f 
 
 
 GENERAL SURVEY 
 
 OF TIIE 
 
 MISSIONS OF THE ^AMERICAN BOARD OF COM¬ 
 MISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. 
 
 - 6 - 
 
 PRESENTED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING AT BROOKLYN, OCT. 4, 1870. 
 
 —«— 
 
 A recent letter from Central Turkey contains the following state¬ 
 ment, by Hagop Effendi, the Head of the Protestant Civil Com¬ 
 munity in the Turkish Empire : — 
 
 «I have travelled a great deal among the Protestants of Syria 
 and Turkey, and the strongest impression I have does not arise from 
 the schools, books, or churches, as pledges that Protestanism is to 
 be a success in Turkey, but from the prodigious extent with which 
 the country at large is leavened by Protestant truth. The giandest 
 results of your labors are not at all apparent. 
 
 Similar testimony is given by Sir Bartle Frere, formeily Goveinoi 
 of Bombay, in regard to the progress of the gospel in India: — 
 
 “ Christianity is'how acting in different ways, directly and indi¬ 
 rectly, visibly and invisibly, as a solvent of those old bands which 
 have for ages kept together society and civilization in India. 
 The revolution has hitherto been not only peaceful, but silent, and 
 perhaps to the mass of mankind, little perceptible. Thoughtful 
 men are finding out that the Vedas contain no knowledge of God ; 
 that idolatry is a .harden at once gross and debasing ; while the 
 Bible, now translated into all the principal languages of the coun¬ 
 try, is beginning to be regarded with reverence, and recognized in 
 its true relations to the moral and social progress of a people.” 
 
 These facts, so cheering to the heart of the missionary in the 
 field, no figures can measure. They belong to the period of prep¬ 
 aration. So was it for years in the early history of the Sandwich 
 Islands’ mission; but the pentecostal season came at last, when over 
 ten thousand converts were added to the churches in a single year, 
 and one missionary baptized seventeen hundred in a single day. A 
 similar season is now enjoyed in the Island of Madagascar, and on a 
 smaller scale in some of the islands of our Micronesia mission. . 
 While our work the past year has been largely one of preparation, 
 
2 
 
 the more so because of the comparative large number of young mis¬ 
 sionaries not yet familiar with the languages they are to use, the results 
 1 epoi ted aie in several important respects more encouraging than for 
 many yeais, perhaps it is not too much to say, than ever before. 
 
 This encouragement is found mainly in three directions : in the 
 development and training of an efficient native ministry; in the 
 success which has attended efforts to reach the women in the differ¬ 
 ent mission fields ; and in the healthful growth of the native churches 
 in numbers, in independence, and in a sense of responsibility for the 
 progress of the gospel. 
 
 THE NATIVE MINISTRY. 
 
 The whole number of native laborers in connection with the dif¬ 
 ferent missions the past year was 1,005, an increase of over a hun¬ 
 dred upon the previous year. Of these, 119 are pastors, and 327 
 preachers ; the remainder teachers, colporters, and Bible readers ; 
 but all educated in our various schools and seminaries, and in 
 point of education and character, holding about the same relative 
 position to the people among whom they labor, that similar classes 
 do at home. In the less enlightened communities their relative 
 position is much higher. The standard is constantly advanced with 
 the progress of education among the people. At Harpoot, in East¬ 
 ern Turkey, an additional year has been added to the course in the 
 seminary, making it equal to five years in advance of the education to 
 be had in the common schools. At Marash, in Central Turkey, it is 
 proposed to include Hebrew and Greek in the regular course, and 
 an order for twelve copies of Shedd’s “ Homiletics ” has just been 
 filled, for the advantage of the students acquainted with the Eng¬ 
 lish language. The seminary at Marsovan has just ordered fifteen 
 copies each of Murphy’s Commentary on Genesis, and Barnes’ on 
 Acts, Romans, and the Revelation. Some of the graduates of the 
 seminaries in India and Ceylon, as well as in Western Asia, have a 
 high reputation among the missionaries, as scholars and thinkers, 
 and are often called to aid in the translation of the Scriptures, 
 and in other literary labors; while many are highly esteemed as 
 orators, and as earnest, effective preachers of the gospel. 
 
