IL
The Direction.
In what directions should progress be made ? To what are we to go forward ?
1. To more knowledge. The first essential, in order to all other progress, is progress in knowledge, a continual pressing into
' S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Service, 36.
294 FORWARD !
clearer and fuller knowledge of God and of His manifold revela- tions of Himself. When St. Paul breathed forth his fervent wishes for the Colossian converts, his first petition was in these words : " That ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." Similarly, when he opens his own heart to the Philippians, he speaks of counting all things but loss " for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord," and among the main objects of his desire specifies " that I may know Him." Sir Isaac Newton, towards the close of his illustrious life, spoke of himself as a child who had gathered a few shells on the shores of a boundless sea. "What he felt in regard to nature, St. Paul felt in things spiritual — that there were heights above him he had not scaled, depths beneath him he had not fathomed ; that rich as he was in grace, there were yet hidden in God treasures of wisdom and knowledge which would make him richer still. Secrets of Christ's love and power he had guessed at, but felt that that love and power utterly transcended his highest experience. For himself, therefore, and for those for whom he yearned, he was still covetous of more, to know more of that which passeth knowledge. And such, down through all the centuries, has been the aim and effort of the Christian life. Each generation received the measure of knowledge its predecessor had gained ; but along with the old, new aspects presented themselves, not contradicting but broadening out the old, and thereupon the enlarged but unfinished structure passed on to other hands.
Spurgeon has three recommendations to give.
(1) Make great efforts to acquire information, especially of a Biblical kind. Be masters of your Bibles whatever other works you have not searched, be at home with the writings of the prophets and apostles. " Let the word of God dwell in you richly." Having given that the precedence, neglect no field of knowledge. The presence of Jesus on the earth has sanctified the whole realm of nature; and what He has cleansed, call not you common. All that your Father has made is yours, and you should learn from it.
^ I begin to perceive that it is necessary to know some one thing to the bottom — were it only literature. And yet, sir, the man of the world is a great feature of this age ; he is possessed of an extraordinary mass and variety of knowledge ; he is every-
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where at home ; he has seen life in all its phases ; and it is im- possible but that this great habit of existence should bear fruit.^
(2) Learn always to discriminate between things that differ ; and at this particular time this point needs insisting on very emphatically. Many run after novelties, charmed with every new thing ; learn to judge between truth and its counterfeits. Others adhere to old teachings ; like limpets they stick to the rock ; and yet these may only be ancient errors; wherefore "prove all things," and " hold fast that which is good." The use of the sieve and the winnowing fan is much to be commended. A man who has asked the Lord to give him clear eyes, by which he shall see the truth, and discern its bearings, and who, by reason of the constant exercise of his faculties, has obtained an accurate judg- ment, is one fit to be a leader of the Lord's host.
(3) Hold firmly what you have learned. Alas ! in these times, certain men glory in being weathercocks ; they hold fast nothing ; they have, in fact, nothing worth the holding. " Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," is the motto of the worst rather than of the best of men. Are they to be our model ? "I shape my creed every week " was the confession of one of these divines to me. Whereunto shall I liken such un- settled ones ? Are they not like those birds which frequent the Golden Horn, and are to be seen from Constantinople, of which it is said that they are always on the wing, and never rest ? No one ever saw them alight on the water or on the land, they are for ever poised in mid-air. The natives call them " lost souls " — seeking rest and finding none ; and, methinks, men who have no personal rest in the truth, if they are not themselves unsaved, are, at least, very unlikely to be the means of saving others.
Knowledge hath two wings, Opinion hath but one, And Opinion soon fails in its orphan flight; The bird with one wing soon droops its head and falls. But give it two wings, and it gains its desire.^
2. To higher life. "Go forward" is a summons to in- dividuals and to the Church to advance in Christian character. No worthy, no abidirg character can be formed without a basis of belief. But on the other hand, what avails a foundation if it is