"Absolve" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... with the beauty of their dear decay We conjure them with laughters onerous And drunkenness of labour; yet not thus May we absolve ourselves of yesterday— We cannot put those clinging arms away, Nor those ...
— The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century • William Lyon Phelps
... Thursday seven of the court-martial applied for mercy: they were rejected. On Friday a most strange event happened. I was told at the House that Captain Keppel and Admiral Norris desired a bill to absolve them from their oath of secrecy, that they might unfold something very material towards saving the prisoner's life. I was out of Parliament myself during my re-election, but I ran to Keppel; he said he had never spoken in public, and could not, but would give authority ...
— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 • Horace Walpole
... my child, there was no other way in which you could honourably earn your dot in a single hour. To-morrow I shall take you back to the cure of Montreuil, who will, I trust, absolve us both. He will forgive you for playing in a comedy once ...
— The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 29, May 1893 - An Illustrated Monthly • Various
... tells you his eyesight is failing. You sympathise. "What is it?" you ask. "Glaucoma." "Ah! Glaucoma!" You don't know what glaucoma is. You are no wiser than you were before. But you are content. A name has contented you. Similarly the name of policeman contents you, seems to absolve you from further curiosity as to the phenomenon. You have looked at tens of thousands of policemen, and perhaps never seen the hundredth part of the reality of a single one. Your imagination has not ...
— The Author's Craft • Arnold Bennett
... impiety of the idea, uttered an exclamation of surprise. "I mean," added Giotto, "I will show you the person whom I employed as my model in this picture, but it must be on condition that your holiness will absolve me from all punishment for the use which I have made of him." The Pope promised Giotto the absolution for which he stipulated, and accompanied the artist to his workshop. On entering, Giotto drew aside a curtain which hung before the dead ...
— Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects, and Curiosities of Art, (Vol. 2 of 3) • Shearjashub Spooner
... heals and stops it. Christ does not die a second time indeed for the pardon of sinners, but he is a powerful Advocate interceding still to his Father for sinners. Can he forsake those he redeemed at so dear a rate? Can the devil enslave, and Christ not absolve his servants? He alleges St. Peter denying Christ after he had been baptized, St. {559} Thomas incredulous, even after the resurrection; yet pardoned by repentance. He answers his objections from scripture, and exhorts him to embrace the Catholic faith; for the true church ...
— The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints - January, February, March • Alban Butler
... prophet of the Lord." Twenty years after the sad death of his master, Samuel felt that the moment had come to throw off the Philistine yoke; he exhorted the people to put away their false gods, and he assembled them at Mizpah to absolve them from their sins. The Philistines, suspicious of this concourse, which boded ill for the maintenance of their authority, arose against him. "And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And Samuel took a ...
— History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 6 (of 12) • G. Maspero
... ago, declared that, if they were relieved from the disabilities under which they then lay, they should willingly see the Church of Ireland in possession of all its endowments: as if anything that anybody said fifty years ago could absolve us from the plain duty of doing what is now best for the country. We are told of the Fifth Article of Union; as if the Fifth Article of Union were more sacred than the Fourth. Surely, if there be any article of the Union which ought to be ...
— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 4 (of 4) - Lord Macaulay's Speeches • Thomas Babington Macaulay
... strange love, surely, which so speaks? Shall a man live, despised, in harmony with her who despises him? James Lee's wife may call this love, but we absolve James Lee, I think, if he does not! For human beings feel most subtly when scorn dwells near them; they may indeed have caused that scorn—but let there be no talk of love ...
— Browning's Heroines • Ethel Colburn Mayne
... prayer, help to send forth Christ's messengers. There is nothing like personal work for making a man understand and feel the miseries of his fellows. Christian men and women, it is your first business everywhere to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ, and no prayers and no subscriptions absolve you from that. In this army a man cannot buy himself off and send in a substitute at the cost of an annual guinea. If Christ sent the apostles, do you hold up the hands of the apostles' successors, and so by God's grace you and I may help on the coming of that blessed day when there shall be ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - St. Matthew Chaps. IX to XXVIII • Alexander Maclaren
... clergyman, or statesman—they are called upon to do something in which they have only a secondary interest. The minister who reads a sermon on the text "Thou Shalt Not Steal," and considers that the fact that he has paid five dollars for it will absolve him from the charge of inconsistency, does not—cannot—feel any desire to impress his congregation with a desire for right living—he wants only to hold his job. The university student who, after ascertaining ...
— A Librarian's Open Shelf • Arthur E. Bostwick
... Henry broke the truce and openly renewed hostilities. Paul the Fourth, the reigning pontiff, was the agent in bringing about this sudden change. The inducement held out to Henry was the prospect of the investiture of the duchy of Milan and the kingdom of Naples; and Paul readily agreed to absolve the French monarch from the oath which he had so solemnly taken only five months before. Constable Montmorency and his nephew, Admiral Coligny, opposed the act of perfidy; but it was advocated by the Duke of Guise, by the Cardinal of Lorraine, and by one ...
— The Rise of the Hugenots, Vol. 1 (of 2) • Henry Martyn Baird
... counsels of your confessor? Why did you not, even after you had fallen the first or the second or the third or the fourth or the hundredth time, repent of your evil ways and turn to God who only waited for your repentance to absolve you of your sins? Now the time for repentance has gone by. Time is, time was, but time shall be no more! Time was to sin in secrecy, to indulge in that sloth and pride, to covet the unlawful, to yield to the promptings ...
— A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man • James Joyce
... first, arranging his military plans for the defense of the Pyrenees, and despatching Soult, who went against his will, for the campaign which sealed the marshal's reputation as a great soldier. Doubtless, too, Napoleon felt that distance from the absurd congress would absolve him from the guilt of ...
— The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte - Vol. III. (of IV.) • William Milligan Sloane
... be a man must be a nonconformist.[165] He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness.[166] Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage[167] of the world. I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser, who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the ...
— Essays • Ralph Waldo Emerson
... "I absolve you from your promise, my dear girl," he said. "You must wed him whom you love best. ...
— Pretty Madcap Dorothy - How She Won a Lover • Laura Jean Libbey
... higher head than she can upon justifiable occasions. She is not always imagining herself looked down upon because she is poor. She knows full well that out of her own heart and mouth proceed the only witnesses that can absolve or condemn her. If she is quick to be courteous, unselfish, gentle and retiring in speech and manner in public places, she is true gold, even though her dress be faded and her hat a little out of style. You cannot mistake any such girl any ...
— The Girl Wanted • Nixon Waterman
... teaching, you That peerless Peeress can absolve from dolor; Teach her it is not virtue to pursue Ruin of blue, or any other color; Teach her it is not Virtue's crown to rue, Month after month, the unpaid drunken dollar; Teach her that "flooring Charleys" is a game Unworthy one that bears a ...
— The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood • Thomas Hood
... "you may not be a lay sister all your life; you have taken no vows that will bind you for ever, and I have no doubt that the lady superior can absolve you from your engagements should you at any time wish to go back to the world; if so, and if I am still in France, I will come to dance at your wedding, and will promise you as pretty a necklace and earrings as are to be ...
