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HISTORY OF MISSION

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 593 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HISTORY OF See also:MISSION See also:FIELDS The continuity of missionary See also:enthusiasm maintained through the See also:primitive, the See also:medieval, and the See also:modern periods of the See also:Church's history, operating at every See also:critical See also:epoch, and surviving after periods of stagnation and depression, is a very significant fact. It is true that other religions have been called missionary religions, and that one of them See also:long held first See also:place in the religious See also:census of mankind. The missionary, activity of See also:Buddhism is a thing of the past, and no characteristic rite distinguishing it has found its way into a second See also:continent. Mahommedanism indeed is active, and is the See also:chief opponent of See also:Christianity to-See also:day, but the See also:character of its teaching is too exact a reflection of the See also:race, See also:time, place and See also:climate in which it arose to admit of its becoming universal. It is difficult to trace the slightest See also:probability of its harmonizing with' the intellectual, social and moral progress of the modern See also:world. With all its deficiencies, the See also:Christian church has gained the " nations of the future," and whereas in the 3rd See also:century the proportion of Christians to the whole human race was only that of one in a See also:hundred and fifty, this has now been exchanged for one in three, and it is indisputable that the progress of the human race at this moment is identified with the spread of the See also:influence of the nations of Christendom. See also:Side by side with this continuity of missionary zeal, a See also:notice-able feature is the immense influence of individual See also:energy and the subduing force of See also:personal character. Around individuals penetrated with Christian zeal and self-denial has centred not merely the See also:life, but the very existence of primitive, medieval and modern See also:missions. What See also:Ulfilas was to the See also:Gothic tribes, what See also:Columba and his disciples were to the See also:early See also:Celtic missions, what See also:Augustine or See also:Aidan was to the See also:British Isles, what See also:Boniface was to the churches of See also:Germany and Anskar to those of See also:Denmark and See also:Sweden, that, on the See also:discovery of a new world of missionary enterprise, was See also:Xavier to See also:India, Hans See also:Egede to See also:Greenland, See also:Eliot to the Red See also:Indians, See also:Martyn to the church of See also:Cawnpore, See also:Marsden to the Maoris, See also:Carey, See also:Heber, See also:Wilson, See also:Duff and See also:Edwin See also:Lewis to India, See also:Morrison, Gilmour, See also:Legge, See also:Hill, See also:Griffith See also:John to See also:China, See also:Gray, See also:Livingstone, See also:Mackenzie, See also:Moffat, See also:Hannington, See also:Mackay to See also:Africa, See also:Broughton to See also:Australia, See also:Patteson to See also:Melanesia, See also:Crowther to the See also:Niger Territory, See also:Chalmers to New See also:Guinea, See also:Brown to See also:Fiji? At the most critical epochs such men have ever been raised up, and the reflex influence of their lives and self-denial has told upon the Church at See also:home, while apart from their influence the entire history of important portions of the world's See also:surface would have been altered. If from the agents themselves we turn to the See also:work that has been accomplished, it will not be disputed that the success of missions has been marked amongst See also:rude and aboriginal tribes. What was true in the early missions has been found true in these latter times.

The rude and barbarous See also:

northern peoples seemed to fall like " full ripe See also:fruit before the first breath of the See also:gospel." The Goths and the See also:Vandals who poured down upon the See also:Roman See also:Empire were evangelized so silently and rapidly that only a fact here and there See also:relating to their See also:conversion has been preserved. This is exactly analogous to modern experience in the See also:South Seas, See also:Asia and Africa, to a survey of which we now turn. The South Seas.—Missionary work in the Pacific began with See also:Magellan (1521), when in a fortnight he converted all the in-habitants of See also:Cebu and the adjacent Philippine Islands! The See also:Jesuits, Recollets and See also:Augustinians also worked in See also:Mariana, Pelews and See also:Caroline Islands, though the two latter were soon abandoned. The beginning of modern effort was made by the See also:London Missionary Society in 1797. 2 E. Stock's See also:Short Handbook of Missions has a See also:chapter on " Some Notable Missionaries and another on " Some Prominent Native Christians." Australia and New See also:Zealand.—The earliest See also:attempt to evangelize the See also:aborigines of Australia by a See also:separate mission was that of the Church Missionary Society in 1825. This work centred at See also:Wellington Valley and Moreton See also:Bay, but was given up in 1842. A new beginning was made in 185o by the See also:Anglican See also:Board of Missions for Australia and See also:Tasmania, and now each See also:diocese is responsible for its own See also:area. At See also:Bellenden See also:Ker, near See also:Cairns, in See also:North See also:Queensland (diocese of See also:Carpentaria), many natives have settled upon a reserve granted by See also:government to the Anglican Church, and at another reserve, See also:Fraser See also:Island, the diocese of See also:Brisbane has also undertaken successful work. Nomadic aborigines have hardly been touched. Apart from Queensland most of the See also:black See also:population is in See also:West Australia; here the Roman See also:Catholic Church is the See also:main evangelizing agency.

