THE MISUSE OF POWER

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 13, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 28.

THE MISUSE OF POWER.

POWER to decide the temporal fate of individuals does not always attach to the good or to the great. This is true in all the affairs of life, but the principle is more strikingly illustrated in the higher official realm. For instances: King Saul had the power to execute eighty-five priests, besides all the inhabitants of Nob, where the priests resided, and all their cattle, because Ahimelech had befriended David when he was in need. Herod Antipas had the power to slay the Lord’s special messenger, John the Baptist, who had been sent to announce the coming of the Messiah. Pontius Pilate was permitted the power to put to death the Son of God, at whose command lay all power in heaven and earth. Herod Agrippa I had the power to behead the Apostle James, and his position would have given him the power to execute Peter also, but the angel of the Lord interfered to thwart his purpose. Emperor Nero had the power to behead the Apostle Paul, and many like examples on the part of minor magistrates in official position might be cited. But these are enough to show that the brief authority that falls to men in this world does not necessarily make them wiser or better than their fellows.

The theory of good government is that rulers are the servants of the people. This is especially recognized as the theory of republican government. But we have reached a period in the world’s history when this theory is practically reversed, and officialdom assumes a superiority over the rank and file of the population. And the principle has not only found place in national, state, and municipal government, but it has passed into all corporate bodies with which the country abounds. More and more the employee class are coming to be deemed inferior to those who are for the moment placed to direct their labors. The tendency is to caste conditions, and even to slavery.

It is this principle run to the extreme that eventually results in attempts to reverse the order, and to all manner of violence to reach that end. The disposition to destroy the property of the rich (James 5:1-6), is the direct result of oppression—which is a misuse of power. So also is the power to arise and destroy in retaliation for the injustice practised by employers. There is no more justice in this than there is in the course that provokes the strenuous resentment. The last verse cited in the above reference shows that there are some just ones who suffer by the fraud of unjust employers, but they do not resist. The words are, “Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.” So it is evident that those who go to the extreme of physical resistance indicated by the prophet, would, if conditions were thereby reversed, continue a system of oppression.

Rulers, or overseers, even in the work of the Lord, are a necessity, but they are not to deem themselves, nor to be deemed by others, as superior to their fellows. The Apostle Paul writes: “We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake [not for their own sake].” 1 Thess. 5:12, 13. This harmonizes with the counsel of Christ: “Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you; but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister; and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45.