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The American Missionary Spirit, 1828–1835

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

J. Orin Oliphant
J. Orin Oliphant
Affiliation:
Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa.
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Extract

Within the years indicated in the title of this paper, missionary activity in the United States came to be permeated by a spirit of enterprise that was truly remarkable. The enthusiastic outbursts of those years, presently to be noticed, were in truth novel expressions of faith grown militant, but they were not uncharacteristic of the time. Rapid change within a generation had made thoughtful Americans keenly aware of the fact that they were living in a new age, an age distinguished, among other things, for Christian benevolence. As the democratization of American life proceeded, latent energies were released and the mobilization of such energies in associations for the promotion of change was revealing to the common folk of America a new and effective way of social action and was implanting in their consciousness a belief in the idea of progress. By the decade of the 1820's Americans generally were coming to believe that it was possible by united effort to achieve emancipation for the more fortunate many and amelioration of the lot of the less fortunate few. The multiplication of associations revealed an eager striving to attain these aims. In the realm of religious activity the urge to accomplishment took the form of united endeavor for the conversion of the world.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , June 1938 , pp. 125 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1938

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References

1 See especially an editorial, “Aspect of the Times,” in the American Sunday School Magazine (02. 1827), IV, 34–35.Google Scholar

2 See the observations of Walker, J., in an article entitled “Associations for Benevolent Purposes,” in the Christian Examiner (July and Aug., 1825), II, 241–252Google Scholar, and an article by William Ellery Channing, entitled “Associations,” Ibid. (Sept., 1829), VII, 105–140.

3 World conversion as an object of missionary endeavor was a sentiment that pervaded both British and American missionary literature for many years before 1835. As typical examples, see: The Panoplist, n. s., (07, 1812), V, 91Google Scholar; Church Missionary Society, Proceedings … 1819–1820 (London, 1820), p. 220Google Scholar; Hall, Gordon and Newell, Samuel, The Conversion of the World⃜ 2d ed. (Andover, 1818)Google Scholar; a resolution adopted by the Methodist Missionary Society of the New England Conference, in the Missionary Herald (07, 1826), XXII, 224Google Scholar; American Education Society, Seventeenth Annual Report of the Directors (Boston, 1833), p. 49Google Scholar; and a statement of the secretaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in the Missionary Herald (03, 1833), XXIX, 108.Google Scholar

4 A very clear statement of this point of view is found in the Sixteenth Annual Report of the American Bible Society, 1832, in the following words: “But what more than all marks the present period, in relation to the Bible, is the wide and numerous doors which divine Providence is opening for its reception in the unevangelized parts of the earth.” American Bible Society, Annual Reports… [reprints] (New York, 1838), I,, 643.Google Scholar See also the resolution adopted by this society in 1831. Ibid., p. 550. For a British expression of this point of view, see the Boston Recorder and Religious Telegraph, 04 4, 1828Google Scholar, quoting the London Missionary Register.

5 See, as examples, A. B. S., , Annual Reports, I, 427Google Scholar, and the anonymous article, “Means Employed by This Country for Promoting the Highest Interests of Mankind”, in the Quarterly Christian Spectator (03, 1834), VI, 36–53.Google Scholar This state of mind was doubtless strengthened by the flattering observations of certain foreigners, especially Englishmen. For example, the Rev. John Hartley, an English missionary, in a letter from Syra to the Rev. Josiah Brewer, dated 07 2, 1828, spoke as follows: “… Amidst all the confusion, tyranny, darkness and vice of so many other countries, I often contemplate the condition of the United States of America, with sincere gratitude to God. Notwithstanding all your defects, God has certainly set you as a city on a hill. Your institutions, both political and religious, are an example to the world…” Boston Recorder and Religious Telegraph, 12. 25, 1828.

6 An excellent contemporancous statement showing the interrelationship of all such societies is reprinted from the Twenty-First Report of the Anglican Church Missionary Society in the Providence Rhode Island Religtous Intelligencer, 03 1, 1822.Google Scholar

7 Elsbree, O. W., The Rise of the Missionary Spirit in America, 1790–1815 (Williamsport, Penna., 1928)Google Scholar, chap. 3.

