The Christian Life: Its Course, Its Hindrances, and Its Helps — Inside the Classic

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In Category - Sermons Devotion

Authors: Arnold, Thomas, 1795-1842 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2004 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Christian life; Sermons, English Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

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Words 132,539

Reading time 577 min

Text sections 13

The source record for The Christian Life: Its Course, Its Hindrances, and Its Helps — Inside the Classic measures this digital text at 132,539 words, 9 hr 37 min estimated reading time, and 13 detected text sections.

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Source: Project Gutenberg record #13151

Thomas Arnold's 1856 sermons trace the Christian life as a course from spiritual childhood to maturity, confronting hindrances like idolatry and false worship, with close attention to biblical translation and the dangers of mistaking means for ends.

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le was written; he was to meet Paul, in the winter, at Nicopolis.]

[Footnote 8: Only elders are spoken of as governing the church of Corinth. It is impossible to understand clearly the nature of the contest, and of the party against which Clement's Epistle is directed. Where he wishes the heads of that party to say, [Greek: ei di eme stasis kai eris kai schismata, ekchoro, apeimi, ou ean, boulaesthe, kai poio, ta, prostassomena upo tou plaethous], c. 54, it would seem as if they had been endeavouring to exercise a despotic authority over the church, in defiance of the general feeling, as well as of the existing government, like those earlier persons at Corinth, whom St. Paul describes, in his second Epistle, xi. 20; and like Diotrephes, mentioned by St. John, 3 Epist. 9, 10. But in a society where all power must have depended on the consent of those subject to it, how could any one exercise a tyranny against the will of the majority, as well as against the authority of the Apostles? And [Greek: ta prostassomena upo tou plaethous] must signify, I think, "the bidding of the society at large." Compare for this use of [Greek: plaethos], Ignatius, Smyrna. 8; Trallian. 1, 8. A conjecture might be offered as to the solution of this difficulty, but it would lead mo into too long a discussion.]

[Footnote 9: Insomuch that he wished all marriages to be solemnized with the consent and approbation of the bishop, [Greek: meta gnomaes tou episkopou], that they might be "according to God, and not according to passion;" [Greek: kapa Theon kai mae kat epithomian].--_Ad. Polycarp_. 5.]

On two points, however,--points not of detail, but of principle,--the Scripture does seem to speak decisively. 1st. The whole body of the church was to take an active share in its concerns; the various faculties of its various members were to perform their several parts: it was to be a living society, not an inert mass of mere hearers and subjects, who were to be authoritatively taught and absolutely ruled by one small portion of its members. It is quite consistent with this, that, at particular times, the church should centre all its own power and activity in the persons of its rulers. In the field, the imperium of the Roman consul was unlimited; and even within the city walls, the senate's commission in times of imminent danger, released him from all restraints of law; the whole power of the state was, for the moment, his, and his only. Such temporary despotisms are sometimes not expedient merely, but necessary: without them society would perish. I do not, therefore, regard Ignatius's epistles as really contradictory to the idea of the church conveyed to us in the twelfth chapter of St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians: I believe that the dictatorship, so to speak, which Ignatius claims for the bishop in each church, was required by the circumstances of the case; but to change the temporary into the perpetual dictatorship, was to subvert the Roman constitution; and to make Ignatius's language the rule, instead of the exception, is no less to subvert the Christian church. Wherever the language of Ignatius is repeated with justice, there the church must either be in its infancy, or in its dotage, or in some extraordinary crisis of danger; wherever it is repeated, as of universal application, it destroys, as in fact it has destroyed, the very life of Christ's institution.

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Thomas Arnold opens his collection of sermons with an epigraph from Coleridge that sets a polemical tone: the church, Arnold agrees in principle, is a living power by Christ's institution, but he breaks sharply when the church is equated with the clergy alone. This concern—that institutional forms can become idols—runs through the lectures. The first excerpt, from a later lecture, warns that any object, even a religious one, placed in Christ's stead becomes an idol that magnifies our natural biases toward ruin. Arnold's voice is direct, pastoral, and insistent on the sole sufficiency of Christ.

A Course from Childhood to Maturity

The table of contents reveals a deliberate progression. Lectures II and III both take 1 Corinthians 13:11—'When I was a child, I spake as a child… but when I became a man, I put away childish things'—as their text. Arnold uses this verse to frame the Christian life as a developmental journey. Later lectures move through knowledge of God's will (Colossians 1:9), the hidden life with Christ (Colossians 3:3), and the conflict between flesh and Spirit (Galatians 5:16-17). The sequence suggests that spiritual growth is not automatic but requires active putting away of childish understandings. Arnold's structure implies that each sermon builds on the previous, guiding the reader from initial conversion to mature discipleship.

The Peril of Idolatry in Religious Practice

In the longest excerpt, Arnold argues that fanaticism, superstition, unbelief, and coldness of heart all stem from idolatry—'putting some other object… in the place of Christ himself.' He insists that even excellent moral or religious aims become idols if they usurp Christ's centrality. The passage is notable for its balanced rhetoric: Arnold lists opposing tendencies (indolent vs. active, enthusiastic vs. cold) and claims that worship of Christ prunes and chastens each without destroying it. The garden metaphor—'none overgrowing the garden, but all filling it with their several fruits'—illustrates his ideal of a harmonious Christian character. This section warns readers against mistaking means for ends, a theme that recurs throughout the sermons.

A Sharp Eye on Biblical Translation

Lecture XXI begins with a striking textual note: Arnold calls a mistranslation in Hebrews 3:16 'one of the most serious instances of mistranslation that are to be met with in the whole New Testament.' He corrects the King James Version's 'For some, when they had heard, did provoke' to 'For who were they who, when they had heard, did provoke? nay, were they not all who came out of Egypt through Moses?' This correction, he argues, lessens the force of the warning by making the disobedience seem partial rather than universal. Arnold's willingness to challenge a revered translation shows his commitment to precise exegesis and his belief that doctrinal accuracy matters for practical holiness. Readers should note that he does not hesitate to critique even established readings when they obscure the text's meaning.

The Rhythm of Warning and Comfort

Arnold's sermons alternate between stern admonition and pastoral reassurance. In the idolatry passage, he asks, 'And who shall dare to make sad the heart of him who is thus drinking daily of the well-spring of righteousness, by telling him that he is not yet saved?' The rhetorical question defends the believer's assurance against those who would add extra conditions. Yet the collection also includes lectures on watching and praying (Luke 21:36) and on the danger of calling upon God too late (Proverbs 1:28). This tension—between the security of those who worship Christ alone and the urgency of perseverance—gives the sermons their driving energy. Arnold does not resolve it neatly; instead, he holds both truths together, pressing readers to examine their own hearts.

Because the excerpts come from the beginning and middle of the volume, readers should expect the later sermons to develop these themes further, possibly with more attention to specific hindrances and helps. Arnold's method is to take a single verse, unfold its meaning with careful attention to the original context, and then apply it to the conscience. The sermons reward slow reading; his sentences are long and argumentative, often building to a climactic contrast. Pay attention to his use of rhetorical questions and his habit of naming opposing errors before steering a middle course.

Arnold’s sermons warn how easily the means of devotion can obscure its end—how we cling to the lantern and forget the light. In quieter hours, I’ve found that same concern softened into companionship within Our Master: Thoughts for Salvationists about Their Lord — Themes and Context, where the old urgency settles into a gentle, familiar gaze upon the face of Christ. Two books, one long sigh.