WHEN KNOWLEDGE IS NOT POWER.
By Gualterio
"Master, the tempest is raging!
The billows are tossing high!
The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness;
No shelter or help is nigh." THE old homestead was not so far removed from the regular suburban type as to attract unusual attention; neither were its inmates above the average in intelligence or talent. Nevertheless, the man who sits by the grate on a certain autumn evening, thinking seriously upon the problem of life, has to battle with the same subtle temptations as come to all, be their mental attainments ever so brilliant or mediocre. Sooner or later the tempest rages for each, and the soul either lives with the storm for a time by shutting the windows heavenward and deifying the ego, or it distrusts itself, and resting its hope by the life-line of faith in the vicarious atonement of Christ, finds itself drawn above the storm area by the great magnet of God's love. Such was the situation of the man by the fire. Which shall it be, the cross and crown of rejoicing of the Christian's hope, or the "pleasures of sin for a season" and then oblivion? The first based upon a faith he did not possess, and the last in the hope of buoyant youth and the hidden future. The odds were apparently in favor of the materialist, but the lines of a hymn would intrude themselves:
"Earth with its riches is only dross,
Bright treasures beyond the cross I see." "Now, I have seen people to whom these 'treasures beyond' were quite a real asset," he soliloquizes, "but I really have no such assurance about it. I have said my prayers faithfully ever since I was coached at my mother's knee, and I have read the Bible 'from cover to cover,' lo, these many years. I can lay my finger upon the arguments for orthodoxy with unerring precision;9but the 'anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast,' doth not yet appear. Wherein am I at fault? or am I to believe that the good of past and present feast their souls upon a chimera of the imagination, which, nevertheless, has a wonderful, sustaining power that fails not, even at the critical moment of taking the 'leap into the dark'? No, it can not be. With all my knowledge of the Bible; with all my oft-repeated prayers, and with all my church-going, 'the secret of the Lord' is still a riddle to me. 'Let's see, how does the psalmist put it? —'What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall He teach in the way that he shall choose,' for 'the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant.' 'O my soul, this is getting to be a vexed question. And it must be settled at once, for behold the crossroads, and it is one way or the other. Believe I'll trudge down to the grove and have a little chat with the sexton. He is old in the way and practical withal; mayhap he can help me a trifle.' We follow him. The night is ideal, and, as if upon the faintly stirring zephyr, come the lines of the 19th Psalm:
"The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament showeth His handiwork.
Day unto day uttereth speech,
And night unto night showeth knowledge."
Unbidden the lines flow on until the seventh verse, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." "Ha! I have the seat of the trouble. I can not be converted; I surely can not be converted," exclaims the troubled one. "I believe I realize Peter's strait when, after three years spent in the company of Him who is 'Master of earth and sky,' the Christ must needs tell him, 'When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.' Well, now I am here, I'll let the old sexton take a hand in solving the puzzle. Hark, I believe he has company. He is talking most earnestly to some one. Ah, he is praying." "My Father, 'the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,' when I was but a young man the words of Thy Book said to me, 'Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.' And, my Father, I earnestly entreated Thy Spirit to teach me Thy way. I sought not in vain, for Thou didst fill my soul with peace. Furthermore, I did eat Thy word with delight, and meditated much upon its promises. What it admonished me to do I did, and its prohibitions I gladly complied with. Never did I lack strength to do Thy will while relying upon Thy free grace and power. My Father, I was glad when Thou didst declare, 'I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts,' for then was I sure of Thy promise to come in and sup with me and I with Thee. And all the years, my Father, the trials and sorrows have been silver-lined and freighted with Thy blessings. Thou hast guarded me as the apple of Thine eye; Thou hast led me; Thy goodness and mercy have encompassed me. As I look to Thee to-night, when the sands of my life are nearly run, my cup runneth over; for faith has given me the victory over besetting sins, and I press toward the prize. Make my declining days to show forth Thy praise and the glory of Thy coming kingdom. So shall I trust in Thee, and dwell with Thee on the other shore." As the old man ceases, but remains upon his knees as if harkening for the answer from the "other shore," the young man at the threshold turns away with a new light in his eyes and a new hope in his heart. As he returns to the homestead hearth, he continues to meditate and soliloquize. " 'Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,' says the Spirit of God to the Hebrews. Praise the Lord; I believe it is true. The old sexton prayed as seeing the Invisible, and the sense of his assurance has surely demonstrated to me that a man may have all knowledge and ability, yet lacking childlike faith in the Father's love and mercy, may go thru life without having experienced the living, acting power of the Gospel of Christ. In other words, one may have the word of God as an external asset; yet, by failing to hunger and thirst for the Spirit, by continued neglect of the great essential life-principle of the Gospel, commit the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit; for in neglecting we virtually deny His power. "How vividly that text appeals to me to-night, 'Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled,' and its complement, 'But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.' It must be upon this principle that Paul so logically reasons in Romans 8, where he finds the Holy Spirit to be the representative of Christ, which takes up its abode in the heart of the converted man, and becomes the actuating 'life because of righteousness,' which results in 'as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.' Strange I never saw the force of these principles before. From this moment I dedicate myself and all I have to be worked by the Spirit of God. Peace like a river is mine." "Master, the terror is over,
The elements sweetly rest;
Earth's sun in the calm lake is mirrored,
And heaven's within my breast.
Linger, O blessed Redeemer,
Leave me alone no more;
And with joy I shall make the blest harbor,
And rest on the blissful shore."
Mountain View, Cal.