In a theological sense, this term denotes the efforts made by the professors of a religious creed to propagate their doctrines in countries following other religious persuasions. The disciples of Christ received from their master the command: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." In compliance with this call, the apostolic church at once began missionary operations on a larger scale than the world had ever seen before. Unfortunately the records of this first brilliant period of the missionary history of the church have been mostly lost; but enough has been preserved to show that the doctrines of Christianity were taught by the apostles themselves and their disciples far "beyond the confines of the Roman empire. Toward the close of the 1st century the heroic missionary efforts of the church bad called into existence numerous and flourishing congregations in the towns of Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, the islands of the Mediterranean, northern Africa, India, and probably several other countries.

In the 2d and 3d centuries we see the missionaries successful in parts of southern Germany, Gaul, Arabia, and Ethiopia. Under Constantine Christianity became the state church, and the custom was gradually introduced of using coercive measures for the advancement of the Christian doctrines. The missionary zeal seems not to have abated, but it is frequently difficult for the historian to determine what share the missions and what the secular arm had severally in completing the Christianization of the various countries constituting the Eoman empire. At the death of St. Patrick in the latter part of the 5th century Ireland possessed numerous flourishing churches and monastic schools, which became during the next two centuries nurseries of missionaries for Great Britain and continental Europe. Thus from Iona Columba and his companions evangelized Scotland, and his successors sent missionaries and monks to the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Iceland; while Columbanus and his followers planted monasteries and schools in Gaul, Switzerland, northern Germany, and Lombardy. England, too, as soon as she had been restored to the faith by Augustin, sent missionaries to Germany, to whose labors Boniface gave unity.

After him another great Englishman, Alcuin, guided and encouraged in the same direction Liudger and Willehad, who preached successfully to the Saxons and Frisians, and Arno, who was equally successful among the Huns. Under Louis le Debonnaire these missionary efforts were kept up by the schools founded by Boniface at Utrecht and elsewhere. The first seeds of Christianity were then sown in Jutland, the Danish islands, Sweden, and Norway, by Archbishop Ebbo, Anscarius, and others. In the East, Iberia, Armenia, and Persia were the most important missionary fields. After the separation of the eastern church from the western, the interest in the missionary cause almost wholly ceased in the former. The progress of Christianity eastward was arrested, while a considerable portion of its own territory was taken possession of by the Mohammedans. The Nestorians continued for a long time to carry on, especially in China and India, successful missionary operations, of which little is now known. The Latin church continued her spiritual conquests in northern Europe. The Scandinavian kingdoms were finally gained over one after another in the 10th and 11th centuries.

Cyril and Methodius opened for Christianity the way.to the great Slavic race, by preaching to the Khazars, Bulgarians, and Moravians. Adalbert, bishop of Prague, was martyred in a mission among the Prussians. From Iceland, missionaries accompanied the adventurous Norsemen on their expeditions of discovery; and Greenland is believed to have received from them the first account of Christianity and the first foundation of a Christian church. The extension of Christianity in northern I Europe was in some instances procured by means which churchmen themselves disavowed and condemned. Thus Alcuin openly censured Charlemagne for the oppressive measures by which that emperor compelled the pagan Saxons to receive baptism. This habitual interference of the eastern and western emperors, while it injured the cause it was designed to serve, did not prevent zealous missionaries in every country from risking their lives in preaching to the heathen. The further treatment of the subject may be more conveniently divided under two heads.

I. Roman Catholic Missions

A new missionary zeal awoke in the Roman Catholic church after the foundation of the mendicant orders, which endeavored to excel each other in extending the territory of their church. Innocent IV. in 1245, and St. Louis in 1248, sent mendicant friars as missionaries among the Mongols; and in 1289 John de Monte Corvino translated the New Testament and Psalms into the Tartar language. Several bishops were appointed for China, where the mission assumed large dimensions, but half a century later it was nearly exterminated. Toward the close of the 14th-century the Franciscans supported a nourishing mission in northern Persia, with about 10,000 adherents. The missionaries to the East did not confine their labors to the pagans, but also endeavored to bring about a union of the eastern episcopal denominations, and were partly successful in the case of the Greeks, Armenians, Copts, and others. In the 15th century Portuguese missionaries settled in the islands discovered by their countrymen, and with the aid of the secular arm soon effected the nominal Christianization of Porto Santo and Madeira (1418-'19), of the Azores (1432-'57), and of several districts along the African coast (1486-'97). Very extensive new fields for missions were opened by the discovery of America in 1492, and the circumnavigation of the cape of Good Hope in 1497. Great numbers of missionaries volunteered to be sent to the newly discovered countries, and in the East as well as West Indies missionary operations were commenced on a very large scale.

In the East Indies the bishopric of Goa was established in 1520 under Franciscan missionaries, several other bishops for the East were appointed and- sent out by the Portuguese government, and a large part of the Christians of St. Thomas were prevailed upon to unite with the Roman Catholic church. In Mexico and Central and South America, the 16th century completed the victory of the Roman Catholic missions, as far as the country was under the dominion of the Spaniards and the Portuguese. In many instances, however, the aid of the inquisition was invoked to suppress the pagan worship. - An extraordinary impulse to missionary labors was given by the establishment of the order of Jesuits. As shortly before a large part of Europe had separated from the Roman Catholic church, they directed their efforts equally to the conversion of the pagans and to inducing the Protestants and eastern Christians to submit again to the authority of the pope. St. Francis Xavier, who has been canonized as the apostle of the Indies and Japan, surpassed all Christian missionaries who had lived since the apostolic age in the extent of his missionary travels, and in the number of converts whom he baptized.

At the time of his death about 100 Jesuits were laboring in the East Indies. Soon after, the east of Asia presented the brightest prospects. But it is particularly in Spanish and Portuguese America that the Jesuit missionaries found a fruitful field. Their first " missions " or Christian parishes along the Parana and the Uruguay were again and again destroyed by the Mamelucos, who only aimed at reducing the natives to slavery. But having obtained from the home government official decrees declaring the Indian converts to be free men and forbidding the European settlers to molest or hold intercourse with them, a native Christian population of between 100,000 and 200,000 were united under the missionaries, taught the art of agriculture, and governed peacefully for a period of 80 years. A similar result was reached in the mining districts of Peru; while Jesuits, Franciscans, and Dominicans vied with each other in civilizing the wild tribes on the eastern slopes of the Andes and along the head waters and affluents of the Amazon. In New Granada the missionaries were no less active both among the native populations and the numerous African slaves; the most conspicuous among them was the Jesuit Pietro Claver, called "the apostle of Cartagena," who is said to have instructed and baptized upward of 200,-000 negro slaves.

Prescott, in his " Conquest of Mexico," recounts the enlightened efforts of Cortes to obtain efficient missionaries for the natives. The Augustinians, Franciscans, and Dominicans responded to his call, and did much to civilize and protect the indigenous tribes, while establishing everywhere schools and colleges. Later the labors of the Jesuits in California and New Mexico were attended with the same success as in South America, and their missions were ruined in the last century by the same causes. The Philippines became a Catholic country under the rule of Philip II., and even in the mighty empire of Japan the conversion of a number of princes promised the speedy victory of Christianity, when internal wars and dread of foreign rule called forth (after 1587) a bloody persecution, which ended in the second half of the 17th century in what was thought to be the complete extirpation of Christianity. In China, several Jesuits, especially Ricci and Schall, obtained great influence at the court by means of their astronomical and mathematical knowledge, and among the educated classes of the people by the classic works which they composed in the Chinese language; and this extensive influence was used with great success in gaining converts for their creed.

