Ye Shall Know by H. C. HARTWELL

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 2, 1908

“Ye Shall Know”

By H. C. HARTWELL

ONE of the most assuring statements in the Scriptures is the expression, “Ye shall know the truth.” No matter how highly educated he may be considered, he who knows not the truth is groping in the darkness of error, which is never satisfying, never final nor conclusive.

While attending a meeting of a ministerial association composed of clergymen of different denominations, the writer was privileged to listen to a paper on “Reflex Action and Theism,” a review of a book by a prominent college professor. It was certainly a wonderful display of technical phraseology, and afforded a striking reminder of the statement in Jude, “Their mouth speaketh great swelling words.” The paper was followed by a discussion by the other ministers. Very little reference was made to the Bible, but frequently such expressions would be made as, “I am inclined to think that perhaps Professor — was — etc.;” and after the assembly broke up, no one was any nearer the truth than at the beginning.

This vague, indefinite kind of belief is an illustration of the modern higher education. Men who are to pose as leaders in religious thought, and exponents of truth, are taught this science of uncertainty. Speaking of candidates for the ministry, David James Burrell, D. D., LL. D., of New York, says their examination is “usually a diaphanous farce. A theologue who is prepared to say that he is more than half inclined to believe that two and two make four, or that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points, is morally certain to get in.” Sad to say, many of these men who go out professing to be teachers of the Bible do not believe it, and the result is that nearly all Christendom believes almost everything directly contrary to what the Bible teaches.

With education as with nearly everything else in this world, there are two kinds, the false and the genuine. The genuine leads to a satisfactory, practical knowledge of the truth. The false, like a will-o’-the-wisp, leads its followers to be “ever learning,” but “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” True education will never be contrary to the Bible, which is God’s revelation of the truth.

The wise men of this world, however, are not content with God’s revelation; and cutting themselves adrift, they sail like a ship without chart or compass through the fogs of mythology, mysticism, and science, much of which is “falsely so called.” Men with naturally powerful minds delve deeply into these things, and develop brilliant scientific theories, but far removed from the truth. These men, if basing their research on a right premise, would be a mighty power for God, but violating the principles of truth at the very start, their conclusions are unsatisfactory and bewildering; their very brilliancy is like the flash of a comet, and having never found their proper orbit, they are like “wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”

Thank God, there are men who still have faith in the Bible. Thank God for a people who are holding to the ancient landmarks, and who are endeavoring to educate men to know the truth. It is time for God’s everlasting gospel to be proclaimed with power that honest

hearts now wandering in the mazes of confused ideas may know the truth as it is in Jesus.

All who will embrace the opportunities that God offers may gain an education that will prepare them to give the reasonable, definite gospel of hope and certainty, as did the apostles, and as did Jesus, who “taught . . . as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” Who will embrace these opportunities?

H. C. HARTWELL.