These two are often confounded, and they are not at all the same; yea, they oftener than otherwise exclude each other. Jesus, of all men most unpopular, forsaken by all, condemned to death by his own people, crucified between two thieves has proved the most influential person of history. There have been, on the other hand, those who had the applause of multitudes, but whose memory and name rotted as quickly as their bodies. Behind much show of popularity there may be no real power. A certain "ugly little Jew" (so Renan calls him), in his day a wanderer a prisoner, an outcast, for his Master's sake, finally executed at Rome, and eighteen hundred years in the grave, holds to-day more sway over the hearts of men than any man living. Many of the great ones of his time would have been entirely forgotten but for the fact that this despised Jew's life incidentally touched theirs. Truly, things are not what they seem. Yet there are those who seek popularity rather than influence: who curry favor with the public, and hold much on policy, and are very jolly, and join all sorts of clubs and open and secret societies, and mingle into civic affairs, for the sake of prominence and notoriety, which thing they mistake for influence. Verily, they have received their reward. "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for in the same manner did their [85] fathers to the false prophets"--those prophets who sugar-coated the judgments of God and healed the wound of their people slightly, saying, "Peace, peace," when there was no peace!

[TAG 85-86]