the wide field of their dispersion, not only live to praise God, but the results of their ministry have been such as to indicate a degree of spiritual prosperity on the whole field of the Society's operations, highly encouraging to the friends of the cause for which we labour. The propriety and force of these remarks will be fully illustrated by the details embraced in the following table. [The table referred to, is a list of Congregations aided, Missionaries, &c., and is too extended to be inserted in this place. For the details, the reader is referred to the Report itself, which is published in a separate form.] NUMBER OF MISSIONARIES AND CONGREGATIONS AIDED. From the preceding details, it appears that the number of Missionaries and Agents employed by the Society, during the last year, is 463, and the number of congregations and missionary districts which have been aided in their support is 577. Of the missionaries and agents above enumerated, 299 were in commission at the commencement of the year. The remaining 164, have been new appointments during the year, making in all 463. PROPORTION OF MISSIONARIES, &C. IN EACH STAte. It is apparent, also, from the foregoing table, that the influence of the Society has been felt in 22 states and territories, and has been extended to the adjoining province of Upper Canada. The proportion of missionaries employed, and of congregations aided, in each state, has been graduated, as it ever must be, by the interest manifested by the people, to secure the blessings of a preached gospel, the character of their wants and prospects, as made known to the committee, and the choice of the missionaries themselves. Those states and territories, therefore, have been best served by the Society, whose correspondence has most clearly developed their necessities, and their disposition efficiently to co-operate with this Committee in supplying their own destitute. This will account for the comparatively large number of missionaries employed, and of congregations aided, in the States of New-York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan Territory. It is because the Auxiliary Societies in those states have furnished increased facilities to the operations of the parent Society, and greater inducements to ministers to enter upon their destitute fields. In addition to the considerations already named as determining the location of missionaries, and as securing to some states a larger proportion of appointments than to others, the following is worthy of notice. It has ever appeared to this committee an object of the first importance, as early as practicable, to occupy with an efficient ministry the new and rapidly increasing settlements on our western and southern frontiers. To this object, therefore, they have directed their special attention. But they have found this department of their great enterprise no less difficult than important. In such settlements generally, religious societies are unformed, and the people are not prepared to adopt any systematic measures even to assist in the support of religious institutions. Often there are not so much as two or three who are sufficiently agreed to unite in soliciting a missionary to be sent. In all such cases it is manifest that to wait for an application from the people, would be to withhold from them the blessings of the gospel. They feel not their need of these blessings, and of course will not ask for them. Yet their need is the greater because of their culars have been put into my hands, of the decease of one of our own number, Mr. ARCHIBALD FALCONER, Recording Secretary of the Society, and from the beginning, a faithful, efficient and highly valued member of the Executive Committee. Having left this city for England, in October last, for the improvement of his health, we have been deprived of his counsel at our weekly meetings, but have been assured by his letters of an affectionate remembrance in his prayers. He remained in England until January last, when, his symptoms becoming more alarming, he took passage from Falmouth to Rio Janeiro, by the way of Madeira, and died at sea, Feb. 13th, in the language of the Captain who communicated the intelligence, “ praying to that Almighty, who is the Author and disposer of all events.” insensibility, and the committee have felt that to withhold appropriations from such settlements, would be to neglect one of the most interesting as well as important objects of the Society. They have accordingly used every endeavour to procure and direct to our frontier states and territories, men of suitable qualifications for the work to be done. Here again there are peculiar difficulties to be encountered. It is easy, indeed, to induce young men and others to take missionary tours to these remote settlements, and spend a few months, if they may then return to fields more white unto the harvest. The experience, however, of Missionary Societies and Boards of Missions before existing in this country has evinced that such kind of service is comparatively of little use. This Committee, therefore, early established it as a rule, to send no missionaries to the frontier states and territories, who were not willing to express it as their sincere intention and settled purpose, (Providence favouring,) to remain and spend their lives on those fields. But we have thought it unreasonable to exact such a pledge from those who have the courage thus to take their lives in their hands, and meet the perils and privations, and identify themselves with the interests of new and remote settlements, without pledging, on the part of the Society, at least a competent support for the first year of the missionary's service. This indeed is the only method by which the preaching of the gospel can be permanently secured in those sections of the country which are the most destitute. It must be sent to them, or they will remain destitute; and in sending the gospel to such fields, the committee have found it necessary to commission their missionaries without regular applications from the people, and to assume their entire support, including such sums as they may derive from the fields on which they labour. No less than 34 of the missionaries named in this report, have been thus appointed. These in general have been the most expensive missions of the Society, while in some instances, the Missionary who was sent, unsolicited by any organized congregation, has been not only received with cordiality, but his support has been principally sustained by the people, and the Society relieved from the whole or a large portion of its pledge. Excepting the above named 34 missionaries, and 5 others who have been employed as agents, the remaining 424, have been appointed on application from the churches or congregations