Idleman,  New  York  City.  On  this  day  twenty-five  persons  made
their  decision  for  Christ,  at  the  morning  and  evening  services,  and
the   offering  was   $1,000,

371


372  WORKING   WITH   GOD

It  is  only  profitable  to  look  back  in  order  to  get
one's  bearings  of  how  to  make  a  better  advance  for-
ward. To  look  through  twenty-five  years  of  the  affairs
that  concern  an  individual,  and  those  immediately  as-
sociated with  that  individual,  may  be  confined  to  a
very  small  compass,  especially  in  this  instance,  when
we  consider  the  great  world  at  large.  It  would  be  of
no  value  to  make  so  much  as  a  mere  reference  to  it,
if  it  had  not  been  under  the  eye  of  God,  who  has
given  evidence  of  His  presence  as  surely  as  if  He  had
spoken  in  an  audible  voice.  That  has  given  charm
and  romance  to  these  years,  lighting  up  many  an  in-
cident with  the  glory  of  the  morning  that  otherwise
would  have  been  tempered  with  the  shades  of  night.
I  am  ashamed  of  many  things  that  I  have  done :  I  am
ashamed  of  many  things  that  I  have  left  undone.  Of
the  things  that  have  been  accomplished,  I  cannot  say
that  any  one  is  distinctively  mine,  for  without  God's
working  in  those  who  have  helped  me,  none  of  these
things  could  have  been  done.  To  help  to  understand
these  experiences  perhaps  it  would  be  wise  to  set
them  beside  some  of  the  experiences  related  in  the
Scriptures.  So  I  shall  remind  you  of  three  pictures
with  three  stories,  fastening  to  them  the  experiences
of  my  own  little  life  and  the  results  that  both  you
and  I  have  shared.
