BY A. SWEDBERG.
TRUTH is conformity to facts. God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is the great originator of all truth. Satan, on the other hand, in whom was found the first guile, is the originator of all deceit and falsehood. Truth is light; falsehood is darkness. And these two powers, if we may so designate them, have been in constant war against each other, and will so continue until the final restitution, when the former shall get a full victory over the latter, striking it forever out of existence in the universe of God. Then shall truth reign supreme, shedding its glorious rays all through the immensity of nature.
The clear and precious light of truth is brought to a focal point in the Holy Bible, whence it again reflects its diverging rays of pure and undefiled religion. But this light is not always seen in its pureness and brightness, because man is not willing to behold it with his natural eyes, but has contrived spectacles of different colors, and these he puts on when he wants to examine the rays of light emerging from the Scriptures. Hence he sees the light in a color similar to that of the glasses he wears. Oh that all men would lay these spectacles aside; in other words, leave all doctrinal creeds and selfish bias out of question, and look at the truth of God in its pure and un-perverted light.
Again, the truth of God is a grand fountain, sending forth a beautiful stream of crystal water, which flows down the even slope of time toward the end. When the water issues from the spring, it is clear and pure; but as it flows along in its course, the transparent stream mingles here and there with tributaries whose waters are discolored by minerals of different kinds; and as these side streams empty their dark and muddy waters into the fountain stream, its water becomes still more changed in color, until finally it is entirely unlike the water at the fountain, where it bubbles up in its clearness and freshness.
Now notice the comparison. The Bible is the fountain, the side-streams that flow into and discolor the fountain stream are the different doctrinal creeds invented by man. As these mingle their waters with the pure and clear water from the fountain, its stream gradually becomes discolored, and fraught with foreign elements. So when doctrinal creeds and traditions are poured into the pure truth, it becomes so, fraught with these foreign elements, that it no longer appears clear and consistent. Most men get their faith below the fountain, where it is more or less impure; hence it seems to vary in taste and color, and the only way to tell whose bucket has pure water in it, is to go at once and compare it with the fountain. And even then men will sometimes contend that though the water looks like that in the fountain, yet it could not have come from there, or some one else would have known it before; and then the only way to convince them is to go to the fountain head, and trace the stream directly down, thereby showing not only that the Scriptures teach certain doctrines, but also that the church for ages past has believed in them and rejoiced in them, until it became perverted by the false doctrines and superstitions of theDark Ages.
My friend, how do you look at the Scriptures? Do you let the clear light become discolored to your eye by looking at it through spectacles of denominational creed ? Where did you get your bucket of water ? Did you get it way, way down the stream ? and if so, are you sure it is like the water at the fountain head ? Have you compared your belief with the great fountain of truth, the Bible ? If not, I pray you remove your spectacles of denominational creed just long enough to behold with your natural eyes the beautiful harmony and consistency in divine truth. You will then learn to love and adore it and to live it out in your daily life. Take, I beseech of you, your bucket of water to the fountain, and make a careful analysis of the two, and then you may know whether you have the truth or not; for God’s Holy Word is Truth. John 17:17.
The Present Truth Vol. 1 Num. 7 Nov. 1884