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VICTORY WITH GOD
But yesterday I opened an English history. The scholar was recounting the events of the hour when Parliament prohibited slavery, in the English colonies. At that time, the author says, applause in those sacred precincts was unknown, but suddenly at the name of Wilberforce, all the members arose, cheered wildly, waved hands and caps, and in a tumult of enthusiasm, clustered about Wilberforce. But the one man who sat silent and overcome, perhaps was thinking of the hour when in Parliament he made his first plea. Then his seemed a hopeless task. The rich men of England drew their income from slavery and the sugar plantations. The whole moneyed system of England was involved. After Wilberforce’s first attack on slavery, he was left alone. Men turned their backs on him as if he were a leper. He ate his bread in solitude. When he wandered through the corridors of the House of Commons, he was alone, like an outcast. All great houses were closed to the reformer. Then Wilberforce wrote a little book on religion and conscience, and the moral state of England. But the bitter fight was transferred to a cathedral, whose canon thundered against the reformer, and defended the institution of slavery. But Wilberforce held on his way. He knew his God. He saw afar off Him who was invisible. And lo, the sword flashed, and he beheld the Prince of Peace marching to victory. Once there was Wilberforce, and in the shadow behind him one like unto the Son of God. Then, there was Wilberforce, and all England behind him, and the Eternal God over all, leading on, in whose name Wilberforce wrought exploits.—N. D. Hillis.
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VIEW, THE NEAR AND FAR
How often would it happen that men who see evil in other men, and hold one another in distrust and contempt, would gain a different impression merely by drawing nearer together. Tit-Bits gives this humorous instance:
They met on a bridge. Each held out his hand, and they shook, and instantly realized that they were utter strangers. Had not one of them been a genuine Hibernian the situation might have been embarrassing.
“Begorra, that’s quare,” said Pat. “When we wor so far off that we couldn’t see eich other I thought it was you an’ you thought it was me, and now we’re here together it’s nayther of us.” (Text.)
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VIEW-POINT