Chapter 1, Treating Some Matters that are preparatory to the Treatise
The greatest part of mankind, well actually of those who are Christians, may be said to be well asleep in a fantastical dream. Instead of being aware of their Heavenly Father, and the great gifts he has given them, they live a life devoted to the interests and enjoyments of this world, spent and wasted in the slavery of earthly desires, whittling away their time and energy in vain and worthless pursuits and this may be truly called a dream; for it has all the shortness, vanity, and delusion of a dream as when they wake up they will find that they have nothing for their effort.
There is one great difference though between it and a real dream and that is when a night dream is over, nothing is lost but fictions and fantasy, pleasant reveries to think and muse, but when the dream of life is over, ended by death itself, all of eternity is lost as well.
Now there is no misery in this world, but this blindness and insensibility of Man to his state, and what is worse, Man so willingly, nay obstinately plunges himself into the midst of it. And so from that delusion, that whittling away of idle time, everything that has the nature of evil and distress takes its rise from that.
Do you think that man realizes, that he comes into this world on no other errand, but to rise out of the vanity of his time into the riches of all eternity? For poor and miserable as this life is, through & within it , we all have free access to all that is great, and good, and better yet, within us, yes our very selves, we carry the key to all the treasures that heaven has to offer.
Do you think that mankind realizes this — that instead of starving in the midst of plenty, groaning under infirmities, worrying about trivial nonsense, instead we have the very remedy in our own hand? Or do they realise that all our troubles would be solved by the greatness of the Spirit of Prayer that was given to them at their very conception that they ignore?
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| William Adolphe Bouguereau |
But it was his almost photo-realistic style that made him popular with the rich patrons of Paris & he became quite famous before being eclipsed by the rising tide of the Impressionists.
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| Gustave Dore |
No, for we are Strangers to Heaven, and live and exist without God in the World, because we are void of that Spirit of Prayer, which alone can, unite us with Him and open Heaven and the Kingdom of God within us.
Instead, we look to distant shores, new cuisines, and things of the passing time.
We remain strangers to heaven and do not tap that very seed that our Father set in the finest soil, in the very best of climates, and then blessed with all that sun, and air, and rain that he could give, so He would be sure of its growth to perfection.
For the sun does not meet the springing bud with as much certainty, as God, the source of all goodness, communicates to the soul within.
We remain strangers to heaven and do not tap that very seed that our Father set in the finest soil, in the very best of climates, and then blessed with all that sun, and air, and rain that he could give, so He would be sure of its growth to perfection.
For the sun does not meet the springing bud with as much certainty, as God, the source of all goodness, communicates to the soul within.
From Gustave Dore's lithographs to the bible. They can all be found here. Born Paul-Gustave Doré (born January 6, 1832, Strasbourg,France—died January 23, 1883, Paris), he was French printmaker, & one of the most prolific and successful book illustrators of the late 19th century. His exuberant and bizarre fantasy created vast dreamlike scenes widely emulated by Romantic academicians including his large folio Bible (1866), and the Inferno of Dante (1861). He also painted many large compositions of a religious or historical character and had some success as a sculptor; but it was his illustrations where his true vivacity and genius live.
For God, is neither absent nor distant from our troubles, but He is more present in our souls, than we are, because while we are wasting our time gossiping and idylling about, and doing nothing but spinning yarns of what may come, all the while ignoring the call for the spirit of prayer, which alone can open up Heaven as well as the Kingdom of God within and for us and so in turn, cease our commiserations and turmoil, He
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