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 DR. ANDERSON'S 
 
 FAREWELL TO THE MISSIONARIES. 
 
 printcti for trictip 
 
 1S6G.
 
 TO THE RETURNED MISSIONARIES OF THE 
 AMERICAN BOARD. 
 
 The Secretaries desire to be kept informed of your Post Office 
 address. If they know where you are, the Annual Report, Ser- 
 mon, and other occasional Pamphlets will be sent you. 
 
 Missionary House, \ 
 
 lioston, Aiif/. 27, 18(i<i. j
 
 S.%0 
 
 FAREWELL LETTER. 
 
 MISSIONARY HOUSE, Boston, 
 July 5, 1866. 
 
 DEAR BRETHREN: 
 
 On the 3d of February last, I addressed a letter 
 to my brethren in the missions, stating my near 
 approach to the age of three-score-and-ten, and my 
 consequent purpose to decline a reelection as Cor- 
 responding Secretary, at the next annual meeting 
 of the Board. At the same time I introduced to 
 ,. you the Rev. Dr. N. G. Clark, my colleague and in- 
 
 ^O 
 
 ^ tended successor in the department of Foreign Cor- 
 
 , respondence. I also intimated the hope that I should 
 
 J have the privilege, near the close of the year, of 
 
 sf^ 
 
 sending a few farewell words to my missionary 
 ^ brethren. 
 
 ^ My connection with the missions began in the 
 1 spring of 1822 forty-four years ago. I then, in the 
 n absence of Mr. Evarts, took charge of the corre- 
 | spondence, and the editing of the " Missionary Her- 
 ," for six months of my senior year at Andover. 
 My permanent connection with the Board com- 
 menced in the autumn of that year, at first simply 
 i 
 
 404957
 
 2 DR. ANDERSON'S 
 
 as assistant to the Corresponding Secretary, and then 
 as Assistant Secretary until 1832, when three coor- 
 dinate Corresponding Secretaries were appointed by 
 the Board, and the department of Foreign Corre- 
 spondence was devolved on me. In fact, my official 
 duties had from the first been chiefly in that depart- 
 ment. For thirty-four years, therefore, I have had 
 the full charge of the correspondence with the mis- 
 sions beyond sea. 
 
 The brethren and sisters now in the field all went 
 forth during my connection with the Board, except- 
 ing father and mother Spaulding in Ceylon, father 
 and mother Thurston at the Sandwich Islands, and 
 fathers Kingsbury and Byington among the Choc- 
 taws. The whole number, male and female, exceeds 
 twelve hundred, of whom more than eight hundred 
 went to the missions beyond the seas. Of these, how 
 many have now gone from earth ; and of how many 
 may it be truly said, that their "praise is in all the 
 churches." Glorious is their record on high, and 
 most pleasant is the thought of again meeting them. 
 
 While thinking of them, and of their surviving as- 
 sociates, it is natural to think, also, of what God has 
 been pleased to do chiefly through their labors. By 
 no means would I undervalue our missions as they 
 were forty-four years ago. They then seemed to 
 me, as they now do, a noble enterprise, and the mis- 
 sionaries of that early day have never as a body been 
 surpassed. But the missions were then all in their in- 
 fancy, and there were only six of them, with only six- 
 teen stations. There are now twenty missions, some 
 of them very extended, with one hundred stations,
 
 FAREWELL TO THE MISSIONARIES. 3 
 
 and two hundred and forty out-stations. The num- 
 ber of native preachers and catechists was then 
 very small, and those were chiefly in Ceylon; nor 
 was there then, nor for a long time afterwards, a na- 
 tive pastor in any one of our missions. Now, the 
 number of licensed preachers and catechists is two 
 hundred and forty-eight, and there are more than 
 sixty native pastors. We had then twenty-one 
 ordained missionaries in the field ; four hundred and 
 fifteen have since gone forth. Scarcely less than two 
 hundred churches have been formed, which have 
 received more than sixty thousand hopeful converts, 
 about two thirds of whom are supposed to be no 
 longer among the living. The printing by our mis- 
 sion presses exceeds a thousand millions of pages, 
 which have been scattered abroad in forty-two lan- 
 guages of the unevangelized world. 
 
