MISSIONS, enterprises of the Christian church for the conversion of the nations to Christianity. by sending to them teachers called missionaries.
The first Christians displayed great zeal in preaching the gospel to the heathen; Christian teachers continued to go forth for this purpose into heathen countries until about the 9th c., and although ()trier and less worthy means were too often employed, the labors of Palladius in Ireland, of Columba in Scotland, of Augustine in England, of Gallus and Emmeran in Aletrutimia. Of Kilian in Bavaria, of Willibrodin Franconia, of Swidvirt in Friesland, of Siegfried in Sweden, of Bonifttee in Thuringia and Saxony, of Adalbert in Prussia, of Cyril and Methodius amongst the Slavonians, and of many such early missionaries, were unquestionably very instrumental in the extension of Christian• ity in Europe. After the reformation, the Roman Catholic church, roused to activity by its losses and dangers, not only sent forth missionaries to confirm its adherents in Prot estant countries, anti to win back Protestants, but also sought to repair its losses by new acquisitions from the vast domain of heathenism. With this view, the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide was constituted by Gregory XV. in 1022. and the Collegium de Propa ganda Fide (see PROPAGANDA) by Urban VIII. in 1627, and in a number of places insti tutions called seminaries. were established for the training of missionaries. Jesuit missionaries earnestly prosecuted their work amongst the Indians of South America, from the middle of the 16th e. to the middle of the 18th, when they were expelled by the Portuguese and Spanish governments, because their political power had become too for midable. They are accused of administering baptism with too great readiness; but they were certainly successful in extending civilization amongst the Indians, particularly of Paraguay. Jesuit missions to India and Japan were founded by Francis Xavier (q.v.) in the middle of the 16th century. In Japan, the missionaries made great progress at first; and in 1582 they boasted of 150,000 converts, 200 churches, and 59 religious houses of their order in that empire; but ere the middle of the 16th e. the whole work had been overthrown, and every missionary expelled. In China similar rapid success was enjoyed, and was followed by a similar period of persecution, although the destruction effected was more partial than in Japan, and the church of Home continued to subsist in China, its missionaries and members enduring great hardships, and many of them evincing their sincerity even by their death. There are not a few Roman Catholics in China at the present time. In Abyssinia, also, the Jesuits made great progress in the 17th c., and for a time attained great power in the country; but their interference in political matters led to their complete expulsion. In the 17th c. the Jesuits boasted of the vast success of their mission in Madura, a province of southern India; but it was found to be rather apparent than real. and to have been attained by a compromise of Christianity and the employment of unworthy means, so that, after long contests in the papal court, a decision was pronounced against the Jesuits, and their connection with Madura was dissolved in the middle of the 18th century.
For a long period after the reformation, the Protestant church seems to have been little sensible of the duty of laboring for the propagation of Christianity; nor was it until the present century that missionary zeal began to be largely developed. In the middle of the 17th c. (1647), indeed, an act of the English parliament established the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and at the close of the century (1698) the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was established. A few missionaries labored with zeal and success among the North American Indians. in which field the names of Eliot and Mayhew are particularly distinguished in the 17th c., and that of Brainerd in the 18th; but the commencement of more systematic and continuous mission ary enterprise may be reckoned from the establishment of the first Protestant mission to India, which did not take place till the beginning of the 18th c., when Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and another were sent thither by Frederick IV. of Denmark, and settled in a small territory then belonging to Denmark on the coast of Coromandel. The mission in the s. of India soon received the support of the English Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and was maintained and extended chiefly by that society during the whole of the 18th century. Amongst thd missionaries wholabored in thisfiela, the name of Swartz is particularly distinguished; and the success which attended his exertions, and the influ ence which he acquired in the country, were equally remarkable. Be died in 1798. Since that time, the missionary work in the s. of India has been carried on with contin ued success, and by the missionaries of a number of societies. Greater progress has been made there than in any other part of India, nor, indeed, was the work commenced in any other part of India till almost a century later.—The IVIoravian church early entered upon missi nary enterprise, and was the first Protestant church which did so in its united or corporate character; and very successful missions of the United Brethren were planted in the 18th c. at the cape of Good Hope, in the West Indies, and in Labra dor. Greenland had previously been made the field of similar enterprise by missionaries from Norway. The mission to Greenland was founded by Hans Egede (q.v.) in 1721, and has been maintained to the present day. Its success has been such, that the greater portion of the Greenlanders have now been converted to Christianity, and much of the rudeness of their former manner of life has disappeared.—Towards the close of the 18th
