Let a disciple of the Lord see those people there in their degradation, superstition, and poverty, and then let him visit some of our communities in the South, and see those of the same color, features, and form, living in comfortable houses, clad in decent garments, cultivating large fields of their own, and supporting the school and the church, and let him realize that these pictures present the same race and perhaps the same tribe of people, and that he can be instrumental under Providence, even in an ordinary life-time, in bringing about a repetition of this wonderful transformation, and he ought to need no stronger inspiration. * * * * * THE CALL TO THE ASSOCIATION. REV. H. M. LADD, WALTON, N. Y. One need not be a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, to be able to predict that the world’s great enterprises of the next century will take hold upon Africa. Already the earnest gaze of the civilized world is fixed upon that opening continent. The spirit of discovery and of commerce have pushed their way into the very heart of its mysterious jungles. Its borders are all alive with the enterprise of nations. Vast preparations are making to open up its wonderful resources, and to find a mart for the products of civilized industry. Truly, as the great French poet has said, “In the nineteenth century the white has made a man out of the black. In the twentieth century Europe will make a world out of Africa.” The great question is, Shall Christianity keep abreast of this advancing host? Shall the seeds of the Gospel of light be sown broadcast through this dark continent, before the tramping feet of commerce have trodden down its soil into the hardened footpaths of sin? The call of God is emphatic. He has opened a door which no man can shut. That call rests in a peculiar manner upon this Association. It has not been optional with you whether you should enter Africa. The hand of God, manifested in the peculiar circumstances attending the Amistad capture, sent you to Africa. That hand has kept you there; and to-day you are not seeking for yourselves a way up the Nile and into the heart of Central Africa; you are invited there, you are urged there, you are sent there. It will be a great undertaking to go, but it will be a greater mistake not to go. The generous offer of Mr. Arthington, the importance of the field, its unoccupied condition, its easy accessibility, the pledge of needed funds, the fact that it lies right in the very heart of that region cursed by the slave-trade not yet abolished, make it obligatory upon this Association to accept the responsibility and speed forward the work.