Uncloistered

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  “She gazed ahead through a long reach of future days strung together like pearls in a rosary, every one like the others, and all smooth and flawless and innocent, and her heart went up in thankfulness. Outside was the fervid summer afternoon; the air was filled with the sounds of the busy harvest of men and birds and bees; there were halloos, metallic clatterings, sweet calls, and long hummings. Louisa sat, prayerfully numbering her days, like an uncloistered nun.” A New England Nun By Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930)

"He sees, but does not understand"

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"The Bible alone explains the state of things that we see in the world around us. There are many things on earth which a natural man cannot explain . . . the amazing inequality of conditions, the poverty and distress, the oppression and persecution, the shakings and tumults, the constant existence of uncured evils and abuses--all these things are often puzzling to him. He sees, but does not understand. But the Bible makes it all clear. The Bible can tell him that the whole world lies in wickedness--that the prince of the world, the devil, is everywhere--and that it is vain to look for perfection in the present order of things. The Bible will tell him that neither laws nor education can ever change men's hearts, and that no man will do much good in the world, unless he always remembers that human nature is fallen, and that the world he lives in, is full of sin."

(J.C. Ryle, "Inspiration" 1877)

See also "Ministerial Confessions" by Horatio Bonar.

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