Sacrificial!—Love is the motivating force of all really sacrificial giving—ardent, intelligent love for God and perishing humanity. Expedients such as shame, pride, rivalry, duty, and sheer pressure, may bring the pittances, but they will never bring about the selling of houses and lands that the proceeds may be used by the appointed leaders, as in apostolic times and in the midnight cry of the '44 movement. Yet nothing less and nothing else will finish our committed task. 0 for that flaming love that consumes pride, lethargy, and rivalry, and burns itself out in joyous sacrificing for the object of its devotion.
Loyalty! —Beware the man, or group of men, in institution or in conference, who say in word or effect, "I, even I only, remain in loyalty to the full, true orthodoxy of this movement, and behold others seek to take away my influence and my public life, and to silence my witness to trampled truth." If such would but listen, they might hear God's rebuke, "I have reserved to Myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee in apostasy, nor failed through disloyalty to the key principles of the present truth." This fancied custodianship of the denomination's orthodoxy is not loyalty, but egotism. It is not reality, but supposition, and it would be amusing if it were not serious. This "truer than thou" spirit is modern Pharisaism —often a meticulous concern over unimportant details while misapprehending, neglecting, or forgetting the weightier matters.
Tests!—The silences of the Spirit of prophecy are as significant as its amazingly wide and penetrative utterances. When nought appears in all the writings bearing upon some one's pet interest or hobby—some detail over which speculation may be harmless if held as a tentative and personal conclusion—there should be very clear evidence that such a pet position is vital before making its acceptance the test of another's spiritual perception, loyalty, or fellowship. And infinitely more true is this when the Lord's servant has gone on record declaring that the true meaning of a certain detail has not been revealed, that it is not a vital point, and should not be agitated. There is abundance of room in the broad, deep channels of essential truth. Hunt not out the rocks, shoals, and eddies of unprofitable speculation.
Discussion!—Unfortunately some regard discussion in the church as fraught with peril. Such usually consider absence of discussion to be the token of harmony; and the converse as evidence of disharmony. But on the contrary, such seeming unity is frequently but a sign of indifference toward matters concerning which there should be candid study. Historically, the periods of earnest religious discussion have been epochs of intense spiritual virility. Apathy, not investigation, is to be feared. Any position that cannot be defended and that cannot maintain itself against all corners surely needs reconstruction. Truth has nothing to fear. The more it is buffed, the brighter its heavenly luster. Experience proves that dignified, courteous, Christian discussion does not strengthen eccentric opinion nor unsound position, but constitutes a powerful force in establishing truth and fostering harmony. Sensitiveness, bitterness, stubbornness, or personalities are ruled out under the amenities of Christian courtesy. Let us not throttle proper discussion.
Custodians! —The orthodoxy of the denomination has not been committed to any one college, publishing house, conference, or coterie of men. It may be presumptuously assumed by some group, but it has never been placed there. The custody of the faith has a vastly broader sweep. There are loyal, conscientious, informed men in every division of the world field who would yield position, or even life itself, rather than knowingly repudiate truth, or consciously receive or propagate error. These men are intelligent, informed, alert. This world group of adherents to the faith constitutes the real custodianship of the faith.
Traditionalism!—There is, alas, on the part of some, far greater interest in preserving some detail of a traditional position in the field of prophetic interpretation than in finding and following further light thereon. This is one of the saddening and disturbing attitudes of some who, on the one hand, often inveigh against the static creeds of nominal Protestantism, and on the other, stress Catholicism's and Judaism's emphasis on the traditions of men. These good souls are usually unaware of the actual historic processes by which certain of these minor prophetic conclusions were reached —the surrounding background, the influencing factors, and the limited information available at the time. But along with these factors must be placed the readiness with which those noble pioneers revised other details when correctly: data were brought to their attention. Such were the first to "go on to perfection," as they saw it. The passion for truth, the conquest of all determining factors, surrender to the obligations of the laws of interpretation, and simple honesty in drawing conclusions,—these are the criteria of sound prophetic interpretation.
L. E. F.
