Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-06-08
AGGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY NEEDED.
"Who Knoweth Whether Thou Art Come
to the Kingdom for Such
Time as This2"
THE DEMANDS OF the PRESENT AGE.
Special 10 the RsJiSter.

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 iv, IA: "Who
knowsth whether thou art come to the king
dom for such time as this?' DR.. Talmage
said:
Esther, the beautiful, was the wife of
Ahasuerus, the abominable. The time had
come for her to present petition to her in
famous husband in behalf of the Jewish ma
ton, to which she had once belonged. She
was afraid to undertake the work lest she
should lose her own life, bat her uncle Nor
decai, who had brought her up, encouraged
her with the suggestion that probably she
had been raised up of God for that peculiar
mission. "Who knoweth whether thou art
come to the kingdom for such time as
this?" Esther had her God.appointed work.
you and I have ours. 1t is my business to
iell you what style Of men and women you
ought to be in order that you may meet
The Demand of the Age
in which God has cast your lot.
If you have come expecting to hear ab
stractions discussed, or dry technicslities
of religion glorifed, you have come TO the
wrong church; but if you really would like
to know this age has right to expect Of
you as Christian 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
chemical 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 to give ourselves
to the definitions and formulas and technl'
calities and conventionalities of religion,
What we want is practical, earnest, concen
trated, enthusiastic 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 ten thousand Of them.
They are the chief obstacles to the church's
advancement am speaking of another
kind of Christians. All the appliances for
your becoming an earnest Christian are al
your hand, and there is straight path for
you into the broad daylight of Gods forgive.
ness. You may have come into this
tabernacle the bondsnen Of the world and
vet before you go out Of these doors you
may become Princes of the Lord God AL
mighty. Yeu remember what excitement
there was in this country years ago when
the Prince of Wales came here, how the
people rnshed out by hundreds of thousands
to see him. Why? Because they expected
that some day he would sit Upon the throne
OF England. But what was all that honor
compared with the honor to which God calls
you-to be sons and daughters Of the Lord
Almighty; yea to be queens aRd kings unto
God. "They shall reign with him forever
and forever"
But my friends, you need to BE aggres
sive Christians and not like those persons
who ssend their lives in hugging their
Christian graces, and wondering why they
do not make any progress. How much
robustness of health would man have if
he hid himself in dark closet2 A great
deal of the pietY Of this day is
Too Exclusive.
It hides itself. 1t needs more fresh mir,
more outdoor exercise. There are many
Christians who are giving their entire life to
selfexamination. They are feeling thar
vulses TO see what is the condition of their
spiritual health How long would man
have robust hyEicsl health if he kept all the
days aud weeks and months and years OF
his life feeling his pulse instead Of going
out into active, earnest, everyday work?
Twas once amid the wonderful, bewitch-
ing cactus growtbs of North Carolina. l
never was more bewildered with the beauty
of flowers and vet when | would take up
one of these cactuses and pub the leaves
apart the beauty was all gone. You could
hardy tell that 1t had ever been flower.
And there are great many Christian peo
pie in ihis day Just pulling apart their
Christian experiences to see what there If
in them a1d there 10 nothing lett IN ther:.
This style of selt.exsminstion is q damaEe
instead Of an advantage to their Christis,n
character. l rem ember when was boyl
used to have small piece in the garden
that called my oWn and 1 planted cocn
there and every few days | would pull it Up
to see how fast it was growing. Now there
are a great many Christian .peoPe
in this day whose seikezaminsticn
merely amounts to the pulling up Of Tint
which they only yesterday, or the day before,
planted. D, my friends if you want to have
a stalwart Christian character, plant it right
oat of doors in the great field OF Christisn
usefulness, and though storms may cone
upon it. sad though the hot sun of trial mEy
Try to consume it, it viii thrive until il be-
comes great tree, IN which the fowls OF
heaven may have their ha5itation. / have
no patience with these hower-pot Christians.
They keep themselves under shelter, and all
their Christian experience in a small ex.
elusive circle, when they ought to plant ii in
the prea, garden of the Lord 60 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 century plant Is wonderfully sugges,
tive, and wonderfully beautiful, but I never
look at Il without thinking of Its parsimony.
II let's whole generations 20 By before it
puts forth one blossom; % l have really
more heartfelt admiration when l see the
devy tears in the blue eyes Of the violsts,
for they come every spring. Ny Christian
friends, tine Is going BY 80 rapidly that We
cannot aEorj to be idle.
A recent statistican says that
Human Life
now has an average fouly thirty tzo years-
From these thirty-two years you must sub
tract all the time you take for sleep and the
taking Of food and recreation; that viii
leave yen about sixteen years. From thsse
| sixteen years you must subtract ell the time
that you are necessarily engaged in the
earning Of livelihood; that win leave you
l aho,t a;gkt ve.ra Frnra those eirhk wears