Missionary Society Membership Certificate, 1848

N. Currier, Membership Certificate to [Vermont] Conference Missionary Society, 1848, via American Antiquarian Society.

N. Currier, Membership Certificate to [Vermont] Conference Missionary Society, 1848, via American Antiquarian Society.

The Second Great Awakening moved American evangelicals to proselytize at home and abroad.  The image on this lifetime membership certificate to a missionary society shows how the new member’s money will be used.  The guiding hand of Providence and an angel bearing a book (presumably a Bible) hover at the top of the image.  In the background, a mosque topples over.  An African family kneels and reaches towards the heavens on the left side, while a minister preaches to Native Americans gathered before him on the right.