— Bonnie Prince Charlie - A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden • G. A. Henty
... condition of a temperate people, but there religion is the vehicle; with Protestants such a vehicle should never be attempted, unless the clergy once more are the directors of conscience and of action, and could conscientiously absolve the taker of the pledge, should he fail. With the diversity of sects now existing in Protestantism, this would be obviously impracticable, and the attempt lead to a result one can hardly imagine without horror. No oath ought to be administered to a Protestant on ...
— Canada and the Canadians, Vol. 2 • Richard Henry Bonnycastle
... absolve me from the charge of ill completing my work; for any curiosity with which this narrative may leave the reader burdened is shared by ...
— The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu • Sax Rohmer
... force me to avow myself?" she asked. "May Heaven absolve me if I err herein! No, give me leisure to reflect: this were too sudden. These passion-hurried vows were too much like those vapors, that, igniting, rush like to unorbed stars across the night, then, vanished, leave it blacker. Do not tempt ...
— The Advocate • Charles Heavysege
... petition of the said prior-general, desirous moreover of rewarding him with especial favors and graces [we hereby,] in order that these presents alone be carried into effect, do absolve him and declare him thus absolved from whatsoever excommunication, suspension, interdict, and other ecclesiastical sentences, censures, and penalties incurred by law or individual court, should he in any manner have been entangled thereby; moreover through these ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 (Vol 28 of 55) • Various
... it amounted to the old proverb, "All's fair in love and war". And, putting aside a few moral prejudices, one can easily enough absolve him.—The fact is, I had long ago surmised that his motives in taking to such a career had more reference to this world than the next. You know, I had several long talks with him; I told you how he interested me. Now I ...
— Born in Exile • George Gissing
... that the emperor's edict could absolve the judge from following his own convictions about the sense of the law, because it gave to the authorized interpretation the force of law. The text, as the judge interpreted it, was a law repealed; the comment of the great ...
— The Christian Life - Its Course, Its Hindrances, And Its Helps • Thomas Arnold
... that is next me in our heaven, Lustrous and costly, great renown hath left, And not to perish, ere these hundred years Five times absolve their round. Consider thou, If to excel be worthy man's endeavour, When such life may attend the first. Yet they Care not for this, the crowd that now are girt By Adice and Tagliamento, still Impenitent, tho' scourg'd. The hour is ...
— The Divine Comedy, Complete - The Vision of Paradise, Purgatory and Hell • Dante Alighieri
... the book, the priest forthwith went to Pizarro and reported the conduct of the Inca, saying, "It is useless to talk to this dog. At them at once; I absolve you." ...
— Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania • Jewett Castello Gilson
... his consent, and it was soon too late. From all accounts, the closing scene of Lulli's life was not marked with that awe which generally attends a death-bed. He desired absolution, but his confessor would not absolve him, except on the condition that he would commit to flames the score of his latest opera. After many excuses, Lulli at length acquiesced, and pointing to a drawer, where was the rough score of "Achille et Polixene," it was burned, the absolution granted, ...
— Among the Great Masters of Music - Scenes in the Lives of Famous Musicians • Walter Rowlands
... such mercy as you offer. I hold fast to a simple faith in Christ's meritorious death, and that alone is sufficient to secure my salvation. I look upon the sacrifice of the Mass as an act dishonouring Him. I believe that no human person has power to absolve me from sin; that all must enter the kingdom of heaven here who are to belong to it hereafter, and thus that masses for the dead are a deceit and fraud; that Christ hears our prayers more willingly than any human mediator or being who has once dwelt on earth; that His mother was honoured among ...
— The Golden Grasshopper - A story of the days of Sir Thomas Gresham • W.H.G. Kingston
... word, we have now only to establish the guilt of Fantomas and publish the story of his crime, to absolve the King in the eyes of all ... and that will mean the end ...
— A Royal Prisoner • Pierre Souvestre
... already spoken of, this one is not regarded as absolute, but as capable of being overruled by a stronger obligation of justice on the other side; or by such conduct on the part of the person concerned as is deemed to absolve us from our obligation to him, and to constitute a forfeiture of the benefit which he has been ...
— Utilitarianism • John Stuart Mill
... decided that Congress did not exceed its powers in making this definition of "intoxicating liquor"; and, while this does not absolve the makers of the law of the offense against strict truthfulness, it may rightly be regarded as evidence that the transgression was not of the sort that constituted a substantial usurpation—the ...
— What Prohibition Has Done to America • Fabian Franklin
... we, the citizens of Mecklenburg county, do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to the mother country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British Crown and abjure all political connection, contract, or association with that nation, who have wantonly trampled on our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed the blood of American patriots ...
— Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical • C. L. Hunter
... their attention. Each was in some way a handicap and a torment to the other—a means which fate used to limit and crush and destroy the other; and as ever, they had in their hours of anguish no recourse save to sit down and reason it out together, and absolve each other ...
— Love's Pilgrimage • Upton Sinclair
... I. No power save that of the Pope could absolve the boy from his oath, and I knew that the power of ten score of popes could not move him from its complete fulfilment. The oath of Maximilian of Hapsburg, whose heart had never coined a lie, was as everlasting as the rocks of his native land and, like Styria's mountain ...
— Yolanda: Maid of Burgundy • Charles Major
... save appearances. It would certainly be presumptuous to accept implicitly the narrative of de Thou, which is literally followed by Hoofd and by many modern writers. On the other hand, it would be an exaggeration of historical scepticism to absolve Philip from the murder of his son, solely upon negative testimony. The people about court did not believe in the crime. They saw no proofs of it. Of course they saw none. Philip would take good care that there should be none if he had made up his mind that the death of the ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley
... courage and good hope. The people crowned him with crowns of gold, and created him general, both at land and sea, with absolute power. They also made a decree that his estate should be restored to him, and that the Eumolpiadae and the holy heralds should absolve him from the curses which they had solemnly pronounced against him by the sentence of the people. All the rest obeyed, but Theodorus, the high-priest, excused himself, "For," said he, "if he is innocent, ...
— The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch - Being Parts of The "Lives" of Plutarch • Plutarch
... knew his obligation to love GOD in all things, and as he endeavored so to do, he had no need of a director to advise him, but that he needed much a Confessor to absolve him. That he was very sensible of his faults, but not discouraged by them; that he confessed them to GOD, but did not plead against Him to excuse them. When he had so done, he peaceably resumed his usual practice of love ...
— The Practice of the Presence of God the Best Rule of a Holy Life • Herman Nicholas
... each struggling and fighting to get the first turn; but here, as in the more important concerns of this world, the weakest went to the wall. He now went into the room, and taking Katty herself first, the door was closed upon them, and he gave her absolution; and thus he continued to confess and absolve them, one by one, ...
— The Station; The Party Fight And Funeral; The Lough Derg Pilgrim • William Carleton
... Physician thou didst save From Gallows, Fire, and from the Grave, For which we can't endure thee; The one can ne'er absolve thy Sins, And th'other (tho' he now begins) Of Knav'ry ...
— Quaint Gleanings from Ancient Poetry • Edmund Goldsmid
... therefore, my dear sir, to confess your sins to me, that I may absolve you from them, as I have ...
