To be near unto God - pagina 155

extreme was reached in the effort to the Christian spirit in acts of the will. Not the hearer, but the doer of the law shall be holy. Not every one that sayeth, Lord, Lord, but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven shall be saved. If any one doeth His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God (John 7:17). In brief, in behalf of this new effort, many clear and strong utterances of Holy Scripture could be cited. Thus a tendanother realize

ency found an open door in every direction, which could boast of its meritorious exhibition of Christian works, but with this drawback always, that it under-estimated both the confessional statements of the church and mysticism. The well-known fact that in the Christian stmggle of the 19th century English Christians stood in the front ranks, was a powerful aid in this direction. The period of concise confessional statements was dominated by Switzerland, France and the Netherlands. The emotional period had been brought into prominence by German and French sentimentalists. But with the 19th century England appeared in the foreground. England with its matter-of-fact system, its commercial spirit and cool determination of will. From England the thirst after deeds crossed over to the continent of Europe, and what this tendency-ofwill accomplished in the interests of philanthropy and missions can never be fully appreciated. It gave birth to a new life and encouraged the desire to exercise power. It simultaneously put to shame the barren and meagre results of intellectual orthodoxy, and the weak and sickly fruit of sentimental mysticism. It inspired a willing-

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen