The Bishop of Manchester, in a speech delivered by him ... is reported to have said that "he could defy anyone to try to caricature the work, the character, or the person of the Lord Jesus Christ."
Print size, 14 point font
**************
EXCERPT
These pages are not critical-they do not pretend to be learned-they do not seek to explain away anything on the score of "forgeries" or "interpolations."
They are based upon the supposition that the Four Gospels are each and collectively true, and without contradiction. No attempt is made to reconcile contradictions by rejecting all that does not harmonise. The Churches do not do so-they cling to all within the two covers of the "sacred book," and of course take the responsibility.
Nothing will be here set down that Jesus did not utter; no meaning will be put upon his words that they will not legitimately bear; we have judged of him as we find him in the general actions of his life.
A devout believer will exclaim, with uplifted hands and eyes-"Oh, this is blasphemy; it is revolting to the moral sense; Christ was the Son of God, and therefore perfect. He could not be what you have represented him to be, or people long ago would have ceased to worship him. He is the one sublime character whose image fills the world, and before whom millions bow the head in reverent humility."
Just so; that is where the delusion arises. Men have been taught that they must not think-that they must not doubt-that they must not examine the grounds of their faith-they must believe, and that the sin of unbelief is everlasting perdition.
A halo of sanctity is thrown around this distorted image-there is a sacred mystery, a "holy of holies" into which common sense must not enter; and so devotees fall down at the threshold and worship, where they should stand erect in reliance on their own reason and judgment, and examine fearlessly for themselves into those doctrines on a belief in which their everlasting salvation is said to depend.
Softcover, 5½ x 8½ , 60 pages