Christian Theology - Media Sabda Org

e very wise in secular matters, and know but little of himself, and less
of his God. There is as truly a learned ignorance as there is a refined and
useful learning. One of our old writers said, "Knowledge that is not
applying is like a candle which a man holds to light himself to hell." The
Corinthians abounded in knowledge, and science, and eloquence, and
various extraordinary gifts; but in many cases they were grossly ignorant
of the genius and design of the gospel. Many since their time have put
words and observances in place of the weightier matters of the law, and
the spirit of the gospel. The apostle has taken great pains to correct these
abuses among the Corinthians, and to insist on that great, unchangeable,
and eternal truth,—that love to God and man, filling the heart, hallowing
the passions, regulating the affections, and producing universal
benevolence and beneficence, is the fulfilling of all law; and that all
professions, knowledge, gifts, &c., without this, are absolutely useless.
Truth is so amiable and important in every department of knowledge,
that no pains should be spared to acquire it. It is not only excellent in its
source, but also in the last faint glimmerings of its farthest projected rays:
to whatever distance these have shone forth, and however intermixed,
they should, if possible, be analyzed, and traced back to their origin.
Truth is the contrary to falsity. Truth has been defined, "the conformity
of notions to things; of words to thoughts." It declares the thing that is,
and as it is; whereas falsity, in all its acceptations, is that which is not;
what is pretended to be a fact, but either is no fact, or is not presented as
it really is. The revelation of God to man, in reference to his salvation, is
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It bears a strict
conformity to the perfections of the divine nature. It inspires such notions
as are conformable to the things of which they are the mental ectypes, and
describes its subjects by such words as are conformable to the thoughts
they represent.
Every Christian should study philosophy, as from it he will more
evidently discover, 1. That he who is so fearfully and wonderfully made,
so marvellously preserved, and so bountifully fed, should give up