Record of Book Fund Work, 1877

IN giving an” account of her stewardship” during the past twelve months, the writer is actuated by an intense desire that every word she writes may reveal the infinite tenderness and love which the Lord has displayed towards her. She wishes above all things to call attention, not to her own doings, but to God’s dealings with her; and she earnestly prays that no word of hers may in the least obscure the lovely radiance of that mercy and grace of which the following pages are a record. If any heart shall be filled with holy admiration and praise, at the wonderful condescension of the Lord to one of the least of His children, in giving her this work to do, and strengthening her to perform it; if any feeble faith shall find fresh life and power in the consideration of His unfailing faithfulness to one of the poor dependents on His bounty; if any honour and glory shall be gotten to the Lord through this little Report, her “labour will not have been in vain in the Lord.”

The Great Master could not have chosen a “weaker vessel” by which to convey the treasure of knowledge to His servants; nor could he have selected to minister to the wants of His toiling messengers one more needing the ministry of love on her own account; but it is sometimes His good pleasure by His choice of servants to manifest His strength and wisdom, making the very feebleness and foolishness of

His chosen instruments to redound to the greater glory of His sacred name. “Make known His deeds among the people, talk ye all of His wondrous works,” sings David; and truly, if David’s God will help His child to tell in fitting words the story of His great mercy and love to her, the lips of some of His saints shall be set singing fresh psalms of praise.

Into this dear home of mine, as anyone may easily imagine, the tide of periodical literature flows pretty freely. Dailies, weeklies, monthlies, quarterlies — papers and pamphlets of all sorts and descriptions, pour in like a flood, and for a season overwhelm the Pastor’s study table. From thence, at ebb tide, they drift lazily into my sanctum, and, cast up upon my coast, they yield me pleasant spoils of amusement and information. From their pages I have lately gathered, with some surprise and much pleasure, the knowledge that a very large number of God’s people are seeking to accomplish, by individual effort, those works of benevolence and Christian love which in days gone by were attempted only by fully constituted agencies, and societies with vast resources. A special form of need seems to strike some particular heart with pity, and forthwith the hand is stretched forth to relieve it, not with fitful or capricious charity, but with a wise tenderness and determined constancy which lead at last to an entire consecration to the chosen service. Some of the religious periodicals above alluded to contain long lists of such “works of faith and labours of love,” and in many I note that, while they confide in a human head for management, they lean wholly on the hand of the Lord for maintenance. A fellow-feeling for these workers prompts me to watch their course with loving interest, and often leads me to breathe a prayer for their prosperity and success. I know that the world’s great need necessitates the church’s organized efforts on the largest scale, and therefore I bid “God speed” with all my heart to the grand societies which are the glory of our land; but yet I turn to the solitary sower of the seed, or to the lonely gatherer-out of Atones, with the most vivid and loving sense of kinship and communion, because our experiences so well agree.

My own work, so feeble and insignificant in comparison with that of others, can claim but the most modest mention among the numberless schemes for the glory of God and the good of man to which reference has been made, and yet I may assert that its origin is as divine, its object as beneficent, its support as certain, and its success as assured as the most glorious of them all. Though but a rill among the rivers, it sprang from the same heavenly source as the greatest of them: though as yet only a sapling among the * trees of the wood, it “giveth goodly boughs” and grateful shade in its measure; and though it be but one note in the never ceasing song of “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill to man,” it will one day help to swell the shout of rapture which shall rise when the “glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea!” Hoping that this little book may fall into the hands of some who have hitherto been strangers to my work, I propose to give full information concerning it, and, yielding to that habit which I suppose is inherent in us all, of trying to imitate those we love most, I shall divide my little discourse into four “heads” after the following fashion: —

THE BOOK FUND.

