In the year 1908 the part on Asia was published as a separate volume under the title Missionary Heroes in Asia: True Stories of the Intrepid Bravery and Stirring Adventures of Missionaries with Uncivilized Man, Wild Beast and the Forces of Nature (London: Seeley & Co. / Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co.). and in 1913 a separate volume on the Missionary Heroes in North and South America (London: Seeley, Service & Co.) followed.

Introduction [7-8]
[7] In a “foreword” which he contributes to Dr. Jacob Chamberlain’s attractive missionary book, In the Tiger Jungle, Dr. Francis E. Clark expresses the opinion that one need not patronize sensational and unhealthy fiction to find stirring adventure and thrilling narrative, and then goes on to say: – “There is one source which furnishes stories of intense and dramatic interest, abounding in novel situations and spiced with abundant adventure; and this source is at the same time the purest and most invigorating fountain at which our youth can drink. To change the figure, this is a mine hitherto largely unworked; it contains rich nuggets of ore, which will well repay the prospector in this new field.” The field to which Dr. Clark refers is the history of modern Christian missions. His meaning is that the adventurous and stirring side of missionary experience needs to be brought out, and emphasis laid upon the fact that the romantic days of missions are by no means past. There are stories which are now among the classics of missionary romance. Such are the expedition of Hans Egede to Greenland, the lonely journeys of David Brainerd among the Indian tribes of the North American forests, the voyage of John Williams from one coral island of the Pacific to another in the little ship which his own hands had built, the exploration of the Dark Continent by David Livingstone in the hope of emancipating the black man’s soul. But among missionary lives which are more recent or less known, there are many not less noble or less thrilling than those just referred to; and the chapters which follow are an attempt to make this plain. [8] There is, of course, a deeper side to Christian missions – a side that is essential and invariable – while the elements of adventure and romance are accidental and occasional. If in these pages the spiritual aspects of foreign mission work are but slightly touched upon, it is not because they are either forgotten or ignored, but simply because it was not part of the writer’s present plan to deal with them. It is hoped, nevertheless, that some of those into whose hands this book may come will be induced by what they read to make fuller acquaintance with the lives and aims of our missionary heroes, and so will catch something of that spirit which led them to face innumerable dangers, toils, and trials among heathen and often savage peoples, whether in the frozen North or the burning South, whether in the bidden depths of some vast continent or among the scattered “islands of the ocean seas.” […] It is the author’s earnest desire that the narratives which follow may help to kindle in some minds an enthusiasm for missions like that which characterized Frederick Temple to the very end of his long and strenuous life; or, better still, that they may even suggest to some who are looking forward to the future with a high ambition, and wondering how to make the most of life, whether there is any career which offers so many opportunities of romantic experience and heroic achievement as that of a Christian missionary.

Preface [ix-x]
[ix] The selection of illustrious men, whose careers are related in this volume, has been made with deliberate care. It is no haphazard collection. The heroes whose stories are told made their way to distinction by varying paths, but they had two vital characteristics in common. In the first place it can be said of them all, referring to their main achievement, that they were ‘the first in the field.’ They were all pioneers – pioneers in science and exploration, in reform and philanthropy. And in the second place they were men who had publicly proclaimed their belief in the truth of the Christian revelation, and who recognised that it was their duty and privilege to submit their lives ‘under the law to Christ.’ It is earnestly hoped that these lives will make an especial appeal to young readers. It is natural and not blameworthy that these should pant after distinction, but it is well that they should at the same time keep in mind the conditions on which alone the [x] hope of attaining their ambition rests. The heroes of this volume came to their glory along the path of duty, – their constant companions were Toil, Sacrifice, and Faith, – and there is no other way. Further, it ever holds true, as countless pages of biography attests, that the fear of God is the one foundation on which wise and noble character can be built and that the Lord never fails to honour those who honour Him. Our gifts and graces – small or great, few or many – can never come to their full fruition until they are places at the disposal of Him who gave them. That is the lesson, old, yet ever needed, of this volume. The writers of the various sketches have tried to tell their stories in a simple, vivid, popular style. The result, it is hoped, is a book very suitable for widespread distribution, whether among children, as gifts and prizes, or among ‘grown-ups.’ We are never too old to learn the lessons which are taught by the careers of great and good men. W. Grinton Berry. June 1905

