Truth the Greatest Thing
By L. A. S.
THE world has its aristocracies of wealth, of influence, of title; but the true aristocracy is made by truth. It is the aristocracy of character, character that is formed by obedience to the truth of God. In all the world there is nothing so great, nothing of such vast importance, as the truth of God. This is so to-day, and it has been so in every age. To know and to obey the truth has always been the highest privilege set before mankind. To be the messenger of God's truth to the world has always been the most exalted calling. Men become great by identifying themselves with the truth. Obedience to the truth is always an uplifting force. Day by day it elevates the soul to a higher plane, and the heaven-bound traveler's tent “is pitched each night on higher ground.” No greater man ever lived than John the Baptist; and no man was ever more fully identified with a message of truth from heaven. He said of himself, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,”—a voice sounding forth the message of God first penned by the prophet Isaiah,—a message to prepare the way of the coming Messiah. If we look for the secret of John's greatness, we shall find it in the greatness of his message. Never had so great a message been given to the world before. The first advent of the Messiah, which was the burden of John's message, was the greatest event which time had yet revealed to the world in the fulfilment of God's eternal purpose in Christ. John was so fully identified with this greatest message that he was the mouthpiece of God in its proclamation, the very voice of the message, and did not claim or care to be anything else. This is why no greater man than John the Baptist had ever before risen in the world. But John's message was not the greatest that was to be given to the world; and a greater and more solemn message, preparing the way for a more glorious coming of the Messiah and a greater event in the fulfilment of God's eternal purpose, is now sounding throughout the earth. It is our high privilege to be identified with this last message of God's truth to the world, as John was identified with the message of truth in his day. And surely this message will do for us all that John's message did for him, if we relate ourselves to the work of God as he did. But we must not merely possess the message; the message must also possess us, so that our whole lives shall speak forth the message, and people coming in contact with us shall hear a voice of solemn and momentous import,—a voice crying, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” The truly great men of this generation will be those who are made great by the message for this generation, those who identify themselves now with the truth of God, those who consecrate themselves and their all to it. No higher privilege was ever set before mankind than that which now calls us to consecrate ourselves to the Lord in this final hour of the gospel work.