the simplest Bible terms. He
seldom talked much to his children about religion; he taught us more by
his deeds and spirit than by words; but when he did say anything to us
on the subject, it was the pure, unadulterated Word of God. The idea of
making us theologians, in the ordinary sense of the word, never entered
into his head. He wished us to think and feel and act like Christians,
and that was all; and the end of all his counsels and labors was to
furnish us unto every good word and work. If he had written a system of
divinity, he would have left out most of the things which many put into
such books, and put in many which most leave out. It would have been a
book to help people to live right and feel right, and not to dream, or
speculate, or wrangle. If he had been a preacher, he would have filled
his sermons with the living words of Moses and the Prophets, of Christ
and His Apostles, and pressed them on the consciences of his hearers
with all his might. He would often have "reasoned of righteousness,
temperance, and a judgment to come," but never troubled his hearers with
human theories of Christian doctrines. The drift and scope of his
sermons to the ungodly would have been, "Cease to do evil; learn to do
well." "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon
him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." "Repeat and be
converted, every one of you, that your sins may he blotted out." The
substance of his sermons to believers would have been, "I beseech you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service." "Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price; therefore
glorify God with your bodies and your spirits, which are His." "For ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, from
your evil way of life received by tradition from your fathers; but with
the precious blood of Christ; who gave Himself for you, that He might
redeem you from all iniquity, and purify you unto Himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works." "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to
the flesh, shall of the flesh, reap corruption; but he that soweth to
the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be
weary in well-doing; for in du