Wilberforce on Moralism

William Wilberforce writes against moralism and good manners in A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Higher and Middle Classes in This Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity:

  Suppose, however, their standard of these amiable qualities of benevolence and usefulness were greater than what we have depicted. Could they still be a substitute for the supreme love and fear of God, and the dominant desire to promote His glory?
  To allow them this plea would be like allowing men to abolish the first commandment in preference to obeying the second commandment.

a great response to the inclusivists, who would insist upon the good moral character of many who do not claim the name of Christ, and would love to believe that this is grounds for their salvation. how i wish they were right, but this quote (and the Bible) mean we have to say no.


they printed only 500 copies of this book in 1797. within the year they were up to the 5th edition and 7,500 copies. besides possibly the record holder for the longest title of any book ever written, it (like many old books) is just as potent today as ever.

blog-wrap: the gospel and gays

some interesting posts around

particularly liked two:
firstly, from america's young theologianthis on sharing the gospel when not in relationship.

i've chatted to different people about this over the years who have been quite 'anti' this, the normal reason being wanting to not impose 'your thing' on others. the way i responded was the imperative we have in the gospel to 1/ share the gospel even to the ends of the earth, 2/ wanting to snatch people from the fire, 3/ with the people of God being not limited to any particular nation, or more positively being expanded to all nations, just as the prophets of old went and preached repentance to the lost sheep of israel, so we should preach repentance to all (actually i just thought of this one).

have you thought about this/come across this/share this view?


secondly, then, from faith and theology, this on the moral superiority of gays (as a group) (despite the impression you would get from the comments!).

it reminded me of a list of the most influential people in history, and coming in i think at number 3 was Jesus of Nazareth. now we would want to say, 'what?', but the justification is the charge levelled at the hypocrisy, the nominalism, the inconsistancy of those proclaiming to be governed by 'their own lord and master, Jesus Christ'. the discussion of Hauerwas' and Rowan Williams' thoughts is quite engaging indeed.