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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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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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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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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 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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