Hope

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

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• From Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (2014)

  While the money wasn’t as much as we would have liked, it did allow Walter to restart his logging business. He loved getting back into the woods and cutting timber. He told me that it was working from morning until night, being outdoors, that made him feel normal again. Then one afternoon, tragedy struck. He was cutting a tree when a branch dislodged and struck him, breaking his neck. It was a serious injury that left Walter in very poor condition for several weeks. He didn’t have a lot of care available, so he came to live with me in Montgomery for several months until he recovered. He eventually regained his mobility, although the injury put an end to his ability to cut trees and perform difficult landscape work. I marveled at how he seemed to take it in stride. “I’ll figure out something else to do when I get back on my feet,” he told me. After a few months, he went back to Monroe County and started collecting car parts for resale. He owned the plot of land where he’d put his trailer and had become convinced, on the advice of some friends, that he could generate income with a junk business—collecting discarded vehicles and car parts and reselling them. The work was less physically demanding than logging and allowed him to be outdoors. Before long his property was littered with busted vehicles and scrap metal. In 1998, Walter and I were asked to go to Chicago to attend a national conference where exonerated former death row prisoners were planning to gather. By the late 1990s, the evolution of DNA evidence had helped expose dozens of wrongful convictions. In many states, the number of exonerations exceeded the number of executions. The problem was so significant in Illinois that in 2003, Governor George Ryan, a Republican, citing the unreliability of capital punishment, commuted the death sentences of all 167 people on death row. Concerns about innocence and the death penalty were intensifying, and support for the death penalty in opinion polls began to drop. Abolitionists were becoming hopeful that more profound death penalty reform or possibly a moratorium might be achievable. Our time in Chicago with other exonerated former death row prisoners was energizing for Walter, who seemed more motivated than ever to talk about his experience.

• From The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness (2004)

  Is that all right?” one of them had asked me. “Yes, of course,” I lied, realizing that if I got the job I would have a great deal of reading to get through during the summer. But they seemed to think that it was not if but when. I had returned home to Oxford, scarcely daring to believe it. But it was true. I had been offered the job. All I had to do was sign the contract. It was a step up the ladder, a foot in the door—all those things. It seemed that, after all, it really might be possible to become an academic. It was a new start. Three years now stretched invitingly ahead of me. In three whole years in London, anything could happen. 5. Desiring This Man’s Gift and That Man’s Scope The English department at Bedford College, located in a Regency house beside the Regent’s Park lake, was a haven of quiet in the hubbub of London. From the lecture rooms you could see herons swooping over the water and landing on the wooded islands, yet only a few hundred yards away the traffic roared incessantly in Baker Street. This would be the center of my world for the next three years, and very pleasant it was too. My teaching duties were so light that I had plenty of time to get on with my thesis, which was now nearing completion. The faculty was welcoming, especially Richard and Jackie, who had interviewed me and now treated me with extraordinary kindness. Since we were responsible for teaching the literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, we soon formed a triumvirate within the department, meeting regularly for coffee in Richard’s room, which was the largest. I was slightly disconcerted by the way the course was organized. The students seemed to run from one class to another. They could well have been still in high school. When did they have time to read and explore for themselves? To me they seemed overtaught, but I kept this criticism to myself. It was probably just an Oxford prejudice. All in all, Bedford was an amicable place and I seemed to have fallen on my feet. In fact, it was all so easygoing that I began to look for a catch. There must be more to university teaching than this. For the past three years, my mentors had told me that I should not even think of an academic career, implying that it would be too much of a strain, perhaps beyond my intellectual capacity, and bad for my fragile nerves. But I appeared to be managing all right. I had no problems with the students, and Richard and Jackie gave me very positive feedback. Indeed, everything seemed to be going very well. Why had people been so negative about my prospects?

• From Simply Jesus (2011)

