SERMON I. THE PRICE OF TRUTH. PROVERBS xxiii 23. Buy the truth. WHAT is truth? John xviii. 38. This question Pilate formerly put to Jesus Christ, and there are two things, my brethren, in the scripture account of this circumstance very surprizing. It seems strange that Jesus Christ should not answer Pilate's question; and it seems equally strange that Pilate should not repeat the question till he procured an answer from Jesus Christ. One principal design of the Son of God in becoming incarnate, was to dissipate the clouds with which the enemy of mankind had obscured the truth; to free it from the numberless errors, with which the spirit. of falshood had adulterated it among the miserable posterity of Adam; and to make the fluctuating conjectures of reason subside to the demonstrative evidence of revelation. Jesus Christ himself had just before said, to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth, ver. 37. yet here is a man lying in the dismal night of paganism; a man born in darkness, having no hope, and being without God in the world, Eph. v. 8. and ii. 12. here is a man, who from the bottom of that abyss in which he lies, implores the rays of that light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, John i. 9. and asks Jesus Christ, What is truth? And Jesus Christ refuseth to assist his enquiry, he doth not even condescend to answer this wise and interesting question. Is not this very astonishing? Is not this a kind of miracle? But if Jesus Christ's silence be surprizing, is it not equally astonishing that Pilate should not repeat the question, and VOL. II. C endeavour endeavour to persuade Jesus Christ to give him an answer. A man who had discovered the true grounds of the hatred of the Jews; a man who knew that the virtues of the illustrious convict had occasioned their accusations against him; a man who could not be ignorant of the fame of his miracles; a man who was obliged, as it were, to become the apologist of the supposed culprit before him, and to use this plea, I find in him no fault at all, which condemned the pleader, while it justified him for whose sake the plea was made; this man only glances at an opportunity of knowing the truth. He asks, What is truth? But it does not much signify to him, whether Jesus Christ answer the question or not. Is not this very astonishing? Is not this also a kind of miracle? My brethren, one of these wonders is the cause of the other, and if you consider them in connection, your astonishment will cease. On the one hand, Jesus Christ did not answer Pilate's question, because he saw plainly, that his iniquitous judge had not such an ardent love of truth, such a spitit of disinterestedness and vehement zeal as truth deserved. On the other, Pilate, who perhaps might have liked well enough to have known truth, if a simple wish could have obtained it, gave up the desire at the first silence of Jesus Christ. He did not thiuk truth deserved to be inquired after twice. The conduct of Jesus Christ to Pilate, and the conduct of Pilate to Jesus Christ, is repeated every day. Our assiduity at church, our attention to the voice of the servants of God, our attachment to the sacred books in which truth is deposited; all these dispositions, and all these steps in our conduct, are, in a manner, so many repetitions of Pilate's question, What is truth? What is moral truth? What is the doctrinal truth of a future state, of judgment, of hea ven, of hell? But how often, content with the putting of these questions, do we refuse the assiduous application of mind, that close attention of thought, which the answers to our questions would require? How often are we in pain, lest the light of the truth, that is shining around us, should force us to discover some objects, of which we choose to be ignorant. Jesus Christ, therefore, often leaves us to wander in our own miserable dark conjectures. Hence so many prejudices, hence so many erroneous opinions of religion and morality, hence so many dangerous delusions, which we cherish, even while they divert our attention from the great great end to which we ought to direct all our thoughts, designs, and views. I would fain shew you the road to truth to-day, my brethren; open to you the path that leads to it; and by motives taken from the grand advantages that attend the knowledge of it, animate you to walk in it. I. We will examine what it costs to know truth. Our text is buy the truth, and the title of our sermon shall be, the christian's logic. Doubtless, the greatest design that an immortal mind can revolve, is that of knowing truth ones self; and the design, which is next to the former in importance, and which surpasseth it in difficulty, is that of imparting it to others. But if a love of truth, if a desire of imparting it to a people, whom I bear always on my heart; if ardent prayers to the God of truth; if these dispo sitions can obtain the knowledge of truth, and the power of imparting it, we may venture to hope that we shall not preach in vain. May God himself crown our hopes with success! I. We are to inquire for the road that leads to truth; or, to use the ideas of our text, we are to tell you what it costs to know truth. Before we enter on this enquiry, it is necessary to determine what we mean by truth. If there be an equivocal word in the world, either in regard to human sciences, or in regard to religion, it is this word truth. But, not to enter into a metaphysical dissertation on the different ideas that are affixed