One of those things, which are
unfavorable to sound judgment, is an undue eagerness, a precipitancy of
spirit, which looks earnestly and interestedly to the end without a
suitable consideration of the intermediate steps; a state of mind, which
the French spiritual writers happily denominate by the single term, “empressement.” Christian faith not only removes that undue excitement, which has
already been mentioned, and which may arise from a variety of causes;
but is also, as it seems to us, the best and only sure corrective of
this unseemly and dangerous urgency; this ZEAL of NATURE, if we may so
designate it, in distinction from the pure and calm zeal of grace.
The
truth is hidden in God; IN him, OF him, and FROM him; in him because God is true; of him, because all things that come from God are characterized as they come from his hand by being made in the truth; from
him, because all beings that desire and seek the truth, must look to
him for it. To the truth, therefore, God can never be indifferent;
neither to its nature, nor its dissemination, nor its results. And he,
who has faith in God as the source of light to all that seek light, as
the giver of truth to all that humbly seek the truth, will find no
difficulty in being patient, in delaying his conclusions when there is a
want of adequate evidence, in reflecting, comparing, and praying for
divine guidance. The perceptive and judging powers, exercised under such
circumstances, can hardly fail to ascertain the truth. Not the absolute
truth always, which implies a knowledge of all possible facts and
relations; in other words, not the whole or all possible truth always;
but the TRUTH; that kind of truth and that degree of truth, be it more
or less, which God in his beneficence and wisdom sees to be precisely
fitted to our intellectual capacities and our moral wants; that truth,
which the Savior declared to those who believed on him, should make them
free. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which BELIEVED on him, If ye
continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31, 32.
— From The Life of Faith, Part 2, Chapter 10.