ore,
from every man she must be naturally hid, and the discovery of her is
to be the reward only of personal search. The kingdom of God is as
treasure hid in a field; and of those who profess to help us to seek for
it, we are not to put confidence in those who say,--Here is the
treasure, we have found it, and have it, and will give you some of it;
but in those who say,--We think that is a good place to dig, and you
will dig most easily in such and such a way.

201. Farther, it has been promised that if such earnest search be made,
Truth shall be discovered: as much truth, that is, as is necessary for
the person seeking. These, therefore, I hold, for two fundamental
principles of religion,--that, without seeking, truth cannot be known at
all; and that, by seeking, it may be discovered by the simplest. I say,
without seeking it cannot be known at all. It can neither be declared
from pulpits, nor set down in Articles, nor in anywise "prepared and
sold" in packages, ready for use. Truth must be ground for every man by
himself out of its husk, with such help as he can get, indeed, but not
without stern labor of his own. In what science is knowledge to be had
cheap? or truth to be told over a velvet cushion, in half an hour's talk
every seventh day? Can you learn chemistry so?--zoology?--anatomy? and
do you expect to penetrate the secret of all secrets, and to know that
whose price is above rubies; and of which the depth saith,--It is not in
me,--in so easy fashion? There are doubts in this matter which evil
spirits darken with their wings, and that is true of all such doubts
which we were told long ago--they can "be ended by action alone."[147]

202. As surely as we live, this truth of truths can only so be
discerned: to those who act on what they know, more shall be revealed;
and thus, if any man will do His will, he shall know the doctrine
whether it be of God. Any man,--not the man who has most means of
knowing, who has the subtlest brains, or sits under the most orthodox
preacher, or has his library fullest of most orthodox books,--but the
man who strives to know, who takes God at His word, and sets himself to
dig up the heavenly mystery, roots and all, before sunset, and the night
come, when no man can work. Beside such a man, God stands in more and
more visible presence as he toils, and teaches him that which no
preacher can teach--no earthly authority gainsay. By such a man, the
preacher must himself be judged.

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