Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-03-06
COSSET CHRISTIANS.

COSSET CHRISTIANS.
Demands for Attention. and VIII "Think
More Highly of Themselves Than They
Ought to Think
Every New England farmer knows
what 81 "cosset" is. 1t is some pet
creature. lamb or calf, which, without
q mother, has been taken in hand to be
raised by artificial means. The result
is that it becomes subject to IN amount
of fondling and cosseting which takes
away from it any natural character for
sturdiness which it might otherwise have
had. Now there are a goodly number of
Christians who answer to this idea.
They are cossets. They seem to be I'M
able to live without an amount of fond
ling and pettlng which proclaims them
to be weaklings and keeps them so. We
are constantly running across them, and
they give us no little care and anxiety,
and upon the whole lead us to the con-
clusion that they are not worth the
trouble. If they can not live and get
on without the cosseting they demand,
they might as well die at once. There
are several varieties of them.
First. They are a class who move
into a new ncighhorhood, and for a
while go around and s'hear different
preachers" and try different churches.
You sec them and welcome them. it
may be. OF, perhaps you only see them
in your congregation. Presently you
miss them. They may have passed out
OF your mind; and, in the midst of null
titude of pastoral cares and work, you
forget them. Presently you hear of or
from them. and are told that they left
otfcoming to your church because you
is true that they never made themselves
known to you. They did not call upon
you, or even wait at the conclusion OF
some Sabbath OF week evening service,
and tell you who theywere. or that they
were thinking OF uniting with your
church. On the contrary, they waited
q few Sabbaths to sect they were to be
noticed and made much OF. and, finding
that they were not (and mainly because
OF their own neglect in letting any one
know that they belong to the household
OF faith), they took their departure for
some other church, setting forth that
yours was a cold and formal one, which
paid no attention to strangers" Now
the question arises in our minds wheth-
or they ever thought OF coming to church
or amonga people for the purpose of
worship OF work. Upon the whole,
we must conclude that they
came only to be pettcd and made
much OF. They are thinking OF them
selves; and not of the Lord and His
work. ii they may be petted and made
much OF they will come among you; but
if they can not be put on the list of
''cossets' they will 90 elsewhere. The
fact is they are wcaklings, and think
more highly of themselves than they
ought TO think" Our convection is that
downright, o%ut-and-out Christians. es-
peclally it they are strangers, will at
once make themselves known when
they come into u strange city and
church, and put themselves in the way
OF fellowship, work and acquaintance.
There are such; and they neve find
any trouble in making acquaintance or
being noticed. What right, either on
grounds OF fellowship or reason, has a
stranger to suppose that q pastor and a
whole church will at once recognize him
as the Lords and run after him when
he has taken not the least pains to
make himself known as such? Nav,
wheat right, on any principle Of consecra-
ton or recognized obligation, has any
Christian to make his or her active DAP
tlclpation in the work OF worship of.
God dependent upon any amount of
pettlng and cosseting?: And vet there
are a multitude who can only be kept at
even Il moderate participation in church
fellowship or work by an amount of
petting and attention that scarce anv
ousy pastor IL people con give, or care
to give. ~
Second. The cosSet Christian is found
IN the flock. They seem to have been
born Weaklings, and they are only kept
alive by the most assiduous petting and
coaNing. OF course, they were known
at the time OF their entering the Church,
either by confession or by letter. For
a while they am to church and
prayer-mecting; but presently Won
missed them, and went and looked
them up. You found that they had lost
their interest, because ''noboiy seemed
to care anything for them.n The mem.
bers had not called upon them; every
Douy dld not rush up to them and
snake with them every time they
entered church or prayer-room. In
Decd they tell you that the pastor v G
passed them on the street, and did NOT
speak to them. OF course, they never
offered to shake hands with or sneak to
n n themselves, and if the nas,or
Jailed to recognize them on the street
II was not their place to recognize the
PASTOR. That is not what they came
INTO the church for. They came in to
De cosseted and made much of, and
not being so treated, they have now
taSen to staying at home, and poutino