matter surely proves
abundantly what a hopeless task they undertake who attempt to reconcile
these truths. The attempt has usually consisted in speaking the one
loudly and the other in a whisper, and then the opposite side has
thundered what had been whispered, and has whispered very softly what
had been shouted very loudly. One party lays hold of the one pole of the
ark, and the other lays hold of that on the other side. The fancied
reconciliation consists in paring down one half of the full-orbed truth
to nothing, or in admitting it in words while every principle of the
reconciler's system demands its denial. Each antagonist is strong in his
assertions, and weak in his denials, victorious when he establishes his
half of the whole, easily defeated when he tries to overthrow his
opponent's.

This apparent incompatibility is no reason for rejecting truths each
commended to our acceptance on its own proper grounds. It may be a
reason for not attempting to dogmatise about them. It may be a warning
to us that we are on ground where our limited understandings have no
firm footing, but it is no ground for suspecting the evidence which
certifies the truths. The Bible admits and enforces them both. It never
tones down the emphasis of its statement of the one for fear of clashing
against the other, but points to us the true path for thought, in a firm
grasp of both, in the abandonment of all attempts to reconcile them, and
for practical conduct, in the peaceful trust in God who hath wrought all
our works in us, and in strenuous working out of our own salvation. Let
us, as we look back on that battlefield where much wiser men than we
have fought in vain, doing little but raising up 'a little dust that is
lightly laid again,' and building trophies that are soon struck down,
learn the lesson it teaches, and be contented to say, The short cord of
my plummet does not quite go down to the bottom of the bottomless, and I
do not profess either to understand God or to understand man, both of
which I should want to do before I understood the mystery of their
conjoint action. Enough for me to believe that,

'If any force we have, it is to ill,
And all the power is God's, to do and eke to will.'

Enough for me to know that I have solemn duties laid upon me, a life's
task to be done, my deliverance from mine own evil to work out, and that
I shall only accomplish that work when I can say with the Apostle, 'I
live, yet