"Well, what does it profess to do?" "Doesn't it profess to convert all the world?" "How soon?" "Before the Second Advent, as you call it." "Show me, William, where it says so." So saying, Bradly handed a little Bible to his opponent, who took it very reluctantly; while those around, being much interested, and at the same time amused, exclaimed,-- "Ay, to be sure! Show it him, William; show it him!" "Not I," said Foster, endeavouring to hide his annoyance and confusion by an assumption of scorn; "it's not in my line to hunt for texts." "True," said Thomas quietly; "if it had been, you wouldn't have made such a blunder.--He can't find it, friends, for it ain't written so in the Bible. Before the Lord comes again he'll gather out his own people from all nations. But that's not at all the same as converting all the world; that's not to be till _after_ his coming again, according to the Bible. And this is just what's happening now in different countries all over the world; exactly according to the teaching of the Bible, neither more nor less. So he hasn't proved his point, friends; has he?" "No, no!" was the universal cry. But William Foster, though sorely angry, and conscious that his arrows had utterly failed of hitting their mark, was determined not to be driven ingloriously out of the field; his pride could not endure that. So, smothering his wrath, he turned again to Bradly and said,-- "Here, give us one of your precious tracts, man." The other immediately handed him one. "Now see, mates," continued Foster, "what I've got here--`The Power of Prayer.' See how it begins `Prayer moves the arm that moves the world.' And you believe that, Tommy Tracks?" "Yes," was the reply; "I believe it; and more than that, I _know_ it--I know that it's true." "And how do you know it?" "First and foremost, because the Bible says so; not those very words, indeed, but what means just the same: as, for instance, `The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.' And, better still, I have it in our Saviour's own words: `If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?'" "Well, now, let me tell you, friend Bradly, that it's all a delusion." "You're at liberty, William, to tell me what you like; but I can tell you that it's no such thing as a delusion, for I've proved it myself to be a blessed truth." "What! You mean to say that your own prayers have been answered?" "I do mean to say so, William. There's nothing like experience. I can tell you what I know myself. I've put the Lord to the proof over and over again, and he has never failed me. I've always had what I needed."