In the north and central districts the See also:

German missions have been active. Both in Australia (especially in See also:Sydney and See also:Melbourne) and at See also:Thursday Island there is work among the See also:Chinese. In Tasmania the aborigines are See also:extinct, the last pure-blooded native dying in 1876. The See also:half-castes settled in the See also:Bass Straits are ministered to by the See also:bishop of Tasmania. The Maoris of New Zealand first came under Christian influence through the efforts of See also:Samuel Marsden, a colonial See also:chaplain in New South See also:Wales about 18o8. In 1822 Wesleyan missionaries reached the island. The first See also:baptism was in 1825 but during the next five years there was a See also:great See also:mass See also:movement. In 184o the See also:country became a British See also:colony, and soon afterwards See also:George See also:Selwyn was consecrated bishop. He was so impressed with the work of native evangelists that he founded a See also:college in See also:Auckland where such teachers could be trained. In this he was helped by J. C. Patteson, and out of it See also:grew the Melanesian Mission.

The See also:

Maori See also:rebellion, fomented by See also:French Catholics, was an outbreak against everything See also:foreign, and the See also:strange See also:religion Hau-hauism, a blend of Old Testament history, Roman Catholic dogmas, See also:pagan See also:rites and See also:ventriloquism, found many adherents. Yet the normal missionary organization suffered very little. Later came Mormon missionaries, and these have to some extent further depleted the Christian ranks. New Guinea.—In this large island some See also:Gossner missionaries (1854) were the pioneers. They could not do much, but their successors, the See also:Utrecht Missionary See also:Union, who began work when the Dutch took See also:possession of the north-west of the island, are making themselves See also:felt through their six stations. In German New Guinea the Neuendethelsau (1886) and Rhenish (1887) See also:Societies have fourteen stations. In British New Guinea, the south-See also:east portion of the island, the London Mission (1871), the Australian Wesleyans (1892) and the Anglican Church of Australia (1892), have arranged a friendly See also:division of the See also:field and met with gratifying success. Work was begun in 1871–1872 when under the oversight of S. Macfarlane and A. W. See also:Murray a number of native teachers from the See also:Loyalty Islands Rarotonga and See also:Mare settled on the island. The first converts were baptized in 1882 and the See also:establishment of a British See also:Protectorate (1884–1888) gave the work a new impetus.

The name of W. G. See also:

Lawes and See also:James Chalmers (who with O. See also:Tompkins was killed by cannibals, 1901) of the London Missionary Society, and that of See also:Maclaren, the See also:pioneer of the Church Missionary Society's work, are immortally associated with Papua. The history of mission work here is one of exploration and peril amongst See also:savage peoples, multitudinous See also:languages and an adverse climate, but it has been marked by See also:wise methods as well as enthusiastic devotion, See also:industrial work being one of the basal principles. Besides the See also:Protestant agencies already named, the Roman Catholic See also:Order of the Sacred See also:Heart has been working in the island since 1886; its centre is at See also:Yule Island, and it See also:works up the St See also:Joseph's See also:river. Other Islands.—The London Mission See also:ship " Duff " in 1797 landed eighteen missionaries (mainly artisans) at See also:Tahiti, ten more in the See also:Tonga or Friendly Islands, and one on the See also:Marquesas. Those in Tahiti had a varying experience, and their See also:numbers were much reduced, but in See also:July 1812 See also:King Pomare II. gave up his idols and sought baptism. By 1815 See also:idolatry was abolished in the larger islands of the See also:group and there ensued the task of See also:building up a Christian community. Foremost in this workwere See also:William See also:Ellis (q.v.) and John See also:Williams (q.v.), who formed a native agency to carry the gospel to their See also:fellow islanders, and so inaugurated what has since been a characteristic feature of South See also:Sea Missions. In 1818 two Tahiti teachers settled in the Tonga islands, which the " Duff " pioneers had abandoned after half of them had been killed for a cannibal feast. When the Wesleyans came in 1821 the way had been prepared, and soon after, led by their king, George, the See also:people turned to the new faith.

