England -- Fiction; English fiction -- 19th century; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
his bearing and he has succumbed, let him implore mercy of the
Almighty and he shall surely find it. Alas! how often do we find
unforgiveness in men Forgetting the words of Christ, 'Forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,' they turn
their faces away and leave us abased in the dust, but Christ lifts us
from that position of humiliation with comforting words, 'Arise poor
sinner and thy sins be forgiven thee, for to this end did I come into
the world.' If there is any one of you present who has sinned let him
repent this night and he will find the peace of God which passeth all
understanding. If he is weak, God will give him strength to conquer;
if he is in despair, God will give him hope of pardon. Pray--pray
unceasingly, for it is by prayer alone that our weak voices can reach
the ear of the eternal Father_."
Nestley waited to hear no more, but with a stifled cry of anguish fled
from the church into the cold, white world outside. Stumbling over the
tombstones, through the blinding snow--now falling in thick flakes--he
soon found himself in the open street, and urged by some mad impulse,
he knew not what, he sped wildly onward through the market-place, over
the bridge and on to the trackless common. With clenched teeth and
wild, staring eyes he made head against the storm that was sweeping
along. His feet made no sound on the yielding snow and he glided along
like an unquiet ghost, the burning words of the sermon ringing in his
ears.
He was in the lowest depths of despair and all men had turned their
faces from him; he would call upon the Lord to help him--but would God
attend?--surely He would--What were the words of the text?
"_Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he saveth them out
of their distresses_."
He also would cry and the Lord would save him from the terrible agony
he was enduring. He would kneel down there and then in the snow and
call upon this unseen God, pavilioned in the terrible splendour of
encircling clouds, to aid him.
"_God! Help me!_"
No answer save the whistling of the wind and the soft sound of the
snow sweeping past, caressing his cold face with delicate touch.
"_God! show me how to be saved_."
Nothing, nothing, only the black sky above, the white earth below, and
himself, between the two, a reckless, despairing man holding up his
helpless hands.
"_Our Father which art in heaven_----"
How sweet those words sounded; he had surely heard them at his
mother's knee--then he was an innocent child, but now! Oh God, the
evil life he had lived since then!
"_God! God!--pity and save!_"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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