Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-10-12

Feioplng Tor the cause OF liberty the
young men. 1t was his master hand
which nodded a Joseph Warren. a
John Adams. a John Hancock. Are
we, like Samuel Adams. ready to sink
ourselves in Christ?
A Famous Personality.
But let us inquire little more closely
how John tho 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 Christ's earthly ministry ex-
tended over 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 q 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 had lived as a hermit. But
the voice he lifted reached not only
echoed throughout the villages, but al
so throughout the great capital itself
The rich and the poor, the old and the
young. the government officials 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 devotees and
baptized his followers by hundreds and
thousands. Many of them were ready
to bow down and worship him as
temporal as we'll as a spiritual king
Yet when Jesus appeared this illus
trious man was ready, and gladly
ready. to surrender all for Christ. Like
John the Baptist. 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 de-
nOunce and attack the intrenched and
the practically invulnerable sins of
that day. He was not one of those men
who always stop and ask. Does it
pay? before they attempt to do what
they ought to do. He preached on the
duties of men and waged war against
wickedness in high places. He declar-
ed against evils as mighty in his day
as the liquor traffic is in ours and never
cOndoned crime though the criminal
was king. He was ready to look the
hideous monster sin squarely in the
face and then hit at that sin. though
his arm might seem to be as helpless
and weak as the hand of young girl
striking at the wild beast leaping upon
her in the Roman arena. He called a
spade spade, lie a lie, an adultery
an adultery, blasphemy blasphemy and
hypocrisy hypocrisy wherever they
were found. He denounced and ex-
coriated the sins of the Jewish church.
| When Herod, the governor. fell in love
with his own brothers wife and MUIR
dered Philip that he might marry her.
John instantly hurled the divine con-
demnation against the ruler. He raised
such a storm of popular Indignation
that Herod flung him into prison. and
afterward, at the behest of his step
daughter, who was dancing before him
at a drunken feast, he beheaded John
and gave to her the bloody trophy upon
a charger. Oh my brother. dare we,
with Johns courage, attack intrenched
sin wherever it may be found? Like
John the Baptist, are we great enough
and brave enough. no matter what the
direct cost may be. to uphold the great
| principles Of gospel truth in the store,
the home, the factory. the city hall
| aye. through the sacred aiSles of the
church itself? Dare we do this even
though the earthly powers that be-"
should unsheathe the glittering sword
of death and wave it over our heads
and the heads of our loved ones? When
Geleyn de Muller was led forth to die.
he said, Were the heavens a pearl and
the earth a globe of gold. and were
the owner of all, most cheerfully would
l give them all to live with my wife
and children; yet | dare not and cam
uOl IGuOuuCt luc w Oulu YOU
and l. if necessary. rather than re-
nounce the truth be brave enough. like
a Muller. a Huss. q Paul. John the
Baptist, to have our bleeding bodies
laid as a sacrifice upon truths altar?
Great In Death.
But. though John the Baptist was
great in life, he was also great in
death. Like the pioneer who enters the
American forests and cuts away the
trees and pulls up the stumps and
builds the home and plants the corn.
in order that his children may reap the
harvestssafter the father is gone. so
John the Baptist not for himself. but
for those who should come after him.
lived his life and at last laid it down.
a martyr. His death was the begin
ming Of a series of martyrdoms. as the
ambassadors death in Peking in the
uprising of 1900 was the first signal to