The Three Laws and the Golden Rule (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1898. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... A CREATURE OF CIRCUMSTANCE HE was Scotch from crown to toe, Scotch in his name, character, and virtues--vices he had none, unless the national acquisitiveness can be so characterized--and Scotch above all in his religion. The Scotch Presbyterianism is considerably bluer than the rest of the brand, and of the bluest of the blue was the theology of Angus MacNab. As a boy he had won prizes at Sabbath school, walked through youth in the straight and narrow way, and on coming to manhood--tall, loose-jointed, and solemn--found himself with two definite incentives to future action: an ambition to acquire wealth and a dream of saving souls. Parsons were poor, and money-making ungodly, and for a while the two conflicting passions prevented his choosing a career; but he learned, in time, of the possibilities in missionary work among the heathen, and with much prayer and pious thought prepared himself and his way towards this calling. An outward-bound ship took him, primed with zeal and commissions, as far towards heathendom as the River Plate, where an easterly gale wrecked the ship and drowned half her people. His baggage and credentials were lost, and the enforced companionship with seamen in the open air until they reached the settlements roughened him and prepared him to work his way as a 'foremast hand to Buenos Ayres. Here he found no occupation congenial to his creed-- the Roman Catholic Church attending to the needs of souls--and he shipped before the mast for the Gold Coast, where, he was told, there were missionaries. This trip determined his life. With his small endowment of spirituality reduced to intolerant dogmatism and his clothing to tarry rags, he presented so unpromising a front to the local missionaries as to fail him of encouragement, or even ...