bath school and Bible class instruction. | ter and spring; and the present anniverThe number of pupils under this sary finds many of them still under the species of training is not far from descending showers of grace. From 68,400. Encouragement of important the reports we learn, that 233 of the aid in this department is held out to the churches have shared in these effumissionaries, by the liberal offer from sions, and that 6,858 souls have been the American S. S. Union, and the hopefully born again, during the year, Massachusetts S. S. Society, of gratui- in connexion with the ministry of this tous appropriations for libraries. Society.

5,853; by letters from other churches, 2,370-in all, 8,223. This number is 2,709 more than the additions of the previous year, and would doubtless have been much larger, but for the brief period which has elapsed since the revivals referred to commenced.

The impulse communicated to the The number added to the churches cause of temperance during the pre-on profession of their faith is about vious year, has extended its influence into the last. The Committee are especially gratified to learn from the statements of the missionaries, that among the thousands who so suddenly assumed the vow of total abstinence from intoxicating drinks, the cases of apostasy are exceedingly rare. The number of persons thus pledged, in the communities connected with our missions, is not far from 146,000.

The productiveness of funds invested in the Home Missionary cause, continues to be seen in the returns which are annually made to the treasury of benevolence, from the fields on which they are expended. In 308 of those fields, the aggregate of charitable collections is $13,000-being about 40 per cent. on the sum appropriated to them. This has gone for the spread of the Gospel in heathen lands, for the circulation of the Bible, and for the various other forms, in which the leaves of the tree of life are applied for the healing of the nations.

Bevivals and additions to the

churches.

But the pious heart will inquire for results, which the foregoing statistics but imperfectly disclose. It will ask for the evidence, that One like unto the Son of Man has been seen amid the golden candlesticks, which it is the work of this Society to set up. To this inquiry, the Committee are permitted to respond, that the presence of the Saviour with his missionary servants, and his blessing on their labors, has not been so signal in any year since the revivals of 1831 and 1832. Many of the churches assisted were enjoying a refreshing at the date of the last report; but a still larger number have been visited during the past win

But mere numerical statements convey a meagre idea of the blessings bestowed on the churches and on the land, by this merciful visitation. There are results which no human mind can compute, or figures express. No eye has seen the whole, but that which looks upon all things, which has followed the steps of every missionary—which has beheld when, in the great congregation, truth, like a strong man armed, has grappled with rebellion, and when in the closet, or in the cabin of the forest, the still small voice has won the heart to love. The Infinite alone, can the reformation of the intemperate, and measure the wretchedness relieved by the happiness secured, when friends, long alienated by discord, were reunited in affection, and desolate homes were cheered again with food and gladness.

Precious beyond conception are the earthly fruits of this work of God's grace. But how much more precious the spiritual results, involved in the surrender of souls to Christ, domestic altars erected, cursing and blasphemy exchanged for prayer, prodigal sons reclaimed, peace unspeakable shed abroad in weary hearts, and churches founded, to keep their places and to repeat and perpetuate all these blessings,. until the consummation of the Redeemer's triumph! It is when contemplating such fruits as these, that the Committee feel how imperfectly appreciated is the influence which the Christians of this land, with the blessing of God, may exert through this Society in a single

churches have bestowed upon them. Especially should those be held in honor, who are bearing the burden and heat of the day amid the privations of the new states, and the more destitute portions of the older states. Nobler exhibitions of the spirit, which labors and has patience, and counts all things but loss for the cause of Christ, can no where be found. Although, for the most part, their lot appears humble to the eye of sense, they have taken large views of their work, and have bebeld, afar off, its influence in securing the welfare of those who shall tread this soil, when they themselves are laid in its bosom and mingled with its dust. And for the sake of this joy set before them, they have toiled on, in their dis