where they labour, and the amount pledged in each case has been the least sum which the committee have regarded sufficient to enable the applicant congregation to support and retain the minister of their choice. EXTENT OF Fields and amOUNT OF LABOUR PERFORMED. Of the whole number employed by the Society, 319 are settled as Pastors, or are statedly engaged in single congregations, 105 divide their labours, either as Pastors or stated supplies, between two or three congregations, and 39 including Agents, are employed on larger fields. Thus engaged, the 463 missionaries of the Society, within those portions of the year embraced in their commissions, have performed the full amount of ministerial labour, which would employ a succession of individuals 295 years. ECONOMY IN Expenditures, and state of tHE TREASURY. The above amount of service, has been performed at an expense of $47,247.60 -which has actually been paid out from the treasury within the year, including office rent, Secretary's salary, and all the incidental expenses of the Society. But whence have been derived the means of so large an expenditure? At the commencement of the year, the treasury was overdrawn $84.11, and during the first half of the year, the income of the Society was far less than its disbursements, so that, for several months in succession, the payments from the treasury were in advance of its receipts from $7,000 to $10,000 for which the Treasurer and other individuals of the Committee became personally responsible. Under the pressure of this exigency, it was seriously deliberated, whether we ought not to withhold further appropriations until we should be possessed of the means of more extended operations without the necessity of increasing the personal responsibility of the Committee. The result was a unanimous decision that the uninterrupted advancement of this enterprise, is an object of too great importance to be hindered by the fear of ultimate pecuniary embarrassment, especially when the evidences of the favour of God, and the confidence of the christian public, were accumulating with the experience of every month. The work was, accordingly, in no degree arrested, but the operations of the Society were steadily increased, with an unshaken confidence, that the friends of the cause would not fail to meet its reasonable demands. In the mean time every effort was used to procure agents to engage permanently in the business of collecting funds for this object. In this, however, we failed to such a degree, that some large and able portions of the field, to whose liberality the Committee look with confidence, have not yet been visited by any Agent. The efforts of the Secretary, however, and other Agents who have been employed, have been successful, and have furnished increasing evidence that the appeals of this Society have lost none of their interest with the christian public. The treasury has accordingly been replenished. The receipts of the last year, as appears from the Treasurer's accounts, have exceeded those of the preceding year $5,779.34, while the expenditures of the Society have increased $4,818.10, leaving in the Treasury, at the present time $877.13. The committee are, however, under engagements to Missionaries and Agents now in the field, $36,785.00, which must be discharged within the coming twelve months. In entering into these engagements, the Committee have been aware that, in the work of Missions, as in other departments of charitable effort, a Society known to have been formed for the purpose of aiding the destitute, and the needy is exposed to unworthy applications for its bounty. This fact presents a point of the greatest difficulty and delicacy in the bestowment of public charities. The Committee have accordingly endeavoured to guard, on the one hand, against an indiscriminate or a lavish expenditure of the Society's funds, and on the other, to avoid that degree of retrenchment in appropriations, which might disappoint the reasonable expectations of congregations asking assistance, and thus discourage rather than aid them in their efforts to support the ordinances of the gospel. To attain these ends as perfectly as possible, each application has been carefully examined, and appointments have been delayed, until, by correspondence or otherwise, the Committee have become assured both of the wishes of the congregations, and of the regular standing, good reputation, and prospects of usefulness of the minister employed. Aid has then been granted, on application from the people, accompanied with suitable evidence that it was needed. It has accordingly been received with many expressions of gratitude from the churches and congregations assisted, and in most cases, has been attended with the happiest effects, not only in sustaining the needy under present embarrassments, but in concentrating their own resources, and encouraging them to make more vigorous efforts to secure the blessings of a permanent ministry. This system has been pursued with a confidence, strengthened by the experience of every year, that it is happily adapted to accomplish the great end for which the Society was formed, and that it will permanently retain, as it has hitherto received, the approbation and patronage of the religious public. It is a system of encouragement as well as of economy, and does not enervate, as is the case with charities indiscriminately bestowed, but strengthens and stimulates to renewed exertions the congregations aided, and has enabled them, in many instances, to return to the Society, within the year, some portion of the amounts appropriated. This has been the case with all those congregations named in the preceding table, as having "raised by Auxiliary Associations," a portion of the aid granted. Deducting, however, all that may thus be derived from the fields to which appropriations have been made, a large proportion of the amount pledged by the committee, will still remain to be raised from the more favoured of the religious public, who are able to spare, from their abundance, portions for the poor. On these, the Society has principally depended hitherto for the means of prosecuting, with effect, its noble enterprise; and that this is not a vain dependence, for the future, may be inferred from a brief survey of the following. SOURCES OF INCOME. Donations from individuals have been received from almost every part of the country, and have been transmitted, both anonymously and otherwise, accompanied with such expressions of interest in the object of the Society, as evince that it is remembered in the closets of the pious, as well as in the assemblies of the saints. These encouraging indications of a widely extended interest and confidence in the operations of the Society, have been multiplied during