Chapter C: M. Lamson, D.D., of Vermont, presented the report upon Secretary (1)

Strieby’s paper, which was accepted.

Joseph Anderson, D.D., of Connecticut, presented the report upon Secretary Powell’s paper, together with two resolutions. The report was accepted. The first resolution was adopted, as follows:

_Resolved_, That we submit to the Congregational churches, in
local conferences assembled, for careful consideration, the
question whether it is not desirable that such conferences
establish special committees, whose duty it shall be to
secure for this Association, along with the other benevolent
societies of the denomination, a hearing from time to time in
our churches, especially in those churches which are without
pastors, and which for this, or other reasons, are liable to
fail in their duty toward our great missionary and benevolent
organizations.

And it was voted that the Secretaries print this resolution and send a copy to the clerk of each local conference, requesting him to bring it to the attention of the body.

After discussion, the second resolution relating to a Union Missionary Magazine was laid upon the table.

Adjourned to 7.30 P. M.

THURSDAY EVENING.

The meeting was called to order at 7.30 by Elbert B. Munroe, Esq., of New York. Rev. Frank A. Warfield, of Massachusetts, conducted devotional services.

The minutes of the day were read and approved, and the Secretaries were authorized to complete the minutes to the end of the meeting, and the Executive Committee to print at their discretion.

Secretary Powell, in behalf of Rev. Dr. McIlvaine, of Rhode Island, who had been called away, extended the invitation of the churches of Providence, R.I., that the annual meeting of this Association for 1888 be held in that city. The invitation was accepted.

The Association listened to an address by Hon. William P. Frye, of Maine.

Secretary Beard, of the Association, presented an address of thanks.

A response was made by W. H. Fenn, D.D.

Voted to adopt Dr. Beard’s statement as a minute, to go upon the records. The minute is as follows:

A year ago when the American Missionary Association was reaching out in its thought for a place where the churches and Christians who are interested in its work could assemble to hear its reports and to consider the great causes which have been committed to it, a most cordial invitation was received from the churches of Portland to accept their Christian hospitality.

Those of us who have had occasion to know how much solid heartiness and sincere good will is extended in the outstretched right hand of this people had no question as to the pleasure which would be experienced by those who should be recipients of it. We answered that it was in our hearts to come, and we have done our best all this year to bring to these churches cheerful faces and glad hearts.

We came grateful to God in that we could look the world in the face with our debts cancelled, owing no man anything but love; with no gloomy shadows over us, happy in the glorious experience of knowing that we possessed money enough in our treasury to carry on our work two whole days. We have met with the characteristic greeting of a people “given to hospitality.” We have come to a land of steady habits, and when some of you have taken us by the hand in the closeness of your grip we have sometimes been led to think that this is the greatest vice (_vise_) you have. And now, with our gratitude to God for His smiles in these beautiful clear days and bright skies, as if in harmony with the delightful Christian atmosphere of these meetings—symbolizing the spirit of our gatherings—it is not in accordance with a custom of form merely that we desire to express to these churches and pastors, and to all our kind friends here, our high appreciation of their service to this cause of missions, and to us so far as we represent this cause. You have given us strength and courage for our work another year.

It is not a small thing to arrange for a series of services like this. It means forethought and much care, many steps and much fatigue. It is not a small thing for people to open their homes freely to strangers and to so receive them that they are no more strangers.

Permit us then to thank the pastor, the officers and members of this church and society within whose walls we have studied and reviewed our work together. This is an ancient church, historic over the land. You have done no injustice to its history in your interest for the kingdom of God. Let us also thank the churches and pastors who have kindly shared in this abundant hospitality.

We should do that to which our hearts are foreign should we fail to remember those who have led us in Christian praise and those who in their labor of love have in many ways of service assisted the objects of this Missionary Association.

We recognize the courtesy of those railway and steamboat lines which have facilitated our travel here. Nor do we forget the enterprise of your public press and the kindness which has been extended to us in their full and accurate reports.

If any of you in this free-hearted welcome have entertained angels awares or unawares, we are glad of it. Most of us have left our particular angels at our homes. Some of us have not failed to discover that there are angels here in yours.

Therefore, brethren, in the name of our great Mission, of the schools and institutes which we have brought before you, of the churches which have prayed for us while we have been assembled, and in the name of the people to whom we are sent in Christ’s stead and in your stead, accept our sincere thanks.

As we take up our farewell to go, we can appreciate your hearty services not only, but also your ability to successfully conceal any gratification which you may have that these three long days are over.

Voted that after singing, and a benediction by Rev. Dr. Walker, of Connecticut, this meeting stands adjourned _sine die_.

HENRY A. HAZEN, Secretary.
EDGAR M. COUSINS, Assistant Secretary.

* * * * *

SUMMARY OF TREASURER’S REPORT.

RECEIPTS.

From Churches, Sabbath-schools,
Missionary Societies and Individuals $189,483.39
From Estates and Legacies 52,266.73
From Income, Sundry Funds 10,561.07
From Tuition and Public Funds 28,964.81
From Rents 478.10
From United States Government, for
Education of Indians 17,357.21
From Slater Fund, paid to Institutions 7,650.00
—————————— $306,761.31
===========

EXPENDITURES.