 All this, as you well know, is only one item in the 
 extended system of foreign missionary operations. 
 The progress of our Board has but kept pace with 
 that of the four great English missionary societies, 
 which began their career before us. And there are 
 not less than two-score missionary societies of sub- 
 sequent origin, in different countries of the Chris- 
 tian world, some of which are quite vigorous. And 
 how has the Lord singularly prepared the way for 
 his people to make known his Gospel through the 
 earth ! Nearly the whole of Turkey, the Nestorians, 
 India, Burmah, China, and portions of Japan all 
 closed, or nearly so, against the missionary forty-four 
 years ago have become accessible; and it is mat- 
 ter for grateful surprise and joy, that so many of the
 
 4 DR. ANDERSON'S 
 
 grand strategic points of the unevangelized world 
 are occupied, at this moment, by Protestant missions. 
 Recalling to mind my contemporaries and associates 
 that have rested from their labors, whom shall I 
 name, since I cannot name them all, and so many 
 of them deserve to be held in everlasting remem- 
 brance ! Dr. Samuel Worcester, our first Corre- 
 sponding Secretary, died the year before I came to 
 Boston ; but I had known him from my early youth 
 as the bosom friend of my honored father; and 
 I loved him, after my father died until his own de- 
 cease, more than I loved any other living man. It 
 was preeminently he who laid so well the founda- 
 tions of our missionary enterprise. With his wor- 
 thy coadjutor and successor, Jeremiah Evarts, I was 
 associated eight years. Mr. Evarts's memory of 
 dates and facts was very remarkable, but scarcely 
 exceeded the strength of his judgment, and his men- 
 tal self-control. These two men are the most brill- 
 iant stars in our constellation. Next to them stands 
 Samuel Hubbard, a judge of the Supreme Court of 
 Massachusetts, twenty-two years an active member 
 of the Prudential Committee, and a most admirable 
 Christian man. Of Presidents, I might speak of Gov- 
 ernor John Cotton Smith, an inimitable presid- 
 ing officer, and of the greatly beloved Theodore 
 Frelinghuysen. Then there were Stephen Van 
 Rensselaer the Albany Patroon, of singular sim- 
 plicity of manners and Chief Justice Thomas S. 
 Williams, both Vice-Presidents of the Board, and 
 held in the highest estimation. I might mention the 
 Hon. William Reed, Dr. Leonard Woods, Governor
 
 FAREWELL TO THE MISSIONARIES. 5 
 
 Samuel T. Armstrong, and also younger men, all 
 valued members of our Prudential Committee, but 
 released from the cares of earth some of them 
 many years ago. Nor must I fail to speak of other 
 associates in the correspondence. The Rev. David 
 Greene, my fellow-laborer for a score of years, was 
 an able and faithful servant of the Lord Jesus. Dr. 
 Benjamin B. Wisner, for several years our Home 
 Secretary, was eminently endowed for the duties of 
 that office, but died in the prime and beauty of his 
 age. So did the eloquent and beloved Dr. Elias 
 Cornelius, elected Secretary of the Board, but not 
 allowed time to place so much as his foot upon the 
 official threshold. And so also did Dr. William J. 
 Armstrong, Home Secretary for twelve years, whose 
 active and ardent career was suddenly closed in the 
 wreck of the steamer Atlantic. 
 
 In a review of the past, gratitude is perhaps my 
 predominant feeling. To have .been intrusted with 
 such a correspondence, and for so long a time, and 
 with agreeable and excellent fellow-laborers and 
 companions ; to have had so few misunderstandings 
 with my brethren at home and abroad, and so 
 much mutual confidence and love ; to have been 
 allowed to visit so many of the missions, most of 
 them once, and several more than once ; and now to 
 be permitted to retire from my office assured that I 
 have the confidence and affection of my brethren 
 and sisters in the field ; this, when I think how un- 
 deserving I am of such blessings from the hand of 
 God, is almost overpowering; and I cannot but ad- 
 mire the sovereign goodness of Him who has been 
 pleased to extend such mercy toward me.
 