While Spanish missionaries from Mexico were pressjng northward, the French in 1008 began to send missionaries to'North America, and establishd prosperous settlements among the Abenaquis, Hurons, Iroquois, and other Indian tribes. Biard, Brebeuf, Lalemant, and Sebas-tien Rasle were the most celebrated among those who devoted their whole lives to thoroughly organizing the colonies of native Christians/ The French missions gradually advanced up the St. Lawrence and along the lakes. In Abyssinia repeated efforts were made from 1550 to 1634, mostly by Jesuits, to bring the national church, which had been isolated from the rest of the Christian world for more than 1,000 years, into an organic connection with the Roman Catholic church. Several princes entered into their views, and a member of the Jesuit order was appointed patriarch; but at length a successful insurrection thwarted the project. Several other portions of Africa received Catholic missionaries in the course of the 17th century, as Morocco (1630) and Madagascar (1648), but without permanent success. - In the 18th century the Jesuit missions in the East greatly declined.

In China and India they were involved in a controversy with the Dominicans respecting certain accommodations to native customs, which the Jesuits regarded as lawful, while the Dominicans stigmatized them as idolatrous. Rome then gave against the Jesuits a decision which has since been cancelled; and from that time the prosperity of their missions declined. In China, moreover, a tierce persecution broke out, which between 1722 and 1754 diminished the number of Christians from 800,000 to 100,000. In Thibet, the Capuchins tried to establish missions, but with only slight success. A larger number of conversions were made in Indo-China, especially in Cochin China and Tonquin, and the Catholic population gradually rose to several hundred thousand, mostly attended by native priests. A firm foundation, amid the continuance of persecution, was also laid in Corei. In Africa a third attempt was made (1750-54) to unite the Abyssinian church with Rome, but without success. The Portuguese missions on the W. coast of Africa almost entirely decayed. In the Spanish and Portuguese possessions of America the progress of the missions among the Indians was completely arrested by the expulsion of the Jesuits, and the attitude which the governments of Spain and Portugal assumed toward the Roman Catholic church.

The French revolution greatly diminished the power and resources of the Roman Catholic church, in consequence of which nearly all the foreign missions declined, while some were given up entirely. Since 1814 the operations in the various missionary fields have again been taken up with renewed zeal; the number of missionary bishops and priests has been greatly increased, but no extraordinary successes have as yet been announced. In China proper, in Corea, and in India, the Catholic population has, however, considerably risen.

Cochin China and Tonquin enjoyed likewise for some time a season of great prosperity, until, about 1857, the persecution to which more or less the Christians -were generally exposed assumed such dimensions that nearly all the priests were killed or obliged to rlee, and nearly every congregation was scattered. This led in 1858 to an intervention of the French and Spaniards, which terminated in 1862 in the cession to France of three provinces, and in stipulations guaranteeing the free exercise of the Christian religion. Nevertheless the persecution broke out more fiercely than ever in 1868, and four Christian parishes with about 10,000 converts have been blotted out. Japan was reopened to Catholic missionaries in consequence of the treaties of 1858, and was at once occupied as a mission field. In the summer of 1868 a most cruel persecution was begun against the native Christians, especially at Nagasaki and vicinity. The imperial decree recited that the rigorous measures pursued in the 17th century against the Christian religion had not entirely extirpated it, and that of late the number of Christians had considerably increased.

Consequently 4,100 persons were taken away from their homes and distributed among 34 daimios, who were to isolate them from their fellow citizens and employ them in the most rigorous penal servitude. The several consuls at Nagasaki and the ministers resident at Tokio protested in vain against the merciless acts of the government. In 1873 the representatives of the Christian powers obtained a promise that the persecution should cease; but 660 persons had in the interval perished in prison. The whole number of native Catholics in Japan was variously estimated in 1873 at from 13,000 to 24,000, with two resident Roman Catholic bishops. The missions in Turkey, and more particularly those among the eastern churches, were in recent times greatly enlarged, and considerable numbers of Armenians, Jacobites, and Nestorians entered into union with Rome. The same step was taken in 1859 by the king of Tigre in Abyssinia, with 50,000 of his subjects. The conquest of Algeria by the French gave rise to some enterprises for the conversion of the Mohammedans, but without notable results.

Special missionary associations were formed in Austria for Khartoom in Nubia, and in France for western Africa; but the majority of missionaries were swept away by the deadly climate soon after their arrival at the missionary stations. In North America, the labors among the Indians were taken up again, especially by the Jesuits and Oblates, and the missionaries advanced up to the northernmost settlements in the British possessions. In South America the Jesuits have made repeated attempts at reentering the fields of their former missionary labors along the Parana, the Amazon, and their affluents; but their efforts, being looked upon with disfavor by the local authorities, have had but a partial success. In Australasia numerous congregations of natives have been formed, especially in New Zealand; several smaller islands, as Wallis and Futuna, have been wholly gained for the Roman Catholic church; and, under the patronage of the French, a firm footing has also been obtained in some islands which had been preoccupied by Protestant missionaries, as Tahiti and the Hawaiian islands. - The Roman Catholic church has a number of institutions for the training of missionaries.

The oldest and most celebrated among them is the propaganda in Rome. (See Propaganda.) Other institutions of this kind are Greek, German, English, Irish, Scotch, Belgian, and South American colleges at Rome, and the Chinese college in Naples, founded in the first half of the 18th century by an Italian missionary in China. All the pupils are natives of China, who, after being ordained as priests, return to their country as missionaries. At Verona is a seminary which educates priests for the missions of central Africa; and in connection with this the "African Institute" of Alexandria trains native missionaries. The Greek seminary at Palermo educates priests for the United Greeks. The American college at Rome, for the training of missionary priests for the United States, was opened by Pius IX. in 1859. The seminary of foreign missions at Paris is probably the most fruitful nursery of Roman Catholic missionaries; it supplies a number of the missionary dioceses in China and Indo-China. The college of Old Hallows, near Dublin, Ireland, is of growing importance.

The number of its pupils amounts to about 200. It mostly trains priests for Irish emigrants to Protestant countries; but many of them are called upon to preach to the heathen also, especially those in India. Moreover, most of the religious orders educate a number of their members for foreign missions, and some of them have special houses for this purpose. A number of missionary dioceses in pagan countries are intrusted by the propaganda to the several orders, which engage to send there the necessary number of missionaries. Those most numerously represented in the foreign mission field are the Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, Lazarists, the Picpus society, the Marists, Capuchins, and Carmelites. There are also supported in the missions a number of seminaries for the training of a native clergy, of which that at Penang in British Asia is one of the largest. - The first general association for the support of Catholic missions was formed at Lyons, France, in 1822, under the name of the " Society for the Propagation of the Faith." The society gradually extended over nearly all countries of the globe. Its members pledge themselves to pay one sou a week. Its total receipts in 1873 amounted to 5,629,375 francs.

It publishes a bi-monthly periodical, the " Annals of the Propagation of the Faith," of which more than 200,000 copies are issued in French, German, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Flemish, and Polish languages. The society contributes to the support of all Roman Catholic missions. An important auxiliary to this society is the "Association of the Holy Childhood of Jesus," a children's missionary society, founded in Paris in 1844, for baptizing and rescuing pagan children of China, and, if possible, for providing a Christian education for them. Its annual receipts amount to about 1,500,000 francs. The Leopoldine association in Austria, and the Louis association of Bavaria, support almost exclusively missions among the German emigrants in North America. The St. Mary's association of Austria was established for the sole support of the Austrian missions in Khartoom. France has special associations for the support of the missions in western Africa, for the foundation of Christian schools in Turkish Asia, and for missions among the Mohammedans. - The principal Roman Catholic missionary fields in pagan countries at present are: China, with a bishopric in the Portuguese possessions, 22 vicariates apostolic, 3 prefectures apostolic, and a native Catholic population estimated at 700 000; Anam, said to have 7 vicariates apostolic, 53 European and 205 native priests, with 1,280,-000 Christians; and India and Cevlon, which have, besides an archbishop at Goa and 3 bishops for the Portuguese possessions, 20 vicars apostolic, and a population of 147,000, of which only a very small portion are English, Irish, French, and Portuguese Catholics, the others being natives.

