To be a Christian, to be a member of the church of God, simply and only--this means that the word of God is ours; for the church of the Lord teaches nothing officially. She is content to let God do his own teaching through the simple word. The Christian has no positions to force, no one-sided notions to sustain, no foreign meanings to infuse into God's word. All the truth belongs to him by birthright. If any sects have any truth (and they all have, some more, some less), it already belongs to the Christian; but he does not have to go to the sectarian teacher for it. Standing on the Rock, Jesus [115] the Christ, having confessed and received him as "it is written, he already possesses all the truth in the universe, and finds it his sweet privilege to explore this great Mine in which all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Col. 2:3)--and that not with intent to unearth curious doctrines that he may shine before men as a great Bible scholar; but to know and do the will of God, leaving the deeper mysteries that baffle the mind to solve themselves in the future, here or beyond, and seeking the things that profit. And such a man, if he will diligently study the word, will also in the end have a deeper insight into God's ways and plans than all the creedists and theorists of the world. For the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant. (Ps. 25:14.) And we belong to no man's following. With freedom hath Christ set us free--let us stand fast in him, and not be entangled in any man's bondage. "For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the word, of life, or death, or things present, or things to come; are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." (1 Cor. 3:21-23.)--December 2, 1909.

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