The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-22
A SOUTH BEND MINISTER
REV. c. ID. CASE IN THE FIRST BAP-
list CHURCH PULPIT.
He DiscOurses Upon the Doctrine of
Denial, as Illustrated
by Christ.

Rev. c. D. Case, pastor of the First Bap-
fist Church at South Bend, preached yes
terday morning for the First Baptist con-
gregation, of this city. The text was Luke
TX, %: IF any man will come after me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me-" The theme was
"Christs Conception of the Christian Life
The speaker begun by referring to an ex-
perience of DR.. H. c. Mabe, former pas
tor of the First Baptist Church at Indian
apolis, while he was travelling in Asia. AT
iankOW young mandarin, the day before
DIR. Mabies arrival, had presented fan to
the pastor, upon which he had written his
confession of faith. The first was the text
of Mr.. Cases sermon; the second, "He that
loseth his life, the same shall find it, and
third, the whole Of the hymn beginning.
stantially as follows:
Jesus, at the time the text was uttered,
of God, but at the same time He had fore
told His crucifixion. But the two ideas of
suffering and messiahship seemed incom-
patible TO the disciples. Jesus answer was
that not only His own way was the Via
Dolorosa to Golgotha, but every one who
would come, after Him must also. suffer.
Any other idea was a suggestion of Satan.
There are three elements in Christs con-
ception of the Christian life.
"First-The denial of self. There are two
words in the New Testament that are
translated by the English word deny The
one, used only three times, means to deny
utterly. It is used of Peters denial of the
Master, I know not the man.. To deny ut
terly self is, therefore, to deny that the
relationship to self, on the throne of our
life, does exist. While this .self-denial
cies, does not rule over the life, it also
means that the self, with its worldly ambi-
tions, not in thmselves wrong, does not rule
over us. When Calvin visited Geneva, in
1886, he was travelling for general education.
and would not listen to Farel's appeal to
stay and preach the gospel. At last Farel
Crsafd n Low in fln M Nf lnd 40
If you do not assist us in this work of the
Lord, the Lord will punish you for follow
ing your own interest rather than His call.
Calvin stayed, and in so doing practiced
true self-denial.
'.Second-Cross-be People speak of
crosses-petty cares, trifiing duties. The BIZ
one cross. The. cross has two. elements.
The first is obedience to God. In the
shadow of Christs cross, He said, Not my
was the cross borne. 1t was the will of
God in concrete form. The second element
of the cross is service to man. Said Jesus:
I came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister and to give my life ransom for
many The ransom was paid on the cross.
But these two elements of the idea of the
cross, Gods will and service to man, are in
reality one. Our Godward conservation is
measured by our MAYNARD devotion. When
a man loses his life to God he finds it in
his fellow-man. Inasmuch as We did unto
one of the least of these my brethren, We
did it unto me- Lucy Larcom said that no
one could be near to God who did not see
the divine in his fellow-men. We are not
elected that we may be the special favored
ones of heavenly blessings, but that we may
be Gods agency for blessing, others. B.
Fay Mills once said that to deny means
literally in the Greek, Say am not and
that to confess is to Say I am To deny
self, then, is to say that am not self; and
to confess Christ is to say that 1 am Christ
lin the words of Paul, I am crucified with
Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ
liveth in me-
."The third element in Christ's conception
of a Christian life is Christ the motive of
self-denial and cross-bearing. We are to
fix our eyes upon Jesus and go His way.
"The love Of Christ constraineth US In
this way, and only in this way, will the
self-denial and cross-bearing be easy-as
Christ said, My yoke is easy, and my bur-
don &c light -