Brother Hamill possesses a keen mind and reason aplenty, but I fear he makes Roman idols of men and things and walks the fatal path of Popery. Isaiah does not say “make an easy road for men to walk upon,” but rather instructs us to “make straight in the desert a highway for our Lord.” Thus our truest obligation has been laid out for us: to struggle against all adversity to do the Lord’s work and prepare for his march to Victory.

You say quite rightly that God Almighty owes no allegiance to lowly sinners such as us. But as Scripture teaches, He has a purpose for us. The hammer owes no allegiance to the nail, nor the board, nor even to the house that it builds. Rather, all are but extensions of the craftsman’s will, and they are only good insofar as they serve the purpose for which they were made. Likewise, we are but instruments of our Creator, and our only obligation is to adhere to His Divine Will and Purpose.

Our Redeemer does indeed say that only that which comes out of Man defiles him. This is because we are but corrupted flesh, and we neither produce nor contain goodness within ourselves. Instead, we may only derive a morsel of grace by allowing that which is Holy to enter us, by submitting to Providence, and by allowing the Will and Word to pass through us and do their Holy Work in this vale of tears.

We need not know the Will of the Lord to do his work, as neither the plow nor the ox need know when the time for planting approaches. Knowing that ours is a just and merciful Lord, we must have faith that our tasks are justly assigned, and that by faithfully doing the work that Providence has provided for us, we may yet taste of eternal life.

Brother Hamill, the road to salvation does not lie in the world or in our conduct towards earthly things like men as you have said. Justice belongs to the Lord, and we must be satisfied that that which the Lord provides is just and righteous. Therefore, friends, do not lift up your voices against Michael Roth, or the concert committee, or even against Matisyahu: all have been appointed to their place by the ineffable workings of Providence, and are thus as they should be.

We must not militate against the order of things, but rather, each must work faithfully and relentlessly in his calling and in his carrel so that we may be animated by the Holy Spirit. Only by doing our appointed work, by completing all of our assignments with diligence and punctuality may we become instruments of the Divine and avoid the yawning pits of vice and the horrible snares of sin and thus hasten the approach of the glorious Day of the Lord.

Wohl is a member of the class of 2011.