THE

CHAPTER VI.

A GLANCE AT PROTESTANT MISSIONS.

HE great era of Protestant missions began in the last decade of the eighteenth century. Only three societies had been in operation through any considerable portion of that century, namely, the Propagation Society, the Halle-Danish, and the Moravian; and the first of these worked mainly among English colonists. Before the end of the year 1800 four new societies the Baptist, the London, and the Church Societies, and the Dutch Society of Rotterdam — had been added to the list. Within the next century this list was multiplied more than tenfold. Taking a deep incentive from the evangelical zeal which sprang out of the Moravian and Methodist movements, Protestant missionary work has gone forward on an ever enlarging scale, until in the last decade of the nineteenth century it appears undoubtedly among the greatest enterprises of the age. The sweeping disparagement which is still occasionally offered to the public by some superficial observer of this or that local field cannot be characterized as anything better than a piece of short-sighted pessimism.

Before the special era of missionary undertakings the most notable efforts were those of the Moravians

and of the laborers who went to India under the auspices of the Danish government. Mention might also be made of the work which accompanied the progress of the Dutch supremacy in the East India Islands, after the early years of the seventeenth century. Reckoned by the standard of numbers this was very successful, the converts being estimated at several hundred thousand before the end of the eighteenth century. But the conversion of the vast majority was rather nominal than real, and it needed only the removal of political influence to show how little had been accomplished by a superficial method of evangelization.

The words of Count Zinzendorf: "The whole earth is the Lord's; men's souls are all His; I am debtor to all," express a sentiment which was warmly cherished by the Moravians. The feeling of Saint Francis, that the lowest and most wretched had the most urgent claims for sympathy and help, became characteristic of the brotherhood and shaped their efforts. They exhibited a predilection for hard fields, and sent into them men who may claim admiration, if not for genius or scholarship, at least for sturdy industry and inexhaustible patience. In 1832, when their whole body, young and old together, amounted to only six hundred, a mission was started for the benefit of the slave population of the West India Islands. The foundation of the undertaking was laid by Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann on the island of St. Thomas, and was extended thence to other islands. It was a costly service; in the course of fifteen years fifty Moravians found graves in St. Thomas and St. Croix islands. recompense of a spiritual harvest.

But there was the
By the end of the

eighteenth century 13,300 had been admitted to cominunion, and in 1881 the number of Moravian members in the West India mission was reported at 36,698. A kindred field, presenting perhaps even greater difficulties, was entered in Guiana. Work was begun here in 1735. Up to the beginning of the present century the result was the baptism of eight hundred and forty-five Indians, fifty-nine Bush Negroes, and seven hundred and thirty-one slaves. A mission among the natives of Greenland was planted in 1733. Hans Egede, a Norwegian, had preceded the Moravians in this field by the space of twelve years. Still, the hearts of the stolid people seemed to be unprepared for the gospel message. First in 1738 the experience of Kaiarnak demonstrated that an Eskimo soul could be melted to penitence and spiritual longing by the story of the cross. From this time a genuine, if slow, progress was enjoyed. 1801 paganism had disappeared from that part of Greenland belonging to the mission. Some heathen Eskimos, however, came at a later date (1829-30) from the southeastern coast into the neighborhood of the missionaries. Among the natives of Labrador the first convert was won in 1776, about a half-dozen years after the permanent founding of the mission, which had been unsuccessfully attempted in 1752. At a recent date the missionaries in this region had some fifteen hundred Eskimos under their charge. The work of the Moravians among the Indians in the territory of the United States has been referred to in the preceding volume. The mission which they began among the Hottentots in South Africa in 1737 was broken up by the un-Christian opposition of the Dutch settlers.

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When resumed in 1792 it experienced some tokens of fierce hostility from the same source. After the final cession of the Cape of Good Hope to Great Britain (1815) better assurance of protection was afforded. Some converts have been won among the Kafirs, though the principal success has been among the Hottentots. The mission in behalf of the natives of Australia was begun in 1850; that in the lofty Himalayan region in 1854. On the whole, the encomium which Bishop Porteus uttered in 1808 has been earned in no small measure by the Moravian missionaries. "These have shown," he said, "a degree of zeal, of vigor, of perseverance, of unconquerable spirit, and firmness of mind, which no danger, no difficulties, could subdue (combined at the same time with the greatest gentleness, prudence, and moderation), of which no example can be found since the first primitive age of Christianity.” 1

The first Protestant mission in India was planted under Danish auspices by two young Germans, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plutschau, who had been students at the University of Halle. They were sent out in 1705 and began work at Tranquebar in the following year. The record indicates that they were worthy pioneers in that great field. The labors of Ziegenbalg in particular were noteworthy. Before his death in 1719 he had translated the entire New Testament and a part of the Old into the Tamil language, and had gathered several hundred converts. Among his successors Schultze showed much activity in the work of translating; but in general missionary enterprise the highest distinction was won by Christian 1 Quoted by A. C. Thompson, Moravian Missions, p. 486.

Frederic Schwartz, who came to India in 1750. Joining a sterling character with a winning address, he secured to an extraordinary degree the confidence of all parties, and, without any effort to thrust himself forward, became an important factor in the public affairs of the country. Schwartz ended his career in 1798. The result of missionary labor up to this point has been thus summarized: "Altogether not less than fifty thousand natives of India had abandoned heathenism and embraced Christianity within this period. Most of them had died; and what proportion were still living at the end of the century is difficult to ascertain. That many of the converts were sincere and genuine cannot be doubted. Yet it is certain that the permission to retain their caste customs and prejudices throws considerable suspicion on the spiritual work accomplished among them."1 As appears from this statement, the first Protestant evangelists in India were more tolerant toward caste than later missionaries have thought to be consistent with gospel principles.

That much of the new zeal for missions which began at the end of the eighteenth century should have expended itself upon India was only natural. A more interesting field for Christian conquest could not well be imagined. Containing about one sixth of the population of the globe, the theatre of a vast historic evolution and struggle of different races, the birthplace of such great religious systems as Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, or the modified Brahmanism of later

1 Sherring, History of Protestant Missions in India, 1884.