“I prayed for him, but I was afraid to speak with him. I have tried to pray for him a double portion because I could not speak with him.”
Tears gathered in Mr. Hume’s eyes; the thought came to him that his unbelief had raised a barrier between himself and both God and his people. This pious young man was afraid to come to him lest he should meet the scornful arguments and cold derision of a proud unbeliever. He felt humbled—he, a subtle, well-read unbeliever, and Samuel a pious lad yearning for the salvation of his soul, but daring only to pray in secret for him.
“Have not you, Mr. Hume, been treating Christ and the Holy Spirit as Samuel feared that you would treat him?”
“Perhaps so,” he answered. “I am sorry that Samuel did not come to me freely. I think he need not be afraid of me now. I also hope you will preach the sermon which Ansel and Peter wish to hear.”
Mr. Wilton assured them that he would do as they wished unless the Spirit clearly drew him to some other subject. “I always look,” he said, “to the Holy Spirit for direction in my preaching. ‘When he, the Spirit of truth, is come,’ said Jesus, ‘he will lead you into all truth.’ This was fulfilled pre-eminently, I suppose, in the inspired men who laid the foundation of the Church, but the Spirit still dwells in believers and leads those who love and follow Christ. The preacher of the gospel can do nothing without the power of the Spirit of God.”
And I, kind reader, will give you the outline of the sermon if the Spirit bids him preach it.
