Obedience, Not Imitation

Listen from:
Nehemiah was faithful to God in the circumstances in which he stood, without assuming to make anew that which Moses had made and Israel’s sin had destroyed. If he had done that, it would have been an act of human presumption and not of obedience. Obedience, and not the imitation of the apostles, is our duty in such circumstances. It is far more humbling, but at least it is more lowly and safe, and that is all I ask or desire — that the church should be more humble.
J. N. Darby (Collected Writings, Vol. 1, p. 147)