which
the present is but the fleeting shadow, and the unseen the eternal and
only reality; but, alas! there are others in whom the light of faith
burns feebly and flickers. Nor are these differences the attributes of
different men, but the same man varies in the power of his faith, and we
all of us know what it is to have it sometimes dominant over our whole
selves, and sometimes weak and crushed under the weight of earthly
passions. To-day we may be all flame, to-morrow all ice. Our faith may
seem to us to be strong enough to move mountains, and before an hour is
past we may find it, by experience, to be less than a grain of mustard
seed. 'Action and reaction are always equal and contrary,' and that law
is as true in reference to our present spiritual life as it is true in
regard to physical objects. We have, then, the encouragement of such a
word as that of our text for looking forward to and straining towards
the reversal of these sad alterations in a fixed and continuous faith
which should grasp the whole Christ and should always hold Him. There
may still be diversities and degrees, but each should have his measure
always full. 'Thy Sun shall no more go down'; there will no longer be
the contrast between the flashing waters of a flood-tide and the dreary
mud-banks disclosed at low water. We shall stand at different points,
but the faces of all will be turned to Him who is the Light of all, and
every face will shine with the likeness of His, when we see Him as He
is.

But our text points us to another form of unity--the oneness of the
knowledge of the Son of God.

The Apostle uses an emphatic term which is very familiar on his lips to
designate this knowledge. It means not a mere intellectual apprehension,
but a profound and vital acquaintance, dependent indeed upon faith, and
realised in experience. It is the knowledge for which Paul was ready to
'count all things but loss' that he might know Jesus, and winning which
he would count himself to 'have apprehended.' The unity in this deep and
blessed knowledge has nothing to do with identity of opinion on the
points which have separated Christians. It is not to be sought by
outward unanimity, nor by aggregation in external communities. The
Apostle's great thought is made small and the truth of it is falsified
when it is over-hastily embodied in institutions. It has been sought in
a uniformity which resembles unity as much as a bundle of faggots, all
cut to the same l