MIDDLEMARCH AND MORAL BEAUTY

"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness," says the Psalmist (29.2). Many spiritual writers have discoursed on this theme, including, curiously, Jonathan Edwards, better known for terrifying congregations with his famous sermon on "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." "The moral beauty of God ... nothing can withstand," he writes in his Religious Affections (1746). "All the spiritual beauty of Christ's human nature, consisting in his meekness, lowliness, patience, heavenliness, love to God, love to men, condescension to the mean and vile, and compassion to the miserable, etc. all is summed up in his holiness."

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