The World's Great Sermons, Volume 10: Drummond to Jowett, and General Index
Religion
The World's Great Sermons, Volume 10: Drummond to Jowett, and General Index
Sermons
Liberal Christianity, separating itself from the dogmatism which would
make Christianity a book religion, worshiping a literary idol rather
than loving a human revelation of the divine, knows it is not an
ignorant lot of men and women who have received most from the Bible
and spoken most gratefully of its message. When we think of sending
the Bible to barbarism, with the hope of creating in its stead
civilization, we can look into the face of John Selden, one of the
most illustrious of English lawyers, when he says: "I have surveyed
most of the learning that is among the sons of men, yet at this moment
I can recall nothing in them on which to rest my soul, save one from
the sacred Scriptures, which rises much on my mind. It is this: 'The
grace of God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared unto all men,
teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for
that blest hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our
Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem
us unto himself, a peculiar people zealous of good works.'" Liberal
religion must include Selden. We will not be deterred from giving the
Bible to heathenism of any kind when we remember that Sir William
Jones has left these words: "The Scriptures contain more true
sublimity, more exquisite beauty, and finer strains of poetry and
eloquence than could be collected from all other books that were ever
composed in any age or in any idiom." Liberal religion must be as
broad as Sir William Jones.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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