1 Latourette, Kenneth Scott: A History of the Expansion of Christianity, Harper & Brothers, New York/London, 1937–1945. Vol. I-VII.Google Scholar

2 Cp. my observations on the relationship between church history and the history of missions in the Vierteljahrsschrift für Literatur und Geistesgeschichte, Jg. 1951, under the title, “Universalgeschichte, Kirchengeschiehte und Missionsgesehichte.”

3 Cp. the expositions in Gustav Warneck: Abriss einer Geschichte der protestantischen Mission, 1910, 3. Aufl.; Julius Richter: Evangelische Missionsgeschichte (Evangelische Missionskunde, Bd. I), 1927, 2. Aufl; Carl Mirbt: Die evangelische Mission in ihrer Geschichte und Eigenart, 1917; Heinrich Frick: Dieevangelische Mission. Ursprung, Geschichte, Ziel. 1922.

4 I am preparing a publication of the complete extant correspondence between Cotton Mather and August Hermaun Francke. Literature on this problem up till now: Francke, Kuno: “Cotton Mather and August Hermann Franeke,” in Americana Germanica, vol. I, nr. 2, p. 31–66, 1897Google Scholar; and Fraucke, Kuno: “Cotton Mather and August Hermann Francke,” in Harvard Studies in Philology and Literature, V. 1896, p. 57–67Google Scholar. Also cp. Holmes: Bibliography, index under A. H. Francke.

5 For Boehm cp. the D. N. B. Recently the minister of the Lutheran congregation in London, E. Kramm, published a short study about Boehm in his sketch of the history of the congregation in London.

6 For Ludolf cp. my essay: “August Hermann Francke und die deutsehen Gemeinden in Russland,” Jahrbuch fuer Auslandsdeutschtum und evangelische Kirche, 1936, p. 145–157, and Tschizewskij, P.: “Der Kreis A. H. Franckes und seine slavistischen Studien,” Zeitschrift fuer slavistische Philologie, XVIGoogle Scholar. His ecumenical writings deserve special attention.

7 An article: “Pietism and Puritanism” (the influence of the Pietism of Halle on North American Puritanism in the time of A. H. Francke, A. W. Boehm, W. H. Ludolf, and Cotton Mather) is being prepared as a “Studienheft” of the ecumenical seminar of the theological faculty of the University of Marburg.

8 Allen, W. O. B., and McClure, Edmund, in Two Hundred Years: The History of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1698–1898, London, 1898Google Scholar, do not say too much about these events, although the support of the East Indian mission is dealt with in a special passage. The director of the SPCK, Canon Parson, very kindly gave me permission to use the archives of the SPCK, where from the records, minutes, and original letters as well as the copies of responding letters and the outlines, I got an impressive picture of the real extent and the intensity of the correspondence between the individual participants and of the tremendous extent of the real help that was given.

