The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1891-08-28
AGGRESSIVENESS.
OF Half-and-Half Christians the World
Wants No More.
A Great Deal Of the Piety of the Present
Day IL Too Exoluslve-Dr. Tall
IMAGES Sermon.

ChautauQu1, w II. HIS IcNJ was Esther
w., IL. "Who knowcth whether thou
art come TO the kingdom for such a
time as this?'
Esther the Beautiful was the wife of
Ahasuerus the Abominablc The time
had come for her 60 present petition
TO her infamous husband i'm behalf of
the Israclitish nation TO which she had
once belonged. She was afraid TO UNI
dertalIe the work. lest she should lose
her own life; but her Uncle, Mordecai,
whohad brought her mp, 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
ths?" Esther had her God-appointed
wori:: you and have ours. 1t is my
business To tcll you what style of people
we ought - be in order that we may
meet the demand of the age in which
God has cast our lot. II Won have come
expecting 10 hear distractions dis
cussci, or dry tcchnicalitics of religion
glorificd, you have come to the wrong
place; but II you really would like TO
RllOh " MAJ blil1 HiSN lIio al " III ~ tN-
pcct 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 tho officers of either army do not
want a philosophical discussion about
the chcmica! properties of human blood
or the nature Of Cunpowder; they want
some one II man the batteries and
swab out the guns. And now, when
al the forces Of light and darkness, of
Heaven ana hcl, have plunged into the
fight, it is no time to give ourselves
10 the definitions and formulas and
technicalities and conventionalitics 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 spc cial demand of the age, you
neol to be an Enthusiastically aggressive
Christian. Of half-andhalf Christians
we do not want any more. The church
OF Jesus Christ will be better with
out 10000 of them. They are the chief
obstacle To the church's advancement.
! am speaking Of another kind of Chris
tan. All the appliances for your be- |
roming 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 |
to-day the hondsmcn 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 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-
grcSSive 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? great
deal of piety of the day is too exclu-
sive. 1t hides itself. 1t needs more
fresh air, moro 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 a man have
robust physical health il 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.
| was once amid the wonderful. be-
witchng cactus growths of North Caro-
INA. never was moro bewildered
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
iy tell that it ever had been flower
And there are great many Christian
people in this day just pulling apart I
'heir Christian experience to see what {
there is in them, and there is nothing |
attractive left This style of self-ex- $
animation is n damage instead of an
advantage to their Christian character. {
l remember when | was n boy used 10
have a small piece in the garden that {
called my own, and planted corn
there, and every few days would pull I
u up TO sec how fast it was growing I
Now, there are great many Christian I
people in this day whose self-cxamina- =
I'on merely amounts To pulling up of that I
which they only yesterday or the day ]
before planted {
Oh, my friendsl il you want to have a
stalwart Christian character, plant it |