Part 4

None have done better or more faithful work than the missionaries of the A. M. A. None are doing better work than Mr. Riggs and his associates. Yet, when compared with the extent of the field and the number and spiritual needs of those not yet reached by the influences of the gospel, and the opportunities and perils incident to their new and changing conditions of life, how very small is the work that the Christian Church is doing in this great field. Think of it—two hundred and forty-eight thousand Indians in the midst of a Christian land, and after the labor of 200 years only 29,000 professed Christians among them, and only 143 missionaries, of all denominations, to carry the gospel to this great multitude; and these few are hampered and hindered in their work by the intercourse laws, the opposition of agents and the orders of the Commissioner. When for the first time legislation, based on justice and humanity, is opening up vistas of usefulness and progress to the Indian; when the need of Christian teaching, guidance and care is greater than ever before, the Indian Bureau has issued orders that paralyzes missionary operations, by prohibiting the use of the vernacular in teaching English or the truths of the gospel. The Indians all know the vernacular. They have been carefully shut away from any other language by the Government restraints that surround all reservations, shutting out everything that would educate or civilize. The vernacular is used in the mission schools to teach English and the truths of the gospel to those who understand no other language. With this use we should submit to no interference. In a contest for religious liberty against the official tyranny that has for the last hundred years tried to usurp the place of Divine Providence to the Indian, we may be sure of the support of the freedom-loving American people. The intercourse laws should be repealed, so far as they relate to the operation of missionary societies. We should insist that all obstructions to the preaching of the gospel should be swept away. Then bring before all the churches the pressing and immediate needs of these neighbors who have fallen among thieves, who are pagans in a Christian land. While we are waiting they are passing into eternity. Shall we remain in selfish indifference till we are aroused by the dreadful sentence, “If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand.” This Association is only the servant of the churches. The means and the men must come from the churches. If the churches were awake to their duty in this matter, and realized their responsibility for the Christianizing of the Indian, they could send missionaries to every part of this field within a year. There are 348,000 Indians in the country, excluding Alaska. From this number we should deduct 65,000 in the five civilized tribes. This leaves 183,000. Of this number 28,600 are already church members. This leaves a population not greatly more than three times the size of this city of Portland. Would we dare to say to our Master that we cannot occupy this field?

There never has been a time so propitious as the present; there never has been a time when the wrongs and the needs of the Indian have received so much attention from the Christian, the legislator and the philanthropist.

Therefore your committee would recommend that a committee of five be chosen to co-operate with the Financial Secretary for Indian Missions in devising and carrying out measures to bring the needs and opportunities of the Indian field before the churches, other missionary societies doing Indian work, and the numerous Indian Aid societies now organized throughout the country.

This committee should make an effort to secure the co-operation of all Christians and friends of the Indian in a greatly enlarged, thorough, systematic mission work. They should also labor to create a public sentiment that should demand the repeal of the intercourse laws, so far as they hinder mission work; the order in relation to the use of the vernacular in the mission schools, and the removal of every other obstruction of the Indian Bureau to the civil and religious liberty of the missionary and teacher on the one hand, and the Indian on the other.

The gospel of Christ offers the only solution to the Indian problem. It must precede and prepare the way for civilization. Through it alone can we save the Indian, and atone for the century of dishonor in which our Government’s system of dealing with the red men has made them paupers and kept them barbarians and pagans. This is the work of the Christian church, and if we shrink from or avoid the duty of the hour, God will not hold us guiltless.

* * * * *

REPORT ON CHINESE WORK.

BY REV. S. L. B. SPEARE, CHAIRMAN.

Your committee note with special satisfaction the following indications of progress in the work of our Association for the Chinese. Willing subjects of missionary labor are more numerous and more accessible. Past years of foundation work, dealing with Asiatic inertia and colossal prejudice and just resentment under wrong, are bearing fruit unusual in amount and assured genuineness. Our faithful missionary superintendent on the Pacific coast does not abate his courage or enthusiasm. Faithful teachers and co-workers can be found. The Lord of the vineyard has set his seal of approbation by granting harvests which, in the light of difficulties in the field and their promise for the future, are truly great. That Foreign Missionary Society, spontaneously formed by Chinese converts, thoroughly equipped and liberally supported in proportion to their means, and which aims, finally, at nothing less than the conversion of China’s millions, should silence any and all cavil or uncertainty as to their motives in embracing Christianity. Japan, also, hears tidings of Christian sympathy as her wandering sons are met with helpful counsels and religious enlightenment on these far western shores—the land of their ideal civilization. We rejoice that those in charge of the field see their way clear for “tentative evangelistic work” and have entered upon it. This betokens firm conviction and resolute purpose that the field shall be taken for Christ. Difficulties and embarrassments only multiply their zeal and methods. Like the great missionary to the Gentiles, these heralds of the gospel look upon “many adversaries” and “an open door” as equivalents. The statistics of recent progress emphasize our golden opportunity to reach the “hermit natives” through their representatives within our borders.

