The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1922-11-16
Christ the Model Crusader.


Matt. 20:2S-The son of man came
not to be ministered unto, but to min
lister, and to give His life ransom
for many.
During the long centuries the
world has gone on in its accustomed
path of oppression Of the helpless and
wrong to the innocent. No age has
been so golden that its luster was
undimmed. The cry for the help Of
the Crusader has rung out with each
new day. The church of Rome might
cast it's spell over the western world,
but the sepulcher of its Lord was in
polluted lMoslem hands. No feast
was ever held but there could be
seen near by the specter of hunger.
No epoch of liberty that has not had
its slaves The need for help, for
rescue its perennial. Like a poison
GUS plant, we stamp it out here to-
day, but tomorrow it raises its ugly
sprout again in another spot.
But now and again the human race
has been startled by the strange spec
tacle of men and women, who for the
moment, have forgotten self, who
have buried their own interests, and
have set out to right ancient wrongs,
to set free the oppressed, and to
change the despair into hope.
Then, too often the fair promise of
the morning turns to the blasting
heat of noon. The would-be rescurer
turns ravager. The crusader becomes
the fanatic. The northern horde Of
blue comes down to free the slave,
but leaves him helpless amid the
ashes of the homes that had shell
tered him, and stained by the blood
Of those who had befriended him.
In the sacred name of Liberty ex-
cesses are committed which would
bring bushes to Nero's blazen cheek
If then the need for help and res
cue is as perpetual as "man's inhu-
manity to man, and if there is some
times in the hearts of those who be.
hold wrong, the desire to right it;
is there in all the catalog of those
who have lived, one name Of man Sc
noble that he may serve US as the
perfect example of the helper of man.
kind? A Christian Hall of Fame
has recently been dedicated in the
Cathedral of st. John the Divine in
New York. In it the sculptor has
undertaken to carve the figure OF
one man in each of the 20 Christian
centuries, who is the towering
Christian character of that century
Surely we might look there for q
model of the helper of mankind. In
the second century there is Justin
MARTYR. Might you take him for
model2 He was an able defender OF
Christianity, but his interest was
chiefly with the philosophy Of Chris
tianity, and he seems to have given
scanty thought to the needs of hui
manity beyond the intellect. You
pass on before that gallery of the
immortals: through the time when
the beliefs Of the Christian religion
were defined, the time when the
church was more deliberately organ.
lied, then defended, to the time when
she became aggressor, and finally
master Of the West; on through her
varying fortunes till today; past
such names as Athanasius, Angus
tine, Benedict and Gregory the Great
Charles Martel and Charlemagne
Wycliffe and Columbus; but in vain
will you look, even among the stars
Of the brightest night, for the radi-
ance of the sun. The brilliance OF
many Of the brightest of them is
but reflected from that sun. So il
is here. You must look beyond
those imperishable names, to
Him for whose sake they became
benefactors Of the race; to Jesus
Christ, the perfect helper of man.
kind, the model crusader; to Him
who came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister and to give His life
ransom for many.
His purpose looms large and clear
ale shall save his people from their
SINS In that there was a purpose
of rescue. "He came to seek and to
save that which was lost" Beauti-
CONTINUED on Page Two.)