takes upon its list certain Western institutions, arranges times and seasons for special efforts in their behalf, distributes the territory upon which each may operate, and gives letters of introduction and commendation for the use of those engaged in canvassing these Eastern fields. Then the president, or a professor, or other designated agent, of a given college, comes upon the ground and solicits. the needed money. His salary and expenses are paid by the college from which he comes. And on the other hand, no part of the money raised by him is used by the Education Society, but goes intact for the benefit of the institution for which it was solicited. The expenses of the society, salaries, rents, etc., are all paid from the general funds. In the present mode of operation, the College department might seem to have advantages over the Educational department, were it not for the consideration above named, that the colleges themselves pay the expenses of the agencies they employ.

At the time when the union of the two societies took place in 1874, it was thought advisable, at least for a time, to keep in operation the same essential machinery which had been before employed. The New York office was continued, about which centred the business of the College department, with Dr. Butterfield as secretary, while the Boston office continued as before and was especially devoted to the Educational department. But in the autumn of 1875, Dr. Butterfield having been invited to take the presidency of Olivet College, and inclining to accept the same, the directors took into special consideration the state of things thus brought before them, and in view of all the facts passed the following resolution :

:

"That the question of the appointment of another secretary as successor to Dr. Butterfield, and of the closing of the New York office after the first of May next, be postponed for the present, awaiting the future indications of Divine Providence."

In consequence of this action, since the first of May, 1876, there has been but one secretary, and the business of both departments has centred in the office at Boston, though a receiving agent has been kept in New York for the convenience of those who can more easily pay their money there than send it to Boston. The business of this receiving agent however, as it has proved, is very light, and Dr. C. P. Bush, at the Bible House, has kindly consented to do what is required in this capacity, without reward. With the present facilities for transmitting money by post-office orders and

bank checks, it as easy, and often more easy, for a man in New York City, or in the immediate vicinity, to transmit money to Boston than to make even a short journey to the Bible House.

Moreover it is far more true than we wish it to be that the funds by which the operations of the society are carried on come chiefly from New England. During our last financial year, of the $45,000 total receipts, if we except the generous gift of $15,000 made by Charles Fairbanks of London, to Drury College, only between $3,000 and $4,000 came from outside the New England States. In the previous year, viz., the financial year ending April 30, 1876, of the $70,000 total receipts, about $65,000 came from New England, and about $5,000 from other parts of the country. We do not, however, wish to conceal the fact that considerable money is raised in the Middle and Western States for educational purposes, which are not reported through our treasury.

long had a dream of trying to weave all this work into one compacted whole, so that it might be known, year by year, what is really accomplished in this way by our denomination. But thus far invincible obstacles seem to interpose themselves, until we have half concluded that the greatest good of the greatest number is perhaps secured by this miscellaneous action. We trust, however, that the time will come, somewhere in the future, when the Congregationalists over all our extended field can act more as a unit in this work. Meanwhile the work of the Educational department is rapidly widening.

Of the one hundred and twelve new men enrolled on our Educational list during our last financial year, forty-seven came from New England, and sixty-five from other parts of the country. Of the one hundred and fourteen enrolled in the previous year, forty were from New England and seventy-four outside of New England. We mention this fact, not in a way of criticism or faultfinding, but with a feeling of joy and gratitude that the States of the West are so freely coutributing of their young men for this purpose, and we recognize the fact, too, that these young men have the nerve, the energy, the force, more apt to be found in new settlements than in older communities.

At a quarterly meeting of the directors in July last, action was taken upon a subject which was deemed of considerable importance. At the close of the war of the Rebellion, there grew up a wide-spread sentiment in favor of the "short course," as it was called, in the work of preparation for the ministry. There was a

prevailing impression that many ministers were needed to occupy the new fields which had been opened by the war, and that we could not wait till men should pass through the regular drill of the academy, the college, and the theological seminary. Yielding to this feeling, the Education Society began to give its assistance more freely than ever before to young men in theological schools who were not college graduates. The process went on until there was a condition of things new and somewhat surprising in a denomination which, from the earliest settlement of the country, had pressed for the thorough education of those who were to occupy its pulpits. We give a few statistics to illustrate our meaning. We take these figures from the tables prepared and published from year to year in the Congregational Quarterly, usually in the April number. In 1873, we had 329 students in our seven theological seminaries, of whom 118 were not college graduates. In 1874, there were 327, and 121 not graduates. In 1875, 316, and 111 of these were not graduates. In 1876, 303, of whom 106 were not graduates. In 1877, 312, of whom 120 were not graduates. Of the non-graduates, usually about one fourth had received a partial education in college, the rest had had no collegiate education. In view of this tendency, which, as may be noticed, was rather increasing than diminishing as the years passed along, the directors, at their meeting, July 11, 1877, passed the following resolution: :

That hereafter the American College and Education Society will, as a rule, receive upon its lists only those who are pursuing the full collegiate and theological course of study. All others will be regarded as exceptions, and if taken upon the list at all, each case must be considered separately and decided upon its own merits."

