many, so did the version of Marnix prove to be the corner-stone of the Dutch republic.
(243)
Bible, Translation of, into Life—See Version, His Mother's.
Bible, Use of—See Religion Diffused.
BIBLIOMANCY
Whitefield had to sail for Georgia, and he
summoned Wesley to leave London and come
to Bristol to take up the strange work begun
there. In the little society in Fetter
Lane that call was heard with dread. Some
dim sense of great issues hanging upon the
answer to it disquieted the minds of the
little company. The Bible was consulted by
lot, and repeatedly, in search of a text which
might be accepted as a decision. But only
the most alarming passages emerged. "Get
thee up into this mountain and die on the
mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered
to thy people," ran one. When one
chance-selected text proved disquieting in
this fashion the lot was cast again and yet
again, but always with the same result. There
was a quaint mixture of superstition and
simplicity in the Bibliomancy of the early
Methodists. If the text which presented itself
did not please, it was rejected, and the
sacred pages were interrogated by chance
afresh, in the hope of more welcome results.
W. H. Fitchett, "Wesley and His Century."
(244)
BIGNESS
The size of a gathering is not the important thing, it is the spirit and purpose of it.
Some years ago at a meeting of Congregationalist
ministers in Windham County,
Conn., one of their number arose and proposed
that arrangements be made for a great
convocation of all the ministers and churches
in all that county and vicinity. He expatiated
largely upon the importance of such
an assembly, tho without giving any very
definite evidence as to the value of the results
that might be attained; and closed by
recommending the project to the favorable
consideration of the brotherhood.
An old and well-known and somewhat eccentric preacher, Thomas Williams, arose in his place and spoke in substance as follows:
"A man once said: 'If all the iron in the world were made into one ax, what a great ax that would be! And if all the water in the world were poured into one pond, what a great pond that would be! And if all the wood in the world were made into one tree, what a great tree that would be! And if all the men in the world were made into one man, what a great man that would be!' And then," drawled out the speaker, "if that great man should take that great ax, and fell that great tree into that great pond, what a great splosh there would be!"
The old man sat down, and nothing more was heard of the "great splosh" or the great meeting.
(245)
Bigness and Littleness Relative—See Comparative, The.
Bigness Obscured by Littleness—See
Proportion.
BIGOTRY, RELIGIOUS
Thomas Jefferson was fiercely assailed by
the Federal party, including nearly all of the
clergy of the country, as not only depraved
in heart and life, but as a blatant infidel, for
whom the yawning abyss of wo, with its
eternal torments, was none too severe a
doom. Not long since a man died at Rhinebeck
who, when an infant, was taken into
the Reformed Dutch Church in that town to
be baptized. After the clergyman had received
the child in his arms the father gave
the name to be applied as "Thomas Jefferson,"
who was then President. "It would be
blasphemy," said the minister, "to call that
name in the house of God; this child's name
is John," and he finished the christening, the
boy bearing the name thus given to the day
of his death.—New York Journal of Commerce.
(246)
BIRD NOTES
Most of our song-birds have three notes
expressive of love, alarm, and fellowship.
The last call seems to keep them in touch
with one another. I might perhaps add to
this list the scream of distress which most
birds utter when caught by a cat or a hawk—the
voice of uncontrolled terror and pain
which is nearly the same in all species—dissonant
and piercing. The other notes and
calls are characteristic, but this last is the
simple screech of common terrified nature.
(Text.)—John Burroughs, Country Life in America.
(247)
See Darkness, Influence of.
Birds—See Cruelty to Birds.
