Sayfadaki görseller
PDF
ePub

The expenditures during the same time have been, for

Objects specified in Treasurer's Report, $81,834 53
Civilization of N. A. Indians,

4,000 00

Translation, Printing and Distribution

of Scriptures in Greece, Germany, Assam, Burmah and China,

5,750 00

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

which has been used in reducing liabilities, with which the year was commenced, to $29,295 73.

Of donations and legacies, the unprecedented sum of more than twenty-seven thousand dollars was paid into the treasury the last month of the financial year. But that was not the re

sult either of extraordinary agencies employed in the collection of funds, or of extraordinary donations, so much as of the severe pecuniary pressure which prevailed, through the Atlantic cities and states, in the months of December, January and February; and which induced many churches to delay their ordinary collections, with the hope of better times and larger contributions. In the month of March their donations came in such amounts as to inspire every heart with devout gratitude to God, and increased confidence in his favor and faithfulness to the missions.

Comparing the receipts of the last two years with each other, we find that the increase has been about 160 per cent. in contributions from Ohio,* Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin; and nearly 14 per cent. in those from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey;-and that from these States $12,163 39 have been received in advance of the amount for the year ending April 1, 1847. But there has been a falling off in the contributions of Pennsylvania and Iowa of about 55 per cent.; and in those of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware and Michigan of 28 per cent. ;-and from these States the receipts have been less, by $10,134 59, than they were in the year ending April 1, 1847. The net gain, therefore, in donations and legacies from the sixteen States and Territories embraced in the home field of the Union, has been $1,928 80 for the past year. But on those received from all quarters, the in

This statement corresponds with the books of the Treasurer and the financial year which closes with the month of March. The progressive increase of contributions from Ohio for several years, each year terminating with the close of the Ohio State anniversa ries in May, is thus stated by the Agent, Rev. J. Stevens:-May 1844, $1,495 95; 1845, $2,864 21; 1846, $3,894 24; 1847, 86,157 03; 1848, over $6,200. Average amount for ten years, from May, 1834 to 1843, inclusive, $962 per year.

crease has been no more than $885 18. The remaining balance of increase is to be credited to the liberality of the two coördinate Societies, whose appropriations have been expended in Bible and Tract operations.

The Committee have sold the "right, title and interest" of the Board in what is usually termed the "Grand Rapids' Land" for $13,500,-payable in seven annual instalments with interest from May 1, 1848. This property was at one time deemed to be worth five or six times the price for which it has been sold, and will probably yield very large profits to the purchasers. But in consideration of its distance from the seat of the Board's operations, the character of the property, and the amount of labor and expense incurred personally by the late Treasurer, Hon. Heman Lincoln, in fruitless attempts to effect a settlement with other claimants, the Committee thought it better to make the sale at the price and on the terms named, than longer to retain the land. The purchasers will doubtless fulfil the conditions of their bond. which the Treasurer will at any time submit to the Board.

The executor of the Will of the late Mrs. Prudence Farwell has informed the Committee of the disposition which the deceased made of her property. While the estate, excepting so much as may be necessary to pay the just debts of the testator, is left to the Missionary Union, the Will is so drawn that the entire balance is held by it for the redemption of certain trusts— one of which is a perpetual annuity, of $400 per year, to the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Convention. The estate, yet in the hands of the executor, is not likely, in any event, to be worth more than $8,000 to your treasury; and it may be found impossible so to release the property from the perpetual trust, as to make any thing more than interest or rents available in the work of missions.

The executor has paid the subscription of $2,000, made by Mrs. Farwell towards liquidating the debts of the Triennial Convention; and it affords the Committee great pleasure now to state that the sum of $40,000 has been received for that object, while a few of the subscriptions are not yet cancelled.

AGENCIES.

The agents, now in the service of the Board, are Rev. Alfred Bennett, Rev. John Stevens, Rev. Greenleaf S. Webb, Rev. Oren Tracy, Rev. Sewall M. Osgood, Rev. Joseph Wilson, Rev. Simon G. Miner, and Rev. Salem T. Griswold.

Maine and New Hampshire have been assigned to Rev. J. Wilson, in which district he has spent nine and a quarter months of the year; and visited eighty-two churches, nine associations, one convention, and two quarterly meetings. In these States are many churches by whom the monthly concert for prayer is not observed, and no missionary periodical is taken;

but the number of pastors who regard it as an indispensable part of their duties to instruct the people on the facts and principles of the missionary work, is increasing; and the agent believes that a larger amount annually will be received from his district.

Vermont, Connecticut and the western portion of Massachusetts, form the district to which Rev. O. Tracy has devoted the year; and where he has addressed ninety-one churches, eight associations, three State conventions, six missionary meetings, and ten other meetings in which the subject of foreign missions was discussed. Perhaps three fourths of the churches in Mr. Tracy's district have what are called systems, through which to do their part of the missionary work; but the cooperation of more than one third, or one half, of all the members of such churches even, is rarely secured. The agent finds great encouragement, however, in the fact "that pastors are thinking, reading, praying, preaching more in reference to the cause of missions, than they were eighteen months ago."

