"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32
To a spiritual mind, sweet and self-rewarding is the task, if task it can be called, of searching the Word as for hidden treasure. No sweeter, no better employment can engage heart and hands than, in the spirit of prayer and meditation�of separation from the world�of holy fear�of a desire to know the will of God and do it�of humility, simplicity, and godly sincerity�to seek to enter into those heavenly mysteries which are stored up in the Scriptures�and this, not to furnish the head with notions, but to feed the soul with the bread of life.
Truth�received in the love and power of it, informs and
establishes the judgment, softens and melts the heart, warms and draws upward the affections, makes and keeps the conscience alive and tender�is the food of faith�is the strength of hope�is the main-spring of love. To know the truth is to be made blessedly free�free from error�free from the vile heresies which everywhere abound�free from presumption-- free from self righteousness --�free from the curse and bondage of the law -- free from the condemnation of a guilty conscience�free from a slavish fear of the opinion of men�free from the contempt of the world�free from the scorn of worldly professors�free from following a multitude to do evil�free from companionship with those who have a name to live, but are dead. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free!