Preface [v-vi]
The annals of Christian Mission furnish copious records of womanly heroism. From the days of Ann H. Judson, in the early part of this century, until now, the succession has not failed. Alike in the frozen regions of Greenland and under the tropical heats of India delicate women have been found labouring side by side with their husbands among their untaught, heathen sisters. The records of mission toil prove that they have not laboured in vain, nor spent their strength for nought. As the fruits of their self-denial, that “Great Day for which all other days were made” will see multitudes who shall be their reward and crown of rejoicing. As we think of reward, we turn to the days of Christ upon earth, when He told His disciples that, as they had followed Him through contumely, and hatred, and kingly persecution, so, “great should be their reward in heaven.” This may safely be said of these missionary toilers. They followed their Master in His self-denial and labour for others, and they will share in the honours of His kingdom. [vi] Mrs. Mackay Ruthquist’s life among the Hindoo peoples, furnishes some new light on mission work in that land; Mrs. Brown Thompson’s work in Syria opens up a comparatively new field of mission life; Miss McGeorge’s deals with the medical aspect of missions in the East, showing how necessary and beneficial it is that the missionary should imitate his Master in being a healer and a teacher; while Miss Whately’s life commends itself as a record of self-sacrifice among the peasants of the Nile. In all these instances it will be found that to women, animated with the true Spirit, open doors were very numerous. It is needless to attempt to tabulate results in either of these cases. They worked for eternity, sowing the sure seed of the kingdom which infallibly bears abundant harvest. We look upon it as a great honour conferred upon stay-at-home Christians to be permitted to sustain the hands of these far-away workers; to be permitted to count one such worker upon a family roll is a patent of heaven’s nobility. Those who have given friends to this high and holy enterprise may rest assured that the gift is honoured by the Master, and will redound in blessings on those whom they have left behind. […]
E. R. P.

Preface [n. pag.]
This volume was written at the suggestion of the late Mr. Thomas Nelson, among whose latest projects the issue of a series of Bible biographies, illustrated from the historical and topographical materials which modern research has supplied, had a prominent place. The field has already been traversed in some degree by the present writer in his “Manual of Bible History in Connection with the General History of the World.” But the limits of that book afforded little opportunity of doing what has been attempted here – to draw full-size portraits of some of the great men of the Bible, and to place them as living characters before the eye of the reader. The author is deeply sensible that while it is possible to throw no little light from modern sources on the Scripture narrative, it will ever retain, in its brevity, simplicity, and graphic power, that incomparable character which in all ages has been felt to be so emphatic an evidence of the divinity of its origin.
W.G.B.

Preface [5-6]
“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” – 1 Cor. Xii. 4.
The reader of the ensuing papers – who will find among the Christian heroines therein commemorated a remarkable diversity in character, hardly two individuals resembling each other very closely in natural gifts or natural disposition – can scarcely, I think, help remarking at the same time a singular and beautiful resemblance in the moral dignity and the enthusiastic self-devotion exemplified by all. In the extent and the permanence of their usefulness they differed almost as widely as in position. But princess and peasant, mother and maiden, matron and nun, however unlike in other points, are one in that impassioned devotion to their common Lord, through which the likeness of His heavenly self-sacrificing love passed upon them, impelling them to spend strength and life in toils beyond all earthly recompense. [6] The likeness, strangely stamped on individualities so unlike, tells of the superhuman power that wrought it; and it is a truer and more convincing miracle than any superstitiously attributed to the canonised saints, whose real, and not mythical, saintliness has determined their position in our list.

