of their appreciation of the beautiful, gentle, yet earnest Christian spirit which has ever characterized him in his relations with his associates, and the invaluable service which, by his personal influence and his generous offerings he has rendered the Society. In November, E. L. Marston, Esq., was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Bliss. The Board, numbering eighteen members, contains nine ministers and nine business men, three of whom are residents of New Jersey, three of Connecticut, five of Brooklyn, and seven of New York City and vicinity. The Board has held eleven meetings during the year, the average attendance being nearly two-thirds of the whole number. I. FINANCIAL, ETC. The total receipts of the year, including conditional and permanent trust funds (not including Church Edifice loans repaid), have been $551,595.92. These have come from forty-seven States and Territories, also from Manitoba, British Columbia, Mexico, India, Italy and Denmark. The receipts may be classified as follows: I. From contributions of churches, Sunday schools, and individuals including $22,266.62, trust funds, $249,078.06. II. From legacies, $245,484.63. III. Income from Church Edifice loans and invested funds, $24,400.06. IV. From the Schools of the Society, $19,358.03. V. Miscellaneous, including receipts for the BAPTIST HOME MISSION MONTHLY, $13,295.14. A further analysis, showing to what purposes these receipts are applicable, gives the following results: I. For General purposes (i. e., for salaries of missionaries, teachers, officers, and expenses of administration). From general contributions, $145,603.64; from legacies, $216,681.98; from all other sources, $19,278.40; total, $381,564.02. II. Designated Funds.-1. For Church Edifice work: (a) Benevolent Fund. Contribu tions from churches, individuals, and Sunday schools $38,791.50; from legacies, $1,393.29; from income of invested funds, $3,571.02; gifts returned, $550 00; total, $44,304.81. (6) Loan Fund. From legacies, $250.00; income from loans, etc., $5,545.61; total, $5.795.61. Total for Church Edifice work $50, 100.42. 2. For school buildings and other objects, $41,578.80. III. Permanent Funds (other than Church Edifice funds) :-From income to be added to principal, $2,700.00; Contributions, $7,500.00; Legacies, 1,851.25. IV. Conditional or Annuity Funds (donors receiving annuities during their lives):-From individuals, $14,766.62. Included in the foregoing receipts are $15,830.22 from the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society, Boston; $752.00 from the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Union of Connecticut; $1,495.23 from the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society of Michigan; and $660.81 from the Women's Baptist Home Mission Society, Chicago. EXPENDITURES. Your Board have adhered very closely to the rule adopted two years ago, in limiting appropriations to the average of annual receipts during the three years preceding. In the reasonable expectation of increased resources from certain legacies, slight enlargement in urgent cases was deemed justifiable. The expenditures in general are as follows: 1. For missionaries' salaries, $138,364.77. 2. For teachers' salaries, $61,460.42. 3. For special educational purposes, $40,359.95. 4. In gifts for church edifice work, $32,737-37. 5. For expenses of administration at the rooms, $16,237.16. 6. For collecting and supervising agencies, $18,800.17. For detailed statement concerning these and minor expenditures see Treasurer's report. There has been no material change in the expenses of administration and collection, which are about six per cent. of the year's receipts. THE COBURN LEGACY. The will of Ex-Gov. Abner Coburn, of Skowhegan, Maine, contained the following: “Fifth. I give and bequeath to the American Baptist Home Mission Society, two hundred thousand dollars, one half of which to be applied in aid of Freedmen's schools, other than the Wayland Seminary. "Sixth. I give and bequeath to the Wayland Seminary at Washington City, in memory of my deceased sister, Fidelia C. Brooks, late missionary to Africa, and Mary A. Howe, late teacher in the Seminary, fifty thousand dollars." Gov. Coburn died January 1, 1885. His will was probated February 3, 1885. Certain heirs contested it. The case was before the courts three times. The decisions fully sustained the will. Hon. Percival Bonney represented the Society in the case. In March and June 1887, the $50 000 to Wayland Seminary were paid to the Society, which holds the title to the property and has the general management of the Institution. Of this amount $22,000 were used for the purchase of additional land with a house for the President's residence, and for the needed enlargement of the chapel. The remaining $28,000 were set apart as a permanent endowment fund, the income only to be used for the maintenance of the Institution. In April, 1888, the executors paid to the Society $188,000, leaving a balance of $12,ooo of the principal and $8,000 accrued interest to be paid within a few months. From this single source, therefore, the Society will have received $258,000. This munificent bequest is the largest ever received by the Society