"I know that in early ages men did form degraded notions of the Almighty, painting Him like themselves, extreme only in all their passions : they thought He could he as lightly irritated as themselves, and that they could appease His anger by wretched offerings of innocent animals. From such a feeling as this to the sense of the value of a holy and spotless life and death — from the sacrifice of an animal to that of a saint — is a step forward out of superstition quite immeasurable. That between the earnest conviction of partial sight, and the strong metaphors of vehement minds, the sacrificial language should have been transferred onwards from one to the other, seems natural to me; perhaps inevitable. On the other hand, through all history we find the bitter fact that mankind can only be persuaded to accept the best gifts which Heaven sends them, in persecuting and destroying those who are charged to be their bearers."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Historians from EnglandNovelists from EnglandExistentialistsUniversity of Oxford facultyEditors from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Letter X
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Anthony_Froude
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
James Anthony Froude
James Anthony Froude (April 23 1818 – October 20 1894) was a controversial English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of Fraser's Magazine.
116 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by James Anthony Froude →
Related Quotes
"Instead of man to love, we have a man-god to worship. From being the example of devotion, he is its object; the relig…"
"I am convinced with Plato, with St. Paul, with St. Augustine, with Calvin, and with Leibnitz, that this universe, and…"
"I scarcely know a professional man I can like, and certainly not one who has been what the world calls successful, th…"
"I do not dishonour the Bible. I honour it above all books. The New Testament alone, since I have been able to read it…"
"I know that even in this faithless age there are many persons to whom the Bible is what it was to Calvin — its smalle…"
"I have nothing but myself to write about, no facts, no theories, no opinions, no adventures, no sentiments, nothing b…"
"Man is a real man, and can live and act manfully in this world, not in the strength of opinions, not according to wha…"
"You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one."
"I cannot think the disputes and jealousies of Heaven are tried and settled by the swords of earth."
"The moral of human life is never simple, and the moral of a story which aims only at being true to human life cannot …"