The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-04-12

{ Will <
merchant, of the person VINO iduoo
Jesls and the Church, but does not
work for either. There IS a Wllole
sermon on the text. BE ye doors OF
the word in the way Jesus answered
John the Baptist. He simply pointed
to the things accomplished. G your
way. and tell John the things Which
We do hear and see: the blind receive
their sight. and the lame walk, the
lepers are ~cleansed, and the deaf near,
and the dead are raised up, ana the
poor have good tidings preached TO
them"
That is the ~present-day vindication
Of Jesus his teaching. The cues
tionings concerning religion which
trouble many persons are not 10 De
answered in the theological semi
naries. but on the mission field, ana
in the city Sums, where men are De
ing made over into nevness of life. A
recent remarkable book, "Iwlce-Born
Men which the author, a physchoio-
sist, calls "A F'ootnOte in narrative 10
Prof. William James Varieties in Re-
ligious Experience. and concerning
which Prof. James handsomely says
that his own scientific work may with
equal truth b. called q footnOte to
"Twice-Born Men deals with the re-
demption of notorious characters in
the London slums through the agency
of the Salvation Army. While the vol
une observes, meaSurably, the lingo
of the scientist, it is nothing more nor
less than exact studies OF instances
of old-fashioned conversion, such as
may be heard almost any night in the
rescue missions of the great cities. The
significant fact is that scientists ac-
capt it as the most valid evidence.
Thus Jesus was in accord with the
modern psychologists when he pointed
Johns emnlisSarieS g lie work he
had wrought.
All the arguments devised III Chi
cago University or the Parker House
bar-room cannot upset the evidence
Of the transformed Sandwich Islands,
OF Uganda, and the whole commune
ties in Korea. The gospel. at work
vi~ndicates the gospeiler. The men who
have Of late awakened to q fresh in
terest in foreign missions will one
day discern that on the mission field
is being created one OF the most pow
erful of all a~pologetics for the deity
Of Jesus Christ. Where he is preached,
men are made new; where an emaScu-
lated religion Of mere humanitarianism
is proclaimed, the results are moth
ing.
A Great Mans Tribute.
TO the up-to-date man in and
around the country OF the Jews it
would seem as if hat picturesque IA
matte, John the Baptist, had become
| passe. He was down and out" His
| sun had set in a dark dungeon of ter
rible Macherus. But Jesus knew bet
ter. He understood that truth cannot
be kept in jail: and that any man who
Incorporates in himself q great mes
sage is immortal. What though prison
walls held him close: John was still
great with g greatness which was
nowise dependent upon place or posi-
ton. In this rough child of the desert
were the real and elemental qualities
Of manhood, as we'll as the fire Of a
divineiy ouche preacher. It is easy
for q nobody to seem to be somebody
in the corridors Of the Waidorf-As-
| toria. For a few hundred dollars a
w~ell-trained valet can make the veriest
nonentity appear distinguished. But
when stripped of all these sartorial
and other ~adventitous accessories of
an artificial civilization-What then?
Prison, poverty, the desert-these
plumb the depths Of the real man.
John was great, even in the fortress
of Herod, and Jesus knew it.
Our judgment Of others judges US:
Jesus tribute to John was a reveal
ton Of his own greatness. Only the
small and ignoble fail to be magnani-
nous and to accord another his place.
Jesus freely declared John to be the
| greatest prophet Of the Old Order. The
men who had made 1SraeIS spiritual
history were not his equal: for he was
the flower II fruit Of their rninistery.
He stood on the shoulders OF all who
had gone before, and from that height
he proclaimed the sunrise which he
could fully see; whereas they had
merely giimpsed the first CLEANS Of the
dawn.
In one Of the rather enig1natical
sentences in which he seemed to de-
light, Jesus proceeded to declare that
even h that is but little in the King
dom Of heaven is greater than he
That is to say, the inheritors OF the
kingdom have greater privileges than
the Of it: the least child is
greater than the highest servant" says
Abbott. Similarly, PelOubet comments,
THE least seed that has grown above
ground is greater than the greatest
that is still under ground" The child
today learns much that his grand
parents never knew. The common
man has powers, luxuries and knowl-
edge once denied TO kings