The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1904-09-09
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY THE
REV. c. CAMPBELL MORGAN, o. D.
Subject, The Attrscsiveness and Exein-
siveness of Jesus-Listen TO the Call
OF Christ-He Will Brook No Division
of Your Loyalty.

LONDON, ENGLAND. The following
sermon, entitled The Attraetiyeness and
Exelusiveness of Jesus" was preached
here on a recent Sunday by the Rev. L.
Campbell Morgan, ID. ID. He took for his
text: Then said Jesus unto HIS disciples.
If any man will come after Me let him
deny himself and take up his cross and
follow Me.-St. Matthew l6:24.
There were two facts about Jesus Christ
which no one can read the Gospel re-
cords without recognizing; faets which
appear TO be contradictory, but which. a.
a matter of fact, are complementary, and
the understanding of which reveals for
all time the method of the Master in
dealing with men. i refer 70 facts of
the attraetiveness and exeluayeness of
Jesus.
There can be no question about the
former; there can equally be no question
about the latter 10 those who have care
fully read the records and have seen the
methods of Jesus while He Was here
among men. He was constantly drawing
people 10 Him, and He was perpetually
holding them aloof. by the very WIN
someness of His person, He was drawing
men and women Of all sorts and cond,-
tions, at all times and IN all places 10
Himself, and yet by the uttering of words
so severe, SO searching, so drastic making
US tremble even to-day, He held men
back from Him.
i venture TO say that the words / read
10 you this morning from the Gospel OF
Luke come 10 those who are most familiar
with them bringing sense of surprise.
We never read them without feeling more
or less startled by them -"Unless YOU
hate father and mother, husband and wife,
parent and child, you cannot be My dis.
cip!e" We have attempted 10 account for
these words, but l DO not hesitate 10 say
that IN some senses they have staggered
the faith OF many, and yet there they
stand.
And not there only, but through all
His teaching there Is evident the same
method of Christ. that of holding men
back Just as they were approaching HIM;
drawing them TO Himself by multitudes
and then holding the crowd as they
pressed upon Him, and sitting them with
ouch surprising words as these Now there
must be n reason for this. and lt is for
that reason that j want 10 look, with you,
a little this morning
But first allow me 10 say few words on
TINS fact OF the attractveness of Jesus,
because the more clearly We recognize and
understand that the more clearly shall
we understand, as ! think, the other truth
of His perpetual method of holding men
back and excluding certain persons from
close eompanlonship with Himself.
Take first, then, this great fact of His
attraetveness, the most fascinating sub
ject on which 10 speak. Remember, l
pray you, that II the Gospel records re-
veal one thing more clearly than another
they reveal that Jesus was, somehow or
other, Person that drew men TO Him
lrresistibly.
/ go back TO those silent years at Naza-
Teth concerning which we know 70 very
little. You Will remember that on those
days Luke opens for us just a little won
dow through which we look when he says,
He was subject to His parents, and grew
in favor with God and with man" i do
not stop one moment to dwell on the
statement that He grew IN favor with
God, although IL is a very interesting
statement, but Just for moment, for the
part of 1t: He grew IN favor with man"
Take that as 1t IL simply stated, and you
at once see a picture OF the boy growing
up TO be youth, and passing from youth
into young manhood until He became the
Carpenter of Nazereth, known TO all the
little town that nestled among the hills,
just removed from the highways OF life
This is all the truth that is revealed. If
may reverently put IT, Jesus was a favorlte
I'm Nazareth. lam not sure that that doesn't
almost startle you, because somehow or
other we have come TO think that holiness
ls almost always accompanied by angular
Ity, and there is popular idea that II a
a
Is a great mistake. 1t IL by the measure
IN which a man lacks holiness that man
IL not IN favor.
Here is man living IN Nazereth, and
Ue ~ a favorite. l do not want TO lift
that into a super-spiritual realm, but II
tou have no imagination you can Just go to
kleep for two minutes while i imagine /
look into that window and i see the Car
penter at His work and | tell you what
see. He is a favorite. ] see children TAX
ing their toys to Him to be mended, and
am quite sure He mended them. j see
young men going at eventIde 10 take their
problems with them because they know
He is sane, honest and pure. / think j see
old men, upon whose brow already sat
light that never was on land or sea" talk
ing TO Him because He has such a wonder
ful way of talking about My Fathers
house" and the many MANSIONS favor
lte, sane and strong, and pure, and attract
ave as TO personality.
/ know full well that little later on
these same men took HIM TO hill and
tried to murder Him, but that was the re-
suit of something else 20 be discovered
later. The pure, human, simple life OF
Jesus was, IN itself, attractive, and Luke
Gays, He grew in favor"
Leave those hidden years ard look at
Him just for one rapid moment as He
treads the pathway upon which a fercer
light falls than ever fell upon a throne
the pathway of the public teacher, and If
you read these Gospel stories the one thing
that strikes you is the fact of the multi.
tudes around about Jesus Christ. Wher-
ever He went they followed Him. IL He
went out into the city the country people
crowded the streets TO be near Him; II He
went out into the country place the city
men and women focked after Him, follow
ing Him 30 far that at timer there was no
Oh tIr H4V To do Iarr 40 lftyla
with food, and He had 10 feed them; for
in their eagerness to follow they had for
gotten food and had forgotten distance.
And wherever He went they came after
Him.
/ am not saying that these multitudes
crowned Him; that - not my point, but
He drew the people after Him. The one
thing they could not 60 with Jesus was 20
let Him alone; they came. whether 10 crlt-
icise Him or crown Him - not nov the
question; the point -, that He drew men
and women after Him IN all those days OF
HIS earthly life. They came after Him, all
sorts and conditions OF men, the scholars
and the liliterate, the learned and the Igno-
rant the debased, the depraved, they al
came. OF course, there were more poor
people came than rich because there al
ways were more poor people than there are
rich, and, OF course, there were more Of
the illiterate than of the learned for the
selfsame reason, bat protest against tins
idea that CHRIST only attracted a class.
There - something about Him that at
tracts al kinds Of men, and II - true IN
those old days.
Come. # YOU viii. outside the Bible. and
from the day that this Man walked among
men in Judea until now there has never
been 90 attractive a persOnality m human
history az Jesus. Ard ! want % say this
superlatiye thing about Christ. No cen