76. Christian Union
Christian Union THE JUDGE’S RUSE.—A man in India was accused of stealing a sheep. He was brought before the judge, and the supposed owner of the sheep was present. Both claimed the sheep, and had witnesses to prove their claims; so it was not easy to decide to whom the sheep belonged. Knowing the habits of the shepherds and the sheep, the judge ordered the animal to be brought into court, and sent one of the two men into another room, while he told the other to call the sheep, and see whether it would come to him. But the poor sheep, not knowing the “voice of a stranger,” would not go to him. In the meantime, the other man in the adjoining room, growing impatient, gave a kind of a “chuck,” upon which the sheep bounded away towards him at once. This “chuck” was the way in which he had been used to call the sheep, and it was decided that he was the owner.
BIRD UNION.—It is quite common in Africa for the serpents to ascend the trees and take the young birds and eggs from their nests. You will then see birds collect together, of different hues, different characters, and different sizes, from the water-wagtail to the hawk, all assembling to scream and to roar,—however these birds hated each other before, they now unite together, showing they are all in earnest to get the serpent to descend.
UNITY IN A COAL-MINE.—When seven men imprisoned in a Pennsylvania coal-mine were rescued after five days’ imprisonment, they were asked if they hoped to escape. “We prayed for it,” was the reply. “We prayed together. Some were Protestants, and some Catholics, but when death is close you think only of God.”
JULIAN’S FALL.—One of the two reasons assigned for the apostacy of Julian is, that when he saw the dissensions of the Christians and their rancour against each other, he took refuge from their broils in the quiet of Paganism.
EMPEROR’S EXPERIMENT.—Charles V, Emperor of Germany, at the close of his active and stirring life, retired to a monastery, where he amused himself by constructing clocks. The Emperor is said to have expressed no less regret than astonishment at the remembrance of his own folly in having used such violent measures to make about twenty millions of people agree in their religious sentiment, when he found, after repeated experiments, with all his skill, he was unable to make two clocks go exactly alike for any length of time. HAD TAMED THEM.—Bishop Massillon showing his gardens one day to a stranger, who expressed his surprise at their beauty, promised to show him in a sidewalk something more astonishing. The alley was shaded and his guest wondered to see nothing in it worthy of notice. “What!” said the bishop, “do you not perceive a Jesuit and an Oratorian playing bowls together? See how I have tamed them!”
POWER OF UNION.—Union is power. Thread, when sufficiently multiplied, will form the strongest cable. A single drop of water is a weak and powerless thing; but an infinite number of drops, united by the force of attraction, will form a stream, and many streams combined will form a river; till rivers pour their water into the mighty oceans, whose proud waves, defying the power of man, none can stay but He who formed them. And thus forces, which, acting singly, are utterly impotent, are, when acting in combination, resistless.