The Bossier banner., 1891-10-01
CHRISTIAN WORK.
Discourse to CheutaUquansi in Wis
consin by DR.. T Talmage.
The Duties and Responsibilities which God
Expects Christian Men and Women
to Assume-No Time for
Idling or FrivOlity.

The subjoined discourse was delivered
by Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage before an
immense congregation present at the
Chautauqua assembly on the banks OF
Monona lake, near Madison, Wis. His
text was:
Who knoweth whether thou art come to
the kingdom for such a time as this?-EstheT
w., H.
Esther the beautiful was the wife OF
Ahasuerus the abominable The time
had come for her to present petition
to her infamous husband in behalf of
the Israeletish nation, to which she had
once belonged. She was afraid to un-
dertake 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 mission. "Who knoweth
whether thou art come to the Kingdom
for such a time as this!' Esther had
her God-appointed work; you and l
have ours. 1t is my business to tell you
what style of people we ought to be in
order that me may meet the demand of
the age in which God has cast our lot,
If you have come expecting to hear alb
Stractions discussed, or dry technicali-
ties of religion glorifed, 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 Lord S
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. An 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 tech
nicalities and conventionalities of re-
lgion. What we want is practical,
earnest, concentrated, enthusiastic and
triumphant help. What we need in the
east you in Wisconsin need.
In the first place, in order to meet
the special demand of this age, you
need to be an Enthusiastically 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 obstacle to the churchs advance
ment. l am speaking of another kind
of Christian. All the appliances for
your becoming an earnest Christian
are at your hand, and there is straight
path for you into the broad daylight of
Gods forgiveness. 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
excitement there is in this country
when foreign 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 forever"
But, my friends, you need to be ag-
gressive 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 a dark
closet? A great deal of piety of the
day is too exclusive. 1t hides itself. 1t
needs more fresh air, more outdoor ex-
ercise. There are many Christians who
are giving their entire life to self-ex-
animation. They are feeling their
pulses to see what is the condition of
spirital health. How long would man
have robust physical healthy if he kept
all the days and weeks and months
and years of his life feeling his pulse
instead of going out into active, earn
est, everyday work.
| was once amid the wonderful, be-
witching cactus growth of North Caro-
lima l never was more bewildered
with the beauty of flowers, and vet
when l would take up one of these cac-
fuses and pull the leaves apart, the
beauty was all gone. You could hard
lY tell that it had ever been a flower.
And there are a great many Christian
people in this day just pulling apart
their Christian experiences to see what
there is in them, and there is nothing
attractive left. This style of self-ex-
animation is damage instead of an adj
vantage to their Christian character.
l remember when l was boy, | used
to have small piece in the garden
that called my own, and 1 planted
corn there, and every few days l would
pull it up to see how fast it was grow
ing. Now, there are a great manv
Christian people in this day whose self
examination merely amounts to the
pulling up of that which they only yes
terday or the day before planted.
o my friends, if you want to have a
stalwart Christian 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
it, it will thrive until it becomes a
great tree, in which the fowls of
heaven may have their habitation. I
have no patience with these fiower-pot
Christians. They keen Themselves