I. Its Origin; II. Its Object;

III. Its Sustenance; IV. Its Success.

I. — ITS ORIGIN.

The “Fund became a fact” in the most natural manner possible to all outward seeming; for, as the kind writer of the first report says, “the casual pleasantries of a summer’s day suggested the distribution of books to poor ministers;” but faith traces the true rise and spring of this “brook by the way” to a higher source, and humbly dares to ascribe the origin of the Book Fund to the kind hand of the loving Father Himself, who is revealed to us as the” God of all comfort.” No loving relative, however earnestly bent on discovering a fresh source of alleviation for cor^tn-p|in,; .or a compensating joy for a life of compara|i*^&^

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would for a moment have imagined that the desired solace would have been found in this most blessed work. “God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us,” after His own peculiar manner, by putting a delightful work into our feeble charge. Tenderly, too, and gradually, as His poor weak child was able to bear it, did the Lord “lead on softly,” until “He brought her out into a wealthy place and established her goings.”

An intense desire took possession of me, after reading my dear husband’s “Lectures to his Students,” to place a copy in the hands of every minister in England, and consulting with the dear author on the matter, he approved my wish, and we decided to devote a few pounds to the partial gratification of it. Before the distribution of the copies thus purchased was completed, friends heard of and appreciated the scheme, and sent gifts, some of ioo, some of 50 volumes, some of money, to help in the work, so that very quietly and silently, but most surely, as the months rolled on, it came to be a matter of established fact that a Book Fund existed and prospered.

One day, in my husband’s study, the four comely volumes of “The Treasury of David” caught my eye, and the question instantly sprang to my lips, “Why could I not send these also to poor ministers? Only think what a boon they would be!” Conjugal love feared the task would be too heavy, and the responsibility of such a work too burdensome for the often weary one; but the Lord knew better, for He fostered the desire till it became too strong to be repressed, and then He graciously gave the power and means to fulfil it. Blessed be His name, I feel that it cannot be presumption to believe that this sacred charge was given me from the Lord Himself, because the fact has been abundantly proved, both by my own weakness and the manifestation of His gracious strength.

It is not the first time He has “given power to the faint,” or chosen a “thing of nought” to do Him service, and I rejoice with exceeding joy over my work, because it is His from beginning to end; all the good, and the grace, and the glory, are His, His wholly and only! He has reminded His stewards of a need which they are far too apt to overlook, and He has supplied for many of His ministers a necessity which they had scarcely the courage to mention. Preachers without books are as the Israelites when required by Pharaoh to make bricks without straw; but hundreds of such poor oppressed workers are toiling on from year to year, without sympathy from any one. Some little help was needed for these servants of the Lord to give them “a little reviving,” and that aid has come by an unlooked-for hand. It was unlikely that one who is neither bookworm nor theologian should be raised up to supply poor preachers with books; and yet so it has been, and the matter is from the Lord.

II. — ITS OBJECT.

The Book Fund aims at furnishing the bare bookshelves of poor Pastors of every Christian denomination with standard works of Theology by various authors; books full of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, the study of which shall enrich their minds, comfort their hearts, quicken their spiritual life, and thereby enable them to preach with greater power and earnestness “all the words of this life.” How deeply needed this service of love has long been, what an urgent and painful necessity it has become, is fully proved by the intense eagerness shown on every hand to obtain the proffered boon. The writer could point to many a faithful servant of the Lord, who, toiling on in secret poverty for years, has not even seen a new book (except in the shop windows), till a grant from the Book Fund filled his heart with joy and his lips with thanksgiving. “These books have brightened my hope, and quickened my faith,” writes one such pastor, “I will not trouble you with my difficulties for want of a commentary to stimulate and guide my poor thought, they are too sad to tell, but they have helped me to appreciate your gifts.” Those whose resources enable them to enjoy, without stint, the luxury of a “new book,” can scarcely realize the longing and craving which gnaws at the heart of a poor minister when he sees — beyond his reach — the help and refreshment he so sorely needs. His brain is weary with producing unaided thoughts; his mental powers are flagging

