to the distant heathen. There is probably but a small part as yet known of the searchings of self-examination, and of the ardent longings for the foreign missionary service, like those of Asahel Nettleton and Samuel J. Mills. Born on the same day, April 21st, 1783, they were " born of the Spirit," as they were per- mitted to trust, in the latter part of 1801 ; Nettleton perhaps two months earlier than Mills. " About this time," says his biographer and much-beloved friend, " he became exceedingly interested in the short ac- counts, which were published in the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, of the operations of the London Missionary Society, and of the Baptist Missionary Society in England. These awakened in his breast a strong desire to become a missionary ]^4 ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. to the heathen ; and he decided to devote his life to the mis- sionary service, if G-od, in his providence, should prepare the way. This purpose was afterward greatly strengthened by the perusal of Home's Letters on Missions. The feelings which Samuel J. Mills expressed to his father, soon after his conversion, were precisely the feelings of young Nettleton at this period, viz., " That he could not conceive of any course of life in ivhich to pass the rest of his days, that would proiw so pleasant as to go and communicate the Gospel of Salva- tion to the poor heathen." This observation of Mills was made, it would seem, some time in 1802, probably in the early part of the year. It was when he had returned home from Litchfield Academy, and was "the first idea," we are told in his Memoir, that "his father had of his change of mind," after the agonizing disclosure of his feelings, as he parted from his mother in November, 1801. " His attention was directed to the subject" of missions to the heathen, " by remarks^ which, in his childhood, he had often heard from the lips of his mother. She was a missionary woman, and frequently spoke of Brainerd, and Eliot, and other missionaries ; and as she dwelt upon the glorious cause in which they were engaged, he once heard her say, respectmg himself, ' / have consecrated this child to the service of God as a missionary.^ This remark made an impression on his mind that was never effaced. Thus early did a sovereign God set apart Samuel J. Mills for a missionary. And it is somewhat remarkable that from the hour of his conversion he never lost sight of his darling object. Though but a youth of nineteen, he discovered a zeal in the missionary cause, an eagerness in the pursuit of missionary intelligence, and an en- ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. j^^ largement of thought in his plans, to become acquainted with the true state of the unevangelized world, which left little doubt that he was chained to his purpose by a superior power." " It was a heart yearning over the miseries of perishing millions that first led him to think of acquiring an education with a view to the Gospel ministry. Having consulted his parents and unfolded all his purpose, which, should Grod per- mit, was no less than to devote his life to the cause of missions in foreign lands, and having received their approbation and their blessing, he resolved on measures for changing his course of life. Though the determination of the son gained the joy- ful approbation of his parents, it was not without feelings of self-denial ; for when he told his mother of his determination to go to the heathen, with the feelings of a mother she replied, ' I can not bear to part luith you, my son.^ But when he re- minded her of what she said to him when a child, she burst into tears, and never after made the least objection." * * * Having put his secular concerns into other hands, Mills be- came a member of Williams College, in Massachusetts, in the spring of 1806. There were those in whom the same desires and purposes, " in respect to foreign missions," was originated and cherished, without the slightest knowledge of the designs or the persons of the young men at "Williams College, and upon whose minds the same Holy Spirit was operating as upon them, with ulti- mate reference to the new era of American missions. And there were thousands more or less consciously and simultane- ously moved, in the providential preparation of instrumentali- ties for the great change which was about to be revealed in the faith and action of the churches. But no one appears to 2g ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. have been more signally favored in this work of preparation than Samuel J. Mills. " It was not," says his biographer, " until he became a member of college that his spirit of missions came out to view. It was then that the subject of missions fastened upon his at- tention, engrossed the meditations of his serious hours, took deep hold of his feelings, and became the burden of his prayers. It seems to have been a peculiar visitation of the Spirit of God that turned all the solicitude and affection of his heart to this object. He reflected long and prayed much before he disclosed his views ; and when he determined to unburden his mind, by conversing with two or three of his more intimate fellow- students, it was in a manner that deserves to be related : he led