The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-10-18

unknown to lame ana nlS He would have been that of a simple country gentleman had not Charles I been obstinately deter mined to seal his royal folles with his royal stubborness.
 Great men are produced only by great emergencies. This premise being granted, what greater event is there in all history than that of the coming of the promised Messiah? How much 1t meant to the world and to usl What life of eternal joy have We except that which revolves about the personality of him who was once baptized by John the Baptist in the river Jordan? What hope have we of ever meeting our loved ones, our parents and our friends who have gone beyond except through the Divine Being of whom John the Baptist was the direct forerunner? Oh. my friends. as John the Baptist's name was great by being linked to the name of Jesus Christ at his nrst coming. will you not make your name great by doing your part toward preparing the world for Christ's second coming? A brave hearted American officer during the Spanish war was made famous by pung- ing alone into the Cuban jungles to carry to Gracia the memorable message that American suceor for downtrodden Cuba had been proclaimed. Win you not carry forth the news that Christ is com ing to the help of his struggling followers? As the swift footed runner from the bloody battlefield of Marathon startled all Athens. with the news that the Persian invaders had been hurled back, will you not spread abroad the news that the vic- tory has been won by our Christ over sin and death and that he is coming again to rule the world in righteousness? Be a Paul Revere to summon to arms and yet to call to victory. Be a herald of good tidings, as well as a messenger to as- semble Gods 'minutemen.'
 A Foreidnner of Good
 John the Baptist was a direct forerun- ner. He was more than that. He was ready to sink and submerge and entire ly cover up his individuality with the personality of J Jesus Christ. He was ready to let Christ be all in all. He wanted to be merely footlight to make the divine fance shine forth the more clearly. He was willing to decrease so that the glory of his Saviour might increase. Do we, like John the Baptist, sink our individual ities in Christs or do we, like some of the ancient forerunners or the east pre- ceding the kings chariots wish to be dressed so gorgeously and to make so much noise that people will be watching us and admiring our strides instead of bti iilit5 AAitAA tNtS lOWdlh lne INuS di Master whom we are proclaming? Let us never give occasion in our service to our Divine King for such charge to be made against us as the Spanish premier. Canovas, once made against the egotsm of Emilio Castelar,. There is one great trouble with Castelar," he said. 'He al- ways wants to be first in everything. If he goes to a bullfight he wants to be the espada, If to a wedding he wants to be the bridegroom, if to a funeral he wants to be the corpse" In our work for our Divine Master are we animated by the spirit of Castelar,? Are we wishing that all eyes shall be turned upon us instead of upon Jesus? Are we trying to preach so that as when Demosthenes harangued, his auditors cried. Let us go and fight Philipl" our hearers may say, "Come. let us enlist under the banner of Jesus?" Are we ready to sink our individualities in Christ g Samuel Adams sank his in- dividuallty in the interests of American liberties? The great Massachusetts pa- triot did not care whether or no people honored him as long as they would work in freedoms cause. The result was that Samuel Adams spent most of his life in developing for the cause of liberty the young men, 1t was his master hand which molded a Joseph Warren. Jonn Adams, a John Hancock Are we. like Samuel Adams, ready to sink ourselves in Christ?
 A Famous Personality.
 But let us inquire a little more closely how John the Baptist submerged his life in Christ. Jesus was an unknown man at the time John, the hermit and recluse, was making the very palace walls at Jerusalem shake. Up to thirty years of age Jesus was an unknown dweller in country village The whole extent of Christs earthly ministry extended oyer only a short period of three or four years We read of Jesus when he was born. Then he disappears. We read of him twelve years later, when, as a boy, he talks with the doctors in the temple. Then he again disappears for eighteen long years. Up to thirty years of age Christ was politically and sociologically an unknown factor in eastern life.
 In the meantime who was this John the Baptist? This second young man. of about the same age as Jesus, was the most famous personality in the east. He lived as a hermit. But the voice he lifted reach ed not only echoed throughout the vil- lages. but also throughout the great cap ital itself. The rich and the poor, the old and the young, the government of ficials and the peasant alike left their homes to sit at his feet. Great crowds swarmed about this strange teacher wherever he went. They pressed into his caves as though they were temples. As result John built up a great school of deyotees and baptized his followers by hundreds and thousands. Many of them were ready to bow down and worship him as temporal as well as a spiritual king Yet when Jesus appeared this illustrous man was ready and gladly ready to sur render all for Christ Like John the Bap- tist. are we willing to lay our fame, our wealth and our entire life work at Jesus feet?
 Great was John the Baptist At the risk of his life he was ready to denounce and attack the intrenched and the practically invulnerable sins of that day He was not one of those men who aiways stop and ask. Does it pay?" before they attempt to do. He preached on the duties of men and waged war against wickedness in high places. He declared against evils as mighty in his day as the lduor traffic is in ours and never condoned crime though the criminal was a king. He was ready to look the hideous monster sin souarelv in the face and then hit at that sin though his arm might seem to be as heln- less and weak as the hand of a young girl striking al the wild beast leaping up- on her in the Roman area. He called A spade a spade. lie q lie, an adultery an adultery. blasphemy blasphemy and hypocrisy hypocrisy wherever they were found. He denounced and excoriated the sins of the Jewish church. When Hefod the governor, fell in love with his own brothers wife and murdered Philip that he rlaighf marry her John instantlv btrted