for want of stimulus and encouragement; his spirit is burdened with the pressure of cares, which stern poverty brings upon him; and yet, though a few sterling, solid books would be a specific for much of this misery, the purchase of such blessed potions is as impossible to him as would be the acquisition of the “Elixir of Life” itself! Many a one has told me that the books sent seemed to “put new life” into him, and it is not difficult to read in those three words a sad and sorrowful story of mental faintness and famine. “Read good suggestive books,” says the President of the Pastors’ College, in his “Lectures to Students,” “and get your minds aroused by them. If men wish to get water out of a pump which has not been lately used, they first pour water down, and then the pump works. Reach down one of the Puritans, and thoroughly study the work, and speedily you will find yourself, like a bird on the wing, mentally active and full of motion.” But what if there is no water at hand to coax the up-springing of the living stream? or, rather, what if the bookshelves are bare, and no Puritans can be reached down? This is a question which the Book Fund seeks to answer in the only satisfactory manner, by placing as a free gift in the hands of poor Pastors that nourishment for their brains which is as absolutely necessary to mental vigour as food for their bodies is essential to physical existence. “Ten thousand thanks,” said a dear brother, writing lately, “for sending the books when you did ’ Their coming brought deliverance and salvation to my mind. I was in an agony of spirit — at my wits’ end for a text. I opened one and found, ‘ The Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock.’ This was just what I wanted; it took hold of me, and the Lord helped me to take hold of it.” “I have very little to spend in books,” says another. “My salary is only £60 per annum; so that when a new book comes, it is like bread to the hungry. I do not say this to make you think I am a martyr — if so, I am a very happy one, for I have chosen willingly Christ’s service, and my very wants are a means of grace to me.” Again another pastor writes, “I cannot tell you how much the receipt of these useful and suggestive volumes cheered me. The sight of a refreshing spring never more gladdened a weary traveller.”

No one who knows anything of the position and means of our country Pastors can doubt that the “object” of this Fund meets, and, as far as it is able, alleviates a sadly overlooked eviL After more than two years’ daily correspondence with ministers all over the land, the writer feels that she speaks with sad and serious certainty on the matter, and she is grieved to know that everywhere the want is felt, and the same cry is heard. “Oh, for some books to help me in my pulpit preparation!” says one; “I have to preach before the same people three, perhaps four times a week, and though the Lord has promised that my ‘ branch shall not wither, it sometimes gets vety dry I “I know we should depend upon the Spirit’s aid,” says another, “and so I do; but if I could read some of the burning thoughts which are recorded by God’s earthly seraphs, my lips, too, might glow with holy rapture, and give forth * goodly words.’” “I never dare now to think of a new book,’’ writes a third, “two or three times I have begun to save a little money towards the purchase of a long-coveted work, but every time it has gone for Something else; Johnny, and little Harry, and Walter, must have boots; or mother is ill; or the girls’ frocks are getting shabby; and so the precious volumes are still unattainable.” And yet a fourth most touchingly says: “When I witness the self-denial, and hard unremitting labour to which my wife so cheerfully submits herself to keep our household moving comfortably in the sphere God has given, I cannot with any pleasure add to her difficulty by purchasing the books I often covet, though this doubtless hinders the freshness and variety of my ministry.”

Dear Christian friends, these are no fancy pictures which I am painting, these are no silly tales of fiction, told for the purpose of exciting emotions as worthless as they are weak; but I write of living, suffering realities of flesh and blood — our brethren in Christ, and men, moreover, who claim and bear the title of the “King’s ambassadors” — and I ask, “Ought they to be thus treated?” I want you to ponder for a moment the sad fact that throughout the length and breadth of this dear England of ours there are hundreds of Christ’s ministers so poor that they can scarcely find proper food and clothing for themselves, their wives and their little ones, out

of the miserable pittance which is called their “salary/” Books, which ought to be “common things” with them — ’ littering their rooms in “most admired disorder,” crowding each nook and corner with mute but matchless companionship — are, through their poverty, unattainable luxuries, vainly-coveted blessings, the very thought of which must be laid aside, lest the longing should lead to repining, and the desire deepen into distress. Such things ought not to be, but unhappily they are, and till the churches of Christ shall awaken to a sense of their responsibility in this matter, and their moral obligation to provide their ministers with mental food, I will rejoice that my Book Fund does, at least, lighten a little of the darkness, and relieve somewhat the pressure of the famine.

