not less than in any preceding year of its history. The "slavery agitation" has undoubtedly diverted the charities of churches in New England and New York, as well as in the states where slavery prevails. But with a few exceptions, the contributors who withhold their funds from the Board for this reason are not of the class which had become deeply interested in Missionary operations. We may safely assume that the places of those who have withdrawn to unite with other organizations have been supplied by the additions to the churches that sustain the Board, and by the accession of new patrons. The diminution of patrons will not, we think, explain the facts before us.

We are also confident that there is no lack of resources to carry forward all the enterprises of Christian benevolence that now claim the pecuniary aid of the churches. New objects have arisen, and existing societies have been asking larger donations; but these claims have not multiplied as rapidly as the ability to meet them. The increase of wealth in the older states, and especially in New York and Massachusetts, has been almost without precedent. The returns of the state valuation of Massachusetts show an annual increase of about twelve per cent. since the census of 1840. And New York and Connecticut will not fall much short of this ratio. The members of our churches have participated in this prosperity; so that the actual ability of the churches in the most favored states must have doubled, and in all the states there must be an approximation to this condition. No computations are required to show that there has been no correspouding increase in the number of objects of Christian benevolence, or in the amount contributed to sustain them. An exact estimate of all the monies which they have received in this period would not exceed two hundred thousand dollars. We must, therefore, assent to the conclusions of the Secretaries of the Board, when they say, "that the new objects which have arisen have by no means exhausted the resources of the churches." An examination of the history of other societies-such as the Bible, Tract, and Home Missionary Societies,-which enjoy the confidence of the Christian community, and by actual experiment have shown themselves well adapted to the several departments of Christian efforts in which they labor, does not lead to a different conclusion. We find evidence of abundant ability on the part of those who are, and of those who ought to be, their patrons. Still the directors of these institutions are frequently embarrassed by the want of funds to carry on the work and meet the demand for more enlarged operations. These embarrassments are often greatly aggravated by the fluctuations in their receipts. To remedy the evils resulting from this cause, recourse has been had to special efforts. As might be anticipated, the frequency with which these efforts have been made, has impaired their effect; so

that the utility of them has become exceedingly doubtful. This forcing system is attended by a twofold disadvantage; by a disastrous reaction on the part of those who endeavor to answer the application, and by great practical inconvenience to all whose charities are regulated by a definite and predetermined plan. These objections are so serious that we are persuaded the directors of our benevolent institutions will soon decide, that retrenchment is preferable to this method of sustaining their operations. Shall we, then, conclude from this survey of the existing state of missionary and kindred institutions, that the Christian public is less interested in them than at a former period? No direct answer to this question could correspond with the actual facts that meet our observation. An opinion formed from a comparison of the receipts of these societies with the actual ability of the churches, must lead any one to feel that Christians are not becoming more benevolent. Many of the proposed plans of retrenchment, such as the reduction of salaries, and the relinquishment of the services of agents, seem to confirm this opinion. On the other hand, if we consider the increased attention which these several departments of Christian effort now secure, as appears from the immense numbers that attend the anniversary meetings, and the very general knowledge of their operations which is disseminated gratuitously by secular as well as religious newspapers, we should decide that the objects never occupied a higher place in the public esteem. In general, the members of churches are better acquainted with the design and operations of our benevolent institutions now that at any former day. Every year, the reports of these societies are securing a more extensive circulation. It must, however, be admitted that this increase of intelligence has not been attended by a corresponding increase in the depth and earnestness of the missionary spirit. Christians know more about the religious destitution of our country and the wants of the heathen world, but they are not correspondingly intent on supplying those necessities. This may in part be accounted for on the well known principle that familiarity with great evils diminishes the impression of their serious nature. The romance of missions, as has been said, is passed away. We know much better than ever before what is involved in the labors of missionary life. Our friends and members of our own churches are engaged in the work. It consequently has less of the sacredness of a peculiar consecration in our minds. The mode of planting churches in the newly settled states is reduced to a system. We can compute the time and labor and money requisite to translate and print the Bible in a strange language. It is not an uncommon thing for a sailor to be a temperate or a pious man. The field of missionary effort has to a great extent been actually surveyed, and the magnitude of the work has in many of its aspects

