No Departures from the Divine Plan
"No departure from the Divine plan can be treated as a trivial matter. It may appear to be of small importance in itself, but it only paves the way for a greater and more serious violation of the mind of God. We need to watch most narrowly the beginnings of things and constantly to bring them to the test of the Word of God . Modern Romanism, for example, is but the matured fruit of principles early adopted, which at first would appear to many as harmless deviations from apostolic teaching and practice, but what serious issues are seen here to hang upon apparently trifling innovations ! Yet not all new methods are necessarily “departures.” What is non-Scriptural may not always be “unscriptural.” Ezra’s “list” of those who left their friends and homes to build the house of God, and Nehemiah’s “Treasurers” were something new in their day. Doubtless a Daniel would make good use of the former in the way of intercession, and many of the Levites who otherwise had b...