p. 146 | TRUTH ONLY WITH RIGHT

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 5, 1901

TRUTH ONLY WITH RIGHT

The Chicago Israelite

The world believes in the doctrine of numbers, and yet if there be one thing that history teaches by impressive examples, it is that mere numbers and mere bigness have not been the conquering elements in the life of humanity.

And if there be one other thing that history further teaches, it is this, That there has never been one forward step taken in the progress of mankind that has not been achieved under the leadership of the minority. Truth appeals to one, two, ten, a hundred men; these suffer for it, are persecuted for it; gradually it makes its way until finally the large numbers are converted. The world is never saved by mere numbers. Ten men would have been sufficient to save the city of Sodom. Isaiah spoke eternal truth when he enunciated the doctrine of “the saving remnant.”

The Maccabean movement was a practical realization of Isaiah’s thought. Because it embodies this eternal verity it is of significance for all time. For that reason, time and again in the history of the world, the leaders of protesting movements against intrenched wrong have pointed to Judah Maccabee as the exemplar of the truth that right is might. . . . Truth dwells not with the hosts of numbers, but with the right.