No preface and no pagination

No preface

Preface [iii-v]
[iii] The title of this volume indicates its character: it is a record of the lives of certain men and women who have fought the good fight with zeal and constancy; true Heroes of the Cross, never swerving in their loyalty to the Standard they embraced. Enthusiasts these, whom the world laughs at or ignores, but whose self-denying labours have largely added to the sum of human happiness. Victors, whose successes are not always apparent to or understood by the critical historian or the so-called philosopher, but who have won “the crown” in right of their ardour and their courage, their humility and their long-suffering. We give freely of our admiration to brilliant soldiers and able statesmen; but is it less due to the religious reformer or the earnest confessor, who, in the service of Christ and for the welfare of his fellows, is prompt to endure all things, to strive and toil and wait, and to seal a life’s testimony by a martyr’s death? Biography has been defined as teaching by example. But what better examples can we hope to find than those of men who have shown the highest devotion, the purest generosity, the [iv] profoundest self-sacrifice? […] We may not be able to raise ourselves up to so lofty a level as they attained: but seeing what they achieved and endured, how they were tried and how they prevailed, we may take heart to meet with calmness and patience our own smaller troubles and temptations, and run the race set before us with a clean conscience and a braver spirit. We may seek to imitate them, not in the grandeur of their works, or in the wonderful sanctity of their lives, but in their forgetfulness of self, their trustfulness, their meekness, their charity, and, above all, in their obedience to the voice of duty, their submission to the will of God. In selecting my examples, I have studied, first, variety, and second, novelty. […] [v] […] Upon the lives and characters, and upon the gifts and graces, of the Christian heroes whom I have sought to commemorate, it has been my delight to dwell, and not upon their religious systems. But while I have refrained from theological bitterness, and from that violent language against the Roman Church which, in some quarters, is considered a mark of true Protestantism, I must own that, throughout, I have written from the standpoint of an English Churchman, and in entire and unhesitating sympathy with the teaching of the Church of England.
W.H.D.A.

Preface [v-vi]
[vi] […] a moral courage to set aside all worldly considerations for the social and religious good of the whole human race. […]

No preface

Macaulay is identified as being the editor of the Leisure Hour and the Boys’ Own Paper on the title page. The book is primarily aimed at children.

No preface but preliminary word [n. pag.]
Every year produces numerous story books intended as Sunday reading for the young. The editor of the present volume thinks that a collection of true incidents may prove as attractive, and more useful. He is indebted to the courtesy of several publishers for permission to make extracts from books, in all cases acknowledged; and also to the Religious Tract Society for the use of various articles and illustrations. If some of the narratives are recognised as old and often-told tales, let it be remembered that they are new to successive generations of readers. And it is hoped that the record of things that are true, and pure, and of good report, while securing attention and exciting interest, may also help in the formation of virtuous and Christian character in the youthful mind.

This is a collection of narratives about early Christians, with special attention to the apostle Paul.

Preface [v-vi]
The favour with which “The Life of Jesus for Young People” was received, has induced me in this volume to treat “The Acts of the Apostles” in the same manner as I did the Gospels in that. Bearing in mind that I was writing for the young, I have endeavoured to tell the story of the apostles’ lives as recorded in ‘The Acts,’ in such a manner as to suggest some of the many lessons which they teach. I have not intended to include the epistles except so far as referring to them for throwing light on certain portions of ‘The Acts.’ I would strongly recommend, however, that Paul’s epistles should be read in connection with his residence at those places from which he wrote, or at those where the Churches existed which he addressed. It will thus be seen how completely the practice of the apostle agreed with his precepts; and many passages in ‘The Acts’ and in the Epistles will help to explain one another. I trust the work may prove interesting and instructive to young students of the Bible, especially to those of them who may have commenced instructing others. For more advanced minds and hearts I have not [vi] written: but I can commend such, as well as my readers generally, to study carefully when they have the opportunity, that truly valuable and trustworthy work, “The Life and Epistles of St. Paul,” By Conybeare and Howson; to which I have been greatly indebted in the preparation of these pages, and in company with which I have spent very many delightful hours. I have called the apostles the “First Heroes of the Cross.” Since them there have been many Christian heroes, and the days of heroism have not yet passed. The heroism of the apostles was not the performance of gallant acts by daring impulse, but the quiet performance of daily duty, in meek dependence on their Lord and Master, to whose service they had devoted themselves. To such heroism the same Master calls us, and with His promised help our lives cannot fail of being heroic. The circumstances of our lives are not under our control, but the spirit in which we shall discharge the duty devolving on us, is. May we, stimulated by the heroism of the early apostles, seek to do our Lord’s will; so shall our actions be inspired by the same Spirit that made their lives sublime, and thus shall we too become in very truth “Heroes of the Cross.”
Benjamin Clarke

Introduction [vii-viii]
[vii] “Brother Help!” what a noble subject for contemplation! What a field of human sympathy does it embrace! What a world of disinterested benevolence does it suggest! To write its history, would be to tell of philanthropy in all countries and in all ages, especially of that highest form of philanthropy, the Christian. “If a man love God, he will love his brother also;” and how many have gone forth into the world’s dark places to manifest this love to their fellow men, through difficulties and dangers, perils and persecutions, and even in the face of death itself? To record their exertions, to set forth their heroic self-sacrifice and unfailing constancy, is the object of this book. “Brother help” is made illustrious by the noble deeds of public philanthropy, but it also as frequently exhibits itself in the routine of every-day life. Kindly acts abound everywhere; deeds of generosity are as common among merchants as among monarchs. Friendships are as strong in the obscure haunts of poverty, as in the halls of opulence. Indeed, there is no condition in life in which sympathy does not exist, or in which “brotherly love” is not required; for all men are mutually dependent. […]

