Fourth--These churches and this army are under, and are led by
pastors who are for the most part the children of this Association.
This means thorough equipment, and discipline, and effectiveness, and
aggressive work.

When we look at what has been done in the line of church work in our
vast field, and compare it with our limited resources, we are
satisfied and speak the praises of the noble men and women in the
field and in the office. We have garnered fruit grandly
proportionated to the planting. But when we look at the work which
has been done and contrast it with what remains to be done, we are
far from being satisfied. Instinctively we are impelled to repeat the
call of the prophet in the hearing of the Church of Christ: "Arise,
shine, for thy light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen
upon thee." Proportioning the means used to the products reaped, we
look forward with hope, expecting a future that shall correspond with
the promises of God. The statistics in this department of the
Association's labors may look like "Holy Trifles;" and comparatively
they are "Holy Trifles;" but so is the "handful of corn" in the
Messianic psalm, which depicts the future growth of Christendom. The
things tabulated in these statistics are the "handful of corn" in our
Southland, but as we contemplate them, we may use the old, old song
of the church and sing ourselves into an ecstasy: "There shall be an
handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit
thereof shall shake like the cedars on Lebanon; and they of the city
shall flourish like the grass of the earth. His name shall endure for
ever; his name shall be continued as long as the sun; and men shall
be blessed in him and all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be
the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And
blessed be his glorious name forever; and let the whole earth be