Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-08-15

The Brooklyn Divine's
Sunday Sermon

TEXT: .Hho Eaooc>fh ,~h.'tes ApD a..
colap 70 the Eiaq.i0m forspct 1tU.te this
Esther ~. IA.
Esther the b-au:itul "a. 81 vi" u
4hasueru, the Ap,alinaal-. IL. tine nal
c1Ine for her Il present q petition ! he Iu-
1amous hu,UaIt in f%-Dalf Of fhe lsrae.sti>l
nation, ~ w4licu she had one, neiouge' NIa
was afraid - Undertake tue work Jest she
~lould lose tier own lite: bat her alcie Nor
LEGAL, who la brought her Lp, enc1lra- Get
4-r with The suggestion that probably she
aad been falsei up q Gti for tAat peculiar
mission. WHO EnoHeth whether thou art
come 10 tie kingdom for sucA "A time as
this" Esther had Ter Got-appoint-i worE:
5ou and have ours. l. - NY business y
feii yOu what style o. people w ought - be
u orIer that we may meet the de aaGi Of
til age in which Gotha- cast our lot. II You
nave come expecting u hear distractions
discussed or dry tecniicalities Of religion
-lorified, YOU have co.ne 10 the wrong place:
bar If You reilly would like to know what
this age hes a riglt u exJect ot you as
Christian men and women, then | am ready
IN the Lord name 70 look you III the fac.
When two armies have rushed INTO battle
the officers Of either army DO not want pint
oSOphlcal discussions about the chemical
properties vi human blood or the nature of
gnnpowder. They want soIue one to man
tie batteries aud swab out the guns. And
now, when al the forces Of ight and dark
ness, Of hcave and hell, have plunged into
the fight, it is no tiue6to give ourselves to
the definitions and formulas and technlcall-
ties and conventionalities of religion. What
We want Is practical, earnest, coucentrated,
enthusiastic and triumphant help. What we
need in the East you i'll 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 aud 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 church's ad-
vancelEent. | am speaking Of another kind
of Christian. All the appliances for your
becoming an earnest Christian are at your
hand, ana there is a straight path for you iu-
TO the broad daylight of Gods forgiveness.
GU may have come here to-day the bonds
men Of the world, ana yet before you go out
Of these doors YOU may BECOME the princes
Of the Lord God Almighty. You know what
excitement there is ia this country when a
foreign prince comes to our shores. Why2
Because it is expected that some day he will
SIT upon a 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 not be aggres-
sive Christians, and not like those persons
who spend their lives in hugging their Chris
tian graces and wondering why they do not
make any progress. How much robustness
of health would a man have if he hid him
self 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 exer-
else. There are many Christians 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 ii man have robust physical health
if he kept all the daysand weeks and months
and years of his life feeling his pulse instead
Of going out into active, earnest. everyday
work.
| was once amid the wonderful. bewitch-
ing cactus growths of North Carolina. (
never was more bewildered with the beauty
Of flowers, and yet when I would take up
one Of these ~cactuses and pull the leaves
apart, the beauty was all gone. You could
hardly tell that it had ever been a flower.
And there are a great many Christian peo-
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 q
damage instead % an advantage to their
Christian character. | remember when I
was a boy used to have a small piece III
the garden that | called my own, and I
+, planted corn there, and every few days l
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-
. W. ~ tiG Poiiht =
! up of that which they only yesterday or
, the day before planted.
Oh, my friends, if YOU want to have a
stalwart Christian character, plant it right
out OF doors Ill the great field of Christian
usefulness, and though storms NAV come
upon it, and though the hot sun Of trial may
. try to consume it, it will thrive until it be
s comes n great tree. Ill wllct1 the fowls of
: heaven may have tleir habitatlou. | have
no patience with these tfpNrrpot Christians
They keep themselves under shelter, AMI al
; their Christian experience in a small, eX rlu-
/ sive circle, when they ought t. plant it II
t the great garden o. til. Lord, 50 that tn,
whole atmosphere could be aromatic witt
their Christian usefulness. What we wan
IL the church of tto1 is more Drawn of piety
l The century plant is wonderfully suCges
n tive aud wonderfully beautiful, but | neve
look at il without thinking OF its parsimony
1t lets Whole generations go by before 1t put
forth one blossom; 80 | have reall,
more heartfelt Il imiretlou when Sc
the dewy tears IN the blue eyes {
| the violet, FOR they come every spring. NJ,
thf!>tian trien Is. time i going by 81 RAJ,
. Ill. that W. cannot afford to b. ID.
ARGENT st1ti>tlcian says that human IF
: no" has an avtvl-e Of only thirty-two year,
Il from these thirty two wears You must sui
| tract at the time You take Tor sleai, aud tb
taxing OF tool AMI recreation. that viii leav
I Eoh about sIxtsen years. From those sixt-e
+. Years yon must subtract all the tim. Won ar
! necessarily engaged IN tile earning Of a livel
hood, that will leave You about eight wear.
from fhoSt eight years you must take all til
day ani weeks and mouths-ill the ieurt
q time that Is passed in childhood and sicl
ness. leaving You about one year in which ;
WORK Tor tol. Oh, my soul. wake up! Ho'
e dart>t thou sl-ep in harvest time and with ;
+. lie" hours III winch t. reap 80 that | stat
Il a. a >lln;., taet thai all TIL time that n
y vast majority OF you Viii have for the .,
5 elusive service ortio1 viii be less than OF
q year
But, says some man, Il literally snppol
the 'rospel, anlthe church i open ana III
6osp@l preached. all the spiritual aivau
taSe~ are spread before men, aui if the
/ want 70 he savel III. them come ami b
saved. | have discharged all nv respons
tlltN All isthst the Masters spirit
/ t0ere not an old Book somewhere that con
ulandS usto 60 ont INTO the highways an
a nelgeS AMI compel the people TO come il
! Nhat would have become uf Won and me
lhrlst had not colne down off the hills {
heaven, and II lie had not come through Tn
door OF the Bethlehem caravan~arv. and
re had not with the crushed hand of til
cTicilNlon knocked st tbs iron gate Of til