To be taken up with the Spirit's guidance apart from the authority of the written Word, may lead to the wildest fanaticism, of which there have been painful examples.
To be taken up with the Word apart from the Spirit's teaching, is rationalism, for it is founded on the false assumption of man's competency to reason about God's truth instead of being judged by it.
To refuse the authority of the Word because we cannot understand it, is infidelity. To look for any persons or ordinances to come between us and God, besides the accomplished work of His beloved Son, is ritualism. To accept any other mediator between God and men but the man Christ Jesus, is to deny the testimony of Holy Scripture as to the "One Mediator," and is popery.
To use means according to God's Word, and trust in God, is faith. To say we trust in God, and use not the means He directs, is presumption. To use means outside of God's Word and to trust in them, is infidelity. H.H. Snell