[September 16th, 1866.]
By truth is meant that which sustains, which answers expectation; which never disappoints; which is and is ever found to be consistent with reality. Falsehood and error, on the other hand, is that which is empty, vain; which does not sustain; which disappoints; which does not correspond with the real.
The truth concerning the eternal world, its phenomena and its laws, is that which represents what really is, and what may be relied upon, and which when assumed as real never disappoints. So the truth concerning the internal world of mind is what corresponds to the phenomena and laws of that world, and which we can always safely assume and rely upon.
So the truth concerning God is that representation of his nature, attributes, mode of being and acting which corresponds with what he really is and does. And the truth concerning our moral and spiritual state, our relation to God, our delivery, the mode and condition of salvation, is what in all these matters is found worthy of confidence, which never disappoints.
Now, the proposition, “Thy word is truth,” is a very wide one. By the word of God is meant, or may be meant,
- Any revelation of God. A word is a revelation. It is an outward manifestation of thought. Anything, therefore, by which God reveals himself, his purposes, or any fact, is his word. In this sense the whole creation is an outspoken word of God. It reveals him. And all that it makes known of him, of his ways, his character, will or purposes is truth. It accords exactly with what God is, and what it legitimately teaches concerning him may, therefore, be relied upon with implicit confidence.
The external world is not a phantasm, an empty show. It is not delusive, but is what it reveals itself to be, and never disappoints those who rely upon its teachings.
The foundation of this reality, the reason why the world, as the word of God, is thus real and reliable, is because it is his word. It must be studied as his word.
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By the word of God is often meant in the Scriptures, any particular declaration, whether a promise, a threatening, or revelation of what is, or is to be.
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It means the revelation concerning God and divine things contained in the Scriptures. In that sense the proposition “Thy word is truth” is equivalent to, the Scriptures are true; all they teach concerning God, man, his character and state, his relation to God, concerning the person and work of Christ, the plan of salvation, the future life, and the future state of the Church, is true. Everything conforms to what is real. Everything may be confidently relied upon. Nothing will ever disappoint legitimate expectation. Those who assume the Scriptures to be true and act upon them will attain the end they promise. Those who assume that what they teach is false and act accordingly, will find their mistake.
Now, 1. It is an unspeakable blessing to know what is truth, and where it may be found. This is the great pursuit. Men seek it here and there, but it is found only in God and his word, in all the senses mentioned.
- It is also an unspeakable blessing not only to know where truth may be found, but to have it made accessible to us. If we seek it ourselves in reason, in consciousness, in the wisdom and teaching of men, the history of the race, we shall be disappointed. All who seek truth elsewhere than in the word of God (and especially the Scriptures) will and must be in doubt, darkness and error.
Hence we have an immovable and everlasting foundation.