The authority of Holy Scripture is gone if the following extracts are true: "'The credibility of these historic portions of the Bible rests almost entirely upon the characters and morals of their writers. Good men will not utter falsehoods" (Vol. 1, page 42). " It in no way invalidates the truthfulness of certain books of the Bible, such as Kings, Chronicles, Judges, etc., when we say that they are simply and carefully kept histories of prominent events and persons of their times " (Vol. 1, page 42). " Were it [the Bible] not a history, but simply a treatise on morals, other historic facts recorded in the Bible might without detriment be omitted, though no one can reasonably say that the Bible countenances impurity " (Vol. 1, page 43).
To attempt to build up a system, and ask serious men and women to stake their all for time and eternity on no better foundation than a book, C. T. Russell claimed he could revise to profit, and which in parts, he dared to say, is no more reliable than carefully written books of profane history, is to court ultimate failure and disaster.