Your committee note with profound regret the serious falling off in the money appropriations for their work. Native helpers, skilled and consecrated, are the chief preaching agency of all missionary fields, and of China preëminently. Ours is the opportunity to multiply such helpers. California is in the foreground to-day as never before, not excepting the old mining days. The church should occupy that field with a zeal and wisdom that shall emulate the enterprise of railroads and real estate projectors. The church must not contradict all her traditions and working principles when Christ’s poor come to her borders by the thousand and under conditions specially favorable to Christ-like approach. Her own life will be impoverished by so doing. The priest and Levite wronged and degraded their own souls by passing on the other side from the wounded sufferer, as much as the good Samaritan enriched his by pouring oil into his wounds and sheltering the victim of robbers.

Your committee hope that measures can be taken to bring the attention of our beloved churches to this their phenomenal opportunity and duty—to give the gospel at short range and nominal cost, to Asia’s millions and support that message with all possible sympathy and aid.

* * * * *

REPORT OF FINANCE COMMITTEE.

BY MR. CHAS. A. HULL, CHAIRMAN.

In presenting their report upon the financial condition and management of the business of the American Missionary Association, your committee on Finance desire to commend the clear and thorough manner in which the accounts are kept, so that any needed information may be had regarding any one of the numerous items of investment or expense at the numerous places where the work of the Association is carried on. The schedule of the property owned by the Association shows it to be possessed of buildings and land for the carrying on of educational and church work, the aggregate cost of which stands at $576,540.15. In addition to this plant, the Endowment funds amount to $229,375.78 which are securely invested, and yield an annual income of about $10,000. The Association also holds conditional trust funds amounting to $69,726.95. The good judgment shown in the purchase of land, the erection of buildings, and the investment of the permanent funds speaks well for the thorough care of the officers and the Executive Committee.

The committee desire to congratulate you and the Congregational churches of our land upon the extinction of the debt which for several years has been a burden to the Association. The treasurer’s report shows a balance on hand of $2,193.80, after paying every liability of the Association up to October 1, 1887, including the debt of $5,783.71, which remained at the end of the previous year.

In order to accomplish this, however, it has been necessary to defer until the receipts should warrant it, much work which presses with importunity upon the Association in the various fields.

We find that the treasurer’s accounts are regularly and faithfully examined each month by the financial committee of your executive board; and at the end of the year by two auditors chosen by the Association who attach their certificate to the report, and who are thoroughly reliable business men. The accuracy and economy of the work are thus as fully secured as in any merely business establishment. The by-laws of the executive committee provide a system of checks upon the officers similar to those in use in great corporations; and while of old it was said that “the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light,” we are glad to note that in the administration of the American Missionary Association so great a degree of worldly wisdom or common sense has been employed.

The duties of the treasurer are responsible, and have been performed with exactitude and fidelity. The receipts for current work of the year from all sources have been $306,761.31; and the expenditures therefor, $298,783.80.

These items of expenditure have been carefully examined in detail by your committee, and they report that in each department the most careful economy has been used, and no curtailment which would not materially cripple the effective force of the Association seems possible.

Your committee have taken some pains to compare the expenses of the Association with those of other missionary societies, and we find that it does not suffer in the comparison. The committee note with regret that the expenditures for work among the Indians and Chinese have been cut down materially as compared with the previous fiscal year; but we believe that the policy of the executive committee in refusing to incur liabilities which the Congregationalists of the country would not meet is the right one.

They must keep the Association so economically and so safely managed that no reproach may justly fall upon it; and the fact that they are able to come before you at this meeting, and to report the absolute extinction of the load of debt which has been upon them and you for several years, and have yet developed and prosecuted with vigor the grand labor for the oppressed, appeals in the strongest possible way to you for the most generous increase of the sums to be intrusted to their management in the year to come.

