im with his foot. "Never mind; I'll chase you down, yet, and
bring you under,--you'll see!" and Legree turned away.

When a heavy weight presses the soul to the lowest level at which
endurance is possible, there is an instant and desperate effort of every
physical and moral nerve to throw off the weight; and hence the heaviest
anguish often precedes a return tide of joy and courage. So was it
now with Tom. The atheistic taunts of his cruel master sunk his before
dejected soul to the lowest ebb; and, though the hand of faith still
held to the eternal rock, it was a numb, despairing grasp. Tom sat, like
one stunned, at the fire. Suddenly everything around him seemed to fade,
and a vision rose before him of one crowned with thorns, buffeted and
bleeding. Tom gazed, in awe and wonder, at the majestic patience of the
face; the deep, pathetic eyes thrilled him to his inmost heart; his soul
woke, as, with floods of emotion, he stretched out his hands and fell
upon his knees,--when, gradually, the vision changed: the sharp thorns
became rays of glory; and, in splendor inconceivable, he saw that same
face bending compassionately towards him, and a voice said, "He that
overcometh shall sit down with me on my throne, even as I also overcome,
and am set down with my Father on his throne."

How long Tom lay there, he knew not. When he came to himself, the fire
was gone out, his clothes were wet with the chill and drenching dews;
but the dread soul-crisis was past, and, in the joy that filled him, he
no longer felt hunger, cold, degradation, disappointment, wretchedness.
From his deepest soul, he that hour loosed and parted from every hope in
life that now is, and offered his own will an unquestioning sacrifice to
the Infinite. Tom looked up to the silent, ever-living stars,--types
of the angelic hosts who ever look down on man; and the solitude of the
night rung with the triumphant words of a hymn, which he had sung often
in happier days, but never with such feeling as now:

"The earth shall be dissolved like snow,
The sun shall cease to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.

"And when this mortal life shall fail,
And flesh and sense shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil
A life of joy and peace.

"When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining like the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun."