TO THE CHURCHES OF THE N. Y. & PA. CONFERENCE.
By R. F. Cottrell
Dear Brethren:—You will see by the published appointments that you have no promise of ministerial labor at your Quarterly Meetings for the present quarter, which closes the Conference year. The demand for labor in new fields, and in places which promise most good as missionary fields, has induced your ministers, in conference assembled, to make this arrangement, feeling that the cause in which we are engaged demands that the message shall be carried out into the “highways and hedges.” Time is short, and the last call is urgent; and the church is, and always should be, a missionary society. It is our duty as a people to send out the message which God has called us to publish abroad. Now brethren, do not think that your Quarterly Meetings will not be very interesting, because you are not to have ministerial labor; but come together to labor for the Lord, and make them interesting; and unitedly pray the Lord of the harvest to bless the labors of his servants in the salvation of souls. Let every one feel a share of the responsibility of the momentous work which God has entrusted to our care; and not forget that success depends on our standing in the place where we may share largely of his Holy Spirit; for it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of God, that the work is to be effected.