Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/658

GrtO FOREIGN MISSIONS however, the time was not auspicious for inaugurating extensive missionary operations. Yet a beginning was made in 1555. Villega- gnon, a knight of Malta, under the patronage of Henry II. of France, began the formation of a French colony in Brazil, and, on the promise that the reformed religion should be taught there, 14 spiritual teachers were fur- nished by Calvin. On landing in 1556, they immediately set themselves to work in the or- ganization of the future church, but their ef- forts were soon arrested, as Villegagnon de- manded and obtained their return to France. Some evangelical princes showed a great in- terest in the cause. Gustavus Vasa of Swe- den, in whose dominion paganism still existed among the Lapps, founded a mission in their country, which was vigorously supported by some of his successors, especially by Charles IX. Many of the German princes, as Duke Christopher of Wurtemberg and Duke Ernest the Pious of Saxe-Gotha, made great efforts to awaken an interest in the missionary cause. In 1664 a German baron, Ernst von Wels, published two pamphlets in order to awaken a greater interest in foreign missions, and proposed the formation of a "Jesus Associa- tion" for the propagation of Christianity among the pagans. But few German theolo- gians supported him, and the majority called him a fanatic and heretic. Wels went to Hol- land, where he was ordained as a minister, and then set out as a missionary to Surinam, where he soon fell a victim to his zealous la- bors. About this time three Protestant na- tions, the Dutch, English, and Danes, began to wrest from the Spaniards and Portuguese many of their transmarine possessions, and thus to open to Protestant missionaries a vast field of labor. The Dutch founded a number of colonies in the Molucca islands, Ceylon, and Sumatra, and displayed a great zeal in gaining the natives for the Reformed church. The motives and means of these missionary efforts were not always pure; thus, the gov- ernor of Ceylon declared that only those na- tives would get any kind of employment from the government who would sign the Helvetic confession. This declaration induced thou- sands to demand baptism, which was generally refused to none who were able to recite the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. At the close of the 17th century about 300,- 000 Cingalese had been baptized. There were, however, many devoted missionaries, who earnestly labored to spread a spiritual Chris- tianity. The learned Walaeus of Leyden ad- vocated the formation of a missionary semi- nary, and the Dutch East India company cor- dially approved of the scheme, the execution of which proved eminently useful to the cause of reformed religion. The early settlers of New England (1620) took a deep interest in the welfare of the pagan Indians around them. The settlement of the country was undertaken partly as a missionary enterprise. Indeed, this was embodied in the Massachusetts charter, as "the principal end of the plantation;" and the seal of the colony had for its device the figure of an Indian, with the words of the Macedo- nian entreaty, " Come over and help us." In 1646 the Massachusetts legislature passed an act for the encouragement of Christian mis- sions among the Indians, and in the same year the celebrated John Eliot, " the apostle of the Indians," began his labors among them. The first Bible printed in America was that which he translated for the aborigines. A few cop- ies of that Bible are still in existence, but no living Indian can read it. But Eliot was not the first to preach the gospel to the natives. Thomas Mayhew began his labors among them on Martha's Vineyard in 1643, and soon num- bered 300 converts. Five successive genera- tions of the Mayhews continued these labors. In 1674 the Indians of the district were about 3,000, half of them professing Christianity; but in 1792 they numbered only 440. The Rev. John Sergeant and Jonathan Edwards did like missionary service among the Stock- bridge Indians in western Massachusetts, and David Brainerd among the Delawares of east- ern New York and New Jersey. A vast scheme of uniting all the Protestant churches of the world into one great missionary society was conceived by Cromwell. He intended to establish a Protestant college for the defence and propagation of the evangelical faith, which was to consist of seven directors and four sec- retaries, and to receive from the state a fixed annual support. The whole earth was divided into four missionary provinces, each of which was to have its representative in the college. Though this scheme was not carried through, it prepared the English nation for an active support of the missionary societies which soon after sprang into existence. The formation of the first great missionary society of the Prot- estant world took place at the beginning of the 18th century. Some members of a " So- ciety for promoting Christian Knowledge," which had been founded in 1698, constituted themselves in 1701 a committee for sending missionaries to the pagans. They assumed the name of " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," and the new association was sanctioned by William III. The original design was the formation of colo- nial churches, and mostly for this purpose the operations have been extended to the East and West Indies, southern Africa, the Seychelles, Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. In 1873 it had 484 ordained missionaries, inclu- ding 45 native clergy in India, 822 teachers and catechists, 141 students in colleges abroad, and an income of 110,259. It is under the con- trol of the church of England, and the influ- ence of the " high church " school at present prevails in its management. The "Scottish Society for propagating Christian Knowledge," founded in 1709, labored for some years among the North American Indians, but without per-