Nonjurant

“ Without a great sacrifice, I'm a dead man.'
'What sacrifice is there I would not make for you, Henry? my love has never failed. I could do anything but sin for you.'
'And you couldn't do that? What, then, if I tell you you have sinned already?' His eye rested piercingly on her. 'Maida, I am about to sift your love for me. Do you know what we have done?'
'No! what? explain, and quickly.'
'We—have—committed—forgery,' deliberately hissed Norwell; 'and it is too late to retract, unless you would hurl me into hell—for this pistol goes through my heart the instant you decide against me. ”

“ I care no more for myself or for the world.’ For two days he lay tossing in anguish and delirium, cursing his sons and himself, muttering ‘Shame, shame on a conquered king!’ till the approach of death, and the tender care of the one child who had remained with him to the last, his illegitimate son Geoffrey, brought him back to reason, penitence, and peace, and on 6 July he passed quietly away. ”

“ I would as soon sign my own death-warrant, or yours; for to sign my own would not wring my heart. I will sign no bond: I will give no pledge. I need no man's honour to be gauged for my forbearance. Pardon me, if I seem rude, and rough, and stern. I would that the time were come when it might not be so—that my destiny were accomplished; for it may be that, by brooding over schemes of vengeance, our minds are filled with strange presentiments. ”

“ Here, my dear Nodier, is a book filled with deeds that are screened from the action of the laws by the closed doors of domestic life; but as to which the finger of God, often called chance, supplies the place of human justice, and in which the moral is none the less striking and instructive because it is pointed by a scoffer. ”

“ But if this punishment of ours is just, consider now what sort of a hell this man has deserved to whom You have shown such unheard-of love, whom You have waited for so patiently for many years, whose repentance You were ready to receive at any hour or moment, and who nevertheless has so of ten and daringly offended You to the very end of his life ”

“ You have come for her, — have you?
Do not sever, for God's sake,
Our bond! — But death says:
"I understand your worry, —
I have severed many bonds;
Your bond is so strong
That I cannot sever it." ”

“ If I have a hope of the future at all—I don’t know that I have—it is that when the Creator is collecting the dead for the judgment, He will shed a tear on my grave, and, knowing my unhappy life, permit me to sleep on. If this cannot be, my fate cannot be much worse elsewhere than it is here, and for the chance of oblivion I am willing to take the risk. In any event, my judge will be a just one, and I am willing to appear before Him. ”

“ The punishment was so great to the nobleman, that he is reported to have died of grief. What will it be when God shall intimate to the sinner at the time of death, Depart, for I never wish to see thee more? ”

“ Had we this fellow at the Tower, a few turns of the rack would tear a confession from his craven soul. But why should we need his word for his own guilt? You have seen, my lords, you have heard! How say you, fair son? Is the man guilty? ”

“ The second, as he lay maimed in the frying-pan, exclaimed: “Thou indeed, O most wicked man, destroyest us out of this present life: but the King of the world will raise us up who die for His laws, in the resurrection of eternal life.” ”

“ But ye all know, that he who lives in any wilful and known sin, or in the wilful neglect of any known duty, he hath not yet repented, and turned to God, but is still in his natural estate, in a state of sin and damnation. And if he happens to do so, he must inevitably perish; there is no help in the world for it.
Wherefore, my brethren, ye had need look about you. Christ your Saviour hath expressly commanded you often to receive the Sacrament of His Body and Blood in remembrance of Him. ”

“ My people have suffered. They have been beaten. Once they ruled, but now they are ruled by those who are not worthy. By those whose skins are white. I ask you not to betray my people through me who am but trying to repay one who saved his life, and who hopes through him to lift his people from bondage. ”

“ If punishment be attended by continuity, by a sense of duration and succession, by the mental presence of its past and its future, by a sustained power of realizing it,42 this must be because it is endless and something more; such inflictions are an addition to its endlessness, and do not necessarily belong to it because it is endless. As I have already said, the great mystery is, not that evil has no end, but that it had a beginning. ”

“ The hiding of that countenance is the source of all ills. My face will I turn from them! they have set the face of men before them in the place of Mine. They have loved the beauty of human countenances rather than the glory of Mine which is divine. ”

“ Who can resist the decrees of fate? Who can avert their final doom? As in life men are suddenly stricken with death, so I, at the zenith of my fame and fortune, was stricken down to this living death, which does not close.
"One morning, very early, I was summoned to the palace by a eunuch, who said the King was dying, had asked for me, and again relapsed into insensibility. ”

“ It is your own thoughts that take bodily shape to haunt you. But this sad accident calls loudly for reparation and repentance. Confess your sins to God, Henry. Ask Him to forgive them—tell Him everything—your unhallowed wishes and desires, your hasty temper and revenge, your disregard of advice and entreaty. ”

“ Another player of the court, seeing this, spoke ill of him and said: who is this man whom you call your god? He is nobody. And the first, [179] being bold for the favour he enjoyed of his lord, beat the other fellow unmercifully. This man, being unable to defend himself, went to complain to the lord and related the whole event.
The lord made a jest of the matter.
The beaten jongleur went away, and hid himself among people of mean rank, for he feared to remain among better folk for the shame that had come to him. ”

“ I beseech Thee by Thy manifold bounties and by the pillars which sustain Thy throne of glory, to have pity on these lowly people who are powerless to bear the unpleasant things of this fleeting life, how much less then can they bear Thy chastisement in the life to come—a chastisement which is ordained by Thy justice, called forth by Thy wrath and will continue to exist for ever. ”

“ How hard and terrible death seems to him who has always kept his thoughts fixed on earthly things! For then he is told that he must completely lose and forever abandon all the riches and possessions he sought so eagerly, kept so carefully, and loved so dearly. What trouble and exasperation are felt by one who is altogether sunk in earthly things at the loss of an important law-suit! ”

