The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1891-08-04

God has cast our lot. If you have cone
expecting to hear distractions discussed
or dry t~echnlcalitjes of religion glorified,
you have come to the wrong place; but
If you really would like to- know what
this age has q right to expect of you as
Christian men and women, 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 philosophical discussion about the
cheminal properties of human blood or
the nature of gunpowder. They went
some one to man the batteries and swab
out the guns. And now, when all Ire
forces of light and darkness, of heaven
and he'll, have plunged into the fight, it
- no time to give ourselves to the de-
finitions and formulas and technicalitles
and conventionalities of religion, What
we want is practical, earnest, concentra-
ted, enthusiastic and triumphant help.
What we need in the east you In Wis
consin need.
In the FIRST place, in order to meet the
special demand of this age, you me- ed 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.
1 am speaking of another, kind of Chris
tian. All the appliances for your becom-
ing an arrest Christian are at your
hand, and there is a straight path TO-
you into the broad daylight of Gods for
giveness. You may have come here To-
day the bordsmen of the world, and yet
before you go out ofthese doors you may
become the plinces Of the LorI'God AL
mighty. You =, low what excitement
there is in this county when q foreign
prince comes to our shores. Why? Be-
cause it is expected that some day he
will sit upon u throne. But what is all
that honor compared with 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 wlthhini forever and forever"
HEALTHY OPEN AIR FAITH.
But, my ~frienCl,, you need not be
aggressive Christians, and not like those
persons who spend their lives IN hug.
ging their Christian graccs and wonder
ing why they do not make any progress.
How much robustness of health " ould
q man have if he hid himself in q dark
cleset? A great deal of piety of the day
is too exclusive. 1t hides itself. It
needs more fresh air, more outdoor
exercise. 1lere are many Christians
who are giving their entire life to self
examination. They are feeling their
pulses to see what is the condition of
their spiritual health. How long would
a man have robust physical health if lie
kept all the days and weeks and months
AID years of his life feeling his pulse in
stead of going out into active, earnest,
everyday workp
/ was o. e amid tne wonderful, be.
wltching -csAus growths ST North Caro-,
lima. l never Was more bewilderGd with
the beauty of flowers, and yet when I
would take up one of these cactuses and
pull the leaves apart, the beauty was all
gene. You could hardly tell thatit had
ever been a flower. And there are a
greet many Christian people in this day
just pulling apart their Christian
periences to see what there is ia them,
and there is Io:hins attractive left. This
style of self examination is a damage in
stead of an advantage to their Christian
character. L remember when L was q
boy 1 used to have a small piece In the
garden that / called ny own, and 1
planted corn there, and every few days
would pull it up to see how'fast it was
growing. Now, there are a great many
Christian people in this day whose SELL
examination merely amount to the pull
ing up of that which they only yesterC y
or the day befo.e planted.
oh, my friends! if you want to have a
( stalwart Christian character, plant it
right. out Of Goors in the great field of
Z Christian %useiuless, and though storms
may cone y ii, and though The hot
sun of tiial (mev try to cons ne it, twill
thrive until IL BECOMES a great tree, in
which, the ioals Ofhcaven may have their
habitation. have no patience with
these flowerpdt Christians. They keep
themselves under shelter, and all heir
Christian experience in a small, exclu-
slye circle, when they ought to plant it
in the ggsat gf den 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 sug-
gestive and wonderfully beautiful, but I
never look at 1t without thinking of its
parslmony. 1t lets whole generations
go by before il puts forth one blossom;
so / have really nor heartfelt admira-
ton when / see the dewy tears in the
blue eyes ofthe v%lolets, for they come
every spring. My Christian friends,
time is going by 81 rail- Ily that we can.
not afford to be idle. a recent statisti-
clan says that human life now has an
average of only thirtY-two years. From
tEese thirty-two years you must subtract
all the time you take for sleep and the
taking Of food and recreation; that will
leave you about sixteen years. From
those sixteen years. you must subtract
all the time you are necessarily engaged
in the earning offs livelihood; that will
leave o about eight years. From
those elg1t years you must take all the
days and weeks aud months-all the
length oftime that is passedin childhood
and sickness, leaveing you about one
year in which to work for God. Oh, my
soul, wake upi How darest thou sleep
in harvest time and with so few hours in
which to reap? So that + state it as a
simple fact that all the time thatthe
vast majority osyou will have for the
exclusive service of God will be less
than M year!
Go oUT AND COMPEL THEM.
"But,n says some moan 81 literally
support the Gospel, and the church ist
open and4the Gospeiis preached; all The
aepirituhl advantages are spread before
u 49, - ~ L.-l.ALAL - lAt