I set myself to work without delay, and, as I knew all about the wool-dealers' business, I issued a royal decree decreasing their taxes.

'Twas this compelled the stern decree, That forc'd thee to those distant towers, And left me nought but love for thee, To cheer my solitary hours.

Who, that has passed the interminable gloomy hours that preceded the departure of a loved and venerated friend into the world of spirits, does not remember this unutterable suspense, this fruitless struggle with eternal decrees, this clinging of affection to the parting soul?

But the inroads upon the constitution of Finland, in the form of imperial decrees, rules, and regulations by the Governor-General and his subordinates, have been so many and so sweeping in their character that even the most conservative are beginning to lose patience.

This is no arbitrary decree of custom, no chance preference of an accredited authority.

There is a form of authority which must be as implacable as the divine decree.

The memorable Irish decree, "that all the English slaves in the whole of Ireland, be immediately emancipated and restored to their former liberty," was issued in 1171.

What was the conduct of Daniel, when Darius made a firm decree that no one should ask a petition of any man or God for thirty days?

Not long since a formal decree of pardon had been solemnly declared and published throughout Venetia, at which the people stood aghast.

To excuse his participation in the arbitrary measures of the council, and his concurrence in the severe decrees of the Star-chamber, he alleged, that he was only one among many; and that it was cruel to visit on the head of a single victim the common faults of the whole board.

Indeed, the most cunningly cruel decree which Julian later promulgated against the Christians forbade them the use of the ancient pagan literature of Greece and Rome.

Ibrahim, while he bowed in submission to God, and adored His inscrutable decrees, blessed Him also for having restored his son; and the tears which he saw flow from the eyes of Shah Abbas, were a consolation in his dying moments.

"Isaiah denounces such legislation, 'Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees.'

"From the seventh century onwards, ecclesiastical writers, papal decrees and conciliar decrees recognise the eight parts of the office, which we have seen took shape during the sixth century, and regard their recitation by priests and monks as enjoined by positive law.

In substituting the arrest of individuals for the seizure of ships, and a military act for a judicial decree, Captain Wilkes has given ground for the well-founded protests of England, at the same time that he has left the way open, thank God!

With reverence low, And prostrate at his feet, the chiefs receive His irreversible decrees, from which To vary is to die.

Who was chosen to deliver the whole Jewish nation from that murderous decree of Persia's King, which wicked Haman had obtained by calumny and fraud?

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.

BALLARD, EDNA W. I am light decrees.

Johnson, talking of the fear of death, said, 'Some people are not afraid, because they look upon salvation as the effect of an absolute decree, and think they feel in themselves the marks of sanctification.

There are not two leaves among the trees of the earth, nor two globes in the unlimited expanse of heaven that are exactly similar; and all that thou seest on the little atom in which thou art born, ought to be in its proper time and place, according to the immutable decree of Him who comprehends all.

The most important effect of the canon law was on marriage, which was now a sacrament and had its sanction not in the laws of men, but in the express decrees of God.

The way of life was narrow, the chances in favor of any child of Adam infinitely small; the best, the most seemingly pure and fair, was by nature a child of wrath, and could be saved only by a sovereign decree, by which it should be plucked as a brand from the burning.

Oh, these absurd decrees!

I know not what to call this, nor will I urge that it is a secret overruling decree that hurries us on to be the instruments of our own destruction, even though it be before us, and that we rush upon it with our eyes open.