John 6:67-69 Then said Jesus to the twelve, Will you also go away?… f unbelief: — It is not by limiting the intellectual side of our religion, but by exalting its spiritual side, that we can be safe and keep others safe. It is not by striving to repress intellectual activity, nor by jealously warning it off the precincts of revealed religion; it is by lifting up before men's eyes the Cross of Christ, and teaching them personal affiance in Him, that we shall keep uninjured the great deposit of the truth. And this is the only talisman: without it all speculations upon the mystery of life and of God are full of danger; for though such peril is preeminently present in studies and inquiries which tend to shake received belief as to things sacred, it is not with them only that it is present. It is almost as easy for controversial orthodoxy, as for adverse speculative criticism, to land the spirit in the valley of the shadow of death. Nothing can more endanger the true life of the spirit than the cold charnel-house breath of a mere reasoning, unloving, uncharitable orthodoxy. Alas, the pathway of the Church, through times of great controversy, is marked by the mouldering corpses of such combatants for truth. This, and this only, can keep us safe amongst our own perils — to have known ourselves the love bred within the soul by a true belief in Christ's atoning blood, in Christ's perpetual presence, in Christ's abiding love. And of this we may be sure no speculative difficulties can endanger one soul, which has been taught by experimental knowledge to say in times of darkness, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." (Bp. S. Wilberforce.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?WEB: Jesus said therefore to the twelve, "You don't also want to go away, do you?" |
    |