Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-01-03
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
THOUGHTS WORTHY or CALM
REFLECTION.
A Plsasant. Interesting. end Instructive
Lesson. and where II May Bs round-
A Learned end ,Coaeiss Rsvisv Of ~
Same.

Lesson for Jan. @.
Golden Text-"Fear not them which
kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul.'--Afntt 10: %
The beheading Of John the Baptist 10
the subject of this lesson. Herod- John.
These two mentioned in the same verse,
one distinguished for infamy, the other
for piety. They will never be so close
together again; as far apart thenceforth
as hell and heaven. So do the bad and
the good confront each other a moment
here, just moment; after this-God's
bar. "Herod himself had sent forth and
laid hold of John" The word for sent
forth is apostled. The devil has his own
apostles, sent TO do i'll. Beware Of them.
For Hcrodias' sake" For sins sake,
for selfish and sensual indulgence, most
OF the evil has come upon this world. 1t
began thus in the garden. For John had
said unto Herod, 1T is not lawful for
thee TO have thy brothers wife" And so,
presently, off went his head. But did
that make II lawful" Did that change
the nature of the sin? Alas, poor Herod,
whipped doubtless by conscience and re.
morse, driven 10 his dismal exile and eter-
nal death. He is not the only one tina.
uub tuOuSut ny tue lutte SWOFu 10 loosen
the everlasting grip of Gods law.
Therefore Herodias had quarrel
against him." 1t was not with him, but
against him, or rather against her better
self and the truth. John quarreled with
no one; he simply stated the truth and
the quarrel that ensned was an internal
one, in the womans own mind 1t is the
kind of quarrel the truth always starts
in mind where Satan's seat is. The
margin says, and quite literally (sec also
Luke XII. 53, where the same Greek verb
is used, she had ''an inward grudge"
toward him. Satan has ''grudge." a
quarrel" against you, brother or sis
Ter, every time you denounce sin in any
shape. Alas, that such disagreement
should even abate in this naughty world.
"IIerod feared John" Sin always
fears righteousness; the bad man is in
wardly afraid of the good man. This ac-
counts for the fact that, as the context
informs us, when Herod heard of Jesus
he thought of haunting ghosts and of an
avenging Nemesis. The King James yer-
sion says that accordingly Herod Job
served john" rather kept him safe, j. e.,
for his own safety. (The Revision il
more accurate here with this verse; Per-
haps If we understand by the word Job
served that he kept his eye upon him,
we shall not go far astray. 1t is the man
who is preaching the truth without fear
or favor that the world sets watch upon.
The other man, the one that trims his
sail to the popular breeze-neyer mind
him, no danger from that quarter. But
Her0d feared John. But this fear works
no reforms, and at last, as with such fear
usually, it comes to its rational fruitage;
it works the death of the man feared.
Feared by Herod; hated by Herodias.
There is always n hating Herodias to
lead fearful and vacillnting Herod on;
and there is always n daughter of said
He-odIas, with her lascivious charms, TO
give occasion. Possibly the weak Herod
did not realize what he was doing till
there ut last was the head of the dead
prophet before him, and sin had done its
worst. 1t was on "a convenient day"
that it all happened. And for Herod. and
Herodias and Hero6ias' daughter, and
for John, and for all of us there is com
ing another day-the day Of Judgment
Hints and Illustrations.
John the Baptist was hero, every inch
OF him. He was of the stuff of which
martyrs are made, and so he became seed
for the church. Look at him from any
siuc uttu uc iOOluS up large ana massive.
Does he seem to have weakened in his
message to Jesus toward the close? Out
of that very weakness, If weakness il
may be called-we prefer to look upon il
as in keeping with his general repose of
faith-he is made, in our estimation.
strong. 1t but gives him opportunity for
splendid exhibition of resignation.
This, indeed, was the motive of his life:
HE must increase, but l must decrease"
AS preacher he spoke the truth, plainly,
directly: as a prophet he warned openly,
boldly; as forerunner he left behind the
echo of voice saying: Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sins of the
world" and the vision of finger point
ing straight toward the Christ; as a man,
he stood forth chaste in youth, devoted
in service, upright and noble and good.
Give us another like him.
Study the resultant of lives. The after
thought and echo of Johns life was
Christ. 1t is a curious thing that when
Herod saw or heard of Jesus he thought
at once Of John, and, we may believe,
trembled. 1t is blessed thing when
death yields such good fruitage.
Herod destroyed Johns life, but not
his testimony. They cut off his head.
yet he finished his course and his witness
to Christ shone all the brighter. His
life testimony, the cross of Christ his
death witness, the same. A lone life
prisoner in one of the terrible dungeons
of Europe crept at the last to the side of
his cell and began with piece of nail
to etch his last testimony on the stone
wall. And when it was found, what
was it? Not the record of his pains and
privations; not his own name, or even
his initials. There stood the craven out
lines of cross. 1t was the sign John
left behind his life and his prison So
journ. I'm hoe signo vinces;" yea. more
than conquer.
/. Next demonstrating the Five Thou
sand" Mark 6: 30-44.