them out into a meadow, at a distance from the college, to a retirement probably familiar to himself, though little exposed to observation or liable to be approached, where, by the side of a large stack of hay, he devoted the day to prayer and fast- ing, and familiar conversation on this new and interesting theme ; when, much to his surprise and gratification, he found that the Spirit of God had been enkindling in their bosoms the flame which had been so long burning in his own. The reader will not be surprised to learn, that from this hour this endear- ed retreat was often made solemn by the presence, and hal- lowed by the piety of these dear young men." Such, doubtless, was the origin of the society of missionary candidates in Williams College, to which allusion has so often been made. Through the kindness of the present highly esteemed secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, a very important part of the " secret" history of that society, and of the missionary spirit of Mills, Hall. ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. "^rj Richards, Rice, and their associates, is now given to the world. A fac simile of a part of the original constitution is presented, with the names of the first signers, and a translation of the entire document. ^8 ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. CONSTITUTION OF A SOCIETY OF BRETHREN. Williams College, September 7th, 1808. Article 1st. This society shall be distinguished by the ap- pellation Brethren. Article 2d. The object of this society shall be to effect in the persons of its members a mission or missions to the heathen. Article Sd. The government of this society shall be vested in a president, vice-president, and secretary, who shall be an- nually chosen, and shall perform the ordinary duties of their respective offices. Article 4th. The existence of this society shall be kept secret. Article 5th. The utmost care shall be exercised in admitting members. All the information shall be acquired of the char- acter and situation of a candidate which is practicable. No person shall be admitted who is under an engagement of any kind which shall be incompatible with going on a mis- sion to the heathen. No person shall be admitted until he express a firm belief in those distinguishing doctrines commonly denominated evan- gelical. No person shall be permitted to see this Constitution until, from personal acquaintance, it is fully believed, by at least two members, that he is a suitable person to be admitted, and that he will sign it ; and until he is laid under the following affirma- tion : " You solemnly promise to keep inviolably secret the exist- ence of this society." Article 6th. Each member shall keep absolutely free from every engagement which, after his prayerful attention, and after consultation with the brethren, shall be deemed incom- ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. |C) patible with the objects of this society ; and shall hold himself in readiness to go on a mission when and where duty may call. Article 1th. Any member, on application, shall be released from this society ; and the society shall have power to dismiss any member, when satisfied that his character, or engagements, or situation render it expedient. Article 8th. No alteration shall be made in this Constitution without the concurrence of two thirds of the members of the society. Samuel .J. Mills, 1808. Ezra Fisk, 1808. James Richards, 1808. John Seward, 1808. Luther Rice, 1808. The Constitution and the records of the society's proceed- ings, which had been kept in the same characters, were trans- lated from the original by Pliny Fisk, October 8th, 1818, agreeably to a vote of the society. " The reason why the Constitution and records were written in ciphers," writes Dr. Anderson, " and why a knowledge of the society was withheld from the Christian public, are thus stated by Dr. Fisk,* in a letter dated G-oshen, New York, June 24th, 1829. " The reasons for secrecy were the possibility of failure in the enterprise, public opinion then being opposed to us ; in accord- ance with which good men often said, the enterprise of foreign * Dr. Fisk was prevented from going on a mission by the failure of his health. 20 ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN 3IISSI0NS. missions, of which we talked, was the result of overheated zeal, and would he soon forgotten ; there was enough to do at home, &c. Under these circumstances, modesty required us to conceal our association, lest we should be thought rashly imprudent, and so should injure the cause we wished to pro- mote. These were the general reasons. Besides these, Mills always desired to be unseen in all his movements on this sub- ject, which, I am well persuaded, arose from his unaffected humility, never desirous to distinguish himself, but to induce others to go forward." " The Rev. H. G . 