readily, and are so easily confined, that the passengers seldom know anything about them. Should an explosion take place in the engine-room of a modern steamship, the doors would close automatically, preventing the escape of steam and fire.
No such devices avail with the human
soul. A man can not allow the fire of
lust or sin in one compartment of his
being and then keep it out of the remainder.
The old doctrine of total depravity
was based on this unity and
totality of character, such that a taint
at one point was believed to be a taint
of the whole nature.
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Danger, Rushing Into—See Wilfulness.
DANGER STIMULATING EXERTION
In the homeward voyage of the Atlantic fleet, on its cruise around the world, a historian of its experiences tells of a rescue of one of the sailors in a great storm that arose. The storm was at its height and there ran through the fleet a report that the Minnesota had lost a man overboard. The signal, indicating that fact, went up to the foremast and the fleet stopt.
Could they save the man? It was noticed
that the Minnesota swung around a little,
as if to afford a lee, and the Vermont following
held true. A life-buoy had been
thrown to the struggling man, and he, being
a good swimmer, caught it, and drifted
down toward the Vermont. Those on the
Vermont saw him and ran their bow up
close to him, turned it a little so as to afford
shelter, and were preparing to lower a boat
for him. A life-line was thrown overboard,
and, to the astonishment of those on the
Vermont, the man left the life-buoy and
swam for the line. Those on board shouted
to him not to do it; but he took the chance,
swam to the life-line and wrapt it around
his wrist and was drawn on board the Vermont.
The next day we heard that there
was a similar rescue by the Kentucky of a
man lost from the Kearsarge.
The imminent danger caused strenuous
exertion. Similarly the man in
moral peril can only keep out of danger
by exerting all his powers. (Text.)
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DARKNESS
It is one of the many marvels of wireless
telegraphy that the ether waves which carry
its messages, unlike light waves, suffer no
absorption in mist or fog. Quite the opposite,
in fact, is the case, for the effect on
them of clear sunshine is so marked that
they can be sent with equal initial power
only less than half the distance by day as
by night. For this reason press dispatches
and long-distance messages sent by wireless
telegraphy are, whenever possible, committed
to the ether waves after sunset.
"He knoweth what is in the darkness."
This is what the prophet says in
connection with the affirmation, "He
revealeth the deep and secret things."
We must not imagine that darkness is
symbolical only of evil. The shadow
is as beneficent as the sunbeam. (Text.)
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The love of evil prowlers for the darkness is not confined to the insects named in the extract. It is also a characteristic of those who hunt men's souls; the saloon-keeper thrives best by his night trade.
Tarantulas are night prowlers; they do all
their hunting after dark, dig their holes,
and, indeed, carry on all the various business
of their life in the night-time. The
occasional one found walking about in day-*time
has made a mistake, someway, and he
blunders around quite like an owl in the
sunshine. (Text.)—Vernon L. Kellogg,
"Insect Stories."
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A whimsical treatise entitled, "William Ramsay's Vindication of Astrology," propounds the absurd theory that the absence of the sun is not the cause of night, but that there are tenebrificous stars by whose influence night is brought on, and which ray out darkness and obscurity upon the earth as the sun does light.
Are there not some men and some
institutions that shed darkness rather
than light on the world? (Text.)
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