A cold chill fell upon their hearts!
(J.A. James, "The Christian Professor" 1837)
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It has frequently occurred that young converts
in the ardor of their first love, and while much
unacquainted as yet, with what is called
the 'religious world', have looked upon
the church as a 'sacred enclosure',
within which dwelt a kind of heavenly
inhabitants, who could think or speak
of little else than the glory which
awaited them.
In the church these novices expected to find . . .
the sweetest and holiest fellowship,
an almost unearthly spirituality, and
an uninterrupted strain of pious conversation.
But alas! What a woeful disappointment
did the reality produce!
In the 'sacred enclosure' they found
worldly-minded professors--
almost as intent upon seen and
temporal things, as those they
had left out in the world!
In the 'vestibule of heaven',
they beheld professors . . .
covered with the 'earthly dust',
disordered with worldly concerns,
and given up to worldly amusements!
In the church members, they saw little
but worldly conduct, and heard little
else but worldly conversation!
A cold chill fell upon their hearts,
which checked the ardor of their pious
affections; and even they, lately so
fervent, soon sunk and settled down
into the lukewarmness of those among
whom they had come to dwell.
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