And great things are often dwarfed by nearness. Mont Blanc cannot be properly appreciated from the village of Chamonix. To crown Mont Blanc the monarch of the mountains you must either climb it or get farther away. Jerusalem cannot be seen in its glory by the easy approach from the west. You must get across the Valley of the Kedron and stand on the Mount of Olives before the majestic picture bursts on your view.
Heroes are generally exaggerated or appreciated by the estimates of their own generation.
The calm judgement of history, though not infallible, is fairer. Some of earth's great ones have no doubt sunk into oblivion, but among those whom history remembers only those are great whom history greatens. Spurgeon is among that number. It will be conceded without argument that he was greater than any of his pulpit contemporaries. In an earlier chapter the comparison has been made, and the fan is so evident that it needs no insistence.