1853 BAPTIST MISSIONARIES. Curiosities of Christian Missions. Nicely Illustrated Early Juvenalia

Fascinating little work published just a decade after Harris' The Great Commission, which poured print-gasoline on an already raging fire for the missionary cause. Meant to recruit the young to support and participation in mission, the author details the eccentricities and, at times, horrors of non-Christian nations and beliefs. We read of the Tooth of the Buddha, Superstitions among the Chinese, Prayer Mills of the Tartary, African Fetishes, American Indian Rituals, The Bechuana, The Cruelty of the Druids, Prayer Rituals among the New Zealanders, etc. with rather fine engravings throughout.

There is also a fascinating chapter on the eloquence of foreign converts. It was common among early 19th century missionaries [and remains so] to believe the Christian message was not only eschatologically salvific, but that it would raise the intellectual and moral standard of the societies and persons in which it took root [which we would generally affirm]. These examples of devotional writing and speech from converts of "savage" and "uncivilized" lands are recorded to demonstrate the point. 

Uncle Josephus. Curiosities of Christian Missions. Philadelphia. American Baptist Publication Society. 1853. 108pp.

A very attractive quarter leather pocket volume with rubbed red marbled boards. Some minor foxing throughout and one signature a bit forward, early pencil notations on prelims and ownership of the Baptist Sunday School of Burnt Hills [New York].