It is true, also, that “God’s word, as the only rule of faith and
practice, is as much set at naught by the religious world to-day as it
was fifty years ago,” and more too; and there is nothing so unpopular
with the masses of the people, and some _called brethren_, as precisely
the apostolic way; and the Reformation is not a failure either. Our
reformatory movement was right, and is still right. It needs no
modification, but needs to be faithfully and honestly carried out. No
reformatory movement can ever get in ahead of it. It went back to the
divine fountain to find the truth, and not something _like it_, that
could be _proved by it_. It went back to the Bible itself, and not
to something _like it_, or something that can be _proved by it_. It
went back to the religion of Christ itself, and not to something _like
it_, or something that can be _proved by it_. This was no failure. The
attempt was to go back to the Lord himself; to his own Book, his own
religion; and those who attempted this, and _did it_, made no failure.
They found the Lord, his Book, and his religion, and found the
salvation of the Lord. There was no failure in all this. This movement
has been in the world about sixty years, or about half as long as
Noah’s mission lasted. Noah found the salvation of the Lord for himself
and family. There was no failure in his case.