’At the Reformation in the sixteenth century He called on our forefathers to repent—­that is, to change their minds—­concerning opinions which had been undoubted for more than a thousand years.  Why should He not be calling on us at this time likewise?  And if any answer, that the Reformation was only a return to the primitive faith of the Apostles—­Why should not this shaking of the hearts and minds of men issue in a still further return, in a further correction of errors, a further sweeping away of additions, which are not integral to the Christian creeds, but which were left behind, through natural and necessary human frailty, by our great Reformers?  Wise they were,—­good and great,—­as giants on the earth, while we are but as dwarfs; but, as the hackneyed proverb tells us, the dwarf on the giant’s shoulders may see further than the giant himself.’

Ah! that men would approach new truth in that spirit; in the spirit of godly fear, which is inspired by the thought that we are in the kingdom of God, and that the King thereof is Christ, both God and man, once crucified for us, now living for us for ever!  Ah! that they would thus serve God, waiting, as servants before a lord, for the slightest sign which might intimate his will!  Then they would look at new truths with caution; in that truly conservative spirit which is the duty of all Christians, and the especial strength of the Englishman.  With caution,—­lest in grasping eagerly after what is new, we throw away truth which we have already:  but with awe and reverence; for Christ may have sent the new truth; and he who fights against it, may haply be found fighting against God.  And so would they indeed obey the Apostolic injunction—­Prove all things, hold fast that which is good,—­that which is pure, fair, noble, tending to the elevation of men; to the improvement of knowledge, justice, mercy, well-being; to the extermination of ignorance, cruelty, and vice.  That, at least, must come from Christ, unless the Pharisees were right when they said that evil spirits could be cast out by Beelzebub, prince of the devils.

How much more Christian, reverent, faithful, as well as more prudent, rational, and philosophical, would such a temper be than that which condemns all changes a priori, at the first hearing, or rather, too often, without any hearing at all, in rage and terror, like that of the animal who at the same moment barks at, and runs away from, every unknown object.

At least that temper of mind will give us calm; faith, patience, hope, charity, though the heavens and the earth are shaken around us.  For we have received a kingdom which cannot be moved, and in the King thereof we have the most perfect trust:  for us He stooped to earth, was born, and died on the cross; and can we not trust Him?  Let Him do what He will; let Him teach us what He will; let Him lead us whither He will.  Wherever He leads, we shall find pasture.  Wherever He leads, must be the way of truth, and