year. And never does the preciousness worthy of all the confidence, and of the trust committed to the American more than all the aid, which the churches appear so great, as when, with endeavors so feeble, God connects such glorious results. Could the souls who have been hopefully led to Christ by the instrumentality of your missionaries since our last anniversary, be gathered here to night, from the North and the South, from the East and the West, they would be more than doubly sufficient to crowd this vast temple to its utmost extent. And could our ears hear but one note of the song put into their mouths-one burst of their new-born joy-how small would appear all the toil and treasure expended, in pointing them to the Lamb of God! How should we blame ourselves that other thousands still, are not embraced in the same blessed company. The question continually forces itself upon the mind-persion and their solitude, have borne why should this gracious work have been so restricted? Why should other fields, as inviting and as promising as those that have been blessed, still remain barren? Has there no rain or dew of Heaven descended upon them? Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened; are these his doings? By no means. That Divine Agent has been moving among the people that sit in darkness, and the destitute have sent to our missionaries, beseeching them to task their exhausted powers still farther, and to visit them in their prairie homes, that, at least, once more, they might hear the message of salvation. But there is a point, beyond which, the most active zeal cannot go; and in many instances, where all things seemed ready for a spiritual harvest, no souls have been gathered, for there were no reapers there. How could they believe without preachers? And how could they preach, except they were sent? And how could the Society send more, with the means placed at its com

mand?

The Missionaries.

The Committee take occasion to bear testimony to the laborious zeal and patient endurance, manifested by the missionaries, in the emergencies of the past year. As a class, they have shown themselves

patiently the opposition of unreasonable and wicked men, and shared, without a murmur, the privations of the communities where they dwell. During the revivals of the past winter, notwithstanding the extraordinary severity of the weather, they have shown an apostolic zeal in labors, watchings, and fastings, and in journeyings to surrounding regions, where the destitute were desiring to be taught the way of life. Their toil has been blessed, their record is on high, and in the day of the Lord, they will shine as those who have turned many to righteousness!

THE TREASURY.

For the sake of greater convenience in preparing the Annual Report, it is judged expedient that the financial year of the Society should close on the 15th of April, and not, as heretofore, on the 1st of May. In conformity with this arrangement, the present Report embraces the receipts and expenditures of the Parent Society for only eleven and a half months.

The balance in the treasury at the last anniversary was $991 29. The subsequent receipts have been $99,812 84-making the resources of the Society for the year, $100,804 13.

At the beginning of the year, the unpaid claims of missionaries for labor

performed amounted to $12,785 25; and there has since become due to them, and for incidental expenses, the further sum of $95,038 26, making the liability of the Society for the year, $107,823 51. Of this sum, $98,215 11 have been paid.

To cancel the remaining $9,608 40 still due to the missionaries, and towards meeting the further sum of $28,341 58 pledged for the coming year, the balance in the treasury is only $2,589 02.

In the history of the period now under review, as well as in all its previous experience, this Institution has seemed to be peculiarly the child of Providence. In emergencies from which man could see no way of escape without disaster, our Heavenly Father has brought relief, and often in such a way, as to show that the hand that supplied the succor was his own. For many months past, the prevailing commercial embarrassment, like the sirocco's breath, has seemed, at times, to dry up the very fountains of benevolence; and when the cause of charity has asked for help-even at the door of the liberal-the answer has been, in the language of the king of Israel, "From whence shall I help thee? Out of the barn-floor? or out of the wine-press?" But God has disposed his people to take larger and juster views of the claims of our own country, and the indispensableness of Home Missions to preserve whatever is valuable in her institutions, and to fit her to bear her part in converting the rest of the world; so that what has been lost to this cause by the diminished means of its patrons, has been, this year, more than made up by the increase of their number and their self-denial. The receipts of the eleven months and a half, covered by the Treasurer's Report, exceed the total receipts of the year preceding by $7,349 20. The Committee express the opinion, that had the business of the country been in a prosperous state, the augmented interest felt in this work, would have enabled the Society to send, instead of 57, at least 100 additional laborers, into the great harvest field. For the advancement actually secured, and for the stronger purpose manifested by a portion of this community, to make

this whole land Immanuel's, let devout thanks be rendered to the King of Zion! But still, how far behind the importance of the work, is the largest enterprise of the churches! After all that is done, how much remains undone, and even unattempted! What is a single hundred thousand dollars, in an undertaking to which, perhaps, millions of souls must look for the means of their eternal salvation! Divided among those who should prefer Jerusalem above their chief joy, what a miserable pittance is the proportion of each, to be offered on the altar of HIM, who gave for them his own blood. What is the annual addition of 50 or 60 missionaries, towards supplying a domestic and foreign increase of population of nearly THREE QUARTERS OF A MILLION, since our last Report!

