"Truth" can be relative. A person may say, with truth, that upon taking his seat in the

Flying Scotsman at King's Cross Station he did not "move" until he arrived at Edinburgh.

This would be relatively true so far as this passenger's relation to the actual compartment

was concerned, but it could not be absolutely true;  he could never have reached

Edinburgh, had he not "moved" at all. Truth may be dispensational, true for one time,

but not true for another, as for example the practice of Circumcision, or the observance of

the Sabbath.  While therefore Platonic philosophy may be grouped under the three

headings "The Good", "The Beautiful" and "The True", the enlightened mind demands

something deeper, something that will not change with circumstances.

When we turn to the second Epistle of Peter and read what is there said about the

New Creation that is yet to come, we find the term for which we seek: "New heavens

and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness" (II Pet. 3: 13). Here we have the one

supreme, absolute, value which alone meets all requirement, "The Right". If "Good" is

to be good both for myself and my neighbour it must at the same time be "Right". If

upon approaching a town like Naples from the sea we are overwhelmed with its beauty

but, upon walking its streets and living in its houses, we are oppressed with its sordidness

and its shame, we are conscious that true Beauty must be "within" as well as "without",

or, in other words, that it must be "Right". Now God has lifted the idea of "Right" to the

level that we seek; something uninfluenced by persons and circumstances; something

indeed as absolute as a plumb-line or a pair of balances.

We speak of "Fundamental Truth" and, until we are compelled to define our terms, we

have little or no uncertainty in our minds as to what is intended, but if the question be

pressed upon us, we discover that there is more than one claimant to the title.

Undoubtedly, for the believer, the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work, is the One

Foundation upon which he builds (I Cor. 3: 11), but it will be noted at once that the

statement is qualified, it is "for the believer". If we ask how in the first place one

becomes a "believer" we shall at length arrive at the answer that places the veracity of the

Scriptures at or nearer the foundation of all truth. But the Scriptures were not always in

the world, for two thousand years intervened between Adam and Abraham, and, further,

these Scriptures have not, even yet, penetrated into every corner of the earth. From the

teaching of the Scriptures we discover that, apart from revelation, there has always been

the evidence of "Creation" (Rom. 1: 19-21) and "Conscience" (Rom. 2: 12-16), and this

evidence is of sufficient strength to make those who come under the power of it "without

excuse" (Rom. 1: 20; 2: 1, 15). It therefore appears necessary that there must be some

universal standard whereby the witness of Creation, Conscience, and Scripture shall be

judged, and that standard seems to be set forth in the word "Right". Every word, thought

or deed is either "Right" or "Wrong". The universe testifies to the fact that unless a thing

be "Right" it is an intrusion; that it is a cause of misery and suffering. Because things

are not "Right" the creation still groans under a curse.

Returning to the Scriptures (for we are already believers, and need not wait in the

antechamber of Creation nor the portal of Conscience), we discover that "Right" and

"Wrong" are indeed the essential categories under which all acts, from those of God

Himself down to the humblest of His creatures, must be ranged. The handwriting on the