the moralist, the formalist,
the worldling, and the sensualist. By Thomas Reed Christian Meditations
The enmity of the carnal mind is ever directed against the
work of Christ. The moralist, the formalist,
the worldling, and the sensualist are alike opposed to the humbling,
purifying doctrines of the cross. Holiness is offensive to the
unrenewed mind. The more spiritual any religious
exercise or book is, the more it is disliked. Give some truly
scriptural volume to a lover of the world, and how will he
receive it? After glancing his eyes over
a few of its pages, he will lay it down with a contemptuous smile. He will pity the enthusiast who
wrote it, and the enthusiast who admires it. Give him some
newly launched novel, some work replete with wit and humour,
and he will devour its contents, even though it requires the midnight
oil to finish it. Here all his heart is engaged,
all his passions are excited, Imagination adds wings to his
flight, and, soaring into the realms of fancy, into the fairyland
of unreal life, he sinks into his slumbers, regardless whether
he awake in time or in eternity.