_WHAT MANNER OF MAN?_
MATTHEW xi. 7-15.
There are some men who are only as _desert reeds_! They move to the breath
of the desert wind. They bend before it, no matter in what way it may be
blowing. They never resist the wind. They never become "hiding places from
the wind," stemming a popular drift. They are the victims of passing
opinions, and are swayed by the current passions.
And some men are "_clothed in soft raiment_"! They shrink from the rough
fustian, the labourer's cotton smock, the leather suit of George Fox. They
are ultra-"finicky." They are afraid of the mire. They touch the sorrows
of the world with a timid finger, not with the kindly, healing grasp of a
surgeon.
And other men are "_prophets_"! They have a secret fellowship with the
Infinite. When we listen to them it is like putting one's ear to the
seashell: we catch the sound of the ocean roll. "The voice of the Great
Eternal dwells in their mighty tones."
And others are "_children of the Kingdom_." They are greater than the old
prophets, because the mystic voice has become a Presence, and they have
"seen the Lord." The veil has been rent, and they "walk in the light" as
"children of light."