The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-09-15
! literature Jesus has: been the most ats

Who is the most attractive personality iu
England at this hour. answer, without
fear Of contradiction-Jescs Christ. =,
people have vet Crowned Him. Let me
take nv illustration to the lowest level.
Can you think OF any person in history,
dead or alive. or any person IN lmasinatlVe
literature. that will be talked OF, and
thought of. and sung Of. and discussed,
and criticised, and abused and crowned as
Jesus Christ? There is not a single theatre
in Manchester or London that can run
Shakespeare's plays continually. y am
clad YOU look ignorant, and can assure you
I don't speak from any INSIDE knoWIeoge,
but every one knows it to be true: anere
out variety. There must be change; some
other genius than Shakespeare must be
Forthcoming. And yet, with all our wan
about the decadence of the church and the
failure of Christianity, every Sunday IN
Manchester more people are gathered to-
rether to sing the old hymns and hear tine
old sermcas-I beg your pardon, to near
sermons on the old texts-and listen TO
the old, old story OF the cross than 1or any
Let US begin with the last. When Christ
was as fond of a phrase as be evldently
was of. that phrase "Follew ;sie: thefe
must 'be some deep signihcation IN It. 1
have been going through my ne" Ies1a.
ment during the last few months. 1IacLns
fhat phrase. It has been very interest
ing, study to- see how constantly Christ
used it. It was the almost perpetual tor
mula Of His call to Individual soul->Fol-
Now what is it to follow? Two things
are involved Neither of them covers all
the ground, taken alone. Both are re-
First. to follow, must trust. I shall
never follow any one l haven't commence
in. may trust and yet not follow.
Secondly, not only is trust necessary oue
obedience is necessary. Christ con1Tonts
the individual soul, bringing, that soul OUT
from the crowd. as He is calling g some man
trust Me? Then obey Me-" :.
How am going to do it? What does it
mean, this trusting and obesn,g: DENY Deny
yourself, take up the cross 1t seems
to me that is the point which must be OBJ
served first. that to deny self is the only
way in which you can follow Christ: how
shall I follow Him? Deny thyself! Ihe
two things are intimately related, and 1T
seems tosme that everything IS said when
:.sFollow Me- is said, and yetsit is neees-
sary to say the Other. in order to % under
stand what He means BY by following Hlm: T.
What is it Christ calls me to? To deny
mysef! Not to practice self-denial; that
is very cheap business, but to deny self
"a very costly matter. He says, Deny
yourself. Listen no longer to the call OF
| yeur self. but listen to Ny call. Don't con.
s;ders any more whether this thing will
minister to your pleasure or to your ag-
grandizement, or answer the cry Ct your
smbitiorl,s But Me first" Christ says,
E'aDeny yourself and follow Me. Put Ne on
the throne and dethrone yourself. Don,t
let the question of the mornng be, Mhae
shall / ike to. do, but What will Christ
have me do; not Will this pay me, but will
it hasten the coming OF the kingdom OF
Coo. Don't let the underlying, mastering
passion of Your life be your. own selhsn
desire; crown Me, follow Me" =.
I 1t is a super,ative call, and the call o
Jesus is always imperial. He wilfbrook no
division of your loyalty, and that is what
He means. You must hate father, moth
er, wife, child. That means that when the
soul comes into contact with Ne must be
absolutely first" Let me; stop here to say
that whenever a, soul does: that ne gets
back a hundredfold lands and fields and
mother and father and children. ,Jesus
never lowered that standard, and the re-
ligion that is simply an addenduna is worth
Jesus Christ comes and saY, tDeny
| YOURSELF" but there is the other word,
take up the cross" Well. what is it?
Christ s, cross? No. No man can carry
Christ's cross. What them. Your own:
What is this cross? don't think that it
is eyer the same in two, persons. Ine
cross. is that in your lite which lmmedlate-
| " costs you something II you crown
1 n = huo here this
morning who is saying IN his heart, Wel'
| if that is Christianity, I will have to 60
home and change my method Of business"
| That is your cross There is young man
| here saws that, IF that is Christianity, il
| it means putting Christ first, then l Will
have to 20 home and give up that compan'
| ionship.5 That is your cross. Some one
There saws, eff that is what Christ means,
| that am not to listen to the call OF my
own life, shall have to go home and say
was wrong and confess my wrong 70
those to whom it is so hard to confess II.
That is your cross. And some6ody else
says, eff that is Christianity shall nave
| to 20 back on my history, throw up every
| thing I am doing and so into the minis
| try" That is your cross.
You know what your cross 1t. Don I iet
any one come and ask me. You know t1as
| thing which right in front of you this
morning challenges your allegiance to Jesus
Christ. You cannot play tricks with God.
| You cannot deceive your. own conscience
| when you stand in the clear light OF the
| call of Christ. He says, Deny yourselt;
take up that cross land you know what it
is) and follow Me"
But why are Christ's terms so drastic!
For two reasons. First, no man ever gets
to Christ but by the way of the enthronee'
ment of Jesus Christ. 1t is possible to ad'
| mire and cheer Him, possible to patronlze
| Him and never to know Him. 1t ls not
the crowd that gets to Him, but the cross,
! bearing soul. And if you read on you VIII
sav, "Whosoever would ,save. his hts Shall
lost it; whosoever will lose his life for MY
sake shall find it,
Christ confronts the soul and says virtu'
ally this: "You don't understand your own own
| life. dear heart You cannot realize your
own kingdom. You cannot build your own
character and carve sout your own destiny,
But I'can do it, though ! can only DO 1t
when you have put Me absolutely on the
throne for your own hfe's llte., FOR lts
| founding and ennobiing and developing
YOU must come to Me, and by the way OF
a whole-hearted surrender"
But there is another reason why Chrlst
makes His terms drastic. He wants men
| .1 ,,,,o, 1,,bop, He ran 0eOenQ IN