eferred.

The needs of MADAGASCAR cannot be overlooked. The call of God's
providence and grace is so clear that the Directors have not
hesitated to arrange for a decided increase of the English staff.
Five ordained missionaries will proceed to the Island early in the
coming summer; and one, if not two, medical missionaries. The
Betsileo province has long waited for help, and it is proposed to
place, if possible, four ordained missionaries and one medical man
amongst its important and populous towns. The mere sending of these
brethren will cost a sum of 1,500 pounds; their maintenance will
require 2,000 pounds a-year. The Directors however cannot hesitate
to offer this aid to the churches and people among whom the Spirit
of God is so powerfully at work: and they do it in the faith that
the Lord to whose call they listen will prompt his people to provide
the means by which the brethren shall be sustained. They have had
great difficulty in finding suitable medical missionaries, and they
ask their friends to make it a matter of earnest prayer that the
Spirit of God will touch the hearts of the right men to offer their
service to His cause.

The Directors adopt these moderate measures for the extension of the
Society's usefulness in hope. From every quarter they continue to
receive gratifying proofs of the increased interest taken in their
work. The attendance at the autumn gatherings of country auxiliaries
has been large, and the spirit that has been displayed was generous
and earnest. At Birmingham and Bristol; at Hastings and Halifax; at
York and Leeds this spirit was specially manifest: the Bristol
meetings, always warm and earnest, were this year enthusiastic. And
everywhere the missionary brethren testify to the kindly manner in
which they are received and heard.

God is giving us the means of usefulness. He is also bringing a steady
supply of suitable men. But the fields are "white unto the harvest,"
and we must pray the Lord of the harvest to send more labourers to
reap in his name. To extend our work larger means are required; and
the friends of the Society will see that all additions to the present
income will be available for the extension so desirable. Never were
the exhortation and prediction more applicable: "Enlarge the place
of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine
habitations; SPARE NOT, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy
stakes." "And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles