Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1904-01-14

OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES WSwn&WiTDWWTWWWWWTT
Comments BY William r. Rllis.

icdltN. Anu III Teision IL not INA " IL
nothing. No church, creed or family
can save II man; only the vital relation
df d ~iuickeiied. penitent. trusting hrert
to the God whom IL knows as Father
can give IA man spiritual life here OF
hereafter. So John dared pieAch the
worthlessness of Journalism ana empty
ceremony and the coming of One whose
baptism should be. not with outward
symbols, but With the Spirit.
A BRAVE MAN.
What we need said a clergyman n
few days agb. is more John the Bap-
list preaching.
Yes" rejoined his companion. but
the John the Baptists have their heads
cut off, you know"
The way of fidelity to truth more Of
ten than not leads to "a Calvary; let us
not think hat fact. In our
glowing enthusiasm for this hero
John. or the brave one who followed
him. the fact Is to be kept
clearly in mind that to serve the truth
10 the uttermost is to suffer. Youth,
especially may deceive itself in this
matter of loyalty TO truth and believing
1t to be sweet and honorably noble,
awaken to find 1t a crucifixion without
honor. Devotion to the truth Is usual
~ called heroism only after the truth
has triumphed-which Is often not in
the lifes of generations, though in
evitable as the j~udgment--or after the
knightly servant of truth is dead: while
he lives he is likely to be called a ia
matte. and an impractical dreamer.
Then to side with truth Is noble when
We share her wrctched crust.
Ere her cause bring fame and profit. and
-. It's prosperous to be just;
Then 1t is the brave man chooses. while
the coward stands aside.
DOuDtlnE In his abtect spirit. TIL his Lord
is crucificd,
And the multitude make virtue OF the faith
they had denied"
John the Baptist went on telling the
truth unsparingly until he fell athwart
enthrOned w~ickedness, and too often
evil sits In the place Of power. The
result was that one OF his enemies. a
vindtctive woman. enjoyed the brief
triumph of seeing his unshorn head
carried oft on a CORY platter. Yet
Johns head was never so high as when
on the platter in Herod's palace: and
of all h crowns in history there is
only n to equal the glory that encir-
thorns worn by the One whom he lived
only to herald.
a pREPARER.
John was a first rate man in a sec
ond place. He was not the Messiah,
and no Requirement could make him
claim honor which was not his. His
glory was in pointing out the glory of
he coming One. He was but a finger
board. rough n crude in form, per-
haps. but pointing straight. which,
after all. is the principal thing. 1t is
good to remember that n stick. SO
long as 1t is straight. may point. John
came six months ahead Of the public
appearance Of Jesus to prepare a high
way" as roads have to be prepared for
potentates In the east. He had one re-
frain for all of his addresses-the One
who should come after him.
What are the bravest words ever
spoken by man? / do not know. But
these stand high on the list: HE must
increase, | must decrease" To give up
that another may go up; to bend for
another's exaltation-that is hard for
even the noblest. 1t was Johns duty
and the test of his success. All his
work. all his popularity he willingly
surrendered for the honor Of Jesus.
There is no sublimer picture of self
abnegation in history.
This IL the sticking point for most
To give. up after u work 1t done. to
step aside and lay our hard wor
wreaths at anOther's feet, is hard In
deed. The world Is full of men and in.
stitutions who have done their work
but are still holding on because they
have not the John the Baptist spirit
which says, Il must decrease" The
modern movement toward church unity
Is htndered more by this spirit than by
n other one thing: officers will not
surrendered their honots. their salaries
their regulations for the sake Of the
greater good.
AN iNTRopucER.
After all. though. no success thai
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