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4 IKkoßil j«M JMi In ®IB BW ' ilnl B Representing Christ. Sermon preached by Dr. Broughton in his Taber nacle to a great crowd, Sunday morning, June 19th. 4 ‘Ye are the light of the world: Even so let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” Matt. 5:14;16. My special purpose to-day is to speak on “The Christian’s place in the world.” Everything that is worth anything has a place. Take for example this yhurch: this church, if it is the church of Jesus Christ, has a place in the world; not only a place, but a distinct place, a specific place, a place which if it does not fill will not be filled, and so with re spect to everyone of us holding membership in the church; we have our place. Our Place in the Church. It may be a very humble place, it may be a more exalted place—it may be the most exalted place, but whether it be an humble place, or an exalted place, if we are the children of God and entitled to mem beiship in the church at all, that place is for us to fill, and if it is not filled by us, will not be filled at all. If God has favored us with great favor, then the responsibility is correspondingly great. What ever the degree of our place is God holds us re sponsible, sacredly and righteously for the fulfill ment of that place. That, you can at once see makes Christian living a great responsibility; makes church membership a responsibility; makes your place in the church a place of great responsibility and concern. And so my brethren it is with re spect to “the Christian’s place in the W’orld” at large. The Christian is for a Specific Purpose. God never saved man just for the sake of saving him; the first man who was ever saved was saved for himself and for the rest of mankind with whom he might come in contact, and over whom he might exercise an influence; and so on from that time down to the present hour. Every man that is saved is saved for himself and for what he may do in helping to save the rest of mankind. What now is the Christian’s place in the world? Our text it seems to me answers the question. The Christian’s place in the world, as we are told in the first part of the text is—to be light for the world of mankind. “Ye are the light of the world.” But not only light to the world is the Christian to be, but he is to be that light in proportion to the way he gives the light a chance £o shine. “Ye are the light of the world; let your light so shine before men that others see ing your good works will glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” In other words, the Christian’s place in the world, is to represent Jesus Christ; nothing more, nothing less. But How Represent Jesus Christ? Can we make that question sufficiently personal to answer it for ourselves today? What is he to do that he may represent Jesus Christ? j I answer in the first place, the Christian is to represent Jesus Christ in his Love. There is no use talking about it—Love is the greatest thing in this world. We see it operating every day anc! JEWS TOTmCACTLIk mOjWO a I we see its power as it operates. We see Love con quering where nothing else in the world can conquer. I stepped into the Sunday school of a church once, — I saw a little, feeble woman standing talking to a class of one hundred young men. I did not see any thing especially great in what she was saying to them; there certainly was nothing attractive in t' e appearance of the woman herself, but yet she was holding that magnificent body of young men, and holding them spell-bound, and she did it every Sun day. I asked the Superintendent of the Sunday school to explain the mystery—for it was a mys tery: he said, “there is no explanation to it, but ■this, she loves those men and they know it.” I said, “that is explanation enough, for when you have said that you have said about that woman the greatest thing that could be said about any man or woman.” We have all heard that little story Mr. Moody used to tell. One day a boy was found by a policeman hurrying across the streets of Chicaw and the policeman stopped him and said, “where are you going this cold, shivering day?” the boy said, “I am going to Sunday school,” the police man said, “Where?” he said, “over to Mr. Moody’s,” which was about two and one-half miles away. The policeman said to the boy, “why an you going so far, you are passing by scores of Sun day schols,” he said, “Oh! well they love a fellow r over there.” There isn’t a man here, - however hard hearted he is, however much engrossed in busi ness; however important a factor in the great worn of business, but that is vulnerable at that point; you can touch him at the point of love when you could never touch him in any other way. A man may go ever so far down in sin, but love will reach him. You let a mother’s boy go down to the depths of sin and degradation,—does she think of with holding her hand from him? She thinks a great deal more about going down there after him, and why? Because she loves him. When I lived in Roa noke, I was sent for to go to the police barracks. When I got there I found a young man, a splendid young fellow incarcerated, and I said, “what are you here for?” he