History of the Missions of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to the Oriental

History Of The Missions Of The
American
by Rufus Anderson

The Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of The Missions Of The
American
Board Of Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental
Churches, Volume I., by Rufus Anderson This eBook is for the use of
anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.
You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org
Title: History Of The Missions Of The American Board Of
Commissioners For Foreign Missions To The Oriental Churches,
Volume I.
Author: Rufus Anderson
Release Date: July 28, 2006 [EBook #18930]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY
OF THE MISSIONS ***

Produced by John Bechard ([email protected])

HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF
COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS TO THE
ORIENTAL CHURCHES.
BY RUFUS ANDERSON, D.D., LL.D., LATE FOREIGN
SECRETARY OF THE BOARD.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
BOSTON: CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY. 1872.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by THE
AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN
MISSIONS, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY H.
0. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.

PREFACE.
Missions to the Oriental Churches occupy a large space in the
forty-nine volumes of the Missionary Herald, and in as many Annual
Reports of the Board; and in view of the multitude of facts, from which
selections must be made to do justice to the several missions, it will
readily be seen, that their history cannot be compressed into a single
volume. The Missions may be regarded as seven or eight in number;
considering the Palestine and Syria missions as really but one, and the
several Armenian missions as also one. The history of the Syria
mission, in its connection with the American Board, covers a period of
fifty-one years; that of the Nestorian, thirty-seven; that of the Greek
mission, forty-three; of the Assyrian (as a separate mission), ten; of the
Armenian mission, to the present time, forty; and of the Bulgarian,
twelve. The mission to the Jews, extending through thirty years, was so

intimately connected with these, as to demand a place in the series; and
the facts scattered through half a century, illustrating the influence
exerted on the Mohammedans, are such as to require a separate
embodiment.
In writing the history, one of three methods was to be adopted; either to
embrace all the missions in one continuous narrative; or to carry
forward the narrative of each mission, separately and continuously,
through its entire period; or, rejecting both these plans, to keep the
narratives of the several missions distinct, but, by suitable alternations
from one to another, to secure for the whole the substantial advantages
of a contemporaneous history. The first could not be done satisfactorily,
so long as the several missions have a separate existence in the minds
of so many readers, and while so many feel a strong personal interest in
what is said or omitted. Even on the plan adopted, so much must
necessarily be omitted, or stated very briefly, as to endanger a feeling,
that injustice has been done to some excellent missionaries. As for the
second, the author had not the courage to undertake consecutive
journeys through so many long periods; and he believed not a few of
his readers would sympathize with him. If, however, any desire to read
the history of any one mission through in course, the table of contents
will make that easy. Each of the histories is complete, so far as it goes.
No attempt has been made to write a philosophical history of missions.
The book of the Acts of the Apostles is not such a history, nor has one
yet been written. The time has not come for that. There are not the
necessary materials. The directors of missions, and missionaries
themselves, have not yet come to a full practical agreement as to the
principles that underlie the working of missions, nor as to the results to
be accomplished by them; and it must be left to competent writers in
the future,--when the whole subject shall be more generally and better
understood,--after patiently examining the proceedings of missionary
societies in America, England, Scotland, and Germany, to state and
apply the principles that may be thus evolved. The most that can now
be done, is to record the facts in their natural connections, together with
the more obvious teachings of experience. If the author has been
successful in doing this, his end is gained.

In the present state of religious opinion respecting divine Providence
among a portion of the reading community, it may be proper to state
the author's strong conviction, that the promise of