The Seventy's Course in Theology, Second Year: Outline History of the Dispensations of the GospelRoberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
The Seventy's Course in Theology, Second Year: Outline History of the Dispensations of the Gospel
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines
the same room, better adapted to the exigencies of the hearers, or
better calculated for the purpose of impression. Seen in this light it
has always appeared to me to admirable. Dr. Lardner thought that this
discourse was made up of what Christ had said at different times, and
on different occasions, several of which occasions are noticed in Saint
Luke's narrative. I can perceive no reason for this opinion I believe
that our Lord delivered this discourse at one time and place, in the
manner related by Saint Matthew, and that he repeated the same rules
and maxims at different times, as opportunity or occasion suggested
that they were often in his mouth, and were repeated to different
audiences and in various conversations.
"It is incidental to this mode of moral instruction, which proceeds
not by the proof but upon authority, not by disquisition, but by
precept, that the rules will be conceived in absolute terms, leaving
the application, and the distinctions that attend it to the reason of
the hearer. It is likewise to be expected that they will be delivered
in terms by so much the more forcible and energetic, as they have to
encounter natural or general propensities. It is farther also to be
remarked, that many of those strong instances, which appear in our
Lord's sermon, such as, 'If any men will smite thee on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also:' 'If any man will sue thee at law, and take
away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also:' 'Whosoever shall compel
thee to go a mile, go with him twain;' though they appear in the form
of specific precepts, are intended as descriptive of disposition and
character. A specific compliance with the precepts would be of little
value, but the disposition which they inculcate is of the highest. He
who should content himself with waiting for the occasion, and with
literally observing the rule when the occasion offered, would do
nothing or worse than nothing; but he who considers the character and
disposition which is hereby inculcated, and places that disposition
before him as the model to which he should bring his own, takes,
perhaps, the best possible method of improving the benevolence, and of
calming and rectifying the vices of his temper.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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