0. D wight states the following facts, based on an interview with Dr. Fisk in the year 1829. Mills was the founder of the society at Williams College. He first unbo- somed himself to Grordon Hall, then to James Richards, then to Ezra Fisk. These talked together and prayed over the sub- ject from the fall of the year 1807. The first object of the fraternity, organized the following year, was to so operate upon the public mind as to lead to the formation of a missionary society.''' In carrying forward their benevolent designs, the members of this society republished the sermon of Dr. Grriflin before the Greneral Assembly, &c., and that of Dr. Livingston before the New York Missionary Society. They wrote to distinguished clergymen, among whom " were Drs. Worcester, G-riffin, Morse, and Dana. These individuals they visited repeatedly, and with some of them spent their vacations, laboring among their people, and at the same time pressing their suit." In his work on missions, Mr. Tracy, with his usual felicity of discrimination, has commended the course of the society at Williams College. " They showed at once the soundest prac- ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 01 tical wisdom, the most rational confidence in the goodness of their cause, and the modesty which is becoming in young men. Had they at first carried their yet crude and ill-digest- ed plans, in a style of fervid declamation, before the more igno- rant and excitable part of the churches, they might have raised up a violent and angry party in favor of rash and impractica- ble schemes ; and thus they might have thrown off the more steady and permanently efficient part of the Christian com- munity from participating in their enterprise. Instead of this, they went to men whose characters were established as safe advisers ; men capable of appreciating their motives and their arguments, and detecting their errors, and of supplying their defects ; men in whom experience had taught the Christian public to have confidence, and whose sanction would secure to their cause a favorable hearing. Of these, the prudent, the cautious, the deliberate Dr. "Worcester, who, because he was such a man, would no more reject a plan than he would adopt one without knowing its value, was the first to become zealous- ly interested in the enterprise." It is not the design of this article to trace in detail the his- tory of this " society of brethren," until it had effected " in the persons of its members a mission or missions to the heathen." By visits to other colleges, by correspondence, personal conver- sation, and other means, they did much service to their cause. On leaving Williamstown, several of them entered the Theolog- ical Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, where they labored with diligence and success in promoting a spirit of missions. Such was the state of inquiry on the subject, that " I thought, at the time," says Dr. Ide, " and have thought since, that God then sent his Spirit into the seminary to convert the students OO ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. to the subject of missions ; for seldom have I seen a more ev- ident movement of the Spirit upon the minds of sinners, to awaken, to convince, to convert them, than was manifest in the Seminary, in turning the attention and hearts of the stu- dents to the condition of the perishing heathen." The Rev. Samuel Nott, Junior, now the sole survivor of the first hand of American foreign missionaries, has recently said, in reference to this period, "It has never seemed to me of any consequence to settle the matter as to who was or who was not the leader of the movement, unless it were to show that no man was ; and that it must have been, that like influences of like circumstances, which divine Providence, and, I trust, di- vine grace, turned to this account, preparing for a combination above any device of man. In my own mind, at least, the start- ing-point and early progress, the essence of the whole, was with- out any knowledge of the existence even of those who were so soon to be my associates ; and on such a principle as possessed a solemn and independent power." It is not supposed that the purposes of these candidates for foreign missionary service were at all known to the preacher of the annual sermon before the Massachusetts Missionary So- ciety, at their meeting. May 29th, 1810. However this was, it is evident that he was much impressed with the idea of a new development of the missionary spirit. " Is the expectation, my brethren, visionary and unfounded, that the time is not far distant when, from the United States, missionaries will go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature ? Yes, my brethren, when men, in the be- nevolent spirit and with the holy ardor of an Eliot, a Brainerd, a Tennent, will, under the patronage of the Massachusetts Mis- OtilGIS or AMERICAS FOREJOS M1SS10JI8. 23 sionary Srx'iety, go forth into every region of the habitable globe, with the everlasting Grjnpel in their hands, in their hearts, and upon their tongue.^, accompanied with the fervent prayer= of thrjosands for their succesa ?" Such were the sentiments of no small nnrnber of clergymen and laymen connected with one or more of the many mission- ary organizations. But to support missions in countries sep- arated from us by thousands of leagues of ocean, annual con- tributions were needed, and an available credit in the commer- cial world, which it would have been presumption to expect, unless there could be an organization enlisting in its support a much greater number of the friends of Christ than any ex- isting missionary society in the United States could claim as its members or supporters. Hence neither the Directors of the Massachusetts 3Iissionary Society, nor those of any kindred institution, could have been justified in sending forth the young men whom Providence had been preparing. The counsel of the wisest, therefore, was needed. By concerted arrangements. Dr. Spring and Dr. "Wor- cester met the professors, at Andover, with a few others, for consultation.