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and obiiquy. Sanely examined, the offices of commanding
generals and public executioners are in one detail identi-
cal; the one kills the public enemy by command of the
law and for the country's good; the other does exactly the
same th:ng for the same reason. If the one office is honora-
ble it is irrational to deny that the other is likewise so. If
you can contrive to prove that the one office is odious,
contemptible, disreputable, you will find that you have
proved the same of the other and that there is no honest
way of getting out of this difficulty.

This is a good time to read up on scientific matters and
improve the mind. For about us is the peace of the great
deep. It invites dreams to study, to reflection. Seventeen
days ago this ship sailed out of Calcutta and ever since
barring a day or two in Ceylon there has been nothing in
sight but a tranquil blue sea and a cloudless blue sky.
All down the Bay of Bengal it was so; it was so on the
equator, it is still so here in the vast solitudes of the
Indian Ocean; 17 days of heaven, and in n more it will
end. There will be one passenger who will be sorry. One
reads all day long in this delicious air of course. Today I
have again been storing up knowledge from Sir John Lub-
bock about the ant. The thing which has struck me most
and most astonishingly is the ant's extraordinary powers
of identification—memory of its friend's person.

The sermon yesterday morning had in it one of those
old timers—one of those sillinesses—which the pulpit used
to get eloquent over very frequently:—Christ gave His
life for our race. Could a man be found who could do
such a thing? Millions of men and millions of women
have done more; they have freely given their lives to save
even individuals who were in danger—and risked eternal
damnation when they did it; for they rushed to the rescue
without first squaring up their sin account with God.

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