— Clara Maynard - The True and the False - A Tale of the Times • W.H.G. Kingston
... this Law, as of any binding force upon the citizens of our country."—(I am thankful that these modest men did not go on, like him of the triple crown, to absolve "the citizens of our country" from all allegiance to the government, and give our rulers over into the hands of a majesty fit to take ...
— The Religious Duty of Obedience to Law • Ichabod S. Spencer
... Oh! how I do wish that I could only play over these sonatas once or twice to you; how gladly would I then reconcile myself to remain for a time in my wilderness! I have much to say and to confess to you, from which no one but yourself can absolve me; but what cannot be effected now will, I devoutly hope, come to pass next winter, and half of the time is already gone. Meanwhile I take refuge in patience, and am content with the inestimable privilege of subscribing myself your sincere and ...
— Haydn • J. Cuthbert Hadden
... nobility its pride, from the clergy its fanaticism—a Revolution which has dried up so many golden sources from the grasp of the priesthood, torn so many frocks, crushed so many theories—do you believe that such a Revolution will absolve you? No—no!—this Revolution will have a denouement, and I say—and with no intention of provocation—that we must advance boldly towards this denouement. The more you delay, the more difficult and blood-stained will be ...
— History of the Girondists, Volume I - Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution • Alphonse de Lamartine
... true," cried Anton, "it does not absolve us from helping individuals of the class ...
— Debit and Credit - Translated from the German of Gustav Freytag • Gustav Freytag
... flagellation, nay, even worse might befall me at the hands of a rigorous abbot; for in truth, nought could well be more serious than the offences that I have already committed; and he might hold that, even though the present abbot had been backward in taking notice of the matter, this in no way would absolve him from doing ...
— Both Sides the Border - A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower • G. A. Henty
... necessity, and to accept the conditions offered by the parliament. He replied that they viewed[d] the question with the eyes of mere soldiers and statesmen; but he was a king, and had duties to perform, from which no change of circumstances, no human power could absolve him,—to preserve the church, protect his friends, and transmit to his successors the lawful rights of the crown. God was bound to support his own cause: he might for a time permit rebels and traitors to prosper, ...
— The History of England from the First Invasion by the Romans - to the Accession of King George the Fifth - Volume 8 • John Lingard and Hilaire Belloc
... without a thought of his future prospects, after diverting him from a career in which he might have found happiness. The circumstances of the time, and Louis Lambert's character, may to a great extent absolve Madame de Stael for her thoughtlessness and her generosity. The gentleman who was to have kept up communications between her and the boy left Blois just at the time when Louis passed out of the college. The political events ...
— Louis Lambert • Honore de Balzac
... his masters. But let no man lay that flattering unction to his soul. The first and the last business of every human being, whatever his station, party, creed, capacities, tastes, duties, is morality: Virtue, Virtue, always Virtue. Nothing that man will ever invent will absolve him from the universal necessity of being good as God is good, righteous as God is righteous, and holy ...
— David • Charles Kingsley
... free than he protested that the treaty had been extracted by force, and that his oath to keep it was not binding. The Estates of France readily refused their assent, and the Pope was, as usual, willing, for political reasons, to absolve Francis from his oath. For the time being, consideration for the safety of his sons and the hope of obtaining their release prevented him from openly breaking with Charles, or listening to the proposals for a marriage with the Princess Mary, held out as a bait by ...
— Henry VIII. • A. F. Pollard
... compliance to the Spaniards' desires, provoked a demonstration in his favour. He, seeing his opportunity, began to call for help, crying: "Help me to get free, gentlemen, and I'll confess everybody! Get me free and I'll absolve all of you!" A great hubbub ensued; men armed themselves to attack the Bishop's alguacil; some barricaded the Dominicans in their convent to prevent their coming to the assistance of the arresting party, others freed the ...
— Bartholomew de Las Casas; his life, apostolate, and writings • Francis Augustus MacNutt
... no grudge, Not thou my blood hast spilt, Lo! here before the unseen Judge, Thee I absolve ...
— Hindu Literature • Epiphanius Wilson
... said, and oh! the start they gave! 'What hole function am I interrupting, M. l'Abbe? The lady is in the attitude of a penitent, but I was not aware that it was one of the customs of your order to absolve thus in public.' ...
— Stray Pearls • Charlotte M. Yonge
... thinks, because some stake in life may be jeopardised by bolder action, he is justified. The answer is, simply he is not justified. Nor should anyone who is prepared to take the risk himself take it on himself to absolve others—nor, least of all, openly preach a milder doctrine to lead others who are timid to the farther goal, believed in at heart. Encourage them by all means to practise their principles as far as they go; never restrict yours, or you will find yourself saying things ...
— Principles of Freedom • Terence J. MacSwiney
... erected their buildings on a scale of magnificence superior to the latter church, purely out of a feeling to insult the patriarch; moreover, that, when the patriarch ascended according to traditional usage, the place of our Saviour's passion, to absolve the people from their sins and preach to them, the Hospitallers invariably set all their bells a-ringing with such violence, as plainly proved that they meant to drown his voice and interrupt him in the performance of his duty; that when he had often ...
— Pope Adrian IV - An Historical Sketch • Richard Raby
... Soracte to cure his leprosy,[4] so this one besought me as master to cure his proud fever. He asked counsel of me, and I kept silence, because his words seemed drunken. And then he said to me, 'Let not thy heart mistrust; from now I absolve thee, and do thou teach me to act so that I may throw Palestrina to the ground. Heaven can I lock and unlock, as thou knowest; for two are the keys that my predecessor held not dear.' Then his grave arguments pushed me to where silence seemed to me the worst, ...
— The Divine Comedy, Volume 1, Hell [The Inferno] • Dante Alighieri
... disposed to arrest the two conspirators on the spot, and make them confess, and absolve themselves; but it seemed to him better to keep an unseen eye over his son: ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith
... brace quite bade oppose deceive force scribe burlesque embrace machine crease measure canine emerge endorse cease absolve caprice examine advise ...
— Orthography - As Outlined in the State Course of Study for Illinois • Elmer W. Cavins
... solicited Pope Simplicius to confirm his election. This the Pope had been on the point of confirming, when he received a letter from the emperor accusing John Talaia, and urging the appointment of Peter the Stammerer. Acacius had not hesitated to absolve him, and admit him to his communion, and strove by every effort of deceit and force to induce the eastern bishops to accept him. The last letter we have of the Pope, dated November 6, 482, strongly censures Acacius for communicating nothing to him concerning the Church of Alexandria, ...
— The Formation of Christendom, Volume VI - The Holy See and the Wandering of the Nations, from St. Leo I to St. Gregory I • Thomas W. (Thomas William) Allies
... hour when she was dying of the nearness.... For he had the guilty feeling of the man whose wife dies in childbirth, and though he told himself that whatever passing brute had wantonly hung the harmless dog had brought about this tragedy, that could not altogether absolve him. His poor little Phoebe—he had always known her soft heart for animals, but even he had not guessed that the tragedy of Wanda would affect her so—she who had seen so many animals killed with much less ...
