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The Fear of Man

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 31, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 53.

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The Fear of Man.

By A. J. B.

There is but One whom men should fear. Jesus exemplified the noblest type of manhood. He feared no man.
The world to-day is divided into three classes: (1) men who have grasped power, and cause themselves to be feared; (2) men who fear other men; and (3) least in numbers, Christians, who fear no man, but God only.
Unfortunately, the number of those who do not fear the power of man, is on the decrease. The spirit and evil genius of the age seem to foster the centralization of wealth and power into the hands of a few men. This naturally makes the many dependent upon the few, and crushes out individuality. It leads many men to fear a few men.
In all His created works and His relations with man, however, God has ever shown a scrupulous regard for the principle of individuality. No two leaves of the forest are alike: each one has its distinct features. In His dealings with created intelligences (with Lucifer even) the Creator has given to all perfect freedom of the will—the very kernel of individuality.
Any effort, therefore, on the part of any man, to compel other men to fear him, is directly contrary to the conduct and teachings of Jesus, and consequently, anti-christian. And those who cringe, and fear the puny power of even the greatest of men, so called, thereby prove themselves no Christians at all; for one cannot fear God with all the heart and fear man.
According to Montaigne, the fear of man is the root of all lying; for, “to say that a man lieth is as much as to say that he is brave towards God and a coward towards men.”
The Scriptures repeatedly point to the fact that in the last days the fear of man predominates over the fear of the Lord. According to John, the very first words of the message sounded by the first angel, are: “Fear God, and give glory to Him.” He calls upon men to cease fearing their fellow men, and, instead, to center their attention upon God.
He who fears man thereby places man in the place of God, and becomes as much an idolater as any heathen.
The motto of the great John Wesley was: “Fear no one but God; hate nothing but sin; and be determined to know nothing among men but Christ and Him crucified.”
Said Solomon the wise, “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe [“set on high,” margin].” The Word abounds with similar passages of encouragement to the children of God who fear only the Lord.
True manhood has been hard to find in every age. True men are wanted everywhere. The Church, as well as the world, is cumbered with those who fawn and cringe, who play the politician, who sell their manhood day by day for petty positions, who to curry favor with the powerful, call white black, and black white, and who, fearing to be in the minority, always vote with the winning party. Truly, it is high time for those who fear the Lord and love His cause to sound anew the cry of Jeremiah: “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a MAN.”
Pilate introduced Jesus to the angry multitude in words which had a much deeper meaning than the Roman governor himself knew: “Behold the MAN.”
These degenerate days call loudly for men who dare to do what they know is right—for men who fear nothing but wrong. With the poet we fervently pray:—
“God give us men. A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands: Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor—men who will not lie; Men who can stand before a demagogue And scorn his treacherous flatteries without winking; Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog In public duty and in private thinking.”
The Church of God needs men with the invincible courage and determination of Wycliffe of England; of Militz, Matthias, Jerome of Prague, and Huss of Bohemia; of the noble Knight of Chlum, and Wenzel of Duba, who stood so nobly by Huss in his death trial; of Luther and his supporters in the Reformation movement in Germany; of the Wesleys; of Roger Williams—of countless other noble men and women who feared God rather than man. Like Luther at the Diet of Worms, these fear not to exclaim, when necessary: “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, God help me!”
Such are truly Christians. Like their Master, they denounce evil wherever they find it. They are no respecters of persons.
But their strongest denunciations of evil are their righteous lives. Knowing that they are in the right, “the righteous are bold as a lion” (Prov. 28:1), while, in striking contrast, “the wicked flee when no man pursueth.” The lion acts more than he talks. His actions make what he does utter all the more significant. So it is with the manly Christian.
He is a slave who, filled with the fear of man, dare not be “in the right with two or three.” But, the Christian is a free man, being delivered from all bondage to the opinions and whims of other men.
The Lord’s eyes are running through the earth in search of MEN. Are you a MAN? A. J. B.