THE SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COHiHITTEE FOREIGN MISSIONS CONNECTED WITH THE SOCIETY OF INQUIRY ON MISSIONS, IN THE Theological Seminary, Princeton, N. J. JANUARY 1, 1833. REPORT When the events of the past year which bear upon missions in heathen lands are combined into one view their aspect is interesting and import- ant. We may see every where the symptoms of a mighty ruin commencing amongst the antique structures of Pagan superstition. With humble and adoring gratitude we thank God that the indi- cations of his Providence are each year becoming more auspicious. Our peculiar duty in this report is to lay before you the foreign missionary occur- rences of the past year. These shall be so arrang- ed as to show that much of the heathen world has passed through all, or almost all, of the steps re- quisite to prepare it for the immediate reception of the gospel. In the moral wilderness, throughout vast tracts, the forests have been cut down, the rocks and bushes cleared away. Nothing re- mains but that men, hard-working men, should plough up the land and sow seed there for eterni- ty. Many hold back from their duty to the hea- then because of a secret feeling that all are not yet ready. Our own land seems to have a prior claim. Here the exertions of ministers will be felt at once. They may go right onward in the work of converting men. Instinct leads to the field where present fruit may be gathered. This is doubtless one of the chief reasons why such an extraordinary disproportion of ministers remains in the United States, whilst here and there, two or three, wander to the heathen. To combat this idea we will show that there are millions abroad who may be reached now, who will, many of them at least, be converted so soon as the Gospel is fairly preached to them. All of us will admit that it is the gracious purpose of God, that unless there are special obstacles in the way, the Gospel shall work mightily in some, whenever it is preached with sincerity, with humility and in purity. We will further show that in many places where obstacles still exists there is a prospect of their being soon dissipated. The voice of the trumpet is not an uncertain sound. All things conspire to animate the armies of the living God. Eighteen hundred years ago the Son of God issued the command to invade “ every nation.” The Providence of God now re-iterates the order, and no individuals un- der the whole heaven are more appropriately or more certainly bound to obey than we who com- pose this society. To lay before you the details of missionary ope- rations and success would not be expedient. It is more advisable to select facts, important in them- selves or indicative of important changes in the moral condition of the world. Of the former class are the discoveries relative to Africa, the partial change in the policy of the British government of India and the prospects of still greater changes. Within this class of facts will also come the war in western Asia. This war, it must be confessed has not opened a way for the immediate spread of the Gospel, but rather the reverse. Before long. however, we have all reason to hope, that thi very conflict will open in that desert a highwa for our God. No information has been communicated durin the past year which seems superior in interest t that given by the Landers concerning Africa Their tour, though not missionary, bears directl; on missions. The researches of the late captai Clapperton laid open the same facts substantiallji but this scarcely detracts from the value of a boo which confirms and enlarges the ideas alread formed respecting that continent. The conditio of much of Africa redeems our assertion that thex are millions of heathen now accessible to the Gos pel. The Landers travelled a country, beautifii as our own, inviting the eye by the rugged mag nificence of bare granite mountains or by the geri tie beauties of picturesque vales and sloping vei dure. Forests, whose awful solitude is enlivene by the quick motion of birds and insects, full < life and brilliant with the richest tints of purph crimson, and gold. The travellers tell us of scene more like oriental dreams of romance than an thing we heretofore have imagined of Africa. A times they passed amidst trees whose foliage ex haled native perfumes and were illuminated eac night by radiant glow-worms. They pierce through tangled brakes of unknown flowers an from them emerged upon large tracts of well cul tivated soil, interspersed with large villages an even large cities. Subtracting from these des criptions all which may be fairly imputed to ex cited imagination there will remain sufficient ev dence to prove that much of Africa can vie in beat ty with any part of the globe. The people whoi they found were evidently just in the state bes fitted for the operation of missionaries. Like oth er heathen they are universally depraved. Mi Lander says of the people of Badagry “ we hav longed to discover a solitary virtue lingerinj among the