The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-08-12
AGGRESSIVENESS.
OF Half.and.tialf Christians the World
Wants No More. tiIf

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4 Great Deal Of the Piety oftAe Present
Day u Tos Exclusivs-Dr. Tai
IMAGES Sermon.
Dr.. Talmage preached Sunday at
Chautauqua, Wis. His text was Esther
w., IA: "Who knoweth whether thou
art come to the kingdom for such .
time as this?" Ffl
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 un-
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 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 dis
cussed, 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 ex-
pect Of you as Christian men and wom-
en-, 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
oil the forces of light and darkness, of
Heaven and hell, have plunged into the
fight, It is no time to give ourselves
10 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.
In the first place, in order to meet
the spe cial demand of the 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 be better with
out 1000 of them. They are the chief
obstacle to the. church's advancement.
! am speaking of another kind of Chris
6an. All the appliances for your be-
coming an earnest Christian are atyour
hand, and there is straight path for
you into the broad daylight of Gods
forgiveness. You may have come here
to-day the bondsmen of the world, and
yet, before you 60 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
chores. Why? Because it is expected
that some day he will sit upon throne.
But what is all that honor compared
with the honor compared 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 like those
persons who spend their lives
in hugging their Christian graces
and wondering why they do not
make any progress. How much robust.
ness of health would man have if he
hid himself in dark closet? A great
deal Of piety Of the day is too exclu-
sive. It hides itself. 1t needs more
fresh air, more outdoor exercise. There
are many Christians who are giving
their entire time TO determination.
They are feeling their pulses to see
what is the condition of their spiritual
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 in.
stead of going out into active, earnest,
everyday work. u,.-
I was once amid the wonderful, be.
witching cactus growths of North Caro-
lima / never was more bewil6ered
with the beauty of flowers, and yet
when would take up one of these cac
fuses and pull the leaves apart the
beauty was all gone. You could hard
~ tell that 1t ever had been flower
And there are great many. Christian
people in this day just pulling apart
their Christian experience to see wha
there is in them, and there is nothing
attractive left. This style of self-ex
animation is damage instead of al
advantage to their Christian character
remember when was boy used t.
have small piece in the garden that
called my own, and l planted corr
there, and every few days would pull
1t up to see how fast it was growing
Now, there are great many Christian
people in this day whose self-examina
ton merely amounts to pulling up of tina
which they only yesterday or the da,
before planted. ,a. pt.4nst
Oh, my friends! If you want TO hav,
a stalwart Christian character, plant i
right out of doors in the great field o
Christian usefulness, and though storm
may come upon it, and though the no
sun of trial may try to consume it, i
will thrive until it becomes grea
tree, in which the fowls of heaven ma,
have their habitation. have no pa
thence with these aower-pot Christians
| Thew keen themselves under shelter