There is another difficulty. Centuries ago, a wise man referring to the conditions of his time, wrote: "Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh." If he had lived long enough, or late enough; certainly if he had lived in our day, he would have changed or enlarged his epigram and made it read, "Of the contriving of a multitude of philanthropic schemes there is no end; and the constant solicitations in their interest is a weariness of the flesh, and of the patience and purse as well." It is our lot to live in the noonday and the tropic of professedly beneficent and charitable enterprises. Many well-meaning men and women spend the larger part of their time in voyages of exploration, hoping to discover some new continent of want, needing settlement and cultivation. The Columbus of philanthropy is not an exceptional or an obscure personage in modern society. The consequence is, our offered opportunities are more than our ability or our disposition to make use of them. Our accredited benevolences are in growing excess of our benevolence. The further consequence is, that intelligent Christian expenditure is forced to adopt some principle of selection among enterprises that clamor for a hearing and a helping. An open hand is not all that is needed; it would be emptied before it had passed half round the circle of importunate applicants. The vigor and amount of the demands made upon the Christian Church necessitate a balancing and weighing of the comparative importance of claims that are so persistently and so enthusiastically pressed, with the acknowledgment and answer of those which are evidently broad and just and the refusal of those which are petty and professional. And the final consequence is, that any cause, however good, is at a disadvantage, especially if it has outworn its novelty. The temper of the age is not judicial, and in the hurry of our current life it is easier to give or withhold the dollar than it is to stop and consider whether the dollar ought to be given or withheld. So it comes about that enterprises which ought to be their own sufficient commendation and appeal, are forced to enter the lists with a host of competitors, and compelled to spend time and strength which might be better employed, in justifying their right to be and live.