\ When the Cliffords tell us how sinful it is to be Christians on such "insufficient evidence," insufficiency is really the last thing they have in mind. For them the evidence is absolutely sufficient, only it makes the other way. They believe so com- pletely in an antichristian order of the universe that there is nc living option : Christianity is a dead hypothesis from the start.^
* E. Mellor, The Footsteps of Heroes, 239. ^ ^f^ James, The Will to Believe, 14.
ST. JOHN VII. 17 313
II.
Knowing.
"If any man willeth to do his will, he shall hnow." Here we have the issue of obedience. This willingness to do His will, whether I find the clear revelation in the sacred word or in the private oratory of my own conscience, gives to my life the requisite atmosphere in which all spiritual truth is to be discerned. To be willing to do His will, and to do it, gathers into the life a certain air of refinement which is the only congenial medium for the discovery of spiritual truth. Everybody has noticed how clearly sounds travel when there is snow on the ground. When that white vesture clothes the earth soft sounds become articulate and doubtful callings become clear. And when, by scrupulous obedience to the will of the Saviour, the heart grows pure, when it is clothed in habits of consecration which dim even the white- ness of the virgin snow, then do the doubtful utterances of our Lord become articulate, and suggestions of remote and hidden truth speak clearly in our receptive ears. " If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching."
1. " He shall know." — If we hear our conscience and set our face to duty, it will be with us as with the traveller who ascends the Gemmi Pass. When he comes to the foot of the precipice along whose ledges and through whose crevices the narrow path ascends, the mist may be lying heavy, and at first he may not find the starting-point. Once his feet are upon the path, although he cannot see beyond a few yards and has no idea how the path may wind, it is only a matter of dogged and careful perseverance. With every step the mist grows more luminous, glimpses of the crest can now and again be caught, and suddenly the traveller comes out from the cloud into the clear sunlight on the height, with the spotless snow around him and the blue of God's heaven over his head. He that wills to do God's will shall come to know God's will before set of sun.
\ I have known men who have for long doubted the existence of God and denied that we could know anything of Him, resolutely set themselves to be true and pure and unselfish, and the changed attitude has begotten a yearning for and a trust in a truth and righteousness and goodness out of and beyond themselves. The
314 THE WILL TO KNOW
conviction that they must dwell in a personal source has gradually grown within their aspiring spirits ; and they have come to feel sure that it is a Personal Will that is at the centre of our com- plicated, perplexed, and mysterious life, always going out in work and always unexhausted — a Will and not a cold, hard, material " power-not-of-ourselves " ; the Personal Will of a living and loving Father. In seeking to do the hest^ they have, like Zaccheus, come on the track of Him who is the Absolute Best embodied and made attractive to all men for the salvation of the world.^
(1) "He shall know" — There is a wide distinction between supposing and knowing — between fancy and conviction — between opinion and belief. Whatever rests on authority remains only supposition. We have an opinion when we know what others think. We know when we feel. In matters practical we know only so far as we can do. Feel God ; do His will, till the Absolute Imperative within you speaks as with a living voice : Thou shalt, and thou shalt not ; and then you do not think, you hnow^ that there is a God. That is a conviction and a belief.
1 Faith in Christ is an act rather of the spiritual nature than of the intellect, and as the result of sympathy with the truth rather than of critical examination of evidence. A painter or art-critic familiar with the productions of great artists feels him- self insulted if you offer him evidence to convince him of the genuineness of a work of art over and above the evidence which it carries in itself, and which to him is the most convincing of all. If one of the lost books of Tacitus were recovered, scholars would not judge it by any account that might be given of its preservation and discovery, but would say, Let us see it and read it, and we will very soon tell you whether it is genuine or not. When the man you have seen every day for years, and whose character you have looked into under the strongest lights, is accused of dishonesty, and damaging evidence is brought against him, does it seriously disturb your confidence in him ? Not at all. No evidence can countervail the knowledge gained by inter- course. You know the man, directly, and you believe in him without regard to what other persons advance in his favour or against him. Christ expects acceptance on similar grounds.^