The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1922-10-12
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
Prepared especially for The Republi-
can by Rev. U. S. Wright, D. D.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER Is.

BAPTIST-Luke 3.
Repent ye; for the kingdom Of heaven
is at hand.-Matt. 3:2.
THE MAN.
"Let US go up to the Jordan and
hear John the Baptist" was the con-
slant expression through those Feb
ruary days in all part of Judea. No
one asked, "Who is he?" for few in
need We're those who had not been
told of him since the first band of pill
grims had been stopped at the fords
to listen to his words. "a man sent
of God" is the description of the aged
John as he walked again in boyish
memory through the throng and gave
his verdict of the years. And that
must have been the impression made
at the time, for it underlay every ut
terance of the speaker and to hold a
conviction like that it to carry it to
others. 1t is the convinced man who
convinces. John had no doubts to
preach. He knew God and had a mes
sage from Him and that always bears
its own credentials Sincerity may
not convince the reason, but it sways
the attention. In that home in the
hill John had imbibed God and grown
intimate with Him until even the will
derness became as vocal as in the
days of Moses. He must have served
some time at his destined task of
priestly work, but the dream of its
blazing earnestness caught from
Zecharias faded into the darkness of
dead forms and his passion revolted
and carried him to the solitudes to
think out the reason for conditions
that the white Christ dubbed "a den
of robbers" What a shock it all was
to the clean youth of the hills. SO is
much of present day life to the ideal
ism of early manhood.
His life did for him what it did for
the hardy frontiersmen Of our Colo
NAL days; it taught him independence
of both thought and action and made
him an individualist and a democrat.
Glasses vanished as each man stood
alone in his relation to God and level
with every other man. John would
have signed the Declaration of indie
pendence with as bold a signature
as John Hancock's, for they were
brothers. When the speaker tells
you that you are as good as any other
man, you listen and marvel at his in
SIGHT. Moreover, John was radical
with axe and brand Just over the hill
and radical can alweys get crowd
and have hearing Where he diff
fered from a RED" was that he did
what forebears did-pointed the way
back to the foundations from which
England had departed as Judea had
done in his day. And conscience was
king in his whole scheme of thinking.
If thing were right it was to be
done with no care for the consequent
ces to ones self. So he dared the
wrath Of Herodias and preferred
death to the withdrawal of one word
of condemnation that had flayed both
king and the woman he had made a
queen. Yet over the rugged wall of
the Baptizer's character grew the
wide-spreading vine of a beautiful
humility. There was Another for
whom he was unworthy even to I'M
lace the sandals. 1t is here that he
wins our love and got that Mans
commentator of the greatest born
among the sons of women.
THE MESSAGE
"The kingdom of heaven is at hand"
was the ruling idea of this man of
realities. He gathered up all the
hopes of all the prophetic years and
felt that their realization was Just
beginning. Born to the teachings of
Amos and the rest, it enlisted the fol-
lowing of all sorts Of desires for a
change. Religionists tired of feeding
upon baled hay instead of "green pas
lures" politicians weary of being
"outs," patriots angered against
Rome, poor disconnected with explo-
itation, and honest men revolving
against rampant wickedness in both
prince and priest caught in Johns
word the note of their desire and ac-
claimed him the prophet of the new
day. For John did not define the
boundaries of that Kingdom, and it is
still phrase that is capable of many
interpretations. The unrest was part
of the capital to which he "sold" his
stock of new age. But the distinc-
tive note that makes John differ from
others of his time as well as from
many of our own was that the new
day was for new men. A millennium
dropped down upon the world of the
same old fellows of the preceding
year would blow up a decade. For
many folks think of it as "a melon! /,
uni" John suffered from no such
delusion. "The day" was coming, but
there must be change in your own
life if II Were NOT to ha diroc+ro,,e G.