The nature of the mysterious faw.ination which the ledger seems
to have for a particular English school of spiritual enthusiasts is one of those difficult problems which will hardly ever be completely solved. It must, as we suggested in a recent paper on Dean Close's apparent contempt for third-clans souls, have a very close connec- tion with that notion that salvation is a sort of bargain offered to man on almost incredibly easy terms and intended to appeal to his mercantile instincts, which appears to prevail amongst certain fervid speculators in eternal life. What, for instance, are we to say of this " Statement of Profit and Loss, comprehending Posses- sions for Time and Eternity, according to infallible Documents from the highest Court of Appeal," which has been issued,—we suppose during the heat of the London Mission zeal,—by Messrs. Shaw and Co., of Paternoster Row ? This is the statement :—
PROFIT AND L088.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," Live for this world, and you may and thou SHALT have PERHAPS have SALVATION HONOUR,Value in the light of Eternity 0 ABIDING PEACE WEALTH „ t, ETERNAL LIFE The Vile of REPUTATION 0 EVERLASTING JOY these things PRAISE OF MEN „ „ 0 ENDLESS GLORY is beyond all EARTHLY POWER., 0 -,
AN INHERITANCE ilgure, and MAN AT HIS BEST STATE„ „ 0
incorruptible, undo- cannot be ex- "Altogether Vaulty" filed, and that pass- pressed. eth not away.
Total.—A far more Exceeding Total.—" Lighter than and eternal Vanity." Weight of GLORY. And the end of these things Is DEATH.
Do the vulgar-minded people who put out these things really suppose that the best way to make divine things attractive is to suggest that the Recording Angel is a person deeply skilled in double-entry, and who looks upon earthly enjoyments something in the light of Spanish Passives, and on faith in Christ as a million per cent. guaranteed preference share ? If they do, they cannot learn too soon that to vulgarise the mind with sordid associations is the first step towards paralysing the soul.
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