, who were evidently making sport of him, and
called out, "Thus cried Job unto his revilers, 'Suffer me that I may
speak, and after that I have spoken, mock on.'" His penetrating tones
reached every one in the grove. Some who had risen to leave, sat down,
curious to know what manner of man this might be; but many more, after
a moment's hesitation, started off again. He then cried in still louder
tone, "'Hear, O my people, and I wilt testify unto thee, O Israel, if
thou wilt but hearken unto me!'"

Many more, now smiling and willing to be amused, returned to their
places; but the speaker, seeing many groups still hesitating in the
distance, cried out for the third time, with all the strength of his
powerful lungs, "'Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me,
ye that have understanding; for the ear trieth words as the mouth
tasteth meat.'"

Then, as the last straggler returned to his seat, the speaker said with
a winning smile which utterly changed the expression of his gaunt
visage: "And now, friends, you are doubtless beset with curiosity as to
who this strange fellow in butternut jeans and cowhide shoes may be;
but it mattereth not who he is, whence he came, or whither he goeth.
The message, not the man, is the important thing."

Without a Bible he quoted his text, "'Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
corner-stone, elect, precious; and he that believeth on him shall never
be confounded' (1 Pet. 2:6); 'Other foundation can no man lay than that
is laid, which is Jesus Christ' (1 Cor. 3: 11)."

He described the church of apostolic days--its trials, its zeal, its
simplicity, its oneness of aim. "The multitude of them that believed
were of one heart and one soul," and "continued with one accord in
prayer and supplication." He pointed out that this unity was not merely
a spiritual and invisible union, but tangible, visible, organic, a
union in which caste and nationality were ignored, and where Judean and
Samaritan, Israelite and Gentile, Greek and barbarian, rich and poor,
free and bond, formed one common brotherhood, working together with
such harmony and power that, despite stripes and imprisonments,
persecutions and tortures, they multiplied and strengthened, until
idolatry was crushed, paganism vanquished, heathen philosophy
confounded, and unbelief abashed.

For a time, Hiram Gilcrest sat upon his log and listened to the
speaker's vivid eloquence with a satisfaction which amounted to
enthusiasm. "Would that t