The World's Great Sermons, Volume 06: H. W. Beecher to Punshon
Religion
The World's Great Sermons, Volume 06: H. W. Beecher to Punshon
Sermons
Oh! that men would approach new truth in something of that spirit;
in the spirit of reverence and godly fear, which springs from a
living belief in Christ the living King, which is--as the text
tells us--the spirit in which we can serve God acceptably. Oh!
that they would serve God; waiting reverently and anxiously, as
servants standing in the presence of their Lord, for the slightest
sign or hint of His will. Then they would have grace by which they
would receive new-thought with grace; gracefully, courteously,
fairly, charitably, reverently; believing that, however strange or
startling, it may come from Him whose ways are not as our ways, nor
His thoughts as our thoughts; and that he who fights against it, may
haply be fighting against God.
True, they would receive all new thought with caution, that
conservative spirit, which is the duty of every Christian; which
is the peculiar strength of the Englishman, because it enables him
calmly and slowly to take in the new, without losing the old which
his forefathers have already won for him. So they would be cautious,
even anxious, lest in grasping too greedily at seeming improvements,
they let go some precious knowledge which they had already attained:
but they would be on the lookout for improvements; because they
would consider themselves, and their generation, as under a divine
education. They would prove all things fairly and boldly, and
hold fast that which is good; all that which is beautiful, noble,
improving and elevating to human souls, minds, or bodies; all that
increases the amount of justice, mercy, knowledge, refinement; all
that lessens the amount of vice, cruelty, ignorance, barbarism.
That at least must come from Christ. That at least must be the
inspiration of the Spirit of God: unless the Pharisees were right
after all when they said, that evil spirits could be cast out by the
prince of the devils.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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