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of St. Helena and the island of Ascension — not a thousand miles apart, and 
they must both have been in existence for at least a thousand years since 
they were first thrown up by volcanic agency. Now that is a very long time 
and, so far as we know, no change whatever has taken place in them on the 
surface ; and yet, in one there has been a continual and marked change going 
on under the surface year by year, altering and bringing things back again to 
their original elements, while the other is as if it had been thrown up only 
yesterday. In the island of Ascension, below the surface of the ground, you 
can turn up the lava quite fresh, as though it had been deposited only yes- 
terday ; but in the other island you can do nothing of the kind. There is 
some law which requires explanation, and which shows how impossible it is 
to argue that the lapse of a certain period of time must produce certain 
changes. I put this, not as an argument, but as an ignorant, unscientific*, 
rude illustration. There is another which I should like to mention. The 
first time I returned home I came by sea, which enables us to learn the 
power and greatness of that Almighty Being whom we worship, and to 
know the meaning of faith and reliance on God. The last time I came 
by the overland route, part of the journey being performed in one of 
those fine steamers belonging to the P. and 0. Company ; and I, being a 
clergyman, held service on Sundays for my fellow voyagers ; and every 
day I assembled those who were willing to come and take part in a few 
short prayers and a short reading of Scripture. Every day, as we came 
past those interesting places along the shores of the Red Sea, almost in sight 
of Sinai, we had a talk about them. I heard that there had been a great deal 
of careless, unscientific, talk among some young men on board, who, not 
thinking of what they were saying, used to amuse themselves by foolish 
things, said in conversation, about the belief in the historical accounts of 
the Scriptures. This was brought to my ears, though not in any unkind 
spirit ; and I found that some had been expressing a disbelief in the 
Mosaic account of the Deluge. We came, at last, to the very scene where 
tradition says the Israelites passed over the Red Sea, and, on Sunday 
morning, we were all gathered together for our short service, including the 
young men of whom I have spoken, when I found that all their thoughts, 
like my own, had been dwelling on the events which were supposed to have 
happened at the spots by which we passed. Whether we came to Aden, or to 
Suez, we found that the natives, though not themselves Christians or J ews, 
all believed in the record of what had occurred in this part of the world, — 
the whole thing has a force, and power, and truth, when you are on the 
spot, which is irresistible ; and I found that my young friends, who had 
talked lightly and foolishly among themselves, all became perfect believers 
in the account of the Bible as they passed through these interesting places. 
In the few words of sermon which I gave, I found, from the attention that 
was paid to it, that we had not passed through these scenes in vain. In all 
these ways, my dear friends, what we want is to throw ourselves with 
sympathy among people, who are sometimes misled, and sometimes mis- 
leading others, — all conscious, though they do not like to confess it, of the 
