out and then when the third sermon was preached and finished, I dropped
back into the haircloth settee back of the pulpit with a great sense of
relief that that was over for another week. And then the thought would
take possession of me, Well you have to begin to-morrow morning to get
ready for next Sunday! But a glad day came when the thought I am trying
to teach you this morning took possession of me, viz., that when I
stood up to preach, that, though people saw me, that there was Another
who stood by my side whom they did not see, but upon whom was all the
responsibility for the meeting, and all that I had to do was to get as
far back out of sight as possible and let Him do the preaching. From
that day preaching has been the joy of my life. I would rather preach
than eat. Sometimes when I rise to preach, before I have uttered a
word, the thought of Him, standing beside me, able and willing to take
charge of the whole meeting and do whatever needs to be done, has so
filled my heart with exultant joy that I have felt like shouting. Just
so in your Sunday School teaching. Some of you worry about your Sunday
School classes for fear that you will say something that ought not to
be said, or leave unsaid something that ought to be said, and the
thought of the burden and responsibility almost crushes you. Listen!
Always remember this as you sit there teaching your class: there is One
right beside you Who knows just what ought to be said and just what
ought to be done. Instead of carrying the responsibility of the class,
let Him carry it, let Him do the teaching. One Monday morning I met
one of the most faithful laymen I ever knew and a very gifted Bible
teacher. He was deep in the blues, over his failure with his class the
day before—at least, what he regarded as failure. He unburdened his
heart to me. I said to him, "Mr. Dyer, did you not ask God to give you
wisdom as you went before that class?" He said, "I did." I said, "Did
you not expect Him to give it?" He said, "I did." Then I said, "What
right have you to doubt that He did?" He replied, "I never thought
of that before. I will never worry about my class again." Just so in
personal work. When I or some one else urges you at the close of the
meeting to go and speak to some one else, oh, how many of you want to
go, but you don't stir. You think to yourself, "I might say the wrong
thing." You will, if you say it. You will certainly say the wrong
thing; but trust the Holy Spirit, He will say the right thing. Let Him
have your lips to speak through. It may not appear the right thing at
the time, but some time you will find out that it was just the right
thing. One night in Launceston, Tasmania, as Mrs. Torrey and I came
away from the meeting, my wife said to me, "Archie, I wasted my whole
evening. I have been talking to the most frivolous girl. I don't think
that she has a serious thought in her head." I replied, "Clara, how do
you know? Did you not trust God to guide you?" "Yes." "Well, leave it
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