— Secret Bread • F. Tennyson Jesse
... provision, that whenever any person who shall incur excommunication for having disclosed a secret shall come, of his own free will, to ask for absolution, therefore with the confession of his guilt the commissary shall absolve him, and impose upon him some secret spiritual penance, such as will entail no stigma or infamy. The commissary shall submit his own denunciation to the Holy Office, without making further investigations concerning the matter except in serious cases. But should the disclosure ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume V., 1582-1583 • Various
... the penal statutes was at this time peculiarly called for, since a large body of Catholic Dissenters had recently formally protested against the temporal power of the pope, and his right to excommunicate princes, or to absolve subjects from their oath of allegiance; and had likewise disavowed the lawfulness of breaking faith with heretics, and the power claimed by their priests, of exempting men from moral obligations. The ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan
... although acquitted by the tribunal before which he was brought, can be set at liberty only in secret and under the protection of two thousand soldiers. The populace want to burn the house of the criminal lieutenant that dared absolve him. The magistrate himself is in danger, and is forced to take refuge in the house of the military commander.[3131] Meanwhile, printed and written papers, insulting libels by the municipal body and the club, the seditious or violent discussions of the district assemblies, and a lot ...
— The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2 (of 6) - The French Revolution, Volume 1 (of 3) • Hippolyte A. Taine
... does not absolve me from the duty of seeing justice done you; of putting you in possession of your house here in Rome and of your estates in Sabinum, and in Bruttium. I find that all these were held by the fiscus ...
— Andivius Hedulio • Edward Lucas White
... "it may be wrong of me to urge it, but I beg you to think again in this grave matter. Surely such horrible massacre as you have witnessed must absolve you from your vow, and yield you freedom to return eastward ...
— When Wilderness Was King - A Tale of the Illinois Country • Randall Parrish
... in those four days to save me? Anthony's messenger, nay, Anthony himself, could do nothing. There was always my grandfather's face of suspense, by which I knew he counted the hours, always my grandmother's piteous air of asking for forgiveness. Not even Anthony Cardew could absolve me from what they ...
— The Story of Bawn • Katharine Tynan
... cokewold,* *cuckold Such folk shall have no power nor no grace To offer to my relics in this place. And whoso findeth him out of such blame, He will come up and offer in God's name; And I assoil* him by the authority *absolve Which that by bull y-granted ...
— The Canterbury Tales and Other Poems • Geoffrey Chaucer
... the discoveries of nature in us. What is thus learned is delightful in the doing, and the effect remains. Right ethics are central, and go from the soul outward. Gift is contrary to the law of the universe. Serving others is serving us. I must absolve me to myself. "Mind thy affair," says the spirit:—"coxcomb, would you meddle with the skies, or with other people?" Indirect service is left. Men have a pictorial or representative quality, and serve us in the intellect. Behmen and Swedenborg saw that things were representative. Men are ...
— Representative Men • Ralph Waldo Emerson
... sound principles and such blindness to our previous experience could be explained only by a desire to force this country to use a silver coinage only, and had its origin with the owners of silver-mines, aided by the desires of debtors for a cheap unit in which to absolve themselves from their indebtedness. There was no pretense of setting up a double standard about it; for it was evident to the most ignorant that so great a disproportion between the mint and market ratios must inevitably lead to the disappearance of gold entirely. This would happen, if ...
— Principles Of Political Economy • John Stuart Mill
... happen that Carol would be confronted with the man whom she believed to be her father. What if she were to bring Vane face to face with him and he knew him for what he was, what would he do, not as man, but as priest—forgive or retain, absolve or damn? ...
— The Missionary • George Griffith
... with a bewitching smile, "that is a secret between us and God; and only to Him alone can we confess it; because He alone can absolve us from it. Farewell, then, Seymour, farewell, and think of me till we see each other again! But when—say, when shall we ...
— Henry VIII And His Court • Louise Muhlbach
... Morville, Reginald FitzUrse, William de Tracy, and Richard Brito—crossed to England, taking with them Ranulf de Broc and a band of men, and murdered the Archbishop in Canterbury Cathedral. In the altercation which took place before the consummation of the terrible deed, the Primate was asked to absolve the bishops whom he had excommunicated, but he refused in a defiant and insulting manner. "Then die," exclaimed FitzUrse, striking at Becket's head with his weapon; but the devoted cross-bearer warded off the blow with his own arm, ...
— Christmas: Its Origin and Associations - Together with Its Historical Events and Festive Celebrations During Nineteen Centuries • William Francis Dawson
... reason for your classing my friend Trebatius with them. I sent him to Caesar, and Caesar has done all I expected. If he has not done quite what he expected himself, I am not bound to make it up to him, and I in like manner free and absolve you from all claims on his part. Your remark, that you are a greater favourite with Caesar every day, is a source of undying satisfaction to me. As to Balbus, who, as you say, promotes that state of things, he is the apple of my eye. I am indeed glad that you ...
— Letters of Cicero • Marcus Tullius Cicero
... power for conflict. We have all of us, in the discharge of duty and in the meeting of temptation, to face such tremendous antagonisms that unless we have grace given to us which will enable us to resist, we shall be overcome and swept away. God's power given by the Divine Spirit does not absolve us from the fight, but it fits us for the fight. It is not given in order that, holiness may be won without a struggle, as some people seem to think, but it is given to us in order that in the struggle for holiness ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - Ephesians; Epistles of St. Peter and St. John • Alexander Maclaren
... himself, the archbishop likewise incurred it when he appeared there. But no consideration was given to this, and the point of fuerza is a stale one in Espana, and consequently it was not discussed. The archbishop was notified of a royal provision issued by Don Phelipe, by which he was ordered to absolve the auditor Marcos Zapata. The archbishop obeyed it, and that afternoon he sent Master Juan Velez to absolve him. That was done ad cautelam; for in truth he did not consider himself as excommunicated, nor did the ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXV, 1635-36 • Various
... expiring on the horizon before the growing tumult of uniform civilisation. Were criticism to set itself the task of calling back these distant echoes, and of giving a voice to races that are no more, would not that suffice to absolve it from the reproach, unreasonably and too frequently brought against ...
— Literary and Philosophical Essays • Various
... rock, every nerve in my body throbbing. All had been entrusted to me; it was to be my signal which would send De Artigny, La Forest, and their Indian allies forward. I must not fail them; I must do my part. Whatever the cost—even though it be his life—nothing could absolve ...
— Beyond the Frontier • Randall Parrish
... declaration is based. Whether the retirement of the State from the Union be the exercise of a right reserved in the Constitution, or a revolutionary movement, it is certain that you have not in either case the authority to recognize her independence or to absolve her from her Federal obligations. Congress, or the other States in Convention assembled, must take such measures as may be necessary and proper. In such an event, I see no course for you but to go straight onward in the path you have hitherto trodden— that is, execute the laws to the extent of ...
— Twenty Years of Congress, Vol. 1 (of 2) • James Gillespie Blaine
... present subjunctive of the Old Fr. asoldre (absoudre), to absolve, used in the stereotyped phrase Dieus asoile, may ...
— The Romance of Words (4th ed.) • Ernest Weekley
... TO absolve oneself of the sin of detraction on the ground that nothing but the truth was spoken is, as we have seen, one way of getting around a difficulty that is no way at all. Some excuses are better than none, others are not. It ...