8 The following British societies exerted great influence in America: the Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel Among the Heathen (1792), the London Missionary Society (1795), the Church Missionary Society (1799), the Religious Tract Society of London (1799), and the British and Foreign Bible Society (1804).

9 After 1815, religious newspapers sprang up rapidly in the United States, the Christian Watchman and the New York Observer being two important examples. Religious magazines began to flourish in America at an even earlier date. For the titles of some of the earliest of these, see Elsbree, op. cit., pp. 155–156. See also an editorial, “The Periodical Press,” in the American Sunday School Magazine (05, 1827), IV, 132–133.Google Scholar

10 On the concert of prayer in general, see Elsbree, op. cit., pp. 135–136; London Evangelical Magazine (05, 1795), III, 198–202Google Scholar; Missionary Herald (02., 1833), XXIX, 76–77.Google Scholar For special applications of the concert, including the application to the Sunday School movement, see Sunday-School Journal, 06 19, 1833Google Scholar; Christian Watchman, 05 26, 1832Google Scholar; Christian Index, 12 29, 1832Google Scholar; American Sunday School Union, Second Report (Philadelphia, 1826), p. 15.Google Scholar

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12 The Western Foreign Missionary Society was organized by the Synod of Pitts burgh in 1831, the American Baptist Home Mission Society was formed in 1832, and the organization of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church was perfected in 1835. Missionary Herald (08., 1834), XXX, 315Google Scholar; Proceedings of the Convention Held in the City of New York, on the 27th of 04, 1832Google Scholar, for the Formation of the American Baptist Home Mission Society,… (New York, 1832), pp. 3–5Google Scholar; Wilberforee, Samuel, A History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America (London, 1844), p. 367.Google Scholar

13 A. B. S., , Annual Reports, I, 307.Google Scholar

14 Ibid., p. 341.

15 In a story relating briefly the history of the adoption of the resolution by the Bible Society of Monroe County and telling of the efforts made to carry it into effect, the New York Observer declared: “Here is an example of Christian energy and liberality worthy of universal imitation⃜ Why cannot their example be followed by every county in the state, and by every state in the union How animating would be the spectacle, if this whole nation would rise in Christian majesty, and resolve that there shall no longer be a family in America destitute of the Bible. Is it too much to hope that the example of the citizens of Monroe will lead in the end to this glorious result” Quoted by the Boston Recorder and Religious Telegraph, 04 2, 1825.Google Scholar

16 Missionary Herald (12., 1827), XXIII, 394Google Scholar; ibid. (Jan., 1828), XXIV, 25. The Philadelphia Bible Society resolved on 09. 17, 1827, to supply with Bibles the destitute in the state of Pennsylvania within three years. Boston Recorder and Religious Telegraph, Dec. 25, 1828Google Scholar; Religious Farmer (Milton, Penna., 12 25, 1828), II, 3Google Scholar. For numerous instances of local Bible drives, see the Boston Recorder and Religious Telegraph, May 23, June 6–13, 11. 7, 1828.Google Scholar

17 ,A. B. S., , Annual Reports, I, 407–415.Google Scholar

18 Ibid., pp. 452–456, 471.

19 Address of the Board of Managers of the American Bible Society to the Friends bf the Bible of Every Religious Denomination, on the Subject of the Resolution for Supplying all the Destitute Families in the United States with the Bible in the Course of two Years (New York, 1829), p. 2.Google Scholar A suggestion that such a resolution be adopted was made to the Board of Managers of the American Bible Society by the auxiliary society of Washington County, New York. A. B. S., , Annual Reports, I, 458.Google Scholar

20 A. B. S., , Annual Reports, I, 499Google Scholar; A. B. S., , Fortieth Annual Report (New York, 1856), p. 172.Google Scholar

21 A. B. S., , Annual Reports, I, 563–564.Google Scholar

22 Ibid., p. 653.

23 Ibid., p. 707.

24 Ibid., pp. 442, 474 et seq.

25 Ibid., p. 680.

26 Ibid., p. 550.

27 Ibid., pp. 608, 633, 639.

28 Ibid., p. 654. This subjeet is treated by Dwight, op. ctt., chap. xv.

29 A. B. S., , Annual Reports, I, 835.Google Scholar Also, see the letter from the Rev. William S. Plumer to the Board of Managers of the American Bible Society, dated at Petersburg, Va., 12. 30, 1834. Ibid., p. 761.

