" General Baptist Missionary Sucietii. ^The General Bap- tists, so called from their general or Arminian views of. redemption, formed a missionary society in 1816. The origin of this association is, under God, traceable mainly
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to the able ndvocacy of the Rev. J. G. Pike. Regarding the Held as wide enougli for all the agents that could be sent into it, this society also lirst luiiied its attention to India. In the month of Mav, 1S'21, two missionaries, the Rev. Mc-srs. Hampton and i'egi's, sailed for Cuttach, the ])rinci|)al town in Orissa, the scat of the notorious idol Jiiir.'crnaut. The tlrst of these devoted servants of Christ siion liiiisliedhis course; bnt other agents followed at in- tervals, and opened new stations in adjoining districts, 'i'licy were driven, however, by the force of external cir- ciimsiances, to make frequent changes in their locations and plans of action. 'J'heir chief work consisted in com- bating,' the prejudices and practices of idolatry, and their gtatiiins were generally found in the ueigliborliood of the head-cjiiarters of the venerated idols. The missionaries Biici ceded in establishing schools for both sexes, and an asylum for orphan or destitute children. Many a preciotis life they instrumentally preserved, which had been de- voted til the bli)i)(l-staine(l altar. As elsewhere, the great enemy to Chrisijaniiy in Orissa was caste, change of creed beinu'" attended by enormous sacrifices— not only separa- tion from kindred, but the loss of the wonted means of support. Despite all obstacles, and they Were many and serious, the Gospel was ultimately embraced by consider- able numbers, although the missionaries had to wait six years for their first convert. To counteract in some meas- ure the evils which followed upon the loss of caste, the missionaries set themselves to the formation of villages, where the converts might be mutually helpful to each other. A carefully executed translation of the Bible into the Orissa language, and the preparation of a dictionary and grammar, were the work of Jlr. Sutton, one of the society's missionaries, who exerted himself nobly in this department of Christian labor. In 1S45 this society es- tablished a mission at Ningpo, in Ciiina, which, although feeble in its commencement, encourages the hope of its friends and patrons as to a fair measure of success in time to come.
" WcfleiKin Methodist Missionary Society. — The name of Dr. Coke must ever be associated with the early history of Methodist missions. He was raised up and called by tlie ))rovidence oftiod to this department of Ciiristian la- bor just; at the time when his services were specially re- quired. ]\Ir. Wesley was fully engaged in guiding 'that great religious movement which took place in the United Kingdom in the latter part of the 18th century, when the foreign work was commenced, and could ill aft'ord to have his attention called oil' to distant fields of labor. It was at this critical period that Ur. Coke appeared on the stage of action. Wearied with the restrictions and petty an- noyances which he met with in the discharge of his du- ties as a parish clergyman, and with a lieaVt fired with true mi.-: ionarv zeal, after his remarkable conversion to <io(l. lie joiiiecrihe Methodist connecti. Ml, and at .Mr. Wes- ley's ]e(iuest took the general siiperintendcncy < f the houK- and foreign missions— an oflice which he tilled with credit to hiniseir and advantage to the cause dining the remainder of his lon-j-, active, and useful life. In the incs- eciition of his arduous duties. Dr. Coke cio~<eil ilie Atlan- tic eii.'liteeii times, established a number of new iiii--iMii~, and went about from door to door him-ilf to c nlUri tie means fortheir siiiiportiu the most praisrw ..i thy m inner. long before the Missionary Society was regularly oigan- ized.
" Methodism had only been planted in the United States of .Vmerica a few years when, in ITSO, the work was ex- tended to Canada"; in ITs:;, to Nova Scotia; in IT'.U, to !Ne\v ISrniiswick, and alioiit the same time to Prince Ivl- wanl's Maud and Xewf.mndlaiid. A few vears ;,fier- wards Weslcyan mis<ions were established hi the lliid- son's Bay Territory and British Columliia ; while at the same time the Methodist Episcopal Church was siireading itself over every state in the Union, and planting' mission stations in California and Oregon, and in other dNtant parts of the great continent. Dr. Coke wi- ..ii ir< voyage to Nova Sroiiii with three missionaries — Mi ~; -.W jneiiei-, IJammelt, and Clarke — when the vessel m \\\i<t\, ihey sailed was driven by a storm to the \\ Csi iii(lie~. Oli- serving, as they believed, the hand of God in this event, the missionaries at once began to labor in those interest- ing islands, where their services were much i ciiiiiicd ; .and their numbers being soon iiicrea-ed, on the reiiini of the zealous doctor to Juirope, the foiiinlalioi, of ii .j,,Mt .m,! glorious work was laid, which coiiliniieil to 'j-iow ami e\- 1' ' ■
if pe. 1 inies Ainei
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oke had cios-ed the All.mlic eiu-hleen ending and carrying on the missions in West Indies, ami was advanced in vears when, in >!:;, he conceived the grand idea of .Methodist iiii--iwii.s t() India. Bent upon his noble purpose, he ]in-ln il onwards through every difllcnlly, and on the last diy .1 the year he sailed for the far-distant East, accom- ]iaiii( 1 by six devoted young missionaries aiipointed to till- Ml vice bv the Wesfevan Conference. On the niorn- iii_' oi Miiv :!, 1S14, Dr. Coke was found dead in his cabin, havinj, it is supposed, expired in the night in a fit of :ipo- plexv. The Hev. Messrs. Harvard, Cloiii:li.Sqii:in,e,Aiilt, jM-kine, .and I.vnrli k<>eiilv felt the sudden removal of