Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-06-08
''THE DAY WE LIVE IN"
DIR. TALhEAGE TAKES HIS TEXT
FROM LESTREIs ". II.

Some Professors of Religion Compared
TO the North Carolina Cactus Flower
Avoid all Reckless IconOclasm, but q,
not stick too Closely to Old Methods.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, June DIR. Tai
mage preached this morning in the Brook
Ign Tabernacle on the subject, The Day
We Live In.'' Before the sermon he read
in the Old Testament concerning a scene
in the Persian palaces. He also read the
names of many new members who during
the past few weeks have united with the
church. The opening hymn was
"Salvation, oh, the joyful sound,
IT'S pleasure TO our ears
The text was from Esther w.. IA: "Who
knoweth whether thou art come to the
kingdom for such 4 time as this" DR..
Tamage said:
Esther, the beautiful, was the wife Of
Ahasuerus, the abominable. The time
had come for her to present a petition to
her infamous husband in behalf of the
jewish nation, to which she had once
belonged. She was afraid to undertake
the work lest she should lose her own life,
but her uncle. MOrdecai. who had
brought her up, encouraged her with the
suggestion that probably she had been
raised up of God for that peculiar mis-
sion. who knOweth whether thou art
come to the kingdom for such a time as
this"'
Esther had her God-appointed work;
YOU and have ours. 1t is my business
10 tell you what style of men and women
You ought to be in order that you may
meett the demand of the age III which God
has cast your lot. If you have come eX-
Decting to hear distractions discussed or
dry technicalities of religion glOrlfied you
have come TO the wrong church; but If
YOU really would like to know what this
age has a right to expect of you as Christ
tian men and women, then | am ready in
The Lords name to look you in the face.
When two armies have rushed into battle,
the officers of either army do not want a
philosophical discussion about the chemi
cal properties of human blood, or the
nature of gunpoWder; they want some
one to man the batteries and swab out
the guns. And now when all the forces
of light and darkness, of heaven and hell,
have plunged into the fight it is no time
10 give ourselves to the definitions and
formulas and techncalities and conven-
tionalities OF religion. What we want Is
practical, earnest, concentrated, enthu-
siastic and triumphant help.
In the first place, in order to meet the
special demand Of this age, you need to be
an unmistakable, aggressive Christian.
OF half-and-half Christians we do not
want any more. The church of Jesus
Christ will be better without 10000 of
them. They are the chief obstacle to the
churcb's advancement. | am speaking Of
another kind of Christian. All the appli-
ances for your becoming an earnest Chris
tian are at your hand, and there is a
straight path for you into the broad day
light of Gods forgiveness. You may
have come into this Tabernacle the bond
men Of the world, and yet before you go
out Of these doors you may have become
princes Of the Lord God Almighty. You
remember what excitement there was in
this country years ago when the Prince of
Wales came here-hOW the people rushed
out by hundreds of thousands to see him.
WbyE Because they expected that some
day he would sit upon the throne of Eng
land. But what was all that honor COM
pared with the honor to which God calls
you-tO he sons and daughters of the
Lord Almighty: yea, to be kings and
queens unto God? They shall reign with
Him forever and ever"
But, my friends. you need to be aggres-
siye Christians, and not like those persons
who spend their lives in hugging their
Christian graces and wondering why they
do not make any progress. How much
robustness Of heart would man have if
he hid himself in dark closet: A great
deal Of the piety Of the day is too eX-
elusive. 1t hides itself 1t needs more
fresh air, more outdoor exercises. There
are many Christians who are giving their
entire life 10 DETERMINATIONS. They are
feeling their pulses to see what is the con-
dltiOn Of their spiritual health. How long
would a man have robust, physical health
if he kept all the days and weeks and
hu nd Of 70 raol al
pulse instead of going out into active,
earnest, everyday work.
l was once amid the wonderful and be-
witching cactus growths Of North Caro-
lima. l never was more bewildered with
the beauty of flowers, and yet, when l
would take up one Of those cactuses and
pull the leaves apart, the beauty was all
gone. You could hardly tell that it had
ever been a flower. But there are great
many Christian people in this day lust
pulling apart their own Christian expert
ences 10 see what there is in them, and
there is nothing left of them. This STYLE
OF sell-eXaminatiOn is a damage instead
Of an advantage TO their Christian char
acter. 1 remember when | was a boy |
used TO have a small piece in the garden
THAT 1 called my own, and ! planted corn
there, and every few days / would pull it
up 10 see how fast 1t was growing. Now
lnere are great many Christian people
In this day whose determination merely
amounts TO the pulling up of that which
they only yesterday or the day before
planted. . my friends, if you
want to have stalwart Chris
tan character plant it right out of
doors IN the great field Of Christian
usefulness, and though storms may come
upon it, and though the hot sun of trial
may try TO consume il, il Will thrive until
II becomes a great tree, in which the fowls
OF heaven may have their habitation.
have no patience with these flower-pot
Christians. They keep themselves under
shelter, and ali their Christian experience
in small and exclusive circle, when they
ought 20 plant il in the great garden of
the Lord SO that the whole atmosphere
could be aromatic with their Christian
usefulness. What we want in the Church
of God is more Drawn of piety. The CEN
tury plant is wonderfully suggestive and
wonderfully beautiful; but / never look
at IL without thinking of its parsimOny.
II lets whole generations 90 by before IL
puts forth one blossom: so | have really
more heartfelt admiration when / see the
dewy tears in the blue eyes Of the yiclets.
for they come every spring. My Christian
friends, time is going by so rapidly that
we cannot afford TO he idle.
A recent statistician says that human
life now ha5 an average OF only thirty-tWO
years. From these thirty-two years YOU
must substract all the time You take for
sleep and the taking OF food and recrea-
lion: that Will leave YOU about sixteen