 Forty-five young men completed their theological studies the past 
 year ; seven at Wailuku in the Hawaiian Islands, nine in the Madura 
 mission, seven in Ceylon, and twenty-two at Harjioot. The number 
 now in mission training-schools and seminaries, looking forward to 
 the work of the ministry, is nearly if not quite equal to that in 
 the seminaries belonging to the constituency of the Board. The ob¬ 
 ject in these institutions is, primarily, to raise up able expounders of 
 Bible truth, and faithful pastors. Studies in the physical and moral 
 
r 
 
 3 
 
 sciences are pursued simply as a means of discipline, and are made 
 strictly subordinate. In some instances, where the native languages 
 are particularly deficient in a Christian literature, the English lan¬ 
 guage is taught, in order to open up to the students the stores of 
 learning it contains ; but instruction is given, and men are trained 
 to work, in the native tongues. 
 
 During the past year a theological seminary of great promise 
 was begun in the Syria mission, and a theological class was formed 
 at Ahmednuggur, in the Mahratta field, while existing institutions 
 were thoroughly reorganized in the Zulu, Ceylon, Madura, Persian, 
 and Foochow missions. Arrangements are in progress to secure the 
 establishment, as widely as possible, of theological institutes for the 
 further training of native pastors and preachers, to raise their stand¬ 
 ard of ministerial education, and to awaken among them a health¬ 
 ful ambition to seek a better culture for themselves and their people. 
 The missions in India have cooperated with the Christian Vernacular 
 Education Society in the support of normal schools for the better 
 training of teachers, while in Eastern Turkey and in Persia, normal 
 schools have just been established by our missionaries. Besides the 
 common schools in charge of Christian teachers, and the mission 
 seminaries, station schools for both sexes have been established in 
 the Mahratta and Madura missions, and station classes in Western 
 and Eastern Turkey, under the immediate care of the missionaries. 
 The opportunity is thus given to select, after a personal acquaint¬ 
 ance, the more promising pupils for the higher institutions, and to 
 train up helpers for local work. 
 
 The students in all these higher institutions are employed, during 
 the four or five months of vacation, in mission work, and thus thor¬ 
 oughly tested. The practical experience thus acquired is of im¬ 
 mense value to the young men, besides its service to the cause ; 
 and opportunity is given to drop the unfaithful or the incompe¬ 
 tent. 
 
 In the older fields, much of the time of missionaries must be 
 given to this work of developing a native agency, to aiding and 
 counseling pastors, and to the proper superintendence of the preach¬ 
 ers engaged in evangelistic labors in the opening fields. The posi¬ 
 tion is a somewhat delicate one, and the object and motives of the 
 missionary are sometimes liable to misapprehension, and individuals 
 jealous for their own opinions, and for the rights of the churches, 
 will at times mistake the legitimate influence of a missionary for 
 undue authority; but, as a whole, there has been a large measure of 
 mutual confidence, and as little friction as could well have been ex¬ 
 pected. Some time must be allowed to educate men who have all 
 their lives been subject to the bondage of political and priestly 
 
4 
 
 power, to the wise conduct of their own ecclesiastical affairs. The 
 results, however, thus far, have exceeded the most sanguine hopes. 
 The Evangelical Association in the Hawaiian Islands, the Evangelical 
 Unions in the Armenian missions, in India and Ceylon, have shown 
 a practical good sense, and an ability that would do honor to older 
 bodies in this country, and amply justify the missionaries in passing 
 over to them, at the earliest practicable moment, the entire responsi¬ 
 bility for what may be termed the home work of the native churches. 
 The presence of the missionary will for a time be required, not for 
 the exercise of authority, but of love and wise counsel, for the sake 
 of that practical wisdom that becomes a part of the common sense 
 of those reared amid free Christian institutions. 
 
