On a part of the British coast, where Bettling cliffs, from 3 to 5 hundred
feet in height overhang the ocean, some individuals during a certain season of
the year, obtain a livelihood by collecting the eggs of rock-birds.  The way
in which they pursue this hazardous calling is as follows:  THE MAN DRIVES AN
IRON BAR INTO THE GROUND, ABOUT A YARD FROM THE EDGE OF THE PRECIPICE.  To
that bar he makes fast a rope, of which he then lays hold.

HE NEXT SLIDES GENTLY OVER THE CLIFF, AND LOWERS HIMSELF TILL HE REACHES THE
LEDGES AND CRAGS, where he expects to find the object of his pursuit.  To gain
these places is sometimes a difficult task, and when they fall within the
perpendicular, the only method of accomplishing it is for the adventurer to
swing in the air, until, by dexterous management, he can so balance himself as
to reach the spot on which he wishes to descend.  A basket, made for the
purpose, and strapped between his shoulders, contains the fruit of his labour.
When he has filled the basket, or failed in his attempt, he ascends, hand over
hand, to the summit.

ON ONE OCCASION A MAN WHO WAS THUS EMPLOYED, IN GAINING A NARROW LEDGE OF ROCK
WHICH WAS OVERHUNG BY A HIGHER PORTION OF THE CLIFF, SECURED HIS FOOTING, BUT
LET GO THE ROPE.  He at once perceived his peril.  No one could come to his
rescue, or even hear his cries.  The fearful alternatives immediately flashed
through his mind.  It was to starve to death, or to be dashed to pieces 400
feet below.

ON TURNING ROUND, HE SAW THE ROPE HE HAD LET GO, BUT IT WAS FAR AWAY.  As it
swung backwards and forwards, it's long vibrations testified to the mighty
efforts by which he had reached the deplorable predicament in which he now
found himself.  HE LOOKED AT THE ROPE IN AGONY.  He had gazed but a little
while, when he noticed that every movement was shorter than the preceding one,
so that each time it swung towards him, as it was gradually subsiding to a
point of rest, it was a little further off than it had been before.

HE BRIEFLY REASONED THUS:  "THAT ROPE IS MY ONLY CHANCE OF LIFE.  In a little
while it will be forever beyond my reach.  It is nearer now than it will ever
be again.  I can but die." SO SAYING, HE SPRANG FROM THE CLIFF AS THE ROPE WAS
NEXT APPROACHING, CAUGHT IT IN HIS GRASP AND WENT HOME REJOICING.

SINNER, YOU TREMBLE AT THIS INCIDENT, BUT BELIEVE ME, YOURS IS A GREATER
PERIL.  BENEATH YOU YAWNS THE LAKE THAT BURNETH WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE.
Stand still you cannot.  Time will force you thence.  SALVATION IS SET BEFORE
YOU.  IT IS AS NEAR, PERHAPS NEARER NOW, THAN IT WILL EVER BE AGAIN.  LAY HOLD
OF IT.  CLING TO IT WITH THE FIRMNESS OF A DEATH GRASP.  THIS IS YOUR ONLY
CHANCE OF SAFETY, AND IT IS NOT A CHANCE ALONE, IT IS A CERTAINTY - A GLORIOUS
CERTAINTY.  THE ONLY DANGER IS THAT, REFUSING TO EMBRACE IT, YOU WILL DEFER
ESCAPE UNTIL IT BECOMES IMPOSSIBLE.

LET ME URGE YOU TO TAKE THE PLUNGE AT ONCE AND TRUST IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
AS YOUR SAVIOUR!  If you surrender to Him as Lord and Master, and openly
confess Him as such before the world, ONLY THEN WILL YOU BE SAVED.

IF YOU DESIRE TO KNOW THE LORD JESUS, SEND ME YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS AND
I WILL SEND YOU TEACHINGS OF OUR SAVIOUR.
--
Bob Wood                        BT IWPS (Comms and OA Support)
Tel:071-239-0880                Local Mail: bob@pharaoh
Fax:071-239-0799                Usenet    : b...@cyborg.bt.co.uk

Richard A. Reitmeyer
aero/astro grad
gor...@leland.stanford.edu
-----
The Right Honorable gentleman is indebted to his memory for his jests,
and to his imagination for his facts.
                                -- Richard Sheridan (1751-1816)
                                   (Speech in reply to Mr. Dundas T. Moore)

And who has told you that the burning sea underneath isn't a warm healthy
and enjoyable bath ? And still how can you know if you haven't tried it ?

These questions and more to come will never be answered by Bob'o.
--
Michael Biermann  |    'The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was
bierm...@diku.dk  | created.  This has made a lot of people very angry and has
dept.comp.scien.  | been widely regarded as a bad move.'
Un. of Copenhagen | - Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

        The whole Bible to pick from, and he proselytizes *here* without one
        quote.  Johnny do we have and consolation prizes?  Why yes we do
        Ted!  Your errant poster will enjoy hours of fun as he tries how to
        figure out how to use his new clue.

        You're off topic, ace.