30 Ibid., p. 726.

31 Ibid., pp. 820, 875.

32 American Sunday School Union, Fourth Report (Philadelphia, 1828), pp. 15–17.Google Scholar

33 Ibid., pp. 18–19.

34 It is probable that local Sunday School drives preceded the first national effort. It is reported, for example, that the Maryland Sunday School Union pledged itself, in April, 1828, “to establish a S. School in every neighborhood within 2 years.” Religious Farmer (01. 27, 1829), II, 44.Google Scholar

35 A. S. S. U., , Sixth Report (Philadelphia, 1830), p. 4.Google Scholar On the history of this resolution and the response to its adoption, see the American Sunday-School Teachers' Magazine (1830), VII, 217–223, 281–284,Google Scholar and passim.

36 A. S. S. U., , Sixth Report, pp. 5–8Google Scholar; American Baptist Magazine (12., 1831), XI, 380Google Scholar; Quarterly Register of the American Education Society (11., 1830), III, 139Google Scholar. The managers of the American Bible Society showed their approval of this undertaking by voting, in April, 1831, a grant to the American Sunday School Union of 20,000 Testaments for gratuitous distribution. A. B. S., , Annual Reports, I, 559.Google Scholar

37 A. S. S. U., , Eighth Annual Report (Philadelphia, 1832), p. 6.Google Scholar

38 A. S. S. U., , Ninth Annual Report (Philadelphia, 1833), p. vi.Google Scholar

39 A. S. S. U., , Tenth Annual Report (Philadelphia, 1834), p. 29.Google Scholar

40 Ibid., p. 19.

41 Ibid., pp. 4–5.

42 A. S. S. U., , Eleventh Annual Report (Philadelphia, 1835), p. 35.Google Scholar

43 New York City Tract Society, Seventh Annual Report (New York, 1834), P. 10.Google Scholar This plan was apparently foreshadowed by a resolution of the Philadelphia City Tract Society, adopted several months earlier, to “proceed without delay, to place within the reach of every family in this City and Suburbs some judicious Tract, whose object shall be to promote the sanctification of the Sabbath.” Boston Recorder and Religious Telegraph, 08. 29, 1828.Google Scholar Also, in 04, 1828, the executive committee of the Pennsylvania Branch of the American Tract Society resolved to form a tract society in every township and congregation in both Pennsylvania and Delaware before 01. 1, 1830. Ibid., 09. 19, 1828. See also the Worcester Massachusetts Yeoman, 05 3, 1828Google Scholar, quoting from the New York Observer.

44 American Tract Society, Fourth Annual Report (New York, 1829), p. 4Google Scholar; Missionary Herald (03, 1830), XXVI, 88–89.Google Scholar For reports of monthly distributions of tracts, see the Religious Farmer (Sep. 8 and Nov. 17, 1829), II, 290, 379.Google Scholar

45 A. T. S., , Sixth Annual Report (New York, 1831), P. 20.Google Scholar

46 A. T. S., , Seventh Annual Report (New York, 1832), p. 4.Google Scholar

47 A. T. S., , Ninth Annual Report (New York, 1834), P. 3.Google Scholar

48 A. T. S., , Tenth Annual Report (New York, 1835), p. 5.Google Scholar

49 A. T. S., , Twelfth Annual Report (New York, 1837), p. 13.Google Scholar

50 A resolution passed by the American Tract Society in 1835 asserted “That, with the blessing of God, this Society will endeavor to meet ALL providential openings for Tract distribution in Foreign and Pagan Lands.” A. T. S., , Tenth Annual Report (New York, 1835), p. 6.Google Scholar

51 Channing, William Ellery, Complete Works (London, n. d.), p. 132.Google Scholar

52 Missionary Herald (03, 1833), XXIX, 109.Google Scholar

53 Ibid., (01, 1834), XXX, 37.

54 Brosnan, Cornelius J., Jason Lee, Prophet of the New Orgeon (New York, 1932)Google Scholar, chap. I; Gammell, William, A History of American Baptist Missions… (Boston, 1854)Google Scholar, chap. XX.