Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-02
THE PATHS TO TRUTH.
Research, Reason and Reliance Are
the Only Ones We Have.
FEW CAN FOLLOW THE FIRST TWO.
Reliance Upon Specialists is the Way fol
the Great Majority.
APPLICATION Of THIS TO RELIGION


Whoever desires to know the truth will
find it out, or come as near to it as he can,
along one of three paths. He will be con-
vinced by independent research; or he will
be convinced by the reasonings of people for
whose wisdom he has respect, whose charac-
ter he has regard for, aud whose arguments
find" him; or he will be convinced with
out any persuasion of argument by au-
thority, being satisfied to take the simple
three words which may serve in rough
way to mark out the three roads are re-
| search, reason and reliance.
| Of these three paths to truth, the first
| is so steep and strait that few can travel it.
| To learn the truth by dint of independent
| seeking ior 1t, requires strength of mind
| and wIdeness and accuracy of in ormation,
and thoroughness of mental training, and
a persistence in intellectual labor such as
few men in any generation are capable Of
Suppose that the matter in hand is the
| determining of the authenticity of the Sec
ond gospel. We want to know whether st.
Mark really wrote that gospel or not, and
| at what date it was written, and how and in
what condition OF preservation it has come
| down to us, and how accurate a record it is
| IN its present shape, of what Christ said and
did. These are questions which cannot be
| DISPOSED OF oFF-HAND
| nor replied to out of ones stores of general
| information.' To answer them we must
know something about Greek and about
Greek manuscripts and about the conditions
under which ancient manuscripts of such
| date are transmitted to modern times; we
| must know about the history of the manu-
scripts OF this gospel as far back as they can
be traced; we must find out what references
there are to st. Mark and his gospel in the
Christian writings OF the centuries nearest
to the days of Christ. All these points must
be looked up, and dozen others equally i'm
portant and equally involving an acquaint-
ance with technical and difficult knowledge,
and an ability to weigh evidence.
A man without experience might as we'll
undertake to transform pig OF metal into a
steel rail, as to determine by his own inde
pendent investigation the authenticity of
single book of the Bible. These matters be-
long to the experts. It is for them to say
"yes' and mo- in decisions of this kind.
This is but a small and inadequate illus
tration of what is involved in an independ-
ent investigation of the grounds OF the
Christian faith. 1t is perfectly plain that
not one man in a thousand has the time,
the means, or the ability to conduct such an
investigation. 1t is not likely, then, that
many OF US will get at truth along that
path.
THE SECOND PATH.
Most of us will have to he content to take
the second path, and to study the conclu-
sions which the men who make the indie
pendent investigations arrive at. They
make their examination, and tell us what
they learn, and what they think about it,
and upon these grounds they try to convince
us that this teaching is the truth, and that
that teaching is not the truth. The men who
make the Independent investigations do
not always quite agree. They are not
of one mind as to what the trnth is.
And SO we have to use our reason. Some
times we have to wait, with judgment sus-
pended, until tine facts are decided. Some
times we have to choose for ourselves be-
tween two or three or half dozen different
interpretations of the facts. We listen to
the scholars, and then we make up our own
minds. Even this takes good deal OF
intellectual strength, and cannot be done
without some aptitude for study, some men
tai training, and some hard and continuous
thinking.
1t is sometimes taken for granted that
almost anybody is fitted to pronounce upon
the problems of Christian theology. But
"Why, God has given us reason; surely He
means that We should use it; surely He
must have put truth within the intellectual
reach of man." And we may believe that
with all our hearts. The whole experience
of the race shows plainly that God has
given reason to man, and has put within the
reach of the reason of the dulIest human
being all the truth which that human being
really needs to know.
THE REACH FOR TRUTH.
But the experience of the race shows lust
as evidently that there are very few truths
indeed which God has set so close to man
that he does not need to reach after them at
all; and that century by century man has
from the beginning been putting his hand
upon new truth, which the strength in
herited from the past has enabled him to
reach; and that in every generation there
are some truths set so high that only the
tallest can touch them, and that only after
some stout climbing; and that there are
truths to-day which are still beyond the
reach of most of US. They are there and
they are true, but We cannot touch them
now. If we had but to do little easv and
superficial thinking, ard all the truths
which hang like fruit upon the tree OF life
would forthwith tumble into our hands,
there would be an end to the intellectual
growth of men. There would be no need for
growing.
So say that even the second path to truth
is impossible to a good many of us. 1t is
very well to say ''Use your reason;" but
great many people here have not reason
enough, or have not trained it enough, to be
able to decide for themselves when the
theological doctors disagree. One says,
'This is the truth, and another contradicts,
saying, mo, but this is the truth" and we
are perplexed. We have started out along
the way to truth, and here is a place where
two roads meet, and We know not which to
take.
THE THIRD PATH.
The fact is that for the majority of people
the way to truth is along the third path-the
path OF authority. The ideal condition of
things would be world in which every in
habtant would be so intellectually and
spiritually gifted that he could see tor him.
self straight into truths heart. And a most
salts factory condition of things would be
world in which every man and woman would
know at least so much that they could take
the facts which wiser heads might find ont,
and interpret them in exactly the right way,
and so arrive at truth.
But in this real world in which we live,
things are not in this ideal nor even in this
satisfactory, condition. We will have to
confess that the most of us believe what
somebody, whom we think wiser than we
are, believes. That is what is meant by
authority in the acceptance of truth. And
that is the common road. That is the
peoples intellectual thoroughfare. Whether
in science, or in history, or in geography, or
in astronomy, or in mathematics, or in met
aphysics, or in theology, we are all the time
accepting the statements of authority.
We have our work to do, and our busy
lives to live, and we have not the time, even
if we had the training, to give ourselves to