THE WORKS OF THE TRUTH
These have of purpose been deferred to this stage. In the experience of most of us they will not in fact have been deferred so long, and we shall have met and employed at least Christendom Astray and the Declaration. But only now can we really appraise their usefulness, having read for ourselves the Bible's message as it stands.

Most of these works are, of course, commentaries or doctrinal studies. But they are commentaries with this particular interest for us that they were written in many cases by the men who acted as pioneers in establishing the Truth out of the midst of apostasy. They present to us the rediscovery of the Gospel by the discoverers, and as those who have received the fruits of their labours, we should be most grateful for an opportunity of following the means by which they reached and maintained their convictions and ours. To some of us, the works named may have been the means whereby the Truth was brought home to ourselves, and then a peculiar gratitude will be ours.

The Bible as a whole firmly in our minds, then, we can gain great advantage from the works of brethren J. Thomas and R. Roberts, which are rightly esteemed highly among us. Elpis Israel, Eureka and Christendom Astray stand out particularly from the list, and there are later works also. Eureka is the only major work on the Book of Revelation (apart from Elliot's Horae Apocalypticae) which, during the 19th century, has at all attempted to arrive at the meaning of that Book; and Christendom Astray can greatly help our classification, as prospective preachers, of information to be used in our work. Though the controversial background against which we preach may have changed somewhat, the Gospel itself has not, and much of the material we, are able to use must inevitably be that which our pioneers used before us.

Our path becomes thornier here. The little which has been said in this section may be displeasing alike to two sections of opinion: there may be those who hold the brethren who wrote these books in such high esteem that they feel a much more vigorous advocacy of their works to be called for; and there will be others who are so anxious to move with the times that they are impatient of even a restrained championship of works two generations old. Yet the path must be followed. The writings of our predecessors in preaching, who were pioneers in a sense we cannot be, should be treasured both for their affectionate remembrances for us, and for their intrinsic worth; and we can learn greatly by their use. Nevertheless, our preaching in our own times must come from our conviction, and we should take our proofs ready-made from no human book whatever. The presentation given us in these works should be read respectfully and discerningly, and we should not use as proof anything which does not seem convincing to ourselves. No doubt our early judgments may need to be changed; fuller enlightenment may convince us that an argument we rejected at first was valid after all, but until we are convinced we must not use it.

Moreover (and the brethren who wrote these works would certainly have endorsed this) there is nothing more stifling to vigorous preaching than to accept our arguments prefabricated. For other preachers to borrow their sermons from books is not more reprehensible than for brethren who will not think their own thoughts to borrow from Christendom Astray. Extensive as the evidence is which our brethren have presented, the Scriptures are inexhaustible, and they would gladly have recognized that there is more to be learned. The works are milestones for the Truth and its preachers, but they are not lesser Bibles. If we can recognize this, and preserve a proper humility in our approach, we are not likely to stray in our attitude to them.

Needless to say, the discernment we exercise with such works needs to be redoubled with all other works. Doctrinally, the case presented by Christendom Astray is right, whatever cautions we may feel about details of its argument and the strategy of its presentation. Doctrinally, the outlook of many outside works with a value in other ways is as far astray as bro. Roberts said it was, and his valuation of it will help our own.