 6 DR. ANDERSON'S 
 
 I know the reality of my love for my brethren 
 and sisters in the missions ; and I am sure that no 
 other associated body of Christian men and women 
 is more worthy of esteem and love. In common 
 with my associates, I deeply sympathize with the 
 missions in their diminished numbers, as a conse- 
 quence of our late civil war, and in the increasing 
 weight of their cares and labors ; and the more, as I 
 do not see an immediate prospect of relief. "We 
 share in your trials, and can almost say, with the 
 holy Apostle, "that ye are in our hearts to die and 
 live with you." Sure I am, that for many years I 
 have rejoiced in your joys and sorrowed in your sor- 
 rows, though multiplied cares have often prevented 
 my giving you this assurance. 
 
 I must not omit to speak of your children returned 
 to this country. One of my earliest essays in argu- 
 mentative letters to Missions, was on this subject, to 
 the brethren in Ceylon. Whether I was right in my 
 positions, or wrong, I then became deeply interested 
 in the difficult questions relating to missionary chil- 
 dren, and have been so ever since. In my private 
 memorandum-book for the Returned Children, with 
 a page devoted to each, I have now four hundred 
 and eighty-two names. My information is yet in- 
 complete ; but if life and health be spared for a 
 couple of years, I hope to have an ample basis of 
 facts for some very interesting practical conclusions. 
 
 I am humbled when I reflect upon the many short- 
 comings in my official life ; but I trust the Master, 
 in his long-suffering mercy, has forgiven me, and I 
 thank you for your forbearance and indulgent kind- 
 ness.
 
 FAREWELL TO THE MISSIONARIES. 7 
 
 The office of Secretary, whether in the Foreign 
 or Home Department, is loaded down with respon- 
 sibilities, labors, perplexities, and cares, not to be 
 sustained save through the grace of God. The Sec- 
 retary, not less than his missionary brethren, needs 
 the presence of his divine Lord ; and that presence, 
 in the fulfillment of the Great Promise, I believe 
 both you and I have enjoyed. I certainly have 
 been conscious of it in not a few of my official per- 
 plexities and sorrows, in many an ocean voyage, 
 and in many a foreign land. 
 
 I have never had stronger assurance of the value 
 and of the ultimate triumph of the missionary cause, 
 than I have now. Never indeed was my confidence 
 so strong as at present. For, I am now looking back 
 as one putting off his armor, and can do it with 
 something like the calmness of a spectator, yet with 
 the feelings of one who has been long in the conflict, 
 and sometimes in the thickest of the fight. What 
 at the time seemed to me like shouts of victory, I 
 now know to have been such, and that ours is a tri- 
 umphing army. I see, too, great progress in our 
 knowledge of the enemy's strength, of the dispo- 
 sition of his forces, and of the ground for which we 
 are contending; and also in the materials for our 
 holy warfare, in the experience and discipline of our 
 forces, in skill and confidence on the battle-field, and 
 in the conviction "that they that be with us, are 
 more than they that be with them." I have seen the 
 wonder-working providence of God opening nearly 
 the whole of the heathen world to the Gospel; the 
 Word of God translated into languages spoken
 
 8 DR. ANDERSON'S 
 
 by far the largest portion of the unevangelized 
 nations; and many a benighted region lighted up 
 with gospel missions, much as the promenades and 
 parks of our great cities are lighted up at night. 
 Though night is not thereby converted into day, the 
 wayfarer finds his path illuminated, and goes on his 
 way rejoicing. Thus it is in large portions of West- 
 ern Asia, Africa, and India, in several of the maritime 
 districts of China, and in many a group of islands in 
 the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 I by no means believe that we have learned all 
 that experience can teach respecting economy in 
 the working of foreign missions; but I am confi- 
 dent that there has been great progress in that di- 
 rection under the divine guidance. How much more 
 entire is our reliance, now, on those agencies which 
 are strictly spiritual ; how much higher the estimate 
 we put upon a native ministry ; and how vast the 
 consequent reduction in our estimate of the cost of the 
 world's conversion. I can only allude to this subject. 
 The churches, the missions, and we too, have been 
 slow of apprehension in these matters ; but who can 
 fail to see that the missionary work has been grad- 
 ually approaching the simplicity of the apostolic 
 missions, which knew nothing, among the heathen, 
 "save Jesus Christ and him crucified?" Yet I feel 
 assured, that the tone and substance of our preach- 
 ing have been the same from the beginning. We 
 have preached the same Gospel with the Apostle 
 Paul. We have proclaimed salvation through the 
 blood of the Lamb. 
 
