Boon!—Inexpressible gr at itude should fill our souls for the sure guidance vouchsafed us through the Spirit of prophecy writings. We are not left to grope in bewilderment and confusion as do others, struggling to choose between what is true and what is false. With all the specious reasoning rampant today, and the misleading corruptions of history, with the conflicting testimony of vaunted authorities swirling about us, we can, nevertheless, under these counsels, steer our course with certainty and had for the port we seek in confidence. Furthermore, it is doubtful whether anyone without these inspired counsels will escape confusion and digression from the true goal. Wreckage lies scattered over the rocks and shoals. The world is becoming more and more confused in its thinking and is departing farther and farther from the platform of heavenly principles and precepts. More and more we must stand alone —hated, despised, and rejected—because we refuse to accept the world's platform.
Concepts!—A confusing and conflicting situation confronts the seeker after the facts of history in fulfillment of prophecy. Seemingly reliable authorities, of apparently equal eminence, make contradictory statements, one offsetting the other. Differing religious beliefs—Catholic or Protestant—or an absence of belief and differing philosophies of life all have a bearing upon what one seeks, and consequently upon what one finds ! The historian without the divine philosophy of life does not always seek until he finds beneath the surface those more important facts or causes that have ever shaped the destiny of mankind through the ages.
Tradition!—Never should we utter a chiding word against slavish adherence to the positions of the founding fathers of the Jewish, Roman Catholic, or Protestant faiths—if subservience to purely denominational tradition on the secondary details of prophetic interpretation characterizes our own course. The devotees of tradition virtually deny the postulate of ever-advancing light. They obviously seek not actual truth or the confirmation of truth, but simply the upholding of a position taken in the past, irrespective of its merit. Some of these positions were, moreover, but tentatively adopted at the moment, and at times with admittedly scanty study. The passage of time has, however, ultimately given the force of venerability. Thus these details have become rigidly fixed on a purely authoritarian basis. The rugged outlines of this message are incontrovertible and immovable. This is truer than many are aware. But refusal to examine further the more comprehensive historic evidence now afforded on certain supplemental aspects, through greater fulfillment and decades of wider study, betrays an attitude of unreasoning allegiance to the past simply because it is past. Such an attitude is an indefensible denial of an otherwise uniform denominational emphasis on the necessity of seeking for and following every added ray of light that comes to men, and which we press with such telling force upon others with reference to the Sabbath, the nature of man, the sanctuary, etc. Consistency calls for the open mind and the advancing step.
Information!—Those who assume to speak for the denomination to representatives of the press should rightly represent the denominational view. Personal opinion and a penchant for publicity do not constitute authorization for the release of personal opinion to the world in the name of the church. We have duly appointed leaders and responsible committees whose responsibility it is to speak for the movement in any official or public way that commits the movement.
Selfishness!—How very human we all are. While our whole worker body, is, of course, interested in general in the development of all phases of our world movement, nevertheless, when it comes to furthering the ends of the particular part with which we are connected—be it division, union, or local conference, special institution, particular department, periodical, district, church, or what not—most of us instinctively and sedulously seek to give it advantage over its "rivals" in the same field of endeavor, for we rest assured that virtually all others will press for a like advantage to advance the particular work for which they are accountable. That is why it is usually necessary to place unaffected neutrals on budget and similar committees and adjudicating commissions. We need a new sense of the oneness of this movement, the unity of all of its parts, and our mutual responsibility for the forwarding of all of its interests in an unselfish manner.
L. E. F.
