Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? In answer to this question, the facts and considerations given in the following annual review of Home Missions, afford much valuable information. The ministers of Christ, desiring to know what he would have them to do, may perhaps here find the light they seek. And those who serve him in other ways, may have their faith strengthened, their sympathies excited, and their good works multiplied and increased, by prayerfully studying the dealings of God with this Society, for the past year, and the aspects of his providence in regard to the future. Let them, therefore, read, and read the whole, with reference to their own personal share in the privilege and responsibility of living in such day and such a country as ours. EIGHTEENTH REPORT Of the American Home Missionary Society. [PRESENTED MAY 8, 1844. The closing up of a year of life, and moment for beneficent action has, in especially of missionary action, is calcu- many cases, passed forever by-that lated to awaken reflections of the deep-evils, which adequate instrumentality est interest and solemnity. Living, as we do, so near to the fulfilment of the promises, and engaged in a work which has upon its every feature the impress of heaven, and which fixes its firm grasp upon all that is hopeful to man, whether in his present or his future state of being, a year of privileged action is one of amazing responsibility! We cannot but be pained at the thought, as the EIGHTEENTH year of the operations of this Society is finished, that so much which was before us to be done at its commencement, now remains unaccomplished-that the most favored VOL. XVII. 3 might have removed or forestalled, have gathered strength by delay--that rising communities in our new settlements, where character and destiny are so soon fixed, have sustained an injury, by being left another year without the ordinances of the Gospel, which no efforts of future time-which eternity itself cannot repair. But, gratitude and praise are also kindled up within us, that so many of the friends and patrons of this Society have been permitted to watch over its interests another year, and to accomplish so much for the honor of their Master. Some, indeed, have ceased from their labors. Among them is the venerable DR. RICHARDS-one of the founders and distinguished friends of the Institution, and one of its Vice Presidents from its origin. He rests from his labors, and his works do follow him. But to us, life has been continued-light from the throne has illuminated the paths of our feetsanctified affection has clustered around the work of our hands-God has blessed our humble instrumentality-souls, we trust, have been redeemed-foundations have been laid which are never to be removed-good has been secured to the church, to our country and to the world, which no human or angel intellect can ever circumscribe. And to God, only wise and all gracious, be glory forever! gations, or extended their labors over still wider fields. The number of congregations and missionary districts thus supplied, in whole or in part, with the preaching of the Gospel is 1,245. The aggregate of ministerial labor performed is 665 years. Progress of the work. By comparing these results with those of the preceeding year, it will be seen that the Society has been enabled, not only to retain the ground which it occupied at the date of the last report, but this year also, to make important advances, in the work which God has given us to do. The number of mis [The table of Missionaries and other sionaries in commission is greater, by details, is here omitted.] SUMMARY OF RESULTS. Number of missionaries, their stations and the aggregate of their labors. The Society has had in its service, the past year, 907 ministers of the Gospel. Of these, 670 were in commission at the date of the last report; and 237 have been since appointed. The fields of their labor are in 26 dif 59, than that of any preceding year, and the number of congregations and districts supplied, shows an increase of 198. Advances Westward. The number of missionaries, in our newer states and territories, is 75 greater than was reported at the last anniversary. In Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Iowa alone, there has been an increase of 68. Thus, is the Society extending its operations westward, faster even, than is indicated by the increase of its laborCongregations in our older states tions, which had been expended on them, cease to need aid, and the appropria ers. are transferred to our new settlements. ferent states and territories of the Union, in Canada and in Texas, distributed as follows:-viz.-in Maine, 75; New-And this, we are sure, every patron of Hampshire, 42; Vermont, 40; Massa- the Society will say, is, as is meet. chusetts, 64; Rhode Island, 5; Con- For the great increase of our populanecticut, 42; New York, 201; New- tion is in the West. There, it is, ere Jersey, 10; Pennsylvania, 44; Dele-long, to be decided through all coming ware, 2; Maryland, 2; Virginia, 2; time, who are to rule over us. And there North Carolina, 2; Georgia, 1; Ala-too, Romanism and Infidelity are congrebama, 1; Kentucky, 3; Tennessee, 4; gating their hosts, and challenging to conOhio, 91; Indiana, 36; Illinois, 87; flict the armies of Israel; and there, if Missouri, 21; Arkansas, 1; Michigan, we are faithful to our trust, defeat, ulti63; Wisconsin, 30; Iowa, 29; District mate and utter, is to them as certain, as of Columbia, 1; Canada, 7; and that the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth! Texas, 1. New appointments. Of the whole number in commission, 623 have been the pastors or stated sup- The Committee have made so large plies of single congregations; and 237 an increase in the number of their aphave ministered to two or three congre-pointments during the year, not with out much deliberation and solicitude. They have not felt warranted to do it, by the actual increase of their receipts. But, the providence of God and the urgent solicitations of the friends of missions have placed them in circumstances, in which they dared not do otherwise. Candidates for missionary service-young men from our Seminaries of sacred science, and others of fair promise of usefulness in our new settlements have presented themselves for appointment, in such numbers and in such a spirit of self consecration and holy enterprise, as we have never before witnessed. And what could we say to them? The churches had been praying the great Lord of the harvest, to send forth laborers into his harvest. They had been inquiring, anxiously and devoutly, "Whom shall we send, and who will go for us?" And when these young brethren, in associated bands and in apostolic temper, came and said, "Here are we,send us."