natives of this place, but as yet ou search has been ineffectual.” This remark migh have been extended to most of the places they visi ed, to all indeed, if by virtue they meant an Christian grace. The worship of devils is not an uncommo form of religion — human sacrifices also. O one occasion they were sickened by the cries c three hundred poor wretches who were doomed a the victims of this infernal worship. This pec pie surely need the efforts of missionaries, an such is their veneration for the whites, almost exi ery where, that they would doubtless lend a read attention to their instructions. They were ver generally respected. They were called “ th children of heaven.” On one occasion, whe they soliciited from a native prince, the life of person condemned to die, it was immediatel granted. In this case it was very evident that th vanity of the monarch was highly excited by th fact that Europeans asked a favour of him. Mis 4 sionaries would certainly find few difficulties in preaching the Gospel in all its power to a people BO prepossessed in their favour. Nor could a senseless idolatry oppose a very formidable bar- rier. Even where the Mohammedans have spread their wretched delusion it has taken but a slight hold on the people compared with its iron grasp ipon the Asiatic Moslem. The steamboat expedi- lion which is probably now ascending the rushing flood of the Quorra will still more impress the na- tives with their exceeding inferiority to the whites, n a few years the tide of intercourse will be so iugmented that all the western half of Africa will be pervaded by a citdlized influence. In view of this, and with the design of placing the Gospel imong the foremost of our gifts to Africa, two missionary expeditions to that continent have been commenced during the past year. One is sent by our Methodist brethren, and it is stated in i late number of the African Repository that Rev. Melville B. Cox has sailed to Liberia. The same iressel was to have conveyed the other expedition, sent by the Western Foreign Missionary Society. Dur brethren John B. Pinney, and Joseph W. Barr were, as you well know, to have gone toge- ther on this enterprise. The former has probaWy sailed. The latter heard the midnight voice of ;he Son of God, commanding him to close his iarthly labours — we humbly, but assuredly, be- ievethat he is nowjoiningin the incessant praises )f the blood-bought multitudes of heaven. Our statements respecting present missionary operations n Africa are necessarily meager — especially since hey are confined to those which have occurred since our last Annual Report. It is our strong lope of the future regeneration of her people which s chiefly interesting. It is proper to state in re- spect to Sierra Leone that, according to our last iccounts, the labours of the European missionaries here continued to be successful though not bless- )d by any remarkable encouragement. Mrs. Han- lah Kilham, a member of the Society of Friends, vho had for two or three )'ears been actively en- ;aged in teaching the doctrines of the Cross to the (eathen near that colony, died, whilst prosecuting ler evangelical labours. Rather more than a year go, there were in London, three Danish mission- .ries preparing to join their brethren already en- gaged on the Gold Coast. We cannot speak with ertainty, but we think it probable, that some time n the j'ear 1832, they proceeded to their destina- ion. Africa is not the only portion of the earth, [There, as we hope, the red cross flag of Zion, rill soon float in victory. The transactions of the ast year, which vvill influence the destiny of ndia, are weighty with importance. When in lay last, the illustrious statesman, who now pre- ides in the British ministry, effected the passage f the Reform Bill, he originated a course of po- icy which must, before long, throw open the rhole of British India, to the efforts of as many lissionaries as can be poured in. Hitherto the ractice has been barely to tolerate missionaries t a few places. Even those from England were iewed with a suspicious eye. In Ceylon, the oor bus for many years been absolutely barred against fresh missionaries from America. This was owing, doubtless, to the rigid monopoly and exclusive power secured to the East India Com- pany by their Charter. They were jealous of every thing which had the slightest appearance of interfering with their government of the na- tives. Jealousy is contagious, and the English government soon became equally, or even more strict, W'ith respect to Ceylon, which island had been transferred to them by the company. Every where the American missionaries have remained merely by sufferance. Very soon the Charter of the East India Company will expire. Whether it will be renewed is of course uncertain. Even if it should be, we may rest assured that its new provisions, arranged by a liberal government, will break down all the hard restrictions now ex- isting. We deem this as something more than mere conjecture. The appointment of that