Called to be Saints

It will be urged that our beliefs are of great importance and we cannot walk together unless we are agreed. This is true, and it offers an excellent reason why in our questioning of each other we should first seek to find out how far we are agreed. That will supply the best basis for argument if discussion of differences should become necessary; and we might find that the agreement was so substan­tial as to rule out the need for contention. Putting questions is one of the easiest of tasks, answering them is often one of the hardest. It is possible that in a zeal to discover any lurking element of error, brethren may resemble the Scribes and Pharisees of the first century who laid snares for Christ that as the result of their subtle questioning they might find something by which they could accuse him.

The attitude of this magazine has for many years resembled that of the wise con­ductor of an orchestra. If the musicians are trying to play well, a few false notes may be excused for they are lost in the general ensemble. If, however, a member persistently accentuates false notes or even if he continually over accentuates right ones, he may so spoil the work that he must be asked to go. Or if there are some who do not quite agree with the interpretation of the work being performed, they may be treated with consideration so long as they are not subversive, but unless they are reasonable there may come a time when they must be asked to go too, for a certain standard must be maintained or all efforts are futile.

The advice of an elder to students and writers is that they should be their own severest critics. That which they have regarded as their best effort may be so unacceptable to others that the best course is to put the work away in a drawer and not look at it again until several years have passed. Then a re-perusal may make it clear why it was misunderstood and how a little revision might convey the intended message without giving offence to anyone. To elders who have the task of sustaining the truth in its purity, the only counsel possible is that they should remember the Lord Jesus and the patient way in which he dealt with faulty men and women. It is only by a very great effort in this direction that further division may be avoided and possibly old wounds healed.