the Cross'; then, secondly, what would the intellect of Europe have become without Biblical literature; and lastly, what would the social order of Europe have become without its hierarchy.
43. You see I have connected the words 'charity' and 'labour' under the general term of 'bearing the cross.'" If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, (for charity) and take up his cross (of pain) and follow me."
The idea has been exactly reversed by modern Protestantism, which sees, in the cross, not a furca to which it is to be nailed; but a raft on which it, and all its valuable properties,[1] are to be floated into Paradise.
44. Only, therefore, in days when the Cross was received with courage, the Scripture searched with honesty, and the Pastor heard in faith, can the pure word of God, and the bright sword of the Spirit, be recognised in the heart and hand of Christianity. The effect of Biblical poetry and legend on its intellect, must be traced farther, through decadent ages, and in un fenced fields;—producing 'Paradise Lost' for us, no less than the 'Divina Commedia';—Goethe's
- ↑ Quite one of the most curious colours of modern Evangelical thought is its pleasing connection of Gospel truth with the extension of lucrative commerce! See farther the note at p. 130.
