Peden The Prophet PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1859 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXIV. THE LESSON. "Ask now of history's authentic page, And call up evidence from every age; Display with busy and laborious hand The blessings of the most indebted land; What nation will you find, whose annals prove So rich an interest in Almighty love?" I Had a vision, yet I was in no trance. I stood by the side of a noble river, which bore upon its bosom the life and wealth of the world. While I gazed upon its expansive waters and continually shifting Bcenes, a venerable man, hoary with age, dressed in flowing robes, with a girdle around his waist, his gray beard covering his aged breast, and his long white hair hanging down his back, holding a huge staff with both his hands to support him as he walked, drew near me, and entered into conversation. We looked upon the river together, and talked of its tides and traffic. As we conversed, a young man, of noble but dreamy countenance, came close to us, and stripped to bathe. Near the spot which he had selected, there was an eddy in the flood, which forced the waters under the bank, occasioning opposing currents to meet there, and create a whirlpool. At this very place the youth was about to leap into the stream, when, for the moment, he was stopped by the loud voice of the aged patriarch. "Tarry, young man," cried the sage; "at that spot where you were ready to plunge, there is constant danger. I have been warning multitudes concerning it for many years; there, by the banks, the waters are cold as death, and they who are drawn into its current sink to rise no more. Be not reckless, but take advice." "I have heard of such a danger, when a boy," said the young man, "but have lived long enough to laugh at old wives' fables. A whirlpool may have existed there when you were young, but...