III. — ITS SUSTENANCE.

“The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.”

The Book Fund has been nourished and fed from the King’s Treasury, and I must “make my boast in the Lord” that all needful supplies for the carrying on of the work have plainly borne the stamp of Heaven’s own mint. I say this because I have never asked help of any one but Him, never solicited a donation from any creature, yet money has always been forthcoming, and the supplies have constantly been in due proportion to the needs. Once only during the year did the Lord try my faith by allowing the grants of books to outnumber the gifts of money, and then it was only for a “small moment” that a fear overshadowed me. The dark cloud very speedily passed away, and fresh supplies made me more than ever satisfied with the resolution I had formed to draw only on the unlimited resources of my heavenly Treasurer. None of the friends whose hearts have “devised liberal things” on behalf of my work will reproach me with ingratitude towards them when I lay my first loving thanks at His feet; they will rather join me in praising Him for so sweetly inclining their hearts to help His needy ones, and will joyfully say, “O Lord, of Thine own have we given Thee!”

I recall with very glad satisfaction the first donation which

In the Service oj the Book Fund. reached me, “for sending books to ministers.” It came anonymously, and was but five shillings’ worth of stamps, yet it was very precious, and proved like a revelation to me, for it opened up a vista of possible usefulness and exceeding brightness. The mustard seed of my faith grew forthwith, into a “great” tree, and sweet birds of hope and expectation sat singing in its branches. “You’ll see,” I said to my boys, “the Lord will send me hundreds of pounds for this work.” For many a day afterwards mother’s “hundreds of pounds” became a “household word” of good-humoured merriment and badinage. And now “the Lord has made me to laugh,” for the hundreds have grown into thousands; He has done “exceeding abundantly above what I could ask or even think;” and faith, with such a God to believe in and depend upon, ought surely to “smile at impossibilities, and say, 1 it shall be done.’”

After praising Him “from whom all blessings flow,” my loving thanks are due to the friends who, by their generous gifts, have co-operated with me in this blessed work. Money has come to me from all quarters, and always with congratulations and good wishes. Many dear personal friends have liberally aided me; some of my dear husband’s constant and devoted helpers have been pleased when sending him a cheque, to make it a little larger for the Book Fund; while quite a number of strangers (though strangers no longer), whose names were previously unknown to me, have sent very considerable donations to my beloved work. God bless them all l And if only a tithe of the happiness their gifts have secured to me and my poor pastors be returned into their own hearts, their cups will be full to overflowing, and their joy will abound. Oh! how sweet some of these sums of money have been to me!. Real “God-sends” I may truly call them; for the gold has seemed to lose its earthly dross when consecrated to Him, and has often shed a light as from Heaven’s own “golden streets” upon my pathway! Coming sometimes in seasons of great pain and suffering, these gifts have been like precious anodynes to soothe my weary spirit, and hush my restless thought; for they plainly showed the Lord had not: “forgotten to be gracious.” They have almost charmed:

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away my sorrow by teaching me to plan for others’ joy, and ofttimes they have been truly “means of grace” to me, leading to blessed commerce with heaven, by supplying frequent occasions of prayer and praise. Surely, after so much mercy past, if I did not bless His name, “the very stones would cry out.”

The twelve hundred and eighty odd pounds which stand recorded for this year in the balance-sheet do not include all the moneys which I have received from the Lord through the hands of His loving people. Herein lies a secret, very precious, and hitherto very safely guarded, but now to be revealed for the honour of God and the good of His needy ministers. The thought will naturally occur to any one who has so far read this little book, that such an intimate acquaintance as I have made with the sorrows and trials of poor pastors must have many a time caused me a sad heartachej unless means were at hand to relieve their earthly wants and woes as well as their mental necessities; and here another note of praise to the Lord must be sounded on a very tender string; for in His goodness and lovingkindness He has provided pecuniary help for exceptional cases of extreme poverty and urgent need. Without this, I think sometimes I should have felt crushed beneath the burden which my knowledge of many pressing needs has laid upon me. The tried ministers never complain; I do not remember having ever read a solitary sentence which could be construed into a murmur; but sometimes a chance word on my part leads them to confide in me, and then the sad fact is revealed, that other shelves beside the bookshelf are in pitiful need of replenishing.

