Page - 104 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

104 | Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 95–122 The Living know that they must die But ah the dead [37] forgotten lie Their memory and their name is gone They are alike unknowing and un- known The Living know that they must die But all the dead forgotten lie Their mem’ry and their name is gone Alike unknowing and unknown Their hatred and their love is lost Their envy’s buried in the dust By the will of God are [38] all things done beneath the cir- cuit of the sun. Their hatred and their love is lost Their envie buried in the dust They have no share in all that’s done Beneath the circuit of the sun. Some phrases (e. g. line 19) evoke titles of volumes such as Daniel Williams’ The vanity of childhood & youth wherein the depraved nature of young people is represented and means for their reformation proposed, which is a book of 136 unnumbered pages containing sermons for young men.17 By meditating on her relationship with God and praying, Elizabeth describes her condition as one that results from the traumatic experience with Lieutenant G., which she interprets as a consequence of disobeying her parents. [19] from what they were when I first came home I have seen and felt the vanity of childhood and youth And above all I have felt the stings of a guilty Conscience for the great Disobedience [20] to my parents in not taking their advice The topics of conscience and disobedience/obedience of parents are crucial in Daniel Williams’ book. Here are some excerpts from the book’s introductory sermon: Let me then acquaint thee, oh young Man! that God addresseth himself to thee, as by Name. Thou by nature art brutish and devilish, and as long as thou followest the imaginations of thy vain mind, thy case becomes more desperate, thy Lusts by indulgeuce grow more violent, and Conscience still less concern | ed to vindicate the Affronts thou offerest to Gods Do | minion, or to represent the injury thou dost to thy own Soul; 17 Williams 1691.