and comes at a most opportune time in its history. The proper disposition of this amount has received the careful consideration of the Board. The $50,000 to Wayland Seminary has been used as stated. Of the remainder, $13,000 were required to meet the year's deficit. The $100,000 "in aid of Freedmen's schools" has been applied as follows: For apparatus, and for new buildings and properties, $50,000; toward the payment of present 1 salaries of teachers, $8,000 per year for three years; and for the necessary increase of teaching force and the employment of a Superintendent of Education, $8,666 per year for three years, making $50,000 for these purposes. By the application of $8,000 to existing salaries of teachers, the general treastry, being relieved to this extent, may add an equal amount to its Western mission work. It was hoped that the nearly $100,000 for general purposes might be applied to the en largement of the Society's missionary operations at the rate of about $30,000 per year for three years; but, if in the coming year, as in the past two years, there is to be a deficit of $30,000 or $40,000, as the work now stands, it is a very serious question with your Board whether much larger appropriations can safely be made. If the impression shall prevail that the reception of this legacy relieves individuals and churches from giving as liberally as heretofore-and such has been the experience of other organizations in similar cases—then it will be very clear that this will be needed as a reserve fund, and that the enlargement in mission work will be limited chiefly to the $8,000 liberated from the educational work as stated above. The constituency of the Society ought to say to your Board: We will enlarge our offerings the coming year so that there shall be no deficit; we will maintain the work in its present proportions; use the money from the Coburn legacy for new work the next three years! Will they do it? In view of previous experiences, remembering the inefficiency of resolutions passed at the Anniversaries concerning enlarged offerings, your Board feel justified in moving cautiously in making a fixed and final disposition of this amount, and beg the indulgence of the Society in this matter; at the same time giving assurance that if contributions are increased beyond the present amounts, judicious application of this sum will be made for new work in the West as also among the foreign populations, the Indians, the colored people, the Chinese, and in Mexico. Emphasis, however, will be laid upon the Western work. INSUFFICIENT RESOURCES. The simple truth is, that the Society's resurces are utterly insufficient for the proper prosecution of its great enterprises. Its aggregate receipts for the past year, as for preceding years, are no correct indication of the amount available for salaries of missionaries and teachers. In the aggregate receipts are included funds designated for Church Edifice work, school properties and buildings, income from conditional funds that must go to the donors of these funds during their lives, etc. Though the receipts for the year ending April, 1887, were over half a million dollars, less than $200,000 were expended for missionaries' and teachers' salaries. The average re ceipts for three years, applicable to these purposes, clearly shows that $190,000 is about the limit of appropriations that can safely be made. They see communities, in which Baptists are more numerous than any other denomination, taken possession of by others; and where we might and should have had a controlling influence, a Baptist church is unknown, and the disheartened members, in despair, drift into Pedobaptist organizations. If the Baptist churches in the East were to labor to build up Pedobaptist churches in many portions of the West, they could not do it much more effectually than by this process of withholding proper offerings, thus preventing the Society from sending forth missionaries to organize and care for churches, and leaving scattered Baptists to become identified with other organizations, or to be lost entirely as religious forces in the communities where they live. The problem of problems in our work is, how to increase the interest, develop the sense of responsibility, and secure adequate offerings for the work? The Baptists of America are doing only half what they ought to do through the American Baptist Home Mission Society for the evangelization of this continent. CHRISTIAN BENEFICENCE. If there happens to be a falling off in legacies, or if a few large givers, by designating their offerings to special objects, contribute little or nothing to the general purposes of the Society, a deficiency of $30,000 to $45,000 is likely to occur, as the history of the past two years shows, unless averted by timely legacies of unusual amounts. In short, The reports of District Secretaries show an examination of the Society's receipts from that faithful work has been done in their rechurch and individual contributions for the spective districts. A large amount of home general work shows that these fall from $50,- | mission literature has been distributed, and 000 to $90,000 short of meeting the Society's much effective correspondence has been