Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-08-06
That is DR.. Talmage's Advice to the
Hosts of the Living
God"
All Evil Will Come Down in Wreck
at the Blast of the Gospel
Trumpet.
Prayerful Sermon Recently Preached
by the Great Divine on Text
From Esther.

Not long since DIR. T. De Witt Talmage
preached strong sermon on the following
text from Esther, ''Who knoweth whether
thou art come to the kingdom for such q
time as this?' He 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 IsraelitisEj
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 mission. 'Who knoWeth
whether thou art come to the kingdom for
such 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 we
may meet the demand of the age in which
God has cast our lot. If you have come
expecting to hear distractions discussed
or dry technicalities 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 Chris
tian men and women, then | am ready in
the Lords name to look you in the face
When two armies have rushed into bat.
tie the officers of either army do not want
philosophical discussion about the chemi
cal properties of human blood or the la
ture of gunpowder. They want some one
to man the batteries and swab out the
guns. And now, when all the forces Of
oh nd HorI%r Of In
have plunged into the fight, it is no time
to give ourselves to the definitions and
formulas and technicalities and convcn-
tionalities of religion. What we want is
practical, earnest, concentrated, enthusjas-
tic and triumphant help.
In the first place, in order to meet the
special demand of this age, you need to be
an Enthusiastically aggressive Christian or
half and half Christians we do not want
any more. The church of Jesus Chris;
will be better without ten thousand CT
them. They are the chief obstacle to The
church's advancement. | am speaking Of
another kind of Christian All the an3l
ances for your becoming an earnest Chris
tian are at your hand, and there is st raight
path for you into the broad daylight ot
Gods forgiveness. You may have come
here today the bondsmen of the world, ard
yet before you go out of these doors you
may become the princes of the Lord Goa
Almighty. You know what excitement
there is in this country when a foreign
prince comes to our shores. Why? Because
1t 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"
HEALTHY OPEN AIR FAITH
But, my friends, you need not be aggres
sive 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 ro-
business of health would man have if he
hid himself in dark closet? 4 great deal
of piety of the day is too exclusive. II
hides itself. 1t needs more fresh air, more
outdoor exercise. There are many Chris
tians who are giving their entire life to
self examination. They are feeling their
pulses to see what is the condition of their
spiritual health. How long would a man
have robust physical health if he kept all
the days and weeks and months and years
of his life feeling his pulse instead of going
out into active, earnest, everyday work?
l was once amid the wonderful, bewitch
ing cactus growths of North Carolina |
never was more bewildered with the beauty
of flowers, and yet when would take up
one of these cactuses and pull the leaves
apart, the beauty was Ill gone. You could
hardly tell that it had ever been a flower
And there are great many Christian PEG
pie 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 examination is a
damage instead of an advantage to their
Christian character. l remember when
was boy used to have a small piece IL
the garden that | called my own, and
planted corn there, and every few days
would pull it up to see how fast it was
growing. Now, there are a great many
Christian people in this day whose self ex
animation merely amounts to the pulling
up of that which they only yesterday Or
the day before planted.
Oh, my friends! if you want to have star
wart Christian character, plant it right out
OF doors in the great field of Christian use
fulness, and though storms may come
upon it, and though the hot sun of trial
u w SOIiSuillC ~, ~ Will SILl'N uuCIi
it becomes great tree, in which The fowls
of heaven may have their habitat;on.
have no patience with these fowerpot
Christians. They keep themselves under
shelter, and all their Christian experience
in small, exclusive circle, when they
ought to plant it in the great garden of the
Lord, so that the whole atmosphere could
be aromatic with their Christian useful
ness. What we want in the church of God
is more Drawn of piety.
The century plant is wonderfully sug-
gestive and wonderfully beautiful, but I
never look at it without thinking of it's
parsimony. 1t lets whole generations go
! by before it puts forth one blossom; so
| have really more heartfelt admiration
when | see the dewy tears in the blue eyes
of the violets, for they come every spring.
My Christian friends time is going by so
rapidly that we cannot afford to be idle.
A recent statistician says that human life
now has an average of only thirty-two
years. From these thirty-two years you
must subtract all the time you take for
sleep and the taking of food and recrea-
ton; that will leave you about sixteen
years. From those sixteen years you must
subtract all the time you are necessarily
engaged in the earning of a livelihood;
that will leave you about eight years.
From those eight years you must take all
! the days and weeks and months-all the
| length of time that is passed in childhood
and sickness, leaving you about one year
in which to work for God. Oh, my soul,
wake up! How darest thou sleep in har-
vest time and with so few hours in which
to reap? So that | state it as simple fact
that all the time that the vast majority OF
you will have for the exclusive service OF
! God will be less than one year!
GO OUT AND COMPEL THEM.