There was one way in which a temporary expansion might have been given to the Society's operations, viz: by resorting to loans for the means of sending laborers into the field. But although the most urgent motives to this course have been concentrated upon the hearts of the Committee, they have felt solemnly bound to restrict their expenditures within their receipts. The time has gone by, when the irregularities of collections might be safely corrected by borrowing. The experience of this and other Societies, in former years, the indications of Providence, and, if we mistake not, the judgment of the christian public, are all averse to involving our benevolent institutions in debt, for the means of proceeding with their work. Accordingly, during the past year, this Society has not borrowed a dollar; nor does it propose hereafter to resort to this expedient. As fast as the churches supply the requisite funds, they will be remitted to the laborers to whom they are due; and when the receipts are inadequate, the payments must be delayed in proportion. It will therefore be seen, that the missionary is brought into a near relation to those who contribute to his support, and is immediately dependent on their prompt and liberal aid. If that aid be withheld or delayed, there is no system of credit interposed for his relief; the only expedient to which the Society can resort, will be to suspend all further appropria

tions to the destitute, until the laborers shall have received their hire.

AUXILIARY SOCIETIES AND
AGENCIES.

Maine Missionary Society.

ganized society, into the bosom of the wilderness, and calling for new churches and more laborers, require an income for this cause, at least double the largest amount that has ever been contributed by the churches of Maine. Can it be, that an institution so well entitled to their grateful reverence, shall be left to struggle with pecuniary embarrassThe income of this Auxiliary for the ment? With their enterprising populayear ending April 1st, was $7,397 42- tion, their rising institutions and abunwhich is more by $1,580 25, than the dant physical resources, it is but reareceipts of the previous year. The ex-sonable that they depend mainly on penditures, including the payment of a debt of $1,500, were $7,777 12. Some further liabilities remain to be discharged, but the Trustees cherish the hope of being able to meet them before the close of the Society's current missionary year.

themselves, for the means of planting the Gospel over the whole of their 33,000 square miles of territory. If they do not furnish those means to their own children, who will furnish them to the millions of the West? Our hope is sanguine, that the necessity thus laid upon the Christians of Maine, the impulse recently given to the Home Missionary cause, and especially the recent revivals of the work of God, will call out their liberality, so that the domestic field of the EAST inay be all cultivated, and the pilgrim spirit of faith and en

gies to evangelize the WEST. Thus, eventually, may the extremes of our land combine their efforts with the central portions, and pour their united influences upon the heathen world, and aid to achieve the final victory over the empire of sin.

New-Hampshire Missionary Society.

Sixty-eight missionaries have been under appointment, in 84 congregations or larger fields. The blessing which has attended their labors, has greatly animated those by whose bounty the Society has been sustained, in the dark and trying times through which it has passed. The Secretary, REV. E. GIL-terprise, be permitted to turn its enerLETT, D. D., in his report, says, "The Lord has crowned the year with his goodness. The friends and patrons of the Maine Missionary Society, never had more manifest occasion, since its first establishment, to rejoice in its operations, than during the year now closing whether reference be had to the fidelity of the laborers, or the results of their ministrations." Many precious revivals have been enjoyed, the fruits of which are seen in the reformation of social evils, and the strengthening of the churches in every good work. "And there are some promising aspects for the future; the chief of which, is the growing conviction, that the cause of Home Missions must be sustained." This Auxiliary has been for thirtysix years, the chief instrument in the spiritual husbandry of the state to which it belongs. More than four fifths of the churches have partaken of its aid, and nearly half of them still depend on it, for the means of retaining the privileges of the Gospel. But the time has come, when its operations should be conducted on a larger scale. More than half a million of people, pressing onward beyond the present verge of or

During the year ending April 1st, and comprising parts of the 41st and 42d years of this Auxiliary, 47 missionaries have labored in 53 congregations, principally as pastors or stated supplies. The aggregate of labor secured by their appointment is 38 years. Four new houses of worship have been erected, and four pastors settled. The last half of the year has been marked by great religious interest, and special seasons of revival have been enjoyed in 11 of the churches.