replied, “I am sorry to tell you, but I am here for stealing;” I said, “you here for stealing?” and after talking with him for a while I said, “I guess we had better send a telegram to your mother.” “Oh! don’t send for mother, sh would not think of coming, she would feel so dis graced.” I said, “you don’t know a mother’s love.” I sent the telegram to his mother and she was there on the first train and I was present when she came to the barracks; she hardly spoke to the Chief of police; just as soon as she found out when that boy was she rushed right up to the cell, and rapped upon the door as if to knock it down, until finally they unlocked it and let hei- in, and though he was a thief, she rushed to him and kissed him and hugged him as if he was the greatest man in the world. Now this old world needs just that kind of love, and Jesus Christ had just that kind of love. The lower down a man got it seems to me the better Jesus loved him, and the lower down a woman got the better Jesus seemed to love her, for when the rest of the world would stone her and put her to death Jesus was her friend and extended a helping hand to her and showed her the better way. But to day Jesus Christ is not on the earth. He has gone back to Heaven and the only way He has of impress ing Himself upon the world is through His disciples who are left behind Him and He wants that His people should have hearts in tune with His heart. Oh! how we might stir up this town for Christ if we had Christ’s love for men; oh! how we might shake this community if we had the love Jesus had, The Golden Age for July 5, 1906. Le n G . Broughton “the heart of love.” If every Sunday school teach er we have in this church had that kind of love, we would break this house down with folks; it would not hold them, they would be packed in here tighter than sardines in a can; you could not keep them away; you might stand at the corner with a club and they would come, because people do not care anything about obstacles when there is a great love magnet that draws. God’s people have got to become charged with the Spirit of Jesus Christ to the extent that their hearts are mellow, and tender and gracious to lost men and women about it, and when they see that, you will not have to have runners running about the streets with cards asking people to come to church. If half the energy that is spent wearing out shoe leather in inviting people to come to church, was spent on our knees drinking in the love Spirit of Jesus we would accomplish ten thousand times more. Then we are To Represent Jesus in His Sympathy. Sympathy is the next best thing in the world to love; indeed it is closely akin to it. It is the meth od which love has of expressing itself. I have recently read one of the best little stories that I have ever seen, entitled “The Withered Lily,” writ ten by a young man in prison. When he was in prison and all hope fled and there was nothing ahead of him but, “I’ll be sentenced;” one day he got a little box from the girl who had once been his teacher in Sunday school, and in that box was a little white lily with some other flowers packed around it, and that lily was all faded, but it was an expression of “heart and of sympathy,” and that young man, as he says of himself, bowed down be fore that lily, gave his heart to his teacher’s Christ, and remained true. Now, my brethren, you think that is a little thing, that kind of talk is for women and children; that is where the trouble about our Christian service comes in, we men get so stuck on ourselves that we think a thing like that is belittling to our dignity and position and we turn over to the women and a few weak silly men the methods of expression of sympathy and heart that God w’ould have us ourselves show. There isn’t a man in this house that is too big to do that. The bigger you are in the estimation of men the more power there is in your expression of sympathy. I know what I am talking about. When ’our little baby girl died many years ago, I got a letter from the Governor of our State, a man upon whom I had no special claims of sympathy. I kept that letter for a long time; I kept it because it was such a sur prise to me to think that a man occupying his po sition was regardful of me. But, my brethren, if Jesus Christ was here in our place how much more He would do to bind up broken hearts ,and dry weeping eyes than we do. And if Jesus would do it, He expects us to do it. Represent Jesus in His Fidelity to the Right. The one thing that this world appreciates after all more than anything else, is an uncompromising man or woman. The fact is, until the church wakes up to realize the force of that, it will be to a great extent shorn of its power. During the Torrey meetings I spoke to a man, a prominent business man in Atlanta, about becom ing a Christian, and he said, “Dr. Broughton, ex cuse me for frankness, but let me say what is in my heart.” I said, “Say it.” He said, “When Christianity goes to making men true and honest, business men will not have to be sought.” Did you catch that? Let me repeat it: “When Chris tianity goes to making a man true and honest, then business men will not have to be sought.” Now,