Are we not (I am, I know, may God forgive me for it) apt to be
angry with our brethren without a cause, out of mere peevishness? Let us
beware in time. Are we not apt to say to them "Raca"--to speak cruelly,
contemptuously, fiercely of them, if they thwart us? Let us beware in
time still more. Are we not worst of all, tempted (as I too often am) to
say to them "Thou fool;" to call better men, more useful men more pure
men, more pious men than ourselves, hard and cruel names, names from
which they would shrink with horror because they cannot see Christian
truth in just exactly the same light that we do? Oh! let us beware then.
Beware lest the everlasting laws of justice and fairness between man and
man, of love and charity between man and man, which we have broken,
should some day deliver us up, as they delivered those bigoted Jews of
old to God our Judge, and He deliver our souls to His most terrible
officers, who are called envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness;
and they thrust us into that blackest of all prisons, on the gate of
which is written, Hardness of heart, and Contempt of God's Word and
commandments, and within which is the outer darkness into which if a man
falls, he cannot see the difference between right and wrong: but calls
evil good, and good evil, like his companions in the outer darkness--
namely, the devil and his angels.
Pages:
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331