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hitherto separate centers or one or the other center of isolation must be suppressed. Such suppression sometimes occurs spontaneously in revolutions, but a wise government will always prevent such violences by the timely formation of new centers of isolation. The intellectual development of every normal human life exhibits a similar illustration. A child learns first to isolate certain phenomena and to form its first concepts in learning to speak when it needs the guidance and direction of its elders; in youth the training of the will is cultivated through concentration upon given tasks and problems, i. e., through education, in manhood the stern demand for self-discipline becomes the all-absorbing center of isolation. All three factors, viz: guidance, education and self-discipline, are necessary for a harmonious development of man; wherever one or the other is wanting life is a failure. The majority of men never reach the third stage; they are satisfied with the carefully collected and labelled knowledge of their school years and the result is the constant conflict and friction in human society.

A true and careful study of the natural sciences will give us not only the essential fundamental principles for intellectual efforts but also a proper understanding for all the more serious and stern problems of human experience. It will suffuse all life with a glory of its omniscient and yet all-merciful creator.

II.

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE UNITY OF THE

CHURCH.

BY REV. A. E. TRUXAL, D.D.

The positive and emphatic announcement of the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples that He must needs leave them and take His departure to the world of glory filled their hearts with sorrow and their minds with perplexity. For the purpose of setting their minds at rest and of relieving their sorrowful hearts He promised them another Comforter, even the spirit of truth, which is the Holy Ghost. And, furthermore, he declared unto them that it was for their good that He take His departure; for if He go not hence by the way now opening to Him, the Holy Spirit will not come unto them.

This implied at once that the Spirit had a work to do for the disciples which was essential to their salvation. The process of human redemption had to move forward to a higher plane. Christ is now to be glorified in the heavenly world, and His relation to His disciples and their union and fellowship with Him must henceforth partake of a more spiritual character. He will abide in the sphere of glory, but the Holy Spirit will be with them in this life. He shall dwell in Christ the Head, and also in believers, the members, and by His mediation a spiritual communion shall obtain between believers and Christ, and with believers among themselves. In and through the Holy Spirit the glorified Christ will be present with His people, as He has promised, even unto the end of the world.

Among the different functions which the Spirit was to perform was that of guiding the disciples "into all truth," as the common version has it; or "into all the truth," as the revised version renders it; or "into the whole truth," as some other authorities translate it. It is not material to our present purpose which

The different read

rendering be accepted as the correct one. ings express different shades of meaning, but we do not propose to discuss these in this connection. It is generally understood that the promise of the Spirit's guidance applies to believers of all ages of the Church, and not simply to the disciples of apostolic times. We take it that this position is correct, and that consequently all Christians in every age down to the end of time have the promise of Christ that the Holy Spirit shall guide them into "all the truth."

But why then are we confronted by so great a diversity of views and practices in the household of believers? Divergences set in almost from the very beginning. An almost endless variety of doctrine has entered into the faith and convictions of believers from the earliest days until now. The most pious, earnest and learned Christians have differed, and differ still, with regard to the doctrine on God, creation and providence; the doctrine on Christ, concerning His person and work, His nature, incarnation, teaching and miracles, sufferings and death, resurrection and glorification, His relation to the Church and to the individual believer; the doctrine on the Holy Spirit, concerning His relation to the Father and the Son, His functions and operations in the salvation of mankind; the doctrine on the Church, concerning her constitution and function, her organization, ordinances and ministry; the doctrine on man, concerning his condition, faith, penitence, regeneration, conversion and his manifold duties as a Christian. Diversity of belief and views and practices runs out in all directions, and has become so great and extensive that the contemplation of it is bewildering and confounding, so that we are almost led to despair of the unity of believers. Where is that ONE body of which Christ is the ever-living head? Perhaps, after all, the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit was promised to the immediate followers of Christ only! Perhaps He has been withdrawn from the Church in all ages afterwards! For must we not infer that if He had been with His people to guide them "into all truth," they would not have differed so much from each other with respect to the whole realm of theo

retical truth and the entire field of practical truth? How can we believe in the presence and guidance of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, when Christians of all ages, of unquestioned piety and devotion, of purity of motives and sincerity of purpose, of enlightened and educated minds, fail to arrive at anything like an agreement in their apprehension and conceptions of the truth of God?

The facts on which this reasoning is based would seem to justify the conclusions reached. And yet we regard the conclusions as erroneous. The error is committed by not taking into consideration some other facts that have been left out of view. We must never forget that God does as a rule no violence to His own order of things. Ordinarily, at least, God does not accomplish His purposes through miracles. Hence we must not expect miraculous results to be accomplished by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is an indubitable fact that the human faculty for ap. prehending and comprehending the truth varies greatly in keenness and strength among the children of men. There are general forces in the human family that affect every individual. The influence of heredity asserts itself in each person high or low, learned or unlearned. Consequently men are not constituted alike. There are in the first place, racial distinctions.

The mem

bers of the different races of men differ from each other in the entire cast of their being, and hence it is impossible for them to view the manifestations of truth exactly in the same light. The mind of each one has grown out of the bosom of the racial life to which the person belongs. The whole past history of the race makes its impress upon the individuals and hence they differ from the members of other races in body, soul and spirit. And the Holy Spirit given to believers does not remove these distinctions. It matters not how pious, pure and holy persons may be, these differences in their mental and spiritual constitution still remain. There are in like manner also national distinctions. It is one of the mysteries of human life that it is modified by national in heritance; each nation seems to have its own peculiar genius which exerts a moulding influence upon the members thereof. Hence

the individuals of different nations of the same general race differ from each other in the entirety of their being. They are not alike physically, mentally, religiously, or morally. They differ from each other in their general outward appearance; and the outward appearance is but the external expression of the inner character and life. The difference in mind, heart and will is equally great. These are the facts as we find them; we may not be able to account for them, but as to their existence there can be no question. And it is not the province of the Holy Spirit to annihilate these national peculiarities which are part of every individual's being.

Then again persons of the same nation have their own individual peculiarities. Each has his own individuality. No two persons are exactly alike. Each has his own peculiar temperament and disposition, and his own qualities and cast of mind. These diversities are essential and permanent and consequently there is no way by which they may be removed. It might be supposed that education and culture would be instrumental in levelling down these distinctions and in bringing individuals together on one common plane; that the more highly civilized and refined a people are the more will they be able to harmonize their feelings, thoughts and actions. Under one view of the case this is true. But on the other hand it is also true that education and culture cause the peculiar characteristics of the individual to become more clearly marked and pronounced. Among the lowest tribes of men the masses are very much alike physically and in every other respect. Their feelings, ideas and conceptions are all cast in the same mould. And the higher they are raised in the scale of civilization by education and culture the more does their individualism become developed. Hence the diversity existing in the constitution of individuals cannot be regarded as the result of defects that may be removed; for the more the character is polished, the more clearly marked do the lines of separation be

come.

Now then the operations of the Holy Spirit in believers do not overcome, remove or destroy these individual characteristics.

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