If men desire to stand, they should seek the true ground, try to ascertain and determine what the truth is; find, with certainty, the _true position_, and place themselves squarely in it; maintain and defend it, not depending on _their own_ strength, learning, talent, influence or popularity, but on the truth; the _true position_; the _right way_. But some one is ready to inquire: “How can we find truth in the midst of so much error; the right way in the midst of so many ways?” This may be a little difficult to some. There is, however, one thing indispensable to it, and that is that a man receive “_the love of the truth_.” This lies at the foundation of the whole matter. Men will never be successful in finding, advocating, maintaining or defending the truth, who have never “received the love of the truth;” nor will they succeed in abiding in the truth. This is the very ground-work of the whole matter. All a man’s pretences of seeking the truth, are nothing but an empty sham, if he has not in him the love of the truth. He must have in him “a good and an _honest heart_,” to constitute him the “good ground” in which the seed of the kingdom, the word of God, will grow. But the man that loves the truth, desires it, longs for it, and has in him a good and honest heart, will make most diligent, careful and critical search for it. He sets out, not to prove this or that; not to maintain this theory or that, but to find the _true ground_—the _truth itself_, “as it is in Jesus”—and rarely fails to find the desired object, the highly prized jewel, the most precious gem. The love of the truth has an influence on a man, in different ways, in favor of his finding it, as follows: _First._ It leads him to make diligent search for it. A man will certainly strive to find an object that he loves, and if he loves the truth, he will make most diligent search for it. _Second._ It leads him to exercise the utmost discrimination, to distinguish between truth and error, that he may not be imposed on and deceived, and induced to think something is the truth that is not, and thus have a spurious article imposed on him. _Third._ The love of the truth has wonderful power over a man to cause him to _retain it_. If he loves it he will not give it up. If a man receives not the love of the truth, it affects him badly in the following respect: _First._ He will exercise no diligence, to find it. He will not search for it.