Holy of Holies

“ How could the eyes of my spectacles ever see jest how fur down into the depths of that soul shone the Divine Ideal, the holy, stainless image of what we pray to be,—and jest how fur the mists that rise up from our earthly soil darken and blind that light? Good land! I couldn’t do it, nor Josiah, nor nobody.
We are blind creeters, the fur-seein’est of us; weak creeters, when we think we are the strong-mindedest. Now, when we hear of a crime, it is easy to say that the one who committed that wrong stepped flat off from goodness into sin, and should be hung. ”

“ In their religion, the Holenites have developed to a high degree. They have no sacred book akin to our Bible. Their whole authority comes from the lips of the Divine Family, as we would term it. This family serves for religion the same purpose as the Royal Family does for the civil realm in some countries of our world. The Divine Family are genuinely descended from their sacred ancestors who were, by a visible show of omnipotent power, appointed and consecrated to the sacred work of dispensing truth and officiating in all sacraments. ”

“ Says I:
“You dare to say that He, the Deliverer of His people from sin and evil—He, the Teacher of all purity, morality, honesty, and all Christian virtues, who came bringin’ peace on earth, good will to men—He, who taught that a man should have one wife, and be tender and constant to her, even as He loved the Church and gave Himself for it—He, whose life was so pure and self-denyin’ and holy that it brought the divine down to the comprehension of the human—the love and purity of God manifest in the flesh—how dare you tell me that He was a Mormon?”
He dassent say it agin. ”

“ It is perhaps not too bold to assert that the veneration of the saints, by draining off an overflow of religious effusion and of holy fear, acted on the exuberant piety of the Middle Ages as a salutary sedative.
The veneration of the saints has its place among the more outward manifestations of faith. It is subject to the influences of popular fancy rather than of theology, and they sometimes i deprive it of its dignity. The special cult of Saint Joseph towards the end of the Middle Ages is characteristic in this respect. ”

“ There is no salvation except by faith in me. They who put their faith in me shall never taste death, but shall be translated into the New Jerusalem, which I am going to bring down from Heaven.” He snorted; the few unbelievers protested in abhorrence; but the Sisters in the faith shrieked and the Brothers shouted, “We shall never die!” Dylks came down from the pulpit among them, and Enraghty called out, “Behold our God!” and they fell on their knees before him. As it had been from the beginning, the wisest and best, the first in prayer and counsel, were foremost in the idolatry ”

“ The righteous God and the Hyle, as a quasi female principle, united with one another in creating the world, and when the former saw how fair the earth was, he resolved to people it with men created of his own likeness. For this purpose the Hyle at his request afforded him dust, from which he created man, inspiring him with his own spirit. Both divine powers rejoiced over man as parents over a child, and shared in his worship. ”

“ Their religion was not much understood by their neighbors of the Old Church, who thought them a kind of Universalists. But the boy once heard his father explain to one of them that the New Church people believed in a hell, which each cast himself into if he loved the evil rather than the good, and that no mercy could keep him out of without destroying him, for a man's love was his very self. ”

“ You are in an eminent station, walk before God and be faithful to your calling; take heed to your steps; walk in the right road; hold your eye right; for all the world decline not from holiness; and take example by me." To his cousin he said, "Serve the Lord, and follow not the footsteps of your father-in-law" (for he had married the bishop of Galloway's daughter) ; "learn to know that you have a soul, for I say unto you the thousandth part of the world know not that they have a soul: The world liveth without any sense of God." ”

“ His head is on one port of Edinburgh, and mine must go on another. Glory, glory to the Lord's sweet name for what he hath done for me.
"Now I bless the Lord, I am not as many suspect me, thinking to won heaven by my suffering. No, there is no attaining of it but through the precious blood of the Son of God.—Now, ye that are the true seeker of God, and the butt of the world's malice, O be diligent, and run fast. Time is precious: O make use of it, and act for God: contend for truth: stand for God against all his enemies: fear not the wrath of man: love one another ”

