Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-07-31
A SERMON In WISCONSIN |
THE AWFUL NECESSITY FOR
CHRISTIAN EARNESTNESS
DR.. Talmage illustrates the Opportuni-
ties of the Hour by the Example of
Esther iii Saving Her I'eopIe-The Great
Need of Aggressive lnith.

| DIR. Talmage preached at Chautau-
qua assembly Oh the banks of Monona
Lake, Wis. His text was Esther iv. a.,
"Who knoweth whether thou art come
to the kingdom tor such a time as this?"
| Esther the Beautiful was the wife of
Ahasucrus the Abominable. The time
had come for her to present petition to
her infamous husband in behalf of the
Israelitish nation, to which She had
once belonged. She was afraid to UNI
dertakc the work lest she should lose her
own life, but her uncle, Mordecai, who
had brought her up. encouraged her
with tho suggestion that probably she
had been raised up of God for that pc
culiar mission. "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
to tell you what style of people we ought
| to be in order that VIC may meet the de-
mand of the age in which God has cast
| our lot lfyou have come expecting to
| hear distractions discussed or dry tech
nicalities of religion glorified. you have
come to the wrong place; but if you
| really would like to know what this age
has right to expect of you as Christian
men and women, then l 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 philosophical discussion about
the chemical properties of human blood
or the nature of gunpowdcr. 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 def
nitions and formulas and technicalitics
and conventionalities Of religion. What
we want is practical, earnest, consen-
trated, enthusiastic and triumphant help.
What we need in the East you in Wis
cOnSin need.
In the first place, in order to meet the
special demand OF this age, you need to
be an unmistakaby aggressive Christian.
OF half and half Christians we do not
want any more. The church of Jesus
Christ will DC better without ten thou
sand of them. They are the chief OBJ
! stacle to the church's advancement
am speaking Of another kind of Chris
tian. All the appliances for your be-
coming an earnest Christian are at your
hand, and there is a straight path for
you into the broad daylight of Gods for
giveness. You may have come here to-
day the bondsmen Of the world, and yet
before you go out of these doors you
may become the princes of the Lord
God Almighty. You know what excite
ment there is in this country when for
eign prince comes to our shores. Why?
Because it is expected that some day he
will sit upon throne. But what is 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 and kings unto God? '.They
shall reign with Him forever and for.
ever"
But, my, friends, you need to be ag.
grcssive 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 health would a
man have if he hid himself in dark
closet? A great deal of the piety of the
day is too exclusive. 1t hides itself. l,
needs more fresh air, more outdoor eXer
else. There are many Christians who
are giving their entire life to self-eXam
nation. They are feeling their pulses
to see what's the condition of their spir
itual health. How long would mar
have robust physical health if he KEEP
all the days and weeks and months an(
years of his life feeling his pulse instead
OF going out into active, earnest, every
day work?
was once amid the wonderful, be
witching cactus growths of North Caro-
| | no, ~
the beauty of flowers, and yet when
would take up one of these cactuses anc
pull the leaves apart the beauty was al
gone. You could hardly tell that it eve
had been q flower. And there are
great many Christian people in this da,
just pulling apart their Christian expert
ences to see what there is in them, AM
there is nothing attractive left. Thi
style of self-eXamination is damage in
stead of an advantage to their Christian
character. l remember when l was
boy used to have a small piece in tn
garden that [ called my own, and
planted corn there, and every few day
would pull it up to see how fast it wa
, growing. Now there are great man
Christian people in this day whose sell
examination merely amounts to the pul
ing up of that which they only yesterda
J or the day before planted.
\ oh, my friends, if you want to have
stalwart Christian character, plant
right out of doors in the great field c
Christian usefulness, and though storm
may come upon it and though the he
sun of trial may consume 1t, it will thirty
E until it becomes a great tree, in whic
l the fowls OF Heaven may have their hal
itation. have no patience with thes
: fowerpot Christians. They keep then
& selves under shelter, and all their Chri
= tian experience in small, exclusive ci
q Gle, when they ought to plant it in I'll
= great garden of the Lord, so tn:
the whole atmosphere could be aromat
q with their Christian usefulness. VIII;
q we want in the Church of God is MOI
Drawn of piety.
The century plant is wonderfully SUI
: gestive and wonderfully beautiful, but
# never look at it without thinking of i
i parsimony. 1t let's whole generations ,
4 by before it puts forth one blossom. s
l have really more heartfelt admiratic
L when I see the dewy tears in the bl,
y eyes OF the violets, for they come evel
It spring. My Christian friends, time
4 going by so rapidly that we cannot affol
:. to be idle.
u A recent statistican says that hum;
/ life now has an average of only thirt
\, two years. From these thirty.twn voa