I A former society, which had 279 auxiliaries, and had I circulated 801,000 copies of the Scriptures, was sup- ' pressed by the emperor Xieliola.s.
I Tlic Russian government has also organized the e.s- ; tablishment id" a missionary society f<jr the spread of j the orthodox religion among the heathen ilussnlmen I and Buddhist.s witiiin its territory. The operations of j the society have primary reference to the conversion of the pagan tribes of the Altai and Trans-IJalkan coun- I try, the Caucasus being assigned to another society of the same kind. The following is an account of the in- ! auguration of the missionary society lirst referred to : '•In 1870 the (ireek Church of Kus.sia organized an in- stitution called 'The Orthodox Society on behalf of Missions,' the object of which was the conversion of the non-Christians of all parts of the Russian empire except the Caucasian and Trans-Caucasian provinces already provided for, and both tlie spiritual edification and social advancement of the converts thus made. The society was inaugurated at JIoscow under the presi- dency of Innocent, metropolitan of that city, and there- fore known as ' the Apostle of Kamtchatka.' Liturgy and Te JJeiim. were performed, and a sermon preached in the cathedral before a crowded congregation, among whom were present the governor-general of the prov- I incc and others of the liiglicst ollicials, although the I solemnity liad no oHicial character. The society is placed under the patronage of the Russian empress, and the ultimate contnd of the holy synod. The presiilent is the metropolitan (d'^Moscow, aiui the .society's alVairs are ailuiiiiistercd by a council at tliat jilace. Committees are also to be formed in every city under the local bish- op. The society is amnially to observe the day of Sts. Cyril and jMethodius, May II (O. S.). Any person sub- scribing at least three roubles may be a member of the society. Its council possesses, besides the jiresident, two vice-presidents, chosen for two years, one by the presi- i dent from his coadjutor bishojis, and one by the mem- bers of the society from the laity. Of the twelve mem- ! bers of the council, four are biennially nominated Ijy the ; president, and the rest by the members of the society at a general meeting."
3. Protestant Missions. — (I.) Bef/inniiifis and Ch-adual ! Development. — The 16th century covered tlie jicriod of the great Reformation, in wliicli, l)y severance from the Church of Rome, an effort was made to escape from the accumulated errors and abii.ses of more than ten centu- ries, and to establish Christianity on a Scriptural basis. See RiiFoiiJi.MioN. On the part of the Reformers, it was for a long time a struggle for existence, and the first and everywhere present necessity was tiie establishment j of churches as the nuclei of futin'c action. I'lihappily a lack of unity, combined witli tlie intierited spirit of intolerance, for a time led to strifes among themselves, \vhicli greatly retarded the development of tlie rrotC!- taiit clnirches, and postponed the day of their active ef- forts for the conversion of tlic world. Nevertheless the Church of Geneva, as early as 155G, inaugurated foreign missions by sending a company of fourteen missionaries to Rio dc Janeiro, in hope of being aide to introduce the Reformeil religion into Brazil; but the mission was de- feated liy a combination of treachery with religious and political opposition (see KiddoT, iSLetc/ies of lirazil, vol. i, ch. i). In l.'>.')9 a niis.sionary was sent into Lapland by the celebrated (Justavus Vasa, king of .Sweden. Early in the 17th century the Dutch, having obtained posses- sion of Ceylon, attcmjited to convert the natives to the Christian faith. ,\bout the .same time, many of the Nonconforiiiists who had settled in New England began to attem])t the conversion of the aborigines. IMayhew in lt;i;>, and tlie laiiorious Eliot in KVKi. devoted them- selves to this apostolic service. In KJIH. diirin.g the pro- tectorate of Cromwell, there was incorporated liy act of Parliament the " Society for the Propagation of the (Jos- l)el in New I'Lngland." In ICtGO the society was dis- solved; but. on urgent application, it was soon restored, and the celebrated liobert Boyle was appointed its first
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governor. The zeal of this distinguished individual for the diffusion of the Gospel in India and 'America', and among the native Welsh and Irish ; his munificent donations "for the translations of the sacred Scriptures into Malay and Arabic, Welsh and Irish, and of Eliot's Bible into" the Massachusetts Indian language, as well as for the distribution of Grotius de Veritate Christianm Religionis ; and, lastly, his legacy of £5400 for the prop- agation of Christianity among the heathens, entitle him to distinct attention. Besides these incipient efforts to diffuse the Gospel, glowing sentiments on the subject are to be found scattered through the sermons and epis- tolary correspondence of the age, wliich show that many a Christian heart was laboring and swelling with tlie desire of greater things than these. Still the. century closed with witnessing little more than individual and unsustained endeavors. The "Society for Pronidtiiii; Christian Knowledge," which will be noticed hercilh r. whose objects, to a certain extent, embrace the lalicus of missionaries, was organized in England in 1G98 ; but it was not till the early part of the 18th century that wliat has been denominated the age of missionary asso- ciation fairly began to dawn. It opened very faintly and slowly, but nevertheless it has since been growing brighter and brighter to the present day.