The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1892-11-26
Ct'RIST'S FeARLESsNEss.
customs an Oi'servances Had No Infu.
encc on His Conduct.

rev years agOthat masterpiece Of art,
Christ Before PLATE" was brought 10
TINS country and placed on exhibition in
New York city. The canvas is crowded
with faces, but the artist has succeeded
III 50 painting the face and attitude Of
the Saviour that the eve instinctiyelv
returns t" Christ after it has taken a
hurried glance at the others. Without
this the painting would have been a
failure. The face Of the Saviour is the
center Of interest.
As one looked on that face and those
eyes the thought came with almost ire
slstlDlc power, the fearless Christ
lAe angry pharisee, the crafty scribe.
the rerpIexed judge and the boisterous
cro"f which confront him in the iudg-
merit hall do not disturb his spirit. He
stands among them unmoved, as the
rock in the midst Of the stormy sea. He
has come TO this hour with a fixed pur-
pose and fearlessly meets it.
Aud this attitude Of mind is charac-
~terl5tic Of the Saviour. Wherever we
meet him he creates this impression.
He never cOnsult5 with the multitude
as to his duty. He never regards his
popularity at stake. He has his eve
fixed on right and duty. He clearly
sees the one and fearlessly performs the
other.
Customs Of long standing and Of strict
observance by the community have no
Influence on his conduct. He enters the
homes Of publicans and sinners-two in
tcnscly obnoxious classes III the COM
munity-and eats with them. He enters
into familiar and sympathetic conversa-
ZION with a Samaritan wOman-somc-
thing which even shocked the disciples.
tie spoke Of the temple and its worship
50 as to appal the priesthood. He dis
regarded many of the traditions which
the bulk Of the people carefully and re-
~li2iOusly observed. If Christ had been
a time server-a supposition which is
lmUst blasphemous-he surely would
not thus have crossed the feelings of the
people.
Sometimes this fearlessnes5 reaches
cinaXes. At n time the Saviour fell
in with a number Of sCribes and phari-
sees who were planning his overthrow,
ana on that occasion he delivered a
lengthy address. He touches on their
Oca9. Of ancestry. Many of the Jews
regarded their Abrahamic birth as a
CLOAK for theil sins. One of their noted
raUi iS-undorotedly Trogressive-had
CON, to the conclusion that God could
not possibly finally condemn who
was a lineal descendant of Abraham.
1t vas against this popular but
strouo lain that CHRIST hurled these
awful words: "Ye are Of your father
the devil. AMI the lus.S Of your father
ye VIII do. He was ID murder L from
he D"2inEin =, and abode not in the
rutl. becaua there is 40 truth in him.
When he Spe, keith a Ii, he spcaketh Of
mis- own. fer . j. Il liza, and the father
of l."
Some of Clrist's 70, overs ha e had
this tearle5&n, IS in Il conspicuous degree.
Paul manifested it when he tonight with
beasts at Ephasus. Luther had it when
he S,UOd before the Diet at Worms and
said: Il neither can nor dare retract
anything. for my conscience is a captive
to Gods Word, and it Is neither safe
nor light to go against conscience. Here
[ take my stand. Icand do no otherwise.
So help lie God, Amen William
Carey had it when, single handed, he
e~ndcavored to rouse the English people
to tie duty Of preaching the Gospel TO
the hpatItn nations. Whitetield had it
when lie preached Christ at Moortields.
This sublime fearlessness is what the
church of today needs. Before it many
of the institutions of vice and iniquity
which are now flourishing i'll our midst
would fall down with q crash, which
would mean that they would never rise
again. The truth as it is i'll Christ
| would barn with a new brilliancv. Pull
! pits would be sources of power instead
| ii rlatitudes. The church would rise as
| = whole to the sublime fearlessness of a
world conquest for Christ.-Christian
| iu~teIiigcncer.