In the jail record of one of our cities, there are these entries after a convict’s name: “Occupation, _Statesman_; Religion, _None_.” Is it not a reproach to our Christianity, waiting for its grandest testimony; to our Christian patriotism, on which is laid the thought of God for the land, that in these years we have been so content to leave the care of the despised races, these “wards of the Almighty,” the elect for His noblest purpose, to those whose fit record is: “Occupation, _Statesmen_; Religion, _None_”! Two hundred and fifty years have been given us with the Indian to carry out “the great hope and inward zeal” of our fathers, a score of years almost with the Freedman and Chinaman. How long can we expect the Divine patience to delay ere it shall take away our opportunity, and give it to a nation bringing forth the fruits of righteousness? III.—The Example of Christ. There were despised classes among the Jews eighteen hundred years ago—publicans and sinners, from whom their betters withheld even the touch of their garments. But our Master, Jesus Christ, consorted with these, until they called Him, “the friend of publicans and sinners.” The Samaritans were a race despised of the Jews, yet to one of them our Lord made the earliest and clearest declaration of His Messiahship. Nay, at the outset of His mission, passing by the needy cities of Judah, He, our Lord, went to preach His gospel among the despised and dispersed who dwelt on the border of Zebulon and Napthalin, where “darkness covered the land and gross darkness the people.” The appeal that is made for the American Missionary Association, in the name of the witness to the gospel, and in the name of Christian patriotism, gains its height when it is made in the name of Christ. Every argument by which this work appeals to us to-day, is a prophecy of its success in our hands. Work among the despised races, work that sets the seal of power on the Christianity of our time, work that is to realize God’s thought for the land, work so Christly cannot fail! The American Missionary Association, to which this work is committed of God and the churches, needs but one thing of you. That is, money? No! It is but needed that there should be such incomes of the Holy Ghost into Christian hearts as shall lift up church membership from membership in a religious club to its true dignity of citizenship in the kingdom of God; such incomes of the Spirit as shall fill the heart of each citizen with the grand thought of the kingdom—brotherhood. Then, consecrated purses will be opened, and gold and silver, and greenbacks and bonds, will flow into the full treasury of the Lord. * * * * * ITEMS FROM CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS. MCLEANSVILLE, N. C.—Five persons joined the church the last Sunday in June. Eighty-three communicants were present, all but three members of this church.