The Roman Catholio population of Africa live mostly in the Portuguese, French, English, and Spanish possessions. The most important missions among the pagans are carried on in and near the French possessions in Senegambia, in Natal, and in the country of the Gallas in central Africa. In Polynesia there are 7 vicariates apostolic for the native population. New Zealand is reported to have 5,000 native Roman Catholics, and the Hawaiian islands still more. The membership of the church among the Indians of North America amounts to several thousands, and is constantly increasing. - See Lockman, "Travels of the Jesuits into various parts of the World " (2 vols., London, 1762); Lcttres edi-f antes et curieuses (20 vols., Paris, 1780-'88); W. J. Kip, "Jesuit Missions in North America" (New York, 1846); De Smet, "Oregon Missions " (1847); Hue, " Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet" (2 vols., London, 1853); J. G. Shea, "History of Catholic Missions among the Indian Tribes of the United States " (New York, 1855); Relations des Jesuites (3 vols., Quebec, 1858); Marshall, "History of Missions " (2 vols., London and New York); and Annales de la propagation de la foi since 1822.

II. Protestant Missions

The reformers were not indifferent to the duty of giving the gospel to the heathen. Luther took frequent opportunity to remind the Christians of the "misery of pagans and Turks," and to exhort to prayers for them, and to the sending of missionaries to them. While the Protestant church was itself struggling for an existence, however, the time was not auspicious for inaugurating extensive missionary operations. Vet 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 furnished by Calvin. On landing in 1556, they immediately set themselves to work in the organization of the future church, but their efforts were soon arrested, as Villegagnon demanded and obtained their return to France. Some evangelical princes showed a great interest in the cause. Gustavus Vasa of Sweden, 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 Association " for the propagation of Christianity among the pagans. But few German theologians supported him, and the majority called him a fanatic and heretic. Wels went to Holland, 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 nations, 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 governor of Ceylon declared that only those natives would get any kind of employment from the government who would sign the Helvetic confession.

This declaration induced thousands 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 800,-000 Cingalese had been baptized. There were, however, many devoted missionaries, who earnestly labored to spread a spiritual Christianity. The learned Waheus of Leyden advocated the formation of a missionary seminary, and the Dutch East India company cordially approved of the scheme, the execution of which proved eminently useful to the cause of reformed reli-rion. - The early settlers of New England (1620) took a deep interest in the welfare of the pagan Indians around them. I he 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 Macedonian entreaty, " Come over and help us." In 1646 the Massachusetts legislature passed an act for the encouragement of Christian missions 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 copies 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 generations 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 eastern 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 secretaries, 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 Protestant world took place at the beginning of the 18th century. Some members of a " Society 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 colonial churches, and mostly for this purpose the operations have been extended to ^he East and West Indies, southern Africa, the Seychelles, Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. In 1873 it had 484 ordained missionaries, including 45 native clergy in India, 822 teachers and catcchists, 141 students in colleges abroad, and an income of £110,259. It is under the control of the church of England, and the influence 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 permanent success. - Denmark, though it had begun in 1620 to found colonies in the East and West Indies, made no missionary exertions in behalf of the pagans until the reign of Frederick IV., who in 1711 established an annual appropriation of 2,000 rix dollars for missionary purposes, and in 1714 organized the royal college of missions.

Unable to find the proper persons for foreign missions in Denmark, the government entered into arrangements with A. II. Francke, who furnished the first men, Ziegenbalg and Plutscho, for establishing a mission in Tranquebar. The society afterward extended their Indian missions considerably, though Denmark took very little interest in them. Most of the missionaries, among whom Christian Friedrich Schwartz shone forth as a model, came from Germany, and the expenses for the missions in the territories of the East India company were mostly defrayed by the London society for promoting Christian knowledge. In 1835 the chief missions of this body were transferred to the society for the propagation of the gospel; and in 1845, when the last Danish possessions in India were transferred to Great Britain, the labors of the college of missions there ceased altogether. The impulse given by King Frederick IV. to the missionary cause called into existence two other remarkable enterprises. The one was a mission in Greenland, commenced in 1721 by a Norwegian pastor, Hans Egede; the other a new mission to Lapland, undertaken by the Norwegian Thomas von Westen. Both were conducted with great zeal and self-sacrifice. Egede induced the king to establish at Copenhagen a seminary, which trained catechists and missionaries for the Greenlanders, until the mission was wholly committed to the Moravians. It was in Copenhagen also that Count Zinzen-dorf received his first impulse toward spreading the gospel.

On his return to Herrnhut the Moravians engaged at once in the cause with a zeal unprecedented in the history of Protestantism. The support of foreign missions was for the first time officially declared to be a duty of the entire church, and an official board was intrusted with the charge of it. The guiding principles of the Moravians were to await a special call from God before going to any part of the pagan world, to avoid as much as possible selecting missionary fields preoccupied by others, and to give the preference to those countries which were among the most abandoned, difficult, and miserable. All the missionaries gained a part or the whole of their support by mechanical or agricultural labor; and the congregations of natives, which were all organized after the model of the church at home, were likewise bound to contribute for missionary purposes. Thus their enterprises stand forth as a great success. The fields which they occupied in succession were the Danish West India islands (1732), Greenland (1733), North American Indians (1734), Surinam (1735), South Africa (1736, renewed in 1792), Jamaica (1754), Antigua (1756), Bar-badoes (1765), Labrador (1770), St. Kitts (1775), Tobago (1790, renewed in 1827), the Mosquito coast (1848), Australia (1849), and Thibet (1853). In 1873 they reported in all 90 stations, 322 missionary "agents," 1,427 native helpers, 21,969 communicants, and an income of £18,017. One out of every 50 of its communicants is engaged in mission service, with three times as many members in its mission churches as in those at home. - There is a great gap in the history of Protestant missions from 1732 to 1792. No new society was formed, and no efforts were made for the propagation of Christianity except by the few agencies above mentioned.

Toward the close of the 18th century there arose a widespread dissatisfaction with the results of the rationalistic intellec-tualism of the day, and a powerful countercur-rent led vast numbers back to a belief in the supreme necessity of experimental religion and personal piety. At the same time, members of different communions longed to find ways of working together for a common Christianity, in spite of denominational differences. The first foreign missionary society born of this movement was the Baptist of England, established in 1792. The effect of this example throughout Christendom was unparalleled. Other societies arose in England and America, until almost every religious denomination had its own. Money was freely given, missionaries were sent abroad, and converts from paganism were multiplied. In continental Europe the interest in the missionary cause developed more slowly, but has attained considerable proportions. Brief sketches of the most important Protestant missionary societies follow, arranged according to nationality.

1. British Societies

The Baptist society, already named, was the first, organized October 2, 1792, under the lead of William Carey, who was also its first missionary. He went to India in 1793, and Serampore soon became the centre of successful and extensive missionary operations. A controversy between the Serampore mission and the parent society brought on a separation lasting ten years, during which the two societies acted independently, but it did not arrest the progress of the mission. The Bible entire or in parts was issued from the Serampore press in 27 different versions, and the school operations were singularly prosperous. Among the missionaries, Marshman and Ward were especially distinguished. Besides India, the West Indies, western Africa, and France received missionaries from the Baptist society. In the West Indies, the churches in Jamaica separated from the home society in 1842, and charged themselves with the maintenance of the mission. In western Africa, the missionaries were expelled in 1858 by the Spanish government from the island of Fernando Po, and their missions forcibly suppressed.

