d and one-sided fashion; till they see things not as things are,
but as they are not, and as they never will be; and therefore their
knowledge, instead of leading them, misleads them, and they misjudge
facts, misjudge men, and earth, and heaven, just as much as the man who
should misjudge the sunlight of heaven and fancy it to be green or blue,
because he looked at it through a green or blue glass. How then shall I
get true knowledge? Knowledge which will be really useful, really worth
knowing? Knowledge which I shall know accurately, and practically too,
so that I can use it in daily life, for myself and my fellow-men?
Knowledge, too, which shall be clear knowledge, not warped or coloured by
my own fancies, passions, prejudices, but pure, and calm, and sound;
Siccum Lumen, "Dry Light," as the greatest of English Philosophers called
it of old?

To all such, who long for light, that by the light they may see to live
the life, God answers, through His only-begotten Son, The Word who
endureth for ever in heaven:--

"Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall
be opened to you. For if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, much more will your heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit
to those who ask Him."

Yes, ask for that Holy Spirit of God, that He may lead you into all
truth; into all truth, that is, which is necessary for you to know, in
order to see your way through the world, and through your duty in the
world. Ask for that Holy Spirit; that He may give you eyes to see things
as they are, and courage to feel things as they are, and to do your work
in them, and by them, whether they be pleasant or unpleasant, prosperous
or adverse. Ask Him; and He will give you true knowledge to know what a
serious position you are in, what a serious thing life is, death is,
judgment is, eternity is; that you may be no trifler nor idler, nor mere
scraper together of gain which you must leave behind you when you die:
but a truly serious man, seriously intent on your duty; seriously intent
on working God's work in the place and station to which He has called
you, before the night comes in which no man can work.

If a man is doing that; if he is earnestly trying to learn what is true,
in order that he may do what is right; then he has--I do not say a
right--but at least a reason, or a shadow of reason, when he cries to God
in his trouble--

"I am Thine, oh save me, for I have soug