  So where did the hope come from? How on earth do you sustain hope over more than half a millennium, while you’re watching one regime after another come and go, some promising better things, but all letting you down in the end? How can you go on believing, from generation to generation, that one day God will come and take charge? Re-Living the Exodus Answer: you tell the story, you sing the songs, and you keep celebrating God’s victory, even though it keeps on not happening. As we have seen, the story—the Story above all stories for the Jewish people—was the story of the Exodus, the time when God heard the cries of his people in their slavery in Egypt and came to rescue them, bringing them through the Red Sea at Passover-time, leading them through the desert and home to their promised land. Since Jesus himself seems to have deliberately chosen the Exodus story, the Passover story, as the setting for the carefully staged climax to his own public career, it’s important that we think for a moment about the seven great features of this story, which all first-century Jews would have known in their bones. All this—we are still learning to take off our modern Western spectacles and put on first-century Jewish ones!—is essential if we are to understand what Jesus thought he was doing. If we don’t get this straight, we shall simply squash Jesus into the little boxes of our own imaginations rather than seeing him as he was. Here are the seven themes of the Exodus: • Wicked tyrant • Chosen leader • Victory of God • Rescue by sacrifice • New vocation and way of life • Presence of God • Promised/inherited land First, the Exodus story was all about a wicked tyrant—Pharaoh, the king of Egypt—who had enslaved God’s people. Pharaoh is, as it were, the most visible symptom of the problem the people were facing. Second, God chose a leader. Moses was called, along with his brother Aaron and sister Miriam, to tell the people that God was now at last coming to their rescue. Moses then, at God’s behest, led the people out of slavery to freedom. Third, God won a great victory over Pharaoh and his people. This took the form of divine judgment, beginning with a sequence of plagues and reaching its decisive climax when the Red Sea, which had parted to let the Israelites through, rushed back and drowned the Egyptian army. This divine victory was celebrated in a great song whose closing line gives us the direct link to what Jesus was saying: “YHWH will reign forever and ever” (Exod. 15:18). This is what it means to say that Israel’s God has taken charge. He is reigning. He has won the victory over the wicked tyrant. He is the king.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. in Ps. 108.) But by the children of wisdom, He means the wise. For Scripture is accustomed to indicate the bad rather by their sin than their name, but to call the good the children of the virtue which characterizes them. AMBROSE. He well says, of all, for justice is reserved for all, that the faithful may be taken up, the unbelievers cast out. AUGUSTINE. (ubi sup.) Or, when he says, wisdom is justified of all her children, he shews that the children of wisdom understand that righteousness consists neither in abstaining from nor eating food, but in patiently enduring want. For not the use of such things, but the coveting after them, must be blamed; only let a man adapt himself to the kind of food of those with whom he lives. 7:36–5036. And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. 37. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38. And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. 40. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. 41. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43. Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. 48. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49. And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Again. If any difficulty offers itself to those who are being directed to an end desired by them, they are comforted by the hope of obtaining it: thus one puts up with the bitter medicine through the hope of being restored to health. Now, many difficulties have to be faced on the way in which we fare towards beatitude, that is the bourn of all our desires: since virtue, which is the road to beatitude, is about difficult things. In order, then, that man might tend to beatitude with a lighter heart and greater readiness, it was necessary to give him the hope of obtaining beatitude. Further. No man is moved towards an end which he deems impossible to obtain. Hence that a man may proceed towards a certain end, it is necessary for him to think of that end as something possible for him to have: and this thought is afforded by hope. Since, then, man is directed by grace to the last end which is beatitude, it was necessary for the hope of obtaining beatitude to be engraved on man’s thoughts by grace. Hence it is said (1 Pet. 1:3, 4): Who … hath regenerated us unto a lively hope … unto an inheritance incorruptible … reserved in heaven: and (Rom. 8:24): We are saved by hope. CHAPTER CLIV OF THE GIFTS OF GRATUITOUS GRACE: WHEREIN IT IS TREATED OF THE DIVINATIONS OF DEMONSWHEREAS what things man sees not by himself, he cannot know unless he receive them of one who sees them; and as faith is of things unseen by us: it behoves the things that are of faith to be received from one who sees them himself. Now, this one is God, who comprehends Himself perfectly, and sees His own essence naturally: for our faith is of God. Hence the things that we hold by faith must come to us from God. And whereas the things that are of God are enacted in a certain order, as we have shown above, it behoved a certain order to be observed in the revelation of those things that are of faith: so that, to wit, some should receive them immediately from God, and others from these, and thus in orderly fashion down to the very last. Now, wherever there is any kind of order in a number of things the nearer a thing is to the first principle the greater its efficacy. This is to be observed in the order of divine manifestations. Because the invisible things to see which is beatitude, and to believe is faith, are revealed first of all to the blessed angels, so that they see them clearly, as we have already said. Afterwards, by the ministry of the angels, they are made known to certain men, not so as to be seen clearly, but so as to be known with a certain assurance arising from the divine revelation.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Hence it becomes sufficiently clear how these great minds suffered from being so straitened on every side. We, however, will avoid these straits if we suppose, in accordance with the foregoing arguments, that man is able to reach perfect happiness after this life, since man has an immortal soul; and that in that state his soul will understand in the same way as separate substances understand, as we proved in the Second Book. Therefore man’s ultimate happiness will consist in that knowledge of God which he possesses after this life; a knowledge similar to that by which separate substances know him. Hence our Lord promises us a reward … in heaven (Matt. 5:12) and (Matt. 22:30) states that the saints shall be as the angels: who always see God in heaven (Matt. 18:10). CHAPTER XLIX THAT SEPARATE SUBSTANCES DO NOT SEE GOD IN HIS ESSENCE THROUGH KNOWING HIM BY THEIR OWN ESSENCESWE must now inquire whether this same knowledge whereby after death separate substances and souls know God by their own essences, be sufficient for their ultimate happiness. In order to discover the truth in this matter, we must first of all show that to know God in this way, is not to know His essence. An effect may be known through its cause in several ways. First, when the effect is taken as the means of knowing the existence and qualities of the cause: this happens in sciences which prove the cause from the effect.—Secondly, when the cause is seen in the effect itself, inasmuch as the likeness of the cause is reflected in the effect: thus a man is seen in a mirror on account of his likeness. This way differs from the first: because in the first there are two knowledges, of effect and of cause, whereof one is the cause of the other; for the knowledge of the effect is the cause of our knowing its cause. Whereas in the second way there is one sight of both: because while seeing the effect we see the cause therein at the same time.—Thirdly, when the very likeness of the cause in the effect is the form by which the cause is known by its effect: for instance if a box had an intellect, and were to know by its own form the art from which that very form had been produced in likeness to that art. But by none of these ways is it possible to know from its effect what the cause is, unless the effect equate the cause, and express the whole power of the cause.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Reply to Objection 3: As Augustine says (Ep. xliii) and we find it stated in the Decretals (xxiv, qu. 3, can. Dixit Apostolus): “By no means should we accuse of heresy those who, however false and perverse their opinion may be, defend it without obstinate fervor, and seek the truth with careful anxiety, ready to mend their opinion, when they have found the truth,” because, to wit, they do not make a choice in contradiction to the doctrine of the Church. Accordingly, certain doctors seem to have differed either in matters the holding of which in this or that way is of no consequence, so far as faith is concerned, or even in matters of faith, which were not as yet defined by the Church; although if anyone were obstinately to deny them after they had been defined by the authority of the universal Church, he would be deemed a heretic. This authority resides chiefly in the Sovereign Pontiff. For we read [*Decret. xxiv, qu. 1, can. Quoties]: “Whenever a question of faith is in dispute, I think, that all our brethren and fellow bishops ought to refer the matter to none other than Peter, as being the source of their name and honor, against whose authority neither Jerome nor Augustine nor any of the holy doctors defended their opinion.” Hence Jerome says (Exposit. Symbol [*Among the supposititious works of St. Jerome]): “This, most blessed Pope, is the faith that we have been taught in the Catholic Church. If anything therein has been incorrectly or carelessly expressed, we beg that it may be set aright by you who hold the faith and see of Peter. If however this, our profession, be approved by the judgment of your apostleship, whoever may blame me, will prove that he himself is ignorant, or malicious, or even not a catholic but a heretic.” Whether heretics ought to be tolerated?Objection 1: It seems that heretics ought to be tolerated. For the Apostle says (2 Tim. 2:24,25): “The servant of the Lord must not wrangle . . . with modesty admonishing them that resist the truth, if peradventure God may give them repentance to know the truth, and they may recover themselves from the snares of the devil.” Now if heretics are not tolerated but put to death, they lose the opportunity of repentance. Therefore it seems contrary to the Apostle’s command. Objection 2: Further, whatever is necessary in the Church should be tolerated. Now heresies are necessary in the Church, since the Apostle says (1 Cor. 11:19): “There must be . . . heresies, that they . . . who are reproved, may be manifest among you.” Therefore it seems that heretics should be tolerated. Objection 3: Further, the Master commanded his servants (Mat. 13:30) to suffer the cockle “to grow until the harvest,” i.e. the end of the world, as a gloss explains it. Now holy men explain that the cockle denotes heretics. Therefore heretics should be tolerated.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Moreover. The mode of cognition in every cognitive being follows the mode of that being’s nature: hence the mode of cognition differs in the angel, man and dumb animals, according to the diversity of their several natures, as we have shown. Now, that man may attain to his last end, he receives a perfection in addition to and surpassing his nature, namely grace, as we have proved. Consequently, it behoves man to receive over and above his natural knowledge, a knowledge surpassing his natural reason. This is the knowledge of faith, which is of things unseen by natural reason. Again. Whenever a thing is moved by an agent to that which is proper to that agent, the thing moved must needs at the outset be imperfectly subject to the impressions of the agent, such impressions being as it were foreign and improper thereto, until they become proper to it in the term of the movement: thus wood is at first heated by fire, and such heat is not proper to the wood, but something outside its nature; but in the end, when the wood is incandescent, the heat becomes proper and connatural to it. In like manner, when one is taught by a master, at first he must needs receive the master’s ideas, not as understanding them by himself, but as taking them in faith, through their being above his capacity, so to speak: but in the end, when he has been thoroughly taught, he will be able to understand them. Now, as we have shown already, we are directed to our last end by the assistance of divine grace. And our last end is the clear vision of the First Truth in itself, as we have proved. Therefore, before obtaining this end, man’s mind, with the assistance of divine grace, must needs be subject to God by believing. Further. At the beginning of this work we set down the advantages for which it is necessary that man should receive the divine truth by believing therein. Whence we may conclude that it was necessary for faith to be produced in us by divine grace. Hence the Apostle says (Ephes. 2:8): By grace you are saved through faith: and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God. Hereby we refute the error of the Pelagians who said that the beginning of faith in us is not from God, but from ourselves. CHAPTER CLIII THAT DIVINE GRACE CAUSES HOPE IN USIN the same way it can be proved that grace must needs cause in us the hope of future bliss.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  CHRYSOSTOM. (ubi sup.) But the Lord had come not to judge the world, but to save it. Whereupon He does not weigh the rank of the petitioner, but calmly undertakes the work, knowing that what was to happen would be greater than what was asked. For He was called to heal the sick, but He knew that He would raise up one that was by this time dead, and implant on the earth a firm hope of the resurrection. AMBROSE. But when about to raise the dead, in order to bring faith to the ruler of the synagogue, He first cured the issue of blood. So also a temporal resurrection is celebrated at the Passion of our Lord, that the other might be believed to be eternal. But as he went, the people thronged him. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. (v. Chrys. 31. in Matt.) This was the greatest sign that He had really put on our flesh, and trampled under foot all pride. For they followed Him not afar off, but thronged Him. GREEK EXPOSITOR. (ubi sup.) Now a certain woman afflicted with a severe disease, whose infirmity had consumed her body, but physicians all her substance, finds her only hope in such great humbleness that she falls down before our Lord; of whom it follows, And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, &c. TITUS BOSTRENSIS. (non occ.) Of how great praise then is this woman worthy, who with her bodily powers exhausted by the continual issue of blood, and with so great a crowd thronging around Him, in the strength of her affection and faith entered the crowd, and coming behind, secretly touched the hem of His garment. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. For it was not lawful for the unclean either to touch any of the holy saints, or come near a holy man. CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. 31. in Matt.) For by the custom of the Law a malady of this kind was accounted a great uncleanness. (Lev. 15:19–25.) Independently of this also, she had not yet a right estimation of Him, else she would not have thought to remain concealed, but nevertheless she came trusting to be healed. THEOPHYLACT. But as when a man turns his eye to a shining light, or puts fuel to the fire, immediately they have their effects; so indeed he who brings faith to Him who is able to cure, immediately obtains his cure; as it is said, and immediately her issue of blood stanched. CHRYSOSTOM. But not the garments alone saved her, (for the soldiers also allotted them among themselves,) but the earnestness of her faith. THEOPHYLACT. For she believed, and was saved, and as was fitting first touched Christ with her mind, then with her body. GREEK EXPOSITOR. (Asterius.) But the Lord heard the woman’s silent thoughts, and silently released her silent, permitting willingly the seizing of her cure. But afterwards He makes known the miracle, as it follows: And Jesus said, Who touched me?

