Guided By His Wisdom, Strong In His

The Very Act Of Faith By Which We Receive Christ Is An Act Of The Utter Renunciation Of Self, And All Its Works, As A Ground Of Salvation. It Is Really A Denial Of Self, And A Grounding Of Its Arms In The Last Citadel Into Which It Can Be Driven, And Is, In Its Principle, Inclusive Of Every Subsequent Act Of Self-denial By Which Sin Is Forsaken Or Overcome.

Man Can Have Strength Of Character Only As He Is Capable Of Controlling His Faculties; Of Choosing A Rational End; And, In Its Pursuit, Of Holding Fast To His Integrity Against Al! The Might Of External Nature.

The Patriarchal, The Jewish, And The Christian Dispensations, Are Evidently But The Unfolding Of One General Plan. In The First We See The Folded Bud; In The Second The Expanded Leaf; In The Third The Blossom And The Fruit. And Now, How Sublime The Idea Of A Religion Thus Commencing In The Earliest Dawn Of Time; Holding On Its Way Through All The Revolutions Of Kingdoms And The Vicissitudes Of The Race; Receiving New Forms, But Always Identical In Spirit; And, Finally, Expanding And Embracing In One Great Brotherhood The Whole Family Of Man! Who Can Doubt That Such A Religion Was From God?

Let The Church Come To God In The Strength Of A Perfect Weakness, In The Power Of A Felt Helplessness And A Child-like Confidence, And Then, Either She Has No Strength, And Has No Right To Be, Or She Has A Strength That Is Infinite. Then And Thus, Will She Stretch Out The Rod Over The Seas Of Difficulty That Lie Before Her, And The Waters Shall Divide, And She Shall Pass Through, And Sing The Song Of Deliverance.

Whatever Capacities There May Be For Enjoyment Or For Suffering In This Strange Being Of Ours, And God Only Knows What They Are, They Will Be Drawn Out Wholly In Accordance With Character.