David, Jonathan was a covert in time of storm. Savonarola, Luther,
Cromwell sheltered perishing multitudes. Solitary in the midst of the
vale in which death will soon dig a grave for each of us stands the
immortal Christ, "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."

That Infinite Being who hath made man in his own image hath endowed the
soul with full power to transform the desert into an oasis. The soul
carries wondrous implements. It is given to reason to carry fertility
where ignorance and fear and superstition have wrought desolation. It
is given to inventive skill to search out wellsprings and smite rocks
into living water. It is given to affection to hive sweetness like
honeycombs. It is given to wit and imagination to produce perpetual
joy and gladness. It is given to love in the person of a Duff, a
Judson, and a Xavier to transform dark continents. Great is the power
of love! "No abandoned boy in the city, no red man in the mountains,
no negro in Africa can resist its sweet solicitude. It undermines like
a wave, it rends like an earthquake, it melts like a fire, it inspires
like music, it binds like a chain, it detains like a good story, it
cheers like a sunbeam." No other power is immeasurable. For things
have only partial influence over living men. Forests, fields, skies,
tools, occupations, industries--these all stop in the outer court of
the soul. It is given to affection alone to enter the sacred inner
precincts. But once the good man comes his power is irresistible.
Witness Arnold among the schoolboys at Rugby. Witness Garibaldi and
his peasant soldiers. Witness the Scottish chief and his devoted clan.
Witness artist pupils inflamed by their masters. What a noble group is
that headed by Horace Mann, Garrison, Phillips and Lincoln! General
Booth belongs to a like group. What a ministry of mercy and fertility
and protection have these great hearts wrought! Great hearts become a
shelter in time of storm.