[1] God is to us, and to every creature incomprehensible. If
thou couldst fathom or measure Him, and know His greatness
by a comprehensive knowledge, He were not God. A creature
can comprehend nothing but a creature. You may know God,
but not comprehend Him; as your foot treadeth on the earth,
but doth not cover all the earth. The sea is not a sea if
you can hold it in a spoon. Thou canst not comprehend the
sun which thou seest, and by which thou seest all things
else, nor the sea, or the earth, no, nor a worm, nor a
blade of grass: thy understanding knoweth not all that God
hath put into the least of these; thou art a stranger to
thyself, both body and soul. And thinkest thou, that
perfectly comprehendest nothing, to comprehend God? Stop
then thy over-bold inquiries, and remember that thou art a
shallow, finite worm, and God is infinite. First seek to
comprehend the heaven and earth and whole creation, before
thou think of comprehending Him to whom the whole world is
nothing, or vanity.--_Baxter,_ 1615-1691.
[2] During one part of the trip our party was augmented by a
redif, or soldier of the reserves, who was going home on
leave of absence. He wore the uniform of the Turkish
soldier, but I observed that in the evening he threw over
his shoulders a woman's robe, made of a soft thin kind of
felt, worn by the women in this country, and beautifully
embroidered in colours around the neck and bosom. I had the
curiosity to inquire into the history of this gown, and
could scarcely restrain my indignation at the story I
heard. The soldier said he had got the gown at Saitschar.
After the discovery of the evacuation of the place by the
Servians, he and a party of four or five more entered the
town. In one of the houses they found a Servian family that
had decided to remain in their house, and throw themselves
on the mercy of the Turks. This family consisted of an old
man, a married daughter with two children, and a girl of
fourteen, whose relationship to the rest of the family they
did not take the trouble to inquire into. The husband of
the woman, if she had one, was absent. They began by
fastening all the doors, so that nobody could escape: then
they thoroughly pillaged the house, and took and divided
everything of value among themselves. They were in the
house a day and a night, for it was a rich one apparently,
and it took some time to get everything properly divided
and packed; and besides, they were disposed to be merry and
make a night of it.
I will not enter into the details of what they did during
the night, because there are people who do not apparently
object in the least to the commission of these deeds, who
object to anybody lifting a finger to prevent them, or even
to the expression of any indignation on the subject, but
who are dreadfully shocked at the recital of them; and I
wish to spare the feelings of these sensitive persons.
Suffice it to say that the next morning the question arose
as to what should be done with the two women, the two
children, and the old man. Some of the party were in favour
of letting them go; but the rest were of opinion that it
would be amusing to kill them, and a discussion ensued,
which lasted more than an hour, in the presence of the
weeping, trembling victims, who were wildly begging for
mercy, and among whom, it should be remembered, there was a
mother begging for the lives of her two children. The
narrator said that he, with another of the party, had leant
to the side of mercy, but that the majority were against
them, and that they finally ended the discussion and the
prayers of the victims by falling upon them with their
sabres. I asked him how he had come by the gown, and he
replied that, seeing what the result was going to be, he
had stripped it from the girl while the discussion was in
progress, before she was killed, so that it might not be
blood-stained. He had taken a fancy to it, because it would
just be right for his daughter, who was about the same age;
and his companions, perceiving this, made him pay rather
high for it--fifty piastres. He was a heavy, dull-looking
brute, and it seemed strange to think that he had a
daughter, a pretty, tender, joyous little thing, perhaps,
that would wear this gown with delight. He told the story
in a quiet, phlegmatic manner, and spoke very freely,
looking upon me as an Englishman, and therefore as a
friend.--_Letter in the "Daily News,"_ Nov. 15, 1876.