things has existed.

At the time these men did not suppose that this was the position they
held; but history has judged them. It is not easy for a man to admit
the thought into his own mind that in him his office is being
dishonoured and its aim frustrated; and it is far more difficult to do
so if he has the support of the prevailing sentiment and is going
forward triumphantly as a member of the majority. But there is enough
in the history of our order to warn us to watch over ourselves with a
jealous mind, lest we too, while clad in the garb of a sacred
profession and in the authority of an ecclesiastical position, should
be found fighting against God. It will not do to think that, merely
because we sit in Moses' seat and have the Word of God in our mouths,
therefore we must be right. Nor must we be too confident because we
are in the majority. If we have faith in our own views, it is quite
right, indeed, that we should try to make them prevail; and there is
a legitimate joy in seeing a good cause carrying with it the
sympathies and suffrages of men. But we are all too easily persuaded
that our cause is good simply because it can win votes. In
ecclesiastical affairs there is often as feverish a counting of heads
as in party politics. The majority have the same confidence that the
case is finally decided in their favour; and there is the same
exultation over the defeated party, as if their being in the minority
were a clear proof that they were also in the wrong. But this is no
criterion, and time may sternly reverse the victory of the moment.
Even in the Church the side of the false prophets may be the growing
and the winning side, while Jeremiah is left in a minority of one.

The false prophets were strong, not only in their own numbers, but in
their popularity with the people. This told heavily against the true
prophets; for the people could not believe that the one man, who was
standing alone, was right, and that his opponents, who were many, were
wrong. The seats and the trappings of office always affect the
multitude, who are slow to come to the conclusion that the teachers
under whom they find themselves in providence can be misleading them.
This is, to a certain extent, an honourable sentiment; but it throws
upon public teachers a weighty responsibility. If they are going
wrong, they will generally get the majority of the people to follow
them. So completely may this be the case, that by degrees the popular
t