BLOOD, THE TIE OF
Henry M. Stanley, in his work “Through the Dark Continent,” describes the warrior chief Mirambo, the Mars of Africa, whose genius for war Stanley likens to that of Frederick the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte. He was a formidable adversary, and Stanley was very anxious to convert him from a foe into an ally. By skilful management he did accomplish this, and to make the alliance an unbreakable one, the covenant of brotherhood was sealed by an interchange of blood between the African hero and the American hero, an incision being made in the right leg of each for this purpose. The same blood now flowed in the veins of both Stanley and Mirambo, and they thereafter vied with each other in proofs of their unselfish fidelity. Abraham and Abimelech made such a covenant and the literal translation is “they cut a covenant.” Jacob and Laban also “cut a covenant.” An Oriental could as soon commit suicide as slay a covenant brother, for it would be shedding his own blood.
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Blotting Out Errors—See [Effacement of Sins].
Blows, Repeated—See [Repetition, Force of].
Bluffer, The Human—See [Pretense].
BLUNDER, A
This incident is told by Dr. R. F. Horton in the Christian Endeavor World:
I had been addressing a large midday congregation in Leeds, and a deep seriousness pervaded the atmosphere. The closing hymn appointed began, “Sin-sick and Sorrow-laden”; and by some inconceivable oddity of my own mind I gave it out, quite deliberately and distinctly, “Seasick and Sorrow-laden.” I perceived what I had done in a second. I literally trembled, for it was impossible to recall the slip without calling attention to it. I feared that there would be an awful titter, or even an explosion of laughter. Wonderful to say, it was as if no one but myself noticed the blunder, and I was awed into gravity, not only by the occasion, but by my fear of what might happen.
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