PREFACE.

THE following history of missions in the Methodist Episcopal Church commences, properly, with the organization of the Missionary Society, in the year 1816; and it has been the constant and careful aim of the author to chronicle every important fact, in connection with the operations of said Society, from that period to the present time. The materials upon which he has mostly relied in the compilation of the work, were found in the annual reports and other official documents within his reach.

His chief indebtedness, however, is to the "History of Missions, by Dr. Bangs," published in 1832, and now out of print; and also to "The History of the Methodist Episcopal Church," by the same author. The author has enjoyed personal interviews with Dr. Bangs, and received from him many valuable suggestions and much interesting information, in regard to the work. In a communication received from him, in relation to the work, he adds: "That your pen may be guided by truth and love, is the prayer of "Yours, affectionately, N. BANGS."

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INTRODUCTION.

THE following work, on the history of the Methodist Episcopal Missions, is the first ever written on the subject; and it is intended to furnish the public with a complete and arranged collection of all the facts of that history, from the beginning to the date of the production.

This is the earliest period, perhaps, when a history could have been judiciously undertaken; for a work, an enterprise of any kind, has to accomplish something, before a record can be made of its achievements. At this time it can be said, that the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church has done that which is worthy of being noted; and, therefore, in writing out the progress of its labors and successes, the author has a right to expect the attention of the public will be directed to his performance.

Not the subject alone, however, but the manner in which it has been treated, calls for notice; for Mr. Strickland has certainly executed his task in a very praiseworthy manner. He begins with the organization of the Society, and closes with its latest operations. He divides his subject in a most natural and perspicuous manner, giving first a chapter on the events and ceremonies of the organization, next a chapter on domestic missions, then another on auxiliaries, which completes the homeward relations of his subject.

Then, under the leading idea of its foreign labors, he furnishes us successively with a series of chapters on the missions, respectively, to the Indians of the States, to Africa, to Oregon, to South America, to Texas, to the Germans, and to China. The work among the Indians of our

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older states, as well as that among the Germans and Oregonians, should have been classed, the reader might think, under the head of domestic missions; but these classes of people were regarded by the author, in their relations to his subject, as foreigners, and have been treated by him accordingly. The eleventh is an important chapter, on missionaries, wherein many invaluable suggestions are thrown out, which will be read with great interest. The twelfth chapter is an appeal in behalf of missions, in which the author has addressed himself to the public with a peculiar force and eloquence, which must stir the hearts of his readers most profoundly. The work closes with an appendix, which contains a large amount of very important matter, compiled from public documents, missionary addresses, and similar sources, in a way to add greatly to the interest and usefulness of the volume.

Here, then, in the following pages, the Christian reader has a pretty full account of what the Methodist Episcopal Church has done for the evangelization of the world; the Christian minister, particularly the Methodist minister, a very interesting memorial of the religious enterprise of a young but important evangelical association; and all missionary platform speakers, so numerous and so useful a division of the worthy laborers in the vineyard of our Master, all the materials necessary for the preparation of their speeches.

But this work will perform another invaluable service. By bringing the successes of the different branches of our missionary operations, at home and abroad, into the same field of vision, it will enable the reader to form an enlightened judgment respecting the comparative promise of these respective branches. He will see, for example, whether a given amount of labor and money will do more good in Oregon than in Africa-among our tribes of Indians, or in foreign countries. It is true, the more recent stations, such

as that in China, have not been long enough in existence to indicate clearly what they will be; but respecting the older ones, a good opinion can be formed from a wise use of the contents of this volume. Our people will, therefore, no longer be under the necessity of hesitating as to the direction where they may most profitably bestow their charities; but, by reading this book, and carefully comparing one field of labor with another, and that for quite a series of years, they can tell, with almost a mathematical certainty, where their means will be likely to do the greatest amount of service.

This volume will, also, without doubt, increase the popular interest in our missionary operations; for the reader will see clearly, that the money already spent has not gone for nothing. For only about thirty years has the Society had existence; and lo! what results have followed its exertions! How many feeble societies it has sustained at home, among our native population, until they were able to live and flourish without assistance! How many souls have been converted, what noble results in civilization have been realized, among the red savages of our own vast territories! What a voice it has sent to the shores of bleeding and oppressed Africa, where the pillars of a young republic have been laid, by the hands of our own missionaries, under the most encouraging auspices, from which religion and civil liberty may ultimately spread over that dark continent! What a hand of kindness it has reached out to all classes of immigrants, especially to the Germans, who, amidst the calculating selfishness of the great majority of our countrymen, have failed to find that warm friendship which they had expected, but who have been led, by the noble-spirited German missionaries, acting under the direction of this Society, from the empty abstractions of neology, rationalism, and infidelity, to the substantial and glorious realities of true religion!