The same period saw the formation in France of the Paris Evangelical Missionary So ciety (1824), designed at first merely to aid existing enterprises, but quickly beginning to send out missionaries of its own. In 1913 it had 173 missionaries, men and women, and 1,274 native workers, in Madagascar, Senegam bia and the Barotse and Basuto regions of Africa. With the development of French colo nial expansion it has also taken the place of the London Missionary Society's missionaries in Tahiti and in parts of Madagascar, and of American missionaries in the French Kongo region. Protestant missionary societies in Hob. land, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland sprang later from the same causes and are doing good work with 831 missionaries and about 4,000 native workers in Africa, India, China, Chinese Turkestan and Madagascar.
The same spiritual awakening of widespread effects gave rise also to the British and Foreign Bible Society (1804), the American Bible So ciety (1816), the Netherlands Bible Society, and Religious Tract Society of London (1799) and the American Tract Society of New York (1820). The Bible societies do true foreign missionary, work in publishing the Scriptures as soon as missionaries have translated them into the languages of non-Christian peoples and in disseminating the Scriptures in these languages. Some 500 modern translations have been pub lished. The British and Foreign Bible Society in 1915 employed about 2,000 colporteurs and Bible women and its total issues of Bibles, New Testaments and lesser parts of Scripture amounted to 11,059,617 copies. The American Bible Society has about 1,500 colporteurs in foreign mission fields and issued in 1915 7,150, 911 copies. The Scottish National Bible So ciety issued in the same year over 2,500,000 besides joining with the first named societies in providing finances for translating and publishing the Bible in various languages.
The tract societies aid missions in a similar manner; providing funds for the publication of undenominational Christian literature in the languages of non-Christian peoples. The Reli gious Tract Society of London at its centen nial anniversary was able to report that it had given for this purpose to English and American foreign missions aid equivalent to $100 per day during the whole period of its existence.
In the second quarter of the 19th century the American Methodist Episcopal Church and the American Presbyterian Church began their missionary work in foreign lands. The two great branches of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1915 had 1,199 missionaries and 10,800 native laborers. The Presbyti rians
North and South have 1,551 missionaries and 6,866 native laborers. Almost all denominations in the United States and in Great Britain now have foreign missionary organizations of their own. Interdenominational and international missionary societies, like the China Inland Mis sion, the North Africa Mission, the Christian and Missionary Alliance and other bodies of greater or less importance have been formed to carry on missionary enterprises by methods more free from machinery than the older so cieties sometimes seem to require. The total number of Protestant missionary societies now existing probably exceeds. 500. The World War has interfered with collection of statistics, but in 1912 these societies reported 24,092 mis sionaries, men and women, and 111,862 na tive workers.
Four points are noteworthy, in the history of the development of these missionary so cieties, as each marking an epoch of expansion of their scope. These are: (1) The adoption of education as a missionary agency; (2) The general adoption by women of mission work for womankind; (3) The establishment of medical missions; (4) The opening of indus trial departments in many missions.
1. The aim of foreign missions is to tell of Jesus Christ to those who do not know Him. The aim is to lead them to sur render self-will to the control of Jesus Christ so completely that converts shall be true Chris. tians, who, if the missionary leaves to-morrow, i will stand immovable in their devotion and their impulse to teach others the truth that has bene fited themselves. At the outset the task seemed simple enough. To preach and preach again was all that was necessary. As a result of the first half century of experience, the discovery was made that common schools are essential in all missions which urge the reading of the Bible. Rev. Dr. Alexander Duff, a missionary from Scotland who left ineffaceable marks upon India, was a leader in championing the thesis that education in all grades is also an essential department of missionary effort. This prin ciple is now established with all that it means of general enlightcnment for backward races, and in 1912 there were in the Protestant mis sions throughout the world 35,000 educational establishments of all grades from kindergarten to university, attended by about 1,670,000 young people of every form of religious belief.