Mark Twain, Bible Scholar (1868)
Sundays with Mark Twain #72
1868
1868.1.160) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: ...look at Mother Eve! You need not look at her unless you want to, but, Eve was ornamental, sir—particularly before the fashions changed!
Scripture: And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. -- Genesis 3:20
Work; Date: Speech “Woman—an Opinion”; January 11, 1868
Source: Mark Twain’s Speeches
1868.2.161) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: When we become capable of believing our Supreme Judges can so belittle themselves and their great office as to read the Constitution of the United States through blurring and distorting spectacles, it will be time for us to put on sackcloth and ashes.
Scripture: And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. – Genesis 37:34
Work; Date: The Last Sensation; January 12, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18680219a.html
1868.3.162) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: However, the same God that made George Francis Train made also the mosquitoes and the rats, and in His infinite wisdom He knows what He did it for.
Scripture: Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. – Psalm 147:5
Work; Date: MARK TWAIN’S LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON. More Westonism; January 30, 1868
Source: https://www.salon.com/2013/08/18/it_is_the_nations_time_how_women_won_the_vote/
1868.4.163) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Nobody’s prophecies concerning Washington matters ever come out right. Isaiah himself would be a failure here.
Scripture: Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. -- Isaiah 6:8
Work; Date: Washington Rascality > Impeachment; February 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18680307t.html
1868.5.164) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: ...the doctors desire not that he shall live, for they be troubled in spirit and tormented day and night with a mighty fear.
Scripture: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. -- Revelation 14:11
Work; Date: DIED,; February 14, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18680219.html
1868.6.165) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Stay the hand -- set thou the medicine upon the table and let him die! ... suffered not the medicine to pass the lips of him that lay sick.
And in the self-same hour he died.
Scripture: And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. -- Matthew 8:13
Work; Date: DIED,; February 14, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18680219.html
1868.7.166,167) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: At some of the receptions here, the people move in solemn procession up and down the drawing-rooms, bearing an imaginary Ark of the Covenant, and looking as if they knew they had to wander forty years in the wilderness, yet;
Scripture: And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. … And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. -- Exodus 25:10,16
Scripture: Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. -- Hebrews 3:8,9
Work; Date: THE ILLINOIS STATE ASSOCIATION; February 21, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18680301.html
1868.8.168) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Then the speech making began, and the resurrected Lazarus of impeachment soon gave token of a strength and a vigor it had never possessed in its former life.
Scripture: And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. -- John 11:43
Work; Date: THE CLOSING DEBATE; February 21, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18680301.html
1868.9.169) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: This nonsense reminds me of a circumstance. Once in Washington, during the winter, Riley a fellow-correspondent, who stayed in the same house with me, rushed into my room -- it was past midnight -- and said, “Great God, what can the matter be! What makes that awful smell?”
I said, “Calm yourself, Mr. Riley. There is no occasion for alarm. You smell about as usual.”
But he said there was no joke about this matter -- the house was full of smoke -- he had heard dreadful screams -- he recognized the odor of burning human flesh. We soon found out that he was right. A poor old negro woman, a servant in the next house, had fallen on the stove and burned herself so badly that she soon died. It was a sad case, and at breakfast all spoke gloomily of the disaster, and felt low-spirited. The landlady even cried, and that depressed us still more. She said:
“Oh, to think of such a fate! She was so good, and so kind and so faithful. She had worked hard and honestly in that family for twenty-eight long years, and now she is roasted to death -- yes, roasted to crisp, like 80 much beef.”
In a grave voice and without even the shadow of a smile, Riley said:
“Well done, good and faithful servant !”
It sounded like a benediction, and the landlady never perceived the joke, but I never came so near choking in my life.
Scripture: His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into they joy of thy lord. -- Matthew 25:21
Work; Date: Bad Jokes; May 1, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18680519.html
1868.10.170) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: “Who made the grass?”
“Chief Police.”
“No, no--not the Chief of Police. God made the grass. ... The good God takes care of the grass and makes it grow.”
Scripture: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. -- Genesis 1:11, 12
Work; Date: Colloquy Between a Slum Child and a Moral Mentor; May, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.11.171) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: “James, who made you?”
“Chief Police, I guess.”
“Mercy! I wish I could get that all-powerful potentate out of your head. No, James, God made you.”
Scripture: But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. -- 1 Corinthians 8:6
Work; Date: Colloquy Between a Slum Child and a Moral Mentor; May, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays: 1852-1890
1868.12.172) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: It is where there is fire and brimstone always and forever.
Scripture: And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, ... -- Revelation 20:10
Work; Date: Colloquy Between a Slum Child and a Moral Mentor; May, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.13.173) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: “But they came from above, James--they came from your Heavenly Father. He gave them to you.”
Scripture: But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. -- Isaiah 64:8
Scripture: Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. -- Matthew 5:48
Work; Date: Colloquy Between a Slum Child and a Moral Mentor; May, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.14.174) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: God made the grass.
Scripture: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass. -- Genesis 1:11
Work; Date: Colloquy Between a Slum Child and a Moral Mentor; 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.15.175) Duplicate of 1868.15.172 - removed
1868.16.176) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: I am not a private secretary to a senator any more, now. I held the berth two months in security and in great cheerfulness of spirit, but my bread began to return from over the waters, then—that is to say, my works came back and revealed themselves. I judged it best to resign.