At the commencement of 1877, a generous friend placed at my disposal a sum of money, and thus founded a private

PASTORS’ AID SOCIETY,

from which I could draw such sums as occasion required and prudence directed. This money has been further supplemented by gifts from my dear husband and others; and though not attaining any vast proportions, it has sufficed to solace many a suffering one, and has lifted very heavy burdens from care-laden hearts. Full details of this little

In the Sewice of the Book Fund branch of my Book Fund are withheld from motives of delicacy and tenderness to the dear brethren whose poverty, though honourable, is as jealously concealed as if it were a hidden treasure; but could I dare to tell of the sickness and sorrow, the straits and the struggles which have come to my knowledge during this year, many of my readers would think I was romancing, and that such a state of things could not exist in this Christian land. But alas! dear friends, the evil is deep and wide-spread, very real, and very saddening, and I would that those of God’s people, to whom He has given liberally of the “precious things of the earth beneath,” would bestow some of their overflowing wealth upon their poorer brethren. I could promise them that from “golden grains” thus sown they should reap a hundredfold harvest of blessing and sweet content.

IV. — ITS SUCCESS.

Judged by the benefits and blessings the Book Fund has conferred, its success will be best told by extracts from letters received in acknowledgment of gifts; and as it has become entirely unsectarian in its operation, it will, perhaps, be interesting and pleasant to introduce some “kind words” from ministers of different denominations who have joyfully accepted this service of love. It has been no easy matter to restrain my hand in making these selections from the many hundreds of letters I possess; I have felt a veritable tmbarras de riehesses, and most unwillingly have omitted many a passage brimful of joy and gladness, lest I should weary my readers; but when they have perused with delight these thankful, loving words, they may rest assured the “half has not been told” them. Having commenced the year by offering six volumes of Mr. Spurgeon’s “Sermons” to all ministers formerly students of the Pastors’ College, first speech is accorded to one of their number: —

My dear Mrs. Spurgeon, — I feel deeply grateful to you for the six volumes of sermons which reached me this morning. When I opened the parcel, I experienced such a rush of emotion as made me kneel down instantly and thank God for His goodness to me, as well as to pray for His blessing to descend upon you. Many times when a few brethren have met together at my house, or I have gone to theirs, have we mentioned your work in oyr prayers, and the best expression of my’ gratitude, I feel, will be in the fervency and faith of my petitions. I trust you will accept my thanks, though they were so imperfectly conveyed. My heart glows, but my pen fails.

The extract next subjoined is also from an old student, but it claims special notice because the writer is labouring in a far distant land, and a gift of books to him is truly “as cold water to a thirsty soul.” It is not often that the opportunity is afforded of ministering to the necessities of brethren in foreign lands, on account of the heavy expense of transit; but when friends are found to take charge of a parcel, we have the rare pleasure of receiving in due time such an answer as this: —

Dear Mrs. Spurgeon, — I have to acknowledge, with gratitude and pleasure, the receipt of six volumes of Mr. Spurgeon’s “Sermons,” which you so kindly forwarded by Mr. — of this village. May the Lord reward you a thousandfold for this great, and I might almost say, unexpected kindness to a stranger in a strange land When settling

here rather more than three years ago, I often found an American volume of the “Sermons,” well worn, and highly appreciated; and I assure you they made me feel more at home than otherwise I should have done in this rugged country. One old man, nearly 90, whom I buried a few months since, had a volume of that kind, and he had read it perhaps hundreds of times, until it was almost worn to pieces. It was nearly his sole companion for several years before his death, and none can tell how much he was cheered and comforted by reading it. You can. scarcely imagine the joy I felt in receiving the sermons fresh from England; but this you may rest assured of — both yourself and your dear husband were prayed for that night with more than usual fervour and feeling, and special thanks were given to Him “from whom all blessings flow.”

