|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 40
At length, the murmuring voices were hushed into quiet. He rose, took
up his pocket Testament, read a portion of the tenth chapter of
Hebrews, offered a prayer, and then sang in his trumpet tones,
Charles Wesley's magnificently solemn hymn, commencing,--
"Lo! on a narrow neck of land
'Twixt two unbounded seas, I stand
Secure! insensible!"
He then repeated a clause in the chapter he had just read to them. "If
we sin wilfully after that we have received a knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries".
He began his discourse by reminding the people of the truths he had
presented to them during the weeks past. He had told them faithfully
of their sinfulness before a holy God, and pointed out the way of
safety and purification through a crucified Saviour. And he had
earnestly sought to induce them, by the love this Saviour bore them,
to forsake their transgressions and exercise trust in Him. He now told
them, in accents broken with grief, that he had every reason to fear
they had not followed his counsel, and observing their hardness of
heart, he felt constrained to bring them another and different
message,--a message less tender, but coming from the same divine
source. He then unfolded to them the wrath of the Most High, kindled
against those who scorn the voice of mercy from a dying Saviour.
They listened intently. His voice, his manner, his words electrified
them. His countenance was illumined with an awful light, such as they
had not before witnessed there. His eye shot out prophetic meanings.
At the close, he said, in a low tone, like the murmur of distant
thunder, "what I have told you, is true,--true, as that we stand on
this solid ground,--true, as that sky that bends above us. This book
says it. It is, therefore, eternal truth. I have it impressed upon my
mind, that a judgment, a swift, tremendous judgment, is about to
descend upon this people on account of their sins. I cannot shake off
this impression, and, under its power, I warn you to prepare your
souls to meet some dreadful calamity.
"I know not how it will come,--in what shape, with what power. But I
feel that death is near. It seems to me that I see many before me, who
will soon be beyond the bounds of time. I feel constrained to say this
to you. I beg you prepare to meet your God".
When he ceased, a visible shudder ran through the multitude. They rose
slowly and wended their way homeward, many with blanched faces, and
even the hardiest with a vague sense of some startling event
impending.
CHAPTER XIV.
JOHN AND C�SAR.
At four o'clock in the afternoon on the following day Mrs. Dubois sat
in the Madonna room. Her fingers were employed upon a bit of exquisite
embroidery, over which she bent with a contracted brow, as if her mind
was filled with anxious thought.
Ad�le, robed in a French silk of delicate blue, her rich, dark hair
looped up in massive braids, sat listlessly, poring over a volume of
old French romance.
Suddenly rising, she threw it hastily aside, exclaiming as she went
towards an open window, "O! this interminable drought! It makes me
feel so miserable and restless. Does it not oppress you, _ma ch�re
m�re?_"
Mrs. Dubois started suddenly, as Ad�le spoke.
"Ah! yes. It is very wearisome", she replied.
"_Ma m�re_, I have disturbed you. Of what were you thinking when I
spoke?"
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|