The Topeka state journal., 1908-01-11
A SATURDAY SERMON.

After me cometh a man which is pre-
ferred before me.-John 1:30
Once upon q time there lived that
rare wonder, a man who did not pretend
to be what he was not. There was al
most as much posing and pretending
in his day as in ours; but nevertheless
this remarkable man would not put on
a veneer to pose as the genuine. With
all the opportunity in the world to pass
as some great one, and to receive
honor and reward, he doggedly stuck
to the statement that he was only
"sais''-such as is seen all over the
Orient, running ahead of a Somebody's
vehicle, to prepare the way for him.
Pressed to declare himself a distin-
guished parsonage, he persisted in pro-
testing that he was not the man on
horseback, not the man in the royal
vehicle, not the man behind the palm
branches, but only the forerunner. the
servant who ran ahead on foot. He
was not 1T; he merely cried aloud
that The One was coming, and that all
should be prepared for Him. He was
not the kind of press agent who puts
hattering notices of himself in print,
cause he represents.
All this is enough to make that hairy
man of the wilderness, John the Bap-
| tist a unique character in history. 1t
is real wisdom, and at least the gliIn-
mering of greatness, not to pretend
anything. The person who sets himself
! up to be somebody that he is not IS
| invariably taken down." 1t is better
to seem less than you are, rather than
more than you are; the discovery OF
real merit often startles people into
paying you high honor
| If the twentieth century could go to
school to this uncouth desert prophet,
| the Baptist it might give less time and
| substance to beauty doctors. massage
| artists, BARRIERS and Marcel wave
! creators, manicurists, tailors and
| jewelers., but it assuredly would give
| greater heed to the real qualities which
make for essential manhood and wo-
manhood. 1t would care a deal less
| about it's position in society, and a
deal more about it's standing before
God. Utter honesty, which enabled
him to respect himself in the solitudes
of the wilderness as well as amid the
crowds by the Jordan's bank, was
Johns first characteristic.
| Some men make their living by hunt
ing UP, or making up, distinguished
genealogies for persons-antipodes O.
the Raptist-who, having acquired
| money or power, want also social dis
tinction. They desire to be prepared
to answer the worlds inevitable ques
ton, "Who art thou?" That was th'
query flung at John as soon as he be
gan to make stir. The doctors Of th
law and the ecclesiastical aristocrat
would have liked him to produce sucl
credentials that they could recognize
| him.
John was drawing crowds; straight
); way the same peril loomed before hin
which confronts every Personality
, that the Good Society of his tim
would open its arms to him and tax
him into its suffocating embrace, an'
soon reduce him to its own level o
| mediocrity. Social recognition" ha
been the end of many promising
| career The Pharisees who went ou
to examine John wanted to make hin
of their own crowd. They woul
honor him with office and standin
and their own gracious favor.
These Pharisees were known for tn
Jobs they held and the positions the
occupied; and contemporaneous relig
ious life has plenty Of analogous figure:
But John was a person to be reckone
. | with because he was himself He di
not need an ecclesiastical job or ric
or fashionable pulpit; he had mes
sage. And the man with his own mes
i. sage may go to the sands of Sahar
: | and lift up his voice mot voice train
ed in a school of elocution, either). an
= the world will resort to him. The ma
| with a vital message-which possessio
makes the true preacher-is too rar
This man claimed to be merely
- housekeeping in the wilderness.
was only himself. and claimed nothin
but his true work He was no chame
! leon. He flew his own flag and stoo
= by it, A servant forerunner, a mel
:, | messenger of the great Coming One VIZ
= he and nothing more.
:, John was a messenger, bearer OF a
. important message. He felt honored
), that capacity. He glowed as slo
worm, II he could not shine as sta