Bibles & Tests 13. Antwerp Bible Society, instituted 1834 14. Ghent Bible Society, instituted 1834 15. Sleswick-Holstein Bible Society, instituted 1815, with 16. Eutin Bible Society, instituted 1817, for Principality of Lübeck 439 8,980 115,617 5,296 17. Lübec Bible Society, instituted 1814 11,972 18. Hamburgh Bible Society, instituted 1814, with Branches 19. Bremen Bible Society, instituted 1815, with an Auxiliary 20. Lauenburgh-Ratzeburgh Bible Society, instituted 1816 . 21. Rostock Bible Society, instituted 1816 87,485 26,913 10,675 19,154 22. Hanover Bible Society, instituted 1814, with Auxiliaries 23. Lippe-Detmold Bible Society, instituted 1816 24. Waldeck and Pyrmont Bible Society, instituted 1817 25. Hesse-Cassel Bible Society, instituted 1818 26. Hanau Bible Society, instituted 1818 27. Marburg Bible Society, instituted 1825 28. Frankfort Bible Society, instituted 1816 The Agency at Frankfort, appointed 1830, has issued 29. Hesse-Darmstadt Bible Society, instituted 1817, with 30. Duchy-of-Baden Bible Society, instituted 1820, with Auxiliaries. 105,052 31. Würtemberg Bible Society, instituted 1812, with Auxiliaries 32. Bavarian Protestant Bible Institution at Nüremberg, instituted 1821, with Auxiliaries 33. Saxon Bible Society, instituted 1814, with Auxiliaries 37. Eisenach Bible Society, instituted 1818 38. Brunswick Bible Society, instituted 1815 39. Prussian Bible Society at Berlin, instituted 1805, with Auxiliaries Issued to the Prussian Troops, since 1830 41. Schaffhausen Bible Society, instituted 1813 Winterthur 402,909 10,600 15,163 46. Neufchâtel Bible Society, instituted 1816 . GREECE AND TURKEY. 52. Ionian Bible Society, instituted 1819 at Corfu, with three Auxiliaries RUSSIA. Bibles & Tests. 36,330 19,454 43,696 6,430 32,000 36,651 5,000 12,267 4,238 7,377 53. Russian Bible Society, St. Petersburgh, (previous to its suspension by an Imperial Ukase in 1826, had 289 Auxiliaries, and had printed the Scriptures in various languages; the circulation of which is still allowed) 54, Russian Protestant Bible Society at St. Petersburgh, instituted 1826, with numerous Auxiliaries 861,105 132,464 INDIA. 55. Calcutta Bible Society, instituted 1811, with various Branches 558,676 58. Colombo Bible Society, instituted 1812, with various 382 APPENDIX II. THE PRESENT POSITION, AND FUTURE PROSPECTS, OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. I.-BRIEF VIEW OF THE ORIGIN AND OPERATIONS OF THE SOCIETY. THE Church Missionary Society was established by a few Clergymen and Laymen, who met together for that purpose en Whit-Tuesday, in the year 1799. It was at first designated, "The Society for Missions to Africa and the East." Its present name was adopted in 1813. The plans and principles upon which the projectors of the Society proposed to conduct its proceedings were, in the first instance, explained to the Archbishop of Canterbury and other dignitaries of the Church of that day, and were afterward communicated to the public. Several years elapsed before the pecuniary means were sufficient for commencing Foreign Missions. The west coast of Africa, in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, was the first scene of the Society's labours, to which Missionaries were sent in the year 1804. It was ten years before the funds were sufficient for at 10 tempting a second Mission; the income of the Society at the end of that period being only £2500. During the second period of ten years, however, in which India was first opened to Missionary enterprise, the income of the Society rapidly rose, till it reached £30,000. Malta. Asia Minor, Smyrna being the seat of the Mission. 1816 Calcutta and North India. During the third period of ten years the income rose to £47,500; and the following new Missions were commenced during that interval 1820 in Bombay and Western India. 1822,, North-West America, Prince Rupert's Land being the scene of labour. Jamaica, and other parts of the West Indies. Egypt. During the fourth period of ten years the income of the Society rose to £100,000; but that large income was only sufficient for maintaining the existing Missions of the Society; so that when a Mission was commenced in China, in the year 1844, it was thought necessary to open a Special Fund for its separate support. During the last six years the income has remained nearly stationary; while the demands upon the expenditure, in consequence of the rapid augmentation of the Missions, have been greatly increased. II.-PARTIAL FAILURES IN THE MISSIONS OF THE SOCIETY. The history of the Society has been chequered by some discouragements. Its chief failures have been in its attempts to establish Missions among the ancient but lapsed Christian Churches of the East. The hope which was once cherished— that the light of Divine Truth might be rekindled with comparative ease among them, and, through their agency, be transmitted to their Heathen and Mahomedan neighbours—has failed. Twice were the Missionaries of the Society driven out of the different districts of the kingdom of Abyssinia. They were compelled, also, to withdraw from Asia Minor, through the jealousy of the Greek Church, as soon as their labours began to exercise a spiritual influence upon the scholars in their Mission Schools. And the Society's Establishment in Malta was relinquished, after a trial of twenty-five years, as there appeared no results sufficient to justify its continuance. The Society also attempted, for several years, to co-operate with the Ecclesiastical Authorities of the Syrian Christian Church upon the Malabar coast of South India, in educational measures for the revival of that ancient Church. But the attempts have failed; and the errors and superstitions have proved to be so inveterate, that the Missionaries, under the sanction of the Metropolitan of India and the Bishop of Madras, now invite the Syrian Christians, equally with Romanists and the Heathen, to separate from their brethren and unite themselves with our own Church. It may surely be inferred, from these instances, that the Society should regard the Heathen world as the peculiar province of its direct Missionary labours. |