THE SOUTH.

For Church and Educational Work, Land,
Buildings, etc. $197,768.68

THE CHINESE.

For Superintendent, Teachers, Rent, etc. 7,564.95

THE INDIANS.

For Church and Educational Work, Buildings,
etc. 47,920.71

FOREIGN MISSIONS.

For Superintendent, Missionaries, etc.,
for Mendi Mission, Income paid to the
Society of the United Brethren in Christ 4,870.10
For Support of Aged Missionary, Jamaica, W.I. 250.00

PUBLICATIONS.

For “American Missionary,” (22,600 monthly,
including cost of copies sent gratuitously
to pastors, S. S. superintendents, life
members, donors, etc.) Annual Reports,
Clerk Hire, Postage, etc. 7,080.00

AGENCIES.

NEW YORK.—Associate Corresponding Secretary,
Traveling Expenses, Circulars, etc. 4,159.93
NEW YORK.—Woman’s Bureau, Secretary,
Traveling Expenses, Circulars, etc. 1,434.33
FOR EASTERN DISTRICT.—District Secretary,
Clerk Hire, Traveling Expenses, Printing,
Rent, Postage, Stationery, etc. 4,389.77
FOR WESTERN DISTRICT.—District Secretary,
Clerk Hire, Traveling Expenses, etc. 4,603.67

ADMINISTRATION.

For Corresponding Secretary, Associate
Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer and
Clerk Hire 11,931.81

MISCELLANEOUS.

For Rent, Care of Rooms, Furniture, Repairs,
Fuel and Light, Books and Stationery, Rent
of Safe Deposit Box, Clerk Hire, Postage,
Traveling Expenses, Expressage, Telegrams,
etc. 5,073.40
Annual Meeting 379.35
Wills and Estates 271.32
Annuity Account 899.77
Amounts refunded, sent to Treasurer by
mistake 186.01
———————— $298,783.80

Debt, September 30th, 1886 5,783.71
——————————
$304,567.51

Balance on hand September 30th, 1887 2,193.80
——————————
$306,761.31
==========

THEOLOGICAL ENDOWMENT FUND.

North Bloomfield, Ohio, “A Friend,” for Talladega
College $709.25

ARTHINGTON MISSION FUND.

Hillsdale, Mich., Estate of Mrs. T. F. Douglass $100.00

The receipts of Berea College, Hampton N. and A. Institute,
and Atlanta University, are added below, as presenting
at one view the contributions for the general work in
which the Association is engaged:

American Missionary Association General
Fund $306,761.31
American Missionary Association Theolog’l
Endowment Fund, Talladega College 709.25
American Missionary Association Arthington
Fund 100.00
—————————— $307,570.56
Berea College, Donations 11,131.51
Berea College, for New Building 15,000.00
—————————— 26,131.51
Hampton N. and A. Institute 82,715.26
Atlanta University (add’l to A. M. A.) 10,171.69
——————————
$426,589.02
==========

H. W. HUBBARD, Treasurer,
56 Reade Street, New York.

* * * * *

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.

* * * * *

REPORT ON EDUCATIONAL WORK, SOUTH.

BY REV. W. F. SLOCUM, CHAIRMAN.

Your committee, to which the report of the executive committee on educational work in the South was referred, would express at the outset their profound gratitude for the success that has followed the efforts that have been put forth in this large and important department of the work of the American Missionary Association.

While they deplore with all those who have the interests of this work at heart, the political attempts to limit the usefulness of the Association, that has grown out of unworthy partisan prejudices, yet they perceive with thankfulness that there is an element growing stronger every year at the South that appreciates the place, the importance and the value of these schools. Notably is this shown in Mississippi, where the State appropriation for the Tougaloo University was the only one not reduced. They would speak with appreciation of the Christian spirit that infuses all these schools, and the deeply religious character that is given to the work, and of the strong personal influences which are brought to bear upon the students.

Your committee feel that the time has come to push with greatest vigor a work that shall meet the demand for teachers in the public schools of the South, and to avail ourselves of the opportunity to reach the children and the homes of colored people through these; that every effort needs to be put forth to send out these teachers established in Christian ethics and feeling that the moralities of life are the basis of all true education.

Great pleasure is taken in the advance that is made each year in the matter of industrial and agricultural training; and every effort which tends to transform this people into an intelligent, upright Christian yeomanry, will be a profound blessing. Our constant aim should be to establish the true dignity of labor and the healthful desire to possess property and an intelligence that secures the best condition as property holders. Your committee are of the opinion that the opportunity for good through these schools was never larger than at present, and that the need of enlargement in many is imperative, and also that the time has come to push the work of special endowment for the larger institutions, that they may become independent of any financial pressure and may be put upon a permanent basis. And therefore of the three alternatives suggested by the claims of the work at present which they suggest in their report, can endorse one only, and do therefore most heartily recommend that instead of sacrificing the character of the work, instead of reducing the amount of work done, the Association shall have more money.

