Mine is not a
nature that can admit of compromise; and at considerable sacrifice of
worldly prospects I transferred my allegiance, and was instantly
rewarded by a perfect serenity of conviction which has never faltered.
"I had a friend with whom I had often discussed the matter, who was much
of my way of thinking. But though I showed him the illogical nature of
his position, he hung back--whether from material motives or from mere
emotional associations I will not now stop to inquire. But I could not
palter with the truth. I expostulated with him, and pointed out to him
in the sternest terms the eternal distinctions involved. I broke off all
relations with him ultimately. And after a life spent in the most
solemn and candid denunciation of the fluidity of religious belief,
which is the curse of our age, though it involved me in many of the
heart-rending suspensions of human intercourse with my nearest and
dearest so plainly indicated in the Gospel, I passed at length, in
complete tranquillity, to my final rest. The first duty of the sincere
believer is inflexible intolerance. If a man will not recognise the
truth when it is plainly presented to him, he must accept the eternal
consequences of his act--separation from God, and absorption in guilty
and awestruck regret, which admits of no repentance.
Pages:
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192