1888 



GLEAKlNGS IN BtJE CtJLtUltE. 



851 



jaYgELF WD J)IYpiEI6pB0^g. 



Whosoever will be great amonfj yon, let liiui be 

 your minister; aud whosoever will be chiel' among 

 you, lot him he your servant.— Matt. 30: 36, 37. 



}T was Sunday morning, Oct. lil. When I 

 tirst got up 1 reail in the Bil)le until I 

 felt that I needed exercise, then I look 

 a walk througli the growing crops of 

 celery, turnips, etc. 1 believe 1 helped 

 my good wife get breakfast, and assisted in 

 getting the children ready for church, to a 

 certain extent. I do not think I did very 

 much in that line, however. Then about 

 an hour l)efore church time, tt> mjike sure 1 

 should not get drowsy during the sermon, I 

 took a good solid nap. I do not have my 

 nap on Sunday before dinner, because it 

 would be inconvenient ; but good old dame 

 Nature is so kind and accommodating as to 

 permit me to sleep soundly from half-past 

 nine till half-past ten, providing 1 get up in 

 pretty good season on Sunday morning, and 

 read and take exercise enough to be ready 

 for this little rest. On this particular morn- 

 ing 1 remember feeling especially strong 

 and vigorous, both in mind and body. Had 

 it been a week day I should have been in 

 good trim to direct a great lot of business, 

 and read quite a heap of letters. As it was, 

 I was in very good trim indeed to listen to a 

 sermon. The one who was to preach for us, 

 however, was prevented from coming, and 

 in his stead sent a theological student from 

 Oberlin College. I think the boys call these 

 students " theologs," for short. 1 was in- 

 terested in him at once, because he seemed 

 sj you;ig lAid so boyish. My friends, it is a 

 grand thing to see a boy step into a man's 

 place in any department of life. We who 

 are older have learned to expect something 

 boyish from a boy ; and I hope, too, we have 

 learned to let a kindly charity take the place 

 of any sort of criticism. It was a boyish 

 sermon, delivered by my old friend brother 

 Reed, years ago, that first stirred me up to a 

 sense of my responsibilities. God bless our 

 boys who are to be found in our schools, on 

 the farm, in the factories, or in the pulpit ! 

 When our young friend announced for his 

 text the one I have given above, I felt 

 pleased at the outset, for this matter of ser- 

 vice has for years been one of my favorite 

 subjects. Now, friends, I am going to give 

 you the principal part of that sermon : and 

 I want you to sit by my side and listen to it, 

 just as I listened last Sunday. I want a 

 privilege, however, that ministers do not 

 often grant. I am going to take the liberty 

 of commenting occasionally when our 

 friend conies to some point that especially 

 enlists my sympathies. It would not ans- 

 w^er to do this were we sitting in the church 

 before a veritable pulpit; but under the cir- 

 cumstances, as it will not interrupt him at 

 all, he has kindly granted me the privilege 

 of using his sermon as [ choose. 



The circumstances lo which the words of 

 the text refer are these : Two of the disci- 

 ples, James and John, togetlier with their 

 mother, went to .lesiis with the request that 

 the two be given seats at his right hand and 

 at his left hand, when he should come into 



his glory. Of course, if they had the near- 

 est places to him the rest would be crowded 

 a little further away ; and in their ambition 

 to become great, or to receive great places, 

 they entirely ignoi^d the rest of their oreth- 

 rem From this little incident, the preacher 

 takes his text, and heads his sermon as be- 

 low. 



GENUINE GREATNESS. 



" People that live in glass houses shoukln't throw 

 stones." If this old proverb were not so exactly 

 true, we might Just now have a good laugh at this 

 picture of foolish , lames and John. For ridiculous 

 enough it seems, that two ignorant fishermen 

 should be asking for an eternal seat at the right and 

 left of the throne of God. But, foolish as this ques- 

 tion may appear, we are forced into solemn medita- 

 tion rather than mirth when we come to look deep- 

 ly into it; for we find in the picture a mirror which 

 reflects our very selves. For this James and John, 

 here, give us a capital illusti-ation of self-seeking 

 ambition; and this selfish ambition is a flre that 

 either lurks or burns in nearly every human breast. 

 Few men have ever lived through a life without a 

 deep desire to become recognized by the world as 

 great in some sense of the word. And when we 

 come to examine the context more closely we find 

 that this was not an altogether unnatural request 

 for these two disciples to make. They evidently 

 had some ground for what they did, for not long be- 

 fore, Jesus, in talking with his twelve disciples, had 

 made this promise: "Verily I say unto you, that ye 

 which have followed me in the regeneration, when 

 the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, 

 ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the 

 twelve tribes of Israel." So, now, as Jesus tells them 

 that the hour is drawing very near when he is to be 

 glorified, these two brothers think it a good time to 

 apply for the chief seats in the kingdom. Perhaps 

 they had what they considered a good reason for 

 asking; but evidently, from the reply given bj- 

 Jesus, their main motive was selfishness. They de- 

 sired to gain these places of honor that they might 

 seem greater than others. 



The remarks which this request provoked on the 

 lips of the ten, but serve to strengthen the state- 

 ment already made, that ambition is a common 

 passion. They immediately undertook to reprove 

 the two brothers, and thereby revealed to the keen 

 mind of Jesus that they too were ambitious. The 

 words of James and John had made them ashamed 

 of themselves, and in a twinkling they had uncon- 

 sciously Hashed out to Jesus the whole secret of 

 their own hearts. And what does Jesus do? This: 

 Instead of reproving them violently, be quietly 

 turns their minds into other channels. He does 

 not condemn ambition, but tells them forthwith 

 that there is here a false and a true, as in every 

 thing else. He shows how utterly opposed to each 

 other these are; how desire for the greatness of 

 this world leads only to selfishness, while the whole 

 principle of true greatness lies in self-sacrifice. 

 There is an ambition, he tells them, that ends only 

 in purifying and elevating the world, and in bring- 

 ing the kingdom of heaven to earth. "It is right 

 and good," he says, " for you to desire to be great. 

 This desire has been planted deeply in your very 

 heart of hearts by the Creator; but, onli' be careful 

 that your idea of greatness is the correct one; only 

 see to it that you do not turn aside the strength that 

 the Lord has given you until it become weakness 



