The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-12-12
THIb PULPIT.
a SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON 5Y
TIE REV. w. |. WATklpSON.
Subject: Christ and-oommon Things

mon Things" was contributed recent
~ to the West Australian Baptist by
the Rev. w. l.. Watkinson:
The first remarkable point in the
records of our Lords earthly career
is the extent of His relation to COM
mon things. The supernatural and
the marvellous are, of course, in evil
uence in the successive stages Of His
mission, yet the prevailing aspect is
that of human commonplace.
This key was struck at the begin
ming. Shepherds abiding in the
Held, and keeping watch by night
/ over their flock, received the tidings
OF His coming; and "gloriiying and
praising God," the humble men re-
turned from the spiendors of His ad-
vent once more to resume their lowly
duties. Born in stable and Graded
IN manager reduces His infancy to
stark commonplace. The rustic home
and village life of Nazareth linked
Him with the cottages of all time. His
occupation, again, brings Him close
to the overwhelming host of workers
Carlyle writes mot Arms and
the Man. Tools and the Man. that
We're now our Epic" Did not our
Lord for thirty years give visible ex-
preston to this epic? And if ever a
great singer should worthily render
that theme, must not the central
Figure of his large poetry be the
Carpenter of Nazareth? His work
was not daintily wrought in fairy
workshop of artist, goldsmith or au-
thor; but rough hammer, saw and
plumnet were consecrated by His
hands, and the rugged calling of the
toiling million was hallowed by His
example.
In the days of Ills showing unto
Israeli He remained faithful to sim
pie people and scenes. Our Lord
was content that the companions of
His sublime career should be obscure
and simple. He identified Himself
with the common lot.
The great artists of the past who
represent the Saviour seem anxious
to invest Him with mystic and kingly
signs and symbols-He is haloed with
splendor, adorned with jewels, angels
are His bodyguard, Heaven opens
above His head, magi, priests and
kings lay treasures at His feet. But
we know that all this is very remote
from fact. The modern realist who
pictures our Lord as one of the peo-
sacerdotal, or imperial insignia, is
much nearer to New Testament truth.
How truly human was our Lord!
How completely He identified Himself
with us and the common lot! He
seemed ever watchful lest any rag of
purple or gold, any likeness of kingly
diadem or mitre, any obtrusion of
majestic and privileged greatness,
ox.fh W h Nv Oh
seem to separate Him from the teem-
ing hosts who by hard labor in many
spheres earn their daily bread.
q Yet whilst our Lord stands in con-
slant relation to common things of
every kind, He man1fests no impa-
Btience, never once refers to His lowli-
ness as if it were a matter of in
justice and monstrousness. Genera
tions have regarded with wonder the
spectacle of Alfred the Great lodging
in the neatherd's hut; it is felt as an
act of almost incredible condescension
Sand patriotism that Peter the Great
was willing to work in our dockyard
as a common shipwright; and when
ever royalty visits a cottage, or chats
with plOwman or shopkeeper, the
act must be proclaimed as something
b the very nature of the case as
pounding. Yet Christ seems never to
lave been conscious of this amazing
disparity between one rank and an
other. On no occasion does He ex-
press surprise Or regret that He is
peasant rather than prince, a car
penter rather than captain, that He
is engaged with minor matters of
humble LIE rather .han with the mar
velOus and magnificent
Whenever the New Testament re-
s1fers to the humiliation of our Lord.
the emphasis is placed on the moral
side, not on the circumstantial. The
marvel is that He descended from the
realms of glory to dwell with a world
of sinners, not that He passed by
'Aprinces and palaces to act with shep-
/ herds and fishermen. He humbled
Himself to the death CT the cross,
] not to the cottage of the peasant, the
bench of the craftsman, or the boat
of the flsher-thiS is never reckoned
any part of His humiliation.
We do not find our Lord condoling
with Himself on account Of His I'M
distinguished associations. For suf-
flcent purpose He may incidentally
refer to His mean estate, yet never
by way of apology or complaint. He
does not attack the rich and powerful
tOn the grounds of their official status;
whenever He judges or rebukes them,
it is strictly on moral and religious
!. grounds. He is no acrid, vitupera-
tive, truculent scorner of the great,
as If in some way they did Him in
justice by being such. He does not
envy the opulent, brilliant, or power
full. He betrays no jealousy, because
He knew none.
He does not initiate the great, the
wealthy, or the famous. We often
see the democracy in pathetic and
ridiculous ways initiate the nobility
whom they defame, adjoining them
selves with false finery, cheap jew
elry, and in sundry ways aping the
magnificent they deride; they show
that in their secret hearts they covet
the pomps of greatness, and would
fully share them il opportunity
served--with one feather the pie
beian seeks to become a peacock.
There is nothing Of this in Christ, no
attempt to escape the common lot as
. ii it were something to be ashamed