Enquire . . . Search . . . Ask . . . Ascertain

Dr. Mclean tells how he was rebuked and humbled on a certain occasion when he repeated a grave matter he had heard to a friend. His friend opened his Bible to Deuteronomy 13:14 and read: “[If you hear] . . . then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you. . . .”

Then his friend turned quietly to him and asked: “Have you, dear brother, enquired? Have you “made search?”

“Did you “ask diligently?”

“Did you try and find out if the story is true?

“And is the thing “certain?”

“Is it certain that ‘such abomination is wrought among you?’ ”

Dr. Mclean says he could only acknowledge regretfully that he had not fulfilled any one condition and was repeating the tale from hearsay without making the slightest attempt to act thereon in a Scriptural way.
~ Watchman – Examiner