All departments need enlarging. The Southern work ought to have not less than $275,000; $15,000 is a small sum to spend upon the Chinese on our western coast, while $60,000 would hardly give the much needed development to the Indian Mission. Shall not the $350,000 thus plainly needed and earnestly recommended by the last National Council of Congregational churches be forthcoming? From us to whom much has been given, much will surely be required. If we cannot in person go with these Christian men and women who are devoting their lives to the direct work of this Association, into the cabin of the Negro, the abode of the mountaineer, the opium den of the Chinese, or the wigwam of the Indian, let us at least say to those who do,—“We will uphold your hands, we will abundantly support your work, we will, as far as we can, share your burdens and be your fellow laborers.”

* * * * *

DR. BUCKINGHAM’S MEMORIAL ADDRESS.

The recent and lamented death of Governor Washburn, the President of this Association, calls vividly to mind his worth and usefulness; and it will be of interest to you to know the estimation in which he was held, and the respect felt for his character and influence in our Connecticut valley. Like Governor Strong before him, he was one of the “River-gods,” influential and commanding in all that region, though ruling more by his personal character than by any official station.

He was born at Winchendon, Mass., in 1820, and had lived all his life either near, or in, Greenfield. His father died in his infancy, leaving him in straitened circumstances, but he managed to obtain a good preparatory education at Lawrence Academy, Groton, and was graduated at Yale College in 1844. He purposed to devote himself to the Christian ministry, but the death of an uncle leaving a large manufacturing business heavily embarrassed compelled him to take the management of it, which he did with such ability and success that he not only rescued the business from insolvency, but made it the basis of his own life-long prosperity and the source of his ample benevolence.

The same qualities which made him successful in business carried him into public life and secured him equal respect and influence there. His sound judgment, fidelity to duty, scrupulous integrity and Christian principle, made him sought after for public offices and corporate trusts, as few men are. He had been a member of the State Senate and of the House of Representatives, and when we were in the midst of the Civil War, and strong and reliable men were needed in Congress, he was sent to the House of Representatives without opposition, receiving, what was almost unprecedented in politics, the unanimous vote of his district. He was kept there for ten years by successive elections, where his ability and sterling integrity soon placed him upon the important Committee of Claims, and also of Revolutionary pensions, and where he remained until he was called home to become the Governor of the Commonwealth. This office he held until he was sent to the United States Senate, to succeed Senator Sumner, and here his well-known services in the House secured him at once an honorable position which was well maintained by his valuable services and noble character.

Indeed, the best tribute to his worth was, that when he retired from public life he had received, unsolicited, every public honor which it was in the power of his constituents to bestow.

The same was also true of his appointment to the management of so many business corporations, educational institutions, trust funds, missionary associations, benevolent and Christian societies. He was the President of the First National Bank of Greenfield, a director of the Connecticut River Railroad Company, one of the Corporation of Yale College, a trustee of the Mass. Agricultural College, of Smith College, of Mr. Moody’s School at Mt. Hermon, a corporate member of the American Board of Foreign Missions, President of this American Missionary Association, a pillar in the Second Congregational Church of Greenfield, and the first President and a vigorous supporter of the Connecticut Valley Congregational Club. The wonder was, how he could take upon himself so many trusts, when, with his ideas of duty, they must each receive his careful attention and he must hold himself personally responsible for their best management.

Fidelity to his trusts was one of his most marked characteristics, and in this respect he possessed the spirit of his Lord, “who was faithful to Him that appointed him,” and as Moses was “faithful in all his house,” so our friend possessed this crowning virtue of a noble and useful life. * *

It is true that many have excelled him in particular abilities, especially in those that are most striking and brilliant, such as poetic sense and successful oratory, which are most frequently denominated genius. But these have often been combined with defects of judgment, or temper, or principle, so that their influence has been sadly marred or used for mischief. As in our civil war it was not every eloquent orator or able editor who was the best adviser or steadiest supporter of the policy that preserved the Union; but some of them would have let the nation be divided, or compromised the questions at issue, only to be reopened without hope of right settlement. But here was a man for all times and all places. In the halls of legislation, in the Governor’s chair, before a board of selectmen, arranging bounties for volunteers and for the support of their families, or among his own workmen, advising them as to what they might or might not properly do in such a crisis—he is the same wise counsellor and faithful helper everywhere, doing the work assigned to him as well as, if not better than, most poets or orators.

