The New York herald., 1874-11-22
AMERICAN MISSION FIELDS.

Missionary Orga anfxatiOns for Foreign
and Domestic Work-Aggregate Ex-
penditures and Success OF Missions.
For week or more past the subject OF missions
has received some public attention. The General
Missionary Committee OF the Methodist Episcopal
Church has been IN session In this city, and has
appropriated over 100000 for the purpose OF
giving the Gospel and Its blessings to the heather
at home as well as abroad. There are sixteen
missionary associations or boards located in this
city, whose aggregate appropriations Tor domestic
and foreign missions amounts annually to over
&c. 900. 900. The Methodist Church, being the
largest and the most wealthy, heads the list the
extent OF It's appropriations; the Presbyterians
and Bap lists follow; the the Congregatlonallstss ISIS
the Catholic Church, which IS generally mission
ary church. expends from s5oooOo to sl.5o0O00
annually In mission work at home and abroad; /;
but 1t can hardly be Classified under American
missions STAGE very much or its benevoeuce Is
though Corrected aere. the different branches i Of
the Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist families.
the unitarians, the Reformed Dutch and German,
the Lutheran, Moravian and other Sects have each
otner cities Of the Union; Boston, Phiadelphia,
Baltimore, st. Louis. Chicago, Nashville and
New orleans share the missionary honors with
New York. but none OF them to the same extent.
There are, doubtless not less than fifty such soce
ties In the United states, each with It's
Offices and officers. Its agents Tor collect
on the Christian ''co communites amens whom
they labor This WORK costs from two and a half
to ten per cent OF the aggregate sums received for
mIsslOnaU purposes, and some persons who nave
studied the subject Tor the purpose OF disparaging
missionary efforts have figured out that every
heather convert costs from Sll3 all the way to
81 500, and tnat at the present rate OF manufac-
ture 1t will take twice 5000 years to convert the
false from beginnin : to end While we may value
o man tor Industrial purposes at 80 much per
annum. or for lifetime In dollars ana cents, we
cannot so estimate thought, affection, will-nnd,
with all Its powers and possibilities one heathen
convert may De reatlvey worna ,co as Ssra uca as
in estimating the results OF Gospel Instruction,
there are too many circumstances and pos5ibili-
ties TO be taken into account to permit oil just
judgment thereon. The indirect results may be
lar greater than the direct and these cannot at
any particular time be measured or estimated.
Hence our ordinary rules Of arithmetic are worth
less when applied TO soul values.
Sweden, India and China wnere the Gospel Is
meeting with great success and native churches
are springing UP so that Independent annual con-
ferences are reng formed in those countries, and
the purpose Is kept In view to make the
native churcnes wholly independents when
ever they are competent to assume the
responsibilities Of independence. In sweden the
missions and native Methodist churches meet great
VINO is the Supreme Court OF the realm, seems ia
yorable to all iorms OF faith and he has recently
iintolerant spirit oil the state Church. In India
| the missionaries have no such legal obstacles to
contend with, though they have s, TO combat the
all classes in that country But even this
giving ,n way ,lSr ana the the gq fruits Of tine
have been greater than III any other portion of
the missionary world. The same is true, to lesser
\ extent however, OF China. The missions OF this
Church in Italy are also meeting with great sue
cess. I'm South America and Bulgaria the work Is
| almost at standstlll. In Mexico, Germany. Ii
/ IBERIA and Japan they make haste slowly. Now, to
meet the obligations OF the Church TO those mis-
sions, American Methodlsts have contributed less
than twenty-f cents per church MEMBER. The
poor native churches in those missions give very
much more In proportion to their numbers and
wealth. and by their giving actually shame
our Christian benevoence. To cover for
eign and domestic missions, church erec-
tion, sustcntation OF aged ministers and
the families OF deceased ministers, for Bible
| and tract distribution and all other
| missionary and benevolent interests Of the Church
the !, 500 600 Methodist mmuncants in this coun-
! try, with ali their boosted wealth. have given
sixty-three cents member for the last ecclesias-
ticai year. and are likely TO give less the present
one. No wonder, then, tnat those who have no
ialtn in missions mock at such gifts and value
converts by dollars ana cents.
The Presbyterans have missions In Syr!
Turkey, Mexico, Italy, China and Japan; but,
though they hold their ground, they don't seem to
make much headway In tbaae conntrles, save. pe