life.  The time has come for a native ministry; and a larger number appear on our lists than ever before.  And last, but not least, the full and faithful preaching of the gospel, for which our missionary brethren have ever been distinguished, and the employment of Christian education, have made a marked impression upon heathenism; have broken its prestige, have silenced its objections, and have prepared the way for future victories, more triumphant in their grandeur than anything the Society has yet seen.

But this advanced and noble position, which is the proof of success in the past, and the guarantee and instrument of larger results in days to come, is precisely that attainment and possession of our Society, which the friends of the Society appear least to appreciate.  It seems to be thought that now, as ever, missionaries just preach to the heathen and give away books; they teach a few boys and girls; win a few souls; and send a few teachers into the districts around.  All that is true.  But the high and solid work beyond it—­all that superior influence which the Society and its missionaries are exercising, in Christianizing communities, in sanctifying all the great elements of their public and social life, in destroying the very roots of their heathenism, and in preparing the way for enlightened, disciplined, independent churches, sound in faith and full of life—­all this has been little understood.  Had it been duly realised, it is incredible that the ministers and churches which sustain the Society should quietly continue to give for its maintenance the same narrow income which they gave to it thirty years ago.

I.—­RECENT DIFFICULTIES.

The result of this irrepressible growth, fostered by the kind providence and loving care of the Master for whom the service has been done, was for the Directors, in their management of the Society’s affairs, embarrassment, difficulty, and debt.  That embarrassment commenced with the year 1866, when the accounts were closed with a balance of 7450 pounds against the Society, which was paid from the legacy fund reserved for such a contingency.  During the entire year the Directors had the difficulty in view, and adopted a series of measures to meet it.  Special Meetings were held with the London ministers and officers of churches, to lay before them the growing needs of our Foreign Missions.  Papers were published by the Home Secretary, showing the growth of those missions, with the increased claims they present for agency and help; and urging that an addition of at least 10,000 pounds a year is needed to the Society’s permanent income.  In the autumn Auxiliary meetings the missionary Deputations were urged specially to make the facts known.  In February a solemn and impressive meeting for prayer was held by a hundred and twenty of the London ministers and Directors.

But these measures did not at once remove the difficulty.  In numerous instances old friends of the Society, and churches which have ever been its chief supporters, not only expressed hearty sympathy with these efforts, but increased their contributions and rendered substantial help.  Various consultations ensued, and a Special Committee was requested, to indicate the course which, in their calm judgment, the Directors ought to take, to meet the difficulties of their position.