Leaving the Body

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 13, 1905

TOWARD the close of the first century the “falling away” had developed to such an extent that there was an open division in the church, and it became evident to all that there had been a departure from the faith. The acceptance of tradition and speculative philosophy in the place of the revealed truth upon which the church was established, and the repudiation of this teaching by the loyal believers brought on the crisis, and the result is set forth by the apostle John in these words: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us.” So it has always been, and so it is to-day. The acceptance of some new philosophy in the place of the original gospel is in itself a separation from the church, unless the whole church can be persuaded to receive the new light. When the church remains faithful to its original and fundamental principles, and the advocates of new doctrines persist in maintaining their own views, the inevitable result is that the teachers of error go out from the body, and there are of necessity two parties. But who is to blame for the division? Shall the church be censured for contending earnestly for “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints?” A division in the church is a sad thing, but when harmony can be maintained only by compromising the essential principles of the gospel, then the responsibility for a division rests upon those who depart from the truth and refuse to give heed to the counsel of the Spirit of God. The foundation of the papacy was laid when men arose “speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them,” and those who give the message against the papacy must repudiate the very beginnings of the course of the papacy. When this principle is disregarded, the third angel’s message becomes a mere form of words,—“sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” It means something to give this message.