the last year, and have been furnished in almost every amount, from the little child's contribution to the box of charity, to the donation of $2,000. Many Pastors and Churches, also, have testified their estimation of the privilege of bearing a part in this work of love, by collections taken up particularly at the Monthly Concert for Prayer, and on the day of annual Thanksgiving. In addition to the above, the Society has derived very seasonable aid, within the year, from the payment of several small bequests, and especially from the LEGACY OF THE LATE WARREN RICHARDSON. This gentleman died in the summer of 1829, in Andover, Massachusetts, where he had resided a number of years, and by active industry, had accumulated an estate of more than $20,000. He was not a professor of religion, and it was not until a short time previous to his death, that his attention was Providentially directed to the benevolent enterprises of the church, and in the near prospect of eternity, he bequeathed more than half of his estate to several Institutions of religious charity. The bequest to the A. H. M. Society, was a residuum of uncertain amount; and his widow, MRS. LUCRETIA RICHARDSON, with a sacred regard to the intention of the deceased, and with a cordiality in the object which entitles her to the gratitude of its friends, has furnished the Society with every facility to become possessed of the amount. She has accordingly already paid into the Treasury the sum of $5,100, and a small sum, we understand, remains yet to be collected. The reception of this legacy, as a relief from the embarrassment which must otherwise have been experienced, has been regarded by the Committee as a peculiarly timely interposition of Divine Providence. It will doubtless be recognized in Heaven, as among the means which have caused thousands to rejoice evermore; and it seems but right that we should distinctly recognize it in this report. While, however, the Committee acknowledge, with gratitude, the foregoing items, it still remains to be stated that the largest amount received from any one of the general sources of the Society's income has been derived from AUXILIARY SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATIONS. These have increased, during the year, from 273 to 385. The following have contributed the largest amounts to the Parent Society, viz.— The Western Agency in the State of New-York The Central Agency, The Maine Missionary Society, do. The New-Hampshire Missionary Society, do. The Vermont Domestic Missionary Society, 66 162 25 Sabbath Scholars Missionary Association $5,721 40 2,998 91 Several of the above Auxiliaries, on account of their efficiency, and the exter of their operations, deserve an additional notice in this place, viz. The WESTERN AGENCY in the State of New-York, remains yet unrivalled i efficiency among the Agencies and Auxiliaries of the Society. It embraces, a its field, the 17 western counties in this State, with a population of more than ha a million, on which more than 120 congregations have, in succession, bee sustained by this Society, 72 of which have received aid, within the last year, i the support of 58 ministers. These, together with the Secretary of the Agency constitute an aggregate of 59 labourers, on that field, in the employment of the Society. And their labours have not been in vain. "Ours," says the Secre tary, in his annual report," have been the consolations of the man, who, having gone forth weeping, bearing precious seed, comes again rejoicing, bringing hi sheaves with him." Seven of the congregations aided, are named as having shared richly in the revivals which have prevailed in the western part of thi state, in each of which there have been reported from 75 to 100 hopefu conversions, while others have been gladdened with gentle showers of grace Much advancement has been given to the cause of truth within the bounds o the Agency, while the surplus of its collections above the amount expended or that field, has aided the Society in thrusting forth other labourers into other portions of the harvest. The CENTRAL AGENCY in the State of New-York. The present may be considered as the First Annual Report of this Agency, which was appointed in October, 1829, on the same plan of the " Western Agency" above named, but was not fully organized and in operation until a few months previous to May, 1830. Since that time, besides discharging a considerable amount of the debts and pledges of the "Western Domestic Missionary Society," whose responsibilities it assumed, it has aided in the support of 38 missionaries in those counties of this State, which lie within or contiguous to the Synod of Utica, which is the centre of its operations. Ten of the congregations aided on this field, are reported as having enjoyed special revivals of religion, and in general the labours of the missionaries have been crowned with more than ordinary success. Notwithstanding the embarrassment occasioned to this Agency, by the removal of its Secretary, the Rev. R. Cushman, in October last, to another field of labour, and the necessary delay in procuring a successor, its payments to the Treasury of the Society, within the year, have amounted to $2,998.91, while its present organization and activity, are such as afford "the most encouraging promise of extended and permanent efficiency. The MAINE MISSIONARY SOCIETY, has continued its operations with increased energy and success, and, though the receipts into its Treasury have been less than the amount reported the previous year, this is to be attributed rather to the want of agents for the collection of funds, than to any diminution of interest or zeal among the friends of the cause in that state. The number of its Missionaries appointed under commissions from the Parent Society has increased during the year from 38 to 47, in addition to which this Committee, by the appropriation of funds pledged by the Massachusetts Missionary Society, have aided in the support of 8 missionaries on the same field, making, in all, 55. The Corresponding Secretary, Rev. Dr. Gillett, under date of April 25, 1831, remarks, in general, that there are various charitable and religious societies, in every township where we have Missionaries, and several converts in many of the societies, as well as revivals in others." On the whole, the advancement of this Society, as an auxiliary, has been as rapid and encouraging, as its best friends had any reason to expect, and we trust the time is not far distant, when, its zeal having provoked very many, it will itself become an efficient helper to the Parent Society in aiding the needy and supplying the destitute on the opposite and far distant frontiers of the west and south. The VERMONT DOMESTIC MISSIONARY SOCIETY, including the Windsor |