* * * * *

REPORT ON CHURCH WORK, SOUTH.

BY REV. CYRUS RICHARDSON, CHAIRMAN.

Your committee into whose hands has been placed the report of the church work in the South desire to state their impressions by calling attention to three or four important points.

First, to the marked increase in the membership of the Sunday-schools—an increase during the year of 2,000 pupils, or 15 per cent., bringing the present membership up to 15,109.

Comparing this with the entire enrollment in 1882, we find that during the five years there has been a growth of 100 per cent.

This is specially gratifying because it is understood that Sunday-schools or missions started at new stations look to the speedy establishment of churches at those stations; while well-organized schools in churches already established result in the careful study of God’s word, with a constant application of inspired doctrine to practical life, looking both to the permanence of the churches and the personal purity of their members.

Another important item noticed in the report appears in the statement touching the amount of money which these churches have given.

Beside the $16,000 contributed for their own religious work, $2,300 have been devoted to pure benevolence. If this should seem a small sum as a contribution of 127 churches, it must be remembered that it is the gift of poverty, and not of wealth. The free-will offerings of almost any one of these congregations, when compared with the contributions of not a few New England churches, suggest the words of the Master: “She hath cast in more than they all.”

Their spirit of sacrifice has often won for the colored people hearty commendation. To those of us who live amid multiplied temporal and spiritual privileges, and who easily lose sight of the goodly heritage for which we are to give an account, it is a spur, if not an inspiration, to read the story of the sacrifices which some of these brethren make in the giving of their scant substance for the more destitute members of the human family.

Their offerings for pure benevolence were above $600 more than the previous year, and are double what they were four years ago.

Your committee are glad to find that this feature of denominational work is strongly emphasized by the Executive Board, and that these churches, poor though they be, are taught that _giving_ as well as _receiving_ is a necessary factor in their growth, and that in true worship alms as well as prayers rise before God as a memorial.

Another noticeable item in the report is the building of meeting-houses. Indeed, the report characterizes the past year in its Southern work as one of “building activity.” Every church that is to become permanent must have its house dedicated to God. The sanctuary helps to hold the people together and attach them to forms of worship that demand a reverential attitude. Perhaps no people have greater need than our colored brethren of those religious forms and ceremonies which secure quiet and order in the public devotions of the assembled multitudes.

We therefore rejoice in every new meeting-house that this society helps the struggling churches of the South to build.

Another item in the report to which we call attention is the organization of seven new churches during the year, about the average number, if you take a series of a dozen or more years, but not the average if you take simply the last five years.

Since 1882 the average rate of increase has been eleven per year.

It would undoubtedly be a joy to us all if the rate of increase could be more rapid. We must not, however, forget that we are at work “among a people who have no congregational trend or training.” It is undoubtedly wise to proceed with care, planting churches at the right centres and only where they will give promise of permanence.

After all the caution that has been exercised it has been necessary recently to drop four or five from the list. The aim should be at stability and worth rather than numbers. A single church organized on the right basis, watched over with painstaking care, so that her members shall adorn the doctrines they profess, will do more for the prosperity of Congregationalism in this part of the country than would a score of churches hastily organized and unsuitably located. We think the officers of this society have been wise in their movements thus far; nearly all the churches organized having made a history that deserves the admiration of Christian people everywhere.

But when we think of the constantly increasing number of graduates from the Christian schools and colleges under the patronage of this society; and the greater familiarity of the Secretaries with the localities suited to become strategic points for Congregationalism in the South; and the marked success of those churches whose permanence is beyond question, are we not warranted in expressing the hope that in the near future we shall see a radical advance all along this important line of denominational work? We know that this is what our Secretaries long for as well as pray for, and what with our contributions cheerfully made, they will hope to accomplish.

They heartily agree with us in believing that the uplifting influences of schools and colleges would be readily dissipated or turned into channels for evil if they are not gathered up and multiplied in rightly constituted bodies which shall prove the germs around which the forces of the community shall organize for good. Working together, therefore, as contributors and directors, we may expect to be cheered from year to year with the rapid growth in the numbers of these organized Christian forces which have in themselves vitalizing and transforming power which works for righteousness both in character and conduct.

* * * * *

REPORT ON MOUNTAIN WORK.

BY REV. A. H. QUINT, D.D., CHAIRMAN.

The committee on so much of the Annual Report as relates to mountain work, particularly in Tennessee and Kentucky, respectfully reports as follows:

The few details given in the report are of such an interesting character as to suggest the earnest wish that far more extended accounts of facts and incidents had been spread before the Association.

Want of space in the narration of the vast work of this body was of course the constraining reason for brevity in the report. But the comprehensive statement which is made exhibits conclusively the opportunity for a new and peculiar work, namely, that of giving the Gospel, its character and its schools, to a class hitherto scarcely touched by beneficent Christian agencies.

This is a class of white population, a class which felt of course in some degree the blighting influence of slavery, which contaminated everything within the reach of its malaria; but this class, from its circumstances, was not a slave-holding class. It is a class of sturdy blood and mountain habits, and is capable of great development. Two considerations urge the necessity of covering this field.