to the term, we will content ourselves with indicating the ideas which we affix to it here. Truth ought not to be considered here as subsisting in a subject, independently on the reflections of an intelligence that considers it. I do not affirm that there is not a truth in every object which subsists, whether we attend to it or not: but I say, that in these phrases, to search truth, to love truth, to buy truth, the term is relative, and expresseth a harmony between the object and the mind that considers it, a conformity between the object and the idea we have of it. To search after truth, is to endeavour to obtain adequate ideas of the object of our reflections; and to buy truth, is to make all the sacrifices, which are necessary for the obtaining C 2 taining of such ideas as are proportional to the objects, of which our notions are the images. By truth, then, we mean an agreement between an object and our idea of it. But we may extend our meditation a little further. The term truth, taken in the sense we have now given it, is one of those abstract terms, the precise meaning of which can never be ascertained, without determining the object to which it is attributed. There is a truth in every art and science. There is a truth in the art of rising in the world; a certain choice of means, a certain dexterous application of circumstances; a certain promptitude at seizing an opportunity. The courtier buys this truth, by his assiduity at court, by his continual attention to the looks, the features, the gestures, the will, the whimsies, of his prince. The merchant buys this truth at the expence of his rest and his health; sometimes at the expence of his life, and often at that of his conscience and his salvation. In like manner, there is a truth in the sciences. A mathematician racks his invention, spends whole nights and days, suspends the most lawful pleasures, and the most natural inclinations to find the solution of a ́problem in a relation of figures, in a combination of numbers. These are not the truths which the wise man exhorts us to buy. They have their value, I own; but how seldom are they worth what they cost to obtain? What then is Solomon's idea? Doth he mean only the truths of religion, and the science of salvation? There, certainly, that which is truth by excellence, may be found; nor can it be bought too dear. I do not think, however, that it would comprehend the precise meaning of the wise man to understand by truth here the science of salvation alone. His expression is vague, it comprehends all truths, it offers to the mind a general idea, the idea of universal truth. Buy the truth. But what is this general idea of truth? What is universal truth? Does Solomon mean, that we should aim to obtain adequate ideas of all beings, that we should try to acquire the perfection of all arts, that we should comprehend the mỹsteries of all siences? Who is equal to this undertaking? It seems to me. my brethren, that when he exhorts 'us here to buy the truth, in this vague and indeterminate sense, he means to excite us to endeavour to acquire that happy disposition of mind, which makes us give to every question, that is proposed to us, the time and attention which it deserves; to each proof its evidence; to each difficulty its weight; weight; to every good its real value. He means to inspire us with that accuracy of discernment, that equity of judgment, which would enable us to consider a demonstration as demonstrative, and a probability as probable only, what is worthy of a great application as worthy of a great application, what deserves only a moderate love as worthy of only a moderate love, and what deserves an infinite esteem as worthy of an infinite esteem; and so on This, I think, my brethren, is the disposition of mind, with which Solomon means to inspire us. This, if I may be allowed to say so, is an aptness to universal truth. With this disposition, we may go as far in the attainment of particular truths, as the measure of the talents, which we have received of God, and the various circumstances, in which Providence hath placed us, will allow. Especially, by this disposition, we shall be convinced of this principle, to which Solomon's grand design was to conduct us; that the science of salvation is that, which, of all others, deserves the greatest application of our minds and hearts; and with this disposition we shall make immense advances in the science of salvation. But neither this universal truth, nor the disposition of mind, which conducts us to it, can be acquired without labour and sacrifice. They must be bought. Buy the truth. And, to confine myself to some distinct ideas, universal truth, or the disposition of mind, which leads to it, requires the sacrifice of dissipation; the sacrifice of indolence; the sacrifice of precipitancy of judgment; the sacrifice of prejudice; the sacrifice of obstinacy; the sacrifice of curiosity; the sacrifice of the passions. We comprise the matter in seven precepts. 6. Restrain your avidity of knowing. 7. In order to edify your mind, subdue your heart. This is the price, at which God hath put up this universal truth, and the disposition that leads to it. If you cannot *resolve on making all these sacrifices, you may, perhaps, arrive at some particular truth; but you can never obtain uni'versal truth. You may, perhaps, become famous mathematicians, or geometers, judicious critics, or celebrated officers; but you can never become real disciples of truth. 1. The |