HIS GREATEST ERROR by W. N. GLENN

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 10, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 22.

HIS GREATEST ERROR.

By W. N. GLENN

MR. PARNELL, Ireland’s leading champion in the English Parliament, has made a great “political blunder.” As a leader of the Irish Home Rule cause for several years he has made warm friends and bitter foes; but at last he has committed a blunder that calls forth the condemnation of both friends and foes. It is well known to the reading public that the long political contest in which he has been engaged has culminated in the creation of a special court of inquiry to investigate grave charges made against Mr. Parnell by the London Times. It was while on the witness stand, testifying in his own behalf before this court, that Mr. Parnell committed the shocking deed. Those who have not read the account will be curious to know what this awful blunder was. Well, he actually and “without evasion,” confessed a fault. This is the incident that is so out of harmony with the usages of the political world. He frankly confessed that in a speech delivered in the House of Commons in 1881, he made a false statement for the purpose of misleading the House concerning Irish affairs. For lawyers and politicians of Mr. Parnell’s rank to evade the truth for the purpose of carrying some great measure is not at all uncommon, but that one should confess such a crime when he might have evaded the confession, is, in the language of a prominent journal, “almost inexplicable.”

The New York Herald says: “What Mr. Parnell’s purpose or motive could have been in making that remarkable confession is difficult to say. But it is easy to see that the confession is likely to prove a political blunder. For, however it may be looked upon among his own friends and followers, his opponents will be quick to seize upon it as a weapon to damage both him and the cause he represents. The most amazing aspect of it is the readiness, the almost alacrity, with which the avowal was made. He might have parried the attorney-general’s questions. He might have declined to answer them and remained silent, at least until driven into a corner. He might, without misrepresentation, have stripped his replies of much of that boldness and bluntness which will be used against him with no little effect. But, instead of that, he confessed with a freedom akin to zeal.”

It will be noticed that it is not the misstatement that is here condemned, but the confession. And to give his adversaries “so unnecessarily the chance of which they will now make the most, was a mistake which a leader of Mr. Parnell’s shrewdness cannot commit without surprising his foes as well as his friends.”

Neither do any of us know what Mr. Parnell’s purpose was in making this confession; but this incident and its effect upon those most interested, both pro and con., serve to illustrate the contrast between the way of the world and the requirements of God. Confession of sin is one of the principal conditions of reconciliation with Heaven; yet it is the one thing of all others that the carnal man will not do unless driven by circumstances or induced by expediency. It is no wonder that Mr. Parnell’s confession, when he might have evaded it, involving so much of political importance, was a great surprise

to politicians. It is no wonder that Christ should say, “My kingdom is not of this world.” It is no wonder that his disciples should be admonished to avoid the ways of the world, when its politics is so directly opposed to the principles of their Master’s kingdom. In politics, the confession of sin at a critical period of some important movement may be a great mistake which a shrewd operator will avoid; but in the kingdom of Christ, confession of sin is a forerunner of success. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” W. N. GLENN.