"I BEQUEATH to my executor (or executors) the sum of ---- dollars, in trust, to pay the same in ---- days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the 'American Missionary Association,' of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes." The Will should be attested by three witnesses.
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.]
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.