* * * * * A BIT OF HISTORY. There is nothing new under the sun—not even a Home Missionary Society for Illinois. The American Missionary Association had three auxiliaries—the Penobscot, in Maine; the Western Home and Foreign, at Cincinnati; and the North-western, at Chicago. In 1854, the North-western was modified to become the Illinois Home Missionary Association. As such it was operated for five or six years, when it was given up, and the whole work was transferred to the A. M. A., with a District Secretary to have supervision of the missionary churches and to push the collections. When that District Secretary and the missionary churches, in 1861, were transferred to the A. H. M. S., he retained in possession the record books of those two auxiliaries. But these, together with other precious journals, were consumed by the great fire, so that it will be difficult to reproduce that chapter in our State home evangelism. Rev. Epaphras Goodman was the Corresponding Secretary. Rev. S. G. Wright and Dr. Flavel Bascom both served as agents. Rev. A. L. Rankin, now of California, was a general missionary along the southern portion of the Illinois Central Railroad. Coming to one place in Egypt, and inquiring for the religious element there, he got this as an answer: “Religious element? You are the first man we have had making that inquiry. We thought you were looking for land.” We find by the Annual Report of the A. M. A. for 1855 that, of its 104 missionaries in the home department, forty of them were under the Illinois Society. Among these were Revs. W. W. Blanchard, Nelson Cook, George Bent, William Beardsley, S. Dilley, George Gemmell, J. T. Marsh, M. N. Miles, Alfred Morse, W. A. Nichols, L. Parker, George Schlosser, David Todd, E. E. Wells and David Wirt. Among the fifty-four churches aided were the South, the Edwards, and the Welsh, of Chicago; and those of Amboy, Henry, Providence, Udina, Plymouth, of Ottawa; DeKalb, Lawn Ridge, Metamora, Roscoe, Sterling, Bloomington, Byron, Kankakee, Newark, Milburn, Albany, Urbana (now Champaign), Huntley, Victoria, Shirland, Dundee and Sandwich. The State Society investigated the necessities of the field, and endorsed applications for aid, but did not make appropriations to the churches. This was done by the A. M. A. in New York, which issued the commissions. After a while the executive committee—Deacons Carpenter and Johnston, and Pastors Patton and Roy—finding that they were simply an additional committee for endorsing applications, and not having the responsibility and the stimulus of administration, made request to have the whole work resumed by the A. M. A., and the State Society voted to discontinue its operations. Herein is a confirmation of the wisdom of the new Society in making itself independent and auxiliary, and not simply co-operative. This piece of history, containing the argument of experience, was not brought out in the late series of discussions.