 A native agency, well educated and guided by wise counsels, is 
 our great reliance, next to the Spirit of God, for the success of the 
 mission work. 
 
 WORK AMONG THE WOMEN. 
 
 The opportunities for Christian w r ork among the women in the 
 mission fields are multiplying on every hand. The gospel marks 
 the last and crowning stage of the missionary enterprise, with all 
 its beneficent influences in the homes of a people. The Christian 
 family, the Christian home, the social and moral elevation of woman, 
 illustrated in the family and home of our missionaries, have been, 
 and still constitute a prime agency in the great change now in prog¬ 
 ress, and preeminently justify the policy of the American Board in 
 its decided preference for married missionaries. Indeed, some of 
 the late calls for missionaries have been not only for married men, 
 but for men with a family of children. 
 
 One of our wisest missionaries remarks: “ One example of Chris¬ 
 tianity, lifting the wife and mother to her place, is worth more than 
 thousands of sermons in its influence on both sexes. One look at the 
 little child on its parent’s knee, learning its first lesson in letters or 
 Christian knowledge, is worth scores of exhortations on parental duty.” 
 
 It has been the practice of the Board from the first, to send out 
 single ladies wherever they could be employed to advantage. It 
 would not be easy to overestimate the results of Miss Ogden’s forty 
 years’ service in behalf of her sex in the Hawaiian Islands, or Miss 
 Farrar’s thirty-five in India ; or of labors by Misses Fiske and Rice 
 among the Nestorians. Eight years after Miss Farrar had ceased 
 from her labors in Bombay, a native woman on her death-bed made 
 her first confession of Christ, — the Holy Spirit, after that long 
 interval, bringing home to her heart the faithful instructions of her 
 missionary teacher. 
 
 Within the last few years, the way has been opened for direct 
 
5 
 
 missionary labor in behalf of women, as never before, and the num¬ 
 ber of single ladies in the field has been increased, till they now 
 number over forty. Five more are to leave for Western Asia the 
 present month, and still the calls for such laborers will not be sup¬ 
 plied. 
 
 The twenty boarding-schools for girls, all but two in charge of 
 single ladies assisted by native teachers, contain over six hundred pu¬ 
 pils. These girls are there brought under the most favorable influ¬ 
 ences to become fitted, as educated Christian women, to occupy im¬ 
 portant positions, and to illustrate the spirit and power of the gospel. 
 During their vacations, many of these girls make themselves very 
 useful in their own homes. One of the youngest girls in the Harpoot 
 Seminary, during the last winter vacation, taught forty-two women 
 in her native village to read. The first reading book in that field 
 is an introduction to the Scriptures. Did the Sabbath-school at 
 Portsmouth, Ohio, in giving the thirty dollars for the support of this 
 girl, dream of the light they were setting up far away among the 
 mountains of Eastern Turkey? Yet thousands of women are thus 
 made acquainted with the way of life, and the work of the Christian 
 teacher from this land, permitted to train up such girls, and to set 
 such influences in motion, is one that angels might covet. 
 
 While the wisest economy of missionary funds and labor would 
 limit the work of our female missionaries largely to the training of 
 native laborers, much is now done by them, both the single and mar¬ 
 ried, in visiting from house to house, in holding meetings for prayer 
 and instruction, and in the superintendence of native Bible-women. 
 Mrs. Harding finds ready-access to the Zenan as in Bombay; Mrs. 
 Hartwell and others, in China, are welcomed to many homes ; Miss 
 Townsend, in Ceylon, visits from village to village in company with a 
 native pastor. Keports of such labor have appeared from time to 
 time in the “ Missionary Herald,” and in the Quarterly of the Woman’s 
 Board of Missions, and need not be repeated. The opening for 
 such labor abroad, and the awakened interest among the women of 
 our churches, we would gratefully recognize as of the Lord, and for 
 our encouragement in his work. 
 
 THE NATIVE CHURCHES. 
 
 We notice with gratitude the addition during the year, of 1,580 
 members to the churches on profession of faith; the number of na¬ 
 tive pastors enlarged from 106 to 119; and the special divine bless¬ 
 ing at Bitlis, Marash, and Marsovan in the Armenian missions, at 
 Degala in the mission to Persia, and at two of the islands in Micro¬ 
 nesia ; in the larger accessions than heretofore to the churches in the 
 Syria and China missions ; and generally, in the wide-spread interest 
 
6 
 
 that has resulted in additions to a very large majority of the native 
 churches throughout the entire field, indicative of a healthful spirit¬ 
 ual growth. The whole number of churches reported is 238 ; of 
 members 24,142. 
 
 Of not less moment to the progress of the mission work has 
 been the general advance all along the line, in the direction of 
 independence and self-support. The sixty-nine churches in the 
 Armenian missions have raised their contributions for Christian ob¬ 
 jects over twenty-five per cent, —from fifteen to nineteen thousand 
 dollars. Over a third of these churches are self-supporting, and all 
 bear a part of their own expenses. The Harpoot Evangelical Union 
 has just educated four young men at our seminary, and now sends 
 them out to labor for the Koordish speaking Armenians, amid the 
 mountains to the eastward. In the Syria mission a great advance 
 has been made, the Protestant community at Beirut alone contrib¬ 
 uting fifteen hundred dollars in money, and cooperating vigor¬ 
 ously in Sabbath-school and other evangelical work in outlying 
 districts. An advance of full forty per cent, upon last years contii- 
 butions has been made by the native churches in the Madina and 
 Ceylon missions, with great moral benefit in awakening just views 
 of personal responsibility for the progress of the gospel. In the 
 Foochow and Zulu missions, a beginning in the right direction has 
 been made ; and in the latter, especially, the woi'k of reconstruction 
 is in progress, with the intent to relieve the missionaries of all pas¬ 
 toral care, and to develop the independence of the native churches. 
 The fifty-eight Hawaiian churches support their own ministry, build 
 their own houses of worship, sustain mission labor among the Chi¬ 
 nese immigrants, and contribute to our work in Micionesia thiee 
 thousand dollars more than they draw from our treasury for ceitain 
 educational objects. The native churches in Micronesia have never 
 been at any charge upon us beyond the salaries of the missionaries. 
 They erect their own school and church buildings, and suppoit theii 
 own teachers. The amount expended on churches alone, the past 
 five years, is estimated at over two thousand dollars. The mission¬ 
 ary leads the way with his axe on his shoulder, and the people follow 
 him, to cut the coral rock on the shore or the timber in the foiests, 
 and the work is soon done. 
 
 Strangely enough it has been left to these, among the humblest 
 and most degraded of the tribes of the children of men, to revive 
 in its simplicity the spirit of the apostolic churches, and by the sacii- 
 fices they make, and the unselfish devotion to Christ they exhibit, 
 to rebuke the want of faith among the more highly favored races. 
 
 The entire amount contributed by the native Christian commu¬ 
 nities, not including much free labor in school and church building^ 
 
is about sixty thousand dollars in gold, or one sixth as much as is 
 contributed by all the churches acting through the American Board. 
 
 Such, in brief, are some of the more striking features of the work 
 in the foreign field, in charge of a little company of 143 ordained 
 missionaries, 11 lay assistants, and 200 Christian women from this 
 country. What are they among the multitudes dependent upon 
 them for the knowledge of the way of life — multitudes numbering 
 more millions than there are ordained missionaries ! Yet how stu¬ 
 pendous are the results already reached, how illustrative of the 
 Divine blessing on our labors! The prospect was never more cheer¬ 
 ing, had we but the fit men to follow up the advantages gained. 
 Ten men are needed at once in as many different fields in theologi¬ 
 cal schools, and three times as many more could find instant desig¬ 
 nation, to strengthen the hands of over-taxed brethren at old 
 stations, and to enter upon new and inviting fields, such as belong 
 to the healthful growth of the work. 
 
