Truth

Seeing that I am always ready to give an answer to the satisfaction of every man who asks concerning the faith I hold, I declare with a sincere heart that the Lord Jesus Christ is very God and very man; and that His whole gospel is established so firmly in the truth that “not a jot nor tittle” of it can fail; and finally that His Holy Church has been so firmly founded on a firm rock that “the gates of hell cannot in any wise prevail against it.” I am ready in hope of the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself the Head, to bear the punishment of a dreadful death rather than to state … anything else than His truth.

We cannot but wonder how light is the burden of Truth. Is not that truly light which does not burden, but relieves him who bears it?… I seek in all things to find if possible something like to this weight which bears those who bear it, and I find nothing but the wings of birds which in any degree resembles it. For these in a certain singular manner render the body of birds at once more weighty and more easily moved.… Thus plainly in the wings is expressed the likeness of the burden of Christ, because they themselves bear that by which they are borne.

Whenever … we meet with heathen writers, let us learn from that light of truth that is admirably displayed in their works that the human mind, fallen as it is, and corrupted from its integrity, is yet invested and adorned by God with excellent talents. If we believe that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will neither reject nor despise the truth itself wherever it may appear, unless we wish to insult the Spirit of God. For the gifts of the Spirit cannot be undervalued without offering contempt and reproach to the Spirit himself.