Book Description

Excerpt from Discourses, Various Subjects The great end of preaching is to reform the life - to reconcile men to duty and to God. In order to accomplish this the most effectually, it is granted that men should have correct views of the doctrines of Christianity - that they should understand the true motives and objects of religion. But when the preacher has presented his best ideas of these - when he has thoroughly convinced the reason; he has only just entered upon his work; he has only removed the barriers to its successful issue. In that great field the human heart, lies his chief labor. The circumstances of the denomination of Christians with which the author is connected, have required, and in many places still do require, a detailed and frequent exhibition of their views of the doctrines of our religion. Hence its preachers have very generally occupied an antagonist attitude, and most of its publications present a controversial tone. This, we repeat, circumstances have and still do require. But if we have not neglected, we cannot too zealously act upon the truth stated above - that the heart must be cultivated as well as the intellect - that practical religion should be aimed at as the true life and conservation of the members of our communion - of all sects - of the world. The great principle to be propagated and established in the souls of all men, is not this or that particular "ism," but the spirit of Christ. Without this, no denomination can be right - no society can flourish - no soul can truly live. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.