ating many of the Christian graces an apostle said, Above all
these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. So charity,
or rather its possessor, is no willful truth "butcherer," for charity
believeth all things (_or all truth_); hopeth all things (_promised_);
rejoiceth, not in iniquity, but in the truth. It has no "stock" in known
error, for it "abounds in all knowledge and judgment," and "approves
things that are excellent." It is noble and right to let "love," or
"charity have her perfect work," to be, or rather try to be, as charitable
as God himself; but it is absurd and preposterous to go beyond or try to
be more charitable. "It is enough that the disciple be _as his master_."

Men are guilty of this presumption when they, in feigned charity, go
beyond the word of the Lord, or beyond the truth in their expressions of
kindness.

There is a great deal of love in this world that lacks the elements of
_perfectness_. It is not the "love of God," or loving as God loves. It is
not the attribute of a divine life. There is no charity in influencing a
person, willfully, to stop short or go beyond the truth in Christian faith
or obedience. There is no charity in giving a man money knowingly to
purchase whisky to get drunk upon. Charity never conflicts with truth or
right. On the contrary, it endeavors to bring all men to the standard of
truth and rectitude.

The phrase "Broad-gauge" seems to have been gotten up to express the idea
of an intelligent relaxation from "human creeds" as bonds of union and
fellowship. In this sense we all ought to be the advocates of "Broad-gauge
religion." We should cultivate the spirit of gospel liberality until we
utterly disregard and put away all human creeds.

It is a trite saying, that one extreme begets another; against this error
we should guard with great caution. To succeed in religion, we must
remember, always, that we have in the word of God a standard of truth and
right that will always govern us according to heaven's will. Many persons,
forgetting this truth, have been led to conclude that departures from the
word of truth, as a matter of "liberality," or "broad-gauge religion," are
justifiable. And, as "liberalists," or "broad-gauge Christians," they are
disposed to recognize all the existing divisions in faith and practice
that are known in Christendom. They even go further and allow that somehow
all are right, and will stand upon an equality in the righteous ju