“ To Lord Herries his brother-in-law he said, "Mock not at my council, my lord. In case you follow the course you are in, you shall never see the face of Jesus Christ, you are deceived with the merchandise of the whore that makes the world drunk out of the cup of her fornication; your soul is built upon a sandy foundation. When you come to my state, you will find no comfort in your religion. You know not what wrestling I have had before I came to this state of comfort. The kingdom of heaven is not gotten with a skip or leap, but with much, seeking and thrusting, &c." ”

“ In case of war, now, foreign invasion, if each man owned property of his own, if each man was a Mormon, in fact, he would be fighting for his own interest; not for the interest of some great landed lord. He would be fightin’ for his own hearth-stone; the sacred and holy hearth-stone.”
Says I, in reasonable axents: “I hain’t a word to aginst the sacredness of the hearth-stun. I hain’t a word to say aginst the stun. But wouldn’t it be apt to take off a little of the sacredness of the stun to have thirty or forty wimmen a settin’ on it; each claimin’ it as her own stun? ”

“ Human nature is everywhere essentially the same. The people of Hooeli being thus strengthened, they, with a little aid from abroad, erected a larger and finer house of worship, and then began to desire a new minister. Their humble and earnest but not eloquent preacher, whose labors God had so blessed among them, would do, they said, to gather the lambs, but not to feed the sheep. ”

“ If God would only let us change our natures at will;
If I had no heart I could better act my part;
Deserted, unloved wife, yet loving him, loving him still!
I think that a modern saint is better without a heart.
When I die—what other hope do I have—he may come at last;
Perhaps he may even lay his hand on my brow
When ’tis cold, and say: “It is long since past,
But she was dear to me in the long ago.” ”

“ But Miss Holley’s part is perfectly natural and familiar. It has lost none of its mirth, none of its common sense, none of its good clear-eyed religious way of looking at things. It is faithful to the spirit of a great deal that is best in American life. ”

“ They jeered at the believers as these arrived, sometimes hailing them by name; they neighed and whinnied, and shouted “Salvation!” and in the intervals of silence they burst out with the first lines of the Believers' hymn.
There were those who mocked, “I am God Almighty,” “The Father and the Son are one, and I am both of 'em put together,” and “Oh, Dylks, save us!” “Don't leave us, Dylks!” “Make the Devil jump, Joseph! Make him rattle his scales for us!” “Fetch on your miracle!” The believing women turned away ”

“ I wuz overcome by his simple words, and I bust out onbeknown to me—
“I hain’t found it.” Sez I, and onconsciously I used the words of another—“‘We are all poor creeters,’ but we try to worship the true God—we try to follow the teachin’s of Him who loved us, and give His life to us.”
“The wise man who lived in Galilee and taught the people?” sez he.
“No,” sez I, “not the wise man, but the Divine One—the God who left His throne and dwelt with us awhile in the form of the human. We try to foller His teachings—a good deal of the time we do,” sez I, honestly and sadly. ”

“ At another time, being asked his judgment anent the ceremonies then used in the church; he answered, "I think and am persuaded in my conscience they are superstitious, idolatrous and antichristian, and come from hell. I repute it a mercy that my eyes shall not see the desolation that shall come upon this poor church. It is plain popery that is coming among you. God help you, God forgive the nobility, for they are either very cold in defending the true religion, or ready to welcome popery, whereas they should resist; and woe be to a dead time-serving and profane ministry." ”

“ But I think that is something everyone must do for themselves." He looked a little alarmed at the note of severity in her voice, and she explained. "I mean that if you try to be religious for anything besides religion, it isn't being religious;—and no one else has any right to ask you to be." ”

“ Then he spake as to himself, "Fear not, little flock, it is the Father's will to give you the kingdom. Then he said, What are these who are of this little flock? Even sinners. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance;" but what kind of sinners? Only those who are sensible of sin and wrath, and see themselves to be lost, therefore, says Christ, "I came to seek and to save them who are lost." There are two words here, seeking and saving; and who are these? Even those who are lost bankrupts, who have nothing to pay. These are they whom Christ seeks, and who are of his flock. ”

“ The Gillespies sat down with the stranger in the foremost bench. He wore the black broadcloth coat of the Friday night before; his long hair, combed back from his forehead, fell down his shoulders almost to his middle; the glances of his black eyes roved round the room, but were devoutly lowered at the prayer which opened the service. It was a Methodist who preached, but somehow to-night he had not the fervor of his sect; his sermon was cold, and addressed itself to the faith rather than the hope of his hearers. ”

