Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-26

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usually produce a world-leader, one
dominant figure rising above his
time. To-day there is no such NOR
tai on the horizon. Great men there
are; but in the test. none has been
great enough TO stride forward in
,, an old or new path, so that bewil-
dered and wandering humanity Will
follow him.
Causes must have leaders. Great
movements seldom get far without
, one strong figure to front them.
! Amid the confused voices of our
, troubled day; amid the pulling and
hauling, criss-cross and everyway;
amid the, uncertainty as people halt
between the old and the new, the
worlds greatest felt need is for a
| leader; one whose steps do not STUN
BILE and whose voice does not falter
and whose eye sees clearly the true
goal Men have tried dscipleship
to this world figure and that one,
only to fall back baffled; the hero
for the hour has not yet emerged
from the common level of states
men. thinkers and men of affairs.
Only the fool fails to perceive that
humanity, puzzled and questing,
stands now at a crossroads of his
tory. Our time is like no other; de-
cisions made to-day are more mo-
mentuous than the decisions of yes
terday. Strange impulses and pur-
poses. some noble, some base, sway
the newly-awakened common con-
sciousness of the race. Mass move
ments are seen all over the earth.
One of our newer poets, Thomas
Curtis Clark, puts it:
Around the world truth speaks in
.new-found voices;
The darkness flees and all the world
rejoices.
The peoples God has heard the peo-
ple's plea;
1t is the dawn, the dawn of lib
erty."
Wien we come to examine the
qualities essential to such leader,
we find that no other possesses them
than the Hero and Saviour about
whom we have been studying for
the past three months.
Marks of the Great Leader
Check up the characteristics of
Christ, and at once they are reveal
ed as the essentials of the World
Leader for the present hour. Let
me indicate few appealing ever to
the readers judgment for confirma-
ton:
The new World-Leader must be
one whose judgment is not swayed
by a sense of eXpediency. The cal
amity of the Paris Conference was
that other considerations than right
eousness entered in as decisive fac
tors. Compromise, concession, fear,
pride, revenge, self-aggrandiZemen
oil to l. 1N4 1o1N rci 1c
which have left the world dissatis-
fled and rebellious. Statesmen have
arisen from their seats at the peace
table and gone home to face indig-
nant nations whose moral convic
tions were higher than those of
their leaders. 1t now seems as if
China and Korea and Egypt, to cite
only three conspicuous instances,
will ultimately secure from the pub
lie opinion of mankind the justice
denied them at Paris. Perhaps
craftsmanship will yet learn, in the
bitter school of experience, that
what is not morally right cannot be
politically expedient. When lead
ers make truce with their con-
science they aut omatically abdicate
their real leadership, though not
necessarily their position.
What do we find when we apply
this test of integrity to Jesus? He
simply scored expediency. None of
the parties of his day could adopt
him. because he was impossible;
he did not know how to compromise.
His clear-cut utterances som etimes
alienated his own followers; as they
did also the great and powerful of
his time. Trimming" was simply
out of the question for him. He
III xHIa tY,
path for self's sake. even when he
knew that path led to cross. All
who trusted him wholly. found him
wholly true.
BY the Soldiers Test
War taught millions of men that
the supreme quality in character is
other virtue counted at all, II this
were lacking. We are applying the
same test now in political life. The
world will follow no timo-ous, half
hearted, "safety-first" leaders. Only
one gifted with u splendid spirit of
self-abandonment can command the
hearts of men to-day. The single
word Coward" would brand into
oblivion any man who sought to
lead his fellows:
No hero OF romance ever rode
more yaliantly into the face or en-
battied wrong than the Strong Son
of God. AS study in heroism, there
s no other character 80 fruitful as
Jesus. Natures st torms, mob perils,
ecclesiastical jealousy. off1cialdom's
deadly enmity. all left him serene
and unafraid. BY battle-test. Jesus
rings true. Sings the poet already
quoted:
I'VE serve no weak and timid
Christ
We would not heed futile Lord:
The Man we follow unto death
Was not afraid of rod or sword.
"He asked no pillow for His head,
He sought no luxury of ease;
The tides that swept His daring soul
Were dauntless as the mighty
seas.
"a soldier of the truth was He;
His anger flames at vested wrong:
He challenged kings to fateful war,
And sounded clear his battle
song"
Politicians Who Proftccr
s1,, Of