The society now has missions in France, Norway, Italy, western Africa, India, China, and the West Indie?, with 423 stations, 87 missionaries, 229 native pastors and preachers, 32,444 communicants, 280 teachers, 12,101 scholars, and an income of £40,255. The General or Ar-minian Baptists formed a separate society in 1816, and began a mission at Orissa, India, in [822, and at Ningpo, China, in 1845. In 1873 they had 8 stations in India, 7 missionaries, 15 native preachers, 731 communicants, and an income of £14.216, much of which is raised in India where the work is done. The mission in Ningpo has ceased after a feeble existence, and one has been commenced in Rome. - The "London Missionary Society" owed its origin to a spirited paper in the "Evangelical Magazine," advocating the formation of a missionary society on the broadest possible basis. An invitation for that purpose was signed by 18 Independent, 7 Presbyterian, 3 Wesleyan, and 3 Episcopal clergymen; and the constitutive assembly took place Sept. 22, 1795, in a chapel of the countess of Huntingdon. The islands of the Pacific were selected as the first missionary field, and 29 young men were selected from the large number of those who had offered themselves.

On March 4, 1797, the missionaries landed on Tahiti and opened the first mission of the London society. Soon the society occupied also China and the East Indies, where Morrison and Milne prepared a translation of the Bible into Chinese, the islands of the Indian archipelago and Mauritius, southern Africa, the West Indies, Guiana, and North America. Their most important stations are at present those in the South seas, where John Williams labored so nobly and successfully, in southern Africa, where Moffat and Livingstone distinguished themselves, and in Madagascar. In 1873 the society had 156 ordained missionaries. 175 native ordained ministers, 4,006 native preachers, 97,907 communicants, 2,601 schools, 72,289 pupils, and an income of £115,909, of which about £21,950 was from English and native contributions in the mission fields. The society still adheres to its original basis, avoiding denominational differences of doctrine and church government; but the subsequent organization of separate denominational societies lias left the London society mostly in the hands of the Independents. - The "Church Missionary Society" was organized April 12, 1799, by distinguished men belonging to the evangelical school of the established yhurch, among whom William Wilberforce, Charl.s Simeon, and others took an active part.

It- progress was slow at first; no missionaries could be found for it in England, and it employed only Germans. Its first mission on the west coast of Africa was unsuccessful in consequence of the deleterious climate and the plots of the slave traders; but after 1818 mission labors were very prosperous in Sierra Leone. In 1814 the society had stations also in India and New Zealand; in 1822 in Rupert's Land, North America; in 1826 in the West Indies; in 1844 in China; and in 1857 on the banks of the Niger. In 1873 it had 157 mission stations, 207 European missionaries, 147 native clergy, 2,278 catechists and teachers, 22,555 communicants, and 45,-782 scholars, not counting 4,356 communicants and 12,866 scholars recently transferred to the native church of Sierra Leone. The income of the society for 1873 reached the extraordinary sum of £261,221, nearly £100,000 above its usual receipts. The president of the society must always be elected from among the members of parliament. Vice presidents are, according to a resolution of 1841, all the bishops of the Anglican church.

Since 1825 the society has owned a missionary institute at Islington, which has room for 50 students, and generally counts about 30. The low church party of the establishment has always had a decided control over this society; yet all its missionaries have to submit to episcopal ordination and to subscribe the thirty-nine articles; even the Germans who are employed by the society are now no longer exempt from the latter condition. - The first missions of the Wesleyan Methodists were commenced in 1786, when Dr. Thomas Coke, with three other missionaries, went to the West Indies. After the death of Wesley, Coke remained at the head of the Wesleyan missions, and crossed the Atlantic for missionary purposes no fewer than 18 times. Within 20 years the number of Methodist missionaries in the West Indies and North America rose to 43. In 1813 Coke embarked with five companions for the East Indies, but died before that country was reached. His companions founded a mission in Ceylon, which soon spread to the mainland of India. As long as Coke lived, the administration of foreign missions lay almost exclusively in his hands, under the advice of a committee consisting of all the resident Wesleyan ministers of London; but after his death the necessity of a more complete organization was felt.

The "Wesleyan Missionary Society" was constituted in 1817, and soon took a foremost rank among such agencies. It has missions in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Africa, India, China, Australia, Polynesia, and the West India islands. But much the larger part of this society's work is in nominally Christian lands, or in British dependencies and among English colonists. Even in Africa and India its labors are much among English-speaking people; but its most successful missions are among the negroes of the West Indies and among the heathen and cannibals of the Feejee and Friendly islands. In 1873 it had in all 847 stations, 6,647 chapels and other preaching places, 1,125 ministers and assistant missionaries, 4,783 other paid agents, 170,360 communicants, 15,616 probationers, 245,733 pupils, and an income of £167,993. - Besides these larger societies, there are a number of smaller ones, as the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist, founded in 1840; the English Presbvte-rian, 1844; the "Turkish Missions Aid "Society;" and the New Connection Methodists' foreign mission, commenced in China in 1859. - A " Scotch Missionary Society " was organized at Edinburgh in 1796, and sent the first missionaries among the Tartars near the Black and Caspian seas.

After the suppression of all the Protestant missions in those regions by the Russian government in 1833,the association directed its efforts to western Asia and the West Indies. More recently the society has confined its labors to Jamaica. The established church of Scotland, at its general assembly of 1796, rejected as a folly a motion to send missionaries among the pagans; but in 1824 a similar motion was entertained and carried. It was not however till 1829 that its first missionary, Dr. Duff, was sent out to Calcutta. In 1843, when a large portion of the ministers and laity left the established church of Scotland, and organized the Free church, all the missionaries joined the latter. The missionary cause greatly gained by this separation, for the established church sent out new missionaries to carry on the work, and both churches henceforth tried to excel each other in zeal. The church of Scotland has four missionaries in India (one at Calcutta, one at Madras, one at Sealkote, and one at Darjeeling), and a mission at Bombay, superintended by a European teacher, and an income of £10,000. The Free church of Scotland has missions also in India, south Africa, Australia, and Syria, with 45 European and 196 native laborers, 2,163 communicants, 11,086 scholars, and an income of £19,959. It is also engaged in mission work among the Jews, having one of its important centres at Constantinople, with an imposing mission house, embracing chapel and school rooms and about 200 scholars.

The United Presbyterian church of Scotland has missions in the West Indies, Spain, Old Calabar, south Africa, India, and China, with 54 stations, 138 out stations, 48 European missionaries, 8 medical missionaries, 8 native preachers, 6,927 communicants, 9,183 scholars, and an income of £38,000. The Presbyterian church of Ireland has 7 missionaries in India, with 138 communicants and 1,199 scholars, and one missionary in China, and an income of £6,371. - Among the other societies established by Great Britain and its colonies are: the Glasgow missionary society, in 1796; the United Secession church's foreign mission, 1835; the Glasgow African mission society, 1837; the Edinburgh medical missionary society, 1841; the Reformed Presbyterian church's foreign mission, 1842; the Loo Choo naval mission, 1843; the Patagonian mission, 1844; the Chinese evangelization society, 1850; and the Chinese society for furthering the gospel, 1850. One of the most useful societies at work in India is the " Christian Vernacular Education Society," with 3 training institutions, 209 native teachers, and 7,000 children in Christian schools. The society has printed 4,000,000 copies of various publications, in 14 different languages, and has 27 depots for the sale of books with 60 colporteurs at work.

There is also a "China Inland Mission," which is hardly an organized body, as it consists only of volunteers who go forth independently and with no pledge of support from any society. They are from England, mostly uneducated, and are endeavoring, as their name imports, to carry the gospel to the interior cities of China. There are 31 such laborers, male and female, with 50 native assistants, occupying 30 stations. They adopt the costume of the country, and find their living among the people, but so far their mission is not eminently successful.