If space permitted I could give extracts of letters from France, Sweden, Nova Scotia, Nebraska, Cape of Good Hope, Spain, Sydney, Adelaide, Bengal, Jamaica, Barbadoes, and many other “strange lands,” which would delight and interest my readers; but I must content myself and them with the following much-prized communications from Church of England missionaries, one on leave of absence for a while from India, the other just starting to his work at Palamcotta (S. India). The first-mentioned writes thus: —

Many, many thanks for the four volumes of “The Treasury of David “; I prize them much. I doubt not that, if not already, these volumes will soon become standard works on the Psalms. Every one -knew and felt that there must be “a feast of fat things” for mind and soul in the Psalms; but Mr. Spurgeon has dished them up in a way so superior to what anybody else has ever done, that both mind and soul receive much more .from his “Treasury” than from any other work. I am thankful to find the books in the libraries of Church of England

clergymen at D — and K with less dust on them than

Browne “On the Articles,” or theological works akin to Den’s “Theology,” etc. The day of Christ will reveal the great good the Lord has been doing through Mr. Spurgeon’s instrumentality. When a

student at College, I used to visit some of the Irish courts

around the neighbourhood. In one of these dens of villainy and iniquity there lived a man who was my terror, and who more than once sent me flying out of the court, pushing me by laying his hand to the back of my neck. My heart sank every time I entered the place if I met this man. He was all that is wicked and iniquitous. One day, to my surprise, instead of cursing me, he asked me to his filthy dark room. I entered it with fear, not knowing what was in store for me; but, thank God, it was to tell me that he had found Jesus, and had resolved in His Strength to follow Him. The message of love, and mercy, and peace, had been conveyed to this man’s heart by the lips of your good husband. He heard Mr. Spurgeon preach in some public place or other, and there Jesus met him and called him. From that day till his death he lived the life of a Christian, and died glorifying the depths of Jesus* love. I do not think you can have ever heard of this case; and there must be many unknown to you, who on the great day will welcome your dear husband as the one who was the means of leading them to the feet of Christ.

Dear. Madam, — The books arrived safely on Saturday night. May God bless you for your kindness and liberality to a perfect stranger. I have long been under deep obligation to your honoured husband, since it was through reading a passage in one of his books in South India, that I was first awakened out of a sinner’s natural self-complacency to cry, “What must I do to be saved?” And twice during the last two years have I been greatly cheered and strengthened by two sermbns that I, had the pleasure of hearing him deliver in Islington. Though we may never meet on earth, though we may differ on minor points, ever shall my prayers ascend to God for you both, and we shall assuredly meet where partings are unknown.

I may just say here that many missionaries of different denominations have, on leaving England, applied to me for ‘‘The Treasury” to carry with them to their distant stations, (Damascus, Madrid, China, the Punjaub, Ceylon, Delhi, Lagos, and Timbuctoo recur to my mind at this moment, but there are many more), and it has given peculiar satisfaction to grant the requests of these dear brethren, and to receive from them assurances of the great comfort and.

refreshment they have derived from the perusal of the precious volumes when toiling far from home and friends and country.

About the middle of the year an unexpected and most delightful impetus was given to the Book Fund by a very kind and generous friend, who desired that all the ministers in Argyleshire should possess “The Treasury of David,” and entrusted the writer with funds to carry out his wishes. How heartily the good divines of Scotland welcomed and appreciated this gift, it would take too long to tell.

Returning to home-work, I give a letter from a Congregational Pastor, which could be supplemented by hundreds, for my Book Fund has had the privilege of ministering to very many in the Independent denomination.

Dear Madam, — The four volumes of “The Treasury of David” arrived safely. This thoughtful and most generous gift has filled my heart with real delight. Perhaps the infrequency of such a windfall will account for a little of the pleasure, but I cannot help tracing much of it to the kind manner in which you have presented the gift, and to the intrinsic value of the books themselves. I am a prey to the hunger usual among my brethren for the only kind of communion open to many of us with the richest and noblest minds that have served the Saviour. The possession of your honoured husband’s beautiful and valuable volumes makes me feel sensibly richer, and I am sure I shall frequently turn to them, both for private profit, and the enrichment of my ministry.

