The Brinkley argus., 1898-03-10
APPEALED TO THE HEROIC.
OhsAsts Call Is One Away fRen 0uf
 Old eelnshnoes.

Ch1ADtSD O0l1 l0 Ono AWoy sES. VI
 Old selnshness.
 In attracting men to enter His serv- ice Christ did not appeal to the motives which usually influence human choice. He did not say: Follow me, and l will give you wealth, power, pleasure place, ease, safety" but virtually, the converse was true. With an absolute frankness which would have frightened men who were not of heroic fiber He told His disciples that in leaving all 10 become His followers they were in vited to become sharers with Him m homelessness, detraction, per secution; that He would lead them into the midst of conflict in which earth and hell would turn their worst weap- ons against Him and His followers; that the time would come when to kill the disciples of the hated Nazarcne would be regarded as a pious act; that they were called to tribulation, cross hearing. hatred of self, martyrdom. While He did not disclose all the hard ships of His service at any one time, yet He made it plain to possible d1sci- ples, that in following Him they MSes be ready to forsake anythiaG accept anything, endure anything even to the loss of life itself-follow Him un- conditionally, without stopping to count the costs of this or that action.
 But, strange as it would seem to Caesar or Sybarite, Christ's methods of appeal grappled to His soul with something much stronger than hooks of steel men and women not few who were willing to follow Him even unto death. Such method of appeal at- tracted ts.em. It touched the heroic in them. It made them unconquerable, for how can man be overcome who regards death for Christ's sake as the crowning incident of his victory! :! Christ, who knew what is in man, dld not make mistake when He enlisted soldiers for the conquest of the world by appealing to the heroic in man.
 Christ's appeal is still to the heroic in man. The external conditions of dis cipleship have greatly changed since Jesus, the Hero above all heroes, fought the greatest Conflict of the Ages alone; but the essential conditions of disciple ship are now and always will be the same. Christ never invited a man to be saved for his own sake, and never will. He will not lift selfishness into Heaven to sit there in the eternal enjoyment of egoistic felicity.
 But are we not in danger of being made selfish by the very affiuence of modern Christianity? Christianity has made certain favored circles of life ex- ceedingly pleasant. In her train fol How law, liberty, education, industry, competence, art, and all the comforts and elegancies of life. It requires no self-denial to be Christian in these days, so far as the external conditions of life are concerned. Indeed, Chris tianity is now so rich and increased in goods that she is in danger of bidding against her old rival, the World, by offering great temporal advantages to those who are wise enough to enter within her sheltered fold. This is vel enough if the blessings of our Chris. tian civilization are regarded as incl, dental and subsidiary, but the danger is that they will be regarded as pri mary, and that the possession of then will unfit Christians for that daily self ldenial without which religion is thu 1 most hateful form of selfishness.
 1 Christ's tonic for this malaria of mod ern life-selfshness-i the same as oi old, the heroic, the soul of which is self-denial for the advancement O worthy ends. And there are so many opportunities for heroism, even in low ly life, that anyone who is Christ-Iikt in his station is thereby qualifiedst. fstake from Christ's own hand the Hols Grai of the heroic and drink with H1n zs ss caaap Y
 When Victor Hugo desired to Ind hero around sMiAom to ogroup the serie' of books which form lais great work Les Misexebles" the election did no fallaon the great Napoleon, the chic. character in one of the books, but or Jean Naljean, the exsconvict, the9nal who 1ee lifted out7c3 criminalitys D. the AHlp ack ths5a ahopa who iis'
 
 came wealthy mapuf ufActurtr and ar honored citizen, but (Gain was returned to the galleys by knowingly betrayine himself to keen-eyed detectiye while using his enormous Et4ength to save z man from being crushed to death un der loaded cart; Jean Valjean, whe for many years lived a life of complet' self-effacement, dead to the world, 1E ing for Cosette, Marius andothers, whe did not understand the worth of hi sacrifices, only to have the heroism Q his life discovered when he was foun' dying alone, dying for lack of human sympathy, staying his lonely soul b. praying to the Grand Sufferer" Q Calvary, whose example he had fo many years initiated.
 And the life of our day furnishe
 many opportunities for the exercise o l Christian heroism. Christ knows them
 and they know Christ, and gladly fol
 low Him whithersoever He goeth; me-
 and women who go to the most distan
 posts of our Captains "far-fung' bat
 tie line; workers in the obscure hom
 missionary churches, or in social set
 clements, among the poor, or in an,
 service great or small which give
 promise of filling place in Christ's re
 demptive plan. The world has need o
 such heroes, who will place others be
 fore self, duty before ease, the spiritua
 before the carnal, service before in
 dulgence, faith before sight, and Chris
 before evarvfhinn