e., some of the great missionary societies still existing in England were formed—the Baptist Missionary Society in 1792, the London Missionary Society in 1795. About the same time the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Religious Tract Society were formed, which have co-operated with all the missionary societies as most important aux iliaries. The Baptist Missionary Society, immediately after its formation, sent missionaries to the n. of India. Dr.. Carey was one of its first, and also one of its most eminent missionaries. India is now a field of labor for many missionary societies, not only of Britain, but also of America and of the continent of Europe The London Missionary Society sent its firstmissionaries to the South Sea islands, and the mission was maintained for about 16 years, :midst many difficulties, without any ent success; but its success was afterward great and rapid, first in Tahiti, and afterward other islands, so that now many of the islands of the South Seas are entirely Christian. The London missionary society soon entered also upon other fields of labor, and now maintains missions to many parts of the world. It was at first composed of members of almost all Protestant denominations; but the formation of other societies, and the engage ment of churches as such in missionary enterprise--as the Wesleyan :Methodist church —have left this society now in a great measure to the English independents. One of the most important societies founded during the present century,. the Church, Missionary &defy, formed by members of the Church of England. has sent forth missionaries to many fields. They have been particularly successful in New Zealand, the w. of Africa, and about Hudson's bay; and they recently entered Allysinia. The various churches in Scotland also support vigorous mission agencies. The late Dr. Livingstone, of the Lon don missionary society, explored vast regions in Central Africa. Fired by his example, the friends of missions in Scotland subscribed £12.000 to found Lisingstonia, a memorial mission station on lake Nyassa, under the milnagelmtcmlt of the Free Church foreign mis sions committee; and an expedition arrived there and established.itscll in 1876. other missionary societies, Catholic and Protestant, have selected stations in the region of the great lakes. The have missions in many parts of the world. They have been particularly successful in the Fiji isiands. and in parts of the w. of Africa.—The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mi8810118 was formed in 1810, and was soon followed by other missionary societies in America, sonic of which rival those of Britain in magnitude and importance. One of the first enterprises of the Ameri can board was the mission to the Sandwich islands, founded in 1819, which has resulted in the general Christianization of these islands, and in their civilization to a degree which, considering the shortness of the time, may well be regarded with admiration. The American Baptist Missionary Society has occupied Burmah and the eastern peninsula as one of its principal spheres of labor, and there its missionaries have enjoyed rema•k able success in the Christianization and civilization of the people called Karens. Protes tant missionary societies have also been formed on the continent of Europe, of which the first was that of Basel/in 181G, and the next was that of Berlin, in 1823; and some of these have also maintained successful missions in heathen countries. '11w insbicc( s of most marked and extensive success of missions are those which have been already noticed, and that of Madagascar, where missionaries of the Loudon missionary society enjoyed the protection and favor of king Iladama I., and the church planted by them continued to exist, notwithstanding severe persecution, and the martyrdom of rot a few of its members. during the next reign, and is a wonderfully flourishing church at the present day. In the s. of Africa, 'also, important results have been attained. Access has recently been obtained to China, and a number of Protestant churches and societies have entered energetically upon that field. Preparation had been previously made for this, by missionary labors amongst the Chinese in the eastern peninsula, and by the study of the language, the compilation of grammarsomd dictionaries, and the translation of the Bible into the Chinese language. Indeed, it must be reckoned as among the ser vices rendered to mankind by Christian missionaries in modern times, that they have not only translated the Bible and other religious books into many languages, hut have reduced many barbarous tongues to writing, and have prepared grammars and dic tionaries, thereby contributing not a little, independently of their highest aim, to the promotion of knowledge, civilization, and the welfare of the human race.
The progress of Christian missions to 'Mohammedan countries has hitherto been very small, although numerous converts from Mohammedanisn, as well as from heathenism, have been made in India. Of late, some have thought they observed a movement among the :Mohammedans of India, apparently tending toward but at the same time there has been a new awakening of Mohammedanism itself in the eastern peninsula and the islands of the Malayan archipelago. Missions to the Jews have for several years engaged not a little of the attention of some portions of the Christian church, par ticularly in England and Scotland. Missions have been planted in places where Jews are numerous, and already with considerable success.