On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Discourses which illustrate Scripture characters , or facts of the Scri pture history , following up such illustrations hy practical applications , seem to us more valuable , in a general way , than any class we have yet described . The approach to narrative attracts the attention ; the descriptions of n atural scenery , of customs , and manners , among the Orientals , which are necessarily introduced , are interesting to the curiosity and the taste ; and moral
lessons are , in this instance , as in all others , more powerfully enforced by example than by precept alone . The reasonings and exhortations of the teacher are more readily and permanently associated with a narrative than with a single verse ; and when , by the skill of the teacher , a new light is cast on some point of history , or a fresh beauty is made to invest the character selected for instruction , there is a strong probability that the discourse will rise up before the mind of the hearer whenever that part of the history
engages his attention , and that an impression once made will never be lost . Every one of our readers will probably be here reminded of strong and useful impressions received from sermons of this class , —on the history of Joseph , the deaths of Moses and Aaron , or of Eli ; on the various parts of the history of David , of Elijah , of Jonah ; on the book of Job , on the character of Daniel , and the thousand other topics of interest and instruction
which the Old Testament affords , and which yet are as nothing compared with the after creation of beauty in the "New . Hearers are under peculiar obligations to those teachers who enable them to derive new light and life from their Bible reading , and by these specific instructions , aid them in their emulation of those *« who , through faith and patience , inherit the promises . " There is but one sermon of this class in the volume before us : but it is a
beautiful specimen . It is on the " Character of Ruth , " and will , we doubt not , do more good than half a dozen essays on humble fidelity and filial duty . As the grand object of religious teaching is to make men Christians , those instructions are unquestionably of the highest rank which exhibit the mature and design , and demonstrate the value of Christianity . If faith is to be implanted and cherished , the objects of faith must be exhibited and recommended . If the gospel is to be received as glad-tidings , it must be
shewn that these tidings came from heaven . If men are to be taught to overcome the world , they must be furnished with strength from above , and instructed where to seek and how to apply the power . If the teachings of Christ are to be implicitly received , their divine authority must be established . If the sanctions of the gospel are to be regarded , its rules observed , its spirit imbibed , its consolations experienced , its efficacy secured , men must know what they believe , and why they believe it . Men may be made
moral by moral teaching alone ; but to become Christians , they must be taught Christianity . Before they can be animated to self-sacrifice , they must be convinced that the pearl is of such great price that the accumulated riches of the world are as dust in comparison . In order to give them strength to uproot every evil desire and motive , to extinguish every corrupt affection , we must shew at whose command they are to deny themselves ,
and what dependence they may place on the word of promise . Moral preaching will not , or ought not , to satisfy the wants of those within whose reaclji God has placed the * f strong meat * which may nourish them to the perfection of tjieir spiritual stature : and even if moral enforcements are sanctioned by a reference to the gospel , ai ^ d illustrated by an appeal to th £ exam ple of Christ , those sanctions and that appeal will speak out feebly to those who have never been taught the awful origin of the one , or the vasjt
Untitled Article
462 Sermons for Families .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 462, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/14/
-