other exponent of
the Divine will, whether or not he refer his claim to St Peter; whether
or not he appeal to human wisdom throned in the papal chair or attested
by the unanimity of Councils; whether or not he entitle himself the
Vicar of Christ on earth.

It is not in the power of man to restrict the influences of the Gospel.
What they have been, they will be; what they have done, they will
continue to effect. They will bless the spirit in its wanderings and in
its retirements, making the universe the record of its history, and its
inmost recesses the dwelling-place of Deity. They will restrain the
excesses, chasten the emotions, and ennoble the sympathies of humanity.
They will bless life, and hallow the grave. They will develope
themselves perpetually as ages roll on, till it shall be their lowest
office to still the sighings and subdue the conflicts of the spirit;
while their highest shall still be, so to direct its pursuit of ultimate
objects, so to invigorate its natural and moral powers, as to evidence
to itself its ever-growing resemblance to its Maker. It is for man to
beware lest he exclude himself from these influences or impair their
operation by mistaking superstition for religion, and by supinely
relinquishing the intellectual and spiritual liberty with which Christ
has made him free.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Essential Faith of the Universal
Church, by Harriet Martineau

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSENTIAL FAITH--UNIVERSAL CHURCH ***

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