The Noble Mind and the Liberal Mind.
THE sacred writer in speaking of the Bereans says, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Those of Thessalonica, to whom reference is made, in the blindness of bigotry and prejudice rejected the word of truth, raised a mob, and set the whole city in an uproar. And when they found that their intended victims had escaped their fury, they sought to satisfy it upon the innocent Jason. Those two communities may be taken as representative ones, illustrating the manner in which the truth is received at the present time. Some listen to the truth with hearts open to conviction; other minds are darkened by prejudice, and the most powerful evidence only exasperates them and awakens a spirit of vindictive persecution against those who proclaim the truth of God. The results of such a course are sad. The Spirit of God is grieved, the innocent suffer and perishing souls are deprived of saving truth. The nobility of the Bereans did not consist in a readiness to accept all that was told them, just "because the minister said so." It was not in the fact that "many of them believed," that lay the result of their noble course. It was in their willingness to receive that which was evidently the word of God, and especially that they "searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." This disposition is just as noble to-day as ever, and prejudice, its opposite, is just as ignoble upon our part as it was in the Thessalonian Jews, and leads to the same sad results. It is a noble quality of mind which enables one to receive the candid presentation of another's faith, and compare it with the best authority on such matters. This authority is not the decisions of councils, the creed, or manual, or discipline, it is the word of God. We need have no fears that such a course will mislead us, especially if we seek wisdom from above. Such a spirit cannot be too highly commended. But there is an extreme in this direction that is found in the prevailing Liberalism. While professing this, men hold themselves amenable to no principle or guide, but drift in their belief wherever the tide or their own inclinations may take them. They boast of their freedom, and mock at restraint. Under the control of their evil imaginations they become the victims of their own folly, and commit the same mistake that Paul charges upon those who refuse to glorify God, "but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." Rom. 1:21, 22. The difference between this class and the noble Bereans is this: the latter acknowledged the wisdom of God above their own, and received his word as their guide and counsel. The former do not. The Liberalist claims to be able to decide for himself between truth and error, while the Bereans let God decide. It is not belittling to confess our dependence upon a wisdom which is above ours. Learning from the experience of others is no weakness. Judging of the nature of God's word by its power manifested in the world, is not a mistake. There is no folly in learning our weakness from others' failures. Heeding the teachings of divine wisdom is profitable, and profiting by all these things does not bring us into bondage. "Free-thought" may boast its liberty, but it is the liberty of unrestrained passion and ruin. It is the freedom of a flood which has broken its barriers, of a horse which has thrown its master and rushes to destruction. He that sinneth against wisdom "wrongeth his own soul."