ST. JOHN XVIII. 37, 38 321
(3) Pilate was surprised and Judged hy the truth. — He found himself unexpectedly confronted by the truth, and he could not recognise it. His whole life long he had tampered with truth, he had despised truth, he had despaired of truth. Truth was the last thing that He had set before him as the aim of his life. He had thought much of policy, of artifice, of fraud, of force ; but for truth in any of its manifold forms he had cared just nothing at all. And his sin had worked out its own retribution. Not truth only, but the Very Truth itself, Truth Incarnate stood before him in human form, and he was blind to it. He scorned it, he played with it, he thrust it aside, he condemned and he crucified it. " Suffered under Pontius Pilate " is the legend of eternal infamy with which history has branded his name.
2. Those who are in sympathy with the truth will pay it homage. A very good illustration of this will be found in the methods of scientific inquiry as it is now prosecuted. For the man of science seeks nothing in his researches into nature but simply to discover the truth. For this purpose he toils, working hard by day, and watching long by night, if that should be need- ful. He spares no pains to verify his facts and observations. He multiplies experiments to rectify possible errors. If these show that he was before on a wrong track, he gives it up, and follows the line suggested by the later results of his inquiries ; for his object is not to establish a foregone conclusion, but simply to find out the truth. That truth, when he finds it, may startle many folk, may unsettle former opinions, may seriously affect many interests and recognized authorities. He cannot help that. It is his business simply to find what the facts are and what they plainly teach ; and when he has done that he says : " There is the truth, and that is the way by which I reached it, step by step. As for all else, I have nothing to do with it whatever. A lie has no vested interests that I can respect: nor will any authority make it anything but a lie. Truth, too, is always, in the long run, wholesome and best for all. And if this be true it is at your peril that you reject it. Be sure that, in so doing, you shall be the losers." Thus, in his own province, he seeks the truth diligently and fearlessly ; and one of the noblest results of his researches is the state of mind which he thus helps to produce, with its loyalty
ST. JOHN (2) — 21
322 THE KINGDOM OF TRUTH
and courage and persistent love of truth. Out of his own province, indeed, he is often very much like other men, hasty, not over care- ful about his facts, and jumping to ill-considered conclusions. But in prosecuting his proper work, his methods and his spirit afford a good illustration of what it is to be sincerely " of the truth."
^ " I say," broke in one of the boys, who was just emerging from the tenderfoot stage, " o' course that's in the Bible, ain't it ? "
The Pilot assented.
" Well, how do you know it's true ? "
The Pilot was proceeding to elaborate his argument when Bill cut in somewhat more abruptly than was his wont.
" Look here, young feller ! " Bill's voice was in the tone of command. The man looked as he was bid. " How do you know anything's true ? How do you know the Pilot here's true when he speaks ? Can't you tell by the feel ? You know by the sound of his voice, don't you ? " ^
(1) Sometimes the truth comes to us at once. It dawns upon us, shines on us, without any conscious effort of our own or immediate seeking on our part :
Think ye 'mid all this mighty sum
Of things for ever speaking. That nothing of itself will come,
But we must still be seeking?
This is intuition: but it does not come miraculously; there has been a long preparation for it in the race and often also in the individual. There are other truths that have to be long and earnestly sought for, in the quest of which all our intellectual powers must be employed, and the endeavour strenuously made to free the mind from all personal bias and unwillingness to believe. We often go without the truth because we are too indolent or indifferent to seek it earnestly, or because we are prejudiced against it and unwilling to receive it. There is certainly a moral element involved in the search for and the reception of truth. We have ears that hear not and eyes that see not. Truth reveals itself to those who love it ; it comes to those who will give it a home.
(2) And sometimes we reach it gradually. In ascending
^ Ealph Connor, The Sky Pilot, ch. xxi.
ST. JOHN XVIII. ^y, 38 323
the mountains of Switzerland, the climber begins his journey by a disappointing contradiction. He descends from some sheltering chalet, by the light of the waning moon ; he has to go over a broken path, and with a stealthy step ; there are before him real tracts of trouble ; the dim Hght alters proportions, and deceives as to distance, and so, plunging onwards, he hurts his feet. Onward he goes ; he must cross the interspaces of gloom, where the shadows fall in blackness on the bases of the mountains, thick, with no shading of pity, but dusky and cruel as the hangings of Death. Onward, onward, the grasp of darkness is at last re- laxing ; the sky is clearer ; there is a promise of the coming day ; he struggles higher; around him are rising innumerable peaks, sheathed in the frost-sheets of diamond, and with the glint of the mingling glitter of the moonlight and the morning. It is an ice-world of splendour, — mountaineering made glorious, — for the light is increasing, there is a feeling of freshness, a sense of security, an exhilaration of joy ; the dimness is dying, the severest of the struggle is distanced, he feels, and, with a sense of triumph, he has his feet on the track of Dawn.