But the journey should be performed as soon as may be, lest interested and perverse men should prejudice his mind against you." After stating that they should take pains to show the Nestorians, that they had no intention of subjecting them to any foreign ecclesiastial power; and showing that the acknowledgment of the New Testament, as the only authoritative standard of religious truth, made them stand on common ground with the people to whom they were sent; it was stated, that their main object would be to enable the Nestorian Church, through the grace of God, to exert a commanding influence in the regeneration of Asia.
"Concentrated effort," it was added, "is effective effort.

There is such a thing as attempting too much.

Many a missionary has attempted such great things, and so many, in a new field, that he has accomplished little, and perhaps nothing as he ought.

Your surveys may extend over a great surface; but a richer and speedier harvest will crown your labors, if your cultivation is applied to a single field." The Nestorians are a branch of the ancient Christian Church, and derive their name from Nestorius, a native of Syria and Bishop of Constantinople, who was excommunicated by the third General Council at Ephesus, in the year 431.

The cause of his condemnation was probably the desire to humble the occupant of the see of Constantinople, which had begun to eclipse its sister patriarchates, rather than any real doctrinal errors.