134 THE MOUNTAINS 



of his sins or accepted Christ as his 

 Saviour. Furthermore, John was obsti- 

 nate in spiritual things. Real Christian 

 effort was made in his behalf, but he stub- 

 bornly avoided every opportunity to find 

 the living way. 



On the other hand, we should not as- 

 sume that we ourselves understand abso- 

 lutely a man's hidden life in its profound- 

 est relation to the Holy Spirit. Now and 

 then there may be abnormal cases which 

 cannot be tested by our typical, finite 

 standards. Moreover, as Christian men 

 we should be ready to appreciate any dis- 

 coverable atom of manifest loyalty to a 

 moral ideal. A bit of gold dust is not 

 enough, surely, to make a coin of the 

 realm, but it is gold dust, and not the saw- 

 dust of a buttonwood tree. I will not say 

 that John Nicholls is a John Wesley be- 

 cause, as a sheriff, he saved from a lawless 

 mob a Negro in his custody; but I will 

 say, and I ought to say, that the sheriff 

 is a brave man. If anyone wishes to find 