— Explanation of Catholic Morals - A Concise, Reasoned, and Popular Exposition of Catholic Morals • John H. Stapleton
... amidst so many distractions, desire, nay insist, that their confessors shall absolve them for their acts of inconstancy. The priests, on their side, are drawn or forced on, step by step. There grows up a vast literature, at once various and learned, of casuistry, of the art of allowing all ...
— La Sorciere: The Witch of the Middle Ages • Jules Michelet
... renunciation before she could be quite real and sound. This may be true, but it is not the kind of reasoning for Peter and me to comfort ourselves with. If a surgeon makes a mistake in cutting that afterwards does more good than harm, he must not let that result absolve him from his mistake. Nothing can efface the mistake itself, and Peter and I must go on feeling ...
— Turn About Eleanor • Ethel M. Kelley
... point, the doctrine of justification, the Augsburg Interim not only omitted the sola fide, but clearly taught that justification embraces also renewal. When God justifies a man, the Interim declared, He does not only absolve him from his guilt, but also "makes him better by imparting the Holy Ghost, who cleanses his heart and incites it through the love of God which is shed abroad in his heart." (Frank, Theologie d. Konkordienformel, 2, 80.) ...
— Historical Introductions to the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church • Friedrich Bente
... God is the Judge, who has committed to the apostles, not the office of judges, but the administration of grace namely, to acquit those who desire, etc.] Therefore ministers in the Church have the command to remit sin, they have not the command to investigate secret sins. And indeed, they absolve from those that we do not remember; for which reason absolution, which is the voice of the Gospel remitting sins and consoling consciences, does not ...
— The Apology of the Augsburg Confession • Philip Melanchthon
... me that I have the right to absolve you from the promise," she continued in a still lower tone, and a face like a damask-rose ...
— What Can She Do? • Edward Payson Roe
... its skin, and, reclothing herself in innocence, presume to ask admittance into that Eternal Gloryland whither my little child had gone—never, never! No church should save her, no priest should absolve her—not while ...
— Vendetta - A Story of One Forgotten • Marie Corelli
... souls. The Europeans generally believe that this priest has in his possession the keys of heaven. I was very curious to see these keys, but all my endeavors were in vain. His power, not only over his own subjects, but the whole human race, consists principally in that he can absolve those whom God condemns, and condemn those whom God absolves; an immense authority, which the inhabitants of our subterranean world seriously believe is not becoming to any mortal man. But it is an easy matter to induce the Europeans to credit the most unreasonable ...
— Niels Klim's journey under the ground • Baron Ludvig Holberg
... creating a judge conservator, contrary to the ruling of the holy council and the royal will of your Majesty. That is so true that they proclaimed in Manila that if the archbishop proceeded with the visit, they would place him on the list as excommunicated, and would not absolve him until he should go to their convent of St. Dominic to beg absolution. I might easily have proceeded with the visit, Sire, but I preferred to be chidden as remiss, than not to have those great scandals muzzled ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXI, 1624 • Various
... news that each had been given a Thanksgiving recitation to learn. Miss Mason did not feel as sure as she had at first that it was Bobby who had spoiled her book. Mr. Carter's championship of Bobby was not without results. Still, she did not wholly absolve him, and while she was fair enough not to mention the subject again, Bobby knew that she had not forgotten. He was surprised when his name was read aloud as one to have part in ...
— Four Little Blossoms at Oak Hill School • Mabel C. Hawley
... absolve all lovers of shows and music from intemperance; yet I cannot altogether agree with Aristoxenus, who says that those pleasures alone deserve the approbation "fine." For we call viands and ointments fine; and we say we have finely dined, ...
— Essays and Miscellanies - The Complete Works Volume 3 • Plutarch
... to his ghostly father in an agony of distress because he has touched his hat to a Jew. He mistook him for a doctor of divinity; and on the whole, he fears he has committed mortal sin. Can the father absolve him? Can the bishop absolve him? Can the Pope absolve him? His ...
— Short Studies on Great Subjects • James Anthony Froude
... break the promise first." "Your majesty means by they and them, the Parliament, I suppose?" "Yes, I do." "But the scene is now changed. The Parliament have no longer any power to protect you. The danger is imminent, and the circumstances absolve your majesty from ...
— Charles I - Makers of History • Jacob Abbott
... Brother Thomas; "would that all the sinners whom I have absolved, as I am about to absolve thee, had cleansed and purged their sinful souls as freely. And now, my brother, read aloud to me this scroll; nay, methinks it is ill for thy health to speak or read. A sad matter is this, for, in faith, I have forgotten my clergy myself, and thou mayst have beguiled me by ...
— A Monk of Fife • Andrew Lang
... Alexander, might be entreated to pronounce his absolution. The same Alexander was nearly suffocated in the Vatican by the French soldiers who crowded round to kiss his mantle, and who had made him tremble for his life a few days previously. Cellini on his knees implored Pope Clement to absolve him from the guilt of homicide and theft, yet spoke of him as 'transformed to a savage beast' by a sudden access of fury. At one time he trembled before the awful Majesty of Christ's Vicar, revealed in Paul III.; at another he reviled him as a ...
— Renaissance in Italy, Volume 1 (of 7) • John Addington Symonds
... name of the Omnipotent God,—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,—by my authority and power, I prohibit King Henry, who with unheard-of pride has raised himself against your Church, from governing the kingdoms of Germany and Italy; I absolve all Christians from the oath they have taken to him, and I forbid all men to yield to him that service which is due unto a king. Finally, I bind him with the bonds of anathema, that all people may know that thou art Peter, and that upon thee the Son of God hath built His Church, against which ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume V • John Lord
... fit that he should escape from their fangs altogether by his father's deceit. He had not become so dead to honor but that noblesse oblige did still live within his bosom. And yet there was nothing that he could do to absolve his bosom. The income of the estate was nearly clear, the money brought in by the late sales having all but sufficed to give these gentlemen that which his father had chosen to pay them. But was he sure of that income? ...
— Mr. Scarborough's Family • Anthony Trollope
... will express in noble music the inspiration of this fete intended to perpetuate the memory of an illustrious and sympathetic artist. But however successful may be his composition, it does not absolve you from yours, which filial affection demands of you and will dictate to you. Write it without delay, and afterwards take advantage of your leisure at Hal to fulfil the praiseworthy programme indicated in ...
— Letters of Franz Liszt, Volume 2: "From Rome to the End" • Franz Liszt; letters collected by La Mara and translated
... ill,' she said; 'and why am I called from his bedside? Why didn't you send to absolve me from my promise, when you wished I wouldn't keep it? Come! I desire an explanation: playing and trifling are completely banished out of my mind; and I can't dance attendance ...
— Wuthering Heights • Emily Bronte
... When I shall meete The kynge on no hye way, when I shall ryde Uppon no beast & yet a beast of burthen, Be neyther nakt nor cloathed, in my hande My greatest frende & greatest enemye; And but then get his favor. There is no sphynxe That can absolve thys ryddell: well, tys decreed Ile breake my brayne but Ile performe ...