* It was a meeting never to be forgotten. Ad- vice was given to Mills and his associates to submit their case to the General Association, which was to meet the next day at Bradford, and which Dr. Spring and Dr. Worcester were ex- pecting to attend as delegates. The association was organized at Bradford. Wednesday, June 27th. From the minutes it appears, that on Thursday. P. M., " four young gentlemen, members of the Divinity Col- lege, were introduced, and presented the following paper," ♦ At the house of Professor .Stuart, Monday, June 25th, 1810. 24 ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. which was drawn up by Mr. Jiidson.* " The undersigned, members of the Divinity College, respectfully request the at- tention of their reverend fathers, convened in the G-eneral As- sociation at Bradford, to the following statement and inquiries : " They beg leave to state, that their minds have been long- impressed with the duty and importance of personally attempt- ing a mission to the heathen ; that the impressions on their minds have induced a serious, and, they trust, a prayerful con- sideration of the subject in its various attitudes, particularly in relation to the probable success and the difficulties attend- ing such an attempt ; and that, after examining all the informa- tion which they can obtain, they consider themselves as de- voted to this work for life, whenever God in his providence shall open the way. " They now offer the following inquiries, on which they so- licit the opinion and advice of this association. Whether, with their present views and feelings, they ought to renounce the object of missions as visionary or impracticable ; if not, wheth- er they ought to direct their attention to the Eastern or the Western World ; whether they may expect patronage and sup- port from a missionary society in this country, or must com- mit themselves to the direction of a European society; and what preparatory measures they ought to take previous to act- ual engagements ? " The undersigned, feeling their youth and inexperience, * The editor has been favored, by the Rev. Dr. Stow, of Boston, v^'ith the perusal of a letter, now^ in his possession, written by Mr. Judson to his father, on his return from the meeting at Bradford, in which this paper is copied, and he says, " At the suggestion of Dr. Spring and Dr. Worcester, I wrote the above memorial." ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. 25 look up to their fathers in the Church, and respectfully solicit their advice, direction, and prayers. " Adoniram Judson, Jr., " Samuel Nott, Jr., " Samuel J. Mills, " Samuel Newell."* After hearing from the young gentlemen some more particu- lar account of the state of their minds, and their views rela- tive to the subject offered to consideration, the business was committed to the Rev. Messrs. Spring, "Worcester, and Hale. The committee on the subject of Foreign Missions made the following report, which was unanimously accepted. " The committee to whom was referred the request of the young gentlemen, members of Divinity College, for advice rela- tive to missions to the heathen, beg leave to submit the fol- lowing report : " The object of missions to the heathen can not but be re- garded by the friends of the Redeemer as vastly interesting and important. It deserves the most serious attention of all who wish well to the best interests of mankind, and especially of those who devote themselves to the service of God in the kingdom of his Son, under the impression of the special direc- tion, ' Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every * The name of James Richards was withheld from the paper, and even that of Gordon Hall, who, "in case all other means of getting to the heathen in Asia should fail, was ready to work his passage to India, and then throw him- self, under Providence, upon his own resources, that he might preach the Gos- pel to the heathen." It was feared that the names of six would embarrass, if not defeat, the measure contemplated. 26 ORIGIN OF AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS. creature.' The state of their minds, modestly expressed by the theological students who have presented themselves before this body, and the testimonies received respecting them, are such as deeply to impress the conviction that they ought not to renounce the object of missions, but sacredly to cherish their present views in relation to that object ; and it is submitted whether the peculiar and abiding impressions by which they are influenced ought not to be gratefully recognized as a divine intimation of something good and great in relation to the propa- gation of the G-ospel, and calling for a correspondent attention and exertion. " Therefore, voted, That there be instituted by this General Association a Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, for