November 1925
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
471 ■ 1
IIP
C o n t r i b u t e d A r t i c l e s
The Wa y to t he T ru th By David R. Breed, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Homiletics, Western Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in “The Biblical Review” For many years Dr. Breed has been a faithful student and teacher of the Bible, as well as a practical, level-headed man of God, as this message evidences. We commend it to our readers for their careful and prayerful reading and meditation
term “truth,” as used in this article, is limited its meaning to that truth which is associated ih personal salvation. No other truth is in nd, such as historical, scientific or philosoph ical, and.what is here said is not intended to apply to such truth in any sense. The truth which accompanies salvation is, however, broad and inclusive and is contemplated in its entire scope. It is not confined to the answer to the great question of the soul, “What must I do to be saved?” but is extended to all that is associated with it— the assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, perseverance in good deeds, consola tion in sorrow, courage under trial, purity, sobriety, and all virtues, together with those agencies and efforts by means of which these things are brought to others. What Is Truth? The truth in this broad sense engages the attention of thinking people today as it .has seldom done in religious history. ■ To many it is a very distracting and bewildering subject. Not to speak of the tremendous divergence between that which is held to be the truth by Christians and non-Christians, such as Jews, Mohammedans, and Bud dhists, there are very great—rand even fatal— differences between various classes, all of whom “profess and call them selves Christians.” In many cases their theories are mut ually destructive. . It is not merely that there are different ways of stating the same or cognate, truths, but there are positively antagonistic doctrines, which cannot be har monized. If those of the one class are true,- those of the other class are false. This occasions unusual confusion, perplexity, and dis tress. When in the very camp of the professed followers of Christ— nay, when in those segregated companies com monly called “denominations,” which owe their origin to very careful definition of the truth or truths accompanying salvation—-there have arisen such doctrinal disagreements, no wonder that many despair of the attempt to define' salva tion or to find the certain way to it, sorrowfully saying with Pilate of old, “What is truth?” Is there no way out of this perplexity? Must we leave the most important of all questions unanswered? By no means. We may learn the way to the truth and find it. We may be positively sure of its possession and enjoy a bountiful measure of satisfaction, in consequence. And all this not by a kind of ex parte evidence that convinces only ourselves while it does not commend itself to others, but by demon stration so clear, so positive, and so impartial that it appeals to all who will consider it. Henceforth there will be for
them unspeakable confidence and peace and the assurance of eternal salvation. By What Method? But this must be understood and conceded at the start by those who would find the way to the truth, that the way will not be found by any course of mere reasoning what soever. It is not discovered by learning, however great, nor by scholarship, however extensive, and exact. It never has been so’; it never will be so. The history of worldly wisdom from the beginning exhibits pitiable failures. The Apostle Paul (2 Tim. 3:7) speaks of some “ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” It. is a most pathetic statement. It implies that there are many earnest seekers after truth, who make it, indeed, the very business of their lives, who in the course of their search add much to their store of knowledge and even benefit mankind thereby, but whose discoveries mean while are only incidental because they fail to find the supreme object of their search. There are many such today, seekers after truth, enriching the whole intelligent world with much that is fresh and useful, but doomed to failure in this one thing-Sthe discovery of the truth. This is not to belittle learning and scholarship. No, indeed, not even in the attempt to find that which they can not' find. They do much to assist those who are seeking the truth in the right way. The old alchemists learned much in their fruitless quest, and modern chemistry is indebted to them. The old astrologers likewise made valuable con tributions to modern astronomy. And it is so with many students of today. They do not themselves “come to the knowledge of the truth,” but they are “learning” never theless, and so aiding those who do come. As we pass over some splendid highway in a swift automobile we see. those who are busy in constructing or repairing it. We are greatly indebted to them. They make our way smooth and straight and safe, though they themselves never reach the destina tion to which it leads. Even so our modern scholars pro mote the needs and ends of travelers on the King’s high way, though they cannot by scholarship alone conduct them to its terminus. How May the Truth Be Known? How then is the truth to be found? It is not “found” at all, in the sense in which this word is usually employed. The truth is revealed. It must be so, since it is never dis covered by the learning of the wisest men. But having been revealed, as it is claimed, how may it be certainly known to be the truth? (Continued on page 521)
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