Christian Literature: a sermon delivered May 8th, 1870, in Kensington Chapel, at the seventy-first anniversary of the Religious Tract SocietyStoughton, John
Religion
Christian Literature: a sermon delivered May 8th, 1870, in Kensington Chapel, at the seventy-first anniversary of the Religious Tract Society
Stoughton, John
Bible. John, XXI, 25 -- Sermons; Christian literature -- Sermons; Congregational churches -- Sermons; Sermons, English -- 19th century
The prophet Ezekiel stood in the court of the Temple at Jerusalem, and
watched the flow of waters issuing “from under the threshold of the house
eastward,” and descending the slope of Zion into the Valley of
Jehoshaphat; he watched and followed the man with the measuring line in
his hand through the waters, which were first ancle and then knee deep,
and which, as they proceeded along the limestone gorge, rose up to the
loins, and then became waters to swim in—a river which could not be
passed over. When it reached the Dead Sea it healed the waters of it,
and where it came everything lived. Then the prophet saw, in vision,
groves, orchards, gardens, rising on each side of this river. Such is
the Old Testament type of the Gospel of Christianity. It may be applied
to all forms of its influence and action. We venture to employ it as a
figure of what this Society is doing. It issues fertilizing,
life-giving, and healing streams, because it is filling the world with
books written about the many things which Jesus did, and is doing, and
will do for the sons of men. “And by the river, upon the bank thereof,
on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf
shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall
bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they
issued out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and
the leaf thereof for medicine.”
ABSTRACT OF THE SEVENTY-FIRST REPORT
OF THE
RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,
FOR THE YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1870.
THE object of the RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, like that of the public
ministry of the Word, is to impress the contents of the sacred volume—its
doctrines, its precepts, its promises, its prospects—separately, or in
varied combinations, upon the consciences and affections of men according
to their spiritual needs. In pursuing this object, it strives to imitate
the Divine book itself, and to teach, not by doctrine only, but by
history, biography, poetry, parable; and to tinge its information or
instruction, as to the events of every-day life, with the spirit of pure
and undefiled religion before God and the Father—disinterested
benevolence and personal holiness.
There have been issued, during the year, THREE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-THREE
new publications, of which ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-ONE were Tracts. The
Books include a revised Quarto Paragraph New Testament, and two Parts of
the Old; a historic Survey of the Papacy; a Grammar and Vocabulary of the
Greek Testament, and many of a general character adapted for both adults
and youth; and amongst the Periodicals, a new one entitled “_The True
Catholic_.”
FOREIGN OPERATIONS.
EUROPE
FRANCE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account