evangelical and emi- nent divine, Daniel Wilson, to be Bishop of Calcutta, exhibits a disposition in the British government, very favourable to pure Christianity. During the past year, they have also actually withdrawn the prohibition of sending new mis- sionaries to Ceylon. These circumstances are important in themselves, hut much more so as af- fording promise for the future. The American missionary station in Bombay, continues much in its former condition, except that three of the mis- sionaries have been detached to form a new sta- tion at Ahmednugger. This city is on the high ground which lies near the Ghaut mountains, and is surrounded by a thickly peopled country. You know that one of these three, William Hervey, a member of this society, has been cut off by the spasmodic cholera. Five or six Hindoos have already been converted at this station. We have no wish to exaggerate the impor- tance of any missionary field, nor is there need when we challenge your warmest sympathies, and your active efforts for Hindustan. One hun- dred and twenty millions of people inhabit that country — all speaking languages similar to each other, languages not very difficult of acquisition. Any one of us so soon as he had learned their tongue, might preach to them by millions if his bodily strength did not fail. Add to this that many of them have been converted within the last ten or twenty years and thus have proved that there is nothing in caste, nothing in their educa- tion, nothing in their heathen stupidity, igno- rance or indolence, which necessarily hardens their hearts so that the Gospel cannot enter. Compared with the swarthy myriads who are still in their sins the converts are as nothing. They are no more missed from the remaining mass than the waters this day exhaled to hea- ven by the sun are missed from the immense ocean. Few, scattered, and despised, rejected by their countrymen, they are far more than are required to justify the assertion that whoever preaches the truth in India may hope for the immediate conver- sion of multitudes. No difficulties exist which have not been overcome in hundreds of cases. Each day increases the prospect of additional suc- cess. A spirit of inquiry is diffusing its awakening s influences upon cities, and over "whole provinces. | Prejudices are relaxing^. Above all, "we may hope | that the time is nigh at hand when the Holy Spirit ‘ will “ breathe upon these slain that they may ! live.” The ordinary course of God’s dealing has been to suffer his missionaries to labour with little j fruit for five, ten, twenty years, and then to take : the work into his own hands and show with what infinite ease he can establish his empire of grace wherever he pleases. In India the missionaries have for the most part been faithfully toiling through a long night. Now we may hope, from the analogy of ofner places, the morning cometh. When that day of grace shall arise upon the palmy plains and snow topped mountains of Hin- dostan it will be the day of salvation to thousands and to millions. Were we all to go to India to- morrow, our departure would scarcely be felt by the churches at home, hundreds more would in a few years occupy our places. Were we thus to go | to India we would be felt from the sources of i the Ganges to Cape Comorin. A few hundred additional missionaries would probably turn the scale there and secure the triumph of the Cross. As we arrange our statements merely in refer- ' ence to their more or less important bearing upon the prosperity of missions, the next fact to which i we direct attention in revietving the past }-ear is 1 the war in Asiatic Turkey. It is well known that ' for a considerable time past the authority of the Grand Seignor over the Pacha of Egypt was rath- er nominal than real. The latter has made conside- rable advances in knowledge of European sciences and arts, and has introduced them to some ex- tent among his people. He has organized schools and engaged European teachers to instruct them, employed European officers in the drilling of his armies, and European artizans in the construction of his vessels and munitions of war. The progress of improvement in the military discipline of his for- ces has been so great that he has for some time felt himself an equal to his acknowledged Sover- eign. Excited by a desire for independence and for conquest, he has taken such measures that a rupture between himself and the Grand Seignor some time since terminated in an open war. The armies of Egypt were poured forth upon Syria, and with great advantages in their discipline and not much in- erior numbers they formed a fearful antagonist for the Turkish forces. Under the command of Ibra- him Pacha, who leads his father’s troops in Sy- ria, and is probably one of the most intrepid ge- nerals of the present day, the Egyptian army laid seige to St. Jean d’Acre, a fortress famous for its strength and for its importance in the events of former times, and on the 26th of April last, it was surrendered to him. He then