“ Josiah Allen, you and I know what we believe the beautiful religion (Methodist Episcopal) that we both love, makes a light in our two souls. But don’t let us stand in that light and yell out, that everybody else’s light is darkness; that our light is the only one. No, the heavens are over all the earth; the twelve gates of heaven are open and a shinin’ down on all sides of us.
“Jonesville meetin’ house (Methodist Episcopal) haint the only medium through which the light streams. It is dear to us, Josiah Allen, but let us not think that we must coller everybody and drag ’em into it. ”

“ But when Enraghty, after a few words, sat down to await the coming of the Spirit, suddenly the minister whose turn to preach would have come that night, sprang to his full height in the pulpit and denounced Enraghty's pretense. The believers rose shouting to their feet, and crying, “He is my God!” stormed out of the Temple in the night, where their voices were heard repeating, “He is my God!” till they swelled together in the hymn which was their confession of Dylks. A few of the unbelievers remained in the Temple, amazed, but the greater part followed the believers into the night. ”

“ Smote them and strewed them to earth like leaves in the breath of the whirlwind.
Hushed at last was the sound of the lamentation and singing;
But from the distant hill the throbbing drum of the pheasant
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Shook with its heavy pulses the depths of the listening silence,
When from his place arose a white-haired exhorter, and faltered:
“Brethren and sisters in Jesus! the Lord hath heard our petitions,
So that the hearts of his servants are awed and melted within them,––
Even the hearts of the wicked are touched by his infinite mercy. ”

“ The God in Christ would awe us too much; we would shield our eyes from the too blindin’ glory of the pure God-like. But the tender Christ who wept over a sinful city, and the grave of His friend, who stopped dyin’ on the cross to comfort His mother’s heart, provide for her future—it is this womanly element in our Lord’s nature that makes us dare to approach Him, dare to kneel at His feet? ”

“ For one single person may oftentimes be broken, as it seemeth to himself, but the whole Body of Holy Church was never broken, nor never shall be, without end. And therefore a sure thing it is, a good and a gracious, to will meekly and mightily to be fastened and oned to our Mother, Holy Church, that is. ”

“ Day after day the poor mother found the load upon her shoulder grow lighter, and that within her breast heavier and heavier, as if the burden were shifted, till at last those walking at her side saw by his white lips and shrinking visage that the hand of death had touched the child. The cripple, between signs and sounds, made them understand that he desired baptism before he died, and, tenderly lifting him from his mother's shoulder, they consecrated him by the ancient rites of that church of the poor and martyrs. ”

“ When you stand by my side in your half of the godhead, you will know that there is no difference. Why, even a poor human being can make wrong right by wanting it enough, and with God there is nothing but one kind of thing, the thing that God allows. It don't matter whether it's letting the serpent tempt that fool woman in Eden, or Joseph's brethren selling him into Egypt, or Samuel hewing Agag in pieces, or the Israelites smiting the heathen, or David setting Uriah in the forefront of the battle, or Solomon having hundreds of wives ”

“ Is it possible that Jesus Christ can lose his grip of me? neither can my soul get itself plucked from Jesus Christ." He earnestly desired a sense of God's presence; and the minister said, What, my lord, if that be suspended, till you come to your own home, and be before the throne clothed in white, and get your harp in your hand, to sing salvation to the Lamb, and to him that sitteth on the throne, for that is heaven; and who179 dare promise it to you upon earth? There is a piece of nature in desiring a sense of God's love, it being an apple that the Lord's children delight to play with. ”

“ In the close of his sermon, he called God to witness, that he had walked in a good conscience among them, not seeking to please men, nor serving his own nor other men's inclinations, but in all sincerity and truth preaching the gospel of Christ. Then praising God, who had given them one in his room, he exhorted them to stand fast in the faith they had received, and having prayed fervently for the divine blessing upon them, and the increase of the Spirit upon their new pastor, he gave them his last farewel, with which the congregation were much affected. ”