And much more can He shed upon our path supernatural
light, if He so will, and give us an insight into the meaning of
Scripture, and a hold of the sense of Antiquity, to which our own
unaided powers never could have attained.
All this is certain: He continually leads us forward in the midst of
darkness; and we live, not by bread only, but by His Word converting the
hard rock or salt sea into nourishment. The simple question is, _has_
He, in this particular case, commanded? has He promised? and how far? If
He has, and as far as He has, all is easy; if He has not, all is, we
will not say, impossible, but what is worse, undutiful or presumptuous.
Our business is to ask with St. Paul, when arrested in the midst of his
frenzy, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" This is the simple
question. He can bless our present state; He can bless our change;
_which_ is it His will to bless? If Wesleyan or Independent has come
over to us apart from this spirit, we do not much pride ourselves in our
convert. If he joins us because he thinks he has a right to judge for
himself, or because forms are of no consequence, or merely because
sectarianism has its errors and inconveniences, or because an
Established Church is an efficacious means of spreading religion, he
plainly thinks that the choice of a communion is not a more serious
matter than the choice of a neighborhood or of an insurance office.
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