Balance: Gathering or Scattering

 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 14
Saints, like other men, are apt to be one-sided. It looks spiritual to choose the highest line and stand on the loftiest point and fancy oneself to be safe in that heavenly elevation. On the other hand, it seems loving to steer clear of the church question so constantly abused to gratify ambition, if not spite and jealousy (and thus scattering saints instead of uniting them holily around the Lord's name), and to devote all one's energies, in the present broken state of Christendom, to the good news which wins souls to God from destruction. But this is to surrender the nearest circle of Christ's affections and honor. The only course that is right, holy, and faithful, is to hold to all that is precious in His eyes—to love the Church with all its consequences on the one hand, and on the other to go out to all mankind in the grace that would reflect the light of a Savior God.