One-sided Views. We are very apt to have one-sided views of things. This is due partly to our limitations, and partly to our prejudices. No one has a full conception of all sides of any matter. No one knows the whole world in a material sense, nor any one part of it completely. All men of true largeness of mind will readily admit this. One cannot be a specialist in everything, and the true specialist is the first to admit that there are depths in his own department which he has not fathomed; how much more in the entire sum of things. If this is true in the realm of material things, we shall expect that the same vastness of truth extends into the spiritual. "If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know" (1 Cor. 8:2).

Views of Divine Truth. When we rise into the things of God, and see them in any measure as He has unfolded them to us in His Word, we are well nigh overwhelmed with their vastness. We are surrounded by infinities. Napoleon said to his soldiers at the Battle of the Pyramids, "Forty centuries are looking down upon you from those Pyramids." But the child of God has been introduced into eternity. His mind looks backward, but finds no beginning of time; forward, and knows there is no end. The stars gaze down upon him, but tell of no bounds of time or space to their message. A grain of dust proclaims an unfathomable realm of truth within its littleness. He can only say with adoring heart, "O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom Thou hast made them all" (Ps. 104:24).

But his Knowledge is not Indefinite. We must not think that because we do not know everything we know nothing; nor because we have not reached the limit of any one thing that we cannot have very definite conceptions of it. Vagueness and indefiniteness are characteristic of error. A haze of uncertainty is thrown over all truth, and the mind is befogged, and man "knoweth not whither he goeth, because darkness hath blinded his eyes." But "God.. .hath shined into our hearts." He has revealed His Son to us and in us (Gal. 1:12,16). Christ our Lord is the Truth, and knowing Him we know the truth which He has revealed. We have no uncertainty, no vagueness as to our knowledge of sin, redemption, grace, glory. He has shown them to us in His cross, His resurrection, His ascension to heaven.

Christ is the Center of all Truth. Knowing Him, we gaze out in every direction, backward, forward, downward, upward, and our vision is limited not by darkness but by "light unapproachable." "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father" (Matt. 11:27). We are thus led on, and shall be eternally, to explore the breadth and length, the depth and height of that which passeth knowledge, and which yet, like the boundless ocean, shows us our finite knowledge, but laps us in the embraces of His love. We are thus both checked and encouraged.

Let this frame of mind mark our approach to the examination of all truth, in the realm of doctrine and of its practical application. We will thus be kept from the helplessness of uncertainty, and from the pride of fancied omniscience. In this way prejudice will not blind our eyes, and harden our hearts. We will not be drawn into sectarian narrowness, nor brand as heretical views which often may be but another side of the truth we know and love. Anchored safely to Him who is the truth, endued with that Spirit who guides into all truth, cleaving closely to His Word, we need not fear any "wind of doctrine." From the certainty of what we do know, we may look out upon what we do not know, and perhaps gain fuller, wider knowledge.
Apply this. All things are ours, for we are Christ's. Thus we look at divine sovereignty:it is absolute. God is first and last. He is and will be all in all. And yet man is responsible. He is an immortal, conscious, and therefore a responsible creature. The will is free in the sense that he is called upon to use it aright. The way to a correct view of these contrasted sides of truth is not to set one against the other, but to open our minds to take in, as far as we may, both sides. One person may be occupied with the sovereignty of God; another with man's responsibility. How foolish it would be for these to fall into strife, rather than in a spirit of brotherly love and confidence to learn all we can of both sides. The same can be said of all truths. Each has varied sides. Let us learn to look upon all of them. Faith and works are not contradictory, but kindred phases of truth. To deny either would be to fall into opposite extremes of error. Inspiration is a truth no reverent mind can for a moment deny; and yet there is a human element in it. The "holy man" does not lose his individuality because the Holy Spirit uses him as His instrument. Moses the lawgiver has a style belonging to the dignity of his former position. David the shepherd-poet-king writes the melodies of worship in a manner appropriate to him. The learned Paul, with keen logical mind, does not write like Peter the fisherman.

Let us observe the proportion of truth. We must not coordinate as of equal prominence views in which one side is evidently dependent upon, or of less prominence than another. Then we could never allow the human element in Scripture to be placed side by side, or possibly superior to the infallible Spirit. We will thus be safeguarded from intimating that mistakes might occur owing to faulty understanding or expression. We will not set works as the equal or superior of faith. All truth will be welcomed to our hearts, but each in its own order and due proportion.

What gainers we would be, if we sought to follow this divine principle! Instead of becoming narrow and bigoted, by unduly pressing our view of truth, we will welcome all that is of God, and seek to hold it in subjection to Him who embodies all truth in its rightful proportion. Our Bible study would be more fruitful; our reading meetings freer, timid ones would be encouraged to contribute their mite of knowledge to the general store. Thus the danger of one-sidedness would be largely avoided, schools of opinion formed around some favorite view or leader would not be formed, and the Church of God would be built up by "the effectual working in the measure of every part." We would become larger-hearted without becoming loose. Firmness would not be shadowed by unfair narrowness, and we all would be watching together against the wiles of the enemy, who attacks on every side, and often where he is least expected.

"Not as though I had already attained." When we cease to learn we cease to grow, and the very truth we do know may become stagnant and unproductive. May we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May each day find us with some fresh view of Him and of His Word. May we hunger for what will nourish our own souls and thus increase our efficiency in the Lord's service. May we never despise the brother with whom we are not in accord, but welcome all that he can give us of Christ, and seek to. do the same for him. S. R.