• From The Decameron (1353)

  At Baffa she abode some time with the merchant till, as chance would have it, there came thither, for his occasions, a gentleman by name Antigonus, great of years and greater yet of wit, but little of wealth, for that, intermeddling in the affairs of the King of Cyprus, fortune had in many things been contrary to him. Chancing one day to pass by the house where the fair lady dwelt with the merchant, who was then gone with his merchandise into Armenia, he espied her at a window and seeing her very beautiful, fell to gazing fixedly upon her and presently began to recollect that he must have seen her otherwhere, but where he could on no wise call to mind. As for the lady, who had long been the sport of fortune, but the term of whose ills was now drawing near, she no sooner set eyes on Antigonus than she remembered to have seen him at Alexandria in no mean station in her father's service; wherefore, conceiving a sudden hope of yet by his aid regaining her royal estate, and knowing her merchant to be abroad, she let call him to her as quickliest she might and asked him, blushing, an he were not, as she supposed, Antigonus of Famagosta. He answered that he was and added, 'Madam, meseemeth I know you, but on no wise can I remember me where I have seen you; wherefore I pray you, an it mislike you not, put me in mind who you are.' The lady hearing that it was indeed he, to his great amazement, cast her arms about his neck, weeping sore, and presently asked him if he had never seen her in Alexandria. Antigonus, hearing this, incontinent knew her for the Soldan's daughter Alatiel, who was thought to have perished at sea, and would fain have paid her the homage due to her quality; but she would on no wise suffer it and besought him to sit with her awhile. Accordingly, seating himself beside her, he asked her respectfully how and when and whence she came thither, seeing that it was had for certain, through all the land of Egypt, that she had been drowned at sea years agone. 'Would God,' replied she, 'it had been so, rather than that I should have had the life I have had; and I doubt not but my father would wish the like, if ever he came to know it.'

