Throughout the ages mankind's search for wisdom has been of a very determined nature. No stone has been left unturned, no channel of approach unexplored. Natural scientists, philosophers, historians, and theologians alike have given and continue to give of their very best to the search for wisdom. And yet how limited or lacking are the results of it all; how far, how very far, from satisfying the yearnings of the heart! In spite of the amazing accomplishments of natural science, in spite of all the discoveries and advances of materia medica, in spite of the theories of philosophers, theologians, and great thinkers down the course of history, men are only too well aware of the fact that the real needs, the innermost yearnings of the human heart, are still very far from being satisfied.
However, this honest devotion of thought to a noble purpose must, of necessity, receive its reward. Purity of motive cannot meet with ultimate failure. But where must we seek for the answer to this question? Is there none in history who has given clear proof of a wisdom higher and more instantly effective than the wisdom of this world? Is wisdom a matter of chance? Or is it true to say that this world has an Exemplar, a Way shower, to follow? Surely the answer to all these questionings is to be found in the Bible. What clearer direction could we have than the one given in these gentle words of Christ Jesus: "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"? Here is a promise and a command. If we hold fast to his teachings—his wisdom or understanding of God—then are we truly his disciples, and we shall know the truth and the truth shall, of necessity, make us utterly free.
The wisdom of Christ Jesus, the truth of which he was conscious, was obviously higher and more instantly effective than the wisdom of the doctors and learned men of that time. Is it not true to say that, to the leper who besought him, and who was bound by certain beliefs about disease, Jesus replied by invoking God's beautiful law, saying, "I will; be thou clean"? Again, Jesus applied the law of God, which set at naught the so-called laws of matter. He walked on the water; he stilled the tempest; he took the boat across the lake in a moment of time.
