The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-08-26
ST. John a Model.


The model of my text, in the first place,
was, believe, Christian of superb ply
steal proportions He was not as some
people suppose. a physical weakllng. He
did not have his head pillowed upon
Christ's breats at the banquet table of the
last supper because he was a suffering
invalid Oh, no. Far from that OF all
the stalwart young men gathered about
this TABLETOP at that time they were
probably all youngest. John, l believe,
had the best and the strongest physical
frame. His eye, like Davids the shep-
herd boy must have been clear and quick.
His limbs must have been supple and
slnewy. His chest must have been broad
and deep His skin must have been aglow
with health He must have had the body
of an athlete. He must have been a
young man bubbling over with fun and
good humor on account of the resiliency
of his strong physical constitution. He
must have had all the advantages which
accrue fro mgood health, because the
Bible indirectly affirms 1t.
How does the Bible assert this? You
must read between the lines. The Bible
implies that John lived to be a very old
man. You must not study st. John the
| young man at the foot of the cross unless
you study st. John and old man on the
island of Patmos. There he was supposed
bert Barnes declared that in all probable
ity st. John must have lived far on in
the nineties before he died. Like Titan,
the great artist, who died of the Venetian
plague In his ninety-ninth year, st. John
may have almost reached the century
mark before he passed to glory. Now,
no man could have lived as long as St.
John lived and have done the work he
did unless he started with an unlimited
supply of physical health and had careful
ly husbanded his health all through life.
Lord Palmerston, governing the destinies
of England in his eighty-first year, and
William E. Gladstone, still vigorous and
ambitious at eighty-five, and Count Won
Moltke, the most eminent member of the
German reichstag at ninety, and Dandolo,
the doge of Venice, leading his soldiers in
battle at the age of nlnety-five and
Homer, blind old man, writing his
Odyssey" when nearly all of the contem-
poraries of his own generation were dead
and gone, were not any greater physical
marvels than this young man who is the
prototype of this mornings text.
Stronger Than Peter.
But we do not have to turn to REVEAL
ton to prove that John was physically a
marvel. There is another reason why l
know st. John had superb physical body.
When we read the twentieth chapter of
St. John we find Peter and John running
toward the rifed tomb on the morning of
the resurrection. Which was the swifter
of foot? There, in Johns own words, we
read, "And the other disciple did outrun
Peter" Now. no one for moment would
Judge the physique of Peter to be that of
valetudinaran. Oh MOI His muscles were
those of a powerfully formed fisherman.
His skin was bronzed from many a hot
sun and tempest beating down upon Lake
Galilee. When the artists draw his pic
ture ii is always with the swarthy neck
and the deep chest. Yet this other disci-
pie did outrun Peter. When John surren-
dered his life to the work of the Master
he did not have to say, Here, Lord, is
pair of wheezy lungs and heart whose
valves are out of gear and brain with
all its corpusces white" He did not say,
Here. Lord, are my weak nerves. too
much out of tune to do anything but cail
for a medicine chest Oh no-that was
not st. joint He came to the Master and
said Here, Lord, is fine physical body.
| was born well. l promise to take care
of this body to my utmost and make 1t
a mighty agent to do thy work. / will
keep 1t well supplied with food. I will
look after it to my best ability, so that
may live on earth five score years If pos
sible to do thy work. Here 1t is. Master.
Take it for thy service" VIII we conse-
crate our bodies to God, as did John? IL
u-a a ra f,rone m nhvsiea1 ailments will we