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course reader english 11 mrs lisa park 1

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to my dear and loving husband verses upon the burning of our house excerpt from sinners in the hands of an angry god excerpt from god glorified in man s dependence speech to the virginia house of burgesses the devil and tom walker the raven annabel lee the bells a dream within a dream the minister s black veil the birth-mark self-reliance on the duty of civil disobedience the story of an hour the open boat the yellow wallpaper a rose for emily a clean well-lighted place the chrysanthemums a good man is hard to find this is my letter to the world success is counted sweetest hope is the thing with feathers the soul selects her own society there s a certain slant of light i ll tell you how the sun rose a bird came down the walk i felt a funeral in my brain 2 5 6 8 17 29 33 47 52 54 58 59 75 95 123 149 153 182 203 216 223 239 262 262 263 263 264 265 266 267

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because i could not stop for death o captain my captain i saw in louisiana a live-oak growing a noiseless patient spider to a locomotive in winter portrait d une femme the garden in a station of the metro ts ai chi h the river merchant s wife a letter the love song of j alfred prufrock the hollow men richard cory ars poetica chicago poem the red wheelbarrow this is just to say la a total stranger one black day next to of course god america i the negro speaks of rivers cross dream variations harlem a sound of thunder the euphio question lady lazarus daddy 3 268 269 270 271 271 273 274 275 275 276 277 282 286 287 289 291 292 292 293 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 314 331 335

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the terms in which i think of reality feb 29 1958 nagasaki days everybody s fantasy homework velocity of money 339 341 343 344 345 4

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to my dear and loving husband by anne bradstreet 1678 if ever two were one then surely we if ever man were lov d by wife then thee if ever wife was happy in a man compare with me ye women if you can i prize thy love more than whole mines of gold or all the riches that the east doth hold my love is such that rivers cannot quench nor ought but love from thee give recompetence thy love is such i can no way repay the heavens reward thee manifold i pray then while we live in love let s so persever that when we live no more we may live ever 5 10 5

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verses upon the burning of our house by anne bradstreet 1678 in silent night when rest i took for sorrow near i did not look i waken d was with thund ring noise and piteous shrieks of dreadful voice that fearful sound of fire and fire let no man know is my desire i starting up the light did spy and to my god my heart did cry to straighten me in my distress and not to leave me succourless then coming out behold a space the flame consume my dwelling place and when i could no longer look i blest his grace that gave and took that laid my goods now in the dust yea so it was and so twas just it was his own it was not mine far be it that i should repine he might of all justly bereft but yet sufficient for us left when by the ruins oft i past my sorrowing eyes aside did cast and here and there the places spy where oft i sate and long did lie here stood that trunk and there that chest there lay that store i counted best my pleasant things in ashes lie and them behold no more shall i under the roof no guest shall sit nor at thy table eat a bit 5 10 15 20 25 30 6

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no pleasant talk shall ere be told nor things recounted done of old no candle ere shall shine in thee nor bridegroom s voice ere heard shall bee in silence ever shalt thou lie adieu adieu all s vanity then straight i gin my heart to chide and did thy wealth on earth abide didst fix thy hope on mouldring dust the arm of flesh didst make thy trust raise up thy thoughts above the sky that dunghill mists away may fly thou hast a house on high erect fram d by that mighty architect with glory richly furnished stands permanent though this be fled it s purchased and paid for too by him who hath enough to do a price so vast as is unknown yet by his gift is made thine own there s wealth enough i need no more farewell my pelf farewell my store the world no longer let me love my hope and treasure lies above 35 40 45 50 7

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excerpt from sinners in the hands of an angry god by jonathan edwards 1741 their foot shall slide in due time deuteronomy 32:35 in this verse is threatened the vengeance of god on the wicked unbelieving israelites who were god s visible people and who lived under the means of grace but who notwithstanding all god s wonderful works towards them remained as ver 28 void of counsel having no understanding in them under all the cultivations of heaven they brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit as in the two verses next preceding the text the expression i have chosen for my text their foot shall slide in due time seems to imply the following doings relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked israelites were exposed 1 that they were always exposed to destruction as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall this is implied in the manner of their destruction coming upon them being represented by their foot sliding the same is expressed surely thou didst set them in slippery places thou castedst them down into destruction psalm 73:18 2 it implies that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction as he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next and when he does fall he falls at once without warning which is also expressed in psalm 73:18 19 surely thou didst set them in slippery places thou castedst them down into destruction how are they brought into desolation as in a moment 8

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3 another thing implied is that they are liable to fall of themselves without being thrown down by the hand of another as he that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down 4 that the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that god s appointed time is not come for it is said that when that due time or appointed time comes their foot shall slide then they shall be left to fall as they are inclined by their own weight god will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer but will let them go and then at that very instant they shall fall into destruction as he that stands on such slippery declining ground on the edge of a pit he cannot stand alone when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost the observation from the words that i would now insist upon is this there is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell but the mere pleasure of god by the mere pleasure of god i mean his sovereign pleasure his arbitrary will restrained by no obligation hindered by no manner of difficulty any more than if nothing else but god s mere will had in the least degree or in any respect whatsoever any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment the truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations 1 there is no want of power in god to cast wicked men into hell at any moment men s hands cannot be strong when god rises up the strongest have no power to resist him nor can any deliver out of his hands he is not only able to cast wicked men into hell but he can most easily do it sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel who has found means to fortify himself and has made himself 9

