Excerpt from Conquests of the Cross, Vol. 1: A Record of Missionary Work Throughout the World Apart from the personal history and vicissitudes of the men we shall meet, the story of the progress of missions is in itself full of interest. The missionary work of the Protestant Church began, in one form or another, with the beginning of Protestantism. Individual enthusiasm first asserted itself, and then organised efforts followed in natural course. When the English colonised N orth America, the early settlers felt it incumbent upon them to set to work at once, as they had opportunity, to spread the Gospel among the Indian tribes around them. In the year of the Spanish Armada a Company was formed for the diffusion of Christianity among the Red men. To this undertaking Sir Walter Raleigh contri buted the sum of GBP100, the first missionary donation, we read, recorded in English Protestant annals. Later on, the work of the Company having been _steadily con tinned, the subject engaged the attention of the Long Parliament, and on the 27th of J i1ly, 1649, an Act was passed and a regular Corporation was formed for promoting and propagating the Gospel in New England - a much vaster region than the New England of more recent times. To assist this mission Oliver Cromwell, then Lord Protector of England, issued an order for a collection to be made in all the parishes of England and Wales, the effect of which was not only to raise a large sum of money, but to direct attention to the excellent cause. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.