“ This will be reported to thee and do thou send for him and bespeak him gently and say to him, “O thou that strivest for thine own destruction, what moveth thee to blame us among our subjects? Verily, thou deservest present death at our hands; but the ancients say, ‘Clemency is of the attributes of the noble.’ Know that our delay in answering thy master’s letter arose not from neglect on our part, but from our much business and lack of leisure to look into thine affair and write a reply to thy king.” ”

“ When we thus see the punishment of guilt accumulated on the head of him who has not participated in it, and vice triumph in the security that should seem the lot of innocence, we can only adduce new motives to fortify ourselves in this great truth of our religion—that the chastisement of the one, and reward of the other, must be looked for beyond the inflictions or enjoyments of our present existence. ”

“ Before a hand could be raised to deal vengeance, death struck down the father, and but few days and nights of anguish and solicitude had passed before his heir lay dead beside him, and the life of the boy who alone of all survived, lay trembling in the balance. ”

“ And, now let reason itself be the judge, whether it be long of God or you, if after this you will be unconverted and be damned? If you die now, it is because you will die. What should be said more to you? ”

“ An immutable decree of Providence had resolved that we should be the means of expiating the heavy crimes of our ancestors, and thus we were united by a bond of love, whose proper throne is beyond the stars, and the enjoyment of whose votaries partakes nothing in common with terrestrial pleasure. ”

“ Would you have us put her to death? asked one of the judges. You appear to argue in a strange way. What is your motive?—What your hope?—What would you have us do? suffer them to escape who will not confess, and put all to death who do? ”

“ Because its dominion has been for so many ages undisputed; because the hunger for it has betrayed souls; because myriads of men and women have throughout all time gambled blood, lives, and honor for its possession, none of these has made me either detest it or bow head and knee in reverence. ”

“ Whether such a monstrous Imposture, as was this pretended Miracle, happily discover'd does not call aloud for Vengeance and most exemplary Punishment; and whether any Nation of the World would suffer the like with Impunity, let any Man judge. ”

“ Our Lord, most compassionate, pitiful, noble, and precious, let a time be given the people to repent; let the past chastisement suffice; let it end here, to begin again if the reform endure not. Pardon and overlook the sins of the people; cause thine anger and thy resentment to cease ”

“ Upon our destiny in the future world, would hang an impenetrable cloud. If we anticipated any thing at the eventful close of our mortal career, it could be nothing but the righteous vengeance of Heaven, upon our repeated violations of his laws. This would be our wretched state, had we no grounds to regard our Maker in any other aspect than as All-wise, Just and Omnipotent. ”

“ For it seemed all one, to worship or not to worship, seeing that all alike perished, and no one expected his life would last till he received punishment of his crimes by human judgment. Many thought that the whole city would be destroyed, and hastened to enjoy some little part of their lives. ”

“ As to those various religions which, together with Christianity, teach the doctrine of eternal punishment, here again we ought, before we judge, to understand, not only the whole state of the case, but what is meant by the doctrine itself. Eternity, or endlessness, is in itself only a negative idea, though punishment is positive. ”

“ Honour is not concerned in these engagements.” “Pardon me, dear sir,” cries Nightingale, “I can never think so; and not only honour, but conscience and humanity, are concerned. I am well satisfied, that, was I now to disappoint the young creature, her death would be the consequence, and I should look upon myself as her murderer; nay, as her murderer by the cruellest of all methods, by breaking her heart.” “Break her heart, indeed! no, no, Jack,” cries the uncle, “the hearts of women are not so soon broke; they are tough, boy, they are tough.” ”

“ These, Men and Brethren, are the fruits of Nullification; and they were made manifest when Daniel and Edward broke the same in pieces, and held it up before the people, and those who made the cunning device have repented them of their work, and will peradventure confess the error of their ways. ”

“ Since our hopes are blasted in this world, and all our schemes of grandeur overthrown; and since our everlasting destiny is settled by a decree which no act of ours can invalidate, let us fall by our own hands, or by the hands of each other; die like heroes ”

“ Ten years of suffering—ten abject years—have not sufficed to realize my promise; and now, at last, a feeble ray of hope struggles into my sombre future—" He grasped the notary's hand, looked wildly but earnestly into his eyes, and added, in suppliant tones, "Oh, my friend, help me! help me in this last and trying effort; do not prolong my torture; grant my prayer, and as long as I live I will bless my benefactor, the savior of my child!" ”

“ Think, I entreat you, how dreadful a thing it is to die without absolution, with all your sins upon your head. When you stand before your Judge it will be too late to repent. Will you approach His awful throne with a jest upon your lips? ”

“ As to the final rewards and punishments, these shall be distributed according to the deserts of each, in perfect justice: "the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal." ”

“ Isn't my blood going creepy, crawly through my veins? Come on, young man. Behind you is death, damnation,—a cursed life. Before you is honesty, a chance to win men's approval, a loophole to enter kingdom come. ”

“ When, therefore, annihilating the gloom which has hitherto obscured his lustre, and shaking off his profligate companions like "dew-drops from the lion's mane," he comes forward, strong in moral resolution, dignified without effort, firm without ostentation, and consistent without a sense of sacrifice, a denouement is produced, at once great, satisfactory, and splendid. ”

“ Your opponent has suffered twelve years already because of a terrible obligation: for him every pleasure of life has been embittered, before him the future eternity has been overclouded; be contented with that sacrifice, and do not ask for the greatest too. ”

“ By all such Indulgences, all the temporal penalty is remitted to us which we owe to God for all those sins for which, though pardoned, we were still debtors, so that theologians teach us, that were we to die immediately after gaining worthily a Plenary Indulgence, we should go straight to heaven. ”