Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian., 1859-06-18

and ID select and prepare its instruments. ! &C
the destitute are fountl out the fist year, and
their sympathies gained, no unimp0rtsnt be
ginning has been made.
But more than this has been accomplished
during the past year With the exception Of
a month or two, and som few localities, the
whole City has been canvassed monthly by
the visitors, and supplied with tracts, Ger
man Cor English as. necessity required. y
Twelve different English tracts, and eleven
German, to the number of some fifteen hund
red copies per month, have been scattered
over the City during the last year. Twenty
English and sixteen German Bibles have:
supplied TO the destitute; also twenty eight
Eaglish Testaments, and thirty y.eight in the
German language. The Society has been
enabled to supply these books free of expense,
through the liberality Of the Minnesota State
Bible Society. Quite number of children
have been induced to attend Sabbath School,
and mission Sabbath School was conducted
for while, the material of which was chiefly
collected by the tract visitors. From forty to
fifty members of churches, chiefly ladies, have
been brought out to take an active part in the
abOrs of the Society. Some have been indu-
ced to work who never worked in such a
cause before, and have found their labors
blessed, not only in the awakened sympathies
of those at whose humble dwellings they call,
but also in untold blessings upon their own
souls attending the Consciousness of being
engaged in their Masters service. All who
have tried it, say that the work of tract dis
tribution is a good work, both for him who
gives and him who receives. 1t is difficult
work, and demands of us self.deniaL There
is often reluctance and hesitation felt about
starting out, but where the work has been
resoluttl ly undertaken, and in the right spirit,
the uniform experience has been that the visi-
tor, before returning home, has felt far more
than repaid for all his self denial and effort.
Direct contact with the children of want and
destitution had wonderful influence in ava
kening the best sympathies of our nature, and
it is by this direct this individual contact that
their confidence is to be gained. And we be-
lieve we are right in saying that in general the
full confidence of the more neglected part of
our community has been gained by the vlsi-
tors of this Society, so that in future wide
and unobstructed field of christian influence
lies open before u.s. The permission of trade
in China is considered tantamount to the re-
juvenation and complete civilization of that
country. In like manner an open way to the
sympathies and regards of those whom we
would benefit, is a great step towards the
accomplishment of our work. This open way
has been secured by the labor of our first
year, and we this evening enter upon new
year, standing on a vantage ground from
whence our labors may henceforth take direct
effect - 50 s@s--st~Sa Ezctr.
In addition to the actual labor of tract dis
tribution accomplished, as above mentioned,
during the year that is past, we must not
forget to mention that the temporal necessities
Of the poor have been inquired after, sympa-
thy extended to them, and in some cases aid.
Hard times, scarcity of work, and little or no
money, are the key notes to many sad tune
to be heard among the shanties scattered over
our hills 1t would in future be well, as it is
doubtless one of the objects of our Society, to
inquire more specially into the wants of the
honest poor, and as far as is possible through
this Society, supply them. =.
Monthly meetings of the Society, for prayer
and conference, have been regularly held dur
ing the year that has just closed. Though
not very largely attended, the gospel quorum
of 'two or three has always been present,
and we have heard it remarked more than
once, that these meetings have been, to some
individuals, among the most precious they
have ever been permitted to attend. Would
only that all the officers and visitors of the
Society had attended those meetings, and par
taken of the hallOwed spirit that some felt to
be present there! ...',."#H .'.'-''' b
The quarterly meetings of the Society, for
reports from the superintendents of the vari-
GUS districts, in relation to the tract work,
have also been held, and attended with con-
siderable interest. After statement of facts
from the superintendent of the districts, the
general practice has been to consume the rest
of the evening in short addresses, and close
with singing and prayer. Owing partly to
the recent and not yet perfectly organized
condition of the Society, but more we fear to
neglect and want of proper ap-
probation of our work, which we should feel
ourselves bound to correct in future, the quar-
terly reports have been very imperfect and
thus far. This accounts for
the fact that there is so little definite statist-
cal information in the Secretary s report He
has found it utterly impossible to give the fig
ures, even approximately, in relation to large |
part OF what ought to be our work. The blame |
for this state Fittings should probably have |
threefOld bearing: upon visitors who neglect |
to make out careful reports (; upon superin- |
tcndents who neglect to sum up and concisely |
prepare these reports for the quarterly meet
ngs; and upon the same persons when they
neglect to hand them to the Secretary, or suf-
fer them to be lost after being reported at the
quarterly meeting. If we wish to do our
work creditably, do it efficiently, do it aeeU,
this state of affairs must not continue.
AS to the reception of the tract work among
those who have been visited and supplied with
tracts, it has generally been very favorable
and encouraging. Some opposition has been
from the Romanists, some of that
persuasion refusing to take our Tracts, or be
supplied with Bibles: yet many of them freely
take the Tracts, and read them too, without
fear of being profaned or injured by any thing
so evangelical 1t has been found that the
Irish Catholics are much less ready to take
our publications than the Germans Of the
same faith. This fact probably finds ITS ex-
planation in the general tendency of the Ger
m IN mind to canvass all kinds of opinion-a
good tendency in many respects-but unlor-
tunately in their case it often ends in ration
alism and scepticism, posture of mind sadly
prevalent among that people in our City at
present. p
AS. to the main object of our work-the
of souls-no very definite results
are to be given. Yet the case is not discour-
aging. The harvest is not to be looked for
while the ground is being broken up for the
first time, nor yet, as soonas the seed is sown.
And while time, and labor, and cultivation are
required in the spiritual as well as the natural |
world, the final result is just as certain. 1t is
even more so; for crop may fail, but we
have the promise of God that his word shall
not return to him void. F.,. r-saI ~
Not long after the organization of our soci-
ETY., two conversions were reported among our
German population, in connection. with its la
bors. Others have been found ready to talk
about the welfare Of their souls, and incidents
of much interest have been met with by some
of the visitors in their monthly rounds. We