"be disembarrassed of all work incongruous with a strictly business enterprise," and that "the missionary Sunday-school work he incorporated with the work of the American Home Missionary Society and provided for " by that Society. It is hardly necessary to say, after this statement, that the National Council was then very young, holding its second session.

The Home Missionary Society did not want the added burden of the missionary Sunday school work, The Publishing Society did not want to give it up. But the officers of both felt that their acceptance of the judgment of the Council was imperative. The Publishing Society therefore transferred its responsibility of forming and supervising Sunday schools to the care of the Home Missionary Society, and the latter agreed to furnish all its supplies of books and literature in doing its missionary Sunday-school work exclusively through the Publishing Society. No Sunday-school missionaries were transferred, for there were none. The charitable contributions for Sunday-school work were used simply in supplying needy schools with books, maps, lesson-helps, papers, etc.

The plan did not work well. The Publishing Society received, in 1873, the year before the change was proposed, for gratuitous distribution of literature, $12,223.75. In 1879 the amount received for this purpose, added to the orders from the Home Missionary Society under the agreement, were only $1,463.14.

The National Council of 1880 recommended that the two societies confer for the purpose of adjusting more effectively their mutual relations, and securing unity and harmony in the prosecution of that work.

In December, 1880, the Publishing Society, acting on petitions from various State Associations and other representative bodies, elected a Sunday School Secretary, who entered on his duties Jan. 1, 1881.

The Home Missionary Society in May, 1882, by its Executive Committee, resolved to "relinquish all special efforts to collect funds for this particular object (the missionary Sunday-school work) and to retire from the field in favor of the Congregational Publishing Society, believing that, under present arrangements, a better success will thus be secured." In December of that year the first Sunday-school missionary or superintendent appointed by the Publishing Society entered on his work in Colorado. Since then such superintendents have been appointed also for Nebraska,

Missouri, and Kansas. No appointments have been made without earnest solicitation from representative bodies in the field where the work is to be done. Urgent applications from the newer States and Territories go far beyond the ability of our Society to meet them. The States which call for this work have assumed as large a proportion of its cost as they could. Kansas and Missouri have pledged each to raise half the cost of the superintendent. The churches of Wisconsin, at their annual convention last month, pledged themselves to raise $1,500 for the support of a superintendent for the coming year.

The efforts of these missionaries seem to be indispensable to the large extension of the churches in the new and rapidly increasing sections of our country. They encourage the formation of Sunday schools in connection with all our new and weak churches. They plant Sunday schools where Congregational churches may soon be needed, and seek the co-operation of pastors in selecting the best places, and in beginning the schools. They commence centres of Christian life and worship in communities which ought not to be neglected, but in which, with so great demands pressing on the churches, we cannot now sustain regular preaching services. They guide the Sun lay schools to the use of our literature, and furnish it where the people are not able to buy it. They hold institutes to train teachers to do better work and with more directness and courage. They represent the interests of the Sunday school in conferences and associations of churches. This work lies at the heart of Christian enterprise in spreading the gospel. It is less expensive than some of our other mission enterprises. But it could not be fruitful except as auxiliary to them; and they cannot be prosecuted with the greatest success without it.

It is auxiliary also to other societies in supplying needed literature to missionary pastors and teachers. No Sunday school will prosper without helps for both teachers and scholars in studying the lessons. Books and papers in addition are almost every where needed to make the Sunday school attractive and to secure regular attendance. It is the aim of this Society to prepare and furnish such literature, of the best character, and at lowest cost, to those able to pay for it. But in new and poor communities, where missionaries labor, where all good reading is scarce, and where parents are often not interested to send their children to

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Sunday school, the need of this literature is greatest, and the means and intere-t to provide for it least. Such needs can be best illustrated by statements from missionaries themselves. might quote from hundreds of letters, but one taken because just at hand. must suffice:

"Here are more than 1,500 people, a multitude of them children, and not one Christian, so far as I have found, in all this place. There has been neither Sunday school nor preaching till I came here, six weeks ago. Most of the people live in shanties, which they call houses. The stores and shops are all open every Sabbath. The parents are utterly indifferent, but the children are delighted with the Sunday school, and they also attend the preaching. One of my schools already numbers over 70. I shall organize another next Sunday with at least 30. I must have a paper and a card for every child every Sunday, if I am to hold them.”

