Some congregations have such an awful sense of the local needs of their church, and such a horror of collections for general church work, that what little conscience they have left as to their duty in this matter is quieted by once a year combining the various objects into one collection, which has been aptly termed the "omnibus" plan. It lessens the number of collections and diminishes the amounts to the least possible fraction.

Every pastor has heard the question, or in his work been treated as though the question were asked:

"When will this incessant begging for money cease? It is call upon call, now for this, now for that, and I am sick and weary of it." More ask the question than those who put it into words.

"The answer is as easy as the question. It will never cease. It is a part of the law of the situation. While there remains a heathen on earth, an unfaithful Christian, a sick man, soul-sick or body-sick, an orphan child, a cripple, an outcast, a wretched creature anywhere with any wretchedness, the demands will still be made, and they will still be answered worse or better.

"When all men on earth are blessed, when the sunlight of heaven gilds the hills and valleys of the world, and wraps the blue seas in eternal calm, then may men rest from their working and their giving - not before."

Solicitors are too timid just at this point. Each cause should be presented separately and heroically, and in such a manner as to commend the cause to the favorable consideration of every honest mind and earnest heart. Let there be no shrinking back from duty, no cowardly apologies, no cold indifference. The home church is dependent upon the heathen, as much as the heathen, or any other needy cause is dependent upon them. In giving, God designs a greater blessing to rest upon the giver than upon the recipient. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." In the act of contributing God contemplates not only the building up of his kingdom in the world, but the building up of his kingdom in the heart of the individual contributor as well. The churches which live only for themselves, regardless of others, invariably decline, while those which reach out a helping hand to save others, save themselves. It is stated that "fifty years ago thirty Baptist churches in the State of Maryland declared themselves opposed to missions, while two alone stood in favor of them. The two increased to thousands, while the anti-mission churches dwindled away till they now number not more than seven or eight persons." How often we see the Scripture verified: "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty."