1. Fact

Fact means something done. The term deed, so common in the reign of James the First, is equivalent to our term fact. Truth and fact, though often confused, are not the same. All facts are truth, but not all truths are facts. That God exists is a truth, but not a fact; that he created the heavens and the earth is both a fact and a truth. That Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles is a truth, but not a fact; and that he preached Christ to the Gentiles is both a fact and a truth. The simple agreement of the terms of any proposition with the subject of that proposition, or the representation of anything as it exists, is a truth. But something must be done, acted upon, or accomplished before we have a fact. There are many things true in religion, morals, politics, and general science that are not facts; but these are all just the correspondence of words and ideas with the things they describe.

Facts have a power that logical truth does not; and therefore, we say that facts are stubborn things. They are things, not words. The power of any fact is its meaning; and therefore the measure of its power is the magnitude of its significance. All moral facts have a moral meaning; and those are properly called moral facts which either reveal, develop, or form moral character. All those facts, or works of God, which are purely physical, show what have commonly been called his natural or physical perfections; and all those facts or works of God which are purely moral reveal his moral character. It so happens, however, that all his works, when properly understood, reveal both his physical and moral character when viewed in all their proper relations. Thus the flood showed his power, his justice, and his truth; and therefore displayed both his physical and moral grandeur. The turning of water into wine, apart from its purpose, is purely a demonstration of physical power; but when its purpose is understood, it has a moral force equal to its physical majesty.

The work of redemption is a system of work, or deeds, on the part of Heaven, which constitutes the most splendid series of moral facts that man or angel has ever seen. And they are the proof, the argument, or the demonstration of that regenerating proposition which presents God and love as two names for one idea.

When these facts are understood, or brought into immediate contact with the human mind as a moral seal or archetype, they imprint the image of God upon the human soul. All the means of grace are, therefore, only the means of impressing this seal upon the heart; of bringing these moral facts to make their full impression on the soul of man. Testimony and faith are but the channels through which these facts, or the hand of God, draw the image on the heart and character of man. If then the fact and the testimony are both the gift of God, we may well say that faith and eternal life are also the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

To list the gospel facts would be to narrate all that is recorded of the sayings and actions of Jesus Christ, from his birth to his coronation in heaven. They are, however, concentrated in a few prominent ones, which group together all the love of God in the gift of his Son. He died for our sins, He was buried in the grave, He rose from the dead for our justification, and He ascended to the skies to prepare mansions for his disciples—these encompass the whole, or are the headings to the chapters that narrate the love of God and display his moral majesty and glory to our view.

These moral facts reveal all the moral grandeur of Jehovah and make Jesus the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of his being. These are the moral seal which testimony conveys to the understanding, and faith brings to the hearts of sinners, by which God creates them anew and forms them for his glory. It is the Spirit who bears witness—the Spirit of God and of Christ who gives the testimony and confirms it in the disciples. But let us next proceed to testimony.