— A Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. III • Various
... look he whirled and faced her, swept her into his arms and kissed her. He did not attempt to absolve himself or mitigate his offense by telling her that he loved her. He was voiceless—he could not control his speech. He did not dare to show such presumption as talk of love must seem to be to her. He knew he must not speak of love; such proffer to her would be lunacy. But this greater presumption, ...
— Blow The Man Down - A Romance Of The Coast - 1916 • Holman Day
... advisers (the late Sir Samuel Romilly and Dr. Lushington) formed their opinions were false, the responsibility and the odium should rest with me only. I trust that the facts which I have here briefly recapitulated will absolve my father and mother from all accusations with regard to the part they took in the separation between ...
— Lady Byron Vindicated • Harriet Beecher Stowe
... what confession really was, and what punishment was deserved by a priest who betrayed it, and what was the fate of those whose crimes were made known in this fashion. The bishop replied that the secrets of confession are inviolable, that Christians burn the priest who reveals them, and absolve those whom he accuses, because the avowal made by the guilty to the priest is proscribed by the Christian religion, on pain of eternal damnation. The vizier, satisfied with the answer, took the bishop into another room, and summoned ...
— Celebrated Crimes, Complete • Alexandre Dumas, Pere
... proctor had been employed to make his will, whereby he had given all the estates to himself; but I am inclined to believe that the word proctor is derived from procurator, who was an itinerant priest, and had dispensations from the Pope to absolve the subjects of this realm from the oath of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth, in whose reign there were ...
— A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land • William R. Hughes
... to have been given him, there arose between the two orders a very serious and violent controversy; for the Dominican fathers printed certain conclusions, in which they declared that it was a rash idea, and in practice a grave and sacrilegious offense to absolve one who, only by the report of bystanders had begged for confession, but was deprived of the power of speech. The fathers of the Society of Jesus drew up other printed conclusions, in which they declared that it ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XX, 1621-1624 • Various
... deceiving! She will laugh when it is all over—she will call it a stratagem—she will say that a drowning man will catch at anything. And this is the last effort—but it is only a stratagem: she herself will absolve me, when she laughs and says, 'Oh, how could you have treated ...
— Macleod of Dare • William Black
... state charged by the government with religious affairs, who was witness to the transaction. Indeed, he had in this encouraged the bishops to imitate his own example in getting rid, by the same means, of a brief which the Legate had transmitted to him in order to absolve him from the guilt he might have incurred by taking part ...
— Paris As It Was and As It Is • Francis W. Blagdon
... do it by experiment; For which the law not only doth absolve them, But gives them great reward: and he is loth To hire his ...
— Volpone; Or, The Fox • Ben Jonson
... permit me in the first place to absolve myself from a suspicion which, under the circumstances, you could scarcely have failed to entertain—a suspicion of discourtesy toward yourself, in not having more promptly replied to you.... I could not help feeling that should you see my letter to Mr. Willis—in which ...
— International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, - No. 3, Oct. 1, 1850 • Various
... such, 'Let the dead bury their dead; preach thou the gospel?' A Christian man's first business is to witness for Jesus Christ, and no amount of diligence in legitimate occupations or in work for the good of others will absolve him from the charge of having turned duties upside down, if he says, 'I cannot witness for Jesus Christ, for I am so busy about these other things.' This command has a special application to us ministers. There ...
— Expositions of Holy Scripture - Ezekiel, Daniel, and the Minor Prophets. St Matthew Chapters I to VIII • Alexander Maclaren
... "I will absolve her of it presently," said De la Marck, "for here, with one stroke of a cleaver, will I consecrate myself Bishop of Liege, and I trust one living bishop ...
— Quentin Durward • Sir Walter Scott
... not be so easy to absolve Gibbon from the charge of prejudice in reference to his treatment of the Early Church. It cannot be denied that in the two famous chapters, at least, which concluded his first volume, he adopted a tone which must ...
— Gibbon • James Cotter Morison
... sight, he was still happy in himself and his friends; and my public tribute of gratitude and esteem could no longer be suspected of any interested motive. Before my departure from England, I was present at the august spectacle of Mr. Hastings's trial in Westminster Hall. It is not my province to absolve or condemn the Governor of India; but Mr. Sheridan's eloquence demanded my applause; nor could I hear without emotion the personal compliment which he paid me in the presence ...
— Memoirs of My Life and Writings • Edward Gibbon
... that my own life will be endangered; but my danger will be proportioned to the duration of my stay in this seat of infection. The death or the flight of Wallace may absolve me from the necessity of spending one night in the city. The rustics who daily frequent the market are, as experience proves, exempt from this disease; in consequence, perhaps, of limiting their continuance in the city to a few hours. May I not, in this respect, conform to their example, ...
— Arthur Mervyn - Or, Memoirs of the Year 1793 • Charles Brockden Brown
... desire to right in some measure the wrong done by her father, anxious determination to repair her own fault—all these were animating impulses in this Joan of the Northland. But now especially was she aware that she was seeking by service to absolve herself in the estimation of a poor chap whose love for her had made ...
— Joan of Arc of the North Woods • Holman Day
... non-co-operation could not be applicable to that Government. In my opinion, whilst it is true that the Government of India has done a great deal, it has not done half as much as it might have done, and might even now do. No Government can absolve itself from further action beyond protesting, when it realises that the people whom it represents feel as keenly as do lakhs of Indian Mussalmans in the Khilafat question. No amount of sympathy with ...
— Freedom's Battle - Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation • Mahatma Gandhi
... by that means, from the slightest and most frivolous occasions. Solon was no very cruel, though, perhaps, an unjust legislator, who punished neuters in civil wars; and few, I believe, would, in such cases, incur the penalty, were their affection and discourse allowed sufficient to absolve them. No selfishness, and scarce any philosophy, have there force sufficient to support a total coolness and indifference; and he must be more or less than man, who kindles not in the common blaze. What wonder then, that moral sentiments are found of such influence ...
— An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals • David Hume
... discretion does not exempt him from the honour he is bound by the law of God and nature to pay to his parents.[19] The son is under a perpetual obligation to honour his father by all outward expressions, and from this obligation no state can absolve him. 'The honour due to parents' (says Locke) 'a monarch on his throne owes his mother, and yet this lessens not his authority, nor subjects him to her government.'[20] The monarchical theory ascribes to the King of England ...
— The Greville Memoirs (Second Part) - A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852 - (Volume 1 of 3) • Charles C. F. Greville
... concentric with the sun, and not far from him with regular motions. [3126]Christopher Shemer, a German Suisser Jesuit, Ursica Rosa, divides them in maculas et faculas, and will have them to be fixed in Solis superficie: and to absolve their periodical and regular motion in twenty-seven or twenty-eight days, holding withal the rotation of the sun upon his centre; and all are so confident, that they have made schemes and tables of their motions. ...
— The Anatomy of Melancholy • Democritus Junior
... true, is by no means impeccable. The tendency to believe that crimes cease to be crimes when they have a political object, and that a popular vote can absolve the worst crimes, is only too common; there are few political misdeeds which wealth, rank, genius or success will not induce large sections of English society to pardon, and nations even in their best moments will not judge acts which are greatly for their ...
