The Venus Transit: A Monumental Missions Anniversary

Posted on June 7, 2012 
Filed under History

“Cook rounded Cape Horn in time to observe the transit from Tahiti. He then continued from east to west across the largely uncharted Pacific Ocean, mapping it and claiming islands for England including Terra Australis Incognita.

An account of Cook’s voyage was published in 1773 and was read by, among many other people, a cobbler and lay pastor in the Particular Baptist Church, named William Carey. …

In 1792 Carey published his missionary manifesto, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens, which included a theological justification for missions based on Matthew 28:18-20 and an analysis of the world’s countries and religious situation based largely on Cook’s journals.”

– Tom Richards, on Tanna in the Vanuatu group, gives thanks for Captain James Cook’s voyage to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus. (Photo: Bill Mellberg.)