Job 15:11 Are the consolations of God small with you? is there any secret thing with you? In the Harlem district of New York came the report of a disease-smitten residence, the occupants of which gave symptoms of arsenical poisoning. At first it was supposed that someone living in the house was secretly administering the poison to the other inmates through their food. But chemical tests of various dishes at various times, even examination of the drinking water, elicited nothing wrong. Once or twice a domestic was arrested on suspicion, but almost as soon released. The trouble grew more alarming, and with the growing alarm grew the mystery. At last a prominent chemist of the city, who had been quietly studying the newspaper and other accounts given, called at the house, and requested permission to personally inspect it. This was readily granted. Almost the first thing he did upon gaining entrance was to carefully examine, not the sanitary appointments, which were known to be correct, but the paper on the walls. He minutely examined all the paper on every wall in the place, and upon leaving without disclosing his suspicions, took with him several sections of the wallpaper in the bedrooms and dining room. These he subjected to a careful examination in his laboratory, with the result, as he had suspected, that every sample of wallpaper contained large quantities of pure arsenic, used in the production of the various colours. This poison was particularly plentiful in the composition of the pink papers, one Sample of which had enough arsenic on a square foot of it to destroy the life of an adult. The discovery caused at the time much excitement, and many persons tore down their wallpapers, some. without cause, and substituted other styles of decoration. So is it often that the soul's life is threatened and dangerously affected by some secret, hidden, mysterious cause as insidious, yet all-pervading and powerful, as the filling of the Harlem lot or the arsenically prepared colours in the wallpaper. "Is there any secret thing with thee?" is in such a case a timely question, which may find a saving answer. (G. V. Reichel.) Parallel Verses KJV: Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?WEB: Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you? |
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