f the gospel as it was then
understood; in which case, judging from the rule of success in later
ages, we have no doubt that he attracted large audiences and delighted
all who were fortunate enough to sit under him. And when he died all the
two-legged asses in Moab probably wept and refused to be comforted.

Balaam's end was tragic. The thirteenth chapter of _Joshua_ informs us
that he was eventually slain by the very people he had thrice blessed.
After an account of one of the bloody wars of Jehovah's bandits we read
that "Balaam also the son of Beor, the sooth-sayer, did the children
of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them." The
angel of the Lord spared him, but God's butchers cut his throat at
last. On the whole he might as well have cursed the Jews up and down to
Balak's satisfaction, and taken the handsome rewards which were offered
him on such easy terms.

Here endeth the story of Balaam's Ass. I hope my reader still believes
it, for if not, he will be reprobate while he lives and damned when he
dies.

GOD'S THIEVES IN CANAAN.

BIBLE ROMANCES.--X.

By G. W. FOOTE.

Some years ago the righteous indignation of England was roused by
the daily record of atrocities perpetrated in Bulgaria by the Turkish
bashi-bazouks. Men were wantonly massacred, pregnant women ripped up,
and maidens outraged by brutal lust. Our greatest statesman uttered a
clarion-cry which pealed through the whole nation, and the friends of
the Turk in high places shrank abashed and dismayed before the stern
response of the people. Many clergymen attended public meetings, and
denounced not only the Turks, but also their Mohammedanism. They alleged
that the Koran sanctioned, even if it did not command, the horrors which
had been wrought in Eastern Europe, and they declared that there was
no hope for a country which derived its maxims of state from such an
accursed book. Those denunciations did honor to their hearts, but very
little to their heads. For every brutal injunction in the Koran, twenty
might be found in the Bible. Before the clergy cry out against the
Scriptures of Islam, they should purge their own of those horrid
features which are an insult to man and a blasphemy against God.
Mohammed gave savage counsels to his followers with respect to waging
war, but these sink into insignificance beside the counsels given to the
Jews by Moses in the name of God.

Bible Romances are generally comic, but this on