Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society | Page 3

in accordance with the Resolution passed on May
6th, specially to keep in view a judicious reduction of that expenditure
in the case of prosperous churches in districts largely Christianized."

II.--REVISION OF THE MISSIONS ABROAD.
In considering the state of the Society's finances, the Special
Committee recommended, in strong terms, not only that some
reduction should be made in the expenditure, but that the character of
that expenditure should be carefully examined. They recommended that
the Board should take full advantage of the opportunity furnished by
the present crisis, for placing the entire system of payments in their
Foreign Missions upon the soundest footing, and for determining the
principles by which those payments shall be regulated. The Directors
accepted these suggestions, and since then the three Foreign
Committees, into which the London Board is divided, have devoted
much attention to the system of their Foreign Missions.

In the case of each of the Missions examined, they carefully laid down
the principles applicable to the condition of the Native churches; the
forms of missionary labour among the heathen; the number and work
of the Society's missionaries; the number and labours of Native agents
engaged in purely mission work; and the state of education. The present
scale and details of expenditure were examined; and then, to every
element of the system an APPROPRIATION for the year was made of
that amount of money which, in the judgment of the Directors, the
Society could justly spare from the funds which they have at their
command. A Schedule of these allowances in every group of Missions
was next drawn out, exhibiting the sums available for the expenditure
of the year, and was forwarded to the Mission concerned. And finally, a
special DESPATCH which accompanied the Warrants, was written to
the members of every Mission, in order to explain in the fullest manner
the views of the Directors respecting that Mission, and the form which,
in their judgment, the aid of the Society should for the future assume.
Again, while the Society enjoys the services of a large number of able,
conscientious, and spiritual men, as devoted as ever their predecessors
were to missionary work, it was seen to be essential to their fullest
efficiency, that they should be brought into closer union with each
other abroad, and with the system of the Society at home; that the
personal comfort of the mission families should be more fully secured
under the changed circumstances of modern days; and that the
experience of each field of labour should be so wrought into the general
system as to prove a helper to all the rest.
The result of the system to the Society's finances has been economy,
compactness, and strength. While in several cases the personal income
of the missionaries has been increased, yet, by limiting the amount of
the Native agency to be employed in evangelistic work; by reducing the
help hitherto granted to the Native Christians for their incidental
expenditure; and by enforcing economy in all minor matters at home as
well as abroad; the Board have been able to bring down the total
expenditure of the Society to a point much nearer the range of the
Society's ordinary income than it has for several years past. They have
provided, however, only for the necessities of their present operations.
They need a larger income still, if the friends of the Society would wish

them to undertake that extension of their Missions into new fields
which the world needs, for which the missionaries earnestly plead, and
which they themselves are most anxious to secure. The effect of the
system on certain of the Native churches has been a most healthy one.
As hoped for, it is beginning to stimulate them to manliness, and to a
more earnest consecration, not only of their means, but of their personal
service to the Saviour's work.

III.--THE SOCIETY'S PRESENT OPERATIONS.
The revision now described has furnished materials for exhibiting, in a
more complete form than usual, the present agencies of the Society, and
some of the results with which its labours have been blessed. In a few
of the older Missions of the Society, the duty of instructing the heathen
has been almost complete; the population are nominally Christian, and
in most of these communities there is a strong nucleus of spiritual life
in a valuable body of Church members. This is the case in Polynesia, in
the West Indies, and in many stations in South Africa. Around many
strong churches in Madagascar, in India, and in China, the sphere of
heathenism is still very large. Several stations in those Missions--well
planted for the influence required of them--may now be occupied by
the Native minister instead of the English missionary. The number of
chief stations in all the Missions is 130.