Sermons Preached at Brighton - Third Series by Frederick W. Robertson
page 74 of 308 (24%)
page 74 of 308 (24%)
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law-righteousness: to dread God, not to love and trust Him, was their
conception of religion. And this, indeed, is the _ordinary_ conception of religion--the ordinary meaning implied to most minds by the word religion. The word religion means, by derivation, restriction or obligation--obligation to do, obligation to avoid. And this is the negative system of the Pharisees--scrupulous avoidance of evil, rather than positive and free pursuit of excellence. Such a system never produced anything but barren denial. "_This_ is wrong;" "_that_ is heresy;" "_that_ is dangerous." There was another class of men who denied human power of absolution. They were called Scribes or writers--pedants, men of ponderous learning and accurate definitions; from being mere transcribers of the law, they had risen to be its expounders. They could define the exact number of yards that might be travelled on the Sabbath-day without infringement of the law; they could decide, according to the most approved theology, the respective importance of each duty; they would tell you, authoritatively, which was the _great_ commandment of the law. The Scribe is a man who turns religion into etiquette: his idea of God is that of a monarch, transgression against whom is an offence against statute law, and he the Scribe, is there to explain the prescribed conditions upon which the offence may be expiated; he has no idea of admission to the sovereign's presence, except by compliance with certain formalities which the Scribe is commissioned to declare. There are therefore Scribes in all ages--Romish Scribes, who distinguish between venial and mortal sin, and apportion to each its appointed penance and absolution. There are Protestant Scribes, who have no idea of God but as an incensed judge, and prescribe certain methods of appeasing him--a certain price--in consideration of which |
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