Inspiration and Interpretation: Seven Sermons Preached Before the University of OxfordBurgon, John William
Religion
Inspiration and Interpretation: Seven Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford
Burgon, John William
Bible -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Bible -- Inspiration; Sermons, English
We are left to infer that "the Fall of Adam represents ideally the
circumscription of our spirits in limits of flesh and time:" (p. 88:)
that CHRIST is "the moral Saviour of mankind;" (p. 80;) and that
Salvation from evil is to be attained by the conformity of our souls to
a "_religious idea_" which was "brought to perfection" in CHRIST.
(p. 80.) This "religious idea" "is the thought of the Eternal."
(_Ibid._) In other words, "Salvation from evil" is "through sharing the
SAVIOUR's Spirit." (p. 87.)--We are further left to infer that
"Justification by faith means the peace of mind, or sense of Divine
approval, which comes of trust in a righteous GOD:" (p. 80:) that
"Regeneration is a correspondent giving of insight, or an awakening of
forces of the soul: Resurrection, a spiritual quickening: Salvation, our
deliverance, not from the life-giving GOD, but from evil and darkness."
(p. 81.) ... And this from a Clergyman who has just subscribed,
"willingly and _ex animo_," the three Articles in the 36th Canon!...
After such specimens of Divinity, we are scarcely surprised to find that
the fires of Hell γέεννα "may serve as images of distracted remorse:"
(p. 81:) that "Heaven is not a place[59], so much as a fulfilment of the
love of GOD." (pp. 81-2.) The very Incarnation, (which he calls "the
embodiment of the Eternal Mind,") (p. 82.) is spoken of as if it were a
myth. "It becomes with our author _as purely spiritual_ as it was with
St. Paul. The Son of David by birth is the SON of GOD _by the spirit of
holiness_. What is flesh, is born of flesh; and what is spirit, is born
of Spirit." (p. 82.) Rom. i. 1-3 is quoted in support of this, which I
cannot but regard as blasphemy: for if it does not mean that our SAVIOUR
was not, in a true and literal sense, the SON of GOD at all, it is hard
to see _what_ it can mean.--As for the following account of the mystery
of the Blessed Trinity, it shall only be said that it sounds like a
denial of the Catholic doctrine altogether. "Being, becoming, and
animating; or substance, thinking, and conscious life, are expressions
of a Triad which may be also represented as will, wisdom, and love; as
light, radiance, and warmth; as fountain, stream, and united flow; as
mind, thought, and consciousness; as person, word, and life; as FATHER,
SON, and SPIRIT." (p. 88.)
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