marched on the Turkish army. They met at Homs, and there Ibrahim gained a crushing victory. Hussein Pa- cha, the Turkish general, though scarcely inferior in ability to his great antagonist, was unable to rally from this terrible defeat. Ibrahim improved his advantage by immediately investing Aleppo. This important city surrendered with little or no resistance. The whole country now lies open .before him. For aught we can see, he may ad- vance and do what he pleases. At least we know of none but tlie Almighty who can restrai him. These facts are of immense importance i a two-fold aspect. In the first place they augi the downfall of the Turkish power. Baffled b these mighty rebels the Sultan is now in a ver precarious condition. Greece, Egypt, Palestine Syria are lost to him. How much more is to h tom away we cannot tell. His armies are sea tered, his treasures expended or taken by the end my, his fortresses stormed. Assuredly this look very like the beginning of a fatal eclipse of hii authority. The deep seated, ignorant, bigotte dominion of the Turks in Asia has ever been i deadly foe to Christianity^ The simple fac therefore that this seems verging rapidly to if dissolution is cause for gratitude. The other point of view in which the victorie of Ibrahim are interesting to ns has already bee noticed. The comparative liberality of the Egyj tians, and the desire of Mohammed Ali toimprov his people are very favourable. We do not mea that these men will renounce their false religio: or that they will facilitate fhe preaching of th gospel. We suppose that they will not even to lerate it, if attempted openly. The advantages t be hoped from them are that they will not oppres 5 that so long as the missionaries act prudently the will not countenance those who oppose theni \ What is still more important, they will probabl encourage the diffusion of European science, < civilized ideas — this will tend to religious liberal ty. When the tumult of war subsides our mi sionaries in Syria will be better circumstance than ever. It is not impossible, nor even impr bable, that some now alive will at a future da preach to Mohammedans in Syn-ia with less opp< sition than is now experienced from the Greeks ar Armenians. We are not to delay our efforts u' til all things are tranquil there, until they ha"' grown so liberal that we may come and conve them. jMany missionaries should now be acqu ing their languages and manners. Years are i quired for these studies. Preparation for futu action should now be made. When the convu siens and ruin of nations have ceased, themissic ary should be ready^ to go through the length ai breadth of the land with fhe offers of eternal li: If, at that moment, the church is ready to at and does act, the results "will be very great. ' Having presented those facts which seem most importance ; we proceed to sketch a hire eye view of the whole world in respect to m sions. The object of this will be merely to poi out the light from '.he darkness. We commen furthest from home. The islands of the Pacific are now half evanc lized. In the Friendly and Society- Islands a the adjacent groupes there are between three a four thousand native communicants, upwards seven thousand scholars and more than twer thousand who habitually attend the preaching the gospel. In the Sandwich Islands, one third the people are in the missionary schools. Thi are now about five hundred communicants. Mi than twice that number give ground for hope, 1 their admission into the church is judiciously i layed. On the New South Wales coast of N 6 ^olland and in the large islands of New Zea- and and Van Dieman’s land there are some nissions. They have made a few converts, but lave been chiefly engaged in learning the lan- guages, in translating &c. Ascending from Australasia to the Indian rchipelago we find two or three missionaries, cattered amidst the sea-girt nations of Java and 'umatra. In China there are a few at Canton, nd there are' some in Siam, Burmah, and Ma- acca, and the islands of Singapore and Pinang. he Baptists in Burmah have been, and are, very uccessful ; the others have diffused much light, ut as yet have made few converts. In Siam and he Indian islands there are multitudes of Chi- ese. The missionaries act on them without dan- er from the laws of China. Should these be onverted, they may easily carry Christianity into lie very heart of the empire. Of the other missionary fields in Asia, India, nd Syria, we have already spoken. In Constan- nople, Smyrna, Aleppo, and perhaps some other ities of Asia Minor and Syria, there are mis- ionaries, who chiefly instruct the Greek children ; reaching and distributing tracts as they find op- ortunity. There are some German missionary olonies near the Caucasus mountains. At Ka- ass and Astrachan, a few Scottish missionaries ave laboured with little success. In Siberia lere are two or three stations which as yet have reduced little effect on the surrounding Tartars. Such is the religious condition of Asia. Al- lost all of