Little more than a creed-',

Back to THOUGHTS FOR THE QUIET HOUR

---

Little more than a creed of sanctified selfishness

It is a poor religion—little more than a creed of 
sanctified selfishness—which regards salvation mainly 
as an escape from divine punishment, and the assured 
getting into heaven at last. 

True religion is an active, transforming principle. Salvation 
is a present triumph over the forces of evil and powers of 
temptation. It aspires after obedience to the divine will—
assimilation to the divine image and character in its truth 
and purity and love. 

Yes, that is a stinted utilitarian faith—the faith of the Koran
rather than of the Gospel—whose hopes and prospective 
blessedness are all for an eternal sensual paradise.