 The long and pleasant correspondence between us,
 
 FAREWELL TO THE MISSIONARIES. 9 
 
 beloved brethren and sisters, will soon close for the 
 present life. But I joyfully anticipate that we shall 
 be co-workers beyond the grave, in the everlasting 
 kingdom of the Messiah, which must needs afford 
 eternal scope for all our powers. Next to the antici- 
 pated joy of meeting the Saviour, is that of meeting 
 the thousands of converts, and of once more saluting 
 our co-workers in the missions, who have finished 
 their course on earth. What will be the joy in asso- 
 ciating with them and with the dearly beloved 
 brethren and sisters now in the field, as fellow-labor- 
 ers anywhere in the wide regions of heavenly bliss ! 
 Heaven, in my apprehension of it, is the loyal and 
 holy kingdom of our divine Lord. 
 
 I have had much satisfaction, during past months, 
 in gradually transferring my responsibilities, as 
 your official correspondent, to my esteemed and 
 valued colleague, Dr. Clark. I doubt not you will 
 find him an efficient and satisfactory helper in your 
 great work. At the age of forty, his judgment is of 
 course matured ; and being thirty years my junior, 
 he will be better able, than I now am, to give atten- 
 tion to the multifarious details in our department of 
 the business. I may be near at hand a while longer, 
 should life and health be spared, to give him aid 
 when needed. I feel assured of his ability and dis- 
 position to serve you, and bespeak for him your con- 
 fidence and affection. He will have the able coop- 
 eration of his respected associates, including of 
 course the Prudential Committee, a body of men dis- 
 tinguished for their soundness of judgment and their 
 fidelity in attendance on their weekly meetings. 
 
 40495 1
 
 10 DR. ANDERSON'S 
 
 Though retiring from present official responsibil- 
 ities, I by no means expect to be less really devoted 
 to the missionary work than I have been. How far 
 I shall be able to carry out my present plans, is 
 known only to God. But I trust He will enable me 
 to give a somewhat extended and correct practical 
 exhibit of the missionary enterprise, in a series of 
 lectures I have been requested to prepare and deliver 
 in one of our oldest theological seminaries. The 
 other work I have had in mind may perhaps require 
 more vigor and discrimination than I shall have at 
 command ; but I am favored as to health, and for 
 some years have had an earnest desire to prepare a 
 volume on the instructive, and in some respects 
 remarkable, experiences of the Board and its mis- 
 sions, during the time I have occupied the post so 
 advantageous for observation. 
 
 Finally, brethren and sisters, farewell. "Be per- 
 fect ; be of good comfort ; be of one mind ; live in 
 peace ; and the God of love and peace shall be with 
 you ; " " and the very God of peace sanctify you 
 wholly ; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul 
 and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." Give my love and best 
 wishes to the native brethren who remember me. 
 May all of them have grace to be faithful unto death. 
 Again, I say farewell ; but with the cheerful expec- 
 tation of meeting you where God shall wipe all tears 
 from our eyes, and fill us with the joy of a perfect 
 salvation, through the atonement and grace of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
 My dear wife, who for almost forty years has
 
 FAREWELL TO THE MISSIONARIES. 11 
 
 shared with me the pleasure of welcoming you to 
 our house, and of meeting you at our missionary 
 gatherings elsewhere, and who has ever cherished 
 the tenderest interest in your welfare, unites with 
 me in these salutations ; and I am, as ever, your af- 
 fectionate brother and co-laborer in the Gospel. 
 
 R. ANDERSON, 
 
 Foreign Secretary of the Board. 
 
 P. S. It will of course be in order for you, if so 
 disposed, to address me in my official capacity, up 
 to the time of the Board's annual meeting. As an 
 old and interested friend, I shall ever be pleased 
 to hear from you ; and there may be points to be 
 illustrated in our history, on which I shall need, and 
 shall presume to ask, your kind assistance.
 
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