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  3. Every intelligence naturally desires the vision of the divine substance (Chapp.XXV,L ). But a natural desire cannot be in vain. Any and every created intelligence then can arrive at the vision of the divine substance; and inferiority of nature is no impediment. Hence the Lord promises to man the glory of the angels: They shall be as the angels of God in Heaven (Matt. xxii, 30); and in the Apocalypse the same measure is said to be of man and angel: the measure of a man, that is, of an angel (Apoc. xxi, 17). Therefore often in Holy Scripture the angels are described in the form of men, either entirely so, as with the angels who appeared to Abraham (Gen. xviii), or partially, as with the living creatures of whom it is said that the hand of a man was under their wings (Ezech. i, 8). CHAPTER LVIII THAT ONE MAY SEE GOD MORE PERFECTLY THAN ANOTHERTHE light of glory raises to the vision of God in this, that it is a certain likeness to the divine understanding (Chap.LIII). But a thing may be likened to God with more or less of closeness. Therefore one may see the divine substance with more or less of perfection. 4. The end must correspond to the means taken to gain it. But not all subsistent intelligences are equally prepared for their end, which is the vision of the divine substance: for some are of greater virtue, some of less, virtue being the way to happiness. Therefore there must be a diversity in their vision of God. Hence it is said: in my Father’s House there are many mansions (John xiv, 2). In the mode of vision then there appear diverse grades of glory among the Blessed, but in respect of the object of vision their glory is the same. Hence to all the labourers in the vineyard, though they have not laboured equally, the Lord tells us that the same reward, or penny, is to be given, because the same object is given to all to see and enjoy, namely, God. CHAPTER LIX HOW THEY WHO SEE THE DIVINE SUBSTANCE SEE ALL THINGSSINCE the vision of the divine substance is the final end of every subsistent intelligence, and the natural desire of every being is at rest when it has attained to its final end, the natural desire of every intelligence that sees the divine substance must be perfectly set at rest. But it is the mind’s natural desire to know the genera and species and capabilities of all things and the whole order of the universe, as is shown by the zeal of mankind in trying to find out all these things. Every one therefore of those who see the divine substance will know all the above-mentioned objects.

• From Augustine: Philosopher and Saint (2005)

  21 Confessions—The Road Home Lecture 5 In this lecture we look at the Confessions from the religious angle, which means we focus on how the soul returns to God. T his requires us to focus on the role of Christ incarnate (the end of book 7), the indispensability of the Church (book 8), the shape of the Christian life (book 10), the meaning and interpretation of the Scriptures (book 12), and what Christians really mean by “going to heaven” (book 13). In particular, Augustine’s famous conversion comes under consideration here as a discovery about the indispensability of the Church, brought on by a recognition of the inadequacy of Platonist vision, the weakness of the human will, and the insuf¿ ciency of mere private belief. Where Christ Comes In (“Confessions” 7:18.24–21.27) • As God, Christ is the Goal; as man, he is the Way. • A momentary glimpse of God is not enough: we need a way home. • The Incarnation is the humility of God stooping to show us the way out of our sin and pride. • Christ can only be found in the Church, his Body. Objectives Upon completion of this lecture, you should be able to: • Explain the role of Christ incarnate in Augustine’s account of the soul’s return to God. • Discuss the motives and meaning of Augustine’s conversion. • Explain Augustine’s concept of inner conÀ ict. • Describe the role of books and reading in Augustine’s conversion. • Summarize Augustine’s view of the three basic forms of temptation. • Explain Augustine’s famous saying, “My will is my weight.”

• From The Decameron (1353)

  Tedaldo, having kissed and embraced her, said, 'Madam, it is no time now for closer greetings; I must e'en go take order that Aldobrandino may be restored to you safe and sound; whereof I hope that, ere to-morrow come eventide, you shall hear news that will please you; nay, if, as I expect, I have good news of his safety, I trust this night to be able to come to you and report them to you at more leisure than I can at this present.' Then, donning his gown and hat again, he kissed the lady once more and bidding her be of good hope, took leave of her and repaired whereas Aldobrandino lay in prison, occupied more with fear of imminent death than with hopes of deliverance to come. Tedaldo, with the gaoler's consent, went in to him, in the guise of a ghostly comforter, and seating himself by his side, said to him, 'Aldobrandino, I am a friend of thine, sent thee for thy deliverance by God, who hath taken pity on thee because of thine innocence; wherefore, if, in reverence to Him, thou wilt grant me a little boon that I shall ask of thee, thou shalt without fail, ere to-morrow be night, whereas thou lookest for sentence of death, hear that of thine acquittance.' 'Honest man,' replied the prisoner, 'since thou art solicitous of my deliverance, albeit I know thee not nor mind me ever to have seen thee, needs must thou be a friend, as thou sayst. In truth, the sin, for which they say I am to be doomed to death, I never committed; though others enough have I committed aforetime, which, it may be, have brought me to this pass. But this I say to thee, of reverence to God; an He presently have compassion on me, I will not only promise, but gladly do any thing, however great, to say nothing of a little one; wherefore ask that which pleaseth thee, for without fail, if it come to pass that I escape with life, I will punctually perform it.' Then said the pilgrim, 'What I would have of thee is that thou pardon Tedaldo's four brothers the having brought thee to this pass, believing thee guilty of their brother's death, and have them again for brethren and for friends, whenas they crave thee pardon thereof.' Whereto quoth Aldobrandino, 'None knoweth but he who hath suffered the affront how sweet a thing is vengeance and with what ardour it is desired; nevertheless, so God may apply Himself to my deliverance, I will freely pardon them; nay, I pardon them now, and if I come off hence alive and escape, I will in this hold such course as shall be to thy liking.'