Preface [written by Henry Edward Manning, vii –xviii]
[…] [xi] From the beginning, the annals of the Church are but one long history of warfare, ever renewing, ever advancing, – chronicles not of “peace, but a sword.” And [xii] so it must be to the end: for the Catholic Church is the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, who reigns personally through His Vicar upon earth, and the hierarchy of pastors deriving their jurisdiction from him, over the mystical body of the Son of God. And once more; though the Church has borne no weapons but the Cross and the Pastoral Staff, this conflict has not been without blood. In the hand of the world has been ever unsheathed the sword of martyrdom. The history of the Body is as the history of is Head, the King of Martyrs. The sacrifice of Himself on Calvary was not only the atonement for the sin of the world; it was also a Divine martyrdom. It was the great witness in attestation of the truth: […] Martyrdom is the closest conformity to our Divine Master; and to be like Him in life and death has ever been the thirst of His servants. What is the history of the Church but the prolonging and filling up of the history of His Passion? […] [xiii] […] Martyrdom was counted as the highest gift of grace. It was coveted and prayed for with tears of desire. To be permitted to sacrifice all things for Jesus was joy; to be called to sacrifice self for Him was greater joy than all. It was happiness to live for Him; but to be permitted also to die for His sake was the crown of all desires. And such has been the inextinguishable longing of the true Church of Jesus Christ. In every age, and in every land, this ardent love of martyrdom has burned, and the martyr’s crown has been perpetually won. Men are wont to speak of martyrs as they do of the apostles, as of a race long since passed away, – glorious, but extinct; seen through the long, dim haze of history; to be admired, but not followed. It sounds far-fetched and unreal to speak of martyrdoms as among things possible in these days, and of a martyr’s spirit as among the graces we ought to seek and to cherish. It is indeed too true, that the present days are soft, and that [xiv] the spirit of endurance is low among us. Men have been unnerved by tranquillity, and by a dangerous love of peace. Home affections, and the softness of a happy life, the fair and smooth things of the world, its honours, gifts, and comforts, have brought upon us a sickly and feeble tone, which makes men stand in awe of the world’s opinion, displeasure, and contempt. There is not a little of spiritual cowardice among us; and many are ready to compromise even principle to unite with those who contradict the faith; – to make separate peace for themselves with the adversaries of the Church; – to be silent when they should speak out; – to suffer our Divine Lord to be betrayed, and Truth to hang upon the Cross between contradictions, rather than to be unpopular, despised, shunned, disliked, or even ridiculed. In such a time as this, then, it is most opportune to be reminded, that the age of martyrs is not over yet; that it is continual; that the conflict is endless; that not peace, but a sword, is the perpetual portion of the Church. And for this the following pages will bear witness. The sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries have their martyrs as great and as glorious as the first, the second, and the third. Not Asia and Africa alone, but Europe; not remote lands only, but France and England have been steeped with blood sacred to Jesus. In these modern days of the nineteenth century, which seem so unheroic and so commonplace, while we have been treading the every-day path of life, martyrs have been continually ascending to their crown. Hardly a year has passed but in China some servant of our Lord has been conformed to his Master’s Passion. It is well that we [xv] should bear this in mind, and make it familiar to our thoughts. For it is most certain that, if we would be faithful, we must learn to be ready for the sword. In some form it will come to us. If we would be crowned with Him, we must also suffer with Him; and though not martyrs in deed, we must bear a martyr’s will; for if we be not martyrs, at least in will, we should not be even confessor in the hour of trial; and if not confessors, how Christians? […] It is good, then to have their realities of martyrdom brought home to us in our own land and day, and to see how it looks in the context of modern society, and to see how it looks in the context of modern society, and to put it to ourselves how we should endure in such an hour. In the following histories will be found all the sharpness of the sword and all the circumstances of suffering; and these so brought near to us in these later days, as to show us that we are never to believe, that our turn may not yet come. In these few prefatory words, it is not intended to write a review of the martyrdoms here recorded; but one or two may be specially pointed out, as coming home with a peculiar closeness to our own times and trials. And first in significance is the martyrdom of Margaret Clitherow. She suffered since the Protestant Reformation in modern England, in York Castle, by a hideous torture, for the Christian deed of sheltering the priests of God from those who sought their lives. And next, in the life-time of living men, a persecu[xvi]tion worthy of Rome drunk with the blood of saints, was directed against hundreds of helpless and innocent men, laymen, priests, and bishops, in the gay and refined city of Paris. The scene of this glorious confession was the quiet garden and silent sanctuary of the Carmelite Convent in the Rue Vaugirard. […] As we now kneel on that silent pavement, we can hardly believe that men among whom we live can remember that day. […] [xvii] […] A slight observation of the signs which are upon the face of modern society is enough to teach us that, while the Catholic Church is extending its circuit every year into new regions of the earth, the powers of evil are becoming more intense in the older races of Christendom. Nations still professedly Christian and Catholic contain within them elements of hostility both against the Catholic Church and against Christianity itself, which are kept under by the feeble pressure of authority. The great outbreak of license called the Reformation really began a divorce between the spiritual and civil powers; that is, between mere natural civilization and Christianity: the result of which is becoming more apparent in every successive generation. What begun in separation is ending in conflict. Nations are striving to gain supremacy over the Church; and failing, they oppose and denounce it as an usurper and invader. Meanwhile, the Church, as a pure spiritual kingdom, grows every year more wide-spread and conscious of its unity. But its very successes and advances are a provocation and a challenge. Unless the Divine Head of the Church avert it, an outbreak of this Antichristian spirit might come in any country of Europe at any moment. We saw in the year 1848 what elements lie seething and boiling under the thin surface of the deep upon which society is resting. The last times foretold by the Apostle are already upon us, and the persecutions of the latter days, for which the [xviii] Church has been preparing from the beginning, are yet to come. The professed indifference to all religions which for a time reigns among the adversaries of the Church, is but the prelude of assault: it is the lull before the storm. Let us not be deceived by thinking that the world will persecute no more. It is still the world; changed outwardly, by refinement of social customs, by the visible garb of Christianity, and by a smooth homage to truth, which it secretly disbelieves; but it is as averse as ever from the sovereignty of Christ, wielded by Him through the jurisdiction of His Church, one and undivided, Catholic and Roman. If the present bonds of society were broken, and its balance overturned, there is no kind of persecution which might not follow. Whether it come by laws or against laws, or by civil rulers or by the populace, would depend on the peculiarities of place and nation. It might differ in form and mode in different countries; but in all it would be real and unrelenting, demanding once more of those in whose days it shall befal [sic] the fidelity of confessors and the will of martyrs.
H. E. M.