 It is true there are many noble men among the native pastors and 
 preachers, — men who are the joy and the crown of the missionary 
 fathers, faithful and cordial co-laborers unto the kingdom of God ; 
 but the care of the native churches, and the beginnings of Christian 
 communities, absorb many of them, and nearly all need for a time 
 the counsel and encouragement of the missionary, to guard against 
 errors in doctrine and practice, while the foundations are laid of 
 permanent religious institutions. The character of the missionary’s 
 work has greatly changed in the progress of the enterprise. But it 
 is none the less necessary, and demands ability of the first order. 
 It is now largely given to the training of a native agency, its proper 
 direction and superintendence, and the production of a Christian 
 literature. 
 
 It is with deep regret that the Prudential Committee are obliged 
 to report that only five new ordained missionaries have been sent 
 abroad the past year, — not enough to take the places of those prov¬ 
 identially removed. The increase of two in the aggregate of labor¬ 
 ers from this country is to be credited to the unmarried ladies. 
 Three missionaries, Messrs. Abbott, of the Mahratta mission, Quick, 
 of Ceylon, and White, of Madura, have been released from their 
 connection with the Board, as the health of their families did not 
 permit them to return; and two have been called up higher, the 
 venerable Dr. Perkins, in the fullness of years, a name forever to be 
 associated with the wonderful triumphs of grace among his loved 
 Nestorians, and Mr. Ball, who had but recently returned, in enfeebled 
 health, from Western Turkey. The women of Eastern Turkey have 
 lost two sisters devoted to their spiritual welfare, and the mission 
 circle two of its most cherished members, in Mrs. Parmelee, of Erz- 
 room, and Miss Warfield, of Harpoot. 
 
8 
 
 The intelligence of opposition to all foreigners in China, and of 
 the frightful scenes recently enacted at Tientsin, may well enlist our 
 liveliest sympathies and prayers in behalf of our loved missionaries 
 and native Christians in that country, that their lives may be spared, 
 and their opportunities of Christian labor not hindered, but rather 
 enlarged. 
 
 The loss of the Morning Star is now supplied in part by a char¬ 
 tered vessel. It is the intention to provide a new ship for the com¬ 
 ing year. 
 
 Other changes in the foreign field, to take effect at the close of 
 the year under review, will be referred to elsewhere. 
 
 RESULTS AMONG THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
 
 The efforts of the Board in behalf of the aborigines of this coun- 
 try, are apparently as hopeful as they have ever been. Among the 
 Dakotas ,— more than thirty thousand in number, — a “ great door and 
 effectual ” seems to be opening. There is more willingness to re¬ 
 ceive instruction, on the one hand, and on the other the native 
 agency is becoming more and more effective. Hence the Commit¬ 
 tee have decided to make larger appropriations for this field than 
 they ever made before. 
 
 An interesting experiment is in progress on the head waters of 
 the Big Sioux River, commenced by twenty families from the San¬ 
 tee Agency, which have since increased to fifty. Their leading- 
 object is to change their manner of life. In other words, they wish 
 to put off the Indian, and put on the white man. Without capital, 
 “ with scarcely a tool,” with little or no experience in husbandry, 
 they have gone forth to earn a living by tilling the soil. They are 
 filing their papers in the land office, preparatory to the acquisition 
 of homesteads which they can call their own, though required to 
 pay $14 as preliminary thereto, and to renounce all their annuities, 
 which are worth to every family at least $1,000, and to some $3,000 
 or $4,000. 
 
 Like the first settlers of New England, they have taken the church 
 with them, and already they are able to report ninety communicants. 
 The Committee cannot but admire the moral courage, and the prac¬ 
 tical wisdom, which these children of the prairies are exhibiting. 
 
 As the missionaries to the Senecas have withdrawn from the care 
 of the Board, in order to a transfer of their relation to the mission¬ 
 ary agency of the Presbyterian Church, the Committee deem it 
 proper to mention some of the changes which the gospel has 
 wrought among these Indians. 
 
