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

pletely routed the t0rces or the french
king. the conque-or saw among the
prisoners stalWart grenadier. who.
though n captive. was still an unsub-
dued enemy. Al" said the duke. IF
Louis XIV. had had a hundred thou
sand such men as you the results of this
battle might have been different" With
that the French soldier saluted the
English commander as he politely said.
IT'S not hundred thousand grena-
diers such as / the French king needs,
my general, but just one such military
commander as you" But. though great
events do not always produce for every
army a Marlborough. yet great men
are produced only by great occasions.
Great thoughts are born only amid the
throes and commissions of great agonies
Great hopes are only the rainbowed
colors arching the dark heavens, black
with angry tempests.
Training For Greatness.
There must be training for great
ness. The occasion does not create
greatness; 1t only develops and pro-
duces Ii. 1t cannot create or make
greatness out of common clay. We do
not assert that histor! can play Han
ders MESSIAH upon dinner plate or
blow a bugle blast with penny whis-
tie or catch thunderbolts with a straw
hat or shoot mastodons with pins or
strange volcanoes with spider webs.
The old poets said that when worlds
are used for shuttlecocks and the uni
verse is a playground and all infinity Is
ablaze with the conflagration then the
very gods themselves must take part in
the sport. 1t needs stronger arms than
yours or mine TO pitch islands for
quoits. to bowl down mountains for
tenpins, to swing hemispheres as an
athlete hurls the hammer or, with
stamp of foot, to make the submerged
continent Atlantis, which once stretch
ed between the old world and the new,
with dying gurgle sink and disappear.
But great needs bring great men from
obscurity into prominence. The occa
sion furnishes the opportunity. Ulysses
S. Grant would have lived and died an
unknown tanner but for the civil war.
The Duke of Wellington could not have
become the dictator Of Europe had he
not overthrown at Waterloo the little
Corsican, who threatened to crush all
nations. Cromwell would have been
unknown to fame and his life would
have been that of simple country gen
tleman had not Charles l. been obsti-
nately determined to seal his royal
follies with his royal stubbornnesses.
Great men are produced only by great
emergencies. This premise being grant
ed. what greater event is there in all
history than that of the coming of the
promised Messiah? How much it
meant to the world and to us. 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
ing, 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 dur
ing the Spanish war was made famous
by plunging alone into the Cuban jun
giles to carry to Garcia the memorable
message that American succor for
downtrodden Cuba had been proclaim
ed. Will you not carry forth the news
| that Christ is coming to the help Of his
struggling followers? AS the swift
| footed runner from the bloody battle
| field of Marathon startled all Athens
| with the news that the Persian invad-
| ers 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 righteous
ness? Be a Paul Revere to summon to
arms and yet to call to victory. Be q
herald of good tidings. as well as q
messenger to assemble Gods minute
men,"
A Forerunner of Good.
|
runner. He was more than that. He
was ready to sink and submerge and
entirely cover up his individuality will
the personality of Jesus Christ. He
was ready to let Christ be all in all
He wanted to be merely a footlight tC
make the divine face shine forth the
more clearly. He was willing to de
crease so that the glory of his Saviour
might increase. Do we. like John the
Baptist. sink our Municipalities il
Christ's or do we. like some of the an
cient forerunners of the east preceding
the kings chariots. wish to be dressed
so gorgeously and to make so mucl
noise that people will be watching u!
and admiring our strides instead Of
turning their eyes toward the roya
Master whom we are proclaiming? lie
us never give occasion in our servic'
to our Divine King for such charge t
be made against us as the Spanish pre-