2. America

In the United States attention was early called to the necessity of missionary efforts among the Indians and negroes. The first general foreign missionary society was founded under the name of the "American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions" in 1810. It owed its origin to a society of students of An-dover theological seminary, among whom was Adoniram Judson, whose object was to investigate the best ways and means of making the gospel known to pagan nations. After the model of the London society, they adopted no denominational basis; but the society soon became prominently the organ of the Congre-gationalists and some of the Presbyterian churches. One of the latter, the Reformed (Dutch) church, separated in 1857, and organized a denominational board, which now has three missions (one at Arcot in India, one at Amoy, China, and one at Yokohama, Japan), with 11 stations, 61 out stations, 13 missionaries. 153 other laborers, 1,323 communicants, 1,022 scholars, 3 medical dispensaries, in which 12.-283 patients were treated in 1873, an income of $55,352, and an expenditure of $68,106. The "New School" branch of the Presbyterian church continued to cooperate with the American board till 1870, when, upon the reunion of the two branches of the northern Presbyterian church, most of its churches withdrew and gave their support to the Presbyterian board, taking with them, by an amicable transfer, the missions in Syria, Persia, west Africa, and that to the Seneca Indians of New York. The American board now has missions in India, China, Japan, south Africa, Turkey, Austria, Spain, Mexico, the Hawaiian islands, the Micronesian islands, and among the Indians of our own country.

Its success in the Hawaiian islands has been most remarkable, the board numbering at one time more than 22,000 members in its churches. It has 19 missions, 72 stations, 497 out stations, 151 missionaries, 222 churches, 10,604 communicants (not including some 12,000 in the Hawaiian islands), 12 training schools or theological seminaries, 21 boarding schools for girls, 551 common schools, 20,490 scholars, an income of $469,000, and an expenditure (1873-'4) of $482,000. - " The American Baptist Missionary Union " was founded in 1814, and like some others does not confine its operations to heathen lands, having missions in Germany, Sweden, France, Spain, Greece, Africa, Burmah, Assam, India, China, and Japan; 20 missions in all, 21 central station-, 400 out stations, and 54,735 communicants (30,782 of them in Europe); income (1873-'4), $261,000; expenditures, $289,309. The missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal church was organized in 1819, and has missions in Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, European Turkey, Africa, India, China, Japan, the West Indies, Mexico, and South America, with 200 missionaries, 435 assistants, 317 teachers, 14.083 communicants, 5,335 probationers, 21,242 pupils, and an income of $337,19i». The Protestant Episcopal church organized a board of missions in 1820. It has missions in (Jrecce, west Africa, China, Japan, the West Indies, and among the American Indians, with 3 missionary bishops, 17 missionaries, 23 native clergy, 22 churches, 400 communicants, 50 schools, 1,70" scholars, and an income (1873) of 8114.,10. - -The board of foreign missions of the Presbyterian church was formed in 1837, sustained by the "Old School," while the other branch still cooperated till 1870, as before mentioned, with the American board.

It was preceded by a number of smaller societies, which confined their labors mainly to the Indians. Presbyterian missions were begun in Africa in 1832, in India in 1833, in China in 1838, and among the Chinese in California in 1852; and more recently the board has sent missionaries to South America, Mexico, Siam. and Japan, besides reenforcing and enlarging the missions in Syria, Persia, and Africa, which were received from the American board. It has 134 missionaries, 116 native pastors and preachers, 440 other native laborers, 0,272 communicants, 12,533 scholars, and an income (1873) of $023,000, $128,000 having been raised by special effort to pay a debt. The Presbyterian church, South, organized a separate hoard in 1801, and now has 21 missionaries and 38 assistants, laboring among our own Indians, in Mexico, South America, Italy, Greece, and China. The society reports an income (1873) of $42,431. The United Presbyterian missionary society, organized in 1859, has missions in Syria, Egypt, India, and China, 23 stations, 13 missionaries, 83 native ministers and teachers, 21 churches, 655 members, 22 schools, 2,358 scholars, and an income of $05,- 653. The Evangelical Lutheran church" has sustained a mission in India since 1841, which now has 5 ordained missionaries and 40 native assistants; it has also a station in Liberia, with 3 missionaries.

Its receipts in 1873 were $28,000. The Seventh Day Baptists commence! missionary operations in 1842, and have small missions in west Africa and China. The Baptist church. South, constituted a society in 1845, and has missionaries in China (4) Africa 110), Italy (0), and among the American Indians (56 native preachers and 2.800 members), with an income of $52,000. The Methodist Episcopal church, South, has 2 missionaries in China, with 3 or 4 native laborers, and 12 white preachers and 10 native ministers among the American Indians. The Freewill Baptists and the Unitarians have done something in India. - Some of the friends of missions separated from the older organizations on the ground of their complicity with slavery, and thus the "Free Baptist Missionary Society " was organized in 1843, with a mission in Hayti; and the "American Missionary Association " was formed in 1840. In the latter three smaller organizations, the "Union Missionary Society," the "Committee for the West Indian Mission," and the " Western Evangelical Missionary Association," were soon merged, and gave it missions in the West Indies, among the North American Indians, and in western Africa. It has also had a small mission in Siam, and another in the Hawaiian islands.

Since the civil war, however, its energies have been devoted to the freedmen of the south, establishing schools and colleges, furnishing teachers and professors, and aiding in forming churches. It has three missionaries in the West Indies, two in west Africa, one in Siam, and one in the Hawaiian islands. It has recently announced its purpose of relinquishing all its foreign work, except the Mendi mission in west Africa, and concentrating its efforts upon the colored people of the south, where it already has 47 churches, 2,898 members, 05 schools, 7 colleges, 323 ministers, missionaries, and teachers, and 14,048 scholars. The society has also a mission among the Chinese in California. Its income in 1873 was $345,277. The "American and Foreign Christian Union," supported by several denominations, was established in 1849 by the union of three smaller societies, and its labors have been devoted chiefly to the Roman Catholics of America and Europe, with missions in Mexico, South America, France, and Italy. But of late years the various denominations have undertaken the same work by their separate societies, and as the society was thus losing a large part of its constituency and resources, in 1872 it transferred its foreign work to other societies, and now confines its efforts to the Roman Catholics of the United States. Its receipts in 1873 were $28,571. - Recently a number of ladies' missionary societies have come into existence.

The first was the "Woman's Union Missionary Society," established in New York in 1801, with special reference to work among the zenanas of India, sustained by different denominations; it has 350 auxiliaries, with female laborers in India, China, and Japan, and an income (1873) of $40,000. The " Woman's Board of Missions," sustained chiefly by the Congregationalists and auxiliary to the American Board, was organized in 1808; it has'500 auxiliaries, and an income of $77,-000. Similar societies have been organized in connection with the Methodist church (1809), with 1,500 auxiliaries and an income of $64,-309; in the Presbyterian church (1871), with 376 auxiliaries and receipts of $87,310; and in the Baptist church (1871), with 600 auxiliaries, and receipts of $83,378.

3. Continental Europe

The continent of Europe has remained, in zeal for the missionary cause, far behind England and America. The first country which, at the close of the 18th century, followed the example of the English, was Holland, which formed in 1797, mainly through the influence of Dr. Vanderkemp, a Dutch missionary employed by the London missionary society, the "Netherlands Missionary Society," at Rotterdam. The political events, in consequence of which Holland lost her colonies, caused a postponement of independent operations till 1810, when they commenced in the Indian archipelago, which is still their chief seat. The missions in India proper, when Holland exchanged with Britain these settlements, were transferred to English societies, but other missions were founded at Surinam, Guiana, and in Curacoa in the West Indies. The society sustains a seminary at Rotterdam, and counted among its missionaries the celebrated Dr. Gtitzlaff. - The most extensive of the missionary societies of continental Europe is that of Basel. Unlike the others, it was preceded by the establishment of a missionary seminary in 1815, which has furnished a number of devoted missionaries to other societies, especially English. An independent society, the "Evangelical Missionary Society of Basel," was formed in 1821, which now sustains missionaries in west Africa, India, and China. The income in 1872 was 864,167 francs.

