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FORM OF A BEQUEST

“I bequeath to my executor (or executors) the sum of ——­ dollars, in trust, to pay the same in ——­ days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the ’American Missionary Association,’ of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes.”  The Will should be attested by three witnesses.

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THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

VOL.  XLIII.  JUNE, 1889.  No. 6.

American Missionary Association.

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FINANCIAL OUTLOOK.

The Figures.

Our receipts for seven months to April 30th are, from donations, $118,051.25, estates, $20,308.09, incomes, $4,829.21, tuition, etc., $22,719.89, United States Government for Indians, $9,540.87; total, $175,449.31.  Our payments to April 30th are $203,777.45.  Debt balance, $28,328.14.

The Meaning of the Figures.

These figures mean a debt—­growing at the rate of $4,000 a month.  In passing “through the dark valley and shadow of”—­debt, we walk with a goodly company.  It is said that nearly every missionary society in Christendom reports a deficit this year.  A common cause must underlie so broad a fact, and no one society deserves special censure.

How we get into Debt.

A missionary society cannot make its expenditures as a man provides for his family—­from day to day—­but must lay out its plans for the year.  The missionaries, the teachers, the matrons and all employes must be engaged for that length of time.  The appropriation must be made on the general expectation of receipts, with some allowance for added growth.  Every prosperous business firm plans for enlargement.  Shall the Lord’s business only lack enterprise and growth?  Must it move on a dead level, or on a declining grade?  The churches would not long endure that, and the word of the Lord is:  “Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.”

How our Debts are to be Paid.

This cannot be done near the close of the year by dismissing the ministers and shutting up the schools.  These self-sacrificing workers are dependent on their salaries, and the teachers, some of whom out of their small pittance are helping to sustain an invalid mother or sister, and in not a few cases are aiding needy students, and should not be deprived of their wages.  Repudiation of such debts is not the relief for a missionary society.