CHAPTER II.
PRACTICAL DISTINCTIONS.
"A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.—Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them."—Matt. vii. 18, 20.
Since life is the end of all doctrine, therefore every doctrine must have relation to life, and every true doctrine must exert a purifying and blessed influence upon the life. One of the surest ways of distinguishing the true from the false, therefore, is by comparing the fruits which they respectively bring forth—by considering the legitimate practical tendency of the one and the other. This is the divine and infallible standard. For, saith the Lord, "Every tree is known by his own fruit; for of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble-bush gather they grapes." So the truth or falsity of every doctrine may be known by its legitimate practical tendency—by its obvious effects upon the minds of those who believe it. Now we are not unwilling that this test should be applied to the New doctrine we have been considering. We already know something of the fruits of the Old doc-
