d prosecute ways and means for propagating the Gospel among
those who are destitute of the knowledge of Christianity." This of
course includes Mohammedans and Jews; and those who carefully
consider the statements embodied in the Introduction to the History,
will see that it embraces, also, the Oriental Churches, as they were
fifty years ago.

1 These remarks were suggested by a speech at the Annual Meeting of
the Board in Salem, by the Rev. S. B. Treat, Home Secretary of the
Board.

In November, 1812, the year in which the first missionaries sailed
for Calcutta, a committee, appointed by the Board to appeal to its
constituency, used this emphatic language: "It is worthy of
consideration, that the Board is not confined in its operations to
any part of the world, but may direct its attention to Africa, North
or South America, or the Isles of the Sea, as well as to Asia." At
the Annual Meeting in 1813, it was voted: "That the Prudential
Committee be directed to make inquiry respecting the settlement of a
mission at San Salvador, in Brazil, at Port Louis, in the Isle of
France, or on the island of Madagascar." In the latter part of 1818,
it was resolved to commence a mission in Western Asia. The
Prudential Committee said, in their Report for 1819: "In Palestine,
Syria, the provinces of Asia Minor, Armenia, Georgia, and Persia,
though Mohammedan countries, there are many thousands of Jews, and
many thousands of Christians, at least in name. But the whole
mingled population is in a state of deplorable ignorance and
degradation,--destitute of the means of divine knowledge, and
bewildered with vain imaginations and strong delusions." In that
year Pliny Fisk and Levi Parsons embarked for this field.

This historical review makes it clear, that those who organized the
Board and directed its early labors, regarded not only Pagans, but
Mohammedans, Jews, and nominal Christians, as within the sphere of
its labors; and such has been the practical construction for nearly
sixty years.

The reader is referred to the close of the second volume for an
Index; also, for a detailed statement of the Publications issued by
the several missions, which must impress any one with the amount,
value, and influence of the intellectual labor there embodied. Had
these statements been given at length in the History, they would
have embarrassed its progress. A list is also appended of the
Missionaries, male and female, giving the time during which