One is, the ordinary obligation to preach the gospel to those who do not have the gospel.

The other is, the evident capacity of this peculiar people to become a power in the development of that section of our land.

While the field and the number of persons are both limited in comparison with the great work among the freedmen, their importance appeals to this Association with steadily increasing force.

The opportunity is at hand, and it is in a line which old friends of our regenerating work could scarcely have hoped for. Devout praise is due to Almighty God for this open door to a vast success.

It is worthy of notice in this respect how, in the history of this Association, God has steadily placed before it successive duties and successive privileges. From the first dawning of its Foreign and Home work, freed from complicity with the great sin of our country, new specialties have been added as fast as older ones were ripened into practical efficacy. This comparatively new work seems to be in a direct line of Divine development. Your Committee feels that the sanction of this Association should be emphatically given to the work of its administration in this department, a work in which no spirit of caste shall be in any way tolerated, and that the call for a large increase of laborers to be located at all suitable points, should be met as rapidly as possible.

The Committee has no doubt of the wisdom and judicious care which characterizes your Executive Committee, and believes that that committee needs only the hearty approval of this body to encourage it to go on in this direction.

* * * * *

REPORT ON INDIAN WORK.

BY MR. FRANK WOOD, CHAIRMAN.

The first great work of this Association was due to a crisis in the history of one oppressed race on this continent, who after more than one hundred years of slavery and oppression, had, in the providence of God, freedom and citizenship suddenly thrust upon them. Four millions of souls—a large majority poor, ignorant and degraded—to these came the A. M. A. as God’s own messenger to lead the way to education, usefulness and Christianity.

A similar emergency has now arisen in the history of another oppressed and wronged race for whom this Association has always done good work—the North American Indian.

Since the last annual meeting of this Association, the Dawes Bill, which has been called the emancipation proclamation of the Indian, has passed both houses of Congress, and is now the law of the land. Public attention, as never before, has been turned to the wrongs and the needs of the Indian. The new conditions have developed new necessities, new opportunities, and new dangers. Numerous societies, in thirty-two different States, have been organized to assist them. All this gives new importance to the work of the A. M. A. among the Indians. The summary for the year is encouraging. The conversions and additions to church membership tell a story of faithful, unselfish work for the Master, in one of the hardest possible fields of missionary labor, with little of the romance or pleasure of travel sometimes afforded by missions in foreign lands; among a people whom a Judge of the Supreme Court called “a despised and rejected class of persons;” handicapped and hindered in all their efforts by the suspicions and hatreds developed by centuries of injustice, robbery and cruelty from a Government that claimed to be civilized and Christian, and also by the Reservation System, which puts the missionary and the teacher under the absolute control of the Indian Agent, who may be a mere political tool and a man of no character, yet has despotic authority on the reservation, with power to expel or imprison the missionary, or break up his school or congregation. Yet in spite of all obstacles, through love of Him who was also “despised and rejected of men,” they remained faithful amid dangers and difficulties, till, through their labor and that of their companions and predecessors, there are now nearly 29,000 Indian church members.

None have done better or more faithful work than the missionaries of the A. M. A. None are doing better work than Mr. Riggs and his associates. Yet, when compared with the extent of the field and the number and spiritual needs of those not yet reached by the influences of the gospel, and the opportunities and perils incident to their new and changing conditions of life, how very small is the work that the Christian Church is doing in this great field. Think of it—two hundred and forty-eight thousand Indians in the midst of a Christian land, and after the labor of 200 years only 29,000 professed Christians among them, and only 143 missionaries, of all denominations, to carry the gospel to this great multitude; and these few are hampered and hindered in their work by the intercourse laws, the opposition of agents and the orders of the Commissioner. When for the first time legislation, based on justice and humanity, is opening up vistas of usefulness and progress to the Indian; when the need of Christian teaching, guidance and care is greater than ever before, the Indian Bureau has issued orders that paralyzes missionary operations, by prohibiting the use of the vernacular in teaching English or the truths of the gospel. The Indians all know the vernacular. They have been carefully shut away from any other language by the Government restraints that surround all reservations, shutting out everything that would educate or civilize. The vernacular is used in the mission schools to teach English and the truths of the gospel to those who understand no other language. With this use we should submit to no interference. In a contest for religious liberty against the official tyranny that has for the last hundred years tried to usurp the place of Divine Providence to the Indian, we may be sure of the support of the freedom-loving American people. The intercourse laws should be repealed, so far as they relate to the operation of missionary societies. We should insist that all obstructions to the preaching of the gospel should be swept away. Then bring before all the churches the pressing and immediate needs of these neighbors who have fallen among thieves, who are pagans in a Christian land. While we are waiting they are passing into eternity. Shall we remain in selfish indifference till we are aroused by the dreadful sentence, “If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand.” This Association is only the servant of the churches. The means and the men must come from the churches. If the churches were awake to their duty in this matter, and realized their responsibility for the Christianizing of the Indian, they could send missionaries to every part of this field within a year. There are 348,000 Indians in the country, excluding Alaska. From this number we should deduct 65,000 in the five civilized tribes. This leaves 183,000. Of this number 28,600 are already church members. This leaves a population not greatly more than three times the size of this city of Portland. Would we dare to say to our Master that we cannot occupy this field?

