Preserve the Foundations
By Uriah Smith
The Holy Spirit led David to propound this fundamental question: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Ps. 11:3. We may well raise this same question, and apply it to our own time, the days when error is taking on such an aggressive attitude, and the so-called “Higher Criticism” is making such fierce onslaughts upon the fundamental principles of the gospel, and setting forth propositions, which, if carried out to their last analysis, can but result in subverting the faith of many. Paul, and the church in his day, were troubled with just such unsettled minds. The apostle speaks of them in 2 Tim. 2:17: “Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.” And we have been forewarned that there will be similar characters in the last days: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot4iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” 1 Tim. 4: 1–3. David speaks of the “foundations” being “destroyed,” showing that there are principles which are regarded as the fundamental supports of the truth; and he says, If these be destroyed, what can the righteous do? That is, if these supports, or fundamental principles, be overthrown, what can the righteous rest upon? How well 1 Tim. 4: 1–3 applies to the claims and manifestations of modern Spiritualism; and to Romanism, with its celibacy of the clergy, its confessional, and its superstitious distinction of meats, forbidding them, or commanding to abstain from them, on certain church-forbidden days. Another great error, which throws its baleful shadow over all the Christian world, is the pago-papal doctrine of the immortality of the soul and the conscious state of the dead. If the teaching of the Bible on these great questions could once be established as the faith of Christendom, think how suddenly it would clear the atmosphere of the whole theological world. Think how Romanism, with its superstitious saint-worship, Mariolatry, and purgatory, with its presumptuous aspirations to raise itself above God, presuming to change his law, and corrupting his ordinances, making war on the saints, and wearing them out with over twelve hundred and sixty years of bloody persecutions, would be shorn of its strength, and how soon it would collapse before the everlasting gospel of the kingdom, with which this people are now seeking to evangelize the world in this generation. The reader has of course noticed the report, in the last REVIEW, of the defection of some brethren in Holland, based on an extreme view of an important Bible doctrine,—namely, that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost,—but so adapted and mystified as to destroy the force and significance of one of the main pillars in the beautiful temple of “Present Truth;” to wit, that doctrine which is the citadel and center of the work of our great High Priest in the temple above. There is no way possible to set forth more beautifully and impressively the great work of mediation for a lost world, in a manner to thrill, and captivate, and melt all hearts, than is set forth in the sanctuary subject as presented in the Scriptures. If our eyes could look upon the scene held up before us in the sacred record, what man in this mortal frame could catch even one view of the prospect, and endure for a moment? If only one angel on his mission to call the Son of God from the grave, caused the powerful and robust guards to fall to the ground as dead men (Matt. 28: 2–4), what power could enable us to look upon more than two hundred million of such beings, with all the attendant glory, and not sink into utter annihilation? In view of such a scene, what should be our conception of Christ’s work in heaven? John was permitted to behold it. Looking into the first apartment of the sanctuary on high, he beheld Christ in his work of mediation, in company with his assistants. These assistants he describes as “many angels,” to the number of “ten thousand times ten thousand,” which amounts to one hundred million; and then, as though computation failed, he names at least as many more in the words, “and thousands of thousands.” What must be our conception of this one compartment of the heavenly temple, containing the throne of Jehovah, that of his Son Jesus Christ, and this company of celestial ministers, whom Paul well calls “an innumerable company of angels”? Heb. 12: 22. While we give full force and significance to Paul’s expressions about our bodies being “the temple of the living God,” and “the temple of the Holy Ghost,” let us not discount nor ignore those scenes of the heavenly world which have reference to the modus operandi of rescuing the lost world from sin. And while we attach all importance to keeping our bodies in a healthy state, to the glory of God, let us not fall into the extreme of supposing that by that means we can become our own saviors, and fortify ourselves against the seven last plagues. Christ, by his divine power, can alone accomplish this for us. Other important truths enter into the make-up of what we call the “present truth;” such as, the messages; the two-horned beast, which involves the great Western-world issue of the last conflict of the church with the powers of earth, and its deliverance from the same; the Eastern question, which brings us to the “standing up of Michael,” and the deliverance from the great final time of trouble. Dan. 12: 1. These are some of the “foundations” which the psalmist says we should not suffer to “be destroyed.” U. S.