The first missionaries
sent out were those above named, who, with two others, were ordained to the
work in the Tabernacle Church, in Salem, on the 6th of February, 1812.
The ordination scene is said to have been one of peculiar solemnity. The
spectacle was an unusual one, and a vast crowd collected together. The
spacious church, though filled to overflowing with excited and interested
people, was as silent as the chamber of death as instructions were given
to the young men who were to bid adieu to home and country. On the 19th of
February, a cold, severe day, the brig Caravan moved down the harbor of
Salem on an outward-bound voyage, bearing on her decks Messrs. Judson and
Newell, with their wives, the others having sailed from Philadelphia for
Calcutta the day previous. They went, not as the conqueror goes, with
fire and sword, flowing banners and waving plumes, but as the heralds of
salvation, having the gospel of life and peace to proclaim in the ears of
men who were strangers to its glory. To portray the character of one of
these devoted female missionaries, the wife of Samuel Newell, this sketch
will be devoted.
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