There never has been a time so propitious as the present; there never has been a time when the wrongs and the needs of the Indian have received so much attention from the Christian, the legislator and the philanthropist.

Therefore your committee would recommend that a committee of five be chosen to co-operate with the Financial Secretary for Indian Missions in devising and carrying out measures to bring the needs and opportunities of the Indian field before the churches, other missionary societies doing Indian work, and the numerous Indian Aid societies now organized throughout the country.

This committee should make an effort to secure the co-operation of all Christians and friends of the Indian in a greatly enlarged, thorough, systematic mission work. They should also labor to create a public sentiment that should demand the repeal of the intercourse laws, so far as they hinder mission work; the order in relation to the use of the vernacular in the mission schools, and the removal of every other obstruction of the Indian Bureau to the civil and religious liberty of the missionary and teacher on the one hand, and the Indian on the other.

The gospel of Christ offers the only solution to the Indian problem. It must precede and prepare the way for civilization. Through it alone can we save the Indian, and atone for the century of dishonor in which our Government’s system of dealing with the red men has made them paupers and kept them barbarians and pagans. This is the work of the Christian church, and if we shrink from or avoid the duty of the hour, God will not hold us guiltless.

* * * * *

REPORT ON CHINESE WORK.

BY REV. S. L. B. SPEARE, CHAIRMAN.

Your committee note with special satisfaction the following indications of progress in the work of our Association for the Chinese. Willing subjects of missionary labor are more numerous and more accessible. Past years of foundation work, dealing with Asiatic inertia and colossal prejudice and just resentment under wrong, are bearing fruit unusual in amount and assured genuineness. Our faithful missionary superintendent on the Pacific coast does not abate his courage or enthusiasm. Faithful teachers and co-workers can be found. The Lord of the vineyard has set his seal of approbation by granting harvests which, in the light of difficulties in the field and their promise for the future, are truly great. That Foreign Missionary Society, spontaneously formed by Chinese converts, thoroughly equipped and liberally supported in proportion to their means, and which aims, finally, at nothing less than the conversion of China’s millions, should silence any and all cavil or uncertainty as to their motives in embracing Christianity. Japan, also, hears tidings of Christian sympathy as her wandering sons are met with helpful counsels and religious enlightenment on these far western shores—the land of their ideal civilization. We rejoice that those in charge of the field see their way clear for “tentative evangelistic work” and have entered upon it. This betokens firm conviction and resolute purpose that the field shall be taken for Christ. Difficulties and embarrassments only multiply their zeal and methods. Like the great missionary to the Gentiles, these heralds of the gospel look upon “many adversaries” and “an open door” as equivalents. The statistics of recent progress emphasize our golden opportunity to reach the “hermit natives” through their representatives within our borders.

Your committee note with profound regret the serious falling off in the money appropriations for their work. Native helpers, skilled and consecrated, are the chief preaching agency of all missionary fields, and of China preëminently. Ours is the opportunity to multiply such helpers. California is in the foreground to-day as never before, not excepting the old mining days. The church should occupy that field with a zeal and wisdom that shall emulate the enterprise of railroads and real estate projectors. The church must not contradict all her traditions and working principles when Christ’s poor come to her borders by the thousand and under conditions specially favorable to Christ-like approach. Her own life will be impoverished by so doing. The priest and Levite wronged and degraded their own souls by passing on the other side from the wounded sufferer, as much as the good Samaritan enriched his by pouring oil into his wounds and sheltering the victim of robbers.

Your committee hope that measures can be taken to bring the attention of our beloved churches to this their phenomenal opportunity and duty—to give the gospel at short range and nominal cost, to Asia’s millions and support that message with all possible sympathy and aid.

* * * * *

REPORT OF FINANCE COMMITTEE.

BY MR. CHAS. A. HULL, CHAIRMAN.

In presenting their report upon the financial condition and management of the business of the American Missionary Association, your committee on Finance desire to commend the clear and thorough manner in which the accounts are kept, so that any needed information may be had regarding any one of the numerous items of investment or expense at the numerous places where the work of the Association is carried on. The schedule of the property owned by the Association shows it to be possessed of buildings and land for the carrying on of educational and church work, the aggregate cost of which stands at $576,540.15. In addition to this plant, the Endowment funds amount to $229,375.78 which are securely invested, and yield an annual income of about $10,000. The Association also holds conditional trust funds amounting to $69,726.95. The good judgment shown in the purchase of land, the erection of buildings, and the investment of the permanent funds speaks well for the thorough care of the officers and the Executive Committee.

The committee desire to congratulate you and the Congregational churches of our land upon the extinction of the debt which for several years has been a burden to the Association. The treasurer’s report shows a balance on hand of $2,193.80, after paying every liability of the Association up to October 1, 1887, including the debt of $5,783.71, which remained at the end of the previous year.

