The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1886-04-08
OUR EVENING SERMON !!
'Then said they unto him, Who ART
thou ?"-John 1. %.

ou. ln6 history OIL Guo Olu l0SldulouG
bore witness to the fact that there was to
come Savior of mankind, a light to the
world. There was man sent from God,
whose name was John. The people mar
veled at his manner, and believed him to
be the Christ, and sent men to inquire of
him if he were the Christ. He answered
that he was not, that he was as the voice
of one crying in the Wilderness, Make
Straight the Way of the Lord. In this
expression was embodied the idea of a
great many experiences in this world. 1t
is an easy matter to cry in the wilderness,
but it it is a lonely and distressing ex-
perience to have but the hollow and
mocking echo answer you back. And
men who serve the Lord and attempt to
promote his kingdom in the earth must
cry in the wilderness. Go into the haunts
where men congregate to abandon them
selves to the fascinating, and at the same
time disgusting, practice of gaming and
drinking, and cry aloud unto them a
warning of the danger of their position; !;
go to the scoundrel who would perjure
his own soul in order to spite his neigh
bor; go to the man who has a false
bottom in the measures in which he sells
his grains and vegetables, or whose liquid
measures are wonderfully short; 60 to
the man whose innate conceit leads him
to denounce his fellow who is trying to
do right; go to the man who cannot look
up from the counting of his dollars long
enough to do a righteous act; go to the
man whose only idea seems to be to gain,
and no matter how; go to the man who
regards the world as his great harvest
field, and all things therein his by right
of appropriation; go to the man who
would ditch the water off of his land into
his neighbor's field; go to the man who
would sell checks at nickel apiece in
gambling scheme, then charge two of
them for a nickel at the bar or counter;
call the attention of such men to sense
of their duty; say to such man Who art
thou? He will not, perhaps, answer as
John did, and say that he is the forerun-
ner of one whose shoe-latchet he is not
worthy to loosen He will lfsay that he is
thankful that he he is not as bad as some
men are. You will cry in the wilderness
when you talk to such a man, and he will
lie in the wilderness when he answers
you.
Who are you? What answer shall we
all give in that solemn hour when called
upon to balance up the books of time,
and open the account of eternity? What
shall be the character of our genealogy,
as given upon that day? 1t is easy
enough, and common enough, for man
to live in the world, and have many good
qualities, yes and many bad qualities,
and the world generally not know of
them. But he will be met with the ques-
tion at last, beyond the confines of earth
and time, from one who knows his his
tory. Every man should so live that his
very life should tell its own story. Let it
be said of every man in answer to the
question Who Are You? II am Chris
tian, one who loves his fellow men, who
strives to serve his Divine Master, and
who never sought to eXalt himself at the
expense of others" With that answer
there could be no reasonable fear for the
future.
A man may sneak through the world,
he may strive successfully to prevent any
man from knowing exactly what be is, or
who he is. He may be all things to all
men, and nothing to any man; but such
a man is of no benefit to the world, and
no credit to the Creator who placed him
here. 1t is common form of expression,
in speaking of a reliable man, to say "you
always know where to find him." That |
portrays one of the grandest |
traits of human character. To know
where to find man-to know who he is,
him in a good position before
his fellow men; if he has failings, you
know it, and can guard against them; if
he has good qualities, you know it, and
can enjoy them. 1t is alwas pleasure to
know who man is, and where to find
him. If his company is not desirable, you
can have the pleasure of avoiding it; if it
is desirable, you can have the pleasure of
ejoying it. But in any case the man who
makes himself known is the more valua-
BILE citizen.
John was making himself known by
his good works. Such was the character
of his work that it was thought by some
that he was the Messiah. That is the
grand ideal. Let the work be such that
the idea of Christianity shall be associa-
ted with the life, and the character of the
work point toward things Divine. Every
man who processes Christianity should
feel when making that profession that
men and angels are asking him the ques-
tion "who art thou?" And it need not be
a troublesome question, nor one difficult
to answer, if the heart has been faithful
and the conscience has been obeyed. It
would not be bad idea, nor bad rule
for every man to adopt in his dealings
with his fellow-men, to ask the question,
after every business transaction, "who art
thou?' Let that be the motto. Too fire.
quently we hear the expression at cost
me that much to find him out" Such ex-
pressions tell a pitiable story of misplaced
confidence; of looking for an honest man
and finding scoundrel; Of looking for an
angel and seeing cloven foot. 1t costs
the people of this would vast amount of
money to find each other out. We have
known men to drift along for years, cov-
ering their their tracks, and enjoying the
confidence of friends, only to be found out
last to the cost and bitter experience of
those friends. Then the victims of mis- :
placed confidence are ready to exclaim
'Oh, | knew he was a scoundrel a long
time ago." Thus the mean man is guilty
not only of living a lie himself, but of
making better men commit the apparent
offense of falsifying, for the victim may
have doubted the deceiver for some time,
and only waited for definite evidence of
his guilt.
There is vastly more of square lying
done before the consecrated altar, than
one would like to believe, were the evil
dence less strong. The sacred influences