Article May 28, 1921 Issue

In the Majority with God

SAMUEL GREENWOOD

THE decree had gone forth in Babylon that for thirty days the king was to be the only God of the nation, and any one found going contrary thereto would be given to the lions. The subtle effort to substitute human personality for divine Principle has marked the trail of the serpent from the beginning, although not always so boldly stated as in the present instance. Did Daniel, at whom the decree was directed, falter in his choice? Did he weakly compromise with his conscience by believing he could be loyal to God in his heart until the thirty days were ended, while he outwardly conformed to the conditions of the decree? Not for one moment, nor did he attempt to conceal his allegiance to the God of Israel.

The grand old prophet did not court the experience that was threatening him, but from his more spiritual standpoint a den of lions was immeasurably preferable to a palace, if the latter had to be won at the price of his conscience. To him there was but one God, but one supreme authority, and the person and position of even the king could not take the precedence in his thought and conduct. He was about to prove the truth which Wendell Phillips has so finely stated in one of his speeches, that "one on God's side is a majority," or as it is sometimes rendered, "one with God is a majority." To all human appearance Daniel was in a hopeless minority of one, unless he betrayed his fealty to Principle for the sake of homage to person; but the majority of numbers failed in this instance, as it always fails in the end, to prevail over the one who stood with God and withstood the persecution of evil.

History is enriched with the record of those who have stood unmoved in the face of overwhelming opposition, preferring the sacrifice of their sense of human life rather than their sense of right. The world's reformers have ever been in the minority with men, but they were in the majority with God, therefore their cause could not be overthrown. Christ Jesus, who is to-day the beloved of millions, once stood utterly alone so far as human eye could see; but he had told his disciples that he was not alone, for the Father was with him. Could he have been in a greater majority? Had the Master yielded to the seductions of the tempter and sought to be king of men, and to have carnal dominion over all the earth, what could he have accomplished more than others who have attempted to tread the way of pomp and worldly glory? He would have failed as signally as others have failed who laid their all upon the altar of selfish ambition and became engulfed in the strife to be accounted greatest. He knew, better than any one else, that unless God were with him, although all the hosts of earth were in his train he would be in the losing minority.

Send a comment to the editors