the purpose of devising ways and means, and adopting and prosecuting measures for promoting the spread of the Grospel in heathen lands. ^ * * * * " Voted, That fervently commending them to the grace of God, we advise the young gentlemen, whose request is before us, in the way of earnest prayer and diligent attention to suit- able studies and means of information, and, putting themselves under the patronage and direction of the Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions, humbly to wait the openings and guidance of Providence in respect to their great and excellent design." Pursuant to the report of the committee, the Association proceeded to institute a Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the following gentlemen were chosen : His Ex- cellency John Treadwell, Esq., Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, G-en. Jedidiah Huntington, and Rev. Calvin Chapin, of Con- necticut; Rev. Dr. Joseph Lyman, Rev. Dr. Samuel Spring, ORIGiy OF AMERICAX FOREIGy MISSIOyS. 27 AVilliam Bartlet, Esq., Rev. Samuel "Worcester, and Deacon Samuel H. Walley, of Massachusetts. * # * " On the fifth of the ensuing Septemher, the first meeting of the Commissioners was held, and the Board was fully organ- ized. But what individual who took part in those inchoative deliberations and proceedings had any adequate anticipations of the magnitude and importance to which they would grow?" After the most careful and devout deliberation, the Pruden- tial Committee resolved, in January, 1812, to commence a mis- sion of the Board. Five ordained missionaries, three of them with their wives, left this country in the ensuing month of February. It was a time of almost unexampled distress of nations with perplexity. The first letters from the missionary companies, after their arrival in Calcutta, were awaited with an intense expectation. Their various contents awakened no common emotions of min- gled joy and grief, gratitude and anxiety. " God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform." He was now trying the friends of the new enterprise, as ^old is tried; was preparing the way for new developments of the mis- sionary spirit and life ; and was bringing rapidly forward great accessions of strength to the cause from other denominations of American Christians. The change of sentiment in Messrs. Judson and Rice, on the subject of baptism, led to the formation of the American Bap- tist Board of 'Missions in 1814. Other associations followed ; and but a few years had elapsed before " the fact was prac- tically and openly admitted, that no sect or denomination of 23 ORIGIN OF AMERICAy FOREIcy MISSIONS. Christians can sustain a reputation for Christian consistency without laboring to extend the Gospel to Pagan lands." The importance of this admission, now so general, if not universal, it would be scarcely possible to exaggerate. Let an intelligent Christian look back to 1812. From that signalized era in the history of modern missions, let him begin to trace and contemplate the movements, scenes, and results of the last forty years. What amazing progress ! How in- spiring to the hopes and aims, the prayers and exertions, the sacrifices and endurances of all the true and faithful followers of the Creator and the Crucified ! "Not unto us, 0 Lord, not UNTO us, BUT UNTO THY NAME GIVE GLORY, FOR THY MERCY AND FOR THY truth's SAKE !" " Come, then, and, added to thy many crowns, Receive yet one — the crown of all the earth — Thou who alone art worthy !" ORDINATION OF THE FIRST AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONARIE S." BY REV. ASA D. SMITH, D.D., New York. X HE scene thus indicated is to the friend of missions one of deep historic interest. Slowly hut steadily had the spirit of enlarged Christian philanthropy heen gaining ground in the churches ; more and more had they heen coming to feel that " the field is the world." The American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions had heen formed. Five young men, Samuel Neavell, Adoniram Judson, Samuel Nott, (cor- don Hall, and Luther Rice, had been formally appointed as missionaries to Asia ; and on the 6th of February, 1812, an ecclesiastical council assembled in Salem, Massachusetts, to set them apart to their high and holy work. This council, called by the Prudential Committee of the American Board, was composed of the Rev. Samuel Spring, D.D., of the North Congregational Church in Newburyport; the Rev. Jedediah Morse, D.D., of the Congregational Church in Charlestown ; and the Rev. Samuel Worcester, D.D., of the Tabernacle Church in Salem, with delegates from those churches ; together with the Rev. Edward D. Griffin, D.D., pastor of the Park Street Church in Boston, and the Rev. Leonard "Woods, D.D., professor in the Andover Theological Seminary. The Rev. Professor Moses Stuart was also invited, * See Frontispiece. 