Being fearful of over- taxing the patience of my readers, I must pass without notice the epistles received from Evangelists and Home Missionaries, some of which would certainly vie in interest and pathos with any that have been already given. I, therefore, introduce but one other letter, making it do duty as the representative of kind and appreciative words from the many divisions of Methodism — Wesleyan, Primitive, and so forth. It is from the pen of a Bible Christian minister, and it tells the same “old story ’* of deep need of books, and utter inability t6 procure them.

Dear Madam, — Your very valuable and welcome present came duly to hand, and positively made my heart leap for joy, and outflow with a thousand blessings upon the kind donors. I can never express in words the deep feelings of gratitude I am the subject of, for your great kindness in thus shedding sunshine upon the difficult pathway of one who is trying, amid all his unworthiness, to serve his generation faithfully, and to do the work assigned him by the Master; but what I cannot put is

into language I can breathe in heart at the heavenly throne — that Jehovah benedictions in ever-increasing richness may fall upon you and your honoured husband, until taken to the eternal home. The “Psalms” have always been my favourite resort for meditation and exposition, and I should long ago have purchased “The Treasury of David” had I been able; but a salary of ^80 a year allows only a very small margin for books, and though my mind often craved for them, the luxury was not enjoyed.

As no record of my work could be considered quite complete without some reference to the beautiful plant which has always been associated with it, I am happy to say that the lemon tree is in a most prosperous condition. Meeting the gardener the other day, he observed, u Your lemon tree is brought up to the house, ma’am, it is making a great deal of new wood” and the Book Fund seems to follow suit with its old friend; for buds and blossoms of unexpected promise are asserting their existence and vitality. This Christmastide has brought me a number of letters from Christian ladies, who are anxious to aid the families of poor pastors, by suitable gifts of clothing; and I have had the intense satisfaction of submitting to their loving care and consideration the names of twenty-five ministers, all of whom I believe have been made happier, and undeniably warmer, by the reception of seasonable garments for themselves and their little ones. And yet another new branch of my work bears promise of much good fruit to poor pastors; for through the kindness of two thoughtful hearts, The Sword and the Trowel is to be sent regularly during the present year to 60 ministers who could not afford to purchase it for themselves. The prospect of this indulgence has greatly cheered many hearts. “I have not been able to take in a religious periodical for five years,” said one to whom I made the offer, “the monthly visit of the magazine will indeed be a great boon.”

What other work the Lord may have in store for me, or how far He intends graciously to extend that which at present fills my hands, or whether perchance He may think fit to call me away from it altogether, I know not; but this one thing is certain: “There hath not failed one word of all His good promise” from the beginning until now; and for the future I am persuaded that the “Book Fund and its Work” will live and thrive vigorously in its own “little corner” of

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God’s vineyard, where the sunshine of His blessing shall: ever rest lovingly upon it, causing it to bring forth much fruit to His glory.

And now, the “Report” is a “tale that is told;” but I pray that its record of God’s infinite tenderness and love may not leave a merely transient impression on any heart. Poor as my words are, and destitute of all literary ability, their very poverty and deficiency should be as foils to the bright deeds of mercy and grace which they endeavour to set forth. Dear Friends who have helped me, the work is yours as much as it is mine, and I hope my little Report will tell you that I am deeply grateful to you for trusting me with some of your substance, and that it may also make you partakers in my joy — the joy of helping the ministers of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the present I bid you a loving and grateful farewell.

“Another year — or part — to serve Thee, Lord;

To sleep, to rise, and always leave to Thee
The precious seed my feeble hands have sown.

To make it spring and grow is Thine alone;

This takes all anxious care away from me.

I trust Thee Lord, to cause Thy seed to yield
Full golden sheaves to deck Thy harvest field.**