In order to accomplish this, however, it has been necessary to defer until the receipts should warrant it, much work which presses with importunity upon the Association in the various fields.

We find that the treasurer’s accounts are regularly and faithfully examined each month by the financial committee of your executive board; and at the end of the year by two auditors chosen by the Association who attach their certificate to the report, and who are thoroughly reliable business men. The accuracy and economy of the work are thus as fully secured as in any merely business establishment. The by-laws of the executive committee provide a system of checks upon the officers similar to those in use in great corporations; and while of old it was said that “the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light,” we are glad to note that in the administration of the American Missionary Association so great a degree of worldly wisdom or common sense has been employed.

The duties of the treasurer are responsible, and have been performed with exactitude and fidelity. The receipts for current work of the year from all sources have been $306,761.31; and the expenditures therefor, $298,783.80.

These items of expenditure have been carefully examined in detail by your committee, and they report that in each department the most careful economy has been used, and no curtailment which would not materially cripple the effective force of the Association seems possible.

Your committee have taken some pains to compare the expenses of the Association with those of other missionary societies, and we find that it does not suffer in the comparison. The committee note with regret that the expenditures for work among the Indians and Chinese have been cut down materially as compared with the previous fiscal year; but we believe that the policy of the executive committee in refusing to incur liabilities which the Congregationalists of the country would not meet is the right one.

They must keep the Association so economically and so safely managed that no reproach may justly fall upon it; and the fact that they are able to come before you at this meeting, and to report the absolute extinction of the load of debt which has been upon them and you for several years, and have yet developed and prosecuted with vigor the grand labor for the oppressed, appeals in the strongest possible way to you for the most generous increase of the sums to be intrusted to their management in the year to come.

All departments need enlarging. The Southern work ought to have not less than $275,000; $15,000 is a small sum to spend upon the Chinese on our western coast, while $60,000 would hardly give the much needed development to the Indian Mission. Shall not the $350,000 thus plainly needed and earnestly recommended by the last National Council of Congregational churches be forthcoming? From us to whom much has been given, much will surely be required. If we cannot in person go with these Christian men and women who are devoting their lives to the direct work of this Association, into the cabin of the Negro, the abode of the mountaineer, the opium den of the Chinese, or the wigwam of the Indian, let us at least say to those who do,—“We will uphold your hands, we will abundantly support your work, we will, as far as we can, share your burdens and be your fellow laborers.”

* * * * *

DR. BUCKINGHAM’S MEMORIAL ADDRESS.

The recent and lamented death of Governor Washburn, the President of this Association, calls vividly to mind his worth and usefulness; and it will be of interest to you to know the estimation in which he was held, and the respect felt for his character and influence in our Connecticut valley. Like Governor Strong before him, he was one of the “River-gods,” influential and commanding in all that region, though ruling more by his personal character than by any official station.

He was born at Winchendon, Mass., in 1820, and had lived all his life either near, or in, Greenfield. His father died in his infancy, leaving him in straitened circumstances, but he managed to obtain a good preparatory education at Lawrence Academy, Groton, and was graduated at Yale College in 1844. He purposed to devote himself to the Christian ministry, but the death of an uncle leaving a large manufacturing business heavily embarrassed compelled him to take the management of it, which he did with such ability and success that he not only rescued the business from insolvency, but made it the basis of his own life-long prosperity and the source of his ample benevolence.

The same qualities which made him successful in business carried him into public life and secured him equal respect and influence there. His sound judgment, fidelity to duty, scrupulous integrity and Christian principle, made him sought after for public offices and corporate trusts, as few men are. He had been a member of the State Senate and of the House of Representatives, and when we were in the midst of the Civil War, and strong and reliable men were needed in Congress, he was sent to the House of Representatives without opposition, receiving, what was almost unprecedented in politics, the unanimous vote of his district. He was kept there for ten years by successive elections, where his ability and sterling integrity soon placed him upon the important Committee of Claims, and also of Revolutionary pensions, and where he remained until he was called home to become the Governor of the Commonwealth. This office he held until he was sent to the United States Senate, to succeed Senator Sumner, and here his well-known services in the House secured him at once an honorable position which was well maintained by his valuable services and noble character.

Indeed, the best tribute to his worth was, that when he retired from public life he had received, unsolicited, every public honor which it was in the power of his constituents to bestow.

The same was also true of his appointment to the management of so many business corporations, educational institutions, trust funds, missionary associations, benevolent and Christian societies. He was the President of the First National Bank of Greenfield, a director of the Connecticut River Railroad Company, one of the Corporation of Yale College, a trustee of the Mass. Agricultural College, of Smith College, of Mr. Moody’s School at Mt. Hermon, a corporate member of the American Board of Foreign Missions, President of this American Missionary Association, a pillar in the Second Congregational Church of Greenfield, and the first President and a vigorous supporter of the Connecticut Valley Congregational Club. The wonder was, how he could take upon himself so many trusts, when, with his ideas of duty, they must each receive his careful attention and he must hold himself personally responsible for their best management.