"If `publish or perish' were really true, Leonard Euler would still be alive"
        -- Eric Bach

--
Ted Faber               Figment at Large                       fa...@cs.wisc.edu
"The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit." -- Maugham

        You were not nearly emphatic enough. Since this is a quotation board,
try this:

        Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us
wordy evidence of the fact.    
                                        -- George Eliot

OR
        And 'tis remarkable that they
        Talk most who have the least to say.
                                        -- Prior

But perhaps I am too sharp, I will take this more fatalistic approach to the
whole thing:

        No man of woman born,
        Coward or brave, can shun his destiny.
                                        -- Homer (NO not Simpson!)

The guy on the cliff might have been happier to think of D.G. Rossetti:

        If God in His wisdom have brought close
                The day when I must die,
        That day by water or fire or air
        My feet shall fall in the destined snare
                Whereever my road may lie.
                                        -- D.G. Rossetti

I just hope our friend the preacher reads all this.
John

________________________________________________________________________
{{{ John Loucks    {} One, whom we see not, is;                      }}}
{{{ U. of Western  {}    and one, who is not, we see;                }}}
{{{ Ontario        {} Fiddle, we know, is diddle;                    }}}
{{{ (519) 432-6691 {}    and diddle, we take it, is dee.             }}}
{{{ J4Lou...@student.business.uwo.ca                                 }}}
========================================================================

also, note
"I abhor your principles, Sir, but I will die for your right to express
them."  - Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet)

or are you reading alt.quotations just for witty quips, wisdom content
unimportant?

tom
--
From the machine of Tom the Mad - madha...@teaparty.mit.edu - DoD#0135 - KoHO

-- Rao Akella    <r...@cccs.umn.edu, rao%mo...@umnacvx.bitnet>

OQ: "I said it very loud and clear -- I went and shouted in his ear."

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- -
"I've wrestled with reality for 35 years,        |      Stewart Stremler
 and I'm happy to say I finally won out."        | strem...@ucssun1.sdsu.edu
             --Elwin P. Dowde  (_Harvey_)        |   FidoNet: 1:202/1111
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- -

The 'glory or death' leap is merely a way of avoiding temporary
suffering.

The two options:
Leap   and Be patient.
If he leaps and fails, and least he doesn't have to bear days of
misery and anxiety.  Thus, you are leaping into the hands of 'god'
for the basest of reasons, not for life, but merely to avoid
suffering.  Further, the Leap implies a certain arrogance.  If
he fails, he doesn't want to have time to think reflect on his
fate and his failure.  He'd rather rely on his own limbs than
on a fellow human being.

I have a great distaste for those who try to use fear to drive
people towards religion.

--
Michael Sandy
meh...@agora.rain.com
"The truly paranoid are clever enough to not _act_ paranoid."

Obquotes: Does this screed* come from somewhere other than what's-his-name's
fertile mind?  It seems to have that ring about it.  Pilgrim's Progress?
Does anyone have a thought on the subject?  You know, it *is* interestingly
written.  Too bad about its subject...

 ---------
 *Credit to a previous poster, not me.

        On the contrary wisdom content is important, hence the flames!
        While telling him to go away may not be nice, neither is
misrepresenting his preaching as quotation sharing.        

________________________________________________________________________
{{{ John Loucks    {} One, whom we see not, is;                      }}}
{{{ U. of Western  {}    and one, who is not, we see;                }}}
{{{ Ontario        {} Fiddle, we know, is diddle;                    }}}
{{{ (519) 432-6691 {}    and diddle, we take it, is dee.             }}}
{{{ J4Lou...@student.business.uwo.ca                                 }}}
========================================================================

The original quote sounds much like Jonathan Edwards' famous _Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God_, delivered in Connecticut during the revival of the
mid-Nineteenth Century.  Edwards, however, reportedly delivered it in almost
a monotone, without alll the histrionics of the screaming preacher (or of the
screaming originator of the original posting).  As a good preacher, he let the
message itself work, without pulling at emotional or other synthetic appeal.

---
Peyton Reed                    Logic is             (513) 865-6800 x4733
Mead Data Central            weak here --             Server Operability
P.O. Box 933                 pound pulpit.           pey...@meaddata.com
Dayton, Ohio  45401       -- Source unknown.   ...!uunet!meaddata!peyton

        "There's no BODY-CHECKING in golf!!!"-Charlie Brown, to Lucy.
                                                   V140P...@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu
Daniel Case                                                     Prodigy: WDNS15D
State University of New York at Buffalo                           GEnie:DCASE.10

It never fails to amaze me.

Doug's Law: The loonier J. Random Whacko is, the more capital letters
he will use when posting.

I swear, there's a direct correlation.  I vote that we spend our tax
dollars on something useful for once, and study this phenomenon.  There
*must* be some gene somewhere that causes both extreme wackiness and
inability to use lower-case letters.

Oh, Bob?  Get lost.

 * QMPro 1.02 42-0266 * Know Thyself.  If you need help, call the FBI.
--
Doug Linder
"Professional Angry Young Man and Tilter-at-Windmills."
Proud to be an atheist.