Memoir of the Early Life of William Cowper, Esq |
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affliction Almighty Apostle PAUL appeared atheist attended became began blessed blood brother cacy chambers cheerful Christ Jesus Christian circumstances comfort continued Cowper crime Danube dated Huntingdon dear Cousin death delight derangement despair dili dispose divine effect eternal failed faith Father favour fear feel felt Fleet Street folly garter glory gospel grace gracious guilt hand happiness heard heart hereafter Holy Holy Ghost hope House of Lords human instance Jesus Christ kind Lady Hesketh laudanum lence length Live Lord malady manner means melancholy Memoir ment mercy mind misery nature never occasion Olney painful peace pleased prayer principle purpose reason recollect religion religious repent rience salvation Satan scriptural seemed self-murder sense sentiments sins sion slender thread society sorrow soul Southampton spirit struck suicide terrors thee thing thou thought tion took trust truth Unwin WILLIAM COWPER word
Popular passages
Page 77 - Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
Page 67 - But the happy period which was to shake off my fetters and afford me a clear opening of the free mercy of God in Christ Jesus was now arrived. I flung myself into a chair near the window and, seeing a Bible there, ventured once more to apply to it for comfort and instruction. The first verse I saw was the 25th of the...
Page 21 - ... of my situation ; others can have none. My continual misery at length brought on a nervous fever : quiet forsook me by day, and peace by night ; a finger raised against me was more than I could stand against. In this posture of mind, I attended regularly at the office; where, instead of a soul upon the rack, the most active spirits were essentially necessary for my purpose.
Page 86 - ... (the only time I ever saw you without pleasure), what have I not suffered! And since it has pleased God to restore me to the use of my reason, what have I not enjoyed! You know, by experience, how pleasant it is to feel the first approaches of health after a fever; but, Oh the fever of the brain! To feel the quenching of that fire is indeed a blessing which I think it impossible to receive without the most consummate gratitude.
Page 26 - Satan had all the while been driving me; the dark and hellish purpose of self-murder. I grew more sullen and reserved, fled from all society, even from my most intimate friends, and shut myself up in my chambers. The ruin of my fortune, the contempt of my relations and acquaintance, the prejudice I should do my patron, were all urged on me with irresistible energy. Being reconciled to the apprehension of madness, I began to be reconciled to the apprehension of death.
Page 42 - ... loop being large enough to admit a large angle of the door, was easily fixed so as not to slip off again. I pushed away the chair with my feet, and hung at my whole length. While I hung there, I distinctly heard a voice say three times, '
Page 41 - ... the carved work slipped off, and the garter with it. I then fastened it to the frame of the tester, winding it round, and tying it in a strong knot. The frame broke short, and let me down again. The third effort was more likely to succeed. I set the door open, which reached...
Page 62 - By this means I entered into conversation with the Doctor, laughed at his stories, and told him some of my own to match them ; still, however, carrying a sentence of irrevocable doom in my heart. He observed the seeming alteration with pleasure. Believing, as well he might; that my smiles were sincere, he thought my recovery well nigh completed; but they were, in reality, like the green surface of a morass, pleasant to the eye, but a cover for nothing but rottenness and filth. The only thing that...
Page 40 - I formed a noose, and fixed it about my neck, straining it so tight that I hardly left a passage for my breath, or for the blood to circulate ; the tongue of the buckle held it fast.
Page 68 - Unless the Almighty arm had been under me, I think I should have died with gratitude and joy. My eyes filled with tears, and my voice choked with transport : I could only look up to heaven in silent fear, overwhelmed with love and wonder. But the work of the Holy Spirit is best described in His own words: it was 'joy unspeakable, and full of glory.