FRUITS A TEST OF SYSTEMS.

BY R. S. FOSTER, D. D.,

METHODIST E. CHURCH, AND PRESIDENT OF THE NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.-Matthew, vii, 20.

The history of the human mind is a history of struggle and doubt. Goaded on to ceaseless effort by the insatiable thirst of knowledge, yet ever beset with mystery, it is always essaying, never satisfied; forever asking what is truth, never content with the answer. Time furnishes no spectacle of equal sublimity with this huge, agonizing, ages-enduring endeavor; the grand and imposing results in material achievements become insignificant in the comparison. The forms carved in stone, and the structures built out of it, curious combinations of matter in the department of mechanic arts and inventions, and the subjugation of material forces to the useful purposes of life, are, to be sure, great and noble exponents of human power; but it is to the moral department, in the pursuit of the unknown, in the struggle with doubt, in the unyielding and restless impatience of mystery, in the deathless pertinacity of determination, in which all the great minds of the earth have been exercised—the fathers dying unsuccessful, transmitting the heritage to the sons-it is here that humanity stands forth in its utmost sublimity; the sublimity of persistent toil, amid all defeat; of continued hope, amid all discouragement; of united aim, despite antagonizing measures; of sea-wide and world-enduring pursuit, in the face of all failures; the sublimity of mind warring against limitation, overwhelmed and driven back in every onset, yet emerging from every new defeat with more unconquerable purpose, and hastening to the conflict with augmented heroism. Here contended and here were defeated the Attic sages; here are the tombs of their Latin disciples; here rallied the elder

and later champions of the orient, and here are their sepulchres; here, in a later day, and on to our time, assembled and contended the occidental savans, and here are their new-made graves. And yet the effort is continued.

It will never end. Each age, on through time, will repeat it. Eternity-who dare say what lies in that abyss of mystery? Shall the finite ever come to the infinite, and so the sublime struggle cease, or shall the separating gulf remain, and the awful agony progress, deepening forever, as the profounder questions are disclosed, and more august problems are brought to view? The utmost possible to the finite, perhaps, is to push out the boundaries of thought, widening the sphere of certitude, but never reaching the limits of truth; a progress which, in some sense, is no progress, as the limited, however extended, approximates not at all to the unlimited. After all attainable knowledge, the infinite will still remain unknown, and doubt and mystery still hover around the dim, distant horizon of thought, beckoning on the ever-thirsting, ever-restless mind. There, amid those awful shades, dwells the infinite. There is the realm of faith; the realm where, the light of reason failing, the finite must bow to the infinite, and receive upon authority what it has, unaided, no means of verifying or power of comprehending; the realm where much that is matter of faith now, will, as the finite expands, become matter of knowledge hereafter.

But is there no means of certitude here, and now? Must we be baffled forever? Are there no tests by which we can know the truth, and be delivered from the thraldom of doubt? With what agony every thoughtful mind has repeated the question for the thousandth time! The answer is, yes; no. Which, yes or no, depends upon the subject. Many questions lie wholly in the realm of the unknown and unthinkable; upon them, ingenious minds may speculate forever, and attain no nearer to certitude; amid these unintelligibles are the battle-grounds of the philosophers-have been, and will be for ages to come. All practical subjects allow of certitude; but even here, certainty is not always the result of the mind's unaided action. We believe upon authority; we are certain that we have the truth; not because we distinctly know the truth itself, but because we are assured of the entire reliability of the authority upon which we receive it.

But how may we know amid so many conflicting authorities, what

is truth? One says, lo! here; another, lo! there. Whom shall we follow ?

Distracted inquirer, are you honest? Would you find the truth? Are you perplexed whom to follow, and anxious lest you go astray? Hear the words of Jesus; he suggests a test to you; one which the most unskillful may apply, and which is infallible.

The method is short and practical: "By their fruits ye shall know them."

There are other tests-this is the most available and simple. Philosophy is useful-there are ultimate criteria of truth; but this is the sum of all. "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." The labyrinths of evidence may be too intricate; the import of doctrines too obscure, too profound; truth too inaccessible for the common mind. This rule lies level with the feeblest capacity. The scheme may not be understood-the theory may be incomprehensible; the fruit is patent.

Wisely did the great Master supply His disciples with this easy and infallible test. It is our wisdom, amid all the confusion and uncertainty of debate and polemical strife, to remember it. Under the blinding influence of passion, and beset with the weaknesses of finite and limited powers, our logic often limps, and our reason turns to unreason; but "grapes do never grow upon thorns, nor figs upon thistles."

