Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1909-12-30


ciple band. Judas had gone out bent
upon the malign purpose of selling
the Lord. A mob was even now as
sembling to drag him to judgment,
and Calvary, and death. And it was
in conditions like these that the Mas
ter proclaimed his triumph!
And who was the conqueror? A
poor Galilean peasant, speaking a
provincial accent, obscure and unin-
Ruential, having no place to lay his
head! Let me say it again, he is
about to be betrayed, to be deserted,
to be put to the most contemptuous
and humiliating death! And yet this
man claims to be wearing the purple
Of sovereignty, to be trailing mystic
clouds of glory even while he was
marching to the tomb! He had not
gone down before the world, he had
not shared its tone, he had not been
infected by its contagion, he had not
bowed to its compromises, he had not
been ensnared by its seductions, he
had not sunk to its degradations. He
had overcome the world" Let us
contemplate the prominent features
of the victory.
He had overcome the smiles of the
world. And that is ever the subtlest
and most paralyzing of all entice-
ments. If we can make comparisons
between the different moments in
.Christs life, one would say that the
peril was greater when they took
him by force to make him a king"
than when all men forsook him and
fed" Many man can keep his moral
health in defeat who is overcome with
success. An illustration can be found
on the public platform. Every pub
lie man knows that there is nothing
so insidious as the snare of applause.
A man can walk the narrow way
when he is confronted by a hostile
audience, but he is in great jeopardy
when he is met by nothing but cheers.
II Is then he is liable to be carried
away" by the enthusiasm into grave
imprudences. Ben Jonson used to say
that "of all wild beasts, preserve me
from the tyrant; and of all tame
beasts, a flatterer" I suppose that
the eliminating point of tempta-
ton in the life of the apostle Paul
was not when he encountered the vio-
lence of the mob at Lystra, but when
the people magnified his Importance
and declared that "the gods are come
down" in the guise of men, Now, the
Lord met this seductive smile Of the
world, and did not succumb to 1t. He
was not deluded into shining servi-
tude.
Superior to Worlds Suspicious.
And Jesus had overcome the sus-
picions of the world. There is some
thing very affrighting in the contem-
plation of an untrue eye. Men are
frequently overcome by the malicious
eyes of their fellows. And this was
the kind of look" which was cease
lessly fixed upon the Lord. And they
watched him!" 1t is the kind Of sight
which misinterprets all it sees. 1t i'm.
putes i'll motives and turns everything
awry. Before that kind of onslaught
many men succumb They are driven
from the post Of duty by malicious
tongues; they retire from the fight
A man said in my hearing some little
while ago that public life has become
Intolerable," and that he was deter
mined to retire into privacy. And this
man allowed the world to drive him
from the field of service. But that
was not the way of the Master He
would not turn back because men
men fixed upon him an evil eye. He
would not turn aside from the APP
pointed way because Of the unfriendly
gaze of his enemies. He stood up
and strobe on. unaffrighted and unde
tered by malice and frown.
And he overcame the contempt o.
the world. Many q man can bear 6
wrong who cannot bear an insult. Oul
Lord was "despised" "He hath {
devil and is mad" He was denied
common courtesy. He was refused
the ordinary amenities of hospitality
There was 10 water for him when h'
came In from the dusty way. Their
was no kiss of recognition and vel
come. "He was despised and rejected
of men," And yet he was not un
manned by the contempt II did no
make him hard, unforgiving, resentful
and revengeful. 1t did not turn hin
sour. He was not overcome by tn,
treatment. He went. through 1t II
sovereign and unimpaired health ant
holiness. All these antagonisms, aris
ing from smiles, and frowns, and cor
tempts, and neglects, he faced an,
conquered And in what disposition
was the triumph won? He overcam
the world by refusal TO stoop to us
the powers of the world. He woul
never use the worlds sword. He woul
never use the fires of persecution. H
never put his hand to mere coercive
and compulsions He sought spiritua
ends by spiritual means, and ne neye
sought to elicit the aid of unworldi
Kings. Herod sought HIS friendship
"ffe was DESTROYS to see him CT Ion
season" out the Lord refused the IL