30 ORDINATIOy OF THE but was unable to attend. Of those who participated in the ordination scene, but two are now numbered with the living, the Rev. Dr. Woods, and the Rev. Mr. Nott. Great was the interest awakened far and near in the serv- ices of the occasion. Now was to be realized what some had regarded as a dream of wild enthusiasm, and others had cher- ished as a conception divinely originated. That day was to form, as was well said in the Panoplist by the heavenly-mind- ed and clear-sighted Mr. Evarts, "a new and important era in the annals of the American churches, the era of Foreign Mis- sions." Though the weather was intensely cold, not Salem alone, but all the surrounding region, was largely represented in the gatheriiig crowd. From the Theological Seminary at Andover, some sixteen miles, students walked to the place, and returning when the service was over, deemed themselves well repaid by the new and elevating impressions and impulses of the occasion. The preliminary examination of the candidates accomplish- ed, and the decision made to proceed to the ordination, the service commenced in the old Tabernacle church. An appro- priate place it was, the scene of the labors of him who, from the origin of the new missionary movement, had been among the foremost in urging it on. The house was thronged by a congregation deeply solemn, and tenderly and powerfully im- pressed by all the exercises. The great heart of the Rev. Dr. G-riffin was poured out in the introductory prayer. The sermon was by the Rev. Dr. Woods. His text was nearly the whole of the LXVII. Psalm : " God be merciful unto us, and bless us ; and cause his face to shine upon us. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy FIRST AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONARIES. 21 saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, 0 Grod ; let all the people praise thee. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Let the people praise thee, 0 God ; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her in- crease ; and Grod, even our Grod, shall bless us. God shall bless us ; and all the end? of the earth shall fear him." The object of the discourse was to present the chief motives to earn- est and incessant effort for the conversion of the world. The considerations he urged were, the worth of souls — the plen- teousness of the provisions of the Gospel — the command of Christ — the conduct of those who received that command, and of the early Christian missionaries — the adaptedness of Chris- tianity to be a universal religion — the announcements of proph- ecy— and the operations of Divine Providence at the present time. The discourse was in Dr. Woods's happiest manner — simple, direct, weighty, earnest, persuasive — the utterance ob- viously of one who had caught fully the spirit of the occasion. From his address to the candidates we quote the following paragraph : " Dear young men, I will not break your hearts and my own by dwelling on the affecting circumstances of this parting scene. If you must go, I will animate and comfort you. Remember, then, though we must leave you, He whom your soul loveth will not. The God you will worship on the plains of Hindos- tan will be the same God whom you have here worshiped in our seminary, in the sanctuary, and in the closet. The Savior whom you will adore and trust in there will be the very Sav- ior whose glory you have seen, and of whose fullness you have received here. Go, then, dear missionaries, with the partners of your life, the objects of your tenderest affection ; and may 32* ORDINATION OF THE God Almighty be your Preserver. G-o, and remember you are not your own. Go, and ' declare the glory of the Lord among the heathen, his wonders among all people.' Esteem the re- proach of Christ greater riches than all the wealth of India. The parents and friends you leave behind will never, never for- get you, till their hearts are cold in death. Our earnest affec- tions and prayers will constantly attend you. We shall share with you in every peril you will encounter by sea and by land. All the success you obtain, and all the joy you partake, will be ours. Every sorrow that melts you, and every pang that dis- tresses you, will also be ours. We shall often meet you at the mercy-seat, where you and we may find grace to help in time of need. You will be as dear to our hearts, and as near to God and to heaven, in Asia as in America. If we are friends of God, our separation will not be forever. At the glorious ap- pearing of the Son of God, we hope to see you, dearly beloved, and those whom your labors may rescue from Pagan darkness, at his right hand. The God of mercy grant that we may then join with you, and with a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, azid tongues, who will stand before the throne and before the Lamb, and cry with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, who sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb. With this joyful anticipa- tion, I do, my dear friends, cheerfully and most affectionately, bid you farewell." Then came the consecrating prayer, offered by the Rev. Dr. Morse. At this, the culminating point of the whole scene, the engraver's art comes to our aid. We behold the interior of that old sanctuary, so endeared to the lover of missions by the hallowed memories which must ever cluster around it. FIRST AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONARIES. 