An Outcast; Or, Virtue and FaithAdams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
General
An Outcast; Or, Virtue and Faith
Adams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
Conduct of life -- Fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Vice -- Fiction
Not one word is lisped about that
terrible devil holding his court of beggary and crime in the Points. He
had all his furnaces in full blast there; his victims were legion! No
Brother Spyke is found to venture in and drag him down. The region of
the Seven Churches offers inducements more congenial. Bound about them
all is shady groves, gentle breezes, and rural habitations; in the
Points the very air is thick with pestilence!
A pause follows the reading. The wise man in the spectacles--his voice
soft and persuasive, and his aspect meekness itself--would like to know
if any one present be inclined to offer a remark. General satisfaction
prevails. Brother Sharp moves, and Brother Phills seconds, that the
report be accepted. The report is accepted without a dissenting voice. A
second paper is handed him by Sister Slocum, whose countenance is seen
to flash bright with smiles. Then there follows the proclaiming of the
fact of funds, to the amount of three thousand six hundred dollars,
having been subscribed, and now ready to be appropriated to getting
Brother Syngleton Spyke off to Antioch. A din of satisfaction follows;
every face is radiant with joy. Sister Swiggs twitches her head, begins
to finger her pocket, and finally readjusts her spectacles. Having
worked her countenance into a good staring condition, she sets her eyes
fixedly upon Brother Spyke, who rises, saying he has a few words to
offer.
The object of his mission to Antioch, so important at this moment, he
would not have misunderstood. Turks, Greeks, Jews, Arabs, Armenians, and
Kurds, and Yesedees--yes, brethren, Yesedees! inhabit this part of
Assyria, which opens up an extensive field of missionary labor, even
yet. Much had been done by the ancient Greeks for the people who roamed
in these Eastern wilds--much remained for us to do; for it was yet a
dark spot on the missionary map. Thousands of these poor souls were
without the saving knowledge of the Gospel. He could not shrink from a
duty so demanding--wringing his very heart with its pleadings! Giving
the light of the Gospel to these vicious Arabs and Kurds was the end and
aim of his mission. (A motion of satisfaction was here perceptible.) And
while there, he would teach the Jews a just sense of their Lord's
design--which was the subjugation of the heathen world. Inward light was
very good, old prophecies were very grand; but Judaism was made of
stubborn metal, had no missionary element in it, and could only be
forced to accept light through strong and energetic movement. He had
read with throbbing heart how Rome, while in her greatness, protected
those Christian pilgrims who went forth into the East, to do battle with
the enemy. Would not America imitate Rome, that mighty mother of
Republics? A deeper responsibility rested on her at this moment. Rome,
then, was semi-barbarous; America, now, was Christianized and civilized.
Hence she would be held more accountable for the dissemination of light.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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