Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1915-06-30
BY DIVINE COMMAND
All Must Seek the Truth, But
Stern Prohibition Is
"SeII 1t Notw

The commodity which is the most
important to purchase is truth, and
It is the one above all others that
should never be sold. 1t should be
obtained, however much we are called
upon to pay for it, and never bartered
away at any price that may be Of
fered.
1t Is a significant fact that the
truth cannot be bought from those
who have it for sale. The mercenary
preacher, teacher or public speaker
WHO suppresses the truth by uttering
smooth things to please men, are
selling the truth for the supposed
gain of popularity, but we do not OBJ
tain the truth from them.
There is a mart Of truth. God Is!
truths and from him alone In the rev.
elations he has made Is this greatest
Of all commodities to be secured. In a
very important sense, we have to buy
the truth.
There is no such thing as getting
something for nothing. If we do not
pay for the thing ourselves, others
have paia FOR us. We may inherit
that for which we did not labor, but
others have labored for 1t. Every
thing of great value Is bought at
great price, and there Is nothing OF
greater value than truth.
No Price Too High to Pay.
We must buy Il; that Is, we must
be willing to give up anything or
everything else for 1t. 1t is cheap at
any price. Whatever 1t costs there Is
never occasion to repent or be sorry
Of the bargain. No specific price is
fixed for lit can never be too dear.
Money alone will not buy 1t, but
money expended for education and
the gaining Of knowledge is a means
by which truth Is bought. All the
pains and labors endured in searching
after truth; an losses suffered in tenn
poral interests by refusal to deny or
neglect the truth, are payments in
purchase Of the truth 1t Is a pearl of
such great price that every one should
be willing to sell all that he has in
order to buy it. And having obtained
it, he must not sell it.
The divine prohibition is, "Sell 1t
not"
The human prol1ibitory laws are d.
rected against the sale of things that
are Injurious and harmful. And all
such things should neither be sold nor
bought. In the divine law sale is for
hidden of the commodity that Is the
most beneficial and helpful.
All should buy and none should
sell. 1t is a possession of such tran
scendent value that the owner should
never part with it. 1t may be i'm
parted and yet still retained. 1t is
kept If it Is given away. To teach
knowledge to others does not lessen
but increases our own knowledge.
To sell the truth is to part with 1t
entirely without getting value re-
ceived.
There are many who sell the truth
for the honors. riches and pleasures
of the world. They make bad bar
gain. The wealth of honor fades, the
riches take wings and fly away and
the pleasures lose their exhilaration
and charm.
Truth is eternal, and it has no
equivalent or substitute for which it
can be bartered. Everything is value
less when contrasted with truth. Life
itself is not an equivalent for it. A
seeming paradox is that truth may
be bought. and yet there is no equiya-
lent for which it may be sold.
Buy the truth and sell it not"
Truth is bought with the currency
of heaven, and it has no sale in that
realm. If sold at all it must be paid
for in the currency of earth. The
combined wealth of the world is not
equal in value to truth, therefore sell
it not"
Prohibition Ever In Force.
The prohibition against It's sale has
been in force from the beginning.
Our first parents sold the truth for
a taste OF forbidden fruit, and their
sad bargain entailed upon themselves
and their posterity the appalling loss
of Eden and all the peace, comfort
and hope that possession meant to
them and to the human race.
The prohibition against the sale Of
truth has ever remained In force.
1t is an unrepealable statute of the
divine law.
Cain sold the truth for the fruits
Of revenge. For his parting with the
great truth of brotherhood he received
In exchange the curse of the fugitive