Before the close of the 14th c. not only was nearly all of Europe nominally Christian, b:It Mongolia, Tartary, Persia, and China had been visited. and greatly influenced by bishops and friars sent out from the Roman Catholic church. The discovery of America in 1492 and the doubling of the cape of Good Hope opened the way for missions in new fields. The Spanish and Portuguese prosecuted their voyages of discovery, of traffic, or of conquest, taking with them missionaries authorized to effect the conversion of the natives. Mexico, Central and -South-America, and -parts of India were among the coun tries thus visited. The institution, of the order of Jesuits, who• pledged them selves to go wherever the pope might send them, gave a great impulse to missions among the heathen. In Brazil, Peru, and New Granada, Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians vied with each other in civilizing the wild tribes. In Mexico and Cali, fornia, as well as in the Portuguese possessions in India, the Jesuits were equally dili gent. The inquisition was resorted to not only to restore heretics but to enforce conversion. It has been common for the Roman Catholic church to shield itself from blame in this respect by saying that it gave over the incorrigible to the secular authorities for punish ment; but it is well understood that the secular authorities were under the control and did the bidding of the church. It is believed that in these days the church of Christ is learning again the spirit of Christ, and that persecution, formerly not unknown in any sect of the church, will hereafter be left to heathen powers.
In 1608 the French established prosperous missions among the Indians of North America. In the 16th, 17th,and 18th centuries unsuccessful attempts were made to Lring into the Roman Catholic church the Christian church of Abyssinia, which for more than 1000 years had maintained an independent existence. At last, iu 1850, the king of Tigre in Abyssinia, with 50,000 of his subjects, united with the church of Rome. The Roman Catholics now have considerable missions in China, Anam, India, in Sene gambia, Natal, and among the Gallas in Central Africa, in seine of the islands in Poly nesia, and among the Indians of North America.
In beginning an account of Protestant missions it is proper to allude to the sending of 14 pastors front Geneva by Calvin in 1555, at the request of Nicholas Durand, to join the colony of French Protestants whom he had persuaded to accompany him to Brazil. Durand joined the church of Route, put to death three of the Genevan teachers, and drove others back to Europe, the Portuguese massacring the remaining colonists. In 1559 Gustavus Vasa of Sweden established a mission among his subjects in Lapland, which was maintained for some years. The Protestant settlers of New England had, according to their own account, for one of their aims in coming to this country, "above all, that of extending the Redeemer's kingdom in lands where Christ is not named." The charter granted to the Plymouth colony bythe king recognizes this worthy dispo sition" of the petitioners, and thanks God for the privilege of engaging in "so hopeful a work" as the "conversion of savages" to "civil society and the Christian religion." In 1621 elder Robert Cushman, writing to England, reports the Indians as favorably disposed to religion and humanity, and some of the natives giving evidence, living and dying, of conversion to God. The charter given by Charles I. in 1628 to the Massa chusetts colony declares that "to win the natives of that country to the knowledge and obedience of the only trite God and Savior of mankind and the Christian faith in our royal intention and the adventurers' free profession, is the principal end of the planta tion." The seal of the colony had as its device the figure of an Indian with a label in his mouth, on which was inscribed the Macedonian cry, " Come over and help us !" This object was kept in view, though the settlers were harassed by the hardships and struggles incident to their condition, and, as circumstances allowed, carried out in the lives of those first settlers, and it bore fruit in the Christian walk of converts. In 1643
Thomas Mayhew began labors among the Indians of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and five generations of that family furnished pastors for the churches so gathered. In 1616 the legislature of Massachusetts passed an act for the propagation of the gospel among the Indians, and the same year the celebrated John Eliot began to labor among them. In 1649 the society for propagating the gospel in New England was in England, which aided in the support of Eliot, Mayhew, Bourn, and other missionaries among the Indians. A settlement of praying Indians was soon formed, and a church organized in Natick in 1661. Eliot traveled extensively among the Indians. and once preached the gospel to the famous king Philip of Pokanoket, who rejected it with dis dain. He translated the Bible and other Christian books. His translation published in 1663 was the only Bible printed in America before the revolution. In 1675, through the labors of Eliot and others, 14 settlements of praying Indians had been formed, and 24 regular congregations, and there were as many Indian preachers. Time converts adopted civilized and Christian modes of life, and became industrious and virtuous citizens. In 1733-45 Mr. Parks labored among the Indians of Rhode Island. They abandoned their (latices and drunken revels, and crowded the places of worship. Sixty were received to the church. In 1734 Mr. J. Sargent, resigning the office of tutor in Yale college. labored with the Mohegans till his death in 1749. He found them "living viciously in misera ble wigwams; he left them settled in a thriving town at Stockbridge with good houses." The great and good Jonathan Edwards labored 6 years among them. Front 1734 to 1782 the Moravians labored with great patience and self-denial for the Indians in various parts of Pennsylvania, New York, and Connecticut. Of these missionaries count Zinzendorf, Christian Henry Rauch, and David Ziesberger are worthy of special notice. Many converts were made. From 1743-47 David Brainerd lived a martyr-life among them, teaching and converting many. The Rev. William Tennent, also John Brainerd, and a converted Indian, Samson Occum, and many othersworked earnestly and success fully. The French and English war came, and the war of the revolution. The Christi: n Indians took no part in these, and were consequently suspected by each party of secretly sympathizing with th:mir enemies. They ..uffered much from the belligerents, their settlements beitig 'breienilp,-thetrtillages destrbyed. Reports of the work among the Indians excited great interest in England, and funds continued to be raised for its advancement. Dr. Luesden informed Cotton Mather that the example of New England awakened the Dutch to seek to convert the heathen in their East Indian pos sessions. Referring to it, bishop Burnet says: "The church of England, moved by the example of the dissenters, whose labors they admired, formed the society for promoting Christian knowledge." Some members of this society in 1701 formed the society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts, which was sanctioned by III. It began mission work in India in 1727, and has had missions in Delhi, Poona, Alitnednuggur, Kolapore, the Nizam's dominions, Bangalore, Cuddalore, Tinuevelly, Arcot, _Madras, Madura, and Calcutta. The mission of this society in Tinnevelly district has had great success in recent years, 23,654, from July, 1877, to the end of June, 1879, having asked Christian instruction. In 1870 this society had 569 ordained missionaries, 578 native catechists, 212,051 baptized persons, 41,413 communicants.