It had just occurred to Mrs. Weston that Mrs. Elton must be asked to begin the ball; that she would expect it; which interfered with all their wishes of giving Emma that distinction.—Emma heard the sad truth with fortitude.
— from Emma by Jane Austen

The Professor charged up and down the green aisles like a stout Teutonic knight, with a pole for a lance, leading on the boys, who made a hook and ladder company of themselves, and performed wonders in the way of ground and lofty tumbling.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott

Now, that it is chiefly the will of God most high, whose power extends itself irresistibly through all things which they call fate, is proved by the following verses, of which, if I mistake not, Annæus Seneca is the author:— "Father supreme, Thou ruler of the lofty heavens, Lead me where'er it is Thy pleasure; I will give A prompt obedience, making no delay, Lo!
— from The City of God, Volume I by Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo

They have audaciously adjusted, in the name of “good taste,” upon the wounds of gothic architecture, their miserable gewgaws of a day, their ribbons of marble, their pompons of metal, a veritable leprosy of egg-shaped ornaments, volutes, whorls, draperies, garlands, fringes, stone flames, bronze clouds, pudgy cupids, chubby-cheeked cherubim, which begin to devour the face of art in the oratory of Catherine de Medicis, and cause it to expire, two centuries later, tortured and grimacing, in the boudoir of the Dubarry.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo

When the Philistines understood that David was made king of the Hebrews, they made war against him at Jerusalem; and when they had seized upon that valley which is called The Valley of the Giants, and is a place not far from the city, they pitched their camp therein; but the king of the Jews, who never permitted himself to do any thing without prophecy, 6 and the command of God and without depending on him as a security for the time to come, bade the high priest to foretell to him what was the will of God, and what would be the event of this battle.
— from Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus

People are too apt to reproach those who beg with being idle, but give themselves no concern to put them in the way of getting business to do, or considering whether they are able to do it, which is not charity.
— from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Laughing so shrilly that all the market-place could hear her, the weird old gentlewoman took her departure.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Thou shalt also find, in this small treatise, the way of God with the sinner, as to his CONVERSATION, 1 and the way of the sinner with God in the same; where[in] the grace of God, and the wickedness of the sinner, do greatly show themselves.
— from Works of John Bunyan — Volume 01 by John Bunyan

But in judgment, there may be still some reason gotten for it in the creature beside the will of God; so that, to speak with reverence of his majesty, strokes are often drawn out of his hands.
— from The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning

“By my own efforts, I shall never escape from this wilderness of guilt and misery.”
— from The Fortunes of Nigel by Walter Scott

Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth," that was not passive submission to God's will but an aggressive prayer for the victory of God and righteousness; it was not lying down under the will of God as something to be endured, but active loyalty to the will of God as something to be achieved.
— from Christianity and Progress by Harry Emerson Fosdick

Among these there was one great Baal to whom the Phoenicians were devoted, and an especial Ashtoreth, the moon, or Queen of Heaven, who was thought to have a lover named Tammuz, who died with the flowers in the autumn and revived in the spring, and the women took delight in wailing and bemoaning his death, and then dancing and offering cakes in honour of his revival.
— from The Chosen People: A Compendium of Sacred and Church History for School-Children by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

So kind of Rachel to stay—not that the boys seemed to think so, as they went racing in and out, stretching their ship-bound legs, and taking possession of the minute shrubbery, which they scorned for the want of gum-trees and parrots.
— from The Clever Woman of the Family by Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary) Yonge

Several of the pleas he quotes are mere platitudes, such as “that the ways of God are unfathomable, and that one must walk in faith and believe that things are somehow good.”
— from The War and the Gospel: Sermons and Addresses During the Present War by Henry Wace

That they would not go to the front line positions was openly stated by the men, however, and they would only go to Obozerskaya.
— from The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 by Joel R. (Joel Roscoe) Moore

For, although I approved not of their separation from the general presbyterian kirk of Scotland, nor was altogether content with their declaration published at Sanquhar, there [304] was yet one clause which, to my spirit, impoverished of all hope, was as food and raiment; and that there may be no perversion concerning the same in after times, I shall here set down the words of the clause, and the words are these:— "Although we be for government and governors such as the Word of God and our Covenant allows, yet we for ourselves, and all that will adhere to us, do, by thir presents, disown Charles Stuart, that has been reigning (or rather tyrannizing as we may say) on the throne of Britain these years bygone, as having any right or title to, or interest in, the crown of Scotland for government, he having forfeited the same several years since by his perjury and breach of Covenant both to God and His kirk;" and further, I did approve of those passages wherein it was declared, that he "should have been denuded of being king, ruler, or magistrate, or having any power to act or to be obeyed as such:" as also, "we being under the standard of our Lord Jesus Christ, Captain of Salvation, do declare a war with such a tyrant and usurper, and all the men of his practices, as enemies to our Lord."
— from Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters by John Galt

Punch often found himself driven into the ranks of the Philistines in self-defence; anyhow, he always preferred the way of Gath to that of gush.
— from Mr. Punch's History of Modern England, Vol. 4 (of 4).—1892-1914 by Charles L. (Charles Larcom) Graves