Thus did he learn his need of Christ. His pupils relate with much interest
how, on the evening of one of his birth-day festivals, when they were
gathered at his house, he spoke to them of his own spiritual infirmities,
and with trembling voice confessed himself a poor sinner seeking
forgiveness through atoning blood. Theologically, he was comparatively
indifferent in regard to minor points; but he clung with the tenacity of a
martyr's faith to the great essentials of the Gospel. His religious life
was therefore at once very fervent and very catholic. Loving Christ with
all the ardor of a passion, he loved with a generous latitude of heart all
those of every name in whom he discerned Christ's image. The motto adopted
by him as best describing his own aim and method, was that of St.
Augustine: "Pectus est quod facit theologum." _It is the heart which makes
the theologian._ It was a Divine Form, for which he was ever seeking,
while he walked about amongst men, as he walked up and down the centuries
of our Christian faith, murmuring to himself: "It is the Lord."
As a writer of church history, his first great claim to gratitude is on
account of the living pulse of faith and love which beats through all his
pages.
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