Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-27
TALMAGE'S SERMON
Before a Chautauqua Society on
the Banks of Monona Lake.
ESTHER, THE BEAUTIFUL.
WHO Knoweth Whether Thou Art Come to
the Kingdom for Such Time as This?"
He Announces to His Congregation that
He is Not Before Them to Discuss
distractions Dry Techni-
calities of Religion.
ESTHER, THE BEAUTIFUL.
Special to the Gazette.

| opeCld! the NIaZtIIc.
SERMON IN WISCONSIN.
| MADISON, WIS, July 26.-Dr. Taimage
preached this morning at a Chautauqua as
| sembly on the banks of Monona lake, near
| this city. II is Il great gathering OF people
from all parts of the Northwest. His text
was Esther iv-l4: ''Who knoweth whether
| thou art come 10 the kingdom for such
| time as this?"
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 Israehtish
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, encour-
aged her with the suggestion that probably
she had been raised up of God for that pc
PECULIAR mission. Who knOweth whether
| thou art come to the kingdom for such a
time as this" Esther had her God-ap-
! pointed work: you and ! have ours. 1t is
| my business 10 tell you what style OF people
we ought to be in order tlrat 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
| glorifed, you have come 10 the wrong place;
! but if you really would like 20 know what
| this age has Il right TO expect of YOU as
! Christian men and women, then l am ready
| il 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
Gunpowder; they want some one TO man
| the batteries and Swab out The guns. And
| now, when all the forces of light and dark
| reSs. of heaven and hell, have plunged into
! the fight. 1t ic no time TO give ourselves 10
! the definitions and formulas and TECHNICAL
! ties and conventionalities of religion.
! What we want is practical, earnest, COncen-
| trated, enthusiastic and triumphant help.
| What we need in the East you n Wiscon-
| sin need.
| In the first place, in order 10 meet the
| special demand of this ace, you need to be
AZ Enthusiastically aggressive Christian. OF
| half-and-half Christians we do not want any
more The church o. Jesus Christ will be
| better without ten thousand OF them. They
| are the chief obstacle to the church's ad-
| ydncement. ! 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
mo the broad daylight of
GODS FORGIVENESS.
You may have come here to-day the bonds
men 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 4 throne
But whist 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 Teigu with him forever and for
e yer
But, my friends, YOU need to ne aggres-
sive Christians and not like those persons
who spend their lives in hugging the"
Christian grates and wondering why they
90 not make any progress. How much ro-
business Of health would man have if he
hid himself IN dark closet! A great dea-
of piety OF the day is too exclusive. 1t hides
itself. 1t needs more fresh air, more out
door exercise. There are many Christians
VINO are giving their entire life 70 self-ex-
|amnation. They are feeling their pulses
to see what Is the condition of their spirit
uaI health How long would man have
robust physical health if he kept all the
days and weeks and months and
years OF his life feeling his pulse
EARNEST, EVERYDAY WORK.
was once amid the wonderful, bewitch
ing cactus growthS of North Carolina. l
never was more bCwildercd with the beauty
of flowers, and yet when | wCuid take up
one Of these cactuses and pull the leaves
apart, the beauty was all gone. You could
hardly tell that it ever had been a flower
And there are 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 determination is q
damage instead Of an advantage to their
Christian character. / remember when l
was boy used to have q small piece in
the garden that | called my own, and ]
planted corn there, and every few days |
would pull il up TO see how fast it was
growing. Now, there are n 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 a |
stalwarJ Christian character, plant il right |
out of doors in the great field of Christian |
usefulness and though storms may come |
upon il and though the hot sun of trial may |
try TO consume it, it will thrive until it be- |
comes u great tree. in which the fowls of |
heaven may have heir habitation / have |
no patience with these !
FLowER-POT CHRISTIANS.
They keep themselves under shelter AID |
all !heir Christian experience in a 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 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 never |
look at it without thinking of It's parsi-
mony 1t lets whole generations 90 by be-
fore it puts forth one blossom; so l have |
really more heartfelt admiration when l see
the dewy tears in the blue eyes of the vio-
lets, for they come every spring. My |
Christian friends, timeis 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 TAX
ing of food and recreation; that will leave
YOU about sixteen years. From those SIX
teen 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-an the length of time that is
passed in childhood and sickness, leaving
YOU about one year in which TO work for
God.
OH. ny SOUL, WAKE up
How darest thou sleep in harvest-time |
and SD few hp1rrs in which m raTn1 IN At