'These janglings and wranglings,' said he, 'are but on the surface, and
spring from the infinite variety of the human mind, which will ever
adapt a creed to suit its own turn of thought. It is the solid core
that underlies every Christian creed which is of importance. Could you
but live among the Romans or the Greeks, in the days before this new
doctrine was preached, you would then know the change that it has
wrought in the world. How this or that text should be construed is a
matter of no moment, however warm men may get over it. What is of the
very greatest moment is, that every man should have a good and solid
reason for living a simple, cleanly life. This the Christian creed has
given us.'
'I would not have you be virtuous out of fear,' he said upon another
occasion. 'The experience of a long life has taught me, however, that
sin is always punished in this world, whatever may come in the next.
There is always some penalty in health, in comfort, or in peace of mind
to be paid for every wrong. It is with nations as it is with
individuals. A book of history is a book of sermons. See how the
luxurious Babylonians were destroyed by the frugal Persians, and how
these same Persians when they learned the vices of prosperity were put
to the sword by the Greeks.
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