Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-07-30
mr. Talmage preached q

DR.. Talmage preached at q Chautau-
oua assembly on the banks of Monona
| Lake, Wis. His text was Esther iv, IA,
..Who knoweth whether thou art come
to the kingdom tor such time as thls?'
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
Israelitish nation, to which she had
once belonged. She was afraid to I'M
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 Pc
culiar mission. ''Who knoweth whether
thou art come to the kingdom for such a
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 de-
mand of the age in which God has cast
our lot. Ifyou have come expecting to
hear distractions discussed Or dry tech
nicalities of religion gloriied. you have
come to the wrong place; but il you
really would like to know what this age
has right to expect OF you as Christian
mon and women, then | 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 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 darkness, of Heaven
and hell, have plunged into the fight, it
is no time to give ourselves to the def
nitions and formulas and technicalites
and conventionalities of religion. What
we want is practical, earnest, consen-
trated, enthusiastic and triumphant help.
What we need in tie East you in Wis
conSin 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 De better without ten thou
sand of them. They are the chief OBJ
stacle to the church's advancement. l
am speaking of another kind of Chris
tian. All the appliances for your be-
coming an earnest Christian are at your
Land, and there is straight path for
you into the broad daylight of Gods for
giveness. 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 excite
ment there is in this country when a for
eign 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
>S,,1> fN~I u
daughters of the Lord Almighty; yea, to
be queens and kings unto God? "They
shall reign with Him forever and for
| ever
But, my, friends, you need to be ag-
| gressive Christians, and not like those
persons who spend their lives in huggng
their Christian graces and wondering
why they do not make any progress.
| How much robustness of health would
man have if he hid himself in a dark
closet? A great deal of the piety of the
day is too exclusive. It hides itself 1t
needs more fresh air, more outdoor exer-
else. There are many Christians who
are giving their entire life to self-eXami-
nation. They are feeling their pulses
to see what is the condition of their spir-
itual 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 instead
of going out into active, earnest, every
| day work?
| I was once amid the wonderful, be-
witching cactus growths of North Caro-
| lima. [ never was more beWilderod with
| the beauty of flowers, and yet when 1
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 their Christian expert
ences to see what there is in them, and
| there is nothing attractive left. This
! style of determination is damage in
stead of an advantage to their Christian
character. | remember when | was
boy l used to have small piece in the
garden that [ called my own, and l
| planted corn there, and every few days
| would pull it up to see how fast it was
| growing. Now there are great many
| Christian people in this day whose self
examination merely amounts to the pull
ing up of that which they only Yesterday
or the day before planted.
Oh, my friends, if you want to have
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 consume 1t, it will thrive
! until it becomes d great tree, in which
the fowls of Heaven may have their hab-
| ltatiOn. | have no patience with these
flowerpot Christians. They keep them
selves under shelter, and all their Chris
tian experience in small, exclusive cir
Gle, 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 pety.
The century plant is wonderfully sug-
gcstive and wonderfully beautiful, but
| never look at it without thinking of it's