The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-11-01
THE CALL OF CHRIST
TO men
REV. W. II. eAGeY breaches
ELOQUENT SERMON At THE
CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

At the Christian church yesterday
Rev. w. II. Bagby, taking his text
from Matthew 4:l9. spoke on "Christ's
Call to Men In part he said:
"chrst's call to men is not to
abandon their legitimate and useful
callings. but To enter fully the sphere
OF usefulness. This sphere embraces
the souls of men. The world had
fallen into a grievous error. 1t had
turned over the souls of men to a
special class, whose exclusive bust
ness was supposed to be the care of
mems souls. Jesus came to free the
world from this error, and to i'm
press the great truth that the sphere
of every man embraces all the in
terests OF mankind. In demonstration
of this. Christ came Himself and
chose His apostles. from the ranks
of the people and not of the priests.
Though He was the Savior of mems
souls. He ministered to their bodies.
As Ii. made His sphere embrace
mems bodies, so He wants us to make
our sphere embrace mems souls.
Christian men are grasping this great
truth. and are ceasing to think of the
souls of their fellows as lying out
side their sphere of activity. As they
see these souls encompassed within
the sphere of their service. there
comes To them growing sense of
personal responsibility for, and the
obligation to. them. and the result is
a movement among men in the I'M
terest of the souls of men. Men once
felt this responsibility. but sacerdotal-
ism crept in. and the work that be-
longs to all was turned over to the
few. Happily the day of this de-
fusion is passing, and the machinist,
clad in jumper and overalis, finds
that shaping souls Is as much part
of his work in life as shaping steel
shafts. The carpenter realizes that
character building Is as much part
of his business as is house building.
The pilot understands that it is his
to guide souls as we'll as ships into
port. The grocer realizes that il is to
his privilege ana duty to feed the
souls as well as the bodies of men.
The dry goods merchant rejoices in
the fact that he can help men to
array their souls as Well as their
knowledge that he can be IA healer of
souls as well as OF bodies. The
lawyer realizes that il is his to ad-
just the spiritual troubles as well as
the business troubles of men. All men
of all stations and callings, are COM
ing to understand that they not only
may. but that they must meet the
higher asNwell as the lower needs of
their fellow men. That they are do
ing SO. Is going to mean more to the
cause Of Christ, which is the cause
of humanity, than anything that has
happened in Il millennium. 4.
But it is one thing To see an OPP
portunity or an obligation. and quite
another to know how to meet it.
Jesus not only opened the eyes OF the
Galileean fishermen tn the fact that
ii MAS their privilege and duty to
catch men as well as fish, but He
told them that they must follow Him
TO learn how. Christian men who see
soulwinning as a duty must also see
that to be successful i'm this work
they must sit at the feet of the great
Teacher as they sat at the feet of
those who taught them how to become
maehinists. carpenters, merchants,
doctors. druggists. lawyers. etc. AS
this is the higher service which can
be rendered to men. To it should be
brought the most thorough prepara-
ton as we'll as the most earnest con-
secration. To know that one is a
freeborn American citizen is a great
thing But to know how to meet the
obligations and discharge the duties of
such one is greater thing. 1t is
great thing to know that il is our
but It is a vastly more important
thing to know how To do it, And
this we can never knew except as
We learn il from the Great Teacher.
MIR. Roosevelt. MIR. Bryan and Presi-
dent Taft do but exercise a high pre-
rogatiSe when they preach. They do
not merely exercise a privilege. but
they perform a most important duty
They step up into a realm of service
which it is their duty To enter. The
obligation rests upon every man To
serve his fellow man in all ways
physically. socially. spiritually No
man in his service Ia his fellow man.
can stop short of his soul and dis
charge his whole duty To him. The
world will be saved when all men
realize that il is their privilege and
as the bodies and the minds of men.
and sit at the feet of the Christ that
they may leara how to most effec-