Excerpt
American Missionary
Vol. XXXIX. JULY, 1885. No. 7.
American Missionary Association.
$365,000NEEDED FOR THE CURRENT YEAR.
Your Committee are convinced that not less than a THOUSAND DOLLARS a day are imperatively demanded to perfect the admirably organized plans of the Association, even for the present, to say nothing of the pressing needs of the early future.—
[Finance Committee's Report Adopted by Annual Meeting at Salem.]THE FIGURES. Receipts. Donations. Legacies. Total. Oct. 1, 1884, to May 31, 1885 $136,972.82 $21,784.35 $158,757.17 Oct. 1, 1883, to May 31, 1884 132,507.66 21,710.40 154,218.06 ————— ————— ————— Inc. $4,465.16 Inc. $73.95 Inc. $4,539.11
Our financial storm signal is still out. That threatening forty thousand dollars' deficit does not let up in its indications of approach. The black clouds are plainly discernible. We have been for months anxiously watching their movements. Our prayers and efforts have been steadily turned towards their dissipation. We do not lose faith. We believe in our work. We believe in our friends. The work has merit. Our friends have ability. The two will come together and the merit will cause the ability to stand forth. There are many things very decidedly encouraging.
Never in all our history has the work been more abundantly blessed. Our schools have been crowded and God's Spirit has come down in great power upon the hearts of our pupils. In one school the revival character of the religious services had to cease, because there were none left to be converted! Our churches have been revived and enlarged. A spirit of joy and thankfulness is in the hearts of our missionaries.
Notwithstanding the hard times, our receipts from the churches and living donors are larger by several thousand dollars than they were at this time last year. These facts are the indications of a living cause and an able constituency. They call upon us to lift our heads in hope and to inspire one another to still greater activity, and, if need be, to self-denial. We have no legacies in sight, and we certainly do not desire our friends to die. Our prayer is that they may live; that they may live long. Apart from their gifts in money we desire the strength and the grandeur of their lives to aid us in carrying forward the great and growing work on hand. We again call upon them to help us round out this year without a debt.
We take the liberty to point out one way in which they can do this.
Our missionaries are, many of them, returning at this time of year for a brief rest at the North. They need it. They have earned it. It may seem wrong to tax these brave workers, but we venture to say that if they are invited to tell the public the story of their experience they will not refuse to do it; and we venture to say further, it will be a story the public will be glad to hear. Let them have a royal welcome home by the churches. In the language of Rev. Sam Jones, the noted Southern Evangelist, as he counseled the churches to receive the new converts, "Let it not be on the tips of your fingers or on the palms of your hands you receive them, but, on your hearts," and God will bless the welcome to the churches, to the missionaries and to the work....