The society employs 98 European missionaries, 59 European ladies, and 210 native laborers, and has 3,718 communicants. The Basel society has received from its foundation the missionary contributions from a number of the German churches. Afterward several other societies sprang up, whose operations, however, have been thus far inferior to those of the English and American societies. Those exclusively or mainly Lutheran are the Evangelical Lutheran missionary association of Leip-sic, founded in 1836, and occupying in southern India the former missionary field of the Danes, with 17 European missionaries, 16 stations, embracing 397 villages, and numerous native agents; the Berlin missionary society, instituted in 1824, and supporting a mission in southern Africa with 31 stations and 48 laborers; and the Hermannsburg society, founded in 1854, which has adopted the plan of sending out entire missionary colonies. Those whose sympathies are with the evangelical party are the Rhenish missionary society, founded in 1828, Gossner's missionary union, in 1S36, and the North German missionary society, in 1836, which have missions in Africa, India, China, the Indian archipelago, and the islands of the Pacific. The Rhenish society has 11 missionaries, 13 native helpers, 9 stations, and more than 1,400 adherents, among the Batta people of Sumatra. Special associations for China have been formed in Cassel, Berlin, and Pomerania, mostly occasioned by the reports of Dr. Gtitzlaff; and it was intended to unite them all into a central Chinese missionary association, but this proved unsuccessful.

Of late years, the aggregate receipts of the German missionary associations have rapidly risen, as the supreme authorities of nearly all the state churches have strongly recommended them and prescribed the taking up of an annual collection in every church. - France has had a missionary society since 1822, which sustains a flourishing mission among the Bassutos of southern Africa, where it now has 17 stations, 69 native helpers, and 2,229 communicants. Its income is 13,784 francs. - The Scandinavians have been as yet hardly represented in the foreign missionary field. The Swedes have almost restricted themselves to sending preachers to the Laplanders, and only China has received a few missionaries from a society in Lund. The Norwegian missionary society, established in 1842, has some agents among the Zooloos in southern Africa. But in Scandinavia also the activity of the missionary societies is increasing. Norway founded a foreign missionary seminary at Bergen in 1859; the second Scandinavian church diet recommended the formation of one great Scandinavian missionary society; and in Denmark, the union of all the local societies into a Danish missionary society was effected in June, 1860. - There are now 52 Protestant evangelical missionary societies engaged in giving the gospel to the un-evangelized nations, with an aggregate yearly expenditure of over $5,500,000. Our own country has 574 Protestant missionaries in various fields, supported in their work at an expense of $1,704,000. - The Missionary Field. Having thus considered the different missionary organizations of the Protestant world, it remains to glance at the various mission fields and see what has been accomplished.

AVe begin with Japan, with its 33,000,000 people, one of the fields most recently opened to Protestant missionary efforts. But little direct missionary labor has yet been accomplished there, and the government has not yet granted entire freedom for the proclamation of the gospel. Still, 30 Protestant missionaries, of 11 different societies, are at work, in a limited way, in a few of the coast cities. They have done something in education, and have gathered a few converts into four churches already formed, one at Kobe, one at Ozaka, one at Yokohama, and one at Tokio, the capital. It is confidently anticipated that the government will Boon remove all restrictions against the preaching of the gospel. Meantime, the readiness of the government -and people to adopt the western civilization is one of the wonders of the age. Robert Morrison may be regarded as the founder of Protestant missions in China. He began his labors at Canton in 1807, and in seven years gave to the Chinese a translation of the New Testament, together with a dictionary and grammar of their own language; and in eleven years he had published the entire Bible in their own tongue, having meantime been joined in his labors by Mr. Milne, another English missionary.

But the operations of Protestant missionaries were greatly circumscribed for many years by the exclusiveness of the Chinese. It was not till 1861 that the empire was really open to their labors. From 1842 to that time the residence of foreigners, for trade or other purposes, was restricted to five cities upon the coast; but now missionaries of 22 different societies, about 150 in all, are residing in various parts of the empire, with missions virtually established in 40 walled cities and 360 villages, with 100,000 adherents and 10,000 church members. A remarkable religious movement has been developed in Uhimi, a district of northern China. Thousands of people were found there called the "nameless sect," repudiating idolatry, recognizing the existence of a Supreme Being, believing in a final judgment, and looking for a "deliverer."1 Missionaries have visited them and given them more perfect instruction, baptized many, and organized a church among them, and many of them now recognize Jesus Christ as the "deliverer " for whom they were looking. In the province of Chikiang are 1,500 native Christians, with at least 100 native ministers, catechists, and teachers.

There are 12 Protestant chapels and 20 missionaries in Peking. The Bible and other religious books have been given to the Chinese in several of the different dialects of their language, together with a dictionary of the Canton dialect by Dr. Morrison, as already mentioned, of the Pokien dialect by Dr. Medlmrst, and of the M mdarin by S. Wells Williams. Eight presses are in constant operation at Shanghai alone, where 18.000,000 pages a year are printed. As many as 150 works on science, medicine, history, geography, law, and miscellaneous subjects, have been published in China by Protestant missionaries. These works are in a style acceptable to the learned classes, and many of them have been reprinted by the Chinese themselves, and thus added to the permanent literature of the country. Conspicuous among such works is Wheaton's " international Law." translated by an American missionary and published at the expense of the government. A healthful iniluence has thus been exerted upon the educational interests of the country, and a demand for the western sciences has been created. An American missionary is president of the imperial university of Peking, and Chinese youth are being sent in considerable numbers to America and Europe for education.

Another striking illustration of the influence of missions in China is the fact that the Chinese in some places are resorting to preaching to meet and oppose the progress of Christian truth, defending idolatry by public sermons in halls and temples. Men are selected for this service by competitive examination. The people are also resorting to works of benevolence, founding hospitals and dispensaries, distributing medicines and coffins gratuitously to the poor, and establishing free schools and lyceums. Coming westward, we find Moravian missionaries laboring on the borders of Thibet. American Presbyterians have 3 churches and 60 members in Siam. American Baptists are at work successfully in Assam, especially among the Garrows, a hill tribe, where many are accepting Christianity. European missionaries are in the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, and the Moluccas, with encouraging prospects, but no great results yet reached. - Work was begun in Burmah by the Baptists of America in 1813, under the lead of the celebrated Adoniram Judson. Their greatest success has been among the Karens, a native tribe more accessible than the ruling classes.

There are 75 Protestant missionaries laboring in that land, with 421 native preachers, 372 churches, 20,000 members, more than 60,000 adherents, and 6,000 children in schools. The king is friendly to the missionaries, and disposed to encourage his people to receive at least the western civilization. He has ordered the translation of an English cyclopaedia into the Burmese tongue, that his people may have access to the treasures of knowledge, and lias built a school house for 1,000 scholars, to educate the best of the young men for teachers of the people. - India is as large as all the United States of America east of the Mississippi, and inhabited by nearly 240,000,000 people, speaking a large number of languages and dialects. The first Protestant missionaries to India were from Denmark, sent to Tranquebar by the king in 1706. They were few, however, and accomplished but little. The real work for that land was begun by Carey in 1793. Since that time 33 societies have established missions in India. The American board has labored among the Mahrattas in Bombay, Ah-mednuggur, Seroor, Sattara, and that region, and among the Tamil people of the Madras and Madura districts and Ceylon. The church missionary and London societies have labored with great success among the Shanars, or devil worshippers, and other tribes in southern India, where they now number among the Shanars alone 90.000 adherents and 12,000 communicants.

Of this region the official " Blue Book " says: "The districts are dotted over with flourishing villages and Christian churches. There are hundreds of native teachers employed among them, of whom 56 pre ordained and supported to a great extent by their congregations. Order and peace rule these simple communities, which give the government little trouble; while large tracts of country have been brought under cultivation, and the peasantry enjoy a larger share of material comfort than in days gone by." A great revival has recently occurred among the Syrian Christians of Malabar and Travancore, an ancient Christian sect which had lost almost all of Christianity except the name. The church missionary and London societies have long been laboring among them, but this revival has been promoted mainly by the preaching of native evangelists, and, though marked with some extravagances, thousands are thought to be truly converted. American Baptist missionaries are meeting with like encouragement among the Telugus in the east.

