How much owest thou thy Lord? That is the question which the giver has to face. Sometimes in commercial circles a man will assign a debt that is owing him to some one else, out of friendship, that he may take it when he has collected it and use it for himself. Much in the same way, I think, the Lord Jesus has assigned a large portion of the debt which we owe to him to those who are around us—to the unconverted at our doors, to those races among whom you labor, to the pagans far away. This was what Paul felt when he said, “I am debtor, both to the wise and to the unwise, both to the Greek and to the Barbarian”; and it was the constant feeling of that sense of obligation that gave his life its nobleness and its usefulness. So let it be with us; and let us see in those for whom appeal is made to us through this Association, the representatives of Christ. There is a beautiful story told in Stevenson’s “Praying and Working.” I am very fond of repeating it—I may have told it to some of you before, but no matter—about a little child in the orphanage of John Falk at Weimar. They were having supper in the dining-hall, and the teacher gave thanks in the ordinary way before the children began their meals, saying, “Come, Lord Jesus, and be our guest to-night, and bless the mercies which Thou has provided.” One little boy looked up and said, “Teacher, you always ask the Lord Jesus to come, but he never comes. Will he ever come?” “Oh, yes; if you will only hold on in faith, he will be sure to come.” “Very well,” said the little boy, “I will set a chair for him beside me here to-night to be ready when he comes.” And so the meal proceeded. By-and-by there came a rap at the door, and there was ushered in a poor half-frozen apprentice. He was taken to the fire and his hands warmed. Then he was asked to partake of the meal, and where should he go but to the chair which the little boy had provided? and as he sat down there the little boy looked up with a light in his eye, and said, “Teacher, I see it now! The Lord Jesus was not able to come himself, and he sent this poor man in his place. Isn’t that it?” Aye, that is just it. And so, brethren, the Lord Jesus isn’t able, according to His plans for this world, to come personally yet among us, but He has sent those colored people, Chinese, Indians and heathen to make appeal in His behalf to us, and who among us will set a chair for Him? There are many friends with whom I hardly agree who are very anxiously waiting for the appearance of the personal Christ among us, and they are wondering what they shall do to welcome Him. Would that the eyes of these brethren and our own too were opened to the perception of the Christ that is already here, in the persons of those needing to be helped and educated and elevated, and that their ears could hear His words, “Inasmuch as ye do it unto one of the least of these His brethren ye do it unto Christ.”