On the contrary, the fulness of time,
1863 years ago, was the very wickedest, most faithless, most unjust
time that the world had ever seen--a time of which St. Paul said
that there were none who did good, no, not one; that adders' poison
was under all lips, and all feet swift to shed blood, and that the
way of peace none had known.
Better, far better, to live in times like these, in which there is
(among Christian nations at least) no great darkness, even though
there be no great light; times in which the knowledge of the true
God and his Son Jesus Christ is spreading, slowly but surely, over
all the earth; and with it, the fruit of the knowledge of the Lord,
justice, mercy, charity, fellow-feeling, and a desire to teach and
improve all mankind, such as the world never saw before. These are
the fruits of the Scriptures of the Lord, and the Sacraments of the
Lord, and of the Holy Spirit of the Lord; and if that Holy Spirit be
in our hearts, and we yield our hearts to his gracious motions and
obey them, then we are really nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ than
if we saw him, as Adam did, with our bodily eyes, and yet rebelled
against him, as Adam did, in our hearts, and disobeyed him in our
actions.
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