But how inadequate, some will say, are these means to meet so extensive an evil! To provide for forty out of five thousand is of little avail. So it, indeed, appears if we look merely on the surface of this great subject. But it must never be forgotten that, every individual is a centre of influence. It is a proverb that “one sickly sheep infects the flock,” but happily this law of infection is not always on the side of evil; and, I believe, the force of example is stronger in the class to which I am now referring, than amongst the reading and thinking people in a higher grade of society. “I thought he was right, at first,” a lady once said to me, “but when I sat down by the fire quietly in the evening with my Bible, and listened to the voice within, as well as to the teaching of the Word, I then saw it all in a different light; and I resolved more firmly than I had ever done before that God should be my guide, and not man.” But we are not speaking of the few who sit quietly by their fireside in the evening to weigh the actions of the day in the balance of truth; we refer to the multitude whose rule of conduct is summed up in the words—“Follow my leader.” True, they do not always follow the same leader; and the defection of a comrade will cause them to halt. Yet, after a time, they are found walking behind another guide. They are contented even if he choose the old path. But whether old or new, they cannot advance without guidance. To such accustomed only to “move altogether if they move at all,” we would commend the great truth that God can work by and for the few as well as for the many; that He is often content with small beginnings where we should have expected mighty achievements. This lesson we learn from our Saviour’s teaching.