--could we stand between them and their perishing fellow countrymen, to whom they would rehearse the scenes of Calvary, and say, you cannol go? The perishing must perish on! We have chosen rather, in the name of the churches, and encouraged by the growing interest that we thought we every where saw in this work of missions at home, to say to them, Go, lift up your voices in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, and your bread and your water shall not fail, and your garments, when waxen old, shall be renewed. It is for those, in whose name we have acted, to say, whether this pledge shall be redeemedwhether too much responsibility has been assumed-whether any portion of what has been done must now be undone. The newly appointed missionaries, we should say that, so far, the nigh hopes which were cherished in regard to them have not been disappointed. A kind Providence conducted them all in safety to their respective stations, and has graciously watched over them, and blessed them. The manner in which they have been received, their spirit of contentment, and cheerfulness, and devotion to their Master's service, aud the brightening prospects of usefulness before them, are such as cannot fail to be exceedingly gratifying to the friends of missions. Christian sympathy, we It is due to the company of youthful heralds, who went out from a single Seminary, the last autumn, into the territory of Iowa, to take their stations on the very outposts of Zion; due to those who went out from kindred institutions, with a like spirit, into other portions of the vineyard-if less distant, not perhaps less difficult of cultivation; and due, also, to those who have manifested so deep an interest in their mission, that trust, will still encourage them; christian bounty, cheerfully proffered, sustain them; and importunate prayer bring down upon them, and upon the fields of their culture, the richest blessings of Heaven. Sabbath Schools. The Sabbath school and the Bible class, with the intelligent and devoted teachers called out by them to instruct and to care for the children and youth of his charge, the missionary every where finds to be a most important auxiliary in his labors. Not far from 60,300 pupils are receiving instruction in the great things of the kingdom, in the Sbbath schools under the supervision of the missionaries. Grateful acknowledgements are due to the "American Sunday School Union," and to the "Massachusetts Sabbath School Society," for their generous donations of valuable Sabbath school Libraries, to many of the missionary churches during the year. The missionaries and their churches have been, thereby, greatly encouraged the Sabbath schools have awakened new interest-the children and youth are held to them by stronger ties and the enlightening and redeeming influences, thus superadded, we may hope will save many of them from the paths of the destroyer. Should the friends of Sabbath schools put at the disposal of these Institutions, the requisite means for giving to every missionary church in the land a Sabbath School Library adequate to its necessities, they would be employing a most effectual instrumentality to render these schools rich and permanent blessings to the rising generation and to the of our country-what a blighting of church of God. Temperance. It is gratifying to perceive, from the reports of the missionaries, that the Temperance reformation, in the communities where they labor, still holds on its way. Not far from 151,000, in these communities, are to be reckoned as pledged to entire abstinence from all that can intoxicate-a larger number even than was reported the preceding year. Additions to the Churches. The churches have not been blessed with special divine influences, to the extent experienced in some former years especially, the memorable year preceding the one now closed. It should be recorded, however, with gratitude and praise to Him, with whom is the residue of the Spirit, that 84 miss onaries are permitted to make mention in their reports of revivals of religion, some of which have been of great interest and power; and that 266 missionaries report 2,769 hopeful conversions, as having taken place during the year, under their ministry. The number added to the churches on profession of their faith is, as near as we can ascertain, 4,812; by letters from other churches, 2,881-in all, 7,693; which, though less, by 530, than the number added the previous year, exceeds, with a single exception-in 1832-the number added in any other year of the Society's labors. General Influence. A few of the more obvious results of the labors of the missionaries we have thus summed up. But how small a portion of them can be told! To have sustained more than nine hundred ministers of the Gospel, in their appropriate, divinely-appointed office of PREACHING to their fellow-men, in more than twelve hundred congregations, is no small work! Let those attempt the estimate of it, whose own experience has taught them the value of a preached Gospel and the kind offices of an affectionate, devoted pastor. What a loss would it be to Zion what a disaster to the best interests hopes-what a sundering of the tenderest earthly ties, and what a parting with the most precious drops of human consolation, if these candlesticks were to be removed out of their places! What it is, to have placed in a single state