“The present is a moment of deep solemnity. The arch-enemy is putting forth every effort to sap the very foundations of Christianity. In all directions the divine authority and all-sufficiency of Holy Scripture is being called in question. Rationalism is gaining ground to a fearful extent at our seats of learning and polluting the fountains where the streams of religious thought and feeling are spreading over the land. Truth is discounted even among those who ought to be its guardians. We may now-a-days behold the strange sight of professing Christian teachers taking part at meetings where professed infidels preside. Sorrowfully, men who are professed infidels themselves may become pastors and teachers in that which calls itself the Church of God.
In the face of all this, how precious, how weighty is our motto, ‘Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven!’ Nothing can touch this. It is above and beyond the reach of all the powers of earth and hell, men and demons. ‘The Word of our God shall stand forever.’ The Lord be praised for the sweet and solid consolation of this!

But let us remember the counterpart: ‘Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.’ Here lies the great moral safeguard for the soul in this dark and evil day. To have God’s Word hidden in the heart is the divine secret of being preserved from all the snares of the enemy and from all the evil influences which are at work around us. Satan and his agents can do absolutely nothing with a soul that reverently clings to Scripture. The man who has learned in the school of Christ, the force and meaning of that one commanding sentence, ‘It is written,’ is safe against all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
. . . [T]he one grand point for the people of God at all times is obedience. It is not a question of power or of gift or of external show or of numbers; it is simply a question of obedience. ‘To obey is better than sacrifice.’ To obey what? The Church? No! The Church is a hopeless ruin and cannot therefore be an authority. Obey what? The Word of the Lord! What a rest for the heart! What authority for the path! What stability for the whole practical career! There is nothing like it. It tranquilizes the spirit in a wonderful manner and imparts a holy consistency to the character. It is a divine answer to those who talk of power, boast of numbers, point to external show and profess reverence for antiquity. Moreover, it is the divine antidote for the spirit of independence, so common at the present day, and for the haughty uprisings of the human will and the bold assertion of man’s rights. The human mind is tossed like a ball from superstition to infidelity and can find no rest. It is like a ship without compass, rudder or anchor, driven here and there.”
C.H. Mackintosh, “A Motto For The Year 1872,” in Short Papers, Vol. 2. (Sunbury, PA: Believer’s Bookshelf, 1975), 159-160. [Italics original.]