Fidelity to his trusts was one of his most marked characteristics, and in this respect he possessed the spirit of his Lord, “who was faithful to Him that appointed him,” and as Moses was “faithful in all his house,” so our friend possessed this crowning virtue of a noble and useful life. * *

It is true that many have excelled him in particular abilities, especially in those that are most striking and brilliant, such as poetic sense and successful oratory, which are most frequently denominated genius. But these have often been combined with defects of judgment, or temper, or principle, so that their influence has been sadly marred or used for mischief. As in our civil war it was not every eloquent orator or able editor who was the best adviser or steadiest supporter of the policy that preserved the Union; but some of them would have let the nation be divided, or compromised the questions at issue, only to be reopened without hope of right settlement. But here was a man for all times and all places. In the halls of legislation, in the Governor’s chair, before a board of selectmen, arranging bounties for volunteers and for the support of their families, or among his own workmen, advising them as to what they might or might not properly do in such a crisis—he is the same wise counsellor and faithful helper everywhere, doing the work assigned to him as well as, if not better than, most poets or orators.

And when war was over, and such work no longer needed, when peace was to be restored and amicable relations cultivated between those who had been deadly foes; when business prosperity was to be brought about again and banks were to be well managed, and trust funds made secure, and the increasing wealth and enterprise of the country to be turned into benevolent and Christian channels, here he found his fields of delight, and his abilities and character shone out in new beauty and strength. Here was Governor Washburn’s real genius—the completeness and best use of all his abilities, combined with principles that directed them all to the noblest ends.

This seems to be the divine method of training men for their best work. They are placed in stations of responsibility, which they are not properly qualified to fill; but if they are conscientious and faithful, and especially where they put themselves under divine guidance and are controlled by religious motives—the most powerful of all—they become qualified for almost any station in life, and for the highest and most responsible duties.

It was in this way that our friend secured his best development. The great secret of it was his piety. He was taught of God. He was trained in the school of Christ. He was devoted to the Saviour’s cause. In his own estimation he was not his own, but belonged to Him who had redeemed him at such cost. All that he was, and all that he possessed and all that he was capable of becoming, were the Lord’s. His talents were his trust, to be improved for his Master, like his property. His intelligence, his sound judgment, his capacity for business, were cultivated for Christian use. When they brought him honor and position, he was not elated by them. Position was only another name for opportunity and influence, which brought with them increased responsibilities. Honors only sobered him and made him pray to God that he might prove worthy of them.

In the spirit also of his Master, who came to “seek and to save that which was lost,” he would bless and benefit all for whom Christ died. He was not only desirous of dealing justly with his fellow men, but he must do them good as he had opportunity, and to all men, Negroes, Indians, Chinese, as well as to his own countrymen. He sought to secure wise legislation for them, and a faithful administration of the Government. He would educate the ignorant, reform the vicious and remove the disabilities under which so many labor. He would improve their worldly condition and make his business profitable to those in his employ as well as to himself. But above all, he would bless men spiritually and eternally with the blessings which only the gospel of Christ can bestow. This was the secret of his interest in your work and in all kindred works, and in everything that could improve the character and condition of men. This is the reason that he devoted time and thought and assistance to so many Christian and philanthropic enterprises which are accomplishing these objects. This is why he gave to this Association so much of his attention and best counsel, his generous contributions and fervent prayers, and why he left such large bequests to this and kindred societies.

As an Association we owe too much to our late President and devoted friend not to make mention of his many and invaluable services, and always hold in loving and grateful remembrance the name of William Barrett Washburn. Few causes have such helpers, and not often are better men raised up for their time and work. We shall miss him in our deliberations, while we need more than ever, as our fields for Christian enterprise are enlarging, his sound judgment, untiring energy and steadfast Christian faith.

When such men as Governor Washburn, Alpheus Hardy and President Hopkins are taken from us, we can only pray that He who has the whole work in charge will inspire others with similar devotion and bestow upon us all more of his grace and blessing.

The circumstances of Governor Washburn’s death were peculiar and startling to those about him, though not wholly unexpected to his family. It was known to them that he had a serious affection of the heart, but they were encouraged to hope that by care, and the avoidance of all undue excitement and exertion, he might have comfortable health for some years. The morning meeting of the Board found him a little late from the cars, and climbing the stairs to the hall, he had scarcely seated himself upon the platform and spoken to his friends about him, when he fell forward unconscious into their arms; and though a physician was immediately at his side, and his wife soon there also, there was no return of consciousness, and almost as quickly as the scene can be described, he had left us, and his spirit had gone home to God. A sudden departure, and a startling one to those of us who were trying to detain him; but his Lord called him, and he must have said:

“I hear a voice ye cannot hear,
That says I must not stay;
I see a hand ye cannot see,
That beckons me away.”

As we saw the light of life fade out from that benignant face, as when the glory of the day becomes the gloom of the night, we heard it coming down out of Heaven: “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” Christ’s saints never perish. They only begin to live in the truest and highest sense when they seem to die; and with our Christian faith and immortal hopes, we love to think of him as having entered upon that higher life and commenced a nobler service. It was an unexpected summons, but we cannot think that he was ever unprepared for it. Like that Connecticut Puritan, who, when the “Dark Day” came and it was proposed that the Legislature should adjourn because the end of the world had come, replied that “this might be, but if it was, he chose to be found at his post, doing his duty.” “Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. And if He shall come in the second watch or in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants.”

