The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1894-04-07

weekly average attendance of these ten
class meetings is, as nearly as | can com
pute it, about 220 Less, no doubt. thar
it should be-but after all, have we
many churches that do better: and is i
not rather unusual in these days that the
average class attendance should be
greater than the average prayer meeting
attendance?
Our Sunday school is a vast army-an
army formidable in numbers, and be-
coming well disciplined in the truth. ]
well remember the day when | stood on
the platform, then on the west side OF
the room, and saw this Sunday school
for the first time. The large room
seemed entirely filled the audience be-
fore me was most inspiring; and | still
recollect how my heart thrilled as, at
the close, heard the tramp of the many
feet marching out to the music. That
was five years ago. During the interval
the seating capacity of the room has been
sufficiently enlarged to accommodate a
hundred more, and the additional hum
dred have come in as our statistics show.
Five years ago the scholars enrolled were
1855; to-day $50 Then the officers and
teachers were 6Jl: low Is. Then file
average attendance was 3S2; now it is
463. And to get the full force of these
statistics, bear i'll mind that they are not
inflated, but rigidly pruned down to the
severest reality. They are strictly on a
good basis. | never knew a Sunday
school whose records of numbers SO care
fully avoided exaggeration. You would
increase these numbers by fourth OF
fl1ir1 IF fnI1nxxra1 no oil IL
of reporting.
Our Epworth League is a strong or
ganization, doing very effective service.
At the beginning of my pastorate found
here a Young Peoples Christian League,
with about 100 members, which, near the
close of my first year, became Chapter
506 of the Epworth League. The num-
bers have been increased from 100 to 800;
the various departments for which the
League provides have been organized ; a
local church paper has been printed
monthly; II weekly vesper service, on
Sunday evenings before preaching, has
been sustained with an average atten-
dance as large as that of the Thursday
evening prayer meeting; and the Depart
ment of Mercy and Help has constantly
sought out opportunities for doing good.
its workers, for example, having made
400 calls during the past year.
The Young Mems Band dates back
only two or three years. 1t grew out of
the need which some Of our young men
felt for a devotional meeting Of their
own, combined with the desire which
they also felt to do good to other young
men. It's president and vice-president
are ranked as Class Leaders, but the
meetings held are more than class meet
ings, and its objects are broader than
the growth and development of the
for the purpose of personal religious
effort by young men for young men, and
thirty or forty of the young men of our
church have united with it in order to
pursue this purpose.
In any review of the working forces of
the church, mention ought to be made Of
the Woman's Missionary Societies.
These are the Woman's Foreign Mission
ary Society, aided by the Young Ladies'
Mission Band, and the Woman's Home
Missionary Society, aided by the Light
Bearers. The two together have this
year raised, in money and supplies,
$S55.70; and this is only small part of
their work forA such aGtiys e gbEistian g6TgtHa
reflex influence in the development of
Christian character, that benefits the
church and the community in many
ways.
The trustees of this church, during the
past term, have bestowed much care on
the church property, and have made
many Improvements, including repairs
on the interior, the frescoing Of walls
and ceilings, the building of new organ,
the upholstering of the audience room,
remodelling of the Sunday school room,
the erection of sheds for horses, and
various other things, all of which has
from time to time been regularly re-
ported in detail to the congregation.
This has been great work, aggregating
not less than sixteen or seventeen thou
sand dollars, and the trustees deserve
great credit for it, as does also the whole
congregation, which has loyalty sus-
tanned them. The larger part of this
money has been subscribed and paid
though a portion of the amount mot
large enough to create any apprehension
yet remains to be provided. The impor-
tance of these improvements is very con-
siderable. They have pleased our eyes,
gladdened our hearts, added to our con-
gregations, and caused us to be regarded
with increased respect throughout the
community.
The current expenses of this church
for the conference year that closed in
April, 1898, were $5,210. They are
about the same for the conference year
now closing, and have been about the
same each year of the five. In other
words, we have paid just about $26, 200
in the last five years to keep this church
in operation; a smaller sum than is usual
in churches of this size, showing an
economical administration on the part of
the trustees. Our benevolent collections
proper for this year, counting the mis-
sionary mot yet completely at sixteen
hundred dollars (and it will somewhat
exceed that, aggregate $3.50. Last
year the sum was S., ,906. The year be-
fore, $2,005. In the year 1S90'91, it was
81 .969 In the year 1S89-'90, it was
81, ,794. In other words, our benevolent
collections this year almost double the
amount of my first year here (they lack
only 1929 of doubling it), and the amount
that first year was an advance ON all
previous records. The benevolent record
Of the five years give us a grand aggre-
gate of $11 1888. To this should be added
a special contribution Of about 81, 900 to
the Memorial Hospital mention these
gains, not for my own glory, nor for
yours, but simply as encouraging facts
in the progress of our work. They have
been realized, not under pressure, but as
the natural results of the process of
Christian education we are carrying on
here, and anticipate that the gains in
the next pastorate will far exceed these.
l find by my memoranda, which, if not
entirely complete, are nearly SO, that l
have received on probations during my
pastoral term 212 persons. OF that
number 142 have been received into full
membership, while something more than
half of the remaining 70 are on probation
still, only few having altogether aban-
doned their religious effort and gone
back to life Of sim I have received
121 by letter, and while there have been
many removals by letter, and some by
death, there has been net gain in the
actual membership of not far from 300.
I find I have baptized not less than 121
persons, many of these, but not a major
ity of them. being infants s.