Bible Truths Illustrated by J. C. Ferdinand Pittman

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BIBLE TRUTHS ILLUSTRATED
Our Lord shows that it does matter, and that indifference to
revealed truth is sinful, for all could know the truth if they
sought for it.
Jesus said : "To this end have I been born, and to this end
am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the
truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice" (John
18:37). "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide
you into all the truth" (John 16: 13). "If ye abide in my word,
then are ye truly my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31, 32). "Sanctify them
in the truth: thy word is truth" (John 17: 17).
There is no nobler pursuit than that of truth. Our Lord
shows that it is worth searching for and maintaining. We should
"buy the truth, and sell it not" (Prov. 23:23), having great
faith in the power of truth to convince the world.
To speak the "truth in love" is the best means in striving
to win the world to Christ. Truth and love should go hand in
hand as the two most powerful agencies for good. The one is
useless without the other. This is frequently overlooked by
those who never do anything except to try to floor heretics
they delight in dealing sledge-hammer blows upon those who
differ from them; they never give such the slightest credit for
sincerity ; their work is ineffective ; they win no victories,
because truth goes to battle without its powerful ally of love.
The best way to oppose error is to lovingly and simply speak
the truth. It will do its work.
877. We talk much of toleration. If we mean by that a
generous sympathy with the different forms of opinion, then it
is Christian. If toleration means compassion for frailty and a
willingness ever to make a distinction between tempted weakness
and deliberate evil, then toleration is nothing more than
another name for the mind of Christ. But if it mean that we
are to reckon one form of opinion as good as another, and look
upon sin merely as a disease against which we cannot feel indignation,
then most unquestionably Christianity has in it no toleration.
. . . The
price of being true is the cross. The warrior of
the truth must not expect success. What have we to do with
popularity? Sow for it, and you will have it. But if you wish
for it, or wish for peace, you have mistaken your calling—you
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