[35]. I must admit that a more serious difficulty is presented to Sponsors by the interrogative form of the Creed in the Baptismal service, to which they are expected to reply in the affirmative: “Dost thou believe in the Resurrection of the flesh?” But I can hardly think that many clergymen would wish to reject an otherwise eligible Sponsor who confided to them that he could only accept “flesh” in the sense of “body,” and that too in the Pauline sense of “spiritual body.”
[36]. Has not some confusion of thought arisen from a habit of confusing “just” with “severe”? I believe some men would feel more reverently towards God, if they would speak, not of His “justice,” but of His “fairness.”
[37]. “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”
[38]. Rom. i. 17.
[39]. For the apparent exception of St. Paul, see above, p. [244].
[40]. You should look at a most interesting and instructive article by Dr. Martineau in the Christian Reformer (vol. i. p. 78), in which he points out that, in a certain sense, the faith professed by Trinitarians “in the Son, is so far from being an idolatry, that it is identical, under change of name, with the Unitarian worship of Him who dwelt in Christ. He who is the Son in one creed is the Father in the other; and the two are agreed, not indeed by any means throughout, but in that which constitutes the pith and kernel of both faiths.”
[41]. Some might prefer “harmonize with experience or with fact.” But “harmony with fact” can never be proved: you can only prove harmony with your experience, or with the general experience, of the fact; or with experience of what others say about the fact.
- Transcriber’s Notes:
- Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
- Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book.
- Footnotes have been collected at the end of the text, and are linked for ease of reference.