Testimony of Truth

Fisher, Samuel. The testimony of truth exalted, by the collected labours of that worthy man, good scribe and faithful minister of Jesus Christ,... who died a prisoner for the testimony of Jesus, and Word of God, anno 1665. .. London Printed in the year,... 

While, with respect to the first dispensation, the scheme illustrates the proceedings of God in resisting the progress of error and superstition, and in promulgating the evidence of truth, it carries on our views to the second covenant, and reveals the testimonies which support its gracious communications. 

It may be true that most witness statements contain a core of truth, but this core cannot be defined by assigning it in true democratic fashion to the weighted mean of overall testimony. The impossible remains impossible even if the vast majority of witnesses alleges the contrary. 

The transformation in the last decade Is also a testimonial to successful collaboration. When Alan George A.G. Lafley—former chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Procter Gamble took the helm—he turned around the company with a focus on the consumer is boss. He transformed the supply chain to focus on two moments of truth. The first moment of truth was at the shelf Did the product make the right impression The second was in the home When the consumer uses the product, will they be delighted (This is an early example of moving from inside-out to outside-in processes.) Using this strategy, sales doubled, profits quadrupled, and P G s market value Increased by more than 100 billion. 

Special features of Bergman s essays are the very complete historical introductions, partly compiled from Pott (see Vol. II, p. 718), and the attempt to make them intelligible to non-specialists, so that they are very readable. The two essays on the history of chemistry (XXXIII and XLIII) and the Stockholm lecture of 1777 (XXV) contain much information not easily found elsewhere. In a discussion of accounts of transmutations, Bergman says that although most of them are deceptive and many uncertain, some bear such character and testimony that, unless we reject all historical evidence, we must allow them to be entitled to confidence . The essay On the Investigation of Truths contains a vigorous defence of the experimental method as exemplified by Newton, and a criticism of the speculative method as represented by the Cartesians it also points out some common sources of error in chemical experiments. 

In faith of which I, the Royal Notary of this Fleet, wrote this letter, and passed it before me and here made my sign = in testimony of its truth. 

It is important to note that neither objective historians nor jurists may uncritically accept everything that someone recounts as being the plain truth, but must establish the value of such reports. The first step in this process is to fit eyewitness testimony properly into the hierarchy of the various types of evidence. Then one must consider how the individual testimony came to be - for example, whether there were manipulative factors that may have impinged on the witness and influenced his testimony. 

The very critical view, at least theoretically, taken by courts of witness and party testimony is based on the understanding of human nature gained in the course of centuries by many jurists. It should be accepted as a valid guideline by historians as well, even if the methods used to determine truth in scientific pursuits are necessarily different than those employed in court. For example, while a Court must reach an absolute decision regarding what is true and what is false, and must do so within a limited period of time, science cannot, indeed may not reach a conclusive and final verdict if it wants to remain true to its maxim of openness in every respect. Whereas in a court case the close relation of the proceedings to a human fate causes emotion to exert a strong and distorting influence on the process by which the verdict is reached, this influence usually is, or should be, minor in scientific pursuits. 

The fundamental problem of testimony before a court and its relation to objective truth is nothing new. We have already quoted M. Beer in this respect. He is not alone in doubting that historical... 

Bondage severely limited the power—including the sexual power—of slaves. But it did not wholly erase their capacity to attract and shape affectionate, erotic attachments of all sorts, including interracial ones. In a hard-to-quantify but substantial number of cases, feelings of affection and attachment between white male masters and their black female slaves somehow survived slavery s deadening influence. The great difficulty, in any particular instance, lies in determining whether sex between a male master and a female slave was an expression of sexual autonomy or an act of unwanted sex. The truth is that most often we cannot know for sure, since there exists little direct testimony from those involved, especially the enslaved women. (44)... 

---