Scripture: Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after man days. -- Ecclesiastes 11:1
Work; Date: My Late Senatorial Secretaryship; May 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/Galaxy/186805.html
1868.17.177) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: The miners near one of those sublime gorges which former earthquakes have cloven in the Sierra Nevadas, named the place with their usual felicity in that line. They called it by a Spanish name signifying Devil’s Gate. They never dreamed they were doing any harm. But a religious newspaper in San Francisco printed an editorial in which they were called to account—not in angry language, but in arguments and reasonings kindly put. They were admonished that it was not meet that men should honor the father of sin by naming after him the stupendous works of the Creator.
The miners called a meeting—nothing is done in California without calling a meeting about it. … They discussed the matter in the meeting. They talked the subject over earnestly and feelingly, and then, by solemn and unanimous vote, they changed that name to—JEHOVAH’S GAP.
Scripture: That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth. -- Psalms 83:18
Work; Date: The Devil’s Gate; June 1868
Source: Who Is Mark Twain?
1868.18.178) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: ...let us seek first the milk of righteousness, and all these things will be added unto us.
Scripture: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. -- Matthew 6:33
Work; Date: Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary; July, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.19.179) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Oh, auntie, if you would but treasure those words.
Scripture: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: -- Matthew 7:7
Work; Date: Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary; July, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.20.180) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: I wonder if the seeds thus sown will bear fruit.
Scripture: But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. -- Matthew 13:23
Work; Date: Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary; July, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.21.181) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Lay up treasures in that realm where moths do not corrupt nor thieves break through and steal.
Scripture: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: -- Matthew 6:19
Work; Date: Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary; July, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.22.182) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Truly my ways are ways of pleasantness this day.
Scripture: Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. -- Proverbs 3:17
Work; Date: Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary; July, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.23.183) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: You know not what you do.
Scripture: Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. -- Luke 23:34
Work; Date: Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary; July, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.24.184) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Give your property to the poor and go off somewhere for a missionary.
Scripture: Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. -- Matthew 19:21
Work; Date: Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary; July, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.25.185) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: ...and he threw the wife of his bosom from the third story window.
Scripture: So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave. -- Deuteronomy 28:54
Work; Date: Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary; July, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.26.186) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Go thou and do likewise.
Scripture: And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. -- Luke 10:37
Work; Date: Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary; July, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.27.187) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: “Be not cast down, dear uncle,” Mamie said, “for I have sent all these men into the vineyard. They shall sow the fields far and wide and reap a rich harvest.”
Scripture: Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. -- John 4:35
Work; Date: Mamie Grant, the Child-Missionary; July, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
1868.28.188) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: If you propose to build an addition to the rear of your house, your neighbor may complain that it will obstruct his view of the railway, or the church, or the river, or something, and thus bring down his gray hairs in sorrow to the grave.
Scripture: And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. -- Genesis 44:29
Work; Date: Hartford -- The “Blue Laws”; August, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18680906.html
1868.29.189) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: It is said that ladies of the highest respectability go freely to lectures and concerts at night in this city of 40,000 souls, without other escort than members of their own sex. We may expect the lion and the lamb to lie down together shortly in Connecticut, if it be constitutional for the Millenium to come in small doses.
Scripture: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. -- Isaiah 11:6
Work; Date: Hartford -- The “Blue Laws”; August, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18680906.html
1868.30.190) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: There will be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth on the Pacific coast when Article 6 is read.
Scripture: And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. -- Matthew 13:42
Work; Date: The Treaty with China: Its Provisions Explained; August 28, 1868
Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/33077/33077-h/33077-h.htm
1868.31.191) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: ...a man who made it his voluntary business to keep order at street-corner preachings, and was always ready to enforce respect for the Word and its messengers with his puissant fist. Yet this lost ram -- let us be consistent, if we are nothing else, and surely there was little of the “sheep” in John Allen, lost or otherwise.
Scripture: But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. -- Matthew 15:24
Work; Date: The “Wickedest Man”; October 22, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18681115.html
1868.32.192) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: What was the natural result of all this state of things? Simply that religion was dragged in the dirt. Where one person was brought seriously to read his Bible, fifty non-combatants were made mockers and scoffers. ... A religion that comes of thought, and study, and deliberate conviction, sticks best. The revivalized convert who is scared in the direction of heaven because he sees hell yawn suddenly behind him, not only regains confidence when his scare is over, but is ashamed of himself for being scared, and often becomes more hopelessly and malignantly wicked than he was before.
Scripture: These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so. -- Acts 17:11
Work; Date: The “Wickedest Man”; October 22, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18681115.html
1868.33.193) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: Out of the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
Scripture: O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. -- Matthew 12:34
Work; Date: The “Wickedest Man”; October 22, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18681115.html
1868.34.194) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: We are instructed to judge not, but I still question the genuineness of Jno. Allen’s conversion.
Scripture: Judge not, that ye be not judged. -- Matthew 7:1
Work; Date: The “Wickedest Man”; October 22, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18681115.html
1868.35.195) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: I heard though many said he was crazy enough in the first place to make a good member of Congress. But they didn’t take him in. That is what I am quarreling about. They left his light to shine under a bushel –
Scripture: Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before them, that they may see hour good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. -- Matthew 5:14-16
Work; Date: Where Is McGrorty?; October 28th, 1868
Source: http://www.twainquotes.com/18681122.html
1868.36.196) Quote, Reference, or Allusion: ...uplifted sheets of snow drifting hither and thither before the wind—a world of eddyng flakes shutting out the firmament above.
Scripture: And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. -- Genesis 1:6-8
Work; Date: Cannibalism in the Cars; November, 1868
Source: Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays 1852-1890
You can get the entire book (MARK TWAIN, BIBLE SCHOLAR: 919 Bible Quotations, References, and Allusions from Mark Twain’s Writings) here.
You can read and download other writings of mine here.
