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Margaret Wright (Margaret Matthews)
Sarah is Elijah Pierson’s wife. She is an avid Christian, and she believes in Finneyite ideas that encourage mothers (rather than fathers) to take a more central role in religious practice. Elijah is deeply in love with Sarah, and he devotedly follows her ideas about religion. Sarah also believes in striving to be as perfect as possible at living simply, praying constantly, and practicing charity. Sarah is so committed to her idea of living simply that she eats only bread and water and often fasts, driving herself into illness and, eventually, death. Elijah grows unhinged from grief when Sarah dies, and he starts believing that he’s a prophet who can raise her from the dead.
Sarah Stanford (Sarah Pierson) Quotes in Kingdom of Matthias
The Kingdom of Matthias quotes below are all either spoken by Sarah Stanford (Sarah Pierson) or refer to Sarah Stanford (Sarah Pierson). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1: Elijah Pierson Quotes
Absent, ignorant, and cruel fathers had degraded poor women and children and left a moral void. City missions would fill that void, mainly (in the case of the Female Missionary Society) through the ministrations of middle-class women.
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After moving to New York City and establishing himself as a successful tradesman, Elijah attempts to overcome his loneliness by throwing himself into New York’s emerging evangelical community, where he meets his future wife Sarah and her acquaintance Frances Folger. The urban evangelical community’s values often conflict with the more conservative Calvinist upbringing that Elijah experienced. While traditional Calvinist households were usually patriarchal, evangelicals increasingly favored the idea of mothers running the home. Evangelicals worried about men who abused their authority in the home and used fear tactics to make their wives and children obey them. They were also concerned Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum.
Frances Folger and her friends were perfectionists […] to them, all time was holy, and women and men were being judged every day.
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When Elijah meets his future wife Sarah, an avid evangelical, he joins New York City’s evangelical circle, which centers around a woman named Frances Folger. He soon learns that evangelicals have a far more individualistic notion of religion than he’s used to. While Calvinists (like Elijah’s childhood community) focus more on communal cohesion, evangelicals focus on personal salvation. To evangelicals, religious practice centers less on adhering to a community and more on personal acts like individual prayer and fasting. Many evangelicals, like Frances Folger, believe that they are being “judged” by God in every action they do, all the time. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. P
Elijah and Sarah prayed with the Holy Club for three years, and in 1828 Elijah began talking with the Holy Ghost. He had always been a man of prayer, and had always asked God for help when he had to make some decision. But it was only in 1828 that God began answering him in English.
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Elijah and Sarah are deeply engaged in New York’s evangelical community. Their lifestyles now completely revolve around prayer, fasting, and missionary work. Evangelicals believe that praying at home (instead of in formal church services) is what primarily enables a person to feel closer to the Holy Ghost. For Christians, the Holy Ghost is one of the three persons of the Holy Trinity (God) and the one whose sanctifying power makes people holy and eventually perfect. The shift towards praying at home (instead of in a church) enables women to take a more prominent role in activities like leading prayers, since Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis.
The doctors now told him there was nothing they could do. Their diagnosis was consumption brought on by exhaustion and malnutrition: Sarah had literally worked and fasted herself to the edge of death.
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Sarah and Elijah are living in New York City, where they’ve spent a few years devoting their lives to becoming perfect evangelical Christians. They have renounced all luxuries, relentlessly fasting, praying, and pursuing missionary work. This lifestyle eventually takes its toll. Sarah grows malnourished from excessive fasting, interspersed with sparse meals of only bread and water, and she ultimately dies. Sarah’s illness and death reveal that she has been trying so hard to be a perfect Christian that she’s pushed her body too far. Instead of helping herself be a better person, she’s ended up causing her own death. This Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Molliti
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Sarah Stanford (Sarah Pierson) Character Timeline in Kingdom of Matthias
The timeline below shows where the character Sarah Stanford (Sarah Pierson) appears in Kingdom of Matthias. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: Elijah Pierson
One evangelical woman pushing this agenda is Elijah’s future wife, Sarah Stanford. Sarah’s mother dies when she’s four, and her father preaches in New York’s prisons....
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...wealthier peoples’ homes unannounced to pray, with the aim of reforming their families. Elijah follows Sarah to one such event at Frances’s cousin Benjamin Folger’s home, where almost 40 people are...
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In 1828, Elijah releases a pamphlet (mostly written by Sarah) that objects to the church’s tendency to collect money (during services and from renting out...
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...and Elijah believes that he must prepare the world for “the coming of the Lord.” Sarah has fallen dangerously ill from excessive fasting, and eventually, she dies with Elijah and his...
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Elijah claims that over the next week, Sarah rises from her coffin and appears several times. Apparently, Sarah wants to make sure that...
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Chapter 3: The Kingdom
...unkempt and follows Matthias around like a terrified servant. Despite this, Elijah is convinced that Sarah will now return from the dead, and he feels happy at the thought.
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