done, annual obligations at the present scale of both by them and by those in immediate operations. The past year's receipts from charge of the Society's affairs at the rooms in these sources were $145,603.64, or about New York. $60,000 less than its current expenses. The mortifying fact continually confronts us that the three other leading denominations in the United States are expending each, in mission work in the West, from two to three times as much as we are expending, while for the colored people their expenditures are also very much larger. When it comes to Church Edifice, work, the disparity is equally great. The most distressing and even agonizing appeals come from our general missionaries and superintendents of missions for additional assistance to occupy new fields. They see opportunities slipping away from us forever. The vacancy caused by the death of Dr. Marston, of the Southwestern District, has not been filled. But that district has not been wholly neglected. The Board recalled Rev. Dwight Spencer, last fall, to devote several months in presenting the Society's claims to the churches in Iowa and Missouri. In Missouri, as in Iowa, he has been well received as the Society's representative. There appears to be a growing feeling among Missouri Baptists that the Society has special and preeminent claims upon their benevolence, because of its sole attention to the religious needs of the many thousands who have gone from this, as well as from other States, into the great mission fields of the newer West. Unquestionably, on this account, as well as on account of the commercial relations of Missouri with the farther West, the Baptists of this State have peculiar responsibility in the matter of assisting the Society to prosecute its work in the regions beyond. In several western missionary States, pursuant to recommendations by their respective State conventions, churches have made separate contributions to the general work of the Society. This is as it should be. In the South, new measures have been adopted to bring the Colored Baptists into closer relations with the Society, as contributors in common with others, to its general Treasury. In June, 1887, the Board appointed Rev. W. J. Simmons, D.D., District Secretary for the Southern States. Dr. Simmons for several years had been at the head of the school in Louisville, known now as "The State University," and which has been assisted by the Society. He entered upon his service in July. The appointment has been received with much favor, generally, by the Colored Baptists of the South, who are coming to recognize the Society, not only as the channel through which they may receive blessings, but the channel through which they may communicate blessings to others. It is believed that the time has come when they should be made to feel their duty, not merely toward those of their own color and condition, but as American citizens toward all men of whatever race, who on this Continent need the Gospel. In short, in all that pertains to the evangelization of this Continent, they should bear a part. So shall the narrowness of race feeling be swallowed up in broader and more generous emotions; so shall the self-respect of the colored man be raised, when he is asked and expected to bear some part in these high and holy home mission enterprises; and so shall the coming of the day be hastened, when he will regard himself less and less as a member of a race, but more and more as an American citizen and an American Christian, whose sympathies and benevolent activities shall be as broad as those of any other people on this Continent. In several States, as reported by Dr. Simmons, "Home Mission Day" has been appointed, and a good beginning made. Large results are not expected at once, but better things as organization is perfected and information disseminated among the people. NEW ENGLAND DISTRICT. REV. A. P. MASON, D.D., BOSTON; DISTRICT SECRETARY. The fiscal year now closed shows some improvement in Home Mission interest in New England. More churches have contributed to the cause than in either of the three preceding years. Some small churches, especially in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, that are not reported as contributing, have nevertheless contributed, but their contributions have been added to the collections of the sisters, and have gone to the treasury of the Women's Society. In New England there are 938 churches, with a resident membership of about 100,000. A large number of churches in our rural districts, once strong and flourishing, have been so depleted by emigration to the West and removals to large towns and cities that they are now left desolate, or maintain a mere nominal existence. Instead of being contributing churches, they must receive contributions or become extinct. This fact explains why so large a number of churches in New England are non-contributing. The amount received in contributions and legacies from this field during the past year is from the munificent legacy of ex-Gov. Abner $267,392.44. Of this sum $213,304.11 comes Coburn, of Maine. In my work on this field I have traveled during the year 10,000 miles, delivered 61 sermons and addresses, attended 25 