• From Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

  After taking to his bed on the evening of September 23, 1890, Woodruff reported, he “struggled all night with the Lord about what should be done with the existing circumstances of the church.” In the morning he called together five trusted Mormon leaders and, “with broken spirit,” informed them that God had revealed to him the necessity of relinquishing “the practice of that principle for which the brethren had been willing to lay down their lives.” To the shock and utter horror of the other men in the room, President Woodruff explained that “it was the will of the Lord” that the church stop sanctioning the doctrine of plural marriage. On October 6, 1890, Woodruff’s momentous revelation was formalized in a brief document that became known as “the Woodruff Manifesto,” or simply “the Manifesto.” It read, in part, Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been pronounced constitutional by the court of last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise. . . . And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land. WILFORD WOODRUFF President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The impact of the Manifesto shook Mormondom to its roots, but it did not end polygamy—it merely drove it underground. For the next two decades members of the Mormon First Presidency privately advised Saints that polygamy should be continued, albeit discreetly, and top leaders of the church secretly performed numerous plural marriages. When this casuistry came to light, it unleashed a nationwide howl of indignation. In October 1910, the Salt Lake Tribune —which had been established as a rabidly anti-Mormon alternative to the church-owned Deseret News —published the names of some two hundred Saints who had taken plural wives after the Manifesto, including six members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. When the church leadership’s deceit about polygamy was made public, it wasn’t just Gentiles who were outraged—a number of prominent Mormons were upset as well, sparking a groundswell within the church to enforce the Manifesto and eradicate polygamy altogether. By the 1920s most Saints, including their leaders, had turned against polygamy and were encouraging the prosecution of cohabs. A significant number of dedicated Saints, however, were convinced that Wilford Woodruff had been grievously mistaken when he’d issued the Manifesto, and that heeding it ran counter to the religion’s most sacred principles. These hard-core polygamists argued that the Manifesto had not revoked Section 132 of The Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith’s 1843 revelation about plural marriage—that it merely suspended the practice under extenuating (and presumably temporary) circumstances. They pointed out that D&C 132 was still an accepted part of Mormon scripture (as, indeed, it remains today).

• From The Well of Loneliness (1928)

  And listening to him, Anna also grew convinced; his cer- tainty wore down her vague misgivings, and she saw herself playing with this little Stephen, in the nursery, in the garden, in the sweet-smelling meadows. ‘ And himself the lovely young man,’ she would say, thinking of the soft Irish speech of her peasants: “ And himself with the light of the stars in his eyes, and the courage of a lion in his heart! ’ When the child stirred within her she would think it stirred THE WELL OF LONELINESS 5 strongly because of the gallant male creature she was hiding; then her spirit grew large with a mighty new courage, because a man-child would be born. She would sit with her needle- work dropped on her knees, while her eyes turned away to the long line of hills that stretched beyond the Severn valley. From her favourite seat underneath an old cedar, she would see these Malvern Hills in their beauty, and their swelling slopes seemed to hold a new meaning. They were like pregnant women, full- bosomed, courageous, great green-girdled mothers of splendid sons! Thus through all those summer months, she sat and watched the hills, and Sir Philip would sit with her — they would sit hand in hand. And because she felt grateful she gave much to the poor, and Sir Philip went to church, which was seldom his custom, and the Vicar came to dinner, and just towards the end many matrons called to give good advice to Anna. But: ‘Man proposes — God disposes,’ and so it happened that on Christmas Eve, Anna Gordon was delivered of a daugh- ter; a narrow-hipped, wide-shouldered little tadpole of a baby, that yelled and yelled for three hours without ceasing, as though outraged to find itself ejected into life. 2 Anna Gorpon held her child to her breast, but she grieved while it drank, because of her man who had longed so much for a son. And seeing her grief, Sir Philip hid his chagrin, and he fondled the baby and examined its fingers. ‘ What a hand!’ he would say. * Why it’s actually got nails on all its ten fingers: little, perfect, pink nails! ’ Then Anna would dry her eyes and caress it, kissing the tiny hand. He insisted on calling the infant Stephen, nay more, he would have it baptized by that name. ‘ We’ve called her Stephen so long,’ he told Anna, ‘ that I reallv can’t see why we shouldn’t go on —’ 6 THE WELL OF LONELINESS Anna felt doubtful, but Sir Philip was stubborn, as he could be at times over whims.

