hunder in that exquisitely soft sound of gentle stillness. This was
a new revelation of God to this stern prophet of righteousness.

There may be a sort of letter-obedience, a formal obedience to the vision
you have. In one's own estimation, there may seem to be a knowledge of
what is right, and a self-satisfied doing of it. There may be a
painstaking attention to the forms of obedience, and a self-righteous
content in doing the required things. Is this the underlying thought in
Peter's self-complacent remark, "Lo, _we_ have left all and followed
Thee.[102] We're so much better than this rich young ruler who couldn't
stand the test you put to him. _We----"?_ Poor, self-confident Peter! When
the fire test did come, and come so hot, how his "we" did crumble!

"_Light Obeyed Increaseth Light_."

There may be _obedience without clear vision._ That is, there may be a
doing of what is thought to be right, but without a clear understanding of
what is the right thing to do. This results in _fanaticism_. Moses killing
the Egyptian and hiding his body in the sand had no clear vision of God's
plan. He knew something was wrong, and that something needed to be done.
And so he proposed doing something. And the poor Egyptian who happened in
his way that day felt the weight of his zeal. It's a not uncommon way of
attempting to righten wrongs. He forgot that there is a God, and a plan,
and that he who does not work into the plan of God is hitting wrong. There
has been a lot of wreckage scattered along this beach.

Saul persecuting the Christians is another illustration here. He is a sad,
striking example of conscientiousness without sufficient knowledge, of
earnestness without clear light. He was conscientiously doing the wrong
thing, as earnestly as he could, supposing it to be the right thing. John
wanted to call down fire from heaven and burn up some people that didn't
fit in with their plans.[103] Earnest intensity without sufficient light
has kindled a good many fires of this sort.

Sometimes this does not go as far as hurtful fanaticism, but leads to
blundering and confusion and delay. Abraham was acting without clear light
when he yielded to Sarah's plan of compromise for getting an heir.[104] A
bit of quiet holding of her suggestion before God for light would have
cleared his mind. The result was wholly bad,--a confusion in his own mind,
a mental cloudiness about God's plan and promise, an element of discord
introduced in the