And when war was over, and such work no longer needed, when peace was to be restored and amicable relations cultivated between those who had been deadly foes; when business prosperity was to be brought about again and banks were to be well managed, and trust funds made secure, and the increasing wealth and enterprise of the country to be turned into benevolent and Christian channels, here he found his fields of delight, and his abilities and character shone out in new beauty and strength. Here was Governor Washburn’s real genius—the completeness and best use of all his abilities, combined with principles that directed them all to the noblest ends.

This seems to be the divine method of training men for their best work. They are placed in stations of responsibility, which they are not properly qualified to fill; but if they are conscientious and faithful, and especially where they put themselves under divine guidance and are controlled by religious motives—the most powerful of all—they become qualified for almost any station in life, and for the highest and most responsible duties.

It was in this way that our friend secured his best development. The great secret of it was his piety. He was taught of God. He was trained in the school of Christ. He was devoted to the Saviour’s cause. In his own estimation he was not his own, but belonged to Him who had redeemed him at such cost. All that he was, and all that he possessed and all that he was capable of becoming, were the Lord’s. His talents were his trust, to be improved for his Master, like his property. His intelligence, his sound judgment, his capacity for business, were cultivated for Christian use. When they brought him honor and position, he was not elated by them. Position was only another name for opportunity and influence, which brought with them increased responsibilities. Honors only sobered him and made him pray to God that he might prove worthy of them.

In the spirit also of his Master, who came to “seek and to save that which was lost,” he would bless and benefit all for whom Christ died. He was not only desirous of dealing justly with his fellow men, but he must do them good as he had opportunity, and to all men, Negroes, Indians, Chinese, as well as to his own countrymen. He sought to secure wise legislation for them, and a faithful administration of the Government. He would educate the ignorant, reform the vicious and remove the disabilities under which so many labor. He would improve their worldly condition and make his business profitable to those in his employ as well as to himself. But above all, he would bless men spiritually and eternally with the blessings which only the gospel of Christ can bestow. This was the secret of his interest in your work and in all kindred works, and in everything that could improve the character and condition of men. This is the reason that he devoted time and thought and assistance to so many Christian and philanthropic enterprises which are accomplishing these objects. This is why he gave to this Association so much of his attention and best counsel, his generous contributions and fervent prayers, and why he left such large bequests to this and kindred societies.

As an Association we owe too much to our late President and devoted friend not to make mention of his many and invaluable services, and always hold in loving and grateful remembrance the name of William Barrett Washburn. Few causes have such helpers, and not often are better men raised up for their time and work. We shall miss him in our deliberations, while we need more than ever, as our fields for Christian enterprise are enlarging, his sound judgment, untiring energy and steadfast Christian faith.

When such men as Governor Washburn, Alpheus Hardy and President Hopkins are taken from us, we can only pray that He who has the whole work in charge will inspire others with similar devotion and bestow upon us all more of his grace and blessing.

The circumstances of Governor Washburn’s death were peculiar and startling to those about him, though not wholly unexpected to his family. It was known to them that he had a serious affection of the heart, but they were encouraged to hope that by care, and the avoidance of all undue excitement and exertion, he might have comfortable health for some years. The morning meeting of the Board found him a little late from the cars, and climbing the stairs to the hall, he had scarcely seated himself upon the platform and spoken to his friends about him, when he fell forward unconscious into their arms; and though a physician was immediately at his side, and his wife soon there also, there was no return of consciousness, and almost as quickly as the scene can be described, he had left us, and his spirit had gone home to God. A sudden departure, and a startling one to those of us who were trying to detain him; but his Lord called him, and he must have said:

“I hear a voice ye cannot hear, That says I must not stay; I see a hand ye cannot see, That beckons me away.”

As we saw the light of life fade out from that benignant face, as when the glory of the day becomes the gloom of the night, we heard it coming down out of Heaven: “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” Christ’s saints never perish. They only begin to live in the truest and highest sense when they seem to die; and with our Christian faith and immortal hopes, we love to think of him as having entered upon that higher life and commenced a nobler service. It was an unexpected summons, but we cannot think that he was ever unprepared for it. Like that Connecticut Puritan, who, when the “Dark Day” came and it was proposed that the Legislature should adjourn because the end of the world had come, replied that “this might be, but if it was, he chose to be found at his post, doing his duty.” “Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. And if He shall come in the second watch or in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants.”

* * * * *