In 1705 Frederick IV., king of Denmark, sent Ziegenhalg and Plutschau to Tran quebar, on the Coromandel coast, to convert his heathen subjects. So averse were the natives to having foreigners acquire their written language that the king put their teacher in prison, and loaded him with chains. •Ziegenbalg himself was imprisoned four months. Persevering amid great discouragements the converts at his death numbered 355. In 1711 the translation of the New Testament into Tamil was finished. Grundler, Schultze, and Dahl continued the work after Ziegenbalg's death; and the rajah of Tanjore, who had forbidden Ziegenbalg to enter his territory, was so won by their consistent lives that he threw open his kingdom to the gospel. The work was, however, retarded by the wars of the English and French between themselves and with the native princes; and the immoralities of European residents and travelers prejudiced hoth Hindus and 'Moham medans against Christianity. In 1728 Schultze removed to Madras and formed the Vepery mission. In 1750 Christian Frederick Schwartz arrived in India. He labored 48 years at Tranquebar, Trichonopoly, Tanjore, and in Ceylon. During 10 years in Trichonopoly he baptized 1238. The simplicity and earnestness of his life•won the con fidence and respect of heathen and Mohammedan princes. The English government sent him to negotiate a treaty with the haughty and powerful Hyder Ali. Hyder had said: "Let them send me the Christian; be will not deceive me." When near death the rajah of Tanjore committed to his guardianship his adopted son and heir, Serfogee. Serfogee, when king, erected a monumental slab to the memory of Schwartz in the church where he had been wont to preach, in which groups of children and native men, and Serfogee himself, arc represented as mourning his death, while he is depicted as looking at the cross.
In 1708 a Danish mission was sent to Greenland. In 1709 the Society for promoting Christian knowledge was formed in Scotland, and by it David Brainerd was sustained among the Indians. Through the influence of Hans Egede, Frederick IV., of Denmark, established a seminary at Copenhagen to train missionaries for Greenland. It was here that count Zinzendorf was first impressed with the duty of spreading the gospel, and when he returned to Hernhutt the Moravians seemed at once inspired with a wonderful zeal in the cause of missions. They looked upon it as the great business of the clnurb, and claimed that every member should contribute to its support. One in 50 of the entire membership devoted themselves to labor in the foreign field. From 1732 to 1853 they had stations in the West Indies, Greenland, among North American Indians, and in Labrador, South America, Australia, and Thibet; and the whole number of missionaries engaged during those years was 2,300, exclusive of native assistants. In 1879 they reported 99 stations, 324 missionaries, 1485 native helpers, 24,439 communicants, 13,856 baptized adults, and an income of $91,713.
In 1789 William a Baptist minister, endeavored to reawaken in England an interest in the subject of missions to the heathen, but it was not till 1792 that a society was formed, which sent Carey andlThomas to Calcutta. The East India company for bidding their going in the company's ship. they left it and went in a Danish vessel. Obliged for a time to support themselves by superintending an indigo factory, they preached and taught among the native employes and in the neighboring villages.
Marshman and Ward also were sent, but, owing to the hostility of the company, were obliged to proceed to the Danish settlement at'Serampore, where the Danish governor, who had previously enjoyed the ministry of Schwartz at Tranquebar, gave them and Carey also his protection. In 1816, 700 natives hind and 10,000 children had received Christian instruction. The same society in 1797 established a mission in Dingapore, another in 1804 in the Jessore district; also in Chittagong, in Dacca, in Bari sal (where in 1873 there were 4,600 converts and 40 native teachers and preachers), in Agra, Allahabad, Benares, and Delhi. In the mutiny of 1857 two missionaries and their families at Delhi were massacred, but after the siege the mission was•renewed, and made great progress. The society sent missionaries t,o the West Indies and Africa. The mis sions in Jamaica have become self-supporting since 1842. It has missions also in Norway, Italy, and China, and reported, in 1878, 86 European missionaries, 40 native missionaries, 205 evangelists, 112 stations, 29,496 church members, 348 teachers, 15,079 scholars, and an income of V50,344. The General Baptists formed a distinct society, sent a mission to Orissa. India, in 1822; and in 1878 had 7 stations and 5 branch stations, 14 European agents, 15 native pretuthers, 8S4 members, and an income of $42,000. They have now begun a mission in Rome.
The London missionary society was formed in 1795. Their mission in the Society islands, established 1797, was without apparent success until, in 1816, king Pomare II. embraced Christianity. In 25 years the islanders had relinquished idolatry and canni balism, had learned to read, had made great improvement in social habits, and many of them lived the Christian life. French Catholic priests reached the islands, but were not allowed to remain. The islauds were soon after this seized by the French government in the interest of the Homan Catholic missionaries, In 1807 this society sent Dr. Monti, son, the first Protestant missionary. to China. who translated the New Testament and, with the aid of Dr. Milne, the Old Testament into Chinese. It established missions also in the Indian archipelago, in Mauritius, in Southern Africa, where Moffat for 52 years with great success taught Christianity and civilization, beginning in the kraal of Africaner and extending his labors to several native tribes, and where Livingstone began his unprecedented career as a missionary and explorer. Their missionaries sent in 1820 to Madagascar were the instruments of introducing Christianity there. They were expelled for a time, but the "praying ones," as the converts were called, continued to increase during their absence, notwithstanding a terrific persecution in which the queen is said to have slaughtered as many as 2,000 of her best subjects in a single year on account of their adhesion to Christ. After her death the missionaries were invited to return, and religions liberty was enjoyed. Half a million of people have renounced idolatry, and 60,000 have confessed Christ. In 1880 this great society had 136 ordained European missionaries, 371 ordained native ministers, 4,529 native preachers, 89,487 communicants, 339,898 native adherents, 75,914 pupils. Its missions are in China, India, Madagascar, Africa, West Indies, and Polynesia.