The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1899-10-12
IN HIS STEPS,
"What Would Jesus DO?"
By CHARLES n. SHELDON.
fCorvriehted md published in book form BY
the Advance Publishing Co. Of Chicago.1
By CHARLES N. SHELDON.
gcoNTINUEp.l

Perhaps nothing had astOnished the
people more than the great change that
had come over the minister since he
had proposed to them the imitation of
Jesus in conduct. The dramatic deliv-
cry of his sermons no longer impressed
them The self satisfied contented, easy
attitude of the fine figure and the re-
fined face in the pulpit had been dis
placed by a manner that could not be
compared with the old style Of his de-
livery. The sermon had become a mes.
sage. 1t was no longer delivered. 1t
was brought to them with love, an
earnestness, a passion. desire, hu-
mility. that poured their enthusiasm
about the truth and made the speaker
no more prominent than he had to be
as the living voice of God His prayers
were unlike any the people had ever
heard before They We're often broken.
Even once or twice they had been actu-
ally ungraumatical in u phrase or two
When had Henry Maxwell 80 far for
gotten himself in prayer as to make a
mistake of that so-tl He knew that he
had often taken as much pride in the
diction and the delivery of his prayers
as of his sermons. Was it possible he
now SO abhorred the elegant refinement
of formal public petition that he pur-
posely chose to rebuko himself for his
previous precise manner Of prayer9 1t
is more likely that he had no thought
of all that. His great longing to voice
the needs and wants of his people made
him unmindful of an occasional mis-
take. 1t is certain he had never prayed
80 effectively as he did now.
There are times when a sermon has q
value and power due to conditions in
the audience rather than to anything
new or startling or eloquent in the
words or the arguments presented Such
conditions faced Henry Maxwell this
morning as he preached against the ga
loon. according to his purpose deter
mined on the week before. He hsa no
new statements to make about the evil
influence of the saloon in Raymond
What new facts We're thereY He had no
startling illustrations Of the power of
the saloon il business or politics What
could he say that had not been said by
temperance orators great many times
The effect Of his message this morning
owed its power to the unusual fact OF
his preaching about the saloon at all,
together with the events that had stir
red the people. He had never in the
course of his ten years pastorate men
toned the saloon as something to be re-
garded in the light Of an enemy, not
only to the poor and the tempted, but
to the business life Of the place and the
church itself. He spoke now with a
freedom that seemed to measure his
complete sense of the conviction that
Jesus would speak so. At the close he
pleaded with the people to remember
the new life that had begun at the Rec
tangle The regular election of city Off
GERS would be an issue in that election.
What of the poor creatures surrounded
by the hell of drink while just begin
ming to feel the joy of deliverance from
sin2 Who could tell what depended on
their environment? Was there one
word to be said by the Christian disci-
pie, business man, professional man,
citizen, in favor of continuing to license
these crimes and shame producing in
stitutions? Was not the most Christian
thing they could do to act as citizens
in the matter, fight the saloon at the
polls, elect good men to the city Offices
and clean the municipality How much
had prayers helped to make Raymond
better while votes and actions had real
ly been on the side Of the enemies Of
Jesus? Would not Jesus do this? What
disciple could imagine him refusing to
suffer or take up his cross in the mat
teri How much had the members Of
the First church ever suffered in an at
tempt to initiate Jesus? Was Christian
discipleship thing Of convenience, Of
custom, of traditionf Where did the
suffering come ina Was it necessary,
in order to follow Jesus steps, to go up
Calvary as well as the Mount of Trans
tiguration9
His appeal was stronger at this point
than he knew. 1t is not too much to
say tudt tuo spiieuoi eChoAoh VI eho
First church reached its highest point
right there. The imitation Of Jesus
which had begun with the volunteers
in the church was working like leaven
in the organization. and Henry Max
well would. even thus early in his new
life, have been amazed if he could have
measured the extent Of desire on the
part of his people to take up the cross.
While he was speaking this morning,
before he closed with loving appeal to
the discipleship Of 1000 years knowl-
edge of the Master. many a man and
woman in the church was saying, as
Rachel had said so passionately to her
mother: ~ want to do something that
will cost me something in the way Of
sacrifice. l am hungry to suffer some
thing" Truly. Mazzini was right when
he said, mo appeal is quite 80 power
full in the erd as the call. Come and
suffer-"
The service was over, the great audi
ence had gone. and Henry Maxwell