The central, northern, and eastern sections of New York, constitute the district in which Rev. A. Bennett has labored during the year, with the exception of about three months spent in Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In New York he has visited one hundred and twelve churches, twelve associations, and four missionary meetings; among whom he found as much to encourage and strengthen his heart as in any previous year of his long service. He has endeavored "by such means as seemed proper, to induce all pastors to preach on some part of the great subject of missions, the first Sabbath of every month; to take the usual monthly collection in connection with such service; and in the evening to hold the monthly concert of prayer." The time spent by Mr. Bennett in Michigan and Wisconsin was wholly occupied with labors truly acceptable to pastors and churches, and beneficial to the missionary

cause.

Western New York is the district assigned to Rev. S. M. Osgood, and where he has labored ten months of the year; visited ninety-two churches, addressed twenty associational and other public meetings, and obtained 166 subscriptions for the Magazine and 351 for the Macedonian. Mr. Osgood regards the missionary periodicals "as invaluable helpers in the home work of missions," and improves every opportunity to increase their circulation. About two thirds of the churches in his district have no efficient system through which collections are made for the cause of missions; but the number of missionary pastors is rapidly increasing, and the agent looks forward to another year of prosperous toil.

In New Jersey, Delaware and eastern Pennsylvania, Rev. G. S. Webb has addressed about one hundred churches and six associations within the year. There are churches in Mr.

Webb's district who do the home work of missions thoroughly; but so great was his discouragement in the last quarter of the year that, after having labored faithfully and uninterruptedly in city and country, he said, "I could do no less, in rendering my account for the quarter, than to strike out one half the time, as though it had not been." But the number of pastors who give their people the right kind of missionary instruction is manifestly increasing; members of churches show stronger desires to be found faithful in the missionary work; and the agent cherishes the hope that more will be contributed in other years.

In the district embracing western Pennsylvania and Ohio, Rev. J. Stevens has bestowed most of his personal agency during the year. He has visited more than fifty churches, besides many Sabbath schools, monthly concerts, associations and other public meetings; obtained 102 subscriptions to the Magazine, and several hundred to the Macedonian; conducted an extensive correspondence with pastors and influential laymen; prepared a valuable statistical pamphlet on the home work of foreign missions in Ohio; and, as editor of the Cincinnati edition of the Macedonian, held intercourse with a large number of pastors and churches in all the north-western States. No district, embraced in the home field of the Union, has made more decided advances in its pecuniary contributions than that occupied by Mr. Stevens; and no agent looks forward to another year with more hope.

Indiana and Illinois have been assigned to Rev. S. G. Miner; in which district he has labored during so much of five and a half months, in visiting pastors, churches and associations, and in spreading the circulation of the periodicals of the Board, as severe domestic afflictions would allow. The full reports given of his labors show that he is doing a valuable work, and that he has been cordially welcomed in almost every place which he has visited. The missionary cause is evidently securing many friends among the growing churches of his district.

In the month of November, 1846, Rev. S. T. Griswold was requested to visit such churches and friends of missions in Canada West, as might wish to coöperate with the Union. Since that time he has visited one hundred and three churches and four associations; and reports a general and growing desire on the part of pastors and churches in his district to transmit their offerings, for the evangelization of the heathen, through your treasury. The results of the experiment already made have equalled the expectations of the Committee; but the policy to be pursued permanently with reference to that district has not been settled. It may be questioned, however, whether it could be sound economy for an agent to devote the whole of his time to its cultivation. The net proceeds of the agency have been $1,449 77.

Besides the labor performed by agents now in the employ of

the Board, Rev. John Johnson, Rev. Wm. Moore and Rev. B. F. Kidder have devoted about three months to temporary agencies in Maine, Ohio and western Pennsylvania; and, perhaps, one hundred and fifty churches and fifty public meetings have been addressed by returned Missionaries and the Corresponding Secretaries.

The whole number of churches to whom the claims of missions have been presented within the year, by individuals holding an official relationship to the Board, is about nine hundred ; and of associations, conventions, and other public meetings, one hundred and seventy-five. The time spent by Agents in the work is equal to eleven months, each, for eight men.

PUBLICATIONS.

The Committee were instructed, at the last meeting of the Board, to "report the whole business of the Magazine and Macedonian" at the present time. They state, therefore, that the average number of subscriptions for the last volume of the Magazine, exclusive of copies retained at the Missionary Rooms, was 4,072; and that the amount received from the publisher, agreeably to contract, was $514 40:-of which $182 46 were used in covering an equitable share of losses on subscriptions for previons volumes, editing the June number, engraving the map of Arracan, and providing original articles for the first eight pages of each number; leaving a balance in favor of the Magazine of $331 94, for the year 1847.

The number of subscriptions for the last volume of the Macedonian was 15,000; and the amount received from the publisher, according to agreement, from November 1846 to December 1847, inclusive, was $116 67:-of which $37 were paid for original articles and wood cuts; leaving $79 67 in favor of the Macedonian for the last volume.

The Cincinnati edition of the Macedonian, for the last volume, had 5,800 subscribers; from whom the editor, Rev. John Stevens, received $610 43. The whole expense of publication, including a report on the home work of foreign missions, etc., substituted for the December number, was $570 80; showing the balance in favor of that edition, for the last volume, to be $39 65; and reducing the balance against it, on previous years, to $29 28.

At the last meeting of the Board the Committee were instructed to inquire, "whether the additional pages [of the Magazine] cannot be filled with interesting missionary matter, derived either from the journals of missionaries or from other quarters, without expense to the Board." The inquiry was instituted very soon after the annual meetings; but it was found that the change could not be made advantageously, even were it desirable, before the close of existing arrangements with

[blocks in formation]
« ÖncekiDevam »