The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 2 (of 2)East, Timothy
Religion
The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 2 (of 2)
East, Timothy
Christian life; Christian life -- Pictorial works
On her return home, she resumed her reading of the Scriptures,
and passed from the Psalms to the Prophecies of Isaiah. The bold
imagery of the prophet delighted her, but she could not trace its
application, or its meaning; and, in reference to his sixth chapter,
she was greatly perplexed to decide whether it was a poetical
fiction, or a real description of heaven. "My first course of
reading," she says in her letter, "left an impression on my mind
that we have not, in any of the walks of literature, such a class
of men as the writers of the Bible. These men possess some rare
endowments; they appear to know more about God and another world
than any other writers whose works I have ever read. There is a
majestic simplicity, and sublime grandeur, in all their statements
and descriptions of the unknown world, and its great spirits."
Having no one to guide her in her study of the Scriptures, her
reading was very desultory; she passed from one book to another
in great mental perplexity, and could not discover any obvious
connection between them, resembling the continuity preserved in
other works with which she was familiar. At length she turned
to Paul's Epistles, but they were dark and mystical, and rather
repulsive to her taste, being so unlike the poetic and the prophetic
books; to her mind they presented no sublimity or beauty; and
yet she admitted, it was a strange repulsiveness--it gave her no
offence, or even distaste to the Bible. "I now," she adds, "began
reading the Gospels. They were more intelligible. The narratives
pleased me. I was delighted with some of the scenes, particularly
the Prodigal Son, and the Pharisee and Publican in the Temple. The
tales interested me; they seemed to wear the air of truthfulness,
and yet at times I thought them inventions. The history of Jesus
Christ very soon took a strong hold of my imagination, and I soon
began to admire the fine blending of majesty and meekness, of
dignity and tenderness, of lofty bearing, which no insults could
disturb, and sweet compassion, which his character so broadly
exhibits. Yes, I often said, he is a real person, for no human
genius could invent such a person, or draw such a character. I
followed him through the dark period of his agonizing sufferings,
from his prostration in the garden to Calvary, where he was
crucified. I wept when I saw him on the cross."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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