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strong by the numbers of his followers but it is not so with god there is no fortress that is any defense from the power of god though hand join in hand and vast multitudes of god s enemies combine and associate themselves they are easily broken in pieces they are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames we find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by thus easy is it for god when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell what are we that we should think to stand before him at whose rebuke the earth trembles and before whom the rocks are thrown down 2 they deserve to be cast into hell so that divine justice never stands in the way it makes no objection against god s using his power at any moment to destroy them yea on the contrary justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins divine justice says of the tree that brings forth such grapes of sodom cut it down why cumbereth it the ground luke xiii 7 the sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy and god s mere will that holds it back 3 they are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell they do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither but the sentence of the law of god that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that god has fixed between him and mankind is gone out against them and stands against them so that they are bound over already to hell john iii 18 he that believeth not is condemned already so that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell that is his place from thence he is ye are from beneath john viii 23 and thither be 10

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is bound it is the place that justice and god s word and the sentence of his unchangeable law assign to him 4 they are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of god that is expressed in the torments of hell and the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment is not because god in whose power they are is not then very angry with them as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath yea god is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth yea doubtless with many that are now in this congregation who it may be are at ease than he is with many of those who are now in the flames of hell so that it is not because god is unmindful of their wickedness and does not resent it that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off god is not altogether such an one as themselves though they may imagine him to be so the wrath of god burns against them their damnation does not slumber the pit is prepared the fire is made ready the furnace is now hot ready to receive them the flames do now rage and glow the glittering sword is whet and held over them and the pit hath opened its mouth under them 5 the devil stands ready to fall upon them and seize them as his own at what moment god shall permit him they belong to him he has their souls in his possession and under his dominion the scripture represents them as his goods luke 11:12 the devils watch them they are ever by them at their right hand they stand waiting for them like greedy hungry lions that see their prey and expect to have it but are for the present kept back if god should withdraw his hand by which they are restrained they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls the old serpent is gaping for them hell 11

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opens its mouth wide to receive them and if god should permit it they would be hastily swallowed up and lost 6 there are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire if it were not for god s restraints there is laid in the very nature of carnal men a foundation for the torments of hell there are those corrupt principles in reigning power in them and in full possession of them that are seeds of hell fire these principles are active and powerful exceeding violent in their nature and if it were not for the restraining hand of god upon them they would soon break out they would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions the same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls and would beget the same torments as they do in them the souls of the wicked are in scripture compared to the troubled sea isa 57:20 for the present god restrains their wickedness by his mighty power as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea saying hitherto shalt thou come but no further but if god should withdraw that restraining power it would soon carry all before it sin is the ruin and misery of the soul it is destructive in its nature and if god should leave it without restraint there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable the corruption of the heart of man is immoderate and boundless in its fury and while wicked men live here it is like fire pent up by god s restraints whereas if it were let loose it would set on fire the course of nature and as the heart is now a sink of sin so if sin was not restrained it would immediately turn the soul into a fiery oven or a furnace of fire and brimstone 7 it is no security to wicked men for one moment that there are no visible means of death at hand it is no security to a natural man that he is now in health and that he does not see which way he should now 12

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immediately go out of the world by any accident and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances the manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages shows this is no evidence that a man is not on the very brink of eternity and that the next step will not be into another world the unseen unthought-of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight and these places are not seen the arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day the sharpest sight cannot discern them god has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell that there is nothing to make it appear that god had need to be at the expense of a miracle or go out of the ordinary course of his providence to destroy any wicked man at any moment all the means that there are of sinners going out of the world are so in god s hands and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination that it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of god whether sinners shall at any moment go to hell than if means were never made use of or at all concerned in the case 8 natural men s prudence and care to preserve their own lives or the care of others to preserve them do not secure them a moment to this divine providence and universal experience do also bear testimony there is this clear evidence that men s own wisdom is no security to them from death that if it were otherwise we should see some difference between the wise and politic men of the world and others with regard to their liableness to early and unexpected death but how is it in fact eccles ii 16 how dieth the wise man even as the fool 13

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9 all wicked men s pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell while they continue to reject christ and so remain wicked men do not secure them from hell one moment almost every natural man that hears of hell flatters himself that he shall escape it he depends upon himself for his own security he flatters himself in what he has done in what he is now doing or what he intends to do every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself and that his schemes will not fail they hear indeed that there are but few saved and that the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done he does not intend to come to that place of torment he says within himself that he intends to take effectual care and to order matters so for himself as not to fail but the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom they trust to nothing but a shadow the greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same means of grace and are now dead are undoubtedly gone to hell and it was not because they were not as wise as those who are now alive it was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape if we could speak with them and inquire of them one by one whether they expected when alive and when they used to hear about hell ever to be the subjects of that misery we doubtless should hear one and another reply no i never intended to come here i had laid out matters otherwise in my mind i thought i should contrive well for myself i thought my scheme good i intended to take effectual care but it came upon me unexpected i did not look for it at that time and in that manner it came as a thief death outwitted me god s wrath was too quick for 14

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me oh my cursed foolishness i was flattering myself and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what i would do hereafter and when i was saying peace and safety then suddenly destruction came upon me 10 god has laid himself under no obligation by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell one moment god certainly has made no promises either of eternal life or of any deliverance or preservation from eternal death but what are contained in the covenant of grace the promises that are given in christ in whom all the promises are yea and amen but surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace who are not the children of the covenant who do not believe in any of the promises and have no interest in the mediator of the covenant so that whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made to natural men s earnest seeking and knocking it is plain and manifest that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion whatever prayers he makes till he believes in christ god is under no manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction so that thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of god over the pit of hell they have deserved the fiery pit and are already sentenced to it and god is dreadfully provoked his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger neither is god in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment the devil is waiting for them hell is gaping for them the flames gather and flash about them and would fain lay hold on them and swallow them up the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling 15

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