gather are filled with holy zeal. It is
inspiring to hear their eloquent confessions of guilt and wrongdoing,
their trembling protestations of contrition. Several of them are of long
experience and considerable proficiency in public speaking. One was
formerly a major in the Salvation Army. Another spent twenty years in
the Dunkard ministry, finally retiring to devote himself to lecturing on
the New Thought. A third was a Y. M. C. A. secretary in Iowa. A fourth
was the first man to lift his voice for sex hygiene west of the
Mississippi river.

All these men eventually succumbed to temptation, and hence they are
here, but I think that no one who has ever glimpsed their secret and
inmost souls (as I have during our hours of humble heart-searching
together) will fail to testify to their inherent purity of character.
After all, it is not what we do but what we have in our hearts that
reveals our true worth. (Joshua XXIV, 14.) As David so beautifully puts
it, it is "the imagination of the thoughts." (I Chronicles XXIII, 9.) I
love and trust these brethren. They are true and earnest Christians.
They loathe the temptation to which they succumbed, and deplore the
weakness that made them yield. How the memory at once turns to that
lovely passage in the Book of Job: "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent
in dust and ashes." Where is there a more exquisite thought in all Holy
Writ?

January 14.

I have had that scarlet woman before me, and invited her to join us in
our inspiring evening gatherings. For reply she mocked me. Thus Paul was
mocked by the Athenians. Thus the children of Bethel mocked Elisha the
Prophet (II Kings II, 23). Thus the sinful show their contempt, not only
for righteousness itself, but also for its humblest agents and
advocates. Nevertheless, I held my temper before her. I indulged in no
vain and worldly recriminations. When she launched into her profane and
disgraceful tirade against that good and faithful brother, her
benefactor and victim, I held my peace. When she accused him of foully
destroying her, I returned her no harsh words. Instead, I merely read
aloud to her those inspiring words from Revelation XIV, 10: "And the
evil-doer shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of
the holy angels." And then I smiled upon her and bade her begone. Who am
I, that I should hold myself above the most miserable of sinners?

January 18.

Again that immoral woman. I had sent her a few Presbyt