There are some people, when we have not seen them for a few months, we hardly dare to ask them how they are prospering, for fear they will drop their heads and say, "Well, not so well as I would like." They have not been drinking at the fountain. They did not send down their roots and find the under-currents of saving grace; and the result is, they have no victorious testimony to the power of Jesus to save. On the other hand, there are certain individuals, though we have not seen them for years, we scarcely think of asking them how they are getting along, for we have known of their overcoming life so long, that we naturally take it for granted that it is still well with their souls. We do not expect anything different from the past, except more of it. Many years ago we received a postal card from a brother in a distant city relative to some business. It being a business card, the most of it was printed matter, even his name being printed. The card closed with these words: "Yours saved, H. W. S.----." In thinking the matter over, we observed that in all probability the brother had several hundreds of the cards printed, and he knew very well that it would take some time, perhaps weeks or months, before the last card would be sent out. The thought then was, Brother S----, how did you know that when the last card would be sent out, it would still be, "Yours, saved, H. W. S----?" How did you know but it would be, "Yours, backslidden, H. W. S----?" The fact was, that Brother S---- had made no calculation on backsliding, and he figured that the last card would be just as true as the first. Eight or ten years passed and we received a note from this same brother. Instead of signing his name the way he did before, it was, "Yours saved to the uttermost, hallelujah, H. W. S----." Now, after years had passed and gone, he could still sign his name the same, only more of it. In the economy of grace, God has made no provision for one to have less grace than in the past. The best experience of one's life should be up-to-date. It is a sad epoch in one's life when he can take a retrospect and look down the lane of long ago and see a better experience than now. That person has certainly headed toward Egypt that sees the highest plane of his Christian experience, and then gets the consent of his mind to live on a lower plane. "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection." When the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea they sang and shouted and had a hallelujah time; but their slogan was, "On to Canaan." When finally, the survivors and those who were born on the way crossed the River Jordan, they built a monument, which signified that they had come over there to stay. CHAPTER XI THE PALM TREE GETS OTHERS STARTED Where this remarkable tree finds root, and grows, it is almost sure, sooner or later, to cause other palms to spring up; so that it does not need to be alone.