Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-01-04

new year to every student OF the In
ternational Sunday school lessons.
And Marks message to the man or
woman of to-day is aglow with an
illumination that sheds a flood of
light upon the intricate ways over
which we are passing.
This gospel was put into the soul
of John Mark to give to the world
He was a son of Mary of Jerusalem,
/ Jewish woman, and he was a cou-
sin of Barnabas. Peter was his ia
ther in the faith q Peter 5:1S) and |
it is evident from the character of the |
gospel that it bears fany sings of
Peters quickening influence upon his
convert
1t is probable that Marks gospel |
was written about SO A. D., and for
Gentiles particularly, rather than for
the Jews. 1t is distinctly, as DIR. |
Griffith Thomas points out, the gos-
pei that Emphasizes the activity, |
authority and energy of Christ. His |
deeds rather than His words Here |
we get the very frequent repetition |
OF straightway,' indicative of the |
constant movement and activity of |
christ, as He is doing deeds of kind |
ness, teaching the truth, and fighting |
evil"
Into the study of an inspired mes
sage with such marvellous fitness fol- |
our own age and conscious need, we |
may well enter with high expecta-
ton of discovering therein divine |
ideals of service for swift application |
TO the complex and challenging days |
in which we live.
The Forerunner
once upon time there lived that |
rare wonder, n man who did not pre- |
tend to be what he was not, There |
was almost as much posing and pre- |
tending and "bluffing" in his day as
IN ours; but nevertheless this re-
markable man would not put up a |
'front.' that was not genuine. With |
all the opportunity in the world to
pass as some great one, and to re-
ceive honor and reward, he doggedly
stuck to the statement that he was
only a "sais'-such as YOU see all
over he Orient, running ahead of a
Somebody's vehicle to prepare the
way for him.
Pressed to declare himself a dis
| unguished parsonage, he persisted in |
protesting that he was not a man on
horseback, not the man in the royal
vehicle. not the man behind the palm |
U t.
the servant who ran ahead on foot. |
He was not Tt" 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 flattering notices of him |
self in print, when he should be ad- |
vertising the cause he represents.
Our Own Times Makeup
All this is enough to make this |
hairy man Of tha wild Jnhfi
the Baptist, a unique character in |
history. OF course, we see now--in |
his case, not in ourS-that 1t is real |
wisdom, and at least the glimmering
OF, greatness, not to pretend any |
thing. The person who sets himself |
up to be somebody that he is not is |
| invariably taken down" 1t is bet !
ter to seem less than you are,
rather than more than YOU are; the
discovery of your real merits 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. |
manicurists, tailors and jewellers, but
it assuredly would give greater heed |
to the real qualities which make for |
essential manhood and womanhood. |
1t would care a deal less about its
position in society" and deal more |
about it's standing before God. Utter |
honesty, which enabled him to re-
spect himself in the solitudes of the |
wilderness as well as amid the |
crowds by the Jordan's bank was
Johns first characteristic.
| "Who Art Thou"
Some men make their living by
hunting up, or making up, distin-
/ guished genealogies for persons
antipodes of the Baptist-who, hav-
ing acquired money or power want
also social distinction. They desire
to be prepared to answer the worlds S
inevitable question, Who art thou?"
! That was the query flung at John as
soon as he began to make a stir. The
doctors of the law and the ecclesias-
| tical aristocrats would have liked
him to produce such credentials that
they could recognize" him.
| John was drawing crowds straight
way the same peril loomed before
| him which confronts every person
ality, that the Good Society of his
time would open its arms to him and
| take him into its suffocating embrace,
| and soon reduce him to its own level
of mediocrity. Social recognition"
| has been the end of many a prom
/ ising career. The Pharisees who
went out to examine John wanted to
make him of their own crowd. They
would honor him with office and
standing and their own gracious IA
vor.
Holding n Job or Doing It
| These Pharisees were known for
the jobs they held and the positions
| they occupied; and contemporaneous
religious life has plenty of analogous
] figures. But John was a person to
/ be reckoned with because he was
himself. He did not need an ecclesi-
astioal job or a rich or fashionable
pulpit; he had a message. And al
man with his own message may go to
| the sands of Sahara and lift up his
voice (not voice trained in a school
of elocution, esther), and the world
will resort to him. The man with a
vital massage, which possession
makes a true preachers as rare as
| the sartorially immaculate, carefully
| drilled pulpit ornament is common.
| This man claimed to be merely a
| voice" - crying in the wilderness.
He was only himself, and claimed
nothing but his true work He was
no chameleon. He flew his own flag
and stood by it. A servant fore
runner, a mere messenger of the
great Coming One was he, and moth
ing more.
A Stick May Point
Any kind of a stick, so long as 1t
| be not crooked, may point. John
conceived of himself as fingerboard
For that office he did not need polish
or social graces or the approving
seal of the Sanhedrin. Nobody was
/ axpaofad IN nav attention IN him httf