There is a disposition on the part of many to re-receive as truth only what is approved by scholars, and to reject or regard with suspicion what has not their sanction. It is supposed, and in a sense rightly so, that men who have ability and opportunity to investigate things are to be listened to, and their decisions accepted. When it comes to matters of divine revelation, however, faith must have a surer ground, and rest "not in the wisdom of men," but in the Word of God alone.

It is not that knowledge and research are to be despised, for who does not deplore ignorance? and who is not thankful for all real advance in learning, opening up to us avenues of knowledge hitherto unexplored? Neither should we forget what we owe to the schoolmen who translated the Scriptures in our own tongue, without which we must have remained largely in ignorance of the truth revealed in the Word of God. It is a priceless heritage that has come to us through the medium, for the most part, of men of God and of learning, able to read and translate it from the original tongues in which it was written, into the familiar language of our birth.

All this, and much more, is freely conceded as regards Scholarship, and those possessing it. We are apt at times to forget our indebtedness to men of learning, and to God in a higher sense for the gift of such. But all that such men can do, when they have done their utmost, is to place within our reach the Word of God in a form familiar to us-neither adding to nor taking from it, and as little as possible to throw the bias of their interpretation into the translation. Having placed the Word of God in the hands of the common people, the scholar, must retire, and leave the Speaker alone with the hearers.

But such is often not the case. The opinions of the learned are eagerly sought after, and according to their decisions this or that truth is accepted or rejected. This is not faith in God at all, but in men. When Paul had brought God's message to the Thessalonians, he afterwards wrote them, "For this cause also thank we God, that when ye received the Word which ye received of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also worketh effectually in you that believe." Paul was a scholar of no mean ability in his day, surely, but he did not exalt this, nor did they to whom he wrote these words receive the message as from '"Paul the learned;" no, but as the mouthpiece through whom they received God's Word; and he wished to be only that.

God's revelation as given to us in the Bible was intended for all men; not for the few only who have the special learning supposed to be requisite to a correct and full knowledge of the Book of books. Such indeed are blest who can make a right use of all they have learned; though it must be confessed that, with many, it seems often to becloud their minds to a true and simple understanding of "Thus saith the Lord." The Bible, like the angelic message on the plains of Bethlehem, is God's message of good tidings-"to all people."

The sad fact is that many of the schoolmen, reject the Word of God, or retain only such portions of it as seem reasonable to them. Many others of no less learning, however (for whom we' can be truly thankful to God), do accept the Scriptures in their entirety as the very Word of God. Yet, if I make this a reason for my acceptance of the same, I am not really believing God; at least, my faith in Him is a second-hand faith; primarily it is in men; for if these men turned to the Modernist views, refusing the Scriptures as the inspired sayings of God, in that case I would cease to receive them too. Such faith is not grounded in the Word itself, but in men's opinion of it.
But is it not written, "Let God be true and every man false?" So, even though it might be as the shaking of heaven and earth, to the one whose faith rests in God, and what He has spoken, his faith remains secure.

In the days of our Lord, Nicodemus had to stand alone among his coreligionists in his confession of "Jesus of Nazareth." When he objected to the prejudices of his fellows concerning the Prophet of Galilee, and said, "Doth our law judge any man before it hear him and know what he doeth?" they curtly replied, "Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look:for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet" (Jno. 7:52). Galilee was not the place of the schoolmen. Jerusalem was that. Great rabbi though he might be, it was ground enough to refuse his claims by, "Shall the Christ come out of Galilee! Hath not the Scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was?" (John 7:41, 42). "Yet with all their learning these schoolmen were wrong in their deductions. Was it indeed that they did not want to know that which "Matthew the publican" so plainly detailed in the beginning of his Gospel -"the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son- of David," etc., with full line of descent and place of His birth? But it is remarkable how blind and ignorant men, otherwise learned, can be of subjects on which the heart is wrong!-[Ed.

know? or did not Jesus was from none of their Schools, but the authority, wisdom, and power with which He spoke astonished even themselves:"How knoweth this man letters having never learned?" they said. His answers, and His questions to them, confounded all His critics-not with their weapons, but with the sayings of God-that Word which is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and by means of which "the man of God is fully furnished unto every good work."

In answer to their enigma, quoted above, the Lord replied, "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent Me. If any one wills to do his' will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak from Myself. He that speaketh from himself seeketh his own glory, but He that seeketh his glory that sent Him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him." Here we have the one requisite by which to understand what "is written"-a "willingness to do God's will. It is not necessary to know the opinion of the Doctors and theological Professors, who may be right or may be wrong. In Jesus' clay, when the officers that were sent to take Him returned without Him, they were asked, "Why have ye not brought Him?" They, captivated by His words, answered, "Never man spake like this man!"-to which the passionate answer was made, "Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?'" But apart entirely from the acceptance or rejection of Him by the "rulers" of to-day, the most unlettered person may know the truth of God, and stand in it so that nothing can move him. If anyone desires to know God's will, so as to do it, he is in a position to understand God's Word, and to refuse what is contrary to it, even if voiced by the learned. His faith rests in God and His Word; in this there is safety.

It was not a scholar who first brought to Simon Peter the good news,"We have found the Christ," but his own brother Andrew, and both were fishermen of Galilee. Doubtless they knew the Scriptures, for they were "read every Sabbath day in the synagogues;" and they must often have heard the parents and elders discuss them in the home and the synagogues. And later, when Peter confessed Him as the "Christ, the Son of the living God," the Lord replied, "Happy art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee (not the rabbis, nor even Andrew), but my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 16:16,17). And since Peter's faith was not in the opinion of the scholars of the day, he was not confounded when made to appear before the rabbis, charged with not adhering to their decrees, but answered, "We ought to obey God rather than men."

The learned of that day were lamentably against the truth, so that few dared to utter what they really believed. Let us thank God that we have not yet reached that stage in Protestantism. Many still stand for the truth. Let us profit from what they have learned, not in the schools, but from the "Father in heaven," as did Peter, and like Mary, at the feet of Jesus. God forbid that we should refuse to learn from such because they are learned in the things of men, if what they teach are "the things of God."

We ought thankfully to accept all knowledge which is really that-not mere guess work, as, alas, much of so-called Science is to-day. There are realms of mind and reason and research, with conclusions reached by those who have entered into them, and we may reap the fruit of their labors.

However, let us ever remember that, "The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God," and that the Holy Spirit has been imparted to all believers, even to the "little ones" of the family of God. Thus, with the Spirit of God, as the Teacher to guide us into all the truth, we are not left dependent upon man's learning to know the truth in the realm of Revelation, but are enabled, through the wisdom and grace which the Spirit furnishes, to "grow up into the truth."

Let us accept all the gifts which God gives to His people, among whom are the "teachers"-the true "Maskilim" of to-day; and let no man's learning be interposed between our faith and the Word of God; for to do so is to displace faith and learning, both of which have their God-given sphere. Displaced faith is faith no longer. It has lost its true anchorage; it is in the creature, and not in God. Wm Huss