vities of the missionaries whom they were asked to
support; and they cannot give to the vague and chaotic that support
which they might give to work which they saw clearly to be directed to
the attainment of a great goal which they desired by a policy which they
understood. The attitude of these men is the attitude of those who await
an intelligent appeal to their intelligence.

For a true understanding of foreign missions it is necessary first that
their aim and object should be clearly defined. Without such a
definition intelligent co-operation is impossible. Unless the objective
is understood men cannot estimate the value of their work. They cannot
trace progress unless they can see clearly the end to be attained; they
cannot zealously support action unless they are persuaded that the
action is truly designed to attain the defined end. There may indeed be
many subordinate objects, and men may be asked to work for the
attainment of any one of these, but there ought to be one final end and
purpose which governs all, and intelligent co-operation involves the
appreciation of the relation between the subordinate and the final end.
Consequently if many objects are set before us, as they are in our
foreign missions, it is essential that these many purposes and objects
should be presented to us not simply as ends to be attained, but in
their relation to one another and in their relation to the final end
which the directors of our missions have clearly before their eyes.

Now it is just at this point that we fail to attain satisfaction. All
societies publish reports and statistics, but the reports and statistics
do not provide us with any clear and intelligible account of progress
towards any definite end. They seem rather designed to attract and to
appeal to our sympathy than to satisfy our intelligence. They set before
us all kinds of work unrelated, indefinite, changeable, and changing
from year to year, as though the compilers selected from the letters of
missionaries any striking statements which they thought would attract
support in themselves and by themselves. No goal is set before us, and
the progress towards that goal steadily traced from year to year; still
less is the relation between the different methods and means employed to
attain each subordinate objective expressed so that we can see, not
only what progress each is making towards its own immediate end, but
what is the effective value of all together towards