Men
have, as usual, lacked faith in Christ; they did not believe that he
was actually governing the earth which belonged to him; that he was
actually cultivating his field, the world: they therefore believed
themselves bound to do for him what he neglected, or at least did not
see fit, to do for himself; and they tried to root up the tares from
among the wheat. They have tried to repress free thought, and to
silence novel opinions, forgetful that Christ must have been right
after all, and that in silencing opinions which startled them, they
might be quenching the Spirit, and despising prophecies. But they
found it more difficult to quench the Spirit than they fancied, when
they began the policy of repression. They have found that the Spirit
blew where it listed, and they heard the sound of it, but knew not
whence it came, or whither it went; that the utterances which
startled them, the tones of feeling and thought which terrified them,
reappeared, though crushed in one place, suddenly in another; that
the whole atmosphere was charged with them, as with electricity; and
that it was impossible to say where the unseen force might not
concentrate itself at any moment, and flash out in a lightning
stroke. Then their fear has turned to a rage. They have thought no
more of putting down opinions: but of putting down men.
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