This book was part of the “Juvenile Englishman’s Library” (Volume VI). In the following year, a second series with different tales (primarily from the 16th and 19th century) was published and was also part of the “Juvenile Englishman’s Library” (Volume XIII).

Preface [v-vi]
The following stories are intended to exhibit for the use of Children, some remarkable triumphs obtained by the Church, as well as against hereticks, as against pagans. In one or two instances, I have taken the liberty of crowding the events related into a shorter space of time than that in which they actually occurred; as well for the purpose of concentrating the interest, as of shortening the tale. […] [vi] In the Sack of Funchal, though the events are strictly true, the names, for more reasons than one, I have thought it better to alter. Its object is to set forth an illustrious example of patient suffering in the case of Father Pedro; and to shew that when the Huguenots were unrestrained by the Civil Power, they could imitate the violence of which their writers complain. […]

This book was part of the “Juvenile Englishman’s Library” (Volume VI). In the following year, a second series with different tales (primarily from the 16th and 19th century) was published and was also part of the “Juvenile Englishman’s Library” (Volume XIII).

Preface [v-vi]
The following stories are intended to exhibit for the use of Children, some remarkable triumphs obtained by the Church, as well as against hereticks, as against pagans. In one or two instances, I have taken the liberty of crowding the events related into a shorter space of time than that in which they actually occurred; as well for the purpose of concentrating the interest, as of shortening the tale. […] [vi] In the Sack of Funchal, though the events are strictly true, the names, for more reasons than one, I have thought it better to alter. Its object is to set forth an illustrious example of patient suffering in the case of Father Pedro; and to shew that when the Huguenots were unrestrained by the Civil Power, they could imitate the violence of which their writers complain. […]