In 10 years the converts have increased from 23 to 6,418. The church at On-gole had two members in 1866, and 2,357 in 1873. Like success has been realized by European missionaries among the Kols and Santals, aboriginal tribes W. and N. W. of Calcutta, 10,000 adherents having been gained among the former since 1845, and 220 added to the churches among the latter in 1872. American Presbyterians are occupying Myn-pooree, Futtehghur, Saharunpoor, and Allahabad, principal cities to the northwest, along the valley of the Ganges. American Methodists are in Bareilly, Lucknow, and Moradabad, of the same region; and European missionaries are in almost every part of the land. Nary an Sheshadri, the Brahman whose visit to England and America excited great interest in 1873, is establishing and superintending a chain of missionary operations through several cities and villages 300 miles N. E. of Bombay. Other Brahmans are preaching the gospel, and learned pundits are attacking the popular idolatry. Nearly 500 Protestant missionaries are now laboring in India (Ceylon included), with 400 principal stations and 2,000 out stations, aided by 240 native preachers, with 60,000 members of Christian churches, and 140,000 pupils in Christian schools.

The whole Bible, or parts of it, and other books have been translated into 30 of the different languages of the country. And the above numbers by no means represent the entire change wrought there by missions. The increase in conversions in the last ten years is 50 per cent, greater than it was in the previous ten, and many of the churches are self-supporting, the native converts paying already $100,000 a year for the maintenance of their own Christian institutions, while other thousands have renounced idolatry and caste, who have not yet accepted Christianity. One marked indication of this is in the rise of the society called the Brahmo Somaj, of which Chunder Sen, an educated Hindoo, is the acknowledged leader. Its members discard the entire Hindoo mythology, believe in one God, Creator of heaven and earth, and accept the morality of the Bible, but not the doctrines of the Trinity, atonement, etc. They are regarded as deists; and yet Chunder Sen is reported as saying: "The spirit of Christianity has pervaded the whole of Indian society, and we breathe, think, feel, and move in a Christian atmosphere.

Native society is being roused, enlightened, and reformed under the influence of Christian education." - English missionaries are at work among the aborigines of Australia and in the island of Mauritius. In the latter the church missionary society has 1,118 communicants, and the society for the propagation of the gospel 594. Little or nothing has been attempted by Protestant missionaries among the people of Afghanistan, Beloochistan, or Arabia. Protestant missionaries from America entered Persia in 1834. Their work has been confined almost exclusively to the Nestorians, an ancient Christian sect, chiefly in the N. W. part of the empire; the city of Oroomiah, with its 25,000 inhabitants, being the chief seat of their operations. Among the Nestorians of Persia, who number about 150,000, 7 missionaries of the American Presbyterian church are laboring, with 54 native pastors and preachers, 17 churches, 767 communicants, 70 schools, and 1,124 scholars. The cities of Tabriz and Teheran have more recently been occupied, and more direct efforts are to be made to reach the Mohammedans, some of whom have already embraced the Christian faith. The Nestorians had the Scriptures, but in an unknown tongue. The missionaries have translated the Bible into the modern Syriac, the language of the people.

Constantinople has been the principal centre of operations for the 40,000,000 of the Turkish empire, especially for the work of the press. Able men have devoted much time to the translation of the Scriptures and other books into the languages of the empire. Religious papers are also published in that city and widely scattered through the empire. Nothing could be done at first among the Mohammedans, it being death to any Mussulman to change his religion; but that law has been abrogated, and religious liberty secured to all classes, by imperial firman, although persecution has not altogether ceased. But the labors of the missionaries have been devoted chiefly to the Armenians, Greeks, and other Christian sects, with a view to reaching the Mohammedans in the end. For this purpose 50 missionaries of the American board are now occupying most of the principal cities of the empire, not only preaching the gospel, but establishing schools, training up teachers and preachers, translating and printing books for schools and for general reading, gathering converts into native churches, and ordaining native pastors over them.

The Protestant churches now number over 4,000 members, and the Protestant adherents over 23,000, making one of the recognized sects or communities of the empire, with its civil head residing at the capital and guarding its interests. A great demand for education has been created by these missionary operations. Previously female education was a thing almost entirely unknown; now female seminaries and primary schools for girls are found in many parts of the empire, and thousands of women can read and are teaching others. Schools and academies for boys are multiplied, and colleges have become a necessity. One has been for years in successful operation at Constantinople, endowed chiefly by the liberality of Christopher R. Robert, a merchant of New York, whose name it bears. It has 250 students of 13 different nationalities. Another is just starting at Aintab, a city of about 35,000 inhab- itaiits, in northern Syria. The native converts themselves have asked for it, and have contributed liberally toward founding it. The native Turkish schools have felt the impulse of improvement, and are far hotter than they were before mission schools were established among them.

Training schools or theological seminaries are also in operation at four of the principal cities of the interior (Marsivan, Kharput, Marash, and Mardin), to educate native ministers. A similar work has been done mainly by American missionaries in Syria, the Bible having been translated into pure Arabic, and 60 Protestant schools established with 3,000 scholars, besides a college proper, a medical college, and a theological seminary. In self-defence the Greeks, Roman Catholics, and Armenians of the land have started as many more schools, to keep their children from Protestant influence-. There are about 20 missionaries in Syria, 500 church members, and printing presses issuing 11,000,000 pages of religious books yearly. - In 1830 the American board and American Episcopalians entered Greece, ami American Baptists followed in 1836. The Episcopalians have done little besides maintaining a school at Athens. Dr. Kin:: of the American board contended earnestly for liberty to preach the gospel and make converts.

Although as strongly opposed by the leading powers in church and state, he finally succeeded; religious liberty has been secured, a few churches have been formed, and some native Greeks are preaching the Protestant faith. - In Africa, with its 200,000,000 people, we find 10 missionaries of the United Presbyterian church of America, male and female, laboring in Egypt, chiefly among the 150,000 ('opts, an ancient Christian sect, who have been sunk for ages in a darkness and superstition equal almost to any heathenism. Their most prosperous station is at Sioot. They have 9 stations in all, 508 church members, 14 schools, 600 scholars, and 22 theological students. Miss Whately, an Entrlish lady, has also a large school in Cairo, and the Kaiserwerth deaconesses are laboring in Alexandria. English missionaries labored in Abyssinia from 1820 to 1838, but were then expelled by the king at the instance of the Jesuits. Another mission was started in 1854, but was soon crushed out by similar influ-ences. The "Pilgrim Spcictv of St. Krisha-na now has one missionary at Adowa, capital of rigre, and another at Ankobar, in the kingdom of Shoa; and eight African youths, educated at St. Krishana, have returned under the guidance of a missionary of the London Jewish society to labor among the Jews. Swedish missionaries are laboring at Massowah and Ailat. on the borders, where they have met with some success in their schools A beginning has been made by English missionaries at Zanzibar, east Africa, in two small stations, but as yet with insignificant results.

The west coast presents a different aspect. Between Sierra Leone and. the Gaboon, a distance of nearly 2,000 miles, 12 or more Protestant societies have missions, with about 20,-000 children in Christian schools and as many members gathered into Christian churches. The slave trade has disappeared from this region, where it formerly had 20,000 victims a year. Mohammedanism is said to be making some advances in the interior of Africa, while Protestant Christianity is disputing its sway upon the coast. About 20 societies are operating in southern Africa, among the Bushmen, the Hottentots, the Bechuanas, the Zooloo Caf-fres, and other tribes. Large colonies of European settlers have occupied portions of the country, so that the whole territory, for 1,000 miles north of the Cape of Good Hope, is possessed by these colonists, or dotted over with mission stations among the native tribes. Here also, as in west Africa, the people were without written languages, or schools, or books of any sort. The languages have been reduced to writing, books prepared, schools established, and churches organized, whose members are now reckoned at 30,000, some with native pastors over them.

