THE TRUTH NOT ENOUGH by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Oct 19, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 41.

THE TRUTH NOT ENOUGH.

By Editor

We noticed recently in the press report of a gathering of ministers that one of them, in a burst of eloquence, said, “I make a plea for pulpit exaggeration.” He then made his plea, declaring that in these days the people were not attracted by the simple truth. It must be exaggerated or it would not attract. Now truth exaggerated is falsehood, and the kingdom of Christ is not advanced through the methods adopted by him who is the father of all that is false. Christ’s instruction upon this point is, “Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay.” And again: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” It does not require an exaggeration of the truth to make men free. One of the very last statements made by our Saviour before His crucifixion was this: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice.” John 18 : 37. If there were any question of the necessity of pulpit exaggeration, this statement of our Saviour ought to settle the matter forever. The truth, the absolute truth, is what is needed in the advancement of the cause of Christ, and it is needed now as never before, because of the very circumstances that caused the speaker above referred to, to consider exaggeration necessary. It is refreshing to hear the following sensible opinion in the matter from a secular journal:—

No man who has the love of God in his heart can defend exaggeration in the pulpit, much less plead for it. The field for exaggeration is already too well filled. The theatrical illusion, the newspaper sensations, the political boast and bluster, and the spectacular performances of the society “smart set,” furnish all demands for hypocritical embellishments and ornamentations of language and conduct. We still have a notion, old-fashioned, perhaps, that we have a right to expect from the pulpit the Gospel and the word of the heart without translation into exaggerated sensationalism.—Washington Post.

In other words, we can not use the devil’s methods in carrying forward the cause of Christ. The church has lost its bearings and soiled its garments whenever it has attempted it.