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THE MISSIONARY INFLUENCE OF A LIFE, AND THE LIFE OF A MISSIONARY INFLUENCE.

BY REV. A. F. BEARD, D.D.

In the missionary influence of a Life it is my purpose to trace the life of a missionary influence.

This special life is selected as a significant illustration of certain specific features and forms of the missionary work which we are called here to consider.

It was a remote and inconspicuous consecration to certain radical ideas of human brotherhood, and to new and not popular methods of saving people who are low down in life by variations from the then accepted ideas.

As a study of sympathy with people in low conditions, of faith in the possibilities of those who have been degraded, of the application of Christianity to the prejudices of caste, of fidelity in witnessing to profound convictions, of prophetic insight as to the trends of God’s providences, of heroic self-denials among the oppressed and ignorant, together with the continuity and cumulative power of these far-reaching influences, this may stand for a concrete exhibition of the kind of work which we here are trying to do, and possibly may bring some new hope and courage to ourselves and some fresh sympathy to our devoted Christian workers who, removed from the world’s observation and sometimes from due Christian appreciation, are consecrating their lives to the same uses.

In the time when George III was King of England and our great-grandfathers were opposing the Stamp Acts, there lived in a house which still stands in Strasbourg, in Alsatia, a wise father and a mother of remarkable endowments, who trained their son to habits of conscientious economy, self-reliance, to the sense of responsibility to God and to man, and of the obligations which possession has towards human necessities, and to habitual benevolence.

Led on through youth to aspire to a learned profession, at the age of fifteen years he signed his name, John Frederick Oberlin, as a student of the University of Strasbourg. Three years later he was a Bachelor of Arts, and five years later, a Doctor in Philosophy. Ordained as a minister of the Gospel in 1760, seven succeeding years were held sacred to the conviction that large usefulness means large preparedness; so that he was still in his study at the age of twenty-seven years, when a missionary who had been trying to save needy souls in the mountains of the Vosges, ministering to the spiritual necessities of a people passed by in the movements of a world’s life and remote from civilization, came into Oberlin’s room and urged him to take up this service.

He confessed his own lack of success, and that he had made no impression upon them. He told Oberlin of the people, descendants of the Huguenots, who had fled from fiery persecutions in France to this wild and sterile mountain country. As the years had gone on for more than seven generations of men, their teachers had died, their preachers had died, until they, exiled and outcast, had declined into heathenish ignorance. He had found as a distant memory of what once had been, a single school in a mountain hamlet. It was in a miserable hovel in one corner of which lay a helpless old man on a rude truckle-bed, surrounded by a crowd of ragged, noisy, wild-looking children. He asked: “Are you the schoolmaster?” “Yes.” “What do you teach the children?” “Nothing.” “You teach them nothing, how is that?” “Because I know nothing.” “Why then are you the schoolmaster?” “Well, sir, I was taking care of the Waldbach pigs, but the people thought me too old for that, and so I was appointed to take care of the children.”

The missionary did not conceal the facts of the case, that the people living in these remote and solitary places were not only frightfully ignorant, but were rebellious against improvement. The region had six months of winter, with bitter icy winds sweeping over the mountains. There was not a single practicable road in the entire district. Deep mud holes were before the cabin doors and the huts in which the people were sheltered. In the short summer season they gathered enough food to sustain an impoverished life through the winter, in which winter they often herded for warmth in the stables with their cattle. So far had they sunk into material and moral desolation.

To such a ministry was invited this young man of large ambitions and large reasons for them; to minister to this wretchedness, to go to a people who were without sense of their needs, without aspirations, without appreciation of the services to be done for them. One prepared for the Professor’s chair in the great University where it was pleasant to live, was invited to bury himself among those who would not give him even the reward of gratitude.

It was not a pleasant call. The words of it struck the young man’s heart like the blows of a hammer. But seven years before, he had written in his own hand his consecration to God, that with all sincerity of heart and in a fidelity which should not sleep he would walk in the ways of Christ as God should reveal them to him.

And now what had this ardent student, with splendid talents and high education, rich in special studies, who had in mind a great sphere of usefulness, to do with this call but to take it to Him to whom he had once for all consecrated himself, “with all sincerity of heart”? In that little room, Oberlin, on bended knee, lifted up his voice and prayed, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth,” and in agony he listened for the still, small voice. He could not wish to go, but he could not refuse to hear. And a great battle went on in his soul.

There have been many battles in Strasbourg. The Roman armies fought there; the Germans triumphed there; the tri-colors of France have waved in the glory of victory there, but never a greater conflict, perhaps, or a more glorious conquering, than this between faith and sight, the issues of which God and the centuries were awaiting—a great soul meeting the questions of this world and the questions of eternity. When he arose from his prayer, he said: “I will go.”