• From Augustine: Philosopher and Saint (2005)

  57 • Until the Last Judgment the two cities coexist on earth, mingled together, sharing the same temporal goods but using them differently. “As long as the two cities are still mixed together, we also make use of the peace of Babylon” (19:26). The City of God: The Church in History • The community of the predestined: ƕThe two cities have two different predestined ends: the one in condemnation and the other in eternal life (15:1). ƕThe City of God includes both the blessed angels and humans predestined to eternal life. • The unity of humanity restored: ƕIn the beginning, humanity was united in Adam (“For we all were in that one man, when we all were that one man” [13:14]). ƕAdam’s fall into sin is the source of all separation and conÀ ict between human beings (that sinful love or cupidity for things that can’t be shared). ƕThe blessedness of heaven will include the reuni¿ cation of saved humanity. No longer divided by sin and conÀ ict of will and the opacity of mortal bodies, we will be able to see into each others’ minds: “our thoughts will be open and obvious to one another” (22:29). • The Body of Christ: ƕAs we were once united with Adam before sin, so in order to be redeemed from sin we must be united with Christ. ƕHumanity is united with Christ in the Body of Christ—the Church, of which Christ is head. ƕThe Body of Christ is united—as always—by love, through which Christ shares human mortality and humans share Christ’s righteousness and blessedness. This is the blessedness that makes the City of God happy in hope and the ¿ nal reuni¿ cation of the human race.

• From History of the Christian Church: The Complete Set of Eight Volumes (1858)

  The Jews now poured from east and west into the holy city of their fathers, which from the time of Hadrian they had been forbidden to visit, and entered with fanatical zeal upon the great national religious work, in hope of the speedy irruption of the Messianic reign and the fulfilment of all the prophecies. Women, we are told, brought their costly ornaments, turned them into silver shovels and spades, and carried even the earth and stones of the holy spot in their silken aprons. But the united power of heathen emperor and Jewish nation was insufficient to restore a work which had been overthrown by the judgment of God. Repeated attempts at the building were utterly frustrated, as even a contemporary heathen historian of conceded credibility relates, by fiery eruptions from on subterranean vaults;82 and, perhaps, as Christian writers add, by a violent whirlwind, lightning, earthquake, and miraculous signs, especially a luminous cross, in the heavens,83 so that the workmen either perished in the flames, or fled from the devoted spot in terror and despair. Thus, instead of depriving the Christians of a support of their faith, Julian only furnished them a new argument in the ruins of this fruitless labor. The providential frustration of this project is a symbol of the whole reign of Julian, which soon afterward sank into an early grave. As Caesar he had conquered the barbarian enemies of the Roman empire in the West; and now he proposed, as ruler of the world, to humble its enemies in the East, and by the conquest of Persia to win the renown of a second Alexander. He proudly rejected all proposals of peace; crossed the Tigris at the head of an army of sixty-five thousand men, after wintering in Antioch, and after solemn consultation of the oracle; took several fortified towns in Mesopotamia; exposed himself to every hardship and peril of war; restored at the same time, wherever he could, the worship of the heathen gods; but brought the army into a most critical position, and, in an unimportant nocturnal skirmish, received from a hostile arrow a mortal wound. He died soon after, on the 27th of June, 363, in the thirty-second year of his life; according to heathen testimony, in the proud repose and dignity of a Stoic philosopher, conversing of the glory of the soul (the immortality of which, however, he considered at best an uncertain opinion);84 but according to later and somewhat doubtful Christian accounts, with the hopeless exclamation: "Galilean, thou hast conquered!"85 The parting address to his friends, which Ammianus puts into his mouth, is altogether characteristic. It reminds one of the last hours of Socrates, without the natural simplicity of the original, and with a strong admixture of self-complacence and theatrical affectation.

• From Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

  In fact, he is encouraged by Ron’s new training regimen, seeing it as an indication that the End Times are imminent: Dan believes the Prince of Darkness must sense that “it’s almost time to start the harvest,” spurring him to whip Ron into good enough shape to make one final desperate attempt on Dan’s life, and thereby prevent the arrival of the Great and Dreadful Day. Because Satan knows that if Dan is allowed to live, there will be no stopping Christ’s return, and “the devil and all his brothers and sisters will be killed with much ‘wailing and gnashing of teeth.’ ” Until that rapturous moment, however, when “the moon will shine from noon until nine” and Dan can shout from the rooftops that Christ has returned, he bides his time within the grim chambers of the prison’s maximum-security unit, where he has thus far spent half of his adult life. But what if the moon doesn’t shine from noon until nine? What if killing Brenda and Erica Lafferty wasn’t actually part of God’s plan but was merely a crime of such staggering cruelty that it is beyond forgiveness? What if, in short, Dan got it all wrong? Has it occurred to him that he may in fact have a great deal in common with another fundamentalist of fanatical conviction, Osama bin Laden? “I’ve asked myself that,” Dan concedes. “Could I be there? Is that what I’m like? And the answer is no. Because Osama bin Laden is an asshole, a child of the devil. I believe his real motivation isn’t a quest for honesty and justice, which maybe were his motivations in his earlier life. Now he’s motivated by greed and profit and power.” What about Osama’s underlings, the holy warriors who sacrificed their lives for Allah by flying jumbo jets into the World Trade Center? Surely their faith and conviction were every bit as powerful as Dan’s. Does he think the sincerity of their belief justified the act? And if not, how can Dan know that what he did isn’t every bit as misguided as what bin Laden’s followers did on September 11, despite the obvious sincerity of his own faith? As he pauses to consider this possibility, there comes a moment when a shadow of doubt seems to flicker across his mien. But only for an instant, and then it’s gone. “I have to admit, the terrorists were following their prophet,” Dan says. “They were willing to do essentially what I did. I see the parallel. But the difference between those guys and me is, they were following a false prophet, and I’m not. “I believe I’m a good person,” Dan insists. “I’ve never done anything intentionally wrong. I never have. At times when I’ve started to wonder if maybe what I did was a terrible mistake, I’ve looked back and asked myself, ‘What would I have done differently?

