The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-08-15
Two ConQuerers.

scattered the army or Darius anu con-
ouered Tyre, is said to have gone to
Jerusalem, worshipped in the temple,
and heard the high priest read the
prophecies of Daniel concerning him
self.
He was told, according to the le-
gend, that he was the agent of heaven
to humble the Kingdoms Of the East.
The revelation pleased him, but he
considered himself a divine person,
and nothing less would satisfy his am
bition than the honor Of this supreme
claim.
In Lydia, the aattering shrine
keepers of Ammon were made to
hail him as the son of god, and
as such he ever afterwards signed his
name.
he was a brave, brilliant, fortunate
soldier-and king. That was all
His character was a motley of virtues
and vices. He was by turns modest
and bombastic, noble and mean, just
and unjust, kind and cruel, vindictive
and magnanimous, temperate and IN
temperate. The he-goat of Daniels
vision was his emblem.
Within 13 years he made himself
master of 10 nations, and he ended
his life in early manhood, because he
could not make himself master of his
own appetite. He died drunkard.
Men called him the "conqueror of the
world" but the world could not well
own him conquerer who fell victim
to it's temptations.
More than 300 years after Alexan-
der s visit to Jerusalem, Jesus Christ
stood there in the temple. No one
showed Him the prophecies that fore
told Him, though there were many in
the sacred books. The scribes and
doctors were astonished ut the under
standing of the marvellous boy, but they
|Sdid not know Him. -
he went home with. His mother,
and said nothing about Himself till
He was 80 years old. Then from the
privacy Of His simple village life He
went forth to be preacher and
teacher, and to do good in more pub
lie way.
His doctrine sank into men s hearts.
His miracles blessed the sick and the
Door. He needed no Lybian oracle to
declare Him the Son of God. He had
jourpeyed into Egyptin His childhood,
but He brought back no borrowed di-
vinity.
When His three years wonderful
ministry we're ended He was in Jeru-
salem again and there He died. His
words to His friends were remember
bered. and He had done enough
| to make them true: 'sBe of good
cheer I have overcome the world.
It would have been worth to Alex
| ander more than all his victories to be
able to say these words with the con-
idence Of saint and martyr, rather
| than with the boastfulness Of a-war-
rior king. The great Macedonian was
naturally thoughtful and humane, but
he had an Unsuitable lust for power
and glory, 30 that justice, gentleness,
truth and the lives Of men were moth
| ing when they stood in its way. The
| only shining virtue in him that his
| passion could not kill was his love for
his mother.
The great Nazarine loved His moth
| er, and loved all mankind. In genu-
inc greatness Jesus was not only ey-
erything that Alexander was, but ev-
erything he was not-unwarlike, un-
revengeful, unsel6sh, unsordid, un-
carnal, unboastful and to temptation
| inyincible. His power was not in
splendid strife and boundless spoil, /,
but in forgiveness, humility, purity
and peace. He taught men to love
one another and overcome evil with
| good, and he made plain the path Of
the perfect life.
Alexander and Jesus both died at
the age of 33. But the difference of
their conquests is. almost TOO wide for
comparison. One was destroyer, the
| other was a Saviour; and unlike the
empire Of the man of blood, that went
to pieces at his death, the empire OF
Christ is greater to-day than ever, and
is growing still. As DR.. Felix Adler, a
Jew, says of his earthly work, "In
those three years He changed the cur
rent Of the worlds history
The son of Olympias, with his vic
tories of violence and ambition, sur
wives only in the story Of his time, as
memory. The Son Of Mary, with
His victories Of love, is a living In
fuence among living men.
If there were no higher lesson in
this contrast, it at least sets forth
clearly the kind of success that brings
the noblest winnings. Goodness is
contagious as well as wickedness, and
it is longer-lived, for it is nourished
in affection that initiates, and graft
tude that never forgets. Every per.
son has one or more followers )" and
he who puri6es others by being him
;selp pure, secures triumph. that is
/ : N, N, orr O.