35 2 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



tary individual, or family, or little flock, to receive 

 benefit from the visit. 



Numberless instances are on record of such provi- 

 dential leadings, and of the good that has resulted 

 from them, not only to individuals, but also to com- 

 munities and nations. We fancy' that only in the 

 crowd can good be done, that we need to get together 

 large meetings, and an overflowing congregation, in 

 order to produce a deep and widespread impression. 

 But this is not always the case. Crowds have not 

 always been helpful in the matter of healthy and sure 

 progress. Not unfrequently, by their bustle and noise 

 and distractions, they have placed hindrances in the 

 way. A man has in a crowd no calmness of mind 

 to think, but is swayed exclusively by the feelings 

 of the moment. He loses his sense of individuality, 

 which is the very first element of responsibility ; and 

 may even lose his moral sensitiveness, and sanction 

 words and deeds which, when alone, he would indig- 

 nantly repudiate. The best work has always been done 

 by the few, and not by the many. Our Lord's own best 

 work, so to speak, was not done in crowds, but in the 

 desert ; and the sayings of His that sink deepest into 

 our hearts, and open up to us the grandest vistas into 

 the eternal world, were uttered, not when thronged 

 by the multitude, so that He had no room or time 

 even to eat, but when conversing with a solitary 

 woman, beside a well or near a tomb. The fickle 

 crowds fell away from Him in His hour of need ; and 

 only the solitary souls whom He called to Him one 



