The idea of
making us theologians, in the ordinary sense of the word, never entered
into his head. He wished us to think and feel and act like Christians,
and that was all; and the end of all his counsels and labors was to
furnish us unto every good word and work. If he had written a system of
divinity, he would have left out most of the things which many put into
such books, and put in many which most leave out. It would have been a
book to help people to live right and feel right, and not to dream, or
speculate, or wrangle. If he had been a preacher, he would have filled
his sermons with the living words of Moses and the Prophets, of Christ
and His Apostles, and pressed them on the consciences of his hearers
with all his might. He would often have "reasoned of righteousness,
temperance, and a judgment to come," but never troubled his hearers with
human theories of Christian doctrines. The drift and scope of his
sermons to the ungodly would have been, "Cease to do evil; learn to do
well." "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon
him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." "Repeat and be
converted, every one of you, that your sins may he blotted out.
Pages:
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152