n outburst of exquisite sarcasm, "What think ye of John? A reed
shaken by the wind? A man clothed in soft raiment?" A Chocolate
Christian? (How delicious! The Chocolates were right in front of
Jesus at the time--Pharisees, Sadducees, priests, scribes, lawyers,
and other hypocrites. How the crowd must have enjoyed it!) "A
prophet? Nay, much more than a prophet! Of men born of women there is
none greater than John." And what did the devil's agent say when,
after John's death, he heard of Jesus? "This," I tell you, "is John
risen from the dead." What a character! Fancy Jesus being mistaken
for anyone! He could have been mistaken only for John. Nobody envies
him the well-deserved honour, great though it was, for John was a
man--pure granite right through, with not a grain of chocolate in him.

Had John but heard Jesus say, "Ye shall be My witnesses unto the
uttermost parts of the earth," I very much doubt if Herod's dungeon,
or his soldiers, could have detained him. He surely would have found
some means of escape, and run off to preach Christ's Gospel, if not
in the very heart of Africa, then in some more difficult and
dangerous place. Yet Christ said, referring to His subsequent gift of
the Holy Ghost to every believer, "He that is least in the kingdom of
God is greater than he," intimating that even greater powers than
those of John are at the disposal of every Christian, and that what
John was, each one of us can be--good, straight, bold, unconquerable,
heroic.

But here are other foot-tracks--outrageous ones: they can belong only
to one man--THAT GRANDEST OF CHRISTIAN PARADOXES--THE LITTLE GIANT
PAUL--whose head was as big as his body, and his heart greater than
both. Once he thought and treated every Christian as a combination of
knave and fool. Then he became one himself. He was called "fool"
because his acts were so far beyond the dictates of human reason, and
"mad" because of his irresponsible fiery zeal for Christ and men. A
first-class scholar, but one who knew how to use scholarship
properly; for he put it on the shelf, declaring the wisdom of men to
be but folly, and determined to know nothing else save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. The result--he made the world turn somersault. His
life was a perpetual gamble for God. Daily he faced death for Christ.
Again and again he stood fearless before crowds thirsting for his
blood. He stood before kings and governors and "turned not a hair".
He didn't so much as flin