That great missionary, St. Paul, once said—­and he may have often said it—­that he gloried in his own infirmities; adding that the power of Christ might rest on him.  This is our glory—­if we have any.  Here is this American Missionary Association; and over against it, face to face, is China.  What proportion is there between the two?  How preposterous, one may say, the thought which we are trying to frame into actual purpose for the regeneration of this enormous part of the human family?  Most true.  And yet, along with Paul’s thought, how infinitely inspiring this purpose should be.  Just the thing for us to do is to “build better than we know.”  It is not our eye, but His, which sees the end from the beginning.  And it is his providence—­sometimes as a pillar of fire, sometimes as a pillar of cloud—­which shows us the way.  Then it is for us to follow close up.

When some fifteen years ago, that slender, forlorn-seeming Japanese lad landed in Boston, with the strange, vague, resistless, heaven-enkindled longing in his heart; what if there had been no kindly hand to grasp his own, no heart to discern and respond to his?  How easily might young Neesima have been lost, and the fateful turn in the destiny of Japan at the moment of its supreme opportunity for regeneration been vastly, disastrously different!  What Chinese Neesimas to-day God’s eye may have under His gracious watch and merciful leading, we cannot know beforehand; but this is certain, that we know enough to know that we do well to walk softly all the day long as seeing things invisible, and that with these thousands of Chinese among us, walking so noiselessly, so observantly in and out beneath the very tree of life that grows beside the river of life clear as crystal, and which proceeds direct from the throne of the Lamb, there are doubtless God’s hidden ones, whose lives, if we will do our part; shall yet be woven in as shining and mighty threads into the divine plan wider than any nation, larger than the world, sure and strong as the word of Him who, at the first, said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

* * * * *

REPORT OF FINANCE COMMITTEE.

BY DR. L.C.  WARNER, CHAIRMAN.

Your Committee have made a careful examination of the books and reports of the Treasurer, with special reference to the methods of keeping the various accounts, the security of the invested funds and the economy and prudence of the expenditures.

We find the system of bookkeeping as thorough and complete as that of any business concern.  Each item of receipts or expense appears in its proper place, where it can be found without delay.  The different departments of the work are classified and separated so that a broad and comprehensive knowledge of the work is always before the officers and Executive Committee.  All payments are made by checks, and each check requires the signature of two officers of the Association; thus reducing to a minimum the chances of error or loss in the disbursement of the funds.  At the end of each quarter the disbursements of the Association are carefully examined by the Auditors, two responsible business men, who go over and verify the accounts item by item.  The Treasurer and other officers of the Association are to be especially commended for the thorough and business-like methods which prevail in the conduct of their business.