Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1891-07-27
A SERMON IN WISCONSIN.
THE AWFUL NECESSITY FOR CHRIS
TIAN EARNESTNESS JUST NOW.

THE AWFUL NECESSITY FOR CHRIS
TIAN EARNESTNEss JUST NOW.
DIR. TaImage illustrates the Opportdni-
ties of the Hour by the Example of
Esther in Saving Her PeopIe-The
Great Need of Aggressive Faith
MADISON, July 26.-Dr. Talmage
preached this morning at Chautau-
qua assembly on the banks of monona
lake. near this city 1t is a great gath
ering of people from all parts OF the
northwest. His text was Esther iv, Ia,
"Who knoweth whether thou art
come to the kingdom for such time
as this!'
Esther the Beautiful was the wife OF
Ahasuerus the Accountable. The time
had come for her to present a petition to
her Infamous husband in behalf of the
IsraeIitislI nation. to which she had
once belonged. She was afraid to IN
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 this2"
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 eX-
pecting to hear distractions discussed
or dry technicalities of religion glOri-
fed, you have come to the wrong
place; but if you really would like to
know what this age has a right to ex
pect of you as Christian men and wom-
en-, 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 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 And now,
when all the forces of light and dark
ness, of heaven and hell, have plunged
into the fight, it is no time to give our
selves to the definitions and formulas
and technicalities and cOnventiOnalities
of religion. What we want is practical,
earnest, concentrated, enthusiastic and
triumphant help. What we need in
the east you in Wisconsin need.
TOO MANY HALF AND HALF CHRISTIANS.
In the first place, in order to meet the
special demand of this age, you need to
be an Enthusiastically aggressive Chris
tan. 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 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
forgiveness. You may have come here
today 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 a foreign prince comes to our
shores Why? 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 to be ag-
gressive Christians, and not ike those
persons who spend their lives in hug
ging their Christian graces and wonder
ing why they do not make any prog
ress. How much robustness Of health
would a man have if he hid himself in
dark closet2 A great deal of piety
of the day is too exclusive. 1t hides
itself. 1t needs more fresh air, more
outdoor exercise. There are many
Christians who are giving their entire
life to self examination. They are feel
ing their pulses to see what is the con
dition 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 feel
ing his pulse instead of going out into
active, earnest, everyday work?
| was once amid the wonderful, be-
witching cactus growths of North Caro-
| lima | never was more bewildered
with the beauty of flowers, and yet
when l would 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 flower. And
there are great many Christian people
in this day just pulling apart then
! Christian experiences to see what there
is in them, and there is nothing attract
| i've left. This style of self examination
is a damage instead of an advantage
to their Christian character [ remem
Der when I was q boy used to have E
small piece in the garden that I called
my own, and planted corn there, anC
every few days l would pull it up tC
see how fast it was growing. Now
there are a great many Christian people
in this day whose self examination
merely amounts to the pulling up O.
that which they only Yesterday or the
day before planted.
THERE IS NO GOOD WITHOUT ACTION
Oh, my friends, if you want to have {
stalwart Christian character, plant i
right out of doors in the great field O.
Christian usefulness, and though storms
may come upon it and though the no
sun of trial may consume it, it viii
thrive until it becomes a great tree, il
which the fowls of heaven may hav'
their habitation. l have no patienc'
with these fiowerpot Christians. The.
keep themselves under shelter, and al
their Christian experience in small,
exclusive circle, when they ought tc
plant it in the great garden of the Lord
so that the whole atmosphere could bt
aromatic with their Christian useful
ness. What we want in the church o.
God is more Drawn of piety.
The century plant is wonderfully sug
gestive and wonderfully beautiful, bu
| never look at it without thinking O.
its parsimony 1t lets whole genera
| Ir- Iaforo T1T1fC forth on.