9 I have seen the following German publications of the documents of the Tranquebar mission: 1) Der Königl. Dänischen Missionarien aus Ost-Indien eingesaadte Ausführliche Bericlite von dem Werk ihres Amts unter den Heyden/angerichten Schuleu und Gemeinen/ereigneten Hindernissen und schweren Umständen/Beschaffenheit des Malabarischen Heydenthums/gepflogenen brieflichen Correspondentz und mündlichen Unterredungen mit selbigen Heyden; und übrigen Merkwürdigkeiten/so von ihnen/seit ihrer Abreise nach Indien bis zu Anfang des 1714ten Jahres/heraus gesehrieben/und hier von Zeit zu Zeit in versehiedenen Fortsetzungeu ediret sind; vom Ersten ausführlichen Bericht an his zu dessen Achter Continuation mitgetheilet. Halle, Verlegung des Wäysen-Hauses MDCCXV. 2) Herrn Bartholomäus Ziegenbalgs/ Königl. Dänischen Missionarii in Tranquebar/auf der Küste Coromandel, Ausführlicher Bericht/wie Er/nebst seinem Collegen Herrn Heinrich Plützscho,/Das Amt des Evangelli daselbst unter den Heyden und Christen führe: in einem Sendschreiben an einem vornchmen Theologum unserer Evangelisehen Kirchen ertheilet/des 22. Augusti 1708. Welchem eine Nach-Erinnerung zur Warnung an den Christlichen Laser/ wider die ungleichen Urtheile/dadurch sich einige an diesem Werk versündigen/beygefüget. Die andere Edition. Halle/ in Verlegung des Wäysenhauses MDCCXIII, 336 pp. The English publications I could read were the following: 1) Propagation of the Gospel in the East: being an Account of the Success of two Danish Missionaries lately sent to the East-Indies for the Conversion of the Heathens in Malabar, in several letters to their Correspondents in Europe.…. rendered into English from the High-Dutch; and dedicated to the most Honourable Corporation for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. London, Printed and sold by J. Downing in Bartholomew Close near West-Smithfield, 1709. Dedication: To the lost Reverend Father in God, Thomas, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury etc., President: and to the Rest of the Members of the Society for the propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. 2) Propagation of the Gospel in the East: being an Account of the Success of the Danish Missionaries, lately sent to the East-Indies. Rendered into English from the High-Dutch … 2nd ed., London 1711 3) Propagation of t he Gospel in the East: being an Account of the Success of the Danish Missionaries, sent to the East-Indies for the Conversion of the Heathens in Malabar. Extracted from letters of the said Missionaries, and brought down to the Beginning of the Year MDCCXIII. Wherein besides a Narrative of the Progress of t he Christian Religion in those Parts, with the Helps and Impediments which hitherto have occurred: several Hints are inserted, concerning the Religion of the Malabarians, their Priests, Poets, and other Literati; and what way be expected from the Printing-Press lately set up at Tranquebar. London, printed and sold by J. Downing in Bartholomew-Close near West-Smithfield, 1714, 50 p. 4) A Letter to the Reverend Mr. Geo. Lewis, Chaplain to the Honourable EastIndia Company, at Fort St. George: Giving an Account of the Method of Instruction used in the Charity-Schools of the Church, called Jerusalem, in Tranquebar, by the Protestant Missionaries there. Translated from the Portugueze. Copy printed at Tranquebar. London, printed and sold by J. Downing in Bartholomew-Close near West-Smithfield, 1715, (together with an introduction by George Lewis, with the date of Jan. 25, 1714/1715, in London), 32 pp. 5) A Brief Account of the Measures taken in Denmark for the Conversion of the Heathen in the East-Indies: and of the College or Incorporated Society Erected by the King of Denmark for the Propagation of the Gospel. Published for the Information of those who earnestly wish the Salvation of the Heathen. Translated from the High- Dutch, London, Printed and sold by J. Downing in Bartholomew-Close near West-Smithfield, 1715, 30 pp. 6) Propagation of the Gospel in the East: Being an Account of the Success of the two Danish Missionaries, lately sent to the East-Indies, to the Conversion of the Heathens in Malabar. In several Letters to their Correspondents in Europe. Containing a Narrative of their Voyage to the Coast of Coromadel, their Settlement at Iranquebar, Th Divinity and Philosophy of the Malabarian, their Language and Manners, the Impediments obstructing their Conversion, the several Methods taken by these Missionaries, the wonderful Frovidences attending them, and the Progress they have already made. Rendered into English from High-Dutch: and dedicated to the Most Honourable Corporation for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Part I. The third edition. London, printed and sold by J. Downing in Bartholomew-Close near West-Smithfield, 1718, XXXVI and 78 pp. Together with a dedication of an ecumenrcal content to the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, William (Tennison), Part II, London 1718, VIII + 60 pp., Part III, London 1718, XXIV and 231 pp. 7) Several Letters relating to the Protestant Danish Mission in Tranquebar in the East-Indies. London, printed by J. Downing in Bartholomew-Close near West-Smithfield, 1720, 28pp. The English translations which are printed by Downing are all made by A. W. Boehm; but he does not mention his name anywhere.

10 Besides his famous life story of Eliot, the missionary among the Indians, Cotton Mather also wrote about missions among the Indians in the following works: Indian Primer, 1699/1700, An Epistle to the Christian Indian, 1700. A letter about the present state of Christianity among the Christianized Indians, 1705, Theopolis Americana, 1710, India Christusna, 1721. Compare Holmes No. 182, p. 501. This work, on pages 56–61, contains extracts of Francke's above mentioned letter to Cotton Mather with news about the missionary work of B. Ziegenbalg and H. Pluetsehow; on pp. 62–70 it contains Cotton Mather's letter to Ziegenbalg, translated into Latin and English. On pp. 75–87 there is the answer to Cotton Mather's letter, the original Latin being written on the right, the English translation being written on the left. The answer to Mather's letter, however, is not written by the addressee, B. Ziegenbalg, who died on February 23, 1719, but by Johann Ernst Gründler, who answered Cotton Mather's letter of December 31, 1717 on December 10, 1719.

11 Some references to missions are found in A. H. Francke's famous work, Segenscoile Fnsstapfen des noch lebenden und waltenden liebreichen und getreuen Gottes, Zur Beschämung des Unglaubens und Stärekung des Glaubens, entdecket durch eine wahrhafte und umständliche Nachricht von dem Wäysen-Hause und übrigen Anstalten zu Glaucha vor Halle, published in Halle by the press of the orphan asylum in 1701. The 4th, 5th, and 6th Fortzetzung (1709) not only contains supplements on the progress and completion of the building of the foundations in Halle, but also news about the East Indian missionary work which had meanwhile come into existence, all as extracts from the correspondence of the orphan asylum. So, in Fortsetzung IV, 9, p. 14, there is a report on missionary work in Tranquebar being in danger through the unchristian behaviour of the white nominal Christians. Fortsetzung V, 27, p. 25 ff. tells of gifts for the mission and prints a missionary letter. Fortsetzung VI, §74, p. 62 ff. reports on the progress of the work and gives word of the departure of the missionary Ernst Gruendler. Even before the year 1709, parts of reports from the mission field were included in the Enghish edition arranged by A. W. Boehm. The first English edition appeared under the title: Pietas Hallensis, Or a Public Demonstration of the Footsteps of a Divine Being yet in the World: in an Historical Narration of the Orphan-House, and other Charitable Institutions, at Glaucha, near Halle in Saxony. By Augustus Hermannus Franck, Professor of Divinity in the Frederician University of Halle, Pastor at Glaucha and Director of the Pious Foundations there. Continued to the beginning of the year MDCCII, in a Letter to a Friend. And now done out of High-Dutch into English with a Preface bringing it down tothe present Time; together with a short History of Pietism, And an Appendix containing several Instruments and Public Papers relating to this Work. London, 1705. This work was highly important for the spread of Pietism in the Anglo-Saxon world. The English edition was reprinted several times and always was supplemented; the title also was changed. The edition of 1787 was published under the title: The Footsteps of Divine Providence, or, The Bountiful Hand of Heaven defraying the Expences of Faith: Wonderfully displayed in erecting and managing the Hospital at Glaucha without Halle in the Prussian Dorninions, for the Education of Students in Divinity, and for the Reception, Cloathing, Feeding, and Educating of Poor Children. Carried on by the Instrumentality of the humble and blessed Servant of God, Augustus Hermannus Franck. London, MDCCLXXXVII. In Introd. p. XII we find the announcement: The Life and character of the great Dr. Francke speedily will be published by W. Justius, Nr. 35 Shoemaker Row, Blackfriars, near Ludgate-Hi1, April 25, 1787. The 1705 edition of the Pietas Hallensis also became known to Cotton Mather. He explicitly refers to it in his letter to A. H. Francke of May 28, 1711, in which he explains to Francke that his work is not known in America. “Legimus, colimus vestigiaque Dei in illo mirifico Prudentiae divinae monumento conversando cx imo pectore veneramus.” These words directly refer to the title of Francke's work. (Cp. Francke, Kuno, “The Beginning of Cotton Mather's Correspondence with August Hermann Francke,” Philological Quarterly, Vol. V, 07 1926, Nr. 3, p. 194)Google Scholar. In the second English edition there is a reference to the missionary concern of the Pietists in Halle. This second edition was published in Halle under the title: Pietas Hallensis, Or An Abstract of the Marvellous Footsteps of Divine Providence, in the Building of a very large HOSPITAL or rather, a spacious College, For Charitable and Excellent Uses. And in the maintaining of many Orphans and other Poor People therein; at Glaucha near Halle, in the Dominions of the King of Prussia. Related by the Reverend Augustus Hermannus Franck, Professor of Divinity and Minister of Glaucha aforesaid. With a Preface written by Josiah Woodword D. D., and recommended by some Eminent Divines of the Church of England. To which is added a short History of Pietism. The Second Edition enlarged. London 1707. Boehm had succeeded in interesting some Anglicans in Francke's work; he had collected favorable recommendatione from prominent Anglican theologians, and had secured an official approbation. He even had persuaded one of the most important contemporary Anglican preachers to write a preface. In his introduction Josiah Woodword points out five tasks to the solution of which Francke's work contributes: 1. The Suppression of Scandalous Impiety and Vice. 2. The pious Instruction of Youth and ignorant Families. 3. The Cultivation of Religion by pious Conferences. 4. The Propagation of the Christian Faith among Infidels. 5. To all which excellent undertakings it is exceedingly to be wished that one more may be added: to wit vigorous Endeavours for Protestant Unions. 'And blessed be God, we have many excellent Persons among us as fit to carry on this happy work as they are eminent in all the rest: whose admirable example is very humbly and earnestly recommended to all that bear the great and venerable Name of Christians” (Pr. p. VI-VII). Under 4) Woodword explicitly refers to the work of the “Propagation of the Christian Faith among Infidels.”

