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The Glory of English Prose - Letters to My Grandson by Stephen Coleridge
page 40 of 149 (26%)
"Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry
heart, 'He hath given me rest by His sorrow, and life by His
death.'

"Then he stood awhile to look and wonder, for it was very
surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him
of his burden.

"He looked, therefore, and looked again, even till the springs
that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks."

Bunyan died in 1688, and Dr. Johnson was born in 1709. Many years,
therefore, elapsed between the time when they each displayed their
greatest powers.

The interval was occupied by many reputable worldly-wise writers, but I
do not myself find, between these two masters of English prose,
anyone who wrote passages of such great lustre that I can quote them
for your admiration.

You will have noticed, Antony, that all the writers whom I have quoted,
and who reached the true nobility of speech necessary to command our
tribute of unstinted praise, have been men of manifest piety and
reverence.

And you will find it difficult to discover really great and eloquent prose
from the pen of any man whose heart is not filled with a simple faith in
the goodness of God.

Your loving old
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