[M2.187L]                                                             [M2.187]								187
                                                                      
commend to thee the diseased - beseeching thee to heal them           		being, however the most important of all somethings;  and
then he pronounced abandon - ab-bandon, great - creat -               		sitting patiently under a puece of dead Talk which would
or chreat - ch hard  so gracious - Chracious - and just -             		not be endured for one instant if it regarded any real
chust etc.  Great formality in his division of "discourse"            		business of life and is only endured because Christianity
(on "all powwer is given unto me in heaven and in earth")             		is not considered business at all;  I wonder how St Paul
"having adopted the plan of discourse, &c., &c dividing               		would have liked being shown up into a box and told that
it into the examination of Whence Christ’s Power was -                		he might talk about Christ till lunch time - if he would do
and Where Christ’s Power was. while the Episcopalian                  		it decorously.  I wish we had the old synagogue habit
in a quieter and more decorous but still more trashy and              		again - men and brethren - if ye have any word of
drivelling fashion spoiled Deuteronomy "he led him about -            		exhortation for the people, say on - on until midnight if
he instructed him - he kept him as the apple of his eye"              		you will - but if you have not - (in the name of Time and
by proving with prolix languor that God did lead Israel               		Eternity both) go about your business where you have it
about and did instruct him - and did keep him as the apple            		if such creatures as you have business anywhere.
of his eye;  and that he did the same, with all Christians
having made with them a better covenant by "the
cashing of regeneration," etc and saying unto them,
"wash and be clean"
It was curious enough , as an accidental - very 
trivial - but very striking mark of the tendency of the
school that in pointing out God’s teaching by types
in the wilderness he took the pains to explain the rod
that budded as typical of the office of the priesthood
but passed over the brazen serpent, without interpreting
it at all or naming the name of Christ.
Really I believe the only good of such sermons is the
self denial exercised in hearing them:  How wrong
our whole system is - when people come together at ringing
of a bell, to hear a man talk for an hour in set phrases
about something on which he has nothing to say.  That
something

[Version 0.05: May 2008]