HEROINES

OF THE

MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE;

OR

SKETCHES

OF

PROMINENT FEMALE MISSIONARIES.

BY DANIEL C. EDDY.

EDITED BY THE REV. JOHN CUMMING, D. D.

"But there are deeds which should not pass away,
And names that must not wither."

LONDON:

HALL, VIRTUE, AND CO.,

25, PATERNOSTER ROW.

50.

BIBL

H

PREFACE

TO THE PRESENT EDITION.

THE missionary enterprise, if not commenced in paradise, is coeval with the call of the apostles. It is part of Christianity itself—inseparable from it-inspired by its motives, elements, and ends.

Grace is essentially diffusive-it grows by giving-its efflux is in the ratio of its intensity. When it ceases to expand it ceases to exist. Money may be raised in answer to the calls of sectarian rivalry or of ecclesiastical pride, but a true missionary sympathy is created only in those hearts in which the Holy Spirit has created and rooted the grace of the everlasting gospel.

It is true, science has her martyrs and her devotees, and these in their sphere are not unimportant. But no creed, or system, or science, can present such, and so extended, and so singularly disinterested a roll of missionaries, martyrs, and devoted heroes as the religion of the Bible. This is a fact-the most brilliant of facts. With little expectation, because with barely a possibility of earthly renown, with the absolute certainty of poverty as their portion on earth, men who had genius sufficient to raise them to the very loftiest places of power and reputation and pecuniary advantages in other professions-resigned all such expectations-cheerfully resigned them; and seeing a grave on earth as their end here, a crown of glory as their possession in eternity, and seeking nothing more, and satisfied with nothing less, they took up the cross and went to far-distant and barbarous lands to win souls, and do their Master's bidding. Such men are the modern credentials of Christianity. They are witnesses to the presence of a heavenly influence here; the gospel shines through and in them, and they act for it, as they live by it. The world reads them as divine epistles, and Christians quote them as evidences of what grace has done, and as instalments of what it can do.

It has happened that female missionaries, just because not commissioned to preach the gospel publicly to the "great congregation," have not received those grateful appreciations which have been accorded to the others. Yet it cannot be denied by any who have inquired into their history and labours, that a vast amount of good, impossible to ordinary ministers, has been done by female missionaries. Their piety has been equal and their perseverance greater. Their influence has penetrated silently and softly as the dew, and as saturating also. The ordinary missionary teaches the female missionary instils. The former acts on his own sex- the latter more immediately on hers. In India especially, as shown by the reports of the London Ladies' Society for promoting Female Education in the East, and by the Church of Scotland Ladies' Society for promoting Female Education in India, and other kindred institutions, better known to others, almost the only way of access to heathen females is by female missionaries, their employment therefore in this case is a necessity. When one recollects the gigantic influence of females on their families, it must be apparent to every one that the conversion of the women of heathendom would prove a great accession to the spread and influence of Christianity-to the salvation of souls and the glory of the Redeemer.

This little volume appears to me likely to encourage and augment the labours of Christian females, to evince to the church of Christ their value, and the duty of availing herself of their precious services yet more extensively, and to make us more deeply thankful to God that his grace has raised up for us Christian females, notwithstanding our insensibility to their worth, who have proved themselves examples of devotedness-zeal-and successful missionary exertion.

It is matter of unspeakable joy to know that the cause of Christ still moves forward to ultimate victory. Amid the silence of its friends and the noise of its adversaries— in consequence of our labours, and in spite of them-in sunshine and in storm-in all lands and under all circumstances, the kingdom comes.

JOHN CUMMING.

London.