We do not ignore reason, nor deny it its appropriate place in the investigation of truth; we would not prejudice its full and free play; but we insist that reason is never more reason, never more like itself, than when, whatever other rule it employs on moral questions, it falls back upon that which is furnished here as primary and ulti

mate.

No evidence can show that to be truth whose legitimate working is evil, nor the opposite. Honoring, and holding in the highest estimation, then, all the kinds and variety of evidence by which mind is led to moral truth, and especially joying in the fullness and abundance of that proof which God has been pleased to array in support of His own revelation; proof comprising a long line of most illustrious prophecies, with innumerable miracles the most brilliant and indubitable, alike the utterances of a supernatural and divine agent; proof interwoven with the entire chain of human history, and

overspreading the whole scope of the race; proof internal and external, beaming on its pages and inscribed on monuments, speaking from the earth and the heaven; proof which for variety and fullness has never been equalled in any other case; rejoicing, as we do in the wisdom and goodness of God, which in this has left all men without excuse to whom His revelation comes, we yet turn away from all others, to this one proof for the present-the proof arising from the fruits of the system.

Let us proceed, then, to apply this test principle to the various systems propounded by men, and inviting the acceptance of their fellows.

By fruits, is meant effects; effects produced by the system in the minds and in the external lives of those who come within its influence; effects extending from the individual to society; all the ef fects resulting from the system, upon the inward and outward life of individuals and communities.

It is postulated that truth is good; that it is good working and benign; that, so far as it characterizes a system, the system will have a tendency to make men wiser and purer and happier, to diminish the evils and multiply the blessings of society, to improve individual character, to elevate the masses, to ameliorate the asperities of life, to invigorate mind with high and noble aims, and in every possible way to sweeten and sanctify all relations, and render the earth, what it was designed to be, the sanctuary of virtue, the abode of happiness, and the ante-chamber of heaven. Any system producing such effects is shown to be good, and of God; it is the good tree attested by its precious fruits. Any system or separate idea tending in the opposite direction must be condemned as evil, and as emanating from the father of lies, whose impress it bears.

But obvious as the principle is, and easy of application, some precaution may be needed in its use.

No series of ideas, related as a system of doctrines, that has ever yet been conceived by man, is either wholly true, or wholly false. In the best, there are some traces of human imperfection; in the most vicious, there is some truth. The same is true of their effects. Even the divine system, which is perfect in itself, is never so in the finite conception. Hence, the extent to which the principle can apply is to show the general character of the system, condemning or approving it as a whole, and not in every minute part. Minute

differences may exist between systems of the same general complexion, and harmony on inferior grounds between those fundamentally adverse. It results that the elements of truth are not so directly attested separately, if indeed they are attested at all, by the effects flowing from systems, as the general system itself.

A further precaution required is, that as each minute element of doctrine is not verified by the effects of several related doctrines, so a system is not to be adjudged by some single effect which seems to flow from it, or by several unusual effects. A good and wholesome law, impinging on a vicious state of society, or, simply, the publication of a most humane and beautiful sentiment, may become the occasion of alarming riots and bloodshed; the proclamation of liberty may instigate rebellion against oppressive thrones; the coming of Christ, and His benign ministries, may evoke the instruments of cruel and inhuman persecutions; these incidental results may not, therefore, be attributed to their several antecedents, as their legitimate effects, but must rather be traced to the malignant resistance of deep-seated evils.

Again, as a system of doctrine is not to be judged by some accidental effect, so neither is it responsible for its abuse or misapplication or perversion. If zeal without knowledge lead to persecution, it will not prove that it is bad to be zealously affected for a good thing; if much learning sometimes puffeth up and engendereth vain disputings, it will not invalidate the truth that knowledge is to be desired, or that for the soul to be without knowledge is an evil; if charity at times extenuates wrong, and withholds the punishment that is due, thereby endangering the well-being of the innocent, it will not show that it is not better than all burnt sacrifices; if, because of the long-suffering of God, the hearts of the sons of men are often set in them to do evil, it will not show that mercy can have no place in the bosom of Divinity.

Finally, a system must not be supposed always to be represented by the character of its expounders and defenders, or its effects be judged of by either their follies or virtues. A good cause may have the misfortune to have bad advocates, and most ruinous falsehood receive, through ignorance, the support of good and virtuous adherents. The doctrines of Jesus will suffer no tarnish by the avarice and treachery of Iscariot; though the devil, as an angel of light, should preach remission of sins through the crucified, it would be