have been disturbed by an
apparition. It is vain to put these apprehensions into logical form, and
argue them down: the slowness of speech of Moses was surely refuted by
the presence of God, Who makes the mouth and inspires the utterance; but
such fears lie deeper than the reasons they assign, and when argument
fails, will yet stubbornly repeat their cry: "Send, I pray Thee, by the
hand of him whom Thou wilt send." Now this shrinking, which is not
craven, is dispelled by nothing so effectually as by the touch of a
human hand. It is like the voice of a friend to one beset by ghostly
terrors: he does not expect his comrade to exorcise a spirit, and yet
his apprehensions are dispelled. Thus Moses cannot summon up courage
from the protection of God, but when assured of the companionship of his
brother he will not only venture to return to Egypt, but will bring with
him his wife and children. Thus, also, He Who knew what was in men's
hearts sent forth His missionaries, both the Twelve and the Seventy (as
we have yet to learn the true economy of sending ours), "by two and two"
(Mark vi. 7; Luke x. 1).

This is the principle which underlies the institution of the Church of
Christ, and the conception that Christians are brothers, among whom the
strong must help the weak. Such help from their fellow-mortals would
perhaps decide the choice of many hesitating souls, upon the verge of
the divine life, recoiling from its unknown and dread experiences, but
longing for a sympathising comrade. Alas for the unkindly and
unsympathetic religion of men whose faith has never warmed a human
heart, and of congregations in which emotion is a misdemeanour!

There is no stronger force, among all that make for the abuses of
priestcraft, than this same yearning for human help becomes when robbed
of its proper nourishment, which is the communion of saints, and the
pastoral care of souls. Has it no further nourishment than these? This
instinctive craving for a Brother to help as well as a Father to direct
and govern,--this social instinct, which banished the fears of Moses and
made him set out for Egypt long before Aaron came in sight, content when
assured of Aaron's co-operation,--is there nothing in God Himself to
respond to it? He Who is not ashamed to call us brethren has profoundly
modified the Church's conception of Jehovah, the Eternal, Absolute and
Unconditioned. It is because He can be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, that we