ple
in the surrounding country. I saw the church feeling some responsibility
for every family, and counting them all as within the bounds of its
parish. I saw every family in all that wide region as tributary to the
church. I saw the church making systematic plans to carry the gospel to
all these outlying neighborhoods. I began to think of all those people as
my parishioners as truly as were those who lived near the church and were
members of it. And so the vision dawned upon me of the Larger Parish. In
my own mind I annexed all the surrounding country and began to make plans
for the evangelization and helping of all the people who dwelt therein. So
under the stimulus of foreign missions the vision came of the work that
should be done and could be done nearer home.

And it may be well to add that since the work of the Larger Parish began,
the contributions to foreign missions have more than doubled. There are
those all over this wide territory who knew little and cared less about
missions three years ago, but who now are eager to make some contribution
to the support of the missionary in China, half of whose salary our Church
is pledged to provide.

And so the vision came, from above as all good visions do, but it came
while walking in the pathway of duty, in the unfolding of a larger
experience. He who follows the dawning light will see the vision.

IV

HOW THE VISION BECAME A REALITY

The chief value of visions is in their fulfilment. A visionary man is one
who sees but does not do. He has revelations of splendid possibilities,
but they do not materialize. The sky of his inner consciousness is all
painted over with beautiful pictures, but those designs never get on the
canvas or into the marble or find their fulfilment in flesh and blood. The
most elaborate plans and specifications will not shelter a family nor
constitute a home. They must be embodied in brick and stone and timber in
order to make them valuable. Only the concreting of ideals can save the
vision-gazer from becoming a visionary.

It is always interesting and instructive to trace the process by which a
vision is made real. Often the pathway to the goal is obscure, difficult,
and tedious, but it is worth while to follow it. This chapter will be an
endeavor to trace the process by which the vision of the Larger Parish
became a reality.

I had a clear apprehension of two things--the work to be done, and the
instrument by which it must be acc