About 100,000 people in southern Africa are thus recovered from heathenism, and have settled down to habits of civilized life. The Lovedale educational institution of the Free church of Scotland, with a school of 150 boys and 30 girls, is doing much to prepare suitable teachers for the people. - In Madagascar, inhabited by about 5,000,000 people, missionary operations were commenced in 1818, by the London missionary society, but soon suspended by the death of three out of the four who composed the first missionary party. Other missionaries landed in 1820, and met with great success in their labors for several years. The king favored their operations; the language was reduced to writing; the Scriptures and other books were translated into the native tongue; schools were established and many converts -were made. But after the death of the king, in 1828, the queen, who succeeded him on the throne, began to manifest hostility to the new religion, soon became a fierce and relentless persecutor, drove the missionaries from the island, and slaughtered thousands of her best subjects, as many as 2,000 sometimes being killed in a single year.

Yet secretly the truth was spreading all the time, and when at length the queen died (July 10, 1801) and her own son came to the throne, he at once proclaimed entire freedom in religious matters, and the missionaries were invited to return and resume their labors. Not long after, however, the king proved treacherous and was put to death by his own nobles, and his widow was crowned queen under a written constitution, guaranteeing the fullest religious liberty. Although she was herself an idolater to the last, she was true to her coronation oath. She died April 1, 1868, and her sister, who succeeded to the throne, has been friendly to the new religion from the first, and is a member of one of the native churches. Ever since the death of the first queen, the missionaries have enjoyed the largest liberty in the prosecution of their work. Nearly half a million of people have already renounced their idolatry; the state idols have been burned; large congregations are gathered every Sunday for Christian worship; thousands have learned to read, and 60,000 are numbered as communicants in the churches; a change more rapid and remarkable than in any other mission field. - Turning westward again, it is something noticeable that Protestant missionaries are now laboring in Italy, Spain, and Austria: countries from which until quite recently they were excluded.

The Protestant church members in Italy are now 4,000. Such are some of the changes in the old world. - In America, the labors of the missionaries among the Indians have not been altogether in vain. The Creeks, Cherokees, and Choctaws had virtually received the Christian religion 20 years ago, but the civil war deprived them for a time of their religious teachers and retarded their progress. They, however, have schools, churches, and native pastors, supported by themselves. Missionaries are also at work among the Chippewas, the Sioux, the Pawnees, the Delawares, the Oneidas, the Nez Perces, and other tribes within the territory of the United States. English missionaries are in like service in Manitoba, around Hudson bay, in British Columbia, and on Mackenzie river. Sixteen different societies have missions among the Indians of North America; and it is estimated that 10,000 of them are now members of Christian churches, and 75,000 including women and children, have settled down to habits of civilized life.

The present attitude of the government is regarded as highly favorable to greater success in Christianizing the Indians. The Moravians have 24 missionary agents, 45 native assistants, and 948 communicants among the Greenlanders; and 45 missionary agents, 36 native assistants, and 434 communicants in Labrador. - Through all this modern missionary era many of the blacks of the West India islands have been regarded as but little better than pagans, and English and American missionaries have labored among them with great self-denial. It is estimated that 80,000 are now members of Protestant churches. Protestant missionaries, 12 in number, are laboring in Mexico, occupying six of its principal cities, with 12 congregations in and around the capital. Great numbers of Bibles are sold; the people are asking for schools and learning to read, a new thing with them. A like work has been begun in Colombia, Chili, and Brazil, from which countries Protestant missionaries were excluded until within a few years.

The Moravians have long had a prosperous mission in Surinam, and now have 13 stations, 65 missionary agents, 406 native assistants, and 5,507 communicants.

In the islands of the Pacific all was pagan, and a large part cannibal, 60 years ago. The people were without written languages, without books, without schools, and sunk in the lowest degradation. English and American missionaries have vied with each other in the work of elevating them. Twenty languages have been reduced to writing. Elementary books and translations of the Scriptures have been prepared in them, schools opened, teachers trained for them, and hundreds of thousands of the people have been taught to read. Churches have been organized and native pastors placed over them. Men are now preaching the gospel on these islands who had participated in a hundred cannibal feasts. The first missionaries to the Hawaiian islands landed there in 1820, and since that time the number of converts received into their churches is about 70,000; the present number is 12,360, gathered in 57 churches, most of them having native pastors. These churches, with some aid in men and means from the American board, themselves now sustain a foreign mission in the Micronesian islands, 3,000 miles S. W. of their own country, and another on the Marquesas islands, nearly as far S. The Hawaiian islands have been for some years regarded as Christianized, and no longer missionary ground.

Like changes have occurred further south, under the labors of English missionaries, of the London, Wesleyan, and Church missionary societies. They have labored in New Zealand, and in the Society, Friendly, Feejee, and other islands, with such success that idolatry and cannibalism have disappeared from almost the whole of eastern Polynesia. More than 300 islands have almost entirely relinquished their heathenism, and more than 400,000 of these recent savages are virtually Christianized. The number of communicants gathered into their churches was long since reckoned at 50,000, and now can hardly be less than 60,000. - According to the estimates given, the number of converts now-living and gathered into Christian churches by the labors of Protestant missionaries throughout the world is as follows: in China, 10,000; Burmah, 20,000; India, 60,000; Turkey, 4,000; west Africa, 20,000; south Africa, 30,000; Madagascar, 60,000; the Indians of North America, 10,000; the blacks of theWest Indies and Guiana, 80,000; and the Pacific islanders, 60,000; making a total of 354,000 communicants, representing communities of nominal Christians to the number of nearly 2,000,000, without including the scattered few in Japan, Siam, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Greenland, Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. There arc now about 2,000 Protestant missionaries engaged in the work, aided by 10,000 native pastors and preachers whom they have trained; and missionaries have translated the Bible and many other books into nearly 200 languages and dialects.

Probably 100 of the missionaries are medical men, who combine the healing art with their relipious instruction, and thus get access to thousands who could not otherwise be reached. From 12 to 20 medical dispensaries are in operation in India alone for the gratuitous treatment of diseases, in which generally religious services are also held. Dr. Parker treated 55,000 Chin 'se during his residence in Canton, relieving all sorts of maladies, exciting the liveliest gratitu le in the minds of most of his patients, and preparing the way for Christian instruc-tion. More recently female physicians have been sent to some mission fields, with special reference to reaching the women in the seclusion of their homes. In Japan Dr. Berry of the American board has induced the people to establish seven hospitals, of which he is to have the oversight. - The literature of Protestant missions is very copious. Almost every missionary society publishes a periodical which, together with the annual reports of the socie-ties, is the most trustworthy source of information for the missionary history of a particular denomination. The number of works published by missionaries on special countries is likewise very large.

Among the works extending over the whole ground are: W. Brown, •'History of the Propagation of Christianity among the Heathen since the Reformation" (2 vols., London. 1811); Huie, "History of Christian Missions from the Reformation to the Present Time" (Edinburgh, 1849); Wig-pers, Gesehirhte der erangclischcn Missionen (2 Mils., l.s45-"6); Handbuchlein der Mis-sionsges hichte and Missionsgeographie (Calw, 1844); Newcomh, "Cyclopaedia of Missions" (New York, 1800); Aikman, "Cyclopaedia of Christian Missions" (London, 1860); Anderson, "Foreign Missions, their Relations and Claims" (New York, 1809; Boston, 1870); Grundemann, Missions-Atlas (Gotha, 1867-71); and "Missionarv World" (London, 1873).