The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-04-09

what is troubling thee?' oh" an
swered the minister, Il do not seem to
! derive any happiness from my Chris
tan belief and | have practically no
spiritual results" THAT is easily ac-
counted for" said the angel. Let US
analyze your ministerial ambition. We
shall say the whole represents 100 per
cent. How large a percentage of that
represents your selfish pride in preach
ing to a big audience? Fifteen per
4 cent How large a percentage repre-
, sents the desire to live in a fine house?
Fifteen per cent. How large a per-
eentage represents q desire to bring In
large addition to your church, so
that your brother ministers will speak
we'll Of you? Forty per cent. How
large a percentage represents the de-
sire to be intellectual and to have the
brainy men Of Edinburgh praise your
sermons? Ten per cent How large a
percentage represents your desire to
have your children move in good So
eiety? Fifteen per cent. What per-
centage of your ambition is left to
RoOA
the helpless? Only about per cent
of your whole life" DR.. Bonar awoke
from the dream horror struck. In that
midnight hour he then and there prom
ised to give himself wholly up to the
higher motive of serving for Christ's
sake alone Like that Edinburgh min
lister, may we be willing to honor Jesus
e. y f0
US as for what we may do for him.
The Fickleness of Humanity.
Palm Sunday emphasizes the reckless
and unreasoning fckleness Of the hui
man race. Christ, the popular favor
| tie. being led to crucifiXiOn within six
days after his triumphal entry into Je-
r1lsalem. has his counterpart all over
| the world Human likes and dislikes,
| adulation and denunciation, approba-
ton and prejudice are very apt to tread
| upon each others heels. The oscillat-
| ing pendulum which swings one way
gathers momentum to swing as far the
other way.
If we make an idol Of common hui
man clay, as the French did of General
Boulanger in 1899. then in a very little
while we may become iconoclasts and
| smash our idol and also the shrine be-
| fore which we once worshiped. Presi-
| dent Carnot understood this fckleness
of the human race. When the Man on
Horseback as Boulanger was called,
| threatened to ride down the Champs
| Elysees and overthrow the French re-
public, some of the leading statesmen,
like ex Premier Waldeck Rousseau.
wanted the president to quietly lead
Boulanger to the outskirts of the city
and have him shot for the good Of
France The president only smiled at
his friends anxiety. He said to them:
wait, wait just a few months. The
| rabble will turn Then the most popu-
lar man Of France will be the most de-
| spised. Such popular alteration as this
is always short lived" Carnot spoke
better than he knew. Not only did the
tidal wave of public alteration which
| threatened to lift the Man On Horse
back" into the Tuiieries subside. but
within a few. months General Boulan-
ger was friendless. In despair he CON-
| mitted suicide by the grave of his mis-
tress, Nine. Bonnemain, while an exile
| in Brussels.
The Duke Of Wellington we'll under
stood the fickleness Of popular ap-
| piause. Long after the eonQueror Of Ma
poleon had regained his popularity and
had become the most beloved subject
| Of the Victorian empire he always kept
the fence around his city home broken
down as an object lesson to recall the
time when the London mob battered It
down to show their disgust at one OF
his official acts az prime minister.
| William E. Gladstone was again and
again execrated In the streets Of the
| British capital. through which bis dead
body was afterward carried to sleep its
last sleep among the honored dead of
Westminster, the Prince Of Wales. now
king. being among the pallbearers.
| Joan Of Arc, who led the French ar
mics to victory. was deser ted by her
| followers. who came to believe her q
| witch and devil. The same tongue
| which once charmed the Roman assem-
blies was afterward cut out from the
mouth of Cicero by the mobs and nailed
| up in the Roman Forum, with the cpl
| taph, ''Thou fool, wag no more." All.
we do not have to stand among the vo-
ciferating multitudes of Palm Sunday
to hear and see the fckieness of the
| human race, We can see everywhere
the human idols being shattered. The
same voices that are ready to cry to US,
| Put him upon a throne are the voices
which tomorrow will call. Lead him
away to execution
Is Popular Applause Worth Seeking:
Now, my brother, as the alteration Of
the human race is so short lived, it
does, not pay to sacrifice everything for
popular applause. Cannot and will not
we live with the nobler and higher pur-
pose of trying to have God rather than
man think we'll of us? Would that we
might one and all heed the blessed adj
vice which Chinese" Gordon short
time before his death wrote to friend.