THE solemn question, "What is truth?" propounded by the perplexed Pontius Pilate on that morning when, had he been sufficiently spiritually-minded to divine it, he would have realized that the representative of Truth was standing before him, has continued ever since to exercise human thought, and never more so than to-day. Despite the superficiality of mortal beliefs, serious thinkers are feeling more insistently than ever before the necessity for an explanation of the cosmos and of its ultimate meaning. Voltaire once wrote that "the discovery of what is true, and the practice of what is good, are the two most important objects of philosophy;" and, assuredly, all those who are endeavoring to know and to serve God aright will be in full agreement with him.
The difficulty is to know how to distinguish between the true and the false; what test to apply to the varied philosophies and theories wherewith the world is flooded. Even in primitive Christian times it was found necessary to admonish the Hebrews not to be "carried about with divers and strange doctrines." With his knowledge of human nature, the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews recognized the tendency of mortals to indulge in the excitement of running after new things and to accept as true even uncertain speculations. This tendency is still evident, showing that the human mind is ready to believe what it wishes to believe, and to elaborate its own reasons for doing so.
Mankind is reaching out for the truth, and, because righteous desire is prayer which finds acceptance, is being led to discern where Truth is to be found. But error now, as in Jesus' day, makes strenuous efforts to deny or to becloud the truth. When the persecutors of the Way-shower, who proclaimed it as his mission to make known the truth, crucified him, they imagined that with him they had effectually killed his teachings, which, because they were true, occasioned so much discomfort to thought that desired to abide in error. But though it may be temporarily stifled, Truth can never be destroyed; and to-day, whether we are willing to practice them or not, the teachings of our great Master are now accepted by Christendom as a compendium of the truth.
