set out,--namely, that prophecy must of necessity carry a single meaning[261].--The attitude of mind which I so strongly recommend you to assume, (and it depends on an act of the Will, whether you assume it or not,) is very exactly represented by the cry of the child Samuel,--"Speak LORD, for Thy servant heareth!" It seems right, in the fewest words, to state what we _do_,--and what we do _not_,--expect to result from such a study of the Bible as this; in other words, to assign the office of unassisted Biblical study. I would not willingly have my meaning mistaken _here_. It is not implied then, for a moment, that a man is either at liberty, or able, to gather his own Religion for himself out of the Bible. The very thought were monstrous. But it is a widely different thing for one of yourselves to read his Bible patiently, and humbly, and laboriously, through,--without prejudice or theory,--unmolested by critical notes, undistracted by human comments, uninfluenced by party views:--all this, I say, is a widely different thing from a man's inventing his own system of Divinity. Members of the Catholic Church,--born in a Christian country,--educated amid the choicest influences for good,--_you_ are by no means so left to yourselves. THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER is your sufficient safeguard. The framework of the Faith,--the conditions under which you may lawfully speculate about Divine mysteries,--are all prescribed for you: and within those limits you cannot well go wrong. On the other hand, the outlines of _Moral Theology_, (as it may be called), you are fully competent to detect for yourselves. GOD'S strictness in punishing sin, as in the case of Moses[262];--the efficacy of repentance, as in the case of Ahab[263];--the sure answer to prayer, (to _forgotten_ prayer, it may be!) as in the case of Zacharias[264];--the seemingly roundabout methods of GOD'S providence, (as in the case of Abraham,) yet conducting inevitably to a blessed issue at the last;--the rewards of obedience[265];--the faithfulness of the Divine promises;--the boundless wealth of the Divine contrivance, which, on man's repentance, is able to convert even a curse into a blessing, as in the case of Levi[266];--the peace and joy surely in reserve for those who fear GOD, as in the case of Joseph;--the extent to which things seemingly trivial are noticed by the Ancient of Days, as every page of the Bible shows;--these, and a hundred points like these, not only a man can gather for himself out of the Book of God's Law, but no one else can do the work for him. He _must_ discover all such matters for himself.