refully distributed in accordance with the urgency of
those needs respectively.

These missionary societies should aim to cultivate in the churches the
spirit of missions as a _Christian principle_. Advocates of the missionary
cause strongly feel that the interest of the Church in missionary work
today is too little based upon the real and fundamental principle of
missionary work as a necessity of the life of the Church itself, and too
much dependent upon exciting narrative, tearful appeal and poetic romance.
The cultivation of the missionary principle and the inculcation of the
doctrine of the privilege and beauty of supporting missions, apart from
any impassioned appeals or tragic events, is one of the _desiderata_ of
the Church today. It is a morbid condition of the mind of the Church which
demands exciting narrative and hysterical appeal in order to arouse it to
its duty in this matter; and it also tends to create a standard of
missionary advocacy which is neither manly nor sufficiently careful to
balance well the facts and data of missionary work as it is found upon the
field. There is considerable danger of accepting, today, only that form of
missionary appeal which is directed to the emotion and which abounds in
mental excitement rather than that which furnishes food for sober thought.
The consequence is that this advocacy is in danger of becoming a producer
of more heat than light--of more emotion than intelligent conviction.

The recent movement towards leading certain churches to take up definite
portions of the work in foreign lands and to support, each a missionary
for itself, has in it much to commend it to our acceptance. It certainly
has the merit of definiteness in purpose, work and prayer; and this brings
added interest and a growing sense of responsibility to each church which
takes up the work. If a man (or a church) finds his interest in missions
waning as a principle of Christian activity the best thing for him,
perhaps, is to come into touch with a missionary or a mission agent on the
field. By supporting him or a department of work conducted by him, and by
being kept frequently informed of the work which he is supporting, new
fuel is constantly added to that missionary interest which thereby
develops into zeal and enthusiasm. The method has apostolic sanction and
partakes of the simplicity of primitive missionary endeavour.

But this method should not be too exclusively pursued. It should not
int