Not in the life of this wicked and weary world but
in the life of the world to come their hopes and especially their fears
were centered. Miserable sinners, born into total depravity could only
employ their brief sojourn on earth in striving to save their souls.
Mortifying the flesh and holding all pleasures to be foolish if not
impious, they deferred happiness to the realms beyond the skies. To them
Here was nothing and Now was nothing. The eternal hereafter was all.
Looking at life as merely a preparation for death, their point of view
was diametrically opposite to that of the Farmers who looked upon life
as a phase of existence to be made the most of and to be enjoyed to the
full with every breath from first to last. Naturally enough, perhaps,
the devout pietists regarded the cheerful worldlings as lost beyond hope
of redemption. The same sentiments that prompted the whipping and
hanging and persecuting incidents of Puritan history were entertained by
the orthodox elect of Roxbury and were manifested Brook Farmward
sometimes with sullen hostility.
Pages:
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137