or territory, while in its very infancy, twelve or twenty chosen men, in the vigor and buoyancy of youth, educated and ordained to their high calling, there to lay the foundations of many generations, those can best judge, who have been careful observers of the progress of our new settlements-those can best judge, who can contrast Western NewYork and the Western Reserve, as we now see them, with what they once were and with other sections of the country not blessed like them, and who know the indebtedness of these favored communities, for whatsoever is in them that is lovely and of good report, to the self-denying, hard-working missionaries, whose voices first broke in accents of mercy upo.. the solitude, their wilder nesses. What an influeuce these men are to exert upon the single cause of education, those can best judge, who have seen the foundations of the Colleges at Hudson, at Marietta, at Crawfordsville, at Jacksonville, laid deep and strong, by the sinews of the unostentatious, far-reaching, heaven-directed missionary, and who know the value of these light-houses of the West to our country's weal-to the cause of truth and human redemption. Many of the sons of these youthful Seminaries, that missionaries have planted, are themselves among the most enterprising and successful of missionaries on both sides of the Mississippi. And the sons of Institutions, which missionaries, who have this year been sent forth to their far distant stations will establish, will, ere many of us are in our graves, be preaching the Gospel of the grace of God, on the shores of the Pacific, in the Islands of the Sea, and in the uttermost parts of the earth. What it is, thus to have promoted peace, order, brotherly kindness, charity, in so many christian communitiesto have given encouragement, consolation, hope immortal, to multitudes whom we shall never meet in the flesh-to have set in motion unnumbered trains of educational, moral and religious influences, which shall go on, rolling down their blessings upon every generation of men and peopling heaven with myriads redeemed, may every one, who has borne a part in this glorious enterprize, comprehend, with joy unspeakable, when we shall no longer see through a glass darkly! THE TREASURY. The balance in the treasury, April 15, 1843, was $2,589 02; the receipts of the succeeding twelve months have been, $101,904 99--making the resources of the year, $104,494 01. The amount due to missionaries, April 15, 1843, was $9,608 40; and there have since become due, $106,832 12--making the liabilities of the Society for the year, $116,140 52. Of this sum, $104,276 47 have been paid. The remainder, $11,864 05 is still due to missionaries, who have performed their labor and whose requests for payment are now daily being received. Towards cancelling these claims and meeting the further sum of $38,224 65, pledged for the coming year, the balance in the treasury is only $217 54. The receipts above reported are but $2,092 05 greater than those reported at the last anniversary. It is due to the churches, however, that it should be stated, that the amount of their contributions has been increased $9,147 77 -the receipts, in payment of legacies, being $7,055 72 less than the previous year. It is the living, therefore, rather than the dead, who have, the past year, praised the Lord, in sustaining the work in which we have been engaged. Had it not been for this increased interest in the churches, and their enlarged benefactions, the cause which they have committed to us, would have expe rienced the most serious and disheartening embarrassments. Necessity of Enlarged Resources. The point of apprehension and deep concern is not, however, past. Our solicitude has never been more intense, nor our position more critical than at the" present time. With a greater number of laborers in the field than ever before many of the most expensive of whom must be paid a much larger amount the coming year than the last, as they have but recently entered, at distant stations, the service of the Society-with the past dues of these missionaries and the pledges for the coming year greatly increased, with a treasury well nigh empty, and with numerous applications for appointment yet unanswered, we enter upon the responsibilities of another year. An increase, it will be perceived, of more than $12,000, in the receipts of the Society, the year to come, is indispensa ble, in order to sustain its operations on their present scale. And a further increase, of a much larger amount, is equally indispensable, in order to make, in some humble measure, the advances to which the providence of God and the necessities of our kinsmen according to the flesh are urging us. Without the first named increase, the pledges to the missionaries, who are bearing the heat and burden of the day cannot be fulfilled. Without speedy returns from the churches of a portion of this increase, a large amount which is now due, and of which those who have earned it are in urgent need, cannot be forwarded. Without the second named increase, the candidates for missionary service at the most distant and difficult posts, cannot be commissioned and sustained. The spirit of the young men, who went out the last Autumn from our Theological Seminaries, lives, in those who have come after them; and these are desiring to go forth unto their elder brethren in the wilderness, to share with them their sacrifices and their toil. A much larger number, well qualified for their work, we have reason to believe, could be sent out the coming year, than were sent out the last, if the funds at the disposal of the Committee would authorize their appointment. Those already in the the missionary spirit in the hearts of field are calling for help, and fanning their brethren. And must this spirit be kindled up, only to die out in hope deferred, or in absolute disappointment? Our destitute fellow countrymen, too, are calling for the bread and the water of life. Can we find it in our hearts to deny it to them? The fields are waving with the golden harvest. Shall not the |