This action on the part of the society was not revolutionary, but restorative. The society simply came back to its old standard. Two reasons especially moved the directors to this course. In the first place, they thought they ought not longer to encourage a tendency of this kind, which would lower the standard of the denomination in respect to the culture of its ministers. But in the second place, they thought that men taking the short course would get on, if they were the right men in the right place, without the aid of our funds; that these funds ought to be reserved, especially in a time of scarcity, for those who are bearing the burdens of the long course. The directors had no wish to deny that many able men

have come into our ministry who have had no college education. But the heaviest burden, according to our experience and observation, falls upon the young men in the college, and not in the seminary. A man who takes only a short course in a seminary is usually a man of full age, having resources which a young man entering college does not have, and only a little way before him is the day when he expects the reward of his labors. His case is very different from that of a young man who starts early in life, and takes the long drill of the academy and the college before reaching the seminary.

There are always a certain number of persons in every generation who question the need of any such organization as this. They reason that if the whole matter of collegiate and ministerial education were left to itself, it would take care of itself, without any fostering care from any one. Just now it happens that these ideas have been put forth anew, from somewhat high places. But there never has been a time since the American Educational Society was organized, in 1816, that these arguments have not been more or less current. If it were not too dangerous, we would like to see the experiment tried, and ascertain whether it is safe for a religious denomination to take no care of its educational interests. Certainly that experiment has never been tried in this country. From the day when John Harvard, in 1638, gave his money to help found the School of the Prophets at Cambridge, there never has been a time when this matter of the education of men for the ministry has not been watched over with more or less care and solicitude. The ways of doing it have been many, but the inward thought has been the same. Where one reasons that this subject, left to itself, would take care of itself, the position of the reasoner is peculiar. He is somewhat in the condition of a man, who, having seen the rich harvests of Egypt coming in year by year, by virtue of the overflowing of the Nile, should conclude that Egypt would enjoy her harvests if there were no overflowing of the Nile.

The institutions at present on the list of the society are: Carleton College, Minnesota; Colorado College, Colorado Springs; Doane College, Nebraska; Drury College, Missouri; Iowa College, Iowa; Olivet College, Michigan; Pacific University, Oregon; Pacific Theological Seminary, California; Ripon College, Wisconsin; Washburn College, Kansas.

These institutions are, several of them, in great need of help, and generally they want all the funds they can get. The educa

tional department needs for the proper transaction of its business about $35,000 a year, a sum very easily raised, provided the strong and able churches of our denomination would give the society a place on their list for contributions. At present not more than three hundred churches contribute to our funds.

STATEMENT OF THE CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING

SOCIETY.

THE origin of the Congregational Publishing Society is involved in obscurity, like the origin of man and of the universe. In the form in which it now exists, it is not to be regarded as a specific creation, but as the result of a slow and painful evolution. Lower types, containing rudimentary suggestions of the present organization, are discoverable in the earliest periods of our history. Taking shape always and inevitably from the totality of its environments," the society has passed through manifold transmutations and borne various designations before assuming that which it now

wears.

No sooner did the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay drive their stakes on the banks of Charles River, than they set in operation a printing-press, the first one in English America. This first printing-press had been bought in England and brought to this country by a minister; the first printing-office was a minister's house, and the first book printed was a Congregational Psalm Book, for the use of Congregational churches. The Rev. Joseph Glover, rector of Sutton, Surry, England, preparing to come to the New World, as one of the most effectual methods of promoting and perpetuating gospel piety, purchased a printing-press and types, engaged a workman, resigned his benefice, and set sail. He died on the voyage, but the printing-press came safely to land in charge of his widow. Before very long the widow married Rev. Henry Dunster, the first president of the college, then coming into life at Cambridge. The printing-press was set up in President Dunster's house, and there the first books were published. "The Freeman's Oath" was the first issue of the New England press. "An almanac for 1639, calculated for New England by Wm. Pierce, mariner," was the second. The third publication and the first book was The whole Booke of Psalms, faithfully translated into English Metre. Whereunto is prefixed a discourse, declaring not only the lawfulness, but also the