 1. In 1826, — when this work was received from the United 
 Foreign Missionary Society, — their number (including a few other 
 
r 
 
 9 
 
 Iroquois) was about twenty-five hundred. At the present time, 
 directly in the face of all the adverse influences, physical and moral, 
 which have operated against them, they show an increase of thirty- 
 five per cent ; whereas, without the gospel, a small remnant only 
 would have been left. 
 
 2. In 1826, they lived in poor, unfurnished wigwams, without 
 cooking utensils, except a kettle and such vessels as could he 
 made of bark. Now the poorest shanties are made of boards; 
 and most have comfortable dwellings, comparatively, with barns 
 and other outhouses, with furniture and cooking utensils, like those 
 of the agricultural community around them. And they have like¬ 
 wise every implement possessed by white farmers, — excepting 
 perhaps a few of the more recent labor-saving inventions, but not 
 excepting mowers, reapers, threshing-machines, wood-mills, etc. And 
 it is said that an old-fashioned Indian dress, whether for males or 
 females, cannot be found on Cattaraugus Reservation, unless it may 
 have been preserved as a relic of by-gone days. 
 
 3. In 1826, drunkenness was exceedingly prevalent; and it had 
 done much to diminish the population. Now it is the exception, not 
 the rule. In fact, it may be pronounced as uncommon now as it 
 was common then. 
 
 4. In 1826, there were two boarding-schools sustained by mission¬ 
 ary funds; and a third was supported (as it still is) by the Quak¬ 
 ers. Now there are ten district schools at Cattaraugus,—one of 
 them an orphan asylum, with one hundred pupils,— and six or 
 seven at Alleghany; so that every neighborhood is supplied with 
 the means of education. More than thirty Indian teachers have 
 been raised up to assist in the work of instruction. 
 
 5. In 1826, only ten Senecas had professed their faith in the Sav¬ 
 iour ; and most of the tribe were simply pagans. Since that time 
 nearly six hundred have made the same profession, in connection 
 with the labors of our missionaries; and many, it is believed, have 
 attained to eternal life, without passing through the gateway of the 
 visible church. 
 
 While, therefore, missionary efforts among these Indians, as 
 among the aborigines of this country always and everywhere, have 
 encountered the most formidable difficulties, they have not been in 
 vain in the Lord. 
 
10 
 
 GENERAL SUMMARY. 
 
 Missions. 
 
 Number of Missions.38 
 
 “ “ Stations.95 
 
 “ “ Out-stations.537 
 
 . 143 
 
 8 
 3 
 
 200 
 
 . - 354 
 
 119 
 . 327 
 
 435 
 . 214 
 
 -1,095 
 
 Whole number of laborers connected with the Missions . . . -1,449 
 
 The Press. 
 
 Pages printed, as far as reported. 19,728,095 
 
 The Churches. 
 
 Number of Churches (including all at the Hawaiian Islands) . . . 238 
 
 “ Church Members “ “ “ “ so far as reported 24,142 
 
 Added during the year (so far as reported).3,580 
 
 Educational Department. 
 
 Number of Training and Theological Schools. 16 
 
 “ “ Boarding Schools for Girls.20 
 
 “ “ Common Schools (omitting those at Hawaiian Islands) . . 496 
 
 “ “ Pupils in Common Schools (omitting those at Hawaiian Islands) . 13,643 
 
 “ “ “ in Training and Theological Schools .... 368 
 
 “ “ “ in Boarding Schools for Girls.651 
 
 Other adults under instruction.1,115 
 
 Whole number of Pupils.15,777 
 
 Laborers Employed. 
 
 Number of Ordained Missionaries (three being physicians) 
 “ “ Physicians not ordained .... 
 
 “ “ other Male Assistants. 
 
 “ “ Female Assistants. 
 
 Whole number of laborers sent from this country 
 
 Number of Native Pastors. 
 
 “ “ Native Preachers and Catechists 
 
 “ “ School Teachers. 
 
 “ “ other Native Helpers.