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  THAT MAN STANDS IN NEED OF DIVINE GRACE FOR THE GAINING OF HAPPINESSIT has already been shown (Chapp.CXI-[442]CXIII) that divine providence disposes of rational creatures otherwise than of other things, inasmuch as their nature stands on a different footing from that of others. It remains to be shown that also in view of the dignity of their end divine providence employs a higher method of government in their regard. Their nature clearly fits them for a higher end. As being intelligent, they can attain to intelligible truth, which other creatures cannot. So far as they attain this truth by their own natural activity, God provides for them otherwise than for other creatures, giving them understanding and reason, and further the gift of speech, whereby they can aid one another in the knowledge of truth. But beyond this, the last end of man is fixed in a certain knowledge of truth which exceeds his natural faculties, so that it is given to him to see the First Truth in itself. To creatures lower than man it is not given to arrive at an end exceeding the capacities of their natures. In view of this end, a method of government must be found for man, different from that which suffices for the lower creation. For the means must be proportionate to the end: if then man is ordained to an end transcending his natural capacities, he must be furnished with some supernatural assistance from heaven, enabling him to tend to that end. 2. A thing of inferior nature cannot be brought to that which is proper to a superior nature except by the virtue and action of the said superior nature. Thus the moon, which has no light of its own, is made luminous by the virtue and action of the sun. But to behold the First Truth as it is in itself so transcends the capacity of human nature as to be proper to God alone (Chap.LII). Therefore man needs help of God to arrive at such an end. 5. There are many impediments in the way of man’s arriving at his end. He is impeded by the weakness of his reason, which is easily dragged into error, and so erring he is thrown off the right way of arriving at his end. He is impeded by the passions of the sensitive portion of his nature, and by the tastes which drag him to sensible and inferior things. The more he clings to such things, the further he is separated from his last end: for these things are below man, whereas his end is high above him. He is impeded also very frequently by infirmity of body from the performance of the acts of virtue which carry him on to his end. Man therefore needs the divine assistance, lest with such impediments in his way, he fail altogether in the gaining of his last end.

• From Saint Thomas Aquinas Collection (22 Books) (2016)

  Reason too gives evident support to the resurrection of the flesh.—1. The souls of men are immortal (B. II, Chap.LXXIX). But the soul is naturally united with the body, being essentially the form of the body (B. II, Chap.LVII). Therefore it is against the nature of the soul to be without the body. But nothing that is against nature can be lasting. Therefore the soul will not be for ever without the body. Thus the immortality of the soul seems to require the resurrection of the body. 2. The natural desire of man tends to happiness, or final perfection (B. III, Chap.XXIV). Whoever is wanting in any point proper to his perfect well-being, has not yet attained to perfect happiness: his desire is not yet perfectly laid to rest. Now the soul separate from the body is in a sense imperfect, as is every part away from its whole, for the soul is part of human nature. 3. Reward and punishment are due to men both in soul and in body. But in this life they cannot attain to the reward of final happiness (B. III, Chap.XLVIII); and sins often go unpunished in this life: nay, here the wicked live and are comforted and set up with riches (Job xxi, 7). There must then be a second union of soul with body, that man may be rewarded and punished in body and in soul. CHAPTER LXXXI SOME POINTS OF REPLY TO DIFFICULTIES ON THE RESURRECTIONIN the first creation of human nature God endowed the human body with an attribute over and above what was due to it by the natural principles of its constitution, namely, with a certain imperishability, to adapt it to its form, that as the life of the soul is perpetual, so the body might perpetually live by the soul. Granting that this imperishability was not natural in regard of the active principle, still it may be called natural in regard of the end, taking the end of matter to be proportioned to its natural form. When then, contrary to the order of its nature, the soul turned away from God, there was withdrawn from the body that God-given constitution which made it proportionate to the soul; and death ensued. Considering then how human nature actually was constituted to begin with, we may say that death is something which has accidentally supervened upon man through sin. This accident has been removed by Christ, who by the merit of His passion and death has destroyed death. Consequently that same divine power, which originally endowed the body with incorruption, will restore the body again from death to life. None of the essential elements in man is altogether annihilated in death. The rational soul, the form’ of man, remains after death. The matter also remains, which was subject to that form. So by the union of numerically the same soul with numerically the same matter, numerically the same man will be restored.