St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-22
WHERE CHRIST WAS STRONG
EST HIS ANOINTED DISCI-
PILES ARE WEAKEST.
SERMON BY ]. H. RANDALL
THE SAVIOR RESPECTED MAN
AS MAN UNDER ALL CIRCUM-
STANCES.
BARRIERS BETWEEN CLASSES,
They Are Strongly Defined Today
Says the Preacher-Jesus,
Methods of Work.

In the absence of the pastor, who
is attending the convention of the
Baptist Young Peoples union at Bal
tlmore, the pulpit of the First Baptist
church was occupied yesterday by
Rev. j. Herman Randall, whose re-
cent ordination was reported in these
columns
Mr.. Randall preached an able and
interesting sermon in the morning
to a large congregation from the
words recorded in Mark xii, 81:
And the common people heard Him
gladly"
The unconscious biographer, he
said, is always the truest one.
This truth was illustrated in re-
cent life of Lincoln, where, after
many chapters devoted to the Iegiti-
mate scope of biography, the author
remarks: "The greatest weakness
of this man was that he could not
say, NO, and in that sentence we
get glimpse of the greatness of
the heart of that great man, such
as is given nowhere else in the
seem to throw open the door that
admits US into the inner life of the
man Jesus Christ, who was always
the center of a throng of the COM
mon people. 1t may seem strange,
but 1t is nevertheless true that this
point at which He was strongest.
is the one point at which His church
= &c,
TO enter into an analysis of
the causes of this fact, but
rather to get back to the life
of the Lord Jesus, and ask: What
was the secret of His hold upon the
common people?
For one thing, He respected man
as man wherever He found him.
1t made no difference to Him wheth-
er a man lived on an avenue or in
an alley, whether he had an in
come or not, whether his reputation
was good or bad-he was a man,
with a mans heart, a mans strug-
giles and needs, and Christ found the
best and truest that was in him,
and led it out into a truer life. With
ance or interest in those around
us unless they belong to our circle,
or can be made in some way to sub
serve our interest. The rich and
poor may be in close contact physic-
ally and yet have no more inter-
course than if they belonged to diff
ferent races. Another secret of His
that He identified His life with their
lives. 1t was a significant fact, and
one for which we should be very
thankful that Jesus lived the life of
A COMMON MAN,
was never pampered in the lap of lux
ury, but worked as a carpenter, and SD
dignified what is today called common
labor And He went about among the
people with His teaching. Our great
leaders of thought today congregata
in the great universities, and those
who would learn of them must come to
them: but it was not so with Jesus.
He went among the common people,
and so it was no wonder that they
heard Him gladly. Today instances
can be found where learned pulpit
orators may draw large congregations
of the intellectual to hear philosophical
essays, but the common people are
entirely wanting, while. others with not
a 1.-THE of their ability are listened to
eagerly by those who find in their sim
pie words something which ministers
to their souls needs. This is the Sc
cret of the hold which many a humble
worker in the ranks of the Salvation
Army has on the jewellers in the slums;
she lives among them that she may
win them. and as her life touches
theirs she gains a hold on them.
Christ identified His life with the
peoples life, and it will cost us some
thing in TIE way of sacrifice before
we can make the common people be-
lieve in our sincerity, or win them to
our Savior.
Then again, another secret of the
Savior's hold on the common people
was that He presented truth in
winning way. Abstract truth has lit
tie power to affect human life. The
truest teacher is not he who can think
out some intricate problem clearly. but
ne who can SO present the truth to his
students as to kindle in them an en-
thusiasm for it. So we find that when
Christ was by the seaside He spake
Of subjects connected with fishing;
when on the hillside, he used illus
trations relating to husbandry, and in
all His teachings he used illustrations
that appealed to the daily lives of His
hearers. More than this, He preached
to the
DAILY HEART NEEDS
of the people. We are told that this is
an age of specialists. Outside of the
villages there is little room today for
the general practitioner in either medi-
cine or law, and the time has just past
when the church is, as it was. the
center of the intellectual life of the
community. And the church must
adapt itself to this state of things, and
make its speciality that of leading man
back to God. While some may con-
slider this a narrowing of it's sphere. it
is lifting it up into a larger and higher
place. There is one thing that re-
mains unchanged amid all the onward
march of progress, and it is the human
heart and its desire for a wider life
and for God. AS the church applies
itself to. these needs of the soul, will
the people gladly listen to it.
The last reason of Christ's hold upon
the common people which the preach
er mentioned, was that He preached
gospel of hope. Today, even more
than in the time of Christ. we live in
an age of pessimism, but He was the
great optimist. He saw in the most
forlorn or debased the possibility of a
new, a noble life. 1t is recorded of
Michael Angelo that seeing marks of
genius in the work of pupil
in a picture which was too cramped,
the great master took a brush,
and placed on the margin the
one word ''amplius ''-wider. Might
not the Master pass the same criticism
on our lives-wider as to hope, as to
purpose, as to sympathy, as to love.