"
Next, I beg you to remember that all, or almost all, good manners which
we have among us--courtesies, refinements, self-restraint, and mutual
respect--all which raises us, socially and morally, above our forefathers
of fifteen hundred years ago--deep-hearted men, valiant and noble, but
coarse, and arrogant, and quarrelsome--all that, or almost all, we owe to
Christ, to the influence of His example, and to that Bible which
testifies of Him. Yes, the Bible has been for Christendom, in the
cottage as much as in the palace, the school of manners; and the saying
that he who becomes a true Christian becomes a true gentleman, is no
rhetorical boast, but a solid historic fact.
Now imagine Christ to reappear on earth, with that perfect outward beauty
of character--with what Greeks and Romans, and our own ancestors, would
have called those perfect manners--which, if we are to believe the
Gospels, He shewed in Judea of old, which won then so many hearts,
especially of the common people, sounder judges often of true nobility
than many who fancy themselves their betters.
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