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XVII - THE VITALITY OF GOD'S TRUTH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2010

Henry Ward Beecher
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Summary

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

—Isa. lv: 8–11.

These are imperial words. They befit the majesty of the universal supreme government. The word of God is the truth of God. His will is declared in various ways among and to men. Inspired speech sometimes declares it. The laws that are framed declare the thoughts of God, and are substantially his speech. Nature, if rightly apprehended and interpreted, is the speech of God. Experience, when sufficiently guarded and sifted, so that its full form may be fairly known, is also a word of God. Whatever we find out to be true is God's truth, whether in the highest or in the lowest spheres. All the truths which relate to men and society may be said to be superior truths.

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Evolution and Religion , pp. 423 - 440
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009
First published in: 1885

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