Associations and conventions. I have paid for traveling expenses $243.23, postage $36.10, and for stationery $11.36. I have written 1,200 official letters, distributed 16,000 leaflets, circulars, ANNUAL REPORTS and Home Mission Monthlies. NEW YORK AND NORTHERN NEW JERSEY DISTRICT. REV. C. P. SHELDON, D.D., TROY, DISTRICT The past year has developed no particular change on my field in regard to our great Home Mission work. It is but just to say, that there has been and is a growing conviction of the extent and importance of this work, and of its especial claims upon all American Christians and patriots. It is more intelligently understood ATLANTIC DISTRICT: PENN'A, SO. NEW JERand appreciated. SEY, DELAWARE, MARYLAND, AND DIS- REV. E. B. PALMER, D.D., PHIL'A; DISTRICT SEC- In accordance with a suggestion at the last anniversary as to the work of District Secretaries, I have not made it a leading object during the year to personally visit and address churches and take contributions, but rather have endeay-sonally by the District Secretary. It is impos ored to interest and work through the pastors, and to reach personally and much more widely the individual members of the churches. Thus my correspondence has been largely extended and I have put myself in communication with a greatly increasing number of the friends of our work. I have sent out in large quantities facts and information in regard to Home Missions, thus furnishing pastors and people with the means of a just and needed knowledge of our work. Nearly all the churches in my field that can at all be called self-supporting may be considered as contributors to our treasury and work, and with a good degree of regularity. In portions of the field, especially outside of the cities and larger villages, members of the churches are decreasing in strength and ability to aid in missionary work. About the same number of churches gave contributions last year as in the immediately previous year-in all as near as I can estimate 485. The contributions from the larger and stronger churches have been on the increase rather than otherwise. The total amount of contributions from the field may be less than last year-not because of any decrease of interest in the cause of Home missions-but because of the absence of large individual contributions which in that year were paid toward the removal of the debt of the Society, or for designated objects. The receipts in donations and legacies during the year were as follows: New York, $47,848. 16; Northern New Jersey, $23,239.32; total, $71,077.48. 42. In prosecuting the work of the year I have paid for traveling expenses $209.36; for postage, $91.45; for stationery, $25.61; total $326.I have attended 64 Associations and public meetings; delivered 40 sermons and addresses; written 561 official letters, besides numerous postal cards; sent out many many thousands of Home Mission circulars and leaflets; and circulated large numbers of the Home Mission Monthly and the Annual Report of the Society. I have worked in the best way I knew and could, for a coming and permanent harvest. Every part of the field has been visited per sible to reach all associations owing to the dates of their sessions and the wide distances that separate the places of meeting. We were able to attend eighteen out of twenty-five, in person, and definitely arranged for the Society to be efficiently represented by some pastor in from the State Meetings of Pennsylvania and cases when we could not be present. Aside New Jersey, we visited by invitation the West Virginia State Convention at Parkersburg. If the impression left by the guest was anything like as refreshing as the hospitality enjoyed, some good must certainly have been done. We also attended the Evangelical Alliance Meeting at Washington, in December. About 12,000 circulars have been distributed and a constant effort made to increase the circulation of the Home Mission Monthly with gratifying results. The Monthly by the freshness and ability with which it is edited is justly winning a wider appreciation. The Secretary has travelled 10,000 miles, delivered 98 sermons and addresses, and been in correspondence with all parts of the field. The aggregate of contributions for this Department are $25,295.57. Have paid for traveling expenses $282.81; postage $38.15; printing, $22.30; stationery, $17.33; office and furniture, $23.85. Of the 600 churches in Pennsylvania, 361 have less than one hundred each in membership. While there is a prevailing disposition to consider the claims of the Society among the churches, many of them contribute generously for their ability. From many the offerings must necessarily be small. We wish it could be said of more of them as Paul wrote of the churches of Macedonia-"Their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality." There has been some increase of contributing churches over the previous year. It is manifestly true, however, if we exclude the Southern States, that the denomination is not keeping pace with the development of the country. The want of interest sometimes shown by pastors and churches arises from a want of appreciation of the opportunity God has given us, and the responsibility he has imposed. |