Page:A Beacon to the Society of Friends.djvu/137

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SER. VIII.
THE LETTER KILLETH.
133

"The Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many." Matt. xx. 28. Mark, x. 45.

"Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men." 1 Cor. vii. 23.

"Ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Cor. vi. 20.

"Feed the church of God, which he hath

purchased with his own blood." Acts, xx. 28.

"There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." 2 Pet. ii. 1, 2.




EXTRACT IV.

The letter killeth.

"But let me tell you, my friends, as long as the professors of Christianity take the Scriptures for their rule of faith and practice, they never can know what the true cross is, nor experience salvation by it; except it be from a consideration of the ignorance they are under, the Lord should wink at it. For when they are sincere, the sincerity of the heart will plead for them. But when they come into the true Christian state, they will see that it is impossible for any written book to be the rule of faith and practice, for the letter killeth, and never yet made one true Christian. Don't you suppose now that Jesus Christ, that was the greatest teacher that ever was on earth, could have written better Scripture than all that was ever written, or can be written? He lived nearer the fountain than any ever did; but he wrote nothing—and why? Because he saw how the people hurt themselves by what was written." p. 207.