The American Missionary - Volume 42, No. 01, January, 1888

Excerpt

A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! It is an inspiring delight to hear and speak the greeting. It is a phrase that comes down to us from the ages. All the more gladly do we repeat it on that account. There are some things, thank God, even in this world, that never grow old. The greetings of Christmas and New Year are among them. This is because they are connected with Christ and his kingdom. True happiness for mankind first came into this world when Christ was born. In proportion as he is received into human life, happiness is experienced. Therefore, in wishing for our readers a happy New Year, we are wishing for them more of Christ in their thought and life.

But Christ never comes into a life to be held there in confinement. He seeks our life that it may become a channel through which he may flow to bless and make happy other lives. He is not only our peace—he is our righteousness as well. How miserable we would be in our sins and shortcomings were this not so! But all the more on that account will we desire to do what we can to make up for our deficiencies. Loving him, we shall want to do his will. He wills that all shall hear of the salvation his gospel brings. We can proclaim the message. He wills that all shall see the power of his gospel in the benevolent fruits of his followers' lives. We can exhibit that power. Where we cannot go to tell the story and exhibit the power in person, we can send. Therefore, in wishing for our readers a happy New Year, we are wishing for them a righteousness that will manifest Christ actually saving the world in what they say and do. Happiness through service and sacrifice—this is the happiness THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY wishes for all its readers, because it is the only happiness worth having.

While January is the first month of the calendar year, it happens to be the fourth month of the A.M.A.'s fiscal year. It is a good time for our friends to make new resolutions in reference to what they will do in support of our work the coming year. We closed last year out of debt. It was a cause for joy and thanksgiving. The Portland meeting felt and expressed it. Letters of congratulation came to us from all parts of the country. But there is something about prosperity that almost inevitably fosters decline. A woe seems to be attached to institutions as well as individuals of which all men speak well. We need $25,000 a month to pay necessary bills. We ought to have $30,000 a month to properly prosecute the work at this moment on hand. Our total receipts at the end of the first two months of the new fiscal year were $33,336. The lowest figure, in order to enable us to meet our bills for the two months, is $50,000. The result is, we are again obliged to report payments in excess of receipts. We do it unwillingly. We want very much to be delivered from the necessity of making special appeals along toward the end of the year. This necessity can be avoided only through our friends' securing increased receipts to our treasury the early part of the year....