Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1895-09-12
REV. GREATH0UsBs SERMON,
Delivered at Willie Halsell College
Last Sabbath Msrning.

III any man serve me, MIN viii nv father
Every man who has ambition
enough to accomplish anything
praiseworthy in this world desires
to be honored.
Only the vicious and worthless
are Indifferent to public senli-
ment.
Every good man is anxious TO
please God. Nothing can give
him more pleasure than a con-
sciousness that God honors him.
Men have reached the ultimatum
of success when, like Jesus Christ,
they have wisdom and knowledge
and are in favor with God and
men.
Christ, who has been successful
infinitely above every other man.
tells us IN the text how success
may be obtained, and his life is a
practical demonstration of the cor
rectness of the statement, for it
was b. honestly serving God, by
heroic fidelity even unto death
that he reached his present posi-
ton at the right hand of God from
whence he dispenses blessings that
give him the right-of-way to mil
lions of human hearts and bind
them to him with cords that are
stronger than death.
ttThere is no intimation in the
text that the honors promised for
faithful service are to be limited
to this world or the next, but the
presumption is as service is not
confined to time or eternity neither
will the honors be.
If it is true that God has been
honoring faithful men in this
world, the history of thirty five
hundred years-the period of au-
thentic history-ought to bring out
the fact fully. Let US look there
fore into the history OF the past
and see how the doctrine of the
text has been verified. Ii we look
particularly into the history of ma
tions we shall see that God has
uniformly honored his servants.
"Blessed is the nation whose God
is the Lord" is not only written in
the psalms, but upon every page
of sacred and profane history. In
the beginning of authentic history
God was laying the foundation of
the highest civilizations of this
life, and Moses, his servant, was
the medium through whom the
principles necessary to exalt hu-
manity were communicated. That
man is less than tyro in law or
political economy who does not
know that the laws of Moses lie at
the foundation of the laws of all
modern civilization. 1t is a his
toric and geographic fact that the
nations who have proclaimed
themselves Christians and adhered
most closely to tine teachings OF
the old and new testaments-
though they are comparatively
young-have grown in these mod
ern times till they have come to
possess two-thirds of the landed
surface of the earth and all the
highways of the seas. Surely God
is honoring his servants. II we
look into the lives of individual
statesmen we shall find at the head
of the list Jefferson, Gladstone
and Bismarck. The first although
claimed by skeptics was member
of the z. E. church, slept with a
Greek testament under his head
and made provisions in the estab-
lishment OF the University of Vir-
ginia for theological instruction by
any church or all churches that
would take advantage of it. The
second is well known as prominent
IN his religious convictions and
character. The third, who is con-
sidered by many the peerless man
of this century, spent the night af-
ter the battle of Sedan on the bat
tie field reading the bible. Eithteen
hundred years ago when, Jesus
Christ the peasant prophet from
the despised village of Nazareth"
said on the streets of Jerusalem 81
am the light of the world" he
was sneered at by the literati of
the city as an ignorant egotist
whose words were but the rawlings
of a wild fanatic. But now after
1,SO0 years nave passed away, and
the world has had opportunity to
test his doctrines and witness the
effects of his philosophy, there are
multiplied thousands who are re-
iterating the statement, and the
world has learned wisdom enough
to applaud rather than sneer.
The educated mind of the nine
teenth century is Christian. The
great schools of the world are
either nominally or aVowedly
Christian, while none dare oppose
the name that has given intellec-
tual vigor and moral impetus to
the world.
1t is a significant fact that the
nations beyond the confines of
Christianity have learned by obser-
walton that Christian education is
the highest and best that can be
obtained in this world, and they
are as rapidly as possible acquir-
ing it. Japan woke up to a reali-
cation of this important fact sooner
than the much more populous na-
tion of China, and this fact alone
gave her the mental vigor that en-
abled her to triumph easily over
her more numerous foe in the con-
fict that has just closed.
China is rapidly learning tle
lesson, and while the ignorant
multitude may murder the yota-