The receipts of the Society for the year ending April 1st, were $3,815 98, and the expenditures, $4,060 86. Besides the income of the state Society, individual contributions, including a legacy of $1,000, have been paid into

the treasury of the Parent Society, to State Society, "There are tens of thouthe amount of $1,315 29-making the sands who have not the preached Goswhole sum given to the Home Mis-pel, or who are dependent on foreign sionary cause in New-Hampshire, dur- aid to enjoy it." ing the past year, $5,243 52—which is It often happens in the moral, as in 8823 91 more than the year preceding. the physical world, where the fields of The possession of a preached Gos- men lie contiguous to a desert; if pel," says the communication of the energetic culture do not press upon the Secretary, REV. BENJAMIN P. STONE, limits of the barren waste, and win "has seemed so important a blessing, from it new ground, the sands will that the Trustees have been unwilling gradually roll in, and desolate that to withhold it in any worthy case of ap-which before was covered with fruits plication from the feeble churches. and verdure. The time must then Hence they have increased the liabilities of the Society, for the past two years, somewhat beyond its income. An anticipated improvement in the monetary affairs of the country, led them to rely upon the increased contributions of the friends of the cause, for the means of meeting promptly the claims of the missionaries. But in this they have been disappointed, and now find, that a reduction of the appropriations is absolutely necessary to relieve the Society from debt."

That reasons for curtailment should exist in a state, where 70 out of the 160 Congregational and Presbyterian churches are reckoned on the list of the feeble, is deeply to be regretted. We trust that when every consideration of duty to their own waste places, and to the rest of the land, demand enlargement, the Christians of New-Hampshire will not allow the ruinous process of reduction to go on. This hope is based on the increasing numbers and graces of the people of God, and the growing concern manifested for Home Missions. "These," says the Secretary, "are auspices of the enterprise in New-Hampshire, more precious than gold or silver, and more worthy to be the ground of our encouragement, and the reward of our toil."

soon come, when the churches of Vermont shall make a vigorous effort to put the whole state under adequate Gospel cultivation. They must do it, not only as a preparation for sending the light of salvation to the heathen, and as a part of their duty to that "Great West," whither so many of their own sons and daughters are migrating; but they must do it in selfdefence. The Committee are happy to learn, that there are recent indications, in some sections of the state, that this duty is beginning to be appreciated.

During the year, the vacancy in the office of Corresponding Secretary_has been filled by the appointment of REV. ISAAC R. WORCESTER, who entered on its duties, November 1st, 1842. From the annual returns of the Auxiliary, it appears that 53 missionaries have been under appointment, and the expenses of the Society have been $3,249 23. Several of the churches have shared in the spiritual blessings which have been so extensively enjoyed on other portions of the field.

Massachusetts Missionary Society.

Seventy-eight missionaries, in connexion with this Auxiliary during the year have ministered the means of grace

Vermont Domestic Missionary So- to 79 churches, containing about 5000

ciety.

Vermont suffered largely, in her moral interests, in that, before her own territory could be brought under general cultivation, she was subjected to a drain of emigration, by which many of her able and enterprising sons were removed to other fields. Hence, in the language of the Directors of the

An

members, and extending their spiritual oversight to some 15,000 souls. unusually large number of the churches have been strengthened so, that they cease to depend on the Society for aid. This fact has enabled the Committee to indulge the promptings of an enlarged philanthropy, by diminishing the portion of missionary means expended within the state, and devoting more to