Men crave a general rule for their guidance at all times, and under all circumstances; whereas life is a constant call upon us to consider how far one general rule, in the particular case before us, is modified by another, or where one rule should be applied, and where another.  To separate humility from idolatry, conscience from presumption, is often an arduous task:  to different persons there is a different besetting danger; so it is under different circumstances, and at different times.  Every day does the seaman, on a voyage, take his observations, to know whereabouts he is; he compares his position with his charts; he considers the direction of the wind, and the set of the current, or tide; and from all these together, he judges on which side his danger lies, on what course he should steer, or how much sail he may venture to carry.  This is an image of our own condition:  we cannot have a general rule to tell us where we should follow others, and where we must differ from them; to say what is modesty, and what is indolence; what is a proper deference to others, and what is a trusting in man so far, that it becomes a want of trust in God.  Only, we are sure that these are points which we must decide for ourselves; the human will must be free, so far as other men are concerned.  If we say, that we will implicitly trust others, then there is our decision, which no one could have made for us, and which is our own choice as to the principle of our lives; for which choice, we each of us, and no one else in all the world, must answer at the judgment-seat of God.  Only, in that word there is our comfort, that, for our conduct in so doubtful a voyage as that of life, amidst so many conflicting opinions, each courting our adherence to it,—­amidst such a variety of circumstances without, and of feelings within, and on which, notwithstanding, our condition for all eternity must depend,—­we shall be judged, not by erring man, not by our own fallible conscience, but by the all-wise, and all-righteous God.  With him, after all, even in the very courts of his holy Church, we yet, in one sense, must each of us live alone.  On his gracious aid, given to our own individual souls, and determining our own individual wills, depends the character of our life here and for ever.  Trusting to him, praying to him, we shall then make use of all the means that his goodness has provided for us; we shall ask counsel of friends; we shall listen to teachers; we shall delight to be in the company of God’s people, of one mind, and of one voice, with the good and wise of every generation; we shall be afraid of leaning too much to our own understanding, knowing how it is encompassed with error; but knowing that other men are encompassed with error also, and that we, and not they, must answer for our choice before Christ’s judgment, we must, in the last resort, if our conscience and sense of truth cannot be persuaded that other men speak according to God’s will,—­we must follow our own inward convictions, though all the world were to follow the contrary.