the immense empire of China, of Si- eria, Tartar}', Persia, and Asiatic Turkey, and all " Japan, Bucharia, Thibet, Cabul, and Arabia, entirely destitute of Christian instruction, 'hese regions contain nearly four hundred and fty millions of people, considerably more than nfold the entire population of North and South merica united. For the remaining hundred and 'ty millions, who chiefly inhabit India, there are j ss than two hundred European and American issionaries. These people comparatively fa- ured, are not quite so well supplied as the Un- ;d States would be with twenty ministers, from e St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, and from e Atlantic to the Rocky mountains, that is, less an one to each State. Of Africa, we have already in part spoken. In ’g}’pt there are one or two English missionaries, o others penetrated to Abyssinia. They were ill received, but at last, were obliged by politi- disturbances to withdrav. One lias since id. Southern Africa richly rewards the Eng- ih and Moravian missionaries. More than three ousand natives now belong to their churches, re missionaries in Madagascar and Mauritius, ve as yet found little visible success. In dagascar however, there are nearly three thou- d children in the missionary schools, and, at es, other indications are favourable. Of the western coast of Africa, we need not any thing to our preceding statements, ong the northern coast a few missionaries oc- lionally visit Tunis, Tripoli, and Algiers. We not know of any permanent establishment made them in those places. I Greece and the Greek islands of Syra, Corfu, I and Tenos, and the island of Malta, have a few missionaries, who are chiefly engaged in teaching schools, and in publishing books and tracts. Eventually these exertions will, by the grace of God, regenerate that portion of the globe. Upon our own continent and the American is- lands, there are many missionaries. There are some in Guiana, in South America. At Buenos I Ayres and in Mexico, some attempts have been made, chiefly to diffuse Bibles and Tracts. In the West Indies the Moravians, Methodists, and Baptists, have been labouring amongst the ne- groes with humble but heroic devotion, and have met with great success and great persecutions. Hated, calumniated and even imprisoned by the white islanders, these holy men have been so blessed, that their churches number more than eighty thousand converts. Amongst most of our North American Indians, little has occurred. The Choctaws have partially emigrated to their new location, on the Arkansaw and Red Rivers, this change of residence has proved very unfa- vourable to the missionaries. The Cherokees still continue in their own country, and we regret to add that the unjust imprisonment of Messrs. Worcester and Butler, is still continued. There are missionary stations in Upper Canada, and near the lakes. The only stations yet to be noticed, are those in Labrador and Greenland. There the indefati- gable Moravians have been successfully at work. In these countries they have thirty-one mission- aries, and about twenty-five hundred converts. Self-devoted, and lofty contempt for the allure- ments of this world has long characterized this mission. It is a northern light, which, like that in the skies, illuminates a bleak expanse of ice and snow, whilst it attracts the admiration of far off nations. We cannot close this view of missions, with- out alluding to a severe blow sustained by the cause in our own country. In our last report, we spoke with joy of the appointment of Mr. Corne- lius as Secretary of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions. The church has since been called to lament his death. We cannot understand why such men as Cornelius, Hervey and Barr, should be called away in the full flush and vigour of their usefulness, but what we know not now we shall know hereafter. The Lord doeth all things well. Here one or two inferences naturally arise from the preceding statements. We have said that the Moravian Baptist and Methodist missionaries have eighty thousand negroes in their West Indian Churches. This is more than six hundred for each minister. These negroes were heathen be- fore their conversion, as truly heathen as the people of Madagascar on Japan. It is therefore a fact, and consequently absolutely certain, that one or two hundred missionaries, at work, in one well selected spot, may, through the power of God, convert more heathen than the same number of ministers would convert at home. The average of these missionary churches is beyond that of the most religious section of the United States. To 7 ■secure this we must have enough men. Ten mis- sionaries would labour for years with scarce one convert, but if one hundred were sent to that place they might thoroughly subdue it. Ten regiments will not merely make an impression tenfold as great as “^one regiment, but much more. One thousand soldiers invading a country would not have one tenth of the success of ten thousand. Where ten legions