Excerpt from A Manual of the Missions of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America: Issued by the Woman's Board of Foreign Missions Our Dutch ancestors planted the Reformed Church in this country, at a time when all Europe was convulsed with religious wars. Directly after its independent organization here, it took measures for rearing and training a missionary ministry. The condition first of the colonies, and afterwards of the States, required' such a ministry. Toward the close of the last century, the New York Missionary Society was formed; and our Pastors, with the eloquent and illustrious Dr. John Livingston at their head, joined heartily in its efforts to Christianize outlying regions. How far that pioneer, associated missionary body, contributed to awaken missionary zeal and enterprise in the American Church, it wou!d be difficult to. Determine. It is very certain, however, that it originated influences which, early in the present century, resulted in the formation of the American Board. The General Synod of the Reformed Church, at the opening of the missionary era, appointed its own committee on Foreign Missions; but soon made arrangements to carry on its work with all the Evangelical Churches, then constituting the American Board. There were at that time, wise and thoughtful men who doubted the expediency of turning over our work, as a Church, into the hands of any merely voluntary agency. Still, there was no factious opposition. At length, experience in Borneo, Arcot, and Amoy, demonstrated the duty of conducting our Foreign Missions in our own way. 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.