five hundred I have not given you a description of a dozen people.
The difficulty is that a dozen people can and _do_ set in commotion
large bodies of humanity, and bring about results of which they
themselves do not dream.

About that minister: If he sunk under such a common matter as having
certain ones in a church disaffected with him, it shows a weak mind,
do you say? He should have expected trials, and disappointments, and
coldness, and disaffection. "The servant is not greater than his
lord." All true; he had preached that doctrine to himself for twenty
years, and earnestly strove to live by it. I do not say that he sunk
under the humiliation; only, don't you remember the fable of the last
straw that broke the camel's back? What I _do_ say is, that he had
borne hundreds and thousands of "straws." Also, remember it was _the
Lord_ who called him from work. Assuredly he did not call himself. I
think the master said: "Let him come; it is enough; and we need him
here."

Then what about the unfinished work that he left? What about the
midnight prayer over that sermon, the wrestling for a sign of fruit?
Was it in vain? There is fruit that you and I do not see, oftentimes.
Do you remember the young man, Dwight Brower, and the Sabbath
afternoon communion that he had with himself? Not with himself alone;
the world, the flesh, and the devil were in full strength before him;
and not _them_ only--the angel of the covenant was there beside him.
There was a conflict--the world and the devil were vanquished. Dwight
Brower's name was on the church-roll, but his heart had been with the
world. He came over that day, distinctly, firmly, strongly, to the
Lord's side. He weighed the solemn words, "Take heed what ye do; let
the fear of the Lord be upon you." They sounded to him as they never