Sambre

“ He had never even heard that Liège had fallen, let alone Brussels, and here were the Germans apparently right round the Allied flank. It was astounding, irritating. In a vague way he felt deceived and staggered. It was a disillusionment! If the Germans were across the Sambre, the French could scarcely launch their victorious attack on the Rhine.
The excitement dispelled his fatigue, but the men were openly incredulous. "The ruddy 'Oolans 'ere a'ready! They're only tellin' us that, to make us march!"
The first fight! How would it turn out? How would the men shape? ”

“ CHARLEROI (Carolus Rex) , a town in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Pop. (1904) 26,528. It was founded in 1666 on the site of a village called Charnoy by the Spanish governor Roderigo and named after his sovereign Charles II. of Spain. Charleroi is the centre of the iron industry of Belgium. It is connected by a canal with Brussels, and from its position on the Sambre enjoys facilities of communication by water with France as well as Belgium. It was ceded soon after its foundation to France by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and Vauban fortified it. ”

“ Warned in time by his friend Carnot and by Barère, he avoided arrest and resumed his business as a silk-mercer in Limoges. He was soon reinstated, and early in 1794 was appointed commander-in-chief of the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse. ”

“ It was successfully defended against the Normans and long afterwards against the French under Marshal de Lorges in 1654. Although the town itself retains something of its medieval appearance it is the centre of a great manufacturing and mining district, the banks of the Sambre being lined with factories and coal-yards. ”

“ Instead of open rolling downs, there was a multiplicity of small fields, divided by high thick-set hedges trained on wire which proved formidable obstacles. The enemy had good positions for his artillery in the Bois l'Evêque, and on the east bank of the Canal de la Sambre, protected from the danger of being rushed by that obstacle, and it was evident that he intended to put up a determined fight on the strong position thus afforded. The hostile artillery fire was more than had been encountered since the fighting about St. ”

“ A big man, in a large black silk gown, got up, and delivered a sermon; but we did not heed it as we ought to have done, because some tea-chests were ranged along at the base of the pulpit. It was not the tea-chests that attracted our attention, but the sweets that we knew were in them.
After the sermon was over, and the scholars were ranged in order, in single file, they marched up to the table near the chests, and each one received a quarter of a sheet of gingerbread! How rich we were! How sweet the cake tasted! We were in perfect ecstasies at the "great piece" given to each of us! ”

“ Here then to Thee Thine own I leave.
Mould as Thou wilt the passive Clay;
But let me all Thy Stamp receive,
But let me all Thy Words obey,
Serve with a single Heart and Eye,
And to thy Glory live, and die. ”

“ The familiar pictures of every-day life with which the sermon is frequently illustrated, the vivid word-painting, the tender but firm touch which plays upon the chords of their strongest emotions, all combine to awaken within them those feelings of pleasurable excitement, denied to them through the medium of the forbidden theatre. ”

“ But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."
I count with confidence on your interest in this sermon. You will be interested, in the first place, because the picture that our Lord has given us in this wonderful story is the picture of a real man. This farmer is no wax figure. He is no bloodless nonentity. He is altogether human stuff. And we are interested in real folks. ”

“ Life ran so cold and numb within, it seemed scarce worth the cost spent in keeping. My scrip was still at my side, but my sword was gone, my clothing torn to ribbons, and a more buffeted messenger never eyed askance the scroll that led him into such a plight. ”

“ Where loitering stray a little tribe of friends,
On a fair Sunday when the sermon ends.
Then rural beaux their best attire put on,
10
To win their nymphs, as other nymphs are won;
While those long wed go plain, and, by degrees,
Like other husbands, quit their care to please.
Some of the sermon talk, a sober crowd,
And loudly praise, if it were preach'd aloud;
Some on the labours of the week look round,
Feel their own worth, and think their toil renown'd;
While some, whose hopes to no renown extend,
Are only pleased to find their labours end. ”

