The Benevolent Work of the Church, and the Report of the Committee of Twenty-One [pp. 246-272]

252 THE BENEVOLENT WORK OF THE CHURCH. [April,
ckurckes, (because) it is for lack of this that churches by the hundreds,
and even thousands, (he migbt add church members by the hnndrel
thousand), give next to nothing to the cause of Christian benevolence.
We hold the work assigned to our Board of Benevolence and Finance to
be iNDISPENSABLE." 1871, p. 428.
To the same effect the Treasurer of the Board of Foreign
Missions said, in the discussion at Chicago
"It is very desirable to do somefl~ing in this matter"... "to get the
money that is needed, some system of ~work among the churches must be
inaugurated. ~*
Indeed, if we must depend upon such appeals and influences as have come, or may come, from secretaries or others
connected with the central offices, however able and earnest,
alas for the progress of the church in her benevolent work
What secretary or ex-secretary ever met, or could meet, a
tenth part of our ministers and elders, or was ever seen or
heard by a hundredth part of our people? Any one, after
listening to an effective speech from some we could name,
readily wishes it were otherwise. But, in so extended a Church
as ours, the thing is simply impracticable. Nor can we be
left to depend on such means for the end. The feeling in
many mmds was, as the Treasurer of the Foreign Mission
Board expressed it, "there would be so great difficulty in
getting on without," that even those who were at first opposed
found it expedient to yield their objections; and, on the recommendation of a special committee, to whom that part of
the report was ref~rred, tbe Assembly
- "ResobveJ, In order to the systematizing and developing of the liberality of our people, and fostering the aggressive interests of our Church,
in accomplishing the work assigned us in the providence of God, there
shall be a Commillee of Benevolence and Finance, which shall consist of
fifteen members, etc., and it shall be its duty to use all proper means to
promote throughout the Church the regular and systematic consecration
* The Reports of our Boards and Committees most fully onfirm this, e.
the Secretary of the Board of Education, in a late address to the churches,
states that two-thirds of all our congregations do not contribute anything to
that cause of the remaining 1,500, 250 give less than $5 each, and 1,000 of
them less than $25; while FOUR cuURcHEs give nearly one-fifik of the uhote
amount contrihuted to this Board, and ten churches one-fourth of it. Thus it
is with most of the other schemes. Is it prudent for the chnrch to sit with
folded hands patiently waiting for "the millennium" to rectify such defects 2