"If the Foundations Be Destroyed, What Can the Righteous Do?"
By Francis M. Wilcox
THE world is filled to-day with the spirit of unrest. Particularly in the religious world and in the channels of religious thought and investigation, there is a breaking away from old positions and standards, and the creation of new ideals. This spirit of study and investigation is commendable in so far as it keeps within the limitations of sound logic and does not become wise above that which is written. When, however, the very foundations of Christian faith are assailed, and the great standard for testing truth is discounted, and men are left to their own vain imaginings, the result is that false philosophy and idle speculation are substituted for the vital truth of God. Error takes the place of truth, and men walk in the sparks of their own kindling rather than in the guiding light of divine revelation. This is the marked tendency of the world around us. We need to guard ourselves that this spirit does not in some measure come into our experience. There is danger that while we deplore the assaults of higher criticism upon the Scriptures of Truth, unconsciously the same spirit will affect in some degree our study of the Scriptures and our interpretation of Bible doctrine. The truth of God never loses anything by honest investigation. Every position of truth will be fortified and strengthened by faithful, conscientious study. The spirit, however, which we bring to the study of the Bible oftentimes determines in our own estimation the worth of evidence. It is one thing to study a recognized and established position with a view to strengthening the same, and quite another thing to study the subject with the view of undermining and weakening the position that has been held. There is a wide range in the prophecy of the Scriptures. There are many coincidences in history. Before we decide to reject an old interpretation and substitute therefor a new one, let us be sure that we have studied the question so deeply and broadly, and that the preponderance of evidence is so great on the side of the new view, that we are justified in making the change. We confidently believe that the great fundamental principles of truth upon which this message is based, and upon which this cause has been built up, are impregnable. They were developed not as a result of speculation, but of long and faithful Bible study and earnest pleading with God for light and leading. The pioneers in this message were fallible men. They had access to no resources of wisdom or power which are denied to us. They, as are we, were compassed about with human limitations. But they were men of prayer and faith and Bible knowledge; and because of this, they found in the Scriptures of Truth a great system of symmetrical doctrine. This system we accept to-day not because of the wisdom or piety of the instruments whom God used in its development, but because it has its foundation in the Word of the living God. It was in this manner that the Thessalonians received the message of Paul, not because it came from Paul, even though he stood as the great apostle of the Gentile world. He says in 1 Thess. 2:13: "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." We, as did the apostles, as did the fathers in this message, have the same access to the great mine of truth. If we have accepted the faith of the fathers for the fathers' sake, and have failed to find for that faith authority in the Scriptures of Truth as they found it, it will be no wonder if we are shaken loose from our anchorage and find ourselves adrift, the prey of every fanciful theory. But if we have accepted truth for truth's sake, and because we ourselves see it as the word of God and not as the opinion of man, we shall not be easily moved from our moorings, nor turned aside to false interpretations. Strange it would now seem if further study on our part made it appear necessary for us to change our past bases of reckoning, readjusting prophetic periods, and receding from positions which in the past we have deemed as impregnable as Gibraltar. This we believe will never become necessary in the history of this movement, for the reason that this message has for its authority the Scriptures of Truth, and not the theories of men. This is not saying that we have by any means reached the end of investigation or the fulness of gospel light, nor does it say that our position upon every detail of truth has been correct. Whenever it is demonstrated that we are in error, we should change our way, not unwillingly but gladly, because error, however hoary-headed or honored and revered, must never take the place of the truth of God. We need a conservatism that will not reject the new if it is demonstrated to be truth, and a progressiveness that shall not discount the old because it is old. But we have that confidence in this message and this movement, and in the great principles of truth by which this people have been developed, that we believe further investigation will only serve to strengthen the vital positions of the past, and that new rays of light and new details of truth which may be developed will naturally take their place as a part of the setting in the great truths which have been enunciated, and will serve to strengthen our faith in the positions that are already held. We have reached, as has been stated, a period of great unrest in the religious world. Idle speculation abounds. Specious theories are proclaimed on every side. We ourselves will be tempted by the great perverter of truth to wander8off into side issues, and unduly magnify unimportant details. We shall need in the times before us great wisdom. We shall need to keep sober judgment, humble hearts, and teachable spirits, guarding against mistaking emotion or impulse for the leading of the Spirit. It is the study of a lifetime to know not only what is truth, but how to present truth in the spirit of the Master, and place the emphasis where God would place it. We may differ on many details of interpretation. Wherein we do, let us maintain a kindly spirit. Let us love as brethren, being pitiful and courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing; and let us above all else be careful that we are not tempted to turn from the beaten track, from the old paths, till we are sure of their dangerous trend, and in a new and better way can see the trail blazed out plainly before us. Let us make the great principles of God's everlasting truth our anchor, and refuse to be moved from them by the logic of human reasoning unattested by unequivocal Scriptural statement or plain historical fact. This is our only safety in the days before us. "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Ps. 11:3.