— The Map of Life - Conduct and Character • William Edward Hartpole Lecky
... He forswore himself. [Footnote: Talmud, tract. Sanhedrin.] For He first swore, saith Rabbi Eliaser, that the children of Israel, who were wandering in the desert, should have no part in eternal life; and then His oath lay heavy on Him, so that He got the angel Mi to absolve Him therefrom." ...
— Sidonia The Sorceress V2 • William Mienhold
... certain matters of business. As soon as I had learned of this, I went to the count, the prior accompanying me, and besought him to intercede in my behalf with the abbot. I asked no more than that the abbot should absolve me of the charge against me, and give me permission to live the monastic life wheresoever I could find a suitable place. The abbot, however, and those who were with him took the matter under advisement, saying that they would give the count an answer ...
— Historia Calamitatum • Peter Abelard
... gaily. "It has been discovered that I am no longer, if I was ever, a good Catholic, and there is consequently no hitch, no difficulty! I am supposed to be nothing at all, so we shall be just married in the one church, his church, you understand. And now you may absolve me, your Reverence, if you choose, for the ...
— Ringfield - A Novel • Susie Frances Harrison
... not answer me. I am a wicked man. Father, I have made my confession. Will you give me a penance and absolve me?" ...
— The Broken Soldier and the Maid of France • Henry Van Dyke
... playing through the filmy petals, tints them with color sweet unto the eyes. May the sight gladden thine! I know not the beauty of the gifts I bring! But all the days of my life, a suppliant I shall come, and weary not to ply thee with my prayers, until in the end thou absolve me, until thou grant me the boon that all save I enjoy, to behold the rays of the shining God, of Ammon-Ra, the Sun divine. O Isis, remember the cruel blow that did befall me! I had a little child. Unto him sight was given, and ...
— Woman on Her Own, False Gods & The Red Robe - Three Plays By Brieux • Eugene Brieux
... that Mr. Gordon presented his compliments and begged to reply that he had large business interests in this part of the country that necessitated a visit of some length, and probably in the end a permanent residence here; and that he would very fully absolve Miss Valdes of any responsibility ...
— A Daughter of the Dons - A Story of New Mexico Today • William MacLeod Raine
... declaring that there was nothing unusual in the interruptions of that night. My own recollection is clear that there was a great deal of noise, and that it was so bad that Mr. Chamberlain tried to explain it away, and was careful to absolve himself and his friends from all responsibility for it. In the general body of the Liberal party there is no doubt whatsoever about that business. Liberal after Liberal came up to me afterwards, in allusion ...
— Sketches In The House (1893) • T. P. O'Connor
... poisoned his own cardinals, and bestowed on his son Caesar Borgia—an incarnated demon—the highest dignities and rewards. It was common for the popes to sell the highest offices in the church for money, to place boys on episcopal thrones, to absolve the most heinous and scandalous crimes for gold, to encourage the massacre of heretics, and to disgrace themselves by infamous vices. And a general laxity of morals existed among all orders of the clergy. ...
— A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon - For the Use of Schools and Colleges • John Lord
... is at Edward's court, it may be that many will not obey the summons. Still we must hope that, for the love of Scotland and their young lord, many will follow him. He will write to the pope to ask him to absolve him for the breach of his oath of homage to Edward; but as such oaths lie but lightly on men's minds in our days, and have been taken and broken by King Edward himself, as well as by Sir William Douglas and other knights who are now in the field with me, he will not wait for the pope's reply, ...
— In Freedom's Cause • G. A. Henty
... replied the dying man; "but my sight fails me; be quick, absolve me." And the paper was signed, with difficulty, as the priests supported the dying man. ...
— Mr. Midshipman Easy • Captain Frederick Marryat
... free, emancipate, release; enfranchise, affranchise[obs3]; manumit; enlarge; disband, discharge, disenthrall, disenthral, dismiss; let go, let loose, loose, let out, let slip; cast adrift, turn adrift; deliver &c. 672; absolve &c. (acquit) 970. unfetter &c. 751, untie &c. 43; loose &c. (disjoin) 44; loosen, relax,; unbolt, unbar, unclose, uncork, unclog, unhand, unbind, unchain, unharness, unleash; disengage, disentangle; clear, extricate, unloose. ...
— Roget's Thesaurus
... Now do I know thee for a saint in Al-Kyris,— for thou dost openly avow thyself a follower of the Divine Faith that fools despise, and selfish souls repudiate, . . ah, I do beseech thee, thou good and holy man, absolve me of my sin of Unbelief! Teach me! ... help me! ... and I will hear thy counsels with the meekness of a listening child! ..See you, I kneel! ... I pray! ... I, even I, am humiliated to the very dust of shame! I have no pride, . . I seek no glory, ... I do entreat, even as I once rejected ...
— Ardath - The Story of a Dead Self • Marie Corelli
... by his name. In this manner he absolves the people by advising them that they should beware of sins of the aforesaid kind. Afterward he offers sacrifice to God, that he should pardon the State and absolve it of its sins, and to teach and defend it. Once in every year the chief priests of each separate subordinate State confess their sins in the presence of Hoh. Thus he is not ignorant of the wrongdoings of the provinces, and forthwith he removes ...
— The City of the Sun • Tommaso Campanells
... gentleman smiled. "In the ratio of your repentance I feel proportionately happy. You've relieved my mind of a cloud that has shut out a lot of sunshine these past months, which otherwise would have been entirely bright. So I absolve you, sir! Now let the ...
— Sunlight Patch • Credo Fitch Harris
... Warranted Not to Hurt You!" was the slogan. Wearing a Red Cross button did not absolve one ...
— The Girls of Central High Aiding the Red Cross - Or Amateur Theatricals for a Worthy Cause • Gertrude W. Morrison
... committee of graduates should be formed with power to absolve college athletes from technical and minor breaches of ...
— The Making of Arguments • J. H. Gardiner
... he first ascended the altar in cope and stole; but mass soon becomes a daily exercise, and, like all things done daily, sinks into routine. A still more anxious day was it, when he first took his seat in the confessional to absolve and to condemn, to interpret and to enjoin, to listen to secrets which are like the lifting of the veil from one of the darkest mysteries of life, and feel the breath that bore them through the punctures of the thin partition fall on his cheek with a warmth that made his veins ...
— Atlantic Monthly,Volume 14, No. 82, August, 1864 - A Magazine Of Literature, Art, And Politics • Various
... not to divulge points in which they are concerned. A strict observance of such engagements is surely the condition of all honourable intercourse in society, and a duty from which no degree of confidence, friendship, or affection towards a third person, can absolve one. With respect to this particular case of the Duke of L., I am sure your own reflections will not suffer you to impute blame to me, if after having required from those with whom he was acting an engagement of secrecy, which he had a right to demand from them, his own levity, or ...
— Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third, Volume 2 (of 2) - From the Original Family Documents • The Duke of Buckingham
... say, "Margaret, come and be my wife?" She acknowledged to herself that he had a right to act as though he had never said those words,—that the facts elicited by Mr Maguire's visit to the Cedars were sufficient to absolve him from his offer. But yet she thought that they should have been sufficient also to induce him to ...