12 Cp. Kuno Francke, op. cit., according to Cotton Mather's Diary II. 23: “I presented the Methods of Piety proposed in these Essayes (i.e. “Dust and Ashes” and “ Heavenly Conversation”) as being the true American Pietism…. I shall endeavour to send these things into Dr. Frauckius in Saxony, at the Frederician University.” In the preface to the “Heavenly Conversation” he repeats “that this essay might be entitled American Pietism. As there is a Fanatiek, so there is an Orthodox, a Reformed and Heavenly Pietism …” Here we also find the enthusiastic address to A. H. Francke: “Go on, my dear Franekius, and thy coadjutors. The Lord is with you, ye mighty men of piety” (Preface).

13 See Propagation of the Gospel in the East, Part I and II. A Letter to the Reverend Mr. Lewis, giving an Account of the Method of Instruction used in the Charity Schools at Tranquebar. An Account of the Measures taken in Denmark for the Conversion of the Heathens in the East-Indies, etc.

14 The exact title is: Nuncia Bona e Terra Longiqua. A Brief Account of some Good and Great Things doing for the Kingdom of God, in the Midst of Europe, Communicated in a Letter to—, from Cotton Mather, D. D. and F. R. S., Boston in New England 1715, (cp. Holmes, p. 753, No. 259, A-C) and Americana Gerinanica Vol. 1, No. 4 (12), pp. 32–53. The expression “Nuncia Bonn” apparently is meant to be a Latin translation of evangelium. Cotton Mather makes a play on this title in his letter to Ziegeubalg and Pluetechow: “Et quae per divinam gratiam in Asia … fecistis, in America … nuncia bona e terra longiqua inter christianos Americanos audiuntur.” The edition of Nuncia Bone also shows that Cotton Mather had besides Francke's letter also the printed English edition of the Pietas Hallensis of 1707, London; for in the postscript of the Nuncia Bona there is a commendatory mention of the founding of Halle by DrKennet, . This is printed in the English edition of the Pietas Hallensis, London 1707Google Scholar, which contains three things: 1. the above mentioned preface of Josiah Woodword, D. D., pref. i-vii, 2. the recommendation of another eminent divine of the Church of England, pref. viii-ix, 3. a passage out of a sermon preached at the Annual Meeting of the Children educated in the Charity Schools in London and Westminster, May 16, 1706. By the Rev. Dr. White Kennet, Archdeacon of Huntington, p. 15 sequ. of the said Sermon. Cotton Mather took White's praise of the orphan asylum in Halle out of the Pietas Hallensis for his Nuncia Bona.

