What another sees may
be but a thought that is hidden from me, because the truth may be seen
from a different angle. To complain that we cannot see it all is as
foolish as when the child is vexed because it cannot see the back of the
moon. And it seems to me that our duty is not to quarrel with others who
see things that we do not see, but to rejoice with them, if they will
allow us, and meanwhile to discern what is shown to us as faithfully as
we can."
The man heard me with a strange smile. "Yes," he said, "you are
certainly right, and I bless the goodness that sent you hither; but when
you are gone, I doubt that I shall fall back into my old perplexities,
and say to myself that though men may see different parts of the same
thing, they cannot see the same thing differently."
"I think," I said, "that even that is possible, because on earth things
are often mere symbols, and clothe themselves in material forms; and it
is the form which deludes us. I do not myself doubt that grace flows
into us by very different channels. We may not deny the claim of any one
to derive grace from any source or symbol that he can.
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