The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-06-24
AN ELOQUENT SERMON.
Lessons Taught by the Life and Courage
of St. John the BaptlSt.
Nevs and Courier, June Is.

Before a very large congregation at
St. Michael's yesterday morning the
Rev. Shirley Carter Hughson delivered
his first sermon since his ordination.
It was heard with great attention and
interest.
Mr.. Hughson announced his text
and spoke as follows:
St. Matthew, 3, 8: "The voice Of
one crying in the wilderness, Prepare
ye the way Of the Lord; make His
path straight"
In attempting to study the charac-
ter and life Of St. John the Baptist
one is impressed with the remarkable
fact that though the greatest of the
prophets, almost less is known of him
than Of any of the great foretellers of
the Messiah. The only account we
have of his miraculous birth and his
early life is in a simple chapter Of St.
Luke. St. Matthew ment ons him on
ly in a brief and general way. St.
Mark mentions him only twice, and in
the whole Of the gospel of St. John he
is referred to only three Times. St
Luke, who seems to have known him
better than the other evangelists,
mentions him again in the Acts, and
in all the twenty-seven books Of the
New Testament we do aot find him
again referred to. OF that wonderful
preaching which so stirred all Judea,
and brought the people in thronging
thousands to sit at his feet, We have
preserved less than twenty verses,
scattered almost at random through
the opening chapters of the four Cos
pels.
And yet despite this meagre men
ton in Holy Writ, what a mighty figure
is John the Baptist in the history of
Christianity! In point of natural
character and manhood he stood head
and shoulders above even those whom
u Lord chose to be His personal.
companions, and his mingled fearless
ness and humility stand out in strong
contrast to the cowardice and pride
which were displayed on more than
one occasion by the twelve, and which
they did not conquer until fortified by
the visible presence of the Holy
Ghost on the day of Pentacost. When
the soldiers lay violent hands upon
u Lord the disciples forsook Him
and fled. John, on the other hand,
did not fear to stand face to face with
the King himself and charge him with
his crime. The twelve did not scru-
pie to wrangle among themselves as to
which should be greatest in the king
dom, but when John was asked: "Who
art thou?" his humble reply was: II
am the voice Of n crying in the
Wilderness"
1t is from this characteristic that
we are to learn the greatest lesson his
life has to teach US. The question
his life presents is this: Are we, when
occasions arise for US to declare our
selves, to place considerations first, or
shall we think first of the higher work
and mission We are sent to fulfil?
This is the secret of true greatness.
No nan was ever great who always
thought Of self. We can go further
and say that no man was ever great
who did not always utterly forget self.
The real heroes of the world, who
really succeed, are those who have
never thought of themselves, who
have been content to live as an infu-
ence in life, as a mere voice lifted up
in the Wilderness Of sin. But the
path to success of this kind is not an
easy one. The Baptist was not a MAI
to clothe himself in soft raiment and
he suffered all the hardships Of his
strange and unique position. But he
was not moved from his purpose by
opposition even in the highest places.
He was not a reed shaken by the wind,
but firm and fearless, he faced every
danger and every opposition with a
keen appreciation of the purpose of
his life, and an answering determi-
nation to attain it. And now note the
result.
By the sheer force of his courage
and his truth he commanded, not only
the respect blu, the confidence of every
grade Of society. 1t was not by cring-
ing to the proud Pharisees, or by
trimming his sails to suit the wind of
popular opinion that St. John won
this confidence. 1t was by speaking
boldly and honestly that he won it;
and human nature is the same today
as it was nineteen centuries ago. Men
like boldness, they like honesty, and
whether they agree with us or not, if
we stand squarely for our opinions,
compromising nothing, We will win
their admiration, and as in the case of
St. John, We shall find that, admiring
our methods, it will not be long before
they will learn to admire and receive
the truths we have to give them. St.
John employed no other method. As
the people themselves said, "John did
no miracle" but, nevertheless, they
received him and his message. And
how %gloriously did he succeed in pre-
pairing a way for their acceptance of
that high and perfect truth, which
Christ was to bring. Faith was necessary
to the cure of their souls and bodies,
and so we'll did he prepare their faith
that, in the words of u Lords an
swer to the Baptist when he sent to
ask if he we're verify the Christ, his
messengers said: "The blind receive
their sight, the lame walk, the leper
cleansed, the dead raised, and most
blessed of all 5oons, "the poor have
the Gospel preached to them" How
blessed a privilege it would be if by
the few weak words we may be able to
speak, We could so prepare mems
hearts for receiving the Gospel of sal
walton that their spiritual blindness