the same God, believes in the same Redeemer, struggles in the same
life-battle--and all this because they have been taught to look upon him
as an enemy of God." "Particular churches and sects," says Sir Thomas
Browne, "usurp the gates of heaven, and turn the keys against each
other; and thus we go to heaven against each others' wills, conceits,
and opinions." "The church of the future," in the opinion of Father
Hyacinthe, "will know nothing of such divisions, such discordances, and
she will uphold the freedom of theologies and the diversity of rites in
the unity of one faith and of one worship." "As soon," said Goethe, "as
the pure doctrine and love of Christ are comprehended in their true
nature, and have become a vital principle, we shall feel ourselves as
human beings, great and free, and not attach especial importance to a
degree more or less in the outward forms of religion: besides, we shall
all gradually advance from a Christianity of words and faith to a
Christianity of feeling and action." "Could we," said Dean Young, "but
once descend from our high pretenses of religion to the humility that
only makes men religious, could we but once prefer Christianity itself
before the several factions that bear its name, our differences would
sink of themselves; and it would appear to us that there is more
religion in not contending than there is in the matter we contend
about." "Do you remember," asks the author of The Eclipse of Faith, "the
passage in Woodstock, in which our old favorite represents the
Episcopalian Rochecliffe and the Presbyterian Holdenough meeting
unexpectedly in prison, after many years of separation, during which one
had thought the other dead? How sincerely glad they were, and how
pleasantly they talked; when, lo! an unhappy reference to 'the bishopric
of Titus' gradually abated the fervor of their charity, and inflamed
that of their zeal, even till they at last separated in mutual dudgeon,
and sat glowering at each other in their distant corners with looks in
which the 'Episcopalian' and 'Presbyterian' were much more evident than
the 'Christian:' and so they persevered till the sudden summons to them
and their fellow-prisoners, to prepare for instant execution, dissolved
as with a charm the anger they had felt, and 'Forgive me, O my brother,'
and 'I have sinned against thee, my brother,' broke from their lips as
they took what they thought would be a last farewell." "I sometimes,"
says Froude, "in impatient moments, wish the laity would treat their
controversial divines as two gentlemen once treated their seconds, when
they found themselves forced into a duel without knowing what they were
quarreling about. As the principals were being led up to their places,
one of them whispered to the other, 'If you will shoot your second, I
will shoot mine.'"
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account