Christianity is inconsistent with the present social condition of New York, and the other great cities of the world. We have no right to the name of Christians; we bring reproach on the name of Jesus Christ; we dishonor the God of the Bible, and are stumbling-blocks in the way of the suffering multitudes, obstructing their way to God, and their entrance into the kingdom of heaven, if we do not, with all our souls, strive to relieve their misery and want. The Bible, through and through, insists upon the redemption of the bodies of men, as well as their souls, and of the whole framework of human society. This heavenly teaching is so against the prejudices and the attainments of mankind, that it is an unmistakable evidence of the divine authority of the Scriptures that so strongly urge it upon us. (Charles A. Briggs, The Authority of Holy Scripture, 1891. Within a year of this address he was censured and excommunicated by Fundamentalists.)
