Great Men
H. J. Bevis. Hebrews 11:37-38 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins… I. THE WORLD AND THE CHURCH FORM A VERY DIFFERENT ESTIMATE OF GREATNESS. Look at history. What names are those that fill its pages? Kings, counsellors, and chieftains — men who have lived only to subdue and govern their fellow-men. History is so occupied with their deeds, that it finds no place to record manifestations of moral principle, and works of true greatness. There is no record in it of those men, who through a strength and purity of soul obtained a sway over the minds of their fellow-men; who, rising above their times, assailed all forms of error, rescued great truths from the corruption of ages, and by their characters, deeds, sufferings, and writings, proved themselves the benefactors of their race. The world does not know them; but their names are repeated with veneration by thousands. These are our great men; and the day is coming when their greatness shall be acknowledged. The Church esteems moral greatness as the highest kind of greatness; and whatever qualities a man may have apart from this, she refuses to admit his pretensions, and casts out his name. There is too much of lowliness and simplicity in true moral greatness to charm and attract the world. Intellectual greatness is far inferior to moral greatness. A man may be intellectually great, and yet morally mean. He may be like Bacon, the greatest and the meanest of men. The philosopher and the poet are inferior to the Christian. The Church knows nothing of the greatness of men as kings, as warriors, or as statesmen. In her estimation "the Christian is the highest style of man." It is necessary to moral greatness, that there should be an acquaintance with the truth — with God's truth; that truth which illuminates and saves the soul; that truth which sustains a man amidst the scoffings and revilings of an age; that truth which teaches a man how to live and how to die. To be a great man, therefore, a man must recognise the superiority of his nature. He must act as a man, knowing and feeling that he has a soul. He must not be imposed upon by the pageants of the world; he must not be allured by the charms of the things that are passing away; he must confess himself to be a stranger and a sojourner here, as all his fathers were. A great man must be a bold man — one who will act out his convictions, defying all peril, and hearing in his own conscience a voice louder than the threatenings of the world. He must be a man who will dare to be singular; who will hew out his own pathway; who will even look death in the face rather than give up his principles, and leave guilt upon his conscience. He must be an active man — a man making his existence necessary to the world, and who will not let the world do without him; yea, the world cannot, the world shall not do without him. It retains the impression of his deeds. His influence shall outlive himself, and shall never die. II. THERE HAVE BEEN GREAT MEN IN THIS WORLD OF OURS — men "of whom the world was not worthy." There have been some who were men above their age — men standing out from their fellows, men who have lived alone in their generation, and have been like stars in the expanse of heaven. Among the great men who have lived since the days of the apostles I may single out the monk of Germany. Among the most memorable scenes that have occurred in European history is, undoubtedly, that scene in which that great man stood before the world's authorities friendless and alone and when the question was proposed to him — "Will you recant?" he answered "By God's grace, never." By that one act and deed of his he deserves to be enrolled among the list of those men "of whom the world was not worthy." III. GREAT MEN ARE MADE SO BY THE GRACE OF GOD. They were "born not of blood, nor of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Their lives were a copy of the holiness of truth, an illustration of the beauty of truth, and a manifestation of the power of truth. IV. GREAT MEN HAVE, GENERALLY SPEAKING, GIVEN AN IMPULSE TO THE AGE IN WHICH THEY LIVED. It was impossible for them to think and speak and act in such a world as this, without producing undying impressions; it was impossible for them to suffer and to die, without leaving memorials of their names, their deeds, and their sufferings, in the sympathies and in the hearts of men. They laid the foundation of that vast structure of civil and religious liberty in which we meet and bow down and worship to-day. V. THE WORLD HAS ALWAYS BEEN IGNORANT OF ITS GREAT MEN. There was One, of whom it becomes us to speak with the greatest reverence. He came into this world; and though He had made the world, yet it knew Him not, and cried out — "Away with Him! away with Him! crucify Him! crucify Him!" And if the world know not the Master, is it likely that it will recognise His disciples? The world has never known these great men. It has always treated them with contempt. They have been afflicted, forsaken, tormented; they have "wandered about in goatskins and in sheepskins"; and yet these very men have been among our true nobility and spiritual aristocracy; " of whom the world was not worthy." And yet, for them the world forged its fetters, opened the doors of its dungeons, and lit up its fires, that their spirits might ascend to liberty and to God." (H. J. Bevis.) Parallel Verses KJV: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; WEB: They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated