Holy Writ. WIDOW. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child; if thou afflict them in anywise, and they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry. EXODUS, Xxii. The King said unto her, What aileth thee? and she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead. 2 SAMUEL, xiv. WILL OF HEAVEN. He said unto Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Thy will be done, as in Heaven, so in earth. ROMANS, ix. LUKE, Xi. He maketh intercession according to the will of God. WISDOM. ROMANS, viii. Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets. PROVERBS, i. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. PROVERBS, Xxii. WITCH. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. EXODUS, xxii. Shakespeare, WITCHCRAFT. Tell me what they deserve, That do conspire my death with devilish plots Of damned witchcraft. WOE. RICHARD III. iii. 4. Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy; Have woe to woe, sorrow to sorrow join'd. RICHARD II. ii. 2. WORLD. Would I were dead! if God's good will were so : For what is in this world but grief and woe? 3 HENRY VI. ii. 5. WORLD'S DISSOLUTION. . The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, TEMPEST, iv. 1. Holy Writ. WITCHCRAFT. He used enchantments and used witchcraft, and dealt with familiar spirits and with wizards; he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord. 2 CHRONICLES, xxxiii, WOE. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions ? who hath wounds without cause? PROVERBS, Xxiii. WORLD. He that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal. WORLD'S DISSOLUTION. JOHN, Xii. The Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned; for the Heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt. 2 PETER, iii. In concluding this part of the compilation of Shakespeare's Religious Sentences, we cannot avoid expressing the indulged hope, that our readers will feel with us a gratified surprise, that so many passages, embellishing his works, should have been found so conformable to the Holy Scriptures. They present incontestable proofs that he was fully read in Holy Writ, and that his mind was most sensibly imbued with the sublimity and hallowed character of the Sacred Writings. In contemplating the diversity of Shakespeare's genius, it is delightful to behold him, while depicting the sublunary scenes of human life in all its various shades, exhorting us, at the same time, to look up with adoration to the Omnipotent Creator of the Universe. We now proceed to submit some further extracts from the works of Shakespeare, of a similar description to the preceding, but not accompanied with corresponding passages from Scripture; thus shewing how copiously he drew from the pure source of his own all-gifted mind, sentences of high morality and true religion. These we have placed under the respective heads of GOD, HEAVEN, DEATH, SOUL, PRAYER, HOLY, SACRAMENT, and war, in order to give a defined arrangement of the subjects, and to shew in what a pure religious sense he treats and considers each. |