Then the conversation turned upon the history of missionary efforts in the South Pacific from the opening enterprise of the London Mission near the end of the last century. Frank and Fred made copious notes on the subject from the books within their reach, and the information supplied by the Doctor, and from these notes they subsequently condensed the following interesting story:
JOHN WESLEY, THE FOUNDER OF METHODISM.
The London Missionary Society was formed in 1795 by zealous men of different denominations; the call for the first meeting was signed by eighteen Independent clergymen, seven Presbyterian, three Wesleyan (Methodist), and three Episcopal, and the assemblage was held September 22d of that year. The islands of the Pacific were then attracting attention in consequence of the mutiny of the Bounty and the death of Captain Cook, and they were selected as the first field of operations.
Many young men offered themselves as missionaries, and of all the number of applicants twenty-nine were selected. The first delegation landed on Tahiti March 4, 1797, and formed the first mission of the Society. From that beginning the South Seas have been gradually covered with missions, and the Society has pushed its work into other fields which we need not consider here. It still adheres to its original plan of avoiding denominational differences of doctrine and Church government, and zealously pursues its work. Nearly all the denominations of Protestants have since organized separate missions of their own, both in Great Britain and America, for spreading the Gospel in the South Seas. In our account of the Sandwich and Society islands the work of the missionaries has been described; we have seen how whole populations have renounced heathenism and its practices, have been provided with written languages, and with schools and churches, and have been changed from savages to civilized men and women. And all this is due to the work of the missionary, who labored for the good of his fellow-man.
MISSION CHURCH AND STATION.