He immediately sought
his chamber, and took up a neglected Bible which his mother had
given him when a child,--he turned over its leaves, and his eyes
fell upon the one hundred and nineteenth psalm, "Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a light upon my path. I have sworn, and I will
perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments." He read on,
and the exceeding beauty and touching power of the Holy Word had
never so deeply affected him,--he wept, and all that was harsh in
his nature melted,--he prayed, and the angels of God approached,
filling his uplifted soul with heavenly strength. Sweet was the
thrill of thanksgiving, that arose from that hitherto restless
spirit--quiet and blest the peace that hushed him to deep,
invigorating slumber. Persons of an enthusiastic temperament are apt
to fall into extremes; such was the case with Alfred Monmouth. He so
feared that he would fall back into his former states of feeling,
that he guarded himself like an anchorite. For three months he
abstained from going into company, and even reasonable enjoyment he
deprived himself of. He threw aside all books but scientific and
religious ones; even poetry he shut his ears against, lest it might
beguile him again to his dreamy, but selfish musings.
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