15 There it is said, referring to Francke's letter to Cotton Mather, p. ix: “But of this and other Particulars, the letter here annexed will give the Reader a true summary Account, which being writ by the Director of those Foundations to a Divine in America (in Answer to one received from Him) the Substance thereof is, as a Desire of some Gentlemen who happened to see it in Latin, turned into English and prefixed by way of a general Introduction to the following Narrations of the Marvellous Footsteps of Providence.” From this we can conclude that Boehm was well informed about the pre-history of Francke's letter to Cotton Mather, that the Latin original letter was circulated among several English readers, that there was a desire to have the letter in an English translation. The reference to the fact that the letter was written by the director of the foundations of Halle himself and is Francke's reply to a 1etter of Cotton Mather sounds almost like a correction of the changing of the name which was done by Cotton Mather in his Nuncia Bona.

16 There is printed similar enthusiastic praise of the missionaries in the Sixth Continuation of the Report of the Missionaries of the King of Denmark in East India etc., Halle MDCCXV, p. 295, out of a Latin letter written by an unknown person to Ziegenbaig: “Vos minime latet quo opus sit praestantius in Dei gloriam, ad animae immortalis salutem, eo major plerumque difficultas: mile struit insidias Satanas malevolus: infinitos posuit obices pietatis hostis. At lucis Jesus erit instar omnium pax Christierit comes iucundissimus. Pergite, Fratres, Pergite. Deus procerto est vobiscum, Deus e coelo est vobis amieissimus.”

17 At several points of this extensive work there appears a heightened eschatological consciousness, especially where he speaks about the importance of America in the history of redemption. In Theopolis Americana, Boston 1710, p. 51, he says, e. g., “Inasmuch as we are now doubtless arrived unto that point of Time in which we may be under a daily Expectation, that the Seventh Trumpet of the Revolutions foretold in the most sure word of Prophesy will begin to sound, and the Great Trumpet shall be blown, in the joyful sound whereof America may hope for a share; it may prove an agreeable entertainment unto some good men, to have a vacant page or two here filled with a brief Recapitulation of the Things that are shortly to come to pass.” Cotton Mather's eschatological expectations had their effects in the USA for a very long time. In the Second Advent Library No. VII, February 12, 1842, there is a treatise by the Rev. Charles Fitch, Reasons for Believing the Second Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ in 1843, Boston. This treatise contains a letter to Rev. J. Litch on the Second Coming of Christ; with the sentiments of Cotton Mather on the Same Subject, approved by Thomas Prince, by Charles Fitch, Boston 1841. On p. 52 there is quoted a passage from Samuel Mather The Life of the Very Reverend and Learned Cotton Mather, 1729, p. 140, as a summary of Cotton Mather's thought: “The second coming of the Lord will be at hand for the destruction of the man of Sin and the extinction of the Roman monarchy under the papal form of it …” On p. 56 he says: “By all just and fair computations, the twelve hundred and sixty years allowed for the Papal Empire must be nearly, if not quite expired. By consequence the one thousand and three hundred and thirty- five years, which will bring the time of the end, when Daniel, with every other good man, is to rise and stand in his lot, are not likely to extend beyond the present century.”

18 How great the spiritual strain was, can be seen, e.g., from the fact that the Indian tribe in whose language Eliot, the missionary among the Indians and friend of Cotton Mather, translated the whole Bible, was already completely wiped out by the white race by the time the printed translation of the Bible finally appeared as the result of his life work; so that Eliot's lifelong labor necessarily seemed to be fruitless.