It was amazing to hear these bloodthirsty savages consecrated by their leader to the meek service of Christ.

An enthusiast may deceive himself, and I did not question his sincerity.

I knew his heart, black with all the lusts of paganism.

I knew that his purpose was to deluge the land with blood.
But I knew also that in his eyes his mission was divine, and that he felt behind him all the armies of Heaven.
_'Thou hast been a strength to the poor,' said the voice, 'a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the Terrible Ones is as a storm against a wall._ _'Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; the branch of the Terrible Ones shall be brought low._ _'And in this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow._ _'And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is brought over all nations._ _'And the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it.'_ I listened spellbound as he prayed.

I heard the phrases familiar to me in my schooldays at Kirkcaple.