We believe that this work, with that of our Presbyterian and Methodist brethren on the Pacific coast, is both acceptable to God and approved of men.
FINANCES.
We come now to the statement of our financial history and condition. With profound gratitude to Him to whom the silver and the gold belong, and with renewed confidence in those to whose stewardship he has entrusted it, we make this record: (1.) The expenses of the year have been fully met; (2.) The debt of the Association is entirely extinguished; (3.) On the 1st of October the balance in our treasury amounted to $1,475.90.
It is sixteen years since the Association has been reported free from debt. The expansion of its work, which the changes effected by the war imperatively demanded, involved us in these unpaid obligations, which increased upon us almost yearly until, in 1875, our debt was over $96,000. Then came the turning point. It was diminished by a little over $3,000 during 1876; in 1877 it was reduced by about $31,000, to $62,800. Last year $25,000 more of it was liquidated, leaving, at the beginning of this year, $37,389.79. And now we are able to say that that whole amount is paid. $28,808.67 have been sent us for that express purpose. The balance has come from our general receipts from the living and the dead. And this has been paid in cash. We began to fear that our constant plea in this behalf was injuring the support of our regular work, and last year we set apart, to cover it, a residue of western lands of sufficient value; but the debt is absolutely gone now and not balanced against anything, and that property is free to be converted to other uses.
The total income of the year has been $215,431.17—nearly $20,000 more than that of the preceding year. $15,000 of this increase is, however, from bequests which have amounted to $50,034.16.
For the ability to make these cheering statements we thank God, and in the remembrance of His past goodness we take courage. It looked an almost impossible thing that that great debt of nearly $100,000 should have disappeared, and that in these “hard times.” But the way to know the goodness of God is to try some hard thing in His name. To Him be the praise.
We would not leave the false impression, however, on the minds of any, that these years of retrenchment have been easy years for us, or that the past twelve months have been free from causes for anxiety. Twice during the year we have been $10,000 behind last year’s receipts or this year’s needs. We were greatly perplexed in our unwillingness to increase the old debt or to incur a new one, when, in one case, a large gift, and in the other a large legacy, lifted us over the shallows and enabled us to set sail again rejoicing.
CONCLUSION.
And now what is the significance of our present condition? We are out of debt. We have the promise of a far better equipment for our work in the way of buildings. The Mendi Mission is fairly manned, and, we trust, on the way to a new and wide usefulness. The Freedmen call for all the aid we can supply. All motives of love for self, for country and for God conspire to urge us to increase our efforts for their Christian education. Africa is stretching out its right hand now, as well as the left, which we have been trying so long to fill, and Christian England comes to help us answer the plea. It has been demonstrated at length that our Southern schools may help to solve the Indian as well as the Negro problem, and the Chinaman is yet at our western gate.
Is not the voice of God to us like that He spoke through Moses to those who had just escaped the taskmasters of Egypt?—“Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward.”