The history of Henry Earl of Moreland / [Ed. by J.W].

  • Henry Brooke
Date:
[1813]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The history of Henry Earl of Moreland / [Ed. by J.W]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ^ the ground, thou shaltnot be established, nor thy kingdoms; where- “ fore send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die/ Here every interesting motive, that can possibly be conceived to have an influence on man, united to urge Jonathan to the destruction of David; he would thereby have obeyed his king, and pacified a father who was enraged against him. He would thereby have removed the only luminary that, then, eclipsed the brightness of his own achievements. And he saw, as his father said, that the death of David, alone, could establish the kingdom in himself and his posterity. But all those considerations were of no avail to make Jonathan swerve from honour, to slacken the bands of his faith, or cool the warmth of his friend- ship. O Jonathan! the sacrifice which thou then madest to virtue was, incomparably, more illustrious in the sight of God and his angels, than all the subsequent glories to which David attained. What a crown was thine, “ Jonathan, when thou wast slain in thine high “ places V’ Saul of Tharsus had been a man of bigotry, blood, and violence; making havock, and breathing out tlireatenings and slaughter, against all who were not of his own sect and persuasion. But, when the spirit of that Infant, who laid himself in the manger of human flesh, came upon him; he acquired a new heart and a new nature; and he oflered himself a willing subject to all the sufferings and persecutions which he had brought upon others, Saul, from that time, exemplified, in his own person, all those qualities of the Gentleman, which he afterwards specifies in his cele- brated description of that charity, which, as he says, alone endureth for ever. When Festus cried, with a loud voice, “ Saul, thou art beside thy- self, much learning doth make thee madSaul stretched the hand, and answered, “ I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. For the king know eth of these things, before whom also I speak freely; for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets'? I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Saul, “ Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.' And Saul said, ** I would to God, that not only thon, but also all that hear me this day, were not only almost, but altogether such as I am except these bonds. Here, with what an inimitable elegance did this man, in his own person, at once sum up the orator, the saint, and the Oeiitj^man ! ^Trorn these instances, my friend, you must have seen that the cha-
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