would in a day achieve a com- plete conquest, a single legion might be perfectly harmless, unable to move from its strong holds for fear of being cut to pieces. This explains the comparatively little success of modern missiona- ries. There are not enough men in the heathen world to produce a very sensible impression. Send so many, that the idolater will be told of his sin and blindness with frequency and he will soon feel that it is a serious matter. Now, the Brahmin or Malay who hears of Jesus may be six months or six years before he hears of him again. Then the faint original impression is long lost. It would not be so if there were sufficient mission- aries to meet him at every turn. We now speak of ascertained facts. In the Pacific, and West Indian islands, where the missionaries are so nu- merous as thus to work upon the population, the result has been precisely what we assert. One or two thousand additional missionaries, distributed through India, Africa and Indo China, would within ten years, if God gave his usual blessings, make so many converts that all the power of earth and hell would be insufficient to extinguish the growing light. Those nations might then be left to their own native teachers, trained and 'guided by a small number of Americans or Europeans. A few thousand missionaries in Asia would by themselves, or their converts, be the means of con- verting many millions. If they stayed at home they probably would convert only a few hundred thousand. Even of these many might savingly receive the truth from some other source. We speak with perfect certainty of the conversion of tens and hundreds of millions of the heathen, since the word of God is pledged that they shall be brought in, and the uniform history of the church testifies that this is to be done primarily by a com- paratively small, yet sufficient, number of mis- sionaries, and ultimately by their action upon each other when the leaven begins its work. How this sufficient number of missionaries may be procured is very obvious. Simply by each one resolving that, vcithout waiting for others, he will go himself. Others will follow. The spirit is now greatly increasing. But the heathen ■will never be converted if men delay going to them until they are sure that an adequate number will follow. For a moment we will suppose that our calcu- lation of the success of one or two thousand addi- tional missionaries is inaccurate. What then WTiat if two thousand could only clear away th ground a little more, and that ten or twenty thou sand would be required after theml This prepara tory work must be done by some one. He who lay the foundation participates in building the house a much as he who finishes the structure. The obscur missionary who dies and is forgotten after trans lating part of the Bible into some barbarian Ian guage accomplishes that which must be done be fore the millions that speak it can hear the truth Many illusions will vanish if we look at the fina vast, and certain result, rather than to the preser effect. A few thousand men who were permitte to convert only twice or threefold their own nun ber, but who thus seemred the ultimate conversio of hundreds of millions in India or China, woul really accomplish far more than if they shoul stay in America and convert every soul on the coi tinent. Half of Asia and all of Africa would soon h Christianized if but one or two thousand went 1 light up the flame. Nor would these men b missed from home. The exertion which their d( parture and their example would extort from th slumbering churches would alone repay the los by the religious excitement it must occasioi Can we not trust God so far as, for a few years, 1 send away a large proportion of our new minister Even if too many go, their loss will soon be suj plied by the revivals of religion which at that tim of new bom energy in the churches, would 1 more numerous than ever. The more than or million professing Christians added to the eig thousand evangelical ministers now in the Ian and those students of theology who could n possibly go abroad, would surely for a few yea at least sustain Christianity at home. The Sa bath schools with their six or eight hundred tho sand scholars will furnish a plentiful supply ministers for the future. But to whom shall tl heathen look for the present or for the futui We, or such as we, must go to them or they neve never, never, can hear of the Saviour of the worl Each must decide for himself whether he w take them the Gospel, and God will call us to account for our decision. Remember that m; sionaries are sure of success. The promise of t unchangeable One has been given that the da of mourning to Zion shall be ended — that her wa shall be called Salvation and her gates Praise that the sons of the Gentiles shall come bendi unto her, that the kingdoms of this world sh; become the kingdoms of our Lord and of 1 Christ. “ He which testifieth these things saith, sure I come quickly ; Amen. Even so, come, Lc Jesus.” ' 'V V' ■. ' •■' .,I' __ ; ■•