GREATNESS by W. N. G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 15, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 37.

GREATNESS

By W. N. G.

FLOATING with the popular tide is not greatness, albeit so great a journal as Harper’s Weekly puts it that way. It contends that Bismarck can not be compared with Gladstone. We do not care to dispute the proposition, but we do doubt the logic of the evidence presented. The point is not proved by saying that the measure of Gladstone’s greatness was the extent of his co-operation with the real tendency of the world, while Bismarck’s strength was the extent of his success in obstructing this tendency. Bismarck’s greatest contention was against the encroachment of the Roman Church upon the prerogative of the State. True, this was an endeavor to obstruct the tendency of the world; for that church stands for a world religion. See Rev. 13:3.

But the obstruction of this tendency is the work of true Protestantism, notwithstanding the fact that Bismarck’s attempt was a failure. His warfare was a political contest, while the Protestant contest is with the Word of God, not for Germany’s aggrandizement, but for the truth in all lands. Yet, from a political standpoint, Bismarck’s effort to stem the oncoming tide of Roman supremacy in the empire was a heroic one.

Without desiring to detract an iota from the just renown of Gladstone, his floating on “the tendency of the world” is not evidence of his greatness, altho that is the road to a favorable reputation in the world. His tendency in his later years to flatter the Papacy gave him a good repute in papal circles. Therefore, the argument of Harper’s Weekly is clearly from the standpoint of Roman sympathy, and is a further evidence of a patent fact, namely, that the leading periodicals of the country, in common with the great dailies, are fast coming under the influence of the papal power, and fulfilling the prophecy already cited in this article.

It is a man’s standing in heaven that determines the true measure of his greatness. “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Then whosoever in this age will do and teach the commandments of God must necessarily be an obstructer of “the tendency of the world.” The men who are seeking greatness by riding on this tendency are thus pointed out in the “sure word of prophecy,” by the pen of Jeremiah: “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.” Jer. 6:16, 17.

Those who are to-day pointing men to their obligation to observe the Sabbath of the Lord, from which even the professed church has turned away, and pointing them to the dreadful consequences of receiving the “mark” of the “beast” instead (Rev. 14:9-12), will of course be charged with obstructing the “tendency of the world.” And when the National Reform Association, the Lord’s Day Defense Committee, and kindred “leagues,” shall have accomplished their work of molding public sentiment, such obstruction will not only be deemed heresy, but it will pass into the statute-books as treason. However, those who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” and “teach men so,” are looking for greatness in the kingdom of heaven, and not in this world. W. N. G.