About the same time Rurutu in the Austral Islands and Aitutaki in the See also:

Cook Islands were evangelized, also by natives, and Christianity spread from island to island. John Williams himself removed in 1827 to Rarotonga and from there influenced See also:Samoa, the Society Islands and Fiji. To Fiji in 1834 came James See also:Calvert and other Wesleyan missionaries beginning a work which under them and their successors had extraordinary success. Williams met his See also:death at Erromanga in 1839, but he had established a training school on Rarotonga, and bought a ship, the " See also:Camden," which was of the greatest service for the work. In 1841 work was begun in New See also:Caledonia, in 1842 in the Loyalty Isles and in the New See also:Hebrides, associated from 1857 with the memorable name of John G. See also:Paton. In 1846 a teacher was placed on See also:Niue, Savage Island, and in ten years it was evangelized. Meanwhile the See also:original work in Tahiti had been taken over by missionaries of the See also:Paris Society, though the last London Missionary Society See also:agent did not leave that group till 189o. In 1861 Patteson was consecrated bishop of Melanesia, and the Auckland training school was removed to See also:Norfolk Island. By arrangement with the Presbyterians the area of the mission includes the Northern New Hebrides, See also:Banks, Torres, See also:Santa Cruz and See also:Solomon Islands. Patteson was murdered in 1871, a victim of the mistrust engendered in the natives by See also:kidnapping traders. In 1877 John Selwyn was consecrated bishop.

Wesleyan native evangelists from Fiji and Tonga carried Christianity in 1875 to the See also:

Bismarck See also:Archipelago. The solitary worker (W. P. Crook) on the Marquesas did not remain long, and after he went nothing was done till 1833–1834, when first some See also:American and then some See also:English missionaries arrived, but met with scant success and gave it up in 1841. Since 1854 teachers from the Hawaiian Islands have worked in the Marquesas, but results here have been less fruitful than anywhere else in the South Seas. In See also:Hawaii itself much was accomplished by American missionaries, the first of whom were H. See also:Bingham and A. Thurston (1820), and the most successful, See also:Titus Coan, under whose leadership over 20,000 people were received into the churches between 1836 and 1839. Under the reign of Kalakaua (1874–1891) there was a strong reaction towards heathenism, but since the See also:annexation of the islands by the See also:United States of See also:America the various churches of that See also:land have taken up the task of evangelization and consolidation. In the Micronesian Islands, while See also:animism and tabu were strong, there was not the See also:cannibalism of the See also:southern islands. Work was begun in the Caroline Isles in 1852 and in time spread to the See also:Gilbert and See also:Marshall See also:groups. In the Carolines and Marshalls it has now largely passed to German missionaries, the Americans having enough to do in the Philippines, where there are already over 27,000 Protestants.

The outstanding features of missionary work in the South Seas are (I) its remarkable success: cannibalism, human See also:

sacrifice and See also:infanticide have been suppressed, See also:civilization and See also:trade have marvellously advanced; (2) the evangelical devotion of the natives themselves; (3) the need of continued See also:European super-See also:vision, the natives being still in many ways little better than grown-up See also:children. Africa.'—In Africa, as in the South Seas, mission work has gone See also:hand in hand with See also:geographical discovery. It is in every sense a modern field, or rather a collection of fields, varying in See also:physical, racial, social and linguistic character. The unaccustomed conditions of life and the fatal influence of the climate have claimed as many victims here as did savagery in the Pacific ' See F. P. See also:Noble, The Redemption of Africa; J. See also:Stewart, See also:Dawn in the Dark Continent; See also:Sir Harry See also:Johnston, " The See also:Negro and Religion " in Nineteenth Century, See also:June 191o.

End of Article: HISTORY OF MISSION

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