I am here, by official request, to make some statements in the interest of the American Missionary Association, and under special injunction to be as little tedious as possible. There are two difficulties in the way. The modern Athenian, like his elder brother of Scriptural fame, delights in nothing so much as "either to tell or to hear some new thing," and this congregation is, or ought to be, already sufficiently familiar with the work which solicits a hearing. It is not an obscure enterprise thrust into the background by its unimportance, or hiding itself because of some questioning as to whether it has a right to be, and neither is it a project that has not yet passed the experimental stage, the conclusion as to its worth or worthlessness to be reached further on. An organization rooted in such prolific soil, and cultured with such husbandry, and so full of vital sap, that in less than forty years its growths branch so widely that millions refresh themselves in their shade, whose vigor is so forth-putting that it has flowered into colleges and universities and institutes whose names and fame are known wherever English speech has gone; that organization has passed out of and beyond the realm of criticism as to its value, and needs no runners to advertise it to the people among whom it is planted. It would be an insult to the Christian intelligence of this congregation to assume that the work required commendation to them, and equally a vain thing to attempt to tell the assembled Athenians any new thing about it.