Delay the Silence of Conscience.
I. There are grounds, in the very nature of the case, for questioning whether in religion second thoughts are best. It shall hardly ever happen that the man who does not at once act on the impulse to prayer, but takes time for deliberation, will set himself solemnly to the duty of prayer. It is not that the duty will not bear being deliberated; it is only that second thoughts are worse than the first, as being thoughts that have been tampered with and alloyed by human pride and corruption. The best rule is the rule on which St. Paul acted, the rule of allowing no pause, no time for a second thought, between conviction as to a thing being right and adopting it, conviction as to a thing being wrong and avoiding it. "Immediately" and "I conferred not with flesh and blood."
II. It is painful to observe how Christians often halt between two opinions; how perplexed they are as to the right or the wrong of certain courses of action; how they run hither and thither for advice and for counsel, asking the sentiments of all their acquaintances and changing their own as they receive different answers. The first touches of God's Spirit are meant to be transient, unless they are attended to. If you would keep the dew on the grass, you must keep the sun from the plant. If you would keep the impression on the heart, you must keep the world from the heart. Second thoughts make infidels, when first would have made believers. Second thoughts crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, when first would have crucified the flesh.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit,No. 1585.
References: Galatians 1:15-17. Homilist,1st series, vol. v., p. 50; Ibid.,3rd series, vol. vii., p. 33.Galatians 1:16. R. Tuck, Christian World Pulpit,vol. v., p. 125; Preacher's Monthly,vol. ii., p. 250. 1. 16, 17. Ince, Church of England Pulpit,vol. vii., p. 137.