But this Association commends itself to us, again, because it has borne, on account of those for whom it works, a vast amount of obloquy and scorn, but, in spite of it all, has persisted in exhibiting unflinchingly the innermost spirit of the Gospel—namely, that of self-sacrifice for the peculiarly needy, and identification of itself with the cause of the outcast and forlorn. Foreign missions have not had to bear any stigma of contumely or disgrace. Home missions have even felt the favoring breath of popularity. But this Association, in espousing the cause of what many regarded as pariah and outcast classes, had to bear from certain quarters unmeasured obloquy and contempt. But it bore them not only without shrinking, but rejoicing that it was counted worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake. Its noble teachers and other workers, in many and constant exhibitions of splendid heroism and self sacrifice, gladly made the cause of the friendless and despised their own. They have rejoiced to illustrate that great principle of the Gospel, that we owe not simply those who have done something for us, but those for whom we can do something. And they have believed, and never failed to assert, that the most infernal of all arguments and the very spawn of hell, is that because a man is already under or inferior, therefore you may still further oppress and keep him down. That is just the reason for helping and lifting him up. All honor to a society that has had, and that has cordially accepted, the opportunity, not afforded to all benevolent enterprises, of illustrating the spirit of Christianity in the midst of obloquy and scorn. And then, this Association commends itself to our hearty regard by the breadth and enlightenment of its views concerning the work it undertakes. It has intelligently grasped and acted upon the principle that the only effectual antidote for the gross superstition of the classes among which it labors is, in the full sense of the term, _light_—light educational, moral, religious. It has not believed, to its credit be it spoken, that even a little learning is a dangerous thing, but rather that it is better than none. It knows that though intelligence without faith may be perverted to evil, equally so may faith without intelligence. If the former can make an infidel, the latter can make a bigot. If the former may make an Ingersoll, the latter may make a Torquemada, between whom there is little to choose. By furnishing, as the antidote of superstition, at once secular, moral and religious light, this Association gives fundamental and radical treatment to the evil, and by the breadth and enlightenment of its views commends itself to our intelligent denomination.