Infallibility by Roswell F. Cottrell

S. D. A. Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 10, 1884

FromThe Signs of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 2

Infallibility.

By Roswell F. Cottrell

This is an attribute that belongs to God only. No man ever possessed it, if we except the man Christ Jesus. But we as a people teach our peculiar views with so much confidence, people sometimes imagine that we think ourselves infallible. This is not the case. There is no one among us that makes this profession, or holds such a faith. We are all liable to err. We make mistakes; but we would humbly confess our errors, correct our mistakes, and get right.

But we do hold that God is infallible. He makes no errors. He never needs to make amendment. His word is infallible. He has so published it and preserved it in the world as to communicate his will infallibly to the comprehension of those who, above all things, desire to know and do it. Is it not so? Who dare say otherwise? I dare not. Then why so many sects, all professing to take their faith from that word? I must think, “An enemy has done this.” The Bible is right, but men are wrong. It is evident that sects and error will be co-extensive. When all errors are corrected, Christians will be one. There will be no differences sufficient to form an apology for division. It is true there are certain things in the Bible that may not be understood. There might be a difference of opinion concerning them; but in matters of faith and duty, there need be no difference.

This is true of the moral law. Its infallible Author has made it infallible. It never needed amendment, and never will. Its principles are eternal; and therefore can no more be abolished, or changed, than the principles and being of God himself. Talk of a “revised constitution!” You may do so in respect to constitutions merely human; but in respect to the constitution framed by the Almighty, wait till he speaks of amendment. How often has God been blasphemed, traduced, insulted, from the “sacred desk!”

“The law of the Lord is perfect”—absolutely infallible. It is given to make known his will, so that man can understand his duty. It is so expressed as to make that understanding possible. If it is not possible for man to understand his duty from it, God has evidently failed to accomplish his design. If God has attempted to express man’s duty so as to be understood, what

is his duty? Who can tell? And if man cannot know his duty, who is to blame if he does not do it? The truth is, if a man earnestly desires, with undivided heart, to know his duty that he may do it, he can learn his duty from the commandments of God. These commandments, with marvelous brevity, express man’s duty, clearly, intelligently, and infallibly.

But I hear it said, “We do not all understand these commandments alike.” Then there is a failure somewhere. Where is the fault? Not in the law, I presume. But can we not, if we will, understand those ten plain precepts alike? On how many of them do we disagree? How many of them are in dispute in Protestant Christendom? We do not include those under the control of the Roman hierarchy; for that power is accused in prophecy of thinking to “change times and laws;” and I must anticipate myself a little by saying here that I believe the prophecies to be infallible. How many commandments, then, are in dispute among Protestants? Barely one; and that one is more particularly expressed and defined than any other; and a reason is given for it, dating from the beginning of the world.

The Sabbath is infallible. With those who have kept it according to the commandment, it has never failed to commemorate, from week to week, the great Creator’s rest from the six days’ work of creation. It has never failed to come on the seventh day. Sabbath means rest. The Sabbath of the Lord means the day on which he rested. The infallible word of the Lord says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” and gives as the reason, that when he created the world, “he rested the seventh day,” and that for this reason he “blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.” It was not a seventh part of time merely that he sanctified, but the seventh day. And why? Because it was his Sabbath day—the day on which he rested. The Sabbath, therefore, is infallibly fixed to the seventh day; because he rested on no other. The labor and the rest, which are made an example to us, are in the past. They are fixed facts. And till historic facts can be changed—until it becomes a fact that he rested on some other day besides the seventh—no other day can possibly become the Sabbath of the Lord. Any day a man chooses to rest may be his sabbath, but it cannot be the Lord’s unless it be the day on which he rested.

The Sabbath precept was placed by infallible wisdom in the central part of the moral law. This precept, demanding especial honor to God, and the one requiring honor to earthly parents, beautifully blend, and are the connecting links between duty to God and duty to men. The Sabbath is a part of that infallible law of which Jesus said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Infallibility has preserved the knowledge of the day. It was unmistakably marked by the falling of manna on the other six days and withholding it on that; it was owned and honored by Jesus; kept by his disciples after his death, “according to the commandment,” on the day preceding “the first day of the week;” and a portion of mankind have observed it in its weekly return ever since. And this is not all; the sure word of prophecy has spoken of it in the world to come, assuring us that all that shall be accounted worthy of a part in that world shall come from Sabbath to Sabbath to worship God. Isa. 66:22, 23. That state shall endure forever. God has testified of the new earth that it “shall remain” in his presence. Therefore the Sabbath shall remain and be observed in the endless years of eternity. God’s “work is honorable and glorious.” “All his commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever.” Ps. 111. And so long as the work of his hand shall endure, so long will the memorial of his rest keep it in remembrance. Thus will he ever be honored. “Holy and reverend is his name.”

The prophecies also are infallible. They are the words of God, given for the instruction and guidance of men in this mortal state. They are a sure guide; the Holy Spirit has called the record of these predictions “the sure word of prophecy.” Some admit that the law of God is plain, easy to be understood, and therefore reliable. But when we speak of the prophecies and their fulfillment, as constituting the “signs of the times,” they begin to speak of the uncertainty and doubt that envelop the subject.

Let me not be understood to claim that there are no parts of prophecy “hard to be understood,” or that I understand them all. Far from it! But what I claim is, that there are many of them which, by part fulfillment, have become very plain to the understanding of the common people, and even of children. This is especially the case with those long continuous lines of prophecy which describe events in the order of time, and were, without doubt, given to mark the progress of the world’s history, so that we may know with certainty in what age of the world we live. If this is not the intent, for what are they given? Not to make the Bible a larger book; not to puzzle men to guess concerning things of which there is no certainty. Of what use are they, but to cause us to understand the signs of the times, and know where we are and what we may expect?

The words of Jesus prove this to be the case. He sharply rebuked the Jews for not discerning the signs of the times. He charged his disciples, before he left them, that when they should “see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place,” or in other words, when they should “see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then,” said he, “know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” And, after giving the signs of his second coming, he said, “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near.” He certainly intends that the believing student of prophecy should discern the signs of his own times, and know something of what is to come in the near future.

Now, look at the prophecies of the four great empires of the old world, as described and recorded in Dan. 2 and 7, and other scriptures. Is it not certain that Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome are here described? History has made this certain beyond a doubt. They have arisen in the given order, and each has done the entire work predicted of it. What next? Is it not the fifth kingdom, the kingdom of God? Observe how the character and work of the little horn of chap. 7 has been fulfilled by the papacy. Not an item of the description remains to be fulfilled, but its destruction. His dominion has already been taken away, “to consume and to destroy it unto the end.” What next? Is it not certain that he is soon to be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming? 2 Thess. 2:8.

And so we might go on, and trace the description of the fourth beast and the papacy in the book of Revelation. And also of the fulfillment of the predicted messages of warning to the world, showing by “infallible proofs” that the last warning is now being given. It is the infallible word of God that is being fulfilled. What a sin to doubt that word, or the providence of God in fulfilling it! Both his word and providence are infallible. The warning of the “third angel,” described in Rev. 14:9–12, is being borne to the ends of the earth. The time is evidently come when it is due; and it is here. The Lord is not disappointed or frustrated in his plan by this movement. He promised it; and he it is that is fulfilling it. How easy the task required of us. It is only to believe and obey his word, and engage heartily in his work. R. F. COTTRELL.