Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-10-17

the most faIOOus perS0nnHty III tns
east. lie had lived as hermit. But
the voice he lifted reached not only
echoed throughout the villages. but al
30 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 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 well as 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 feetl
Great was John the Baptist! AT the
risk of his life he was ready to de-
nounce and attack the lntrenched and
the practically invulnerable sins OF
that day. He was not one Of those men
who always stop and ask, Does 1t
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 a king He was ready to look the
hideous monster sin squarely IN the
face and then hit ct that sin, though
his arm might seem to be as helpless
and weak as the hand Of a young girl
striking at the wild beast leaping upon
her In the Roman arena. He called q
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 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 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 II 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
ave. through the sacred aisles Of the
church itself7 Dare we do this even
though the earthly powers that be-
should unsheathe the gllttering sword
of death and wave 1t over our heads
and the heads Of our loved onesl When
Geleyn de Muller was led forth to die,
he said. Were the heavens pearl and
the earth a globe Of gold. and were
the owner Of all, most cheerfully would
I give them all to live with my wife
and children; yet dare not and can
not renounce the truth" Would you
and |. II necessary. rather than re-
nounce the truth be brave enough, like
a Muller, 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. be 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
harvests after 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 1t 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
the foreigners that they must battle
for their lives. Johns death was as
benefcept In It's results as that moth
er's death might be which would bring
together the warning factions OF her
family and reunite them beside the al
tar of hev casket.
II you follow the teachings Of the
Bible very carefully you will ind there
was q war. rivalry. jealousy. be-
tween the followers Of Jesus Christ
and the followers Of John. There was
no war between John and Christ. No
sooner did Jesus appear than John
bent the knee and rendered unto him
full and complete obedience. But
this obedience was not true In refer.
ence to the Johannan school. In the
fourth chapter of John we find that In
order TO still this rivalry Christ with
his followers left the southern regions
OF JudRa and travelled north and went
through Samaria. But no sooner was
John the Baptist dead than his dis
ciples took the beadless trunk Of his
body and buried It and went and told
Jesus" Ah, yes. by Johns death all
! these factions were healed. The Jo-
hapnlan school became In toto the
SCHOOL Of the Nazarene." Is 1t not q
blessed thought that II we live for
Christ this side Of the grave we may
still continue to live In influence for
Christ after we are dead? John the
Baptist, great before his sacrifice! John
the Baptist, great after he was mar
tyred!
Posthumous Influence.
That posthumous influence IL mighty
for good or evil we all know. We have
felt 1t. In the village where my grand
father lived there labored for many
years a gospel minister. He never
seemed to see any great results from
his ministry. Everybody loved him,
yet few confessed Christ under his
preaching while he was alive. But no
sooner was that good man dead than