eformers? Great they were, and good: giants on the earth,
while we are but as dwarfs beside them. But, as the hackneyed proverb
says, the dwarf on the giant's shoulders may see further than the giant
himself: and so may we.

Oh! that men would approach new truth in something of that spirit; in the
spirit of reverence and Godly fear, which springs from a living belief in
Christ the living King, which is--as the text tells us--the spirit in
which we can serve God acceptably. Oh! that they would serve God;
waiting reverently and anxiously, as servants standing in the presence of
their Lord, for the slightest sign or hint of His will. Then they would
have grace; by which they would receive new thought with grace;
gracefully, courteously, fairly, charitably, reverently; believing that,
however strange or startling, it may come from Him whose ways are not as
our ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts; and that he who fights
against it, may haply be fighting against God.

True, they would receive all new thought with caution, that conservative
spirit, which is the duty of every Christian; which is the peculiar
strength of the Englishman, because it enables him calmly and slowly to
take in the new, without losing the old which his forefathers have
already won for him. So they would be cautious, even anxious, lest in
grasping too greedily at seeming improvements, they let go some precious
knowledge which they had already attained: but they would be on the look
out for improvements; because they would consider themselves, and their
generation, as under a divine education. They would prove all things
fairly and boldly, and hold fast that which is good; all that which is
beautiful, noble, improving and elevating to human souls, minds, or
bodies; all that increases the amount of justice, mercy, knowledge,
refinement; all that lessens the amount of vice, cruelty, ignorance,
barbarism. That at least must come from Christ. That at least must be
the inspiration of the Spirit of God: unless the Pharisees were right
after all when they said, that evil spirits could be cast out by the
prince of the devils.

Be these things as they may, one comfort it will give us, to believe
firmly and actively in the changeless kingdom, and in the changeless
King. It will give us calm, patience, faith and hope, though the heavens
and the earth be shaken around us. For then we shall see that the
Kingdom, of which we are citizens, is a kingdom o