The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 2 (of 2)East, Timothy
Religion
The Sheepfold and the Common; Or, Within and Without. Vol. 2 (of 2)
East, Timothy
Christian life; Christian life -- Pictorial works
_Mr. Roscoe._--"When I consider the fallibility of the human
mind--the prejudices of education--the influence of accidental
reading and associations--and the extensive prevalence of erroneous
opinions, instead of being astonished by the shades of difference
which prevail amongst us, I am surprised that we think so nearly
alike. We agree on the substantial facts, and doctrines, and
institutes, and precepts of revelation, while we differ on some of
its forms and ceremonial enactments. But these trifling differences,
which do not endanger the safety, nor add to the stability of
our faith, ought not to excite jealousy and suspicion, and cause
alienation of affection, as though we were avowed enemies. No. When
this is the case we give a decisive proof that we do not possess the
spirit of the gospel; or, if we possess it, we do not display it,
which aggravates rather than extenuates our sin."
_Rev. Mr. Ingleby._--"In the last prayer our Saviour uttered, just
before he presented himself the expiatory sacrifice for human guilt,
he earnestly entreated that all his disciples, in every future age,
might be one, even as he and his Father are one; and he assigns the
reason--_That the world may know that thou hast sent me._ For some
ages, the object of that prayer was realized in the harmony which
prevailed amongst Christians whose religion was a bond of union
more strict and tender than the ties of consanguinity; and with
the appellation of brethren they associated all the sentiments of
endearment that relation implied. To see men of the most contrary
characters and habits--the learned and the rude--the most polished,
and the most uncultivated--the inhabitants of countries alienated
from each other by institutions the most repugnant, and by contests
the most violent--forgetting their ancient animosity, and blending
into one mass, at the command of a person whom they had never
seen, and who had ceased to be an inhabitant of this world, must
have been an astonishing spectacle. Such a sudden assimilation of
the most discordant materials; such love issuing from hearts the
most selfish, and giving birth to a new race and progeny, could
be ascribed to nothing but a Divine interposition; it was an
experimental proof of the commencement of that kingdom of God--that
celestial economy, by which the powers of the future world are
imparted to the present."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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