Through the missionary societies our churches send laborers into these fields. They expect them to reach the community with the gospel, to organize churches, and win the people to Christ. The most hopeful way to do this is to gather children, youth, and adults for the study of the word of God, with those personal relations between teachers and scholars which lea to obedience to that word in the spirit of love when it is known. These laborers cannot do this without the Sunday school. They cannot sustain the Sunday school without good literature. The people, at first, will not fu nish the money to buy this, and your missionaries are not able to buy it. Therefore this Sunday-School Society says to properly authorized persons connected with Sunday schools, sustained by the American Home Missionary Society, the American Missionary Association, the New West Education Commission, and to foreign missionaries where English literature is available, "We will provide for you the necessary helps to carry on your Sundayschool work, or such proportion of the cost as cannot be raised on the ground"; and it asks all the churches and Sunday schools of our land who would help others, to contribute to the Society to provide these things, a necessary aid to reach the children of this land and of the wor.d, with the message of God in his Word. There are about four thousand Sunday schools in care of these various societies. With about one thousand of them this Society is in cor respondence, and furnishes aid to them.

Some of the reasons why this Soci ty claims your support as one

of your instruments in carrying on the missionary enterprises of the denomination may be briefly summed up:

1. Because a Sunday school and a denominational literature are necessary to our success as Congregationalists, and it can be best provided by those appointed by the churches and directly responsible to them. The temptation to make money by providing such literature, t king advantage of the ignorance of the people, th ir desire for bargains, and their prejudices, have overcome some. This work cannot be well done, unless by those who have simply the aim of doing good, and those chosen for their fitness.

2 Because the interests of Sunday-school work, as connected with our churches, require a Sunday- Sel ool Society. No great religi‹ us enterprises prosper, however necessary, in these busy days, unless some persons give their lives to direct and advance them. Without the American Board. or some similar organization, even the cause of missions would soon fade from the minds of our churches. For the highest interests of the Sunday schools, a Sunday-School Society is a necessity.

3. B cause all the missior ary organizations need this Society. Their other enterpri-es must languish without Sunday schools. There is no provision for them to receive needed aid in carrying on Sunday schools, except through this Society. Having expend d so much in carrying on these great organizations, it is the plainest economy to support the Society which prompts and enables them to make their Sunday schools prosperous.

4. Because all the funds contributed are used directly to support Sunday-school missionaries, and to distribute this literature at lowest cost. These contril utions, in the hands of men who are worthy of the confidence of the churches, are placed in a trea-ury entire y distinct from the business department, and used under their direction, but solely for missionary purposes.

5. Because the work of this Society has been practically demonstrated to be necessary and successful, in all the other denominations. Their expenditures for this work are many times as great as ours; and their growth in nun bers is correspondingly greater. 6. Because the opportunity now offered to organize Sunday schools in new communities, which are to be centres of population in new States, is brief.

What we do in this direction we must do

quickly.

THE NEED OF ITS BUSINESS DEPARTMENT.

BY SAMUEL B. CAPEN, PRESIDENT.

The Congregational Sunday-School and Publication Society has two departments, as complete and distinct in all respects as if they were two separate societies. The needs of the Missionary Department have been spoken of by the secretary of the Society, Rev. A. E. Dunning. My duty here to-day is to present the claims of the Business Depart nent, especially with reference to its need for new capital.

1. The object of the Society, viz., to publish and sell religious literature, especially that which is adapted to the needs of the young, - is well understood. Those who have examined our printed reports must have noted the substantial progress which has been made recently, even with our very limited means, The capital of the Society of the 30th of April, 1883, was $39,890.92, a gain in two years of more than $7,000, all of which (except $1,650 of legacies) was a profit of the business. The total gains in the sales of the last year is more than $10,000, and largely in the department of Sunday-School Helps, which is the most profitable part of the business. The circulation of the "Little Pilgrim Lesson Papers," which was but 12,000 in the year closing April 30, 1881, increased to 24,000 in 1883; and the "Pilgrim Quarterly," from 15,000 in 1881, to 45,000 in 1883.

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When we consider that of this $40,000 of capital, about $17,000 is necessarily invested in stereotype plates and store fixtures, and $19,000 in books, bound stock and sheets, leaving only $3,700 as quick capital," we think it is fair to say that the result of the past two years is gratifying. It must be very evident that the Society is laboring under a great disadvantage for means properly to prosecute its business. It is obliged to buy its material on credit, and cannot thereby avail itself of the large discounts always given to prompt cash. Our great need may therefore be given as the first reason for helping to sustain our Business Department.

2. It is always good generalship to strengthen yourself at the weakest point. Certainly the need of our Sunday-School Society has been neglected the longest. We have no need to be ashamed of our denominational work as it finds expression in all our other benevolent societies. We glory in our American Board as it steps