— Miss Mackenzie • Anthony Trollope
... showing mercy to her, you do so to me, your father; who, when you read this, will have been for years among the dead, though the evil that he caused may still remain unexpiated. Oh! think that this is his voice crying out from the dust, beseeching you to absolve his memory. Save me from the horrible thought, now haunting me evermore, that the being who owes me life may one day heap curses on ...
— Olive - A Novel • Dinah Maria Craik, (AKA Dinah Maria Mulock)
... by no means sure that her remarks would be wholly complimentary. Freely as I blamed myself for my conceited notions at the time, regarding the attentions of the two philosophers, I was not ready to absolve her from the imputation of jealousy. It was difficult to explain her conduct on any other ground, and I remembered what Mrs. Marsh had said as to tender relations between her and Mr. Spence. Indeed, I felt some irritation against her and a conviction ...
— A Romantic Young Lady • Robert Grant
... "I'll absolve you, with a vengeance, on condition that you'll walk home with me, and protect the poor parson from the Mohawks. Faith, they ran young Davenant's chair through with a sword, t' other night. I hear they have sworn ...
— Devereux, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton
... a monument is erected, it will absolve no one of the duty of making a pilgrimage to Concord. Even if it had no historic or literary associations, this simple, dignified, beautiful New England village, with its plain frame houses and its stately ...
— America To-day, Observations and Reflections • William Archer
... of consequence failed her, she turned as a last resource to the Church, and took for companion in her sin him who could absolve her of it—that is to say, the parson, who often came to visit his pet ewe. The husband, who was dull and old, had no suspicion of the truth; but, as he was a stern and sturdy man, his wife played her game as secretly ...
— The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. III. (of V.) • Margaret, Queen Of Navarre
... he has intentionally reserved it for his last. Let it be recollected that he professed to absolve me from his original charge of dishonesty up to February 1. And further, he implies that, at the time when he was writing, I had not yet involved myself in any fresh acts suggestive of that sin. He says that I have had a ...
— Apologia pro Vita Sua • John Henry Newman
... you were more unfortunate than criminal," replied the terrible general, when at last he spoke. "You are not responsible for the crime of those Spaniards; and, unless the marshal should think otherwise, I absolve you." ...
— El Verdugo • Honore de Balzac
... must hould your tongue. In such a case as this I cannot absolve you from your word. I don't know what it is that Pat Carroll did." Here it must be admitted Father Brosnan did not stick to the absolute truth. He did know what Pat Carroll had done. All Headford knew that Mr. Jones's meadows had been flooded, ...
— The Landleaguers • Anthony Trollope
... inversions. The sense, however, of his words is strained when "he views the Ganges from Alpine heights"—that is, from mountains like the Alps. And the pedant surely intrudes (but when was blank verse without pedantry?) when he tells how "Planets ABSOLVE the stated round ...
— Lives of the Poets: Gay, Thomson, Young, and Others • Samuel Johnson
... be received to favour by them: For why should I sit down to wish for what I have no reason to expect?—Besides, I could not look them in the face, if they would receive me. Indeed I could not. All I have to hope for is, first, that my father will absolve me from his heavy malediction: and next, for a last blessing. The obtaining of these favours are needful to my peace ...
— Clarissa, Volume 7 • Samuel Richardson
... it is impossible that a moral certainty should be made out of a future contingency, and consequently, that the Soveraign may not extend his Power to the prejudice of any mans Liberty or Religion: The probability (which is the worst that they can put it) is not enough to absolve a Subject who rises in Arms, from Rebellion, in foro Conscientiae. We read of a divine Command to obey Superior Powers: and the Duke will lawfully be such, no Bill of Exclusion having past against him in his Brother's life: Besides this, we have ...
— His Majesties Declaration Defended • John Dryden
... we have dreamed of, have passed. They know it as well as we do. I have seen the writing on the wall for months. To-day I have concluded all my arrangements. I have broken off all negotiations with Berlin. They recognise the authority and they absolve me. They know that it will be well to have a friend here when the time comes for ...
— The Kingdom of the Blind • E. Phillips Oppenheim
... of the people of a single State to absolve themselves at will and without the consent of the other States from their most solemn obligations, and hazard the liberties and happiness of the millions composing this Union, can not be acknowledged. ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various
... not say I did it"—but it is said that he has summoned von Bissing and von der Lancken to explain their actions in the matter, but as the Kaiser is responsible for the invasion of Belgium and has hitherto condoned its attendant horrors, he can no more absolve himself from some share of responsibility than could Macbeth disavow his responsibility for the ...
— The Case of Edith Cavell - A Study of the Rights of Non-Combatants • James M. Beck
... Ruy Diaz, I absolve thee cheerfully, If, while at my court, thou showest Due respect and courtesy.'" Ancient Spanish ...
— Legends of the Middle Ages - Narrated with Special Reference to Literature and Art • H.A. Guerber
... irresolutely, and Hermon was already asking himself whether Daphne's arguments had convinced Myrtilus also, when the latter, in great excitement, called after her: "How gladly we would do it, but we must not fulfil your wish, for it was no light promise—no, your father exacted an oath. He alone can absolve us from the obligation of showing him, before any one else, what we finish here. It is not to be submitted to the judges until after he ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.' Therefore we must not separate nor part God and man according to our natural reason and understanding. In like manner, every hearer must conclude and say, I hear not St. Paul, St. Peter, or a man speak; but I hear God himself speak, baptize, absolve, excommunicate, and administer the holy sacrament of the ...
— Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther • Martin Luther
... Charles has left us here To serve him, or at need to die for him. See, yonder come the foes of Christendom, And we must fight for God and Holy Faith. Now, say your shrift, and make your peace with Heaven; I will absolve you and will heal your souls; And if you die as martyrs, your true home Is ready midst ...
— Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race • Maud Isabel Ebbutt
... in this world nothing is given for nothing and the offer is a fair one. You are well born, too, as well as myself, and a brave and clever man. Further, Amada has not taken her final vows and therefore the high priests can absolve her from her marriage to the goddess, or to her son Horus, whichever it may be, for I do not understand these mysteries. But, Shabaka, if Fortune should chance to go with us and I should became the first Pharaoh of a new dynasty ...
— The Ancient Allan • H. Rider Haggard
... venture to absolve her, father, for the purest humanity led her to the act, which was no doubt ...
— Uarda • Georg Ebers
... the calamity were overwhelming. At first the horror of the foul death effaced all other considerations from men's minds. There were not enough priests to absolve the dying, and special indulgences, with full liberty to choose confessors at discretion, were promulgated from Avignon and from many diocesan chanceries. The price of commodities fell for the moment, since there were few, we are told, who cared for riches amidst the general ...
— The History of England - From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377) • T.F. Tout
... allowed that term to pass over without repentance, they should be dealt with according to the utmost rigor of the law. Many ran to the convent of St. Paul, hoping to merit some small measure of indulgence. But the inquisitors would not absolve them until they had disclosed the names, calling, residence, and given a description of all others whom they had seen, heard, or understood to have apostatized in like manner. After getting this information, they bound the terrified informers to secrecy. This first ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 8 - The Later Renaissance: From Gutenberg To The Reformation • Editor-in-Chief: Rossiter Johnson |
