In this
manner Esther had made a sort of convenient ally of the word of God;
rarely troubling it for counsel, however, except when her own
incompetency to avert an evil was too apparent to be disputed. We
shall leave casuists to determine how far she resembled any other
believers in this particular, and proceed directly with the matter
before us.
"There are many awful passages in these pages, Ishmael," she said,
when the volume was opened, and the leaves were slowly turning under
her finger, "and some there ar' that teach the rules of punishment."
Her husband made a gesture for her to find one of those brief rules of
conduct, which have been received among all Christian nations as the
direct mandates of the Creator, and which have been found so just,
that even they, who deny their high authority, admit their wisdom.
Ishmael listened with grave attention, as his companion read all those
verses, which her memory suggested, and which were thought applicable
to the situation in which they found themselves.
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