become more exact and definite. The practicability of Christianizing heathen nations is now well established. The necessary consequence of this knowledge is to diminish the curiosity and the intense interest with which the earliest labors in these enterprises were regarded. There may not be less need of faith at the present stage of the missionary work than at the outset, but this faith must be occupied with a different aspect of the subject. Again, it is worthy of notice in this connection that the attention of Christians has been very much engrossed with absorbing questions of a political and moral nature, and these still continue to agitate and distract their minds. The discussion of such topics as war and slavery, especially in the practical form which they assume in our country, must always be attended with great warmth of feeling, and consequent diversion of our attention from other subjects. For the time, other questions of duty are disregarded, and the calm tone demanded in the adjustment of personal obligations to the Savior in other relations, is lost. Whatever opinion may be entertained concerning the necessity of discussing these exciting themes, it can not be denied that the debate has been conducted at the sacrifice of much feeling that might otherwise have been concentrated on the enterprises of benevolence. In some instances, churches and other ecclesiastical bodies have been rent asunder by the violence of the controversy; and the contest for the right has made men forgetful of what is charitable. Another cause that has operated to the disadvantage of our benevolent societies will be found in the peculiar financial condition of the country. Within the last ten years, immense sums have been invested in the construction of railroads, and public works of similar character. The capital required in building these roads has not been furnished alone by the wealthiest of our citizens. The stock in the first instance was not taken merely by capitalists, but by farmers, mechanics, and professional men, who constitute the working classes of our inland towns. The ready and large incomes realized on the roads that were first constructed, made this an eminently popular mode of investment with those who could lay aside small sums at a time from their earnings. Money was also withdrawn from savings banks, private loans were refused, and all available resources were converted into stocks. Before the roads were completed, or the means of their completion were furnished, the loans required by the government to carry on the Mexican war, produced an unexpected stringency in the money market of our cities. Capitalists preferred government securities to the bonds of private corporations, so that great difficulty was experienced in raising the means of paying railroad installments and meeting the ordinary demands of business. It is unnecessary to present in detail the consequences of the financial crisis, which in the end has fallen most severely on the inhabitants of our

country towns. It is sufficient for our purpose to show, that these enterprises which have greatly augmented the wealth of the country, have consumed nearly all the available capital of our citizens. This expenditure in connection with the loans above mentioned and the drafts that have been made in the sudden and hurried outfits of the numbers who have rushed upon the gold regions of California, left very little money in circulation in the towns of the country. Men of business and others who were in easy circumstances have been constantly straitened. Disappointed in the returns of their investments now rendered unproductive because incomplete, they have been obliged to pay high rates of interest to keep themselves from bankruptcy. In this state of affairs, the annual collections in the separate congregations would be small because the contributors, however wealthy, had no money to spare. This has been the condition of multitudes who might otherwise have given liberally to forward the cause of the Redeemer. Having invested all their previous earnings, they were comparatively poor, when deprived of the income of their investments. As most persons are in the habit of giving in charity without much forethought, and as applications are frequent, they usually are satisfied with making such donations as may be convenient at the time. The amount bestowed is no true criterion of their prosperity, perhaps, not of their benevolent feeling; for the times when capital is most occupied, or, in other words, when business is flourishing, they are most likely to have no money on hand. In a new country where great enterprises are yet in progress and capital is scarce, the rapid development of natural and manufactured products requires that a large business be managed with a small currency. This statement will sufficiently explain what has probably been true of many thriving New England towns within a twelve month, that while its inhabitants might own property to the amount of three or five hundred thousand dollars, the ready money in their hands would be less than one. We have not adduced these facts to furnish any defence for the indifference and remissness with which the claims of benevolence are dismissed by a majority of professed Christians. desire most emphatically to express the conviction, that God will hold men to as strict an account for the use of their wealth as of any talent whatever.

Our aim in the preceding considerations has been to illustrate the necessity of introducing a systematic plan into the efforts of our benevolence. Something, that shall relieve the directors of our missionary and kindred societies from the painful embarrasments attending the present disastrous fluctuations in their receipts. Something, that will develop and strengthen the principles of benevolence in the hearts of Christians. Something, which shall secure the adoption of such methods as will impart

to their charities the regularity and system that prevail in the transactions of business. It was to meet this necessity and induce the friends of the Redeemer to act upon system in their religious charities, that the prize was offered which called forth the treatises that are named at the head of this article. We most heartily commend the forecast and generosity which proposed it. It evinced a true perception of the real deficiency in the habits. and views of professed Christians. And in future years, we doubt not, this appropriation will produce an increase of an hundred fold.

In furtherance of the same design, we propose to offer some thoughts on the contents of these volumes, without, however, confining our remarks to the exact limits of a connected review. We regard it as a peculiar merit of these publications, that they set the duties of benevolence before our churches in a practical light. They assert with distinctness, what the history of our benevolent operations fully illustrates, that Christians must be educated to the work of sustaining missions and other enterprises for the conversion of men. A large proportion of the members of our churches are living without any suitable impression of their obligations to use their property as stewards of God. The subject has not been discussed with much frequency in the pulpit. To many pastors, the positions illustrated in these volumes. will seem strange; if they are not regarded as untrustworthy. An enquiry into the sources of the contributions which are made in the most intelligent of our New England congregations, would show, that large numbers do not acknowledge the obligations of Christian benevolence, in any form, aside from the support of public worship; while, in some districts, the whole subject is neglected, unless the congregations are visited by agents in behalf of the established charities. We have painful evidence of the truth of our assertions, when we say, that a majority of church members are yet uninstructed in the duty of systematic charity. Indeed any other supposition would, in view of their practice, constitute an impeachment of their piety. On the scriptural rule, enforced in these essays, that God has imposed upon Christians the obligation to contribute statedly for purposes of benevolence and in proportion as they are prospered, the conductors of the religious press and the pastors of churches should direct their efforts to the work of training the disciples of Christ in the right use of their property. Hitherto this duty has been very generally overlooked. A few years ago, and the public profession of faith in Christ and of devotion to his service was not supposed to include a virtual consecration of one's property to the same master. In giving currency and clearness to the precepts of the Bible on this important subject, and especially in reducing these precepts into habitual practice, these publications of the Tract