said he, 'are but on the surface,
and spring from the infinite variety of the human mind, which will ever
adapt a creed to suit its own turn of thought. It is the solid core that
underlies every Christian creed which is of importance. Could you
but live among the Romans or the Greeks, in the days before this new
doctrine was preached, you would then know the change that it has
wrought in the world. How this or that text should be construed is a
matter of no moment, however warm men may get over it. What is of the
very greatest moment is, that every man should have a good and solid
reason for living a simple, cleanly life. This the Christian creed has
given us.'

'I would not have you be virtuous out of fear,' he said upon another
occasion. 'The experience of a long life has taught me, however, that
sin is always punished in this world, whatever may come in the next.
There is always some penalty in health, in comfort, or in peace of
mind to be paid for every wrong. It is with nations as it is with
individuals. A book of history is a book of sermons. See how the
luxurious Babylonians were destroyed by the frugal Persians, and how
these same Persians when they learned the vices of prosperity were put
to the sword by the Greeks. Read on and mark how the sensual Greeks were
trodden down by the more robust and hardier Romans, and finally how the
Romans, having lost their manly virtues, were subdued by the nations
of the north. Vice and destruction came ever hand in hand. Thus did
Providence use each in turn as a scourge wherewith to chastise the
follies of the other. These things do not come by chance. They are part
of a great system which is at work in your own lives. The longer you
live the more you will see that sin and sadness are never far apart, and
that no true prosperity can exist away from virtue.'

A very different teacher was the sea-dog Solomon Sprent, who lived in
the second last cottage on the left-hand side of the main street of the
village. He was one of the old tarpaulin breed, who had fought under
the red cross ensign against Frenchman, Don, Dutchman, and Moor, until a
round shot carried off his foot and put an end to his battles for ever.
In person he was thin, and hard, and brown, as lithe and active as a
cat, with a short body and very long arms, each ending in a great hand
which was ever half closed as though shutting on a rope. From head to
foot he was covered with the most marvellous tattooings, done