33 The crowd are there, filling pew and aisle below, and gazing eagerly from the gallery. They have reverently risen, accord- ing to the old Puritan custom ; and what a mingled multitude do we see — the man of gray hairs, and the little child ; the grave matron with the air of wealth and social elevation, and the mother of humbler condition, who, that she may not lose so rare and precious a privilege, has brought, through the win- ter's cold, her babe from its cradle. There is no exaggeration, we are sure, even in the fanciful filling up of the picture. The five clerical members of the council stand before us, drawn to the life — the Rev. Dr. Morse on the left ; then the Rev. Drs. Grriffin, Spring, Woods, and Worcester, in the order in which we have named them. Before them, in devotional posture, are the five young men whom they are solemnly setting apart to the missionary work. It is always a touching sight to see a youthful candidate for the ministry kneel amid the Presbytery for " the laying on of hands." What a work is that he assumes ! What mingled hopes and fears cluster in his heart ! What mo- mentous consequences, both as to himsejf and others, are con- nected inevitably with the step he is taking ! Well may he say, "Who is sufficient for these things?" But what superadded pathos is there in the sight of those five kneeling missionaries ! Not to a quiet New England parish are they to go, but to those dark places of the earth where " Satan's seat is." From the prospect of comfortable and successful labor here, moved by compassion for the perishing, they have turned away. The ties of kindred they are to sever — they are to bid farewell to all the goodly and pleasant things of their native land — over the great and wide sea they are to pass. Yea, they are to go out like Abraham of old , not knowing whither ; like the great C 34 ORDINATION OF THE Apostle of the Gentiles, ignorant of the things which shall be- fall them. Amid strangers in a strange land, they expect to breathe their last, and to find for all that is mortal of them a final resting-place. Nor turn the sympathetic hearts of that vast audience to them alone, armed for trial as they are, not by faith merely, but by the vigor of stalwart manhood. With the lot of those missionaries the gentle heart of woman is linked. Harriet Atwood is there, and Ann Hasseltine. They who have long been bound together by the ties of affec- tionate companionship, who, on the banks of the Merrimack, have communed often with each other concerning their com- mon Savior ; thei/ have come, in the bloom of their youth, to behold the consecration of the chosen companions of their fu- ture lives — to make anew their own consecration to the service of Christ in a Pagan clime. From home, and friends, and na- tive land, they too are about to part ; the perils of the ocean they are to meet, and the more appalling perils of the region of the shadow of death. They have no long line of precedents before them ; pioneers they are — ^the first-fruits unto God from our land of missionary zeal in the gentler sex. It is no wonder that one well qualified to testify speaks of " the solemn grand- eur" of the occasion, of " the irrepressible sighing and weeping aloud of many,-' and of the " tears which could not be wept." The " charge," by the Rev. Dr. Spring, was eminently appro- priate, solemn, and impressive. We make the following ex- tracts from it : "We need not remind you that the object and the conse- quences of your mission are inestimably important, both to you, the Church, and a multitude of souls. No enterprise com- parable to this has been embraced by the American Church. FIRST AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONARIES. 3^5 All others retire before it like the stars before the rising sun. The success of the mission, we know, depends upon the general aid of divine Providence and God's special grace. If this is the appointed time for Christ to have the heathen of Asia for his inheritance, or only to prepare the way for his glory in that extensive region of Pagan darkness and ignorance, the mission will probably be crowned with success. But you know, my friends, from your intimate acquaintance with the history of missionary exertions, that much depends upon the wisdom and fidelity of the missionaries. Though the conversion of heathens is the special work of G-od, yet we must remember that he ex- pects the concurrence of faithful and able ministers of the Gos- pel. God does not operate alone ; and as no miracles are ex- pected, the poor ignorant heathen will be lost, unless season- ably instructed with line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, by faithful and discreet missionaries. How vast, then, your obligations to help the Lord with all your might ! The object you have embraced is unspeakably great; you feel the pressure of it when you lie down and when you rise up ; but the motives to encourage and support your trem- bling hearts are answerably great. God has already begun his glorious work in the East. The morning-star has appeared, and indicates the near approach of the rising sun. God ivill, his praying children believe, succeed and prosper the mission. You will go under the guidance of Christ, the Almighty Savior, and will be supported by his right hand. God will not forsake you, unless you forsake him. ^ ^ M, M. M. ^ ^ ^ M, 4£, •7? TV' •TV' "J^ TP •TV' 'A* ^ •??• TT" " Go, then, with the tender companions of your bosoms, like pilgrims and strangers, and lay your bodies by the side of Zie- gg ORDINATION OF THE genbalg and Swartz, that you may meet them, and Eliot, and Brainerd, and all other faithful missionaries, in the realms of light, and so be ever with the Lord. "We, in the mean time, will pray that the salvation of souls may be your joy and crown of rejoicing in the day of the Lord." The " right hand of fellowship," by Dr. Worcester, was mark- ed by his characteristic felicity of diction, comprehensiveness, and tenderness. One or two extracts will not only show the spirit of this particular exercise, but, in connection with the quotations already made, will aid in giving a just and vivid impression of the whole service : " Gro, then, beloved brethren, as ' the messengers of these ' Churches, and the glory of Christ' — go, carry to the poor hea- then the good news of pardon, peace, and eternal life. Tell them of the God whom we adore ; of the Savior in whom we trust ; of the glorious immortality for which we hope. Tell them of Him whose star was seen in the East, and point them to that blood with which he will sprinkle many nations. "We participate with you in this great undertaking; our hearts are joined with yours, and by the right hand which we give you we shall hold ourselves inviolably pledged, as Grod shall enable us, for your help. We are not insensible to the sacrifices which you make, or to the dangers and sufferings to which you are devoted. You stand this day 'a spectacle to God, to angels, and to men.' You are in the act of leaving parents, and friends, and country, ' for Christ and the Gospel's sake.' A land of darkness and of the shadow of death is before you ; and you are to erect the standard of the cross where Satan has long held his cruel and bloody empire. Your eyes will be pained with sights of revolting impurity and horror ; your hearts FIRST AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONARIES. ^n will be wrung with anguish for immortal souls in the most dreadful bondage ; and while you strive for their rescue, you will have to contend, not with flesh and blood, but with prin- cipalities and powers, with the rulers of the darkness of this world, with spiritual wickedness in high places. But you go, we trust, in the strength of the Lord ; and the weapons of your warfare ' are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pull- ing down of strong-holds, casting down imaginations, and ever 7 high thing that exalte th itself against the knowledge of God ' This is our confidence, this is our consolation respecting you. " Beloved brethren, be of good courage ; go in peace ; an I may the Lord God of the holy apostles and prophets go wit 1 you. "We commend you to him, and to the word of his grace ; and devoutly pray that, in the day of the Lord Jesus, we may have the happiness to see you present many of the heathen be- fore the throne of his glory with exceeding joy." Never, perhaps, were ordination services in more perfect keeping with the occasion. Nothing was commonplace — nothing merely perfunctory. Every thing had an air of con- scientiousness, directness, and earnestness, indicating most clearly a deep sense of the seriousness and magnitude of the work in hand. We feel ourselves, as we read, carried back to the heroic ages of the Church — ^to the patriarchal times, and the days of martyrdom. " The events of that day," says the Rev. Dr. Woods, " stirred up the feelings of our religious community from the depths of the heart. The intense excitement spread rapidly through New England, and all the states, and extended to other lands. But strong as the excitement was, it would have been im- gg ORDINATION, ETC. measurably increased had we in any measure foreseen to what results that day of small things would lead ; had we antici- pated that, before the lapse of fifty years, our foreign mission- aries would have been raised to so large a number, and would occupy so many stations in different and far distant countries, and that our hearts would be comforted and rejoiced by so nmch success." Higher still, we may add, would have been the gladness of all the participants in those solemn services, could they have foreseen the results which are yet to be de- veloped— results reaching to all nations, and stretching over the whole course of earth's coming history — of that first ordina- tion of American Foreign Missionaries. REV. GORDON HALL, AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. BY REV. BENNET TYLER, D.D., East Windsor, Conn. tjrORDON HALL was born in that part of Grranville which is now Tolland, Massachusetts, April 8th, 1781. His parents removed from Ellington, Connecticut, and were among the ear- ly settlers of the town of Granville. Though in the humble walks of life, they were highly respected for their industry, so- briety, and correct moral habits. They seem, however, to have lacked the one thing needfl^l till somewhat advanced in life. Young Hall did not enjoy the prayers and pious counsels of godly parents ; but it is believed that his morals were strictlv Fac Simile, from Letter to Samuel J. Mills, dated Bombay, July 12th, 1816. C9 /t^-if-'?^ X^^-^-^-^^^ -y'^^tst--^ /^C^ e<5 — ^tc^ o^ ^:^c.^-^7^r^~^^ - -e^^c^e^i^. -^•::g(S-^^-^?^g^Tirz^ ^^J-L^A^ /^'<^ U^Uy:^d<^z