“ He hears their cry, though a hoarse and unpleasant one; and feeds them just as amply as He does the nightingale, or any bird with a softer and sweeter voice. In this wonderful sermon, Our Lord teaches us to consider the whole range of nature: — the flowers, the birds, the animals, our own body, our soul, our imperceptible growth: — so that we may use it all to raise our thoughts to God. ”

“ Well the Sampo grinds when finished,
To and fro the lid in rocking,
Grinds one measure at the day-break,
Grinds a measure fit for eating,
Grinds a second for the market,
Grinds a third one for the store-house. ”

“ We walk quietly, each man tired and melancholy.
Ahead of us the sun rises and its rosy light penetrates the white, heavy mists through which we can now perceive indistinctly the gray outlines of Old Sambor. ”

“ What I said, and say, is that one sermon, one discourse of solemn meditation, designed to make a distinct and abiding impression upon the heart and life, is all that anybody should preach or hear in one day, and that the other part of Sunday should be used for conference or Sunday-school, or instructive lecture, or something with a character and purpose different from the morning meditation, something to instruct the people in the history, or evidences, or theory, or scriptural exposition of our religion. ”

“ In the procession which attended the animal to the place of sacrifice the senators, the priests, the magistrates, the young people, and the victors in the games all bore a part, and at the head of the procession were borne the images of the Twelve Gods attired in festal array, while a fluteplayer, a piper, and a harper discoursed solemn music.28 Now in the bull, which was thus dedicated at the time of sowing and kept at the cost of the pious, and especially of corn-chandlers, to be finally sacrificed at harvest, it is reasonable to see an embodiment of the corn-spirit. ”

“ Mr Joseph Pennell’s Sampler, which finds a place here as a specimen of American work, has little to distinguish it from its fellows that were produced in England in the reign of George IV. The border, it is true, only preserves its uniformity on two of the four sides, but where it does it is designed on an old English pattern, that of the wild strawberry. So, too, we find the ubiquitous stag and coach dogs, Noahs, ash trees, birds, and flower baskets.
The sampler itself is a beautiful specimen of drawn work, and the lettering is the same colour as the linen. ”

“ Sampson, "it's such a comfort to hear you say them beautiful facts after getting such a jar from that minx of a Ruby's poetry!"
"Let us sit on this log at the roadside," says I, "and forget the inhumanity and ribaldry of the poets. It is in the glorious columns of ascertained facts and legalised measures that beauty is to be found. In this very log we sit upon, Mrs. Sampson," says I, "is statistics more wonderful than any poem. The rings show it was sixty years old. At the depth of two thousand feet it would become coal in three thousand years. ”

“ And when again, where you sit a-knitting, the young men gather round you like flies around a sap-pan—then, by God, you shall know what countenance to give them, and they shall know what colour to give their courting!—suitors, gallants, Whig or Tory—the whole damned rabble——"
"Oh," she cried softly, "John Drogue!" ”

“ CHAPTER 73 The magic reel, which, rolling on before, has led the chronicler thus far, now slackens in its pace, and stops. It lies before the goal; the pursuit is at an end.
It remains but to dismiss the leaders of the little crowd who have borne us company upon the road, and so to close the journey.
Foremost among them, smooth Sampson Brass and Sally, arm in arm, claim our polite attention. ”

“ In each sermon there are many passages from the Scriptures and Holy Fathers, and a variety of reflections—perhaps too many for a single discourse—that the reader may select what will be most pleasing to him. ”

“ How is it that two sermons a Sabbath—a hundred a year—five thousand in fifty years—wear you out, and you have to be sent every now and then to Europe for repairs, when John Wesley—not so big a man perchance as you—preached, not five thousand sermons, but forty-two thousand sermons—and good ones too? ”

“ The labor of preparing and committing to paper a sermon or two every week, is one which necessarily occupies the principal part of a minister’s time and thoughts, and withdraws him from the investigation of many subjects, which, if his mind were more at leisure, it would be his duty and pleasure to pursue. He who writes sermons, is ready to consider this as the chief object, or perhaps the sole business of his life. ”

“ The sermon I heard was to the latter, who came in and were plac'd in rows on benches; the boys under the conduct of a young man, their tutor, and the girls conducted by a young woman. The discourse seem'd well adapted to their capacities, and was delivered in a pleasing, familiar manner, coaxing them, as it were, to be good. ”

“ The first person that came with a scheme was an old soldier who promised the king that if he would only put some bread and bacon and a flask of wine on the bank of the stream, the gold-bearded man would be sure to eat and drink, and they could shake some powder into the wine, which would send him to sleep at once. ”

“ Now there is another company sitting there; men of grave countenances and full age. Their plaited ruffs and satin doublets, their high-crowned hats and plumes, though reverently laid aside, the richness of their vestments and, above all, their dignified demeanour, show that they are of high degree. Some have broad and ample foreheads, furrowed with deep thought; others seem worn with care; some again appear to have sustained the shock of many battles, and among them are a few with staffs and crosiers, whose countenances denote a life of prayer and abstraction. ”

“ The solid matter in Theology and the Sacred Scriptures and their developments. A book of sermons is the last to open. Why? You wish to raise a structure, then go to the original quarry where you have material in abundance. The arguments that bear the shaping of your own chisel, though not as polished as those you would borrow, will fit more naturally and adorn with greater grace. There are two great risks in reading sermon books—a tendency to imitate the style and a temptation to filch the jewels. ”

“ The cry comes to the waiting ear of his blessed Saviour, and He bears him away in His arms of love to His Father’s bosom.
190 A SABBATH IN THE COUNTRY. There is something to me peculiarly pleasant in a country Sabbath. No rattle of carts, no bustle of crowds, no hum of voices, disturb the calm and holy quietude of the hallowed day. Cattle are quietly grazing on grassy meadows, or sleeping in the refreshing shade; the irregular tinkle of the sheep-bell falls sweetly on the ear; the plough stands motionless in the unfinished furrow ”

“ We will consider the sermon under the three parts of introduction, discussion and conclusion. It is often divided more minutely, but these will be sufficient for our purpose.
Nothing is harder to frame than a good introduction. It is indispensable, for, however we may approach our subject there is a first moment when silence is broken and our thoughts introduced. The rustle of closing hymn books and the subsiding murmur of the audience, tell the speaker that the time has come. ”

“ Notwithstanding this, the sampler-collector need anticipate no discouraging difficulty in getting together examples for a fairly representative collection. It is only in comparatively recent years that we have discovered the value of old samplers as excellent decorative accessories on the walls of a room in which old pieces of furniture are placed. Samplers may be mounted and framed for hanging on a wall as a picture might be, and I know of few objects in the line of antiques that seem so appropriate for use in this manner for adorning the walls of a bedchamber. ”

“ For a long time the evening darkness, the difficulty of the letters, and the style of the record, impeded him; but as he read on, the color came and went in his cheek, his hand trembled with agitation, and had there been light enough to have noted him well, even the workmen must have perceived the excitement under which he labored. ”

“ The noble rhythm of our English version rises here to a strain of pathetic music, the very cadence of which stirs thoughts that lie too deep for tears, and one shrinks from taking these lofty words of immortal hope—which life's sorrows have interpreted, I trust, for many of us—as the text of a sermon. ”

“ By the long suffering and permitting of these vaine plays, it hath stricken such a blinde zeale into the heartes of the people, that they shame not to say, and affirme openly, that playes are as good as sermons, and that they learne as much or more at a playe, than they do at God’s worde preached.... Many can tarie at a vayne playe two or three houres, when as they will not abide scarce one houre at a sermon.... ”

“ The people were compelled to sing rhymed sermons on the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, the delights of reunion, the dignity of man, the duty of self-improvement, the nurture of the body, and the care of animals and flowers. ”