Transcribed from the 1883 Church of England Book Society edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org WITNESSES TO TRUTH. * * * * * BY THE REV. EDWARD HOARE, M.A., VICAR OF TRINITY CHURCH, TUNBRIDGE WELLS; AND HONORARY CANON OF CANTERBURY. * * * * * * * * * * _AUTHORIZED EDITION_. * * * * * * * * * * LONDON: THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND BOOK SOCIETY, 11, ADAM STREET, STRAND. 1883. * * * * * CONTENTS. PAGE _DIFFICULTIES_ 5 _THE RACES_ 18 _THE JEWS_ 33 _PALESTINE_ 45 _SCOFFERS_ 59 _THE SACRAMENTS_ 70 DIFFICULTIES. THE Bible has been compared to a river in which a child may wade, and an elephant swim; by which is meant that it is full of practical truth so plainly revealed that a little child may rejoice in it, while at the same time it is full of truth so deep that the loftiest intellect of man is very soon out of its depth in the study of it. Thus there are few things more beautifully simple than a living faith. It is the unquestioning trust of one who loves his God and Saviour; the calm repose of the dependent heart on One who has summed up His Gospel in the words “Come unto Me.” Thus there are thousands, and tens of thousands, of happy believers who have accepted the great salvation just as God has given it; and who, without perplexing their minds about matters which they cannot understand, most thankfully receive what God has revealed, and rejoice in it with their whole hearts as belonging to themselves and their children. As little children they receive and trust, the result of which is that they rest in their Saviour as a child rests in its mother’s arms. I believe there are those by whom such persons are despised, and by whom they are regarded as weak, foolish, and contemptible; but they have the joy of the Lord, and, instead of being _despised_, they may well be _envied_ by those who, in the consciousness of superior intellect, consider themselves qualified to despise their folly.