“Isaiah, on the other hand, worked under no such disabilities. He preached to the masses only in the sense that he preached publicly. Anyone who liked might listen; anyone who liked might pass by.”
Source: Isaiah's Job (1936), III
Context: If, say, you are a preacher, you wish to attract as large a congregation as you can, which means an appeal to the masses; and this, in turn, means adapting the terms of your message to the order of intellect and character that the masses exhibit. If you are an educator, say with a college on your hands, you wish to get as many students as possible, and you whittle down your requirements accordingly. If a writer, you aim at getting many readers; if a publisher, many purchasers; if a philosopher, many disciples; if a reformer, many converts; if a musician, many auditors; and so on. But as we see on all sides, in the realization of these several desires, the prophetic message is so heavily adulterated with trivialities, in every instance, that its effect on the masses is merely to harden them in their sins. Meanwhile, the Remnant, aware of this adulteration and of the desires that prompt it, turn their backs on the prophet and will have nothing to do with him or his message.
Isaiah, on the other hand, worked under no such disabilities. He preached to the masses only in the sense that he preached publicly. Anyone who liked might listen; anyone who liked might pass by. He knew that the Remnant would listen; and knowing also that nothing was to be expected of the masses under any circumstances, he made no specific appeal to them, did not accommodate his message to their measure in any way, and did not care two straws whether they heeded it or not. As a modern publisher might put it, he was not worrying about circulation or about advertising. Hence, with all such obsessions quite out of the way, he was in a position to do his level best, without fear or favour, and answerable only to his august Boss.
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Albert Jay Nock 68
American journalist 1870–1945Related quotes
“English Aphorists,” p. 123
Reperusals and Recollections (1936)
Book II, Chapter 3, "The Shocking Alternative"
Mere Christianity (1952)
Context: Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside of the world, who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.
Calgary Bishop Ready to Ban 'Catholic' Conservative Party Leader http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/2001Mar/mar2nl1.htm (March 2, 2001)
“The world stands aside to let anyone pass who knows where he is going.”
As quoted in B. C. Forbes, Keys to Success: Personal Efficiency (1918), p. 189
Variant: "The world stands aside for a man who knows where he is going."
TheScene.com.au. 14 Jun 2007. Beanpole give Miller a Break. 27 Aug 2009. http://www.thescene.com.au/Fashion/Hype/BEANPOLES-GIVE-MILLER-A-BREAK/
TV.com Trivia http://www.tv.com/wentworth-miller/person/714/trivia.html
on what qualities he finds attractive in a woman, at a Beanpole Press Conference in South Korea
Orthodox Order of Friars Minor http://www.apostle1.com/oofm-rule-of-life.htm/, Rule XII
Disputed, Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.
Source: From the Corner of His Eye (2000), Chapter 64; words of former policeman Thomas Vanadium