Transcribed from the 1855 John Robertson edition by DavidPrice.
A VOICE FROM THE FIRE:
A Sermon
OCCASIONEDBY THE
PUBLIC BURNING OF THE BIBLE ATKINGSTOWN,
BY THEREDEMPTORIST FATHERS,
ON THE5th OFNOVEMBER, 1855.
PREACHEDBY
THE REV. ROBERT WALLACE.
DUBLIN:
JOHN ROBERTSON, 3 GRAFTON-STREET.
1855.
p. 2DUBLIN:
PRINTED BY WHITE, BROTHERS,
45 Fleet-street.
p. 3ASERMON.
“And the Lord spake unto you out of themidst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw nosimilitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto youhis covenant which he commanded you to perform, even tencommandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes andjudgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go overto possess it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves,for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spakeunto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire, lest ye corruptyourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of anyfigure, the likeness of male or female.”—Deut. iv. 12–17, the passage on theouter page of the fragment taken out of the Fire, andgiven to the Preacher upon the spot.
“God who at sundry times andin divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by theprophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whomhe hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom also he madethe worlds. Therefore we ought to give the more earnestheed to the things which we have heard. For if they escapednot who refused him who spake on earth, much more shall not weescape if we turn away from him that speaketh fromheaven.”
p. 4Such arethe solemn sanctions under which God has entrusted us with theBook of Life; nor can these sanctions be considered too weightyby any who rightly appreciate that gift. Next to the giftof God’s incarnate Son and of his Blessed Spirit, we rankthe Book divine. We are thankful for the Church and itsordinances and means, and if we may distinguish between theChurch and its ministers, we are thankful for them too; but wevalue the Sacred Volume above all institutions, however sacred,and above all men of whatever character. It is not ourintention at this time to elaborate arguments for the necessityof a divine revelation; suffice to say, that without one we couldhave no certainty in matters of faith, and no authorised standardin matters of morality. That “the world by wisdomknew not God” is proved by the history of all nations,ancient and modern. The classic times of Greece and Romewere as destitute of correct knowledge of the true God as werethe times most distant and barbaric, while the highest culture ofarts and science did nothing whatever for pure morality; God,therefore, for his own glory and man’s good, condescendedto speak from heaven, and give us a revelation of his will. It was necessary that this